This Week's Haul, Feb. 12: Bangor, the city of lovers
And: Let's hear it for the small folk
Good morning from eastern Maine, where this week, as I sat writing at my beloved Chimera Coffee in downtown Bangor one afternoon, I managed to overhear an hour or so of what I presume to be a first or possibly second date between two people that I guess were in their mid-20s. It made me profoundly grateful for my wonderful, non-problematic partner, that I mostly missed the era of dating apps, and that I don’t have to listen to men I barely know tell me things like “Yeah, I think movies are kind of over.” It is hard out there, people.
Looky here, ma, it’s the first case of measles in Maine in seven years, and it’s right here in Bangor! Yippie! Good job, anti-vax idiots! 100 percent preventable communicable diseases are BACK, baby.
I see your crowd surfing at a Dropkick Murphys concert in Portland last week, Graham Platner, and raise you getting literally kicked in the head at a Dropkick Murphys concert in Boston on St. Patrick’s Day 2002 (me).
Some coastal residents believe they may have seen a UFO in the skies above Stockton Springs, Verona Island and Orland. Or maybe it was Starlink satellites. Hard tellin’ not knowin’. Maybe they’ll invite folks on board for a potluck dinner.
FYI: The subject of this profile of a new Bangor homeowner in the BDN this week is also a ridiculously talented singer-songwriter who (shameless self-promotion alert) is performing at this very cool event in Brewer in two weeks that I am the lead organizer for!
Big shawarma and falafel news: Dreamer Food at 97 Allen St. in Bangor is opening next week!
When I was at the dentist a couple of weeks ago, the TV in the exam room showed the Brownville Food Pantry for Deer. I know it’s probably not the best idea to keep feeding wild deer so much that they become dependent on you, but I have to say: it was incredibly calming to watch them while my (very nice) dentist shoved metal devices in my mouth.
In the early 20th century, there were a whopping nine theaters, opera houses and large auditoriums in Bangor. By the 1980s, none remained except the art deco-style Bangor Opera House, which after several decades operating as a single-screen movie theater closed in the early 1980s. It sat empty for several years until it was purchased and reopened by local businessman Rick Bronson. It held its reopening 40 years ago this week with a concert by folk icon and Maine resident Noel Paul Stookey. Bronson originally intended the Bangor Opera House to become the home of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, but the BSO instead opted to make what is now the Collins Center for the Arts in Orono its home base. The Penobscot Theatre Company bought the building in 1999 and has been located there ever since.
Music & Dance
Feb. 12: Contradance with caller Alice Slater, 6 p.m., First Congregational Church of Blue Hill, Blue Hill
Fed. 13: Duos with Danny Fisher Lockhead, Animals & Giraffes, 7 p.m., Bon Vent Cider, Hancock
Feb. 13: Slampig, In The Kingdom Of Nightmares and Krull - and be an extra in local filmmaker Shane Grant’s new movie! - 7 p.m., The Old Town Theatre, Old Town
Feb. 13: The Flying Ivories, dueling pianos duo, 8 p.m., Hollywood Casino, Bangor
Feb. 14: Emmet Lalor and friends, 6 p.m., Marshall Wharf Brewing Company, Belfast
Feb. 14: Alumni Jazz Band swing dance party, 7:30 p.m., Next Generation Theatre, Brewer
Feb. 14: ‘Til Death Do Us Part Gothic Masquerade and Dance Party, 8 p.m, The Old Town Theatre, Old Town
Feb. 14: Gonzo Radio: A Return to Love, DJ takeover, 8:30 p.m., Red Rabbit Bazaar, Bangor
Feb. 15: Hermitage Piano Trio, 3 p.m., Minsky Recital Hall, University of Maine, Orono
Feb. 17: Mardi Gras celebration with the Huddled Masses Orchestra, 5 p.m., Marshall Wharf Brewing Company, Belfast
Theatre & Comedy
Jan. 29-Feb. 22: Penobscot Theatre Company presents John Cariani’s “Almost, Maine,” Wednesdays-Sundays, Bangor Opera House, Bangor
Feb. 12-22: Ten Bucks Theatre Company presents “Pride and Prejudice,” Thursdays-Sundays, Cyrus Pavilion Theatre, University of Maine, Orono
Feb. 13-22: The Grand Players present “Murder on the Orient Express,” Fridays-Sundays, Grand Theatre, Ellsworth
Feb. 13: Eye Candy Dance Studio Valentine Burlesque Show, 8 p.m., Center Theatre, Dover-Foxcroft
Feb. 13-14: “Romancing the Harlequin,” dramatic readings of Harlequin romance novels, nightly at 9 p.m., The Stage Door, Bangor
Arts, Books, Film & Culture
Feb. 12: Screening and discussion on the film “Wassily Kandinsky,” 6 p.m., Blue Hill Public Library, Blue Hill
Feb. 12: Black History Month movie series presents “Love and Basketball,” 3:30 p.m., Colonial Theatre, Belfast
Feb. 12: “Hidden In The Bones: Animal Anatomical Secrets Revealed,” examine animal bones, noon, Fields Pond Audubon Center, Holden
Feb. 13: “Taste the Molecular Rainbow: What Color and Flavor Tell Us About Chemistry,” talk with herbalist Mo-Katz Christy, 3 p.m., Blue Hill Public Library, Blue Hill
Feb. 14: Book talk and recipe share by author Jane Crosen on her new cookbook, “Culinary Landscapes,” 2 p.m., Ellsworth Public Library, Ellsworth
Feb. 14: Barony of Endwearde chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism presents “The Tourney of Love,” day of medieval competitions, 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Society of Bangor, Bangor
Feb. 18: “Booklarking: Expected and Unexpected Genealogy Treasures,” 2 p.m., Belfast Free Library, Belfast
Feb. 18: Documentary screening, “The Librarians,” 7 p.m., Blue Hill Public Library, Blue Hill
If you’re not a fan of the “Game of Thrones” universe, of fantasy content or of nerd shit in general, you may stop reading now. If you are, however: I think “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” is wonderful.
I, like so many others, was absolutely obsessed with “Game of Thrones” for most of its seven-season run, until its creators ruined nearly a decade of overwhelming popularity with its disastrous final season. The magic has been hard to recreate since then. I like “House of the Dragon,” to be sure - the casting is great, the dragons are cool, and many of the individual characters are fascinating. But one can only get invested in palace intrigue, weird Valyrian prophecies and Targaryen psychosexual violence so much before you’re left wanting the dragons to just barbecue them all and be done with it.
“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” however, gets back to basics and, mercifully, centers its story on one big lunk of a sweetie who hardly has a pot to piss in, but is so lovable and honorable that it nearly makes up for all the rape and incest in the rest of the Westeros stories. Ser Duncan the Tall is the antidote to all the bad choices GoT and HotD have made - he’s not of any royal heritage, and he is fundamentally a good man. He has no idea that his surprise little bald squire isn’t quite who he says he is, and when he finds out, it doesn’t change who he is at heart.
After 15 years of Westerosi stories about kings and queens and bloodlines and battles, we finally get a story about the small folk. Sure, the Targaryens show up, and sure, larger GoT themes play into it, but “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” isn’t essentially about that. It’s about a little (well, very big, actually) guy who wants to make a name for himself but wouldn’t ever dream of not doing the right thing. That’s the kind of story I want to follow - not royals, not billionaires, not weirdos with too much plastic surgery, not nightmare people with too much power. Tell me that story. That’s the one I want to hear.