Oh, hi, Daily Dose readers.  It’s me, Matthew.  Remember me?  I used to post here a lot, but in the words of our dear friends Staind it’s been awhile.*

Anyway, in my months and months of not writing anything here, I’ve been busy working on a new print magazine.  It’s pretty arty and pretty gay.  And just plain pretty, if you don’t mind my saying so.  It’s called Headmaster.  My co-editors and I send out creative homework assignments to artists and writers that we like, and then we make a magazine out of the results.  Probably you don’t want your children to see it.

But!  I mention this here, and now, because we’re throwing a big launch party tomorrow.  It’s taking place at Heir, the antiques store (and suddenly stylish menswear emporium) on Westminster Street.  It starts at 6!  It “ends at 9!”  It will be fun!  We even invented a cocktail for the occasion and everything.

*Oh, okay.  They’re not actually your friends.  Or mine.

The New England Americana Festival Presents… this Saturday, October 30th, 7pm at the 201, 201 Westminster St, Downcity Providence

This is an early show, starts at 7. For a mere $5, you may see the following fine acts:

7:15 Ian Fitzgerald
8:00 Jeff Conley
9:00 Jenee Halstead
10:00 Mark Cutler & the Men of Great Courage
11:00 Autumn Hollow Band
12:00 Jeff Byrd & Dirty Finch

Check out the Facebook invite. Bring your friends, and your enemies too!

Sorry to be both a Last-Minute Larry and a Self-Promoting Samuel, but tonight Mr. Ben Legg and I will be hosting a big celebration of European pop music at the 201, to kick off Eurovision season.

Eurovision, if you’re not aware, is this big pageant of schmaltz, wherein all the countries of Europe compete for dominance through the power of three-minute pop song.  It’s been going on since the fifties, and it’s spawned such classics as “Volare,” “Love Is Blue,” ABBA’s “Waterloo,” and Gina G’s eternal “Ooh Ahh…Just A Little Bit.”  Last year’s festival was AMAZING, and featured one Ukrainian pop diva who sang and played a flaming drumset while being dragged across the stage by dancers dressed as Centurions. (Sadly she only came in 12th.)

This year’s finals, held in Norway, are a week from Saturday, but we’ll be celebrating TONIGHT, spinning some classic Eurovision songs, some of this year’s hits, as well as some other classic pop songs from Iceland to Israel.*

Oh, and It’s free.

After the jump, my three favorites from this year:

more »

Saturday April 17th — come and celebrate Dash’s first anniversary! A full day of fun all over the city of Providence.

1pm ‘Here To Stay’ alley cat race starting at DASH. Come and ride all over Providence in our messenger style checkpoint race. Bag and lock required, 1pm sharp, $5 entry fee, prizes TBA.

4pm to 7pm Open House and Raffle: We’ll be here at the shop, having a good time, hanging out, and having some killer deals sponsored the way that only Nice Slice Pizza and Narragansett Beer can! Tickets only $10 for a chance to win a $500 gift certificate to Dash.

Dash Bicycle, 267 Broadway, 401.453.DASH

9pm: After party at The 201, 201 Westminster Street. Bikes, Bands, and Booze! Goldsprints Roller Races! Live music and drink specials! No cover with your race manifest — makes it’s good to be in it for the long haul!

Tomorrow night the Biltmore will be looking more like Baltimore* when the hotel’s Grand Ballroom is transformed into a den of sin.  The theme is Divine Intervention, as in film star Divine, and it’s presented by Paint It Pink and the RISD Queer Student Association.  Musical entertainments will be provided by Mahi Mahi, The What Cheer? Brigade, Tinsel Teeth, Nicky Click and DJ Morgan Louis, and there will be all kinds of special guests.  The night will be hosted by Miss Darlin’.

According to the Facebook invite, DRAG/CROSS-DRESSING/GENDERFUCKING/LOOKING HOT is STRONGLY ENCOURAGED!!  So, bear that in mind.

Tickets are $8 at the door but $6 if you buy them ahead of time at Armageddon Shop or the Alleycat.  Ballroom spectacle at bargain prices!

Friday
Biltmore Grand Ballroom
$6 in advance/$8 at the door
8:30 pm

(*I know that is the worst joke ever. I’m sorry.)

Another fine event from the Steelyard folks:

Remember how fun it was to play with clay?  Relive the magic! Learn to throw, build, and roll while enjoying wine, beer, soda and great music.

Friday, June 5th
6:30—10:00pm

Admission: $20
Children under 12 years of age: $10
Price of admission includes one drink and all-you-can-eat snacks.

Also check out our Bowl Sale and purchase pottery hand-crafted by Steel Yard Ceramics Cooperative Residents.

This event is one of many that are part of our “Works in Progress” fundraiser.  Stay tuned for more events!

Lots of stuff tonight:

Dining Out For Life is happening tonight.  A bunch of restaurants got together and agreed to donate 25% of tonight’s sales (excluding liquor) to AIDS Project RI.  So lay off the cocktails and get some dessert, in other words. Participating restaurants this year include India, Blaze, Minerva’s, Taste of India, CAV, the Blue Grotto, New Rivers, Pakarang, Gracie’s, Zooma, Pizzico, Rue De L’Espoir, the Cactus Grille, and that haven of manliness, Downcity.  You can also go to Spain in Cranston or a couple of places in Pawtucket.

At the RISD Museum, Diane Lewis will be talking about modern architecture at 6:30.  I hear this is going to be good, although I don’t know much about it and had never heard of Lewis before the other day.

Finally, The Tempest kicks off tonight at the Pell Chafee Performance Center (aka that giant space next to AS220 that nobody ever uses for anything even though it’s really cool inside.)  Tickets are only five smackeroos.

 If you’ve never seen Bread & Puppet Theatre, they’ve been around since the early ’60s, using puppets and other visuals to tell stories without words.  We’ve been to their museum in VT, enjoying 20-odd-foot-tall puppets, fresh baked bread, and cheap, zany artwork (our kitchen houses a screen print saying, “Let’s eat garlic and make out”).  Tonight catch a somewhat adult-themed show at the Met School’s Black Box Theatre.  Tomorrow, catch a free, family-friendly show outside Brown, and Sunday, another at Trinity United Methodist Church.  I kind of doubt they’ll have bread with them at the shows, but you never know.

Friday: The Met School / 325 Public Street, Providence / 8 p.m. / $10 at door or at www.brownpapertickets.com

Saturday: Main Green at Brown University / 3 p.m. / free

Sunday: parking lot of the Trinity United Methodist Church, corner of Broad and Bridgham Streets, Providence / 3 p.m. / free