[ROCK] Classic rock fans will recognize his name in an instant. But for the uninitiated, Dave Mason is a guitar legend. As a solo artist, he has but two charted tunes to his credit—the self-penned “Only You Know and I Know,” (1970) and 1977’s soft rock-ish “We Just Disagree,” written by Jim Krueger. But as a founding member of Traffic with Steve Winwood, Mason’s contribution to the rock and roll history books is undeniable.
[MUSIC] The duo of David Kane and John Toohill, a.k.a. Night Slaves, should require little introduction to local music fans: Kane has been pushing musical and performance boundaries for four decades; Toohill has made his mark in a number of ensembles and as a solo artist, most recently with his project the Midnight Vein.
[ART] The twice annual drawing rallies that Hallwalls organizes at Asbury Hall have been among the city’s most enduringly popular art parties since they began in 2012. The Mid-Winter’s Draw works like this: The doors to Babeville’s beautiful Asbury Hall open on Wednesday, February 28 at 7pm; at 7:15pm sharp, a coterie of 18 local artists start producing art, live, right in front of your eyes, as you wander about, cocktail in hand, listening to music courtesy DJ Undersound.
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Album: Vol. III by Hymns Recommended if you like: David Lynch, Brian Eno |
Among a string of investments in untested companies, the $55 million grant to bring IBM to town seemed like one of the safest bets of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion program.
IBM’s new Buffalo location was an obvious choice, too, when the state was looking for a company capable of handling a multi-million dollar contract to provide customer support for the IT needs of state agencies.
But, so far, IBM’s Buffalo office has been mired in dysfunction and disappointment.
[COMEDY] If you’re the kind of person that’s alwys stuck in their own head, then Jen Kirkman is the comedian for you. The 43-year-old comedian from Boston has made a name for herself with her handful of comedy routines with titles like Self Help, which had the comedy writer painting pictures for her audience as much as telling jokes. She got her start on as a writer on Chelsea Lately and soon began making the rounds on late night TV shows like Conan and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
[POST HARDCORE] You know you’ve made it as a band when your website features a “fan-submitted tattoos section.” It’s true that Canadian post-hardcore band Silverstein were at their most relevant around a decade ago, when screamo music was at its peak, but they’ve held on, and released some solid post-hard music since then, even if it’s not as trendy as it was when they released their 2003 debut, When Broken is Easily Fixed.
[PUNK] Florida’s Less than Jake has partnered with the Pure Noise label for last year’s Sound the Alarm, an EP of fairly mellow new material that might not break new ground, but says plenty for the band’s consistency. Now 25 years on from their humble, early 1990’s beginnings, Less Than Jake may not bounce quite like they did on their 1996 debut Losing Streak, but what’s missing in rowdy beats is compensated for in timely messages and positive energy.
[TRIBUTE] Johnny Cash fans still have some original, new music to look forward to from the musician who passed away 15 years ago. A handful of notable country singers including Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss, and Brad Paisley have finished work on an album titled Johnny Cash: Forever Words, which features a collection of Cash’s poems, letters and other unpublished writings reinterpreted and presented by these artists, who were no doubt heavily influenced by the Man in Black.
[INDIE] Chameleonic multi-instrumentalist, virtuoso whistler and one-time Squirrel Nut Zipper, Andrew Bird, 44, recorded his latest—Echolocations: River—under the Hyperion Glendale Bridge in Los Angeles. It’s the second in an instrumental series that focuses on the nuances of site-specific recordings: how is the music informed by the environs?
[JAZZ] The matrimonial duo of Vince and Carina Mastrantonio have become a staple of Buffalo’s music venues over the last few years, charming audiences with their jazzy cabaret-noir. It takes a mega-dose of musical personality to stand out from the over-sized herd these days, and these folks have it in spades, along with a remarkable amount of talent and ace musical instincts.