Category: Arts & Culture

Dancin’ dancin’ dancin’. They’re all dancin’ machines, but it’s no Saturday Night Fever. It’s Dance USM!, the only annual dance show on campus. Maria Tzianabos, lecturer in theater, is directing a crew of choreographers and performers in this year’s culturally diverse program that aims to create meaning out of movement.

Director Joel Schumacher has had a very uneven career that includes more crap than caviar, but perhaps now he has produced his best work to date with the tense “Phone Booth.”

“These Are The Vistas” is the title of the major label debut release from post modern jazz trio The Bad Plus. Having one small label release under its belt, this highly touted jazz group landed a deal with Columbia Records after being heard at New York City’s Village Vanguard.

So it’s the end of the year and most students are hustling to finish their final projects. The fate of most final projects is most likely the bottom of a cardboard box if you’re a packrat; the garbage can if you’re happy to feed the trash monster; or, for a few students, your professor’s archives…

Spanking new food critic Joe Reynold is out on the prowl for copious amounts of food. His search brings him to Bull Feeney’s

“So Long, Astoria” is the major label debut for former indie rockers The Ataris. Having several independent releases under their belts with sales in the hundreds of thousands, Columbia Records has given The Ataris a shot. This move will most likely pay off big for Columbia and give The Ataris much more fame, notoriety, and…

Sometimes films slip through the grasp of the faithful moviegoer. While it is preferable to see a film on a big screen as it is intended, it is impossible to see everything that hits the theaters, especially those films that fail to find an audience in their first week and are hurried out of town…

The staff at “Words & Images,” USM’s literary magazine began their year with a vision, a vision of expansion. They had hopes of expanding their circulation from Maine to nationwide.

Punky’s, a name drawn from co-owner Joe Estes’s childhood, is just minutes from campus. Estes, who described himself as a moody and mouthy youth, said, “I went from ‘the punk’ to affectionately being called ‘Punky’ by my parents.”

Filled with contrived plot devices, “Bringing Down the House” dangles on the edge of typical Hollywood high concept failure and is rescued only by the strength of its stars and supporting cast. The melodramatic moments sporadically jerk the film away from its amusing premise and execution

Take a walk down any of the streets in the Old Port and one is bound to find a flyer on a telephone pole or wall that bears the name Rocktopus. One look in Casco Bay Weekly or The Phoenix and one is sure to see when and where to go to one of their…

Ok–so its opening night and the lead in the musical falls off a roof! What happens now? Wil Kilroy book director of the upcoming “Cabaret” has dealt with this exact scenario. His solution? Take the stage himself. Kilroy, on more than one occasion has swooped in and saved the day–even when it required playing the…

When I moved here from Oregon, I inquired one day if there were any good sandwich shops around serving healthy fresh ingredients. I was told about the West End Grocery at 133 Spring Street. “Their sandwiches kick ass,” the unidentified student told me. So I walked to Spring Street and fell instantly in love with…

Michael Caine has made some real crap movies over his long career. Who hasn’t tried to forget his terrible performances in “Jaws: The Revenge” or Steven Seagal’s directing debut, “On Deadly Ground”? But for all of his poor choices, he has made some truly excellent pictures (“Hannah and Her Sisters,” “The Cider House Rules”), and…

Award winning Scottish poet, novelist and playwright Jackie Kay opened up Women’s History Month this past week lecturing at several classes and speaking about Bessie Smith, a favorite blues singer, in her keynote address for Women’s History Month.

Jabe Beyer fronts the band that bears his name, whose influences are as diverse as country, bluegrass, punk, and good old-fashioned rock and roll. The great thing about rock music is that it is possible to blend together several styles of music, mix it up, and serve it in a unique way. In order for…

Last Tuesday, WMPG hosted an all-day Mardi Gras party in the Woodbury Campus Center. The sounds of Zydeco, Cajun, Jazz, and Funk music filled the room throughout the day, as more than 500 people danced and dined New Orleans style. The eighth annual Fat Tuesday celebration included a Gumbo and Jambalaya contest hosting entries from…

Timothy Garrett, senior music performance major, is a so-called late bloomer. Not until he was into his teens did he begin studying the cello. Eight years later, those closest to Garrett’s playing assert he is a talented individual who has made tremendous strides in his musical endeavors. “It’s been a game of catch-up the whole…

Rejection–an unpleasant word typically surrounded by a negative feeling. Rejection–an opportunity for growth. Nobody is free from dealing with rejection, and much of the musical community at USM is faced with it right now.

On one side of life, there’s a littered freeway, where police cars barrel through the crowded lanes, and an endless flow of stop and go traffic contributes to the grayness floating above the city. On the opposing side all of nature is in unison and a calm blanket cloaks the earth. How does one create…

Soup. That’s all we wanted. It’s 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Elise and I are hungry but crippled by foul flu-like symptoms, the source of which she claims to have contracted from me. I sense hostility when she instant-messages me.

“Cyclorama” (Sanctuary Records), the latest release from veteran rock group Styx, features a revamped line-up and a classic rock formula that is sure to please. Those established “classic rock” fans will be excited to see the group still has plenty to offer musically. With a mixture of new faces and old, Styx has returned with…

It would be easy to dismiss the new comedy “Old School” as just another raunchy, thick-headed “Animal House” wannabe, but the idea behind it (whether it is intentional or not) gives it some respectability. However, the film never pretends (or aspires) to be anything beyond what it is, which is an enjoyable and funny, albeit…

How can we keep ourselves healthy? Yoga instructor Amanda Curtis Kezal might suggest taking a few deep breaths and easing yourself into frog position. Frog is just one of the many yoga postures that focuses on deep breathing and awareness of the body and mind. Curtis Kezal,who teaches the only one credit yoga course offered…