What does the Portland film scene need? Maine filmmakers who have achieved success “away” (like Kyle Rankin and his “Infestation”) stress the need for tax incentives to lure big-time film production. And I heartily agree. David Meiklejohn has other ideas. Meiklejohn is a Portland-based filmmaker who has recently finished a feature-length documentary about love called […]

Most musicians are quick to list their musical influences, the artists who inspired them or who they tried to emulate at some point. But Joan Armatrading has no such list. There’s no way a person can create art in a total vacuum, but she has come closer than most. Growing up in the English industrial […]

Tommy Bazarian e-mailed me a few weeks ago and told me he was a junior at Falmouth High School who had just finished recording his first album, “A Million Suns.” A few days later, a copy of the CD was in my hands. Although I didn’t make it to his June 16 CD-release show at […]

These roots are made for rockin’ JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE is trying to make a name for himself as a singer/songwriter. He already bears the names of two others: His father, Steve Earle, and his father’s hero, Townes Van Zandt. Critics say he definitely has his own sound that’s rootsy and steeped in traditional folk music. […]

Writing this column has already had a benefit: Alan Pugsley gave me a personal tour of the Shipyard Brewery last week. Pugsley’s the person who brought English-style brewing to Maine when he helped David Geary set up his brewery, which began selling its beer in 1986. Before that, Maine had no breweries or brew pubs. […]

What an appropriate title writer-director Lisa Cholodenko chose for her family comic drama, “The Kids Are All Right.” The two kids of the film — teen siblings getting to know their biological dad — are great — smart, mature, high-minded, well-adjusted. On the other hand, the three adults, played with fierce heart and a genuine […]

Visual, performing arts collide, quite on purpose CREATIVE WORLDS collide on Wednesday when Mayo Street Arts in Portland hosts the Catch-14 happening. Hitting the stage at 8 p.m., singers Vince Nez, Jerusha Robinson and Kit Demos will be joined by visual artists Tim Clorius and Alex Rheault and living statues Marita Kennedy-Castro and Alpha Coyote […]

Jimmy the Greek’s in Old Orchard Beach is bringing back the audience-interactive smash ‘Awesome ’80s Prom.’