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We'll help you plan your best summer yet with our annual roundup of can't miss events! Plus we've got a Face the Music interview with vocal powerhouse Josh Groban who is performing in Portland on 6/24. And as always, we'll help you have a terrific weekend with our hand-picked selection of events. Have fun out there!
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Aimsel Ponti
Aimsel Ponti is a Content Producer at MaineToday.com and a music writer for MaineToday.com and the Portland Press Herald. She has been obsessed with - and inspired by - music since she listened to Monkees records borrowed from the town library when she was six years old. She bought her first Rolling Stones record at a flea market when she was in 7th grade and discovered David Bowie a year later. She's a HUGE fan of the local music scene and covers it along with national musical happenings in her "Face the Music" column and with artist interviews that appear in print in the Portland Press Herald and online at Mainetoday.com. You'll also find her out and about absorbing live music like a sponge and roaming around local record shops and flea markets. Aimsel is also the host of Music from 207 on 98.9 WCLZ and appears monthly on the News Center Maine TV show “207” to talk about...music of course.
Posted: February 11, 2019
Self-Love Spectacular & Oscar Wilde’s best: 9 things to do in Maine this weekend
Written by: Aimsel Ponti
'Love & Basketball'
6:30 p.m. Thursday. Rines Auditorium, Portland Public Library, 5 Monument Way, free. portlandlibrary.com
February is Black History Month, and to celebrate, the Black History Film Series continues at Portland Public Library. You can catch a Thursday night screening of the 2000 film "Love & Basketball" starring Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan. You can also catch screenings of "Get on the Bus" on Feb. 21 and "Basquiat" on Feb. 28.
Image courtesy of New Line Cinema
Valentine's Day Drink/Draw/Meet
7 p.m. Thursday. Engine, 128 Main St., Biddeford, $8 in advance, $10 at the door. feedtheengine.org
If you're single and you want to hang out on Valentine's Day without the pressure of romance but rather in the spirit of meeting cool new people, your best bet might be in Biddeford. Engine invites you to a mixer called Drink/Draw/Meet, a gathering for "all identities and expressions." Instead of the usual awkward ice-breaking chit-chat with the person across from you, you'll instead be drawing them; blind contour single line images to be exact. Every two minutes you'll move to a new chair and start a fresh drawing, and laughter is most certainly inevitable. What's more, your ticket includes a complementary beverage (beer, wine or Prosecco), so be sure to bring your I.D. but leave your artistic and conversational inhibitions at home.
Michaelpuche/Shutterstock.com
Love You More (Or Less): An Evening of One-Sided Love Songs
7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Anthony's Dinner Theater, 151 Middle St., Portland, $44.95, reservations required. anthonysitaliankitchen.com
Pick your night, make a reservation and then get ready to emotionally eat your way through an evening of silly and emotional love-gone-wrong songs. You'll be serenaded by four singers and a pianist and can carbo-load to your valentine heart's content at the all-you-can-eat Italian buffet. That's amore!
Robyn Mackenzie/Shutterstock.com
'The Importance of Being Earnest'
7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Portland Stage, 25 Forest Ave., Portland, $26 to $56. portlandstage.org
It's hands down the most famous play by Oscar Wilde, and this is the last weekend you can see it at Portland Stage. "The Importance of Being Earnest" masterfully fuses comedy with mystery, romance and mistaken identity, and it's been delighting audiences since the late 1800s. Smacking with razor-sharp satire, "Earnest" tells the tale of John "Jack" Worthing and Algernon "Algy" Moncrieff who attempt to check out of their boring lives by way of alter egos. When the lights dim and Act 1 starts, keep Wilde's own words in mind: "The truth is rarely pure and never simple."
Photo by Aaron Flacke
Ash & Herb's Soul Connection
8:30 p.m. Thursday. Space, 538 Congress St., Portland, $10. space538.org
DJs Ash & Herb are bringing their vinyl collection to Space and will be spinning their favorite hits from iconic labels, including Stax and Motown. Since it's Valentine's Day, they'll be throwing some funky love songs into the mix from Little Richard, Tina Turner, James Brown, The Supremes, Carla Thomas, The Isley Brothers and other fabulous artists. DJ $CREAMS will get you plenty warmed up with her collection of punk gems from the likes of ESG, Frank Chickens and The Slits, and she encourages everyone to "fight the power and get down!"
TeddyandMia/Shutterstock.com
Self-Love Spectacular
8:30 p.m. Thursday. Portland House of Music, 25 Temple St., Portland, $12 in advance, $15 day of show, 21-plus. portlandhouseofmusic.com
Port City Peep Show invites you to a red-hot, body-positive, self-love-themed Valentine's Day burlesque extravaganza. You'll see performers from all over New England strutting their stuff, including Honey Devereaux, Betty Von Kekse and Lady Luck Burlesque, Kinky Slippers, Tess La Twizzler and the Lavalities. There will also be live music, variety show bits and other heart-shaped surprises. Va va voom!
Burlesque performer Kitty Caboose. Photo by Tom Couture
Czechoslovakian-American Marionette Theater
7 p.m. Friday, 3 and 7 p.m. Saturday. Mayo Street Arts, 10 Mayo St., Portland, $15, $10 kids 12 and under, $22 preferred seating. mayostreetarts.org
They sure do have the world on a string – well, in this case, several strings – over at Mayo Street Arts. Here's a chance to see a performance of Czech and Slovak tales by Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre. Author Vít Horejs and his troupe of century-old hand-carved marionettes will dazzle and delight as his puppets speak in a dozen voices, play violin, swim and even fly. Fun fact: The ancient marionettes sat in a dusty closet of a Manhattan church for five decades before being discovered by Horejs. See for yourself how he gave them a new lease on life by catching one of three performances this weekend.
Photo courtesy of Mayo Street Arts
29th Annual Maine Home & Remodeling Show
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Cross Insurance Arena, 1 Civic Center Square, Portland, $8, $6 seniors, $5 kids, 6 and under free. newenglandexpos.com
In the market to spruce up your house? Or maybe you want to spice up your cooking repertoire? And heck, maybe you're in the mood for some shopping for crafts, gifts and specialty foods from local artisans? The 29th annual Maine Home & Remodeling Show is where this is all happening under one roof. On the home improvement front, there will be more than 180 exhibitors with the latest products and services, and you can hit one of several seminars and clinics. On the food front, catch the Meet the Chefs cooking series where you'll learn new recipes and cooking tips while also sampling tasty morsels. And on the shopping front, the Artisan Marketplace will be bursting with all sorts of items.
Netflix & Quill: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer'
7 p.m. Saturday. Quill Books & Beverage, 1 Westbrook Common, Unit 4. Westbrook, free. On Facebook
Are you a fan of the legendary Joss Whedon TV series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer?" Here's a fun opportunity to catch a screening of two episodes in Westbrook. Quill Books & Beverage will also have board games available and movie snack specials. Episodes 11 and 12 from Season 1 of "Buffy" will be shown, and they date all the way back to 1997! Catch up with Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, Cordelia, Angel, Oz, Spike and the rest of the crew. And remember: In every generation, there is a chosen one! Long live the '90s!
Sarah Michelle Gellar, star of the TV series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox Television
