There’s an old proverb claimed by many of the world’s cultures which goes like this: “May you be cursed with an interesting life.” Well, we’ve certainly had an interesting and scary year. It all began, way back when, it seems like another life ago, George W. Bush was inaugurated yet again as U.S. president. Back then it appeared that, at least, he was actually elected this time around, relieving me from the grammatically awkward challenge of not using the word “president” to describe the occupant of the White House. As 2005 wore on, however, striking evidence of irregularities last year in Ohio’s presidential election have thrown the legitimacy of the Bush presidency back into question. The corporate media paid scant attention as congressional hearings unearthed evidence of suppressed minority votes and counting irregularities, relegating this story as the responsibility of future historians.

Well, we rolled up our sleeves for this one and didn’t even bother taking it outside. As you all know by now, the New York Power Authority’s (NYPA) 50-year license to operate the Niagara Power Project is up for renewal in 2007. NYPA’s idea of settling with Buffalo and Erie County was to give us $2 million a year for 50 years. Many folks—including those at AV and Congressman Brian Higgins—thought we were getting a raw deal, and decided to fight for a bigger share. Four cover stories, a petition and a few dozen public lambastes (from Higgins) later, we got a better deal—$279 million over 50 years with most of that dedicated to our waterfront. Thanks for signing our petition—you helped make Buffalo a better place this year. —peter koch

If the big story in Buffalo politics this year is the meltdown of county government, then in theater, the story is the way those same county chickens came home to roost at Studio Arena Theatre, where our skulk of county legislators cut funding down to zero. The stab at Studio was especially pointed, because the county actually boosted funding to some of the other cultural institutions—and substantially too. Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s allocation increased from $140,000 to $500,000; the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra went from $500,000 up to $800,000; and the Buffalo Zoo bumped up $300,000 to $1.5 million. The Buffalo Museum of Science maintained last year’s funding level of $475,000 and the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society stayed at $225,000.

This year's openings and R.I.P.'s.

Buffalo’s artistic community experienced a year of loss and gain, but the opportunity for growth within our city’s cultural environment can be seen in the overwhelming success of the monumental project that artists Christo and Jeanne Claude brought to fruition in New York City’s Central Park early in 2005. They took the art world by storm when they unfurled 7,500 saffron orange fabric panels throughout the Park in “The Gates” (pictured above).

Singer/songwriter Jason Anderson (aka Wolf Colonel) synthesized six years of tireless touring around the world, a catalog of diverse recordings, and the influence of punk, power pop, and folk, and came up with The Wreath. A beautiful, moving audio postcard from the road, the record includes exultant love letters to family, friends, and life all wrapped in sweet, simple melodies, shimmering piano, clean acoustic guitar, and backed up by drums, bass, electric guitar, even a little brass when appropriate. The Wreath also has introspective confessionals that overflow with sentiments that create an easy empathy within the listener. —matt barber

Buffalo’s music community boasts some of the most loyal and supportive players, fans and followers ever found. It also contains some of the most persistent whiners. For every positive to be found (its fine and varied assortment of players and bands, for instance), the Buffalo music scene is backed by an equally compelling negative (shows start too late, cars get broken into at downtown venues, etc.). Yet as the saying goes, “You’ve got to take the bitter with the sweet.” Buffalo’s music scene has experienced plenty of both in the past year, so we’ve compiled a short list to say goodbye to some old friends and hello to a few new ones.

The past year has seen both bittersweet endings and new beginnings for electronic music in Buffalo. With the closing of venues like 658 and Blu and the conversion of Sphere to the Town Ballroom, electronic music has lost some of its Buffalo homes. However, as some venues closed, a few existing clubs stepped up and brought the Buffalo electronic dance music scene into the worldwide spotlight by bringing dj’s and producers from around the world to our city.

Some will be glad to turn the calendar page over to the new year. Gulf State residents, Tony Masiello and members of the United Auto Workers all come immediately to mind. For different reasons, of course.

The cool thing about covering sports is one can always tap into some unexpected and unusual stories, and this past year was no exception. Here are some of our favorites; enjoy them, and Season’s Greetings to all of our readers. See you at HSBC Arena and Dunn Tire Park in 2006!

I could spend a few hundred words ranting about how the marketing of movies to teenaged boys continued to drive quality product out of theaters in 2005, but what’s the point? You all know that, and everyone doing a list like this complains about the same thing. Yes, much of the most creative work seems to be done for pay cable these days; yes, too many of the best foreign, independent and documentary films fail to get wide theatrical distribution, premiering instead on video or cable where they have to compete for your attention with a seemingly amount of dreck. Same old story this year.