The Weekender, March 23-25: Spring has… sprung? Kind of?

03/11/2017 — Nick Gonclaves is bucked from Peep Show during the Professional Bull Riders Velocity Tour “Bangor Buck Off,” at Cross Insurance Center in Bangor Saturday. Ashley L. Conti | BDN

Some nitpickers may argue otherwise, but the vernal equinox is generally regarded as the first day of spring. Do you see spring outside? I don’t. Then again, it was 45 degrees in February, so what do I know. In Bangor on Friday night, take your pick from either Improv Acadia at 8 p.m. at 51 Main St., Queen City Sound System spinning vinyl at Nocturnem Drafthaus, or up in Orono, bluesman Eric Green at Black Bear Brewing Company, or Livid Orange and the Orchids at Woodman’s. On Saturday, Professional Bull Riders tour stops at the Cross Insurance Center, with the first of two days of shows. That evening, They Called Me Legion and Cape Cannons perform at the Bangor Arts Exchange, the Salty Dog plays at Paddy Murphy’s, Indigo is at Nocturnem, acoustic duo Jonesville is at the Sea Dog, and comedian Krazy Jake is set for the Downunder Club at Seasons.

On Friday in Portland, it’s the third annual David Bowie tribute night at Port City Music Hall, featuring Mat Zaro and KGFREEZE. Elsewhere, Darlingside and Twain are at Portland House of Music, Pop Evil, Palaye Royale and Black Map are at Aura, Bri Lane, Myles Bullen and Front & Back perform at Bayside Bowl, Erica Brown and the Bluegrass Connection are at One Longfellow Square. For some local rock, there’s Heavy Necker, Drive Train, Hey Zeus and Twin Grizzlies at Geno’s, and for some local folk and jazz, there’s Ghosts of Johnson City, Emily Barnes and Sassquatch at Blue.

On Saturday in Portland, there’s New Politics, Dreamers and the Wrecks at the State Theatre, and there’s Coast Modern and Shaed at Port City Music Hall, while over at Empire, Skyfoot and the Funky Dawgs Brass Band are playing. Elsewhere, there’s an evening of Middle Eastern dance and music at the Space Gallery, there’s Raging Brass Reggae at Bayside Bowl, and Bold Riley and Pumpkin Bread at One Longfellow Square. Local rock can be found at Geno’s with VOWWS, Other Order, Knife Worship and Kovvns, there’s jazz and poetry with Mark Tipton and Gil Helmnick at the Apohadion, and Ryan Blotnick’s Kush Trio, Ian Ethan Case and the Anthony Branca Quartet are at Blue.

On the midcoast, the locally written musical comedy “Is Mozart In Maine?” is set for Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Camden Opera House, while in Rockland, roots band Married with Chitlins performs at Rock City Coffee on Friday night. On Saturday, the Pen Bay Singers and the Mt. View Chamber Singers present a night of choral music at the Crosby Center in Belfast, while in Rockland, songwriter Casey Abrams performs with the Maine Youth Rock Orchestra at the Strand Theatre, and Bottomless Funk is at Rock City Coffee.

BDN file photo

Believe it or not, this weekend is Maine Maple Sunday, a day when sugarhouses across the state open their doors and let the sap flow freely. Open houses, tasty maple treats and other activities are planned for locations all over Maine to celebrate these early days of spring. A full list of participating locations can be found online.

On screen this weekend, in cinemas two new movies open: “Pacific Rim: Uprising,” a sequel to the popular robots n’ armies movie, and “Unsane,” a psychological thriller. On TV, Netflix premieres season two of “The Santa Clarita Diet,” and earlier this week premiered season two of “The Standups,” featuring a number of great contemporary comics. Also, I missed this last weekend, but this week I started watching “Wild Wild Country” on Netflix, a six-part look at the Rajneesh spiritual movement, a new age sect turned wacky, destructive cult. I loves me some documentaries about cults, and this is a really, really good one, so I recommend watching it.

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.