February 2011
26 great reasons
not to hate
Winter on the East Side
Meet the Mayor’s New Top Gun
Beware the Power of a Lady’s Handbag
Fictional Fires in Mt. Hope
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Michael Young
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Contents February 2011
This Month 15 The Man Behind the Mayor
A native son returns to helm City Hall
19 Winter Guide
We’ve got 26 reasons not to stay home this season
25 Book Review
Some local detective pulp
Every Month 6 Letters/Editorial 8 Other Side 11 Community News 27 On the Menu
19 36 Art A new media exploration at RISD
39 Education
A celebrity chef comes to town
A parent’s-eye view of Nathan Bishop
29 Dining Guide
40 Finance
Your resource for where to eat
33 Movies Black Swan and True Grit reviewed
43 Calendar All the info on February’s happenings
50 East of Elmgrove Life after retirement for a veteran journalist
Bonds for dummies
41 Pajama Monologues What’s in your handbag?
Warm Up to a New Home
East Side Monthly is now online! Visit www.providenceonline.com to read the entire issue
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Editorial 167 Valley Street, Providence, RI 02909 tel: 521-0023 | fax: 521-0024 esm@providenceonline.com www.providenceonline.com
There’s No Business Like Snow Business Last month’s Day After Christmas Blizzard obviously caught many East Side residents not only unprepared but also, in some cases because of the holidays, out of town. As a result, many of our sidewalks remained unshoveled for days after the storm. Not only were the uncleared sidewalks inconvenient, with the streets badly plowed as well, they were downright dangerous. So what’s the solution? For the postal service it’s to play hardball and not deliver the mail if the walkways are impassable. Another solution that’s being suggested is to encourage the City to aggressively fine the offending households. Good in theory, difficult in practice. Let us dare to suggest a more positive,
out-of-the-box third alternative. How about if either the City or perhaps a neighborhood association set up some sort of “Sidewalk Shovel Exchange?” After price guidelines are established (or at least suggested), residents could sign up in advance of a storm to get their sidewalks done. The City or neighborhood association becomes a clearinghouse for neighborhood kids, professional shovelers, fraternities trying to raise beer money, service organizations trying to improve their community or anyone else who wants to make money after a storm. If this exchange program proved successful, walks would be cleared, money could be made, older or infirm residents would be thank-
ful, strollers would be unimpeded. Best of all, a wonderful sense of community would replace the once clogged sidewalks. Okay, so maybe the plan is a little idealistic, but wouldn’t it be interesting if we were able to pull it off? East Siders are capable of producing some incredible achievements when we set our minds to it. Hell, we saved Nathan Bishop. We created a park on Brown Street. This month a group is trying to convince the City we should have our own temporary skating rink (check out our gossip column for details). So, why not create the city’s first sidewalk shovel exchange? After all, shouldn’t a city capable of moving rivers be able to figure out a better way to get snow off its sidewalks?
Thanks for the Article
Snow Job
To the editor: It was great to read the articles featuring Heather Tow-Yick in both East Side Monthly and Providence Monthly last month! We truly appreciate the opportunity to re-introduce Heather and Teach For America to the community. I’d love to link to the articles on the Teach For America website. Would you mind sharing PDFs of the two articles so we can post them on our site? Thanks and hope your new year is off to a great start!
To the editor: I don’t get it. Here on the East Side, the city puts cameras up, then times their lights to raise revenue. They are downright nasty when it comes to parking tickets. Miss a meter by two minutes and they nail you. But last week when the snow made the sidewalks impassible and the plows made the streets worse, they didn’t do anything about fining inconsiderate residents who couldn’t be bothered to shovel their walks. As someone who walks a stroller every day, I found it hypocritical that the City didn’t issue tickets for those too lazy to do the right thing. I assume there’s a law. Why doesn’t the City enforce it?
Editor’s Note: Just so you (and our readers) know, all our publications are now fully on line. To access any of four major publications (East Side Monthly, Providence Monthly, SO Rhode Island or The Bay) just go to www.providenceonline.com and click on the appropriate magazine.
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East Side Monthly February 2011
Publishing Director Jeanette St. Pierre Managing Editor Barry Fain City Editor Steve Triedman Editor Julie Tremaine Assistant Editor John Taraborelli Acting Art Director Alli Coate Advertising Design Director Layheang Meas Graphic Designer Karli Hendrickson Account Managers Danielle Claro, Louann DiMuccioDarwich, Ann Gallagher, Nicole Greenspun, Nellie Lima, Dan Schwartz, Elizabeth Riel, Jessica Webb
Letters
Kaitlin Gastrock, Regional Communications Director Teach For America
Publishers Barry Fain Richard Fleischer John Howell
Marjorie Roberts
Promise Kept To the editor: During my campaign, I made a
promise to “opt out” of the pension that the City offers to elected officials. I made this promise to provide an example of the sacrifices we will ask people throughout the city to make to help restore the strength of our finances. On the morning of January 3 (the day I was sworn in as a member of the Council), I submitted a letter to Octavio Cunha, the City’s pension administrator, formally requesting my removal from this pension. At the end of last year, I held a community meeting at the Rochambeau Public Library to discuss city issues. I was encouraged by the turnout, and by the useful thoughts and suggestions that our fellow East Siders brought to the meeting. I look forward to continuing this dialogue during my term of service on the Providence City Council. Thank you. Samuel D. Zurier, Providence Councilman Ward 2
Classified Advertising Sue Howarth, Janice Torilli Contributing Writers Bob Cipriano, Mary K. Connor, Jill Davidson, Don Fowler, Mike Fink, David Goldstein, Bob Mariani, Betsey Purinton, Elizabeth Rau, Dan Schwartz Calendar Christina Evon Interns Rebecca Remillard Contributing Photographers Jonathan Beller, Dan Schwartz Contributing Illustrators Robyn Ng, Emma Tripp, Susanna Vagt
Calendar announcements and news releases should be submitted by the 1st of the preceding month. We reserve the right to omit and edit items. Letters to the editor are welcome. We will not print unsigned letters without exceptional circumstances. East Side Monthly is not responsible for typographical errors. Corrections will be run at discretion of editor. Copyright ©2011 by East Side Monthly. All rights reserved. Printed by TCI.
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Other Side by Barry Fain
Come to Where the Ice is Nice Brown Street Park may get a new skating rink to act as witnesses. The date marked the 15th anniversary of their first date. Given Patty’s love of all things photogenic, we assume pictures of this happy event will appear somewhere. Congratulations to two of the really nice people who help make our community the special place it is.
Night Football II? Buoyed by the fantastic success of the September Saturday night football game at Brown Stadium that produced both an unexpected sellout and an upset victory over Harvard, the powers that be at the university are considering whether to repeat the event next year. Financial adviser Jerry Massa ’77 and author Jon Land ’79 headed the alumni operation last year and seem ready, willing and able to do it again. The game likely would be against URI, which would almost certainly produce another sellout. Based on the reports we’ve gotten, and the lack of any problems from the neighborhood, it seems like a no-brainer to us. Go Bruins.
Is the East Side About to Get the City’s First Ever Temporary Skating Rink? The answer, as we go to press is a very clear…well, maybe. But if we don’t, it won’t be for lack of trying. The good folks who brought you the successful Brown Street children’s park have been lobbying the City to get a temporary outside skating area that kids could use when conditions permit. It would be safe for the little ones, since unlike your typical pond, there isn’t any deep water to fall into. We’re told if the proposal goes through, the rink could be ready to go as soon as February 1. It would be located in Brown Street Park and maintained by the neighbors. Hope so. Our local Baby Bobby’s (as in Orr), have to start somewhere.
A New Focus for a New Year News has filtered down from nearby Pawtucket that two of our favorite people have finally decided to tie the knot after 15 years of dating. (Well, you have to be sure, right?) Patty Zacks, the longtime owner of Camera Werks on Hope Street and Herb Weiss, the irrepressible economic and cultural affairs officer for the City of Pawtucket got married this past December 30 at their home with close friends Joe and Joyce Silvestri on hand
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East Side Monthly February 2011
All Signs Good for the Zodiac We always like to salute successes of our neighbors that might otherwise go unnoticed. Diane Greco Josefowicz, an East Side resident, College Hill Board member, PhD and new author was recently informed that her book, The Zodiac of Paris, has made Library Journal’s best selling list for the history of science in 2010. The book is an account of the fortunes of an ancient bas-relief temple ceiling adorned with mysterious symbols that was stolen from Egypt in 1821. It has been praised as “a real life archeology mystery…that has great resonance for today.” Published this summer by the Princeton University Press, it enjoyed brisk sales after receiving positive reviews. Hopefully this is a sign of Zodiac’s continued good fortune.
Lights. Cameras. Party. It’s become an annual Oscar Day tradition, a chance for us locals to party up and pretend the bright lights and glitter are for us. If a trip to Hollywood to catch the Oscars just isn’t in the cards this year, the good folks at the Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) are prepared to offer the next best thing: a night at the VMA to watch the festivities and mingle with our own local celebs. Every year, all sorts of local film buffs doll themselves up and walk the red carpet at a special party to celebrate Oscar
on Sunday, February 27. For $50 you get treated like a VIP with food, drinks, your photos taken on the red carpet and the chance to rub up against some very glitzy shoulders. For $10, you just get to watch the festivities on the big screen. Either way, you also get to help RIIFF, which is worth the price of either admission. Call 861-4445 for tickets.
Is James Bond-ing? Not sure of the details, but this sounds interesting. The annual Rhode Island Men’s Gathering will be held February 18-21 down at URI’s Alton Jones Campus, their beautiful 2300-acre wilderness retreat. It’s a weekend for men who want to get in touch with their inner male. Activities include things like cooking instruction, discussion groups, snow activities and the like. The purpose, say organizers, is to build community and help men gain the support of other men in a positive, non-competitive, non-religious environment. It’s also supposed to be fun. For more information call Arthur Snow at 737-9298 or check out www.rhodeislandmensgathering.org. No howling like wolves or running through the woods naked, we’re told.
Stepping Up for a Good Cause. This one gets us winded just writing about it: the American Lung Association will be sponsoring their annual race up the stairs on February 26 to raise money for the good work their group does helping all of us breathe better. Local companies are encouraged to field four-person teams, though individuals are urged to sign up as well. Participants then compete to see who can race to the top of One Financial Plaza (or as we say in Rhode Islandese, where the old Hospital Trust Tower used to be). The event actually isn’t about the competition, but rather the excitement of doing something this insane for a good cause. And since all entrants get to eat and drink at McFadden’s afterwards, how bad could it be? Visit their website at www.climbofyourlife.org for more information.
PPAC Roars into February The big event of the month has to be the arrival of the Broadway blockbuster The Lion King, which comes to PPAC on February 1 and runs through the 20th. Tickets are still almost impossible to come by in New York and won’t be much easier to score here. Still, it’s worth calling PPAC at 421-ARTS (2787) to see what they’ve still got. And if you can’t get through, keep trying. It just means the Lion is busy.
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East Side Monthly February 2011
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Community News
Community News is space that East Side Monthly makes available to community organizations free of charge. The content does not necessarily reflect the views of the editors of this publication.
Wayland Square By David Kolsky Neighborhood Discussion Group at Books on the Square http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ waylandsquare Upcoming Events: Monthly Meeting (no specific topics decided at press-time): Wednesday, February 23, 7pm Books on the Square, street level, 471 Angell Street (at Elmgrove, next to CVS). Free and open to all. Future meetings will be at the same place and time on the fourth Wednesday of each month through October 2011. Draft Downtown Plan The City Plan Commission held its final hearing on the DowntownJewelry District part of the city’s Comprehensive (master) Plan on December 14, and voted to approve
its transmittal to the City Council. Downtown was one of the dozenodd neighborhood clusters included in the “Providence Tomorrow” participatory planning process that began in the summer of 2006. There were few big changes to the November draft, chiefly a section on trees. Only two speakers from the public addressed the final hearing. RIPTA’s Core Connector study The City Plan Commission also heard a presentation from the RIPTA planning team that’s designing a link (streetcar, trolley or bus) from College Hill to the Jewelry/Hospital District (also home to Brown’s new medical school and the Liston campus of the Community College of RI) Of the four presentations I’ve heard since September, this was the first time I’d heard that in fact the Connector will fork in two: only half the vehicle runs from the Jewelry/Medical School/Hospital District will go through the Tunnel to Thayer Street. The others will go to Amtrak’s Union Station, but not connect in either direction with College Hill. The projected headways (times between trips) were already at the maximum time (10 minutes) so that riders don’t worry about schedules or alternate routes, but just wait for
the next bus or trolley. But this fork means that the frequency will be halved and the headways doubled to 20 minutes. Experience with the Green and Gold Line trolleys has shown that this will radically reduce the ridership and usefulness of such a system. While this is not an argument to kill the Connector, it definitely needs some deeper thought and planning, especially if the design is frozen by installing fixed streetcar tracks (as the City and real estate experts hope). The recent history of Providence is one of projects that were 75% or 80% great, but later crippled by the consequences of the ill-planned remainder. The most obvious example is Kennedy Plaza (Exchange Place), which has to be redesigned every decade to correct the errors of the previous one. (Yes, there’s a current planning effort devoted to Kennedy Plaza and Burnside Park.) Another example is the brilliant decision (by more than one mayor) to move the rails and open the rivers, which, however, also isolated the Amtrak station from its previous “intermodal” connection in Exchange Place/Kennedy Plaza with downtown Providence, RIPTA and intercity buses. The Core Connector shouldn’t solve this problem by converting itself into a pointless duplication of existing lines that is
no speedier in connecting College Hill with the hospitals. My other reason for skepticism is that the Connector doesn’t really serve more than one point on the East Side, the already-congested tunnel mouth at Thayer Street. All the existing lines continue on to serve other neighborhoods, such as Hope Street/Pawtucket (including Miriam Hospital), Fox Point, Blackstone Boulevard, Elmgrove Avenue, Wayland Square or Richmond Square/East Providence. (These are my personal opinions on the subject; they don’t represent those of any particular neighborhood group or of East Side Monthly.)
Blackstone Parks By Anna Browder Blackstone Parks Conservancy Website: www.blackstoneparksconservancy.org Mailing Address: P.O. Box 603141, Providence, RI 02906 Blackstone Park Conservation District Great News! Blackstone Park Con
February 2011 East Side Monthly
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East Side Monthly February 2011
servation District has been chosen as one of five community sites throughout the state for a project sponsored by the Rhode Island Natural History Survey and Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. This Forest Health Works Project is funded with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds and is chiefly aimed at improving forest health in the state by removing invasive plant species. In our park, contractors qualified in invasive vegetation control projects will remove Asian bittersweet and euonymus from approximately 1.3 acres on the northern side of Angell Street and along the southern end of Parkside Avenue, and replant the area with native vegetation. Because of the density of the vegetation, the control work will be done in two stages. Before the end of the year, the vegetation will be cut down and removed. In spring, the contractor will return and paint the re-sprouting stumps as permitted by the Coastal Resources Management Council. Work must be completed by May 31. The area will be fenced to protect the disturbed ground from trampling. A crucial component of the project is the replanting of the area after the bittersweet and euonymus are removed. This project will transform the Angell Street entry point to the park into a demonstration to homeowners of the potential of native species in home landscape design. We’re looking forward to this first significant step toward restoring the natural beauty of this treasured park. Volunteer Opportunity Saturday, April 9 If you would enjoy working with a
group of outdoors enthusiasts on defining trails and reducing erosion in the central section of Blackstone Park Conservation District, please contact Chris Shafer (christopher. shafer@dem.ri.gov) from the Appalachian Mopuntain Club which will sponsor the event. Past workdays have been a lot of fun and very satisfying for participants, and very worthwhile for helping preserve the park. Please send your Eastside Marketplace cash register receipts to the P.O. Box to help us cover administrative costs. To volunteer to work on the Boulevard or in the park, or to become a member, contact us through our web site. You may also send membership donations to our P. O. Box. Levels are $25/individual; $50/ family; $100/Protector; $250/Conservationist; $1000/ Lifetime.
College Hill By Diane Greco College Hill Neighborhood Association Phone Number: 633-5230 Website: www.collegehillneighborhoodassociation.com Email Address: CHNA@collegehillneighborhoodassociation.com Mailing Address: PO Box 2442, Providence, RI 02906 The Board of the College Hill Neighborhood Association met at Lippitt House Museum on January 4. Attending were Allison Spooner, Heidi Heifetz, Yvonne Shilling, Ed
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Bishop, Barry Fain, Diane Greco, and Alex Payson. President’s Report: An Evening with Sam Zurier At the Board meeting, President Allison Spooner reported on the community meeting with Councilman-Elect Sam Zurier at Rochambeau Library in December. In addition to Spooner, CHNA Board members present at the meeting included Barry Fain and Ed Bishop. The meeting had a great turnout, according to Spooner, and the evening’s discussion ranged broadly over neighborhood quality-of-life issues, education and taxation. In response to the discussion generated at this meeting, CHNA is looking into preparing an analysis of the fate of College Hill’s tax dollars in the City’s budget. Dangerous Intersections and Potholes Spooner reported substantial progress on two fronts related to street safety. At December’s meeting, the Board determined that the light at Olney and Main presents a substantial hazard to pedestrians as well as creating an irrational traffic flow. In December, Spooner visited the site, where she took a series of photographs illustrating the problems, and sent them with a letter to the city’s Traffic Engineering Department. TED immediately acknowledged the problem and is working with the state to see about an alternate light system that is friendlier to foot traffic and eliminates congestion on Olney Street. Meanwhile, Spooner had been in touch with the Department of Public Works regarding the enormous pothole at the intersection of Barnes and Brown; we are pleased to report that it has been filled. If
you need assistance with similar matters, please visit our website on the Local Resources page under City Services. CHNA can also help you navigate issues; simply contact us directly. New Year and Time to Renew Your Membership… Annual dues are due! If you’re a member, it’s time to re-up. If you’re not a member, why not join? Membership is $20 per year and includes invitations to events and our free, mostly monthly email newsletter. To join or renew your membership, visit our website, www.collegehillneighborhoodassociation.com, and click “Join CHNA.” Or send a check for $20, made out to College Hill Neighborhood Association, to the Treasurer, Box 2442, Providence, RI 02906. Be sure to include your email address.
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…And Maybe Join Our Board? CHNA is also actively seeking new Board members, particularly with legal expertise. Board members should live on College Hill and be enthusiastic about community advocacy, specifically reducing crime, improving streets and sidewalks and creating a stronger sense of community. The Board meets once a month, on the first Monday night; Board members are required to attend meetings and to perform various service tasks for the organization, according to their interests and abilities. If you are interested in serving on the Board, please drop a note to chna@collegehillneighborhoodassociation.org. This is a great way to get involved with the neighborhood, to meet new people, and to make a real contribution to our magnificent historic neighborhood. February 2011 East Side Monthly
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East Side Monthly February 2011
Return of the Native Meet Michael D’Amico, > the Mayor’s new “Go-To” Guy By Barry Fain > Photography by Jonathan Beller The swearing in is complete; the WaterFires have been doused; the transition teams are being dismantled. And now, for Mayor Angel Taveras and his team of administrators, the real work is about to begin. Perhaps the least known, but arguably most important, member of the team Mayor Taveras has assembled to help him lead the City of Providence out of its current fiscal crisis is Michael D’Amico. In an attempt to “collapse” two positions into one, D’Amico, a Silver Lake native who will be leaving a major private industry job in Pennsylvania, is being asked to serve as both Director of Administration and Director of Operations. Under the Cicilline administration the positions were held by Rich Kerbel (salary $140,000) and Alix Ogden (salary $118,000), respectively. The new job is a huge one and involves the oversight of all finance, personnel, public works and property, purchasing and information technology functions. But both D’Amico and Taveras feel there is enough overlap that it would be easier if one person held both positions. In addition to possible cost savings, D’Amico says he actually prefers wearing both hats. “In my private industry position, I had dozens of departments reporting to me and I think this will produce more efficiency,” he notes. A longtime friend and Providence classmate of the new mayor, D’Amico is excited about the challenges he will face. “If the job was too straightforward I probably wouldn’t have been interested in it,” he admits. That said, the question most people are asking him is just that: why would anyone take the leap from a secure position as Vice President and General Manager of Emission Control Technologies at multinational corporation Johnson Matthey, to tackle a financially strapped city in these admittedly difficult economic times? “Actually one of the reasons I decided to take this job is that the timing was perfect for me professionally,” D’Amico explains. “My wife and I have a young daughter (a year old this month) and the next step in my career probably would require my relocating to the home office in Britain. Since both our families are in the states, we decided it’d be best for us to stay here.” He also feels fortunate to be part of a large, extended Rhode Island family, most of whom still
live in the area, and has wonderful memories of growing up here. He even confesses to still being a Providence College basketball junkie. “The irony is it’s easier for me to get the PC games in Philly with satellite than it seems to be around here,” he laughs. Much has been written about the close friendship between D’Amico and Taveras, the two 40-year-old high achievers. The two were quite close in school and graduated Classical High School (class of 1988) together before each going off to college: Taveras to Harvard, D’Amico to Penn. “I’ll admit we didn’t see much of each other for a period after high school, but then two years ago we got together at our 20th Classical reunion,” D’Amico realls. “As so often happens with old friends, we picked up like there had been no gap at all.” In terms of the job itself, D’Amico is quite comfortable in his ability to handle the City’s fiscal problems. “It’s what I’ve been doing all my professional life,” he says. “I think there are some advantages that may come from applying some of the things that work in the private sector to the public sector as well.”
The City’s new Administrative Director presents well. Nattily attired and well spoken, he comes across as confident with solid people skills, but then again, it’s only day two of the new regime. As we chat, boxes and personal belongings are still being moved into offices and there is youthful, almost Camelot-like buzz around City Hall. Joining us is Melissa Withers, an East Side resident, and the mayor’s new Director of Communications. Formerly the executive director of the Business Innovation Factory and before that, for four years, a member of Saul Kaplan’s team at the Economic Development Corporation, she explains why she is excited to be part of the Mayor’s new team with D’Amico: “We’re all about the same age but we come with very different backgrounds. Some of us are career politicians. Some of us just want to try and use our skills to help Providence. But what we all obviously do share is a similar vision of what the city needs and what we can do to help. It is very exciting to be part of it and I can’t wait to start.” D’Amico adds his own sense of excitement as February 2011 East Side Monthly
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well: “When I was a small child, our family used to come into Providence and walk around the downtown. I can remember being in awe of the giant steps that led up to City Hall and how I was always frightened that someone might come out – the mayor maybe – and yell at me to get off the stairs. It’s almost unbelievable to me that I’m about to be part of a team that is actually going to be inside running the City.” When asked what’s been the most difficult or unexpected part of the job so far, D’Amico admits it’s the personal challenges of moving back to Rhode Island. Though he’s returned frequently to visit his parents who now live in Cranston,
> I n a state that more often than not recycles its politicians and administrators, it’s refreshing to see someone new like D’Amico arrive.
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East Side Monthly February 2011
he concedes he hasn’t spent too much time in Providence itself and is amazed at how much it’s changed. “I need the rest of the team to help get me up to speed on all the changes,” he laughs. But the more pressing problem is the time it’s taken to sell his house in Philadelphia so his wife and daughter can join him here in Providence. “We’ve been looking at new houses, but there’s not much we can do until we sell the house we own.” There have been a few other curve balls as well. “I was surprised to discover that there is no City budget in place,” D’Amico admits. “I thought we’d have six months to tinker with one that we could modify, perhaps, but which was in effect. But it’ll get done.” In a state that more often than not recycles its politicians and administrators, it’s refreshing to see someone new like D’Amico arrive on the scene, someone who seems to have the numbers background to provide some needed financial stability to the City along with perhaps some new ways of doing things. He also comes with experience in dealing with unions and making decisions quickly – all critical skills if the new team is to be successful. As for D’Amico, he’s not worried. “There are generally two things you need to be concerned about when you take a new position,” he explains. “What will your new boss really be like and what will the new job really turn out to be? In this case, I’m not worried about either. I’ve known Angel for a long time and feel quite comfortable working for him. And, as this is a public entity, I feel that I know what my responsibilities will entail and what I have to do – no surprises here. I’m excited about what I hope our team will be able to accomplish.” And on that enthusiastic note, the Taveras years begin at City Hall.
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East Side Monthly February 2011
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Books on the Square
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • There is quite a character coming to Books on the Square on March 21 to promote his new book. Politics and Pasta: How I Prosecuted Mobsters, Rebuilt a Dying City, Advised a President, Dined with Sinatra, Spent Five Years in a Federally Funded Gated Community, and Lived to Tell the Tale is Buddy Cianci’s long-awaited memoir. Be there at 7pm for a talk with The Prince of Providence. For a complete listing of Books on the Square’s winter schedule, visit the website. 471 Angell Street. 331-9097, www.booksq.com
Chez Pascal
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If it’s on the table at the Farmer’s Market, it’s in season on Market Menu Mondays at Chez Pascal. In the past, Chef Matt Gennuso has cooked up brined slow roasted pork shoulder with fingerling potatoes, onion, apples and charred green cabbage and finished off the meal with chiggia beet tart tatin with cider caramel and celery root ice cream. No, tomatoes do not grow in a Rhode Island winter, nor do our precious berries or melons, but eating seasonally doesn’t have to consist of leek stew all winter. 960 Hope Street. 421-4422, www.chez-pascal.com
Pawtucket Winter Farmer’s Market
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Snow or shine, you can get your bok choi at the Pawtucket Winter Farmer’s Market – now that’s a slogan if we’ve ever heard one. Saturdays from 10am-1pm, and new this year, Wednesdays from 4-7pm, pick up jams, jellies, artisan breads and chocolates – even contribute to the compost pile. In February, indulge in rosemary and thyme. In March, bulk up on salad greens, chard, bok choi, cilantro, parsley and maple syrup. It’s a little life in a dormant season. At the Hope Artiste Village, 1005 Main Street, Pawtucket. www.farmfreshri.org
Local Sledding
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Remember the adrenaline rush you got on that first sled ride of the season when you were a kid? Get nostalgic and take the little ones out the next time the white flakes hit the ground. The Moses Brown School has a nice steep hill near the corner of Lloyd Avenue and Arlington Street, along with some smaller hills for the less daring. Roger Williams Park also has several hills, including a nice drop near the Temple of Music. We also hear a rumor that a temporary ice rink will be installed at Brown Street Park, so if there’s not enough snow for sledding, lace up your skates instead.
Flower and Garden Show New England’s premiere flower show is back for its 19th year. The Rhode Island Spring Flower and Garden Show will be at the Convention Center from February 24-27. As always, the show will host demonstrations and lectures by horticulture experts, offer children’s activities, and present 28 gardens to stroll. This year, the Flower Show will also team up with the American Heart Association for healthy living presentations. Book your tickets online at www.flowershow.com. 1 Sabin Street. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Providence Athenaeum
Call me Ishmael. Correction: call historian Jamie L. Jones Ishmael. On Friday, February 18 from 5-7pm, the Providence Athenaeum will host part one of a year-long, nine-part series, “Hark! The White Whale!” – an ode to Melville’s masterpiece on its 160th anniversary of publication. Jamie L. Jones will speak of the cultural context of Moby Dick and the significant role that whaling had in industrialization in the 18th and 19th centuries in America. Whaling was America’s first global industry and the core of our economy in its heyday. Picture Melville on the bow of the whaler Acushnet as it cast out for the Pacific Ocean on January 3, 1841 from a port in New Bedford. He would later announce that his life began on that day. Melville would remain on the whaler for the next 18 months, eventually writing Moby Dick from his experiences on the ship. Experience the thrill of Moby Dick at the Athenaeum, minus the seasickness. The “Hark! The White Whale!” program series is funded in part by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The event is free and open to the public. Later in the month of February, return to the Athenaeum to consider an overlooked detail of our lives: the language we speak. Sure, we don’t pronounce our R’s, but it’s still English. Athenaeum members and their guests get the chance to join Leslie Dunton-Dower as she discusses her book, The English is Coming! How One Language is Sweeping the World. The English language originated 1500 years ago in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England. Currently, for every native speaker of English, there are three nonnative speakers. Discuss what this means for the future of the language and the moral issues that arise as English becomes the first global lingua franca. 251 Benefit Street. 4216970, www.providenceathenaeum.org
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East Side Monthly February 2011
Providence Art Club It’s the most wonderful time of the year for local art at the historic Providence Art Club. On Sunday, February 6 from 2-4pm, an opening reception will be held for the 2011 Member’s Exhibition, continuing through February 25. The show will feature work from exhibiting artist members. The Maxwell Mays Gallery will become a cornucopia of paintings, prints, glass, sculptures, photography and mixed media. James Montford, gallery director at the Bannister Gallery at Rhode Island College will be the awards juror. 11 Thomas Street. 331-1114, www.providenceartclub.org • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Oscar Night America
To benefit the 2011 Flickers: Rhode Island International Film Festival, the 83rd Academy Awards will be screened in style at Providence’s Oscar Night America on February 27 at 6:30pm at the historic VMA Arts and Cultural Center. A $50 ticket will include access to the pre-show reception and reserved theatre viewing. (General admission is only $10.) Enjoy a night of red carpet glamour in your very own lavish style. 1 Avenue of the Arts. 861-4445, www.filmfestival.org/OscarNightAmericaTKTS.php.
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Rochambeau Library Get your checkmate on at the Rochambeau Library on Saturdays this winter. Children’s chess is held on Saturdays from 12-2pm in the Children’s Library on the second floor. Contact jhamidzade@provcomlib.org for more information. Don’t let the kids have all the fun though: the Knights of Rochambeau Library Chess Club for adults is held on Saturday afternoons from 12-4pm in the library’s computer lab. Contact todonnell@provcomlib.org to learn more. For more scheduled events at the Rochambeau Library visit www.provcomlib.org. 708 Hope Street. 272-3780
Providence Preservation Society Winter Bash On Saturday, February 5, the Providence Preservation Society wants you to “Celebrate like it’s 1983 under the city lights at Davol Square!” The 8th annual Winter Bash will be held at this iconic example of ‘80s development. What better way to advocate the beautiful architectural history of Providence than to spend a night among it? Enjoy music, cocktails and the thrill of partying preservation-style. Tickets are $30. 3 Davol Square. 831-7440, www.ppsri.org
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Bottles Fine Wine and Craft Beer Bottles owner Gil MacLean calls the wine and beer tasting nights at his store a playground for adults. Every Thursday from 4-7pm, enjoy a fine wine tasting, then come back on Friday (same time, same place) for a craft beer tasting. Depending on the night, you might also catch Brown’s String Quartet or the folksy, indie rock of The Silks playing the floor. Don’t forget to take a bottle to go – Bottles has over 500 wines under $15. 141 Pitman Street. 372-2030, www.bottlesfinewine.com • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Brown Public Skating At Brown University’s George V. Meehan Auditorium, you don’t have to worry about skating on thin ice. The rink is open for public skating Monday through Thursday from 12-2pm, as well as 2:30-3:35pm Sundays in February and 2-2:50pm Sundays in March and hasn’t lost anyone yet. Note that no speed skating, jumping or hockey practice is allowed during free ice hours. Slide and glide down the same ice devoted to Brown Bear Hockey. 235 Hope Street. www.brown.edu • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Facing Thayer Prepare to get pampered. Facing Thayer Beauty Spa is offering the VIP treatment for East Side Monthly readers. That’s right, during the months of February and March, get an express facial (35 minutes), expert eyebrow design and manicure for the low price of $60 just by mentioning that you read it here. All facials are customized for the client’s skin and individual needs. 297 Thayer Street. 331-4777, www.facingthayer.com
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Brown University Galleries Opening March 26 and continuing until May 29 at Brown University’s David Winton Bell Gallery is Tradition, Trauma, Transformation: Representations of Women by Chitra Ganesh, Nalini Malan, and Nilima Sheikh. The exhibition will feature the work of three Indian artists. Malani will present a video installation entitled Mother India, Ganesh will display a wall drawing in the lobby of the gallery referencing Indian comic books, and Sheikh will exhibit a series of hanging scrolls entitled Shamiana. At the List Art Center, 64 College Street. 863-2932, www.brown.edu
Providence Children’s Film Festival To children across the country, school vacation often equals cheap cartoons and decade-old Disney movies. Not this President’s Day Weekend. The Providence Children’s Film Festival will return this February for its second year, corresponding with Rhode Island’s winter vacation for public schools. The festival’s opening reception will be held on the night of February 17 at the RISD Museum’s Metcalf Auditorium in the Chace Center; films and workshops will begin the following day and continue until February 22. In addition to the Cable Car Cinema and the Metcalf Auditorium, the PCFF has also added a third venue this year: the RISD Auditorium. This will increase the number of screenings and the number of seats available for each show. PCFF President Brenda Shannon promises that this year’s festival “is looking even bigger and better than last year. We’re offering expanded programming, and advance online ticketing, via Brown Paper Tickets. This should make it much easier for Rhode Island families to plan their festival visit.” Programming will include live action, animation, documentaries, shorts and features, all selected by the PCFF Programming Committee. Together, the committee chooses films that “speak positively to children and families of diverse ages, backgrounds and ethnicities.” After an impressive response to the festival’s filmmaking workshops in its inaugural year, the PCFF has increased the number of workshops being held this year, all run by experienced animators or filmmakers. Also new this year is a children’s screenwriting class in collaboration with the Warren Art Spot, to be held one week before the festival. All workshops require pre-registration and a small fee. To sign up for a workshop or for more information, visit providencechildrensfilmfestival.org or contact the Warren Art Spot at warrenartspot.com to sign up for the children’s screenwriting class. February 2011 East Side Monthly
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Roger Williams Park Zoo Winter just might be one of the best times a year to visit the zoo. It’s not as crowded, you can forge a stronger bond with the penguins, and tickets for the Roger Williams Park Zoo will be half-price through February 28. This means for a $6 adult ticket and a $4 child’s ticket, you can get bundled up and see the bald eagles, moon bears, snow leopards, penguins and many more cold-hardy creatures. Pack a thermos of hot chocolate and wear your snowshoes if you have to. The zoo is open from 9am-4pm daily. 1000 Elmwood Avenue. 785-3510, www.rogerwilliamsparkzoo.org • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Whole Foods Waterman Whole Foods is not only a place to shop and eat – it’s a place to party. Join the Whole Foods gang on Saturday, February 5 from 12-3pm for Chocolatefest! On February 26, pull together all your mesquite-loving friends for a gluten-free sampling from 12-3pm. A New England Cheese Event will be held on Saturday, March 5 from 12-3pm, and don’t forget that every Tuesday is Healthy How-To Tuesday from 4-7pm. 261 Waterman Street. 272-1690, www.wholefoodsmarket.com • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Jewish Community Center
Barker Playhouse
102 years ago, the Barker Playhouse first opened its doors, making it the oldest continuously operated public theater in the United States. There’s nothing outdated about this membership theater, however. This February in the J.W. Riker Jr. Green Room, the Playhouse will put on Relationships, a series of 10 one-scene presentations about the human relationship and the many forms it comes in; the same relationship that makes you ache can also exhilarate. The show will be preformed February 19, 20, 26 and 27. Also at the Playhouse this winter is A Flea in Her Ear, a play written by Georges Feydeau in 1907. Set in Paris at the turn of the century, the story centers on a wife, Raymonde, and her husband Victor, questioning their fidelity after years of marriage. Characters fly up and down stairs, in and out doors, hiding from and searching for the truth of the matter. This uproarious play directed by Vinny Lutino will be showing January 29-30 and February 3-6. In March, the Playhouse is your Globe Theatre as the cast performs the tragedy of Macbeth. Shakespeare’s play about the aftermath of murder will be performed March 19-20 and 24-27. Don’t miss King Duncan, Macbeth and Banquo in this timeless classic. Richard Jenkins – the Richard Jenkins – nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for The Visitor in 2008, began his career at this venerable theater too. So did TV legend Meredith Vieira. Don’t miss this winter’s performances at the Barker Playhouse, and perhaps you’ll be able to say that you saw so-and-so before he/she was famous. 400 Benefit Street. 273-0590, www.playersri.org
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East Side Monthly February 2011
Everybody knows the JCC as a great place to work out, join a sports league or take your children for day care, but it’s also a great place to learn arts and crafts, gets some culture, or just kibitz. Throughout the winter, the JCC offers programming like pottery and printmaking classes, as well as a community knitting circle. For those more interested in words than visuals, there is a weekly writer’s group and a monthly book club. For those who wouldn’t know their tuckhus from a tchotchke, there is a Yiddish class and a bimonthly Yiddish Shmooz for seniors. Prices vary for members and nonmembers, and some programming is free, but would it kill you to join? 401 Elmgrove Avenue. 861-8800, www.jccri.org
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Fox Point Library It’s a nature vs. nurture thing: some say that kids who like to read were born liking books; others say they have to be encouraged. It couldn’t hurt to try. At the Fox Point Library on Wednesdays from 10:30-11:45am, bring your little one to Cradle to Crayons, a program that helps stimulate the minds of young children. It’s free, ages 1-3, to register, contact aschattle@provcomlib.org. 90 Ives Street. 331-0390, www.provcomlib.org • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Ladd Observatory Stargaze in style this winter at the 120-year-old Ladd Observatory at Brown University. It is free and open to the public on Tuesday evenings from 7-9pm, weather permitting. Jupiter is still in view and although a full moon doesn’t fall on a Tuesday in February or March, February 15 and March 15 viewing nights will be dazzling with almost-full moons. To sign up to receive emails announcing upcoming astronomical events, visit the Ladd’s site at www.brown.edu/Departments/Physics/Ladd/. 210 Doyle Avenue. 863-2323
John Brown House Museum The house that John Brown first owned on Power Street was completed in the year 1788, and since then has seen the creation of Rhode Island’s capitol city from the ground up. Across its floorboards walked the man who was to become a China Trader pioneer, politician and patriot. Tours of the John Brown House Museum are held Fridays and Saturdays at 10:30am, 12pm, 1:30pm and 3pm. It’s your chance to open a door to our city’s history. 52 Power Street. 273-7507, www.rihs.org • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Brown University Basketball ‘Tis the season for Brown University Basketball games. Be at Pizzitola Sports Center on February 4 at 7pm for a men’s game against Columbia. They play against Cornell the following day at 6pm. On February 11 at 7pm, the women’s team goes up against Dartmouth, and the following day they’ll face Harvard for a 7pm game. We guarantee it’s a way more intimate experience than the Dunk. Tickets are only $5 a game for adults or $36 for a whole season of Ivy League hoops action. Hope Street and Lloyd Avenue. www.brownbears.com
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Rhode Island Historical Society The Rhode Island Historical Society boasts, “Before Hollywood, there was Providence.” In January, they began a three-part series of Silent Film events, featuring movies made in Rhode Island between 1915 and 1929. On February 19 from 7-8:30pm, part two of the series will be held in the Aldrich House at 110 Benevolent Street. The series will conclude on March 12 from 7-8:30 pm. 331-8575, www.rihs.org • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
East Side/Mt. Hope YMCA Mondays at 6 pm, beginning February 28, the East Side YMCA is offering a Diabetes Prevention Program, established to help those at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes. The program will consist of 16 one-hour sessions focusing on nutrition, physical activity and ways to stay motivated. Get help instituting a healthy lifestyle and reduce your chances of developing diabetes. $99 for Y members, $149 for non-members. 438 Hope Street. 521-0155, www.ymcagreaterprovidence.org
RISD Museum
“Well, son, I’ll tell you: / Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” Langston Hughes is a very special man: novelist, playwright, short story writer, columnist, father of Jazz Poetry and Black American activist. With his career based in the early and mid-1900s, life for Hughes was no crystal stair. On February 6 from 1-3pm, the RISD Museum will host the 16th Annual Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading with a reception to follow, presented in coordination with Anne Edmonds Clanton. Educators, writers, musicians and artists of the community will read aloud Hughes’ poetry, accompanied by The Daniel Ian Smith Trio. Don’t miss the words of one gifted man with something to say. Also at the RISD Museum is an Art and Design Lab for High School Students on February 4 and 18 from 3-5pm. The program will provide materials for art making, film screenings, and participants will also have time to spend in the galleries. The Art and Design Lab will put emphasis on creativity and fresh ideas. RSVP is appreciated, but not mandatory. The Family Fun Series is a continuing program at the museum. From 2:30-3:30pm, February 26 and March 26, parents and children alike are invited to watch live action and animated short films and participate in stimulating discussions. Arrive ten minutes prior to the show; ages four and up space is limited. Tours For Tots is another continuing program for children five and under at the museum, running February 10 and 24 from 11:15am-12pm. If you’ve been to a session before, know that no two tours are alike. Read-aloud story time and gallery activities will foster artistic minds early. To reserve a spot for your child, email museumyouth@risd.edu. 224 Benefit Street. 454-6500, www.risdmuseum.org February 2011 East Side Monthly
23
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24
East Side Monthly February 2011
Review by Barry Fain
The Big Burn Mt. Hope the center of an exciting new crime novel Rogue Island By Bruce DeSilva A Forge Book, published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC 303 pages
A serial arsonist is working the Mt. Hope section of Providence. Nine fires and five deaths later, panic is gripping the city – and it’s about to get worse. But for veteran Providence Journal reporter Liam Mulligan, a Mt. Hope native himself, the situation has become personal as it touches old childhood friends. As we follow the crusty journalist who, in the classic noir tradition, dispenses his idealism and cynicism in equal measure, it isn’t long before we too are drawn into this addictive first novel by Bruce DeSilva, himself a 41-year newspaper veteran, including some 13 years as an editor for the Journal. Along the way, we’re treated to a spot-on depiction of our city, replete with warts, but always delivered with wit. Couple the author’s ability to channel the swagger and suaveness of a Sam Spade while delivering crackling one-liners in the best Robert ParkerRaymond Chandler tradition and you have a perfect read for a snowy winter’s evening. As we accompany Mulligan on his increasingly desperate efforts to track down the arsonist, we meet a colorful cast of characters that he accesses in his investigation. He is an equal opportunity kind of guy whose sources are evenly divided between those on the right and wrong sides of the law. There’s the bookie who runs his operation out of a corner drug store on Camp Street, the two cops who are leading the police investigation of the fires who he appropriately calls “dumb and dumber,” the stunning Asian fellow reporter who has ignited some flames of her own in Mulligan’s life, and the exwife who just won’t go away – oh, and neither will the hit man who’s on his tail. Using skill honed from his years in the business, DeSilva creates the kind of crackling dialogue that has “soon to be a major motion picture” written all over it. And for locals like us, his descrip-
tion of the city and the denizens who populate it will ring especially true. His depictions of Mt. Hope paint a picture of a gritty part of any contemporary city, one of those sections that was bypassed by the gentrification boom, but still maintains its sense of urban pride and community. When things go south, it’s a place that pulls itself together and tries to protect its turf on its own. In this case, it’s a group of neighborhood vigilantes who call themselves the “DiMaggios,” patrolling the neighborhood wielding Louisville Sluggers – great image, and very Ro-dylun. DeSilva’s writing is so sharp and crisp we locals will easily recognize his fictionalized Mt. Hope, but out-of-towners can relate to it too. Here’s how he describes the gritty area where the fires are being set: Decades before the jobs moved to South Carolina on their way to Mexico and Indonesia, it hadn’t been much to look at. Now, lead paint flaked from the sagging porches of tinderbox three-deckers. Flimsy cottages, many built without garages or driveways in an age of streetcars and shoe leather, smelled of dry rot in summer and wet rot in winter… The neighborhood’s straight, narrow streets, many named for variety of trees that refused to grow there anymore, criss-crossed
a gentle slope that offered occasional glimpses of downtown office towers and the marble dome of the State House. Real estate agents, fingers crossed behind their backs, called them “vistas.” DeSilva also has an outstanding ear for dialogue. Here’s his take on male jousting as Mulligan debates the likelihood of his friend scoring a date with a tall, attractive woman he knows. “So,” McCracken said, “does that mean I’ve got a shot?” “Sure. All you’ve got to do is grow another six inches and stop being an asshole.” “For her, I’d get lifts. But she’s your friend, so I figure she must be okay with assholes.” “When I said you need to grow six inches, I wasn’t talking about your height.” McCracken’s eyes narrowed. Then he grinned and fired a carefully placed left jab that whistled past my right ear. We called the testosterone contest a draw and got back to business. In an interview, DeSilva describes himself as lover of old detective novels. His devotion shows in the clever dialogue, the surprise twists and turns of the plot, and the frantic nature of the pacing. The result is a fast read that never fails to offer the unexpected oneliner, the intriguing character we enjoy meeting or another glimpse into Mulligan’s personality. It’s twists and turns continue to the very end of his tale. Can you say “sequel”? Rogue Island is a must read for East Siders who will enjoy the many reference points obviously drawn from both our city itself, as well as the offbeat and often notorious characters who inhabit it. But it’s also a story that transcends mere homage. It introduces a wonderful new addition to the detective series genre: the flawed but compelling protagonist he’s created. Hopefully we will meet him again soon in the next book in the series or, better yet, on the silver screen.
7
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February 2011 East Side Monthly
25
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100 Grove Avenue East Providence, RI 401.434.6913 • www.oceanstatemontessori.org 26
East Side Monthly February 2011
On the Menu
by John Taraborelli
Nightmare on Weybosset Street A downtown eatery gets a reality TV makeover These days celebrity
chef Gordon Ramsay is known more for the first word in that title: his public persona is that of the tyrannical, invectivespewing, camera-mugging Brit from shows like Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares. In the wake of that, it’s easy to forget that Ramsay remains one of the world’s finest and most respected chefs, overseeing a vast restaurant empire that boasts over 10 Michelin stars. It is for that reason that despite his well-earned reputation for heaping temper tantrums and verbal abuse upon his subjects, struggling chefs and restaurateurs the world over are still willing to let him air their dirty laundry on national television on Kitchen Nightmares, so that he might save them from themselves. Ramsay and his camera crew came to town recently to shoot an episode at Downcity (50 Weybosset Street), which airs this month. Owner Abby Cabral and her business partner Rico Conforti were put through something Cabral describes as “a bit like boot camp. It was all criticism. All on camera.” The painful process was necessary though. “We had been struggling,” Cabral admits of the 20-year-old business. “We didn’t know how to break out of the slump we were in.” While Cabral was reluctant to get involved (“Honestly, I didn’t want to look like a moron on national TV,” she says), Conforti insisted, reaching out to the show’s producers himself. When Ramsay
did come to the rescue, it wasn’t exactly a knight-in-shining-armor type experience. “We went through hell,” Cabral says, before conceding, “It’s definitely the boost we needed – we needed to hit rock bottom before moving up.” Now that Ramay’s work is done, Downcity is rejuvenated. Its sophisticated modern interior – updated when the restaurant’s original Weybossett Street home burned down in 2006, forcing it to move down the street a few blocks – now has a menu to match. “We have this gorgeous new spot, but the menu was very old fashioned,” notes Cabral. The new menu concept, which Cabral calls “Homestyle Fabulous,” is not so much a complete overhaul, but a thoughtful update. New dishes like Lobster Mac and Cheese and Goat Cheese Truffle Dip with homemade potato chips have her excited about the results of Ramsay’s visit. “Chef Ramsay’s approach is brutal and honest,” says Cabral, echoing the sentiments of anyone who has ever seen him on TV. “I think making it through is making us so much better. MORE NEW OPENINGS After last month’s column spotlighted several new openings, Downtown continues to buzz with new business. The Small Point Café is in the works at 210 Westminster Street, right next to soonto-open Sura Korean BBQ. The café will feature gourmet coffees, as well as waffles and “eggs espresso” breakfasts
on the weekends. Most interesting, however, is their donut robot (?!), which will make fresh min-donuts right in front of presumably amazed customers. A little further down the street, the Westminster Roots Café will revive the former home of the sadly defunct Black Rep at 276 Westminster. Spearheaded by well-known storyteller and musician Len Cabral, the café will operate under the flag of the nonprofit Providence Inner City Arts, of which Cabral is board chairman. It will feature a performance space and is set to open sometime in March. In other caffeinated news, the coffee shop Plan Bean has opened at 128 North Main Street, the former home of none other than the magazine you hold in your very hands right now. The menu will feature soups, salads and sandwiches, as well as fresh daily specials like Black Angus Steak Chili and Chicken Avocado BLT. They also offer free WiFi. On the East Side, an Ethiopian restaurant is in the works at 333 Wickenden Street, which housed the Cambodian restaurant Angkor until it moved around the corner to 10 Traverse Street (formerly Café Yuni). This will be a welcome addition to the local restaurant scene, as Ethiopian dining tends to be a more communal and fun experience than your average dinner. Stay tuned for more details. Got food news? Send it to John at onthemenu@providenceonline.com.
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284 thayer street providence 401-331-8111 kartabar.com
February 2011 East Side Monthly
27
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28
East Side Monthly February 2011
paid advertising
Dining Guide
Br brunch B breakfast L lunch D dinner $ under 10 $$ 10-20 $$$ 20+
door seating overlooking the Seekonk River, Waterman Grille offers seasonally inspired New American fare in a comfortable setting, with a great variety of “Signature” and “Short & Share” plates. BrD $$-$$$
Hope/Thayer CHEZ PASCAL 960 Hope Street; 4214422. Chef Matt Gennuso’s East Side kitchen offers French food with a modern twist. Sample the Escargots a la Bourguignonne, or try the Bistro Menu (Tue-Thur), which features three courses for $30 per person. Delicieux! D $-$$$
Pizza Gourmet 357 Hope Street; 751-0355.
Toppings like sirloin steak and shallots justify this pizza shop’s name. Specialty entrees, pasta, sandwiches and catering are all available, as well as take and bake pizzas. LD $-$$
Downtown ASIAN BISTRO 123 Dorrance Street; 383-3551. Chinese, Japanese and Thai, hibachi and sushi – they’re all under one roof at Asian Bistro. For the freshest flavors in a convenient downtown location, this is the place. LD $-$$$ ASIAN PALACE 1184 North Main Street; 228-7805. All the flavors of Asia are here: from Chinese classics to new Thai favorites to fresh, impeccably prepared sushi. The gorgeous banquet room is available for private functions. LD $-$$$ CAV 14 Imperial Place; 751-9164. The New York Times’ choice as one of Providence’s five best restaurants, CAV’s contemporary upscale cuisine is available al fresco for lunch and dinner daily. They also feature weekend brunch. LD $$-$$$
receive the Mobile Four Star Award for five consecutive years, Mills Tavern provides traditional American cuisine in a warm, friendly setting. LD $$-$$$
Wayland/Elmgrove HARUKI EAST 172 Wayland Avenue; 223-0332. The chefs behind this sushi bar provide a minimalist, upscale, comfortable dining experience. Try the toro ankimo – sauteed fatty tuna and monkfish liver pate with eggplant tempura, served with a black bean sauce. LD $-$$$ RED STRIPE 465 Angell Street; 4376950. Red Stripe serves classic comfort food with a French influence. From their signature Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup to their ten different styles of Moules & Frites, their food is reasonably priced and made with passion. LD $$-$$$
HEMENWAY’S 121 South Main Street; 351-8570. A true Providence classic, Hemenway’s has been serving topnotch seafood for 20 years. Their oyster bar features everything from the famed Prince Edward Island variety to the local favorite Poppasquash Point. LD $$-$$$
TWIST ON ANGELL 500 Angell Street; 831-4500. Get casual fine dining with a “twist” at the popular Wayland Square restaurant. With creative takes on classic comfort food and inventive appetizers and entrees, it’s a successful combination of food and flair. D $$
MILLS TAVERN 101 North Main Street; 272-3331. The only restaurant in RI to
WATERMAN GRILLE 4 Richmond Square; 521-9229. With its covered out-
GOURMET HOUSE 787 Hope St.; 8314722. Beautiful murals and decor set the mood for delicious Cambodian and Southeast Asian cuisine, spicy curries and noodle dishes. The tamarind duck is a must. LD $-$$ RUE DE L’ESPOIR 99 Hope Street; 751-8890. In business for over 30 years, the Rue has only gotten better. Beautifully prepared with the freshest ingredients, the innovative, constantly changing menu keeps diners on their toes. Superb brunch. BBrLD $$-$$$ THREE SISTERS 1074 Hope Street; 273-7230. Try their local, organic coffee, quick and filling breakfast sandwiches, fresh panini and famous homemade ice cream that’s simply to die for. BBrL $ TORTILLA FLATS 355 Hope Street; 751-6777. You can’t go wrong with the laid-back attitude and exceptional Mexican fare at Tortilla Flats. Sample a Margarita from the bar and the “Nawleens”-style Catfish to get the full experience. LD $-$$
Wickenden UNITED BBQ 146 Ives Street; 7519000. Barbecue is an art form here. Feed the inner man with a classic rack of ribs (sold in half or whole racks) or make it light with a “Tofurkey” kielbasa sandwich from the menu’s Weird Stuff section. They deliver. LD $-$$ WINGS AND THINGS 250 Brook Street; 369-7551. This family run business offers fresh, never frozen, chicken wings bathed in hot sauce made by hand from freshly ground chili peppers, plus 20 sauces, appetizers, sandwiches and soups. LD $
1860 Broad Street • Cranston www.thecupcakerie.net • 467-2601 Kristin@thecupcakerie.net
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www.bobfrances.com February 2011 East Side Monthly
29
Spotlight by Dan Schwartz
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East Side Monthly February 2011
Fresh Milk and More Delivered to Your Door
In these complicated times there is something appealing about an iconic cow-spotted milk truck pulling up and seeing a friendly milkman delivering right to your front door. Meet Chad Jones, one of the 30 drivers of East Providence’s Munroe Dairy, who knows his East Side and Oak Hill customers well. You can have fresh local milk and over 150 other grocery items delivered to your home, often arriving before you taste that first sip of morning coffee. You may purchase a signature cow-spotted milk box for the front porch for easy drop-off, or provide your own cooler. Stellar customer service is only the beginning, because Munroe Dairy milk is simply delicious. Munroe Dairy uses glass bottles, which are cleaned and reused over 40 times (which is as green as it gets), and their milk arrives at your doorstep within 48 hours from the cow. The cows are from local farms and they are never treated with hormones or antibiotics, nor is the milk treated with additives, stabilizers or synthetics. Plus the milk is not ultra-pasteurized, so it retains its nutritional value and flavor. Customers have attested that the skim milk tastes like low fat, and the low fat tastes more like whole milk. And Munroe carries the classics, like coffee milk, rich chocolate milk and seasonal items like eggnog and apple cider. Munroe Dairy also supplies local and organic eggs, Narragansett Creamery cheeses, grass fed meats from nearby family farms, Blount gourmet chowders, gourmet desserts, Venda Ravioli, and a variety of produce, including Olivia’s Organics. This dairy is celebrating its 130th year and four generations of family ownership. Stay in from the cold and call Munroe today. Enjoy the luxury and convenience of having your own milkman! Chad would be happy to bring you a free sample of Munroe Dairy milk (call the dairy for details).
AB Munroe Dairy
151 North Brow Street, East Providence 401-435-MILK (6455) / cowtruck.com
Spotlight by Dan Schwartz
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Site Specific
A Design/Build Company Dedicated to Quality “We love what we do,” announces Peter Crump, co-owner of Site Specific Design Build. This opinion is not common within construction, because beyond the physical exertion there are constant problems to solve, from complex plans to building permits and zoning issues. “It is an amazing thing,” Peter continues. “Whether you build bridges, renovate historic homes or do additions, you create an event, or rather a series of events. From design to completion, the story of these events is fascinating. It’s what we love.” It’s this passion within the Site Specific crew that shows why they handle many projects all over the East Side and beyond. Peter’s team recently finished an intensive job at RISD’s historical Carr House (1860) on Benefit Street. The construction entailed partial exterior restorations as well as intricate interior work, from code upgrades to installing a four story elevator shaft. Down the street on Benefit a sizable residential renovation was just completed. “It was delicate and complicated,” Peter explains. “We did major structural repairs on a twolevel 1840 brick row house. It involved stabilizing four stories of the building, pouring new foundations below it all and setting the structure back down – great stuff.” At Wheeler School, Site Specific is presently working on a historic building at 211 Hope Street. Ed Wojcik Architect, Ltd is the architect of record. Its end use will be by the facilities department and the Wheeler school board meeting room. On projects such as Wheeler School there are many code upgrades and compliance authorizations that need to be handled with the city. Site Specific is adept at coordinating with local officials and engineers to streamline the process. On another note Site Specific has just relocated to the Olneyville section of Providence near Olneyville Square and L. Sweet Lumber. “ L. Sweet is an institution, and they are the best around ” Peter says. “It’s great to be in their midst and in the new neighborhood, steps away from Downcity and the East Side.”
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www.jccri.org February 2011 East Side Monthly
31
Spotlight by Dan Schwartz
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Kitchen Guys
Now Offering Home Repair Service for all Appliances The Kitchen Guys not only have one of the largest selections of new, scratch-and-dent and refurbished appliances in New England – at 50-70% off the retail price – but they now provide full service for your machines at home. They specialize in working on luxury brands, like Viking and Sub-Zero, and they have a licensed refrigeration man on staff. Whenever you have a problem with any of your home appliances, remember that experts are nearby who can quickly resolve the situation. The Kitchen Guys are pros because owner Michael Gaffin has over 28 years of experience in kitchen design and residential appliances. His sprawling warehouse showcases refrigerators, gas and electric ranges, wall ovens, microwaves, dishwashers, cook tops, washers/dryers, ice machines and wine refrigerators. And he carries the latest and greatest, like induction cooking ranges, Whirlpool Duet Steam washers and the full line of Electrolux refrigerators, including the signature ICON with its bright lighting. Michael explains, “Our prices bring people in and our service brings them back.” Kitchen Guys is open Monday through Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm, and they recently starting offering Saturday hours 9am to 1:30pm. Their warehouse has expanded by about a third, so now there are even more models in the showroom to view. Even if you’re not ready to purchase an appliance, it is great to browse and check out the latest models. It is an even better feeling to know these are the same models at the Big Box stores, but at a fraction of the price. All of the appliances come with a 90-day warranty. While the display area is no-frills, you get in return the best price and customer service. “Every client we have is our most important person,” Michael says. If you’re in the market for new appliances it’s in your best interest to give Kitchen Guys a call, browse their website (www.kitchenguys.com) or, better yet, stop in and take a look at the appliances yourself. Upgrade your lifestyle without the sticker shock!
Kitchen Guys
www.providenceonline.com 32
East Side Monthly February 2011
416 Roosevelt Ave, Central Falls / 723-0500 www.kitchenguys.com
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The Ballerina and The Dude Two films heat up awards season There are different ways to approach your work, of course. Jeff Bridges and Natalie Portman are at the two extreme opposite ends of the work spectrum in True Grit and Black Swan. Both are in awfully good movies, though. Black Swan is directed by Darren Aronofsky, who aced The Wrestler a few years ago when he immersed his story and actors in the sleazy world of professional wrestling, then softened the sleaze with entertaining camaraderie among the guys. One of the best aspects of Black Swan is a ballet troupe that’s far sleazier than anything the World Wrestling Federation could even imagine, and camaraderie doesn’t exist. Natalie Portman, in a fierce, terrifically tortured performance, plays a talented but fragile young dancer hoping to break out of the ballet chorus into a leading role. Anchored to her controlling mother (Barbara Hershey) for support and discipline, her room infested with stuffed animals and other adolescent para-
phernalia, it’s a surprise when the ballet company’s artistic director (Vincent Cassel) “retires” prima ballerina Winona Ryder and chooses Portman to replace her. Cassel is something of a controller too, and sees himself as just the guy to mount Swan Lake with Portman playing the dual roles of the enchanted white swan queen (the role she was born to play) and her evil black twin (the one she can’t even imagine). Aronofsky and writers Mark Heyman, Andrés Heinz and John J. McLaughlin employ lots of twin/ double/doppelganger imagery as Portman’s mind, and some members of the troupe, conspire against her as she tries to understand characters and circumstances that are completely foreign to her. Before long, you realize you’re watching a psychotic Swan Lake, teeming with self-destruction, fear, lust and betrayal. When you break it down, those elements may or may not be the real stuff of ballet,
but it’s unquestionably the stuff of good movies. Portman ricochets off her mom, her director, her rival (Mila Kunis) and her rejected predecessor. Hershey, Cassel, Kunis and Ryder are all excellent in support as Aronofsky and company weave a spider web of a tale with visuals as exciting as the narrative. The claustrophobia of the theatre and Portman’s apartment, the fragility of Portman’s thin, overworked and abused body, and the recurring, often hallucinatory images of violence and lust turn a standard drama into a cinematic event worth celebrating. Flipped out, freaked out, tricked out and tripped out – you’ve never seen a ballet like this. If the Coen brothers’ Dude from The Big Lebowski lived to retirement age and warped back in time to the old west, he’d be Rooster Cogburn in the Coen’s remake of True Grit. The brothers and their Lebowski star, Jeff Bridges, approach this version with the reverence for
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February 2011 East Side Monthly
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Warming up the East Side
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True Grit
cinematic character and tradition they seem to bring to every genre they choose to explore. Their first Western embraces the notion of a salty old coot with enough grit and panache to prevail against bad odds and save the girl, abiding with a beverage in hand. Anyone familiar with the entertaining-enough original can fondly recall John Wayne doing his John Wayne impression well enough to earn an Oscar, supported by a dubious Glen Campbell and a badlydirected Kim Darby as Mattie Ross, the single-minded 14-year-old girl out to avenge her father’s death. The key to the superiority of the remake is the renewed respect for Mattie’s character as written by Charles Portis in the original novel and interpreted by the Coens in their screenplay. They put all the novel’s bite back in the character and pull a spirited performance from newcomer Hailee Steinfeld. In spite of an effective, flashy turn by Bridges as Cogburn, Steinfeld dominates the film as the singleminded 12-year-old out for vengeance. She possesses wit as well as spunk, and holds her own on screen against not only the legendary Bridges, but also Matt Damon, gracefully updating the Glen Campbell part. The Coens concentrate their attention on her for both bold
pronouncements (“Why would I pay for something and not want my way?”) and reactions to injustice, prejudice and drunken old coots. With Bridges and Damon more than capable of delivering disciplined performances as Western types who are blessed with good dialogue, the episodic narrative can proceed with Steinfeld leading the way. The Coens and cinematographer Roger Deakins embellish the screenplay by paying homage to pristine Western settings, using nature to embellish situations and characters. (Watch Steinfeld as she pushes her horse to get her across a turbulent river, and watch Bridges watching her do it.) The plot’s relative simplicity and familiarity may cast some doubt on the entire project, but that would ignore all its elements. The Coens know how to structure and pace a film, revealing irony and nuance even in a standard plot that is dependent on cliché. In their screenplay they pull significant passages from the excellent Portis novel. In Bridges’ presence they get a chance to vary their most famous character and celebrate the guy who fleshed him out in the first place. And in rediscovering Mattie’s character through the spot-on performance of Steinfeld, they take an old story to a new place.
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Art
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With the Touch of a Button A new media exploration of “the endlessly cycling everyman” Wings Done Right
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East Side Monthly February 2011
On the third floor of the RISD Museum is the Spalter New Media Gallery. This relatively small space currently holds the eye-opening and provocative work of digital artist Brian Knep. In his first Providence-based exhibit, Exempla, Knep explores the human condition. Even though this may be the first time his work has been in Providence, Brian Knep is no stranger to the East Side as a 1990 undergraduate alumni from Brown University. He graduated magna cum laude with degrees in computer science and mathematics and stayed a little longer at Brown to receive his masters degree on a full scholarship in computer science. After working 15 years in the world of technology, Knep switched gears in 1999 in order to pursue a career as an artist. Despite this nontraditional background, he successfully uses the skills learned in his previous life to give the artistic work in his new one a strong and bold voice. Each of the four works in this exhibit responds to changes in the environment created by the viewer, whose physical actions bring each piece to life. This happens, depending on the work, through the touch of button, press of a pedal or the turn of a dial. Knep created multiple images of small beings with overstated heads and stick legs based on children’s drawings that represent his visions of “caricatures of the endlessly cycling everyman.” In spite of these creatures’ simple looks, it is their reactions caused by the interaction with the viewer that really force a reflection upon what kind of world we have created, both in and outside of the piece. The works entitled Escape and Embark comment on our often sheeplike social mentality. These come to life from the push of a button only to react as an agitated herd moving from one space on the white wall to another. While viewing Embark in particular, in which the button pushed has the figures moving back and forth in bubbles between two parallel lines, there was one figure caught alone in an unmoving bubble.
Escape by Brian Knep
It was bumping against the bubble’s walls, making it impossible to decide whether the everyman was trying to break away from or through the line. This is perhaps one of the most brazen comments made about the human condition in this small selection of Knep’s work. Are we ever really breaking away or merely just breaking into something else? The nature of the artist’s work is so clear and spot on with regards to this dilemma that it creates an uneasy feeling in the viewer. Knep’s other two works in the exhibit focus on our society’s obsession with fame. These works, entitled Excel and Erect, both use a spotlight. When activated, like watching an audition episode of American Idol, the projected figures all try to find their way into the light, but ultimately only a few are successful. The figures swirl around the two different circular spaces on the walls, biding their time until someone presses the pedal or turns the dial to allow them another chance to vie for the coveted spot. Looking at the crowded images in each of these works, we are left with a sense of sadness at how
faceless the figures become as they lose all sense of individuality. Knep shows how the opposition between moving in herds and seeking the spotlight work in harmony with one another. By keeping with the same base image and technology for all of the pieces, he creates a strong body of work that presents a stripped down, illustrated interpretation of the human condition. Knep does not attempt to hide his meaning or present other possible interpretations as he comments on the over-crowded world in which we live. Here in the Spalter Gallery, Knep proves to us that even if we do not stop to press the buttons in the exhibit, we still cannot hide from that fact that every day we are the “endlessly cycling everyman.” These are the last few weeks this new media exhibit is in town, so take a moment to stop and press the button. Brian Knep’s Exempla Through March 6 RISD Museum 224 Benefit Street 454-6500 www.risdmuseum.org
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East Side Monthly February 2011
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At School Today by Jill Davidson | illustration by Emma Tripp
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An Enviable Choice A look inside Nathan Bishop
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My oldest son
will be entering middle school next year, so we organized ourselves to look at our options. Since kindergarten, he has been generally content and successful at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School. Given his track record, our values and other factors (three kids, this economy, any expectation of affording college), we’re staying on the public school path. Along with most or all other East Side addresses, we fall well within Nathan Bishop’s zone. Next year’s class of 208 sixth graders will complete the school’s student body, which has grown one grade per year since it reopened in 2008. As my son and I observed at an exceptionally well-attended open house, Bishop’s renovation is state of the art, utilizing technology and design to create fruitful conditions for learning. After the open house and additional conversations with Bishop’s staff members and students, my son is fired up. Many of his MLK Elementary classmates chose Bishop, and he is looking forward to joining neighborhood buddies who have attended other elementary schools. Still, I have questions. How will he and his peers reinforce habits of cooperation, work on his social skills, and continue to respect and reach out beyond race, class and other differences? How will the educators at Bishop encourage him to step on the gas academically, build lifelong learning skills and habits, and take risks? What support will he receive? What challenges will he be likely to experience so that he won’t coast or settle for “good enough?” In order to dig more deeply, I met with Amy Battisti, one of Bishop’s two guidance counselors. When Bishop gains its third class in the fall, the school will have three counselors. An East Side resident hired in 2008, Battisti works with the current seventh graders and will move with them to eighth grade. By design, she knows each of her 210 students well. Four days a week, she eats lunch with students. She meets
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with every student in this low-stakes way three or four times annually. “Those lunches really pay off,” she says. “When something happens, they have that person they’ve already chatted with.” Guidance counselors also serve as a bridge between home and school in order to facilitate interaction among each student’s family members and six teachers. Through 15-20 phone calls per day, numerous emails, and before-school meetings, Bishop’s guidance staff members spend a third of their time communicating with families. Battisti collaborates with teachers to assess student progress and provide intervention as needed, and she walked me through the academic support strategies that Providence’s middle school curriculum provides for struggling learners. Clearly, it’s too soon to use long-term indicators such as high school graduation rates to determine whether the district’s newly implemented curriculum – which is the same at all Providence public middle schools, except for Nathanael Greene Middle School’s Advanced Academics program – will produce the results needed to close existing achievement gaps and propel all students to success in high school and beyond. We also discussed the ways Bishop’s educators provide challenges for students who exceed expecta-
tions and crave additional challenge. Some of Bishop’s teachers have opted to innovate within science, math and English courses for those students who demonstrate aptitude and effort. This approach differs from Greene’s program in two ways: it’s implemented within the school as a result of educator initiative rather than as a policy-driven district program, and its “a la carte” approach provides opportunities for student-specific differentiation. I took careful note of these differences, as we will be deciding between Bishop and Greene’s Advanced Academic program, should my son be accepted. We visited Greene as well; my son was able to visualize success there, though he feels strongly that he would prefer to stay in the neighborhood. I’ll let you know where he ends up. Either way, I am grateful that through the efforts of Battisti and her colleagues, Bishop has become a place for teaching and learning for young people within and beyond the East Side. Jill Davidson can be reached at whathappenedatschool@gmail.com, @ dazzlingbetty on Twitter, and at her blog, providenceschools.blogspot. com. To make “At School Today” the best it can be, please contact her with your thoughts, ideas, comments, criticism and ideas.
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39
Finance by Betsey Purinton | illustration by Susanna Vagt
Bonds for Dummies A primer for the 2011 bond market What drove bond prices lower at the end of last year? Interest rate hikes? No. Inflation? Not yet. When we think of bond price fluctuation, we usually turn to economic theory, which has inflation leading to rising interest rates. However, in 2010 the theory had little to do with practice. Headline risk, vigilantes and optimism had more influence on bond prices than the actual fundamentals. Why is this important? Because a lot of retail investors hold bonds and bond funds. When traders demand higher interest rates, the value of your underlying bonds and bond funds falls. For most of 2010, bonds could do little wrong. Investors loved them. The 2008/2009 equity hangover, combined with post-crash respectable bond performance, left investors with the impression that bonds (as opposed to stocks) were the safer place to be. Then along came November 4, when bonds completed an about-face from their relatively stable year-long march forward. 2011 may be a challenging year for the bond market, so let’s do a quick primer. A quick lesson on bonds First of all, there are lots of different types of bonds. They are similar in that they represent debt issued by governments or companies that usually provide a scheduled payment of interest set or formulated at the time the bond is issued. From there, they branch out. You may own municipal bonds, U.S. Treasuries, sovereign debt (emerging market or developed nations), high yield bonds, mortgage-backed securities, investment grade corporate bonds, floating rate bonds, treasury inflation protected securities, etc. etc. There are differences between bonds based on credit quality and term (the life of the bond), which can affect risk. The longer the duration of bonds and the lower the quality, the more bond prices may fluctuate. You can own an individual bond or fund that focuses on one of the major bond sectors or you can own a broader based fund. Diversified funds can be tied to indexes, such as iShares Barclays Aggregate Bond index. How the index performs is how you perform. There are also managed bond funds with variations of the “go-anywhere” theme. A fund manager can pick and choose what bonds to buy and sell within very
40
East Side Monthly February 2011
broad or tight benchmark constraints. The hope with the managed or unconstrained funds is that the manager can not only find the best segments of the bond market to be in, but can also mitigate some of the risks associated with fluctuations in bond prices.
October. Most investors thought that traders were simply building into pricing the anticipated lower rates. Then on November 4, Bernanke announced the actual start of QE2. All of a sudden, traders began having doubts and the ten-year rate shot up to 3.48%.
Pick your bond funds carefully – not all funds are created equal. One other tenet you need to know: bond interest rates and bond prices are inversely related. Think of it this way: if you own a bond that pays 5% and interest rates go up to 6%, your bond is no longer an attractive buy for someone new to the market. The price of your bond – should you choose to sell it – needs to come down until a price point is reached where your 5% bond is as desirable as the 6% bond, everything else being equal. Individual bonds held to maturity maintain their face value. There you have it. Bonds aren’t boring. They are, in fact, quite complex. In this economic landscape, setting and forgetting your bond portfolio can be a bit dangerous. What happened last year? At the end of the summer Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve Chairman, announced that the Fed was contemplating QE2, a program designed to keep longer term interest rates low in order to help sustain the economic recovery. On cue, before one bond was purchased through this program, interest rates on the ten-year note fell from 3.0% at the end of July to 2.4% in early
Rationale went something like this: • Economic data is showing that the recovery is on target for 2.5% to 3% growth. Do we really need QE2? If the Fed stops the program, interest rates could bounce back. Let’s not wait to find out. • An improving economy means stocks are potentially the better place to be invested. Let’s rotate out of bonds now. • If bond guru Bill Gross (of PIMCO) says the “bond bull market is dead,” who are we to argue? Let’s bail today. • QE2 is a stimulus and just like the (December) Tax Act, which extends the Bush tax cuts, it could increase our long-term debt problems. Future debt problems usually mean higher interest rates. Let’s get out in front of this. • An improving economy will, at some point, bring on inflation, which most often results in rising interest rates. Why wait for inflation to actually happen? • And what about state governments? Surely the default rate is on the rise. Perhaps it is time to head for the exits. You get the picture. A sense of urgency was created, not out of fundamentals, per se, but resulting from sentiment –
optimism that the economy is truly on the mend and fears about longer term inflation and debt issues, leading to a rapid run-up in interest rates. However, even after the spike to 3.48% on the ten-year Treasury note, by year-end most bond funds were only down a few percentage points from their November 4 highs. Volatility for bonds was back, along with legitimate concerns over their longer term outlook, but the bond correction was mild in comparison to last spring’s almost 15% stock pullback. So where does this leave you? You likely own bonds for the following reasons: • Their income • The potential for price appreciation (if interest rates fall) • Their ability to help control portfolio volatility While consistent price appreciation is pretty much regarded as over (that’s the “end bond bull” story) and overall low interest rates will likely limit yields, bonds still offer some volatility control. If investors bail out of bonds entirely and pour into stocks – betting stocks are the safer place to be this year – they may be sorely disappointed. While the equity outlook for 2011 at the start of the year is quite positive, the ride is not expected to be smooth. Check your risk tolerance. If you are adverse to risk, keep some bonds and bond funds in your portfolio, being mindful that the returns could be muted in 2011 and some fluctuation is likely to occur. Pick your bond funds carefully – not all funds are created equal in a potentially rising interest rate environment. And pay attention to the headline stories, not just the fundamentals. Stories and sentiment can drive the bond markets just as they do the stock market. It is not only about what the Federal Reserve, corporations and governments in general do; it is about what the bond markets think could or should happen. We saw the power of sentiment last year. I suspect this year won’t be any different. Betsey Purinton, CFP® is Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer at StrategicPoint Investment Advisors. You can e-mail her at bpurinton@strategicpoint.com.
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(Mis)Adventures in women’s accessories One of the things I dread hearing most is my wife calling to me from another room with the words, “ Honey, could you bring me my keys? They’re in my handbag.” My immediate knee-jerk response is to bring her the entire handbag, because after years of experience I’ve learned that a handbag is the above-ground equivalent of a Chilean mine shaft: a deep, dark, place full of mysterious things I know nothing about; a sinkhole where my chances of finding something as illusive as a set of keys are slim to none. Now a guy, he’s got a briefcase – one briefcase with perhaps two or three separators inside where he can load his papers and writing implements. Period. Anything that won’t fit inside gets left behind. Car keys go into his pocket. But a woman’s handbag not only has a number of mysterious “chambers” inside; often it will also have multiple pockets and compartments on the outside too! Now on those occasions where it’s been absolutely necessary for me to open my wife’s handbag and search inside, I’ve come across everything: nail-clippers, tissue packs, lip balm(s), lip gloss, gloves, notepads, combs, makeup kits, eye drops, eyeglasses, perfume bottles, multiple writing instruments, random groups of business cards, nail polish, ribbons, a cell phone and more. But almost never the keys, because when I look on the inside, the keys are always on the outside and visa versa. It gets more convoluted. In addition to the carryall handbag, there will often also be something called a “purse,” sometimes known as a wallet. The purse is usually thicker than a catcher’s mitt and it’s a way of keeping certain items like money, driver’s license, ID cards, etc. separated from the rest of the chaos inside the handbag. Actually, it’s a puzzle within a puzzle. One thing I hadn’t realized until recently is that women’s handbags
are not only a utility item, they’re also a fashion accessory. That means there are different handbags to go with different outfits. A woman’s “day bag” has to go with what she’s wearing. It must be color coordinated and somehow complimentary to her outfit. Then there are “evening bags” which are like little envelopes, sometimes beaded, designed to match up with, oh, say a little black, strapless dress. These bags hold only the essentials. Lip balm. Lip gloss. Makeup. Maybe some cash. More lip balm. Bags change with the seasons, too. For summer and spring, there are the more casual bags. These are often made of straw or canvas and a bit too small for the amount of cargo to be carried. But somehow it all gets crammed in anyway, including the purse, which always finds its way to the very bottom of the heap – especially when the lady gets stopped by a traffic cop for putting on lip balm and eye makeup while driving and has to literally dig up her driver’s license from the depths of her handbag. Winter and fall handbags are often trimmed with fur. Those remind me of when I was a little kid and my mom had a real leopard skin handbag. I used to pet it as if it were alive until one day my mom caught me trying to feed it canned tuna fish and she got me a real cat. Nowadays, I don’t think handbags made from endangered animal species are very popular. One thing you ladies may want to know about handbags and men, and maybe you already know it, but you will never, ever hear a man say to another man when admiring a comely female, “And wow! Did you get a load of that handbag she was carrying!” Good morning. Bob Mariani and his brother, John, have published a memoir, Almost Golden, about growing up in the North Bronx in the fifties. Available at www.bbotw.com or on Amazon.com.
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Celebrate like it’s 1983 under the city lights at Davol Square!
Providence Preservation Society
Saturday, February 5, 2011, 8PM Davol Square, Providence, RI Tickets
To Purchase Tickets or For More Information Visit ppsri.org or call (401) 831-7440
Special Thanks To Our In-Kind Donors... Davol Square, McLaughlin & Moran, Inc. and Elevated Spirits Co-Chairs... Joanna and Angus Davis, Lindsay and Leeds Mitchell Committee Members...Anthony Autiello, Oliver Bennett, Barrett Bready, Anne Dionne, Hillary Greene, Kerry Giorgi, Heather Hower, Richard Jaffe, Justin McCabe, Emily Meyer, Pat and Terry Moran, Tyler Ray, Jessica Ricci, Manya K . Rubinstein, Ted Scholhamer, Michael Sweeney
Kitchens • bathrooms
by Christina Evon
music | performance | social happenings | galleries | learn | sports
DON’T MISS THIS MONTH:
Design contractors inc. Design / Build Fine renovation general contractors residential • commercial
401-751-6363 www.dci-ri.com
additions • built-in cabinetry
February
Water damage reconstruction
Calendar
Providence, ri 02906 registration #1324 Painting • restoration
10 events at the top of our list PPS Winter Bash, February 5 at Davol Square. www.ppsri.org.
1
The Lion King, February 1-20 (select dates) at PPAC. www.ppacri.com.
2
Rhode Island Spring Flower & Garden Show, February 24-27 at the Rhode Island Convention Center. www. flowershow.com.
3
Oscar Night America Party, February 27 at the VMA. www.film-festival.org/ OscarNightAmerica.php.
4
MUSIC arena & club | classical ARENA & CLUB FOXWOODS & MGM GRAND Feb 3: Enrique Iglesias. Feb 11: Toby Keith and Eric Church. 39 Norwich Westerly Road, Mashantucket, CT. 866-646-0609, www.mgmatfoxwoods.com. LADDER 133 Feb 19, 26: Take 3. 133 Douglas Avenue, Providence. 272-7427. LUPOS Feb 2: Neko Case. Feb 4: Hinder, Saving Abel, My Darkest Days, and Kopek. Feb 18: Slightly Stoopid and Fishbone. Feb 22: Flogging Molly. Feb 25: Girl Talk. 79 Washington Street. 331-5876, www.lupos.com. LUXURY BOX Feb 5: Batteries Not Included. Feb 12: What Matters? Feb 19: Felix Brown. Feb 26: Those Guys. 350 Fall River Avenue, Seekonk, MA. 508-3366634, www.luxuryboxrocks.com.
Carmen, performed by Festival Ballet, February 4-6 at the VMA. www.festivalballet.com.
5
MET Feb 10: Sharon Jones and the DapKings. Feb 16: Conspirator and Chris Machetti. Feb 22: As I Lay Dying, Winds of Plague, and After the Burial. Feb 24: Joe Fletcher and the Wrong Reasons, Brown Bird, and Pete Bernhard. Hope Artiste Village, 1005 Main Street, Pawtucket. www.lupos.com. MOHEGAN SUN Feb 5: John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, free at the Wolf Den. Feb 11: Linkin Park, Pendulum, and Does It Offend You, Yeah? Feb 16: Buckcherry, All That Remains, Hellyeah, and The Damned Things. Feb 18: Rascal Flatts, Luke Bryan, and Chris Young. Mohegan Sun Boulevard, Uncasville, CT. 800-477-6849, www.mohegansun.com. RI-RA Feb 25: Take 3. 50 Exchange Terrace. 272-1953, www.rira.com. RISD MUSEUM Feb 11: Slippery Sneakers zydeco band. Chace Center, 29 North Main Street. 454-6793.
A Friendly Visitor Pet Sitting and Boarding Services
Providing high quality pet services: - Walks/Home Visits - Unique in home boarding services with up to 3 dogs at once for individual attention For more information call Sharon at 401.301.1712
M&M Landscaping & construction inc. Patios • Walkways • Retaining Walls
Complete Landscape Design & Construction From site work to Completion
18th Annual Rhode Island Pet Show, February 5-6 at the Rhode Island Convention Center. www.jenksproductions. com.
6
Rascal Flatts, February 18 at Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, CT. www.mohegansun.com.
7
401-397-7662
mmlandscapingri.com Fully Insured & Licensed, Free Estimates
Newport Winter Festival, February 18-27 at venues throughout Newport. www.newportevents.com/winterfest.
8
PC vs. Notre Dame Basketball Game, February 23 at the Dunk, www.dunkindonutscenter.com
9
Africa, an exhibit 10 Mother celebrating Black History
Month, February 1-25 at the URI Feinstein Providence Campus. www.uri.edu/prov. See general event listings for additional contact details.
Pilates one-on-one training Pilates Mat Classes Functional Fitness Training Pilates Reformer Duets & Trios Bosu Classes, Yoga Classes Therapeutic Massage Chair Massage
www.pilatesjen.com (401) 475 - 0084 February 2011 East Side Monthly
43
Have a Nice Valentine’s Day at Sawaddee!
Calendar
continued...
STONE SOUP COFFEEHOUSE Feb 5: Lori McKenna. Feb 12: Erin McKeown. Feb 19: Mary Ann Rossoni (opening: Caroline Doctorow). Feb 26: Charlie King and Karen Brandow. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 50 Park Place, Pawtucket. 921-5115, www. stonesoupcoffeehouse.com.
CLASSICAL & SUCH COMMUNITY MUSICWORKS Feb 4: MusicWorks Players with Sang Woo Kang, piano. Ryan Concert Hall at Providence College, 549 River Avenue. 865-1000, www.providence.edu. MIXED MAGIC THEATRE Feb 5-6: Timeline: A Journey Through African Americana, featuring the Exult Choir. 171 Main Street, Pawtucket. 305-7333, www.mixedmagicri.com.
181 Wayland Ave. Providence, RI 02906 401-861-1414 www.ReliableGold.com
93 Hope St., Providence • 831-1122
Mon-Thur 11am -10pm Fri 11am-11pm Sat-Sun 12pm-11pm
sawaddeerestaurant.com
MUSEUM CONCERTS Feb 20: Four Nations Ensemble performs From Venice and Versailles. Cathedral of St. John, 271 North Main Street. 621-6123, www. museumconcerts.org. OPERA PROVIDENCE Feb 25: Winter Concert Series at Blithewold Mansion and Gardens, 101 Ferry Road, Bristol. 331-6060, www. operaprovidence.org.
Bradford design, inc.
Tomasso Auto
renovate
Celebrating 41 Years
Swedish Motors
RI PHILHARMONIC Feb 25: Rush Hour concert, previewing the next evening’s classical concert. Feb 26: Also Sprach… Brahms, including works from Wagner, Strauss, and Brahms. VMA, 1 Avenue of the Arts. 222-1467, www.vmari.com.
restore rejuvenate
Upscale Home design & Fine woodworking
Toyota • Kia • Nissan • Chrysler Audi • Lexus • Infinity • Ford Volkswagen • Honda • BMW Chevy • Isuzu • Mercedes • Mini Prosche • Ford • General Motors Mazda • Saab • Volvo • Hyundai Saturn • Subaru • Mitsubishi
Give us a call to set up a free consultation appointment
ASE Certified RI inspection and repair station #27b
www.Bradforddesign.Com
Mon-Fri 8am-6pm
401-231-0099 info@bradforddesignri.Com
44
We service and repair ALL foreign and domestic models
East Side Monthly February 2011
401-723-1111
729 East Avenue
Top of the East Side, next door to Rite Aid
A Doll’s House at the Gamm Theatre
STADIUM THEATRE Feb 5: The Reminisants Valentine’s Concert. Feb 11: A Valentine Cabaret. Feb 12: Love Me Tender, an Elvis tribute. 28 Monument Square, Woonsocket. 7624545, www.stadiumtheatre.com.
PERFORMANCE comedy | dance | theatre COMEDY COMEDY CONNECTION Feb 3: Jim Breuer. Feb 4-5: EJ Murphy. Feb 18-19: Coleen Galvin. Feb 24: Corey Manning’s All Star Comedy Show. Feb 25-26: Ace Aceto. 39 Warren Avenue, East Providence. 4388383, www.ricomedyconnection.com. FOXWOODS & MGM GRAND Feb 3-5: Otto & George. Feb 5: Jay Mohr. Feb 10-12: Dov Davidoff & Bret Ernst. Feb 15: Eddy Bratz & Friends. Feb 17: Jim Jefferies. Feb 20: Tom Papa. 39 Norwich Westerly Road, Mashantucket, CT. 866-646-0609, www.mgmatfoxwoods.com. MOHEGAN SUN Feb 18-2: Funniest Comic in New England Contest. Mohegan Sun Boulevard, Uncasville, CT. 800-477-6849, www.mohegansun.com.
DANCE FESTIVAL BALLET Feb 4-6: Carmen. VMA Arts & Cultural Center, 1 Avenue of the Arts. 2221467, www.festivalballet.com.
WoW!
VARIETY MOHEGAN SUN Feb 24-25: Imperial Circus of China. Mohegan Sun Boulevard, Uncasville, CT. 800-477-6849, www.mohegansun.com. PERISHABLE THEATRE Feb 4: Live Bait, a monthly open mic night where attendees can share stories on the evening’s theme topic. Thursdays and Saturdays: Improv Jones comedy troupe. 95 Empire Street. 331-2695, www.perishable.org.
SOCIAL HAPPENINGS
We’ve sold over 3,000 all beef hot dogs in 6 months!
Only $2
485 Angell St. • 331-1031 • Wayland Square
Get ready for Valentine’s Day in our newly renovated salon
expos | fundraisers | seasonal EXPOS & EXHIBITIONS GOLF EXPO Feb 19: Featuring interactive displays, seminars, and golf-related attractions for all levels of golf enthusiasts. Includes discount equipment and apparel, indoor driving range, miniature golf, contests, giveaways, and more. Benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Providence. RI Convention Center, 1 Sabin Street. 444-0750 x 105, www.riconvention.com.
Spring Flower & Garden Show FOXWOODS & MGM GRAND Feb 20: Groovaloo, featuring worldclass street dancing. Feb 26: Arabian Nights ballroom dancing, featuring Fares Karam. 39 Norwich Westerly Road, Mashantucket, CT. 866-6460609, www.foxwoods.com.
THEATRE 2ND STORY THEATRE Feb 3-6: Becky Shaw. 28 Market Street, Warren. 247-4200, www.2ndstorytheatre.com. GAMM THEATRE Thru Feb 20: A Doll’s House. 172 Exchange Street, Pawtucket. 7234266, www.gammtheatre.org. MIXED MAGIC THEATRE Feb 11-17: When Fate Comes Knocking. 171 Main Street, Pawtucket. 305-7333, www.mixedmagicri.com. PARK THEATRE Thru Feb 27: The Murder Trial of Josh Gordon. 848 Park Avenue, Cranston. 467-7275, www.parktheatreri.com.
PERISHABLE THEATRE Feb 18: Breathing Tube, a night of short plays for radio. 95 Empire Street. 331-2695, www.perishable. org. PROVIDENCE COLLEGE Feb 3-6: The Sweetest Thing in Baseball at Angell Blackfriars Theatre. Feb 11-13: Fuddy Meers, a student-directed production at Bowab Studio Theatre. 549 River Avenue. 865-1000, www.providence.edu. PROVIDENCE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Feb 1-6, 8-13, 15-17, 19-20: The Lion King. 220 Weybosset Street. 421ARTS, www.ppacri.org. TRINITY REP Feb 4-Mar 13: The Crucible. Feb 25-Apr 3: Yellowman. 201 Washington Street. 351-4242, www.trinityrep.com. VMA Feb 18: Girls Night: The Musical. 1 Avenue of the Arts. 222-1467, www. vmari.com.
NEWPORT BRIDAL SHOW Feb 19: Meet with 80 top wedding professionals, enjoy fashion shows and live entertainment, and taste treats from top wedding caterers. At Rosecliff and OceanCliff. 841-0200, www.newportbridalshow.net. PET SHOW & TICA CAT SHOW Feb 5-6: The annual pet show features the TICA Cat Show, obedience training demos, the Rare and Ancient Dog Show, the AKC Parade of Breed Dog Show, pony rides, pet fashion shows, and more. RI Convention Center, 1 Sabin Street. www.jenksproductions.com.
Top it off with Shellac!
Angell Nails and Spa Children 5 & under get polished free
15 South Angell St, Providence 490-3137 • Mon-Sat 9-7:30, Sun 10-5 after hours appts available
BEAUTIFUL PRE-OWNED JEWELRY
Empire Loan 1271 North Main Street Providence, RI 02904
Frederick J. Harkins AAMS, CRPC
SPRING FLOWER & GARDEN SHOW Feb 24-27: Explore extraordinary gardens woven with original art creations, meet the artists and designers, and expand your garden horizons at lectures, seminars and demonstrations by nationally recognized experts. RI Convention Center, 1 Sabin Street. 272-0980, www.flowershow.com.
FUNDRAISERS GO RED FOR WOMEN LUNCHEON Feb 12: Featuring women’s educa
harkins Wealth Management LPL WeALTh MAnAgeMenT AdviSoR Life. Money. Balance Both.
Securities offered through LPL Financial. Member FINRA/SIPC.
Tel: 401.728.1728 | Fax: 401.728.1160 194 Hillside Avenue, Pawtucket, RI 02860 frederick.harkins@lpl.com www.harkinswealthmanagement.com
February 2011 East Side Monthly
45
Calendar
continued...
tional workshops, a designer purse and accessories silent auction, and heart-healthy lunch. Benefiting the American Heart Association. Westin Providence, 1 West Exchange Street. 330-1715.
Roasting Coffee Daily. Since 1984. organic fair trade
coffee EXCHANGE wickenden st
PEAK THE PLAZA Feb 26: Climb up 58 flights of stairs at One Financial Plaza to raise funds for the American Lung Association. Registration and training information available at www.climbofyourlife.org. PPS WINTER BASH Feb 5: Celebrate like it’s 1983 under the city lights at Davol Square. 3 Davol Square. 831-7440, www.ppsri.org OSCAR NIGHT AMERICA Feb 27: Walk the red carpet and celebrate the Oscars with the Rhode Island International Film Festival, filmmakers, and special guests. VMA, 1 Avenue of the Arts. 861-4445, www.film-festival. org/OscarNightAmerica.php.
SEASONAL & HOLIDAY
www.sustainablecoffee.com
BANK OF AMERICA SKATING CENTER Thru Mar 20: Public Skating. 2 Kennedy Plaza. 331-5544 x 5, www.kennedyplaza.org. NEWPORT WINTER FESTIVAL Feb 18-27: Featuring 150 family-friendly events, including musical and comedy performances, mansion tours, a children’s festival, sand and ice sculpting, arts and crafts, chili cook-off, city-wide scavenger hunt, and much more. Visit www.newportevents.com/winterfest for a complete events calendar.
GALLERIES The Pets’ Home Companion
BANK RI GALLERIES Feb 3-Mar 2: Floor Cloths by Carol Scavotto. Pitman Street Gallery. 4565015 x 1330, www.bankri.com. BELL GALLERY AT BROWN Thru Feb 13: Faculty Exhibition 2010, Part II. List Art Center, 64 College Street. 863-2932, www.brown.edu.
Dog Walking, Pet Sitting & Pet Parenting Advice 401-274-0907
The Lion King Works by Shawn Gilheeney, Lindsey Glover, Joshua Nierodzinski, Alison Owen, Millee Tibbs, and Isaac Wingfield. 228 Angell Street. 421-9230, www.chazangallery.org.
New Year. Thru Jun 5: From Dover to Penzance: Watercolor Views of the English Channel and Changing Poses: The Artist’s Model. 224 Benefit Street. 454-6674, www.risdmuseum.org.
GALLERY Z Thru Feb 26: NetWorks Exhibit, featuring works by artists selected for NetWorks 2009 and NetWorks 2010. 259 Atwells Avenue. www.galleryzprov.com.
URI FEINSTEIN PROVIDENCE CAMPUS Thru Feb 25: Mother Africa exhibit, celebrating Black History Month. Gallery reception with storytelling, music, dance, and film takes place from February 1-3. 80 Washington Street. 2775206, www.uri.edu/prov.
PAWTUCKET ARTS COLLABORATIVE Thru Feb 18: From Sketch to Fiber, an invitational show. 260 Main Street, Pawtucket. www.pawtucketartscollaborative.org.
BERT GALLERY Thru Mar 19: The Magical Realism of Louise E. Marianetti. 540 Water Street. 751-2628, www.bertgallery.com.
PROVIDENCE ART CLUB Thru Feb 4: Rev. Bill Comeau in Dodge House Gallery; and William Barnum and Arsen Dadeklan in Maxwell Mays Gallery. Feb 6-25: Richard Grosvenor in Dodge House Gallery; and Members Show in Maxwell Mays Gallery. 11 Thomas Street. 331-1114, www.providenceartclub.org.
CHAZAN GALLERY AT WHEELER Thru Feb 10: Works by Diane Hoffman and Allison Paschke. Feb 17-Mar 9:
RISD MUSEUM Thru Feb 28: Brian Knep: Exempla. Thru Apr 17: Prints for the Japanese
P out our helpful links
google us at: www.activesurface.com/petshomecompanion
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East Side Monthly February 2011
KIDS + FAMILY CHILDREN’S FAIR Feb 19, 21: Activities include face painting, balloon creations, arts and crafts, reptiles, live entertainment, and more. Part of the Newport Winter Festival. Newport Marriott, 25 America’s Cup Avenue, Newport. 847-7666, www.newportevents.com/winterfest. PROVIDENCE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM Feb 13: Terrific Teeth exhibit, where kids will meet dental hygienists to brush up on tooth care (ages 3-11). Feb 19: Investigate the world of engi
WoW!
days: Intermediate/Advanced Modern Dance. Thursdays: Hop to the Beat Hip Hop classes. Saturdays: Belly Dance. 95 Empire Street. 3312695, www.perishable.org.
Kosher Corned Beef and Hot Pastrami Sandwiches
ONLY $6.75
TOUR JOHN BROWN HOUSE MUSEUM Feb 25-26: Floral-themed tours, in collaboration with the Spring Flower & Garden Show. 52 Power Street. 273-7507, www.rihs.org.
SPORTS BROWN MEN’S BASKETBALL February home opponents: Feb 4: Columbia. Feb 5: Cornell. Feb 18: Penn. Feb 19: Princeton. Feb 25: Harvard. Feb 26: Dartmouth. Pizzitola Sports Center, Hope and Lloyd Street. www.brownbears.com. BROWN MEN’S HOCKEY February home opponents: Feb 2: Harvard. Feb 4: Dartmouth. Feb 25: Cornell. Feb 26: Colgate. Meehan Auditorium, 235 Hope Street. 8632773, www.brownbears.com.
Golf Expo neering at five activity stations, presented by the Society of Women Engineers; ages 5-11. Feb 21: Storyteller Keith Munslow. Feb 22: Wingmasters birds of prey program. Feb 24: The Hoopoe Show, featuring mime Chris Yerlig. 100 South Street. 2735437, www.childrenmuseum.org. STADIUM THEATRE Feb 18-20, 25-27: Annie, performed by RI Stage Ensemble. 28 Monument Square, Woonsocket. 762-4545, www. stadiumtheatre.com.
LEARN discussion | instruction | tour DISCUSSION MUSEUM OF WORK AND CULTURE Feb 13: Alex Papianou discusses his new book, Tolia’s, detailing Woonsocket’s Main Street during the 1940s and 50s. Feb 27: Going to Play: 20th Century Childhood in the Blackstone Valley. 42 South Main Street, Woonsocket. 769-9675. PROVIDENCE ATHENAEUM Feb 11: Discussion with the Founders of the Providence Children’s Film Festival. Feb 18: Hark! The
White Whale! Series, part 1: Historian Jamie Jones on the cultural context of Moby Dick. Feb 22: Policy and Pinot, a series on vital issues facing the state, presented by WRNI, hosts What Now? Implementing Health Reform in RI. 251 Benefit Street. 421-6970, www. providenceathenaeum.org. RI MEN’S GATHERING Feb 18: Annual retreat for men from all walks of life, featuring workshops on listening skills, friendship and trust, grieving and closure, men at midlife, crafts, cooking, and more. Also includes games, hiking, and a talent show. Non-competitive, nonreligious environment. At URI’s W. Alton Jones Campus in West Greenwich. www.rhodeislandmensgathering.org.
INSTRUCTION MEN’S A CAPPELLA SINGING Thursdays: Open rehearsals with the Narragansett Bay Chorus. Open to men who like to sing a cappella. Knights of Columbus Hall, 15 Bassett Street, North Providence. www. singnbc.com. PERISHABLE THEATRE Sundays: Intermediate Ballet, and American Tribal Belly Dance. Wednes-
485 Angell St. • 331-1031 • Wayland Square
TAXATION by Fiore & Asmussen Certified Public Accountants
Servicing the Community For over 30 years 125 Wayland Avenue Providence
401-351-7000
PC FRIARS BASKETBALL February home opponents: Feb 2: USF. Feb 17: DePaul. Feb 19: Cincinnati. Feb 23: Notre Dame. Dunkin’ Donuts Center, 1 LaSalle Square. 865-GOPC, www.dunkindonutscenter.com. PROVIDENCE BRUINS February home opponents: Feb 4: Springfield Falcons. Feb 11: Hershey Bears. Feb 13: Hartford Wolf Pack. Feb 18: Portland Pirates. Feb 20: Worcester Sharks. Dunkin’ Donuts Center, 1 Lasalle Square. 331-0700, www.dunkindonutscenter.com. TWIN RIVER Feb 25: Rhode rage, a live Mixed Martial Arts event. 100 Twin River Road, Lincoln. 331-2211, www.ticketmaster.com. URI BASKETBALL February home opponents: Feb 2: Fordham. Feb 9: Dayton. Feb 12: Charlotte. Feb 19: UMass. Ryan Center, One Lincoln Almond Plaza, Kingston. www. gorhody.com. To have your listing included in the East Side Monthly Calendar, please send press releases or event information to Christina Evon at esm@ providenceonline.com. Please send submissions at least one month prior to event date.
Quality, Customized Child Care within your budget, schedule, and needs. Our Nannies, Mannies, and Grannies, are prescreened, CPR/ First Aid certifed, and available immediately.
401.744.6990 Based out of Barrington, RI www.NewEnglandNannies.Org February 2011 East Side Monthly
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Classifieds
To place your classified ad, please call 732-3100.
FEELING OVERWHELMED???!!!
Need your cellar, attic or garage cleaned, but... can’t quite get to it?? You can call TAKE-IT-AWAY-TOM at 401-434-8156 Mobile 401-316-2273
“Counselor on the Debris of Life� A+ INTERIOR PAINTING Fine interiors. 20+ yrs. experience. Highest quality work. Many references. Fully insured. Based on the East Side. (RI Reg. #19226). Call Patrick, 226-8332. APARTMENTS FOR RENT 261 Rochambeau, 2nd floor, neat 2 bed, new kitchen, dishwasher, living room, dining room, sunroom, new kitchen, dishwasher, washer & dryer, hardwoods, parking. $1,100/ mo. Studio, Blackstone Blvd., washer/dryer on premises, parking, heat & hot water included, $775/mo. Call 401-831-2233. AUDIO/VIDEO HELP If you need some help with your TV, home theater or stereo, call me at 401-383-4102. Jon Bell, Simply Sight & Sound. Reasonable rates. 25 years of experience. BEST CLEANING Residential/commercial cleaners. Excellent local references. Green cleaning available. 524-1982 BOOKKEEPER TO GO Professional, experienced bookkeeper for individuals and small business. Louise Zuckerman 742-5420. bookeepertogo@cox.net BUYING OLD PHOTOGRAPHY Also art, fine books, collectibles, etc. Call 401-421-2628. jcvp@cox.net
CHRIS’ LAMP REPAIR We Make House Calls!!! âœŻ Repairing all types of Lamps âœŻ Vintage Lighting Specialist âœŻ Chandelier Repairs âœŻ Serving the East Side for over 15 years âœŻ Fully Insured
(401) 831-8693 www.chrislamprepair.com
DOG WALKER/PET SITTER Trained to administer medications. Reliable, bonded, references available. Home visits. Call Susan 5273914. Loves animals. DOROTHY’S CLEANING We clean your home as our own! References & free estimates. Call 401-274-7871 or 401-524-7453. EAST SIDE HANDYMAN 34 years. Repairs, upgrades & renovations. References. Insured. Reg. #3052. Call 270-3682. ELDER HELP AVAILABLE Light housekeeping, errands, appointments. East Side. Call 2742006. ELDER CARE AVAILABLE Very kind, patient, mature woman seeks position with elderly person. Intelligent, cheerful, reliable with 20 years experience, including several long-term positions. Impeccable references. Please call 781-3392 or 497-3392.
CEILING WORK, DRYWALL Plaster (hang, tape & paint). Water damage repair. All phases of carpentry. Reg. #24022. Fully insured. Steven, E. Prov., 401-641-2452.
ELECTRICAL SERVICES All types. New circuits. RI #A3338. MA #16083A. Insured. Larry 5292087. Also, small handyman jobs.
CYC PAINTING Interior & exterior. Minor carpentry. Power washing. Reg. #27017 & insured. Carlos 749-3928
ET’s PROFESSIONAL CLEANING SERVICE Cleaning homes & offices. Over 15 years experience. Insured. Free estimates. Call 272-0334.
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East Side Monthly February 2011
HOUSECLEANER Available Crystal Clean, a quality housecleaning service. We don’t cut corners. Weekly or bi-weekly. We use environmentally friendly products. Bethany 265-0960.
HOUSECLEANING AVAILABLE Reliable, dependable. Years of experience. References available. Donna, 316-1120 KIND CARE ~ SENIORS Appointments, errands, shopping, cleaning & maint. Well being & home checks. Refs. Ins. 270-3682.
All Concrete Services Specializing in all Masonry Repairs Decorative Stamp Concrete No Job Too Small
Chimney Repair
Reg. # 12299
Classifieds HOUSE CLEANING Experienced. Local references. Free estimates. Call Lilly, 401-419-2933.
To place your classified ad, please call 732-3100.
SNOW PLOWING
Outside & Inside Painting Clean Cellars, Yards & Garages Install Fences
Residential/Commercial Free Estimates
We also Clean Apartments & Houses Specializing in Removing Boilers and Oil Tanks Bennie Woods Office 438-5708 â—? Cell 286-6338
Vinny’s Landscaping
& BOBCAT SERVICES
497-1461 â—? 231-1851
Reg. #6515
LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE Spring & Fall Cleanups Bushes Trimmed â?Š Tree Removal Pine Bark Mulch
Landscape Construction Parking Lot Cleaning Handyman â?Š 26 Years Experience
MG Landscaping 644-7417 â?Š 831-5109 MALIN PAINTING Most ceiling & wall repairs, wallpaper removal, oil-based and latex finishes, staining, varnishing. Fully insured, many local references. Safe, secure, fast service. Call 226-8332. Reg. #19226.
PROACTIVE Computer Services Home or office. Computer repairs, data recovery. Fully equipped mobile service. Service calls $40/hr. Call 647-7702. www.pcsllcri.com PROPERTY MANAGER AVAILABLE 24/7 on call. Rent collection. Rentals, evictions. Call 421-0092.
MASTER ELECTRICIAN Install, service, repair. Expert troubleshooting. Free detailed computerized estimate. Deal direct with owner. Lic. #AC 004110 & insured. Small jobs done promptly. All work guaranteed. Save $$$. Family owned & operated. Local resident. Calls returned immediately. 401-258-4793, John.
SEAN MCCRAKEN PAINTING Exterior & interior specialist. Licensed & insured. Reg. #15479. Quality work. Prompt service. 18 years experience. Call Sean at 9969669.
PRESERVE YOUR MEMORIES Photos, slides and papers saved to CD or DVD. Comen Co., 7516200. Email: hcomen@cox.net
USED MUSIC WANTED! Round Again Records needs your used CDs and records. Cash paid. Call 351-6292.
SUPERB HOUSEPAINTING High end workmanship. Small jobs a specialty. Call Ron 751-3242. Reg. #18128.
classified advertising Order fOrm r 4 lines /$10 r $2.50 each additional line (includes headline) r $2.00 additional — Boxed Ad name:
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February 2011 East Side Monthly
49
East of Elmgrove
by Elizabeth Rau | illustration by Robyn Ng
Charlie’s New Life Catching up with the Projo’s former political columnist My friend Charlie
has moved to town. He’s the friendly guy in a Sox cap and red suspenders picking up an order of lox at Davis Deli or sitting at a table at Starbucks poring over some of the four newspapers he reads daily, rain or shine. Once a news junkie, always a news junkie. His full name is M. Charles Bakst, and if that doesn’t sound familiar to you then you’ve been living under a rock for several decades. Charlie was the legendary political columnist at the Providence Journal, writing three, sometimes four, columns a week from 1995 until his retirement in 2008. Now he is living in our midst. In November, he and his wife, Elizabeth, left their Barrington house after 42 years and moved to a condo on the East Side, over there, beyond the treetops, to a place that will remain a secret. The couple liked what the East Side offers: great restaurants, arty shops, Brown University, a real community. “It felt like we belonged here,’’ Charlie says. Charlie spent his career writing about other people; now it’s time to take a look at his life. He’ll turn 67 on February 22. Born in Fall River, he graduated from Phillips Academy, Brown and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He worked as a summer intern at the Journal and joined the paper fulltime in 1968. He started covering politics in 1972 and never looked back. He wrote about gay rights, abortion rights, immigrants, baseball, voter apathy, the dangers of smoking and public corruption. His holiday greeting poems were utterly unique. In all those years, he missed only one deadline, in 1963 when he was an intern. “I was crazy about accuracy,’’ he recalls, “and the integrity of the column.’’ In September, 2008, he decided to call it quits and accepted an early buyout. He’d had a good run; now it was time to take it easy. He visited with his three granddaughters. He went to Bruins’ games. He donated his personal papers from four decades of reporting to the Brown archives. Who knows? he thought. One day, probably not many years from now, a student will walk into the library and say, “I heard there was something once called the newspaper. Did anyone from Brown ever have anything to do with that?’’ Seven months after his retirement, he went by himself to Fort Myers, Florida, for his annual pilgrimage to Red Sox spring training. In the past, he’d gone for six days, but this time he wanted to
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East Side Monthly February 2011
fulfill a lifelong dream and stay for a month. He even rented a condo. Several weeks into the visit, trouble found him. His teeth started to hurt, and he had a burning pain in his throat. Most alarmingly, he was short of breath. Through a combination of confusion and denial, he put off seeing a doctor, but things eventually came to a head. He almost collapsed walking home from a grocery store two blocks from his condo. Leaning on a shopping cart for support, he felt like “a feeble old man.’’
He knew something bad was happening. He drove himself to a hospital and staggered into the emergency room: “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,’’ he said, “but I can barely breathe.’’ As he lay on a gurney, with tubes traveling from his arms to a machine, it occurred to him that he might die. His reporter’s instinct to document events took over: he snapped a photo of his face – puffy eyes, pale skin – with his iPhone. An hour or so passed. His jaw throbbed, his throat burned. He called for help. The machine started to beep wildly. “You’re having a heart attack,’’ the doctor told him. Charlie’s first thought: “I’m alive.’’ An ambulance raced him to another hospital,
where doctors inserted two stents to open his blocked arteries. But more agony awaited him. He lost consciousness and awoke the next day to hear frightening news: his heart had stopped twice and he had to be revived. Charlie still remembers a doctor’s funny way of saying hello: “You don’t look so bad for a guy who tried to kill himself twice yesterday.’’ The patient laughed; a good sign. The recovery was slow. The fatigue wore him down. Once, he had to leave a PawSox game just after it started, and when he got home for a light dinner of a bowl of Cheerios, he lacked the energy to slice a banana to put on top. Over time, he regained his strength, mostly through participating in Miriam Hospital’s cardiac rehab program. “A heart attack definitely drives home very vividly the fact that you’re mortal,’’ Charlie says. “At first, it almost obsesses you. It’s like a demon. You have to put it out of your mind and not let it overwhelm you.’’ Still, his life has changed. Pastrami sandwiches are out. Hummus is in. Easy on the salt. He exercises on a treadmill every day. He has slimmed down to 145 pounds. He takes four prescribed pills a day; his nitro tablets are in a tiny metal bottle on his keychain, just in case. “You have to tell yourself that you have a lot to live for and that you can do almost anything you did before, yet in moderation,’’ he explains. “You just try to get as much out of life as possible.’’ In the old days, Charlie worked round-theclock in the newsroom, pecking away on his computer, his small tape recorder spewing out the musings of the state’s famous and near-famous pols. Now he happily lingers over coffee and a slice of whole wheat bread, no butter. Does he miss the column? “I miss the camaraderie in the newsroom,’’ he admits. “I miss the ringside seat at the political scene, but I don’t miss running around, and I don’t miss the deadlines and the writing. A column is an all-consuming experience. You’re always thinking about it. It’s a great, great job, but it’s a lot of work.’’ Thanks Charlie, for all those years of telling us things we didn’t know. Now go have fun. Live. Elizabeth Rau is an East Side resident who can be reached at erau1@verizon.net.
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February 2011 East Side Monthly
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