Early summer packed with big music acts

If you’re of a certain age, you remember seeing the ads for the BMG or Columbia House music clubs in copies of Rolling Stone or TV Guide. If you’re like me, when you were in junior high or high school, you thought, “Hey, that’s a really good deal!” and happily signed up, gawking with delight when the big box of music came in the mail. Eight albums! Free (sort of)! I am suddenly at least 800 percent cooler than I was five minutes ago!

But then you had your music, and you promptly forgot about the fact that you had to buy a certain number of albums at regular price and pay for the shipping to complete the deal. Sometimes I think the problem with credit card debt among people my age

can be traced to our BMG memberships – avoiding your payments, pretending you don’t owe anything, being confronted by your parents when the collection agencies started calling (“I don’t know why they’re calling me, Mom!”).

With mp3s replacing the hard copy of an album as the standard format for music, Columbia House has ceased operations, and BMG has moved online. But now that we’re grown-ups, we can actually go out and see some of the bands we got albums from play live. And sure enough, the first half of this summer here in Maine boasts some awesome shows.

For starters, two of the biggest bands in the land will play at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland in July. Mysterious hard rock juggernaut Tool will play on July 13, and two-tone rock ‘n’ roll standardbearers the White Stripes will play on July 22. A band that’s less big but still pretty big, Keane, will take the stage at the Merrill Auditorium in Portland on May 24.

For blues fans, the legendary B.B. King will rock the Augusta Civic Center on May 20, and later on in the summer Robert Cray will play a Fourth of July show at the L.L. Bean Discovery Park in Freeport. Maine favorites Assembly of Dust are also set for a show at the Discovery Park on June 26, and jazz-rockers the Slip will play with roots songwriter Bobby Bare Jr. at the Space Gallery in Portland on June 25.

Emo and hardcore are never in short supply: Canadian post-hardcore band Silverstein will play the Station in Portland on June 30, followed by Hawthorne Heights on July 8, also at the Station. Closer to home, the band with one of the dumbest names ever (but who had an absolutely killer single in “Girl All the Bad Guys Want”), Bowling for Soup, makes an appearance at 103 Ultra Lounge in Orono on July 13.

The Grand Theatre in Ellsworth always has good bands come through, such as Mexican surf-rockers Los Straightjackets on June 8, local hero Patty Griffin on June 20 and 21, and Alejandro Escovedo, making his second 2007 appearance at the Grand on July 14.

Then there are those shows that I really have no idea how to classify: for example, apparently the band Jackyl still exists, and they are playing on May 20 at the Shak in Rumford. Who knew?

On the folkier side of things, songwriter Bruce Cockburn will play at the Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield on May 31. Maia Sharp isn’t a household name, but performers such as the Dixie Chicks and Bonnie Raitt have played her songs. She’ll perform on June 7 at 103 Ultra Lounge in Orono. The Camden Opera House plays host to wistful folk-rockers the Cowboy Junkies on June 15, along with local band Tree By Leaf. Finally, Melissa Ferrick, a Boston-based songwriter, will play at Jonathan’s in Ogunquit on July 15.

Call venues ahead of time for ticket price information. Check out Emily Burnham’s blog at www.communityv1.bangornews.com/blog/30, or send her a message at eburnham@bangordailynews.net.