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See You There!

Artvoice's weekly round-up of featured events, including our editor's pick for the week: 30 Seconds to Mars, who play the Rapids Theatre on Wednesday, February 2nd.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out our new and improved events calendar on-line for complete event listings, a location guide to find your way about the city, restaurant reviews, and more.

30 Seconds to Mars

Wednesday, February 2

30 Seconds to Mars has been receiving a lot of attention lately. After an 8-figure legal battle with Virgin Records, the band released their newest album, This Is War. The album took nearly two years to record and produce. “At one point, I thought it was going to be the death of us, but it became a transformative experience,” said frontman Jared Leto. “It’s not so much an evolution as it is a revolution. It’s a coming of age.” The album has been hailed by the L.A. Times and Alternative Press, among others, as some of the band’s best work. “Sonically it’s a new beginning,” said guitarist Tomo Milicevic. In recording This Is War, the band wanted to involve their fans as much as possible, going so far as to allow their listeners from around the world to submit their own sonic contributions to be included in the record. Resulting in what Buzznet calls “field recordings of fandom.” Leto considers the fan contributions “an exciting and unique way for us to share the experience with our family around the world.” 30 Seconds to Mars is coming to the Rapids Theatre in Niagara Falls with special guests Middle Class Rut. The show kicks off Wednesday (Feb 2). Hurry, there are less than 1,000 tickets left for this rescheduled show. Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 day of show, available at all Ticketmaster outlets, the Rapids Theater box office, or your local Record Theater.

—brian pietrus

7pm. Rapids Theatre, 1711 Main St., Niagara Falls. (205-8925 / www.rapidstheatre.com). $25 advance, $30 day of show.

Thursday, January 27

UB Distinguished Speaker: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Come with me to Alumni Arena if you want to live. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governator, will give a talk at Alumni Arena on University at Buffalo’s North Campus on Thursday (tonight!) as part of the school’s Distinguished Speakers Series. Beyond being a world famous actor and body builder Schwarzenegger served as the Governor of California from 2003 to 2010. He passed several environmental bills during his tenure including the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, often reaching across the aisle to pass the bills into law. As an actor he was part of James Cameron’s wildly successful the Terminator series, True Lies and, a personal favorite, Hercules in New York (it’s one of those movies that is so bad that it’s good). Schwarzenegger, like so many of our elected officials, has been no stranger to controversy. He admitted to using steroids during his body building career, faced allegations of groping women during the final days of his gubernatorial campaign and has to answer questions regarding recordings of him puffing on a doobie after winning Mr. Olympia in 1975. So head out to Alumni Arena to hear this man of many hats talk about his rags to riches story full of sex, drugs and legislation. —justin sondel

8pm. 108 Alumni Arena, University at Buffalo, North Campus. $36-$60.

Thursday, January 27

Ann Arbor Film Festival Tour

The Ann Arbor Film Festival, established in 1963, is the longest-running independent and experimental film festival in North America, and remains the preeminent forum for pioneering filmmakers and artists. Each year, the AAFF receives more than 2,500 submissions of all lengths and genres, including experimental, animation, documentary, hybrid and performance based films. The six-day festival held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has been at the forefront of avant-garde cinema, showcasing the early work of filmmakers such as Kenneth Anger, Andy Warhol, Barbara Hammer and George Lucas. In addition to supporting the ground-breaking efforts of both emerging and established filmmakers, the AAFF is known for the Ann Arbor Film Festival Tour; a traveling program that presents short films in media arts centers, galleries, universities and theatres around the world. The 48th AAFF Tour visits Squeaky Wheel, on Thursday (tonight!), to present films from the most recent edition of the Ann Arbor Film Festival. The program includes Joanna Priestley’s Missed Aches (Jury Award at Black Maria Festival 2010), David O’Reilly’s Please Say Something (Best Animated Film Award 48th AAFF), and Chema García Ibarra’s Attack of the Robots from Nebula-5 (Funniest Film Award 48th AAFF), among many others. For a look at the complete program, visit www.aafilmfest.org. —jon wheelock

7pm. Squeaky Wheel, 712 Main St. (884-7172 / squeaky.org). $7 non-members/$5 members.

Friday, January 28

Scholars at AK: David Schmid on Murderabilia

Englishman David Schmid, an associate professor in UB’s English Department, says that he took up the study of serial killers and the peculiarly American culture surrounding them in part as a means of helping him to understand his adopted country. As the recent violence in Tucson grimly illustrates, it has proven to be an enduring subject matter. This Friday (January 28) at 4pm, Schmid will deliver a lecture at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery titled “Popular Cultures of Violence in the United States.” Beginning with execution sermons delivered by Puritan preachers in the colonial era and moving through to the contemporary collectors of “murderabilia”—artwork and artifacts related to murderers and their crimes—Schmid will explore the ways that American culture deals with the violence it engenders by making celebrities of its most outre examples. “Rather than simply condemning murderabilia,” he says, “I try to understand it, to explain what sort of functions and social purposes it serves, and how it gives us insight to the things that make us tick as a society.” An interview with Schmid and an excerpt of his lecture are available on AV Daily. Presented by the UB Humanities Institute and Riverrun, the Scholars at AK series is free and open to the public.

4pm. Albright Knox Art Gallery, 1285 Elmwood Ave. (882-8700 / albrightknox.org). Free.

Friday, January 28

Popa Chubby

Electric blues musician, Popa Chubby’s guitar riffing is as big as the multi-instrumentalist’s bassy voice and large stature. After all, his tongue-in-cheek name didn’t come from nowhere. Chubby’s music is a combination of down-home, poetic lyrics, twangy, Jimmy Hendrix influenced blues melodies, and gritty riffs. His discography reaches back to the early 1990’s and spans over a dozen full length and live albums, including his latest, the Fight Is On (Blind Pig Records), an arena sized blues-guitar epic. Last month he released a compilation album, the Essential Chubby, a collection of handpicked tracks, including singles like “Sweet Goddess of Love and Beer” and “Somebody Let The Devil Out,” which showcase his penchant for funk, outlaw country, melodic rock, and blues. The tattooed and muscled guitarist began his musical career in the Bronx as a drummer but the psychedelic atmosphere of the early 1970’s pushed him toward guitar, and he has been rocking out with fire and brimstone ever since. Popa Chubby will appear at the Tralf on Friday (Jan 28) with Lockport based alternative-blues rockers Wanted By the FBI. —herbie timpson (photo credit: Michael Kurgansky)

7pm. Tralf Music Hall, 622 Main St. (852-2860 / tralfmusichall.com). $14.50 advance, $17 day of show.

Saturday, January 29

Silversteinw

Hungry hardcore music fans can’t afford to skip Saturday’s (Jan 29) staggering lineup of some of metal’s most popular and aggressive artists. Silverstein, bursting out of Burlington, Ontario, have become one of Canada’s finest post-hardcore acts, unleashing a mesmerizing marriage of throaty howls and emo-pop vocals. In the vein of Atreyu, Alexisonfire, and the Devil Wears Prada, Silverstein balances light and darkness with forceful yet melodic songs that burn through listeners with unavoidable intensity. The frenzied, shredding glory of Silverstein isn’t the only reason for metal maniacs to rejoice however. Metalcore masters Miss May I, and experimental punks Pierce the Veil will also take the Xtreme Wheels stage. When you add the haunting, relentless, and unapologetic drive of the Chariot and the ambient angst of A Bullet for Pretty Boy into the fray, there is no limit to how sonically intoxicating this wicked brain-boiler of a good time will be. —ryan wolf (photo credit: Dustin Rabin)

6pm. Xtreme Wheels, 356 Hertel Ave (893-2900 / myspace.com/wnyafterdark). $15 advance, $17 day of show.

Saturday, January 29

Tropidelic

There is a warm front rolling in, in the form of reggae-rockers Tropidelic, who bring their summertime grooves to Nietzsche’s this Saturday (Jan 29). You can’t pin any one genre on this band, and according to singer Matthew Roads, that’s exactly what they want: to inspire creativity by not falling conveniently into place. Hailing from the chilly streets of Cleveland, the group uses a unique West Coast/Rust Belt dynamic to elevate their music, employing a hybrid of ska, dub, funk, rock and hip-hop. They’ve built a sizable following in Cleveland—a city that is no stranger to great music—and was voted Best Cleveland Area Band in 2009 by Fox 8’s Hotlist. The group was a mainstay at the famed House of Blues, and has played alongside acts such as 311, Afroman, Sublime w/Rome, OAR, George Clinton, and the Wailers. Tropidelic comes off as the quintessential party band, but there is a lot going on musically in the upbeat lyrics of Roads combined with the groove-heavy sound ushered in by turntablist Dj Mekadog, $J (drums), Chris (guitar), and Corey (bass). It takes a special kind of band to make you feel like you’ve been transported to a different place, and Tropidelic will have you thinking about Coronas and California in no time. In the dead of winter, we could all use a little more sun. —jon wheelock

9pm. Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St. (886-8539 / www.nietzsches.com). $5, ages 21+.

Saturday, January 29

Blockhead & Emancipator

Beats and tones. That is the essence of electronic music. Blockhead and Emancipator know this, though they take a different approaches to their music. These rising electronic artists have come together for a short, but harmonious string of tour dates. What makes this combination harmonious is the way Blockhead and Emancipator compliment each other. Blockhead’s focus is on rhythmic and body moving hip-hop beats, while Emancipator concentrates on swelling electronic tones and unique arrangements. Blockhead, who grew up in downtown New York City, spent the beginning of his career as a producer, crafting beats for artists like Aseop Rock, who’s critically acclaimed album Labor Days, he produced. Now he’s focused on his own tunes though. His latest album, 2009’s the Music Scene, is a head bobbing mixture of 1970’s influenced soul melodies and intricate hip-hop beats. Though similar to Blockhead, Emancipator’s beats are slightly downplayed and are usually twisted with unexpected, but expertly crafted tones. Tones like the synthetic harp and electronic glitter of “Greenland” from his latest album Safe in the Steep Cliffs, the swelling saxophone and miniature voices on “Kamakura,” or the sparkling piano lines and orchestral string arrangement, on “Anthem.” Blockhead and Emancipator bring their individual brands of grooving, hip-hop laced beats to Soundlab on Saturday (Jan 29). —cory perla

9:30pm. Soundlab, 110 Pearl St. (440-5907 / www.bigorbitgallery.org/soundlab). $15.

Sunday, January 30

Tea Leaf Green

If this wintery week has provided you with a low vitamin D level and freezing toes, then the best way to warm up is jamming out to some rock straight from the west coast. On Sunday (Jan 30), the Tralf will host San Francisco based jam band, Tea Leaf Green, with openers Aqueous and Sons of Bill. This constantly evolving band has become better and better over the years. In their beginning they opened up for acts like Gov’t Mule, Trey Anastasio, and the Dave Matthews Band. More recently they have built a strong reputation, and have given memorable performances at festivals like Bannaroo and Wakarusa. They pride themselves at taking the spirit of classic rock n’ rollers and putting a modern spin on their sound, comparing themselves to My Morning Jacket, Wolfmother, and the Raconteurs. If you want to be reminded just how alluring rock ‘n’ roll can be, then make sure you check out these guys out. Doors open at 7pm and presale tickets are available for $15, or day of show for $18. —rachel good (photo credit: Suzy Perler)

7pm. Tralf Music Hall, 622 Main St. (852-2860 / tralfmusichall.com). $15 advance, $18 day of show.