This Week's Haul, Aug. 13: Strong like an ox
And: Candlepin bowling 4 evah
Good morning from eastern Maine, where this week, I discovered that you can, in fact, be stung by a bee or wasp or something and not realize it until the back of your lower arm starts developing a huge, angry welt, and you think “Oh God, am I allergic to bees now!?” and then you take a benadryl and fall asleep and wake up and it’s fine.
I love the fact that Devo came to Bangor a day early before their concert on Tuesday and recorded some stuff for their new album at Main Street Music Studios in Brewer.
I also love the fact that the Waldo County pool playing team, Happy Little Accidents, came in 33rd place out of 833 teams at the American Poolplayers Association World Pool Championships last week in Las Vegas. They play out of All Play Entertainment Center in Belfast, and I went to high school with Melissa, one of the players.
Nice piece in the New York Times about Presque Isle-born actor and playwright John Cariani’s series of plays about Maine, from his megahit “Almost, Maine” to “The Darker The Night, the Brighter the Stars,” currently in production at the Stonington Opera House. My friend and former colleague and local theater critic Judy Harrison notes that the latter play was also produced by Penobscot Theatre in Bangor over the winter, but naturally, a New York Times writer would prefer to be in Stonington in August than Bangor in February.
A couple weeks ago I mentioned that I would love to go on a donkey hike in Searsport. Well, add to the list of ridiculous adorable animal adventures the corgi hikes in Ellsworth. In a fairy garden, no less. There are also goats and ponies. According to the booking site on Airbnb, there are as many adults participating as there are kids. I really feel like these are the kinds of things that will eventually heal the world.
This is just to say / I have purchased an ad-free YouTube premium account / which seems like a waste of money / Forgive me, but I can’t handle any more smarmy pro-Susan Collins ads and assholic anti-Troy Jackson ads without being compelled to throw my phone or TV in front of a speeding semi truck
30 years ago this summer the Bangor Blue Ox, one of only a handful of minor league baseball teams to ever exist in Bangor and the first in more than 80 years at that point, played the first of its two total seasons. The Blue Ox - who obviously did have a very cool mascot in Babe, Paul Bunyan’s buddy, featured in the above BDN story - weren’t affiliated with any major league teams. Despite the name, they didn’t actually play in Bangor, with their home stadium instead being Mahaney Diamond at the UMaine campus in Orono. All that said, the team actually had a pretty decent 1996 season, finishing at third in the Northeast League at 46-33. Famously, former Red Sox pitcher Oil Can Boyd was attempting to mount a comeback and pitched for the Blue Ox during that first season. The team didn’t do so well for its second season in 1997, and then in 1998 the team was sold and moved to Canada, where it became the Quebec Capitales, who still play today. The main legacy of the team seems to be that charismatic mascot and the vintage Blue Ox tees and other merch from that era, which fetch quite a pretty penny on the resale market - both of which were the subject of this sweet article from earlier this summer on the NYT’s Athletic, about a Bangor girl and her letters to Babe being featured at the Baseball Hall of Fame symposium this year.
Music & Dance
Aug. 13: Sea chantey singalong, 4 p.m., Penobscot Marine Museum, Searsport
Aug. 13: Belfast Summer Nights presents Jay Brown and Aditi Sethi, 5:30 p.m., Steamboat Landing Park, Belfast
Aug. 13: G. Love and Special Sauce, 7 p.m., Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor
Aug. 14: Stillwater bluegrass ensemble, 6 p.m., Fogtown Brewing, Ellsworth
Aug. 14: Guitarist Juanito Pascual, 6 p.m., Surry Arts Barn, Surry
Aug. 14: The Crown Vics, 6:30 p.m., Milbridge Marina, Milbridge
Aug. 14: Viqueen, Black Vinegar, The Burial Curse and Revenant, 7 p.m., The Old Town Theatre, Old Town
Aug. 15: Riley Green, Justin Moore, Zach John King and Hannah McFarland, 6 p.m., Maine Savings Amphitheater, Bangor
Aug. 15: Roots, Rhythm & Dub, Marshall Wharf Brewing, Belfast
Aug. 15: Skip Bailey, cellist Joan Silver, Matthew Hawkins and Phil Hummer & the White Falcons, The Pine Farm, 419 South St. Blue Hill
Aug. 16: Bagaduce Music presents multi-instrumentalist Joachim Cooder, 7 p.m., Emlen Hall at the Bay School, Blue Hill
Aug. 16: Judy Collins and Loudon Wainwright III, 7 p.m., Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor
Aug. 17: I’m With Her, 7 p.m., Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor
Aug. 19: Darlin’ Corey, bluegrass band, 5:30 p.m., Alamo Theatre, Bucksport
Theatre & Comedy
Aug. 13-16: Some Theatre Company presents “Dear Evan Hansen,” daily at their Bangor Mall theater space, Bangor
Aug. 13-16: Opera House Arts Presents John Cariani’s “The Darker The Night, the Brighter the Stars,” nightly, Stonington Opera House, Stonington
Aug. 14: Penobscot Theatre Company presents “Broadway Rocks,” benefit showtunes concert, 8 p.m., Bangor Opera House, Bangor
Aug. 15: Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers presents “Everybody Loves Pirates,” 1:30 p.m., Union Hall, Searsport
Aug. 18: The Gottabees Family Theater presents “Squirrel Stole My Underpants,” 6 p.m., Stonington Opera House, Stonington
Arts, Books, Film & Culture
Aug. 14-15: “The Lost Boys,” retro screening, nightly at the Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor
Aug. 15: Remembering Sam Neill series screens “Jurassic Park,” 1 p.m., Colonial Theatre, Belfast
Aug. 16: Bangor Historical Society presents “Founders and Freedom: A Revolutionary War Walk Through Mount Hope Cemetery,” 10 a.m., meet at superintendent’s lodge, Mount Hope Cemetery, Bangor
Aug. 16: Talk on Wabanaki swordfish fishing with anthropologist Bonnie Newsom, 4 p.m., The Good Life Center, Brooksville
Aug. 19: “No Sleep ’Til Brooklin: Pack Dodge and the Haven Colony,” talk on Maine summer communities, 6 p.m., Rockbound Chapel, Brooklin
Fairs, Festivals, Markets, Outdoors & Misc.
Aug. 13: Farm tour and film screening with MOFGA, noon, The Good Life Center, Brooksville
Aug. 14-16: Downeast Art and Antique Show, daily, Alexander Field House, Maine Maritime Academy, Castine
Aug. 15: Blue Hill Maritime Heritage Festival, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., historic village area, Blue Hill
Aug. 15: Jonathan Fisher House annual Antique Show, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Jonathan Fisher House, Blue Hill
Aug. 19: Jackson Gillman’s “Riot in the Garden” family science show, 6 p.m. Ellsworth Public Library
As a Mainer and New Englander, it is my sworn duty to proclaim that candlepin bowling is the best bowling. Who cares if it’s an odd regional variation on big ball bowling that’s only played in this neck of the woods and Atlantic Canada? It’s the best. And not just because my dad was a semi-competitive candlepin bowler on the north shore of Boston when he was a young lad in the 1960s and 70s (he still smokes us on the rare occasion we end up playing together). Watch our friend Ricky Leighton’s beautiful short documentary on “little ball” bowling if you’re new here and aren’t familiar with it.
That’s why it warms my heart to see that Autumn Mowery, the 24-year-old phenom who took over the Ellsworth Candlepin Alley in 2020 and has since transformed the place, got her flowers when she was featured in a segment on CBS Sunday Morning last weekend. The spot mentioned a GoFundMe she started a while back to help her and her fiance actually buy the business - she’s been managing it for the current owners this whole time, and now wants to buy it outright. That fundraiser went from just a few hundred dollars to nearly $300,000 as of this morning. Plenty to buy the joint and then some. Mowery hosts tons of events to raise money for worthy causes and also provides free space for survivors of domestic abuse for counseling and community. This is exactly the kind of thing we want to thrive in all our towns in Maine. Good on ya, Autumn.