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Hot Toddy

YouTube mystery to go live in Portland
The uncredited, audio-only, blank-screen video debuted on YouTube in October 2007, but didn't start getting known until the middle of last year. Its popularity has grown steadily since: the original posting still hasn't topped even 10,000 views — and yet, it seems everybody's heard it by now. Soon, you might get to see it performed live.

By RICK WORMWOOD | July 15, 2009

On tour

New material? Don't forget the old
Right about now, Aimee Mann is freaking out.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | July 08, 2009

Avoiding the problem

Snowe misses the point of healthcare reform
Over the course of Olympia Snowe's career in the US Senate, companies and workers in the healthcare and insurance industries have been her top donors (except for retirees and retiree political-action committees, which are obviously also concerned with healthcare issues).

By JEFF INGLIS | July 08, 2009

The Loan Groan

Never a borrower or a lender be dept.
Each month, with miserable certitude, the snail-mailboxes of middle-class twenty- and thirtysomethings are stuffed with student-loan bills, from both federal and private lenders. The balance seems to remain stagnant, even as we mail in check after check.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | July 08, 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

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

History bites

Bramhall shuttered; Jerks need a new home
Just a few months after the close of its upstairs neighbor, the Roma Cafe, the Bramhall Pub, long an institution in the West End, shut its doors two weeks ago. And while there's talk it may reopen after renovations, one thing is for sure: The 11-plus-year run of Jerks of Grass shows on Thursday nights, the longest-standing weekly gig in Portland, has come to an end.

By SAM PFEIFLE | June 24, 2009

Human rights watch

Acknowledging, and punishing, torture
Last week, on the heels of anti-torture panels and protests in Portland, Washington DC, and elsewhere, the Justice Department told the nation that it would have to wait a few more days before information about American torture policies and practices is made public.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 24, 2009

Bozzio appeals jail sentence, goes on tour

Reappearing Person
The bizarre animal-cruelty case of Missing Persons frontwoman Dale Bozzio is far from over.

By ASHLEY RIGAZIO | June 18, 2009

Supreme court

Maine senators playing major role in Sotomayor confirmation
Next month, Congress will begin confirmation hearings to decide the fate of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, the 55-year-old Bronx native whom President Barack Obama nominated last month to fill retiring Justice David Souter's spot on the nine-member bench.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 17, 2009

Warring with words

Maine team heading to national slam
Five local poets are heading to West Palm Beach, Florida, to represent Maine in the 2009 National Poetry Slam during the first week of August. The event has taken place in a different city every year since 1990; in 1995, Maine took fourth place, and last year the team split the field and placed 36 out of 80.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 10, 2009

Under attack

Civil liberties' limits grow
Recent decisions by President Barack Obama and Maine Governor John Baldacci have dampened progressive hopes that the Republican-inspired war on civil liberties might be winding down.

By JEFF INGLIS | June 10, 2009

Having it Both Ways

Should we blame Baldacci now?
For years, Democratic Governor John Baldacci, governors before him, and many legislators have made job creation their loudest mantra. “Jobs!” echoes under Augusta’s State House dome as the rationale for cutting taxes and expenses (services) and increasing corporate tax breaks to make Maine more “business friendly.”

By LANCE TAPLEY | June 03, 2009

Stickin' it to the poor

Right wing celebrates state budget
The Maine Heritage Policy Center, a right-wing Portland think tank, has been bragging in news releases about how state leaders have followed its advice, approving a two-year state-government budget that, among other cuts, slashes school aid, programs for the needy, and state-employee pay.

By LANCE TAPLEY | June 03, 2009

Last call

Bands come, go, and get bashed
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.

By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | June 03, 2009

What are the odds?

Best bets for this year's Best Music Poll
Ten years! When we organized our first Best Music Poll, way back in the day, we could only hope that it would one day wind up the institution it is today, with the annual Portland Music Awards ceremony drawing the best collection of musical talent Maine can produce.

By SAM PFEIFLE | May 27, 2009

Bringing the big comic-book guns to town

Other worlds
In its short history, the brand-new Ocean Gateway terminal hasn't seen anything like the hundreds of comic-book creators, collectors, and fans (900 strong, nearly half of them age 12 or under) who attended the inaugural Maine Comics Arts Festival on Sunday.

By ALEX IRVINE | May 20, 2009

Maine Greens readying for 2010

To the left, to the left
The Maine Green Independent Party, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2009, announced its seven-member steering committee after its annual convention in Augusta early this month.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | May 13, 2009

From the mouths of innocents

Modern poverty
It has become an unwelcome reality, living from paycheck to paycheck and worrying about job stability, but what about being born a guiltless young person growing up with a drug-addicted parent, no job skills, and no home?

By SONYA TOMLINSON | May 13, 2009