moonieandme | adventures with my nude lil' dude | Page 19

The Killdevils at Oak Hill Tavern

Posted on May 19, 2015 by annierhodeisland

Oh boy! The Killdevils played on Sunday at Oak Hill Tavern. These guys haven’t gotten together to play in so long that Moonie and I just had to trek down to North Kingstown for this show.

First we giggled at the sign. The space in “Killdevils” made it look more like a directive than a band name.

Then Moonie checked out the Killdevils’ instruments – you know, to make sure they were safe for musicians Chris Monti and Jake Haller, not because he liked to stand on them and pretend he was surfing.
He’s a giver like that.

Moonie & Jake

Posted on May 19, 2015 by annierhodeisland

Jacob Haller is nothing if not modest. “But Moonie already posted about me,” he pointed out when I suggested a photo of the two guys getting along.

“Yeah, but that was your album ‘Cabin Fever’ arriving in the mail, not you personally.”

He agreed with that and agreed to a photo. He’s a pretty agreeable guy. I like his bluesy folk music, as does Moonie, and his sharp wit, but I also like how down to earth Jake is, whether he’s chilling out to “Dr. Who” episodes or knitting a stegosaurus (yes, really, he can knit dinosaurs). It was good of him to stop between sets and pose with my nude lil’ dude.

He even let Moonie sing a couple of numbers.

Moonie & Jocie

Posted on May 19, 2015 by annierhodeisland

Jocie Adams is amazing. A graduate of Brown University, she once worked for NASA (which I guess means she could be among the few people to respond with, “Well, actually, yeah” if ever asked the playground retort, “What are you, a rocket scientist?”), but she wasn’t afraid to follow her real calling, music. She’s a classical composer who plays everything from clarinet to organ to dulcimer to guitar. Her voice is absolutely beautiful, and she has made great music with her old band, The Low Anthem, and delved into cool and interesting new territory with her new band, Arc Iris. All that talent and brains and beauty could go to a person’s head, but Jocie seems totally sweet and down to earth, and she’s a big cat lover to boot. These were all good reasons to have her and Moonie meet.

Moonie all but swooned when Jocie found a plant that matched his hair.

Plant Sale

Posted on May 19, 2015 by annierhodeisland

Each year, the Southside Community Land Trust holds a big, all-weekend-long “rare and unusual” plant sale. Even plants that seem normal and innocuous have special SCLT powers. In past years, we’ve brought home raspberries that fruited twice a year instead of once, or digitalis that grew lush and beautiful and psychedelic enough to turn anything in our yard into a drug addict. In addition to the fabulous plants of all shapes and sizes, grouped by sun vs. shade vs. fruits and veggies and herbs and others, the plant sale boasts free music. I’ve joined my favorite local band, The ‘Mericans, on their annual plant sale set several times, as it’s impossible even for me to get stage fright playing a low-key setting in front of a tree and a chicken coop.

Moonie was really quite taken with those chickens, by the way.

Also with the random items that were being reused as planters around the property.

Moonie and MDB, Part Deux

Posted on May 19, 2015 by annierhodeisland

Moonie and I didn’t get any photos of Marc Douglas Berardo when we saw him at Tupelo Music Hall, so after Waterfire on Saturday night we headed down to MDB’s favorite haunt, Perks & Corks in Westerly, to catch his hometown show. He and his pals Ken Serio, John White and Sandy Allen were rocking by the time we walked in, and even people outside the building caught some of the joy from their noise.

Sandy Allen provided great slide action next to us. Moonie was fascinated.

When MDB and friends stopped for a break, we asked Ken Serio if it was OK for Moonie to take a photo with his percussion instruments. Ken gave us the green light, and Moonie hopped right up.

WaterFire

Posted on May 18, 2015 by annierhodeisland

One of the most wonderful things about Providence is WaterFire, which started as an art installation in 1994 by artist Barnaby Evans to help celebrate First Night Providence and which has grown in scope and size every year since. Saturday night was the first partial WaterFire to kick off the season thanks to a sponsorship by Volvo. It was also a good trial run for Moonie, as it featured fewer fires, fewer people, and fewer food and drink to stimulate the senses than a full WaterFire lighting, which can easily draw ten thousand people and hundreds of vendors and performers. I wanted to make sure he’d be OK with the smaller version before I blew his mind with a full WaterFire.

We got there just in time for WaterFire crew members to float by us one of their boats, lighting the braziers full of wood on fire. Great timing!

Hey, Moonie, look what’s coming toward us. A boat with a pretty lady on it!

But not just any pretty lady. This one was dancing with fire!

Providence Noir

Posted on May 17, 2015 by annierhodeisland

How exciting! Akashic Books has been doing a “noir” series of different cities for years, most known for Dennis Lehane’s Boston Noir, and the publisher tapped successful Rhode Island author Ann Hood to be editor of a Providence edition.

Moonie and I got to see a bunch of Providence Noir contributors read from the compilation tonight at Books on the Square, and it was a supurb event. Ann Hood, Thomas Cobb, Hester Kaplan, Robert Leuci, Taylor Polites, and Pablo Rodriguez all did a fabulous job providing the tone of each of their stories and referencing local sites and businesses, and I can’t wait to read their stories in full.

Ann Hood describing how she became editor of the project and wrote her first-ever noir story

Ann Hood describing how she became editor of the project and wrote her first-ever noir story

Neighbor Days Thayer Street Block Party

Posted on May 17, 2015 by annierhodeisland

Moonie had a blast at the first-ever Neighbor Days Thayer Street Block Party. If you’re not familiar with Providence, Thayer Street is a hip street that runs near a lot of Brown University property and features a mix of stores and restaurants. Today it was closed to traffic for a beer garden, live music, and all kinds of vendors for a Rock & Roll Yard Sale.

Here’s Moonie showing off his high view of the block party.

Here’s what his head was hiding.

After enjoying several live bands and watching a “living statue,” Moonie was on a hunt for good tunes.

Moonie & Peter & Yuki

Posted on May 17, 2015 by annierhodeisland

Today Moonie got to meet not only Peter Landry, talented bassist for The ‘Mericans, but also his dog Yuki. Moonie loooooooves dogs.

First he had to climb on Peter’s shoulder to check out what he was drinking (beer is not for Moonies).

Then our friend Mark placed him on Yuki. Yuki is so big and his fur is so long, he didn’t even know Moonie was on there.

Lilacs

Posted on May 16, 2015 by annierhodeisland

Our lilac bush only blooms from mid-to-late May. For the other 50 weeks a year it’s basically a big scraggly green thing that blocks the view of anyone pulling out of the driveway.

If anyone’s looking for Moonie in the next dozen days, I’m pretty sure he can be found just like this, pressing his face into said lilacs.

He says they smell delicious.