[BLUES] Chris Beard, the son of bluesman Joe Beard imported his family’s Beale Street roots to Rochester, where he was raised, spreading a little Memphis grit through the Western New York blues scene. Beard’s recently released Eye of the Witch disc goes far to establish his own playing style and uniquely commanding voice while showcasing some new writing collaborations and a pair of great backing bands, one of which will be with him Saturday, November 28 at Buffalo Iron Works.
[ROCK] You might not be familiar with Mike Dillon’s name, but you may have heard his fine percussive talents on discs by Marco Benevento, Ani DiFranco, Les Claypool, Primus, and/or Garage a Trois. In addition to being a touring member of the bands Hairy Apes BMX, Billy Goat, and Critters Buggin, Dillon has found time to lead his own group, which has released a pair of discs, including last year’s Band of Outsiders. Catch them headlining at Buffalo Iron Works on Wednesday with openers Slyboots Circus.
[CASH MOB] What’s a cash mob? It’s like a flash mob but without the singing…and a lot more spending. The idea is to target a local business and send a mob of people there to buy things—in this case, gifts for their loved ones for the holidays. Think of it as a happy hour for shopping. You’ll mingle, you’ll buy, and it all helps boost a locally owned business.
Chowhound of the week: 716 Eats
Instagram: @716eats
I’ll have more to say later about this past week’s descent into anti-refugee, anti-immigrant hysteria - from what the Erie County Legislature did on Thursday to Donald Trump’s descent into registration of Muslims already in the country, echoing the Nazi precursor to the Shoah. That’s before we get to the banality of drive-time hate radio callers expressing a desire to send Muslims in the US to camps in “boxcars”.
If there’s a genre that I try to avoid, it’s the revenge movie. Not so much a film like this summer’s The Gift, in which a wronged person plots a psychological payback, but the whole Walking Tall genre in which we’re shown a monstrous person or persons committing heinous acts in order to get us to relish a similar level of violence being directed at them.