This Week's Haul, Aug 28: Double rainbow, all the way
And: The Neverending Yard Sale (ahh-ahh-ahhhhh)
Good morning from eastern Maine, where this weekend, we say goodbye to True Summer, and welcome the month of September, aka False Summer, during which it is usually warm enough during the day to wear shorts and swim and do other hot weather things, but almost immediately drops below 60 degrees as soon as the sun fully goes down. Womp womp.
Some real estate agency in New Jersey did a big survey on the 100 ugliest public buildings in the country. Maine actually walked away with only one building on the list, compared to New York, Nevada and Florida, which each had five, but Maine’s ugliest building is, according to the people surveyed, the Cross Insurance Center in good ol’ Bangor. Is the Cross Center really uglier than, say, Shibles Hall at UMaine? Or, let’s be real - the Augusta Civic Center?
Here’s a sneak peek at the menu at the new Marsh Island Brewing location in Hampden, housed in the former Kiwanis building. No official opening date set yet, but it looks to be sooner rather than later.
As of the writing of this post, the tegu lizard that got loose from its enclosure is still on the loose in Old Town. Initial reports neglected to mention one of the most important parts of the story: that the reptile’s name is blue. That’s like rule number one in journalism: always get the name of the dog. Er, lizard.
The fascinating and delightful multimedia artist Chris Doyle died at his home in Maine last month. How I would love to see the magnificent work of art that was/is his Blue Hill house with my own eyes.
This week in People From Boston or New York Discover Something About Maine: Libraries here also loan out non-book, useful things, like cake pans and telescopes and power tools and musical instruments. Hell, libraries in the Katahdin region will loan out bikes and kayaks! ‘Libraries of Things’ have been a thing in Maine for many years now, but hey, the New York Times just noticed it, so oh boy oh boy: we’ve hit the big time.
A decree from friends of the ‘stack and fellow #uptacamp comrades Rob Glover and Amanda Sohns: henceforth, we shall all refer to a group of loons as an “opera,” not an “asylum.”
A guy from Greenbush went to London and unexpectedly won a national cornhole title. His name is Elijah Wood. No, not that one.
I respect Taylor Swift as an insanely successful pop star and businessperson, and I like many of the songs off “1989,” but I would not call myself a fan. I think it’s nice she’s marrying the nice-seeming football man. The diamond in her engagement ring is about 40,000 carats. I wonder what they actually talk about. Thus begins and ends my opinions about the Swift-Kelce engagement.
20 years ago we were enjoying the first-ever American Folk Festival on the Bangor Waterfront, the three-day music and arts festival that ran for 14 years after the federally-funded National Folk Festival came to town in 2002, 2003 and 2004. 20 years ago, Hurricane Katrina swept into the Gulf Coast, devastating the city of New Orleans, killing more than 1,800 people and displacing tens of thousands – including three Louisiana bands and artists featured at that year’s inaugural festival. The early 2000s were full of a lot of profound American tragedy. On a more personal level, I’m still pretty sore that Bangor couldn’t figure out how to keep the folk festival - and seeing my byline on the above story makes me feel wicked old.
School starts all over Maine next week, including at the University of Maine, which begins classes on Tuesday. There’s a really great student-led organization operating throughout the Bangor region called Black Bear Mutual Aid, which for the past few years has devoted countless volunteer hours to working with food pantries, the recovery community and helping unhoused folks. They are always doing really good work. You can support them by visiting their Instagram, seeing what they are up to, and donating via the links in their bio.
Music & Dance
Aug. 28: Bonnie Raitt and Jimmy Vaughn and the Tilt-A-Whirl Band, Maine Savings Amphitheater, Bangor
Aug. 28: Barrington Levy, 7 p.m., Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor
Aug. 28: Belfast Summer Nights presents Huddled Masses Orchestra and the Doppelgangers, 5 p.m, Steamboat Landing Park, Belfast
Aug. 28: St. John’s Organ Society recital feat. organist Kevin Birch and violinist Anatole Wieck; 7:30 p.m., St. John’s Catholic Church, Bangor
Aug. 28: Bask and Inertium, 7 p.m., Hey Sailor, Searsport
Aug. 29: Dead on the Water, 7 p.m., Orono Brewing Company, Orono
Aug. 29: Mamma Mia! ABBA tribute band, 8 p.m. Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor
Aug. 29: Hardy and Koe Wetzel, Maine Savings Amphitheater, Bangor
Aug. 29: Heron Valley, Celtic band, 7 p.m., Next Generation Theatre, Brewer
Aug. 29: Dominic Lavoie and Sunset Guppy, 7 p.m., Hey Sailor, Searsport
Aug. 29: Jazz pianist Laszlo Gardony, 7 p.m, Surry Arts Barn, Surry
Aug. 30: Firefly the Hybrid, Wabanaki multimedia performance artist, 3 p.m., Center Theatre, Dover-Foxcroft
Aug. 30: Sitzfleisch Anniversary Party feat. The Sugar Snaps, noon til close, Marshall Wharf Brewing Company, Belfast
Aug. 30: Country singer Chris Jansen, 8 p.m., Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor
Aug. 30: Chris Ross, 7 p.m., Hey Sailor, Searsport
Aug. 30: Fifth Fret bluegrass band, 8 p.m., Hancock Pour House, Orland
Aug. 30: Melissa Etheridge and Indigo Girls, Maine Savings Amphitheater, Bangor
Aug. 30: Choke Out and Wartime, 7 p.m., Old Town Theatre, Old Town
Sept. 3: Darlin’ Corey and the Pine Tree Flyers, 5:30 p.m. Alamo Theatre, Bucksport
Theater & Comedy
Aug. 29: Comedian Steve Hofstetter and guests, 7:30 p.m., Morgan Hill Event Center, Hermon
Aug. 29-30: “The Masque of Night: A Romeo & Juliet Cabaret,” 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Burnt Cove Church, Stonington
Aug. 28-31: “The Spider Web,” Agatha Christie play, Acadia Repertory Theatre, Somesville
Arts, Book, Film & Culture
Aug. 28: “Should We Care About the Past?: Maine Statehood in 1820, 1920 and Today,” talk with Liam Riordan and Micah Pawling, 5:30 p.m, Bangor Public Library
Aug. 28: Silent Book Club; come read in silence in a group of people; 5:30-7 p.m., The Stage Door, Main Street, Bangor
Aug. 28-Sept. 3: 50th anniversary screening of “Jaws,” screenings at Black Bear Cinemas, Orono, Bangor Mall Cinemas, Bangor, and Colonial Theatre, Belfast
Aug. 29: Paul Hammond Memorial Lecture feat. law Prof. Jules Lobel, 7 p.m., Jesup Memorial Library, Bar Harbor
Aug. 31: “The Health of Your Land,” native plant talk with Julie Beckford, 11 a.m., Sprague’s Garden Center, Bangor
Aug. 31-Sept. 4: Bigfoot documentary film series, Center Theatre, Dover-Foxcroft
Sept. 2: Secret Lives dramatic reading series, correspondence between Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman, 4:30 p.m., Bar Harbor Historical Society
Sept. 3: Chaplin at the Barn presents “The Great Dictator,” 7 p.m., Surry Arts Barn, Surry
Fairs, Festivals, Markets, Food & Misc.
Aug. 28-Sept. 1: Blue Hill Fair, Blue Hill Fairgrounds
Aug. 29: Sunset Paddle, 6 p.m., meet at Gate 3, Hirundo Wildlife Refuge, Alton
Aug. 30-31: Fiber College Makers Weekend, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Searsport Shorts Ocean Campground, Searsport
Aug. 31: Glenburn’s Labor of Love, annual community charity fundraiser feat. music, food trucks and more, 6 p.m., Glenburn Landing
Sept. 1: Passy Pete the Lobster will predict when summer will end, 10 a.m., Heritage Park, Belfast
Sept. 1: 22nd annual Labor Day Celebration, cookout, potluck and labor awards, 4:30 p.m., Solidarity Center, 20 Ivers St., Brewer
Sept. 1: Labor Day Worker Celebration, 4 p.m., Steamboat Landing Park, Belfast
All summer long, some down-the-street neighbors in my ‘hood have been having a never-ending yard sale. Nearly every day, there’s new additions to the sale added to their front yard - an exercise bike one day, a collection of board games the next. Santa figurines. Printers (presumably broken, as all printers tend to mostly be). Hubcaps. Golf clubs. Just yesterday, they added one of those dome hair dryer things that you sit under at the salon. Anybody want to dry and set their hair like grandma’s? I bet you’ll get a real good deal on it.
There's a NEYS on Center St., too!