The big blow Well, what do you know. A big corker of a storm blew across the land and I wasn’t there to report on it. On vacation, I was, so when the mighty wind and rain did its thing, I was just like the rest of you civilians, fretting over power outages, complaining about […]
Mark LaFlamme
Posted inbPlus, sj-web
On tap: The Moose Creek Cloggers
Moose Creek Cloggers wear specialized shoes with a “double tap” on the shoe. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal) ‘They’re amazing’: Wilton dance group members range from 16 to 80 years old and are always stepping out for another show. Immediately after finishing her weekly clogging lesson, Kelly Adams crossed the hall to the school gymnasium to watch […]
advertisement
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: How old is too old to trick or treat?
The kid was just slightly more than 5 feet tall, but when I climbed upon his shoulders, together we had to be close to 11 feet. That’s monstrous! Certainly the sight of an 11-foot tall snarling teenager had to be creative enough to coax an old lady out of a Zagnut or at least one […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: Driving you crazy
I thought the guy in the pickup was going to blow a blood vessel and die right there on Longley Bridge. At every stop between Auburn and Lewiston (there are an estimated 900 traffic lights between Court Street, Auburn and Main Street, Lewiston) the dude found new fuel for his road rage. First it was […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: Let's go to the movies!
The kid with the baseball cap was sitting just a few rows ahead of me, but that didn’t matter. I could have spotted his game a mile away. The way he leaned in close every time he offered the girl his popcorn. The way he laughed whenever she did and of course, the classic yawn-and-stretch […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Shaking off the news gets harder after each tragedy
A couple of weeks ago there was a fatal car wreck in a nearby town. As a news story, it was pretty standard stuff. Time, location, number of cars involved. Get the identities of both drivers, throw in whatever police narrative is available and you’re done. Someone will follow up with the conditions of survivors […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: A vague mass of unhappy plankton
The other night I was downtown where a group of about 60 kids were said to be attacking people “Children of the Corn” style near the corner of Birch and Knox. It was crazy, yo. According to the notes I scribbled at the scene, “a gargantuan toothache was roiling in the east while unhappy plankton […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: Hit me with your best shot, yo
Boy. If I had a nickel for every person who has asked for my thoughts on the Pat Benatar concert last week, you know what I’d have? I wouldn’t have a nickel, that’s for sure. Nobody gives a hang about my penetrating thoughts on Benatar, but I’m going to tell you anyway, and do you […]
Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
Talk of the town: The Lurid Fantasy Gazette
Yodels! The woman who describes herself as “the crazy French lady” has done outdid herself by bringing me not one box of Yodels, but three boxes. We’re not talking the cheap knock offs here, either. We’re talking smooth chocolate cakes filled with creamed whatever brought to you by the good people of Hostess. Or possibly […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Smoke 'em if you got 'em
It’s hard to believe there was a time when smoking was considered cool. But oh, there were such times. Think James Dean leaning against that 1949 Mercury Coupe, a mile of street cred dangling from his lips. Think Clint Eastwood in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” scowling around that hand-rolled smoke so blazingly, […]