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Calendar

Dec
4
Mon
Markathon Fundraiser @ WCYY
Dec 4 – Dec 9 all-day
Markathon Fundraiser @ WCYY

Tune into WCYY on Monday, December 4 through Saturday, December 9 and join Mark Curdo for Markathon 15, an around-the-clock donation drive in support of The Center for Grieving Children!

Mark will be live on the 94.3 airwaves for six days – 126 hours! – raising awareness and funding for our Center families, and programs and we need your active support! Make a song request with a donation of any size to the Center, and Mark will play it! Any music you want, any genre – it’s that easy! All donations received will help keep Center services available at no cost to children and families.

To learn more and make donations, visit this page!

Dec
8
Fri
LIVE MUSIC WITH KAFARI at MAINE CRAFT DISTILLING @ MAINE CRAFT DISTILLING
Dec 8 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
LIVE MUSIC WITH KAFARI at MAINE CRAFT DISTILLING @ MAINE CRAFT DISTILLING | Portland | Maine | United States

Looking for a fun night out? Come down to Maine Craft Distilling and catch live music with Kafari from 7-9 pm! With great drinks and even better tunes, you won’t want to miss out.

Portland Symphony Orchestra Magic of Christmas @ Merrill Auditorium
Dec 8 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Portland Symphony Orchestra Magic of Christmas @ Merrill Auditorium | Portland | Maine | United States

Enjoy this cherished holiday tradition (now in its 43rd year!) in person or online! Magic of Christmas will be led by Music Director Eckart Preu and feature special guests. Celebrate the season with Christmas classics new and old – including the beloved “Sleigh Ride”!

eroy ANDERSON A Christmas Festival

Mykola LEONTOVYCH arr. NAUGHTIN Carol of the Bells

Vince GUARALDI arr. NAUGHTIN Christmas Time is Here

Faith HILL arr. HANSEN “Where Are You Christmas?” from Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Michael W. SMITH arr. HANSEN Christmas Day

Con FULLAM orch. EASTBURN The Maine Christmas Song

George Frideric HANDEL “Hallelujah Chorus” from Messiah

Lucas RICHMAN Hanukkah Festival Overture

Danny ELFMAN arr. BROWN Selections from Nightmare Before Christmas

David FOSTER & Linda THOMPSON-JENNER arr. MCKENZIE Grown-Up Christmas List

TRADITIONAL arr. HANSEN The First Noel
As performed by Josh Groban and Faith Hill

Leroy ANDERSON Sleigh Ride

arr. FINNEGAN Christmas Sing-Along

Artists, programs, and dates are subject to change.

PURCHASE TICKETS

Sink Maine Medical Debt with Little Oso, Snake Lips, and Christina’s World at SPACE @ SPACE
Dec 8 @ 7:30 pm – 11:00 pm
Sink Maine Medical Debt with Little Oso, Snake Lips, and Christina's World at SPACE @ SPACE | Portland | Maine | United States

Sink Maine Medical Debt is a fundraising campaign started by some friends in Portland to relieve thousands of people in Maine and across New England of their medical debt. By raising $10,000 together, we can buy and cancel over $1.5 million of medical debt in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. To donate to the campaign directly and learn more, visit: https://ripmedicaldebt.org/campaign/sink-maine-medical-debt/

Sink Maine Medical Debt has partnered with the non-profit RIP Medical Debt (as seen on the John Oliver Show) who will assist in the purchase of debt in bulk from secondary markets for less than pennies on the dollar and then cancel that debt for people most in need, with no strings attached. In Maine, four out of ten residents currently have medical bill-related debt. Two thirds report they are “one medical emergency or illness away from financial disaster.”By coming together as a community, Sink Maine Medical Debt hopes to send immediate relief to our neighbors most affected by debt, so that we all have the capacity to keep fighting for more just systems.

Little Oso is a dreampop band from Portland, Maine. They blend layers of sparkly guitar sounds with shimmering vocals and upbeat tempos to make you want to dance or get under a blanket… or dance under a blanket. Their most recent EP, “Happy Songs 🙂” commemorates summertime nostalgia and can be streamed most places.

Vivid Motion Dance Presents: ‘Twas The Night Before… Burlesque at The Hills Art @ The Hills Art
Dec 8 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Vivid Motion Dance Presents: 'Twas The Night Before... Burlesque at The Hills Art @ The Hills Art | Portland | Maine | United States

Portland’s longest running burlesque tradition is back! Join us for this year’s hot-hot-HOTTEST winter show, co-directed by Brigitte Paulus and MJ Emerson. In true innovative and quirky Vivid Motion Dance style, we’ve taken the classic holiday poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas” and turned it into a sizzling and sensual dance performance, complete with a live band onstage.

Performances: Dec 8-10 & Dec 13-16, 2023 at 7:30pm.

Tickets on sale Fri Oct 6! vividmotion.org

About Vivid Motion Dance

Vivid Motion Dance is a nonprofit, volunteer dance company for long-time dancers who want to bring dance back into their lives, and a place for anyone who always wanted to be a dancer but never had the chance. Audition for a show, volunteer backstage, come to our pay-what-you-can dance classes, or catch a performance. From ballet to burlesque, it’s all here at Vivid Motion Dance! #XOVIVMO

Mr Sun – Nutcracker Suite at OLS @ Portland House of Music
Dec 8 @ 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Mr Sun – Nutcracker Suite at OLS @ Portland House of Music | Portland | Maine | United States

Mr Sun records and performs a new interpretation of Ellington’s legendary Nutcracker Suite.

Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite contains some of the most beloved and familiar melodies in the Western world.
Mr Sun has seized upon the inspiration of Duke Ellington’s brilliant, sly, & urbane re-interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s Suite as an opportunity to salute and re-invent this wildly multi-faceted work anew through the lens of the American String Band, a musical form which contains myriad styles and is presently engaged in a marathon upheaval of innovation and expansion.

On Mr Sun’s new recording, the pieces of the Suite range from close interpretations of Billy Strayhorn’s original charts to intense extrapolations based on the spirit of the material.

On the recording, Mr Sun generally played original improvised solos, though some crucial musical statements by giants such as Johnny Hodges and Paul Gonsalves were transcribed directly and played in their spirit.  Most of Strayhorn’s startling original horn voicings have been preserved in bowed strings, with multi-mandolin parts adding a punchy edge.

There is one new additional piece, drawn directly from Tchaikovsky’s Ballet, setting three themes in classic “Dawg Music” format. The Russian Dance is now hilariously full-on Bluegrass with banjo guest Alison Brown while still using the spy-movie intros, outros, and background lines of Strayhorn’s original. Dobro King Jerry Douglas interprets an iconic Lawrence Brown trombone solo on Dance Of The Floreadores, now re-titled “(don’t) Walk On The Flowers”.

State Theatre Presents Allison Russell: The Returner Tour @ Portland House of Music
Dec 8 @ 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
State Theatre Presents Allison Russell: The Returner Tour @ Portland House of Music | Portland | Maine | United States

Allison Russell — poet, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, activist, and co-founder of Our Native Daughters and Birds of Chicago — embarks upon her next chapter in The Returner, a body-shaking, mind-expanding, soulful expression of Black liberation, Black love, of Black self-respect.

Written and co-produced by Allison along with dim star (her partner JT Nero and Drew Lindsay), The Returner was recorded over Solstice week in December 2022 at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles, CA. It features Russell’s “Rainbow Coalition” band of all female musicians along with special guest appearances from the legendary Wendy & Lisa, Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, and Hozier.

Artist Pre-sale: Wednesday August 9 @ 10:00 AM ET

Spotify Pre-sale: Wednesday August 9 @ 12:00 PM ET

Venue Pre-sale: Thursday August 10 @ 10:00 AM ET

Public On-sale: Friday August 11 @ 10:00 AM ET

Tickets are $55 Seated and $35 Standing Room.

Doors at 7:00 pm | Music starts at 8:00 pm.

21+

Taylor’s Version A Swiftie Dance Party at State Theatre @ State Theatre
Dec 8 @ 8:00 pm – Dec 9 @ 12:00 am
Taylor’s Version A Swiftie Dance Party at State Theatre @ State Theatre | Portland | Maine | United States

Taylor’s Version

Welcome to Talyor’s Version, the dance party of your wildest dreams, home to all things Taylor Swift. We put on DJ based events playing every Taylor era, no skips! Could you ask for anything better? Grab tickets, bring your friends, and come shake off the summer heat with us!

Taylor’s Version is not affiliated with, endorsed by, authorized by, sponsored by, or in any way officially connected with Taylor Swift, TAS Rights Management, LLC, or any of their affiliates or subsidiaries. Further, any similarities in services or events between Taylor’s Version and any third party entities are purely coincidental and do not imply any association between Taylor’s Version and such third party entities.

Toby McAllister & the Sierra Sounds at Sun Tiki Studios @ Sun Tiki Studios
Dec 8 @ 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Toby McAllister & the Sierra Sounds at Sun Tiki Studios @ Sun Tiki Studios | Portland | Maine | United States
Toby McAllister & the Sierra Sounds with Becca Biggs & The World Famous Grassholes
TOBY MCALLISTER
The state of Maine is known for it’s cold winters, and picture perfect summers. It’s hard not to be inspired by the beauty of the changing seasons, and that’s what you’ll find in Toby’s music. Known primarily as the founding member of Sparks The Rescue, Toby has been playing music since he was old enough hold a guitar. He spent his 20’s touring the world in a 15 passenger van with his best friends. When Sparks started to slow down, he settled back in Maine with his family. The pandemic brought on an unexpected source of inspiration, which led to the first solo EP for McAllister titled, Daydreamin. A few short months after it’s release, he was sharing the stage with acts such as Drake White, Kasey Tyndall, Billy Bob Thornton & The Boxmasters, Eddie Montgomery, and supported Rhett Miller & The Old 97’s on a tour in Spring of ’22.
March of ’23 finds Toby releasing the follow up to Daydreamin with a brand new CD titled Autumn Skies. While Daydreamin is a fun CD written during the pandemic, Autumn Skies is a more serious combination of life, love, and rock & roll. Backing him up on this recording is the rhythm section of Sparks which includes drummer Nathan Spencer and Ben Briggs on bass. This trio has been playing together for over 20 years, and have never stopped sharing their love for music, and a good song. Other talent on the CD includes Andrew Martelle from The Mallett Brothers Band, Hamilton Belk, a talented local steel guitarist and a featured guitar solo from Ken Bethea of Old 97’s.
2023 has some new and exciting opportunities in store for Toby and while on a career path that can sometimes be unpredictable, Toby appreciates still being able to create music for the pure joy of it.
BECCA BIGGS
Becca Biggs has been making a name for herself in Maine for over eight years, but her country influences and twangy vocals (with a vibrato reminiscent of Dolly Parton) betray her Tennessee roots. Playing banjo with two other homesteader-moms on cello and guitar, she co-founded the Americana trio Sugarbush in 2015, releasing two albums of acclaimed material. Last year, Biggs broke out with her debut solo album Genie, assembling a team of crack musicians. That effort saw her named WERU’s artist of the week and the track “I Can’t Take It” named a Portland Press Herald song of the week. Mainer magazine recognized her “beautiful and dextrous voice.” Combined with folk, rock, and alternative influences, Biggs and her band have created a sound that is both muscular and enveloping.
THE WORLD FAMOUS GRASSHOLES
The World Famous Grassholes play high-energy bluegrass (yes, a little bit like that Billy Strings guy, but also like Greensky and Leftover Salmon and Mighty Poplar, etc.), a mix of originals, classics, and cool covers. Well, we think they’re cool, anyway. It’s good for dancing and nodding your head and tapping your feet, and meant to be enjoyed with friends and family. Now in their third decade as a band, the Grassholes feature Heather Kahill on fiddle, Merrill Marsh and Sam Pfeifle on guitars, Flann O’Brien on the stand-up bass, and Field Rider on Banjo and harmonica. Everybody sings a bit here and there, whether you like it or not (we checked, it’s legal here for banjo players to sing, so don’t get too concerned).
Foundation Friday at Flask Lounge @ Flask Lounge
Dec 8 @ 9:00 pm – Dec 9 @ 1:00 am
Foundation Friday at Flask Lounge @ Flask Lounge | Portland | Maine | United States

Community. Dance. Music. Love.

Foundation Friday is dance music medicine hosted on the 2nd Friday of every month by MR. DERELOID. This is the best vibe in underground EDM. Try it! You might just like it!

Join Foundation on Facebook for announcements and special guests!