Category: Arts & Culture

Richard Abrams teaches Bob Dylan. But not in the department you’d expect – Abrams is an English professor. And Dylan: his poet. His class, one of the many “topics in literature” courses numbered ENG 150, is always popular. We decided to sit down with Abrams and ask about why he loves – and teaches -…

You may have seen him hanging around the art department in Gorham, a tall, lean man with long brown hair and beard to match. He’s the Art Guru, who also goes by Jeremy Green. He owns the Art Guru, an artist supply store in Gorham. Recently, the Guru has been closed and the windows covered…

April 28 Hosted by the English department, is “Believing Shapespeare: Religion in Shakespeare’s World and in His Plays.” This lecture is by David Scott Kastan of Columbia University, and will be held in the University Events Room. Free and open to the public/ 4:15 to 6:15 p.

June is in the late stages of breast cancer, having had an unsuccessful mastectomy and several rounds of chemotherapy. Her prognosis is grim; yet it is her friends who experience the most difficulty in coming to grips with her mortality. Bryony Lavery’s “Last Easter,” staged by the USM department of theatre and directed by theatre…

The last issue of the semester wouldn’t be complete without dreams of the rest and relaxation that USM students are yearning for. Here is a list of books for your travels, your beach bag, or to join you in that hammock. Professor Matthew Killmeier Communication & Media Studies Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser “Great…

The annual Bachelor of Fine Art student show, Produce, is showing at the Gorham Art Gallery now. The BFA degree is the most involved studio art degree offered at USM, and the 15-artist group show showcases the art majors as they graduate from concentrations in sculpture, ceramics, photography, painting,and digital art.

The Savages Fox Searchlight Pictures Directed by Tamara Jenkins Unfairly speaking, every generation has its signature style of film. The 1970s: gritty, grimy, orange, and fascinated with the streets of New York City. In the 1980s, characters cleaned up and moved out to Los Angeles.

Summertime and beer go together like peanut butter and jelly. What’s better than relaxing at a camp fire with a group of friends enjoying a nice summer ale? Since this will be my last brew review for the year, I thought I’d send you into summer with an idea of a few choice summer offerings…

More than 50 students protested the Husky Film Festival last week after only one of 10 submissions was not chosen to be shown at the event. The film not chosen by the selection committee was titled “Shit Hard,” and its supporters turned up holding signs and wearing white T-shirts with variations of “Live Free Shit…

Jeffrey Lipton stands in front of a crowd of about 40 beside his 22 ceramic pieces as classmates, professors, and local professionals fire questions at him. They ask about form and function, they tell him his presentation, which sits on pine shelves in the middle of the gallery, is too heavy. The questions continue to…

April 21 Folk artist Mya Elaine will perform with Seth Yentes and Putnam Smith. Her style has been compared to Ani DiFranco and Fleetwood Mac. FMI check out MyaElaine.com. $7/ 8 p.m./ One Longfellow Square, State and Congress streets, Portland/ (971) 678-5417 April 22 For some serious swing and a big band experience, the USM…

Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven all walk into a room… sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, right? The modern equivalent is happening right now at USM in the Composer’s Ensemble, a class offered every semester through the USM School of Music. Daniel Sonenberg, the ensemble director, conceived the idea for the ensemble when he…

They’ve sung on the Eiffel Tower. They’ve sung in “the county.” They performed seven concerts in three days over March break, but it was all just practice: the USM Chamber Singers have been touring the state as a warm-up for their European tour. Next month, they’ll sing in Prague, Vienna, Slovakia, Auschwitz and Krakow.

Porters are an often-misunderstood breed. The average beer drinker probably hasn’t ever had one, if he or she even knows what they are. There aren’t many brewers in the U.S. still making this father-to-the-stout, but if you want to check one out, look first to Anchor Brewing.

Aries March 21-April 20 Uncharted Territory In the beginning of the week, the stars push you to do something you’ve never done before. By the 24th, everything will seem larger-than-life overwhelming, but with your passionate ideas, remember to follow through-just don’t over do it.

Even before I moved into Robie-Andrews Hall last September, I’d heard it was haunted. Rumors abounded about a pregnant student, jilted by her boyfriend, who supposedly hung herself there in the early 1900s, and whose ghost continues to haunt the building.

Dan Bejar’s new Destroyer album, Trouble in Dreams, is his ninth full-length LP. It is his most accessible work to date, but in a way that considers class rather than marketability. It is a clean, punctual and glassy record, a likely and comfortable next step from his 2006 masterpiece Destroyer’s Rubies.

Last Thursday, comedian Bob Marley performed a free stand-up set at the Brooks Student Center in Gorham. I caught up with him afterwards to talk a little about leaving Los Angeles, remembering Maine college life, and not being able to get into his own shows. How often do you try to make it to USM?…

Dreaming and designing “This is going to look just right,” says Elissa Levin as she wraps a navy blue sash around her body and skips a couple steps across her hardwood living room floor, which is covered in pieces of fabric. It’s just after midnight, three days before the WMPG fashion show benefit, and the…

April 14 If you’ve got kids, siblings, or friends who never quite grew up, you might just enjoy a family concert by Matt Loosigian, which is part of the Week of the Young Child. This event is sponsored by the USM Child and Family Centers. 4:30 to 5:15 p.m.

As I write this column, which was due about two hours ago, I am a stressed out student. I know I am not alone. The semester is coming to an end, the rest fiercely uphill. On top of my classes and an independent study, the $250 speeding ticket I got a few days ago isn’t…

As a deaf child, Wayne Betts Jr. watched E.T. for the first time, and knew instantly that he would be a filmmaker. After years of education, including time at Rochester Institution of Technology’s School of Film and Animation, he has reached his lifelong goal.

It is, in fact, a small world. And with the many options available through international and domestic study abroad programs at USM, traveling that world has never been more convenient. Each year, hundreds of students go through a somewhat lengthy process to apply to study in other parts of the world.

Latvia Brianna Allen, a senior art major at USM, was abroad last spring. For the price of USM tuition, she studied in Riga, Latvia. She says the insight she gained academically, culturally and personally was “exponential.” Her first impression: “it’s cold.