Ray Flynn’s Golden Dollar was a presence on Main Street. The rusted, rose neon sign shined on for many a year–and could be seen, and used as a beacon, even in the heartiest of Buffalo snows. The joint had quite a nefarious and notorious history. In its earliest incarnation it was a speakeasy, hidden behind some rather feeble bowling alleys and in the rooms upstairs. My great-grandfather, a newspaperman, drank there then. When Prohibition went the way of the dodo, the neon went up and the brick walls gave birth to windows that flung open to the bustling of Main…
Author: wbrown11
Music enthusiasts who are sick of the mainstream (Daft Punk/Madonna mashups at La Luna every Wednesday) and dull (Chippewa loves “Pour Some Sugar On Me”) have cause to celebrate. Silent Exchange, an “all day, open air electronic music and art event,” will be taking place on August 29th at the Rock Harbor Commons Village.The event is sure to be a radical deviation from the norm. Organizer and creator Meghan Mann espouses a new aesthetic, one that she employs to find a solution to what she sees as a lack in the Buffalo music scene: “My plan – the Silent Exchange…
Most things about Andrew Bird and his music are strange. He is as unclassifiable as Animal Collective and Radiohead, he rarely holds fewer than two instruments at a time during his performances, and his lyrics fit a regular meter and rhyme scheme, while being about as unorthodox as possible within those confines (“Memories like mohair sweaters/ Stretched and pilled faux distressed letters/ Moose’s horns and figure eights/ White plastic bags in search of mates). As live music goes, he is renowned for his performances: the San Jose Mercury News writes, “The records are great, but watching him do it live…