Humorist preparing for Raymond Village Library concert

By Kaysa Jalbert

This Saturday, there will be no “shushing” in the Raymond Village Library, only strumming, singing, and laughter. Musician and humorist Red Gallagher will be performing a public concert at the Village Library in Raymond at noon on Saturday, April 26.

Musician and humorist Red Gallagher will be performing 
a public concert at the Raymond Village Library at noon
on Saturday, April 26. COURTESY PHOTO 

Red Gallagher puts on an up-beat performance that blends music and humor. As a one-man-band he plays guitar, harmonica, piano and sings. He’s created parodies from top artists such as Steve Goodman, John Prime and the Beatles. Overall, his songs include blues, jazz, country, folk, rock and roll and many classic pop tunes.

The show also welcomes a special guest, Lorraine Gallagher, Red Gallagher’s talented wife with beautiful vocals. Together, the two form The Redbird Duo. Lorraine Gallagher is a New England woman who sings and plays guitar. Her song selections include classics from Joni Mitchell, Carol King, Eva Cassidy, and other great female artists.

Gallagher has been a full-time professional musician for 49 years. He has made three vinyl records and two solo compact disc albums and one compact disc album for The Redbird Duo. Additionally, he has toured with renowned artists such as B.B. King, B.J. Thomas, The Oak Ridge Boys, and rock band Three Dog Night.

“Highest thrills of my career were opening concerts for B.B. King,” said Gallagher, “He was very nice to me, and it's all been downhill since then,” he joked, “and also he gave me some good advice, but I stayed in music anyway.”

When ask if he is retired, Gallagher answered, “I'm not retired by any means. I'm still working full time, but I have retired from the nightclub scene.”

In other words, he doesn’t party like he used to, but the party is still happening.

“I've done a lot of things in my career, you know, college circuit, cruise ships, big name concert openers but, at this point, I'm mainly doing community shows for seniors and social groups and festivals,” Gallagher said.

Next week, Gallagher has six concerts booked all at various retirement communities, and another six more the following week. Since straying away from the late-night music scene, Gallagher has found himself enjoying sharing his time, music and jokes with folks similar to his own age, who can share the nostalgia in his performance.

“It’s really rewarding,” says Gallagher, “They love it, and I get a lot of real positive feedback from them. Also, they think I'm young,” he laughs, “but really they’re my age, in their 70s and such, so, like me they grew up with The Beatles and Bob Dylan. I know a lot of music that they enjoy and remember.”

Gallagher is now 75 years old and is originally from the Midwest and lived most of his adult life in Minneapolis-St. Paul. He uses many aspects of his life to create comical parodies. From the state of Minnesota he created Minnesota Winter which has been upgraded in the past 20 years to New England Winter. Yes, it’s a song about how cold and grumpy we all get in winter, but we love it, we really do.

The musician has always included humor in his performances. Why?

“Because I like to laugh, and I like to make people laugh,” he said.

Gallagher moved to New Hampshire roughly 20 years ago and stayed for 10 years, before moving to Maine where he has resided since.

Lorraine and Red Gallagher married 19 years ago. They dated for two years, and he never knew she was musical. Once it was discovered, they started singing and playing together and have since created The Redbird Duo. The Redbird Duo will be performing at the Fryeburg fair twice this year, and also at the Steep Falls Gazebo in Standish on July 30.

His career started when as a young, 25-year-old with clearly enough confidence, he strolled into a booking agency, sang some songs and made them laugh, and the rest is history. Gallagher’s family wasn’t full of musicians and performers, in fact the only family member that played an instrument was his aunt, who played the piano. She taught him piano and became a huge supporter as he made his way onto the stage as a young boy. In high school, Gallagher taught himself guitar to play some of his favorite tunes.

Here’s a snippet of one of Red Gallagher’s parody songs called Mini Van Driver. “I used to ride a Harley, I used to have a vet, my old Mercedes was the coolest yet, but I got middle-aged and I woke up one day to discover that I’ve become a minivan driver.” <

‘Evening of Global Jazz’ coming to Hawthorne House in Raymond

Spotlighting its new role as a community and cultural arts center for the Sebago Lake area, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Boyhood Home at 40 Hawthorne Road in Raymond will showcase an “Evening of Global Jazz” with the McCoy Mrubata/Gary Wittner Duo at 7 p.m. Friday, April 18.

An 'Evening of Global Jazz' featuring the McCoy Mrubata/
Gary Wittner Duo will be performed at the Hawthorne
House, 40 Hawthorne Road in Raymond at 7 p.m. Friday
April 18 and tickets are now on sale for the event.
COURTESY PHOTO 

South African saxophonist/composer McCoy Mrubata and his friend, guitarist Gary Wittner, have been performing together since 2006. 

Mrubata is a recent recipient of the South African Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Kennedy Center International Arts Gold Medal. He was a member of the legendary Hugh Masekela’s band in the 1990s and has released more than 20 albums that combine jazz and elements of traditional South African music.

Gary Wittner has performed on five continents, representing the U.S. as a Kennedy Center Jazz Ambassador, a Fulbright Specialist, and a US Embassy Outreach Artist. He has performed with numerous jazz luminaries and has released seven albums as well as the popular book Thelonious Monk for Guitar. He is a music faculty member at the University of Southern Maine School of Music and at Bowdoin College.

Admission is $25 per person, payable at the door in cash or with a check payable to “Hawthorne Community Association.” Space is limited to 50 people, so the Hawthorne House strongly suggests that the public RSVP at info@hawthorneassoc.com or by calling Becky at 207-329-0537.

For more details, please visit https://hawthorneassoc.com/ or send an email to info@hawthorneassoc.com. <

Local artist showcases paintings at Portland Art Museum

By Masha Yurkevich

Reaching for the stars is exactly what Holden Willard, 2017 WHS graduate, did.

Windham High graduate Holden Willard of Raymond
stands next to his painting being displayed at the
Portland Art Museum. SUBMITTED PHOTO

Born in Rockport in 1999, Willard and his family moved to Raymond because his father received a job as the Town Manager in Raymond. Willard grew up in Raymond, went to Raymond Elementary and Jordan-Small Middle School and later graduated from Windham High School in 2017. He is now a painter and an art framer/preparator as well as a carpenter.

“I have always drawn from a young age; I can remember drawing constantly in sketch pads, on the walls, and on cardboard sculptures I would make throughout the house,” said Willard. “For many years, I did not fully accept that I could be an artist, until Jeffrey Bell at Windham High School pushed me to follow my dream and had me try painting when I was 17. That changed everything.”

Becoming an artist was always a dream for Willard.

“It was an unrealized dream for so long as a kid,” he said. “I knew deep down I wanted to create, but I needed that kick from someone other than my parents to tell me I had it in me. Now it feels as simple as breathing air or going on a walk. I just make paintings about life, and I feel as though I will never stop. In my core, it brings me the greatest joy imaginable.”

For Willard, it started as a child, as a hobby at first, something to do that made him happy other than reading or being outside. But when he went through Bell’s WHS AP studio art course, he knew that he needed to make art at some point.

“When I left WHS, I attended UMaine Orono for one year and then transferred to the Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts,” he said. “It was there that I studied with serious professors and learned from an education that was steeped in the American Modernist tradition of painting. When I was 19, I told myself, why not just apply to group shows around Beverly and begin showing work? And that’s exactly what I did. I remember applying to my first ever group show and getting in. It was all the way down in Cape Cod, and I was bringing a self-portrait with me that I made in my foundation year at art school.”

Willard took this chance, not knowing that this was the very beginning of a long life of traveling for shows and being an independent working artist.

“It felt incredible to show work, and I remember I won some 1st place award from that show, and it was my first time in a gallery,” he said. “I had mixed emotions, mainly because I felt as though I did not deserve it.”

He kept working at his art, learning new techniques and getting better.

“Where I am at now because of art is totally unimaginable,” he said. “But I have worked hard for it, I have two jobs, and I run a non-profit art gallery in Portland called 82Parris. Not only has art changed my life, but due to my passion for it, I also hope to extend that to other creatives in the region. We are just getting ready for our third year of programming with openings every first Friday of the month. My best advice for those interested in doing what I do is to go for it and do it because you love it and know that life would be too boring to not follow your passion.”

Willard currently exhibits at an art gallery in Camden called Page Gallery as well as a gallery in Brussels, Belgium called Edji Gallery.

“I am also beginning to work with a gallery in Shanghai, China called Nan Ke. Believe it or not, these connections have come through having and posting on Instagram,” Willard said. The social media landscape is confusing and has only gotten more complicated since I joined in 2014, but I have been posting ever since, getting my work out there.”

According to Willard, he believes that art is important for everyone, and that being creative is innately human and integral to expressing our emotions about and for life.

“What is more special than making something that has your essence in it? This goes for making things as well, anything that requires your thought and input creatively. That is why I make paintings and build things; it just makes sense to me; it’s important because it makes me happy.”

His inspiration comes from everyday life experiences. He paints about his boyhood in Maine, his coming of age from that, his friends, and narrative scenes that speak to youth as a larger whole.

At 5:30 p.m. April 4, Willard will be part of a ‘Painting in Play’ art talk at the Portland Art Museum, where he, along with fellow artists Meg Hahn and James Parker-Foley, will be talking about method, process and inspiration. Admission is free every first Friday at the museum and the show ends April 27.

“This show of 14 of my fellow peers showcases work of younger emerging artists who all have a connection to Maine in some way,” said Willard.

This will be Willard’s second showing in a museum like this. In 2023, he was selected by a jury to be in the CMCA Biennial that year.

“I wish I could paint full time, but for now, I work at my jobs and then find the time to paint,” he said. <