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See You There!

Artvoice's weekly round-up of featured events, including our editor's pick for the week: Clutch, who play the Town Ballroom on Thursday the 24th.

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.

Clutch

Thursday, February 24

Some people think Clutch should just play their songs. They write good songs; they should play them. But despite the lauded lyricism (no one tells a story like lead singer Neil Fallon, it’s been said) and heavy metal leanings, Clutch is at heart a jam band, and as such, audiences can never quite know where any one show will go. Playing without the styles and trappings of arena rock (no smoke machine, lasers, or pyro), Clutch puts on a bare bones performance that rides on the stage presence of the four band members, with Fallon mesmerizing the crowd with surreal lyrics delivered in his trademark rumbling baritone that can still hit the high notes. With their ninth studio album, 2009’s Strange Cousins From the West (Weathermaker), Clutch got a pretty solid lock on achieving alt-superband status, especially after 20 years without a miss. This band is nothing if not reliable, continually pleasing fans and even most critics with both their recordings and their live performances. Strange Cousins is another case of the band giving the people what they want, delivering the obscure intellectual lyrics set to heavy riffing that fans have come to expect. You won’t know what to expect if buy Clutch albums and listen to them at home, because that is an altogether different experience from attending a live show, where the musical meanderings can move from hardcore punk to funk to blues to southern gothic. “Strange cousins,” indeed. And though there’s no telling exactly how or what the band will play on any given night, the audience is more predictable, so one thing is for sure: When Clutch moves into the hit “the Mob Goes Wild,” you can bet the crowd will do just that. Clutch comes to the Town Ballrooom next Thursday (Feb 24) with Valient Thor and Low Road Revival. —k o’day

7pm. Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. (852-3900 / www.townballroom.com). $17 advance, $20 day of show.

Thursday, February 17

BUA Cabaret Series presents Songbird

What makes this songbird sing? BUA Theater continues its Cabaret Series with Songbird, featuring Katy Miner and Chuck Basil. With her eclectic taste in music and diverse experience, Katy will cover songs from Blossom Dearie, Annie Ross, Maltby/Shire, Eva Cassidy, Kate Bush, Rachelle Ferrell and other popular (and not so popular) music gems. The show will also include cellist, Emily Elkin. A Western New York native, Miner spent several years in Northern California where she worked with Grammy nominated producers and as a session singer and background vocalist for many artists in the San Francisco Bay Area. Now back in Buffalo, she has performed at several local theaters, and also fronts a jazz trio. She has been featured with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in both the Music Man in concert and West Side Story in concert, has been a mezzo soloist and professional member of the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, and continues to work as a session and background vocalist. Chuck Basil has been one of Buffalo’s most recognized and respected performers for almost 30 years. In 2002 Chuck was chosen by Marvin Hamlisch to perform with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and to showcase a song, “Take Me To Christmas Past” written for him by Hamlisch. This limited engagement begins on Thursday (tonight!) at the BUA, and will continue through February 20. —frances boots

Thursday through Saturday 8pm, Sunday 7pm. BUA Theater, 119 Chippewa St. (886-9239 / buffalobua.org). $20 general admission, $15 members.

Friday, February 18

Biodiesel

It’s not very often that you can catch a band playing IDM (Intelligent Dance Music, a genre of electronic music) on live instruments. In fact, it’s almost contradictory, but that is what the electronic music makers of BioDiesel do. IDM is a genre classified by fast, techno-like, synthesized beats; typically break style beats that would be impossible for a normal drummer to play. That is not the case for BioDiesel’s drummer Johnny Rabb though, because Rabb was the first drummer in the world to break the barrier of one thousand single drum strokes in 60 seconds, earning him the title of the original World’s Fastest Drummer. Along with bassist Clay Parnell, the duo combine to create mashed up, trance influenced dance music. In January, the band released a five song EP called Carbon Confidential, which is full of catchy vocal samples and trance inducing electro waves, all laid over Rabb’s escalating beats. BioDiesel will take the stage at Soundlab this Friday (Feb 18) with synth-slammers the Manhattan Project. —cory perla

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

Friday, February 18

Royal Comedy Tour

Blunt and brash, her name tells you exactly what her devoted fans want from her want: Sommore. Her hilarious insight into sex and society will get your insides bubbling. Her natural comic panache and smooth strut will magnetize you. And the jokes she delivers like fiery Pentecostal sermons will have you chanting her name as she exits the stage. Featured on Showtime as one of the certified Queens of Comedy, Sommore has been a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show and Def Comedy Jam and appeared in films like Soul Plane and Friday After Next. This Friday (Feb 18), she will be joined by the rest of her Royal Comedy Tour team at Shea’s Performing Arts Center with a line-up that includes the endearing Bruce Bruce and riotous D.L. Hughley. Sommore, Bruce, and Hughley have each served as hosts of BET’s ComicView, taking part in a lively tradition of popular and talented black stand-up comics. As the tradition continues Friday night, sending laugh waves throughout the city, come to the epicenter of fun and let these royal comedians show you just how majestic comedy can be. —ryan wolf

8pm. Shea’s Performing Arts Center, 646 Main St. (847-1410 / www.sheas.org) $49.50 to $39.50.

Friday, February 18

Rasputina

Lots of bands will conceptualize an album or a series of albums, but it takes a lot of commitment to conceptualize an entire musical career. Brooklyn based fantasy rockers Rasputina do it though. The band is known for their elaborate stage costumes and cello driven goth-rock that draws from a near obsession with the Victorian era. Since 1992 front-woman Melora Creager has been belting out haunting lyrics and scratching creepy cello riffs on albums like 1998’s How We Quit the Forest, and the band’s latest album, Sister Kinderhook, which features atmospherically frightening tracks like “Holocaust of Giants,” with it’s strange hollow chanting. Rasputina has created a world of fantasy with their music, and it is hard not to be swept into that world during the band’s live performances. With roots in grunge and steampunk, the band have gained a cult following. Don’t miss them when they come to Club Diablo on Friday (Feb 18) with dark cabaret, singer/songwriter Voltaire, and Lockport based shoegazers Makaras Pen. —cory perla

8pm. Club Diablo, 517 Washington St. (842-0666 / clubdiablo.com) $12.

Friday, February 18

Aqueous with Little Mountain Band & Twin City Kings

Nietzsche’s has long been cemented as a bastion for live music from some of Buffalo’s best acts, and there’s no better time to check out the wealth of homebred talent Buffalo has to offer than this Friday, (Feb. 18), with Aqueous, Little Mountain Band, and Twin City Kings. In what promises to be a jam-heavy night, all three bands bring an eclectic range of styles and sounds to the table. Opening up the show is Little Mountain Band, with their unique concoction of jam, bluegrass, soul, funk, and rockabilly. They’re no strangers to the live setting either, having played at venues such as Artpark and the Tralf Music Hall since forming in 2003. Next on the stage is Twin City Kings, who can get any audience up and grooving. These guys know how to pay homage to their hometown, having recently shot their music video for the song “Twin City Circus” at the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum in North Tonawanda. They have a more aggressive style reminiscent of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but with a dub/jam dynamic that’s all their own. Closing out the night is Aqueous, and if their name is any indication, the chemical makeup of this group is always shifting. Part progressive rock, part jam band, Aqueous has been compared to the likes of moe., Phish, and Umphrey’s McGee. Their addicting grooves and improvisations showcase the band’s stellar musicianship, making them worthy of being one of Buffalo’s best jam bands. Aqueous shines in the live setting, and at a legendary venue like Nietzsche’s, you can’t go wrong. —jon wheelock

10pm. Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St. (886-8539 / nietzsches.com) $5.

Saturday, February 19 - Sunday, February 27

WNY Black Film Festival

The ninth edition of the WNY Black Film Festival opens this Saturday (Feb 19) at the Dipson Market Arcade Film & Arts Centre, with a screening of Shuga, an acclaimed drama looking at the lives of a group of college students in Nairobi. Produced by MTV in partnership with UNICEF and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the three-part film has been a hit throughout Africa for its combination of entertainment value with hard information about HIV. The evening also features several short films, including Run, filmed in Buffalo by Edreys Wajed (aka Billy Drease Williams, two-time winner of the Artvoice Best of Buffalo award for best Hip-Hop Artist). The festival concludes next Sunday (Feb 27) with a showcase of four short films: Katrina’s Son, about the experiences of a son searching for his mother after she is evacuated from New Orleans to San Antonio; Chicago actor-director Morocco Omari’s Good Intentions, a drama about the the effect of economic problems on married couple; Brothers Incorporated, about Philadelphia gangsters in the 1960s; and British/Ghanian filmmaker Julius Amedume’s Mr. Graham. —m. faust

6pm Friday, 3pm Sunday. Market Arcade Film & Arts Centre, 639 Main St. (855-3022 / dipsontheatres.com). $5 per show.

Saturday, February 19

Big Night Tribute to Millie Niss

Come join in the celebration of the life and work of poet Millie Niss on Saturday (Feb 19), as the Just Buffalo Literary Center presents a Big Night Tribute to Millie Niss. Niss, not only a poet, is best known as the founder of sporkworld (sporkworld.org) and is a widely published web artist. Her earliest publications include mathematical proofs and research sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Selected poems from Niss’ posthumously released publication City Bird: Selected Poems 1991-2009 will be read by friends. There will also be poetry by Kazim Ali, poet, writer, professor, and founding editor of Nightboat Books. In addition, video by Millie Niss and other artists will be presented. Food will be prepared by poet and former sous-chef of the Mansion on Delaware Avenue. Geoffery Gatza. The event is $5 or free for UB students and members of Just Buffalo, WNYBAC, CEPA, & Big Orbit galleries. —krysta zagorski

8pm, Just Buffalo Literary Center, 468 Washington St. at Mohawk. (832-5400 / justbuffalo.org) $5, free for UB students.

Monday, February 21

Field & Fork Network's 3rd Annual Farmer-Chef Conference

On Monday (Feb 21), Western New York’s local food magazine Edible Buffalo will be hosting Field & Fork Network’s Third Annual Farmer-Chef Conference. Field & Fork is a non-profit organization that promotes the buying of locally grown food. The mission of the network is to bridge the gap between producers, consumers, and buyers in an effort to create a sustainable agricultural environment here in Western New York. Award-winning farmer and author Joel Salatin is a passionate supporter of the local food movement who uses his knowledge, experience, and a touch of humor to educate communities on the benefits of sustainable farming. Some of Salatin’s books include Salad Bar Beef and You Can Farm. The Salatin’s Polyface Farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley has been featured in the documentaries Food, Inc. and Fresh, and has made a number of magazine, radio, and television appearances, including an appearance on the Lives of the 21st Century Series with Peter Jennings on ABC World News. The family-owned, third generation farm is grass-based, does not ship its food, and openly welcomes visitors to learn about its eco-friendly farming methods. Polyface is one of America’s few non-industrial farms and prides itself in being both environmentally-friendly and community-friendly, servicing over 3,000 families, 10 retail outlets, and 50 restaurants in its community. Salatin will present his keynote speech at the Wick Social Room at Daemen College. —amber gerrity

8pm. Wick Social Room of Daemen College, 4380 Main St in Amherst. $18 to $20, reservations are required. Visit brownpapertickets.com to reserve your seat.