Category: Arts & Culture

This year’s student-written USM Theatre productions, “Ghosting” by Michael Toth and “Goin’ to Graceland” by M. Calien Lewis, play this week at the St. Lawrence Arts and Community Center, 76 Congress St. in Portland. The one-act plays, directed by USM faculty members William Steele and Thomas Power and featuring student actors, explore themes of redemption, renewal and pilgrimage.

To walk into the State Theater on Nov. 13 was to immerse yourself in the very definition of a punk show. At every turn there was a teenager or 20-something with dyed hair, ripped clothing, tattoos and multiple piercings. The Dropkick Murphys and their touring partners had come to assault the ears and anarchic minds of Portland.

The new Universal Studios film “The Cat in the Hat” is intended as a children’s movie. But comedian Mike Myers turns Dr. Seuss’ fun loving and troublesome cat into a neurotic character with a potty mouth, and the adult jokes that director Bo Welch tries to sneak in are not appropriate for kids.

Seven USM students were featured in Maine State Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker,” which concluded at Merrill Auditorium in Portland this past Sunday. Senior Lacey Michaud, an art education major, danced as a demi-soloist in the Waltz of the Flowers segment and as Chocolate from Spain.

What do you get when you cross blistering, improvisatory rock/reggae/funk with enough marijuana to choke a Rasta? That’s right, you get moe. at the State Theater! With rock overtones and ripping, unforgiving solos, the band’s Nov. 8 show captivated the audience for nearly four hours, only to leave them pleading for more.

USM student Sean Demers first fell in love with acting in the sixth grade and has since decided that it is all he wants to do. So, when the cast and crew for the HBO movie “Empire Falls” arrived in the small northern town of Skowhegan, Maine, Demers planned to attend what he dubs the “cattle call” – a massive audition for movie extras.

Kay McKay’s photographs are filled with mystery. With their brilliant colors, soft edges and partially formed figures, they seem like something out of a vivid dream that is equally fascinating and hard to explain. What makes them even more remarkable is how they were taken.

Wandering through downtown Portland with the intention of finding dinner, Maria, Derek and I strolled down Oak St. (a small side street near L.L. Bean). While I was preoccupied peering through the window of a closed restaurant, Maria discovered one that was open.

Jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, a veteran of Blue Note Records’ classic 1960s releases and a former member of the Miles Davis Quartet, came to Portland recently to perform with his own Quartet. The Academy Award winning soundtrack composer for the 1986 movie “Round-Midnight” — not to mention composer for Bill Cosby’s TV show “Fat Albert” — was a jazz-rock fusion star in the 1970s and is still one of jazz’s most respected innovators.

If the recent wave of rock bands hasn’t satisfied your cravings for 70s style rock and you love local music, pick up the new album by the Hot Dogs immediately. Otherwise, save your money.

With flailing guitar riffs and babbling, mostly incoherent lyrics, the Portland band the Hot Dogs play in a style akin to many early punk bands like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols.

Can you ever find the “rock” section in a music store? Sure, there are “pop rock,” “alternative rock,” “70s/80s/90s rock,” and endless other variations, but you may find yourself thinking: Doesn’t anyone just plain ROCK anymore? Jeremiah Freed is out to let you know that someone does.

Meg Ryan plays an unfamiliar role in the new Screen Gems film “In the Cut.” Her performance as Franny Avery, a high school English teacher in New York City, marks a drastic change from her work in the wholesome, intelligent, witty romantic comedies “When Harry Met Sally,” “You’ve Got Mail,” and “Addicted to Love.

“The Voice at 3 A.M.”

By Charles Simic

Harcourt, Inc., 2003

177 pp.

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Charles Simic is no stranger to praise. During the 44 years his writings have been published, he has become one of the most respected poets in America.

Don’t deny it. I know it is hard for you to even try and count the number of times you have thought to yourself, “I wonder what it would sound like if you put the Dave Matthews Band and the Dixie Chicks in a blender, with a pinch of bluegrass and Elton John, and poured it into a ten-song LP.

The traveling Flat Files exhibit, from the Brooklyn, NY gallery Pierogi 2000, is now showing at USM’s Gorham Art Gallery. Over 300 artists from around the world are featured. Owner of Pierogi 2000 and artist Joe Amrhein founded the exhibit, which has traveled around the country and through Europe.

In the past few years, popular music has produced a new wave of stars like the White Stripes, Interpol, and the Strokes who have revived the early raw sounds of rock bands who hit the scene twenty, thirty, even forty years before them. To be retro now seems commonplace in all genres of modern music.

The newest coffeehouse in Portland is Acoustic Coffee, and their mic is open all the time. Proprietors Mark Lembo and Margaret Lyons opened their doors at 32 Danforth Street the first week of September. Besides offering a wide range of food and beverages, they also offer a voice in the community for anyone who seeks one, through their “open stage all the time” ethos.

The veteran Jamaican band Toots and the Maytals, credited with coining the term “reggae,” played the final show of their six-month “The World is Turning” tour at Colby College on Saturday, October 4. They opened for hip-hop group The Roots, a band with far less experience and acclaim.

Gov’t Mule and Chris Robinson played to a loaded audience October 12 at the State Theater in Portland. The show was a routine triumph for the former and a partial disappointment for the latter.

Robinson, formerly of the Black Crowes, opened the show with his band New Earth Mud, a four-piece that plays basic rock with an appealing loose swing.

It is a pleasant surprise when a band can totally, unexpectedly blow you away, especially when you have never heard of them before. I walked into the State Theater expecting a run of the mill Phish-esque jam band, but got so much more.

Three years ago Reid Genauer received an almost career-ending slap in the face when Mammoth Records signed the band he fronted, Strangefolk, and then dropped them right before their breakthrough album was set to be released.

Treachery, murder and magical mayhem abound in Student Performing Artists’ production of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” opening on Thursday, October 23, just in time for Halloween. From witches and vengeful ghosts to murder plots and live swordplay, “Macbeth” seems like a perfect show for the Halloween season.

“The Flake Filter”

By Toby Unwin

2003, Element Limited Corp.

156 pp.

$19.95

Time is money. To succeed in life, we need to use every second we have to maximize profit.

Unfortunately, the world is swarming with unreliable people — flakes — who obstruct our moneymaking potential.

Mr. Bagel

601 Forest Avenue, Portland

775-0718

You can’t miss Mr. Bagel! Even if you’re flying down Forest Ave., your eyes will certainly be drawn to the giant plywood bagel guy on their building. A little forewarning, he’s serving up one seriously large-and-in-charge bagel, which he seems pretty happy about; what can I say, pal? The smile on his face is infectious; saddle up partner.

WMPG will have their eighth annual CD and record sale at USM’s Sullivan Gym on October 11. Admission is one dollar and thousands of CD’s, DVD’s, books and music memorabilia will be available at greatly reduced prices.