• HOT TICKET 10 years since this last Confessional DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL just re-released its first album, “The Swiss Army Romance” as a 10th-anniversary edition, so expect to hear lots of songs from that CD in addition to hits such as “Vindicated” and “Stolen” when the band plays Portland on Sunday. Good Old War, Cory Branan and […]

The Kenya Hall Band has just released its debut, “Learning for Miles, Vol. 1,” and it’s a neo-soul sensation of an album. Hall’s got a smooth, full-bodied voice, and she knows how to use it, whether she’s singing about the singular pain of lost love or the global spirit of human understanding. She has also […]

You might think today’s fascination with owls results from the Harry Potter and “Guardians of Ga’Hoole” books and movies, but not so, says photographer Mark Wilson. “There’s a huge hunger for live animal programs,” he said. “People can’t get enough of live animals, and particularly owls. They are impressive birds.” Wilson and his naturalist wife, […]

Meet the Vogels. Herb’s a retired postal clerk. Dorothy’s a retired librarian. They live in a rent-controlled, one-bedroom Manhattan apartment, have no outside income, and have amassed one of the most valuable and esteemed collections of conceptual art in the world. That’s the subject of this fascinating, touching documentary showing tonight at Space Gallery (www.space538.org). […]

It’s been open since mid-October, but you may not have known it because Racks Sports Bar & Grille, at 272 St. John St. in Portland, is hard to spot from the strip-mall parking lot. If you want to see all that Racks has to offer — the whole 11,000 square feet — you have to […]

Home brewers enjoy sharing beers, techniques, ideas and tales. That is why an event at Morris Farm in Wiscasset last week was called a beer workshop rather than a beer class. Mikael Andersson, who led the workshop, is executive chef at Sebasco Harbor Resort in Phippsburg, so he knows a little something about putting ingredients […]

Top 10 for Portland store Nov. 29-Dec. 5 1. “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” (DVD) 2. Various artists, “Greetings from Area Code 207: Vol. 8” 3. Kanye West, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” 4. Mumford and Sons, “Sigh No More” 5. “The Expendables” (DVD) 6. “Call of Duty: Black Ops” for X360 7. Susan Boyle, “The […]