Buffalo Rising Online

Anthony Swinnich

Anybody looking for a relaxing night out needs look no further than UB's Allen Hall. WBFO's free weekly concert series continues tonight with a performance by Ellen West and Tracy Morrow and the Magi Chippie.

Ellen West is also known as Michele Buono, singer and guitarist for The Missing Planes, a more upbeat indie band. Buono had a few songs she wrote that didn't quite fit the tone of the band and she plays them out under the moniker “Ellen West,” a reference to a song by Throwing Muses. The acoustic tracks found on her 6 song album Preparing To Be Forgotten have a twinge of regret and sadness to them. Her vocals are almost ghostly – you don't just hear what she's singing, but feel why she's singing it.

Buono said that tonight's concert, and the concert series in general, is a family friendly event. “It's not in a bar. It's in a theatre space on a colleg…

Bass Reeves

I was at the Viking Restaurant in the Blackrock section of town when the owner says, "Hey, I have this CD of a kid of one of my customers. Would you like to take a listen?"

"Suuuure," I cringed. "Whose kid is it?" He mentions the name, and to my extra delight (sarcasm), I happen to know the guy. Great, I say to myself.

But I listened, and the kid was more than all right; he was just terrific (whew). I took the CD to some friends so they could listen—Robbie Konikoff at Audio Magic Studios in Blackrock, and Buffalonian Gary Mallaber (a Who's Who of Rock and Roll), who has worked with greats like Van Morrison, Steve Miller and Bruce Springsteen. Both stalwarts agreed with my thoughts. The kid has a future in music.

The musical talent incubated here in Buffalo has always amazed me. Everywhere I travel I find great players from Buffalo. I don't know if it's t…

Kate Sorice

Buffalo Seminary is in a league of their own and one of a kind. They're the only non denominational all girls college preparatory school in the area. The classes are smaller and they focus on academic excellence, creativity and giving each girl a voice.

Every year the Fine Arts and Music program calls upon a different artist to come in and work with the students to introduce them to a new kind of theatre. Last year they focused on Commedia Del'Arte, which is the basis for a lot of improv and physical comedy today.

The Theatre of Yugen was chosen to come in and assist this year since there is a focus on East Asian Studies at the school. Theatre of Yugen is an ensemble based in San Francisco and dedicated to fostering intercultural understanding through their performances.

Toni Wilson, head of the Fine Arts Department, is incredibly excited to have this opportunity to ha…

buffalorising

In the 1970s on the Lower East Side of New York City, a violinist, guitarist, and bassist came together and formed the String Trio of New York. More than three decades later the Trio is still entertaining audiences from all over the world with their rhythmic and stylistically varied jazz. The Trio that has been featured across the globe will now be featured at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

With 17 critically acclaimed CDs and thousands of fans in North America, Europe, East Asia, India, the Middle East, and North Africa, the Trio has returned to NY to celebrate their 30th anniversary. Now, the public is free to watch their performance at Gusto at the Gallery on Friday, October 3rd. Even more exciting for fans and fellow musicians is the general musicality workshop that will be given at 6 PM.

The workshop goes along with the Gusto’s mission of providing performances, tours, h…

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By M. Scully

Living in Dublin in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a teenager, I started to notice that there were all sorts of things to do and see, whereas before there didn’t seem to be much of anything that was cheap and accessible. Suddenly though, the Dublin Theatre Festival became big and interesting (I think when the organizers stopped producing it for the tourists and began to make it about Dubliners) and was soon joined by the Irish Film Festival. Then the big outdoor concerts started to happen. Outside of themselves, these events felt like the brought the community together. Our city. Our party.

Rockin’ at the Knox stands out from a packed calendar as one of Buffalo’s defining events—the kind that brings the whole community together. 2008 promises to be great: The B-52s, one of the world’s greatest party bands, will headline the biggest party we will h…

Alison Zero

Joseph Secchiaroli, guitarist & vocalist for THE REIGN OF KINDO, talks about his band’s exciting new project Rhythm, Chord & Melody, their genre-defying style, and how Buffalo’s weather inspires.

By Alison Zero, Talent Producer @ WBFO (wbfo.org/border)

Q: Your debut album, Rhythm, Chord & Melody, was just released on One Eleven Records. Has this record been in the works for some time? A: It's been almost two years. We started writing material under the moniker "The Reign of Kindo" in late 2006, almost immediately following the end of our old group, This Day & Age. We released an EP of five songs in August of 2007. Those five songs alongside some of the songs you will hear on Rhythm, Chord & Melody were originally meant to be on the same record. We couldn't finish all of the recordings in time to make the scheduled release dat…

buffalorising

There's only a handful of original Buffalo bands from the 80's that the 30+ scene can look back on and remember that "time and place" moment. The Great Train Robbery was one of those bands. Their ability to draw more than 500 fans--on a bimonthly basis--to non-traditional music venues like The Comedy Trap on Hertel was the norm back then. Much more than a mere band, playing the songs from their records; The Great Train Robbery was a full-fledged interactive experience, accessible to all, with a loyal community of fans.

Since their return in 2004 with a sold-out Tralf Show, The Great Train Robbery has regularly appeared in Western New York, while working on material for a new release. For the past 2 years their performances at The Cozumel Grill's "Summers Edge" Concert have had the feel of those late 80's spectaculars. Maybe it's because the early showtime allows the older se…