Providence 04/04/14 by The Phoenix

this just in

dance

a fresh look

emotion in motion

‘community in focus’ bRings olnEyvillE to lifE _by liz lee | p 7

fEstival ballEt’s ‘uP closE on hoPE’

homegrown product

musical nourishment

_by Johnette Rodriguez p 13

thE RicE cakEs’ need to feed _by chris conti | p 11

april 4-10, 2014 | rhode island’s largest weekly | Free

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2014

the seat of power The most important election of 2014 — for Speaker of the House — already happened. And you didn’t get a vote _by Philip Eil | p 8

is meet your new favorite poet th J t in A conversation with Franny Choi | p 6 us

the last frontier

‘Buried Ice’ at 186 Carpenter | p 14

providence.thephoenix.com | the providence phoenix | ApriL 4 , 2014 3

T H E MU SIC OF T H E S O U L O F A G E N E R AT I O N

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APRIL 4 , 2014

contents

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on the coveR F main photo by richard mccaffrey

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p 14

POWERFUL TAIKO DRUMMING!

TAO:

8 the seAt of PoweR _ B Y P hI L I P e I L

The most important election of 2004 — for Speaker of the House — already happened. And you didn’t get a vote.

PHOENIX RISING

11 homegRown PRoduct _ B Y c h R I s c o n t I

Musical nourishment: the RIce cAkes fulfill the Need To Feed.

12 theAteR _ B Y B I L L R o d R I g u e z

Mental shrapnel: the Wilbury’s nihilistic BLAsted.

13 dAnce _ B Y j o h n e t t e R o d R I g u e z

Emotion in motion: festIvAL BALLet’s “Up Close On Hope.”

OUTSTANDING THEATRE!

14 ARt _ B Y g R e g c o o k

THE GURU OF CHAI

The last frontier: “BuRIed Ice” at 186 Carpenter.

21 fILm _ B Y c h R I s t o Ph e R g R A Y

“Short Takes” on cAPtAIn AmeRIcA: the wInteR soLdIeR, BAd woRds, and noAh.

an event hosted for students by students

the uSuAL Stuff 5

PhILLIPe & joRge’s cooL, cooL woRLd

The good news (no, really) | Batter up! | The wild world of Facebook | Will Johnny run? | PPAC troubles?

the cItY _ B Y d e R f

thIs just In

Meet Franny Choi, your new favorite poet (plus, two poems by Choi) | A chance to change your idea of Olneyville

SATURDAY, 8PM danny Brown |p 10

APR 5

10 8 dAYs A week “a + b” combines dance with music by Brown Bird; “Angels & Outlaws” is an ambitious art event at the Columbus; Danny Brown; and more.

22 moonsIgns

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providence | portLAnd vol. xxvii | no. 14

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phillipe + Jorge’s cool, cool World

the good news No, really — good News; let's be frieNds; more political posturiNgs Your superior correspondents spotted

a couple stories on WPRI-Channel f 12 in the past week that certainly qualify

RISD MuSeuM Graphic Design: Now in Production

John Morgan, Dracula

Aaron Draplin and Coudal Partners, Field Notes (dry transfer letter version)

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Mike Perry, Eames Eiffel Side Chair

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Anthony Burrill, Oil & Water Do Not Mix Forsman & Bodenfors, with Evelina Bratell (stylist) and Carl Kleiner (photographer), Homemade is Best

Justin Manor, John Rothenberg, and Eric Gunther, Set Top Box

Peter Buchanan-Smith, First Aid Kit

RISDMuSeuM.oRG

Graphic Design: Now in Production is co-organized by the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York.

Best Made Company, American Felling Axes

Antoine et Manuel, Comedie de Clermont, Saison 2011–2012

as good news. And, while our bread and butter at Casa Diablo has always been the Vo Dilun foibles and stupidity that are “the gift that keeps on giving,” as Rhode Island Public Radio’s Scott MacKay says, we do like to highlight the good things that occasionally happen in the Biggest Little. One story focused on 17-year-old Central Falls high school student, Jean Paul Valencia, the class valedictorian, whose family emigrated to the US from Colombia. Jean Paul was born in Queens and, after a brief return to Colombia, settled in Central Falls with his family just before kindergarten. Jean Paul studied hard and was a straight-A student. He later interned in the office of RI State Senator Christopher Ottiano. Now he holds the distinction of being accepted at Brown, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, and Harvard. (In fact, he is apparently the first Central Falls high school student to be accepted at Harvard.) We don’t know which school Jean Paul will choose, but he is certainly an inspiration to other high schoolers in the state. It’s nice to see hard work and perseverance pay off. Channel 12 also reported that one of RI’s most recent celebrity residents (she lives in Westerly for at least part of the year), the popular musician, Taylor Swift, recently made a surprise visit to Hasbro Children’s Hospital to entertain a number of the young patients there. (The only thing that startled P&J was a photograph of Swift serenading the kids in which her head looked like it was dipped in polyurethane, a la the Burger King, the scariest corporate spokesman of them all.) According to the hospital’s Facebook page, Swift spent more than five hours there in “one of the longest stays the hospital has ever had” from a visiting entertainer. Good for you, Taylor. We think the Ocean State is starting to warm to our newest celebrity. And, no, P&J aren’t planning on swimming to your home and stalking you.

It’s baseball time again and the reigning World Series champion Boston Red Sox may have started out on the wrong foot, losing their first game to the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1, at Camden Yards. But the next day was different. On Tuesday, the Sawx were the guests of the Big O, President Barack Obama, at the White House, where they were lauded in the traditional ceremony for reigning sports champions on the House lawn. Reportedly, the President didn’t recognize many of the clean-shaven Sox, but we’re pretty sure he knew who Big Papi was. Can the Sox repeat? We’ll see. You know the denizens of Casa Diablo (and the majority of Phoenix staff) will be rooting for the home team. Let’s hope the weather warms up so they

won’t have to wear parkas in the home opener on Friday, April 4, at Fenway.

the Wild World of faceBook

Yes, P&J are on Facebook (if you can figure out our real names, “friend” us). And while Jorge is a regular user, Phillipe tends to be more reluctant about posting what’s on his mind. One of the aspects we find rather cu-

the city _ b y de rf

rious is when we receive missives from Facebook Central suggesting “people who we may know” to consider “friending.” Recently this has gotten even more bizarre with your superior correspondents receiving messages about Queen Elizabeth, Cher, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts, and Meryl Streep. Perhaps because P&J have a number of friends who would qualify as “celebrities,” Facebook thinks we know

everyone in show business. Most recently we received a “people you might know” note from Dracula (“Vlad Dracul”) who allegedly lives in “Transylvania, Louisiana.” P&J did notice some time ago that there was a Christopher Walken Facebook page and we were tempted to “friend” him, as he is friends with a few of our friends and lives on Block Island. But scrolling down the posts, it became apparent this was some jokester and not the real Walken. We think we’ll wait for Dracula to “friend” us.

Will Johnny run?

This week it was reported that John Loughlin, the former state representative from Tiverton who has most recently been yukking it up on the airwaves at News Talk 630 WPRO, is considering another run for the 1st District Congressional seat occupied by David “Little Chi Chi” Cicilline. Loughlin ran for the seat in 2010 and lost. Some pundits believe that Chi Chi might become ensnared in the investigation involving recently resigned RI House Speaker Gordon Fox. As you know, Fox’s office at the State House and his home on the East Side of Providence were raided a few weeks back by federal authorities, prompting his resignation of the Speaker’s seat. The feds aren’t talking, but there is a lot of speculation that the investigation involves Fox’s work on loans related to the Providence Economic Development Partnership (PEDP) — work he took during the tenure of then-Providence Mayor Cicilline. In the Biggest Little, the political season never ends.

ppac trouBles?

The local news site, GoLocalProv, has been conducting an investigation into the finances and business relationships of the Providence Performing Arts Center. It seems that GoLocal feels that top staff at PPAC receive “excessive compensatiion” for a non-profit. Part of what they have discovered is that there are affiliated “for profit” businesses connected with PPAC and that PPAC president, James “Lynn” Singleton, received over $550,000 from such businesses 2012, the last year for which IRS information is available. P&J have no doubt that all this will be sorted out over the coming months and have no idea whether there is “something funny” going on with the books at PPAC. But we will say this: Lynn Singleton is a longtime friend. It is well established that he has done a magnificent job running PPAC and the compensation he receives is not considered by Casa Diablo to be out of line, given the revenues he has brought into the city and the enjoyment he has provided PPAC patrons. We wish Lynn the best and hope that this whole thing will be cleared up as soon as possible. ^

Send Forever stamps and Pulitzer-grade tips to p&j@phx.com.

6 APRIL 4, 2014 | the PRovIdence PhoenIx | PRovIdence.thePhoenIx.com

PRovIdence.thePhoenIx.com | the PRovIdence PhoenIx | APRIL 4, 2014 7

Two poems

This Just In Stanzas

Meet Franny Choi, your new favorite poet

Let’s talk about poetry. I think when you bring that kind Remember poetry? That of work into a classroom, suddry, old, chalky stuff your denly poetry becomes something high school English teacher that is meaningful and useful used to serve you with a side of and moves a student. terms like “quatrains,” “dacThrough Project Voice, which tyls,” “syntax” and “caesura”? is a small organization that Let’s not talk about that brings poet/teaching artists into kind of poetry. classrooms across the world, but No, in honor of National mostly in the US . . . I joined with Poetry Month — which began them as a teaching artist a few April 1, as I’m sure you almonths ago. And we employ a lot ready know – let’s talk about of simple beginning exercises to a young, local, living poet get students to write poetry and named Franny Choi who a) at to sort of prove that every student age 25, already has amassed who sits down has a million stoan impressive shelf of honries that they could tell through ors (she’s been a finalist at poetry and that it’s not hard. the National Poetry Slam, In the beginning of every single the Women of the World Poworkshop that we teach, we start etry Slam, and the Individual by asking students to write three World Poetry Slam, plus chamthings they know to be true, and pion of the 2010 Seoul Poetry then use those things as a jumpSlam); b) has a new, debut ing off point to talk about how to book titled Floating, Brilliant, find something to write about. Gone; and c) has written and When you sit down to write a poperformed the best response to em, [people] feel like, “Oh, this a cat call we’ve ever seen. Go to has to be really deep. It has to be YouTube, search “Franny Choi really meaningful. I have to write Pork Fried Rice,” and behold a poem about Life and Time and how she snatches a fleeting Art.” When really the time your vulgarity from the air, then dad took you out of school to go to twists and tweaks it into an Disneyland is a much richer place immortally brutal/beautiful to start from. word sculpture. WERE YOU NERVOUS AT ALL ABOUT “To the Man Who Shouted NOT BEING ABLE TO HAND-DELIVER ‘I Like Pork Fried Rice’ At Me THE POEMS IN FLOATING, BRILon the Street” is one of many “THE BEST POETRY THAT I’VE HEARD MAKES ME FEEL A LITTLE LIANT, GONE, VIA SPOKEN-WORD poems featured in Floating, BIT MORE ALIVE” Choi. PERFORMANCE? Not at all. BeBrilliant, Gone — a thin, muscause they’re two completely difcular book that crackles with mal. But I’m not. If I could wield my words ferent media. Very different platforms. energy. It’s here where you’ll find Choi rearI was a literary arts major in undergrad ranging the lyrics of Lil’ Wayne’s song “Pussy and my work like [that] . . . if my work could do whatever the equivalent of that is, for beand so I’m fairly comfortable working within Monster” by order of frequency. When you ing a human, I would be happy. the page. And as much as there is a set of see that he says “pussy” 40 times, it’s as if tools that I use in my performance — I have she’s slapped an “Ingredients” label on the YOU DO A LOT OF WORK WITH HIGH SCHOOL my voice and my body and the stage and the side of the song, alerting listeners to exactly STUDENTS. BUT I IMAGINE TEACHING POETRY space and my eyes; all of that stuff — there what they’re consuming. In Floating, you’ll CAN FEEL LIKE GETTING THEM TO EAT THEIR VEG- is just as rich of a toolbox to use for the page. also find show stopping phrases like “a script ETABLES. HOW DO YOU SELL THEM ON THE VALUE There’s the space on the page and then there’s clear as rooftops set alight by a sun’s dying OF POETRY? Aside from poetry just being cut line breaks and there’s what the poem looks roar,” “God is a distracted hedonist,” and like visually on the page and italics and that “four years after he left, he is still spoon-feed- out of so many curricula altogether, which sort of thing. And because of that, it didn’t ing my heart back into my quivering mouth.” is starting to happen more and more, which is think is a huge fucking tragedy that this seem restrictive or worrying to me to write on Rhode Island — Choi’s adopted home after country is going through, among all of the the page. graduating from Brown — is here, too, in other tragedies . . . besides that, I think most snapshots of a bike ride to Narragansett of READING THIS BOOK WAS A REMINDER OF THE students have only seen poetry that is not of or gentrification on Providence’s West End. their generation, not of the world that we are DETAILS IN THE WORLD. IT WAS A KIND OF SEN(Choi, never sparing herself, admits in that SORY AWAKENING. The best poetry that I’ve poem that she “feel[s] safest within two miles living in or that they are living in, and [that] has very little relevance to their everyday lives heard just makes me feel a little bit more alive of an espresso machine.”) and all of the high drama things that concern for the time that I’m in it. I think that’s one The book is impossible to summarize, of of the things that we need the most, just to teenagers. Especially [for] students who are course. But, if pressed, we might submit give ourselves a little bit of time to feel alive a disconnected from language, historically – one more line, from “The Mantis Shrimp little bit, instead of being on Instagram, even students of color; students who are English Speaks”: “Can’t you see? This moment is all language learners, who are immigrants, who though I love Instagram. colors imaginable.” And [it serves] also to name those strange have learning disabilities — poetry can be Our conversation with Choi has been edsort of nameless feelings and experiences. I seen as something that’s super difficult and ited and condensed. love the moments when I’m reading a poem irrelevant and boring. THE MANTIS SHRIMP POEM BEGINS WITH A NOTE: when I’m like, “Yes, I do know what you are And so what I’ve found is, through the “THE MANTIS SHRIMP IS A SMALL CRUSTACEAN talking about. But I’ve never been able to spoken word world particularly, but not THAT CAN SEE MORE COLORS THAN ANY OTHER name it before.” exclusively, there is a lot of poetry that is ANIMAL. IT CAN ALSO DELIVER A BLOW EQUIVAFranny Choi will have a book release party for Floataccessible and yet doing really strong work, LENT TO THE FORCE OF A BULLET AND HAS BEEN ing, Brilliant, Gone at the Salon (57 Eddy St., Provicraft-wise; that’s really immediately exciting KNOWN TO CRACK AQUARIUM GLASS.” DO YOU dence) at 6:00 pm on Saturday, April 5. For more info, go and emotional for a young person to hear. RELATE TO THAT? Oh man, I wish I was badass [There’s] also [poetry] that is telling personal to frannychoi.com. _Philip Eil enough for mantis shrimp to be my spirit ani- stories that are relevant to their lives. And so

TO THE MAN WHO SHOUTED “I LIKE PORK FRIED RICE” AT ME ON THE STREET you want to eat me — out of these jeans & into something a little cheaper. more digestible. more bite-sized. more come: i’m greasy for you. slick my hair with MSG every morning. i’m bad for you. red-light district stuck in your teeth. taste like a takeout box between my legs. taste like dried squid. lips puffy with salt. brimming with foreign. so call me pork: curly-tailed obscenity been playing in the mud. dirty meat. worms in your stomach. give you a fever. dead meat. butchered girl chopped up & cradled in styrofoam for you — candid cannibal. want me bite-sized no eyes to clog your throat. but i’ve been watching from the slaughterhouse ever since you named me edible. think you’re the first to sit at this table? to ask for a cookie at the end? call yourself lucky. chef. archaeologist — any name to thicken your jaw. then listen for my sow squeal scream murder in molars. feel salt awaken my synapses. watch me kick back to life. tentacles & teeth. resurrected electric. revenge — squirming alive in your mouth strangling you quiet from the inside out.

WHY WE BIKED FORTY MILES TO NARRAGANSETT There are many reasons — the promise of water, to offer one example — but none burns so blood as the good work of muscles pumping freight over the earth; as the fact of engine in my knees and all my lover’s inexplicable flesh churning wind beside me. The work of love becomes its own reason; like the heart’s relentless feedback loop, which is infinite until it isn’t; like sweat, being only (miraculously) itself, and worth it; like the ocean, having been the ocean long before we arrived, each wave newborn and buried at once; like us, standing breathless at the edge, astonished by our own lungs.

A VITAL NEIGHBORHOOD The Morales family.

Providence’s “Second downtown”

A chAnce to chAnge your ideA of olneyville Listen for a while to the stories told by the residents, artists, and business owners interviewed for the upcoming exhibit, “Community in Focus: Photographs and Stories of Olneyville,” and it’s not hard to envision a neighborhood that looks more like a Norman Rockwell painting than the post-industrial backdrop for the legendary Fort Thunder arts collective. It’s a neighborhood in which teenagers swim naked in a moonlit Woonasquatucket River, little boys peek longingly through the windows of the bowling alley, hamburgers cost only a nickel, and the bell towers at Atlantic Mills still ring out every morning to signify the changing of shifts. It might seem far from the way we perceive Olneyville today, but altering public perceptions is part of what this show is all about. The exhibit will be hosted by Yellow Peril Gallery as part of the 25th Anniversary Celebration for Olneyville Housing Corporation (OHC), a community development organization founded with the mission of revitalizing the neighborhood. The show features portraits of 25 people selected for their various contributions to the community, along with audio recordings of each person discussing what makes the neighborhood unique. “When you look at the people who were interviewed,” says OHC associate executive director Jennifer Hawkins, “it’s the old Italian women and the Polish contractor, the artists and the school principal, the people involved in the reclamation of the Woonasquatucket River. It’s not just one element — it’s all of

these people coming together to revitalize the neighborhood.” Yellow Peril director Vanphouthon Souvannasane says that when he moved to Providence from New York in 2011, Olneyville felt as safe and vital to him as any other neighborhood in town. But he eventually realized that local perceptions of the area were different. “I think for a lot of people who grew up in Rhode Island, they hear the word ‘Olneyville’ and they get scared,” he says. “They might not understand that this is where a lot of artists live and create work. It’s where a lot of immigrant families live and are trying to achieve the American dream, however you might define that.” As a commercial gallery that aims to “establish Olneyville as a cultural destination,” Yellow Peril is presenting the show in partnership with OHC and The Armory Revival Company, which is lending one of its vacant spaces at The Plant (a refurbished former mill complex) to house the exhibition. The show’s interviews and photographs were produced and compiled by two former OHC interns, Carolina Buitrago and Vera Carothers, during the summer of 2013. An earlier iteration of the show on view at City Hall last month featured photographs with accompanying printed quotes in both English and Spanish. In its upcoming incarnation at The Plant, complete audio versions of the interviews will be featured as well. Gallery visitors will be treated to reminiscences and wisdom from Olneyville community members like Jaime Blancas, owner of La Lupita; Father Raymond Tetreault, former pastor at St. Teresa’s Church; artist and resident Jenine Bressner; and Olneyville Post Office employee Cathy Bonetti. One recording features Olneyville resident Rick Mancuso, who had this to say when asked what he likes most about living there: “One can see there’s hardship, one can see there’s challenge . . . but, hell, show me any place in the United States where this is not happening. It’s life . . . it’s America.” “Community in Focus: Photographs and Stories of Olneyville” will be on view through April 27 at The Plant #108 (60 Valley Street, Providence). The exhibition is free and open to the public. An opening reception will be held Thursday, April 17 from 5-9 pm to coincide with Gallery Night Providence. For more info, go to yellow perilgallery.com/project/communityAT YOUR SERVICE Anthony Solomon, owner of focus-photographs-stories-olneyville. Anthony’s Pharmacy.

_Liz Lee

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Speaker does in these situations . . . is that, [on] every committee, [he] makes sure that the majority of the committee are people loyal to the Speaker. That way, he can control the flow of legislation through the committees.” It’s been a longstanding state house practice that every bill discussed in committee is “held for further study” after it’s first heard, Newberry says. Since a bill will only see the light of day if the Speaker says so, a committee chair’s (modest) power and influence lies in their ability to persuade the Speaker and his staff about a bill’s merits during closed-door meetings. If a bill is released back out to the committee after ’study,’ “that’s the signal they’re supposed to pass,” Newberry says. From there, it proceeds to the Floor where, thanks to a Democratic supermajority, it passes easily. (The House’s lopsided party distribution — 69 Democrats and six Republicans — is yet another source of the Speaker’s power.) The bottom line is this, Newberry says. “For the last four years, Gordon Fox has been able to decide what bills pass or don’t pass the Rhode Island House of Representatives . . . Now that he’s out of the picture, the next Speaker will have that same power. And he may wield it very differently.”

the seat of power when the speaker speaks, people listen. here’s why

_By ph il ip e il On Friday, March 21, agents from the FBI, IRS, and Rhode Island State Police entered both House Speaker Gordon Fox’s office at the State House and his home on Providence’s East Side. We still don’t know exactly why they executed the raid or what was in the boxes they toted out hours later. But we do know that the following evening, Fox issued a statement announcing his resignation as Speaker, citing “the respect I have for all members of the House of Representatives. “The process of governing must continue and the transition of leadership must be conducted in an orderly manner,” he added. By that time, the transition was well underway. Certain reps had assembled to strategize at the Providence Marriott on Orms Street the night before, practically before the feds’ trucks had chugged away with their haul of evidence. And over the course of the weekend, thanks to Rhody’s dogged political press corps, we learned of other meetings at restaurants on Federal Hill (one camp at the Old Canteen, another at Venda Ravioli), in a firefighters hall in Johnston, and at Woonsocket City Hall. But our knowledge of the proceedings was limited. The sight of reporters sitting in cars or staked out on sidewalks, waiting to see who would walk in or out of a venue and whether they would say anything substantive, was a reminder that the House Speaker isn’t voted in by the general population of Rhode Island. He — it’s never been a “she” — is voted in by “an electorate of 75 people,” in the words of former Brown University political science professor and current director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution, Darrell West. If this doesn’t make you squirm, perhaps the frequent reminders of the office’s significance will do the trick. Rhode Island Public Radio’s Ian Donnis tweeted that the House Speaker is “RI’s most powerful public official.” The Providence Journal described it as “arguably the most powerful position in Rhode Island government.” A team of writers at WPRI.com wrote that the Speaker “is often called the most powerful politician in Rhode Island.” But what does that oft-repeated “most powerful” phrase mean, exactly? And, while we’re at it, what is political power? In an effort to answer these questions, we’ve been calling and emailing and meeting with the smartest, most seasoned experts we could find: an array of professors, pollsters, politicians, journalists, lobbyists, non-profit advocates, and close political observers. But, before we share what we’ve learned, consider a couple disclaimers. First, as the executive director of Common Cause RI (a “nonpartisan organization whose mission is to ensure open, ethical, accountable, and effective government processes”) John Marion warned us before our interview, this conversation “could get pretty wonky pretty fast.” Any analysis of political power runs the risk of becoming dense, dry, and complicated. But it isn’t hyperbole to say that the future of Rhode Island depends on it. So, we’re not turning this school bus around. Secondly, here’s another disclaimer from Providence College political science

THE BUDGET

VIEW FROM THE GALLERY the house of representatives hall. professor Tony Affigne, whom we also interviewed. “The power of the Speaker is usually not something outsiders witness directly,” he says. “You will sometimes see it when a bill is expected to pass or a bill is expected to reach the floor and it doesn’t. And people ask, ‘What happened to it?’ And then you may find out later that the Speaker made some phone calls.” But it’s not particularly common for a Speaker to simply unilaterally snatch a bill from the queue, he says. More often, “the power of the Speaker is exercised in the Speaker’s office behind closed doors when committee chairs or other members come in and meet with the Speaker and the Speaker tells them he’s not going to support a particular bill or he’ll only support it if is has particular amendments,” he says. While members of the legislature can perhaps more easily spot the guiding hand of the Speaker in the legislative process, for the rest of us, Affigne says, “It’s like watching the ripples in a pond, but you never see the stone.” With that said, let’s see if we can make some sense of recent events in Rogue’s Island. As you’ll see, we’ve organized our findings into thematic categories.

THE SCHEDULE

Professor Affigne points out that the House Speaker is only mentioned three times in the Rhode Island Constitution. “One time is to specify that the Speaker and the Senate President will get paid twice what the other members of their legislative houses get paid,” he says. “The second place is where the Speaker is designated to be the third in the line of succession, after the Governor and Lieutenant Governor. And the third place is where the Constitution provides for an election of the Speaker by all members of the House, irrespective of party.” The other powers of the Speaker are

vested in him, therefore, via the rules of the House, which are voted on shortly after a new class of reps is sworn in every two years. On the second page of those rules (“2013 — H 5293 SUBSTITUTE A . . . HOUSE RESOLUTION ADOPTING RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOR THE YEARS 2013–2014.”), under the heading “Rules Pertaining to the Order of Business,” we find the seemingly innocuous sentence: “The Speaker, or the Speaker’s designee, shall prepare the floor calendar for each legislative day.” This is a big deal. There were 1293 bills introduced during the 2013 legislative session and only 368 made it to the floor for a vote. Once they did, every single one of those bills passed. In other words, most bills — nearly three-quarters, in 2013 — never make it to a vote. The ones that do, don’t get there by accident. Darrell West points to a high profile example: 2013’s passage of same-sex marriage. “In earlier years, activists had wanted to move that bill and [Gordon] Fox basically was not at the point where he wanted to do that, so nothing happened,” West says. “Then when he moved and basically was open to that bill going up for a vote, then the vote took place and the bill passed.” Another glimpse of the Speaker’s scheduling power comes from the brief, quasipublic campaign that took place in the days after Fox’s resignation. In one camp was Cranston Representative Nicholas A. Mattiello, the Democrat who would ultimately win the race with 61 votes when the House reconvened on Tuesday, March 25. But, over the weekend, Mattiello’s challenger, Representative Michael Marcello (D-Scituate, Cranston) claimed to have enough votes to become Speaker. Marcello presented himself as a reformer and made his case by telling local news outlets that, if elected, he would bring

bills to the House floor within 30 days on three long-idling issues: payday lending reform, increasing the oversight powers of the State Ethics Commission, and eliminating the so-called “master lever” allowing voters to vote quickly along a party line when inside the election booth. Why would a Speaker candidate focus on scheduling? Because laws can only pass if they make it to the floor. And the Speaker controls that process.

THE COMMITTEE SYSTEM

The subject of scheduling — or “controlling the flow of legislation,” as it’s often called — is so critical to understanding the Speaker’s power, it’s worth taking a look from another angle. There are 11 standing committees in the House of Representatives. They cover corporations; environment and natural resources; finance; health, education and welfare; judiciary; labor; municipal government; rules; oversight; small business; and veterans’ affairs. The Speaker has absolute power over who sits on these committees and who chairs them. He simply appoints and removes people as he sees fit. (We have seen this in the way in Speaker Mattiello has swapped out leadership on key committees — finance, judiciary, oversight, labor — in the days after assuming his new post. His appointment of North Kingston/Exeter Republican Representative Doreen Costa, who has an “A” NRA rating, to vice-chair of the judiciary committee was particularly eyebrow-raising.) Why do committees matter? Again, it’s about the way bills travel to the House floor. House Minority Leader Brian Newberry (R-North Smithfield, Burrillville), explains. “The Speaker appoints committee chairs. The Speaker appoints committee members,” he says. “And what the

Rhode Island’s operating budget for the current fiscal year is $8.2 billion, an amount known among political scientists as “shitload of money.” To get a sense of how these funds are divvied out, flip through the Secretary of State’s Rhode Island Government Owner’s Manual 2013-2014 (which is actually a lot more interesting than it sounds). In the “State Departments and Agencies” section, you’ll see that The Department of Children Youth and Families, for example, has an annual budget of $211,457,278. The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts gets $2,564, 607. The Rhode Island Airport Corporation: $51,000,000. Office of the General Treasurer: $33,018,358. And so on. But who makes these decisions? True, the Governor of Rhode Island is constitutionally required to submit a proposed budget. But it’s the House of Representatives — specifically, the finance committee, and therefore the Speaker — which shapes this document before it’s sent to the Senate. Darrell West breaks it down for us. “If you control the budget, everybody has to curry favor with you,” he says. “And so if you need to get a job for someone or if someone needs a contract, you have tremendous sway over those types of decisions.” The state budget is simply the most important document that comes out of the state house every year, John Marion says. Thus, influence over the budget is perhaps the most potent source of political power in the state. “Politics is about the authoritative allocation of resources,” he says. “Government allocates resources . . . It uses the coercive power of the state to take private resources — taxes — [and] distribute public resources: roads, welfare, whatever.” Governor Lincoln Almond tried vetoing the budget when he was first elected in the mid 1990s, URI political science professor Maureen Moakley says. The House overrode it the next day. After that, he stopped trying, Moakley says. “Because what was the point?”

THE GOVERNOR

One of the reasons the governor’s office is so toothless when it comes to a budget, is that Rhode Island is one of just six states where the governor doesn’t have some

photos By richard MccaFFrey

providence.thephoenix.com | the providence phoenix | ApriL 4, 2014 9

FORMER AND CURRENT POWER BROKERS Fox and Mattiello. kind of line-item veto power — i.e., the ability to take a red pen, and mark certain components of a budget that he wants to change or X-out. This is part of what makes the Rhode Island governor one of the weakest in the nation. But don’t take our word for it; listen to Thad Beyle, a poli sci professor at the University of North Carolina who’s famous for calculating and tracking gubernatorial power based on a composite score of veto power; budget power; gubernatorial party control; tenure potential (length of term and the number of terms allowed); considering whether positions like Attorney General, Treasurer, and Secretary of State are appointed or elected; and appointment powers in areas like corrections, education, health, and transportation. In 2007, the most recent year Beyle published a Governors’ Institutional Powers chart, Rhode Island ranked 49th, just ahead of Vermont. This kinda puts the all chatter about the 2014 governor’s race into perspective, doesn’t it?

THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE SERVICES

Having established that the governor doesn’t call many of the most important shots on Smith Hill, who else might potentially claim to be the “most powerful” politician in the state? Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed is a possibility. But, as Elton John sings, “Then again, no.” Aside from the fact that the Senate plays a backseat role in the budget-writing process (a huge deal), there is also their secondary position on the Joint Committee on Legislative Services. You’ve probably never heard of the JCLS, unless you’re a policy wonk, a state rep or senator, or you’ve got a brother or cousin or aunt or nephew who works at the State House. But the committee is one of Rhode Island’s key political battlegrounds. It’s here where the decisions about State House operations are made — “everything down to who can order pencils,” as Minority Leader Newberry says. And, thanks to the statute-prescribed makeup

of the committee — three House members (Speaker, Majority Leader, Minority Leader), and two Senators (Senate President, Senate Minority Leader) — the scales of influence are forever tipped in the House’s favor. “There’s a building there [with] a $38 million budget a year, or so,” John Marion says. Around 300 people work there, from committee clerks to Capital TV staffers to maintenance workers. “Who controls those jobs? Who controls that building? . . . Almost all of it is controlled by the Speaker.” “Hypothetically speaking, if there was some bill that the Speaker of the House and House members wanted to get through and the Senate didn’t want to do it, the Speaker could, in theory, take away all the Senate office space,” Minority Leader Newberry says. “It sounds petty, but those are the kinds of buttons that can be pushed in politics to force things through.” “It’s the culture,” he adds. “Everyone understands that the House has more power than the Senate.” Side note: it’s astonishing how many people mentioned the ability to assign and re-assign State House parking spaces when assessing the Speaker’s power.

LEGISLATIVE GRANTS

$1500 to the Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum in Exeter. $5000 to the Stadium Theatre in Woonsocket. $1500 to the Providence Northend 49ers Football & Cheerleading teams. $1000 to the Plum Beach Garden Club in North Kingstown. This may not sound like a lot of money, but these 2014 legislative grants are examples of the annual goodies that the Speaker of the House can dispense at his discretion. Hmmm, I wonder if those turn into political poker chips?

CAMPAIGN CASH

Speaking of poker chips, let’s talk about campaign donations. If you look at Representative Gordon Fox’s campaign finance page (though he resigned as speaker, he vowed to stay on

as rep through the rest of his term), you’ll see that it’s stocked with over $200,000. Other reps in Providence have more than $75,000 (Lombardi) and $30,000 (Blazejewski), but the bulk of them (Almeida, Diaz, Ajello, Slater, Cimini, Palangio, DeSimone) dwell in the sub$10,000 range. What’s going on here? Is Fox that much better of a representative? “Joe Schmo has a fundraiser? You’re lucky if the lobbyists show up,” John Marion says. “Speaker Fox has a fundraiser? . . . You have to show up if you’re a lobbyist.” “A rank and file legislator has a hard time raising money; it’s not easy,” he continues. “Because you have little to give the person in return who’s giving you the contribution. The Speaker has a lot to give, controlling the flow of legislation.” At the same time, though, a Speaker is never going to need $200,000 to win his next election. This means he can re-gift his donations to other reps, thereby creating a huge lever of influence in a state where General Assembly elections are often won with less than $20,000. We’ll say that again: the House Speaker can pass along his campaign donations to whichever candidate he likes. He can also do this with the more than $80,000 in funds from political action committees (PACs) set up by House leadership. Oh, yeah. The Speaker can also pay for meals from his campaign accounts, if that particular outing for Veal Spezzardo or Beef Braciola at the Old Canteen falls within rules about using funds to maintain their elected office. “They wine and dine people to get their allegiance,” Marion says.

LIFE AFTER THE SPEAKERSHIP

We didn’t have much luck getting in touch with the Gordon Fox’s predecessors for this article. Phone calls to the offices of John Harwood (RI House Speaker from 19932002) and William Murphy (2003-2010) went unreturned. But, then again, it’s hard to imagine what Murphy could have told us that would speak more loudly than his profile page on LobbyTracker, the Secretary of State’s web portal where lobbyists are required by law to submit information. Murphy’s page — in particular, the “Estimated Compensation” section — offers snapshot of the kind of power that remains with a Speaker after he hands over the gavel. In 2013, the payments he received for lobbying work included a $15,000 retainer from the 2nd Amendment Coalition, a $50,000 fee from Advance America Cash Advance Centers, Inc., a $25,000 fee from the Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers, and $10,000 per month in fees from UTGR, the company that owns Twin River. It appears that being a former Speaker of the House of Rhode Island is very good for one’s financial health, after stepping down from the rostrum. That is, unless you resign from the office after the feds raid it. But let’s not end on such a sour note. Instead, we’ll remind you that in Massachusetts, the three men who preceded the state’s current Speaker — the men who held office from 1991 to 2009 — were convicted of felonies for tax evasion; perjury and obstruction of justice; and conspiracy and extortion, respectively. An Associated Press article once referred to the situation as a “hat trick of convictions.” God bless America. ^ For a Q&A with Speaker Mattiello, go to providence.thephoenix.com.

Philip Eil can be reached at peil@phx.com. Follow him on Twitter @phileil.

10 APRIL 4, 2014 | the PRovIdence PhoenIx | PRovIdence.thePhoenIx.com

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_compiled by lou papineau his 2011 breakout album, XXX. On 2013’s Old, DB once again unleashes his trademark high-pitched vocal delivery with an acidlaced tongue (quite literally). Dude’s wardrobe and frizzled hair may resemble the lovechild of George Clinton and Wendy O. Williams (with a smashed-out front grill offering plenty of wiggle room for his camera-happy tongue), but Brown can scorch the mic with rapid-fire flair. Openers include Bodega Bamz, ZelooperZ, and local turntablist DJ Nook. The show at the Met, 1005 Main Street, Pawtucket, is all-ages and should be 100 percent bananas | $17 advance, $20 day of show | 401.729.1005 | themetri.com

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MARK YOUR CALENDARS! April 17, 2014 Our new panel discussion series, Phoenix Forum, kicks off with the question, “Why isn’t Rhode Island the greenest state in the country?” Stay tuned for details.

Trinity Rep is staging another world premiere — by Stephen Thorne, who has been a member of the resident acting company for 14 years. Veronica Meadows is the “girl detective” who has been solving crimes in her small town with her friend Ginny. But something changes for Veronica when she hits 16. Thorne says, “This whip-smart woman has gotten stuck playing the ‘girl detective’ role and once she realizes that perhaps there is more to life than her tried-andtrue routine, she steps outside of the role she has been asked to play. As she evolves and grows, her actions completely rewrite her world and everyone around her.” The play has been in the works for two years, evolving and growing through readings and workshops. “As a writer, you work alone for months and in your minds, the play is done,” Thorne explains. “Then you hear it read out loud and suddenly the room is alive with questions and new ideas. The greatest thing about our collaboration is the vigorous curiosity the acting company brings to the table, literally opening up the play and letting it blossom and grow beyond anything I was originally thinking of as a writer.” Veronica Meadows is in the Dowling Theater at 201 Washington St, Providence, through May 4 | $28-$68 | 401.351.4242 | trinityrep.com

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Collaboration is at the heart of “a + b.” The title of the event refers to “a shared evening of contemporary dance” by choreographers Ali Kenner Brodsky and Betsy Miller, featuring two new commissioned scores by Brown Bird. They say: “From intimate solos to athletic ensemble pieces, the performances will feature a mixture of premieres and reconstructed repertory by both artists.” The highlights: Brodsky’s Dot, “a quirky piece involving four women existing in a con-

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fined space”; and Miller’s Grieve, in which “audiences bear witness to the choreographer’s raw and honest attempts to deal with the death of her brother.” “a + b” will be presented at the Empire Black Box Theatre, 95 Empire St, Providence today at 7:30 pm and on Saturday at 2 (with a Q&A with the choreographers to follow) and 7:30 pm | $15 | as220.org

Yes, it is

AS220’s monthly series which asks the musical question is this JAzz? is in action tonight. The double bill features Ryan Kowal’s Free Jazz Lunchbox and the Sam Kurzontkowski Trio. Showtime is 8:30 pm at 115 Empire St, Providence | $10 | as220.org

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The Columbus Theatre (270 Broadway, Providence) has established itself as the opulent arts epicenter in the capital city. Today, from 6 pm-midnight, the “Angels & outlAws” event, curated with the Owls & Athens collective, will present “a group art exhibition [and sale] and celebration of creative culture.” They

draw their inspiration from the final section of Dante’s Divine Comedy: “Stylistically, the show’s name expresses the relationship between Dante’s ‘Paradiso’ & our own lives — the close relationship between the divine in each of us & how we find ourselves working ‘outside the law’ to achieve our goals in art, business & life, as it seems society has established a ‘working order’ which doesn’t accept those seeking a different path. The title also represents the dualistic nature of Providence, always fighting with Hope, yet struggling with success. Beyond that, the concept rests on our own hopes for salvation & redemption — for the Hope that we may all love our own fates.” It’s a sprawling affair encompassing works by more than 40 artists — installation/sculpture, digital projections, prints, jewelry, and beyond — plus music by Littlefoot, Party Pigs, and the Devil Twins, and DJs Ty Jesso and Tank Jones | Free | More info and philosophical/metaphysical musings @ facebook.com/ events/1409104906012738

Detroit rebellion Detroit’s DAnnY brown leads the “alt-rap” pack nowadays, following

When she’s not busy working at Brown U’s Literary Arts Program, lori bAker is working on her fiction. Her first three books were collections of short stories; last year she went long with her first novel, The Glass Ocean. Library Journal did the outline: “Set in the Victorian world but neither Dickensian nor steampunk, this debut novel . . . is narrated by red-haired, sixfoot-plus Carlotta Dell’oro, who relates the story of her parents’ lives. On an 1841 expedition aboard the Narcissus, during which he’s expected to sketch sea creatures, Leonardo Dell’oro falls for remote, lovely Clotilde Girard, whose father funded the voyage. Leonardo brings Clotilde to remote Whitby, England, when her father goes missing, but they aren’t the perfect couple. Eventually, Leonardo apprentices himself to a glassblower, learning to transform his sea sketches into fragile, fantastical forms. Love, art, and history; who can resist?” John Banville praised it as “that rarest of things, a historical novel, or at least a novel set in history, that is also a work of art”; he noted that “Baker is a captivating storyteller, and her prose has the flash and fire of molten glass.” She will read at Brown’s McCormack Family Theater, 70 Brown St, Providence, at 2:30 pm | Free | 401.863.3260 | brown. edu/cw

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an uber-talented trio whose knack for intrinsically weird, quirky, and catchy melodies dates back to their 2009 debut, The Friend Ship. Five years later, the trio sounds hungrier than ever, and Need To Feed will satisfy the devoted fans as well as music critics who still have no idea just how the hell to characterize this band’s sound. Need To Feed will be available this Friday (the 4th) at the album release show, with the Low Anthem serving as the very special opening act. “We always have a hard time describing our sound because we haven’t found a genre that fits us yet,” Raskin told me in 2010 following the release of The Friend Ship and just prior to the three-song EP Feel Like Human. The Rice Cakes were voted Best Local Act in our 2010 Music Poll, and by the time the 100-percent DIY Monster Man disc dropped in 2011, it was clear the trio had found a niche by completely sidestepping any boundaries. Raskin’s voice cruised over the jazzy, experimental pop and fuzz template, and the rumbling rhythm and impossibly catchy chorus of “Magma” (da-dum, dada-dada, da-dum, da-dum) eventually gained heavy rotation on 95.5 WBRU after the Rice Cakes took the 2012 Rock Hunt crown. The threesome cashed in the only way they know how — by playing more (and more) shows well outside the region (and scored the ideal road trip sponsorship from Narragansett Beer) and steadily built its fan base, hitting countless clubs and basements shows. Last year the Low Anthem’s Jeff Prystowsky and Ben Knox Miller (who helped Raskin record her first demos when she was 17) invited the Rice Cakes to perform on their locally sourced “Homegrown” stage at the Newport Folk Festival. And they just returned from a successful tour through the south which culminated in a six-show run at SXSW (where they hooked up with fellow PVD greats Atlantic Thrills and Roses for a gig). Raskin and the Cakes won over a few heads along the way, which may explain why their Kickstarter campaign reached its two-month goal of $5000 in one week (and has since climbed over $7K; a full remix album is in the works). The Rice Cakes spent the past 18 months writing Need

To Feed. The album was recorded at the Columbus Theatre with help from co-producers Prystowsky and Knox Miller (it was mastered by go-to studio duo Keith and Seth at Machines With Magnets). Belisle and Foster, who built a studio from scratch for the Monster Man sessions, produced two of the new songs. And, perhaps a sign of just how unique a sound the Rice Cakes kick out, Raskin noted this is the first time the band recorded with electric guitar. When I stopped by to check out a session at the theatre a few months ago, the band was all smiles — creating and jamming, feeling it on the fly. “We were still figuring out how we wanted this record to sound, so it took the patience of everyone involved — including ourselves,” Raskin said when we caught up earlier this week. “Every song has it’s own weird characteristic, so to bring that all together was somewhat of a challenge, but everyone involved made it happen.” Raskin’s voice and blaring keyboard take flight on the opener “The Birds,” before drummer Belisle and bassist Foster work up a slow groove on the excellent “Castle.” A proper first single could come with “Metallic Gaze” (classic Rice Cakes here) or the guitar-infused gallop of personal favorite “Hay Fever.” Raskin and Belisle share vocal duties on “Suck All Their Blood” and the acoustic “Follow Suit,” as well as a stripped-down version of the previously released “Floor Boards.” The idea was conceived at an open mic night in New Orleans where Raskin performed the song solo on piano. Pick up Need To Feed at the show (the band will be accepting canned food donations for the RI Community Food Bank) or visit thericecakes.bandcamp.com to order the download ($7), disc ($10), or limited-edition 12-inch vinyl ($15). Raskin and the Rice Cakes are more than ready to serve up Need To Feed. “This summer is gonna be sweet — new videos, more writing, and definitely more touring behind the new album,” said Raskin. “We are so pumped to share it with the people!” ^

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The Wilbury Theatre f Group, with Josh Short

directing, is presenting (through April 12) Sarah Kane’s controversial Blasted, a 1995 play that at the time was decried as juvenile, taken to the woodshed by critics, and flayed to shreds. The performances are excellent, but as for the play itself, I have to join that hollering throng of inkstained wretches scribbling their outrage. Anguish ain’t art. For much of it’s 90-minute-plus length, Blasted is a powerful offering, with two clearly motivated characters at odds in what they want — the essence of drama. But apparently Kane, BLITHE AND THOUGHTLESS Kelly. who took her own life four years later at 28, could find no resolution honest to her experience the window with the gun indicates that besides showing and telling how life is a someone might be after him. He has vale of tears with no exit, in which suffercoughing fits between cigarettes and ing and monstrous cruelty is the norm. mentions in passing that he’s down to one Artists certainly aren’t obliged to be lung. He is dying, and whether a bullet life-affirming, but even nihilism needs a (“For things I’ve done”) or his cancer gets dramatic arc on stage. him first is a coin toss. We meet Ian (Alexander Cook) and Cate Needless to say, Cate doesn’t have a (Amber Kelly) when they are entering a nice, romantic time with him, despite the hotel room, with him going immediately champagne he bought. The playwright to the bottle of Gordon’s. His first words, discards her for a long while, as she hides looking around, are: “I’ve shat in better in the bathroom, replacing Cate with a places than this.” In a lower-class English Soldier (Jo-án Belanger Peralta) — the capiaccent, of which Cate shares a version. tal S making him generic — who pushes The first of several long pauses, thrumhis way in and holds Ian at rifle point. ming with tension, occurs as he goes to Down, down, down a rabbit hole to the bathroom and returns with a towel hell on Earth. around his waist, checking out a revolver. With that we learn that they are in a Her back to him, Cate bounces brightly on country at civil war. The Soldier is filthy the bed. He complains about “wogs and and, in one of those appropriately long Pakis taking over.” (He’ll later opine that pauses, devours the food on the room serHitler “should have gotten the fags first.” vice tray like he’s starving. It’s magic that Cook makes us care at all Friedrich Nietzsche observed that those about him.) who fight with monsters should take care Cook is tall and husky but also gives a to not become monsters. The Soldier has beconvincing sense of vulnerability, which come one: after a woman he loved was tormakes his intimidating brawn shaky, tured and raped, he began doing the same. giving frail Cate a fighting chance in any Now the sadism begins. Toward us. ensuing conflicts. Kelly had other choices Sodomy is the least of it. Cruelties go on that would have worked for her character, and on, the point having been amply made but she makes Cate blithe and thoughtless, with the first few examples. Imagine cansmiling contentment the default state she nibalism ...well, no matter what you came returns to after any upset, such as stamup with, Kane likely out-grossed you. mering an objection to him or collapsing Some of the British critics who origiin one of her fainting spell. Whenever Ian nally excoriated Blasted eventually revisbelittles her, Cate says “I’m not stupid,” ited their views in later productions and which tells us that she thinks she is stupid. applauded. But while tastes are temporal, Cate has come here because Ian soundisn’t art eternal? This no-holds-barred ed troubled when he asked her to and she Wilbury production seems like it was perfelt sorry for him. He wants sex but she formed and directed like the playwright doesn’t, although they’d been together intended. So I can’t imagine that another before, until he started hitting her. staging, present or future, would turn a Ian has at least a couple of reasons to sustained scream of existential pain into feel sorry for himself. His peeking out an artful cri de coeur. ^ brian gagnon

VOTE!

Nominated AVN Awards 2012 Best Boutique in USA

started their in-studio series, “Up f Close On Hope,” more than 10 years ago,

the vision was to give up-and-coming choreographers and dancers a stage less overwhelming and more intimate on which to find their footing. Certainly artistic director Mihailo Djuric’s nurturing of Viktor Plotnikov’s work is a prime example of launching a dancer-turned-choreographer into his next career. So might be the case for one of the four Festival company members, whose work is featured in the current series, with a range of emotional impact from funny to tragic, thoughtful to satiric. Vincent Brewer’s multi-movement piece, Out of the Box, set to Bach, features six female dancers standing inside oversized shoeboxes and one male dancer slipping his entire reedy body in and out of a much larger box. The variations on the boxes — two feet in; one foot out; making the boxes slide by jumping inside them; balancing them on their feet from a floor position; wearing them on their heads — seemed to correspond to Bach’s variations on his themes. A fun piece to watch and most likely to perform. The sorrowful Two Sisters, by Vilia Putrius, set to Samuel Barber, is a tribute to dancer Jennifer Ricci’s sister Jaclyn, who died in January, after an illness that forced her to retire from Festival Ballet in 2003. Jaclyn and Jennifer had taken ballet lessons from early childhood and graduated into the company when they were in their teens. This piece shows the two sisters separating three times, when Jaclyn (portrayed by Elizabeth Mochizuki) got married, when she stopped dancing, and when she passed away. And it shows Jennifer thinking back to their earliest days of ballet, as sisters Gabriella and Samantha Shorr represent the Ricci sisters. A tough but healing piece.

Courtney Hanaway’s Dissociative Identity, set to cellist/composer Zoë Keating’s music, features one dancer in a leotard with an abstract pattern on the front, surrounded by six female dancers in various shades of non-patterned purple. The sharp-angled arms and legs, sometimes while upright, sometimes while on the floor, and the interlocking interactions of the dancers gives a fascinating look at the mind of someone enduring multiple personality disorder. A tongue-in-cheek look at families is cleverly and artfully evoked in Louisa Chapman’s Living Room Vignettes, set to music by pianist/composer Max Richter. A roomy red couch provides a focal point for the antics of the parents and their teenaged daughter, then the older sister and her boyfriend (a breathtaking sequence is when their arms and legs are entwined and moving but never touching) and finally, all five of them. The other contemporary pieces are Tangata by Boston-based George Birkadze — lots of leg swinging, quick head turns, and sharp poses a la tango — set to Astor Piazzola; Poised, by New York-based Joseph Morrissey, a stunning duet by Alan Alberto and Emily Loscocco; Djuric’s very modern, very abstract Extremes, with original music by Barbara Kolb, also performed with precision and panache by Alberto and Loscocco. In addition to spotlighting new choreographers in “Up Close On Hope,” Djuric has tried to showcase short portions of classical or neoclassical ballets, this time with three pas de deux and two solos. Company veterans Mindaugas Bauzys and Vilia Putrius present Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux (1960), set to a segment of Swan Lake that was cut from the original score. It’s a gorgeous dance, with Putrius floating through the air as Bauzys lifts her. In one of the solos, Putrius performs the Dying Swan, with graceful and very swan-like arm motions, set to Camille Saint-Saëns’s cello solo by Mikhail Fokine and popularized by Anna Pavlova. In the other solo, Bauzys stomps out the taunting “dance” in the Spanish bull ring, the late Cuban choreographer Alberto Alonso’s Toreador, to the familiar strains of Georges Bizet’s Carmen. The other pas de deux are Marius Petipa’s entertaining La Esmeralda, with a tambourine kicked by a toe shoe, hit by an elbow or knee, or merely shaken hard for its rattling effect; and the lesser-known Flower Festival in Genzano, by August Bournonville, a delightful fancy augmented with folkdance moves, done with great brio by Brenna DiFrancesco and Harunaga Yamakawa. ^ tHomas nola-Rion

cky

12 APRIL 4, 2014 | the PRovIdence PhoenIx | PRovIdence.thePhoenIx.com

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“AN EXTREME PLACE” One of Heyward’s panoramas.

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_b y Gr eG cOOK the pictures through software that digitally assembled the images into single panoramas or virtual spaces that you will be able to interact with much like Google Street View on a website he’s creating. “The idea is to fascinate people with what it looks like, to give them an experience, but also give them all the information that the scientists have,” Heyward says. At 186 Carpenter, some of Heyward’s super-high-resolution panoramas show the tents they stayed in, which appear terribly fragile against such elemental forces. Liu has made black-and-white comic book-style drawings of some of the landscapes. They feel like they’re traced — accomplished technically, but not big on feeling. A couple of cylinders suspended from the ceiling have Liu’s drawings on the outside matching Heyward’s photos on the inside. Put your head inside for a 360-degree view. Samples of ferrar dolerite, orthoquartzite, and siltstone — some looking as much rock as metal — are displayed atop wood shipping crates. But it’s a video playing on a monitor at the back of the gallery that takes your breath away. Time-lapse shots show sun and clouds racing across the relentless boulder fields and majestic peaks. The spedup pace gives you the feeling of geologic time, of what the glaciers and mountains have witnessed in their lifespans. Living amidst these wide rocky fields, Heyward says he felt “claustrophobic. It’s the most open spaces in the world. It’s very quiet, but you start to feel claustrophobic. You can’t go places . . . It’s such an extreme place that you can’t just go out on a walk.” The scientists travel most places by helicopter. The rocks are stacked atop each other in ways that make them difficult to traverse. And it’s not the sort of place you want to fall or get stuck. “The rocks,” Heyward says,” have never been walked on for millions of years.” ^

CLUBS

‘buried ice’ at 186 carpenter They say that temperatures in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica haven’t been above freezing in millennia. “This is the most constant environment in the world,” Keith Heyward tells me. They’re eerie and epic landscapes, vast fields of rust brown rocks ringed by serrated mountain peaks frosted with snow, like a cross between Yosemite National Park and a snowy Monument Valley (where they shot many Hollywood Westerns), or something you might imagine from The Lord of the Rings. The rocks were left by the tops of ancient glaciers, which have in effect evaporated away, leaving expanses of stones. “If you do just dig, you then find ice that has bubbles in it which is the atmosphere from 15 million years ago. Which is a big reason why they’re studying it,” Heyward says. “It’s the oldest ice in the world.” That’s where the Providence photographer traveled last year with Boston University Antarctic Research Group. They lived in tents for 10 weeks, often just two or four people at a time in the barren wastes. What Heyward found is documented in “Buried Ice,” accompanied by drawings by Julia Liu of Providence, on view at 186 Carpenter (186 Carpenter St, Providence, through April 18). “This is the last frontier,” Heyward says. “It’s the least visited place on earth. It’s the most extreme. “The average temperature was like -5 Fahrenheit without wind chill,” he says. “The sun never sets, but at night if you’re in a place near a headwall you get in a shadow for a while and you can feet a drop of like 10 degrees. “The valleys keep the clouds and precipitation from coming in,” Heyward adds. “It’s extremely dry. You can’t wash your hands with water because your hands will crack and get bloody.” Heyward shot thousands of photos of the landscapes using cameras mounted on machines akin to the motorized telescopes used to follow distant stars. Then he ran all

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FRIDAY 4

HARDCORE COMEDY SHOW hosted

by Brian Beaudoin | 10:30 pm | Comedy Connection, East Providence | $15

FRANK SANTOS + FRANK O’DONNELL | 10:15 pm | Olives, 108

SATURDAY 5

COMEDY THURSDAY 3

JOHN “DR. DIRTY” VALBY | 8 pm |

Comedy Connection, 39 Warren Ave,

JESSIMAE PELUSO | 8 pm + 10:15 PM | Comedy Connection, East Providence | $15 |

ACE ACETO’S ROYAL FLUSH COMEDY SHOW with Jeremy Furtado,

RA Bartlett, Linda Belt, and Wild Bill Simas | 9 pm | Newport Grand

SUNDAY 6

COMEDY SHOWCASE | 8 pm | Comedy Connection, East Providence | $10

JIM BELUSHI AND THE BOARD OF COMEDY, featuring Megan Grano,

Larry Joe Campbell, Joshua Funk, Brad Morris, and Trey Stone | 8 pm | Zeiterion Theatre, 684 Purchase St, New Bedford, MA | $35-$49.50 | 508.994.2900 | zeiterion.org BRING YOUR OWN IMPROV | See listing for Fri

MONDAY 7

THE COMEDY FACTORY with John

WEDNESDAY 9

PAT DIXON | 8 pm | Comix at Fox-

woods, Mashantucket, CT | $10-$20 advance

THURSDAY 10

A NIGHT FOR HOLLY, a fundraiser

for the Holly Charente Scholarship Fund, in honor of the Marine who was killed in Iraq in 2005, with Stephanie Peters, Rob Pierce, Sarah Blodgett, John Porch, and host Jay Burns | 8 pm | Comedy Connection, East Providence | $15 “A NIGHT OF IRISH COMEDY,” with Mark Shea, John Morris, and Frank O’Donnell, and host John Kelley | The event, which includes a buffet dinner, will raise money for the 3rd

CONCERTS POPULAR THURSDAY 3

HOT CLUB OF COWTOWN | 8 pm

| Narrows Center For the Arts, 16 Anawan St, Fall River, MA | narrows center.org | 508.324.1926

FRIDAY 4

MARK CUTLER & MEN OF GREAT COURAGE | 8 pm | Sandywoods

Center For the Arts, 43 Muse Way, Tiverton | $12 advance, $15 door [BYOB + food] | 401.241.7349 | sandywoodsmusic.com

ROCKAPELLA PRESENTS “MOTOWN & MORE” | 8 pm | Stadium

Theatre, 28 Monument Sq, Woonsocket | $26-$36 | 401.762.4545 | stadiumtheatre.com RONNIE EARL | 8 pm | Narrows Center For the Arts, 16 Anawan St, Fall River, MA | $30 advance, $35 day of show | 508.324.1926 | narrows center.org TAO: PHOENIX RISING, featuring Taiko drumming, contemporary costumes, and choreography | 8 pm | Zeiterion Theatre, 684 Purchase St, New Bedford, MA | $35-$45 | 508.994.2900 | zeiterion.org

SATURDAY 5

AOIFE O’DONOVAN + Dietrich Continued on p 20

DIAMOND ONE HOT NIGHT: A NEIL DIAMOND TRIBUTE | 8 pm | The

Greenwich Odeum, 59 Main St, East Greenwich | $25 + $30 | 401.885.4000 | theodeum.org

THE HOUSE OF MUSIC PAYS TRIBUTE TO NEW EDITION | 8

pm | Zeiterion Theatre, 684 Purchase St, New Bedford, MA | $16 | 508.994.2900 | zeiterion.org LENNY SOLOMON | 8 pm | Sandywoods Center For the Arts, 43 Muse Way, Tiverton | $15 [BYOB + food] | 401.241.7349 | sandywoodsmusic. com THE MANHATTAN TRANSFER | 8 pm | Park Theatre, 848 Park Ave, Cranston | $35-$55 | 401.467.7275 | parktheatreri.com MATT & SHANNON HEATON + Lissa Schneckenburger | 8 pm | Blackstone River Theatre, 549 Broad St, Cumberland | $12 | 401.725.9272 | riverfolk.org

ONE NIGHT OF QUEEN BY GARY MULLEN & THE WORKS | 8 pm |

DANCE PERFORMANCE FRIDAY 4 + SATURDAY 5

ALI KENNER BRODSKY AND BETSY MILLER present “A+B,” a shared evening of contemporary dance | Fri 7:30 pm; Sat 2 + 7:30 pm | 95 Empire Black Box, 95 Empire St, Providence | $15 | as220.org

FESTIVAL BALLET PROVIDENCE PRESENTS UP CLOSE ON HOPE | Fri

LLOYD KAPLAN & THE ARISTOCATS | 2 pm | Sandywoods Center

For the Arts, 43 Muse Way, Tiverton | $10 [BYOB + food] | 401.241.7349 | sandywoodsmusic.com

THURSDAY 10

HAPPINESS + ANDREW CEDERMARK + CANNIBAL RAMBLERS | 9

pm | Columbus Theatre, 270 Broadway, Providence | $10 | columbus theatre.com JOHN NEMETH & THE BO-KEYS | 8 pm | Narrows Center For the Arts, 16 Anawan St, Fall River, MA | $25 advance, $28 day of show | 508.324.1926 | narrowscenter.org

CLASSICAL SUNDAY 6

COMMUNITY MUSICWORKS PRESENTS “BACH AT THE JCB,” with performances of JS Bach’s Wedding Cantata for Soprano, Oboe and Strings, Vivaldi’s 4 Violin Concerto, and Bach’s Brandenberg Concerto #3 | 3:30 pm | John Carter Brown Library, George and Brown sts, Providence | Free [reservations required] | 401.863.2725 | community musicworks.org

MONDAY 7

AUREA ENSEMBLE will perform

Melville and the Great White Whale, with the ords of Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne and the music of Beethoven and Webern | The concert will be followed by a talkback and

ming, singing, and dancing, plus artisan vendors and food | 11:30 am | Brown University’s Pizzitola Tennis Courts, 235 Hope St, Providence | Free | brown.edu/campus-life/ support/third-world-center/

THURSDAY 10

ATTITUDE DANCE COMPANY’S 10TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW | 7

pm | Brown University’s Alumnae Hall, 194 Meeting St, Providence | $5 advance, $7 door | mygroups.brown. edu/organization/attitudedancecompany/about

ELWOOD’S EAST BAY CONTRA DANCE with caller Don Heinold and

BOB ARDERN & MANITOBA HAL

THE 13TH ANNUAL SPRING THAW POWWOW, with traditional drum-

SATURDAY 5

SUNDAY 6

SUNDAY 6

SESAME STREET LIVE: ELMO MAKES MUSIC | See listing for Fri

PARTICIPATORY

Roger Williams Park Botanical Center, 1000 Elmwood Ave, Providence | $10, free under 12, proceeds benefit the Botanical Center | 401.785.9450 x 250 | bccrwp.org

SESAME STREET LIVE: ELMO MAKES MUSIC | See listing for Fri

8 pm; Sat 7:30 pm | Black Box Theater, 825 Hope St, Providence | $50 | 401.353.1129 | festivalballet.com

Stadium Theatre, 28 Monument Sq, Woonsocket | $29-$39 | 401.762.4545 | stadiumtheatre.com

ATWATER-DONNELLY TRIO WITH CATHY CLASPER-TORCH | 3 pm |

ronio, Christian Correra, Christina Mathews, Dennis Delprete, Forrest Curl, Jeremy Lother, Keri Lyn King, Kevin Berglund, Kevin Veronneau, Chris Brunzos, and Ryan Rioux, plus DJs Ty Jesso and Tank Jones, music by Littlefoot, Party Pigs, and the Devil Twins, and more | 6 pm | Columbus Theatre, 270 Broadway, Providence | Free | facebook.com/ events/1409104906012738

NEWPORT GALLERY NIGHT |

5-8 pm | INfo @ the Newport Art Museum, 76 Bellevue Ave | Free | 401.848.0550 | newportgalleries.org

WHEELER SCHOOL’S CLOTHING & MORE SALE | Apr 10 10 am-8 pm +

Apr 11 9 am-8 pm + Apr 12 9 am-4 pm | Wheeler School Gymnasium, 407 Brook St, Providence | Free | wheeler school.org/clothingsale

THURSDAY 3

music by Cicadas with Bill Shevin | 7:30 pm | Mary V. Quirk School, 790 Main St, Warren | $8 | 401.392.1322 | facebook.com/eastbaycontradance. net

FRIDAY 4

COLLEGE HILL BENEFIT CONTRA DANCE with caller Beth Parkes

and music by Heyday | 8 pm | Community Church of Providence, 372 Wayland Ave, Providence | $15 | 401.751.9328 | providencecontra.com

SATURDAY 5

CAJUN MUSIC AND DANCE WITH MAGNOLIA | 7:30 pm | The German

Club, 78 Carter Ave, Pawtucket | $15 | 401.383.1333 | magnoliacajunband. com

EVENTS

FILM THURSDAY 3

THE ALICE IN WONDERLAND FILM SERIES, presented in conjunc-

WEDNESDAY 9

A SCREENING OF THE DAY THAT LASTED 21 YEARS, a documentary

that focuses on the US’ involvement in a coup to oust Brazilian President João “Jango” Goulart in 1964. Director Camilo Tavares will discuss the film following the screening | 3 pm | Brown University’s Watson Institute, 111 Thayer St, Providence | Free | brown.edu/academics/latinamerican-caribbean-studies/events

THURSDAY 3-SUNDAY 6 THE 64TH ANNUAL RHODE ISLAND HOME SHOW | Apr 3 + 4

3-9pm + Apr 5 10 am-9 pm + Apr 6 10 am-5 pm | Rhode Island Convention Center, 1 Sabin St, Providence | $10, free under 16 | RIBAHomeShow.com

FRIDAY 4

LIVE BAIT: TRUE STORIES FROM REAL PEOPLE | The theme: “In a

Funk” | If you want to share a truelife story, put your name in the fishbowl; if your name is called, tell it [no notes, no rants, no standup routines, six-minute limit] | Hosted by Phil “The Host” Goldman, with musical accompaniment and monthly theme song by Jerry “The Professor” Gregoire | 10 pm | 95 Empire Black Box, 95 Empire St, Providence | $7 | 401.489.2555

SESAME STREET LIVE: ELMO MAKES MUSIC | Fri 6:30 pm; Sat

10:30 am + 2 + 5:30 pm; Sun 1 + 4:30 pm | Providence Performing Arts Center, 220 Weybosset St | $21-$63 | 401.421.ARTS | pparcri.ortg

SATURDAY 5

ANGELS & OUTLAWS, a group art exhibition and celebration of creative culture featuring works by Joseph Skorupa, Karissa Carson, Varrian Castelli, Curtis Aric, Melyssa Lentini, Melody Tuttle, Jessie Leigh, Daniel Harvey, Nikki Nadeau, Brian Mullen, Corey Oberlander, Malisa Croce, Mike Spillane, Josh Yelle, Monika Plioplyte, Nick Colen, Kendra Plumley, Gillian Chadwick, Vladlena Berbeko, Jason Pond, Joe Mcfadzen Frank Mullin, Justin Sandman, Nick Pelligrino, Erica Sutherland, John Hoder, Brian Minto, Greg Penniston, Cassandra Pet-

READINGS THURSDAY 3

SATURDAY 5

THEO GREENBLATT, KATHRYN KULPA, AND TANIA MOOREBARRETT will read from Up Do:

TUESDAY 8

GOTPOETRY LIVE! | An open mic | 8

pm | Blue State Coffee, 300 Thayer St, Providence | $3 | 401.383.8393 | facebook.com/groups/36169437169 LORI BAKER, the author of the recent novel The Glass Ocean, will read from her fiction | 2:30 pm | Brown University McCormack Family Theater, 70 Brown St, Providence | Free | 401.863.3260 | brown.edu/cw

WEDNESDAY 9

POET AND TRANSLATOR MAGNUS WILLIAM-OLSSON will read from his work | 4:30 pm | Brown Univer-

20 minutes from Providence 16 Anawan Street, Fall River MA 02721 (near Battleship Cove) (508) 324-1926 Doors open @ 7pm Show starts @ 8pm (unless otherwise noted)

sity McCormack Family Theater, 70 Brown St, Providence | Free | 401.863.3260 | brown.edu/cw

THURSDAY 10

Nominate us in the Providence Phoenix “Best of RI” Poll 2014!

TALKS THURSDAY 3

“DECORATING OUR WAY TO OTHER WORLDS: WHY RACE AND SPACE MATTER NOW” | A talk by

George Lipsitz, professor of African American studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the author of many books, including The Fierce Urgency of Now: Improvisation, Rights and the Ethics of Co-Creation | 3 pm | Brown University’s Pembroke Hall, Room 305, 172 Meeting St, Providence | Free | brown.edu/ academics/race-ethnicity/eventsprograms/third-rail-inaugurallecture-george-lipsitz-decoratingway-other-worlds-why-race-and

“COLLEGE COACHING FOR 21STCENTURY MINDS” | A talk by Jeffrey S. Moore, a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign, focusing on the methods used to prepare students for the challenges of the 21st century | 4 pm | Brown University’s MacMillan Hall, Starr Auditorium, Room 117, 167 Thayer St, Providence | Free | brown.edu/academics/chemistry/

“MAKING THE CASE FOR A QUANTITATIVE AND ECONOMIC APPROACH TO OTTOMAN LEGAL HISTORY” | A talk by Bogac Ergene,

Fri. 4/4:

Thurs. 4/3:

Blues Master Hot CluB of Cowtown Ronnie eaRl

Sat. 4/5:

Paula Poundstone (sold out)

Thurs. 4/10:

JoHn neMetH & tHe Bo-KeYs A nine piece Stax/soul revue!

Fri. 4/11:

siMon townsHend 4/12: Pete Francis (of Dispatch), 4/17: Mark T. Small & Danielle Miraglia, 4/18: New York vs Boston Comedy Series, 4/19: Alejandro Escovedo

FRIDAY 4

SATURDAY 5

“BACK FROM HAVANA: REFLECTIONS ON THE BROWN UNIVERSITY JAZZ BAND’S TRIP TO CUBA,” a panel discussion and film screening by Jordan Beard | 5 pm | Brown University’s Watson Institute, 111 Thayer St, Providence | 401.863.2809 | brown.edu/academics/latinamerican-caribbean-studies/?/clacs/ index.cfm

SUNDAY 6

“REFLECTIONS ON ZIONISM AND WRITING: LITERATURE IN AN IDEOLOGICAL CONTEXT,” a talk

by Ronit Matalon, a contemporary feminist voice in Hebrew literature | 10:45 am | Brown University’s Pembroke Hall, 172 Meeting St, Providence | Free | brown.edu/academics/ judaic-studies/people

MONDAY 7

AUTHOR AND HISTORIAN DENISE SPELLBERG will discuss Thomas

Jefferson’s Quran, the sacred Islamic text he bought when he was a law student at the College of William and Mary in Virginia | 4 pm | Agnes Doody Auditorium at Swan Hall at the University of Rhode Island, 60 Upper College Rd, Kingston

Continued on p 18

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18 ApriL 4, 2014 | the providence phoenix | providence.thephoenix.com

AS220 PROJECT SPACE |

Listings Now Open, Come Feast! The Shanty Eat Local, Be Local

Open for Dinner at 4:00pm Closed Tuesdays Saturday and Sunday Brunch 10:00am - 3:30pm

www.theshantyri.com 3854 Post Rd. Warwick, RI | 401-884-7008

Project Ace

The Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University is seeking alcohol drinkers to participate in a study looking at the effects of alcohol cravings on behavior.

Earn up to $150 for completing the study. WHO IS ELIGIBLE: * Adults ages 18-65 *Alcohol drinkers WHAT IS INVOLVED * Complete three sessions in 3 weeks * Each Session lasts about 1 hour If interested contact Rebecca (401) 863-6614 E-mail: ProjectAce@brown.edu

Continued from p 17 “FALSE REPORTS OF RAPE: RESEARCH, NOT RHETORIC,” a talk

by David Lisak about the complexities of conducting research on false reports, complications of how cases are classified and defined, and what the numbers mean | 5:30 pm | Brown University MacMillan Hall, 167 Thayer St, Providence | Free | mygroups.brown.edu/organization/ coalitionagainstrelationshipabuse

“INDIAN (ART) HATING ON CAMPUS: HEAP OF BIRDS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS,” a talk

by Robert Warrior, a professor of American Indian studies, English, and history at the University of Illinois, about the violence and resistance surrounding the movement to replace UOI’s Indian mascot | 5:30 pm | Brown University’s Smith-Buonanno Hall, 95 Cushing St, Providence | Free | brown.edu/academics/ american-studies/

“IS SELF-EMPLOYMENT THE ANSWER TO CASTE DISCRIMINATION?,” a talk by Ashwini

Deshpande of Delhi University | Noon | Brown University’s Watson Institute, 111 Thayer St, Providence | brown.edu/initiatives/india/

TUESDAY 8

“CHINA DREAM: WHOSE DREAM ANYWAY?,” a talk by Tenzin Jinba,

a professor of anthropology at Lanzhou University and research fellow at Yale University, who will also discuss why the Chinese-Party state system has the power to invoke consensus within their society despite varying levels resistance and anger toward corruption | 5 pm | Brown University’s Watson Institute, 111 Thayer St, Providence | Free | watson.brown.edu/events/2014/ tenzin-jinba-china-dream-whosedream-anyway

“FINANCIAL FRAGILITY IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY,” a talk by Mau-

rice Obsfelt, professor of economics at the University of California | 5 pm [a panel discussion and reception will follow at 6:15 and 7 pm, respectively] | Brown University Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 001, College and Waterman sts, Providence | Free | brown.edu/Departments/Economics

WEDNESDAY 9

EMMA STOKES, a physical therapist who travels the world inspiring patients and providers to rethink health care, will discuss her work | 7 pm | Edwards Auditorium, University of Rhode Island, Upper College Road, Kingston | web.uri. edu/physical-therapy/2014/02/14/ international-scholar-dr-emmastokes-to-visit-uri/ “WESTERN MUSIC VS. EASTERN MUSIC: HIGH PITCH VS. LOW PITCH,” a talk by Mohsen Namjoo

| 4 pm | Grant Recital Hall- Brown University, 1 Young Orchard Ave, Providence | Free | middleeastbrown. org/future-events#.UzSP6CT7qUc

THURSDAY 10

“AN OLD ART FORM FOR NEW OCCASIONS: TLINGIT TOTEM POLES AT THE DAWN OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM,” a talk by Sergei Kan |

5:30 pm | Brown University Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 001, College and Waterman sts, Providence | Free | brown.edu/Facilities/ Haffenreffer/new/calendar.php

ART GALLERIES AS220 | 401.831.9327 | 115 Empire St, Providence | as220.org | Wed-Fri 1-6

pm; Sat 12-5 pm + by appointment | Apr 5-26: “New Paintings and Body Paintings,” by Ian Gaudreau and Paul Roustan | “Through the Eyes,” new work by Diana Castelleone

401.831.9327 | 93 Mathewson St, Providence | as220.org | Wed-Fri 1-6 pm; Sat

12-5 pm + by appointment | Apr 5-26: “Generations | 8 Chapters Blooming,” collage and ceramics by Meredith Stern | “The Paper Dolls Project,” with works by Jiyoung Chung, Jacqueline Frole, Holly Gaboriault, and Francoise McAree BANKRI GALLERY | 401.456.5015 x 1330 | 137 Pitman St, Providence | bankri.com | Mon-Fri 9 am-7 pm; Sat 9 am-3 pm; Sun 12-4 pm | Through Apr 2: clay paintings by Kate Champa | Apr 3-30: photographs by Bob Dansereau — 1 Turks Head Pl, Providence | MonWed 8:30 am-3 pm; Thurs-Fri 8:30 am-5 pm | Through Apr 2: prints by Jessica Nalbandian — 1140 Ten Rod Rd, North Kingstown | Mon-Fri 9 am-7 pm; Sat 9 am-3 pm; Sun 12-4 pm | Through July 2: Clay paintings by Kate Champa

BANNISTER GALLERY AT RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE | 401.456.9765 |

600 Mount Pleasant Ave, Providence | ric.edu/bannister | Tues-Fri 12-8 pm |

Through Apr 19: “Sabbatical Exhibition,” works by Richard Whitten DEBLOIS GALLERY | 401.847.9977 | 134 Aquidneck Ave, Middletown | debloisgallery.com | Tues-Sun 12-5 pm | Apr 5-27: “Mimicking the Passing of Time,” paintings by Kris Offill and copper sculptures by Jay Catalan DEDEE SHATTUCK GALLERY | 508.636.4177 | 1 Partners Ln, Westport, MA | dedeeshattuckgallery.com | Tues-Sat 10 am-5 pm; Sun 12-5 pm | Through Apr 27: “Articulated Structure,” paper sculptures by Jane South, interactive sculptures by Paul Myoda, and drawings by Jacqueline Ott GALLERY AT CITY HALL | 401.421.7740 | 25 Dorrance St, Providence | Mon-Fri 8:30 am-4 pm | Through May 12: “Quilted Together: Art & Community Well-Being,” a group show spotlighting the Recovery Quilt Project and Sojourner House’s Voices Unfold project GRIN | 60 Valley St #3, Providence | facebook.com/grinprovidence | Through Apr 12: “nocebo/placebo,” works by Miika Benedetti HOPE GALLERY | 401.396.9117 | 435 Hope St, Bristol | hopegalleryfineart finecraft.com | Thurs-Sat 1-5 pm | Through Apr 4: “The World of Landscapes”| Apr 5-May 3: “Landscape At the Edge: Contemporary Views,” with works by Scott Andresen, Deborah Baronas, Michelle Benoit, Sarah Bielski, Jeff Brown, Stephanie N. Bryan, Jerilynn Bush, Luke Buffenmyer, Adrian Deva, Anthony Falcetta, Robin Gibson, Amy Goldsmith, Leah Gose, Catherine Jennings, Ashlee Lambart, David Mangels, Armin Mühsam, Steven Roebuck, Chris Sancomb, Alison A. Smith, Alec Spangler, and Alice Valenti

IMAGO FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS | 401.245.0173 | 36 Market St,

Warren | imagofoundation4art.org | Thurs 4-8 pm, Fri + Sat 12-8 pm | Through Apr 12: an exhibit by students at Mount Hope High School | Through Apr 12: works by Mary Dondero, Ellen Ferrin, Paul Clancy, Eileen Siobhan Collins, Rose EssonDawson, Lisa Legato, Pascale Lord, Eileen Mayhew, Linda Megathlin, and Lenny Rumpler JAMESTOWN ARTS CENTER | 401.560.0979 | 18 Valley St | jamestown artcenter.org | Wed-Sat 10 am-2 pm | Through Apr 11: “Multi Media: Art and Invention,” works by Luke Randall MACHINES WITH MAGNETS | 401.475.2655 | 400 Main St, Pawtucket | machineswithmagnets.com | Through Apr 27: “Puzzled: Ode (Owed) To Channing?,” an exhibit by Umberto Crenca MAD DOG GALLERY | 401.722.7800 | 65 Blackstone Ave, Pawtucket | maddogartiststudios.com | Mon-Wed + Fri-Sat 12-4 pm; Thurs 12-8:30 pm | Through Apr 11: “Human Nature,” a juried sculptural exhibit featuring interpretations of the human form and spirit 186 CARPENTER | 186 Carpenter St, Providence | 186carpenter.tumblr.com | Through Apr 18: “Buried Ice,” an interactive art and science exhibit of Antarctica’s Dry Valleys PROVIDENCE ART CLUB | 401.331.1114 | 11 Thomas St |

providenceartclub.org | Mon-Fri 12-4

pm; Sat-Sun 2-4 pm | Through Apr 18: “Two Visions — Deep Nepal & The Road Less Traveled,” works by Philip Lieberman & John deMelim | “Witness,” works by Julia Kiechel | “Assembled, Prints & Wood,” works by Morris Nathanson PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY | 401.455.8000 | 150 Empire St | provlib. org | Through Apr 15: An exhibit celebrating the 200th anniversary of the death of Giambattista Bodoni, one of history’s most important typographers and printers

RHODE ISLAND WATERCOLOR SOCIETY GALLERY | 401.726.1876 |

Slater Memorial Park, Armistice Blvd, Pawtucket | rhodeislandwatercolor society.wildapricot.org | Tues-Sat 10

am-4 pm; Sun 1-5 pm | Through Apr 24: “RIWS 118th Annual Artist Member Show,” featuring RIWS artists and signature members

SOL KOFFLER GRADUATE STUDENT GALLERY | 169 Weybosset

St, Providence | risd.edu/About/ Galleries_Exhibitions/Sol_Koffler |

Sun-Fri 12-5 pm | Through Apr 13: “RISD Furniture Graduate Student Exhibition”

SOUTH COUNTY ART ASSOCIATION | 401.783.2195 | 2587

Kingstown Rd, Kingston | south countyart.org | Wed-Sun 10 am-6

pm; Fri 10 am-8 pm | Through Apr 19: “Storytellers: The Language of Visual Arts,” an open juried show

URI PROVIDENCE CAMPUS GALLERY | 401.277.5206 | 80

Washington St, Providence | uri.edu/ prov | Mon-Thurs 9 am-9 pm;

Fri + Sat 9 am-4 pm | Through Apr 30: “Fragments: Portraits of Survivors,” photographs by Jason Schwartz created and circulated by the Florida Holocaust Museum VAN VESSEM GALLERY | 401.835.6639 | 63 Muse Way, Tiverton | sandywoodsfarm.org/vanvessem gallery.html | Through Apr 22: “Cutler + Farrell + Sheehan,” with paintings by Mark Cutler and photographs by Rick Farrell and Garrett Sheehan

WICKFORD ART ASSOCIATION GALLERY | 401.294.6840 | 36

Beach St, North Kingstown | wickfordart.org | Tues-Sat 11 am-

3 pm; Sun 12-3 pm | Apr 4-27: “All Media,” an open juried show WOODS-GERRY HOUSE | 401.454.6141 | 62 Prospect St, Providence | risd.edu/About/Galleries_ Exhibitions/Woods_Gerry | Mon-Sat 10 am-5 pm; Sun 2-5 pm | Through Apr 8: “RISD Senior Exhibition: Painting” YELLOW PERIL GALLERY | 401.861.1535 | 60 Valley St #5, Providence | yellowperilmedia.com/gallery | Wed-Fri 3-8 pm; other days by appointment | Through Apr 20: “Retropical,” an exhibition of photography, video, drawing, and installation by Anabel Vázquez Rodríguez | Through Apr 27: “Community In Focus: Photographs and Stories of Olneyville,” an oral history and photo exhibit

MUSEUMS NEWPORT ART MUSEUM |

401.848.8200 | 76 Bellevue Ave | newportartmuseum.org | Tues-Sat 11

am-4 pm; Sun 12-4 pm | Admission $10 adults; $8 seniors; $6 students and military personnel with ID; free for children 5 and under | Through May 4: “The Art of Craft: Selections from the Aquidneck Island Region,” with furniture by George Warren, jewelry by Ruth Brandt and Tamar Kern, baskets by Helen Lee, rugs by Ron Caplain, and stone carving by Brooke Roberts and Nick Benson | Through May 4: “Delicate Armour,” works on paper by Deborah Coolidge | Through May 11: “Avian Aquidneck,” collages by Irving Barrett | Through May 18: “Newport Annual Members’ Juried Exhibition 2014” RISD MUSEUM | 401.454.6500 | 224 Benefit St, Providence | risdmuseum. org | Tues-Sun 10 am-5 pm [Thurs until 9 pm] | Admission $12; $10 seniors; $5 college students, $3 ages 5-18; free every Sun 10 am-1 pm | Through May 11: “Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests,” short films made between 1964-’66 | Through June 29: “Andy Warhol’s Photographs” | Through July 6: “Ar-

lene Shechet: Meissen Recast,” an exhibition of sculptures | Through Aug 3: “Graphic Design: Now in Production,” which explores some of the most vibrant graphic design work produced since 2000, including magazines, newspapers, books, and posters WARWICK MUSEUM OF ART | 401.737.0010 | 3259 Post Rd | warwick museum.org | Tues + Wed + Fri 12-4 pm, Thurs 4-8 pm, Sat 10 am-2 pm | Through Apr 26: An exhibit by associate members of the Art League of Rhode Island

THEATER BROWN UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE ARTS AND PERFORMANCE STUDIES | At Leeds

Theatre, Lyman Hall, 77 Waterman St, Providence | Through Apr 10: El

Jenks Junior High School, 350 Division St, Pawtucket | Apr 4-13: Sweet Charity | Fri-Sat 8 pm; Sun 2 pm | $20, $15 students DAYDREAM THEATRE | At the Bell

Street Chapel, 5 Bell St, Providence

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OCEAN STATE THEATRE COMPANY | 401.921.6800 | oceanstate

theatre.org | 1245 Jefferson Blvd, Warwick | Through Apr 13: The Diary

of Anne Frank | This week: Apr 3 + 5 2 + 7:30 pm + Apr 4 + 9 + 10 7:30 pm + Apr 6 2 pm | $34-$49 OUT LOUD THEATRE | At Mathew-

son United Methodist Church, 134 Mathewson St, Providence | Apr 10-12

7:30 pm: The Most Massive Woman Wins, by Madeleine George | The play explores the topic of body image and is part of the company’s Tour For Social Change | Free

PAFF AUDITORIUM AT URI PROVIDENCE | 80 Washington St | Apr 4-6:

Trust In the Journey: Becoming Family, an oral history play written and directed by Frank V. Toti, Jr. | The play recounts the harrowing events and hardships endured by two young Jewish girls hiding from the Nazis during World War II | Fri-Sat 7:30 pm; Sun 2 pm | Free 2ND STORY THEATRE | 401.247.4200 | 2ndstorytheatre.com | 28 Market St, Warren | Through Apr 13: Le Dindon or The Dupe, by Georges Feydeau | Thurs-Sat 7:30 pm +Sun 2:30 pm | $25, $20 under 22

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20 APRIL 4, 2014 | the PRovIdence PhoenIx | PRovIdence.thePhoenIx.com

providence.thephoenix.com | the providence phoenix | ApriL 4, 2014 21

OuR RATINg Unless otherwise noted, these listings are for Thurs Apr 3 through Thurs Apr 10. Times can and do change without notice, so please call the theater before heading out.

Film AVON CINEMA

260 Thayer St, Providence | 401.421.3315

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL | 1:45, 4, 6:20, 8:35 | Fri-Sat late show: 10:40

CABLE CAR CINEMA

204 South Main St, Providence | 401.272.3970

The Best in Independent Cinema

CINEMA WORLD

622 George Washington Hwy, Lincoln | 401.333.8676

4/4 ... 4:30, 7, 9:30 4/5 & 4/6 ... 12, 2:30, 7:30, 10 4/7 ... 4:30, 7, 9:30 4/8 ... 4:30, 9 4/9 ... 4:30, 9:30 4/10 ... 4:30, 7, 9:30

April 8th @ 7pm April 9th @ 7pm Q&A with Director

Yoruba Richen

4/4 ... 2 4/5 & 4/6 ... 5 4/7 - 4/10 ... 2

204 S. MAIN ST. PROVIDENCE RI 02903 CABLECARCINEMA.COM 401.272.3970

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By David Rabe Directed by Matt Fraza th

April 4 - 26

| 8pm

ARTISTS-EXCHANGE.ORG | 490.9475 Artists’ Exchange Theatre 82 82 Rolfe Square, Cranston, RI

Franklin Robertson is enduring the most terrifying, horrific episode of his life: high school.

APRIL th th

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50 ROLFE SQ CRANSTON RI

These listings are for Thurs Apr 3-Sun Apr 6 only. Call for updates or go to cinemaworldonline.com. 3 DAYS TO KILL | Thurs: 1:10, 10:15 TYLER PERRY’S THE SINGLE MOMS CLUB | Thurs: 7:25, 9:55 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER 3D | Thurs: 8, 11 | Fri-Sun: 5:15, 8:15 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER | Thurs: 8, 9, 10, 11 | Fri-Sun: 10:15, 11:15, 12:15, 1:15, 2:15, 3:15, 4:15, 5:15, 6:15, 7:15, 8:15, 9:15, 10:15 BAD WORDS | Thurs: 10:35, 1:15, 3:30, 5:40, 7:45, 9:50 | Fri-Sun: 11:30, 1:45, 4:45, 7:45, 9:50 GOD’S NOT DEAD | 10:40, 1:20, 4:10, 7:10, 9:55 THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL | Thurs: 11:20, 1:35, 3:40, 4:05, 7, 10 | Fri-Sun: 11:20, 1:35, 4:05, 6:45, 9:05 NOAH | Thurs: 11, 1, 2, 4:15, 5, 7:15, 8, 9:10 | Fri-Sun: 11, 12:05, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6:05, 7, 8, 9, 10 SABOTAGE | Thurs: 10:50, 1:25, 4, 7, 9:40 | Fri-Sun: 10:50, 1:25, 7:55, 10:25 DIVERGENT | Thurs: 10:30, 11:15, 1:30, 2:15, 4:30, 5:15, 7:30, 8:15 | Fri-Sun: 10:25, 1:30, 3:35, 4:30, 6:30, 7:30, 9:35 MUPPETS MOST WANTED | Thurs: 10:30, 11, 1:05, 1:45, 3:45, 4:45, 6:30, 7:30, 9 | Fri-Sun: 10:30, 11:15, 1:05, 1:55, 4:20, 6:55, 9:25 NEED FOR SPEED | Thurs: 10:55, 1:55, 4:35 | Fri-Sun: 4:25, 10 MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN | Thurs: 10:45, 12:50, 3, 5:10 | Fri-Sun: 10:45, 12:50, 3, 5:10, 7:20, 9:40 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE | Thurs: 11:10, 1:40, 4:20, 7:05, 9:20 | Fri-Sun: 10:55, 10:20 NON-STOP | Thurs: 11:25, 1:50, 4:25 | Fri-Sun: 10:20, 1:50, 7:35 THE LEGO MOVIE | Thurs: 11:05, 1:25, 4:05, 6:50 | Fri-Sun: 10:35, 12:55, 3:15, 5:35

EAST PROVIDENCE 10 60 Newport Ave | 401.438.1100

film Short Takes movie reviews in brief XW

ENTERTAINMENT CINEMAS

30 Village Square Dr, South Kingstown | 401.792.8008

ISLAND CINEMAS 10 105 Chase Ln, Middletown | 401.847.3456

JANE PICKENS THEATER 49 Touro St, Newport | 401.846.5252

PROVIDENCE PLACE CINEMAS 16

Providence Place | 401.270.4646

GRAVITY 3D | Thurs: 3:55, 6:25, 9:10 NOAH: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE | Thurs: 12:30, 3:45 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE 3D | Thurs: 11:50, 2:15, 4:45, 7:10, 9:45 TYLER PERRY’S THE SINGLE MOMS CLUB | Thurs: 9:40 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER 3D | Thurs: 9 | Fri-Thurs: 11:30, 1, 3, 4:30, 6:15, 7:45, 9:30 | FriSat late show: 11, 12:30 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER | Thurs: 8:30 | Fri-Thurs: 12:30, 1:30, 4, 5, 7:15, 8:15, 10:30 | FriSat late show: 11:30, 12 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER: AN IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE | Thurs: 8 | Fri-Thurs: 12, 3:30, 6:45, 10 BAD WORDS | 12:05, 2:25, 4:40, 6:50, 9:05 | Fri-Sat late show: 11:15 CESAR CHAVEZ | 12:10, 2:35, 5:05, 7:30, 10:25* [*Apr 3 only 10 SABOTAGE | 1:20, 4:15, 6:55, 9:45 | Fri-Sat late show: 12:20 NOAH | Thurs: 12, 3:15, 6:30, 9:35 | Fri-Thurs: 11:40, 12:25, 2:55, 3:45, 6:10, 7, 9:15 | Fri-Sat late show: 12:25 DIVERGENT | Thurs: 11:45, 12:15, 1:15, 3, 3:30, 4:30, 6:15, 6:45, 7:45, 9:30, 10 | Fri-Thurs: 11:55, 12:35, 3:15, 3:50, 6:35, 7:05, 9:40, 10:10

SHOWCASE CINEMAS SEEKONK ROUTE 6 Seekonk Square, Seekonk, MA | 508.336.6789

SHOWCASE CINEMAS WARWICK 1200 Quaker Ln | 401.885.1621

SHOWCASE CINEMAS WARWICK MALL 400 Bald Hill Rd | 401.736.5454

GOD’S NOT DEAD | 1:10, 3:45, 6:35, 9:20 SABOTAGE | Thurs: 1:45, 4:45, 7:40, 10:15 | Fri-Thurs: 11:45, 2:30, 10:25 NOAH | 12:05, 12:35, 3:15, 3:45, 6:30, 7, 9:35, 10:05 DIVERGENT | Thurs: 12:15, 12:45, 1:20, 3:30, 4, 4:35, 6:45, 7:15, 7:45, 10:20 | Fri-Thurs: 12:15, 3:35, 7:05, 7:35, 10:20 MUPPETS MOST WANTED | 11, 11:35, 1:40, 2:10, 4:10, 4:50, 6:50, 9:45 MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN | 11:40, 2:20, 4:55, 7:20, 9:40 NON-STOP | Thurs: 11:40, 2:25, 5, 7:55, 10:25 | Fri-Thurs: 5:05, 7:50

SHOWCASE CINEMAS NORTH ATTLEBORO

640 South Washington St, North Attleboro, MA | 508.643.3900

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER 136 minUtes | pg-13 | cinemA worLd + entertAinment + providence pLAce 16 + showcAse + swAnseA stAdiUm 12 This sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) trades that film’s 1940s setting for a contemporary one and its genial tone for a blithe cynicism more typical of Marvel Studios. The convoluted story involves the sabotage of SHIELD — the secret agency of Captain America (Chris Evans) and his superhero peers — by another organization that’s rooted in Nazi Germany. Unless you’re intimately familiar with the so-called Marvel universe (or you really love CG explosions), little of this will resonate; directors Joe and Anthony Russo race through everything but the special-effects set pieces, assuming that fans will compensate for the lack of nuance by drawing on their knowledge of the comic books. The impressive supporting cast includes Anthony Mackie, Scarlett Johansson, Frank Grillo, Robert Redford, and Samuel L. Jackson.

XXX

_Ben Sachs

BAD WORDS 89 minUtes | r | cinemA worLd + providence pLAce 16 + showcAse wArwick A 40-year-old troublemaker (Jason Bateman) takes advantage of a legal loophole to enter a nationwide spelling bee, dragging along a freaky journalist who’s writing a magazine story about him (Kathryn Hahn) and doing his best to corrupt a lonely Indian-American tyke (Rohan Chand) who’s entered in the competition. Trashy, ribald laughs in the Bad

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Santa vein, this marks Bateman’s directorial debut; it’s not much to look at, but at least he has the nerve to push the insolence, profanity, and brutal insult humor to its absolute limits. Comedians always pay lip service to Groucho Marx, but few mainstream performers actually attempt his level of viciousness; Bateman does it with ease, and his putdowns can be breathtaking. Andrew Dodge wrote the screenplay; with Allison Janney, Ben Falcone, and Philip Baker Hall.

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NOAH

137 minUtes | pg-13 | cinemA worLd + entertAinment + providence pLAce 16 + showcAse + swAnseA stAdiUm 12 For all the high-tech showmanship on display, this retelling of Noah and the Ark marks a serious effort to engage with the Old Testament as a literary text. Director Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream) makes little attempt to ameliorate its depiction of humanity as inherently barbaric or to render God as compassionate; the Creator here is punishing, inscrutable, and despotic. The film’s austere worldview is conveyed through dark cinematography and some of the most forbidding landscapes I’ve seen in a biblical movie outside of Jean-Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet’s Moses and Aaron (much of this was shot on the crags of Iceland). The battle sequences and CG creatures are rather silly, recalling Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies, but the film’s fundamental grimness packs a punch. With Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connolly, Emma Watson, Ray Winstone, and Anthony Hopkins.

_Ben Sachs

“A rAmbunctious cAper

bursting At the seAms with quick wit, fAmous fAces, And wes Anderson’s pAtented Aesthetic delights.” entertAinment weeklY

SWANSEA STADIUM 12

207 Swansea Mall Dr, Swansea, MA | 508.674.6700

BliTHelY cYNical Evans and Johansson in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

capsule reviews XXW THE gRAND BuDAPEST HO-

TEL | 2014 | Set largely in the run-up

to World War II, history is the incursion that motivates Wes Anderson’s most antic and most somber work. The bulk of the film is set in 1932. The hotel is at the peak of its success under the watchful eyes of M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes), a dapper concierge who elicits and responds to the sexual desires of wealthy elderly visitors, including Madame D. (Tilda Swinton) Madame D.’s death is the inciting incident of the film, and the narrative that unfurls in its aftermath is the most efficient, irrelevant, and elaborate that Anderson has conceived. The story’s major punctuation marks are a series of surprisingly abrupt, brutal, funny acts of violence. A second viewing

allows Anderson’s greater achievement to blossom. Using an array of self-reflexive techniques (callbacks to cast members from previous films, Alexandre Desplat’s tremendous score), Anderson inserts his system of references into a historical moment already freighted with its own. It’s a bold and rather curious conceit, but one replete with unique insights on cinematic mediation and historical memory. | 100m |

XXX NYMPHOMANIAC | 2013 |

Lars von Trier’s audacious four-hour fuck fest concerns a solitary German man (Stellan Skarsgard) who finds a brutalized young woman (Charlotte Gainsbourg) in an alley and shelters her in his apartment; as she recovers, she tells him the story of her nym-

phomaniacal past, dramatized in flashbacks. The copious pornographic sequences are elevated by the two characters’ ongoing intellectual discourse as they ponder the woman’s lifelong pursuit of the big O, though the practical question hanging over the story is whether this kindly old gentleman will wind up joining her long list of partners. The shocker ending struck me as both gimmicky and ill motivated, but up until then this confirms von Trier as the cinema’s most accomplished provocateur, turning his attention here to the eternal conflict between pleasure and morality. The theatrical version screens in two parts of roughly equal length (the second part is screening at the Cable Car); with Shia LaBeouf, Christian Slater, and Uma Thurman.

now plAYing

check locAl listings for theAtres & showtimes

22 April 4, 2014 | the providence phoenix | providence.thephoenix.com

Moon signs

1119 North Main St., Providence 02904.

This waxing moon cycle should bring twists and turns to projects that may have seemed simple a month ago. As the earth thaws, and the sun’s rays work their magic, even the most discouraged Eeyore-like reader may feel invigorated. So what to do and where to start? The first-quarter lunar cycle means you go faster as well as being more deliberate about your direction. This is the time when others may try to deflect you — so be on-guard, particularly Libra who are having their “half-birthday” cycle (and are cheerfully changeable anyway). For more, visit moonsigns.net.

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Waxing moon in Gemini. this lunar phase encourages elaborate social gatherings with — perhaps — a multitude 6

Waxing moon in Gemini, moon voidof-course 10:55 am until 5:40 pm when it moves into cancer. venus moves into pisces. the planet of love and the moon are at odds, so “strange bedfellows” is this week’s leitmotif. if you’re attracted to someone totally outside your comfort zone, you’re in tune with the moon. most vulnerable: virgo, Sagittarius, capricorn, and Scorpio. 23

29 10

sunday april 6

Waxing moon in Gemini (moon void-of-course 2:43 am until 7:48 am). excuses, excuses — the more creative the better. Gemini moons favor enterprises involving words, so if you’re in the business of persuasion, the sky’s the limit. Social butterflies: Gemini, taurus, cancer, Aquarius, and libra. Grub-stage: leo, Scorpio, and capricorn. Grudge stage: virgo, pisces, and Sagittarius.

tuesday april 8

of locales. virgo, pisces, and Sagittarius could be in a combative mood, so take politics and religion off the conversational table (diplomacy should be a goal for capricorn, Scorpio, and leo). Gemini, libra, Aquarius, taurus, and Gemini are more focused on alternatives than staying the course.

saturday april 5

Waxing moon in cancer. A fine day for fishing and planting, as well as baking and domestic wizardry. cancer, Scorpio, pisces, taurus, virgo, Gemini, and leo have ingenious insights into others, while libra, Aries, Aquarius, Sagittarius, and capricorn are looking for emotional turmoil (guys, get out of the house). 8

Monday april 7

Friday april 4

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Waxing moon in leo. i hate the term “hump day” but leo moons definitely help push a project that needed some oomph (or a defender) over the edge. change your coiffure, or buy something red and flaunt it. leo moons aren’t for the shy. 30

this15 horoscope traces the passage of the moon, not the 16 sun. Simply read from day to day to watch the moon’s influence as it moves through the signs of the zodiac. | When the moon is in your sun sign, you are beginning 31 32 a new 28-day emotional cycle, and you can expect increased insight and emotionality. When the moon moves into the sun sign opposite yours (see below), expect to have difficulties dealing with the opposite sex, family, or authority figures; social or romantic activities will not be at their best. | When the moon is in Aries, it opposes libra, and vice versa. other oppositions are taurus/Scorpio, Gemini/Sagittarius, cancer/capricorn, 16 leo/Aquarius, and virgo/pisces. the moon stays in each sign approximately two and a half days. | As the moon moves between signs, it will sometimes become “void of32course,” making no major angles to planets. consider this a null time and try to avoid making or implementing decisions if you can. But it’s great for brainstorming. | For Symboline dai’s sun-sign horoscopes and advice column, visit our Web site at thephoenix.com. Symboline Dai can be reached at sally@moonsigns.net.

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57 robot dance caller’s instruction to folk dance? 60 cake laced with rum 61 lewd look 62 despotic 63 roswell sightings 64 Bread heels 65 meets a bet 66 recipe part

Solution iS on page 17

38 39 41 42 43 44

Billy ___ Williams QB gains van trailer? eye up not wobbly Sorkin who voiced harley Quinn in the Batman animated series 45 overate, with “out” 49 Figure skating event

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Down 1 Accord 2 Sunblock ingredient 3 “Sorry about that” 4 Ballpoint fluid 5 Bench wear 6 Feel sore 7 p, on a frat house 8 musical knack 9 contempt 10 Favor asker’s opening 11 labor forces 12 order from above 14 loads 18 Bender 20 Janitor’s pocketful 23 Bucking beast 24 dice 25 lopsided 26 it may be cured 27 Bulldog, schoolwise 28 opium origin 31 A ___ called Quest 32 Fitness program based on latin dancing 33 ___ lama 37 Annual non-athletic sports event

Wednesday april 9

Jonesin’ _by matt J ones

Across 1 Big ___ (david ortiz’s nickname) 5 one in a million, e.g. 9 desert Storm missile 13 robin thicke’s dad 14 coffee ice cream flavor 15 mr. peanut accessory 16 Bubbly popper 17 Stick with mario (and not that dreadful hedgehog instead)? 19 First name in talks 20 dandling place 21 Wilder’s “Silver Streak” costar 22 carries out orders 24 Without exception 26 Ford or rollins 28 put forth 29 draw upon 30 Still able to stay awake for a few more minutes? 34 disposition 35 Kolkata currency 36 Boy in “toy Story” 40 Why there’s now only a huge pile of banana peels left? 43 tree gunk 46 “dear” advice giver 47 Some winds 48 not quite in the majors 50 “do me a ___” 52 tank buildup 53 Be slack-jawed 54 column’s counterpart

Moon KeyS 14

First quarter moon in cancer, moon void-of-course 2:14 pm until 5:50 am tuesday. mercury moves into Aries. A turning point for events that began at the end of march. today and tomorrow, the moon is at odds with mercury, the planet of short messages and journeys. Be skeptical about “the best laid plans” (especially libra, Aries, Aquarius, and capricorn). cancer, Scorpio, pisces, taurus, virgo, Gemini, and leo: say it twice.

Waxing moon in leo. Joy in the morning! leo moons encourage childlike wonder, tantrums and entertainment. those in sales should push themselves until next tuesday’s full moon. confident and creative: Gemini, leo, cancer, virgo, libra, Aries, and Sagittarius. inclined to hissy fits: taurus, Scorpio, Aquarius, pisces, and capricorn. 10

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