True Crime Authors Saturday (5/17) at PPL

Are you interested in real-life crime scene investigation and interrogation? If so, you won't want to miss this Saturday's program. On May 17 at 2:00 PM at Providence Public Library's Central Library downtown (150 Empire Street), local authors Johnston Detective Ray Pingitore and Paul Lonardo will discuss their new True Crime novel Thrill Killers: A True Story of Innocence and Murder Without Conscience (New Horizon Press Books, November 2007). Books will be available for sale and signing.

Their book details the unspeakable and horrifying car jacking and murder of two innocent young people in Providence, Rhode Island on June 9, 2000. The authors will discuss the complexities of crime scene investigation and offer strategies to enhance personal safety.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Raymond Pingitore is a detective of the Johnston city police department with more than twenty years of service as a narcotic vice investigator. He currently works in the major crimes division of his local precinct. A graduate of Roger Williams University, Ray holds a Masters Degree in Criminal Justice. He has lived in Johnston, Rhode Island for the last thirty years.

Paul Lonardo comes from a varied educational background, with an AS in mortuary science and a BA in English from the University of Rhode Island. He is the author several true crime novels and currently resides in Lincoln, Rhode Island.

Gallery Night at the PPL

Have you had a chance to visit the Providence Public Library on Gallery Night? Well, tonight (5/15) i s your chance. I'll even have a few snacks for you this time.

At our downtown Central Library, 150 Empire Street, from 6:30-7:30pm in the Barnard Room on the 3rd floor, local artist Ben Fino-Radin will lead a discussion and present a slide show of his work, which he has exhibited at the Current Gallery in Baltimore, the Kathleen Cullen Gallery in Chelsea, and the Stairwell Gallery in Providence. His work has recently received press on Rhizome.org and Extremecraft. He will also be showing soon at the AS220's project space (located at the Dreyfus at 93 Mathewson St).

If you are unfamiliar with his work, Ben creates playful, thought-provoking installations, wearable items, and sculpture. He creates another dimension, a new culture, where psychedelic needlepoint hackers thrive and propagate their mystical symbolism. See more of his work at:
benjaminter.net
flickr.com/photos/bfinoradin

Ben is the third artist that we have hosted on Gallery Night--there will be a new artist and discussion each month through February of next year. These talks have been incredible--so far we have seen and discussed the work of Kenn Speiser and Mark Freedman. We provide an intimate setting in which you can ask about product and process as well as discuss various aspects of visual literacy in today's world.

In addition, we will always have something interesting exhibited in our 3rd floor cases. Librarian Rick Ring in our Special Collections department will hold an open house from 5-7pm to introduce you to the treasure trove of books and artifacts that are here in your public library. This month we have a display of miniature books from our own collection and from collector Ann Bromer. Additionally, we have a traveling panel exhibition on Benjamin Franklin exhibit and a kite display by local kite maker Tom Casselman.

Hope you can make it!

Support Local Agriculture -- Watch a Movie (Saturday 5/10)

At Providence Public Library, 150 Empire Street, this Saturday, May 10 at 2:00pm, Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT) will present a fantastic, free program.


First they will show the quirky, heartwarming film titled The Real Dirt on Farmer John. Following the movie, Southside's Education Director, Leo Pollock, will lead a discussion on Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and its growing role in helping save and support America's local farms. He will discuss ways that we can stay connected to our food sources, become involved in local CSAs, and eat locally and seasonally in New England.

This program will interest everyone from local environmentalists and green enthusiasts, to farmers, gardeners, foodies, and documentary film buffs.




More about the movie:
The Real Dirt on Farmer John
Why would you want to see a movie about an Illinois farmer who wears a boa? Why wouldn't you?? The Real Dirt on Farmer John will turn every idea you've ever had about what it means to be an American farmer, or an American dreamer, on its head. Meet Farmer John, the incredible human being whose inspirational story of revolutionizing his family farm and redeeming his own life has won accolades and awards at film festivals around the world.

Farmer John is a thoughtful, creative, warm-hearted writer and farmer, descended from generations of Illinois farmers. He us also the founder of Angelic Organics, his community supported organization. This is a story about individuality, community, and the future of farming in America. It's also the story about a life that challenges the mainstream.


Farmer John's Books:

Farmer John's Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables
Seasonal Recipes and Stories from A Community Supported Farm
Join the real food revolution with Farmer John’s Cookbook, the fascinating companion book to the 30-time award-winning documentary film The Real Dirt on Farmer John.

“Filled with amusing anecdotes and insights into the human condition, this is not your average cookbook but it does have recipes…”
~ Bennett Gordon, Utne Reader ~

Amazon Reviews

I Didn't Kill Anyone Up Here: Farmer John's Uneasy Autobiography
In his succinct and playful style, Farmer John describes his childhood on his family's Illinois farm, complete with colorful (and sometimes bizarre) community members. Clean-cut John Peterson encounters an array of city-born hippies and artists in the late '60s, leading him to fold performance, design, writing and film into his life as a farmer. He writes engagingly about days of great optimism, parties, romance—and about how those times shaped his relationship to the land he loved.


Farmer John on Glitter & Grease: Short Stories On and Off the Land
This book begins with an account of John watching his beautiful log home burn. Before the cabin embers are cool, he reaches deeply within, where he finds the strength to confront his suspicious and hostile community. In addition, the trauma of his loss infuses him with the financial ingenuity and determination to acquire seed and other essential supplies. John is farming again.

About Southside Community Land Trust
Southside Community Land Trust: Since 1981, Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT) has partnered with communities in inner city Providence to improve residents' health and welfare by helping them grow food. SCLT provides access to land, education and other resources so people in Greater Providence can grow food in environmentally sustainable ways and create community food systems where locally produced, affordable, and healthy food is available to all.

Suffolk History Professor Robert Allison to Speak

This Sunday, May 4, Providence Public Library will present Suffolk University Professor Robert Allison at 2:00pm in the Barnard Room (3rd fl) of the Central Library, 150 Empire Street. This talk is presented in cooperation with our Benjamin Franklin exhibit "In Search of a Better World," and Professor Allison will discuss "Building a Better World" a la Franklin.

About Professor Allison

Robert Allison is chair of the history department at Suffolk. In addition to varied history courses, he teaches Benjamin Franklin and his Autobiography.

Community projects

Professor Allison is involved with several museums and historical societies in Boston. He has delivered public lectures at the Bostonian Society, the Adams National Historic Site, and has presented papers at conferences in the United States, Wales, and Turkey.

He is president of the South Boston Historical Society, vice president of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts and a fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

His books include:The Boston Tea Party (2007), The Boston Massacre (2006), Stephen Decatur: American Naval Hero (2005), A Short History of Boston (2004), and The Crescent Obscured: The United States and the Muslim World 1776-1815 (Chicago, 2000).

He has also edited several books, including: The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African (Boston, 1995, revised edition, 2004), The Revolutionary Era, 1754-1783 (Detroit, 1998), The Development of a Nation, 1783-1815 (Detroit, 1997), in the award-winning American Eras series History In Dispute: The Pursuit of Progress 1900-1945 (2000), and History in Dispute: The Pursuit of Liberty, 1945-2000 (Detroit, 2000).

Have You Ever Heard a Glass Armonica?

This Sunday at Providence Public Library, 150 Empire Street, you'll have the opportunity to hear this unusual, fascinating instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin, played by musician Cecilia Brauer. Click here for more information.

Play the Armonica online!

Learn more about this instrument.


About Cecilia
Cecilia Brauer, an accomplished musician and glass Armonica performer, studied the piano at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She has toured the United States in concert and has been an associate member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 1972, where she plays the celeste, and when on tour, the piano. In 1991, Cecilia added a new dimension to her successful piano career - with the Armonica, the musical glass instrument invented by Ben Franklin in 1761. She is now one of only a handful of musicians in the world actively performing on the instrument. She also gives lecture and demonstration programs on Ben Franklin and this instrument. She has performed on CBS-TV, ABC-TV, The History Channel, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Archives, Carnegie Museum, and Independence National Historical Park. More about Cecilia.

There will also be a captivating lecture that afternoon (2:00pm) by Ellen Cohn entitled "Historian as Detective: Solving the Mysteries in Franklin's Papers." Ellen comes to us from Yale and is Editor-in-Chief of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, a comprehensive, annotated edition of Franklin's writings and correspondence that has published 38 volumes to date. She has cracked secret codes, discovered previously-unknown hoaxes, identified the writers of countless anonymous letters, dated nearly all of Franklin's famous (and hitherto undated) "bagatelles," and pieced together from miscellaneous jottings evidence of many previously-unknown activities, "secret" and otherwise, that Franklin engaged in during his diplomatic mission to France. Learn more.

Cool pop culture references to the Armonica from Wikipedia:

• In an episode of the Simpsons, Hugh Hefner plays Peter and the Wolf on a glass harmonica.
  
  
• In the Movie Broadway Danny Rose Directed by Woody Allen (film), a glass harmonica is played by Gloria Parker.
  
  
• The Mayor from The Powerpuff Girls plays a glass harmonica in an episode in his office.
  
  
• The glass harmonica is featured on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood #1764. It is played by Dean Shostak.
  
  
• A short animation movie entitled "The glass harmonica" was directed by Andrei Khrjanovsky in 1968. It has been uploaded to YouTube: part 1 and part 2.
  
  
• The instrument has been used in several film soundtracks, including Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, Mansfield Park, and the first original version March of the Penguins - La Marche de l'Empereur (performed by Thomas Bloch who also played Ondes Martenot and cristal Baschet with Damon Albarn / Gorillaz (Monkey: journey to the West) Tom Waits / Marianne Faithfull / Bob Wilson (The Black Rider), Radiohead, Vanessa Paradis, in Amadeus by Milos Forman - long version, 2001 -...).
  
  
• The main phrase to the album version of Björk's "All Neon Like" (Homogenic) is played on a glass armonica.
  
  
• On MTV's airing of the special "Korn Unplugged", the song "Falling Away From Me" was set to the tune of a Glass Harmonica.
  
  
• The country group Trio consisting of Dolly Parton, Emmy Lou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt re-released a cover of "After the Gold Rush" by Neil Young. The re-released version, which appears on the group's 1998 album Trio 2, features the glass harmonica in the last part of the song, as well as in the video.
  
  
• Sandra Bullock's character plays a glass harmonica as her initial talent in the move Miss Congeniality, though after her fellow contestants drink the water out of the glasses, she must find a new one.
  
  

Stunning Documentary on ALS (this Sunday 4/6)

Providence Public Library, 150 Empire Street, is pleased to host part of the Providence International Film Festival's Roving Eye Documentary Series. This Sunday at 2:00pm we will have a free showing of Indestructible, a powerful film about ALS, often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's disease." The location of the film has been moved from the Auditorium to the Barnard Room, 3rd floor. No reservations necessary. Parking is free on Sundays downtown, but please leave yourself some time to find a spot.

About the Film:
After being diagnosed with ALS, single father and filmmaker Ben Byer begins to document his life on camera. His series of video diaries grows into an epic journey spanning three years and six countries. From a monastery high atop the mountains of Northwest China to the Wailing Wall of Jerusalem, he scours the globe looking for answers - and a cure. A cinematic adventure filled with extraordinary characters, breathtaking landscapes and abundant humor, Indestructible is beautifully shot by Academy Award- nominee Roko Belic (Genghis Blues, Beyond the Call). In his first feature film, Byer ignites the screen with a visually stunning global quest to survive.

ABOUT THE RHODE ISLAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
The Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) discovers and empowers filmmakers. Held in Providence, and locations throughout the state of Rhode Island, RIIFF is one of only a handful of festivals worldwide that is a qualifying event for the Academy Awards (i.e. Oscars). RIIFF incorporates gala celebrations, premiere screenings, VIP guests, industry seminars, educational programs, and award ceremonies into a week long extravaganza. Cited as one of the "Best International and Short Film Festivals in the United States," RIIFF is New England's largest film festival, screening a record 300 films. Its innovative programming, cultivated industry ties, and loyal audiences have made the Festival a strategic and desirable platform for film premieres, drawing hundreds of independent filmmakers from around the globe. This year's film festival will take place August 5 - 10th. For more info or to order tickets, please visit us on the web, RI Film Fest.

Let's Talk About Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food (Thurs. 4/3)

Michael Pollan's new book In Defense of Food is the bestselling sequel to The Omnivore's Dilemma. While he won't be here with us tomorrow, Southside Community Land Trust will lead a discussion of his new eater's manifesto. This is sure to be a great talk--so join in even if you're not finished with the book! Click here for more information or call me at 455-8057.

More info about In Defense of Food: http://www.michaelpollan.com/indefense.php

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17725932

http://www.slate.com/id/2180504/

More info about Southside Community Land Trust

Learn more about local farms, local food, and farmers' markets in Rhode Island at Farm Fresh Rhode Island.


Southside Community Land Trust provides access to land, education, and other resources so that people in Greater Providence can grow food in environmentally sustainable ways and create community food systems where locally produced, affordable, and healthy food is available to all.