I had the pleasure of working with Frank once when he appeared on the air at WBCN.  A very funny and friendly man…

Frank Santos, a comedian who billed himself as the R-rated hypnotist, died Monday in his sleep, his son, also Frank Santos, confirmed Tuesday. He was 60.

The former grocer had a following that jammed Periwinkles, a club where many local comedians got their start in the mid-1980s. But, “The genius of Frank was that he knew that he wasn’t the star of the show,” Ocean State Follies founder Charlie Hall said Tuesday. Audiences loved seeing their friends on stage, singing under hypnosis as if they were Madonna or Mick Jagger.

“He got people to laugh at themselves,” said Hall, who was a hypnotism skeptic until he worked with Santos. “To see these bodybuilders from Johnston coming out of the men’s room wearing nothing but pantyhose made me a believer,” Hall said. “I guess it worked.”

Although Hall said Santos had “the biggest money-making act in New England,” he was “the sweetest guy in the world. He never had any ego.”

via Frank Santos, R-rated hypnotist, dies | Rhode Island news | projo.com | The Providence Journal.

RIP Olives… goodbye to the Olive’s that we all knew and loved.

Last week was the final chapter in the 2 month or so transition to new owners. Last week the new owners signed the papers. The very first order of business, was the very first thing they promised they would not do. Fire people. All but 3 of an entire staff of dedicated individuals whose devotion to Olives had lasted for upwards of 5 years and some more.

Now they usher in a new era of overpriced, underpoured and never satisfying drinks. The quality of the crowd, if you can call it that, has already dropped to that of an alley way strip club and shows no sign of returning to its glory.

Olives will never be the same. The new owners should feel embarrassment and probably a little shame for downgrading a Providence landmark. Seemingly they think they have done Olive’s a favor, oblivious to the painful degradation of a Rhode Island sanctuary.

They took over an oasis where fine people would frequent, happily socialize and make bad decisions… and these new owners have turned Olives into a place where the only bad decision is going there in the first place.

The whole mess makes us wish that we had gone there more often.

RIP Olives… We pledge, that we will, from this day forward, avoid the sad remains, of our late haven.

via Facebook | Boycott Olives Martini Bar… LET’S DO IT FOR AMERICA.

From the Live Downcity Blog:

Since its opening in 1996, Creperie off of Thayer Street has built up what the owner, Leslie Albuquerque, calls somewhat of a “cult following.”  Because of its proximity to Brown University’s campus, Creperie is a student favorite with alumni returning long after they graduate to get their fix of crepes, smoothies and wraps.  Most of the crepes have girls’ names, like Betty, Connie, Nori, Jeanne, and combine classic favorites, such as nutella and strawberries or scrambled egg, baked ham and swiss;  with brave daily specials, such as the Jess a.k.a. “French s’more” with marshmallow, chocolate & graham cracker.

While attending college in Providence, Albuquerque, fell in love with the College Hill area.  After graduating, she decided to use her love of cooking to fill a need on Thayer Street for simple food, Crepes!  Their menu offers vegan and vegetarian dishes, as well as sweet and savory crepes and smoothies morning to night, staying open until midnight or 2am most nights during the school year. “Crepes can be a snack or meal,” Albuquerque explained, “They were my daughter’s first food.”  With fresh fruit and ingredients, crepes offer a pleasant alternative to the multitude of pizza-by-the-slice offered on Thayer Street.

In their thirteen years on Thayer Street, Creperie has maintained its Mom-and-Pop nature in the face of a mass commercialization of Thayer Street.  With very little advertising, they rely mostly on word of mouth, and wholly embrace their mission, to serve delicious, simple food, done in classic french style.  “Providence meets Paris describes it best,” Albuquerque says of their crepes, “We bring the authentic Paris food cart vendors’ taste to Thayer Street.”  Their quaint location, tucked in Fones Alley, just off of Thayer Street is reminiscent of European storefronts.  The cozy interior offers a layed back atmoshphere, with counter service and limited seating.  During the warmer months, Creperie has outdoor seating, as well.  Located just across the street from the trolley and bus stop, and just up the hill from Downcity, Creperie is a choice destination for fresh smoothies and sweet and savory crepes.

Creperie is the recent winner of RI World of Flavors competition this past July and is celebrated as Providence’s best “European” cuisine.  Visit them at 82 Fones Alley in Providence.

Creperie – Best European Cuisine « Live Downcity.

“We’re #1!” Brown University (my alma mater) takes home top honors in GQ’s “America’s 24 Douchiest Colleges” List:

Home of: The “Peace Sign on My Mom’s 7 Series” Douche
Affectations: A belief that grades, majors, and course requirements are just another form of cultural hegemony; using the word hegemony.
In ten years, will be: Living with your family in an old house that you quit your job to refurbish yourself (by overseeing a contractor) with painstaking historical accuracy in a formerly decaying section of the city that’s recently been reclaimed by a small population of white guys in hand-painted T-shirts who are helping you put together a health care fund-raiser for MoveOn.org.
Douchiest course offering: English 200: On Vampires and Violent Vixens: Making the Monster Through Discourses of Gender and Sexuality.
Honorable-mention limousine-liberal institutions: Duke, Reed, Oberlin, Wesleyan, Bard, RISD.

AMERICA’S 25 DOUCHIEST COLLEGES: GQ Features on men.style.com.

To find the most stressful cities, we examined quality of life factors in the country’s 40 largest metropolitan statistical areas, or metros–geographic entities defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for use by federal agencies in collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics. We looked at June 2009 unemployment figures provided by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics and cost of living figures from the Council for Community and Economic Research. We examined median home-price drops from Q1 2008 to Q1 2009 that were provided by the National Association of Realtors. Population density based on 2008 data from the U.S. Census Bureau and ESRI also factored. Last, we examined the number of sunny and partly sunny days per year, based on 2007 data from the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, as well as air quality figures, based on 2007 data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

4. Providence, R.I.

Providence, tied for fourth place with Cleveland, Ohio, ranks as the fifth worst city for employment, with the unemployment rate up to 12.1% in June. It ranks tenth for cost of living and thirteenth for population density at 975 people per square mile.

via In Depth: America’s Most Stressful Cities - 4. Providence, R.I. - Forbes.com.

Rhode Island will shut down its state government for 12 days and hopes to trim millions of dollars in funding for local governments under a plan Gov. Don Carcieri outlined Monday to balance a budget hammered by surging unemployment and plummeting tax revenue.

The shutdown will force 81 percent of the roughly 13,550-member state work force, excluding its college system, to stay home a dozen days without pay before the start of the new fiscal year in July.

The closures come as the worst recession in decades has eliminated hundreds of millions of dollars in tax collections and pushed unemployment to 12.7 percent, the second-highest jobless rate in the nation behind Michigan.

Carcieri predicted the state’s fiscal future could grow even bleaker.

“There are going to be inconveniences for the public, and there are going to be sacrifices, as I said, for state employees,” Carcieri said at a Statehouse news conference. “These steps right now are unavoidable if the state is to live within its budget, live within its means.”

The governor ordered the shutdown in an executive order but said he’s willing to negotiate a different deal with state employee unions so long as it saves the same amount of money, roughly $22 million. But time is short: the first shutdown day has been scheduled for Sept. 4. Additional shutdown days have been scheduled every month through June.

via My Way News - RI gov to shut down state government for 12 days.

Mayor Cicilline talks about the the role of social enterprise in future of Providence:

Building on one of its finest assets - its large number of artists, designers, student and faculty innovators at such schools like Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design - the city recently re-branded itself as Providence: The Creative Capital.

Like any other city, Providence welcomes and seeks to attract large corporations to provide jobs, grow the economy and broaden its tax base, yet civic leaders here recognise that it is Providence’s creative small business community (along with a large creative non-profit sector) that gives the city its unique identity and that offers the most attractive opportunities to our best and brightest minds.

Furthermore, Providence is fast becoming a hot-bed for young social entrepreneurs, those creative individuals who take an innovative, untested idea for positive social change and develop it using entrepreneurial principles.

Creative small businesses and social enterprises are flourishing here due to Providence’s ideal nexus of geographic and socio-economic elements: its location between New York and Boston, proximity to the ocean, beauty and authenticity, innovative culture, small scale that facilitates easy networking, a creative community that fosters support and connectivity, relatively low rents and costs, availability of historic, funky buildings, and the institutional support and resources of city government and higher education, particularly the world-renowned design school, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and the Ivy League Brown University.

via The bottom line: Rebranding a city | Social Enterprise.

Providence Business News reports:

Advertising revenue at The Providence Journal plunged by one-third in the second quarter compared with a year earlier as the paper’s sales decline accelerated, regulatory filings show.

The Journal’s advertising sales in the second quarter were 32.5 percent below the same period a year earlier, according to a quarterly earnings report that its parent company, A. H. Belo Corp., filed late Friday with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

The Journal’s ad sales, which accounted for 78 percent of its total revenue last year, were down by 31.5 percent in the first six months of this year compared with the first half of 2008, the company said.

The Providence Journal’s total annual revenue fell 13.3 percent to $131.47 million last year, as the paper partly offset declining advertising sales by raising newsstand and home-delivery prices. The paper’s average daily circulation fell to 120,783 copies in the 26 weeks ended March 29, down from 148,700 two years earlier, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

via ProJo advertising revenue declines 32% - PBN.com - Providence Business News.

WRNI’s Ian Donnis reports on the sale of local blog RI’s Future:

Labor activist Patrick Crowley announced moments ago that he has sold Rhode Island’s Future, the state’s leading liberal blog. Crowley, who bought RI’s Future from its founder, Matt Jerzyk, less than a year ago, has not yet identified the purchaser.

RUTURE has been sold.  After much consideration, and after receiving a substantial offer of purchase, I have decided to sell RIFUTURE. The sale creates an opportunity to pursue other state wide goals while still maintaining a voice in the progressive blogosphere. I will continue to be an active contributor to RIFUTURE, amongst other activities.

via RI’s Future blog sold; new owner not yet identified | Rhode Island’s NPR - WRNI.

You’d never know it from my waistline, but I’m an avid user of Rhode Island bike paths…when there’s sun out, of course.  Providence Business News has a fascinating look at the economic impact of these trails of local businesses:

The smallest state in the nation – just 37 miles wide, east to west – is home to eight separate bike paths, from Quonset to Woonsocket, totaling 54 miles of paved trails. Plans are in the works for two more in Newport and an extension of the Blackstone River Bikeway into Pawtucket, although construction could be some years ahead in both cases.

Rhode Islanders clearly love their bike paths, though their impact on the economy so far has been limited in most cases to small operations such as ice cream shops and bicycle stores, which cater on a seasonal basis to the bikers, hikers and joggers.

I found this tidbit very interesting:

The East Bay Bike Path is one of the most heavily used in the United States, according to the spring 2007 newsletter of the Rails to Trails Conservancy, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., whose mission is to create a national network of trails.

The East Bay path ranked fifth behind trails in Virginia, Massachusetts, Florida and Washington state, with 1.1 million users per year, the conservancy said. (The state’s population, as of a July 2008 census estimate, was slightly smaller, at 1,050,788.)

via Paths to recreational prosperity - PBN.com - Providence Business News.