Stars With Shirley: May 2023
Look to the Stars with Motif‘s Shirley Prisco, bringing you your astrological horoscope for May 2023.
Grinding On: Changing gears on the espresso machine at Crook Point Brewing Company
Crook Point Brewing Company, 65 Massasoit Ave., East Providence; photo credit: Sean Carlson Over the past year, The Grind has gleamed as one of Rhode Island’s coffee gems. Set up at Crook Point Brewing Company (65...
Four Things You May Not Know About the Award-winning Comedy Musical, Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical
Natasha Hodgson in the Broadway Company of Operation Mincemeat. Photo by Matt Crockett. The Tony Award® and Olivier Award®-winning musical launches the North American leg of its world tour at the Providence Performing Arts Center September...
You've Still Got a Friend: Theater by the Sea presents a rousing world premiere tribute
Hunter Brown, Allie Seibold, and Seth Eliser in You've Still Got a Friend, playing at Bill Hanney's Theatre By The Sea from August 20 - September 13, 2026. Photo by Michael Derr Okee dokee folks… Tonight, at Theatre By The...
They didn’t strike, they picketed: Local librarians find a new way to educate the public.
Photo by Steve Ahlquist. The unionized workers of the Community Libraries of Providence have been without a contract for two years now. Their patience, which had been wearing thin, was stretched to the breaking point by...
Flickers 44: Celebrating film from around the world and right here in the Ocean State
Photo: L-R: Pénélope Rose, Manya Glassman, Emeline Easton, and K. Elisa Garcia. by Mike Ryan. The Rhode Island International Film Festival, also known as Flickers, took place August 4 through August 9, bringing filmmakers, actors, industry...
Welcome to the Neighborhood: RI’s Newest Black-Operated Museum
I think museums and the culture around them have historically gotten a bad rap. When you think of museums, you might associate them with classism, inaccessibility, and wealthy donors and patrons. There’s also the issue...
Lawn Beers to Harvest Cheers: Summer's Last Pours to Autumn's Fresh Taps
As the leaves change to amber hues, so do fall beers. Our local brewers are excited about the opportunity to offer these loved styles of craft beer. If you are looking forward to cozy sweaters...
Fall Happenings Map
Illustration by Sadie Levine. 1. Adams Farm (pumpkins, hay rides, corn mazes) Plus: Variety fall farm stand 158 Burnt Swamp Road, Cumberland 401-714-4425 2. Appleland Orchard (apples) Plus: Cider, wine, and donuts 135 Smith Avenue, Greenville 401-949-3690 3. Barden Family Orchard (apples, pumpkins) Plus: Farmers...
Roots Report
Okee dokee folks… I just realized that I have been attending concerts for 50 years now. In that span of time I have seen countless shows. I honestly have no idea how many I have...
YourFriendM00n Wants You to Know You’re Not Alone
Moon Leone didn’t set out to make your run-of-the-mill pop songs. They build whole worlds, embodying different characters and using visuals to tell stories that ultimately help people heal from trauma. Performing as YourFriendM00n, they...
Art Focused Forum
On August 12, Motif cohosted a forum on the Arts in Providence featuring Democratic Primary Mayoral candidates Brett Smiley and David Morales. In Providence, the real election typically happens in the primary. The winner will go...
In Their Own Words: 2026
Every election cycle, Motif brings you the candidates in their own words so you can try to compare apples to apples. It’s our way of contributing to the political process while not having the fact-checking...
ecoRI News Roundup
Environmental Organizations Endorse Foulkes for Governor PROVIDENCE — The Providence Streets Coalition, a grassroots activist organization devoted to increasing funding, safety, and reliability in the state’s transit network, announced July 21 that it is backing former...
ON THE COVER: Nicholas "Niko" Tolentino
For the cover of Motif’s Fall Guide, painter and muralist Nicholas “Niko” Tolentino of Cranston drew inspiration from his childhood days, he relates in an interview at White Electric Coffee Co-Op in Providence. Roger Williams Park...
No Concert is an Island
Centerville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket hosted its first live music event in August. It started big with the Island Roads Fest, featuring popular reggae/ rock bands including Sublime, Slightly Stoopid, Iration, Action Bronson, DENM, Bumpin...
Tatting at the Convention Center
Stepping into a tattoo convention without a tattoo or an array of piercings can be intimidating, like stepping into a gallery show without reading the title first. Aside from a pair of basic ear studs,...
Arts Focus Forum
August 12, 6:30 - 8:30 PM Southside Cultural Center - 393 Broad Street, Providence What do the candidates for Mayor of Providence have in mind for the future of arts engagement in the “Creative Capital”? Find...
MEOWS, MALTS, DOGS AND DRAFTS: Have a pint to rescue a paw
Can art by Joey Visco Dogs and drafts? Is there any better way to celebrate yappy hour? If you are an animal and craft beer lover, this is an event you do not want to miss!...
NOW IT’S OUR TURN: Local team seeks to keep up positive momentum from World Cup
Photo by Sindayiganza Photography. The FIFA World Cup tournament was full of thrills, drama, chaos, unity, and live television shots of devastated children in tears after their team lost a heartbreaking match. The final whistle brought...
Boatload of music: Titanic drama
Matthew Provençal as Thomas Andrews in ‘Titanic: The Broadway Musical’ at Bill Hanney's Theatre By The Sea July 23 – August 15, 2026. Photo by Mark Turek. The challenge to staging a production of “Titanic: The...
2026 Tattoo Awards Gallery Wall
The Tattoo Awards featured a gallery wall populated by local artists. Here is a selection of the artwork on display! By Brianne Elizabeth @foxhallowart By Victori Leo Riel Grab Your Heart & Go by Allie Boyer @peaceflowercreations MONSTROELIZASUE by...
BTS with DMK: Lily Spencer
Photo by Jess Lee Images. I met Lily Spencer in an acting class taught by Eric Lutes, whom many television fans will remember from the 1990s sitcom “Caroline in the City.” Eric, who now lives in...
2026 Tattoo Award Winners
Rachel WS. Favorite Animal/ Favorite Floral Tara D’Agostino – Iron Lion Tattoo By the numbers, Tara D’Agostino got her first tattoo at the age of 15, picked up her own tattoo machine at the age of 19, opened...
The Long Game: River Shook Arrives Home
Photo by Jillian Clark. There’s no feeling quite like finally being able to fully step into your own, to truly embrace your whole self and carry yourself through the world with that mentality. Not an identity...
Roots Report
Kai Nanfelt. Okee dokee folks… Last weekend I went on a ten-hour, each way, road trip to play a show. The drive wasn’t so bad, but the music was horrible. As I have mentioned before, I...
The Butterfly’s Shadow
Photo by Isaac Laliberte Wards 2, 9 and 12 all report the same. Mendez wins in each! It appeared that Providence was perfectly poised to usher-in its first female mayor in history. The polls were closed and...
A Flicker of Flame
“You’re late, Brother,” she said, hovering outside the weathered cottage near a pebbly beach, indistinguishable from the shadows cast by moonlight that hit the thick hydrangeas. It was late in the evening of a seawind-chilled...
American Caesar Salad
It’s almost Cthulhu – pardon my hiccup, I meant, “election” – season again. And if the tactics of these times don’t make your head swim and your bowls ache, as if you were being eviscerated...
ON THE COVER: Bob Eggleton
When cover artist Bob Eggleton of Warwick first got interested in art and started sketching nightmarish creatures, he recalls, an aunt asked him, “What’s drawing a monster gonna get you in life?” He’s spent the last...
GREASE
Skyler Shields (Kenickie) and the cast of the Theatre By The Sea (Wakefield, RI) production of “Grease” running thru July 18, 2026. Photo by Mark Turek. “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop! A-wop-bam-boom!” BY ALISON O’DONNELL ON JUNE 27, 2026 Grease is the...
Stuff to Do
Your Guide to the Other Side: Beetlejuice at PPAC
Bobbing green strobe lights and eerie music playing as the audience fills seats are a harbinger of the off-beat adventure ahead, but nothing can truly prepare viewers for the inanity of a character self-described as “Ghost Zombie Jesus.” Welcome to Beetlejuice! The musical adaptation – truly, only the first act was adapted; the second offers […]
The Comedy and Depth of “Jardin de Otoño”: A Teatro ECAS Production
Imagine you’re sitting in a black box theater in the dark, eagerly awaiting the beginning of a play starring a real-life soap opera actor from your childhood, when suddenly, familiar music emerges (the opening song from “Cañaveral de Pasiones”) and you’re transported to a time where you actually watched soap operas with your mom, and […]
Hits, Crits, and Fails: D&D Honor Among Thieves
This will be a mostly spoiler-free review. I say mostly because you might connect some dots. Don’t worry about it, some twists you’ll see coming a mile away anyway. We’ll get to that. The Dungeons and Dragons franchise hasn’t always had the greatest success in adaptation for television or film. Anyone who remembers the bad […]
Subterranean Jungle: Jenny Hurricane — Two Decades of Being a Creep and Still Rockin’!
It seems crazy that it has been twenty-two years since the Midnight Creeps first came out from the punk rock gutters, influenced by the likes of The Cramps, The Plasmatics, and The Stooges, to put on some of the most electric shows seen here or anywhere. The Creeps toured the country multiple times, performed at […]
Lunar Notes: May 2023
Aries: Personal finances along with very personal thoughts, feelings and all things private occupy you during this period. Mercury in retrograde until after the 14th provides the energy to think things through thoroughly. Once they’re distinct, you can verbalize your thoughts and you find folks around you are willing to listen. Taurus: Relationships, all levels […]
Art Battle Pawtucket: Don’t brush this one off!
The Atrium on Main hosts Art Battle Pawtucket, part of Art Battle International (ABI), on the first Sunday of every month. This is a fun event where artists from the local area compete to have their artwork showcased and even sold. It’s a night of creativity and excitement as talented artists compete in this live-art […]
RI Football Club: Kicking it up a few notches
“What the state has to offer for a professional system is unmatched in the league. We want to be a force in the American soccer landscape.” – Team President Brett Luy Rhode Island Football Club (RIFC) has had great buzz since the team was announced in 2022. Breaking a United Soccer League (USL) record by […]
Subterranean Jungle: Gambling with clams and hurricanes
Christina Dedora, Cheryl Pynn, Kendra Doe-Mode, and Grace Feisthamel are Rhode Island-based farmers working at Blue Skys Farm, Sanctuary Herbs, Southside Community Land Trust, and Weatherlow Farm, respectively; all recently had their music video debut. Jeff Toste of the Providence-based Detroit Rebellion pitched them the video concept for the band’s song “Hedge Your Bets,” a […]
Motown’s Four Tops: Celebrating their 70th Anniversary with Providence Concert
Rock & Roll Hall of Famers and seminal R&B legends the Four Tops will perform on Friday, May 19 at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Providence, to celebrate seven decades together. They will be joined by fellow Motown labelmates and lifelong friends The Temptations. Duke Fakir is the last remaining founding member of the world-renowned […]