Just when I was thinking my longtime, teeter-tottering love affair with restaurant shenanigans may be waning, a chance meeting took place this past week, sending me sky high. It was a much-needed boost in reminding me why I continue to do the work, when so much about it has changed. It started at a Commercial […]

There’s an interesting amalgam of musical offerings this week, ranging from classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven, to classic bluegrass, to a contemporary jazz setting of poet Betsy Scholl. Portland Symphony Orchestra continues its Classical Series on Sunday and Tuesday with a concert featuring Beethoven’s celebrated Symphony No. 5. Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 12 is the […]

Greater Portland Auditions Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” (female version), for Freeport Players, open auditions for six women and two men 35-65, April 26, 27, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Freeport Performing Arts Center, 30 Holbrook St., fcponline.org/auditions/. Exhibits Carol Beyna, The Chapel Art Gallery, Congregational Church in Cumberland, 282 Main St., Cumberland Center, through April. “Local Color: […]

A favorite email du jour: “Why do people think it’s permissible to talk on their cell phones throughout an entire dinner? Our monthly date night was ruined by a woman talking loudly for an hour, right next to me. This was in a place where the seating is too crowded as it is.” — Jason N., […]

As the calendar approaches the end of April, it’s end-of-season time for several of southern Maine’s performing arts producers. There’s naturally an impulse to exit with the strongest shows of the season, and that’s certainly the case this week. Good Theater, the resident professional troupe at Portland’s St. Lawrence Arts Center, is mounting the largest […]

Greater Portland Auditions Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” (female version), for Freeport Players, open auditions for six women and two men 35-65, April 26, 27, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Freeport Performing Arts Center, 30 Holbrook St., fcponline.org/auditions/. Exhibits Carol Beyna, The Chapel Art Gallery, Congregational Church in Cumberland, 282 Main St., Cumberland Center, through April. “Local Color: […]

A petition of sorts arrived from a group of readers who work in a hotel restaurant. The topic is one I’ve been avoiding like yesterday’s overpriced salmon special, but now that I’ve been called out, I have to at least dance around it. “We read your column every week,” the email began. “We usually agree […]

Greater Portland Exhibits Carol Beyna, The Chapel Art Gallery, Congregational Church in Cumberland, 282 Main St., Cumberland Center, through April. “Local Color: Pieces of Maine,” paintings by Dawn Maron, Mike Maron and Suzanne Woodward, Lifeworks Chiropractic Center, 202 US Rte. 1, Suite 100, Falmouth, to April 29. “Visualizing Portland’s Studio Culture,” artists at work in exhibition […]

A smart restaurateur once told me the average shelf life of a front-of-the-house manager is seven years. After that, he explained, tunnel vision sets in. Complacency and compromised standards (did he also say entitlement?) offset one another, and at that point it becomes best to part ways. Rarely will you see a manager demoted in […]