I graduated from Emerson in '07 and right now I'm really close to Portsmouth. Not a whole lot going on in the region, so yeah, I've spent considerable time getting to know both :). Portland just started taking off within the last 10 years, so I don't really know it. I hear good things though.
Oh wow, no way! Portsmouth has a few breweries that I want to check out, so at least it has that going. Portland is a great area, I've been there a couple of times over the last few years since I know some people that live around that city. It's got some great beaches, restaurants, and a lot of cool little stores hidden around. Let me know if you ever want to get together over the next few months, maybe we could try to have a New England Hubski meetup.
I really liked Portland when I lived there briefly. There were some awesome record shops and comic book shops. I wish I would've been there for the summer though. I heard its fantastic. You guys should def put on a northeastern meetup. If it's during the summer I might make the trip out there. I've had my fill of cold weather for now.
Yeah man. shoot me some mail with some possibilities and maybe we can grab a drink or two. Oh, that reminds me. Is the Thirsty Moose Taphouse on your list? Last year I talked to someone who said she was a part-owner of the place and she mentioned that they're always looking to book musicians, though she did say that they had a lot lined up at the time.
That place was not on my list, but I'm adding it since they seem to have a great beer selection. I'll send you mail and we can figure it out from there, I'm free most weekends though. I really need to get a live setup going for my electronic music.