Officer Dan Famiglietti of the Providence Police Mounted Command is patrolling the Thayer Street area today — presumably to greet and guide the out-of-towners — on board this utterly imposing and gorgeous piece of horse flesh. According to the ‘Meet the Horses’ page at the Command website,

The majority of the mounts are “draft crosses” (heavily boned work horses such as Clydesdales, Percherons and Belgians, crossed with the lighter boned saddle breeds such as a Thoroughbred, an American Quarter Horse, a Morgan or an Arabian). These draft crosses are very strong boned, and, as such, they can handle the weight of heavy riders [insert obligatory lame donut joke here: ed.] and walking on hard surfaces for long hours. They also tend not to shy easily, meaning that they are not easily startled and can readily be trained to perform their police duties. Most of the horses have been purchased in Canada.

I believe Cassidy here is a Percheron mix. While useful for crowd control, the horses’ true value lies in the immeasurable goodwill they engender wherever they go. The police horses should always always be with us. (You can probably help Dan out, and do yourself a favor, by avoiding the Angell/Thayer/Waterman/Brook maelstrom whenever possible this weekend.)

When I heard that Great Whites were being drawn to the burgeoning seal population of the Cape Cod coast, I had no idea quite what that looked like. Jeez look at this! The seals look like jimmies on a scoop of ice cream! I grabbed this aerial image from the Turnto10 report about the various beach closings — hope that’s okay, soon find out — here is a link to the Channel 10 report. And apparently Horseneck Beach in Westport was briefly closed Monday morning after a reported sighting there. More about the situation at The Boston Globe. With this all-you-can-eat seal buffet nearby, I’m actually less worried.

Okay, we have a scheduling conflict here but I see no reason why both events can’t start with a little drinking (see below: Beer Garden). According to the Providence Journal many Providence residents have started raising chickens in their backyards for the fresh eggs and plus they are kind of adorable. But raising any farm animal is illegal within city limits. There seems to be a hearing in City Hall today before the ordinance committee where petitioners will make their case for a change in the law.

Other major cities, including New York, Portland, Denver, Baltimore and New Haven, have passed laws allowing for chicken-keeping in recent years, according to Leo Pollack, education director at the Southside Community Land Trust, which helped develop the proposed legislation and operates a farm in South Providence that has six chickens.

I’m assuming the issues here are noise and aroma.  At any rate, this hearing is to start exactly when the ‘Mericans take the stage at the Beer Garden, and I’m pretty sure their fan base consists mostly of chicken farmers and law-breakers. What to do? Everybody meet at the Beer Garden at 4:30pm and figure it out.

Hearing City Hall, 5:30pm, Thursday [Update: ProJo reports on hearing.]

(Trivia Quiz: What frothing, racist, sanctimonious, dirtbag currently in the news voiced Rocky the Rhode Island Red in the movie ‘Chicken Run’? Answer after the jump.)

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Paul the octopus has picked Spain to win today’s final game against the Netherlands. He is 7/0 so far. I just like that his name is Paul. Game live today at 2:30pm, Channel 6. [Nailed it! 8/0]

Any homesick expats living in the city, or more likely Brooklyn or Hoboken I suppose, the What Cheer? Brigade is playing tonight at Santos Party House, a club designed from the floorboards up by none other than Andrew WK. It’s a great venue and if Andrew happens to be there — he is gonna love you guys!!! Have a blast!

$8, 11pm, Thursday, Javelin cd release party, Santos Party House, 96 Lafayette Street, Manhattan, 212.584.5492

Attention Dick fans, for an evening of expertly executed weirdness check out Saturday’s show — The Preserving Machine — at AS220.

A multimedia performance based on the Philip K. Dick story of the same name… sheet music is transformed into animals in an effort to enable it to survive the coming dark ages… music/sound/projections by Blevin Blectum aka Bevin Kelley…text design/foley sound by Theo Goodell… and featuring the acting talents of David Higgins as Doc Labyrinth, and Rachel Jendrzejewski and Elise Morrison as the Narrator.

So little attention is paid to good foley work these days. I hope I see some cocoanut shells when I walk in the door. (There may be some drunken Irish folk making noise at the bar, Mr. Goodell, so clop hard.)

$6, 9pm, Saturday, April 17, The Preserving Machine, AS220, 115 Empire Street

This installation runs through May 23 at the Barbican in London, after which the lead bird will develop an intractable substance abuse problem and the flock will break up to perform various solo projects.

If you don’t know who this is then you must be new to these parts. In fact, it’s almost impossible to stay out of their way, but why would you want to? My favorite accidental meeting was election night 2008, heading for my car and bumping into the manic parade. Then there was that time downstairs at Trinity Brewhouse — goodbye ear cells. At any rate, they have had a personnel turnover and are actively recruiting brass.

If you or someone you know plays trumpet, trombone or baritone, write to us at whatcheerbrigade@gmail.com.

You don’t need to show up the most perfect trumpet player, just be willing to practice and bring yourself up to speed, learn our songs, come to practice (2 nights a week during the regular season) and shows (a few a month, including tour! yes you’ll tour with us), and be excited to be part of our band.

Tons of fun and travel, great times, new skills, new experiences, amazing band mates, being part of a unique and wild group who delivers some unique and wild tunes. We are so lucky to get to do this!

They’ve been to Europe and everything. No electricity needed or wanted, but it helps to have a personality of some sort. I once told Paul I wanted them to play at my funeral, to which he replied “Oh yeah, we do funerals” without taking one moment to contemplate a world without me in it. The man has a cash register for a heart. Learn more about the band at What Cheer? Brigade.

And we were finally able to put faces to some of the names. . . with mixed results. Of course there were some stragglers from the earlier party (lawyers!) so who knows. Big thanks to Chris at ‘The 201′ for helping with the pizza and letting us decorate his walls with all the ecumenical interfaith cheesiness we could afford. Thanks to Eric for lining up the venue, thanks to Matthew for the great music, and thanks to me for picking up the pizza. Oh, and thanks to Dave for ordering the pizza. It was a great crowd of fellow bloggers, commenters, advertisers, riffraff and hangers-on, and we thank you for making it not suck at all.

Of course this note was delayed by the fact that our site was disabled for a considerable time today (as if the blog itself had a hangover — it lives). Turned out our host had us down for routine maintenance, something about an oil change. (And thanks to Tim for fielding my panicky phone call this morning, plus he did some fine balloon work last night.)

Approximately 99% of all the species that have ever existed are now extinct, and man had nothing to do with most of that. But the passenger pigeon? This one’s on us.  And we didn’t do it by slowly destroying their habitat — we actually blasted every last one of them out of the sky. Although in truth, the very last one one died in captivity. According to the Encyclopedia Smithsonian,

The last known individual of the passenger pigeon species was “Martha” (named after Martha Washington). She died at the Cincinnati Zoological Garden, and was donated to the Smithsonian Institution, where her body was once mounted in a display case with this notation:

MARTHA — Last of her species, died at 1pm, 1 September 1914, age 29, in the Cincinnati Zoological Garden — EXTINCT

This feat of annihilation is all the more remarkable when you consider its scope — firsthand accounts of their migrations describe enormous flocks darkening the skies for days. (What would it be like if this was still happening in modern America?) The extinction of species, avian migration, and memory have inspired a new exhibition at the Bell Gallery by artist Rachel Berwick — Zugunruhe*. The ‘birds’ are in the second room, but stop and read at least some of the text (eyewitness reports) on the walls in the first room. It prepares your mind.

David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, 64 College Street, 863.2932, through February 14

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UPDATE: The Projo has an update on the eviction, and plans to care for the animals.

ORIGINAL,12/8: Fortunately Dr. Ernest Finocchio, head of the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, appears to be on top of the dire situation developing at Bonniedale Farms in Glocester. Yesterday morning Dan MacKenzie, the owner of Bonniedale, was served with eviction papers by a constable representing a Massachusetts bank. A moving van has cleared the personal effects out, but 136 animals have been left behind. According to the ProJo,

Finocchio said he was advised that the bank had hired an agency to take care of the animals. Whatever they do, he said, they had better do quickly because state law requires that animals must be provided with potable water and food within 24 hours, and he has the authority to bring charges.

“If that’s not done, we’ll have no choice but to follow the law and charge someone with neglect of these animals,” said the Rhode Island SPCA leader, who vowed to be back at the farm Tuesday at 9 a.m. Finocchio did succeed in having some animals removed from the site Monday, including a 7-foot corn snake, which was taken to the SPCA shelter in East Providence.

Good luck to Dr. Finnochio who is working on this with the Glocester Animal Control Officer as well as the state veterinarian. If this requires court action, let’s hope it moves to the top of the calendar.

Events continue today and through Sunday at the Rhode Island Convention Center as the Bay Colony Cluster Dog Show takes over downtown Providence. ‘Best of Breed’ judging culminates in the final ‘Best of Show’ event. We all know the drill by now — groups include sporting, working, terrier, toy (seen here; Pomeranian, aerial view). Go cheer on your fave and see what a groomed specimen looks like.

Rhode Island Convention Center, 1 Sabin Street, 8am to 5pm, $12 adults, $7 for children 12 and under

We’re finally waging war at the 54th parallel — against the Asian Carp.  They’ve breached our first line of defense, an underwater electric fence.   Next maneuver: chemical warfare.

For a sense of why we hate them so:

But if you wanna see a fish that really flies:

Peter Singer is controversial not because his philosophy is especially profound — it’s a heavily utilitarian moral philosophy based on derivations from a few simple first principles, which are themselves attempts to capture those characteristics that make humans empathetic and sympathetic to one another.

Rather, he’s controversial because he dares to say stuff that people will gleeful pounce upon and strive to misconstrue, and calls them out on their own contradictory behavior.  When he asserts something that sounds like, to paraphrase, “A three-year old dog is more empathetic and intelligent than a 3-month old human baby, and therefore no more deserving of harm,” he’s not suggesting the we hurt the baby.  He’s suggesting that we be gentle to the dog.  You can tell him just what a vile so-and-so he is, at Brown, tomorrow:

Peter Singer, the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics in the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University, will discuss “Ethics and Animals: Where We’ve Come From, and Where We Need To Go.” A Q&A session will follow his talk. Presented by the Brown Animal Rights Club, this event begins at 7 p.m. in MacMillan Hall, Room 117.

The Providence Rescue League is having its annual Howl-o-Ween Party this afternoon.

Get in costume and come to PARL with your 4-legged friend for pet (and people) costume contests, critter-related crafts, candy, snacks, and a bake sale to benefit the animals in our shelter!

Shop for a good cause — check out the pet-safe pies from Cutie Pies and eco-friendly dog toys from Furry Friends — and a portion of the proceeds will benefit PARL.

1pm to 3pm, Saturday, 34 Elbow Street, 421.1399 x210