What’s Good – June 15-21, 2023

Our weekly guide to what’s going on around Buffalo and in the world of pop culture.

Thursday, 6/15

The Strictly Hip w/Johnny and the Man Kids (20 Fountain Plaza, 5-8pm, FREE)
Fountain Plaza hosts free concerts every Thursday all summer. This week is a Tragically Hip cover band, and local garage rockers Johnny and the Man Kids.

Son Borikua (Buffalo AKG Art Museum, 6-7:30pm, FREE)
This traditional Afro-Cuban/Puerto Rican group helps christen the rebranded and expanded Albright-Knox gallery.

Booty Bangers Ball (Iron Works, 49 Illinois St, 8-11pm, $5)
An ass-shakin’ dance party with DJ Hendo.

J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge (Delaware Park, 84 Parkside Ave, 6:25pm, $38)
This 3.5-mile race claims to be the world’s largest “corporate running event,” meaning teams are drawn from various workplaces. It’s not clear if you can sign up for this one if your workplace hasn’t already signed you up.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 (Paramount+)
The best of the current bumper crop of Star Trek shows has the most straightforward premise of the bunch: the Starship Enterprise seeks out new civilizations, with young Spock and Uhura serving under charismatic Captain Pike. Look for episode reviews here on Subject.

Black Mirror Season 6 (Netflix)
If you aren’t already scared by ChatGPT, don’t worry, everyone’s favorite show that scares the crap out of us over modern technology is back!

Friday, 6/16

John Mellencamp (Shea’s Performing Arts Center, 646 Main St, 8pm, SOLD OUT)
This heartland classic rock staple has sold out Shea’s, but there are likely tickets out there online for someone willing to pay top dollar for some R-O-C-K in the USA.

Baau Chhora Duo (9th Ward, 341 Delaware Ave, 7:30pm, $25)
Nepali singer-songwriter Adrian Pradhan, of the band 1974 AD, is now touring for the first time with his writer/producer son, Prajwal Raj Pradhan.

Live Band Karaoke: Emo & Pop Punk Edition (Rec Room, 79 Chippewa St, 10pm, $8, 21+)
Put on your black eyeliner and belt out emo and pop-punk songs in front of a live band.

Party on the Portico (Buffalo History Museum, One Museum Court, 5:30-10pm, $15, 21+)
The Museum’s summer concert series returns, with Sunday Reign and Tuesday Nite. $5 for museum members.

Sounds of Buffalo (Wilkeson Pointe, 335 Fuhrmann Blvd, 7-9pm, FREE)
Buffalo Music Club and the Buffalo Waterfront team up for a summer concert series. This week’s show includes Dead Alliance of Buffalo, a Grateful Dead cover band.

Big Wreck (Town Ballroom, 618 Main St, 7pm, $34)
This ’90s Boston band re-united in 2011 and is now touring behind their seventh studio album, imaginatively titled 7.

The Knight Crew (Solé, 3580 Lake Shore Rd, 5:30-8:30pm, FREE)
Free music by Woodlawn Beach!

Friday Night Music Bingo & Trivia (Barrel Factory, 65 Vandalia St, 7-8:30pm, $10)
Instead of calling out numbers, Music Bingo plays snippets of a song, that players have to identify in order to cross out one of the song titles on their cards. Sing along and win prizes! The night also includes more traditional music trivia.

Outlander Season 7 (Starz)
This series from Battlestar Galactica and For All Mankind creator Ronald D. Moore, based on the bestselling series of novels by Diana Gabaldon, follows a WWII army nurse who travels back in time from the 1940s to the 1740s and gets involved in the Jacobite rising.

New Movies This Week

Asteroid City (Amherst Theatre, Elmwood Center, North Park Theatre, Transit Center, Walden Galleria)
Every Wes Anderson movie gets described as “the Wes Andersoniest movie he’s ever done,” but this one — about a UFO convention that gets crashed by an actual UFO — is simply being described as his best in years. The cast introduces Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, Maya Hawke, and Margot Robbie to Anderson’s usual ensemble.

Elemental (in wide release)
This Pixar movie about a young fire elemental who falls for an emotional drop of water seems like the Pixar formula carried out to its logical endpoint, but Pixar rarely fails to surpass expectations, so this one could be great.

The Flash (in wide release)
DC is hoping this movie — in which Flash travels to an alternate timeline and meets another version of himself, as well as Michael Keaton’s Batman — has enough fanservice for fans to overlook star Ezra Miller’s recent string of criminal behavior, in the swan song for the DCEU before James Gunn takes over for a series-wide reboot.

The Blackening (in wide release)
This horror-comedy is built around the trope that the black character is the first one to die in horror movies, but — get this — the whole cast is black! One hopes there are enough scares to enliven that paper-thin premise.

Extraction 2 (in wide release)
Chris Hemsworth and director Joe Russo reteam for some more action-movie nonsense.

Saturday 6/17

The Original Crash-A-Rama (Holland Speedway, 11586 Glenwood Rd, Holland, 4-10pm, $25, $10 student, +$5 day of)
We don’t usually extend our listings this far outside of town, but we were surprised and delighted to learn that demolition derbys are still a thing. Besides the demolition derby, there are school bus races, a boat and trailer race, a flagpole race, a spectator race, and Scarecrow Stunts. We don’t even know what those last three things are, but we’re excited to find out!

48th Annual Juneteenth Fest (Martin Luther King Park, 778 Best St, 11am-8pm Sat & Sun, FREE)
Celebrate ourselves, our ancestors, and freedom, with two days of live music, art, food, games, dance contests, 3-on-3 basketball, flag football, and workshops with Buffalo Public Schools.

3rd Annual Oliver Street Pride Fest (Heritage Park, North Tonawanda, 11am-4pm, FREE)
North Tonawanda wisely waits until Pride Week festivities have passed to avoid competition for their own family-friendly event, which includes artisan craft and food vendors and live entertainment.

6th Annual Pride Bar Crawl (Days Park Tavern, 253 Allen St, 4pm-10pm, $13)
Check in at Days anytime before 6, for a ticket that gets you a free drink, food and drink specials at every bar on the crawl, plus a drag show along the way and an after party at Allen St. Hardware Cafe.

Joseph (Town Ballroom, 681 Main St, 7pm, $30)
This folk-pop group of three sisters from Joseph, Oregon are touring behind their brand-new fourth album, The Sun.

Kidd G w/CB30 (Iron Works, 49 Illinois St, 7pm, $25)
Georgia native Kidd G combines the state’s two biggest sounds, country and hip-hop, and his single “Dirt Road” has over 5 million views on YouTube. 

Spacebound w/Early Bird (Rec Room, 79 Chippewa St, 7pm, $15)
We don’t know much about rapper Spacebound, but the first song on his soundcloud is called ALLEN2DIGGS, so he’s definitely a local. 

Buffalo Niagara Dragon Boat Festival (RiverWorks, 359 Ganson St, 7:45am-5pm, FREE)
A dragon boat holds 20 rowers, a coxswain, and a drummer to keep time, and this day of racing is open to anyone who’s willing to join in and paddle! (The signup deadline has passed, but it’s free for spectators to cheer on teams of amateur racers. The day-long event also includes music by Tim Britt, raffles, concessions, and dragon-themed crafts for kids.

Sunday 6/18

Mike Gordon (Town Ballroom, 681 Main St, 7pm, $30)
A rare solo performance from Phish’s bassist.

Juneteenth Celebration (Iron Works, 49 Illinois St, 7:30pm, $20, 21+)
A lineup of rappers and singers, including guest performances by Blupaper Nas and Kalah Bishop.

Tuesday 6/20

Starbenders w/ The Haunt, Tokyo Monsters (Rec Room, 79 Chippewa St, 6pm, $21, 16+)
A night of ’70s-throwback glam rockers.

Surrounded (MGM)
A rare non-Friday movie debut for this Western in which Letitia Wright (Black Panther) stars as a former Buffalo Soldier who disguises herself as a man to lay claim to a gold mine. With Jamie Bell, Breett Gelman, and the final performance from the late Michael K. Williams. Maddeningly, every bit of promotion about this film says it’s being release to “streaming,” but not which service. Hopefully by the release date, it’ll be clear where you can actually watch this one.

Wednesday 6/21

Sam Greenfield (Iron Works, 49 Illinois St, 7pm, $15)
Greenfield has played sideman to luminaries including Joss Stone, Ed Sheeran, Queen Latifah, and Thank You Scientist, and is now touring on his own playing jazz and funk.

Secret Invasion (Disney+)
Our interest in the small-screen MCU has waned since the heyday of Subject’s Advanced Blockbuster Studies podcast, but Samuel L. Jackson battling shapeshifters seems well worth tuning in for.