Open and Closed: December 2021
Open Aguardente: 12 Governor St, PVD. aguardente.com. This Portuguese-inspired little spot is a welcome addition to Fox Point’s bustling food scene. See story at motifri.com/xxx Bellini: 90 Westminster St, PVD. bellinirestaurant.com. Fine Italian dining and a members-only rooftop bar inside the Beatrice Hotel. Bonanno: 256 Atwells Ave, PVD. A new Fed Hill dig featuring small […]
Lunar Notes: December 2021
December opens with a Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius. Eclipses portend change. Mercury and Mars change signs on the 13th. Venus in Capricorn goes retrograde on the 19th and at month end Jupiter enters Pisces. These events bring shifting energies and perspectives. Actions, desires and ideas are mixed and matched. Make ready for the New Year. […]
Cannabis Gift Guide 2021: For Those On-the-Go
Whether your upcoming travel plans include heading to Grandma’s house for the holidays, hiking in the wintery woods, or finally getting on a plane again, here’s hoping this winter will offer the “booster” that we need, so more Americans can continue to maintain the go-go-go lifestyles we so love to hate. In that festive spirit, […]
Stoner Stocking Stuffers: Pot-entially excellent gifts
Getting gifts for the cannabis lover in your life can be quite an undertaking. With an ever-growing list of options and the average stoner’s taste becoming more sophisticated, you can easily rack your brain trying to nail down the perfect gift. Thankfully, I’ve done a lot of the legwork for you and narrowed down some […]
Larry’s Lounge: Wacky local variety show is back after COVID-19 recess
Don’t think for a second that 2020 slowed the momentum of one of RI’s most popular vaudevilles. Larry’s Lounge Variety Show, named for the old dive it started at in 2014, is a variety show that defines itself in surprises from the wackiest and wildest to the wholesome and emotionally-gripping. It’s an event where New […]
Poetry, #22 Silent Night…: From “The (chap) Book of the Dead”
They said I must be out of my mind wanting to celebrate Christmas this year, that survival was all we had to be thankful for; that the stories were lies, and worse, hope was harm waiting to happen. I said, “Shut up both of you and open your presents.” See, Jenny used to talk all […]
Where the Benny’s Used To Be: A Rhode Island Pictorial History Series
Rhode Island Memories is a three volume coffee table book published by The Providence Journal that serves as a pictorial history of this state. With photos beginning in the late 1800s and proceeding through the end of the 20th century, this book archives the many transformations Rhode Island has gone through. Featuring photographs from award-winning […]
Concrete and Cardinals
Scott Turner’s brief articles in The Providence Journal always provided welcome glimpses of natural landscapes. Beauty in the Street – Nature Tales from the Neighborhood collects many of these, as well as other reminiscences of Turner’s life and its intersections with the natural world in Rhode Island, Seekonk, and the Bronx. It’s not a book that […]
Stock Culinary Goods: Food lovers, feel free to salivate!
When Motif caught up with Jan Faust Dane, owner of Stock Culinary Goods on Hope Street in Providence, she didn’t jump to sell us on some of her top-of-the-line wares, like handmade Forge to Table Knives, Andiamo Presentation Boards crafted in Warren, or Michelle Phaneuf’s teeny bowls, which feature little Rhode Island motifs such as […]