Starting out of the gates with 12 original songs on her independently released CD, TalkStory, Buffalo-born singer-songwriter Noa Bursie proves to be a unique musical talent who isn’t afraid to mix metaphors. Meaning, she bravely stretches her warm, pliable alto across a vocal and lyrical range a la Joni Mitchell and Rickie Lee Jones, combining rarely-heard scat singing (“Tea with Geraldo”) with bold strokes of blues, jazz, acoustic soul and folk. On her first CD release, Bursie, who is also a self-taught guitarist, alternately rocks the electric blues (“Twiss L’il Sister”) or opts for quieter contemplation with violin and mandolin (“Holes in My Pockets”). For good measure, Bursie adds a pinch of spoken word and recurring yet forthright lyrics (“Aftermath/Thin Line,”) that reveal her unapologetic engagement with gender politics, pop culture, relationships and other modern-day issues. Featured on the disc are several guest musicians, including fellow Nietzsche’s regular Liz Abbott, former BPO conductor Arie Lipsky, and ex-10,000 Maniac Mary Ramsey, who opens Saturday’s show with John Lombardo.

Epic puppet theater by Tom Lee at the Buffalo Seminary, Hoplite Diary is a retelling of Homer’s Iliad from the perspective of a lone Greek warrior (a hoplite). The performance is a large-scale work that incorporates shadow puppetry, video animation, bunraku-style puppets and mechanical wooden stage machinery. According to press materials, “Hoplite Diary follows a puppet hoplite’s journey through the Trojan War in a series of dreamlike and lyrical episodes. After traveling across the Aegean, he arrives at Troy and is overcome with longing for the family he left behind. During a violent battle between the Greek and Trojan forces, he is wounded and, after collapsing from exhaustion, witnesses a scene between the Trojan prince Hector and his wife high on the ramparts of the city. The third act of the play tells the hoplite’s return to Greece. The gods who manage the fates of the great heroes of Homer’s epic regard the anonymous hoplite as an afterthought and he becomes a symbol of the despair and waste of any war in any time.” Original music for the piece has been created by Jurij Fedynskyj and Ilya Temkin, working with the Ukrainian bandore and the Russian gully—instruments used in Eastern European epic storytelling. Lee and his company will be in residence at Buffalo Seminary for two weeks.

In the past twelve months, the city of Niagara Falls has been damned lucky (at least musically speaking). For it has been in that rapidly receding year of twenty-ought-five that The Falls has been treated to several performances from New York City-based multi-piece group, Spottiswoode & His Enemies. For its final concert of the year, Niagara University’s live music series closes with a command area performance from this critically-hailed group. Led by English-born singer-songwriter Jonathan Spottiswoode, the group’s latest CD, Building A Road (High Wire Music), has been rightly praised as the work of a major new act. Referencing songwriters like Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and Billy Bragg, Spottiswoode’s lyrics display both a playful sense of humor and a delicately fractured beauty. For their part, there is nothing devious about the music performed by Spottiswoode’s backing band, The Enemies. Boasting killer horn and rhythms sections, the band’s style is equal parts cabaret jazz and avant rock. Niagara Falls-based jam rockers Salt Peter share the bill.

Back in the 1960s and ’70s, the concept of the supergroup came to prominence and set the standard for established individual musical stars to join creative forces. For his new album, PERCoLATor (Moon Haw Records), guitarist extraordinaire Jim Weider has recruited some heavy friends to perform his clutch of tunes. For this groove-infused, instrumental recording, Weider incorporated the talents of famed bass player Tony Levin (of Peter Gabriel, King Crimson and John Lennon), organ player John Medeski (of Medeski, Martin & Wood) and guitarist Sid McGinnis (of the “Late Show’s” CBS Orchestra). It’s not like he needed any help. Weider’s prowess on the Fender Telecaster is well known to music lovers who have followed the musician’s work with such famed acts as The Band (with whom Weider performed from 1985 to 2000), Mavis Staples and many others. With those artists, as well as his own Jim Weider Band, the guitarist exhibited a virtuosic mastery of blues, jazz and rock. For his performance at The Town Ballroom on Saturday, Weider is joined by Levin on bass, drummer Randy Ciarlante, guitarist Jesse Gress and percussionist Carlos Valdez.