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Cover Story

Are Lunatics Running The Asylum? And the Buffalo Public Schools, too?

by Jamie Moses

With great fanfare, Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent James A. Williams withdrew his name two weeks ago from consideration for the job of Memphis school superintendent. He had been a finalist for the position. “I need to stay here and continue…to offer the children of Buffalo the best education possible.”

Theater

Artie Award Winners

Artvoice presented the 2008 ARTIES at the Town Ballroom this past Monday, June 2. To be eligible for an Artie, an artist must live and work in the Buffalo area, a theater must produce work localally, primarily with local artists.

The News, Briefly

Complete Streets: Green Options Buffalo is on the GO!

by Rebekah A. Williams

The McKinley Investivation: Waiting on the Consequences

by George Sax

Getting a Grip

McCain and the Doomsday Mob

by Michael I. Niman

Two months ago, on March 27 to be exact, I wrote about John McCain’s pastors—John Hagee and Rod Parsley. I cited a few of their juicier quotes: stuff about our upcoming divine nuclear war to destroy Islam, how god finally stuck it to New Orleans, jokes about selling black slaves, how we gotta pop a thermonuclear cap in Russia, how Muslims have a spiritual mandate to kill Christians and Jews—that kind of stuff. And I wrote about how McCain was present to bear witness personally to some of the wackier stuff these lunatics were uttering.

News

News of the Weird

by Chuck Shepherd

The US military operates a beachfront vacation site for its personnel worldwide and their families at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, with $42-a-night air-conditioned suites, surfing, boat rides, golf course, bowling alley and even a gift shop. One T-shirt for sale reads, “The Taliban Towers at Guantanamo Bay, the Caribbean’s Newest 5-star Resort.”

Politics

The Paranoid Style in U.S. Foreign Policy

In the 1976 election, the Republican primary pitted an incumbent if accidental president against the California conservative Ronald Reagan.

Artvoice Video

The Buffalo Zoo Rainforest Exhibit

Remembering Jimmy Griffin

Food For Thought

An Open Letter to Gordon Ramsay

by Joe George

I tried, Chef, I really did, and on numerous occasions. But I just cannot sit through an entire episode of Hell’s Kitchen. Invariably, after or during one of your obscene and belittling rants, I tell you to shut the f#@k up, consciously using one of your favorite expletives.

Music

Well Machined Music: June in Buffalo Returns to UB

by Jan Jezioro

It is that time of year again. Presented by the UB Music Department and the Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music, the annual June in Buffalo Festival for 2008 will take place on the UB Amherst Campus, from Monday, June 2, through Saturday, June 7.

Music

Mudhoney: Staying In ’n’ Out Of Grace

by Donny Kutzbach

It’s fair to say that the massive, indelible imprint and explosive power that 1980s/1990s Seattle rock and roll—dare I call it “grunge”—has left on the world can be pinned on a couple of Iggy and the Stooges-loving, misfit schoolboys in the suburb of Bellevue, Washington.

Theater

Stagefright

by Javier

Former Dukes of Hazzard star, Tom Wopat (pictured) was nominated this year for a Tony award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in the new musical A Catered Affair. Wopat was previously nominated in the same category in 1999 for his performance in the revival of Annie Get Your Gun, in which he starred opposite Bernadette Peters. His last Broadway appearance was in 2005 in the revival of Glengarry Glen Ross. The Tony Awards will be broadcast live on Sunday June 15 on Channel 4.

Artshorts

Geoffrey Allan Rhodes: Double Narcissim @ Big Orbit

by Lucy Yau

Geoffrey Allan Rhodes creates a series of impossible spaces in his current installation at the Big Orbit, Double Narcissism. Rhodes’ videos flow in a linear, 12-minute sequence throughout the space, which has been painted black to give the show a cinematic feel.

Film Reviews

Priceless

by George Sax

The Strangers

by M. Faust

Listings

Movie Times (May 30 - June 5)

Film Now Playing

On The Boards Theater Listings

See You There

The Jumpers (May 30th)

100 American Craftsmen (May 30th - June 1st)

Buffalo Gals Bring Home New Works (May 31st & June 1st)

Hayden (June 3rd)

Calendar Spotlight

Concert for Margaret Roblin (May 30th)

Blues Society of WNY annual Superjam (June 1st)

Baroness (June 1st)

Rock the Bike 2008 (June 1st)

Monte Montgomery (June 3rd)

Looking Ahead . . .

Play Ball!

Things Aren't Much Better in Cleveland

by Andrew Kulyk & Peter Farrell

So we are watching the Buffalo Bisons sleepwalk through May, as they try to get their arms wrapped around mediocrity.

In The Margins

Review - Rock On: An Office Power Ballad by Dan Kennedy

by Joe Libutti

Flash Fiction

by Greg Gerke

Literary Buffalo Events

Gaywatch

Promoting Healthy Lifestyles, Social Networking

by Bryan Whitley-Grassi

Events Listings

Advice

Ask Anyone

My boyfriend and I have been together for three years. We fight sometimes, and my friends wonder what I see in him, but I don’t care because I love him.

Horoscopes

Free Will Astrology

by Rob Brezsny

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In her natal horoscope, Icelandic chanteuse Bjork has the sun, moon, and Neptune in the sign of Scorpio. Here’s how she describes what it’s like being her: “I have to re-create the universe every morning when I wake up, and kill it in the evening.” Sound familiar? That’s a pretty good summary of the temperament of your tribe, and especially so right now, as you navigate your way through the astrological House of Resurrection.