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Mardi Gras

Les Bon Temps

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, there is a campaign afoot (www.nationalmardigras.com) to designate Mardi Gras a national holiday. Thanks to Artvoice and a heavenly host of sponsors, club owners, volunteers, float-builders, performers, marchers, runners, cyclists, assorted angels and revelers, Buffalo has an 11-year head start. The 11th Annual Artvoice Mardi Gras is the biggest Fat Tuesday charity event anywhere and the third biggest Mardi Gras celebration in the country. Our parade boasts more than 40 floats, the 7k Big Fat Race and Big Fat Bike Ride, all wending a tipsy path from the Albright-Knox, along Elmwood, through Allentown and Chippewa and ending at Cozumel.

A mere $5, a lousy finn, buys you entry into 42 clubs. We’ll festoon you with enough beads to bend the mighty oak. The proceeds, every last dime, go to the Center for Hospice and Palliative Care here in Buffalo and, for the first time this year, to the Louisiana-Mississippi Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. Two Mardi Gras central stations—Starbucks parking lot at Chippewa and Delaware and Allentown Trading Co. at Delaware and Allen—feature live radio remotes, sell $5 admission bracelets (also available at each club) and dispense beads, masks and an assortment of glowing accoutrement.

Artvoice Mardi Gras 2006 is sponsored by Southern Comfort, Heineken, 103.3 the Edge, Oldies 104, 97 Rock and Forever Elmwood. We are also indebted to the Buffalo Police Department, Buffalo City Hall, USA Track & Field, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, WNY Finish Line Services, Univera, Buffalo Blue Bicycles, Cozumel, Rich Products, Sigma Phi Epsilon at Canisius College and Delta Xi Omega at UB.

Big Fat Race

The Big Fat Race breaks all the rules. Yes, it’s a 7k road race. Yes, it directly precedes a parade. Yes, it’s in February...on a Tuesday...at 5pm. It’s a little irreverent and a lot of fun. The Big Fat Race is WNY’s premiere Fat Tuesday road race (not to mention the only one). Also, we have the best course in town, which starts at the Albright-Knox, heads south through the Elmwood Village and loops through Allentown and Chippewa before ending at Cozumel Grill. There’ll be food, live music and awards. Best of all, though, there’ll be more partying to do. And all the proceeds go to the Center for Hospice and Palliative Care.

Hospice

Your $5 donation does far more than buy you a mess of beads and access to live music and entertainment at 42 clubs and bars. As they have for the past 10 years, proceeds from the Artvoice Mardi Gras benefit Buffalo’s Center for Hospice and Palliative Care, which serves individuals with serious illness, as well as their families and caregivers. Hospice treats the person, not the disease, addressing the social, emotional and spiritual needs of the patient as well as the physical condition. Founded in 1978, Hospice Buffalo was one of the first Hospice programs in the United States.

Fat Tuesday marks six months to the day since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. This year a portion of the proceeds will be directed to the Louisiana-Mississippi Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

For more information about the Center for Hospice and Palliative Care, please call (716) 686-1900 or visit www.hospicebuffalo.org.

Chevon Davis

As the Empress of Mardi Gras, I am amazed at how this event has grown and how many people and businesses look forward to it. From the bead tossing in the bars when everyone loses all inhibitions, to the most awesome crowds at the drag shows; Artvoice Mardi Gras has become a huge economic and morale boost to start the year and it also raises funds for a great charity that I believe in. Every year, I look forward to it...once my hangover ends!

Mark Kubiniec & Automobius, the car with 2 fronts

I want to support Forever Elmwood and Artvoice in improving our community and Hospice in helping to ease end-of-life suffering. I also want to share the fun of the AutoMobius with the whole city!

Justin Booth

Buffalo’s bicycle culture is strong and growing. Programs such as Buffalo Blue Bicycle and Recycle-A-Bicycle, businesses such as Zippy Delivery messenger service, and the newly created Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board have given a fresh breath into defining their place in our city. The Mardi Gras Big Fat Bike Ride continues the positive momentum, recognizing cyclists as a part of our city’s culture and identity.

Lee Ron Zydeco

I’ve always felt that Buffalo and New Orleans are kindred spirits in many ways…we share a love of goodtime music, spicy food and party-our-troubles-away attitude. The Artvoice Mardi Gras taps into that feeling of communal togetherness and generosity in helping a cause like Hospice, and I am honored to be a part of the festivities.

Sing

Someone might ask you to sing for your supper tonight, and a few verses of “When the Saints Come Marching In” will get you started. After that, just make it up:

We are traveling in the footsteps Of those who’ve gone before But we’ll all be reunited On a new and sunlit shore

REFRAIN: Oh when the saints go marching in When the saints go marching in Oh lord I want to be in that number When the saints go marching in

And when the sun refuse to shine And when the sun refuse to shine Oh lord I want to be in that number When the saints go marching in

REFRAIN

When the moon turns red with blood When the moon turns red with blood Oh lord I want to be in that number When the saints go marching in

REFRAIN

On that hallelujah day On that hallelujah day Oh lord I want to be in that number When the saints go marching in

REFRAIN

Oh when the trumpet sounds the call Oh when the trumpet sounds the call Oh lord I want to be in that number When the saints go marching in

REFRAIN

Some say this world of trouble Is the only one we need But I’m waiting for that morning When the new world is revealed

REFRAIN, ad infinitum

Participating Venues

1 - Mr Goodbar

1110 Elmwood Ave. (882-4000) * Todd Eberwine Band, 5pm.

2 - Cole’s

1104 Elmwood Ave. (886-1449)

3 - JP Bullfeathers

1010 Elmwood Ave. (886-1010)

4 - McGarretts

946 Elmwood Ave. (883-4913)

5 - Merlin’s

727 Elmwood Ave. (886-9270)

6 - Off The Wall

534 Elmwood Ave. (884-9580) Special menu: bacon-wrapped shrimp, jambalaya and other Cajun specialties.

7 - Le Metro

520 Elmwood Ave. (885-1500)

8 - Faherty’s

486 Elmwood Ave. (881-9183)

9 - Cozumel

153 Elmwood Ave. (884-3866) * Caribbean Extravaganza, 6-9pm; The Electras, 9-11pm.

10 - Essex Street Pub

530 Rhode Island St. (883-2150)

11 - Colter Bay

561 Delaware Ave. (882-1330)

12 - K. Gallagher’s

73 Allen St. (885-2244)

13 - Fat Bob’s Smokehouse

41 Virginia Place (887-2971) * Sun of Memphis, 7pm. Special menu: jambalaya, shrimp etouffée, red beans & rice, gumbo.

14 - Q

44 Allen St (332-2223) * Mardi Gras Madness Show, starring Keke Valasquez-Lord, Miss Canada Continental Plus, raffles and giveaways, karaoke at 10pm with Entertainment Plus.

15 - Cathode Ray

26 Allen St. (884-3615)

16 - Adonia’s

20 Allen St. (332-1205) * DJ Doogie rockin’ the house.

17 - ms. kitty’s

948 Main St. (332-0510) * Black Widow (Mike Hund and Lana), 7-9pm.

18 - Roxy’s Green Room

884 Main St. (882-9293) * Performance by the Strip Teasers, 11pm, w/MC Kristen Becker, DJ Rock all night long.

19 - Club Marcella

622 Main St. Theatre Place (847-6850) * Open 9pm-4am. Drag show at midnight. Come and check out what Mardi Gras in Buffalo is supposed to be like!

20 - club diablo

517 Washington St. (842-0666) www.clubdiablo.com

21 - Union Bar

416 Pearl St. (855-0125)

22 - Century Grille

320 Pearl St. (853-6322)

23 - buddies II

166 Franklin St. (847-0306)

24 - Area 42

42 W. Chippewa St. * DJ Afterhours, 6pm until we get kicked out!

25 - Big Shotz

45 W. Chippewa St. (852-7230)

26 - Brinks

51 W. Chippewa St. (855-1330)

27 - Third Room

56 W. Chippewa St. (842-2787)

28 - Soho

64 W. Chippewa St. (856-7646)

29 - 67 West

67 W. Chippewa St. (842-0281)

30 - Bottom’s Up

69 W. Chippewa St. (854-3549)

31 - McMonkeez

79 1/2 W. Chippewa St. (853-5555)

32 - Barrel House

85 W. Chippewa St. (856-4645)

33 - Crocodile Bar

88 W. Chippewa St. (853-2762) www.crocodilebar.com * About Face, 7pm; Lee Ron Zydeco. 11pm; Early Crocodile Cajun Buffet: shrimp & sausage gumbo, BBQ pulled pork, crawfish & side dishes.

34 - Jade

199 Delaware Ave. (840-9501) * Live jazz with Bob Davis (piano), Sabu Adeyola, bass, John Senall (drums) with special guests: vocalist Sharon Bailey; percussionist Wendell Rivera and others. Plus jugglers, stiltwalkers and more.

35 - quote

236 Delaware Ave. (854-2853)

36 - Flappy’s

252 Delaware Ave. (856-2600)

37 - Underground

274 Delaware Ave. (853-0092)

38 - Prespa

439 Delaware Ave. (842-2255)

39 - Allen Street Bar & Grille (Old Pink)

223 Allen St. (884-4338)

40 - Mulligan’s Brick Bar

229 Allen St. (881-0545) Always an awesome party, always a Fat Tuesday favorite!

41 - Allen Street Hardware

245 Allen St. (882-8843)

42 - Nietzsche’s

248 Allen St. (886-8539) www.nietzsches.com * All Hank Band, 6pm; 12/8 Path Band, 7pm; Bossa Nova with The Heather Connor Quartet (Jim Whitford, Gabriel Gutierrez and others), 8pm; Michael Hermanson’s Nucleo Polyglot, 9pm; Chevon Davis Revue, 10pm; Anatara, 11:30pm; Mumbo Gumbo, 1am. Gaya Tribe belly dancing performs between sets.