M I SPY
Rhode Island Retail
MI Spy has friends who even know little of my secret identity. Some of them are old pals of mine who have scant knowledge of my sleuthing in the music world, even if they have heard me sing along with the oldies radio stations. (And not half badly, either.) Sometimes, those friends invite MI Spy to come out and visit, especially when their kids are not around and there is a spare room for yours truly to konk out in. Two friends, one who has known me since high school (but don’t ask us to sing our respective school songs, at your own risk), invited MI Spy to visit them in the fair, old and historic city of Providence, R.I. Yours truly had not been there in a long, long time. But I did have fond memories of a charming city, a mix of college campuses, monuments, nice architecture and, er, Red Sox Nation hoopla. So, I figured I could check out a city known for its colleges, and also check out a few of the local music shops in the city itself and the nearby suburbs. I readied the MI Spy Mobile with beverages, healthy snacks, musical choices and a big, unwieldy map, and tucked away the various baseball caps that did not feature the BoSox insignia. Soon I was heading to the highway, Interstate 95, which was cool running until somewhere in the wilds of Connecticut. But overall, the car ride was pretty decent, and Rhode Island soon came into view. I stopped in the Ocean State’s westernmost tourism center and spoke with a rep who, it turned out, was also an amateur guitarist. He had choice things to say about two music stores that I would soon visit, and I would say that he was accurate. (You shall find out soon enough, pilgrims.) The amiable tourism rep also gave me a good map, and I was on my way.
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SEPTEMBER 2018