Former Soul Coughing lead, Mike Doughtyoa brilliant singer and wordsmith who has a penchant for acoustic bass and tight drums played Thursday In The Square last night. By all accounts, the show was all that. Doughty wrote of it on his blog:
Probably the best first-gig-of-a-tour ever. We played outdoors, on a square in downtown Buffalo (so many stately old buildings in Buffalo), under a big column topped with a bronze statue commemorating something.
Doughty went on to say some pretty cool things about Buffalo.
It looks like Buffalo is doing a lot to attract young artists; festivals, gallery opening, rock shows in public squares open to the public. I was walking around the Allentown neighborhood, there were these awesome old houses painted in bright colors, like San Francisco Victorians in the 60s. I bet you could get by on very little money, and have loads of time to make art.
In addition to Allentown, he seemed particularly impressed by Ani DiFrancois The Church.
I was strolling from the Holiday Inn to get some coffee, and I happened upon a church with a big Righteous Babe logo on a sign next to it; apparently it’s owned by my old running dog Ani DiFranco. Firstly, it made me smile that an old classmate that I used to trade riffs with on the roof of a shitty East Village tenement (back when East Village tenements actually were shitty) now owns a church. It also struck me that such a thing would be impossible in New York; too pricey.
Pretty cool. Thanks to Mike Calanan for the tip as well as permission to use a few of the great shots he took yesterday.