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See You There!

Artvoice's weekly round-up of events to watch out for the week, including our editor's pick: the Buffalo Zombie Walk & Pub Crawl, on Saturday the 10th.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out our new and improved events calendar on-line for complete event listings, a location guide to find your way about the city, restaurant reviews, and more.

Buffalo Zombie Walk & Pub Crawl

Saturday, July 10

Breaking news: a highly contagious infection has contaminated the Elmwood Village. A flesh eating virus spread to humans after an infected monkey bit a scientist...wait, no, a massive green cloud of poisonous gas has moved over the city and, hold on, an official government source now claims that hell has overflowed with the souls of the dead due to a hole in the space-time continuum, and...

Well it doesn’t really matter how it happened because the fact is; the zombie apocalypse is here. On Saturday (July 10) all living, dead, and living dead are invited to the Buffalo Zombie Walk & Pub Crawl. Since 2001 zombie walks have infected victims from all over the world. From Canada to Australia and the United Kingdom, mobs of oozing, limping, and moaning zombies, as much as 5000 large, have united to share in their love of gore.

Don’t bring your shotguns or rocket launchers though, all the zombies on this walk are friendly. Any undead interested in walking must meet beforehand at either Maddtat2 or Guerilla Gallery on Elmwood Avenue to register as a zombie or victim. Registered walkers will be eligible for prizes and giveaways. Contests include “most original zombie,” “sexiest zombie” and “king and queen zombies,” as well as others. The walk begins at 1pm in Bidwell Park and ends in Allentown at 4pm At 6pm the pub crawl starts for zombies ages 21 and up. Visit each bar on the crawl to win additional prizes. $1 per zombie, per event.

Don’t forget to practice the zombie shuffle, apply a generous amount of open wounds to your face and eat your daily serving of BRAAAAAINS!

A full list of contests and rules can be found at http://www.buyzombie.com/2010/07/05/zombie-events/in-buffalo-ny-on-july-10th-zombie-walk-and-pub-crawl/

—cory perla

1pm walk; 6pm pub crawl. Guerilla Gallery/MaddTat 2 (1109-1115 Elmwood Ave.); Bidwell Pkwy. & the Elmwood Strip; Allentown & the Cozumell Grill (153 Elmwood Ave.)

Thursday, July 8

Nobody Beats The Drum

Exploring a multi-media mix of pounding instrumental electronica and dizzying visual accompaniment since its inception in 2003, the Dutch trio Nobody Beats the Drum makes their second ever North American appearance at Soundlab tonight, Thursday (July 8), with fellow genre-benders C-Mon & Kypski. Featuring Sjam Sjamsoedin on the decks, Jori Collignon on keyboards and Rogier van der Zwaag working projections, the group described their sound on the South x Southwest website as: “Analog and/or digital saw, sinus or pulse waveforms oscillated, filtered, distorted and layered with sampled and/or wave-generated beats. Heavily [sidechain] compressed and limited to guarantee the full, blasting effect.” More succinctly, their official press statement describes NBTD’s music as a “fusion of breaks, electro, hip hop and every other form of music that whips a crowd up into a sweaty, writhing heap of body parts.” Similarly, C-mon & Kypski, described by Esquire magazine as “The hot shit in Europe right now,” began as a turntable-based electro act (featuring Dutch Dj champion Kypski), but has since grown to include keys, guitars and more. For a night of banging but largely indescribable Euro-turntablist-electro, get your ass down to Soundlab. Doors open at 10. —greg gannon

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

Friday, July 9

Soulive

For the past 11 years, since releasing their first recording Get Down, the jazz-funk trio Soulive hasn’t shown any signs of stopping their ever-changing look and sound. The NYC-based band will come back to their city of origin for the HSBC Tower Jam concert series, Friday (July 9), located at the foot of the HSBC Tower. Brothers Alan and Neal Evans are both products of Buffalo’s City Honors School and sons of Willie Evans, member of UB’s 1958 championship football team. The free concert is expected to be a homecoming experience for the band, as Alan Evans said, “When I play in Buffalo though, it truly feels like I’m playing home. It doesn’t matter how big the crowd is, it feels like rocking the Essex Street Pub back in the day.” Soulive has been fortunate enough to play with music giants like the Rolling Stones, Dave Matthews Band, the Roots, Chaka Khan, and Talib Kweli, just to name a few. A portion of the concert proceeds will go to benefit the Buffalo Police Athletic League. Tower Jam offers an eclectic lineup blending local and international artists over four free happy hour concerts (4:30-8:30p.m.) on the second Friday of each summer month. The Jony James Band and Free Henry! Open the show.—cory perla

4:30pm. HSBC Tower, downtown Buffalo (www.roamingbuffaloes.com/towerjam.html). FREE

Friday, July 9

Huey Lewis & The News

Don’t let that perfect haircut, the slick Wayfarers and the trademark red blazer fool you. And the song “It’s Hip To Be Square” was actually a musical ruse. Hugh Anthony Cregg III—aka Huey Lewis—was never merely a blue-eyed pop/soul hitmaker fumbling his way through humorous music videos. I mean, the guy appeared in a Robert Altman film (1993’s Shortcuts, with a cast that included Tom Waits, Tim Robbins, and Robert Downey Jr.) where he even had a brief frontal nudity scene. I mean, the dude has depth! Lewis’ start came in the early 1970s with the Bay Area-area band Clover, with whom Lewis decamped to England. The band ended up in part of the burgeoning pre-punk “pub rock” scene alongside acts like Nick Lowe and Brinsley Schwarz (A Lewis-less Clover ended up backing Elvis Costello for his classic debut 1977 My Aim Is True.) Following Clover’s split, Lewis hooked up with monumental Irish/English legends Thin Lizzy and became fast friends with legendary Phil Lynott, acting as his right hand man on tour and occasionally playing harmonica. Upon returning to America Huey formed the News, hooked up with writer/producer Mutt Lange for their first two albums, and the rest is history. The band’s self-produced third album, 1983’s Sports, yieldied five massive radio hits and had over 10 million copies sold. The megahit “Power Of Love” from the film Back To The Future (with Lewis’ cameo in the film as the geeky band teacher auditioning Marty McFly) sent Huey Lewis and the News to the top of the pop roost , where they would stay well into the next decade. While Huey and the News deserve their legacy for rapturous pop perfection with a seemingly endless string of hits, Huey also deserves a second look. He is a lot cooler than you might think. —donny kutzbach

8pm. Seneca Niagara Casino, 310 4th St., Niagara Falls (877-873-6322 / www.senecaniagaracasino.com). $55, $65 at Seneca Casino box offices, Ticketmaster.com

Sunday, July 11

Old Crow Medicine Show

Sometimes there is no better way to do it than the old way. The Old Crow Medicine Show are the torch-bearers of the past, when music in American was as wild as its landscape. The Nashville quintet (Kevin Hayes, Ketch Secor, Morgan Jahnig, Willie Watson, Gill Landry) sound like outlaws crouching in the corner of a barn house singing songs before the sheriff comes to haul them away. In a different time, OCMS might have sat right down next to Bob Dylan and The Band while they recorded The Basement Tapes. Their songs are ramblin’ ones full of fiddle, banjo, upright bass, and slide guitar; fast-pickin’, traincars, and moonshine. The band was discovered while busking in front of a North Carolina drug store by none other than the iconic songwriter Doc Watson. Not long after OCMS were playing the Grand Ole Opry, opening for Dolly Parton, and hitting the road with Merle Haggard. The group’s latest work is featured on Broken Heart & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, where they cover the heartbreaking ballad “Angel From Montgomery.” Old Crow Medicine Show will play this Sunday (July 11) at the Town Ballroom. Doors open at 7pm. You ought right hop a train and drink booze from a jug. —peter vullo

7pm. Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. (852-5900 / www.townballroom.com). $20/advance; $23/day of show at Town Ballroom box office, Ticketmaster.com

Monday, July 12

Phosphorescent

Hailing from Athens, Georgia, Matthew Houck has been releasing music for the past decade. However, it wasn’t until about 2003 that he settled on the moniker Phosphorescent. After a few records on both the Warm and Misra labels, Phosphorescent met up with the influential Dead Oceans label to release “Pride” in 2007 where he first gained mass critical acclaim. Although the press has included him in the same circles as Bob Dylan and Will Oldham, Phosphorescent isn’t easy to describe. While he definitely possesses an amazing talent as a singer/songwriter, Phosphorescent also involes innovative soundscapes and harmonies that can bring to mind Animal Collective or the more ‘out there’ moments of The Flaming Lips. After the success of “Pride”, Houck took a left turn and followed it up two years later with To Willie, a suprisingly brilliant tribute to the songs of Willie Nelson. This year, Phosphorescent returned to his own material with “ere’s To Taking It Easy, which was more of a band record than anything he had tried before. Capturing the lovingly warm spirit of Americana, Here’s To Taking It Easy”stands alone in its own domain instead of adhering to the hipster demands of some of its peers. Phosphorescent performs at Soundlab on Monday (July 12) at 9pm —eric boucher

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

Monday, July 12

G.B.H.

After thirty years, G.B.H. might be the closest thing we have to punk in its purest form—a living testament to the origins of an entire subculture that has gone through so many transformations over time. Fronted by vocalist Colin Abrahall, the Birmingham, England foursome comes to Mowhawk Place, this Monday (July 12) with special guests ¡OUTERNATIONAL! and the Chosen Ones. In the early 1980’s G.B.H. pioneered the English street-punk genre “UK82,” also known as “real punk” and “second wave punk,” along with other UK bands like The Exploited and Discharge. It was their raw, agressive response to the artistic pretensions of British New Wave, and broke the confines of original mainstream punk with their hardcore/street sensibility. Street punk was darker and heavier than the existing punk sound at the time, leaning more towards heavy metal and appealing especially to working class youth. G.B.H.’s commentary was loud and fast, tinged with themes of nihilism, atheism, and violence. While other bands were writing about the Cold War and politics, G.B.H. was writing about necrophelia, murder, and other outlandish, less intellectual topics. The band recently released their eleventh studio album, Piss and Perfume (Hellcat Records). Words like “iconic” and “legendary” come to mind only when a band stays true to their sound for so many years. Long live G.B.H.. —jon wheelock

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