The first Friday of the month is quite a busy one for the Albright-Knox, with M&T's First Fridays at the Gallery program packing the day full of events for both members and non-members to enjoy. From 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., guests and their families can stop by the gallery for special exhibitions, tours, art classes and more. Some of the day's events do come with a fee for non-members, but those who are already members of the gallery can enjoy it all for free.
In order to pre-register for any of the classes or tours being held on First Fridays, you can call 716-270-8292

If you are a Buffalo high school or college student and want to succeed in the Buffalo music business, then GCR Audio="background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; color: rgb(0,

Where are you from originally? 
I'm a Niagara County boy.
What is your medium? 
I use oil paints and mediums including acrylics, sprays, charcoal, wax and egg washes in my work.
How has Buffalo influenced your work? 
Buffalo is a significant force. I'm constantly influenced by context and urban dynamics living in the city. The romance of architectural and material preservation, use and decay is a heavy visual source for my

By Mark Abell:
With all of the recent brewing news regarding initial steps to make craft brewing easier in NYS, I figured that it would be a good thing to talk to a local home-brewer to see how he got his start (in hopes that more people pick up the hobby). 
Robert Turley Jr., a native of Williamsville, NY began brewing beer and apple cider in the basement of the Nickel City Cooperative house in Buffalo, NY two and a half years ago. The first types of beers he attempted to brew were pale ales and stouts followed by lagers

A Celebration of Art in Allentown...
This Friday, Indigo Gallery, located at 74 Allen Street, is hosting a celebration and gallery showing for some of the city's most talented artists. Not that Allentown isn't an everyday arts destination in general - quite the opposite. There are a number of galleries along Allen Street, but it's not often that we see twenty artists exhibiting at once, all under one roof. 
This is the type of show that offers a cross-section of talent - even if you end up attending the show to see an artist that you're

Earlier today I received and email from Tom Blanchard, retired Empire State Development's Regional Office Director for Research and Planning. Tom had read my recent post on Creating More Waterfront Opportunities and shared with me some of his thoughts regarding the questions/ideas that I posed. In his email he addressed the issue of bringing bigger passenger ships into the Inner Harbor, and also how to get more people out enjoying the water on a smaller scale. Rather than relegating people to stringent

When I grew up on Buffalo's gritty East Side, the word "rich" was a dirty four letter word.  I was not poor or needy, but my parents taught me to look down on those with money, privilege and all that comes with it.  It was a subtle suggestion, like most prejudice, not as deliberate as it was subconscious.  I struggled later, after receiving a scholarship to Canisius High School, where my scholarship to a Jesuit top-flight education was distracted occasionally by the spoiled, complacent children of some of Buffalo's wealthiest families (who forgot the

While the echo Art Fair (learn more) will be in full swing this coming weekend, Larkinville will also be taking part in artistic endeavors. Since the echo activities were taking place right on the doorstep of Larkin Square, it was decided that the cultural bounty should be enhances... or complemented as they say. While this weekend's Larkin Art Square event is not part of the echo event, its proximity to the art fair is designed to offer

By Kerri Linsenbigler:
The third annual National Garden Festival is blooming. This five-week-long garden party, which runs through July 29, features 14 garden walks, open gardens on Thursdays and Fridays and a neighborhood transforming Front Yard Contest. But for a behind-the-scenes look into neighborhood gardens, you'll have to catch a bus.
AAA Western and Central New York's Horizon Club Tours is offering one-of-a-kind, all-inclusive motor coach tours of western New York's best urban and suburban gardens. 
On

By Kyle Gunn-Taylor:
The Buffalo Sabres finally found a landing spot for highly scrutinized center Derek Roy, Monday.
Having been the focus of Sabres trade rumors for at least the past two off-seasons, moving Roy signifies more than just a swap of skill for sandpaper, it's a changing of the guard down the middle of the Sabres lineup.
Roy was shipped to the Dallas Stars in exchange for gritty left winger Steve Ott (Follow him on twitter @otter2nine) and big defenseman Adam Pardy (6'4", 220 lbs.)
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After years of trying to start a 'flea market', it looks as if my patience has finally paid off. Starting Saturday, July 14 at the Parish Commons parking lot (southwest corner Elmwood and West Ferry), we will be launching a weekly retro, vintage and antique market called The Peddler. Already we have a good number of vendors ready to sell their wares during the hours of 10am to 4pm each and every Saturday. We'll be starting off with about twenty 'peddlers' who all have expertise in the realm of mid-century and antique

You ever have one of those moments where you say, "Now I've seen it all"? I had one of those moments last evening when I took my dog for a walk over at Mutual Riverfront Park in the old First Ward. When I first arrived I was immediately taken aback as I saw a number of cars with kayaks and/or kayak racks on top parked along the road. We hopped out of the car and walked over to the edge of the park where I saw a loading and unloading contraption floating on the water that was being used by said kayakers.
By the time I arrived, the remaining kayakers were busy pulling themselves

The first signs of the echo Art Fair have begun to take hold in the Larkin District. Hamilton Ontario artists David Hind, Simon Frank, Ivan Jurakic and Tor Lukasik-Foss (TH&B) have been busy carving out a silhouette of the Great Lakes on a temporary facade of the Swan Lounge building at 716 Swan Street. 
The work is part of a series of site-responsive art installations that are meant to go hand-in-hand with the art fair. The theme of the Great Lake was chosen to signify

Do you realize how lucky we are to have a planetarium in our midst? The Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium is located right on the Buffalo State College campus and it's open to the public year 'round. Throughout the course of the year you can catch laser light shows combined with celestial and planetary showings... all done to music such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. The different programs that are offered correlate to the different times of year. As the earth's position changes and the solar system evolves, so does the planetarium's play list.

This past Saturday I was invited to sit in on an event that non-members rarely get a chance to observe. It was the rededication of the 41,000 square foot Church of Scientology. The Beaux Arts building was constructed in 1898 and was significantly restored back in 2003 by Foit-Albert and Associates. Since that time, the church has looked nothing short of glorious, although throughout this year a substantial amount of work has been underway in non-stop preparation for the rededication that took place on Saturday.
The event, which is said to have attracted 1000 members, was

Last weekend the Erie Basin Marina received a surprise visit from a PT-728 ThomCat WWII US Navy motor torpedo boat. The fully restored PT Boat was on its way to Liberty Aviation Museum in Port Clinton, Ohio. What is so special about this boat is that it is the only operation boat of its kind that's open to the public for water voyage tours. That means that for a small price visitors can climb aboard and head out onto the open lake. If you think about it, there are very few opportunities to do something similar in Buffalo. We have a Naval Museum that has stationary military ships for tours, which

A new pedicab company is starting up this week and in preparation for the launch, partners Rock and Roz Doyle made a pitstop over to Mixology Buffalo this past weekend to demonstrate the state of the art rides. These custom cycle rides are as eye-catching as they are luxurious - hence the brand name Pedillac. "We're going to be working with the local shops and restaurants in order to encourage people to support more places in our commercial districts," said Rock Doyle. "So far the businesses are really interested

Recently, the New York State Assembly passed legislation that would lend a hand to small breweries, stimulating growth and their ability to contribute to the local economy. The bill has two objectives: to provide tax relief to small breweries and also to allow farms to grow, brew and sell locally made beer. 
"New York's breweries are well on their way to becoming national and even international leaders in producing delicious craft beer," said Assemblyman Sean Ryan. "Their rise means more jobs for New Yorkers when we most desperately need them. The Assembly

As we move into the slowest month of the NFL offseason, we often take this time to truly reflect on a team, season, or player; both what has come before, and what may soon lie ahead.
In the case of the Buffalo Bills, last season saw the re-emergence of hope in the Queen City, as several relatively new names (Fitzpatrick, Dareus, Barnett, Jackson) tried, unsuccessfully, to cast off the demons of the last decade with an early sound and fury that resulted in nothing more than another losing season.
After a flurry of activity signing and re-signing

Several members of our New York legislative delegation and our developer community gathered last week to send a message to Governor Cuomo: we're ready when you are.

The bill to raise the per-project cap on historic preservation tax credits from $5 Million to $12 Million passed both houses of the state legislature with only a single dissenting vote in the session completed last month.  It is now awaiting the Governor's signature.  According to Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes, the Governor has pledged to sign the bill, but our delegation isn't taking any chances.  And