PORTLAND

America’s Best New Bands 2009
Our picks for the best new artist from each state in the union - BY PHOENIX STAFF

Cirque du Dieu

Arundel Barn's Godspell
Charisma, daring, showmanship, whimsy — these are just a few of the character qualities expected under any given Big Top. But they might be just as at home in the discovery and passing on of religious ideas, as a teacher delivers and seekers explore the possible tenets of spirituality.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | July 01, 2009

Crime stats

Beatings, robberies sweep downtown Portland
Over the past two weeks, Portlanders have felt less safe in the Forest City. Especially in the downtown area between the East and West Ends, there have been reports of assaults and robberies, some of them armed — and that's not counting the incidents that went officially unreported but were discussed at length on Facebook and within social circles.

By: DEIRDRE FULTON | July 01, 2009

Deep impact

Ron Currie Jr. has a blast with the apocalypse once more
In the most memorable piece in Waterville author Ron Currie Jr.'s 2007 debut short story collection, God is Dead (Viking), God is reincarnated as a Dinka woman in a refugee camp in Sudan, who enlists a jive-talking Colin Powell in an effort to find a young boy.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | July 01, 2009

Working on your heart

Carll Wilkinson starts the whole damn thing all over
With the talent we have in this town, just about anybody can put together a decent-sounding album.

By: SAM PFEIFLE | July 01, 2009

Finding a way

Making Nicaraguan gallo pinto
If it weren't for Nicaragua, Jenny Sanchez and her favorite dish, gallo pinto, wouldn't be here. She's a 75-year-old grandmother. She's short, has wavy dark hair, black eyes. She leans over slightly even when she's standing upright and has a stiff, belabored walk. She lives alone in a neighborhood of single-floor apartments.

By: LINDSAY STERLING | July 01, 2009

Review: Big Meat Hammer at Geno's Rock Club

Music Seen
On my way to the club, I walked hunched in the drizzle behind a fellow in a leather jacket with white paint on the back: "Punks not dead." I pondered this idea and assumed we were heading to the same place, only to watch him pass by Geno's without a glance.

By: CHAD CHAMBERLAIN | July 01, 2009

Cambiata, Olivia Cornell and The Precious, Elijah Ocean and more

Sibilance
OLIVIA CORNELL & THE PRECIOUS have released their first CD, available now at Bull Moose and the like. Though they won't be playing out again until fall, have a listen to Filthy Things if you've got a jones on for some girl-rock mixed with some NYC punk flavor.

By: PORTLAND PHOENIX STAFF | July 01, 2009

FairPoint watch

Making a quiet killing — of itself and Maine's economy
Businesses in downtown Portland are on the move. Retail-property rents are lower than they have been in years, and stores are making deals left and right, with more than a dozen changing location in the past couple months.

By: JEFF INGLIS | July 01, 2009

Portland Phoenix honored

AAN honors Portland Phoenix for election coverage
At the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies annual awards banquet in Tucson, Arizona, last Friday, Portland Phoenix staff and freelancers were recognized for their coverage of the 2008 elections, with a second-place award, tying the City Newspaper of Rochester, New York, for the honors.

By: JEFF INGLIS | July 01, 2009

Under scrutiny

MECA visiting faculty at the ICA
Portland summers can be a time of scarcity for art lovers seeking conceptually challenging artwork, or a selective sampling of widely exhibiting international artists. Cue the annual visiting-faculty lecture series and accompanying exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art.

By: ANNIE LARMON | July 01, 2009

Nice to meet you Rich Connor

A few scenes from Connor's first couple weeks at the Portland Press Herald
Rich Connor, the mercurial new co-owner and editor/publisher of the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram , the Waterville-based Morning Sentinel , and the Augusta-based Kennebec Journal, is a curious figure, who himself seems a good candidate for interesting copy in the coming years.

By: JEFF INGLIS | July 01, 2009