This Week's Haul, July 2: A birthday cake and a buzzkill

And: A cool new book from an ambitious Maine author

Good morning from eastern Maine, where this week, I’m taking a fun-sized vacation, such as it is; i.e., no Tuesday post from me. I’ve got some very cool stories I’ve been working on for a long time that’ll be going up in the next few weeks, and I’m about to head into the woods for a few days for festivities with family and friends. And, as you’ll see below, there’s not a particularly robust slate of events in this neck of the woods outside of Semiquincentennial celebrations this weekend!

• Speaking of the 250th, there are, of course, lots of Fourth things to do this weekend, from the usual parades and fireworks to historically-themed events honoring the two and a half centuries of the U.S. of A. Bangor and Bar Harbor have full days of large-scale activities planned, though I’m also partial to long-running small town festivities, like those in Searsport and Castine.

• Please be careful this week. It will be, to quote my former college roommate, hot as balls out. Drink that water and use that sunblock and keep grandma inside with the AC! Here’s a list of statewide cooling centers, in case you need it.

• Here’s what Maine and the rest of the New England states contributed to the America 250 time capsule and the Congressional time capsule, which will be buried in Philadelphia and Washington DC, respectively, on July 4. What would you have added to it?

• Li’l Wayne bailed on his Tuesday night concert in Bangor, leaving fans waiting for hours at the Maine Savings Amphitheater before being sent home at 11 p.m. Wayneless. He has apparently rescheduled for July 28 and has apologized. Meanwhile, people are eagerly using AI to generate some slightly cringey images of Mr. Wayne in various locations across Maine.

My thanks, as always, to Patrick from the Bangor Public Library for scanning these images from the BDN archive!

Here’s how Bangor celebrated the last big American anniversary, the Bicentennial in 1976: with a giant-ass birthday cake. The cake was actually made by the city of Brewer, and was its contribution to a big parade held on July 4 in downtown Bangor. Man, the 1976 Bicentennial sure seemed like it was a lot more fun than the 2026 Semiquincentennial is shaping up to be, doesn’t it? Maybe that’s due to nostalgia bias, given the reality that the country that year was still in the fallout of both Watergate and Vietnam, among other pressing matters. Or maybe it’s because the current administration has set a tone that’s toxic, and they’ve done a terrible job planning the national-level observations. The entire 250th celebration is tainted with the stink of greed, tackiness, bigotry and corruption emanating from the White House - and probably the stink of the Reflecting Pool right now, too. I’m not a rah-rah patriotic person, but I do love history. I’d loved to have done something special and interesting this week for the Semi-Quin, but honestly: it doesn’t really feel right. It’s a double bummer for me as a Mainer, since the Maine 200th in 2020 was canceled by COVID. Both my big history parties have been ruined! Anyway, enjoy these cute photos from 1976 of Bangor celebrating the Bicentennial. Though in reality it really wasn’t, it did seem like simpler times.

Music & Dance

July 2: Belfast Summer Nights presents the Searsmont Street Band, 5:30 p.m., Steamboat Landing Park, Belfast

July 3: Fully Funktional, 6 p.m., Marshall Wharf Brewing, Belfast

July 3: Down East Dead, Blaze Brewing, Blue Hill

July 3: Godsmack, Stone Temple Pilots and Dorothy, 6 p.m., Maine Savings Amphitheater, Bangor

July 5: Woody Sings: The Musical Legacy of Woody Guthrie, 7 p.m., Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor

July 6-7: Muzzy Ridge Concerts presents clarinetist Graeme Steele Johnson and pianist Min Kwon, 5 p.m., 7 Sirota Drive, Searsmont

July 8: Summer Music Series presents the Skyliners Big Band, 6 p.m., Bangor Public Library lawn, Bangor

July 8: The Soulbenders, 7 p.m., Stonington Opera House, Stonington

Theatre & Comedy

July 1-5: Penobscot Theatre Company presents “The Fantasticks,” daily at the Bangor Opera House, Bangor

July 6: “Single Woman: Work in Progress,” one-woman comedy show, 7 p.m., Blue Hill Public Library, Blue Hill

July 7: “Bluey’s Big Play,” children’s performance, 6 p.m., Cross Insurance Center, Bangor

July 8: The Silver Circus with magician Andrew Silver, 6 p.m., Ellsworth Public Library, Ellsworth

Arts, Books, Film & Culture

July 2: Author talk with Claire Ackroyd on her new book, “Body in the Blueberry Barrens,” 6 p.m., Ellsworth Public Library, Ellsworth

July 2: “The Spirit of Cacao: More Than Chocolate,” presentation by Christina Montano, 7 p.m., Blue Hill Public Library, Blue Hill

July 2-4: “A League of Their Own,” daily screenings, Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor

July 3: First Friday Art Walk, 4-9 p.m., throughout downtown Bangor; multiple studios, galleries and shops open

July 5: Bangor Historical Society presents “Founders and Freedom: A Revolutionary Walk through Mount Hope,” 10 a.m., Mount Hope Cemetery, Bangor

July 7: “What Should We Remember About the Declaration of Independence?” talk by Liam Riordan, 6:30 p.m., Belfast Free Library

July 7: Book talk and signing with author Judson Merrill on his new book, “Paranoid Storytelling,” 7 p.m., Bookspace, Bangor

July 8: Deep dive curator’s tour with Cipperly Good, 5 p.m., Penobscot Marine Museum, Searsport

July 8: “Reseeding the Social Ecology of Participation,” book talk and performance by Elizabeth Adams, Don Hudson and Lisa Leaverton, 7 p.m., Bookspace, Bangor

Maine author Judson Merrill was kind enough to send me a copy of his book, “Paranoid Storytelling,” which came out this week and which he’ll be reading from and talking about with local writer Sarah Walker Caron at 7 p.m. July 7 at Bookspace on Columbia Street in Bangor. I gave it a read over the past week and thoroughly enjoyed myself - it’s rare to see such a bold and stylistically daring novel come out of Maine. It’s equal parts fictionalized gonzo journalism, conspiracy theory romp and missing person-cum-murder mystery, kicked off by an encounter with a QAnon-esque group protesting the deep state on the ferry pier in Lincolnville. It takes readers across the world and into weird, dangerous corners of fringe academia, cabals of tech billionaires and experimental art. A fictionalized version of Merrill himself is a first person narrator, though he frequently disappears in favor of a third person perspective as we get to know the other characters. The intellectual/scientific movement at the center of the plot - a new field of study called “cultural immunology” - can be a bit hard to follow, but then again: so aren’t conspiracy theories much of the time. Regardless, it’s a very fun book and one that I’m glad I got to spend some time with. You don’t see these sorts of big swings in the Maine literary scene all that often.

BONUS: Here are some photos of flowers readers sent after my request for images of their gorgeous summer gardens. Left to right; columbine and poppies in Cynthia’s garden in Dover-Foxcroft, and a vaseful of peonies from Brook’s home in Orrington. Thank you both for sharing!