Local artists’ spotlight
BANGOR — Guidance Point Advisors will host a new social event series, The Guidance Point Advisors Illuminate Series, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, at COESPACE. For the first installment in the series will feature Ghosts of Bangor artist Rick Haney, and Urban Farm Fermentory. The event will feature a discussion of the ghosts of Bangor’s past. Light refreshments will be provided by Izzy’s Catering.
Guidance Point Advisors is a fee-only, independent advisory and financial planning firm with offices in Bangor, Portland and Boston.
Rick Haney, a Bangor native, started Ghosts of Bangor two months ago as a hobby. Rick uses old photos taken around Bangor from as far back as the 1800s and merges them with photos he has taken.
Entrepreneur Eli Cayer, a Maine native, founded Urban Farm Fermentory in March 2010. The Urban Farm Fermentory is an experimental fermentation center. It sources as many local ingredients as possible. Its array of fresh pressed Maine apple cider is spontaneously fermented in a farmhouse style until it’s bone-dry and tart.
For information including invitations, email bensmith@guidancepointrs.com or call 358-3099, ext. 302.
‘Little Shop of Horrors’
ORONO — The University of Maine School of Performing Arts will present “Little Shop of Horrors,” opening Friday, Oct. 24.
The delightfully devilish sci-fi Broadway musical smash hit features a giant man eating plant, a trio of singing ladies and outlandish characters, according to a press release. The plot spins around Seymour, a geeky floral assistant who comes across a new breed of plant that promises to take him and his lady crush from the slums of Skid Row, but not without a steep price.
“Little Shop of Horrors” is directed by Marcia Douglas and features a talented cast and crew of University of Maine School of Performing Arts students. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 24-25; Thursday and Friday, Oct. 30-31; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26 and Nov. 2, at Hauck Auditorium on the UMaine campus.
Maine Masque, the student organization that works closely with the school of performing arts, will be at each performance, except Nov. 2, to give audience members the opportunity to be photographed with Audrey II, the giant plant that stars in the show.
The Halloween night performance highlight will be a costume contest hosted and judged by Z107.3 DJ Paul Wolfe. Winners will receive a photo with Audrey II and a prize.
Tickets are $15 available at the door or online at UMaine.edu/SPA/tickets. Call 581-1781 for disability accommodation requests.
Band, jazz concerts
ORONO — The University of Maine School of Performing Arts will present a special performance with two bands at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26, at the Collins Center for the Arts. The University of Maine Symphonic Band and Jazz Ensemble will play a selection of pieces by American composers who wrote for multiple genres, styles and instrumentations.
The Jazz Ensemble, conducted by Dr. Jack Burt, will play a program that will include a Count Basie classic, “Basie — Straight Ahead” by Sammy Nestico. A highlight of the program will be an arrangement of tunes from Gershwin’s opera, “Porgy and Bess,” but with none of the famous tunes.
The Symphonic Band, directed by Christopher G. White, will feature music by Ira Hearshen, a noted Hollywood film composer who wrote for movies such as “Rush Hour,” “Romeo Must Die,” “Toy Story 2” and others. The Symphonic Band program also will feature several pieces by Gershwin, including his 1932 composition, “Cuban Overture.”
Tickets are $12, available by calling the box office at 581-1755.
Book talk
WALDOBORO — Sportsmen and other outdoors enthusiasts familiar with the sporting art and outdoors writing of Tom Hennessey of Hampden will be interested to know that the retired BDN columnist will sign copies of his latest book, “Leave Some for Seed,” 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, at Moody’s Diner and Gift Shop, Route 1, in Waldoboro.
Moody’s Diner has been a midcoast landmark since its establishment in 1937. Accordingly, and considering the number of sportsmen who hang their hats in the diner, the adjacent gift shop is ideally situated for publicizing a book about hunting, fishing and the many associated activities.
Born in Bangor in 1937, Hennessey grew up in South Brewer, a mill town that produced paper and sportsmen. “There was never a lack of something to do,” he recalled. “Building duck blinds, training dogs, tying flies, patching and painting boats and canoes. We didn’t have the electronic gadgetry that kids fritter their time away with nowadays.”
Though his occupations took him to storied hunting and fishing grounds throughout this country and beyond, Hennessey’s most memorable experiences with rods and guns were made in Maine. “Those are the ones I like to paint and write about,” he said, “and that’s what this book is about.”
Published in hardcover by Islandport Press in Yarmouth, “Leave Some for Seed” includes 158 pages of illustrated essays.