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I published a story in the very first issue of the alt-weekly NewPaper in 1978, a review of the Jimmy Cliff movie The Harder They Come. (No, it's not online.) We were among the guests invited by the Providence Phoenix birthday bash at Lupo's after work yesterday, celebrating 30 years of the NewPaper/Providence Phoenix.

Publisher Steve Brown threw a fine casual (of course!) party for many who had been part of the history. The movie theater where I may have seen The House on Haunted Hill as a kid hosted buffet stations -- pizza, cheese, fruit, edible art, burgers, wings, sausage and peppers, sushi, steak tips, Mexican and more-- stocked and staffed by local restaurants. Everything -- including the coat check, drinks and a very popular chocolate fountain -- was on the house.

I largely took photos of people I recognized, or knew from those early days, then put the camera away. Many more Providence folks were not photographed, including Stephanie and her husband Jim Perry from Nick-A-Nee's, and the owner of the old Custom House Tap, Leah Reynolds, who now operates Everyman Bistro on Valley Street. I ran into them just after I'd quit shooting and gotten a glass of wine. Others, such as former Journal reporter Brian Jones, had left before I pulled the camera out.

My apologies to Phoenix News Editor Ian Donnis, whose photo is a perfect "eyes wide shut" shot. I would do him no kindness by publishing it.

Snapshots:

Storyteller Len Cabral and Tai Chi instructor Terry Cannon, under the Halloween bat decorations.

Top row, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, left, and former Gov. Bruce Sundlun; bottom row, former R.I. Atty. Gen. Arlene Violet and Chip Young (Philippe of the Phoenix's Philippe and Jorge column).

 
Providence Phoenix publisher Steve Brown, left, and Rudy Cheeks (Jorge of the Phoenix's Philippe and Jorge column).

Richard Walton, longtime political activist and head of the Stone Soup Arts Foundation and coffeehouse.

Bert Crenca, founder of AS220.

Judy Cabral, with her husband Len.

Blogger Jef Nickerson, flanked by Matthew Coolidge and Jim Beller.

John Peck, whom we thank for The Providence Poster and more.

 

Casey Dahm and Ty Davis, founder of the NewPaper, which was bought in 1988 by the Boston Phoenix and eventually renamed the Providence Phoenix.

Casey is my daughter. Ty calls her the first of the NewPaper kids. When she was a toddler, her father was art director of the fledgling paper, and he would take her to work with him when he laid out the pages. (She was banned from the office after she was found playing with an X-Acto knife.) The photo is grainy because I didn't want to intrude on their conversation in one of the few empty spots in the former Strand Theater, so the telephoto shot was out of range of the flash.

 Tags  Bert Crenca Casey Dahm Chip Young Jef Nickerson John Peck Len Cabral NewPaper Richard Walton Sheila's photos Sheldon Whitehouse

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