Rest in Peace Tim Russert

It’s unfortunate that so many entries in this blog recently have been about death, but I am deeply saddened by the death of NBC’s Tim Russert.  I am a political junkie, and every week I listen to the Meet the Press podcast.  In a time when the news media has degraded into shouting heads on cable television, Russert stood out as not just an intellectual giant, but also as an exceedingly tough but fair journalist (a phrase that will be repeated endlessly in the media in the coming days).

It’s odd, because just two days ago I was going thru my aircheck tapes of my K-Rock shows last fall.  During one talk break, I made a joke that name-checked Tim Russert.  I wondered if a reference to Tim Russert might be too esoteric for the K-Rock audience.  Given the recent outpouring of overwhelming admiration for Mr. Russert, I realize now that Tim Russert was not an obscure reference.  He was an American institution to whom every American could relate.  The public felt they knew Tim in the same way that I feel I know him, even tho I have never met the man.  He was a role model for all of us.

Rest in peace, Tim. -SR

Bristol Joins QWU

Made the trip down to Bristol today to sign two more venues up to list their events on QuickWhatsUp.com.  Mike Ferreira at Gillary’s has been very supportive of our company and we finally got him up and running on the site.  Mike is what you call “good peeps.”  Just a solid all around guy.  Plus I love his bar.

After that I headed over to the Topside Lounge, where I met Cindy.  We have not had an opportunity to work with the Topside yet, but I took an immediate liking to Cindy.  Very personable.  They have live music there once a week, and I know Topside is THE place for Roger Williams students to go on Wednesday nights.  (The RWU population is very set in their ways, as Gillary’s is THE place for RWU on Thursdays.)  Anyway, I’m excited to have Topside on board and I’m hoping we’ll be able to do something exciting with Cindy soon.

I should also plug the event we’ve got coming up with Twin River in July.  First off, Frank Martucci at Twin River is another person who’s been very supportive of our new company.  We put together the Twin River Talent Search for him in March and now we’ve come up with Iron ‘Tender - a play on Iron Chef.  We’re looking for all the best bartenders in the state to come out.  We’ll give them a secret ingredient and they’ll have to concoct a great cocktail.  I think it’s going to be very cool, and we’re giving away our biggest prize yet - a trip to Iceland.  This trip comes with the works - a stay at the Blue Lagoon spa, snowmobiling on the glacier, a Lobster bake on the beach, dinners, etc.  As if that weren’t enough, we’ll also have Red Sox tickets to give away.  This is going to be one cool contest, so if you’re a local bartender, be sure to enter. -SR

My Friday Night

So I finally planned an evening using the site that we’ve invested so much time into building.  Truth is, I built this site for very selfish reasons - I wanted to know about cool things to do.  So last Friday, I put it to the test, and I was pleasantly surprised.  My girlfriend and I headed out to see the Providence Roller Derby bout at the Bank of America Skating Center.  Then we headed out to see Waterfire.  We were planning on heading to the Roller Derby After-Party at Jerky’s, but we ran into a friend and wound up grabbing a drink at 3 Steeple Street instead.  Truth is, without the site, I probably would never have known what was going on.  Overall, a good little test run.  I’m looking forward to using it more often this summer. -SR

Roller Derby Tonight!

Providence Roller Derby returns this evening! The Old Money Honeys take on the Mob Squad at the Bank of America Skating Center tonight at 7pm, with the after-party at Jerky’s.  I’ve been a big fan of these Roller Derby matches since they started a few years ago.  When I was at WBRU, we invited a few of the girls to come on the radio and it was lots of fun.  They’re very tough competitors - this is not a sport for the faint of heart!  There are only four Providence bouts this season, so make sure you catch them! -SR