Artvoice BOOM! Round 4 Quarterfinals

Saturday, May 9th

Come on down to the fourth live quarterfinal of our ongoing Battle of Original Music (BOOM). Here’s how it works: At the show, each person through the door will receive one ballot on which to place his or her vote for his or her favorite band. At the end of the night, the ballots will be counted and a winner will be announced. The four winners of these live quarterfinals will receive a recording package from our friends at Audio Magic, CDs of that recording from the great folks at ESP CD & DVD Manufacturing, and the opportunity face off in our Grand Finale in May. Our current contestants include Ajent O, The Beggar’s Best, Seen It All, and Falling Into Place. These acts qualified by collecting the most votes during our weekly online contests at Artvoice.com. The live show is a great way to catch just a sample of our vibrant original music scene in Western New York, and when you cast your vote for your favorite, you might just be helping them record some music and gain further exposure when they win. Visit the BOOM homepage to check out the contestants.

—AV.

9pm. Mohawk Place, 47 E. Mohawk Street (855-3931 / www.mohawkplace.com). $5 at the door

Thursday, May 7

Municipal Waste

Richmond, Virginia-based thrash band Municipal Waste comes to Mohawk place tonight (Thursday, May 7). The band could easily be from our own hometown, with a fitting name like that, and their Buffalo-esque appeal doesn’t end there. Known for raucous live sets with unruly attendees, a Municipal Waste show is often a lot like a loud, drunk, the-cops-should-be-here-sometime-soon kind of party. Legend has it that after their first gig ever (New Year’s Eve 2000/2001), they were blamed for inciting a riot. The band quickly acquired a local following—not srprising for a town that also spawned the theatrical thrash-metal band Gwar however many years ago. Songs are fast, furious, and funny, with thematic titles like “Thrash? Don’t Mind If I Do” and “Drunk As Shit.” Pop culture plays a role, too, considering their 2003 split EP based entirely on Kurt Rusell movies, titled Tango and Thrash. It’s late notice this week, I know, but try to get down there tonight anyway, and thrash it out. Sons of Azrael open the show.

—k. o’day

8pm. Mohawk Place, 47 E. Mohawk St. (www.mohawkplace.com).

Thursday, May 7

Drew De Four

On Thursday (May 7) Drew De Four, the internationally touring troubadour, will take the stage at the recently opened Nobody’s Art Gallery on the corner of Elmwood and Forest. This young talent has been turning heads recently with his versatile piano skills and smart lyrics. On the song “Bad Tradition” the piano man juxtaposes fairly traditional sounding music with lyrics that criticize some of the more questionable “traditions” that exist in American culture and history. He accomplishes the same sort of contrast between music and lyrics on his song “Ordinary Love.” In that jazzy tune De Four rebels against the pretty girls wearing diamond rings of Frank Sinatra’s world, claiming to be dissatisfied by their ephemeral nature. Instead he begs for solidarity and true compatibility. De Four has been touring the U.S. for several years now performing an average of 180 shows a year, many of them dueling piano shows, to help support his original music career. His upcoming album, The Troubador, is currently in post-production and schedulaed for release this month.

—justin sondel

Nobody’s Gallery, 1121 Elmwood Ave.

Friday, May 8

Cathy Carfagna CD Release Party

When you’ve been playing music in a city for as long as Cathy Carfagna, and in so many different outfits—the Jazzabels, the Outlyers, the Vores, the Voice of Cheez, to name a few—making a solo record must seem like a perpetual member of the to-do list: You want to get to it, but when? Carfagna finally made time, and she and the Outlyers celebrate the release of Turn Your Face to the Sun with an early show this Friday at Nietzsche’s. It’s a gem of a record that showcases Carfagna’s fine songwriting, with the support of some of Buffalo’s best roots music players: Jim Whitford, Dave Meinzer, Patrick Heyden, John Brady III, Rob Lynch, Bob Kozak, Corey Kertzie, Richard Chon, and Jim Bohm. Carfagna covers a couple tunes as well, one from Kozan of the Jumpers and another by Steam Donkey (and AV editor) Buck Quigley. Make time for this show: Put it on your to-do list.

—geoff kelly

7-10pm. Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen Street (886-8539 / www.nietzsches.com).

Friday, May 8

Tera Melos

Allright everybody, get smart! Tera Melos is coming to town on Friday (May 8), and they can turn you into a puddle of confusion if you aren’t too sharp. Among listerners who “get it,” Tera Melos has developed a cult-like following. If you have the brain power (or even think you do) to process the lack of song structure, bait-and-switch time signatures, open-ended, free-floating riffs, hooks, and bridges, mysterious, indecipherable lyrics, distorted sound effects, and other pop-unfriendly tactics, then this may be just the post-hardcore, ambient-experimental math-rock outfit for you. (This isn’t just math-rock, it’s like “trig-rock.”).The band attracts a diverse audience as well as some diverse members: Guitarist Jeff Worms left the band to play football (he’s now a member of rock band Daughters), and drummer Vince Rogers quit to pursue a career as a college professor. (Mathematics. Duh). Tera Melos maintains the threesome with new drummer John Clardy of Fishboy joining founding members Nathan Latona (bass) and Nick Reinhart (guitar and vocals). A pretty simple set up, all-in all.

—k. o’day

9pm. Soundlab, 110 Pearl St. (www.bigorbit.org/soundlab). $8-$10

Friday, May 8

What Goes Up

The third edition of the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival culminates on Friday night (May 8) with a red carpet premiere of the new film What Goes Up, starring British comedian Steve Coogan, Hilary Duff, Molly Shannon, Olivia Thirlby, and Josh Peck. Set in 1986, the film stars Coogan in a change-of-pace dramatic role as a Manhattan reporter. Trying to get away from a successful story whose details he has “tweaked” to keep it alive, he is assigned to cover the reaction of Challenger astronaut-to-be Christa McAuliffe’s hometown, one week before the launch of that fateful mission. Instead, he becomes involved with a group of teenagers who have just lost a different hero, their favorite teacher, a loss that is expressing itself in unhealthy ways. Scheduled for national release on May 28 by Sony Pictures, What Goes Up will play on two screens at the Market Arcade. Present at the premiere will be the film’s director Jonathan Glatzer, cast members Sarah Lind, Laura Konechney, and Ingrid Nilson, and some native sons involved with the production of the movie and its musical soundtrack: Tony Miranda, Holt Vaughn, Lenny Silver, David Parker, and Tom Greenauer.

—m. faust

7:15pm. Market Arcade Film & Arts Center, 639 Main Street (www.buffaloniagarafilmfestival.com). $15 at the door, $12 presale, $8 students.

Friday, May 8

The Totems of 18th Street

A pocket park here, a bus shelter there. A windmill in an urban intersection. A flash of worked steel in a sidewalk, a series of bike racks. Every year, the students of Allentown-based architect and UB professor Brad Wales make little adjustments and additions to Buffalo’s landscape. Some have long since become commonplaces; it’s difficult to remember when they weren’t there. Some, like the project to be unveiled on Friday (May 8) afernoon, are so striking that it’s hard to imagine people won’t always be asking, “Where did that come from?” In a small park at the corner of Rhode Island and 18th Streets, along the lot occupied by Urban Roots Community Garden Center, Wales and his students have erected a beautiful fence made of concrete totems, textured and shaped and faced with plates of steel and painted ceramic tiles. There’s an opening reception of Friday afternoon, with a presentation by the students at 5pm.

—geoff kelly

4-7pm, Rhode Island & 18th Streets. FREE. Contact www.urbanroots.org or 362-8982 for more info

Saturday, May 9

Ragbirds

This Saturday (May 9), the Ragbirds, the band whose style is almost impossible to categorize, will hit the stage at Nietzsche’s. Led by their talented frontwoman Erin Zindle the band seamlessly weaves together genres as disparate as celtic and reggae, producing a sound that is original yet familiar with the aid of instruments such as the mandolin, accordian, fiddle, and kalimba. The band, which has recently added Buffalo native and brother to Erin, TJ Zindle, on guitar, has been traveling the country in their biodiesel-run tour van since they got together in 2005. They have performed in 13 states and have shared the stage with such rock legends as Mickey Hart and George Clinton. The band is known as the one of the hardest working bands in Michigan, and have played an average of 125 shows a year. Come down to Nietzsche’s on Saturday to experience The Ragbirds’ energetic and eclectic brand of music. .

—justin sondel

10:30pm. Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen Street (886-8539 / www.nietzsches.com).

Thursday, May 7

VAST

An acronym for Visual Audio Sensory Theater, VAST is the brainchild of leader and sole constant member Jon Crosby. A guitar prodigy, Crosby was profiled in Guitar Player magazine when he was a mere 13 years old. Crosby decided to follow his muse, which lead to the concept of VAST. Accumulating odd samples, dark electronics, and brooding themes, Crosby’s music soon led to comparisons to Nine Inch Nails. Not surprisingly, a major label bidding war ensued and VAST’s debut album was released via Elektra in the mid 1990s. Although VAST parted ways with Elektra, the band, which by then included various rotating members, continued to work on new music, touring to insatiable audiences. VAST’s most recent recordings, April and this year’s Me And You, focus on more organic sounds and even stronger songwriting. Touring with VAST is Into the Presence, a new band featuring drummer Tim Alexander, who has played in both Primus and A Perfect Circle. The show is on Tuesday (May 12).

—eric boucher

7pm. Mohawk Place, 47 E. Mohawk St. (www.mohawkplace.com). $18