This Week's Haul, Nov. 6: That hopey-changey feeling
And: RIP to the best dog in downtown Bangor
Good morning from eastern Maine, where this week, I felt that hopey-changey feeling, as Mainers delivered a stunning victory for both voting rights and gun safety, and New Yorkers elected a mayor who not only isn’t a sex pest, but is also an actual normal human being not beholden to billionaires. Oh, and Bangor kicked a neo-N-zi into the trash where he belongs, and elected three progressives to the council. Is it happening? Can we do it? I’m allowing myself one day (okay, two days) of libbing out before we get back to business.
Bye bye next year, Jared Golden. Sometimes you were good. Sometimes you were really annoying. You weren’t the worst. You definitely weren’t the best. I respect not wanting to play the bullshit game of congressional politics anymore. And I definitely respect wanting more time with your family, and for them to be safe from unhinged trolls and extremists. Also: hell of a scoop, BDN!
OK, so, like, what actually happens when Washington County runs out of money and goes into default on its loan? Nobody seems to really know. Aside from the sheriff’s department and the jail, does it just… stop functioning? It is wild there aren’t more answers to these questions.
My only true disappointment this week is that the bright light in the sky over Maine on Tuesday night wasn’t the aliens coming to save us. Just some rocket fuel from a satellite burning up in the atmosphere. Foiled again!
The Maine Public Utilities Commission has been saying we will run out of numbers for Maine’s 207 area code for years now, and then following those claims up shortly afterwards with a “Just kidding! It’s not going anywhere!”. Hopefully this is the last we’ll hear of it for the next two decades.
To all the people that got a letter from MaineHealth telling them they were dead, I say: take the out and reinvent your life. Go live in the desert or paint flowers in rural France or move to a nudist colony or take up experimental macrame. You’re dead! They can’t touch you!
Show me your Halloween pictures! Did you dress up? Did your kiddos dress up? Did you do anything fun? I went as a groovy 60s-style witch and went to Gonzoween at Barliman’s in Bangor, and so many people showed up there was a long line to get in all night. I saw no less than seven wizards. Good times.
50 years ago, some scholars and scientists got together in Boston to imagine what New England would look like in the year 2000. Among their predictions:
Personality-enhancing drugs would be popular (it would take another 20 years, but yes, weed is legal, check)
Our highway system would be automated (EZ Pass, check)
Our brains will be hooked up to computers (not yet… but kinda?)
Growing new organs, reversing aging and vaccines for everything (nope!)
Everything that has happened with smartphones and smart devices and the internet they were mostly right about, though again, it took another 10-15 years beyond the year 2000 for it to happen.
Music & Dance
Nov. 6: Songwriter Caroline Cotter, 7 p.m., The Underground Lounge, Belfast
Nov. 7: Windchimes, Groaning Wretch, Bypass and Trixie, 7 p.m., Old Town Theatre, Old Town
Nov. 8: Widows Club and The Worst, 8 p.m., Old Town Theatre, Old Town
Nov. 8: Quantum, Mannequin Republic, So Over It and Isaac Raven, 7 p.m., Hey Sailor, Searsport
Nov. 8: Distorting a Woodpecker, Radiator and Saprus, 7 p.m., Red Rabbit Bazaar, Bangor
Nov. 9: Classical and jazz pianist Frederick Moyer, 2 p.m., All Souls Congregational Church, Bangor
Nov. 9: “Considering Matthew Shepard,” classical music performance, 3 p.m., Collins Center for the Arts, Orono
Theatre & Comedy
Nov. 7-9: New Surry Theatre presents “Conscience,” about Margaret Chase Smith, Blue Hill Town Hall Theatre, Blue Hill
Nov. 7: Rennie Harris Puremovement: American Street Dance Theatre, 7 p.m., Collins Center for the Arts, Orono
Nov. 7: Comedy night feat. AJ Hapenny and Jake Jensen, 7 p.m., Hollywood Casino, Bangor
Nov. 8: Tabraze and Robin: The Modern Mind Readers, 7:30 p.m., Center Theatre, Dover-Foxcroft
Nov. 8: Comedian Juston McKinney, 7 p.m., Bucksport Performing Arts Center, Bucksport
Nov. 7-9: Penobscot Theatre Dramatic Academy presents “She Kills Monsters” and “Alice in Wonderland,” daily all weekend, Bangor Opera House, Bangor
Arts, Books, Film & Culture
Nov. 6: “From Farm to Table on Mount Desert Island: A Partial History,” talk with Carl Little, 6:30 p.m., Jesup Memorial Library, Bar Harbor
Nov. 6: “A Brief History of Rock n’ Roll, Vol. 2,” talk with Andy Mead, 5:30 p.m, Bangor Public Library, Bangor
Nov. 7-8: “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” screenings nightly, Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor
Nov. 7: Talk with Passamaquoddy language keeper Dwayne Tomah, 10 a.m., Brooksville Community Center, Brooksville
Nov. 7: Screening of “A Watershed Moment,” about restoring fish passage in the Bagaduce River Watershed, 5 p.m., IMRC Center, University of Maine, Orono
Nov. 8: Pop-up book making workshop for the whole family, 1-3 p.m., Blue Hill Public Library, Blue Hill
Nov. 8: Discussion about Bangor’s new history trail, 3 p.m., Bangor Public Library, Bangor
Fairs, Festivals, Markets, Outdoors & Misc.
Nov. 6-9: Artivism in Maine, four-day conference on progressive activism and the arts, Grand Theatre, Ellsworth
Nov. 8: International Student Association’s 38th annual Culture Fest, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., New Balance Recreation Center, University of Maine, Orono
Nov. 9: New England Fights, MMA event, 7 p.m., Cross Insurance Center, Bangor
Nov. 11: Veterans Day pancake breakfast, 7-10 a.m., Jeff’s Catering, Brewer
We lost a giant this week. On Tuesday, Jimmy Puiia, owner of the Waverly Tavern in downtown Bangor, informed us that Buddy, his beloved chocolate lab who spent nearly every day of his life greeting people and receiving many pets at the bar, had died, quietly and peacefully at home.
Buddy was synonymous with the Wave, and in many ways was synonymous with downtown Bangor. Not the version that’s slick and pretty and amenable to people who are afraid of the homeless. The one that’s for everyone - rich and poor, young and old, two- and four-legged, and of every color in the rainbow. The Wave welcomes everybody, and so did Buddy. He let everyone ruffle his ears. He rarely barked. He was calm, and sweet, and didn’t care who you were. Do you have a treat for me? We’re pals.
You probably know how I feel about the Wave, which I believe is the best dive bar in the state of Maine, and is a living connection to the Bangor of the past. It’s been around for more than a century, for Pete’s sake! And you probably know how I feel about animals. Dogs are the best. Buddy was the best. One of my most prized possessions is a pair of socks Anthony Puiia had a limited run made of a while back, printed with Buddy’s face on a background of cheese balls. I don’t ever wear them. I just like having them in my sock drawer.
Put George Jones or Metallica or Pitbull on the jukebox, and raise a pint of cheap beer to the mayor of downtown Bangor. RIP, Buddy. You were a real one.