Photography meets exercise on July 18th as Annie Levay will be leading the Buffalo Photo Walk through Allentown and the Elmwood Village. Following a loosely recommended route, photo-walkers will explore Buffalo neighborhoods in search of the best snapshot views. The event will be a multipurpose occasion, fit for socializing, exercise, photography, and Buffalo pride.
As Photo Walk leader Annie Levay puts it,

The Town Pants, originally from Vancouver, will begin their summer tour tomorrow night at the Buffalo Irish Center at 9pm.  
If you're not familiar with The Town Pants, you can listen to some of their stuff here.  The group combines aspects of Irish traditional, acoustic pop, roots Americana, even Australian and Mexican influences to create their own brand of West Coast Celtic.  Lively and energetic, The Town Pants mix traditional and contemporary Celtic-influenced tunes

Looking for something to do this Father's Day weekend? We've got you covered! Here's some cool events happening around town this weekend that you might want to check out!
Friday, June 19th
Urban Canvas ProjectThe Urban Canvas Project invites you to come celebrate the completion of its first major project, called "Erie County Through the Seasons,"

THE BASICS:  This year, the Shaw Festival has revived an obscure, a very late work of Bernard Shaw--as one of just two Shavian offerings (an all time low, I believe).  Good King Charles, a sort of 17th century historical fantasy, has been directed by Eda Holmes, and runs in repetory at the Royal George Theatre through October 9.  The play, if it can truly be called that (see below), clocks in at a whopping three hours, with two intermissions.  You may want to

Sometimes being a Buffalonian requires that you to be defensive about your city.  Outsiders often pass us off as living in a dead, uncultured, broken place, and question our reasons for living here.  And while we understand that we're on the rise economically, there's a great deal of beauty and culture and delicious food here that makes Buffalo a truly wonderful place to live. 

If you ever need to direct a misguided outsider to an assortment of reasons why Buffalo isn't exactly the place they believe it is, show them I Heart Buffalo.  The site

From the looks of the BR poll this week, we have a lot of art festival fans out there.  Here's a taste of last weekend's Allentown Art Festival from the lens of photographer Glenn E. Murray,  Esq., with the slideshow magic of BR's Dan Fisher.
Glenn never

It's time for the periodic Buffalo Rising traffic update. . .

From March 1, 2009 through May 31, 2009, BuffaloRising.com has received 574,485 visits from 214,185 unique visitors.  Compared to the same time period last year, visitors have increased 18% and unique visitors are up 34%.  In our last report, we mentioned that February was our largest month ever with 71,956 unique visitors - well every month since then has eclipsed that record and March

The Buffalo International Film Festival will be held in October 2009.  And live via-satellite from Los Angeles, there will be a video feed of Ray Bradbury.  Yes, the very same Ray Bradbury who authored novels like Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles, 20 plays, 40 short story collections, and tons of other works.  Bradbury will answer three questions from Western New Yorkers at the festival. 

Submit your questions via email to BuffaloFilmFestival@gmail.com with the

Talking Leaves Books will host two book signing events this month. 
On Thursday, June 18th, Talking Leaves, in conjunction with the Buffalo Small Press Bookfair and the Just Buffalo Literary Center, will host Toronto-based writer Hal Niedzviecki at the Sugar City Gallery, located at 19 Wadsworth Street, at 7:30 PM. 
Niedzviecki, a journalist, editor and social critic, will read from his new book,The Peep Diaries: How We're Learning to Love to Watch Ourselves and Our Neighbors. /lifestyle/index.html

Among the beautiful boutiques, coffee shops and more that line the street of Elmwood, the ZGM Gallery will soon accompany.  Photographers Don Zinteck and Wayne Geist, along with Michael Morin, who specializes in paintings and prints, are opening the gallery.  The last names of the three men are how the upcoming gallery acquired its acronym.

The

Silent Fury is post-grunge metal band out of Syracuse.  You may have already heard their song "Faded Glory", as it's now getting national radio play.  (And if you haven't heard

The Buffalo Gay Men's Chorus will be presenting "On Vacation" at three upcoming concerts. 

On Friday, June 19th, the BGMC will perform at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo, located at 695 Elmwood Avenue at West Ferry Street. The second

Beginning June 17 and continuing through July 25 at Atlas Antiques and Art on Hertel, you can view and purchase art created by one of Buffalo's most prominent artists, Hugh Neil.  Titled "Hugh M. Neil: Mid-Century Explorations," the exhibit showcases recently uncovered and rarely-seen paintings created by the artist during his time in Buffalo in the 1950s. 

Neil was born in Amsterdam, New York in 1930.  From 1953-1954 he attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he was influenced by Ralph Wickiser, a teacher at the school and a master of form, color, light and texture.  After leaving

The 9th Annual Buffalo River Fest will be on Friday, June 19th from 6PM to midnight, and on and Saturday, June 20th, from 9AM to midnight, supported by the Valley Community Association.  The 2-day event will take place in Father Conway Park and will include many highlights and a lot of entertainment for all ages!

What do you think of when you picture Rob Ray?  He's probably grappling with another giant man, he's lost his sweater, he's throwing haymakers, and he's quite possibly smiling for the entire duration of the bout.  That's Rob Ray.  The same Rob Ray notorious for pummeling other large, well-trained professional athletes.  Putting all fears aside, some of the areas best comedians (most of whom have the physical stature of jockeys) have promised to deliver a multitude of blows to Ray's ego.  From the Rob Ray Rule to that horribly misguided Nordiques fan who didn't know when

On Friday, June 12th, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery will feature Cinegael Buffalo: Irish Writers in Film.  

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Every year people flock to the Allentown Art Festival to enjoy the charm and uniqueness of the Allentown area and the quality of the arts presented by the numerous exhibitors. This year, the Theatre of Youth and the ="mso-bidi-font-style:

The Elmwood Village Association and sponsor, M&T Bank, announced the line-up for the 12th Annual Elmwood Village Summer Concert Series. The free, outdoor concerts will take place every Tuesday evening at 7 PM in Bidwell Parkway at Elmwood Avenue. The series will begin June 30th, and will continue every week through August 11th. 
The summer concert series kicks off with Neville Francis & the Riddim Posse, sponsored by Bergen & Schiffmacher, LLP., on June 30th. This Reggae group, featuring two-time Juno Award winner Neville Francis, is a Buffalo party band favorite. 
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Talk show host Ed Schultz is coming to Buffalo on Saturday, June 13.  He's been promoting the town hall style meeting on his radio show (which airs on WWKB-1520 AM from 12-3 weekdays).  Shultz, who characterizes himself as a progressive talker, will be at the Montante Cultural Center at Canisius College June 13 from 6:00-8:00 pm.  General

The Buffalo Arts Studio's summer art exhibition series will kick off with a free public opening reception on Friday, June 12th at 7 PM. The event will include lectures by the artists and live music by Chris Campos. Works by local artists, William Koch, Amy Robinson, Rosemarie Bauer Sroka, and Kathleen