His best band we followed over the years was "Bootleg" in Bangor Maine. When you make music for a living, or to subsidize your living, you see quite a cross section of life from a stage. As you set up for a gig in a bottle club, or  wedding or for a charity dance, my brother Steve said it let you see all ages showing up to move and groove, shimmy and shake. Friends meeting for a drink, to joke. Cougars trying to capture some youth. Three piece suits, blue jeans. Long hair, short hair, no hair. They come to laugh, to let go for a few hours, to forget, to socialize, to let their hair down. To get higher, to go lower. Getting along like the animals to the right.  It's a party and new friends, old friends, ones you have not made yet. All in the same room, same event, same venue for a f... 06/23/2009

    Years ago building a car one at a time was too costly if you wanted to sell them for $300 a copy. Streamlining the assembly line, having your own steel foundry and making even the parts for the tin lizzie became part of the production recipe for the horseless carriage. But in small town real estate, when a business expands too quickly or just adds on period, the momemtum and special charm or mystique of that business can change.  Example, in Bangor Maine there is a place called The Coffee Pot.  The hardworking German owner is up early making classic sub sandwiches. He makes a certain number each day, stocks his coolers and keeps his overhead/labor to a minimum.  He has the process down like a science. Each day, the sidewalk outside is packed with addicted sandwich buyers who have en... 02/26/2009

     Henry Ford could not make a car to sell for $300 a copy by hammering them out one at a time. Creating side companies to feed the mother operation with parts and components for the tin lizzie sprung up to feed the efficient assembly line of horseless carriages.  But in some businesses, smaller is better. The Coffee Pot in Bangor Maine is a case in point. Run for decades by a very industrious German man adorned in his white apron and greeting customers in a one on one fashion, this is one business that maybe growth would spoil the special flavor of the small eatery.  Submarine sandiwches, when they first came out in the this country have been wrapped in special paper, make with the best ingredients and homemade bread for years with only so many a day put in the cooler to draw from.  ... 02/22/2009

Small town living where you know your neighbor, you see them at local church suppers, area community events and when the hometown team makes it to the play offs.  In Maine, February school vacation is a time when if your team worked hard enough, it made the cut to head to the tournament. In the case of Eastern Maine, the Bangor Auditorium becomes home for families, players, coaches, fans. The entire area is behind their atheletes..you see signs along the interstate 95 on the ride down rooting for this or that Aroostook County team. Playing on the Bangor Auditorium floor is the highlight, the goal of many high school athelete that has grown up playing hoop with the orange ball thru out his or her childhood at the local rec, in the back yard and thru organized school sport programs.  The ... 02/19/2009

The Bangor Region is centrally located - and some would say, ideally located - in the state of Maine as it serves as the gateway to the Katahdin/Baxter State Park area to the north and the Bar Harbor/Acadia National Park to the south.The area is surrounded by all the natural beauty that Maine is famous for - our rugged ocean coastline, majestic mountains, a mighty river - the Penobscot, and many beautiful, clean, scenic lakes and ponds.Bangor, central Maine's queen city, was once the lumber capital of the world. Now it has a more cosmopolitan flavor, featuring many fine restaurants, interesting shops, and much in the way of cultural events and performing arts.The Maine Turnpike bisects this region, providing easy access to all its lakes and ponds. From Dover-Foxcroft, Milo, and Howland ... 05/06/2008

Exciting high school varsity baskeball. That's one favorite past time of all corners of Maine where locals get a night out, socialize, holler, feel good about a win, swallow a loss and fingers crossed for team to make it to the tournaments! Especially emotional to see a senior or two who play their last game or keep going thru the playoffs..maybe to win the Maine State Gold Ball for their division or Class A thru D. The class designation depends on school size and in a state as big as Maine, with just over a million people, there is a wide variety of school systems that may be consolidated if the legislature has its way. Here is the Houlton Maine high school boy's team highlights for 2008 semi finals. A few years back, went all the way and brought home the Gold Ball. University Of Main... 02/21/2008

       Horror writer Stephen King owns this West Broadway Bangor Maine home and has made a good living writing about the macabre. The iron fence with bats gives the place the Herman Munster look..something that has added to the mystique of King's writing.  Would you think the home could be haunted?  Would it add to the value if it was?  Would it hurt a sale of the place you just listed if a home had the reputation of being infested with spirits from the other side?  Would you add value for it?  Listed anything lately or know of property in your area that has a reputation of being haunted? Maine haunted houses happen. 09/14/2007

                      Over two dozen nationally reknown performers / bands playing a slug of musical flavors across five stages on Bangor Maine's waterfront.  Have no plans for that weekend, August 24th-26th? Forget mowing the lawn, pack up the station wagon and head up Interstate 95 to Bangor Maine.  Enjoy the tons of food vendors, the sounds, the Penobscot River waterfront and dance, sing and socialize with music pumping in the background.  Make it the bright spot of your summer....and a tradition! Thousands of festival goers year after year take the mecca to Bangor Maine.  You should too.  Come sample the people, the music, the region and see local craftsman and muscians as they entertain the gathering thru this community volunteer effort in Bangor, Maine! More on the Bangor folk fes... 08/12/2007

 Swimming pools should always be happy places.Unfortunately, each year thousands of American families confront swimming pool tragedies, drowning's and near-drowning's of young children. These tragedies are preventable. These are guidelines for pool barriers that can help prevent most submersion incidents involving young children. This designed for use by owners, purchasers, and builders of residential pools, spas, and hot tubs. These guidelines are not intended as the sole method to minimize pool drowning of young children, just helpful safety tips for safer pools. Each year, hundreds of young children die and thousands come close to death due to submersion in residential swimming pools. CPSC has estimated that each year about 300 children under 5 years old drown in swimming pools. Hosp... 08/10/2007

    Former astronaut John Glenn had to radio in on his way thru Bangor Maine Thursday that he was having problems with his car's navigational system.  The first American to orbit the earth aboard Friendship 7 in February for nearly five hours back in 1962, Glenn also flew 59 combat missions in the south Pacific during World War Two, During the Korean Conflict, the Ohio native made it thru two tours of duty returning to base from one sorti with 250 holes in his plane.  This week's malfunction in his Cadillac's OnStar program stalled his return trip from Nova Scotia to the state of New Hampshire, according to the Bangor Daily News.  Staff at the 24 hour navigational system directed Glenn and his wife Annie to limp into a Bangor dealership for diagnostic study of his 2006 vehicle.  The Gle... 07/27/2007