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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
“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...
The NecronomiCon is a biennial celebration of the works of HP Lovecraft and beyond, and throughout the genre of “weird fiction.” Centered in downtown Providence, it boasts four days of literary panels, readings from various...
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...
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...
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...
Isham, Sheila. Teth (#8 Creation Series). 1972. Acrylic spray on canvas. Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI. (Image courtesy of the Newport Art Museum.) Quite some time ago, I read a quip that the art of diplomacy...
As an international student a year into Rhode Island, yet still only a breath into America, I finally found a question that I might be able to answer – this is my continued exploration of: What...
Tucked inside the historic Harrison Steam Complex in Providence's Olneyville neighborhood, Siren Spirits is redefining what a visit to a distillery can be. Equal parts neighborhood gathering place, cocktail destination, and craft spirits experience, this...
Music makes beer taste better? In 2016, Vrije University in Brussels, Belgium, conducted a study that showed scientific evidence that music has an impact on our taste of beer. This study concluded that lower audible...
Cold Chocolate. Okee dokee folks… Well, summer is here and for me, summer is HELL! A few years back I wrote a song about my disdain of Summer for the Empire Revue’s “Cool” show. Here are...
America, the focus of this issue, runs on wealth. So here’s how to get yourself some. It’s the perfect opportunity to launch a new column aimed at helping non-one-percenters with financial matters. Feel free to...
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“Foreigner.” I find it a harsh word that I hate seeing applied to others. Yet applied to myself, it’s the only word that half conveys how baffling I find this country at times. I’d like...
In his final year at college, cover artist William Schaff truly learned what it was like to work in a studio. “I developed a course of study in general fine arts with one of my...
Rachael Warren as Diana. Photo by Mark Turek. The Next to Normal audience is exposed to waves of raw emotions drowning your soul and dampening your eyes. You may wish you had premedicated with any of...
Blaq Sav. Photos by Lillian MK Photography. Favorite Free Verse Spoken Word 2026 Ashley Hosa Sending out a big congrats to Ashley Hosa, who came to the Spoken Awards with a multitude of wonderful supporters (shoutout to Ryan!)....
The founder of the long-standing hipster-ish West Side restaurant Julians hadn’t been involved directly with the restaurant in quite some time. But his legacy persisted. A larger-than-life personality, you never knew at what event Julian...
Renowned supporter of local music and arts Lisa Gourley (Sometimes Lisa Gourleyx) passed away on June 15. Reading reactions on social media, you can’t help but notice how often the words “nice,” “kind,” and “photography”...
This beautiful Solstice moment, June 21, 2026 brings the winds of change into our lives. The pivotal points among the planetary movers and shakers of the Zodiac find Gemini, with Uranus and Ceres, reaching across...
By Olivia Lunger By Lillian MK Photography ...
Favorite Color Tattoo Evan Olin, Powerline Tattoo Runner-up: Luis Bold, Unicorn Ink Favorite Black & Gray Ryan Dowden, Dark Ritual Runner-up: Luis Bold, Unicorn Ink Favorite Black & Gray with Color Steven McDonough, Secret Safe Tattoo Runner-up: Rachel WS, Rachel WS Fine Art...
By Lillian MK Photography By Olivia Lunger ...
It’s been my great pleasure and honor to write the craft beer column for Motif for the last 10 years. I’ve watched the industry blossom, grow, struggle and overcome. I’ve tasted the good, the bad, the weird and the bland. I’ve attended Beervana and the GIBF, and I’ve had the privilege to work for one […]
We need to talk about Howard Phillips Lovecraft. He was enormously sexist and xenophobic, and his bigotry isn’t the subtext — it’s right there, front and center. His letters reveal that he believed in phrenology for much of his life and feared the intermingling of cultures until his death. His story “The Horror at Red […]
Okee dokee folks…Most of you probably know that I hate summer. It’s the heat — I am not a fan and being in the sun actually drains me. So to stay cool, I wear shorts as often as possible, but I WILL NOT wear them on stage! There has been a meme floating around that […]
The Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson Fellowship Fund is calling for applications from visual artists for one of its three $25,000 fellowships. In addition to these fellowships, three runners-up will be invited to an artist residency stay at Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vt. This is a fantastic opportunity for the many talented visual artists […]
Providence City Council President Sabina Matos is considered a buzzworthy figure in Providence politics. During a recent interview, President Matos and I discussed the ongoing state intervention into Providence schools. In the following excerpt, we delved into what I have been referring to as a “bilateral” approach to addressing RI schools: attacking infrastructure issues with an […]
H.P. Lovecraft wrote these words in 1936, describing a psychoactive plant that may sound familiar to some readers: “I had encountered at last one of those curious mirage-plants about which so many of our men told stories. Anderson had warned me of them, and described their appearance very closely – the shaggy stalk, the spiky […]
Aries: Summer’s end brings all fun and games to you, but as the month ends you get down to business, organizing your space, making nice-nice with colleagues and impressing those in authority. You discover new ways to get things done efficiently while finding time for some fun. Taurus: Recent upheavals in your life bring positive […]
It’s been more than eight months since the police led a raid to steamroll the Foxy Lady, and the Christmas season shutdown ignited a more honest conversation about sex workers than has ever before occured in RI. The Providence Board of Licensing revoked all the Foxy’s business licenses, forcing it to close. The Foxy fought […]
There is no shortage of waterfront dining in the Ocean State. But there’s a hidden gem of an outdoor patio far from the water in a most unlikely location: Ciro’s Tavern in Woonsocket. Located just off Main Street, Ciro’s Tavern looks much like a fairy tale castle from the outside. A heavy, wooden front door […]
If you didn’t know who Cthulhu was 10 years ago, but you’re familiar with him/her/them/it now, there’s a chance you have Neils Hobbs to thank. Or blame, depending on how scared you were. “I’ve been interested in creepy underwater stuff since I was a child,” Hobbs says. That led to an appreciation of Lovecraft’s often […]
