Hat Tip: Top revival Cities to Visit

Great article today about the top U.S. revival cities to visit, Buffalo being one of them

http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2012/07/30/post-industrial-cities/#ixzz228HfkzJD

Local: Activity on Elmwood at West Tupper

The area between Virginia and Tracey on Elmwood ave has long been a stretch of mostly open spaces and residential, but recently two businesses, one newer and one who has been around a couple years, have started thriving on the corner of Elmwood and West Tupper.

Jacobi's Pizza Express recently expanded into the second half of thier building right off the corner, serving all of your favorite pizza and wings restaurant foods. Obviously it's doing well to double it's size from the previous space.

Right next door, directly on the corner, the Elmwood and Tupper Gallery has been open for a few months, replacing a reapolstry business there. The gallery specializes in local art and artists, and runs a poetry and musical open mic on saturday afternoons. I've had the opportunity to walk by the place frequently and some of the paintings and photography has been truly spectacular. They're open until 6 most weekdays, but they stay ope for first fridays. ( http://elmwoodandtuppergallery.com/Home_Page.html ).

So swing on by, grab a bite to eat, and enjoy some great homegrown art!

Bob Z

News: Invention: The Steffi, Schoolbus Safety. - Brian Patrick

               

As a school bus driver, nothing is more than the safety of the children on your bus, and thanks to a new invention, the Steffi Crossing Enhancer, that safety is being taken to the next level.

                Invented by Lake Shore Central School District bus driver Victoria DeCarlo, an over 19 year veteran, the Steffi is the latest piece of equipment to ensure the ever important safety of our children.

                “Everyday school bus drivers have an issue with kids struggling to see their hand signals when they cross the road,” DiCarlo said. “In New York State, it’s mandatory for drivers to use their forefinger and thumb to cross our students. Drivers have to drag their hand across the windshield, indicating to the kids that it’s safe to cross. What happens is that most of the time they cannot see us and end up standing on the side of the road for longer than need be, which is very dangerous. We have also been running into the issue of kids crossing themselves because they cannot see the drivers’ hand signals. Their lives are literally in our hands.”

                DiCarlo believes in the idea of the Steffi itself so much that she made the prototype during her time off of work. She then named the new device after what she refers to as one of the most dangerous stops along her bus route.

News: Dinosaur BBQ to open Buffalo location

Dinosaur BBQ, the BBQ kings of Syracuse, Rochester, Troy and Harlem, has officially annouced that it will be opening up a location on Franklin Ave, Buffalo NY in the summer of 2013.

Now with D BBQ and Fat Bob's Smokehouse within a mile or so of each other, animals around the planet are going to have to fear Buffalo, NY....

Review: 1,2,3,4 then we got a lot more: Feist @ The Harborfront

I feel i should start off this music review with 2 important notes. 1) Walking into the harbor last night, i wasn't the biggest Feist fan in the world. I thought they were very good, but i was a casual listener. 2) I have seen over 500 musical performances in my couple decades on this earth, so this is not my first time at the rodeo.

With that out of the way, i'd like to say one thing: Wow.

I walked in a casual listener, and i walked out a bonafide Feist fan. The vocal complexities she displayed were truly impressive. I had the pleasure of seeing Florence + The Machine last summer, and what Florence is to pure vocal power, Feist is to range and dynamics. Not to mention her 3 backup singers all were great singers too. It's almost not fair how many good female voices are in this band. From the lowest of lows and highest of highs, from strong chorals to soft whispers, she had the crowd captured from the beginning and entranced through the end. Easily one of the best Buffalo Place shows i've seen.

Events: Seether Do What They Do on the Waterfront (Sort Of): Brian P

Seether wasn’t great last night, and if you were one of the many people there in attendance, chances are you agree with me. Well, if this wasn’t the first time you’d seen the band live that is. So, OK, if this was your first time seeing Seether, then they probably kicked ass in your mind but coming from someone who has seen the band half a dozen times live, this was a fairly lackluster show to be honest. 

Sure, the setlist wasn’t all that terrible but the severe lack of new material was disheartening, as only a few songs were performed off their tremendous Holding On To Strings Better Left to Fray record (“Tonight,” “Country Song”). It is, however, really hard to complain about the bountiful amount of old material (“Gasoline,” “Needles,” “Fine Again,” “Broken,” “Driven Under”), which came early and often, but the severe lack of crowd interaction and the feeling that the band was simply going through the motions kind of killed that nostalgic vibe. And that’s not even to mention the band’s predictable ending, closing their set with “Fake It,” before ‘encoring’ (sort of) with “Remedy.” The band didn’t color outside the numbers at all here. 

A cover (or two) would have been nice, and not even a surprise one was necessary (even though the band does insanely good Nirvana covers), “Careless Whisper” would have killed. Alas, we got what we got, and I guess it’s hard to expect much from a free show.
-Brian Patrick, Get Exposed Music

Events: Triple A All star game: Picture

Events: Triple A All-Star Game

Tonight is the night for baseball enthusiats, the 25th annual Triple A All-Star Game is downtown at Coca-Cola field.

If you're planning to go, but don't have a ticket yet, I'd recommend hoping on the website and ordering now, there are less than 500 tickets left as of this morning. There is going to be some beautiful weather today, and with a fireworks show afterwards, a special lineup of local celebrities before and during, and of course, great ballpark food and drinks, why wouldn't you want to spend the night at the ballpark?

Opening ceremonies start at 6pm, ballgame starts at 7pm, fireworks immediately following the game,

Opinion: I'm done hiding how awesome Buffalo is.

In most hero stories, there comes a point where the main character is knocked down, beaten up, and looks down and out. Inevitably, they get themselves off the mat, dust themselves off, and get back to work.

Ladies and gentlemen; Buffalo, NY is your newest Rocky story.

                                                                    (Rocky IV)

As we all know, the steel industry vanishing in the 70's was our version of Ivan Drago (or for the younger generation, our "He who shall not be named"), and for the next couple of decades, we laid on the mat, trying to figure out a way to overcome all the obstacles put in our way. We weren't going to be Apollo Creed, but could we ever be Sly Stallone?

To steal a phrase from a certain campaign from a couple years back, yes we can. (and are).

All of this bubbled up to the top today as I was driving from the south towns, along the lake, back home into the city. The sunset was gorgeous, and it illuminated the shoreline, the giant, hulking windmills that always make me think "that's the beautiful future of energy right there". All of the places along the waterfront were jam packed, Dug's Dive didn't have a parking spot to spare. Boats where out all along the water, people were jogging and walking along Gallagher beach, along the pier, and everywhere I looked people were having a great time.

Events: Taste of Buffalo

Stop eating.
Right now. Trust me.

This weekend's approaching, and the QCLA crew highly recommends you check out the countries largest 2 day food festival, The Taste of Buffalo. From 11am-9pm saturday and 11am-7pm sunday, you have 18 unadultered hours to stuff your face with food from over 50 resaurants featuring 13 different ethnic food types!

Plus as they've been doing for the past few years, each stand will have one healthy option for those watching our wastelines. Apps, entree's and deserts are all over the place, plus several different wineries have stands if you're into the grapes!

But don't think this is just limited to (a lot) of food. From the taste of Buffalo website:
"The Taste has two stages featuring the best in continuous musical entertainment and a DJ with karaoke hosts the Huron Street Labatt Blue party tent. The Culinary Stage located in the New Era parking lot on Delaware Avenue is a competition kitchen that features Nickel City Chef, Buffalo's version of Iron Chef, and a variety of culinary personalities that showcase their culinary talents. Many of the sponsors have interactive exhibits and offer free samples. It's also a great place to people watch."

Last year, my brother in law spun the wheel at the Ford Motors exhibit and won $30, not bad!

Plus, entry is free, you just have to buy the tickets to be able to purchase the food, and most items range from $2-$4 price range. Remember to stay cool this year, with heat regularly in the 80s and 90's so far, it'll be important to stay hydrated and cool. Especially those of you with small children!