The Weekender, April 26-28: Earth’s (and Westeros’) mightiest heroes, assemble!

In Bangor this weekend, on Friday night, there’s some folk and jazz from Little Lawnmowers and Thayer Naples at Black Bear Brewery, rockabilly band the Crown Vics is at Hollywood Casino, Analog Salad is at Paddy Murphy’s, it’s vinyl night at Nocturnem Drafthaus, and singer Stesha Cano is at the Sea Dog. Up in Orono, indie rock band Harry Magdalene is at the Common Loon Pub. On Saturday, songwriter Matthias James is at Nocturnem, Little Rodeo is at Paddy’s, and there’s a local metal show featuring War Criminal, Heathens and Smooth Moves at the Downunder Club, while up in Orono, there’s a hip hop show featuring Snakehips, Chelsea Cutler and Skizzy Mars, in the Hilltop Commons parking lot at UMaine, starting at 6:30 p.m.

Down in Portland, on Friday night, Maine electronic bands Jaw Gems, Contrapposto and Wildflower perform at Port City Music Hall, jam band Shutdown Brown is at Portland House of Music, local punk bands Johnny Cremains, Wizardess and the Gamma Goochies are at Empire, funk bands Zeme Libre, Jason Ward and the West End Mules are at Bayside Bowl, songwriter Sara Hallie Richardson and the Amarantos Quartet is at One Longfellow Square, and at Geno’s, metal legends Anvil perform with Don Jamieson, Archer Nation, Sygnal to Noise and Objet. On Saturday, Seepeoples, Sunset Hearts and Death by Piano are at Portland House of Music, there’s an MMA fight night at Aura, songwriters John Hammond and Travis Cyr are at One Longfellow, and at Geno’s, there’s local metal from Castle, Hessian, Holy Filth and Cromwell. 

On Friday night in Rockland, there’s the Strange Brewfest at the Strand Theatre in Rockland — a mini local brewfest at 6 p.m. featuring Fogtown, Thresher’s and Rock Harbor breweries, followed by an 8 p.m. screening of the Canadian cult classic comedy “Strange Brew.” Over in Rockport, Palaver Strings hosts a night of chamber music and contradancing at the Rockport Opera House, starting at 6:30 p.m. On Saturday, Thresher’s Brewing in Searsmont hosts jam band Fules Gold, and at the Blue Cafe at the Camden Opera House, there are Maine artists Micromasse and Sara Hallie Richardson. On Sunday, the Whitehead/Dean Group plays modern jazz at Fog Bar in Rockland.

As for TV and movies, screens this weekend are essentially dominated by two pop cultural behemoths. In movie theaters, “Avengers: Endgame,” the culmination of more than a decade of films from Marvel Studios, is poised to become the biggest box office debut of all time. Most cinemas across the state will be screening the film; check your local listings for times. On TV, the big news is “Game of Thrones,” which on Sunday night will screen the much-anticipated “Battle of Winterfell” episode, which showrunners say will be the largest battle sequence ever committed to film, regardless of platform (eat your heart out, “Lord of the Rings”). If you’re a nerd, this is basically the greatest weekend of all time. If you’re not a nerd, well, this is just another weekend. At least it’ll be kind of sunny! We nerds will be inside, working on our not-tans.

This image released by Disney shows Chris Evans in a scene from “Avengers: Endgame.” Cap looks worried! He probably should be. (Disney/Marvel Studios via AP)

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.