News

Crate diggers

Record Store Day
On Saturday, April 20, indie music merchants in Providence — and Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles and other cities — will celebrate the sixth annual Record Store Day, a way for artists, fans, and record shop owners to bask in their mutual love through sales and in-store events.

By: PHILIP EIL | April 17, 2013

Moon Signs: April 18-24

Lunar lines
This period of quarter moon to full moon is the best time to take projects and relationships to the next level.

By: SYMBOLINE DAI | April 18, 2013

New kids on the block

Congrats to Marcel and Karen; reading with Sheldon; farewell, Jonathan
Though he spent a stint as executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation under Governor Lincoln "Missing Linc" Almond, Marcel Valois — the newly named head ramrod of the beleaguered EDC — is hardly a household name in The Biggest Little. (Unless, of course, you live in a household with a lot of people named Marcel or Valois.)

By: PHILLIPE AND JORGE | April 17, 2013

Liberal warrior

Sheldon Whitehouse is attacking the obstructionist GOP head-on. Will it work?
When it comes to his signature issues — climate change, campaign finance reform, tax fairness — Whitehouse makes little secret of his approach: marshal the facts, hammer the Republicans, and embarrass them into action.

By: DAVID SCHARFENBERG | April 10, 2013

At Yellow Peril Gallery, foreclosed dreams

Pictures
When Providence-based photographer David H. Wells set out to document the American foreclosure crisis, he started by snapping photos of workers as they cleaned repossessed houses in California's central valley in 2009.

By: PHILIP EIL | April 10, 2013

At Brown, a win for climate change activists

Movements
A key Brown University oversight committee has voted to recommend the school divest from coal, delivering a significant victory to student climate change activists.

By: DAVID SCHARFENBERG | April 11, 2013

Gina burnt

Forbes reams Raimondo; raging with Riley; chewing out Brown
Forbes magazine recently torched Vo Dilun Treasurer Gina Raimondo with a blog post titled, "Rhode Island Public Pension 'Reform' Looks More Like Wall Street Feeding Frenzy."

By: PHILLIPE AND JORGE | April 10, 2013

Hacking Politics: a guide

Online
Last year, the Internet briefly upended everything we know about American politics.

By: DAVID SCHARFENBERG | April 03, 2013

Play ball; when 'wireless' meant radio; on the green

161 to go
Phillipe was on suicide watch when news broke that the New England Patriots had allowed Wes Welker to sign with the Denver Broncos. And when the Red Sox opened the season April 1 against the damn Yankees in New York, P. had his gun to his head once again.

By: PHILLIPE AND JORGE | April 03, 2013

Charlie Hall drinks and dabbles

The Arts
The Industrial Trust Building in Providence looks like a hairspray can with a condom on top. This is what Charlie Hall — Rhode Island's unofficial comedian laureate — is telling a room full of boisterous guests at Chester's Restaurant in Harmony, Rhode Island.

By: PHILIP EIL | April 03, 2013

At Brown, torture in watercolor

Foreign affairs
Stroll down College Street from Brown University during the next few weeks and you'll find Providence's iconic spires and skyscrapers slightly obscured by a banner hanging from a streetlight outside Brown's List Art Building.

By: PHILIP EIL | April 03, 2013

Break on through

If Gina Raimondo shatters the glass ceiling in the 2014 governor's race, it may be male voters who get her there
When I spoke with Treasurer Gina Raimondo this week, I opened with the obligatory question about whether she'll run for governor. "I'm seriously considering it," she said. "But I think as you know — we've talked about it before — I have little kids: a six-year-old, an eight-year-old. I'm a mother. It's a big deal."

By: DAVID SCHARFENBERG | March 28, 2013

The liberal case for guns

Q&A
The school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut spurred hope not just for sensible gun regulation, but for a more nuanced discussion of America's gun culture. Neither wish has been realized.

By: DAVID SCHARFENBERG | March 27, 2013

The not-so-liberal case for guns

At the Range
"I'm an absolutist," Robert Farago says. "I believe that American citizens should be able to walk into a gun store, show their driving license, purchase a firearm — no background check — purchase some bullets, put the bullets into the firearm, and walk out of the store."

By: PHILIP EIL | April 01, 2013

An Arctic adventure; documenting Daniels; hoop dreams

Ice cream
Sprague Theobald, the local filmmaker and author you may remember as a co-host of Channel 10's old 'PM Magtazine' (also a jumping-off point for Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira), has produced a wonderful documentary which just premiered in New York City: 'The Other Side of the Ice.'

By: PHILLIPE AND JORGE | March 27, 2013

On economic development, the Speaker cedes the spotlight

Playing Politics
In recent months, Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed has emerged as perhaps the state's leading voice for economic revival.

By: DAVID SCHARFENBERG | March 20, 2013

Ethics, shmethics; bottom-feeding in Florida; Roomful of news

St. Patrick?
In one of the most appalling abuses of power P&J have seen at Halitosis Hall, Speaker of the House Gordon "38 Studios" Fox recently cashiered Representative Patrick O'Neill from his position on the House Judiciary Committee because he had the gall to push through the committee — on a unanimous vote, mind you — a badly needed ethics reform bill.

By: PHILLIPE AND JORGE | March 20, 2013

Vaseline and blood: the writings and writhings of Eli V. Manuscript

Letters
Eli V. Manuscript says he kept his performance tame at the debut of his "The Empty Room" reading series earlier this month in Providence.

By: PHILIP EIL | March 21, 2013

The Cost of War

When assessing the cost to America of the war in Iraq, a blue-ribbon panel says President Obama is all wet
With the tenth anniversary of the war upon us, a team of economists, lawyers, humanitarian personnel, and political scientists has developed a comprehensive, by-the-numbers look at the human, financial, and social impacts of the Iraq conflict.

By: DAVID SCHARFENBERG | March 20, 2013