Catch a concert at the Waterville Opera House or Johnson Hall Opera House this week or a Native Storytelling and Song event in Skowhegan.
Check out 10,000 Maniacs
WATERVILLE — The Waterville Opera House plans to host 10,000 Maniacs at 8 p.m. Friday at 1 Common St.
Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the band has a lot in common with Jamestown, New York, the city that spawned it back in 1981. Both are honest and hardworking, a step outside the mainstream, and both possess a bit of magic. “It’s a city of blue-collar poetry,” said keyboardist Dennis Drew, according to a news release from the opera house.
The show will embrace their entire catalogue, and the lineup is still anchored by four of the six original members. Drew, guitarist John Lombardo, and bassist Steven Gustafson co-founded the band in 1981. Drummer Jerome Augustyniak joined in 1982, solidifying the rhythm section. And the two “new” members have long been part of the family: Mary Ramsey toured and recorded with the Maniacs as a viola player and backup singer beginning in 1991 before stepping into the front woman’s role 27 years ago.
The Arabic Music Community Ensemble plans debut concert
BATH — An Arabic Music Community Ensemble concert is set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Chocolate Church Arts Center, 804 Washington St.
Tickets cost $18.18; chocolatechurcharts.org.
The band, founded in 2023, was a study group exploring the vocal and instrumental music of the Arab world. Coming from across Maine, its members have diverse musical backgrounds and are made up of professional performers as well as dedicated amateurs. Many have studied with leading master instructors in the genre and have attended the annual weeklong Arabic Music Retreat at Mount Holyoke College.
After two years of study and rehearsal together, the Ensemble is delighted to present its debut concert.
It will perform instrumental and vocal works by leading composers of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine, as well as notable Arab-American composers. The audience can hear the sounds of Arabic singing, oud (fretless lute), qanun (plucked zither), nay (end-blown reed flute), violin, clarinet, riqq (tambourine), tabla (goblet drum) and tar (frame drum) in a program of folkloric, neoclassical, and contemporary selections.
Get out and see The Nelsons
Don’t miss the Discus concert
GARDINER — A Discus concert is set for 7:30 p.m. Monday on the Logan Stage at Johnson Hall Opera House, 280 Water St.
Tickets cost $24; johnsonhall.org.
The breezy indie rock band grew out of a long-kept creative partnership between Jake and Paul Stolz, who share ranks in a handful of other projects – namely Pool Holograph, Varsity and Central Heat Exchange. As Discus, they render immaculately considered musical worlds – reminiscent of golden-era oughts indie of The Radio Dept., Broadcast, and the American Analog Set – and upset their balance with calculated moments of unease.
Head to Skowhegan for Native American storytelling
Mitchell is a citizen of the Penobscot Nation from Indian Island. His singing and storytelling have been featured in many Maine PBS, tribal-sponsored awareness videos, independent film, HBO Lionsgate TV, and many documentaries with topics on Maine’s Native People.
This program serves as the conclusion of the Wabanaki Voices Speaker series sponsored by the Skowhegan History House Museum & Research Center.
For more information, visit skowheganhistoryhouse.org.
Tesla June 4
The ground started shaking in Sacramento, California, in 1984, gold country that would soon be producing some platinum. Th band started out as City Kidd, until a suggested name change to TESLA, honoring the eccentric inventor Nikola Tesla who pioneered all things electrical.
Its 1986 platinum debut album, Mechanical Resonance, included Top 40 hits “Modern Day Cowboy” and “Little Suzi.” 1989’s double-platinum The Great Radio Controversy included hits “Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)” and “Love Song.” Suddenly, Tesla, which had been touring with bands such as Def Leppard and David Lee Roth, earned headlining status. In 1990, Tesla helped reshape the face of modern rock music by stripping down to the Five Man Acoustical Jam, an informal collection of its biggest hits peppered with rock and roll classics by the Beatles, Stones, and others.
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