The Fabulous Feast & A Discussion of The Merchant of Venice

Saturday, March 19 & Tuesday March 22

3/19 6pm. 17th Annual Fabulous Feast. Connecticut Street Armory, 184 Connecticut Street. (856-4533 / Shakespeareindelawarepark.org) $75/$65 members.

3/22 3pm. Discussion on The Merchant of Venice. Sweetness 7 Café, 301 Parkside Ave. (834-1954 / grantstreetgallery.net) $15.

Shakespeare in Delaware Park is the only free professional theatre in Western New York and has been proudly serving an audience of about 40,000 since 1976. It is the second largest free outdoor Shakespeare festival in the United States, topped only by New York City’s New York Shakespeare Festival. With the recent Erie County budget cuts, Shakespeare in Delaware Park needs you now, more then ever. Luckily, SDP is no stranger to creating a unique, entertaining atmosphere. They have organized several events in order to raise much-needed funds and to enhance their audience’s Shakespeare experience. This Saturday (March 19) is the 17th Annual Fabulous Feast at the Connecticut Street Armory. The feast will feature a five-course banquet, beer, wine, dancing, swordfights, and three exciting auctions with guest auctioneer Mike Randall of WKBW News. The Theresa Quinn Band will perform. Get into the spirit of the evening with Shakespearian dress (encouraged but not required). If that isn’t enough Shakespearean celebration for you, a discussion on the Merchant of Venice, this year’s play, will take place this Tuesday (March 22) at Sweetness 7 Café on Parkside Avenue. The café will be closed to the public during the discussion. Additionally, Chis LaBanca, Shakespeare in Delaware Park education coordinator, and Ted Bickford, M.A. psychology and literature (along with SDP actors and directors) will be teaching a four week class at the CG Jung Center (408 Franklin Street). The class, Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice and Archetypal Psychology, will be offered on Tuesdays starting March 29. For more information call 854-7457 or visit apswny.com.

—jill greenberg

Thursday, March 17

That 1 Guy

When Mike Silverman, better known as That 1 Guy, takes the stage for a live performance, it’s almost like a living cartoon or a character from a Dr. Seuss book is entering the room. Strapped from head to toe with noise making equipment—like a pair of cowboy boots that transform into a musical instrument and a contraption simply known as the Magic Pipe—the classically trained bassist can produce a lot of sound as he manipulates his whacky devices. The Magic Pipe isn’t exactly what you might think it is. The self made, harp shaped instrument, which stands at seven feet tall, is full of metal sprockets, thick steel bass strings, and pivoting pipes that belch out funky bass lines. Those funky and guttural tones are shown off on That 1 Guy’s four full-length studio albums, including his most recent, Packs a Wallop. The one-man band, who has toured with the likes of Buckethead, Yo La Tengo, and hometown girl Ani DiFranco, will bring his world of noise making gadgets to the Tralf on Thursday (tonight!).

—cory perla

7pm. Tralf Music Hall, 622 Main St. (852-2860 / tralfmusichall.com). $12.

Saturday, March 19

Elephant 6

Though there has been plenty of buzz surrounding the resurgence of Neutral Milk Hotel frontman Jeff Mangum, his less recognized fellow bandmates and close friends have been delivering delightful and magical music throughout the decade since Neutral Milk Hotel’s dissolution. Bringing hours of pop music according to “Elephant Six,” an enormous crew of passionate and dedicated musicians from Athens, Georgia will offer up cosmically profound songs that shimmer with brightness and innocence on Saturday (March 19) in a special appearance at Soundlab. Filling the stage with happy horns and singing saws, artists from the Elephant Six Collective will celebrate the whimsical and the wonderful in an event that will remind its audience of life’s strangeness, its beauty, and its possibility. Members of the Olivia Tremor Control, Elf Power, Circulatory System, the Gerbils, Nana Grizol, Major Organ and the Adding Machine, Pipes You See, Pipes You Don’t, and Neutral Milk Hotel will all perform each others’ songs in a lively and interactive show. Featuring games, films, storytelling, and more from such beloved E6 performers as Julian Koster, Laura Carter, Scott Spillane, Will Cullen Hart, and Bill Doss, the Surprise Tour is a Christmas morning’s worth of enchantment and amazement.

—ryan wolf

8pm. Big Orbit’s Soundlab, 110 Pearl St. (440-5907 / www.bigorbitgallery.org/soundlab) $12.

Saturday, March 19

Cage Match Art Show / Zine Release

Hopefully you’re properly geared up for this week’s Small Press Book Fair because this year’s veritable explosion of regional creativity doesn’t end there. Immediately following the festivities at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, Sugar City will host a massive independent art show and zine release party curated by noise maker, artist, and general rabble-rouser, Bobby Griffiths. So what should you expect? Driftwood unicorns, doctored vintage photography, mind-bending string installations, cosmic characterizations of other-wordly toons and the dreamt up worlds they live in. Your imagination will be the limit so be sure to bring plenty of it. Oh, speaking of imagination, you’ll also be able to take some home with you in the form of issue #1 of Cage Match, a zine dedicated to the creative outlet of many of the artists included in the show, plus poetry, stories, and hilarious musings by the likes of Jacob Drum, Matthew Baker Thompson, and Pat Kewley. Snacks and refreshments will be served and art will be available for display/sale through April 20. While there are always many options to experience where art has been, this is a rare opportunity to experience where art is going, so don’t let it pass you by.

—eric kendall

6pm. Sugar City, 19 Wadsworth in Allentown (rearingyourtween.com/sug). Free.

Saturday, March 19

The Bunny The Bear

Hardcore in Buffalo is far from stale or dead. Combining electronic dance music with post-hardcore aesthetics, The Bunny The Bear is one of few bands in the genre who can say they have recorded a MGMT cover. The adventurous Buffalo natives have obtained a large following in a short period of time, which has culminated in their recent signing to Victory Records. They are now label-mates with such established acts as Streetlight Manifesto, Silverstein, Otep, Aiden, and Hawthorne Heights. The rising stars headline a show this Saturday (March 19) at Mohawk Place that will feature the bouncy and brisk drive of Cold White North, the progressive instrumental rock of In the Presence of Enemies, and the monstrous thrash metal of the Third Key. There will also be an intense appearance by grindcore provocateurs Pig Rectum of “Tarantula Whore” and “Jammed in a Furnace” fame. Celebrate the smashing success of a local band with the growls, howls, nasty guitar riffs, and eerie, unnerving atmosphere of a genuine horror-show Buffalo hardcore experience.

—ryan wolf

6pm. Mohawk Place, 47 E. Mohawk. (465-2368 / www.themohawkplace.com) $10 advance, $12 day of show.

Wednesday, March 23

The Diplomats

There is nothing like a healthy celebrity feud. In 2008, after a decade of making music together, rap group the Diplomats called it quits after a public feud between hip-hop stars and collaborators Cam’ron and Jim Jones reached it’s boiling point. The Diplomats third member, Juelz Santana , kept his mouth shut during Cam’ron and Jones’ bickering, but the group’s creative differences finally tore them apart. Fast-forward to April of 2010 when the eccentric Cam’ron and an apologetic Jones broke their silence to share a radio-aired phone call. “Above all, me and Cam, we still brothers,” Jones said during the phone call. “We’re building on getting back on track, but first, I apologize for being a rude brother.” Jones’ apology would eventually lead to the hip-hop all-star group’s reconciliation. Now, the group has reformed, coming together for a reunion tour and to record their third studio album, Diplomatic Immunity 3. This might sound like exciting news to fans of the Diplomats but this just the start. Recently, Jones hinted in a tweet that the Diplomats would work with hip-hop mega-producer Dr. Dre on their forthcoming album. Before that drops, the Diplomats will continue their reunion tour with a stop at Town Ballroom on Wednesday (March 23) with Vado and Freeky Zekey. It’s time to see Dipset again before it’s too late.

—cory perla

7pm. Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. (852-3900 / www.townballroom.com). $40. Age limit 21 and over.

Wednesday, March 23

Lawyers For the Arts

The Give for Greatness campaign presents, Lawyers for the Arts, on Wednesday (March 23) from 5pm to 10pm at Babeville’s Asbury Hall. Many lawyers not only enjoy the arts, they practice them as well. Lawyers for the Arts will feature live performances by area attorneys, including Therese Quinn, Willie Schoellkopf, Joe O’Donnel, congressman Brian Higgins, and others playing jazz, rock ‘n roll, folk, R&B, acapella vocals and classic rock. There will be paintings and photography on display by attorneys Giles Manias, Glenn Edward Murray, Ken Suzan, Leroi Johnson, and more. Buffalo Contemporary Dancer Amy Taravella and Habit Dance Project will also be performing. There will also be a brief scene from Inherit the Wind, which opens today at the New Phoenix Theatre. As for all Give For Greatness events, all proceeds will go to fund the 47 cultural institutions that were cut from the county budget. This event will be hosted by attorneys Therese Quinn and William Shoellkopf. Food will be provided by Bacchus/Ultimate Restaurants and a cash bar opens at 5pm. Tickets for the event are $75 for general public and $35 for law students. Babeville is located at 341 Delaware Ave. Come support G4G and help make WNY the cultural capital that it can be.

—phillip weiss

5pm. Babeville’s Asbury Hall, 341 Delaware Ave. (852-3835 / www.babevillebuffalo.com) $75 general, $35 for law students.