MIDNIGHT RIDER FOR THE MORNING STAR: From the Life and Times of Francis Asbury, by Mark Alan Leslie, 2008, Francis Asbury Press, Wilmore, Ky., 257 pages, $14.95, paperback, available online at www.amazon.com. It was the painting of Francis Asbury, clutching an open Bible, astride a… Read More
    Well, it’s one way to steam up the Bangor Auditorium on a cold November night. Pack it to the rafters with a small army of country music fans, give them three acts and three hours of solid performances and make them beg for more. All that for a… Read More
    MY BONNY LIGHT HORSEMAN, by L.A. Meyer, Harcourt, New York, 2008, hardcover, 436 pages, $17. Corea author L.A. Meyer has returned with the sixth chapter in his young-adult “Bloody Jack” series, featuring the misadventures of plucky orphan Jacky “Bloody Jack” Faber. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
    Going to Grandma’s house was always a big adventure for me. Always delighted by my visits, she would help me cut out paper dolls from old catalogs or fetch the big box that contained old photographs of her five children. We would laugh together at the dresses and… Read More
    How do you define a “God Story,” and how did you come to be interested in this topic? I define a God Story as something that happens to you that is so profound it confirms your belief in God or a Divine power. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
    While it has been said that good servants often make good masters, it is a well-known fact that clever slaves with dim-witted owners make great comedy. That is the simple premise behind some of the world’s oldest laughs, including the ones that can be experienced this weekend at… Read More
    Sunday afternoon’s sold-out Bangor Symphony Orchestra concert was full of youthful energy, as three talented soloists performed a program of pieces all composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The star of the show, naturally, was Bangor High School alumna Ashley Emerson, who appeared on the Peakes… Read More
    Ten Bucks Theatre is attempting to stave off winter with a trio of one-acts directed by two of its younger members. Simon Ferland, a senior at the University of Maine, directed David Mamet’s “Duck Variations” and “The Attempted Murder of Ms. Peggy Sweetwater,” a spoof… Read More
    With some dramatic lighting and a little smoke, Carrie Underwood appeared to rise from underneath the stage Tuesday night for her show in front of a packed house of screaming fans at the Cumberland County Civic Center. It’s not surprising that the 2005 “American Idol”… Read More
    Every Sam Shepard play is chockfull of testosterone in the same way “Sex and the City” episodes ooze female hormones like lava spewing from an erupting volcano. “True West,” the American playwright’s 1983 story of brotherly love and hate, is the rule, not the exception… Read More
    It has been 30 years since Arthur Fiedler brought the Boston Pops to Bangor. Six thousand people jammed the city’s auditorium on April 23, 1978, to watch the iconic 83-year-old conduct the symphony a year before his death. There was magic in the air, including a key to… Read More
    One of the leading ladies of TV science fiction returns tonight in a new series. For 10 years on “Stargate SG-1” and one season on its spinoff, “Stargate: Atlantis,” Amanda Tapping played the brilliant Col. Samantha Carter. Now she’s back, out of uniform and in a new role. Read More
    In his Bangor Daily News interview last week, Jonathan Biss said he felt that Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 was one of the most thrilling pieces for a pianist to perform with a symphony orchestra. When he played it Sunday afternoon in the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s season-opening concert… Read More
    Brave CBS. Now there’s two words not often put together. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0] googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
    Aussie actor Simon Baker has landed a flashy showcase as the title character in the new drama “The Mentalist,” debuting at 9 tonight on CBS. Baker earned a Golden Globe nomination for playing sympathetic legal children’s advocate Nick Fallin in “The Guardian,” which aired on… Read More
    J.J. Abrams has struck again. Abrams, along with co-creators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, are renowned for such works as “Lost,” “Alias” and the much-anticipated reboot of the “Star Trek” movie franchise. Their latest effort is “Fringe,” debuting at 9 tonight on Fox. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
    HBO keeps coming back to its tried-and-true creators, with uneven results. David Simon went from the criminally underappreciated “The Wire” to the generally positive reviews of “Generation Kill.” David Milch moved from the acclaimed Western “Deadwood” to the bizarre mysticism of “John From Cincinnati.” googletag.cmd.push(function… Read More
    Now rolls in the next gritty FX drama following in the tracks of such acclaimed series as “The Shield” and “Rescue Me.” “Sons of Anarchy,” debuting at 10 tonight, is a heartwarming family drama about … a motorcycle club. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
    STONINGTON – The highlight of any Maine theatergoer’s summer is the production of one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces at the Stonington Opera House. The company of New York actors takes risks with the Bard few companies in Maine dare try, and pushes the technical limits of the more than… Read More
    Lovers of musical theater should hurry down to Northport Music Theater and soak up “Closer Than Ever,” a musical revue about life and love and aging. Not only is the show, directed by Scott R.C. Levy, the producing artistic director of the Penobscot Theatre Company,… Read More
    Given the similarities between Maine and Minnesota, it’s a wonder Kevin Kling’s “The Ice Fishing Play” hasn’t become a staple of theater companies in the Pine Tree State. After all, many a Mainer has retreated in the dead of winter to a customized shack on one of the… Read More
    What makes William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” a problem play is not the plot, the dialogue or the story structure. It’s the fact that society has changed in the 400-some years since the Bard wrote it. Directors, in various attempts to make the play relevant to modern… Read More
    The key to “Twelfth Night” is the pacing. It must start off at a trot, quickly switch to a canter and be moving at a gallop by intermission so that theatergoers barely have time to catch their breaths before they are astride again rushing headlong for the curtain… Read More
    BY DALE MCGARRIGLE OF THE NEWS STAFF googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0] googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
    STONINGTON – Arlene Hutton’s play “As It Is In Heaven” lovingly brings to life a sliver of history from a Shaker community of the 19th century. That, however, is only what appears on the surface of this onionlike production to be performed tonight at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker… Read More
    During this watershed presidential campaign comes a timely documentary on “P.O.V.,” airing at 10 tonight on Maine Public Television. “Election Day,” co-produced by Monroe native Dallas Brennan Rexler, takes viewers inside the events of Nov. 2, 2004, which capped the first presidential campaign since the… Read More
    Showtime has paired up a couple of successful if shady female entrepreneurs on its Monday night lineup. Following suburban pot dealer Nancy Botwin on “Weeds” at 10 p.m. will be a woman who sells the world’s oldest commodity. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
    As summer approaches, a new genre of character – the female social misfit in a position of authority – continues to grow with “In Plain Sight,” debuting at 10 p.m. Sunday on USA. “In Plain Sight” is a star vehicle for Mary McCormack (“The West… Read More
    Viewed together, the separate pieces in the Robinson Ballet’s spring show seem to be telling one story – a child’s flight from the nest followed by a triumphant return home. In another sense, from its first classical ballet piece, “Laren’s Waltz,” the story-telling of “Tennis… Read More
    Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 is generally accepted to be one of the most difficult pieces in the violin repertoire. Apparently, when the Russian composer premiered it in Vienna in 1879, the violin virtuoso picked to perform it backed out, saying it was unplayable. Read More
    “The Loveliest Woman in America” is a beguiling title. It’s also a fascinating memoir written by Bibi Gaston as she attempts to exhume the life of her grandmother Rosamond Pinchot Gaston, who ended her own life at age 33 in 1938. Bibi Gaston knew little… Read More
    One of Britain’s sharpest exports returns this Sunday in the form of Tracey Ullman. Now a naturalized U.S. citizen, multiple Emmy winner Ullman celebrates the many quirks of this country in her new Showtime limited series “Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union,” debuting at 10… Read More
    Since leaving her award-winning role as nurse Carole Hathaway on “ER” in 2000, Julianna Margulies hasn’t quite found as memorable a role on TV. Well, at least until now. Margulies has found a good one in Elizabeth Canterbury, a defense attorney willing to bend the… Read More
    BEVERLY HILLS DEAD, by Stuart Woods, 2008, Putnam, New York, hardcover, 291 pages, $25.95. Part-time Mount Desert Island resident Woods takes readers into the past for the latest novel in his newest series featuring cop-turned-movie executive Rick Barron. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
    It’s a natural pairing. Start with the Farrelly brothers, creators of such rude and crude comedies as “Something About Mary” and “Dumb and Dumber.” googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i… Read More
    When it comes to sensitive TV dramas, two names come readily to mind: Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz. Through the 1980s and ’90s, the pair created such revered shows as “thirtysomething,” “My So-Called Life” and “Once and Again.” As the latter two series proved, subtle… Read More
    Twelve years in the making: That’s what the University of Maine School of Performing Arts’ production of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” has been – a long, difficult journey for director Tom Mikotowicz stretching back to those scary years in the late ’90s and early 2000s when there… Read More
    Neil Simon wrote one perfect act for “Last of the Red Hot Lovers.” Unfortunately, it’s stuck in the middle of two others that, at least in the Penobscot Theatre Company’s current production, just don’t live up to the faultless hilarity of the one in the middle. Read More
    MILO – Sabrina Sherrill connected for a game-high 20 points Saturday to propel Foxcroft Academy to a 53-41 girls basketball victory over Penquis. Vanessa Lougee chipped in 12 points for the Ponies. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes =… Read More
    Monday night on CBS has long meant comedy. That continues this winter, despite the writers strike. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if… Read More
    MARGARET CHASE SMITH: A WOMAN FOR PRESIDENT, by Lynn Plourde; color illustrations by David McPhail. Ages 8-11. 32 pages. $16.95 hardbound; $7.95 paperback. Hillary Rodham Clinton is not the first woman from a major political party to run for president. That distinction goes to Maine… Read More
    Outside the Bangor Auditorium Thursday, die-hard country music fans braved the year’s coldest night huddled in their pickups with their stereos cranked up. A favorite track seemed to be “I Got My Game On,” Trace Adkins’ testosterone-driven tale about one man on a mission in a nightclub. Read More
    WICKED GOOD WINTER CHALLENGE Participating Teams: Hurricane Swim Club- Bangor-HSC; Canoe City Swim Club- Old Town/Orono YMCA- CCSC; Bangor Y-BYB; Mount Desert YMCA-MDIY; Mid-Maine Dolphins- Waterville Boys/Girls Club-MMD; Seacoast Swim Club- Cumberland – SSC; Wiscasset Unsinkables-Wiscasset Rec.-WCCU; Kennebec Valley YMCA-KVY; googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
    COLLEGE Tatum Welch googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0]… Read More
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    The Penobscot Theatre Company’s invitation to visit Neverland should not be turned down. Its layered and lavish production of J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan” at the Bangor Opera House is a refreshing substitute for “A Christmas Carol.” The show captures all the excitement children experience during… Read More
    For theatergoers who just can’t get into the holiday spirit without the Charles Dickens’ classic but may have grown weary of the play, the Wayside Theatre in Dexter has a scrumptious solution – “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol.” This is a one-man tour de force told… Read More
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    It’s a long way from Bangkok to Bangor, but when your motto is “Bringing the world together,” a warm spirit and an open heart can bridge the distance. That seemed to be the message left behind by the 67-member cast of Up With People, who wrapped up a… Read More
    DALE MCGARRIGLE OF THE NEWS STAFF googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0] googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
    While waiting in line at the restroom during intermission at the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s “Spirit of Bangor” holiday extravaganza last Saturday afternoon, I had a very diverse group of people surrounding me. I was behind a 12-year-old girl from the Bangor Area Children’s Choir, in front of a… Read More
    BANGOR – There were some mild but pleasant surprises from several award recipients after Sunday afternoon’s Maine Soccer Coaches banquet at the Spectacular Event Center. “I’m still kind of shocked,” Caribou senior forward Kyle Corrigan said a few minutes after he was named an All-New… Read More
    COLLEGE Saturday googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0] googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]];… Read More
    It takes nerve to update a children’s classic loved by millions. Writers Stephen Long Mitchell and Craig W. Van Sickle have that daring in spades, creating “Tin Man,” the miniseries that updates “The Wizard of Oz” for a new millennium. The six-hour event debuts at… Read More
    Regardless of how far the Lee Academy Postgraduate basketball team gets this season, it’s sure to get there quickly. With a veteran point guard, several shooters, and an abundance of fleet-footed players, Lee’s Postgrads have already cranked up the offensive tempo and jumped out to… Read More
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    PORTLAND – The mottoes are many for any high school athletic team. But the reality of Bonny Eagle’s barely decade-old football program was spelled out in a single word on a poster held up by the Scots after their 34-14 victory over Lawrence of Fairfield… Read More
    All right, so she didn’t dance, but who was complaining? Country singer Sara Evans bumped and bounced across the Bangor Auditorium stage Friday night, and managed to squeeze 17 songs into her 70-minute set. Evans even changed into an elegant black outfit for a two-song… Read More
    A forest – or rather 1,000 seedling trees – is inadvertently left outside of a suburban Connecticut home. This multitude of seedlings just happens to arrive at the time when the home’s owner, Horace Woodruff, an attorney at a local hospital, has been laid off. One door closes;… Read More
    The bassoon. Such a strange instrument – it looks like a piece of plumbing equipment, and it’s got more keys than a janitor. And yet, in the hands of soloists Wren Saunders and Stevi Caulfield at the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s concert on Sunday afternoon, it sounded playful, lively… Read More
    The theater department at the University of Maine is celebrating 100 years of productions at the state’s flagship school of higher learning. How fitting that Sandra Hardy, an associate professor who teaches acting and dramatic literature, chose one of Henrik Ibsen’s more than 100-year-old works to mark the… Read More
    Lindsay Blackstone netted two goals, including the game-winner with 12 minutes left in the second half, to lift the No. 3 Washburn Beavers to a 2-1 girls soccer victory over the No. 6 Fort Fairfield Tigers in an Eastern Maine Class D quarterfinal Saturday in Washburn. Read More
    Defending state champion Lawrence of Fairfield will take the No. 1 seed into the Eastern Maine Class A football playoffs that begin last weekend. Lawrence, 8-0 this season and winner of 19 straight games overall, will host No. 8 Mt. Blue of Farmington (3-5) in… Read More
    Earlier this year, Joe Hill exploded onto the publishing scene with his debut novel, “Heart-Shaped Box,” about a merciless ghost and an aging rock musician. The novel itself, an instant best-seller, has plenty of suspense for many readers. But another mystery soon was solved shortly… Read More