Al's Blog-o-Sphere

I just drove through Downtown Lockport (3:30PM) and witnessed the preparations for the first of the Molson Concerts. It’s already looking interesting and the excitement is palpable.

Many vendors are already setting up and open. Parking lots all over are ready. I still think they are a bit high on their prices which were $7-$10 dollars. The free lots will be in high demand!

Sound checks were going on as I drove down Walnut Street and a lot of people were already walking around the area. Traffic was noticeably slower than usual on Walnut and I can see it being gridlock later. Main St. wasn’t bad, though. Continue Reading…

The efforts of Lockport’s City Fathers to pass a sign ordinance regulating what businesses can and can’t have for a sign reminds me of the Malvina Reynolds song Little Boxes:

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There’s a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

[dewplayer:http://gritzmacher.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/malvina-reynolds-little-boxes.mp3]

While the song was about suburban architechture on the surface, the conformity this ordinance is attempting to impose fits just as well. Continue Reading…

You already probably know I enjoy music and that the kind I like best is live, and even better free or at least cheap!

So it’s been a topic of conversation several times recently with people I know. The new Molson Canal/City Center series in Lockport, the North Tonawanda series that replaces the one moved to Lockport and the old standbys, Thursday at the Square in Buffalo and the Artpark shows on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

I made a comment recently to a local supporter of the Lockport concerts that they were okay, but I wished they weren’t acts that we’ve already seen play in summer concert shows around here in the recent past. His point of view was that it’s Lockport – anything we have is better than nothing which is what we had had before. But does that mean we should settle for anything?

I don’t want to sound negative. I like the concerts and I’ll probably be at them. The sky will probably be blue, too. No, I’ll be at as many as possible, just because they are so close to home. But my observation stands. Not only that, it applies to almost all the local shows. They only seem to pick, safe, time-tested acts that we’ve all seen before and it’s turning into the oldies-but-goodies circuit.

Now, there are always fans who will show up to see Band X because they are Band X fans and will go see Band X every time Band X plays locally no matter what because they are Band X fans. Isn’t that repetitive though? Aren’t you tired of Band X by now, I am. Continue Reading…

Former Buffalo Mayor and long-time politician Jimmy Griffin passed away today. It’s a sad day in Buffalo.

Whether you liked him, or not you had to respect him and his honesty. You always knew where he stood, because he alway told it like it was.

Famous for his advice to citizens in the onset of the Blizzard of ’77 ’85 – to buy a six-pack and stay home – I think that would be a fitting way to remember him – buy a six-pack and hoist a few in his memory!