DocWu's Other Blog

This is quickly becoming the blog behind the blog or behind the podcast, anyway.

As I post more between podcasts here, it will be kind of the insiders view on the Buffalo Live! Music Podcast.

I really don't want to fill the podcast page up with ramblings, or opinions, or even daily goings on. So I'll use this space for that. Then the podcast subscribers will see only podcasts and podcast-related announcements, while if you want to follow in more detail, you may read here.

The album feature is something I've been using a lot. The photo albums here are so much easier than creating my own pages on the wnypodcast.com page.

I still have my personal page at gritzmacher.net for my personal, work, family and tech rants and raves too and my myspace page for all the MySpace contacts. All I need is time to write more...

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 one seemed to be in charge. The only band there was the Sweethearts. Somehow, it was decided they would play first. When? It was already 20 after seven. Okay, 8:00 it is. Everyone disappeared for 20 minutes, then with 20 minutes left, started to set up. Well, they got 'er done in time and without fanfare, started playing. It was sort of a open practice, they said and they focused on new songs they were working on for their next CD. There were some rough points, but they sounded pretty good. The Old Sweethearts list a lot of influences, but their sound seems closest to The Shins or maybe a little harder-edged Fountains Of Wayne.

The second group had arrived and played next. They were Dan Reitz and band. This band was unusual, three keyboards, drums and an electric guitar. One keyboard usually played the bass lines. They were pretty good, but they were short one stand necessitating Dan Reitz to hold his keyboard whenever he used it. Other technical difficulties cut the set short. Their sound was, as you'd expect with three keyboards, somewhat electronic, but plenty of pop, rock and jazz influence. They were quite good. I especially enjoyed their unusual slow-tempo cover of the Ramones I Wanna Be Sedated.

The final act and the reason the show was put together was a guy called The Gunshy (Matt Arbogast.) He played acoustic guitar solo and all I can say was intense. He sung in a rough voice kind of like Tom Waits. He was from Chicago, travelling back from playing in Canada and stopped in Buffalo. His friends decided to put on the show for him since he was in town.

It was a good night for networking. Almost everyone there was a musician. Besides the bands playing, I met members of Hello Blue Hudson, Lemuria and Unwelcome Guests. Hopefully, a couple good podcasts will come out of it.