Given the darkness of the times, I wonder if Bruce Jackson and Diane Christian were conscious of having picked a fairly dark selection of movies for the next installment of the perennially invaluable Buffalo Film Seminars. The series opens this Tuesday with Gold Diggers of 1933, the classic musical whose still-astonishing Busby Berkeley production numbers provide an ironic counterpoint to the palpable Depression setting. There’s no Fred and Ginger elegance in this, a musical that would only have been made at Warner Brothers, the studio that specialized in gangster thrillers and gritty social dramas. This session of the Seminar is not wholly lacking in comic fare—Tootsie on March 25, Billy Wilder’s Witness for the Prosecution on February 12. But it is clearly dominated by films that hold a dark candle to the American experience, from Wilder’s ultimate exercise in cynicism Ace in the Hole (Feb. 5) to Clint Eastwood’s western elegy Unforgiven (April 15.) It looks like a fascinating season.

Good news for fans of bluesy original roots music: New Orleans swamp pop musician Eric Lindell is playing a make-up date for a show that was scratched last October. The inconvenient delay is not without its rewards. In the interim, Lindell has finished a brand new record on Alligator entitled Low on Cash, Rich in Love, which features more of this exciting new artist’s trademark R&B stompers and irresistible soul funk grooves. Though the record officially hits the street January 15, you can check it out for free before the show at rhapsody.com/ericlindell. A transplant to New Orleans from Northern California, Lindell displays a knack for writing catchy tunes with great hooks and melodies. His previous release, Change in the Weather, was universally praised by critics across the country and he’s also got a whole bunch of cool tattoos. The show is part of the ongoing “Big Easy in Buffalo” concert series, which has been a win-win-win for Crescent City artists, Western New York music lovers, and area children as proceeds from the series go to benefit instrument donations for Buffalo and Niagara Falls public schools through the Music is Art Foundation.

The movies’ first action star was Douglas Fairbanks, whose popularity at his peak was rivaled only that of Charlie Chaplin (his friend) and Mary Pickford (his wife). Like Jackie Chan, he was famed for doing his own stunts, and for trying to top himself every time he made a new film. The 1922 feature Robin Hood shows Fairbanks at his best, including several classic stunts that no modern insurance company would let a star even dream of doing for himself. At the time of its release this was the most expensive film ever made, and director Allan Dwan does his best to show off the large crowds of extras and the spectacular sets (including some designed by Frank Lloyd Wright). Robin Hood kicks off the spring season of Free Family Movies this Sunday at Shea’s Buffalo. The silent film will be accompanied by the Wurlitzer organ, and an hour-long organ concert precedes the movie at 1pm.

Buffalo native Jason Yungbluth has said that his proudest accomplishment was being fired by Gannett newsweekly the Rochester Insider. Unusual as that sounds, it makes perfect sense given his often seditious work in the cartoon Deep Fried. Of the matter, Yungbluth said, “I regretted losing the job, but in my field, being considered too dangerous to publish is the next best thing to a Pulitzer.” While he hasn’t been awarded a Pulitzer yet, he’s garnered enough critical acclaim to warrant one. Ted Rall has called Deep Fried “a perfect union of great artwork and strident political and social commentary.” Comics Buyer’s Guide has referred to his work as “both brilliant and hilarious.” Besides penning Deep Fried (which he began in the immediate wake of September 11, 2001), Yungbluth is a comic book artist, a regular contributor to MAD Magazine and an adjunct professor at Rochester Institute of Technology. Among other achievements, he was the first published comic to predict that Saddam Hussein had fully disarmed before the Iraq war, and that the war would be revealed as fraudulent. Yungbluth’s work will be the subject of an exhibition at Rust Belt Books, which begins with an opening reception and artist’s talk this Sunday at from 2-5pm. The show will feature the orginial artwork for 15 of his most controversial pieces published between 2000 and 2006, and runs through January 31.