All I wanted was a humble can of WD-40 with which to oil my chain. I was at the tail end of a weeklong vacation and trying like hell to stay in a vacation state of mind. I refused to read Sun Journal news or even scan the headlines. I refused to even glance at […]
Mark LaFlamme
Posted inbPlus, Mark LaFlamme
Mark LaFlamme: Ticks, poltergeists and subterranean cannibals
Dragonflies dance in New Gloucester This was the headline on a very nice photo from Russ Dillingham in Tuesday’s Sun Journal. Dancing dragonflies are fun and all, but don’t expect it to last. There’s a group of crusty old people in New Gloucester who despise this kind of dancing and they won’t hesitate to institute […]
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Posted inbPlus, Lewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Mark LaFlamme: The skunk, the pothole and the voluntary wedgie
They say there was a secret chord On Nichols Street in Lewiston, near the Sabattus Street end, is a funky pothole in the shape of a guitar. If you hit it at appreciable speed, the tragic clank of your shocks blowing apart sounds a bit like the opening of Jimi Hendrix’s “Are You Experienced.” Ask […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: Runaways and missing persons
All over the land, people are running away. Many of the missing are teens and preteens. They pack their bags and slip off in the night to protest abuse or what they deem injustice in their home lives. Or perhaps they have fallen in love and the lure of young romance on the road is […]
Posted inbPlus, Mark LaFlamme
Mark LaFlamme: Onion rings, tutus and togas
Bird brained While I was riding my motorcycle up Walnut Street in Lewiston the other day, a pigeon swooped right down at me totally unprovoked. For a horrifying second or two, there were flapping pigeon wings and two beady little eyes right in my face. I wasn’t injured in the attack but the pigeon said […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: A midsummer night’s scream
Writer Mark LaFlamme attends this year’s Fourth of July festivities as good-old Yankee Doodle Downer.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: Eyes wide shut and stuff
The Order of Streets It’s incredibly sad. For more than a quarter-century I’ve been working the crime beat in downtown Lewiston. For more than a quarter century, I’ve failed to memorize the order of streets that run between Pine and Ash. Is it Blake, Pierce, Bartlett, Howard, Howe, Shawmut, Horton? Does Pierce come before Blake? […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Mark LaFlamme: Move along, nothing to see here
The interview was just terrific. The subject was a man who had been an emergency dispatcher for more than two decades, and he had amazing stories to tell. Powerful stories about trying to keep steady and calm when bullets were flying, when cars were crashing or when buildings were burning. A significant chunk of the […]
Posted inbPlus, Lewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Mark LaFlamme: Win a prize for your honey
Light of the seven I SWEAR I saw George Carlin Tuesday afternoon on Pine Street in Lewiston. He was standing on a corner, bearded, one eyebrow lifted in bemusement and scowling in that Carlin way. It was him, all right. Never mind that he was reported dead more than 10 years ago, I know what […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme, News
Street Talk: Siren songs of the Androscoggin River
Maybe river whispers promises of sweet relief if one can just take that final step off the greasy bridge railing. If so, I say ignore it, my friends, at all costs.