There’s a reason my Irish friends want to be in the US for St. Paddy’s Day, and it’s not because we know how to keep it low-key. Parades and music, dancing and drinking; it’s an excuse to wear 50 shades of green and be fully intoxicated by 10am. And since St. Paddy’s “Day” was more […]
Bribes and Bullshit There are bribes and then there are “contributions,” the latter of which won’t pass the laugh test when you pull them off at a political scale that makes Wall Street investment bankers and brokers whiny. Disgraced former RI House Speaker Gordon Fox proved himself to be an arrogant, power-broking wannabe piece of […]
John Guare’s dark, biting, yet somehow sweet family drama The House of Blue Leaves was last produced in RI almost exactly a year ago by Next Generation Theatre. In the March 2014 Motif review (https://motifri.com/capable-cast-seeks-fame-in-house-of-blue-leaves/), there is speculation as to how The Gamm’s version the following year would present the same script with a bigger […]
Roaring out of the burgeoning Boston music scene with intensity and vigor, Pile has an amazing sound that sonically can peel the paint off of walls. Imagine if CBGB legends Television started out in late ’80s Minneapolis, signed to SST Records and started touring with Black Flag, Sonic Youth, Husker Du and Big Black. Once […]
Dear Dr. Brilliant Cliché; I am having terrible luck with relationships and I don’t understand why. I have heard that girls usually look for someone who resembles their father and this is why so many women from dysfunctional families with lousy dads end up in abusive relationships. But my own father was wonderful! He always […]
After a long, snowy winter, spring is right around the corner and the State Ballet of Rhode Island looks to heat things up by presenting their annual spring performance nearly two months earlier than usual. In years past, it would fall on or close to Mother’s Day, giving many a wonderful opportunity to treat mom […]
To follow up my previous piece about the great films showing at Il Cinema Ritrovato next week, I am reviewing another film that will be shown during the festival: Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion, a fascinating, but somewhat forgotten thriller that won the best foreign film Oscar in 1971. Investigation… concerns a police detective who kills his girlfriend […]
“Can you please go inside?” I begged toward the rooftop, where a soon-to-be 70-year-old man was slouched over in a defiant hunch, his Ryobi chainsaw revving. “No, get the lah-duh!” he hollered down, in that patois ubiquitous within the urban-core of RI – an accent that I have self-consciously conditioned myself to be aware of […]
On March 8, at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel, there was something incredible going on. Annie Clark, better known under the moniker St. Vincent, made her presence felt by bringing the noise and leaving everyone in awe. Jenny Hval opened the show with a memorable performance. It was the perfect way to close out the weekend with […]