This Saturday, four original local acts will square off in a live Battle of Original Music as they vie for the fourth and final spot in the upcoming BOOM Grand Championship. Dali’s Ghost, Constant Climax and London vs. New York have alrready won their places on that bill. The winner Saturday night will walk off with $5,000 plus other cool prizes thanks to our generous sponsors Mighty Taco and Jack Daniels. Who will be the last band to qualify? Juxtaposse, Fresh Guac, Qualia and the Painkillers will all plug in at Nietzsche’s and pull out all the stops to impress the crowd this weekend. Everyone through the door gets one ballot to cast for the band of his or her choice. The act that collects the most votes wins recording time courtesy of our friends at Trackmaster and CDs of that recording thanks to ESP CD and DVD Manufacturing—plus the coveted final spot in the upcoming BOOM Grand Championship and the chance to walk with $5,000 for a 40-minute set that night. Come out and support some of the best our local music scene has to offer, and cast your vote to send one more act to the big show.

The traditional Thanksgiving weekend staging of the ballet classic The Nutcracker is a harbinger of the holiday season, just as much as repeated airings of It’s a Wonderful Life and the inevitable “Black Friday” shopping frenzy. Columbus, Ohio’s BalletMet does the honors in Buffalo this year with a performance at Shea’s historic theater accompanied by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. The magical journey into the imagination is seen through the eyes of a child—the heroine, Clara—for whom the larger world is wondrous, magical and just a little forbidding. A Christmas tree that grows 20 feet, a roaring dragon, the Sugar Plum Fairy and a Nutcracker/Prince for a hero—these are all part of Herr Drosselmeyer’s magic sack of gifts. As Clara is led through marvelous realms of snow and sweets a true Christmas story unfolds, filling all the audience—no matter what age—with a sense of the season and the delight and anticipation that accompany it—whether you believe in Santa or not. It’s this sense that has kept The Nutcracker little changed from Tchaikovsky’s 1892 version, and though the ballet has been through different treatments by acclaimed choreographers such as Nureyev and Balanchine, it is Tchaikovsky’s famous score that is at the heart of the story. This is the second year that Shea’s and the BPO have collaborated with BalletMet to present this classic—another Christmas tradition in the making.

Paramore lead singer Hayley Williams sure has done her share of working against the grain, leading her rising pop/rock group to an unlikely success in a changing music industry. Along with artists like Madonna and UK pop star Robbie Williams, the Tennessee-based band is part of what has been dubbed a “360°” deal with their record label, Atlantic. The deal gives them rights to album sales, concert and merchandise revenue as well as increased support of their career and progression as artists. Judging by their consistently sold-out tour across the country, Paramore would appear to have made an outstanding business choice. But for these budding punk rockers, it’s all about the music. Their recent release, Riot!, has sold over 350,000 copies thus far, doubling sales of their 2005 debut, All We Know Is Falling. In addition to their youthful appeal and savvy business tactics, the group has been hailed by supporters as one of the most energetic live acts on the rock scene today, and they look to prove it to local fans when they visit the Queen City this week. Joining Paramore are indie favorites the Starting Line, who rose to fame thanks to an unrelenting tour schedule and strong word-of-mouth. Their newest album, Direction, is being touted as their strongest yet, no doubt influenced by their near dissolution following a big-label signing and the subsequent neglect that so often gobbles up talented rising stars. Also performing is Underoath drummer Aaron Gillespie’s side-project, screamo collective the Almost. (This is a sold-out show.)

It’s the worst-kept secret in the world: The Bush administration would like to see regime change in Tehran, and it has prepared plans for military intervention in pursuit of that goal. Whether or not the administration seriously imagines that going to war on Iran is advisable or even feasible, it has been developing the logistics and strategy for some sort of an attack since at least 2004, according to credible reports by journalists and think-tankers around the world—most famously in a series of articles by Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker. A month ago, the PBS news magazine Frontline aired a provocative piece on the escalation of tensions between the Bush administration and the hardliners who control Iran’s government. That report will be screened this Tuesday at Hallwalls, followed by a panel discussion titled “The Role of Local Media in Waging War & Peace” and a 30-minute question-and-answer period with the audience. At issue will be how well local media serve their audience on issues like this, and what journalists and users of the media learned from the runup to the current war in Iraq. This event is presented by the Western New York Peace Center/Peace Action Taskforce. For more information visit wnypeace.org.