MAKING MIGRATION VISIBLE - Townnews

November 8 – 15, 2018 | PortlaNd’s News + arts + eNtertaiNmeNt authority | Free | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me

ColumnsWhy Do Democrats

Lose eLections? | P. 5

Filmthe Past isn’t throUGh With UsBisBee ‘17 at sPaCe | P. 19

TheaTerconJUrinG homereFuge *malja* جلم at PortlaNd stage | P. 21

mohamad hafez, Desperate Cargo, mixed media float sculpture, 144” x 48” x 40”, 2016

MAKING MIGRATION VISIBLEAsylum seekers, border politics, and migrant life in Maine art

B y F r a n c i s F l i s i u k

2 November 8, 2018 | the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me

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the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me | November 8, 2018 toC | 3

november 8, 2018 | vol XX, no. 42

Publisher mark guerriNgueeditor NiCk sChroeder [email protected] editor / PhotograPher FraNCis Flisiuk [email protected] CourtNey sPeNCer [email protected] desigNer rebekah blizzard [email protected] © 2018 by PortlaNd News Club, llC, all rights reserved. reProduCtioN without PermissioN, by aNy method whatsoever, is Prohibited.

coNtributors: zaCk barowitz, keviN broydriCk, lala drew, briaN duFF, gabe gregoire, kylie groat, megaN grumbliNg, derek jaCksoN, viCtoria karol, sultaNa khaN, seth levy, jeN soreNseN, briaN soNeNsteiN, shay stewart-bouley, heidi weNdel, kaylee wolFeoFFiCe: 147 braCkett st. ste. 3, PortlaNd, me 04102, (207) 773-8900 web site www.PortlaNdPhoeNix.meadvertisiNg iNquiries: [email protected]. letters to the editor: email [email protected]. Please iNClude a daytime telePhoNe Number For veriFiCatioN. billiNg iNquiries: joyCe brothers, [email protected].

News4 cmP faiLs to ProviDe necessary

information aboUt their 145-miLe PoWer Line PLanby FraNCis Flisiuk

4 PortLanD PUbLic schooLs WiLL LikeLy Lose more state fUnDinG, says boarD of eDUcation chairWomanby FraNCis Flisiuk

ColuMNs5 Urban conDitionaL: Why Do

Democrats Lose eLections?It may be by designby zaCk barowitz

6 above the LaW: Jon GaLe’s sexUaL misconDUct aLLeGations sUrfaceD before PrimaryThe DA candidate’s decision to stay in the race robbed voters of a critical opportunityby briaN soNeNsteiN

FeATure7 What they Leave behinD

Photography and artifacts from the border illumi-nate the realities of migrant lifeby FraNCis Flisiuk

MusIC14 make mine mammoth

enigmatic three-piece Bully Mammoth drops a great album’s worth of ePsby NiCk sChroeder

FIlM19 the Past isn’t throUGh With Us

Documentary film Bisbee ‘17 tells haunting tale of labor abuse and group therapy at the borderby NiCk sChroeder

TheATer20 the trUe size of Loss

Mad horse summons the deep with moving and meditative ‘The whale’by megaN grumbliNg

21 conJUrinG homeMaine playwright and company dazzle with ambi-tious ‘refuge *Malja* جلم’ at Portland stageby megaN grumbliNg

FooD + DrINk28 hoW to sUrvive PortLanD beer Week

And maybe enjoy it a little along the wayby seth levy

30 bonobo keePs it reaL in the West enDAfter ownership change, solid wood-fired pizza and cozy vibes remain intactby erik NeilsoN

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4 | News November 8, 2018 | the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me

Portland Public Schools will likely lose more state funding, says Board of Education chairwomanB y F r a n c i s F l i s i u k

THIS JUST IN CMP fails to provide necessary information about their 145-mile power line planB y F r a n c i s F l i s i u k

During last Monday's city council meeting, the chairwoman of the Portland Board

of education pressed the council to adopt a universal pre-k program while lamenting the “very real financial challenges” the city’s school system faces.

At the annual “state of the schools” address, Anna Trevorrow recalled the “long and challenging” FY 2019 budget process that took place earlier this year, during which it became clear that Portland Public schools will most likely continue to face reductions in state funding.

In June, Portland voters approved the City Council’s budget of $110.6 million, which was a reduction of $3 million from Portland school superintendent Xavi-er Botana's initial request.

According to Trevorrow, those cuts resulted in a reduction in student attendance by two days, fewer electives in middle schools, reduc-tion in pay for some staff, and a reduction of more than $1 million in administrative sup-port.

To prepare for future budget processes, Portland Public schools launched a new en-rollment and Facility study last month, in an effort to gather information before potentially having to make any more cuts or consolidation for the sake of “efficiency.”

In light of these budget woes, Trevorrow stressed the need for public investment in the cities school system, which serves nearly 6,800

students in pre-k through 12th grade, and 4,000 adult education students.

“we must figure out how to not only support our current level of education but to improve it, while at the same time be-

ing cognizant of Portland taxpayers,” said Trevorrow. “The message from our com-munity is consistent and clear: Portlanders want good schools and are willing to invest in them.”

Trevorrow also encour-aged City Council to engage in a conversation about adopting a universal pre-k program, arguing that it would help Portland Public schools reach their five-year equity target of a 50-per-cent reduction in academic achievement and opportu-nity gaps. According to Trev-

orrow, data from the city’s schools show that financially disadvantaged students continue to not have “positive outcomes” in the system and universal pre-k program could boost per-formance.

“we still have a gap in achievement for students of color and those who are learning to speak english,” she said. “That gap is stark and standardized test score results released just today evidence no measurable improve-ment. It is essential that we invest strategi-cally to improve student outcomes to make progress toward realizing our equity goal. one of the ways we can do that is through universal pre-kindergarten.”

Maine regulators are not going to make a decision on Central Maine Power’s

controversial power line project this year as originally planned.

on Monday, the Maine Department of environmental Protection notified CMP that its application to build a 145-mile long trans-mission line through the state is still “insuf-ficient” and “incomplete,” pushing back the review and public comment of the project into next year.

In a letter to CMP, regional licensing and compliance manager for the DeP James Bey-er wrote that they need more information about the project’s impact on “scenic resourc-es,” and the people who use those resources. Beyer also asked for more information about the size and population of the invasive buck-thorn plant and how CMP plans to clear the plant from the proposed corridor.

This is the second time in recent months that CMP has failed to provide the necessary information to review their project, and because of it, the Maine Public utilities Com-mission won’t be able to conduct a full review of the project until March 2019. This pushes the timeline for the first public hearings on the issue into next year as well.

CMP applied for permits earlier this year to build an electrical transmission line from Quebec to lewiston and eventually on to Massachusetts in order to deliver hydro-power to their customers there. The project would cost $950 million and install 53 miles of lines with towers and about 15 miles of

designated roads through the scenic forest and mountains of western Maine.

several environmental groups, including the Natural resources Council of Maine, are opposed to the power line project, citing concerns that it could negatively impact the environment and wildlife, as well as tourism in an area known for its pristine wilderness. The line would also have to cross under the kennebec river gorge, which has some folks concerned about pollution and damage to fish habitats. opponents are also not con-vinced that the project will lower rates for Maine’s CMP customers, and say that they hope the PuC uses the extra time to thor-oughly evaluate the project’s impacts.

“CMP’s attempt to ram this flawed proj-ect through the state permitting process is backfiring as officials uncover missing information about the project’s real impacts on Maine,” said sue ely, a clean energy at-torney with the Natural resources Council of Maine. “The only way for Maine regulators to evaluate this project is for CMP to provide all of the required information to decision makers, something that CMP has so far failed to do. we are encouraged that the DeP is doing such a thorough review of CMP’s ap-plication.”

CMP could not be reached for comment, but in past press releases they have contended that their power line project will produce nearly $1 billion in economic benefits to Maine, and will adhere to state and federal environmental regulations.

Chairwoman of the Portland board of education aNNa trevorrow.

“We sTill have a gap in aChievemenT For sTudenTs oF Color and Those Who are learning To speak english,” TrevorroW said.

the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me | November 8, 2018 ColumNs | 5

urban CondiTional

Why Do Democrats Lose eLections?It may be by designB y Z ac k B a ro w i t Z

If there still is one widely held truism among professional campaign operatives it is that Democratic voters need more,

um, encouragement to get to the voting booth than their re-publican counterparts. while Democratic voters outnumber republicans, it is almost as if divine intervention has cursed the Dems with low-voter turnout in order to level the playing field. Thank you god for your infinite wisdom and fairness.

roughly half of the population does not bother to vote — ever. Among those that do, a sizable number need more than a little encouragement, but the nature of that encouragement varies tremendously between political parties. Demo-crats' get out the Vote (goTV) campaigns are complex field operations. republican field operations are much less elaborate. Increasingly, their goTV efforts come down to blowing dog whistles.

while the republican party leans on Cambridge Analytica to rile up hunters, gab followers, and the Fox News faithful, the Democrats' ground game relies upon Mcgovern-era de-mographic data collection. This method targets likely voters in blue-leaning precincts; unfortunately it ignores the majority of doors and leaves a lot of fruit on the trees. I’ve worked on cam-paigns around the Northeast. No matter where, the protocol is essentially the same.

A low-level staff person will cut a series of walksheets based on a set of targeted voters. Volunteers are given a “turf” map and lists of voters organized by street alphabetically. At first blush, this seems like a perfectly reasonable way to organize a walk list. But in the field the flaws become evident almost im-mediately. For starters, unless you are in the Back Bay section of Boston, most streets are not aligned in alphabetical order, so the list of streets are in the wrong order. were it just a matter of reordering the list, that might be a simple matter. however, it is not.

My recent walksheets — supplied by the Maine Democratic Party — separate the addresses by odd and even. Again at first thought that seems to make a lot of sense. hit the even num-bers when walking up and then the odd ones on the way back. however, if you have only three houses on a street (often the

case), it means that you are walking twice as much, impeding any geographical progress that you had hoped to make. hope-fully you’ll get to start at the low-numbered end because if not, you’ll need to work backward on the list in order to work forward. Aside from assuming that you'll always begin at the low-numbered end of the street, this organizational method as-sumes that you will not be walking around a block (which is, of

course, the way people walk) but if you do, you’ll be walking ten blocks to circle a block instead of four. Your fitbit will love you, but fitbits don’t vote.

every political cycle, I politely express these concerns to the people in charge and ask that they “send it up the food chain.”

Naturally they don’t. Canvas leaders are generally political campaign rookies, chosen for the job more for their esprit de corps than their experience. This raises the question why the sheets are so poorly designed in the first place. unlike Thomas Jefferson, few people in contemporary politics have much of a sense of space in any sort of architectural, design, or planning capability. were the lists devised by a team of human geogra-phers, cartographers and graphic designers, the results I daresay would be a lot more user-friendly.

But one shouldn't need a PhD in geographical survey sys-tems (or be a Fellow of the American Institute of Architecture) to design a better walk sheet. when I was a canvass director on an issue campaign in rural New York state, we organized turf in a way so that the routes were laid out in a logical path and the voter lists were placed in corresponding order. we also defied campaign hQ and hit every door. These little improvements added up to a big help. we blasted through our goals and the campaign was successful.

At recent campaign event for Janet Mills, I had a chance to finally send this message up the food chain myself. Tom Perez, the national DNC Chair, was speaking to a large group of vol-unteers. After a rousing speech, I approached Mr. Perez and told him that I’ve been asking for improvements to the physical and geographic design of walk sheets for years. The Chairman took a moment to hear me out. Then referred me down to a subordinate.

roughly halF oF The populaTion does noT boTher To voTe — ever. among Those ThaT do, a sizable number need more Than a liTTle enCouragemenT, buT The naTure oF ThaT enCouragemenT varies Tremendously beTWeen poliTiCal parTies.

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6 | ColumNs November 8, 2018 | the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me

above The laW

Jon GaLe’s sexUaL misconDUct aLLeGations sUrfaceD before PrimaryThe DA candidate’s decision to stay in the race robbed voters of a critical opportunityB y B r i a n s o n e n s t e i n

Despite being questioned about sexual miscon-

duct allegations before the June 12 primary election, Jon gale was determined to stay in the running for Cumberland County District Attorney.

As a result, voters will have no choice at all as his opponent, Jonathan sahrbeck, assumes one of the most powerful offices in the state without contest.

Maine Democratic Party Chair Phil Bartlett initially told reporters he learned of allegations just before news outlets reported them on october 29. But in a letter to his col-leagues, Bartlett conceded he actually first heard of them before the primary early June.

Those allegations were made in an anony-mous letter, which was written by someone who said they knew one of gale’s victims. It claimed gale had harassed and manipulated women and been the subject of a human resources investigation before leaving unum in 2004. The author wanted an investigation and thought gale should “explain the situa-tion instead of hide from it.”

The letter was sent to seth levy, one of gale’s primary opponents, who had shared his own story of being sexually abused during the campaign. levy immediately notified Bartlett, who confronted gale. gale denied the charges.

“I don’t know what the Democratic Party leadership did to investigate,” levy said in an interview with the Phoenix. “I didn’t have a lot of confidence they were aggressively pursuing it.”

so levy took the letter to the Bangor Daily News (BDN) and the Portland Press Herald, and asked them to investigate. But they de-clined to run a story at that time because the claims were second-hand and their source was anonymous.

“I didn’t want to sabotage anyone,” levy said. “That letter probably came to me because

I had been vocal about my experience and the importance of reaching out to victims. I not only had the personal sense that it was right to investigate, but I was reached out to by someone who thought this should be pur-sued. so I went to [reporters] and said I don’t know what’s here and it has to be investigated. whatever happens, happens.”

Bartlett did not ask gale to drop out after their conversation in June. he said he received no other information until one of gale’s for-mer colleagues at unumcontacted the party on october 27. The next day, that person met with Bartlett and katie Mae simpson, the party’s executive director. Bartlett said they then had a “lengthy conversation” with gale, who again denied wrongdoing.

Bartlett said that later that day, he was con-tacted by someone who identified as a victim, who provided a “detailed and compelling” account of gale’s conduct. Bartlett confirmed her employment at unum, contacted gale, and asked him to withdraw. But gale refused.

Meanwhile, the BDN was working on its own investigation and spoke with a number of people who worked with him at unum, in-cluding three women who identified as gale’s victims. reporters contacted Bartlett, who confirmed he had just asked gale to withdraw.

gale finally dropped out after BDN’s story ran that evening. he denied he victimized anyone but admitted to extramarital affairs. while declining specifics, he said he “did not imagine those past decisions could possibly result in this scenario.”

But they did. By putting his personal am-bitions above his obligation to be forthright with the community, gale robbed voters of a say in a competitive race — one that drew the passion and participation of so many people in the county. That decision squandered an important opportunity to reduce harm in a prosecutorial district that impacts more people than any other in the state.

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the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me | November 8, 2018 Feature | 7

whAT TheY leAVe BehINDPhotography and artifacts from the border illuminate the realities of migrant life

by F r a N C i s F l i s i u k

For over a decade, California-based artist Michael wells has been photographing

and archiving objects left behind by migrants crossing remote areas of the sonoran Desert while on their way to the u.s./Mexico border.

wells is part of the undocumented Mi-grant Project, a long-term scientific study spearheaded by university of Michigan an-thropology professor Jason De león, which seeks to use ethnography, archaeology and forensic science to transcend political talking points and better understand this clandestine social process. This project has been ongoing

since 2009, and involves the work of dozens of students and researchers from the Institute of Field research, an academic organization that connects students from around the world with archaeological projects. The project lives online in various forms — videos and photos on its main website, as well as at least seven academic papers in journals like American Anthropologist and International Migration, and one book titled the Land of Open Graves, all of which De león served as the head writer.

Together, the uMP’s collection of inter-views, videos, writing, and physical artifacts

partly seeks to show how the u.s. immigra-tion enforcement strategy known as Preven-tion Through Deterrence has failed to deter migration but succeeded in shifting migration patterns to more geographically hostile areas, often with deadly consequences. starting in 1990, the u.s. government massively in-creased security at popular border crossings and urban points of entry, a move which uMP and advocacy groups say altered migration patterns and contributed to the deaths of thou-sands of migrants in the desert due to dehydra-tion and exposure.

Although only a small part of the uMP’s ex-haustive catalog of media on this topic, wells’s photos can tell us quite a bit about the intense conditions migrants and asylum seekers face while attempting to reach the u.s.

some of these photos are on display at the ICA at MeCA as part of "Making Migra-tion Visible" exhibition at the ICA at MeCA through December 14. The exhibition is part of a larger effort of the same title, a consor-tium of many Maine-based artists, organiza-tions, and community groups to put on 70

Continue on P. 8

toP: jason de león + michael wells + lucy Cahill, Hostile Terrain, multimedia installation, 2018left: eric gottesman, Reinstallation of Rana’s Memory in Damage Caused by War, pigment print, 27” x 29”, 2007

7

8 | Feature November 8, 2018 | the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me

events on the subject of migration through-out the state.

Besides De león and wells (with whom lucy Cahill collaborates in the ICA exhibition), "Making Migration Visible" features the works of a number of diverse artists, many of whom have personal migration experiences. Those include Mohamad hafez, whose Desper-ate Cargo, a floating sculpture of an inflat-able capsized dinghy replicates the vessel that his brother-in-law had taken to leave Damascus. María Pa-tricia Tinajero trans-

forms paper pulp into objects of displacement like suitcases and blankets and edwige Charlot (MeCA ’10), a Portland artist of haitian heritage raised in France, fuses textile work with birch ply as an exploration of the chal-lenge of connecting to personal heritage after diaspora. with Portland virtual reality firm, artist Daniel Quintanilla makes an interactive film about immigrant life in Maine. Ahmed Alsoudani's paintings sublimate his memories of Iraq war into vividly colorful paintings. Yu-wen Yu's Leavings/Belongings collects a colorful bundle of cloth-wrapped items in a cluster in the center of the room, a reminder of migrants' pared-down travel necessities that, absent their owners, conjures a stark sense of separation. Caroline Bergvall, eric gottesman, romuald hazoumè, and ranu Mukherjee's works each bring unique scenes, materials, and perspectives.

After seeing "Making Migration Visible" in person, the Phoenix spoke on the phone with wells about his photography, the un-documented Migrant Project, and the current political discourse of migration.

What drew you to to work on the Un-documented Migration Project?

I was always interested in land use and how people use space. I was very fascinated with the landscape, and this section of [the sonoran] desert, that has been popular for mi-gration, and how it wasn’t quite being seen.

No picture you can take is neutral, but I try to make mine as neutral as possible. This project is about creating neutral data that people can look at and make informed deci-sions about what is happening in this space. It’s important to document mass migrations of any kind and we felt that wasn’t being done on the u.s./Mexico border. why wouldn’t you document this one?

What kinds of things have you been pho-tographing?

Initially, the artifacts found in the Arizona desert. All sorts of personal items — clothing, lots of shoes and toothbrushes, things anybody would carry with them on a long journey. The project looks at them through archaeological means to investigate how these migrations are happening over time.

And then there’s the bodies and the human remains.

You personally found human remains?Yeah, we found some remains of a person

who was unidentifiable. They were part of the 1,000 unidentified people found in the desert overall since 2000 [according to u.s. Border Patrol data], many of them in Arizona on u.s. soil. our field school also found a woman in 2010 and extradited her remains to ecuador.

Are you able to tell who is making these kinds of journeys based on the objects?

There’s all sorts of things you find, but it’s hard to say. If you find a small backpack, you can assume it’s a child’s backpack, but can you really say that? how long has it been there? If you find women’s stuff, or children’s stuff, or other gendered materials, we can make some kind of judgement about who these people are. Archaeological techniques can start to give you some information, but it’s tough to be completely concrete about it.

But we do know from other sources of in-formation that families are indeed making these crossings, right?

Definitely. we found women’s underwear, baby bottles, sanitary napkins, children’s toys. on a journey like this you wouldn’t carry things like this unless you needed them.

Continued from P. 8

michael wells, Migrant artifacts. sonora Desert, Arizona, photograph, 2010-2013

207.774.0465 www.portlandstage.org

Located in the Heart of the Arts District at 25A Forest Ave

When a Jewish-American war photographer feels compelled to assist a young refugee who steps in front of her camera, she calls an old friend to translate, but hesitates to reveal why she is so drawn to the boy. This poetic, decade-spanning drama explores how we each define and find our own malja (refuge)

Join Rush35 for a $15.00 ticketif you are age 35 or under!

8

the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me | November 8, 2018 Feature | 9

What do your photos show about the conditions these migrants face?

The pictures are showing the artifacts on the ground, but also the climates and the geography that people are moving through. They show what the desert is like and how harsh it can be.

Undocumented migration has happened for decades, but every once in a while the issue flares up as a political hot topic. What do you think about that?

As far as the political climate, I can’t keep up. I don’t hear it. There was a caravan last year. All I know is what’s happening on the ground. There are so many aspects to it; it’s such a complex issue — I’ve been observing it for 10 years and don’t even consider myself an expert so when people talk about it like they’re experts, I’m suspicious.

The topic comes up when politi-cians need a group to scapegoat. It’s easy to paint people who can’t defend themselves as the enemy. They are

easy targets. People will always say that the reason you don’t have your job is because of this other group.

Trump recently responded to the lat-est migrant caravan, urging those in it to turn around and go back where they came from. Is that even feasible for these migrants?

well, they can go back and die. I’ve talked to several people coming from honduras and Central America. one woman I’ll al-ways remember, she had been shot in the face and survived. she was trying to get to the border and request asylum because this gang in her town was after her. her family was dead. I don’t understand what more she needs to happen to her for her to be con-sidered an asylum seeker. Not all of these migrants are simply economic migrants. In a lot of cases, it’s a lot worse.

Trump also said he’s sending some 5,000 troops to the border to counter the migrant caravan. Do you think that’s an appropriate response to this issue?

No. I don’t really understand it. I mean,

I get it — it’s a political statement. But it’s not like migrants weren't let in before. Are the troops going to come in and help with their asylum paperwork? Trump is trying to prove some kind of point, some kind of dog whistle to whoever is energized by these kind of statements.

What have you learned over these past 10 years on this project?

I live in California and I’ve realized that I live in a bubble. I’ve learned how angry people can be on this topic. I witnessed the rise of people using it as a political point. People are so angry about these people try-ing to find a better life. I’ve learned that migrants are coming from so many different places, not just from Mexico. It’s so much more complicated than that and there are so many reasons why people are leaving.

Nick Schroeder contributed reporting to this story.

"Making Migration Visible," mixed media

group exhibition | Through December 14 |

ICA at MECA, 522 Congress St, Portland |

www.meca.edu yu-wen wu, Currents, mixed media on duralar, 158” x 120”, 2018

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10 | daNCe Card November 8, 2018 | the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me

1. BETTER TO REIGN IN HELL

Do you ever wake up in a cold sweat, having had a nightmare about the fall of mankind in which a horrible villain from the depths of hell ascends to a seat of absolute power and corrupts the entire world through misogyny, fear mongering and an insatiable lust for supremacy? You might as well be dreaming about America careening headlong into the midterms under a Trump white house, but you may very well be enjoying the psycho-logical remnants of having read John Milton’s PARADISE LOST, the original and ultimate epic about corruption and consequence. STAGE RAGE, a young experimental theater group, will bring Milton’s narrative poem to life at Mayo street Arts with a four-night run from Thursday to sunday. All local and eager to carve a fresh take out of the classic works they perform, stage rage’s productions embrace tragedy, satire and a biting relevance to current events.| Nov 8-11 | Thu-Sat 7:30 pm, Sun 4 pm | Mayo Street Arts, 10 Mayo St, Portland | $15 | mayostreetarts.com

2. MAKE ME A PLATE

Food is a really great point of inflection for overcoming differences between cultures. everyone needs to eat at some point, and it can be easy to feel the love put into a meal when it makes you feel comforted and satis-fied — feeding someone is an act of caring.

Business accelerator nonprofit ProPel is hosting their second TASTE THE WORLD event at Fork Food lab on Thursday night, at which attendees can try traditional dishes from new Mainers and enjoy conversation and community. The event’s proceeds to go to Propel’s New Mainer Culinary entrepreneur scholarship, which provides funding for new-comer recipients to begin and sustain their food-based businesses. | Nov 8 | Thu 5:30 pm | Fork Food Lab, 72 Parris St, Portland | $15 | All Ages | propelportland.org

3. I’M THE PRIZE IN YOUR CRACKERJACK

rap Night is a Portland institution that man-aged to make the leap from the Asylum to its current incarnation Aura relatively intact. For 11 years now, they’ve hosted the annual RUCKUS CUP, the longest-running free-style MC battle in New england. This year, Ill by Instinct and DJ Myth host the open-forum cypher, at which dozens of MCs sign up on the night of the event to compete for $1000 and, of course, bragging rights — this is hip hop after all, there has to be some beef and competition to give it that classic vibe of self-aggrandizement through lyrical narra-tive. rappers can sign up to compete between 8 and 9 pm, and the show will also feature sets from New england hip hop artists, DJs, break dancers and street artists. | Nov 9 | Fri 8 pm | Aura, 121 Center St, Portland | $15 | 18+ | auramaine.com

Dance Card13 Things to Do This Week

by v i Cto r i a k a r o l

Continue on P. 12 5. festival of the uNKNowN Nov 10-18 | Fri-sat 7 pm, sun 3 pm | First Parish Church | $15

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12 | daNCe Card November 8, 2018 | the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me

4. DON’T STAND THERE WATCHING, FOLLOW ME

It seems like our culture will forever have an ostensible civil war boiling over those who don’t conform to the crusty old rules the white Christian patriarchy has set up. some people really, really hate anyone who hasn’t lived their lives exactly as they would choose to live, and while the violence and eco-nomic oppression that marginalized groups experience has to end, there is a tiny silver lining: people who are othered will always find a way to create, build community, and fight against the pressures against them in the best way they know how. To wit, The CIRCUS HAUS offers an lgBTQIA+ donation-based movement class every second Friday in their safer space created specifically to serve the queer community. Attendees will learn varying techniques from partner acroyoga, aerial arts, physical comedy, dance or a number of other circus arts disciplines. The fee of $10 is a suggested donation (and cheap for a 90-minute class) but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. | Nov 9 | Fri 6 pm | The Circus Haus, 40 Main St, Biddeford | $10 | 18+ | thecircushaus.com

5. GO DEEPER

FESTIVAL OF THE UNKNOWN, a show comprised of four short(er) experimental theater pieces, makes its debut satur-day in the basement of the First Parish Church, a space that festival organizers “transformed” to accommodate these four new original works of undefinable theater. (The air of mystery about this thing probably isn’t harmed by having to access the basement from an alleyway on the side of the building.) The performances include works from 60 grit Theatre Company, Bare Portland, 2 sheets Theater Company and solo performer Courtney Pomerleau. walking the line between immersive and traditional theater, the space is cozy and seating is limited, so tickets in advance are recommended. | Nov 10-18 | Fri-Sat 7 pm, Sun 3 pm | First Parish Church, 425 Congress St, Port-land | $15 | 60grit.org

6. HAVE A BALL JUST WAITING IN THE PARLOR

The dark vaudeville crew DARK FOLLIES often performs street theater-style variety shows in Post office square on First Friday, and in the winter you can find them in various small theaters throughout southern Maine. Dance, music, comedy, theater and experimental performance characterize the troupe’s offerings, and now that the days are getting shorter and our seasonal affective disorders are getting more all-encompassing, the group will offer an intimate PARLOR SHOW to ease our sorrows. A spooky cabaret that explores the shadow sides of life, the show is adults only and demands your focused atten-tion — seating is limited to 30 people and once doors close at 8, no one comes in or out. whether this is intense or intriguing is entirely in the eye of the beholder. | Nov 10 | Sat 7 pm | Flourish-Arts as Sacred Healing, 140 Main St, Biddeford | $15 | 21+ | darkfollies.com

Continued from P. 10

8. shooter JeNNiNgs Nov 11 | sun 8 pm | Port City music hall | $25 | 18+

7. EAST SIDE, BEAST SIDE

when will we reach critical mass when it comes to breweries in Maine? Consumption as culture is not a new phenomenon by any means — one need only look to the wine snobbery craze that gripped post-depression boomers in the ‘70s and ‘80s to see that we love our booze in this country. knowledge of what makes a good beer makes us feel like we’re in a club with a certain set of barriers to entry (in this case, probably drink-ing a lot of beer, but what do I know, I like those boozy fruity seltzer drinks). BUNKER BREWING, however, has always been at the forefront of coolness and ‘the scene,’ occupying the vacuum left when the Bissell Brothers sold out to the tourists and moved up to Thompson’s Point — someone has to carry the west side torch alongside oxbow’s east side reign of power. They celebrate their 6.7 year anniversary with the release of a 6.7 percent alcohol brew, debuting to the sweet sounds of hi Duke and Mosart212, and complemented with food offered up by Mr. Tuna. Close out Portland Beer week with this celebra-tion of one of the best breweries in town. | Nov 10 | Sat 5 pm | Bunker Brewing, 17 Westfield St, Portland | Free | 21+ | bunkerbrewingco.com

8. AND THEN THE RADIO GOES DEAD

Back in ‘the day,’ as the insolent Twitter youth might say, out-law country as a genre was about breaking the law, breaking the hearts of good women who could handle their whiskey, and of course being a rambler and, perhaps, a gambler, kenny

rogers’s own hot cheeseball take on the latter notwithstanding. SHOOTER JENNINGS, the musical son of country legends waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, has upped the ante on what outlaw country means today. his prophetic 2009 album Black Ribbons predicted an authoritarian dystopia in which our coun-try struggles under a regime of fascism — you don’t see a lot of that kind of content in country music today, and excuse us if it offends you to say that Jennings might be one of the last tolerable mainstream country artists in the sea of conservative, white-centric pablum that characterizes the genre as it stands today. he’s a real hoot as a performer too, though, bringing his dad’s swagger and ego-as-belt-buckle style to the stage. Mary-land country artist JOSH MORNINGSTAR and Portlander JOEL THETFORD open, which makes us love Jennings even more for supporting local artists on his tours. | Nov 11 | Sun 8 pm | Port City Music Hall, 504 Congress St, Portland | $25 | 18+ | portcitymusichall.com

9. THERE’S HONOR IN LOSS

I’m the last person who would ever suggest that someone attend a church service, but there are times when it seems like the good and right thing to do. For those of us who have lost someone, the holidays can be particularly hard. Many of us stress ourselves out feigning joy or isolate ourselves to shield our raw, grieving emotional states from the pressures of the family-oriented win-ter holidays. even the zeitgeist-y grief of the current administra-tion and the state of world affairs can be tougher at this time of year. every second sunday, the PORTLAND NEW CHURCH offers a service geared toward offering support for those who are grieving during the holidays, and their interfaith practices can be appealing for those who feel repelled by a dogmatic spiritual practice. song, fellowship and the presence of others to whom you don’t feel beholden to “act cheerful” can be a huge help in navigating these dark days. | Nov 11 | Sun 11:30 am | Portland New Church, 302 Stevens Ave, Portland | Free | All Ages | theportlandnewchurch.com

10. TRAAAAIIIIINNNNNNNNN!!!!

Notorious for being the film that ended up throwing a monkey wrench into Buster keaton’s formerly burgeoning career, THE GENERAL didn’t make back its budget when it was released in 1926 and cost keaton some creative freedom in his studio contract. Now considered a masterpiece of physical comedy and silent film, keaton’s story of an outcast train engineer embroiled in the throes of the Civil war has entertained millions over the years with its legendarily dangerous stunts (that he’d perform himself) and its iconic crash scene. keaton is seen as the origi-nal master of modern physical comedy, and anyone pursuing performance should take notes when watching him scramble, galumph and meander his remarkably expressive face and body through the film. screening at st. lawrence Arts on Monday, the film will be accompanied by live piano music from Carolyn swartz, and is brought to the screen via Portland underground film collective kinonik. | Nov 12 | Mon 7 pm | St. Lawrence Arts, 76 Congress St, Portland | $8 | All Ages | kinonik.org

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the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me | November 8, 2018 daNCe Card | 13

11. WELCOME TO THUNDERDOME

THE GREAT OPEN MIC CHALLENGE is wrapping its 2018 season with a grande finale show that pits the ten winners of the previous weeks’ challenges against each other for industry-sav-vy prizes like a day of recording at Acadia recording Company, a song on wBlM’s Greetings from Area Code 207, or $100 to spend at Buckdancer’s Choice. empire’s comedy nights, along with this often-packed Monday night, has helped characterize the typically-musical club’s bread and butter in recent months. In its second year, the great open Mic Challenge manages to bring serious new musicians out of the woodwork to compete for more than just your languid, half-bored claps, which gives the event a vitality that feels special in this cynical musical climate. As is the routine, comedy open mic will begin immediately after the show at 9:30pm. | Nov 12 | Mon 6 pm | Empire, 575 Con-gress St, Portland | Free | 21+ | venue.portlandempire.com

12. UNA CHICA CHIDA

Fresh from the other Portland (you know, the Portland that only has river ports, those big losers, like, figure it out and get an ocean already), Y LA BAMBA (luz elena Mendoza) will descend upon the superior Portland (yeah, you heard me) with her arsenal of melodic, latin strings-infused indie rock sung in both english and spanish. lauded for her unique and powerful voice and narrative folk songs that explore her Mexican-Amer-

ican roots, Mendoza also effortlessly embraces the notoriously quirky vibe of her current city, sporting the purple hair, pierc-ings, tattoos and vintage dresses Portlandia has taught us all to roll our eyes at, but that feel genuine on the striking artist with that theatrical, vintage vibrato. Joining her will be local scene newcomers DEAD GOWNS and beloved local weirdo crooner VINNY MOUSA. | Nov 13 | Tue 8 pm | SPACE Gallery, 538 Congress St, Portland | $12 | 18+ | space538.org

13. WRITE DRUNK, EDIT SOBER

whether it’s an actual trend or simply wishful thinking, a lot of media outlets have been giving attention to the idea that print media is making somewhat of a comeback. while the internet might have killed the long-form journalism star, books seem to be enjoying a certain tenacity as humanity makes a slow swing back toward a desire for tangible objects and a certain slowness. PrINT: A BooksTore summons all budding writers to their “HOW AN IDEA BECOMES A BOOK” workshop, during which a panel of industry experts talk shop and answer ques-tions about how to get your life’s works published, and beyond that, how to get a job in publishing. Cosponsored by nonprofit young peoples’ literacy project The Telling room, the workshop will also feature some of the organization’s young alumni. | Nov 14 | Wed 5:30 pm | PRINT: A Bookstore, 273 Congress St, Portland | Free | All Ages | printbookstore.com

12. y la bamba Nov 13 | tue 8 pm | sPaCe gallery, Portland | $12 | 18+

Tickets available at

PortlandHouseOfMusic.com

25 TEMPLE STREET

Monday Nights Versificator - Electro Funk Dance Party

Thursday Nov. 8 Fourth Annual Beer Week

Battle of the Brewery BandsFriday Nov. 9

7th Annual Winter Kids License to Chill

Saturday Nov. 10 Strange Machines w/ Skosh

Sunday Nov. 11 Evanoff w/ Harry JayTuesday Nov. 13

A Company of Girls Empow(her) 2018Wednesday Nov. 14

Marilyn Melons present Tits and Giggles

Thursday Nov. 15 Carolyn Cotter and Jenny Van West

Friday Nov. 16 94.3 WCYY presents Xander Nelson

CD Release

Saturday Nov. 17 SLAPsgiving, The Return of The

SLAP presented by Superhero Lady Armwrestlers of Portland

Sunday Nov. 18 The Weight featuring members of The

Band and The Levon Helm BandWednesday Nov. 21

Maine Dead Project and Hollowell friends presents The Last Waltz

Friday Nov. 23 Model Airplane (Night 1)

Saturday Nov. 24 Model Airplane (Night 2)

Thursday Nov. 29 Hayley Jane & The Primates

Friday Nov. 30 The Shakes, The Boneheads,

Patchen and FriendsSaturday Dec. 1

Raging Brass w/ El Malo

13

The best way to start your day—in print, online

and mobile!

www.portlandphoenix.me

14 | musiC November 8, 2018 | the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me

MAKE MINE MAMMOThenigmatic three-piece Bully Mammoth drop a great album’s worth of ePsby N i C k s C h r o e d e r

The three-piece Bully Mammoth have been one of Portland's more mercurial rock acts

for years now, hurtling between noise, cathar-tic drone, fuzzed-out college rock, and weird freakouts weaving in and out of pop conven-tions. Amassing several years’ recording out-put, including last year’s ambitious noise-rock odyssey Let It Bully, the group have been a wild ride. But most wild rides slow down, and this one has gotten better as it has.

over two ePs of seven total tracks released this summer (the band’s fifth and sixth ePs in total — they’re fans of the format), Bully Mammoth have crossed some sort of thresh-old. Is it accessibility? Maybe. sam rich, kevin McPheee, and Derek gierhan have been interesting since the beginning, but their music has occasionally seemed like the sort of band that comes with a caveat. You’ll mostly like them. here, they’re much more cohesive, fus-

ing those discrete elements into a sound that listeners will find a lot more accessible, but re-tains the energy and experimentalism they’ve shown before.

They're also a vibe band, that vibe be-ing consistently dark, moody, and driving. (It's not Daydream Nation territory, but it's ballpark.) EP6's "Frost heave" invokes The National’s early works — not the dad-rock of late, but the discordantly melodic anthems from 15 years ago. Matt Berninger's trademark sing-speak mumble has always been one of the more inexplicably satisfying vocals in indie-rock, and here, singer sam rich's vocals are in the same vein, never straying outside the pocket of the song, an introvert's dream, while the lumbering rhythms and heart-scraping melodies pile up around him.

while song ideas are smoothed out, the forms the band present them in are still off-kil-

ter. EP5 opens with "loose Tooth," a nine-and-a-half minute journey that sounds like a sev-eral fuzzed-out, high-compression post-punk burners collapsed into an orchestral post-rock epic. later, the 18-minute moodboard "Cali-fornia king" is a now-trademark cathartic epic (like Let It Bully's nine-minute "Couch").

As he does with many of their tracks, gi-erhan's percussion allows the emotional fold of "salty" to open up. his skittering rhythm provides ballast between rich and McPhee’s tension and spaciousness, letting the song tumble out as a seasick loner dirge. rich's halt-ing, often whispered vocals feel like they live somewhere inside the psyche of the listener rather than transmitted by a songwriter — a haunting effect. his vocals often follow the rhythmic patterns of his guitar, occasionally making it difficult to get inside his lyrics, but here he sounds closer to the listener than ever.

For my money and time, EP6 is where Bully

Mammoth hit their stride — three songs at

six minutes apiece, each textured and huge.

while guitar solos and squalls on previous ef-

forts sometimes pulled the listener from the

songs’ emotional content, here it drives it. on

opener "sugar of lead," a slide guitar becomes

song's main engine, coasting for a ecstatically

downward six-and-a-half minutes. Both subse-

quent tracks carry the torch forward, the most

cohesive and satisfying of Bully Mammoth's

standalone releases.

Taken together, these two ePs constitute a

54-minute album, more accessible and engag-

ing without sacrificing mystery. They may not

be as loud, but they’re no less huge.

EP5 + EP6 | by Bully Mammoth | https://bully-mammoth.bandcamp.com

18 | musiC listiNgs November 8, 2018 | the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me

moNday 12

greater PortlaNd

blue | 650a Congress st | ga-dadu | 6pm

byrNes’ irish Pub | 38 Centre st. bath | live music: irish ses-sion | 7pm

emPire | 575 Congress st | “the great open mic” | 6pm

fl atbread | 72 Commer-c ia l s t . , Por t land | Chad haynes | 6 pm

oceaNview at falmouth | 3 marrion way Falmouth | op-era maine Presents jorell wil-liams in Concert at oceanview | 2pm | Free

old Port taverN | 10 moult-on st | karaoke with dj marc beatham | 9pm

PePPerell ceNter | 40 main st., 2nd Floor biddeford | begin-ner swing dance Classes | 6pm | $10 - $12

maiNe + beyoNd

o’reillys cure | 264 u.s. rt. 1, scarborough | irish session music | 6 pm | Free

west eNd studio theatre | 959 islington st., Portsmouth | a Few seconds with our Fathers & mothers: songs & stories of wwi | 2 pm | $20

tuesday 13

greater PortlaNd

corthell coNcert hall | university of southern maine, 37 College ave gorham | vocal jazz ensemble taylor o’donnell director | 7:30pm

curtis memorial library | 23 Pleasant st brunswick | mid-coast senior College presents the daPonte string Quartet | 12:15pm | Free

emPire | 575 Congress st | it lives, it breathes + awake at last | 8:30pm | $10 - $12

first Parish church | 425 Congress street | Portland maine weekly sacred harp sing-ing | 7pm

first Parish uu church | 425 Congress st | Portland maine weekly sacred harp sing-ing | 7pm | Free

freePort commuNity li-brary | 10 library dr Freeport | is story time!! | 10:30am

gritty mcduff’s - Port-laNd | 396 Fore street | travis james humphrey | 9pm | Free

local 188 | 685 Congress st | Nightshades | 10pm | Free

mechaNics hall ball-room | 519 Congress street | beginning swing dance Classes w/ Portland swing Project | 6pm

merrill auditorium | 20 myrtle st. | mozart with kahane | 7:30pm | $24-80


oliN arts ceNter | 75 russell street lewiston | olin Concert series: the bad Plus | 7:30pm

PortlaNd house of music aNd eveNts | 25 temple st., Portland | a Company of girls: empow{h}er 2018 | 5:30 pm | $25

sPace gallery | 538 Con-gress st | y la bamba with dead gowns and mousa | 8pm | $10 - $12

sea dog brewiNg comPaNy | 125 western ave south Port-land | weekly tuesday open mic night at the sea dog brewery in soPo | 8pm | Free

maiNe + beyoNd

maiNe arts academy | 8 goldenrod ln., sidney | raja rah-man in Concert | 6:30 pm | $10

school of music at the uNiversity of southerN maiNe | Corthell hall, gorham | vocal jazz ensemble, taylor o’donnell, director | 7:30 pm | $8

wedNesday 14

greater PortlaNd

aura | 121 Center st | “rap Night,” with ill by instinct & el shupacabra | 9pm

beNJamiN mays ceNter | 95 russell street lewiston | bates gamelan, featuring darsono | 7:30pm

blue | 650a Congress st | irish session | 9pm

blue | 650a Congress st | the shank Painters | 5pm

bull feeNey’s | 375 Fore st | dave rowe | 8pm | Free

emPire | 575 Congress st | gen-tle temper + emily & jake + ju-niper ginger | 8:30pm | $10 - $12

froNtier theater | 14 maine st. mill 3 Fort andross brunswick | the richard Nelson imaginary ensemble | 7:30pm | Free

merrill auditorium | 20 myrtle street | usm youth en-sembles Fall instrumental Con-cert | 7pm

state theatre | 609 Con-gress st., Portland | a drag Queen Christmas, the Naughty tour | 8 pm | $50


oxbow bleNdiNg aNd bot-tliNg | live music wednesdays: treason Quartet | 6:30 pm | Free

sPriNg PoiNt taverN | 175 benjamin Pickett st., south Portland | karaoke Night | 8:30 pm | Free

Port city music hall | 504 Congress st | keller williams Petty grass Featuring the hill-benders | 9pm | $26

the dogfish comPaNy | 128 Free st | acoustic open mic | 7pm

willows Pizza restau-raNt | 740 broadway south Portland | seth holbrook & jim Ciampi | 6pm | Free

yarmouth history ceNter | 118 east elm st yarmouth | english Country dancing | 6pm

maiNe + beyoNd

farNsworth arts museum | 16 museum st., rockland | or-lando Cela, flute and george lo-pez, piano | 12 pm | $10

o’reily’s cure | 264 rte 1, scarborough | don Campbell | 6 pm | Free

the Press room | 77 daniel st., Portsmouth | the bad Plus | 8 pm | $35

the frog aNd turtle | 3 bridge st., westbrook | matt brunner & Friends | 7 pm | Free

thursday 15

greater PortlaNd

aura | 121 Center street | red sun rising w/ spirit animal and Five of the eyes | 8pm | $15

aura | 121 Center st | “retro Night,” with dj jon | 9pm | Free

b.good | 15 exchange st | open mic night | 7pm | Free

blue | 650a Congress st | happy hour with rexy dinosaur | 5pm

byrNes’ irish Pub | 38 Centre st. bath | open mic Night | 6pm

emPire | 575 Congress st | will evans & rising tide + Pete miller | 8:30pm | $15 - $18

first Parish church | 425 Congress street | Portland Con-servatory of music Presents: the Noonday Concert series | 12:15pm | Free

flatbread | 72 Commercial st., Portland | the grassholes | 6:30 pm | Free

gather | 189 main st yarmouth | acoustic wednesdays | 5pm

gritty mcduff’s - Port-laNd | 396 Fore street | a band beyond description [grateful dead tribute] | 9pm | Free

geNo’s rocK club | 625 Con-gress st., Portland | microwaves, Cuse me, kicking dirt (ex-Color hex) | 8:30 pm | $8

maiNe ballroom daNce | 519 Congress street | thursday Night swing dance w/ Portland swing Project | 7pm | $8 - $10


Pizza time | 185 u.s. rte 1 scarborough | open mic | 9pm | Free

Port city music hall | 504 Congress st | the weeks | 8pm | $12

PortlaNd house of mu-sic aNd eveNts | 25 temple st., Portland | Caroline Cotter + jenny van west | 7 pm | $15

PortlaNd Public library | 5 monument square | Poetry reading & performance by kifah abdullah, emma Flores & devin Colella | 6:30pm

PortlaNd Public library | 5 monument sq., Portland | Noonday Concert series, scheckmate | 12 pm | Free

rivertoN braNch | 1600 For-est avenue | Noonday Concert series - scheckmate | 12pm

sPace gallery | 538 Con-gress st | searching for home (with Portland Chamber music Festival) | 7:30pm | $13 - $18

sPriNg PoiNt taverN | 175 benjamin w. Pickett st. south Portland | open mic | 7:30pm | Free

state theatre | 609 Con-gress st | dark star orchestra | 8pm | $30

the dogfish comPaNy | 128 Free st | american chop suey | 8pm

the thirsty Pig | 37 ex-change st., Portland | brooke binion (theworst) w/ olive | 7 pm | Free

the Porthole restauraNt & Pub | 20 Custom house wharf | Quiet riot act | 6pm

willows Pizza restau-raNt | 740 broadway south Portland | open mic | 7pm | Free

woodfords church | 202 woodford street | girl singers of maine auditions | 3pm | Free

maiNe + beyoNd

stoNe mouNtaiN arts ceNter | 695 dugway rd., brownfield | shawn mullins | 8 pm | $30

18

the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me | November 8, 2018 Film | 19

Bisbee, Arizona is a haunted city. once a prosperous copper mining region, the

community of 6,000 a few miles from the Mexico border has lived for generations with the memory of one of the greatest humanitar-ian abuses in u.s. history occurring on its soil.

Bisbee ‘17, a remarkable documentary by robert greene screening this week at sPACe, tells the ghost story coursing through the city’s history. Taking place a hundred years ago, greene brings the story much closer at hand, blurring the boundaries of documentary film with practices of historical re-enactment, psy-chodrama, cosplay, and group therapy.

During a copper boom in Arizona around world war I, wealthy mining companies es-sentially ran Bisbee, reaping incredible profits. unions were strong — stronger than today anyway — but company power was stronger, emboldened by the justifications afforded by the war effort. In the summer of 1917, wages paid to Bisbee’s copper miners had stagnated, while inflation tied to the war had increased the cost of living. Meanwhile, working condi-tions were becoming increasingly more dan-gerous with ramped-up production demands.

with the guidance of the International work-ers of the world (I.w.w.), who’d been particu-larly helpful to Bisbee’s lower-wage workers (disproportionately immigrants of Mexican and southern european descent), the miners of Bis-bee organized. They wanted a flat wage system to replace sliding sales tied to the copper market, and an end to discrimination against members of labor organizations and the unequal treatment of foreign and minority workers.

The company refused. By June 27, nearly 1,200 workers — roughly half of the workforce of Bisbee — went on strike.

The mining company’s response was un-conscionable. overnight, Bisbee’s sheriff (with the help of the mining company owners and

other business tycoons) rallied pro-company stockholders and deputized its citizens to form a militia of roughly 2,000 men. The next morn-ing, they rounded up the striking workers from their beds, corralled them in a baseball field and demanded they abandon the strike. some did,

but the rest — more than 1,100 citizens — were put onto boxcars and shipped 150 miles into the New Mexico desert where they were aban-doned and left to die, never allowed to return.

robert greene, a professor at the university of Missouri (whose wife’s family has ties to Bisbee), often takes what might be called an activist approach to documentary filmmaking. his prior films are sprinkled with rulebreak (Actress, Kate Plays Christine, Fake It So Real, Kati With an I), occasionally deploying nar-rative elements and staged events. The tactic is useful here — at the beginning of the film, Bisbee’s residents gather in public settings to discuss the city’s uneasy history in ambivalent, anxious tones in public settings.

This feels demonstrably insufficient, so greene probes the story deeper, scripting, cast-ing, and staging a re-enactment of the morn-ing of the deportation and rousing hundreds of Bisbee residents to participate.

As with his earlier films, greene is less con-

cerned here with rigorously documentating an event or personality. he’s more interested in the transformational shift within them, or the nebulous interior space between authenticity and performance. In prior films, where his subject’s been a single individual, that’s had mixed results, but it’s a brilliant tool to explore the anxious group dynamics of Bisbee’s cul-tural memory.

As many residents can trace their family lineage to foremen or upper-managers of the former mining company, the opinions of Bisbee’s citizens skew apologist. (recall that the descendants of the victims of the Bisbee Deportation are essentially absent). The film captures this tension incredibly well, weaving

candid interviews, a narrativized surrogate for the workers’ resistance (played by the young Fernando serrano, whose arc begins apoliti-cally), and varyingly awkward portraits of citizen-actors preparing for their roles. when they don’t speak to their allegiances, biases,

and collective grief, we see them play out in the gestures of their re-enactments.

“Cities that are haunted…seem to straddle past and present, as though two versions of the city are overlaid on top of each other,” flashes an epigram at the beginning of the film. It’s a chilling sensation to see people attempt the task of dramatizing the same abuses against its neighbors as their ancestors did. screening in another of the most aggressively politicized anti-immigrant and anti-worker moments in American history, it’s not difficult to see Bis-bee’s sad story as an allegory for our own.

Bisbee ‘17 | Nov 14 | Wed 7 pm | SPACE, 538

Congress St, Portland | $8 | www.space538.org

ferNaNdo serraNo iN BisBee ‘17 (dir: robert greeNe)

the Past isn’t throUGh With UsDocumentary film Bisbee ‘17 tells haunting tale of labor abuse and group therapy at the borderby N i C k s C h r o e d e r

Film

20 | theater November 8, 2018 | the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me

Charlie (Burke Brimmer) is a shut-in, weighs 600

pounds, and is dying. his one friend, liz (Amanda eaton), a nurse, enables his obesity even as she tries to save him.

And his only other contact with the outside world is through the lessons he broadcasts out (sans camera) to his online writing students. But just as Charlie’s prognosis worsens, his life suddenly intersects with a random young Mormon (gus larou) and his own estranged teenage daughter, ellie (ella Briman). every-one is contending with a loss, pain, or sense of not belonging, in samuel D. hunter’s The Whale, an odd and poignant dark-comic drama on stage now at Mad horse, directed by Christine louise Marshall.

Charlie’s bulk is literally center stage for much of the show; Brimmer wears it as a huge, shocking, cushiony prosthesis, darkened with grease stains on the legs (a fine, cringe-worthy touch). within this body, Charlie barely moves. he sits, eats, and teaches in a living room that’s squalid and haunted: cans and food wrappers litter the floor, and on the putty-colored walls float the white ghosts of where photographs once hung.

Just getting through two hours under the lights in such a getup must be challenge enough, and the nuance of Brimmer’s physi-cal work is stupendous. he physicalizes the largely immobile Charlie’s wide range of feel-ing almost entirely in his eyes: reacting to eaton’s (excellent) brash, foul-mouthed liz, Charlie rolls his eyes around in a sort of ironic “ok, ok.” when elder Thomas asks if he wants to hear about the word, Charlie’s eyes dart from side to side and up, as if in calculation, before he responds. And as he tries to keep a conversation going with unreceptive ellie, his eyes flit upward again and again, like a little lapping wave, as if gently nudging her along. when Charlie does move his body, Brimmer takes pains to show us how monumental are the weight and the effort, shaking violently as he pulls himself off the couch to his walker, staggering his way across the room with excru-ciating slowness.

Charlie endures it all with a gracious ac-ceptance, as if he has long since internalized his self-loathing and the sight he knows he makes — a sight that others insult with breath-taking directness. eaton’s strident liz veers wildly in her moods: from giddiness, as she brings him some new medical panacea; to her

rage at his rapid decline, calling him a “fat fuck” and “worthless”; and finally to her own self-loathing for having said it. eaton makes heartbreakingly clear that liz’s cruelties are a demonstration of her need, her desperation to save a friend who is refusing to save himself.

unlike liz, ellie is coolly, deliberately cruel to Charlie, and Briman is spot-on with the teenager’s flat, derisive affect, the “fuck”-inflected disdain and level, deadly gaze. “Just being around you is disgusting” is the least of what she says to her father. she’s a jerk to everyone else, too. she first opens the door to elder Thomas with a blunt, scornful “what,” then constantly goads the teenage Mormon, whose animated movements and enthusiasms, in larou’s hands, contrast well against bored ellie. her fuck-off lines become a little relent-less, but Briman manages to convey how with each truth she shares, however reluctantly, she is a little more present in the room.

As The Whale tracks Charlie’s health and relationships, the plot also hangs interest-ingly on the significance of a certain student essay about Moby Dick; we hear fragments of it reverently recited by Charlie. The equanim-ity it inspires in him, as he receives everyone’s strife, hurt, and ugliness, is nearly mystical,

almost saint-like. And his unearthly stoicism makes all the more poignant his rare moments of physical intimacy. In a quiet, remarkable scene, his estranged ex-wife Mary (Amy Tor-rey, in a strong and exceptionally well-modu-lated performance) rests her head on Charlie’s stomach — at first gingerly, but then relaxing, relenting her body into closeness with his. It is the most acute physical tenderness we see on-stage, and they hold the moment as if they’ve been desperately thirsting for it.

And what are we to make of the mar-tyrdom Charlie is heading toward with the monomania of a certain whaling captain? The plot’s revelations (and whale allusions) are sometimes intriguing, sometimes a little pat; its resolutions are both simple and ambigu-ous. But the show’s eye is unflinching and its empathy deep. This Mad horse production is a moving, sometimes harrowing meditation on both what we swallow and what we allow to swallow us.

The Whale | By Samuel D. Hunter; directed by Christine Louise Marshall | Mad Horse The-atre Company, 24 Mosher St, South Portland | Through November 18 | Thu-Sat 7:30 pm; Sun 2 pm | $23 ($20 seniors/students) | www.madhorse.com

the true size of LossMad horse summons the deep with moving and meditative ‘The whale’by m e g a N g r u m b l i N g

mary (amy torrey), elder thomas (gus larou), liz (amanda eaton) and Charlie (burke brimmer) Photos by craig robiNsoN

the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me | November 8, 2018 theater | 21

conjuring hoMeMaine playwright and company dazzle with ambitious ‘refuge *Malja* جلم’ at Portland stageby m e g a N g r u m b l i N g

when Jewish-American photojournal-ist Jamie (Brooke Parks) meets a

shoeless syrian boy on the island of lesvos, she feels compelled to shelter him. But she hasn’t thought through what to do next, and her compulsion to help the boy, waleed (local actors Mohammad Adam, hussein Al-Mshakheel, and Anwer Ali, in rotation), is complicated. seeking advice from a former lover, the journalist Ibrahim (Amro salama), Jamie revisits a history of relationships and choices. Moving back and forth in time, across continents, and between external and interior worlds, we follow Jamie’s reckonings with language, commitment, and home, in the lyrical Refuge * Malja * أجلم. written by local playwright and performer Bess welden, Refuge is the latest in Portland stage’s season of shows about borders and boundaries, and is on stage now, under the direction of New York City-based director kareem Fahmy.

Malja is the Arabic word for refuge, and welden brought in a translator, Ali Al-Mshakheel, to provide the play’s substantial Arabic dialogue — some with english trans-lation, much without. It’s one of several thoughtful choices that decenter us from a white American perspective. Images projected

on a large screen help us range geographically between greece and Israel, displaying now Ja-mie’s photographs of refugees, now the world holocaust remembrance Center, where she traces the fate of her grandfather. The stage itself presents a wide stretch of lesvos sand, vast and stark, punctuated by an iconic pile of orange life vests that never leaves the stage.

here, language is both a barrier and a bridge, as Jamie befriends waleed and as, in affectingly simple scenes, they photograph shoes and backpacks and their own heads, then teach each other the words for them. soon, waleed (played plainly and endearingly by hussein Al-Mshakheel last Friday) finds increasing pleasure and comfort in the game, and in Jamie.

Meanwhile, the narrative shifts back and forth in time, a bit relentlessly, reconstruct-ing Jamie’s relationship with Ibrahim. As a Princeton-educated Palestinian Israeli (who is dating a lapsed American Jew), Ibrahim lives in what he calls “gray areas” of identity, culture, and home, liminal spaces that the absolute-minded Jamie doesn’t understand and has had the privilege to not have to learn. sometimes the pair’s dialogue feels a little stock (“we’re not as young as we used to be,”

they lament earnestly), but their rapport is quirky and sensual, and the fine salama brings depth, agility, and humor to his portrayal of Ibrahim, a satisfyingly complex character. he is also a poet, and the verse welden writes for him, with its lines about olives brined in tears, is rich and evocative.

Jamie, who has run away from people in her life, is in some ways hard to know. In Parks’ hands, she is curious, proud, and restless; she resists being known, even as she seems to lament that she is misunderstood. These qualities keep us at some distance from our stakes in Jamie’s secrets, which we circle. Mothers are a strong motif of the play — waleed’s absent one, Ibrahim’s mute one, and her own sick one — around which Parks’ Jamie moves with visible tentativeness. Interestingly, she seems most forthcoming, self-aware, and happy as she tells Ibrahim about her “wolf” — a sort of imaginary advisor or conscience. This wolf is part of the show’s frequently expressionist imagery of dreams and percep-tions: shoes are suspended over the stage; a bed becomes a boat awash in sea-smoke; a projec-tion of green grass glows with the yellow eyes of Jamie’s wolf. Though the show sometimes reels in its abundance of symbols and motifs —

shoes, olives, shoes, boats, wolf — the flavor of these scenes is richly imagined and their stage-craft strikingly realized.

As with its imagery, Refuge covers a lot of ground in its themes — motherhood and fam-ily; the ethics of crisis journalism; the liminal spaces of geography, culture, and religion; and the dynamics of home and of displacement, whether forced or self-imposed. At times, it feels like a lot for one story. But it certainly gives us much to consider, especially as it be-comes clear that whatever selflessness spurs Jamie to help waleed, the act also serves her own needs and holes; that it is, on some level, however well-intentioned and welcomed, also a selfish act. In this way, Refuge also functions as an examination of a particular American m.o. in the world. regardless of the personal circumstances, displacements, and refuges that have led her here, Jamie must reckon with the fact that that at any time, for any reason, big or small – unlike waleed — she can go home again, and she probably will.

Refuge * Malja * أجلم | By Bess Welden; directed by Kareen Fahmy | Portland Stage, 25A Forest Ave | Through November 18 | Thu-Fri 7:30 pm; Sat 4 & 8 pm; Sun 2 pm; Wed 7:30 pm; Thu 2 & 7:30 pm | $21-41 | portlandstage.org

jamie (brooke Parks) and waleed (anwer ali) Photos by aaroN flacKe

waleed (anwer ali) and mother (shauna bloom)


proFessionalsaturday 10

maiNe womeN’s fall exPo PortlaNd 2018 | maine women magazine | the maine mall | 364 maine mall rd., south Portland | 11 am | $15

secoNd saturday maiNe - di-vorce worKshoPs | wells Fargo advisors office two Portland square Portland | 8:30am | $25

solar oPeN house | revision energy and legacy Properties so-theby’s international realty | 106 ravine drive, Cumberland Foreside | 9am | Free

suNday 11317 maiN PreseNts: little roots arouNd the world | one longfellow square | 181 state street, #201, Portland | 1pm | $8 - $15

moNday 12PaNel discussioN: eNviroN-meNtal degradatioN & his-tories of coloNialism | olin arts Center, 104 | 75 russell street, lewiston | 7pm

tuesday 13the 2018 maiNebiz Next list recePtioN | aura | 121 Center st., Portland | 5 pm | $40

elsmere barbecue NoN Prof-it Night for the childreN’s Nursery school | elsmere barbe-cue | 476 stevens ave, Portland | 4pm

figure drawiNg & PaiNtiNg sessioN with model | engine | 128 main street, biddeford | 6pm

fouNdatioNs of iNvestiNg | Coworkhers | 411 Congress street, Portland | 5:30pm

iNtermediate metalsmithiNg 6-weeK artist series | artascope | 48 railroad square, yarmouth | 1pm


maiNe historical society 2018 maiNe history maKer award | uNe innovation hall | 772 stevens avenue, Portland | 5pm | $50

veteraN’s exPerieNtial grouP | the roCC Common room- top Floor of sullivan gym Portland | 2pm

wedNesday 14maiNe busiNess exPo & Next-4me forum | holiday inn Portland-by the bay | 88 spring street, Port-land | 8:30am

Pizza & batteries: solar storage 101 | revision energy | 142 Presumpscot st., Portland | 6 pm | Free

thursday 15busiNess after hours at fez-tival of trees | kora shriners | 11 sabattus st., lewiston | 4:30 pm |

forum: rethiNKiNg commer-cial striP redeveloPmeNt | topsham Public library | 25 Foreside rd., topsham | 4 pm | Free

discover wayNflete: lower, middle, aNd uPPer schools | waynflete | 360 spring street, Port-land | 8:30am | Free

create your holiday ceNter-Piece | Fairground Cafe | 49 top-sham Fair mall road, topsham | 6pm

2018 emPower the immigraNt womaN aNNual coNfereNce | university of southern maine | wish-camper Center | 88 bedford st., Port-land | 9 am | Free

day oNe’s 45th aNNual cel-ebratioN | marriott at sable oaks | 200 sable oaks drive, south Port-land | 6pm

la metroPolitaN chamber of commerce busiNess after hours lewistoN | 5pm

member eveNt: womeN meaN busiNess PortlaNd | 4:30pm

womeN meaN busiNess - iN-vestiNg iN womeN at all lev-els | hannaford hall | 88 bedford street, Portland | 4:30am | $35

resisTanCe + solidariTy

thursday 8maKiNg migratioN visible: traces tracKs & Pathways | iCa at | College of art, 522 Congress st, Portland | 11am | Free


midterm electioN results: what caN we exPect? | Frontier theater | 14 maine st. mill 3 Fort an-dross, brunswick | 7:30pm | $0 - $5

PaNel discussioN: history of immigratioN iN maiNe | Portland Public library | 5 monument square, Portland

worKer’s rights legal cliNic | southern maine worker’s Center | 56 North st., Portland | 5 pm | Free

Friday 9maiNe allcare beNefit coN-cert | unitarian Church | 1 middle st., brunswick | 6pm | $20

saturday 10Natural burial aNd “greeN” cemeteries: what are your choices? | the auditorium at the episcopal Church of saint mary | 43 Foreside road, Falmouth | 10am | Free

2018 emPower the immigraNt womaN aNNual coNfereNce | university of southern maine | wish-camper Center | 88 bedford st., Port-land | 9 am | Free

#womeNswave 2019 voluN-teer meet uP | usm | 44 bedford st., Portland | 1 pm | Free

moNday 12milestoNe doNatioN day | mile-stone recovery | 65 india st., Port-land | 9 am | donation based

tuesday 13elsmere barbecue NoN Prof-it Night for the childreN’s Nursery school | elsmere barbe-cue | 476 stevens ave, Portland | 4pm

a comPaNy of girls: emPow{h}er 2018 | Portland house of music and events | 25 temple st., Portland | 5:30 pm | $20

wedNesday 14c i t i z e N s ’ c l i m at e lo b by m o Nt h ly m e e t i N g- b at h-bruNswicK chaPter | Curtis memorial library | 23 Pleasant st, brunswick | 6pm | Free

immigratioN aNd worKforce iN maiNe | Freeport Community library | 10 library dr, Freeport | 6:30pm | Free

league of womeN voters electioN debrief Party | Pelo-ton labs | 795 Congress st., Portland | 5:30 pm | Free

thursday 15aNalysis of the New Politi-cal laNdscaPe with mat-thew gagNoN | dimillio’s on the water | 25 long wharf st., Portland | 12 pm | $20

eNcore screeNiNg: dawNlaNd | Frontier theater | 14 maine st. mill 3 Fort andross, brunswick | 7pm | $0 - $10

multicultural Night | southern maine Community College | 2 Fort rd., south Portland | 7 pm | Free

PortlaNd dems meetiNg & of-ficer electioNs | mechanics hall | 519 Congress st., Portland | 6:30 pm | Free

traces | PaNel: aClu/ilaP on us immigration Policy | @ meCa | maine College of art | 522 Congress st., Portland, Portland | 5:30pm

sporTs + ouTdoors

thursday 8yoga | People Plus | 35 union street, brunswick | 11am

be your owN biKe mechaNic | Portland gear hub | 155 washington ave., Portland | 8:30 am | $200

JuNior develoPmeNt teNNis bruNswicK | 3pm

youth writer’s Program | walker memorial library | 800 main st, westbrook | 4pm

maiNe red claws vs. caNtoN charge | Portland expo | 239 Park ave., Portland | 7 pm | $32

bacK oN tracKs: the recov-ery aNd restoratioN of lab-rador’s first sNowmobile | bowdoin College | 255 maine st, brunswick | 9pm

thursday Night football | dockfore | 336 Fore st, Portland

Friday 9multidisciPliNary maNage-meNt of the athletic lumbar sPiNe | university of maine system | 113 luther bonney auditorium, Port-land | 8am

PrePariNg your gardeN bed for wiNter worKshoP | NrCs office | 254 goddard road, lewiston | 1pm | Free

harlem suPerstars returN | beal gym - south Portland high school | 637 highland ave, south Portland | 6:30pm

(womeN’s basKetball) me.-farmiNgtoN vs. southerN me. PortlaNd | 7pm

saturday 10Power of she yoga bootcamP | the maine mall | 364 maine mall rd, south Portland | 10:30am

roll-to-beloNg: rollersKat-iNg fuNdraiser for camP to beloNg | happy wheels skate Center | 331 warren ave., Portland | 5 pm | $8

Night Photo shoot | seashore trolley museum | 195 log Cabin rd., kennebunkport | 4:30 pm | $55

(womeN’s basKetball) thom-as (me) vs. southerN me. PortlaNd | 2pm

wiNe & food walK iN PortlaNd maiNe | Piccolo | 111 middle st, Portland | 2:45pm

maiNe mariNers vs. worces-ter railers | Cross insurance arena | 1 Civic Center sq, Portland | 6pm | $17

suNday 112Nd aNNual No oNe ruNs aloNe relay | iron eagle CrossFit | 1 Chandler drive, bath | 8am

auburN sKi associatioN aNNu-al sKi swaP | auburn middle school | Falcon drive, auburn | 9am | Free

bowliNg for bullies | spare time Portland | 867 riverside st., Portland | 2 pm | $12

1911 oPerator | howell’s gun shop & indoor range | 81 west gray rd, gray | 9:30am

a football suNday | dockfore | 336 Fore st, Portland

moNday 12moNday Night football | dock-fore | 336 Fore st, Portland

cheaP moNdays at bayside bowl | bayside bowl | 58 alder st., Portland | 8 pm | $10

sParK’s arK | Pineland Farms | 15 Farm view dr., New gloucester | 1 pm | $5

tuesday 13amc PotlucK aNd PreseN-tatioN: PaddliNg southerN maiNe | Curtis memorial library | 23 Pleasant st, brunswick | 6pm | Free

wedNesday 14liviNg card game Night | diver-sion Puzzles & games south Port-land | 5pm | Free

New begiNNers class! womeN’s emPowermeNt through mar-tial arts outdoors | back Cove | baxter boulevard, Portland | 6pm

big awards Party! bruNswicK | 6pm | $50

maiNe mariNers vs. orlaNdo solar bears | Cross insurance arena | 1 Civic Center sq, Portland | 7pm | $17

thursday 15birdiNg basics: maKiNg it couNt | maine audubon | 20 gilsand Farm rd., Falmouth | 7 pm | $15

gardeNs aglow at coastal maiNe botaNical gardeNs | Coastal maine botanical gardens | 132 botanical gardens dr., boothbay | 4 pm | $14

TheaTer a comPaNy of girls: emPow{h}er 2018 | Portland house of music and events | 25 temple st., Portland | Nov 13 | 5:30 pm | $20

as you liKe it | the theater Project | 14 school st., brunswick | 7:30 pm | through Nov 11 | $10

bhs Players PreseNt flowers for algerNoN | brunswick high school | 116 maquoit rd., brunswick | 7 pm | Nov 15, Nov 16, Nov 17 | $12

festival of the uNKNowN with bare PortlaNd | First Par-ish Church | 425 Congress st., Port-land | 3pm and 7pm | Nov 10 - Nov 18

hoNey bee mystery | Children’s museum & theatre of maine | 142 Free st, Portland | thu Nov 15 2pm | Free

the little mermaid | windham high school Performing arts Center | 406 gray road, windham Center | Fri Nov 09 7pm, sat Nov 10 7pm, sun Nov 11 2pm | $10 - $14

the laramie ProJect | Cape eliz-abeth high school | Nov 15-18 | 7 pm

late, a cowboy soNg - Pa-troN’s club readiNg series | studio theater at Portland stage | 25a Forest ave., Portland | Nov 13 | 7:30 pm

mother butterfly | brick store museum | 117 main street, ken-nebunk | Fri Nov 09 7pm, sat Nov 10 7pm, sun Nov 11 3pm | $10 - $20

Paradise lost - stage rage | mayo street arts | 10 mayo street, Portland | thu Nov 08 7pm, Fri Nov 09 7pm, sat Nov 10 7pm, sun Nov 11 4pm | $22

PuPPet maKiNg with fouNd obJects | Portland Public library | 5 monument square, Portland | sat Nov 10 10am

refuge *malJa* | mad horse the-atre Company | 24 mosher st., south Portland | thu-Fri 7:30 pm; sat 4 & 7:30 pm | sun 2 pm; wed 7:30 pm; thu 2 & 7:30 pm | $21-68 | through Nov 18 | $23

the whale by samuel d. huNt-er | mad horse theatre Company | 24 mosher st., south Portland | thu-sat 7:30 pm; sun 2 pm | $20-23 | through Nov 18 | $23

three sisters by aNtoN cheK-hov New versioN by libby aP-Pel | bowdoin College | 1 bath road, brunswick | Fri Nov 09 7pm, sat Nov 10 7pm, sun Nov 11 2pm | Free

visual arTs 11th aNNual wild aNd sceNic film festival | abromson Center, the university of southern maine | 88 bedford st, Portland | through Nov 3 | sat 3 Pm | $30 - $35

“a haNdheld history: five ceNturies of medals from the moliNari collectioN at bowdoiN college” |owdoin Col-lege museum of art | markell gallery | 9400 College station, brunswick | through jan 6

“aNthroPoceNic: art about the Natural world iN the hu-maN era” | bates College museum of art | olin arts Center | 75 russell st., lewiston | through march 23

“amoNg womeN” | bowdoin Col-lege museum of art | boyd gallery | 9400 College station, brunswick | through april 7

afro iNdigo futuristic real-ity mural (by Kesho wazo) | Portland Public library | 5 monument sq., Portland | 5 pm

art of the sPheres: PicturiNg the cosmos siNce 1600 | osher map library and smith Center for Cartographic education | 314 Forest ave., Portland | through sep 30

“a haNdheld history: five ceN-turies of metals from the moliNari collectioN” | bowdoin museum of art | 3900 College station brunswick | through jan 6

“alter ego” | grant wahlquist gal-lery | 30 City Center | 2nd Floor, Port-land | through dec. 1

“art of the sPheres: PicturiNg the cosmos siNce 1600” | uni-versity of southern maine, osher map library, glickman Family library, 314 Forest ave., Portland |

a rt o P e N i N g f o r Pag e e o”rourKe aNd Polly smith | Curtis memorial library | 23 Pleas-ant st, brunswick | through Nov 9 | Fri 5 Pm | Free

listings Continued from P. 25

26

28 | Food + driNk November 8, 2018 | the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me

Portland Beer week is upon us (November 4-10), billed as “a series of events celebrat-

ing the craft beer industry in Maine.” with nearly 100 events, there are no shortage of opportunities to bypass the “celebrating” and end up stumbling drunk, issuing a stream of single-hopped grisette from your digestive tract into the gutter.

want to enjoy PBw with a modicum of class and a minimum of puke? Tear out this handy survival guide and keep it handy during the festivities.

Hydrate. My rule is to drink a serving of water (that's an 8 oz. glass) for every serving of beer to help minimize potential hangovers. Besides, having a glass of water on-hand keeps me from sipping beer reflexively, or out of sheer boredom. Better, water keeps your pal-ate clean and supple, so you can better appreci-

ate the delicious beers we have in Maine.Keep portion sizes down. with hundreds

of varieties of beers in every conceivable style, there's little point in pounding them by the pint. If they are available, try to get smaller servings. You'll be able to sample more variet-ies of beer, and have a better chance at staying vertical.

Start low, go high. “Palate fatigue” and “olfactory adaptation” are two of the biggest threats to a good beer week. simply, these are what happens when your tongue and your nose become desensitized to flavors and aro-mas over time. A fatigued palate can't tell one IPA from another, and a fatigued nose can't pick out the differences between beers after a few sniffs. one strategy to defeat these is to start the evening drinking milder beers, and turn up the heat as the tasting goes on.

Check your ABV. start your evening with lower alcohol beers like milds, browns, and other “session” beers.

Mind your IBU. hops are a leading culprit in creating palate fatigue. start by enjoying darker beers (many of which emphasize malty flavors) early in the evening, and then advanc-ing to pale ales, IPA and double IPA later on.

Find things to munch on. hitting a barleywine tasting on an empty tummy is a rookie mistake, and a surefire ticket to the vomitorium. I'll have a modest meal before heading to a tasting, and will snack liberally during. I find pretzels are an ideal snack for a tasting. They're light and tasty, and the abun-dant salt resets the palate between sips.

Take your time. save your chugging game for any other week. Beer week is a time to slow down, and appreciate the unique flavors and

aromas of Maine beers. Meet people. Tell sto-

ries. Take time to sip and savor!

Maximize aroma. Much of what we call

taste is actually smell. our nose plays an out-

sized role in our appreciation of flavors, so give

it the best conditions possible. First, ensure

your glass isn't filled to the rim. This head

space gives the volatile compounds in a beer

time to build up, so you can inhale their deli-

cious aroma. second, wrap your hands around

your beer to warm it slightly. Third, give the

beer a gentle swirl to hep suspend the aromas.

last, take a deep huff of that delightful aroma.

Ride safely. There's no excuse to drive

impaired. use a ride app, call a taxi, designate

a driver — whatever it takes. Beer week should

be an occasion of joy and celebration, so let's

not mar it with a preventable accident.

beer revieWs

30 | Food + driNk November 8, 2018 | the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me

bonobo keePs it reaL in the West enDAfter ownership change, solid wood-fired pizza and cozy vibes remain intactby e r i k N e i l s o N

resTauranT revieWs

The rapid growth characterizing the dining scene in Portland these past few years has been met with mixed

opinion. For every major market listicle gushing about where you should be downing oysters this month, there are at least a handful of disenfranchised Portlanders lamenting the days when a sandwich and a beer didn’t cost $22 or require a two-hour wait to enjoy. And they’d be right to feel this way — these places are disappearing not just here, but in cities across the country similarly propped up by the latest dining trends and flavors of the week.

This is one of many reasons to be grateful for the persistence of Bonobo. Now in its 11th year, the west end staple on the corner of Pine and Brackett still churns out an impressive array of wood-fired pizzas seven nights a week, with a cozy neighbor-hood atmosphere and an approachable price point to boot. It is, in a way, a reminder of what things used to be like around here.

That’s not to say Bonobo offers a benchmark dining experi-ence you’ll hang onto for the rest of your life. You might, though — perhaps in the form of a casual first date that leads to a long partnership (there are few spots in town better suited to “date night”). Bonobo instead provides a warm, convivial space in which to catch up with a friend or neighbor over what is still some of the better pizza available in southern Maine.

let’s talk about that pizza. Fired in a wood oven at lower temperatures than the standard 700-800°F range, the dough gets a bit more time to set before exiting the heat, resulting in a thin, slightly chewy and pleasantly sweet crust with just a touch of smoke and sourness to it. Perhaps most akin to the end prod-uct served at lazzari, the pizza at Bonobo — more restrained in toppings and thus lighter in feel — is unique to itself and with-out any true analogs in the area

There are 17 different preparations to choose from on any given day, ranging from the expected to what some might call

the outlandish. Certain examples in the latter category stand out as being what makes Bonobo unique and are not to be missed. Jerk chicken on a pizza (The Marley) may sound like a reason to get up and leave, but with a glass of the house Barbera on me says it’s one of the tastiest bites you’ll find around town. The gruyere drops potatoes, spinach, leeks and prosciutto atop a gooey quagmire of gruyere and parm, rounded out with a rich and potent garlic butter. It is a kaleidoscope of colors, textures and flavors that’ll have you wondering where this particular breed of pizza has been all your life.

Assertive dairy also takes center-stage on The Taleggio, combining the eponymous cheese with smoked tomatoes, leeks and a crown of fresh arugula for a deeply satisfying balance of smoke and salt. My personal favorite pie at Bonobo, though — The Farm — happens to be more on the traditional side. Pork sausage, roasted onions, oregano and red sauce may sound a

bit vanilla on paper compared to the rest of the menu, but The Farm exudes a deep range of flavors that I haven’t found else-where on pizza in Maine. If you order just one pie, let this be it.

The only prep I’ve tried that hasn’t hit the mark for me has been the ocean, which is essentially Bonobo’s take on white clam pizza. More akin to a clam version of shrimp toast in its minimalism, it’s not distasteful, but does border on dry and generally feels as if it’s missing “something.” suffice to say, there are plenty of other options to choose from.

For the decision-weary, an extra dollar yields the option to combine two specialty pizzas in the form of one ½ and ½ pizza. It’s a great way to work through the relatively extensive menu, and paired with a clean and simple house salad of romaine, arugula, spinach and endive leaves with sweet pickled cukes and lemon vinaigrette, it makes for a truly satisfying, surpris-ingly inexpensive meal for two. A rib-sticking French onion soup to start and cioccolata with house-made whipped cream for dessert will round things out for the ultra-hungry — you can always bring home leftovers.

Bonobo has recently changed hands after being sold earlier this year to new owners Dominique gonzalez and Justin grey, who — in a letter of intent to the city from May of this year — stated an aim to continue operations as usual for a seamless transition. To their testament, you’d never know anything has changed without asking. Bonobo continues to provide a pure and unpretentious dining experience accentuated by excellent value. It’s a glimpse ever so slightly back in time, and one in which those who miss the “old” Portland will no doubt find some comfort.

Bonobo | 46 Pine St, Portland | Mon-Thu 4-9:30 pm; Fri-Sat 11:30

am-9:30 pm; Sun 11:30 am-9 pm | www.bonobopizza.com

oceaN (left half) aNd gruyere (right half) Pizzas

the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me | November 8, 2018 31

Across1 backtalk5 order on an order9 lion in the Narnia books14 Feel certain15 barely grilled16 link’s “good mythical morning” partner17 star of the bbC’s “luther”19 shaw of the big band era20 Reconfigure a hard drive21 royal ball23 beliefs, for short24 morsel at the bottom of a fast-food bag25 Citrus-flavored dessert (with something parked in the middle)28 Portrayer of Ned on “game of thrones”29 word after bad or dad30 Quiz option33 Chicken giant36 Controversial agribusiness letters39 Place for avians to thrive (with something parked in the middle)43 tack on44 “stargate universe” actress Levesque (OK, fine ... the mom from “Family ties”)45 No longer fooled by46 show starter?48 over again51 “darlin’” classic kids’ song (with something parked in the middle)55 biol. or anat.58 “___ in every garage”59 Conservational prefix

60 rowan atkinson character (or a clue for 28-across)62 Carl who hosted the original “Cosmos”64 modern urban vehicles whose brand names have been parked in the middle of the three theme entries66 supreme Court justice kagan67 internet explorer?68 Part of 61-down69 element tested for in home inspections70 one-named sao Paulo-born athlete71 japanese buckwheat noodle

Down1 Flat-bottomed rowboat2 Conjunctions seen with a slash3 word inevitably used in a stereotypical Canadian impersonation4 Do the butterfly5 Franklin with the 1982 album “jump to it”6 jimmy kimmel’s cousin who makes frequent appearances on his show7 “day” observed the last Friday in april8 bubble tea tapioca ball9 “altar” constellation

10 Piercing cry11 tutorial opener, maybe12 “one day at ___”13 Big bomb trial, briefly18 business letter encl.22 actress Phillips26 blog post27 ___ lisa28 “hold on a ___!”30 gp. before the gate31 totally cool32 in one piece34 what a Qb tries to gain35 great buy37 got together with38 he-bear, to hernando40 Croupier’s collection41 “what ___ about you” (mid-2000s wb sitcom)42 sudoku grid line47 monsieur de bergerac49 “i give!”50 100 cents, in Cyprus51 It fires electrodes52 Florida city home to john travolta53 Freeze, as a windshield54 western law enforcement group55 “___ evil ... “56 Native trinidadian, maybe57 Prefix for gram or Pot61 heat measurements, for short63 Photog goldin65 disney collectible

©2018 joNesiN’ Crosswords | [email protected]

“riDe share” an inconvenient place to park. by Matt jones

solution to last week’s puzzle

Jonesin’

toon time by jen sorensen

tWeet of the Week

32 November 8, 2018 | the PortlaNd PhoeNix | PortlaNdPhoeNix.me

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