thursday december 18th 2008
Albright-Knox Increases Adult Admission
buffalorising
Though it may only be the fifth time since 1992 that the Albright-Knox Art Galley has increased its admission rate, the higher fee speaks to the changing face of our society and economy. To keep the gallery in good financial health, it is necessary to increase the price of a regular adult admission ticket from $10 up to $12. The new price will go into effect on January 1st 2009.
The director of the gallery, Louis Grachos, has said that due to higher costs in all areas of the gallery’s operation, the modest increase is necessary. The gallery will continue to offer free admission to the Permanent Collection every Friday from 3 until 10 PM through the Gusto at the Gallery series, group admission prices for adult guided tours will remain the same, senior and student ticket prices will not increase, and the gallery’s new program for elementary and high school students will remain free of charge.
The new admission prices are $12 for adults, $8 for seniors, $8 for students, and free to ga…
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Brandon Schlia
French satire from the 1600's feels like falling asleep in high school english class. But classic French satire with a rock and roll band? That sounds better. We can thank Andy Liegl for this bold modernity on December 26th when his production of Such Foolish Affected Ladies opens at the Alt Theatre. The original play calls for violinists but this role has been liberally opened up to local band The Nepenthe. "I wanted an indie rock sound, something that my generation can click with but will still evoke foot tapping from an older, more classical crowd." You can look forward to seeing classic actors ballroom dancing to a cover of the Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer."
However, this is just a small part of the band's total function in Liegl's vision. Not only are they to provide…
buffalorising
It’s funny how history seems to repeat itself. Florence Foster Jenkins was in the elite member of society, but terribly eccentric and utterly convinced that she was a great coloratura soprano – despite the fact that she couldn’t carry a tune for even a few notes. She even managed to hold a sold out concert, even though she couldn’t sing! Sound familiar? Remember William Hung?
Jenkins’ story happened over 50 years ago. She would hold annual recitals in the Ritz Carlton hotel where she lived with her accompanist Cosme McMoon. News of her terrible singing and conviction that it was fantastic singing spread and soon enough, the hotel would be packed with fans trying to hide their laughter with handkerchiefs in their mouths – which Jenkins interpreted as the fans being overcome with exuberant cheering. She became so popular that she had a concert at Carnegie Hall in 1944 …
wednesday december 17th 2008
New Magazine To Focus On The Local Art Scene
buffalorising
What could be more perfect to spread the news about local artists at the Buffalo Indie Market than a literary magazine that features works from local artists? NOMAD is a new magazine set to debut in January 2009 that will feature writers, poets, photographers, artists, and designers from the area. Erica Eichelkraut, a freelance photographer, created NOMAD and is bringing it to the public. Since Eichelkraut is a part of the Buffalo Indie Market, it wasn’t long before a collaboration was brewing.
Eichelkraut and the Buffalo Indie Market are teaming up to make a reversible publication. One side will feature NOMAD and the various artists of Buffalo while the other side will be a 2009 calendar/artist directory of the 2009 market season for the Buffalo Indie Market. 20,000 copies of this free magazine will be published and placed all around Buffalo where they hope to have the most i…
tuesday december 16th 2008
2nd Annual Music is Art Big Easy in Buffalo Mardi Gras Jam
buffalorising
Too early to think about Mardi Gras? We don't think so! Plan ahead for the 2nd Annual Big Easy in Buffalo Jam on Feb. 20.
So far Music is Art (MiA) founder and president Robby Takac has booked New Orleans artists Marcia Ball, Papa Grows Funk, and Big Sam's Funky Nation, as well as local opener Eric Crittenden & Ron Davis (Leeron Zydeco) and a student battle of the bands winner.
"Buffalo and New Orleans are a lot alike," Takac said. "They're both great cities that keep going no matter what's thrown at them, and both cities have incredible local music scenes. I'm happy we can give our community the chance to hear these great musicians. Anyone who comes to our annual Music is Art festival knows we showcase great music, so The Big Easy in Buffalo series fits perfectly with our mission."
In addition to the concert, all the bands will take part in music education programs dur…
monday december 15th 2008
Buffalo Art & Design One-Day Marketplace
Wudenbachs
Downtown shopping will have a Brigadoon-like appearance at the old Slotkin building this Saturday for a one-day artisan marketplace event known as the "Last Minute Gift Buying Panic Marketplace". It is this Saturday, December 20th from 11am - 4pm at the Western NY Book Arts Center, 468 Washington St at Mohawk in downtown Buffalo. While the Book Arts Center is not quite officially opened, they have been busy with workshops and remodeling in anticipation of a Spring 2009 grand opening.
The marketplace event will give a preview of the WNYBAC bookshop that will be featured as a permanent fixture of the book arts center with imported artists papers and books that are not being stocked anywhere else locally.
Also featured are a diverse range of 20 local artists, artisans, designers, publishers, craftspeople and otherwi…
friday december 12th 2008
"The Little Picture Show" at Dana Tillou Fine Arts
Elena Cala Buscarino
Dana Tillou, whose name is synonymous with fine arts, is offering "The Little Picture Show," an exhibit covering well over a century of regional art.
I have one wall in my gallery dedicated to a Western New York and Niagara historical print collection," Tillou said. "The feature section is just one part of the gallery, and it covers more than 125 years to present of original regional prints with a lot of local appeal."
Highlighting giclée prints of regional compositions and artists, there is a blow-up of an 1888 print of a print that depicts downtown Buffalo from the Lyon Grain Elevator*. "It looks north up into the whole city," Tillou said. "All the early boats are in the river in the foreground, the tugs and such."
Tillou made the 4-foot print from its 18-inch original. "You can see it all - the towers, the steeples. It's a great view - the artist had a bird's-eye view…
wednesday december 10th 2008
Alec Baldwin is Coming to Town
Elena Cala Buscarino
Leave it to Artistic Director Scott Behrend of Road Less Traveled Productions to thrill us with An Evening at Rockwell Hall With Alec Baldwin. Baldwin will read the Tony-nominated play Speed the Plow by David Mamet, directed by Scott Behrend, with Brian Mysliwy and Kelly Jakiel.
Regular seating goes for $40 or $55, but the private reception at the Burchfield-Penney with Baldwin and premier seating for the performance will set you back $175. Not bad for proximity to greatness along with a chance to help RLTP with this fundraising effort.
A lot of you may know Baldwin from his role as Jack Donaghy on the TV hit 30 Rock, but Baldwin is no stranger to Mamet, having played rolls in Glengarry Glen Ross,The Edge, and State & Main. Baldwin also starred in Beetlejuice, The Hunt for Red October, The Departed,
John W. Howell
Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus provides individual and collective example of hope rising from ashes of hate and intolerance.
A Roman Catholic Church is not the first place one would expect to find a stirring, well-received performance of a gay men’s chorus. But on one particular day, in one particular Catholic parish in Buffalo, gay men won the day.
“This is exactly the purpose of the Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus and all the GALA choruses around the country,” said the BGMC’s artistic director, Barbara Wagner, a self-described “straight” person. (GALA is an international organization of several hundred choruses for gay men, lesbian and mixed gay community singers in the US and abroad.) “We want to educate—well, I don’t like that word, exactly, but—show the world that gays are not the scourge some people want to …
buffalorising
What happens when a group of volunteers form an ensemble? They could create a choir that has become so respected they have performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ars Nova Musicians, the Greater Buffalo Opera Company, and with Opera Sacra, they performed Schubert’s Deutsche Messe, James McMillan’s Cantos Sagrados, and Dave Brubeck’s La Fiesta de la Posada and Pange Lingua Variations. The Choir of the Blessed Sacrament Church is all-volunteer using members of their parish as well as members of the community. Their repertoire includes nine centuries of sacred music and almost every single style of western composition.
Now this accomplished choir will be performing a tradition that stems from King’s College Chapel from Cambridge University that is nearly a century old. Lessons and Carols traces through scripture and song the Nativity story as told by the Old…
