[PARTY] Babeville has launched a fun new weekly event dubbed Weekend Mondays. The series features small, intimate, shows—closer to parties—on select Monday nights. The next edition of the series will feature some great Buffalo-based hip hop and indie acts include indie rock band The Get Money Squad, hip hop solo acts Truey V and Too$MoothJu, and DJ Jett. Check it out at Babeville’s 9th Ward this Monday, February 19.
[BENEFIT CONCERT] In an era when funding for arts education is continually diminished, the value of an organization like Buffalo String Works can hardly be overstated: The grassroots, musician-led organization provides instrumental instruction to underserved students, particularly to refugee communities on Buffalo’s West Side.
[ART OPENING] This Friday, February 16, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery opens an exhibit that’s long overdue: We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965-85 comprises work by more than three dozen women of color in a broad array of media—film and video, photography, painting, sculpture, performance, printmaking—curated by the Albright-Knox in concert with the Brooklyn Museum. It is, according to the museum’s notes on the show, “the first exhibition to highlight the voices and experiences of women of
[BLUES] Joe Louis Walker is a blues music legend. The 68-year-old guitarist, singer, and producer has released dozens of records, dominating the 1990s blues scene. Since 1964, he’s worked with a slew of blues and rock icons including Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Tower of Power, and many others. In 2013, Walker was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, and last year his latest record, Everybody Wants a Piece, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album.
[ELECTRONICA] And now, for something completely different…. HundredMillionThousand is the musical project of Persian/Filipino experimental producer Noel Jon, based up in Edmonton, Alberta. Jon’s HMT debut, lp1, was self-released on vinyl and digital formats last year and has received some mind-blowing acclaim. Paste went as far as to call it, “A stand out record of the year; the album is like no other you will hear,” while Exclaim!
[COMEDY] Mark Normand looks like he just left a boring day job after drinking too much at lunch, but he’s actually a full time comedian who has appeared on Inside Amy Schumer and every late night show you can think of. His latest stand up special is Don’t Be Yourself—a hilarious series of self loathing rips that’ll keep you laughing for the entire 60 minutes. Normand comes to Buffalo’s Helium Comedy Club for five shows this Thursday, February 15 through Saturday, February 17.
[PUNK] Formed in 2014 with a “grunge influence,” Candy Ambulance’s new single “Spray”—also the title track of the trio’s upcoming EP, out Friday, February 16—sounds unabashedly punk to us, and there’s nothing wrong with that. At barely two minutes, the song packs a manic burst of chaotic energy that’s hard to resist. Front gal Caitlin Baker sounds agitated and restless (but she hasn’t lost her sense of humor), while her bandmates churn out an impressive, tumultuous racket behind her.
[INDIE] Steak and Cake sounds…. delish, right? Something meaty and flavorful with some fluffy sugar on the side? It seems like a hard-to-fuck-up recipe.
[POP] If you’ve ever been through Lowell, Ma., it’d be pretty easy to say that it doesn’t seem like much is going on. A slow-to-gentrify, blue-collar, industrial town, it’s hard to believe that Lowell has spawned PVRIS (formerly PARIS, but now changed because of some legal hoo-hah a few years back), which merges pop, punk and electronica is a worldly way that eschews their hometown environs.
[TECHNO] The first party from a new contingent of Buffalo-based techno promoters dubbed Aural Shift is slated for this Saturday, February 17 at Lockhouse. The party—itself titled Phase 1—features the Berlin-based techno maven Denise Rabe in the top slot. A new release from Rabe came in December in the form of a track titled “First Impression” from her EP The Fox and the Raven; the first release from the artist’s own label.
[FOLK] As the focus continues shifting away from record profits to touring, pledges and subscriptions to keep musical artists above water, it’s intriguing to watch as they also find new ways of keeping fans engaged. The once-Toronto-based quintet Enter the Haggis has dug deep in this regard: beginning in 2011, they started using crowd-sourced funding to finance their albums, arguably a bit ahead of the curve and have raised an impressive accumulated $150,000 for subsequent releases, one of which included fans in the development of its content.
[PARTY] In tune with your Valentine’s most colorful desires, the Love & Sex(bot) Show this Saturday, February 17 at Squeaky Wheel for its annual erotica themed party, with plenty to feast the mind and eyes on.
[ELECTRONIC/DANCE] Excision brings beats so big that they require he tow a custom sound system along with him on tour. The 150,000 watt system will be set up at Buffalo Riverworks for the artist’s biggest local show to date, this Monday, February 19. The 31-year-old Canadian dubstep DJ and producer is making his way across the country on his Paradox tour and he’s bringing Liquid Stranger, Dion Timmer, and Monxx along with him. Prepare your ears for this one.
[ELECTRONIC/DANCE] Maybe DJ Holographic’s biggest success so far is as a resident DJ for Bak Dør, a queer afterhours party held in her hometown of Detroit that bills itself as a party for “misfits who don’t want to be classified.” These, in this writer’s humble opinion, are the best types of parties. As DJ, Holographic spins a jackin’ mix of house, deep house, techno, nu-disco, and funk with a focus on connecting the dots and paying respects to those who’ve come before her.
Love is in the air again between the Buffalo Bills and their fan base after a long-awaited return to the playoffs. The Bills’ flirtation with postseason glory comes 17 years after their last playoff appearance and 23 years since coach Marv Levy led the Bills to the last of four Super Bowl appearances in 1994. Levy, 92, still has fond memories of the coaches and players he worked with during the Bills’ glory days, many of whom continue to stay in touch with the Hall of Fame coach online and at public appearances.
Rising from his red leather chair in the gilded New York state Senate chambers, state Senator Jeffrey D. Klein stood near the apex of the semi-circled seats of the upper house. It was January 8. He had the floor.