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Cover Story

Who Killed Brad Will?

by John Ross

OAXACA—Those of us who report from the front lines of the social justice movement in Latin America share an understanding that there’s always a bullet out there with our names on it. Brad Will traveled 2,500 miles, from New York to this violence-torn Mexican town, to find his.

Letters to Artvoice

I was taken aback when I looked at the cover photo on your August 2-8 issue (“Fall From Grace,” Artvoice v6n31).

Streetvoice

Big Brother: Why Bother?

by Cara Gallivan

Luckily there were no cops in the wake of that traffic signal you just sped through. But before you release that sigh of relief, remember that someone might be watching you. Not that they are particularly concerned with your petty violation…yet. Last week Mayor Byron Brown announced that five surveillance cameras had been installed at intersections on the West Side and Chip Strip, a pilot experiment that will lead to 50 cameras installed citywide. Over the next year, a $4.4 million state grant will be used to purchase and place the extremely high-tech snoops. While many are hopeful that the cameras will deter crime and ease prosecution, some speculate that this hefty chunk of change could be put to better use. Whether Buffalonians will see less serious crime in their neighborhoods and on the nightly news—or if you’ll just have to stop running those red lights—remains to be seen. In the meantime, we set out to hear how you feel about the the city’s new eyes in the sky.

Free Will Astrology

by Rob Brezsny

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo writer J.K. Rowling is the second-richest woman entertainer in the world because of her seven best-selling novels about Harry Potter. It wasn’t easy for her in the beginning, however. Her first book in the series was rejected by eight publishers before Bloomsbury decided to risk it. I nominate Rowling to be your inspirational role model for the rest of 2007, Leo. According to my analysis of the omens, you should be working (and playing) hard to produce an enduring creation that may take a while to make its mark.

News of the Weird

by Chuck Shepherd

■ Kyle Krichbaum, 12, of Adrian, Mich., has had an obsession with vacuum cleaners since infancy, when he was mesmerized by the whirring, said his mother, and for years, he says, he has enjoyed vacuuming so much that he does the house up to five times a day, with one of the 165 new and used vacuum cleaners in his collection. Said a former teacher, “It’s not that he didn’t like recess. He just preferred to stay inside vacuuming.” Older sister Michelle, interviewed for a July CBS News profile of Kyle, spoke for all of us: “He’s constantly vacuuming. I’m just like ‘why, why, why, why, why, why?’ I don’t understand.”

Play Ball!

Happy 125th Birthday, International League

by Andrew Kulyk & Peter Farrell

Quasquicentennial.” Add that to your lexicon of word power, for that is what describes a 125-year anniversary. And for the International League, that means a year-long party that will be celebrated at all of its member venues come 2008, and Dunn Tire Park and the Buffalo Bisons will be a big part of the festivities.

Literary

The Kingdom Comes

by Peter Koch

It’s tempting to refer to veteran novelist Howard Frank Mosher as “the Vermont author,” a phrase that carries all the weight and meaning of being a regional author. Frankly, Mosher himself now agrees with the billing. After all, he’s penned (yes, Mosher still drafts with pen and ink, furiously filling legal pads at a rate his typist can barely keep) 10 books focusing on and informed by the variously personable, eccentric and recalcitrant personalities that inhabit the rocky corner of the world that he loves and calls home, Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.

In the Margins

Remembering Rosemary

by David Butler

Rosemary Kothe’s love for poetry was that of a woman whose adoration for words was, at the very least, inspired by decades of teaching small children the basics of reading. Her love of the Buffalo literary community was much the same. A retired elementary school teacher, Rosemary produced her own poetry readings, facilitated the publications of anthologies of local writers and built bridges with local literary artists across the border in Canada.

Book Reviews

If Ariel Danced on the Moon by Charles Bachman

by Linda Benninghoff

Many of the poems in the first few sections of Charles Bachman’s If Ariel Danced on the Moon deal with nature. Bachman’s poet is not just a detached observer. He is one who empathizes deeply and collaborates with the natural world.

Theaterweek

Aida at Artpark

by Anthony Chase

Looking at the posters of shows past at Artpark during the intermission for the current production of Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida, I was startled to realize that the summer when Mary Gordon Murray starred with Jack Gilpin in that glittering production of Can-Can was 17 years ago. That seems impossible. It has been years since we saw Mary Jay as Mama Rose in Gypsy, or Joanna Glushak in Cabaret! The names may mean nothing to you, but if you saw these shows, you remember them. They were gorgeous productions with remarkable casts, and their passing speaks to changing times at Artpark and for musical theater itself.

Film Reviews

Spore Wars: The Invasion

by George Sax

It’s probably foolish to infer Nicole Kidman’s views on psychiatry from The Invasion, the third remake of Don Siegel’s tightly constructed 1956 sci-fi thriller Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Nor is it clear that the film itself, about a mass alien viral infection of humans and transformation of their psychology, has any such ideas. Still, it’s hard to resist some personalistic (i.e., catty) speculation, particularly as there’s so little else to engage the imagination in the movie.

Film Clips

Superbad

by M. Faust

Ten Canoes

by Girish Shambu

An Arctic Tale

by M. Faust

Death at a Funeral

by M. Faust

Left of the Dial

The Cribs: Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever

Waylon Jennings & The Waymore Blues Band: Never Say Die: The Final Concert Film

See You There

Tour de Neglect

by Peter Koch

T. Graham Brown

by Buck Quigley

Gusto at the Gallery: Beyond/In Western New York

by Katherine O'Day

Waking Up: Laura Jean CD Release Party

by Caitlin Derose

Calendar Spotlight

Chris Beard

India day Mela Festival

Zydeco-Reggae Fest 5

Buffalo Original Music Fest

by Louisa Ainsworth

Lullatone

mutus liber

Ask Anyone

I am hopelessly in love with a guy, several years younger than I am. We are great together and if I were able to commit, he would move in with me, but I have another relationship. It drives me crazy that he sees other men, albeit just for sex. I’ve tried to break it off, but we keep getting back together. Recently we had another reconciliation only to have it painfully crash and burn when, after speaking with me on his cell phone, apparently he placed it carelessly where the activity in which he was engaged caused the redial button to call me back and treat me to the full audio of his happy escapade. What should I do? —Torn