U.S.S. Portland Maine tattoo

Another nice addition to the collection of photos we've posted over the years here of Maine-related tattoos!

Matt Anderson obligingly lent his arm for a moment to allow me to capture a shot of this recent inkwork.

EVENT: Strange Maine book release party!

It's finally here! "Strange Maine: True Tales from the Pine Tree State" by Michelle Souliere is available and for sale at The Green Hand and other fine local bookshops. Join us on the evening of May 27th for a release party and book signing!

WHAT: Book release party
WHEN: Thursday, May 27 from 6:00-9:00
WHERE: The Green Hand Bookshop @ 661 Congress Street, Portland ME

I'll do a short reading at the start, and sign books following that. We'll have refreshments, and Curtis Clark will be playing some music live, so it should be fun!!!

On Facebook, you can view the event page here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124774294204694&ref=mf

If you are interested in reading a review of the book, the folks over at the Talk Stephen King blog have posted a great one, the first one out so far, here:
http://talkstephenking.blogspot.com/2010/05/strange-maine.html

EVENT: Maine horror movie release

WHAT: Screening of "The Wrong House"
WHEN: Thursday, May 20, 2010, 7:00pm
WHERE: Nickelodeon Cinemas, 1 Temple St, Portland, ME
COST: $8 ticket, available at the door or prebuy online now at http://www.patriotcinemas.com/tickets_nickelodeon.htm
FMI: email thewronghouse@gmail.com

On May 21, Maine's Wisdumb Productions will release its first feature film, the HD horror flick THE WRONG HOUSE, on DVD. Filmed in Limerick, Maine, this hardcore tale of terror was inspired by a burglary at the home of husband/wife producers Shawn French and Sue Stevens, who financed this deeply personal project out of pocket and play the serial-killer residents of THE WRONG HOUSE.

The story: An isolated house in the woods looks like an easy mark to a group of friends camping in the Maine wilderness. The thieves haul away several ounces of pot and hallucinogenic mushrooms in the heist. But when the homeowners track them down, the thieves learn too late that there are some people you just shouldn't mess with... and that they picked The Wrong House.

"After the burglary, we desperately needed an outlet for our anger," said writer/director Shawn French. "By filming at our home and having the onscreen thieves break in through the same window the actual thieves used, we seriously blurred the lines of reality. The emotions were real and we went all out with the action, really beating the hell out of each other. I broke three ribs and we all walked away bruised."

Thursday May 20, the night before the DVD release, THE WRONG HOUSE will be screening at 7 p.m. at Nickelodeon Cinemas in Portland, Maine. Tickets are on sale for $8 each at the box office or online at www.patriotcinemas.com/nickelodeon. At the screening, fans can pick up signed posters and purchase their copy of THE WRONG HOUSE a day before it launches nationally. Nearly 300 fans attended the last screening of this film, so people are encouraged to get their tickets early.

"The reception at the premiere was amazing," French said. "The story really seems to resonate with Mainers, and we had such incredible performances from our cast. The finished cut is a much tighter, darker and grittier version of the film that the crowd ate up at the premiere. Our audience is in for a hell of a ride."

The film features music from Maine musicians Damien Zygote, The Motengata Band and Stream Reggae, and an original score by Washington composer Tim Butcher.

THE WRONG HOUSE DVD will be available on May 21 at www.thewronghousemovie.com and Amazon.com.

There is a high-quality version of the trailer online here ...
www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1203815657941
...or you can click below to watch it on YouTube.

EVENT: Help spring clean Eastern Cemetery

Hello from Spirits Alive!

If you have a hankerin' to get some cemetery dirt under your fingernails, we've got a proposition for you!

WHEN: Saturday, May 8, 9am - 12pm
WHERE: Eastern Cemetery, Congress & Mountfort Streets, Portland, ME
FMI: http://spiritsalive.org/events.htm#workdays

Come help us plant, prune, tidy, and trim on Saturday before lunch! Enjoy a sparkling soda courtesy of Shipyard Brewing while you're there.

We are happy to train new cemetery gardeners -- hope to see you there!

More Sword Swallowing in Maine!

The Amazing Ariel is keeping Maine's circus tradition alive! Here she is this morning on Fox's early show, performing a preview of the antics that will be unveiled as part of Sanctuary Tattoo's big 10th Anniversary Bash which is happening at Port City Music Hall tomorrow night, as a benefit to the Preble Street Resource Center.

We've posted about sword swallowing before, but previously it had been in a historic context. This is something else entirely, to be able to see it happen right in front of you!!

Click here to read our prior post on the subject:
http://strangemaine.blogspot.com/2009/09/sword-swallowing-in-maine.html

To find out more about the 10th Anniversary bash (which is tomorrow night!) you can visit Sanctuary's Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Portland-ME/Sanctuary-Tattoo/225022229833?ref=nf

The book!

Well the wait is over -- I finally have the first batch of copies of my book in hand! Published by the History Press, Strange Maine: True Tales of the Pine Tree State is officially out and about.

Readers of the Strange Maine Gazette will recognize a few of the original research stories I did for the paper, but there is also a lot of new material, photos, illustrations, and interviews that are fresh reading even for my regulars. :)

I have copies of them at my bookshop, The Green Hand, 661 Congress Street here in Portland, Maine. The publisher set the retail at $17.99. Please do stop by if you are interested in picking one up! I'll also have copies at the Sanctuary Tattoo 10th Anniversary bash that is being held to benefit Preble Street Resource Center, which recently lost one of its major sources of funding.