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Cover Story

Salvation Nation

by Katherine O'Day

Michelle Goldberg is a native Buffalonian and a graduate of the University at Buffalo. As a writer for UB’s student paper, The Spectrum, she wrote an attention-grabbing article in 1995, when pro-life students erected 4,400 white crosses—with the permission of the UB’s Amherst Campus—to represent the number of abortions claimed to be performed each day in the United States. “This week is anti-choice week at UB,” she wrote in the article, which was also picked up by Artvoice.

Letters to Artvoice

Everyone living in or near Buffalo has a decision to make. The downtown casino is not a done deal, but it will be unless we each take a stand. It’s time for every concerned citizen, every parent, every politician and every business person to let your voice be heard. Do you support a casino located on a newly established sovereign nation in the heart of our downtown?

Free Will Astrology

by Rob Brezsny

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Sometimes it’s not how good you are but how bad you want it,” read the t-shirt of a guy buying a lottery ticket at the convenience store. While I don’t think he was making the best use of that philosophy—playing a game of chance heavily weighted against his success—I do think it’s a principle worth meditating on, especially for you right now, Leo. Your skill and understanding are certainly not irrelevant as you push to the next level of your quest, but they are less important than the intensity of your longing.

Streetvoice

The Skyway Is Falling

by Michael A. Colucci

Abandoned factory buildings comprise the city’s current waterfront view and residents must travel all the way to Woodlawn to find the nearest beach. The Pier, which should be one of the most successful restaurants in the city is seldom open and seldom full. Many people believe that the best way to change the waterfront situation would be the demolition of the Skyway. The Skyway costs $25 million a year to maintain and the land underneath the skyway, which happens to be right on the waterfront, can only be used as parking. In theory, the Skyway could be taken down, an alternate route of transportation could be created and land along the waterfront could be sold for business and residential purposes. However, there are those who feel that the demolition would be far too costly to be seriously considered. Also, there are citizens of Buffalo’s southtown suburbs who make the drive into the city every day and do not want to give up the Skyway’s beautiful morning view of Lake Erie. What do Buffalonians think?

News of the Weird

by Chuck Shepherd

■ The parents of wannabe singer-actor-celebrity Marissa Leigh, 16, of Scottsdale, Ariz., employ 10 people for her career development, according to an April Arizona Republic story, including manager; publicist; voice coach; two acting coaches; people to do makeup, hair and wardrobe; musical composer; photographer; and webmaster (plus, of course, an entourage of confidence-boosting friends). “She’s spoiled,” said her mother, “but hopefully, it’s a grounded spoiled.” However, on her national TV debut, on MTV’s My Super Sweet 16 (a party which her parents spent $150,000 to stage), she was caught saying “I’m a princess” and “I’m such a rock star that I can do this” and “I always get exactly what I want.” Even after MTV cut the two songs she sang, she was optimistic: “[This show]’ll still put my name out there and stuff.”

Essay

The Most Radical Idea

by Peter Koch

Storyteller and folk singer Utah Phillips has said that “the long memory is the most radical idea in America.” His words ring especially true now, as the United States attempts to set nuclear policy for the rest of the world without adequately reflecting on its own nuclear past.

The Casino Chronicles

Is the Buffalo Creek Casino Illegal?

by Bruce Jackson

The motion filed in federal court July 25 by opponents of the proposed Buffalo Creek casino could very well scuttle the entire project before the Seneca Gaming Corporation finishes cleaning up the rubble it created when it demolished H-O Oats grain elevators.

The News, Briefly

Senate Race Shaping Up

by Peter Koch

Already the race for the State Senate’s 60th District is shaping up a lot like last winter’s special election for the same post. The four Democrats who’ve thrown their hats into the ring for September’s primary all ran for the seat seven months ago, though only one of them, Marc Coppola, stuck it out. He eventually went on to win, but not before the heavy-handed political machines could completely reshape the race.

Book Reviews

The Children of Men, by P. D. James

by Matthew Miranda

Oftentimes, books which become films suffer in the translation, seeing the sparkle of pacing and detail fade or disappear. P.D. James’ The Children of Men, scheduled for release as a major motion picture soon, is likely spared this fate. It is hard to imagine a studio thinning the text anymore than the author herself already has.

Poetry

Drawn

by Robert C. Nesbitt

I drew an ace

to win me luck and joy

I drew my sword when I heard a strange noise

(I was shaky the result had no edge

- would be easily beaten by any pen)

My slashing strokes drew attention

a tightness spattering anxiety on the bored

I drew a crowd questioning til the canvas was covered

They got loud left me undiscovered

found you ignored

Noteworthy

Cristina Page at Talking Leaves

by Peter Koch

While the title of her new book—How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America—seems to indicate otherwise, Cristina Page wants the same things that many pro-lifers do: namely fewer abortions, and pro-family and pro-child policies.

Gewgaws and Gimcracks

Canon Digital Rebel XT

by David P. Kleinschmidt

The Canon Digital Rebel is a digital camera aimed squarely at the segment of the market that enjoys having total control over every pixel of their photographs through the use of several hundred small dials and knobs, but who may not be able to afford the bajillion-dollar price tag that usually entails. Priced competitively at only half a bajillion dollars, the Digital Rebel has an eight-megapixel image size, can use any Canon lens and goes from fully automatic to fully manual with the flick of only one or two dials. You can even get the camera all set up manually and save the settings, restoring them later by pushing some buttons or something.

You Auto Know

It Coulda Been a Contender... Or Could It?

by Jim Corbran

Wait a minute, isn’t that a photo of Honda’s Insight? That silly-looking little two-seat hybrid which seems to have quietly driven off into the sunset?

On DVD

by M. Faust, George Sax, and Greg Lamberson

That even well informed cineastes are largely unfamiliar with the name of filmmaker Raúl Ruiz is surprising on two fronts, both for the consistent quality of his work and for the sheer volume of it. With 76 films to his name since fleeing his native Chile when Pinochet came to power in 1974 (not to mention his theater work), Ruiz long maintained a pace that makes Takashi Miike look like a slacker. But aside from recent films like Three Lives and Only One Death and his adaptation of Time Regained, his work has been difficult to see in North America outside of film festivals: Little of it has even been available on home video. Hopefully the release on DVD of this early Ruiz masterpiece will begin to remedy that.

Film Reviews

Way Down Under

by Greg Lamberson

A Soldier's Story

by Michael I. Niman

Film Clips

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

The Night Listener

See You There

Black Heart Procession

by Eric Boucher

Larkin Exposition

by Buck Quigley

Pine Grill Jazz Reunion

by Kat Brady

The Red Krayola w/ The Vores

by Greg Gannon

Left of the Dial

Spoon/White Whale

by Matt Barber

Merge releases have been afforded plenty of space in these pages, but there are reasons for that beyond the fact that several AV music staffers love bands on the label’s roster. Merge is one of the few remaining, successful indie labels regularly issuing new music and consistently getting it to the media. Their promotion department works doggedly to keep writers updated, from e-mails about release dates, tour schedules, promos, and interview opportunities, to packages containing their latest discs. And Merge puts out a wide variety of music within the indie rock framework.

Calendar Spotlight

Dee Pop

Lazlo Hollyfeld

by Brian W. Wright

Ellen West

by Donny Kutzbach

Infringement Festival

by Kat Brady

Husky Rescue

The Subjects

by Matt Holota