Calendar of Events

Maine Quality Counts and its partners invite you to attend a free Maine “Health Care Town Hall Meeting" to view the film: ESCAPE FIRE: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare.

Health care tops the list of concerns of many Americans. ESCAPE FIRE is about finding a way out. It's about saving the health of a nation.

Following the film, we will discuss how we (health care providers and consumers) can improve health care in Maine together.

To register for the event, click here.

Interdisciplinary Fine Arts Senior Project to be held in the Performing Arts Center on Friday, March 8th from 6pm-9pm. For more information contact Eustacia Landrum at Eustacia.ross@maine.edu.

MACHIAS, Maine – Grammy-nominated songwriter and composer Gary Lucas will perform at the University of Maine at Machias at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 9. Lucas will present his acclaimed original solo guitar accompaniment to the 1920 silent film, “The Golem,” at UMM’s Performing Arts Center.

Dubbed “The Thinking Man’s Guitar Hero” by The New Yorker, “The world’s most popular avant-rock guitarist” by The Independent (UK), “One of the 100 Greatest Living Guitarists” by Classic Rock, and “Guitarist of 1000 Ideas” by The New York Times, Lucas has been described by author/producer Dan Levitin as “the greatest living electric guitarist.”

Lucas tours the world both solo and with several different groups, including his longtime band Gods and Monsters, whose ranks once included the late singer Jeff Buckley. Lucas co-wrote two of Buckley’s most famous hits, “Grace” and “Mojo Pin.” He was also the last guitarist for Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band. To date, Lucas has recorded more than 20 albums in various genres and performed in over 40 countries.

The March 9th performance at UMM will feature a presentation of the original 1920 silent film, “The Golem,” accompanied by Lucas playing his original solo guitar score live with the film. The legend of the Golem—a man made from clay and brought to life through kabbalistic magic in 16th century Prague by the rabbi Jehuda Loew to protect the Jewish community from pogroms—is one of the most enduring and resonant stories in all of Jewish mythology. According to his web site, Lucas’ solo guitar score for “The Golem” is a seamless blend of innovative music and fantastic cinema which has been delighting and thrilling audiences around the world since he debuted his score in 1989.

As part of his Machias performance, Lucas will also hold a Masterclass in Guitar Improvisation at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 9, in the Performing Arts Center. Participation in the Masterclass is free, but space is limited. To sign up for the class, contact Gene Nichols at 255-1229.

Tickets to the March 9th evening performance are $10 for singles, $15 for a couple, and free for UMM students with a valid Clipper Card. Tickets will be sold at the door. Please note that the film content may be too intense for young children.

Lucas’ appearance at UMM is part of the Libra Series, and is made possible through funding from the Libra Foundation, a Portland-based philanthropic organization founded in 1989 by the late Elizabeth P. Noyce.

For more information on Gary Lucas, visit www.garylucas.com.

Michelle Mersereau, a representative for the Maine Career Center’s Disabled Veterans Outreach Program, will hold walk-in information sessions at UMM during February and March to provide information on resources and support available to veterans and their families. The sessions are scheduled for Mondays, February 11 and 25, and March 11 and 25 in room 221 of Torrey Hall, and will be available from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Mersereau will be available to discuss resources available for not only students who are veterans, but also veterans in the community. Information and resources available range from financial support, such as funds for computers and textbooks, to resume writing and interviewing skills.

There is no need to set up an appointment ahead of time. Walk-ins are welcome.

For more information, contact Michelle Mersereau at 255-1920 or michelle.j.mersereau@maine.gov.

Spectators are welcome to attend the exhibit session between 9:30 and 11:15 a.m.  Come see local robotic displays and demonstrations as teams show off their work to the judges.  You’ll also have the opportunity to participate in the “Crowd Pleaser’s” Award by voting for your favorite exhibit!  Admission is free.

Sponsored by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Washington County.

MACHIAS, Maine – Well-known Maine bluegrass band the Katahdin Valley Boys will headline the Spring Hootenanny at the University of Maine at Machias on Saturday, March 16. The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center.

Named 2012 Bluegrass Band of the Year by the Maine Country Music Association, the Katahdin Valley Boys have been playing for audiences around Maine and New England since 1998. Their traditional and contemporary bluegrass and gospel music also earned them Best Bluegrass Band honors in 2009 and 2011 from the Maine Academy of Country Music.

Band members include Ken Brooks (guitar and vocals), Jeff Fogler (banjo and vocals), Kip Yattaw (fiddle and vocals), and Steve Bixby (bass and vocals).

Tickets to the March 16th performance are $10 for singles, $15 for a couple, and free for children 12 and under and UMM students with a valid Clipper Card. Tickets will be sold at the door.

The Spring Hootenanny is part of the Libra Series, and is made possible through funding from the Libra Foundation, a Portland-based philanthropic organization founded in 1989 by the late Elizabeth P. Noyce. The Katahdin Valley Boys appearance in Machias is also made possible with generous support from the Hooper Family in memory of Gene Hooper, a Maine music legend.

For more information on the Katahdin Valley Boys, visit www.katahdinvalleyboys.com.

"Ah, Raza! The Making of an American Artist"—a multi-media, performative ethnography that speaks to the recuperation and expansion of what it means to be a U.S. American of Mexican descent along the South Texas-México border.

In 1996, percussionist and composer, Gustavo Aguilar, experienced a moment of psychic disequilibrium that prompted him to examine what it meant to identify himself as an American artist. Set against the backdrop of Aguilar’s bordertown hometown of Brownsville, Texas, "Ah, Raza! The Making of an American Artist" traces a line of continuity to the spaces that have mapped themselves out onto him, and to the people whose dispositions are also his own.  Intertwining various sonic environments with an intersection of a multiplicity of gazes, "Ah, Raza!" is a confederacy of components that broadens one’s vision of how to be what one is.

A free workshop will be held at 2 p.m. Aguilar's evening performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. Both events will be held in the Performing Arts Center and are open to the public.

Tickets to the evening performance will be sold at the door and are $10 for a single, $15 for couples, and free for UMM students with a valid Clipper Card.

For more information, contact Gene Nichols at 255-1229.

Michelle Mersereau, a representative for the Maine Career Center’s Disabled Veterans Outreach Program, will hold walk-in information sessions at UMM during February and March to provide information on resources and support available to veterans and their families. The sessions are scheduled for Mondays, February 11 and 25, and March 11 and 25 in room 221 of Torrey Hall, and will be available from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Mersereau will be available to discuss resources available for not only students who are veterans, but also veterans in the community. Information and resources available range from financial support, such as funds for computers and textbooks, to resume writing and interviewing skills.

There is no need to set up an appointment ahead of time. Walk-ins are welcome.

For more information, contact Michelle Mersereau at 255-1920 or michelle.j.mersereau@maine.gov.

Come take a look at the course schedule for Fall 2013, set up an appointment with your Student Success Advisor, and grab a snack!

Students, faculty, staff, and alumni are invited to celebrate the Psychology and Community Studies program’s success at a 25th Anniversary Reception on Wednesday, March 27, at 9 a.m. in the Portside room of Kimball Hall.

Sponsored by UMM Sustainability.

Karen Marysdaughter, organizer of fossil fuel divestment campaigns at colleges across Maine will present on fossil fuel divestment.  Students at universities and colleges have led the way with campaigns ongoing at hundreds of campuses across the country. The movement is now expanding to religious institutions, cites, stated and more.  Five schools and the city of Seattle have already committed to fossil fuel divestment, is it time for the U Maine System to join? Join the discussion Friday, March 29^th at 12pm in Science 102.

For more information, contact Chad Everett at chad.everett@maine.edu.

March 29 & April 16, 4-5:30 p.m., Science Building Room 102.

For more information call Lois-Ann Kuntz at 255-1244.