I love New Year’s Eve, and not just because it gives me a reason to drink an entire bottle of champagne by myself. I love New Year’s Eve because, like most holidays, it’s an excuse to have all kinds of fun with your friends and family.
But lest we forget our roots, let’s remember that New Year’s, like the holiday season in general, has its origins in ancient pagan and pre-Christian traditions. In northern European society, yule was celebrated. Gift giving and merrymaking was part of the Roman Saturnalia celebration. Even in ancient Persian and Greek civilization, the time around the winter solstice was one for food, wine and song. No matter which way you slice it, this time of year is just cosmically situated for a party. And in China, you get to do it all over again in February. Bonus.
So do the thing all humans should do when the year ends and we’re all fat, happy and drunk: get out and have some fun. At the very least, you should rock out with some of the fabulous musicians, who always make a point of it to play a gig on New Year’s Eve. They’re just doing what we’ve done for thousands of years.
In Bangor, the Downtown Countdown celebration hosts Evergreen at the Bangor Opera House, the RetroRockerz at the Union Street Brick Church, Velma at JB Parker’s Cafe on Main Street, the Bangor Jazz Trio at the Charles Inn, Maximum Blue and Larry and Leslie Latour at Bangor City Hall, and an awesome contradance with UpRiver Reel at the Unitarian Universalist Church on Park Street. Visit www.downtownbangor.com for a full schedule of events.
Also in Bangor, Paddy Murphy’s hosts Irish bar band the Bar Stewards, Bleechers on the Odlin Road has got Big Time and People and Things playing a tandem set, Phatt Sally at Raena’s, live DJs at the Red Martini, and undoubtedly more at all the other fine nightlife establishments in the Queen City.
The New Year’s By the Bay celebrations in Belfast has so many bands it’s hard to mention them all here. Ameranouche, Full Contact Kitty, Three Button Deluxe, the Odd Law Band, Rural Electric, the Yentes Brothers, the Mehuman Trio, David Dodson, the Katahdin Valley Boys and many more. Visit www.nybb.org for a full schedule.
For skiers, Sunday River hosts the band Worlds Collide at the White Cap Lounge. If you feel like sticking around, by the by, as it turns out the Wu-Tang Clan (!!!) will be playing there on Jan. 3. Yes, you read that right: the Wu-Tang Clan. I kid you not. At Sugarloaf, ’80s cover band Fast Times will rock the Widowmaker.
And as always, it would behoove you to check your local businesses and communities to see what else is on the menu. Things change quickly, and if you’re looking for something to do on the big night, ask around your town to see what’s going on. Have a safe, happy New Year, and here’s to much more rocking in 2009.
