• The weekend of May 23 is shaping up to be an important one in the local-music continuum. Not only do the LEFTOVERS release their new album with a gig at the Empire, but the weekend also sees a release from HONEY CLOUDS at SPACE (May 23), as well as the first disc from 9TH RAIL, a band featuring DAN NELSON, son of fantastic jazz guitarist RICHARD NELSON, at Slainte (May 24). Busy, busy.
• BILL CHINNOCK, who died in March 2007, is still lovingly remembered by a big portion of the local music scene. Soon, OLD PORT RECORDS, run by TAYLOR MESPLE, will give you something more to remember him by in the form of a live CD, collecting "some of his last and best concerts." No word yet on a release date.
• TWISTED ROOTS spent a recent weekend shooting a video for "Hollow Earth" down in Houston. The whole deal will be in high-def, look like a million bucks, and be ready for summer.
• The annual INTERNATIONAL SONGWRITING COMPETITION has announced winners and Maine this year is represented only in the children's and teen categories. The FLANNERY BROTHERS (out of Bangor) took home an honorable mention in the former for "Broccoli Yet;" MICHAELA THURLOW took home an honorable mention in the latter for "Comprehend."
Related:
Last call, Falling into you, Escaping the life, More 
- Last call
One of the big topics of social conversation in Portland last week was the anonymous Portland Point blog's ruthless, somewhat self-negating takedown of the Honey Clouds' May 23 CD-release show.
- Falling into you
Between Ron Harrity's skills as recording engineer, label guru (Peapod Recordings), and guitarist/sideman, he's racking up an impressive resume (see the accompanying review of the Isobell record for more details), and the new Honey Clouds record just adds to the list.
- Escaping the life
Like the drug dealers in The Wire or accounts of illegal trafficking of any form, the current and former teenage prostitutes in David Schisgall's documentary Very Young Girls don't often refer to their trade as a job.
- Rock of wages
Huak are the rare local band who, in the two-plus years they've been playing regular gigs, sound bolder and more self-possessed every time you see them.
- The death of 'Do This,' and more
Photographer/songwriter/BOXY member JOSHUA LORING and SPACE GALLERY were awarded a grant by the MAINE ARTS COMMISSION to document the underground rock scene.
- Greetings and salutations
The film, a decidedly unlikely crowd-pleaser, has had a charmed year so far. It won a Special Jury Award upon its world premiere at Austin, Texas's SXSW Film Festival, and an Audience Award at the prestigious Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in North Carolina, becoming something of a "little documentary that could" on the festival circuit.
- Gods of rock
SPACE Gallery will be awfully loud Thursday, with the CD release of Sun Gods in Exile's Black Light, White Lines, supported by Ogre and the debut of Murcielago. Last Friday's L'Animaux Tryst showcase and this show are sonic polar opposites on the SPACE spectrum, but good for them for giving some boot-stomping guitar-rock a chance.
- Local Sprouts dig in
For two years, the Local Sprouts Cooperative has been creating a name for itself as a sustainable and healthy catering and meal cooperative in Portland. Hanifa Washington, a worker-owner and chef, likens it to "Superman in slo-mo," saying that the organization has experienced a "steady advance" since its inception in 2007.
- Music Seen: Assemble
This month's Evolve2Advance bash, "Assemble," the latest in a series celebrating the convergence of visual art, music, food, and community, was one of those events whose status update should have read, "Come to SPACE right now for this very cool and under-attended event."
- Music Seen: Neko Case + Haru Bangs
First things first: Neko Case is the complete package, an unmitigated bombshell (gorgeous, wry, self-effacing) with a singular artistic vision (country/folk songs so heavy on metaphor and animistic and obscure mythological references that you could — and should — unpack them for months) and a voice like an air-raid siren.
- Less
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New England Music News
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