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NEWS: NEW LIGHT ON WHY POLICE GRABBED MEECH DAVIS

ART: TWO VIEWS ON RYDER HENRY'S SHOW AT HALLWALLS

CENTERFOLD: SHE LIVES AT PINE APPLE ON PRIDE FRIDAY

LOOP: IT'S PRIDE WEEK, EVERYONE, AND THAT MEANS PLENTY

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LOOKING BACKWARD: Jacob Dold Building, 643 Main Street, 1980s.

FILM: Churchill, The Wedding Plan, The War Machine, capsulereviews.

LOOP: Pride organizers talk about changing focus, here and elsewhere.

SPOTLIGHT: A circus training ground at former Larkinville industrial site.

TH ANNIVERSARY

Vocális finishes its 15th Anniversary year by paying tribute to the musical community of WNY. Join us, and special guest Bobby Militello, in an evening celebrating the music and musicians of our great city.

Sunday, June 11, 2017 4:00 pm Holy Trinity Lutheran Church 1080 Main Street, Buffalo

PRIDE: A roundup of the week’s Pride-related events.

EVENTS: Porchfest: friends and music and walking, when the weather is easy.

Vocális Chamber Choir, a select ensemble of dedicated professionals based in Western New York, is committed to performing great a cappella music of all eras. www.vocalischamberchoir.org

ON THE COVER MICKEY HARMON made this and our centerfold (pull out Loop to reveal) to promote Friday night’s performance at Pine Apple (224 Allen Street). Read more on page 10.

THE PUBLIC STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF GEOFF KELLY MUSIC EDITOR CORY PERLA

Adult - $15, Student - $10

Vocális Chamber Choir is supported in part with cultural funding from the 2017 adopted Erie County Budget, Mark C. Poloncarz, County Executive.

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COVER IMAGE MICKEY HARMON COLUMNISTS ALAN BEDENKO, BRUCE FISHER, JACK FORAN, MICHAEL I. NIMAN, GEORGE SAX, CHRISTOPHER JOHN TREACY

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With Fanny & Calvin from Baila Salsa Dance

A street sign outside of 88 Arnold Street.

WHY MEECH WAS STOPPED

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An answer to the first question of why police became involved at all with Davis on that winter night has become clearer according to new information. According to documents obtained by The Public, Meech was seen coming out of a house that had become targeted by B District police. In a Buffalo Police Department detail car report filed by officers Todd McAlister and Nicholas Parisi and dated February 1, the officers wrote that they received “information that 19 Hoyt Street is a new drug house that has both crack and heroin.” The same report also indicates that a property across the street at 88 Arnold was “one of the new drug spots.” Both properties are just over

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THERE HAVE BEEN three central questions

surrounding the February 7 death of Wardel “Meech” THIS PROOF MAY ONLY BE USEDDavis FOR in police custody: Why was he stopped, what happened after he was stopped, PUBLICATION IN THE PUBLIC. and how did he die. The answer to the manner of his death appears to have been answered by the Erie County Medical Examiner: a homicide complicated by Meech’s pre-existing asthma and bronchitis.

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LOOKING BACKWARD: MARIA / Y17W22 _____________________ DOLD BUILDING, 643 MAIN STREET IF YOU JACOB APPROVE ERRORS WHICH ARE ON Issue:

THIS PROOF, THE PUBLIC CANNOT BE early example of “facadism,” HELD An RESPONSIBLE. PLEASE EXAMINE THEthe AD Jacob Dold Building in the Theater Historic District is one of the rare City of Buffalo-sponsored saves following three decades THOROUGHLY EVEN IF THE AD IS A PICK-UP. of nonstop downtown demolition. In this photograph taken sometime in the late THIS PROOF MAY ONLY BE USED FOR 1980s, the facade of the former home to Swiss Chalet, severely damaged by fire, is PUBLICATION IN THE PUBLIC. incorporated into the Market Arcade development. It has been home to the Bijou Grille since 1991. -THE PUBLIC STAFF

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LOCAL NEWS the dividing line of West Ferry Street in BPD’s D District, yet it was B District officers Parisi and McAlister who filed the report on February 1, and who stopped Davis nearly a week later coming out of 19 Hoyt Street. The Public obtained the B District detail car reports from January 1, 2017 through the night of Meech’s death through a Freedom of Information law request. The report filed by Parisi and McAlister differs from the other reports in that it is the only detail car report filed by the pair—there are several other repeat officers— and it is the only detail car report that reads like a narcotics intelligence report. The bulk of the other reports describe the detail car as providing support to areas in the wake of violent crimes or burglaries, serving warrants, and providing extra security and crowd control in the aftermath of large events downtown. Reports of patrolling a neighborhood after several homicides are mixed in with officers letting off elderly drivers with warnings for traffic infractions. When police claimed in the aftermath of Meech’s death that he was seen coming out of a “known drug house” in a “known drug area,” both phrases used by police sources to local media in this case, this appears to be part of the evidence that supports that claim. However, according to the attorney representing the family of Meech Davis, Steve Cohen, 19 Hoyt was never a drug house. Cohen claims to have interviewed every tenant in the property and the closest he came to finding drug use was a “couple of college kids” who “smoked weed.” Cohen claims that in the house lived a disabled person whom Davis would help with simple chores. And according to the city’s litmus test of troubled properties, its 311 call bank, 19 Hoyt was not an issue. The 311 hotline is a broad “onestop” city services phone service. A city official with knowledge of the city’s 311 hotline told The Public that “if a property is a known drug house, there would be pages of complaints in 311 about it.” Yet there were no such complaints lodged against 19 Hoyt in recent years. The only calls about 19 Hoyt since 2009 were for a garbage tote issue in 2014 and an anonymous tip in September 2009 that 19 Hoyt was being used as a stash house for local drug dealers when they felt a police raid was imminent, according to documents made available to The Public. By contrast, 88 Arnold had two drug-related complaints in the six months prior to Meech’s death. There are, of course, “known drug houses” in the city, but those houses, according to the city official, incur multiple 311 complaints every year, generating requests for police and housing inspection follow-up. The Buffalo News has reported that in the “last 10 years” there had been “250-plus police visits” to 19 Hoyt Street, but never clarified how many of those visits, if any, had taken place in the recent past. The house was last sold in 2015 to DP Real Estate Associates of NY, a limited liability corporation that receives its mail at a New York City address. In that same report, the News stated that “the house Davis was seen leaving was well-known to police as a place where officers were frequently called.” If it was so well known, why are Parisi and McAlister referring to it as a “new” drug house less than one week prior? That same News report says that Parisi arrested Davis twice in the year preceding year, once with McAlister for drugs, and once without McAlister for stolen property and drugs. There have been no reports of Meech having drugs on him the night he died, or drugs contributing in any way to his death. In the past six months, The Public has reviewed two no-knock warrants signed by Buffalo City Court judges, one which led to a dead pet, a possible police shooting in Kaisertown, and a near fatal car chase involving a school bus during rush hour. Both warrants for marijuana dealing were extraordinarily vague in their descriptions of the subjects in question. The Kaisertown warrant netted less than 25 grams of marijuana and a tiny amount of cocaine; the other warrant yielded nothing, according to the family involved. Among the evidence that contributes to such warrants being requested by police and granted by a judge: 311 calls and patrol reports like PaP risi and McAlister’s.

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June 21

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ARTS REVIEW

ZZ TOP Antenna Buildings 1, 2, and 3, by Ryder Henry.

TWO VIEWS: RYDER HENRY AT HALLWALLS

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I came to Hallwalls with the intention of escaping. I had spent the day doing nothing really important. The news is exhausting, and the minutiae of everyday life can be spirit-dulling. Ryder Henry’s work is none of this. Being with his sculptures and paintings was uplifting, fantastical, and surprising. One could spend the entire day making up stories about the work and not run thin on plot. A friend and I bounced around ideas about each piece as we MESSAGE ADVERTISER moved from TO work to work, calling one another Thank you for advertising with THE to come see what I see. PUBLIC. Please review your ad and

The comprises outer-space-worthy check exhibit for any errors. The original layout vessels, science-fiction building maquettes, gloinstructions have been followed as closely rious oil paintings, and drawings that serve as as possible. THE PUBLIC offers design starting to the sculptures and a glimpse servicespoints with two proofs at no charge. THE PUBLIC is not of responsible for and any spaceships. error if at the interiors the buildings not notified within 24 hours of in common receipt. The is One thing all the works have production department must have a signed they allow viewers to construct meaning based proof in orderdetails to print. sign andfantafax on structural or Please one’s dystopic this back or approve to this sies—easy places to goby in responding Trump’s America. email.

Henry’s work didn’t bring me to a dim future � CHECK COPYme CONTENT but reminded of how capable, adaptable, and flexible humans can be. The buildings and � CHECK IMPORTANT DATES space vessels are made out of cardboard, packaging, andNAME, recycled materials. The#,work is done � CHECK ADDRESS, PHONE & WEBSITE with careful hands. Each piece is constructed � PROOF OK (NO CHANGES) and collaged seamlessly. Henry reminds us we can find potential in CHANGES) all materials and thrive in � PROOF OK (WITH a multitude of circumstances.

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ric punctures that allow light to shine through. I immediately thought of a galactic-door knocker or time travel machine: It transports viewers into the exhibition. I imagined passing through it and arriving in one of Henry’s paintings. There are several other space-like vessels included in the exhibit—some illuminated, some not—and some are near direct replicas of Star Trek vessels. Those vessels remind me of the best versions of ourselves. In Star Trek the voyages were about exploring the unknown and boldly going places bigger than our imaginations. One work in the exhibit is a series of three building maquettes, titled Antenna Buildings 1, 2, and 3. They sit closely to one another, each on a pedestal backed against a wall. Each building balances vertically. One building is white and aqua, and the base of building is smaller than the top. There is a floor that juts out as if Henry slapped a trailer on the top of a midsize skyscraper. I counted 31 floors, each with careful rows of windows. Some have doors to nowhere. Somewhere at about the center of the building there is a deck of sorts with no railing. The next building appears to be built of varying parts, as if it built over time with no clear plan. I imagine Henry designing it as needed, based on demand. What does society need at the current moment? Maybe even dropping pre-existing structures on top of one another. Some of the structures are adorned with rooftop gardens—oxygen for future lungs. The final building is all red with green trim, blue-framed windows, and in spots an orange roof overhead. It is largest at the center, and again there is a trailer-like structure jutting out, its balancing act defying our expectations. This work beckons to be imagined in actual form. These buildings are from a different time—a time that hasn’t happened yet, or one we are on the cusp of. Henry is the architect who hasn’t

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IF YOU APPROVE ERRORS WHICH ARE ON THIS PROOF, THE PUBLIC CANNOT BE = ART OPENING FF = FIRST FRIDAY HELD RESPONSIBLE. PLEASE EXAMINE THE AD THOROUGHLY FF 1045 Elmwood (1045 ElmEVENGallery IF THE for AD the IS AArts PICK-UP. wood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222, 716-228-1855, THIS PROOF MAY ONLY BE USED FOR photographics2.com/store/welcome-to-our-studio-1045-gallery-store): Yab-yum, Mount Sumeru PUBLICATION IN THE PUBLIC. and Dukkha, by Xiao Yang on view through Jun

30. Opening reception, Fri, Jun 2, 6-9pm. Thu & Fri 11-6, Sat 11-4 and by appointment.

FF Albright-Knox Art Gallery (1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222, 882-8700, albrightknox. org): Menagerie: Animals on View, through Jun 4. Shantell Martin: Someday We Can, on view through Jun 25. Tamar Guimarães and Kasper Akhøj: Studies for A Minor History of Trembling Matter; Jacob Kassay: OTNY; Eric Mack: Vogue Fabrics; Willa Nasatir, photographs, all on view through Jun 18. Camille Henrot: October 2015 Horoscope through Jul 9. Tue-Sun 10am-5pm, open late First Fridays (free) until 10pm.

REVIEW ARTS

THERE’S MORE TO EXPLORE: UP CLOSE & PERSONAL WITH RYDER HENRY HALLWALLS, 341 DELAWARE AVE, BUFFALO / 854-1694 / HALLWALLS.ORG

arrived yet but whom we may need. They might be constructed to accommodate displaced people, or for world unable to sustain the demands of the human species. I can’t help but think that each building provides its dwellers with every amenity needed to survive. I also imagine every now and again the space vessels included in the exhibit land down to re-up supplies or provide escape from life in the vertically balanced building. There is also a site-specific installation of what a city might look like if Henry were in charge. Some of the buildings are illuminated and all have the vertically balanced architecture. Some with circular orbs sitting on top, some very plain with little differentiation from a utilitarian urban apartment building. Curator John Massier gives us a window into Henry’s planning process by including several drawings of the vessels Henry creates in sculptural form. One drawing in the series gives the viewer an opportunity to see what might be inside one of these buildings. In one building, all the apartments have one wall open toward a circular atrium. In the rooms we see people reading to each other, playing cards, sleeping, showering, jumping rope, hula-hooping, and even running on a hamster-treadmill. The paintings in the exhibit take the maquettes one step further, showing us the life in and around the buildings. Again there is harmony even in the weird and unconventional. In one painting from Henry’s Fairground series, the buildings are inhabited by small Bruegel-like figures involved in discrete activities: a garbage fire about to happen, a sunbathing beauty, storytelling, making music and love. In the back of the gallery there is a triptych painting that demands inspection. The center panel of the painting doesn’t lay flush with the other two.The perspective of the painting gives the feeling of being in one of the buildings looking out over the city. Each building has its own little green space. The city is laid out in grid form: a more aesthetically pleasing version of Soviet-style residential patterns. To Hallwalls director Ed Cardoni, Henry’s work recalls Le Corbusier, one of the fathers of Modern architecture. Every work in the exhibit has harmony and a strong sense of completion. Each building model is perfectly balanced and built with great care. Hallwalls curator John Massier sums up Henry’s work beautifully: “There is a strong suggestion that our best impulses not only should, but can, persist.” I suggest you go be with this work and make up your own stories about what the world will be. —BECKY MODA

IS THIS HOW WE WILL LIVE? MUST WE? Artist Ryder Henry’s sculptural models and paintings and drawings of futurist world constructed environment—gargantuan space colony vehicles and bizarre terrestrial structures— on show at Hallwalls prompt some questions. Are we ever going to live like that? Do we want to? Does Henry want to? What does he think of his imagined futurist world? (And meta-questions. What is this work all about anyway? Anything interesting or significant?)

He seems sufficiently enamored of the Star Wars and Star Trek inspiration space vehicles. Huge donut-form and permutations constructions, with banks of brightly lit little windows. Like movie images of ocean liners on dark nights and calm seas. Not so much the terrestrial arrangements, which mimic some of French master modern architect Le Corbusier’s worst ideas. For monotonous multiples of inhuman-scale high-rise residential buildings. Ideas that in Le Corbusier’s case—his own practice—remained by and large unrealized. But were enthusiastically taken up in America as a great way to house poor people. (And with the important proviso, per federal policies, of racially segregated.) Ultimately yielding such icons of social engineering failure as the Pruitt-Igoe mega-project in St. Louis, Missouri, now best remembered for the films and photos of its demolition with dynamite 20 years or so after the fanfare grand opening. Or here at home, in Buffalo, the infamous Talbot and Ellicott malls, built in the 1950s, that by the late 1970s had become virtual war zones. And other only slightly less notorious but similarly unsuccessful public housing projects. Henry has two large triptych paintings of an endless expanse of identical high-rise buildings surrounded by identical little moat-like pools into which some of the buildings are beginning to sink. Their bottom floors flooded, or completely underwater. Further surrounded by a monotonous grid of roadways and lawn greenery on which the few people in the picture are engaged in activities strangely incongruous with the futurist milieu. One guy leading a donkey to drink in one of the moat pools. Others leading horses. Others attempting gardening—but seeming not to make much progress, as if nobody remembers how to do gardening anymore—on some of the greenery patches. While other people stare blankly out of upper-story windows, like inmates staring out of jail windows. Other terrestrial architecture—models and paintings and drawings again—in jumble arrays of traditional modern and postmodern fantastical forms. Sometimes consisting of modular elements, stacked and attached precariously. A little reminiscent of the UB North Campus Ellicott Complex, to name another architectural example that may work well conceptually, but not so well in brick and mortar actuality. Stunning from the outside, especially viewed from afar—reminiscent of San Gimignano—but inside a nightmare to navigate. Reminiscent of the labyrinth Daedalus built to hide the Minotaur. Among other works, a tabletop sculptural cityscape of more or less traditional commercial buildings interspersed with structures of nondescript form and unclear function. Some paintings showing hodge-podge arrays of residential buildings, occasionally with cutaway walls, affording voyeuristic glimpses of domestic activities. And rooftop terrace activities in a range from banal to strange to startling. A family picnicking immediately next to a naked couple making love under a transparent dome of some sort. On another rooftop terrace, a man seems about to set fire to a huge pile of old books. Seemingly oblivious that the fire will surely set the whole building ablaze, and probably some nearby buildings as well. A bonfire of the vanities? Recollection of Savonarola? While the naked couple under the dome is a direct steal from Hieronymus Bosch’s famously bizarre enigmatical Garden of Earthly Delights. Maybe this is an essential clue. An open sesame. Henry’s world is a Bosch world. P Only less coherent. —JACK FORAN

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RAY ANDERSON: TROMBONE MARK HELIAS: CONTRABASS GERRY HEMINGWAY: DRUMS

WEDNESDAY JUNE 14th 8:00pm

DKV TRIO

KEN VANDERMARK: SAXOPHONE KENT KESSLER: CONTRABASS HAMID DRAKE: DRUMS

TWO LOCATIONS! N. BUFFALO @ THE FOUNDRY 1738 Elmwood Avenue . Buffalo

ALLENTOWN

HALLWALLS

341 DELAWARE AVE BUFFALO, NY 716•854•1694

166 Allen Street . Buffalo . 716.866.8200 BOOK CLASSES ONLINE AT

thepilatesloftbuffalo.com

WWW.HALLWALLS.ORG

Meet your makers.

Handcrafted happens at Canalside.

This Saturday - June 3 - 10 to 5 This week’s scheduled artists: AREMEL SOAPS- AT 88 TEXTILE DESIGNS LLC - BEYOND WORDS - BUFFALO ENTERPRISES - CRAFTS BY JENNIE - CREATIVE COPPER WIRE - THE WOODCRAFTER - TOM BURNS PHOTOGRAPHY - CABBAGES & KINGS STATIONERY GLASSWORKS BY DESIGN - HENNA BY HIBA - BIJOU'S HAPPY PAWS BOUTIQUE TMG WELLNESS - BUFFALO HISTORY BUFF - ABL PHOTO DESIGNS - CRAFTED BY LORI - ELLE TEA PEE - HARTKE JEWELRY DESIGNS - ELAINE KESSEL ARTIST CATFISH CANYON CREATIONS - BUFFALO ETCHINGS - ED JAKUBOWSKI - LYNN SCHWAB JEWELRY - R. BARON DESIGNS - A BUFFALO FRAME OF MIND DESIGNER MAILBOX - MIA'S STUDIO - SARAH STANBURY JEWELRY DESIGNS BOWS AND BANDS BY JC - IN THE BUFF 716 - LIVE LAUGH LOVE OILERS - MY BUFFALO SHIRT - ANYTHING ART - BCYCLES - ERIN MORRIS PHOTOGRAPHY JOYFULENERGY - MILO'S CANDLES - BUFF STUFF PLUS - TIE DYE MY BABY METAL EARTH JEWELRY - MARY'S LAKESIDE DESIGNS - SOS DESIGN

with live entertainment provided by:

10am Katie Ann 11am Rosewood Bridge 12pm Drums Unlimited 1pm Casa Borinken 2pm Tom Callahan and Friends 3pm Porcelain Train 4pm Lance Drake

www.buffalosaturdayartmarket.com 8

THE PUBLIC / MAY 31 - JUNE 6, 2017 / DAILYPUBLIC.COM

ARTS IN GALLERIES NOW CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 FF Betty’s Restaurant (370 Virginia Street, Buffalo, NY 14201, 362-0633, bettysbuffalo.com): ITCHING: New Work by Kate Simonds through Jul 24. Tue-Thu, 8am-9pm, Fri 8am-10pm, Sat 9am-10pm, Sun 9am-2pm. Benjaman Gallery (419 Elmwood Avenue Buffalo, NY 14222, thebenjamangallery.com): Toma Yovanovich: Tongues of Flame, on view through Jun 3. ThuSat 11am-5pm. The Blue Plate Studio (69 Keil Street, North Tonawanda, NY 14120, 725-2054): Work by Alicia Malik. Box Gallery (Buffalo Niagara Hostel, 667 Main St, Buffalo, NY 14203): Remnants, an installation by Jodi Lynn Maracle on view through May 31. Every day 4-10pm. BT&C Gallery (1250 Niagara Street, Buffalo, NY 14213, 604-6183, btandcgallery.com): Stitch, work by Jack Drummer on view through Jun 10. Fri 127pm, Saturdays 12-4pm (during exhibitions), and by appointment. Big Orbit (30d Essex Street, Buffalo, NY 14222, cepagallery.org/ about-big-orbit): Eric Evinczik: The Long Afternoon. Fri-Sun 126pm. Buffalo Arts Studio (Tri Main Building 5th Floor, 2495 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14214, 8334450, buffaloartsstudio.org): Julia Douglas, T inted: A Visual Statement on Color, Identity, and Representation. Van Tran Nguyen, Strange Agency (University at Buffalo MFA Thesis Exhibition). Both shows on view through Jun 2. Tue-Fri 10am5pm, Sat 10am-2pm, Fourth Fridays till 8pm. Buffalo & Erie County Central Library (1 Lafayette Square, Buffalo, NY 14203, 858-8900, buffalolib.org): Celebrating 400 Years of Shakespeare: Reflecting on the Life of the Bard. Milestones on Science: Books That Shook the World! 35 rare books from the history of science, on second floor. Mon-Sat 8:30am6pm, Sun 12-5pm.Tue-Fri 10am5pm, Sat 10am-2pm, Fourth Fridays till 8pm Burchfield Penney Art Center (1300 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222, 878-6011, burchfieldpenney.org): What It Meant to Be Modern, 1910-1965; American works on paper from the Karen and Kevin Kennedy Collection through Jul 23. Community: Immigrant and Refugee Artists in Western New York through Oct 15. Glass Within Glass: The Magic of the Trabucco Studio; the paperweight artistry of Victor, David, and Jon Trabucco through Sep 17. Reunion: Chess, through Jun 25. Artists Seen, photographs of contemporary artists by David Moog. The First Exhibition: 50 Years with Charles E. Burchfield, on view through Mar 26. Charles Cary Rumsey: Success in the Gatsby Era, through Jun 25. 10am5pm & Sun 1-5pm. Admission $5-$10, children 10 and under free. Canvas Salon & Gallery (9520 Main Street, Clarence, NY 14031, STE 400): Work by Anne Valby, on view through June 30. Cass Project (500 Seneca Street, Buffalo, NY 14204): The Clufffaloes by Charles Clough. Castellani Art Museum (5795 Lewiston Road, Niagara University, NY 14109, 286-8200, castellaniartmuseum.org): Ebru: Floating Emotions featuring ebru by İpek, Ali Burak, and Musa Saraçoğlu, on view through Jul 9. Chinese Folk Pottery: The Art of the Everyday through Jul 2. Painting Niagara, Thomas Kegler, on view through Jan 21, 2018. Tue-Sat 11am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm. CEPA (617 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, 856-2717, cepagallery.org): Karsten Krejcarek: (However) the Owner of the Living (Death) May Pierce (an Abscess) and Spread Ruin, Babalú-Ayé through May 21. Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat 124pm.

Dana Tillou Fine Arts (1478 Hertel Avenue Buffalo, NY 14216, 716854-5285, danatilloufinearts. com): Contemporary collection including Hans Moller, Edith Geiger, Lee Adler, Claire Burch, and more. Wed-Fri 10:30am5pm, Sat 10:30am-4pm. Daily Planet Coffee Company (1862 Hertel Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14216, 716- 551-0661): Andrea Oswald’s traditional paintings. Dreamland (387 Franklin Street, Buffalo, NY 14202, facebook. com/dreamlandarts.buffalo/ timeline): Open by event. FF Eleven Twenty Projects (1120 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14209, 882-8100, eleventwentyprojects.com): Brendan Fernandes: From Hiz Hands. On view through Jul 30. FF El Museo (91 Allen Street, Buffalo, NY 14202, 4644692, elmuseobuffalo.org): Phyllis Thompson: Memories of Making Special. Wed-Sat 126pm. Enjoy the Journey Art Gallery (1168 Orchard Park Road, West Seneca, NY 14224, 675-0204, etjgallery.com): C.Mari, Grace Wilding and Serena Way. Tue & Wed 11-6pm, Thu & Fri 2-6pm, Sat 114pm . Fox Run Gyda Higgins Art Gallery (One Fox Run Lane, Orchard Park, NY 14127): Hometowns of WNY by Linda Hall. FF Hallwalls (341 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14202, 8541694, hallwalls.org): There’s More To Explore: Up Close and Personal With Ryder Henry, on view through Jun 30. Tue-Fri 11am-6pm, Sat 11am-2pm. FF Indigo Art Gallery (47 Allen Street, Buffalo, NY 14202, 9849572, indigoartbuffalo.com): Biophilia, work by Dorothy Fitzgerald, Kevin Kegler, Elizabeth LaBarge, Lynn Northrop on view through Jul 1. Opening reception Fri, Jun 2, 6-9pm. Wed & Fri 12-6pm, Thu 12-7pm, Sat 12-3pm, and by appointment Sun & Mon. Jewish Community Center of Buffalo, Bunis Family Art Gallery (2640 North Forest Road, Getzville, NY 14068 jccbuffalo. org): Exhibit by Jerry Birzon. Karpeles Manuscript Library (North Hall) (220 North St., Buffalo, NY 14201): The Young Abraham Lincoln, the drawings of Lloyd Ostendorf. On view through Apr 26. Tue-Sun 11am-4pm. Karpeles Manuscript Museum (Porter Hall) (453 Porter Ave, Buffalo, NY 14201): Maps of the United States. Tue-Sun 11am-4pm. Kenan Center House Gallery (433 Locust Street, Lockport, NY 14094, 433-2617, kenancenter. org): Three Generations of Burchfields: Works from the Schoene Collection, on view through June 16. Mon-Fri 125pm & Sun 2-5pm. Meibohm Fine Arts (478 Main Street, East Aurora, NY 14052, 652-0940, meibohmfinearts. com): Tue-Sat 9:30am-5:30pm. Niagara Arts and Cultural Center (1201 Pine Avenue, Niagara Falls, NY 14301, 282-7530, thenacc. org): NF125. Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat & Sun 12-4pm. Nina Freudenheim Gallery (140 North Street, Lenox Hotel, Buffalo, NY 14201, 716-8825777, ninafreudenheimgallery. com): Roil, new work by Kyle Butler through Jun 14. TueFri 10am–5pm Norberg’s Art & Frame Shop (37 South Grove Street, East Aurora, NY 14052, 716-6523270, norbergsartandframe. com): Local artists: Kathleen West, Bradley Widman, Peter Potter, and Miranda Roth. TueSat 10am–5pm. FF Parables Gallery & Gifts (1027 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY, parablesgalleryandgifts. com): Paintings by: Karen Carlton through Jun 30. Opening reception Fri, Jun 2, 7-9pm. WedFri, 12-7pm (until 9pm on first Fridays), Sat & Sun 12-5pm. FF Pausa Art House (19 Wadsworth Street, Buffalo, NY 14201, 697-9069 pausaarthouse.com): Tropicals, watercolors by Rita Argen Auerbach on view through Jun 17. Live music Thu-Sat.

FF Pine Apple Company (224 Allen Street, Buffalo, NY 14201, 716-275-3648, squareup.com/ store/pine-apple-company): Unicorns! LGBTQ Invitational. Wed & Thu 11am-6pm, Fri & Sat 11am-11pm, Sun 10am-5pm. Queen City Gallery (617 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, 8688183, queencitygallery.tripod. com): Art Under the Stars: 64 College Street, Allentown Fri, Jun 2, 6-10pm. Art by Neil Mahar, David Pierro, Candace Keegan, Chris McGee, Tim Raymond, Eileen Pleasure, Eric Evinczik, Barbara Crocker, Thomas Bittner, Susan Liebel, Barbara Lynch Johnt, Kisha Patterson, Steve Siegel, John Farallo, Michael Mulley. Tue-Fri 11am-4pm and by appointment. Resource:Art (Various locations, resourceartny.com, 2491320): Community, Milton Rogovin photographs, in conjunction with Max Collins public art project at the Buffalo Center for Art and Technology (1221 Main Street in Buffalo). By appointment. FF Revolution Gallery (1419 Hertel Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14216, revolutionartgallery.com): Sonic Splendor, group show with work by Adam Weekley, Annette Hassell, Craig LaRotonda, Dan Barry, David Brinley, Greg Kuppinger, Hope Kroll, Maria Pabico LaRotonda, Mark Rogers, Matt Duquette, Matthew Dutton, Paul Neberra, Stephanie Henderson—each artist interpreting one song. Through June 10. Ró Home Shop (732 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222, 2409387, rohomeshop.com): Somatic Color, Kyla Avery Kegler. Tue-Sat 11am-6pm, Sun 11am4pm, closed Mondays. Rust Belt Books (415 Grant Street): Recent works on paper by Hetta and Esther Gardner through Jun 30. FF Sports Focus Physical Therapy (531 Virginia Street, Buffalo, NY, 14202, 332-4838, sportsfocuspt.com): Photography by Joe George through May 30. Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, 6-9pm on first Fridays. Squeaky Wheel (617 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, squeaky. org): Tue-Sat, 12pm-5pm. Starlight Studio and Art Gallery (340 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14202, starlightstudio.org): Ann Moody, Kelly Evans, Shamika Long, Debbie Medwin, Sonya Lewis, Lisa Kobis, Rosita Scott, on view through Jul 16. MonFri 9-4pm. FF Sugar City (1239 Niagara Street, Buffalo, NY 14213, buffalosugarcity.org): Contemporary Queer, works from the Gerald R Mead Collection curated by Dana Tyrrell. Work by Steve Ardo, Eric Bellman, Lawrence Brose, Nick Butler, Craig Centrie, Jack Edson, Florian Ayala Fauna, Keith Gemerek, Jim Goodrich, Anthony Peter Gorny, Amy Greenan, Carlos Gutierrez-Solana, Andrew Hershey, Justin Higner, Scott McCarney, Dana McKnight, Tommy Nguyen, Alice O’Malley, Cristiano Pereira, Paul Rybarczyk, Tara Sasiadek, Donald Situa, Peter Stephens, C.J. Szatkowski, Adam Weekley, and Joe Ziolkowski. On view through Jul 1. Opening reception Fri Jun 2, 6-9pm. Open by event and on Fri 5:30-7:30. UB Anderson Gallery (1 Martha Jackson Place, Buffalo, NY 14214, 829-3754, ubartgalleries.org): The Human Aesthetic, Cravens World. The Language of Objects on view through Jul 30. Wed-Sat 11am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm. Western New York Book Arts Center (468 Washington Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, 3481430, wnybookarts.org): Words and Pictures: A Collaborative Exhibition by Trudy Stern and Michael Morgulis, through Jun 23. Wed-Sat 12-6pm.

To add your gallery’s information to the list, please contact us at info@dailypublic.com

Friends of the Buffalo Story presents A Celebration of the Life and Times of John J. Albright

FRIDAY, JUNE 2 – SUNDAY, JUNE 4, 2017 FRIDAY, JUNE 2 7:00pm

SATURDAY, JUNE 3 7:30pm

SUNDAY, JUNE 4 1:00pm

Burchfield Penney Art Center

Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Buffalo History Museum

The world premiere of the play ALBRIGHT by Steven Bellwood and Fengari Ensemble of New York City

John J. Albright and the Making of Twentieth Century Buffalo

Tickets $20 – available April 22

Discussion and presentation

The Photographic Legacy of the Albright Family Lecture and discussion

www.albrightknox.org

The Life & Times of

For further information contact Mark Goldman at 716.912.8980 Thank you to the Baird Foundation, the Robert & Patricia Colby Foundation, the Mulroy Family Foundation, and the Carlos & Elizabeth Heath Foundation.

MARK GOLDMAN

BOOK RELEASE: Albright, by Mark Goldman www.buffaloheritage.com

FeaturingOur Lady Peace and Collective Soul with special guest, Tonic JuNE 29, 2017 6 pm rain or shine

Photograph of Collective Soul courtesy of the artists. Photograph of Our Lady Peace by Ashley Osborn.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

TO purChASE TICKETS:

$45 general admission $42 for albright-Knox members

Visit www.albrightKnox.org/rocKin2017 call 716.270.8292 Visit the albright-Knox admissions desK

Albright-Knox Art Gallery P

DAILYPUBLIC.COM / MAY 31 - JUNE 6, 2017 / THE PUBLIC

May 2017 ISSUE 67

B U F F A L O â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S M O N T H LY P U B L I C AT I O N F O R T H E L G B T C O M M U N I T Y A N D I T S A L L I E S

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PHOTOGRAPHER

Photo Credit: Kevin Kuhn

Editor’s Note:

“Someone ought to tell Spicer that lurking in the bushes is a gay rite of passage.”

On the cover: Betty Who poses for Zak Cassar

Kevin Kuhn

CONTRIBUTORS Michael Rizzo Ron Ehmke Adrienne C. Hill Becky Moda Rod Hensel

SPECIAL THANKS Nino Martinez Mickey Harmon

FOUNDED BY MICHAEL RIZZO

Bruce Ader Fine Arts Buy & Sell - Appraise

(716) 510-4484 Specializing in WNY Regional Artwork Original Art - Objet d’Art

y b s e c n a m r o f r e p g n i r u t Fea

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5/30 Flag Raising Ceremony 5/31 Big Gay Sing 6/1 Gay 5K Run 6/2 Chroma/First Friday 6/2 Flex 6/3 Dyke March 6/4 Pride Parade 6/4 Pride Festival

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LOOP - JUNE 2017

the disconnect:Walking the Walk by Michael Rizzo

Last month, my forgotten privilege as a cisgender man materialized unexpectedly to slap me in the face. I was at a fundraising event for which I was chair of the planning committee. My organization was giving an award to a transgender member of the local LGBTQ community for their more than a decade’s worth of activism in queer and racial justice.

Before the program began, the recipient approached me in the venue’s foyer and asked if there were other restrooms anywhere. I looked at them a bit confused, until they reminded me that the facilities in the dining hall were marked for men and women. My heart sank. All I could do was point them down a long corridor to another set of restrooms, having to qualify that they would likely be gender-specific as well. The cis-guilt was written all over my face. “It’s OK,” they said. No, it’s not. If you own a gay bar, maintain a queer-oriented public space or service organization, or host an LGBTQgeared event but don’t provide gender-neutral bathrooms, you should be just as ashamed of yourself as I am. I’ve always considered myself an ally of the transgender community. During my stint as executive editor of this publication, we dedicated four editions solely to transgender issues, regularly profiled trans individuals, and kept a pulse on local, state and national legislation that affected their lives. In 2012, I got into a Twitter fight with Roseanne Barr after she implied that all transgender people were sexual predators, a completely unfounded claim. She called me sexist. I called her fat. She blocked me, and I made our pecking war the subject of a column a year later.

I wrote the first news story about transgender issues for my college newspaper in 2007. San Jose State had

not made that year’s Gender Equality National Index of schools that provided specific protections and services to transgender students, including non-gendered restrooms. I pressed the university president about the issue at every press conference that school year.

But apparently, I have no follow through. Here I was, so proud that my organization was recognizing this individual’s accomplishments, when I hadn’t even thought to take five minutes with two pieces of paper and a Sharpie to re-designate the bathrooms as gender-neutral and give them somewhere to pee. That’s something that should be standard practice for queer event organizers by now, but I missed it. What a guy. What a cisgender guy. It’s one thing to have a working knowledge of the terminology, the psychology, the biology and the politics. It’s another to have full empathy and compassion, to fully make the move from ally to friend. Allies attend rallies and wear pins. Friends look out for each other. Friends think of even the littlest things.

And that’s where the real problem is, for myself and any cisgender person out there who wants to cut me (or themselves) some slack: We don’t have enough meaningful friendships with transgender and gender nonconforming people. We haven’t been eyewitness enough to the daily struggles they face. We haven’t yet admitted that it’s actually a privilege to not have to think twice about bathroom (or pronoun) usage. I expected better of myself. You should too.

As if writing this column wasn’t blatant enough an attempt to lessen my guilt, I also followed up on a couple other things. No. 1: San Jose State installed 12 gender-neutral bathroom signs on appropriate facilities in 2009, two years after my first news story ran. No. 2: Roseanne still has me blocked on Twitter.

archives: Trans Trailblazer by Adrienne C. Hill Although few Buffalonians know her name today, Peggie Ames was a primary mover and preserver of local LGBTQ history. Born in 1921, Peggie lived a quiet life in Clarence Center for a half-century, until the early 1970s, when she came out as a transgender woman. In the ensuing years, she lived a life of activism and struggle, and she meticulously preserved records of that life until her death in 2000. The files she left behind inspired the establishment of the Madeline Davis Archives, which document the history of Buffalo’s LGBTQ community. Coming out in the early 1970s, Peggie lacked access to the groups and resources trans people currently use to understand and advocate for themselves. She had to cobble together an identity and a transition protocol from the scant resources available to her—most of which were medical or pornographic in nature.

Peggie bought memberships to medical organizations such as the Harry Benjamin Institute. She clipped every news article she could find about doctors who performed gender confirming surgeries, and kept multiple copies of medical articles. She perused pornographic magazines with names like Feminine Illusion—magazines meant for fetishists, but which also contained passing tips. Whenever Frank’s Casa Nova, a bar on Bailey Street, showcased female impersonator revues from New York City, she sat in the audience—first to simply watch the performers, and then, as she got braver, to speak to them, asking for transition advice.

Coming out as trans spurred Peggie’s political awakening. In notes on one of her lectures, she wrote: “Transsexuals such as I, Christine Jorgenson, Dr. Renee Richardson, Candy [Darling] and so many others must willingly expose themselves publicly to smooth the way ahead for those who may follow.” To help do so, Peggie joined the Mattachine Society of the Niagara Frontier (MSNF), Buffalo’s first gay rights organization. In 1973 and 1974, she was elected secretary of MSNF, and used her position to ensure that Buffalo’s Pride celebrations always had trans content. She became a peer counselor at the Gay Community Services Center, passing her resources on to Buffalonians questioning their gender identities. And she joined MSNF’s Speakers Bureau, sharing her experiences as a trans woman with medical students and members of the budding gay student movement on college campuses throughout Western New York.

Peggie paid a price for coming out. Her wife Jackie divorced her in 1973, and while Peggie was allowed to keep their shared home in the divorce settlement, Jackie was granted ownership of the insurance company they owned jointly. This was a financial blow from which Peggie never recovered. At the time, transitioning was considered elective by health insurance companies, and she was forced to pay for her hormones and surgery out of pocket, spending over $250,000. Her savings depleted, she earned money by founding a furniture repair business and teaching woodworking classes, but due to transphobic discrimination, she never again made more than $10,000 in a year.

In 1974, Daryll, the second of Peggie’s four children, committed suicide. Daryll was a Vietnam War veteran, and had suffered with PTSD and drug addiction for years, but his suicide note blamed his death on Peggie’s transition. She was thus disinvited from Daryll’s funeral and disowned by her family. Deprived of any familial support, she took comfort in her home—but even there, as it turned out, she wasn’t safe. Throwing rocks through Peggie’s window became a virtual rite of passage for Clarence’s teenage boys. Over the years, she replaced at least fifteen windows in her house. Peggie channeled her frustrations into her activism. “Mattachine used to go to the UB Medical School for a program with individuals that were going to become physicians,” recalls Don Licht, a local gay activist who considered Peggie a member of his extended family. “And she would carry a bag of rocks, and she would throw the rocks, saying, ‘How would you like to have this come through your window when you were sitting, watching TV?’” But despite her contributions to Buffalo’s gay community, Peggie still struggled to fit in. Although she identified as a lesbian, for instance, she was kicked out of GROW, a local lesbian organization.

Licht notes that Peggie, in her early 50s, was much older than most of Buffalo’s lesbian feminist community. He attributes her outsider status to generational differences. Peggie, he says, was opinionated, vocal, and stubborn—traits that Licht associates with people who grew up during the Depression. “I find that people of that generation were very set in their views,” Licht explains. “And that was true of Peggie.” Licht also believes that Peggie’s gender expression clashed with second-wave lesbian feminist politics. “Peggie would have liked to have been an ingénue in the 1930s and ‘40s,” he says. By the time she found the courage to come out, however, that style of femininity was out of fashion, and in lesbian feminist circles, totally repudiated. Peggie admired feminism, and tried to adopt the attitudes and aesthetics of

LOOP - JUNE 2017

younger lesbians, but she wore them awkwardly.

The lesbians in GROW did not understand the role age played in their clashes with Peggie. Focused solely on gender, they saw Peggie’s differences as evidence of her essential maleness, and wrote a letter kicking her out of the group. Peggie pulled away from local activism as the 1970s drifted on. In the process, however, she began her most important activist contribution: developing pen pal networks for trans people and their partners. Peggie found pen pals from the same sources she found transition tips: she offered herself as a peer counselor to other transgender people who wrote to medical associations, and she responded to trans women’s personals in pornographic magazines.

With her pen pals, she shared copies of the scholarly articles she’d amassed, gave advice to people in the early stages of transition, commiserated over instances of oppression and familial rejection, and shared the mundane details of everyday life. Peggie became close to several of her pen pals, sharing phone calls and, in some cases, inviting them to visit her in Clarence. For some of her pen pals, Peggie’s house was the first space in which they were able to experiment with their gender expression. Pen pal networks like those Peggie established provided trans people with space for collective discussion, laying the groundwork for the present-day transgender rights movement. Despite the wide reach of her activist work, Peggie remained rooted in Clarence. Her decision to stay there often confused other LGBTQ people. In her lecture notes and letters, people repeatedly asked her: “If people discriminate against you in Clarence, why don’t you move?”

Peggie stayed in her hometown for several reasons. First, she simply preferred the country to the city. “She bemoaned the fact that Clarence Center was no longer a country village, but was becoming a suburban area,” Licht says. Second, her house, built in 1835, represented several important values to her: her love of all things early Americana, and her desire for continuity with her life before coming out. Finally, her insistence on staying was a manifestation of the sheer stubbornness that had helped her come out in the first place. “Her attitude was, she was not going to let [anyone] chase her away from her home,” Licht explains.

Peggie Ames’ life was not easy. But in living her truth, she paved the way for future generations of trans activists, and provided LGBTQ people in rural areas with a model for living a meaningful activist life. Photo of Peggie Ames courtesy of the Madeline Davis Archives

News briefs by Michael Rizzo

maintained a commitment both to clear consent and use of protection during sex.

Pride Center appoints new senior director Longtime staffer Damien Mordecai assumed the role of senior director at Pride Center of Western New York on May 24, after Matthew Crehan Higgins accepted a newly created position at Evergreen Health as Associate Vice President of PrEP Services. Mordecai, who started his tenure with the center almost 10 years ago, is a quiet but strong presence at the center, responsible for the design of popular programs such as Out For Business, a coming-out support group, and the Gay Men’s Book Club. For years, he’s overseen the center’s calendar of events and developed its marketing and promotional materials, as well as taken on numerous other catch-all tasks for which his experience has left him equipped.

Higgins became senior director in January 2015 after 12 years at Erie County Medical Center, where he started as assistant coordinator of clinical education and eventually became program manager.

Club owner hypes up grand re-opening The latest reinvention of Club Marcella debuted May 19, complete with a 50-square-foot video wall, two separate dance floors each with their own sound system, a coffee bar for designated drivers, new VIP lounges — and the black paint is gone. Owner Joe Guagliardo moved back from Miami last year after spending a decade operating two nightclubs there, and has been promising to ramp up the motif at Marcella ever since. Fifteen visiting deejays are scheduled over the next three months, and Guagliardo is keeping the big-city, EDM dance club vibe that has set his space apart from the rest for the past 22 years. Familiar faces remain behind the bar along with new ones, and “Life’s A Drag,” Buffalo’s longest running drag show, keeps its Friday night slot, even though Guagliardo has been trying to distance himself from the label “gay club” for awhile now, telling Artvoice in December 2016: “We were never a gay bar!”

Queer duo’s career bottoms out in a flash Up-and-coming American queer music duo PWR BTTM’s career appears to have come to a screeching halt after member Ben Hopkins was accused of being a “known sexual predator” on social media last month.

Polyvinyl Records dropped its contract with the band, their upcoming tour was canceled, music festivals removed them from their lineups, and within 48 hours, all of the band’s music was removed from internet streaming services.

The statement released by Polyvinyl read: “There is absolutely no place in the world for hate, violence, abuse, discrimination or predatory behavior of any kind. In keeping with this philosophy, we want to let everyone know that we are ceasing to sell and distribute PWR BTTM’s music.”

Lawsuit accuses McKinley High principal of LGBTQ discrimination Buffalo Public Schools placed McKinley High School’s principal on administrative leave May 11 after student Byshop Elliot filed a lawsuit against the district May 10 claiming a pattern of discriminatory actions against LGBTQ students by the principal.

Elliot alleged that Principal Crystal Boling-Barton stymied efforts to form a Gay/Straight Alliance, warned students during announcements that they were not permitted to bring same-sex dates to prom, reserved couples tickets to prom for only opposite-sex couples, and had been known to separate same-sex couples from each other who where dancing together at school functions. The district confirmed on May 12 that same-sex couples would be allowed to attend prom together this year, and that staff has been directed to assist students in the formation of Gay/Straight Alliance within the school as soon as possible. The lawsuit was filed by New York Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Elliot.

Underserved communities grant will target LGBTQ caregivers Thanks to a $100,000 grant for underserved communities, Pride Center launched a new support program for LGBTQ caregivers last month focused on those caring for individuals with memory loss. The Memory Loss Caregiver Program is being overseen by Deanna Bednarz, the center’s newest wellness coordinator. The program will provide caregiving resources to members of the LGBTQ community, as well as help train health care related businesses about how best to serve those who identify as LGBTQ. The support group meets the third Tuesday of each month from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the center.

Local high school forces trans student to use certain bathrooms

A 17-year-old transgender junior at Tonawanda High School is not being allowed to use the women’s restroom this school year even though it was allowed last year, and even though directives from the State Education Department make it clear that she should be allowed to do so. Arianna Adamo is being told she must use the school’s gender-neutral bathroom or the health office bathroom. She said the district’s superintendent told her that things changed this year out of a safety concern for “people pretending they are identifying as a girl going into the wrong bathrooms.”

Although the district has yet to implement its own bathroom policy, State Education Department guidelines released almost two years ago state that students who can be documented as identifying as transgender or gender nonconforming should be allowed to use the restrooms and public accommodations that match their gender identity. In addition, any student who feels uncomfortable using a public bathroom for any reason should be given alternative accommodations upon request. The guidelines specifically suggest “a single ‘unisex’ bathroom” as one alternative, which the district is using to justify its requirements on where Adamo is allowed to relieve herself, even though the issue is not that Adamo feels uncomfortable using the women’s bathroom nor has she requested alternative accommodations. The guidelines go on to state that these alternatives “should never be forced upon students, nor presented as the only option.”

It started with a post to Facebook on May 10 by user Kitty Cordero-Kolin, who discouraged her followers from supporting the group because, as she claimed, Hopkins had garnered a reputation in local queer communities and DIY groups for nonconsensual affection and sexual behavior, as well as for bullying other queer artists.

Two days later, celebrity blog Jezebel.com released an interview with an anonymous source who recounted a sexual encounter with Hopkins that she described as aggressive and nonconsensual, and she said Hopkins refused to wear a condom.

Hopkins, who identifies as gender-neutral, confirmed having a sexual relationship with the unidentified source, but said they “strongly contest the account put forth in Jezebel.” In a statement on Facebook, Hopkins said “the Photo Credit: Ebru Yildiz statements made about me by the anonymous source did not line up with any sexual experience I had ever had.” They said they have always

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Chroma holiday

Annual art shindig on Allen promises to be a ‘fantaSHE’ by Michael Rizzo Performance artists Vidalia May and Max Darling want you to get your head in the clouds at this year’s annual Buffalo Pride Week art exhibition. The drag queen duo is the face of local performance troupe SheLives, and in sculpting the motif for this year’s show during Chroma on June 2, they’ve recreated an adult-themed childhood fantasy — a FantaSHE, if you will.

“It’s going to be very Powderpuff Girls meets Brooklyn Grunge meets The Labyrinth meets Final Fantasy meets The Last Unicorn meets RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Darling said, if only to make it clear that the production is going to be over the rainbow. The troupe opened for gay hip hop artist Cazwell at Momentum during last year’s Pride festivities, just as their popular #DEEP parties had already garnered them a hardcore local cult following, but this will be their first performance at an outdoor venue. Lit-up clouds will be floating over “the garden” with a prideful balloon arch at the entry, a unicorn wonderland projected onto the back of the building and rainbow uplighting for extra ambiance. With drag, burlesque, live music, rap, two deejays and “unicorns ev-er-y-where,” Darling said, they’re going all out.

“We’ve maintained a lot of the things we’ve done in the past,” May said, “and we always try to add something new, and take it a step further. I think this time the vibe, the music, everything everyone loves about coming to our parties will still be there, but I think we’ve really done some things to elevate this event. Everything’s a little more supernatural, a little more off-color, a little more extravagant than usual.”

The show starts at 9 p.m. or just after the sun sets in the backyard of Pine Apple Company and No Labels Collective at 224 Allen Street, but the event is really about local art, and Pine Apple, as the headquarters of this year’s Chroma, is putting the emphasis on queer art with its exhibition, Unicorns! “The culture has shifted,” said Mickey Harmon, explaining the concept behind this year’s 6

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headlining exhibition. “The younger generation doesn’t care nearly as much about what your gender is or how you define your sexuality. As a millennial, I feel that everyone is unique and special and that we’re all unicorns in our own ways — and we all deserve to feel that way, regardless of our various stripes.”

But this year’s Chroma event is not just in one place at one time. Pine Apple and Pride Center of Western New York teamed up with Allentown Association to morph the entire First Friday Gallery Walk into a Pride event. The hundreds of people making their way through Pine Apple and down Allen Street from 6 p.m. - 10 p.m. will also have the opportunity to participate in live art. Thanks to a grant from Awesome Buffalo, local artists will be directing “Rainbows On Allen,” a collaborative public art initiative to paint four rainbow arches on the sidewalks at each corner of Elmwood Avenue and Allen Street.

“Whether you’re attending Unicorns! or visitors to First Friday, visitors to Pride, eating at a restaurant on Allen — you name it — anyone can come and collaboratively paint this symbol,” said Seth Amman, board president of the Association.

It was initially hoped the grant could fund the painting of permanent rainbow crosswalks along Allen Street, and while that may still happen, it won’t be in time for Chroma. Allentown Association is currently working closely with Department of Public Works and Buffalo Common Council to draft a policy that would ultimately allow for such a public art project, but currently there isn’t one in place.

Food and a wine and beer bar will be available in the backyard of Pine Apple and No Labels for the event and the deejay starts at 6 p.m. Face-painting and Henna tattoos by Obsidian, champagne toast at sunset, and unicorn fantasy costumes encouraged. Join the conversation with #BuffaloPrideWeek, #RainbowsOnAllen, and #BuffaloIsAwesome

Scenes from Chromas past. Photogrpahy by Kevin Kuhn

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15 Minutes in the closet on the phone with Betty Who by Christopher John Treacy

that spent time enrolled at Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music. The Valley, which is only her second full length release (preceded by two EP’s, the success from which led to her contract with RCA) brought her through a dark time. But now on the other end of it, she sounds invigorated and ready to take on the world… or, at least, Buffalo. L: What was different about making The Valley?

Betty Who is one of our own.

Photo Credit: Ben Cope

Which isn’t to say she’s gay. But the video for her cover of Donna Lewis’s “I Love You Always Forever” might have you guessing. It’s a visual feast of entwining bodies and sensual touching where it would appear that gender is beside the point (or maybe exactly the point, depending on your perspective) with her at the center of it all, very purposefully projecting an anything goes vibe. But when we speak she’s in Montauk, Long Island, where her current boyfriend is working on somebody else’s tour as stage manager and staff photographer. Regardless, the queer community embraced her music early on and has stuck by her into her latest project, The Valley, which was released on RCA earlier this spring. “I would not have a career without the LGBT community,” she told the Huffington Post last winter.“I’ve played almost every LGBT Pride in the country. I’ve been so included so quickly, and I’m so grateful for it.”

Born in Sydney, Australia as Jessica Anne Newham nearly 26 years ago, Betty Who is the big what in this year’s Pride Festival at Canalside on Sunday, June 4. Her infectious pop is perfect for the occasion: sexy, surefooted, celebratory, and seasoned with hooks galore — and for those that don’t know, she’s a classically trained musician

BW: I found my neurosis to be pretty intense, working on this project. I became more obsessed with the process of songwriting. I lived this album for two years, and there are forty-five songs not on the record that I loved. Ten of them could have probably gone on the album, but in the end they didn’t fit with the others. There’s always the hope that someday they’ll come out one way or another. I’m way more grown up now than I was making my first record and going into this, I feel like I just knew myself better. I’d been through a lot and experienced a lot and really evolved both personally and, I hope it translates, sonically. I’m just older now, and things that I hadn’t ever thought of before, like figuring out how to co-exist with your parents as an adult, for instance, gave me a new sense of self awareness. Looking back at some of the songs I wrote for my first record, I’m glad I’ve learned how to say more with less. It can be hard to connect with how young I sound in them. L: Do people call you Jessica anymore?

BW: To be honest, No. It’s a weird identity crisis, but at the same time it doesn’t really bug me since I didn’t feel particularly tied to that name, anyhow. Plus, I have so many nicknames. People like to call me Babe.

L: There tends to be an assumption that people in modern pop aren’t really artists or musicians, but more just products that show up to project an image while teams of other people do the creative work. But you’re classically trained and went to Berklee. Do you resent that assumption?

BW: I definitely know that stigma exists, but I definitely don’t come up against it within my core fan base. But to anyone that thinks that, I’d tell them to come to a show and they’ll know I work really hard. I let my passion speaks for itself, so judge me from how I perform. I’ve come up against those assumptions when Im in recording sessions and people are often surprised that I’m a writer, that I can actually sing and play instruments – of course I can do those things, if I say I can. I definitely feel as if the people who like my music can tell there’s a lot of me in it. I’m not not just a vessel for the music or a face on an

album cover. To me, music is about making connections, and really, that’s the only reason anybody should be involved in it.

L: Keeping that in mind, when you spoke to Attitude last year about releasing “I Love You Always Forever” ahead of your new album, you said, “I was desperate to put out new music and it is really a kind of exhausting and sometimes impossibly-busy process to try and get a song out into the world.” Can you clarify what you meant by that?

BW: If I’m to be politically correct about it, I’ll just say there are a lot of opinions and a lot of people that come together to make pop music happen. Certain things haven’t changed in this industry, it might just be the least evolved of the post-internet age. There are a lot of hoops to jump through and people to satiate — it’s an outdated system. But at the same time, yes, I want to be a pop star, I want to do this more than anything else in my life. That juxtaposition is an eternal struggle: do it my way and say ‘fuck you’ or play the game and make them happy. In the end, I put out a record I love – I found the balance. The things I really want are to make myself proud, make music I love, and make my fans happy. And sometimes those things are in conflict. When I started this project, the tone was much different. I realized I was misplacing all this anger, angst, anxiety and sadness, but it led to a personal and artistic breakthrough. I want to release music out that represents the good stuff. There are too many negative things out in the universe, and there’s a difference between being honest and just being angry. My music should be a channel for positivity and goodness. L: What do you enjoy so much about performing at Prides?

BW: I love it because for some people it’s the one time of year they look forward to and celebrate. My life is one big Pride parade, in that I am myself all the time — I’m allowed to be and have the luxury of living that way, but some people don’t. Some people go to work and have to pretend to be someone else all day and don’t feel allowed to be true to who they really are. Pride is the moment each year when people get to celebrate who they really are in public and out loud. I love seeing people being moved and being honest. L: Are you losing your Australian accent? It sounds like it might be fading.

BW: (laughing) Don’t judge me. And don’t remind me. It seems like a shame, but the truth is that I’ve lived in American and Australia equally throughout my life, so it’s been fading in and out for a while now.

Pride, reconsidered by Christopher John Treacy Pride will always mean different things to different people, but most would probably agree that it’s meant to be a celebration. Just how that celebration ought to be carried out has been an ongoing, oft-contentious debate between different factions of the LGBTQ+ community. Some like to wear costumes and parade, while others prefer to simply march with signs. Some like to dance outside (for a change) and drink adult beverages as a show of festivity. For many, it’s a time to see people that they don’t get to visit with much during the demanding day-to-day itinerary of their lives, and still for others it’s a time of quiet reflection — a more solitary way of celebrating, but linked to the spirit of the larger group. One Pride definitely does not fit all.

But this year in particular, in the wake of menacing political changes rocking our country and the uprising to battle continued racial inequality — which transcends gender identity and sexual preferences — the outcry for a shift in focus during Pride season has been louder than ever. Twenty years ago, when someone used the term ‘gay community,’ it meant something different. We are growing into a more diversified network of individuals with a common queerness, but making sure that Pride — as a universally recognized annual occasion — includes everybody under the umbrella is challenging. “I do think Pride is a celebration, but it is still a form of protest,” said Sue Doster, co-president of the InterPride, the international organization that ties Pride together globally and aims to empower Pride organizations, large and small, worldwide. “When people gather and express their pride, marching in a parade, being on a float, or dancing in the face of people who see them as less-than, this is protest. It’s a core kind of self-expression protest. And that kind of expression, particularly for young people or older folks thinking of coming out, provides a lasting sense of strength and community which they can then take home and use to make the difficult decisions. It doesn’t have to

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be either celebration or protest, it has always been both.”

Doster, who is also co-chair for the upcoming Washington, D.C. Equality March for Unity and Pride, has watched various Pride planners struggle over the past year to meet the increasingly vocal needs of the communities they strive to represent.

“There is more of a protest tone to many Prides this year, in a number of cities,” she said. “Organizers have changed their events to accommodate their community’s wishes to be more grass roots focused and more protest focused. There is, in some communities, a kind of discontent about corporate Pride sponsorship, and there are also some communities that do not feel connected to local Prides — specifically the QPOC community and the trans community. Those communities have come to Pride organizers and said, “We do not feel connected with you guys,” and in some communities, and D.C, is one of them, those Pride committees have taken a look inside and done some soul searching and given it a great deal of introspection. In turn, that has enabled a dialogue about the situation as it exists and about what can be done for Pride organizers to become more inclusive. They’re asking themselves what they can do to elevate those groups to come together to truly be a unified, diverse, representation of the larger community they serve.” The situation here in Buffalo is no different, and those that plan our Pride events — a collaborative effort between the Pride Center of Western New York and Evergreen — opted to dispense with Momentum, the outdoor Canalside dance party normally scheduled for Saturday night of Pride weekend, which leaves the Buffalo Dyke March as the centerpiece of Saturday’s events. It feels bold, and yet, entirely appropriate.

“Momentum was purely just a celebration,” said newly minted Executive Director of the Pride Center of Western New York, Damian Mordecai.

“It was never meant to be something permanent, necessarily. Our decision to go without it reflects a lot of what has happened in the last year. We did need to make that space for people to express a more political stance and as a means of acknowledging and reflecting what we have experienced as a community in recent months… and to get back to LGBT roots. To throw a party at the same time [or right afterwards] seems disrespectful.”

“We’ve heard the requests to ‘go back to Bidwell,’ and ‘go back to what Pride used to be,’ but the reality is that we can’t go all the way back,” he continued. “I don’t think that would be helpful, and there’s been a lot of progress made in the interim that needs to be celebrated. Pride has always been political, and it always will be, whether it’s sponsored by corporate entities or not. It will always change, and people should come to expect that. Folks will remain divided about it, but that’s just the nature of something like this. Pride is just as important now as it was then. You can try and minimize it, but for anyone coming for the first time, it’s just as powerful as it was for the people marching in the first parades.” This year, Capital Pride in Washington DC will be augmented by the Equality March on Sunday, June 11, in addition to their annual parade. Executive Director of the Capital Pride Alliance Ryan Bos told us during a brief phone chat that the city has been nothing but supportive. “We partnered with Equality March to ensure an impactful weekend, and because there’s an urgency from our community,” he said. He deflected any inquiries about specific unrest within D.C. communities, but spoke in a more general sense about the need for change.

“It’s nothing unique to D.C.,” he said. “Our communities are in a different place this year. There’s a sense of fear and a recommitment to fighting for the things we still haven’t achieved while also working to insure that what we have gained we

don’t lose. It’s important not to go backwards — people need to have hope. And I think it’s important not to be critical of how people choose to show up, but rather to just let them show their pride is whatever way they feel most comfortable.” In an editorial he wrote for D.C.-based Metro Weekly, which ran at the same time as a hypercritical piece by GetEQUAL director Angela Peoples called “Capital Pride Can and Must Do Better,” he was more direct about his feelings.

“It would be easy to turn the recent discussions surrounding LGBTQ+ Pride into a politicized argument between different camps, but that would be unfair to the staff, boards, and thousands of volunteers across the United States who help put on Pride and the millions of people who participate in those events,” Bos wrote. “It would also be unfair to LGBTQ+ people, who have long been marginalized, are increasingly under threat, and bring critical concerns that our movement must grapple with — all stemming from the diversity of LGBTQ+ communities and intersectionality of the many issues that affect us… No one person, organization, or community “owns” Pride, and we all have the right to experience it in our own way. ” While keeping Saturday’s focus on the Dyke March is a game-changer locally, many from our own LGBTQ+ communities are making the pilgrimage to Washington for the big march, which promises to be a powerful show of solidarity in the wake of uncertain times.

“The National Equality March has come together as a historic opportunity for LGBTQ Americans and our allies to stand together in our capitol,” said Stonewall Democrat Bryan Ball. “Pride has always been, like Stonewall, an act of resistance. Our country will continue to fight for the progress we have gained. At the march, we will demonstrate our resistance to the administration of President Trump, who has made attacking the rights of LGBTQ people a priority from day one.”

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Climate Change: COP-OUT by Ron Ehmke In case you missed the worldwide coverage last summer, the organizers of Pride Toronto granted their city’s chapter of Black Lives Matter “honorary status” in the 2016 parade, an expression of solidarity with the younger group which could be read as a passing of the torch from the last wave of civil rights activists to the next one. This symbolic gesture made perfect sense—after all, the international gay liberation movement of the late 1960s owed its existence to the strategies of the desegregation and Black Power movements that preceded it, to say nothing of the Black drag queens who took direct action when cops raided the Stonewall Inn.

But instead of celebrating common ground, what happened next looked more like a turf battle: BLM Toronto staged a sit-in during the parade, bringing the massive event to a halt until their demands were met. The majority of these had to do with inclusion—increasing the numbers of Black people on the staff and on the stages of Pride Toronto. But the demand that generated the most attention was a matter of exclusion: “the removal of police floats in the Pride marches and parades,” to quote BlackLivesMatter.ca, (it’s important to note that, like ACT UP and the Occupy movement, Black Lives Matter is a grassroots, decentralized network with no formal hierarchy, so BLM Toronto’s actions are not necessarily representative of the BLM movement anywhere else.) As BLM Toronto member Rodney Diverlus told the crowd during the sit-in, “The presence of police might make some of y’all safe, but it makes a whole lot of people in our community unsafe. If you’re down for an inclusive Pride, you are down for a police-free Pride.” Elsewhere in the same speech, Diverlus identified the people who feel unsafe as members of “vulnerable communities,” omitting the fact that queers of all skin tones and ethnicities have historically been vulnerable… and still are. The implication is not just that some communities are more vulnerable than others—no argument there—but that some vulnerabilities are more important than others. In order to get the parade back on track after thirty minutes of derailment, Pride organizers agreed to all the demands, which sparked much heated public debate, an outpouring of blatantly racist sentiment from many non-Black citizens, and the eventual resignation of the group’s executive director.

Late last year, Pride TO issued a formal apology to BLM for the way it had handled the situation, but this May, the brouhaha resumed after a conservative member of the Toronto Council introduced a motion to pull more than a quarter million dollars of city funding unless Pride allowed uniformed officers to march. As of late May, the PrideToronto.com site includes a statement that LGBTQ police and their allies are not banned from the parade (and will continue to provide security for it), noting that, “…we are simply requesting that their participation not include the following elements: uniforms, weapons, and vehicles.” Meanwhile, the New York City chapter of the Gay Officer Action League (which itself had to fight the NYPD in federal court in 1997 for the right to march in uniform in the New York Pride parade) has invited Toronto cops to join them at this year’s Manhattan parade.

I have generally been supportive of the work of the Black Lives Matter movement, but this entire controversy infuriates me—not because of the very real issues it raises (or, more precisely, revisits) about the racism endemic in some quarters of both law enforcement and the LGBTQ community, but because it serves as an ugly reminder of another toxic tendency that has been with us for a long time. The Left still seems addicted to attacking the very people it should be working with over what are, in the grand scheme of things, solvable disagreements compared to the existential threats posed by hatemongering Right-wingers. I can think of no better way to ensure that homophobia thrives among future generations of bad cops than to alienate the good ones currently on the force. (Full disclosure: My husband is a retired cop who spent years teaching diversity training to new recruits, and his experience reinforces my lifelong belief that we get a lot farther building better bridges among people than reinforcing walls between them.) My favorite historical example of this tendency to demonize the wrong demons and fight the wrong enemy—the exclusion of trans folk from the Michigan Wimmin’s Festival because they made some of the “women-born, women-loving women” at the event uncomfortable—had nothing to do with skin color, but still found one group of unquestionably marginalized people further marginalizing another undeniably oppressed group. Raw emotions like anger and fear often blind us to seeing the bigger picture, regardless of our politics.

I understand why separatism—the phenomenon of women-only festivals, for instance, or the refusal of some BLM chapters to accept non-Black members—tends to be an important phase in the maturation of many minorities, but I also believe that the impulse to remove oneself from everyone who does not resemble oneself in search of “safety” is only one stop on a much longer journey for the culture as a whole. When a group remains fixated on its own fundamental “purity” and prioritizes exclusion over inclusion, disaster is almost inevitable. And the more harshly we attack each other, the easier we make it for those who’d prefer that none of us exist at all. A common dynamic in families plagued by abuse is for victimized children to blame not the parent who is beating them up on a nightly basis, but the one who isn’t. That’s because the responsible party seems too daunting a foe; it’s easier to vent your anger on someone whose major shortcoming is their failure to protect you from the overt attacker.

The whole point of discussing intersections of race, gender, class, and other factors is to look past either/or scenarios in favor of both/and ones. In times as dire as the ones we now find ourselves, with prejudice and nationalism erupting everywhere we look, the stakes are too high to keep aiming at misidentified targets. Ron Ehmke is a writer, performer, and all-around artsy-fartsy fellow; learn more at everythingrondoes.com.

ear worms: Difranco & Moyet by Christopher John Treacy Borders get blurry and the rest is adjectives…Difranco slips us a political mickey on her 19th disc, Binary (out 6/9 on Righteous Babe) and winds up delivering a sonically adventurous set that lands somewhere between the experimentation of 2003’s Evolve and the pop sheen of 2008’s Red Letter Year. More layered and produced than the personal-feeling Allergic to Water, she covers an impressive amount of ground, only occasionally referencing her own life as a springboard to address larger issues. The title track kicks off the set with a hearty funk undertow that pairs blasts of organ with a shuffling drum beat to compliment a lyric about the interrelatedness of all living things. “Zizzing,” featuring a guest vocal from Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, creates mystery and tension with creaking strings and shimmering vibraphone while the righteous, unyielding, take-back-what’s-mine-anyhow feel of “Play God” draws compelling parallels between historical battles, menstrual cycles and paying monthly bills. The playful, jazzy lilt of “Telepathic,” meanwhile, swings with the alternating blessing and curse of empathetic feelings. But it isn’t until the album’s last third that she really pushes the envelope with the tricky timing of “Spider,” perhaps the most outright rocking song of her career, the suite-like “Terrifying Sight,” and “Sasquatch,” which marries bluesy piano riffs and a skronky bass line to expose our inability to leave nature well enough alone. By the lazy baritone guitar and mournful NOLA-esque horns of closer “Delayed Gratification,” it comes into focus that Difranco has schooled us on a spectrum of our cultural troubles. But with help from Ivan Neville, sax man Maceo Parker, and violinist Jenny Scheinman, the left-field arrangements and clever songwriting are so compelling, class is dismissed before you know it. Download: “Binary.” 10 LOOP - JUNE 2017

35 years after her breakthrough as the booming, bluesy voice of Yaz/Yazoo, Alison Moyet’s career is experiencing an electronic renaissance. Out 6/16 on Cooking Vinyl, her second studio collaboration with knob-twiddler extraordinaire Guy Sigsworth (Goldie, Madonna, Bjork), Other, is a more sinewy presentation than 2013’s the minutes, chock full of subtle grooves and curious synthy quips. From the sweeping drama of “I Germinate” and “Reassuring Pinches” — the latter of which vaguely recalls the early electronica of Kraftwerk, then sneaks up on you with a walloping surprise hook — to the sparse arrangement of the title track, Moyet presents a wider range of musical possibilities than ever before, making Other her most fully realized work to date. Culled from her own poetry, the cadence of which she successfully preserves despite the shift in mediums, she comments on the world around her with gifted wit and wordplay. “The English U” conjures a moody, cinematic feel with a metaphor about grammar and personality, while “Beautiful Gun” walks the fine line between sass and sensuality against a driving, rock-tinged arrangement. “Happy Giddy” recalls her Yazoo days with Vince Clarke, but without giving in to 1980s pastiche. “April 10” offers a poem laid bare, spoken over an unobtrusive beat that keeps the track moving, and the piano-and-vocal-only title piece reads like a coming to terms with issues of mental illness. Moyet loves to spar; it comes across in her writing and also in a recurring, contrarian element in her music: she adores a good curveball. With Other, she strikes a better balance between melody and Sigsworth’s edgy, electronic structures. Having spent much of her solo career working to convince listeners she’s more than a big, gooey belter, she now sounds relaxed enough to deliver the higher art she’s always aspired to. Download: “Happy Giddy”

wearing pride ...on your sleeve, and on your chest by Rod Hensel We don’t know just yet what the most popular T-shirt will be at all the Pride celebrations in 2017. It might be the black one with the rainbow lettering saying “RESIST,” or it might be a commemorative shirt marking the Equality March for Unity and Pride in Washington D.C. on June 11. LGBTQ Pride tees are being sold as fund raisers by organizations, in on-line shops (one site lists 12,753 gay pride styles) or even in the ‘Pride Boutique’ sections showing up in many Target department stores.

T-shirts have been a part of the gay liberation movement since its earliest days immediately following the Stonewall riots of 1969. Many were produced locally in mid-larger sized cities across the country and were worn in public at a time when being identified as gay could have dire consequences. Many of Buffalo’s early shirts were collected by Madeline Davis and her friends over years of gay activism. Davis was chief conservator and head of preservation in the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library System before her retirement, and she was also active from the start in the Mattachine Society of the Niagara Frontier, our first regional gay rights organization. Davis started collecting things in her home and eventually transferred them to the Archives and Special Collections at Buffalo State University in 2009. In 2016, an anonymous donor made a $50,000 gift through the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo to assist with digitizing the collection, which became the core of the Dr. Madeline Davis LGBTQ Archive of Western New York, housed at the E. H. Butler Library, SUNY Buffalo State. Until last year, those shirts from years past were hidden away, largely un-cataloged and unpreserved. Enter Hope Dunbar, who was then new to the college’s archival operation and possessed a keen interest in the LGBTQ collection.

“I was looking at the collection to see what needed to be processed right away and came upon the t-shirts and decided they should be stored by being carefully folded to preserve the imprint and wrapped in acid-free tissue paper, THURSDAY JUNE 1 GAY 5K** - Register same-day btwn 4:30 and 6 p.m. at Soho Burgers, 64 W. Chippewa. Race starts at 6:30, $22 in adv, $25 day-of. FRIDAY JUNE 2 LGBTQ SENIORS LUNCH MEET UP 2-4 p.m. at Family Tree Restaurant 4346 Bailey Ave., Amherst This is a buy your own lunch event Contact judynibe@aol.com CHROMA** 6 p.m. at Pine Apple Company 224 Allen Street FLEX** 10 p.m. at The Waiting Room 334 Delaware Ave. SATURDAY JUNE 3 LGBTQ BREAKFAST CLUB 9 a.m. at Bettys 370 Virgina St. DYKE MARCH** - Line up at 4 p.m., Roll off at 5 p.m. (Grant & Potomac); Rally in Bidwell to follow SUNDAY JUNE 4 PRIDE WORSHIP SERVICE 10 a.m.-11 A.m. at Pilgrim-St. Luke’s United 335 Richmond Ave. PRIDE PARADE** Steps off at Noon from Elmwood and Forest PRIDE FESTIVAL** 1-7 P.M. AT Canalside, 44 Prime St. Featuring Betty Who; $10, free under 15; $50 premium tickets, 21+ in premium area. MONDAY JUNE 5 LGBT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE COMMITTEE MTG 4:30 p.m. - 6p.m. at Pride Center WNY 206 S. Elmwood Ave. Monthly Meeting TUESDAY JUNE 6 TRANSGENERATION

“ she said. “As physical objects, they help you realize that history is something that happens to real people. And a T-shirt is so intimate. It’s a physical representation of an idea, an idea that you’re choosing to put on your body”

But before tucking them away in boxes, Dunbar wanted to photograph and digitize the tees so they could be viewed on line, which could be expensive. In researching funding she discovered there was already a national project underway to document LGBTQ tees stored in local archives across the country. The project, “Wearing Gay History,” began as a graduate student project at George Mason University in the Fall of 2014 with development of an open source, archival web-publishing platform to make it affordable to digitize entire T-shirt collections to bring attention to LGBTQ history outside the major east and west coast cities. With the addition of the Buffalo collection this spring, wearinggayhistory.com now has over 3,700 tees on display.

Buffalo’s oldest shirts from the 1970s, if they still exist, are not part of the collection. “We didn’t get tees until I think the late 1970s,” Davis recalled. “The first ones, the years after Stonewall, we ordered from New York City. One was Navy Blue with a gold lambda, and another was blue that said ‘Gay Activist Alliance.’ I think the first we ordered locally was in the late ‘70’s and it was blue with gold writing that was a lambda sign and the word Buffalo, but we don’t have one of those [for the archive].”

annual Pride celebrations and other special events planned by the community. Some were produced as part of the push to pass marriage equality in New York State. Dunbar said the archives remains open to receive T-shirts from donors, and Davis says she still has hopes that ones from the early 1970s will show up, including that first Lambda Buffalo shirt.

Both agree that the collection, or parts of it, should one day be placed on public display at a suitable venue, but until then they are properly conserved in the archives and can be viewed online. Dunbar believes the LGBTQ archives are essential, noting that attendance at openly gay events took personal courage in the 1970s and 1980s.

“It’s a way to preserve these records created by individuals who fought for certain rights,” she said. “People do have the ability to change systems. Seeing past victories creates a possibility of hope for the future.”

View Buff State’s LGBTQ shirt collection at http://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/lgbtq_ shirts (Editor’s Note: Rod Hensel was president of Buffalo’s Mattachine Society in the early 1980’s and donated one of the two “Gay Pride Fest ‘81” tees in the archive collection. “They probably survived because we printed too many,” he said, “and some bought them but never quite felt safe enough to wear them in public.”).

The oldest dated shirt appears to be for “GAY PRIDE FEST ‘81 BUFFALO NY,” designed by Great Arrow Graphics, which did the preprint production for Buffalo Mattachine’s monthly newspaper, The Fifth Freedom. They sold for $6.50 each at a handful of gay-friendly businesses and at a series of Pride events throughout June that was capped by a July 4 dance aboard the USS Little Rock, which at that time had only been docked on the waterfront for two years. The graphic also appeared on the newspaper’s cover and on posters

Most of the T-shirts in the collection are from the 1990s onward and were produced for the

COMMUNITY STAPLES & EVENTS

6-8 p.m. at Pride Center WNY 206 S. ELmwood Ave. IMPERIAL COURT MONTHLY MEETING 7-8 p.m. at Pride Center WNY 206 S. Elwood Ave. LGBTQ LESBIANS COFFEE/TEA 6 p.m. at Spot Coffee 1 Delaware Rd. (at the corner of Delaware Ave.), Kenmore BKS MEETING 6-8 p.m. at Pride Center WNY 206 S. Elmwood Ave. Pansexual-run organuzation for BDSM enthusiasts focused on education, openness and networking. THURSDAY JUNE 8 NIAGARA FALLS LGBTQ DISCUSSION GROUP 6-7 p.m. at First Unitarian Universalist Church 639 Main St., Niagara Falls FRIDAY JUNE 9 SPECTRUM TRANSGENDER 7-9 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church 3107 Main St. SATURDAY JUNE 10 LGBTQ SENIORS COFFEE HOUR 10:00 a.m. at Wegman’s 601 Amherst St. GAY BINGO 6-9 p.m. 25 Review Pl., Buffalo THURSDAY JUNE 15 TRANSGENERATION 6-8 p.m. at Pride Center WNY 206 S. ELmwood Ave. FRIDAY JUNE 16 LGBTQ SENIORS LUNCH MEET UP 2-4 p.m. at La Bella Sicilia 2909 Genessee St. This is a buy your own lunch event Contact judynibe@aol.com

SATURDAY JUNE 17 HISTORY MUSEUM LGBT LIBRARY DONATION DAY 10 a.m.- Noon at Buffalo History Museum 1 Museum Court (Elmwood and Nottingham) Please bring local memorabilia pertaining to LGBTQ life in Buffalo for inclusion in the archives at Buff State. SUNDAY JUNE 18 LGBTQ LUNCH BUNCH Noon at The Yelling Goat 205 Central, Lancaster TUESDAY JUNE 20 LGBTQ LESBIANS COFFEE/TEA HOUR 6 p.m. AT SPot Coffe 765 Elmwood, Buffalo WEDNESDAY JUNE 21 SILVER PRIDE TEA 4:30 p.m. at Amherst Senior Services 370 John James Audubon Pkwy, Amherst OUT FOR BUSINESS 5-7 p.m. at Preservation Pub 948 Main St. Monthly LGBTQ mixer with a business netowrking focus. Sponsored by PCWNY. SUNDAY JUNE 25 PFLAG MEETING 2:30 p.m. at Kenilworth United Church of Christ 45 Dalton Drive MONDAY JUNE 26 SENIORS HEALTHY LUNCH 1-3 p.m. at Preservation Pub 948 Main St., Buffalo TUESDAY JUNE 27 FORBIDDEN FRUITS 6-7:30 p.m. at Pride Center WNY 206 S. Elmwood AveMonthly support meeting focused on LGBT Individuals who are also developmentally disabled. STONEWALL DEMOCRATS MEETING 7-9 p.m., 224 Allen Group meeting for those interested in creating change in WNY politics

MONDAYS

RAPID HIV TESTING (9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. - 4 p.m. @ Pride Center of WNY, 200 S. Elmwood Ave.) Walk-in, free, confidential, fast. LGBT VETERANS SUPPORT GROUP (2 p.m. - 3 p.m. @ Buffalo VAMC, 3495 Bailey Ave.)

TUESDAYS

RAPID HIV TESTING (12:30 p.m. – 7 p.m. @ Pride Center of WNY, 200 S. Elmwood Ave.) Walk-in, free, confidential, fast. FRONTRUNNERS/FRONTWALKERS (6 p.m. @ Delaware Park) Meet at Ring Road Snack Shop via the Nottingham Entrance. BRIDGES OVER WALLS (4-5 p.m.) LGBTQ Psychiatric Support Group 400 Forest Ave., Buffalo CONTEMPORARY WOMEN 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. at Evergreen Commons 262 Georgia Street LGBTQ-friendly women’s AA group

WEDNESDAYS

RAPID HIV TESTING (9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. - 4 p.m. @ Pride Center of WNY, 200 S. Elmwood Ave.) Walk-in, free, confidential, fast.

THURSDAYS

RAPID HIV TESTING (12:30 p.m. – 4 p.m. @ Pride Center of WNY, 200 S. Elmwood Ave.) Walk-in, free, confidential, fast.

FRIDAYS

RAPID HIV TESTING (9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. - 4 p.m. @ Pride Center of WNY, 200 S. Elmwood Ave.)Walk-in, free, confidential, fast. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. @ Evergreen Commons, 262 Georgia St.) AA meeting geared for members of the LGBT community.

SATURDAYS

RAINBOW NORTH AA 7:15-8:15 p.m. at Hope Center 781 Maple Road, Williamsville LGBTQ AA in Northtowns

SUNDAYS

FRONTRUNNERS/FRONTWALKERS (10 a.m. @ Delaware Park) Meet at Ring Road Snack Shop via the Nottingham Entrance.

NOTE: Events with ** Notation June 1-4 are Official Pride 2017 Events

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11:30AM - 1:00PM

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Wild & Free 18-30 Free All Day

TUESDAYS 3:00PM - 11:59PM

Take It Half Off! Locker Specials

WEDNESDAYS

THURSDAYS

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Free Pizza + Game Night

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Happy Hour Fridays 18-30 1/2 Off Rooms

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ARE YOU MOVED BY WHAT YOU SEE

10 THE PUBLIC / MAY 31 - JUNE 6, 2017 / DAILYPUBLIC.COM

E HERE? Then check out FantaSHEâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Pride: A Unicorn Story at Pine Apple Company (224 Allen Street), Friday, June 2, 6-9pm. Illustration by Mickey Harmon, with thanks to performers and Pine Apple Co. DAILYPUBLIC.COM / MAY 31 - JUNE 6, 2017 / THE PUBLIC

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PRIDE WEEK RUNDOWN WEDNESDAY MAY 31 - SUNDAY JUNE 4 VARIOUS TIMES & LOCATIONS

HEAD NORTH The Last Living Man Alive Ever in the History of the World album Recommended if you like: Cloud Nothings, Yuck, Beach Fossils Buffalo indie rock band Head North are preparing for the release of their long awaited and anticipated record, The Last Living Man Alive Ever in the History of the World, this Friday, June 2. In anticipation, on May 29, the band released the video for their latest single, “Pulse,” a mechanically-grooving indie-pop track that eventually erupts with a driving guitar-soloing climax. The video, which takes place in a motel room, depicts the band in a downward spiral of booze, women, high stakes foosball and hockey fights. The video single is the second from the band’s album, after the release of their song “God (Bring it Back)” almost a year ago. The Last Living Man is a 15-track album (including bonus track “Broke”) of chilled out, yet emotionally intense indie rock that comes from a band with a lot of potential. Songs like “Head North is a Business,” simultaneously depict a band serious about their music and making it in an industry, and also disillusioned buy the practicalities of such an endeavor. The album in general is soaked in acoustic guitars but is also also laced with subtle electronics, from the atmospheric opening track to the haunting tape effects on “God,” and background synthesizers on songs like “White Light.” That sort of dynamic can be tough to pull off but the four piece band seem to do it effortlessly. The album is a concise, cohesive, and even profound work from a relatively young band that has developed a fan base in Buffalo and beyond. They’ll celebrate the release of their record with a pretty extensive east coast and midwest tour, but not before they have an official record release party this Friday, June 2 at Rendezvous, 520 NIagara Street.

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[PRIDE] It never quite goes without saying that every week ought to be Pride Week. Every week of the year the LGBTQ community and “straight” allies ought to celebrate the grand spectrum of our loves and lives, whatever shade of the rainbow best identifies us. And it likewise is worth reminding ourselves, year after year, that Pride parades were born of a revolutionary moment, in the wake of the Stonewall riots, when the LGBTQ community rose up and demanded the attention of the country and an end to violent oppression. Of course, bromides and lectures aside, this really is the week. If you want the full experience, open up your calendar and enter these events: If you’re reading this in print, you missed the flag-raising ceremony in Niagara Square (Tuesday, May 30, noon-1pm) but there’s no reason you can’t swing by during the week to pay your respects to the flag, then turn toward City Hall and wish its inhabitants would do better on basic human right issues. On Wednesday, May 31 at 8pm, there’s the Big Gay Sing at Evergreen Commons (part of the ever-expanding campus of Evergreen Health), at which the Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus leads participants in a sing-along. Admission is $10, but wouldn’t you pay that to meet Miss Figgy Pudding? Next, break out your gym shoes on Thursday, June 1 and participate in the Gay 5K run. This Friday, June 2 happens to be a First Friday gallery walk in Allentown, the sentimental epicenter of Buffalo’s LGBTQ community, and you can expect the galleries and bars to outfit themselves for the occasion. Pine Apple Company at 224 Allen Street has designated itself the headquarters for the night’s perambulatory pleasures, and their centerpiece is FantaSHE—Pride: A Unicorn Story, featuring performances by Max Darling, Visalia May, Fifi LaFlea, Cherry Brown, and Little Cake. (See cover and centerfold art for a taste.) It’ll be a good time: Doors open at 6pm, performances begin at 9pm. Later that night, the Waiting Room will host Flex, an after-dark dance party featuring

WEDNESDAY MAY 31 Chance the Rapper 8pm Darien Lake, 9993 S Alleghany Rd $28$260 [HIP HOP] A lot of people might say that Chance the Rapper picked up where Kanye West left off after Graduation. And that’s true to a degree: Where Kanye went on to explore his darker, more experimental side, Chance doubled down on the chopped-up soul productions and the Christianboy-with-a-penchant-for-drug-use trope. And of course, they’re both from Chicago and they’re both “underdogs” at the top of the hip hop game right now. But at the same time, it would be a massive disservice to call Chance the Rapper simply a Kanye West ripoff, though the inspiration is clearly there and Chance has never denied it. Instead, what we have is an unbroken continuity between West and Chance, maybe not unlike say Madonna (with whom Chance has collaborated) and Lady Gaga (with whom Kanye, uh, almost worked with once). Chance, is by all means his own star, breaking through in 2013 with Acid Rap, a soul-drenched hip hop album that was seen as an alternative to much of the drill rap coming out of Chicago at the time. His latest record, 2016’s Coloring Book (which he referred to as “Chance 3” in his verse on Kanye’s “Ultralight Beam”) is a critically acclaimed achievement from the 24-year-old rapper—featuring everyone from Future to Anderson Paak—which fans are still unpacking a year after its release. Earlier this year Buffalo was treated to an appearance by Kanye at the KeyBank Center, and now Chance follows with a date at Darien Lake this Wednesday, May 31. -CP

12 THE PUBLIC / MAY 31 - JUNE 6, 2017 / DAILYPUBLIC.COM

RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Jiggly Caliente—it’s an 18-and-over event, because the kids need a place to be themselves, too. The annual Dyke March lines up at 4pm and Grant and Potomac and steps off at 5pm on Saturday, June 3. It ends with a rally at Bidwell and Elmwood. If all you ever do is observe or take part in the big parade, do yourself a favor: The Dyke March will remind you why this week, and what this week represents, ought to be in your heart all year long. The main Gay Pride Parade, of course, is the city’s biggest street festival of the year, by a goddamned long shot. It steps off at noon on Sunday, June 4 at Elmwood and Forest and ends at Allen and Elmwood. Folks move on to Canalside, for a rally and dance party that runs 1-7pm, headlined by Australian pop singer Betty Who. At the front of the main parade, always, are kids from the region’s high-school gay-straight alliance groups; they are legion, they carry flags identifying themselves, and if they don’t inspire both tears and hope for the future, there’s something broken in you. (A tip of the hat to Gay and Lesbian Youth Services and Marvin L. Henchbarger, along with Marvin’s many associates in that and allied organizations.) If you need help with those tears, fortify yourself pre-parade at the Big Gay Brunch, special Pride Week edition, beginning 11am on parade day at Thin Man Brewery. If you’re early enough (or wily enough) to get a seat on the second-floor patio, you can watch the parade from there. If you can’t swing that, who cares. Rich or poor, out or private, wherever you might fall on the many color wheels: Get yourself to the parade and associated events. Here’s the great thing about the LGBTQ community: Despite (or perhaps because of ) the slings and arrows its individual members endure, they seem to have rooms in their hearts for everyone, for every way we live our loves and lives. This is, by a goddamned long shot, the best and most affirming week of our short, beautiful summer season. Build connections, the Pride Center reminds us, because connecting is this year's theme: Reflect, plan, and connect. Be there and/or be queer. -GEOFF KELLY

THURSDAY JUN 1

SATURDAY JUNE 3

Pharmakon

Buffalo Zine Fair

6pm Sugar City, 1239 Niagara St. $10 [EXPERIMENTAL] If George W. Bush felt that Trump’s inauguration was “some weird shit,” then we can safely assume he’s never listened to Pharmakon, the name of Margaret Chardiet’s project. Pitchfork has described the product of her labor as “music that heaves, throbs, and decays” that harnesses “the drilling power of electronics and the elasticity of her screams.” Bring on that weird shit, we say. Like-minded noise outfits in support at Sugar City on Thursday are Sunken Cheek, Plague Mother, Flesh Trace, and Sparklebomb. -AL

11am Sugar City, 1239 Niagara St. [ZINE FAIR] The dissolution of the annual Small Press Book Fair demanded a resurgence of print culture sharing elsewhere in town, and the Buffalo Zine Fair aims to plug part of that hole. Dozens of vendors will appear all afternoon at Sugar City on Saturday to take an active stance in the positive for print media and its incredible power. (You’re damned right we’re biased.) Everything from comics to poetry—it’s all locally produced and virtually all handmade. You will find something great. The fair runs from 11am to 5pm. -AL

FRIDAY JUN 2 Soul Night 10pm Milkie’s, 522 Elmwood Ave $5 [SOUL] Not quite at the solstice, but the hell with it, summer is here and Buffalo’s best semi-regular dance party is putting its fire to the skillet. Soul Night, the beautifully democratic DIY arts collective that could, is again presenting a knee-weakening night of deep soul cuts in the house that Lance Diamond built with DJs Handsome Dan and special guests Reazon, Haüsfly, and Alexander L spinning until the actual robins start to rock the trees. The action is at Milkie’s this Friday night, and if you bike to the spot wearing a helmet—don’t be a goddamned fool, you guys— they’ll waive the cover, just like that. -AL

Art Alive! 12pm Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1285 Elmwood Ave free [ART PARTY] When Arrested Development conceived of the annual event in which George Bluth poses as God to his son Buster’s Adam in a living re-enactment of Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam, Buffalonians (like me) thought: Huh. After all, we’ve been doing this for years. Art Alive! at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery is one of the summer’s funnest kickoff events, drawing student groups, businesses and charitable organizations, families, and a smattering of whoknows-who-else to create living tableaux drawn from famous works of art on the gallery’s back lawn. (Or is it the front lawn? In any case, facing the park.) There’s $1,000 in prizes for the best re-creation of a work from the AKAG collection, for best craftsmanship, and for most unusual en

CALENDAR EVENTS PUBLIC APPROVED

PHOTO BY EBRU YILDIZ

JOSEPH FRIDAY JUNE 2 7PM / TOWN BALLROOM, 681 MAIN ST. / $18-$22 [ROCK] The internet often seems like a separate reality with its own rules, regulations, and ways of categorizing our lives. Things can become downright surreal if you have a common name, for instance, as you start fending off social media inquiries from folks assuming you’re someone else—a long-lost ex, perhaps. As a fan of Tanya Donelly’s band Belly, I’m regularly getting notices from the app bandsintown about appearances by a rapper named Belly. It’s far from perfect. While they’ve had a pretty damn successful year, Portland’s Joseph has also experienced some interesting hiccups due to using a name that’s a popular first name, last name, and biblical figure. It also happens to be a town in Oregon where the trio of sisters spent summers together growing up. “In general, since it’s a generic name, we’ve had to organize the internet a bit,” Natalie Closner Schepman said over the phone from Los Angeles where Joseph recently holed up in between weekend Coachella performances. “Fans that follow us on Facebook got a notification not long ago that our new track 'Horny Brat' had been added, which was a hilarious moment…and definitely not our song.” Listening to their strident second album, I’m Alone, No You’re Not, which came out last summer on Dave Matthews’ ATO Records, it’s clear that a track called “Horny Brat” just wouldn’t fit — although it could easily have been something sung by the Roches, another sisterly trio that Closner Shepman says she’s begun listening to since so many people have made the comparison. Fact is, there just aren’t that many groups of singing sisters that have penetrated mass consciousness in the last 40 years. Actually, the trio only came together after Natalie, who’d been pursuing a career on her own as a singer-songwriter, recruited her sisters Allison and Meegan Closner to sing harmony for an as-yet unnamed project. Joseph was the result. The Closners have made waves because their collective talent is so striking and—rare occurrence—the label is really behind them. They’ve landed appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, CBS This Morning, Ellen, and Conan; they scored the opening slot on a sold-out tour with British artist James Bay, and just recently opened shows for Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. Their music has also gotten decent play on Spotify and on the Billboard Heatseeker’s chart. As they begin writing for their next record, which turns out to be precisely what they’re up to during the week off from Coachella, Closner Shepman says the ladies of Joseph are feeling reflective. “We did a lot of experimenting on this record,” she said. “We love pop music and we definitely leaned into that. I’m very excited to expand and blow the lid off of this, to make it more human, express a broader palette of feeling. The exact question we’re asking ourselves right now is how do we want to grow, and take all these incredible experiences we’ve had and make what we do even better.” Regardless of what direction they choose, Joseph’s creative MO goes against the grain of mainstream pop in nearly every respect: It’s harmony-based folk music at the core that showcases their voices without lots of pitch-controlled showboating. There’s nothing remotely urban about Joseph, either—no dropping bass lines, no street-smart sass. It makes this moment in the group’s career that much more remarkable. “I’m happy to report that I feel very much taken seriously,” she said. “On the broader stage, by definition, what we do just isn’t as loud, deep, and bass-y as what seems to be most popular these days. I guess the thing we come up against with this as women and as sisters—very close sisters—is that we don’t have any of the cool kid mystique. Our music is open and earnest on every level, and it’s up to the listener to find the mystery and the dark corner of it. People have a tendency to think, ‘Oh, they’re sisters and they’re singing, so sweet,’ but, you know, there’s a broader human experience involved, so we’d like to avoid the cake-and-ice-cream sentiment that thinking implies.” Joseph plays Town Ballroom on Friday, June 2, with Overcoats. -CHRISTOPHER JOHN TREACY

try, among other awards. It all happens Saturday, June 3, noon to 2pm. It’s a Buffalo art party, so there will be food trucks! -GK

New Berlin 5pm Mohawk Place, 47 E Mohawk St. $7 [POST PUNK] New Berlin make the kind of postpunk that seems to be pretty popular around these parts—although they hail from Texas. Their sound is raw, almost hardly held together, but still energetic, like the homestretch of a bender. Their latest album, Basic Function, is a 13-track fulllength that careens between garage rock, classic punk, and cold wave, and it sounds like it would be just perfect for the stage at Mohawk Place, where they’ll be this Saturday, June 3 with the Drains, Quitman, and Slow Mutants. -CP

Silo City Reading Series: Mathias Svalina 7pm Silo City, 120 Childs St. [LIT] The summer season's interdisciplinary poetry-focused performance series is back, y'all, whipping up a lineup for the warm starry nights to come this Saturday under the concrete behemoths at Silo City. The program: music from the avant-garde post-noise duo Cages, film work presented by Mary Helena Clark (whose past credits include International Film Festival Rotterdam, New York Film Festival, Wexner Art Center, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC), and poets Aidan Ryan and Mathias Svalina. The author of five books, Svalina as also an editor for the small press Octopus Books and creator of the Dream Delivery Service project. -AL

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 DAILYPUBLIC.COM / MAY 31 - JUNE 6, 2017 / THE PUBLIC 13

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7pm Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. $30-$50 [COMEDY] Okay, here’s something out of leftfield—the 70-year-old watermelon-smashing comedian Gallagher is coming to the Town Ballroom for his Jokes on You comedy tour. The prop comic, famously known for smashing watermelons with a sledgehammer as part of his show, Thank you for advertising with THE has released over a dozen comedy specials since PUBLIC. Please review your ad and launching his career in 1969. He’ll be joined by check for any errors. The original layout comedians Artie Fletcher and Bob Nelson for a instructions have been followed closely June 3. -THE PUBLIC STAFF show thisas Saturday, as possible. THE PUBLIC offers design services with two proofsTiger at no Chung charge. Lee THE PUBLIC is not responsible for any error if 8pm Buffalo Iron Works, 49 Illinois St. not notified within 24 hours of receipt. The Lee is not a professional [FUNK] Tiger Chung production department must have a less signed wrestler or a than professional Street Fightproof in order to print. Please sign and fax they’re a funk band from Youngstown, er. Nope, this back or approve by New responding to this York. And they’re pretty impressive, especially when all 11 of them are up there jamming email. on an epic groove. There’ll sure be plenty of epic � CHECK COPY CONTENTgrooves, and maybe some funky interludes too, when Tiger Chung Lee comes to Buffalo Iron � CHECK IMPORTANT DATES Works for a show this Saturday, June 3 with from Uncle Ben’s Remedy. -CP � CHECK NAME, ADDRESS,support PHONE #, & WEBSITE

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THURSDAY

JUNE 1

FRIDAY

JUNE 2

The Buffalo Huffs, Jacob Peter 9PM $5

Barroom Philosophers 9PM $5

Happy Hour: A Band Named Sue 6PM FREE

Gathered in Their Masses:

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SUNDAY JUNE 4

Sabbath Night for Pawsitives for Heroes 10PM $5

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JUNE 3

Nietzsche’s Pride Celebration! 9PM $5

MONDAY

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THURSDAY

JUNE 8

jazz Happy Hour w. Alex McArthur 5:30PM FREE

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The Observers, The Crooked North, The Brothers Blue

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5pm The Waiting Room, 334 Delaware Ave. $18-$22 ____________________________ [POP PUNK] Pop-punk band Real Friends like to keep it simple. “I don’t think that songwritDate _______________________ ing should have to be this big, well thought out thing,” said bassist and songwriter Kyle Fasel in Issue: _____________________ an interview with The Public in 2014. “One thing we built our whole band on was being honest.” Those ARE two sentiments come across on the band’s IF YOU APPROVE ERRORS WHICH ON The Home Inside My Head, released latest albumBE THIS PROOF, THE PUBLIC CANNOT 6PM / SUGAR CITY, 1239 NIAGARA ST. on the alternative rock record label, Fearless ReHELD RESPONSIBLE. PLEASE EXAMINE THEThough AD cords in 2016. the music might be “sim[ART] As with all First Fridays, please do check our full listing of openings and ongoing exhibiple”—driving pop punk guitars and bass matched THOROUGHLY EVEN IF THE AD IS A PICK-UP. tions. But allow us to highlight the show at Sugar City. There are few figures in Buffalo who have emo lyrics—it’s mysteriously hard to imitate; not PROOF ONLY BE USED FOR done more in the last 15 years or so to support, advocate, and promote localTHIS artists thanMAY Gerald every small town band that tries can pull it off PUBLICATION IN THE PUBLIC. and still sound sincere. Real Friends manage to R. Mead. His apartment, from what we’ve heard, is mostly a warehouse for art he’s collected do it seemingly effortlessly, though. Catch Real over a few decades for the purpose of doing multiple shows a year, like the one this Friday at Friends at the Waiting Room on Sunday, June Sugar City with work by 26 artists chosen and curated by Dana Tyrrell—work with a focus on 4 with support from Have Mercy, Tiny Moving LGBTQIA-identifying folks and their rich contributions to our cultural life and community in Parts, Broadside, and Nothing Nowhere. -CP Selfie Steam 1, by Cristiano F Lopes

CONTEMPORARY QUEER FRIDAY JUNE 2

CY / Y17W22

Western New York. Read more at dailypublic.com. -AARON LOWINGER

10PM $5

SATURDAY

JUNE 10

Nietzsche’s ArtFest Day I

PUBLIC APPROVED

Adam Bronstein’s Freehand Band, Magpie, Curiosity’s End, PizzaDoughnuts, Tambourelli & Her SuperTrips, Susan Peters & Alfie Alessandra, & more TBA! 2PM $2/$5 AFTER 10PM

SUNDAY

JUNE 11

Nietzsche’s ArtFest Day iI

Pine Fever, Ann Philippone, Tom Stahl & the Dangerfields, Kathryn Koch, & more TBA! 2PM $2

WEEKLY EVENTS EVERY SUNDAY FREE

3PM CATSKILL MOUNTAIN BOYS 6PM. ANN PHILIPPONE 8PM . DR JAZZ & THE JAZZ BUGS (EXCEPT FIRST SUNDAYS)

EVERY MONDAY FREE

8PM. SONGWRITER SHOWCASE 9PM. OPEN MIC W. JOSH GAGE

EVERY TUESDAY 6PM. HAPPY HOUR W/

THE STEAM DONKEYS FREE 8PM. RUSTBELT COMEDY 10PM. JOE DONOHUE 11PM. THE STRIPTEASERS $3

EVERY WEDNESDAY FREE

6PM. TYLER WESTCOTT & DR. JAZZ

EVERY THURSDAY FREE

5PM. BARTENDER BILL PLAYS THE ACCORDION, PAUL SCHMID ON BASS

EVERY SATURDAY FREE

4:30-7:30PM. CELTIC SEISIUNS

248 ALLEN STREET 716.886.8539

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PORCHFEST SATURDAY JUNE 3 12PM / VARIOUS LOCATIONS / FREE [BLOCK PARTY] Porchfest isn’t a uniquely Buffalo thing but it feels like it. Here’s how it works: Let’s say you have a porch and I have a band. If you sign up for Porchfest, the Elmwood Village Association will assign you a band. Maybe my band. Maybe you have a porch and a band? If you’ve already signed up, you’re good to go. The next step then is to host your band, along with dozens of other Elmwood Village porch-owners. For those in the Elmwood Village who aren’t hosting bands or don’t have a porch, this is a great excuse to explore your neighborhood and some of the beautiful, historic houses by visiting participating Porchfest sites, so don’t be afraid to walk up and take a listen. You can expect a block-party atmosphere as neighbors voyage from porch to porch enjoying the musical performances and the hospitality of each porch. Many of the acts performing are solo acoustic acts, but there are also many full bands scheduled all throughout the village. The festival footprint usually stretches down Elmwood from around Bird Avenue roughly to North Street, and up and down all of the smaller side streets as far east as Linwood and as far west as Richmond. Porches participating in Porchfest will be designated with an official Porchfest sign, but you’re bound to come across some unofficial parties. So get out there, this Saturday, June 3, explore, and have some fun. -CORY PERLA

14 THE PUBLIC / MAY 31 - JUNE 6, 2017 / DAILYPUBLIC.COM

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds 6pm Constellation Brands Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center, 3355 Marvin Sands Dr $40.50-$95 [ROCK] Watching Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds play in their acoustic duo format, you get the sensation that they feel like they're on an awesome vacation together. Which isn't to say they're not working hard: The sets are long and generous, the encores are plentiful—you leave feeling you got every last bit of energy the pair had to expend. And yet they both seemed to enjoy themselves so wholeheartedly, it's hard to believe they were working. Which is probably why, in the wake of an announced 2017 hiatus for the Dave Matthews Band—the first year in 25 that the band hasn't played any live shows together —Matthews and Reynolds decided to plan a proper tour, including a recent stint in Europe, a trio of beach concerts in Mexico last February, and their return to CMAC in nearby Canandaigua on Sunday, June 4. For those that have seen DMB and think they know what to expect: think again. The chemistry between Matthews and Reynolds is a different animal completely, relying more on dexterity than volume and embracing aspects of Matthews' catalog that don’t get as much play in full band shows. Reynolds, a 59-yearold multi-instrumentalist of staggering versatility, works as a secret weapon, coloring in and around Matthews's familiar warble with tasteful improv that very rarely veers off into the jamband netherworld. For those unaware, Matthews offered Reynolds a spot in his band back in 1991; 17 years later, he gave in and joined. In the interim, the pair developed a musical camaraderie that exudes so much contagious spirit, you don't ever want it to end…kinda seems like they don't either. -CJT

TUESDAY JUNE 6 ZZ Top 6:30pm Artpark, 450 South 4th St. $17 [ROCK] Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard, and Dusty Hill, all 67 years old, have been in ZZ Top since 1969. That’s a hell of a long time for any rock band. Fifteen studio records, a whole bunch of live records, and countless concerts later and they’re still on the road. Don’t miss them when they come to Artpark for an outdoor concert this Tuesday, June 6. -TPS

CALENDAR EVENTS

s ’ e e i g n k l u i d Lo

M o o w Elm

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irits,

sp food,

PRESENTS

WEEKLY LIVE ENTERTAINMENT

SUGAR CITY SOUL NIGHT

June 2

PEACH PICKS

ent

nm ertai t n e &

@ 10pm / $5

ON PEACH: Delia Rainey’s “When I Think About It, I Reach Up Like I’m About to Wave” was published on Peach last Friday. “There was a time when this wasn’t all mine,” the narrator confesses within the first few lines of the story, as they survey a horse tapestry pinned to an apartment wall. It’s a sentiment that gives the story its somber yet relatable rhythm. Rainey’s prose finds the narrator cataloguing places and possessions that are quietly remarkable and instantly hopeless: the horse tapestry, an infamous truckstop, an art exhibit centered around war crimes. This story feels like a dreary afternoon that builds a brick wall around you without warning during a lost weekday. There’s a bleakness here, but also the timid reassurance of time and experience hopefully carrying us forward toward what must surely be a better version of ourselves.

June 3

@ 7pm / $5

June 9

CHEVRON BLOOM @ 8pm / $5

June 11

DOSAREALITY @ 6pm / $5

Every Tuesday Every Wednesday

Open Comedy Mic Night

IN PRINT: someday i’m going to be so so happy by Carmen E. Brady (poetry & visual art) 2fast2house, 96 pages Carmen E. Brady’s debut full-length collection of poetry, someday i’m going to be so so happy, is set to be released this week by 2fast2house, the publishing imprint of S py Kids Review. At the heart of each poem in sigtbsshis a sense of vague regret and dulled confusion guided by Brady’s characteristic self-deprecating humor. In “social media,” she writes, “Every time I see you I want to die a little because you / always look so cute in a way that is really / you, / And I can’t understand how someone could put together / such a bright idea of themselves and / project it all the time.” Among the poems are dozens of prismatic illustrations that feature Maira Kalman-like self portraits and still lifes alongside handwritten poetry. They’re fun and colorful, with glittery linework that adds movement to the scenes’ stillness. sigtbssh is a book of pleading and shrugging, trying and failing, and reaching and hesitating. Brady’s ability to combine her voice with her eye allows these scenes from daily life—a lipstick stain on a coffee mug, a bucket of bleach—to appear unbearably poetic.

SOUNDS OF SOUL

KEVIN SMITH SATURDAY JUNE 3

@ 8 PM

@ 8 PM Free

.com e g n odloue @ Utica o w m iesel wood Av .58 8 1 k l i m 2 Elm 82 8 . 6 52 1 7 Free

7:30PM / HELIUM COMEDY CLUB, 30 MISSISSIPPI ST. / $30 [COMEDY] Earlier this week actress Lisa Spoonauer, who starred in the Kevin Smith-film Clerks, passed away. In response, the 46-year-old filmmaker penned a touching tribute to the acctress. “In 1992, I went looking for Lisa without knowing either who she was or the integral role she’d play in my life,” he said of the 44-year-old actress. Spoonauer helped make Clerks what it is—a cult classic film with a dedicated fan base, which launched Smith’s View Askewniverse, the fictional universe in which his films take place. Everyone has seen a Kevin Smith film which is a part of this universe, and many people consider some of his films—Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, or Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back—as among their favorite movies. More recently Smith has taken his love of fictional universes—namely comic book universes—to the television screen, starring in the AMC reality TV series Comic Book Men, which Smith has described as “Pawn Stars for geeks.” In addition to his writing, filmmaking, and TV-starring, Smith somehow still makes time to get out on the road to get up close and personal with fans, and he’s sure to talk about one of his favorite actresses, Spoonauer, when he comes to Buffalo for four shows at Helium Comedy Club, this Saturday, June 3 and Sunday, June 4. -CORY PERLA

Buffalo’s Premier Live Music Club ◆ THURSDAY, JUNE 1 ◆ FTMP Events presents:

Concrete Gang, Mark Lee, Rodagues, The States, BSTEZ, Parliament City, Vocero Omar, Way of Life 6PM ◆ $10 ADV/$15 DOS

◆ FRIDAY, JUNE 2 ◆

Mr. Conrad’s Rock’n’Roll Happy Hour 5PM ◆ FREE

The Irving Klaws, FREDMANNSCURVE (featuring former members of The Enemies), Governess 8PM ◆ $5

◆ SATURDAY, JUNE 3 ◆ McAllen, TX post-punk

New Berlin

IN TOWN: A couple weekends ago, writers, artists, and musicians gathered inside Hostel Buffalo-Niagara for a fundraising night sponsored by the University at Buffalo Honors College. The hostel is currently in danger, as the City of Buffalo plans to sell the building in which it is located, and proceeds from the fundraiser were directed toward an initiative for the hostel owners to buy and renovate the building themselves. Included in the night’s roster was a marathon of readings curated by local poet Ruby Anderson, in which writers such as Nathaneal William Stotle, Megan Kemple, Mike Lawler, and others volunteered to read their work—often travel-themed—in support of saving the hostel. Something we have seen time and again is that Buffalo artists are happy to show up when there’s a call to action. Get enough of them in the same place, and not only will the fundraiser be successful, but you’ll overhear dozens of spontaneous conversations about future ideas for collaboration. To help save the city’s hostel, sign the Change.org petition, which is presently only a few hundred signatures south of their goal.

PEACHMGZN.COM

+ The Drains, Slow Mutants, Quitman 8PM ◆ $5

◆ SUNDAY, JUNE 4 ◆

Timothy Alice release show + Jacob Peter, Koko Neetz, Brendan & the Strangest Ways 7PM ◆ $5

◆ MONDAY, JUNE 5 ◆ From Omaha, Nebraska, & the bands Cursive & The Good Life

Tim Kasher

+ John Bradley (Ex-Dads), From Chicago Campdogzz 7PM ◆ $12 ADV/$14 DOS

PUBLIC APPROVED

◆ TUESDAY, JUNE 6 ◆ FTMP Events and Last Call Entertainment present:

Kill the Clock, Debt To Nature, Younger Then, From Ann Arbor, Michigan Fallow Land, The Otherme, Into the Wake

LIVE AT LARKIN WEDNESDAY JUNE 7

5:30PM ◆ $10 ADV/$12 DOS

◆ WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7 ◆

5PM / LARKIN SQUARE, 745 SENECA STREET / FREE [FESTIVAL] The annual Live at Larkin concert series kicks off this Wednesday, June 7 with a concert featuring One World Tribe, Empress & the Royals, and the Slyboots Circus. The concert series, which features locally sourced live music, takes place on a weekly basis in Larkin Square. Headlining the opening night are One World Tribe, a 13-piece reggae rock band. Drawing influences from afro-beat, funk, latin, and world beat music, the band is a self-proclaimed “true multicultural ensemble.” They’ll be joined by the newly formed soul band Empress & The Royals, and African drum and dance troupe, Slyboots Circus. for the full Live at Larkin season line up, check out www.larkinsquare.com. -CORY PERLA P

From Providence, Rhode Island Edgar Clinks

+ Ex-Pat , Jesse Kaufman & The Spirit of Little Baltimore, From NYC dreamPuP 8PM ◆ $5

47 East Mohawk St. 716.312.9279

BUFFALOSMOHAWKPLACE.COM FACEBOOK.COM/MOHAWKPLACE

DAILYPUBLIC.COM / MAY 31 - JUNE 6, 2017 / THE PUBLIC 15

FILM REVIEW

THE COURAGE TO CONTINUE CHURCHILL / THE WEDDING PLAN BY M. FAUST WHAT DO Gary Oldman, John Lithgow, Timothy Spall, Mi-

chael Gambon, Richard Burton, Orson Welles, Donald Pleasance, and Brendan Gleeson have in common? All have played Winston Churchill, one of the most important figures in the history of Great Britain. And they’re only the best known: imdb. com lists more than 200 portrayals of the great man on screens large and small. To these add Brian Cox in Churchill. While the title might lead you to expect a full-fledged biography of the man, it actually covers a scant few days. Specifically, these are the three days prior to D-Day, 73 years ago this week, when the Allied forces landed on Normandy to begin a large sale attack on German forces in western Europe. The importance of the event can’t be underestimated: The premise of the cable series The Man in the High Castle, in which the United States has become a territory split up by Germany and Japan, comes from imagining what might have happened if the plan had been called off. And calling it off is just what Churchill wants to do. Nearing 70, he has lived his life sending young men to their deaths. He is haunted by the memory of Gallipoli 30 years earlier, in what was supposed to be “the war to end all wars,” a similarly ambitious attack in which as many as a quarter million died. As much as he despises the “big men fighting from the safety of their armchairs,” that is what he has become. Even less than that, as the final okay for the invasion lies in the hands of General Dwight Eisenhower ( John Slattery). Directed by Jonathan Teplitzky (The Railway Man), Churchill presents an unexpected portrait of its subject, passive and indecisive. It offers a lot for an actor willing the seize the bit

AT THE MOVIES A selective guide to what’s opening and what’s playing in local moviehouses and other venues

BY M. FAUST & GEORGE SAX

OPENING THIS WEEK OPENING THIS WEEK CHURCHILL—Brian Cox as Winston Churchill, tortured by doubts on the eve of the D-Day invasions. Co-starring Miranda Richardson and John Slattery. Directed by Jonathan Teplitzky (The Railway Man). Dipson Amherst, Dipson Eastern Hills THE WEDDING PLAN—Israeli comedy about an orthodox woman (Noa Koler) who refuses to cancel her wedding after the groom backs out. Directed by Rama Burshtein (Fill the Void). Reviewed this issue. Dipson Eastern Hills WONDER WOMAN—This week’s comic book movie. Starring Gal Gadot, David Thewlis, Robin Wright, and Chris Pine. Directed by Patty Jenkins (Monster). Dipson Flix, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria, Transit Drive-In

ALTERNATIVE CINEMA THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985) and ST. ELMO’S FIRE (1985)—Retro Tuesdays at the drive-in kicks off for the year with an evening of more Brat Packers than you can shake a stick at: Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Mare Winningham, and Anthony Michael Hall. Tuesday at dusk. Transit Drive-In

Brian Cox in Churchill.

and gnaw on it, as Cox is more than capable of, most theatrically in a scene in which Churchill seeks help in prayer. But it’s a portrait in a fuzzy context, with other characters like Eisenhower Clementine Churchill (Miranda Richardson) reduced to supporting functions. ••• The Wedding Plan (originally titled Through the Wall) is the second feature from Rama Burshtein, an Israeli who came as an adult to religious orthodoxy, which has informed both of her films. 2013’s Fill the Void looked at an 18-year-old girl who thinks that she has a limitless future in front of her until her mother begins to pressure her to marry her late sister’s husband. The new film concerns an older woman for whom independence has not brought happiness. Michal (Noa Koler) is 32 and more than ready to be married. In an opening scene with a mystic she visits to cure her problems, she says that she wants love. When pressed, she defines that as everything it means in a social con-

5-25-77—Patrick Read Johnson’s long in the making (he started assembling funding in 2001 and filmed most of it more than a decade ago) feature about a young filmmaker whose life is changed in 1977 when he sees a new movie called Star Wars. Starring John Francis Daley, Austin Pendleton, Colleen Camp, and Neil Flynn. Local filmmaker and The Public contributor Greg Lamberson will host the Thursday night screening. Weds May 31 7:30pm. Screening Room JERICHOW (Germany, 2008)—Cultivate Cinema Circle’s retrospective of the work Christian Petzold concludes with this sparse drama loosely inspired by The Postman Always Rings Twice, which Petzold uses to examine conditions in modern Germany. Starring Benno Fürmann, Nina Hoss, and Hilmi Sözer. cultivatecinemacircle.com Weds June 7, 7 pm. Squeaky Wheel LIVE AND LET DIE (1973)— Roger Moore as James Bond, Yaphet Kotto as the supervillain, and Jane Seymour and Gloria Hendry as Bond girls. Directed by Guy Hamilton. Mon-Tue 9:30pm. North Park THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974)—Roger Moore as James Bond, Christopher Lee as the supervillain, and Britt Ekland and Maud Adams as Bond girls. Directed by Guy Hamilton. WedThu 9:30pm. North Park MONTY PYTHON’S THE MEANING OF LIFE (1983)— The beloved British troupe’s last film is, like one of their television shows, a collection of sketches rather than a feature film. It hits more than it misses, especially in the brilliant musical parody “Every Sperm Is Sacred.” Directed by Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam, who also wrote with fellow Pythons John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, and Michael Palin. Fri, Sat, Mon 7:30pm. Screening Room NIAGARA (1953)—Marilyn Monroe’s last film before becoming a major star in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was this not-too-suspenseful thriller in

16 THE PUBLIC / MAY 31 - JUNE 6, 2017 / DAILYPUBLIC.COM

text: “To be normal, to be respected. I don’t want to be alone anymore. I’m sick of being handicapped.” A match is made, and Michal sets her wedding date for the last day of Hanukkah. At last, she feels, her troubles are over. That’s a feeling she’s not willing to relinquish when her groom-to-be breaks up with her three weeks before the date. She continues to plan her wedding. The only thing she leaves for God is to bring her a groom. Burshtein doesn’t critique the social restrictions that Michal feels, which keeps her film from feeling parochial: Women feel pressures like these in even the most progressive cultures. Koler makes of her a surprisingly ingratiating character who is both happy with her life and uncertain of the deal she has struck with God; a stumbling block in the conversations she has with the men she meets, who range from an Israeli pop star to a deaf-mute psychologist, is the fact that, like Groucho Marx, she doesn’t seem to want to join any club that would have someone like her P for a member.

which she plays a wife scheming to murder her husband (Joseph Cotton) while vacationing just a few miles north of Buffalo. With Jean Peters and Richard Allen. Directed by Henry Hathaway. Thu-Fri 7:30pm. Screening Room THE RUGRATS MOVIE (1998)—Feature version of the long-running animated series. With the voices of Elizabeth Daily, Christine Cavanaugh, Jack Riley, and guest appearances by Tim Curry, Whoopi Goldberg, Laurie Anderson, Iggy Pop, the B-52s, Beck, Gordon Gano, Lou Rawls, Lisa Loeb, Patti Smith, and Devo as the circus monkeys. Sun 11:30am. North Park THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977)—Roger Moore as James Bond, Curd Jurgens as the supervillain, and Barbara Bach and Caroline Munro as Bond girls. Directed by Lewis Gilbert. Sat-Sun 9:30pm. North Park

CONTINUING ALIEN: COVENANT—The latest chapter in director Ridley Scott’s ongoing effort to turn the Alien franchise into an auteur project, ignoring that the original 1979 film was a model of collaborative effort. It’ immediate predecessor, Prometheus, was as visually striking as any of Scott’s best films (Blade Runner, Black Hawk Down), but also one of the dumbest and most illogical big studio sci-fi films ever produced. Here, the screenplay Scott ordered at the takeout window recycles ideas and scenes from most of the preceding entries, including his own, as if he is competing with all of those other directors as well as his younger self. His craftsman is undeniable, but we’ve seen these people and situations before. Starring Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, and Demián Bichir. —Gregory Lamberson Maple Ridge, Dipson Flix, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria, Transit Drive-In

BAYWATCH—Because Hollywood doesn’t think you’ll buy $250 million worth of tickets for a movie starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron unless it has a title you already recognize. With Priyanka Chopra, Alexandra Daddario, Kelly Rohrbach, and guest appearances by David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson. Directed by Seth Gordon (Identity Thief). AMC Maple Ridge, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Walden Galleria, Dipson Flix, Transit Drive-In BORN IN CHINA—Nature documentary filmed over four years in remote regions of China. Released by Disney, so expect lots of anthropomorphized critters including panda bears, monkeys, and snow leopards. Narrated by John Krasinski. Directed by Chuan Lu. Regal Transit THE BOSS BABY—Animated feature with Alec Baldwin as the voice of a power-hungry infant. It only sounds like an SNL skit. Other voices by Tobey Maguire, Steve Buscemi, Lisa Kudrow, and Jimmy Kimmel. Directed by Tom McGrath (Madagascar). Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria, Transit Drive-In CHUCK—Liev Schreiber (who also had a role in producing and writing this) enlivens familiar material in this biography of Chuck Wepner, the New Jersey boxer remembered for going 15 rounds against Muhammad Ali and for the movie that was inspired by that event, Rocky. It’s a standard 70s era story of success and failure (disco, cocaine, etc.) Schreiber gives the character some dignity in a performance that’s more than the story deserves. With Elizabeth Moss, Naomi Watts, Ron Perlman, Michael Rapaport and Jim Gaffigan. Directed by Philippe Falardeau (Monsieur Lazhar). -MF Dipson Amherst THE CIRCLE—Would you agree to surround yourself with miniature camera and broadcast your entire life on social media? Of course not—you’re not a complete ninny. But then there’s Mae (Emma Watson, emoting ferociously), a new

AT THE MOVIES FILM employee at a company that will variously remind you of Facebook, Google and Apple, who agrees to this for no reasons that make much sense. Dave Eggers scripted this adaptation of his novel in which the plot was the least interesting thing, though the plot is all that made it to the screen. You’ll be at least two steps ahead of the characters at every point. With Patton Oswalt, Karen Gillan, John Boyega, Bill Paxton, and Tom Hanks as an avuncular bad guy. Directed by James Ponsoldt (The End of the Tour). —MF Regal Transit EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING—Drama based on a young adult novel about an allergic girl tempted to leave her house for the first time when she falls in love with the new boy next door. Starring Amandla Stenberg and Nick Robinson. Directed by Stella Meghie (Jean of the Joneses). AMC Maple Ridge, Dipson Flix, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS—Umpteenth sequel in the Fast and Furious franchise. Starring Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham, and Michelle Rodriguez. Directed by F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton). AMC Maple Ridge, Four Seasons, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria GET OUT—Key & Peele’s Jordan Peele wrote and directed this horror film about a young black man whose discomfort when he makes his visit to the home of his white girlfriend’s family proves to be all too well justified. It’s better written than it is directed, and you can’t help but wish that Peele had turned the script over to someone who had a clearer idea of how to balance the absurdity of the premise with the very real racial tensions with which it is combined. Starring Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, and Bradley Whitford. –MF Dipson McKinley GIFTED—A young math prodigy becomes the object of a struggle between her uncle, who promised her late mother that he would give her a “normal” childhood, and her grandmother, who wants to develop her talents. Starring Chris Evans, McKenna Grace, Lindsay Duncan, and Octavia Spencer. Directed by Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer). Dipson Eastern Hills ENDS THURS GOING IN STYLE lacks almost all of what was memorable about the original, Martin Brest’s 1979 film about three bored and broke oldsters who decide to rob a bank. Screenwriter Theodore Melfi (St. Vincent) reduces the aspects of aging to generic financial problems. That the film has any charm is entirely due to stars Alan Arkin, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman, but they’re given precious little to work with. The same goes for a wasted supporting cast that includes Ann-Margret, Matt Dillon, Christopher Lloyd, and Peter Serafinowicz. Blandly directed by Zach Braff (Garden State). —MF Four Seasons, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Transit Drive-In KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD— Guy Ritchie’s hopped-up, hit-‘em-where-it-hurts take on the perennially popular Arthurian legends is interested only in impact, and he’ll happily batter his audiences into submission to get it. Familiarity with the stories may not be of much help to the viewer trying to make sense of what happening on screen, as Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) doesn’t seem to care about accessible storylines. He punches out jagged sequences like he’s making a batteringly propulsive music video. Characters come and go with little or no identification. The dialogue is flippantly, if banally, anachronistic. Even the big action set pieces are too uneven, resolved in confounding busyness and overwrought, freakish imagery. Starring Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou, Eric Bana, and Aidan Gillen. –GS AMC Maple Ridge, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria, Transit Drive-In KONG: SKULL ISLAND—The best King Kong since the 1933 original owes much to the spirit of professional wrestling. It operates much like a theme park ride, with dazzling special effects delivered at a breathless pace and high decibel level. Set near the end of the Vietnam war, the action is confined to the titular island, when survivors of a fleet of US Army helicopters who made the bad decision to invade Kong’s home turf battle the island’s other monstrosities in a bid to reunite and escape. The motion capture effects are top-notch, superior to those in Peter Jackson’s more ambitious 2005 remake. Starring Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John C. Reilly, and John Goodman. Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts (The Kings of Summer). –Gregory Lamberson Dipson McKinley THE LOST CITY OF Z—When you’re making a film that is likely to remind viewers of Aguirre, Wrath of God or Fitzcarraldo or Apocalypse Now, you should realize that viewers are likely to assume that your lead character is a looney. Writer-director James Gray’s perspective on his real-life protagonist, a British officer who spent most of his life a century ago trying to find the ruins of an ancient civilization in South America, is vague until the end of the film, a diffidence

that makes it hard to get involved with the story. It often feels like an eight-hour miniseries that has been clumsily cut down to feature length, lurching ahead in time and seldom giving a clear picture of the scope of any of the expeditions. Kudos to Gray for wanting to update the kind of epic that David Lean used to lavish Hollywood money on (as well as for filming in 35 millimeter), but his film seems to prove that, contrary to what his protagonist says, a man’s reach should not exceed his grasp. Starring Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, and Tom Holland. —MF Dipson McKinley THE LOVERS—In 1964, Billy Wilder was all but run out of Hollywood for making Kiss Me Stupid, a comedy which suggested that a little adultery could be good for a marriage. How far we ‘ve come: The Lovers is arguably a movie which suggests that reconnecting with your spouse is just the thing to enliven your relationship with your lover. Taking a new approach to the classic comedy of remarriage, Azazel Jacobs’ film is both bawdy and sad, but never when you think it will be. It’s a showcase for a pair of excellent actors (Tracy Letts and Debra Winger in her first major role since the 1990s) who know how not to rely on a lot of dialogue. A lovely score by Mandy Hoffman helps fill out the palette. Co-starring Aidan Gillen and Melora Walters. -MF Dipson Eastern Hills, North Park

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NORMAN—Richard Gere has the title role in this wryly bittersweet fable of power and morality. Norman Oppenheimer is a would-be player operating in the border regions of New York City Jewish power system of financiers and politicos. When he finally lucks into an important connection, his efforts to exploit it lead to tragic consequences. But writer-director Joseph Cedar’s movie is hardly bleak: it’s informed by a sympathetic, if sometimes ironical wit. And Gere’s supple, piquant performance makes an improbable, shabby character into one who elicits not just sympathy but understanding. With Lior Ashkenazi, Michael Sheen, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Dan Stevens, Steve Buscemi, Hank Azaria, and Harris Yulin. Directed by Joseph Cedar (DAILYPUBLIC.COM Footnote). -GS Dipson Amherst, Dipson Eastern Hills

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PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES—Sequel. Because Johnny Depp can apparently spend money faster than he can earn it. With Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush, Paul McCartney, and Anthony De La Torre, star of the upcoming local production Johnny Gruesome. Directed by Joachim Rønning Espen Sandberg (Kon-Tiki). Dipson Flix, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria, Transit Drive-In

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A QUIET PASSION—Biographical drama about American poet Emily Dickinson, who lived as a recluse at her family home in Amherst, Massachusetts. The title of this film by the British director Terence Davies (The Deep Blue Sea, The House of Mirth) presumably means to convey a personal existence and temperament marked by intense but suppressed feeling, sublimated into artistic effort and an accommodation with the social conventions restricting women in the mid-nineteenth century. But he only very inconsistently communicates this concept. It’s too frequently obscure, sometimes inaccurate, and on occasion strangely digressive. Moments of the poetically evocative mood that are Davies’ specialty are separated by scenes that are of DAILYPUBLIC.COM dubious dramatic and biographical value. Starring Cynthia Nixon, Jennifer Ehle, Duncan Duff, Keith Carradine and Jodhi May. -GS Dipson Eastern Hills ENDS THURS

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SNATCHED— It really shouldn’t have been hard to concoct a serviceable summer comedy starting with the casting of Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn (in her first film in 15 years) as a mother-daughter pair of tourists stuck in a South American jungle after a kidnapping. And to give writer Katie Dippold and director Jonathan Levine the benefit of the doubt, it looks like substantial chunks of the movie were hacked away before it got to theater screens. But given the lack of laughs in what remains, it’s hard to believe that more of this would have been an improvement. What few amusing moments the film offers come from the supporting cast: Wanda Sykes, Joan Cusack, Ike Barinholtz, Bashir Salahuddin and Christopher Meloni. –MF AMC Maple Ridge, Dipson Flix, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria, Transit Drive-In UNFORGETTABLE—Rosario Dawson as a newlywed whose biggest problem is her husband’s psychotic ex-wife (Katherine Heigl). With Geoff Stults, Whitney Cummings, and Cheryl Ladd. P The directorial debut of veteran DAILYPUBLIC.COM / MAY 31 - JUNE 6, 2017 / THE PUBLIC 17

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Community Center 146 West Utica, 7:00pm to 8:30pm on the following dates: June 12th and 26th. $15.00 per class.

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FREE YOUTH WRITING WORKSHOPS Tues. and Thurs. 3:30-6pm. Open to writers between ages 12 and 18 at the Just Buffalo Writing Center. 468 Washington Street, 2nd floor, Buffalo 14203. Light snack provided. ----------------------------------------------ARTPARK AUDITIONS FOR FIDDLER ON THE ROOF JR. production by ARTPARK THEATRE ACADEMY running July 10-August 6, 2017. The Academy and production are suitable for students aged 8-17 and interested in performing or backstage work on the Big MainStage at Artpark Theatre. The stage performance is part of the Artpark Summer Academy and requires an admission fee to participate. The academy and musical are directed by Paschal Frisina III, with choreographer Toni Dentico, designed by Tatyana Wilds, with guest artists including Jon Lehrer, Vincent O’Neil, Mitch Jarvis (Yakov/Motel/Perchik 2003 revival), world-renown mime Gregg Goldston. The program will include a rehearsal of the Buffalo Philharmonic at Artpark and so much more. Casting all roles, and interviewing also for non-performance positions (tech, design, and management). Auditions / Interviews will be held on Sunday June 11, 1-4 PM at Artpark on the Main Stage. Performers: We ask for a traditional musical theatre song. Please bring your music, picture and resume. There will also be a dance and acting portion of the audition. Tech interviews: Prepare a portfolio of your backstage theatre experiences/resume, if you have it, and bring a photo, no prior experience is required to participate in the Academy. This is an Open Call, no appointment is needed, but need to be present the entire audition from 1-4pm. More information and fees: artpark.net. If you have any questions please email susan@artpark.net.

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LEGAL NOTICES NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY: The name of the LLC is SoapboxPSA LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the NY Dept of State on November 11, 2016. Located in Erie County. The NY Secretary of State has been designated as the agent upon whom process may be served. NYSS

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SPOTLIGHT CIRCUS ARTS

THE BIRD’S NEST CIRCUS ARTS 64 FILLMORE AVE., BUFFALO BIRDSNESTBUFFALO.COM BIRDSNESTBUFFALO

carpet-bonded foam and crash pads. The foam covers nearly half of the space’s floor, but could also be rolled up and easily moved as necessary. “We’ve only bought about 30 percent of the total equipment we’re expected to get, so far,” Madoff said. The space’s 20-foot-high ceilings also offer aerial artists greater possibilities for practice. “As you advance, you really need the height of the ceilings,” says Larry Acker, an aerial artist and native of Buffalo. “You don’t find this kind of height just anywhere,” Philips says. “In order to learn how to climb, and condition, and be on some of the more challenging aerial apparatus, this is what you need.” While the Bird’s Nest’s physical space is significant, it’s the sense of community that Madoff says makes him most proud. A native of Ohio, Madoff helped to form a group of acrobatic performers known as Acro Yoga Buffalo several years ago. The community was small, and practice was typically limited to Bidwell Parkway in Buffalo, or else other outdoor and impromptu locations.

Samm Haney and Toni Haugen performing at The Bird’s Nest.

THE BIRD’S NEST

PHOTO BY GLENN MURRAY

BY JAKE STEINMETZ

A STUDIO FOR CIRCUS AND OTHER PERFORMING ARTS RECLAIMS A FORMER INDUSTRIAL SITE NEAR SENECA AND FILLMORE PACKED INTO A recently renovated industrial garage outside

Larkinville, audience members watched as Sarah Caputi writhed from two hanging pieces of silk. Clad in a white leotard, her seagreen hair pulled back in a bun and face painted so the eyes were accentuated, she flailed her legs rhythmically, weaving each one in and out of the hanging cloth, while pulling herself upward. As her two dance partners continued their routine on the ground 18 feet or so below—the spotlight pointed on Caputi—she unclasped her hands and spun downward in a controlled fall. She gracefully stopped several feet above the floor, her legs still enmeshed in the two fabrics, and arms outstretched as if to say ta-dah. She was still upside down. The crowd roared in applause as she quickly reached for the cloth again and readied herself for another maneuver. Caputi and her dance troupe were one of 13 acts to perform earlier this month in an event entitled A Dream of Flying. Held on May 6, the performance celebrated the official public opening of the Bird’s Nest, a community of circus arts performers who will also offer classes. The show itself examined the blurred lines between reality and dreaming, and the many forms our dreams can take. It also highlighted one of the collective’s most unique aspects: gathering a broad spectrum of performers under one roof. Performances from Saturday showcased various aerial arts, including the use of aerial silk, a hanging rope known as corde lisse, the lyra (an aerial hoop), and the trapeze. It also encompassed different forms of dance, baton twirling, and hula-hooping. The road to opening has not been easy, though certainly fruitful. Founder and owner of the building, Ben Madoff, announced in December his plans to open the Bird’s Nest, and launched an online fundraising campaign to pay for the renovations and other required outfitting. “The campaign was an extraordinary journey for us,” he says. The community response to the Bird’s Nest was highly enthusiastic. Local businesses offered a wealth of partnerships and donations. “We put our campaign online, and we just started getting messages from people, like, ‘Hey we’ve never met, but I’d like to help out,’” Madoff says. “If we had different events, we’d go to a business and ask for support, like donating a raffle item,” Madoff says. “All the busi-

nesses in the city were extremely generous. We spoke frequently with the Breadhive and Bootleg Bucha.” Emilee Philips, the de facto program coordinator at Bird’s Nest, organized a raffle and silent auction during their launch event, in which Hyatt’s Art Supplies and Flying Bison Brewing Company donated baskets. The Breadhive Bakery gave them a three-pound pretzel as a sign of friendship. Numerous other health-oriented organizations also lent their support, including East Meets West Yoga, Love in Motion Yoga, Bike-or-Bar, and the Buffalo Athletic Club, among others. Evolation Yoga also collaborated, allowing Madoff and Philips to teach a fundraising acro yoga class at their facility. “In a way, fundraising was the obvious goal,” Madoff says, “but all the secondary goals are what we’ll remember the most because those are the partnerships and friends we made along the way. It’s what is driving the place in the future.” Those financial gains, however, allowed for the transformation of the Bird’s Nest space. Tucked into a side-street, the Bird’s Nest is almost equidistant between the burgeoning Larkin Square businesses to the west and Buffalo’s old manufacturing legacy to the east. The area is emblematic of the transformation that’s taken place in their studio. According to Madoff, the building was formerly a storehouse of junk for a contractor. Renovations included equal parts cleaning out the space and construction. “A lot of renovations were just tearing things out. They had accumulated 30 to 50 years’ worth of junk. They had 50 years of old electrical work and pipes on the ceiling.” Preliminary construction was more basic. “Just fixing things that are not in good condition,” Madoff says. They leveled the concrete of the warehouse’s floor, fixed the many broken windows, replaced the unusable garage doors, and added heating. “We just needed it to be made more user-friendly.” The structural integrity of the building was extremely important, as well, as aerial artists must be ensured that the fixtures they are attached to will not give way. “The first thing we did was have a structural engineer look at the building,” Madoff says. They purchased a number of rigging points—heavy-duty clamps that are fixed to ceiling beams that aerialists will then use to hang silks, ropes, and other equipment. According to Madoff, “You need to use rigging hardware that is rated for at least 10 times the dynamic load it’s expected to see. Usually, this is listed at five to 10 times the person’s weight.” They purchased other equipment as well, such as two-inch-thick

Acker and Caputi had similar experiences. Acker said he initially practiced in a small invite-only theater. Caputi took pole-dance classes at a studio that did not offer other art forms. They were without an adequate space, and the community of like-minded performers was limited. The Bird’s Nest, conversely, encompasses a wide array of disciplines. “The community has grown. The two largest communities are acro and aerial, and it makes me really happy that they’ll be in the same place,” Madoff says. Circus culture is now becoming more communal in teaching and in learning, though this wasn’t always the case. “When my teacher was learning partner acrobatics, circus culture was just turning a bend from where people did not share their skills,” Madoff says. “You don’t share your trick because you do that in your show, and it’s yours. You don’t want to give away your secrets because they’re proprietary.” Madoff believes this sense of individualism is changing. “What it’s really evolving into is people are starting to teach each other. In a lot of different cities, circus arts are growing communities of people who want to practice together.” In addition, Acker believes that teaching and sharing techniques can make performers’ lives more financially sustainable. “Back then performers were very underpaid, but people now are seeing, hey, I can teach and make some money and a living, because maybe you don’t have a gig for six months.” The interest in circus arts seems to be growing throughout the United States as collectives continue to grow and proliferate. The Bird’s Nest’s opening performance is one clear indication, as sales for A Dream of Flying sold out within two to three weeks, according to Philips. Demand was so great that she asked performers to put to a vote the option of selling tickets to the dress rehearsal. “Everyone was enthusiastic and feeling prepared enough,” she says. Tickets for the dress rehearsal sold out, as well. As practices such as CrossFit and yoga have also become popular in the US, classes in circus arts offer a new way to exercise. “I have a lot of friends who are tired of going to the gym, and don’t want to get exercise that way,” Caputi says. ”They’re saying, ‘This looks fun, and I know someone who’s doing it, and it looks super cool and badass.’” She also believes that the physical rigor is not to be overlooked: “A lot of this stuff is an insane workout, and you don’t realize it until you’re done. Even noticing in my own body how much stronger I’ve become in the last two years.” Unlike other forms of exercise, the circus arts bridges art with exercise. “I was always artistic and I enjoyed sports in school,” Caputi says. “I think many people don’t think they go together, but here they do. You’re combining these things and creating them every time you [practice].” The Bird’s Nest will provide space to both performers and students. The first disciplines offered will include acro yoga, trapeze, the lyra, silks, and hula-hooping. While currently there are six paid instructors, Madoff expects this to increase over time. There will also be upcoming performances held at GoBike Buffalo’s SkyRide and at Canalside. The Bird’s Nest plans to host a number of renowned teachers from throughout the country in the coming months. Information on classes and upcoming performances can be viewed on P the Bird’s Nest website. DAILYPUBLIC.COM / MAY 31 - JUNE 6, 2017 / THE PUBLIC 19