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COMMENTARY: ANTI-CASINO ACTIVISTS LOOK TO THE US SUPREME COURT

INTERVIEW: MARK SACHA: WHY HE’S RUNNING FOR DISTRICT ATTORNEY

SPOTLIGHT: MEET JAIME SCHMIDT, PAINTER AND INSTALLATION ARTIST

THEATER: AT IRISH CLASSICAL THEATRE, ARTHUR MILLER’S ALL MY SONS

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ART: At 464 Gallery, an exhibit of past and current resident artists.

CENTERFOLD: Kathyrn Vajda’s Pink Sunset.

ON THE COVER DENTON CRAWFORD’s new exhibit opens at Dolce Valvo Art Center at Niagara Community College on Thursday, January 28, with an artist’s talk at 2pm. This piece is called Bug Box.

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LOCAL NEWS On January 19, at the Merriweather Library, Partnership for the Public Good released a report on diversity hiring in the region.

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MOVING DIVERSITY TARGETS A new study examines regional shortcomings in employment opportunities for minorities

CITY LISTINGS

ALLENTOWN: Rental. Multi-level 1BR with updated kit & bth,

parking. 125 Edward #1I, $1,500+. Robin Barrell, 986-4061(c) Rental. Majestic 1BR w/ beaut. architect. features & modern kits & bths. Off-st park. 441 Franklin #2 or #5, $1,200+. Mark DiGiampaolo, 887-3891(c) DELAWARE DIST: Great 2BR, 2BA unit totally redone. Beautiful new kitchen w/ granite & stainless applincs, 1 gar space. 925 Delaware Ave #3B, $495,000. Susan Lenahan, 864-6757(c) DOWNTOWN: Rental. Spacious 2BR in the heart of Med. Campus. Hrdwd flrs, new crpt, new elec, plumb, paint, kit & bth. 1152 Main #2 (rear), $1,200+ util. Robin Barrell, 986-4061(c) EAST SIDE: Reduced! 30 x 95 bldg lot near Cayuga. 6 Milton, $5,000. Thomas Needham, 574-8825(c) NO. BUFFALO: Well-maint. 2/2 Double w/ granite kit & new appliances, 4car gar & upd elec, HWTs, 2 furncs & AC, bths, etc. 18 Delham, $319,900. Susan Lenahan, 864-6757(c) NO. BUFFALO/UNIV: Rental. 3BR house. New appliances (incl. washer/dryer), eat-in kit, lrg main BR w/ lrg closet & porch. 96 W. Winspear, $1,475+. Tina Bonifacio, 570-7559(c) RIVERSIDE: 4BR 2BA home w/ some nat. wdwrk & hrdwd (under crpt). 2 car gar, walk-up storage loft, walk to park. 45 Roesch, $39,900. Robert Karp, 553-9963(c) WEST SIDE: 2/2 Double Invest. Opp. New electric. Fenced yrd w/ patio, 1 car garage. 246 W. Delavan, $74,900. Thomas Needham, 574-8825(c) WEST SIDE: Unique mixed-use develop. 1st flr storefront, gutted apt on 2nd, separate bldg (warehse/gar) & lot. 51 Rhode Island, $124,900. Robert Karp, 553-9963(c)

BY CHARLOTTE KEITH IT’S COMMON KNOWLEDGE that not everyone

is enjoying the fruits of Buffalo’s revival. A recent report by the Partnership for the Public Good explored this deficiency more deeply, finding that racial disparities in employment opportunities for African Americans and Hispanics are even worse regionally than nationwide. “Racial inequality has proven stubbornly persistent, but there is nothing inevitable or immutable about it,” the report found, pointing out that the city and county, as well as their assorted economic development agencies, have many tools at their fingertips to address those disparities. One of those is the inclusion of diversity goals on publicly funded construction projects, which cover both contracting with minority-owned businesses and the racial makeup of the workforce. Of the region’s five most expensive construction projects currently underway, or recently completed, all have both kinds of goals. In theory, MWBE and workforce goals encourage developers to contract with minority-owned businesses and unions to recruit diverse applicants for their apprenticeship programs. In practice, their effectiveness is hampered by a variety of factors. For a start, the goals established can seem slightly random. HarborCenter had a minority workforce goal of 25 percent; at Riverbend, the goal was 15 percent, even though both projects took place in the city and drew mostly from the same pool of union workers. The state, city, and county all have slightly different policies and practices when it comes to setting goals. They’re based, in theory, on the region’s demographics—but only vaguely. Even the people who set them acknowledge it’s more an art than a science. And the way that the goals are arrived at tends to be opaque. It’s not in the interests of either the government entities funding the projects or the construction unions staffing them to set overly ambitious goals that they can’t meet. Not all public money comes with those strings

attached. Companies receiving tax breaks from the Erie County Industrial Development Agency, for example, have to abide by a local labor requirement which covers workers from eight Western New York counties, but no specific diversity goals. Many community leaders argue that the goals aren’t ambitious enough. The city of Buffalo’s standard workforce diversity goal, for instance, is 25 percent. But minorities make up more like 50 percent of the city’s population, according to Census data. Workforce diversity goals also occupy a strange hinterland between being enforceable and simply aspirational. Empire State Development officials, for instance, say the state “has no authority” to enforce workforce goals—and emphasizes that they are goals, not quotas, which state law does not allow. Moreover, the state provides contractors with relatively little guidance on how to implement the goals. A new state-sponsored study of racial disparities in construction will, for the first time, consider workforce as well as contracting. If a significant disparity is found, it could allow the state to give workforce goals some teeth. The city, meanwhile, has yet to carry out a disparity study at all, unlike many cities with substantial minority populations. This is a source of continuing frustration for many who advocate for greater minority participation in the current construction boom, because doing a study could allow the city to set higher goals, or tailor them more precisely to address the difference in disparities between different racial groups. “It’s important for every public works project to have the participation of the community and reflect what the community looks like,” said Charley Fisher III, president of B.U.I.L.D of Buffalo and co-founder of a group calling for more diversity in construction. Investigative Post is a nonprofit newsroom that produces independent, non-partisan investigative stories and analysis on issues that matter to the citizens and taxpayers of Buffalo P and Western New York.

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SUBURBAN LISTINGS

CHEEKTOWAGA: 4BR 1.5BA split on quiet family street. Family room, 1st flr lndry, garage, patio. 127 Nantucket, $159,900. James Collis, 479-0969(c) CHEEKTOWAGA: Sky Harbor 2BR 2BA mobile home w/ many updates incl. garden, tub/shower, applcs, windows, etc. 4 Harmony Ln, $39,900. Tina Bonifacio, 570-7559(c) DEPEW: Sprawling 3BR Ranch on corner lot w/ hrdwd flrs thru-out. Formal DR, LR, family rm, part. fin bsmt, patio & 1.5car garage. 242 Banko, $129,900. Christopher Lavey, 4809507(c) LACKAWANNA: Bethlehem Park 3BR 1BA. Open dining/kit & priv. deck overlooking spacious fenced yrd. Part. fin bsmt. 129 Madison, $54,900. Thomas Walton, 949-4639(c) LANCASTER: 3BR w/ country charm on 1.5 acres. Newer windows & frnc, spacious kit, 1st flr lndry. Bring offers! 216 Schwartz, $99,000. Richard Fontana, 603-2829(c)

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NIAG. FALLS: 2/2 dbl. w/updates (roof, furnc, plumb, elec., etc.)! 535 23rd St, $59,900. Mark W. DiGiampaolo, 887-3891(c) TONAWANDA: 5BR 1BA across from Lincoln Pk w/ fam rm, new roof (’14) & 2car garage. 364 Darlington, $114,900. Susan D. Lenahan, 864-6757(c)

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From left: Jeffrey Dillishaw, Josiah Dudek, Zack Schwartzott, and Luis Romero.

PHOTOS BY BRENDAN BANNON

MADE-TO-ORDER Buffalo Public Schools training students for the jobs of tomorrow BY JUSTIN SONDEL DEEP IN THE bowels of Buffalo’s McKinley

High School, students in John Serra’s electrical class set up breaker boxes in mock rooms comprised of wood studs, poke around on the internet, and tinker with a set of solar panels they have installed on a fake roof. Zack Schwartzott, Josiah Dudek, Luis Romero, and Jeffrey Dillashaw—all seniors—listen intently to Serra as he explains how to use equipment to read how much energy the panels are creating, plugging wires into the metal frame of the sleek, black squares they attached to the faux roof earlier in the school year. Away from the panels, Dudek said he chose to enter the program, in part, because he wasn’t sure how he would pay for college and a career as an electrician. Working in the emerging solar industry would possibly give him the means to pay tuition, should he want to continue going to school. “Even if after high school you don’t go to college and you end up going into the union or you end up going into an apprenticeship, you get paid as you do it,” Dudek said. His fellow seniors were ambivalent on whether they wanted to go on to college, but all said they like the flexibility that having a basic knowledge of electrical work affords them. McKinley High School teacher John Serra with students. Photo: Brendan Bannon. Romero said many kids go to college because they believe it is what they are supposed to do, even if it is not something that truly interests them. “People maybe that aren’t really interested in college or don’t really like doing some of the things you do in college, they can do something with their hands,” Romero said. “Something that, you know, excites them more.” Opportunities for trade workers and those qualified for manufacturing jobs in the Buffalo region are so plentiful that employers are having 4

a hard time finding people to fill the positions. In a city with notoriously high and persistent rates of poverty, this would seemingly present a good opportunity to begin to address those issues. But the gulf between the people who most need the jobs and the training and skills they need to get that work is something that local officials have struggled to bridge for years. For its part the school district has been working with the state education department to adjust the career and technical education training to meet the changing demands of the region’s employers. With the growing demand for healthcare workers on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus has come the three medical career programs at the Math, Science, and Technology Preparatory School. With the rebound of the city’s manufacturing sector there is the a number of advanced manufacturing programs run in conjunction SUNY Alfred at Burgard High School. Serra’s electric class at McKinley is one of a number of options offered to students seeking training in green construction techniques, a reaction to levels of trades work available at levels that hasn’t been seen in decades. And now with SolarCity set to open the largest solar panel factory in North America in South Buffalo this year—officials claim nearly 3,000 jobs will be created, directly and indirectly, by the plant—the district is set to start a program in partnership with Erie Community College and the solar panel maker that would see students graduate with a certificate that would qualify them for what will be one of the most common positions at the company. Katherine Heinle, the director of the district’s career and technical education program, said that her department works closely with the employers and state education to get students ready for the jobs that are coming down the pipeline, something that is particularly important with the job growth the region is experiencing.

THE PUBLIC / JANUARY 27 - FEBRUARY 2, 2016 / DAILYPUBLIC.COM

McKinley High School teacher John Serra with students.

“We’re going to be actually training kids for whatever SolarCity thinks their openings are going to be,” Heinle said. While some of the newer programs will not immediately address the skills gap, down the road these programs should work towards filling the jobs needs with district students, Heinle said. “There were kids already in our construction program that are hitting the job market and getting jobs and apprenticeships,” Heinle said. “The kids that are in these newer programs won’t hit the job market for six years.” With 7,000 kids enrolled in career and technical education courses and another 4,000 in “programs of study,” which also allow students to earn certifications, the school district is preparing the next wave of Buffalo workers and giving them a leg up if they want to go straight into the job market instead of attending college, Heinle said. “I think our biggest challenge in technical education at the high school level is now finding qualified teachers to teach these new and emerging fields,” she said. David Rust is the executive director of Say Yes Buffalo, a nonprofit philanthropic group

that provides scholarships to partner schools for any graduate of the city district, as well as support services designed to help them reach those goals. He said that while his organization’s core mission is to increase graduation rates for city students at the high school and collegiate levels, they also recognize the importance of career and technical education, and have been working with the district to provide supports for those programs. “We think it’s critical to support those (programs),” Rust said. In a city where half the children grow up in poverty and where the graduation rate just surpassed 60 percent for the first time in a decade, it’s imperative for educators to support students in every possible avenue toward productive, fulfilling work, he said. “The revitalization of this city needs to be for everyone,” Rust said. “You can’t have a city full of poor people that can’t get jobs. What does the medical campus or SolarCity mean to someone who can’t access it? What does 716 mean to somebody who can’t go have a meal there? We’ve got a chance to get this right for the first time in our city’s history and it’s a spe

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“It’s increased students’ awareness of the need for trades people,” Serra said. Serra said he has also seen a shift in the perception of career and technical education programs. When he first started there was the thought that those classes were only for kids who were academically challenged. Now educators and advocates have come around to a point of view that supports the idea that going into the trades can be desirable and a better choice for some students over college, regardless of their academic abilities. “There’s no doubt about, over the past several years, even in the media, they at least address the fact that not everybody’s going to college

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TOM SAWYER Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Adapted and directed by L. Don Swartz

The Electric Building, 20 East Huron Street, was opened to the public on September 25, 1912. That night of its first illumination is captured in this photograph by Frederick Pohle. The Electric Building, at 14 stories and 327 feet in height, was the tallest skyscraper in Buffalo and its first permanent building to employ electric light for architectural effect. The building was constructed under the direction of Charles L. Huntley of the Buffalo General Electric Company, which occupied its first four floors. The building was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by Esenwein & Johnson, and the lighting orchestrated by skyscraper illumination pioneer Walter D’Arcy Ryan of the General Electric Company of Schenectady. In 1912, the building consisted of the octagonal tower and a four-story wing along East Huron Street, was expanded in 1924 with a four-story wing along Genesee Street, and, in 1926, an additional three stories along the entire rear wing. Iskalo Development purchased the building in 2004 and completed restoration in 2007. The Electric Building is best known today for hosting the P annual Buffalo Ball Drop on New Year’s Eve. —THE PUBLIC STAFF

Back in his classroom John Serra, who has been teaching career and technical education in the Buffalo Public Schools for 30 years, said that the revitalization of the city, with so many construction and renovation projects very visible to the students, is resonating even with high schoolers.

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“The building presented a brilliant picture when the current was switched on, lighting up every window from basement to dome, and the flashes of the powerful searchlight began to sweep the city. The lighted windows gave the effect of immense shafts of mellow light and these were capped by the pure white lights of the arcs around the dome that rivaled in brilliancy the silvery light of the moon in the sky above. The white marble in the supporting columns completed a picture that, except for the massiveness of the structure, was suggestive of a scene in fairyland.” —Buffalo Morning Express, September 26, 1912

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and these trades jobs can create great careers for students,” Serra said. “Not just jobs, but a career for their whole life. They can have a family, be productive citizens in the community and that’s what we’re really trying to do.” Standing around the solar panels near the end of class the seniors talk about their city and what they’ve seen happening over the last few years. They all agree that, on the whole, the city is better off than it was when they were younger. All but Jeffrey Dillashaw, who hopes to return to his native Texas after graduating, say they plan to stay in Buffalo. Josiah Dudek said he believes that the course he has set by participating in the electrical program will help him be part of the “New Buffalo”—a city on the rise after decades of decline—that is so often referred to by city, county and state officials.“Now Buffalo’s creeping back up and I see that,” Dudek said. “I want to be a part of it.” The article appears courtesy of a contentsharing agreement with City and State.

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NEWS COMMENTARY

GAMING BUFFALO While its operators plan to expand, opponents of the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino petition the US Supreme Court BY BRUCE JACKSON

WHAT’S IN A WORD? Where I grew up, in Brooklyn, “gaming” was when you were hustling a sucker; “gambling” was when you were in a situation where you all had an equal chance, like shooting crap or playing poker or pitching pennies. I used to think that referring to casinos as “gaming” was a euphemism, but I’ve realized that it isn’t: Casinos always have the edge, always win in the long run, always control the odds. Dropping your money there is a sucker’s game, save for the people who run the joints, who are businesspeople, not gamblers. There is no gambling in a casino. You go there, you’re gamed.

MORE SLOTS A January 14, 2016, article by Matt Glynn in the Buffalo News—“Buffalo casino expansion driven by amenities”—leads off with a photograph of 14 men and women in red hard hats standing around a pile of dirt. Six of them hold gold-looking spades. None is identified. The only reason they are wearing the red hard hats is the photograph: They are outside; no construction is going on around or above them; the only thing that might fall on them is a bird turd. Only one of the spade-holders looks at the camera, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. A press release from the Seneca Nation of Indians the same day announces a $40 million expansion to the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino. It is due for completion spring 2017. It will, the press release says, add 28,500 square feet on each of two levels, 300 more slot machines (808 are already in place), more table games (20 are there now), and a new large restaurant with banquet and meeting space. The casino currently employs 550 people; the expansion will add 300 more.

HOW THE SENECA BUFFALO CREEK CASINO GOT HERE The gambling casino the Seneca Nation of Indians operates in downtown Buffalo is a direct consequence of the September 11, 2001 attack by Al Qaeda on the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Wall Street provides about 16 percent of New York State’s tax revenue. Other than the disaster years of 2007 and 2008, when Wall Street operated at a loss (occasioned entirely by Wall Street hanky-panky and more than compensated for by a government bail-out and huge profits in 2009), the lowest year in the past two decades for Wall Street money flowing into Albany was 2002, the year following the attack. New York Governor George Pataki was desperate for income sources to replace the then-moribund Wall Street money flow. So he cut a deal with the Seneca Nation of Indians (SNI): They could operate three casinos in upstate New York; New York would give them exclusive casino privileges; and they, in turn, would give the State of New York a slice of the take from slot machines. Pataki couldn’t cut that deal with a private developer because Article I of the New York Constitution prohibits full casino gambling on New York land. The New York Constitution doesn’t apply, however, to Indian land. The 2002 Gaming Compact gave the Senecas permission to run casinos on the Salamanca Reservation, on the site of the Niagara Falls convention center, and on a third at a site to be determined in Buffalo.

“The new amenities,” wrote Glynn, “will include a new Western Door concept restaurant, and a performance stage for live entertainment at Stixx Sports Bar.”

In October 2005, SNI purchased a 9.5-acre parcel of land in downtown Buffalo and prepared to set up a gambling operation there. In 2006, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and the Buffalo Common Council sold SNI a two-block section of Fulton Street for $631,000. That street, which belonged to the citizens of Buffalo, bisected the 9.5-acre parcel. The sale meant the SNI owned it all.

“Amenities” is such a sweet word. The Buffalo News article reads like a press release, which it is.

A slots-only casino opened in a big shed on the site in 2007, then expanded to include table games. That expansion cost $130 million.

THE PUBLIC / JANUARY 27 - FEBRUARY 2, 2016 / DAILYPUBLIC.COM

The Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino.

There were plans to build a grand hotel/gambling complex, and a huge steel frame went up (which required destruction of one of Buffalo’s great architectural structures, the H-O grain elevator). But litigation stalled construction and the steel frame was eventually torn down because it had deteriorated so much it was no longer viable. A parking garage now occupies the space where the grand hotel/casino was to have been built. That garage holds 715 vehicles; surface parking has space for 370 more.

ACCOUNTING The three Seneca gambling operations, according to the SNI web site, have “generated more than $475 million for state and local governments.” That covers a decade. In state terms, it is not very much money. The SNI has gathered a great deal more. There is no tally of how much those casinos have cost New York. Few out-of-state license plates go in and out of the Buffalo casino’s parking lots. It is not a destination casino, like those in Las Vegas. The clientele is, mostly, local and low-income.

The jobs the casino provides are, with few exceptions, jobs shifted from one venue to another. If the new casino has banquet and meeting facilities, they won’t be new, out-of-town banqueters and meeting-goers; they will be people who would otherwise have been doing the same thing at facilities that pay sales and real estate taxes (which the casino doesn’t do) and operate in terms of New York State’s health and safety laws (which the casino doesn’t do), and where someone mistreated can seek reparations in New York courts (which someone mistreated in the SNI casino cannot do). The casino, critics say, indeed provides “amenities” and jobs, but they all come at the cost of amenities and jobs elsewhere in the community. It is just moving pieces around, only subtracting the taxes and protections that help the community survive. Most of the real new jobs are in construction, but they are transitory, existing only for the time the new facility is being built. SNI gambling officials point out they buy a lot of stuff locally—floorwax, window cleaner, glassware, paper towels—which is true. So would the places they are displacing because of their huge fiscal advantage resulting from their being out of the tax structure. The playing field isn’t close to level.

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AMENITIES AND JOBS ELSEWHERE IN THE COMMUNITY. IT IS JUST MOVING PIECES AROUND… Sam Magavern, co-director of Partnership for the Public Good, in a recent email responding to a Buffalo News request for his comments on the expansion press release, wrote:

The expansion of the casino is bad news for Buffalo’s growth and prosperity. Casinos, especially those located in high poverty urban areas, create more costs than benefits for the communities that surround them. For a large number of patrons, gambling becomes an addiction that too often leads to mental illness, bankruptcy, or crime…Disturbingly, research shows that living close to a casino dramatically increases your chances of becoming a problem gambler, as does being less educated, lower income, or a member of a racial/ethnic minority. The location of the Buffalo casino, near some of the poorest neighborhoods in one of the nation’s poorest cities, is particularly unfortunate. However much it expands, the Buffalo casino is going to draw mostly from local residents, especially given the rapid growth of gambling opportunities around the state and region. Proponents of casinos often claim that they create jobs. Careful research and analysis, however, proves that they destroy more jobs than they create. Casinos do not produce a useful product or service. Every dollar spent at a casino is a dollar that would otherwise have been spent at another business — at a restaurant, sporting event, or theater, or perhaps to make a house or car payment. Because slot machine gambling is highly mechanized, it produces fewer jobs than the businesses it displaces. One thing more: Customers in the casinos can smoke and buy cigarettes. Dealing with lung cancer costs the state a huge amount of money. And causes families a huge amount of agony.

LITIGATION Opponents of a casino in downtown Buffalo have been in federal court since shortly after the SNI bought the Buffalo parcel in 2005. The litigation has hinged on two federal laws: the Seneca Nation Settlement Act (SNSA) of 1990 and the Indian Gaming Regulation Act (IGRA) of 1988. SNSA gave the Senecas reparations for a century of being short-changed by people with leases on their land, 65 miles south of Buffalo. Nothing in SNSA says anything about transfer of sovereignty or gambling. IGRA said how, where and when Indians could run legal gambling operations on Indian land; it says nothing about taking sovereignty away from the states unilaterally. On September 15, 2015, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the SNSA gave the Department of the Interior authority to determine whether a Seneca property purchase converted that property from New York State land into Indian land, from property on which casino gambling could not occur into property on which it could occur. The Second Circuit said that Interior’s failure to act on that issue made the Buffalo parcel Indian land, hence gambling land. There is now a petition for certiorari in the Supreme Court—a petition asking the court to hear a case—on the Buffalo casino issue.

Opponents argue that a federal agency cannot usurp state sovereignty, and that Congressional intent in SNSA was not to allow any Seneca purchase anywhere to remove the land in that purchase from state sovereignty. Changing sovereignty, they point out, requires not only a specific act of Congress, but specific consent of the state. New York State never relinquished sovereignty over that parcel in downtown Buffalo. It could not do that unilaterally. (And, by extension, neither could the City of Buffalo relinquish state sovereignty over those two blocks of Fulton Street.)

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The basic question is, was it Congress’s intent in the Seneca Nation Settlement Act to allow the SNI to purchase land anywhere and have that land become part of the land outside of New York and its laws? If the answer is yes, the SNI could buy land in Syracuse, Rochester, or Albany, and it would not be subject to New York taxes or laws. It is hard to imagine that that was the intent of Congress, and one of the members of Congress who wrote that legislation expressly insists it was not. Does tribal ownership of the land equate with tribal jurisdiction over the land? If yes, they can run a gambling operation there; if no, they cannot. Just as I own my house, but I can still be arrested in it if I’m doing something illegal under state law and I have to pay taxes on a business I might run out of that house. Much of the Second Circuit opinion seems driven by the Robert Moses theory of power: “If I can get a shovel in the ground, I’ve got them.” It refers to the SNI having its own marshals on the property and posting signs saying the property is SNI territory. So what? They are there, but if they shouldn’t be there, then they shouldn’t be there. And having your own armed guards on your property doesn’t mean you have sovereignty on that property; it means only that you have armed guards. Some corporations have armed guards who wear uniforms;, so do some universities and hospitals. The presence of armed guards and signs on the Senecas’ Buffalo parcel surely don’t make what occurs on that property beyond the law. It is like you posting a sign in front of your house saying, “It is legal to sell opium on this property,” and you hiring a guard to keep intruders out. You did that, but so what? The cops are going to visit. The Second Circuit opinion seems to say that since Congress did not specify in SNSA anything about gambling, gambling is therefore legal on land purchased by SNI. That makes sense only if you ignore the 10th Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” New York did not assign that territory to the US government sovereignty, to be then assigned to SNI. The legislature cannot unilaterally do that. Congress cannot unilaterally do that. A bill compensating a tribe for having been screwed on rent does not undo state sovereignty. Something like 10 percent of certiorari petitions are accepted. If this petition isn’t accepted, the Buffalo casino lawsuit is dead, unless the opponents come up with another theory. If certiorari is granted, the entire issue goes before the Supreme Court, at which point it is anybody’s game. Bruce Jackson is SUNY Distinguished Professor and James Agee Professor of American Culture at UB. He is also affiliate professor of P law in the UB Law School.

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DAILYPUBLIC.COM / JANUARY 20 - FEBRUARY 2, 2016 / THE PUBLIC

�

NEWS INTERVIEW

BATTING CLEANUP Mark Sacha was fired for calling out corruption in the DA’s office. Now he’s running to be DA himself. BY GEOFF KELLY

county. Second thing is I think quite frankly I’m probably financially better off than the other two candidates. An example would be Mr. Flaherty’s war chest, which consists of $168,000 in loans. I could loan my campaign $168,000 tomorrow—not that I’m rich, but I could do it. Can I raise the money needed to run campaign for DA? Absolutely. I am in the midst of approaching people right now and I am very enthused by the reaction that I’m getting. And a lot of them are people who are outside the main group that normally gives.

IN THE FIRST WEEK OF JANUARY, Frank A.

Sedita III became a New York State Supreme Court Judge and his long-time deputy, Michael Flaherty, was named acting DA, pending an election next fall. Flaherty, a Democrat, began raising money to win the job outright last October; it was widely understood he would face a formidable challenge from Democrat Tim Franczyk, a Buffalo City Court judge with significant experience as a prosecutor and broad support in the legal community.

Unexpectedly, Franczyk dropped out shortly after Flaherty was sworn in. (Rumor has it that operatives in Flaherty’s campaign wanted him to stand down or face a bruising campaign, and Franczyk chose to spare himself and his family.) Flaherty’s office began issuing nearly daily press releases touting new programs, indictments, convictions…his campaign was in full swing, and the Democratic field seemed to have been cleared.

That’s the easy thing. The question is will the voters vote for the same old thing in a year when all these issues have been raised about integrity, or are they going to vote for someone who doesn’t just talk the talk but walks the walk—and, most importantly, has by far the best qualifications for the job.

Watching this from the sidelines was Mark Sacha, who served 22 years in the DA’s office before being fired by Sedita in 2009. Sacha publicly criticized Sedita and his predecessor, Frank Clark, for failing to pursue Sacha’s investigation into election law violations by Steve Pigeon, a political ally to both Sedita and Clark. That criticism got him demoted, then fired. What Sacha saw in Flaherty was a political hack with little prosecutorial experience who would continue the practices he’d found abhorrent in Sedita’s administration. So he decided he’d run for the office himself. This week he stopped by The Public’s offices to tell us why. Why are you running to be Erie County District Attorney?

Let me start with this: I had a 22-and-a-half-year career in the DA’s office, and for 21 and a half of those years I worked as hard as I could to be an excellent public servant and to do justice to all the citizens of Erie County in a just and equitable way. And I felt good about what I did. But in the last year I was there, something happened that made me aware that some people are allowed to be above the law, and that some of the people I worked with did not have the integrity to be in the positions that they held. One of those people was Frank Sedita. I was assigned to handle an election law case. I had a number of different targets, but at one point the evidence pointed toward Steve Pigeon. All I wanted was for Steve Pigeon to be treated like any other citizen, to be judged by his actions or inactions, and on the law. I learned the hard way that neither Frank Clark, who was the DA at the start of my investigation, nor especially Frank Sedita were willing or intended to do their job appropriately because they owed political favors to Steve Pigeon, who helped both of them become DAs. It was a hard lesson but I stuck to my guns; I wound up being retaliated against and then I was fired. After that point I worked as a criminal defense attorney, in the main part, and every chance I got, I’ve exposed the hypocrisy that saw in the Sedita—and quite frankly, the Flaherty—administration. Because Mike Flaherty, who is running for DA, ran Sedita’s campaign and is Sedita’s best friend. And he was first assistant, which is day-to-day the most important position in the DA’s office, or should be. Those two together set policy, and those policies were almost uniformly wrong. It seems to me that eventually the political powers that be, the legal powers that be, the stakeholders in the legal system, all came to the same conclusion as I did—that they did not want Sedita as DA anymore. In effect, they found him a job in the judiciary and got him out of there. But now his right-hand man and the person that was there for all these wrong decisions is running for DA, and that’s an issue for me. But you would have supported Tim Franczyk, if he had followed through with his candidacy for DA? Tim Franczyk

would have made an excellent DA: He’s a smart guy with great qualifications, great experience, a sitting judge, really seemed to want the job. I was enthused that he had a chance to become the DA. Unfortunately, at the last second, Judge Franczyk dropped out. The things that I saw happening with Flaherty’s campaign, and the lack of experienced and appropriate candidates for the job, convinced me that I had a responsibility to run for DA. It may sound corny, but it’s not about Sedita or Flaherty; it’s about providing the citizens of Erie County a DA’s office that they can have faith in, that they know is run with the utmost professionalism and integrity. That’s why I’m running. And quite frankly, both in my experience and my integrity, I am by far the best qualified candidate to do the job, as it stands right now. Let’s talk about practical politics. Flaherty has inherited from Sedita a political infrastructure… A machine. And he’s

using the DA’s office as political machine.

Sure, he’s issuing a press releases every day, and fundraising from his staff, too. Meanwhile, who constitutes your political support? How will you run a campaign? How will you raise money? And can you hope for help from the establishment of the Democratic Party when you very publicly called out an elected Democratic official? That must make people… Uncomfortable? Sure.

Those are a lot of questions. The first answer is, I am a loyal person; I’m loyal to the State of New York, and I’m loyal to any person of authority that is working within the law and doing what they are supposed to do. However, when they’re breaking the law, I think it’s my responsibility to speak out. If that makes people uncomfortable, well then maybe the DA’s job is to make people uncomfortable—and aware that no one is above the law. I don’t apologize one bit for the actions I took. The DA represents the people, not the politicians. Does it make it more difficult for me to try to work my way through political process? I think yes. But there are some smart people there, and I think that they have to have respect for the potential that I could win this election—and win a primary with or without them. That is something I intend to do. The other question you had in there is how are you going to do this. First of all, it’s not a Supreme Court race; it’s a race for just Erie County. So there’s not the eight counties, there’s one

THE PUBLIC / JANUARY 27 - FEBRUARY 2, 2016 / DAILYPUBLIC.COM

I went to the DA’s office in 1987; I knew nobody. I’ve survived without political godfathers for 30 years. But I worked my way up. Kevin Dillon gave me my first promotion, to be Buffalo City Court bureau chief. He then promoted my to be the narcotics bureau chief. Then I was promoted to be the grand jury bureau chief, following Dennis Vacco, the Attorney General, and Sheila DiTullio, now sitting county court judge. Then I was promoted to be chief of special investigations, then I was promoted to be deputy DA, third in command, with signing authority over the DA’s office. I did that off my work. Not off of political connections, not off some godfather who owed me something or I owed him something. I feel like I’m bragging, but I feel like I’ve outperformed these people every step. I guess the long and short of it is that I feel like I have an obligation to carry this through, I intend to carry it through, and I intend to win. Since taking over as acting DA, Flaherty has promised a series of new initiatives. Some of them, like his promise to pursue public corruption and election law cases, are in direct contradiction of his predecessor’s prerogatives and policies. Do you have a program to pitch? I have a file of dif-

ferent issues that I’m working on. I think there are two different questions here. First of all, I’d laugh about what Flaherty is doing, but it’s not funny. He’s been there for seven years. Either he was just a yes-man who allowed wrong things to happen, or he’s lying today. It has to be one or the other, because he ran that office when Frank Sedita wasn’t there. And he’s Frank Sedita’s best friend. You can’t say that everything was wrong and you’re going to change everything—now, when you’re running for office—and claim somehow that it was your best friend’s fault, when you were in a position of power. I stood up for what the right thing was. Apparently he doesn’t stand up for the right thing. Or he’s not sincere about what he’s doing now and it’s all politics. Can’t be both. As for me changing things, let me say this: The job I want is DA. The problem with these people is they really didn’t want this job. For them, this job was just a way to create a political machine that would allow them to become judges. Cynical. And they’re doing this on government time. The person who’s doing it, Amy Hughes [Sedita’s in-house communication director], is paid $122,000 a year—more than the county executive, more than the sheriff. She’s not a lawyer. She’s just a full-time campaign operator, being paid of out of the DA’s office. That’s wrong, and that’s going to change day one. I’m 58 years old; I have no kids who are lawyers, and I have no interest in running a political machine out of 25 Delaware. I’m running. I’ve met with the Democratic Party chairman. I’m a lifetime Democrat and I’m pursuing the Democratic Party endorsement. But people should be aware that if I don’t get the endorsement, I’m going to continue to pursue the office in any appropriate fashion, because I really believe that something P needs to be done.

SPOTLIGHT ART

From Kinetic Bodies. PHOTO BY CHRISTINA LAING

JAIME SCHMIDT JAIMESCHMIDTARTS.COM @FEELMY_ART JAIMESCHMIDTART

MAGNIFIED ALLEVIATION

THROUGH FEB 4 / BY APPOINTMENT TRI-MAIN / 2495 MAIN ST, SUITE 530 BUFFALO / JAIMESCHMIDT@GMAIL.COM

PHOTO BY DANA TYRELL

JAIME SCHMIDT Painter and installation artist BY CHRISTOPHER JOHN TREACY JAIME SCHMIDT LEARNED about using art as

an emotional channel out of necessity. As a kid growing up in nearby Holland, New York, she faced unusual challenges, including a perpetually ill father who has survived—among other ongoing maladies—a series of six strokes. “I grew up in a difficult situation, and I’ve was never able to find someone my age who could relate,” she said during a break from mounting her current show, entitled Magnified Alleviation, at the Tri-Main Center. “My dad has been sick my whole life, and there was some domestic violence in my family background. It just naturally came around to my creating art as a means of thinking things through without bottling up. It became my way of processing difficult feelings.” Now 22, with a BFA from Daemen College under her belt, Schmidt enters the professional art world with an impressive skill set that will take her a long way. But looking at her high-concept installation Kinetic Bodies, which you may have encountered at Wrafterbuilt on Elmwood or while grabbing a coffee at Grindhaus in Allentown, it’s quite clear that her art education is a useful afterthought. In a world where you’re an artist when you say you are, Schmidt is an undeniable force. Consequently, her art is provocative without resorting to shock value. It’s confrontational without being obnoxious. She’s not

afraid of using restraint. And yet, it’s also clear that if the situation called for it, upping the ante wouldn’t be an issue. “I learned what I needed to learn from school,” she said. “It was mainly about technique, and of course history and context are really helpful tools. But I think the best part of a formal art education is finding new ways to break away from it.” Schmidt says she also crossed a creative threshold during her time at Daemen, which has changed the focus of her output from work that dwells on internal struggles to that which learns from battling them as a means of moving forward. She’s uncertain whether the change is a byproduct of schooling or an unrelated psychic shift, but it happened within the same timeframe. If that’s indeed the case, Magnified Alleviation could be interpreted as an intersection between those things. Through a series of nine mid-size panels, she draws parallels between the emotional and physical spheres—mind and body— and the oft-ignored connections between them. It’s an ode to Eastern philosophies on one level (“Western culture doesn’t recognize how we’re all in different stages of a healing wound”), but doubles as a very graphic take on the concepts of injury, healing, and irreparable damage. Each piece is titled after a medical term that depicts

a stage in the healing process, (Epithelializing, Necrotic, Eschar) complete with a detour through infection (Serous) and a scar (Cicatrix). Magnified Alleviation is the culmination of a year’s worth of work, and was designed, partially, in response to a challenge from Daemen’s Fine Arts department. “I was told by Daemen that I needed to complete a series of flat paintings, which is something I’d managed not to do during my time there,” she said. “I had to really force myself to work flat, but that led to a greater sense of satisfaction in completing the project. You might say I felt like I tried to do something they’d buy. I really poured my whole heart into it and became super infatuated with the process. In the end, the head of the department hugged me.” And rightfully so: Maybe the most impressive aspect of Schmidt’s achievement is that Magnified Alleviation very obviously struggles to stay flat. In other words, her creative personality still beams from every inch of it despite the perceived compromise in presentation. The pieces bubble and bend, straining not to jump off the foam surfaces at their foundation. Little peaks and valleys sometimes crawl just past the designated edges, but it all fits within the conceptual framework, especially since wounds change shape as they heal—it’s not meant to be so tidy and exacting. It also serves to link the pieces in a way that suggests a process, as if they’re reaching out to be closer to one another. The three-dimensional aspect of the Alleviation panels is something that runs through everything Schmidt does these days, since she’s taken to using a mixture of found materials and curiously repurposed “non-art” objects as a way of bending meaning and challenging convention. She keeps a hodgepodge of random items in her studio closet for future use, and the ideas about how to use them sometimes come in flashes. In

other situations, objects end up claiming their own role in her work, as if telling her where and how they belong. An in-progress installation she describes as being interactive—made to fit two people at a time into the actual structure— utilizes chicken wire, mattress pads, leather sewing utensils, old sheets, and drop-cloths. Regardless of how the ideas come together, she says the end goal of an exhibit is always in mind. She uses mediation and writing as vehicles for clarifying the metaphors in her artwork. Schmidt seems aware that being in Buffalo affords her choices and opportunities that might be more hard-won elsewhere, but she isn’t too terribly daunted by the prospect of fiercer competition. In fact, she welcomes it as an opportunity for growth. Meanwhile, she’s been working at 464 Gallery and at Manuel Barreto Furniture where she’ll be building a new installation in the near future. On Friday, February 5, she’ll have a trio of pieces in a group show at Dreamland, entitled Bodily Echo, which is being curated by Dana Tyrrell. She’s been applying for grants, and overall, the future looks bright. “I think it’s really encouraging to be an artist here,” she said. “The galleries are very accessible, it’s a close knit community…I feel like I fit in and it feels good to be supported. But it’s also important for artists to have more art coming, to be building more ideas, and dealing with more competition. I try not to be afraid, but instead just to learn. You don’t always create awesome things, but at least there’s a lesson in each experience. Without that, you’re going to drown.” Magnified Alleviation is viewable by appointment through February 4 at Tri-Main, 2495 Main Street, Suite 530. Email: jaimeschmidtart@gmail.com. P

DAILYPUBLIC.COM / JANUARY 20 - FEBRUARY 2, 2016 / THE PUBLIC

ARTS REVIEW

IN GALLERIES NOW

#315 –Death of Heroin Chic by Joseph Stanek.

= ART OPENING

GENERATIONS: STUDIO 464 PAST & PRESENT An exhibition of work by current and former resident artists at 464 Gallery BY JACK FORAN TWO SCULPTURES by Marissa Lehner are among the more interest-

ing items in the current 464 Gallery show, featuring works by gallery resident artists from the past six or seven years.

Both sculptures represent life forms, life processes. One is called Shell and is composed of glued strips and layers of corrugated cardboard in an intriguing open funnel paisley teardrop shape. The other is called Breath and is as delicate and fragile-looking in form and construction—and as to the life process it evokes—as Shell looks sturdy and perduring. Breath is a kind of double-bladder construction of thin strips of printed paper meshwork over two light-wire armatures, connected by a kind of shared appendage, shared tail. So lungs of a sort, but not as components of a larger biological entity, but life forms on their own, otherwise disembodied. Breathing and moving and ingesting nutrient all by means of the same respiratory-type action. Alicia Malik has a watercolor painting on paper called Dust, in several senses. Depicting a dead hornet, arms—legs—tucked to thorax in what looks like a defensive posture, against a background spatter of gray to blue to green gray. Tara Sasiadek has a triptych of vertically oriented paintings with an underwater lost in the kelp strands and other seaweed sense. All quite mysterious, each painting featuring a portion of a face and a hand or hands and forearm or forearms, and snaky sea vegetation, or in one case what could be coils of a sea serpent. With mysterious titles for the sections, such as To Labor in the Service of his Daemon, and The Lady is the Tiger. Joseph Stanek has an impressive photo of a striking but listless-looking female subject in jeans shorts and possibly shirtless but clutching a teddy bear in such a way as to achieve modesty, in a cluttered garage setting, greasy tools and vehicles and equipment in the background. The enigmatic but ominous-sounding title of the piece is #315 -Death of Heroin Chic. Jamie Schmidt has a mixed media sculptural installation in a room corner, consisting of large plaques of some plastery material—one plaque on each corner wall, and one black and one white—and suspended between them a dirty tangle of shredded fabric, loose fiber, string, wire, and rusty metal chain. The piece is entitled Suspended Between. Max Collins has a signature large-format photo wheat-pasted on an understructure of what seems to be vertically oriented lath. The further signature distressed photo paper effect extends in this case to ver-

Shell by Marissa Lehner.

GENERATIONS: STUDIO 464 PAST & PRESENT 464 GALLERY / 464 AMHERST ST, BUFFALO (716) 983-2112 / 464GALLERY.COM

tical slice gaps over interstices between the lath strips. The black and white photo depicts an ice floes jam. Reminiscent of nature spectacle paintings by German Romantic Caspar David Friedrich. The work is called First Thaw (for CMT). And Christina Laing has a dark-toned photo in shades of gray to black, called Synapse. Showing the hard to decipher ruins interior of a former church or sacristy room, with once elegant chandeliers—the one closest to the viewer hanging perilously from its electrical cord— and an emblem mural depicting a royal crown and Christian cross. The exhibit is entitled Generations. It continues till February 12.

10 THE PUBLIC / JANUARY 27 - FEBRUARY 2, 2016 / DAILYPUBLIC.COM

464 Gallery (464 Amherst Street, Buffalo, NY 14207 464gallery.com): Generations: Studio 464 Past & Present, work by Max Collins, Christina Laing, Marissa Lehner, Alicia Malik, Ryan Mis, Tara Sasiadek, Jaime Schmidt, Joe Stanek, CJ Szatkowski, Dave Tarsa, Dana Tyrrell-Murray, and Thomas Webb. On view through Feb 10. Wed-Fri: 12-6, Sat-Sun: 12-4, by event or appointment. Albright-Knox Art Gallery (1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222, 882-8700, albrightknox. org): Monet & the Impressionist Revolution, 18601910, on view through Mar 20. Looking at Tomorrow: Light and Language from The Panza Collection, 1967–1990 on view through Feb 7, 2016. Erin Shirreff monographs. Tue-Sun 10am-5pm, open late First Fridays until 10pm. Art Dialogue Gallery (5 Linwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14209 wnyag.com): Edward G. Bisone, A California Suite. On view through Mar 18 2016. Tue-Fri 11am5pm, Sat 11am-3pm. Artists Group Gallery (Western New York Artists Group) (1 Linwood Ave, Buffalo, NY 14209, 716885-2251, wnyag.com): Members show on view through Feb 12. Tue-Fri 11am-5pm, Sat 11am-3pm. Betty’s Restaurant (370 Virginia Street, Buffalo, NY 14201, 362-0633, bettysbuffalo.com): Captured Travels, water media paintings by Carol Case Siracuse. On view through Mar 20. Tue-Thu, 8am9pm, Fri 8am-10pm, Sat 9am-10pm, Sun 9am2pm. Benjaman Gallery (419 Elmwood Avenue Buffalo, NY 14222, thebenjamangallery.com): Man of Extremes: A Survey of the Work of Wes Olmsted. Thu-Sat 11am-5pm. BT&C Gallery (1250 Niagara Street, Buffalo, NY 14213, 604-6183, btandcgallery.com): Features, paintings by Julian Montague, on view through Jan 23. Fri 12-5pm or by appointment. Buffalo Arts Studio (Tri Main Building 5th Floor, 2495 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14214, 8334450, buffaloartsstudio.org): Auto-Cannibalism by Mark Snyder; DopeDupe by Peter Sowiski on view through Mar 4. Tue-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat 10am-2pm, Fourth Fridays until 8pm. Buffalo & Erie County Central Library (1 Lafayette Square, Buffalo, NY 14203, 858-8900, buffalolib. org): Milestones on Science: Books That Shook the World! 35 rare books from the history of science, on second floor. Mon-Sat 8:30am-6:00pm, Sun 12-5pm. Burchfield Penney Art Center (1300 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222, 878-6011, burchfieldpenney.org): Art in Craft Media, on view through Jan 24 Squeaky Wheel: 30th Anniversary Exhibition, on view through Jan 24, 2016. Through These Gates: Buffalo’s First African American Architect, John E. Brent, on view through Mar 27, 2016. Inquisitive Lens: Richard Kegler/P22 Type Foundry: Charles E. Burchfield (The Font Project), on view through Jan 10; Body Norms, selections from the Spong collection on view through Mar 11; Artists Seen: photographs of contemporary artists by David Moog; Mystic North: Burchfield, Sibelius, & Nature, on view through Jan 31; A Few of Our Favorite Things: Recent Acquisitions 2013-2015, on view through Apr 11. Roycroft from the Collection, on view through Jun 24. Tue, Wed, Fri (Second Fridays until 8pm), Sat 10am-5pm & Sun 1-5pm. Admission $5-$10, children 10 and under free. Castellani Art Museum (5795 Lewiston Road, Niagara University, NY 14109, 286-8200, castellaniartmuseum.org): Paintings in Progress, paintings by Robert Harris. On view through April 24. Tue-Sat 11am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm. The CG Jung Center (408 Franklin Street, Side Entrance, Buffalo, NY 14202, apswny.com): The Omega Point Project: The Noosphere, 2012 and Beyond, graphite drawings by Lory Pollina. Artist talk Fri, Feb 5, 7pm and Tue, Feb 23, 7:30pm. Collect Art Now (Virtual gallery, collectartnow. com): Featured artists: Rita Argen Auerbach, Emily Churco, A.J. Fries, Evan Hawkins, Mark Lavatelli, Polly Little, Esther Neisen, Maria Pabico LaRotonda, and Jason Seeley. Dana Tillou Fine Arts (417 Franklin Street, Buffalo, NY 14202, 716-854-5285, danatilloufinearts. com): The Old and the New: 180 Years of Painting and the Arts. Wed-Fri 10:30am-5pm, Sat 10:30am4pm.. El Buen Amigo (114 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14201, 885-6343, elbuenamigo.org): Hispanic Christian folk art exhibit. Mon-Sat 11am-7pm, Sun 11am-5pm. El Museo (91 Allen Street, Buffalo, NY 14202, 464-4692, elmuseobuffalo.org): Matterz of the Fact, work by John Jennings. Opening reception Fri, Feb 5, 7-9pm. Tue-Sat 12-5pm. Enjoy the Journey Art Gallery (1168 Orchard Park Road, West Seneca, NY 14224, 675-0204, etjgallery.com): Ob La Di, Ob La Da, Life Goes On: A Evening with the Beatles. On view through Jan 30. Tue & Wed 11-6pm, Thu & Fri 2-6pm, Sat 11-4pm. Hallwalls (341 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14202, 854-1694, hallwalls.org): Amid/In WNY Part 6 installation works by Caitlin Cass and David Mitchell, paintings by Jay Carrier, drawings by Nicholas Ruth, Joan Linder, and Todd Lesmeister, book sculptures by Scott McCarney, and photographic diptychs by Charles Clough. Tue-Fri 11am-6pm, Sat 11am-2pm, Closed on Sundays & Mondays. Karpeles Manuscript Library (North Hall) (220 North St., Buffalo, NY 14201): Great Moments in Medical History, on view through Apr 28. Tue-Sun 11am4pm.

IN GALLERIES NOW ARTS PHOTO BY DAVID MOOG

LEARN TO FENCE AGILITY • BALANCE • CONFIDENCE

ARTIST SEEN

ANDREA MANCUSO Andrea Mancuso is a media and installation artist, educator, and arts administrator. A Buffalo native, she received a BA from SUNY Buffalo in 1989 and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1993. She and her collaborator Peter D’Auria have worked together as the duo “virocode” since the 1980s, creating video- and photography-based projects exploring the intersection of art and science that have been presented throughout the US and Europe. Mancuso has taught in the art department at Nichols School since 1999. For more information on her work, visit virocode.com. -RON EHMKE

1/8V

Artists Seen: Photographs of Artists in the 21st Century is an ongoing project by photographer David Moog in partnership with the Burchfield Penney Art Center at SUNY Buffalo State. Moog has set out to make portraits of every self-identified working artist and arts professional in Western New York. To be included in the project, call David Moog directly at 716-472-6721 or contact the center at 716-878-4131. Artists working in all media are welcome; visit burchfieldpenney.org for more information.

Puerta by Denton Crawford.

Karpeles Manuscript Museum (Porter Hall) (453 Porter Ave, Buffalo, NY 14201): Maps of the United States. Tue-Sun 11am-4pm. Meibohm Fine Arts (478 Main Street, East Aurora, NY 14052, 652-0940, meibohmfinearts.com): Winter Feature: New & Rediscovered on view through Feb 13. Tue-Sat 9:30am-5:30pm. MUNDO IMAGES Gallery (Tri-Main Center, 2495 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14214, Suite #255 Lobby): Colors From My Gypsy Soul, watercolors by Fritz Raiser. Tue-Fri, 11:00am-4:30pm. Native American Museum of Art at Smokin’ Joe’s (2293

Saunders Settlement Road, Sanborn, NY 14123, 261-9251) Open year round and free. Exhibits Iroquois artists work. 7am-9pm. Niagara Arts and Cultural Center (1201 Pine Avenue, Niagara Falls, NY 14301, 282-7530, thenacc.org): ”I Can See Canaan Land”: Artists of Color exhibition inspired by African-American experience: Betty Pitts Foster, Cheryl Gorski, Cornelia Dohse-Peck, Dejuan Hunt, George Pagano, Michael Beam, Michelle Costa, Phyllis L. Thompson, Richmond Futch Jr., Tim Maloney, Youssou Lo, Jessica Thorpe, and Ray Robertson. On view through Feb 21. MonFri 9am-5pm, Sat & Sun 12-4pm.

Niagara County Community College Dolce Valvo Art Center (3111 Saunders Settlement Road, Sanborn, NY 14132, 614-5975): Give Up the Ghost work by Denton Crawford. On view through Feb 24, 2016. Opening reception Jan 28, 12:30-2pm with an artist’s talk 2-3pm. Mon & Tue 12-5pm, Wed & Thu 12-7pm, Fri 12-3pm, Sat 11-3pm, closed Sundays. Nichols School Gallery at the Glenn & Audrey Flickinger Performing Arts Center (1250 Amherst Street, Buffalo, NY 14216, 332-6300, nicholsschool.org/ artshows?rc=0): Seeing Through Nature: new mandalas by Jody Hanson, on view through Mar 16. Mon-Fri 8am-4pm, Closed Sat & Sun Pausa Art House (19 Wadsworth Street, Buffalo, NY 14201, 697-9069 pausaarthouse.com): The Abstract Tableau, paitings by Mary Begley. On view through Feb 27. Live Music Thu-Sat. See website for more info. Queen City Gallery (617 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, 868-8183, queencitygallery.tripod. com): Neil Mahar, David Pierro, Candace Keegan, John Farallo, Chris McGee,Tim Raymond, Eileen Pleasure, Eric Evinczik, Barbara Crocker, Thomas Bittner, Joshua Nickerson, Susan Redenbach, Barbara Lynch Johnt, Kristopher Whatever, Michael Mulley. Tue-Fri 11am-4pm and by appointment. RO (732 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222, 240-9387, rohomeshop.com): Recent work by Irene Haupt. Tue-Sat 11am-6pm, Sun 11am-4pm, closed Mondays. Sports Focus Physical Therapy (531 Virginia Street, Buffalo, NY, 14202, 332-4838, sportsfocuspt. com): Prints by Jane Marinsky. On view through Feb 28. Mon-Fri 9am-5pm. Spot Coffee (1406 Hertel Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14216): Celebrate Buffalo, paintings by Stephen Coppola. On view through Jan 2016. Starlight Studio and Art Gallery (340 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14202, starlightstudio.org): Trevor Grabill with Larell Potter. Opening reception Fri, Feb 5. On view through Feb 26. Mon-Fri 9-4pm. Studio Hart (65 Allen Street, Buffalo, NY 14202, 536-8337, studiohart.com): The Rest Is Silence: new work by Amy Greenan and Elizabeth Switzer. Tue-Fri 11:30am-3:30pm, Sat 12-4pm. Sugar City (1239 Niagara Street, Buffalo, NY 14213, buffalosugarcity.org): The Belt Line: Hiding in Plain Sight: photographs by Brendan Bannon, Max Collins, Molly Jarboe, Christina Laing, and David Torke. On view through Jan 31. Open every Fri 5:30-7:30pm and by event. TGW@497 Gallery (497 Franklin Street, Buffalo, NY 14202, 981-9415): 3 Months, new paintings by David Vitrano. Wed-Fri 12-5pm, Sat 12-3pm. Tri-Main Center (2495 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14214, 5th floor, 697-2599): Magnified Alleviation, mixed media by Jamie Schmidt. Temporary gallery space. Private appointments possible, call or email jamieschmidtart@gmail.com. UB Anderson Gallery (1 Martha Jackson Place, Buffalo, NY 14214, 829-3754, ubartgalleries.org): A Tribute to David K. Anderson, Cravens World: The Human Aesthetic, on view through Dec 31, 2016. Wed-Sat 11am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm. UB Art Gallery (Center for the Arts, North Campus, Amherst, NY 645-6913, ubartgalleries.org): Splitting Light, work from Shiva Aliabadi, Anna Betbeze, Amanda Browder, Erin Curtis, Gabriel Dawe, Sam Falls, Nathan Green, John Knuth, David Benjamin Sherry, and Hap Tivey. On view through Jan 10, 2016. Tue-Fri 11am-5pm, Sat 1-5pm.

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PINK SUNSET by Kathryn Vajda, whose work (and the work of artist Bryan Hopkins) will be exhibited at Indigo Art Gallery February 5-28, with an opening reception February 5, 6-9pm. DAILYPUBLIC.COM / JANUARY 20 - FEBRUARY 2, 2016 / THE PUBLIC 13

EVENTS CALENDAR PUBLIC APPROVED

BEAN FRIEND The Moving Decade (LP) Recommended if you like: Nils Frahm, Harold Budd

Bean Friend makes his Buffalo debut with The Moving Decade, a series of beautiful, reverberated minimal piano pieces. The album was recorded inside of Silo City’s Marine A this fall and features artwork by Max Collins.

BURNT SUGAR: FRIDAY JAN 29 DOPESEX&DEM WILD BUFFALO LOVE JOINTS 9PM / NIETZSCHES 248 ALLEN ST. / $10 [FUNK] On Friday, January 29, New York City improvisational music group Burnt Sugar, the Arkestra Chamber will come to Nietzsche’s to perform two sets presented by Hallwalls. One set will be a series of original pieces, led by Burnt Sugar’s conduction master, Greg Tate. The other will be a set of Rick James cuts titled "DopeSex&Dem Wild Buffalo Love Joints." That set will be led by the musician Shelley Nicole, who chose to do the music of Rick James because, as she tells me, he has been a part of her musical life since childhood. “For as much as everyone knows him, you know his music is still being played on the radio, but I feel like he doesn’t get as much love for the work and, dare I say, genius that the music really is,” she says.

LAUBE’S OLD SPAIN Club Bleek (LP) RIYL: Oneohtrix Point Never, James Ferraro, Arca

On New Year’s Eve, electronic music producer lauBe’s Old sPaiN (perhaps named after the old Buffalo restaurant?) released a substantial set of fluorescent, hissing house tunes titled Club Bleek. The album punches hyper pop beats into driving house tracks, sneaking in the occasional ambient interlude.

“So many Rick James songs are so iconic. So for us, it’s about bringing in different rhythms, different instrumentation. Maybe where the singers might be, maybe the horns or the keys will land or vice versa. I know this is Buffalo, this is his hometown. People are going to be like ‘What’s this woman going to do?’ But I’m really excited about it.” Burnt Sugar doesn’t work like your typical band. The group is led by utilizing the conduction system, conceived of by the composer Butch Morris and passed on to Burnt Sugar leader Greg Tate. Conduction is a term derived from the world of physics and is meant to describe how the band’s leader “conducts” a freely improvising group of musicians. Burnt Sugar has released more than a dozen records full of original music, but has recently begun delving into the repertoires of some of their favorite artists. “Rick is a person who carried on the mission of George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. He really brought this star quality to funk, this rock

WEDNESDAY JAN 27 Investigative Post: Trivia Night 7pm Pearl Street Grill & Brewery, 76 Pearl St

[TRIVIA] Investigative Post returns with Trivia Night on Wednesday, January 27 at 7pm at Brawler’s Deli, in the basement of Pearl Street Grill. Kevin O’Connell of WGRZ is quizmaster. Trivia topics include Buffalo news, sports, weather, and history. -THE PUBLIC STAFF

TOMOREAUX At Peace, Overlook (LP) RIYL: Do Make Say Think, Explosions in the Sky

On January 15, alternative rock band Tomoreaux released a set of post-rock-inspired shoegaze tunes titled At Peace, Overlook. The band is currently on an East Coast tour in support of the album.

Mad Max: Fury Road 7:30pm North Park Theatre, 1428 Hertel Avenue $9.50 for adults and $7.50 for students

[FILM] What a lovely week to see a dystopian action flick about cars and mayhem. That’s the plan at North Park Theatre as they celebrate the recent Oscar nomination of George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road by hosting screenings of that film and Miller’s 1979 original Mad Max. You can still catch two more screenings of Fury Road, a nominee for best picture, on Wednesday and Thursday, Janu-

14 THE PUBLIC / JANUARY 27 - FEBRUARY 2, 2016 / DAILYPUBLIC.COM

star quality to funk, like a Sly, or a Hendrix, or a Bowie,” says Tate. “He just has so much versatility and variety. He could give you just great sexy dance tunes, crazy rocked-out numbers, or amazing ballads. And they’re very much his own style.” After performing a musical theater rendition of Melvin Van Peebles’s classic blaxploitation film Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song, in 2011 they continued down that path, producing shows based on the music of James Brown, as well as repertoire shows on David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, and Sun Ra. Musician Shelley Nicole got involved with Burnt Sugar for their James Brown show, which was titled "Indomitable" and starred Brandon Victor Dixon as James Brown. “[Greg Tate] asked me to be part of that. It was great. We did three nights at the Apollo. It was huge because we had two drums, a huge horn section, strings. It was an event,” says Nicole. Now, Nicole will be leading the band, using the conduction technique passed down from Butch Morris to Tate, and now to her. She’s still new to it, she says, though she leads her own, albeit smaller band, Shelley Nicole’s blaKbüshe. For her, coming to this process as a conductor has been about being open enough with the music to take it other places in the moment. “I’m pulling from Greg, who is pulling from Butch. I’m pulling from my life growing up in the choir, and I’m pulling from leading my own band,” she says. “It’s not like coming to a cover show. It’s about taking the music, reimagining it, and then sending it back out into the world as we imagined it.” -CORY PERLA

ary 27 and 28, at 7:30pm and 10pm. Tickets are $9.50 for adults and $7.50 for students— and the theater is also offering one free refill on popcorn for those who stay for both screenings. -NINA LAPRES

THURSDAY JAN 28 Scrabble Fest 2016 5pm The Filling Station, 745 Seneca St. $20 donation

[FUNDRAISER] Time to get your brain cells moving and get a little competitive as Literacy New York Buffalo-Niagara, Inc. (LNYBC) kicks off their 10th annual Scrabble Fest. Much like the years prior, Scrabble Fest 2016 will include good food and some fun competition, and garner money for LNYBC to spread the word on the importance of literacy in the City of Good Neighbors. The Scrabble Fest

2016 Kick-Off starts Thursday, January 28, 5-7:30pm at the Filling Station at Larkin Square. The rest of the tournament will be taking place in the houses of families participating in the competition over the next two months, with the finals taking place at the end of March. -NL

Donnell Rawlings 8pm Helium Comedy Club, 30 Mississippi St. $15-$31

[COMEDY] Donnell Rawlings has proven his acting chops with roles on Chappelle's Show (as Ashy Larry), and Guy Court, but his standup prowess shouldn’t be ignored. In the standup arena he shares observations on modern technology and race. Similar to greats like Chappelle, his comedy is universally accessible and hilarious. Catch Donnell Rawlings at Helium Comedy Club on Thursday, January 28 through Saturday, January 30. -KELLIE POWELL

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JAN 30

8PM / SENECA NIAGARA BEAR'S DEN, 310 4TH ST / $45 [POP] It’s been a busy few years for Kentucky-born Joan Osborne, beginning with the success of her interpretative blues homage, Bring It on Home, which featured gritty covers of tunes written by Ike Turner, Allen Toussaint, John Mayall, and Otis Redding. The collection achieved accolades galore, nominated for a 2013 Grammy—one of her seven total nominations. In 2014 she released Love and Hate, a pledge-supported collection of new material that’d been in the works for years, in addition to the debut set from Trigger Hippy. A rotating collective of session musicians, former Black Crowes, and, for a bit, Widespread Panic’s Jimmy Herring, Trigger Hippy provides a fantastic vehicle for Osborne’s restrained, soulful rasp and groove-centric spirit, placing her in a classic-rock setting that’s infused with Southern sensibilities. Their debut, which also largely features guitarist Jackie Greene, might be the most satisfying rock album she’s ever made. Then last fall, her multi-platinum breakthrough disc Relish celebrated its 20th anniversary with the expanded/deluxe treatment, including a 2xLP version, outtakes, and a demo of the Eric Bazilian-penned “One of Us,” which hit #4 back in 1995. A high-profile tour with Mavis Staples followed, but Osborne has stayed on the road one way or another throughout most of her career, doing a memorable stint with the Grateful Dead and appearing with Motown’s the Funk Brothers along the way. Despite these amazing opportunities, she’s been very forthcoming about feeling ill-at-ease with fame. When her follow-up to Relish failed to attract the same amount of attention as its predecessor, she said she was relieved. Since then, she’s recorded at her own pace and has kept her core audience close. For her show in Niagara Falls Friday night, January 29 at the Bear’s Den, Osborne continues supporting Love and Hate in a duo format with keyboardist Kevin Cotton, performing pared-down originals from throughout her career along with cherry-picked covers. -CHRISTOPHER JOHN TREACY

8pm Pausa Art House, 19 Wadsworth St. $10

[JAZZ] Consistently one of the hottest tickets in town, alto and flute master Bobby Militello returns to the PAUSA Art House with his quartet. Joined by Bobby Jones, Jim Coleman, and John Bacon, Jr., Bobby Militello is known from his work with the Dave Brubeck Quarter and Maynard Ferguson. -EVAN JAMES

FRIDAY JAN 29 GLOW (A Party on Ice) 7pm Canalside, 44 Prime St. $4-$6

[PARTY] Take off your platform shoes and put on skates instead, because Friday, January 29, the disco moves from the dance floor to the Ice at Canalside! With music provided by JPFreedom, Rufus Gibson, and Greg Twist Howze from Igloo Music, this promises to be the funkiest all-ages event in Buffalo. Admission to skate is $4 for kids 6-12, and $6 for those 13 and up. -EJ

Star People - Miles Davis Project

8pm Pausa Art House, 19 Wadsworth St. $10

[JAZZ] The PAUSA Art House hosts an ex-

clusive tribute to one of the most influential jazz musicians of all time: Star People—Miles Davis Project on Friday, January 29. George Caldwell, John Bacon, Bobby Militello, and other top local jazz artists honor the legendary trumpeter with a forward-looking treatment of his music. Miles Davis won numerous awards in his lifetime, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, and is cited as a major inspiration to many musicians. -EJ

SATURDAY JAN 30 Larkinville Ice Festival 10:30am Larkin Square, 745 Seneca Street

[FESTIVAL] For the second year in a row, Larkin Square, Hydraulic Hearth Restaurant & Brewery, and Flying Bison Brewery team up to host the family-friendly, activity packed Larkinville Ice Festival. The activity lineup, which is so long we can’t print even half of it, includes live music, food, crafts, vendors, games, and horse-drawn carriage rides. The event starts at 10:30am and rolls on until 3pm, so be sure to stop by and take in the winter wonderland. -EJ

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

Blouses of the Holy: a Tribute to Led Zeppelin

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PUBLIC APPROVED

Donna the Buffalo 7pm Buffalo Iron Works, 49 Illinois St. $22-$25

THIS WEEK'S AGENDA FRIDAY JANUARY 29

[ROCK] The name might have you assuming this is an indie-pop outfit, but Donna the Buffalo have been delivering a tasty blend of roots music since forming outside Ithaca in 1989. Along the way they’ve recorded with Jim Lauderdale and Bela Fleck, while vocalist Tara Nevins toured in Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann’s band BK3 back in 2009. It’s the skilled blend of folk, country, and rock, infused with elements of Cajun/zydeco music and flourishes of reggae that make this five-piece a consistent festival draw. That and the chemistry that comes from 25 years of touring together. They’re at Buffalo Iron Works on Saturday, January 30, with City of the Sun. -CJT

Hawkapalooza SOCK IT TO ME 6-11PM at Underground Nightclub, 274 Delaware Ave.

Join in the birthday fun with Jayme Coxx and Chevon Davis while supporting the Buffalo City Mission. Show starts at 8pm. Bring in new socks (socks for Coxx) for donation in lieu of birthday gifts.

SATURDAY JANUARY 30

DREAMLAND STORE OPENING 3-8PM at Dreamland, 387 Franklin St.

Utilizing the alchemical tradition of equal exchange (take what you want/leave something), the store will house clothing books, plants, shoes, and art supplies. All items free with the exchange of another item in good condition (quality only!). Two items max per exchange.

SATURDAY JANUARY 30

RING OF FIRE: LGBT NIGHT 8-11PM at MusicalFare Theatre, 4380 Main St, Amherst

The theater sends a special invitation to the LGBT community for its opening weekend of Ring of Fire, a jukebox musical based on the music of Johnny Cash. Stick around after the show for an intimate cabaret performance with live music and a full bar. Use promo code LOOP for $5 off your ticket.

SATURDAY JANUARY 30

THE MAIN DRAG’S TOTALLY AWESOME ’80S SHOW 8PM at The Grange Theatre, 22 Main St, Hamburg

Join Robotika 2Kay and the Fem Follies— Chevon Davis, Keke Valasquez-Lord, and Melody Michaels—for a night of drag in the suburbs in an intimate cabaret setting. Meet-and-greet with the queens after the show. Tickets: >16, $10.

LOOPMAGAZINEBUFFALO.COM

8pm Mohawk Place, 47 E Mohawk St. $5

[ROCK] Hosted by Arlowe Price and Suzanne Suchan, Hawkapalooza is designed as a suicide prevention/awareness show that will feature an eclectic local lineup performing selections from the 1990s. We’re told no tune will get played twice! Participants announced thus far include C.O.T.C., Tony Derosa, Floozie, and Nine Layers Deep, along with Nirvana tribute band Floyd the Barber, and the Pearl Jam cover outfit Unleash the Lion. Music featured will include Beastie Boys, Jane’s Addiction, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, STP, the Presidents of the United States of America, Cake, Better Than Ezra, Toadies, Temple of the Dog, Melvins, Radiohead, Splendora, Incubus, and Porno for Pyros. Proceeds from Hawkapalooza will benefit Crisis Services of Buffalo and Pawsitive for Heroes, an organization which pairs at-risk soldiers with trained companion dogs. All for $5, but bring extra cash for raffles if you can. 8pm, Saturday, January 30 at Mohawk Place. -CJT

Berrix

REVENGE OF THE SYNTHS FRIDAY JAN 29 9PM / DNIPRO UKRAINIAN CULTURAL CENTER, 562 GENESEE ST. / $12 [ELECTRONIC/DANCE] Another huge dance party is coming to the Dnipro Ukrainian Cultural Center. This one is called Revenge of the Synths, presented by Dark Waves Entertainment, and it takes place this Friday, January 29. Headliner Berrix will bring some deep dubstep beats to the US from his hometown of Antwerp, Belgium, for his first show in the States. Fans know this producer from his releases on labels like Full Flex Audio and Dub Selection. Support will come from Eyes Everywhere, Twist, Basha, Chunin, Flannels b2b Mattrix, Dub’l Forte, Devious b2b Kristen Heart, Sunglasses Mike, and more. As you can imagine, this is a Star Wars-themed party, so make creative use of those glow sticks and let’s see who’s got the most impressive lightsaber. -CORY PERLA

PUBLIC APPROVED

Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto 8pm Kleinhans Music Hall, 3 Symphony Circle $34.50-$86.50

[CLASSICAL] Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto dazzles. JoAnn Falletta is on the podium for this performance, which features violinist Chloe Hanslip. Hanslip has established a strong international reputation for her impeccable violin work. Her extensive repertoire stretches across the classical eras virtuosos, such as Brahms and Tchaikovsky, and also includes many contemporary works by modern composers, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Ryan Adams. Hanslip performs Tchaikovsky and Brahms’s beloved Symphony No. 2 at Kleinhan’s Music Hall on Saturday, January 30. -KP

Don't Shoot the Messengers: Charged Particles Tribute to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers 8pm Pausa Art House, 19 Wadsworth St. $7

[JAZZ] An all-star group plays homage to legendary jazz drummer Art Blakey and his group the Jazz Messengers this weekend at the PAUSA Art House on Saturday, January 30. Jon Lehning, Dave Schiavone, Harry Fackelman, George Caldwell, Harry Graser, Jack Kulp, and Alec Dube make up this collective paying tribute to one of the greatest jazz percussionists of the 20th century. -EJ

The Get Backs 8:30pm Sportsmen's Tavern, 326 Amherst St. $15-$20

[TRIBUTE] Get Back to Beatlemania with this annual celebration of all things Fab Four (as well as Paul McCartney’s Wings—always a fun inclusion), featuring a collective of revered local talent: HEARsay’s Cathy Carfagna, Valkyries keyboardist Joe Rozler, drummer Rob Lynch, and singer/songwriter/guitarist Geno McManus. There are also bound to be some unannounced surprises. Saturday, January 30, at Sportsmen’s Tavern. -CJT

16 THE PUBLIC / JANUARY 27 - FEBRUARY 2, 2016 / DAILYPUBLIC.COM

PHOTO BY J. AKIYAMA/KINISISPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

MISSION IMPROVABLE: FLUID BODIES FRIDAY JAN 29 8PM / WASTELAND STUDIOS, 700 MAIN ST. / $8-$20 [DANCE] “Mission Improvable: Fluid Bodies,” curated by Alicia Grayson, Nancy Hughes, and Monica Karwan, will be held at 8pm on Friday, January 29 on the sixth floor of Wasteland Studios. The show includes several Buffalo area dancers, along with a few out-of-town visitors. Local dancers Alexia Buono and James Litz will present their piece, which addresses the question, “How do healing, loving, and movement beyond rigidity and suppression occur between two strangers?” Ashley Vita Verde and Aaron Water, also local favorites, will bring to life their work “get up and get down,” which features them playing with space, sound, lifts, falls, presence, and musical interaction. Local dancer Courtney Barrow will also perform a solo. Dance artists Alicia Grayson and Ryder Turner from Boulder, Colorado will offer up a duet as well. In addition, the 30 participants from the Mission Improvable: Embodying Contact workshop will perform a group piece. Pre-show tickets are $12 and available at brownpapertickets.com. Tickets at the door are $20 and $8 for students and seniors. Co-sponsors for the event include Pick of the Crop Dance, Richmond Ferry Church, Buffalo Contact Improv Community, BCIJPG, and Key Bank. -VANESSA OSWALD

CALENDAR EVENTS PUBLIC APPROVED

Wuki 9pm Studio at the Waiting Room, 334 Delaware Ave. $10-$15

[ELECTRONIC/DANCE] Massive is the word that comes to mind when thinking of Denver’s Wuki. Check out last year’s “Get Down” and you’ll get the idea. A banger of the highest magnitude, “Get Down” gets straight to the point with little foreplay, whipping out a big, floppy, booty-tech bassline and tingling snare claps. Fellow lovers of all things booty, Buffalo’s Eyes Everywhere and Dusty Bits will spin in support of Wuki when he comes to the Studio at the Waiting Room on Saturday, January 30. -CP

SUNDAY JAN 31 Buffalo Soup-Fest 11am Buffalo Niagara Convention Center, 153 Franklin St $5

[FESTIVAL] Returning to downtown Buffalo for the sixth consecutive year is the annual Buffalo Soup-Fest, where a list of local restaurants come together and celebrate how wonderful soup really is. The event will take place Sunday, January 31 from 11am to 6pm at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center. Admission is $5 and free for children five years and younger. Part of the proceeds will be donated to different local charities around the Buffalo area. If you have nothing to do on Sunday (since the Bills aren’t playing anymore), come down and try a variety of soups Western New York has to offer. -NATHANIEL SWEETMAN

TAKING BACK SATURDAY: SATURDAY JAN 30 A NIGHT OF EMO MUSIC VOL. 2 10PM / MILKIE'S, 522 ELMWOOD AVE. / $5 [EMO] Side-swept bangs, studded belts, the grunge-esque eyeliner in the prime of your youth— this Saturday head down to Milkie’s and relive it all over again for the second volume of Taking Back Saturday, where buffaBLOG has summoned local emo mavens from past and present to take over the DJ booth. This installment will feature After Dark Entertainment’s Dennis Ferry, Jay Zubricky of GCR Audio, and Kevin Scoma from Mandy K. You can expect hits from Brand New, Saves the Day, and American Football alongside plenty of other iconic emo jams. Come wearing a discontinued band tee shirt. -JEANNETTE CHIN

PLEASE

PUBLIC APPROVED

Golden Gloves

NOT REMOVE

3pm Buffalo RiverWorks, 359 Ganson St. $25-$50

[SPORT] For a few short years in the early 1980s, a young heavyweight dominated the Upstate circuit of the Golden Gloves. More than 20 years later, Mike Tyson still fondly recalls making the trip to Syracuse in Cus D’Amato’s station wagon to compete in the contest. About a decade ago, the Upstate tourney returned to its erstwhile home in the Queen City of the Lakes, treating us to three, sometimes four rounds of events through which the athletes progress toward the national amateur championships. Two Golden Gloves 2015 alumni—Albany’s Abraham Nova (who won the nationals in 2014) and Brandon Lynch—came close to qualifying for the Olympics this summer before falling short in decision losses. Both will be turning pro. There might not be another Tyson, but there’s always a high level of boxing at the Gloves. Grouped by weight and experience, approximately 40 fighters turn out in the first round to ply the skills they’ve been honing in gyms in all corners of the state. It’ll be a great afternoon of boxing this Sunday, January 31, in the expansive RiverWorks complex, surrounded by the grain elevators that employed many of Buffalo’s first boxers. -AARON LOWINGER

CALVIN LOVE MONDAY FEB 1

Art of Jazz: Yosvany Terry Quintet

8PM / THE 9TH WARD, 341 DELAWARE AVE. / $8-$10

3pm Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1285 Elmwood Ave $24-$29

[INDIE] With a propensity for pop hooks and boundless experimentation, and a treasure trove of sounds

[JAZZ] The Aklbright-Knox's Art of Jazz series returns with the Yosvany Terry Quintet. Terry is a Cuban-born musician who moved to New York in 1999. He has orchestrated his career around refashioning the sounds of Afro-Cuban jazz, favoring a flexible, harmonically sophisticated, and culturally full-bodied brand of fusion. His Grammy-nominated sophomore release, Today’s Opinion, is a perfect representation of this. Catch the Yosvany Terry Quintet at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery on Sunday, January 31. -KP

IS LOAD BEARING BUY COMMUNITY

ranging from vintage to galactic, Calvin Love is a master mixologist of indie-pop cocktails. The self-described “lo-fi bedroom pop” artist debuted in 2012 with his single “New Radar.” Borrowing inspiration and a few blazing synths from 1980s new wave, “New Radar” is comprised of audio gold, fit for Phil Spector’s wall of sound, covered by a guy with a guitar and a four-track. On his latest release, Super Future, Love transcends time and space with tracks delving into classic rock and the disco swank of the 1970s, and others that sound like they were written by a space-traveling, lovesick alien; one can’t help but question whether or not Love has access to Dr. Who’s TARDIS. Love’s flair for guitar is on full display, especially on the dark, raw rockers like “Creepin,” which features blistering guitar, organic sounds, and Love’s vocals, which are stripped of much of the robotic shine that’s normally present. As Love continues to grow and mature, his musical mission becomes crystal clear: to create indie gems that rock, pop, and play by their own rules. Catch Calvin Love at the Ninth Ward at Babeville on Monday, February 1.

-KELLIE POWELL

COMMUNITYBEERWORKS.COM

DAILYPUBLIC.COM / JANUARY 20 - FEBRUARY 2, 2016 / THE PUBLIC 17

THEATER REVIEW

PLAYBILL

Peter Palmisano, Anthony Alcocer, and Candice Kogul.

PHOTO BY GENE WITKOWSKI

ALL MY SONS At the Irish Classical Theatre Company, ancient wisdom versus profit by any means BY DOUGLAS LEVY ON THE DOME OVER THE BANKING FLOOR

of the Fountain Plaza branch of M&T Bank (the building originally was Buffalo Savings Bank) are painted these words: “VIRTUE is the ROOT and WEALTH is the FLOWER.” This paraphrase of an aphorism by Confucius directs that a prince must have those characteristics of virtue, namely rectitude and justice, courage, benevolence, politeness, veracity and sincerity, honor, loyalty, and self-control, in order to accrue wealth and pleasure. This dictum tragically is lost on Joe Keller, the protagonist in Arthur Miller’s award-winning 1947 play All My Sons, currently running through February 7, 2016 at Irish Classical Theatre Company. Performances at the Andrews Theatre, 625 Main Street, are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30pm with matinées on Saturday 3pm and Sunday at 2pm. (Tickets: 716-853-4282 or online a www.irishclassicaltheatre.com.) All My Sons is about the sins of the father visited on his sons, families torn apart, and the questionable morality that is at the heart of capitalism. Joe (played by the ever easy-going Peter Palmisano) ran a foundry with his former partner, Steve Deever, who is serving time for selling faulty cylinder heads to the Army during the Second World War. These engine parts were determined to be responsible for nearly two-dozen fighter aircraft crashes that took the lives of the young airman who flew them. Joe escaped prosecution and profited well during the war, but his family suffered the loss of the older son Larry, whose death his mother Kate (the haunting Josie DiVincenzo) cannot accept. Convinced

Larry will someday return, she refuses to abide by the deepening relationship between her other son Chris (the earnest Anthony Alcocer) and Deever’s daughter Ann (the poignant Candice Kogul) who was Larry’s girl. The play opens with an uneasy truce among these principals: Joe lives without any sense of responsibility or culpability in the fraud and profiteering that sent his business partner to prison. Chris, who returned from war with an irreconcilable guilt over the lost lives of the company he commanded, is ashamed of the “loot” that his father profited by. Kate’s fixation on her missing-and-presumed-dead son has as much to do with her inability to accept reality on the one hand, and her need to continue the charade of Joe’s innocence on the other. The Kellers have become pariahs in their small, average American town, with neighbors, like the astrology-obsessed Frank Lubey (the wonderfully manic Rich Kaemer) or the philosophical Dr. Jim Bayliss (the forthright John Profeta), who sadly understands the grasp money holds on people, particularly his wife Sue (the scarily demanding Lisa Vitrano.) The tacit agreement among all these people to accept Joe’s version of events is shattered by the arrival of Ann’s brother George Deever (the intense Chris Kelly), who has just come from his father’s cell and is convinced that Joe is just as guilty, if not more so, than his father. The revelations and admissions in the last act not only destroy the false peace Joe has enjoyed at the expense of the truth, but shatter both the Keller and Deever families, laying to waste the lives of even the innocent.

18 THE PUBLIC / JANUARY 27 - FEBRUARY 2, 2016 / DAILYPUBLIC.COM

ALL MY SONS ANDREWS THEATRE 625 MAIN ST, BUFFALO 716-853-ICTC(4282) IRISHCLASSICALTHEATRE.COM

There is not a false note in any of the performances of this remarkably fine cast, deftly directed by Greg Natale, who zeroes in on the smoldering anger at the core of Arthur Millers perfectly wrought drama. Miller’s theme of the inevitable corruption of the individual by capitalism—the “prince” of industry who lacks the virtues of integrity, honesty or honor and therefore cannot resist the ends justifying the means imperative of saving his company—is with us still. We only have to witness General Motors’ ignoring a faulty ignition switch, Massey Energy’s cutting safety corners that precipitated the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, or Wall Street’s avarice as seen in both sub-prime mortgage scheme and subsequent defrauding of investors encouraged to buy credit default swaps that the banks knew were worthless, thus precipitating the deepest recession since the market crash of 1929. Miller’s play is a tragedy for the characters, and a cautionary tale for the rest of us: Attempting to acquire wealth without being a virtuous person yourself is a falsehood and inevitably will deny you the P wealth and happiness you seek.

ALL MY SONS (drama by Arthur Miller): Just after World War II, revelations about a military accident hits the homefront back in the States. Of course, there are chilling parallels to present treatment of combat forces. However, universal questions cannot be avoided about responsibility of individuals in a community crisis. Greg Natale, who directed Miller’s The Death of a Salesman for Irish Classical Theatre last season, returns to stage Peter Palmisano, Josie DiVicenzo, Chris Kelly, Anthony Alcocer, Candace Kogut, and others for the company. Opens January 15 and closes February 7 at Andrews Theatre, 625 Main Street, 716-853-ICTC(4282); irishclassicaltheatre.com. BAD JEWS (play written by Joshua Harmon): Four Gen X-ers share overnight quarters in a cramped Manhattan apartment. They’ve just been to a funeral of a concentration camp escapee grandfather. Old, beloved, a good man, a mensch, a good Jew. Zeyde’s up-and-coming descendants, maybe not so much. In this highly regarded script, Harmon layers infectious laughs and provocative speculation. Daphna, Jonah, Liam, and visiting shiksa girlfriend Molly tally the outward Jewishness—Hebrew names, Passover food, birthright trips to Israel—until they must grasp for the spiritual stuff that makes up a soul. Steve Vaughan directs Arin Lee Dandes, Jamie Nablo, Adam Rath, and Nick Stevens for Jewish Repertory Theatre. The show occupies Maxine and Robert Seller Theatre from February 4 through 28; 2640 North Forest Road, Getzville; 688-4114 x391; jewishrepertorytheatre.com. CHILDREN OF EDEN (musical based on the book of Genesis, script by John Caird, music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz): And yet another musical tapping a biblical source. And yet another such musical offered to us by Stephen Schwartz. Yes, he of Godspell—and Wicked and Pippin, for that matter. The show’s pivotal character is called Father and is a warmer and fuzzier version of the thundering Yahweh of the original testament. This is part of the intrinsic take of the show: The world spins upon the family dynamic of misdeed and forgiveness between parents and children. Begins on February 26 and closes on March 6 at Lancaster Opera House, 21 Central Avenue in Lancaster; 716-683-1776; lancopera.org. CITY OF CONVERSATION (a drama Anthony Giardina): In Washington, DC, there are several different arenas where games of power are played. Earlier this season, Kavinoky Theatre presented Both Your Houses, which showed politicos dueling in the Capitol’s back offices. Now the Kav provides a keyhole view of the genteel homes of well-heeled families that hobnob with the elected, using hospitality to forge political alliances. Like the real-life Pamela Harriman or Perle Mesta, the fictional Hester Ferris is as much a political moderator as she is a society hostess. Dinner parties achieve the intensity of national party conventions. Giardina’s story traces the ebb and flow of politics from the Reagan administration through that of Obama. Running at the Kav from February 26 through March 20, Porter and Prospect, on the D’Youville College campus; 716-829-7668; kavinokytheatre.com. EL HAJJ MALIK (a poetic drama by N.R. Davidson): Lorna C. Hill directs one of Ujima Company’s earliest productions as well as one of its most memorable. But since it has been 30 or so years since this show has appeared in Ujima’s repertory, it is time for a new generation of audience to hear this story and to appreciate Ujima’s unique telling of it. In a variety of poetic rhythms, the life story of Malcolm Little, known to most people as Malcolm X. The play is a search into the history of the events that made the boy into the man, as well as a speculation into the awesome, articulate, provocative legend who, perhaps, can be better understood 50 years after his death. Performances begin February 9 and continue through March 6. Ujima will perform this show Alleyway’s Main Street Cabaret, 672 Main Street; 716-281-0092 or ujimacoinc@me.com. END OF THE RAINBOW (drama with music written by Peter Quilter): The drama here is the late career struggle as Judy Garland prepares for a five-week gig in London, one of the final concert appearances. The music is a parcel of songs she rehearses and performs as part of her act. This international hit had a brief but notable run on Broadway. British actress Tracie Bennett earned Tony and Olivier award nominations for her performance as Garland, a grueling effort physically, emotionally, and vocally. Lisa Ludwig directs Greg Gjurich and Chris Hatch as the men in Judy’s life. Guest artist Natasha Drena stars as Garland. Through January 31 at Kavinoky Theatre, Porter and Prospect, on the D’Youville College campus; 716-829-7668; kavinokytheatre.com. FETCH CLAY, MAKE MAN (a play written by Will Power): In the 1930s, actor Steppin Fetchit made millions, the first black man to do so onscreen in Hollywood. Decades later Muhammed Ali reached greater heights in the boxing ring. The actor made his way by playing the slowerthan-slow fool to white characters. Of course, Ali would never diminish himself. Yet when the

ON STAGES THEATER

BUA’s Load More Guys opens February 16 at the Alleyway Theatre. PHOTO BY CHERYL GORSKI

old-timer and the newcomer met—and this play is based upon an actual meeting between the two legends—each one discovers wisdom from the other about celebrity, success, and the very nature of being a man. Laverne Clay, who is something of a legend here in Buffalo, directs this production for Paul Robeson Theatre Company with a cast including Johnny Rowe, Joe Giambra, Leon Copeland, and Courtney Turner. This drama opens on February 5 and plays through 28 at African American Cultural Center, 350 Masten Avenue, (716) 884-2013, aaccbuffalo.org. FREUD’S LAST SESSION (drama by Mark St. Germain): God. War. Science. Politics. Psychoanalysis. Atheism. Literature. Enough loaded topics of conversation so that it is not surprising that this session would last longer than the proscribed therapy session. Sigmund Freud, atheist-Jewish father of psychoanalysis, has found refuge in London as World War II ignites on the Continent. Freud, in his 80s and in the final stages of cancer, seeks lively conversation so invites C. S. Lewis, the English novelist turned Catholic and half Freud’s age, for a chat. Katie Mallinson directs Matt Whitten and David Oliver for Road Less Traveled Productions. Opens January 22 and continues through February 14, at the company’s new home 500 Pearl Street; 716-6293069; roadlesstraveledproductions.org. I DO! I DO! (musical with book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt): The team of Schmidt and Jones seem adamant in the belief in the simplicity oflove. They are the team who wrote The Fantasticks, the simplest boymeets-loses-reclaims-wins-girl musical of all time. I Do! I Do! is based on the charming but rarely performed The Fourposter by Jan De Hartog, which unreels a 50-year marriage in stage time featuring only one actor, one actress, and a bed. Agnes and Michael start as young and unsure, then ensconce themselves in the middle class, accruing a home, children, and social stature. Five decades later, they are still, at the bottom of it, unsure but are buoyed by their own company. Opens at Lancaster Opera House on February 12, continuing through February 21, 21 Central Avenue in Lancaster; 716-683-1776; lancopera.org. KEELY AND DU (drama by Jane Martin): Du is a nurse who is part of an extremist right-to-life group. Keely is pregnant, having conceived by way of a rape. Du and her colleagues have kidnapped Keely (they would say rescued), chaining her to a bed to prevent her from having the abortion she seeks. The irreconcilable stances of “right-to-life” and “right-to-chose” cadres are actively represented in Subversive Theatre’s production. Kelly Beuth and Kate Olena star as the women in conflict under the direction of Toni Smith Wilson. January 14 through February 13 at Manny Fried Theatre, 255 Great Arrow Avenue (third floor, elevator access); 716-4080499; subversivetheatre.org. LOAD MORE GUYS (a new play with music scripted and staged by Todd Warfield): Todd Warfield sets his sights on a certain breed of gay men. His POV is the hyperactive crossroads of social media and real life. Even before meeting live there is a sometimes complicated mating dance. Men hook up there. Political alliances are made there. Sex tips are traded there. Entertainment is exploited there. Catch up with friends there. Guys can be anonymous or intimate there. Swipe these guys left, swipe those guy right. Want some more fresh faces? Press the button marked “Load more guys.” Dramatic pace is prodded along by a musical background, scenes are layered with mini-drag shows. Oh…absolutely no one under 18 will be admitted. The show, running from February 16 through March 19, is presented by Buffalo United Artists. At Alleyway Theatre, One Curtain Up! Alley; 716-886-9239; BuffaloBUA.com.

ORDINARY DAYS (musical by Adam Gwon): Four young New Yorkers…albeit recent arrivals from elsewhere. An exponential number of coincidences amongst them. A dozen or so emotion-driven songs about the city, loneliness, love, and the future. A post-9/11 fable about the internal search for one’s soul and the perpetual search for a soulmate. Reed Bentley, Edith Grossman, Adam Hayes, and Jennel Pruneda appear under the direction of Victoria Perez-Maggiolo for O’Connell & Company. Opens on January 21 and closes on February 21 at Park School Auditorium, 4625 Harlem Road in Snyder, 716-8480800, oconnellandcompany.com. PIPPIN (musical with a script by Roger O. Hirson; music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz): A brightly conceived restaging of the 1972 Broadway hit, presently a hit revival on Broadway. The original staging by Bob Fosse famously gave this show sizzle. Its new staging makes the show soar—literally. Pippin, the young and seemingly hapless son of history’s mighty Charlemagne, searches his soul for the meaning of life. His only clue is the hunch that life means more than European war, court intrigue, wealth, and fame. A chipper Steven Schwartz score adds to the fun. National touring company of the Broadway production comes to Shea’s January 26-31. At Shea’s Performing Arts Center, 646 Main Street, 1-800-745-3000, sheas.org. RING OF FIRE (musical revue created by Richard Maltby, Jr. and conceived by William Meade): For many, Johnny Cash was the voice of country music. In fact, he was many voices for a variety of songs. In his long, varied career, he dipped into gospel, bluegrass, rockabilly, Christian, and punk. This revue pulls together 30-plus songs which Cash recorded or performed during is career. Musicalfare’s creative team, headed by director-choreographer Michael Walline and musical director Theresa Quinn, aim to make use of the Cash songbook, providing the show with distinctive interpretations, both musical and staged, for each number. Ring of Fire was first developed for production at Studio Arena in 2006 before a truncated run on Broadway. A year ago, Richard Maltby, Jr., the show’s creator, revised the show and staged it for Milwaukee Rep. Apparently rethinking this revue for to better establish its worth is in the air. At MusicalFare Theatre on Daemen College campus, 4300 Main Street in Snyder; 716-839-8540; musicalfare.com. SPEAK NO EVIL (premiere of a script by Sonya Sobieski): This play is the winner of Alleyway Theatre’s 2014 Maxim Mazumdar New Play Competition, a nationwide search of scripts awarded with production here in Buffalo. Sobieski knows that the course of true love never runs smooth. Her characters in this play find that the very things they say create the potholes that trip lovers on the way to romantic happiness. In a world where the sweet little nothings on a Valentine need trigger warnings and love stories demand spoiler alerts, Sobieski finds a dystopic humor. David C. Mitchell, Melissa Leventhal, Joey Bucheker, Emily Yancy, Christopher Standart, and James Cichock are directed by Neal Radice. Performances continue through February 13. At Alleyway Theatre, One Curtain Up Alley; 716-8522600; alleyway.com. VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE (comedy by Christopher Durang): Proving that family is a reliable source of humor is this entry form Christopher Durang, who has followed this thought, exhaustively, and made us laugh, exhaustively. After almost a lifetime of separation, siblings Vanya, Sonia, and Masha reunite at the family’s rural vacation home. Vanya and Sonia are virtual recluses while Masha returns from her glamorous movie star life with her buff, boy-toy beau. Three guesses what his name is. The sibs hash over all that they have missed through the baby boomer years as they prepare to face the future. Doug Weyand guides Louis Colaiacovo, Lisa Ludwig, and others to and through the laughs in the Second Generation Theatre production. Opening January 22 and closing February 8 at Lancaster Opera House, Central Avenue in Lancaster; 716-508-SGT0, secondgenerationtheatre@ gmail.com. WHY WE HAVE A BODY (drama by Claire Chafee): Still muttering since the holidays how odd your family is? Meet Mary. She is a drifter in the habit of robbing convenience stores. Lili, her sister, is a private investigator whose specialty is digging up evidence for divorce cases. Their mom, Eleanor, has picked up roots and wanders through the rain forest. The lyrical meanderings as each woman tries to find herself—or each other—is the thrust of playwright Chafee’s writing. Presented by Brazen-Faced Varlets under the direction of Elizabeth Oddy and featuring Heather Fangsrud, Jennifer Fitzery, Lara Haberberger, and Jeanne Huich. The show will be performed on Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm from January 30 through February 14 at Rust Belt Books, 415 Grant Street; 716-598-1585.

FINAL TWO WEEKS THRU FEB. 7 ONLY!

AMERICAN CLASSIC

... classic Miller time ... an emotional story and (Director Greg) Natale and his cast for the ages tell it extraordinarily well ... meticulous work ... dynamite cast ... (a) stunning revival ... - Ted Hadley, The Buffalo News

A WORLD OF THEATRE WITHIN REACH.

ANDREWS THEATRE

625 MAIN STREET • BUFFALO 14203

For information and tickets, call

716.853.ICTC (4282) Buy online @ irishclassicaltheatre.com SE ASON SPONSOR Funded in part by the County of Erie and the City of Buffalo, the Cullen Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the New York State Legislature and Governor Andrew Cuomo.

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IF YOU’D LIKE TO BE INCLUDED, CONTACT BARB@DAILYPUBLIC.COM / 716.856.0642 DAILYPUBLIC.COM / JANUARY 20 - FEBRUARY 2, 2016 / THE PUBLIC 19

FILM REVIEW

Tugba Sunguroglu, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Elit Iscan, Ilayda Akdogan and GüneŞ Şensoy in Mustang.

A LITTLE GOES A LONG WAY

Cuzin Toma, Mihai Comānoiu, and Teodor Corban in Aferim!

Oscar-nominated short films, Mustang, Aferim!, Heart of a Dog BY M. FAUST YOU CAN’T BE A GOOD OSCAR prognosticator unless you’ve seen most of the nominees—or at least a few more than whoever your competition is. This week brings a few more chances to fill up your punch card.

Foremost on the list is the annual package of the Oscar-nominated short films, presented as usual in two packages, live-action and animated films. If you can’t get to both, don’t leave it to a coin flip: The animated shorts is the one to see. The point of an animated film is to show us something in a way that live-action can’t do, and by that standard, most of these nominees pass with flying colors. My own favorite is “World of Tomorrow” by Don Hertzfeldt, whose “It’s Such a Beautiful Day’” you may have seen at Squeaky Wheel in early 2014. Though his characters are aggressively simple, little more than stick figures, his imagination is boundless. This short looks at the future of human memory and intelligence as a woman from the future pays a visit to the modern child who is her forebear. Much more lavish is “Bear Story,” which tells the story of a bear via characters in an elaborately designed diorama, using what I assume are stop-motion figures. Filled with detail, it’s sad in a subtle way (especially if you know anything about the history of bears as performing animals) and an allegorical one as well (director Gabriel Osorio was inspired by his grandfather’s exile in Pinochet’s Chile). But it can be experienced just as well on a surface level. Traditional hand-drawn animation brings to life a touching story in “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos,” about two childhood friends who grow up to become astronaut candidates. It’s from Russia, but like “Bear Story” contains no dialogue.

The other nominees are “Sanjay’s Super Team,” standard Pixar fare, and “Prologue,” a recreation of a battle in ancient Greece which is so violent that it is being presented with a warning to take children out of the room. To fill the bill, the program includes four other unpreviewed shorts that were on the nomination short list. I wish I could recommend the live-action shorts as strongly, but having watched all of them I have to wonder at the criteria being used by the nominating committee: Given the number of short films made every year, like most of these by fledgling directors trying to show what they can do, it’s hard to believe they couldn’t have done better. From the UK, “Stutterer “ is the tale of a young man with a speech disorder who has been carrying on a bit of an online romance, only to panic when the lass wants to meet him in person. It’s charming until a cop-out ending. From Palestine, “Ave Maria” pits a remote convent of nuns under a vow of silence with a stranded Jewish family in need of help but under Sabbath restrictions not to use a telephone. It’s a clever idea that could have been more fully developed. “Shok” is a heavy-handed story of two boys during the Kosovo War. From Germany, “Alles Wird Gut” (“Everything Will Be Okay”) is a depressing story about a divorced man desperate to regain custody of his young daughter. Sad as it was, it’s a ray of sunshine next to “Day One,” about the grim experiences of a new army translator in Afghanistan. Suffice to say that she is called on to help a pregnant woman, and that by the mid point I was wishing that I hadn’t watched it. Both programs are at the Eastern Hills Cinema. * A nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, Mustang is set in the Black Sea region of Turkey. On their way home from the last day of school before summer vacation, five sisters engage in

20 THE PUBLIC / JANUARY 27 - FEBRUARY 2, 2016 / DAILYPUBLIC.COM

some lakeside horseplay with another group that includes some boys. An outraged gossip reports the incident to their grandmother, and in no time at all the girls are locked up, denied access to phones and the internet, and put into training to become wives. (Their age range seems to be about 12 to 17.) While it isn’t what you would call a happy story, neither is it the melodrama you might be expecting. Director Deniz Gamze Ergüven and her writing collaborator Alice Winocour seem torn between critiquing Turkish traditions and maintaining a broad appeal, to the point where the whole film becomes blandly diluted. The girls have an unexplained back story (their parents are dead); there are vague hints that some or all of them may be being abused by an uncle—and that’s not a story element to be treated lightly; plot elements come and go at random with little apparent connection. It’s a not unpleasant film (with a lovely score by Warren Ellis of Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds) on a subject that isn’t pleasant at all. It opens Friday at the Amherst Theater. * Romania’s entry for the Foreign Language Oscar (it didn’t make the final five), Aferim! takes place in 1835, at a time when gypsies were commonly enslaved. That this piece of information is apparently not widely known in Romania

may explain the film’s appeal there as a history lesson. The minimal plot follows a constable and his son as they search for a slave escaped from the estate of a local nobleman. The journey is largely an excuse for conversations, between themselves and the people they meet, in which they reveal all kinds of ignorant prejudices about various non-Romanians; one priest rattles off a whole catalogue by country. Glumly filmed in mostly forest locations in natural light that makes the black-and-white photography greyer than it needs to be, it feels more like a trip back to the Middle Ages. Opens Friday at the North Park. * By contrast, you can get a big pile of puppy love from Laurie Anderson when her essay film Heart of a Dog plays at Hallwalls next week. And count yourself lucky—it’s not in general theatrical release. The performance artist, who may best be known to mainstream audiences for her relationship with the late Lou Reed, begins with a dream of her dog Lolabelle that seems maudlin but quickly takes a hilarious left turn. From there, her ruminations take her from human/animal relations to topics of life in post9/11 America, loneliness, and death in a way that only she can address them. (The composer of “O Superman” is exactly the person you want to hear commenting on the security obsessions P of the past decade.)

AT THE MOVIES FILM

LOCAL THEATERS AMHERST THEATRE (DIPSON) 3500 Main St., Buffalo / 834-7655 amherst.dipsontheatres.com AURORA THEATRE 673 Main St., East Aurora / 652-1660 theauroratheatre.com EASTERN HILLS CINEMA (DIPSON) 4545 Transit Rd., / Eastern Hills Mall Williamsville / 632-1080 easternhills.dipsontheatres.com FLIX STADIUM 10 (DIPSON) 4901 Transit Rd., Lancaster / 668-FLIX flix10.dipsontheatres.com FOUR SEASONS CINEMA 6 2429 Military Rd. (behind Big Lots), Niagara Falls / 297-1951 fourseasonscinema.com HALLWALLS 341 Delaware Ave., Buffalo / 854-1694 hallwalls.org

Heart of a Dog

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AT THE MOVIES

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THE BIG SHORT—If you want to learn about the deep and complex causes of the 2008 banking crisis that nearly brought down A selective guide to what’s opening and the American economy, you’d be better off what’s playing in local moviehouses watching a documentary on the subject (esand other venues MAPLE RIDGE 8 (AMC) pecially Charles Ferguson’s Oscar-winning 4276 Maple Rd., Amherst / 833-9545 Inside Job). On the other hand, you can’t arBY M. FAUST & GEORGE SAX amctheatres.com gue that a fictionalized movie starring Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Brad Pitt, and Ryan OPENING THIS WEEK MCKINLEY 6 THEATRES (DIPSON) Gosling, directed and co-written by Will Fer3701 McKinley Pkwy. / McKinley Mall rell partner Adam McKay, is likely to reach a AFERIM!— Reviewed this issue. North Park lot more people. Working from the book by Hamburg / 824-3479 MUSTANG— Reviewed this issue. Amherst former Wall Street insider Michael Lewis, the mckinley.dipsontheatres.com OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS—Reviewed this film whirls around several unconnected charissue. Eastern Hills acters who all came to the conclusion that NORTH PARK THEATRE money could be made by using the market 1428 Hertel Ave., Buffalo / 836-7411 to bet on it’s own inevitable failure. It’s exnorthparktheatre.org ALTERNATIVE CINEMA planations can be confusing, though McKay makes that part of the story—the narration CHRISTIANE F. (West Germany, 1982)—Based REGAL ELMWOOD CENTER 16 notes that the financial world is designed to on a true story, this unremittingly bleak de2001 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo / 871–0722 make outsiders feel stupid. Co-starring Maripiction of a 13-year-old girl’s (Natja Brunckregmovies.com sa Tomei, Rafe Spall, and Melissa Leo. –MF horst) descent into heroin addiction and Amherst (Dipson), Aurora prostitution became a minor cult hit in the REGAL NIAGARA FALLS STADIUM 12 BROOKLYN—Saoirse Ronan stars as an Irish US on the basis of some brief concert foot720 Builders Way, Niagara Falls girl who emigrates to the United States in age of David Bowie at the height of his ca1951, when the economy of her home country 236–0146 reer. Watching it, you understand why direcwas in shambles. Adapted from Colm Tóibín’s regmovies.com tor Uli Edel was later hired to adapt Hubert 2009 novel by Nick Hornby, Brooklyn is not Selby’s Last Exit to Brooklyn. Wed 7pm. only an extraordinarily good film; it’s also an REGAL QUAKER CROSSING 18 Squeaky Wheel important one, arriving as it does at a time 3450 Amelia Dr., Orchard Park / 827–1109 when so many people are being forced to GROUNDHOG DAY (1993)—Bill Murray stars as regmovies.com leave the lands of their birth and so many an obnoxious television weatherman caught normally decent people want to turn them in a time warp that forces him to relive the REGAL TRANSIT CENTER 18 away. Emotionally rendered by an attractive day he’s stranded in a small Pennsylvania Transit and Wehrle, Lancaster / 633–0859 cast and crafted in the best traditions of town. Andie MacDowell is Murray’s romantic mainstream filmmaking—it wouldn’t look out regmovies.com interest, an independent producer. Directed of place if you were to see it some evening by Harold Ramis, substantially better than on Turner Classic Movies—Brooklyn is a capREGAL WALDEN GALLERIA STADIUM 16 anything else he has ever done. Sat-Sun tivating and rewarding moviegoing experiOne Walden Galleria Dr., Cheektowaga 11:30am. North Park ence, the kind that at best comes along once 681-9414 / regmovies.com or twice a year. Co-starring Emory Cohen, HEART OF A DOG— Reviewed this issue. TuesDomhnall Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, and Julie Hallwalls Thu 7:30pm. RIVIERA THEATRE Walters. Directed by John Crowley (Closed 67 Webster St., North Tonawanda HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD (2015)—DocuCircuit). –MF Amherst, Eastern Hills (Dipson) 692-2413 / rivieratheatre.org mentary about the history of Greenpeace. THE DANISH GIRL—Loosely based on the life Directed by Jerry Rothwell. Reviewed this of Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne), the issue. Free and open to the public. Presented THE SCREENING ROOM Danish landscape artist of the 1920s whose by Cultivate Cinema. Wed Jan 27 7pm. Burn3131 Sheridan Dr., Amherst / 837-0376 posthumously published diaries (under the name Lili Elbe) have been inspirational to ing Books screeningroom.net the transgender community. It’s a handsome STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951)—Raymond production directed by Tom Hooper with SQUEAKY WHEEL Chandler wrote the screenplay from Patrisimilar period detail as his Oscar-winning 712 Main St., / 884-7172 cia Highsmith’s novel for this classic Alfred The King’s Speech. But it walks an uncertain VISIT DAILYPUBLIC.COM FOR MORE FILMthriller LISTINGS REVIEWS squeaky.org Hitchcock about & two men who >> pass line between transvestitism and transgender, the time on a train formulating a perfect muroften seeming to imply that the two exist SUNSET DRIVE-IN der plan. But when they get off, one of them on a continuum. Fine performances by Red9950 Telegraph Rd., Middleport 735mayne and Alicia Vikander notwithstanding, takes it seriously. Starring Farley Granger, 7372 / sunset-drivein.com its appeal may be limited to those who have Robert Walker, Ruth Roman, and Leo G. Carread Lili’s diaries, though those are also the roll. Fri-Sat 7:30pm. Screening Room TJ’S THEATRE viewers most likely to care about the liberTHE RULES OF THE GAME (France, 1939)—In a ties that have been taken with them. With, 72 North Main St., Angola / 549-4866 weekend at a country house, the bourgeoiMatthias Schoenaerts, newangolatheater.com VISIT DAILYPUBLIC.COM FOR MORE FILM LISTINGS & REVIEWS >> Sebastian Koch, Ben sie, the aristocracy, and the servants all come Whishaw, and Amber Heard. –MF Eastern under microscopic examination. Banned Hills (Dipson), North Park TRANSIT DRIVE-IN in France until 1956 for being “demoralizTHE HATEFUL EIGHT—At two hours and 45 min6655 South Transit Rd., Lockport ing,” Jean Renoir’s social satire hasn’t lost utes, Quentin Tarantino’s latest burns slowly, 625-8535 / transitdrivein.com any of its bite. Presented as part of the Bufbut despite a lot of promising sparks fizzles falo Film Seminar. Tue 7pm. Amherst out by the time it gets to its gore-soaked LOCKPORT PALACE 2 East Ave., Lockport / 438-1130 lockportpalacetheatre.org

CULTURE > FILM

finale. Set sometime in the years just after the Civil War, with many of that conflict’s passions still fresh, it contrives to place a bunch of characters in a remote Wyoming way station during a blizzard that makes travel impossible. The dialogue lacks the florid orotundity that is Tarantino’s stock-in-trade—you can see why he didn’t cast Christoph Waltz— which leads you to think that he may be after more serious concerns than in previous films. But everything that appears to be dissecting the American character turns out to be merely a diversion from a spaghetti Western story that could—and should—have been P told in a trimmer film. Excellent Ennio Morricone score. Starring, in alphabetical order, Demian Bichir, Bruce Dern, Walton Goggins, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Kurt Russell, and Channing Tatum. –MF Maple Ridge, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria JOY features a terrific performance by Jennifer Lawrence as a real-life heroine Preston Sturges would have loved, the Long Island woman who invented the Miracle Mop and became rich selling it on the then-new able channel QVC. Like Sturges, writer-director David O. Russell packs his movies with characters who all think they’re the star of the story (and, in a different handling, could be). But while he has all the right ingredients, Russell isn’t much of a cook. He stirs and stirs to haphazard results. The first half of the film, charting our heroine’s domestic problems, are mostly just depressing, And the film’s third act seems to have been stuck on just to give the story a dramatic conclusion. With Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Édgar Ramírez, Diane Ladd, Virginia Madsen, and Isabella Rossellini. –MF Flix (Dipson), Maple Ridge, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria THE REVENANT—It’s never a good sign when a nearly three hour movie starts with the words “I know you want this to be over,” and the new film from Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman) is something to be endured more than enjoyed. Leonardo DiCaprio reportedly went through no end of physical discomfort filming his scenes as an 1820s frontiersman struggling to survive after being mauled by a bear in the forest and abandoned as dead by his colleagues, but there’s a limit to how much pain you can watch before you either stop watching or simply stop caring. It doesn’t help that the various other stories interwoven with Leo’s are poorly fleshed out, or that co-star Tom Hardy’s dialogue is largely incomprehensible. Like Birdman, it’s an impressive technical accomplishment, if that’s all you want from a movie. With Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter, and Forrest Goodluck.-MF Flix (Dipson), Hamburg Palace, Maple Ridge, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria P

CULTURE > FILM

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THE ARTS COMEDY CLASS Laughter is the Best Winter Medicine! Stand up comedy class with Kristen Becker starts Feb 6th. Only $225. More info @ kristenbecker.com.

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ACROSS 1 Part of NKOTB 4 Reason for a Boy Scout badge 9 Trolley

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAY FULTON JIM SCHIFFERT MIKE DUFFY ROBERT THOREN NAOMI LOWINGER REBEKAH ELLIOTT BETH ELKINS WALES

13 Twenty-one desirable 14 Brunch beverage 15 Negative space 16 Arts and crafts chain in a 2014 Supreme Court decision 18 It may be golden 19 Pianist Tatum

EVAN MAIN

20 Like just-above-freezing temperatures, in Celsius

COLE PERLA

22 Racetrack suggestion 25 2, 4, 6, 8, what do these approximate?

58 Run in neutral

26 Actor Gosling

59 Pungent-tasting, in a way

27 “___ Good Ship Lollipop”

60 Veterans Day mo. 61 Long-distance swimmer Diana 62 Drummer Charlie of the Rolling Stones 63 Cute spherical character in “The Force Awakens” demonstrated in this grid (not counting this answer)

DOWN 1 “No dice” 2 “The Name of the Rose” novelist Umberto 3 One W of WWW 4 “Uncle” of early TV

PLEASE EXAMINE THIS PROOF CAREFULLY

Meettha Saman

26 The Hamburglar’s catchphrase

30 Rallying cry against Cobra, perhaps

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28 Goes out of focus 29 Place to pick up glasses 32 1998 interactive toy with its own artificial language 33 First astrological sign 34 ___-do-well (slacker) 36 Diplomat’s title, for short 37 Forester automaker 39 Make like a pig 40 Like a memorable tune 41 Full of bad luck 42 Some Indonesians, by location 43 Used the dining room table 44 Untrustworthy

45 Comedian Poundstone 6 Prefix for call or cop YOU APPROVE 31IFChinese premier ERRORS Zhou WHICH ARE ON THIS PROOF, THE 7 Bookstore ID EXAMINE THE AD 48 “Fish” or “CHiPs,” e.g. ___ PUBLIC CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE. PLEASE 49 Melt base EVENprop IF THE AD IS A8PICK-UP. Actor Diggs who 32THOROUGHLY Karl Lagerfeld coauthored the 2015 50 “In memoriam” writeup � CHECK COPY CONTENT 35MESSAGE Play ___ role TO ADVERTISER children’s book “Mixed Me!” Thank you for advertising � CHECK IMPORTANT DATES 54 Droid 36 Subsequent to with THE PUBLIC. Please 9 Do very well CHECK NAME, ADDRESS, 55 Air___ (lodging website) your ad and check 10� 37review “I can do that!” Cheekbone enhancer for any errors. The original 56 “Better Call Saul” star PHONE #, & WEBSITE 38 D.C. ballplayer layout instructions have 11 “I’m betting everything,” Odenkirk to poker players followed 39been Henry Doorly as Zooclosely city as � PROOF OK (NO CHANGES) possible. THE PUBLIC offers 57 “I could’ve had ___!” 12 Track events 40 First two-time design servicesNobelist with two � PROOF OK (WITH CHANGES) (juice slogan) noto charge. THE 14 ___ Beach, South 41proofs Foolishat talk, B.A. PUBLIC is not responsible Carolina Baracus LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS for any error if not notified Advertisers Signature within hours of receipt. 17 Creature born in 1982, 43 1990s24 defense ____________________________ The production department according to the Weekly secretary Les News must have a signed proof in World Date _______________________ 46 Thai to appetizers on order print. Please sign 21 Bagel and lox purveyor skewers and fax this back or approve Issue: ______________________ Y16W4 22 Water pipe in a lounge responding this email. 47byThrough the to efforts of (var.) 51 TV show taper, once THIS PROOF MAY ONLY BE USED FOR23PUBLICATION ___ d’art IN THE PUBLIC. 52 Evian waters 24 Factory-made, as housing 53 “Va-va-voom!” relative

FAMOUS LAST WORDS BACK PAGE

ASSISTED LIVING “TROLOLOLOLOL”

BY KEITH BUCKLEY

SEEN AND HEARD:

THE PUBLIC PRESENTS From top to bottom: Kevin Scoma, center, and his band make their debut at Nietzsche’s; Tom Burtless of Humble Braggers plays bass; Michael Brady of American Low leads his band next to bassist Ben Gigone; masked mystery man makes it rain $1 bills.

PHOTO BY SHAWNA STANLEY

DEAR KEITH: I have always struggled with upper-body strength, being a small feeble man. This has never presented a true problem in the past, as I can usually get one of my muscular sons to move my stacks of DVDs or open a heavy door. Last Thursday we were having an “adults only” party and I couldn’t open my Mike’s Hard Lemonade for the life of me. Without my boys around I didn’t know what I was going to do. My Aunt Kathy walked into the kitchen and popped the bottle open in one fell swoop. I was so enamored by her strength in power, I instinctively dove in for a big smooch right on her mouth. How do I explain this newfound affection to my Uncle Chauncey? — EVERETT BYRAM

DEAREST EVERETT: Hold on one second. If

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any of The Public’s loyal readers have a way of connecting to the World Wide Web via the internet, they may have encountered a post by a fellow Buffalonian last week who took umbrage on Facebook with the way I—a 36-year-old man-child with admittedly less than none of the qualifications necessary for providing advice—handled an inquiry regarding the most effective way to deal with a relative’s awkward and incessant prying into the specific details of a reader’s love life. If you recall the column itself, it was a rhetorical journey down fanciful paths of utter stupidity and vague, misdirected nostalgia bolstered by an array of words that I probably would never use in conversation but tend to value as writer nonetheless. This is what Dostoyevsky referred to as “playing the fool to make myself agreeable” in his epic meta-novel The Brothers Karamazov, and as a literary tactic I find it to be highly effective because, though I profess myself incapable and cushion my eventual intellectual incongruities with a charming boyish naiveté, I’m much smarter than you, Mark, you shaved-bird-looking motherfucker. In the diatribe you fired off within minutes of my column being posted—which could have been an excerpt from the script of a Lifetime movie titled I Can’t Laugh: A Shithead’s Tale of an Afternoon Spent Online Casually Skimming Articles—you, among other things, tell me to “put down the thesaurus,” as if I write this thing in a dusty college library and not on my phone while driving. I’m sorry, Mark, is my “hacky, divisive rhetoric” that’s found on the last fucking page of an upstart publication in the “Comedy” section not on par with the advice columns

you’re used to poring over, you sad, lonely trash man? Or are you just angry that after Googling “why am i not married yet” you were tricked into partially reading my last creative writing exercise without getting the slightest bit of the help you were so genuinely longing for. Either way, I’m sorry your life is completely humorless. If there’s any way I can assist you, please email your question to The Public. Now, back to your terrible situation, Everett. I don’t blame you for stealing a kiss from your aunt, what with the enchanting smell of a freshly cracked Mike’s Hard in the air, but trust me that you were just caught up in a very horny moment. This short-lived fling should in no way be taken as an omen to upset your limber uncle or to abandon your strong, handsome sons. Try to imagine your life with DVDs stacked up in places you don’t necessarily want them, or one large oak door that you know you are incapable of opening before you even try. Where are your sons in this nightmare scenario? Well, Everett, they’re at that shooting range that just opened down the way with a man they respect who also had a Groupon. But I bet the feel of Kathy’s lips was worth it. No, I don’t. Sarcasm.

HAVE A QUESTION FOR KEITH? ADVICE@DAILYPUBLIC.COM Editor’s note: As front man of Every Time I Die, Keith Buckley has traveled the world gaining insights about the universe. In this biweekly column he’ll use those insights to guide our readers with heartfelt and brutally honest advice. DAILYPUBLIC.COM / JANUARY 20 - FEBRUARY 2, 2016 / THE PUBLIC 23

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