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STILL GOT THE BLUES

Rockland is well into the planning stages for its annual North Atlantic Blues Festival, which always features some of the hottest blues acts in the world.

This year is shaping up to be no different.

From the Club Crawl to the Blues Breakfast, the event is a contradiction in itself: It is sure to take the blues away.

The event will be held Friday, July 13, through Sunday, July 15, culminating in a 11/2-hour performance by Susan Tedeschi and a pair of all-star jams, hosted by Brave New Blues and Dave and the Nightcrawlers.

The three-day event also will feature some of the brightest blues acts from throughout Maine.

The lineup of performers this year includes: Brave New Blues, Gate Street Blues, Blind Albert Band, Jimmy and the Soul Cats, Blue Steel Express, Mark “Guitar” Miller, Dave Sherman and the Nightcrawlers, Bubba Mac Blues Band, Blind Mississippi Morris and Brad Webb, Shirley King, Larry Garner, Nappy Brown, Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets featuring Sam Myers, Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials, Blue Flames, Blue Line, BBQ Blues Boys, Pam Baker and the Blu Tonics, Brian and Kevin, Dave Hole, Tab Benoit, Shemekia Copeland, Marsha Ball, and Tedeschi.

If that isn’t enough of a mouthful, the food and drink at this annual event will finish the job.

Mark your calendars. This one never has been an event to miss. Stay tuned for more updates as the festival draws closer.

For more information, write

to Paul Benjamin at 70 Lake

Ave., Rockland 04841, or bluesman@midcoast.com

BLUE HILL POPS

Blue Hill Pops, the 11th annual gala festival of musical “sounds around Blue Hill,” will take place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 3, at the George Stevens Academy gymnasium on Union Street in Blue Hill.

The event will serve as a benefit show for the Bagaduce Music Lending Library.

Pianist and composer Paul Sullivan and his River Music Orchestra will highlight this year’s show, along with the Blue Hill Brass, the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Hancock County and the Bagaduce Pops Singers.

Flash in the Pans Steel Band and the New Trad Trio will be playing as patrons enter the gymnasium that evening for an evening of fine music.

For information or reservations, call 374-5121.

BEACH BLAST

Ladies and gentlemen, grab your Speedos!

Old Orchard Beach has set aside July 6-7 for its eighth annual Beachfest.

The event will feature two days of art, music and Hawaiian Tropic model wannabes, so there’s something for everyone.

Anyone claiming to be king of the beach at the event will have to prove it by building his own castle out of sand. The Grand Master Open will feature some of the best sand sculptors from North America, creating artwork along the 7-mile stretch of beach.

On Saturday afternoon, Hawaiian Tropic will conduct a model search, an annual crowd-pleaser at Beachfest. The winner of the contest will advance to the Maine finals in August. From there the winner will be off to Las Vegas for a weeklong stay at the national competition.

Aside from the beachcombers and beauties, there will be plenty of other entertainment. Amateur shovelers will have a chance to build their own sand sculptures, or at least bury buddies in the sand.

Nick Knowlton will be the emcee for the two-day event, setting up his “Baby Boomer” giant boom box in Town Square.

Peruvian recording artists Inca Son also will be on hand for a performance, as will local singer Hannah Broedeaur.

For more information, contact the Old Orchard Beach Chamber of Commerce at 934-2500.

Have an event you want publicized? Let us know. Drop an e-mail to sceneguy@hotmail.com, call 990-8028, or write to the scene, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402.

– By Matthew Paul