Providence Monthly April 2022

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IN THIS ISSUE

Providence Monthly April 2022

33

TEA TIME From traditional ceremonies to fun boba menus, Providence’s tea scene is steeped to perfection

Photo by Erin McGinn Photography, courtesy of Ceremony

12 OP-ED: The bigger picture of Parcel 2 development on the East Side

47

14 THE PUBLIC’S RADIO: Dr. James Fanale on what’s next for Care New England 16 Free summer tennis program encourages kids to pick up a racket 18 A new public transit proposal sets sights on Dorrance Street 22 NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS: Hyper local news and contact listings 26 RHODY GEM: A garden of glass blooms on Wickenden Street

LIFE & STYLE 47 HOME: A 1930s bathroom gets glam with a period-perfect Art Deco reno 54 RHODY READS: Volumes of reasons to celebrate Independent Bookstore Day 56 INFLUENCER: Alexus Lee on her creative process, family support, and Federal Hill nightlife

59 Pop-up ice cream purveyor serves up spring scoops 60 EXPERIENCE: Vacation vibes and healthy eats from a plant-based cafe

76

64 IN THE KITCHEN: Popular banh mi food truck owners open sandwich shop in Pawtucket

ART & CULTURE 71 A poet finds inspo around Providence

68 FOOD NEWS: Where to find natural wine around the city

59

On The Cover: Tea prepared with care from Ceremony. Photo by Erin McGinn Photography, courtesy of Ceremony 4

ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

Photo courtesy of Self Luv Records

9 An art and science exhibit offers a surreal encounter with our home planet

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NEWS & CITY LIFE

74 ON SCREEN: Local talent look up in Oscar-buzz movie 76 MUSIC: Former Rice Cakes leader starts a record label 78 CALENDAR: This month’s must-do’s 80 PIC OF PVD

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NEWS & CITY LIFE O p - E d | H e a l t h c a r e | N o n p r o f i t | B u s H u b | N e i g h b o r h o o d N ew s | R h o d y G e m

Installation of Luke Jerram’s “Gaia” 2019

Sights on Planet Earth WaterFire Arts Center’s science and art exhibition opens dialogue about the climate crisis In 2019, onlookers were awed by the lifelike sculpture of the moon suspended from the rafters of the WaterFire Arts Center, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Mission and man’s first steps on the moon.

Now, in time for Earth Day, the artist who brought us Museum of the Moon takes us closer to home with an intimate view of the blue marble’s majesty. Luke Jerram’s 23’-diameter traveling installation Gaia is coming to Providence for Planet Earth, the Environment and Our Future, a multimedia exhibition presenting over 30 works that spark dialogue about our natural world and the climate crisis we’re facing.

“The exhibition also includes historical art, photographs, and objects from several cultures stretching across the continents and spanning two centuries, and tracing some of the Rhode Island connections to this larger story of discovery and exploration,” shares Barnaby Evans, executive artistic director of WaterFire Providence.

Photos courtesy of WaterFire Arts Center ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

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A r t s & Sci e nc e | By Abbie Lahmers

From the first indications that coal power could pose a threat to our climate in 1826 to today’s efforts to solve the crisis – including Rhode Island’s leadership in offshore wind power – this latest exhibit blends science and history with art. When encountering Gaia, for instance, viewers experience a sense of the “overview effect” astronauts describe of seeing Earth from above, hanging in the void of space.

Other works hone in on the environment, like Joan Hall’s luminous Algae Bloom, Richard Friedberg’s sculptures of atmospheric events like a tidal wave and 21-foot tornado, and Dennis Hylnsky’s photographic technique capturing birds in flight. Exploring a breadth of climate-related topics, other artists on view include William Bradford, David Burdeny, Judy Chicago, Martin Johnson Heade, Katsushika Hokusai, Duane Isaac, Young Joon Kwak, Sarah Jane Lapp, Janice Lardey, Haley MacKeil, Joseph E. Yoakum, David Whyte, and Faith Wilding.

“Our curatorial approach is not through the lens of art history,” says Evans, “but rather [to better match its subject] we explore some of the interconnected structures of the ecology of our perceptions of the world to better understand the psychological landscape that makes understanding and responding to climate change so difficult.”

To contend with the enormity of the task humanity faces to solve our climate crisis, Planet Earth, the Environment and Our Future pairs these truth-seeking disciplines of art and science to inspire Rhode Islanders to connect around the issues and discuss challenges on a local and worldwide scale.

“The creativity of artists, the ingenuity of scientists, and the insights of a range of cultural perspectives can help us find our way,” says Evans.

Planet Earth, the Environment and Our Future is presented with support from the NASA Rhode Island Space Grant Consortium, Kathleen and Barry Hittner, the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, Brown University, and the Roger Williams Park Zoo. The exhibit is on view March 19-28, April 5-May 1 at the WaterFire Arts Center.

WaterFire.org

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ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

Detail of Richard Friedberg’s “Heavy Seas” 2017

Photos courtesy of WaterFire Arts Center

NEWS & CITY LIFE

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NEWS & CITY LIFE

O p-Ed | By Barry Fain and Steve Triedman

Op-Ed: Seeing the Bigger Picture of Parcel 2 We salute the Parcel 2 neighbors for their “win” in the fight over the height of proposed apartment buildings by Boston-based developer Urbanica, who have agreed to reduce the project’s height from six stories to four, and appear to be willing to make other accommodations.

But for neighbors, height may be the least of their problems as most of the other nearby “195” properties are now in play or under development. Parking and traffic congestion threaten to radically transform the character of the area.

There isn’t enough available parking in these projects to accommodate the residents, commercial tenants, and workers, which could well exceed 150 people, most with cars. And the majority of the existing South Main and South Water Street workforce also park on neighboring streets and even deeper into Fox Point.

This is the BIG picture: the tremendous shortfall in parking will dramatically impact Benefit, South Main, and South Water streets, as well as all the side streets in the surrounding neighborhoods with both increased traffic and parking.

If South Water or South Main streets become a bottleneck, Benefit Street will become the major escape route and traffic will greatly increase in a similar fashion to all the streets, which added speed bumps. The Jewelry District will also be impacted by the traffic and congestion caused by these developments.

This will be further compounded by the mess created by the eliminated travel lane and reduced parking on South Water Street to accommodate a virtually unused bike lane.

And, to further compound the issues, located just blocks away are three of the city’s more popular tourist sites: the handsome new Michael S. Van Leesten Memorial Bridge, the historic Benefit Street’s Mile of History, and Wickenden Street’s eclectic shopping.

When the 195 Commission was created in 2011, hopes were high that the valuable acreage created by relocating the highway would be followed by an onslaught of major commercial projects that would profoundly impact the city. The commission was to specifically seek out new initiatives that would “foster economic development” and “generate job creation opportunities” that in turn would enhance the value of surrounding neighborhoods and augment our sense of place. Noble words.

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ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

In June of 2019, the legislature, frustrated by the slow pace of development on the 195 land and the Elorza administration, passed legislation giving the state control over decision-making on development projects within “special economic development districts,” bypassing the City!

Now, the 195 Commission’s mission and intent have essentially become, “let’s just take what we can get, as fast as we can get it” and residential developers have pounced. The “shovels in the ground and cranes in the air” will eventually bring welcome tax dollars to city coffers in 5-20 years after the tax stabilizations and other incentives expire, but it will fall far short of being the economic catalyst most of us imagined.

There is still time to make some changes in these projects concerning parking and traffic to ameliorate their impact on both the residents who live in the adjoining neighborhoods and those who need to be able to leave the city in a timely fashion. The Parcel 2 parties have agreed to do an updated traffic and parking study.

Then it will be up to the City’s Planning Department and the area Councilman, who have not made the parking and traffic effects of these projects a top priority, to do what’s right for the neighborhoods and the City so the already fragile fabric of the area is not completely ruined.

While it’s always easy to accuse view blockage as classic NIMBY-ism (Not in My Back-

Image by Steve Triedman

Neighbors fight proposed development, citing concerns of traffic, parking, and character of the area

yard), we would be remiss without offering a shout out to the several neighborhood organizations that banded together at the eleventh hour to address these important issues. Benefit Street is one of the jewels of our city, a critically important tourist attraction, and an irreplaceable symbol of Providence’s unique historic heritage. Fortunately, it is well represented by one of the city’s newest neighborhood associations, the Mile of History Association. The group now is carefully monitoring two upcoming zoning issues, the newly purchased Old Court Inn at 144 Benefit Street and a two-story addition being considered for 5 Benefit Street.

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NEWS & CITY LIFE

H e a l t hca r e | In Partnership with The Public’s Radio • ThePublicsRadio.org

Q&A: Dr. James Fanale on What’s Next for Care New England

By Ian Donnis FANALE: I certainly understand that the attorney general wanted a very detailed integration plan for how, what the organization was going to look like and how it would feel going forward. I totally get it – we did not meet his needs. And he made that very clear. However, the position that we took in terms of the amount of detail we thought we could get through was limited by a couple of things. One, I’ve been involved in two or three healthcare mergers in the past, and the level of detail in

IAN DONNIS: In rejecting the merger of Lifespan and Care New England, Attorney General Neronha said the combined entity would be anti-competitive and that it would reduce the quality of care while raising costs.

How do you respond?

the early stages that one can provide or one’s willing to provide, is usually limited. I have tried to explain that to the attorney general – he wanted a lot more details that we did not submit to him. So I understand why he felt that way. However, some of the detail, we thought if we went into that level of detail, that it would spell things out in such detail that some of our folks might get a bit nervous about the future jobs, which are consolidations, etc. So very hesitant about taking that risk for the current workforce, especially given the height of the pandemic and how harder folks are working.

I guess the last thing would say a very detailed integration plan would have taken so much work time and expense that we felt, we wanted to see if there’s a chance a merger would be approved. Then we would do that work, which is usually what you do in a merger but we again, time and expense, we spent the better part of nine months responding to all the inquiries for information and data, over 10 million pages of information was submitted to the organizations. So that’s where we put our effort. In retrospect, should we have did a more detailed plan to meet the needs of the attorney general’s office? Probably should have. But that was our position at the time.

DR. JAMES FANALE: From an anti-trust point of view, the FTC and the attorney general have concluded that the consolidation numbers, in terms of market share, is too high to allow the merger to conclude. So I think from an anti-trust perspective, the way that the analysis plays out, where the numbers play out, then it’s a presumed anti-competitive and it can’t be allowed to go forward. So I get that – understood. And that’s factual. There’s always been this discussion about mergers coming forward, that it will reduce quality and increase cost. We believed and still believe strongly that quality would not suffer. And I’m a physician, and I’ve been taking care of patients for a long time and still do. And I frankly, wouldn’t want to work for an organization that would come together that would reduce quality. And that’s just me saying that, but we certainly endeavored during the phase of the evaluation that we would pledge for improved quality scores, etc. And we will be held accountable for that. So that was clearly how strong we felt about quality. On the cost side with rate caps and other things, we felt that the fear of costs going up would be drastically mitigated by some of the intervening powers of the state. So that was our platform. That’s what we believe is still true.

DONNIS: Attorney General Neronha said the merger did not include plans for how to integrate the two hospital groups. What would you say on that?

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ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

DONNIS: Now that the merger is off the table. What is the best possible future scenario for care New England?

FANALE: Well, you know, the first thing we did when the announcement was made, was that we take a deep breath and we’ve been working on alternate plans. Sure, certainly, because the merger was never a given, it was never a guaranteed issue. So as they say in basketball, it was never a slam dunk. So we had prepared

Dr. James Fanale

other plans for where we might go, should the merger not succeed. Now, three years ago, we certainly had spent a lot of time at Mass General Brigham, trying to culminate in a deal that would strengthen our balance sheet, given us resiliency. And you know, the players to be at that time did not think think that was a good idea, which certainly we felt very strong was a good idea. We do the Rhode Island solution – that’s not possible. So what Care New England does now is it sits back. It plans for the future.

It has a path forward. It assesses its needs, and we are doing our due diligence and all options and keeping all options open as in before. We believe we’re fine. We believe there’s a path forward. We have the best staff one can ever imagine that works for us. They’re resilient. I met with a whole bunch of them last week, I think we’ll have a positive path forward.

We’re now beginning to commence our plans on talking with various folks about what we could do together in the future, whether that be an acquisition or merger etc. We haven’t decided fully as to what we will do. That’s up to the board to decide.

But certainly we have to take our time and

Photo courtesy of Care New England

What’s next for Care New England, one of Rhode Island’s two largest hospital groups, following the recent rejection by the FTC and Attorney General Peter Neronha of a proposed merger with Lifespan? That’s the topic of this Q&A with Dr. James Fanale, president and CEO of Care New England, which includes Kent Hospital in Warwick and Butler Hospital and Women & Infants Hospital, both in Providence. The interview was edited for length.

evaluate all the options available. We’ll talk to all of our current relationships including Lifespan and Brown to see if there are ways that we can do things together that we’re hoping to do as a merged entity. So nothing’s off the table, everything’s on the table, and we’ll explore them all.

DONNIS: How soon does care New England need to make a change to preserve its current operations?

FANALE: The strategy behind becoming an affiliate of another organization, be it through merger acquisition, is because our balance sheet in terms of liquidity is not as strong as others. So, for instance, when a pandemic hits and you have extraordinary costs, you have difficulty in sort of navigating those waters.

That’s what we’re dealing with now. We had a surge in the first part of this fiscal year that really hurt all hospitals around the country, and give you a limited balance sheet, you got to figure out how to get through that. That said, there’s ARPA funds and other things available to help us get through that. You know, we have plans to shore up our cash on a balance sheet. But the long-term play was really to have a much stronger balance sheet, like, if we had gone through with the Brigham transaction, we would have been fine, we would have the backing of a strong organization. And then you don’t have to worry about these difficult times. But I’m not worried about where we’re going this year. I think long-term, we still have to figure out what the long-term play is and that’s what we’ll do.

DONNIS: Has there been any renewed communication with Mass General Brigham?

FANALE: Not as of yet. We need to talk to everybody we have an extremely positive clinical operational relationship with the Brigham. The care that we provide our patients throughout Care New England, especially in Warwick, but the cardiopulmonary program surgery center with Brigham physicians working with is an astounding high quality, high functioning clinical program. That said, where we

can take that we don’t know. We haven’t commenced the negotiation, excuse me, commenced the discussions, because as I said, we couldn’t talk to anybody till late Wednesday. And so we’ll talk to Lifespan.

We’ll talk to others, and we’ll see what the best plan forward. Really the goal is to fulfill our mission of taking care of our patients to the best we can.

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DONNIS: We see a lot of volatility in the hospital landscape, how does the state ensure access to care and quality of care and as sufficient number of healthcare jobs moving forward?

FANALE: I think it’s going to take us quite a while at the state and the healthcare systems and nursing schools etc., to really replenish the ranks of nursing in the state. It’s not gonna happen overnight. But working together, the state probably has to help subsidize those nursing schools, maybe incentivize folks to go into nursing or to these other health care professions like surgical technicians, medical assistants, CNA. So we need to have a fairly strong workforce development program that could be supported by the state to help the institutions of higher learning to generate these these positions. That would help. I think, also, with the state has to do sort of with the ARPA funds available now, with a portion of this earmarked to help hospitals and nursing homes make sure they provided some of that relief issue, because otherwise a lot of us aren’t going to make it through.

The deficit we have now, I can tell you it’s not because of anything we did. We stayed open, we took care of all the patients that came our way, we didn’t close beds. We shut down surgical procedures for six weeks.

That’s a devastating financial blow. But we did that to serve the community. And if we didn’t do that, and we closed a couple of bed surgery units, we wouldn’t have lost as much funding, but what do we do with the patients that need our care? So I think that the ARPA relief fund is workforce development thing that would really quite helped get us out of this this dilemma that we’re in.

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Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis@ripr.org ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

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NEWS & CITY LIFE

N o npr o fi t | By Hugh Minor

Making a Racket

This summer, Providence Tennis Academy is giving back to the community by offering a free six-week tennis program through their nonprofit One Love Providence for children ages 10 and under. The hope is to get kids interested in the sport, while promoting physical and mental development.

Led by Nestor Barnabe, director of tennis at Providence Tennis, students will learn the basics of the game while improving their skills, ending the season with a light competition.

“We want kids to see that tennis is a fun sport that they can enjoy as they improve their skills and build their confidence,” he says.

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ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

Barnabe ran a similar One Love program as part of his community service project while he was a student at Sonoma State University in California. When life took him to the east coast, he was excited to replicate this successful program as One Love Providence.

More than being about the sport itself, Barnebe says, “by learning the game, tennis can become an avenue to kids being happy and doing what they love.”

Working with the Providence After School Alliance (PASA), Barnabe hopes to enroll 200 middle school students this spring and summer. “We’re looking to get families to

join us that would never have stepped on a tennis court before,” he shares.

Born in Argentina, Barnabe fell in love with tennis at the age of six and has used the game as a way to propel his life personally and professionally. He can relate to many of the kids in the program who may be first- or second-generation Americans themselves. “Research shows that kids who play tennis are more likely to attend college,” he says, “so playing the game can really have a long-term impact on their lives.”

The sessions will focus on building sending and receiving skills with practice focused on

Photos courtesy of Providence Tennis Academy

One Love Providence offers free tennis program for kids

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lateral movement, increasing their speed as they get more comfortable. The core abilities required in tennis, like foot work, are important to any athlete.

Barnabe hopes to build the program beyond the summer months so that kids can learn to play tennis all year long. He wants to get kids moving, whether it’s playing tennis or any sport that they love.

Funding is provided partly through the Providence Tennis Academy along with grants from the RI chapter of the US Tennis Association, Bank Newport, and PASA. The program will be offered in two sessions, April 17-May 22 on Sundays and July 6-August 14 on Wednesdays and Sundays at the Providence Tennis Center at Roger Williams Park. For schedules and registration, visit ProvidenceTennis.com.

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@schiffmansells ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

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NEWS & CITY LIFE

Bus H ub | By Katarina Dulude

A New Transit Plan on the Table A win for public transit advocates, RIDOT’s multi-hub plan is discarded, though a Dorrance Street plan garners mixed opinions

The widely unpopular multi-hub bus proposal that has dominated much of the conversation surrounding public transit in Providence for the past two years is now off the table.

The plan would have used the $35 million bond meant to improve transit in the state to break up the current Kennedy Plaza hub.

First introduced by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) in 2016, the plan was supported and advocated for by some downtown property owners but largely met with criticism, especially from those who use public transit. After its poor reception, the proposal was not discussed again until April 2020.

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ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

“It almost seems as though with the pandemic taking up all of our time, they thought they could move forward with this project – that we weren’t gonna show up, we weren’t gonna do anything, because we’re all quarantined or staying home,” says Dwayne Keys, chairperson of the South Providence Neighborhood Association.

Keys and SPNA were joined by other organizations, including Grow Smart RI, to file a Title VI Civil Rights complaint last year against the plan, citing its lack of consideration for BIPOC (Black, brown and people of color) communities, lower-income individuals, and other historically marginalized

groups who make up the majority of transit users who would be harmed by the plan.

Still, spending the bond on a multi-hub plan remained an option for a year and a half before it was officially dropped late February of this year. In its place is a new plan to move the current hub from Kennedy Plaza to Dorrance Street, creating the Innovation District Bus Transit Center.

Opinions on this plan are mixed. Keys and SPNA, along with the Kennedy Plaza Resiliency Coalition, recently released a statement advocating for a robust public participation process that allows historically underrepresented groups to offer feedback on any

Images by Union Studio Architecture & Community Design, courtesy of Grow Smart RI

The proposed Innovation District Bus Transit Center on Dorrance Street

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Other groups have expressed their support, including Grow Smart RI. “We think it addresses the concerns of riders and it’s also an investment in the urban fabric of downtown Providence because it’s not just a single-level transit hub; it’s going to include other mixed-use elements,” says John Flaherty, deputy director of Grow Smart RI. At press time, this plan is largely conceptual and Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) is seeking community feedback through public meetings, the first of which was held on February 24.

During the meeting, representatives from RIPTA emphasized that the bus system has outgrown Kennedy Plaza and will need to move regardless, though opponents like Keys are not convinced. “How does this benefit riders?” he asked at the meeting. “Show me the traffic feasibility study that shows this is so much better.”

Other attendees expressed a variety of opinions, but a few shared sentiments surfaced. The first was a distrust of RIDOT, which historically has prioritized cars over transit and has been responsible for value-engineering out essential benefits of transit improvements. One recent example of this was the

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jroch@residentialproperties.com ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

19

NEWS & CITY LIFE

Bus H ub | By Katarina Dulude

A view of the current site where the proposed hub would be built

Images by Union Studio Architecture & Community Design, courtesy of Grow Smart RI

Pawtucket-Central Falls Transit Center, which is only now seeing those improvements due to efforts from RIPTA and the community.

The second was a desire to limit parking as much as possible at the station.

Currently, it includes a relatively large lot, even though the hub’s central purpose is improving public transit.

The third strand of the discussion pertained to the related issue of accessibility.

Despite the meeting’s focus on the new

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ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

transit hub plan, most riders expressed more interest in seeing improvements in accessibility throughout the state. As it stands, public transit is slow and limited in Rhode Island compared to transportation via private cars, and based on input from the February meeting, improved mobility for users throughout the state seems more desirable than a new hub.

Keys echoed this, putting forth that the best possible option is to keep Kennedy

Plaza as is and focus transit bond money on promoting greater accessibility and mobility throughout the state. He also expressed concerns about whether the Dorrance Street location would have adequate space, fearing the hub could ultimately be split up late in the process if not.

Flaherty felt that in the wake of tension surrounding the threat of the bus hub being dismantled for the benefit of stakeholders who don’t use the transit system, “it’s

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hard to divorce yourself from that narrative even if the alternative that’s on that table actually is a better scenario for the transit rider and the transit experience,” he said at the meeting.

In its conceptual stage, the Dorrance Street hub has potential to be a more popular alternative to the multi-hub plan, but continued public input is key in ensuring bus riders and those most impacted by the changes are represented.

ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

21

NEWS & CITY LIFE

N e i ghbo r ho o d N ews | Curated by Abbie Lahmers

Neighborhood News A space made available to Providence’s neighborhood associations free of charge.

HOT TOPICS An overview of what’s happening around the city right now

Jane’s Walk in May encourages residents to explore and connect Join neighbors in exploring Providence on foot during this year’s Jane’s Walk, a global weekend festival happening May 6-8 inspired by the legendary urban activist Jane Jacobs. These free walking conversations are led by local residents and community activists who share stories and get people thinking, talking, and connecting with each other.

Past walks have ranged from a look at Where 195 Used to Be, the LGBTQ+ history in downtown, the Barrios of Broad Street, and even hunting for gargoyles in Downcity. All walks are free, no reservations are needed, and anyone can participate.

Simply put on your walking shoes, show up rain or shine at the designated meeting spot and get ready for a lively discussion. The full list of walks spread across Providence neighborhoods will be revealed in mid-April. Visit DoorsOpenRI.org/JanesWalk for more information.

Washington Park neighbors fight pollution in South Providence Back in 2019, the Washington Park Association, along with many others, successfully protested against a proposed transfer station, which would process many tons of waste and contribute to pollution, from being installed in Lower South Providence. Known as a frontline community, the area has historically faced the impacts of climate change and pollution more severely than other areas. WPA is pleased to report the toxic proposal was defeated, which is one small step for a community burdened by many polluting companies in the neighborhood.

Now, Providence has an opportunity to turn around this blighted area of urban brownfield by building a community solar array on the location. This solar facility, if built, can bring clean, renewable electricity to 150 homes, benefiting the same frontline community who fought and defeated the transfer station. To further benefit the area, WPA is actively seeking volunteers to help plant trees this season, promoting clean and green spaces.

22

ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

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Studios,

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Artists Event

Neighbors gather for a past Jane’s Walk tour

FPNA welcomes three community advocates to their board

AMANDA AMOROSO

The Fox Point Neighborhood Association (FPNA) is delighted to announce three recent appointments to its Board of Directors: Lily Bogosian, Alex Iannetta, and Scott Moran. Bogosian, a 12-year resident of Fox Point, has led neighbors in a years-long grassroots effort to protect green space and reduce urban sprawl on the East Side. She brings a background in finance, and she’s also an active beekeeper and teacher with the Rhode Island Beekeeping Association. “I look forward to making a difference in our wonderful neighborhood,” she says.

Iannetta is the founder of a boutique consulting firm in Fox Point, where he assists clients with business, technology, and cybersecurity. He has served at various levels of board membership for local nonprofits in RI and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Northeastern University.

Moran is a visual artist, fine gardener, parent, and board member at the Fox Point Community Garden. Moran hopes to use his expertise “to advance public art and green spaces,” he says, “for long-term neighborhood vitality.”

FPNA has been serving the neighborhood for over 30 years. Its members and all-volunteer board are dedicated to protecting and enhancing the quality of life in the neighborhood and its historic integrity and resources.

KATHY WEBER

Photo courtesy of Jane’s Walk Providence

SNA announces Rochambeau Library partnership, board elections, and volunteer efforts Summit Neighborhood Association is excited to partner with the Rochambeau Library to help support their backyard Outdoor Classroom expansion. Plans are underway, and may be in progress as of publication, to better utilize the outdoor space behind the library with murals, flowers, interactive musical elements, and benches to host a variety of community events and opportunities.

SNA’s annual meeting will be held Monday, April 25 at 7pm. They plan to conduct this event on Zoom, but neighbors interested in attending should stay tuned for updates. As usual, this meeting will include presentations by local elected officials with the chance to ask questions, as well as their annual election of SNA board officers and members. If you are eager to be involved with improving the Summit neighborhood and interested in being considered for the board, SNA encourages you to reach out.

Neighborhood volunteers continue to assist both the Mount Hope Community Center and the Camp Street Community Ministries with their work distributing groceries from the food pantry every Wednesday and Friday to residents in need. Additional volunteers to help with deliveries and unloading food pallets are always welcome. Contact SNAProv@gmail.com to join the volunteer email list.

FREE PARKING

65 Blackstone Avenue, Pawtucket MadDogArtistStudios.com ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

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NEWS & CITY LIFE

N e i ghbo r ho o d N ews

Providence Neighborhood Associations Blackstone Parks Conservancy Carrie Drake P.O. Box 603141 Providence, RI 02906 401-270-3014 BlackstoneParks@gmail.com BlackstoneParksConservancy.org

Downtown Neighborhood Association DNAPVD@gmail.com DNAPVD.com Facebook: Providence Downtown Neighborhood Association, DNA Elmwood Neighborhood Association Karen Hlynsky ENA-PVD.org Facebook: Elmwood Neighborhood Association PVD Fox Point Neighborhood Association Meeting Date: April 11 Amy Mendillo P.O. Box 2315, Providence, RI 02906 FoxPointNeighborhood@gmail.com FPNA.net

The Fox Point Neighborhood Association welcomes neighbors (L to R) Lily Bogosian, Alex Iannetta, and Scott Moran to its all-volunteer Board of Directors

Mount Hope Community Center 401-521-8830 MHNAInc@gmail.com Facebook: Mount Hope Neighborhood Association, Inc. Olneyville Neighborhood Association Eduardo Sandoval 122 Manton Avenue, Box 8 Providence, RI 02909 ONAProvidence@gmail.com Facebook: Olneyville Library Providence Coalition of Neighborhood Associations Info@provcna.org, ProvCNA.org Providence Preservation Society 24 Meeting Street info@ppsri.org PPSRI.org

Jewelry District Association Sharon Steele Sharon@sharonsteele.com JewelryDistrict.org Facebook: Jewelry District Association Providence, RI

Reservoir Triangle Neighborhood Association David Talan 25 Santiago Street. Providence, RI 02907 401-941-3662 DaveTalan@aol.com

Mile of History Association Wendy Marcus c/o Providence Preservation Society 24 Meeting Street, Providence, RI 02903 MileOfHistory@gmail.com MileOfHistory.org

Smith Hill Partners’ Initiative Wole Akinbi 400 Smith Street Providence, RI 02908 Suite #1 AAkinbi@half-full.com Facebook: Smith Hill Partners’ Initiative

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ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

South Providence Neighborhood Association c/o Dwayne Keys P.O. Box 5653, Providence, RI 02903 401-369-1334 SouthProvNeighbors@gmail.com Facebook: South Providence Neighborhood Association Summit Neighborhood Association Meeting Date: April 18 P.O. Box 41092, Providence, RI 02940 401-400-0986 SNAProv@gmail.com SummitNeighbors.org Washington Park Association Linda Perri 401-241-3522 BettyLinda@aol.com Wayland Square Neighborhood Association Katherine Touafek Facebook: Wayland Square Neighborhood Association WaylandSquareNeighbors@gmail.com West Broadway Neighborhood Association 1560 Westminster Street Providence, RI 02909 401-831-9344 WBNA@wbna.org WBNA.org

Photos courtesy of FPNA

College Hill Neighborhood Association Rick Champagne P.O. Box 2442 Providence, RI 02906 CHNA@chnaprovidence.org CHNAProvidence.org

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NEWS & CITY LIFE

By Abbie Lahmers

Gallery Belleau Glass Shop We’re on the hunt for Rhody Gems! Every neighborhood has that secret, hidden, cool and unusual, or hole-in-the-wall spot that locals love. Email or tag us on social media using #RhodyGem to suggest yours, and we might just feature it!

What it is: Along with owner Christopher Belleau’s own whimsical pieces, this nearly 20-year-old gallery is a showcase of glass work by local and nationally known artists, offering a range of unique gifts and decor.

What makes it a Rhody Gem? Fanciful bouquets and colorful blossoms greet you when you step inside, but you haven’t taken a wrong turn and ended up in a florist shop – these intricate glass flowers are Gallery Belleau’s specialty. With a motto of “for those who seek the unique,” Belleau displays the work of more than 30 artists, most of it made just across the river in East Providence at his Belleau Art Glass studio. Find a range of vases, fish, waves, ornaments, paperweights, and other glass sculptures interspersed with metalwork, pottery, handmade wooden boxes, and jewelry.

Friendly staff will even help you make a custom bouquet of glass flowers to infuse a feeling of spring in your home that will never wilt.

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Photo courtesy of Gallery Belleau

Where to find it: Catty-corner to Vartan Gregorian Elementary, this Fox Point shop is a stone’s throw away from Three Wheel Studio and other artsy retail along Wickenden Street.

To submit your Rhody Gem, please email Abbie@ProvidenceOnline.com

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“All untreated Ash trees in Rhode Island will be dead in 10 years,” Tom Morra, owner of T.F. Morra Tree Care, Inc. warns. “It’s not a ‘maybe’ or ‘hope it will pass’ situation.” Emerald Ash Borer is an invasive insect recently found in Providence, and Morra explains research showing that since discovery, it has been reproducing with multiple generations within Ash trees for three to five years. T.F. Morra offers two types of treatments to defend against Emerald Ash Borer, a service performed between April and June. Ash trees have compound leaf structures with fern-like leaves, with the bark displaying tight diamondshaped ridges (see picture above).

Now is the time to prepare for spring’s approach and reserve your appointment with T.F. Morra for a comprehensive analysis and consultation. Their services include pruning, cabling, removals, plant health care treatments, fertilization, and soil aeration.

In addition to defending against Emerald Ash Borer, they also handle treatment of other problem pests like hemlock wooly adelgid, fungal pathogens like anthracnose, and even ticks.

T.F. Morra only treats as needed, and when they do, they always use organic products and/or the lowest impact treatments available.

Why T.F. Morra? “We have a small company and we’re going to stay that way,” Morra says. His team really gets to know your trees and they become trusted advisers to help maintain their health. Call today to schedule your consultation.

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T

he thought of tea often conjures the act of tossing a simple bag of leaves (where from – who knows?) into a mug and steeping in boiling water for a minute or two. Look past the steaming cup and you’ll find a vast world of flavors, agricultural practices, and rituals unique to the meditative quality of brewing and drinking tea.

Water temperatures and steep times are only the beginning of these nuances. Global farming traditions come with their own intricacies, including flushes (when tea leaves are plucked from a plant) and different levels of heat in roasting, that affect the tea we drink at home or at a cafe.

From specialty boba to tea ceremonies, Providence’s brick-and-mortar teahouses are asking customers to slow down and enjoy the art of tea.

Photo by Erin McGinn Photography, courtesy of Ceremony

TEA CULTURE Having grown up in Anhui, China, which is famous for its green teas, Michelle Cheng of Ceremony was raised around tea culture. From her grandparents, she learned that the best teas are purchased directly from farmers. Before opening the College Hill cafe, she started out selling premium loose-leaf teas through Leafy Green Tea, sourcing directly from small farms in China, Taiwan, and Japan. While hosting tea ceremony classes in local cafes on weekends, customers kept approaching her for tips on how to recreate the experience in their own homes. They wanted to know about the teaware, table cloths, and even the music that she played.

“That led me to realize that we were more than a tea company,” Cheng shares. “We were organically developing into a lifestyle brand, which is why we’re called Ceremony, because we sell more than just tea. Our brand and our cafe is a representation of a way of life.”

Towards the end of 2019, Cheng opened Ceremony on Thayer Street, its first location. While the new Ceremony on Brook Street still offers drinks one might see at any cafe – like espresso, chai lattes, and matcha – it stands apart in that it also houses a space dedicated to private tea sessions, something the old location didn’t have.

“I really wanted to elevate the tea ceremony experience,” Cheng says. Though the old location introduced ceremonial aspects, at the new tea room, specialists provide a curated experience at every step of the journey, from helping with tea selection to expertly brewing the teas for the perfect first, second, and third sip, and so on. Accompanied by handmade incense imported from Japan and custom lighting, the session aims to be truly immersive.

From tea cocktails to matcha, Ceremony has something for everyone

Michelle Cheng curates a personalized experience at Ceremony

We were organically developing into a lifestyle brand, which is why we’re called Ceremony, because we sell more than just tea.

Our brand and our cafe is a representat ion of a way of life.

- MICHELLE CHENG, CHENG CEREMONY

Photos by Erin McGinn Photography, courtesy of Ceremony

Teas sourced from small farms in China can be found at this College Hill mainstay

Specifically, her team works to introduce and promote a slower and more intentional tea experience through the Gong Fu brewing ceremony.

As Cheng shares, Gong Fu in Chinese culture refers to something that requires time, effort, and energy to execute. Particularly, Gong Fu Cha is a widely practiced tea brewing technique in China that comes with many careful steps taken to coax flavor and body from tea leaves. First, the tea is brewed in a Gai Wan, a vessel consisting of a base, a bowl, and a lid. It’s then poured through a strainer into a Gong Dao Bei, a small, clear pitcher used to serve the tea to guests. In total, the tea is brewed six times, which transforms its taste and appearance.

Going on this journey with tea is crucial to understanding the many nuances of any given tea in Ceremony’s selection. Throughout the session, Ceremony’s tea experts adjust water temperatures, steeping times, and amount of teas accordingly as the steeping cycles continue.

When sourcing for Ceremony’s roster of teas, Cheng says it took three years to find, visit, and familiarize herself with the small family farmers that she works with today. This level of care is also taken with Ceremony’s latest products as they expand their market offerings to include specialty snacks, ingredients, and sauces. When a customer drove in from out of state to purchase a wood-fired soy sauce imported from Taiwan to gift to her grandmother, Cheng was touched. “She sent pictures of her grandma making braised chicken with it. It reminded me of my grandma,” Cheng says. “Bringing joy and a sense of comfort to others is the fuel that keeps me going.”

RETURN TO THE ROOTS Just across the river in Downtown is Charuma, a relatively new addition to the city’s specialty tea scene. Owners Tom Chang and Jenny Lu, along with business partner Tony Chen, opened shop in July 2021, offering a menu of single-origin teas, milk tea options with homemade tapioca pearls, and Taiwanese street snacks. As students in Providence – Chang at Johnson & Wales and Lu at RISD – they tried all the bubble (or boba) tea that the city had to offer. Still, they were left in want of flavors that reminded them of the boba and street foods they would have in Taiwan. “It’s very classic at a Taiwanese night market to hold bubble tea in one hand and a fried chicken cutlet in the other hand,” Lu says.

When they set out to open Charuma, Chang, Chen, and Lu made it a point to carefully source their teas. Chang spent a year in Taiwan researching teas at his friend’s family-owned tea farm. From there, he picked six different teas that can now be found on Charuma’s menu: black tea, jasmine green tea, light oolong tea, smoky oolong tea, pu-erh tea, and formosa beauty tea.

While in Taiwan, Chang learned about the process of tea production, from harvesting to roasting. At harvest, farmers pick tea leaves based on the flavor they want to achieve since the completeness of a leaf will affect the caffeine level and taste. Next, the leaves are set on bamboo trays to wither under the sun and ferment before undergoing fixation and drying, two processes that stop the fermentation. One of the last steps, roasting, is different for varying types of teas and affects taste based on how much heat exposure occurs.

Chang made it a point to learn about the intricacies of the production process. “Ultimately, I want to know what I’m getting and what I’m saying to my customers,” Chang shares.

Photos courtesy of Charuma

Charuma is the culmination of a year spent researching tea in Taiwan

PROVIDENCE’S GROWING TEA SCENE HAS A WEALTH OF OFFERINGS TO EXPLORE, WHETHER SITTING DOWN WITH A THAI ICED TEA IN A CAFE OR BRINGING HOME LOOSELEAF BLENDS TO FOSTER A RITUAL AT HOME.

Loose-leaf tea from Farmacy Herbs

Aleppo Sweets is more so a cafe and bakery than it is a teahouse, but its ginger, cardamom, and mint tea, brewed from scratch and served in a beautiful teaware, is not to be missed. AleppoSweets.com Black Leaf Tea doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar location, but their teas are focused on healing and energizing. Fun blends like Chai-Town (an ode to founder Amber Jackson’s hometown of Chicago) and CoCo Bae bring unique flavors to any tea collection. TheBlackLeafTea.com Bubble Tea House on Westminster is arguably the city’s first boba spot. Offering delicious boba drink options such as Vietnamese iced coffee and Thai iced tea, you can even go half-and-half with one of their split cups. Facebook: Bubble Tea House Farmacy Herbs offers cheekily named teas like Providence Breakfast and Rhode Island Red. Locally grown herbs are used in each blend, and the store (a former Rhody Gem) offers local honey, bulk-dried herbs, and herbal products. FarmacyHerbs.com Photo courtesy of Farmacy Herbs

Kung Fu Tea, the Thayer Street standby, offers a wide array of bubble tea flavors and toppings, including red bean, mango jelly, custard, and more. KungFuTea.com Sanctuary Herbs upholds a mission to focus on health, comfort, and community. Their herbal tea blends bring together plants from community gardens and immigrant-run farms around the Providence area. SanctuaryHerbs.com Stock Culinary Goods carries a healthy supply of tea accoutrements including tea pots, cups, filters, and plenty of honey. StockCulinaryGoods.com Tea to a Flame offers fun tea and candle pairings that aim to elevate your self-care routine. Founded by a Providence native, the brand’s matching sets focus on helping customers reach a desired feeling such as calm, relaxed, or happy, among others. TeaToAFlame.com Tea in Sahara brings a Moroccan-inspired tea and food experience, from tagines to falafel wraps. They serve an array of minty green teas, Sri Lankan black tea, and lemon verbena. TeaInSahara.com Ten One Tea House on Thayer is a newcomer with bold flavors.

Don’t let their menu intimidate – find the right mix of milk tea and toppings to get your boba fix, from soothing osmanthus lemon honey tea to an energizing mango slushie. TenOneTeaHouse.com

Find hand-crafted mugs at Three Wheel Studio on Wickenden Photo courtesy of Three Wheel Studio

Three Wheel Studio is a ceramic studio and another former Rhody Gem on Wickenden hosting the eclectic works of proprietor Dwo Wen Chen and others. Complete your steeping ritual with artisan mugs, tea bowls, and tea pots. ThreeWheelStudio.com Vivi Bubble Tea is the late-night spot for any boba cravings that may sneak up on you. Try something from their Cream Float Series if you’re feeling extra decadent. Vivi-Bubble-Tea-RI.business.site

I don’t want our customers to just drink something sweet that covers the taste of tea. The quality and the taste of the tea is really impor tant to us, along with consistency.

- TOM CHANG, CHARUMA

As for their bubble tea, Charuma only uses real milk (as opposed to dairy powders).

“They’re very picky about bubble tea in Taiwan,” Lu says. “There’s a boba place on almost every corner, so it can be very competitive.

You have to be really, really good to survive in Taiwan.” For Lu, in-house bubbles made from tapioca flour imported from Taiwan were non-negotiable from the start. Customers also get to choose their own sugar levels. “I don’t want our customers to just drink something sweet that covers the taste of tea,” Chang shares. “The quality and the taste of the tea is really important to us, along with consistency.”

Chang and Lu also place a heavy focus on natural flavors. Charuma’s “teatails” – their fun mash-up of “tea” and “cocktails” – introduce various fruit flavors and floral syrups to the classic milk tea offerings. Together with savory food items like French fries, sweet potato fries, popcorn chicken, and chicken cutlets, Charuma aims to bring customers an authentic Taiwanese bubble tea and street snack experience. “After years of being here, I still couldn’t find a chicken cutlet that reminded me of the Taiwanese one,” Lu laments. That’s why she and Chang import seasonings from Taiwan to use in Charuma’s snack menu. From seaweed salt and pepper to plum, the spices complement the teas in a dance of flavor.

Photos courtesy of Charuma

Though known for their fruity bubble teas, Charuma has a focus on natural flavors, too

ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

39

LIVE IN THE MOMENT On the West Side of Providence is Schasteâ, which originally opened in Pawtuxet Village in 2012 and expanded into Providence in 2017. Since the pandemic, the Pawtuxet location has closed but the Broadway location remains a staple in the city offering a space to slow down with some tea and crepes.

As one of the first teahouses in the Providence area to challenge customers to sit down and enjoy the ritual of drinking tea, Schasteâ offers unique blends such as Lychee Peach, White Coconut Créme, and White Guava Ginger, among others. They’re also a purveyor of tea-ware and loose-leaf tea by the ounce, empowering customers to take their tea journey home.

After all, this journey, for Schasteâ owner Tony Lopez, started at home, where he and his wife made a ritual out of slowing down their days in order to make a cup of tea and enjoy it with candles, music, and a warm ambiance. Whenever they sought out a place like this in Providence, they came up empty, which was when the idea of opening up their own spot surfaced in their minds. In a world that moves so fast, Lopez wanted a space that would welcome mindfulness. “We’re an escape in the neighborhood, if you will,” he offers. “Everybody’s always thinking about the next moment. We like to remind customers that good things take time.

So they have to sit and wait three minutes for their tea to steep.”

Photos courtesy of Schasteâ

A tea house and creperie, Schasteâ encourages guests to slow down and enjoy the moment

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Schasteâ’s approachable blends invite newbies to sample a variety of teas

Everybody’s always thinking about the nex t moment. We like to remind customer s that good things take t ime.

So they have to sit and wait three minutes for their tea to steep.

In the time that the tea is steeping, Lopez hopes that Schasteâ’s customers are able to unwind a bit and let their minds wander. “We’ve seen customers meet, date, and get married. We’ve seen people start books, finish books, or start businesses,” Lopez says. It’s important to him that customers have a place to retreat to where a moment can linger.

At Schasteâ, the mission is to be as approachable and accessible as possible. While the teahouse certainly has its fair share of specialty teas

sourced carefully from purveyors around the globe, Lopez is careful not to overcomplicate things for customers. “A lot of times people just get overwhelmed and say ‘give me whatever,’” he says. “So we try to strike a balance by just starting off with giving them enough knowledge to make it interesting.” At the end of the day, it’s about giving guests the chance to take those three minutes to be mindful when the rest of the world may be spinning at hyper speed.

Photos courtesy of Schasteâ

- TONY LOPEZ, LOPEZ SCHASTEÂ

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LIFE & STYLE Home | Rhody Reads | Influencer

Bathing Beauty A 1930s home embraces its age with an Art Deco reno that’s at once modern and timeless Providence’s East Side is replete with a range of architectural styles. Within a walkable radius, there are extraordinary examples of Mediterranean, Queen Anne, Colonial and more. Among these stately homes is the “Harry and Bess Marshak” house in the Blackstone section, which is best described as a brick Tudor with a twist, known for the unique hood over the front door among other eclectic elements.

Photography by Denise Bass Photography, courtesy of Cypress Design Co. ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

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LIFE & STYLE

H o me | By Elyse Major • Photography by Denise Bass Photography, courtesy of Cypress Design Co.

The alcove with the arch in the shower originally housed the toilet, and was designed to echo the roof line. “We took this as an opportunity to create an architectural element in the design,” says Couture.

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“It was built in 1930 by a self-trained architect/builder for himself,” says Teresa King of the plaque house that has been her home since 2003. “Marshak built several others in the neighborhood, often having interesting architectural features. The brickwork on my home has a nautical theme with a ship in the front, an anchor on the side near the chimney, and portholes in the back.”

King recalls that when she took ownership, the interior was filled with “nondescript stuff you would find at Home Depot.” She made it her mission to replace fixtures like lighting with items from the home’s era, often sourced on eBay. “It’s more sustainable, and it fits with my own personal style and values,” she says. “I try to decorate in a way that is mostly timeless.”

When King was ready to make the upstairs bathroom more functional, it was important to her to maintain the original aesthetic. “I live in a historic home in an urban area and my decorating style reflects that.” For her period-appropriate reno, she hired Cypress Design Co., a boutique interior design firm based in East Providence that focuses on kitchens and bathrooms.

King had already purchased and installed Art Deco-style sconces which set the tone. “One of the big goals was to get a larger shower,” says Craig Couture, design manager at Cypress

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LIFE & STYLE

H o me | By Elyse Major • Photography by Denise Bass Photography, courtesy of Cypress Design Co .

A floor-mounted tub filler was used for the new cast iron freestanding tub and plays off the lines of the sink console

Existing small storage doors were kept and painted black to add more contrast to the wall tile and blend more seamlessly with the row of black wall tile along the floor

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ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

Design Co. “The clients liked the style of the bathroom and wanted to keep it but in an updated way.” A standout feature is the patterned tile work, which conjures images of old Hollywood. Couture and team plotted the layout for each wall using software for the installer to follow. “Cunha Construction, out of East Providence, really executed our design beautifully,” he says.

For the walls, a soft neutral color was selected to introduce a midtone to this otherwise high contrast black and white decor. “It has some warmth that helps to tie in the stained wood doors and introduce a sense of calm,” says Couture.

“I appreciate design that is lasting,” says King, noting a love for antiques – “for their uniqueness, history, and sustainability.”

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LIFE & STYLE

H o me | By Elyse Major • Photography by Denise Bass Photography, courtesy of Cypress Design Co .

GET RHODY STYLE Ideas and resources for making the most of living in the Ocean State.

PLAQUE HOUSE Ever wonder how a building becomes a “plaque house”?

The Providence Preservation Society Historic Marker Program states that eligible buildings – residential, commercial, and institutional – must be at least 50 years old, retain the integrity of the original design, and be appropriately and well maintained. Learn more at PPSRI.org BLUES CLUES Teresa King notes that her son’s room is inspired by his love of sailing. “He learned to sail at the Community Boating Center when he was attending Paul Cuffee Lower School and now he teaches adult sailing there in the summers,” she says. Of other location cues: “I also have shells I have collected at our wonderful beaches in the bathroom.”

SHOP PVD “I love Three Wheel Studio, Studio Hop, Frog & Toad, Kreatelier, Books on the Square, and Seven Stars Bakery,” says King.

RHODY RESOURCES Cypress Design Co. went to Warwick for tile: Daltile on Jefferson Boulevard, and The Tile Shop on Bald Hill Road. Cunha Construction, East Providence, served as the contractor. Learn more at CypressDesignCo.com

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LIFE & STYLE

Rho dy Re a ds | By Elyse Major & Hugh Minor

By the Book Celebrating bookstores on April 30 and beyond In Providence, it’s pretty safe to say we love our bookstores. Within a total area of 20.5 square miles, we have eight of them, each independently owned. Throughout the year, but especially on April 30, be sure to visit at least one for Independent Bookstore Day, a national celebration that takes place annually on the last Saturday in April at participating indies across the country.

Throughout Rhode Island, bookstores are so much more than retailers. Each unique brick-and-mortar offers a space for people to come together – both in person and virtually – to exchange ideas and share in the human experience. Shopping at local bookstores is a great way to support neighbor-owned businesses who in turn bring employment opportunities and other services right back into the community.

Operating during a global pandemic has been challenging, but booksellers have adapted in order to survive; they’ve come up with creative ways to engage their audiences and, fortunately, customers have responded. Symposium Books on Westminster Street partnered with DASH Bicycle Shop to offer PVD DASH Delivery, where shop goods are delivered by bike for a small fee. Paper Nautilus in Wayland Square uses Instagram to broadcast images of stacks of books for shoppers to essentially do some pre-visit browsing. Cellar Stories, which prides itself on a stock of approximately 70,000 volumes, keeps an updated comprehensive listing of titles available online and offers a topic notification function where patrons can sign up to receive alerts of new arrivals on a category of interest.

“Every community needs a strong bookstore,” says Steven Porter, who owns Stillwater Books in Pawtucket with his wife, Dawn. “It’s a place where you can browse slowly and learn about local writers, local books, and local issues. You can’t do those things online very well.”

In addition to selling books of all kinds, the Porters are published authors and their Stillwater River Publications produces a

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ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

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As we celebrate IBD, let’s recognize the importance of these hubs in our community while acknowledging the commitment and dedication of the local business owners who keep their spirit alive.

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wide range of titles from authors and writers of myriad genres.

“Rhode Island is a small place with a whole lot of people, which includes an array of nationalities and cultures that you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. All those influences have the potential to make RI’s indie bookstores true centers of culture and literature,” says Porter, who credits local bookstores for adapting during the COVID crisis. “If there is a positive side to COVID for bookstores, I believe it caused us all to become better merchants.”

Send your Rhody book recommendations to Hugh at RhodyReads@gmail.com

ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

55

LIFE & STYLE

I nfl ue nc e r | By Sascha Roberts

Meet Alexus Lee Providence born-and-raised musician talks about her creative process, Federal Hill nightlife, and her early years of DIY studios

Do you think having musician parents contributed to your path?

My parents encouraged both my sister and me to go after whatever we wanted, in whatever field, and went to some crazy lengths to provide us with the tools to do so. They let us build music studios in the basement, recording booths in closets, photo studios in the garage, you name it. Any creative project we wanted to explore, they were there to help us. That level of support, I think, is a bit unheard of, and I’m blessed because it’s definitely given me this drive that I can do anything with anything. We’ve been DIY before DIY was a thing, and it wasn’t always easy. We definitely had to get creative with what we had, but it taught us to be resourceful and tenacious in going after what we wanted. I think the greatest gift my parents gave me as it relates to my career is a crazy work ethic and the ability to see possibilities anywhere.

You’ve been on stages all over the world but is there a performance that stands out?

My favorite show to date was definitely at The Sinclair in Cambridge, MA. Back in November of 2019, I had the amazing opportunity to open for Mac Ayres. It was the largest crowd I had ever played for. I think the

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venue held something like 500 and it was sold out. I played a 40-minute set, entirely of originals – the crowd was alive and singing my songs with me, my parents were in the balcony – it was just a perfect night.

Describe your songwriting process.

I almost always start my songs on the keyboard. I start by fiddling around on the keys, just noodling around, and once I come up with a progression I like, I start to sing. If/when I land on a line I like, I jot it down on paper and build the song out from there. More recently I’ve been collaborating with other musicians. They’ll send me a guitar progression, or a track, and I’ll apply the same process of freestyling over it until I land on something I like. From there I throw it all into Logic to make a rough sketch of the song and we build it out from there. It’s a really low-key honest process. I love it.

What are some of your favorite venues in the state to perform?

I recently started performing at a late-night cocktail bar called Nightowl and I’m loving that. It’s actually Capri Seafood [in DePasquale Square] in the daytime and at 9:30pm it turns over into Nightowl; it’s a really cool vibe and the staff is awesome. I also love anything to do with PVD World Music. I’ve done a few shows with them downtown on the Grant’s Block Stage and it’s always a vibe. I don’t get out to listen as much as I want to because I’m usually performing at the same time as everyone else, but there’s so much going on in the city I’d love to support. Learn more at AlexusLee.com

Photo courtesy of Alexus Lee

When did you first start making music?

When I was eight I started taking piano and violin lessons with my mom, but even before that I was writing songs. We had this little Mac laptop with GarageBand on it and a tiny USB microphone, and my sister and I would sit making beats and recording for hours at a time.

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FOOD & DRINK Experience | In The Kitchen | Food News

Foraged Flavors Watch for inventive spring-inspired pints from Providence ice cream pop-up Big Feeling Blood orange meringue, cardamom caramel ripples, espresso-cocoa crunch toppings, bright yellow saffron – all of these sweet accents have appeared at one point or another in a pint of Big Feeling’s ever-rotating menu of ice creams and sorbets popping up around Providence. Along with meticulously tweaking ingredients to create flavors that surprise (and delight), homemade processes are at the core of owner Alex Maddalena’s ice cream business.

“Homemade ice cream can be better than any you can find in a shop because each ingredient is processed by two hands, with simple tools and quality local ingredients,” says Maddalena. “We’re cracking and separating every egg yolk, juicing and zesting each lemon, pitting every cherry. These details matter.”

Rarely repeating a flavor, Maddalena explains that the inspiration for Big Feeling’s unique pints is seasonal: “With each ingredient, there is a blank slate for what you can do next. How can you play off a beautiful peach in a way that highlights just how good the fruit is to eat on a hot summer day? What if you roasted that ingredient – how would it change the flavor profile?

“Spring is an exciting time for us because there’s some great produce starting to pop up. This time last year, we did Blossom Week, foraging magnolia blossoms from trees around town as well as some lemon blossoms.”

The taste of fresh fruit in your homemade ice cream just when the first spring blooms are popping up and another New England winter is (maybe, hopefully) at bay? That’s a big feeling. Themed ice cream drops return from a brief pause on April 24. Pre-order pints online to pick up at Bolt Coffee at 61 Washington Street, or visit Stock Culinary Goods and Hawes Fine Foods on Hope Street. BigFeeling.co | By Abbie Lahmers Photo courtesy of Big Feeling ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

59

FOOD & DRINK

Expe r i e nc e | By Kou Tukala Nyan

Glow Up A healthy food oasis on Admiral Street specializes in plant-based bowls, smoothies, and snacks

Vegan Belgian Waffles

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ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

Originally from Harlem, owner Priscilla Edwards relocated to Rhode Island to coach basketball at Providence College and founded The Glow Cafe when she noticed there wasn’t a healthy food spot close to campus.

“I felt introducing plant-based food in an area that could be considered a food desert would help bring awareness to a

healthier lifestyle,” says Edwards, “one that anyone can incorporate, even if they’re not fully plant-based or vegan.”

When we ordered, Rodriguez was attentive to every detail, recommending meals and drinks to accommodate my food allergies. At her suggestion, I ordered the Tropical Smoothie and the Garden Chickpea Salad. My friend went with the Belgian Waffles

Photos courtesy of The Glow Cafe and Juice Bar

The Glow Cafe and Juice Bar is a tropical oasis in the Wanskuck neighborhood of Providence. Green walls and eclectic designs signal that this is a plant-forward cafe, but not lacking in flavor. Reggae music played as manager Kiara Rodriguez led us to our table. My friend and I felt like we were on vacation the moment we stepped inside.

The Greenie Bowl is a colorful blend of fruits and veggies

ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

61

Expe r i e nce | By Kou Tukala Nyan

and the Sunny Glow, a smoothie that lives up to its name made from banana, mango, pineapple, and coconut milk.

While we waited, we enjoyed a seasonal fruit bowl as an appetizer. The blueberries, pineapples, apple slices, kiwi, and strawberries were bright and colorful, each bite sweeter and juicier than the last.

The Garden Chickpea Salad had loads of hearty kale and spinach, crunchy sliced carrots, and cucumbers – and a ginger bomb of a dressing tied everything together with a refreshing zest.

But the Tropical Smoothie was my favorite, a sweet yet tart concoction of straw-

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ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

berries, mango, orange, and pineapple. In a perfect world, I’d drink it every day.

Meanwhile, my friend danced in her seat as she chewed her waffles. Vegan waffles are hard to come by, and these add a little decadence to the menu, spiced with cinnamon, sweetened with a little vanilla, and topped with bananas and strawberries to bring back the healthy theme. More bananas in her smoothie added just the right amount of sweetness to her liking.

We stole sips of The Super Green Glow – a fresh juice of celery, kale, cucumber, spinach, ginger, apple, and lemon – while commiserating over the lack of healthy

food in our diets and vowed to make better food choices. Thankfully, The Glow Cafe makes that easier.

To bring a little bit of the feeling home, my friend ordered a Callaloo Patty to go and later raved about how the soft, flaky dough contained a flavorful veggie filling reminiscent of collard greens.

You know that feeling when you eat something healthy, and your whole body smiles? This was my experience. If you’re seeking healthy, delicious, plant-based smoothies and food to add to your routine or simply pining for a tropical retreat, look no further than The Glow Cafe.

Photo courtesy of The Glow Cafe and Juice Bar

FOOD & DRINK

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63

FOOD & DRINK

I n T he Ki t c he n | By Jenna Pelletier

From Food Truck to Sando Bar Korn Suom and Josh Burgoyne bring their Asian-inspired street fare to a Pawtucket mill building

Fried Chicken Banh Mi

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ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

business out of its parking lot during the beginning of the pandemic. “It was a good way to test if people would be willing to come to us,” Suom says.

Drawn to the food truck fare Ming’s had already built a reputation on, people flocked. Now, Ming’s Sando Bar includes pan Asian-inspired comfort food favorites

like Korean hot chicken and katsu chicken sandwiches and their eponymous street fries seasoned with garlic, sambal, and spicy mayo. A new commercial kitchen in the mill also gives them the space to expand their menu, adding various versions of traditional Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches and appetizers, such as crab rangoon.

Photos courtesy of Ming’s Sando Bar

After spending about three years on the move with Ming’s Asian Kitchen food truck, Josh Burgoyne and Korn Suom recently planted their roots and opened a brick-and-mortar location in Lorraine Mills in Pawtucket. The married couple settled into a 700-square-foot space in the mill earlier this year after running their mobile

PopKorn Chicken and Fries – with a slew of sauce choices

The building was already home to several food and beverage makers – including Crooked Current Brewery, Chi Kitchen Kimchi, and White Dog Distilling – which made it ripe with creative foodie opportunities.

“It’s a great place for collaboration,” Burgoyne says. “And it’s also an affordable place for small businesses that maybe

aren’t quite ready for the overhead of a full-on restaurant space.” They’re still holding onto the food truck and plan to continue to use it for events and catering.

Burgoyne and Suom, who met as students at Cranston High School East but did not start dating until years later, followed their dream of opening a food business

after working in other fields for several years. Suom was a preschool teacher and Burgoyne was a wetland biologist when they decided to take a leap of faith and purchase a food truck to create Ming’s.

The name Ming’s is inspired by Suom’s Cambodian heritage. In Khmer, the official language of Cambodia, “Ming” means auntie,

ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

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FOOD & DRINK

I n T he Ki t c he n | By Jenna Pelletier

Photos courtesy of Ming’s Sando Bar

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she says. Her parents escaped Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge of the 1970s and settled in Rhode Island, where they raised Suom and her two siblings.

Growing up, Suom often spent weekends helping adults prepare food at a Cambodian Buddhist temple in Providence. “That was my role as the youngest child,” she says. “I spent a lot of my mornings grating fresh coconut for a dessert, putting together sauces that they would pour over noodles or rice, and just building my love for food and our community during that very vital time in my childhood. I found that I love feeding people.”

When she met Josh, who had already developed his own love of food and cooking, Suom introduced him to those beloved Cambodian flavors. They spent a lot of weekends recreating dishes from her childhood and feeding them to friends and family, she recalls.

“And at one point, we just said, you know, it would be a great opportunity if we could make this a paying gig,” she says. The rest is history.

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FOOD & DRINK

Fo o d N e w s | By Karen Greco

Natural Wine

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Finding balance with the funk

Removing pretention

Love what you taste

In 2012, Andrea Sloan and Howard Mahady, who both worked as reps for large wine distributors, purchased Campus Fine Wines to bring their obsession with natural wine to Providence. “A lot of people’s notion of natural wine is it’s wine that’s weird,” says Mahady. “The weird elements are faults, but a small amount can add depth of flavor.

“People are a lot more adventurous,” Mahady continues, crediting this to the rise of the craft beer movement. “Younger people cut their teeth on funkier beers. They’re more open minded.” Because natural wine can’t be “fixed” with additives during the production process, leaving a thin margin of error, wine begins with an exceptional grape. “The most work happens in the vineyard, to get the best fruit possible,” he explains.

This is where a trusted producer comes in. “We have long-standing relationships with producers we know make distinctive, interesting wines. It’s a blend of taste and trust.” CampusFineWines.com

“Our food is farmer driven – local farms and people who are committed to the craft of sustainable agriculture. Wine cannot be left out of that,” says Bayberry Garden’s “Resident Wine Nerd” Kelsey Shaw, who began her career working mostly with large wine sellers. As her exposure to natural wine grew, it became an obsession and she transitioned her career to work solely with natural vino.

“The pretension of wine is intimidating and people get nervous about wine in general,” Shaw says, noting that Bayberry divides their wine list by flavor profiles to guide customers through the natural wine experience. “Everyone has their own flavor profile. Build out your vocabulary of what you like.

You know yourself best. That’s your starting point.” Bayberry’s entire staff is educated in wine – she says they do tastings daily – and can help customers navigate the menu based on their preferences. “Natural wine is for everybody,” she says. BayberryGarden.com

Eno Fine Wines opened in 2007 with a mission to focus on family-owned vineyards and small producers, seeking out local distribution networks and local importers. Natural wine, according to manager and wine buyer Domenic Merolla, was a natural expansion to their offerings. “We stock 1,200 wines in total and at least half of them are in the category of natural wine.” Merolla notes that the term natural wine is “esoteric. It’s a movement with a lot of overlapping principles.”

Merolla worked in start-ups (including opening escape rooms throughout Providence) before joining Eno. Like other natural wine obsessives, Merolla’s love of the vino brought him to a whole new career path in the industry.

“It’s exciting to be thinking about the grape from field to glass,” he says. For first-timers dipping their toe into natural wine, he suggests trying wines from Meinklang, a family-owned, biodynamic vineyard in Austria. EnoFineWines.com

ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

Photos courtesy of Campus Fine Wines

With the interest in organic food and the rise of farm-to-table restaurants, it’s only natural that wine would follow. Natural wine uses organic or biodynamic grapes that are hand harvested and assume a wild yeast fermentation. It strives to put nothing in – no added sugars, preservatives, or sulfides. We talked to local natural wine fanatics to get to the bottom of this heady glass.

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Please consume responsibly. Marijuana should not be used by women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. This product may cause impairment and may be habit forming. This product has not been analyzed or approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). There is limited information on the side effects of using this product, and there may be associated health risks. Marijuana use during pregnancy and breast-feeding may pose potential harms. It is against the law to drive or operate machinery when under the influence of this product. KEEP THIS PRODUCT AWAY FROM CHILDREN. There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgement. The impairment effects of Edibles may be delayed by two hours or more. In case of accidental ingestion, contact poison control hotline 1-800-222-1222 or 9-1-1. This product may be illegal outside of MA.

ART & CULTURE Profile | On Screen | Music Scene

Poetry in Motion Providence poet Rosalynde Vas Dias finds inspiration in her adopted city Finding inspiration in the winding Woonasquatucket River or in the juxtaposition between the stunning architecture of Broadway’s stately Victorians coexisting with graffiti tags, Providence-based poet Rosalynde Vas Dias’ work draws heavily on her adopted city.

“It’s important for poets to foster a sense of discovery. I feel like there’s a ton of that in Providence. If you walk around with your eyes open, you’re going to be delighted.”

“Poetry was my form of rebellion,” says Vas Dias of her teenage beginnings in the Lehigh Valley of Eastern Pennsylvania. Her dad was an English teacher, and she grew up surrounded by culture, but the idea of poetry in her young mind was that there was freedom to do anything you wanted within those stanzas. “It’s such a nerdy sort of rebellion,” she muses.

Photo courtesy of Rosalynde Vas Dias ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

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P r o fi l e | By Karen Greco

Attending grad school disabused that notion. “You’re drilling down on things like how a sentence lays across a bunch of line breaks, and you’re talking about pacing and tone. And you’re like, oh my God, everything’s a choice, and so out of the window go all the notions of freedom,” she says, chuckling. “Poetry is one of the most restrictive forms, really. But within all of that restriction, there’s a lot of flexibility. But you know, when you’re 14, you’re just like, look, they’re not capitalizing their letters.

There’s appeal to that.”

It is working within those confines that inspired Vas Dias to create a workshop specifically looking at punctuation in poetry for What Cheer Writer’s Club. Her Craft Curiosity workshop, Sounds of Silence: The Art of Punctuation in Poetry happening on April 30, digs into how to use punctuation for texture and mood tweaking. “Punctuation isn’t really a rule, it’s a tool,” she explains. “Writing a poem is like riding a horse. You can gallop that horse, or you can make that horse do a fancy gait that’s tight and controlled. What is your intent? What are you trying? Does your pace match what your subject matter is? The effect this has on the reader is super exciting to me. It’s in the weeds of craft, for sure.”

Her first book, Only Blue Body, won the 2011 Robert Dana Award from Anhinga Press and her work has been published in journals like Crazyhorse and The Cincinnati Review. While she nerds out on craft intricacies like punctuation, she is a firm believer in keeping poetry accessible. “Read whatever moves your heart,” she says, noting that she was a voracious reader from the start, and devoured all sorts of poems and poets regardless of the gatekeepers. “Who cares what’s vetted by ‘the Academy’?”

She sees the discomfort of writing a poem as part of the growth process, both as an artist and a human being. “How do you think an iguana feels when its skin is coming off? It feels itchy and uncomfortable,” she says. “So you’ve got to let your skin come off sometimes so you can be a bigger iguana. As artists, I think it’s really helpful sometimes to hold on to those metaphors. You can say it’s okay, I’m just being an iguana today.”

Vas Dias’ workshop Sounds of Silence: The Art of Punctuation in Poetry happens at What Cheer Writers Club on April 30.

WhatCheerClub.org

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Rosalynde Vas Dias

Photos courtesy of Rosalynde Vas Dias

ART & CULTURE

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ART & CULTURE

O n Scr e e n | By Karen Greco

The Rhode to Hollywood A roundtable with Trinity Rep actors from the Oscar-nominated film Don’t Look Up Netflix’s Don’t Look Up may have filmed in neighboring Mass, but it featured some familiar Rhody faces. We caught up with actors Richard Donnelly, Rebecca Gibel, and Stephen Thorne to talk about being part of the Oscar-nominated movie. (This interview has been edited for space and clarity.)

Richard Donnelly

Stephen Thorne caption caption caption

PROVIDENCE MONTHLY: Congratulations on being in an Oscar-nominated movie!

What does that feel like?

RICHARD DONNELLY: I love doing day-playing in movies. It never gets old.

REBECCA GIBEL: It’s amazing to be part of those projects. But what feels even more special is to be a journeyman actor, making a living in the arts. And sometimes you happen to be in films that are nominated.

But what feels even more special to me is that I get to make my life here with these beautiful artists in Providence.

PM: You had no context for the scene?

RG: They guarded the script really closely, I think because of the number of humongous stars on it. So we didn’t get the full script.

RD: Did you two stick to the script, or did you ad lib?

RG: Richard scripted his whole scene. It’s all by Richard Donnelly. [They laugh.]

RD: The first day, [director] Adam [McKay]

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said “we’re gonna stick to the script.” And then the next three days, we ad libbed, which was all Jonah Hill had to hear.

PM: What was that like?

RD: Fun. There was one point where Meryl Streep was trying to light her cigarette with this little gold lighter and she couldn’t do it.

I said, “you want me to light that for you?”

And she said, “Oh, would you?” And I wanted to say, “the camera’s on you, so yes!”

ST: That was the same thing as mine. I had, technically, the last line in the scene, but we spent a lot of time improvising this bit with a Xanax pill. By the end of the day, Jennifer Lawrence was responding to me going “he’s not something, something

[expletive].” I was like, oh, Jennifer Lawrence is calling me [expletive].

PM: Rebecca, your scene was tight. Was there room to improvise?

RG: Not for me, because the timing of it was so specific. I’m crossing in and out to different tables. So with each take, I had to keep my path exactly the same and make sure that the food I was dropping was exactly the same, so I didn’t screw up a take. It was all crazy choreography around the restaurant.

PM: What was it like doing this film during the pandemic?

ST: I hadn’t really been around people for like a year. So I go into a hotel room by myself for

Photos courtesy of Trinity Rep

STEPHEN THORNE: It’s a delight. I’ve had more people text me about seeing me for 15 seconds in this movie than have ever texted me in my life. It’s like, “Oh, my God, dude, that was you. That was your face.” So it’s cool but my part was so small. I feel related to it, but not necessarily a deep part of the inner workings of the film. I didn’t even get to read the whole script when we shot it, so I was guessing the tone of the movie. It’s a little like trying to solve a puzzle when you go in and do your scene.

Rebecca Gibel

eight days and get really isolated; then I remove my mask and go on to a set with Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio. I short-circuited for about a minute. The context was just wild. Like being shot out of a cannon.

RG: We’re like a tiny cannonball smushed in this dark, quiet place and then all of a sudden, boom. You’re in Leonardo DiCaprio’s lap. It’s bananas.

PM: What do you think needs to happen to make Rhode Island a more viable location for film and TV production?

RG: Governor McKee, if you’re listening, can we please get those tax breaks permanent? That the three of us are in an Academy Award-nominated film right now is

amazing. But the bigger story is that there is an economy here for television and film.

It’s possible for artists to make their homes in New England and still make a living as artists. I think that the movie industry is discovering that there is deep talent here.

And part of the reason is because of places like Trinity Rep, that have been supporting artists and their development and the ability to make a life here for decades. There have been a number of folks from Trinity – props folks, set builders – who transitioned to full-time work in TV and film in the New England area. And then you think about the food and hospitality industry, the hotel rooms those folks are booking...

RD: I talked to one of the guys on set whose job was to make sure everything was

sanitized. His company employed hundreds of people. Their company skyrocketed because of [the film work]. So there we go with the economics. It just makes sense.

ST: We were working in the middle of the most uncertain period, and that they figured out how to do it, was incredible. The vaccines weren’t even rolled out. We had to quarantine for eight days at a hotel in Boston before we could go on set. And the studio has to pay for all that. But they were like, we want to make this movie. And it’s a big movie, so it employed a lot of people.

RG: I think the soil’s really fertile. Don’t tell too many people though, because it’s really great up here. We want to keep it that way. I don’t want to struggle to get my table at Oberlin.

ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

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ART & CULTURE

M usi c Sc e ne | By Adam Hogue

Label Maker A dearth of live shows compelled Providence rocker to launch SELF LUV Records

“There’s so much incredible music being made locally; it’s important to me that people all over the world get to hear it,” begins musician Roz Raskin. Whether playing with NOVA ONE or The Rice Cakes in years past, Raskin is one of the first names that comes to mind as an active supporter of the musical community in Providence, and to those familiar with them as an artist, a label seems like a natural artistic progression.

“When COVID hit and I wasn’t able to book shows the way I had been, I thought it seemed like a good time to pivot into a new venture.” And that new venture is a modest record label, SELF LUV. “I’ve wanted to start a label for a long time, really ever since I started playing and booking local shows in high school,” Raskin says.

“When I was a younger musician in Providence, a few more established musicians took me under their wing and helped give me a platform to get my music heard, and I’m forever grateful for the opportunities they gave me. I hope to be able to do that for artists I

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work with in whatever platform I have.”

In many ways, a label is a small community. Unlike larger labels, an independent can collectivize and amplify a message, vision, or sonic aesthetic. An indie label can have agency and purpose behind the music they release and in turn, offer their artists a like-minded community and platform providing full support. An independent label has the power to align vision and sound into action.

“I’m definitely a very left-leaning person and most of the bands I’ve booked fall within a similar belief system. I’m not a fan of separating the art from the artist. In general, as a queer artist, I’m very much looking to uplift the LGBTQIA+ community as much as possible…and a rad sound is crucial for sure.” The recent Muggs Fogarty release Eventual Party on SELF LUV Records is a wonderful sonic translation of that vision.

(See review in the January issue.)

Prior to starting SELF LUV Records, Raskin reached out to their current label, the

New Orleans-based Community Records, for guidance. “Greg and D-ray, the founders of the label, have taught me so much, and working with them as an artist has been a dream. I hope to build something similar,” they say. “I’ve been curating shows for years with the outward intention to build safer feeling music spaces in the city. The mission will be building off that work. I’m also currently one of the chairs of the RIOT RI (a non-profit dedicated to fostering empowerment through music) board of directors and I’m hoping to bring RIOT’s influence and vision into my label work as well.”

And for those curious about NOVA ONE happenings, Raskin adds, “I just rescheduled my band album release show (for the third time) that’s now happening April 30 at the Columbus Theatre. A great Providence band Bochek is joining us for that one. Should be fun.”

Learn more at SelfLuvRecords.bandcamp.com, on Instagram @selfluvrecords, or join the mailing list by emailing SelfLuvRecords@gmail.com

Photo by Sasha Pedro, courtesy of Roz Raskin

Roz Raskin in the studio

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ProvidenceOnline.com • April 2022

77

ART & CULTURE

Ca l e nda r | By Casey Williams

The Must List 10 essential events this month April 16:

An evening of food and wine at Uncorked! supports your local public TV station

Askew turns four! Show your love for the venue that supports homegrown talent at their anniversary kickoff featuring Julie Rhodes & The Electric Co. and special guests Ali McGuirk and MaryElaine Jenkins. AskewProv.com

April 21: Peppa Pig Live comes to The VETS for a musical experience sure to impress her young fans.

Join Peppa and friends for a camping adventure filled with fun games, dancing, and surprises. TheVetsRI.com

April 23: Celebrate Portuguese culture at The International Portuguese Music Awards, featuring performances by Áurea, Jorge Ferreira, and more, hosted by NCIS actress Daniela Ruah and local celeb Ricardo Farias. PPAC.org

April 23:

Sundays in April:

April 9:

April 29:

The Providence Flea is ready for spring!

Through select Sundays in April, dive into the Farm Fresh RI Market Hall to find hidden treasures, fantastic deals, and good old-fashioned nostalgia. ProvidenceFlea.com

Save the date for Rhode Island PBS’ Uncorked! – a food and wine event to benefit our local public TV station – at the Pawtucket Armory Arts Center, with tickets on sale online. Pawtucket, RIPBS.org

Lisa Reihana’s immersive installation in Pursuit of Venus [infected], a reimagination of 18th century European exploration in the Pacific, culminates in a public reception hosted by the John Nicholas Brown Center at Brown University. Brown.edu

April 7-10:

April 9 & 15:

April 29-30:

Just in time for gardens to bloom, The Rhode Island Home Show is hosting its 72nd Annual Specialty Flower Show at the RI Convention Center, showcasing top designers of floriculture. RIBAHomeShow.com

Hop to the Roger Williams Park Zoo for a meet and greet with a special seasonal guest! The Easter Bunny makes an appearance for families and kiddos to get a picture taken with their favorite rabbit. RWPZoo.org

Festival Ballet Providence wraps up their 44th season with the New England premiere of Trey McIntyre’s Blue Until June, set to the music of Etta James, at the Woodman Community & Performing Arts Center. FestivalBalletProvidence.org

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Photo courtesy of Rhode Island PBS

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Cumberland 401.333.9333

East Greenwich 401.885.8400

Little Compton 401.635.8590

Narragansett 401.783.2474

Newport 401.619.5622

Providence 401.274.6740

West Side PVD 401.457.3400

Westport MA 508.636.4760