Brendan Francis Newnam
Brendan Francis Newnam created and co-hosted the nationally syndicated radio show and podcast The Dinner Party Download for ten years where he interviewed some of the biggest stars and thinkers of our…
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Brendan has never been to Portland, Maine, but that hasn’t stopped him wanting to live there. This episode he and Danielle Henderson head to Vacationland to see if it can live up to its nickname. Fueled by lobster rolls and salt air, the two visit lighthouses, bookshops and the world’s only known museum of the umbrella cover. And to really get a sense of what it means to be a Mainer, they visit the Vatican for preppies: the headquarters of LL Bean. After conversations with poets, politicians, baristas and business owners in Portland, Brendan is left with one outstanding question: Is Maine too strange? For a transcript of this episode, click here.
Produced and Written By: Brendan Francis Newnam
Lead Producer: Tally Abecassis
Associate Producer: Jackson Musker
Story Editor: Mira Burt-Wintonick
Mixed & Mastered By: Hannis Brown
Special Thanks: Danielle Henderson (Read her memoir, The Ugly Cry now!)
Executive Producers: Christy Gressman, Maria Zuckerman, Lisa Leingang, and Leital Molad
Production Assistance: Jacob Smith, Amy Gaines, and Julia Barton
Theme Song By: Alexis Georgopolous aka ARP (You can check out his music at Mexican Summer Records)
Special Thanks: Everyone in Portland, especially poet laureate Steve Latrelle, Tom Begly at LL Bean, My Brendan doppleganger at Coffee by Design, Nancy 3. Hoffman, and Deqa Dhalac – who I’m happy to say recently got a promotion. She’s now the **Mayor** of South Portland!
A big thanks to our pizza party hosts: Tristan Gallagher and Michelle Souliere (check out Tristan’s spot, Coast City Comics). You can buy Michelle’s books, the ones she wrote, Strange Maine and Bigfoot in Maine, as well as many other fine publications at her own bookstore: the Green Hand Book Shop.
Brendan Francis Newnam created and co-hosted the nationally syndicated radio show and podcast The Dinner Party Download for ten years where he interviewed some of the biggest stars and thinkers of our…