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Cover Story

The Seneca's Buffalo Creek Casino

by Bruce Jackson

Some people want to build a gambling joint in downtown Buffalo. If they are successful, they will do great harm to nearly everyone who lives in the city. That is because a gambling joint in downtown Buffalo would suck more money and jobs out of the city than it would ever bring in, and as a consequence it would drive untold numbers of local businesses into oblivion, and drag the city down in the process.

Letters to Artvoice

I am writing in response to the recent announcement regarding the monetary funds allocated for the HH Richardson Complex.

Streetvoice

A New Direction or the Same Old Bills?

by Daniel B. Honigman

On Jan. 5, Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson declared Marv Levy the team’s president and general manager. The 80-year old Levy, who coached the Bills from 1986-1997, compiled a 112-70 record in Buffalo and is the only coach in league history to bring a team to four straight Superbowl appearances. After the Bills notched a dismal 5-11 record this past season, can he bring his recipe for success back to the hapless team, who hasn’t made the playoffs since 1999, or is Levy’s hiring simply window dressing for a floundering franchise?

Theaterweek

Bad Dates

Gilligan's Island

Good

Puck Stop

The Bizarre World of Mike Danton

by Andrew Kulyk & Peter Farrell

The tried-and-true system for developing hockey talent in Canada has worked well for generations: youngsters billeted with host families experiencing the joy of competition as they work their way through the junior system, and paternal agents looking out for the good of their clients. Every year on NHL Draft Day, that joy is manifested among the new draftees. One by one the names are called, and fresh young faces walk up to the podium as beaming parents and siblings look on. These kids are another step closer to a lifelong dream of playing in the NHL.

Art

When Everything Old is New Again: Suzy Lake at Hallwalls

by Cynnie Gaasch

Suzy Lake’s fun and enticing exhibition of photographic works is the perfect opener for Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center’s new space. Like a young woman with everything ahead of her, Lake’s art work displays an optimism and a delight with her own body, and with the worlds she travels through behind the camera.

You Auto Know

A Really Big Shew!

by Jim Corbran

To get the full effect of that headline, reread it, out loud, doing your best Ed Sullivan impression. If you responded by saying “Who?,” ask your parents. Or your grandparents.

Film

Hallwalls Cinema Rides Again

by M. Faust

With a new 63-seat cinema equipped to project film and various video formats, Hallwalls is once again ready to present a diverse range of new and otherwise locally unavailable programs in an intimate and comfortable setting.

Film Reviews

Can't We All Just Laugh Along: Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World

by M. Faust

New Growth in Old Wood[y]: Match Point

by M. Faust

See You There

moe.

by Daniel B. Honigman

Women's Film Festival

by Kia Wood

Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble

by Craig Reynolds

Sean Costello

by Mark Norris

Gewgaws and Gimcracks

CK3100 Advanced Bluetooth Car Kit

by David P. Kleinschmidt

If you don’t like driving while using your mobile phone, but you can’t bring yourself to hang a big-ass earpiece on the side of your face like some kind of cyberpunk hero, Parrot’s CK3100 may be for you. The CK3100 is a hands-free speakerphone kit that sends your calls through your existing car stereo instead of some goofy headset. It connects to your cell phone using Bluetooth, a wireless standard adopted by a wide variety of cell phone manufacturers. Since it’s completely wireless, you don’t even need to take the phone out of your pocket to use it. When a call is in progress, it mutes your music and sends the call through your car speakers. Your voice is picked up through a small microphone mounted on your dashboard, and an unobtrusive LCD display shows caller ID and signal strength.

News of the Weird

by Chuck Shepherd

■ Former President Jimmy Carter told GQ magazine for a January article that he saw a UFO in 1969 in southwest Georgia as he was preparing to speak at a Lions Club meeting. He recalled that it was a bright light that got “closer and closer to us,” but then “changed color to blue,” then to red, then back to white, and then “receded into the distance.” However, he said, “I’ve never believed it came from Mars.” (In September, Paul Hellyer, a former Canadian minister of defense, asked Parliament to hold hearings on extraterrestrials. UFOs, he said, “are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head,” and he fears the U.S. military might get Earth involved in an intergalactic war.)

Free Will Astrology

by Rob Brezsny

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): A psychologist in the U.K. believes that January 24 is the “most depressing day of the year,” at least in the Northern Hemisphere. Cliff Arnall, whose specialty is seasonal disorders, says this day is typically a low point, when glum feelings generated by overcast weather, debt from the holidays, and broken New Year’s resolutions reach a crescendo. While this might hold true for the other signs of the zodiac, Capricorn, it doesn’t apply to you. The astrological omens reveal you’re at the peak of your cycle, when you can triumph over challenges and accomplish breakthroughs that might normally be impossible. I suggest you proceed as if long-standing limitations have become irrelevant.