Month: February 2019

Impact! Rudy Cheeks is the inaugural winner of Motif’s lifetime achievement award

You wouldn’t think there were many teenagers living in Pawtucket in the late 1960s who were heavily into John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk and Bob Dylan. But then again, Rudy Cheeks (nee Bruce McCrae) has always danced to his own drummer — and quite successfully — which is why he is receiving Motif’s Impact Award for his lifetime […]

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The Roots Report: When I Was Young: Some advice for phone-addicted youth who want to pick their heads up and start a band

Okee dokee folks… I find myself often starting sentences with the phrase, “When I was young.” Just one of the realities of aging, I guess. Anyway, when I was young, when we wanted to start a band we would just ask schoolmates who played the instruments we wanted to have in the group, we met up […]

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Safety First: UNAP has challenged Fatima to provide patient and employee safety data, but they’re not delivering

Last month, members of the United Nurses and Allied Professionals (UNAP) Local 5110 picketed informally outside Fatima Hospital in North Providence. UNAP’s contract expired at the start of February, but their protest is about more than just bargaining for higher pay. The union has made safety and all related grievances a mainstay of their platform. […]

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Philippe & Jorge’s Cool, Cool World: Sit Down, Donneh!: The wall of half truths, alternative facts and outright lies grows ever taller

Wall of Lies Our morally and ethically bankrupt Cheeto-colored president recently declared a totally contrived national emergency at our southern border. There was a tip-off two days before that his plans were going to be outrageous, if not totally illegal, when he talked about his new gigantic wall, which he claimed would be harder to climb […]

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Mann, We’ll Miss You: The jazz community mourns the loss of one of its greats

In the RI jazz community, connections run deep, so with a loss comes profound sorrow. Recently, the jazz community lost one of its most cherished souls, Debra Mann, and the outpouring of both grief and love toward her from across the state has been inspiring to see. Debra Mann graduated from Berklee College of Music in […]

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Mise-en-scène: The Providence French Film Festival’s 21st annual event is prepared for the big screen

In its 21st year, the 2019 Providence French Film Festival, Feb 21–Mar 1, for the first time will screen all of its events on the Brown University campus at the Granoff Center for the Arts, 154 Angell St, PVD, according to Daniel Kamil, festival programming director, because its traditional venue, the Cable Car Cinema, closed. All screenings remain open […]

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Sweet Thing! Revival’s Doug and Scarpetti Vanilla Porter is perfect for beer lovers with a sweet tooth

If there’s one thing I always look forward to, it’s a new Revival brew, and Revival’s Doug and Scarpetti Vanilla Porter has been on my to-do list for a while. The track record for Revival’s beers is a great one, and the partnership with WHJY to brew in honor of their more famous personalities has […]

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