December 01, 2008
Undergrad poets and fiction writers will join featured poets Melissa Crowe and Layla Carroll (billed as "a recent graduate of the prestigious Warren Wilson MFA program") for a night of "words and love" with Words & Images, the undergraduate lit journal at USM. After everyone reads, there'll be an open mic.
Which reminds me, a local open-mic king, Gil Helmick (who I wrote about last year), will play a CD-release party with the rest of his ensemble, snomonks, at SPACE next Friday night. The band, which includes Mark Tipton on trumpet, pianist Jesse Lynch, Wayne Smith on the cello, percussionist Patrick Barter, and poetry by Helmick, will release the debut album, "Crimes Against Humanity," on the Old Port Records label. The event starts at 8pm and tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door.
December 01, 2008
As Maine slashes the last of its AIDS-prevention funding in an attempt to somehow "save taxpayers money," the Portland department of public health is observing World AIDS Day, and offering free HIV/AIDS testing at the Maine College of Art (522 Congress Street, in Portland) from 10 am to 3 pm today.
As part of the event, they're showing the winning films in the Portland Phoenix Maine Short Film Festival. Other artistic elements are also on show. Swing by, check it out, get tested, and have some fun!
November 24, 2008
Community organizer and unsuccessful city council candidate Tina Smith was elected chair of the Portland Green-Independent Committee last night. Smith, who made Portland's arts scene and immigrant-rights the two centerpieces of her campaign, had this to say in a press release: "There's still a lot of fresh energy kicking around after the election lending us the opportunity to connect with the community, do define who we are and what we represent." Liz McMahon, who, like Smith, used to work with the League of Young Voters (but who blasted the League in a West End New letter around election time), was elected secretary.
November 24, 2008
Jessie Sorrentos, better known to Portlanders as the "human disco ball" at STYXX, got some National Public Radio love over the weekend, with her very own profile on Weekend America. For some reason, embedding the audio isn't working, so you'll have to go to the page to listen.
November 19, 2008
Newly elected at-large councilor Dory Waxman got back to us today on the pier issue (too late to go in the paper). Basically, she hopes that council finds "a solution to this sooner than later." She thinks that opening up a new request for proposals would be a step backwards after all the work that's been done over the last three years. Should the council move to re-open negotiations with Ocean Properties, the development company for whom Waxman did some community organizing last year, "I don't see myself recusing," from the debate, she said, despite others' wishes to the contrary. Waxman says she's meeting with the city attorney to determine whether or not she has an obligation to remove herself from any OP-related discussions, but at this point, her opinion is that "I have no legal conflict."
November 18, 2008
Even as WGME News 13 anchor Kim Block introduced a story about an anti-Barack Obama sign in Standish on last night's newscast, she blew the president-elect's name.
"A sign encouraging general store customers in Standish to place a bet on when Barack Osama - when Barack Obama, rather - could be assassinated is sending shock waves across the nation," Block said.
Read the story, and link to the full-size video from WGME's Web site.
November 18, 2008
The 2008 WePushButtons Awards ceremony happened over the weekend at SPACE Gallery, honoring members of Maine's electronic, hip-hop, and DJ community.
Spose, it appears, were the big winners, bringing home Best New Artist, Best Hip-Hop Act, and Best New Album honors. Check out the whole list online.
And if you want, check out the nominees, too.
Congratulations to all!
November 14, 2008
A recent visit to the Center for Maine Contemporary Art left brought up an issue that needs some attention. The Center seems to like to mount shows with lots of artists.
This particular one involves eighty or so, sometimes with many works by each artist.
Population problems aside, the problem here is conceptual,. The idea was to have artists provide preparatory sketches or other materials that they use to make their work. The underlying assumption is that we understand more about the artist by looking at their sketches.
This is, in terms of the direct experience of a work of art, empty calories. It’s true that for a major historical figure their studies might shed some light on their process, but knowing about their process says nothing about the nature and value of their work. We study them because history has proven their worth, not to understand that value any better.
There’s only one rule of art making ( I paraphrase from AJ Liebleing): The way to make art is well, and how you do it is your own business. Knowing anything about how an artist goes about their work is meaningless, in virtually every case. It’s just a way of avoiding thinking about the work in some concrete or meaningful way.
I know an artist whose process is intentionally hidden. You can’t tell whether the pieces are built, cast, made of metal or wood or something else. And yet a respected reviewer spent 500 words or so in a national magazine telling the world how the artist does it, and avoided completely issues of emotional resonance, artistic depth or quality. He did the artist, the work and the readership a disservice.
It gains us nothing to know a landscape artist works, say, from an airplane, or that another artists hikes six hours into a mosquito-laden swamp to get a particular scene. What we need to know is, is it any good, and why? As a reviewer, my commentary needs to elucidate what is going on in the piece, not what went on in the studio or out in the puckerbrush. That’s the artists’ business, not the viewers.
Learning about the process is like finding out if it is oil or acrylic. It’s not information that says anything about the work, and is empty conversation. There were some terrific drawings at CMCA, and some not so great, as might be expected with such a large number of works. It was hard to sort through them but sort of fun to see them, usually. I did see some sketches by artists whose work I know well, but I didn’t learn anything about those artists that I needed to know to appreciate them.
November 14, 2008
A quick update to this week's "8 Days a Week" column. Empire Dine and Dance's second Carnival of Arts is not postponed, and will indeed be happening on Wednesday, November 19. The event - which will be growing and ongoing - features local musicians, filmmakers, poets, artists, and readers. Head here for updates on the Carnival as they arrive.
November 14, 2008
C. Gray alerted me to a new Fire on Fire on Stereogum! The band's new album (consisting of 12 songs recorded before they issued their limited-edition 5-song EP last year), The Orchard, is due out in December.
November 13, 2008
In front of journalists and city officials this morning, city councilor and Community Development Committee (CDC) chair Cheryl Leeman and Olympia Companies CEO Kevin Mahaney announced that The Olympia Companies' negotiations with the city to develop the Maine State Pier are ending.
The primary bone of contention is the title to the sumberged lands under and around the Maine State Pier. The city and the state cannot agree on ownership and leasing rights to said lands, and as a result, Olympia's lawyers have advised the developers to back out -- the potential financial obligations were "not risk that we felt comfortable moving forward with," Mahaney said.
Now, the council has to decide whether to approach (tail between legs, much?) Ocean Properties, the developer that was shunned in favor of Olympia, or to re-open the Request For Proposals process.
The city plans to sue the state to establish ownership of the submerged lands; that process is expected to take approximately 12-18 months. If the state owns the land, the city is limited to entering into 30-year leases. If the city owns it, it could enter into the 75-year lease that Olympia was pushing for. Ocean Properties has said it wouldn't mind a 30-year lease.
Both Leeman and Mahaney said they found out about the most recent stumbling block -- a letter from Attorney General Steve Rowe that restated the state's unwillingness to name Portland as owner of the submerged lands -- within the last week. However, the letter is dated October 14, a few weeks before a certain big day, on which pier considerations were a factor. Strange?
The city council is expected to officially end the negotiations (an action that the CDC recommended last night) at its meeting on Monday. The new councilors will be sworn in on December 1. It's unclear whether or not brand-new councilor Dory Waxman, who was outspoken on the pier issue and formerly worked as a community liason for Ocean Properties, will recuse herself from future OP-related pier decisions.
November 13, 2008
Editor's note: Shay Stewart-Bouley wrote this as a possible alternative for her Diverse-City column this week. We ran her first column, but wanted to share this second viewpoint with you as well!
_by Shay Stewart-Bouley
You might be expecting me to gloat over the results of the
presidential election. But I'm not going to. Hell, this is a "blue" state; most
of y'all voted for Barack Obama just like I did. Besides, I'm not big into
gloating anyway. I'm more of a "let's stop slapping each other on the backs and
get to work trying to save our country from destruction" kind of gal.
Maybe I'll gloat if things are markedly better in four years and
we find that not only has Obama more than proved his mettle but he soundly
defeats his next Republican challenger as well.
No, while I'm giddy with joy that we've finally broken the racial
brick ceiling in the presidency, I am far from feeling smug about the election
results. Because for one thing, it's not like Obama has an overwhelming
mandate. Sure, he snagged two-thirds of the electoral college votes, but in the
popular vote, he got about 53 percent. A win is a win is a win, of course, but
that popular vote reminds me that plenty of people (46 percent of them in fact)
still didn't want that black man in the White House, for whatever reason.
Whether race, or the fear he will convert the nation into a socialist
dictatorship, or that he will hand out abortions on every street corner, or
that he will outlaw religion and guns, or that he is a secret terrorist - or for
whatever reason - nearly half the nation still wanted John McCain and Sarah "You
Betcha" Palin to lead us into the future.
Obama does have a mandate. And he doesn't. He still has to find
out how to unite the nation behind the cause of fixing what ails us, socially,
economically, and medically.
It should be noted that not only do we have a Democrat back in
the White House (well, he'll move in mid-January, anyway), but the Senate and
House will both be controlled by the Dems as well.
On the one hand, this looks good to someone like me. Everyone
should be pretty much on the same page. Congress won't be trying to block (or
impeach) Obama at every turn. Things might actually get done for a change.
Or maybe not. Or worse yet, what if bad things get done?
The rational part of my brain looks at what has become of our
country, especially with the recent economic meltdown, and tells me: The
Democrats couldn't possibly do any worse than the George W. Bush administration
did. But I never would have thought someone could have found a part of the
barrel this far down after the Clinton years brought us back to a more solid
fiscal foundation, so there's that pessimistic part of me that wonders if we're
really scraping the bottom yet - or are anywhere near it.
I fear that now that they don't have any serious opposition, the
Democrats may get complacent. Even with all the crises facing us, will they
simply wallow in the power they now have and get all giddy with excitement, and
forget that they actually need to save all of us from disaster?
It doesn't seem likely, but stranger things have happened, like
Dubya getting elected - twice. And Sarah Palin being elevated to the spotlight.
And Fox News calling itself "fair and balanced." Not to mention the notion that
Paris Hilton has any kind of career.
I'm a big fan of diversity. There still is some diversity in our
national legislature, so it's not like the Dems are unchecked, but with
majorities in both houses and control of the White House, I am a little
worried.
Not simply because the Dems may fumble their opportunity, but
because even if they try their damnedest and make the best possible choices,
things may still end up going to hell in a handbasket, and then the other side
(who got us in this mess to begin with) can say, "See, they can't handle it
even when they hold all the cards."
Shay Stewart-Bouley can be reached at diversecity_phoenix@yahoo.com.
November 12, 2008
In a couple of hours, The Greening of Southie will screen at SPACE Gallery. The documentary, about tough South Boston construction workers and the green apartment complex they're tasked with building, is the second outing from Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, the stars and producers of King Corn, which we wrote about this spring.
Here's what my esteemed colleague, Chris Gray, said about Southie in September:
The second release by King Corn
filmmakers Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis has the same natural charm and
levelheaded temperament as its predecessor. Following the construction
of the Macallen Building in South Boston from the ground up, the film
explains how a building achieves LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) certification, and transforms a stubborn
working-class neighborhood. The filmmakers could stand to be more
probing interviewers (they mention the shortcomings of the LEED
program, but don’t get anyone to ’fess up to them), but their technical
skills — cinematography, score, editing — have improved sharply.
Tickets are $7.
November 12, 2008
We got so carried away in our
enthusiasm for the Carolyn Chute excerpt we published in this week's paper that we awarded her a Pulitzer Prize for her
first novel,
The Beans of
Egypt, Maine, that she never received. Our
apologies. Pulitzer or not, Chute is still a
prize.
November 11, 2008
In their Veterans Day messages today, Governor John Baldacci and Congresswoman-elect Chellie Pingree appear to disagree on how many veterans there are in Maine.
Baldacci asks Mainers "not to forget the 150,000 veterans" in Maine. But Pingree, for her part, says in a statement that "Congress can do much to improve care and access to care for the 145,000 veterans living in Maine."
How's about somebody figure out a way to count them, and then we can work on what they need?
