Mother's Day lands Sunday and the spring season is officially open for business. The Knick's birthday calendar keeps rolling, the gardens are at peak bloom, and Friday night has three shows worth fighting traffic for. If you've been waiting for the week that stops feeling like winter — congratulations, you found it.
THIS WEEK'S MOVE
Greg Piccolo & Heavy Juice — 75th Birthday at the Knick
Friday, May 8 · 8:00 PM · Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly
Greg Piccolo helped build the Rhode Island R&B sound with Roomful of Blues, and he's hitting 75 the right way — playing the Knick with Heavy Juice and pre-releasing a brand-new album the same night. This is the kind of birthday party where the gift is the room. The 91-year-old dance floor doesn't fit everybody — get there early. Milestones like this are exactly why the Knick was worth saving.
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THE LINEUP
This Week in South County
Arts & Culture
Thursday, May 7 · 7:00 PM · United Theatre — Black Box, Westerly
Rossini's Cinderella in the Black Box, performed by South County's own opera company. If you've ever rolled your eyes at opera, this is the size of room that changes minds — every seat is whispering distance from the singers.
Live Music
Friday, May 8 · Evening · Greenwich Odeum, East Greenwich
Mr. Big's guitar god in a 400-seat room with another guitar god — the kind of night where you remember why people fell in love with the electric guitar in the first place. The VIP add-on is reportedly almost gone.
Arts & Culture
Friday, May 8 · 8:00 PM · United Theatre — Black Box, Westerly
A clinical psychologist on a stage talking about the brains of America's worst people. Macabre, weirdly compelling, and probably the most-asked-about ticket at the United this season. Pick your Friday — this one will be talked about Monday.
Live Music
Saturday, May 9 · 7:30 PM · Courthouse Center for the Arts, South Kingstown
The Courthouse is doing classic albums note-for-note all spring, and Houses of the Holy is the one Zep fans actually want. Tribute night done with reverence — and within 15 minutes of every diner in the county.
Live Music
Saturday, May 9 · 8:00 PM (Doors 7:00 PM) · Pump House Music Works, Wakefield
$15 advance for an indie show at the Pump House — the venue keeps quietly being one of the best music rooms in the state. You don't have to know the band. That's kind of the point.
Beach & Outdoor
Saturday, May 9 · 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM · 1859 Mooresfield Rd, South Kingstown
Mother's Day-eve perennial sale, run by the people who actually grew the plants. Smarter than rushing through Sunday brunch — give her something that lives. Get there at nine; the good stuff goes fast.
Beach & Outdoor
Sunday, May 10 · 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM · Fishermen's Memorial State Park, Narragansett
Sunday morning farmers market on Mother's Day — flowers, RI seafood, maple syrup, the whole spring opener. The pre-brunch move, or the entire plan if you read the room right.
Nightlife
Saturday, May 9 · 9:00 PM · Ocean Mist, Matunuck
Late Saturday at the Mist with Dudemanbro and Professor Roots. Beach bar, deck over the water, bands you didn't plan on liking but will. Ocean Mist season is back.
WHERE TO EAT & DRINK THIS WEEK
Weekapaug Inn
Westerly · 25 Spray Rock Rd, on Quonochontaug Pond
Yes, $95 a person is real money. But Weekapaug Inn on Mother's Day morning — dining room opening onto Quonochontaug Pond, tide doing what the tide does, family-style spread that rotates with the season — is the kind of brunch that makes mom forget the rest of the year. Seatings run 10:30 to 2:30, and they book up early. If you can swing it: reserve now, sit by the windows, take the long way home through Watch Hill.