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Grumpy Ghey: Fear and Loathing in Idaho

I don’t pretend to know much about Idaho. There is, of course, the potato connection. Carole King moved there to escape the trappings of Los Angeles in the mid-1970’s. A college roommate of mine who’d done some volunteer firefighting in Idaho helped put out a small fire on her property.  And a fellow music journalist in Boston had dinner at her Idaho home… apparently she rolls great sushi. Oh, and supposedly John Waters filmed the infamous final scene of Pink Flamingos there. But that’s where Idaho and I parted ways.

Shock and Awe: La Luna Lives!

[ELECTRONIC/DANCE] DJs Jessa Zenger and Jena Nixon return to Buffalo for a one-night-only warehouse party this Saturday, August 26 presented by Rise Collaborative. Expect a bunch of early 2000s indie favorites from LCD Soundsystem, Yacht, The Rapture, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and maybe Kanye West too. Prepare for some acid flashbacks to the old Soundlab party days. Location details will be released day of the show.

Live at Larkin: Vinnie DeRosa and Vitamin D with RNSM

[POP] Soulful singer Vinnie DeRosa and his band Vitamin D will perform at the next edition of Live at Larkin, this Wednesday, August 23. DeRosa recently released a four song EP, Viatmin D EP, which is full of funky pop music with occasional rap-style vocals and tight instrumentation. You’ll likely hear some tunes from that album as well as a few choice covers. RNSM opens the show.

Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts

[FESTIVAL] This weekend, the Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts will celebrate its 18th year by inviting hundreds of artists and musicians to a six block stretch of Elmwood Avenue between West Ferry Street and St. James Place. The event, which runs this Saturday, August 26 through Sunday, August 37 will feature several stages of music, a kid’s area, cultural row, environmental row, and of course, dozens of artist vendor tents filled with artists from Buffalo and beyond. Here’s a list of some Buffalo-based artists who you most definitely should not miss.

Olivia Frances

[POP] Hailing from Portland, Maine, Olivia Frances is a pop singer/songwriter and student of environmental studies. So it’s no wonder her latest album, Evergreen, so effortlessly combines her two passions, music and nature. And you’ll realize this as soon as you look at her song titles, such as “Season’s Grow on” and “Great Blue.” Her laidback style is influenced by Jack Johnson and Bon Iver, but her sound is as much jazz influenced as it is pop influenced.

Andrew Schulz

[COMEDY] Andrew Schulz is a mansplainer. He’ll mansplain why “if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere,” isn’t necessarily true,” and he’ll mansplain everything you need to know about female grooming. That’s why he’s embarked on his ManSplained Tour, which comes to Helium Comedy Club this Thursday, August 24 through Saturday, August 26 for five shows.

Zepparella

[TRIBUTE] There was a time when all female metal cover bands seemed like a novel idea… now, frankly, it’s a hackneyed format. But amidst all the gals channeling Led Zeppelin (Lez Zeppelin, Lady Zep, Zeppelina, Moby Chick, Led Ladies, Fem Zeppelin, Hammer of the Broads, Ladies Zeppelin… you get the idea), San Francisco’s Zepparella seems to have risen to the top of the heap, recently performing with Steve Vai and having member Gretchen Menn featured on the cover of Guitar Player magazine.

Beatles Rooftop Tribute

[TRIBUTE] On January 30, 1969 the Beatles played a 42-minute set on top of the Apple Corps building in London. For the second year in a row, Buffalo classic rock cover band Stoneflower will pay tribute to that epic and classic performance by climbing up to the roof of Hydraulic Hearth. The band will play Beatles tunes as the crowd watches from below in beer garden of Hydraulic Hearth and the street. The free show happens this Thursday, August 24.

Stick Men

[ROCK] A supergroup of sorts, Stick Men is a proggy King Crimson spinoff with a twist: the Chapman Stick, which sounds a bit like slap-bass. Comprised of Crimson’s Pat Mastelotto and Tony Levin along with German instrumental whizz Markus Reuter, the trio is a percussive frenzy with one drummer and two sticks.

Luke Bryan

[COUNTRY] At 41, with seven million albums sold and 27 million singles (yep, that’s a shitload), Luke Bryan is one of modern country’s most successful dudes. In 2015, Forbes estimated his annual income at just over 40 million bucks, largely thanks to a string of 14 #1 songs on the Billboard country chart. Bryan became known for his songwriting before he became a performer in his own right, penning tunes for established artists like Travis Tritt, but country fans can’t seem to get enough of his slightly nasal baritone.

Power Pussy Night

[PUNK] After the tape leaked of Donald Trump discussing about sexually assaulting women by grabbing them by the pussy, a bunch of counter-slogans began popping up—one was “this pussy grabs back.” I guess you could say that would be the slogan behind Power Pussy Night, a night of all female fronted punk music at Milkie’s this Saturday, August 26.

Night Lights Music and Arts Festival

[FESTIVAL] In an interview a few weeks ago, Night Lights Music Festival founder Brian Enright told us about the philosophy behind the jam-band heavy line up choices for the unique festival. It’s first and foremost about booking what he and his team like to hear, but after that, it’s about working with the regional music scene to bring in the strongest bands from Buffalo, Rochester, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh.

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.

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