Friday — @Machines With Magnets, Boo City, Ravi Shavi, Sara Azriel @the Met, the Bitchin’ Aardvarks, Soundoff, In the Meantime, the Grave Reviews @Firehouse 13, Kid Mountain, Motion and the Modern Day, Mike DeCosta, Jeremy Joubert @AS220, What Cheer? Brigade, Math the Band, 2 Ton Bug, Trip Dicks

Saturday — @Fête Ballroom, Sage Francis, Prolyphic, B. Dolan, the Metermaids @AS220, Caroline Smith and the Goodnight Sleeps, Brother Moon, Loveday @the Met, Jake Miller, the Proletarians, Kenzie @Fête Lounge, Dead Confederate, Roadkill Ghost Choir, Mean Creek @Machines With Magnets, Red Hare, Barnswallow, Daltonic, Empty Flowers, Sweet Jesus

Sunday — @Firehouse 13, Reason to Fight, a Dying Breed, the Usual Suspects, the Trans Fats, Doosh Bucket @AS220, Vundabar, Nymphidels, Miniscule Mustache, Passionate Mammals

(Photo of Roadkill Ghost Choir)

Beth will not be so psyched that my first post in a couple of months violates our no-Kickstarter rule, but so it goes.  (Hi, Beth!)

Did you know that the first hotel housekeeper to hold public office is on the Providence City Council?  A film team led by Margo Guernsey — an awesome left-labor organizer who I got to know right after moving to Providence — is following Councilwoman Carmen Castillo’s first three years in office to make a feature length documentary film.  You can click here to contribute to the Kickstarter.

Carmen is wonderful, and now holds the seat formerly occupied by my dear friend Miguel Luna, with whom I joined the City Council in 2003 and who passed nearly 2 years ago.

The film will be guided by questions such as: How does her role as a room attendant who is also a  lawmaker push our understanding of who should set policy?  Can local communities successfully fight for good jobs and resources?  What is it like behind the scenes at City Hall?

Carmen is one of many fighting for justice in her community. The film will introduce others who are part of efforts to bring justice and good jobs to the neighborhood, and will explore the challenges and issues they all face. Above all else, this is  a film about our democracy: who gets to participate and on what terms.

Documentary filmmaking is not cheap, even when done on a tight budget. It is a grassroots film that needs grassroots support.  It’s about 3/4ths of the way to $20,000, with a week to go.  Click here to kickstart the film and help tell this Providence story.

The new documentary “The Source Family” examines 70’s guru Father Yod, his gaggle of sister wives and obligatory Rolls Royce, and the dynamics of psychological manipulation. But unlike other cults we’ve come to know and love, this California group was much more out in the world, even launching a rock band of sorts. The New York Times ran a fascinating background story:

The commune’s house band, originally known as Father Yod and the Spirit of ’76, and later as Ya Ho Wah 13, recorded more than 60 full-length albums in 1973 and 1974, nine of which were sold commercially. Although they started off playing traditionally structured folk-rock, Father Yod soon goaded the band into focusing on what he called spontaneous music — a kind of improvised psychedelia distinguished by wantonly atonal bursts and groove-oriented jams. Ya Ho Wah 13’s recorded output from this era ranges from preposterous — as if a doddering older neighbor had wandered into garage-band practice, then started hollering and walloping a copper drum — to thrillingly unpredictable. There is squall, but there is beauty, too.

Gotta be honest with you . . . never heard of them. But according to the article the old vinyl is highly collectible.

The filmmakers nutshell the story thusly: “The Source Family’s outlandish lifestyle, popular celebrity-hangout restaurant, rock band, and beautiful women made them the darlings of Hollywood’s Sunset Strip; but their outsider ideals, controversial spiritual leader Father Yod, along with his 13 wives, instigated local authorities. They fled to Hawaii, leading to their dramatic demise.”

Running time 98 minutes, favorably reviewed in The New York Times. Trailer after the jump.

Starts Friday, May 24th, Cable Car Cinema, 204 south main Street

more »

Tuesday — @AS220, Terveet Kadet, Drop Dead, Lotus Fucker, Sangus @186 Carpenter, Concern, Centella, work/death

Wednesday — @AS220, Daniel Chase, Smile Makers, Stevie Lightnin’, Jacob Haller

Thursday — @the Met, Charge the Atlantic, the Young Westports, Fly Kite Canvas @the Parlour, the Denver Boot, the Autumn Hollow, Tyler James, Pixels @Fête Lounge, Marco Benevento, Diamond Doves @Fête Ballroom, Melissa Ferrick @Dusk, Glorior Belli, Wolvhammer, Luunglust, Sorcery @AS220, Tenants, Choke Up, Somos, Bad Swimmers @Machines With Magnets, Broken Water, Over, Whore Paint, Feeds @the Salon, Roses, Littlefoot, NYC Queens

(Photo of Whore Paint by Peter Glantz)

Attention Cranston Mayor Fung: Watch this show, you might learn something. Then apologize to Jessica Ahlquist.

PBS is running a 4-part series, Tuesdays at 9pm, Constitution USA with Peter Sagal — “Traveling across the country by motorcycle, Sagal is in search of where the U.S. Constitution lives, how it works and how it doesn’t… how it unites us as a nation and how it has nearly torn us apart.”

One segment in the first episode features Jessica Ahlquist discussing the Cranston West Prayer Banner controversy.  The poise and confidence of this articulate young lady is simply startling.

Ms. Ahlquist will be receiving the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award this Wednesday (ProJo). The awards are starting to pile up — she has a bright future.

Check out RI’s Future where Jessica’s proud uncle Steve Ahlquist has posted the episode ready to watch.

You can’t enter East Side Market without going by the magazine racks. Give it a quick scan next time and try to imagine the market research that led to this odd selection of periodicals. Perhaps there is a huge marlin fishing subculture somewhere around here I don’t know about. And where are all these archeologists and shipwreck enthusiasts when they aren’t home reading?

I can see that “Lapidary Journal” must be flying off the shelves but how many German language opera magazines are you gonna move in a month? Two? Maybe three tops?* And I may be wild about the Queen but I have yet to buy an issue of “Majesty.”

We mention this as a public service in an effort to unite the narrow readership being targeted here with the magazines they didn’t even know existed.

*Margin of error: ± three.

Attention musicians seeking other musicians: MusicTown has a Jamathon coming up at the JamStage in Pawtucket and spaces are limited. If you want to participate you must sign up in advance. Nathan and Dan explain this unique opportunity.

In a nutshell, we’re inviting musicians of any and all genres, instruments, skill levels and backgrounds for a day in fully-kitted out rehearsal rooms at the JamStage (amps, mics, pianos/keyboards, PAs) with fellow local musicians — hopefully sparking new bands and collaborations to come out of the day.

We think it would also be fun for whole bands to come, but spend the day with other groups (there’s 6 rooms) for fresh inspiration too! Songwriters can try out a band for a day and hear their songs with different instrumentation, and musicians tired of the guessing game of Craigslist can find new people to play with.

The outcome (besides meeting new musician friends, expanding your network, ‘auditioning’ potential band members/collaborations and doing something different on a Saturday afternoon) is at the end of the day, each new band will record live tracks for a ‘fresh sounds of RI’ local musician demo album they can add to their portfolios. Food and raffle tickets for cool prizes included.

It’s only $20 — sign up now!

Noon to 8pm, Saturday, June 1, JamStage, 25 Esten Avenue, Pawtucket, (Facebook)

Good news for those in the Del’s diaspora, you are not imagining things — that’s a Del’s truck you see on the horizon.  New York magazine found it newsworthy.

Gothamist made a major and crucial frozen-lemonade discovery just in time for summer: Apparently, Rhode Island’s famous Del’s Lemonade is now in New York. The soft, slushy, and drinkable stuff will be available at this weekend’s Ninth Avenue Food Festival and at Brooklyn Bridge Park, the site reports, where the vendor will dispense cups of the zest-filled and fructose-spiked happiness from the back of a refurbished 1949 Chevrolet 3/4-ton truck.

And someone should inform Mayor Bloomberg that this isn’t just sugary syrup poured over ice — it’s real fresh-squeezed lemons. Okay okay, there is some sugar added (see Food Channel segment at website) but it isn’t icky and overly sweet, so it shouldn’t matter how big the cup is. It’s a cup of happiness dammit.

Friends and fans of music duo Brown Bird — David Lamb and MorganEve Swain — are rapidly circulating the distressing news of Dave’s recent hospitalization and treatment for anemia. Here’s what happened and what you can do.

On Friday night, May 10th, following weeks of flu-like symptoms, Dave was admitted to a hospital in Houston with complaints of fatigue and shortness of breath. An initial blood test revealed that he was severely anemic, with dangerously low red blood cell levels. Since being admitted to the hospital he has had several blood transfusions, to which he is responding well, and has undergone several tests to determine what is causing his illness. At this time there is no diagnosis.

MorganEve writes “We will be able to fly home on Saturday to pursue treatment in RI, and will be canceling a large percentage of shows until Dave is well enough to get back on the road. For us, canceling shows means not only disappointing our fans and missing out on what we enjoy most, but also going without income.”

What You Can Do: Donate to the special fundraiser page at YouCaring.com.

These are two of the kindest people you could hope to meet and are hardworking musicians. Please consider helping them out.

RISD’s Graduate Thesis Exhibition 2013 is open now through June 1st.

Open to the public, RISD’s annual Graduate Thesis Exhibition features work in a wide range of media created by the 194 master’s degree candidates graduating on June 1. Each student showcases a final body of work produced as the culmination of his or her experience in one of RISD’s 16 graduate departments: Architecture, Ceramics, Digital + Media, Furniture Design, Glass, Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Interior Architecture, Jewelry + Metalsmithing, Landscape Architecture, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Teaching + Learning in Art + Design, and Textiles.

A selection of additional graduate student work is on view from May 30th through June 3rd at Sol Koffler Graduate Student Gallery, 169 Weybosset Street.

(Seen here is ‘Beirut’ by Wael Morcos/Graphic Design)

Free and open to the public, daily from noon to 5pm, Hall A, RI Convention Center, One Sabin Street

You think you know a town. Old guard skaters Don Barley, Eric Pupecki, and Kevin Lynch give the Ride Channel a tour of Providence — and the rest of us a new perspective — visiting popular (and waxy) skate landmarks like the ‘Old Lady Banks’ and the ‘RISD Ledges,’ flying by Temple Emanuel and the Cathedral, then screaming down Thomas Street. They end up at Civil Skate Shop which has a new location at 231 Westminster Street. I realize that these guys are rough on the hardscaping but I like having them around.

Friday — @Firehouse 13, Plow United, the Down and Outs, the McGunks, Sourpunch @the Met, Max Creek @AS220, Von Donovan, Faber, Dan Mills @Fête Lounge, Trails, Consuelo’s Revenge, Great Big Circles, Dylan Sevey and the Gentlemen

Saturday — @the Parlour, Mark Cutler and Men of Great Courage, the Bob Kendall Band @AS220, Tovarish, Sea of Bones, Traces of Empire, Vomit Arsonist @Firehouse 13, Hope Anchor, Atlantic Thrills, the Legendary Rockin’ Prophets, Billy Bouchard

Sunday — @AS220, Doble Filo, Medusah Black, Pappyk @Machines With Magnets, The Body, Sandworm, Funeral Cone, Songs, Night Mode

(Photo of Atlantic Thrills)

(5.19) Don’t miss the 21st Southside Community Land Trust Annual Rare and Unusual Plant Sale this Saturday and Sunday at City Farm.

City Farm is home to the Rare and Unusual Plant Sale every year. One weekend in May, hundreds of varieties of annuals, perennials, and fruit and vegetable plant starts are available for purchase. Most of the 18,000 plants were carefully cultivated through the late winter and early spring on-site by the City Farm team, including dozens of volunteers. Hundreds of other perennials and annuals are donated by generous local gardeners.

This celebrated event attracts 2,000 gardeners from all levels of experience, from the brand-new community gardener to seasoned home gardening experts. It is a wonderful kick-off to the growing season, featuring live music and several gardening experts on hand to assist gardeners new and old.

The SCLT has introduced the option of purchasing food plants using EBT and SNAP benefits, making the sale accessible to low-income families. All proceeds from the Plant Sale support Southside Community Land Trust’s education and community gardening programs.

10am to 2pm, Saturday, May 18th/Sunday, May 19th, SCLT, City Farm, Dudley and W. Clifford Streets (directions)

(5.18) Collection 2013, the Apparel Design department’s popular fashion show, will take to the runway on Saturday, May 18 at the Rhode Island Convention Center. After months of conceptual development, experimentation, and meticulous construction, students have an opportunity to showcase their one-of-a-kind creations to the public at this annual event.

The designs shown in each year’s collection are juried by a panel of guest critics — professional designers who carefully review and discuss the work together, give students critical feedback and select the best garments for the runway show. This year’s panel includes Tommy Hilfiger.

Go here to view the work of the 2013 students. Seen here is the work of Elise Pelletier.

(Post-show sales take place the following Sunday: 11am to 5pm at ‘Clad In’ in Wayland Square; and noon to 4pm at the RISD Market House, College and South Main Streets.)

RISD Apparel Design Show, 7pm, Saturday, May 18, RI Convention Center, One Sabin Street

(5.18) It’s been a challenging year for the merchants of Hope Street.  Construction, noise, and detours have disrupted the retail climate for business owners and customers alike, and they want to reward your patience with a bigger and better Spring Block Party . . . in and around the construction. It’ll be fun.

Join Providence Monthly and the Hope Street Merchants Association for our annual Hope Street Spring Block Party . . . bigger and better this year. ‘Beers for the Ballet’ will feature five great local breweries: Foolproof Brewing Company, Grey Sail Brewing of RI, Trinity Brewing, Narragansett Brewing Company and Newport Storm Brewery. New this year — win an iPad or a Grand Prize gift certificate package in the Street Scavenger Hunt.

Also: Gourmet Food Trucks * Sidewalk Sales * Kids Zone * Hayrides * Pedicabs * Outdoor Open Dance Classes * Roaming Street Entertainment.

The music lineup looks like this: 12:30pm Ben Walsh; 2pm the Silks; 3:30pm Ravi Shavi; 5pm the Rice Cakes.

Noon to 6pm, Saturday, May 18th, rain or shine (it’s totally going to shine), Hope north of Rochambeau

Former frequent contributor Dave Segal has not been able to write so much for the Dose these days, what with his panels, and speaking engagements, and lobbying down in Washington, and flying around the country saving the Internet. Finally we can find out exactly what has been going on and who else to thank. The new book Hacking Politics, which chronicles the SOPA effort and other ongoing Internet freedom battles, comes out today and our Dave edited and wrote much of it.

Hacking Politics is a firsthand account of how a ragtag band of activists and technologists overcame a $90 million lobbying machine to defeat the most serious threat to Internet freedom in memory. The book is a revealing look at how Washington works today – and how citizens successfully fought back.

Written by the core Internet figures – video gamers, Tea Partiers, tech titans, lefty activists and ordinary Americans among them – who defeated a pair of special interest bills called SOPA (“Stop Online Piracy Act”) and PIPA (“Protect IP Act”), Hacking Politics provides the first detailed account of the glorious, grand chaos that led to the demise of that legislation and helped foster an Internet-based network of amateur activists.

Included are more than thirty original contributions from across the political spectrum, featuring writing by Internet freedom activist Aaron Swartz; Lawrence Lessig of Harvard Law School; novelist Cory Doctorow; Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA.); Jamie Laurie (of the alt-rock/hip-hop group The Flobots); Ron Paul; Mike Masnick, CEO and founder of Techdirt; Kim Dotcom, internet entrepreneur; Tiffiniy Cheng, co-founder and co-director of Fight for the Future; Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit; Nicole Powers of Suicide Girls; Josh Levy, Internet Campaign Director at Free Press, and many more.

Suggested price for e-book, $10. Go to OR Books now and for a limited time just “pay what you can.” (Also available in paperback for $25).

“We have met the enemy and he is us.”  As true now as when Pogo first said it in 1971. All Osama had to do was take down two buildings then sit back and let us dismantle the rest of the country.

The citizens of America have more to fear from the loss of a free press than they do from any individual terrorist plot; and yet, according to The New York Times, Attorney General Eric Holder is defending the recent seizure of A.P. journalists’ phone records (cellular, office, and home) as a needed security measure. In response to Holder’s insistence that the information leak “Put the American people at risk, and that is not hyperbole.” the A.P.’s president and chief executive, Gary Pruitt responded,

“We held that story until the government assured us that the national security concerns had passed,” he said. “Indeed, the White House was preparing to publicly announce that the bomb plot had been foiled.”

So it wasn’t even true — the threat had passed — but this is beside the point. What’s appalling is that the country’s top law enforcement officer, sworn to uphold the Constitution, is targeting journalists at all.

Read Edward Fitzpatrick’s excellent piece in today’s ProJo in which Rosanna Cavanagh, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, discusses the chilling effect these actions could have on investigative journalism.

“This broad and unparalleled intrusion into the phone records of one of the world’s largest news organizations reflects a misunderstanding of the crucial role played by the press in our contemporary society,” she said. “Our First Amendment protections for the press embody our founders’ vision that only an unfettered press can protect the free flow of information upon which any true democracy depends.”

Cavanagh suggests a federal media-shield law could provide journalists more protection. In the meantime, the entire country would benefit greatly from a new attorney general. President Obama needs to send Eric Holder home to spend more time with his family.