My name is Brandon Schlia. I'm the President and Founder of Steak & Cake Records, a pro- local indie record label based in the village of Elmwood. Last August the label held the first annual Bidwell Indie 5000 music festival. It was the perfect end to a summer that saw the beginnings of a resurgence in our music community. The little kids were dancing, the grandparents were laughing, the bands played great and we all had an excellent time celebrating the artistry of our home town.
We had chosen that location in particular considering its proximity to our

Chris and Matthew Siano are bringing new life to the corner of Grant and Potomac.  The brothers' HES Properties II LLC purchased 368 Grant Street in late-February for $32,500 and will renovate the currently vacant building.  When finished early next year, 2,000 sq.ft. of commercial space will be available on the first floor and four apartments, each approximately 750 sq.ft., will fill the upper levels.
Chris Siano moved to Buffalo in 1997 and pursued

By Greg Conley:
Quite often we read blog posts and their associated comment sections about how Buffalo could be a better place if (insert logical to fantastical remark). There are so many ideas out there, but the common problem I see is that there isn't a place to truly share it with the community.
With this in mind, a question arose. Why not ask people for all of their ideas, and categorize them?
The intention of this project is to crowd source ideas about solving urban problems, and then categorize them.

Clutter 5 OUTSIDE is coming back for another round and this time it's scheduled to be held outside at Big Orbit Gallery. For those of you who may not be familiar with Clutter, it's a bi-monthly curated Indie do-it-yourself market featuring collectors, crafters, designers, visual artists, etc. I'm particularly excited about this upcoming event, due to the venue. The lot at Big Orbit Gallery lends itself perfectly for this sort of affair. Having Clutter outside will also give a whole new feel to the market, and it sounds like there will be some food trucks on the scene. Here's the rest of the

Demolition staging is taking place on Busti Avenue in preparation for removing multiple properties between Massachusetts and Vermont Streets. The majority of the block has already fenced off by the Public Bridge Authority including the landmarked Wilkeson house at 771 Busti.

Efforts by residents to halt the demolition have gone unheard as the organization moves forward without any public hearing on the matter. Many concerned citizens, especially in the

If you're familiar with the Buffalo Lazy Randonneur Club, it's probably for good reason. The bicycling club is made up of avid cyclists, some of whom enjoy a good ride, others who like to get dressed up for Sunday rides, a smattering of gearheads, and a few who can be found ogling a bike seat for hours contemplating the fine ride ahead (ala Spinal Tap - "Don't touch it... don't even look at it!") Whatever drives your passion for hopping on a bike, the members of the Buffalo Lazy Randonneur Club welcome you to join them on another fine ride as they don their best  (or only) seersucker

Roswell Park Cancer Institute's Clinical Sciences Center (CSC) is moving closer to construction.  The 11-story building, designed by FxFOWLE Architects of New York City, will contain approximately 142,000 square-feet of clinical and medical office space.  It will be built adjacent to the Roswell Park Main Hospital at the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Michigan Avenue in the burgeoning

While having lunch at Cafe 59 today I happened to speak to the owner Chris Connolly who told me that he was in the process of opening a new restaurant across the street in the former Atmosphere @ 62 (Fiddleheads) location. He mentioned that in order to make the corner space work he was going to have to reconfigure the interior - that mainly includes connecting the two sides of the space together by extending the bar across the restaurant in the shape of a large 'U', and taking down the large wall in the middle. "Up until this point it looks as if the past operators have added on additional space

The Seneca Nation is in the process of allocating $1,000,000 to improve amenities and infrastructure around the site of the Buffalo Creek Casino. "We are extremely pleased with this whole process, but especially with the quality and vision of the projects we funded," said Robert Odawi Porter, president of the Seneca Nation. "We set out to enhance the neighborhood around our Buffalo Creek Territory and casino, which we are doing. But at the same time, we've developed lasting friendships and collaborations with a great many people working to achieve the same goals."
The

So often when you pass by the 269-acre Forest Lawn Cemetery you do just that - pass it by. That's why it's so important to note that the historic site now hosts tours seven days a week. There are more tours than ever and there's even a new 'trolley' to give tourists rides in comfort and style. The trolley is handicapped accessible and climate-controlled. 
While there are many organized tours given on a regular basis, we must not forget that self-guided walkabouts are also very popular. Whether on foot or bike,

When we think of happy hours, we tend to think of the waterfront, Allentown, Chippewa, etc. A nice patio always comes to the forefront of our collective mind, especially when the weather is nice. A little live music doesn't hurt either. If you're looking for something to do this Friday that fits all of the criteria, consider heading over to the Burchfield-Penney Arts Museum for the museum's M&T Second Friday. 
As is implied, the second Friday of each month the museum hosts an early evening tribute to the local arts scene. This Friday visitors will be treated

Valuing a player in the NFL can be tricky these days, as a single flashy season can sometimes lead a team to give an average baller a big time contract, while the more important pieces of a team's success can waste away in impoverished anonymity. It now seems routine to over- and under-value a player (I blame the Internet), both close to and far away from a team's base of operations, resulting in annually frustrated fans and fantasy footballers around the country.
It's no different in Buffalo and though it remains to be seen if Mario Williams will be worth his $50

The Mayor's Office of Strategic Planning unveiled a preview of the new zoning ordinance this morning. A series of Green Code neighborhood open houses starts tonight at Lafayette High School at 6 pm to discuss emerging details about the new form-based code, which is being written to build upon smart growth and sustainability principles.

The report, A Preview

The Seneca Nation is reaching out to the Greater Buffalo business community to attend a vendor trade show to see if there might be a working relationship between local commercial operations and the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino. The Seneca Nation is opening its doors to the regional business sector on June 19 and 20 from 10am to 2pm at the Larkin Center of Commerce, located at 701 Exchange Street. Members of the Seneca Gaming Corporation will be on-hand to meet with Buffalo-area businesses in order to "...identify, screen and prequalify local businesses for future

The North Park Theater building sits at the heart of the growing Hertel Avenue shopping district in Buffalo.  It is one of my very favorite buildings, not because it is a masterwork of some great architect and not because it makes some grand heroic statement, but because its a composition of quiet logical urbanism.  It is a simple background building, city architecture at its best.  It is much beloved in the neighborhood and is the kind of building we should be constructing in multitudes but rarely do anymore.  It is big (Hertel's biggest at 73,000 sf) and is long, filling

The original boats are back on Gala Waters (Hoyt Lake) in Delaware Park. For the last couple years the Olmsted Conservancy operated a series of lesser quality boats than were first built by the Maritime Center. The reason was that the handcrafted boats were too much of a burden to maintain. It was unfortunate, although the interim peddle boats did get put to good use. At long last, The Conservancy was able to come together with The Maritime Center to work out a deal that would see The Maritime Center conducting the boating operations, and would therefore be able to maintain the crafts. 
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Party - par·ty/ˈpärtē/ Noun: A social gathering of invited guests, typically involving eating, drinking, and entertainment.
Portico - por·ti·co/ˈpôrtiˌkō/ Noun: A structure consisting of a roof supported by columns at regular intervals, typically attached as a porch to a building.
Now that we have established the two crucial elements of the event, Party on the Portico, it's time to attend the first friday evening affair on June 15 from 5:30pm until 8:30pm. Not only will you enjoy

For a while now I've been following The Adventures of Seymour and Hau - an online adventure for kids produced by a couple of super creative Buffalonians. With the Internet being so unpredictable, I can only imagine what it must be like to have kids online browsing freely. Thankfully there is some great online programming for our youth, and some of it is being produced right in our own community. I spoke to author Melanie Morse a while back about the production series that she and co-author Thomas McDade have launched, and I found it very refreshing that

As we all know, Buffalo has some very talented artists. While many of us love to support the local art scene, for some people purchasing art from accomplished artists can be tough financially. Of course it's always fun to acquire works of art from the up-and-comers, but it's also important to lay down some serious cash for the more established professionals... when possible. 
While spending money on a quality piece enhances one's art collection, getting a deal on a work of art allows collectors to get better pieces and more of them. That's why you should think about attending

The Richardson-Olmsted Complex (ROC) has recently released a rendering as to what the landscape surrounding the front entrance of the historic structure will soon look like. Work is beginning that would see a completely different appearance from what we see today. Rather than a series of parking lots, the front lawn will return to much of the way that Olmsted once envisioned. Not only will this new green-scape add to the overall beauty of the complex, it will do wonders for the entire neighborhood in general. Hopefully, as we see these vast improvements taking place at the ROC, the houses along