July 13, 2023 • 31 mins
In our season 2 premiere, host Will Dailey takes you on a musical tour of Providence, Rhode Island— It’s a big country but this small city, in a small state, packs in a lot of sound, historic festivals and a mighty home for those who want to make things and make it work.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Double Elvis, Rhode Island, July nineteen sixty five.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
The Newport Folk Festival is in full swing. It's been
a hell of a year in the US of A.
That weekend, LBJ doubled the draft. The country was going
to war with Vietnam. Looming prospect of war plus the
ongoing and foundational traumatic fight for civil rights had the
audience feeling the weight of history on its shoulders. Enter
(00:37):
stage left Dylan. The folks were hoping for a repeat
performance of We Shall Overcome in a moment to link
arms and singing solidarity against a military industrial complex. Dylan, however,
had other things on his mind. Electricity was calling to
him and his Fender strat. What happens next is the
(00:57):
stuff of rock and roll. Myth rose boot off stage
and Pete Seeger is looking for an axe. However, upon
closer historical review, we see it wasn't that simple. Sure,
some purists were pissed off at this open genre defiance,
but the folks drawn to the Ocean State that day
weren't strictly booing electricity. They were booing for something else.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Entirely.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
She came from Providence, the one in Rhode Island where
the old worlds shadows hang heavy in the air. She
packed her hopes and her dreams like a refugee, just
as her father came across the sea the Last Resort Eagles.
Welcome back, friends to season two of Sound of Our Town.
(01:44):
You wanted more, Frankly, so did I. So thank you
for listening and supporting this show. You got us to
this moment season two. I hope while you've waited, life
has treated you well. You've got your steps in and
you've seen lots of live music. Hopefully you've had some
time to ears and boots to some Season one stops
like Tulsa, La Phoenix, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, or Asbury Park.
(02:07):
If you've caught some live music in any of these places,
leave us a review and tell us where you went,
what you heard, and what I missed. And right now
we turn our gaze to the largest city within the
smallest state of America, Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of
the ocean state, forty minutes north of Newport, a place
that is constantly reimagining itself and marching to the beat
(02:29):
of its own roving alien drum troop. For real, that's
a real thing that happens in Providence. The state is small,
the city is smaller. How small well, Houston, Texas was
one of our stops in Season one, and that city
is bigger than the entire state of Rhode Island. But
I hope someone has told you that size does not matter.
(02:49):
There's something truly divine about this little city. Founded in
sixteen thirty six by a renegade preacher, Roger Williams, fled
his uptight Puritan brethren in Massachusetts Bay Colony and headed south.
He wanted more out of life, more religious and political freedom,
more separation of church and state. Thus Providence was founded.
Williams learned to speak there against it, and was actually
(03:12):
friendly with the natives, at least for a while.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
That made him a radical.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Indeed, that live and let live attitude is an ethos
that has permeated down the generations, and Providence has been
providing a quick escape for Bostonians getting their style cramped
ever since, especially if that style involved lack of access
to strip clubs. Other important things to note about Providence
it was a big mob town. New York had the
(03:38):
Five Families, Boston had Whitey Bulger, and Providence had patriarcha
the city was so small that it was completely wrapped
in the mob economy. Organized crime was daily life, honest mobsters,
cricket cops and all the twice elected mayor was elected
for the second time while also being a convicted felon.
That can happen in America now the mob stuff, which
(04:00):
is a thing of the past. Mostly I think, I
don't know. This isn't a true crime podcast, but new government,
new demographics in a new down city. Revitalization has providence
spilling over with amazing restaurants and nightclubs in some very
solid music venues. The music community is tight and the
scene as diverse and supportive, and frankly, it's still very
(04:23):
weird in that in this ultra pasteurized, digitally homogenized instant
talk AI filtered life is a beautiful thing that has given.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Us talking heads Tavares, deer To, Freddie Scott, Claudia Lanier,
Jeffrey Osborne, Duke Robolog Room Full of Blues, Berney Swain,
The Silk, Slow Anthem Air Music, a deer Hunter, Wendy Carlos,
Bill Conti, Blue Cantrell, John b John Almont, Chance Emerson,
Nick Dwayne Lightning, Bolt, Scarce, Thank God for science, the
(04:53):
young adults, Smarty Blue and brown Bird. A friend told
me that Providence is a place of cultural.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Creators, not consumers.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
It's got one of the best art and design schools
in Risdy and one of the best culinary schools in
Johnson and Wales. Add in the brains at Brown and
this town is full of makers making more a hefty
scoop of do it yourself, and the music scene is
no different. In fact, the history of the scene here
is in the poetry of a thousand vacant warehouses.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Once upon a time, Providence was a.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Big port city, and it had all the things that
come with that, like excellent seafood and a lot of
people from all over making their living from the water.
Post World War two saw Providence adrift as an industrial
giant's abandoned ship jobs vanished and left a labyrinth of
brick warehouses behind. But there is beauty in the breakdown.
The artist is the fairy godmother to the vacant warehouse.
(05:55):
The rent is cheap, the square footage vast, the ceilings lofty, neighbors,
non existence, make as much fracking noise as you want.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
No one will call the cops.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
A prime location for the right source of people to
bloom an entire honeycomb of artistic activities so deep that
by the nineties famous art collector is formed and Providence
was one of the most dynamic underground art scenes on
the East Coast. And in these derelict buildings, noise rock
was cradled so could grow up quickly to terrorize the
ears of the crowds that would come in droves to
(06:28):
see bands like Lightning Bolt, Arab on the radio and Locust.
In the early two thousands, a hacked job of urban
improvement saw a section of the mills turned.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Into a strip mall.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
So, with the help of the Hippis Rockefeller child who
is a risky graduate and noise rock officionado artists galvanized
to start a collective buying and restoring these spaces, then
teaching the youth to do the same, creating more galleries,
venues and studios that are now award winning soulful spaces.
You want a town that has saved its sound, then
(07:00):
we need to visit Providence, Rhode Island. Sound of Our
Town is a podcast about the music that shaped the
city you are touching down in. It is about being
present to hear and experience its best music happening right
now in what sounds and places have shaped the city's culture.
(07:24):
In this season two of Sound of Our Town, I'll
introduce you to the real places and sonic stories echoing
in a particular city, so that your travel is enriched
with music, so that our troubles are forced to contend
with beats in harmony and songs. I'm your host, Will Day.
I'm an independent DIY songwriter and touring artist. I've been
(07:44):
doing this for a little bit, and this show is
a reminder of how important live music is to our existence,
this abiding ritual of getting together in a room to listen,
and why that matters. So I'm reading this book called
The Science of Awe. Talks about how the basic need
(08:07):
for awe is wired into our brains and our bodies,
how that feeling of awe takes us out of our
nagging ego brains and into the vast mystery that is
the strange trip of being human. And one of the
most direct pathways to awe is through the sonic medium music.
The shivers you get at hearing in epic solo, or
tears that fall listening to a voice drenched and emotion
(08:30):
in a room full of bodies vibrating on the same
wave that's awe. And in every city in America there
are authentic portals that are open and willing to offer
you a path towards mystical neurochemical transcendence. One potential portal
is our first stop. Located in downtown Providence a skew.
(08:50):
It's a funky welcome upon walking down from street level
into a room that has it all. Big wooden pylons
in a classic mill brick interior splashed with the work
of local artists hold the place up.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
There's comfy couches.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
A pool table in a board game shelf. Owners John
and win Song keep regulars on their toes with music, comedy,
and poetry. Open mics at the start of the week,
disco dance parties on Wednesday, in the occasional burlesque and
variety show. Thursday through Sunday is live music. You'll catch
a mix of Americana folks, singer songwriter, blues musicians, and
(09:24):
rock and roll varieties. Here John Allmark, local jazz hero
and trumpet player who has played with the likes of
Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin hits a ski with his
band Autocrats once a month with standing room only Funk Night.
Providence loves to dance on Friday nights after the live
music has ended. DJ Venom takes over. After the party
(09:47):
is the after party and more booties descend upon a
skew from all over town to shake it. Venom spins
retro eighties and nineties. Them Nights are Bowie and Cure Knights,
all sweaty and liberating excuse to vide the pandemic. To
make it to its fifth year anniversary, this small and
cozy room is already a huge part of pvd's multiple
(10:08):
sonic personalities. It's my favorite place to play in town,
and it always feels like an extension of the DIY
get it Done spirit of the Warehouse legends. When you're
having a panic attack, you're supposed to stop and listen
(10:29):
to five things you can hear. At first, your frantic
mind will hear nothing except the pounding of your head.
Take a breath. Suddenly you start to hear the wind,
the birds, the trees, the spaces.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
There's a band out of Providence that reminds.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Me of that, The Low Anthem.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
When both starting out in New England.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I would open up for them in Providence, and they
would open up for me in Boston. Sometimes the Boston
audiences didn't know how to handle the Low Anthem's subtleties.
On a few occasions, I had to be the guy
that shushed the crowd. A couple of years in the
Low Anthem blew up quietly, though critical darlings rave reviews
from Rolling Stone.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Touring with Iron and Wine.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Around twenty ten, Jeff Prostowski, one of the founders of
the band, wandered into a down on its luck but
stunning theater in downtown Providence, the Columbus Theater, built.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
In nineteen twenty six.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
To step into Columbus Theater is to be Marty McFly
stumbling into another century. Marble floors and mirrors, thick red drapes,
frescoes and a retro candy counter, and a lobby decked
out with gold paint. When I pulled up to the
Columbus to see my name on the marquis for the
first time, I felt connected to a feeling that has
(11:42):
echoed through the hearts of countless performers since electricity first
lit up a sidewalk. Duke Ellington grace this place. Jeff
was awestruck and in love. She offers to start paying
rent to the owner to host shows. The low anthem
uses their success to help give this theater back to
the community. And now the Columbus is buzzing sold out
(12:04):
shows with national acts downstairs in a recording studio, in
the most luscious listening room upstairs with local and regional acts.
Places like the Columbus Theater exude the magic and energy
put into it by its owners and caretakers. Now, to
keep this gem alive from the nineteen sixties until today
was no easy feat. John Barbarian, a gentleman Brown graduate
(12:28):
and a classically trained opera singer in New York City,
moved back to Providence to help his father run the
vaudeville turn movie theater, but attendance was low. He tried
booking opera concerts and the recitals, but when big movie
plexues moved into town, it was not enough to keep
the lights on. John, who loved this place with his
heart and soul, decided one fateful night in the nineteen
(12:49):
seventies to take a risk and show a film that
had the tagline banned in Denmark. The theater about to
go out of business, saw seven hundred people show up.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
It was a porno flick.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Barbarian was a musician who really didn't want to run
a porn theater, but hey, it's a pile of rubble,
or it's porn. He kept the Columbus open via dirty
movies and random shows throughout the years until Jeff walked in.
These days you can catch non banned movies, comedians and
national acts like Bill Callahan, Wanta Jackson, John c Riley,
Bonnie Prince, Billy Amy Mann and Father John Misty Upstairs,
(13:23):
a host of local and traveling singer songwriters of the
choieter Fair but not too quiet. This vaudeville turned porn
theater turned national performing arts venue is evidence of Providence,
showing us again that spaces that surround us in sonic
textures can be sacred places forever waiting for you. Now,
(13:47):
if you've listened to Season one, you know that I
have a soft spot for a dive in the No
cover venue. The Brits have their pubs, the French have
their cafes, and we have our dives. Like all things
in in nature, it takes time to grow such a space.
The absence of frills, allergic to trends, and I could
not recommend more a little green cinder block building just
(14:09):
down the street from a Skew in the Jewelry District.
Our no cover spot in Providence is Nick Andese in
a world that is constantly changing. Nick Andese is the
classic neighborhood joint. It's been an anchor and down city
since Stephanie Finisia opened it in nineteen ninety six. An
eclectic smattering of pool tables and demographics, political types and
punk rock types, hipsters, rockers coming back from gigs, college kids, weirdos,
(14:34):
townies and tourists, music aficionados, all amongst the pool tables
that are in orbit around the juke box. It's the
live music, though, that is free seven nights a week,
country blues, bluegrass, rock, singer songwriters and funk. During the
warmer months they have shows out back in the parking
lot because there's an actual stage there. You can find
a residency here too.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
In the house.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Band on Tuesdays is Marty Ballou and Friends, but you
can catch acts like Cody Nilsen, Legends, Tim Gearon and
Chris Cody. Ginny and the gin Boys are Otis and
the free wheelers cruising through on any given night. There's
barely a web presence. This is a dive, there's no script.
Their Facebook page actually has the best insight on the calendar.
Or just be grateful it's free and trust the mystery
(15:16):
and curation and may be yourself and what you bring
to that dive, and also bring cash.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Be the hero. The street lights.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Will come on as you bust out of nick andese
into a night's still young. Providence is a city made
for walking, time, for your ears, to recharge to the
song of the city, and to take a moment to
reflect on life's big questions.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Who are we, where are we going? And is Providence rock?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
The city had a reputation for being rough around the edges,
and the music scene was no different. Noise Rock came
to life in these warehouses. Providence has taken some licks
a place where recessions happen in success, where the mob
was hassling everyone, the scene was underground, and the general
mood was pissed. Of course, that people wanted to turn
up loud and in a motwhile soaking in the decibels,
to scream in unison, gaze at the shoes or thrash
(16:11):
around in a marsh pit with strangers and leave saying
thank you. And by now you've walked around a bit
off the beaten path from downtown. In surprise, you're at
a warehouse. So back to my important question, does Providence rock?
The answer is to come get your face melted at Dusk.
Venues and Providence have been known to open and close quickly,
(16:32):
but Dusk is an elder statesman at thirteen years old.
It's run by the owner, Rick Sunderland, and the head
bartender and booker, Danielle tell you she is also incidentally
the winner of a Bartender of the Year in twenty
twenty two in Motif magazine, which is Where Island's premier
art and music zine. So in addition to killer programming,
shfore your drink that will take you places, Dusk is
(16:55):
small enough to have an intimate feel, with a vibe
dark enough to shed the day. Bands stickers with heavy
metal fonts decorate the walls, and yes, you can catch
perfect metal and goth shows here that will leave your
ears ringing. But in the spirit of a city that
defies easy definition, within a state that Dylan brought more
to a folk fest, the best metal and garage rock
(17:16):
club in town also hosts one of the coolest DJ
dance parties around period. It's called Soul Power. One venue,
Two different ways to get your face melted. How anti
provincial shirts cling to soaked skins, small crowds reboot their
lungs with a cigarette breakoutside. Meanwhile, DJ Ti Jesso, who
(17:36):
is a fixture in the music scene, brings in his
big screen in vast record collection to help the citizens
of Providence let loose and lose control of their bodies
by transcending together hypnosis, biosmosis via funk, Boogaloo and Soul
Like So Much a PVD. No matter what is going
on in the city from ten to two on second Fridays,
(17:56):
everyone meets up at dusk to get melted at Soul Power.
The festival schedule in the Ocean State is so heavy
you'll wish you could clone yourself to imbibe at all.
But because we're still human for now and I don't
(18:18):
want to give you fomo, let's stick to the musts.
Two of the most famous festivals in America, Newport Folk
and Jazz Fest, are a forty five minute drive south
of PFD. Jazz critic glennar and Feather put it best
when he said, the nineteen fifty four debut of the
Newport Jazz Festival initiated the festival era in American music,
(18:39):
and it has never been the same since. The vibe,
the Mount everest of cool that was achieved in a
multi day extravaganza was something that only a deep concentration
of American jazz greats could establish. From talking Count Basie,
Eli Fitzgerald, Thonius Monk, Dave Brubeck in the Great Miles Davis,
this is pure awe. Two years later, building office success
(19:02):
in the wild popular folk scene, the Newport Folk Fest
debuted you know the place where the hippies boo Dylan
off stage where Joni goes to be reborn in twenty
twenty two. Both festivals today are a modern who's who
of music with a lot more genre bending allowed. Folk
at the end of July and jazz the first weekend
in August. A coveted and supremely scarce ticket. Now in
(19:27):
PVD proper, it is the Day Trill Festival, the brainchild
of organizers and sea makers Sabrina Chadri and Jason Almada.
Their production company Stay Silent PVD, which I would equate
to Providence's very own rock Nation, was born of a
necessity to create spaces full of love, music, art and
culture for the black and brown communities of Provenance. The
(19:51):
city is extremely diverse, but still culturally segregated by neighborhood.
There are huge communities of Dominican, Portuguese, Haitian and Cape
Verdean folks. In realizing the lack of melan and then
the music scene offerings, chaud Renal Media set out to
fix that. With each event they hosted, they raised up
the hip hop culture and the R and B scene
of Providence through pop up shows, hip hop brunches, and
(20:12):
DJ dance parties and special events all over town. This
coalesced into their very first festival, a day rave.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Called day Trill.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Starting ten years ago with thirty people in the parking
lot of fet Music, it has ballooned into four thousand
people today. It's a day and night full of love,
carefully curated R and B and hip hop that is
the place to be the problem is that twenty twenty
three festival has already come to pass, so you're gonna
have to get on the stay. Silent Milling list to
(20:41):
see what's up when you come to town. Our next
stop will perhaps be one of the oldest clubs that
sound of our town has yet to wander into. He
arrived at a Vatican like landmark of down City PVD,
(21:03):
the Strand Theater. It first opened its doors in nineteen
fifteen as a movie theater with two thousand seats. The
chairs were filled up into the nineteen seventies. When tastes
changed and well Downtown was ghosted after sundown, the manager's
office took a page out of the Columbus Theater's book
and pivoted towards X rated movies. You got to give
it to Roger Williams. No Puritans and Providence. After its
(21:25):
skin flick years, this lovely historic gem almost got the
paved paradise and put up a parking lot treatment. But
the Strand survived by the passion of art and was
born again when Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel took over in two
thousand and four. Proprietor Rick Luvo's club had lived in
a few locations across town. It was always getting gentrified
out of the neighborhood. Originally, he says, he opened up
(21:46):
music venue because he really just wanted to place to
play R and B Records, first Friends, and somehow convinced
Bo Diddley to come play. The Heartbreak quickly became a
blues hotspot for local favorites like Room full of Blues,
Wild Turkey, the young Adults and schemers, and sure enough
he did get Bo Diddley for nine sold out nights
in a row. After that coup, the star power ramped up.
(22:09):
Names like James Brown, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis,
Muddy Waters, Iggy Pop, the Pretenders, the Go Gos, Stevie
Ray Vaughan. They all started coming by after the Heartbreak
second displacement due to the fates that be deciding more
condos should go up, the stars aligned. In two thousand
and three, Rick and Company took over the Strand Building
and with this new grandiose space and the chops and
(22:30):
knack for attracting talent, the tour buses came rolling in,
buses carrying Wilco, Justin Bieber, Flaming Lips, White Stripes, Avid Brothers,
Marilyn Manson, Oasis Radio, had Beck, the White Stripes, Woo Tank,
Lan Casey Musgraves.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
I made my point in.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Twenty seventeen, Rick brought in some shareholders. Lupos finally hung
up its hat in the space closed doors for renovations,
relaunching two months later as the Strand we know today,
but with a new stage, dressing room, sound system, lights, backroom,
VIP areas, and additional balcony seating. Providence is an incredibly
diverse city. In the Strand's more racial and ethnically diverse
(23:09):
calendar is selling out shows by bringing in stars of
hip hop, Latin and R and B music like into
Cable Mora Elemi and Essilabonamaro. Today the Strand is buzzing
along and its caretakers attract all the different cultural sectors
of Providence. In our wide world of live music, there
(23:32):
are a million things siphoning our attention every minute. The news,
the bills, the feeds, all clouding out the synapses until
you can't remember the time you last had an actual thought.
Sometimes what you desperately need is a change of scenery,
a new view to sue the frantic mind so that
the muse can start whispering in your ear again, such
(23:53):
as the power of a great majestic library and the
ethnium Improvidence, or the Ath, as regulars call it, is
a portal. So imagine you're an orphaned child in a
steampunk novel and you find out that you have a
mysterious aunt who has a magic library that comes to
(24:15):
life at midnight. It is named after Athena, the Greek
goddess of wisdom. It opened its doors in eighteen thirty six.
Edgar Allan Poe wooed his lady, Providence poet and cult
figure Sarah Whitman, in an ill fated romance in these
very halls. HP Lovecraft loved it here, and it's easy
(24:37):
to see why. It is a quiet exclamation point to
all those surreal qualities of Providence. And if you are
a bookworm, then the main reading room is mecca. And
if you have been severed from the delights of reading,
then the main reading Room will provide you a rebirth,
a hand reaching through time, beckoning you to join generations
(24:59):
of dream and words. The Ath occasionally has music, but
really it serves as the silence between the notes, the
same silence that makes a song so indelible, or visit
to Providence so memorable. Now you're already listening to a
(25:22):
podcast to prepare for PVD, so it can't hurt to
suggest another podcast. Just please don't fall in love with
it like you've fallen in love with this one. If
you're a Sopranos fan and want to immerse yourself in
the maze that was the history of crime and corruption
and providence of your then the award winning Crime Town
further develops the awe of this town. Described as morbidly
(25:45):
fascinating and laugh out loud surreal. It takes twenty six
episodes to get through the insanity of it all. The
mayor of Providence at the time that the show came
out called it terrible for the city. Yet here we
are celebrating Providence.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Now.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
To get a hype for Newport, check out the gorgeous
black and white doc Festival.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Filmmaker Murray Lerner brought his camera to the Newport.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
From nineteen sixty three to nineteen sixty six. He did
it to capture the pulsating energy and cultural zeitgeist that
was a Newport folk Fest at its peak. It features
performances and snapshop interviews of legends running around that weekend,
like Joan Biaz, Bob Dylan Howland, Wolf, Johnny Cash, the
Staples singers Pete seeger Sonhouse and Peter Paul and Mary
(26:28):
Again just to name a few. I feel like, I say,
just to name a few a lot in this show.
In this film, you can feel the love and respect
with the great American musical tradition emanating off of each frame,
which makes this intimate record of a pivotal time in
music and culture so riveting to watch. There's still so
(26:50):
much I haven't told you about Providence. But honestly, after
all this time I've spent with Providence, I feel like
there's still so much.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
It hasn't told me.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
When I was brushing up on this that scouring the
details and dates to share with you, I kept getting
further away. I had to ask some of my local friends,
am I slow? Or does everyone keep their mouth shut
around Providence? I was met with knowing smiles. Providence kind
of doesn't want you to know how great it is.
Is it a holdover from the underground warehouse culture scene
(27:21):
where everything was on the dls the cops wouldn't break
up the party. Is it part of the legacy of
being a mob city where you kept your success to yourself.
So a man with a very thick neck doesn't show
up looking for protection money. Is it post puritanical guilt
or or is it everybody just too busy doing something
instead of talking about it.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
I don't know. Maybe it's all the above.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
I also think it's very telling that there is a
musical exodus from Boston to Providence. A lot of my
friends and fellow players have taken refuge in the twenty
five percent cheaper, ultra livable art supporting off the radar
big city. The rent in Boston and New York is insane,
and the pay has not risen with the tides. It
makes a person ask himself, why not Providence? So I
(28:04):
know Providence loves to dance. It loves to make music,
It loves to make spaces in moments meaningful. It loves
to make period. It loves kink. I didn't even get
to tell you about that. But maybe there's some things
better left for you to discover yourself. The show is
a breadcrumb. It's the start of your journey. Providence isn't judgmental,
and it's not here to impress you. It will be
(28:25):
delighted to see you, but it isn't going to beg
for your attention. It is always up for trying something new.
That is the founding spirit of Rhode Island and maybe
the frequency of energy that infected Bob Dylan that night
too when he walked on stage, alienated his audience, evolving
into his next form. And by the way, according to
(28:47):
the legend Al Cooper, who played on stage with Dylan
that day, the people weren't bluing his electric guitar. Dylan
and band played only five songs at Infamous Day three
were acoustic. They were upset with a short set and
bad sound. They were booing because they wanted more and
(29:09):
one more thing. Just a few weeks ago, I was
standing in the back of a skew post set watching
my friend Rhet Miller play the same Red Miller who
helped us close out season one, and I was filled
with a sense of gratitude and awe for that connection
with a place, with other musicians with an audience. Because
that's what music does. It gathers strangers in a room
(29:32):
and through some mystical process of sound and feeling, the
distance between us all merges in rhythms of the body
and heart synchronize, and even if just for a moment,
live music can make you feel like you're part of
something larger, something communal, and it can usher in that
sense of awe and from Buskers to Beyonce, this is
why musicians do what they do, chasing that feeling. Seven
(29:55):
nights a week, somewhere in a town near you, you
have been listening to Sound of Our Town. This was
episode one. We're coming at you with twelve episodes. This
second season, we got eleven more to go. They're coming
out every other Thursday. Wherever you listen to your podcasts,
(30:17):
and that is why I need your help right now
to follow this show. Wherever you listen to your podcasts
and leave a review, it's your reviews and follows that
allow us to spread the word and get to more
places and cover more venues. If you want to chat
with me about that make suggestions, hit me up on
Instagram at Will Daily Official. You can also hit up
(30:38):
Double Elvis on Instagram or Twitter at Double Elvis FM and.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
At Will Daily d A I L. E. Y.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Sound of Our Town is a production of Double Elvis
and iHeartRadio. The show is executively produced by Jake Brennan
and Brady Sadler for Double Elvis Production assistants by Matt Boden.
The show is created, written, hosted, and scored by me
Will Daily. This episode was written by Samantha Ferrell. Music
for this episode was composed and performed by me Will Daily.
You can check out my music just by spelling my
(31:07):
name correctly anywhere you listen to music. I'm on Spotify, Apple,
band Camp, and always will Daily dot com. Special thank
you in this episode to Alan Pennyman and Michael Panico.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
All Right, my friends, thank you for listening.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Don't forget to do that following and reviewing stuff, and.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
I'll see you in two weeks. Thank you for your
ears
Double Elvis, Rhode Island, July nineteen sixty five.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
The Newport Folk Festival is in full swing. It's been
a hell of a year in the US of A.
That weekend, LBJ doubled the draft. The country was going
to war with Vietnam. Looming prospect of war plus the
ongoing and foundational traumatic fight for civil rights had the
audience feeling the weight of history on its shoulders. Enter
(00:37):
stage left Dylan. The folks were hoping for a repeat
performance of We Shall Overcome in a moment to link
arms and singing solidarity against a military industrial complex. Dylan, however,
had other things on his mind. Electricity was calling to
him and his Fender strat. What happens next is the
(00:57):
stuff of rock and roll. Myth rose boot off stage
and Pete Seeger is looking for an axe. However, upon
closer historical review, we see it wasn't that simple. Sure,
some purists were pissed off at this open genre defiance,
but the folks drawn to the Ocean State that day
weren't strictly booing electricity. They were booing for something else.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Entirely.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
She came from Providence, the one in Rhode Island where
the old worlds shadows hang heavy in the air. She
packed her hopes and her dreams like a refugee, just
as her father came across the sea the Last Resort Eagles.
Welcome back, friends to season two of Sound of Our Town.
(01:44):
You wanted more, Frankly, so did I. So thank you
for listening and supporting this show. You got us to
this moment season two. I hope while you've waited, life
has treated you well. You've got your steps in and
you've seen lots of live music. Hopefully you've had some
time to ears and boots to some Season one stops
like Tulsa, La Phoenix, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, or Asbury Park.
(02:07):
If you've caught some live music in any of these places,
leave us a review and tell us where you went,
what you heard, and what I missed. And right now
we turn our gaze to the largest city within the
smallest state of America, Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of
the ocean state, forty minutes north of Newport, a place
that is constantly reimagining itself and marching to the beat
(02:29):
of its own roving alien drum troop. For real, that's
a real thing that happens in Providence. The state is small,
the city is smaller. How small well, Houston, Texas was
one of our stops in Season one, and that city
is bigger than the entire state of Rhode Island. But
I hope someone has told you that size does not matter.
(02:49):
There's something truly divine about this little city. Founded in
sixteen thirty six by a renegade preacher, Roger Williams, fled
his uptight Puritan brethren in Massachusetts Bay Colony and headed south.
He wanted more out of life, more religious and political freedom,
more separation of church and state. Thus Providence was founded.
Williams learned to speak there against it, and was actually
(03:12):
friendly with the natives, at least for a while.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
That made him a radical.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Indeed, that live and let live attitude is an ethos
that has permeated down the generations, and Providence has been
providing a quick escape for Bostonians getting their style cramped
ever since, especially if that style involved lack of access
to strip clubs. Other important things to note about Providence
it was a big mob town. New York had the
(03:38):
Five Families, Boston had Whitey Bulger, and Providence had patriarcha
the city was so small that it was completely wrapped
in the mob economy. Organized crime was daily life, honest mobsters,
cricket cops and all the twice elected mayor was elected
for the second time while also being a convicted felon.
That can happen in America now the mob stuff, which
(04:00):
is a thing of the past. Mostly I think, I
don't know. This isn't a true crime podcast, but new government,
new demographics in a new down city. Revitalization has providence
spilling over with amazing restaurants and nightclubs in some very
solid music venues. The music community is tight and the
scene as diverse and supportive, and frankly, it's still very
(04:23):
weird in that in this ultra pasteurized, digitally homogenized instant
talk AI filtered life is a beautiful thing that has given.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Us talking heads Tavares, deer To, Freddie Scott, Claudia Lanier,
Jeffrey Osborne, Duke Robolog Room Full of Blues, Berney Swain,
The Silk, Slow Anthem Air Music, a deer Hunter, Wendy Carlos,
Bill Conti, Blue Cantrell, John b John Almont, Chance Emerson,
Nick Dwayne Lightning, Bolt, Scarce, Thank God for science, the
(04:53):
young adults, Smarty Blue and brown Bird. A friend told
me that Providence is a place of cultural.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Creators, not consumers.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
It's got one of the best art and design schools
in Risdy and one of the best culinary schools in
Johnson and Wales. Add in the brains at Brown and
this town is full of makers making more a hefty
scoop of do it yourself, and the music scene is
no different. In fact, the history of the scene here
is in the poetry of a thousand vacant warehouses.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Once upon a time, Providence was a.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Big port city, and it had all the things that
come with that, like excellent seafood and a lot of
people from all over making their living from the water.
Post World War two saw Providence adrift as an industrial
giant's abandoned ship jobs vanished and left a labyrinth of
brick warehouses behind. But there is beauty in the breakdown.
The artist is the fairy godmother to the vacant warehouse.
(05:55):
The rent is cheap, the square footage vast, the ceilings lofty, neighbors,
non existence, make as much fracking noise as you want.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
No one will call the cops.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
A prime location for the right source of people to
bloom an entire honeycomb of artistic activities so deep that
by the nineties famous art collector is formed and Providence
was one of the most dynamic underground art scenes on
the East Coast. And in these derelict buildings, noise rock
was cradled so could grow up quickly to terrorize the
ears of the crowds that would come in droves to
(06:28):
see bands like Lightning Bolt, Arab on the radio and Locust.
In the early two thousands, a hacked job of urban
improvement saw a section of the mills turned.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Into a strip mall.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
So, with the help of the Hippis Rockefeller child who
is a risky graduate and noise rock officionado artists galvanized
to start a collective buying and restoring these spaces, then
teaching the youth to do the same, creating more galleries,
venues and studios that are now award winning soulful spaces.
You want a town that has saved its sound, then
(07:00):
we need to visit Providence, Rhode Island. Sound of Our
Town is a podcast about the music that shaped the
city you are touching down in. It is about being
present to hear and experience its best music happening right
now in what sounds and places have shaped the city's culture.
(07:24):
In this season two of Sound of Our Town, I'll
introduce you to the real places and sonic stories echoing
in a particular city, so that your travel is enriched
with music, so that our troubles are forced to contend
with beats in harmony and songs. I'm your host, Will Day.
I'm an independent DIY songwriter and touring artist. I've been
(07:44):
doing this for a little bit, and this show is
a reminder of how important live music is to our existence,
this abiding ritual of getting together in a room to listen,
and why that matters. So I'm reading this book called
The Science of Awe. Talks about how the basic need
(08:07):
for awe is wired into our brains and our bodies,
how that feeling of awe takes us out of our
nagging ego brains and into the vast mystery that is
the strange trip of being human. And one of the
most direct pathways to awe is through the sonic medium music.
The shivers you get at hearing in epic solo, or
tears that fall listening to a voice drenched and emotion
(08:30):
in a room full of bodies vibrating on the same
wave that's awe. And in every city in America there
are authentic portals that are open and willing to offer
you a path towards mystical neurochemical transcendence. One potential portal
is our first stop. Located in downtown Providence a skew.
(08:50):
It's a funky welcome upon walking down from street level
into a room that has it all. Big wooden pylons
in a classic mill brick interior splashed with the work
of local artists hold the place up.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
There's comfy couches.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
A pool table in a board game shelf. Owners John
and win Song keep regulars on their toes with music, comedy,
and poetry. Open mics at the start of the week,
disco dance parties on Wednesday, in the occasional burlesque and
variety show. Thursday through Sunday is live music. You'll catch
a mix of Americana folks, singer songwriter, blues musicians, and
(09:24):
rock and roll varieties. Here John Allmark, local jazz hero
and trumpet player who has played with the likes of
Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin hits a ski with his
band Autocrats once a month with standing room only Funk Night.
Providence loves to dance on Friday nights after the live
music has ended. DJ Venom takes over. After the party
(09:47):
is the after party and more booties descend upon a
skew from all over town to shake it. Venom spins
retro eighties and nineties. Them Nights are Bowie and Cure Knights,
all sweaty and liberating excuse to vide the pandemic. To
make it to its fifth year anniversary, this small and
cozy room is already a huge part of pvd's multiple
(10:08):
sonic personalities. It's my favorite place to play in town,
and it always feels like an extension of the DIY
get it Done spirit of the Warehouse legends. When you're
having a panic attack, you're supposed to stop and listen
(10:29):
to five things you can hear. At first, your frantic
mind will hear nothing except the pounding of your head.
Take a breath. Suddenly you start to hear the wind,
the birds, the trees, the spaces.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
There's a band out of Providence that reminds.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Me of that, The Low Anthem.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
When both starting out in New England.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I would open up for them in Providence, and they
would open up for me in Boston. Sometimes the Boston
audiences didn't know how to handle the Low Anthem's subtleties.
On a few occasions, I had to be the guy
that shushed the crowd. A couple of years in the
Low Anthem blew up quietly, though critical darlings rave reviews
from Rolling Stone.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Touring with Iron and Wine.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Around twenty ten, Jeff Prostowski, one of the founders of
the band, wandered into a down on its luck but
stunning theater in downtown Providence, the Columbus Theater, built.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
In nineteen twenty six.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
To step into Columbus Theater is to be Marty McFly
stumbling into another century. Marble floors and mirrors, thick red drapes,
frescoes and a retro candy counter, and a lobby decked
out with gold paint. When I pulled up to the
Columbus to see my name on the marquis for the
first time, I felt connected to a feeling that has
(11:42):
echoed through the hearts of countless performers since electricity first
lit up a sidewalk. Duke Ellington grace this place. Jeff
was awestruck and in love. She offers to start paying
rent to the owner to host shows. The low anthem
uses their success to help give this theater back to
the community. And now the Columbus is buzzing sold out
(12:04):
shows with national acts downstairs in a recording studio, in
the most luscious listening room upstairs with local and regional acts.
Places like the Columbus Theater exude the magic and energy
put into it by its owners and caretakers. Now, to
keep this gem alive from the nineteen sixties until today
was no easy feat. John Barbarian, a gentleman Brown graduate
(12:28):
and a classically trained opera singer in New York City,
moved back to Providence to help his father run the
vaudeville turn movie theater, but attendance was low. He tried
booking opera concerts and the recitals, but when big movie
plexues moved into town, it was not enough to keep
the lights on. John, who loved this place with his
heart and soul, decided one fateful night in the nineteen
(12:49):
seventies to take a risk and show a film that
had the tagline banned in Denmark. The theater about to
go out of business, saw seven hundred people show up.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
It was a porno flick.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Barbarian was a musician who really didn't want to run
a porn theater, but hey, it's a pile of rubble,
or it's porn. He kept the Columbus open via dirty
movies and random shows throughout the years until Jeff walked in.
These days you can catch non banned movies, comedians and
national acts like Bill Callahan, Wanta Jackson, John c Riley,
Bonnie Prince, Billy Amy Mann and Father John Misty Upstairs,
(13:23):
a host of local and traveling singer songwriters of the
choieter Fair but not too quiet. This vaudeville turned porn
theater turned national performing arts venue is evidence of Providence,
showing us again that spaces that surround us in sonic
textures can be sacred places forever waiting for you. Now,
(13:47):
if you've listened to Season one, you know that I
have a soft spot for a dive in the No
cover venue. The Brits have their pubs, the French have
their cafes, and we have our dives. Like all things
in in nature, it takes time to grow such a space.
The absence of frills, allergic to trends, and I could
not recommend more a little green cinder block building just
(14:09):
down the street from a Skew in the Jewelry District.
Our no cover spot in Providence is Nick Andese in
a world that is constantly changing. Nick Andese is the
classic neighborhood joint. It's been an anchor and down city
since Stephanie Finisia opened it in nineteen ninety six. An
eclectic smattering of pool tables and demographics, political types and
punk rock types, hipsters, rockers coming back from gigs, college kids, weirdos,
(14:34):
townies and tourists, music aficionados, all amongst the pool tables
that are in orbit around the juke box. It's the
live music, though, that is free seven nights a week,
country blues, bluegrass, rock, singer songwriters and funk. During the
warmer months they have shows out back in the parking
lot because there's an actual stage there. You can find
a residency here too.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
In the house.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Band on Tuesdays is Marty Ballou and Friends, but you
can catch acts like Cody Nilsen, Legends, Tim Gearon and
Chris Cody. Ginny and the gin Boys are Otis and
the free wheelers cruising through on any given night. There's
barely a web presence. This is a dive, there's no script.
Their Facebook page actually has the best insight on the calendar.
Or just be grateful it's free and trust the mystery
(15:16):
and curation and may be yourself and what you bring
to that dive, and also bring cash.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Be the hero. The street lights.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Will come on as you bust out of nick andese
into a night's still young. Providence is a city made
for walking, time, for your ears, to recharge to the
song of the city, and to take a moment to
reflect on life's big questions.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Who are we, where are we going? And is Providence rock?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
The city had a reputation for being rough around the edges,
and the music scene was no different. Noise Rock came
to life in these warehouses. Providence has taken some licks
a place where recessions happen in success, where the mob
was hassling everyone, the scene was underground, and the general
mood was pissed. Of course, that people wanted to turn
up loud and in a motwhile soaking in the decibels,
to scream in unison, gaze at the shoes or thrash
(16:11):
around in a marsh pit with strangers and leave saying
thank you. And by now you've walked around a bit
off the beaten path from downtown. In surprise, you're at
a warehouse. So back to my important question, does Providence rock?
The answer is to come get your face melted at Dusk.
Venues and Providence have been known to open and close quickly,
(16:32):
but Dusk is an elder statesman at thirteen years old.
It's run by the owner, Rick Sunderland, and the head
bartender and booker, Danielle tell you she is also incidentally
the winner of a Bartender of the Year in twenty
twenty two in Motif magazine, which is Where Island's premier
art and music zine. So in addition to killer programming,
shfore your drink that will take you places, Dusk is
(16:55):
small enough to have an intimate feel, with a vibe
dark enough to shed the day. Bands stickers with heavy
metal fonts decorate the walls, and yes, you can catch
perfect metal and goth shows here that will leave your
ears ringing. But in the spirit of a city that
defies easy definition, within a state that Dylan brought more
to a folk fest, the best metal and garage rock
(17:16):
club in town also hosts one of the coolest DJ
dance parties around period. It's called Soul Power. One venue,
Two different ways to get your face melted. How anti
provincial shirts cling to soaked skins, small crowds reboot their
lungs with a cigarette breakoutside. Meanwhile, DJ Ti Jesso, who
(17:36):
is a fixture in the music scene, brings in his
big screen in vast record collection to help the citizens
of Providence let loose and lose control of their bodies
by transcending together hypnosis, biosmosis via funk, Boogaloo and Soul
Like So Much a PVD. No matter what is going
on in the city from ten to two on second Fridays,
(17:56):
everyone meets up at dusk to get melted at Soul Power.
The festival schedule in the Ocean State is so heavy
you'll wish you could clone yourself to imbibe at all.
But because we're still human for now and I don't
(18:18):
want to give you fomo, let's stick to the musts.
Two of the most famous festivals in America, Newport Folk
and Jazz Fest, are a forty five minute drive south
of PFD. Jazz critic glennar and Feather put it best
when he said, the nineteen fifty four debut of the
Newport Jazz Festival initiated the festival era in American music,
(18:39):
and it has never been the same since. The vibe,
the Mount everest of cool that was achieved in a
multi day extravaganza was something that only a deep concentration
of American jazz greats could establish. From talking Count Basie,
Eli Fitzgerald, Thonius Monk, Dave Brubeck in the Great Miles Davis,
this is pure awe. Two years later, building office success
(19:02):
in the wild popular folk scene, the Newport Folk Fest
debuted you know the place where the hippies boo Dylan
off stage where Joni goes to be reborn in twenty
twenty two. Both festivals today are a modern who's who
of music with a lot more genre bending allowed. Folk
at the end of July and jazz the first weekend
in August. A coveted and supremely scarce ticket. Now in
(19:27):
PVD proper, it is the Day Trill Festival, the brainchild
of organizers and sea makers Sabrina Chadri and Jason Almada.
Their production company Stay Silent PVD, which I would equate
to Providence's very own rock Nation, was born of a
necessity to create spaces full of love, music, art and
culture for the black and brown communities of Provenance. The
(19:51):
city is extremely diverse, but still culturally segregated by neighborhood.
There are huge communities of Dominican, Portuguese, Haitian and Cape
Verdean folks. In realizing the lack of melan and then
the music scene offerings, chaud Renal Media set out to
fix that. With each event they hosted, they raised up
the hip hop culture and the R and B scene
of Providence through pop up shows, hip hop brunches, and
(20:12):
DJ dance parties and special events all over town. This
coalesced into their very first festival, a day rave.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Called day Trill.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Starting ten years ago with thirty people in the parking
lot of fet Music, it has ballooned into four thousand
people today. It's a day and night full of love,
carefully curated R and B and hip hop that is
the place to be the problem is that twenty twenty
three festival has already come to pass, so you're gonna
have to get on the stay. Silent Milling list to
(20:41):
see what's up when you come to town. Our next
stop will perhaps be one of the oldest clubs that
sound of our town has yet to wander into. He
arrived at a Vatican like landmark of down City PVD,
(21:03):
the Strand Theater. It first opened its doors in nineteen
fifteen as a movie theater with two thousand seats. The
chairs were filled up into the nineteen seventies. When tastes
changed and well Downtown was ghosted after sundown, the manager's
office took a page out of the Columbus Theater's book
and pivoted towards X rated movies. You got to give
it to Roger Williams. No Puritans and Providence. After its
(21:25):
skin flick years, this lovely historic gem almost got the
paved paradise and put up a parking lot treatment. But
the Strand survived by the passion of art and was
born again when Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel took over in two
thousand and four. Proprietor Rick Luvo's club had lived in
a few locations across town. It was always getting gentrified
out of the neighborhood. Originally, he says, he opened up
(21:46):
music venue because he really just wanted to place to
play R and B Records, first Friends, and somehow convinced
Bo Diddley to come play. The Heartbreak quickly became a
blues hotspot for local favorites like Room full of Blues,
Wild Turkey, the young Adults and schemers, and sure enough
he did get Bo Diddley for nine sold out nights
in a row. After that coup, the star power ramped up.
(22:09):
Names like James Brown, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis,
Muddy Waters, Iggy Pop, the Pretenders, the Go Gos, Stevie
Ray Vaughan. They all started coming by after the Heartbreak
second displacement due to the fates that be deciding more
condos should go up, the stars aligned. In two thousand
and three, Rick and Company took over the Strand Building
and with this new grandiose space and the chops and
(22:30):
knack for attracting talent, the tour buses came rolling in,
buses carrying Wilco, Justin Bieber, Flaming Lips, White Stripes, Avid Brothers,
Marilyn Manson, Oasis Radio, had Beck, the White Stripes, Woo Tank,
Lan Casey Musgraves.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
I made my point in.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Twenty seventeen, Rick brought in some shareholders. Lupos finally hung
up its hat in the space closed doors for renovations,
relaunching two months later as the Strand we know today,
but with a new stage, dressing room, sound system, lights, backroom,
VIP areas, and additional balcony seating. Providence is an incredibly
diverse city. In the Strand's more racial and ethnically diverse
(23:09):
calendar is selling out shows by bringing in stars of
hip hop, Latin and R and B music like into
Cable Mora Elemi and Essilabonamaro. Today the Strand is buzzing
along and its caretakers attract all the different cultural sectors
of Providence. In our wide world of live music, there
(23:32):
are a million things siphoning our attention every minute. The news,
the bills, the feeds, all clouding out the synapses until
you can't remember the time you last had an actual thought.
Sometimes what you desperately need is a change of scenery,
a new view to sue the frantic mind so that
the muse can start whispering in your ear again, such
(23:53):
as the power of a great majestic library and the
ethnium Improvidence, or the Ath, as regulars call it, is
a portal. So imagine you're an orphaned child in a
steampunk novel and you find out that you have a
mysterious aunt who has a magic library that comes to
(24:15):
life at midnight. It is named after Athena, the Greek
goddess of wisdom. It opened its doors in eighteen thirty six.
Edgar Allan Poe wooed his lady, Providence poet and cult
figure Sarah Whitman, in an ill fated romance in these
very halls. HP Lovecraft loved it here, and it's easy
(24:37):
to see why. It is a quiet exclamation point to
all those surreal qualities of Providence. And if you are
a bookworm, then the main reading room is mecca. And
if you have been severed from the delights of reading,
then the main reading Room will provide you a rebirth,
a hand reaching through time, beckoning you to join generations
(24:59):
of dream and words. The Ath occasionally has music, but
really it serves as the silence between the notes, the
same silence that makes a song so indelible, or visit
to Providence so memorable. Now you're already listening to a
(25:22):
podcast to prepare for PVD, so it can't hurt to
suggest another podcast. Just please don't fall in love with
it like you've fallen in love with this one. If
you're a Sopranos fan and want to immerse yourself in
the maze that was the history of crime and corruption
and providence of your then the award winning Crime Town
further develops the awe of this town. Described as morbidly
(25:45):
fascinating and laugh out loud surreal. It takes twenty six
episodes to get through the insanity of it all. The
mayor of Providence at the time that the show came
out called it terrible for the city. Yet here we
are celebrating Providence.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Now.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
To get a hype for Newport, check out the gorgeous
black and white doc Festival.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Filmmaker Murray Lerner brought his camera to the Newport.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
From nineteen sixty three to nineteen sixty six. He did
it to capture the pulsating energy and cultural zeitgeist that
was a Newport folk Fest at its peak. It features
performances and snapshop interviews of legends running around that weekend,
like Joan Biaz, Bob Dylan Howland, Wolf, Johnny Cash, the
Staples singers Pete seeger Sonhouse and Peter Paul and Mary
(26:28):
Again just to name a few. I feel like, I say,
just to name a few a lot in this show.
In this film, you can feel the love and respect
with the great American musical tradition emanating off of each frame,
which makes this intimate record of a pivotal time in
music and culture so riveting to watch. There's still so
(26:50):
much I haven't told you about Providence. But honestly, after
all this time I've spent with Providence, I feel like
there's still so much.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
It hasn't told me.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
When I was brushing up on this that scouring the
details and dates to share with you, I kept getting
further away. I had to ask some of my local friends,
am I slow? Or does everyone keep their mouth shut
around Providence? I was met with knowing smiles. Providence kind
of doesn't want you to know how great it is.
Is it a holdover from the underground warehouse culture scene
(27:21):
where everything was on the dls the cops wouldn't break
up the party. Is it part of the legacy of
being a mob city where you kept your success to yourself.
So a man with a very thick neck doesn't show
up looking for protection money. Is it post puritanical guilt
or or is it everybody just too busy doing something
instead of talking about it.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
I don't know. Maybe it's all the above.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
I also think it's very telling that there is a
musical exodus from Boston to Providence. A lot of my
friends and fellow players have taken refuge in the twenty
five percent cheaper, ultra livable art supporting off the radar
big city. The rent in Boston and New York is insane,
and the pay has not risen with the tides. It
makes a person ask himself, why not Providence? So I
(28:04):
know Providence loves to dance. It loves to make music,
It loves to make spaces in moments meaningful. It loves
to make period. It loves kink. I didn't even get
to tell you about that. But maybe there's some things
better left for you to discover yourself. The show is
a breadcrumb. It's the start of your journey. Providence isn't judgmental,
and it's not here to impress you. It will be
(28:25):
delighted to see you, but it isn't going to beg
for your attention. It is always up for trying something new.
That is the founding spirit of Rhode Island and maybe
the frequency of energy that infected Bob Dylan that night
too when he walked on stage, alienated his audience, evolving
into his next form. And by the way, according to
(28:47):
the legend Al Cooper, who played on stage with Dylan
that day, the people weren't bluing his electric guitar. Dylan
and band played only five songs at Infamous Day three
were acoustic. They were upset with a short set and
bad sound. They were booing because they wanted more and
(29:09):
one more thing. Just a few weeks ago, I was
standing in the back of a skew post set watching
my friend Rhet Miller play the same Red Miller who
helped us close out season one, and I was filled
with a sense of gratitude and awe for that connection
with a place, with other musicians with an audience. Because
that's what music does. It gathers strangers in a room
(29:32):
and through some mystical process of sound and feeling, the
distance between us all merges in rhythms of the body
and heart synchronize, and even if just for a moment,
live music can make you feel like you're part of
something larger, something communal, and it can usher in that
sense of awe and from Buskers to Beyonce, this is
why musicians do what they do, chasing that feeling. Seven
(29:55):
nights a week, somewhere in a town near you, you
have been listening to Sound of Our Town. This was
episode one. We're coming at you with twelve episodes. This
second season, we got eleven more to go. They're coming
out every other Thursday. Wherever you listen to your podcasts,
(30:17):
and that is why I need your help right now
to follow this show. Wherever you listen to your podcasts
and leave a review, it's your reviews and follows that
allow us to spread the word and get to more
places and cover more venues. If you want to chat
with me about that make suggestions, hit me up on
Instagram at Will Daily Official. You can also hit up
(30:38):
Double Elvis on Instagram or Twitter at Double Elvis FM and.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
At Will Daily d A I L. E. Y.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Sound of Our Town is a production of Double Elvis
and iHeartRadio. The show is executively produced by Jake Brennan
and Brady Sadler for Double Elvis Production assistants by Matt Boden.
The show is created, written, hosted, and scored by me
Will Daily. This episode was written by Samantha Ferrell. Music
for this episode was composed and performed by me Will Daily.
You can check out my music just by spelling my
(31:07):
name correctly anywhere you listen to music. I'm on Spotify, Apple,
band Camp, and always will Daily dot com. Special thank
you in this episode to Alan Pennyman and Michael Panico.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
All Right, my friends, thank you for listening.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Don't forget to do that following and reviewing stuff, and.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
I'll see you in two weeks. Thank you for your
ears
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