It's official!  College is back in session and that means late night cram sessions, too much caffeine and, of course, spending your weekends exploring Buffalo's popular music scene.  As students search for commonalities among new peers, music can bring all of us together!

For those of you new to Buffalo and anyone who hasn't been out this summer, I'd like to introduce you to a household name in the city's music scene, Free Henry!.

The Bills starters didn't see any action in the final pre-season game tonight against the Detroit Lions.  Apparently, the starters have proven they don't need any extra work to be ready for the opener against the Patriots.  The back-ups picked up right where the starters left off, however, and scored two field goals in a losing effort. 

Yes, this was just the pre-season so no one should panic just because the team looks as bad as anyone could imagine.  After all, it could be that the ultra-cagey Dick Jauron has the team playing

As Newell told you at the beginning of August, Buffalo got a new nightlife venue at 228 Franklin (just off the Chip Strip) in the form of Social Bar and Nightclub.  Tomorrow night, September 4th, marks the grand opening.
Be there when the doors open at 10PM, and according to owner Steven Seminaria, "You'll experience something completely different for Buffalo. This is a="font-family: Arial, helvetica, hirakakupro-w3, osaka, 'ms pgothic', sans-serif;

Summer is winding down, friends.  But that doesn't mean the outdoor events are over yet!  Here's what we have on tap this weekend.

Thursday, September 3rd
-Benefit the Japanese Garden.  Guests of the free 7 PM Japanese music concert at the Burchfield Penney Arts Center Auditorium are invited to attend a reception benefit for the Japanese Garden at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Milton Weiser, 107 Penhurst Park.  For reservations, contact Takako Michii, 830-8267, tjmichii@gmail.com,

By Todd Mitchell

Buffalonians will have another rare opportunity to hear the music of the shakuhachi, the Japanese bamboo flute, live this Thursday, September 3rd, at 7PM, at the Burchfield-Penney Arts Center. This is a free performance.

Buffalo native Joshua Smith, who has lived in Japan for 10 years, was introduced

Come celebrate two culturally unique cities, Buffalo and New Orleans, with the South Buffalo Education Center at the "Second Line Cities Weekend" on Saturday, September 5th, through Monday, September 7th, featuring New Orleans' Rebirth Brass Band, and the Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner 2008 and Academy Award-nominated documentary, Trouble the Water. 
"Second Line Cities Weekend" aims to raise awareness and proceeds for the Center and its Second Line Education Center Project. The Project is working to bring the SBEC's highly successful "Storefront

In case you weren't aware, Buffalo Rising has been on Twitter for years. We've been there so long, in fact, we just crossed the 5,000th tweet.  And if you follow us, you've had a chance to win amazing concert tickets to great shows like Wilco and The Decemberists. 

Follow us and not only will you be updated with the latest stories as they post but you'll get an inside look at breaking news. Get the scoop on limited sales for the online store or

If you happen to be on Elmwood for the Festival of the Arts today, make sure you move on down Elmwood for some Reggae fun.

Reggae greats Third World are

Remember those piano lessons you've been meaning to take?  Maybe the guitar, violin, flute?  Now you have no excuse to keep putting off the chance to enjoy a music because The Community Music School offers a plethora of lessons and activities to sharpen your music skills. 

This Fall, CMS is offering several music classes.  Music, My Grownup, and Me, a music class kids age 3 months to 6 years, Triple Threat, a class of music and movement for kids 4 to 7, and the family oriented Intro

This Saturday, August 29th, from Noon until 10 PM, Silent Exchange @ The Yard is the place to be!

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By Charlie Riley

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I always liked Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  I always hoped to find a golden ticket to some candy factory and a bunch of kids and I could party and eat candy and have fun.  Then I got older and my "tastes" changed.  And that's why I'm glad Labatt is doing a similar promotion.  Instead of golden tickets, they've created 50 golden cans of delicious, life-giving beer in conjunction with the Bills 50th Anniversary (hear

It's last call for Bobby,

We told you about WAM last month, and if you missed it then, you have no excuse

Back in July, we learned that 'Body Worlds' would be shown at the Buffalo Museum of Science.  The Gunther von Hagens exhibit has attracted 75,000 curious visitors in 43 days.  That's the total attendance for BMoS in 2008!  Well done!  
The plucky captured-in-motion bodies underwent a process von Hagens developed and coined "plastination,"

All 22 local submissions for the 48-Hour Film Project were screened last week, and approximately 200 ballots were collected each night to decide the winners.  According to Terry Fisher of Full Circle Studios the 200 in attendance were able to vote on 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices, so out of the cumulative 600 votes, some movies received close to

Despite the hard times that have hit most of us, one very popular Albright-Knox Art Gallery event lives on.   

The "Art of Hip Hop," lost funding for this year, but the successful and popular event will now carry on with the help and support of the community and various

 By Tommy Stanford

Rock and roll in its most pure, rooted-in-blues form has always come and gone, ebbed and flowed, fallen by the wayside, if only to return fresher and clearer.  It is easily the most overcooked yet always-palatable form of popular music, seemingly leapfrogging musical generations, but always landing back on its

THEATER IN A NUTSHELL:

THE TRAGIC AND HORRIBLE LIFE OF THE SINGING NUN

THE BASICS:  This is Brian

Well, I just had to share this with you.  
I'm not sure if you've already heard, but the musical Chicago is coming to Shea's from September 22-27.  It'll be one show per day, and then two shows on Saturday the 26th and Sunday the 27th.  Obviously, this is an extremely popular musical, made even more popular thanks to 2002's film version that won six Academy Awards, one of which was the prestigious "Best Picture." 

So