UPDATE: This extension of the eviction moratorium was ended by the US Supreme Court on Aug 26. See our follow-up: motifri.com/eviction-october-2 With an estimated six million Americans behind on their rent due to the pandemic, the expiration of the federal eviction moratorium on July 30 set off alarms about the possibility of a major economic […]
Required weekly recertification for unemployment insurance was failing on the RI Department of Labor and Training (DLT) website, according to hundreds of reports on Twitter. DLT advised Motif at 9:41am the problem had been fixed, and users could now certify. Motif broke this story today just before 5am — twitter.com/MotifMagRI/status/1421757112884121601 — asking for reports as […]
Leaders of Rhode Island’s theaters and theater community gathered in person and on Zoom for more than two hours on July 26 to address weaknesses in their internal processes and policies that have allowed incidents of sexual harassment and abuse to occur in the community. The meeting included a panel discussion and loose roundtable discussion […]
Recently, conservatives have been campaigning to keep critical race theory (a theoretical framework that states that race is a social construct designed to oppress people of color) from being taught in schools. Although it is not taught in most public education systems to begin with, these attempts to prevent people from learning about the more […]
Check this space for updates on Motif’s RI Music Awards 2021. Everything that almost happened in 2020 and more! Voting will start in August, and the event will be Monday August 23, 2021 at Fete Music Hall.
Typically, we plan our covers nearly two months in advance while remaining nimble enough to change our cover art at a moment’s notice should breaking news warrant it. For the first time in Motif’s history, we changed our cover art three times in one week – from the gorgeous work (pictured above) by Ry Smith, […]
Kevin Bacon and his brother Michael will be bringing their band, The Bacon Brothers, into the Greenwich Odeum on Friday, July 16. I had the opportunity to speak with Kevin via phone last week in advance of his show. John Fuzek (Motif): We actually played a show together quit a while back. You played in Newport, […]
Competing narratives emerged from dueling press conferences about an incident in the streets of South Providence on June 29. By 6pm, scorching temperatures had cooled only slightly from the afternoon high of 97 degrees, breaking a record that had stood since 1934. On Sayles Street between Searle and Cahill streets, two blocks west of Eddy […]
If you’re like me and always thirsting for new experiences, sometimes it can feel like summer in Rhode Island consists of the same old things: arguments over the best frozen lemonade, a trip to the beach, sitting in traffic for the beach, etc. But have no fear, fellow lovers of all things Rhody, I’ve been […]
DRENT (Done Right Every Now and Then), a self-described “emotional rapper” from Pawtucket, prides himself on constantly improving and meeting new challenges. He released his video and song “The Body Keeps the Score II” on May 18 to mark his 30th day of sobriety from food addiction. He has been very open with his family, […]