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King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Oh, how Jackie Kennedy would probably hate Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. There are, to be sure, ample aesthetic and other grounds to disdain Ritchie’s hopped-up, hit-‘em-where-it-hurts take on the old Arthurian legends, but President Kennedy’s widow had a special affinity for the stories. She manipulated them to promote a symbolic elevation of her assassinated husband’s violently abbreviated administration. That is, she importantly borrowed from Camelot, Lerner and Lowe’s popular musical-theater adaptation of T. H.

#Preetsmas: Federal Edition

Former Erie County Democratic Committee Chairman G. Steven Pigeon was arraigned in federal court yesterday on a criminal complaint alleging that he conspired to generate a $25,000 donation to the campaign of Governor Andrew Cuomo from a Canadian gambling conglomerate. The Cuomo campaign had rejected two previous attempts that foreign company made to contribute, but on the third try, it funneled the contribution through a US citizen, its Florida-based lawyer. 

The Life Ecstatic 4

[HIP HOP] The Life Ecstatic is a regular hip hop showcase held at Milkie’s on Elmwood, though it’s far from “regular.” Hosted by Jordan Hood Koolie, the hip hop culture series hosts up and coming local hip hop acts that taps into the whole spectrum from experimental to trap. This month’s event, this Friday, May 12, features Rodagues, Auragino, Hop Hop, 14 Trapdoors, King Loot, AtDenn, #GTW, and Drop D—so drop by.

A Musical Feast

[CLASSICAL] Soprano Tiffany Du Mouchelle will perform a composition based on Greek tragedy, and one based on a dream vision of medieval nun, mystic, musician, and polymath Hildegarde von Bingen, in a concert under auspices of A Musical Feast, Friday, May 12, at 8 pm, in the Burchfield Penney Art Center. In addition, pianist Dmitri Novgorodsky will perform Alexander Scriabin’s Sonata No. 2, Opus 19, Sonata-Fantasy, and will be joined by violinist David Colwell in Maurice Ravel’s Tzigane. 

Health Care Die-In

[PROTEST] What better way to get your local representative’s attention than to go to their office and die? A group of local folks will host a “Die-In” at the office of Chris Collins where they will lie down and metaphorically (keyword here) die to “represent the deaths of Americans under this reckless, selfish health care act.” The protest is in response to the healthcare bill that Collins voted for but admittedly didn’t read, which stands to strip millions of people with pre-existing conditions and who can’t afford health care from coverage.

The Legendary Shack Shakers

[ROCK] The Legendary Shack Shakers are maybe not quite as legendary as their name implies, but they should be. Their style can really only be described as hardcore music but dipped in blood deep fried with a side of murder. But that’s the way they like it, so don’t let the banjo and upright bass fool you. It’s also just about as American as it gets, despite frontman JD’s regular comparisons to David Bowie and David Byrne.

TORGO, uncertain, Foot and Mouth Disease, and Lara Buckley

[EXPERIMENTAL] A bunch of no-wave, noise, and experimental music artists come together for a show at Sugar City on Thrusday, May 11. The show is headlined by the Columbus, Ohio-based band TORGO, whose 2014 album Made Snails was as equally low key sinister as it was harsh and bewildering. They’ll be joined by Buffalo-based noise artists uncertain, Syracuse-based experimental act Foot and Mouth Disease, and voice artist Lara Buckley as Strega.

SMUG, dreambeachs, The Slums, and Green Dreams

[INDIE] About a month ago, local indie rock band The Naturalists posted an interesting note on their Facebook page. The note said that after a change in musical direction for the band, they would no longer be known as The Naturalists and have changed their name to SMUG. The three piece band also announced that their debut LP had been recorded and would be released soon. First, however, they’ll play their debut show as SMUG this Friday, May 12 at Mohawk Place, which will most definitely be chock full of brand new music from the band.

Aries Spears

[COMEDY] You probably recognize Aries Spears from MadTV, on which he was famous for doing impressions of Eddie Murphy, Mike Tyson, DMX, and others. Since his days on the cult-classic TV show, Spears has made a variety of film and TV appearances, most hilariously on American Dad as Shaquille O’Neal. The 44-year-old comedian is currently on the stand up comedy circuit, booked for a six show stand at Helium Comedy Club this Thursday, May 11 through Sunday, May 14.

Seether

[ROCK] Hailing from South Africa, Seether is one of the most well known hard rock bands in the world. The band is on tour now in support for their latest album, Poison the Parish, released earlier this year. The record, a driving guitar focused rock record, features their latest single “Let You Down.” Seether comes to the Rapids Theatre for a concert on Wednesday, May 17, presented by 103.3 The Edge.

GOJIRA with Deafheaven

[METAL] The musical output of France is not heavy metal heavy, though GOJIRA is one of the exceptions. Dubbed one of the “most extreme” bands hailing from the country, the four-piece band originally known as Godzilla, formed in 1996. Since then they’ve released a series of blistering groove metal albums on labels like Listenable and Roadrunner Records.

Strange Allure Volume 10: Grant

[HOUSE] Drawing comparisons to Moodyman, Galcher Lustwerk, and others, Grant is most definitely on the radar of deep house fans—who have scooped up each one of his releases religiously since the producer came onto the scene in 2014 with his record label, The Lauren Bacall. Since then, he’s been plenty busy producing records—releasing his sleeper hit deep house record, The Acrobat, in 2015 and the follow up, Crank, released on the Lobster Theremin sub-label, Mörk, in 2016.

Needtobreathe

[ROCK] Though the title of Needtobreathe’s new album, Hardlove, might sound sordid or tawdry, there’s a much more innocent, positive message than one would suppose from title alone. The Carolina-based Christian hard rock band, is of course referring to one’s love for God in the album’s title and title track, not some messy affair or sexual encounter.

David Bromberg Quintet

[BLUES] As an elder statesman of the blues, David Bromberg is a dying breed. The former Dylan sideman’s tasteful choices as a skilled guitarist reflect more thought than mere jam-motivated noodling, and he manages to breathe new life into some seriously old material without succumbing to the formulaic modern/electric Robert Cray shtick.

Bayside and Say Anything

[EMO] Bayside’s Vacancy was written while front man Anthony Raneri was holed up living in a hotel room in the wake of a divorce – and it shows. Good thing for Raneri that he leads a modern punk outfit that traffics in just that sort of misery, providing him a vehicle for his angst. Vacancy is another consistent chapter in Bayside’s output, now totaling seven albums, and while it’s not a terribly original sound (Alkaline Trio comparisons abound), the key to their success is in the quality of the songwriting.

Animals as Leaders

[ROCK] Purveyors of djent – a very distinctive distorted, palm-muted, low-pitch/high-gain guitar sound – D.C. trio Animals as Leaders are considered a progressive metal outfit, but that actually sells them a bit short. It’s progressive for sure, but is it really metal? Only sometimes. Maybe. Essentially built around the skills of Nigerian-American eight-string guitar wizard Tosin Abasi, AAL’s latest, The Madness of Many, favors a less chaotic approach than its two predecessors and finds the band settling into a groove that simmers with chemistry.

Everyone Orchestra

[JAM] A sort of jam band all stars scenario, founder/conductor Matt Butlers explains that the Everyone Orchestra is, “… co-creating music and utilizing conducted improvisation as a system or agreement, to aim for moments of musical magic. My intent as a conductor is to steer the group towards creating compositional content within our improvisations while keeping the performance dynamic, diverse, inclusive and also getting the audience involved…” In keeping with the improv aesthetic, each grouping is different: the EO is a collective with a great many members.

Biffy Clyro

[ROCK] Huge stars overseas but not particularly well known stateside, Scottish trio Biffy Clyro have vacillated between an edgier, metal-inspired arena sound and something closer to pop music for the last 20 years—experiencing some heady highs (everywhere but here, where they’re nonetheless signed to Warner imprint 14th Floor) along the way. Last year’s Ellipsis is the band’s seventh release and finds them veering toward accessibility, eschewing proggy rhythmic complexity in favor of a more anthemic punch.

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