September 2005

9.02.05 | Fri

First Friday Artwalk

5-8p, free, All ages

This is the preview of our Reclaiming Space show, still under construction. Come back next week for the opening gala! See below for details.

9.08.05 | Thurs

TNT: Vacationland Premier
(at The Movies On Exchange)

6p, free, All ages

Please help the ICA at MECA and SPACE Gallery kick off the new TNT/Thursday Night Thing season with the Portland Premiere of Lance Edmand's new film "Vacationland," a story of two brothers making their way by bicycle across the back roads of Maine. Lance, a Kennebunk native and recent NYU film school grad, will introduce the 30-minute short feature. This will be at The Movies on Exchange Street, 10 Exchange Street.

9.08.05 | Thurs

Cerberus Shoal and Barbez

8:30p, $7, 18+

Cerberus Shoal introduces their newest album, "The Land We All Believe In," of which they say: "We do not suggest the taking of another single breath until you have fully grokked the inner message of catastrophe and salvation hidden amid the shimmering towers and glimmering teethicles of 'The Land We All Believe In' ... look around, closer and closer." We're certain it will be a beautiful thing. Brooklyn-based Barbez is a punk chamber ensemble that encompasses jazz, classical and rock styles. Provoked by such musics as French musette, Argentine tango, post-war classical and pre-MTV punk, Barbez wrings disparate worlds to form anew in their own soundscape

9.09.05 | Fri

Reclaiming Space Opening Gala

7-10p, Free, All ages

Reclaiming Space explores the urge to re-establish relationships with our environments, inquiring about the boundaries of ownership in a public space? This show attempts to challenge the notion of public vs. private and true freedom of expression. Featuring works in the gallery and around the city of Portland. The Opening Gala includes video, installation art, performance, and a fabulous buffet by Morpheus Eats. We'll shut down Congress Street between Casco and Oak Streets, and celebrate the arts district in ways previously unexplored.

9.10.05 | Sat

The Lunchbox Series with Ed Briant

1p, $3-5 sug., All ages

Ed Briant creates a PAPER PARADE for a girl frustrated to be missing the real parade outside her window. Under the guidance of our fabulous artist and teacher Kelly McConnell, kids will cut, fold and decorate paper into masks and decorations worthy of a Portland parade.

9.10.05 | Sat

Satellite Lot CD release, with The Funeral, Diamond Sharp and Sydney Bourke

8:30p, $5, 18+

Satellite Lot releases their new album "Second Summer." Featuring an all-star cast of Portland indy rockers, the record brims with influences as far reaching as Bruce Springsteen and Depeche Mode. This will be a full night with lots of great music, with guests The Funeral, Diamond Sharp and Sydney Bourke.

9.12.05 | Mon

Creative Conversations

7p, Free, All ages

Creative Conversations is a way to connect creative individuals: to each other, to organizations, to information, to opportunities.

9.14.05 | Wed

Hurricane Katrina Relief Benefit

7:30p, $10 suggested, All ages

Presented by SPACE and WMPG.

JimmyJo & The Jumbol'ayuhs (Cajun)
Big Chief and the Continentals (Swing)
The Allen Lowe Trio (Jazz)
Hosted by WMPG's The Blues Doctor and Sound Ecology's Karen D'Andrea.

All proceeds to benefit the relocation of 3 families to Maine.

9.15.05 | Thurs

Todd Webb 100th Birthday Party

7p, $5, All ages

From the 1940's through the 1980's, Todd Webb photographed and produced an unique body of work which attained an important place in the annals of American photographic history. Frequently referred to as "an historian with a camera," Webb's wonderfully rich images document life all over the world, including New York, France and the American West. With a screening of "Honest Vision: A Portrait of Todd Webb," we'll celebrate what would be Webb's 100th birthday. Sponsored by Evans Gallery.

9.16.05 | Fri

Bully Club and Subject Bias

8:30p, $5, 18+

Bully Club describes their unapologetically melodic, literate guitar pop as "hard soft rock." Songs can be big or little, belted or hushed...but almost always offer listeners some brain-twisting ear candy. Subject Bias plays indie rock that's been compared stylistically to Bright Eyes, Pedro the Lion, and Elliott Smith.They use acoustic and electric sounds to deliver smart lyrics with a sarcastic edge and have been spotted sharing stages with such bands as the Dresden Dolls and Carbon Leaf.

9.19.05 | Mon

Found Magazine: "The Lone Surfer Tour 2005"

8p, $5, All ages

In their continued quest to collect your stellar finds and share their all-time favorites with you, FOUND road warriors Davy & Peter Rothbart are headed to 45 cities this fall for a series of rowdy events. They'll bombard you with a few of the latest, greatest finds, Davy will read a story from his new book "The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas," and Peter will dazzle with his good looks and his lovely and lewd songs based on FOUND stuff. Plus other assorted FOUND whiz-bangs and golly-gees. Come on out and join us for the party!! Please bring your finds to share. Presented with Casco Bay Books.

9.20.05 | Tues

The Gossip with We are Wolves

8:30p, $8, 18+

Seeing The Gossip is a rock'n'roll revelation: this trio is a white-hot runaway train of blues, punk and soul. Vocalist Beth Ditto growls her way through riffs in sweaty (and often half-naked) glory. She's a gritty, Arkansas-bred girl who knows how to work a crowd. Recordings don't do justice to Ditto's vocals and engaging banter, or to guitarist Nathan Howdeschell's jagged guitar licks and Kathy Mendonca's minimalist drumming.

We are Wolves: A gang of three, four including rock. We are Wolves imposes a music that's both free and honest, like the celestial lightning on the mystic mountain. It's a post-punk landscape filled with analogue trees. It's like rock after the post-modern explosion. We Are Wolves is one facet of a monster oscillating between visual arts, cinema and music. The gang is formed by Antonin: primitive drums and vocals, Alex: distorted bass, guitar and vocals, and Vini; keyboards, drum machines and vocals.

9.23.05 | Fri

Micah Blue Smaldone CD Release with Alec. K. Redfearn

8:30p, $5, 18+

After years exploring the New England punk scene, Micah Blue Smaldone withdrew from the public eye and immersed himself in prewar music. Starting with Piedmont songster John Jackson, Micah discovered all of the classic prewar blues-men: Blind Blake, Lonnie Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, Gary Davis, etc., and by the spring of 2003 Micah could often be found playing standards on the streets of Portland's Old Port. His first album speaks in a period-correct tongue without irony, revealing, as written in the liner notes, a "passion for the material; a kind of dearness that breeds obsession that is generous." His new album, "Hither and Tither," weaves with a longer thread of influence than it's predecessor, subtilely merging a common spirit from throughout the century of recorded music, from Skip James, to Leadbelly, to Bob Dylan, to Will Oldham. Opening is Alec K. Redfearn, of the Providence outfit The Eyesores.

9.24.05 | Sat

Rob Swift's "War Games"

8:30p, $8, 18+

POSTPONED
to Friday, November 11, 2005

Reminiscent of the great jazz musicians of yesteryear, Rob Swift has influenced the art form known as turntablism the way John Coltrane impacted the world of Jazz. Hailed by Spin Magazine as one of the Top Turntablists in the World--next only to DJ Q-Bert and Mix Master Mike--Spin goes on to describe Rob Swift as "the most self-consciously musical of his peers, meticulously arranging his scratches and stuttering beats." His new album "War Games" is accompanied by a DVD. Just as movie directors seek out musicians to score their films, Swift asked John Carluccio (director of the acclaimed "Battle Sounds" documentary) to visually score his album. This is the film's Maine debut.

9.28.05 | Wed

Doc. Film: POPaganda: The Art & Subversion of Ron English

7:30p, $5, All ages

"POPaganda: The Art & Subversion of Ron English" is a film about the culture-jamming and billboard-liberation antics of Ron English. The modern day Robin Hood of Madison Avenue, Ron paints, perverts, infiltrates, reinvents and satirizes modern culture on canvas, in songs, and directly on hundreds of pirated billboards. Shot entirely guerilla-style, the film chronicles the evolution of an artist who offers an alternative universe where nothing is sacred, everything is subverted and there's always room for a little good-natured fun. (78 min.)

9.29.05 | Thurs

An Evening with Jonathan Lethem

7p, $5, All ages

Read an interview with Jonathan

Listen to a reading from Motherless Brooklyn (via salon.com)

The best thing about Jonathan Lethem is that he's so hard to pin down as a writer. He's written brilliantly in a wide range of genres: science fiction, western, detective novel. Lethem also covers film criticism, pop music history, memoir -- it seems there's no terrain he won't explore. Come meet one of our favorite writers. A portion of the proceeds will fund The Telling Room, a new nonprofit dedicated to helping young writers develop. Presented with Longfellow Books.

We’re looking for new members!
Information on memberships is available on our website at http://www.space538.org/pages/membership.php