5 Things To Do This Weekend, April 17-19: Shaking out the dust

crownvics1. Open up the windows. Get your car washed. Wear shoes without socks. Be bold. It’s over. It’s finally over! In Bangor this Friday night, you can take your pick of either the rockabilly sounds of the Crown Vics (pictured) at Nocturnem Drafthaus, rockers the Blast Addicts at Paddy Murphy’s, songbird Samantha Lynn at the Big Easy, roots rock artists Between Dead Stations and Dominic James at the Sea Dog, or entertaining folk duo Him & Her at 4Points BBQ & Blues in Winterport. On Saturday, at 5 p.m. the Cross Insurance Center hosts a bout from Central Maine Roller Derby versus New Hampshire Derby’s Cherry Bombs, and later that evening, rock phenoms When Particles Collide are at Nocturnem, Prince cover band Dean Ford and the Beautiful Ones are at the Dowunder Lounge, singer-songwriter Meghan Clark is at the Big Easy, and the Rotating Taps are at Ipanema. There’s also an all ages hardcore show at Coespace on Columbia Street, featuring Free To Think, Back 2 Reality, Give Way, Night Life and Bruised Brain, from 7 to 10 p.m. Out in Winterport, bluesman Willy Kelly is at 4Points.

644266_574710042571351_1916490136_n2. Portland is overwhelmingly busy this weekend. I don’t even know where to begin. How about Friday, yeah? At Empire, electro rockers Jimkata are slated, while In This Moment, Upon a Burning Body and the Nearly Deads are at State Theatre. The Dead Sessions are set for Port City Music Hall, the Mairtin O’Connor Trio is at One Longfellow Square, and there’s some dark hip hop with Brzkowski, Caro Khan (pictured) and the Difference at Bayside Bowl. And don’t forget — that night there’s an 80’s Cruise around the Casco Bay Islands, starting at 6 p.m. at the Casco Bay ferry terminal in Portland. On Saturday, Empire hosts a CD release party for Boston rockers Tigerman Woah, with Cask Mouse, Dark Hollow Bottling Company and Cactus Attack. The State Theatre hosts the hotly anticipated Neutral Milk Hotel show with guests the Dot Wiggins Band, while Port City hosts Between the Buried and Me and the Atlas Moth, guitar heroes Nels Cline and Julian Lage are at Space Gallery, and Willy Porter at One Longfellow. On Sunday, the annual WMPG Fashion Show is at Port City, and Vienna Teng is at One Longfellow.

joe walsh3. Friday night in Rockland, take it easy with some acoustic blues with Slippery Slope at Rock City Coffee, or Raised By Wolves at the Speakeasy. Saturday gets a bit more rip-roaring on the Midcoast, with some wonderfully talented roots and acoustic songwriters at Waterfall Arts in Belfast at 7:30 p.m., featuring Joe K. Walsh (pictured), Owen Marshall, Brittany Haas, Grant Gordy, Ellie Buckland and Isa Burke. In Rockland, standup comic Earl David Reed is at the Strand Theatre, there’s a traditional Irish session at Rock City, blues band the Blood Orange Martinis are at Speakeasy, and at Trackside Station, there’s the annual Ballad of Milli Vanilli annual lip-synching contest, sponsored by derby team the Rock Coast Rollers. Bring your favorite song and a perfectly lip-synched performance to go along with it, and you could win!

hessian4. Saturday is Record Store Day, an annual full day of limited edition releases from at least one — if not many — of your favorite artists, at independent record stores across not just the U.S., but the world. Maine has plenty of locations, including Record Connection in Waterville, Newbury Comics in Portland, and all the Maine Bull Moose locations. Some of the in-store performances at Bull Moose locations across the state include Hessian (pictured), the Portland heavy metal four-piece, at the Bangor store at 2 p.m.; Dot Wiggin of the Shaggs at 2:30 and Worried Well at 4 p.m. at the Portland store — Worried Well are releasing a special RSD-only EP that day as well. Psychedelic songwriter Jeff Beam performs an acoustic set at 2:30 p.m. at the Lewiston store, rockers Audio Apocalypse perform at Noon at the Waterville store, Mark Curdo from WCYY will DJ from noon to 2 p.m., and Murcielago will play at 2 p.m. at the Scarborough store, and indie rockers An Overnight Low will perform at 1 p.m. at South Portland. A full list of RSD releases can be found at recordstoreday.com.

acadia5. Finally, on Saturday and Sunday, Acadia National Park will offer free admission, all day. That’s right, for zero dollars you can check out the whole park — the park loop road opened on Tuesday, so you can access the whole thing. Sand Beach in the spring, when there’s nobody there, is pretty wonderful. I highly recommend it. Sunday might also be a great day to experience thunderhole, and as our intrepid outdoors reporter Aislinn Sarnacki pointed out this week, Wonderland is an easy hike you can take with the kids and the dog. 

Emily Burnham

About Emily Burnham

Emily Burnham is a Maine native, UMaine graduate, proud Bangorian and a writer for the Bangor Daily News, where she's worked since 2004. She reports on everything from local bands to local food to all the cool things going on in the Greater Bangor area. In her quest for stories, she's seen countless concerts and plays, been lobster fishing, interviewed celebrities, hung out with water buffalo and played in a ukulele orchestra. She's interested in everything that happens in Maine.