Artvoice B.O.O.M. Bash

Friday, November 27th

After you’ve slept off all of that holiday turkey and stuffing, come on down to Nietzsche’s on Friday night (Nov. 27) for our live Battle Of Original Music (B.O.O.M.). This showcase features (pictured clockwise from top left) Hunger Anthem, the Tins, the Frontline, and Colors in the Air, who will be showing off all they’ve got in order to win the hearts, minds, and votes of the crowd. They all won the opportunity to compete by collecting the most online votes in our weekly contest that allows local music fans to check out some of the best bands our burgh has to offer—at boom.artvoice.com.

The way our live shows work is as follows: Every audience member through the door receives one ballot with the names of the four bands on it. They mark the ballot for the band of their choice, then turn in the ballot at the door. As the night progresses, the ballots are tallied, so that by the end of the event we can announce the winner. The winner this Friday will receive a live concert video produced by Artvoice, but more importantly, they win the right to compete in the B.O.O.M. Grand Finale, where all four winners of our preliminary live rounds will face off in the hope of winning a hefty cash prize, as well as a digital recording package from Guitar Center. Last month, the Albrights secured their spot in that upcoming battle royale...who will be next? Your vote could make all the difference.

—buck quigley

Nietzsche's, 248 Allen St. / 10pm / $5 / 886-8539 / nietzsches.com / boom.artvoice.com

Friday, November 27

The Box Tops

Only in Memphis in the 1960s could a band like the Box Tops have emerged. It was a town all about music, still in the shade of the long, long shadow of Sun Records, Elvis, and the host of rock and country greats on the imprint, while also serving as the American southeast’s qualified hotbed of soul and R&B. Where better for a young band to put together the ideal rock and soul amalgam? Whether or not that was the goal of the Box Tops, it’s what happened. Initially under the strict studio guidance of noted writer/producer Dan Penn, the teenage band rocketed to international stardom with a clutch of blue-eyed soul classics. How a teenage Alex Chilton—whose singing voice later, with the immortal power pop outfit Big Star, took on a honeyed melancholy—managed that deep, scabrous, gravelly and soul-perfect vox that lifted a song like “The Letter” above the pack at AM radio, we may never exactly know. The unique legacy of the Box Tops has something to do with the fact that they easily fit alongside English beat bands like the Beatles, American pop groups like (their frequent tour mates) the Beach Boys, and the Motown and Stax soul sounds without ever owing anything to one of them. You simply can’t deny songs like the pleading soul stomper “Cry Like A Baby”, the stirring gospel-tinged “Soul Deep,” and the sublime bubblegum psychedelia of “Neon Rainbow.” It goes without saying that Chilton himself is something of reluctant rock royalty, so WNY lucks out to have a rare one-off with him and the band. Consider this Friday’s (Nov. 27) show as one ideal post-Thanksgiving rock and soul extravaganza with a set of classics and maybe even a few surprises.

—donny kutzbach

Bears Den Showroom at the Seneca Niagara Casino, 310 Fourth St., Niagara Falls / 8pm / $25 & up at all Ticketmaster locations / 299-1100 / senecaniagaracasino.com

Saturday, November 28

Anais Mitchell with Mike & Ruthy and Robert Sarazin Blake

After the flurry of shopping bags, leftovers, mall mobs, and deep-discount desperation, Black Friday is probably going to leave you beat. You can take the day after to rest, but on Saturday night (November 28) the Ninth Ward (Babeville/Ashbury Hall) will be hosting a treat to bring you sweetly back to life. Anais Mitchell comes to us from Vermont, crooning traveler’s tales. Her forthcoming album, Hadestown, a bleak re-telling of the Orpheus myth set in a depression era company town, is set to be released in March on the Righteous Babe label, with the help of friends such as Ani DiFranco and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. She will be performing with a few of her other friends: Mike Merenda and Ruthy Ungar Merenda, better known as Mike & Ruthy and, with a musical niche that is difficult to pinpoint, Robert Sarazin Blake, whose style ranges from punk to blues and country, threading his poetry through socialist themes, penning songs that elude classification, and ultimately defying genre. Look for him to also play the following night (Sunday, Nov. 29) at Mohawk Place.

—ann marie awad

Ninth Ward at Babeville, 341 Delaware Ave., downstairs / 7pm doors 8pm showtime / $12 advance at Babeville box office and all Tickets.com outlets / 852-3835 / babevillebuffalo.com

Saturday, November 28

Girlpope Reunion

Profound lines of pure rock and roll that engender that searching feeling and spirit of youth that could have been written about London in the ‘60s, New York in the ‘70s, or Los Angeles in the ‘80s, but instead are straight out of Buffalo in the 1990s. What does this mean? We are thinking way too much here. After all, it’s rock and roll! Whatever the case, the gentlemen who brought this to us are coming back! Guitarist/vocalist Mark Norris, bassist/vocalist Richie Campagna, drummer Brandon Delmont, and guitarist Tommy Standford are pulling the ‘Pope brand out of the moth balls for one night only. A quartet par excellence, Girlpope’s potent mix of Brit-inspired rave rock, cranked up garage rock, and the unmistakable ability to deliver hook after hook like a flavorful pop confection set them apart and placed them atop the heap of Buffalo’s local acts. Returning to the scene of many of the band’s previous crimes—from “covers” shows where they performed under the guise of heroes like Slade, T.Rex, and MC5, to their epic split live album with Buffalo’s late, lamented Bobo— Girlpope will back at the Mohawk Place to perform the entirety of their album The Whole Scene Going and a whole lot more. The Whole Scene started life ten years ago as an EP released in the heat of a Sabres run for the Stanley Cup. Since then, the record has been bolstered to an expanded Australian release several years ago, and rightfully merited a place of respect in power pop circles and in Buffalo music lore. Saturday (Nov. 28) promises a first class evening of live music. You’ve got my personal guarantee: As the great Thurston Howell III once said, “If I can’t go first class, I won’t go at all.“

—donny kutzbach

Mohawk Place, 47 E. Mohawk St. / 10pm / $5 / 855-3931 / mohawkplace.com

Tuesday, December 1

Mark Stuart & The Bastard Sons

Profound lines of pure rock and roll that engender that searching feeling and spirit of youth that could have been written about London in the ‘60s, New York in the ‘70s, or Los Angeles in the ‘80s, but instead are straight out of Buffalo in the 1990s. What does this mean? We are thinking way too much here. After all, it’s rock and roll! Whatever the case, the gentlemen who brought this to us are coming back! Guitarist/vocalist Mark Norris, bassist/vocalist Richie Campagna, drummer Brandon Delmont, and guitarist Tommy Standford are pulling the ‘Pope brand out of the moth balls for one night only. A quartet par excellence, Girlpope’s potent mix of Brit-inspired rave rock, cranked up garage rock, and the unmistakable ability to deliver hook after hook like a flavorful pop confection set them apart and placed them atop the heap of Buffalo’s local acts. Returning to the scene of many of the band’s previous crimes—from “covers” shows where they performed under the guise of heroes like Slade, T.Rex, and MC5, to their epic split live album with Buffalo’s late, lamented Bobo— Girlpope will back at the Mohawk Place to perform the entirety of their album The Whole Scene Going and a whole lot more. The Whole Scene started life ten years ago as an EP released in the heat of a Sabres run for the Stanley Cup. Since then, the record has been bolstered to an expanded Australian release several years ago, and rightfully merited a place of respect in power pop circles and in Buffalo music lore. Saturday (Nov. 28) promises a first class evening of live music. You’ve got my personal guarantee: As the great Thurston Howell III once said, “If I can’t go first class, I won’t go at all.“

—donny kutzbach

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