Leigh Morrill and Kurt Oehme remove fish caught in the wrong place as a part of maintaining the fish ladder.by Chris Chase
Coastal Journal staff

DAMARISCOTTA MILLS — The annual spawning run of alewives has begun, bringing with it unusually high numbers of the small fish, hundreds of sea birds and other predators, and scores of interested people and photographers hoping to catch that perfect shot. 

At the fish ladder in the Damariscotta Mills, thousands of alewives struggle to make their way to the fresh water of Damariscotta Lake where they can spawn. According to Deb Wilson, a selectman in Nobleboro and a project director for the fish ladder restoration, the ladder has allowed for much higher numbers of the fish to make the journey successfully.

“This year is just starting,” said Wilson. “But last year, we passed half a million fish, and this year we’ve probably got 60,000 in the first week. We never get that many fish in the first.”

Midcoast Youth Theater put on a spectacular “The Wiz” this past weekend at Brunswick High School’s Crooker Theater. In this photograph, His Wizness, played by Benjamin Proctor, informs the citizens of Oz that he’s on his way to Kansas.by Will Gottlieb
Coastal Journal staff

BRUNSWICK — What kind of people would put together an amateur theatrical production with a cast of 91 people ranging in age from (I would suppose) almost 6 to at least 60, featuring 300 costumes made up of 1,500 individual pieces, an actual pit orchestra instead of recordings, all this and more, for just four shows?

Crazy people, that’s who. 

And I’m so grateful for those crazy people, the craziest of whom has to be director Henry Eichman. This was reportedly a very complete show-biz experience for Eichman and his crew, who had to overcome all manner of mishaps and miscues, including a Munchkin falling down and breaking her arm in rehearsal, and a principal performer – Tracy Kapocius, who sang the part of Evillene, Witch of the West – developing double pneumonia, just in time to sing her part.

by Chris Chase
Coastal Journal staff

BATH — The Bath City Council, in response to efforts by a Bangor-based business owner to open a strip club at the location of the current Riverside Pub, has voted 6 to 2 to support a 180-day moratorium ordinance on adult entertainment in the city. 

The moratorium is intended to allow the city time to determine how the business will be regulated and examine their own zoning and licensing process for that particular type of business. 

“It is intended to deal with a set of circumstances that we’re not as a city, prepared in terms of our ordinances and regulations, to deal with,” said Roger Therriault, the city solicitor, at the meeting. “This is a standard moratorium ordinance.”

According to Therriault the state allows municipalities to utilize moratoriums of this type to deal with circumstances such as these. 

ROCKLAND — The Steep Canyon Rangers, who won a Grammy this year for Best Bluegrass Album, “Nobody Knows You” – and who were also nominated for a Grammy for their  collaboration with comedian Steve Martin, “Rare Bird Alert” – were in truly rare form at Friday night’s show at the Strand Theatre.

The Rangers – Woody Platt (guitar, vocals), Graham Sharp (banjo, vocals), Mike Guggino (mandolin, vocals), Charles R. Humphrey III (bass, harmony vocals), and Nicky Sanders (fiddle, harmony vocals) – seem to be cracking into a stratum of success and notoriety not seen in the bluegrass world since The Dillards were featured on “The Andy Griffith Show.” Their collaboration with Steve Martin featured Paul McCartney and the Dixie Chicks, and they are just coming off a tour with Martin that featured Indie Rock chanteuse Edie Brickell.

And I can authoritatively tell you that this is no accident. The Steep Canyon Rangers are crazy good at what they do.

Now it has not been rare for bluegrass players here in the age of Homespun Tapes and other advanced teaching tools to be super fast and super-proficient players, schooled in the works of Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs, and able to riff in 64th notes until the cows come skipping home. What the Rangers offer the world is that advanced bluegrass acumen, coupled with a sense of what’s happening in the audience, and a willingness to play with the form to evoke an emotional response from that audience. Very show biz, not necessarily the ol’ “high lonesome.”