After reading a recent BRO post on SHARK energy drink (and some of the comments), I decided to call Moe Boukadida, owner of US rights for Shark. I was curious as to why Moe chose Buffalo and wanted to know what his plans were for the market. “I’ve been in Buffalo for eight years now,” he told me. “I’m originally from North Africa and came to Buffalo to go to school at UB. It was when I traveled back to my hometown when I realized that SHARK was so big everywhere else, but had no real presence in the US.…
Author: anthonys
Speaking of movement on Main Street, it looks like Autopia (1291 Main Street) has opted to move its 20-year old car restoration operation over to the city’s West Side. I spoke with Harvey Garrett, Director of the West Side Community Collaborative, about this most recent addition. “There a few different buildings that are part of the complex (on Rhode Island across from Left Bank Restaurant),” Harvey told me. “At one point in the 50’s it was Madison Taxi. It’s a great building… they used to build carriages in there as well. It would be nice to see Autopia eventually purchase…
It was just Friday that I noticed the lettering for Canisius’ Science Hall building had gone up. An excellent sign of progress for that section of Main Street. With the recent news of the two-way traffic on the 700-block, along with the continued growth of Canisius, The City should really be examining just what it would take to sew the two areas together. Within that area we have already seen the Artspace development unfold, along with KEPA3 on Barker and Fantauzz’s gallery near West Ferry. HOME has also announced redevelopment plans for the northwest corner of Ferry and Main. And…
“It came down in seconds.” That’s what the folks over at Positively Main Street told me when I asked them about the small, yellow brick, two-story building across the street (770 Elmwood). The last time I had heard anything about the structure’s future, I had learned that the bands that were using it as a practice space had been asked to leave. That was a few weeks ago. I figured that the building was either going to outfitted with a new tenant, or it would be demolished. A number of years ago the space had been eyed up as a…
Inspired by STEEL’s post a couple of days back, a few of us decided to head up to the American side of The Falls on Saturday. Not only did we want to pay a visit to the Winter Garden, we also wanted to see what kind of development was taking place around the casino. I wanted to see how much progress the aeronautical museum was making in packing things up for the big move to Buffalo (to be temporarily housed in a Town of Niagara warehouse). Throughout the day we asked a few of the locals about some of the…
Thanks to one of our viewers who called up to say that the Elmwood Market awning went up today. The word was that the awning looked very good and was a welcome addition to a corner that really needs help. I cruised over to take a look, since all I had to go by was the rendering that was posted back in January. Originally I had been a little disappointed when owner Dale Ali had told me that they had opted to switch the awning color from blue to red. When I saw the actual red awning it immediately reminded…
“Like a blood-thirsty, gigantic reptile ripping through Tokyo, every three years thousands of winter-weary Buffalonians storm the Tri-Main Center for WNY’s most massive party. On March 29, get ready for more bands, more art, and more mayhem. The first TRIMANIA was big. The second was huge. The third will be a monster.” -TRIMANIA It’s kind like opening up a giant art studio complex to the public and amplifying the entire building… up to eleven. This is how the artists in the Tri-Main building continue to build exposure for the building and all of the artists that work there. Instead of…
I think that it was about a year ago that I posted on Elizabeth Licata’s Garden Rant blog. Steel had found the link while scoping out another online source. Not being much of a gardener myself, I was impressed that the blog had reached the notoriety that it had. Elizabeth (second from right), along with three other garden bloggers from around the country, posted to the site on a regular basis – a fascinating concept when you consider that they have only met once in person (and that was in Buffalo). The Garden Rant story was just picked up on…
Congratulations to Jim Cielencki, co-owner of Sunday Skate and BMX, for making it on the front cover of DIG BMX Magazine. DIG is recognized throughout the world as one of the leading publications dedicated to the BMX bike. If you’re not familiar with BMX (an acronym for Bicycle Motocross), then you’ve been hiding under a rock. That’s because BMX racing will make an appearance for the first time ever at this year’s Olympics in Beijing, China. In the world of Buffalo, Jim Cielencki can be attributed for keeping the sport alive and well. This magazine cover is the second cover…
A few years ago The City’s Arts Commission was decommissioned due to stringent budget cuts. This was the same Arts Commission that was not only responsible for bringing new art instillations to the city, it was also responsible for maintaining the public art exhibits that we already have. As part of Mayor Brown’s recent initiative of naming 2008 “The Year of the Arts”, he reopened the Arts Commission and named Barbra Kavanaugh its Executive Director. Once again, Buffalo has a volunteer looking out for its public art… someone whose duty it is to pay attention to how it should be…