Babel brings Buffalo a bit of St. Lucia

If there was one writer on the Babel bill this year I really needed to see, it was Derek Walcott. This is not because I’m a huge fan or anything, I have heard just about as much about him as the other three, namely nothing. However, upon trying to read his book of poetry, I found myself at a true loss of comprehension. Maybe I need a scholastic atmosphere to know I have others around me for interpretations, but no matter how much I enjoy the art, I just have…

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Dorf does Babel

Corny title joke aside, author and playwright Ariel Dorfman arrived for Just Buffalo Literary Center’s second of four readings in their Babel series, and he was very humorous, very political, and very approachable. When I first heard about the series, I envisioned it to be more like this entry than the last. I liked Pamuk’s lecture about the author and his duty, but it just didn’t quite touch on his work as art itself. With Dorfman, we got anecdotes, background information, the reading of novel passages and journalistic articles, and,…

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Just Buffalo Literary Center’s Babel

Tonight saw the premiere of Just Buffalo Literary Center’s Babel series. What is being billed as a yearly event, (at least for 3 years at the moment), the series sees award-winning authors coming to Buffalo for a reading. The venue is Babeville’s Asbury Hall and I must saw it is a great choice. While I can’t speak for the balcony, I don’t think there is a bad seat in the house. Holding maybe a thousand people allows for even the back row to have prime visibility towards the stage. Some…

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Henry Rollins is Provoked

Tuesday night saw the return of Henry Rollins to Buffalo. I missed my opportunity to check out his ranting last year, but made sure to see the show this time around. As he said during the marathon 3 hours, (without even taking a drink of water), he is the enemy of Fox News’ conservatism. Sure there is a major liberal slant to his diatribe, and yes the audience claps and cheers at every stab towards Bush and the government, but he isn’t too bleeding heart that he doesn’t understand the…

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SEGA vs. NES in Video-Land

There is a new internet only show being developed in Astoria New York called The New Adventures of Captain S, produced by PBC Productions. This production company is made up of a few 20-somethings stationed in NYC trying to make a name for themselves in the acting/directing industry. One of the members is Tonawanda’s own Brett Vanderbrook, who plays the titular Captain S, aka Chad Williams, in the show. Brett has been making headway in the field, most recently doing stand-in work for Michael Haneke’s remake of his own spectacular…

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Virgin Music Festival 06

On a whim, a friend and I decided to head up to Toronto for the day on Saturday to check out the first annual Virgin Music Festival held on Toronto Park Island. This show is a two day event bringing some huge name acts over to Canada, just a short drive down the QEW. It’s our very own Lollapalooza only with great bands playing rock from the US, Canada, and England. The catch-phrase is “From England with Love” afterall. While the second day had more well-known bands playing – The…

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