Al's Blog-o-Sphere

I went into Downtown Lockport last night to check out the Canal Concert. This was the first time this year for me, as I was out of town for the opener last week. I didn’t actually stay for the concert, but passed through the area twice during the event. These are my impressions…

I was walking down Main Street early, about 5 o’clock, and noticed a lot of broken glass, mostly of the brown variety, on the sidewalks. Not an isolated place, but everywhere. Did I miss a riot, or something? This was before the concert started and they don’t serve glass containers there anyway, so where did all this come from? I don’t think it was the craft show! It was endemic the whole length of Main Street. Big pieces were gone, like they had been picked up, but smaller pieces were in every crack and crevice. Is beer-bottle throwing some new sport in Lockport? Continue Reading…

This week’s summer concert lineup comes to us as follows:

Tue.: Artpark - America w/ Stacy Clark
Wed.: Gateway Park - Jonesie & the Cruisers, Nickel City Pimp Choir
Thurs.: Lafayette Square - Ed Kowalczyk (No opener listed)
Fri.: Lockport - Our Lady Peace w/ Jimmy Gnecco of Ours, The Incurables
Fri.: Gateway Harbor - Backbeat 64
Sat.: Hard Rock Cafe - Gord Downie, Joshua James, Alison Pipitone

and it looks like a great warm-up to Independance Day! Continue Reading…

Well, the summer concert season has officially begun with the first Thursday at the Square concert in Buffalo. They kicked it off with Alejandro Escovedo last Thursday.

This week provides more choices in free outdoor concerts in the Erie-Niagara area. Artpark opens it’s Tuesday series with War with Then and Now billed as openers.

Thursday at the Square continues it’s run with Ingrid Michaelson. A. A. Bondy opens.

With only two concerts this week, the choice is pretty clear. If you want familiar, comfort-food music, you’re going to go see War at Artpark. If you’re the type that goes and sees America there every summer, (June 29 this year) and thinks The Boys of Summer is a great local band, then you know who you are.

But if you want to hear something new and embrace something that isn’t being spoon-fed to you by 97 Rock, (or worse, WJYE) then Thursday at the Square is the clear winner. I hadn’t heard of Ingrid Michaelson or A. A. Bondi, but a quick listen online (I’ve put MySpace links in above) has tweaked my curiosity. They’re both worth a trip to see.

Kudos to Buffalo Place for getting “It” and bringing in some new and upcoming talent, rather than just the latest in the milk-it-for-all-it’s-worth touring greatest-hits has-beens.

Incidentally, MySpace may be getting kicked around by Facebook when it comes to popularity in social media, but it’s still the best place to find and hear new music. Every band has a page there. It must be required by law or something. Even when they have other outlets for their online presence, a MySpace page is an integral part of any musicians self-promotion kit.

The Bicycle Man shop

I took a trip yesterday to Alfred Station NY to visit a bike shop. I know I could have found a bike shop closer to home, but not one like this. This was The Bicycle Man, a shop whose simple name gives no clue to the rare and special product they have.

Just as an idea how special this is, I visited the largest bike shop in my area last week, a mini-chain with four stores, and out of the hundreds of bikes they had on display, they had only one model of a recumbent!

The Bicycle Man, you see, specializes in recumbent bikes, those laid-back, weird-looking bikes you might have seen on TV, a movie or rarely in real life. I had been wanting one for a long time and finally decided to try some out. This shop is a rarity in that they almost don’t want to sell you a bike, unless you try several out and are sure it’s right for you. It’s really cool that they spend so much time making sure the customer is happy before they take a dime. I spent most of the day there, and there were several customers besides me who also spent considerable time trying things out. Some went away without making a purchase. Maybe they will be back, but not until they are sure! Continue Reading…