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See You There!

Artvoice's weekly round-up of events to watch out for the week, including our Editor's list of the best Halloween parties in town. As always, check our on-line events calendar for a constantly updated and comprehensive listing of what's going on!

AV Editors Pick: Halloween 2008

Friday, October 31

Having a Screm This Friday: Picks for Buffalo's Best Halloween Parties

It was once a night simply reserved for neighborhood kids to go door to door and beg for candy. Now Halloween has grown to a billion dollar industry. Chalk it up in large part to the fact that many adults take part in getting dressed up. For this one night, the folks who never grew out of this fun fall tradition get to go out and party as someone or something else. With Halloween falling on a Friday this year, there are plenty of great events for rock and roll ghouls and inebriated goblins. It’s not bags of candy for these big kids—this weekend shall see these spirits filling themselves with spirits.

With a boast to be the largest of all the area’s Halloween events, the Haunted Catacombs/House of Horrors presents “Buffalo’s Biggest Halloween Party” at the Town Ballroom, offering a not-to-be-equaled admission that includes two free drinks, thousands of dollars in cash and prizes, and entertainment—all to benefit Hospice of WNY. At the Tralf the Halloween Party features a solid local lineup of acts that includes Lazlo Hollyfeld, Handsome Jack, and Nick Gordon. The annual Nightmare On Allen Street at Nietzsche’s is back, and offers performances by Biff Titsle & the Nipple of Doom, Kendall, Pink Lotus Tribe, Red Tag Rummage Sale, the Stamplickers, the Stripteasers, and Mark Webb, as well as contests and the usual Halloween merriment (where it’s always appropriate to make your costume a polyester homage to the famed former doorman, P.J.). And Halloween just wouldn’t be Halloween with out the Mohawk Place’s Halloween Party, which is the best place to spot your favorite dead rock stars resurrected. This year’s bash at the ‘Hawk features the Irving Klaws—reportedly playing a set as double-drum kit new wavers Adam & the Ants—and the semi-reformed Buffalo legends Girlpope, pictured here as the QC5 (that stands for Queen City 5) for what is bound to be a true testimonial to the MC5.

—donny kutzbach

8pm at the Tralf Music Hall, 622 Main St. (852-2860 / www.tralfmusichall.com);
9pm at Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. (852-3900 / www.townballroom.com);
9:30pm at Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St. (886-8539 / www.nietzsches.com);
10pm at Mohawk Place, 47 E. Mohawk St. (885-3931 / www.mohawkplace.com)

Thursday, October 30

Ghostlight: Folklore, Skepticism, & Belief

What better venue than the handsome Riviera Theater in North Tonawanda—with its mighty Wurlitzer organ, its heavy brocade, its gilt balconies—to premiere a film about haunted theaters? Ghostlights: Folklore, Skepticism and Belief, by filmmakers Matthew LaChiusa, Thomas LaChiusa, and Robert Kupczyk, relates the stories of six performance spaces that claim to be haunted: the Riviera itself, the Ghostlight Theater, the Town Ballroom, the Lancaster Opera House, Shea’s, and the Allendale. The film features local historian of the supernatural Mason Winfield. “I think there’s a real tradition about the ghost story among theater people,” said Winfield. “Every theater is thought to have a ghost. So they really kind of like to perpetuate the idea of a ghost even when there isn’t one there, just as sort of a good luck sign.”

—geoff kelly

7pm. Riviera Theatre, 67 Webster Street, North Tonawanda (692-2413 / www.rivieratheatre.org). $7 adults, $6 seniors, $3 for children 12 and under.

Friday October 31 & Saturday November 1

Madness

The Humanities Institute at UB is hosting its 4th annual conference (Oct. 31 & Nov. 1). Inspired by the recent publication of the complete English translation of Michel Foucault’s History of Madness, the conference theme is “The Other Side of Reason: The History of Madness Today.” Promotional materials remind us that “the questions raised by History of Madness seem especially timely in an era that increasingly invokes ‘reason’ to adjudicate unforeseen ethical and political crises.” So fasten your seatbelts—this is sure to be a provocative couple of days. Presenters include Elizabeth Lunbeck, Department of History & Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University; Guy Le Gaufey, Psychoanalyst, École Lacanienne de Psychoanalysis, Paris; Benjamin Reiss, English Department, Emory University; Bruce Jackson, English Department, University at Buffalo; Marjorie Garber, Departments of English & American Literature and Visual & Environmental Studies, Harvard University; and Elizabeth Povinelli, Anthropology Department, Columbia University. Visit www.humanitiesinstitute.buffalo.edu for full schedule of events.

—anthony chase

9:30am-5:30pm Sat & Sun. UB Center for the Arts (645-ARTS / www.ubcfa.org). FREE & open to the public

Saturday, November 1

U-Melt

This NYC based jam band has been touring extensively, playing close to 300 shows over the last three years. The self-described “organic progressive groove” quartet has gained great exposure, playing some of the country’s most noted festivals including Gathering of the Vibes, 10,000 Lakes Festival, Summer Camp, Snoe.down Winter Festival, and moe.down. These guys have no lack of stamina, having once remained on stage for seven hours, so prepare yourself for a long night of crunchy grooves. Their new album The I’s Mind, which this tour promotes, has been well-received by both critics and fans and is enjoying a good amount of airtime on satellite and commercial radio. Fans may remember U-Melt by its former name, 440, and for its infectious rock, funk, electro-jazz fusion.

—justin sondel

10pm, Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St. (886-8539 / www.nietzsches.com)

Saturday, November 1

Wolf Parade

Canadian indie rock can be so incestuous, but that’s ultimately a good thing. Without the healthy musical inbreeding that goes on north of the border we wouldn’t have acts like the New Pornographers and Broken Social Scene. The Montreal-based upstarts Wolf Parade also fall into this category. When Frog Eyes keyboardist Spencer Krug called up guitarist buddy Dan Boeckner to form a band, Wolf Parade was born. Following a trio of EPs, the band solidified with drummer Arlen Thompson and bassist Hadji Bakara. They issued 2005’s Apologies To Queen Mary (Subpop), produced by Modest Mouse’s Issac Brock, a breakout success thanks to strong internet blog buzz which hummed of the band’s knack for song construction and made apt comparisons to Brock’s band. In spite of a flurry of that same sort of incestuous-other-band-activity in the following years (which includes but is not limited to Boeckner with Handsome Furs and Krug with Sunset Rubdown and Swan Lake), Wolf Parade managed a 2008 follow up with the sophomore release At Mount Zoomer (Subpop), which taste-making indie music site Pitchfork rated a 7.7 on its scale.

—donny kutzbach

8pm. Babeville, 341 Delaware Ave. (852-383 / www.babevillebuffalo.com). $17 (Tickets.com, Tops Markets)

Sunday, November 2

My Brightest Diamond

Classically trained on piano and in opera singing, composer and vocalist Shara Worden is the visionary songwriter behind the highly acclaimed music of My Brightest Diamond. Toeing the strange line between experimental and classical music, MBD is an ensemble that gives a sonic nod to traditional chamber music with sounds reminiscent of Kate Bush, the Cocteau Twins, and even Prince. The band’s newest album, A Thousand Shark’s Teeth, was released in September, a masterpiece of instrumentals that includes clarinet, harp, French horn, guitar, marimba, and vibraphone, in addition to the classical string quartet. Worden’s voice alone would have earned her a place among the top singers in all of rock and pop—add to that her string and piano playing and composing talents, and we have a truly powerful “voice” in the realm of independent music. Clare & the Reasons, a seven piece string ensemble that plays swirling, jazzy, ethno-pop, opens the show.

—k. o’day

9pm. Soundlab, 110 Pearl St. (www.bigorbitgallery.org/soundlab). $15

Tuesday, November 4

Neva Dinova

This election day, come either celebrate or drown your sorrows with a double bill courtesy of Saddle Creek and Team Love Records. Named after guitarist and vocalist Jake Bellows’ grandmother, Neva Dinova has been gaining momentum since early in the decade. Gaining recognition after releasing a split recording with Bright Eyes (with whom Bellows is a frequent collaborator), the band melds together melancholy folk rock and psychedelia with haunting and beautiful vocals. Their debut release for Saddle Creek, You May Already Be Dreaming, was released earlier this year. Touring with Neva Dinova is Team Love recording artist McCarthy Trenching, a project based around another Bright Eyes cohort, Dan McCarthy. Reminiscient of the great work of Townes Van Zandt and Kris Kristofferson, McCarthy does sparse and road-weary Americana. Focusing on broken lives, alcohol, religion, and regret, McCarthy Trenching is a fine portrait of an America that may have once existed. Opening for Neva Dinova and McCarthy Trenching is Nick Gordon.

—eric boucher

8pm. Mohawk Place, 47 E Mohawk St. (855-3931 / www.mohawkplace.com). $10

Wednesday, October 5

Pash(ly)

Celebrating “participatory culture and a do-it-together attitude,” local indie arts and culture collective Sugar City has spent the last few years promoting everything from attic art shows to community bake sales. This Wednesday, the group stirs a “multi-media fenzy” at Soundlab with an evening of lo-fi dance and multi-media experimentation featuring performance artist Pash(ly)—a.k.a Susan Ploetz. A fixture on the Olympia and Portland underground music scenes, Pash(ly)’s sets combine dance and costumes with a penchant for lo-fi beats and slinky vocals. Joining her on stage that night is Bev Beverly, whose live electronic dance set, replete with sparkly funtime props and glittery goodness in general, is the surest gateway to happiness I know of on windy autumn nights in Buffalo. Al Larsen, a former Pash(ly) associate from his Olympia days, rounds out the Buffalo end of the bill with lo-fi treasures exuding “rock-n-roll in the real moonlight style: all stripped down, not much more than a voice and a thread of music in an empty parking lot at midnight.”

—greg gannon

9pm. Soundlab, 110 Pearl St. (www.bigorbitgallery.org/soundlab)

Wednesday, October 29

O'Death

American gypsy bluegrass punks who incorporate elements of both metal and jazz, the band O’Death creates a twisted sort of Americana. Sounding innovative despite traditional Appalachian folk stylings, the quintet is a thoroughly modern take on an ancient genre. Banjos, twangy vocals, and untamed arrangements evoke a dangerous rural wilderness as the music threatens to reel out of control like a moonshine-induced frenzy. These five college guys look the part, too (they formed the band in 2003 after meeting at Purchase University in upstate New York), with their scraggly, shirtless aesthetic—although we’re betting they still have all their teeth. Joining O’Death are Canadian acoustic/folk artist Eliot Brood and Philadelphia foot-stompers Hoots & Hellmouth.

—k. o’day

8pm. Mohawk Place, 47 E Mohawk St. (855-3931 / www.mohawkplace.com). $10/advance (www.Ticketmaster.com / 852-5000) or $12/at door.

Thursday, October 30

Ways in Being Gay: Derek Jarman

Beginning next week, Hallwalls celebrates 20 years of its “Ways in Being Gay” biennial, a multi-disciplinary series showcasing work by gay, lesbian, and transgendered artists. This tenth program, “Ways In Being Gay: Ways In/Between Gender,” lasts all year and exhibits, screenings, and performaces will reflect both the history of the series and new work by emerging artists. It kicks off next Thursday, November 6, at the Market Arcade, with a screening of the Derek Jarman film Blue (1993). The film is all soundtrack, no images; AIDS had cost Jarman his sight, and he died just months after the film was released. Two weeks later, on November 20, Hallwalls will screen Derek, a new documentary about Jarman by British artist Isaac Julien and actress Tilda Swinton. Contact Hallwalls at www.hallwalls.org or 854-1694 for more info. Proceeds from this screening benefit the rest of the “Ways in Being Gay” series.

—geoff kelly

8pm. Market Arcade Film & Arts Center, 639 Main St. (885-03022 / www.dipsontheatres.com). $10/general; $8/students, seniors, Hallwalls members