Al Gritzmacher

Posts tagged with "music"

Artpark, America, Argh...

Music Is Art

Some great blues at Vizzi's

Brian Wheat

AllWNYRadio Kickoff

Basement parties, Custer's Last Stand and the Art Of The Underground

Mohawk Place - Saturday March 25, 2006

Bring It Back To Life benefit at Club Paradise

New site for Bring It Back To Life project

Bring It Back To Life @ Club Paradise Feb 25

Photos

Latest comments

Al's Blogosphere

Wednesday, June 21, 2006 2:24:53 AM

Can you get too much of a good thing? Can a concert series get too big? Is Artpark following in the shoes of Thrsday At The Square?

Apparently, it is possible. Likely, even.

I went to Artpark to see America play today. My expectations were low to start with, as I had seen America last year at the North Tonawanda Harbor Series and knew I'd see a competent rendition of the same songs they've been doing since the 1970s. Kind of like a cover band, but covering their own songs. No surprises, no chances taken, just phone in a good performance and get back on the bus. But that's okay and what a lot of people want to see. You can't blame them for giving them what they want.

No comments

Friday, June 16, 2006 10:21:40 PM

MIA, podcast.Middleman, music, Buffalo

I attended the Music Is Art Festival and had a great time.

I'm in the process of uploading photos (several hundred were taken) and working up a podcast. I took a recorder and did some interviews with several bands. A special podcast will come out soon featuring that meterial.

Meanwhile, one of the bands I saw and talked with, Middleman, was kind enough to put a little bit on their web page about me! Check it out here.

No comments

Tuesday, May 2, 2006 2:41:27 PM

blues, music, Buffalo, Mark Winsick ...

Last Friday, I went out to see Mark Winsick play at Vizzi's in Kenmore. It was a last-minute decision, so no recording for a podcast was done. But due to a cancellation, I had a free evening and had to go see him and his band play. I was treated to some of the best blues in Buffalo.

Let me introduce the band. Besides Mark on guitar and vocals, is bassist Jim Whitford, another Buffalo legend. On drums was Rob Lynch, a highly-regarded musician in his own right. If someone had thrown a hand-grenade through the window at Vizzi's that night, the overall level of talent in the Buffalo area would have dropped noticably!

No comments

Friday, April 21, 2006 1:30:13 AM

Buffalo, music, review, MySpace ...

I just found Brian Wheat's MySpace page and am listening to his music.

In my travels looking for local music, I hear a lot of musicians. I'm (still) always surprised by the quality of the music around Buffalo. I can honestly say, it's all been great. I haven't yet heard anyone who bored me, or even worse, made me say "they stink." (Well, there was that one cheesey country band a year ago...) Not that I'm such a great judge, either. If anything, I'm easy, I like almost any music within reason.

But once in a while, there is someone who just stands out above the rest. Someone whose music grabs me in some way and I can't get enough.

Brian Wheat is in that category.

A fairly new entry to the music scene and not well-known, I first heard of him from Dan Reitz at the Custer St. basement show. When other musicians are telling you about someone, they must be something special.

But, other than a few show listings, I hadn't thought much about him since. I found him again today on Myspace and now I can't wait to see him play somewhere.

No comments

Wednesday, April 5, 2006 12:50:20 AM

blues, music, photo, lockport ...

On Saturday April 1, 2006, I went to the kickoff party for the AllWNYRadio.com kickoff party. It was held at the UAW Hall in Lockport.

AllWNYRadio.com was something new to me. Apparently, it's a streaming radio station that features local music. Kind of the same thing I am doing, only as a stream.

No comments

Saturday, April 1, 2006 11:30:50 PM

music, Buffalo, photo, show ...

Yesterday, I got a last minute notice about a show with three bands including The Old Sweethearts. The Old Sweethearts are a band I've been watching and hoping to be able to catch play sometime, so I decided to go see them. It was billed as a basement show and that's exactly what it was, a show in the basement of a house on Custer St. in Buffalo, almost to the end of the street by Shoshone Park, hence the "Last Stand" name.

Well, this wasn't a total surprise. The whole area is just a few blocks away from the UB campus and most of the homes are rented to students living off campus. The occasional party with bands is not unusual. I showed up as The Old Sweethearts were unloading their van in the driveway. I went down into the basement and found a small stage in a well, typical basement. A few chairs graced the place, but mostly it was just a basement, furnace, hot water heater, washer and dryer, etc. But it had clearly been the host to many shows. There was a section under the stairs with a collection of band stickers on it that rivaled the sound booth at the Mohawk. A fair amount of grafitti graced the walls and furnace as well.

No comments

Thursday, March 30, 2006 10:30:49 PM

Buffalo, music, Flatbed, Mohawk Place ...

Flatbed, Red & Roxy, Semi-Tough, I Can Lick Any Son Of A Bitch In The House, and Two Cow Garage

Another fun filled night at The Hawk. This is one bar/music club you can always go to and find something going on. It seems like any night of the week there is entertainment. Even if there wasn't, you could spend hours just looking at the posters and autographed press-kit pics of hundreds of bands that have played there before. Almost every band or musician that passes through town on the way from New York to Cleveland, or Toronto to Nashville, stops eventually and plays at the Hawk.

No comments

Monday, February 27, 2006 1:08:49 PM

Breakerbox, Bring It Back To Life, Buffalo, Central Terminal ...

I went down to the Club Paradise benefit Saturday. I had planned on going to another place to work on a podcast, but the performer had to cancel. No problem, we'll get it done another time, but it left me without any material for a podcast this week.

I had already skipped a week dragging my feet with the Babik podcast, so I didn't want to wait too long. So, I went down hoping I could talk one of the bands into one.

1 comment

Monday, February 20, 2006 11:36:58 PM

No Effect, music, The Feast, The Filter Kings ...

No comments

Friday, February 10, 2006 12:41:28 PM

concert, Buffalo, music, show ...

Here's another chance to hear some of Buffalo's finest original bands play and support a great cause at the same time. This is the second show featuring artists from the Bring It Back To Life compilation CD. Proceeds from the show and the CD sales go to the Buffalo Central Terminal Restoration project.

Come on down to Club Paradise, on McKinley Parkway in Blasdell on February 25th and take part in the event. Advance tickets are available at Club Paradise and are only $7.00 and still only $10.00 if you get them at the door. Video effects show by Jeff Garbaz and the Buffalo Barfly Girls are some more enticements to attend. Trust me, if you aren't having a good time at this, have someone hold a mirror up to your face and see if you're breathing!

Artists featured are: Michael Bly, Dirty Little Business, Cosmic Stepping Stone, The Feast, and Breakerbox.

No comments

1 2 Next »

Blog search

Breakerbox

DOC- Dont start spreading rumors about how nice I am! (just ...

January 2012March 2012

Canal Concerts #5 - Robert Randolph
Another great concert this Friday and this time all of the billed acts were there. Opening the show was Lockport’s own Handsome Jack who had a good sized crowd of early arrivers to cheer them on. They put on a great show with their own unique updated version of 70’s hard rock. I love ...
Idiots in Charge in our Government
My friend, Scott Leffler, will agree with that statement, I’m sure. Let me explain why I’m mad and why I make that statement. All over the news today has been New York State Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, who made a special trip to Buffalo to announce what he’s been doing to ...
Atom Ant strikes again!
First of all, if you’re not up for some serious geekiness, tune out now… I’ve spent the last few days building up an new computer. Did I need one? Probably not, but this one is unlike any I’ve made before in several ways and it didn’t cost a whole lot either. It&#8 ...
Spotted and the favor returned…
You may have seen me or talked to me about the photos I’ve been taking. One of the cool things I do with them is submit them to Buffalo.com’s Spotted galleries. I’ve been a Spotted Photographer for a year or so, and although I haven’t been very active of late, it’s ...
Concert IV - Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band
Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lynrd Skynrd move over, your heir-apparent is here! The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band brought their blistering blues style to Lockport this week and warmed up an already hot summer night crowd. I stayed up front close to the stage for this one. I couldn’t ha ...