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Cover Story

Iowa Dispatch: After the Flood

by Victor Verney

It goes without saying that these floods are double-edged swords, as seen recently in Iowa. But unlike, say, wildfires that destroy houses in California or tornadoes that level mobile homes in Arkansas, there are compelling reasons why Buffalonians—and everybody else—should take an interest in last month’s Iowa floods.

News

Desperate For Law

by Bruce Fisher

This week’s headlines in southern Ohio have an eerily familiar ring to Western New Yorkers. Promoters of casino gambling are promising 5,000 good-paying jobs with benefits to a struggling community. What makes the promise so hot today is that a big employer in Columbus is threatening to leave town and take 6,000 to 9,000 jobs with it.

The News, Briefly

Sam Savarino steps in to secure the crumbling White Brothers Livery for $1

by Geoff Kelly

School board votes dismisses McKinley affair, elects new officers, has a party

by Buck Quigley

In DA race, LaVallee emphasizes experience, Sedita looks to the ground game

by Geoff Kelly

A mainstay of Buffalo’s cultural scene passes away

by Ed Cardoni

Offbeat News

News of the Weird

by Chuck Shepherd

China continues to prepare for the Olympics: Officials have issued a standard chanting routine that all Chinese spectators should employ during competitions (translated as “Olympics! Add fuel!” with two claps and then both thumbs up, then “China! Add fuel!” with two more claps and raised fists, according to a June Reuters dispatch). (“Add fuel” is apparently a traditional motivational chant in China.)

Theater

The Road to Stratford

by Jan Jezioro

With the price of gas well over four dollars a gallon and apparently headed inexorably higher, and also considering the sometimes challenging process of crossing the border, is it still worth making the trip north to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival? Based on a recent two-day trip to Stratford, the answer is, most emphatically, yes.

Artshort

Imaginary Lines

by Lucy Yau

The Imaginary Line is an ambitious examination of the idea of borders and nations taking place at three sites. The Buffalo Arts Studio in the Tri-Main Center has an exhibition comprising four artists who imagine their concepts of state and nationhood, boundaries and home.

Music Feature

I Have Come 500 Miles Just To See A Halo

by Donny Kutzbach

Back on May 5, when Tom Waits issued a prerecorded press conference—with himself and a record player appearing to be the only ones in the room—he announced his upcoming Glitter and Doom tour and insisted the small clutch of American dates were charted by the stars, based on a constellation pattern. While Waits has evolved, boundlessly reinventing his music, the coat-pulling huckster, carnival barker part of his character gleefully has not.

You Auto Know

The 2008 Rendezvous: Vive La Différence!

by Jim Corbran

I’m sure most of you have heard of the party game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.” The actor, in an interview some years ago, claimed to have worked with everyone in Hollywood, or with someone who had worked with them. Three college students turned the braggadocio’s remark into the game where players try and link different people (or things, I guess) to each other in six steps or less.

Film Reviews

Bigger Stronger Faster

by M. Faust

Children of Huang Shi

by George Sax

Hancock

by M. Faust

Listings

On The Boards Theater Listings

Movie Times (Friday, July 4 thru Thursday, July 10)

Film Now Playing

See You There

Fuck Yeah Tour (July 6)

Hollywood '39 (Every Thursday thru August 29)

Marié Digby (July 5)

Geoffry Gatza @ The Rooftop Poetry Club (July 9)

Calendar Spotlight

Konkrete Jungle (first Friday of every month)

Infringement Fundraiser Phase III (July 5)

Sean Costello Fund for Bipolar Research Fundraiser (July 6)

A Wilhelm Scream with Swellers (July 9)

Mark Scibilia with Liz Abbott and Vinnie DeRosa (July 9)

Looking Ahead . . .

Gaywatch

Acting Out: It's a Good Thing

by Bryan Whitley-Grassi

Upcoming Events

Letters to Artvoice

Proposed Peace Bridge Plaza Expansion Stinks

by Jim Glose

Whither the Broadway Market

by Mark Braun

Enough About Tim Russert

by Bill Berryman

A Vegetarian Holiday

by Blaine Hamilton

Horoscopes

Free Will Astrology

by Rob Breszny

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In his song “Get Behind the Mule,” Tom Waits tells us to “Never let the weeds get taller than the garden.” That’s advice you should heed in the coming weeks. But don’t go overboard and become a fanatic who acts as if weeds are evil demons from the ninth level of hell. Keeping a few well-trimmed wild plants and a mushroom or two would be quite healthy. You need a bit of messy serendipity mixed in with your law and order.

Advice

Ask Anyone

Hi. I’m writing with a little dilemma I have about my brother. He has his heart set on trying out for a talent show—American Idol, I think, or something like that. But here’s the thing: he’s an awful singer.