The Witches Ball & Masquerade

Wednesday, October 31

The theme of the inaugural Witches Ball is “Haute Macabre: From Glam to Ghoul.” The Hotel at the Lafayette is the perfect venue for such an affair with its status on the National Register of Historic Places, French renaissance style architecture, and art deco lobby. The Witches Ball organizers worked with members of Terror Technologies and Frightworld: America’s Screampark in order to highlight the hotel’s local restaurants, bars, and shops in the most spook-filled way possible. Kicking off with a zombie walk from City Hall to the hotel at 5pm, guests will receive a Shining-esque greeting in the lobby. The halls will be lined with dark art exhibits by Michael Mararian, Paul Massaro, Mark Madden, and Max Collins. Guests can witness the wedding ceremony of Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein with a dress by Ali Eagan, rings by John Harris, and a wedding cake by Butterwood Sweet and Savory. There will also be a steampunk fashion show, visit from supernatural historian Mason Winfield, puppeterror Franklin LaVoie, the Stripteasers, zombie bellydancers, tarot card readers, fortune tellers, a paranormal investigator, a Frightworld hearse, a zombie Death Truck, performance of Science of Ca’Dio, music by DJ Cutler, The Ifs, and the Irving Klaws, a taco stand by Cantina Loco, and more. A number of the hotel’s unique businesses will be open late into the night as well. Partial proceeds will benefit the Buffalo Arts Society. It all happens on Halloween, this Wednesday (Oct 31) so don’t miss your chance to please your palate, quench your thirst, and experience all of the thrills and chills of the season under one roof. —jill greenberg

6pm Hotel at the Lafayette, 391 Washington St. (facebook.com/events/476877868999957) $20 advance, $25 day of show, 21+

Friday, October 26 - Sunday, November 4

Buffalo Beer Week

O sweet elixir. Is one week in a year sufficient to sing your praises? Of course not, but Buffalo Beer Week affords an opportunity to focus our attentions on the beverage we love so well. Unfolding at venues throughout the region, the weeklong festival includes tastings, lectures, chef’s tables, costume parties, brewery tours, and more. From the Ebenezer Alehouse to Community Brew Works, from Flying Bison Brewery to McCarthy’s Irish Pub, from Pizza Plant to Blue Monk, from the Adam Mickiewicz Library (where there’s big party Friday night) to the Marcy Casino (where there’ a big party Saturday evening), and at a dozen venues in between, beer geeks will congregate to taste and talk about beer. A complete list of events and venues is available at www.buffalobeerweek.com. Raise a glass. —geoff kelly

Various locations (buffalobeerweek.com)

Friday, October 26

Fang Island

When Fang Island strap their guitars over their shoulders, flip their amps on, and begin to rock out, it’s as if they’ve eaten one of Mario’s magical mushrooms; their sound grows and grows until they are giants towering on stage blasting out massive fireball riffs and smashing drums like goombas. They are a lot of fun, extremely happy, and very loud. Usually loud, heavy music takes on a dark feel, but Fang Island are bright and colorful on stage when they play songs like their latest single “Sisterly,” with its power-pop vocals, arena rock guitars, and booming drums. “Sisterly” comes off of Fang Island’s latest album Major, released earlier this year and presumably named after the happy, bright guitar chords played throughout the record. The three piece will perform live at the Tralf this Friday (Oct 26) with New York City “chip punk” band Anamanaguchi. That’s a tough name to chant while waiting for this Gameboy rock band to come back out for an encore. Anamanaguchi, started making music with a hacked Nintendo Entertainment System and went on to create frantic, video game music with synthesizers and various other hacked Nintendo systems like Gameboys, although the band says they are inspired by non chiptune bands like Weezer and the Beach Boys. Prepare for plenty of heavy riffing and nerd-itry when these bands hit the Tralf this weekend with support from Buffalo’s Fourwalls. —cory perla

7pm The Tralf Music Hall, 622 Main St. (852-2860 / tralfmusichall.com) $12 advance, $14 day of show

Saturday, October 27

Halloween at the Hamlin House: Vote Zombie

Put away your excessive storage of canned goods and turn off the Walking Dead, the zombie apocalypse isn’t really going to happen...or is it? Get ready to party and put your best zombie face forward for Halloween at the Hamlin House: Vote Zombie; a party of epic proportions at the historic Hamlin House, featuring the Manhattan Project. This Rochester based live electronic duo serve up a hefty plate of high energy, addictive beats with ominous voice over samples sure to grab anyone’s attention. The Manhattan Project performed a remix of “Halloween” at Camp Bisco X last year and have opened for legendary bands like Lotus, Conspirator, and Future Rock. Group members Charlie Linder (keyboards and synths) and Shawn Drogan (drums and electronics) bring it home representing musicians from upstate New York, and have gained a strong and loyal fanbase through word of mouth and memorable live shows. The Manhattan Project released their very fitting EP titled, Atomic Bomb Party 2 this year with hard hitting tracks as well as more mellow songs with an ambient feel. For the third year in a row the Hamlin House transforms into a larger-than-life bash, filled with costume contests and a packed, sweaty dance floor. Enjoy the spooky ambience with your friends with intense horror projections, a killer visual show and free (yes I said free) beer for as long as you can drink after you pay the cover to get in. Come get weird at the historic Hamlin House this Saturday (Oct 27) with The Manhattan Project, Buffalo legend DJ Cutler and Rochester native Papi Chulo (RipRoc). —jessica reinhardt

9pm Hamlin House, 432 Franklin St. (mnmpresents.com, hamlinhouserestaurant.com) $20 (includes beer)

Tuesday, October 30; Thursday, November 1 & 8

Three for a Quarter, One For a Dime

A Series of Modern Jazz Performances featuring Ab Baars, Wadada Leo Smith, Fred Van Hove, and more

Among patrons of the arts in Buffalo, David Kennedy is something of a maverick. Where other would fear to tread, he has done more than simply tread. He’s continually plunged head first. A steely, sharp guy with a devilish sense of humor, Kennedy has been the conduit for maintaining the Queen City’s continued status as a bastion for improvised and experimental music. (Some also call it avant garde and free jazz, though such tags often almost do the music an injustice in boxing it in.) Driven by his own passion and always using his own checkbook, Kennedy—a lifelong Buffalonian—has been responsible for hosting some of the premier figures of the underground for the last couple decades. In most cases, the concerts are free with a suggested donation, this is not about breaking even—let alone making money—but building the culture and awareness for the music. Looking among Kennedy’s list of past concerts is like peering at a who’s who of the underground: Cecil Taylor, Keiji Haino, Lamonte Young and Peter Brötzmann. His latest endeavor is a trio of shows dubbed A Series Of Modern Jazz Performances beginning this Tuesday (Oct 30) with Ab Baars (tenor saxophone, clarinet, shakuhachi) and Ig Henneman (viola) at Hallwalls, in a duo performance highlighting the pinnacle of the Dutch new music scene with a fall-themed cycle called “Autumn Songs.” On Thursday (Nov 1) the series moves to the esteemed Burchfield-Penney for Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet) and John Lindberg (contrabass). A week later, on November 8th the series closes with pianist Fred Van Hove, whose vanguard status in European improvised music has been cemented for more than forty years. More info is available at hallwalls.com. —donny kutzbach

Oct 30: Ab Baars and Ig Henneman. 8pm Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, 341 Delaware Ave. (854-1694 / hallwalls.org) $0.10 admission ($10 suggested donation)

Nov 1: Wadada Leo Smith and John Lindberg. 8pm Burchfield Penney Art Center, 1300 Elmwood Ave. (878-6011 / burchfieldpenney.org) $0.10 admission ($10 suggested donation)

Nov 8: Fred Van Hove. 8pm Burchfield Penney Art Center, 1300 Elmwood Ave. (878-6011 / burchfieldpenney.org) $0.10 admission ($10 suggested donation)

Wednesday, October 31

Yelawolf

“For me, being an artist is therapy, being able to talk about anything and everything, it’s like going into the booth; you might as well be lying in a psychiatrist’s chair.” said rapper Yelawolf during a photo shoot in Gadsden, Alabama in November, 2010. “It’s tell all. For me that’s what it’s for because I know that there’s somebody out there with the same story and the same issues. Whatever it is, somebody out there is going to relate to it.” Hailed by Esquire as one of the best new rappers of 2011, Yelawolf tries to make his music more than your average every day lyrical debauchery of some night at a club with 808’s throbbing. His mission; to make any one of his fans feel at home in Alabama if it is their first time in town and all they have to go off of is his music. His mother, infatuated with Bonanza actors John Wayne and Michael Landon, named him Michael Wayne. In tribute to her, Yela sports a hefty tattoo of Landon in profile, teeth showing, going from his right shoulder down his arm half way to his elbow, and Wayne, directly underneath brandishing a gun. On the other arm, this time ranging from a little above the elbow down to the wrist, swims a catfish. “I was born off the Coosa River. Catching catfish is just part of the culture. It represents not only that but being a bottom feeder and surviving on the bottom because that’s what it’s like being from a small town and having to fight your way up to the surface,” he said in an interview with Nardwuar. Yelawolf shakes up the Town Ballroom this Wednesday (Oct 31) with special guests RITTZ, Trouble Andrew, and DJ Vajra. —brett deneve

7pm Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. (852-3900 / townballroom.com) $21 advance, $25 day of show

Wednesday, October 31 - Saturday, November 3

Yevgeny Yevtushenko

That Buffalo is a home to a many-faceted arts community will be demonstrated when we play host to the esteemed Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko this week. He will make two appearances with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Friday (Nov 2) and Saturday (Nov 3) at Kleinhans Music Hall, on programs featuring the work of Dmitri Shostakovich, including the Symphony #13, based on Yevtushenko’s “Babi Yar,” which deals with the massacre of Jews in the Soviet Union. On Wednesday (Oct 31) the University at Buffalo will host a rare North American screening of Stalin’s Funeral, Yevtushenko’s 1990 film based on his memories of the riots that accompanied the dictator’s interment in 1953, an event that Yevtushenko felt had significance to his country as it shook off Soviet rule. The film’s cast includes Vanessa Redgrave and Yevtushenko as a drunken sculptor. He will be on hand for a post-screening discussion. And of course he will read from his poetry at a public event on Thursday (Nov 1) followed by a reception and book signing. Except for the Philharmonic appearance, all events are free and open to the public, though tickets are required for the poetry reading. —m. faust

Wednesday, Oct 31: 7pm Stalin’s Funeral, UB Center for the Fine Arts. Free and open to the public.

Thursday Nov 1: Poetry reading, UB Slee Hall (ubevents.org/event/YY) Free, but tickets are required and can be obtained at the Slee box office or online

10:30am Friday, Nov 2 & 8pm Saturday, Nov 3: Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Kleinhans Music Hall, 3 Symphony Circle. (883-3560 / kleinhansbuffalo.org, tickets.bpo.org/public) $31-$51

Thursday, November 1

Cypress Hill

A mere 20 years after their debut, self-titled studio album, Cypress Hill’s MC B-Real comments during an interview with hiphop.com at Rock the Bells last year saying “We didn’t, well, at least I didn’t expect any of it. . . I was just hoping people would like it. I had no idea it’d have the impact that it had.” Boasting features on tracks with bands such as Pearl Jam early on in their career, an animated appearance on the Simpsons episode “Homerpalooza,” back to back to back Grammy nominations, as well as tour stages shared with musical acts ranging from Rage Against the Machine, to Ziggy Marley, to A Tribe Called Quest, I would have to put Cypress Hill as one of the most versatile groups of all time. They are still going strong, just having dropped an EP featuring Rusko this past summer. Cypress Hill started out performing live using the standard hip hop formula of a DJ with MC’s until they eventually started booking more and more alternative shows. “We were rocking the metal heads with our hip hop,” B-Real stated, “but sound wise we didn’t feel it could compete so we decided let’s put a band behind us and make it a little heavier.” Come jump around with Cypress Hill and special guest Action Bronson, next Thursday (Nov 1) at Town Ballroom. —brett deneve

7pm Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. (852-3900 / townballroom.com) $28 advance, $32 day of show