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Commemorate Rhode Island Rivers Day on June 18th With the Inaugural RiverSing on the Blackstone

Day-long Festival at Pawtucket’s Historic Slater Mill
Celebrates the Blackstone with Eight Stages of Performance and Song

Rivers Day Info

Pawtucket, RI – May 4, 2005 – In celebration of Rhode Island Rivers Day, the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council is pleased to hold the first annual RiverSing on the Blackstone on Saturday, June 18th, 2005 from 12:00 noon to dusk at the Slater Mill Historic Site, and along Roosevelt Avenue, between Main and Exchange Streets, in downtown Pawtucket. The inaugural event, highlighted with more than 80 musical performances along the Blackstone River, a Grand Sing-A-Long and a performance of Missa Gaia (Earth Mass), is free and open to the public.

The day-long festival will bring together a unique afternoon gathering of choral and musical performers from throughout Rhode Island and New England, who will honor the heritage, diversity, culture and communities of the Blackstone River Valley using the universal language of song. The festivities will also include food, dance and cultural presentations throughout the day, offered on eight separate stages positioned along both sides of the Blackstone River. Just some of the more than 80 entertainers slated to perform include internationally known, folk singer Bill Staines, celebrated family performer Bill Harley, accomplished actor, playwright and composer Ricardo Pitts-Wiley, the Narragansett Bay Chorus, Ocean State Childrens’ Choir, and a diverse assembly of choral ensembles, drum, jug and steel groups, rock bands, ethnic musicians, dancers, and much more.

A “mixed bag” of street performers will also entertain revelers along the span of the Blackstone River, including the Big Nazo puppeteer troupe, mimes, clowns, jugglers and musicians.

As evening falls, audiences are invited to gather on both sides of the Blackstone for the climax of the festival: the Grand Sing-A-Long, featuring Bill Staines, Bill Harley, Ricardo Pitts-Wiley and others singing back and forth to each other from across the river in a forging of voices, bridging diversity and cultures through music. In Bill Staines own words in his song “Bridges”: “Let us build a bridge of music and cross it with a song. Let us span another canyon and right another wrong.”

The festival will culminate at 8:00 p.m. an exclusive performance of Paul Winter’s “Missa Gaia,” directed by the piece’s original co-composer, Jim Scott. Created by Paul Winter in 1980, the Missa Gaia, or Earth Mass, joins the voices of the wolf, whale and loon with live musicians and instrumentalists, featuring the Hallalisa Singers and soprano saxophone virtuoso Stan Strickland, in a captivating one-of-a-kind performance. This will be followed by a light show on the Dam at Slater Mill as darkness falls.

Listeners and singers alike can participate in a Missa Gaia workshop and concert on the Sunday before RiverSing and can join in the singing of the Missa on the following Saturday. The musicians will present the work in an “open participatory rehearsal” at 7pm on Sunday, June 12 in the Pawtucket Congregational Church at 40 Wolcott Street. The cost for the workshop/concert is $25. and is a donation for RiverSing.

RiverSing on the Blackstone is sponsored by the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council and the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission, and is inspired by “RiverSing on the Charles,” a collaboration between the Charles River Conservancy and Revels, Inc. For more information on RiverSing, call Ray Warner at 617.680.0535 or visit www.tourblackstone.com.

RiverSing on the Blackstone is one of the several events celebrated throughout Rhode Island and Southeastern New England in commemoration of Rivers Day, taking place this year on Saturday, June 18th. Rivers Day is an annual celebration for waterways, and is held locally with a special emphasis on the historic Blackstone River, an American Heritage River. Other events include award ceremonies, free public river tours and dragon boat rides. Bill Staines

For more than thirty five years, Bill Staines has traveled back and forth across North America, singing his songs and delighting audiences at festivals, folksong societies, colleges, concerts, clubs and coffeehouses. A New England native, Bill became involved with the Boston-Cambridge folk scene in the early 1960s, and quickly became a popular performer in the Boston area. His popularity has not waned in his four decades as a folk performer, and his reputation as an artist has now spread internationally.

Singing mostly his own songs, he has become one of the most popular singers on the folk music circuit today and averages around 200 concert dates a year. Bill weaves a magical blend of wit and gentle humor into his performances, and as one reviewer wrote, "he has a sense of timing to match the best stand-up comic."

A number of Bill's songs have been recorded by other artists including Peter, Paul, & Mary, Makem and Clancy, Nanci Griffith, Mason Williams and others. Bill has recorded 22 of his own albums, 15 of which are still in print.

Bill Harley

Trying to describe Bill Harley is often as funny as attending one of his concerts. One person will call him a singer/songwriter, another, a storyteller. People know Bill from his books, his theatrical plays, his concerts, his workshops - or maybe even as a keynote speaker at a conference. With 25 recordings of songs and stories and five children's books to his credit, Bill's humorous yet meaningful work chronicles the lives of children at school and at home.

Bill tours nationally as a solo artist as well as with his band, the "Troublemakers," or with his pianist/co-conspirator, Keith Munslow. Armed with his guitar, songs, stories and slightly off-center mind, Bill is the kind of performer you just have to see in person.

As a storyteller, Bill has appeared numerous times at the prestigious National Storytelling Festival, and at dozens of other regional festivals from California to Florida. You'll find Bill's stories and off-beat observations in numerous anthologies and magazines. He also shows up on your car radio as a regular commentator for National Public Radio's All Things Considered.

The reasons for Bill’s success are obvious - his songs are direct and honest, his stories are filled with the details of daily life, and everything he does has a refreshing dose of fantasy mixed with a healthy breath of reality. Bill’s works have also earned him two Grammy nominations.

Ricardo Pitts-Wiley

Ricardo Pitts-Wiley is an accomplished actor, director, playwright and composer. In January of 2003, he and his wife Bernadet formed Mixed Magic Theatre & Cultural Events, a non-profit arts organization, dedicated to presenting a diversity of cultural and ethnic images and ideas on the stage. Ricardo currently serves as the company's Artistic Director. He has also founded two other theater companies, The Human Eye Ensemble in San Diego and the Art Ship Project in Providence, and has been Artist in Residence at the University of Rhode Island and Long Island University at Southampton, where he directed and taught acting.

Ricardo was recently honored with the Individual Achievement Award by the Arts and Business Council of Rhode Island.

Schedule of Events

12:00 noon – dusk Eight stages of music, dance and cultural performances

(Performers listed in approximate order of appearance)

Slater Mill – Main Choral Stage (west)

• Ocean State Childrens’ Choir
• Choral Company of Cranston
• The Baldwin School Chorus and Handbell Chorus
• St. Paul’s Handbell Choir
• Narragansett Bay Chorus
• Cumberland-Lincoln Community Chorus
• Providence Singers
• Bill Harley & Friends
• Riversong & Friends
• Bill Staines & Friends
• Ricardo Pitts-Wiley/Mixed Magic Players

Slater Park – Bowl Choral Stage (east)

• Varieur School Chorus
• Les Gais Chanteurs-French Chorale
• Creative Communities Chorus
• Henry Barnes School Chorus
• Feminist Voices Chorus
• Harmony Heritage Chorus
• Coastline Show Chorus
• Woman Spirit Rising Chorus
• After 8 A Cappella Ensemble
• Conundrums Steel Band 

Main Street Rhythm Stage

• Bese Saka
• Pachamamas
• Shea Drummers with Issa & Seydou Coulibaly
• Mystic Drummers
• TJ Wheeler and the Funky River Jug Band
• Matt Meyer and the Brazilian Beat
• Providence Tango
• Pachamamas
• Joao Cerilo

Stone Soup Folk Stage

• Northern Edge
• City of Roses
• Dark & Stormy
• TJ Wheeler
• Marlou Ferrrante
• Michael Troy
• Mark Simos
• New England Weather
• Twilight Ranchers
• Trouz Bras

Mixed Bag Stage & Street Performers

• Ukulele Hall of Fame – Stage-Ukes for Kids Program
• Davis Sweet & Friends
• Big Nazo puppeteers
• Skip Jackson
• Chad Verbeck
• Heritage String Band
• Rob Oxford
• Mel Green
• Michelle Cruz
• Karen & Paul
• Barbara & Graham
• Marie Duprey, Gail Wiegner & Friends
• Mimes, clowns, and jugglers

Young Bands Stage

• Various rock and contemporary music groups

Rhode Island Song Writers’ Association Stage

• Various singers and songwriters

Sing for Food Open Mic Stage

• Various performers

Sponsored by the Rhode Island Food Bank

RiverSing Grand Sing-A-Long (Time to be announced)

8:00 p.m. Lighting of the Dam at Slater Mill

Paul Winter’s Missa Gaia performance, with Jim Scott and the Hallalisa Singers & Friends, and Stan Strickland on Soprano Saxaphone

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Blackstone Valley Visitor Center, On the banks of the Blackstone, 175 Main Street, Pawtucket, Rhode Island  02860 
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