Category: Arts & Culture

This column was doomed from the start. A good indication of this is that I am sitting here, as we speak, in the bathtub, the night before my deadline, typing away. That’s right, the bathtub.

This week, my esteemed editor (Tim, of the red hair and swanky ties) handed me a fairly simple assignment: write 800 words on the upcoming Bill Street Faculty Concert on November 19. This is not that article.

A crowd of nearly 50 students descended like a pride of threatened lions on an unarmed intruder.

I was walking to class, just getting out of work at the bookstore, when I heard a middle aged man shouting. It was Brother Matt. He looked like he came right off of a New York street corner.

The Wellsprings of Memory is an exhibit in the Glickman library dedicated to the soul of remembering.

A few weeks ago, my roommate Jake and I decided we needed a competition. Now, this was not to be just any kind of competition involving intellect or brute strength. We did not involve ourselves in any kind of physical challenges or battle of wits. Ours was a challenge to be judged by not only our peers but by America herself.

Beer poetry from the Arts editor.

It all started in one not-so-sunny morning class when my Professor announced that he wanted to do a “dialogue” exercise….

Words & Images, the annual literary and art magazine from USM has opened its submission period for the 2005 issue. From now until Dec. 31, the staff will be accepting submissions of previously unpublished prose, poetry, and prints of artwork for the new edition.

I woke up on Sunday afternoon and rolled out of bed in my shrimp costume. I was still alive. This is notable because I had received a death threat on Saturday night. A shirtless and heavily tattooed gentleman had approached me on the street and told me that “if [I] blew the trombone one more time [he] would wrap the fuckin’ thing around my neck.

The aggressive grunginess of Loverless’ rock-n-roll proves that you need look no further than Portland to satiate your urges for dirty, sexy music. You will have a chance to satisfy this dirty urge on Thursday, when Loverless plays at Geno’s.

I am officially fed up with restaurants that suffer from what I call “closet pretension.” These places strategically appear as if they wouldn’t dream of indulging in the self-important airs that other traditional fine dining establishments do, as they are much too casual in their down-to-earth-minimalism.

Upcoming events in the Arts world.

On November 5, the curtain will rise at Russell Hall on Pirandello’s “Six Characters in Search of an Author,” the final production to be directed by USM faculty Minor Rootes, who is retiring at the end of this year. Originally written in 1921, the play nevertheless asks a timely question in this era of reality television: Can a performance ever be realistic?

No performance of any opera has been improved by the presence of a leaf blower on stage. The Stanislavsky Opera Company’s performance of La Traviata at the Merrill Auditorium on October 26 was no exception. Apparently stage designer Vladimir Arefiev found the temptation irresistible.

In Maine there are probably more pieces of landscape art than actual vistas, but nowhere will you see a more handsome collection of them than at the USM Art Gallery in Gorham.

November is a loaded month for musical events on the Gorham Campus. By the end of the first week of November, six of the nineteen concerts to appear at USM will be over. This Saturday, The Southern Maine Symphony Orchestra which will be playing at 8 p.m. in Corthell Hall.

“‘You’re not registered to vote?’ They looked at me, shocked, and rightfully so….”

Maybe I am cheap. The most money I have ever spent on an original piece of fine art is $25. I usually get my fine art for between $5 and $15….

Upcoming workshops and concerts in the A&E world.

Looking for something to do this Friday night that doesn’t include jeans, keg stands, or your boyfriend’s crappy interpretation of romance in the form of Pay Per View and take-out? How about a night at the ballet?

From its’ role in European churches to contemporary jazz, the history of the trombone is as profoundly curled as the instrument itself. USM Professor Brian Diehl will present his study of the trombone’s unique historical identity this Friday at the Corthell Concert Hall in Gorham.

Whatever happened to the good old days of yesteryear, when a fella could really do the town in style? You know what I’m talking about – the days when he could lock himself in the bathroom for a few hours and completely invest himself in getting dolled up. A little leg wax, some strategic taping of your more bulgy bits and pieces, and, voila, Joe Schmo is ready for a night on the town as Josephine.

New England rapper Brzowski is putting a new face on hip-hop.

It’s all about exercise, right? It’s the key to happiness, a long life, and fabulously thin thighs… blah freakin’ blah. What about those of us (me) who despise running, sweating and generally pushing our bodies into states of pure, unadulterated exhaustion?