It’s the winter of 2013 and Every Time I Die frontman Keith Buckley sits in his home in Buffalo, New York with his dog Lemmy curled up by his feet. He’s just spent the morning writing, but not the type of frantic, aggressive lyrics he pens for Every Time I Die. Over the last few years he has compiled tour stories and memoirs; combining these bits and pieces to create a storyline for a semi-autobiographical novel.
“The following is based on a true story.” I’ve come to dread seeing that sentence at the beginning of a film because it means I have to deal not only with what appears on screen but also its fidelity to the events the film is based on. And who wants to have to do all that work?
Foxcatcher and Wild, both opening this week and both Oscar contenders (it’s that time of year), are based on true stories. Of the two, Foxcatcher is more fascinating as well as more maddening.
Following their successful summer concert festival, Kerfuffle, 107.7 Alternative Buffalo is hosting a winter festival to match. On Thursday, December 18 Alt Buffalo will host the Kerfuffle Before Chrismas at the First Niagara Center featuring a few big names in indie rock.
Tomorrow, December 17, shortly before the new print edition of The Public finds its way into your hands, Lawrence Brose will stand before Federal District Court Judge William Skretny and learn the outcome of his five-year long legal battle. Seven months ago the United States Attorney’s office backed away from its original charge of “possessing” over a thousand images constituting child pornography, to a charge of “viewing” a single obscene image, and Brose agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge.
White animal rights activists chanting “All lives matter” and “Dogs lives matter” disrupted a rally led by black clergy and community leaders in Buffalo’s Niagara Square on Saturday. They heckled people whose communities have been terrorized by police violence as long as I’ve been alive, condemning them for not focusing on dogs killed by the police, along with black victims like Eric Garner.
For its holiday installment of the popular family-friendly series, Shea’s will be screening Will Ferrell’s classic, Elf. Come early if the kids want to kick it with Santa, Old Man Christmas will be available from 12:45 pm to 1:45 pm.
[ELECTRONIC/DANCE] Buffalo bass heads take over Electric Avenue this Friday, December 19, for the latest installment of Reset. This time Basha, Neckbrace, WZA, Jah MC, The Verdict, Matthew Scott, and All Day will spin a mix of drum and bass, breaks, dubstep, and hip hop to keep the crowd grooving all night.
Probably the only thing better than hanging with a group of civically-minded folks on a Friday night is having some killer dance tracks to back you up. It’s a benefit for the Partnership for Public Good, a local watchdog organization that combs data to provide both guidance and counterpoints to government and business groups. Backing them in this effort on the dance floor of doing good things are PUSH Buffalo, the Ujima Theatre Company, Community Health Care Worker Network of Buffalo, and the Foundry.
[ROCK] A slew of veteran Buffalo bands are coming together at the Sportsmen’s Tavern this Saturday, December 20 to play a benefit for an Allentown institution: Friends of the Night People. The show, titled Friends Helping Friends will benefit the soup kitchen located at on Wadsworth Street in Buffalo. It’s much more than a soup kitchen, though; it’s also a medical care center, an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting center, and a veterans assistance center. Buffalo bands including McCarthyizm, Andrew J.