[See prior update: motifri.com/iran-war-update-01] The Iran war cannot continue as it is for much longer, and this is a result of simple math. Time is running out for energy and food supply US Consumer Price Index for All...
Voting is now closed -- Join us to see who was selected Wednesday, May 276 – 10pmMyrtle, East Providence Join us for the 4th annual Motif Spoken Awards! We are excited to be returning to Myrtle to celebrate RI’s spoken word...
Ann Morrison and Marcus Phillips in the National Tour of KIMBERLY AKIMBO. Photo by Joan Marcus KIMBERLY AKIMBO is a musical with a lot of heart, a lot of wit, and a lot of rave reviews...
Processed with VSCO with 6 preset When Steve DelMonico (vocals/guitar) approached John Faraone (drums) with an impossibly unique band name, there was no way of knowing that 10 years later they’d be sitting at Nolan’s with...
Photo: Dave Rezendes. John Faraone: a man of many bands, many instruments, and one poetic voice. While John wouldn’t call himself a poet, I certainly believe that his lyrics are simply stanzas waiting to be printed....
Photo by James Brooks. Okee dokee folks… I have referenced the Jethro Tull song, “Too Old to Rock & Roll, Too Young to Die,” A few times in my 22 years of writing for Motif, and...
(Photo credit: Keith J.G. McCurdy, from the cover art of Vudu Sister’s Adynata; photograph of the art installation LO SGUARDO - Humanitas - Physis by sculptor Igor Mitoraj at the Neopolis Archaeological Park of Siracusa...
Mount Pleasant. Elmhurst. The Valley Arts District. These are all neighborhoods whose offerings I thought I knew well, having worked in and around Providence over the last few years. But you can certainly miss a...
Buddy Mott. Once upon a time, if you wanted a tattoo, one of the things you could do was traipse to Newport from any of the four corners of the world and get yourself a tattoo...
The actual declaration of Independence was first proclaimed to the people of Newport from this building in July 1776. (Photo by Maureen O'Gorman) It doesn't take long for a person new to Rhode Island to find...
The RI Department of Transportation (RIDOT) announced a major initiative to repair potholes caused by a harsh winter. A new Pothole Service Requests Dashboard site on the web – https://www.dot.ri.gov/travel/potholes.php – allows the public to...
The tattoo artist who goes by Mish, of Fall River, MA, created this month’s cover. “I got the nickname when I was younger, and it just kinda stuck,” she says. Also, it stirs a little...
On the “Weekend Update” satirical news segment on Saturday Night Live. anchor Colin Jost displayed a snapshot of an unhinged rant laced with profanity in the form of a Donald Trump post to Truth Social,...
VOTING OPEN NOW! VOTE HERE Wednesday, May 276 - 10pmMyrtle, East Providence Join us for the 4th annual Motif Spoken Awards! We are excited to be returning to Myrtle to celebrate RI’s spoken word community. The live celebration,...
VOTE HERE! "May your tattoo ink never run dry," as the ancient Portlandian blessing goes, has rarely been more applicable. Motif is proud to partner again with Narragansett Brewery to bring you the RI Tattoo Awards,...
By Lillian MK Photography By Olivia Lunger By Izzy Cooke ...
The Music Awards went off without a hitch this year, and over the course of the evening more than 400 local music lovers dropped by to dance, listen, and cheer on fellow musicians. We'll have...
It’s often said (well, I definitely say this), that some of the deepest conversations and connected moments can happen while one is sitting in a car. This is certainly true for the duo, band, sisterhood...
Image: Olivia Lunger. Local Civil War re-enactor Bill Sherman was having trouble recruiting young people into the hobby, so he hit on a novel idea that is perfectly suited to Gen Z. He immediately telephoned his...
The Continental Congress, befooled. April Fool’s Day originated among the French a few years into the Revolutionary War. Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin had been pleading with them for any sort of assistance. The brand...
If you have been a craft beer lover over this past decade, you may remember when the first Rhode Island Brewery Passport was released. It was changed to an app in 2020. Six years later,...
After attending Chalumeau’s release party for their album BLUE at The Met in Pawtucket last August, I wrote that if you ever got the chance to see them perform live, you should jump on it....
On February 28, after 20 years of being a community staple for first dates, Super Tuesday regulars, and movie fanatics alike, CWTheaters (previously called CinemaWorld) was forced to shut its doors for good. The decline...
Last year, I had a blast and a half working on a fun commercial shoot. I landed the gig because the fella producing, Josh Kirk, asked around to find an actor to portray the client’s...
Photo: Jenn Lombari. @jennlombariphotography ssa lin has been making a local splash like a rockin’ rainstorm after a record-setting blizzard, since releasing her first single, “tallboys,” at the end of 2025. The feedback has been good,...
Here are some hot new local tracks to finish melting the ice. The Hopeless Romantics – “Quiet Kind” The third and final single from The Hopeless Romantics’ upcoming debut album, “Quiet Kind” is also a reworked...
Okee dokee folks… PLEASE stop using AI. The more it knows, the more it grows. We are feeding a beast that will someday destroy us. AI is not your friend, though it may pretend to...
Graphic by Olivia Lunger. ...
Hey idiot, why are you and your friends getting high indoors? Don't you know? We have a planet, a whole, big planet filled with trees, rivers, and critters. The outside world doesn't have to start...
Medical marijuana was legalized in Rhode Island in January 2006, and by May 2022 even recreational sales became legal through state-licensed dispensaries and authorized retailers. Yet it still isn’t safe for medical users to come out of the closet....
Five years ago, Phil Capobres, Don Farias and Linda Dwyer decided to put together a film festival that wouldn’t be just another film festival. And so, Sl (SENE) was born and has been “bringing people together through film, music and art” ever since. Known for its all-encompassing festival, the SENE organization facilitates and participates in […]
Trinity Rep’s new horror play about society is interesting and ambitious. It challenges us to think about what trade-offs we make in order to be members of society, but shies away from ever making us truly horrified by the results. The apocalypse has come and people have organized into two groups: those living inside and […]
While spring serves as a welcoming prelude to summer, it is also ripe with wonderful symbolism: rebirth, fertility and growth. Thus Festival Ballet Providence is opening the spring portion of their season with the popular Up Close On Hope dance series. This latest installment consists of 10 pieces, six world premieres, and features many of […]
See the video that goes with this “It was really interesting…” That’s Bob Mariani’s favorite phrase to describe the work of the Creative Communications Club of Providence (CCCP), and it might be the most apt way to describe the club, of which Mariani is founder and president. The CCCP started “very unintentionally,” according to Mariani […]
April is National Poetry Month. There are a lot of exciting poetic happenings all over the state, but most exciting to me is the Olympic styled event of poetry slam. On April 18, the Providence Poetry Slam will run its semi finals, the second leg of competition in the process of picking out the team […]
Musicians – listen up. If you didn’t attend the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame’s event last week, you need to read this now. It’s time to Tune In & Tune Up, the newest Hall of Fame initiative. Board member Donald “D.C.” Culp describes the basic philosophy of the program with one of his favorite […]
By Michael Delehanty #1 Friday, April 5: Brown Bird (Fits of Reason album release), Last Good Tooth, Alec K Redfearn and The Eyesores. $15 advance, $17 day of. 8pm. All ages. The Met, 1005 Main Street, Pawtucket. Brown Bird have been touring like crazy in the last year, not only repping Rhode Island while […]
For those readers too young to recall firsthand, the following account of recent music history will sound as improbable as the prospect of Lindsay Lohan being appointed attorney general of the United States. But there was a significant – albeit brief – moment during the 1980s when the contrasting civilizations of guitar-driven blues and pop-culture […]
Adults practice yoga. Kids play yoga. Om Kids Yoga Center, located in Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket, caters exclusively to children. You will, therefore, not see grown-ups wearing see-through Lululemon pants. Instead you’ll see children of all ages on the mat. They might be led on a yoga journey in which they will head to Hawaii […]
Brown Bird – Fits of Reason (Supply and Demand Music) Brown Bird is another in the recent run of successful local bands to graduate out of the Providence scene to the national realm. They spent much of the past year on tour and played the main stage at festivals like the Newport Folk Fest. It […]
