monday august 25th 2008
School's back and The Yard is going to be in full swing.
queenseyes
We're having another party at The Rock Harbor Yard this Saturday, August 30th. This will be the first event where the college community is back and ready to explore the different parts of the city. We're going back to the basics for this event - there will be no cover charge and we'll be leading a bike brigade from Niagara Square to The Yard (depart @ 3:30 PM). We've enlisted Tone X from Deep Thinka to help with the promotion angle, which means that there will be even more to see and do. Already Tone has rallied members of Skunktail Glass and Madtattz Tattoos to round out the live graffiti art performances.
As always we're going to announce the band line-up later in the week... the 4pm-8pm time-slot will be the same. Come out and eat some veggie burgers, cool off with a beverage, and play a life-sized game of Scrabble. Look for …
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West Coast Perspective
Trees may have been taken out last week, but work on returning two-way traffic to the 700 block of Main Street officially started this morning. Mayor Byron W. Brown and Congressman Brian Higgins were on site to herald the start of a multi-phased effort to re-traffic downtown’s pedestrian mall. The critical 700 block between West Tupper and Goodell streets connects the Theater District to Allentown and the nearby Medical Campus.
queenseyes
Not many people besides community activist Marilyn Rodgers can get people riled up about street lamps. Last week she called me buzzing about what a difference the new lighting components were making at Johnson Park. One day earlier, brighter lights had been installed in order to combat some of the park's shadowy dark pockets. When I spoke to Marilyn she told me that the park residents were already noticing a difference in nighttime activity. "They installed the lights on one side of the park first," Marilyn told me. "That night we noticed that people were avoiding the brightly lit side of the park."
After years of reclaiming the park (Buffalo's oldest park named after our first mayor), the enhanced lighting is a welcomed addition. It is also interesting to note that the advancements came at no cost …
Marilyn Rodgers
Time to experience the heartbeat of community with Johnson Park's first drum circle Tuesday evening, August 26 at 7PM.
The beat of drums is inherent in every culture as it emulates the heartbeat. Let's come together for this evening and celebrate the diversity of our community!
In 1991, during testimony before the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging, Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart stated:
"Typically, people gather to drum in drum "circles" with others from the surrounding community. The drum circle offers equality because there is no head or tail. It includes people of all ages. The main objective is to share rhythm and get in tune with each other and themselves. To form a group consciousness. To entrain and resonate. By entrainment, I mean that a new voice, a collective voice, emerges from the group as they drum together."
Whether you have an instrument or not…
queenseyes
Last evening Harvey Garrett, Director of the West Side Community Collaborative, took me out to speak to the incoming UB Honors College Freshman. He wanted them to be able to relate to the city of Buffalo in ways that they might not normally do. Seeing that the UB Amherst campus is located in a fairly remote area, Harvey asked that I discuss many of the urban amenities that students might want to connect with. The talk was all part of the Freshman Honors Colloquium - a proactive program that is literally taking UB students and helping them to acclimate and identify with the city. It is also a great way to dispel many of the unsettling preconceived notions that the students have about Buffalo.
For a little over an hour I spelled out to the students what it could be like for them to live here. Instead of holing away for four years, they actually have the ability to shape the city i…
Thomas Tarapacki
If you’re a fan of the Buffalo Bills, there’s nothing you’d rather do on a Monday following a game than talk about the team with others who share your passion. The Buffalo Bills Monday Quarterback Club gives you a chance to do that with fellow fans, as well as with members of the sports media, current and former Bills players, and team coaches and management.
You can get a taste of the MQC at a special event to benefit Roswell Park Cancer Institute on Wednesday, August 27, at 5:30 PM at the Pearl Street Grill and Brewery. Special guests that evening will include Steve Christie, Steve Tasker and Vic Carucci. Members of the Bills administration and players alumni will also be present.
Enjoy Pearl Street’s Buffalo Buffet, featuring beef on weck, pizza, wings, and pub fries. Admission for this event is a donation of $20 for both members and guests. A portion of the proce…
Chao Li
This past Saturday was the first get together for the Buffalo Dachshund Meet-up Group. I stopped by Shakespeare Hill in Delaware Park and joined in for some fun with the puppies. The group was founded by Emily Burns, who after spending 10 years in New York City, recently moved back to Buffalo. “My heart’s always been here,” Burns said with a smile.
“I wanted to start something about something I love, and I love my two dogs,” Burns said. She hugged her little puppies Sparky and Lola. “When I moved back it just seems like a good way of getting reacquainted with the area.”
With this group, Burns hopes to unite local Dachshund owners for monthly meetings. Even with 15 little dachshunds playing around her, Burns insisted on talking to me about the importance of local Dachshund rescues. Working with rescues is an important point on the agenda for this group.…
queenseyes
During this year's Buffalo Homecoming, we had a special guest with us who learned more about Buffalo than he ever thought he'd bargained for. Adam Sternbergh, a writer for New York Magazine, is originally from neighboring Toronto, but his vision of Buffalo was pretty much formed from what he had heard over the years. After all, why would you ever visit a place like Buffalo when you're living in a cosmopolitan city like Toronto... or New York? Those are the types of questions that Buffalonians wanted to answer for Adam. (See article)
A number of Buffalonians spend the better part of a weekend touring Adam around the city. They took him into their homes and showed him images of the city that he could arm himself with - all in order to write an article about…
sunday august 24th 2008
Place Your Bet
queenseyes
These two buildings look as if they are neck and neck in the building process. The one on top is the permanent Seneca Nation Buffalo Creek Casino. The one below is the new Federal Courthouse. The Federal Courthouse has been years in the making. Then, when many people were about to give up hope, the announcement came to start building. The Seneca Casino was mired in controversy from the start. But that didn't stop The Nation from moving forward with their non-stop development tactic.
Word on the street has it that steel has been hard to come by for the Federal Courthouse. That may have slowed things up a bit. Then, the Seneca Casino... well, we all know that story on that end. But that hasn't stopped the i-beams from risin…
queenseyes
The Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts knocked it out of the park for a second time today. I heard that the crowds were excellent on Saturday, and can attest to the high attendance today. Already, reports are coming in from artists saying that there have been higher than normal sales thus far. Every year the festival strives to add new and different art, acts and organizations to the mix. I hear that at four o’clock today the children in The Garden Parade are going to break out found-art musical instruments.
Once again, it was an eye-opener to visit the groups at Environmental Row and Cultural Row. It was also good to see that the solar stage and the solar made smoothies were back. Green Options Buffalo (GO) was there making sure that bicycle valet parking was available for the cyclists and many of the other inspiring earth-friendly groups were on hand.
Of everything I saw …
