The Bollard Bulletin for Aug. 6, 2026

Comedian Michael Kosta is either on leave from The Daily Show News Team or on special assignment for them, investigating Portland for something to mock on national TV. Do not give Kosta any ideas when he appears at Aura (121 Center St.) with opener Kristy Kielbasinski at 7 p.m. Tix: $39.50-$60.50 (all ages). Instead, save those ideas and give ’em to a comic at Empire Comedy Club (575 Congress St.), where every first and third Thursday it’s Riff Bucket, hosted by Caleb Theodore Sherman, during which local comedians riff on topics you, the audience, provide, at 9 p.m. Pay what you want! (21+).

Buxton indie rockers Lolabelle have a bold new EP, Sugarbowl, and an unbeatable lineup for their release show at SPACE (538 Congress St., Portland), where they’ll be joined by fellow female-fronted groups pond 1000 and Freak Phone, who just dropped their own rippin’ EP, Fresh Set, at 8 p.m. Tix: $15 (all ages).

Mayo Street Arts (10 Mayo St., Portland) is launching a new music series in their building’s backyard — descriptively titled, Under the Willow — and the first act is Kouchera, who play a high-energy Haitian variation of meringue called Konpa mixed with continental R&B at 7 p.m. A few $15 tickets are still available as of this morning.

Here’s an intriguing one! As described on the website of Live at Madrid’s (144 Fore St., Portland), tonight’s rock band, called The Sauce, originally formed in Portland in 2001 and named themselves “after a popular frozen drink.” This prompted a cease-and-desist action by 7-Eleven, one so fearsome that even now, 25 years later, as the band gets together for a one-time reunion show decades in the making (joined by psych-rocker Jeff Beam to form a quintet), they dare not promote themselves as … Big Gulp! (Kidding, it’s Slurpee.) Show starts at 8 p.m. Tix: $20 (all ages).

It’s story time for grown-ups again at Blue Portland Maine (650 Congress St.), as host Nathan Eldridge of Co-Conspiritors presents Stories Told Live, a showcase of seven locals (including Phil Gaven, who owns The Honey Exchange in Deering Center with his wife and fellow storyteller Meghan Gaven) telling true-life tales of heartbreak and hilarity, at 7:15 p.m. Tix: $20 (21+).