Music
By today’s pedestrian music fan, Buffalo is often referred to as the hometown of the Goo Goo Dolls, Ani DiFranco, 10,000 Maniacs (sort of) and the late Rick James. While these great talents serve as handy ambassadors due to their widespread popular success and fame, they represent only a sliver of the rich musical heritage of a city that’s been home to songwriters ranging back from Harold Arlen (“Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” sung by Judy Garland) to “Dyke” Arlester Christian (“Funky Broadway,” sung by Wilson Pickett). The cultural and musical variety is rich here, and the roots run very deep.
Today, the city is teeming with bands and performers of every stripe, and it’s much easier than it has ever been before for a local act to get some press and airplay. There’s more networking among performers, thanks to Web sites dedicated to local music, and also more small, home studios in which to make quality digital recordings. There’s also MySpace, which makes it easier to reach the world and/or easier to get lost in the crowd.
By the time it becomes common knowledge that a city outside the traditional music hubs of London, New York, Nashville and LA has a great local scene going, the phenomenon is usually past. What you get then are the wannabes who arrive from everywhere, like weeds, and choke out the native species as they struggle for gigs. Labels, radio DJs, music journalists and the like can try to milk it for a decade or more after that, and they often succeed in convincing people that there must be something in the water in Seattle, or Portland—or Glasgow for crying out loud. But the fact is, it doesn’t come from the water.
All it really takes are talented, creative musicians, good venues and supportive fans to make a vibrant music scene. Right here, right now, we have all that and more. If you wait to be told about our scene through the mainstream media, chances are you will have missed the peak of it. So get out and support the venues, performers and bands our readers have nominated. It encourages them all to put out their best. And when they do, we all shine a little brighter. At least until Rolling Stone magazine finds out about it.
—buck quigley
If You Had a Band, You'd Call It ___ and Play ___:
■ I’d play knobs, sliders, buttons and found instruments in a band called Black Tie Weenie Roast.
■ I would play jazzy and clever adaptations of classic novels and call myself Cliff’s Notes.
■ Lily Vanilly and the Ike Dykes”—the triangle.
■ The Character Assassins. We would wear red coats and sing completely false songs about Buffalo.
■ Skeleton Jim and the Get-Fresh Hymns. I’d play an oscillating ukulele hooked up to a beatbox.
■ Napoleon’s Infamous Member. We would be a speed metal band that played songs about pop-culture phenoms.
■ Helen Highwater and the Undertow, I’d play a Hammond B-3.
■ I would carry Conor Oberst on my back and call it Bright Eyes on My Back, and sing only Gerard Way songs. We would dye our hair white and stop drinking. Well, forget that part about the drinking.
■ I’d call it Polaroid Shark, and I’d play guitar.
■ I would call my band “Skiing in Jeans” and play all ’80s alternative, based on what I know and loved back in the day when I skied totally drunk on Sun Country Wine Coolers, in jeans at Kissing Bridge in high school.
■ Giggle Blitz. We would play spaz rock that would sound like a swarm of bees in a huge glass case of hanging wind chimes.
■ Buffalo’s Worst Band. We’d only play songs by artists with geographic names (Boston, Europe, Chicago, John Denver)
■ The Poop McGoo’s. Comedy
best rock act
Every Time I Die
Strictly Hip
Jackdaw
Goo Goo Dolls
Lemuria
best blues act
Mick Hayes Band
Kate Engler
Mark Winsick
Jony James Band
Willie and the Reinharts
best country act
Old Sweethearts
Steam Donkeys
Stone Country
Bareback Jack
90 West
best acoustic act
Brian Wheat
Babik
Tom Stahl
Bob Zielonka
Ani DiFranco
best hip-hop act
Gr&d Phee
and Rhyson Hall
Pseudo Slang
Noble Truth and DJ Star
Constant Climax
Ebola Virus
best jazz act
Latin Jazz Project
Babik
David Kane
Macy Favor Big Band
Gamalon
best genre-defying act
Lance Diamond
Lazlo Hollyfeld
Babik
Skiffle Minstrels
Jackdaw
best individual vocalist
Tom Stahl
Alison Pipitone
David Moore
Ani DiFranco
Lance Diamond
best vocal ensemble
Vocalis
Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus
Buffalo Gateway Chorus
Choral Arts Society
Boys of Summer
best musician
Doug Yeomans
Ani DiFranco
David Moore
Adam Zadok
Tom Stahl
best club dj
DJ Anthony
DJ Cutler
DJ Lil Joe
DJ Lady Atram
DJ Julia
king or queen
of charisma
Jen Parker
Jamie Cudney
David Moore
Paul Todaro
Lance Diamond
buffalo music’s best friend
Joe Rubino/Nietzsche’s
Dwane Hall/Sportsmen’s Tavern
Robbie Takac/Music Is Art
Pete Perrone/Mohawk Place
Ani DiFranco
|
Issue Navigation> Issue Index > v6n16: Best of Buffalo (4/19/07) > AV Best of Buffalo > Music This Week's Issue • Artvoice Daily • Artvoice TV • Events Calendar • Classifieds |
Current Issue