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 ...
Stereotypically viewed as the final resort to saving a failed relationship, the idea of couples therapy tends to send your average happy couple running for their (love) lives. Similarly, when people fantasize about their ideal Valentine’s Day – filled with giant stuffed teddy bears, intimate dinner dates, and a trail of rose petals, they rarely […]
Ahh, the Love Holiday — marked every year by celebrations both romantic and nonconformist alike. Creativity abounds in non-romantic festivities the likes of Galentine’s, Palentine’s, Palpatine’s, AntiValentine’s, and Single’s Awareness Day (and, for what it’s worth in matters of the heart, World Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day). Upon the day’s observance, there is a sentiment […]
AI is everywhere; it is becoming an integral part of people’s everyday lives, whether they realize it or not. It simplifies some aspects, confuses others, and can also be a major source of entertainment. I sincerely enjoy having conversations with Alexa, though they’re not much more than question-and-answer. With Valentine’s Day coming up, I decided […]
This is the second part of an article from our previous issue. Find the full version at motifri.com/ flav-vapes To better understand the public’s opinion regarding the recent flavored vape ban, I spoke to numerous Rhode Islanders across various professions and backgrounds looking for critiques. The common thread between most was that the public believes […]
To many observers, this statement may seem like an exaggeration. Some state and local officials claim they are doing everything they can to ease what is an ongoing state health emergency, while advocates for the homeless see it a different way. As the old phrase goes, the numbers don’t lie. Homelessness in RI has increased […]
The Atlantic Mills Tenants Union, an affiliate chapter of the Rhode Island Tenants Union, has received no reply or acknowledgment of union demands from owner Howard and Eleanor Brynes LLC or potential buyers Eric Edelman and Robert Berle. “Despite our well-written letters and well attended rally on December 21st, we’ve not heard directly from either […]
From 2016 – 2020 Motif hosted a satire column named “Alternative Facts,” a title we enjoyed because it both lampooned a favorite phrase of that administration and because it paid homage to our own journalistic roots as “Alternative News,” a description that has fallen by the historical wayside. On occasion, we received considerable blowback on […]
Evie’s friends had bailed on her, so she drank alone. Ned was bartending, but his heady personality required a buffer to manage his conspiratorial rants. Evie didn’t have the energy. A conversation with Ned would only compound her sense of abandonment. She wasn’t ready to discuss the physics of his recent obsession: An earth-killing meteor […]
It’s Thursday night, I’m sitting on a bus with smoke swirling around me, laughter filling the space, and smooth keyboard music setting the tone for the evening. I look to my left and am offered something; “it’s a rosebud joint” someone says from an undisclosed area of the bus. It’s too smoky to see who […]
The Get Up Kids at Fête Music Hall Celebrating the 25th anniversary of their 1999 pop-punk classic, Something to Write Home About, nationally touring act The Get Up Kids will be in PVD at Fête Music Hall February 16. Whether you’re part of the millennial generation that has a sense of nostalgia for the pop-punk […]
