1. If you believe the Weather Channel, we are facing an apocalyptic amount of snowfall this weekend, unleashed upon us by the angry and vengeful gods of meteorology. Woe befell those who tempt the wrath of the snow demons! If you are a person less prone to hyperbole than our impressively coiffed cable weather-people, then you know we’re in for a big ol’ snowstorm. Power might go out, cars may get stranded. In other words: the usual winter stuff. Should you wish to venture out at any point, there’s actually a lot of cool stuff happening in downtown Bangor this weekend. Friday night, you can catch a double bill featuring Rotating Taps (pictured) and Temperature of the Sun at Paddy Murphy’s, at the Sea Dog Magnetic North brings their mesmerizing grooves to the stage, and at Woodman’s in Orono there’s Gorilla Finger Dub Band. On Saturday, there’s the Bill Barnes Trio at Nocturnem Drafthaus, songwriter Kevin Hamel at Ipanema, a night of folk with Larry and Leslie Latour and Dave Meek at the Big Easy, indie rock with Chamberlain and Leaves, Leaves at Paddy Murphy’s, and at the Next Generation Theatre in Brewer, there’s the Main Street R&B Revue. Check any of these venues’ Facebook pages to see if shows are canceled.
2. Looking towards the weekend in Portland, on Friday, there’s a mixed bag around town, starting with Chaos Sauce and Shutdown Brown at Empire; Joe Gallant, Dark Hollow Bottling Company (pictured) and Max Garcia Conover at the Big Easy, some serious rock with Society Ink, Clubber Lang, Two Forty Gordy and THC at Geno’s, and Quebecois music with Le Vent du Nord at One Longfellow Square. On Saturday, the Big Easy hosts the farewell show for This Way, the popular country-bluegrass ensemble that’s calling it quits so its members can try other things, one of which includes North of Nashville, who are also on the bill; Ghosts of Paul Revere also perform. Also on Saturday are the Tricky Britches and Chasing Blue at Empire – and don’t forget, the Jeff Mangum show at the State Theatre has been rescheduled for Feb. 17, in lieu of the impending storm. Again, it behooves you to check with any of these venues to see if anything is canceled.
3. Again, with the warnings: if the snow is too crazy, make sure to call ahead to see if the stuff you want to do is canceled! At Chummies in Ellsworth Trisha Mason (pictured) holds a record release party for her new album, with special guests When Particles Collide; also on Friday is songwriter Peter Alexander at Rock City Coffee in Rockland. You can enjoy more When Particles Collide at Three Tides in Belfast on Saturday night, while at the Myrtle Street Tavern in Rockland on Saturday there’s the band Tomorrow Morning; there’s also Motor Booty Affair at the Camden Opera House, also on Saturday. On MDI Saturday, there’s indie rockers If and It at the Lompoc Cafe in Bar Harbor, and The London Boys at Sips in Southwest Harbor.
4. Three good plays to see this weekend, statewide. The Penobscot Theatre Company’s production of “The Sugar Bean Sisters” continues through Sunday, with performances at 8 on Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. The New Surry Theatre in Blue Hill also hosts an all original production of Ellsworth first-time playwright Jon Ellsworth’s play “Stream Crossings,” with performances at 7 p.m. Feb. 8 and 9 and 3 p.m. Feb. 10 at the Blue Hill Town Hall. Finally, Portland Stage offers weekend three of the hilarious “Greater Tuna,” with performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at its Forest Avenue theater.
5. Aw, hell, who am I kidding? I’m hunkering down this weekend with Netflix, a couple of books, some candles, a six pack of Allagash and leftover Chinese food, and riding the storm out this weekend. See you on the other side!