Greater Portland Exhibits Sketches by Anthony Jensen, CIA, 72 Ocean St., South Portland, to Sept. 14. “The Art of the Clam Festival,” posters, photos and original artwork related to the Yarmouth Clam Festival, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth, through Sept. 9. Film PMA Films, Portland Museum of Art; more at portlandmuseum.org/events/movies. Portland Summer Film Series, at […]

As the calendar flips to August, three music festivals in southern Maine compete for attention and audiences. One is wrapping up. One is about to begin. One is just underway. Just underway is Orgelfest, a celebration of Portland’s magnificent Kotzschmar Memorial Organ. Three concerts remain on the schedule plus a couple of opportunities for the […]

From a reader: “In one of your latest columns, you mentioned about leaving tips in cash form, and not on the credit card. My thought has been to leave the tip on the card so that the server has to declare this as income, thus contributing towards their Social Security total in the future. And […]

Greater Portland Exhibits Erin McGee Ferrell Paints Cape Elizabeth Live, Ocean House Gallery & Frame in Cape Elizabeth, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., to July 30. “Explorations in Watercolor,” by Catherine Gram, Freeport Community Library, 10 Library Drive, through July. Sketches by Anthony Jensen, CIA, 72 Ocean St., South Portland, to Sept. 14. “The Art of the […]

Pooling gratuities is a subcategory of the never-tiresome, all-things-tips-related conversation. And, like many core hospitality conundrums, it is revisited often. Sometimes, I am enlightened with an epiphany, or hear of new scenarios that question if pooling tips is the right or wrong thing to do. Other times, I experience my own tip-pooling situation when I […]

There are some wonderful choices available on southern Maine’s midsummer calendar of events. One of my personal favorites is the Ossipee Valley Music Festival, an alfresco gathering of dozens of performers and many hundreds of their fans. Acoustic and roots are two of the common themes that bind the artists, who will hold forth in […]

Greater Portland Auditions Pie Man Theatre Company at Mayo Street Arts, 10 Mayo St., Portland, for 2016-17 season, 7-9 p.m. July 24 & 25. Sign up for 10 minute slots at  piemantheatre.org. Exhibits Erin McGee Ferrell Paints Cape Elizabeth Live, Ocean House Gallery & Frame in Cape Elizabeth, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday to July 30. […]

The two top shows on the performing arts calendar share a common theme: They’re both French masterpieces that originated in the 19th century. And curiously, both involve a Gypsy woman with a fatal attraction. In Portland, Georges Bizet’s “Carmen” is the mainstage production of PORTopera, Maine’s top opera company for nearly a quarter century. Artistic […]

The you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up file has been gathering cobwebs. Oh sure, reports from the trenches still make their way to my email inbox, but nothing beyond mildly disturbing tidbits have been worth sharing. The bar, it seems, has been raised because people never fail to disappoint when it comes to hospitality crazy. Still, I feel for the […]

Greater Portland Auditions Pie Man Theatre Company at Mayo Street Arts, 10 Mayo St., Portland, for 2016-17 season, 7-9 p.m. July 24 & 25. Sign up for 10 minute slots at  piemantheatre.org Exhibits Erin McGee Ferrell Paints Cape Elizabeth Live, Ocean House Gallery & Frame in Cape Elizabeth, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday to July 30. […]