rovidence, Rhode Island has been invaded today. For the seventh year in a row, no less. Musicians downtown in broad daylight, right in front of your eyes. Why does this keep happening, you ask? It's all about being a musician.

It starts out simple enough: you want to play. Then, you hope someone will want to listen. Soon after, it gets complicated. Rehearsals. Other musicians. Writing. Equipment. Life. Rinse repeat rinse repeat but never quite wash, never exactly dirty always tired, never stopping. Long nights and longer drives. Struggling in a local music market that is so out-of-sight out-of-mind of the average person that sometimes you need to take one day out of the year to sit on a street corner and play. And hope someone will want to listen. Then it can become simple again.

Then again, sometimes things just seem fuzzy and dream-like. For seven years, The Providence Invasion has occupied downtown Providence for an hour at noon on the Thursday after Memorial Day. The response from the city and the public has been nothing short of amazing, and we have been happy to introduce you to literally hundreds of artists over the years. So much progress... and then hundreds of bands and dozens of clubs simply disappear in the years following the Station nightclub fire. This doesn't mean that good local music can't be found, it just means that you have to look harder to find it and it'll be that much more valuable when you do.