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Cover Story

Greed, Corruption & Cover-Up at the NSA

by Jordan Canahai

Tuesday 9:47am: Hi baby, you have to listen to me carefully—I’m on a plane that’s been hijacked. I’m on the plane; I’m calling from the plane. I want to tell you I love you and tell my children that I love them very much, and I’m so sorry babe. I don’t know what to say—there are three guys and they’ve hijacked the plane. I’m trying to be calm but it’s turned around and I’ve heard there are planes that have flown into the World Trade Center. I hope to be able to see your face again, baby. I love you. Goodbye...

Government

A Modest Suggestion for Change of Emblem for the National Security Agency

by Frank Parlato

At Artvoice we seek to serve the interest of the people. And, as we reviewed our cover story this week, it occurred to us that we could serve both the people, and the government which purportedly is in existence to serve them, by offering a revised emblem [or logo] for the National Security Agency, known also as the NSA.

Medical Marijuana

Unkind, Bud

by Marc Gromis

After waiting almost two years for the rollout of New York’s medical marijuana program, many people who have sought to use medical cannabis to treat their ailments are finding that the so called “Compassionate Care Act” is anything but compassionate.

Opinion

Delaware North Loses Yosemite Contract

by James Hufnagel

News of potential import to the city of Niagara Falls broke late last year when details of an epic legal showdown at Yosemite National Park became public. Subsequent to losing a $2 billion, 15-year contract extension for hospitality (food, hotel) services to competitor Aramark at Yosemite, Buffalo-based Delaware North filed a lawsuit demanding $51 million compensation for trademarks it had secured for historic place names in the national park.

Fundraising

Congratulations to Lawyers for the Arts

by AV Staff

Over $37,000 was raised at the 5th Anniversary of the Lawyers for the Arts. The musical performance by ten bands comprised entirely of lawyers and judges from WNY completely sold out the Tralf last Saturday and the standing room only crowd was dancing and clapping to music from rock to klezmer.

Tap This

The Very Yeast

by Kevin Wise

Lager and ale. Two words that are used quite a bit in the brewing industry. But besides tasting different, these beers are made in two fundamentally distinct ways and with two different species of yeast.

News

State Money Flows Again, But Question Remains: What Happened?

by Tony Farina

The carpenters, all 70 of them, are back on the job at SolarCity, but more than 120 plumbers were still out as of Tuesday as the state scrambled to make $82.5 million in late payments to contractors who hadn’t been paid since October on the much-hyped Buffalo Billion program.

News

Panepinto Ready To Take On All Challengers For 60th District Seat

by Tony Farina

State Sen. Marc Panepinto may face a Democratic primary in the 60th District this year and if he is victorious he will likely face a strong Republican challenge from the winner of an expected Republican primary between Erie County Clerk Chris Jacobs and Tonawanda attorney Kevin Stocker, but Panepinto is pre-pared to run on his record of voting against tax increases, increasing school aid for Western New York, and fighting to remove microbeads from New York’s waterways as part of his environmental agenda.

Classical Music Notes

Czech Central

by Jan Jezioro

This weekend, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra music director JoAnn Falletta will again be on the podium, to conduct an almost all-Czech program of music, with one significant exception, on Friday March 4 at 10:30am and Saturday March 8 at 8pm. But, since the only non-Czech piece happens to be Sir Edward Elgar’s darkly elegiac Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, featuring the critically acclaimed young German/French cellist Nicolas Altstaedt, who will be making his BPO debut, it’s not very likely that the even the most ardent fan of Czech music is likely to complain.

Theatrically Speaking

Dixie Returns to The Smith

by Anthony Chase

As unlikely as it might seem, I must confess that I found a show called Never Wear A Tube Top While Riding A Mechanical Bull (And 16 Other Things I Learned While I Was Drinking Last Thursday) to be very engaging. The show stars “Dixie Longate,” the drag persona of gifted comedian, Kris Andersson, as an Alabama housewife, who shares her down home wisdom in a 90 minute show set in a honky-tonk saloon as we wait out a storm.

Theater

Stagefright

by Javier

The fabulous Diane Lane (pictured above) recently announced that she will fund a grant for arts educators to honor director/composer/writer Elizabeth Swados who died on January 5th. Buffalo born Swados wrote the music for Lane’s acting debut in a production of Medea at New York’s La MaMa back in 1972 when she was six years old.

Graphic Traffic

Deadshot: Bulletproof & Invincible, Vol. 1: Family Matters

by Gabriel Allandro and Maia Bankhead

It’s a thin line between villainy and heroism, and Deadshot: Bulletproof walks that razor’s edge with a blend of sharp art, an edgy plot and dark wit. When is a villain actually a hero? Floyd Lawton’s answer to the question is simple: Who gives a sh--, as long as you’ve got enough bullets to protect what’s yours? The Suicide Squad mainstay’s past comes back to inspire him when he discovers that he has a daughter.

Featured Events

See You There!

AV Hit List: Top Event Picks for This Week

Listings

On The Boards Theater Listings

Film Now Playing

Movie Listings (Friday, March 4 - Thursday, March 10)

Offbeat News

News of the Weird

by Chuck Shepherd

Longtime National Symphony cellist David Teie announced in November that his crowdfunding project was hugely successful, freeing him to produce an album of music meaningful to cats. (Cats, for example, relax in response to the earliest sound of their mother’s purring, which Teie clocked at 23 harp notes a second.)

Horoscopes

Free Will Astrology

by Rob Breszny

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Unless you work at night and sleep by day, you experience the morning on a regular basis. You may have a love-hate relationship with it, because on the one hand you don’t like to leave your comfortable bed so early, and on the other hand you enjoy anticipating the interesting events ahead of you.