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!...
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...
The weather is getting warmer and the superheroes have already seized the box office, so that must mean that summer blockbuster season is upon us. We have already had guardians, aliens, pirates and even lifeguards. May kicked the season off in a big way with Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 2 and Alien: Covenant. The […]
There’s so much to do in the summer that the bank account can get drained fast. But there’s plenty to do in RI during the summer that’s free — or very, very cheap — and none of it involves heading to the bathroom when the check comes. Take a look at our list and get […]
The musical culture of Newport has attracted tourists from all over the world for decades. The Folk and Jazz festivals at Fort Adams State Park along with the Yachting Center’s Celtic Rock Festival, Reggae Festival, Summer Comedy Series and Summer Concert Series have been favorites of Newport’s tourists and locals alike. The City by the […]
[See our interview with Tammy Laforest: https://motifri.com/tammytalks/] Do you have a nickname? A couple of goofy drummers named me TamJam, and it has stuck with me ever since! What do you never leave home without? My friends say I am like Mary Poppins because my purse contains everything, but I especially never leave home without […]
Let’s throw the clocks back and reminisce about the Newport Yachting Center, which became the epicenter of music and cultural activity on the Newport Waterfront. Unfortunately, in September 2014, the center was sold due to various complications within the community, specifically noise. The following summer, Waterfront Productions, which previously operated the Newport Yachting Center, came up […]
If you’re looking for some weekend fun that also supports a good cause this July, the South County Rotary Club has just the event for you, complete with hot air balloons, trapeze acts, kooky animal handlers and more! You can find all this at The South County’s 39th Annual Balloon Festival. This event runs from […]
The advent of citizen journalists documenting news as it happens was supposed to usher in a new era of transparency and truth. Aliens land in Roswell? Somebody whips out a cell phone, and cover-up becomes an undoable thing. Yay, score one for our little green friends (who are, in fact, still being illegally detained somewhere […]
Everyone loves a good comeback story, right? Rhode Island’s great environmental champion, the late US Senator John Chafee, was fond of saying, “Given half a chance, nature will rebound. But we must give nature that half a chance.” If we take care of nature, nature will take care of us. A nuclear facility can become […]
Nostalgically showcasing the worst excesses of organized crime when Mafia Don Raymond L.S. Patriarca controlled New England, Last Good Heist rehashes the bad old days of mobbed-up PVD, lately frequent fodder for true crime. The 1975 Bonded Vault Heist, the subject of this book, has the entirety of Episode 4 of the podcast “Crimetown” devoted […]
My friend Dan was a guy full of energy; when he was stressed out, he retreated to the woods for hiking and healing. Nature was his sanctuary until the day he was bitten by a deer tick. In a week, a circular rash appeared and fever set in. He brushed it off, only going to […]
