It’s a highbrow art, film and literature kind of weekend punctuated by big hats and mint juleps as well as wine and chocolates for moms. Don’t forget Mother’s Day!

First Friday Art Walk

Friday, May 6 — Rockland

The Art Walk season has begun. And this ridge of cold May weather is lifting today bringing us some sunshine finally with temps in the upper 50s to 60s — a perfect night to check out the newest artists. The EAT sign is back up on the Farnsworth Art Museum as well. Check out the “What You See...” group show with artist reception at Carver Hill Gallery (338 Main St.) featuring digital media, photography and collage among the 23 other participating galleries. FMI: Carver Hill Gallery. Another new kid on the scene is Art Loft, with their grand opening 5 to 9 p.m. in Suite 9 of the Thorndike building at 385 Main St. Many pieces of art will be on display in their gallery. FMI: Art Loft. For all of the other galleries: Check out a map and more info here

Rockland Short Films

Friday, May 6 — Rockland

The Farnsworth always brings thought-provoking and often funny material whenever they host The Rockland Shorts at the Strand Theatre. These bite-sized international short film series always leave you with new perspectives and new people to chat with at the after-party at FOG Bar and Café. This year’s theme is political, but not in the way that’s annoying. See the line up of Rockland Short films here. The screening takes place at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 for members and $10 for nonmembers and will be for sale at theater’s box office directly prior to the screening.

Belfast Bound Book Festival

Saturday, May 8 — Belfast

The Book Festival is back in Belfast, baby! (And yes, the alliteration was necessary). A range of bibliocentric events will include signings, book talks, a poetry reading, workshops, an art show and activities for children as well. Look for events throughout Belfast; Waterfall Arts, the Belfast Free Library, Left BankBooks, Front Street Pub, Old Professor’s Bookshop, The Green Store, the Chamber of Commerce Visitor’s Center, the Belfast Co-op, downtown parks and sidewalks, and others. Click here for a schedule of events.

Killer Road Trip: Kentucky Derby Day in Portland

Saturday, May 7 — Portland

WCH6 has compiled a list of all of the Kentucky Derby parties happening this weekend and all of them are in Portland. Wear your best fancy hat and get ready for southern fare and mint juleps! Speaking of, if you don’t make it to Portland Saturday, come to Camden and visit Francine Bistro, where veteran bartender Chip Dewing makes the best Maine-inspired mint julep around. See our recent story here.

Tastings for Moms in Union

Sunday, May 8 — Union

It’s time for mom to get her wine on. Savage Oakes Vineyard and Winery and Sweetgrass Farms Winery & Distillery are hosting their annual celebrations for mothers (and anyone else who just wants to be part of it) with tastings, treats and music from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Savage Oakes will be offering crepes and pairings with Safe Harbor Confections chocolates, while Sweetgrass will host Dean’s Sweets chocolates and Copper Tail Farm candies. Moms can even get a free portrait by Kristen Flynn Photography. Always a fun day!

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Since 1938, the classically southern mint julep has been the official cocktail at Churchill Downs, the site of the Kentucky Derby, but its roots go back to the 19th century when doctors prescribed spearmint and bourbon for folks with tricky stomach issues.

This Saturday, May 7, the Yankee tribute to the classic mint julep can be found at Francine Bistro in Camden. Veteran bartender Chip Dewing pays homage to the cocktail from the traditional spearmint, right down to the pewter cup it’s served in.

On a chilly day in May in Maine, it’s not immediately obvious why this very simple cocktail needs a certain glass, but one has to imagine the drink’s origins on a hot, sweltering summer afternoon as southern neighbors all getting together.

“Pewter and sterling silver cups were traditionally used because metal acts as a conductor and what happens when the outside of the glass frosts up due to the crushed ice is the interior of the glass gets colder,” said Dewing. “In Kentucky and Louisiana on those hot summer days, sitting outside, they needed a drink that would be very refreshing and hold up on its own.”

The end result is not for the delicate flowers of this world. The strong, bold flavor of bourbon dominates the first sip as the hint of maple burbles up. The cocktail begins to change its chemistry once the crushed ice melts and the spearmint on the bottom releases its oils. By the time you’re half into it, the flavors balance out and mellow, becoming a little more friendly toward the bottom.  Hard-ass until you get to know it, then cuddly as a teddy bear. Sound like anyone you know?

To make the Francine Bistro mint julep on your own you’ll need:

• Crushed ice (roll block ice in a clean towel and smash with a mallet)
• Spearmint
• 1-1/2 tsp. Maine maple syrup
•  1/2 ounce on the first pour of Maker’s Mark Straight Bourbon, then 2 ounces after the crushed ice
• A splash of tap water

Tear up spearmint leaves and place in the bottom of the metal cup. Add maple syrup, add a splash of bourbon, and muddle. Fill cup with crushed ice. Add rest of Maker’s Mark and a splash of water. Add a straw and stir up the bottom. Garnish with spearmint. “When you sip it through the straw, you’ll get the fragrance of the mint on the bottom,” Dewing said.

Make one yourself or head on over to Francine Bistro and watch Chip whip one up from scratch!

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST — Whether it’s a carefully framed photograph professionally taken in the late 19th century or a casual selfie snapped by an amateur, there are clues inside each family’s box of snapshots that tell more of the story than what initially meets the eye.

Retired Beloit College photography professor and Swanville resident Michael Simon recently guest curated an exhibit for Penobscot Marine Museum titled “The Evolution of the Photographic Snapshot.” With the help of two Penobscot Marine Museum employees who run the photography collection, Kevin Johnson and Matt Wheeler, Simon assembled a series of snapshot photographs ranging from 1890 to 1970s in order to provide the larger context to the smallest of details.

Ever since Eastman Kodak Company introduced the first snapshot camera in 1888, snapshots have become “extensions to memory, storing images we’d rather not forget,” said Simon.

He equates every snapshot is like a game of Scrabble.

“With the game, you take individual letters, which form words and sentences and ultimately concepts,” he explained. “With photos, you see pieces initially, for example, a person in the photograph, what he or she is wearing, perhaps a car in the background or a buggy and your mind fills in the backstory.” Simon selected five snapshots in this exhibit hosted by the Belfast Public Library to explain what particular elements in each one make up the larger story.

Courting In A Carriage

Out of all of the photos in this exhibit, this is the only one Simon has any personal connection to. The well-dressed gentleman and his lady, in a white dress, sitting in a buggy, happen to be his wife’s grandfather and grandmother. “They courted around 1900,” he said. What you’re seeing in this photo by their formal dress and stiff posture is the way people of a certain class interacted in that time.

“He was a rather successful farmer in north central Illinois,” said Simon. “The carriage shows us he was well to do; not everyone had a carriage in those days. As they sat there, not touching and looking at the photographer, they did not know what the years ahead of them would bring. But, it is tempting to surmise that they looked out of the frame with optimism and hope, as any young courting couple on a date would.”

The Wicked Witch of The West

Though the woman in this photograph may look like the famous character from The Wizard of Oz, it’s evident to the experienced photographer’s eye that she is, in fact, a widow in 1900 garb. That in itself, provides the first intrigue. Standing in front of a stately house indicates the house is hers; and another piece to this puzzle is that the large house suggests she comes from wealth, yet the dirt curved driveway in those days did not indicate poverty as it would to us today.

“Times change and nearly every snapshot talks about values. You’ll see this in every family snapshot. Possessions such as houses and vehicles are important, which is why people took photographs of them,” said Simon.

Two Women, One Man and a Model A

The three people in this photo, are at first a mystery. Then the clues start rolling in. They are dressed in 1920s attire with the Model A in the background. The woman in glasses and the man in the center are holding hands, so they are likely husband and wife. Notice the casual way they hold hands, comparatively to 20 years earlier, when it might have been unseemly to show affection in that way while courting in a buggy.

“The way they stand is not nearly as formal as the courting photo,” he said. “And of course, the interaction between all three begs more questions. Who is the girl on the right? Is she a sister-in-law? She has a certain ‘It’ factor in her expression and stance that shows she is more self-confident than the other two. The way she holds herself indicates she thinks of herself as an individual, while the other two just melt into the background.”

Life Imitates Art

This photo is from the 1940s and there are many tell-tale signs to glean from it that show how different society was from just 20 years earlier. “They are likely mother and daughter,” said Simon. “The style of their clothes and the way the girl gives a teasing look, the innocent exposure of a knee suggests that this snapshot is from the era when images from cinema and magazines held more sway over public consciousness than from the television screen.”

Girl With Cracker

This photo, is perhaps, the most compelling of the entire series, for both its technical qualities and its content. “In 1963, the Eastman Kodak Company introduced the Instamatic, an easy-load, inexpensive plastic camera for which color or black-and-white film came pre-loaded in a cartridge,” said Simon. “The camera’s optics also allowed the photographer to get much closer to the subject than earlier equipment had allowed. The content is very much like all the others. People took photos of their friends and family.”

But the way the flash cube illuminates her, Simon said, “She looks like an angel. It’s easy to tell by her haircut, clothes and that Ritz cracker, that the photographer found the little girl adorable.”

The Belfast Public Library has taken this exhibit down, but all of the photos and their comments can still be viewed by visiting the Penobscot Marine Museum at The Evolution of the Photographic Snapshot. 

Reach Kay Stephens at news@penbaypilot.com.

BELFAST —On the hallway gallery wall of Waterfall Arts in Belfast, where student work hung a month ago, one striking photograph stood out. An older man stares, his gaze transfixed. Tayler Nickerson took that photo of her father. It is a pensive photo and her camera lens captures something elusive in his stare.  Asked what was going on in his mind when she took that photo, she said: “He was just watching a golf tournament. That’s the look he gets when he’s watching it.”

So much for Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey.

“The assignment was to use tilt shift, where you focus on one part of the photo, in this case, his eyes, and it shifts the focus to make the rest of the photo blurry,” she said.

Using her father and friends, as well as herself as subjects, she became interested in pursuing photography last year when the Belfast High School offered a photography class. This year, due to a shortage of students signing up, however, the class was no longer offered.

It didn’t matter. Tayler used her camera to explore more techniques on her own. She realized she was really drawn to taking landscape photos. While riding in the car with her mother in Frankfort one day, the vivid green grass and trees by a river caught her eye, so she asked her mother to stop the car. Retrieving her camera, she laid down in the grass and aimed her lens at a particular spot.

“I like taking photos from the perspective of the ground, because people don’t usually see things from that view, so I probably looked weird,” she said. “I angled it, took it and when I edited it, I really enhanced the green, because that’s the way I saw it.”

Another landscape photo taken in Frankfort bumps up the blue of the river. Composition wise, this one was taken while the car was moving.

“I noticed how the intense the blue of river pulled in the green from the trees,” she said.

Unlike the other one, she didn’t have to enhance this photo.

Playing around with technique is one of her favorite ways to explore. As part of another previous assignment she set up a shot outdoors at midnight with her friends to do a “light painting.”

“How it works is we stood there with glow sticks and set the timer on the camera. I extended the exposure of the camera and we looked kind of crazy just flinging the lights around, but you can’t see what you’re drawing until afterwards.”

Like her photos, she has a loose plan of what she wants to accomplish—but is open to other possibilities to see how it all turns out.

“After I graduate, I’m taking a gap year,” she said. “I’m thinking of getting a couple of jobs and then taking some more photography classes through Waterfall Arts. And then I’m hoping after that year, I’ll be going to Maine College of Art.”

And that’s what they call “the bigger picture.”

Hail To The Rad Kids is an ongoing series highlighting Midcoast teens with artistic talent.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND — A grandfather went out one day fishing on a river in Virginia with his two grandsons. It was a cold day with 30-40 degree Fahrenheit weather. The boat capsized and the Coast Guard was called.

Mario Vittone, a leading expert on immersion hypothermia, drowning, sea survival and safety at sea, was one of the Coast Guard crew who arrived at the scene. “I knew before we even took off they were all dead,” he said. “And that one really bothered me. Here was a guy who’d had all of the right credentials. He was a master chief, he was a safety expert; he’d gotten awards for it. How could this happen? This incident just showed me with all the gains we’ve made in technology to make boating safe, the last great gain we need to make is to change the way people think when they’re on the water.”

The Allen Agency, which has roots in Maine’s working waterfront, is sponsoring Vittone, who lives in Florida, to come to Maine Thursday, May 5, at 7 p.m. and speak at The Strand Theater in Rockland. His presentation is titled: "You Love the Ocean – It Doesn't Love You Back: Thrilling stories and exciting tales designed to make your life on the water safe and survivable." It is a fundraiser for scholarships at Maine Maritime Academy.

“If you fall off a boat and they can’t find you immediately, there’s a 40 percent chance you’re never going to be seen again, alive or dead,” he said. “I came home from a lot of searches for people we’ve never found. And I started to know the difference between people who survived and people who didn’t and it was simply misunderstandings of the hazards. I realized I could save more lives, not by looking for the people in the water, but by doing presentations to tell people what to look for.”

Based in Florida, Vittone was a lifeguard from a young age. He joined the Coast Guard in 1991. He graduated from helicopter rescue swimmer school in 1994 and began his career as helicopter rescue swimmer, until his retirement in 2013. He is now the CEO of VLinc Corporation, where he oversees the development of maritime safety and security training products, helping mariners come home safely from their work at sea. 

“I learned a lot about people who would and would not call the Coast Guard,” he said, giving one example. “Usually maydays start with something that isn’t a mayday, such as the boat takes on a bit of water. You’re trying to figure out where it comes from and you are trying to handle it, you’ve got the tools and you’re trying to see where the leak is coming from. And then it gets a little worse, but you think you’ve got it handled because you’ve been focusing on the problem. And then over the course of a few hours, you realize, you have to make that call. But, you could have made that call four hours ago. Primarily, those calls don’t happen soon enough.”

The title of his presentation is both blunt and accurate. “The ocean doesn’t care what you do for a living, what kind of boat you’re on, whether you’ve been sailing for one year or many,” he said. His experience is not just limited to rescuing leisure boaters. In a no-nonsense column he wrote for the maritime website gCaptain called Trying Hard to Die, he recounts the story of a Long Island lobsterman who did all the wrong things, yet miraculously survived 12 hours in the Atlantic without a life jacket after accidentally falling overboard. Vittone said the most important thing one can change while on the water is their behavior and respect the dangers that are inherent.

The event is sponsored by Allen Insurance and Financial, Ocean Navigator magazine, Professional Mariner magazine, Maine Boats Homes & Harbors magazine and The Strand Theatre. Tickets can be purchased at The Strand.

For more information about Mario Vittone’s work and writing visit: http://mariovittone.com/

You can feel it in the air. In all the new shops and restaurants opening in the Midcoast. This weekend kicks off the beginning of the summer slide, when everything begins to wake up and there are more things to do, try and see than you have time for. It’s springtime folks, time to shake it off and have some fun.

Killer Road Trip: Purple Rain in Waterville

Friday, April 30—Waterville

The Railroad Square Theater, like hundreds of independent movie theaters across the country, is honoring the late and great Prince with a one-night showing of the original 1984 movie Purple Rain. (Ugh, my heart hurts just watching that trailer again). Celebrate the sound and vision of Prince’s inevitable triumph over the 1980s, a purple spectacle gritty and electric that is at once a perfect encapsulation of the late singer in the minds of his fans and merely one of his insatiable mood swings. The show starts at 9 p.m. Buy tickets.

A giant game of Taboo

Saturday, April 30—Rockland

Hail to the Word Nerds! As part of the literary fun n’ games hello hello bookstore in Rockland is putting on in honor of Indie Bookstore Day (see our story here), they will be hosting a game of Taboo in (details) Taboo is a word, guessing, and party game where partners guess the word on the player's card without using the word itself or five additional words listed on the card. The free event starts at 5:30 p.m. It’ll be in Rock City cafe. When you register, you’ll get a name tag, be put on a team and get a little handful of treats for participating. Two teams will be put together (randomly) after all of the participants line up. They’ll do a brief rundown of the rules, and play for about 20-25 minutes until the band has to set up for their show. Rock City will be mixing up Edna St. Vincent Millay's favorite drink as a special.

Primo Cubano Dance Party

Saturday, April 30—Rockland

Primo Cubano,a recurring Midcoast fave, plays traditional Cuban dance music dating back to the turn of the 20th Century.The Rockport Opera House is hosting them to benefit Ashwood Waldorf School and there will be plenty of dancing, good eats and fab drinks (cash bar) provided by 40 Paper. A salsa lesson and demo starts at 7:30 p.m., live music starts 8 p.m. Cost: $20 advance; $25 at door.  Advance tickets at the school, Zoot Coffee and Belfast Dance Studio.

The Blast Addicts at The Mill

Saturday, April 30—Belfast

This Bangor-based hard rock and power pop group is taking over the Mill in Belfast to do a show. This is not a sit on the sidelines and watch as your eyelids start to get heavy type of show. Starts at 9 p.m. Listen to their sound here.

Killer Road Trip: Maine Bike Swap

Sunday, May 1—Portland

‘Tis the season to start thinking about biking again. In the annual Great Maine Bike Swap event you can choose from hundreds of bikes in all price ranges and of all types including road bikes, mountain bikes, hybrids and children’s bikes! You can also sell or donate the unused bikes you have around the house and garage. Area bike shops will be on site selling bike parts, accessories, helmets, and more! Held at the USM – Sullivan Recreation and Fitness Complex 10 a.m.-1 p.m. FMI: maineswap.com/event-details

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND — You know what they say: you can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs. For Heather Symmt, a Camden resident, this is something to keep in mind as she prepares to open her first restaurant, Broken Egg at 421 Main St., formerly the site of Comida Restaurant on May 18.

An accountant by trade with a passion and degree in baking and pastries, Symmt looked around for two years, before landing the what she saw as the perfect spot for her breakfast, brunch and lunch restaurant.

“I looked at a number of places, but once I saw this place it was the perfect fit,” she said.

Having snagged Chris Clark, the former chef of The Hartstone Inn to run the kitchen, while she manages the front of the house, Symmt is confident their skills will mesh well.

“It’s going to be your basic breakfast and lunch staples with an added flair,” she said.

The menu is still being built, but will include perennial favorites such as eggs Benedict with house-made speck and hollandaise, as well as inspired offerings such as carrot cake pancakes with toasted hazelnuts and maple mascarpone.

“We’re trying to appeal to all crowds,” said Clark. “We’ll definitely do seasonal stuff and add brunch specials to push the scale a little bit more.”

Clark said they will source as locally as possible. “We’re talking with a couple of smaller farms now,” he said. Their coffee will come from Bold Coast Coffee based in East Machias.

“Chris made a steak and eggs the other day that was phenomenal,” she said. “And we’ll have beignets. We’re also going to offer flatbreads. We’re testing out the menu right now with a flatbread that had arugula, candied bacon and Brie.”

Currently, the kitchen is being reconfigured and the restaurant space repainted gray and neutral colors with retro Mason jar lighting. Downstairs, where the group seating was located, Symmt ripped out all of the carpeting and added more lighting to brighten the windowless room.

“I’m hoping this will continue to be a communal room for larger parties,” she said.

As a mother of a toddler herself, she knows how hard it is to bring children into a small restaurant space, so she’s dedicating an area by the stairway for children’s tables and games. “If a parent can have a place for the child to go and play while he or she is eating, that would be ideal.”

Stay tuned to Broken Egg’s progress and opening day on Facebook.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Nearly a decade years ago, the headlines were dire for independent bookstores. These days, according to national stories, it’s evident that 2016 is the turnaround year and the indie bookstore is thriving more than ever despite mega retailers like Amazon controlling about 64 percent of print book sales. As author Ann Patchett said in a Wall Street Journal article, “I credit the customers, who seem to be collectively waking up to the fact that they are in charge of what businesses fail and succeed based on where they spend their money.”

Locally, the same bookstores in the Midcoast that started years ago — sometimes decades ago — are still thriving. Only one long-term bookstore, the Reading Corner closed in Rockland in 2014.

Avid book reader MaryLou Shuster, of South Portland, visits the Midcoast once a year for the sole purpose of hitting every independent bookstore from Belfast all the way down to Rockland. As a literary specialist, she primarily hunts for children’s books.

“Indie bookstores often have local authors whom you won’t find in major bookstores like Books-A-Million,” she said. “I’ll often find new books I haven’t seen because they’re only locally marketed. Independent bookstore staff are also way more knowledgeable about books. They really know their readers.”

Shuster always asks for the teacher discount, which saves her about 10-20 percent on each book.

“I’ve gotten some wonderful books this way that I wouldn’t have ordinarily discovered.”

As it happens, April 30 is national Indie Bookstore Day, a day to celebrate local bookstores. The inaugural push last year was around this time with 420 bookstores participating in 48 states and they’re hoping that 2016 is even bigger.

Hello hello books in Rockland is pulling out all the stops with a Buy-One-Get-One-Free used sale books; a Blind Date With a BookFundraiser; literary election buttons; temporary tattoos; drink specials in collaboration with Rock City Coffee, freebies for kids and adults throughout the day, and a giant game of Taboo at 5:30 p.m.

“This is the first time we’re participating in this fantastic event.” said Lacy Simons, the store’s owner. “We’re especially excited because we’ll be celebrating our five-year anniversary in just a few months, so this feels like a good way to kick off those celebrations.”

Nancy Hauswald, publicist for Left Bank Books in Belfast said, “Although we don't have any specific plans to celebrate the big day, we'll certainly have some flyers, posters and in-store notes about the celebration.”

Hauswald like most indie booksellers, credits the loyal following of small town communities for the bookshop’s continued success.

“Every day when we unlock the door to our shop, we give a silent thanks for being able to spend our day surrounded by books and people who love books as much as we do,” she said. “It's the personal interchanges with our devoted clientele that continually remind us of how lucky we are to live and work with people who recognize the importance of shopping locally—and not on-line with the ‘Big A.’ That people who go out of their way to come to our bookshop makes us giddy with happiness. Christopher Morley said it best in Parnassus on Wheels: ‘When you sell a man a book you don't sell just 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue—you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night—there's all heaven and earth in a book, a real book.”

Nanette Gionfriddo, owner of Beyond the Sea Books in Lincolnville, is also thrilled to see how much the little stores have such a following. "Our bookshop grew from one shelf in our gift shop, nurtured by the unbridled enthusiasm of our book-loving customers for our irresistible selection of great reads—new and second hand."

Support your indie bookshop on April 30 by patronizing Left Bank Books, Bellabooks, and Old Professor’s Bookshop in Belfast, Barnswallow Books in Rockport Village, Beyond the Sea Bookshop in Lincolnville, Owl & Turtle Bookshop, Stone Soup Books, and Sherman’s Books in Camden and and hello hello books in Rockland.

For more information on Independent Bookshop Day visit: indiebookstoreday.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

What should we call food truck connoisseurs—truckies? Well, truckies will be interested to know one Belfast food truck is pulling up their wheels and handing them over to someone else, while another dormant food truck in Rockland will be rolling in this spring.

Belfast’s Good ‘N’ You, a Mexican-themed food truck run by Sarah Waldron and Seth Whited since 2012, has decided not to re-open this summer. (See our original story on them here.) On their Facebook page they announced, “Running this truck and feeding all you good folks has been an immensely rewarding experience, and we'd like to extend our sincerest thanks to all of our great fans and supporters over the last four years. You truly make the struggle worthwhile.”

The truck will get a new look and a permanent location at 39 Main St. in Belfast, with the business Wags Wagon serving up sandwiches and salads using local and fresh ingredients. The truck plans to open May 12. Anna Wagner, along with her cousin, Henry Wagner, both have a passion to cook.

“I had heard through the grape vine that Seth and Sarah were not running their food truck, Good N You, and I decided to jump on it,” said Anna Wagner. “I moved to Belfast about a year ago and have been looking for a way to be part of the community. We are planning to sell sandwiches and salads at the food truck, with a menu heavy on locally sourced meats and cheeses.”

As for the retired Pho Sizzle food truck in Rockland run by Tom Pham (see our latest story here) the word is, a new Mexican-themed eatery, headed up by Mike Perrin, will open at 3 Buoy Park in mid-May.

Called Rocko’s Tacos, the newly painted food truck will feature Tex-Mex and tacos. A former cook for Time Out Pub and Waterworks Restaurant, this is Perrin’s first food truck venture.

“A typical offering would be a blackened haddock taco with tequila lime sauce,” he said. “I’ll try my hardest to make most of it locally sourced.”

Get the skinny on all of the food trucks in the area with our guide: Gourmet Food Trucks in the Midcoast

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

We’ve got a theme going here on this week’s Five Things. If it has an electronic beat, and a human voice is involved, it’s happening this weekend in the Midcoast. Enough of my prattling, check it out.

Take the Quantum Leap

Friday, April 22—Thomaston

Jason Dean and Mike Whitehead’s “electronic web of sound” is comprised of synths and drum machine as well as live instruments that will lead you to an ambient electronic experience that might even make you move your booty. Vicky Andres and Max McFarland also play. The show starts at 7 p.m. at The Highlands Coffee House.

The Messenger

Saturday, April 23—Rockland

It’s Earth Day, and you know what that means? (Turning in your beer cans at the redemption center is a start). It means it’s time to wake up to the impact we humans have on this planet. The Messenger, an an award-winning documentary screened at the Strand Theatre, is one way to do that. Moving from the northern reaches of the Boreal Forest to the base of Mount Ararat in Turkey to the streets of New York,  brings us face-to-face with a remarkable variety of human-made perils that have devastated thrushes, warblers, orioles, tanagers, grosbeaks and many other airborne music-makers. On one level, The Messenger is an engaging, visually stunning, emotional journey, one that mixes its elegiac message with hopeful notes and unique glances into the influence of songbirds on our own expressions of the soul. On another level, The Messenger is the artful story about the mass depletion of songbirds on multiple continents, and about those who are working to turn the tide.  The one-time show screens at 3 p.m. Cost: $8.50; $7.50 younger than 12, senior citizens.

The Ballad of Milli Vanilli is back!

Saturday, April 23—Rockland

The Rock Coast Rollers derby girls have your back for their fourth annual Ballad of Milli Vanilli Contest (named after the infamous 1980s musical duo who got caught lip-synching their entire album). This is not karaoke (actual singing), but rather lip-syncing (pretend singing) as party goers fake-sing their hearts out to cheesy songs for the crowd’s entertainment — complete with over-the-top costumes. The fun happens at Trackside Station. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the show starts at 9 p.m. $8 cover at the door.

“Audio Hash” Sonic Art Event

Saturday, April 23—Rockland

Sound artists Meghan Vigeant, Nate Davis, Ariel Hall, Sean Reed will give the audience a one-of-a-kind show that starts off sort of like an audio PechaKucha, then turns into a multi-layered story with experimental mixes and sound art. See more of the story here. The show takes place at The Steel House in Rockland. The show starts at 7 p.m. $5 suggested at the door.

Killer Road Trip: One Giant Mud Puddle

Sunday, April 24—Gorham

What better way to celebrate Earth Day than getting a little dirty. (I know where your mind went.) The Into the Mud Challenge is a race unlike any other here in Maine, featuring hundreds of costumed racers slipping and sliding through 2.5 miles of mud pits to traverse and challenging obstacles to conquer with an emphasis on getting dirty and having a muddy good time. The event goes from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and is definitely a spectator sport! FMI: intothemudchallenge.com

 Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND — It’s not often a night of entertainment around the Midcoast is limited to only one of your five senses, but that’s what four audio artists are doing on Saturday evening, April 23, at The Steel House in Rockland.

“We’re calling the event ‘Audio Hash’ because it’s a mix of experimental audio work that we’re all pulling together,” said Meghan Vigeant, one of the artists involved. Vigeant is a personal historian, writer and audio producer who helps people save their stories as books and audio, mostly for their families. She is the founder of Stories To Tell.

Each of the other artists has background in sound as well. Sean Reed is a Camden-based composer with a background in both instrumental and electroacoustic avant-garde music as well as live-interactive multimedia works and installations. Ariel Hall is a multidisciplinary artist working mainly in performance and installation, and Nathan Davis is a composer, artist and computer programmer.

The audience can expect an eclectic warm-up as each artist demonstrates a PechaKucha-like presentation of their own unique soundscapes.

“We’ll talk about each one and how they came to be,” said Vigeant. “Then after the intermission, we’ll do a collaborative piece called ‘Hash and her Synonym.’ We all come from such different audio backgrounds. My work is very narrative and the others experiment more with technology, so we came up with the idea of playing with sound. Basically, I wrote a story and recorded myself reading it. Then, each artist took the original story and added his or her layers to that recording, building upon the addition of each previous artist’s work.”

Vigeant will have her 1942 stand up RCA radio for people to explore as well. Prepare to laugh and wonder at the weirdness; mix with the sounds, ideas and people. The presentation will be followed with a reception of nibbles and sound installation. The event starts at 7 p.m. There’s a $5 suggested donation. For more information visit: The Steel House

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

I’m out in San Diego this week gathering ideas for the summer issue of The Wave and soaking up the California culture, but I’m hearing back home it’s going to be a gorgeous weekend in the 60s—perfect for a road trip. Spring is rolling on up and good times are ahead!

The relative from hell: Krisha

Friday, April 15—Waterville

I’m seeing big interest and buzz in this particular film out in California. You ever have that one relative who might be out of a bad relationship or rehab or is just bat-s*** crazy and you’re thinking it’s just a matter of time before all hell breaks loose? Well, you’ll have fun with Krisha. When Krisha shows up at her sister’s Texas home on Thanksgiving morning, her close and extended family greet her with a mixture of warmth and wariness. Almost immediately, a palpable unease permeates the air, one which only grows in force as Krisha gets to work cooking the turkey and trying to make up for lost time by catching up with her various relatives, chief among them her nephew, Trey. As Krisha’s attempts at reconciliation become increasingly rebuffed, tension and suspicion reach their peak, with long-buried secrets and deep-seated resentments coming to the fore as everyone becomes immersed in an emotionally charged familial reckoning. The film plays at the Railroad Square Cinema daily and has matinees. For more info and tickets visit: Railroad Square Cinema

Ladies Night at Trackside

Saturday, April 16—Rockland

It’s Ladies Night and the feeling’s right at Trackside, with free manicure giveaways every half hour until midnight. It’ll be top 40/county/hip hop music for dancing (totally random). No cover and the music starts at 9 p.m.

The Odd Couple Takes A Twist

Friday, April 15 and Saturday, April 16—Unity

Unger and Madison are it again. Florence Unger and Olive Madison, that is, in Neil Simon’s hilarious contemporary comic classic; the female version of The Odd Couple. Instead of the poker party that begins the original version, Madison has invited the girls over for an evening of Trivial Pursuit. The Pidgeon sisters have been replaced by the two Constanzuela brothers, but the hilarity remains the same. Performed at Unity College Center for Performing Arts, Friday’s shows are at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday’s show is at 7 p.m. Tickets are FREE. FMI: Odd Couple

Killer Road Trip: Reggae Fest at Sugarloaf

Saturday, April 16—Carrabassett Valley

Looks like Saturday is the best day to drive out to Sugarloaf and experience the with an afternoon full of partying and live Reggae on our outdoor stage starting at noon, with music from Royal Hammer, New Kingston, Gorilla Finger Dub, Kiwi, Dub Kartel, Ballyhoo! and the Cliftones. Check out the full schedule here and ticket prices: ReggaeFest

Killer Road Trip: Graham Nash visits for Record Store Day

Saturday, April 16—Scarborough

It’s that time again — Record Store Day for people who love their vinyl. Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Graham Nash, of reknowned Crosby, Stills and Nash, will be at the Scarborough Bull Moose store at 1 p.m. to meet with fans and sign copies of his new album, This Path Tonight. The event is free and open to the public, but it may be a good idea to arrive early: Click here for more information. And here’s a list of other indie record stores around Maine.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND—Artist Annie Bailey was one of the artists featured in The Farnsworth Art Museum’s [Collective] annual BASH on April 1. The sold-out event revolved around a circus theme and her contribution was in the form of an old storytelling art form — the crankie, which is a sequential scroll painting that moves through a box to depict a story, much like a silent movie.

“I’ve been quite fascinated with the Royal Tar for several years and I thought the crankie would be a great platform to share this local tale,” said Bailey, who spent much of her life working on and playing on boats, both in Penobscot Bay and across the globe.

For those not familiar with the story of the Royal Tar, it was a steamer heading from St. John to Portland with 85 passengers and a menagerie of circus animals, a wax museum and a brass band aboard when it sank in 1836 between Vinalhaven and Isle au Haut. (More can be found out about that disastrous shipwreck here).

With her background in hand drawn animation, Bailey made the crankie out of a roll of vellum, which she painted with scenes using india ink. The resulting piece is 35 feet long. The box surrounding the crankie she found in her attic. The turning dowels the paper was attached to were made from curtain rods she found at the dump. She credits Patty King at the Rockland Library who helped her do extensive research and her father, Steve Bailey, who helped  build the box.

Watch the accompanying video and follow along as Bailey describes each scene unfolding.

“The steamship you see at the beginning has paddlewheels and it’s got square-rigged sails in addition to its steam engine,” she said. “The menagerie you see going up the ramp was a very common form of entertainment in 1836 — the moving circus,” she said. “These are the animals boarding the Royal Tar in St. John, New Brunswick. They’d just done a big show, and they were headed back to Boston.  The Royal Tar was just a transport vessel for all of these people and animals heading back home.” 

In the next scene are figures waving goodbye.

“I had to edit some of these scenes in the video so you don’t see all of them, but the next thing you see is the animals in cages below decks,” she said. “The cages are stacked upon each other with this cacophony of noise odor and movement.There would have been a lot of rocking back and forth and I wanted to show how scared the animals would have been all crammed together.”

The next scene depicts the movement of the Royal Tar making its way through the ocean. “I was showing time passing and the significant part of that is the mackerel sky, which are the clouds you usually see before a storm in Penobscot Bay,” she said. “The smoke behind the steamship actually turns into a map of the Maine coastline and that map depicts the place where the Royal Tar sank. You can see it right between North Haven and Vinalhaven.”

The next image is below decks in the boiler room. “They had an elephant aboard and he was tied down on the deck above and because he weighed so much,” she explained. “The crew had to shim large pieces of wood above the boiler to stabilize the deck. The chief engineer in charge of keeping the boilers running had been up all night the night before dealing with some issue and left his second engineer in charge. The second engineer, for some reason, didn’t notice that the water level had emptied in the boilers and a fire started. The large pieces of wood caught fire quickly. That’s what you see in that image.”

The next image is looking down on the deck of the Royal Tar as the fire starts spreading and you see people running and the elephant trumpeting in fear.

“You also see a  lifeboat in this image,” she said. “Because they’d over-packed the steamship with animals and people they removed a few of the lifeboats and left them ashore. So, in this one lifeboat leaving is the second engineer. The story is he saved himself and some crew but not any women, children or animals and he rowed off to Isle au Haut. When the captain saw him doing that, he was very angry and tried to set the jib and mainsail and sail toward them.”

The scene changes with the elephants and the destruction of the boat with smoke and fire as they are trying to raise the SOS distress flag. “There was a US Coast Guard vessel nearby, but it couldn’t rescue them because it had a cargo of gunpowder aboard and they couldn’t get too close,” she said. “But they were able to get one lifeboat back and forth to the vessel and retrieve a number of passengers.”

As the story goes, 32 passengers were rescued, but all of the menagerie animals supposedly perished. The scene goes to flat calm and cuts to vultures sitting on the elephant’s skeleton. “Behind them is Brimstone island, where the Royal Tar sank,” she said. “One of the stories I found in my research is that an elephant skeleton washed up on Brimstone island and those are the vultures surrounding its carcass. I also talked to someone who knows the family who claims a Bengal tiger managed to swim to shore and live on one of the islands until it was shot. One of the islanders still has its skin hanging on the wall.”

Thus scrolls out the saddest show on Earth as the crankie’s dowels stop turning.

For more info on Annie Bailey’s work visit: http://www.anniebaileyart.com/index.html

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST — The woman in the painting is looking over her shoulder with an alarmed expression. Julia Alexander, 15, the artist, had a specific person in mind when she painted this.

“That’s Fantine from Les Misérables,” she explains. Fantine is a fictional character in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables. She is a young orphaned grisette in Paris who becomes pregnant by a rich student. After he abandons her, she is forced to look after their child, Cosette, on her own.

“I based this painting off of Celinde Schoenmaker, who played Fantine on the West End,” said Julia. “Fantine is looking back over her shoulder in this image. In the story of Les Mis, Fantine is a young, beautiful woman who has a child, but she finds herself in a bad place, and has no other option but to leave her young daughter with a horrid innkeeper and his wife. I imagine that this painting is of the moment Fantine is looking back over her shoulder at her daughter as she is walking away.”

Homeschooled in Etna, she took some private art lessons in elementary school, but is largely and self-taught. This is just one out of several paintings she’s done of Les Misérables. characters. “It’s was the first show that introduced me to musical theater,” she said.

The painting of the girl with the blue background is of Éponine from Les Mis.

“This is during the ‘On My Own’ scene, in which she is thinking about her unrequited love,” said Julia. “She is walking along the streets at night, shivering in the rain. In the painting, she has just realized that she loves him, but he will never love her.”

The blond man in the red jacket is Enjolras.

“He is the leader of a group of students revolting in the June Rebellion,” said Julia. “This moment is just after the Amis de l’ABC have finished constructing their barricade. Enjolras is still hopeful about the outcome of the rebellion.”

The painting that is split into two sections is of Valjean (top) and Javert (bottom).

“The reason I decided to paint this is because of the similarity in two of the lines these characters sing at the beginning and end of the musical. Valjean, the protagonist, sings, ‘Another story must begin.’ He knows that his life is basically at rock bottom and he needs to change. And that’s what he does. Javert echoes the same melody line just before he commits suicide at the end of the show. ‘There is no way to go on.’ The contrast between the characters in just those two lines really struck me, so I did what any artist would do — I created a painting!”

Talented on multiple levels, Julia is also into music and acting. She’s currently auditioning for some plays in Bangor, Belfast and in Brooks at at Marsh River Theater.

“I definitely would like to do more paintings of characters from musical theatre,” she said. “Right now, I have some ideas brewing in my head for paintings of characters from Hamilton (a new rap/hip hop musical about the founding fathers, mainly Alexander Hamilton). I'm really excited to get them on canvases.”

Julia Alexander’s Fantine piece originally appeared in a student show hanging in Waterfall Arts in Belfast.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

TENANTS HARBOR—When Scotland beachcomber Martin Gray went walking along one of his favorite beaches, Billiacru last week, about two miles from Stromness, the little fishing port where he grew up, he spied an orange plastic tag with the name C. Morris and the number #167 on it. An avid beachcomber since he was a teenager, he knew immediately what it was. 

“We find lobstering gear from all along the eastern seaboard of North America, from Labrador to Rhode Island,” he said. “Maine gear is probably the largest single cohort (followed by Newfoundland/Labrador and Massachusetts) and includes escape vents, trap tags, TopMe tags, buoys, Plante sticks and pot heads.”

The little piece of plastic, was in fact, a dislodged trap tag owned by Corey Morris, 35, a lobsterman from Tenants Harbor. It had traveled roughly 3,000 miles through the Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Drift that spins gear out across the Atlantic to Europe.

Excited to locate the owner of his find, Gray posted a photo of the tag on his Facebook page Orkney Beachcombing.

“In many ways, Facebook is an almighty pain in the backside full of bland truisms, peoples’ dinners and soppy kittens,” Gray said. “But, for finding connections, it is unsurpassed. I posted a photo on my Facebook page of a Massachusetts float found here yesterday. I had the owners name in seven minutes. I find that absolutely staggering!”

As for Morris, he was just working in his garage, repainting all of his buoys and getting his gear readied for the season when his Facebook notifications went crazy. Maine followers of Gray’s Facebook page notified Morris that Gray wanted to get in touch with him so he did.

What makes this find special is that this tag “C. Morris #167” was also his grandfather’s initials and original license number. Charles "Charlie" Morris was the 167th person in the state of Maine to be issued a lobster license. The year before Charlie passed away, he transferred his license number to his then-six-year-old grandson, Corey. If he hadn't done that, the license would have been considered a lost or retired license.

”I was already in an outboard with my dad at that age,” said Morris. “I couldn't even haul the trap then I was so little. I can remember going home in the evenings and hauling 10 traps with my dad. He's now held his lobster license for 29 years. Current regulations don't allow lobster fishermen to transfer tags to family members any more, so #167 will retire with Morris. "If I wanted to give my daughter mine, I couldn't,” he explained. “She'd have to go into the lottery and get a five or six digit number."

"I noticed in Martin's picture that the holes of the tag are intact, so it didn't look like the hog ring ripped off," said Morris. He declined to say how it could have come off but every lobsterman who has had his gear molested, and tags ripped out to keep the trap (which runs around $100 per trap) knows it's a distinct possibility that the tag was deliberately cut out and discarded into the ocean.

Gray has seen more trash float in on his beaches from the U.S. than he cares to, but when it comes to fishing gear, that’s different.

“The finds from Maine fishermen are special because I know that what reaches us from there isn't really litter,” he said. “Almost all of it was lost against the wishes of the fisherman, with very little casually thrown away. The escape vents float free but that is a conservation measure to render lost ghost pots nonlethal to marine life. A brilliant plan! We have nothing like it here. There's no such thing as ‘good litter,’ but escape vents come very close! I make clear distinctions between plastic in the sea that has been willfully dumped, lost by neglect or mismanagement and lost by accident. Maine pot gear is almost all lost by accident.”

Gray has been working the last five years to display the best of his beach finds into finds over the last few years into a museum.

“Finding Corey’s tag has been the highlight of my beachcombing winter,” Gray said. “It has a very special tale behind it and I can see it being a star exhibit one day.”

Related story: Maine’s treasures (and trash) wash up on Ireland’s shores

This weather is acting like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde this weekend, with Saturday looking “yutty” (as my toddler nephew used to say) and Sunday looking brighter and sunnier. It’s not spring yet! So, let’s bring you five things to occupy that part of your brain that needs to relax and have fun this weekend.

PechaKucha Time

Friday, April 8—Owls Head

Tonight’s PK event, in which hand-picked interesting presenters introduce 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each, is happening at the Owls Head Transportation Museum at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. if you want to get there early and check out the museum. Presenters include: Jason Bannister, artistic drector of the Midcoast Actors’ Studio; Noah Bly, blacksmith; David Foley, Holland and Foley Architecture; Pete Kalajian, astrophotographer, astronomer and artist; Pam Maus, director and producer of NextStepRun!; K.Min, artist; Mark Moskovitz, designer; Brett Willard, program director at Merryspring Nature Center; with emcee Kimberly Callas. $5 at the door.

Digisaurus at Rock City

Friday April 8—Rockland

Digisaurus is the brand new “future pop/rock” project from artist and producer, James Allison. Featuring some of Ohio’s best musicians and visual artists, Digisaurus is dedicated to the evolution of music and art through technology and collaboration. This is sure to be a cool and surreal music experience. The show goes from 7 to 9 p.m.

Nikki Hunt Band at Trackside

Saturday, April 8—Rockland

Trackside Station turns seven on Saturday and to celebrate, they’re bringing the Nikki Hunt Band to play. Here’s how they describe themselves: “Nikki has been performing most of her life. Singing, dancing, acting, modeling and hooping. Over 1,100 shows completes six-and-a-half years as a singer and hooper in a pop rock band.” So, Nikki is a fan of incomplete sentences, but she’s likely to spin up the energy with her hoops and vocals Saturday night. No cover charge. The show goes from 9 p.m to 1 a.m.

Beausoleil and Michael Doucet in concert

Saturday, April 9—Rockland

If you’re into Cajun, zydeco, New Orleans jazz, Tex-Mex, country, blues and more, check out the Grammy award-winning band at the Strand Theatre. Tickets are $25. FMI: Bausoleil

Killer Road Trip: Second annual Bangor Comic Con

Friday, April 8-Sunday, April 10—Bangor

Did anybody get my April Fool’s joke last week in the Killer Road Trip? Do you THINK I’d really send you all the way up to Machias to watch a film on salmon? No, but I would send you to Bangor for the second annual Comic and Toy Con. It was such a blast last year. (See my story on it here.) One of the doctors from Doctor Who will be there, as well as Nichelle Nichols from the original Star Trek TV series and Verne Troyer “Mini-Me”! It’s $25 per day and free for kids $12 and under. FMI: bangorcomictoycon.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST — Like most teenagers, Alyson Peabody asked her parents if she could have the choice in painting her bedroom walls. Sure, they said. But, when they walked in later that night, they were stunned to see she’d painted a mural from Vincent van Gogh’s famous painting, the Starry Night, on one bedroom wall.

“They just stood there and said, ‘Oh. OK, not what we expected,’” she said.

However, given her level of talent, they were not unhappy. Later that night, she painted a rainy city on another wall and a woman in a dress that looks like a peacock on the third.

“When I look at them, I just imagine all of the other images that I want to paint someday when I live in my own house, or I think of all of the backdrops I want to paint as a set designer,” she said.

She submitted her first piece to Waterfall Arts Student Gallery of a woman sipping a cup of tea which she called “Tea-rrific.”

“I saw this photo on Pinterest of a woman looking over her teacup with sort of this sly smile. I really like working with faces. There was just something about hers that was very happy and I wanted to paint it.”

Scrolling through her portfolio, it’s obvious she’s drawn to subject’s eyes.

“I put a lot of attention to detail in those,” she said.

In one of her drawings, it’s obvious the subject is Audrey Hepburn.

“This was the first time I had worked with charcoal in a few years, so this drawing was mostly experimentation. I really enjoy drawing and painting faces (and I had just watched Roman Holiday) so Hepburn was the first person that I thought of drawing.”

The Belfast senior at BAHS is largely self-taught.

“I’ve only taken one arts class here and it was crafts,” she laughed. “I really like working with acrylics, but I also like oil pastels too; that’s a lot of fun.”

In her crafts class, she was assigned the project of making a plaster of Paris mold of her face and to make a mask out of it.

“I toyed with many different ideas before I settled on creating the Medusa-like one. I wanted to incorporate nature into the face while keeping a relatively realistic look to the mask's flesh, so I decided to have the flowers sprouting from the eye sockets like the face is overflowing with natural beauty.”

Peabody is naturally drawn to the creative arts and is into theater as well.

“I've been involved in more than 12 shows as an actress, and one show as a stage manager. I am currently involved in the BAHS production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory where I will be portraying Willy Wonka/Candy Man, as well as help design set and props.”

Well, as they say, the eyes have it.

Alyson Peabody’s “Tea-riffic” painting originally appeared in a student show hanging at Waterfall Arts in Belfast.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 We’re bashing in the new month of April this weekend with multiple costume dance parties and wild shows, both human and animal-inspired. Happy spring peeps!

Poets and Fools Dance Party

Friday, April 1—Belfast

If you didn’t get tickets to The Collective’s April 1 BASH in time, don’t hang up your costume yet. Luckily Waterfall Arts is hosting its annual ‘Poets and Fools,’ Waterfall Arts' legendary annual costume bash with a new line-up of eccentricities and entertainment. From 6 to 10 p.m., revelers of all ages will be dancing, goofing, parading, eating, drinking, playing, story telling, daring, and winning prizes. The night kicks off with an invocation by Ariel Greenberg-Bywater quickly followed by the Belfastian "Tonight Show" hosted by Waterfall Arts' own Bridget Matros and featuring ridiculous games with local mystery celebs. The Acetones provide background sound for all the foolery. Costumes will be judged, raffles drawn, and mad poetry dispensed before the live music coalesces into a dizzying dance party with high energy band. Tickets can be purchased at the door. 7 and under free, age 8-15 $5, everyone else $10.

Special Spring Open Mic at Rock City

Friday, April 1—Rockland

Midcoast Music Academy (MCMA) will get their chance in the spotlight at Rock City Cafe featuring a number of adult and teen musicians and singer songwriters. There’s no cover and it’s a great way to kick off your Friday evening before heading to the fabulous April Fools' Circus Collective Bash at the Farnsworth. The show goes from 6 to 8 p.m.

Grit & Grace

Friday, April 1 & Saturday, April 2 —Camden

Kinetic Energy Alive Dance Productions is kicking their spring show into a frenzy this weekend, demonstrating styles ranging from Jazz-Funk, inspired by some of the best in NYC, to contemporary, modern, hip hop, breakdancing and old school funk. See our story here. Both shows run 7 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $15 and can be found here.

Killer Road Trip: A thrilling night of watching salmon swim

Friday, April 1—Machias

It’s a long drive up to Machias, but it’s totally worth it because the Maine Salmon Rivers organization is offering a free showing of “A Complicated Path,” a documentary on the decline of river herring in Maine and New England, at 6:30 p.m. at the Downeast Salmon Federation’s East Machias Aquatic Research Center (EMARC), 13 Willow St. in East Machias. Asked what it’s about, organizer Eleanor Pike said, “It’s about...fish.” This movie chronicles the decline of river herring, tapping into the knowledge of leaders in river herring research throughout New England. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the movie will start at 7 p.m. Costumes encouraged.

Killer Road Trip: Popovich Pet Theater

Sunday, April 3—Orono

This guy, Gregory Popovich is aces in my book. His  World Famous Popovich Pet Theater features 15 cats and 10 dogs were once strays, rescued from animal shelters. Now, they love to show off onstage by performing a variety of stunts and skits. Popovich and his Pets have been featured on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with David Letterman, and as a finalist on NBC’s America’s Got Talent. Audiences will be delighted to see this extravaganza of European-style clowning, amazing juggling and balancing acts, and of course, extraordinarily talented performing pets! It’s a show that adults and kids (and pet lovers of all ages) will enjoy. The show is at the Collins Center for The Arts on the campus of the University of Maine in Orono. FMI: click here. Adults $22 / Children 12 and under $14.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND — When The Blackboard Deli closed last year, many wondered what would take its place. Hops and Chops, at 77 Park Street in Rockland, is the full-service butcher shop and beer/wine shop that has moved in and plans to open in mid-May.

This is owner Dale Dare’s first entrepreneurial venture. A Rockland native, he plans to make this a family business that includes his wife, Elia, their son, Tyler, and his sister, Diana.

He was meat manager for Rockland’s Hannaford Supermarket for two years, and prior to that worked for a New Hampshire for Stop and Shop as a meat manager for nine years.

“I’ve been cutting meat since 1984,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to do something like this. The concept came to me more than 25 years ago. I was working at French and Brawn at the time and I always wanted to do something like this on my own. It’s taken a long time to get here, but finally, I think, the time is right.”

Dare said his butcher shop will offer handcrafted steaks to order, as well as a variety of cuts in the meat case available, including USDA Choice and USDA Prime cuts of meat sourced from several suppliers.

He’s still working on researching local suppliers and will offer free-range and organic chicken products.

“I have butchered whole animals, having cut hanging beef in the past, but for the sake of ease, we are going to be using meats that have already been broken down and can be further handcrafted into a variety of cuts,” he said.

On the Hops side, Dare is excited to be able to stock up with Maine made craft brews.

“The craft beer scene has exploded in the last few years with maybe 70 breweries,” he said. “We’re going to try and get the majority of those in the shop and we’re working with distributors now. One of the things you’ll be able to do is build your own six pack from all of the varieties. In addition the shop plans to offer fine wines, many also sourced from Maine, as well.”

They’re currently renovating the former deli’s interior.

“We are using some of the kitchen equipment that was in the building such as the range, convection oven and flat top grill, but we have removed the double decker conveyor pizza oven, and we are adding three meat cases,” he said. “We really liked the color scheme of the building so we are keeping the colors, but we will be adding our own decor throughout. We want to keep it simple and let the products speak for themselves.”

Beyond the hops and chops, there will also be a section of the store dedicated to prepared meals to-go.

“We will have fall-off-the-bone baby back ribs, homemade meatloaf, homemade meatballs, as well as a line of our in-house made sausages,” he said. “We also will have a signature line of meat rubs as well as marinades that we will be using in our products and customer may also purchase them to use at home. People can just pop in and grab made-from-scratch dishes, take them home and reheat them.”

The grand opening has yet to be announced, but when they do, they plan to offer special pricing on a few items and a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Stay tuned to their progress on Facebook.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

THOMASTON — It’s been a little over a month since we reported on a starved and emaciated stray cat who had a slim chance of survival, once he was brought in to Pope Memorial Humane Society of Knox County.

The staff named him Saint. When they got him off the street, he faced an uphill battle and the staff had to get each issue under control, starting with feeding him, cutting the mats out of his coat and ridding him of fleas. He was barely able to walk, falling down on his front paws. After he was given medication to combat an upper respiratory infection and he was stabilized, they did some him blood work and discovered he had one more issue: diabetes.

“The report came back that his sugars were really high, so we had to give him insulin,” said Joanna Boynton, assistant manager at the shelter. “He’s doing well and he’s getting around better. But right now we’re trying to adjust the dosage of insulin. And that usually takes awhile.”

At the time of our original story, Theresa Gargan, the shelter manager, predicted he’d be ready to adopt within a month, but his diabetes has prolonged that estimate.

“Right now, we don’t have a determined time frame to adopt him out,” said Boynton.  “Getting a handle on diabetes is a tricky process as insulin levels in cats are hard to stabilize.”

For the time being, he’s still putting on weight, which he needs. He is also growing a new coat of fur, which was filthy and matted when he arrived and had to be shaved down when they did their first medical examination under sedation.

“We gave him a nice bath at that time too,” said Boynton. Now, she said, his fur is growing back softer.

“He’s definitely much more aware of what’s going on,” she said. “He’s an older cat so he still has a little of that grumpy, leave-me-alone vibe. But, he’s definitely acting more like a cat now, not a zombie. When he first came to us he wasn’t aware of anything else but survival.”

When Saint’s story went viral, the shelter got dozens of calls to adopt him. “We had a lot of people showing interest in taking him home,” she said. “Someone who does would need to know how to treat a cat with special needs.”

This resource gives that information: felinediabetes.com

For more information: humanesocietyofknoxcounty.org

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST — In recent years, the Midcoast has seen a number of events and conferences dedicated to uplifting those in the arts and creative economy and on April 1, Archipelago, retail side of the Island Institute, is bringing together artists and makers from around the state for a one-day event to offer networking, and practical tips and strategies to help people grow their small business. 

Archipelago is a natural incubator for this event since they showcase Pine Tree State artists and makers whose work reflects the beauty and endurance of Maine’s islands and coast. Since opening in 2000, Archipelago has advanced the careers of more than 800 Maine residents, while playing a pivotal role in Maine’s creative economy.

Artists and Makers Conference 2016 organizer Lisa Mossel Vietze said, “I’ve been lucky enough, for the last eight years, to work with many artists and makers and I kept hearing the need for more support on the business side of running a creative business. I love working with artists, directly helping them with pricing, packaging, branding, and thought that if the Institute could do a conference for artists like we do for island teachers and island energy issues, that would be great.”

In 2014, Archipelago held the first conference for invited island artists, capped at 20 people. The next year, they doubled that number at the next event.

“This year, I wanted to really grow it so it’s now a public event open to anyone making art in Maine,” said Mossel Vietze. “I see this conference as an opportunity for artists to learn about the business side of running creative business. It’s great that folks are making soap, earrings, paintings, but now what? Can you get your work in the right place to be seen by your customers? How do you figure out pricing? How do you use social media? Most artists I work with and know are doing several other jobs, so how do we support the artists in starting or growing their business? This is a conference put on by artists for artists, artists who may not understand or be that comfortable with the language of the business development programs that are available.”

The workshops will range from marketing and selling fine arts to social media and branding, with lots of opportunities to network with other artists and makers.

“I believe that the creative economy is a significant and growing piece of Maine’s economy so that by supporting artists, we can strengthen their income diversity and opportunities and therefore grow Maine’s economy as well,” said Mossel Vietze.

Artists and Makers Conference 2016 will be held Friday, April 1 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Hutchinson Center at 80 Belmont Ave. (Route 3) in Belfast. General admission is $25. Tickets and the day-long itinerary can be found here.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN — When former Camden Hills Regional High School student Thatcher Chamberlin was 17, he developed an open source online program that would let anyone make a raised relief map of the earth’s surface on a 3-D printer, allowing people to create a three-dimensional solid object of the map from a digital file. He did it on his own; it wasn’t part of any school project. 

“I wanted to make a model of Rockport Harbor,” he said. Nothing like this had previously existed, so Chamberlin took his data, turned it into a computer program and made his model on a milling machine. “After I created that program, I realized I could make a raised relief map of the whole world if I had the right data.”

Thinking his hobby might interest others, he assembled all of the data into a free website, calling it Terrain2STL that allows people to select parts of the Earth and download that particular part as a physical object. Imagine your favorite lake, mountain, or even your backyard in physical 3-D form.

It took Thatcher about five months to create that program—and it caught on. Schools began using his website for geography projects and local landmarks. Last year, he graduated from Camden Hills. Now, as a first year computer science student at M.I.T, he’s decided the earth isn’t enough. Thatcher decided to  go for the moon, specifically to create the open source computer program Moon2STL, using data taken from a topographical model of the lunar surface by the U.S. Geological Survey.

“This took about a month to create using a lot of the same code,” he said. 

Asked why someone would be interested in printing out the surface of the moon, he answered, “I’m not sure actually. I made it and then I realized, there’s not a huge amount of reason to do that. Perhaps, you could print the area of where the moon landings happened.”

After posting his moon website in Reddit’s 3D printing community, that particular creation caught the attention of the website Motherboard, which interviewed him for an article. Soon after, and to his surprise, Popular Mechanics magazine picked up his story.

“I just found out the story popped up,” he said. “Afterwards, I ran into a few people who’d seen it; it was kind of exciting.”

Right now, he’s working with a man who wants to fashion custom cocktail tables with 3-D printed topography carved out of wood below the glass surface. “So, picture looking at a range of mountains or the San Francisco Bay underneath the glass,” he said.

Since Thatcher has done all of this work for free and released it as open source, where people can crowdsource new design features, he has never had an eye on capitalizing on his invention.

“Right now, I don’t have enough time to develop it into something that’s really marketable, so I just had a little donation button on my website, maybe $5 if they feel like using it for their own projects.” He said he’s made a little money this way. “That’s just the way a lot of software is done these days.”

Pretty cool. Maybe Thatcher’s invention, and the Steel House in Rockland, will be ways for people to create a very unique piece of Maine for themselves.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

We’ve got sunny skies and a high-energy weekend on tap with a battle of the bands, a story slam, a party band, a drag show and free maple ice cream!

Bands Jam ‘70s Style in Trekkapalooza

Friday, March 25—Rockland

Break out the flare jeans, the 11th annual Trekkapalooza event is kicking off at The Strand Theatre. This year's "Battle of the Bands" competition will feature a '70s theme with five exciting and energetic acts. Each band will be playing at least one song from the 1970s. New to the event this year, two teams from Oceanside High School will compete in a  lip sync challenge, with the winner decided by popular audience vote. Don’t miss the Midcoast teen’s favorite band, Fading Dawn, (see our past article on these cool kids here.) The event starts at 7 p.m.; doors open at 6:30 p.m. All ages show. Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door. FMI: Trekkapalooza

Story Slam in Hope

Friday, March 25—Hope

Sweet Tree Arts is hosting their 4th annual Story Slam. Each story teller has five minutes to entertain and wow the crowd, followed by a 45-minute story by international teller Dovie Thomason. This is the adult show, from 7 to 9 p.m. For the kids’ show details, check the website. (See a review of last year’s show on PenBay Pilot.) Tickets: $15 online and $20 at the door. It’s always packed to the roof, so get there early.

The Shizzle plays The Myrtle

Saturday, March 26—Rockland

If you want a high-energy party band (that’s a bit off-color), that’s The Shizzle. Homegrown from Augusta, The Shizzle is central Maine's newest live music sensation; a themed dance/party band with costumes and DJ lighting. Myrtle Street Tavern hosts the show, which starts at 9 p.m.

Killer Road Trip: March Dragness!

Saturday, March 26—Bangor

Maine’s biggest drag show is back at the Hollywood Casino. This year's show will be hosted by the amazing Shaunna Rai. This year's theme is BILLBOARD HOT 100! All acts must perform a song that has been on the Billboard Hot 100 in any genre or era. Get ready for some heart stopping music, epic performances and thrilling costumes. This is an 18+ show, which will benefit several different charities. Online tickets have already been sold out but get there early as they’ll be selling more at the door. Door sales start at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. FMI: March Dragness

Maine Maple Sunday

Sunday, March 27—Camden

It’s spring, right? Please tell me it’s spring. The maple trees are ready. A sugaring-off is happening at the Cramer Museum on Route 1 on the Camden-Rockport line. There will be demonstrations of maple syrup making in their 1820s sugar house, free maple ice cream sundaes and free samples of open fire pit cooking by the famed chili and chowder extraordinaire, Maynard Stanley. Maple donuts and other maple treats will also be on sale. Goes from 1 to 4 p.m. Call 236-2257 for more info.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN — It was a book that hit close to home for many Camden residents. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the publication of Grace Metalious’ novel Peyton Place. Steeped in controversy, this story, set in New England, was the best-selling novel up to that time. The movie adaptation, released the following year and nominated for nine Academy Awards, was shot extensively in the Midcoast area.

And now that the film is getting a new look, writer, director and producer Willard Carroll is excited to be involved.

“The movie is currently being restored, digitally, by 20th Century Fox  and the Motion Picture Academy, and they’re actually doing a new 35-millimeter print when they re-show it in theaters, which is quite unusual,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to premiere that print this summer. There’s going to be a lot of interest in film festivals around it and we want to bring it to Maine first. The Blu ray will come out next year and I’ve been invited to do the audio commentary on that.”

In addition, Blu ray asked if Carroll would host a class discussing the novel’s transition to film. “I love talking about it, so I said sure,” he said.

Carroll said the film was the reason he and his partner moved to Maine after living in Los Angeles for 30 years.

“About 10 years ago, Camden was hosting the 50th anniversary of the movie being shot here and that was the first time I’d ever come to Maine,” he said. “I was here for about five minutes and decided I wanted to move here.”

In his spare time, Carroll went around to find all of the locations in the Midcoast where Peyton Place was originally shot and decided to make a short film titled On Location in Peyton Place. With the help of Camden historian Barbara Dyer, who’d already done extensive research on where the movie was shot, Carroll said, “She had about 99 percent of the locations already documented and I went out and found the remaining 1 percent of locations that hadn’t been found.”

All in all, for his film he shot 42 locations that appeared in the original film. “We shot it in early autumn so all of the fall colors were out,” he said. Carroll’s short film will also be part of the Blu ray edition being released this year.

On Tuesday, April 5, Carroll will host the first of a two-night class at Camden Hills Regional High School in Rockport. The first class will be a screening of Peyton Place with some introductory remarks and discussion.

“Assuming there are still people who haven’t seen the movie, I don’t want to give away spoilers,” he said.

The second night, on Tuesday, April 12, will feature a discussion of the considerable page-to-screen adaptation challenges presented by an “unfilmable” book and conclude with an overview of the Maine locations used in the movie. “The second class is more a dissection of the movie,” he said.

“When the book was first published in 1956, it was an instant success, but it was a very daring novel,” Carroll said. “The reason it was so controversial is because it was written by a woman and it was a very sexually explicit book. And the reason it was considered unfilmable was because of the censorship rules at the time. Still, it ended up for about a 10-year period to be the biggest selling novel of all time. The movie is a heavily sanitized version of the book, but it’s still an adult-oriented film. After faltering at the box office initially, the film became the second highest grossing film of 1957.”

Peyton Place’s other resounding theme revolves around the secrets that lie under the surface of a picture postcard town such as Camden.

“At the time, other books written by women about career women were all set in big cities, which had a different moral compass than small town America did,” said Carroll. “Peyton Place investigated this idealized notion of small town life and undercut the myths. The significance of the book is that it ripped the veil off aspects of society that were known, but rarely acknowledged, particularly in popular entertainment."

Asked if anything has changed since 1956 when it comes to small town life Carroll said, “The book is also about huge economic divisions and how that impacted the society. That has not changed and that will never change. It’s sort of a universal theme.”

The course, run by Five Town CSD, is $25, which covers both nights. More details can be found here.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST—They’re probably the most fragile, impractical canvas to ever work on, but Ukranian artist Lesia Sochor can render tiny worlds on an egg, just by using three tools.

Sochor learned the ancient art form of the “Pysanka,” a Ukrainian decorated egg from her mother.  Using a process known as wax-resist, lines of melted beeswax are drawn onto the egg with a tool called a “Kistka.” The traditional Kistka was a wooden dowel with a copper funnel attached. There are now many other types of Kistkas to choose from, but they all operate under the same principal: heat the tip in the flame of the candle, dip in beeswax and draw the design on the egg.

“Every time you draw a wax pattern on a white egg and then dip it into say a purple dye, whatever you’ve drawn on the egg in wax will not turn that color,” she said. “The way you get all of the colors is you keep dipping the egg in different colors. The wax stays on the egg until the very end. When you remove the wax, all of the designs are fully revealed.”

It’s a very meditative process, said Sochor. One can outline the egg in geometric patterns, but she freehand draws objects such as ornate birds on her eggs. “Even if you’re not an artist, simply by sectioning and diving the egg, you can make a beautiful pattern,” she said.

The egg and designs upon it were said to bring good fortune to each household. “It’s an ancient Ukranian ritual to welcome spring,” Sochor explained. “Traditionally people believed the egg was a powerful talisman and that every part of the egg had meaning, like a trinity. The yolk was considered the sun, the whites were the moon and the shell was a universe. When Christianity came into Ukraine, the symbolic nature-filled designs were modified to include the resurrection of Christ. “Traditionally you saw symbols of the sun, moon, wheat, animals and nature and earth on the eggs,” she said.

Once eggs were done, they “protected” the people of the house. They were thought to protect people from illness, and safeguard the house from lightning. 

Though Sochor now blows out the yolks and whites with an egg blower before she begins, decorating the intact egg was how she learned the process. “I have an egg that my mother did that I’ve saved all these years,” she said. “It’s about 55 years-old. If the egg has no crack in it and it’s a good, farm fresh egg, what happens is the yolk dries out and it sounds like a little marble in there.”

Watch the accompanying video to see how the process is done.

Sochor is giving a free workshop on Ukranian egg dying Saturday, March 26 at the Marsh River Co-op in Brooks from  3-5 p.m. Recommended ages 8 and up. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Free event, materials provided. Call 722-4020 for more info.

ROCKLAND—Something wicked this way comes. Wicked cool that is.

On Friday, April 1, the Farnsworth Art Museum's [Collective] membership group will host its fifth annual BASH. This year's BASH will feature a band flying in from Nairobi, Kenya who call themselves humbly  “Just a Band: "Africa's nerdiest hip-hop art collective." Just a Band is known for Gorillaz-like immersive performances, creative sampling, video and wit.

Every Collective BASH has been off the charts, the coolest thing to hit Rockland. This one will be no exception. The Farnsworth’s Special Events Manager Annie Brown said it has taken almost a year to plan this extravaganza. “Last year’s BASH we ramped it up and brought in live music for the first time, and I’ve been focusing on choosing performers that we normally wouldn’t get here. She’d been listening to Just A Band for years, which has a house/funk/disco sound that combines jazz, hip-hop, disco and electronica, and reached out to them to come play in Rockland. “It was somewhat difficult to communicate with them since they’re based in Nairobi, but they really are incredible.”

Just like a three-ring circus, the spotlight will also shift over to other performances throughout the evening including Haus Paradigm, a dance group that brings a unique flair to belly dancing in their own unique approach, The Band of Weirdos—an odd group of performing carnival creatures, and Simple Circus out of Portland.

“The Band of Weirdos is led by dancer Hanna DeHoff, sort of coming out of the Jeerleader tradition (the alternative cheerleaders for the Rock Coast Roller derby team),” said Brown. “They’ll be a roving side show through the crowds. And Simple Circus is a group based in Portland, led by Warren-native Amity Stoddard, who does pop-up circus events.

As always, the Collective’s unique group of community artists, come together to envision art installations that fit the theme. (If you ever saw their Dorothy’s House from The Collective’s third Wizard of Oz-themed bash, you’ll have an idea of what to expect.) The Farnsworth’s Wyeth Center, on the corner of Union Street and Grace Street in Rocklandwill be transformed through installations created by many local artists, including MidCoLab, Margaret Rizzio, Annie Bailey, Orlando Johnson, Alexis Iammarino, Scott Sell, Chris Gamage, Jared Cowan, Alexandra Gillian Martin, Owen Cartwright and multiple Youth Arts Participants.

What else you can expect? A dance floor, carnival-game art installations and two cash bars manned by Rollie’s Pub and Grill with a side of hot dogs and popcorn thrown in. Sorry kids, the BASH is 21+. Doors open at 8 p.m. with the band starting at 9 p.m. Participants are encouraged to dress up in theme or just “come as you are.” More than 300 people attended last year.  Tickets to this sure-to-be-sold out event are Free for [Collective] members and $20 for nonmembers. For more information or to purchase a ticket, please visit www.thecollectivebash.com.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN — It was a book that hit close to home for many Camden residents. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the publication of Grace Metalious’ novel Peyton Place. Steeped in controversy, this story, set in New England, was the best-selling novel up to that time. The movie adaptation, released the following year and nominated for nine Academy Awards, was shot extensively in the Midcoast area.

And now that the film is getting a new look, writer, director and producer Willard Carroll is excited to be involved.

“The movie is currently being restored, digitally, by 20th Century Fox  and the Motion Picture Academy, and they’re actually doing a new 35-millimeter print when they re-show it in theaters, which is quite unusual,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to premiere that print this summer. There’s going to be a lot of interest in film festivals around it and we want to bring it to Maine first. The Blu ray will come out next year and I’ve been invited to do the audio commentary on that.”

In addition, Blu ray asked if Carroll would host a class discussing the novel’s transition to film. “I love talking about it, so I said sure,” he said.

Carroll said the film was the reason he and his partner moved to Maine after living in Los Angeles for 30 years.

“About 10 years ago, Camden was hosting the 50th anniversary of the movie being shot here and that was the first time I’d ever come to Maine,” he said. “I was here for about five minutes and decided I wanted to move here.”

In his spare time, Carroll went around to find all of the locations in the Midcoast where Peyton Place was originally shot and decided to make a short film titled On Location in Peyton Place. With the help of Camden historian Barbara Dyer, who’d already done extensive research on where the movie was shot, Carroll said, “She had about 99 percent of the locations already documented and I went out and found the remaining 1 percent of locations that hadn’t been found.”

All in all, for his film he shot 42 locations that appeared in the original film. “We shot it in early autumn so all of the fall colors were out,” he said. Carroll’s short film will also be part of the Blu ray edition being released this year.

On Tuesday, April 5, Carroll will host the first of a two-night class at Camden Hills Regional High School in Rockport. The first class will be a screening of Peyton Place with some introductory remarks and discussion.

“Assuming there are still people who haven’t seen the movie, I don’t want to give away spoilers,” he said.

The second night, on Tuesday, April 12, will feature a discussion of the considerable page-to-screen adaptation challenges presented by an “unfilmable” book and conclude with an overview of the Maine locations used in the movie. “The second class is more a dissection of the movie,” he said.

“When the book was first published in 1956, it was an instant success, but it was a very daring novel,” Carroll said. “The reason it was so controversial is because it was written by a woman and it was a very sexually explicit book. And the reason it was considered unfilmable was because of the censorship rules at the time. Still, it ended up for about a 10-year period to be the biggest selling novel of all time. The movie is a heavily sanitized version of the book, but it’s still an adult-oriented film. After faltering at the box office initially, the film became the second highest grossing film of 1957.”

Peyton Place’s other resounding theme revolves around the secrets that lie under the surface of a picture postcard town such as Camden.

“At the time, other books written by women about career women were all set in big cities, which had a different moral compass than small town America did,” said Carroll. “Peyton Place investigated this idealized notion of small town life and undercut the myths. The significance of the book is that it ripped the veil off aspects of society that were known, but rarely acknowledged, particularly in popular entertainment."

Asked if anything has changed since 1956 when it comes to small town life Carroll said, “The book is also about huge economic divisions and how that impacted the society. That has not changed and that will never change. It’s sort of a universal theme.”

The course, run by Five Town CSD, is $25, which covers both nights. More details can be found here.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

UNION — The name started as a joke, something Gary Harriman’s friend and business partner, Kevin Davis, came up with. “As we assembled different pieces of wood together to make something new, Kevin said, ‘Well I don’t know about this Frankenstein Furniture’ and I said, ‘That’s a perfect name for it.’”

Harriman’s garage in Union isn’t a creepy old laboratory, but it is filled with bits and pieces and odd parts. Dismantled barn boards and stacks of old wooden bed posts, moldings and distressed boards stand up against the walls.

As a micro-business, it’s not feasible to buy new wood to make the furniture. Harriman prefers to find raw materials that would otherwise go into a landfill, so all of the wood he uses in his furniture is recycled and reclaimed. He finds lumber from yard sales, dismantled barns, antique and junkyard stores, like Elmer’s Barn and Liberty Tool — and sometimes, he just sees cast offs on the side of the road and picks them up.

“I use a lot of bed posts and frames to make legs of tables,” he said. “A lot of discarded furniture is made of solid maple or cherry. I’ll cut the whole thing up and use all of the parts of it.”

Harriman said he’s self taught. “My dad taught me a lot about refinishing furniture,” he said. “So, I just expanded from that. I had an antique shop called Union Antique Traders and was just doing furniture building on the side, so I got to understand how many people want furniture that’s old and distressed, but still fits into their modern lifestyle.”

All winter, he spends his time in his garage, envisioning creative ways to cobble together various pieces. “I just love being out here,” he said. “When I had the antique shop, I’d stand around all day in January, February waiting for people to come in. I’d rather be doing something with my time and just come out here and work on new pieces.”

In a way, his garage is a miniaturized version of Elmer’s Barn in Cooper’s Mills, with an area dedicated to pieces of hardware and other odds and ends. “I never throw anything out,” he said. “Every little scrap should be used, whether a piece of leftover wood gets chopped down to be glue blocks or whether I need something in this junk pile as a decorative item.”

Frankenstein Furniture has really taken off and now he does woodworking full time and the antique shop on the side. He recently made an entryway bench for a mudroom out of an early 1900s door. But he’s really known for making 7- to 8-foot-long harvest tables out of various pieces of recycled wood. He recently did 30 tables for a Kennebunkport restaurant. As the old Depression era expression goes: “Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, or Do Without!”

You can find more Frankenstein Furniture in booth #12 at Rockland Antique Marketplace, where Harriman’s work is displayed or visit: his Facebook page.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN—Local choreographer-director Kea Tesseyman and her Kinetic Energy Alive dance Company have been working for months on their fourth major show "Grit & Grace: Just Be You!" to be held at the Camden Opera House on Friday and Saturday, April 1 and 2, at 7 p.m.

The show promises to be heart-pounding, featuring 26 dancers who all come from Tesseyman’s classes, both professional and amateur, whose ages range from six to 60.

“It’s going encompass every style,” she said. “We’re really showing through every dance the joy and the fun that each individual dancer has.”

Performing to "Puttin' on the Ritz" — Irving Berlin's timeless show tune, redone by Herb Alpert — they'll step out with jazz-funk and jazz-contemporary, followed by a wide variety of styles including hip-hop, contemporary, and old-school funk. The evening continues with dynamic and thought-provoking duets, solos, and group dances, all flowing from one into the next. Highlights include 1970s breakdancing, modern and contemporary duets, and polished Broadway-show dancing modernized to fit today's music.

All of Tesseyman’s past shows have had some kind of them around personal empowerment and the freedom to be oneself. While the past three shows featured Power Performances, with film and dance intertwined, this show is strictly dancing. While certain contemporary pieces have the edge of a deeper story, the audience will find the dancers celebrating their joy, breakthroughs and transformations on stage.

"We were all talking about what it takes to get through the day sometimes, to be able to celebrate who we are," she said. "It takes grit to get through the hard stuff, but you also have to be graceful in the face of something that's really challenging you too — which is just as hard to do."

For many of her dancers whose first time it will be on stage, the second part of this show’s title is just for them. "The 'Just Be You' part is getting everybody to believe in themselves and celebrate their strength, courage and sheer joy of dancing.” Tickets are $15 in advance ($17 at the door) and may be purchased on-line at KineticEnergyAlive.com and CamdenOperaHouse.com/calendar.

Tickets are also available for sale at Zoot Coffee and HAV II, both in Camden, as well as at the Camden Town Office (open weekdays, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.). On Saturday evening April 2, the Boynton-McKay Food Co., located a block from the Opera House, is offering a special fundraiser dinner-and-show; proceeds will be earmarked for a dance scholarship. The price of $45 includes admission to the show plus a four-course, pre-show meal at the restaurant. Those interested in the dinner are urged to call Boynton-McKay at 236-2465 or Kea Tesseyman at 975-4450 as soon as possible to secure one of the limited remaining reservations.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Spring still hasn’t made up its mind, but if we do get another monster storm, it looks like it’s on the tail end of the weekend, so here are some things you can venture out to see — plus the hair of the dog with a killer road trip to Portland.

Where To Invade Next

Friday, March 18 through Sunday, March 20 — Rockland

Academy Award-winning director Michael Moore is back with Where To Invade Next, a provocative and hilarious comedy in which Moore will stop at nothing to figure out how to actually make America great again. Where To Invade Next is an expansive, hilarious and subversive comedy in which the Academy Award®-winning director confronts the most pressing issues facing America today and finds solutions in the most unlikely places. Playing at the Strand Theatre. $8.50/Adults, $7.50/Under 12, Seniors. Showtimes differ for each night so click here.

Malt & Monotype

Friday, March 18 — Belfast

Waterfall Arts is hosting another Art Night meets Bar Scene social. Like the Draft ‘n Draw event, this event features art and spirits. This time will be featuring printmaking and malt liquor. Join with some friends for a fun event where you can create your own monoprints while enjoying good drink and good company. The artists leading the event are Jeff Jelenfy and April White. The event goes from 7 to 10 p.m. and costs $10 at the door. 21+ FMI: Malt & Monotype

Funny songwriters at Camden Opera House

Saturday, March 19 — Camden

Two veteran performers and "two of the funniest entertainers on today's music scene" (Boston Globe) will bring their unique brand of smart, friendly, hilarious musical folk comedy to the Camden Opera House stage. Christine Lavin emerged from the NYC singer/songwriter scene in the late 1980s, quickly establishing herself as an entertaining tour de force. Quick on her feet, witty, insightful and engaging, she remains one of the most popular and respected performers in the genre. Her musical partner, Don White, has been described as: "Mark Twain meets Woody Guthrie...Woody Guthrie meets George Carlin....Don leads his audience in a lively well-timed dance of wit and folksy wisdom." Tickets are general admission and $17 in advance and $20 the night of the show. Buy online  or for no fee walk next door to at the Camden Town Office Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

More St. Paddying

Friday, March 18 and Saturday, March 19 — Hope

Hatchet Mountain Publick House isn’t done with the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, so if you couldn’t get in to get a seat on Thursday, they’ll be ripping it up for two more nights. Music by Rovin’ Mick O’Flynn, McGinty’s Goats, Pinchy’s Pipes and guests. And of course, you can get your corned beef dinner and Guinness stew, along with all of the Irish beer and whiskey you want. Music starts about 6 p.m.

Killer Road Trip: Get haired up in Portland

Friday, March 18 and Saturday, March 19 — Portland

Two weirdo events celebrating men’s facial hair are happening this weekend. Might as well get a hotel and stay over cause it starts Friday with the annual Stache Pag, which is “Part Talent Show, Part Costume Contest, Part Facial Hair Competition” as mustachioed men (and facial hair-clad women) strut their stuff on the catwalk while the host announces names and a few observations. Each contestant gets 10 seconds and some funky music to work with at the Portland House of Music. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 the day of. FMI: Stache Pag  And if that’s not enough facial hair for you, from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday is The Bearded Brewfest, (run by the same people who host the Stache Pag) featuring beers from more than 30 breweries at the University of Southern Maine. Click here for the range of ticket prices and more info.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Josh Gerritsen, a professional photographer and director of a new Midcoast-based movie, Island Zero, is excited to be working in Maine on his first movie. That his mother, best-selling thriller novelist Tess Gerritsen, is involved is no coincidence — she wrote the screenplay.

“Two summers ago, I was weeding the garden with my mom and out of the blue she said, ‘We should make a horror movie together,’” said Josh Gerritsen.

You know, the typical things a mom and son chat about.

“And I didn’t know that at the time but she’d grown up watching horror films,” continued Gerritsen. “ It just never came up in conversation. I’ve loved horror movies since I was a kid. Zombies are the most fun, but aliens are the most scary. I think of the movie Alien as a reference film for Island Zero because it was so beautifully done with such unlikely heroes. Just these blue collar workers who happen to be just doing their jobs set in the future.”

Island Zero is set 40 miles off the coast, on the isolated (and fictionally named) Tucker Island. “For some unknown reason, the power cuts out, the ferry stops running and people start to die in these gruesome and mysterious ways,” said Gerritsen. “The townspeople have to get together to figure out who or what is killing everybody.  The people who go for help never come back. No one on the island can reach anyone on a radio and they are trapped.”

It’s an ensemble film with five main characters. Laila Robins, from the Showtime show “Homeland” is the most well known of the cast.

And although Tess Gerritsen wrote the script, this is not her first screenplay. In 1993, she co-wrote the story and screenplay for Adrift, which aired on CBS as Movie of the Week. 

Josh Gerritson also has a background in documentary filmmaking, but this is his first foray into feature films. “I’m drawn to the slow building tension, not the monsters that just leap out at you, but something that builds to terrifying,” he said.

He moved back to Maine three years ago after living in New York City. Having grown up in Maine, he, like so many people, felt the draw to move back. “After high school, I said what most kids say, ‘I’m getting out of here; it’s boring. But, after spending time in New York, I realized there is kind a magic here. For the Midcoast area, there’s so much culture flowing in. You can be in Maine and all of the culture is surrounding you.’”

Mariah Klapatch, a Camden native and longtime friend of the Gerritsens, is producing the film, which has a self-financed budget of up to $300,000.

“Mariah’s a third generation Mainer,” said Gerritsen. “We knew it was going to be a financial risk, but we wanted to make something that reflected Maine. The tax incentive is less than in Massachusetts, and even though we could have shot there, that’s less important than shooting in the state that we love.”

The film, not surprisingly, has already gotten built-in community support. The majority of the cast and crew are also from Maine. “If we were an LA cast and crew that just flew in and asked the locals can we shoot at your diner? Can we shoot at your inn? It would be challenging,” Gerritsen said.

At the time of our interview, Gerritsen and the crew had only been shooting for a week in the Midcoast. Their locations included a doctor’s office, Camden Harbor, Rockport Harbor and the Swan House, a Camden inn, as well as at a house near Megunticook Market. We met the night before the crew was supposed to spend three consecutive 12-hour days shooting on Islesboro.

“Most of the Islesboro shoot will be at Durkee’s General store, a combined diner and general store,” said Gerritsen. “When you see these scenes, this is when the citizens of the island start to become really concerned, you’ll see this shift in behavior.”

The shoot is only supposed to last 18 days, until the end of March, and finished sometime in September. For Gerritsen, it’s been nothing but a good experience so far.  “It honestly couldn’t have gone better,” he said. “Our crew is amazing and our cast is just nailing their performances.”

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND — When most of us are winding down for the evening, Atlantic Baking Co.’s head bread baker, Lynn Butman, is just getting to work. Arriving at 8 p.m., she works until 3 a.m. making breads and gets ready to leave just as the morning shift comes in to make the croissants and pastries.

Butman did a lot of baking with her grandmother when she was young, and that is when she learned how to make traditional Irish soda bread.

“It’s really simple,” she said. Irish baking over the centuries, according to The History of Soda Bread, didn’t rely on much yeast.

“Back then, the quality of wheat that certain Irish regions could grow yielded a softer wheat, which is the main structure of the bread,” said Butman. “So, the simplicity of the soda bread was that the texture and the way it was baked didn’t require a lot of gluten. It would have a soft, crumbly interior with a hard crust.”

Soda bread was simply made of wheat flour, buttermilk, bicarbonate of soda (or baking soda) and salt. “People often think that the Irish originated this kind of bread, but actually, it goes back centuries to Native American cultures,” said Butman. “They found bicarbonate in pot ash, which is the dying embers of wood fires, and they used that as a leavening agent in their bread. Ireland was the first country to adapt that baking process when baking soda was sold commercially in the 1800s.”

Buttermilk, one of the four ingredients, is a form of “soured milk.” Buttermilk was plentiful in Ireland, “because they didn’t have a good strong wheat source, the buttermilk would activate the ingredients,” said Butman.

In England, people got their bread mostly from bakeries, but according to The Kitchen Project, the Irish felt baking was the housewife’s job. Most families lived in rural, isolated farmhouses, where most kitchens had only open hearths, not ovens. The lady of the house would prepare it in a Dutch oven-type of a pot, called a bastible, which hung over the fire on a crane. The heat from below, along with a few coals on top of the indented lid would produce a roundish cake-like loaf. Or else, she might prepare it on a bakestone, on an iron plate resting on the fire’s embers.

The Irish would use the bread as a staple and make it every three or four days and serve it with supper. Soda bread could be eaten at breakfast as well as with dinner to sop up the gravy of hearty Irish food, such as Irish stew and Colcannon. Later, soda bread would be made with caraway seeds for flavor, or with raisins, which was called “Spotted Dog” for its appearance.

Butman said Atlantic Baking Co. will have plenty of loaves of Irish soda bread available on St. Patrick’s Day, along with corn breads and miche, another version of a rustic sourdough bread.

Click to see Irish soda bread recipes.

“A correspondent of the Newry Telegraph, in giving the below recipe for making "soda bread," stated that ‘There is no bread to be had equal to it for invigorating the body, promoting digestion, strengthening the stomach and improving the state of the bowels.’ It continues: “He says, 'put a pound and a half of good wheaten meal into a large bowl, mix with it two teaspoonfuls of finely-powdered salt, then take a large teaspoonful of super-carbonate of soda, dissolve it in half a teacupful of cold water, and add it to the meal; rub up all intimately together, then pour into the bowl as much very sour buttermilk as will make the whole into soft dough (it should be as soft as could possibly be handled, and the softer the better,) form it into a cake of about an inch thickness, and put it into a flat Dutch oven or frying-pan, with some metallic cover, such as an oven-lid or griddle, apply a moderate heat underneath for twenty minutes, then lay some clear live coals upon the lid, and keep it so for half an hour longer (the under heat being allowed to fall off gradually for the last fifteen minutes,) taking off the cover occasionally to see that it does not burn.' This, he concludes, when somewhat cooled and moderately buttered, is as wholesome food as ever entered man's stomach. Wm. Clacker, Esq., of Gosford, has ordered a sample of the bread to be prepared, and a quantity of the meal to be kept for sale at the Markethill Temperance Soup and Coffee Rooms." — Oldest reference to Irish soda bread recipe, published in November 1836 Farmer's Magazine (London).” (Courtesy sodabreadinfo.com)

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

It’s the holiest Irish day of the year and there area few local options where you can get authentic Irish food, music, and of course, the sweet nectar. Remember to have a taxi on speed dial on your phone.

Belfast

Rollie’s Bar and Grill

For lunch and dinner, they are serving all-you-can-eat corned beef and fixings. Traditional Irish beers like Guinness and Killians will be on tap and there will be prize giveaways throughout the day. Stop by in the afternoon and Rob Benton will be playing live from 2:30-4:30 p.m.

Darby’s Restaurant

The Irish culinary addicts will get their fix with Darby’s corned beef dinner, beef and Guinness pot pie, bangers and mashed, and lamb stew. Darby's will also be offering music, green beer and drink specials.

Vinolio

Vinolio is hosting a St. Paddy’s Day wine tasting featuring a terrific Vermouth cocktail along with many other wines to sampleas well as some wonderful appetizers to sample as well from 5-7 p.m.

Lincolnville

The Whale’s Tooth Pub

Pop on into the coziest pub on the ocean. The Whale’s Tooth Pub is throwing their annual St. Paddy’s Day party with live music of “The Irish Twins” McPhil and McBlake starting at 5:30 p.m. Expect corned beef and cabbage and classic Irish beverages.

Camden

The Drouthy Bear

They will have Irish food specials all week and lots of Irish beer (Guinness IPA and stout) on tap. Irish happy Hour is 4-6 p.m. Nick Apollonio will be playing the fiddle and singing his large repertoire of Irish music throughout the evening.

Rockland

Rock Harbor Brewery

Come in early and get a set for the band Rock Body Electric will take the stage at 8:30 p.m.with drink specials (including something called an Irish trash can special!), free giveaways and a grand prize giveaway for the best St. Paddy’s Day costume.

Rock City Café

Ladies of the Lake, a group of four veteran musicians who have performed in Maine and New England for the past 20 years, will be playing Irish and New England traditional music on the fiddle, flute, tin whistle, button accordion, uilleann pipes, guitar and voice. Whether playing a plaintive air, a rollicking Irish reel or singing an ancient ballad, their repertoire harkins back to the time of our ancestors.The show starts at 7 p.m.

Myrtle Street Tavern

Two Dollar Pistol  will be playing 9 p.m. to 1a.m. Funk, dance, & a rock n' roll riot all night long! Giveaways galore, shenanigans, Irish cocktails and brews on special all day. (Says their Facebook post: “The only bar in town run by an actual mean old Irish Catholic woman...& her lovely daughter”)

Hope

Hatchet Mountain Publick House

Hatchet Mountain’s annual kickin’ St. Paddy's Day Celebration takes place over three nights this year, starting on Thursday. Beginning at 4 p.m., each day, they’ll offer Irish fare and music featuring the return of Rovin Mick O'Flynn, McGinty's Goats, Pinchy, plus other special guests. Note: Get there early-seats fill up quickly!

Trackside Station

Trackside will host Jonesville, a live band from 6-9 p.m.

Thomaston

Thomaston Café

Join them this St Patrick's Day! Open 11 a.m.-8 p.m. All the traditional Irish menu items available including: Corned Beef and Cabbage, Guiness Lamb Stew and Irish Soda Bread. Beer and Drink specials available all day!

Thomaston American Legion Hall

A St. Patrick’s Day boiled dinner will be held  from 5-7 p.m. behind the business block. $8 per adult; free for kids 5 and under. Free to veterans with proof of service. FMI: 691-5800

Waldoboro

Narrows Tavern

Starting at 8 p.m., the St. Huckleberry Trio will spend an evening playing fiddle, sax and guitar. The trio will showcase both their originals and a mix of fiddle tunes! Definitely a night to be at the Tavern!

Brunswick

Byrnes Irish Pub

Here’s a way to keep St. Paddy’s Day celebrations going—approximately a month ago, Byrnes Irish Pub suffered a boatload of water damage and had to be shut down for clean up. According to an article by the Bangor Daily News, they’ve been hustling to fix the water damage and be open for St. Paddy’s Day weekend. Their grand re-opening is set for Saturday, March 12 at noon. Stay on top of their announcements via Facebook.

Stay tuned as more listings are added!

If you’re a bar or restaurant doing something special, please contact Kay Stephens at news@penbaypilot.com

After St. Paddy’s Day, you might need a rest, so get that power nap in because we’ve got comedy, two bars to frequent and some fresh new music out of Belfast’s Free Range Music Series.

Cider tasting at Rollie’s

Friday, March 11—Belfast

Downeast Cider is making a special stop in Belfast at Rollies’ Bar and Grille to give the locals an exclusive tasting.The cider house will be sampling their Downeast Original and Downeast Maple Cider. There will be specials and giveaways. The event  goes from 6-8 p.m.

Comedian “Krazy” Jake Hodgdon

Friday, March 11—Belfast

After Rollie’s skip on over to see Fast-rising comedian and Animal Planet star “Krazy” Jake Hodgdon performs at Belfast Area High School. The doors open at 6:30 pm and the show starts at 7 p.m. Voted “Best Maine Comedian” check out this PG-rated show that benefits Project Graduation. Tickets: $15 advance, $20 at door.

Free Range Music Series

Saturday, March 12—Belfast

Waterfall Arts is hosting the Free Range Music series with two bands from Portland and Waldo county. Influenced by ‘90s sound, Fur mixes gentle pretty parts and walls of fuzz with romanticized sentiments of the every day. Earth Person will also be playing. Earth Person is a genre bending musical project creating sounds that flow and weave between folk, psychedelia, pop, and sample based beat making. Earth Person will be joined by Quelle (Justin B) of Belfast. The show starts at 7 p.m.$8 in advance; $10 at the door; $6 for students , $5 for kids 12 and under. To buy tickets and listen to each band’s sound click here.

Sketch Comedy Troupe at Unity College

Saturday, March 12—Unity

I wonder if the band Just Teachers knows there is a comedy troupe called Teacher’s Lounge Mafia, because somebody’s about to get schooled! (I’ll show myself out.) This sketch comedy troupe has been plating since 2008 and has been called: “Inspired. With a wonderful balance between obscure political references and the occasional cuss, TLM has a direct line to my funny bone.” The show starts at 7 p.m. and tickets are $15 at the door. FMI: Unity College

Killer Road Trip: Byrnes Irish Pub in Brunswick

Saturday, March 12-Brunswick

Here’s a way to keep St. Paddy’s Day celebrations going—approximately a month ago, Byrnes Irish Pub suffered a boatload of water damage and had to be shut down for clean up. According to an article by the Bangor Daily News, they’ve been hustling to fix the water damage and be open for St. Paddy’s Day weekend. Their grand re-opening is set for Saturday at noon. Stay on top of their announcements via Facebook.

Correction: the name of the business in this story was misspelled and should have been listed as Three Tides.

Last week I put out a question on social media, “Does anybody know a good cocktail that tastes like a Girl Scout cookie?” Seth Whited, the bar manager for Three Tides in Belfast answered the call and decided to whip up a cocktail from scratch that doesn’t appear on the menu.

The result is the  Three Tides Thin Mint and it just so happens this is national Girl Scout week! At the first sip, I said, “Mmm, the mint is strong with this one.”

It’s a cool, creamy, sweet cocktail and what totally nails it is the chocolate cookie rim.

“I just mixed some organic mint extract with chocolate sauce on one plate and crushed up some Oreo cookie on another,” Whited said. “You don’t even need the actual Thin Mint cookie to give it the same taste.”

“It’s probably fewer calories than downing an entire sleeve of Thin Mint cookies,” I said.

“Probably not by much,” he answered.

Whited wanted to make a cocktail that wasn’t too fussy and had readily available ingredients on hand.

“I had a notion at first that I wanted to make a grown up version of the Thin Mint,” he said. “There are chocolate flavored vodkas out there and some other ingredients that are pretty pricey and not so easy to come by. I also didn’t want to make the drink too green or else it would look like a Grasshopper. So, I played around with a bunch of flavors and then we decided to add our new Marshall Wharf Happy Dog coffee porter.”

The coffee porter is the surprising twist as it actually cuts the sweetness and gives the cocktail its depth. The Baltic style porter is brewed with Blackstrap Molasses, so while you’re getting just a hint of the bitter finish under the creamy layers, you’re also getting a double dose of the chocolate taste with a 9.10 percent abv.

This is definitely an adult Girl Scout drink. You don’t want to give it to Troop 29 —unless Troop 29 is 21 and older.

Whited said if he had everything handy he could probably make it for customers who requested it. However, the beauty of this “What’s In That Cocktail?” series is that we give you the ingredients and the video to show you how to make it yourself.

You’ll need:

• 1 ½ oz. Choco-lat liqueur
• 1 oz. White Crème de menthe
• 1 oz. vodka
• ½ oz. Baileys Irish Creme
• 1 oz. Happy Dog coffee porter

Coat the rim of a martini glass with the chocolate mint syrup first then rim with the cookie crumble. Set aside. Add ice to the shaker and all of the above ingredients. Shake, then strain into martini glass.

Enjoy and check out our gallery of other custom cocktails (with video) in our series Iconic craft cocktails of the Midcoast.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN—It’s the age old question: is it better to go with an over-the-top decorated cardboard sled or a stripped down flat racer with zero wind resistance?

With ideal slick conditions on the specially made snow track at the Camden Snow Bowl on Sunday, March 6, 40 teams showed up to show their mettle.

The flat, toboggan-like sleds seemed to whip down the hill the fastest, but it was the elaborate, box-shaped cardboard racers that provided the most entertainment, with many being ejected on the ride down and the crowd encouraging the participants to get back on the horse, so to speak. As with the Star Wars Sliders, the kids wiped out and the crowd cheered them to keep on going. “May the Force Be With You!” some guy yelled.

A lot of debris was left on the snow track from the wipe outs, but some cardboard racers came with their own surprises.  As a racer in the shape of an ice cream truck spun its way down, the kids threw ice cream sandwiches out for the crowd.

We asked the winners for the last two years in a row, the Crazy Cruz’n Cuz’ns– Eban Davis, 6,  Cade Davis, 8, Abraham Rhode Jr. 7, and Kailey-Anne Rhode, 9 what their secret was. “Determination,” said Kayleigh-Anne.

One of the more elaborate racers was a giant tugboat called Twin Tug built by Thomas Leeper, Karissa Beverage, and their children, Emma Leeper, 4, and Zoe Leeper, 4.  Putting safety first, it came equipped with its own PFDs. “It took two late nights to make,” said Leeper, “even though we had no idea what we were doing. But hey, we made it down, we’re all good.”

Team Super was a space ship piloted by two NASA engineers, Ethan Lantz, 5 Rockport, Kara Croce, 6.  “It took just two days to make the rocket ship,” said Ethan. Then correcting himself, he said, “No, it took some of night and a little some of the day. We put fake buttons on our suits.”

“I think the kids did an excellent job,” said Ethan’s father Benjamin Lantz. “We paid them well,” he joked.

Wyatt Heal, 8, drove a cool snowmobile called W.J.H Racing down the hill with mailing tubes for the sled, independent steering and even a flashlight built into the steering column. “It took about four weeks to make,” said his father Toby. Wyatt had a bit of a hard time navigating it all the way down the hill, falling off a few times and gleefully abandoning it before the finish line, but he rode it like a champ. “ I just wanted to do some tricks,” he said.

The Camden Snow Bowl team rode an A-Frame replica of The Snow Bowl down, spinning nicely all the way down. “I’m not sure we actually crossed the finish line” joked Jonathan Laurence. (Our video provies otherwise.)

The Thin Mints, both girl scouts from Troop 23 were Olive Walker, 7 and Haley Orne, 7. Olive was the pilot. Haley was the Thin Mint. Though they took a tumble (that’s the way the cookie crumbles) they hopped right back in their Girl Scout cookie Box and finished the run. Asked if they’d do it again, the answer was slightly hesitant. “Maybe.”

Here are the results:

Fastest:

1^st – Magic Cardboard Ride – Maeve Littlefield (age 10) and Dan Littlefield (age 48) from Belfast with a time of 7.53.

2^nd – Ice Train – Devon Smith (age 12) and Mike Smith (age 50) from Appleton with a time of 7.67

3^rd – Lean Mean Duct Tape Machine – Rieder James (age 25) from Rockport with a time of 7.87.

Most in a Box:  5 – The Insane Bolts – Jasper Hackett (age 8) from Rockport, Avery Hackett (age 10) Rockport, Keagan Urey (age 5) Rockport, Finn Urey (age 11) Rockport and Charlie Moss (age 11) Camden.

Most Creative  box was the Lee family – Davis, Oliver, Kate and Henrietta from Newburyport Massachusetts and Jonathan Laurence from Camden; that built a replica of the Camden Snow Bowl A-frame lodge complete with the ship’s wheel hanging light. 

Best Costume – Star Wars Sliders – Lily Stowe (age 10) Rockland, Hannah Stowe (age 6) Rockland, Ronin Allyn (age 7) Rockland and Claire Caveney (age 11) Rockland. 

 Prizes were provided by Uncle Willy’s Candy Shoppe  in Camden, Flat Bread Pizza in Rockport and the Camden Snow Bowl.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

BELFAST—Belfast artist Joanne Parent is known for her airy sunset and seascape oil painting, but a trip last year to the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast may have her conjuring darker landscapes.

The Fall River, Mass B & B, 50 miles south of Boston, was purchased by a friend of Parent’s, Donald Woods, and his partner Lee-Ann Wilber, who took ownership of the property in 2004.

As the story of the infamous house goes, a wealthy banker Andrew and his wife, Abby (Lizzie’s stepmother), were found murdered August 4, 1892. The weapon was a hatchet, which would have killed both of them on the first blow, but Andrew had been hacked 11 times while sleeping on the downstairs sofa. His wife suffered 19 blows in an upstairs bedroom. Lizzy, Andrew’s youngest daughter, stood trial, but she was acquitted, and lived out the rest of her life in Fall River.

“Last year, Donald invited my sister and I to go down to visit and stay in one of the rooms, and I ended up staying in the room of Andrew Borden,” said Parent. “The house is super creepy, so I took tons of photographs as we walked around. I was getting a weird vibe, like something was just wrong.”

According to Martha McGinn, the previous owner who inherited the house, the room where Lizzie's stepmother Abby Borden was found murdered is the “most requested room” of the bedrooms at the bed and breakfast.

“At about 2 p.m. I was so creeped out to actually go into Abby’s room, so I just reached my arm around the door frame and snapped a bunch of photos,” said Parent.

The photos she took reveal a oval wooden mirror in the corner of a floral wallpapered bedroom. About a month later, when looking back on the photos she’d uploaded to her iPhoto library on her Mac laptop, something caught her eye in two of the mirror shots in Abby’s bedroom.

“You can clearly see the outline of something, like the form of a woman wearing a hood,” she said. “I showed them to my sister and her husband. I was like ‘Oh My God,’ look at this.”

There is also a black bar in the photos that seemed to appear later after the photos were taken. A phone interview with Wilber confirmed that the black bar is actually a vent in the ceiling. However, when Parent posted a photo of the mirror on her Facebook page the day before our interview, there was no black vent in the photos.

Twenty-four hours later in the midst of the interview, they just suddenly appeared in her iPhoto library and on the posted Facebook photo. Thinking it was some technical glitch that tampered with them, we showed the photos to Aaron Sarnacki, owner of Archangel Computers, who said the photos weren’t corrupted and there was no way an image can just appear in a photo.

Further he confirmed there are no linkages to Facebook from an iPhoto account that could change a photo once it was posted. Once the black bars appeared, Parent asked the 40 or so people who commented on the photo the day before on her Facebook account if they could now see the black bar in the Facebook photo and if they’d seen it there the day before. Many commented it had not been in the photo the day before.

“It’s an old, old mirror. People think they see stuff in it all of the time,” said Wilbur. “Depending on how you’re standing, you won’t see any anomalies in the mirror unless you take the picture from an angle. We’ve had plenty of pictures that were taken several years ago that can’t be explained, however, by a gentlemen by the name of Glenn Teza, a psychic and spiritual healing teacher from New Jersey. His photos show a mist figure and were taken with Instant Poloroid film and there is absolutely no way to mess with that film.”

Teza’s photos were featured when Zak Bagans, a paranormal investigator on the show Ghost Adventures, investigated the Lizzie Borden house. According to  information revealed in his show, Lizzie’s father and stepmother were not the only ones murdered in this house. Lizzie’s great uncle Lawdwick Borden also had a second wife, Eliza Darling Borden. Eliza drowned two of her three children and then took her own life by slitting her own throat with a straight razor after dropping the children in the cellar cistern.

Are there apparitions in the mirror, or is it a trick of the camera angle?

No matter what the public’s interpretation of the events in this story are, Parent know what she saw. “I’ve been invited back to the house to paint the rooms, but I’m not sure I want to go now,” she said, smiling.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

 It’s all about the food this weekend, then dancing it off.

Spin Jam, Bring Your Hoop

Friday, March 4—Rockland

Right about now, (I see you Maine Restaurant Week) everybody’s feeling the old pudge creeping up on the scale. A 30-minute spin of the hula hoop can burn off up to 250 calories and Rockland School of Ballet is offering an easy, stress-free spin jam for like minded hoopers and newbies who want to get their hoop on. They’ll gather indoors every other Friday though the colder months. Suggested donation to cover space rental: $5-10. Goes from 7:45 p.m. to 9:45 pm

Maine Fishermen’s Forum

Friday through Sunday March 4-6—Rockland

Years ago, I stumbled across this hidden gem of a three-day event at the Samoset Resort when I was writing my first book and now I just love to go back every year for the fun of it. There is no cost to attend and the people watching (or having a beer in the bar with fishermen) is the best part of it. In addition, there are family programs, a Trade Show, a Seafood Reception highlighting Maine's seafood, a Banquet/Dance on the last night, as well as a benefit auction to raise money for kids from seafood families.
It’s a slice of life you don’t often get to see and it gives you a real appreciation for the people who work insanely hard to bring the most quality seafood to this area. Goes all day both days from 9 a.m. to evening. FMI: Maine’s Fishermen’s Forum

It’s Shannon’s Birthday. You’re invited!

Saturday, March 5— Northport

Every year Shannon Thompson has invited everybody to her birthday party. Even if you were the last one picked for Dodgeball —you’d still be invited. That’s because she turns her birthday into an annual fundraiser and this year for her sixth annual Birthday Benefit, she’s holding a dance party at the Blue Goose in Northport to benefit LifeFlight. Th ever-popular holler folk band Ghost of Paul Revere will be playing.  Cafe Miranda will be serving dinner and and the beer is courtesy of Andrews Ale, of Lincolnville. The warm-up party starts at 5:30 p.m. and tickets (advance only; limited to 150) are $50 including the meal, beer, and show. The show with cash bar starts at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Info and tickets: birthdaybenefit.org or 207-975-2992. See Penobscot Bay Pilot’s recent story on Shannon here.

Allison Ames at Bowen’s Tavern

Saturday, March 5— Belfast

Here’s a little under-the-radar music happening. The Allison Ames band is playing Bowen’s Tavern starting at 8 p.m. $5 cover with $3.50 well drinks and $1 nachos—you can’t beat that. Drawing on years of experience and striking a balance between old and new, The Allison Ames Band is capable of doing practically any type of music from Elvis to Sugarland or from Creedence to K.C and the Sunshine Band. Infused with tight three-part harmonies, tasteful instrumental breaks and solid rhythms and beats, Take a listen to her band on Reverbnation.

Killer Road Trip: Maine Restaurant Week

March 1-14—statewide

Five local restaurants are participating in Maine Restaurant Week, but this gives you an excuse to hop in the car and go try something new for a fraction of its usual price. Portland has got the most restaurants participating, which is ideal for all the culinary addicts out there. (Side note: the word “foodie” has been banned). Lunches are typically around $15 and dinners can range from $25 to $55 per person. You can even find the vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options. Check them out here.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Chances are if you were playing a game of Family Feud and the question was: “What do you expect to see on the walls of the waiting room at a car dealership?” the winning answer might be “car posters” if it’s the year 2016 and “girlie calendar” if the year was 1978.

Atlantic Motorcar in Wiscasset, however, has elevated the waiting room to a new level. Since 2003, owner Bruce Howes has offered free wall space of his business to Midcoast aspiring and established artists to hang work and sell it without any charge of a commission.

“It’s a way to give back to the community,” he said. “I’m a patron of the arts and it creates a very nice atmosphere in the waiting room and in the hallways.” Howes invites artists to submit work year-round for consideration and while he wouldn’t go so far to say he curates certain pieces, he definitely has a discerning eye about what he feels his customers want to see.

“We try to find artwork that appeals to our demographic of customers, which tend to be 60 percent women, generally in the 30-70 age range,” he said. “So I’ve had artists submit sculptures, traditional paintings, interpretive and contemporary work. What people tend to value are watercolors and oil paintings, charcoal drawing and photography.”

While the coast of Maine and all of its familiar subjects, such as boats, waterscapes, and lighthouses tend to be the mainstay, Howes enjoys showcasing certain contemporary works.

“I’m open to more than just watercolors,” he said. “I’ve had people come in with pieces that are very different from that. I had one person who submitted a kaleidoscope 3-D paintings. We had another gentleman who did these high-resolution aerial photographs and printed them on these aluminum plates. The clarity was just phenomenal and people loved those.”

Artists have nearly 2,000 square feet of wall space available to them. 

“The walls throughout the building are this peanut shell color, a historical Benjamin Moore color and it works really well with a lot of different artwork,” he said. “It’s like coming into a coffee shop, like a Starbucks.”

Howes prefers to showcase up to three artists quarterly and each artist can provide up to approximately 10 art pieces.

“Or if I pick an artist with a large body of work, then that person will have 30 or so pieces up,” he said.

Each work has an artist’s statement next to it. They also cross-promote the artists on their Facebook page. They even collect payment on the pieces for the artist as another courtesy.

“I try to give everybody a chance,” he said.

Artists can expect a high traffic area with an appreciative clientèle. Interested parties should email: art@atlanticmotorcar.com, or call Bruce at 207-882-9970.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

Chances are if you were playing a game of Family Feud and the question was: “What do you expect to see on the walls of the waiting room at a car dealership?” the winning answer might be “car posters” if it’s the year 2016 and “girlie calendar” if the year was 1978.

Atlantic Motorcar in Wiscasset, however, has elevated the waiting room to a new level. Since 2003, owner Bruce Howes has offered free wall space of his business to Midcoast aspiring and established artists to hang work and sell it without any charge of a commission.

“It’s a way to give back to the community,” he said. “I’m a patron of the arts and it creates a very nice atmosphere in the waiting room and in the hallways.” Howes invites artists to submit work year-round for consideration and while he wouldn’t go so far to say he curates certain pieces, he definitely has a discerning eye about what he feels his customers want to see.

“We try to find artwork that appeals to our demographic of customers, which tend to be 60 percent women, generally in the 30-70 age range,” he said. “So I’ve had artists submit sculptures, traditional paintings, interpretive and contemporary work. What people tend to value are watercolors and oil paintings, charcoal drawing and photography.”

While the coast of Maine and all of its familiar subjects, such as boats, waterscapes, and lighthouses tend to be the mainstay, Howes enjoys showcasing certain contemporary works.

“I’m open to more than just watercolors,” he said. “I’ve had people come in with pieces that are very different from that. I had one person who submitted a kaleidoscope 3-D paintings. We had another gentleman who did these high-resolution aerial photographs and printed them on these aluminum plates. The clarity was just phenomenal and people loved those.”

Artists have nearly 2,000 square feet of wall space available to them. 

“The walls throughout the building are this peanut shell color, a historical Benjamin Moore color and it works really well with a lot of different artwork,” he said. “It’s like coming into a coffee shop, like a Starbucks.”

Howes prefers to showcase up to three artists quarterly and each artist can provide up to approximately 10 art pieces.

“Or if I pick an artist with a large body of work, then that person will have 30 or so pieces up,” he said.

Each work has an artist’s statement next to it. They also cross-promote the artists on their Facebook page. They even collect payment on the pieces for the artist as another courtesy.

“I try to give everybody a chance,” he said.

Artists can expect a high traffic area with an appreciative clientèle. Interested parties should email: art@atlanticmotorcar.com, or call Bruce at 207-882-9970.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN — Imagine sitting at Cappy’s downstairs bar on a regular evening, nothing special, just a night you happened to pop in for a pint, when John Travolta walks in. First, you’re thinking, this can’t be real. There’s a look of concern on his face as he approaches you. “Hey, does anybody here happen to know where a veterinarian is?”

You’re now thinking, “OK, he just came from his house on Islesboro and one of his animals is sick.”

You try to give him some helpful suggestions of vets in the area, as does everyone sitting around at the bar.

Travolta’s straight face now breaks into a grin.

“Good, because these puppies are sick,” he says, flexing his biceps and giving each arm a kiss.

True story. Ann Flagg Campbell, a bartender who worked at Cappy’s Chowder House in 2014-2015 recalls: “It was hilarious, the funniest thing ever. Everybody loved it because it made him so real, down-to-earth and personable. He was the friendliest guy. He’d talk to anybody.”

Travolta was one of a few celebrities who stopped by Cappy’s Chowder House in its 37-year run. Former bartender Duncan Lockie (who made a mean margarita) had another funny story.

“Some years ago, John Travolta came in with Cal Ripken and friend on a quiet, chilly December afternoon with their own bottle of fancy red wine. They sat down at Table 2 and asked very politely whether it was OK to ‘bring their own’ and could they have some of our ‘great Happy Hour popcorn.’ Of course they could! They didn't order anything else and their bill, quite naturally, came to zero. They stayed for about an hour and after they left, there on the table was a $30 cash tip.”

Flagg Campbell said: “I’ve been in the restaurant industry for 25 years and that was, by far, the tightest knit group of people I’ve ever worked with. It was really a family there. In our off time, we’d go to one another’s birthday parties. If someone got sick, we’d all get together and bring them food or visit them at the hospital. ”

It was clear how much Cappy’s staff enjoyed their customers.

We covered Cappy’s when “Big John” Collins, one of Cappy’s veteran bartenders returned after 13-year-hiatus.

We also highlighted bartender Flagg Campbell’s killer Bloody Mary. 

Server Kimberly Lockie said: “I worked at Cappy's for six years. I must say there's nothing better than bringing a kid a Giggle Meal for the first time. Sometimes the big kids enjoyed a fun straw in their margarita or a mermaid in their martini. It was a very rewarding job at times.”

Graphic designer Maggi Blue recalls her fleeting days as a server.

“When I worked there in college, I remember being often hyped up on espresso that Big John would make me (I was underage, so this was my vice while working). While working stupid busy weekend days/nights, I would get the question (a la tourist speak) ‘Where is Bangor’ to which I would respond ‘Bang-er, I didn't even know her.’ One never quite knew if the table of tourists would find that funny. It was always a gamble.”

Our own editor Lynda Clancy remembers it as the only job she’s ever held in which she got fired.  “I was 17 the summer of 1977, living with my boyfriend at the campground and needed a job,” she said. “I got the breakfast shift. It was the old Cappy’s with the breakfast bar. One morning, all the fishermen and workmen were coming in and in my little apron, I filled the giant coffee maker with water and poured it through. Nothing was happening, so I poured through another. It went all over, everywhere. The floors, counters, everywhere. I was fired the next day.”

Just like Cheers, the fictional neighborhood bar in Boston, Cappy’s was the type of corner bar that drew its Norms and Cliffs. One such beloved customer who passed away in 2012 was Terry Voisine, a regular, who could always be found with a “low brow beer and a highbrow book” in front of him. “He came in all the time and was always reading at the bar,” said Campbell Flagg. “Whenever we did our own personal fundraising efforts to help one of our staff or customers, Terry was always the first one to give or offer help.”

Customer Rai Burnham had a memory that forever changed her view of her mother.

“When my mother and her partner visited me two years ago, I took them to Cappy's on their first night in town. My mother, who never eats dessert, decided to splurge and have the giant brownie sundae. None of us were prepared for the epic enormousness of what she had ordered. My mom is 5'1'. she had to stand up to eat it.”

We’re going to miss the free popcorn and hot wings, the Crow’s Nest and Deck Munchies, Girls’ Nights and after work gatherings, but mostly we’re going to miss the people who worked there and saw us as their “regulars.” Goodbye Cappy’s. We’re sorry to see you go.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN—This is one of those performances that has to be seen to be believed. After their last visit in 2007 to a standing room only audience, Japan’s Yamato Taiko Drummers are returning to Camden, Tuesday, March 8.

“Their last visit here was incredible,” said Bay Chamber Concerts Executive Director Monica Kelly. “It was just stunning.”

In 2007, Bay Chambers Concerts was able to entice them to perform in Maine while they were on a New England tour in Boston and they made a special stop up to Camden for an abbreviated show.

“We first did a matinee show in the morning for a number of students,” said Kelly. “And when the kids came home after school, they were like ‘Oh My God, you should see what we saw today.’ That night, with barely any publicity, it ended up being this insane, sold-out show where people were getting mad in line because they couldn’t get in.”

Yamato Taiko Drummers are from the Mara Prefecture in Japan. A group of dozens of players start their performance by hitting a Japanese taiko drum made from a large 400 year-­old tree. Their live performances are so full of intensity that the British media has called their sound "The music of the body."

With 20 members, Yamato exhibits great originality and innovation through the traditional Japanese musical instrument, the Wadaiko (Japanese drum). The group formed in 1993 and has played more than 3,000 performances in 53 countries to over 6 million viewers.

“It’s a very acrobatic show, lots of jumping around with gigantic drums,” said Kelly. “The Wadaiko is about seven or eight feet wide surrounded by all of these smaller percussive drums. They’ve had to change out members over the years because it’s so physically demanding.”

Currently the Yamato Taiko Drummers on a grueling U.S./Canada tour with Maine being the farthest of their New England shows, followed by Burlington, Vt., and Boston.

Additionally, the Bay Chamber’s Concerts Community Engagement Program will offer two student matinees to Maine students at no charge. An exclusive show for Camden Hills Regional High School students is scheduled for 10 a.m., Tuesday, March 8, and a second free matinee open to high school students around the state will be offered on Wednesday, March 9, at 10 a.m. in the Strom Auditorium. The programs have enabled thousands of students to experience the excitement of live performances over the years.

For more information on the matinee or to register your school, please contact Monica Kelly, monica@baychamberconcerts.org.

BELFAST—There’s a lot going on underneath the surface of Belfast artist Isaac Wright. He is both edgy and shy, and not used to talking about himself. As we sit together in the corner of Traci’s Diner in Belfast after a lunch rush, he chews on a rubber band the way most people chew gum.

He is one of very few outsider artists living in the Midcoast, although he wouldn’t even think to call himself one. Outside art was a term coined in the 1970s to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture. Growing up in Maine in the foster system, Wright gravitated to vivid, surreal styles of street art, flash art, psychedelic folk art and tattoo art. Wright pops the rubber band out of his mouth to talk about the murals he was commissioned to paint, which cover every inch of wall space.

“The balloons painted on the wall were there forever and I just sort of brain-bubbled the rest of it,” he said. One wall depicts a bucolic, small, rolling hills Maine township, but with Wright’s own zany spin. There are floating ketchup and mustard bottles, flying coffees and a Dali-esque melting overeasy egg atop a hot air balloon.

Given the gritty, fringe style of Wright’s darker artwork (some of which is explicit), this mural is surprisingly whimsical, the sort of place where H.R. Pufnstuf would feel right at home.

“Well, I was going with the fact that this is a family place,” he said. “They weren’t going to have a lot of tolerance for me doing a bunch of darker stuff in here. No skulls!”

He also designed the cover of the menu for Traci’s Diner in a large scale stencil format, which is another art form he specializes in.

It’s not always all skulls and dark drawings—there’s a very sweet side to Wright. In the “About” section on his website, he could have uploaded any photo of himself, but instead, he’s got an image of him hugging his mother, who happens to be an artist herself. He posts one of her own psychedelic drawings from 1978 on his website.

“It’s supposed to be a mushroom trip and she wasn’t even on mushrooms when she did it,” he said, proud of her.

“She likes my work now, but there was a period of time where I couldn’t show her anything,” he said, laughing. “Or it would offend her.”

Wright admits that although his work has matured over the years, he hasn’t quite found a solid career path with it yet. “In Maine, it’s really difficult,” he said. He used to be a tattoo artist, but that didn’t pan out.

“It’s hard to find someone I can work with. It’s a budding ego thing,” he said. “I’m a little frustrated. I’m still trying to build what I do and want to see more come out of it.”

For while he broke out of the small town and lived in Austin, Texas. However, he found himself getting out of control down there and felt Maine’s slower pace kept him out of trouble, so he moved back.

“Besides all of that, in the cities, they already have an established subculture of skateboard artists and a variety of tattoo artists,” he said. “Maine doesn’t have a lot of that. There’s a small pool of genuine artists who do that kind of street art and I want to feed that pool in Maine.”

Though he could go anywhere, he feels an attachment to the town of Belfast, where he’s lived for the last seven years. “I could go to Portland, but it’s expensive to live there and I have a big dog who is a pretty important part of my life,” he said. “Belfast is a great town for a dog. The city, not so much.”

Occasionally he does civic work for the town, such as a poster or a spray paint mural. He likes to give back to the place that sustains him.

While he creates art for its own sake, he also does commission work on signs and banners. In 2004, Black Bear Microbrew in Orono hired him to design their beer labels. Additionally, Mainely Brews in Waterville also had him do their graphics. Then from 2008 to 2013 Flash Tattoo magazine regularly had a page or two in the flash art pages featuring his work.

“I have a hard time doing one style all of the time,” he said. “I like to mix it up.”

To see more of his unique style visit: dramica.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

CAMDEN — It was one of Maine’s original brew pubs in the 1990s, and now it’s come full circle. Sea Dog Brewing Company is coming back to Camden.

Matt Orne, the owner of Cappy’s Chowder House, which has been a Camden mainstay for the last 37 years, said on Friday, Feb. 26 that the restaurant will close Sunday, Feb. 28, and reopen June 15 as the Camden Sea Dog. Orne, who still owns the property, will lease the business to Sea Dog Brewery.

“There are going to be a lot of improvements, and it is going to be good,” said Orne.

The Sea Dog was initially launched by Peter Camplin Sr. in 1993 in the old Knox Woolen Mill where The Smokestack Grill is now located. Back then, it was a 240-seat brewpub with an onsite small kegging brewery. Its most prominent features were a horseshoe bar reminiscent of “Cheers,” and old mill machinery, such as cogs and shafts, hanging from the ceiling, as well as a back deck overlooking the dramatic waterfall of the Knox Mill Pond.  Original patrons of the Sea Dog remember packed happy hours on the deck with waterfall spray in their beers and having to yell over the torrent of water.

In March 1995, Sea Dog opened a 540-seat restaurant and brewery on the banks of the historic Penobscot River in downtown Bangor. In February 2000 Sea Dog opened in South Portland, at the original location where the Saltwater Grill is now located,and in September 2000, a fourth Sea Dog was opened in Topsham.

According to Camplin, in an email Saturday, Feb. 27, the company was sold in May 2001 to a Florida restaurant group. But that fall the Florida company was unsuccessful, filed for bankruptcy protection and soon closed the doors. In December 2002, a bankruptcy judge approved the sale of Sea Dog to Shipyard Brewing Company’s Fred Forsley and Alan Pygsley, who Camplin called his “good friends.”

In a Bangor Daily News article in 2002, Forsley said: “I know firsthand how much those restaurants are valued by the local communities. The Sea Dog restaurants are an important piece of the Sea Dog brand.”

However, the Camden location was never revived, much to the disappointment of locals, who’d made it their neighborhood hangout for 14 years. Under new ownership, the Sea Dogs in Bangor, South Portland and Topsham have remained, and in 2013 Sea Dog expanded operations in Florida with a brewpub in Orlando. In 2014, another Sea Dog was opened in Florida, in Clearwater, while also expanding to North Conway, N.H.

Penobscot Bay Pilot will update more details of the transition as they develop.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

ROCKLAND—On March 5, The Steel House will be hosting a Art & Feminism Edit-a-Thon from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. On a global scale, the Art and Feminism annual event is a movement to improve coverage of women and the arts on Wikipedia and to encourage female editorship.

Why is this so important? “Wikipedia is a collectively edited and produced source of international information,” said Maeve O’Regan, the event’s organizer. “I think the numbers are around 132,000 with millions of registered, non-active users with less than 13 percent of those editors identifying as female.”

The Art and Feminism website states that there is a lack of representation on Wikipedia on feminist art and gender expression and that’s why this international event was created to change that.

The main organizer of the Art and Feminism event is happening in New York City on March 5 with satellite “Edit-a-Thons” taking place all over the world at the same time. 

Last year, more than 1,500 participants at more than 75 events around the world participated in the second annual Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, resulting in the creation of nearly 400 new pages and significant improvements to 500 articles on Wikipedia.

O’Regan, a Maine native who lived in New York City before moving to Midcoast, thought Maine would be a great place to host one of these Edit–A-Thons.

“This is an opportunity to shed some light on the disparity of females editing the Wikipedia content, but it’s also a great opportunity for people to get together in a social setting and meet one another,” she said.

Artists, scholars, curators, librarians, and Wikipedians are all encouraged to come. Asked who she thought might be attracted to this event, she said: “This is an enclave for artists and of course, many artists are women. But, men are encouraged to come as well as people who identify of a different gender.”

One thing the event is not geared for is anyone who wants to edit their own Wikipedia page. Wikipedia guidelines forbid you from editing pages that represent a conflict of interest. Conflict of interest editing involves contributing to Wikipedia to promote your own interests, including your business or financial interests, or those of your external relationships, such as with family, friends or employers. Instead, you can suggest on the talk page changes that could be made to the article.

Bring your laptop, power cord, and ideas for entries that need updating or creation. Childcare requires advance registration by March 2; email art.edit.maine@gmail.com to let them know first names and number of children requiring care, their ages, and what time you plan on attending

For more information about the Steel House node event visit: rocklandsteelhouse.com/experience

For more information about the national Art & Feminism event, visit: art.plusfeminism.org

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

This weekend we’ve got some silly stuff on tap, starting with the most secret adult snow ball fight ever followed by Irish and funk-rock music and probably one of the best named musicals I’ve ever heard.

Adult Snowball Fight!

Saturday, Feb 27 —Camden

I’m not sure why this event is so super secret. This is all you get when you are looking for this snow ball fight between town leaders happening at 3 p.m. allegedly at the Rockport-Camden arch on Union Street.  They’re calling it a “Special Board Meeting.” Perhaps because of the complete lack of snow, both teams might be gearing up for the snowball fight celebrating the Rockport Quasquwhatever by storing prepacked balls in their freezers. Then, they’re really going to need the blood drive after this fight. Anyway, if you’re up for seeing grown people lose it on one another with snowballs, pop on by.

Get down to fix it up at Simonton Corner

Saturday, Feb. 27— Rockport

Simonton Corner Community Hall just to be that funky little hole in the wall for bands in the 1990s around here and has recently enjoyed a revival thanks to Necessary Music Productions and The Midnight Riders, a Old Soul, Funk & Blues, Rock ‘N Roll band that prefers the dark and musty corners to a slick stage. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. and all donated profits will go to renovating the hall for future bands. Good deal.

The hottest Irish acoustic group on the planet

Friday, Feb. 26 — Camden

Because I'm Irish I'm a sucker for the Celtic sound. The world-renowned Lúnasa is coming to the Camden Opera House to play with special guest Tim O'Brien. Since coming together in 1996, Lúnasa has performed over 1800 concerts and achieved a worldwide reputation as a different kind of Irish traditional music band. The all-instrumental quintet is noted for double bass and guitar-driven rhythms, original compositions mixed with material from Celtic regions. Reserved seating tickets available AT CAMDENOPERAHOUSE.COM, $22, $25 and $28 or by calling 207-470-7066 or at box office beginning at 6 p.m. Afterwards, the concert's sponsor Camden Harbour Inn, will be throwing one of their special meet and greets with the band at Natalie's Restaurant. The bar will be open serving their bar food menu..

Yellow Brick Road: A Tribute to Elton John

Saturday, Feb. 27 — Rockport

Unity College is putting out an Elton John tribute with wild costumes and sets. The event sets out to recreate every detail of an actual Elton John concert.  Given that he just slammed Janet Jackson for her lip syncing in which he said in part (warning NSFW) “It’s f****** lip-synced! Hello! That’s not a show! I’d rather go and see a drag queen.”—that show better have live singers or Elton will be coming hard for them! The show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 at the door and can be purchased ahead of time here.

Killer Road Trip: “Urinetown” The Musical at UMO

Sunday, Feb. 28 — Orono

Normally I like musicals about as much as pulling a glass shard out of my foot, but this title warms my heart. A winner of three Tony Awards, three Outer Critic’s Circle Awards, two Lucille Lortel Awards, and two Obie Awards, Urinetown is a hilarious musical satire of the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, municipal politics and musical theatre itself! Hilariously funny and touchingly honest, Urinetown provides a fresh perspective of one of America’s greatest art forms. The matinee show goes from 2-4 p.m. Tickets: $15 or free with student MaineCard. Buy Tickets.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com