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Police at Juneteenth, Inspectors at Dreamland
What We Owe Refugee Children
Buffalo Alt-Right Convict Mocks Gabby Giffords
Look, in this place ran Cassius’ dagger through.
Gabrielle Giffords was a congresswoman from Arizona from 2007 to 2012. On January 8, 2011, Giffords held a “Congress on your Corner” at a supermarket in Tucson, where she was meeting with constituents. Suddenly, an well-armed lunatic shot 19 people, killing six, including a federal judge and a nine-year-old girl.
See what a rent the envious Casca made.
Labor View: American Totaliarianism
This Week's Public Picks
Live at Larkin: The Jumpers and the Irving Klaws
[PUNK] The Jumpers, a five piece punk band from Buffalo featuring frontman Terry Sullivan are next in line for the free Live at Larkin concert series. The band, who helped cultivate Buffalo’s punk scene in the 1970s and 1980s, are still full of the same driving, punk energy and are sure to be entertaining live. Catch the band live in Larkin Square on Wednesday, June 28 with fellow veteran rockers the Irving Klaws.
Shakespeare in Delaware Park: The Merry Wives of Windsor
[THEATER] There’s much ado about the outdoor production of Julius Caesar in New York City, but Buffalonians know that’s nothing: Shakespeare in Delaware Park commences its 42nd season providing free, professional-grade theater to the masses six days a week for two full months this Thursday, June 22 on Shakespeare Hill, next to the Rose Garden in Delaware Park. (No other city in the country has anything quite like it, and this is no renaissance product: This is old-school Buffalo culture at its best.
Picnic in the Parkway: The BPO
[POP] One of the most popular Picnic in the Parkway events each year happens when the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra sets up in a temporary amphitheater along Bidwell Parkway. This year, as always, the BPO has an exciting night of music planned that includes, first, a set of musical classics like “Singing in the Rain,” “Aquarius” and the Suite from Beauty and the Beast. Then, after a brief intermission, the orchestra will return to perform John Williams Star Wars score—from the Main Theme to The Jedi Steps and Finale.
Buffalo Brewers Festival
[FESTIVAL] It is completely unfair that it rains on every Buffalo Brewers Festival. (Forecast for Saturday, June 24, when the fourth edition of the festival takes place at Wilkeson Pointe on Buffalo’s Outer Harbor: wet.) But it is a testament to the dedication of local craft beer lovers that the event attracts big (and growing) crowds each year.
Sheila E.
[POP] The second concert in the formerly free (now $5) Canalside Live series features the iconic pop vocalist Sheila E. For many, their introduction to the Mexican-American pop star came with Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” b-side “Erotic City.” The racy, Rick James-eqsue pop song featured Sheila E. on vocals and helped to launch the multi-instrumentalist’s career.
Lost Elysium
[HARD ROCK] Buffalo-based hard rock band Lost Elysium are set to play a show at the Studio at the Waiting Room this Saturday, June 24. Their single, “Think Like the Enemy,” has amassed thousands of plays on Youtube since it’s release late last year. Featuring the vocals of lead singer Ashley Elle, the moody hard rock track is the vein of Volbeat or Evanescense.
The Plastic Cup Boyz
[COMEDY] “We are the Plastic Cup Boyz because we like to drink,” says comedian Na’im Lynn one third of the comedy trio the Plastic Cup Boyz. Only problem is, his tolerance ain’t shit, so he says. But if they’re drinking during or before their act, it doesn’t show, because these guys seem to always be sharp and quick. Cosigned by Kevin Hart, the Plastic Cup Boyz, Joey Wells, Will “Spank” Horton, and Lynn, come to Helium Comedy Club for five show this Friday, June 23 through Sunday, June 25.
Taste of Diversity
[FESTIVAL] In 2015, NPR did a story titled “Resettled Refugees Help to ‘Bring Buffalo Back.’” Though Buffalo has an active sanctuary movement, it’s not listed as a “sanctuary city.” Despite this, the story focused in on the West Side of Buffalo, where many refugees have ultimately settled and built businesses and lives. This makes the West Side of Buffalo a cultural melting pot, and in that pot are people, and therefore, foods from Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Myanmar, and Rwanda.
Jean-Luc Ponty
[JAZZ] At 74, Jean-Luc Ponty is jazz-rock royalty—a violin virtuoso who came to the United States from France at the urging of Frank Zappa, who’d composed the music for the 1970 album King Kong, which later got picked up by Blue Note. Already considered a bad boy by jazz purists reluctant to admit the violin into their stable of preferred instruments, Ponty went on to work with Elton John and the Mahavishnu Orchestra before landing a contract with Atlantic that found him selling millions of records in the wake of successful fusion acts like Weather Report.
Zac Brown Band
[ROCK] Returning to Darien Lake on Sunday, June 25 for a third consecutive Buffalo area summer show, the Zac Brown Band is one of the better byproducts of country’s ongoing identity crisis. On the one hand, they’re praised for being purveyors of country realness with rootsy flair, and on the other, the eight-piece Georgian group has done some daring genre-melding.
Brian Setzer's Rockabilly Riot
[ROCK] What, you may ask, is the difference between Brian Setzer’s Rockabilly Riot, which will be featured at this week’s Tuesdays in the Park show at Artpark, and the Brian Setzer Orchestra, whose appearances most Decembers light up every Christmas? For this tour, the pompadoured guitarist behind the big Gretsch leaves the horns behind for shows that are a little less swing and a little more rockabilly, though his four-piece band otherwise mines the same 1950s vein he has been working since the heyday of the Stray Cats 35 years ago.
Miss May I
[METAL] If you’re in the mood for something a little harder and metallic, check out Miss May I at the Waiting Room this Sunday, June 25. Formed in 2007, they signed to Rise Records and released their debut album, Apologies Are for the Weak, all while still attending high school in Ohio. That album reached 76 on Billboard 200 with some material being featured in movies and video games.
Thursday
[POST HARDCORE] To some, Thursday is the quintessential post-hardcore screamo band. There’s a never-ending debate for those of us who spent our early teen years going to shows at Town Ballroom wearing band tees and too much eyeliner, comparing the stylistically similar Taking Back Sunday to Thursday—and maybe even to Brand New and Senses Fail and the rest of them—on who encapsualtes the sound the best. Thursday kind of started it all in some ways, forming in 1997 with Joy Division—the late 1970s English post-punk band—as one of their main influences.
Strange Allure Volume 11: John FM
[TECHNO] A last minute change to the next Strange Allure party bumps deep house twins Analog Soul—who canceled for undisclosed reasons—for Detroit electro DJ John FM. The 23-year-old DJ, has enjoyed a rising profile due to his releases on FXHE, the label helmed by Detroit legend Omar-S.