BANGOR – Bangor’s first proper Fourth of July celebration in three years included a concert at the newly renovated Maine Savings Amphitheater where celebrators and musicians alike got what they wanted by helping Maine children fighting cancer get what they need.

“Chords for Cure XXV” was a three-part benefit concert spearheaded by The Stone Doctors, a band of medical professionals that specialize in performing the music of The Rolling Stones. The band only performs for charity and has been performing concerts in aid of Maine children fighting cancer, and for the Montreal Children’s Hospital, since 2007.

“Chords for Cure XXV” was sponsored by Kiwanis International with generous support from Bangor Savings Bank, Darling’s Auto Group and Waterfront Concerts.

From the beginning, blues music has been about feeling, about emotion, about transcending oppression, about righting wrongs and healing hurt through music. For most musicians that closely identify with the blues, it’s an indelible part of their makeup that can’t be denied.

Blues lovers and performers Deborah Bonham and Peter Bullick personify that notion on their self-titled LP, “Bonham-Bullick,” a multi-faceted blues album containing lesser known or obscure titles composed by a number of blues greats and some contemporary artists, including one from Maine.

Bonham and Bullick have been bringing the blues to fans in the U.K. and beyond with their band for more than 25 years. They knew they were destined to be together from the day they met in 1990 at the wedding of mutual friends. Peter supplied his band as a wedding gift and when Deborah got up to sing a song, he says “That was it, really, ever since that night.”

One of the most successful music duos of all time is about to come together. Fifty years after Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina first performed at the Hollywood Bowl, they’re about to do it again. Loggins and Messina are scheduled for two shows at the historic venue on July 15 and July 16.

During an interview with The Maine Edge, which aired on BIG 104 FM, Jim Messina admits that memories of the duo’s first Hollywood Bowl performance are a little hazy, but he makes a valid point when prompted for his recollections of that day.

Messina’s work with Loggins spanned just five years but they managed to record six albums including the platinum sellers “Sittin’ In” (1971), “Loggins and Messina” (1972) and “Full Sail” (1973). Hit singles included the rocker “Your Momma Don’t Dance,” and pop hits “Thinking of You,” and “My Music.”

Messina was well known in his own right before he met Kenny Loggins as a staff producer at Columbia Records. Four years earlier, at age 19, Messina was a recording engineer for Atlantic Records and was partially responsible for capturing the timeless music heard on the Buffalo Springfield albums “Again” (1967) and “Last Time Around” (1968). The latter album also featured Messina as producer and band member.

When Buffalo Springfield split in 1968, Messina joined founding member Richie Furay in the band Poco with Timothy B. Schmit, Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner. After two studio albums and a live record, Messina departed to resume producing other artists.

Messina occasionally tours with his solo band and he recently released the excellent live album “In The Groove,” featuring the late Rusty Young on pedal steel guitar. It’s a beautifully recorded set featuring songs from every era of Messina’s career.

We remember Frank Zappa as a brilliant composer, an ultimate nonconformist, a cultural satirist without peer and as a dedicated workaholic that seemingly spent every waking moment either writing, recording or performing music.

The Zappa Band is a six-piece group consisting of former members of Frank’s band whose mission it is to deliver his music as accurately as possible in a live concert experience.

The Zappa Band dipped their toes in the water last year when they opened shows on a tour with King Crimson and have just wrapped a successful initial headlining tour with the hope of announcing further dates in the future.

The lineup of The Zappa Band features Mike Keneally on guitars, keys and vocals, Ray White on vocals and guitar, Robert Martin on vocals, keys and sax, Scott Thunes on bass and vocals, Joe Travers on drums and vocals, and Jamie Kime on guitar.

Mike Keneally was just 25 years old when his dream of performing in Frank Zappa’s band became reality. He joined the band, playing guitar and keyboards on what proved to be the legend’s final tour in 1988.

Following Zappa’s death in 1993, Keneally went on to work with Zappa’s eldest son Dweezil on solo albums and in the band Z. He’s been a member of Zappa alumni Steve Vai’s touring band, Joe Satriani’s studio band, and has released more than 35 solo albums, including 2012’s “Wing Beat Fantastic,” featuring songs written by Keneally with Andy Partridge of XTC.

During the following interview, Keneally recalls the incredible story of how he entered Zappa’s orbit after years dedicated to listening and learning the complete Zappa discography.

(This interview aired in its entirety on the web-based jam-band station JEMP Radio (www.JEMPradio.com) and has been edited here for space.)