Being the relentless Queen City cheerleader that I am, I have this vision in my head of a typical weekend night in Bangor in the not-too-distant future. Besides there being people spilling out of the shops, bars, clubs and restaurants, I’m picturing events going on at multiple locations. DIY shows at the Union Street Brick Church. Bands or poetry at Ofelia’s on Central Street. Art galleries staying open past 5 p.m.

And a show at the Bangor Opera House – whether it’s part of the Penobscot Theatre’s regular season, or a special performance, not unlike this Saturday’s first-ever Muzik Maine showcase. Featuring local bands Big Time, Bad Island and Rhymes With Funk, the dance troupe Paradigm East and visual art from members of Ofelia’s, the show is the first in what organizers Myke Billings and Penobscot Theatre artistic director Scott R.C. Levy hope will be a series of concerts featuring local artists and musicians.

Muzik Maine itself is a new organization formed by Billings, with the goal of bringing creative people in the Bangor area together to collaborate and communicate.

“We want to create a group of people who are concerned about the development of a real, true music and art scene in this area. We’re seeing the beginnings of it right now,” said Billings, a longtime champion of the music scene in Bangor. “We want to utilize everyone – bands, artists, dancers, graphics people, sound people – to promote the downtown scene and have a production company that can make shows happen.”

For his part, Levy wants to see the Bangor Opera House become a hub for not just theater, but for performances in general.

“My goal is to bring back the Bangor Opera House as the venue in downtown Bangor for live performance,” he said. “Part of our mission is to recognize that we are very fortunate to own this building. It’s a resource for the community. [The theater is] only using the building 60 to 70 nights a year for our own productions. There’s no reason it should be dark the rest of the time.”

Saturday’s show is appropriately diverse, with the psychedelic garage punk of Bad Island, the nimble jazz rock of Billings’ own band Big Time, and the happy, hip-hop-inflected funk of Rhymes With Funk. Rhymes with Funk formed two years ago, when founding members Chris Bridges and Colby Cain met at MPBN, where Bridges worked as an editor.

“I think what makes our band work is that we have realistic goals. We just want to entertain people,” said bass player Bridges. “We’re not trying to hit the big time. We just want to make music and have fun and make people happy.”

Funnily enough, for the longest time I, like many others apparently, thought that the name “Rhymes With Funk” meant that you were supposed to pick something that rhymed with funk. Bridges, however, set the record straight.

“The name is not as cryptic as people think,” he said. “We do a lot of raps, and we play funk a lot. It’s rhymes, with funk. You’re not supposed to say ‘punk’ or ‘skunk’ or ‘junk.’ It’s a description of the music. Everyone asks that. It’s funny. It’s like, rhymes with funk equals our band.”

Rhymes With Funk has deep ties to Husson College and to NESCOM, where three of the members attended school. Saturday’s lineup will, I hope, bring in a number of different elements from the Bangor area, as Big Time is composed of a number of Orono-based musicians, while Bad Island grew out of downtown Bangor and Ofelia’s.

Regardless of the social scene from which all the bands come, the important thing is that there’s a place for them all to play together, such as the Bangor Opera House.

“If you take a real, strong, hard look at the infrastructure here and what’s going on, this is an amazing community for arts and culture,” said Levy. “The sad thing to me is that there could be more people coming out. One of those goals of events like this is getting people used to going out and doing things. And I think it’s changing. You can see it happening.”

Maybe my dream of a typical weekend night in Bangor isn’t so far off after all.

The Muzik Maine showcase starts at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, at the Bangor Opera House. Tickets are $10 at the Opera House box office. For more information, visit www.myspace.com/

mykebillings. Emily Burnham can be reached at eburnham@

bangordailynews.net.