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Body Buzz: Reading as a Luxury

More than 15 years ago I heard these words for the first time: “Who has time to read?” It seemed everyone I knew was growing too busy to read, mostly working too much, but also weathering the invasion of work-related emails and cell phone calls into what used to be leisure time. There was also a lot more TV to watch, and I—who had quit TV for almost a decade already—can remember intelligent people telling me how TV had become quality art and that I no longer needed to fear somnambulant alpha states or Seinfeld’s cynical world-view.

Hip Hop Nite

[HIP HOP] Hip Hop Nite at Nietzsche’s returns this Thursday, January 11 with a jam packed line up. DJ Crop Top kicks it off, warming up the crowd for sets by Buffalo favorites 200 Kids Outside, Truey V, Jack Topht, Rodagues, and Rochester’s Cosmic Brownie. Can’t go wrong with this one for only $5.

Aircraft and MAGS

[INDIE] Two of Buffalo’s finest bands will rock the Lockhouse Distillery on Friday, January 12. Taste some of the distillery’s half-dozen flagship spirits while you listen to the men of Aircraft work up some new material and hear M.A.G.S. throw down tunes from its self-titled debut on Admirable Traits that dropped last fall. It’ll be a little bit psychedelic, a little bit punky, and a lot boozy—the perfect combo for a mid-January night in Buffalo.

Jess Hilarious

[COMEDY] As her New Year’s resolution, comedian Jess Hilarious vowed that she’d no longer wear wigs or make up. She redacted that New Year’s resolution just 36 hours later, in an Instagram video. “I think I was a little too high when I said I wasn’t going to wear any wigs,” she admitted, waving her pink finger nails at the camera.

CALICO

[AMERICANA] CALICO (which is purposefully stylized in all caps) is short for “California Country,” a fitting moniker for this duo born of both personal and musical roots in the Golden State. Introduced while pursuing individual careers as singer-songwriters, Manda Mosher and Kirsten Proffit discovered themselves as mutually kindred spirits and began gigging together with a focus on their love for harmony groups — Everly Brothers, Eagles, CSN—many of which also perpetuated the Laurel Canyon scene of times gone by.

The Devil Makes Three

[ROCK] From the rustic Vermont environs that launched their careers to the California digs they now call home base, The Devil Makes Three has earned its merit as a staple of the Americana movement that’s served as the most authentic modern avenue for country-folk hybrids. Adding flourishes of jazz, bluegrass and ragtime blues to a string-base of guitar, upright bass and banjo, the trio excels at delivering Appalachian-tinted twang in a high energy format that makes their live show far from a tedious sit down affair.

Ben Caplan

[INDIE] Nothing really prepares you for Canadian oddball beardo Ben Caplan’s musical presentation, which is folk-based with elements of various traditional ilks, including Klezmer. It’s his voice that’s most arresting, though—an attention-grabbing gruff growl likened to a more tuneful Tom Waits. And Caplan’s got a gift for storytelling as well, shining a bright light onto humanity’s underbelly with equal parts resignation and dark humor.

Tony Conrad at Hallwalls

[PERFORMANCE] Barely two years ago, when Tony Conrad passed away in nearby Cheektowaga at the age of 76, he left behind a sizable legacy of fringe art in addition to a teaching career in Media Studies at UB that’d lasted some 40 years. As the man indirectly responsible for naming The Velvet Underground (Lou Reed and John Cale took the name from a book Conrad left behind in a Greenwich Village apartment he’d previously rented),  Conrad’s place in the history of underground music was forever secured before his career had really taken off.

Redux Presents Patrick Russell

[TECHNO] The folks over at Redux have a hot party lined up to warm you up on what should be a cold-ass weekend. Headliner Patrick Russell is shipping in from Brooklyn to deliver some dance floor magic this Saturday, January 13—expect a healthy mix of acid house, IDM, deep stuff, and techno from the Interdimensional Transmissions artist.

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