[BLUEGRASS] Big and bold, Parsonsfield deliver authentic Appalachian bluegrass. The five-piece band from Massachusetts set up with everything from banjos to pump organs in order to pump out thick, lush indie folk music that’s at once old timey and refreshing. Catch them at Babeville’s 9th Ward on Wednesday, January 23.
[INDIE] English indie rock band Catfish and the Bottlemen will play a special unplugged set at the Rec Room on Wednesday, January 23. The popular four-piece alternative rock band are in between albums—their last was 2016’s The Ride, which was released on Capitol records, so don’t be surprised if they end up working out some new material on stage. The show is free, but the only way to gain access is to win tickets through 103.3 The Edge, so tune in for details. Buffalo-based indie rock band The Eaves open the show.
[POP] 6 million downloads of the Maroon 5-esque tune “Shut Up and Dance,” and this Ohio quartet got catapulted into pop stardom, but their musical aspirations run a bit deeper than that particular track might lead you to believe—something that critics picked up on from the get-go. Walk the Moon is heavily influenced by artists like Talking Heads, The Police and David Bowie, tempered with a taste for Phil Collins and Tears for Fears.
[POP] In order for something like this to work, it needs to be done well. While we can’t vouch for this particular production, it’s received a series of four-star reviews and has gained enough momentum elsewhere to tour the US later this year. Through film clips and photo stills, the show establishes a narrative that follows the duo from their school-chum beginnings as Tom & Jerry, up through 1981’s The Concert in Central Park, with a live band and talented vocalists.
[ROCK] Time has a way of building people up and tearing them down, public personalities and performers central among them. Bob Seger was truly a larger-than-life entity on the FM dial at a time when other singer-songwriters that emerged in the 1970s couldn’t catch a break.
[ROCK] The name might have you assuming this is an indie-pop outfit, but Donna the Buffalo have been delivering a tasty blend of roots music since forming outside Ithaca in 1989. Along the way they’ve recorded with Jim Lauderdale and Bela Fleck, while vocalist Tara Nevins toured in Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann’s band BK3 back in 2009. It’s the skilled blend of folk, country, and rock, infused with elements of Cajun/Zydeco music and flourishes of reggae that make this five-piece a consistent festival draw.
[ROCK] As an offshoot of Medeski, Martin, and Wood, one would expect the Wood Brothers to let loose a bit from their contained rootsy folk, and with 2015’s Paradise, they did it. At least a little. Last year’s One Drop of Truth continues that trend, serving a freed-up feel that can only come with the sort of group chemistry that builds over time.
[FUNK] G. Love & Special Sauce have been making Western New York a habit for years now and it looks like 2019 is no exception. Nearly a year to the day from their visit to the Seneca Niagara Casino, the trio — originally from Philly — is back at the Tralf Music Hall on Wednesday, January 23. For the uninitiated, it’s a musical melting pot that evolved in the early 90’s as a hip hop splinter, incorporating elements of alt-rock and blues into the mix. Garrett “G. Love” Dulton and co.
[ELECTRONIC/DANCE] Huerco S. makes music inspired by the club but that often cuts closer to ambient and experimental music than it does techno.
[AMERICANA] Brassband, Dixieland, Americana & Burlesque; it’s all in the name for this one. Expect all of the above and more for this annual bash at Mohawk Place, on Saturday, January 26. The old timey music event will feature music by Folkfaces, The Fredtown Stompers, 12/8 Path Band, and Pine Fever as well as burlesque from the Stripteasers. This 6th annual edition of the event will also feature a small artist village featuring art from Queen City Gallery, Joe Ski, and Kat Solecki.
The New Year’s Day inauguration of avowed authoritarian strongman Jair Bolsonaro as president of Brazil signaled an ominous start to 2019. Brazil, as the fifth largest country by landmass (larger than the Australian continent), the sixth largest by population (larger than Russia), and the ninth largest economy (larger than Canada), represents global fascism’s biggest gain in recent history.
If you go to the movies on a regular basis, your likely reaction to the first reel of Ben is Back is likely to be déjà vu: it’s like a scene from the recent Beautiful Boy, starring Steve Carell as a father trying to deal with the seemingly terminal drug addiction of his teenaged son (Timothée Chalamet). Both are set in a upper middle class area of upstate New York, and both deal with hard questions of dealing with a child who has proven time and time again that addiction has made him untrustworthy.
As the newly constituted New York State legislature takes up a package of proposed voting and voter registration reforms - including same-day registration and early voting — let us consider for a moment what Mike Long, the state Conservative fusion Party capo has to say about all of these hippies making it easier for citizens to vote.