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Out of the Fish Fry

The CPO Club Needs Saving From Demolition and Itself

by Peter Koch

AV Video: CPO Club

by Matt Quinn

News

Ghost Towns in Sprawl Land

by Bruce Fisher

The truest true fact of American politics is that no candidate running this year is going to upset or even challenge the suburban sprawl industry.

Getting A Grip

Never Apologize to Goons and Thugs

by Michael I. Niman

What do you do if someone calls you a “goon” or a “thug”? If you’re a real thug, a Tony Soprano sort of character, you have them whacked. End of story. Yes, you’re a thug. Everyone knows it. But no one dares voice it. The more people point out your brutish ways, the more you prove them right, and the more you terrorize others into an uncomfortable silence. Empires, albeit fragile ones, have existed by these rules for generations. Whether you’re talking about corrupt municipal patronage machines, brutal police forces, repressive monarchies, or totalitarian bureaucracies, the rules are the same. Never voice the obvious.

The News, Briefly

Outspoken for Equality

by Lucy Yau

The Party Crasher is Back

by Geoff Kelly

12th Annual Pride Brunch

by Anthony Chase

News

News of the Weird

by Chuck Shephard

Graduate art student Matthew Keeney’s latest piece of performance art, in February, called “The Waiting Project,” had him standing on streets in Syracuse, N.Y., waiting for someone to ask him what “The Waiting Project” is. In previous pieces, Keeney had held a “Super Bowl party for one” on a park bench, had earnestly watched ice sculptures melt, and had walked from the Capitol steps in Washington, D.C., to the Lincoln Memorial but stopping each time he heard a car horn and then starting again when he heard another.

Artshorts

Making a Collection

by Lucy Yau

The Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Arts is pleased to hold Western New York’s only live professional art auction. This is CEPA’s ninth biennial and is being run by auctioneer Dale Stulz.

Vine by Line

On the Tradition of Winemaking

by Paula Paradise

Recently, I began to ask myself on what grounds I tended to extol the merits of California wines that bear the statement “grown, produced, and bottled by” over those that are labeled “produced and bottled,” or simply “vinted by”? Nowadays there are so few wines made from estate-grown fruit that it’s a bit like finding a four-leaf clover—but is my admiration for grapes grown, juiced, and fermented by the same individuals justified?

Left of the Dial

Besnyo - Worry

Mark Olson - The Salvation Blues

Film Reviews

Paranoid Park

by George Sax

Meet Bill

by M. Faust

Unsettled

by George Sax

Listings

Movie Times (Apr 25 - May 1)

Film Now Playing

On the Boards

See You There

Electro-Respect: A Tribute to Mark Freeland (Thursday, May 1)

by Geoff Kelly

Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band (Tuesday, April 29)

by Donny Kutzbach

The Bravery (Wednesday, April 30)

by K. O'Day

Feist (Thursday, May 1)

by K. O'Day

Calendar Spotlight

Jonny Diina (Thursday, May 24)

Taylor Made Jazz (Friday, April 25)

Tokyo Police Club (Wednesday, April 30)

Singer (Thursday, May 1)

Looking Ahead...

You Auto Know

Two Arms and a Leg... and Counting

by Jim Corbran

Time was when when spending an arm and a leg actually got you something. Sad to say those days are long gone and not likely to return. As I write this, today I spent $3.64 for gas; I’m sure as you read this it’s even higher.

Theater

Stagefright

by Javier

Ashley Brown, who was the original Mary Poppins in the Broadway musical of the same name, will re-create her performance in the national touring company, kicking off in Chicago in March 2009. That touring production will be part of Cleveland’s Playhouse Square Broadway series, where it will play July 17-August 9, 2009. The Cleveland season will also include the touring productions of the 2007 Tony award-winning musical Spring Awakening (March 3-15) and Peter Morgan’s play Frost/Nixon starring Stacy Keach (January 13-25).

In the Margins

Oppen in Spring: A Centenary Conversation

by Aaron Lowinger

Book Review: The River of Doubt

by Gerry Rising

Literary Buffalo Events

by Just Buffalo

Horoscopes

Free Will Astrology

by Rob Brezsny

ARIES (March 21-April 19): The U.S. government is spending over $500,000 per minute on the war in Iraq. Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil is raking in about $73,000 of profit per minute. Is there any connection? Though I have my suspicions, I don’t know for sure. I do know that the coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to phase out any situation in your personal life that resembles America’s cash drain in Iraq. It will also be a favorable period for you to brainstorm about how you could upgrade your financial intake to be more like Exxon Mobil’s.

Advice

Ask Anyone

Two cocktails led to eight more a week back, and before the night was over I’d been in and out of establishments from Hertel Avenue to the Old First Ward. Somewhere along the line I had brief moment of lucidity in which I realized I’d better stop driving. After calling in sick to work the next day, I realized I had no idea where I’d left my car. I figured it would come to me, but two days later it still hadn’t. Come to find out I’d given the keys to a bartender, who drove me home, and proceeded to borrow my car for a long weekend in the country. He put about 600 miles on it. Did this guy behave ethically? I mean, I was drunk. He did me a favor, sure, but I don’t remember telling him he could take my car for four days.