The Bollard Bulletin for April 15, 2025
Cartoon Tuesday: Where the coincidences never stop!
Cartoon Tuesday
What a delightful coincidence! As we resume the storyline of Bollardhead and his uncle, Capt. Athanasius, aboard a sub in the flood waters that have fully submerged Portland (with some soggy city councilors they’ve saved in tow), there’s a reference to a local musical act cited in yesterday’s album review!
Also, I forgot to disclose this yesterday, but Galen Richmond of Gum Parker and Computer at Sea wrote about local music for The Bollard in our earliest days, including a profile of outsider fantasy-metal savant Glade Swope that made our 2006 Greatest Hits comp. David Pence, host of the indispensable WMPG show Radio Junk Drawer (broadcast Wednesdays from 4 to 5:30 p.m. and archived online), also reviewed music for us back then, and his deep take on Cult Maze’s landmark debut, The Ice Arena, made that Greatest Hits, too.
Highlights
The side streets of downtown Portland hide a host of fascinating places awaiting the day you have the free time to wander and find them. One of these treasures is The Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation’s gallery on Brown Street. At a talk tonight at Mechanics’ Hall (519 Congress St.), art historian Susan C. Larsen asks and answers the question many local pedestrians have pondered: “Who was Leo Rabkin?”
Turns out it’s a hugely inspiring story that starts with Dorothea, who fled the Nazis as a child and cohosted the epic art shows and artists’ gatherings at the couple’s home in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood during the ’60s. Leo’s philosophy and practice of art sought to make it a simpler and more emotionally evocative experience. As a collector of folk art, Dorothea “valued the voices of artists who revealed the realities of racism and the insights of artists with disabilities,” her bio states. There days, the foundation created in their memory honors outstanding arts writers. Larsen’s talk starts at 6:45 and it’s free (register here).
Bestselling history author Andrew Lawler (The Secret Token) has a new book enticingly titled, A Perfect Frenzy: A Royal Governor, His Black Allies, and the Crisis That Spurred the American Revolution, about Virginia aristocrat Lord Dunmore and his escapades against British slavers. Maine Historical Society curator Tiffany Link dives into the subject with Lawler at Longfellow Books (1 Monument Way, Portland) at 6 p.m. Unlike the Lord’s “allies,” this event is free.
Larry Gottheim has been an influential avant-garde filmmaker since the 1970s, and tonight we have a very rare opportunity to see some of his most notable early works projected in their original 16mm format at SPACE (538 Congress St., Portland) at 7 p.m., along with a 2013 piece by Forrest Sprague, who’ll be there for a discussion. Tix: $10.