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See You There!

Artvoice's weekly round-up of featured events, including our editor's picks for the week: The 3rd Annual Powder Keg Festival, taking place in Niagara Square this weekend.

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

3rd Annual Powder Keg Festival

Saturday & Sunday, February 11 & 12

Some people in Buffalo may be wondering if Old Man Winter will even arrive this year. 44 degrees? What is this, May? Inspired by our unseasonably warm winter, the third annual Powder Keg Festival, a part of the Buffalo Winter Festival, will bear the theme of “Hot Times.” This year’s festival will feature outdoor events in Niagara Square, including a Snowman Making Challenge, igloo building demos, ice-carving, and more along two blocks of Delaware Ave, as well as indoor events in the Statler City building. New this year is the Red Bull Butter Cup series, a snowboard competition open to snowboarders of intermediate to advanced skill levels. In a weird winter twist, over one hundred tons of snow will actually have to be delivered to the streets for this event, setting the stage for the best local athletes to compete for cash and prizes. The Grand Ballroom of the Statler building will transform into the “City of Lights Live,” a Buffalo music festival with live music all weekend long, with a 2nd floor reserved for family entertainment including carnival games, face painting and winter crafts. This is Buffalo, so plenty of food will be in on hand from a bunch of local restaurants, and there will even be a chili cook-off. “We wear the label ‘snow belt’ like a badge of honor, thumbing our frosted noses at the wintery misconceptions and stereotypes that pervade the national consciousness,” said festival organizer Drew Cerza. “This is Buffalo’s opportunity to show our wintery civic pride.” It all happens this Saturday (Feb 11) and Sunday (Feb 12) in Downtown Buffalo. To learn more about the festival, visit BuffaloWinterfest.com. —a.v.

photo credit: DavidMarinoPhotography.com

11am to 11pm Saturday, 11am to 7pm Sunday. Niagara Square. (buffalowinterfest.com). Free.

Friday, February 10

Trinity: 464 Gallery Turns Three

Since February 2009, 464 Gallery has provided a welcoming space for local artists as well as an approachable gallery for Buffalonians to visit and get involved with. Since its opening the gallery has hosted over 160 art events and has worked with hundreds of local artists. In order to celebrate their third year of creative exhibits, fundraisers, parties, and a thriving retail space for Buffalo’s local and emerging artists, 464 Gallery presents Trinity this Friday (Feb 10). This art event will feature an exhibit made up of artworks from dozens of local artists celebrating the magic of threes: in triptychs, triumvirates, and ménage à trios. Studio 464, located above the gallery, will be open for visits with the resident artists Marissa Lehner, Sally Rebl, Tara Sasidek, and Max Collins. Collins will also be performing live art. The annual “What’s in Your Heart” interactive art installation will also be displayed. Visitors can make a donation to benefit the Emerging Leaders in the Arts Buffalo (ELAB) and will receive a paper heart on which to write what you love the most. The paper hearts will then be hung in the gallery’s display window for the duration of the exhibit, which runs through February 22. A cookie tray by Delish! and Lloyd Taco Truck will be available along with complimentary refreshments. Local DJs Spooky Business, comprised of Sean T. Heidinger and Stephen Pieroni, will provide music. Gallery owner Marcus Wise looks forward to “...saying thank you to our continually growing group of artists, family, and friends with a fun free event that continues to celebrate the awesome dynamism of our emerging arts community.” —jill greenberg

6pm-11pm. 464 Gallery, 464 Amherst St. (983-2112 / 464gallery.com). Free.

Monday, February 13

The Low Anthem

Rhode Island indie folk group the Low Anthem are bringing their spin on folk and americana for their first headlining show in Buffalo on Monday (Feb 13) at Babeville’s Asubry Hall. They’ve been touring extensively, having played Bonnaroo and Lollapalloza in the U.S., and Glastonbury, Hyde Park Calling (among some others) in the U.K. They’ve received increasing amounts of critical attention and have made their television debut on Later...with Jools Holland. Though their music does not stray too far from pre-established folk tropes that are also being used by many of their contemporaries, they manage to create a very likable homage to predecessors of the genre. Joing the Low Anthem is Other Lives, an indie rock band from Stillwater, Oklahoma. Their stop in Buffalo is smushed between a tour with Bon Iver and an upcoming tour as support for Radiohead, so don’t be surprised if these guys (and a gal) blow up in the coming weeks. —max soeun kim

7pm. Babeville’s Asbury Hall, 341 Delaware Ave. (852-3835 / babevillebuffalo.com). $16 advance, $17 day of show. Tickets available at tickets.com, Rust Belt Books, and Tops locations.

Tuesday, February 14

The Pink Floyd Experience

Pink Floyd is easily one of the most enduring bands in rock history. With countless albums sold, and generation after generation discovering their music and falling in love with it, they have as grand a legacy as any band can hope to achieve. Any band with such a rich history is bound to inspire countless tribute acts, but few reach the soaring heights of The Pink Floyd Experience, who will be appearing at UB’s Center For The Arts this Tuesday (Feb 14). The Pink Floyd Experience does not merely recreate the music of Pink Floyd, but rather the entire feeling of a Floyd show. With countless special effects, and lasers all across the stage, the band easily captures the theatrical touch that made Pink Floyd’s live shows so magical. This particular show will feature a full performance of their 1975 album, Wish You Were Here. The album is one of Pink Floyd’s most famous, and it was largely written as a tribute to Syd Barrett, the band’s original lead singer, who left after his mental state began to deteriorate. The band’s feelings for Syd were discussed on the emotional title track, as well as the soaring “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.” Other parts of the album, however, discussed Pink Floyd’s rise to prominence, as well as their interaction with record label execs, with “Have A Cigar” standing out as giving us a particularly dark, cynical view of how the suits looked at their star acts. It is an extremely emotional album, and if any band has the talent, and attention-to-detail to bring it to life, it would be The Pink Floyd Experience. This promises to be an epic tribute to one of the greatest bands ever. —john hugar

7:30pm. Mainstage Theatre, UB Center for the Arts, 103 Center For The Arts (654-ARTS / ubcfa.org). $64.50, $44.50, $34.50.

Tuesday & Wednesday, February 14 & 15

D.L. Hughley

One of the “Original Kings of Comedy,” D.L. Hughley, will make his way to Buffalo to perform four shows at the Tralf, a 7pm and a 9:30pm show on Tuesday (Feb 14) and 7pm and 9:30pm shows on Wednesday (Feb 15). How does one become a King of Comedy, you ask? It has nothing to do with the number of television shows one has been involved in, though Hughley has been the star of two or three—including his late 1990’s sitcom The Hughleys. Appearances on the silver screen aren’t necessary to becoming a king either, but they don’t hurt, and Hughley has a handful of movies under his belt as well. What really matters is the writing, which, for Hughley, is no-holds-barred. Race, class, politics, and crime are all fair game. Hughley knows how to riff on these subjects because he grew up in the street, even spending some of his young adult years as a member of the L.A. gang the Bloods. He left that behind him though and discovered stand-up comedy as a passion. Honesty in comedy is important, and when someone has the background to back it up, it’s obvious. —cory perla

7pm and 9:30pm. Tralf Music Hall, 622 Main St. (852-2860 / tralfmusichall.com). $30.

Thursday, February 16

Papadosio

Dreads, beards, and hemp necklaces aside, Papadosio is beyond your typical jam band. Dance music is too broad a definition too. Beyond their soaring electro-tones, gently reverberated guitar riffs, and gliding drum beats, Papadosio is about philosophy. Specifically, the idea of creating a positive environment that breeds positive thinking and hopefully some expansion of the mind too. In their press release, the five-piece group from Athens, Ohio, asks their audience to “reevaluate the role of music, take a less nostalgic view of what has been, and a more enthusiastic view of what is and what could be.” This philosophy is reflected not only in the band’s flowing, unpredictable live sets, but also on their latest album, Observation, an interstellar mix of electronics and improv. At the very least Papadosio would like to provide you with some thought provoking live music, at best, they’d like to be the shamans guiding your vision quest. Don’t miss Papadosio when they stop by Nietzsche’s on Thursday (Feb 16). —cory perla

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

Thursday, February 16

BPO: The Music of the Greatful Dead

Imagine a world where old-school Deadheads with grey beards and tye-dye shirts are sitting side-by-side with classical music aficionados, decked out in fancy suits and expensive dress shoes. That’d be an entertaining sight, right? Well, that just might be the scene we end up with when the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra performs the music of the Grateful Dead. The show will be taking place at Buffalo State’s Performing Arts Center this Thursday (Feb 16), and it looks to be quite a treat for Deadheads. The set will include such legendary Grateful Dead tunes as “Sugar Magnolia,” “Truckin,” and “Looks Like Rain.” It’s worth noting, this is not the first time the Dead’s music has been connected to the BPO. In 1970, they played with the original members of the group. While nowadays, the notion of a band playing with an orchestra is fairly commonplace, it was certainly something different at the time. One of the biggest reasons for the Grateful Dead’s appeal was their willingness to shun what was commercially hip, and fully embrace their avant-garde tendencies. While the Dead are primarily known as a jam band, in this sense they could be tied to the 1970s prog-rock movement, which frequently brought rock and classical music together. This show will present the band’s music in a completely different way, and probably turn some dedicated symphony fans into lifelong Deadheads. —john hugar

7:30pm. Performing Arts Center at Rockwell Hall, 1300 Elmwood Ave. $30, $35 (buffalostate.edu/pac / 878-3005). $40, $35, $20.