This Week's Haul, June 4: Hannibal Hamlin reminds you to vote
And: An update on preventing garbage fires
Good morning from eastern Maine, where this week, I have once again been reminded how profoundly lucky I am to know so many kind, loving, helpful, good-humored and generous people in this beautiful state, and to be a part of an eclectic, far-flung community that values such characteristics. Ten years ago, saying something like that without further context would have been called “vaguebooking,” but I assure you I’m not fishing for anything. I’m just stating a fact: love the people in your village with all your might.
Hey, remember a couple years ago when the trash plant in Orrington caught on fire and the entire Bangor area smelled like burning garbage for days, and toxic chemicals may have been released into the air? The cause of the fire is believed to have been a lithium ion battery from a vape pen, though we’ll likely never definitively know exactly what caused it. Regardless: Maine just became the first state in the nation to establish a program to collect and either recycle or dispose of vape pens. Time will tell if it makes us safer, but to paraphrase a bear: only you can prevent garbage fires.
Pickleball! It’s such a fun way to exercise and be social. It can also ruin lives, according to a family who lives next door to the pickleball court at the Belfast City Park.
Our friends at SK Tours just launched their new Derry-themed rental property to go along with their highly popular tours! Check out The 19, which you can book for up to six people all summer and fall long. Right around the corner from the Standpipe, too. Smart idea!
Another smart idea: if you haven’t voted early in the primaries, today is your last day to do it at your town or city hall! Otherwise, vote on Tuesday at your local polling place. I voted on Monday and treated myself to boba at Fat Panda afterwards! And said hi to the bust of Hannibal Hamlin at Bangor City Hall and rubbed his shiny bald pate. Side note: ol’ Hanny’s face in that bust kind of reminds me of Droopy Dog.
Speaking of voting: Penobscot County residents will decide at the ballot box in November whether or not to move the county jail. As we noted in a previous edition of The Weekly Haul, the current building is nearly 160 years old, and has been overcrowded and out of date for decades.
The first time I’d ever heard of the murders of Lollie Winans and Julie Williams was six years ago, when my friend and former colleague Abby Curtis reported on an anniversary of their late May 1996 deaths in the BDN. Winans, a Unity College student, was brutally killed alongside her girlfriend, Julie Williams, at a campsite near the Appalachian Trail in Virginia. The murder was unsolved for decades, even after a book, “Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders,” written by Maine author Kathryn Miles, was published. In 2024, however, FBI investigators finally cracked the case, identifying the killer, who died in prison in 2018, through DNA testing. 30 years ago this past week, the pair met their violent end. At least now their loved ones have something like closure.
Music & Dance
June 4: Danny Bedrosian and Secret Army and Mike Billings, 7 p.m., Hey Sailor, Searsport
June 5: Machine Gun Kelly, Wiz Khalifa and De’Wayne, 6 p.m., Maine Savings Amphitheater, Bangor
June 6: Northern Hell Kult’s Punk Pride Extravaganza, noon to late, feat. Ick, Film and Gender, Trick the Riddle, Cat Crash, Unabomber, Terfstomp, Lint Lobotomy, Mars the Starchild and Felch, 263 Levenseller Road, Holden
June 6: Bookhead Sweettooth, 6 p.m., Fogtown Brewing, Ellsworth
June 6: Kid Cudi and Big Boi, 6 p.m., Maine Savings Amphitheater, Bangor
June 6: Damn, Girls! and Hella Band, 7 p.m., Blue Hill Town Hall, Blue Hill
June 6: Dance with the Alumni Jazz Band, 7:30 p.m., Next Generation Theatre, Brewer
June 6: Hymn for Her, 7 p.m., Hey Sailor, Searsport
June 7: Dustbowl Revival and the Steel Wheels, 7 p.m., Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor
June 10: Hamell on Trial, Will Bradford and Plague Dad, 7 p.m., Hey Sailor, Searsport
Theatre & Comedy
June 4-7: Belfast Maskers present the Maine Playwrights One Act Play Festival, nightly at Basil Burwell Community Theatre, Belfast
June 5-7: True North Theatre presents “Dancing at Lughnasa,” nightly at the Cyrus Pavilion Theatre, University of Maine, Orono
June 5: Comedy night feat. Ian Stuart and friends, 7 p.m., Hey Sailor, Searsport
Arts, Books, Film & Culture
June 4: Bangor Beautiful presents screening of “The Extraordinary Caterpillar,” 6 p.m., Bangor Public Library, Bangor
June 5: “Organizing Your Photo Collection” with Kevin Johnson of the Penobscot Marine Museum, 10 a.m., Belfast Free Library, Belfast
June 5: Bangor First Friday Art Walk, 4-9 p.m., throughout downtown Bangor
June 6: Society for Creative Anachronism Medieval Village, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Fort Knox State Historic Site, Prospect
June 6: World Ocean Day talk with Charlie Rolsky, director of the Shaw Institute, 5 p.m., Blue Hill Co-op, Blue Hill
June 6: Readings from Maine writers from “Echoes in the Fog: Literary Reflections on the Liminal Spaces of Maine’s Coast,” 3 p.m., Anodyne Bookshop, Searsport
June 6: Family-friendly printmaking workshop inspired by Maine artist Francis Hamabe, 3 p.m., Castine Historical Society, Castine
June 7: 30th anniversary screening of “The Birdcage,” 3:30 p.m., Black Bear Cinemas, Orono
June 7: Screening of documentary “Heightened Scrutiny,” 4 p.m., Colonial Theatre, Belfast
June 8: Poetry reading and book event with poet Jeanne Bartlett, 7 p.m., Blue Hill Public Library, Blue Hill
June 10: Romance Book Club reads “The Duke” by Anna Cowan, 7:30 p.m., Bookspace, Bangor
Fairs, Festivals, Markets, Outdoors & Misc.
June 4-7: Bar Harbor Pride, pride events throughout Mount Desert Island and Ellsworth incl. drag shows, festival, hikes, music and more; full schedule at barharborpride.com
June 6: Brewer Riverwalk Festival, feat. vendors, organizations, food, music, activities and fireworks at end of evening, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Brewer
June 6: MOFGA tour of Beauregard Wood Lot and ladyslipper walk, 10 a.m., Beauregard Woodlot, Old Town
June 6: Maine Audubon presents “Who Lives Along the River? A Family Nature Walk Along the Kenduskeag Stream,” noon, starts at 30 Valley Ave., Bangor
June 7: Great Bangor Marathon and a Half, starts at 7 a.m., corner of Main and Dutton streets, register and more info here
A new album from one of the most mysterious and fascinating musical acts of all time is always a cause for celebration - at least in the Burnham household, where we treat such occurrences with the reverence they deserve. That’s why I set aside deep listening time this week to crack into the new release from Boards of Canada, the magnificently atmospheric and brainy electronic music duo from Scotland - their first new album in 13 years is “Inferno,” and it came out last week. It’s excellent. It will take me several listens to really let it sink in.
Now, I suspect a great number of my regular readers are not familiar with Boards of Canada, and their music would likely not be their cup of tea if they were. That’s fine! If you’re open to new experiences and willing to go on a journey, however, please consider reserving a little time - perhaps on a warm summer evening, in the pleasing visual setting of your choosing - and diving into their discography. Though each album is a different beast from the next one, they all share similar DNA in that they are almost fully instrumental, sonically dense and beat-heavy, full of surprising samples, and constantly shifting vibes between unearthly and even a little creepy, and soothing pastoral beauty. “Inferno” treads that line spectacularly, even as it feels thicker, heavier, more weighty, somehow, than previous albums.
If that makes no sense to you, that’s also fine! You could also consider trying it out if you like any of the following bands and artists: the Grateful Dead, Bjork, Philip Glass, Nine Inch Nails (they share a penchant for a certain mood-setting chord progression) Air, Massive Attack, Radiohead, Cocteau Twins, Brian Eno and/or Berlin-era David Bowie. And if that’s still not your bag, that’s, of course, also fine: not everybody likes everything and I respect that. But I like - no, love - this album and the entire Boards of Canada output, which has been a soundtrack to my more thoughtful and pensive moments since I first heard them nearly 25 years ago.