[HIP HOP] Buffalo-based hip hop label Deep Thinka hosts a funky DIY hip hop showcase this Sunday, September 10 at pop-up venue Faux/Real. The show, which is billed as a “no gimmicks, no bullshit,” celebration of hip hop culture features Deuce Ellis, Short Moscato, Mad Dukez, Cee Gee, and Rap & Destroy.
[FOLK] Magpie is a three-piece folk band with a pretty spiritual philosophy. With band members hailing from Nashville, Tennessee and Moab, Utah, the band combines folk rock with jazz and country to create a moody, sometimes psychedelic sound accentuated by singer Zach Dunn’s soul searching lyrics. The band comes to Buffalo Iron Works on Wednesday, September 13 with support from local indie rock bands The Tins and Mom Said No.
[FUNK] The final concert of the year in the Live at Larkin concert series happens this Wednesday, September 6. The free concert will feature funk/soul band Dive House Union and blues rockers the Jony James Band. Chances are both bands will combine their forces for a collaborative set at the end of the night too. Check it out this Wednesday in Larkin Square.
[WORKSHOP] Creative Space is a new music industry related workshop for musicians, photographers, journalists, and marketers. The workshop event will be held this Friday, September 8 at the Barrel Factory and will feature a panel of industry insiders who will speak to and engage with a group of artist-students.
[FOLK] You may not know who Dan Tedesco is, but that’s ok. It’s actually kind of the point. Dan Tedesco is kind of your average joe working musician, or at least that’s how he comes off. He’s actually more than that, in fact, he’s also a film maker, and that, rather than—or in addition to—his acoustic folk rock music, is what has him out on the road right now. He’s on tour screening his film, Chasing the Lighting: A Working Musician’s Life, which is a document of his life as an independent working musician.
[POST-HARDCORE] I remember seeing the Fall of Troy perform at the Buffalo Icon years ago. I was really into the band and I remember guitarist Thomas Erak shredding a guitar solo with one hand while looking at his watch on his opposite wrist. The band has always been, at least a little bit, about Erak showing off his insane post-hardcore guitar soloing skills, and that’s what made them stand out from the sometimes-too-serious scene.
[WEIRD] If you know who David LIebe Hart is, then you know he’s one heck of a weird dude. If you don’t know who David Liebe Hart is, he’s part of a stable of surrealist comics headed by Tim Heideck and Eric Wareheim of Tim And Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! fame. If this is your introduction to Liebe Hart, let me direct you to our interview with the comedian published last year. It’s full of some great out-of-context quotes like “I want an attractive, slender woman.
[COMEDY] Shawn Wayans of Wayans family of comedy has probably played some of your favorite Wayans-acted characters. There’s Ashtray from Don’t Be a Menace to South Central; Ray Wilkins in Scary Movie 1 and 2; and of course one half of the white chicks in White Chicks. I mean, maybe not so much that last one, but In Living Color probably makes up for all of that.
[INDIE] Two potent Buffalo-based indie rock bands, M.A.G.S. and The Slums, have teamed up for a double album release show this Friday, September 8 at Mohawk Place, presented by Yace Booking. M.A.G.S the indie-punk band headed by Elliott Douglas will drop their latest, self titled album; while The Slums celebrate the release of their new EP, Bloodsucker. They’ll be joined by out-of-towner emo band Jouska, and Buffalo synth pop band Humble Braggers.
[FESTIVAL] The 16th edition of Buffalo’s Music is Art Festival will take place on Saturday, September 9 at a new location this year, Buffalo River Works, and the line up is just as extensive as ever. The main upshot of this move is that River Works offers some indoor and outdoor spaces in case of bad weather, which has plagued this late summer/early fall festival in the past. As of the time of this writing, however, the forecast for this weekend looks sunny.
[POP] In an interview with the New York Times published earlier this year, Jack Antonoff, frontman of the band Bleachers, talks about why he walked away from his former band Fun—which hit it big with their Grammy Award winning song “We Are Young” in 2011. “I remember immediately — immediately — feeling like, ‘I don’t want to play “We Are Young” when I’m 35,’” Antonoff said. “‘I don’t want to be defined by this.’” It wasn’t that he didn’t like the song, it was that it didn’t feel like his song.
[ROCK] Glenn Danzig may not be known as rock and roll’s friendliest front man, but he certainly has a fondness for Steve Zing. Zing has been one of Danzig’s most frequent musical collaborators, playing bass and drums in post-Misfits punk-goth-metal outfit Samhain in the 1980s and during subsequent reunions, and as touring bassist for the band Danzig since 2006. Clearly, Danzig likes working with the multi-talented and amiable Zing, who is a fellow Lodi, New Jersey native.
[?] From the realm of the truly ridiculous comes a local appearance of the Youtube star Lil BUB, who is a cat. Albeit a cat with preternaturally large eyes and the innate ability to gently protude its tongue from its face so as to always look pathetic but also sympathetic and adorable. Lil BUB is making a guest appearance this Saturday at the West Side restaurant the Black Sheep because that’s what you do when you’re a feline celebirty, so we’ve been told. It’s a simple meet and greet. With a cat.
[HIP HOP] On Thursday, September 7, Wu Tang Clan member Raekwon will come to Buffalo for a show at the Town Ballroom. Originally scheduled for the Waiting Room, the show was moved this week after the Waiting Room suddenly closed. Raekwon has been an integral part of Wu Tang Clan since the rap group formed in Staten Island New York in 1992.
For the balance of this column, let us assume that the New York State Thruway is a roadway for which exorbitant tolls remain necessary. Let us agree, for the sake of argument, that it is somehow acceptable to pay just under $20 to travel on an expressway from Transit Road to Yonkers Raceway.