Shea’s Performing Arts Center has been bringing classics and favorites of the theatre for over 20 seasons! There was a full house on Thursday night for the big announcement of the 2009-2010 Broadway season. County Executive Chris Collins spoke of the importance of Shea’s to Buffalos culture and how it will play a key role in the revitalization of downtown and Western New York. “Shea’s will be part of Buffalo’s road to a brighter future and will be the centerpiece of the culture in Buffalo. We want to bring tourists into the area and give them a first-class experience” Tony…
Author: KateSorice
Sometime after Mr. Bashar Issa purchased the Statler Hilton, I read a call for contributors willing to participate in sharing memories of this famed hotel. Mr. Issa envisioned a book highlighting the past glories of the building along with stories, photos and memorabilia that might be gathered from the call. Having been a patron of the Downtown Room (an intimate Jazz Club located in the hotel) on a somewhat regular basis, I decided to answer that call. I forwarded the information to a fellow patron and Jazz aficionado now living out of town who also frequented the club. We had a…
Richard Florida, former Buffalo resident and author of The Rise of the Creative Class, has a great article in the March issue of The Atlantic. Florida, proponent of the mega-region, has written extensively about how cities like Buffalo can survive and thrive. In his Atlantic article, Florida outlines his view on how the credit crisis will reshape America. The entire article is well worth the read, but here is the punch line (in the form of four paragraphs):If there is one constant in the history of capitalist development, it is the ever-more-intensive use of space. Today, we need to begin…
If you’re heading to the Sabres game tonight, or if you’re just going to come down to the Cobblestone District later to watch Canadiens fans embarass themselves, be sure to check out Benchwarmers. The latest addition to the growing Cobblestone District is directly next door to Morrissey’s Irish Pub. They’ve spent a considerable amount of time building out the bar, and with a liquor license finally in hand, they’re opening tonight. Be there.
According to Buffalo Business First, the cost of the weekday Buffalo News will be increasing from $.50 to $.75 – a 50% increase. This is the first rate hike in 14 years and reflects the News’ ongoing efforts to cut costs and generate incremental revenue. Whether this rate hike will affect the News’ impressive penetration rate is yet to be seen. On a related note, be sure to check out -and vote – in this week’s poll.
We’ve talked about the dying print business before. While some papers have simply stopped printing, others are considering printing less than 7 days a week and others are running front-page ads for the first time ever. Heck, even Buffalo Rising is now entirely online. With that as backdrop, Scarborough Research just released it’s survey of newspaper penetration. Scarborough measures the reach of major newspapers – and their websites – in the largest 81 markets. Our hometown Buffalo News had the 5th highest weekly print audience penetration rate at 66%. Keep in mind, Scarborough defines the ‘print audience’ as the percentage of…
Rent, written by Jonathan Larson and directed by Michael Greif, opened at Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre, on April 29, 1996 following a history-making, sold out, extended limited engagement at off-Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop. It became one of the most loved and most acclaimed shows on Broadway, even spawning a major motion picture in 2005. Rent opens in Cleveland, OH on January 6, 2009 and comes to Shea’s Performing Arts from January 13-18. In 1988, playwright Billy Aronson wanted to create a modern musical based on Puccini’s La Boheme. He wanted to base his play on the rough edges of life…