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John Mayer

[ROCK] Say what you will about John Mayer, but he’s already having the last laugh. His role in the current incarnation of what was once the Grateful Dead—Dead and Co.—isn’t news, but it comes as a sign of respect from revered fellow musicians. Two-plus years ago when that project was getting off the ground, Mayer was near-unanimously voted Least Likely to Succeed by an army of radio-pop-eschewing granola lovers who felt as though their precious holy grail was being encroached upon. What is news, however, is that his gig alongside Bob Weir and Co.

Battle @ Buffalo Under The Lights 7

[HIP HOP] “Hip-hop is a beautiful culture. It’s inspirational because it’s a culture of survivors. You can create beauty out of nothingness.” This is a quote from hip hop artist Mos Def and it applies nicely to the art of breakdancing, an essential component of hip hop culture. Breakdancing is simply a person’s energy translated into hip hop terms—from standing upright to spinning on the floor in mere seconds, the message is always clearly transmitted, and can seemingly come from nowhere or perhaps from where you least expect.

Leeway

[PUNK] Some of New York City’s heaviest and most historic bands will stomp through the Mohawk Place over the coming weeks, beginning with the first ever Western New York performance by Leeway this Sunday, August 27.

John Kay and Steppenwolf

[ROCK] Financially speaking, if you could own the rights to any single song of the rock era, you’d be hard pressed to pick better than “Born to be Wild,” which in the years since it appeared in the film Easy Rider has become universal shorthand for chasing a dream of freedom out on the road. A song so iconic might have become a millstone around the neck of another band, but it perfectly displayed the hard rock style of Steppenwolf, who reworked it from a folk tune into the first heavy metal anthem.

Lea Bertucci at Silo City

[EXPERIMENTAL] Hey, there’s some more great, interesting, and fascinating art projects and events down at Silo City, what else is new? Summer’s not done yet. This Saturday another sonic artist tries their hand at manipulating the dense acoustic landscape of the silos. One of Squeaky Wheel’s summer residents, Lea Bertucci, and her electroacoustic saxophone quartet are bringing their version of mayhem into the Marine A silo to perform a special site-specific composition. 

Review: Wind River

Taylor Sheridan’s bleakly moody crime drama, Wind River, is linked to last year’s Hell or High Water because Sheridan wrote the script for the earlier movie. They’re both about crimes committed in territory where the residents’ lives are stressed and constrained by social and economic conditions. David Mackenzie’s Hell or High Water was a dandy piece of work, at least until about its last 10 minutes.

Review: Brigsby Bear

Where did he get the prescription eyeglasses from?

That’s a question that popped into my head while watching Brigsby Bear, the story of James (Saturday Night Live’s Kyle Mooney), a young man who spends the first 25 years of his life living in an underground bunker in Utah with a couple he thinks are his parents. Actually they kidnapped him as a baby, which he learns when he is rescued and brought into the outside world.

Hallwalls Members' Exhibit

The usual rule about artworks in a gallery is “Don’t Touch.” In the Hallwalls Members’ Exhibit, artist Kyla Avery Kegler turns the rule around, inviting viewers to touch her work, an abstract painting with the somewhat ungainly title Creamsicle Melting Water–Balloon Fight Fresh Blacktop Driveway Woodward Summer 1997 (Somatic Color #48). Because “you and I are collaborators,” she says in a direct address message to the viewer, on the label tag just under the piece. Precisely right. Most notably with abstract art, but with any work of art.

Looking Backward: Fisherman's Wharf, circa 1980

64 West Chippewa Street was a downtown fixture for 120 years. Built in 1880, the building prominently featured a three-story round brick tower with a flared conical roof, emphasizing the corner location. Pictured here in 1980, the building is painted yellow and black, a sort of “pop art” color scheme that was pleasing in its own way, though it attempted to simplify and suppress its elaborate and complex Queen Anne style detailing.

5 Artists to Know at Beau Fleuve Music and Arts Festival

[FESTIVAL] There’s aother new music and arts festival popping up this summer. It’s called Beau Fleuve and it happens this Saturday, August 19 at Buffalo RiverWorks. Beau Fleuve, in name a reference to the Buffalo River, will feature more than 50 performance artists including Drea D’Nur, Eyes Everywhere, DJ T Jizzle, Vanzella Joy, Dusty Bits, Zuri Appleby, Carrington Gaines, Icky Reels, Saint Opal, Radarada, Short Moscato, and many more. 

Below, you can scroll through our archive of the Spotlight articles we’ve done in the past on a few of the artists performing.

Paladino's True Colors

Over the weekend, a large group consisting of neo-nazis, Klansmen, and other “alt-right” white nationalists converged on Charlottesville, Virginia ostensibly to protest the possible removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. Lee was the general of an army fighting for a country that had betrayed and seceded from the United States to preserve the right to buy and sell black people as chattel. Query whether we should replace confederate statues with ones honoring the victims of its inhuman feudal ethos. (Note: I will not capitalize the word “nazi”. It’s not a mistake.)

Picnic in the Parkway: Neville Francis and the Riddim Possee

[REGGAE] The final Elmwood Village Picnic in the Parkway concert of the series happens this Tuesday, August 22. Reggae-funk band Neville Francis and the Riddim Possee will close out the free series on the parkway, which has drawn large crowds throughout the summer. As usual, expect food trucks such as Lloyd, Frank Gourmet Hot Dogs, and Abyssinia Ethiopian. Feel free to pack lawn chairs and blankets and enjoy the music, which begins at 7pm.

Emily Davis and the Murder Police

[FOLK] Emily Davis is that girl that you ignored in high school, only to realize years later that she’s the girl of your dreams—and that her CD collection was probably better than yours. With her group, The Murder Police, the folk singer, if you can call her that—she prefers “neurotic, pseduo philosophic” folk singer—delivers rapid fire punk inspired tunes. If that’s not enough, she’s got a great voice to top it off.

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