May 2019 | view full story as a .pdf

Our stages and streets explode with the sounds and sights of summer. You. Staring at the lighthouse. Get into town and grab a seat.

By Olivia Gunn Kotsishevskaya

Sails along the Promenade, Naked Shakespeare, Portland Lobster Co. deck music, Rising Tide’s MITA release—all telltale signs that summer is here, not to mention tour buses parked on High Street and Sea Dogs taking big swings under the stars.

The performances are endless, and everyone wants to bring his or her talents to Maine’s venues at the height of our warm weather. Pop star Maggie Rogers is so enamored with us, she’s sticking around for two shows, July 25 and 26, but why wait? Summer is here, and you should be packing in as much as possible starting now!

On the Rocks

Maybe the most anticipated opening of the year, Westbrook’s Maine Savings Pavilion at Rock Row is going to deliver a knockout first show on May 26. GRAMMY-winning artist Anderson .Paak and his band, The Free Nationals, are shooting stars. On their heels, Slightly Stoopid rolls in on June 15. With a debut like this, Rock Row is already on track to be a memory maker

Get To The Point

It’s becoming somewhat of a Portland tradition, taking in at least one show at Thompson’s Point. It hardly gets better than a coast sunset accompanied by your favorite band.

On June 7, soul survivors St. Paul & the Broken Bones will be breaking hearts with “Call Me” and new hits. Frontman Paul Janeway says fans can expect “a mix of stuff from Young Sick Camellia, Sea of Noise, and Half the City.” The band took the stage two years ago and fell in love—with us! “You’re a great place to visit in the summertime.” Asked if we’ll be treated to an Otis Redding hit—“Perhaps. Only one way to find out!”

Maine’s thirty-somethings likely have a few songs by moody rock band The National in their breakup arsenal. In the wake of the band’s eighth album release (I Am Easy to Find), they’ll make their first appearance in Maine on June 20 as the Point’s second show of the season.

On the Road Again

Some artists, while never having lived in Maine, deserve honorary Mainer status. Their albums are telling of the times and often reflect our own lives, speaking to us deep down where our stories are conjured.

Country music icon Willie Nelson kind of fits right in here, and he, along with his merry band of outlaws, will light up Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion in Bangor on June 14. The Outlaw Music Festival features Willie Nelson & Family, Phil Lesh & Friends, Alison Krauss, The Revivalists, Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real, and Particle Kid.

The next night, June 15, legendary blues artist Keb’ Mo’ will echo through the foothills of the White Mountains at Carol Noonan’s Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield.

Recalling his first visit, Mo’ says, “We were driving. I thought ‘Where the hell are we going?’ I sat out on the back porch of the dressing room and just chilled out. They brought all this wonderful food. I remember the food, the vinyl—backstage, there’s a huge collection of vinyl—and we’d play it while we ate.”

What does a rural Maine setting inspire in a musician? Mo’ says the answer’s in his hit song “City Boy.”

I can’t sleep, it’s too loud

Everywhere, where I go, you know

there seems to be a crowd

Tired of all these concrete streets

I want to feel the dirt up under my feet

“It’s not so much about how far off the grid you are,” Mo’ says. “It’s more about the intimacy of the performance. Stone Mountain Arts Center is an intimate venue, very friendly. It’s not grand, but it is grand. It’s grand in the way that grand should be. By the time it’s showtime, you’re really ready because you’ve been treated right and you’re ready to give your best performance you can give.”

With a new Keb’ Mo’ album planned for a June release, Stone Mountain audiences can expect new songs and a few by 22-year-old blues musician Jontavious Willis.

Daring to Face the
Real Portlandia

The man with a thousand faces, Fred Armisen (May 23, State Theatre), and comedian Michelle Wolf (June 2, Port City Music Hall) are the big headliners kicking off the laughs this summer, but their marquees don’t cast shadows over our homegrown talent.

Starting in June, Quill Books & Beverage energizes the summer with We’re Here: A Night of Queer and Feminist Comedy every third Friday of the month. Host Michael Beling says, “There are typically five or six comedians, sometimes from Boston or Connecticut to headline. [Quill’s owners] Allison Krzanowski and Matthew Irving do a really good job at creating a safe space, and I try to be really clear with performers on their guidelines. It is an 18+ event.”

When you think of comedy historically, “safe space” doesn’t come to mind. (It certainly wasn’t part of Carlin’s vocabulary.) “You can’t guarantee that someone’s not going to be offended by something,” Beling says. “That’s the nature of comedy. We try to be very explicit about Quill’s safe space guidelines, which are on the Facebook page. Certainly people have crossed lines at certain points, but I think if a comedian does something that isn’t appropriate, she or he should be able to take some feedback.”

Tall Tales

Returning to State Theatre on June 8, The Moth Mainstage presents five storytellers, including former Project Runway contestant and fashion designer Korto Momolu Briggs and Portland musician Max Garcia Conover, who’s been featured with The Moth in New York and Little Rock. “I’ve been telling stories in between songs since I started performing, but the first storytelling event I participated in was last year at Frontier for a series they do called SoundBites,” Conover says. “To me, telling a story is actually surprisingly similar to performing music. The biggest difference is just that songs aren’t bound to the truth in the same way.”

“We tend to find good stories and then find themes that frame them well,” says senior director Meg Bowles. “Every show is unique. It’s daunting to ask people to share a personal story in front of their friends and neighbors. There’s a different style in telling a story to a friend at dinner than telling it in a newspaper. [My job is] trying to push them more into that intimacy as opposed to being a reporter.”

Bowles, who lives in Sweden and has directed all of The Moth’s Maine shows, says she’s picked up on regional peculiarities in storytelling. “Culturally, in both New England and London, actually, there’s very much that stiff upper lip. Emotions are kept close. In the South, people are much more ‘tell me your life story!’ A lot of places in Massachusetts and in Maine, there’s a humility. You have to kind of encourage them to tell people about their biggest triumph and failure.”

Local Snaps

Maybe some Mainers lean towards the mind-blowing immediacy of poetry and would prefer an evening in an Old Port pub with Port Veritas, host of the poetry/open mic night at Bull Feeney’s. “On Tuesday nights starting at 8 p.m., we have an open mic for folks to share any written material or creative outlet of their choice,” says organizer Maya Williams.

The open mic is typically followed by a featured poet who performs a 30-minute set. “For the folks who may say, ‘I don’t get poetry,’ they’ve probably never been to an open mic or have never been to a community-oriented open mic where folks get to support one another in their writing and have a dialogue about it as the night comes to a close. Vulnerability may surprise them,” Williams says. “Or the amount of snapping in a room being a positive sign of enjoying the poetry.”

Williams invites everyone to join Port Veritas on June 5 in Congress Square Park for the outdoor urban happening Who Belongs? Who Decides? “We’ll be having a friendly slam—not competitive, just a fun reading with audience interaction and participation—among people having the chance to sign up and read poems.”

Classical Notes

Step back from the stage amplifiers with Lewis Kaplan’s Bach Virtuosi Festival from June 2 through June 9. In its third year, the collection of classical concerts brings world-class musicians together to perform in two of Portland’s stunning landmarks, St. Luke’s Cathedral and Etz Chaim Synagogue.

“Bach was a very strict Lutheran,” says Brian Kaplan, Lewis’s son and director of communications. “Bach would never have had his music played in a synagogue. Music transcends culture, religion, nationalities. There are so many people with multi-ethnic backgrounds who appreciate music. It’s a powerful statement and the right statement.”

A violinist and teacher for over 50 years, Kaplan (senior) co-founded the Bowdoin International Music Festival in 1964 before leaving in 2014 to focus on the BVF. Kaplan’s talent and gift for show presentations bring together some of the most respected musicians of our time, including trumpeter John Thiessen, flutist Emi Ferguson, and soprano Sherezade Panthaki.

“Each year of the festival, we perform at least one of the Brandenburg Concertos—this summer we will feature No. 2 and No. 5,” Lewis says. “Both are extraordinarily popular. We also feature a few cantatas, arias, and a motet, guided by the incredible soprano Sherezade Panthaki, a world-renowned virtuoso. One of this summer’s highlights will be the Handel opera Julius Caesar, which will close out the program on Sunday, June 9. Finally, we’ll feature two local musicians—rising stars who tour the world—organist Katelyn Emerson and pianist Henry Kramer. Both virtuosic musicians!”

Street Beats, Moves

A walk through Portland on any warm evening can lead to serendipitous patio serenades, park stages, seriously talented buskers, and city square performances. Venture to the Old Port for a summer First Friday Art Walk, and you can find yourself in Post Office Park among a crowd mesmerized by flamethrower John Siegfried Geyerhahn and his team of fire dancers.

If you love the harbor lights, try Portland Lobster Co., where, Shipyard Summer Ale in hand, you’ll find yourself listening to the Jason Spooner Band while waiting for your order of steamers. This summer’s lineup also includes Vinyl Tap, Gina Alibrio, and Band Beyond Description.

Along the route, stop to dance along the water’s edge at Porthole Restaurant with SUGARBOX on May 24 and Stolen Mojo on May 25.

Two Left Feet

Wallflowers, take the pressure off and simply enjoy the dance from your seat. Maine State Ballet presents Dancer’s Choice on June 20 and 21. Along with a piece by artistic director Linda Miele, each ballet dancer selects and performs traditional choreography.

Shake up the evening with the music of Zapion at Blue’s Middle Eastern Dance Night every third Thursday. A dancer accompanies the ensemble and its “folk, classical, and art music from the Turkish and Arab traditions, as well as Iranian and Balkan music.” Dancer Emma Holder is set to perform on May 16.

Maine Craft Distillery spices the summer up every second Friday with Cajun band Sylvain’s Acadian Aces. Fiddle, upright bass, button-box accordion, and drums set the floor on fire. Don’t be surprised to see some old-school moves like waltzes and two-steps, but it shouldn’t hinder your freestyle interpretations. The next show is on May 10.

Art Hops

Portland is overflowing with creative action, but sometimes your sea legs get restless. You need a day trip. It’s time to jump onboard the Casco Bay Ferry and take in the views of Peaks Island, because our coast and our ferries are nothing less than performance art. They expand our boundaries and touch our emotions. At night, they connect us to the universe. The same can be said of the nautical dances performed by the agile crewmembers of lithe vessels like those at Portland Schooner Co. As they swing past Portland Head Light and Fort Gorges, you realize you’re flirting with Maine as paradise this time of year. Maine’s stage dares to step offshore.

Through May 29, the Richard Boyd Art Gallery showcases Paintings in Oil, an exhibit the gallery puts up every year. “It’s comprised of seven different artists across multiple genres from still life to landscapes, contemporary to traditional realism,” says Pam Williamson, co-owner. “When we do group exhibits, I incorporate work that speaks to different styles and painting techniques so that there’s a little bit of work for people of all interests.” Paintings in Oil features Patricia Chandler, Carrin Culotta, Kevin Daley, Felicity Sidwell, Jen Pagnini, Roy Perkinson, and Wilson Stewart. “Come in, enjoy it, let it calm you,” Williamson says. “That’s why we select the work we do. That’s what art should be about. We go back to the old days where it’s art for art’s sake.”

The striking self-portraits of Johannesburg artist Zanele Muholi don the walls of Colby Art Museum through June 9. Over seventy works tell a tale of starkly memorable selves in Somnyama Ngonyama—Zulu for Hail the Dark Lioness. “We worked closely with London curator Renée Mussai of Autograph, a nonprofit space in London that focuses on photography and the African diaspora,” Colby curator Beth Finch says. “In our Jetté Galleries, there’s a double-height space. We knew what Muholi calls the ‘wallpapers’ would look great in here. One is evocative of the Statue of Liberty. Another wallpaper is much more suggestive of a lioness. Many have a very direct, almost confrontational gaze. When you’re standing in a space surrounded by so many images of the same individual in different guises, you feel the complexity of one individual representing herself in a very powerful way.”

Meanwhile, Rockland’s Center for Maine Contemporary Art presents Meltdown, a collection of photography and video by Maine artists calling attention to global warming. “People have been drawn by the mix of photographic and film processes,” curator Bruce Brown says. He’s dishing up “everything from the conceptual work of D.M. Witman, in which her photographs are facing into darkness on the walls; to the storytelling of Jan Piribeck’s animated film; to Shoshannah White’s use of coal and photography on five very large panels; to the conceptual beauty of John Paul Caponigro’s collage work; to Peter Ralston’s journalistic photos…” Meltdown will rock your eyes through June 9.

Thespian Dreams

On May 12, Mayo Street Arts hosts Vermont’s Bread & Puppet Theater. Their show Diagonal Life: Theory and Praxis “emphasizes the characteristics of our current predicament,” says puppeteer Josh Krugman. “[We may be] on the verge of collapse but are always capable of uprising. The show aims to inspire uprising.”

Founded in 1963 by German-born artist and baker Peter Schumann, BPT is a “political theater company that uses puppets, music, dance, painting, sculpture, and anything we can find to tell the stories and address the issues that are most urgent,” Krugman says.

What may be the most unique aspect of Schumann’s vision comes freshly baked. “Peter emphasizes when given the opportunity that it’s bread and puppets, not puppets and bread. The point of the bread is to assert that food and art are both essential to the human being,” Krugman says. “We sometimes fail to supply the puppet show for free, but we never fail to supply bread for free.” Headed to this show? Go hungry.

If that doesn’t satisfy your cravings, PortFringe has ten days of new, experimental theater” lined up starting June 13. “We’re in our eighth year, and it’s our longest festival yet,” says founding organizer Deirdre Fulton McDonough. “In addition to the main festival, we have a solo fest that’s going to be the kickoff. That’s a one-person-show series. We also have what we’re calling “installation fest”—three separate performance experiences that are immersive for the audience to step into. We’ll also have our seven days of wild and crazy fringe shows.”

Fringe installations? We’re ready! “Three companies or artists are participating in the installation fest, two from Maine and one from Portland, Oregon,” McDonough says. “These are going to be 3D installations that include a visual art element and are going to completely transform the space, but they must be able to install and de-stall in two hours or less. That’s what makes Fringe so exciting! Installation fest is going to have that same feeling. It’s our way of expanding our vision of what the festival can include and the types of folks we can reach in terms of artists and audiences.” PortFringe runs through June 22. All tickets are $12.