PROVIDENCE

America’s Best New Bands 2009
Our picks for the best new artist from each state in the union - BY PHOENIX STAFF

Beyond the big top

Cirque du Soliel's acrobatic theater
Calling Cirque du Soleil a circus is like calling Cinderella's splendiferous carriage a pumpkin. They're starting their 25th anniversary tour at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence (July 2 through 5) and, compared to Cirque, an ordinary circus appears vegetative, indeed.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | July 01, 2009

Rosinha's Restaurant

The traditional taste of Portugal
The latest eatery at Pawtucket's Hope Artiste Village is Rosinha's Restaurant, offering Portuguese cuisine — Cape Verdean, to be specific. Not wanting to give the wrong impression — music hipper and hoppier than fado sometimes reverberates from the Blackstone down the entrance corridor — a kind of manifesto stands at the door.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | July 01, 2009

Hail to the chief

The supreme Suttell. Plus, Newport news, and more on Michael.
Phillipe and Jorge are delighted to see that Paul Suttell, our pick for Chief Justice of the Vo Dilun Supreme Court, smoothly sailed through the General Assembly to assume that grand position.

By: PHILLIPE AND JORGE | July 01, 2009

Moving Off the Plantation?

Rhode Island's identity crisis
Rhode Island, whatever its obsession with history, has only lately begun to come to terms with the darkest stain on its past: slavery.

By: DAVID SCHARFENBERG | July 01, 2009

Artistic vision

Providence bets on creativity
The vision is grand and ambitious, both in the big picture and in the details.

By: MARION DAVIS | July 02, 2009

Funny business

Louis C.K. has work to do
"I'm pasty, pale, overweight and I have red hair. I see that Coldstone Creamery and I want to crawl inside and hide," Louis C.K. responded when I asked if he recalled just how disgustingly hot and muggy Rhode Island could be during his 4th of July headlining set at the Newport Yachting Center.

By: CHRIS CONTI | July 01, 2009

The block is hot

Jumping genres at Providence Sound Session '09
The summer sun has arrived just in time for the "premier genre-defying summer music festival" known as Sound Session '09, a weeklong block party and musical melting pot for the masses kicking off on Sunday, July 5 and culminating in the climactic, carnival-style parade trough downtown on Saturday, July 11.

By: CHRIS CONTI | June 30, 2009

Reaction Jackson

How to mourn a mess
There was Michael the living, breathing, singing performer and Jackson the commercial spectacle. We surrendered to the former, he to the latter.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | July 01, 2009

K is for clown

The lighter side of global annihilation
The lighter side of global annihilation

By: CLIF GARBODEN | June 30, 2009

Review: Prototype

The gleeful excess of Prototype
Prototype is so awesome, it broke my PlayStation 3.

By: MITCH KRPATA | June 30, 2009

Review: Public Enemies

Michael Mann's reheated crime waive
The gangster movie ruled Depression-era cinema — and that might be cause for concern about our present economic difficulties should the genre make a comeback.

By: PETER KEOUGH | July 01, 2009

Review: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Pummeling awfulness
Directed by Carlos Saldanha and Mike Thurmeier, the third go-round of the animated franchise — this time in 3-D — is as numbing as its geological era.

By: ALICIA POTTER | July 01, 2009

Review: My Sister's Keeper

Not quite the sum of its parts
Nick Cassavetes ( The Notebook ) gives competent direction to this weepie of the highest order, and there's an eclectic cast headed by Cameron Diaz, Jason Patric, and Little Miss Sunshine, Abigail Breslin.

By: TOM MEEK | July 01, 2009

Iggy Pop | Préliminaires

Astralwerks (2009)
Astralwerks (2009)

By: GUSTAVO TURNER | July 01, 2009

The Most Serene Republic | . . . And the Ever Expanding Universe

Arts and Crafts (2009)
The Most Serene Republic were the first group signed to Arts and Crafts that had no relationship to Broken Social Scene.

By: JAKE COHEN | July 01, 2009

Bibio | Ambivalence Avenue

Warp (2009)
Since this new record by Wolverhampton's Stephen James Wilkinson (a/k/a Bibio) has done nothing but delight me, I'm going to honor the sentiments posted to his MySpace blog and spare him the f-word and all variants thereof.

By: MICHAEL BRODEUR | July 01, 2009

Bowerbirds | Upper Air

Dead Oceans (2009)
North Carolina's Bowerbirds take the prevailing indie-rock æsthetic — ornate, textured arrangements, clean vocal harmonies — and apply them to Southern gothic, Appalachian bluegrass, and folk.

By: RYAN STEWART | July 01, 2009