Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - April 26, 2019

HOT

Artist Entang Wiharso

Scituate Rhode Island’s contemporary artist Entang Wiharso was among 25 artists from the United States and Canada who received the 2019 Guggenheim Fellowship.

“Appointed on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise, the fellows were chosen from a pool of almost three thousand applicants. They hail from twenty-eight states, the District of Columbia, and two Canadian provinces and represent forty-nine scholarly disciplines and artistic fields and seventy-five different academic institutions,” said the Guggenheim in making the selection.

PHOTO: Marc Strauss Gallery

HOT

Big King

Big King is the latest HOT restaurant in Providence. Who says? GQ magazine.

GQ has unveiled what the magazine says are the hottest restaurants around the country and one Providence addition made the list.

“…I squeezed into Big King, the self-described 'small weird restaurant' in Providence, Rhode Island. The narrow room has the relaxed feel of a neighborhood sushi joint; there's a “chef's counter” that, farther down, turns into a bar. Most of the food arrives from the tiny kitchen in back. The two set menus, one of four courses and the other of six (supplemented by a handful of à la carte items) are handwritten in a notebook each day, sometimes in the form of flowcharts. At $40 and $55, they are a remarkable deal. Each is a parade of precisely executed Japanese dishes filtered through the brain of chef James Mark,” writes GQ’s Brett Martin.

HOT

Greatest Rhode Island Football Player

NFL great Mark Van Eeghen joined GoLocal LIVE for a special edition to discuss his career that led him from Rhode Island high school star at Cranston West to a storied career and two Super Bowls with the Oakland Raiders.

Van Eeghen who led the Raiders in rushing much of the 1970s discussed the transition of going from Cranston West to Colgate University and then, an even more dramatical transition, making the leap from college football to playing for the infamous Oakland Raiders — the ultimate ‘Bad Boy’ team in the history of professional sports.

He was the featured running back for Al Davis and John Madden’s Raiders in Super Bowl wins.

Playing for Oakland in Super Bowl XV, he was the game's leading rusher with 75 yards on 18 carries.  Van Eeghen also won a championship ring with the Raiders in Super Bowl XI. He was the team's second-leading rusher with 73 yards.

HOT

Gina Raimondo

An effort to shatter the broken Providence school system and start anew is laudable.

The Governor needs to force all the reforms -- especially those that vested interests have opposed for decades.

Remember, it is not how you start, but how you finish. The reforms need to be complete and in effect before you leave office. The success of Rhode Island's schools will be your legacy.

HOT

Frogs and Toads

Frog & Toad's Asher Schofield joined GoLocal LIVE and discussed the growth of his stores from one to two locations and expansion to be a supplier to other retailers across the country.

Schofield discusses how to compete and win as a local retailer.

Visit the Frog and Toad store online or in person, but click HERE.

NOT

RI's Air Quality 

Rhode Island’s air quality received failing grades from the American Lung Association. The data shows RI’s air quality is diminishing and according to the report, 87 percent of Rhode Islanders are breathing unhealthy air.

The American Lung Association’s 2019 “State of the Air” report found all three reporting counties in Rhode Island received failing grades for ozone pollution this year, and all three also reported an increase of year-round particle pollution. The annual air quality “report card” tracks Americans’ exposure to unhealthful levels of ozone or particle pollution, both of which can be deadly. 

“Rhode Island residents should be aware that we’re breathing unhealthy air, driven by emissions from power plants and extreme heat as a result of climate change, placing our health and lives at risk,” said Jennifer Wall, Director of Advocacy for the American Lung Association in Rhode Island. “In addition to challenges here throughout Rhode Island, the 20th-anniversary ‘State of the Air’ report highlights that more than 4 in 10 Americans are living with unhealthy air, and we’re heading in the wrong direction when it comes to protecting public health.”

NOT

Man Caught in Providence Holding Couch—On Top of Moving Car

Do you really need to say anything else -- SEE VIDEO HERE

NOT

Lawyer, Judges and Legal Delays

Sometimes the legal process forgets its role and seems to emerge itself in the endless litigation process. At least 58 of the retirees have died since the St. Joseph pension fund collapsed.

Those delaying include the Diocese of Providence, Prospect of California and Angell Pension Group of East Providence.

The cynical argue that some of these lawyers are intentionally delaying to wear down the retirees -- many in their 70s, 80s, 90s and are centarians.

NOT

Print Media

In another sign of the difficult times facing the print media, the head of Improper Bostonian announced it was shutting down.

In a message to readers and advertisers, Wendy Semonian Eppich announced the closure of the Boston lifestyle publication.

The magazine was the "it" social and restaurant publication in the city for nearly 30 years.