The time has come for the four local original acts you see to your left (clockwise from top left: Constant Climax, Square 9, the Waves, and Redwater) to haul their gear down to Mohawk Place, plug in, and blow our minds with a 40 minute set of music. They’ve earned this opportunity by winning two rounds in our weekly Artvoice.com Battle of Original Music—or BOOM for short. Over the last twelve weeks, thousands of local music fans logged on and voted for their favorite acts, based on a song, a photo, and a very brief bio. If that was the process of sifting through resumes, then this is the job interview. Audience members will each receive one paper ballot when they pay $1 admission. With that, they can cast their vote for the act they feel should win a recording package from Select Sound Studio, CDs of that recording courtesy of ESP CD and DVD Manufacturing, and $150 worth of ink for each band member provided by our friends at Art-n-Body Tattoo. Saturday’s winner will then join Dali’s Ghost as the second of four acts eligible to win at the year-end big BOOM Bash. Come check out some of the areas best acts at one of the city’s best venues—all for one measly dollar!

In the last decade, half the nation’s small, independent bookstores went out of business—while Buffalo’s oldest independent bookstore, Talking Leaves, expanded. How did that happen? Next week Buffalo State College hosts a series of talks at Hallwalls that pay tribute to Talking Leaves that may provide some answers. The kickoff event is a screening of Jacob Bricca’s new documentary, Indies Under Fire, which examines the demise of bookstores like Talking Leaves across the country while chronicling the struggle for survival of three shops in northern California. Bricca will present his film in person and take part in panel discussion afterward, along with Jonathon Welch of Talking Leaves, Amy Kedron of Buffalo First!, fiction writer Mick Cochrane of Canisius College and moderator David Landrey, retired English professor from Buff State. Throughout the rest of the week, artists and authors whose work is the stock in trade of independents like Talking Leaves will take part in the tribute to the 30-year-old bastion of eclecticism. Check www.hallwalls.org for a schedule of speakers.

Women have been around arguably just as long as men, depending on which school of ideology you were taught growing up. And people have been dancing as long as they’ve had appendages to move and groove with, so put those two things together and you have “Women & Dance...a timeless journey,” a presentation by Folkloric Productions Dance Co. This special performance will celebrate the spirit of women in dance, and more specifically the spirit of women in Middle Eastern, Turkish, Chinese and Flamenco dance. The local company has recruited several touring guest artists, and is proud to present featured dancer Elena Lentini from New York City. Lentini is accomplished in the Middle Eastern/Oriental dance forms and has taught and toured in five out of the seven continents. The particular imagery that she likes to express through her style of dance focuses on inner life and spirituality, and has evolved over the 30 or so years she’s been in the business. Lentini’s history of performing in some of the great music halls across the country can prove her undeniable strength as an innovative modern artist. She has really cool costumes, too.

Hamell on Trial might offend you, but chances are you won’t mind. Inspired by Bill Hicks, Lou Reed, and Johnny Cash, solo artist Ed Hamell produces a musically-aggressive silliness you don’t hear very often. The name of his latest release in 2006, Songs for Parents Who Enjoy Drugs, speaks for itself. On his worn, 1937 small-body Gibson guitar, Hamell on Trial gives it straight to the listener yet never loses his comedic sensibility. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Hamell, who has toured with Ani DiFranco and released his latest with Righteous Babe Records, happens to be pissed about a few things. His bold concerns on education, health care, and corporate demons are channeled through his music, spoken word commentaries, and personal memories, which may sound lighthearted but contain a serious underlying message. Hamell lets people know that they may not be the only ones wondering if this is all “a psychotic episode or a cleansing moment of clarity.” Songs for Parents Who Enjoy Drugs is a sound collection of dance folk, surf fun, and acoustic punk, making it hard to classify into a single category, which is exactly what Hamell strives against. He takes raw acoustic vocals and manifests them through a narrative lyrical dance, wrapped up with a bow of comic relief. The song “Coulter’s Snatch,” for instance, is exactly what one would think it’s about. After all, confronting societal realities can be overwhelming, so why not do it while laughing?