No sane Maine person should start an automobile trip without a Maine Atlas and DeLormes Gazetteer aboard. I keep mine in the back seat in a plastic cover with a national atlas and several canoe guides. Now I have a new addition to my driver’s survival kit. Read More
A life in the theater. Let’s say you want that. And you want to live in Maine, too. What do you do? Some might say, “Go south young man and seek your fortune in Portland.” googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]];… Read More
The mid-’70s are a period remembered for the gas shortage, disco, jiggle TV shows. Many of today’s thirtysomething boomers look back fondly at this era when they came of age. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var… Read More
Sarah Goldman is in love with a goy. That may not sound bad to you. It may not sound bad to me. But to her parents? Oy vey. To protect them, and really to protect herself, Sarah lies about the relationship she has been having… Read More
“Gone With the Wind,” directed by Victor Fleming, with portions directed by George Cukor, William Cameron Menzies, Sidney Franklin and Sam Wood. Screenplay by Sidney Howard, based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell. Running time: 222 minutes. Rated G. Showing nightly Aug. 24-27, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. Read More
I used to get such joy thinking about loons and their interpersonal relationships. Here’s what I cherished: Loons choose a partner, have chickies, and then stay together for life. None of this divorce stuff for them. And if a high-ranking loon has an intern, you can bet he… Read More
When you step into the dining room at Ivy Manor Inn, you might get the feeling that you’ve returned to old Bar Harbor. The eating area is dark and richly maroon. An ornate chandelier of flowery lights hangs in the center of the room. There are paintings and… Read More
Interested in three new programs about women and their relationships with their families, friends and significant others? Naturally, these series debut tonight on Lifetime, whose motto is “Television for Women.” Sound a little too warm and fuzzy? In general, “Oh Baby,” “Any Day Now” and… Read More
LIMESTONE — Thousands of people left during Phish’s Saturday night show, the first large-scale walkout since the group formed 15 years ago. But true to the band’s contrarian nature, the fan exodus was anticipated as Phish delved into an unexpected fourth set of music that… Read More
“Buffalo ’66,” directed by Vincent Gallo and Alison Bagnall. Running time: 110 minutes. Rated R (for language and adult content). Nightly at 5, 7:10 and 9:20, Aug. 17-20, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. Vincent Gallo — the former Calvin Klein model who embodied heroin chic in… Read More
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Death and taxes are a given. So too, it seems, are sold-out Phish concerts. At Phish shows, people are exposed to two experiences. The first is the crowded parking lot, where thousands mingle to compare notes of what the band played… Read More
Sherlock Holmes can sniff your whole day off you. Been smoking a cigar? Been walking in the rain? Had lunch with your wife? googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i =… Read More
It was billed as a pops concert, but it would be fair to call the Husson College 100th birthday celebration with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra a “hot pops” concert. While temperatures rose into the 90s, musicians from both the BSO and the spunky country-western band The Boyz and… Read More
“Snake Eyes.” Directed by Brian De Palma. Written by David Koepp. Running time: 99 minutes. Rated R (for violence and language) Watching Nicholas Cage in his most recent films — “Face/Off,” “Con-Air,” “City of Angels,” and now in Brian De Palma’s “Snake Eyes,” is very… Read More
Here’s a tip if you’ve been married six weeks, have grown tired of your elderly husband, are enamored with a bright-eyed suitor, and are way ready for a big change: Go into the woods, collect some poisonous mushrooms, cook them on a pizza, feed them to your husband,… Read More
Olson family author widens Christina’s world> Facts of Wyeth subject’s life compassionately revealed
Christina Olson: Her World Beyond the Canvas, by Jean Olson Brooks and Deborah Dalfonso, Down East Books, Camden, 1998, 84 pages, $12.95. Most people who admire Andrew Wyeth’s famous painting “Christina’s World” don’t know much about the woman in pink. They might think she sits… Read More
MABEL TAKES THE FERRY, by Emily Chetkowski, illustrated by Dawn Peterson, Heritage Printing and Publishing, Farmington, 1995, 32 pages, $7.95. Books that celebrate the special relationships between animals and their owners are a much-loved family staple for reading aloud. Now there’s a charming picture book… Read More
CUTTER’S RUN, by William G. Tapply, St. Martin’s, 1998, 288 Pages, $23.95. In the world of mystery writers, Bill Tapply has a pre-eminent place. He creates believable plots with plenty of action. He has a deft touch for humor, a philosophic bent, and his characters… Read More
Welcome to Deep Water, Fla. There’s the orchid-growing, hard-ass judge. There’s his slightly brain-damaged wife, who channels the spirit of a 12-year-old slave girl. There’s a set of swamp-rat twins as big as Buicks. There’s the salsa-dancing sheriff, about the most normal person in town. Read More
Country fans got to hear quite a few of their Patty Loveless favorites Sunday night at the Maine Center for the Arts. Which was fine, as far as it went. But something was missing during the one-hour, 40-minute concert, namely many of the Epic Records… Read More
“The Opposite of Sex.” Written and directed by Don Roos. Running time: 100 minutes. Rated R (for strong language, sexuality and adult content). Showing nightly, Aug. 3-6, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. As Dedee Truitt, the tough-talking, booze-swilling, 16-year-old tramp in Don Roos’ “The Opposite of… Read More
Green is Rockwell Kent’s color. It’s his Helga and his haystacks, his copperized answer to the cool blues of Picasso. His glasses, rather than being rose-colored, were emerald. So maybe my exhilaration in Kent is just about my longtime love of green, a color of… Read More
“Rockwell Kent’s Forgotten Landscapes,” a coffee-table book released last month by Down East Books in Camden, is a major accomplishment. Although the book came out in July, its story begins more than 40 years ago at the height of McCarthyism and the threat of un-American activities. Read More
In the midst of rerun season, a few gems occasionally shine through. A couple such shows debut Saturday on Showtime. Although not brilliant jewels yet, a little polish could help both to shine in the future. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes =… Read More
A 17th-century Paris manor home, a greedy old miser, his lovesick children, a wide array of scheming servants and advisors and hilariously unpredictable plot twists. Combine these elements with a wonderfully energetic and engaging cast and you have Acadia Repertory Theatre’s production of “The Miser” by French playwright… Read More
Here’s what’s great about Shakespeare: There’s no one way to do it right. The themes of love, valor and death hang tough as years, styles and governments pass. Miraculously, the works can take a whole lot of clever twisting and tweaking. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have… Read More
“SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.” Directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by Robert Rodat. Running time: 170 minutes. Rated R (for intense, extremely graphic sequences of war violence and for language). At the beginning of Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan,” scores of American soldiers — some vomiting into… Read More
If you think it’s hot outdoors, go to the Belfast Maskers’ new production of “Pump Boys and Dinettes,” which opened with a big fat “yahoo” Tuesday at the Railroad Theater in Belfast. “Pump Boys,” which often gets called a musical but is really more of… Read More
“The Mask of Zorro.” Directed by Martin Campbell. Written by John Eskow, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. Running time: 136 minutes. PG-13 (for violence and brief nudity). After a spectacular opening that captures the romance and euphoria of the Zorro series, “The Mask of Zorro”… Read More
It wasn’t a concert held Friday night at the Bangor Auditorium. It was a tent meeting. By the thousands the faithful came, packing the steamy temple ’til it could hold no more. They had come to hear the gospel according to Lynyrd Skynyrd. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
In theater, sound effects that take place offstage are called “noises off.” They serve as embellishment or complement to the action onstage. In “Noises Off,” Michael Frayn’s 1982 parody of life backstage in a London theater, the term applies to the squiggles and squabbles at the very center… Read More
Over the past few years, USA Network has been perhaps the most progressive cable channel when it comes to producing original, weekly series. The key ingredient for USA has been suspense. First came its “Sunday Night Heat” lineup, built around “Silk Stalkings,” a CBS refugee… Read More
An expectation can be a dangerous thing. Take, for instance, comic performer Steve Martin. After he put a goofy arrow on his head or gigoloed around as a “wild and crazy guy,” we expected him to always be a side-splitter. Yet he never quite lives up to the… Read More
Usually, Alan Ayckbourn’s three-act play “Absurd Person Singular” shows up around Christmas. After all, it takes place over the course of three Christmases. But actually, this wacky comedy has very little to do with the holidays. It has more to do with marriage, class quirks… Read More
If you liked the film “The Full Monty,” you’ll love “Les Boys,” a French-Canadian flick about a garage league hockey team and its unique lessons of victory. That’s the victory of the human spirit, by the way. Les Boys is actually the name of the… Read More
A woman’s breasts are the most public of her private parts, and filmmaker Meema Spadola makes them even more public with her 60-minute documentary, “Breasts,” which had its first screening Sunday at the Maine International Film Festival in Waterville. In this candid video, more than… Read More
“Small Soldiers.” Directed by Joe Dante. Written by Gavin Scott, Adam Rifkin, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. Running time: 110 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for violence and mild language) You know a film is failing when, midway into it, several members of the audience rise from… Read More
COOKING WITH DOGS by Karen Dowell, Two Dog Press, Deer Isle, Maine, 64 pages, $19.99. I’m a cat person. I used to be a dog person. It’s just that we couldn’t have a dog in our apartment, so we got a cat. That’s the unspectacular… Read More
RIPTIDE, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Warner Books, 417 pages, $25. Ever since “Treasure Island,” readers have been fascinated by tales of treasure and pirates. Add a pirates’ curse, a Maine locale, and place it all in current time, and you have the basic… Read More
BLOODSTREAM by Tess Gerritsen, Pocket Books, 1998, 324 pages, $23. Sheriff Lincoln Kelly finally asks Dr. Claire Elliot the question she has been dreading. Why have she and her teen-age son moved to this sleepy Maine village on the edge of Locust Lake? googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
ASHLEY BRYAN’S ABC OF AFRICAN AMERICAN POETRY by Ashley Bryan, Simon & Schuster, 32 pages, $16. Do you have a child or grandchild who is learning the alphabet? Will you take charge of a lively kindergarten or first-grade class in September? Would you like an… Read More
“THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO.” Written and directed by Whit Stillman. Running time: 112 minutes. Rated R (for language, brief nudity and adult content). Nightly, July 6-9, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. In “The Last Days of Disco,” Whit Stillman, the director of “Metropolitan” and “Barcelona,”… Read More
Welcome to “Oz.” But this “Oz” isn’t a Technicolor dreamland filled with chattering Munchkins and friendly traveling companions. Instead, it’s a simmering cauldron which forcibly melds convicts and correctional officers into an alloy that is always ready to boil over into violence. googletag.cmd.push(function () {… Read More
“Wilde.” Directed by Brian Gilbert, written by Julian Mitchell. Based on the book “Oscar Wilde” by Richard Ellmann. Running time: 116 minutes. Rated R (for nudity, sexuality and adult content). June 29 through July 9, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. In 1895, just as Oscar Wilde’s… Read More
“The X-Files: Fight the Future.” Directed by Rob Bowman. Written by Chris Carter. Running Time: 122 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for scenes of intense violence). In the dark, murky world of “X-Files,” 30 million devoted fans have learned it’s best to trust no one. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
“Scotland Road,” currently being performed by the Belfast Maskers, is a psychological thriller. It’s eerie, scary and bordering on the fantastical. Written by Jeffrey Hatcher in the early 1990s, the two-act play has at its center one of the most captivating themes in popular culture right now: the… Read More
Anne Murray proved just the thing to warm up a wet sellout crowd during a June monsoon. “Ah, another beautiful, balmy spring day in Maine,” the veteran Canadian songstress joked early in the show Sunday night at the Maine Center for the Arts, University of… Read More
“The Big One.” A documentary written and directed by Michael Moore. Running time: 96 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for some strong language). Nightly, June 15-18, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. Michael Moore, the corporate-bashing proletarian who butted heads with Roger Smith, president of General Motors, in 1989’s… Read More
Marriage. Who needs it? Evidently, most of us because, after all these centuries and all the liberations of the modern world, people still get married. Sometimes five and six times. But if you had to choose the most potent symbols of the institution, it would be the marriage… Read More
MAY SARTON: SELECTED LETTERS 1916-1954, edited by Susan Sherman; W.W. Norton Co., New York, 1997; 415 pages, $35 hardcover Appropriately enough, the first volume of May Sarton’s “Selected Letters” begins with a note from Ogunquit in 1916 when Sarton was 4 and living with her… Read More
BORDER LINE, by Gerry Boyle, Berkley, 1998; 360 pages, $22.95. Jack McMorrow, the stubborn one-time New York Times reporter who is like a bulldog when he sniffs out a story, returns in the fifth book about his Maine meanderings by Waterville newspaper columnist Gerry Boyle. Read More
AND IF THE MOON COULD TALK, by Kate Banks, illustrated by Georg Hallensleben; Farrar Straus Giroux, New York, 1998; 36 pages, $15 hardcover. At bedtime young children are not always ready and willing to make the transition from the busy activities of the day and… Read More
THE ADVENTURES OF JOSHUA T. GRIFFICORN by C.D. Belanger, illustrated by Anita Crane, New Markets Printing, 1998, 36 pages, $4.95 softcover. Nobelee Gray never thought she would be a writer. She always wanted to be a singer. She did write poetry when she was in… Read More
“The Truman Show.” Directed by Peter Weir. Written by Andrew Niccol. Running time: 104 minutes. Rated PG (for mild language). For better or worse, we’ve become a nation consumed by television, a country roped in by spectacle and imprisoned by counterfeit reality. googletag.cmd.push(function () {… Read More
If you could go back in time and visit Broadway, wouldn’t it be a gas to choose 1957? That’s the year “The Music Man” and “West Side Story” were vying for the Tony Award for best musical. “The Music Man” got it, but “West Side Story,” with the… Read More
Over the weekend, a production of A.R. Gurney’s “Sylvia” by Winterport Open Stage raised a juicy question. Can a small-town community theater reasonably expect to succeed in presenting a tale about Manhattanites? The answer is, of course, yes. Talent and insight aren’t the private domain… Read More
“Mr. Nice Guy.” Directed by Samo Hung. Written by Edward Tang and Fibe Ma. Running time: 90 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for violence and mild adult content). Nightly, June 1-4, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. In top fighting form, Jackie Chan spins, rolls, dropkicks and whirls into… Read More
“Bulworth.” Directed by Warren Beatty. Written by Beatty and Jeremy Pikser. Running time: 107 minutes. Rated R (for strong language, drug use and adult content). On the eve of the 1996 California primary, Sen. Jay Bulworth (Warren Beatty) is teetering on the brink of a… Read More
Decades ago, we established a love for spelling bees. So it wasn’t a big leap that we should also be drawn to a tasting bee. Superb idea, we thought, when we heard about the annual Orono Volunteer Rescue Squad tasting bee at the Penobscot Valley Country Club on… Read More
“The Spanish Prisoner.” Written and directed by David Mamet. Running time: 112 minutes. Rated PG (for mild language and some violent images). Nightly, May 18-21, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. The full range of David Mamet’s increasing limitations are on display in his latest, “The Spanish… Read More
Last year, when Cirque Eloize performed at the Maine Center for the Arts, the audience knew it was in the presence of true circus talent. This was not an animal circus; the magic came from acrobatics and other physical feats that caused gasps of excitement and awe. In… Read More
They came ready to celebrate a show about nothing. “Seinfeld” fans crammed the Speakaway Pub at Paul’s Restaurant Thursday night to bid a fond farewell to the NBC sitcom after nine seasons. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes =… Read More
Kristen Eckmann likes to create art by putting things she finds inside of other things. The 23-year-old artist refers to these works as “container art.” Some of her containers are open and accessible; others are sealed forever — treasures trapped in a block of artificial ice. Read More
“Mrs. Dalloway” Directed by Marleen Gorris. Written by Eileen Atkins, based on the novel by Virginia Woolf. Running time: 97 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for mild adult content and brief nudity). May 11-22, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes =… Read More
You can picture Arlo Guthrie in Alice’s Restaurant. You can picture Arlo Guthrie in a folk festival. But Arlo Guthrie in a tux? Arlo Guthrie with a symphony orchestra? Arlo Guthrie in a tux with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra? Whoa, what a concept. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
It’s hard to know which image will endure the longest when the ear buzz from Friday’s concert by the Rock Bottom Remainders is long gone. It could be novelist Amy Tan dressed as a dominatrix and singing “These Boots Are Made for Walking.” googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
A new series produced by Maine Public Television has captured the essence of life in rural Maine. “Our Stories,” through the words of Mainers from throughout the state, easily reaches its stated goal of examining “culture, community and family in rural Maine.” googletag.cmd.push(function () {… Read More
GOD AMONG THE SHAKERS: A Search for Stillness and Faith at Sabbathday Lake, by Suzanne Skees, Hyperion Press, 1998, 270 pp., $22.95 hardcover. Shaker Village at Sabbathday Lake has been in New Gloucester, Maine, since the late 18th century — and in recent decades has… Read More
RAFTING TO THE INDIES, by Carl Osgood, Vista House, 230 pages, $19, soft cover. It’s true: You can’t judge a book by its cover. Nor, for that matter, by its title. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = [];… Read More
ALWAYS SIX O’CLOCK by Phoef Sutton, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 288 pages, $23.95 hardcover. Imagine that you are 35 years old, still living in the California house in which you were raised, and are awakened in the evening by a strange sound — the rattle of… Read More
If you think you live in a dysfunctional family, check out the folks in Moliere’s satiric comedy, “Tartuffe,” which is in final performances this weekend at the Railroad Theatre in Belfast. Orgon, the patriarch, has lost his powers of discernment because of an obsessive adoration for Tartuffe, a… Read More
“Angels in America” has the subtitle “A Gay Fantasia on National Themes.” It is, in some essential way, about gay life and AIDS and America during the 1980s. But on another level, it is as much about gay people as “Romeo and Juliet” is about Italians. The more… Read More
Here are two words to describe Monday night’s production of “Grease!” at the Maine Center for the Arts: bubble gum. Here are two more: hula hoop. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for… Read More
“Live Flesh” Written and directed by Pedro Almodovar, based on the novel by Ruth Rendell. Running time: 100 minutes. Rated R (for nudity, violence, strong language and sexual content). In Spanish with English subtitles. Nightly, May 4-7, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
You didn’t have to be a baseball fan to enjoy the gamefulness of “Baseball,” Moses Pendleton’s athletic homage to baseball presented Friday by the dance troupe Momix at the Maine Center for the Arts. The piece, created in 1994, is an evening-length contemplation of America’s favorite pastime, but… Read More
Written to comfort the living, Johannes Brahms’ “German Requiem” begins, “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” The Bangor Symphony Orchestra performed the composer’s massive choral work with the University Singers and the University of Maine Oratorio Society at its final concert… Read More
“Love and Death on Long Island.” Written and directed by Richard Kwietniowski. Based on the novel by Gilbert Adair. Running time: 93 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for language and sexual content). Nightly, April 27-30, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. When Giles De’Ath (John Hurt), a fussy, behind-the-times… Read More
In ballet as in marksmanship, precision counts, but a dance can be a success even if every step isn’t perfect. If the emotional note of a performance is clear and true, it can carry an audience over rough spots as fluid and undisturbed as a… Read More
It’s not a bad idea to be funny-looking if you’re a comedian, but it’s bad if your looks are the funniest thing about your act. Fortunately, comedian Carrot Top brought more than just his trademark orange Afro and his “I’m-so-ugly” shtick to the University of… Read More
Now, about that cafe part of the New Moon Cafe. This may well be the type of eatery Bangor has been waiting for — clean, funky, nouveau-granola. World travelers might be reminded of popular coffee shops in Portland. The New Moon Cafe is in its early cycle of… Read More
“The Education of Little Tree.” Written and directed by Richard Friedenberg. Based on the novel by Forrest Carter. Running time: 117 minutes. Rated PG (for mild language and a brief scene of violence). Twelve years ago, Forrest Carter’s “The Education of Little Tree” rocked the… Read More
Rachel Fitsimmons loves Christmas. But Christmas doesn’t love Rachel Fitsimmons. It’s the day her husband hired a hit man to kill her. It’s the day, a year later, that two of her loved ones get poisoned by champagne. December 25 is a bad time of year for Rachel. Read More
ORONO — Imitation is a kind of flattery. For art students, it’s also a good way of learning what works. This spring, more than in the past, the University of Maine’s annual student exhibition suggests that young artists are paying attention to their elders. The… Read More
One sure sign of spring in Portland, ironically, takes place on the ice. As always, Discover Stars on Ice closed out its season Sunday afternoon with the second of two near-capacity shows at the Cumberland County Civic Center. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
“CITY OF ANGELS,” directed by Brad Silberling, written by Dana Stevens. Running time: 116 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for language and brief nudity). The angels in “City of Angels” are a handsome, physically fit tribe of supermodels sporting not wings or halos but black Armani suits,… Read More
THE COLLECTED POEMS OF AMY CLAMPITT, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 471 pages, $30 cloth. The distinguished poet Amy Clampitt, who died in 1994, spent the last 20 years of her life making regular visits to Easterly, a summer cottage built in Corea by the… Read More
NEVER SHAKE A FAMILY TREE and Other Murderous Tales from New England, a short story collection edited by Billie Sue Mosiman and Martin H. Greenberg, Rutledge Hill Press, Nashville, Tenn., 212 pages, paperback, $9.95. Collections of short stories are problematic at best, often hard put… Read More
JUST JESSIE by Lisette Belisle, Silhouette Books, Buffalo, N.Y., 249 pages, paperback, $3.99. Looking at the cover of “Just Jessie,” I wasn’t sure what to expect from Lisette Belisle’s first novel. I must say I was pleasantly surprised. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
The story of Gaetano Donizetti’s comic opera “The Daughter of the Regiment” goes like this: Marie, an infant girl, is adopted by Napoleon’s 21st Regiment. She grows up a daughter of the battlefield, the tomboy darling of her soldier-fathers and a remarkably good soprano to boot. Read More
Move over, Spice Girls. The latest hard-to-explain import from Britain debuts today. “Teletubbies,” a new series for children ages 1 to 5, airs at 11 a.m. weekdays on Maine Public Television. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = [];… Read More
“Lost in Space.” Directed by Stephen Hopkins. Written by Akiva Goldsman. Running time: 130 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for mild language and violence). Danger! Danger, William Hurt! Danger, Matt LeBlanc! You’re lost in a bad film! You’re speaking unspeakable dialogue! Your pecs can’t possibly be that… Read More
“Annie” is a musical people love to hate. Sugar and spice and everything nice can be an annoying nuisance in our postmodern world. Even if little orphan Annie is a strong-minded and decisive feminist in the making, she sings that cloying song “Tomorrow,” which just doesn’t quit when… Read More
The Queen of Lilith Fair swept into Portland on Wednesday night and left thousands of satisfied fans in her wake. Rising star Sarah McLachlan gave the sellout crowd of 5,900 at the Cumberland County Civic Center nearly two hours of music from her five albums,… Read More
What’s to do on a Monday night here in Bangor? And who really cares? If you’re a chamber music lover, then you might care, and you’d do well to, because that’s the night Arcady Music Festival intermittently presents its congenial local concerts at the Unitarian Universalist Church in… Read More
Two sides of singer Cheryl Wheeler were on display Sunday, to the delight of the large audience at the Sea Dog restaurant-pub in Bangor. There was the observational-humorist side of Wheeler, who kept the largely female crowd roaring with such songs as “The Potato Song”… Read More
If Hobart Earle weren’t music director of the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra, he’d make a good preacher. At least, it looked that way Friday when he and the Ukrainian orchestra performed a program of music good enough to make believers out of the listeners at the Maine Center for… Read More
“Oscar and Lucinda.” Directed by Gillian Armstrong. Written by Laura Jones from the novel by Peter Carey. Running time: 133 minutes. Rated R (for brief violence and adult content). Nightly, March 30-April 2, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. Gillian Armstrong’s “Oscar and Lucinda” is a delightfully… Read More
Author and former Girl Scout Nancy Manahan honored two scouting traditions Monday night — she handed out badges and cookies. Manahan appeared at the University of Maine and at Borders Books, Music and Cafe to discuss her new book, “On My Honor: Lesbians Reflect on… Read More
It takes a brave man to tamper with tradition. And director Jay Skriletz isn’t running scared. In his haunting version of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” which opened over the weekend at Penobscot Theatre, he takes a play that can easily slip into sentimentality and gives it a postmodern… Read More
When he was 20, Mozart called his own work “pleasing to the ear and natural … written in such a way that the less learned cannot fail to be pleased without knowing why.” He was talking about his piano concertos, but all these years later Mozart’s words are… Read More