Monday, July 27, 2009

Chris chimes in: the first 3 days

I'm not sure how or why Chris Uebbing's Scene Report ended up as a comment to an empty post by somebody else, but it's too good to miss, so I'm reposting it for her here. -- Ron E

My first comment is related to my rusty brain's inability to start my own topic...

More importantly, a summary of the last 3 days...

Friday (opening night), I made a point of getting to Nietzche's early to see Dotson Moon. Friends of a friend, I'd listened/quite liked much of their stuff from their MySpace page, but hadn't seen them play.I believe they come out of hiding only for Infringement.

They've had an addition of a very strong vocalist since I'd listened much,which has altered their focus. Used have a dreamy, ambient-pop sound; things are earthier and more accessible now.

Glad I made the effort.

Friday was busy. I started over at the 464 Gallery on Amherst, a new venue for BiF this year. This is part of the Blackrock contingent that also includes the Yard near Buff State. I needed to put name to face with Marcus Wise, who owns 464.

This was the opening event for the MINDWEB members show, plus Abnormal Growth #s 1 & 2. I was particularily struck by Marcus's photos, some fibre-based sculptures, and one-of-a-kind painted furniture pieces.

I stayed for the first few songs by Android's Dream. They started with "Me and my Rythym Box" which was covered from an early 80's cult/sci fi flick "Liquid Sky." I am quite certain I was the only one in the audience who had seen this movie in the theatre on first-release. Meagan Breen had the appropriate dead-pan delivery which I found very amusing.

Had to leave to bring the neccessary cheese/crackers/fruit to Gateway Gallery for their opening party. Nice crowd,LOTS of space for the visual artists, excellent line-up of bands. I was there largely for my son's "There is No Title", a modest collection of ink comics, still-lifes, and a self-portrait, with Brooklyn price tags (he studies @ Pratt Institute). My review has no objectivity whatsoever; I love the self-potrait because A. it looks like him, and B. it's well-executed.

Totally split Infringement after an hour at Gateway to see Mark Eitzel on Marty Boratin's porch in Hamburg (navigated there and back with no mishaps), and wrapped up @ Gateway to pick up what remained of my portion of the spread. No four-cheese pasta for me;cheese all gone.

Yesterday was spent trying to beg/borrow/steal for venue coverage @ MANNY FRIED (thank you, all), then off to Nobody's for their electronica show (missed WNYBA opening, much to my chagrin; I was caught in a downpour in Clarence)

Started off there with Android's Dream once again (and no, I am not stalking them; despite the assertions of the conceited David Anderson). Heard the cover of a favorite Laurie Anderson (no relation;whose hairdo I have been trying to emulate for ABOUT 25 years), plus the much ballyhooed "Cougar", which allegedly struck close to home with some audience members the previous night.

Stayed through City of God, an electronic dance band that I really enjoyed, but had to cut short, as we were running late. (I was czaring for Melissa @ Nobody's while she escaped to see something OFF-SITE.

Sorry I missed This is the Sun (@ Soundlab later today) and Modi Sines, who I will see at Grant Street Gallery next weekend.

Later.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Scene report: Day four

Garden Walk and personal commitments kept me from doing much on the Infringement side Sunday. I only had time to make a brief appearance at ...

•A sound check/rehearsal/hangout session by Grammar School, a supercool noise/punk band whose members look to be about 10-12 years old apiece, outside Lagniappe's. If Sonic Youth had a Saturday morning cartoon where they were depicted as pre-teens, they would surely look something like this:



I especially enjoyed the look and attitude of the Mini Kim Gordon. I heard no actual music but would in no way be surprised if they end up dominating avant-rock in the 2010s. They were apparently next in line to perform at

•the College Street Block Party, which is always a good time. When I was there, I saw the Global Village Idiots



and watched kids making a glorious mess with paint (much to ringleader Klinger's delight).



•I ducked into Nietzsche's for Mimi Loco, only I missed her entire set. Said hello. Seemed nice enough. Drove here from DC just for Infringement.

•Final stop of the day was the Yard for Zombie Fest. I've driven by the big graffiti'ed text reading "The Yard" on the side of an industrial building off the Thruway (where Niagara splits off with Tonawanda St.) for at least a year now and wondered what it was. And now I know: yet another archetypal DIY Buffalo venue! You pull up to the back of a warehouse, sit on i-beams (which carry the music directly through your body, via your ass!), and marvel at Bflo's Rust Belt legacy. THIS PLACE WAS MADE FOR METAL! If Penelope Spheeris ever directs another installment of her ongoing Decline of Western Civilization doc series, she should film concerts here:



Me, I'm not that much of a metalhead, but I enjoyed the three songs I saw from the Phoenix Resistance (which included one by Alice in Chains and one by GNR, neither of which was one of those ironic indie covers I was just going on about) as much as I possibly could. Mainly I enjoyed the only patch of truly great weather of the weekend. I was in the right spot at the right time, along with about six other audience members, only one of whom could accurately be described as zombie-clad.

Scene Report: Day three

Saturday was one of those days that makes WNY such a special place to live; in addition to Infringement, I spent some time on the outskirts of both the Canal Fest (still probably my fave of all the area's many small-town summer festivals) and Garden Walk. Between those two and Infringement alone, there must have been at least 400 things to see and do yesterday, even with the crappy weather, so at this point in my life, I'm pretty much convinced that anyone who claims Buffalo is boring is too stupid/boring to waste my time on. If you don't get what's remarkable about the place you live, don't bitch to me about it! So here--on my way out of the house and back into GardenFringementLand for another day, is a quick recap of just the Infringey things on my itinerary yesterday:

First up was Nobody's Estro-Acoustic Showcase and Potluck, where my husband and I saw most of Lara Buckley's set and the first three songs from Erin Sydney Welsh before the ticking clock sent us to our next few non-festival stops. I know Buckley mainly from her always-memorable guest appearances with the Real Dream Cabaret, but this was my first chance to experience a fuller set (and from the audience instead of backstage), and I loved what I saw and heard. In this incarnation, she was performing songs that reminded me of Phil Ochs's material in the way that her lyrics invest topical subject matter with heartfelt ultra-personal meaning--only with a voice far more acrobatic than Ochs's, and accompanied by loops of nature sounds. The terms "freak folk" and "psych-folk" get bandied about a lot these past few years, but they seem to really fit Buckley's work almost literally. Undercutting the acoustic prettiness of the music is the sense that the singer (or at least her songwriting persona) is a woman on the edge. Highly recommended. So is Welsh--at the tender age of 13, she's got the confidence and stage savvy of a far more experienced performer. If you've ever wondered what it must have felt like to catch Ani DiFranco as an unknown teenager in a Buffalo bar, this may be the closest you'll ever come:



I often assume music scheduler Curt Rotterdam's titles for showcases are tongue-in-cheek, but this really was a potluck, and the pulled pork was particularly yummy. This was my first time to Nobody's, and the venue encapsulates much of what thrills me, as well as much that annoys me, about Buffalo's ongoing DIY art scene--it's clearly a labor of genuine love, absolutely in line with a rich tradition of artist-run live/work spaces in this town, deliberately beneath the radar but radiating a passion for art. At the same it's not exactly what I would call inviting to a first-time visitor: intimidating entrance, pitch-black interior, no ventilation (until I stumbled upon an ancient air conditioner in the back), almost no seating, and just plain dirty in that punk-rock way that gets a little old as one reaches a certain age. I was originally planning to head back after midnight for Nobody's Electronic Showcase" but the thought of hanging out with total strangers in total darkness in somebody's (er, nobody's) living room made me opt for my own home instead. I'm sure if I was in a different mood, or 20 years younger, or both, I would have gone back, and probably loved the show. (Call me bourgeois, but I've got my own Autechre albums to listen to, and A/C to boot!)

After a few detours, it was off to an opening at the WNY Book Arts Center. 'Twas my first time there after reading and hearing a lot about the place, and it's safe to say I was blown away by the joint: street-level gallery and gift shop, incredible collection of (working!) vintage printing equipment in the basement, future home of Just Buffalo on the second floor. There is a lot I want to say about this place and my maiden voyage to it, but in the interest of time I will vow to post those remarks elsewhere, later. Just go check it out, pronto--and tell 'em Infringement sent ya.



We headed next to Gateway Gallery (yet another first visit--does Buffalo know how to crank out new spaces, or what?) for Walri but they were still setting up when we got there, so we braved the rain for a quick bite at Sample (this was exactly the kind of situation Sample was born to address!) and then caught a good chunk of Phó Malpica: The Last White Elephant in the alley next to La Tee Da. This butoh-influenced site-specific dance/audio/video piece is the first example I've seen this year of the kind of work that suits Infringement best. Sure, it could be performed at any time in any location, but it fits its impromptu venue like a teeny-tiny glove and uses the festival setting to generate critical mass. Being a bit of a butoh-phobe myself, my favorite thing about the performance is the way it creates an audience for itself, and then inadvertently makes them part of the spectacle. Every time someone walked out of LTD or simply headed down Allen, they came across an oddly configured clump of onlookers staring at ... something, but what? How could you resist the temptation to investigate for yourself, in the process discovering a delicate, moving piece with both aesthetic and (subtle) eco-political impact? Don't miss this one.




We nearly missed all of Walri's set as a result, returning to Gateway just in time to hear the Rochester-based band play "Ziggy Stardust." Taken out of context, it was hard to tell at first whether this was that indie-rock staple, the Ironic Classic Rock Cover, or we'd stumbled upon a Monroe County cover band. (Spoiler: it was option A.) There were only two songs after that, and I loved 'em both enough to buy a CD on the spot and to mark my calendar for their next BIF show, this Wednesday.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Scene Report: Day one!

Given how little of last year's festival I got to see and write about, I vowed to start early this time around. Didn't see or do a lot tonight, but I'm glad I forced myself out into the rain and onto Allen Street.

*Stopped at Rust Belt to deliver the Self-Infringement box which Brian Milbrand and I have filled with a fresh batch of audience instructions/scripts. (On my laptop I still had most of Brian's contributions from last year, so I started by creating "remixes" of all of them--tweaking his ideas in subtle or drastic ways--and then came up with some wholly new ideas.)

*While at Rust Belt I ran into several people who had headed to Lafayette Square for the Neko Case/Jason Lytle show that got rained out. I felt perversely relieved about this, because it was the first show I've really wanted to see at TATS in at least 3 years, but the weather scared me off, and I was feeling guilty about wimping out. Come back again soon, Neko!

*Quick bite to eat, which gave me time to start studying the beautiful job that Artvoice did with the thankless task of laying out the complete festival schedule. This is the first year I didn't end up proofreading that beast, which may add to my joy and surprise at its final form.

*Next up, a stop at Nietzsche's for the annual kickoff party, which was a chance to catch up with a lot of the current organizers. (Here's a badly lit photo of one of them, Josh Smith, involved in some sort of Mad Libs activity with the emcee between sets:)




Since I am not really among their numbers anymore, I can say without any hint of back-patting that these organizer dudes and dudettes look like they're doing a phenomenal job with an undertaking that keeps growing exponentially; I was truly impressed at how smoothly the party seemed to be going. I walked in on the middle of a lengthy instrumental by Rochester's X-Planet Id, a jammy jazz-fusion-y trio:



Not normally my cup of tea, but I soon found myself really liking them and ready to recommend them to a friend who really goes in for rock/jazz hybrids. I wasn't as fond of the vocal numbers that followed, but they seemed like an ideal First Festival Act for moi. (They were not the first act to play, mind you--that honor went to Pat O'Keefe, whom I've only seen in action during the annual "Samples @ Sample" press preview. I gotta catch a set of his this year!) I wanted to stay longer but had bill-paying work waiting at home, plus I felt like I needed to start mapping out my weekend, pronto. Forgive me, MC Vendetta, for missing what I have no doubt was yet another stellar performance of yours. (There were lots of other acts, too, and for all I know, one of them is still playing at this very minute, but I have an appointment with a mattress and pillow now.)

*On my way back to my car, I noticed that the video projection screen filling the window of Space 224 was now active. (Full disclosure: I thought it was incredibly beautiful earlier in the evening, when it was showing nothing but bright blue light, which I originally assumed was the piece, and I was perfectly happy with that.) Took me a few seconds to realize that what I was seeing was not a slideshow but video, and then to marvel at the elegance of the (slowly changing) image, and then to read the accompanying text (highly recommended if you want to get what's going on), and finally to realize that the creators of this work are none other than my friends and collaborators Dave Pape and Josephine Anstey. The installation is called Mrs. Squandertime--love the title, love the premise, and I look forward to visiting the window at 224 Allen many more times during the festival to see what Mrs. S is up to next.



Speaking of squandering time, it's looking like I will be attending little if any of the festival on Day Two, so I am counting on you, dear reader, to fill me in on what I missed.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Start your engines!

The 2009 festival is just around the corner. Maybe you've seen the full schedule of events or noticed this exciting preview in the Buffalo News.

So tell us: what are you most looking forward to about this year's festival? Are there artists you saw last year you can't wait to see again? New stuff? Let us know! Share your thoughts in the comments section of this post.

Monday, July 13, 2009

New event this year!

This year, I've set up a showcase of talented writer's, The Creative Well: Well SPoKen, to read their creative works, both poetry and short stories, to a new crowd at the Festival. We're excited to perform on Sunday July 26th at Gateway Gallery at 8pm and ALSO at Rust Belt Books on Thursday July 30th at 7pm. There will be different writer's featured on different nights so be sure to check us out a couple of times at least! LOL

And check out the FREE haiku bookmarks we are giving away!

So far, the undertaking has been manageable, but there is still a lot to do. Because the show not only features myself but 9 other writer's there is organizing and co-ordinating aspects, besides the usual prep for a show. Communication is key, so I've been doing my best to keep them all informed every step of the way. Also, trying to think about their needs and how to get them prepped so the show runs smoothly. And if I do say so myself, I'm doing a pretty good job so far. You can ask them after the show if they agree. :)

And a little PS for all you readers out there: I'll be participating in Urban Smackdown! at the Albright Knox Gusto at the Gallery on Friday the 31st, so come and check out how I fair against some of Buffalo's Finest Poetic Talent!
~Denise Amodeo Miller

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Can't wait for the festival? Come see WOYUBU!


We always talk about using this blog year-round to promote upcoming work by Infringement-related artists, so here's an effort along those lines. And, in fact, the show I'm plugging here involves a lot of Infringement regulars, including (among others, I imagine) the Intermedia Performance Studio, the Real Dream Cabaret as a whole, individual Dreamers Josh Hinsdale (Galoshes/Goulashes), Brian Milbrand (Reactionary Ensemble, Self-Infringement), and yours truly (Shakespeare in the Parking Space, Self-Infringement), plus Joe Wiens (a play or two, back in the day). You may recognize other names from the cast and crew as well, including actor Kate LoConti, director Sarah Bay-Cheng, and composer David Kane (among many others).

WoyUbu is really two plays in one, performed more or less simultaneously on either side of a wall. Each is a classic in its own right--Buchner's Woyzeck and Jarry's Ubu Roi--but they've never been the subject of a mash-up quite like this one. Two and a half years in the making, the production opens this Friday (March 13) and runs every weekend at 8 pm through March 28 in a specially constructed space at 1716 Main Street near Lafayette.

Show details, including online ticket orders, here.
Special bonus! Ongoing blog chronicling the origin and development of the show, here.

And hey, fellow Infringers--if you've got a production of your own to promote in the months before or after the festival, by all means blog about it here. If you don't have access to posting here yourself, you can submit your info the same way you would during the fest (or we can send you an invite from Blogger).

Monday, August 11, 2008

WNYNudeModels.com Photos



Here are a few of the festival shots I took...
*ALL* that I took are here..:
flickr.com/photos/buffalotango/collections/72157606443989213

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Kickoff Thursday.



Monday...



Tuesday



Wednesday



Thursday...



Friday #2...



Saturday #2



Sunday #2



Our Favorite Figures... From the Figure Drawing and Photography sessions we held.