Babylon cover art; band photo; image credits: The Huntress and Holder of Hands At a recent record-release concert in Providence, Rhode Island, MorganEve Swain teased a nearly full house that her band The Huntress and Holder...
Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade. The party doesn't have to end after Halloween weekend. Keep the festivities going with a trip back to the Roaring Twenties when the North American tour of The Great Gatsby...
Artwork: AMOC by Ewa Romaszewicz in collaboration with Ambarish Karmalkar, PhD. For many of us, our most common run-ins with the scientific disciplines happen in two places: the classroom or a news headline. I think it’s...
What does it feel like to be in a room beaming with creative thinkers and artists? What does it look like when a group of motivational, dedicated, hard-working artists comes together? What creative forces can...
(New Harvest “It’s Party Time” poster; poster design: Britta Gustafson / New Harvest; photo credit: Sean Carlson) Photos by Ampersand Creative Co. From one former industrial site to another, New Harvest Coffee Roasters has expanded from humble...
L-R: President Patrick Canary and Secretary Chris Meringolo. Photo by Scott Barnett. Have you ever wanted to homebrew? Yes? I have great news! The RI Brewing Society is holding a “Learn to Homebrew Day.” The American...
When I sat down on a comfy couch at Big Nice Studio in Carrington, RI, for an interview with Space Cowboy Newt, one of the first things they told me was that they’re a rambler....
A new chapter for digital recording studio, The Proving Ground, has begun and owner and producer, Dylan Titus, is ready to celebrate two-and-a-half years of operation by putting together an event showcasing artists who have...
Okee dokee folks… Soon we should know whether this country is going to completely fall into fascism, erupt into civil war, or maintain democracy, as it should. A few weeks ago, Tom Morello presented the Power...
Swan Point Cemetery. Some of the eeriest places in RI are ready for you to check out, if you dare. As the first crisp, damp breaths of autumn begin to catch at the lungs and the trees...
Open: Rollers: A new sports bar has arrived in Providence as of June 12. Rollers hosts watch parties, serves a variety of diner-style food and drinks, and offers both private and semi-private party events. The spot...
1. Higher Education Facilities Bond Measure -- $275 million This bond would use $165 million to create an integrated health building at the URI campus, open to the public, which would also be used for labs...
For cover artist Mishki Thompson of Hopkinton, love helped her conquer a disability and embark on a journey of learning and practicing the art of beadworking, and passing on her Indigenous traditions to the next...
It’s 2003, Thursday afternoon, in a quiet little town called Eberndorf, in the deep south of Austria, surrounded by fields, trees, and medieval churches; 10-year-old me is in my parents’ living room, glued to the...
Photo by Cat Laine. The logistics, physical, and emotional demands of the production are mind-boggling – one actor spending 80 minutes morphing among 12 characters with unique accents and mannerisms while delivering lines almost non-stop and,...
Henry Nwaru in SAME DIFFERENCE at Wilbury Theatre Group. Photo by Erin X. Smithers. It’s 1993 in Providence. A gang leader from Harlem lands at his ex-girlfriend's apartment in the middle of the night — wounded,...
A reimagined production of the international, award-winning musical The Bodyguard will arrive at the Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC), October 23 – 25, 2026, as part of the Theatre’s 2026/2027 *Encore Series. Based on the 1992...
All photos by Lillian MK Photo. RI Battle of the Bands had a smooth run this year, every performance dodging the monsoons that have plagued past iterations. The year started out with 16 highly accomplished, but...
Okee dokee folks… I mentioned this in my column a few months ago and now it is coming close to being (IS) a major issue. GASOLINE. Before the mango moron started his war of distraction...
We all know that women were the first to make beer, right? It was discovered by accident when grains were used to make other foods digestible. Dried grain was stored and used to make bread....
Haunted Attractions 1. Factory of Terror Terror experience for all ages, including a variety of imaginative themes and thorough design. 120 Pearl Street, Fall River, MA 774-415-0153 factoryofterror.com 2. Scary Acres Fall festivities with the main attraction - a three-part terror experience...
Cover artist Nilton Cárdenas of Cranston refuses to stand still. “I am constantly moving, and creating art,” he says in an interview at Sharks Peruvian Cuisine on Broad Street in Central Falls. And when he’s not...
Photos by the author. Magda León is more than a multidisciplinary artist; she is an immigrant woman who uses art to explore her identity, her roots, and her connection to community. When I asked her how...
Photo by Scott Lapham. For the Rhode Island artist, educator and muralist, creativity has become a way to open doors, strengthen community and help others discover possibilities within themselves. For Nilton Cárdenas, giving back does not begin...
Every Hispanic Heritage Month, we are given an opportunity to look back.We celebrate the pioneers who came before us, the traditions they preserved, the institutions they built, and the sacrifices they made so generations that...
Photo by Dave Cantelli. Ever rummaged through your spouse’s sweater drawer expecting to find argyles, yet instead stumbling across a secret fetish so utterly demented that it immediately sent you bolting toward a new life? Deftly...
Rachael Warren as Clare. Photo by Mark Turek. If there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, The Getaway Driver at Trinity Repertory Company is it. The world premiere of the two-person play...
Photo by Jesse Dufault. Hark, spectators of the realm! If thy soul doth hunger for a "reverent irreverence" turning a 77-seat black box into a roaring arena of wretched romance, get thee to the Burbage Theatre...
RI Music Hall of Fame plaque honoring Rudy Cheeks/The Fabulous Motels/The Young Adults. (Photo: Michael Bilow) Much has already been written on the passing Sep 18 at age 76 of Bruce McCrae, who used the stage name...
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...
Providence dwellers Peyman Farzinpour and his wife Nara Shahbazyan are the quintessential 21st century musicians. In addition to managing very busy performing and teaching schedules, Farzinpour and Shahbazyan are the co-founders of ENSEMBLE/PARALLAX, a New England music ensemble now in its fifth season. In its first four seasons, ENSEMBLE/PARALLAX commissioned and premiered more than […]
Anyone who has children or works in school settings knows that overall, today’s school children have considerably less options when it comes to extracurriculars than older people did when were were growing up. This begs the question: Do the after-school programs that are offered state-wide make up for scaled back arts and physical/health education, and […]
Raymond Two Hawks Watson is an activist, educator, musician and community leader who is a leading voice in understanding southern New England Indigenous people’s history and culture. During a recent interview, Watson and I discussed RI’s ‘warped’ historical timeline, which, when presented in most contemporary settings, often fails to recognize the size and scope of […]
Rachel Hughes is a writer and artist whose work has appeared in The Vernal Arts & Music Festival, FringePVD, Talking Bodies, in print in the Frequency Writers’ anthology and online at soar.forharriet.com and wnba-books.org where she placed third for fiction in The Bookwoman’s 2018 writing contest. Rachel is also the founder of the international arts […]
Don’t Be a Knob (Israel) Perpetual imperialist Israel is at it yet again. Last week, the nation’s prime minister, Benny Nuttyyahoo, announced plans to annex the West Bank should he survive the country’s upcoming election. The Anglo-Stalinist wet dream has spent the greater part of its existence tormenting their neighbors in the name of Yahweh, […]
Everyone’s talking about the brand spankin’ new Wexford Innovation Center down on Dyer Street, which had its grand opening on July 17. Even more interesting is its anchor tenant — the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) — which will be opening its doors officially next month. I recently sat down with Joy Fox, CIC’s media relations […]
We Give Up Due to the gap between when Phillipe and Jorge have to file our copy and when it comes out on the newsstands, we have almost given up on writing about our pathologically lying, infantile, racist president, Orange Orangutan. Anything projectile-vomited forward on a Friday by The Donald is bound to be overwhelmed […]
I’ve written for Motif for a few years now, but this right here is by far the hardest piece I’ve ever tried to compose. You see when I’m not writing articles or reviewing theater, I’m teaching. I’m an English Language Arts teacher in a high school. A high school in Providence. And wow, do I love […]
When my eldest son left his play-based preschool co-op to join our local public kindergarten, nothing felt right. I suddenly was excluded from his school experience, left to glean information about his day from the stacks of worksheets he brought home. And what I gathered felt, to my untrained eye, inappropriate for a kid his […]
Unless you’ve been avoiding the news (which is honestly understandable these days), you’ve probably heard recently about the dangers of vaping. This week we saw the sixth confirmed death from the mysterious vape-related illness that seems to be sweeping the nation. Although we have yet to see any cases in RI, the RI Department of […]
