With a vibrant local music scene, untold numbers of bars, and art galleries every 15 feet, Portland is the cultural nexus of Maine. With bars, clubs, and cafe’s all vying for your attendance with a variety of events, offering “nights” for everyone from the bar-stool academic (see RiRa’s trivia night) to the the sweaty retro buff (80’s nights galore!), it can be difficult to sort through the melange.
Calendar listings in any of the city’s alternative publications give a solid list of concerts, performances, and art openings, but often let the regular weekly events slip by. A few blogs have recently stepped in to offer comprehensive listings of goings-on.
Hillytown.com features the city’s most updated listing of live music, with an emphasis on local, independent acts. It’s calendar listing is a laundry list of all the shows you should be going to, and reviews and photos from noteworthy performances make you feel as if you were there, even if you couldn’t swing the cover charge, or pass for 21+.
Portlandtaps.com is the brew-thusiast’s guide to what’s on tap at any of the city’s bars. Here, users can browse drink prices by bar or beer. The site also lists the happy-hour and daily deals at every watering-hole in town, making sure you get the most beer for your buck.
The savvy Peninsular knows how to fill a social schedule to best take advantage of what Portland has to offer, so if you hear anyone utter “there’s nothing to do”, roll up this paper, and whack them upside the head with it.
You’ll notice a couple days of the week missing from the following list of Portland’s regular events, because, you’ve got to fit in that homework sometime, and we refuse to be your enabler.
Monday
Daily Deal: Beer/Bourbon/Burger at Empire – Empire Dine and Dance offers a well-balanced dinner (by college standards anyway) every weeknight from 7-9 p.m. Five dollars gets you a 16oz beer (PBR or the like), a shot of bourbon and a single-patty burger. They might not all be top-shelf beverages, but you can’t beat the price.
18+: Belly Dancing Lessons at the Sullivan Gym. Lessons are from 5:30-6:45 p.m and costs $10 for USM Students.
21+: “Short” Beer Night at The Great Lost Bear – A Portland institution since your parents turned 21, “the Bear” is the closest and best-stocked pub to the USM Portland campus. Monday and Tuesday are “short” beer night, where, contrary to what the name might suggest, you can throw back a “tall” 23 ounce beer for just $4.25. Boasting 60+ taps, there is something for everyone at the Forest Ave pub, including some of the most unwieldy burgers in town.
Tuesday
Daily Deal: Poetry Slam at the North Star Cafe – Come see some of Portland’s best poets throw down in the contact sport of the literary world, or prepare something yourself and get in on the fun. Suggested donation for admission
18+: “Pub Trivia” at RiRa Irish Pub – Sure, there are other trivia nights in town, and if you have a wealth of useless knowledge, you could probably make a living off them, but what other trivia night features a REAL LIVE IRISHMAN positing questions in a thick brogue. The ten-round quiz starts at 8 p.m., and typically lasts 2+ hours. Each round features a prize for a perfect score, and the night’s overall winners take home a $50 pub gift card.
21+: Atomic Tuesdays at Styxx – This weekly post-apocalyptic dance party hits every buzzword in the book. Costumes. Contests. Prizes. No cover. Live music, and rock-bottom drink specials from 8-10pm, the event also features Zombies and something called Hell-o-Vision that is best experienced firsthand.
Wednesday
Daily Deal: Acoustic Open Mic at Dogfish – The cozy Dogfish Bar and Grille’s acoustic open mic happens tonight on Free Street (next to the Civic Center). Sign-up starts at 6:30, performances at 7 p.m. This intimate venue – which also has a great lil’ selection of craft beer – is the perfect place to practice your guitar-strumming chops in front of a smaller crowd.
18+: Irish Music Night at Blue – A classy little joint on upper Congress, Blue is a jazz club with a great atmosphere, and an lively Irish Music Night every Wednesday. Blue is typically a no cover venue, asking only for donations, 100 percent of which go to the performers.
21+: Karaoke Galore! – Warm up those voices and brace for embarrassment, tonight is “Kill the Karaoke” at Empire Dine and Dance, and Karaoke night at Asylum. The Empire event features a live backing band, which for a small cover charge, makes any bar-stool baritone feel like a rock star. The Asylum karaoke event, hosted by DJ Cougar, has no cover charge, and features food and drink specials.
Thursday
Daily Deal: Margarita Madness – Mesa Verde features $6 dollar pitchers of margaritas tonight. No matter where else your Thursday night might take you, this is a good start.
21+: 80’s night at Asylum – Celebrate the end of the school week to the nostalg-tacular sounds of Cyndi Lauper and The B-52;s at Asylum’s 80’s night. This no-cover celebration of all things 80’s kicks off at 9 p.m. and it ‘don’t stop till you get enough’ (or 1 a.m. – whichever comes first).
Friday
Daily Deal: Fine art on the cheap – Every Friday night, The Portland Museum of Art offers free admission from 5-9 p.m. The PMA is always free for USM students when they show their ID, but tonight your non-Huskie friends can tag along as you explore one of the best collections of art in the state. The collage exhibit “Piecing It Together” is showing at the museum through Feb 28. Also, every first Friday of the month is the Art Walk, when galleries, stores, and venues open their doors to the public from 5-8 p.m. showcasing some of the best local art, and offering snacks and drinks to boot. Portland’s next First Friday Art Walk is Feb 5th.
18+: Maine Red Claws/Portland Pirates – Whether on ice or parquet, tonight is your chance to cheer on the home team. Both the Pirates (Portland’s AHL hockey team) and the Red Claws (the city’s NBA D-League squad) regularly play home games on Friday and Saturday nights. The Pirates offer all the hard hitting, breakout fighting action you could ask for, and USM student’s can snag a ticket for just $10 with their ID. The advent of the Red Claws has seen a completely transformed Expo, and there is really not a bad seat in the house, with the venue’s cheapest tickets going for just $5. The Pirates take on Bridgeport this Friday at 7 p.m. and the ‘Claws take on Erie at 7:30.
21+: 80’s night at Bubba’s – Bubba’s Sulky Lounge hosts one of Portland’s more popular 80’s dance parties every Friday night. The light-up dance floor is usually packed with a unique mixture of those who actually remember the decade, and a generation that lived the majority of it in diapers. The cover charge is $5, but only suckahs pay covers when a head-to-toe 80’s costume will get you in for free, so raid the parent’s closet or hit the nearest thrift store, and make a run for the $50 “80’s spirit award” going to the night’s best dressed/most enthusiastic.