There was a time when I was eating, on average, five hot ham and cheese sandwiches from Speaker’s Variety every week. For one thing, the hot ham and cheese sandwiches from Speaker’s were spectacular. I’d ask Jim or Pat or whoever was manning the ovens that day to cook them a little extra so that […]
Mark LaFlamme
Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
Talk of the town: Nope. Nothing wrong here.
Talk of the town? How in blue blazes should I know what the talk of the town is? I’ve been on vacation for two weeks. Thanks for noticing. All I can tell you is that the new “Halloween” is just God awful, the movie “Hereditary” is terrifying and the town of Unity celebrates Halloween like […]
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Posted inbPlus, sj-web
15 binge-worthy television series to fuel your addiction
Hello. My name is Mark and I’m a binge TV addict. It wasn’t always that way, you know. Until a couple years ago, I spent most of my free time either writing or reading into the wee hours. I’d write short stories or chunks of novels until I nodded off at the keyboard. I’d read […]
Posted inAndroscoggin County, Mark LaFlamme
The rise and fall of George Stanley’s empire of stuff | Mark LaFlamme
You can call Stanley a lot of things — eccentric, strange, more trouble than a house full of monkeys — but stupid isn’t one of them, Mark LaFlamme writes.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Mark LaFlamme: Gangland shootings and cute dogs in hats
It had been a rowdy morning on Bartlett Street. Right around the time most people are sleepily fetching newspapers from front porches, bullets were flying between two groups of rival drug dealers. Apartment houses were dotted with bullet holes. Tenants dove for cover under kitchen tables and on the street outside, a trail of blood […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: Pretty sure the moon is out to get me
“There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.” – George Carlin I’m not saying there are werewolves running amok in downtown Lewiston. I’m just saying there probably are. A few years back, I wrote a fairly tedious feature story about the full moon and its reported affect on crime and […]
Posted inbPlus, Mark LaFlamme, sj-web
Talk of the town: Your Yankee Doodle Dandy in a gold Rolls Royce
Campaign season hell As a sort of reporter, I get put on to all kinds of lists so I get mail from every political candidate from one end of the state to the other. It’s a real joy, especially during campaign season. You think campaign signs are a blight? You ought to see my email […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: Looking up numbers in the deep dark past
You younger kids will have a hard time believing this, but back in the day, hardworking professional types such as myself kept all of our important phone numbers written on little squares of paper. I kid you not, whippersnappers. We wrote those phone numbers in “pen” and kept them all together in a little “box-type […]
Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
This aisle for 10 items or less
Wallingford’s summertime death machine Some heartless wife I know tricked me into going to Wallingford’s last weekend and managed to crush both my spirit and my heart. Wallingford’s is a fine place and all, but I associate the joint with fall and all things autumnal. Being there on a hot summer day just felt wrong. […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Mark LaFlamme: Stuff I swore I'd never do as a reporter
The guy on Walnut Street was talking fast and pointing every which way, frantically trying to describe the experience of having bullets flying over his head. I scribbled as quickly as I could to keep up, but this guy was talking in such a rat-a-tat-tat fury of words, I was afraid the notebook pages would […]