A special night at  at Poly-Phonics
featuring…

Tem Blessed & Busted Fro
Chachi Carvahlo, Riders Against the Storm,
Durdie Furby, First Be, Peter Arteaga and more…

March 3rd, 2008
Providence Black Rep
276 Westminister Street
9 pm, $7.00

The folks over at the Partnership for Creative Industrial Space are psyched about the hearing on their Ordinance tomorrow:

The Industrial Commercial Buildings District (ICBD) Tenant Relocation Ordinance is scheduled for Public Hearing Monday, March 3, 2008 at 6:00 pm in Providence City Hall.

This ordinance - a call to developers of rehabilitation projects to recognize the hardship of tenant displacement and the negative impact on the local community and economy - will enact a policy within the ICBD where commercial tenants can receive a financial stipend and at least 90 days notice of termination regardless of the terms of a lease.

Tonight the Athenaeum continues it’s “Meanwhile, At That Same Moment…” series, about stuff that was going on at the same time that the Athenaeum opened, in 1838:

Fri, 2/29, 5-7pm: SALON - Meanwhile, At That Same Moment… part 4: Roger Williams University architectural historian Rick Greenwood on transportation, circa 1838. At his 1832 inauguration Providence’s first mayor Samuel Bridgham urged inhabitants of the new city to match the spirit of their age, in which “Every thing physical, intellectual and moral in our country … is marching on with steam-boat and railroad speed upon the highway of improvement.”

The citizenry responded to this metaphoric challenge quite literally, embracing steam transportation along with the associated rhetoric of progress through technology. By 1838 the steamboat and the railroad had become integral parts of city life and potent symbols of Providence’s eagerness to secure a prosperous future through industrial growth and innovation. For Athenaeum members and their guests.

This is from the Projo, about Michael Corrente’s attempt to find 10 scripts for 10 movies to be filmed in Rhode Island:

“I’ll make the movie, I promise you. If you send me a script and it’s good and it’s done, I will make that movie for a million dollars. Rhode Island’s a great place to be making movies right now.”

Corrente’s ScareRI is a competition offering unknown screenwriters the chance to pitch him a horror-movie script. Corrente, director of films such as Outside Providence and American Buffalo, created an open call for writers to pitch him their scripts and from those he said he would make 10 feature-length movies, filmed entirely in Rhode Island, with A-list actors as stars. The scripts had to be set in one location, with no more than 10 characters, and could not exceed 90 pages, the equivalent of 90 minutes of screen time.

Are any Dosers participating in this? I’m a bit confused as to exactly what sorts of commitments have been made, and to whom. But it seems like a pretty cool thing, and a nice investment by Corrente in his home town.

Update: Dan Barbarisi sends along some details, via link to his first story on this project.

WaterFire Providence seeks volunteers for their upcoming 2008 Season

Want to be part of the most exciting arts installation in Providence?!  You can help to inspire and transform our city as part of the WaterFire family. WaterFire Providence, the local non-profit organization which produces the popular sculpture installation by artist Barnaby Evans, is calling all people interested in a unique volunteering opportunity.  We welcome citizens from around the area to take an active role in the production of the world-renown art installation, WaterFire. more »

The Providence Newspaper Guild Follies are this Friday — and with Rhode Island politically relevant at the national level, there’s hardcore speculation about who the surprise special guest might be.

Making things even more intense — and making it even more likely that the presidential campaigns will be paying attention: The annual conference of the national Newspaper Guild will be in town this weekend. Meaning that reporters from all over the country will be descending upon Providence. And, in particular, they’re reporters who take their union memberships seriously, and therefore are likely to be especially attuned to politics, and happenings on the Democratic side of the presidential race.

May or may not be too late to get tickets — give the Guild a ring over at (401) 421-9466.

Tonight at the weekly electrofunk party Jump, special guests Triangle Forest along with res. DJ Marty Party Jump, Club Energy, 10pm, $3

Cause if you can’t trust a Jersey Girl for some much-needed sex and dating advice, who can you trust? Lets just get right into it this week:

Q: Ladies,
I’ve been dating this guy that I see about once a week. The sex is good but I feel like we’re falling into a little bit of a routine. We meet up for dinner or drinks, come back to my place and our clothes are off in a matter of seconds. The first few times when we didn’t make it past the kitchen or hallway were exciting. The sense of urgency is really hot but I need him to slow down if I’m ever going to be able to get off! How can I get him to tap the breaks a little bit?

A: Well, bonus for making it out of the car I guess. more »

The Love Bullets don’t sound like any other band in Providence. Call it electronic guitar pastoral, or noir wave, or whatever. Their sound is a dark mix of chittering, gurgling electronic drums, synths, and burning, fuzz guitar all stretched out underneath a beautiful baritone voice almost Morrison-esque in its black crooning. The songs are slow burners, building themselves up slowly then bursting into brisk motorik paces, all clanging drumboxes and junked-up riffs. Check the Velvets/Doors/BRMC meltdown of their track “Castle” to catch the full drift. Rock-N-Roll Suicide at The Blackstone. DJs at 10pm, band at 11pm, FREE

As members of the Brown corporation descend on Bruronia’s fair campus for their semesterly meeting this Saturday, join Brown students and our allies in a parade calling for a “More Open and Public Brown.” Festivities start at 10AM:

Education is a Right! Join a Parade, Marching Band, students, and community members to call for:

Grants not Loans!
A Tuition Freeze!
Expanded Finical Aid!
Brown Support for Public Funding of Education!
Expanded Brown Programs for Providence Community Members!

Sponsored by Brown Students for a Democratic Society

What a hilarious letter from Scott Wolfe in today’s Projo:

I was recently in Providence at the lovely Providence Place mall, where it finally dawned on me. As I walked around, I was happy and yet depressed, because I was so angry that Worcester had absolutely no upscale place for me to shop and offers no quality of life whatsoever, as Providence does.

The wonderful thing about Providence is that it is small enough to get around without any hassles. When I compare Worcester and all its ugly triple-deckers and bombed-out factories with idle smoke stacks, I cry.

Yep. That’s Providence for you. No bombed out factories whatsoever. No ugly buildings right downtown (certainly none like in the picture above). Who needs working infrastructure and living wages when you have the glorious upscale shopping of the Providence Place Mall?

Providence Geeks are meeting tonight at AS220. 5:30-9pm+

Andrew Schiller, founder of Woonsocket-based Location Inc./NeighborhoodScout.com, a nationwide neighborhood search engine for home buyers and movers with 1.8 million unique visitors last year, will be talking about their patented search technology that answers the first question most home buyers have: “Where should I focus my house hunt?”

The audience will try the algorithm by ‘building their ideal neighborhood’ on the site, and finding the local neighborhood that best matches the ideal imaginary one. A sneak peek at NeighborhoodScout v2 will reveal flash-based maps, data mining that has produced new levels of granularity for neighborhood crime, appreciation rate, and school ratings, and ‘smart search’ taken to a new level. Andrew will be joined by Andy Couture, VP of Business Development for the company.

Cool. Don’t think I’ve seen any local press on this:

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—A local animation studio is teaming with students from the Rhode Island School of Design to create a first-of-its-kind computer-animated horror movie.

The Providence-based studio, The Story Hat, is planning to begin preproduction this week on the movie called Bloodline, according to the Providence Journal.

The movie tells the story of tattoos that grow and change, wreaking havoc on the people who bear them.

Director Michael Corrente says he hopes the movie puts Rhode Island on the map as an animation headquarters.

The studio estimates that the film could give jobs to as many as 200 people at peak production.

This is pretty cool news, off of the East Side Public Education Coalition’s website:

Arts supporters and dedicated ESPEC readers will remember that the theater progam at Hope High was almost killed in the summer of 2006, but was saved at the last minute through the efforts of many supporters. This week, Ari showed us why it was all worthwhile.

Ari Brisbon, a student at Hope High School on Providence’s East Side, has won the state Shakespeare Acting and Recitation competition.

The 11th Annual Providence French Film Festival is just around the corner: February 21 through March 2 at the Cable Car. The list of films is already up (including trailers!), although the schedule is not yet set.

From the AP:

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Seventeen-year-olds who were charged with felonies as adults under a short-lived state law will either have their cases dismissed or be transferred back to juvenile court, under a judge’s ruling released Tuesday…

More than 100 17-year-olds, known as “gap kids,” were charged with felonies as adults under the law that was in effect from July to November.