The Weekender, July 13-15: GOOOOOOOOOAAAAL!

Photo of Dispatch by Allen Ralph

On Friday night in Bangor, there’s the grand opening of the new Queen City Cinema Club at 128 Main St. — movies, video games, board games, craft beer and snacks. Sounds great to us! Also that evening, the Kinsey Sicks, a drag cabaret, performs at 8 p.m. at the Bangor Opera House (there’s another show at 8 on Saturday too). At your local Bangor bars, the Junkyard Cats are at Paddy Murphy’s, it’s vinyl night at Nocturnem Drafthaus, the OMGs are at the Downunder Club at Seasons, Rob Boyle and John Henry are at the Sea Dog, and songwriter Troy Youngblood is at Black Bear Brewing.

On Saturday, Central Maine Roller Derby takes on Androscoggin Roller Derby at 6 p.m. at the Cross Insurance Center, while over on the Waterfront, jam and reggae favorites Dispatch, Rebelution and Stephen Marley are at the Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion. That evening, the Dave Mello Blues Band is at Nocturnem, the Wyatt Jenkins Band is at the Sea Dog, and hardcore bands Ramallah, Cruel Hand and On The Outside are at the Bangor Arts Exchange — it’s sold out, and it’s a benefit for the wonderful Kathy Findlay, who runs local rock venue The Kave and who has been battling leukemia for the past year.

File photo of Portland by Troy Bennett

In Portland this weekend, on Friday night, the Jon Butler Trio and Mama Kin Spencer are at the State Theatre, Rwandan singer-songwriter Alpha Rwirangira performs at Empire, surf bands Tsunami of Sound, Derangers and Zombie Beach are at Bayside Bowl, local rockers Pigboat, Fire in the Field and Twin Grizzlies are at Geno’s, and Portland House of Music hosts a benefit for local hunger relief, with Otis Redding III, The Youngerbloods, Hambone, Rodney Mashia, Cosmos Sunshine and Papa Tim’s All Soul’d Out.

On Saturday, there’s the annual Queen tribute night with lots of local musicians at Port City Music Hall, and there’s Phish tribute band Pardon Me Doug at Portland House of Music. There’s also folk legend Judy Collins with Ari Hest at Aura, local punk bands the Worst, Borderlines and Time Out Timmy at Empire, bluegrass songwriters Ronda Dale, Carl Dimow and Rick Turcotte at One Longfellow Square, the Johnny Shanks Band, Pages and Emily+Jake at Bayside Bowl, and metal from Mavradoxa, Stone Crown, Megog and Exclave at Geno’s. On Sunday, Lonesome Leash and Greg Jamie are at the Apohadion Theatre.

ROCKLAND, MAINE — 7/13/13– B.J. Emory, left, and Maurice John Vaughn, right, perform during the North Atlantic Blues Festival in Rockland on Saturday, July 13, 2013. This past weekend marked the 20th anniversary of the festival. Carter F. McCall/BDN

On the Midcoast, this weekend brings the 25th anniversary of the North Atlantic Blues Festival in downtown Rockland, which my delightful colleague Lauren Abbate wrote a great story about today. Who might you see this weekend? How about legends like Tab Benoit, Bobby Rush and L’il Ed and the Blues Imperials. Also on Saturday night, the club crawl is an all night party with bands all over town, including favorites like Eric Green at the Myrtle Street Tavern, Brave New Blues at the Time Out Pub, Blind Albert at Fog Bar, and lots more live music outside. For ticket info, visit the NABF website.

Across the bay in Hancock County, on Friday night, Judy Collins is at the Criterion Theatre in Bar Harbor, and on Saturday night, the Loblolly Boy and Dead Gowns are at Fogtown Brewing in Ellsworth, and SnugHouse is at the Lompoc Cafe in Bar Harbor.

This weekend in Maine festivals, there are three good ones that cater to wildly different tastes.

The 21st annual Maine International Film Festival opens on Friday in Waterville, bringing with it 10 days of exciting, groundbreaking films from all over the world. Screenings this weekend include the opening night film, British entry “The Bookshop,” a documentary about filmmaker Hal Ashby, and Maine films including the Maine Shorts program, and Maine-made film “The Reprogramming of Jeremy,” and new films from the likes of Ethan Hawke and stars like Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek.

Also this weekend, there’s the 36th annual Moxie Festival is set for Lisbon Falls, with fireworks, music, a parade, vendors, a car show, a 5k run, food and all the Moxie you can drink. And in Prospect, this weekend brings the annual Fort Knox Pirate Parlay, when the Pirates of the Dark Rose bring sword fights, duels, cannon fire and pirate ship attacks to the historic fort.

New in theaters this weekend, two mindless popcorn flicks are on screens: “Skyscraper,” the latest Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson jumping off of buildings movie, and “Hotel Transylvania 3,” because we needed another one. On TV, Netflix premieres its latest action flick, “How It Ends,” and on Monday — not the weekend, I know — HBO will premiere its documentary on Robin Williams, “Come Inside My Mind,” which will probably make me cry. And don’t forget: Sunday at 11 a.m., the World Cup finals are on. France vs. Croatia! Go Croats! GOOOOOOOAAAL!

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.