Author: kaitmunro

Come see live performances by jazz greats at the Hunt Real Estate Art of Jazz, an annual concert series at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. The 2009-2010 series will include evening and afternoon shows.Come spend “An Evening with Mike Jones” on Saturday, October 24th, at 8 PM with a pre-concert conversation, “Roll ‘Em Pete: The Life and Music of Pete Johnson,” at 7 PM. The Lou Donaldson Quartet will perform on Saturday, November 21st, at 8 PM. A conversation about “Preserving Buffalo’s Jazz History” will take place at 7 PM. An afternoon concert will feature jazz ensemble Mostly Other People Do The Killing, on…

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Meghan Mann is a 23-year-old go-getter who looks like the girl next door. She put in $6,000+ of her own and investors’ money in order to pull off Silent Exchange (ironically named in retrospect), and 500+ hours of long, hot summer due diligence. Every time we had occasion to see Mann this summer, she gave excited updates of this concert event she was planning, adding, “I’m crossing all my ‘T’s and dotting all my ‘I’s. I don’t want anything to go wrong!”Mann was taking on a job that, as far as we know, no female her age had ever endeavored to before…

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Last Friday, Newell and I had another meeting of the Buffalo Rising Roundtable (WBFO Podcast) at WBFO studios with News Director Mark Scott.We talked about the membership of Buffalo ReUse voting to reinstate founder Michael Gainer in some capacity, and what it would mean to the organization, along with their move to add 4 new board members who will balance out those already in place. Balance seems to be the key word in Buffalo ReUse these days, and that’s a good thing.Beyond that, we talked about what went wrong with Silent Exchange. After talking to a police spokesman, the district councilman,…

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The old bagel shop location on Elmwood between Auburn and Cleveland will finally be getting a new tenant, when Penzeys Spices opens up their 43rd retail location at 783 Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo. The store will carry over 250 herbs, spices and seasonings including whole spices, spice blends, extraordinary cinnamons and peppers, soup bases, extracts, sea salt and many different gift boxes and crates for that special occasions. With all of that variety, Penzeys claims its customers get the best quality spices at costs that are lower than supermarket pricing. The largest mail-order spice company in the United States, Penzeys knows they…

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The membership of Buffalo ReUse voted last night to have Michael Gainer – founder, demoted CEO, and finally deposed COO – of Buffalo ReUse back in the organization in some capacity. Just what Gainer’s role will be is to be decided by the board, who will increase from 6 to 10 in the coming month with membership input. Gainer never actually left after his firing, but took the role of volunteer and continued to carry out the work he had started when he formed ReUse 2 years ago, minus administrative duties. This week’s Buffalo Rising poll showed that the most popular…

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When I saw this article entitled “Why Do We Get Megaproject Costs Wrong?” the first thing that came to my mind was the Peace Bridge and its ugly sister, the truck plaza. The first and most relevant thing you’ll see from the top graphic is that in pushing agendas, there is always bound to be some sort of delusion, which may be nothing more than good intentions, based on the wrong data. In the case of the truck plaza/Peace Bridge/historic neighborhood tie-in, the delusional aspect could be traced to 20-year-old data. But Flyvberg states it best when he says, “…the…

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After being closed in April of 2008 due to high levels of leaded paint, the North Park Branch of the Erie County Public Library will be taking up residence in the northwest corner of the K-Mart Plaza at 975 Hertel Avenue.The move is a short distance from the library’s current location at 2351 Delaware at Hertel, and will serve the same neighborhood it did before the closing. When complete, the City will have spent a total of $156K for reconstruction of the temporary 4,000 sq. ft. facility, that will feature 2 dozen computers and extended hours until 8PM on Fridays.…

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Kudos to Buffalo’s arts community, specifically Marcus Wise of Gallery 464, Dorreen DeBoth of Artspace and their (so-much-more-than-a) landlord, Susan (Frenchy) Cholewa, for doing what no one has managed to do until now – bring together the 2009 mayoral candidates.What was billed as a Town Hall Meeting and “meet and greet,” with incumbent Mayor Byron Brown and challenger Councilman Mickey Kearns, turned into talk about more issues when the campaigners fielded questions from the crowd. The candidates answered written questions concerning art and culture’s effect on urban revitalization, and then live questions that came from audience members with raised hands.Much of what…

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This week’s Buffalo Rising Roundtable (WBFO podcast) was probably the most varied mixed bag of topics Mark Scott, Newell and I ever tackled. It started with news of Michael Miller’s sudden death. If you haven’t had the chance, please see the slideshow attachment by The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Something about seeing Michael and hearing him speak of all his work and the great hopes he pinned on the Central Terminal is so wrenching. It makes me realize how very hard his wake will be this afternoon, and I don’t look forward to this good-bye, but I wouldn’t stay away from paying…

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It’s safe to say that Buffalo ReUse (BRU) is an entity that has seen its share of upheavals in recent weeks.As a result, benefactors of BRU, the John R. Oishei Foundation, have taken some heat concerning the origins of a building at 635 South Park being offered to BRU through Oishei. Specifically, suspicions were raised among ReUse members about the relationship between Oishei and Daniel Black of Jamestown, NY, owner of the building. These allegations grew from individuals in the membership who felt that any talk of moving BRU to Buffalo’s 1st Ward, rather than the portion of the East Side BRU has…

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