That’s as good a description of Ponytail as anything I could make up. Tonight is our chance to find out what the Baltimore press has been going on about. Much high praise for the band but it’s

Molly Siegel, the screeching and cooing Thumbelina who sounds like Ari Up imitating Elmo and Cookie Monster, that makes Ponytail something special.

I’m not hearing Cookie Monster frankly, and the guys are pretty damn special too. Check out the Aug/Sep issue of Bust. The band takes you on a tour of Baltimore where they met at the Maryland Institute College of Art (wonder if they know my niece.) The amazing video on their myspace (very bottom) indicates that their tuition dollars were not wasted.

Check out songs ‘Beg Waves’ and ‘Die Allman Bruder’ and tell me they won’t be insane live. If you are in need of a soul-cleansing spazz-out then get your sweaty carcass out to Olneyville tonight. Dear god it’s gonna get ripe.

starts 11-ish/Jeremy’s Sloth Zone/50 Agnes Street

I’m getting pretty amp’d for  The Steelyard is Burning tonight. I know because I woke up jittery and anxious at like 6:30 this morning and began compulsively adding my favorite jammies to my already ample playlist. Just imagine the vibes and wonderful people at a normal  Providence is Burning (the next installment of which is coming on May 31, 2008 at Firehouse 13) and crank them up about four gagillion times.  Jackson and I,  Certified Max and a bevy of artists and industrialists of all stripes will be holding it down in a rainproof tent with a battery of subs by our sides. Come check out dope lights by Power Posse and cold brews by Gansett cuz 27 Sims is gonna get loopy tonight at 10pm.

When all those folks from Olneyville, and Fort Thunder, said that the Shaws at Eagle Square wasn’t going to do much good?   Ehh… I’m already in a super-cynical spot these days, so just read it:

Residents of Providence’s Valley section will have an easier trip for groceries come Sunday as the PriceRite grocery chain opens a store in the Eagle Square shopping center.

The new PriceRite is filling a 55,000-square-foot space left vacant last summer when Shaw’s Supermarkets closed a store. It’s a tactic the Wethersfield, Conn., chain often employs.

“We take over existing buildings,” said Kurt Schultz, a PriceRite spokesman.

The Valley section’s gain is Olneyville’s loss as the PriceRite operation is moving from a smaller building on Manton Avenue, about a mile from Eagle Square. PriceRite had occupied its spot in Olneyville since 1998. PriceRite has five years left on the lease for the Olneyville store, Schultz said, there are no plans yet to sublet the building. The Olneyville store will close tomorrow at 6 p.m

The March ‘08 issue of Wire magazine includes an interview with… yes… Andrew WK. I know I’m exceeding my monthly limit on AWK posts — but this is about Providence! Many familiar names come up here, like Pete Bulb and Magus and Lightning Bolt… and happy memories of the Fort. Also interesting stuff about recent projects like To Live and Shave in L.A. as well as the Boredoms (who happen to be playing March 29th at the Paradise in Boston.)

This is out of a Steel Yard press release that I should’ve posted a few days ago:

The Steel Yard’s Olneyville Trash Cans find a Home

The Steel Yard announced today that artist Lu Heintz’s sculptural trash cans will be installed in Olneyville, the neighborhood for which they were initially intended.

The industrial arts-focused non-profit spent many months negotiating a new location for the cans after the original clients were unwilling to accept the cans due to differences between the design concept they approved and the final product. Public input helped the Steel Yard create a short list of possible locations that were considered based on criteria including public accessibility and the potential for stewardship….

The cans will be installed on Aleppo Street, a road that runs between Riverside Park, a reclaimed brownfield, and Riverside Townhomes affordable housing for Olneyville residents.

Atlantic Mills, from Art In Ruins

I’ve gotten wind of a rumor that Olneyville Discount Furniture (green awning) which currently occupies 3,000 -4,000 square feet of Atlantic Mills may be moving to Eagle Square. Run Away Jim wrote about a Projo article that says PriceRite will be moving from it’s current location adjacent to Atlantic Mills to Eagle Square to fill the void left by Shaw’s. Which makes we wonder where the furniture store would fit in at Eagle Square unless the former Shaw’s location was going to be subdivided. It also makes me worry about what will happen at Atlantic Mills if the larger retail spots start to empty out. I’m hoping for the world’s largest Dunkin’ Donuts, which will would be literally around to corner from everything.

Ian’s having a pretty good day over at Not for Nothing. Now he brings us word of Grover Norquist’s upcoming visit to Cuban Revolution:

Offering proof positive that politics makes strange bedfellows, the December 12 visit to Rhode Island by leading conservative strategist Grover Norquist — a benefit for the Ocean State Policy Research Institute — is slated to take place at the Cuban Revolution in Olneyville! Holy black bean soup!

Maybe this ( tickets run from $50 to $250 for a meet-and-greet) makes a little sense. The two-front Cuban Revolution was started, after all, by Ed Morabito, who worked as a key aide to former GOP Governor Lincoln Almond.

Here he is from last night’s Repub Youtube debate:

Oh, wait. Here it is:

Mad bands (not angry, but mad as in the cali-slang for a surfeit) play Building 16 tonight near Olneyville Square. Get there early at 7:30 for a free showcase featuring The One Time String Band (ol’timey openers), Metropolis (psycho/electro/metal/funk), Adelit@s (punk/folk/latin) - all the way from Portland OR on their “Spreading Joy and Rebellion Across the Land” tour. Local faves Killing Pablo round out the evening riding their oh-so-emotronic wall of sound.

My girlfriend spotted this Hooded Merganser while we were walking in Riverside Park. I’m always kind of surprised when I see something like this in Providence. Like most people the only wildlife I expect to see in the city are rats, pigeons, and seagulls, but as more areas of the city become open green spaces I’m hoping that more woodland creatures will start calling Providence home. Some other local wild residents that can be seen around town include: Mallards, Canadian Geese, Double-Breasted Cormorants, and Red-Shouldered Hawks (especially cool when seen hunting pigeons in Olneyville parking lots).

I’m addicted to Wale’s mixtape. It’s getting more rewinds than that Diplo v DJ Shadow joint. But, despite my friend Michaelle’s vote of approval, I can’t shake the feeling that he’ll suffer a fate like Lupe Fiasco, who Mark Ronson called a cockface. Please comment with your thoughts on the W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E. I really agree with that shit: You just want to have some nice jeans and kicks. Nick Catchdubs, of the Fools Gold camp, is coming to Providence Is Burning. The next jump off is October 31st with Gogol Bordello minus a lead singer, a $35K performance fee and a PA (AKA What Cheer Brigade) and cool shit starting at 9pm (eg. whiskey apples).

The infamous Olneyville garbage cans are now on display at the Dirt Palace.

The Steelyard has a page up explaining their take on the situation, and a place to leave comments about the way they’ve handled the controversy.

In late 2006, the Steel Yard’s Urban Furniture program (one of a kind, custom- produced street amenities designed and built by RI artists) was contracted by the Olneyville Housing Corporation to produce a series of tree guards and garbage cans for Olneyville. We hired independent artists to produce these amenities, including Lu Heintz. As artists for hire, individuals who work on these projects are contracted to create and sell work to the Steel Yard and we, in turn, re-sell this work to a public client. In this case, the client was OHC, acting as fiscal agent for the Olneyville Merchants Association.

After the cans were produced, the client took issue with the content of Lu’s set of four garbage cans, feeling that they were not the product they had contracted for and that certain elements of the design content were not fully representative of their community. The Steel Yard felt obligated to uphold the client’s right to reject the product but also felt a strong responsibility to the artist we hired. The artist saw this as a rejection of her work and as a form of censorship.

In reflecting on our process, the Steel Yard realized that the cans’ inclusion of text demanded a higher form of approval than we typically undertook. While we could not undo this mistake, we were committed to resolving the issue and facilitated multiple conversations and negotiations that included the Steel Yard, the client and the artist and her spokesperson.

Dissidents be warned: It seems the revolution will live on, even if Fidel Castro fails in his quest to outlast Bush’s presidency.

As Fidel’s health remains in question, he’ll no doubt find renewed strength in knowledge that the new Cuban Revolution megaplex in Olneyville has just opened its doors. It’s around four times the size of the downtown outfit.

The DailyDose keeps on wishing it had a deeper understanding of the quixotic politics of Cuban Revolution’s Republican-staffer-turned- leftist-congressional-candidate owner, Ed Morabito. But it knows it likes his food.

RIFuture has this post on Dan Yorke’s apparent desire to repeal the 19th amendment, following in Anne Coulter’s steps in suggesting that women shouldn’t be able to vote. I’d love to be able to ignore or laugh at all the Rhode Island talk radio loonies, but they’ve sadly actually got some influence.

The Phoenix has Megan Hall’s update on the infamous Shaw’s at Eagle Square - once a major selling point of the Feldco development that got a lot of tax breaks to knock down a number of buildings, destroy Fort Thunder, and put up some strip-mall style shopping and “artists’ lofts” nobody wanted to rent.

And we’re all famous! What with the AP having picked up the Mike Townsend-and-crew living-in-the-mall story. I don’t think Providence has made news this big since, well, that Providence-built terrorist submarine story from August. Feels about right.

 As I’m sure all of you know we are currently smack dab in the in the middle of Sukkot, the Jewish Feast of Booths or if you prefer, the Feast of Tabernacles. I know you’ve been meaning to celebrate but have been just too busy watching Latin American films. Well not to worry, Olneyville resident Miriam Goldberg will be hosting a Sukkah party tomorrow so you don’t have to. What’s a Sukkah you ask? Well in the words of the hostess ”it’s a temporary outdoor dwelling built to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot — kind of like a tree-house, but this one is in an alleyway in Olneyville.”

• When: Tomorrow, 9/30, 1pm ’til whenever. drop by anytime.
• Where: 32 Tuxedo Ave, Providence, RI
• What: Hang out in a Sukkah, eat goodies, bring a friend
• Optional: bring a (meatless) snack or a drink to share

So be you jew or be you goy, see you tomorrow under the leafy boughs.

You might think a bike path started in 2004 would be easy navigate and safe to ride in 2007. Well, woh hoh my friend you’d be wrong. There have long been plans to build a bike path connecting Providence to the East Bay Bike path, which starts in East Providence and goes to Bristol, but completion it appears is not on horizon. (more…)