Stacey Earle began her career in 1990 playing rhythm guitar for her brother, country outlaw musician and political activist Steve Earle. After putting in some touring time with her kin, Stacey married fellow songwriter Mark Stuart in 1994. In 1998, the two musicians set up the indie record label, Gearle Records, and released Stacey’s debut, Simple Gearle. Twelve months later, Stuart’s solo debut, Songs From A Corner Stage, was released. In 2001, the two musicians finally came together for the in-concert record, Must Be Live, and have complemented each other perfectly on stage and in the studio ever since. Earle and Stuarts’ past Buffalo performances have been nothing short of mesmerizing and the couple’s blend of country, blues and folk has provided the soundtrack for some of the Mohawk Place’s most intimate evenings. Locally–based singer songwriter Matt Smith opens Monday’s show. Since the demise of his former band, Scott Carpenter and the Real McCoys, Smith has revealed himself to be an excellent and prolific songwriter with songs that combine rootsy influences with a love of straight ahead rock.

On Friday (February 3) the University at Buffalo’s Humanities Institute will celebrate James Joyce at the Albright-Knox as part of the Gusto at the Gallery series. Items from the university’s impressive James Joyce Collection will be on display, and there will be a panel discussion, followed by a question and answer period. Guest speakers for the evening are Margot Norris, Professor of English at the University of California, Irvine and President of the International James Joyce Foundation; and Luca Crispi, James Joyce Fellow at the National Library of Ireland. The program begins at 4pm with Celtic music provided by Kindred and continues with readings and performances by Vincent O’Neill and Josephine Hogan of Buffalo’s Irish Classical Theatre Company. The evening concludes with the documentary film Following James Joyce... Dublin to Buffalo, directed by Patrick Martin and Stacey Herbert and a reception with Gerry Dixon and Laurence Shine at the Garden Restaurant.

The road to freedom for blacks in Buffalo has always been a significant, if not entirely bumpy, one. Throughout its rich history, the city’s been in the forefront of the civil rights movement, seesawing from the progressive to the shameful. Throughout the 1800s, Buffalo, with its close proximity to Canada, served as an important stop along the Underground Railroad. At the 1843 Negro National Convention here, Frederick Douglass debated in favor of nonviolent protest against Rev. Henry Garnet. Later, U.S. President and Buffalo-native Millard Fillmore signed the Compromise of 1850, which included a stronger Fugitive Slave Law that required citizens of northern states to actively aid in the capture of runaways living amongst them. When the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregation unconstitutional in 1954, the Buffalo Board of Education was backsliding by actively bolstering its segregation policies. These snapshots from Buffalo’s civil rights history have been woven into an in-depth mosaic that is currently on display as the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society’s “On the Road to Freedom” exhibit. This Sunday, Historical Society Executive Director, William H. Seiner, conducts a public tour of the exhibit and offers his own expertise and valuable insight into those critical times.

This week, internationally known photographer John Paul Caponigro visits Buffalo to deliver a free artist’s lecture and slide presentation at Villa Maria College. A Yale graduate with a background in art and literature, Caponigro has become an authority on the digital platform, combining both traditional and progressive photographic methods in his process. This multi–disciplined artist uses his knowledge of painting, drawing, calligraphy and literature to create compelling images. Caponigro’s pieces are often landscapes, and the aesthetic manipulation of nature–based reality can lend a surreal quality to his work (“Oriens” from 1999 is pictured). As a writer and contributing editor for View Camera and Camera Arts magazines, a featured columnist for Photo Techniques Magazine, and author of the book Adobe Photoshop Master Class, the artist’s knowledge and expertise has been widely published. Similarly, Caponigro’s work has been extensively exhibited in galleries around the globe. The artist’s lecture will include discussions on digital media and will be followed by a question and answer session.