& ART CULTURE

A Bannister Year

Celebrations honoring a historic city visionary will culminate with a bronze statue – and QR code plaque

In 1880, a group of artists and art enthusiasts founded the Providence Art Club; among them was Edward Mitchell Bannister, an award-winning African American artist, intellectual, abolitionist, and philanthropist who spent the later years of his life working with his wife Christiana Carteaux Bannister to put Providence on the cultural map. In 2017, a street on College Hill was renamed to honor the couple, and more recently the club created The Bannister Community Art Project (BCAP) to keep his legacy top of mind.

According to BCAP co-chair Nancy Gaucher-Thomas, the project helps initiate “a public dialogue that encourages community partnerships and hopes to build and foster cross-cultural relationships.” The crown jewel is a bronze life-sized sculpture by Pawtucket artist Gage Prentiss. Financed by public/private donations and grants, it will reside at Market Square (RISD) and have a plaque with a QR code to access information about Bannister’s life and times. The unveiling is set to occur during PVDFest (September 8-10), where on Sunday, a team of “pied pipers” will lead people to the dedication ceremony.

Festivities began in May and will close out in November with Bannister’s 195th birthday. These programs and events have not only emphasized Bannister’s artistic influence, but also honor both he and his wife as activists, entrepreneurs, and abolitionists.

“We have had a love a air with Edward and Christiana Bannister, lifting them up through countless lectures, exhibits, and walking tours,” say Ray Rickman and Robb Dimmick, founders of Stages of Freedom, a non-profit dedicated to African American causes. “We are thrilled that 2023 is the year of the Bannisters.” Learn more at BannisterProject.org |

By Elyse Major with Rebekah Swenson

Wabi Sabi Vibes

In the long lineage of confessional singer-songwriters, Rafay Rashid has quietly emerged with a personal account on his new solo album Kitchen Weapons . Removing the bravado, swagger, and character of his ‘20s-dominating band Ravi Shavi, we glimpse Rashid opening up his journal and like a sommelier on some remote vineyard, pairing those entries with an array of fitting sounds, voices, tempos, and influences.

Opening with “Landlines” – a slow, staccato ballad all in on the downbeat piano, strumming guitars, and minor-fourth-resolved chords – the tone for this album immediately sets this project apart from Ravi Shavi. (I always thought of Ravi Shavi as fully Rashid with a band behind him, but this solo e ort leads me to think that Ravi Shavi was a more band-oriented effort and this is something much di erent.)

“The album is so autobiographical that it only made sense for me to put this out under my own name,” Rashid says. “It’s charged by the fuel of coming to terms with my life as it really was. I think with a band there’s a certain desire to transcend the personal into something universal; this allowed me to just really stick in the pocket of relaying my own personal narrative. Oh, and it’s pretty much a breakup album, but also about addiction and growing up in America as a Pakistani immigrant, so it all just felt too personal to come from anywhere else. Parts of it just felt like writing in a journal.”

For those folks who have come to appreciate the garage pop aura of Ravi Shavi, they will be pleased to hear that same warm, tube-filled reverb sound on this effort. The overall ascetic remains Ravi-Shavi-esque in terms of production and tone, but has an analog feel with stand-out individualistic instrumentation that taps the various talents of Robbie Crowell, Amatto Zinno, Liz Isenberg, Steve Delmonico, Nick Politelli, Florence Wallis, Chris Ryan, and John McCauley of Deer Tick.

Our Credos

• The Hippocratic oath must always be observed

• Informed consent must always honored

• No mandatory treatments

• Humanistic medicine

• Prevention, not disease management should be paramount

• We treat causes of illness, not just symptoms

• We believe in the body's native healing powers —the "vis medicatrix naturae" or healing power of nature

SPECIALIZING IN Naturopathic Medicine • Nutrition

Integrative Medicine • Reiki Functional & Environmental Medicine

Homeopathy • Energy Healing Thermography • Herbal Medicine www.RenaissanceIntegrativeHealthcare.co

Liner Notes

Kitchen Weapons

Engineered, mixed, and produced by Dennis Ryan

More at RaviShavi.Bandcamp.com

“Dennis Ryan was the mastermind behind the overall production and I trusted his vision completely,” Rashid notes of the producer/engineer/drummer and co-writer of arrangements. “The piano we recorded all the tracks on is slightly out of tune, so maybe that’s my signature piano tone now. I think it fits with how kind of messed up I was at the time of recording it. But, looking back, it was also like a moment of clarity while writing the songs.”

Each track stands out individually, with “Monogamy” having a kind of ‘60s bedouin, equatorial discotech dub vibe that sounds wide open to live jam sessions and in a snap, the next track “Lizards and Iguanas’’ hits with slinky trombones, soprano sax solos, and duet vocals. Still ahead are tight, almost electronic-sounding drums and simple piano, accordion, and violins, as the tracks play forward. “I think this was the first album to not use my signature beat-up Traynor tube amp,” says Rashid.

The album release show took place July 21 at Machines with Magnets and Rashid is busy promoting the album, touring with Deer Tick, followed by plans to record with Lookers in the fall, and Ravi Shavi this winter.