Woof! Clifford and Martha Visit Barnes & Noble for Rhode Island PBS

Buying a book, music CD, or movie for this weekend? Here's a great idea and painless way to support Rhode Island PBS by doing something you plan to do anyway.

On Thursday, April 2, all three Barnes & Noble Booksellers in RI will host a "Bookfair" to benefit Rhode Island PBS. The B&N Bookfair starts at 9 AM and runs all day through closing at 10 PM in the Warwick, Smithfield, and Middletown Barnes & Noble stores.

The way it works is simple:

1. Download and print out THIS SPECIAL VOUCHER

2. Take it with you to your local Barnes & Noble store

3. Buy books, magazines, music, movies - even refreshments from the in-store cafe!

4. Present the voucher at the register and a portion of your purchase will be donated by Barnes & Noble to Rhode Island PBS.

That's it! Use a gift card or your B&N membership card for discount savings! The restrictions are minimal: purchase of textbooks, magazine subscriptions, or gift cards are not eligible.

Also, vouchers must be printed beforehand and brought with you to the store; no vouchers will be distributed in the stores. Feel free to pass vouchers along to family and friends, too! There's no limit to the number of vouchers you can pass around.

As a thank you for your support, there's lots of fun in store (pardon the pun)!

For the kids, Clifford the Big Red Dog and Martha from Martha Speaks will visit the Smithfield and Warwick stores; sing along with Grammy winner Bill Harley; play in Bananagrams tournaments (ages 7 and up), hug or high-five Tunes the Turtle from Coast 93.3 Kidz 'n' Family Club.

For the grown ups, David Bettencourt, director of the documentary "You Must Be This Tall: The Story of Rocky Point Park" will autograph his new book, Rocky Point Park (Images of America); live music by Eric Fontana, Eric French, Joseph Fletcher, John Fuzek, Jacqueline Bartlett, Chris Monti with Nick Pagano, Steve Allain.

Check the times and locations of all these activities on the RI PBS Kids Club calendar.

Liquid Assets under your feet

Beneath our feet runs the unseen, complex network that powers our lives. And it's crumbling.

Water. Where does it come from? Where does it go? We don't think about it much. That's about to change.

WSBE Rhode Island PBS will air two important programs on April 2, beginning at 8 PM on digital 36.1, Cox/Verizon/FullChannel 8, DirecTV36, Dish 7776.

The first program, Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure, is a national documentary that explores the history, engineering, and political and economic challenges of our water infrastructure, and engages communities in local discussion about public water and wastewater issues.



Then at 9:30, stay tuned for Hidden Assets: Rhode Island's Water Infrastructure. Take a look underground at the miles and miles of pipes - some buried more than a century ago - that comprise our Rhode Island water distribution and treatment system. Representing the full water cycle - drinking, waste, and storm - the men and women charged with keeping our water safe speak out.

This Rhode Island PBS production is moderated by URI Professor Maureen Moakley, and features local water infrastructure experts: W. Michael Sullivan, Ph.D., director of the RI Department of Environmental Management; Raymond J. Marshall, PE, the executive director of the Narragansett Bay Commission; Pamela Marchand, chief engineer and general manager of the Providence Water Supply Board; and Anthony Simeone, executive director of RI Clean Water Finance Agency.

Local broadcast of Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure and
production of Hidden Assets: Rhode Island’s Water Infrastructure is made
possible in part by WPSU Penn State Public Broadcasting, the RI Clean Water
Finance Agency, the RI Department of Environmental Management, the RI
Department of Health, the Narragansett Water Pollution Control Association,
and the RI Water Works Association.

The Gefilte Fish Chronicles on WSBE RI PBS

With all the wonderful chaos of preparing for a large gathering of extended family, The Gefilte Fish Chronicles honors the rich tradition of Pesach (Passover) with an intimate and candid look at the Dubroff family preparing for Seder.

But don't be misled - no matter what your heritage is, you will find your own family members among these charming and feisty storytellers.

The story began in 1904, when Abe and Minnie Dubroff emigrated from Russia to Brooklyn where they raised seven daughters and a son. For a century, the family has gathered at Passover and celebrated the Seder together, first in Brooklyn, then in Boonton, New Jersey. For the last four decades, Passover has been celebrated in Newburgh, New York.

"Don't Just Stand There… Cook!"

Led by the three surviving sisters, Sophie Patasnik, Peppy Barer, and Rosie Groman, traditional preparations are made for the Seder at Peppy's home in Newburgh. Six weeks before the Seder they shop and chop, taste and season. Using recipes nearly a century old, they begin to put together the gefilte fish, cholent, horse radish, and sponge cake.

"Don't Just Sit There… Eat!"

The Gefilte Fish Chronicles is a funny, touching, and universally familiar story of love, of tradition, and of generational family unity - and it's reality television the way it should be. This is a loving, living photo album.

"I've heard it said many times, and it's the truth:
The family that sits around the table together,
stays together. And we have many tables."

Peppy Barer

The Gefilte Fish Chronicles returns to WSBE Rhode Island PBS on Wednesday, April 1 at 8 PM, with rebroadcast on April 3 at 12:30 AM; April 5 at 3 AM and 11 PM; April 6 at 4 AM and 2 PM; April 7 at 12:30 AM.

WSBE Rhode Island PBS is found on digital channel 36.1, Cox /Verizon /Full Channel 8 (Massachusetts cable subscribers should check local cable listings), Dish 7776, and DirecTV 36.

A Lively Experiment for Sunday 3/29

Here's what's up for discussion on Sunday, March 29 at noon on A LIVELY EXPERIMENT




PANEL

Moderator Ron St. Pierre – News Talk 630 WPRO-AM
Dave Layman – Former TV News Anchor
Rep. Joseph Trillo (R) Warwick
Rep. Jon Brien – (D) Woonsocket
RI State Treasurer Frank Caprio (D)

TOPICS

• The Budget: Hike in Gas Tax?Sales Tax?

• Sex Education in Schools

• Twin River: Should the State step-in?

On The Lake: Life and Love in a Distant Place March 25th

After more than a year of work, filmmakers David Bettencourt and G. Wayne Miller have released their feature-length documentary ON THE LAKE: Life and Love in a Distant Place, an emotionally powerful look at the tuberculosis epidemic in 1900s America and globally today.

Told with never-before-seen footage and stills, and the on-camera accounts of TB survivors – including Barbara Parkos of Newport; Emily Martineau and Sheila O'Brien, both of Harrisville; John Lynes of Pascoag; Russ Denham, who summers in the Ocean State winters in Florida; and 80-year-old Frank Beazley, who has been a patient at Zambarano for almost 42 years – ON THE LAKE makes its television premiere WSBE Rhode Island PBS at 8 PM on March 25 (digital 36.1; Cox, Verizon, Full Channel 8 in RI; MA cable subscribers should check local listings for channel number; DirecTV36; Dish 7776).

Much of ON THE LAKE is based at Zambarano Hospital on remote Wallum Lake in Pascoag, R.I., which opened in 1905 as a TB sanatorium. But what started as a local story about the institution unfolded into a much larger story about tuberculosis worldwide and that led the filmmakers to sanitoria around the country. Segments were filmed in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Maryland, Colorado, and Saranac Lake, N.Y. – a community actually built around the disease.

ON THE LAKE has been endorsed by prominent health care activist Dr. Paul Farmer, professor at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Partners in Health in Boston. Farmer, one of the world’s foremost health care activists in the fight against global TB and AIDS, endorsed and applauded ON THE LAKE for its “human story of the tuberculosis epidemic.”

Even before it premiered on the big screen on February 13, the film had already become part of a worldwide initiative to stem the epidemic rise of TB and has been recognized by the Stop TB Partnership, a Geneva, Switzerland-based healthcare organization that includes members of the World Health Organization, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the US Agency for International Development.

But the power of the film is its story. Through letters, postcards, and on-camera interviews with survivors, the moving stories - interwoven throughout - put a human face on the epidemic.

For additional insight, read The Providence Journal review by Michael Janusonis and the movie review for WJAR NBC10 by Jim Taricani

Let Us Make Tax Season... Less... Taxing

It's almost here. THAT deadline.

You know the one. The one you jump on early if you expect a refund, or ignore to the last minute if you think you owe.

It's the Income Tax filing deadline, April 15th.

For those who fall into the second group and have not yet completed their 2008 tax returns, Tax Forum 2009 airs Sunday, March 22 from 1:30 to 3:30PM.

Call in and have your tax-related questions answered by members of the Rhode Island Society of Certified Public Accountants.

During the two-hour telecast, the on-air panel will discuss every aspect of tax preparation, and new rules and regulations. Panelists include:

IRS

Frances Brandenburg
Senior Stakeholder Relationship Tax Consultant
Stakeholder Partnerships, Education & Communication

Mary Marcotte
Senior Stakeholder Liaison
Communications, Liaison & Disclosure


RI Division of Taxation

Steven Cobb
Chief Revenue Agent
Discovery Tax Section

Linda Riendeau
Chief Rev Agent
Income Tax Section


RI Society of CPAs

Christina Hilton CPA
Tax Supervisor
Piccerelli, Gilstein & Company, LLP

Jacquelyn Tracey, CPA
Partner
Mandel & Tracey, LLC

Laura Hurteau DaLomba CPA, MST
Principal
Kahn, Litwin, Renza & Co., Ltd

Gregory Porcaro, CPA, MST
Partner
Otrando Porcaro & Associates

Edmond Loiselle, CPA
Owner
Loiselle and Company

Anthony Vernaglia, CPA, MST
Principal
Restivo Monacelli LLP

A Lively Experiment Tonight (3/19) and Sunday (3/22)

Airs tonight (3/19/09) at 7:30 PM and Sunday (3/22/09) at noon.

Panel

RON ST. PIERRE – Moderator / WPRO-AM Radio
DAVE LAYMAN – Former TV News Anchor
ARLENE VIOLET – Former R.I. Attorney General
Rep. DOUGLAS GABLINSKE – (D) Bristol, Warren
Rep. ROBERT WATSON – (R) House Minority Leader


Topics

AIG - BONUSES

ELDERLY AND PRESCRIPTION COSTS

HIGH PERCENT OF R.I.’S GAMBLING REVENUE COMES FROM MASSACHUSETTS

SENATE PRESIDENT TERESA PAIVA WEED TO LEAVE HER LAW OFFICE

SHOULD POLICE INTERVIEWS USED IN COURT ALWAYS BE RECORDED

PENSION PLAN BAILOUT

A Lively Experiment, March 12 and 15

Here's the line-up for tonight's A LIVELY EXPERIMENT at 7 PM. If your subscription feed arrives too late to watch tonight, you can always catch the re-broadcast on Sunday at noon!

Moderator
Ron St. Pierre – News Talk 630 WPRO Talk Host

Panel
Dave Layman – Former TV News Anchor
Maureen Moakley - URI Political Science
Honorable A. Ralph Mollis – RI Secretary of State
Honorable Joseph Trillo – RI House of Representatives (R)Warwick


Topics

THE BUDGET: Stimulus "earmarks" for Rhode Island; State's work force; a look at the new budget and covering last year's shortfall

THE RACE: Why David Cicilline and Steve Laffey Will Not Run for Governor

THE NAME: Senator Almeida's bill to change the name of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

A Lively Experiment, Tonight and Sunday 3/8

A Lively Experiment

Airs: 3/5/09 & Sunday 3/8/09


Panel

DENISE AIKEN – Moderator
DAVE LAYMAN – Former TV News Anchor
JIM HUMMEL – Investigative Reporter
JAMES DOYLE – Mayor of Pawtucket
Rep. LAURENCE EHRHARDT – (R) North Kingstown

Topics

Former Cranston Mayor will not run for Governor
What are cities and towns doing about the budget crisis?
Economic Development: Container port at Quonset Point
Dept. of Labor & Training: Hiring back retirees
The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009
Wind turbines in Portsmouth
East Greenwich: Tax exempt private schools

New England diners and R.I. lighthouses tonight on Rhode Island PBS

And THIS from The Providence Journal:

New England diners and R.I. lighthouses tonight on Channel 36
01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, March 4, 2009

"The spotlight will be on diner food tonight at 7 when Channel 36 presents New England Portrait: The History of New England Diners.

The documentary focuses on the Hope Diner in Bristol, Champ’s Diner in Woonsocket, Bishop’s Diner in Newport, Shawmut Diner in New Bedford and Miss Worcester in Worcester, with a side trip to the Haven Brothers Diner in Providence. Owners and patrons add anecdotes and Richard Gutman, director and curator of the Johnson & Wales Culinary Arts Museum, provides historical background.

Channel 36’s 'Night of Nostalgia,' as the PBS station is calling it, doesn’t end with scrambled eggs, home fries and coffee. The diner show will be followed at 7:40 p.m. by filmmaker Jim Karpeichik’s Rhode Island’s Historic Lighthouses, a look at all 30 of the Ocean State’s lighthouses, with stories of tragedies and heroism, buildings lost and restored."



[Thanks so much for the coverage, projo! But... I sure would appreciate your writers giving at least one nod per article to the name we've had since 2003: Rhode Island PBS.]

Attention Documentary Fans: P.O.V. Films Online

This late-breaking news from P.O.V. and PBS:

Documentary fans will have the opportunity to see award-winning P.O.V. films again — or discover them for the first time — in a new, free, monthly online series.

Groundbreaking documentaries from P.O.V.’s 21 seasons on PBS can now be seen in their entirety for a limited time on the series’ Webby Award-winning website, www.pbs.org/pov.

Among the films on view are American Aloha and My American Girls, at www.pbs.org/pov/videos.html.

In March, P.O.V. will stream Sweet Old Song in honor of the centennial of the late Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong. P.O.V. (Point of View), which begins its 22nd season on PBS in June 2009, is American television’s longest-running independent documentary series and the winner of a Special News & Documentary Emmy Award for Excellence in Television Documentary Filmmaking.

ABOUT THE FILMS:
American Aloha: Hula Beyond Hawai’i, by Lisette Marie Flanary and Evann Siebens, premiered on P.O.V. in 2003 as part of its Diverse Voices Project and can be seen online until March 7, 2009. For Hawaiians, the hula is not just a dance, but a way of life. While most Americans know only the stereotypes of grass skirts and coconut bras, the hula is a living tradition reflecting the rich history and spirituality of Hawai'i through music, language and dance. American Aloha discovers a renaissance in California by following three master hula teachers. Revealing the survival of Hawai'i's indigenous culture from near-destruction, the film is a reminder of the power of reclaiming tradition. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) and Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC) co-presentation.

Celebrating Dominican Independence Day on Feb. 27, P.O.V. is currently streaming Aaron Matthews’ My American Girls: A Dominican Story until April 2. In vivid vérité detail, the 2001 film chronicles the joys and struggles over a year in the lives of the Ortiz family, first-generation immigrants from the Dominican Republic. Following the hard-working parents who imagine retiring to their rural homeland and their fast-tracking American-born daughters, the film captures the rewards—and costs—of pursuing the American dream.

From March 2–May 2, P.O.V. is proud to present Leah Mahan’s Sweet Old Song, which premiered in 2002. Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong, who passed away on July 30, 2003 (one year to the day after the P.O.V. broadcast), was a performer for most of his 94 years, from the time his father carved his first fiddle from a wooden crate. At the film's center are the two great loves of Howard's life: his music and artist Barbara Ward, then age 60. This is the story of Armstrong and Ward’s two-decade courtship and marriage, a unique partnership that inspired an outpouring of art and music. Their creative work drew on nearly a century of African-American experience, beginning with Armstrong’s vivid stories and paintings of his childhood in a segregated town in Tennessee. As the couple took on life’s challenges, they defied our most basic assumptions about what it means to grow older.

In 2003, Howard was able to return to his home state of Tennessee one last time to receive the Governor’s Award in the Arts. He would have turned 100 today - March 4, 2009. Happy Birthday, Howard!