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Cover Story

What My Opponent Won't Tell You Is...

by Geoff Kelly

Even in an unexceptional year—which 2010 certainly is not—predicting the outcome of elections is foolish in the case of races that are close and dull in the case of races that are not. Instead, we offer a review of some of the season’s greatest political hit jobs: the ad campaigns that stand out as surprising or egregious, the self-inflicted wounds that will not heal, the desperate measures of desperate candidates.

Getting a Grip

The Republican Playbook

by Michael I. Niman

You know the memes. We’re assaulted with them when we open our mail, listen to our radios, turn on our TVs, or have the misfortune to be in the vicinity of a hyperkinetic “dittohead.” We need “less government,” “less taxes,” “reform,” and “change.”

News Feature

The Winners: How Wall Street Runs Our Politics

by Bruce Fisher

Austerity is the word the British use. Smaller government is the phrase we Americans use. The Democratic president who got Congress to go along with his plan for more than $700 billion in emergency economic stimulus spending has now become a deficit hawk. Both the Republican and the Democratic candidates for governor of New York are pledging to reduce government spending and to balance the budget without raising taxes.

Week in Review

Seven Days: The Straight Dope From the Week That Was

by Geoff Kelly

Scorecard: The Week's Winners and Losers

by Zachary Burns

News Briefly

Gasland: Coming to a Shale Deposit Near You

by Geoff Kelly

It’s little wonder that executives, lobbyists, and public relations firms working for the natural gas industry are so determined to undermine and vilify the documentary Gasland and its creator, Josh Fox.

Theater Week

What Are You Wondering About?

by Anthony Chase

Is there anything that you are wondering about?” asks Meg Quinn, artistic director of Theatre of Youth (TOY). That’s how she begins the question-and-answer session that follows every performance of Buffalo’s venerable 39-year-old children’s theater company.

B.O.O.M!

Round 1, Week 2: The Great Mistake vs. Social Scientists

Congratulations to The Etchings! They collected the most online votes last week, which wins them a spot in our first live quarterfinal, which will take place Saturday, November 27, at Nietzsche’s (21+).

Left of the Dial

Dexy's Midnight Runners - Searching for the Young Soul Rebels, 30th Anniversary Edition

by Donny Kutzbach

The Octopus Project - Hexadecagon

by Eric Kendall

Art Scene

Beyond/In Artists Who Engage in the Theme of Electricity and Alternating Currents

by Jack Foran

Bruce Adams' Divine Beauty at Starlight Studio and Gallery

by J. Tim Raymond

Classical Music Notes

Wind Power: No Strings Attached

by Jan Jezioro

The Buffalo Chamber Players are on a roll. Their season opener, a few weeks ago, drew the largest crowd in the group’s four-year history.

Film Feature

Horror Shows

by M. Faust

You’re not really planning to spend Halloween seeing Saw 3D, are you? There’s just no point, not on a weekend which offers so many other movie options to the horror fan, even those who didn’t get their fill at last weekends Buffalo Screams festival.

Film Interview

One Day at a Time

by M. Faust

In 1980, in a small town in rural Massachusetts, a woman was murdered in her trailer home, stabbed multiple times and robbed of $1,800 dollars. The local police questioned Kenny Waters, who was not only something of a local hellraiser but who also had a little bad history with the dead woman.

Film Review

Louis Sullivan: The Struggle for American Architecture

by George Sax

Whenever Buffalo’s architectural heritage comes up for discussion, Frank Lloyd Wright and his several residential commissions in and around the city usually dominate the topic.

Listings

On The Boards Theater Listings

Movie Times (Friday, October 29 - Thursday, November 4)

Film Now Playing

Featured Events

See You There!

Artvoice's weekly round-up of featured events, including our editor's pick for the week: Black Mountain and Black Angels, playing the Tralf on Saturday, October 30th.

Five Questions With...

Dennis Maher: Sculptor

It could be said that if your artistic medium is the vacant house, Buffalo—and its estimated 15,000 abandoned homes—would be the perfect place for a study in politics, waste and contemporary Rust Belt urbanism. Maher, an assistant professor of architecture at UB, first discovered the inner beauty of the vacant while working demolition crews following his arrival in Buffalo in 2002.

Letters to Artvoice

Karla Thomas to Byron Brown: Steve Casey is Ruining You

Anthone Thompson's Attack on Mark Grisanti

Cote Carl Paladino, "The Basest of Men"

Transportation Infrastructure Made Simple

Fracking Protest on Thursday

You Auto Know

Bavarian Dream Pie

by Jim Corbran

There are plenty of cars on the road today that were bought by people who just needed something to get them from here to there. And then there are cars that were bought by people who wanted to get from here to there and enjoy the journey as much as the destination. BMW’s 335i xDrive sedan is in the latter category.

Literary Buffalo

Little Things Tell Big Story

by Michael Koh

Is Charlie Chan an offensive stereotype? To many Asian-Americans, Chan is essentially the “yellow-faced” Uncle Tom. He incredibly emerges as a hero in six detective novels by Earl D. Biggers, stars in 47 Hollywood films between 1926 and 1949, and manages to capture the hearts of the American populace.

Offbeat News

News of the Weird

by Chuck Shepherd

Modern Mummies: New York City artist Sally Davies offered in October the latest evidence of how unattractive today’s fast foods are to bacteria and maggots. Davies bought a McDonald’s Happy Meal in April, has photographed it daily, and has noted periodically the lack even of the slightest sign of decomposition.

Horoscopes

Free Will Astrology

by Rob Brezsny

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You could really use your own personal doorman or doorwoman—someone who would accompany you everywhere you go and help you gain entrance through the portals you encounter.

Advice

Ask Anyone

After working for a total douchebag for the last few years, I finally got a new job within the same company. Happiness was finally within my grasp. Unfortunately, the lazy douchebag has somehow achieved the means to bring me back into his fold.