Legendary Locals Of Wallingford

Legendary Locals of Wallingford is about fabric—the fabric of community that is made up of an amazing variety of threads, yarns, and whole panels of every color, design, and origin. These represent the people of the community. Wallingford’s story goes back over 350 years and encompasses an enormous range of people with every kind of motivation for being part of this town. The people of this community love where they live and give back to the townspeople who have supported their businesses, educated their children, and protected them in so many ways. Wallingford has produced a number of people of celebrity, including Morton Downey, the famous singer and songwriter of the 1920s and 1930s, and also his son Morton Downey Jr., who earned a name for himself in the TV talk show world; Beverly Donofrio authored Riding in Cars With Boys; Maureen Moore acts on Broadway; sculptor Robert Gober recently completed a major show at MOMA in New York; and Maj. Raoul Lufbery was a renowned World War I Flying Ace. These and more are celebrated here.

Legendary Locals of Wallingford is about fabric--the fabric of community that is made up of an amazing variety of threads, yarns, and whole panels of every color, design, and origin. These represent the people of the community. Wallingford's story goes back over 350 years and encompasses an enormous range of people with every kind of motivation for being part of this town. The people of this community love where they live and give back to the townspeople who have supported their businesses, educated their children, and protected them in so many ways. Wallingford has produced a number of people of celebrity, including Morton Downey, the famous singer and songwriter of the 1920s and 1930s, and also his son Morton Downey Jr., who earned a name for himself in the TV talk show world; Beverly Donofrio authored Riding in Cars With Boys; Maureen Moore acts on Broadway; sculptor Robert Gober recently completed a major show at MOMA in New York; and Maj. Raoul Lufbery was a renowned World War I Flying Ace. These and more are celebrated here.

In as much as it has endowed the region with a rich heritage, plentiful stories, and a host of colorful characters, history has been kind to Androscoggin County. But history can also be dark and uncanny, as when Francis E. Stanley, a Lewiston resident and inventor of an early steam-powered vehicle, died in an automobile accident. It can be eerie, like when his twin brother opened an enormous hotel--now purportedly home to his ghost--that became the inspiration for Stephen King's novel The Shining. These twists of fate begin to unravel the tale of Androscoggin County's legendary locals. Some, like Benjamin Bates and Edward Little, are remembered for the institutions they helped create. Others raised the hopes and spirits of their neighbors, like Joey Gamache, who won two boxing world titles in the early 1990s. Still others are remembered for the subtler ways they affected change, like Rita Dube, who saved Lewiston's St. Mary's Church from demolition and helped create the Franco-American Heritage Center. Some notable residents ascended to the highest offices of government, others to national fame, but many are remembered for the significant ways they shaped their communities, and Androscoggin County, from within.

Main Street Melody is an uninhibited, melodramatic novel of love and romance that speaks to the intrinsic sway of ... music. MELODY reveals the power of music. Often, just the first few bars of a tune can revive a memory of many decades ago or almost magically flip an internal switch, changing despair into joy and loneliness into a swath of warmth. No other domain in our society has that capacity and that personal impact. Music, in its many forms, meets the “needs” of every person in every demographic category. The teenage and adult characters in this textured novel of the age of innocence will touch your heart in endless ways from the tenderness of a first kiss, to the nefarious pranks of unfettered youth. In each moment of wonderment there will be music as you have never experienced it before. From the echoes of car radios, to the magnificent sound of a concert band, the creative excitement of a garage band to that singular voice, that when heard just once can never be forgotten. The purported calculable components of life are often capricious, as one can never count on the preciseness of happenstance. Such are the purported necessities of life, food, water, shelter, and clothing. Indeed, each is indispensable but at the mercy of economic and environmental conditions. With all of that to contemplate in the textured world all about us, one element brings forth the dreams and memories of special moments, hope, and love, ... MUSIC. The dramatic conclusion surely will convince you that MUSIC, like love, never fails, and no matter the occasion or the circumstance of life, music makes the darkest moments more tolerable and enhances the zenithal peaks of a lifetime. “Main Street” Melody will capture the fullness of your senses ... and bring music to new heights in your heart.

Anyone who has lived near New Haven, Connecticut, in the past 40-plus years has surely heard of Toad’s Place. With a capacity of 750, Toad’s has served as the perfect spot for musicians who prefer smaller venues. U2 played one of their first US concerts there, on their Boy tour. In 1978, Bruce Springsteen was in New Haven and arrived at Toad’s unannounced, and got up and played. The surprises kept coming and the club was attracting big names, as well as up-and-comers. In 1989, the Rolling Stones played a surprise show on a Saturday night, giving 700 fans the night of their dreams. Nothing could have been better—the Rolling Stones in downtown New Haven was unimaginable! That is only a taste of the stories that are uncovered in this book. Randall Beach and Toad’s owner Brian Phelps recall the legendary shows and behind-the-scenes stories.