This Friday marks the 15th anniversary of the original airing of the “Lisa’s Wedding” episode of The Simpsons. This anniversary is notable as the episode takes place 15 years in the future — in 2010. For me, it doesn’t seem nearly so long ago that the episode aired, but it’s funny to look back now that we’re living in the year of that imagined future.

While a lot of the episode’s future jokes are backwards-looking, it does seem to get it right at many levels. The Rolling Stones “Steel Wheelchair Tour 2010” hits home, and the consolidation of ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN into one network seems appropriate, even if it’s not totally accurate. The “40 Classic Films Starring Jim Carrey” joke is even more interesting in light of somewhat recent critical opinion.

Having made it to 2010, we’re starting to hit the prime time of these sorts of run-ins with past future-based fictions. Marty McFly and co. are just around the corner in 2015.

Hulu clips plus more after the jump.
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Maya Allison, curator of recently-shuttered gallery 5 Traverse, is teaming up with photographers Frank Mullin and Magaly Ponce for a silent auction and exhibition to benefit victims of the earthquakes and tsunami that have recently affected Chile, where rural areas were deeply devastated and where winter is coming.

The pieces being auctioned come from a who’s who of local artists:

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The Senate commission chaired by Senator Joshua Miller (D-Cranston) has recommended the decriminalization of an ounce or less of marijuana. According to the ProJo, the panel

. . .voted Tuesday to approve the contents of a 24-page final report that concludes that “marijuana law reform” would save Rhode Island a substantial amount of money by avoiding “costly arrests [and] incarcerations due to simple possession of marijuana.”

So a fiscal meltdown will finally bring about what decades of government data and reasoned arguments (from liberals and conservatives) could not. Okay, I’ll take it.

Opposing panel member Central Falls Police Chief Joseph Moran trotted out that long-discredited malarkey about ’sending the wrong message’ calling marijuana “a dangerous drug”. Children get their ‘messages’ from their parents not the general assembly or the police chiefs of America. Former hall monitor and current Attorney General Patrick Lynch also opposes decriminalization (anyone hoping for Carcieri Redux will be interested in this man’s gubernatorial platform). What world do these people live in? Or what decade? It’s as if they were frightened as children by an episode of Dragnet, and have read or heard absolutely nothing on the topic ever since.

So let me take this opportunity to wish a Happy St. Patrick’s Day to Mister Lynch and Mister Moran. Feel free to hoist a pint or two of ‘the right message’.

Two hearings on bills of mine that might be of interest to folks here:

We increased the number of potential charter schools in the state last night.  I voted for the measure, but as I mentioned on the floor, I’m still very concerned about charters’ creaming off of students who have more involved parents, and who are therefore predisposed to achieve at a relatively high level.   I describe the problem in more detail over here, but the essential concern is that to get into a charter, a kid needs a parent to usher him or her through the process and who will pledge to be highly involved in his or her education.  Ideally, every parent would be willing and able to be so committed to their kids, but we don’t live in an ideal world, and so kids without that sort of support can’t get into most charters.

H7415, to be heard before the House’s Health, Education, and Welfare Committee, addresses the issue by creating an opt-out system, rather than an opt-in system.  Charters that believe they can do a bang-up job of educating anybody and everybody should love the idea, as it provides them a chance to prove their mettle.  And we ought be very concerned about those that express apprehension — a school that’s not willing to work the a true cross-section of the public school population should not be funded with public dollars.

H7584 would allow cities and towns to require demolition bonds and other assurances from developers that want to tear down historic buildings, and is inspired by the rash of demolitions in downtown Providence over the course of the recent boom years — none of which have yielded the promised new developments.

Now, for comic relief, here’s the leaning tower of Sioux Falls:

A reminder that tonight the Providence Children’s Museum presents this documentary at Temple Beth-El, followed by a panel discussion.

The provocative documentary film examines an issue of growing concern among pediatricians, mental health experts, educators and environmentalists: more and more children are growing up today with few opportunities for unstructured play, especially outdoors.  An audience discussion about the ideas explored in the film will follow each screening. Panelists include Providence Children’s Museum director Janice O’Donnell; Jewish Community Day School assistant head of school Renee Rudnick; Tufts University child development professor Dr. W. George Scarlett; and Grow Smart Rhode Island director Scott Wolf.

This was discussed in a post last week where a commenter drew this recent NYT article to our attention regarding a company that now runs and manages school recess programs. And while I was a bit surprised to find that recess even exists anymore, this is hardly the ‘unstructured play’ that it once was. Go here for more info about the movie and the second screening scheduled for March 30th at URI.

7pm to 9pm, Tuesday, Temple Beth-El, 70 Orchard Avenue

Find true love at JERKUS CIRCUS this Saturday at AS220!

Comedy, burlesque, and freaks! Voted best neo-vaudeville by the Boston Phoenix in ‘09. Produced, Created, and Hosted by the world famous Steamy Bohemians.

Jerkus Circus is America’s most delinquent traveling circus, a campy cabaret show that will steal your heart. . .  and your identity. . . to download porn. Called “haute vaudeville” by the Boston Phoenix, Jerkus Circus brings back variety in style, including wildly diverse performance artists, uniquely hilarious comedic acts, pasties, drug references, and all your favorite swear words. Watch us channel the gods of chaos! Our struggle will seem effortless. What song will Lainey forget how to play? What will Niki pull out of her boobs? There’s only one way to find out. Come see hilarious comedians, scary weirdos, sexy dancing, and fabulous music. Created, produced, and hosted by The Steamy Bohemians.

9pm, Saturday, $8 or less, AS220, 115 Empire Street, all ages

Featuring:

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I can’t get a handle on the tone I should take here at all, but here goes. Apparently I missed one of the most important categories in my recent post about The Providence Phoenix 2010 ‘Best of’ poll — that being ‘Best Politician’. Because frankly . . . who would even think to look for such a thing? But now I find that our very own Dave Segal is listed and I certainly can’t ignore such a thing. So on the one hand, I don’t want to be too too jokey here because Dave really is the best. On the other hand, he is modest to a fault and prefers to have the spotlight on his various causes and initiatives, not himself. On the third hand he doesn’t take himself too seriously because he is not a pompous ass and likes to have fun. (For more info on Rhode Island’s District 2 Representative David Segal go here.)

In conclusion — he may not care about these things, but I do. Vote for Dave! He’s the best!

(Your other choices will be Kennedy, Langevin, Whitehouse, Reed, and ‘write-in’. Voting ends Thursday, do it now.)

The proprietors of the Fones Alley Pub aim to have the renovation/remodeling project completed soon and hope to reopen on March 25th. Don’t panic, the murals are still visible.

I have this article up at HuffPo today. Essentially, I think that Dems are misreading a lot of the angst that’s out there right now. It’s not cause to clam up — it’s a reason to show some fight.

Criminal justice reform plays well to our base, and also to many Ron Paulies and crew, who are fiscal and social libertarians.

We should push hard on marijuana decrim and probation reform, and stop locking up women for prostitution. Doing so would save money and afford us a greater claim to the mantle of fiscal responsibility, do right by disenfranchised constituents, and appeal to a lot of people who identify with the moment’s right and center-right populism.

The funders of the Tea Party are indeed of the intransigent far right, but It’s imprudent to dismiss all of the popular consternation — and every person who’s attended a rally or who voted for Ron Paul — as essentially reactionary. (As a former Green, I’ve had quite a few conversations with people who voted for Nader in 2000 or 2004, and then Paul in 2008. While I think they were misguided, those votes were expressing something very different than the left’s caricature of the underpinnings of contemporary popular angst.)

Last month’s Tea Party convention was notable for how much time was devoted to consideration of how to hold together the strong-willed, and frequently headstrong, members of the movement. It was rife with lofty platitudes about agreeing to disagree, and pledges to abide by paraphrases of Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of another conservative.”

All the more evidence that Democrats can and should break up the party by taking aggressive stands on those issues that’ll pry loose social libertarians. And foremost, we should quit locking people up for no good reason.

Census jobs abound. Read more here. And here. (Any old Projo article’s an excuse for Lardaro to throw a sucker punch.)

Leonardo Lardaro, distinguished professor of economics at the University of Rhode Island, said that one reason why the census bureau might be having trouble attracting applicants is because of unemployment benefits. He said that people on unemployment might feel a temporary census job is only going to be a few extra dollars more than an unemployment check, so it’s not worth jeopardizing the benefits.

Lardaro said even though the jobs are temporary, they will help Rhode Island’s ailing economy.

“We are one of the worst states in the country. Rhode Island needs all the help we can get,” Lardaro said. “It takes people off unemployment insurance and eases the pressure on our overburdened trust fund. It might help confidence. Even in the short term … I don’t see how that could possibly hurt.”

Anyone interested in applying for a U.S. Census Bureau job, should call 1-866-861-2010.

While you’re on hold, check out the only census-inspired song I’ve ever heard — Detroit Rebellion’s “Numbers,” at the bottom of the song listings on his MySpace page.  It’s based on Jeff’s thankless spring and summer of 2010. (And imagine what’s in store this year, per the signs like the one above.)

If you see me coming

I’m walking down the street

Will you let me in

Or call the police

I don’t know

All those interested in local, healthy food and care about the environmental impact of larger agricultural interests can meet like-minded people and learn about the Urban Greens Food Co-op.

Take an evening to connect with other founding members, welcome new members, and celebrate all things Urban Greens. Come early for free appetizers and get your free raffle ticket for a chance to win great prizes like a one hour massage, a gift certificate to Cellar Stories, a coffee gift box from Equal Exchange or New Harvest Coffee Roasters, and a fitness starter package from CrossFit Providence!

The 2010 season launch and membership drive will take place this Tuesday at Loie Fuller in the west end.

Tuesday, 6pm to 8pm, Loie Fuller, 1455 Westminster Street

Dave, bartender at Local 121, requests your company at the bar down the street.

The voting deadline for The Providence Phoenix ‘The Best 2010′ poll has been extended until March 18th. Pick your favorites in the various and sundry food, drink, entertainment and arts categories. (The fragmentation within these categories is getting a little ridicolous — wiener joint and wiener/hot dog joint?)

Having said that, under ‘City Life’ you will find the ‘Best Blog’ category and even if we here at The Dose act all too-cool-for-school, we are actually horribly needy and insecure, and in constant need of stroking and validation, and would really love to win this honor. . . again. The other nominees are worthy enough — although there are a few glaring omissions — but just vote for us. Pleeeeeeze.

(Um, also, go to ‘Place for Coffee’ and vote for Blue State Coffee.)

Set your clocks forward one hour tonight before you go to bed, or Sunday 2am, whichever comes first.

It is Saturday and it is raining and you are miserable.  But to brighten your day, here are some beautiful Swedish women to sing in a foreign tongue at you.

I just spent the last two hours watching the final of Melodifestivalen, which is this annual music competition thing wherein the people of Sweden choose their selection for Eurovision, which is this other, much larger music contest thing that probably you have never heard of.  A doll-like girl named Anna Bergendahl won, but don’t worry about that.  Worry about the delightful song above, which is called “Kom” and which is by a group called Timoteij.  It was miles better than any of the other entries.

Two more non-winners after the jump:

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Friday — @the 201, She Rides, Hollow, Lifers, White Load @AS220, Troop of Echoes, Zun Zun Egui, People of Color, Divets @Lupo’s, Chevelle, The Letter Black @Club Hell, Lost in Layaway, Indiana Handshake, Stealing Harvard, Amoretti @Jerky’s, Inspectah Deck (Leon Redbone at the Narrows is sold out.)

Saturday — @AS220, Vaz, Soul Control, Todd, The Network, Drunkdriver, Outrage @Jerky’s, Hardig Rhode, Speqtra @Nick-A-Nee’s, Shacklehands

Sunday — @Lupo’s, Alkaline Trio, Cursive @AS220, Mother of Dylan, Jesse Mack, Meghan Yates @Club Hell, Kilslug, For Tha Worse, Gutbucket, Rampant Decay @Jerky’s, Joell Ortiz, Joe Budden

(photo by mattie dunlap)

And now for something completely different — and for adults only. The 201 will be the site of ‘Bawdy Broads’, presented by Speakeasy! and hosted by Lulu Locks of Providence Pinup,

fresh off her performance in the Vagina Monologues earlier that day. Bettysioux Tailor returns to tantalize with burlesque, and Niki Luparelli and the Gold Diggers play live. Further musical musings are provided by local favorites Miss Wensday and the New Medicinals, performing jazz and cabaret classics with a saucy twist.

Join us at 8:30 for our VIP cocktail hour and have an exclusive photo taken at the Providence Pinup VIP photo booth! Bettysioux Tailor will delight with Burlesque Bingo — this is NOT your grandmother’s bingo! Win the game and get a fabulous treat. Enjoy some tasty nibbles and an exclusive first pass at our fabulous vendors.

Bettysioux Tailor is known to fans of the annual ‘Christmas Belles and a Couple of Balls’ at Perishable and she is awesome. VIP cocktail hour starts at 8:30pm for $15. General admission starts at 9:30pm for $7. A portion of the proceeds go to benefit Crossroads RI Women’s Center.

Saturday, 8:30pm VIP, 9:30pm general admission, the 201, 201 Westminster Street, 21+