BREATHE CAROLINA with CHIODOS Thursday, Aug 18 “Your cold pale skin and tainted purple lips, let me embrace you with this kiss.” Aside from summing up the temperament of an entire musical genre, this line, from the song “The Words ‘Best Friend’ Become Redefined” from Chiodos’ 2005 debut album All’s Well that End’s Well,  acts [...]

As he made his way to Omaha Beach, all Walter N. Suchowiecki could think about was staying alive.

Buffalo's film aficionados can experience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to locally view a classic film alongside a musical performance by a groundbreaking musician. Steven Severin, best known as the bassist and co-founder of influential 1980s band Siouxsie and the Banshees, will perform a new score he created for Jean Cocteau's surrealist film Blood of a Poet in conjunction with a film showing. The show has toured throughout the UK and North America, and will now be presented once in Buffalo. The show will be hosted by Buffalo-produced television program Offbeat Cinema and Hallwall's Contemporary Art Center on Saturday, August 27th at 7 p.m. at Market Arcade Film & Arts Center. The program's distinctive combination of music and film promises to be an unforgettable experience according to Offbeat Cinema creator James Gillan. As he explains, "This will be an opportunity for people to [not only] see an incredibly influential performer, but also see him perform a [unique score for] a movie that already stands alone as a hallmark of cinema."

James Gillan says that Offbeat Cinema was interested in hosting Severin's "Blood of a Poet" performance after they gained knowledge of Severin's Severin's interpretive soundtracks to silent films. As Gillan explains, "Severin is a very influential part of the 80's music scene, which makes him relevant in this respect alone. However, his [new film projects] are a great standalone project. They add a new relevancy to the great work he does as an artist." Severin has created numerous soundtracks for avant-garde films, which includes all three films of Jean Cocteau's The Orphic Trilogy. Gillan explains that of all the films Severin has worked with, these three films depict a particularly timeless theme that lent itself well to his musical objectives. The trilogy explores the tension a poet or artist feels between pursuing their artistic desires and impending danger or death. As Gillan describes, "[Think of] how many artists we hear about that give up their life in the pursuit of life, dying tragically, young and penniless. This [universal] theme is incredibly prevalent in this film."

Offbeat Cinema believes that this one-of-a-kind production emphasizes the mission of Offbeat Cinema while providing an excellent educational film experience. According to Gillan, Offbeat Cinema was eager to offer this amazing production live in Buffalo. "[Offbeat Cinema] immediately noticed the great critical acclaim Severin received for this project. These movies are pretty interpretive to begin with, and we saw that [Severin's vision] was incredible." Gillan explains that the film's interpretive approach to the plight of the artist emphasizes Offbeat Cinema's dedication to showing obscure films that might be difficult to view elsewhere. "We've been on the air for over 15 years and we present films that are [not widely viewed]... when we first heard about Severin's project, it seemed natural to bring it to Buffalo."

Offbeat Cinema expected positive acclaim for the brilliant performance, but was surprised, yet pleased at the immediate buzz about the show. Gillan enthusiastically states, "as soon as we announced the show, even before a date was set, we received numerous positive e-mails about the event."
 
"Think about this," notes Gillan, "it is pretty interesting that people [from the area] are heavily discussing, and planning to come see an art film like this." He believes this reception shows the great intellect of this community. "The fact that people are interested and supporting this is a credit to the area."  Hopefully, word of mouth will positively impact the Buffalo performance and allow this show one of the best live reenactments of Severin's soundtrack yet.

Filmgoers can also look forward to the opening band, Moss of Ancients. A local group who combines visuals and sounds, Moss of Ancients are a talented group who will emphasize Buffalo's great artistic offerings and will provide a great gateway to Severin's performance.

Tickets cost $15 in advance and $20 at the door, and can be purchased beforehand at Poster Art, Tarrapin Station, and on the Offbeat Cinema website, which is www.offbeatcinema.com.

Stills from Jean Cocteau's Blood of a Poet

We all know how nice it is to have so many collegiate institutions in the region, especially since the advent of Service Learning programs. There is one university that's located 150 miles away that should also get some credit for lending a hand to our grassroots organizations. 

This summer, Cornell University offered its students a Service Learning and Action Research program called The High Road Runs Through the City/ The program teamed students up with local organizations affiliated with Partnership for Public Good. The goal was to immerse the students into hands-on learning roles that would lend helping hands (and brains) to ongoing urban revitalization efforts. "The High Road Fellowship is a unique program among other higher education service-learning experiences and externships. The Fellowship is a summer long immersion that promotes service and leadership in community affairs and policy-oriented scholarship," said program coordinator, Megan Connelly.

For the third year, Cornell students took on the same challenges that our own community activists do on an ongoing basis. A handful of the High Road Fellows even took up residency in PUSH's NetZero House, learning the ins and outs of living a sustainable existence. The Buffalo-Cornell partnership continues to grow from year to year, attracting students from as far away as California. It is these types of relationships that help to foster change within our city, and at the same time Buffalo can be proud that it is able to offer itself up as a living laboratory thanks to the progressive organizations that have taken root over the last decade.

Students participating in High Road Fellowship and their partner agencies are:

Derya Akbaba '13, Urban Roots
Jeffrey Baker '14, Partnership for the Public Good
Daniel Cooper '13, Buffalo First
Susanne Donovan '13, Daemen College Center for Sustainable Communities
Abhishek Gupta '10, MS '11, International Institute
David Huang '13, Coalition for Economic Justice
Sahil Jain '14, Prisoners are People Too
Elizabeth Li '13, Clean Air Coalition
Alyssa Murrett '13, Public Accountability Initiative, Partnership for the Public Good
John Parker '12, PUSH Buffalo
Lauren Schwarzenholzer '13, Partnership for the Public Good
Elizabeth Spivak '13, Everywoman Opportunity Center
Andrea Thomas '12, Heart of the City Neighborhoods
Tom Wasko '14, Buffalo CarShare
 

An extremist religious political sect, which misleadingly calls itself the “National Organization for Marriage“, is sending out lying mailings to voters in the 60th state Senate district. Apart from containing hatred and lies, the mailers ask people to send ready-made postcards to Senator Mark Grisanti, threatening to punish him at the polls for his vote to legalize same-sex marriage.

Some voters in the overwhelmingly Democratic district are choosing instead to send modified versions of NOM’s postcard to Senator Grisanti. This appeared in my Facebook feed on Saturday:

Volunteers inspire neighborhood by converting ruined Southampton house.

’56 Lincoln, Sanborn, N.Y. I don’t know, but lately it seems that old Lincolns have been coming out of the woodwork. This 1956 Lincoln two-door hardtop recently appeared outside of a Sanborn wrecking yard. For 1956 the Lincoln came in two series: Capri and Premiere. The Capri two-door sold for $4,119 while the higher-priced Premiere [...]

The Chicago Bears were the first to get a taste of just what might happen when Bills quarterback Brad Smith lines up behind the center in Buffalo’s preseason opener Saturday night. He was only on t...

Welcome to the silent scream edition of the morning grumpy. Here’s the latest links, news, music and other shit you need to get your day started…

1. Local food truck favorite Lloyd Tacos, is in the running for “America’s Favorite Food Truck“, a contest by Food Network. If they win, they get $10,000 and a chance to compete in the show “The Great Food Truck Race“. Show Lloyd some love, they’re currently in 4th place and Buffalo should turn out the vote for an awesome little truck. You can cast 10 votes per day, show up and vote each day. It’ll only take a minute of your time. Click here and click often!

2. Warren Buffett (you know, the guy who underwrites Bob McCarthy’s paycheck) begs Congress to stop coddling the rich.

We mega-rich should not continue to get extraordinary tax breaks while most Americans struggle to make ends meet. My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.

3. Song for Monday, Part 1: “Come To The City” by War On Drugs

4. Even though Michele Bachmann won the Iowa Straw Poll this Saturday, the new leader in the clubhouse for the GOP Presidential nomination is Texas Governor Rick Perry. Here’s ten things he doesn’t want you to know about him.

You might also be interested in the blistering takedown of Perry’s economic record that Rachel Maddow put together a month ago.

5. My new favorite YouTube Series, Henry’s Kitchen.

6. A fantastic takedown of the “businesses need certainty” canard as a reason why corporations are sitting on trillions of dollars in cash and not spending or lending to get the economy up and on its feet.

The problem is that the “certainty” language reveals what the real game is, which is certainty in top executive pay at the expense of the health of the enterprise, and ultimately, the economy as a whole. Cutting costs is as easy way to produce profits, since the certainty of a good return on your “investment” is high.

Indeed, the bigger problem they face is that they have played their cost-focused business paradigm out. You can’t grow an economy on cost cutting unless you have offsetting factors in play, such as an export led growth strategy, or an ever rising fiscal deficit, or a falling household saving rate that has not yet reached zero, or some basis for an investment spending boom. But if you go down the list, and check off each item for the US, you will see they have exhausted the possibilities.

7. Song for Monday, Part 2: “I Don’t Want To Go To Chelsea” by Elvis Costello

8. The editorial board at The Economist has some harsh words for America.

The poisonous politics of the past few weeks have created new sorts of uncertainty. Now that the tea-partiers have used default successfully as a political weapon, it will surely be used again. The refusal to compromise, rapidly becoming a point of honour for both parties, is wreaking damage elsewhere, partially shutting down the Federal Aviation Administration (see article) and postponing trade bills. At best, the politicians will have slowed a sputtering expansion; at worst they will have killed off the recovery and inflicted lasting harm on the world’s most impressive prosperity machine.

Have a day!

A little comic strip … [visit site to read more]

It would be awkward for me to eat Buttcake.

Oh, how wondrous it could be!

When Chad Johnson was still Chad Johnson — not the guy selling haircuts for only TEN BUCKS — he did a masterful job selling me the Cincinnati Bengals. Whether it was a checklist of defensive backs he was due to roast like a Christmas goose (people eat Christmas goose?!?) or a media day teaser on his next celebration, I was glued to the pre-Twitter Ochocinco.

There are plenty of people I respect who lambasted then-Johnson for his unwillingness to just hand the ball to the referee and I respect those people. I understand both sides of the coin. There have been times I’ve scored a goal and skated back to the bench emotionlessly on the surface but there have been other times I’ve shot my glove out of the air with my “rifle.” It depends on the time and the place, I suppose, and it also makes you look fairly silly when you drop the would-be game-winning touchdown against the best franchise in football… and then have to back away from blaming someone very holy. It comes with the territory and Stevie is accepting that: Awesome sauce.

So, I imagine seeing Stevie Johnson responding to a Tweet about the home opener and his potential TD celebration by saying “Pray I score bkuz I have something NICE for KC” will strike people in a few different fashions. For me, I love that this guy is on my team (provided his desired celebration isn’t some slight against Native Americans).

The 2011 Bills don’t have the appearance of a title team, but I’m rooting for them to top that. Unlike the Dick Jauron-era, this isn’t going to be a milquetoast group of guys taking it one boring game at a time. Joining Johnson are a man who — placing perceptibly abhorrent off-field stories aside for a moment — has a light switch tattooed on his forearm and a 399-pound defensive tackle who could beat the majority of us in a race. They also have a starting quarterback who is proud to grow a hobo beard. God bless Fitzmagic.

This team is not going to bore us. This team has color. This is a team I’d love to get behind.

Email: nick@fcbuffalo.org

Vehicle sellers could get thousands of dollars.

This past week Peter and I finally got together at Coca Cola Field at a Bisons game to finish the venue profile, score and rank the most recent visited USRT new venue – the Consol Energy Center, home of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Back in March, we were treated to the VIP tour of the venue courtesy of Penguins VP/Communications Tom McMillan, and as we explained the way we rank and score these places, we got the sense that McMillan was making the argument that their arena is now the elite of the NHL.

What was not to like? The electronic displays in their main lobby were stupendous…giant touch iPad style displays which created three virtual Stanley Cups, and more displays heralding the 30 or so best players ever to wear the Penguins uniform. Every design element in the building screamed “Steel City”. The views to the outside skyline were dazzling. The chandeliers in the lobby which burnt bright red every time the home team scored, signaling a goal to passerby on the interstate. Nice touch!

So we added up the score, then the debate ensued. The arena is really really nice. But #1? We again harkened back to our visits to our NHL leader – Nationwide Arena in Columbus. And the close second, St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center. Both venues sit in dynamic and exciting completed downtown neighborhoods, sporting retail, restaurants, bistros, offices and parks. Pittsburgh? Well, there is Duquesne University up the hill. Traverse the mish mosh of ramps and I-579 and you’ll get downtown. The nearby high rise hotels, and there are several of them, have lobby bars and places to grab a bite. But the big elephant in the room – the parcel where the Igloo still stands, is the key to tying in this area of downtown Pittsburgh into a cool and exciting place to live, work and play. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon. The development killing “community benefits agreement”, the darling of big labor, is choking any hope of private investment, and yes, Pittsburgh has its own version of Esmonde/Goldman fascists who stand in the way of anything cool.

So in the end, it is the still work in progress downtown neighborhood which drags down the Pittsburgh Penguins in the USRT rankings. 70.5 points lands them a third place finish. Make no mistake – this is one awesome arena and worth the visit so check it all out if you get the chance.

Click HERE for the official USRT Pittsburgh Penguins venue profile

Click HERE for the USRT rankings for the National Hockey League.

NEW VENUE UPDATE

There are four “official” USRT visits on the upcoming schedule to bring us up to speed for our core mission, which is to hold bragging rights to having attended a home game of each of the 122 teams in the four major sports in their current and active venues. Here they are:

10.16.11 – New York Giants, New Meadowlands Stadium. We saw the Jets in that stadium last season. Now we return to see the place decked out in blue.

01.19.12 – Winnipeg Jets, MTS Centre. Again, we have been there – to see the AHL Manitoba Moose. How exciting it will be to see this city pumped up in NHL style!

Spring/12 – Florida Marlins, Marlins Stadium. Their new stadium opens for business, on the site of the old Orange Bowl.

Fall/12 – Brooklyn Nets, Barclays Center. The newest dazzling NBA venue opens at the Atlantic Yards, not far from where Ebbets Filed used to stand.

And that – is it. There are no shovels in the ground anywhere else for new venues in the four sports. Oakland A’s? Minnesota Vikings? San Diego Chargers? Just plans and dreams, nothing firm. As for relocation – Phoenix Coyotes? New York Islanders? Or *gasp* the Buffalo Bills?

Well, without new venues and new frontiers to conquer in the four sports, guess we will have to amuse ourselves with other distractions – like galavanting all over Europe to follow the Sabres. Yeah, that works too!

Did Levi Brown help or hurt himself last night? (PHOTO: BuffaloBills.com)

Last night was our first look at the 2011 Buffalo Bills, and despite the Bills losing 10-3 to Chicago there were a lot of positives. In particular, the first string as a whole looked decent. But there’s only so much you can take away from watching the starters in a preseason game – those guys know they’re making the team, and it’s simply a way of getting ready for the season.

More interesting to me is watching the second- and third-stringers in action. Now here we have guys playing for their careers. Each NFL team is carrying 90 guys this preseason, but only 53 per team can realize their dreams and make the final roster.

By my count the Bills have about 40 players more or less guaranteed to make the roster barring injury/trade/suspension/arrest/whatever. That leaves some 13 or so spots up for grabs. So which “fringe” players helped themselves last night in their quest to make the Bills’ roster?

Helped Themselves:

WR Naaman Roosevelt – You might say Roosevelt was already a lock, but if he wasn’t he surely moved closer to lock status last night. He made a couple of tough catches in traffic for first downs. This man can play.

… [visit site to read more]

Downtown’s Corn Exchange Building given new life as luxury apartment complex.