PRONK!, or Providence Honk, is an annual festival that draws street musicians from around the country to celebrate music here in our little state’s capital city. I believe this will be its 8th year (my 6th attending), but most importantly, it will be Moonie’s first.
And oh boy, can I tell you, he is VERY excited.
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Moonie has an excellent system for sorting mail. Even though everything comes addressed to me, he’ll snatch the stack in his grubby little hands and sort it lightening-fast. Anything that looks like a bill is mine. Anything that looks fun (card, invitation, or anything with fireworks stamps) is Moonie’s.
He was quite pleased, therefore, when “he” received a special treat: a copy of Allysen Callery’s Simple Folk Radio Session.
Whoa. Guys.
Moonie and I just saw the most AMAZING film.
OK, I’ll back up. This week is the Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF), where hundreds of indie films are shown around our tiny state in just a few days. “Flickers,” as the festival is known, is in its 19th year, but this was Moonie’s first time attending. Even better, he was invited to attend the RIIFF premiere of “Honeyglue”, which features “Off the Trail,” our favorite song by local rootsy rockers The ‘Mericans, on its soundtrack.
We arrived at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Providence, where Moonie immediately fell in love with all the beautiful lights.
When I finally coaxed him away from the lights and inside, Moonie got a special surprise. Chris Daltry and Michael Moore of The ‘Mericans treated the “Honeyglue” audience – which included its director, James Bird, and its star, Adriana Mather – to a live performance of their fantastic song “Off the Trail” just before the movie started playing.
Moonie’s first-ever outing since coming into my life was seeing Cardboard Ox, a wonderful duet consisting of Tracie Potochnik and Steve Allain, and he’s adored both Tracie and Steve ever since. So he was overjoyed to catch Tracie not once but TWICE a couple of Saturdays ago.
First, Tracie joined some friends singing backup for Heather Rose in Clover at Rhode Island PrideFest, where Moonie also got to hang out with Tracie’s partner, Matthew Clowney. Matthew is a talented photographer and videographer and is on the faculty at RISD. He also recently completed a very cool project called the Trans Family Photo Gallery, which is a traveling art exhibit for children, designed to spark conversations, about a family with a transgendered grandparent. Matthew was pretty nice about letting Moonie help him record the live music at Pride, even if the headphones were a little big for Moonie.
Moonie says they fit just fine.
Whoa! What a night last Saturday was.
Moonie got to meet three of his heroes: Steve Allain, a talented singer/songwriter both solo and with Cardboard Ox; Krista Baroni, a gorgeous singer/songwriter from Boston; and the fantastic Ian Fitzgerald, who will be playing the Newport Folk Festival next month.
Moonie was in heaven with this trio. Thanks to Krista for keeping him steady when he thought he might swoon.
Has Moonie mentioned the Extraordinary Rendition Band lately? Well, as the person who lives with him, let me tell you: yes. Yes, he has. Many times.
Moonie loooooves ERB.
He’s their biggest fan.
Also their littlest fan.
Moonie and I headed back to The Mediator Stage this week to catch the feature act, We Were Strangers. Even with a percussionist, though, it turned out they needed Moonie’s help. Would he mind playing a little conga?
It turned out he didn’t mind at all. He ran right up on stage and stayed throughout their set, which was comprised of lovely music like the song “Lay on Down”.
Oh boy! We came home last night to a shiny package.
When Moonie finally stopped hopping all over it to pop the air bubbles, we got to see what was inside: a shirt from the What Cheer? Brigade!
It’s a wee bit big on him (he thought “M” stood for Moonie), but he says he’ll grow into it.
“Blues Wolf” is a fixture on the Rhode Island blues scene. Mr. Wolf and four of his friends play as “Wolf & the Jam Daddies” at a number of revolving venues, but particularly at Boundary Brewhouse in Pawtucket, where they’ve hosted a Sunday evening blues jam for ten years.
Moonie and I had a great time checking out Wolf & the Jam Daddies (Moonie particularly liked polishing off my “Jesse James,” a burger with smoked bacon and cheddar, and trying to take little sips of beer when no one was looking). No one said you had to eat healthy to enjoy Blues Wolf, especially as he kicked off the evening singing about the chocolate-covered cookie blues.
Moonie and I hit The Mediator Stage a couple nights ago to see Boston-based singer Lisa Marie and her “All Shook Up” pal John Juxo.
Before the show, Moonie wanted a “moonie” (selfie) in front of the Mediator stage, so we popped upstairs for a better view. It’s a cool space, yes?
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