Bangor

Energy conservation

The public is invited to attend an Energy Conservation Workshop at Bangor City Hall in the council chambers, 6:30-8 p.m. Monday, Aug. 18.

The workshop host will be state Sen. Joe Perry, and co-hosts House Majority Whip Sean Faircloth, state Rep. Patricia Blanchette, state Rep.

Mike Dunn and state Rep. Jackie Norton.

A panel of guests: Energy Program manager Jo-Ann Choate, Maine State Housing Authority; Dick Bacon, Efficiency Maine; Bangor Fire Chief Jeff Cammack; Cathy Maher, loan officer, Camden National Bank; and Danny Maher of Maher Heating, will talk about resources and tips to lower heating costs.

Choate will talk about programs available to the public including the Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program, MaineHousing’s Weatherization Program and Central Heating Improvement Program providing grants to low-income homeowners and renters to reduce energy costs by improving home energy efficiency, home energy audit services, and MaineHousing’s Home Energy Loan Program.

Bacon will speak about rebate programs such as the state’s solar thermal rebate program, solar electric system rebates and home auditing services.

Hermon Fire Chief Larry Willis will talk about important safety tips to consider when heating your home this winter.

Cathy Maher, an authorized lender for Maine State Housing Authority’s HELP Loan, will be on hand to provide more details about that loan program.

Maher Heating, a service company for heating systems, will provide tips and ideas for homeowners to make their existing heating systems more efficient.

Organ and flute concert

St. John’s Catholic Church will present a concert of music for organ and flute at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 21, at the church at 207 York St.

The program will feature Carlton T. Russell at the organ, and Diana Brookes Brown on flute in a program of music by Jean Langlais, Carl Staplin, Josef Rheinberger and J.S. Bach.

Sponsored by the St. John’s Organ Society and featuring the church’s historic E&GG Hook pipe organ, the hour-long concert is open to the public without charge.

Russell, professor of music and college organist emeritus at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., is making his 17th appearance on the 1860 St. John’s organ, having first played a recital in 1979 to help initiate the parish’s campaign to renovate the instrument.

For more than the 40 years, Russell has played recitals on historic organs in the Penobscot region. He and his wife Lorna S. Russell, an organist and retired French teacher, became permanent residents of Sandy Point near Stockton Springs in 2005. Russell serves with his wife as minister of music at St. Francis Episcopal Church in Blue Hill.

Diana Brookes Brown, who moved to Maine in 1998 after a 20-year teaching career in Massachusetts schools, holds a bachelor’s degree in vocal music education, magna cum laude, and a master’s degree in arts integration and curriculum development from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

She has been heard in concert extensively throughout New England as a soloist and in chamber groups in Massachusetts.

She is well-known in Maine as a soloist and as a member of the Mid-Coast Chamber Players and the new ensemble Harmoniemusik. She teaches flute at the Belfast Academy of Music. She lives in Stockton Springs with her husband, composer and music educator Richard E. Brown.

Literacy volunteers

Literacy Volunteers of Bangor is seeking volunteers who are interested in helping an adult improve his or her reading. Adults with low literacy have limited job and earning prospects, have difficulty supporting their children in school, and don’t fully participate in community activities.

By tutoring an adult, a volunteer can make a significant difference in his or her life as well as in our community. Volunteering takes only a few hours each week.

Tutor Training is available this fall in both Old Town and Bangor. The training starts in mid-September.

While there is no cost for the class, Literacy Volunteers does ask for $25 to defray the costs of the book and materials. Scholarships are available.

For more information about the training’s evening dates and times, visit LV-Bangor’s Web site at www.lvbangor.org or call 947-8451. Registration ends Sept. 9.

Literacy Volunteers of Bangor served more than 150 adults last year.

Brewer

Band season finale

The Brewer Hometown Band will perform its last concert of the summer season at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 14, at the Brewer Auditorium.

The concert is free, but donations will be gratefully accepted.

The program will feature each section of the band in pieces specifically composed to highlight a particular instrument, such as “Tuba Tiger Rag,” “The Flight of the Bumblebee” featuring the clarinet, “Trombone King” and “Basses on a Rampage.”

If the weather is poor, the concert will be held in the auditorium.