Omar Rodriguez-López

Thursday, March 31

It might be his groundbreaking, harshly dissonant guitar work on the Mars Volta’s 2003 record De-Loused in the Comatorium that caused Rolling Stone to deem Omar Rodríguez-López one of the “Greatest Guitarists of All Time,” or it could be the prolific, dark, and frantic guitar wailing spread across any of his 25 solo albums. Either way, it all becomes irrelevant when the Grammy Award winning guitarist takes the stage and turns his six string into a mind control device. Check out one of his numerous live Youtube videos and you’ll see comments from fans like “oh, how they make you feel so alive,” or “it’s better than sex!” These sentiments might seem hyperbolic, but there is no doubt that López and his band can cause a room full of otherwise normal people to close their eyes, grab their skulls, and sway from side to side with little more than a swipe of his hand across a guitar, as he launches into an epic track like “Rapid Fire Tollbooth.” For 16 years, López has been firing out albums like his 2004 solo debut A Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack Volume One, with its haunting Latin rhythms or 2007’s psychedelic and melting Se Dice Bisonte, No Bùfalo. It’s a daunting task to sift through the hundreds of guitar heavy solo tracks that the avant-garde artist has released since the break up of his original, influential group At The Drive-In, but fortunately for fans, López has done all the hard work for us. This spring he will release a quadruple LP/double CD collection of tracks gathered from his multiple solo and collaborative albums titled Telesterion. This will be the perfect place to start for new fans of the legendary guitarist. In celebration, López has hit the road with his band, consisting of every member of the Mars Volta, minus vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala. They will appear live at the Town Ballroom on Thursday (March 31). To the guitarists, musicians, and music lovers of Buffalo this is a must experience event. —cory perla

7pm. Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. (852-3900 / www.townballroom.com). $18 advance, $22 day of show.

Friday, March 25

Babel: Edwidge Danticat

On Friday (March 25), Just Buffalo’s Babel international author lecture series will present its third author of the season, Edwidge Danticat. Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Danticat immigrated to Brooklyn at the age of 12 and was first published by the age of 14. Her works are strongly influenced by her Haitian-American upbringing and her experience as an immigrant teenager. Her first novel, Breath, Eyes, and Memory became an Oprah’s Book Club selection, and her short stories have appeared in over 25 periodicals with her work being translated into French, Korean, German, Italian, Spanish, and Swedish. Danitcat is well on her way to canonization and has been anthologized multiple times. However, Danticat does not only write: She has taught creative writing at New York University and the University of Miami, and has worked with filmmakers Patricia Benoit and Jonathon Demme on Haitian documentaries and projects on Haitian art. General admission and VIP tickets are currently on sale via PayPal on Just Buffalo’s website. Members of the Buffalo & Erie county library will receive $10 off each general admission ticket. Discounts are also available for HSBC cardholders. —krysta zagorski

8pm. Kleinhans Music Hall, 3 Symphony Circle. (832-5400 / justbuffalo.org/babel). $35, $100 VIP.

Friday, March 25

I Was The Scarecrow

All you can ask of a lonley singer/songwriter is the truth. That’s what Peter Vullo, also know as I Was The Scarecrow delivers. His stripped down acoustic indie rock is a channel for personal, sometimes revealing, but always relatable lyrics. Losing the girl, longing for the one he can’t have, death, and drugs. It’s all from the heart, and although the music slips into some dark corners, with Vullo’s raspy voice and the strum of discordant, bronze guitar strings, it’s ok because, hey, the truth hurts. In 2007 Vullo began recording scraps of sound and lyrics in his bedroom but it wasn’t until 2009, when he started to record at Electric Pumpkin Patch studio, that the project came into focus and a debut record, Golden Shoebox, was completed. The record is essentially a break-up album, with songs like “Devil’s Beard,” a Bob Dylan influenced sing-a-long freak anthem about learning to accept your own personal flaws and eccentricities, the aspects that make us unique. Since the release of Shoebox, Scarecrow has played gigs around Buffalo with a revolving cast of band members which will include bassist Casey Mullaney and lead guitarist Mark Hovey when the band appears at Filligree’s on Friday (March 25). Local indie-folk band Glass Hero and alt-folk rockers Noah Gokey & the Skulls will join I Was The Scarecrow for a night indie-rock fun and reflection. —cory perla

7pm. Filligree’s Boutique & Gallery (formerly Nobody’s), 1121 Elmwood Ave. $5.

Friday, March 25

The Sixties Cubed

Robert Hirsch is an artist, an author, a curator, and an educator. He is currently part of SUNY Buffalo’s art faculty. Hirsch’s art has been shown around the United States, stretching from the Albright-Knox, to the Williamsburg Art and Historical Center in Brooklyn, to Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., and at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, to name a few. He is a contributing writer to multiple photography magazines: Afterimage, Exposure, Ilford Photo Newsletter, and the Photo Review, and served as the associate editor for Photovision magazine. Opening on Friday (March 25), Hirsh’s interest with photography and history is unveiled through a sculptural anthological survey of the 1950’s to the blooming 1970’s. “This project offers a visual representation of our collective societal memory of those times,” Hirsh commented. The Sixties Cubed is the result of three years of research, reconstructing the social landscape of that decade, re-envisioning the American spirit, presented over clear 4’x4’x4’ cubes, stacked on one another to create a photographic sculpture depicting an event from the 1960’s. “It produces an open, wordless storytelling format and encourages viewers to ponder how this decade affects who we are today.” The exhibit is a dual-site exhibition with the Indigo Exhibition opening Friday, April 1 at Indigo Art Gallery. —michael koh

7pm. CEPA Gallery, First Floor Flux Gallery, 617 Main St. Suite 201. (856-2717 / cepagallery.org)

Friday, March 25

Aiming For Sainthood

As the hearing daughter of devoutly Catholic deaf parents, Arlene Malinowski learned to navigate the cross-cultural maze of the deaf and hearing worlds. Aiming for Sainthood is her multi-character examination of her life growing up as a hearing person with deaf parents. Malinowski tells her story through sign language and voice, using both deaf and storytelling techniques. In the show, Malinowski recalls such events as her parents trips to confession, where they’d have to write their sins down on a piece of paper, fold it in half and slide it under the door of the confessional. She knew the priest pitied her family and that embarrassed her. Moreover, she didn’t know how her parents could even look at the priest without wanting to throw up. But on one Sunday afternoon every month, there was Deaf church and a priest who had learned how to sign. Even though he was at a parish far away, Deaf families went to the monthly Mass, even if they weren’t catholic. It was in Deaf church that Arlene would watch her parents through eyes of admiration. Years later when Arlene’s mother was diagnosed with cancer and the middle-aged daughter moved back into her childhood room she had two questions: “Where is God?” and “Who took my Springsteen poster?” Aiming for Sainthood has been enthusiastically received throughout the country. Presented by St. Mary’s School for the Deaf, the show will play at the Performing Arts Center at Rockwell Hall on the Buffalo State campus on Friday (March 25). —tony chase

7pm. Performing Arts Center at Rockwell Hall, 1300 Elmwood Ave. (878-3005 / buffalostate.edu/pac) $15, $10 for students.

Saturday, March 26

Luvstep

This Saturday (March 26) the Luvstep Tour featuring Dirty South Joe & Flufftronix with local support from Stuntman will hit Soundlab. AV talked to dubstep DJ Aaron “Stuntman” Carter about the nature of dubstep music. (photo credit: Nate Peracciny)

AV: What type of music do you spin, and why?

Stuntman: I play Dubstep and UK 2-Step Garage. I love the physical aspect of the tunes when they’re played on a huge sound system with massive subwoofers. I love the atmosphere it creates in the room, and the drum patterns of UK Garage.

Do you feel any pressure to play certain types of tracks? For sure. I feel like a lot of people only see dubstep as this robotic wobble sound. If you’re a person who doesn’t like that sound and you don’t know about any other (dubstep) sounds you won’t come out to the club. I’m left with people who only like that electro-wobble sound, so I feel pressured to play hype party-style dubstep for sure, although that’s not really what I want to hear at the club. I do like the hard midrange wobble sound, but more-so in the car, not the bar. I’m more into the organic, analog, old-school synth sounds and samples than the modern electro sound.

Look for an extended interview and some sample tunes online as part of the Gatekeepers series on the Exit Music blog (blogs.artvoice.com/exitmusic). —cory perla

10pm. Soundlab, 110 Pearl St. (440-5907 / www.bigorbitgallery.org/soundlab). $12.

Saturday, March 26

CKY

CKY or Camp Kill Yourself, often associated with the daredevil Camp Kill Yourself video series that preceded the moniker, had humble beginnings as an East High School-based duo called Foreign Objects from West Chester, Pennsylvania. Their 1999 debut received the MTV bump through the band’s connection to the popular Jackass series. However, though drummer Jess Margera is brother to skateboarder and Jackass stuntman Bam Margera, CKY’s music appeals to more than skaters and pranksters. The cryptic alternative metal they produce is distinct and provocative. Deron Miller’s vicious Dave Grohl meets James Hetfield vocals and Chad I Ginsburg’s driving guitar contribute to dark, melodic, hard rocking bursts of grungy angst and smirking humor. CKY are touring in support of their new B-Sides and Rarities album, a collection of songs that includes the hit “Afterworld” from Jackass 3D. Their stop on Saturday (March 26) at the Mohawk Place is a guaranteed blast of mad fun that, in spite of the band’s moniker, will inspire fist pumps instead of suicides. —ryan wolf

7pm. Mohawk Place, 47 E. Mohawk. (465-2368 / themohawkplace.com) $12.

Saturday, March 26

McCarthyizm CD Release Party

Buffalo Music Hall of Fame inductees McCarthyizm will proudly present their latest album, Victors and Vices, this Saturday (March 26) during a celebratory CD release party at Nietzsche’s. The pop rockers have received favorable comparisons to R.E.M., the Byrds, and Cheap Trick, and see themselves as inheritors of a 1960’s garage and 1980’s underground rock tradition. Bringing Celtic and punk inflections to buoyant and addictive tunes, McCarthyizm have opened for the Goo Goo Dolls, Eddie Money, and 10,000 Maniacs. On Victors and Vices the band thoughtfully reflects on the conflicted lives we lead (“we all want change, but we don’t wanna change...”), finding poetic connections between the allures of alcohol and religion (“whether pints of stout or pints of blood, t’was all in vain”). Lead vocalist Joe McCarthy, guitarist Paul Ceppaglia, bassist Dave Mucha, drummer Joe Suplicki, and violinist Helen Butler will demonstrate how McCarthyizm remains just as vital and brilliant live as they are on their new recordings. Rochester alt-country band Blue Jimmy and singer-songwriter Dee Adams accompany McCarthyizm in a show that is sure to get people excited over how rich and enjoyable Western New York’s music scene is. —ryan wolf

9pm. Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St. (886-8539 / nietzsches.com) Free.

Saturday, March 26

A Year of Inciting the Riot Fashion and Music Mahem

Incite A Riot is a Buffalo-based promotions and events management company devoted to creating a network of all local arts. In celebration of one year of its communal success, Incite A Riot is stringing the fashion and music worlds together by hosting A Year of Inciting the Riot Fashion and Music Mayhem. The event will showcase the work of an eclectic assortment of four local fashion designers, interspersed with live performances by four local bands. The Breathing Tree, An American Skyline, the Albrights, and Sleep Atlantic will perform while wearing the spring collections of Katie Gariepy, Made By Anatomy, EuroStyle Apparel, and Monster Tee Party. Each band was selected to exhibit the work of the designer that best fit its genre: from indie to hardcore and from pop rock to blues, you’ll find the bands wearing styles ranging from experimental to organic and from girly chic to punk. Local boutiques Splash Panic! and SaiOne will also be adding to the mayhem; catch them serving popcorn and tarot card readings at tables located at the event. —rachelle toarmino

6pm. 136 Lofts, 136 North Division St. (935-6400 / 136lofts.com) $12 advance, $14 at the door.