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Cover Story

Catching up with local concert promoter/club owner Chris Ring

by Jeff Czum

2014 has been a remarkable year for Buffalo. Local craft beer breweries have multiplied, dozens of new restaurants have opened, Sabres owner Terry Pegula purchased the Buffalo Bills, the Buffalo school board has been transformed, Canalside and downtown residential development have experienced relentless growth, and clubs like the Town Ballroom, Sportsmen’s Tavern, The Tralf, the Waiting Room and others have offered more quality live music than the city has seen in decades.

News Feature

Our Sewers Runneth Over

by Dan Telvock, Investigative Post

Engineers have told Cheektowaga it’s going to cost up to $53 million to update the town’s aging sewer system, which spews hundreds of million of gallons of sewage mixed with stormwater into local waterways every year.

News Feature

A Strategic Pause on the Outer Harbor?

by Alan Oberst

Our last update on the Outer Harbor (Outer Harbor: The Empire Strikes Back, v13n46) told of activists opposing Empire State Development’s juggernaut having won an initial skirmish, with air support from powerful allies, but that their fight was by no means over.

News Feature

The Mass Mob movement energizes the Catholic Church

by Alan Oberst

Believe it or not, it’s been just over a year since the first Buffalo Mass Mob, initiated by Chris Byrd of Broadway-Fillmore Alive, which took its inspiration, in part, from Chris Smith’s Buffalo Cash Mob for small business. As one of the four Buffalo Mass Mob organizers (the other two being Greg Witul and Danielle Huber), I can attest that it’s been kind of a wild ride.

News Feature

Visiting BT&C Gallery

by Tina Dillman

On the evening before Thanksgiving, I was searching for the BT&C Gallery, driving down the desolate and sparsely lit Niagara Street and heading to one of the areas in the city that is newly establishing itself as a destination for art, culture and beer.

Puck Stop

Those Road Tripping Sabres Fans

by Andrew Kulyk and Peter Farrell

If there’s one thing you’re sure to find anywhere across the country, it’s expats from Buffalo, who have left Western New York to seek careers, personal growth, or just retirement, elsewhere.

Sports

Orton Always Good Bet to Come Up Small

by Dave Staba

The great thing about this is that ... “ I started to say, before Dave -- one of the small group gathered to watch Buffalo take on the Broncos in Denver late Sunday afternoon -- finished the sentence.

Beer Feature

Taste of Empire

by Willard Brooks

As the days shorten and the flurries are in the air we gravitate to the fireside, our ales and lagers become stronger, and we contemplate the burning Yule embers.

Artvoice B.O.O.M!

Round 1, Week 2: Intent to Sell vs. Tugboat

Welcome to the ninth installment of Artvoice’s Battle of Original Music—a contest we call BOOM, for short. Visit boom.artvoice.com to listen to our first contestants, Intent to Sell and Tugboat.

Art Scene

Squeaky Wheel's Irreverent Seasonal Celebration

by Jack Foran

The name of this year’s edition of the Squeaky Wheel Dysfunctional Holiday Party is Holy Dickens, which signifies in two ways, a fun way and a serious way. Fun as always with this slightly rowdy, slightly raunchy, seasonal bash, and particularly in terms of the Dickens theme.

Theater News

Dave Mitchell does Scrooge at the Alleyway

by Anthony Chase

David Mitchell has been a major presence of the Buffalo theater scene for years. He often plays characters who are evil or clueless—or both.

Film Feature

Daemen Opens State-of-the-Art Visual Effects Facility

by Jordan Canahai

Marking an important milestone in a Buffalo Billion project targeting Western New York’s emerging film and television post-production industry, a newly completed nearly $2 million state-of-the-art visual effects facility was officially unveiled by Daemen College at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on December 5.

Classical Music Notes

Camerata di Sant'Antonio offers a different kind of Christmas concert

by Jan Jezioro

There are literally dozens of concerts in Western New York during the month of December that feature the kind of traditional classical Christmas musical fare that the vast majority of classical music fans crave. Christopher Weber, the creative founding artistic director of the popular and long-running Camerata di Sant’Antonio Chamber Music series, however, has managed once again to come up with a way to appropriately celebrate the season that goes beyond the obvious.

Listings

On The Boards Theater Listings

Movie Listings (Friday, December 12 - Thursday, December 18)

Film Now Playing

Featured Events

See You There!

Artvoice's weekly round-up of featured events, including our editor's pick for the week: Lil Debbie, performing at the Waiting Room, Thursday, December 11.

Graphic Traffic

Batman '66, Vol. 1

by Joseph Tell

The Bunker - Vol. 1

by Emil J. Novak Sr.

Fashion Beast

by Diana Guild

Offbeat News

News of the Weird

by Chuck Shepherd

Police in Murfreesboro, North Carolina, announced in November that they had intercepted a shipment of 30 pounds of marijuana that had been loosely packaged and shipped from California by U.S. Mail, and an investigation was underway with arrests expected.

Horoscopes

Free Will Astrology

by Rob Brezsny

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Harper Lee was born and raised in Alabama. At the age of 23, she relocated to New York City with hopes of becoming a writer. It was a struggle.