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Artvoice Weekly Edition » Issue v6n12 (03/22/2007) » Section: See You There


Rantucci International Guitar Festival

“Among God’s creatures, two, the dog and the guitar, have taken all the sizes and all the shapes, in order not to be separated from the man.” So said Andres Segovia, the father of the modern classical guitar movement. Those who love the instrument are in for a treat this weekend, when Buffalo will play host to several internationally acclaimed classical guitarists who will be conducting masterclasses and performing concerts at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center at Buffalo State College’s Rockwell Hall and at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery Auditorium. According to Artistic Director Mir Ali: “You will seldom find a more concentrated group of world-class musicians in one place; we have them in Buffalo for not one or two but four days.” The festival—named in honor of Oswald “Ossi” Rantucci, who by the early 1970s was among only a handful of great instructors of the classical guitar—will feature concerts by Grammy nominated English guitarist Paul Galbraith (pictured), William Yelverton, Duo Firenze, Steven Aron & Stanley Yates, Douglas James and Mir Ali performing on flamenco guitar. Aside from the performances and masterclasses, there will be a vendors fair on each day, plus competitions for both youth and seniors on Saturday and Sunday.



Electric Six

Electric Six brings their ironic glam-rock dance party to the Showplace Theatre on Friday night. Every song of theirs has some tongue-in-cheek joke or out-of-context quote from a public figure, and this is part of what makes them so great. The song “Rock and Roll Evacuation” offers some political commentary with the lyrics “Mr. President, make a little money sending people you don’t know to Iraq/Mr. President, I don’t like you—you don’t know how to rock!” Front man Dick Valentine jokes his way through Backstreet Boys references with his undoubtedly powerful voice that bellows from the depths of his strange and irreverent soul. On their latest release, Switzerland, the band proves its virtuosity with piano-driven songs like “I Buy The Drugs” and a wonderfully hard version of Queen’s hit “Radio-Ga-Ga” (coupled with a hilarious video on YouTube). Their 2003 hit “Danger! High Voltage” (originally recorded in 2001 under the name the Wildbunch) may remain the band’s masterpiece, what with the video featuring a flashing codpiece-type of apparatus and the rumors that backing vocals were provided by fellow Detroit native Jack White. These party maniacs will be performing with Test Your Reflex, Night Kills Day, and London vs. New York.



Ronald K. Brown/Evidence

An award-winning choreographer whose use of history, tradition and dance forms from Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa, Ronald K. Brown is a one-of-a-kind choreographer who values the human experience and expresses the emotions and passions therein through his other passion, modern dance. He blends African, modern, ballet and hip-hop dance styles to tell stories about what he finds most important about life’s experiences, and this fusion of traditional African dance with contemporary choreography and spoken word says through movement what cannot be communicated with mere words. Brown’s perspective on human struggles, tragedies and triumphs are embodied in the movements he designs for his award-winning company Evidence, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The UB Center for the Arts has placed so much confidence and enthusiasm in Brown that it decided to host him for the month as artist-in-residence, and have him direct UB student dance classes. Evidence: A Dance Company’s performance at 8pm will be preceded by a pre-performance talk with the director at 7pm, so get there a little early to pick his brain.



Lightning Bolt

For over a decade, bombastic noise-core duo Lightning Bolt has epitomized the ranks of underground bands making hyper-aggressive sounds with a ridiculously rockist intent. Consisting of drums, bass guitar and processed vocals, the group’s primal, super energetic blasts of tightly articulated sound devastate the listener, filling every available sonic space with frantic drumming, speed-metal riffs and sputtering distorted vocals. Beginning in 1995 as part of the simmering stew of artists associated with the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and the infamous Fort Thunder, a warehouse art space that produced a breakthrough multi-media scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Lightning Bolt gained a reputation for choosing unconventional spaces and art galleries to play and eschewing the stage for the floor. Bringing touchstones like the Japanese noise of Ruins or Boredoms to warehouses, alleys and empty drive-in theater parking lots, the approach reinvigorated the underground, and appearances by the group became celebrated events. Lightning Bolt play the floor at Soundlab next Wednesday in what is sure to be a killer experience not to be missed.





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