The closing of a community treasure, Fresh Approach closes after 34 years of serving the eclectic & wonderful West End neighborhood in Portland. via @the-bollard.bsky.social #Maine

May South Portland scoop 🎉 @readbookpage.bsky.social @the-bollard.bsky.social

Look upon my works, ye mighty and despair

"Nobody is as poor as those who see their own relation to the presence of others, that is to say their own communicative faculty, their own possession of a language, reduced to wage labor.” Paolo Virno www.bostonglobe.com/2026/05/06/l...

Look if you've got a better way to run a country than "putting an illiterate octogenarian bigot on TV every few days to free associate and complain, and then everyone tries to figure out if it means we're about to start a war or not" I'd love to hear it. But the constitution says this is it.

"“It’s all begun to feel like we’re waiting for apocalypse” — "Apocalypse," by Telescope Club

The real reason gerontocrat Janet Mills ended her campaign www.kenklippenstein.com/p/voters-tak...

Plants EAT the air Every now and then I like to remind myself that the physical structures of plants are directly made from the Carbon Dioxide in the air Plant roots take up water and small amounts of other stuff but the plant isn’t eating the soil to make more plant.

Check out Chris Busby's dead-to-rights review of last fall's @teenagetompetties.bsky.social album

"TTP’s full-throated endorsement of gettin’ boozed up is refreshing to hear these days, when far too many people are sobering up for no good reason."

"[Jared] Golden will be remembered, to the extent he will be remembered at all, as a cowardly representative among many who abdicated their duty to the rule of law and common decency at a critical moment in American history." #MEpolitics

"Meditation", Je Shen, Chinese Artist, 2026

“As the secret meetings, pre-determined parameters & rushed hiring of a white-shoe commercial brokerage firm show us, unelected city officials aren’t interested in what the people of Portland want to do with the land they’re supposedly managing for our collective benefit.” @the-bollard.bsky.social

This was a fun way to find out that my local friend David Rogers is playing with another group! He's not on Bluesky for a mention, but his release as Tremolo Fields is really nice—very cool blended analog/digital grooves and moods—time for another re-listen: www.tremolofields.com

“‘Chump Change,” a deeply researched debunking of the official bullshit touting cruise-ship tourism’s local benefits. 18 cruise seasons later, the grassroots battle against these noxious behemoths rages on more fiercely than ever." @the-bollard.bsky.social thebollard.com/2008/06/05/c...

Plus poetry, a chance to harangue Janet Mills about poetry, and exposing the real sources of poverty in South Asia

Dig in!

Verso book's theory sale ends today. Last chance (for now) to get The Double Shift for 40% off. www.versobooks.com/products/292...

April South Portland scoop🎉 @sarahdavisgoff.bsky.social @readbookpage.bsky.social @the-bollard.bsky.social #booksky

for the morning crowd… the band i’ve been singing and playing guitar in for the last year or two has a song out! we are playing at apohadion next sunday 3/12 with Field Studies and @gumparker.bsky.social ! come out!

Behold! The band that defeated Death itself!

Our hard-hitting April issue is now online for our Substack supporters. Join us today & read all about it!

Comedy, Americana, acrobatics, an AI doom movie and this week's guide to museums and galleries await your click:

"A recent survey of Americans appears to confirm this, with nine of ten respondents reporting that existence, as they perceive it, 'sucks.'"

The average driving-age Mainer will pay an extra $30 a month from an increase in gas prices of $1/gallon thanks to Trump's War. That's $36 million a month statewide #mepolitics itep.org/gas-prices-s...

This also tracks with Mills’ opposition to reinstating parole: self-improvement is either impossible or a lie. This dark and destructive view of human nature pervades her politics.

There'll be a listening party for this one tonight at DTL

This weekend's schedule of delightful local strangeness:

Hop aboard this disco train - subscribe today!

Susan Collins's taxpayer-paid chief of staff leaves his govt job to join her campaign and her former comms director who left last year for K Street rejoins her staff. The line between govt service, campaign work and DC influence peddling ceases to exist once you enter Collins's orbit. #MEpolitics

Bollards save lives AND bring immense joy and happiness to the world. #WorldBollardAssociation

Bollards save lives. End of story. #WorldBollardAssociation

A truly magnificent sight (slightly ruined by Windsor Castle). #WorldBollardAssociation

Get news of the future today at our Substack!

If you were cool, you'd be getting our Bollard Bulletin arts & entertainment guide each morning. It's never too late to be cool.

March South Portland scoop🎉 @readbookpage.bsky.social @the-bollard.bsky.social @silviamg.bsky.social #booksky

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR EVIL CRIMINAL MASTERMINDS ROAMING SOUTHERN MAINE!

The mind products of our socialist utopia:

Our resident Elvis expert (!) Kelli Schmidt writes about Baz Luhrmann’s second feature about the King. 👑 open.substack.com/pub/themaine...

This is a publicly funded industry, proof that the U.S. can create jobs programs and design industrial policy when it wants to, but only substantially does so for the purpose of war and violence.

Let's get ready to rumble & rhumba!

For Maine's art scene, spring has definitely sprung!

We're spending more EACH DAY on Susan Collins and Donald Trump's deadly war of choice than Collins procured in earmarks over the last SEVERAL YEARS. Worth thinking about the next time Maine press runs a warmed over press release about the money Collins is supposedly bringing home. #MEpolitics

The “euphoria” with which these US jihadists preach to our troops is the scariest part. 100% CULT

Susan Collins and Jared Golden are praying for U.S. troops. We’ve received a response!

One of my favourite sides of politics/media.

A stunningly beautiful album by the Maine gothic-folk artist awaits your ears and hearts...

Our monthly contribution to the fine folks at @the-bollard.bsky.social: This Month at the Movies! bollardhead.substack.com/p/this-month...

"I'm just a small-town lawyer from Brunswick, Maine. I don't know what a 'war' is." — Sen. Angus King, paraphrased

HERE IT IS: Your entertaining and enlightening free guide to upcoming film screenings