Artist Nikki Lee was born Lee Seung-Hee in Kye Chang, Korea, 1970. After completing her masters degree at New York University in 1997, she gained international attention for her photographic series Projects, for which she used herself as the main subject. This self-as-subject technique is furthered in her new documentary a.k.a. Nikki S. Lee, which depicts real events in her personal and professional life over the past two years as she negotiates the professional art world as an up-and-coming talent. Her dealings with buyers, collectors, curators, gallery owners and patrons are all captured on digital video, along with various extracurricular activities such as a stab at acting during the Pusan Film Festival in Korea, a serenade in a Venetian gondola, the Haute Couture fashion show in Paris. As the main subject of most of her own work Lee takes on a variety of identities ranging from demure Asian stereotype to East Village punk to trailer park denizen, proving herself as fine and versatile a model as any. Her photographic series The Yuppie Project, one of her first projects after grad school, depicts her time spent among Wall Street professionals and stands as a unique and thoughtful exploration of “whiteness.” This ability to explore the obvious to reveal complexities beneath the exterior is showcased when action and dialogue are added, as in a.k.a Nikki S. Lee, which premiered at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art last month. Ms. Lee has exhibited at Washington, DC’s Hershhorn Museum, the Guggenheim and Metroplitan Museums in New York City, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the San Fransico Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. The artist will discuss her film after the screening as part of the Albright-Knox’s Gusto at the Gallery series.

All vinyl all the time. The Italian Qbico label’s means of releasing music is as defiantly out of step with mainstream commercial expectations as the musical styles it champions, like outer limits experimentation, modern psychedelia and thorny free improvisation. Releasing what it calls “rockets”—limited edition colored vinyl LPs documenting archival and contemporary experimental material—the company’s avowed dedication to sonic outsiders and eccentric musical adventurers quickly earned it a reputation as a “fearless label for the fearless listener.” Qbico visits Buffalo to celebrate the release of four new limited edition rockets, including “Aqua Machine” by Buffalo-oriented free-energy duo Steve Baczkowski and Ravi Padmanbha (already riding high on the success of their acclaimed European debut last month at the venerable Instal Festival in Glasgow, Scotland). Conceived as another installment in its dynamic U-Nite series of experimental music showcases which are recorded and subsequently released by the label, Saturday’s event features stars of the American free music underground. In addition to Baczkowski/Padmanabha, expect mind-blowing performances by loft-scene legend and outsider artist extraordinaire Arthur Doyle (with his avant-noise backup group the AD Electro-Acoustic Ensemble), NYC-based fire music stalwarts Daniel Carter and Andrew Barker, and the Bill Sack/Todd Whitman duo, which has been known to utilize saxophones, saw, turntables and prepared guitar in an open performance format. An unbelievable amount of music for the price, this Hallwalls-sponsored event is sure to be one of the highlights of Buffalo’s free improv calendar this season.

Kentucky native Chris Knight writes some of the most deeply beautiful and unadorned songs about rural America since John Prine blew up the TV, and since Steve Earle saw his first pistol. That’s why you won’t hear him on contemporary country radio, even though it seemed in the late 1990s that he might have a chance. But Knight, whose resume includes a job as a strip-mine inspector for the state after graduating from Western Kentucky University, seems unable to write in any other voice besides his own. Thank God. With uncommon attention to detail, he’s adept at painting the imperfect little worlds of his characters, giving each song the feel of a well-crafted short story. From the title track of his current release Enough Rope (Drifter’s Church)—his first independent release after three critically acclaimed records on the Decca and Dualtone labels: “There’s a tavern down the highway/I go to drink some beers/And wash down all I’m missing by hanging around here/Then I drive back to the trailer/I make up with my wife/I kiss my sleeping children/And I get on with my life.” This simple and bittersweet tone has made him a popular staple on the Americana music scene. Knight has one night off on a package tour with Texas songwriting legend Robert Earl Keen—and he’s decided to spend it in Buffalo. Dee Adams, the talented local songwriter who ordinarily hosts the Monday night Open Mic at the club, opens the show.

For reasons unbeknownst to me, Thanksgiving Eve is a traditionally raucous party night, especially for Buffalonians, and this year it seems the bars are gearing up to resume this riotous ritual. Whether you’re in the mood for a hint of comedy, some folk tunes, a night of rock and roll or the chance to dance the night away—or, if like most other folks, you’re just looking to get blasted— here’s a list of events that are sure to make your Thanksgiving a fun, albeit hung-over, holiday: