Blending in with Brown and RISD faculty, Providence-based filmmaker Laura Colella is having a preview run for her feature film Breakfast With Curtis. In early December, the Cable Car Cinema will showcase Laura’s third feature film that she edited and directed in Providence. The movie tells the story of an estranged young boy, named Curtis, who moved to an offbeat neighborhood of bohemians. While welcoming him into their world, the heartwarming film captures the warmth of a community that embraced the introverted boy.
Laura has been named one of “Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces in Independent Film” and has won the 2013 Independent Spirit award for her films. While Breakfast With Curtis had its World Premiere at last year’s Los Angeles Film Festival, Laura says, “I look forward very much to the run at the Cable Car, and hope people will come out to experience the film with an audience, which is the most fun way.”
For more information, check out the Cable Car’s website for screening times during the month of December.
Social media has been a big factor in our friend requesting, liking and commenting, information sharing lives for several years now, but this year there was a quiet, yet significant ground shift. 2013 is the year that social media finally overtook porn as the number one activity on the internet. It’s having a big impact on all media – the way we present our stories in print and online, the way we organize information, the way we share content with our readers – and Providence Monthly is no exception. Here are some examples of the ways social media is changing the face of your city magazine.
While at first it could have become another fizzled cupcake-like trend, the food truck scene just keeps rolling and getting better. Here are our favorites that debuted this year:
Sushi Awesome Go! Go!
Must-try dish: Fugu Liver Dangerous! Delicious! Spicy Roll with Hot
Where to find: On Twitter @!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Uncle Nuryev’s Pilaf Yurt
Fun fact: Although the genial, eccentric Uncle Nuryev has quickly become a beloved character on College Hill, it’s widely suspected that he’s actually wanted for war crimes back in his native Uzbekistan
Where to find: My friend, my friend, my friend, look here – good food, pretty girls!
The Sweetest Touch Windowless Candy Van
Fun fact: Kids are always welcome to come inside the van where they can pet puppies and play video games
Where to find: Exactly 1000 feet from the nearest elementary school
West Side GOdega
Popular items: Beef empanadas, arroz con pollo, salami, blunt wraps, toilet paper, scratch tickets, looseys, condoms, phone cards, Santeria candles, bootleg DVDs of The Avengers
Where to find: Dexter Park during kickball games
Wings Over Mordor
Must-try dish: The Fellowship of the Wing, a monstrous 16-wing sampler platter, including flavors like Balrog’s Blazin’ Buffalo Wings and The Shire’s Famous Ale Batter, with a side of Magical Elf Bread
Where to find: Look to its coming at first light on the fifth day, at dawn look east
Bro-tastic Cock Punch
Must-try dish: Slammin’ Tequila Lime Wasabi Tuna Burger Shooters with Mango Habañero Bacon BBQ Sauce and S’More Crumbles, served in a Bloody Mary
Where to find: Where are the drunk chicks at, bro?
Vegan/Artist/Human
Fun fact: Whatever… we’re so over this
Where to find: Ugh, if you have to ask…
Fat Lou’s Mobility Scooter
Insider tip: Mondays are all-you-can-eat pulled pork and glazed donut nacho night
Where to find: The parking lot of the Stop & Shop on Branch Ave.
Okay, so seeing a plethora of orange cones, potholes and “keep out” signs isn’t so strange for the Ocean State. However, add in a few key neighborhoods where the residents have a lot of civic pride and aren’t afraid to use their voice, and you have the perfect storm of disgruntled citizens.
Hope Street
Oy vey! The hope street Merchant’s Association’s pants were “metaphorically ankled” all summer.
North Main Street
Rhode Island summer construction at its best. it’s now fall construction, maybe even winter construction?
Davey Lopes Recreation Center Pool
Can’t the kids learn to swim in the Bay? Just dodge the barges, sunken ships and toxic runoff.
Many new restaurants have not only added more places to eat but have filled food niches that were missing from the Creative Capital. From down home southern cooking to boutique Spanish cider, Providence continues to grow in quantity and quality.
When same sex marriage was legalized in August, cheers of delight mixed with sighs of relief across the state. That was followed by a run on City Hall for marriage licenses. A month later, Stephen Hartley (better known as Miss Kitty Litter, Providence’s most recognizable drag queen) married Brian Deslauriers at the Beneficent Congregational Church. The cer- emony featured a performance by – who else? – The Providence Gay Men’s Choir, and was followed by a fabulous black and white reception at the Biltmore.
Brown boasts one of the oldest, and dare we add, most attractive core campuses in the country. And to help us all understand and appreciate the buildings that are there, a group of Brown students have created a special new app called FACADES to help explain the history behind over 130 campus buildings. The site even describes what they call “Ghost Buildings” which no longer exist but were once an integral part of the University experience. Now operational, the app is still being upgraded as additional info on specific edifices is received. For more information or to comment visit them on Facebook.
For those of you who are familiar with the work of the Providence Preservation Society, you are no stranger to the commitment they have to bettering Providence's future with the use of the values ingrained in our city's past. This upcoming Thursday, November 14, join former New York City's Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe as he leads a conversation on "What Makes A Great City". In his new role as Senior Vice President at Trust for Public Land, Adrian will be able to share his knowledge from his past work in New York and moderate a discussion with local people who are invested in preservation. The forum will be discussing Providence's position from a global and local perspective as well as tracking the city's evolution of late. Cliff Wood, Executive Director of the Greater Kennedy Plaza Coalition, will also have a one-on-one conversation with Adrian to tap into their collective knowledge of local projects such as the remodel of Kennedy Plaza and the 195 Relocation Project. The series of talks will be continued in January as Jennifer Bradley of the Brookings Institution leads a forum entitled: "Not Always Easy: Building the New Urban Experience". Adrian's talk will be held at the Superman Building, 111 Westminister St., from 5:30-8pm. Free. More
Optimal fitness performance requires optimal fitness gear, and undergarments aren't excluded. How often do you wish you had underwear that can stand up to your race-day expectations?
Local fitness apparel company Believe I Am has developed the “I Am Strong” Running Bikini. Visually appealing, leak resistant and made from moisture-wicking fabric by Providence-founded Dear Kate, the form-fitting pink and black bikini set will remind you of your inner strength as you pass that mile marker.
A pair of local treasure hunters is on the trail of American legends in the new Travel Channel show DigFellas, which premiered this fall.
Bill Ladd, of Warwick, and Howard Hewitt, of East Providence, spend each half hour episode searching for artifacts at sites linked to figures and stories from the annals of American history. In the first episodes, they’ve tracked Blackbeard and Zorro and unearthed an old, rusted pistol on a battlefield of Billy the Kid.
Ladd and Hewitt, who both got hooked on treasure as kids, have been hunting together for about a decade since meeting in a metal detecting club in Taunton. The pair first got noticed for their colorful videos on YouTube, where they whoop and cheer over their best finds around New England.
The antics continue on their reality show, complete with color commentary, their collectors’ motto of “passion over profit” and Ladd’s signature “Yeeeeah!” Amid the excitement of the hunt – and finds – Ladd and Hewitt offer capsule history lessons on the characters they’re chasing and speculate on just how Billy the Kid might have dropped a revolver in the heat of battle. DigFellas airs Wednesday nights at 8pm on the Travel Channel.
One of the newer fall traditions in Providence is the annual Halloween Iron Pour at the always-entertaining Steel Yard in Olneyville (27 Sims Avenue). In conjunction with the Iron Guild, the event will be held on Saturday, October 26 and will also feature live entertainment, music and food. Check out their website for more details and specifics about this most photo-worthy event. And it rains, it pours... but not until the 26th.
Enjoy over 100 varieties of craft beer at the second annual Sun Brewfest at Mohegan Sun this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. For three days, attendees can enjoy tasting microbrews, imports and domestic beer from local and national vendors. Some of the beers on tap will include Goose Island, Newcastle, Redd’s Apple Ale, Long Trail, and Otter Creek.
Along with plenty of brews, food tastings will be available for only $1 per ticket. Mohegan Sun’s very own restaurants will be providing good eats including cooking the first BrewBrunch on Sunday, October 6 at the Sunburst Buffet. Goose Island Brewery is sponsoring the fun-filled brunch with ‘beer-mosas’ and creative Bloody Mary recipes that are sure to please. To celebrate the fall season, Mohegan Sun’s pastry chefs will be preparing Shock Top ice creams made with Honey Apple and Pumpkin Wheat beer varieties. It is never too early for ice cream!
There will be live entertainment beginning at 7pm each night along with interactive games such as ping-pong, air hockey and foosball. Tickets are $25 for each tasting and $75 for the BrewBrunch and can be purchased at the Mohegan Sun Box Office or through Ticketmaster. A portion of brunch tickets sold will go towards a to-be-determined charity. All attendees must be 21 and older.
Tasting Session 1: Friday, October 4th from 7:00pm - 11:00pm in the Uncas Ballroom. Tasting Session 2: Saturday, October 5th from 7:00pm - 11:00pm in the Uncas Ballroom. BrewBrunch: Sunday, October 6th from 11:00am - 2:00pm in the Sunbusrt Buffet. More
Around here, we’re used to writing the stories you read, not being in them. Imagine our surprise to find out that local author Charles Pinning - a ProJo alum who once wrote for Providence Monthly back in the day - included our magazine in his new book, Irreplaceable. In the crime thriller, an art heist has taken place at the RISD Museum (during production on a movie about the famous art heist from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, no less), and it’s up to a writer and his long-lost lady love to solve it. There’s one particularly thrilling scene when the lead has dinner with Iphigenia Melikis, the sassy, tough editor of this very magazine, at Red Stripe. Any resemblance to what we’ve really got going on here? You’ll just have to read it to find out. Order it on Amazon.
At the age of ten I asked my parents if I could take music lessons. I imagined playing something badass like bass guitar, swinging wild the phallic instrument and doing that Gene Simmons-tongue thing. After some persuading, my parents came over to the musical dark side, felt its dangerous chill and knew their son had to experience the full effects of hardcore music.
So they signed me up for accordion lessons, at Arruda Music.
It’s important to remember my age, as the naiveté of youth made the following scenario possible: my parents convinced me that the accordion was a stepping-stone for playing the bass guitar. Like it was some kind of training wheels instrument that introduced me to music before I was allowed to rock.
Four years later, still playing the accordion, I realized that the bass guitar remained out of my grasp. Worse still, when I confronted my parents about the stepping-stone concept, they denied all allegations. So I quit playing the accordion.
Now, as a 25-year-old who digs Gogol Bordello, I felt the urge to again pick up the musical mantle and pursue my bellow-pumping ambidexterity. After snagging a used 120-bass accordion from Warwick’s Blue Merle Consignment, I scheduled a lesson with Arruda Music, still located on Newport Avenue. As if frozen in time, the place looked exactly the same as it had a decade before. The only thing that changed was my instructor – then a bubbly college girl; now a suave gentleman named Ralph.
First Ralph ran me through the basics, like reading music and counting time. Then he moved into the total-body coordination that makes the accordion such a monster of an instrument. Basically, playing an accordion requires one hand to play piano keys, the other hand to press bass buttons and for both arms to breathe the accordion’s bellows. All the while, the musician must simultaneously read two lines of music, one for bass and one for treble. It’s an overload of information that left me flailing like … More
Politics is Rhode Island’s favorite sport. Even though it’s still more than a year away, people are already gearing up for the 2014 election. The governor’s race looks like it’s shaping up to be a particularly bruising one. However, Mayors Angel Taveras and Allan Fung, two presumptive candidates for governor, have boldly chosen civility over callousness – at least for one night. The two competitors and friends have decided to face politics in a new way: together. The Mayors of Cranston and Providence invite all who can attend to An Evening with the Mayors: Civility in Politics, on Tuesday, October 22 at the Quonset O Club. The event features a buffet dinner. It’s sponsored by Rhode Island Commandery, Military Order of Foreign Wars, marking this night of innovative debate and consensus as an homage to reason and unity in Little Rhody's history.
Tickets are $40 per person in advance and available by calling 401-738-3844 or mailing check to RIMOFW at 26 Mohawk St, Coventry, 02816. See www.rimofw.org for further information. More
So, you’ve got stuff to consign? You’ve got options. While some shops buy entirely from private collectors, estate sales or wholesalers (Hall’s on Broadway is one of these shops, as is Foreign Affair), others buy resale outright or offer consignment routes.
At hope returns, customers can come into the store with their items, fill out paperwork and leave the merchandise for one week. After that week, the customer returns and is given a percentage of the resale value. Any items that were not bought within the seven days are returned to the consignor or are donated in-store to the Rhode Island Foster Parent’s Association.
Ana-Lia’s offers a 90-day consignment cycle (which then can be rolled over to one more 90-day cycle), after which items are returned to the consignor or donated to a local charity. Ana-Lia’s and the consignor split the proceeds.
At Blackbird’s, make an appointment before bringing in your gently loved items (they are usually booked three weeks out). The merchandise will stay in-store for 60 days, taking gradual markdowns, and remaining items are returned to the consignor.
Glitz offers a no-appointment-necessary consignment method. Simply bring your merchandise into the store and give it a second chance.
The Victoria Alviti Music Foundation is on a mission to keep music alive in schools across the nation. Sharon Alviti started the Rhode Island-based nonprofit in memory of her daughter Victoria. Victoria had a passion for music, which she shared as a professional DJ, booking performances around the world. At 22, Victoria was involved in a tragic car accident in Malibu. Before she passed she shared with her mother her dream to start an oranization that kept music in schools.
Today, her mother and their foundation are doing just that. The foundation offers a 12-week program to participating schools. All students receive a recorder, a lesson book and basic music literacy instruction. Additionally, participating music teachers receive professional development. The students spend those 12 weeks learning music provided specifically for them by Carnegie Hall. All of their hard work culminates in a grand concert in which students get to play side by side with the Rhode Island Philharmonic.
In its short existence, the foundation has had great success with the program, reaching 7,000 students last year and 10,000 this year. Sharon hopes to reach 14,000 next year and the sky’s the limit from there. It cost about $18 per student for the program. The foundation relies heavily on local donations and fundraising events to cover these costs.
Want to help the cause? Attend their 3rd Annual Jazz on the Green fundraiser at Alpine Country Club on September 22. The event includes a Tuscan buffet, raffle prizes and a silent auction. Guests will also enjoy live performances by Mike Renzi and friends. September 22 at 3:30pm. Alpine Country Club, 251 Pippin Orchard Rd., Cranston. $40. For more information email the organization. More
While cities like Los Angeles, New York and Chicago continue basking in their comedy glory, Providence maintains an uneasy state of comedy caught somewhere between floundering and underappreciated. But with the help of AS220, local comedian Randy Bush seeks to push PVD into the national spotlight, by creating a monthly comedy series known as Lulz!
“I was asked by AS220 to do [a comedy series] because I performed at Foo Fest last year and there was much success with the little 40-minute set I curated,” says Bush. In addition to performing at Foo Fest, Bush’s relationship with AS220 extends to “opening for bands, doing storytelling nights and variety shows.” Quite simply, Bush brings the comedy while AS220 brings the opportunity, and together they form an entertainment powerhouse ready to raise PVD’s comedic standards.
“I hope to achieve a true alternative comedy scene here in Providence,” says Bush, arguing that the city pales in comparison to the aforementioned big three (LA, NYC, Chicago). “Also I love the whole legacy that comedians like Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, Louis CK and (even) Sarah Silverman have given us. Providence is interesting enough to also have [an alternative] scene but no one is really doing it. That’s where I hope to change that.”
Currently the monthly series features local comedians coming from Providence and Boston, so as to showcase the talent tied to the region. With time, though, Bush seeks to expand the bubble to include “more people from all over the country,” even some “internet famous comedians as well.” Bush jokingly adds, “Because I’m hosting, and I’m obsessed with internet and nerd culture, there will be lots of that.”
True to his alternative focus, though, Bush, an openly gay comedian, wants to tilt the monthly series away from the mainstream comedy tendency to be “so ‘bro’ heavy,” … More
This September will be the official mark the onslaught of autumn; with leaves and student bodies falling back to Providence. With these new changes, prospective Providence residents in the form of opportunistic professionals and those emigrating from nearby states on business ventures follow. In the wake of these droves, the Downtown Providence Living Tour offers those eager to join the mini-metropolis we love so dearly a tour of available luxury apartments, condos and microlofts in just one day's time. On September 21st, from 11am to 5pm, the tour will bring patrons by the 903, Arcade Providence, AS220, Avalon at Center Place, Regency Plaza, The Promenade, Providence G, The Residences, Waterplace and Westminister Lofts while stopping by shops boutiques and everything in between! The path may be traveled by complimentary shuttle service, bike or foot and guests are encouraged to go by their own pace in order to get the most authentic experience of what it means to embrace downtown living. All guests must visit AS220 at 115 Empire St. in order to register before they can begin the tour. Purchase your ticket in advance online. More
Even though Labor Day is over, it’s still technically summer – so why not squeeze in one last bash to close out the season? Narragansett Beer’s Neighbor Day Block Party returns to the West Side for a day of music, food, cool shopping, great prizes and, of course, beer. Local restaurants and food trucks like Julians and Championship Melt will be providing the food, while bands like Atlantic Thrills and Torn Shorts take the stage. Plus, the Rock N Roll Yard Sale will be peddling its wares. All proceeds benefit the WBNA, so be sure to stop by, neighbor, and have a ‘Gansett. Sept 7. Free. Noon-6pm. Luongo Square.