It Dies Today

Saturday, September 20

The original line up of Buffalo metalcore band It Dies Today will reunite to perform their debut album, The Caitiff Choir, in (nearly) its entirety this Saturday (Sept 20) at the Waiting Room as part of a 10-year anniversary tour. “Prior to setting up this tour we were all hanging out and writing new music anyways, so everything happened pretty organically,” says lead vocalist Nick Brooks. Brooks and the rest of the band, guitarists Chris Cappelli and Mike Hatalak, drummer Nick Mirusso, and bassist Steve Lemke—who all played on the band’s debut record The Caitiff Choir, a raw and aggressive album that progressed Buffalo’s legacy as a haven for metal and propelled the band into national prominence when it was released by Trustkill Records in 2004—have had their ups and downs. In 2010 following the release of their 2009 record Lividity, the band went on hiatus. In 2012 they briefly reunited to play a benefit show for local musician Tony Lorenzo, who was paralyzed in a shooting in the Elmwood Village, and have since kept in touch, writing music together on and off. These five guys, who started this band as teenagers, are simultaneously honored and challenged by the opportunity to share their seminal record with their fans again. “It’s crazy to be playing these shows 10 years after the album came out. There are songs on it that we’ve literally never played live. For instance “The Radiance.” We wrote it in Mike’s bedroom and Nick learned the drums really quickly before we went to the studio and recorded it. We’ve never ever played it or even rehearsed it,” says Brooks. “That anybody still cares, to have anyone show up to these shows, is pretty humbling and so awesome.” They’ll be joined by Affiance, My City, MY Secret, Makhai, and Revealer.

- cory perla

6pm The Waiting Room, 334 Delaware Ave (852-3900 / waitingroombuffalo.com) $10 advance, $13 day of show

Friday, September 19

Keller Williams

Singer-songwriter Keller Williams spent this summer playing festivals, as a solo act and as part of collaborations. It was a busy summer, but now the 44-year-old bluegrass musician from Fredericksburg, Virginia is ready to settle into some more intimate club dates. Williams, also known as K-Dub, recently released a record under yet another alias, Grateful Grass, to benefit The Rex Foundation, an organization dedicated to “making civic participation easy and fun.” This means the Rex Foundation is in the business of encouraging people to vote and make their voice heard in a grass roots fashion. To promote this cause, Williams as Grateful Grass, a group that includes Williams on guitar, violinist Michael Kang, Jeff Austin on mandolin, and bassist Keith Moseley, released DOS an album of unorthodox bluegrass covers of Grateful Dead tracks like “Bertha,” “Althea,” “Shakedown Street,” “Jack Straw,” and a handful more. Keller Williams will presumably play a few of these Grateful Dead favorites as well as some acoustic cuts from some of his 16 or so solo albums dating back to 1994 when he comes to the Tralf Music Hall on Friday (Sept 19).

- cory perla

7pm The Tralf Music Hall, 622 Main St. (852-2860 / tralfmusichall.com) $20 advance, $23 day of show

Friday - Sunday, September 19 - 21

13th Annual Oinktoberfest BBQ Festival & Competition

Barbeque is about as red, white and blue as American cuisine gets. From its Southern roots, it has travelled throughout the country, picking up regional characteristics along the way. From the Carolinas’ hickory-smoked pulled-pork, to Texas’ mesquite smoked brisket, there’s a BBQ style for every carnivore. Stop by the Fall Festival at the Great Pumpkin Farm this weekend and you’ll stumble into Oinktoberfest. The funny name masks a 13-year-old, three-day event, featuring continuous live music, hayrides, amusement rides, pie-eating contests, and more BBQ than you can shake a stick at. Venders from One Eyed Jacks, Desperados, Smokin’ Pete’s Barbecue and more, will be dishing out their Grade A BBQ so whatever the meat and whatever the cut, you’ll be sure to find it at Oinktoberfest. The festival kicks off under the beer tent at 5pm on Friday (Sept 19) for a free preview with music by The Shadows Motown and Soul Revus featuring Denzel Ward and Sue Kincaid. On Saturday over 60 teams will compete in the Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) state championship. Save some room for Sunday’s festivities, like the Outdoor Cooking Contest, the Rib Oink-Off and (for the first time) a Whole Hog contest. By the end of the weekend, you’ll have eaten enough smokey, sweet BBQ to last you until next year (as if it’s possible to have enough BBQ).

- kellie powell

5pm Friday, 10am Sat & Sun The Great Pumpkin Farm, 11163 Main St, Clarence (oinktoberfest.com) Free preview Friday, $5 Saturday and Sunday

Saturday, September 20

Emmylou Harris

Early spring of 1967 I attended an evening of performances at a small folk club called “The Gate” set up in the basement of a church rectory in NW Washington DC. On the bill was a thin brunette, the best friend of the woman of the couple I came with. She looked like the poster child for every young Joan Baez wanna-be with her long straight hair forming a drape over her forehead as she leaned into her three chord sere little English weeper, her guitar pressed tightly against her chest. Her voice though, was high and clear and brought the lilting words of a Childe Harold ballad strong through the candle lit atmosphere. She finished her set and came over to our table sitting opposite me and introduced herself, Hi, “I’m Emmy Harris”. That was then and this is now. Emmylou Harris, at 60-something is an American musical legend and one of the most influential women in music. She has recorded with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, and Johnny Cash as well as Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton to name only a few. Her contribution as a singer and songwriter spans 40 years. She has recorded more than 25 albums and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008. A long time social activist Harris has promoted feminism in music and organized benefits for Vietnam veterans. She is a supporter of animal rights and has founded “Bonapart’s Retreat” a dog rescue organization. The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra welcomes her to Kleinhans Music Hall at 8pm Saturday (Sept 20).

- j. tim raymond

8pm Kleinhans Music Hall, 3 Symphony Circle. (883-3560 / kleinhansbuffalo.org) $47-$80

Saturday, September 20

Buffalo Killers

If you were to stack up all of the classic rock albums over the last 40 years and somehow weld them together into a representation of by one band, the result would sound something like Buffalo Killers. Not to say that there’s anything retro or dated about this Cincinnati-based quartet, they’ve taken the classic rock mold and pushed it ahead a few generations, creating an entirely new vibe out of a genre that tends to see a lot of imitators. Sure, the influences are there—the Stones, the Byrds, and contemporaries like the Black Keys and countless others—but what makes the Buffalo Killers excel at what they do is their ability to recontextualize classic rock in a more eclectic and organic way, while still capturing the essence of what it’s all about. Brothers Andrew and Zachary Gabbard anchor the band on guitar and bass respectively, hitting the throttle with scorching guitar riffs and bluesy garage/southern/roots rock that is made exponentially more powerful alongside workhorse drummer Joseph Sebaali and lap steel gutiarist Sven Kahn. The group’s newest album, Heavy Reverie (Sun Pedal Records), is their most polished and focused effort to date, recording the tracks live in studio and keeping intact the raw, gritty energy that has been the band’s bread-and-butter on stage. It’s enough to bring out the inner air-guitarist in all of us, so don’t miss hearing the real deal this Saturday (Sept 20) at Nietzsche’s with Buffalo’s own Handsome Jack.

- jon wheelock

9pm Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St. (886-8539 / nietzsches.com) $10

Monday, September 22

Matisyahu

Back in 2005 ,when Matisyahu began to hit the main stage, the public was captivated and delightfully perplexed by this new musical persona. The black suit and yarmulke bobbing to dub reggae beats invoked Judaism’s hazzan style of melodic payer while a thick beard spat jazz-scat raps that often transformed into a beat box. Wowed audiences welcomed the stage diving Jew into their out-stretched arms and in the swell of the surf, his first hit single “King Without a Crown” reached #30 on the Billboard 200. However Matisyahu, or Matthew Miller, is an artist in constant evolution who has quickly discovered the stifling constraints of such iconic success. With each album the musician from West Chester PA has explored his diverse musical influences from dancehall, to hip hop, and alternative rock while sticking faithful to his evolving spiritual life. Feeling boxed as the “Chassidic reggae superstar,” he chopped the beard in 2011 claiming that his Judaic teachings brimmed from within and that there was no longer a need to wear his religion on his sleeve. While Hasidic teachings remain an important motif in his lyrics, he digs deeper into personal roots music while weaving in and out of his reggae fusion grooves. Matisyahu comes to Town Ballroom on Monday (Sept 22) with support from the Californian hip-hop/rock band Radical Something.

- adele jackson-gibson

7pm Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. (852-3900 / townballroom.com) $26 advance, $29 day of show

Wednesday, September 24

Ark Life

Armed with a soulful brand of acoustic rock, I picture folk band Ark Life driving through every state in the union in a big van, strumming their guitars, singing-along, and passing doobies. As the story goes, Ark Life leader Jesse Elliot, frontman of rock band These United States stopped over in Denver on his own journey across these United States, to New York City. There he met the rest of what would become Ark Life and started over in Denver instead of New York. Now, nearly two years later, the band has made their own cross-country journey opening for bands like Of Montreal. Equal parts The Band and The Kinks, Ark Life have not yet released a debut album, but a few of their live performances as heard on YouTube, with perfect vocal harmonies and tight rhythms, might fool you into thinking they’d spent hours in the studio recording them. Catch Ark Life this Wednesday (Sept 24) at the newly re-opened Mohawk Place with support from Buffalo folkies Tiny Rhymes.

- cory perla

8pm Mohawk Place, 47 E Mohawk Street (buffalosmohawkplace.com) $5