He’s published. He’s accomplished internationally. He has appeared on Oprah, and besides serving as an adjunct professor, he heads up projects that aim at uniting Southern Maine’s immigrant community and the university. His community outreach has spanned the last 20 years.
Category: Arts & Culture
A day in the life of WMPG
WMGP is not exactly a college radio station. It sits on one edge of campus – the first of the white houses as you drive past the garage – but bumper stickers, t-shirts, banners and DJs all proudly proclaim it as southern Maine’s community radio.
If you were tuned in last Tuesday morning, you might have heard DJ Deirdre Nice cue up Jeff Tweady’s rendition of “Simple Twist of Fate,” but you didn’t see her sit back in her chair and gaze out toward the parking garage at the gray, rainy day.
DON’T STAY HOME
March 10
Come tango at the North Star Cafe with Tango Mucha Labia, and show off your moves. The lesson starts at 7, and the dancing at 8. $5/ 225 Congress St., Portland/ 699-2994
March 11
Want to be an actor? Come audition for student films at the USM media studies production facility.
Gideon Bok
Leaning against the wall in one corner of the Gorham art gallery are six paintings, all in various stages of completion. There’s also a record player and a comfortable old yellow chair speckled with paint.
Empty coffee cups, album covers, and paintbrushes are strewn about the drop cloth surrounding an easel, and stale tortilla chips crunch underfoot.
“How do you find out about all this music I’ve never heard of?”
Once in a while, when I’m hyping a great new band or a generally unheard of musician to a friend, they’ll ask (to paraphrase): “Tyler, how do you find out about all this music I’ve never heard of?”
I used to get this question more often, when I was more active in seeking out strange or unknown artists.
Brandon’s Brew Review
Belgian beers are generally regarded with high esteem by drinkers and critics alike. After finding a niche for this style of brewing in Maine, Allagash has carved out its own prestige in the beer community, and their Dubbel Ale holds up this tradition.
Coming in at seven percent alcohol by volume and sporting a very dark pour, it’s certainly nothing to scoff at.
Destroy The Plastique Man
When it was announced this summer that the Rustic Overtones were getting back together, the future of As Fast As was immediately thrown into doubt. Surely, AFA frontman and Rustic keyboardist Spencer Albee couldn’t pull double-duty with two of Portland’s biggest bands.
Under the Circumstances, Planeside livens Portland music scene
Though Planeside is from New York City, the Portland music community has openly accepted them as an honorary “local band.”
Vocalist/guitarist Dave Harris, bassist Ken Hirasaki, and drummer Craig Sala has been performing in Maine longer than most local bands have lasted, and they continue to stay fresh, attract large crowds, and put on some of the most energetic live sets this side of New England.
Multicultural Office hosts Dartmouth speaker, dancers
Vibrant performers, energetic drumming, handmade crafts, exotic foods, and a passionate speaker were housed in the Woodbury Campus center last week for the “Main Event” of the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs.
The day featured a guest speaker from Dartmouth University, Peter James Morgan, who, along with his extensive research about Native Americans in the abolitionist movement, spoke about the history of African American and Native American heritage in New England.
The Vagina Monologues and V-Day
If USM women’s vaginas could dress up and talk, they would wear diamonds and stilettos and say things like “wrong hole!” and “slower!”
The questions that spawned these responses were asked to those who attended the annual production of The Vagina Monologues, sponsored by the Women’s Resource Center and the Student Senate.
DON’T STAY HOME
March 3
Naked Shakespeare will be presented at The Wine Bar, the hip café in downtown Portland by Acorn Productions. If you missed the recent Naked Macbeth event at USM, you must see what the fuss about being naked is all about. Free donation/ 8pm/ The Wine Bar/ 38 Wharf St.
The Bravery looks good, rocks out
The Bravery headlined at The Station last Saturday, foreshadowing the March release of The Sun and The Moon Complete, an addition to their 2007 The Sun and The Moon. The show also featured Headstart, Cult Maze, Your Vegas and Switches.
We arrived to The Station late and unfortunately missed the first three bands, but were just in time to catch London’s own Switches.
Adam Ayan worked with Rolling Stones, now USM students
It’s a little-known fact that one of Maine’s greatest musical resources is also one of USM’s greatest resources. His name is Adam Ayan. Grammy-award winning Adam Ayan. That’s right.
Adam Ayan is a world-renowned sound engineer. And he teaches his passion to USM students as an adjunct music faculty member.
Nailing It
Three USM students walk into a bar – a photographer, a sculptor, and a painter.
From here, things get increasingly comical, because they’re meeting with John Bisbee, currently exhibiting his intense welded structures – made up entirely of nails – at the Portland Museum of Art.
Movie Review
It’s hard to go wrong with Jack Black and Mos Def starring in your film, and Be Kind, Rewind is a perfect example of that. The latest effort from Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine, Science of Sleep) follows the same style of his previous work, but adds new dimensions of humor and reverie.
I have “Bubble Maineia”
Have you been getting bored of the same old drinks?
You wake up every morning and try not choke and die on that nasty pulpy OJ your roommate insists on buying.
Come lunchtime at the Brooks Student Center you buy a Vitamin Water.
Why? Because everyone drinks Vitamin Water! It’s a flavored alternative to water! “WHOA COOL!” Also, the hip people who make it write funny things on the side of the label! “EVEN COOLER!”
Vitamin Water is owned by Coca-Cola; a giant corporation.
Art banned by USM returns to Portland
Last year, USM shut down an art exhibit for the first time in the school’s history. During the time that “Can’t Jail the Spirit” was supposed to be hanging in the Woodbury Campus Center, Ubu Gallery in Portland’s East End hosted the exhibit. The show then traveled to Philadelphia, Providence, New York City and Cambridge to the Harvard Divinity School.
Give a little love
There’s nothing like a subtle compliment to boost the spirits of your Valentine. Do-It-Yourself projects meet the cheesy world of Valentine’s phrases in just a few simple steps. Hot sauce 1. Cover the label of a bottle of hot sauce. 2. On a new label write a phrase that includes the temperature of your Valentine.
DON’T STAY HOME
Monday, February 11, 2008 Check out “In the Center of It All: Glimpses of African American Life in Central Maine,” the annual exhibition by the African American Collection of Maine. The exhibit is open during library hours/ Glickman Family Library/ Portland Campus/ fmi: http://library.
Stage set for senior director
House lights are on high, splashing white and yellow onto the black walls framing the stage. Student actors are positioned around the unfinished set in their street clothes while senior Kristen Peters watches her peers work through the script. They are pacing around the skeleton of a beach house that will, I’m assured, soon be surrounded by actual sand.
Out with the old, in with the new
From Italy to the South Pole, Russia to Australia, the 59 Seconds Festival has traveled the globe with the goal of presenting their unique film festival 59 times. Last Friday, USM became stop number 51. The one-time-only project, a traveling film festival that changes each time it’s shown based on audience reviews, will have traveled to 59 locations around the world by its end in 2009.
After weeks of rehearsal, music students sing for visiting opera coach
Marie-France Lefebvre, a nationally renowned opera coach, visited the USM School of Music last week to give master classes.
“It’s such a cool opportunity to have her here,” said senior vocal performance major George Eisenhauer. “I wish I could have worked with her more.
WMPG thanks listeners, supporters with celebration
The only requirement to enter WMPG’s Cajun Cookin’ Challenge was that you had to bring a minimum of ten gallons of food. This didn’t stop the nine restaurants or several feisty individuals that vied for the 2008 crown. By the end of the afternoon judging period, supplies were diminishing as the contestants raced to cook up and dish out new batches of their specialty dishes.
National writer highlights local artist in Portland visit
Our chairs were so close together that my elbows were touching the people on either side of me. Gathered for a lecture, 976 people seemed a little absurd, even for the spunky city of Portland.
Because of the number of people in attendance, the Portland Museum of Art could not host their own event, and turned to the Holiday Inn by The Bay for the biggest ballroom in town.