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Cover Story

A Pot of Gold - or a Fracking Disaster Waiting to Happen?

by Stephanie Berberick

Jessica Schwartz-Mannes is the mother of six-year-old twin boys, and like all concerned parents she wants nothing for her children but a good future. She believes a drilling procedure for natural gas may endanger that dream.

News Analysis

The War For Jane Jacobs

by Bruce Fisher

Terry Cooke is a marathon runner, the head of the Canadian Urban Institute, and the former elected head of government in Hamilton, Ontario, that nearby industrial city where they still somehow manage to operate a big port and make steel. Hamilton was on the way to becoming Buffalo—a sprawled-out, deindustrialized former rail-head—until local leaders like Cooke and an engaged electorate transformed the place into a stabilized and now growing regional city with a merged city-county government.

Week in Review

Seven Days: The Straight Dope From the Week That Was

by Geoff Kelly & Buck Quigley

Scorecard: The Week's Winners & Losers

by Zachary Burns

Sprouts & Roots

Potted Art and Movable Feasts

by Monique Watts

Container gardening has many advantages. For those without a yard or with a very small space or even for those who have physical limitations that keep them from being able to maintain a large garden, planting in pots can satisfy the need to have your hands in the dirt as well as provide a practical solution for having flowers to enjoy and herbs and vegetables for the table.

Music Feature

More Than Ready

by Cory Perla

Every legendary band starts somewhere. Sometimes there’s that one event that changes everything.

Art Scene

Key Words

by Jack Foran

Who knew you could make art (other than writing) with an old manual typewriter? A few dozen of Frank Singleton’s typewriter artworks, on standard 8-1/2-by-11 bond paper, are currently on display at Rust Belt Books.

Film Feature

Fairytale of Castletownbere: Ondine

by M. Faust

I think everything is a fairy tale,” says Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan. “Movies are like fairy tales when they’re good. I love stories that question the nature of reality and go deeper than the real world, that present characters with inexplicable things and events in their lives. And this is one of those.”

Film Reviews

Solitary Man

by George Sax

Grown Ups

by M. Faust

Knight and Day

by M. Faust

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

by M. Faust

Listings

On The Boards Theater Listings

Movie Times (Friday, June 25 - Thursday, July 1)

Film Now Playing

Events

See You There!

Artvoice's weekly round-up of events to watch out for the week, including our editor's pick: Exile on Allen St, Artvoice's annual Rolling Stones tribute show at Nietzsche's, on Friday, June 25.

Play Ball!

Batavia Baseball Faces Uncertain Future

by Andrew Kulyk & Peter Farrell

There was once a time when Buffalo baseball fans could point their cars in almost any direction and find a professional baseball game within a short drive.

7 Questions With...

Ben Siegel: Editor, Block Club

You’d think Artvoice would be intimidated by, you know, those other guys in town. But in reality, our fellow partners in print are pretty good guys and anyone outside the local media status quo—*cough* Buffalo News—is cool in our book. We spoke with media studies guru and Block Club editor Ben Siegel.

Letters to Artvoice

Death of Sensitivity

by Brittne Rehrauer

The author of last week’s Artvoice cover story, “Death at Bonnaroo,” Andrew Blake, should have thought twice about even attending the music festival, let alone writing about it. I myself have never attended Bonnaroo, but even I know that it is a modern-day Woodstock knock-off, fueled by drugs, high temperatures, and free love.

Offbeat News

News of the Weird

by Chuck Shepherd

New York state school officials had promised to crack down on soft test-grading to end the near-automatic grade-advancement by students unprepared for promotion. However, a June New York Post report found that the problem lingers under the current grading guideline called “holistic rubrics.”

Gaywatch

Listings and Resources

Buffalo has a large and diverse gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. For further information about its numerous organizations and activities, visit Gaywatch at Artvoice.com, call the Western New York Pride Center (852-7743), or email WinterDanny@AOL.com.

Horoscopes

Free Will Astrology

by Rob Brezsny

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Here are the low-paying jobs I’ve done that I wasn’t very good at: tapping sap from maple trees in Vermont; driving a taxi in North Carolina; toiling as an amusement park ride operator in New Jersey; being a guinea pig for medical experiments in California; digging ditches in South Carolina; and picking olives from trees in the south of France.

Advice

Ask Anyone

I have a coworker who wears pants that are too small and her underwear is constantly showing. Should I tell her?