She’d heard all her adult life that she had a good, clear and listenable voice and so Kay Mann decided in her early 60s to just “go for it!” She’s taken how-to courses and is working hard toward getting hired. RECORDED 3/31/21 — AIR DATE 5/2/21
Maine's music man appears everywhere as THE SALT WATER HILLBILLY. Everyone knows Dennis. He has a huge fan base all over Maine. He sings in all genres from cowboy to Opera to Country to ballads to show tunes. He also acts. Tourists love him. Mainers love him too. Recorded 3/19/21 —Air Date 4/25/21
A graduate of Parson’s, Karen Twombly had a successful jewelry making business until the costs of gold and silver became too high. She then began making elegant, always shiny, thick, beautifully designed tags for dogs or any pets. Sales are booming! Recorded 3/17/21 — Air date 4/18/21
Georgeann’s “paintings” are glorious, fascinating and extremely labor intensive since she makes her works of art from wood, fabric, plants, an endless supply of growing things, and lots and lots of pulp. They are hard to describe but compelling to see and can be viewed at her Widgeon Cove Gallery in Harpswell. (Recording date: March 12th, 2021)
This hard-working couple, while holding down full-time jobs, followed an entrepreneurial dream and purchased a company that makes the famous Maine candy, Needhams. They love the work and hope their only job will eventually be to just make the candy and sell it out of small coffee/tea shops around Maine. (Recording date: March 1st, 2021)
This very busy couple signed onto the Bowdoin College Host program years ago and have had the best experience of their lives meeting, knowing and helping kids from far away places, seeing them grow and mature and flourish. They have made friends for life and so have those Bowdoin students. (Recording date: February 26th, 2021)
Kathy Wilson is known by everyone in Brunswick because of her extensive work with and grooming of people’s dogs (they do listen to her) and because of her unfailingly hard work on the Town Council and because she is out on her bike in all kinds of weather. (Radio air date: February 28th, 2021)
Rusty makes the business of auctioneering sound fascinating, fun, engrossing and as if one’s life is lacking something if one hasn’t attended at least one of his fabulous auctions. His knowledge of the value of our stuff is incomparable! (Radio air date: March 14th, 2021)
This animal loving, horseback riding, running, intensely busy baker in Manchester can bake and make anything but is famous for her spectacular cupcakes that are in fact cupcake pies and cakes with elaborate artistic toppings. They are fabulous, all from scratch with indescribable flavors. (Radio Air date: February 14th, 2021)
The fetching young woman known as KINKY SLIPPERS puts on bawdy, funny, risqué shows that hearken back to the raucous days of Vaudeville and Burlesque. She is great fun, very funny and people all ages, male and female, flock to her shows. (Radio air date: March 7th, 2021)
Anyone can aim a camera or a phone and click off a bunch of pictures. Eric Storm is all over Maine from 4 AM on, year ‘round, and photos you’ve seen forever, as photo’d by him, take on a whole new meaning because of how he presents them. Storm’s pictures tell us all haunting, curious stories. (Recording date: February 21st, 2021)
Caroline Byrne is a biologist who loves and studies all animals but in particular, bats! She tries hard to dispel the creepy stories about them and works at showing us all how important they are to all of us, especially because our local Maine bats are keen on ridding us of mosquitoes, their favorite food. (Recording date: December 6th, 2020)
She had developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, her back ached, other parts of her body were seriously hurting and finally after the fates kept “showing” her info on Tai Chi she took the hint, took some lessons, and immediately felt great. In time she began to learn how to teach, she now has lots of students, and Diane Doiron has never looked back. (Recording date: December 13th, 2020)
Jen Marchiani's Wildlife Rehab is located in Auburn and is run almost completely alone by Jen Marchiani who lost her heart to all living things as a child and so today runs her Wildlife Rehab business. Her stories are sad and happy and always challenging. If a damaged creature is curable, Marchiani cures it. (Recording date: December 20th, 2020)
Wendy Flynn of Brunswick loves dogs and people too, but she and her husband take in special dogs as part of their first training for Guiding Eyes, an organization that perfectly matches people who have sight disabilities, with fabulously trained, brilliant dogs, usually Labs. These marvelous animals give blind people safe and happy lives. (Recording date: December 27th, 2020)
Sarah teaches us that these funny, smart and clean animals make charming, sweet and loving pets. She has placed countless domestic rats into worthy homes and has definitely removed the “eeeuuuw” factor from them. (Recording date: January 3rd, 2021)
He started out as a chef and while becoming very good at that became fascinated at the ice sculptures often displayed at the hotels where he was preparing fabulous meals — often sculpting vegetables into beautiful shapes for the diners. Bluck yearned to learn ice sculpting and today is in great demand from New England to DC for his magnificent creations. (Recording date: September 27th, 2020)
In spite of great success at ballet, Elizabeth Druker's journey through years of ballet training, and dancing with the most famous dancers and in world-famous dance productions in New York City and elsewhere, showed her that she was not 100% satisfied in doing just that; when she began to teach ballet is when she knew she'd discovered what she really was meant to do in the world of dance. She has taught well over 100 students, loves her job and is sure she will never stop. (Recording date: Septe...
Jim's story on how he discovered musical instruments and music in wood and stone and glass and other things makes us all wonder why we too can't hear the things we see. His exquisite, weird instruments, sold around the world, are so precise and so beautiful they are often bought as works of art even if the new owner is not musically inclined at all. (Recording date: September 13th. 2020)
Phyllis Blackstone of Brunswick, Maine tells us how all our whole life is a story, and the telling of it can tell the world who we are and why and how. She also tells us how she taught school for 43 years using story telling as her strongest tool, and she looks forward to coming back on Amazing Mainers to tell some of her favorite made-up tales. (Recording date: September 6th, 2020)
You want to know everything about New England light houses and light houses in general—and I mean everything? Then you want to contact this man—he's written 21 books on the subject, has taken people on tours of all of them and he will work to keep history alive for as long as Jeremy is alive. (Recording date: August 30th, 2020)
When young Jim Dill was growing up in Gardiner Maine, he collected every living thing he found in the woods and cared for them in a special room in his childhood home. He grew up to be the go-to guy for all insect problems in Maine and elsewhere, he wears many hats and manages to do all things well, and one of his hats is Maine State Senator. (Recording date: August 23rd, 2020)
After a long and successful career teaching, Debbie "retired" and took on the Stanley Steamer Car museum in Kingfield, Maine, where she and her husband teach tourists about the contributions the Stanley twins made to Maine and America - and to show them they Steamer cars they own - and treasure! (Recording date: August 16th, 2020)
Lori Crook and BJ Russell live and love in Round Pond, Maine, a place they love, work in and for, know they are happily in the middle of a Norman Rockwell painting. It is a lovely, loving and sweet story, and all the money there is could never get them to leave their beloved Round Pond. (Recording date: August 9th, 2020)
Fly Rod Crosby was a champion fly casting woman in the 1880s, who overcame tuberculosis, being 6' tall, and especially being a woman in a man's world. A columnist for Maine papers, she also became Maine's first wilderness guide and most shocking of all she wore skirts that were 8-10 inches shorter than they "should" have been. (Recording date: August 2nd, 2020)
Alan Bradstreet of Pownal, Maine demonstrates his ability to take anything he finds or borrows or takes and shows us how to turn it all into entertainment gold, how to convince all his friends to joyfully follow along with him and how he quite obviously is the reincarnation of Dr. Suess, Rube Goldberg and Spike Jones all rolled into one funny, creative, talented, weird and fascinating man. (Recording date: July 26, 2020)
Oddly, she'd always dreamed of going to Italy from as far back as she could remember, so when the opportunity came for her to study in Florence, she grabbed it; she was not disappointed in any of the experience, was so enchanted by the architecture, art, and people there that she will go back as soon as she can, maybe won't return anytime soon! (Recording date: July 19th, 2020)
Joe Andrew of Harpswell has spent a large portion of his now 94 years teaching and talking about the joys of mathematics, all maths, "even arithmetic!", and is intent on showing everyone there's beauty, discipline, necessity, fun, satisfaction and joy in learning. (Recording date: July 12th, 2020)
After having to leave her job as Command Sergeant Major in the US Army because of literally being blown up causing her to permanently lose her hearing and to suffer many other injuries, Gretchen finally meets her Hearing Service Dog "Aura" who becomes her ears, and gives her a whole new feeling about life and living; she became Executive Director of the Dogtopia Foundation, traveling everywhere to raise money for the training and placing of these valuable, important dogs so that wounded vets can...
In this first of two shows, Sergeant Evans tells us how she struggled and worked to overcome this horrendous personal loss, how she regained most of her normal life back, is now focused on a very important cause, and how she now considers her situation a great gift. (Recording date: June 28th, 2020)
