Charlie Daniels has always been something of a one-man duet. In his music, there’s his gravelly half-spoken, half-sung vocals that blend harmoniously with his frenetic fiddle playing. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false;… Read More
The technicolor fantasy “Pushing Daisies” was the early front-runner for the most creative new series of the fall season. But now it has got competition in “Viva Laughlin,” which debuts with a one-time airing at 10 tonight on CBS before moving to its regular time slot at 8… Read More
BREWER – The 100th edition of the Bangor-Brewer football game that will be played Friday night at Doyle Field will accent both the past and present of the athletic rivalry between the neighboring schools. The present will be represented by the battle for the Geaghan… Read More
ORONO – Tailback Jhamal Fluellen rushed for a career-best 197 yards, quarterback Adam Farkes passed for 125 yards and two touchdowns, and place-kicker Bobby Donnelly booted two field goals. It still added up to defeat for the University of Maine football team in Saturday’s homecoming… Read More
Editor’s Note: Maine Bound is a column featuring new books written by authors or set in the Pine Tree State. BY DANA WILDE googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0;… Read More
This may be damning with faint praise, but ABC finally has a decent sitcom, for the first time in years. “Samantha Who?” debuting at 9:30 tonight, humorously deals with the issue of rebirth. The series begins with Samantha Newly (played by Christina Applegate) awakening after… Read More
Here’s a radical idea for a TV series: Base it on a series of best-selling novels. Debuting at 9 tonight on ABC, “Women’s Murder Club,” based on the novels by mystery writer supreme James Patterson, features four working women in San Francisco who join forces… Read More
The Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s opening concert for its 112th season on Sunday at the Bangor Auditorium was, in many ways, the musical equivalent of comfort food. A warm, convivial atmosphere pervaded the afternoon, as the BSO made its way through a program of popular favorites, Ravel’s “Bolero” and… Read More
Despite being on a “never-ending tour,” Bob Dylan does not cease to be reliably unpredictable live. Dylan, along with openers Elvis Costello and Amos Lee, performed at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland last Thursday to an almost sell-out crowd, full of baby boomers, as well as… Read More
With fantasy one of the predominant themes of the new TV season, it’s only natural that one rookie show be a fairy tale. That series is “Pushing Daisies,” debuting at 8 tonight on ABC. The creation of Bryan Fuller (“Heroes”) and Barry Sonnenfeld (“Addams Family,”… Read More
“Aliens in America,” debuting at 8:30 tonight on the CW, accomplishes quite a nifty feat. It quickly brushes by American paranoia and settles into being a touching family sitcom. “Aliens” focuses on Justin Tolchuck (Dan Byrd), a socially awkward high school student who’s looking to… Read More
Friday night on CBS features people with unnatural abilities. There’s a woman who speaks with the dead to lead off the night. There’s a man-child who talks with numbers to end the evening. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes… Read More
ABC executives must have pondered long and hard before deciding what show should follow the network’s hit “Grey’s Anatomy.” “Men in Trees” followed that series long enough that it got renewed, but since it was losing about half of the “Grey’s” audience, it got shifted… Read More
Let’s not sugarcoat this: Spinoffs usually suck. So as much as I love “Grey’s Anatomy,” I wasn’t all that excited about the prospect of “Private Practice” (9 tonight on ABC), in which Addison Montgomery Shepherd (Kate Walsh) moves to Los Angeles to work at Oceanside… Read More
Let’s start with something completely different: “Reaper,” debuting at 9 p.m. on The CW. In this action-comedy, Sam (played by Bret Harrison) has coasted through his slacker life, and now has a dead-end job at the big-box store Work Bench. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
BANGOR – Alfred Uhry packed a lot into his 90-minute play “Driving Miss Daisy.” Racism, ageism, sexism and class schisms are all there, but so is the shared humanity that has the potential to bridge all the gaps between the isms. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
Many people use television for escapism. It’s a chance to get away to a sunny climate or a far-off world. “K-Ville,” debuting at 9 tonight on Fox, is set in a place only a Weather Channel junkie could love – New Orleans, two years after… Read More
BANGOR – The Bangor High football team was quite receptive to Brunswick’s wide-open passing game Friday night. Especially Shane Walton, who intercepted three passes in the third quarter alone and returned one 100 yards for a touchdown as the Rams pulled away after intermission for… Read More
MACHIAS – The Machias High School Bulldogs scored three unanswered goals in the second half after trailing 1-0 at intermission to earn their second win of the season, 3-1 over Narraguagus of Harrington in schoolboy soccer action Friday. Matt Marshall scored the game-winner, while Matt… Read More
M.I.A. “Kala” googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0] googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]];… Read More
PITTSFIELD – Allison Berg scored a pair of goals and grabbed an assist to lead the Nokomis Warriors to a 4-0 high school field hockey victory over the Maine Central Institute Huskies Tuesday. Jordan McInnis and Sabrina Vaillancourt each added a goal for Nokomis. Beth… Read More
Ellsworth Invitational Girls JV googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0] googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes… Read More
A dozen years ago or so, the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport mounted a remarkable show devoted to sailors’ valentines. In addition to exploring the history of this folk art – and debunking the myth that sailors actually made these ornate shell souvenirs – the exhibition featured a… Read More
SOMESVILLE – Agatha Christie wrote a comedy. Who knew the grande dame of mystery writers penned a delightful drawing room play that borders on farce? googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var… Read More
‘A Sense of Maine’, written and performed by Barbara Smith; produced by Klarity ORONO – The music just won’t stop pouring out of Barbara Smith. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var… Read More
Northport Music Theater’s latest offering should be seen with a friend. Preferably, your best girlfriend from childhood. The one you cried with when Bambi’s mother died. The one who told you exactly what was anatomically incorrect about Barbie’s boy toy, Ken. The one you spent… Read More
After you’ve been selected as No. 32 on the top 100 TV characters of all time, how do you move on from your iconic role? Actress Gillian Anderson escaped Dana Scully by moving to England and acting on stage and screen overseas. googletag.cmd.push(function () {… Read More
How about a little history noir? This six-hour series, broadcast on three consecutive Sundays, takes a look inside the dark world of the Central Intelligence Agency through the years. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner… Read More
William J. Baker had to retire to finish the book about sports and religion that he started 20 years ago. “Playing with God: Religion and Modern Sport” is the retired professor’s opus. It was published earlier this year by Harvard University Press, two years from… Read More
“Damages,” the FX network’s new series starring Glenn Close that premieres tonight, is no “L.A. Law.” That NBC series ran from 1986 to ’94 and proved that the personal and office lives of lawyers are far more interesting than their courtroom maneuvers. In the new… Read More
“THEME SONG FOR AN OLD SHOW,” By Jeffrey Lewis, Other Press, New York, 2007, 149 pages, hardcover, $22.95. Jeffrey Lewis, in the third novel of his “Meritocracy Quartet” (after “Meritocracy: A Love Story” [2004] and “A Conference of the Birds” [2005]), has found the perfect… Read More
An encounter with an angel is supposed to change a person’s life and in quick order. Look what it did for George Bailey in the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The trouble is that Grace Hanadarko is no George Bailey and her angel, Earl,… Read More
OPENING DAY, Susan Bartlett, illustrated by Luanne Wrenn, Tilbury House, Gardiner, 2007, 32 pages, hardcover, $16.95. “Opening Day” is a children’s book about a boy named Sam who goes hunting with his friend Eric Cundy and Eric’s father, Mr. Cundy. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
This intriguing ensemble drama completes Lifetime’s evening of all-new, original programming. Sandwiched between “Side Order of Life” and “Army Wives,” “State of Mind” tells the story of a woman in turmoil. (Is there any other kind of Lifetime drama or movie?) googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
Here’s a miniseries for any Red Sox fans, since it focuses on the New York Yankees in turmoil. At least for a while. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i =… Read More
The prospect of sitting through Acadia Repertory Theatre’s new production of the old play “Shirley Valentine” may make you cranky. Another Willy Russell play – the first was “Educating Rita” – about a disenfranchised, working-class British woman? And, worse, a pop-culture piece from the 1980s?… Read More
“WINDSWEPT,” by Mary Ellen Chase, originally published in 1941 by The MacMillan Co., re-issued by Islandport Press of Yarmouth, Maine, 2006, $15.95. “Windswept” is a truly sweeping Maine novel by Mary Ellen Chase spanning the years from 1881 to 1939. A beautiful, even monumental book… Read More
“HERE IF YOU NEED ME,” Kate Braestrup, Little, Brown and Co., August 2007, 224 pages. In “Here If You Need Me,” due out in August, Kate Braestrup without reserve opens the deep wound of her husband’s unexpected death and gives us the privilege of watching… Read More
BREWER – Brad Brown singled home the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth inning as the Penquis Navigators defeated the Brewer Falcons 4-2 in American Legion baseball action Thursday night at Heddericg Field. Brad Bellemare and Nick Emery each hit two-out singles before… Read More
The Northport Music Theater is the newest performing arts organization in the midcoast area, but the small black-box venue feels very old – in a good way. The building, located about 6 miles south of Belfast on U.S. Route 1, is a refurbished industrial repair shop, and the… Read More
“BLAZE,” by Richard Bachman, Scribner, New York, 2007, hardcover, 285 pages, $25. Every now and then, news breaks of a lost manuscript by a famous author being found and published. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var… Read More
Dale McGarrigle Of the NEWS Staff googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0] googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
“WITH RECKLESS ABANDON,” by Capt. Jim Sharp, Devereux Books, 2007 paperback, $18.95 Jim Sharp was obsessed his whole adult life. He couldn’t keep his eyes or hands off them. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner… Read More
Summer is a time for cutting-edge TV, when cable channels trot out daring programming that wouldn’t fly on the stodgy networks. After all, it’s possible for them to capture respectable ratings against the dregs and the reruns on broadcast channels. Searching for something compatible to… Read More
No, this isn’t a logical follow-up to “The Sopranos,” about who is buried beneath Giants Stadium (a better name for that would be “Iced Like Me”). Instead, British import “Meadowlands” is the name of a quiet suburb where there’s little crime. But it does have… Read More
Word on the street is – Tommy Gavin is going to jail. And if that weren’t enough for the New York City firefighter (Denis Leary) to worry about, his chief has had a stroke, his daughter has moved in with a wannabe rock star and… Read More
ELLSWORTH – Despite the fact that the Bucksport softball team has plenty of seniors and experienced players in key positions, the Golden Bucks felt they still had a bit of maturing to do in the regular season. That was evident, they felt, during a stretch… Read More
Miranda Lambert “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0] googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes… Read More
From the warped mind behind the wonderfully foul “Deadwood” comes a different type of oddball drama. David Milch didn’t lick his wounds long after HBO unexpectedly ended his critically acclaimed Western after three seasons. Instead he dove into “John From Cincinnati.” googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
Members of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra have grown used to standing ovations. They get two or three of those a season from their loyal subscribers. The demand for an encore, however, is pretty rare in classical music circles. The symphony’s collaboration with the Kruger Brothers,… Read More
During wartime, it’s natural for TV and film to focus on the military. And, since “Army Wives” is on Lifetime, this ensemble drama looks at the spouses often left behind. “Army Wives” studies the challenges these spouses face, which in the early going includes mates… Read More
Often, an actress in a long-running series can find herself typecast, playing the same character over and over again. Debra Messing made a wise selection for her first post-“Will & Grace” project, the miniseries “The Starter Wife.” googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes… Read More
NO MORTAL REASON, by Kathy Lynn Emerson, Pemberley Press, Corono Del Mar, Calif., 275 pages, paperback, $17.95 The only problem with “No Mortal Reason,” Kathy Lynn Emerson’s third installment in her Diana Spaulding mystery series, is that it’s not set in Maine. Emerson three years… Read More
ELLSWORTH – Ashley Kelley pitched a five-hitter and Hermon scratched out two runs in the top of the seventh inning Thursday to earn a 2-1 Class B softball victory over previously unbeaten Ellsworth. Monica Gallant and Lily Barry singled to open the Hermon seventh. Kelley… Read More
HIGH SCHOOL At Southwest Harbor googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0]… Read More
Justin Norwood, who grew up in the Town Hill section of Bar Harbor, is going home to coach. The 26-year-old Norwood was confirmed Monday night as the new boys varsity basketball coach at Mount Desert Island High School. He replaces his former high school mentor,… Read More
As closers go, the final classical concert of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra season was a winner. Those who gave up the sunny Sunday afternoon Red Sox game for the BSO concert at the Maine Center for the Arts got all homers. And ultimately, the concert was just like… Read More
Hole-in-one Stephen Geel googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0]… Read More
“CANUCK & OTHER STORIES,” edited by Rhea Cote Robbins. Translated by Sylvie Charron, Ph.D.; Sue Huseman, Ph.D.; Jeannine Bacon Roy and Madeleine C. Pare Roy. 2006, Rheta Press. $18.99 Stories by Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Virginia Woolf, Sarah Orne Jewett and other English-speaking women writers… Read More
University of Maine physics and astronomy professor Neil Comins has found a niche for himself not only as a high-level star researcher, but also as an authoritative respondent to the age-old question: What if? His first book, “What If the Moon Didn’t Exist?” (published in… Read More
HIGH SCHOOL At Readfield googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0] googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes… Read More
“Traveler” is the personification of the phrase “wrong place, wrong time.” In an era when the No. 1 show in the land is a glorified talent show, the networks have grown afraid to make viewers think. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes =… Read More
COLLEGE Christen Lachapelle googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0]… Read More
HOLE-IN-ONE DANNY COLLINS googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0]… Read More
HIGH SCHOOL At Millinocket googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0] googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes =… Read More
When we first meet Ruby Sunrise, she has run away from home and is alone in her aunt’s dark barn attempting to repair a broken generator. The setting is Indiana in 1927, and she is in a race with science and her own desires. At 17, Ruby has… Read More
The opening of Mozart’s “Requiem” was so powerful Sunday at the Maine Center for the Arts that you’d have to be, well, dead not to be drawn in. The combined efforts of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, University of Maine Singers and University of Maine Oratorio Society launched a… Read More
BAR HARBOR – Junior Ashley Kelley pitched a five-inning perfect game to lift the Hermon Hawks to a 12-0 high school softball victory Thursday over the Mount Desert Island Trojans. Kelley struck out 11 and didn’t walk a batter for the Hawks, and helped her… Read More
ORONO – There was some measure of emotion as the University of Maine softball team finally held a game Tuesday afternoon at Mike Kessock Field for the first time this season. But home wasn’t a very welcome place for the Black Bears. Not only were… Read More
In the entire country, only two Division I baseball teams have yet to play a game on their home field this spring. The University of Maine, along with Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., share that dubious distinction. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes… Read More
Burying a child is perhaps one of the most unnatural occurrences in human life. Parents banish the thought from their conscious minds. Grandparents shiver at the idea. Truly, as a culture, the unthinkable and the unbearable almost always have to do with small children. When we hear about… Read More
The last time “Jesus Christ Superstar” was staged at the Bangor Auditorium, the brash, new rock opera was met with howls of protest from many in the religious community. One local minister even took to the airwaves to block the show from ever coming here. Read More
Whoopi Goldberg and Peter Schickele may seem like strange bedfellows. She’s an African-American comedian with dreadlocks and a trash mouth (not to mention an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony). He’s a white guy from Iowa with a mountaineer’s beard and a cornball, albeit academic, sense of humor based… Read More
BANGOR – The Husson College Eagles got the clutch hits in the first game and the Thomas College Terriers responded with timely hits in the nightcap as the rivals split a Sunday North Atlantic Conference doubleheader at the Winkin Baseball Complex. Husson won the opener… Read More
Monday night on Fox has become a place for breakneck action, with the pairing of “Prison Break” and “24.” Now that “Prison Break” has wrapped for the season, in races a worthy successor. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes… Read More
Being on the road can be boring for actors in a touring show. They play the same roles each night, speak the same lines, wait for the same laughs. So when Peter Meineck, artistic director for Aquila Theatre Company, cast the touring production of “Romeo and Juliet,” he… Read More
Watching “The Shield” is a lot like sitting on a sunny hillside watching two trains rush toward each other on the same track. The fact that you know a destructive collision is inevitable doesn’t make watching for it any less exciting. Detective Vic Mackey (Michael… Read More
MAINE’S JEWISH HERITAGE, by Abraham J. Peck and Jean M. Peck, Arcadia Publishing, Portsmouth, N.H., 2007, 127 pages, $19.99, paperback. Jews throughout Maine and the world will gather with family and friends at Passover Seders on Monday night to answer the question, “Why is this… Read More
“Once Upon a Mattress” isn’t exactly your garden-variety adaptation of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. A domineering drag queen mother, a father under a spell of silence, their wimpy son, a headstrong princess and a lady in waiting who can’t wait to get married (she’s pregnant) drive… Read More
The creators of this 10-hour miniseries tackle the weighty question of how to make history attractive for viewers with short attention spans. (Those with attention spans are already watching the History Channel. Besides, they’re the wrong demographic.) The answer: Make it lusty and busty. And… Read More
It would have been easy for the makers of the film “Amazing Grace” to sidestep faith in telling the story of William Wilberforce, the man who led the fight in Parliament to end slavery in Great Britain. But Wilberforce’s Christianity was the driving force behind… Read More
If ever an actor was meant to play an oddball character, it would be gangly Jeff Goldblum. Goldblum joins an ever-growing group of fiftysomething film actors emigrating to starring roles in TV. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes =… Read More
When you first meet Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a feeling of confusion will nudge at you immediately. She will walk through a door, grin and then leave. In that one fleeting moment, before forming any real sense of her personality, you will wonder about her secrets. Two hours later,… Read More
North American and U.S. championships At 10th Mtn. Ski Center, Fort Kent googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0]… Read More
ORONO – Violinist Chen Xi missed his dress rehearsal Saturday night with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. He was stuck in Philadelphia in the weekend snowstorm that grounded most flights in the Northeast. Concertgoers couldn’t tell Sunday afternoon that the 22-year-old Chinese-born violinist had skipped a… Read More
Three years of frustration could finally come to an end for the Bangor High School hockey team tonight. In the last three seasons, Bangor and Lewiston have met either in the Eastern Maine Class A semifinals or in the finals. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
THE BOATBUILDER’S APPRENTICE: THE INS AND OUTS OF BUILDING LAPSTRAKE, CARVEL, STITCH-AND-GLUE, STRIP-PLANKED, AND OTHER WOODEN BOATS by Greg Rossel; McGraw-Hill, Camden, Maine, 2007; 342 pages, large-format hardbound, $39.95. Boats and airplanes take up a lot of space in my boyhood memories. In 1960s summers,… Read More
Friday’s inclement weather forced the postponement of the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball first-round games at the University of Southern Maine. The two games scheduled for Friday night will be played today, with the second-round games on Sunday. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
It’s a total anachronism, but Gilbert and Sullivan would love the introduction of cell phones into the fairyland setting of their comic opera “Iolanthe,” which the G&S Society of Hancock County opened last weekend at The Grand in Ellsworth. Initially performed at the Savoy Theatre in 1882, “Iolanthe”… Read More
University theater productions hold a special place in the hearts of hardcore theatergoers. Typically, the stage is pumped with youthful mojo, and the talent tends to be unleashed like a sports event. For the audience, which is also usually rowdy – a nice change from the more subdued… Read More
BANGOR – A surprise celebratory streamer and confetti shower at center court wasn’t just a surprise to fans at the Bangor Auditorium Saturday afternoon. As fans, players, coaches and officials alike awaited the start of the national anthem before the Eastern Maine Class B boys… Read More
Only a handful of modern playwrights have produced comedies that return again and again to regional stages. Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest,” Michael Frayn’s “Noises Off” (now at Portland Stage Company) and anything by Neil Simon all qualify. Theater programmers know audiences flock to these shows. Read More
CONTINENTAL LIAR FROM THE STATE OF MAINE: JAMES G. BLAINE, by Neil Rolde, Tilbury House Publishers, Gardiner, Maine, 2007, 368 pages, soft cover, $20. In “Continental Liar” author Neil Rolde examines the man he considers – and most historians would agree – to be the… Read More
For many of us, winter is no laughing matter. That’s why Ten Bucks Theatre Company has made an annual tradition out of programming a comedy in the dead of the coldest days of the season. Turns out, Ten Bucks has a particular skill for getting past our parkas… Read More
Sunday’s Bangor Symphony Concert at the Maine Center for the Arts started with the music of revolt and ended with a jolt of nationalistic pride – both marked by the chilling, terrifying peaks of Scandinavian landscapes. If ever music represented dramatic marches to the edge of thematic cliffs… Read More
“The last time this show was here, Michael wasn’t in it, and I started crying,” a teenage girl griped Tuesday night as she stood in line outside the Bangor Auditorium, eager for a second chance to see her golden-tressed idol – the Chicago-born, Celtic-inspired Lord of the Dance… Read More
In New England, it seems you can’t throw a rock without hitting a stone wall. But have you ever really looked at a stone wall? William Hubbell has, and he has taken pictures and done his research and put it all together in “Good Fences.”… Read More
PUCKERBRUSH REVIEW: Memorial Issue of the Life and Works of Constance Hunting, Vol. xxv No. i, fall/winter 2006; edited by Sanford Phippen; University of Maine English Department and Puckerbrush Press, Orono, Maine; 176 pages, large format perfect bound, $15. Puckerbrush Review’s founder and central energy,… Read More
BANGOR – Ethan Cushman scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead John Bapst to a 65-53 victory over previously unbeaten Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln in a Class B boys basketball game Saturday at the Bangor Auditorium. Aaron Healey added 17 points for the… Read More
In the nearly 40 years that have passed since composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice collaborated on “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” I have managed to avoid every production. Community, amateur, professional, American, English or South African – I missed them all. And that’s a… Read More