Up Portland October 2015

Up Portland 10.15 On The Web At: www.upportland.com Page 1

Renter’s, Condo & Auto InsuranceAsk us about package discounts, as well!

Denise Douglass Kip Thomas

774-6257 Online at

www.clarkinsurance.com

Serving Portland’s Peninsula Since 1931

October 2015

Page 2 Up Portland 10.15 On The Web At: www.upportland.com

Members and “Friends” Are Invited to join us for our 7th Annual Meeting

Tuesday, October 6th From 6 to 8 p.m.@ Coffee By Design – 1 Diamond Street

See what’s next at Fort Allen, Cousins Memorial & East End Beach, Plus Election of Board Members

Meet City Manager Jon JenningsVena’s Fizz House Cash Bar & Light Snacks

Info: easternpromenade.org


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You’ve prepared for a rewarding retirement. I can help you make the most of it.

Ameriprise Financial cannot guarantee future financial results.

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© 2014 Ameriprise Financial, Inc. All rights reserved. (7/14)

LUKE R. REINHARDCFP®, ChFC®, REBC®, RHU®

Private Wealth Advisor

Reinhard & Associates

22 Hancock StPortland, ME [email protected]

Ameriprise Private Wealth Advisor

This 16-Year-Old Gives New

Meaning To ‘Going Out To

Play’By Peter Michalakes for Up Portland

Theatre organ pieces are an art form appreciated only by a small group of die-hards. In Bath, Maine, there is a new die-hard at the frontier of the organ world — one who has a strong tie to downtown Portland as his “insturment of choice” is Merrill Auditorium’s historic grand Kotzschmar Organ.

His name is Seamus Gethicker. “Organ is my life,” Seamus said in a phone interview

from his home. “This is my pas-sion.”

In late August, Gethicker, left, was discovered by Up Port-land at the Kotzschmar

Organ’s 103rd Birthday Celebration — a concert held at the Merrill Auditorium on Myrtle Street that featured talented organ-ists from across the state. The Kotzschmar is the venue’s historic symphonic organ, gifted to the city by the publishing mag-nate who owned the Saturday Evening Post in 1912.

The Birthday Celebration in August boast-ed performances of classical organ pieces alongside modern theatrical compositions. Gethicker, a virtuoso of the theatrical organ, received the only standing ovation of the day in front of an in-and-out crowd that peaked at over 500 in mid-afternoon.

“It was a crowd of really curious people, just dropping in from the street, who want-ed to learn more about the organ. They were very supportive,” Gethicker said.

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Hackin’The Net

By Ted Fleischaker / PublisherAh the annual Autumn announcement from Apple. It got our phone here at computer central ringing and our messengers going as all our friends called or wrote to ask the same question: Do I want to upgrade or change from what I have and if so so, what do I buy and why?

I could reply those are very good questions, and I will supply my answers in a second after I say that I wore a legacy shirt from the long-lamented Portland Greengrocer last week. A shirt that I recall buying when I was here as a visitor a dozen years ago. What, you surely are asking, does that have to do with the issue of a new phone, pad or TV gadget? Simply that I tend to hang onto things for a fair bit of time, and if they do not need replacing and are fi ne, I do not just go out for the sake of the “latest, greatest” and buy new — especially when the latest might just be incrementally better or faster than what I have. With that windy prelude, here’s what I think so far of what was announced...

I did watch the whole Apple presentation on the 9th of September (you can watch on demand at http://www.apple.com/apple-events/september-2015/ ) and witnessed every detail. There are some neat things coming up right around the time these words hit print — some of which I plan to buy and some not so fast. I happen to have a phone contract about to end this Fall, too, which means a few extra doors which you may not have are open.

That said, from all I saw, I am most excited about the new iPad Pro. I read most of my newspapers either on paper (yeah, an old concept) or on my iPad. I buy a subscription and have for over a decade to www.pressreader.com (below, left)

Slingbox which allows me to attach my cable (works for satellite, too) to it and the internet and watch whatever I subscribe to here in Portland anywhere I am via a personal service. Personal means one log in at once, so you can’t share this with 50 friends (copyrights you know), but it’s pretty neat and fun. You can read about it at www.slingbox.com

It works on my computer, but where it really shines is on the iPad. For those not familiar it supplies “replicas” of newspapers world-wide. One can fl ip the pages and see the paper as one would in the city where it’s pub-lished — and they can do so same day, often within a few minutes of when the paper hits the streets in Bombay, London, Sydney or Toronto. Readers can mark certain papers for delivery daily and access others to the tune of up to 10,000 a month. Pages can be “clipped” and articles archived or sent to friends just like a real print paper. Not too shabby for a $29.95 monthly subscription fee to the Canadian fi rm which

owns Press Reader ... and with nothing after it’s done to recycle there’s an envi-ronmental side, too.

I also love watching my TV programming on the iPad. I have a gadget called a

So, as you can tell, I have a lot of personal use for that bigger screen on the iPad Pro, not to mention a faster processor than my current iPad Air, though I’m still not sure I want to part with $949 for the 128 Gig model with WiFi connectivity. Add to the pad, I am fascinated by the new Apple Pencil and if I get the new pad I hope to have one of those pencils in the box with it. It’s a cheap add on at $99 and seems to answer a question I always have and one which always haunts me: where are a pen and pad when I need to write something down? I know that it’s designed to draw, do line art and more so maybe in time I will use it for same, but to start just the ability to make a note in a “traditional” pencil and pad style is good enough for a sale on the Apple Pencil here.

But what about the other items? A new phone is of only marginal interest as my iPhone 5S is working just great despite being “ancient” at almost two years old. Remember that decade+ old shirt in my drawer. There is one thing which does interest me, though, about the new phone which is that I can “rent” it from Apple and get it unlocked so I am not tied to any one carrier on a two-year contract.

Right now I’d be dishonest were I not to say I am less-than-pleased with the current carrier I have for our “family plan.” It seems they love to attach fees for everything and anything meaning I plan to shop before I’d consider staying with them. Needing a few minutes of map help in Ontario a few months back brought me a close-to $200 “data roaming” fee with my present carrier and while they did reduce it for me after complaints, it made no sense when other carriers think nothing about the Canadian border (or other borders) existing. I fi nd that $200 they tried to get out of me a rip off, plain & simple.

The problem though is that this is Maine. There are vast parts of the upstate and down east which have spotty or zero service with some cell companies. Even in some parts close to Portland (like Cliff Island and Freeport, both of which I have been left with no signals in lately) lack decent coverage, so before you go shopping for a possible new provider, look at the coverage maps and try to fi nd a friend with that fi rm’s service and see for yourself what things are really like. Remember that what looks good on paper doesn’t always pan out in real life.

If you are (as I was last week) at L.L. Bean and want to send a picture of a vest to a friend in Louisville to see if that’s the one he wants me to buy him, having coverage in Freeport IS gonna come in handy! Sadly, my provider failed and the


photo never went thru so the vest stayed on the rack. I do like the concept of leasing from Apple which is new. Not only can I opt for a new phone every year, but their lease comes with AppleCare. If you don’t subscribe to the theory that sooner or later you will drop your phone at the beach, in the sink (or worse) in the bathroom or get it wet or damaged, then AppleCare is not for you. But if you are human (and understand that things like the above and worse do happen) then this addition is a real plus. Call me unsure about a new phone, but that’s subject to change.

Finally, I was interested in the new Apple TV announcement. We have had one of the old models for awhile as well as a Roku stick but I fi nd we watch very little with either around our house. The primary reason is the selection of what one can watch varies and we are not a typical TV household (which I am not sure even exists anymore).

As mentioned last month here, there once was a time when TV was live only, used rabbit ears and got two or three local stations and if you wanted to see Jackie Gleason or Roy Rogers you had to tune in at a specifi c time each week. We had no VCRs, much less other recording devices or TV on demand or Netfl ix or Hulu meaning you watched when something was on, caught the “Summer reruns” or you just missed it.

Nowadays we have so many choices that everything cannot work with every de-vice. I like it that Apple’s new TV will offer apps so I agree with Apple CEO Tim Cook that they really are the future of television. At my house not only weather apps for the radar, but radio apps like TuneIn for our fave stations in Toronto and the UK are in demand. If the new Apple TV allows those and more then it’s going to be a no-brainer to buy and a huge leap from the old Apple TV box.

We do not “get it” as to why Apple has been under such geek pressure to make their own TV sets. The small box, plus the new remotes will do as much and still allow us to connect via existing TVs — whether fl at screen or older; large or small. Apple TV is something I want to fi nd in my stocking this holiday season — or even before. And starting at $149 I might just not wait.

So that’s my take on what’s been announced. I know not everyone will agree and some folks might be ready to line up on release day for the phones or the other items. But just like not everybody wears 10- or 20-year-old t-shirts for a defunct Portland store, I don’t expect everyone to agree 100% with me here.

Happy shopping and let us know what you fi nd good and bad amongst the new gargets out there. The e-mail is [email protected] and it works just fi ne on my current gear!


Food For Thought...

Maybe you remember the big band era tune about “dinner in the diner...nothing could be fi ner...than to have your ham & eggs in Carolina!...” Or maybe you re-call that old, old tune about a ding, dong daddy from Dumas. Maybe not. But if you do call this one the ding, dong diner dinnerbell here in downtown Portland or my suggestion that there’s not much fi ner than dinner (or breakfast or lunch) in a downtown diner. And we have a number of them to choose from — all of which I personally enjoy.

But another reason for this review is that as promised for the less-than-excited about seafood, we will give Maine’s fave items a month off and go diner hop-ping for October. Unlike many cities, we are blessed to have not one, but three bonafi de diners on the peninsula. And there are probably others I either have not found yet or am passing without knowing. But “just” three gives us plenty of ground to cover so let’s get eatin’...

The trio are the well-pubicised Marcy’s at Free & Oak streets; the waterside Becky’s on Commercial Street and the land-locked but historic vintage Worces-ter Miss Portland on Marginal Way smack dab up by I-295. And any of the trio have great eats, wonderful staffs and are fun places.

But let’s start with Marcy’s. Darla (not Marcy), who is the owner, got herself some much-deserved PR a month or three back when she famously told some parents to remove their screaming brat kid after over a half hour during a

crowded shift. We as reviewers and veterans of a lot of restaurants can only say again (because we got a camera and microphone stuck in our faces and already said it to New England Cable News and elsewhere) we agree with Darla 100%. We are not anti-kid but as kids we were made to behave or removed from restaurants and other publc places if we failed to do so. The job our (and friends) mom and dad did was called “parent-ing” and from all the vitriol the lady tried (and failed) to direct to Darla we can say we don’t feel the scream-ing kid’s mom was doing a very good job. We, honestly, would not have waited nearly as long as the folks at Marcy’s did before telling mom, dad and brat to pack it in and hit the pavement.

But the above said, the whole affair has brought great PR to a deservant owner — not only for actually speak-ing up in the face of adversity, but for what she puts on the plates. While the Summer season was full of lines going to see “that famous diner lady” (below right) as many we spoke with waiting outside on several occasions said, others we talked to on the way out were (correctly) raving about the food Darla & crew put on their plates.

And what food it is, for while Mar-cy’s got their latest batch of PR for the kid incident, the truth is the food speaks for itself. And if that has to be done in one word, that word would be: delicious.I will (as reviewers are want to do) add a few dozen more words and those are huge portions, great value and the whole atmosphere (despite what a few cranks said after the kid

incident) is fun. Not only does Darla (who most think is Marcy) hold forth like a drum major or drill sarge from the back grill but her staff are a well-oiled platoon taking names, seating folks, getting orders to the boss, food to the customers and bills collected before they yell “next!” at the door to those on the always crowded sidewalk out front.


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Probably our fave thing on Marcy’s huge menu are the Cream Cheese Pancakes. Two of these and a side of bacon or sausage gets our full attention for any breakfast or lunch. But Darla & Co. offer way way more. They have a complete lunch menu, all the usual suspects for breakfast or lunch (or if you wish, combine both with two Eggs served with an eight ounce Burger Patty, Toast and Hashbrowns for $7.50!) They do omelettes, hash-browns and if you simply cannot toss aside that diet for one splurge Greek Youghurt and fresh fruit. And none of that is to forget Darla’s famous muffins (so famous their website address is www.nicemufflin.com) They also have soups, a beef & bean chili which in the coming cold months will hit a lot of spots, and they do a traditional chef’s salad which so, so few places in this era of “fancy” lettuce and balsamic thisses and thats do not bring to their menus. Marcy’s has one and it’s on my “must try” list if I can ever get away from those cream cheese pancakes!

So is there anything bad to say about Darla and her crew? Only that they need more space as even before the wild child outbreak getting a table or seat at the counter was no mean trick and ever since it’s damned near impossible. That and the fact that Marcy’s does not take plastic, so bring money, though pricing is so fair and reasonable for what’s on the plates you really won’t need a lot. That two pancake deal and sausage totals at $9.50 and I guarantee you won’t leave hungry. The Chef’s Salad is $8 for a “large” and the muffins are $3 so you will leave screaming with delight, I promise.

Oh, and we asked Darla about kids and she’s fine with them (a number have been present on our recent visits) just not kids who are screaming for over a half hour with parents who seem not to care. Bravo Darla for doin’ the right thing and bravo, too, for such great eats! Marcy’s: breakfast & lunch six days a week 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oh, and they take Tuesdays and evenings off so eat elsewhere after two or on Tuesdays.

And a suggestion for Tuesday would be the Miss Portland Diner at 140 Marginal Way, which is just there in between the Forest and Franklin exits off I-295. Hours here are Wednesdays thru Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays thru Tuesdays from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. In other words, if you want dinner they serve it four nights a week. We could go on and on about the really neat history of the Miss Portland, but not to reinvent the wheel I’ll just quote from their great website at www.missportlanddiner.com: “There is nothin’ finer than a Worcester Diner” was the slogan of the Worcester Lunch Car Company (WLCC), which specialised in small, handcrafted diners with porcelain exteriors and hardwood interiors.Worcester diners were often adorned with marble countertops, hardwood booths and stainless steel panels shaped into starburst patterns and were well-known for their level of craftsmanship. Today you would be hard-pressed to find a finer example than the 1949 Miss Portland Diner – WLCC No. 818.

Miss Portland was originally located on Forest Avenue and was moved from there in 1964 – to make room for the new Federal Building – to 49 Marginal Way where she served breakfast and lunch to a mostly local crowd. Known for her special ambiance, Miss Portland made a cameo ap-pearance in Mel Gibson’s movie Man without a Face in August 1993. In 2004 the City of Portland accepted the diner car as a donation to ensure her proper restoration.

Miss Portland was purchased in 2007 by Tom Manning, a Portland native who left Maine for a career in publishing in New York City and who came back to his hometown to preserve this piece of local history. Tom worked with the city’s historic preservation department to ensure that his vision of a revived Miss Portland met with their approval and her doors opened to welcome the residents and visitors of Bayside in October 2008...”

And the rest, as they say, is history. What is not history, but current news, is the great food they turn out at Miss Portland. Recent visits by us included a won-derfull full breakfast for lunch once and a huge caldron of cream of tomato soup and a burger another time. Others at the table last visit raved and raved about the patty melts while I have had Miss Portland’s lobster rolls and also loved those, too. Miss Portand is a diner in the truest, old fashioned sense: they do a little of most everything, and they do it all more than well. We have not really had a meal since moving to Portland in May we have not liked at Miss Portland so it’s become one of the “go-to” places around our house. We are sad it’s not 24/7 but, hey, good cooks and staff to serve gotta sleep sometime. Tip here: try and snag a booth or spot at the counter in the original diner part of Miss Port-land. The rest serves the same food and all, but there’s something special about that old Worcester car No. 818 which makes everything taste even better!

Speaking of better, if you have time, you better go and try Becky’s Diner down at 390 Commercial Street on the western edge of the touristy part. Like Miss Portland, Becky’s has an advantage that Marcy’s doesn’t — free parking on site. Becky’s is a bit different in that they are open seven days from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. I tried asking why, with such long hours, they didn’t fill in the few closed ones and just be 24/7 as we think of for a diner, but nobody on our last visit knew or was willing to say. We’d bet like Miss Portland part of it has to do with folks needing to sleep.

Anyway, when you do go to Becky’s, you will find the large, large menu awaiting


More Food For Thought...

and a staff who knows how to smile regardless of the weather or the sometimes over-the-top customer demands they face. We have done Becky’s at a table and the counter and love either, though the counter crowd is fun to get to know un-less you get a stuck-up visitor from the “big city” who just wants to stick his or her nose into their phone or be grumpy about Portland.

That’s when it’s time to turn to the menu, and what a menu Becky’s has. There are seemingly endless choices for breakfast, lunch, dinner and a specials list that changes (and which you can sign up to get via e-mail from the website at www.beckysdiner.com) not to mention local specials like their Hobson’s Wharf ($8.95) with a choice of Bacon or Sausage, two Pancakes or French Toasttwo Eggs (any style), Homefries & Toast. Or their lunches which include the expected lobster rolls and whole belly Maine clams. And at dinner we always get tempted but never seem to fi nd time to try their Fisherman’s Platter ($22.95) with four ounces each of Fried Maine Shrimp, Haddock, Scallops & Whole Belly Clams.

Why do we never seem to get to it? Because the specials are as tempting as Scylla and Charybdis if you recall that from your school days. And like the tempt-resses, they seem to call me from the regular menu al-most every visit to Becky’s. I am especially thrilled with their casserole of Broiled Haddock in Lemon Butter & Crumbs (left) which usu-ally appears in the specials accompanied by a green

salad, veg, potato and more all for under $15 making it a great deal and wonder-ful (and healthy) option.

I fi nd that since moving to Maine from the Midwest, I have given up on most of the burgers and steaks I all-too-often ate out West, only to have replaced them with lobsters and melted butter or fried fi sh or scallops. Becky’s is one of the few spots where I can navigate the calorifi c mindfi eld and emerge unscathed and with a smile my doctor would approve of. Baked fi sh, a salad and even with a potato or corn as a side, it ends up being pretty well balanced and very delicious 100% of the time so it’s a win-win so long as I make doc happy and leave the salt shaker on the table.

I do want to try the chowder here and clam cakes, but the same is true of the hand-cut (not from a box as so many are) onion rings. It seems I am bound for Becky’s pretty often as the tourists leave and we locals get the place back for Fall and Winter.

Price-wise, all three of the diners are reasonable with two eating for $35 or less easily at any of the trio. And we have yet to ever experience bad or even medio-cre service at any of them, either. We love the crew at all three, with a special shout-out to the Casco Bay High Schooler who always says hi when we visit

Becky’s and to Darla over at Marcy’s. How can anyone NOT love a lady who calls it and says it like it is and refuses to back down in the midst of a forest of mi-crophones and a storm of pro and con e-mails, tweets and postings? Never mind that she serves some damn good eats to those of us not screaming.

So there you have it...three diners, three places which, while most have some seafood components, are not “fi sh places” which I’ve been accused to fl ogging ever since Up Portland started and three spots you can take out of town guests wanting to try the unique taste of the Peninsula and still leave them with enough cash for a shirt at Liberty Graphics or a book over at Longfellow’s to take home!Dinner at the diner — indeed!

Bits & Bites... More Food News... First off, remember season here is slowly coming to a close and a few of the eateries which are not all year will be wrapping up operations in the next few weeks, while others trim back to Winter Hours. Among our faves, the pie bakers and crew at Two Fat Cats Bakery over on India Street will be getting their Mondays off after mid-October. The crew will work Mondays before the major holidays, but otherwise, get Portland’s best scones and cookies and pies Tuesdays thru Sundays in the cooler months. Oh, and the savoury pie, like their wonderful Chicken Pot Pie, is again available for the Autumn... Also, the outdoor farmers’ markets will wrap up in the next six to eight weeks, depending where you are, so get some Maine apples and a pumpkin for the kids to carve before that hap-pens. ...And fi nally, while you still have a few weeks, some of the famous “seasonal” eateries in Maine will be closing for Winter in the upcoming weeks. We have yet to get to Wiscasset and Red’s Eats this Summer so have that on our list. As the seasons shift, however, you still have time to make it to Red’s or to that Portland stand-by — Perry’s Hot Dogs at the East Beach. If you have not had the pleasure, it’s a for-sure fun experience as Perry keeps up the chatter all while serving some wonderous creations from his homemade cart. Our recent treat is shown below and while we told him to skip the ketchup and mustard so we could taste the Hebrew National dog under the trimmings, the cheese and delicious bacon made this one a real treat. We added a grilled ear of Maine corn from Perry’s grill (bathed in butter and sprinkled with kosher salt) and with a soft drink ended up with a gourmet al fresco treat. Perry holds forth from 11 to 3 most days at East Beach (unless the weather is yucky) and as of this writing said he planned to remain around through mid-November so watch for sunshine and head down to see him. If you want to walk off some of that lunch take the Eastern Prom or the trail and hoof it from downtown, or if you can’t fi nd the time or energy, take Fore Street to the Eastern Prom, make a right on Cutter Street and drive to the beach. There is plenty of free parking and Perry has a picnic table, complete with a red checkered tablecloth waiting for you! Oh, and if you just want a drink or ice cream he’s got those too, along with burgers and a myriad of “dogs” at his very family-friendly stand. Catch him before the snow fl ies!


Sauntering With Mat

By Mat Robedee / Up Portland Commentator

If you’ve ever had the chance to take a saunter along the Eastern prom, it’s not hard to miss: thick granite walls rising out of the ocean and a solid stance as if it were a stone protector of the city. Roughly one mile from the waterfront and with a history of over 150 years, it has become an iconic landmark of Portland Harbour. What I am speaking of my friends, is Fort Gorges…and yes…it is gor-geous.

Fort Gorges is a staple on the Portland waterfront yet many have never taken time to explore this coastal gem. The main reason is that it is open to the public but with no public transportation to take you there. So unless you are a fi erce swimmer (NOT recommended), a water vessel of some sort is needed. A friend and I decided to give it a try so we borrowed two sea kayaks and put in at the East End Beach. It was a perfect sunny day, with a slight salty breeze and we paddled at a leisurely pace to get out there. This was a trip I have been waiting far too long to embark on for the fort being a prominent sight in the harbour. I have always been captivated by the fort, as in my mind, it resembles a miniature Alcatraz of Portland, but obviously with a vastly different history.

The fort is named for the early English colonial proprietor of Maine, Sir Fernan-do Gorges, who is also referred to as being the "Father of English Colonisation in North America". The same man who was founder of the Province of Maine in 1622 while never actually setting foot in the New World. Go fi gure. Construction of the fort fi rst began in 1858 on the small, rocky land mass called Hog Island. It was created to support Fort Scammel (built on nearby House Island in 1808)

and few other local structures which existed during that time. After the onset of the Civil War in 1861, work on the structure rapidly progressed. When the war ended in 1865, most of the construction was complete. Also around this time the rifl e cannon was invented. A cannon which could de-stroy the granite structure. Due to this, Fort Gorges was outdated and funding was cut off in 1876, leaving the third level incomplete. It was acquired by the city of Portland in 1960 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Camping and fi res are unfortu-nately prohibited.

The fort is just a granite shell with numerous rooms and hallways disap-pearing into the dark. Walking into the dim, musty and damp halls, one

will certainly need a fl ashlight if they wish to enter the powder magazines and explore safely. In general the structure is in relatively decent shape with various areas obviously crumbling with time. Loose bricks and timeworn fl ooring are a couple of hazards to note. The city does maintain the fort but it has not had sig-nifi cant repairs and is not completely safe, so take caution. Several large intact granite stairwells allow access to the different levels and views. On the top-most section, prepare to get one of the best views of Portland Harbour anywhere —

and one you do not have to battle crowds to experience.

Kayaking to the fort requires knowledge and skill, so plan and prepare accord-ingly. The best and safest option is to start from East End Beach. Do not let the short, one mile voyage fool you as the route crosses areas with strong tidal cur-rents, steady winds and a heavy amount of vessel traffi c — all a lot larger than your kayak. There is also no dock allowing for easy port on Hog Island — just a couple of rocky beaches (depending on the tides) and a rundown granite pier. It is best to seek experienced advice about the best place to port in relation to the current tides. When you fi nally do make port and have both feet on ground, make sure to pull your boat high enough onto the island to avoid any chance for high tide to pull your vessel out to sea. Few things would be worse than com-ing out after exploring than to discover your boat has started its journey home without you.

For more information about times to go, tides, tours or kayak rentals check out Portland Paddle down at East Beach. Zach and his crew do guided tours, rent kayaks and will be open through at least mid-October if you want to try and squeeze in a visit in the remaining mild days. Otherwise, put it on your list for Spring, but Fort Gorges is not to be missed!

Up Portland Photos By Jerry Copan & Mat Robedee


The Standard Reviewer

By Bill Elliott / Up Portland’s Film & � eatre Reviewer

Tony Bennett has lived in Frank Sinatra’s shadow for most of his professional life. Eleven years older than Bennett, Sinatra had already enjoyed a decade-long recording and performing career by the time Tony Bennett came onto the scene. Both were products of the greater New York area (Sinatra hailed from Hoboken, New Jersey, while Bennett was born in Queens). Both were children of Italian immigrants: Bennett’s birth name is Antony Benedetto.

Tony Bennett is now 89 years old and still tours regularly. Sinatra — who would have been 100 years old this year — died in 1998, aged 82. I’ve waited most of my adult life to see Tony Bennett play live and I got my chance on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington in September. I regretted never seeing Sinatra in concert and didn’t want to make the same mistake with Bennett.

My expectations were not high. I was happy just to have the chance of seeing a great singer in his declining years. What I didn’t expect was to see someone with so much energy, zest for life, and a (still) impressive range of vocal ability.

Tony Bennett was preceded onstage by his touring quartet, who warmed up the crowd (and themselves) with a medley of Duke Ellington tunes. The ghost of Frank Sinatra hovered over the auditorium even before Bennett took the stage, as Frank’s spectral voice came over the PA to introduce Tony as “the best singer in the business.”

When Bennett appeared, meticulously decked out in black suit and tie, the audi-ence was on its feet. The crooner was visibly touched and his opening number, Watch What Happens, appeared to be an intimate “thank you” to the audience not only for coming out on the night, but for supporting him for more than 60 years: “Let someone with a deep love to give/Give that deep love to you, and what magic you’ll see/Let someone give his heart, someone who cares like me.”

For close to 90 minutes, Bennett proceeded to pour out his heart and soul in songs like someone who still really cares. While his gait has been reduced to a shuffl e, and the edges of his vocal range occasionally (and understandably) get a little frayed, Tony Bennett can still belt out songs with gusto. He is also capable of great nuance and effortless emotional connection through his music.

Even though he draws crowds big enough to fi ll concert halls, you get the im-pression he would be more at home in a smoky bar or nightclub. Using a back-ing jazz quartet rather than a small orchestra and having a stage devoid of any pyrotechnics is evidence of that. What must it have been like to see him in the Blue Note or Village Vanguard or a small Atlantic City club 50 years ago?

Still, Bennett’s performance feels intimate despite playing to more than 2500 people. His voice is cajoling, warm, and rich, and pulls you into each song as if he is singing directly to you alone.

On many of the numbers he was accompanied only by his guitarist, Gray Sar-gent. Some of those songs, like But Beautiful and Shadow of Your Smile, caught him at his performing peak. Like the man himself, his music has slowed with age; For Once in My Life was given a languid treatment that provided a more intimate connection as Bennett paced across the front of the stage addressing individual audience members personally.

Other songs, like the Gershwins’ I Got Rhythm, were delivered at a frenetic pace with quartet and singer appearing to want to outrun each other. Bennett’s vocal delivery on I Got Rhythm reminds the listener that comparisons with Sinatra are a little spurious, as Frank was a crooner of standards while Bennett is more of a jazz singer in the vein of Ella Fitzgerald. He allows the words and the rhythm to drive the song; he doesn’t impose himself on it.

Bennett’s set list also says a lot about how far he has travelled. Early shows fea-tured numerous Sinatra classics like I’ve Got the World on a String and I’ve Got You Under My Skin. In Bloomington, Bennett saluted Frank’s 100th birthday by holding a drink aloft the entire time he sang One For My Baby (And One More for the Road).

Onstage, Bennett comes across as professional and accomplished but a little bashful, almost as if he feels a little ashamed for having got so old. One wished for more patter with the audience. He offered a few historical insights, but his best line of the night was when he introduced The Good Life, which he recently recorded with Lady Gaga on their album of duets, Cheek to Cheek. “I hope you’ll go out and buy the record,” he said. “She really needs the money.”

Of course, by the time Bennett opened his mouth to sing the words he made famous, “I left my heart in San Francisco . . .” the audience was putty in his hands. A moving story of a letter from Charlie Chaplin preceded the latter’s bittersweet, Smile. And another ovation followed When You’re Smiling. Bennett informed the audience that he normally left the stage a couple of songs ago, but tonight he felt like singing on. The audience showed its appreciation by staying on its feet.

The last number, the only other Sinatra cover of the evening, Fly Me To the Moon, was delivered without the use of a microphone. It was as if Bennett were fi nally trying to step out of Sinatra’s shadow. As a “showy” stunt the moment felt a little like the one at the Academy Awards ceremony in 1992 in which Jack Palance did a one-arm push up after receiving an Oscar at the age of 73. It was probably the only false note of the evening. But, given such a long life devoted to music and to performing, it was a very minor glitch. The audience responded by bringing Bennett back for four curtain calls. It was after 9.30 p.m. when he fi nally left the stage. Probably way later than the man’s usual bedtime!

Sadly, this performance was 1100 miles from Portland, but do not despair. If Mainers want to see this living memory for yourselves you can, though you will have to travel a bit. Tony Bennett will be playing several East Coast dates in Oc-tober and November, including one in Upstate New York. Check out his website for locations: www.tonybennett.com It’s worth the trip because, afterall, Bennett is a legend.

Out Of Little Acorns...Usually, out of little acorns mighty oaks grow, but in this case, out of a fallen tree in Deering Oaks Park , thanks to the skill of Anne Alexan-der, a local artist, a mighty large acorn recently grew. The art project is on display in the park until 2016 and is defi nitely worth a look next time you are over that way. You’d be “nuts” to miss it!


Letting The Cat Out Of The Bag

By Stacy Begin / Owner, Two Fat Cats Bakery

Stacy Begin is the owner of Two Fat Cats Bakery in Portland. Stacy spent 20 years in the non-profi t fi eld before establishing Blackbird Baking Company of Maine, an in-home bakery specialising in pies and breakfast pastries. In 2012, Stacy, and her husband Matthew Holbrook, purchased Two Fat Cats Bakery and continue the bakery’s legacy of American baking from scratch. The bakery has been featured in Bon Appetit Magazine, Downeast Magazine, The Dispatch, The Boston Globe

“What’s it like to own a bakery?” So many customers ask me this question and you’d think it would be easy enough to answer. In fact, in this food-ob-sessed town, it’s probably a question that my fellow bakery owners hear as well and I’m sure we’d all have similar answers. However, I think the better and absolutely more intriguing question is “What’s it like to own a business on India Street?” Ah, now there’s a question. The stories I could tell – and will in this column. I hope to share with you a

as well as on The Food Network.

Taste your way through town on our daily tours, exploring local delicacies in Portland, Rockland, Kennebunkport and Bar Harbor

www.MaineFoodieTours .com

behind the scenes look at life at the bakery on this particular street which we have come to love so much. India Street is, shall we say, an interesting place to do business. It’s busy and colourful, eclectic and unpredictable, almost humming with the unexpected. As a business owner, I often say if you want to do business on India Street you should be ready for anything and surprised by nothing. And, yet, every now and then, the happenings in this little community can still surprise. India Street really does have a mind of its own.

So what sorts of stories can you expect in this column? Well, let me give you a little glimpse at some of the events over the last year or so. For starters, we’ve confronted a very large possum with major anger issues who took up residence on the roof of our outdoor freezer; we’ve seen India Street invaded by some pretty righteous zombies; we’ve locked ourselves out of the bak-ery (yes, locked out, you read that correctly); we’ve watched a car lose its brakes and careen down India Street and fi nally land in the harbour; we’ve had our oven break at 11 at night two days before Thanksgiving; oh, and a good number of our pies mysteriously appeared leaning against a light post across the street. That one was a real head-scratcher that even Ted’s “gos-sip cats” were unable to fi gure out, in case you missed it in last month’s Up Portland. They have a follow-up in this issue, so give them a read.

I’m sure there are other “incidents” I could expound on, but you get the pic-ture. It’s always something! So, what’s life like on India Street? Well, you’re about to fi nd out starting with next month’s issue. And, don’t worry, we’ll talk about baking, too. After all, it can’t all be about possums and zombies.


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Eric’s Optimal Corner

Eric Hilton / Optimal Self Community Health and Wellness Centre

Our individual health can have an effect on everyone in our community, and so it is our responsibility to pay attention to our well-being. We can start by paying attention to our body, thoughts, feelings and emotions. It’s not “normal” to have physical, mental or emotional pain every day, although it is a common part of our life. If our lives are in disarray or we suffer every day, we are in a constant state of hurt and feeling unbalanced. Nothing can seem to go right. Everything hurts. We can feel angry. We don’t feel loved. These are only a few of the pressures of life. Our bodies feel the constant pressure of all our responsibilities all day long and, yes, even as we sleep. This is stress. It is a common aspect in most of our lives today. Stress has a way of overpowering our minds and wearing down our bodies. Day after day the stress builds until eventually something has to give and a limit is reached that has to express itself in some way — usually in an illness or injury. And then we are forced to change something.

This is the pressure of life, but it does not have to defeat us. When something doesn’t feel right in us and we feel unbalanced, that is our body telling us that something is wrong. We have to learn to listen. What our bodies are telling us is the key to ultimate survival, meaning that life’s pressure doesn’t have to take us down: we can learn from it and thrive.

Our bodies are amazing machines. Machines so sophisticated that we are far from knowing their capabilities and potential. In some miraculous way our bodies were created to give us the ability to grow and thrive. Just like a fl ower. Give it light, give it water with some good healthy soil and it will grow into something beauti-ful. If the fl ower lives in a toxic environment with bad air, little sunlight and little water, it withers, decays and dies. So the point of life is simple. We must grow and thrive, not wither and die. If we are stagnant in our lives, we are not moving. We feel heavy, slow and we start to get sick. Our bodies start to break down and our machines are not working so well. If we stop taking care of ourselves we stop growing.

How do we take care of ourselves? One important aspect of self-care is movement. When we move our bodies, we are creating momentum and fueling the growth process. For example, if I wanted to learn how to run and I know I can only run one mile I would start there and build. I know the more I run, the more I can run, eventually running two, three, six or even 100 miles. I just have to do it and get the experience under my belt to build the capability of my body.

The momentum of our drive in life gathers experience which makes us stronger and wiser. If we use this properly, and apply our wisdom, we can become more effi cient and productive. Life becomes easier because it is easier to move and to accomplish tasks. If we don’t move, we cannot accomplish anything. So how do we get our body’s engine started moving in a healthier direction? We do it with movement. We do it with physical fi tness! Fitness is “the state or condition of be-ing physically sound and healthy, especially as the result of exercise and proper nutrition.” This is simple math. If I move my body and get “physically sound and healthy,” I will have a better life. It is important to see how necessary physical health is. We cannot run from our responsibility to take care of ourselves, but we must work with what we are given. We have to accept the state of our body and strategise on how to improve it. The understanding of our body is a personal study. We should all enroll in the University of Knowing Our Body. When we move we feel. When we feel we can listen. When we listen we learn. And when we learn

we can apply the secret teachings of our bodies to our lives, which allows us to reach our maximum potential.

Strength is needed to move our body and gives us the force to succeed in our day. Strength is only achieved through applied effort. Repetitively doing something grows your ability to do it. Challenging yourself and giving the best of yourself grows a better you. We need to move in this way to accomplish our mission in life. We need to challenge ourselves. Physical training is a perfect foundation for build-ing strength. Some examples of physical training are body weight exercises, weight training, yoga, running, walking or even raking leaves on your lawn. Any physical movement done with enough force and effort will condition you. Anything you can do in your day can train you physically. The muscles of your body grow from resistance. When challenged they are stimulated and they adapt to the resistance. When you can increase your ability to move your body, you enhance the potential of what you can achieve in your day.

Making room in your life for physical fi tness is essential and will help you to mani-fest all of your hopes and dreams. You have to believe in yourself and give yourself fully every day. Use this space suit well, and train it well for this human experi-ence. Keep moving in whatever way you can. Move through the stuck thoughts and the hurt of the heart. Find your own inner strength and hone it for the battle of life. Remember that everyone is in their own battle. We all struggle with our handi-caps and hardships. It doesn’t mean we have to stop fi nding our true happiness. The stimulation of growth enhances all the body’s functions. When we get sick we feel it. Our immune system is weakened along with our will to go on. That is why we must fi nd strength in ourselves and continue moving. If we prepare ourselves to be fi t and healthy, it preserves our ability to stay healthy.

When we start making healthier changes in our life, others see and feel it. Your ac-complishments inspire others and set an example for others to follow. The sooner we all start moving together in a healthier direction, the closer we get to growing a happier and healthier community. This is the happiness that we all truly want in our hearts. Movement helps to create a healthy heart. The heart is the engine that circulates blood throughout your body, as well as fueling the love you have for your neighbour. Individual healthy hearts will help to fuel the heart of our commu-nity. Let’s motivate each other to thrive and prosper. Let’s feel the force of life fl ow through us and inspire us to move toward our dreams and to discover them. Let’s do it together and fuel the heart of our community.


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NO 2:—Special Interests!—NIMBY Attitudes!—Stopping Progress!—Blocking Affordable Housing!—More Beaureaucracy!

Several folks have commented to us how much they like this still-new news-paper because we “are positive” in most of our columns and writing...and that’s one of our goals — to show the positive and good side of life here on the peninsula. That said, this editorial is different. It is only positive because we are 100% sure some special interests are almost the only ones who would be served if Question 2 passes at the ballot box in November. In other words, we at Up Portland are strongly against this land control grab and not-in-my-backyard pro-posal which, as we see it, will only serve a few special interests and halt growth — maybe for decades — in its tracks.

In case readers are unaware, Question 2 is a proposed land use ballot initiative which would not only burden any developments in the future with what we feel is needless red tape, but establish a lengthy and complex set of hoops developers and land-owners would have to jump thru before they could build or redevelop most anything.

The whole sad affair started because a few folks on Munjoy Hill were infuriated that after years of languishing vacant, a developer has bought the old Portland Company property (correctly known as 58 Fore Street) and is proposing to take what’s been an eyesore of tumble-down buildings, gravel parking lots and half-occupied spaces which present both neighbours and visitors with overgrown lots and roofs looking near to collapse into a well-designed diverse redevelop-ment of an historic property. The folks at CPB2 have put forward a development which saves most of the historic old Portland Company struc-tures by incorporating them into a mix of housing, retail, waterfront and public access areas. And from all evidence we as a newspaper have seen they took into account the views of those living “above” on Munjoy Hill and the area’s neighbours — the latter of which include this writer.

Despite such throughtful planning, a group called “Save the Soul of Portland” has registered as a political action committee trying to stop this development (and likely others in the future) with Question 2 on our No-vember ballots. This onerous regulation, which (let’s be honest here, folks) is REALLY just for a few people who might lose a corner of their views along the bottom of Munjoy Hill defies the imagination and should be defeated without question.

Question 2’s misguided passage would not only create a “scenic viewpoint protection zone” (translate: it specifically is for those few folks along Fore Street who might be impacted and who do not care that the city will be stuck with an

overburdening rule forever) but it will require a task force (ie: another hoop) to be formed which will identify additional views now and forever which might need “protecting”. And it will effectively further delay or stop not only the Port-land Company redevelopment but likely many others going forward.

While we are sorry for a few folks along Fore from Waterville to Atlantic streets that their views may be slightly impacted (the developer has shown plans which assure this will be extremely minimal or totally untrue depending upon loca-tion) we can safely say we are satisfied with the sensitive and forward-thinking job that the Fore Street proposal takes into account — and that is a personal comment as well as a newspaper one as we will see a change in a bit of our own balcony view when (not if) this goes ahead.

But more importantly, we as a newspaper feel Question 2 goes way beyond any-thing reasonable and, for a handful of people’s special interests will all but block needed, but controlled, growth in our city. For that reason it should go down to defeat in November.

We feel, after attending a hearing and reading about this project for some time, that what’s been proposed not only will give the public great new access to the waterfront, but in doing so provide a plaza for said access (where now that aforementioned conglomeration of gravel parking lots, rail tracks and emptiness

exist) but that what’s proposed is the right use for this prop-erty on a severely housing-starved peninsula.

To those who wishing to “save” my or anyone’s soul here in Portland, all we can say is you are possibly fooling some folks, but not us. We do not see anything needing to be saved aside from a few special interests. We see a better for all concerned waterfront with more retail, more needed housing and a chance right now to turn what since the 1980s has been largely unde-rused space into something positive for all if Question 2 is defeated and the 56 Fore proj-ect is built as proposed.

We ask readers to go to the polls 3rd November and to

vote a strong NO on Question 2. Your future and ours depend upon this proj-ect being taken off “hold” and construction started ASAP. And that’s OUR view (including the bits of it which will be affected!)

Ted Fleischaker, Publisher, Up Portland.

(On)


TBD*(* You Get to Help Us Pick!

See Below!)By Luke Reinhard / Advisor — Ameriprise Financial

Take a Day to Organise Your Finances

If you’re like most people, you periodically set aside time to clean out your home, garage or closets. It’s equally as important to take time to organise your fi nances. The following checklist can help you get started:

� Cancel unused credit cards and consolidate — If you’re paying an annual fee on a credit card or other account that you do not use, you’re throwing money away. Cash in any reward points and cancel the account. Consider if canceling the card will negatively affect your credit rating; in most cases, no.

� Credit History — Personally, I request my credit history and review any open accounts. I close active accounts that I do not use or plan to use — like that Macy’s card I opened Christmas Eve last year to get their 15% discount on my 2014 gifts. Most folks have way too many liability accounts open anyway, so in many cases, closing some will: (1) improve your credit score, (2) minimise the potential for identity threat, (3) reduce paper – good for the environment, and (4) provide peace of mind. Many identity thefts involve stealing of “your credit” to secure loans in your name. Making a habit of checking your credit history, on a regular basis can help identify problems early on.

� Cancel unused memberships — If a new at-home exercise routine has replaced your trips to the health club or gym or if you are no longer playing golf at a country club you belong to, consider canceling your membership. Even if you have to pay a fee, you may quickly recoup your fi nancial loss.

� Check for onerous, innocuous charges — Review your credit card and bank statement line-by-line. It is easy to miss small charges. For example, I was onerously enrolled in a fax service that started out as a trial period. Since I didn’t call to cancel, I was signed up. I was paying $2.99 per month on my credit card with some innocuous name. I had been paying it for more than a year before I picked-up on it! Another one that slips through occasionally is trip insurance. This fee shows up religiously with fl ight and car rental charges. Decide what you need and cancel the ones you don’t.

� Consolidate accounts —You likely do not need multiple chequing, savings, in-vestment, retirement and/or credit card accounts yet many people maintain them — often because it takes extra time up-front to consolidate. Maintaining numerous accounts can increase the amount of time you spend opening mail, reconciling statements, keeping records and paying bills.

When it comes to credit, you may earn more rewards if you stick to one or two cards. Most accounts have fees — either in the form of service or opportunity fees, i.e. keep a balance of $500 or $5,000 and avoid the service charge. In some cases, this can make sense if you are using the free service. Keep in mind though, liquidity costs money!

� Negotiate better deals with your service providers — Whether it’s your cable, internet or waste removal company, chances are you can negotiate a better rate. Simply take time to get quotes from competitors if they are offering lower rates for the same services, then go back to your service provider to see if they will price match to keep your business. If not, switch to someone new. I say, “If

it’s painful or expensive, get two opinions or quotes!”

� Update your fi nancial records — Make a list of your current fi nancial accounts, contacts and passwords. Keep this information in a safe and secure place.

� Update your benefi ciary designations — Your benefi ciary designations over-ride your will. So, if you’ve experienced a marriage, divorce, birth, adoption or death, make sure your benefi ciary designations refl ect your wishes.

� Review your home and auto insurance coverage — Make sure your coverage refl ects your present needs. Also, price shop the same coverage with different providers. Whether you switch to a new provider or use this information to strike a deal with your current provider, you could save a signifi cant amount.

� Simplify your investments — If tracking various investments is stressing you out, consider asset allocation or managed accounts. Attempting to manage and track too many investment accounts can require a great deal of time and, if you’re not on top of the details, can prevent you making the best investment choices for your portfolio. Consider working with a fi nancial professional to help you organise your fi nances and help you determine what kinds of invest-ments might work best for you.

Consult your fi nancial advisor for more ideas and strategies on ways you can save, but now’s a good time to get started. The kids are back in class, holiday shopping is still a few weeks away and there’s still time before tax season to do your homework and save.

* Now, about the name for this column — TBD means “To Be Determined” and that’s something I asked you to help with last month. I had a number of possible names suggested but none of them really felt like they were a “fi t” so I’m asking for help fi nding one a second time. E-mail me some suggestions and if one of them gets picked, you’ll not only see it here every month, but the owner of Up Portland will send a certifi cate to the winner for a dessert from Two Fat Cats Bak-ery as a sweet thank you! My e-mail is [email protected]


BEYOND THE KOTZSCHMAR

For most of us, performing in the Merrill Auditorium on a famed organ would be a daunting task to face. To Seamus, however, it was business-as-usual. “For the first couple of minutes, I was nervous, but then I got in a zone: I’m used to performing in front of people.”

The only part of his 40-plus minute performances that makes him nervous, he said, is interacting with the audience: when it comes to actually playing the pieces, he is truly in his comfort zone.

Over the past Summer, Seamus travelled to Philadelphia to compete in an interna-tional event which contested young organists against one another in front of a panel of judges. The grand prize was a significant cash reward, and more importantly, the opportunity to play on the world’s largest outdoor pipe organ in San Diego.

“It would have been the opportunity of a lifetime, to go to San Diego,” Seamus said, however he ended up placing second in the competition. As a top-3 finisher, howev-er, he was awarded cash and a ticket to Atlantic City, New Jersey, to perform on the world’s largest indoor pipe organ in the heart of the city. The real prize for Seamus, however, was the resulting publicity from Philadelphia: after his performance, he was now a recognised face in the world of organists.

“People were starting to recognise me. It’s not like I need bodyguards on the streets or anything, but in the organ world, people knew who I was.”

RELATABLE BEGINNINGS

Gethicker’s organ career began at a young age. At the impressionable age of eight, Seamus went to see the annual Magic of Christmas performance at Merrill Audito-rium with his parents. Little did he know that, eight years later, he would be playing on the very Kotzschmar organ which enthralled him as he watched the musical.

“As we left the auditorium after the show, I heard the organ start playing again, and I immediately said, ‘woah!’... I was amazed.”

The man Seamus saw playing the organ for the Magic of Christmas would later turn out to be his instructor, Ray Cornells. From that point on, Seamus committed to the organ with impressive force, devoting over two hours of rehearsal a day to the first love of his life — the theatre organ.

It should be pointed out here that the theatre organ and the classical organ are two different animals, but they often share a keyboard and, in the case of the Kotzschmar, an instrument. Classical organ features everything from true concert music to church and synagogue hymns, whereas theatre organ had its origins in stage plays and the old silent films and along the way added more “popular” pieces, such as famous organist Ethel Smith’s Tico, Tico which garnered Seamus his stand-ing ovation in Portland in August.

NOT JUST ORGANS

While Seamus is certainly assured in his passion for theatrical organ, he still remains a well-rounded individual. As a junior at Morse High School, Seamus has learned to love the sciences, and also serves as the lighting designer and operator for his school’s drama productions. While most of his free-time is devoted to studying

the organ, he has reaped all of the opportunities that high school theatre has had to offer him in his three years of lighting design. “It’s lights and it’s organ: this is what I do,” Seamus said.

Seamus remains a musical enthusiast outside of the organ world as well. He enjoys classical compositions and music from the Jazz Age, in addition to old tracks from the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. Most of the time, his goal is to find music which is easily transfer-rable to the theatre organ — a type of music that blends lively melodies with the more traditional elements of organ composition.

Gethicker emphasised that his years of organ study have offered him numerous ben-efits that he otherwise could have never attained. The life of an organist is one of nu-merous travel opportunities, and Seamus lauded the sights of Pennsylvania, Oregon and countless other sites of performances that he has done nationally. Additionally, Seamus said, the organ community is tight-knit and one-of-a-kind. “I’ve met a lot of good people in the organ world: good people who want to see you succeed.”

Through this community, Seamus has learned the benefits of hard work, honed his ability to accept criticism, and most of all, he has realised how to have fun in his craft. “I do it because it’s fun,” Seamus said. “I love what I do, every day.”

When asked what advice he might give readers looking to get into theatre organ, Seamus insisted that the instrument’s community was not in the least bit exclusive or intimidating. “There aren’t a lot of young people who play and the older play-ers want to see organ live on so they’ll do anything to get more people involved,” Seamus said. Ultimately, though, this is an instrument that requires significant perseverance. “The organ is a difficult instrument to learn, and at times it can be re-ally frustrating,” Seamus said. “But, if you work hard, and put effort into your craft, you’ll see good things happen.”

Perhaps, then, more of us should give organ a chance.

To hear pieces of Seamus Gethicker’s performance at the 103rd Birthday Celebra-tion, visit us on the web at www.upportland.com

Peter Michalakes can be reached at [email protected]

Well Organ-ised Young Mainer Finding Musical Success Behind The Keyboard

Continued From Page Three


It’s the pick of the crop as the Monument Square & Deering Oaks Farmers Markets continue through Autumn. Now’s the time for Fall fl owers, apples & cider, along with other great Maine local foods.


The Gossip Column

By Britain & Sydney / � e Up Downtown O� ce Gossip Cats

Please Read

Then Recycle!

Phone: 207/536.0922 e-mail: [email protected]

Up Portland is published the last week of every month at 22 Hancock Street, Suite 403, Portland, Maine 04101. While every effort is made to ensure ac cu ra cy and fairness, the pub lish er assumes no re spon si bil i ty for errors. Liability is limited to the cost of said ad. Ads not cancelled by published deadlines will be billed at agreed-upon price. Ads may be edited or rejected for content at the discre-tion of the publisher. All items ap pear ing in Up Portland, as well as the name, logos and design are copy right 2015 by BBS, A division of High Speed Delivery Fork Ltd. & Ted Fleis chak er and may not

be re pro duced in any form without prior written ap prov al.

November EditionDeadline

Thursday 22nd OctoberPapers On Street:

Friday 30th October

Up Portland Is A Proud Member of the

We don’t know about you humans, but we pussies are glad to fi nally see some near or below normal temperatures around here. We were getting really over-heated since we don’t get to take off these fur coats, even in the Summer. Anyway, as far as what’s up this month, one of the fi rst things we learned when we got here last Spring was to keep our hands off the horn in our owners’ cars. Seems that unlike in the Midwest where we used to live, out here folks are cour-teous and only hit the horn in a real emergency or dire need to do so. That’s why our owner, Ted, was shocked while talking to a friend in front of Standard Bak-ing Company one recent Friday when he heard this horn honking and a lot of words that he won’t let we cats print being shouted. Turns out a guy who paid big, big bucks for his Corvette thought he owned more of the roadway down on Commercial Street than someone in front of him and he was leaning on the horn, gesturing and cussing loudly. Of course said “fancy” ride had its top down

so he was treating everyone — young and old — to his very un-Maine-like temper fi t. The friend Ted was talking to looked at this idiot and shouted from the sidewalk, “This is Maine! We do not act like that!” which brought a single-fi nger hand salute just before the Franklin Arterial light turned and in a squeal of tyres the guy peeled out headed back toward I-295. The fun-niest part is both Ted and his friend won their bets as with one voice as soon as they heard the cussing and horn both said “He’s for sure not a Mainer!” As he peeled out they were proven right with a blue & white Con-necticut plate clearly attached to his bumper. Wonder how folks would feel if we treat them that way next time we visit Hartford?... Speaking of treat-

ing, we cats are having a tough time with treating this next item in such a way as to be able to print it here in a family newspaper, but we will give it a try. The conversation was one our owners heard as they shopped for squash and other items at a recent Saturday Morning Deering Oaks Park Farmer’s Market. A group of college age folk were standing around and as our duo passed one said to the other “I think he got it right for The Firebird, aside from the (insert slang for a man’s body part here) which he had much too big!” Our reporters never did fi nd out if it was a MECA students group referring to a statue or someone too well endowed dancing ballet. They did report that two of those speaking out of the group did turn rather red when they realised they were overheard by everyone passing. What’s that old line about loose lips sinking ships?... Speaking of ships, we have had the pleasure to meet a number of our fellow Portland downtowners on “ship days” as we all congregate to see who’s looking around our town and what they are looking for. The older of our owners habitually walks up to folks staring at a map (did we mention Up Portland has a great one?) or a phone screen out and just says “Directions?” It’s amazing what he gets asked for — from where to fi nd the town’s best lobster rolls (Gilbert’s is his usual go-to for the carless and Dock’s for those with vehicu-lar conveyances) to the other day when he was startled by a passenger from one

of two ships in and asked where to fi nd a medical supply company! Seems a friend travelling with the folks from Virginia and Maryland who asked had tak-en a bad step and fallen on the ship the day before; breaking a bone in his foot. The folks asking got directed to Black Bear on Marginal Way and afterwards to Gelato Fiasco over on Fore Street because we all know that there’s nothing like great gelato to make every ailment better...at least that’s what our mama cat always told us!... And speaking of desserts, remember the photo below we published last month in Up Portland? The one with the mystery of the stack of pies which suddenly appeared at the corner of India & Middle streets. Well, we were all baffl ed but then we pussies’ friend Stacy Begin over at (Where else?) Two Fat Cats Bakery came up with the answer. We were gonna put it in her fi rst column elsewhere in this paper, but we ran out of space there, so here’s the soluton for all you cat lovers (and pie lovers) in Stacy’s own words: “The mystery of the leaning tower of pies has been solved.... kind of. First, we have confi rmed that they were defi nitely our pies. We suspect they were pies that were intended for shipping but when we swapped out an old freezer for a new, the pies never made it back into the shipping freezer! But how and who carried them across the street to keep the light post company remains a mystery!” Also remaining a mystery is who took and ate them since the following day one and half of a second were gone and the following day all the rest had vanished. Anybody got any ideas?... And fi nally, nobody believed it would or could ever happen but Mrs. Micucci over at Micucci’s really, actually retired recently. At least her family “thinks so” as we cats are told she’s claimed to be retiring several times before, but couldn’t stay away. Anyway, the family says they wll give her a retirement party this time only after she’s been gone at least 90 days, but we regulars over there will miss her greatly (as will her family, really) and we hope she enjoys her leisure and stops by for some of downtown’s best pizza and sandwiches every so often just to say hello to old friends! Meow!



UrbanUniQue

By Ashley Robedee

I want to start this out by saying: Hey you. Yeah you, reading this. You are so damn BEAUTIFUL. Glorious even! Those thighs you say are too thick? They can carry you to the tops of mountains. The breasts you say are too small? They have the capabilities of feeding children. The wrinkles on your face? Show a lifetime of belly laughs.

Too many times I have felt helpless as my attempts to bolster a friend's self esteem fall on deaf ears and are dismissed by eyes that refuse to see their own worth.

As a woman, a friend and a beauty industry worker I'm here to say, "Enough!" Enough with self doubt. Enough with the comparisons to air brushed models and impossibly sized mannequins. Enough with missing out on adventures because you don't like how you look in a bathing suit or dodging cameras to avoid being captured in a picture. This phenomenon of shaming ourselves is breaking my heart each and every day. Incredible inspiring people who feel less than incredible and inspiring.

This disconnect is why I've found myself walking back down the familiar hallway to Red Hot & Ladylike, a burlesque dance studio where I got a self esteem boost myself so many years ago. Owned by the whip-toting, booty popping, curvaceous fi recracker known as Miss E, there is no place in this town I can think of better suited to address the art of confi dence.

There is a universal truth that music can help heal a broken heart or a wounded soul. But can it also help mend a withering self esteem and set people on the path of loving themselves again? As a professional dance instructor, Miss E says a most

Gil and Debrah Brundage can attest to the confi dence building power of RHL. Deb-rah, 60, went there seeking a fun escape with other ladies. Nervous and unsure of herself at fi rst, she joined them onstage for the fi rst time after a year of classes. Now she does countless shows with her husband cheering her on front-and-centre every time. Having seen the remarkable change in his wife and hearing Miss E (below left) speaking during a show about pursuing your dreams at any age, Gil himself was then inspired to go after an old passion — drag racing — something he hadn't done in 40 years. Proving that confi dence is even sexier when it's contagious.

Some people picture burlesque as more of a strip show, with women wearing nipple pasties and a thong. And while that may be true of traditional burlesque, Miss E chooses not to go that route, instead preferring to leave a little to the imagination which she says can be just as fun and equally sexy. The hard part is getting people to take the plunge and try it. I had to walk through those doors for the fi rst time once, too, so I get it. Once you're there however, you'll notice people of all shapes and sizes. Dancers are literally from ages 16 to 64. Some are fl exible and others can't even touch their toes. A few are amazingly coordinated and some are strug-gling to remember to pick up their feet (my brother and I have perfected The Robe-dee Shuffl e). No matter how awkward though, you'll notice a smile on everyone's face and rounds of giggle fi ts are known to break out as Miss E declares, "When in doubt, touch yourself!"

If you're still letting your body get in the way of cutting lose, plus sized classes will be offered in October on the 10th, 17th and 24th from 10 to 11 a.m. Located at 509 Forest Avenue (Suite 1), it's only a short drive or a brisk walk from downtown so grab some sneakers and yoga pants (or a corset and high heels if you're feeling saucy) and go learn how to love the skin you're already in. Maybe I'll see you there.

resounding “Yes!”. It is how her studio came into existence, after all.Struggling with her own lack of self confi -dence during a low point in her life many years ago, she found herself at a workshop in Canada with Jesse Lee Santos, a chore-ographer for the Pussy Cat Dolls. Taking her fi rst burlesque class with Santos left her feeling sexy and beautiful again - and inspired her to share that feeling with others.

With this new found passion she came home and opened her own burlesque studio, Red Hot & Ladylike (RHL), in 2010 with the expressed mission of teaching people to love the body they have and not the one they wished they had. "Through the past fi ve years, " she tells me, "count-less women and even men have come through my doors and RHL has changed their outlook on life. Women fi nd a place

to not only dance, sweat and feel sexy, but meet other women who are all dealing with the same issues. I call it RHL Therapy... you never know what the topic in class will turn into. We dance, we laugh, we feel good about ourselves!"

Photos: McMoronic Photography,


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