PROVIDENCE

Review: Extraordinary Measures

The business of who lives and who dies
Most parents would go to great lengths to save a child in peril, but would they find a cure for a terminal disease?

By TOM MEEK | January 27, 2010

Fresh Vetz | Vet Status

Top Shelf (2009)
It's a bright sign for hip-hop when at least three promising subterranean sluggers ride flows comparable to that of the almighty Nas.

By CHRIS FARAONE | January 27, 2010

Pit Er Pat | The Flexible Entertainer

Thrill Jockey (2010)
Pit Er Pat, the minimalist duo of Fay Davis-Jeffers and the dubiously named Butchy Fuego, have pared down their sound in search of simple beauty, but the result is an icy album utterly lacking in energy.

By MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | January 27, 2010

Various Artists | Pop Ambient

Kompakt (2010)
It'd be easy to understand a resistance to "ambient" music — beyond all of its unfortunate Enya and dusty Eno connotations.

By MICHAEL BRODEUR | January 27, 2010

Review: Tooth Fairy

It bites
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson dons a pink tutu and wings as Derek, a hockey player who's earned the nickname "The Tooth Fairy" for his knack for knocking out opposing players' bicuspids on the ice.

By BRETT MICHEL | January 26, 2010

The Magnetic Fields | Realism

Nonesuch (2010)
This will be labeled as the Magnetic Fields' folk album, and fairly so.

By JONATHAN DONALDSON | January 27, 2010

Priestess | Prior To The Fire

Tee Pee (2009)
Now Priestess are back in Indieland, rubbing denim-clad elbows with the likes of Nebula and Black Math Horseman.

By MIKAEL WOOD | January 27, 2010

Basia Bulat | Heart Of My Own

Rough Trade (2010)
Like a Laurel Canyon Billie Holiday or a pixilated Tracy Chapman, Bulat sports a voice rich with vibrato, hearty oomph, and dignified lonesomeness.

By ZETH LUNDY | January 27, 2010

Corporate Persons Are Jerks

Big Fat Whale
"Your cancer is making me rich!"

By BRIAN MCFADDEN | January 27, 2010

What’s next for Cicilline?

After a couple of tough years — and some jabs from Buddy — how bright is his political future?
Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline rode into office seven years ago as the fresh-faced anti-Buddy. Bleach for a soiled City Hall.

By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | January 21, 2010

Does Scott Brown’s victory mean doom for RI Democrats?

Fallout
Republican Scott Brown's stunning victory this week in the race for the late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in Massachusetts has created something approaching panic in the ranks of Congressional Democrats.

By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | January 20, 2010

The torment within

The Gamm’s intense 4:48 Psychosis
In dramatic terms, it doesn't really matter whether the female protagonist of 4:48 Psychosis commits suicide at the end of the play.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 20, 2010

Hail Mary pass?

Nothing says Super Bowl Sunday like an anti-abortion ad; Ripping Rush; and more
Phillipe and Jorge noticed an interesting tidbit in the sports section of the New York Times recently.

By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | January 20, 2010

Rhode Island’s own stab at health reform

Get Healthy
Health care reform, if it survives the election of Republican Scott Brown to Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat, will make insurance accessible and provide a slew of new consumer protections for millions of Americans.

By MARION DAVIS | January 20, 2010

Tea-bagger Brown triumphs

Obama must rally independents
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley may be a good person and a dedicated public servant, but thanks to her gut-wrenching loss to tea-bagging Republican Scott Brown in the race for the US Senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy, Coakley is now — quite rightly — a figure of local scorn and national derision.

By EDITORIAL | January 20, 2010

Boston organization fighting good fight in Haiti

Quake Response
Good news from Haiti: the catastrophic earthquake that struck this Caribbean nation last week did no damage to the 10 Haitian-run hospitals and clinics aided by the Boston-based charity Partners in Health (PiH). Each of the 10, which offer free care to all comers swung into action immediately after the quake struck.

By JEFF INGLIS | January 20, 2010

Disaster, then détente

Politically speaking, Hurricane Katrina this was not
From the first days after the earthquake struck Haiti — long before anyone knew how dire the situation was, let alone how the US government would respond — pundits were wagging their tongues about the potential political implications. A poor response, they said, would invite comparisons to the Bush administration's bungled handling of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 25, 2010

How Brown won

While Massachusetts Democrats assess blame for who lost the Senate seat, the truth is that Scott Brown won it
As the Massachusetts US Senate election unfolded yesterday, all that the pols and pundits wanted to talk about was how Martha Coakley managed to lose the race. And there is plenty there to dissect. But there is another part of the story, and that is how Scott Brown managed to win it.

By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 22, 2010

Café Noir

Upping the hipness quotient
Ambience, style, flair — these have become as necessary as kitchen seasonings to spice up a dining experience in upscale restaurants.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 20, 2010