This week on the Buffalo Rising Roundtable, WBFO News Director Mark Scott and I were in Studio B all on our own to talk about the past week’s events. (The podcast is the entire 20 – 30 minute show as opposed to the 5 minutes WBFO broadcasts, so give it a listen.)
On the first three subjects: the landmarking of 771 Busti, the Olmsted Parks Conservancy’s future role in park maintenance, and Buffalo ReUse’s new board of directors, I commented that we could call this the “Up in the Air” segment of Buffalo Rising’s Roundtable because much remains to be seen. Will the mayor see things the city council’s way when it comes to granting landmark status to the Wilkeson Mansion? Will the City of Buffalo step into the county’s shoes on Olmsted and continue to let the conservancy manage Olmsted property upkeep? Will the new board of ReUse signal a fresh and bright new start, with Michael Gainer in a highly instrumental position? The hoped for answers to all of the questions are pending, but the only one that looks like a sure yes as of now pertains to ReUse. We wish them great luck in pushing the restart button on their great asset to Buffalo.
Next, because we really couldn’t resist, we talked about the wooden effigy of Thurman Thomas’ wild ride to fame. So far, the wood has been through the October Storm, fire and customs. And you thought steel was the strongest material to come out of Buffalo. This led to a discussion of customs in general, including Mark’s bridesmaids, my band, and a lesson concerning a powerful “Just Say No” message to children about why they shouldn’t do drugs. (You don’t know where they’ve been, but with a need for strip searches, you can guess.)
After that, we talked about Atlanta Jeans moving into an Elmwood storefront and Comfort Zone Cafe’s expansion. Reasonably priced jeans, free wifi, and computer repair on Elmwood. We like it.
Finally, Mark brought up his disappointment about a Buffalo News review of a recent John Tesh concert. Even with an upfront disclaimer from the reviewer, Joe Sweeney, that he wasn’t a Tesh fan, Mark (who is a Tesh fan), was sorry to hear that the concert was more or less panned. That brings up an interesting question of reviewers’ pre-conceived notions. What if someone who had liked Tesh went, or what if the reviewer had been won over? Though BRO tends to send people out on reviews who have a predilection for what they’re covering, the comments on BRO have a way of balancing whatever direction the review happens to take. Mark, I’m putting this one out there for its discussion value, but my guess is that BRO readers will be more apt to side with Sweeney where Tesh is concerned.
On that note, if you’re a fan of a particular venue (restaurant, business), type of music, or visual art – know that we accept (read LOVE) reader reviews. It’s a chance to throw your opinion out there to a wider audience and get some discussion going, so please consider it.
Image: UB’s Allen Hall, home of WBFO – ECB.