RSS Feed

Shrinking Smartly

How and why to become a smaller Western New York. There’s a robust and accessible academic literature about how shrinking cities, even “zombie” cities (Buffalo was recently so labeled), can come back to life.

Killing Hope: Six Years of the Obama Presidency

This month marks the sixth year since the triumph of hope over helplessness, fear, and greed. Young people defied their demographic chains, withdrawing from apathy and providing the votes necessary to tip the electoral scales and elect Barack Obama president. The memes and tropes were all in place. After years of George W. Bush’s halting and sometimes incoherent speech, we elected ourselves a champion talker. But he proved disastrous as a politician—unless derailing a progressive uprising was his aim.

Ringworm

[HARDCORE] With song titles like “Leave Your Skin At The Door,” it may be tough to leave your preconceptions at the door in regards to intense Cleveland hardcore-metal band Ringworm and their ink-coated singer James “The Human Furnace” Bulloch. But The Human Furnace isn’t just a scary looking, extremely loud man.

New Politics

[INDIE ROCK] Originally hailing from the official, happiest place on earth – Copenhagen, Denmark, indie-pop trio, New Politics aptly applies that same pumped-up, youthful energy and rowdiness in their sophomore album, A Bad Girl In Harlem. From raw rockers like “Harlem” and “Just Like Me” to tracks like “Give Me Hope”, on which vocalist David Boyd spontaneously breaks into vigorous rapping – they deliver hooky, infectious pop in spades.

Ann Phillippone

[Jazz-Rock] Every Sunday at Nietzsche’s, the merry voice of House Pianist, Ann Phillippone, echoes over the crowd, urging patrons to call in sick to work the next morning, and boogie with her all night long. Ann plays her Sunday sets with one objective: to end the weekend on a positive note. For two hours, the Boogie-Woogie Mama tickles the ivory of a 1913 open-faced piano that she rolled into Nietzsche’s in 2003. Every Sunday since, whether she’s playing for a packed room or just the bartender, she gives it her all.

Food Truck Turkey

[FOOD] The stomach can expand to roughly 50 times its empty volume. If you think you might need to warm up that very flexible organ before Thanksgiving, then Food Truck Turkey might be the place to do it. Larkin Square, the area that hosted the summer’s popular weekly dinner party—Food Truck Tuesday— will host over 30 food trucks as well as live music by holiday’s most appropriately named cover band: Gravy. The Salvation Army truck will be on site as well, collecting donations of food and clothing to support local food pantires.

The Brian Lebel Orchestra

[ROCK] If there’s one thing Western New Yorkers could use after a brutal onslaught of snow, it’s the fiery guitar stylings of Bobby Lebel. A local legend who is also a Buffalo Music Hall of Fame inductee is bringing The Brian Lebel Orchestra to the Sportsman’s Tavern to close out the month on Sunday, November 30. Throughout his many incarnations, Lebel has stayed true to the spirit of quality guitar playing. His current outfit runs circles through rockabilly and swing a la Brian Setzer Orchestra.

Pages