First Friday at the Castellani Art Museum at Niagara University is a monthly multi-media event, usually based around a current art exhibit. This Friday (Feb. 1), Many Winters Ago…Native American Children’s Book Illustrations, opens with a special reception featuring artist’s book signings along with performances by the Native American Museum of Art Dancers and the Tuscarora School Dancers. Live music will be provided by PALE FACE (Mark Porter Jr., Elijah Porter and Chuck DeRose). Other exhibitions on view at the Museum include Kurt Treeby: Fuzzy Memories (opening reception will be the First Friday in March) and Beyond/In Western New York (which closes this month). This is an alcohol-free event, from 5-9pm.

On Saturday (Feb 2) at Rainbow Rink in North Tonawanda, the Queen City Rollergirls present “Mardi Brawl,” the second bout of their second season. The Devil Dollies, fresh off Jan. 5th’s nail-bitingly narrow loss (109-106, in front of a sold-out crowd) to the Nickel City Knockouts, face last season’s undefeated Suicidal Saucies. The Dollies are hampered by the temporary loss of their captain, Fetishly Divine, to a knee injury sustained during last month’s match, while the Saucies have had a few months to prepare for their veteran MVP jammer Mexicali Bruise’s maternity leave (she’s due this month). All that aside, this looks to be a hot matchup, and the Saucies’ first skating appearance of the season. Tickets are $10 ahead of time at qcrg.net, or $15 at the door: Doors at 7 pm, halftime show by Pink Tiger, after party at Dwyer’s Irish Pub.

The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble with Kahil El’Zabar (pictured) will play two performances this week, the first on Wednesday (Feb. 6) at Hallwalls at 8pm and the second on Thursday (Feb. 7) at the Buffalo Academy for the Visual & Performing Arts at 7pm. El Z’habar founded the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble in Chicago 35 years ago, combing new and roots African music (West African Griot music) with jazz, to create something altogether new. In addition to composer, percussionist and vocalist El’Zabar, the current Ensemble consists of Corey Wilkes (trumpet) and Chicago legend Ernest Khabeer Dawkins (saxophone). The three of them are spending four days in Buffalo working with music students at Performing Arts, who will join them on stage for Thursday’s concert. This visit is both in honor of Black History Month and the Ensemble’s 35th Anniversary.

Los Angeles trio Liars comes to the Tralf Music Hall next Thursday (Feb. 7) for a show at 8pm. To say this band defies definition is an understatement: This a a band that’s hailed by fans as the “Best Band in the World,” yet has notoriously gotten some of the lowest album ratings possible by both Spin and Rolling Stone in recent years. By way of explanation one can look to the evolution of Liars from its dance-punk scene debut, They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top (2001), to the heavily percussive, electro-acoustic experimentation of 2006’s Drums Not Dead, a progression that confused fans and critics and created a love them or hate them reputation for the group. Their latest release, the self-titled Liars, is a riff-laden rock album that’s unlikely to alienate anyone, but still pushes conceptual boundaries—just not to the point of causing too much brain pain. Experimental rock duo No Age opens the show.

Dean “Deano” Schlabowske came of age in the early 1990s with noise merchants Wreck (the only actual rock band to be signed to Chicago’s Wax Trax label), before co-founding the legendary Waco Brothers with head Mekon Jon Langford. While the Wacos play only sporadically these days, Deano has formed Dollar Store with fellow Waco members. Influenced by the country greats (Merle, Hank, Buck etc.), the band is a perfect honky tonk combo fused with the spirit of Joe Strummer. With the release of their most recent album, Money Music, it’s likely that the band will no longer be merely standing in the shadow of the Waco Brothers. Dollar Store performs at Mohawk Place on Thursday (Feb. 7) at 8pm. The evening doubles as the record release show for Buffalo country punks Unwelcome Guests, who are releasing two new split 7” singles. The Louisiana Purchase will also perform.