Queen City Market

Saturday, December 10

The first ever Queen City Market is the ultimate one-stop shop for Buffalonians this holiday season. More than 50 diverse vendors will fill the space at Karpeles Manuscript Museum on Saturday (Dec 10) from 11am-6pm. Karpeles Museum, a City of Buffalo Historic Landmark, built in 1911, is the perfect spot to spend an afternoon searching for that one-of-a-kind vintage item for a loved one. Artists will be selling either handmade or vintage items that range from clothing to art. Some notable vendors include Rust Belt Threads, a locally based online Etsy store with everything from 1970s holiday party dresses to silver 1960s barware; photography from local photographers Jill Greenberg and Chelsea Kedron; jewelry from Heather Mordaunt, owner of hm2 Jewelry; art prints from Josh Schlageter; wood work from Megan McNally of Rusted Grain Studio; Buffalo-made chocolates from Park Edge Sweet Shop; jewelry from Donna Sturges; artisanal cheese from First Light Farm and Creamery; and art from cultural collective Sugar City. Food will be available for purchase from Lagniappes French Quarter Café, Rolling Joe Cafe, Lloyd’s Taco Truck, and the Whole Hog Truck, as well as vegan cupcakes from Sugar City. This event is free and open to the public, and is full of the artists you know and love from Buffalo. Come out, shop local, and make your friends and family happy with items from this creative marketplace. For more info visit qcmbuffalo.com. —cory perla

11am to 6pm. Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, Porter Hall, 453 Porter Avenue. Free.

Saturday, December 10

Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad

With a name that’s indicative of a horde of dub-loving exotic mammals, don’t let that fool you into thinking that Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad’s brand of roots reggae is on anybody’s endangered species list. In fact, with over 600 shows in the past four years, the Rochester-based outfit is quite comfortable far beyond their East Coast habitat, having just completed a six-week tour spanning both coasts and finishing their sophomore album, Country, for release in January 2012. Orbiting the five-piece band’s roots reggae framework are elements of soul, dub, funk, and psychedelia, all produced with an open-minded, experimental approach that refuses to be pigeonholed by genre and classification. And like true guerilla warriors, these guys come equipped with a vintage Hammond B3 and a Fender Rhodes to help lay down the sinister grooves and jams that concert-goers know and love. You won’t find any electronic bells and whistles from these guys either, just real musicians playing real instruments, which is why GPGDS has become one of the most embraced bands in the live-setting. Their prowess on the live-front has inspired GPGDS to launch LivePanda.com, a website showcasing high-quality, handpicked recordings, maintaining that musician-audience connection that the band really thrives on. Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad takes Nietzsche’s by surprise this Saturday (Dec 10), with special guests Universe Shark. National Geographic would be scratching their heads. —jon wheelock

9pm. Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St. (886-8539 / nietzsches.com) $12. 21+.

Saturday, December 10

Hurricane Bells

Before Hurricane Bells’ lead singer Steve Schiltz read the Twilight series, or even saw the first movie, he got an email from Twilight director Chris Weitz, saying he wanted to use Schiltz’s song “Monsters” as the opening song in his upcoming film New Moon. Pretty huge news for any up-and-coming band, but especially for Schiltz, who had just left his longtime-group Longwave to mess around with a new indie rock project, Hurricaine Bells. Never did he guess the guitar-driven track “Monster,” which was left off his first album for being “too heavy,” would be heard by millions of screaming young Twilight fans around the world, or that their band would now be identified with the mysterious British heartthrob himself Robert Pattinson. Since this break in 2009, the New York-based band has let their means and popularity give them the fuel to move forward as a group and release their sophomore album Tides and Tales (Invisible Brigades). Schiltz produced and mixed each track on Tides and Tales at his Olé Recording Studio in Queens, with contributing melodies and percussion from the members of his live band. Get a piece of the new material Saturday night (Dec 10), when Hurricaine Bells stops into Mohawk Place to play a set with Canadian five-piece indie rock band Wildlife. This combination is your ticket to an inspiring Saturday night and a creative boost for the week to come. —emilie hagen

8pm. Mohawk Place, 47 E. Mohawk St. (465-2368 / themohawkplace.com). $8 advance, $10 day of show.

Sunday, December 11

H2O

H2O’s roots in the mid-1990s New York punk scene hydrated a 15-year career, which will propel them to Mohawk Place this week. Bridging the gap between over-tatted hardcore fury and the melodic rhythms of punk-rock, H2O is a prosaic anomaly in the music world, maintaining a rock-driven career despite the 21st century breathing synthesizers and drum machines down the nape of their neck. Their considerably-lengthy livelihood blossomed seven full-length studio albums, including 2008s Nothing To Prove—their latest album of original material—and 2011’s Don’t Forget Your Roots, where the band covers a host of their favorite punk influences, including rehashed versions of Rancid, The Ramones and The Clash. Regarding Nothing to Prove, the band views this album as less of a comeback (their second most recent album, Go!, was released in 2001) and more of a culmination of everything the band stands for. Frontman Toby Morse reiterates, “I feel everything on this album has been building up over the last seven years. That’s why this album is called Nothing To Prove—because it’s all out on the table.” Hitting harder than a Holyfield haymaker, the album coalesces all the rage exhibited on H2O’s previous albums, without sacrificing catchiness or pop-sensibility. Special guests Wolf Tickets and Buffalo’s own Pentimento share the stage with H2O this Sunday (Dec 11). —brett perla

7pm. Mohawk Place, 47 E. Mohawk St. (465-2368 / themohawkplace.com). $13.

Sunday, December 11

Robot Holiday Live

There’s always something fun about seeing a ton of musicians on stage at once. The idea of a bunch of people, all doing their own thing, all contributing their own part to the whole big sound can’t help but be fun. But what if in addition to a bunch of human musicians, there were also robots playing with them? That’d be like a million times better, right? Of course! That’s why the Robot Holiday show at the Sportsmen’s Tavern this Sunday (Dec 11) is so exciting. Robot Holiday began over a decade ago as collaboration between two friends, Jonathan Hughes and Alex Lynne, after they recorded a cover of “Christmas Time Is Here.” In the time since, the group has grown immensely, adding musicians like Dee Adams, Joelle Labert, Rob Lynch, Joe Rozler, Jim Whitford, and more, and has recorded several new holiday songs, many of which feature the vocal talents of singing robots such as Voxo and Vocatron 3000. The collective puts out a new album every year around Christmas time, featuring songs that are mostly about Christmas, but also discuss winter and the holiday season in general. Proceeds from Sunday’s show and “robot raffle” will go to benefit the Food Bank of Western New York. Last year’s concert was able to raise $1,300. Robot Holiday is an event with small beginnings, but has grown to become a Buffalo tradition. —john hugar

7:30pm. Sportsmen’s Tavern, 326 Amherst St. (874-7734 / sportsmenstavern.com). $10.

Tuesday, December 13

Locally Grown: A Lexington Co-Op Story

It would be simple and trite to say that the community of like-minded Buffalonians who founded the Lexington Cooperative Market 40 years ago would not recognize it today. Indeed, they would, because many early volunteers remain members today, and have watched the movement toward natural and organic foods, as well as cooperative ventures, grow and influence mainstream markets. On Tuesday (Dec. 13), the Lexington Co-op will mark the beginning of its fifth decade of providing the community with healthy food with a screening of a new documentary by award-winning filmmaker John Paget at the Market Arcade Film & Arts Centre. Called Locally Grown: A Lexington Co-op Story, the documentary features interviews with long-time members and local food producers who supply the store. There will be a short reception and a question-and-answer period after the film. —geoff kelly

Doors open at 7pm, screening starts at 7:30pm. Market Arcade Film & Arts Centre, 639 Main Street. (855-3022 / dipsontheatres.com) $3. Tickets available at the Co-op or at the door.

Tuesday, December 13

!!!

It doesn’t matter how you say !!!. Chk chk chk, pow pow pow, and bump bump bump all work as long as the bass is loud enough and the crowd is ready for a psychedelic dance-punk party. Since their formation in 1996 the eight-piece band has been releasing disco-punk records on a consistent basis, beginning with their 2000 self-titled album. Though their music usually stays on the lighthearted, head-bobbing side of things with songs like “Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass,” full of tongue-in-cheek lyrics like “My intentions are bass. I just want to put some flowers right in your vase,” the band’s journey has been anything but lighthearted. In 2009 Jerry Fuchs, drummer on their 2007 album Myth Takes—also a former drummer for the Juan Maclean and LCD Soundsystem—fell down an elevator shaft in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and became the second former !!! drummer to meet a tragic death. The band regrouped, and one year later released their fourth full length record, Strange Weather, Isn’t It?, along with their catchy, proto-house single “AM/FM.” These guys are more than just good at making people dance though, they’re also pretty good at putting together music videos, like the hilarious video for “Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass,” and their recent Evel Knievel inspired, Stunt Rock sync-up video for “The Most Certain Sure,” which can be seen on their website (www.chkchkchk.net). Dance dance dance with !!! this Tuesday (Dec 13) at Soundlab. Bryan Johnson & the Family open the show. —cory perla

9pm. Soundlab, 110 Pearl St. (440-5907 / bigorbitgallery.org/soundlab). $10 advance