Providence BEST 05/16/14 by The Phoenix

may 16-22, 2014 | rhode islandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest weekly | Free

t s e B The

39 1 The

picks

you made! The BesT places to eat, drink, party, shop & more!

huzzah!

local heroes

Making Rhode Island better | p 26

new nightlife

Aurora Providence arrives | p 6

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MAY 16 , 2014

contents in thiS iSSue p 14

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The Best 2014 starting on p 8

One thing’s for sure: our readers know Rhode Island. We asked you for your favorite places and faces, and you delivered, revealing some best-kept (and hiddenin-plain-sight) secrets. Here are your picks of the state’s very Best. Enjoy! And, on page 26, we honor Local Heroes.

30 HOMEGROwn PROduct _ b Y c H R I S cO n t I

All-star weekend: singer-songwriters in Cranston for the ROund SquARE fEStIvAL.

32 tHEAtER _ b Y b I L L R O dR I G uE z

The Gamm’s blackbird; and becky’s New car at 2nd Story.

36 ARt _ b Y G R E G cO O k

Creativity turned inside out: dEAn SnYdER’s sculptural reinventions at Cade Tompkins.

44 fILM

the railway maN, oNly lovers left alive, godzilla, particle fever, and more.

the uSuAL Stuff 5

PHILLIPE & JORGE’S cOOL, cOOL wORLd

Hope for the Urinal? Hey, Belo — sell to the locals! | A bridge too far | Bob time | Two icons

tHE cItY _ b Y dE R f

tHIS JuSt In

Loudon wainwright III p 28

In Kennedy Plaza, a small boothfor a big problem | Aurora Providence is a new spot for “freakishness” and frozen drinks

28 8 dAYS A wEEk

RISD’s Graduate Thesis Exhibition, Festival Ballet’s Peter Pan, Magic Lantern, and Loudon Wainwright III.

46 MOOnSIGnS _ b Y S Y M b O L I nE d A I

46 JOnESIn’ _ Pu zzL E b Y M A t t J O nE S

providence

providence | portLAnd vol. xxvii | no. 20

Stephen m. mindich publisher + chairMan

everett finkeLStein

chief operating officer

officeS providence 150 cheStnut St, providence, ri 02903 401.273.6397 | fAx 401.273.0920 portland 65 weSt commerciAL St, Suite 207, portLAnd, me 04101, 207.773.8900 | fAx 207.773.8905 national sales office 150 cheStnut St, providence, ri 02903, 401.273.6397 x 232 | fAx 401.272.8712

associate publisher Stephen L. Brown Managing editor Lou pApineAu news editor phiLip eiL contributing editors BiLL rodriguez, Johnette rodriguez contributing writers rudY cheekS, chriS conti, greg cook, chip Young contributing photographers nAtALJA kent, richArd mccAffreY graphic designers Andrew cALipA, Jennifer SoAreS sales director ShAnnon dunnigAn account executives Bruce ALLen, micheLe cAmpeLLone, Scott hAnnA, LeAh Schroeder advertising operations Manager AdAm oppenheimer director of adMinistration rAchAeL mindich senior accountant kAthrYn SimoeS Media operations coordinator rYAn mccABe circulation kevin dorgAn

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providence.thephoenix.com | the providence phoenix | SeptemBer 20, 2013 5

Phillipe + Jorge’s Cool, Cool World

hope for the Urinal? Hey, Belo — sell to tHe locals; a Bridge too far; riP, al and BoB As the A.H. Belo Corporation

moves toward selling the f august Urinal to the highest bid-

der, it appears that a local group is still in the hunt to purchase Vo Dilun’s rag of record. WPRI’s Ted Nesi reported on May 12 that a consortium including Biggest Little businessmen Arnold “Buff” Chace, Barry Fain, John Howell, and Matt Hayes is in the mix to acquire the faltering local media giant. Evidently the group has passed muster and entered a second round of bidding overseen on behalf of BeloJo’s empty suits in Dallas by an Arkansas investment bank, which should assure quality will take a backseat on this ride and the sale will go to whomever brings in the biggest bucks for the Texas trolls. To that end, P&J have heard rumors that the Gannett newspaper chain, which includes USA Today, is also a contender. This news was followed by a comment by a former Gannett reporter that their operation, to put it nicely, sucks. That is why interest from locals is so intriguing and exciting. P&J have thundered many times in this space about the soul-sucking impact of absentee ownership that has plagued The Other Paper since Steve Hamblett and Co. sold it to BeloJo’s corporate buccaneers in 1997. These are the folks who heartlessly cut jobs with a scimitar, knowing they would never have to meet any of the casualties or their family members face-to-face in the market or at a Little League game. The people laid off were simply costs infringing on profits. What also brings hope to Casa Diablo is that the members of local group in play are very familiar to P&J. Buff Chace, Managing General Partner at Cornish Associates, is a real estate guy and a concerned citizen who has also come down on the right side of activist issues in the state. Fain is the longtime publisher of East Side Monthly, the type of paper you put out as a public service, not to get rich. Howell is a longtime friend of P&J’s whose Beacon Communications newspapers, the Warwick Beacon and Cranston Herald, are glowing examples of what community papers should be. (He has also been a tremendous advocate for environmental issues, an important topic for a coastal community like Warwick.) Hayes is owner and publisher of East Bay Newspapers chain of weeklies, which are to the towns from Barrington to Tiverton what Howell’s product is to the Warwick/Cranston area. The Hayes family (Phillipe has worked with all of them through

the years) has owned the East Bay franchise for three generations, and Matt, along with Howell and Fain, knows what readers want. Local publishers and editors traditionally see them themselves — in most cases, quite rightly — as the conscience of the communities they serve, and in most cases they bring a considered voice to local debates. These weeklies are the ones that stay around the house for more than a day and they’re often read very thoroughly. Chances are, more readers know whose neighbor’s dog is lost than the name of the vice president. The previous owners of the Urinal knew this and worked off its premise years ago when they set up local bureaus in more than a dozen communities statewide. But then the financial axe fell, the community offices were shuttered, and reporters were reeled back into the Fountain Street fortress. (When P&J informed former Providence mayor Buddy “Vincent A.” Cianci of this turnabout upon his return from his New Jersey vacation at the government’s pleasure, and told him people now contacted the “South County bureau” by calling someone at Fountain Street, he quipped, “Why don’t they just say they have a Paris office, too?”) Good luck and Godspeed to Messrs. Chace, Fain, Howell, and Hayes in their quest to bring The Other Paper’s ownership back where it belongs. If you ever need a glowing recommendation and endorsement, P&J would be hap-

the city _ B y de rf

py to provide one. We are sure its impact would be invaluable.

Don’t get arounD much anymore

Kudos to The Other Paper’s “PolitiFact” column for exposing a recent claim by House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello as an outright hummer. In the midst of the ongoing debate over tolls on Little Rhody’s bridges, Speaker Mattiello, who represents Cranston (and quite obviously leaves it only to go to Halitosis Hall), twice referred to the Pell Newport Bridge as a “tourism bridge,” as opposed to one with predominantly commuter and local traffic. Say what? That distinction certainly comes as news to the thousands of drivers who are kicking out a toll in both directions as they get to work and back or simply do business on opposite sides of the East and West Passages of Narragansett Bay on a regular basis. One only need to look at the massive flow of cars on weekday mornings heading toward Aquidneck Island, and an equal amount coming back after 4:30 pm to realize that these folks aren’t all coming and going from tours of the Bellevue Avenue mansions. But of course this knowledge would require leaving the Cranston-Prov metro area. PolitiFact politely pointed out that, using numbers the RI Bridge and Turnpike employs for its own traffic flow records, annually only about 20 percent of the cars are tourists. This also doesn’t take

into account the number of folks paying full freight for the bridge who aren’t en route to Newport, but headed for the Cape — a fact that renders Mattiello’s argument even weaker. One would hope for a more statewide vision and knowledge from a Speaker of the House, rather than a gross generalization equivalent to, say, a Newporter arguing all Cranstonians are Italian.

BoB time

A celebration of Bob Dylan’s music has become an annual tradition at Patrick’s Pub on Smith Street in Providence. Timed around the troubadour’s birthday, May 24, the evening usually features rare videos of Bob, a quiz, and live music from bands that got together just for this purpose. In the past, there has even been a karaoke-style component where members of the audience get up and regale everyone with their favorite Bob tune. This year, things get underway on Saturday, May 17 at 6 pm, and the featured music will be provided by Richard Ribb’s Bus Kings and the Zimmermen, featuring Rick Bellaire, Fred Wilkes, Kenn Reynolds (Rizzz), and others. It’s eight dollars at the door and a fine time is had by all, judging by the people who return year after year. Jorge may actually show up with his bag of harmonicas. (But don’t let that scare you away).

two icons

Two towering figures at Casa Diablo — if only figuratively and for

those of a certain age — passed away recently: longtime Mad magazine editor, Al Feldstein, and British actor Bob Hoskins. Mad was a must-read for ’utes who planned on spending their lives as wiseasses and reprobates. Under Feldstein’s deft hand, Mad took the mickey out of everything in American society and beyond, and probably provided as much of a learning experience for kids in their Wonder Years as many elementary and junior high classes. It was also seen by parents as some sort of commie/porno rag unfit for a new generation, hence the necessity of storing it along with the Playboys and Penthouses at the bottom of the underwear drawer. Thanks, Al. You were an inspiration to a generation of snarky rebels. Bob Hoskins was a remarkable actor, and P&J are only disappointed that seemingly every obit focused on his comic turn in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Hoskins’s range was much greater than appearing as the only “real human” in a ’toon about a ’toon town. The Long Good Friday and Mona Lisa showed what he could really do onscreen, and in one of P&J’s alltime favorite films, Last Orders, Hoskins stood out among an allstar British cast that included Michael Caine, Helen Mirren, Ray Winstone, David Hemmings, and Tom Courtenay. Thanks for the great memories, Bob. Last orders, please. ^

Send a punching bag and Pulitzergrade tips to p&j@phx.com.

6 MAY 16, 2014 | the providence phoenix | providence.thephoenix.coM

Winner Best Beer Selection

Last week, we printed a photo of the band Whore Paint without their knowledge or permission. The photograph was from a private event and not intended for publication or publicity. The Phoenix apologizes for this error.

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The (Rising) Ocean State

The Urban Landscape

In Kennedy Plaza, a small booth for a big problem

a new spot for ‘freakishness’ and frozen drinks

It is a crisp Tuesday afternoon in May at Burnside Park in downtown Providence. Pedestrians amble down the path from the Bajnotti Memorial Fountain toward the RIPTA bus stops in Kennedy Plaza. Bikers whiz by on the street. Pigeons strut and coo on the sidewalk. A few minutes after 2:30 pm, Kate Schapira arrives at the south entrance of the park, pulling a bright red metal hand truck. Over the next few minutes, she unpacks and arranges items from the truck: a small wooden desk; a wooden stool; a rainbow-colored beach umbrella with a white plastic stand; a box containing a stack of homemade cardboard “RI IS MY HOME” cards, each with its own labeled sketch of local flora and fauna (“Eastern Chipmunk/ Tamias Striatus,” “House Sparrow/Passer Domesticus”); a glass jar labeled “DONATIONS OF 5¢ FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE LEAGUE OF RI”; a pad of poster-sized paper with a hand drawn map of the state of Rhode Island under the words “PUT YOUR WORRIES ON “I AM ON DUTY” Schapira. THE MAP”; and two cardboard signs to be affixed to front of the table that read “CLIMATE ANXIETY COUNSELING 5¢” and hives when she was a sophomore in college. A “THE DOCTOR IS IN.” Shortly after the items man wheeling a suitcase asked for directions to have been arranged to her liking, Schapira the train station, then sticks around to share looks at her phone and sits on the stool. “It is worries about his recently-lost his passport, 3:01,” she says. “I am on duty.” his family back in Saudi Arabi, and political Today is the first day of Schapira’s Climate corruption. One guy skids to a stop on his bike Anxiety Counseling. Over the next four weeks, and wheels over to share a riff on wars around the 35-year-old poet and Brown University crethe world — in Afghanistan, in Russia — before ative writing instructor will report to this spot, moving on to the recently kidnapped school five days a week, for three hours per shift (two girls in Nigeria and the “scariest” thing of all: on Saturdays), to talk with passersby about the the missing Malaysian airplane. A few minutes Earth’s changing climate. She is not a licensed later, a skinny guy with glasses stops, snaps a doctor or psychologist. She is not a climate photo of the booth on his smartphone, and asks scientist. She is just someone who is “Feeling Schapira, “Are you with the Sierra Club?” pretty scared and sad about the possible effects “I’m just a person,” she responds. of climate change and wanting to talk to other By 6 pm, Schapira’s donation jar is filled people about that instead of sitting by myself with bills and change, her stack of “RI IS MY on the couch and crying,” she says. And, yes, HOME” cards is slightly shorter, and she has 12 she was inspired by Lucy from Peanuts’ “PSYpages of notes scrawled in her three-ring bindCHIATRIC HELP 5¢” booth. er. The author of numerous published books Climate change, Schapira says, is her bigof poetry, Schapira says she may turn the acgest worry. She’s quick to add that she is fortucumulated notes from her counseling stint into nate to be mostly free of smaller worries. She a writing project, but she’s not sure what or has no kids, she’s not in danger of losing her when that will be, exactly. (She asks permishome or job, she and her family are all in good sion to document each conversation she has.) health. “But it’s also the biggest thing,” she As concerned and consumed as she is with says. “We don’t know what the changes are climate change, she still doesn’t have a grip on gonna be, but they’re going to be very big and the proper language to approach and describe they’re going to demand a lot from us. “ the problem, she says. That’s part of what this But this doesn’t mean droughts and crumproject is about. bling glaciers are the only things she’ll talk “If people are like, ‘What are you upset about while on-duty. Part of the project is to about?’ and I’m like, ‘I’m upset about the loss simply ask people what they’re worried about, of biodiversity,’ you see how that sounds?” she climate-related or otherwise, and follow the says. “But I don’t want that to sound stupid. conversation where it goes. I want it to sound regular ...if people talked And there are no shortage of willing particiabout it more, it would sound more regular.” pants. Day One brings plenty of confused stares Schapira will be “on duty” Tuesday through Saturday and smirks toward Schapira, but it also brings from 3 to 6 pm (3 to 5 on Saturdays) at Burnside Park until more than a dozen visitors — or “customers,” June 7. For more info, go to climateanxietycounseling. you might call them. One woman tells Schawordpress.com. _Philip Eil pira how thinking of climate change gave her

There is a cool, unfinished sleepiness about Aurora, the new downtown arts and cultural event venue on Westminster Street, on a recent bright spring afternoon. The floor is bare and clean; footfalls echo. Though the space was formerly home to two well-known arts institutions — the Roots Cultural Center and the Providence Black Repertory Company — you wouldn’t know it by looking at the fresh paint and unadorned surfaces. Sam White, Aurora’s creative director, sits checking his phone at the empty metal bar. Other than a wall that shows scars from a recent gallery show and a large projection screen that hangs over a small stage at the end of the room, there is little to suggest the huge variety show — Aurora’s grand opening, billed as a “Spectacular Celebration” — set to soon take place here. Aurora bills itself as “A cabaret lounge and art space with the future of Providence on its mind.” The cabaret bit refers to the relatively small size of the stage, not to any particular programming sensibility, though White adds, “The more freakishness that we can put on display, there’s good that comes from that ...I would love to have burlesque.” Part of the venue’s mission is to create a space for public assembly and “enliven this area by putting as much of the local talent up on stage as possible,” he says. He cites AS220’s unjuried, uncensored philosophy as a model, but notes that Aurora will be slightly more curated. The very fact that White has been tapped by Cornish Associates — the omnipresent downtown real estate developers and owners of the Westminster Lofts and much of that street’s retail space — as creative director suggests something about the direction the venue is headed. He is the founder of Wooly Fair, the pop-up, absurdist arts carnival that takes place each year at the Steel Yard. “With Wooly Fair, the idea was to create an environment that was so shockingly different that people would behave differently there,” he says. Attendees were given new names and encouraged to come in costume; last

The Aurora logo

year’s theme, “Off the Grid and on the Lamb,” was based around human generated electricity. While White is careful to note that Aurora is an entirely different sort of undertaking, it’s clear that he has a desire to push patrons out of their comfort zone. He notes that Aurora is designed to be a multipurpose space; it’s currently set up to be a gallery, a music venue, a screening room, a theater, and a bar. He calls it the Swiss Army knife of venues, capable of transforming itself quickly from event to event, night to night. “When people see that they’re in an environment where a lot of work has been done to transform this place into a temporary, ephemeral thing, they respond by letting down their guard and acting a little bit different,” he says. For Aurora’s grand opening, set for Saturday, May 17, White looks to showcase the space’s versatility. In addition to three Providence-based bands (the Sugar Honey Iced Tea, Atlantic Thrills, Nightmom), a pair of DJs (Unkle Thirsty, Just Jam), and film screening by Mike Formanski, the bill features the Tape Art collective, a group of artists who make large murals out of (sticky) tape. Cupcakes and tacos will be served. There will be a performance by Thea Ulrich, an aerialist. “We’ve got a mime,” White adds. But going forward, Aurora’s purview won’t be solely artistic. Aurora recently hosted an AS220 panel discussion on documentary photography. The venue is holding regular “Clambakes” where members of the local design community pitch new ideas to one another. White repeatedly refers to his desire for Aurora to be a civically minded space for town hall-style gatherings and political debates. But he seems just as excited that Sunday mornings will feature a “Kiddo Dance Party,” offering live bands and DJs for the toddler set. And the bar will draw. Jay Carr, the current bar manager at the Eddy who created drink menus for Garden Grille and The Dorrance, has been hired to create a line of “custom frozen drinks” for Aurora. Cocktail names and recipes are a house secret as of this writing, though White says, “He’s gonna bring a little highbrow to the lowbrow.” When asked if they’re going to be ready for the opening, White doesn’t seem concerned. But while giving a tour through the empty space, he looks up at the projection screen, displeased. Stepping up into a sound booth, he clicks through a laptop until he finds an image he likes: a giant, disembodied wolf head, on a blood red background. The words “Never Lose Courage” are set beneath it in a child’s scrawl. Then without comment, the tour continues. Aurora, at 276 Westminster St, will hold its grand opening on May 17, from 5 pm to 2 am. Admission is free. More info at auroraprovidence.com.

_Zach Green

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8 MAY 16, 2014 | the providence phoenix | providence.thephoenix.coM

providence.thephoenix.coM | the providence phoenix | MAY 16, 2014 9

best the

READERS’ PICKS

Arts +

EntErtAinmEnt

2014

Top-notch amusements and enjoyment BEST ART GALLERY: AS220

115 Empire St + 93 Mathewson St, Providence | 401.831.9327 | as220.org/galleries | To an art

Newport). His Twitter handle sums it up: @dbshootsfilm. And Phoenix readers deemed him @TheBest.

The Columbus Theatre

world that defines itself based on discriminating by taste, AS220’s slogan — “Uncensored, unjuried, always” — reads like a recipe for random bullshit. But somehow AS220 has become a consistent venue for great art, supporting green beginners and ripe veterans, theorists and activists and the occasional outsider sculpting a tape and cardboard Shangri-La. Maybe the secret is to be so wondrous and meaningful that all the cool kids want to get on the waiting list.

BEST FOLK VENUE: COLUMBUS THEATRE

270 Broadway, Providence | columbustheatre.com | “All music is folk music,“ Louis

twitter.com/frankocomedy | Frank has been making people laugh for more than 30 years. And his resume is beyond impressive: he’s written jokes for Bob Hope and Jay Leno, shared stages with the who’s who of comedy, hosted TV and radio shows, and discovered fresh talent with the longrunning Catch a New Rising Star Contest. His new weekly gig (with bawdy hypnotist Frank Santos Jr.) is at Olives on Friday nights. Oh, and in October he’ll be the fourth inductee in the Rhode Island Comedy Hall of Fame. Yep: He’s one of The Best.

BEST COMEDY CLUB: COMEDY CONNECTION

39 Warren Ave, East Providence | 401.438.8383 | ricomedyconnection.com | Comedy Connection has been the yearround destination for national headliners and the best homegrown talent for 25 years. A lot has changed since it opened its doors in a former bank building in 1989, but one thing hasn’t: people enjoy going to a room full of folks and laughing their asses off. Comedy Connection is Rhode Island’s Comedy Central. What’s so funny? Head to East Providence and find out.

BEST COVER BAND: RUN FOR COVERS

run4covers.com | Each year, this category is one of the biggest Best vote-generators, and for the second consecutive year, Run For Covers have earned the right to cover “We Are the Champions.” The quintet think way outside the cover box, having “made a vow to not cave to fit the norm and bring something truly new to the club circuit.” And their fans notice and appreciate the difference. Matt, Mark, Rusty, Dave, and Jesse know no boundaries, raging from the White Stripes to Metallica to Journey to Montell Jordan. For a double dose of Bestness, head to Rí Rá — the Best Cover Club (see the next item) — on May 16 and get ready for a helluva high-energy musical roller coaster ride.

BEST COVER CLUB: RI RA

50 Exchange Terrance, Providence | 401.272.1953 | rira.com/providence/ri-ralate-night.html | We’re fond of quoting

slogans in these Best blurbs, and Rí Rá has a good one: “Riverdance me arse! Live

frank c. grace

BEST COMEDIAN: FRANK O’DONNELL

music, live DJs, and real live wires.” Rí Rá has you covered five nights a week, with the area’s top hit machines (the Rock, the Regulars, Little Blue Pill, and 2013/2014 Best Cover Band Run For Covers) on Friday and Saturday, Josh Cramoy taking requests on Wednesdays, and karaoke on Thursday and Sunday. Live it up!

BEST DANCE CLUB/NIGHT: THE SALON

57 Eddy St, Providence | 401.865.6330 | thesalonpvd.com | The Salon is The Best be-

cause the Salon’s calendar is bursting with diverse sounds and attractions six days a week (Sundays are for reading), from Wednesday’s Reggae Dancehall with DJ Red Beard to House music mastermind DJ Handsome J on Thursdays to the dazzling array of weekend wizards — DJs Dox Ellis, Nick de Paris, Knowlton, Pauly Dangerous, Oscar Champagne, Ill Will, Nick Bishop, Zak Drummond, Damian Daviid, 11:11, and the AfroSonic Collective’s Soul Teknology. On Mondays, you can get yr dance on from 6 to 8 pm with Handsome J and chuckU’s After Work Jams. And on Tuesdays, watch the images dance across the screen at Kimi’s Movie Night (a double feature with free popcorn). As the song says, you should be dancing, yeah.

BEST DANCE COMPANY: FUSIONWORKS DANCE COMPANY fusionworksdance.org | Fusionworks

has been dazzling audiences since 1987, performing an adventurous modern dance repertoire and offering classes in creative movement, ballet, jazz, tap, and hip-hop, guided by the vision and drive of artistic director Deb Meunier. Their mission is “to engage and enrich” audiences — “to always go beyond the edge of the stage.” Phoenix readers say: mission accomplished.

BEST DJ NIGHT: DJ LADYRUCK

In the words of Queen Latifah, “ladies first!” Veteran turntablist and on-air personality DJ Ladyruck (aka Sharon Ashley) was born and raised in Providence, and got her start on 90.3 WRIU-FM more than 20 years ago. She held down a five-year tenure as host of “The B-Side,” inspired by cut-chemist cohorts such as Ulysses and the late, great Kurty Kut. Ladyruck eventually landed regular gigs at ol-skool spots ranging from the Living Room to Jovan’s, and currently spins hip-hop and R&B as a resident DJ at Fête. Check out more from DJ Ladyruck at musicfeen.com and hit up the venerable rap site Datpiff.com for free downloads of Ladyruck’s recent mixtapes The Storm and Remixed (The First Lady).

BEST EROTIC ENTERTAINMENT CLUB: THE CADILLAC LOUNGE 361 Charles St, Providence | 401.521.7469 | the cadillaclounge.com | Every industry has its version of the Best, and the Cadillac Lounge has often been named the Club of the Year in the Northeast. The sprawling venue offers a seductive feast, with three full bars, food, five rooms, an all-nude room, three floors, 20 VIP sections, an outdoor patio, and more than 200 female entertainers from around the world (and visits from the stars of the adult film world). What happens at the Cadillac Lounge stays at the Cadillac Lounge.

BEST FILMMAKER: DAVID BETTENCOURT

davidbettencourt.com | It’s fitting that

David Bettencourt won our first Best Filmmaker award, since his work documents quintessential Rhode Island subjects: Rocky Point Park (You Must Be This Tall), legendary punk rockers Neutral Nation (It’s a Bash!), and our seaside aristocracy (Behind the Hedgerow: Eileen Slocum and the Meaning of

Armstrong famously said. “I ain’t never heard no horse sing a song.” We’ll use the big umbrella that is “folk” to honor the Columbus, which has become a beloved space for unique and inspired musicmakers, from mega-string bands (Mother Falcon) to deep-voiced savants (Bill Callahan) to soul shouters (Charles Bradley). They also present comedians — Fred Armisen, Tig Notaro (September 28) and films (catch the world premiere of the Haven Bros. documentary on June 7). The space was built in 1926, has a very lively history, and was lovingly restored and reopened in 2012 by the Columbus Cooperative (including Ben and Jeff of the Low Anthem). Folks think it’s The Best.

BEST HIP-HOP VENUE: FÊTE

103 Dike St, Providence | 401.383.1112 | fete music.com | Many clubgoers were skepti-

jazz bookings these days — especially in out-of-the-way venues. The Woonsocket institution has made improvised music one of its cornerstone elements since 1977 and, because the menu at John Chan’s place is just as sumptuous as their programming, audiences abound. Said musical menu is also brimming with blues, so let’s proclaim Chan’s Best Blues Venue, too.

BEST KARAOKE SPOT: THE HOT CLUB

575 South Water St, Providence | 401.861.9007 | hotclubprov. com | Are you a karaoke pro, ready to dazzle fellow imbib-

ers with your song? Are you an occasional participant, who can be prodded into joining the fun? Or do you just like to listen and watch? Whatever your inclination is to join the rotation, the Best place to get your karaoke on is the Hot Club on Mondays at 9 pm. Here’s an idea: to celebrate the victory, they should devote a night to songs with “Best” in the title! We’re signing up for Ben Folds Five’s “Best Imitation of Myself” ....

BEST LGBT CLUB/NIGHT: THE DARK LADY

17 Snow St, Providence | 401.272.6369 | darkladypvd | There are many reasons why the Dark Lady Bested this category. Phat Ass Fridays, with Sabrina Blaza and DJ Joey Dee, is at the top of the list. The Tuesday night karaoke sessions get the weekend started early. And things get really rowdy on Pong ’n’ Thong Thursdays. And we haven’t even mentioned the gogo boys, drag shows, and pole dancers? As they proudly proclaim, “There’s always something going on.”

BEST MOVIE THEATER: CABLE CAR CINEMA

204 South Main St, Providence | 401.272.3970 | cablecarcinema.com | Every midsize city needs its art house (or two;

the Avon was a very close runner-up). Since 1976, the Cable Car has been a key part of the College Hill cultural scene. Their fare is ever-challenging and captivating (they’re not afraid of taking chances), they host a dizzying array of film fest screenings (Rhode Island International, SENE, Providence Children’s, and Providence French), and quite a few directors have been on hand to show and tell about their films. Skip Netflix (or Amazon Prime) (or Hulu) tonight and head to South Main St. And pass the popcorn.

BEST MUSEUM: RISD MUSEUM

224 Benefit St, Providence | 401.454.6500 | risdmuseum.org | First there’s the encyclopedic depth of the RISD Museum’s collection. Then there are the temporary exhibits featuring ancient Egypt, Andy Warhol, hot-off-the-presses graphic design, and last year’s “Locally Made” showcase of 300 artists who make stuff around these parts. On top of that, the fashion curators — clearly some of the best in the nation — knock you out, intellectually and sensually, with a show like “Artist/Rebel/Dandy.” Is there any question why the museum is winning this prize for the 17th consecutive year?

cal when Fête opened its doors a few years back — a beautiful ballroom (and side lounge) in the heart of Olneyville? Well, it worked —magnificently. Fête takes this hotly contested category thanks to a rich parade of local and national rap acts coming through (from THR33 Piece Suit to Kool Keith), the PizzaBoyz and DJ Born Casual’s steady Saturday night jumpoff (21+ and free of charge), and the “Church of Providence” residency hosted by Strange Famous Records (held on the final Thursday of each month). The lineups Sage Francis and B. Dolan assemble are downright insane (where else can you see Olneyville Sound System and accordionist Cory Pesaturo share a stage?), complemented by burlesque dancers and a full-sized wrestling ring in the middle of the ballroom.

Facebook post said, “Sign ups start at 730. Sing, dance, tell jokes. The mic is OPEN!” Every Tuesday from 7:30 to 10 pm, creativity and freedom of expression is the draw. If you want to share it, they want to hear it. The Parlour’s overall mission statement certainly applies to the weekly free-for-all: “Everyone is welcome as long as you are keeping up the vibes.”

BEST HOOKAH LOUNGE: OPA

BEST PLACE TO BOWL: LANG’S BOWLARAMA

themed Opa carries on the tradition of Phoenician culture through traditional cuisine and hookah smoking. The knowledgeable staff will bring you a drink and then recommend one of their many flavors of hookah for your lung-filling pleasure. An extensive menu features some of the city’s best Middle Eastern offerings and, believe it or not, the smoke doesn’t linger and mess with the flavor of your food. And if smoking’s not your thing, sit back and take in some live music or a bellydancing show three nights a week.

larama still has the lively look of a retro alley but has been totally tricked out for the modern age. Their pristine lanes are open to anyone, or you can start a team and play on league nights with your pin pals. Enjoy a full food menu and an extensive bar featuring Lang’s Signature Cocktails and an array of craft beers on draft, including selections from Allagash, Foolproof, Revival, and more. With trivia, karaoke, and live music under the same roof at the Skyline Lounge, even non-bowlers will be happy.

230 Atwells Ave, Providence | 401.351.8282 | opaprovidence.com | The Mediterranean-

BEST JAZZ VENUE: CHAN’S

267 Main St, Woonsocket | 401.765.1900 | chanseggrollsandjazz.com | It takes lots of

faith and more than a little TLC to sustain

BEST OPEN MIC: THE PARLOUR

1119 North Main St, Providence | 401.383.5858 | facebook. com/ParlourRI | “Open” means open at the Parlour: a recent

225 Niantic Ave, Cranston | 401.944.0500 | langsbowlarama. com | A Cranston institution since 1960, Lang’s Bow-

BEST PLACE TO PLAY POOL: RHODE ISLAND BILLIARD BAR & BISTRO

2022 Smith St, north Providence | 401.231.2020 | ribbb.com | RIBBB is a seasoned victor in this category for its multiple tables, tournaments, reasonable rates (and what‘s more reasonable than free games on Sundays from 6 pm-close), and many other distractions — the 108 beers! The bands on weekends! Poker! The full menu with all-you-can-eat

401.232.1330

pasta and pizza deals! The dart league! You’ll feel right at home whether you’re an oft-scratching novice or billiard ball veteran.

www.ribbb.com

2026 Smith Street, North ProvideNce ri

BEST ROCK VENUE: LUPO’S HEARTBREAK HOTEL

best the

79 Washington St, Providence | 401.331.5876 | lupos.com |

The house that Rich Lupo built has dominated this category for 17 years — there’s simply no better place to see a concert in the state, no matter the genre. Since opening 39 years (and three locations) ago, they’ve presented thousands of acts, from up-and-comers to established hitmakers — Jerry Lee Lewis, Radiohead, Beck, the National, and Willie Nelson have all graced their stages. And the upcoming lineup — which includes T-Pain, moe., Future, and Interpol — proves they’re ever-diverse and not slowing down.

BEST THEATER COMPANY: TRINITY REP

201 Washington St, Providence | 401.351.4242 | trinityrep.com | This season at Trinity Rep — their 50th anniversary, if you didn’t hear — included a timely adaptation of Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, the New England premiere of Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, the world premiere of Veronica Meadows by company member Stephen Thorne, Lynn Nottage’s moving drama Intimate Apparel, and the crowd-pleasers Oliver! and A Christmas Carol. And Sam Shepard’s family drama, A Lie of the Mind, is still to come. Trinity has always embraced the classic and the contemporary, and their artistry and craft is second to none.

2014

beSt Place to Play Pool iN ri

Friday may 23

miNNeSota FatS

Burger Challenge www.ribbb.com/maNvSFood

BEST THEATER VENUE: PROVIDENCE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

220 Weybosset St | 401.421.ARTS | ppacri.org | This category is brimming with opulence. The nominees — the Columbus, Park, Providence Performing Arts Center, the Stadium, and the Vets — are stately and swanky and majestic, evoking the grandeur of bygone eras. But they’re alive and well and awe-inspiring, and PPAC is the grandest of them all. It opened in 1928 as the Loew’s Movie Palace, has seen good times and bad, and was lovingly restored and renovated in the mid-’90s. It welcomes Broadway road shows, concerts (the July 14 Queens of the Stone Age show is it’s rockingest booking in years), comedians, and other unique entertainments. The next time you go there, arrive early and soak in the splendor.

Never a cover charge! Sat 5/17

Erik Narwhal

BEST TRIVIA NIGHT: TRINITY BREWHOUSE

186 Fountain St, Providence | 401.453.BEER | trinitybrewhouse.com | Did you know that in Roman

mythology, Trivia was the goddess of sorcery and witchcraft, who haunted crossroads and graveyards? That fact could come in handy at the Tuesday trivia sessions at Trinity Brewhouse. Or maybe you need some Trinity trivia. It’s the title of a novel by Leon Uris, a song by Fleetwood Mac, and a character played by Carrie-Anne Moss in The Matrix films. With the speed of info flow these days, everything is fodder for trivia — you blink and you miss it. Go easy on Trinity’s Best Brewpub brews so you can dig up trivial-yet-significant data from the deepest recesses of your noggin.

BEST VISUAL ARTIST: WILLIAM SCHAFF

Fri 5/23

DiviNg DuckS

Monday Night Pool & Poker

Best 8 Ball tournaments Poker hosted by eastern Poker tour

facebook.com/william.schaff.1 | Perhaps you have one of

William Schaff’s giant octopi crushing a sailing ship tattooed across your back. Or you’ve received a letter on which the head on the stamp becomes part of a body sitting in a fire. Or you’ve witnessed his haunting dioramas, masks, embroidery, paper cuts, and fierce drumming for the What Cheer? Brigade. There’s an apocalyptic fervor to it all. Yet this righteous creativity goes down like an antidote. As a slogan in one drawing proclaims: “Come hither my friend, hope.”

BEST WEEKLY JAM: SUNDAY NIGHT BLUES JAM @ MURPHY’S LAW

2 George St, Pawtucket | 401.724.5522 | murphyslawri.com | Check our listings: there’s a jam almost every night of the week. But there’s a bit more fun on a Sunday, when the participants are holding onto the pleasures of the weekend before succumbing to the rise and grind. And a lot of said fun is in Pawtucket: 2012 Best Jammers Wolf & the Jam Daddies hold forth at Boundary Brewhouse at 5 pm, and this year’s Best crew, aka the Big City Band, encourage you to bring your axe/chops to Murphy’s Law ’round 8:30. Drummer Ben Ricci is the powerful anchor; saxist Justin Breault, guitarist Travis Colby, and bassist Jeremy Kindsvatter usually share the stage, and funk and jazz and more are always a part of the musical mix. Join the fun, and get ready to hit the snooze bar in the AM . . . .

wedNeSdayS ladieS Play Pool For Free

Free Pool SUNday 6 - cloSe

108 beerS available iN bottleS aNd oN taP

tUeS Night 9 ball leagUe & dart leagUe StartiNg SooN

10 MAY 16, 2014 | the providence phoenix | providence.thephoenix.coM

best the

READERS’ PICKS

City Life

2014

Small state, big pride BEST BEACH: NARRAGANSETT TOWN BEACH

respectively. Forgot those other electorate samples — this is The Best news Angel could get!

Boston Neck Rd, Narragansett | 401.783.6430 | narragansettri.gov/ index.aspx?NID=323 | Readers are

BEST RADIO PERSONAlITY: BUDDY CIANCI

passionate about where they lay their blankets and squint at the sea. This category was one of the biggest vote-generators, and Narragansett Town Beach squeaked by last year’s winner, East Matunuck. ’Gansett hosts up to 10,000 folks a day on its 19 acres; it also has food stands, a first-aid office, and a surfing area. Admission is $8 (free under 12; parking is $10 weekdays, $15 weekends; seasonal passes are available). And hey, don’t drop your iPhone in the sand ....

riparks.com/Locations/Location EastBay.html | The East Bay Bike

630WPRO.com | Buddy aces this

category for the fifth time, but he might be getting out from behind the mic soon to pursue another run for the mayoralty of Providence (his doctors gave him the green light, post-cancer treatment). In the meantime, he’s holding forth weekday afternoons on WPRO (630 AM and 99.7 FM). Whatever the topic — local cultcha, the weather or, ummm, politics — the essence of Buddy comes charging through the speakers. Yeah, he’s a character!

r ich a rd mc c a ffrey

BEST BIKE ROUTE: EAST BAY BIKE PATH

Fine Peruvian & Bolivian Cuisine

Path tops this category for the 17th The crew at Providence year (yep, it’s time to retire this Animal Rescue League category). Here’s some trivia to share the next time you’re enjoying its award-winning splendor: It spans 14.5 miles. It was greenlit in 1983 1998, when it was known as Broad Street and built from 1987 to 1992 on the former Studio. Its mission has evolved through rail bed of the Providence, Warren, and the years and now focuses on free arts Bristol Railroad. It’s a link in the East education for ages 14-21, with a concentraCoast Greenway, which aspires to be a tion on youth in the care and custody of 3000-mile motorized-free ribbon from the state. Members express themselves Maine to Florida. And more than 1 million through music, dance, graphic design, people walk, run, skate, and bike on it photography, and creative writing; the every year. Yep, it’s The Best. program publishes a quarterly literary magazine, The Hidden Truth, and runs a BEST BlOG: PROVIDENCE DAIlY DOSE Youth Gallery. The creative process leads to rewarding social, educational, and providencedailydose.com | It’s hardly the vocational experiences. Their slogan is, most hyperactive blog — on many days “We stand for embracing, celebrating and there is only one post — but PDD proves educating.” Nothing could be better. the adage “less is more” (and didjaknow that adage is from a 1855 poem by Robert Browning? nowyaknow!). What they post BEST lOCAl NON-PROFIT GROUP: matters. They’re deeply immersed in the art PROVIDENCE ANIMAl RESCUE lEAGUE and food and music and ’hoods and poli34 Elbow St, Providence | 401.421.1399 | tics and stuff of the capital city — the stuff parl.org | PARL’s mission is “to provide that matters, the stuff you can’t experience for the rescue and relief of suffering of while loafing on yr couch. And they have homeless animals and perform charitable a sense of humor; a “Call Mother” post on or benevolent acts for the welfare of aniMother’s Day was graced with a photo of mals.” They take in more than 2500 stray, Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in Mommie abandoned, and owner-surrendered pets Dearest. Their banner says they specialize per year — and have doing so for 101 years. in “high-powered news and nonsense.” The PARL facilitates adoption, foster-care, Readers appreciate the balance. spaying/neutering, vaccination, microchipping, and more for furry friends all around the state. Visit their website to see BEST FAIR/FESTIVAl: GASPEE DAYS the dogs, cats, and other critters who are gaspee.com | Fun, free, and family-friendly, the Gaspee Days Arts & Crafts Festival is waiting to melt your heart. Rhode Island’s best Memorial Day Weekend activity. More than 100 fine artisans BEST OPEN SPACE: COlT STATE PARK come together in the heart of Warwick’s Hope Street, Bristol | 401.253.7482 | riparks. gorgeous Pawtuxet Village to sell their com/Locations/LocationEastBay.html | one-of-a-kind crafts and knickknacks. There’s no better combo of wide-open spacFood, games, and live music round out the es and picturesque views in the state than event that draws about 50,000 people anthe 450-plus acres that make up Colt State nually — join the fun. Park. Take a ride on the scenic, windy bike trails or throw a Frisbee around, then cool down with some lunch at one of the 400 BEST lOCAl CAUSE: AS220 YOUTH picnic tables or a gazebo (fireplace rentals 115 Empire St, Providence | 401.831.9327 | are also available). The traffic can make youth.as220.org | AS220 Youth began in

BEST RADIO STATION: WBRU

WBRU.com | The state’s alt-rock ra-

it a slog, but the trip down Route 114 is always worth it — there’s no better place to spend a summer day in Rhode Island.

BEST PlACE TO PEOPlE-WATCH: WATERFIRE PROVIDENCE

WaterFire marks its 20th anniversary at sunset on Saturday, May 24, when its braziers will be lit along the Downcity river. This special occasion will draw a larger-than-usual crowd (it’s Memorial Day weekend) of folks from all walks of life. Whether newlyweds, skate punks, or elderly couples catch your eye, there will be plenty to gawk at. And don’t worry if you can’t make it to opening night — the people-watching gets even more interesting as the sweaty season drags on.

BEST PlACE TO RUN: BlACKSTONE BOUlEVARD

blackstoneparksconservancy.org | This 1.6-

mile urban oasis is a prime destination for walkers and runners (it’s a perennial Best winner). The East Side path is filled with trees (nearly 300 new additions since 2003), flowers (more than 600 spring bulbs), whimsical stump seats (chair backs embedded in tree trunks), the inspiring Spirit of Youth statue, and throngs of friendly folks (and their four-legged friends). The simple pleasures are The Best. ’Nuf said.

BEST POlITICIAN: ANGEl TAVERAS providenceri.com/mayor | We usually don’t

reveal The Best vote counts, but we’re going to make an exception in this category. Angel Taveras won the last two years as mayor of Providence, and this year he’s doing double duty as the capital city honcho and a gubernatorial candidate. Taveras topped our poll with 23.8 percent of the vote; his Democratic foes, Gina Raimondo and Clay Pell, garnered 18 and 9.6,

dio station has a slew of reasons to tune in. There’s the always-engaging time-traveling “Retro Lunch” and “Home BRU’d” (weeknights at 9) showcases up-and-coming local artists on the radio dial. And check out “Exposure” (Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11 pm) to hear acts that aren’t in regular rotation, like the War On Drugs, Dum Dum Girls, and Chromeo. Bonus points for hosting the recently wrapped Rock Hunt (congrats, Rare Occasions!) and the alwaysexciting Summer Concert Series, which will bring in buzz acts Phantogram, Max Frost, Kongos, and more.

BEST TV PERSONAlITY: FRANK COlETTA

turnto10.com/story/20916727/frank-coletta | In December, Frank Coletta celebrated

his 35th year at WJAR NBC 10. He started as an assignment editor in 1978, became a reporter in 1981, started his anchoring duties on local newsbreaks during the Today show in ’82, and has been the face of Sunrise since 1985 (we’re guessing he doesn’t hit the snooze bar very often, since the shows starts at 4:30 these days; he probably catches a nap before returning to the screen for News at Noon). Frank has owned this category since we started it [CHECK THIS], and he usually attends our Best event, lending his winning personality and a big touch of class to the evening. We raise our coffee mug to you, Frank!

BEST TV STATION: WJAR

turnto10.com | People have been turning to 10

since it became Rhode Island’s first TV station in 1949 (WJAR started its media supremacy as a radio station in 1922). In the latest Nielsen ratings, six of the top seven newscasts in the market were on NBC 10 — and the 7 pm show is the highest-rated newscast in that time slot in the US! And their dotcom is also the most-visited local TV site. As we noted last year, when they (of course) won this category, 10’s viewer loyalty was bred by reliability and trust. They’ve always been The Best.

Mon/Tues 4-9pm Wed/Thurs 4-10 Fri/Sat 11am-10pm Sun 11am-9pm

best the

2014

Best RestauRant PRovidence Best taPas/sPanish

401-649-4911 losandesri.com 903 Chalkstone Ave. Providence, RI

12 MAY 16, 2014 | the providence phoenix | providence.thephoenix.coM

providence.thephoenix.coM | the providence phoenix | MAY 16, 2014 13

best Food + drink the

READERS’ PICKS

2014

Savor the sustenance BEST APPIE HOUR: HARRY’S BAR & BURGER

interesting drinks — what more could an after-work winding-down need? The cocktails are fine-tuned to impress the most knowledgeable connoisseur. Take the one called El Coche, with El Buho Mezcal for a smoky start, then Zucca Rababaro Amaro for some herbal oomph, a splash of Molé Bitters to cut the sweetness of the Cherry Heering and the Vya Vermouth, and an orange peel for accent. Bottoms up.

121 North Main St, Providence | 401.228.7437 | harrysbarburger.com | In 2012 when Provi-

dence was proclaimed the “No. 1 burger city” in a Travel + Leisure readers’ poll, Harry’s was the example provided. We’re hip to the beef sliders, but our present praise is for its daily special from 3 to 5 pm. Burgers are half-price and you can wash down those Sloppy Harry Chili Fries with a Flying Dog In-Heat Wheat beer or discover your own combination.

BEST BAR, DIVE: NICK-A-NEE’S

75 South St, Providence | 401.861.7290 | In

the 1880s, the term “dive bar” denoted an illegal drinking/merrymaking place. In 1961, Webster’s defined a dive as “a disreputable resort for drinking or entertainment.” But these days, it’s a term of affection for a place that is bereft of pretension, a cool place to hang for a crew of devoted regulars, with cheap drinks, a pool table, two jukeboxes, an outside patio — yeah, we just described Nick-a-Nee’s. Add music on weekends (Paul Geremia, Mark Cutler, and in the rotation), plus the House Combo on

BEST BAGELS: BAGEL GOURMET

250 Brook St, Providence | 401.453.5560 + 288 Thayer St, Providence | 401.331.1311 + 222 Richmond St, Providence | 401.454.8000 | bagel gourmetcafe.com | Their offerings are boiled and then baked, so close your eyes and you might as will be in munching in Brooklyn. Maybe a classic poppy seed with a schmeer of chive cheese under lox. And if you’re up for more than a little nosh, they also serve Mexican food, from breakfast burritos to chicken or steak fajitas. ¡Oy carumba!

Monday and the Bluegrass Throedown on Wednesday, and you have a real cool place to hang. Dive in, why don’tcha?

BEST BAR, FANCY: THE DORRANCE

60 Dorrance St, Providence | 401.521.6000 | thedorrance.com | Pretty snazzy digs. High

ceilings, tastefully decorated, lots of tall windows to let light flood in. It used to be a Federal Reserve Bank, so this is probably the best place in town to drown your sorrows during the economic downturn. The bar here is the centerpiece of the place, with scores of bottles multiplied in mirrors. Have something expensive.

BEST BAR, GAY: THE STABLE

125 Washington St, Providence | 401.272.6950 | facebook.com/ TheStableProvidence | TheStableProvidence

| The Stable has been a favorite destination since 1993. The space is cool and inviting, the vibe is lively and engaging, the location is ultra-central, and the drinks help it to win this category year after year. The

820 Hope St, Providence + 342 Broadway, Providence | 20 Newman Ave, East Providence | sevenstarsbakery.com | When Lynn

and Jim Williams opened their doors in 2001, they had no idea that their output would become so popular, needing more than 60 employees for their shops and to stock markets around the state. The bread is baked fresh daily, of course. Not so taken for granted is having both Kalamata and Moroccan oil-cured morsels in the olive bread. Ahh, that extra touch.

BEST BAR, COCKTAILS: THE EDDY 95 Eddy St, Providence | 401.831.3339 | eddybar.com | Friendly bartenders,

PH OTOS BY R IC HARD Mc C Aff ReY; CAk e BY D eOnn A ABR AMS AT juS T SweeT S

with the numbers: at press time, Doherty’s Ale House had a jaw-dropping 121 beers on tap. That’s a lot to geek out on, from Maine Beer Company’s Weez to Ithaca’s Ground Break to He’Brew’s Rejewvenator to Southern Tier’s Goat Boy. And we have some breaking news that will make The Best even better: beer flights will soon be available, so you can (responsibly) sample more of those jaw-dropping offerings in one sitting. The multi-sipping options will enhance the ambitious menu, which reaches beyond the typical pub fare. Cheers!

is much more than blaring hi-defs and attentive waitresses. Their pizza and wings are better than most, and their Cattleman and Picasso calzones are to die for. And yeah, the TVs are pretty slick too: there’s a few massive plasmas above the bar, plus smaller LCDs at each wall-side table. They also have video games, Texas Hold ’Em nights, NTN Trivia, and pool tables (in the adjoining tobacco bar, Retro). Whether you’re catching a game or just grabbing a pie, this is the place to be.

BEST BARBECUE: RICK’S ROADHOUSE 370 Richmond St, Providence | 401.272.7675 | ricksroadhouseri.com | Some day you might

facebook.com/pages/Revival-BrewingCompany/144546355630452 | The battle

for Best Brewery is tougher than ever. A few years ago, we didn’t have five breweries to fill the Best ballot slots; now there are a dozen contenders, with even more on tap for ’14. There’s a lot of great local brews, and Revival grabbed top honors for the third consecutive year. They pride themselves on “making beers the way they should be made — bold, furious, and full of passion.” Burnsider Pale Ale and Mercy Brown Imperial Brown Ale have joined the go-tos Double Black IPA and Zeppelin Hefeweizen. Look for them statewide (and in MA) and enjoy the local flavor.

18 Luongo Memorial Sq, Providence | 401.751.5920 | averyprovidence.com | First-

30 Jefferson Blvd, Warwick | 401.270.9800 | dohertysalehouse.com | You can’t argue

2323 Warwick Ave, Warwick | 401.739.5030 | picassosrocks.com | Picasso’s Pizza and Pub

BEST BREwERY: REVIVAL BREwING

BEST BAR: THE AVERY

BEST BAR, BEER GEEK: DOHERTY’S ALE HOUSE

BEST BAR, SPORTS: PICASSO’S PIZZA & PUB

come back for their fajitas, steak, or mahimahi, but on your first visit you’ve probably come for the BBQ. Beef brisket, baby back ribs, chicken, pulled pork — all pitsmoked slowly over hickory and applewood coals. You might want to start off with their smoked-chicken Texas egg rolls or maybe the slow-simmered firehouse chili. The Caesar salad can wait.

BEST BAKERY: SEVEN STARS BAKERY

time visitors are struck with quite a lovely eyeful: the warm, sensual Art Deco décor of designers Kyla Coburn and Andy Trench, with the Providence skyline competing with reclining nudes. And, oh yeah, the drinks are an attraction too — craft beers, good wines, and interesting cocktails. Proprietor John “J.R” Richard has created an intimate, convivial place to meet, chat, and relax.

bartenders are attentive master mixologists, and the prices won’t empty your wallet. And the sangria is a savory staple here. Grab a glass, head to the patio, and salute the Stable!

BEST BREwPUB: TRINITY BREwHOUSE

| 186 Fountain St, Providence | 401.453.2337 | trinitybrewhouse.com | Trinity Brewhouse

Matt and Kate Jennings at Farmstead Inc.

has won the Best Brewpub category for all 17 years that we’ve been Besting. In honor of their repeat wins, we’re going to repeat the blurb we ran for them last year (like Trinity, it’s The Best we’ve done): Best brew fare, check (here’s the list we consulted near deadline: Kolsch, Tommy’s Red, Rhode Island IPA, To Helles Und Bock, Providence Pilsner, Larkin’s Irish Stout, Chocolate Wheat, Hefeweizen, Redrum Imperial Red. Best pub fare, check: chili, nachos, wings, double loaded ravioli, 12” rustic pizzas, burgers, pulled pork, jerk chicken, and entrees. Brew + chew = The Best of both worlds.

BEST BRUNCH: JULIAN’S

318 Broadway, Providence | 401.861.1770 | juliansprovidence.com | You know a place is

serious when it has a smoker on wheels to haul around and cater pig roasts. But the restaurant is also popular for its extensive selections at brunch. The Shakshuka is two eggs poached in a spicy tomato stew; the Desperado eggs Benedict has avocado and salsa. There are 10 kinds of hash, from sweet potato to mushroom/boursin. Nice choices.

BEST BUFFALO wINGS: BONEHEADS wING BAR

131 Washington St, West Warwick | 401.828.9464 | boneheadwings.com | Bone-

heads Wing Bar takes the crown in its first year on the RI dining scene. The main attraction is the “Boneboard” list, styled like a Billboard Top 100 chart, featuring more than 40 in-house sauces (and 20-plus dry rubs, also great on the fries). Mind-blowing flavor combos include peanut butter and jelly (“Pump Up the Jam”), cranberryhabañero (“Zombie”), and an addictive maple-and-candied bacon sauce called “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” But straight-up buffalo wing purists will flock for the wide range of spicy sauces: grab a stack of napkins and go for the blinding, Ghost Pepperlaced “Hell’s Bells.” Hurts so good!

BEST BURGERS: CRAZY BURGER

144 Boon St, Narragansett | 401.783.1810 | crazyburger.com | Perusing the menu, it’s

easy to not get burgers, because there are so many other distractions, from quesadillas to baked brie, risotto to mahi-mahi. But the burgers range from virtuously vegan, like the roasted tempeh Poco Loco, through the non-beef meat, like the BaaBaa Burger, to the wildly imaginative, such as the Whassupy, whose ground beef is pumped up with a sesame-fennel-wasabi spice rub.

BEST BURRITOS: CILANTRO MEXICAN GRILL

Seven locations in Cranston, Warwick, Providence, Rumford, Coventry, Newport, and North Providence | cilantromex.com | Copi-

ous choices separate this place from the run-of-the-taco Mexican eatery. Want your tortilla smoked pepper, spinach, or tomato basil? Want your chicken grilled adobo or spicy curry? Or maybe you prefer pork carnitas or steak? From there the fillings are endless. Sweet corn mango salsa? White or brown cilantro and lime rice? Black beans or pinto? Not for the undecided.

BEST CHEF: MATT JENNINGS @ FARMSTEAD INC.

186 Wayland Ave, Providence | 401.274.7177 | farmsteadinc.com | Farmstead has been

a strong influence on restaurants in the region for emphasizing local, sustainable sourcing. Hand-milled Rhody corn for Chef Matt’s polenta, Blackstone Valley beef, artisanal cheeses from southern Massachusetts. Appreciation has followed. With his wife Kate as pastry specialist, Jennings has been at the forefront, twice selected a finalist for the prestigious James Beard Foundation Best Chef Northeast award. Last week, they announced they will be selling the restaurant to return to their Boston hometown and open a new place, Townsman. Thanks for the culinary memories, folks!

BEST CHOwDER: IGGY’S DOUGHBOYS & CHOwDER HOUSE 889 Oaklawn Beach Ave, Warwick | 401.737.9459 + 1157 Point Judith Rd, Narragansett | 401.783.5608 | iggysdoughboys.com | When CBS’s The Early Show picks yours as

Best Clam Chowder in their “Taste of America” feature, you have to be doing something right. There’s creamy New England style for traditionalists, and tomatoey Manhattan style for everyone else. And while

you’re there, have some clam cakes to go with it, to avoid regrets on the way home.

BEST CLAM SHACK: FLO’S CLAM SHACK

4 Wave Ave, Middletown + Park Ave, Portsmouth | 401.847.8141 | flosclamshacks.com | Sure, you can go for the chowder and a

clam cakes snack, but when you have a mariner’s appetite, they can also help you here. On Thursday nights at the Middletown location, all-you-can-eat crab legs are only $12.95. There are 10 kinds of seafood platters, including Campeche shrimp from southern Mexico, and oysters from the Chesapeake Bay. Reel it in.

BEST COFFEE SHOP: BREwED AwAKENINGS COFFEE HOUSE

brewedcoffeeshop.com | They offer more

than 14 varieties of freshly brewed hot and iced coffees, with baked goods to go with them, as well as sandwiches and salads. In 1996 the original Brewed Awakenings opened in Johnston. Owner David J. Levesque is apparently overly caffeinated, because there are now branches in Cranston, Johnston (two of ’em), and Wakefield, with another coming to Bald Hill Road in Warwick.

BEST CUPCAKES: THE DUCK & BUNNY 312 Wickenden St, Providence | 401.270.3300 | theduckandbunny.com | How could a

place with such an adorable name do you wrong? Especially if they call themselves “a snuggery”? Try one of their bananaNutella cupcakes, or maybe a chocolatepeanut butter, or a red velvet, or many others decoratively topped with whipped frosting. Guys who find the place too girly can snuggle up outside with scotch and a cigar, which they also provide.

BEST DELI: VENDA RAVIOLI

275 Atwells Ave, Providence | 401.421.9105 | vendaravioli.com | As well as being un benis-

simo ristorante, this Little Italy landmark at Federal Hill’s DePasquale Square provides long display cases filled with sometimes hard-to-find Italian delicacies, such as Fiore de Sardegna ewe’s milk cheese and the best prosciutto around. There are many varieties of olives, and different kinds of ravioli, such as lobster and butternut squash, plus several fresh pastas. Mangia!

BEST DESSERTS: PASTICHE FINE DESSERTS & CAFÉ

92 Spruce St, Providence | 401.861.5190 | pastichefinedesserts.com | No stroll around

Federal Hill is complete without a rest stop here for a cuppa and a treat. This European-style café makes you feel like you’re enjoying a buttery croissant on the Left Bank, and the exquisitely artful cakes look like entrants in a sculpture contest. Owners Eileen Collins and Brandt Heckert have stuck to their lofty standards since 1983

BEST DINER/GREASY SPOON: MODERN DINER

364 East Ave, Pawtucket | 401.726.8390 | There’s nary a smear of lard on the tableware. But there are plenty of old diner traditions adhered to here, as befits the state that was home to the country’s first diner in 1872. This 1940 Sterling Streamliner, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has had a “Depot Room” added to accommodate tables and chairs. Try the lobster Benedict among the dozen or so variations.

BEST FOOD TRUCK: POCO LOCO TACOS 2005 Broad St, Cranston | 401.461.2640 | pocolocotacos.com | The self-proclaimed

“Best damn taco truck in town!” lives up to the billing and then some, as Poco Loco

Continued on p 14

14 MAY 16, 2014 | the providence phoenix | providence.thephoenix.coM

obligation, so there are more than 20 appetizers, including char-grilled wings in nine different preparations. A sincere nod to ol’ Éire is represented by comfort food like corned beef & cabbage and bangers & mash.

Continued from p 13

Tacos once again gets the nod in this category. Poco Loco specializes in basically whitey-Mexican tacos (crunchy or soft tacos for just $2 each, or go Grande style for $5), burritos ($7), and quesadillas. There are plenty of DIY combinations (from chorizo to soyrizo), but we recommend “The Napalm” (spicy chicken, jalapeños, and cheese) and vegetarian favorites “The Green Monstah” and “The Funguy.” And you can add bacon to anything for just 50 cents! Visit the Poco Loco homebase in Pawtuxet (2005 Broad St, Cranston).

lot that they brag about offering “Tuscan Soul Food.” As you know, northern Italian food is quite distinctive from tomato sauce-centric southern dishes. Think beige, but hardly bland: zuppa di vongole bianco, with little necks sautéed in white wine and garlic; gnocchi d’autunno, little ricotta pillows are tossed with a brownbutter cream sauce. Mangiare con gusto.

BEST FROZEN YOGURT: KIwI BURST

an adorable creation myth. The teenaged Emmee Khounborinh enjoys working summers in an ice cream parlor, then studies at URI, where she meets fellow business administration major Xueli S. Chen. A yogurt operation seems a good expression of their concern for healthy eating. Kiwi Burst is born. Classic tart and dulce de leche; sea-salt/caramel pretzel and pomegranate-raspberry sorbet. Yum.

BEST ICE CREAM: BRICKLEY’S

322 Main St, Wakefield | 401.782.8864 + 921 Boston Neck Rd, Narragansett | 401.789.1784 | brickleys.com | Small batches made by

hand, with attention to maximizing flavors and using fresh seasonal fruits. And no artificial coloring — pistachio ice cream shouldn’t be green, people! Speaking of which, a recent pint contained a remarkable density of nuts. You’re a purist? There’s a sweet cream flavor as well as vanilla. Owner and ice cream master Steve Brophy make sure things are done right.

BEST JONNYCAKES: JIGGER’S HILL AND HARBOUR DINER 145 Main St, East Greenwich | 401.884.6060 | jiggersdiner.com | They’re so proud: the

March issue of Every Day With Rachael Ray declared their breakfasts #1 in Rhode Island. Similarly laudatory, the Phoenix’s Johnette Rodriguez, an avid jonnycake connoisseur, has praised their “creamy insides, crusty edges, and non-sweet, flint corn taste.” Vilgot “Jigger” Lindberg opened the first of many incarnations in 1917, so there is a tradition to maintain.

BEST LATE NIGHT EATS + wIENER/HOT DOG JOINT: OLNEYVILLE NEw YORK SYSTEM

20 Plainfield St, Providence | 401.621.9500 | olneyvillenewyorksystem.com | Olneyville

NY System took top honors in two fiercely competitive categories, and with good reason. Since 1946, this place has been an absolute savior when last call has come and gone, and there’s no better way to soak up a stomach full of booze than further filling it with the goodness of four all da way and a large fry (and don’t forget the coffee milk!). Fourth generation owners Greg Stevens and Stephanie Stevens Turini have expanded over the years, with the longtime Cranston location (1012 Reservoir Ave) and a newer North Provy outpost (1744 Mineral Spring Ave), but it all stated in Olneyville, where general manager Jim Saccoccio has overseen the daily (and nightly) operations here for more than 45 years. And the legend grows, as the System recently won an America’s Classics award from the prestigious James Beard Foundation.

‘BEST APPY HOUR’

BEST RESTAURANT, JAPANESE: HARUKI EAST

harrysbarburger.com’ 121 north main st providence, ri

172 Wayland Ave, Providence | 401.223.0332 | harukisushi.com | Just as a signature dish is

The crew at Seven Stars Bakery

salad roll here. It’s best enjoyed while overlooking the Bristol Harbor, preferably when hard-working lobstermen are puttputting out to pull up traps full of future big chunks of lobster meat. A local institution since 1929, they also offer lobster salad in a grilled sandwich as well as the traditional hot dog roll.

yeah, and good food. They serve northern and southern Chinese dishes, from Peking duck to spicy Cantonese salted-baked duck tongue, and there are lots of dim sum choices daily from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm. They also offer an extensive Japanese menu, in case you’re in the mood for one of their four dozen sushi or maki rolls.

BEST ORGANIC PRODUCE: HOPE STREET FARMERS MARKET

BEST RESTAURANT, EAST BAY: AVENUE N AMERICAN KITCHEN

We can’t stop breathing, no matter how much junk is in the air. But we can stop consuming produce that isn’t good for us because it’s been sprayed with pesticides or grown in questionable soil. That’s where increasingly popular farmers’ markets come in, with more than 8000 currently by USDA count. Purveyors from Aquidneck Farms in Portsmouth to Zephyr Farm in Cranston are here on Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm and on Wednesday from 3-6 pm from May through October.

phisticated contemporary bistro with a meticulously curated wine list is run by Nick and Tracy Rabar. Thoughtful menu touches abound: citrus butter on the fried calamari, grilled Vidalia onion on the signature burger, a sherry ale broth on the Georges Bank cod. Chef Nick hosts the Emmy-nominated cooking show Chef 2 Go and is author of the novel The Cold Side of the Grill.

Lippitt Memorial Park, Hope St + Blackstone Blvd, Providence | hopestreetmarket.com |

BEST PIZZA: CASERTA PIZZERIA

121 Spruce St, Providence | 401.621.3618 | casertapizza.com | They hit their 60th an-

niversary last year — longevity is proof of having impressed Providence’s Little Italy neighborhood. It pays to pile on extra goodies here, since adding four items to a $9.25 small or a $17 large cheese pizza is only an extra 75 cents and $1.50, respectively. Or, for a change of pace, you might want to try their popular Wimpy Skippy spinach pie.

BEST PREPARED FOOD-TO-GO: DAVE’S MARKETPLACE

Nine locations | davesmarketplace.com | Starting out in Warwick, they’ve branched out to eight other locations around the state, from Wickford to Coventry. Unlike most markets, they have a central commissary and in-store kitchens that prepare all sorts of items to take home when you don’t have time to cook, from soups to sandwiches, hot entrées to deli platters. They will even put together box lunches for your softball team or book club.

BEST LOBSTER ROLL: THE LOBSTER POT

BEST RESTAURANT, CHINESE: PHOENIX DRAGON

by too much mayonnaise, fill the lobster

tions, cheap prices, friendly service — oh

119 Hope St, Bristol | 401.253.9100 | lobster potri.com | Big chunks of meat, undiluted

Thanks for voting us

256 Broadway, Providence | 401.831.7555 | phoenixdragon-restaurant.com | Big por-

20 Newman Ave, Rumford | 401.270.2836 | avenuenamericankitchen.com | This so-

BEST RESTAURANT, FRENCH: CHEZ PASCAL

960 Hope St, Providence, 401.421.4422 | chez-pascal.com | Cherchez la brioche. Their

menus “follow closely in the French tradition,” as well as the locavore one. You can start out with baked escargot à la bourguignonne and move on to roasted skate wing from nearby waters. But there’s nothing la-di-da about owners Kristin and Matthew Gennuso, their lack of pretension indicated by having a lunchtime “Wurst Window,” where they serve house-made hot dogs and sausages.

BEST RESTAURANT, INDIAN: RASOI

727 East Ave, Pawtucket | 401.728.5500 | indianrestaurantsri.com/rasoi | The particu-

larly appealing feature of Rasoi — which is Hindi for kitchen — is that chef Sanjiv Dhar, who also owns Kabob and Curry and Rasa, offers dishes from various regions of India. You can get the Bombay fast food papri chaat or the southern breakfast snack idli sambar, a savory cake; chicken korma from Hyderabad or pepper tofu from Chettinad. Tour India sitting down.

BEST RESTAURANT, IRISH PUB: DOHERTY’S EAST AVENUE IRISH PUB 342 East Ave, Pawtucket | 401.725.9520 | dohertys.com | Offering 84 draft beers —

that’s not a typo: eight, four — is quite a distinction, but people come here to eat, as well. Having plenty of bar food is an

a declaration of pride, so too is a signature eatery. Twenty-eight years ago restaurateur Haruki Kibe opened his namesake place in Cranston, but nowadays his Wayland Square restaurant is also carrying on, along with Haruki Express on Waterman Street. Try their caviar “nigiri style;” salmon, smelt, or flying fish roe, with or without an added quail egg.

401.2BURGER (228.7437)

BEST RESTAURANT, KOREAN: SUN & MOON

95 Warren Ave, East Providence | 401.435.0214 | sunandmoonkorean.com | Since it’s a family restaurant under the maternal eye of Chef Lee, you might want to try the chef’s specials: roasted pork belly with spicy squid or, on a hot summer day, cold buckwheat noodles in beef broth. You can have the usual bulgogi and Korean BBQ, but there is also the less common soon dae sausage and a traditional pancake with your choice of seafood combo, veggies, or (go for it) garlicky kim chi.

BEST RESTAURANT, MEXICAN: EL RANCHO GRANDE

311 Plainfield St, Providence | 401.275.0808 | elranchogranderestaurant.com | It’s only

been around for seven years, opening in a little hole in the wall, but word quickly got out, and now their digs provide more elbow room. Chef Maria Meza features dishes from her native Puebla — the home of molé sauce, spicy but chocolate-based. Try Doña Maria’s cazuela poblana spread for two, from grilled steak, chicken, and shrimp, plus fried cheese to grilled cactus.

tenprimesteakandsushi.com 55 Pine Street, Providence RI 401.453.BEEF (2333)

BEST RESTAURANT, MIDDLE EASTERN: EAST SIDE POCKETS

278 Thayer St, Providence | 401.453.1100 | eastsidepocket.com | Fast food doesn’t have

to be junk to be speedy. Such as a Syrian lahamajeen, a meat “pie” on a round of dough, a kind of Mediterranean pizza. There are the falafel and the gyros you’d expect, but you probably haven’t had jedra, which is rice, lentils, and sautéed onions, smelling richly of olive oil. Don’t eat it fast. Savor.

Thanks fo

BEST RESTAURANT, NEw: THE GRANGE

166 Broadway, Providence | 401.831.0600 | providencegrange.com | It all started back in

1971 when Erna and Bert Yaffe opened the Golden Sheaf Natural Foods Market, one of the first around here. In 1996 the family opened a vegetarian restaurant, Garden Grille, and next door to that four years ago came the Wildflour Vegan Bakery, Café and Juice Bar. The Grange — a “vegetable restaurant,” cafe, and bar — was the natural next step, where you can enjoy a heart

Continued on p 16

ricksroadhouseri.com 370 RICHMOND ST PROVIDDENCE, RI 401.272.PORK (7675)

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The crew at the Grange

Thank You

Continued from p 14

of palm sandwich, “carrot dog,” or pretzel bread French toast. Phoenix readers think it’s a welcome addition.

BEST RESTAURANT, NEwPORT: BRICK ALLEY PUB

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140 Thames St, Newport | 401.849.6334 | brickalley.com | For more than three de-

cades, they’ve been operating in the style of British pubs, which emphasize comfort food. With that in mind, you can get comfortable with Mike’s Portuguese clam pasta, maybe with a side of Nancy’s creamed spinach or broccoli Hollandaise. Arrange a perfect ending to the meal with Tina’s bread pudding.

BEST RESTAURANT, NORTHERN RHODE ISLAND: BELLA RESTAURANT AND BANQUET 1992 Victory Hwy, Glendale | 401.568.6996 | bellarestaurantandbanquet.com | Restau-

rants run by families tend to be good with service as well as the food — prideful. So the black-clad waitstaff out front here are as attentive as Chef Gio Calapai is in the kitchen. Perhaps start out with the grilled Portobello Sardinia, which includes Tuscan sausage among its toppings, moving on to, say, the fresh-basil pesto al Genovese, or the cognac-infused Vitella Courvoisier. Tutti bellissima!

BEST RESTAURANT, ON THE wATER: MATUNUCK OYSTER BAR 629 Succotash Rd, South Kingstown | 401.783.4202 | rhodyoysters.com | No won-

der the farm-raised and wild-caught seafood here is fresh, since this place was an outgrowth of the Matunuck Oyster Farm, where they harvest shellfish out of the adjoining Potter’s Pond. So you won’t be disappointed with the raw bar, or with Chef Jeff Cruff’s littlenecks and linguine, or his jambalaya. In a little quality bonus, the produce comes from owner Perry Raso’s vegetable farm.

BEST RESTAURANT, PROVIDENCE + TAPAS/SPANISH: LOS ANDES 903 Chalkstone Ave, Providence | 401.649.4911 | losandesri.com | This place

transcends ethnicity and genre. You can trust Chef Cesin to offer tastes you won’t find everywhere, like moon fish, skewered pieces of beef heart, and exotic seasonings such as spicy kion. His chicharron (confit pork spare ribs) combines accents of cin-

121 South Main St, Providence | 401.351.8570 | hemenwaysrestaurant.com | You know

that a restaurant’s raw bar is a hit with regulars when they offer both a shellfish platter ($54) and an even more heaping shellfish tower ($99). But people don’t neglect chef Lee Sonsky’s carefully prepared dishes either, such as seafood casserole, or its spicier relative, paella. For vegetarians at the table there’s a daily local farm plate.

BEST RESTAURANT, SOUTH COUNTY: MEwS TAVERN 456 Main St, Wakefield | 401.783.9370 | mewstavern.com | Their menu has only

starters, soups, salads, and burgers, but the place is mega-popular — there’s a choice of 69 beers, after all. Some of the appetizers are out of the ordinary, such as braised pork belly tacos and Thai-style calamari. And those burgers inventively include a tzatziki turkey variation and the Goober, with both (gulp!) peanut butter and a fried egg on an English muffin.

BEST RESTAURANT, SPLURGE: AL FORNO

577 South Main St, Providence | 401.273.9760 | alforno.com | Al Forno has been a splurge Continued on p 18

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cal, butterfly-filled wall painting by Kyra Coburn doesn’t get your sweetheart in the mood, maybe a bottle of Guigal Chateauneuf-du-Pape will. Romance is an occasion to splurge: maybe start out with the escargots de Bourgogne, perhaps moving on to the rendered duck breast with sautéed mustard greens and sunchoke chips, and ending with the pot au crème for dessert. The after-dinner romance is up to you.

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namon, bay leaf, and lime for ineffable goodness. Causa limena, chilled whipped potatoes with avocado puree inside and shredded chicken on top, is Peruvian style, as is his ceviche clasico, with the seafood accompanying sweet potatoes, cancha, and choclo. Bolivian specialties include the salteña, a chicken pie, and the cuñapé, a yucca flour and cheese pastry.

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(401) 765-1900

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267 main street woonsocket, rhode island 02895 Continued from p 16

destination since it opened in 1980. Besides their free-form wood-oven grilled pizza, which earned them an international reputation, they offer an inventive high-heat roasted veggie entrée, for wellbrowned accents, and an unusual fresh horseradish and parsley sauce on the New York strip loin steak. Pasta? How about linguine with creamy egg, duck bacon and arugula? Clever menu.

GEOFF’S

BEST RESTAURANT, SUSHI/SASHIMI: SAKURA 231 Wickenden St, Providence | 401.331.6861 | sakuraprovidence.com | No secret to hav-

SUPERLATIVE SANDWICHES

We deliver 751-2248

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ing an excellent sushi and sashimi place — just get enough customers to nearly sell out by closing, so the seafood is fresh daily (and solve the chicken/egg problem). And it’s ultra-affordable: sushi dinners from only $14. If for no other reason, give these guys your business because of their policy of no annoying corking fee for BYOB.

BEST RESTAURANT, THAI: APSARA PALACE

Open everyday 10am – 10pm • 163 Benefit St. Prov. www.geOffSOnline.cOm

783B Hope St, Providence | 401.831.5225 | apsara-palace.com | No fewer than seven

Thai soups are proffered, including kaing kai, so you can have the tastes of both lemongrass and coconut milk in one bowl without ordering their tom yum and coconut soups and pouring them together. Try the spicy Thai shrimp-paste string bean stir fry for its jalapeño kick and Thai basil perfume. Being pan-Asian, they offer Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Chinese dishes too.

BEST RESTAURANT, VEGETARIAN/ VEGAN-FRIENDLY: GARDEN GRILLE 727 East Ave, Pawtucket | 401.726.2826 | gardengrillecafe.com | Opened in 1996 by

Our Body Dysmorphic Disorder Research Program Offers: • Evaluation of your body image concerns • Treatment with therapy • Compensation for adults who qualify

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Uschi and Rob Yaffe, of the same family that ran the Golden Sheaf natural foods market, this place wants you to leave healthy as well as well-fed. At lunch maybe try their mushroom and walnut pâté on grilled ciabatta. For dinner perhaps the farmer’s pie with roasted root vegetables. And, what the heck, why not come back for Sunday brunch and the oyster mushroom frittata?

BEST RESTAURANT, VIETNAMESE: PHO HORN’S

50 Ann Mary St, Pawtucket | 401.365.6278 | phohorns.com | If you know that the Viet-

namese soup called pho is pronounced “fuh” rather than “foe,” then you know enough to appreciate this place. They have nearly a dozen different beef noodle soups, plus one so thick they call it stew. And

entrées — where else are you going to get a weird and wonderful Vietnamese specialty like salmon or catfish with caramel sauce?

BEST RESTAURANT, wEST BAY: SPAIN RESTAURANT

1073 Reservoir Ave, Cranston | 401.946.8686 | spainrestaurantri.com + 1144 Ocean Rd, Narragansett | 401.783.9770 | spainri.com | Felix Rodriguez opened the original in Narragansett in 1987, and seven years later the second location proved even more popular. The focus is on traditional Spanish dining, in preparation and presentation, but most importantly in flavors. Seafood includes Basque-style filet of sole and, of course, paella Valenciana. The signature veal dish is a Provimi loin chop stuffed with lobster, crab, smoked ham, and Castilian cheese.

BEST SANDwICH SHOP: GEOFF’S SUPERLATIVE SANDwICHES 163 Benefit St, Providence | 401.751.2248 | facebook.com/GeoffsSuperlativeSandwiches | A sandwich should have personality,

but these even have characters. Like the Kevorkian (hot pastrami, bacon, cheddar, Frank’s Hot Sauce), the Godzilla (hot corned beef, this and that and, of course, Dragon’s Breath), or the Buddy’s Return (lots of ham, etc.). If you think that towering Dagwood in your hands won’t fill you up, help yourself to some free half-sour pickles from the big bucket.

BEST STEAKHOUSE: TEN PRIME STEAK & SUSHI

55 Pine St, Providence | 401.453.2233 | tenprimesteakandsushi.com | Have an extra-

marbleized Wagyu flat iron steak or prime Angus, aged at least 28 days to increase flavor and tenderness, hand-cut for every size appetite, whether you’re up for an eight-ounce bacon-wrapped filet mignon or a 40-ounce double porterhouse. Or, once in a while for variety, maybe a lamb loin or veal porterhouse chop? Chef Lou Cruz and his crew aim to please.

BEST wINE LIST: LOCAL 121

121 Washington St, Providence | 401.274.2121 | local121.com | There are three dozen

whites and nearly four dozen reds, heavy on the West Coast vineyards, with a couple dozen French and Italians thrown in. The labels are chosen for quality and priceworthiness rather than, necessarily, country of origin: the two Gewürtztraminers are from Sakonnet and North Stonington; there’s a Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Brut from Reims, but also a Chandon Brut Classic from California. At Local 121, the sipping is sublime.

20 MAY 16, 2014 | the providence phoenix | providence.thephoenix.coM

best the

READERS’ PICKS

Shopping

2014

Great stuff and services BEST ALTERNATIVE SMOKE SHOP: ETHNIC CONCEPTS

BEST CD/RECORD STORE: IN YOUR EAR

462 Main St, Warren | 401.245.9840 | iye. com/html_index.cfm?page=Rhode Island Store | An East Side staple for nearly 20

years, In Your Ear! has gotten even better since relocating to Warren in 2008. Not only do they have the latest rock, pop, jazz, soul, and folk releases, but a plethora of new and used vinyl and DVDs. And if you’re looking for an out-of-print rarity, they’ll order it for you at no additional cost. Plus they have five rooms where students learn guitar, drums, or bass for $20/ half hour. All this at bargain prices? You have our ear.

Ethnic Concepts pretty much has a stranglehold on our “Alt-Smoke Shop” category, and with good reason. Over the past 20 years EC has been the go-to shop for a wide array of water pipes (watch the language!), vaporizers, and hookahs, plus assorted novelty items and clothing. Medical marijuana card holders receive 20 percent off on pipes and vapes, and college kids get 10 percent off purchases with valid ID. Hey, it’s 4:20 somewhere — keep calm and blaze on!

BEST CLOTHING STORE, MEN’S: MARC ALLEN FINE CLOTHIERS

BEST ART SUPPLIES STORE: JERRY’S ARTARAMA

200 South Main St, Providence | 401.453.0025 | marcalleninc.com | President

14 Imperial Pl, Providence | 401.4331.4530 | jerrysartarama.com | It’s fitting that the

and owner Marc Allen Streisand says, “I love what I do. I get to make a difference in the quality of people’s lives by transforming their appearance to match their inner power.” Another Mark, Mr. Twain, said, “Clothes make the man.” Many people don’t know the second half of that declaration: “Naked people have little or no influence on society.” When you get the royal treatment at MAFC, you’ll be ready for any social setting: they have suits, formal wear, and sportswear (including their own clothing line, M.A., and Rhode Islandexclusive fare). From fabrics to fitting to the final touches, they’ll make you a man of distinction.

state’s best art store is housed in such a beautiful brownstone in the Jewelry District. Inside, the many aisles are lined with paints, brushes, canvases, easels, and more. They also have a custom framer who will help you display your best work. And their VIP program keeps loyal customers coming back for more.

BEST BIKE SHOP: DASH BICYCLE SHOP 267 Broadway, Providence | 401.453.3274 | dashbicycle.com | Do you need a new saddle

or toe clip? Need your cables lubed or your drivetrain cleaned? No matter what’s wrong with your two-wheeler, Dash Bicycle has the answer. The full-service shop has plenty of parts and accessories, and stocks bikes from All City, Bianchi, KHS, Purefix, and more. Dash is worth checking out even if your bike is in tip-top shape — their expert staff can help you customize your ride to your heart’s content.

BEST CLOTHING STORE, WOMEN’S: QUEEN OF HEARTS

222 Westminster St, Providence | 401.421.1471 | queenofheartsri.com | Owner

Karen Beebe continues to delight with her funky collection of hand-crafted, modern, and vintage fare and distinctive jewelry, including choice selections from local designers and artists. But that’s just part of the story. There’s also her own fashion line, Lucille — a fave among the bestdressed locals. Beebe’s bio notes that she’s “a very busy lady who always manages to look amazing while sewing a dress, wielding an electric drill, or organizing a fashion show.” Talk about multitasking! But readers appreciate her many talents and creativity — that’s why Queen of Hearts has claimed The Best honors for the fourth consecutive year.

BEST COMIC BOOKS SHOP: MULTIVERSE

265 Broadway, Providence | 401.223.2112 | facebook.com/multiverseprovidence | Barely

open one year, Multiverse Comics has quickly become the place for proud nerds and comic book enthusiasts to congregate. Located on the West Side, their walls are lined with a wide selection of new comics and graphic novels, plus classic back issues and books — grab one and chill in the reading area. There are also collectibles and RPG accessories aplenty, but the main attraction might be their pinball arcade. Here’s hoping Multiverse is a mainstay in this universe and all the others.

BEST BOOK STORE, NEW: BOOKS ON THE SQUARE

144 Broadway, Providence | 401.274.0905 | facebook.com/pages/Rocket-toMars/179171416183 | Sweaters, scarves,

dresses, boots and pumps, purses, raincoats, and so much more — Rocket to Mars is a West End gem for retro fashion, from the 1920s through the early ’80s. But it’s also crammed with stuff you can’t wear: furniture and dinnerware (and books and jewelry) that would have Betty Draper swooning.

John Morgan, Dracula

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

through aug 3

Mike Perry, Eames Eiffel Side Chair

Exploring some of the most cutting-edge ideas and creative works in 21st-century graphic design.

David Bennewith, Churchward International Typefaces

Anthony Burrill, Oil & Water Do Not Mix

BEST DAY SPA: ALAYNE WHITE SPA

Forsman & Bodenfors, with Evelina Bratell (stylist) and Carl Kleiner (photographer), Homemade is Best

Alayne White Spa has already relaxed us and improved our quality of life, since we encountered this ultra-quotable Best-ready blurb on their dotcom: “There’s a reason Alayne White Spa is always voted ‘best of’ . . . In fact, there are several reasons: fabulous spa treatments, extensively trained spa goddesses, amazing customer service, spa parties, easy online booking, instant gift certificates . . .” OK, that proves it — they’re The Best!

BEST DOGIE DAY CARE: THE BARKING LOT

697 Allens Ave, Providence | 401.781.2275 | thebarkinglotri.com | We spend a lot of time

outside the Barking Lot (that’s a long red light at the intersection of Ernest St and Allens Ave) and all the dogs — and owners — we see coming and going at both ends of the workday look very happy. It’s not hard to see why based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews on their Facebook and Yelp pages. In addition to day care (with off-leash play) and boarding (for cats too!), their experienced staff will groom and train your furry ones while you work, worry-free.

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

Rhode Island National Guard Open House

AIR SHOW

17-18 May 2014

www.riairshow.org www.facebook.com/riairshow twitter @riairshow

BEST FACIAL: THE W SALON

471 Angell St, Providence | 401.331.9097 | booksq.com | A fixture in Wayland Square

713 Westminster St, Providence | 401.421.8439 | thewsalon.biz | There is,

perhaps, nothing quite so relaxing as the facial: the hot steam, the exfoliation, the ahhhh. The W offers seven variations: Express, Anti-Aging Power Peel, Cleansing Extraction, Teen, Customized, The Ultimate, and La Stone (ranging from $40-$110). It’s not their only pampering service: they offer expert hair styling, waxing, manicures and pedicures, and more. And they vow to “remain committed to the belief that each client is a special and unique individual who will always have our undivided attention and devoted support.” Ahhhh, you already feel better ....

BEST BOOK STORE, USED: CELLAR STORIES

RI C HA R D M c C A f f Re y

111 Mathewson St, Providence | 401.521.2665 | cellarstories.com | Based on atmosphere

BEST FITNESS/HEALTH CLUB: FULL RANGE CROSSFIT

859 North Main St, Providence | 401.450.9264 | fullrangecrossfit.com | Positioning them-

Ryan Farley and Brandon Amorin at Multiverse

selves as an alternative to the cookie-cutter chain gyms, Full Range CrossFit focuses on basic movements like pushing, pulling, squatting, lifting, and running, all executed at high intensity. This means Continued on p 22

Sponsored By the National Guard Association of Rhode Island

#riairshow

for more than 20 years, Books On the Square features a well-curated selection big on memoirs, children’s books, and philosophy. Their well-read staff is armed with recommendations in person and online, and they host in-store events, including book clubs and readings. Happy page-turning!

alone, Cellar Stories is everything you want in a used book store. From ceilingscraping bookcases to the lingering, musty scent, bookworms will feel right at home, in the charming second-floor shop. For more than three decades, the downtown staple has acquired some 70,000 volumes covering almost every imaginable topic. They’re currently featuring century-old copies of J.A. Mitchell’s The Last American and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese.

BEST CONSIGNMENT/THRIFT/ VINTAGE STORE: ROCKET TO MARS

RISD MuSeuM Graphic Design: Now in Production

Gates Open at 9AM No Pets - No Coolers No Backpacks

We’re Back!!

22 MAY 16, 2014 | the providence phoenix | providence.thephoenix.coM

OH, THANK YOU OH, THank yOu RHODE Rhode ISLAND Island

Mister Sister

Nominated AVN Awards 2012 Best Boutique in USA

Erotica

lIttle bRowseRseverywhere!!! eveRywheRe! andand thethe little browsers

Lingerie + Fetish + Leather Gift Certificates

5th year in a row “ Saphire Award” Highest Rating Customer Satisfaction!

best the

2014

Best Store For used Books 17 years Running!

More toys than the devil has sinners

CellaR STORieS Best Store For Used Books Sun-Mon: 12pm - 8pm • Tues-Thurs: 11am - 9pm • Fri-Sat: 11am - 10pm 268 Wickenden st. • Providence RI 02903 • 401.421.6969 15 Years Running! MisterSisterToys.com Zillions of great lo-dough used books New Books 1/2 price! 111 Mathewson St. | Providence RI 521-2665 cellarstories.com

CELLAR STORIES

Zillions of great lo-dough used books New Books 1/2 price! 111 Mathewson St. | Providence RI 521-2665 cellarstories.com

Continued from p 20

WInneR BeST nORTHeRn RHOde ISland ReSTauRanT

Wednesdays:

Thursdays and Fridays:

Choose from 6 Sauces All You Can Eat Salad, Pasta, Bread $14.95 Kids Under 10 Eat Free!

Includes: Appetizer, Salads, 2 Entrees, Desserts, Bottle Red or White Wine $39

Family Pasta Night

Dinner For Two

2014

Sundays:

Steak & Seafood Includes Salad, Side, Fish or Steak, Bottle of Wine $22

Banquet Room Available for up to 170 Guests Gift Certificates available Open Wed/Thurs 4-9, Fri 12-10, Sat 4-10, Sun 12-8 1992 Victory Highway, Harrisville RI 401 - 568 - 6996

QUIT FOR HEALTH Women: Want to Quit Smoking in 2014? The Quit for Health research study is a 12 –week program with strategies to help you quit smoking , such as exercise and the nicotine patch. • Must be 18-65 and not a regular exerciser • Must be female and generally healthy • Must be able to attend 3 times a week

• We provide 10 weeks of the nicotine patch and compensation up to $593.

CALL (877) 688-4247 to see if you qualify! You can also find us online at www.quitwithbrown.org/ourprojects and scroll down to the Quit for Health study for more information and link to answer our screening questions online.

WINNER BEST MUSIC STORE

1577 Westminster St, Providence | 401.365.4FUG | fertileun-

derground.com | The Fertile Underground Natural Cooperative has a network of services: a grocery with ethically-sourced, local, and natural foods; a communal garden; a café, serving healthy fare for breakfast and lunch; a hub to find tradesfolk (artists, designers, welders); and much more. It’s workerowned, it’s improving the community, and it’s now open seven days a week. Kermit was wrong: it’s easy — and fulfilling — being green.

38 Transit St, Providence | 401.274.1981 | flippsalon.com | Flipp’s slogan is “Beauty

best

2014

BEST GREEN ITEMS: FERTILE UNDERGROUND

BEST HAIRCUT, MEN’S: FLIPP SALON & APOTHECARY

the

best the

LuLu Locks at Suite Tart

no treadmills, spin bikes, or weight machines: all you need to succeed is basic barbells, plyo boxes, jump ropes, and dumbbells — and the proper training, of course. Private coaching and group sessions are available.

begins from within.” But they have a Big Picture view of how beauty and withinness relates to you. They self-describe as “an upbeat, positive space aiming to interconnect art, wellness, and all things beautiful to the eye and to the soul.” Flipp’s clientele embrace the connection, using phrases like “hair artiste” and “totally hip” and “comfortable, cool music and friendly staff, what more could you ask for? Guys and girls, don’t go anywhere else, why would you?” and “seriously THE best place.” Like they said: THE Best.

BEST HAIRCUT, WOMEN’S + SALON: SUITE TART 150 Broadway, Providence | 401.272.TART | facebook.com/SuiteTart | The Best team

does its Best to represent for our esteemed Bestees, and we’re particularly grateful when said winners provide Best-worthy mission statements. The Suite Tarters (helmed by local luminary LuLu Locks and her Providence PinUpers) do just that, stating that they’re “a collaborative space for beauty and fashion artists. This handpicked team offers everything you need to truly ‘Be a Bombshell!’ ” It’s a one-stop shop for hair styling, makeup, and more, bursting with style and a whole lotta attitude. Ka-boom!

BEST HOME DECOR STORE: FROG & TOAD

795 Hope St, Providence | 401.831.3434 | frogandtoadstore.com | You never know

exactly what you’ll find at Frog & Toad, where one-of-a-kind knick-knacks and offbeat oddities abound. Their ever-changing line of items come from all corners of the world, but the locally-made and -themed clothing, jewelry, and textiles are what keep us coming back. We love their cheekier items that feature in-jokes that only the initiated will understand, emblazoned on greeting cards, prints, and T-shirts.

BEST HYDROPONICS STORE: GOOD TO GROW

34 Nooseneck Hill Rd, West Greenwich | 401.392.3100 + 51 Old Tower Hill Rd, Wakefield | 401.783.1733 | goodtogrowri.com | Cultivating a personal indoor garden can be immensely rewarding, but it is also quite the challenge. Most of us don’t have firsthand experience with ballasts, reflec-

WINNER

BEST

www.ricksmusicalinstruments.com tors, and seed starting, but thankfully the folks at Good to Grow do. They carry everything from light fixtures to filtration systems and nutrient additives, which help amateurs and experts alike develop maximum plant growth and large yields. Master the basics this summer so you can grow all kinds of delightful greenery later in the year.

our Best honorees are small operations; our third-year-in-a-row Best Jewelry Store is also our Best International Playa, with stores all over the US and retailers worldwide. A&A’s bangles, rings, necklaces, earrings, and collections are spreading “positive energy, a core company principle,” far and wide. They should license the Hold Steady’s affirmative anthem — the one that declares “You gotta stay positive!” — for their ads . . . .

BEST LIQUOR STORE, BEER SELECTION: HIGH SPIRITS

571 North Main St, Providence | 401.274.4790 | facebook.com/highspiritsliquors | The

key word in this category is “Selection” (well, beer is vital too). High Spirits has more than 1500 brews, they get all the seasonal and limited edition releases (we got the last couple of bottles of Double Dose last fall), they have a sprawling mix-a-six shelf (singles and bombers, at 10 percent off), and they have Beer of the Month specials (Heavy Seas is the current deal). Prices are reasonable and the staff is friendly and knowledgeable. Drop in and lift your spirits.

BEST LIQUOR STORE, OVERALL SELECTION: BOTTLES

141 Pitman St, Providence | 401.372.2030 | facebook.com/bottlesprovidence | Bottles

once again tops the Liquor Store, Overall Selection category. Bottles is a gorgeous establishment, with exposed brick, wood shelves, and a mezzanine. Their fine wines, craft beers, and spirits run the gamut from ultra-affordable to max-outthe-credit-card. They host weekly tasting events (beer on Friday, wine on Saturday) — and they deliver (free to greater Providence). Overall, Phoenix readers say it’s The Best. Continued on p 24

FREE tO

AttEnD

2352 Mendon Road Cumberland, Rhode Island 401-658-3404

SAXOPHONE DAY!

Saturday, May 31st noon – 3pm

Special Pricing try Before You Buy Manufacturer Representatives on Site! Featuring Jim Russo, Gary Smulyan, the Sultans of Sax & Eric Darius Owned & Operated by Musicians for Over 20 Years!

Band Instrument Rental & Sales • Pro Instrument Shop • Guitars, Keyboards, Amplifiers, Percussion • Sheet Music • Pro Repair Shop • Accessories • Service Calls to Schools• Expert, Personalized Service • Lessons, Performances, Clinics, Professional Development, Mentoring & Outreach

HOME DÉCOR 2014

THANK YOU!

795 HOPE ST . PROVIDENCE FROGANDTOADSTORE.COM

OPEN EVERY DAY

24 MAY 16, 2014 | the providence phoenix | providence.thephoenix.coM

best the

Continued from p 22

BEST LIQUOR STORE, WINE SELECTION: CAMPUS FINE WINES

Winner Best Yoga

127 Brook St, Providence | 401.621.9650 | campusfinewines. com | “Wine is one of the most civilized things in the

world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.” We’re sure the dedicated staff at Campus Fine Wines concurs with that eloquent statement. They’re proud of “cultivating thirst with a wide selection of small production/natural wines and thoughtfully chosen beers and spirits.” CFW is celebrating its 40th anniversary (the current owners bought it two years ago). Drop in (there are wine tastings every Fridays from 5 to 8 pm) and get civilized.

2014

NEW STUDENTS $30 for 30 DayS UNlimiTED yoga

UNlimiTED yoga $89 pEr moNTh

BEST MANICURE/PEDICURE: METRO NAILS

395 Wickenden St, Providence | 401.490.0101 | metronails. webs.com | Having pretty painted toes in the middle of

HIGHWAY

THROUGH THE

FLAVOR ZONE.

winter is a little like wearing sexy underwear. No one else might have any idea what’s underneath your socks (or pants), but you do, and it brings a little lift to the day. Of course, it’s nice to flaunt your feet when the weather finally warms up. Metro Nails is at your service all yearround, offering an amazing selection of nails treatments, more colors than Crayola has crayons, and a range of prices and packages so you don’t have to feel like you’re indulging yourself too much.

BEST MASSAGE: REVIVAL MASSAGE & BODYWORKS

123 North Main St, 3rd Floor, Unit #2, Providence | 401.270.5077 | revivalmassageri.com | Located in the historic

John Updike building on the East Side, Revival aims to rejuvenate not only body, mind, and spirit, but what co-owners Jessica Lavoie and Morgan Woodard call “the true purpose of massage therapy” — its ancient capacity for healing. Revival offers a full range of experiences: from therapeutic massage to deep tissue massage to mother-to-be massage to couples massage, plus aromatherapy, hot stone enhancement, and aroma scalp massage. They encourage you to embrace their three Rs: “Restore. Renew. Revive!”

BEST MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS STORE: RICK’S MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

2352 Mendon Rd, Cumberland | 401.658.3404 | ricksmusical instruments.com | Not only do they have the standard se-

lection of fretted instruments, drum sets, and keyboards, but Rick’s is the go-to place for quality brass and woodwinds, which you can buy or rent. They have an extensive selection of accessories, including strings, cables, pedals, picks, and stands, plus a deep catalog of sheet music that you can learn on your own or be taught by experienced players of every instrument. And don’t fret about playing too hard — they’ll repair just about anything.

BEST NERD STORE: THE TIME CAPSULE

537 Pontiac Ave, Cranston | 401.781.5017 + 1732 Fall River Ave, Seekonk, MA | 508.336.4790 | thetimecapsule.com | Try

DEN PROVI

BEST PET STORE: RUMFORD PET CENTER

best the

Nominee

not to be gone too long when you get transported to the nerd nirvana of yesteryear that is the Time Capsule. You’ll find thousands of collectibles, new and used comics, and graphic novels at their two locations. It’s also a retro gamer’s paradise — you’d be hard-pressed to beat their selection of vintage systems and classic cartridges and discs. And don’t miss out on their discount records and action figure shelves. Some of your collectibles could end up in the Time Capsule — consult the website for their most-wanted items.

2014

Best Buffalo Wings 10’, 11’, 12 & 13’

725 Hope Street Providence 401-274-9464

staple for more than 70 years, Rumford Pet Center now boasts four locations in every corner of the state. Here you can find all the basics — food, litter, toys, and collars — plus odor removers, flea and tick medicine, vitamins, and brushes. They also host adoption days in conjunction with local shelters where people can adopt furry friends in need of a good home. Woof!

BEST PILATES CLASS/STUDIO: JEN McWALTERS STUDIO

1005 Main St, Suite 111, Pawtucket | 401.475.0084 | mcwalterspilates.com | A toned ass. Flatter abs. Leaner legs. Strong shoulders. Such are the benefits, earned quickly, of Pilates practice. Equally important is the

Ink from East Providence Tattoo mental balance that this exercise yields. The fitness regimen was developed by Joseph Pilates 100 or so years ago under the name Contrology, a reference to controlling muscles with the mind (a fact which may come in handy at Trinity Brewhouse’s Best Trivia Night). McWalters welcomes experienced practitioners as well as people just getting up off the couch looking to change their bodies and lives. You’ll evolve to a stronger, steadier, more centered version of yourself.

51 Bassett street Providence, ri 401-273-3500 ProvidencePoweryoga.com

BEST PLACE TO GET PIERCED: ROCKSTAR BODY PIERCING

267 Thayer St, Providence | 401.272.0345 | rockstarpiercing. com | A quick look through Rockstar’s vast web presence

reveals what Rhode Islanders already know: these guys are The Best in the biz. They’ll pierce anything you want with standard studs, rings, and beads, or you can get creative and choose one of their many unique designs. As you’d hope, their staff knows their stuff, but you can find proof at founder Jef Saunders’s blog, “Confessions of a Piercing Nerd” (@ jefsaunders.com), where he muses on trends and styles, and displays some of his shop’s finest work.

BEST SHOE STORE, MEN’S + WOMEN’S: BERK’S SHOES

272 Thayer St, Providence | 401.831.0174 | facebook.com/ BerksOnThayer | Berk’s has been your one-stop foot-shop

destination forevah. They stock Frye, Dansko, BB Dakota, UGG, Sperry, Toms, Hudson, Steve Madden, Vans, Havaiana, Birkenstock, new Keds kicks, and so much more. And the have half-price (and even deeper discounts) sales alla the time. Whatever you need to step out in style (or comfort), Berk’s has you covered.

BEST TATTOO PARLOR: EAST PROVIDENCE TATTOO 2399 Pawtucket Ave, East Providence | 401.632.4223 | facebook.com/EastProvTattoo | If you can imagine it, EP

Tattoo can put it on you. Their talented artists are wellversed in a wide range of styles, so you’ll be in good hands whether you’re trying to look sweet or sinister. Peruse their Instagram or blog for a sampling of their customer’s newest ink before you let the folks at East Providence Tattoo make your body into a masterpiece.

BEST YOGA STUDIO: PROVIDENCE POWER YOGA

51 Bassett St, Providence | 401.273.3500 | providencepower yoga.liveeditaurora.com | The folks at PPY say they “are

rooted in the philosophy that yoga benefits all people by creating a sense of connection with our true self.” They offer vinyasa yoga classes, which emphasize the synchronicity of breath and movement, with a focus on heated power and slow flow approaches, plus restorative classes and workshops. The dedicated and communityminded crew provides a place for participants “to find comfort, peace and to build a strong foundation for their life.” It’s the Best place to get in touch with your inner power.

Best Wine Selection in Rhode Island!!!

We Offer Excellent Customer Service and Product Knowledge that Exceeds the Competition. Our Staff is Friendly and Can Help With Any Party or Event Planning, Bar Needs or Product Requests

Store Hours: Sun 10am-6pm Mon-Sat 9am-10pm Visit our Website and Facebook Page for Up to Date Information on Events, Tastings, Blogs and Sales!

best the

2014

NomiNee

1412 Atwood Ave, Johnston, RI • 401-272-9445

Quick Scan to our Facebook page

26 MAY 16, 2014 | the providence phoenix | providence.thephoenix.coM

providence.thephoenix.coM | the providence phoenix | MAY 16, 2014 27

#HOPE cutler on his home turf.

local heroes

We offer a contemporary twist on traditional Japanese cuisine SuShi Kitchen entreeS cocKtail lounge

In this 17th annual edition of the Providence Phoenix’s Best issue, we highlight people and organizations who are doing exceptionally good work — local heroes who often labor behind the scenes to change their communities for the better. Whatever neighborhoods we live in, we are all in their debt.

Seeking bAlAnce for locAl Youth

The Providence Youth Student Movement’s 2010 report, For Justice and Love: The Quality of Life for Southeast Asian Youth, is, itself, an act of Rhody heroism worthy of an entire article. The 100-page report — with forewords written by professors from Brown and UCal Berkeley — is meticulous, ambitious, deeply personal, and gut-punchingly powerful. To offer just a small sample: • The report includes descriptions of the organization’s origins and mission, including, “PrYSM started on November 8th, 2001, when a series of repeated Cambodian gang fights and resulting deaths, inspired youth and local college students to fight for positive change in the community . . . Our purpose is to mobilize Southeast Asian youth into community organizing campaigns which, foster the process of healing and dialogue, build support and love for those who are isolated and marginalized, and build power in the Southeast Asian community.” • There are first-hand accounts of life inside Southeast Asian gangs in Providence. (“The biggest incident was at Classical field in 1988 or ’89. We had a rumble. There were all Asians at one side and on the other were blacks, latinos, and whites,” one gang member recalls.) • There are definitions of the “model minority” concept (“a stereotype which suggests that all Asian Americans are successful and free of problems”) alongside statistics that illustrate how misleading and damaging this idea can be. For example, while the 2000 US Census reported that 42.7 percent of Asian Americans over age 25 hold at

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS Suong (center) and PrYSM members.

“Without PrYSM, I would have not been exposed to the outside world,” says Eric Khiev.

least a bachelor’s degree, the same census reported that Cambodian Americans, Hmong Americans, and Lao Americans all fall under 10 percent in that same category. • Perhaps most importantly, the report offers a wide-ranging list of Rhode Island policy recommendations, ranging from a call to schools to “integrate Southeast Asian history, culture, and politics into the core curriculum and provide opportunities for independent exploration” to challenges to law enforcement officers to “establish a clear, fair definition of gang involvement and clear, fair polices around collection of data about gang involved.” But PrYSM is about more than just a report. Talk with the organization’s cofounder and co-director, Sarath Suong — who was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and raised in Revere, Massachusetts, before coming to Providence to study at Brown University — and you get a sense of the ground the group has covered in the last 13 years. They’ve lobbied for increased translation services in local schools and courtrooms. They’ve fought against widespread deportations occurring within the Cambodian community, once marching in protest from the Buddhist Temple on Providence’s West End to the offices of the Department of Homeland Security downtown. More recently, they’ve worked

Ph otoS bY r ic hard M cc aff rE Y

PrYSM

to combat racial profiling of Southeast Asian youth and other people of color on Providence’s streets. In many ways, PrYSM’s work represents a balance, says Suong’s co-director, Chanravy Proeung. On one hand, they are still working with Southeast Asian families — many of whom were displaced by the Vietnam War and Cambodian genocide — to address the effects of the traumas that brought them to the US less than 40 years ago (new PrYSM members are required to interview family members as part of their orientation and training). On the other hand, media outlets and others have often portrayed local Southeast Asian communities as helpless and isolated. “I don’t want that same old story for our community,” she says. But, of course, the most important PrYSM spokespeople are the folks who put the “Y” in the organization’s name. PrYSM is made up of a core group of 10 stipend-paid high school Youth Leaders and Youth Organizers, plus larger circles of volunteers and alumni. And during a recent visit to the group’s loft space on Elmwood Ave. we got the chance to speak with two of those core members. Eric Khiev, a 17-year-old Youth Coordinator who plans to study nursing at URI after graduating from Dr. Jorge Alvarez High School this spring, told us, simply, “Without PrYSM, I would have not been exposed to the outside world.” As a PrYSM participant, he’s traveled to Detroit for a conference on media strategies for political organizing. He’s participated in political rallies, even when that means calling his parents mid-march to assure them he hasn’t been arrested. And he’s explored what he calls “controversial” subjects like racial profiling and homophobia — subjects that initially made him uncomfortable and shy. Darianny De La Rosa, a 16-year-old Classical High School student, aspiring engineer or architect, and fellow PrYSM Youth Coordinator, was similarly enthusiastic. Thanks to PrYSM’s twice-weekly meetings and involvement in documentary screenings, marches, and other events, she has become a skilled public speaker who is more organized with her work. She’s also received a slightly less tangible, but no less important, reward. “Even though we’re this one tiny organization in Providence, Rhode Island, which is like a state no one has heard of,” she says, “it’s really cool to be able to go out of state and have people be like, ‘Hey, you’re from PrYSM! I saw you in that documentary!’ Or ‘Hey, I saw pictures of you in a march or rally.’ So that’s really cool.” Yes, it is. For more on the PrYSM, go to prysm.us, facebook.com/PrYSMProvidence, and twitter.com/ PrYSMFam.

_Philip Eil

Sun – Thurs Noon – 11pm Fri /Sat Noon – 1am 198 Atwells Avenue, Providence, RI 401-383-6559 | NAMIPROV.COM

ANDY CUTLER

civic pride perSonified

We at The Phoenix were preparing to write a traditional “Local Hero” profile of Andy Cutler. We asked him for a copy of his resume, which explains how, before he started his boutique PR firm, Cutler & Company (“How I pay my rent,” he says), he worked at Edelman, the “world’s largest public relations firm” in New York City. We went back to our archives to see how former Phoenix news editor David Scharfenberg described Cutler’s Smaller Cities Unite! project in a February 2013 article. “The notion is to draw smaller municipalities around the world — with populations of 1.5 million or fewer — into a partnership far grander than your standard mayor-of-Toledo, Ohio-and-mayor-of-Toledo, Spainswap-proclamations arrangement,” he wrote. “[Cutler] imagines a deep sort of learning about how small cities approach public policy, economic development, the arts, entrepreneurship, and education. And he wants to begin by connecting Providence and Copenhagen, Denmark.” We met Cutler for an hour-long interview near his home on the city’s West Side, during which he told us, among other things, how he helped usher the Better World by Design conference into existence. He was working in his Olneyville office one day in 2008 when a group of Brown and RISD students showed up to tell him they wanted to create the world’s best student-led conference on socially conscious design; their professor had told them he might be able to help. Fast forward to 2013 (the conference’s sixth year) when students from 75 colleges and universities traveled to Providence to discuss ideas like jackets for the homeless that double as extreme-cold-resistant sleeping bags or earthquake-safe roofs that inflict less damage on building inhabitants in the event of collapse. “I don’t have money to buy billboards all over the world,” Cutler says. “But ...what we have as a community, is the ability to take people in, be great and gracious hosts, and connect them within our networks so they want to be here.” Finally, we went back to our notes from a recent visit to Cutler’s third #OurPVD event, the digital salon series where he gathers a group of entrepreneurs, engineers, activists, professors, restaurateurs, and other doers in a room to share events, projects, bands, and other interesting/inspiring factoids with one another, then blast those facts out, rapid-fire, on social media using the hashtag #ourPVD. “It’s part speed-dating, part trivia game, it’s

part frat party,” Cutler told the crowd before the event began. “We don’t suffer from a lack of really cool things happening here; what we suffer from is people not spending five seconds out of their day talking about [them].” That event generated 1.6 million impressions — positive mentions of Providence on computers and devices worldwide — during its two hours, Cutler says. But then, in the course of this traditional profilereporting legwork, we got an unexpected — yet entirely logical — suggestion from Jen Hetzel Silbert, whom Cutler helped to launch a nonprofit initiative to empower parents in decisions affecting their kids’ education called Learning 401. After Silbert finished calling Cutler a “superheroic” “human rolodex” who “can humbly come to complete strangers’ rescue and put possibilities out that no one else would dare believe in, let alone move forward,” she mentioned sending out a call for Twitter testimonials about him. “That’s his medium,” she said. So, we got off the phone, tweeted out the request, and watched the responses come pouring in. There were tweets saying how he is “Tireless, clever, buoyant & practical in his causes. A savant @ thinking connectedly” (@StockPVD), a “1-man welcome wagon, cheerleader and connector” (@JackTemplin), and the “unofficial mayor” of Providence (@LisaP22). “If I wanted someone to become a true bliever in Providence, I’d introduce them to @andypvd,” wrote Giuseppe Crosti (@GiuseppeCrosti) co-founder of the social media strategy firm, SocialProvidence. “Cutler turned me on to start-up and maker community way before any media mentioned beta spring. PVD’s biggest advocate” added WJAR NBC 10 reporter Bill Rappleye (@NBC10_Bill). Sam Howard (@SamGHoward), communications associate at the RI Coalition for the Homeless and frequent contributor to the politics blog RI Future, perhaps said it best: “I tend to think that @andypvd is PVD’s & RI’s greatest ambassador to the world, & occasionally to RIers themselves.” In summary, in a state plagued by corruption, high unemployment, serial pessimism, and other woes, Andy Cutler — Mr. #ourPVD, Mr. Smaller Cities Unite!, Mr. Better World By Design — is the Internet-age embodiment of our oft-ignored state motto: #Hope. OK, so maybe we added the hashtag. For more on Cutler, go to twitter.com/OurPVD, ak.pinterest.com/ andypvd/pvdprovidence-ri, and facebook.com/abetterworldbydesign.

“I tend to think that @andypvd is PVD’s & RI’s greatest ambassador to the world.”

_P.E.

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The wealth of talent that the Rhode Island School of Design brings to the public with its Graduate thesis exhibition is remarkable. In 2014, 173 students will receive degrees; from architecture to glass to metalsmithing to photography to textiles, the scope of the show is enormous. Prepare to be dazzled at the Rhode Island Convention Center. 1 Sabin St, Providence; the show is open daily from 12 to 5 pm through May 31; the opening reception is on the 16th from 6 to 8 pm | gradexhibition.risd. edu/2014

soarinG

Dance is often described with the phrase “taking flight.” Festival Ballet Providence will make that phrase literal in its production of Peter Pan. It was created by Jorden Morris of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in 2006, and utilizes the theatrical magic of Foy Inventerprises (aka Flying By Foy). They’ve “flown” famous Peter Pans Mary Martin, Sandy Duncan, and Cathy Rigby (plus Lady Gaga, David Letterman, and Beyoncé), and will help the FBP crew to defy gravity. The timeless tale of the boy that never grows up, and his friends Tinker Bell, Wendy, and the Lost Boys, will be presented at the Vets, 1 Avenue of the Arts, Providence, today at 8 pm and on Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm | $23-$85 | 401.421.ARTS | festival ballet.com

saturday 17 makinG the leap

Epic Theatre is presenting a theatrical high-wire act. Here’s the set-up: “An actor walks onstage in front of an audience. He or she is handed a sealed envelope that contains a script. This will be the first time the actor has seen the script. Their first time reading it will be the first and last time they’ll perform it in front of an audience. They will receive no direction or have any rehearsal. They’ll simply dive headfirst into the story of White rabbit, red rabbit by Nassim Soleimanpour. These are the terms a theater must agree to in order to present the play.” (We can shed a little

thursdAY [22] | loudon wainwright iii @ the Narrows parenthetical light on the project: the playwright’s blog says, “Imagine being 29 and unable to leave your country. Iranian Soleimanpour dissects the experience of a whole generation in a wild, utterly original play.”) Joanne Fayan will make the dramatic leap into the unknown at the Artists’ Exchange, 50 Rolfe Sq, Cranston, at 8 pm | $15, $12 students | EpicTheatreRI.org

thursday 22 perspectives Loudon WAinWright iii specializes in sharply conceived songs that are both hilarious and poignant. That blend has been a signature move since “Saw Your Name In the Paper” sat two tracks away from “Nice Jewish Girls” on his second album some eight trillion years ago. On recent songs from Songs For the New Depression and Older Than My Old Man Now, Wainwright addresses our economic tsunami and good ol’ mortality. “When you’re 65, everything seems to be somewhat in the rearview, or at least in the sideview,” he said two years ago. “Well, not everything, and hopefully your windshield wipers are still working.” Regarding singing about reaching the end of the line in “The Days That We Die” and “Something’s Out To Get Me,” Loudon said, “I’m old enough to have a lot of friends that have died already. People I knew and were close to. The mother of my first two kids, Kate McGarrigle, died a couple of years ago. Friends, parents. So it becomes a powerful part of

your life as you get older.” But Loudon is also a master of making you laugh to keep from crying. He’ll run the emotional gamut at the Narrows Center for the Arts, 16 Anawan Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, at 8 pm | $30 advance, $35 day of show | 508.324.1926 | narrowscenter.org

Gender bendinG

The theme of MAgic LAntern’s latest cinematic collection is “Utopic Fantasy/Infinite Gender/ Experimental History.” That’s above our feeble ken, so we’ll let them explain: “Utopic narrative often leans towards the future, plumbing and prophesying worlds to come, offering a fantasy of ‘becoming’; idyllic tomorrows and possible beautiful new approaches to consciousness. But what happens when that longing turns backwards and marches into the past, or into the vague netherworlds of memory? Walking hand in hand with that question is the query: what happens when gender binaries shatter and eyeballs awaken to a whole new visible spectrum of gender expressions?” Some potential answers will be provided by Cary Cronenwatt’s Maggots and Men, which “re-imagines the story of the 1921 rebellion of the [Russian] Kronstadt sailors with a twist of gender anarchy”; Lorelei Pepi’s Happy and Gay, a revisionist take on early animated works; No Man’s Land, a performance video by Jason Curzake and Shey Rivera that explores gender, identity, ritual, and sexuality; and two other works. The thought-provoking begins at 8 pm | $5 | magiclanterncinema.com

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homegrown product All-stAr weekend SINgEr-SONgwrITErS IN craNSTON FOr ThE rOuND SquarE FEST _By chr IS c ONTI must-hear LPs along the way, The Benedictions Play Devil Music and American Wasteland. Mercure plays out solo on a Square Festival, highlighting some steady basis, including a weekly Sunof the area’s top Americana and folk day night gig at the Greenwich Hotel artists in a particularly intimate in East Greenwich. setting at Theatre 82, tucked away in The Friday lineup also features Cranston’s Rolfe Square. Tickets for Tracie Potochnik, CT pianist Kayla the Friday and Saturday (the 16th and Farnham (fans of Regina Spektor and 17th) shows will be available at the Tori Amos should look up Farnham door for $10 per evening, or $15 for a ASAP), and Boston’s Ian Fitzgerald weekend pass. headlining. Allain and Artists’ Exchange diFitzgerald performed on the forthrector Elaine Yeaw brainstormed the coming album from Dan Blakeslee idea last year prior to the opening (straight outta Somerville), who will of Theatre 82, and the wealth of talcap off the Saturday ineup. Owed To ented singer-songwriters around the the Tanglin’ Wind was recorded at the region convinced him that one night Columbus Theatre with an all-star just wasn’t enough. And while he cast of friends, including Joel Fletchplans on making the Round Square er, Jonah Tolchin, Joel Thibodeau (of Festival an annual event, we agreed Death Vessel fame) and, of course, he will have his work cut out for Columbus engineers Jeff Prystowsky him trying to top this year’s lineup. and Ben Knox Miller from the Low Here’s a quick preview of some of the Anthem. Here’s your chance to catch artists featured on the 2014 Round Blakeslee up close and personal beSquare Festival. fore he sets off on a lengthy tour of Allain will lead off on Friday the US and beyond later this year. night. The folk and country-influTraversing the globe is nothing enced finger-picking pro is readying new for Bristol-based solo songbird his next EP (Singles Vol. 3), with help Allysen Callery. The renowned vocalfrom producer Brian Minisce (who ist (with incredible finger-picking played at last year’s RSF). Allain chops) delivers lullabies to paralyze moved here in 2007 and rekindled like no other; 2013’s Mumblin’ Sue his passion for songwriting thanks (75orLess Records) is equal parts gorto the Rhode Island Songwriters geous and haunting (look up “I Had Association, and would eventually a Lover I Thought Was My Own”). release his striking 2011 full-length Word is she is currently working on debut, Thirteen. new material with help from pro“Even though I am involved with ducer Bob Kendall. RISA, I wanted the Round Square Saturday’s show also features KayFestival to be a completely separate la Ringelheim (her 2012 debut Wanderentity,” he noted earlier this week. ing Feet was one of the year’s best) and STELLAR Blakeslee, ringelheim, and “The Saturday Songwriter Sessions Daphne Lee Martin, and I’m looking mercure (from top). that I host [at the Brooklyn Coffee Tea forward to checking out Haunt the House in Providence] are sponsored House, aka Will Houlihan. He will be by RISA, but I wanted this to be more open to showcase debuting new tracks from Jack Rabbit Jones, the follow-up to all the extraordinary talent that we have in and around 2013’s Rural Introspection Study. Houlihan also recorded at the Rhode Island. Columbus, but this time around he enlisted a full 10-piece “I am very lucky to know so many amazing singerband and chorus. Check back for a full HTH feature in a songwriters, and both nights have stellar lineups!” few weeks when Houlihan and friends gather for the CD G.W. Mercure served up “Americana on the rocks” release show at the Columbus on May 30. as the founder of the Benedictions (who were voted Check out the Round Square Festival roster and set Best Roots Act in our 2010 music poll) and released two times at artists-exchange.org. ^ Veteran singer-songwriter Steve

Allain has assembled a fantasf tic lineup for the 2nd annual Round

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& hiS full moon BoyS invade Firehouse 13 on SAtUrdAY (the 17th) with the ReD pennyS, Johnny CaRlevale & the Rollin’ pinS, and SlaughteR DaughteR ($10, 401.270.1801). Spring has finally decided to arrive, so head to the narragansett café on and catch the SenDeRS on Saturday night, then head back there on SUndAY (the 18th) and hang with blues icon JameS montgomeRy starting around 1 pm; both shows are free of charge, dial 401.423.2150 for details. And get to AS220 (401.831.9327) Sunday for a loud one led by Cult leaDeR, with yautJa, vein, and pvd’s tinSel teeth, among others, all for just $7 at the door. here’s an early heads-up on a ton of action next thUrSdAY (the 22nd): the Met (401.729.1005) will hold a benefit show for the Sojourner house featuring the mighty geRtRuDe atheRton plus gavage and SexCoffee; dusk delivers another lineup of punishing doom metal with tovaRiSh, oDe, Sea of BoneS, and xiphoiD Dementia; and the parlour hosts another good one with ConSuelo’S Revenge, CouSin tommy, tRiple thReat, and the QuahogS.

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theater unblurring the lines An unsettling blackbird At the gAmm _By Bill R od R igu ez Tough to take, this

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follow the aftermath, 15 years later, of a man having had sex with a 12-year-old girl when he was 40. The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm production (through June 1) is being directed with careful pacing and attention to nuance by Tony Estrella, and performed with full commitment by the two actors. One of the most impressive touches is before the play starts, when the two characters are standing blurred and immobile behind the background frosted glass of Jessica Hill’s set design, before the stage snaps to black for a moment and we begin. Character summaries don’t get PAST, TENSE lambert and o’Brien. much more precise and economical than that. Una (Madeleine Lambert) has come do. Hostile, he calls her visit “pointless,” to the workplace of Ray (Jim O’Brien) to since he feels he has paid for his actions confront him. It’s after hours, so there and himself suffered emotionally. He is is no one else to disturb if she raises her married and simply wants to go about his voice. He goes by the name Peter now, so normal life, not be plunged back into the she wouldn’t have discovered him if she past. “How the hell is this good? Tell me,” hadn’t recently seen his photograph in he demands. a publication. Excellent question. After all, it is how This isn’t an entirely successful play, Una has adjusted to her experiences as a sometimes spinning its wheels in filling child that we are more interested in. She out its intermissionless 90 minutes, espesays that she wrote about 100 letters to cially at the beginning. I couldn’t accept him in prison, never sending them but still as real all the conversational delaying tacreading “the best ones.” Yet she has not tics of the opening few minutes. In such had closure, though apparently he has. confrontational circumstances, you have By the last part of their encounter, the to get to the point, people. Una could have conversation has given both of them the made short work of Ray’s indignant anger satisfaction of cathartic release. The conover her showing up where he works — clusion is surprising but quite plausible, and, for that matter, on what planet does and is bound to spark many a fervid consomeone accused of being a monster get to versation as audiences file out. be uppity? Right away, a little verbal slap Is there a danger that any understandupside the head by his accuser could have ing, or even empathy, that such a play adjusted his perspective on the situation. engenders in us will mute our outrage at Ray is hardly unaware of how serious despicable acts? Is it enough that in retrothis meeting is going to be. He spends a spect Ray has condemned what he did? Is it lot of time arguing with her about taking mitigating that the two of them had what the discussion outside, or at least keeping might be called, if she had been older, the door open, which she wants closed an affair? You see, it wasn’t a single furbecause of a draft . So he’s suspicious that tive incident but rather went on for three she might want to be setting him up, and months, with the child as romantically is nervous about a large purse she has obsessed as the adult. Is it wrong to fully brought. She finds his concern amusing humanize him — or is it wise? and jokes that a bottle of water in the purse Blackbird might cover a tough topic, is acid, a jest that we see, when he casually but it’s worth putting ourselves through. takes a swig from it, has relaxed him a bit. With these fine performances, we may be Back then he spent more than three surprised to develop empathy with Ray as years in prison for his crime, treated as well as sympathy for Una. With underyou’d expect by other prisoners, which standing, even of something we have no still was better than her father killing right to forgive, we can be the ones made him, which he understandably wanted to more human. ^

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theater love in the fast lane becky’s new car at 2nd story _By Bill rod r igu ez What’s your fantasy of a complete

life makeover? In Tahiti under a palm f tree? In Las Vegas sporting a diamond

stickpin? Well, in Steve Dietz’s Becky’s New Car, hard-working Rebecca Foster doesn’t know what hers is at first, but when she decides, it’s a much more complicated dream than she had anticipated. Directed with careful and entertaining attention to character by Mark Peckham, the comedy is prompting laughter at 2nd Story Theatre (through June 1). Becky (Margaret Melozzi) has been overworked and overlooked for nine years as title clerk and office manager at Buckley’s Lexis/Nissan/Saturn/Mitsubishi dealership. Her husband of 28 years, Joe (Kerry Callery), is an amiable blue-collar guy, a roofer. Their lazy 26-year-old son Chris (Jeff DeSisto) is still a permanent fixture at home, a psychology major who likes to spout jargon like “reciprocal determinism” but is bad at applying any insights to himself. This is a play that works up a sweat pulling us into it — literally: Becky addresses the audience and even tugs some members up on stage to help out. Early on she shares a friend’s observation that when a woman says she wants a car, what she really wants is a new life. When late one night a multi-millionaire walks into her office and places a big order, Becky ends up getting a new car as a bonus, but the accompanying new life is full of screeching hairpin turns. Melozzi makes Becky a bubbly delight from the get-go. This character clearly has been idling too long and needs a guy to take her for a spin, open her up, and see what she can do. (Okay, I’ll stop.) That man who ordered the cars — nine of them, thank you gifts to employees — is Walter, an outrageously broad comical character who is given a solid, sympathetic reality by Vince Petronio. Sophisticated Walter, quite a contrast to anyone in Becky’s simple world, is promptly attracted to the frazzled clerk (hey, if you want a realistic play, try Mamet). Romance en-

sues. He’s a widower, but also such a fast talker that in their first conversation she can never correct his misunderstanding, his thinking that she’s a widow. At the dealership, co-worker Steve (F. William Oakes) is tossed into the story to up the existential ante with a dark tale of marital tragedy that puts Becky’s life in perspective. Steve is obsessed by the loss of his wife, who fell off a mountain next to him. The playwright has dark fun giving him a crazed monologue describing the incident, and Oakes has quite a workout venting Steve’s hysteria. Another incidental character, Walter’s daughter Kenni (Erin Elliott), ends up tied into the story in an interesting way. Part of Becky’s bonus was to get three weeks off, which she doesn’t tell her husband about. Instead, she spends the weekdays at Walter’s place, while Joe thinks she’s at work. Act II begins at a party at one of Walter’s posh retreats. Becky meets Ginger (Rae Mancini), whom Walter’s late wife had said would “swoop right in” upon her demise. But Ginger is far too stylish to swoop, though her wealth has diminished to the point of having to sell her boats, so she is motivated to at least glide by. Poor Becky is nearly out of breath, what with all this double-life deception, but circumstances are conspiring to bring her running to a halt. All her convoluted relationships end up straightened out by the conclusion, with no one worse for the wear and tear. There’s nothing so didactic as a lesson imparted here, just a message acted out like in a game of charades. People might dream longingly of a fresh life, but if they ever attain such, they can’t avoid fitting it into the one they’re already living. Steve Dietz, who has penned more than 30 dramas and comedies, is one of the most frequently produced playwrights in the country. Local theatergoers might remember his Shooting Star, staged at Trinity Repertory Company in 2009, a romantic comedy that, like Becky’s New Car, doesn’t overlook the unavoidable changeability built into love. ^

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There’s a sneaky, sinister intelligence behind the seductive gorgeousness of Dean Snyder’s recent sculptures of pitcher-plant-like blooms and alien pods and oozing swamps. At the Providence artist’s dazzling show at Cade Tompkins Projects (198 Hope St, Providence, through June 20), you can feel that if you turn your back, they’ll slither your way like a glue trap with a hungry brain or sneak their tendrils around your ankles so that you can’t escape. The 61-year-old grew up in rural Pennsylvania — where his father was a large animal vet — and Indianapolis. Snyder describes his entry into art via an album he found: “I picked up this Velvet Underground record and I was like, ‘Wow, it’s got this really interesting sticker thing on the cover.’ This banana. By Andy Warhol.” He worked summers on the installation crew at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, then pursued studies at the Kansas City Art Institute (pause for a few years working in a Kansas City industrial iron foundry), Lanchester Polytechnic in England, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Snyder has made paintings, prints, and photos, but is partial to shaping objects. “Sculpture is more like rock and roll or punk rock because it’s always trying to reinvent itself in other ways,” he says. “Sculpture, it does weird things. It will turn in on itself and then turn inside out.” After molding and casting metal in the Kansas City factory and in school in Chicago, the wood forms used in these processes became the inspiration for the sculptures themselves. His wooden pieces became plant-like pods or seeds sprouting from boxes. You can sense a stylistic kinship with the sculpture of his close friend Martin Puryear, whom he met when installing the sculptor’s art while working as a freelance art preparator at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art. He subsequently helped in Puryear’s studio. Snyder went on to teach art in Chicago, Kansas City (where he met his artist wife Jane Masters), Berkeley, California, and Bennington, Vermont, before moving here in 2000 to teach at RISD, where he’s now the head of the sculpture department. He works out of a studio in an old Pawtucket Avenue mill in Pawtucket. While living in California, he began making sculptures out of rawhide, getting the animal skins wet so that they would become pliable, so he could inflate them. He tattooed some with drawings of tubes that looked like vines or intestines. The sculptures resembled big tires or flaccid dog bones or mushrooms or big pillows or a cross between bagpipes and a head.

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BOTANICAL-ISH NeverMind. “It’s almost slouching down and deflating at the same time. It looks a little like a flat tire, but it has this human gesture,” he says of one doughnut-shaped rawhide sculpture. “Something that the material did had this kind of pathetic and noble gesture at the same time.” In Providence, he began making foam, epoxy resin, and fiberglass boulders and plant-like things. At Cade Tompkins, Flavia has pitcher-plant trumpets that curl out from a purple and red pod lying on the floor. MiddleWay is a flat, machine-cut stainless steel spider web spanning one doorway. NeverMind has bright blue and green pitcher plant tendrils stretching into the air from glistening violet forms that recall stomachs or bellows or testicles. The stalks curl around themselves like strangling vines. The botanical-ish ones radiate an intensely pleasurable sultry come-on, like the sexiness of flowers or femme fatales or vampires. Snyder’s wood and rawhide sculptures had mainly been handsome, sedate, earthtoned things, but now he coats his pieces with luscious, candy-bright, sparkling automotive-style paint. “It’s a mesmerizing surface,” he says. “You can get a lot of depth from it. It makes the surface illusory.” The result is the shimmering, bubbling pool in his sculpture FinalFreeze. A little dead blue tree sits on top of the ooze, which curdles from emerald green to redblack as if by an evil spell. Or like chameleons or changelings or the shape-shifting nanomorphic T-1000 from Terminator 2. Or those marine creatures that dazzle their prey. They tempt you, lure you close, to get their fangs into you. ^

Follow Greg Cook on Twitter @AestheticResear.

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38 MAY 16, 2014 | the providence phoenix | providence.thephoenix.coM

providence.thephoenix.coM | the providence phoenix | MAY 16, 2014 39

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FRIDAY 16

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

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KATRINA’S COUNTRY KITCHEN | Central Falls | Greg Hodde’s Blue Reign

SATURDAY 17

BROOKLYN COFFEE & TEA HOUSE

DAN’S PLACE | West Greenwich |

VANILLA BEAN CAFE | Pomfret, CT |

DUSK | Providence | Dynasty Electric

THE WHISKEY REPUBLIC | Provi-

Sunday Gravy

LIGHTHOUSE BAR AT TWIN RIVER

| Lincoln | Blurred Vision LOCAL 121 | Providence | Dox Ellis

LUXURY BOX SPORTS BAR & GRILL | Seekonk, MA | What Matters? THE MALTED BARLEY | Westerly | Happy & the Moonshine

MANCHESTER 65 | West Warwick |

RHODE ISLAND BILLIARD BAR & BISTRO | North Providence | Erik Narwhal & the Manatees

RI RA | Providence | The Regulars ROSE GARDEN COFFEEHOUSE |

Mansfield, MA | 8 pm | + the final-

WEDNESDAY 21

Pawtucket | DJ Dog Dick + Container

MARINER GRILLE | Narragansett |

THURSDAY 22

8 pm | Joel Cage

dence | Crunchy Monkey + DJ PS1

SUNDAY 18

LIGHTHOUSE BAR AT TWIN RIVER | Lincoln | 2 pm | Bobby Justin

MACHINES WITH MAGNETS | + R. Mexico

4:30 pm | Bill Gannon

THE MET | Pawtucket | 4 pm | Violin River’s ‘Europe ‘72 Show”

MURPHY’S LAW | Pawtucket | 9 pm | Sunday Night Blues Jam

MONDAY 19

TUESDAY 20

See Club Directory for phone numbers and addresses. AS220 | Providence | Oceans of the Moon + Whore Paint + Animal Lover

CITY SIDE | Woonsocket | Next Big Thing

THE CONTINENTAL | Smithfield | 7

COMEDY THURSDAY 15

FRIENDS OF RSDA | 8 pm | Comedy

PROVIDENCE IMPROV PIG PRESENTS GOOD WOMAN JOAN AND PIGGIE SMALLZ | Providence Improv Guild, 393 Broad St | $5 | improvpig.com

TOM COTTER | Thurs-Fri 8 pm; Sat 8

+ 10:30 pm | Comix at Foxwoods, 350 Trolley Line Blvd, Mashantucket, CT | $25-$50 advance | 860.312.6649 | foxwoods.com

FRIDAY 16

NICK GRIFFIN | Fri 8 pm; Sat 8 +

10:15 pm | Comedy Connection, ast Providence | $15 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

North Main St, Providence | $22 | 401.751.1200 | olivesrocks.com THE BIT PLAYERS | Fri 8 pm; Sat 8 + 10 pm | Firehouse Theater, 4 Equality Park Pl, Newport | $15 [$10 Sat @ 10 pm] | 401.849.3473 | firehouse theater.org BRING YOUR OWN IMPROV | 7 + 9 pm | Warwick Museum of Art, 3259 Post Rd| $5 | 401.737.0010 | bring yourownimprov.com FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE featuring improvised song, dance, and skits |

7 pm | Everett, 9 Duncan Ave, Providence | $5 | 401.831.9479 | everettri. org/what/stage/fnl MICETO IMPROV | 9:30 pm | Contemporary Theater, 327 Main St, Wakefield | $TBA | 401.218.0282 | contemporarytheatercompany.com

2014

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PROVIDENCE IMPROV GUILD

presents the Yes-Men and Hell’s Lemonade | 8 pm | Providence Improv Guild | $5 | improvpig.com

FILTHY FRIDAY COMIX PAID OR PAIN EDITION with Josh Alba,

Madison Malloy, Nick Ruggia, Ryan Dacalos, and Tyler Deluca, and host Jay Nog | 10:30 pm | Comix at Foxwoods, Mashantucket, CT | $15-$25 advance TOM COTTER | See listing for Thurs

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Continued on p 40

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providence.thephoenix.coM | the providence phoenix | MAY 16, 2014 41

OF THE REGARD + BOCHEK | 7 pm

Listings

| Sandywoods Center For the Arts, Tiverton | $7

WEDNESDAY 21

CHRIS BOTTI | 7:30 pm | The Vets, 1 Continued from p 39

WEDNESDAY 21

GORDON BAKER-BONE | 8 pm | Comix at Foxwoods, Mashantucket, CT | $10-$20 advance

THURSDAY 22

$5 FUNNIES: A WICKED FUNNY SHOWCASE | 8 pm | Comedy Con-

PROVIDENCE IMPROV PIG PRESENTS GOOD WOMAN JOAN AND PIGGIE SMALLZ | See listing for Thurs

CONCERTS POPULAR THURSDAY 15

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

FRIDAY 16

DAVE MASON’S TRAFFIC JAM | 8

pm | Stadium Theatre, 28 Monument Sq, Woonsocket | $31-$46 | 401.762.4545 | stadiumtheatre.com GARLAND JEFFREYS BAND | 8 pm | Narrows Center For the Arts, Fall River, MA | $25 advance, $28 day of show

GRACE MORRISON & THE RSO + THE WHISKEY BOYS | 7:30 pm |

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

THE ROUND SQUARE MUSIC FESTIVAL | May 16, Steve Allain [8 pm],

Kayla Farnham [8:35 pm], G.W. Mercure [9:10 pm], Tracie Potochnik [9:45 pm], Ian Fitzgerald [10:20 pm] | May 17, Kayla Ringelheim [8 pm], Daphne Lee Martin [8:35 pm], Haunt the House [9:10 pm], Allysen Callery [9:45 pm], Dan Blakeslee [10:20 pm] | Fri-Sat | Theatre 82, 82 Rolfe St, Cranston | Advance $7, $10 weekend pass; door, $10, $15 weekend pass | 401.490.9475 | artistsexchange.org

Avenue of the Arts, Providence | $38$68 | 401.421.ARTS | thevetsri.com

THURSDAY 22

LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III | 8 pm | Narrows Center For the Arts, Fall River, MA | $30 advance, $35 day of show

CLASSICAL FRIDAY 16

CONNECTICUT LYRIC OPERA PRESENTS PUCCINI’S MADAMA BUTTERFLY | 8 pm | Garde Arts Center, 325 State St, New London, CT | $44 + $56 | 860.444.7373 | gardearts. org

SATURDAY 17

RHODE ISLAND CIVIC CHORALE AND ORCHESTRA with Diana

McVey [soprano], Teresa Buchholz [mezzo-soprano], Kirk Dougherty [tenor], Stephen Bryant [bass], and members of the Chorus of CCRI, will perform Mendelssohn’s Elijah | 7:30 pm | Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul, 30 Fenner St, Providence | $22 advance, $25 door | 401.521.5670 | ricco.org

THE PROVIDENCE MANDOLIN ORCHESTRA will perform Vivaldi’s

Mandolin Concerto and other classical repertoire, plus pieces from Brazil and arrangements of songs by Randy Newman | 7:30 pm | Park Place Congregational United Church of Christ, 71 Park Pl, Pawtucket | mandolin-orchestra.org

COMMUNITY MUSICWORKS WITH JESSE HOLSTEIN performing Proko-

SUNDAY 18

THE CHORUS OF WESTERLY AND FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA will per-

MONDAY 19

AUREA ENSEMBLE will perform

Darwin At Sea, with readings from Darwin’s letters, excerpts from The Voyage of the Beagle, poetry by Milton and Coleridge, and music by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Glass, and Chris Turner | 7 pm | Slater Mill, 67 Roosevelt Avenue, Pawtucket | $25, $20 seniors, $5 students | 401.725.8638 | slatermill.org

SATURDAY 17

AMERICAN BEAUTIES + THE BECKY CHACE BAND | 8 pm | Sandy-

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USE A CONDIMENT! 1345 Hartford Avenue Johnston, RI

401-282-OSSC (6772) www.sandwichri.com

DANCE PERFORMANCE FRIDAY 16-SUNDAY 18

FESTIVAL BALLET PROVIDENCE

THE ROUND SQUARE MUSIC FESTIVAL | See listing for Fri

SUNDAY 18

SATURDAY 17

pm | Zeiterion Theatre, 684 Purchase St, New Bedford, MA | $10 | 508.994.2900 | zeiterion.org

“Double Down On Dance,” with the premiere of Breathing Space by associate artistic director Spencer Gavin Hering, plus Dante’s Beatrice by Andrea Dawn Shelley, Continua Metamorfosi by artistic director Miki Ohlsen, and a reprise of works by IMC dancers | 7:30 pm | Casino Theater, 9 Freebody St, Newport | $25 [cocktails + performance $55, $110 with dinner] | 401.847.4470 | island movingco.org

NEW BEDFORD IDOL 2014 | 6

ISLAND MOVING CO. presents

PARTICIPATORY FRIDAY 16

COLLEGE HILL CONTRA DANCE with caller Chris Ricciotti and music

SATURDAY 17

ENGLISH COUNTRY DANCE with

dance leader Sue Rosen and music by Bruce Rosen and Nora Smith | 7:30 pm | South Kingstown Land Trust Barn, 17 Matunuck Beach Rd, South Kingstown | $10 | 401.539.3009 | kingstonenglishcountrydance.org

WEDNESDAY 21

MAY CONTRA DANCE with caller

EVENTS

Newport Shipyard, 1 Washington St | newportFILM.com

FILM THURSDAY 15 + 22

THE HAIL! HAIL! ROCK ’N’ ROLL DOCUMENTARY FILM SERIES | May 15: Gimme Shelter, the 1970 documentary by Albert and David Maysles chronicling the last weeks of the Rolling Stones’ 1969 US tour, which culminated in the disastrous free concert at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival | May 22: The Last Waltz, the 1978 documentary by Marin Scorsese chronicling the final concert by the Band in 1976, featuring Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Neil Diamond, Muddy Waters, Van Morrison, and more | 6 pm | Providence Public Library, 150 Empire St | Free | 401.455.8090 | provlib.org

SATURDAY 17

THURSDAY 15

Southside Community Land Trust, 109 Somerset Street , Providence | 401.273.9419 | southsideclt.org

22ND ANNUAL RARE AND UNUSUAL PLANT SALE | 10 am-2 pm |

THE 2ND ANNUAL BIKEFEST RI,

with stunt demonstrations + a learn-to-ride area + an obstacle course + a climbing wall + music by Chachi Carvalho + sales of new and used bicycles + food trucks + more | 10 am-4 pm | The Met School, 325 Public St, Providence | ribike.org

THE 7TH ANNUAL URBAN POND PROCESSION, to celebrate the his-

tory of Mashapaug Pond and its surrounding neighborhoods, to foster environmental awareness and sense of place, to explore solutions to environmental challenges of stormwater management, with community members and guest performers, including Big Nazo Puppets, the What Cheer? Brigade, the Extraordinary Rendition Band, the Extraordinary Youth Ensemble, and more | J.T. Owens Park, 300 Niantic Ave, Providence | Free | urbanpond procession.org

8TH ANNUAL SHEEP & FIBER FESTIVAL, with handspun yarns,

crafts, textile and sheap-shearing demonstrations, hayrides, face painting, historic games, and more | 9 am-4 pm | Coggeshall Farm Museum, 1 Colt Rd, Bristol | $8, $5 ages 3-12 + seniors | 401.253.9062 | coggeshallfarm.org SOUTH COUNTY SOIREE with food from Matunuck Oyster Bar, music by Audio Revival and James & the Giants, and a cash bar featuring Sons of Liberty specialty cocktails | 7-11 pm | Sons of Liberty Distillery, 1425 Kingstown Rd, South Kingstown | $25, proceeds benefit the Village Coop Nursery School | 401.789.3830 | vcns.org

SUNDAY 18

22ND ANNUAL RARE AND UNUSUAL PLANT SALE | See listing for Sat 4TH ANNUAL FIRST LIGHT POWWOW | See listing for Sat

WEDNESDAY 21

GARRISON KEILLOR | 7 pm | Zeiterion Theatre, 684 Purchase St, New Bedford, MA | $48-$65 | 508.994.2900 | zeiterion.org POLITICS & PASTA WITH BUDDY CIANCI | 6:30 pm | Stadium Theatre,

28 Monument Sq, Woonsocket | $36, includes a dinner buffet from River Falls | 401.762.4545 | stadiumtheatre. com

THURSDAY 22

“SHIPYARD SHORTS: A COLLECTION OF ADVENTURE AND ECO DOCS” | Libations by Spiked Seltzer + PBR + appetizers by Jamestown Fish + meet-and-greet with Atlantic Cup skippers + AC boats tour + sunset film screening = $20 [screening only $5 suggested donation; BYO chairs] |

THE THIRD THURSDAYS SHORT FILM SERIES presents highlights

SATURDAY 17

THE 6TH ANNUAL GIVEME5 TEEN FILM FESTIVAL, featuring works

THE HARRY POTTER MOVIE SERIES presents Harry Potter and the

RHODE ISLAND FILM COLLABORATIVE’S 2014 ROCK & REEL, a

screening of a grassroots arts project that pairs independent filmmakers with local bands and challenges them to make a music video in just three days | 7 pm | Fete, 103 Dike St, Providence | $10 | 401.383.1112 | fetemusic.com

LIT EVENTS THURSDAY 15

WRITER DAVID SHRAYER-PETROV AND EDITOR MAXIM D. SHRAYER will read from, discuss, and sign the new book, Dinner With Stalin and Other Stories | 7 pm | Books On the Square, 471 Angell St, Providence | 401.331.9097 | booksq.com

SATURDAY 17

PADMA VENKATRAMAN will read

from, discuss, and sign her YA novel, A Time To Dance | 4 pm | Books On the Square, 471 Angell St, Providence | 401.331.9097 | booksq.com

TUESDAY 20

GOTPOETRY LIVE! | An open mic | 8 pm | Blue State Coffee, 300 Thayer St, Providence | $3 | 401.383.8393 | facebook.com/groups/36169437169

THURSDAY 22

KELLY KITTEL will read from, dis-

cuss, and sign her memoir, Breath: A Memoir of Motherhood, Grief, and Family Conflict | 7 pm | Books On the Square, 471 Angell St, Providence | 401.331.9097 | booksq.com

art/gallery | Tues + Thurs 11 am-6 pm;

TALKS FRIDAY 16

“SLEEP: THE FINAL FRONTIER . . . AND WHY THOMAS EDISON RUINED IT” | A talk by Dr. Peter Karcz-

MONDAY 19

“THE HISTORY OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC,” a talk by Dylan Molho, who will give displays of composed electronic music, the technology that creates it, and perform select material with live guitar accompaniment | 7 pm | Weaver Library, 41 Grove St, East Providence | Free | 401.434.2453 | eastprovidencelibrary.org/epl/

ART GALLERIES ARTPROV GALLERY | 401.641.5182 |

150 Chestnut St, Providence | artprovidence.com | Through May 15:

“Color Sense,” works by Judy Araujo Volkmann, Mary Jane Andreozzi, Nick Paciorek, and Kate Hoyer AS220 | 401.831.9327 | 115 Empire St, Providence | as220.org | Wed-Fri 1-6 pm; Sat 12-5 pm + by appointment | Through May 24: “All That Glitters,” new work by Anne Wolfe | “Dystopian Dreams,” new paintings by Joshua Harriman | “Stewed, Screwd & Tattooeed,” new work by RL | In the Youth Gallery: new work by Kassy Cardona and Wilson Aguilar AS220 PROJECT SPACE | 401.831.9327 | 93 Mathewson St, Providence | as220.org | Wed-Fri 1-6 pm; Sat 12-5 pm + by appointment | Through May 24: “Trials & Tribulations,” new work by Mario Read

BANNISTER GALLERY AT RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE | 401.456.9765 |

600 Mount Pleasant Ave, Providence | ric.edu/bannister | Tues-Fri 12-8 pm | Through May 17: “Annual Student Exhibition” CADE TOMPKINS PROJECTS | 401.751.4888 | 198 Hope St, Providence | cadetompkins.com | Sat 10 am-6 pm + by appointment | Through June 20: Works by Dean Snyder CHARLESTOWN GALLERY | 401.364.0120 | 5000 South County Tr, Charlestown | charlestowngalleryri. com | Thurs-Sun 10 am-5:30 pm | Through June 10: “Made In Rhode Island,” works by Dean Richardson, Willy Heeks, Robert Rohm, Mark Freedman, Amy Goodwin, Kate Huntington, Shawn Kenney, Paula Martiesian, and more COASTAL LIVING GALLERY | 83 Brown St, Wickford | coastalliving gallery.com | Through May 30: “Pop 1 Flash Premiere,” paintings by Karen Murtha CROWELL’S FINE ART | 508.992.5231 | 382 Acushnet Ave, New Bedford, MA | crowellsfineart.com | Through June 14: “Aqueous, an (Un)Watercolor Show,” with works by Erica Adams, Milton Brightman, Kim Carlino, John Fazzino, Nilsa Garcia-Rey, Roger Kizik, and John Guy Petruzz DAVID WINTON BELL GALLERY | 401 863.2932 | List Art Center, Brown University, 64 College St, Providence |

brown.edu/Facilities/David_Winton_ Bell_Gallery | Mon-Fri 11 am-4 pm;

Sat + Sun 1-4 pm | Through May 25: “Brown University’s 250th Anniversary Alumni Exhibition Part 2,” with works by Sarah Morris, Rob Reynolds, and Taryn Simon DEBLOIS GALLERY | 401.847.9977 | 134 Aquidneck Ave, Middletown | debloisgallery.com | Tues-Sun 12-5 pm | Through June 1: photography and ceramics by Chris Alvanas and Joshua Leonti

DORRANCE H. HAMILTON GALLERY AT SALVE REGINA UNIVERSITY | 401.341.2981 | Antone Academic Center, Lawrence + Leroy Aves, Newport | salve.edu/academics/departments/

Wed + Fri 11 am-5 pm; Sat + Sun 12-4 pm | Through May 18: “Juried Senior Show 2014,” with works by Clair Adams, Arielle Alicchio, Serina Aramaki, Austin Bullock, Megan Busichio, Karina Carlson, Laura Dargon, Dana DiBiase, Julia DiVicenzo, Meagan Drabik, Allison Kirwan, Annamaria Loia, Cara Lopilato, Tallia Luvera, Michael MacGrath, Anna Massad, Samantha Presutti, Brittany Rosenberg, Victoria Ryan, Kimberly-Ann Seeger, and Chelsea Smith GALLERY AT CITY HALL | 401.421.7740 | 25 Dorrance St, Providence | Mon-Fri 8:30 am-4 pm | Through June 23: “The Colors of Southeast Asia,” a photography exhibit with works by Eva Sutton, Mihaela Hunayon, Sovann & Toby Photography, and Ian Travis Barnard GRIN | 60 Valley St #3, Providence | facebook.com/grinprovidence | Through June 14: “Nonspace,” guest curated by Matthew King, with works by Julia Cseko, Matthew King, Joseph Leroux, Clark McLean Graham, Jessica Pinsky, and Nathan Wellman HERA GALLERY | 401.789.1488 | 10 High St, Wakefield | heragallery.org | Wed-Fri 1-5 pm; Sat 10 am-4 pm | Through June 7: “19 On Paper,” with works by Grace Bentley-Scheck, Jill Brody, Sally Caswell, Milisa Galazzi, BL Green, Brooke Hammerle, Joan Hausrath, Chris Kelley, Paul Murray, Trish Ellwood O’Day, Howard Rubenstein, Myron Rubenstein, Hiroko Shikashio, Kristin Street, Marion Wilner, Cindy Wilson, and C.C. Wolf | Through May 31: “The 40th Anniversary Exhibition,” with works by founding members, including Frances Powers, Mary Jane Steimer, Roberta Richman, Marlene Malik, and Connie Greene, plus other former and current members, including Bethany Bonner, Claudia Flynn, Troy West, and Wendy Wahl

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

Warren | imagofoundation4art.org | Thurs 4-8 pm, Fri + Sat 12-8 pm | Through June 7: “A Table,” featuring paintings by Pascale Lord, ceramic artist Cathleen Scanlan, furniture maker Robert Barrow, printmaker Mei Fung Chan, and photographer Angel Tucker, plus artist members, including Eileen Siobhan Collins, Rose Esson-Dawson, Mary Dondero, Lisa Legato, Eileen Mayhew, Linda Megathlin, Lenny Rumpler, and Michael Scriven JAMESTOWN ARTS CENTER | 401.560.0979 | 18 Valley St | jamestown artcenter.org | Wed-Sat 10 am-2 pm | Through May 23: “The Flower Show,” paintings by Georgia Marsh KRAUSE GALLERY | 401.831.7350 x 174 | In the Jenks Center at Moses Brown School, 250 Lloyd Ave, Providence | mosesbrown.org | Mon-Fri 8

am-4 pm + by appointment | Through May 30: “Reflections From My Garden,” a macro exhibition of photographs by Elaine Dickson 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 May 30: “Silver Hippopotamus,” a “pop-up” showroom featuring industrial/modern furniture and artifacts, including tables, benches, lighting, and unique interior art and accents MYSTIC ARTS CENTER | 860.536.7601 | 9 Water st, Mystic, CT | mysticarts.org | Daily 11 am-5 pm | Through May 31: “The Blues,” an open juried show | “The Elected Artists,” featuring Mystic Arts Center artist members

NARROWS CENTER FOR THE ARTS GALLERY | 508.324.1926 | 16 Anawan

St, Fall River, MA | narrowscenter.org |

Wed-Sat 12-5 pm | Through May 31: “Fall River Portraits: People, Neighborhoods, and Community,” with works by BMC Durfee High School and UMass Darmouth photography students

PORTSMOUTH ARTS GUILD GALLERY | 401.293.5ART | 2679 East Main

Rd, Portsmouth | portsmouth arts guild.org | Fri-Sun 1-5 pm | Through May 18: “Imagine White,” a juried all media show PROVIDENCE ART CLUB |

401.331.1114 | 11 Thomas St | providenceartclub.org | Mon-Fri 12-4

pm; Sat-Sun 2-4 pm | Through May 30: “Three Worlds Considered,” works by Nina Ackmann, Carol Shelton, and Judy Vilmain | “Color, Pattern, and Form,” works by Paulette Carr and Elena Obelenus PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY | 401.455.8000 | 150 Empire St | provlib. org | Mon + Thurs 12-8 pm, Tues + Wed 10 am-6 pm | Fri + Sat 9 am5:30 pm | Through June 5: “The Whale Guitar, a “work of art with a mission: to increase awareness of the plight of whales and to preserve endangered cetaceans,” by creator Jen Long and luthier Rachel Rosenkrantz | Through July 25: “Block Island Idyll: Memories of Manisses,” with materials and artifacts from the Rhode Island Collection at Providence Public Library and the Block Island Historical Society

“RISD ANNUAL GRADUATE THESIS EXHIBITION” | Daily 12-5

pm through May 31 | Rhode Island Convention Center, 1 Sabin St, Providence | Free | gradexhibition. risd.edu/2014

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 May 15: “RIWS Member Group Show,” with work by Elaine Gauthier, Linda Littleton, and Diane Taylor | May 17-June 12: “Reflections,” an open juried exhibit of watermedia works

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 May 24: “Open Juried Painting and Drawing Annual” VAN VESSEM GALLERY | 401.835.6639 | 63 Muse Way, Tiverton | sandywoodsfarm.org/vanvessem gallery.html | Through June 8: “Blue Yellow Red,” paintings by Lucia O’Reilly

WICKFORD ART ASSOCIATION GALLERY | 401.294.6840 | 36 Beach

MUSEUMS BRISTOL ART MUSEUM |

401.253.4400 | 10 Wardwell St | bristolartmuseum.org | Wed-Sun 1-

4 pm | Through July 6: “50 Years,” a juried exhibition 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 | May 17-Sept 1: “Marine Botanicals,” works by Mary Chatowsky Jameson | May 17-Sept 7: “Magic Gold, Full Sun,” paintings by Corinne Colarusso | Through May 18: “Newport Annual Members’ Juried Exhibition 2014” | Through Aug 12: “Elizabeth Congdon: Heaven and Earth,” an exhibit of paintings 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 June 29: “Andy Warhol’s Photographs” | Through July 6: “Arlene 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 June 14: “Visual Rhythms,” | a juried exhibit with works by Rufus Abdullah, Robin Beckwith,

Judith Bertozzi, Cate Brown, Brad Caetano, Jennifer Cameron, Mary Carlos, Gary Carlson, Cathy Chin, Diana Cole, Becky David, Cynthia DiDonato, Joan Edge, Pat Edwards, Lynn Etchingham, Barbara Green, Jason Hack, Diane Hoffman, Bonnie Jaffe, Marc Jaffe, David Kendrick, Tricia Marcaccio, Larisa Martino, Rachel Marzocchi, Cate McCauley, Marilyn McShane Levine, Paul Murray, Joyce Neville, Nancy Nielsen, Wendy Radin, Patrick Ruff, Louise St. Pierre, Don Swavely, Warren Tassone, Elinor Thompson, and McDonald Wright

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Crime, by Sam Shepard | May 16 7:30 pm + May 17 2 pm | $10, $5 students + seniors — Through May 18: Stone Cold Dead Serious, by Adam Rapp | 17 7:30 pm + May 18 2 pm | $10, $5 students + seniors EPIC THEATRE | 401.490.9475 | artists-exchange.org | At the Artists’ Exchange,50 Rolfe Sq, Cranston | May 17 8 pm: White Rabbit, Red Rabbitt, by Nassim Soleimanpour | “In order to produce the show, the theater company has to agree that the actor performing the piece will only perform it once. They will not be directed or have rehearsals. The first time they see the script will be in front of an audience when it’s r3emoved from a sealed envelope” | $15, $12 students GAMM THEATRE | 401.723.4266 | gammtheatre.org | 172 Exchange St, Pawtucket | Through June 1: Blackbird, by David Harrower | This week: May 15 + 20-22 7 pm + May 16 + 17 8 pm + May 18 2 + 7 pm | $38 + $48 GRANITE THEATRE | 401.596.2341 | granitetheatre.com | 1 Granite St, Westerly | May 16-June 8: From Stage To Screen And Back Again: A Musical Revue | This week: May 16 + 17 8 pm + May 18 2 pm | $TBA

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Unless otherwise noted, these listings are for Thurs May 15 through Thurs May 22. Times can and do change without notice, so please call the theater before heading out.

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These listings are for Thurs May 15Sun May 18 only. Call for updates or go to cinemaworldonline.com. THE RAILWAY MAN | Starts Fri: 10:45, 1:20, 4:10, 7:10, 9:40 GODZILLA 3D | Thurs: 7, 10:15 | FriSun: 11:45, 5:30, 8:30 GODZILLA 3D | Thurs: 7, 9:45, 11:15 | Fri-Sun: 10:15, 10:45, 1, 1:45, 2:45, 3:45, 4:30, 6:45, 7:30, 8:15, 9:45, 10:30 MILLION DOLLAR ARM | Thurs: 7, 10 | Fri-Sun: 10:30, 1:15, 2:30, 4, 5:30, 7, 9:50 LEGENDS OF OZ: DOROTHY’S RETURN | Thurs: 3:30, 5:30, 7:10, 9:20 | Fri-Sun: 10:40, 12:50, 3, 5, 7:10, 9:15 NEIGHBORS | Thurs: 1:45, 3, 4:45, 5:45, 7:30, 9:45 | Fri-Sun: 11:05, 12:45, 1:30, 3, 4:45, 6:30, 7:45, 8:45, 10 THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 | Thurs: 3:15, 4:15, 5:15, 6:15, 7:15, 8:15, 9:15, 10:15 | Fri-Sun: 10:10, 11, 1:10, 2, 34:15, 5:15, 7:15, 8:20, 9:10, 10:15 THE OTHER WOMAN | 11:10, 1:55, 4:35, 7:25, 9:55 BRICK MANSIONS | Thurs: 7:40, 9:50 | Fri-Sun: 4:20, 10:20 THE QUIET ONES | Thurs: 7:50, 10 | Fri-Sun: 11:30, 10:05 HEAVEN IS FOR REAL | Thurs: 6:45, 9 | Fri-Sun: 10:55, 1:05, 4:05, 7, 9:15 RIO 2 | Thurs: 10:35, 1:10, 4:05, 6:50, 9:10 | Fri-Sun: 11:15, 1:40, 4:40, 6:55 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER | Thurs: 10:25, 1:25, 4:10, 7 | Fri-Sun: 10:35, 1:35, 7:05 GOD’S NOT DEAD | Thurs: 1:40, 4:25 | Fri-Sun: 10:50 DIVERGENT | 1:25, 4:25, 7:20

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ENTERTAINMENT CINEMAS

30 Village Square Dr, South Kingstown | 401.792.8008

ISLAND CINEMAS 10

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44 MAY 16 , 2014 | the providence phoenix | providence.thephoenix.coM

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Jim Jarmusch’s poetic, highly personal take on the vampire genre uses it to elegize various things that are dead or dying in the early 21st century — analog recording, downtown Detroit, and the European Romantic tradition, to name a few. Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton play globetrotting bohemian lovers who’ve been together for several centuries; the story finds them reuniting in the Motor City after an unspecified period apart, taking refuge in each other to make up for their despair over the state of the world. This is easily Jarmusch’s bleakest film since Dead Man (1996), and it’s no less obsessed by atrocities carried out in the name of industrial progress (in this case, worldwide ecological devastation). Yet it’s also one of his most visually expressive films, playing out amid ravishing nocturnal imagery that fits perfectly with the dark romantic tone. The supporting cast includes Mia Waikowska, Anton Yelchin, and John Hurt.

XXXW

_Ben Sachs

THE RAILWAY MAN 108 MinUtes | r | cineMAworld + showcAse wArwick Captured by the Japanese in the 1942 invasion of Singapore, British officer Eric Lomax labored over the Thailand-Burma Railway, just like the soldiers in The Bridge On the River Kwai (1957), but given the torture and deprivation he endured, this adaptation of his 1995 memoir is unlikely to send you out of the theater whistling. The story opens in 1980, as the damaged veteran (Colin Firth) takes a loving wife (Nicole Kidman) but their happiness is threatened by his night terrors and other emotional problems; eventually he decides to return to southeast Asia and confront one of his torturers, who now runs a war museum (Hiroyuki Sanada). As an early reference to Brief Encounter suggests, this falls squarely in the British tradition of quality, but the cast is excellent (especially Stellan Skarsgård as a fellow survivor) and the screenplay, by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Andy Paterson, is delicately attuned to the emotional cost of war and the terrible struggle to be healed.

XXW

_J.R. Jones

gOdzILLA 123 MinUtes | pG-13 | cineMAworld + entertAinMent + islAnd + providence plAce 16 + showcAse + swAnseA stAdiUM 12

Masterpiece Good Okay Not Good Stinks

XXXX XXX XX X Z

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2014

ed by Elizabeth Wilcox) are filled with quirky bric-a-brac, bringing a lived-in dimension to the big-budget spectacle, and Edwards displays a welcome playfulness in some of his flamboyant camera movements. Alexandre Desplat’s score is an enjoyable pastiche in itself, drawing from John Williams, Bernard Herrmann, and Akira Ifukube’s theme from the Japanese original. With Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche, and David Strathairn. _Ben Sachs

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Fri. 5/16:

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MILLION dOLLAR ARM 124 MinUtes | pG | cineMAworld + entertAinMent + islAnd + providence plAce 16 + showcAse + swAnseA stAdiUM 12 You’d never guess this Disney sports drama was scripted by Thomas McCarthy, writerdirector of such meaty independent releases as The Visitor (2007) and Win Win (2011); it’s a completely by-the-numbers affair about a sports-marketing agent (Jon Hamm) who sets out to recruit major-league baseball players from India but learns the sturdy lesson that sports should be fun instead of an exercise in moneygrubbing. The story is encrusted with formula: the cute young doctor (Lake Bell) who rents the hero’s backyard apartment and appears on cue to offer one-liners and life advice, the cranky old baseball scout (Alan Arkin) who comes along to India and rips on everyone in sight, the wide-eyed teenagers with good arms (Suraj Sharma, Madhur Mittal) who journey to America and get into trouble like naughty children. The movie was inspired by the real-life experiences of agent J.B. Bernstein, but the story stretches all the way back to Disney’s Jan-Michael Vincent comedy The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973). Craig Gillespie directed; with Aasif Mandvi and Bill Paxton. _J.R. Jones

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For the latest Hollywood remake of the sci-fi classic, screenwriter Max Borenstein and director Gareth Edwards hew to the Jaws formula, dividing audience identification between an eccentric techie (Ken Watanabe), a straight-shooting family man (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and the monster, which in this case turns out to be the most charismatic of the three. Their movie may be highly calculated, but at least it doesn’t feel soulless; as in THE EMOTIONAL COST OF WAR Firth and Kidman in The Spielberg’s blockbustRailway Man. ers, the sets (decorat-

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Thurs. 5/22:

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The great Walter Murch edited this documentary about the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland, and the experiments leading up to the discovery of the Higgs boson particle in 2012. It’s a good thing he did — the fleet and engaging storytelling sets this apart from most science docs. The movie lives up to its title in that it focuses on the enthusiasm of the thousands of physicists who worked at the LHC; in fact it often proceeds like a sports movie, steadily building anticipation until the breakthrough discovery occurs. The filmmakers find room for some witty philosophical bull sessions and affectionate portraits of some of the physicists; this is an agreeable light entertainment on a complex subject. Mark Levinson directed. _Ben Sachs

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Moon signs

1119 North Main St., Providence 02904. MON - THURS 3pm to 1am FRI 3pm- 2am SAT 5pm-2am SUN 5pm-1am

Thank you for all your comments about my mom’s passing. This week is especially bittersweet because her 80th birthday would have been May 15. She was a true Taurus — artistic, musical, and consistent. Happiest as part of a “gang” and highly resolute. Or, as the entire family said, stubborn. She never quite understood what I’m doing here with astrology but she was my biggest supporter, and was always happy to weigh in on the qualities of her own sign. So, Happy Birthday to all the Tauruses out there, particularly those of you who are parents or artists.

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SaT 5/17

thursday May 15 3

17 5

Friday May 16 4

Waning moon in Sagittarius, moon voidof-course 3:43 am until 4:12 am Saturday. When the moon is void-of-course, you’ll want to double-check everything — from prices to directions. a fine day for learning something new, particularly if you’re Sagittarius, Leo, aries, or capricorn. virgo, Gemini, pisces, and cancer could have a touch of “high anxiety,” particularly if you have financial problems or are in the habit of overdoing things. taurus, Libra, Scorpio, and aquarius: you can lighten the tension for all. 20

saturday May 17 5

Waning moon in capricorn. a weekend capricorn moon means it’s a good day for looking at long-term investments. however, if you are miserly (or spend time with frugal folks), they’ll be in overdrive in terms of being grasping or gloomy. capricorn, Scorpio, Sagittarius, virgo, taurus, aquarius, and pisces: don’t let others talk you out of what you intend to do. this may mean you say nothing about what you intend to do! cancer, Libra, aries, Leo, and Gemini: your sense of humor may be misinterpreted. 21

sunday May 18 18 6

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Waning moon in capricorn. the second day of a capricorn moon suggests work on long-term projects. the sign of the goat symbolizes great perseverance, particularly in the face of obstacles and long odds. Libra, cancer, aries, Leo, and Gemini: stick with the folks you can trust, and if you’re feeling a little laz-zzy, you’re in tune with the moon. capricorn, Scorpio, Sagittarius, virgo, taurus, aquarius, and pisces could be happiest if cooking a meal that takes a very long time to complete. 22

Waning moon in Sagittarius. a great day for humor, or appreciating the lighter side (as Mad magazine’s dave Berg used to cartoon). Sagittarius moons bring a lightness and definitely prompt the risk-takers to surge forward. if you’re accident-prone, wear the sensible shoes. Shining brightly: Sagittarius, capricorn, aries, and Leo. Feeling needy (or knee’d): virgo, Gemini, cancer, and pisces. Looking for friendship and willing to take a chance: taurus, Libra, Scorpio, and aquarius. 19

_b y sy Mb o l i ne DA i

Monday May 19 7

Waning moon in aquarius (moon voidof-course 3:02 am until 5:58 am in capricorn). Mars moves direct, so if something got stalled in late fall, forward momentum happens, particularly for Libra, aquarius, and Gemini. Since aries, capricorn, and cancer have a difficult Mars angle, they look at roadblocks as “necessary delays.” aquarius moons are about friendship — lots of pals, versus one deep relationship, so spend your time with the group, especially aquarius, Gemini, pisces, Libra, Sagittarius, capricorn, aries. cancer, virgo, taurus, Scorpio, and Leo: keep your cards close. 23

tuesday May 20 8

Waning moon in aquarius, moon voidof-course 6:21 pm until 8:18 am Wednes25

day. Sun moves into Gemini. air, air, everywhere, so conversations are plentiful. as is exaggeration. it’s easy to promise what you can’t deliver. aquarius, Libra, Gemini, and pisces: find the most graceful manner of communication (especially if you are bowing out). taurus, Leo, virgo, cancer, and Scorpio: it’s easy to be vexed by the airheads. don’t take it personally — spacey people are spacey with all! capricorn, Sagittarius, and aries: this is an excellent day for reviewing options. 12

Wednesday May 21 9

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Moon KeyS this horoscope traces the passage of the moon, not the 14 15 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 30 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, 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 of course,” making no major angles to planets. consider this a null time and try to avoid making or implementing decisions if16you can. But it’s great for brainstorming. | For 15 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. 31

F “Get Back”— return to what you know 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59

hem’s partner part of ncaa Like mad callers “Born Free” lioness Queens diamond, once take on more issues? othello, for example allergy source QB play roadside rest stops

Down 1 home of the ringling circus Museum 2 Go-getter 3 Waiting room query 4 doS component? 5 Fictional typing tutor ___ Beacon 6 Latin list ender 7 Sound off 8 Lindros formerly of the nhL 9 Mandrill kin 10 newsgroup system since 1980 11 Game with 32 pieces 14 encyclopedia Brown’s hometown 15 italian word for “milk” 20 2000 Subway Series losers 21 hinduism, for example: abbr. 23 hang out 26 Bristly brand 27 Like some congestion 28 Greta Garbo, for one

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Jonesin’ _by matt J ones Across 1 Woodshop tools 5 dish (out) 9 Florida fullback, for short 12 Fluish, perhaps 13 “Space invaders” company 15 Mascara’s target 16 campus letters 17 convincing 18 “... butterfly, sting like ___” 19 “___ for alibi” (Grafton novel) 20 places for missing persons reports 22 “and i’ve got one, two, three, four, five ___ working overtime” (xtc lyric) 24 nixes a bill 25 1980 running medalist Steve 26 Unobtrusive, as a ringtone setting 29 it’s heard in houston 31 affected 32 it may hold up an arp 33 Sapporo sashes 37 one end of a fencing sword 39 1968 Winter olympics site 43 ___ apso 44 Lock up tight 45 convent-ional title? 46 item exhumed years after burial

Last quarter moon in pisces. a turning point for events that occurred on april 29, or that climaxed around May 14. Quarter moons give us all some breathing space. Use this time to look backwards more than ahead, because from now through May 28, the theme is finishing (or abandoning). pisces, Scorpio, cancer, and aries: your antenna are tuned into all kinds of subtleties — enjoy. virgo, Sagittarius, Leo, Gemini, and Libra: free-floating depression could find you. Find a better hiding place. aquarius, taurus, and capricorn: take the slow road.

Suave reactions to fireworks Shooting/skiing event available, as fruit Series with an upcoming episode vii Ballerina’s bend teahouse hostess Former attorney General ___ clark First name on the Supreme court

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robertson of cnn hidden loot a great many Get ready yemen’s largest city pac-12 team since 2011 53 Longtime pet Shop Boys record label Solution iS on page 40

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