The group began 20 years ago on the seacoast of New Hampshire and currently is the collaboration of four vocalists and a four-piece band.
“Our purpose is to share the joys — and sorrows — of gospel music, and to rock the house,” a representative of the group states in a Franco Center Heritage Hall release. “The spirit that flows through our songs goes back to the roots of music itself. It is universal and tells stories as old as time. We are performers who love entertaining audiences.”
The ensemble describes its music as “gospel in the southern African-American tradition with a heavy R&B flavor.” The group also mixes traditional gospel songs, rock, folk and a cappella into its repertoire.
General admission advance tickets cost $16 for adults or $14 for students and seniors. Tickets cost $18 the day of the show.
For advance tickets, go online to www.brownpapertickets.com/event/217023.
Council rolls out Monday pie festival
PORTLAND — The Portland Pie Council will sponsor a series of events Monday to celebrate National Pie Day.
The third annual Pie and Art Gala will be held at the Mayo Street Center for the Arts. “Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and events run until everyone is too sated to continue,” a Portland Pie Council release states.
The event includes a ranked-choice voted competition for both sweet and savory pies, with guests encouraged to bring a pie to submit for everyone to taste.
Other activities include a synchronized interpretive pie dance; a pie-eating contest (to enter, email portlandpiecouncil@gmail.com ); a charity pie art auction; pietry (pie-esque poetry); historic pie moments; and pie theater.
‘The Champ’ makes comeback at library
DAMARISCOTTA — Skidompha Library will screen “The Champ” at 6:30 p. m. Monday in the Porter Meeting Hall on Elm Street.
The 1979 film stars Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Rick Schroder. The plot centers on the story of Billy Flynn, a former boxing champion, who works as a horse trainer to earn enough money to raise his son, T.J. Flynn, after his wife leaves. When his wife returns, tensions mount.
“‘The Champ’ has also been called ‘the saddest movie in the world,’ and the final scene has been used in numerous psychology experiments to elicit a strong emotional response,” a release from the library states.
Admission is by a $5 donation to maintain and increase Skidompha’s classic film collection.
Show tonight benefits modern music academy
PORTLAND — The Maine Academy of Modern Music (MAMM) is hosting a benefit tonight at The Big Easy, 55 Market St., to raise funds for its music programs.
Scheduled performers include The Twisted Truth, Beware of Pedestrians, Static and Phantom Companion, who will perform an all-ages show from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
A 21- plus show featuring The Trickle Down and LQH will run from 10 p.m. to 1 p.m.
Admission for the whole shebang costs $5.
MAMM provides music education programs to schools, civic organizations and other nonprofit organizations that include hands-on instrument workshops, artistin residency programs, private concerts, ensemble direction, workshops and master classes, through contract programming.
For more information, call 899- 3433 or go online to www.maineacademyofmodernmusic.org.
Auditions for 4 short plays scheduled
DAMARISCOTTA — Lincoln County Community Theater will hold auditions for its upcoming production of Robert Anderson’s quartet of short plays, “ You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running.”
Auditions will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday at the Lincoln Theater, 2 Theater St., Damariscotta.
The show is scheduled to open March 2 and play weekend performances through March 11. Al D’Andrea, director of last season’s production of “Doubt” will return to direct.
In Anderson’s “The Shock of Recognition,” playwright Jack Barnstable auditions Richard Pawling for a role that requires nudity and discovers the overeager actor is more than willing to show his stuff.
“The Footsteps of Doves” focuses on Harriet and George, a married couple shopping for twin beds after many years of marriage and their 54 inch bed. George, who is opposed to the change, strikes up a conversation with Jill, a considerably younger fellow shopper who shares his view.
In “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” Chuck and Edith realize how empty their marriage has become as they await the arrival of their adult children.
“I’m Herbert” concerns two old people sitting on a porch in a pair of rocking chairs and talking. Each has had one or more previous marriages and perhaps a few flings, but they are hazy as to details. In fact, they don’t always recall who the other one is.
The plays call for a cast of three to seven men and two to six women, depending on doubling. Copies of the complete script can be downloaded by visiting the theater’s website, www.atthelincoln.org, and clicking on “Auditions” under the “ LCCT Season” dropdown menu.
Copies of the scenes to be used for auditions are available on the website and can be borrowed from the theater business office, which is open Tuesday through Friday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information, call the theater business office at 563-3424.
Renowned violinist to conduct PSO on Jan. 29
PORTLAND — The Portland Symphony Orchestra (PSO) plans to present a musical journey around the world at 2:30 p.m. Jan. 29 at Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St.
Guest conductor Dmitry Sitkovetsky will lead the orchestra and perform the solo violin part in the “Suite from The Red Violin.”
The concert opens with Giocchino Rossini’s “Overture to Barber of Seville,” one of the most widely known and instantly recognized classical works.
John Corigliano’s “ Suite from The Red Violin” will follow. Drawn from the Academy Award- winning score, the suite follows a unique instrument over the span of three centuries and five countries.
Felix Mendelssohn’s “Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Italian” concludes the afternoon’s program.
Sitkovetsky is the music director of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra. He has built up an active and successful career as a violinist, conductor, arranger, chamber musician and festival director.
He has performed as a soloist with a number of the world’s leading orchestras. He will perform on the violin as well as conduct.
The concert will be preceded by a Concert Conversation at 1:15 p.m. A question-andanswer session will be held on stage after the concert.
Tickets range in price from $ 20 to $ 58 and can be purchased through PortTIX, at porttix.com or 842-0800, or in person at the box office at Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St. Tickets purchased over the phone or online are subject to a per-ticket handling fee.
The concert will be broadcast on MPBN’s Maine Stage at 8 p.m. Feb. 29.
Pianist to perform at Portland cathedral
PORTLAND — Richard Roberts, pianist and a member of the Portland Rossini Club, will perform at 3 p.m. Jan. 29 at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, 143 State St.
The music of Bach, Schubert and Mussorgski will be featured, along with Alvo Part: Variations for Arinushka.
Suggested donation to club’s piano fund is $10 general public or $ 5 for seniors. Students will be admitted free of change For more information, call 829-3393.
String quartet celebrates J.S. Bach
PORTLAND — The Portland String Quartet will perform a concert titled “The Art of the Fugue, J.S. Bach,” at 2 p. m. Jan. 29 at Woodfords Congregational Church, 202 Woodfords St.
Colby College musicologist Steven Saunders will join the quartet to present “ an indepth exploration and musical performance of J.S. Bach’s supreme effort in this genre,” a LARK Society release states.
For more information, call 761-1522 or check the website, www.larksociety.org.
Amped-up WMPG to party on Saturday
PORTLAND — WMPG Community Radio plans to celebrate its successful power and range boost during an open house from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the station’s studio, 92 Bedford St., on the Portland campus of the University of Southern Maine.
“Please join us by listening to 90.9 or 104.1 FM, or stop by in person at 92 Bedford Street on the Portland campus of the University of Southern Maine for our transmitter-warming party,” a WMPG release states. “ On that day you’ll hear special celebratory programming on the air all day long, with live music, voices from the past, and live and recorded calls from our new expanded listening area.”
Events planned for the open house include refreshments, free lunch, giveaways, a raffle, station tours and a chance to converse with WMPG volunteer on-air personalities.
For more information about WMPG, visit the station website at WMPG.org or find WMPG on Facebook and Twitter.
Program airs Titanic survivor’s insights
PORTLAND — Dr. Karen Lemke, a professor at St. Joseph’s College, will give a talk titled “The Titanic Centenary: A Survivor’s Story,” at 2 p.m. Jan. 29 at the Maine Irish Heritage Center, at the corner of State and Gray streets.
“The year 2012 marks the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic — the legendary, ‘ unsinkable’ ship built in Belfast, Northern Ireland,” a release about the program states. “One of the survivors was Marshall Drew, an 8-yearold second- class passenger from Westerly, R. I. In 1986, Marshall Drew was again in the news. With the discovery of a shipwreck of an ocean liner on the sea floor, he was able to look at photographs taken by a robotic submersible device and identify the luxurious interiors of the Titanic from his indelible childhood memories.”
Six weeks before his death, Drew spoke with Lemke about those experiences. Lemke will recount Drew’s story and, drawing on the interview, she will look at the Titanic tragedy as a metaphor for changing times at the beginning of the 20th century, focusing on labor issues, matters of maritime safety, and the roles that simple greed and arrogance played in the loss of more than 1,500 lives.
Admission is free, and all are welcome. For more information, call Ellen D. Murphy at 899-0505.
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