If you’re looking for the Toadies show originally scheduled for the Living Room, it got moved to Lupo’s (all tickets honored).  These guys don’t dress flash, but they don’t have to. With People in Planes and Verbana Darvell.

Lupo’s Sunday, $15, doors 8pm, show 9pm

Why not pretend it’s a cultural event. However… you purse your lips, stare into space, and talk about fruity backnotes at your own peril. Today there will be two sessions at the Rhode Island Convention Center of the 15th annual Great International Beer Festival, featuring 250 beers from 160 breweries. There’s food and music as well.

$36, session one from 1pm to 4:30pm, session two runs 6:30pm to 10pm

Did you know that downtown Providence has a resident’s group? Well it does and they’re having a meeting November 3rd at 7:00pm with guest speaker Mr. George Born, Executive Director of Providence Preservation Society. In addition to hearing news and updates about the neighborhood, we’ll hear how George and PPS envision the future of downtown, and what we can do to help.

The meeting takes place at Bravo Brassiere at 123 Empire Street. Stop by for the neighborhood scoop and stay for a drink after.

For more info about the DNA check out www.providencedna.com

HEY remember that one time the other day i posted a 4000 pixel wide image on the main page of the PDD because I momentarily forgot (or arguably never knew) how to use a computer??? Yeah that was AWESOME!! I hope I do it NINE MORE TIMES!!! Anyway here’s a charming reminder, with the official press release, about the Sustainability Show which opens this SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND, 4-7pm, AS220 Main Gallery, 115 Empire St. Providence, RI. It’s also FREE, and there will be food pot-luck-style, so BYOwhatevs.
Press release following the jump.

more »

I know Tim has already covered the details of the Halloween Iron Pour, but this picture is so cool.

$5, doors 6pm, iron starts pouring at 7pm, the Steel Yard, 27 Sims Avenue.

Sustainability Print Show!
The opening is this SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2nd 2008 from 4-7pm at The AS220 Main Gallery space, 115 Empire Street, Providence, RI 02903. It’s also FREE!
Print Show by Just Seeds Visual Arts Cooperative & Thirty+ RI Artists, including (but not limited to! and possibly inaccurate in some instances!):
Mary Tremonte, Josh MacPhee, Bec Young, Pete Yahnke, Meredith Stern, Dylan Miner, Colin Matthes, Erik Ruin, Beatrice McGeoch, Raphael Lyons, Cybele Collins, Michaela Colette Zacchilli, Mike Taylor, Monica Majewski, Scott Noise, Delia Kovac, Tim Patterson, Jenine Bressner, Jola Bielat, Meg Turner, Xander Marro, Caroline Paquita, Jen Daltry, Amber Schulz, Andrew Oesch, Sarah Ryan, Jean Cozzens, Will Schaff, Lu Heintz, Erin Rosenthal, Shawn Gilheeney, Ben Fino-Radin, Anna Shapiro, Jomas Daconceicao.
Come thru! Bring snacks or whatevs, I think its gonna be potluck styleeesssss!!!!!! Suckah!

The Downtown Neighborhood Charette (whose area of focus includes the Jewelry District too) kicks off today. Full schedule is posted here, and today’s workshops are as follows:

11 am-12:30 pm
Focus on Capital Center
What do we need to do to complete Capital Center? Are there any changes to the vision for this area?

1:30 pm-4:30 pm
New Parks/Pedestrian Bridge
Share your ideas on the design of Downtown’s two newest parks and the pedestrian bridge that will connect them after the relocation of Interstate 195 is completed

6 pm-9 pm
Visioning Session
Join your elected officials in a visioning exercise and share your ideas for the future of Downtown Providence

All workshops are at 222 Richmond St, Suite 200.

Photo somehow borrowed from FortWayne.com.  So hopeful they’ll either not care or not notice.

Because nothing says harvest like asphalt, pigeon crap and the Dress Barn (hey, we do have a barn).  Oh well, any excuse to get out of the house and away from the kids. No wait, bring the kids.

2pm — kids costume contest/3pm adult (15+) costume contest

Music, and then ‘Movies on the Block’ continues with Beetlejuice.

Westminster and Union Streets

Looks like the Woolly Fair is on for today.  This is the rescheduled rain-date and sadly it looks as if later tonight it might also get a bit wet.  Judging from the vague accounts of last year’s nutso bacchanal (I only get the sketchiest details, no one can say exactly what happened, but something) a little rain isn’t going to be bothering anyone.  Please note that the venue has shifted up the street a little and the event is no longer affiliated with the Steel Yard. (Jeez, what the hell happened last year?)

Events include the Triage Lounge, Happy Hour Haircuts, Funtanamo Bay Detention Center and Day Spa, the Honey Bunnies and more.

3pm to 3am Sunday, Monohasset Mill, 532 Kinsley Avenue, accessed off of Eagle St. between Monohasset and the Tate Building, $10 (Benefits The Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council)

In Roman numerals, that is!  Ha!

To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the NewPaper (while gracefully skating by the fact that the Phoenix and the NewPaper aren’t the same thing), the Phoenix asked thirty local celebrities questions about stuff they like about Rhode Island.  As a former Jane subscriber, I’m totally into the ‘asking people the same questions in a survey format’ concept, but at the same time I can’t stand when websites make you click through something thirty times over the course of one feature.  I gave up after reading nine of them, though sadly not before seeing the words ‘large quantities of viagra’ under a picture of Burt Crenca.

Or as Nathan Explosion would say — brutal.  Get out of the rain today by taking a tour of The Steel Yard. Wednesdays and Fridays at 1pm it is possible to get an inside view of the foundry, and the blacksmithing and ceramics facilities.  This is the real deal with welding and hammering and forging and pouring.  (Just keep your hand out of that metal punch; see picture.)  If you were inclined to head over this Friday, you might want to call first as I think the Woolly Fair has been scheduled to start Saturday at 3pm, and they might be busy. (I see that CZECH iz your Master is slated for an appearance at the fair — same guys from the Viennagram, but with different clothes and a theremin. More on Woolly Fair later.)

tour 1pm Wednesdays and Fridays, the Steel Yard, 27 Sims Street, 273.7101

Brown’s Rites & Reason Theatre is one of three Black Theaters in Providence (Black Rep and Pawtucket’ Mixed Magic being the other two). R&R has been developing and producing new work by students in Brown’s RPM (Research To Performance) playwriting classes since the 1970s and is the region’s oldest continually producing Black Theatre. That’s not to say R&R doesn’t explode the mold of Black Theatre, producing pieces an out of time retelling of the history of Hawaiian statehood on the eve of Pearl Harbor’s 60th anniversary.

The Forgetting Machine, written by Emma Chung-Ming Tai, and directed by Connie Crawford, with artistic direction by Professor Elmo Terry-Morgan, takes place Thursday October 23, 2008 through Sunday, November 2^nd, 2008. Performances on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays take place at 7 pm and on Sundays at 3pm, Rites and Reason Theatre in the George Houston Bass Performing Arts Space, Brown University, Churchill House, 155 Angell St. Providence. Sunday matinees will be followed by FolkThought, the Rites and Reason signature post play discussions. There is a suggested donation of $10 collected at the door. Reservations may be made 401-863-3558 and forgetting_machine@Brown.edu. All are invited.

Photo: Kai Morrel and Noam Dorr in Emma Chung’s “The Forgetting Machine”

I didn’t realize my post about voting would stir up such a brouhaha from District 7 over the weekend–especially with certain people posting multiple comments using different names (ahem!)–but those of you who live in the Giannini/Ward battleground might be interested in attending the Elmhurst/Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Charrette Follow-Up Meeting Thing tomorrow evening at Robert F Kennedy Elementary School on Nelson Street.  (That’s the one sorta behind LaSalle Bakery.)

I posted about the charrette back in March, after sitting through three days of flip charts and putting stickers on things that we thought were important, and listening to people complain about all the graffiti on Pleasant Valley Parkway, and getting dripped on by melted snow leaking through the roof of Triggs, and having one woman get really condescending and rude when she found out I lived on a street that was mostly multi-family houses (which was particularly annoying, because I don’t.)

The meeting starts at six.  Don’t be surprised if there are confusing activities and/or retired politicians there to remind everyone what a great job they did twenty years ago.

The WaterFire theme tonight is ‘Flames of Hope’ to increase awareness of and raise money for breast cancer research.  A special ‘Flames of Hope Village’ will be set up across from the State House at the intersection of Francis and Gaspee Streets. Day-long events include: a family block party from noon to 4:30pm; a 5:30pm torch ceremony; and a $30 wine and art party — a $60 VIP pass gets you to the really good eating — from 6pm to 11:30pm. The State House will be bathed in a pinky glow. (More at ProJo.) Contact the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation at 861.4376.

The current production at Black Rep, Tracy Letts’ Bug is a great diversion from all of the election hoopla and economic woe in your face everyday. Who doesn’t want to divert their mind by mulling over bizarre/terrifying conspiracy theories and indulging in crack-adled delusions of organic, self-propagating big-brother bugs - but wait, are they delusional or are Agnes and Peter (played by Jackie Davis and Cedric Lily respectively) really onto something?

I had the pleasure of contributing sound effects and design to the production, with the aid of my co-conspirator Joe Beats. Everything in this piece comes together so nicely to create an atmosphere that is, well, disturbed. Especially jarring are the gruesome special effects by Michael Dates (who also does design for the hair at Urban Detour).The production runs through the month on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7pm and Sundays (pay-what-you-can people’s matinee) at 3pm. To reserve tickets email boxoffice@blackrep.orgTo download the “Bug Mix” I made to accompany the production, featuring music from and inspired by the play, click here.To read what the Projo has to say, click here. 

And again with the music from Baltimore, home of the awesome Ponytail (had to get that in there).  Ben must have some history in the Charm City.  Anyway, the guys that are Thrust Lab (former Future Islands drummer) play tonight on Agnes Street behind the car wash.  Also… Jaws da Ride (creepy RISD freaks) Valu-Pak (ex-Grimm Wanting) Bellows (Sousa lurch noise) Kokomo (robotic harp) Rainbro (qwerty kalimba).  Hey, I know what a qwerty kalimba is, and I believe it can be played with a fork.  Here’s a thing that is true; QWERTY is a good Scrabble word.

10pm/Donations accepted/For directions contact ben:bfinoradin@gmail.com