Every time you think producers of reality programming have hit rock bottom, they manage to tunnel through a lower level of muck and locate another sub-basement. And it’s reached the point this summer where you’ll need a geologist, not a TV critic, to measure how far the medium has sunk.Yes, television usually junks up in […]

12th International Musical Arts Institute Chamber Music Festival Aspiring, seasoned artists to come together FRYEBURG – The first Music for Summer Evenings concert of the 12th International Musical Arts Institute Chamber Music Festival will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 10, at Fryeburg Academy.Music for Summer Evenings performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Friday […]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – Former “American Idol” Ruben Studdard has married Surata Zuri McCants at a church in a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. But there was no singing during the 30-minute ceremony – just an exchange of vows, prayers and music provided by a string ensemble. A reporter from The Birmingham News attended the ceremony.The […]

LONDON (AP) – Amy Winehouse was packing a punch at the Glastonbury music festival.After taking the stage Saturday, the troubled singer climbed down into the pit and scuffled briefly with a reveler.It was unclear what sparked the altercation but witnesses say a fan tried to grab Winehouse.Winehouse sang for about an hour in front of […]

The band concert given at the fish hatchery grounds Sunday afternoon was largely attended, many enjoying the ride up the Auburn-Turner electric railway.• Beginning the first of July, the work of laying Hassam paving will commence. The past week paving blocks were laid on Chestnut Street between Lisbon and Park streets, the only section where […]

NEW YORK (AP) – Phil Griffin, the NBC News executive who oversees MSNBC, is a coiled mass of energy who needs little provocation to do battle. Now he’s got something to fight for.MSNBC is a player in the cable news competition in a way it hasn’t been before. The surge in viewership created by the […]

(Reeling from the death of her father and already missing her college-bound daughter, writer Mary Morris (“Nothing to Declare”) set off down the Mississippi River in 2005 aboard a decrepit houseboat she called River Queen. Her companions were river pilot Jerry, his assistant Tom and a neurotic rat terrier named Samantha Jean.“The River Queen” (Picador, […]

LOS ANGELES (AP) – A lonely little robot made millions of friends during the weekend – and even outgunned Angelina Jolie.“WALL-E,” the Pixar Animation tale of a robot toiling away on a long-abandoned Earth, debuted as the No. 1 movie with $62.5 million in ticket sales, with Jolie’s assassin thriller “Wanted” opening in second place […]

“Hit and Run” (William Morrow, 287 pages, $24.95), by Lawrence BlockJohn Keller, professional hit man, is on his way to Des Moines to take a life – one last job before retiring to spend more time with his stamp collection.Keller is the consummate pro. He’s killed hundreds of times, yet the police don’t even know […]

LOVELL – The Radio Gang, veteran Maine musicians devoted to the popular music of the 1930s and ’40s, will perform at 7 p.m. Friday, July 11, at The Brick Church for the Performing Arts.The Radio Gang’s rousing renditions of classic melodies recapture the mood of a unique period in American history. Simple, honest and in […]