Here is a nice article about Sphere now known as the town ballroom. Of the shows mentioned I'm going to see henery Rollins and hopefully I will buy my seether tickets on monday. This is only one of many great venues in Buffalo like The Dome theatre[Niagara Falls] (never been but they have a lot of great metal shows) and Showplace, Opeth is nov 4th I belive
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A busy time in a new Sphere
Under its new banner, Town Ballroom books a full slate of acts
By JEFF MIERS
News Pop Music Critic
9/23/2005
The danger in loving this city so much is that one becomes a cheerleader, or at the very least, a willfully optimistic soothsayer predicting great things around the corner, if we'll only hold on just a little bit longer.
When it was announced several months ago that the Sphere would soon be operated by a new team, remodeled and reopened with one eye on its formidable history as the Town Casino and the other on its potential future as a hotbed of concert-club activity, man, I wanted to believe it was really going to happen. And I wrote as much.
Looks like I'm not going to have to eat my (romantic and hopeful) words this time around. The Sphere is no more; long live the Town Ballroom, under the auspices of a new team and the watchful booking eye of Fun Time Presents' Artie Kwitchoff and Donny Kutzbach.
Over the past few weeks, Fun Time has been unveiling its schedule of confirmed bookings, and I've been receiving them with a mixture of glee and gloom; glee for obvious reasons, gloom only because the fall is supposed to be my down time, when I take a few breaths and recover from the hectic summer concert season. Apparently, Kutzbach and Kwitchoff have other plans; they're starting to stock the schedule at the Town Ballroom to the hilt, as if we're thirsting to death here in the desert and they've got truckloads of water to offer.
Part of what makes this flurry of activity exciting is the diversity of the lineup. There's modern alternative rock, blues, progressive music, jam bands - you name it. And if you've ever been to the Sphere, you'll know that the sightlines and sound are among the best in town, a fact that didn't escape the Fun Time folks, who made further improvements on both fronts.
Here are a few of the shows planned for the Town Ballroom in the coming weeks.
Acoustic Alchemy, Tuesday
Pennywise, H2O and A Wilhelm Scream, Oct. 2
Robert Fripp, Oct. 5
Badfish, a tribute to Sublime, with the Red Chord, Oct. 7
Bob Weir and Ratdog, Oct. 9
Seether and 30 Seconds to Mars, with guests Haelstorm, Oct. 10
Former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, Oct. 14
Kathleen Edwards, Oct. 19
The Dresden Dolls, DeVotchka and Faun Fables, Oct. 23
Henry Rollins, Oct. 25
The Glengharry Boys, Nov. 5
David Wilcox, Nov. 11
The Blue Rodeo show originally slated for Sept. 22 has been rescheduled for Nov. 13.
The Robert Cray Band, Nov. 14
Matchbook Romance, Armor tor Sleep, Gatsbys American Dream and Lovedrug, Nov. 19
Living Colour, Dec. 2
Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein, Bayside and Aiden, Dec. 8.
Tickets for all of these shows will be available through Tickets.com. Follow happenings at the Town Ballroom by visiting www.townballroom.com.
A toast is in order
Congratulations to this year's inductees into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame, all of whom will be honored during the annual inductees ceremony, held this year at - you guessed it - the Town Ballroom at 8 p.m. Thursday.
This year, we'll celebrate our area's rich musical culture by offering a tip of the hat to Willie Nile, Mel Lewis, Mike Nowakowski, Venetta Fields, Gurf Morlix, Don Menza, John Hey and the Colored Musicians Club. All of these folks have had a major impact on shaping the musical landscape of Buffalo and many of them went on to become ambassadors for our city.
Nile will jet in from his adopted home in New York City to perform that evening. All scheduled to make some beautiful noise are Venetta Fields, Wendell Rivera, Macy Favor Plus Four, Janice Mitchell and the Hall of Fame All-Stars.
Tickets are $20 and can be found at Tickets.com or by calling (888) 223-6000.•
e-mail: jmiers@buffnews.com
Metalpeter's Journal
My Podcast Link
09/25/2005 09:56 #28180
townballroomCategory: events
09/22/2005 19:15 #28179
Reefer MadnessCategory: politics
First of all I don't like to talk about articles that I havn't read. But that being said I think (e:jason) and (e:alison) and other (e:peeps) might want to pick up this weeks artvoice. The picture on the front is great. I havn't read the article about reefer and how the government tries to make it look like weed will make you go crazzy. I hope it is a good article. I'm looking forward to it. I admit I don't use it myself but I am a beliver that for those who want to it should be legal. I say sell it in stores and tax it. It would be just like smokes legal only in your own house basicly and at outdoor concerts. My plan would also set aside a portion of the tax money to go twards education on some of the real effects of what it does and treatment centers for drugs that would include weed if anyone ever couldn't stop and wanted to. I saw both the original movie Reefer Madness and the New Version. If you watch them both you have to watch the old one first, it is out there it really is. I saw the new version first and it is really good. But it diminshed the original since it is more over the top.
09/22/2005 18:45 #28178
Blue Cross Building articleCategory: news
[size=s][c]I read this article in the Buffalo News today. It is interesting but may become a changing story since I belive there is or was a vote today. I admit i'm not sure what I think of how the new building is supposed to look. I have seen the facade up close and I think a better idea would have been to bulid of the facadand make that part of the building in old style then connect it all togather in side. The picture they had in the news looks odd. The picture at the dig site looks odd to it looks the the facade will still look like a facade when the building is complete.[/c][/size]
FOCUS: DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT
Beauty or beast? Beholders differ on new architectural creation
Design of BlueCross BlueShield's next home strikes some as suburban intrusion into classic cityscape
By MARK SOMMER
News Staff Reporter
9/22/2005
The first privately funded building in downtown Buffalo in well over a decade would keep more than 1,300 employees in the city and clean up a brownfield.
One might expect some excitement.
But in some circles, people are concerned that in a city known for buildings designed by the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan, the new headquarters for BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York will look like just another suburban office park.
The architect, though, envisions a landmark building that melds Buffalo's past with its future.
At the heart of the controversy is a modern glass and concrete design that has a 60-foot stone facade, the sole remnant from the Gas Works factory of 1848, in the foreground.
The project has received approval from the city's Planning Commission, but it still faces a vote from the Preservation Board today. Although that board's vote is nonbinding, a thumbs down could put the matter before the Common Council.
"I think people will be poking fun at it for decades to come. I think it will be a new Buffalo punch line," said Cynthia Van Ness, president of the Preservation Coalition of Erie County and a member of the Buffalo Preservation Board.
Preservation Board member Sam Gurney, however, thinks the building will be a wonderful addition to downtown.
"The design fits very well with the city," Gurney said. "I think it blends the old with the new."
The dominant feature is a 350-foot-long curved glass front on the southern portion of the building, facing Lake Erie.
"The main presentation of the skyline [from the Niagara Thruway] is going to be this building. It's a behemoth," said architect Matt Maier of Hamilton Houston Lownie Architects.
Christopher F. Guerra of the Preservation Board sees the building making a valuable contribution. "Overall, I think it's going to be not a landmark structure, but a nice-looking structure," he said.
The sprawling, L-shaped complex includes an eight-story tower, a six-story operations building and seven-story atrium linking the two, plus a 1,500-space parking garage connected by bridges to the main building.
The $86.3 million project by HealthNow New York, the parent company of BlueCross BlueShield, marks the largest private office building to be built in Buffalo since the Key Towers were built in Fountain Plaza in the late 1980s.
Architect Steven R. Risting of CSO Schenkel Shultz, and Duke Realty Corp., the building's developer and owner, both of Indianapolis, have partnered on mostly suburban projects in the Midwest.
Architect defends design
Risting said the HealthNow New York corporate headquarters was designed to be a "distinctive landmark" building that is also sustainable and energy-efficient.
"We chose to be a modern, 21st century building, with a respect for the historic architectural and urban design legacy of Buffalo," Risting said.
He rejects the notion his design resembles a suburban office building.
"That's where you get into the variety of opinion concerning what architecture is," Risting said. "The level of detail that is being put into this building you're not going to find out in the suburbs. It is a building that I think is of Buffalo, that references Buffalo, and is of this site."
One challenge was to integrate the 19th century landmark stone wall with a 21st century building. Risting said that it was not used as a prime entry, as some assumed it would be, because the factory wall never served that purpose. Instead, the wall is connected to the main building, with a second-floor terrace behind it.
"One of the most surprising things to me about that facade is how much it was lacking in window openings," Risting said. "It was an exquisitely detailed garden wall, and we've kind of treated it as a garden wall."
Some critics say the facade looks like a fish out of water.
Matthew Moscati of TRM Architect is disappointed in how the wall is used, and with the project as a whole.
"My impression of the building is that the design is an opportunity lost," Moscati said.
Guerra, who is also an architect with Hamilton Houston Lownie Architects, said Risting did well with a difficult task.
"It's not an easy thing to design around a piece of history like that," Guerra said.
Risting said many of his decisions were meant to pay homage to Buffalo's classic architecture.
A reference to Buffalo's brick Great Northern grain elevator, for instance, was made by the use of a vertical shaft of bricklike concrete. It intersects the horizontal mass of glass meant to suggest the lake, Risting said.
A connection to Larkin
Likewise, the building's use of daylight and places for interaction are meant to mimic Wright's Larkin Administration Building, demolished in Buffalo a half-century ago, he said.
For some, those connections are too general or elusive.
Maier, for instance, likes the grain elevator tie-in. "Anything else is rather simplistic," he said.
"I don't see the references [Risting] said are there," Van Ness said.
Several Preservation Board members also complained that the self-contained site would not be urban- or pedestrian-friendly. Risting was asked to address some of the board's concerns at today's meeting.
"My biggest disappointment with the building is the insensitivity to the street and the pedestrian. It really isn't an urban building; it has a suburban office feel to it," Guerra said.
Risting said he believes that many of the criticisms will cease if there is more development west of City Hall.
"The comments are in reference to it being a detached building," Risting said. "Hopefully, the city can continue to grow to meet the building so it isn't so isolated."
BlueCross BlueShield's new quarters are expected to be ready for occupancy in August 2007. That is a few months before the company must vacate its current headquarters at 1901 Main St., next to Canisius College.
But first, the site is being remediated for coal tar and benzene, remnants of when the site was used to convert coal into gas.
Dennis T. Gorski, former Erie County executive and now BlueCross BlueShield's vice president of government programs, says the company's decision to invest in the site will pay great dividends for Buffalo.
"We are remediating a site that was contaminated, we are preserving a facade and we are bringing in close to 1,300 employees," Gorski said.
Point, counterpoint
Risting said he believes that the building will eventually take its place alongside Buffalo's architectural treasures.
"I've read where past buildings here were criticized for being too bold, too modern, and those buildings have gone on to become landmarks, as places of excellence," Risting said.
"Whether you like it or not, I guess, it will turn your head. That's good architecture."
Van Ness isn't so sure.
"It always amazes me that out-of-town architects first come here and gush about our architectural heritage," she said, "and then deliver designs that clash with everything around them."
e-mail: msommer@buffnews.com
FOCUS: DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT
Beauty or beast? Beholders differ on new architectural creation
Design of BlueCross BlueShield's next home strikes some as suburban intrusion into classic cityscape
By MARK SOMMER
News Staff Reporter
9/22/2005
The first privately funded building in downtown Buffalo in well over a decade would keep more than 1,300 employees in the city and clean up a brownfield.
One might expect some excitement.
But in some circles, people are concerned that in a city known for buildings designed by the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan, the new headquarters for BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York will look like just another suburban office park.
The architect, though, envisions a landmark building that melds Buffalo's past with its future.
At the heart of the controversy is a modern glass and concrete design that has a 60-foot stone facade, the sole remnant from the Gas Works factory of 1848, in the foreground.
The project has received approval from the city's Planning Commission, but it still faces a vote from the Preservation Board today. Although that board's vote is nonbinding, a thumbs down could put the matter before the Common Council.
"I think people will be poking fun at it for decades to come. I think it will be a new Buffalo punch line," said Cynthia Van Ness, president of the Preservation Coalition of Erie County and a member of the Buffalo Preservation Board.
Preservation Board member Sam Gurney, however, thinks the building will be a wonderful addition to downtown.
"The design fits very well with the city," Gurney said. "I think it blends the old with the new."
The dominant feature is a 350-foot-long curved glass front on the southern portion of the building, facing Lake Erie.
"The main presentation of the skyline [from the Niagara Thruway] is going to be this building. It's a behemoth," said architect Matt Maier of Hamilton Houston Lownie Architects.
Christopher F. Guerra of the Preservation Board sees the building making a valuable contribution. "Overall, I think it's going to be not a landmark structure, but a nice-looking structure," he said.
The sprawling, L-shaped complex includes an eight-story tower, a six-story operations building and seven-story atrium linking the two, plus a 1,500-space parking garage connected by bridges to the main building.
The $86.3 million project by HealthNow New York, the parent company of BlueCross BlueShield, marks the largest private office building to be built in Buffalo since the Key Towers were built in Fountain Plaza in the late 1980s.
Architect Steven R. Risting of CSO Schenkel Shultz, and Duke Realty Corp., the building's developer and owner, both of Indianapolis, have partnered on mostly suburban projects in the Midwest.
Architect defends design
Risting said the HealthNow New York corporate headquarters was designed to be a "distinctive landmark" building that is also sustainable and energy-efficient.
"We chose to be a modern, 21st century building, with a respect for the historic architectural and urban design legacy of Buffalo," Risting said.
He rejects the notion his design resembles a suburban office building.
"That's where you get into the variety of opinion concerning what architecture is," Risting said. "The level of detail that is being put into this building you're not going to find out in the suburbs. It is a building that I think is of Buffalo, that references Buffalo, and is of this site."
One challenge was to integrate the 19th century landmark stone wall with a 21st century building. Risting said that it was not used as a prime entry, as some assumed it would be, because the factory wall never served that purpose. Instead, the wall is connected to the main building, with a second-floor terrace behind it.
"One of the most surprising things to me about that facade is how much it was lacking in window openings," Risting said. "It was an exquisitely detailed garden wall, and we've kind of treated it as a garden wall."
Some critics say the facade looks like a fish out of water.
Matthew Moscati of TRM Architect is disappointed in how the wall is used, and with the project as a whole.
"My impression of the building is that the design is an opportunity lost," Moscati said.
Guerra, who is also an architect with Hamilton Houston Lownie Architects, said Risting did well with a difficult task.
"It's not an easy thing to design around a piece of history like that," Guerra said.
Risting said many of his decisions were meant to pay homage to Buffalo's classic architecture.
A reference to Buffalo's brick Great Northern grain elevator, for instance, was made by the use of a vertical shaft of bricklike concrete. It intersects the horizontal mass of glass meant to suggest the lake, Risting said.
A connection to Larkin
Likewise, the building's use of daylight and places for interaction are meant to mimic Wright's Larkin Administration Building, demolished in Buffalo a half-century ago, he said.
For some, those connections are too general or elusive.
Maier, for instance, likes the grain elevator tie-in. "Anything else is rather simplistic," he said.
"I don't see the references [Risting] said are there," Van Ness said.
Several Preservation Board members also complained that the self-contained site would not be urban- or pedestrian-friendly. Risting was asked to address some of the board's concerns at today's meeting.
"My biggest disappointment with the building is the insensitivity to the street and the pedestrian. It really isn't an urban building; it has a suburban office feel to it," Guerra said.
Risting said he believes that many of the criticisms will cease if there is more development west of City Hall.
"The comments are in reference to it being a detached building," Risting said. "Hopefully, the city can continue to grow to meet the building so it isn't so isolated."
BlueCross BlueShield's new quarters are expected to be ready for occupancy in August 2007. That is a few months before the company must vacate its current headquarters at 1901 Main St., next to Canisius College.
But first, the site is being remediated for coal tar and benzene, remnants of when the site was used to convert coal into gas.
Dennis T. Gorski, former Erie County executive and now BlueCross BlueShield's vice president of government programs, says the company's decision to invest in the site will pay great dividends for Buffalo.
"We are remediating a site that was contaminated, we are preserving a facade and we are bringing in close to 1,300 employees," Gorski said.
Point, counterpoint
Risting said he believes that the building will eventually take its place alongside Buffalo's architectural treasures.
"I've read where past buildings here were criticized for being too bold, too modern, and those buildings have gone on to become landmarks, as places of excellence," Risting said.
"Whether you like it or not, I guess, it will turn your head. That's good architecture."
Van Ness isn't so sure.
"It always amazes me that out-of-town architects first come here and gush about our architectural heritage," she said, "and then deliver designs that clash with everything around them."
e-mail: msommer@buffnews.com
09/21/2005 20:28 #28177
first e:peep I meet my first (e:peep) yesterday outside of Spot on Elmwood. Ladycroft is a very interesting person. I did enjoy myself. I do admit I did get a little distracted a few times there is a lot of activity on Elmwood but I did enjoy myself. I wish I would have thought to bring my camara glad Timika brought hers. I'm going to have to try and upload some pictures again. The ones I downloaded from toronto arn't being actepted they are some unexcepted format but I downloaded them the way I normally do. I got an Idea.
Ok the picture of ladycroft works so it must something on my end and not (e:strip). Hopefully I'll figure it out in a couple days. I tryed publish and I get a message that it needs to have and ending like jpg and it does not sure what is going on now sometthing funky.
Ok the picture of ladycroft works so it must something on my end and not (e:strip). Hopefully I'll figure it out in a couple days. I tryed publish and I get a message that it needs to have and ending like jpg and it does not sure what is going on now sometthing funky.
ladycroft - 09/22/05 11:21
Yes, pleasure to meet you. Soon you'll meet more peeps, I'm sure of it!
Yes, pleasure to meet you. Soon you'll meet more peeps, I'm sure of it!
metalpeter - 09/21/05 20:29
Ok it worked cool, why it didn't at first I have no clue.
Ok it worked cool, why it didn't at first I have no clue.
09/19/2005 19:32 #28176
TorontoCategory: travel
I went to the Blue Jays game on sunday and they beat the Yankees. It was a good game. Afterwords we went to the Hardrock Cafe at Skydome now known as rogers centre. On the way we got a little lost. One minute the lane we where in changed into a two lane exsit out of no whare odd. So we drove through Brampton, Hamilton and Oakville. Then found our way back onto the 403 i think and then the 401 in any event a quicker way to Toronto. There where some amazing looking houses in oakville. I wish I would have thought to take some pictures of that but I was busy looking for signs but it was an interesting diversion.
Here are some pictures from Toronto and the hard rock cafe. I hope they look ok since I had to shirnk them. I also found it odd that there was an ad in the mens bathroom. If I would have been in there alone I would have like to take a picture of it. About 6 minutes till the two Monday night football games start.
I tried to upload pics but It gave me some message about them not being and excepted file type. That is odd in any event I had fun and will try to post them later.
Here are some pictures from Toronto and the hard rock cafe. I hope they look ok since I had to shirnk them. I also found it odd that there was an ad in the mens bathroom. If I would have been in there alone I would have like to take a picture of it. About 6 minutes till the two Monday night football games start.
I tried to upload pics but It gave me some message about them not being and excepted file type. That is odd in any event I had fun and will try to post them later.
I picked up the Artvoice the other day but didn't make it through the article. I'm interested in what it's about.
PETER FOR PRESIDENT