Play/Share Beyond/In

Saturday, October 16

Starting this Saturday (Oct. 16th) you can enter into a world of art, intrigue, mysterious puzzles, scavenger hunt missions, and...text messaging? That’s right, text messaging! The creators of play/share beyond/in seek to utilize emerging social networking technology to get you out of your house and on to the city streets to explore Buffalo and the variety of art exhibitions that are part of Beyond/In Western New York. The play/share beyond/in website (www.playsharebeyondin.org) explains the game as “a technology-driven scavenger hunt exploring the history and culture of Western New York though a series of interactive missions.” Once you register (as an individual or a team) you can text PSBIbot, a “robotic scheduler,” that texts you each mission, processes your answers, tallies the scores, and can connect you to a human engineer for assistance. The media creation component of the game encourages players to upload video/audio/photo/blogging documentation on Flickr or YouTube for bonus points. play/share beyond/in is organized by the University at Buffalo’s Intermedia Performance Studio (a group of media studies, computer science, engineering, dance, and theatre students) in collaboration with Beyond/In Western New York, the Department of Media Studies at UB, Brock University, and Buffalo State College. It’s free to play and when the game ends on October 30th, fabulous prizes (from Hallwalls, Burchfield Penney, and Squeaky Wheel) will be distributed to the winners. To receive information, maps, and to register, stop at the staffed booth at the Burchfield Penney Art Center from 10 am to 2 pm on the 16th and the 23rd and from 1 pm to 3 pm on the 17th and the 24th. You can join anytime after the 16th at www.playsharebeyondin.org.

—jill greenberg

10am-2pm. Burchfield Penney Art Center, 1300 Elmwood Ave. (878-6011 / www.burchfieldpenney.org

Saturday, October 16

Neglia Ballet Artists: Baba Yaga

The Neglia Ballet Artists are performing Baba Yaga, which is based on the Russian folktale, a special treat for the upcoming Halloween season. This ancient fairytale will be brought to life by elaborate sets, enchanting music, and spectacular dancing from the Neglia ballet dancers. Baba Yaga is portrayed as the witch in this production and even though the performance is meant to be spooky, all ages are welcome. There will be a Halloween pre-show party at 6pm, which is free for kids under 12 and will feature a kids costume contest, donuts, cider, and reading of the Baba Yaga fairy tale. Baba Yaga will be staged on Saturday (Oct. 16) at the Performing Arts Center at Rockwell Hall on Buffalo State College’s campus. Other forthcoming performances presented by the Neglia Ballet Artists include the Nutcracker on November 27 & 28 with music provided by the BPO; Romeo and Juliet on March 11 which will feature the score of Sergei Prokofiev accompanied by the BPO; and Neglia’s Mixed Repertoire Evening on May 14 which will include some of their classical and contemporary ballet pieces.

—vanessa oswald

7pm. Performing Arts Center at Rockwell Hall, Buffalo State College, 1300 Elmwood Ave. (878-3005 / www.buffalostate.edu/pac). $35, $25, $19 for students

Saturday, October 16

A.A. Bondy, with Son of the Sun

It wouldn’t be surprising if southern acoustic folk dreamer A. A. Bondy, real name Augeste Arthur, toured in a boxcar, pulling into train junctions every night in a plaid shirt, holding a bindle stick. “Let the train whistle cry for you,” he sings on his dark folk anthem “I Killed Myself When I Was Young” from his 2007 album American Hearts. Bondy doesn’t need the train whistle to cry for him though, he does it through his songs every night on stage. It’s got to be tough for the man from Alabama to stand up there, with a hollow-body guitar strapped to his chest and a harmonica inches from his lips, and spill his guts while the crowd only spills their beer. But Bondy is a tortured artist, not unlike Elliot Smith, Vic Chestnut, or Mark Linkous, and he’s devised a genius plan to simultaneously play music and perform self therapy on stage every night. The difference between Bondy and his anguished colleagues, other than his southern twang, is he’s still around to step up on stage, not yet weighted down beyond control by his own troubles. Joining him at Soundlab are local melancholy rockers Son of the Sun, a pumped up cross between Bondy’s lyrically revealing depth and Radiohead’s spaced out guitar rock circa The Bends. In June SOTS released their psychedelic garage rock debut full length album The Happy Loss. Neither band ever miss an opportunity to free their feelings on stage, so don’t miss this well matched bill on Saturday (Oct 16).

—cory perla

8pm. Shannon Pub, 2250 Niagara Falls Blvd. (743-9348 / www.shannonpub.com).

Saturday, October 16

Trash-N-Roll with Kevin K.

Kevin Kalicki, the embodiment of Buffalo punk rock royalty, will take the stage in his hometown for the first time in nearly twenty years on Saturday night. As Kevin K, he started the band the Toys with his brother Alan, Mick Tyler, and Joel Slazyk in 1979. Five short years later, the band broke up—but not before developing a devoted fan base in the northeast, releasing a couple records, opening for punk/new wave legends like the Ramones, the Dead Boys, the Romantics, and Squeeze, changing the name of the band to the New Toys, moving to New York City and befriending the late, great Johnny Thunders. Denizens of clubs like the now-demolished Continental may still recall the punked-out version of Debbie Boone’s “You Light Up My Life,” that was a highlight to all the leather-clad outsiders crowding into shows by the Toys. The brothers Kalicki continued to rock together in the bands Lone Cowboys and the Road Vultures, gaining recognition from NYC punk legends Sylvain Sylvain, Jerry Nolan, Dee Dee Ramone, and Cheetah Chrome. Sadly, Alan died in 1996. Kevin K continues to release records and tour Europe, carrying the punk flag he picked up over 30 years ago in the Queen City. Openers include the raucous Cowboys of Scotland, and veteran guitar slinger/tunesmith Matt Smith.

—buck quigley

8pm. Gateway Gallery, 141 Elmwood Ave. (886-6888 / www.myspace.com/gatewaygallery2).

Sunday, October 17

Charlie O'Neill CD Release Party

Charlie O’Neill is a studied, accomplished veteran in the Buffalo music community, having played in many bands throughout just as many years. The list of bands that found success in their time with the help of O’Neill is large and spans decades: the ‘60s and ‘70s country-rockers the Blue Ox Band, the ‘80s “eclectic folk-country rock-bluesy-jazzy” trio the Thirds, and in the ‘90s the Stone Bridge Band, Kelleigh McCarthy Band, Theresa Quinn Group, and the Rick Smith Band. O’Neill’s place in Buffalo music history has been solidified many times, including a Buffalo Civic Pride Award in 2007 with the Stone Bridge Band. The award brought along with it recognition from congressmen, the US House of Representatives, the NYS Assembly, and the Buffalo Executive Chamber. March 10, 2007 was known as “The Stone Bridge Band Day.” Very few bands can claim a day in their honor. O’Neill also won Buffalo Music Awards in the mid-‘90s with the band JoyRyde. The group now holds a place in the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame. O’Neill will celebrate the release of his new album The Best in Home Grown Music (Ridge Trail Records) this Sunday (October 17) with a release party at the Pearl Street Grill & Brewery. Home Grown Music is a testament to O’Neill’s skill as a songwriter, which can be heard in songs like “O Soul of Mine” which would sound at home on any Buffalo Springfield or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young record. The song features tender, reflective lyrics like “O, soul of mine, if you’re half-way to heaven and making time, making good time, throw me a line. A very long line.”

—peter vullo

1-5pm. Pearl Street Grill & Brewery, 76 Pearl St. (856-2337 / www.pearlstreetgrill.com

Sunday, October 17

Beth Patterson & C.J. Schindler

Beth Patterson was actually “born on the bayou,” in Lafayette, Louisiana, and Carl “C. J” Schindler was born and raised right here, in Buffalo, NY. Luckily for anyone able to make it to the Shannon Pub on Sunday (Oct. 17), the two met, are now engaged, and have formed a project called the Potent Bathers. Prior to moving to New Orleans five years ago (just in time for Hurricane Katrina to hit), Schindler played extensively around WNY in the Dreadbeats and Strictly Riddim. The move seems to have been fortuitous in the long run, what with a new band and a future wife. Patterson is an accomplished performer, famous for her crowd pleasing wit and storytelling acumen. She may look like a hometown girl at first, and she is more than skilled at making the kind of music you’d expect (like a Cajun-ey/roots/folk/Americana type of thing), but she spent years playing the Celtic music circuit, is highly influenced by progressive rock, and likes playing Rush covers—especially when this close to Canada. She’s also a player of the eight- and ten-stringed Irish bouzoukis (adaptations of a traditional Greek instrument), and describes her own music as SWAP (Songwriter/World/Acoustic/Progressive). For this performance, C.J. will accompany his bride-to-be on her own material, and the two will perform songs from Potent Bathers, described as “a pop music effort drawing from their mutual influences.”

—k. o’day

8pm. Shannon Pub, 2250 Niagara Falls Blvd. (743-9348 / www.shannonpub.com).

Monday, October 18

Dr. Dog

What is an album nowadays other than an advertisement for a band’s live show? Indie-pop singer-songwriters Dr. Dog realized this before the recording of their latest studio album, Shame Shame. Their plan was to capture the energy and sound of their live show as accurately as possible. For this they found producer Rob Schnapf, the man who put psychedelic, freak-folk rocker Beck on the map with Loser and Mellow Gold, and helped shape distressed singer-songwriter, Elliot Smith’s gloomy sound. With Schnapf’s help, Dr. Dog progressed past the optimistic, Abbey Road influenced indie-rock on their third album, Fate, to a combination of 1990’s influenced indie-pop and 1960’s Americana folk rock that wouldn’t seem too out of place on the shelf next to After the Goldrush. Their latest single “Shadow People,” is a lyrically revealing look at the life of an artist and the odd friends that surround him and at times absorb him. Shame Shame, marks the first time the band has recorded outside of their home studio in Philadelphia, but last month the band returned home to a city whose neighborhoods inspired many of lyricist Scott McMicken’s songs, to record four brand new, non-album tracks, that the band intends to release for free. Dr. Dog return to Buffalo on Monday (Oct 18) with Here We Go Magic, at the Town Ballroom.

—cory perla

>681 Main St. (852-3900 / wwww.townballroom.com). $16/advance;$19/day of at box office, Tickets.com, Tops Markets