Processed with VSCO with 6 preset When Steve DelMonico (vocals/guitar) approached John Faraone (drums) with an impossibly unique band name, there was no way of knowing that 10 years later they’d be sitting at Nolan’s with...
Photo: Dave Rezendes. John Faraone: a man of many bands, many instruments, and one poetic voice. While John wouldn’t call himself a poet, I certainly believe that his lyrics are simply stanzas waiting to be printed....
Photo by James Brooks. Okee dokee folks… I have referenced the Jethro Tull song, “Too Old to Rock & Roll, Too Young to Die,” A few times in my 22 years of writing for Motif, and...
(Photo credit: Keith J.G. McCurdy, from the cover art of Vudu Sister’s Adynata; photograph of the art installation LO SGUARDO - Humanitas - Physis by sculptor Igor Mitoraj at the Neopolis Archaeological Park of Siracusa...
Mount Pleasant. Elmhurst. The Valley Arts District. These are all neighborhoods whose offerings I thought I knew well, having worked in and around Providence over the last few years. But you can certainly miss a...
Buddy Mott. Once upon a time, if you wanted a tattoo, one of the things you could do was traipse to Newport from any of the four corners of the world and get yourself a tattoo...
The actual declaration of Independence was first proclaimed to the people of Newport from this building in July 1776. (Photo by Maureen O'Gorman) It doesn't take long for a person new to Rhode Island to find...
The RI Department of Transportation (RIDOT) announced a major initiative to repair potholes caused by a harsh winter. A new Pothole Service Requests Dashboard site on the web – https://www.dot.ri.gov/travel/potholes.php – allows the public to...
The tattoo artist who goes by Mish, of Fall River, MA, created this month’s cover. “I got the nickname when I was younger, and it just kinda stuck,” she says. Also, it stirs a little...
On the “Weekend Update” satirical news segment on Saturday Night Live. anchor Colin Jost displayed a snapshot of an unhinged rant laced with profanity in the form of a Donald Trump post to Truth Social,...
Wednesday, May 276 - 10pmMyrtle, East Providence Join us for the 4th annual Motif Spoken Awards! We are excited to be returning to Myrtle to celebrate RI’s spoken word community. Want to see your favorite Rhode Island...
VOTE HERE! "May your tattoo ink never run dry," as the ancient Portlandian blessing goes, has rarely been more applicable. Motif is proud to partner again with Narragansett Brewery to bring you the RI Tattoo Awards,...
By Lillian MK Photography By Olivia Lunger By Izzy Cooke ...
The Music Awards went off without a hitch this year, and over the course of the evening more than 400 local music lovers dropped by to dance, listen, and cheer on fellow musicians. We'll have...
It’s often said (well, I definitely say this), that some of the deepest conversations and connected moments can happen while one is sitting in a car. This is certainly true for the duo, band, sisterhood...
Image: Olivia Lunger. Local Civil War re-enactor Bill Sherman was having trouble recruiting young people into the hobby, so he hit on a novel idea that is perfectly suited to Gen Z. He immediately telephoned his...
The Continental Congress, befooled. April Fool’s Day originated among the French a few years into the Revolutionary War. Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin had been pleading with them for any sort of assistance. The brand...
If you have been a craft beer lover over this past decade, you may remember when the first Rhode Island Brewery Passport was released. It was changed to an app in 2020. Six years later,...
No Kings 3, Mar 28, 2026 No Kings – nokings.org – is a non-violent protest movement responding to the monarchy-like concentration of power in the hands of the president, to the exclusion of Congress and the...
After attending Chalumeau’s release party for their album BLUE at The Met in Pawtucket last August, I wrote that if you ever got the chance to see them perform live, you should jump on it....
On February 28, after 20 years of being a community staple for first dates, Super Tuesday regulars, and movie fanatics alike, CWTheaters (previously called CinemaWorld) was forced to shut its doors for good. The decline...
Last year, I had a blast and a half working on a fun commercial shoot. I landed the gig because the fella producing, Josh Kirk, asked around to find an actor to portray the client’s...
Photo: Jenn Lombari. @jennlombariphotography ssa lin has been making a local splash like a rockin’ rainstorm after a record-setting blizzard, since releasing her first single, “tallboys,” at the end of 2025. The feedback has been good,...
Here are some hot new local tracks to finish melting the ice. The Hopeless Romantics – “Quiet Kind” The third and final single from The Hopeless Romantics’ upcoming debut album, “Quiet Kind” is also a reworked...
Okee dokee folks… PLEASE stop using AI. The more it knows, the more it grows. We are feeding a beast that will someday destroy us. AI is not your friend, though it may pretend to...
Graphic by Olivia Lunger. ...
Hey idiot, why are you and your friends getting high indoors? Don't you know? We have a planet, a whole, big planet filled with trees, rivers, and critters. The outside world doesn't have to start...
Medical marijuana was legalized in Rhode Island in January 2006, and by May 2022 even recreational sales became legal through state-licensed dispensaries and authorized retailers. Yet it still isn’t safe for medical users to come out of the closet....
Cover artist Elliott Italiano of Jamestown is a self-made glass artist. As a young adult, Italiano's interests centered on fashion, inspiring thoughts of pursuing a degree in luxury marketing and design. He relates to his past...
MAD Magazine cover, Feb 2016: Donald Trump and Alfred E. Neuman We fought a military war; our opponents fought a political one. We sought physical attrition; our opponents aimed for our psychological exhaustion. In the process...
At this point, what more can be said about the orange stain on our country that is Donald J. Trump? From his blatant racism and misogyny, to his constant grifting and obvious lies, it’s become all too clear that he has absolutely no intention of putting any American first except for his billionaire cronies. This […]
Stage Agency Gives Country Club 30 Days to Submit Restoration Plan for Illegal Seawall PROVIDENCE — Coastal regulators have started the shot clock for the Quidnessett Country Club’s illegally constructed seawall. The Coastal Resources Management Council, by unanimous vote on June 10, rejected a petition from the club to refer the seawall case to the […]
In my recent article, “Foreign Flavor,” I got to explore some of the major immigrant groups of PVD, and where they hailed from. This gave me a vehicle where I could explore my own heritage a bit and give proper homage to my DominicanAmerican mother. For this French American heritage month, I want to shift […]
In the shadow of the concrete chaos that is the Washington Bridge closure, along our city’s Route 195, is a pristine park that we all know and love. I won’t pretend that India Point is under the radar, as it is the only conduit that the creative capital has to the ocean via the Providence […]
Many months ago I was standing in the middle of a pumped crowd at Providence’s beloved AS220, waiting for the next band on the bill to start playing, when up on stage came a group of musicians led by Alex Whitelaw. I remember thinking that he, the lead singer and guitarist, felt like someone entering […]
We had to have a Caesar Salad for the food issue. You should see what we had to chop out for space. Join us as we slice and dice this delicious mix of healthy greens and rotting tomatoes. Harveywood Culture wars are burning in our national heads (in Boston) and hearts (in LA), which has […]
At my house, we use a homemade dry rub to propel chicken wings to the tasty heavens. And we cook them in the oven, because they always come out with a crispy skin and a moist meaty inside. When he concocted it some years ago, the rubmeister of our household dubbed it Something’s A-Fowl. The […]
Julie Adams Strandberg did not set out to be a dancer. She’d taken dance classes when she was younger, but it was her sister Carolyn Adams who took the first leap into dancing with the Paul Taylor Dance Company from 1965-1982. The sisters would later become life-long collaborators, but when Julie entered Cornell University in […]
During the past 18 months that I have been writing cannabis columns for this magazine, I have been fascinated by the diversity of social justice activities in the cannabis culture of the Ocean State. I now have five articles on Social justice and cannabis in RI in the Motif Archives. This article will be the […]
Nerdcore hip-hop rap.
