ridaily

2011-08-30

No More Dining in the Dark

An update on the Rhode Island restaurant scene after the massive power outage that Hurricane Irene left in her wake.

Posted at 05:15 PM in ridaily Eating Out | Permalink | Comments

2011-08-25

Since I was little, the sound of crickets chirping has signaled the approaching end of summer. I would lie in bed at night thinking about the upcoming school year, lulled by what I thought were dozens of little green crickets rubbing their hind legs together outside my window, creating a lazy symphony.Turns out my back-to-school trepidation wasn’t the crickets’ concern. Just the males chirp, and it’s a single-minded pursuit. The sound comes not from crickets rubbing their legs together, but from crickets running the top of one of their wings along the serrated bottom of the other, like a pick along a washboard. And they keep their wings wide to amplify the sound. Why, you ask? Well, late summer is mating season for crickets.And they have a repertoire. It...

Posted at 04:36 PM in ridaily State of Mine | Permalink | Comments

2011-08-24

Callas in the Classroom

I love that there are so many ways into a good conversation about art. (Obviously, we’ll never exhaust the possibilities.) A couple of years ago, I learned a word for art that talks about (or talks back to) other art. The word is ekphrasis. To be honest, I’m still learning what it means, but I’m fairly certain it’s what happens in Terrence McNally’s Master Class.The play is McNally’s Tony Award-winning re-envisioning of the master classes that opera legend Maria Callas gave at Julliard in 1971. It opened at 2nd Story Theatre last week. Since then, Gloria Crist's portrayal of Callas has resonated with me. Sometimes you encounter this sort of crackling brilliance beneath the surface of a performance (it’s like charisma), and you wonder whether...

Posted at 04:33 PM in ridaily What's On | Permalink | Comments

2011-08-23

There's a Place for You at the Table

We've been on hiatus from blogging for the summer, but we're back and we're hungry. What better time than now to talk about the inaugural Providence Food and Wine Festival, which takes place August 25-27. We got the lowdown from blogger, photographer and overall food and wine fanatic David Dadekian, one of the organizers of the event.Why should people from out of state come to the festival? Providence is a great food town. We have put together a festival about Providence, not just a festival that takes place in Providence. All of the participants are locally-based people. It’s not about celebrity chefs flying in from San Francisco or New York City to come to the event. It’s about meeting the local people who make this city great. What makes Providence such a great...

Posted at 01:14 PM in ridaily Eating Out | Permalink | Comments

2011-08-02

Dispatch from the 2011 Newport Folk Festival

When Elvis Costello took the stage late Sunday afternoon, he told the sold-out crowd, “You know you’re in the right place when you’re backstage standing behind Pete Seeger watching Wanda Jackson.” And, indeed, the 2011 Newport Folk Festival was the layering of generations of music. A place where on the Saturday 6 p.m. slot, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Mavis Staples and The Decemberists all vied for audiences from the three stages placed around scenic Fort Adams (although the lucky festival goers saw The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy sitting in with Mavis Staples on the Quad stage for a cover of The Band’s “The Weight,” just minutes before he took the Fort stage with his own group). This year, as with the programming of the recent past,...

Posted at 08:04 AM in ridaily What's On | Permalink | Comments

2011-08-30 No More Dining in the Dark An update on the Rhode Island restaurant scene after the massive power outage that Hurricane Irene left in her wake. Posted at 05:15 PM in ridaily Eating Out \| Permalink \| Comments

2011-08-25 Splendor in the Grass Since I was little, the sound of crickets chirping has signaled the approaching end of summer. I would lie in bed at night thinking about the upcoming school year, lulled by what I thought were dozens of little green crickets rubbing their hind legs together outside my window, creating a lazy symphony.Turns out my back-to-school trepidation wasn’t the crickets’ concern. Just the males chirp, and it’s a single-minded pursuit. The sound comes not from crickets rubbing their legs together, but from crickets running the top of one of their wings along the serrated bottom of the other, like a pick along a washboard. And they keep their wings wide to amplify the sound. Why, you ask? Well, late summer is mating season for crickets.And they have a repertoire. It... Posted at 04:36 PM in ridaily State of Mine \| Permalink \| Comments

	2011-08-24 Callas in the Classroom I love that there are so many ways into a good conversation about art. (Obviously, we’ll never exhaust the possibilities.) A couple of years ago, I learned a word for art that talks about (or talks back to) other art. The word is ekphrasis. To be honest, I’m still learning what it means, but I’m fairly certain it’s what happens in Terrence McNally’s Master Class.The play is McNally’s Tony Award-winning re-envisioning of the master classes that opera legend Maria Callas gave at Julliard in 1971. It opened at 2nd Story Theatre last week. Since then, Gloria Crist's portrayal of Callas has resonated with me. Sometimes you encounter this sort of crackling brilliance beneath the surface of a performance (it’s like charisma), and you wonder whether... Posted at 04:33 PM in ridaily What's On \| Permalink \| Comments

2011-08-23 There's a Place for You at the Table We've been on hiatus from blogging for the summer, but we're back and we're hungry. What better time than now to talk about the inaugural Providence Food and Wine Festival, which takes place August 25-27. We got the lowdown from blogger, photographer and overall food and wine fanatic David Dadekian, one of the organizers of the event.Why should people from out of state come to the festival? Providence is a great food town. We have put together a festival about Providence, not just a festival that takes place in Providence. All of the participants are locally-based people. It’s not about celebrity chefs flying in from San Francisco or New York City to come to the event. It’s about meeting the local people who make this city great. What makes Providence such a great... Posted at 01:14 PM in ridaily Eating Out \| Permalink \| Comments

	2011-08-02 Dispatch from the 2011 Newport Folk Festival When Elvis Costello took the stage late Sunday afternoon, he told the sold-out crowd, “You know you’re in the right place when you’re backstage standing behind Pete Seeger watching Wanda Jackson.” And, indeed, the 2011 Newport Folk Festival was the layering of generations of music. A place where on the Saturday 6 p.m. slot, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Mavis Staples and The Decemberists all vied for audiences from the three stages placed around scenic Fort Adams (although the lucky festival goers saw The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy sitting in with Mavis Staples on the Quad stage for a cover of The Band’s “The Weight,” just minutes before he took the Fort stage with his own group). This year, as with the programming of the recent past,... Posted at 08:04 AM in ridaily What's On \| Permalink \| Comments

Letters to the Editor

ridaily - August 2011