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Politics and Stuff: Campaign Finance Report

The 2017 election is just a week away. Despite a generally very quiet campaign season, the TV ads are increasing and mailboxes are filling up with those oversized political postcards.

The candidates are spending lots of money but it will not translate into much voter enthusiasm. Look for a countywide turnout of less than 20 percent, with exceptions in the Towns of Amherst, Hamburg, Tonawanda, and West Seneca.

Here is a quick summary of the campaign financial reports in major races which were due to the State Board of Elections on October 27:

New York GOP Goes to Culture War

It is a well known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. — Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

The reckoning is almost upon us, and local Republicans seem to be having trouble running on their records, or any coherent agenda. They are, instead, relying on the old standbys of culture war and resentment. 

Buffalo Zine Fair 17'

[ZINE FAIR] You’re probably reading this in print right now, which means you likely subscribe to the notion that printed media is not dead. The artists at the annual Buffalo Zine Fair do too, in factthat’s their tagline. “PRINTED MEDIA IS NOT DEAD. Let us rebel against library closings, newspaper downsizings, and e-readers by celebrating good old-fashioned physical handmade print media!” the organizers—specifically Gutter Pop Comics and Sugar City—proclaim.

Collective Arts/Thin Man Brewery Tap Takeover featuring Darcys

[INDIE] The Hamilton-based micro-brewery Collective Arts and the Buffalo-based Thin Man Brewery will team up to present a pretty special concert at Mohawk Place this Thursday, November 2 featuring both Canadian and Buffalo-based indie rock bands. Toronto alt-pop duo Darcys will make the short trek over to Mohawk Place to headline the show along with Buffalo-based indie rock bands First Ward, Aircraft, and the Revenge Thearapists.

Bounce, Baby, Vol. 2

[ROLLERSKATING] Roll with the punches. The late night rollerskating party for grownups to get back to their inner kid returns to Skateland on Saturday, November 4. Bounce, Baby, vol. 2 hits the hardwood right on the locus of Buffalo’s east-west, north-south divide with beat heavy dance-centric cuts spanning the gamut of house, trap, and hip hop. 

Alton Brown: Eat Your Science

[FOOD] You’ve probably seen Alton Brown on one of Food Network’s many programs including Good Eats and Iron Chef America. The 55-year-old TV show host, author, and even musician (he put out an album of food-related songs titled Bitter Like Me in 2016) is known for his scientific approach to food, which he shows off in his live show, Alton Brown Live: Eat Your Science. The show, which is his “follow up“ to his previous Edible Inevitable tour, features food based demonstrations, songs, and other multimedia presentations.

Harland Williams

[COMEDY] With roles in Half-Baked, Dumb and Dumber, and There’s Something About Mary, actor/comedian Harland Willams has the stoner crowd locked down. But he’s also got the grade-school demographic now too, after becoming author of a series of children’s books. Of course more than just stoners and kids love Harland Williams as he’s appeared on all of the major late night talk shows and on HBO and Comedy Central.

El Dia de Los Muertos

[ART] After a busy Halloween weekend, unwind by checking out Case de Arte’s El Dia de Los Muertos art exhibit, opening Friday, November 3. The Day of the Dead exhibit will feature installations, mixed media, film, music, paintings, and sculptures from various Mexican artists, including the co-owners of the gallery, Mara Odette and Rick Williams. This exhibit, which runs through November 14, will be the Allentown art gallery’s final.

Janet Jackson

[POP] Janet Jackson made a bold move, releasing Unbreakable on her own two years ago. Other aging pop stars have threatened to go it alone and release new music without a major label deal, but few (have any?) actually followed through. At a time in her career when she was looking to reconnect with fans following an eight year hiatus between albums (Discipline came out in 2007), she made an even bolder move by cancelling her 2016 tour midway to have a baby… and get divorced.

The Maine

[ROCK] On tour in support of their sixth studio album, Lovely Little Lonely, The Maine comes to the Town Ballroom on Saturday, November 4. Lovely Little Lonely was released this Spring and features 12 tracks of catchy pop-rock with powerful choruses and hard hitting guitars. Critics have called the record the five-piece Tempe, Arizona-based band’s best since 2011’s Pioneer, which featured hits like “Don’t Give Up on Us” and “Some Days.” Support comes from Brooklyn-based grunge band, Dreamers.

Vessel: Ruined/Accidental Intimacies/LiveNudeRewrites

[PERFORMANCE] Artists Halley Marie Shaw, Megan Kemple, and Lissa Roads have curated a night combining dance, poetry, performance art, and music in a show titled Vessel: Ruined/Accidental Intimacies/LiveNudeRewrites. The three-hour production is a revised version of a previous show put on at the Nietzsche’s in July, once again transforming the site into Vessel, an underground music venue complete with five house burlesque/gorlesque dancers.

Interview: Waxahatchee

[INDIE] Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield has been playing music with her sister Allison for as long as she can remember. Growing up near Waxahatchee Creek in Birmingham, Alabama, they have shared multiple experiences with each other, such as memorizing numerous songs from musicals to perform as kids to rocking out to riot grrrl music in their teens. Along with these good memories, they also had the unfortunate experience of going through traumatic break-ups simultaneously.

Soul Patch

[TRIBUTE] The Buffalo Bills dominant defense is not the only thing that makes us feel like we’re back in the 1990s. Soul Patch does too. The 1990s alternative rock cover band is probably one of the most well known cover bands in Western New York, with Every Time I Die’s Keith Buckley as frontman taking his best shot at dead rock stars like Kurt Cobain and Chris Cornell and even some still living 1990s rockers like Wayne Coyne or Eddie Vedder.

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