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.
Bronze Radio Return and Cat Power among this week’s shows
Bronze Radio Return
9 p.m. Thursday. Portland House of Music, 25 Temple St., Portland, $13 in advance, $15 day of show, 21-plus. portlandhouseofmusic.com
Indie roots rock act Bronze Radio Return comes to Portland with a brand new album in tow. "Entertain You" was released on Feb. 22, and if the title track is any indication, it promises to be a killer show of buoyant, catchy tunes. The band out of Hartford has been at it for a decade and has amassed an impressive 60 million-plus streams on Spotify on the strength of songs like "Light Me Up," "Shake, Shake, Shake" and "Further On."
Photo courtesy of the artist
Cat Power
8 p.m. Friday. State Theatre, 609 Congress St., Portland, $29.50. statetheatreportland.com
Singer-songwriter Cat Power, whose real name is Chan Marshall, released her 10th album "Wanderer" last fall, and her current tour brings her to Maine for a Friday night show in Portland. "Wanderer" includes Cat Power's take on Rihanna's "Stay," as well as the song "Woman," featuring Lana Del Rey. Cat Power might not be a household name, but she's quietly amassed something of a cult following with her sublime combination of stunning originals and carefully-chosen covers of songs like Joni Mitchell's "Blue" and a chilled-out take on "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones.
Photo courtesy of the artist
PSO's Solar System Symphony
2:30 p.m. Sunday. Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St., Portland, $10. porttix.com
Blast off into outer space with Portland Symphony Orchestra as its Discovery Concerts series presents the Solar System Symphony. The show is a cosmic fusion of astronomy and classical music and includes excerpts from Holst's "The Planets" along with a constellation of other works inspired by the infinite abyss of space. Doors open at 1 p.m. for games and an instrument petting zoo, so if you want to be sure to have a fantastic afternoon with your kid, you just have to planet.
Eduard Alsynbayev/Shutterstock.com
Mike Doughty
8 p.m. Sunday. Port City Music Hall, 504 Congress St., Portland, $22 in advance, $26 day of show, $40 preferred seating, 18-plus. portcitymusichall.com
Singer-songwriter Mike Doughty formed the band Soul Coughing back in 1992 and released three studio albums over the course of five years. Since those days, Doughty has gone on to release 11 solo albums. For this show, however, Doughty, backed by a cellist, bassist and guitarist, will be playing – in its entirety – the album that started it all: Soul Coughing's "Ruby Vroom," which includes the tunes "True Dreams of Wichita" and "Screenwriter's Blues." What's more, Doughty will be using cues and hand gestures throughout the performance to create what he refers to as a "real-time remix of the record."
Photo by Ben Staley
