Just over a year ago, local band La Cacahouette released their first CD French For Peanut on All Things Ordinary records. Next Wednesday, August 20th, they will be releasing French For Peanut on vinyl. Olga Grinberg wrote up a lovely piece on the trio, made up by wife and husband Pepper Ochsner Thomas (Vocals, Bass, Keys, Guitar, Theremin, Sampler) and Gerald Thomas (Guitar, Vocals, Keys), and rounded out by Blake Ellman (Drums, Percussion). Taking their influences from a range of music types, including “60’s psychedelia, 70’s progressive, 90’s shoegazer and a plethora of Independant music from every time period” according…
Author: Tom Waters
I love hotdogs. Faithful readers can verify that on the contributors’ page. What I love more than hotdogs is when they’re free hotdogs, which is what Buffalonians will have an opportunity to relish this Wednesday. Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo with the We CARE Neighborhood Block club is holding one of their signature “Weenie Wednesday” events on August 13th, from 6:30 to 8:00PM, in the community garden at 595 Sycamore Street. Buffalonians are invited to attend the free, all-ages barbeque, including hotdogs and soda. Of course, guests are welcome to bring a dish to share. Weenie Wednesdays celebrate the community gardens…
The instructions are easy: on Friday night, your team gets a character, a prop, a line of dialogue and a genre, all to include in your movie. 48 hours later, the movie must be complete. Turn the film in on time, and then within the week your film gets screened, voted on, and a winner for the city is determined. Sounds like fun, right? With only five days left before the beginning of the Buffalo 2008 48 Hour Film Project, Buffalo’s 24 registered teams are anxious for filming to begin. Once the genres are chosen, at 7pm on Friday, August…
The following is a submission by Bob Franke (Grant-Ferry Association) regarding the recent decision to allow La Nova to purchase a neighboring lot for additional parking. The Common Council voted 7-2 in favor of transferring the property to La Nova Pizzeria for parking. Joe Golombek and David Rivera were the only ones who opposed the transfer. Michael LoCurto and Richard Fontana secured the victory for the forces of backward thinking by agreeing/making deals/marching in lockstep with the Mayor’s wishes by joining Councilmembers Brian Davis, Demone Smith and Bonnie Russell who already voiced their intention to vote for the transfer. In…
After almost three years of anticipation, the wait is over. The Dark Knight (the second installment in Christopher Nolan’s hard, gritty, realistic re-boot to the Batman iconography) hits theaters today and the box office may not live to tell the tale. Heath Ledger, sadly, did not. Director Nolan insisted on cramming as much of Ledger’s swan song of a rollercoaster tour de force of a performance as the Joker into the film as he could by way of obligation, and a cacophony of critics are crying out for a posthumous Oscar for the Australian born actor who died earlier this…
Ra’s Al Ghul has never been my favorite enemy in the Batman entourage. It always seemed like a cop out that they came up with a character, who just showed up hundreds of years old with a magical vat of life-juice (perfect for coming back from the dead with) and a built in army of lethal assassins. Yawn. I guess that falls under the precarious argument of suspension of disbelief in the comic realm (which should be sky high at all times but my b.s. meter goes off occasionally). Despite all this, I was attracted to The Resurrection Of Ra’s…
DC Comics is incredibly perceptive at playing into movie tie ins. Since the release of the 1990 cult hit Batman, they’ve given birth to three different animated series for the caped crusader (Batman: The Animated Series, Batman/Superman Adventures and finally, The Batman), released a small horde of figurines ranging from the outlandishly expensive limited edition runs to the mass market children’s baubles, and they’ve had the foresight to coincide each live action film with a direct to video animated feature length film. Just last week, Batman: Gotham Knights ($29.99 for the two-disc collector’s edition and $19.99 for the single edition)…
Out of Batman’s entire rogue’s gallery of villains, Two Face appears to be a character that writers enjoy sinking their teeth into for a good story. Paul Jenkins got a good running start with Batman: Jekyll & Hyde (DC, 2008), but he should have left his incisors in for a bit longer. The mini-series (compiled in this handy dandy graphic novel) explores the very nature of duality in Harvey Dent (who turned into Two Face. And if that’s a spoiler, you’ve been under a rock since Batman Forever) as well as the human side of Batman: Bruce Wayne. Wayne Enterprises…
It’s well beyond the point of debate that Batman: The Killing Joke is one of the most powerful, important graphic novels in the history of comics. For a one-off, Alan Moore and Brian Bolland nailed it. The Joker origin story was originally released in 1988 and it is a testament to the tale that a 20th anniversary hardcover was released this year with a fresh coat of paint. Rather than dust off the old galleys, DC had the superb sense to task artist Brian Bolland with re-coloring the original artwork in the manner in which he would have wanted, and…
As far as Charles Bukowski’s work is concerned, you either enjoy his work or you don’t. As far as I’m concerned, any artist who can pen 54 books is worth looking into. Almost two years ago, a friend of mine read a poem of his aloud, with a roaring campfire in the background, during a summertime couple’s cocktail get-together–and I was hooked for life. I’d rather read books, listen to music or watch films from an artist who’s consistently above-par than fixate on the tiny visionaries who knock one or two dingers out of the park and then disappear. It’s…