What’s Good – March 14-20, 2024
Our weekly guide to what’s going on around Buffalo and in the world of pop culture.
Thursday, 3/14
The Golden Ass (Lippes Concert Hall, UB Slee Hall, 7:30pm, $10/FREE to students)
This “chamber opera” exploring the Cupid/Psyche myth features actors, musicians, and a chorus and dance troupe of UB student performers.
Jerry Seinfeld (Fallsview Casino, 6380 Fallsview Blvd, Niagara Falls)
After the massive success of Seinfeld, not to mention Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and the endlessly meme-able Bee Movie, Seinfeld is still a dedicated touring stand-up. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Plantasia (Erie County Fairgrounds, 5820 South Park Ave, Hamburg, Thu 10-7, Fri/Sat 10-8, Sun 10-5, $10, under 12 FREE)
The annual Garden & Landscape Show stretches out over two buildings for four days!
Patrick Hinds (Helium, 30 Mississippi St, 7pm, $39)
Hinds co-hosts the True Crime Obsessed podcast, and put out a memoir last fall, Failure Is Not NOT An Option: How the Chubby Gay Son of a Jesus-Obsessed Lesbian Found Love, Family, and Podcast Success.
Poetry Open Mic & Game Night (26 Allen St, 6pm)
Co-hosted by Sara Ali and Meg Specksgoor
Normal St. Entrance (Duende, 85 Silo City Row, 6pm)
Buffalo-based Irish-American folk group.
The Hang (PAUSA Art House, 19 Wadsworth St, 7pm, $13/15)
An evening of jazz & R&B favorites, featuring singer Alex McArthur, and John Aaron Troy on woodwinds.
Karaoke Night (Milkie’s, 522 Elmwood Ave, 9pm)
Friday, 3/15
Paula Wachowiak (Paul Robeson Theater, 350 Masten Ave, Fri/Sat 7:30pm, Sun 4pm through 3/24, $25/$10 students)
A one-woman show, based on the Buffalo-based writer’s book The Polish Cleaning Lady’s Daughter.
St. Patrick’s Day Weekend (Buffalo Irish Center, 245 Abbott Rd, Fri 3pm, Sat 10:30am, Sun noon, FREE)
Forget about one day, everybody’s Irish all weekend, with music and Irish dancing every day ($10 cover for dance performances), and an Irish breakfast ($30) at 11:30 Saturday after Catholic Mass at 10:30.
Third Friday (The Buffalo History Museum, 1 Museum Court, 10am-5pm, FREE)
The third Friday of every month, the Museum is free, and offers children’s activities and crafts from 11am-2pm .
The Trews (Town Ballroom, 681 S. Main St, Fri/Sat 7pm, $30/$50 both nights, 12+)
This Nova Scotia band are one of the top 40 best-selling Canadian artists ever.
Pinky Patel (Asbury Hall, 341 Delaware Ave, 6:30pm, $30/$65 VIP)
TikTok comedian Patel is on her New Crown Who Dhis tour.
Earthquake (Helium, 30 Mississippi St, Fri 7:30pm, Fri/Sat 10pm, Sun 7pm, $44, 18+)
Quake has been dishing out common-sense observational comedy since the early 90s, and has appeared on Def Comedy Jam, Comedy Central Presents, Conan, and Comics Unleashed.
Teressa Jo Izzo (Lippes Concert Hall, UB Slee Hall, 7:30pm)
The UB trumpeter’s Master’s recital.
Inzo (Iron Works, 49 Illinois St, 8:30pm, $25)
The electronica artist’s Visionquest Tour, with Levity, Blookah, Lhasa Petik.
Doping the Void (Mohawk Place, 47 E. Mohawk St, 6pm, $10)
A punk band with a trumpet, they insist they’re not a ska band. With Hold Out, Wyatt Coin, Karma Queen.
Ellen Pieroni & Sean McNamara (Duende, 85 Silo City Row, 7pm)
Pieroni, saxophonist from Encylopedia of Soul, and Sean McNamara, guitarist from Didi’s Window, perform together.
Live Band Karaoke (Rec Room, 79 W. Chippewa St, 10pm, $8)
Belt out the classics in front of a live band.
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) (Disney+)
The big screen version of the pop superstar’s tour comes to the small screen.
New Movies This Week
Love Lies Bleeding (Elmwood Center, Transit Center, Walden Galleria)
A gym manager (Kristen Stewart) falls for a bodybuilder (Katy O’Brian), but run afoul of a crime family in A24’s critically acclaimed violent love story.
The American Society of Magical Negroes (in wide release)
Justice Smith and David Alan Grier send up the “magical Negro” trope (in which a black movie character exists only to help white people), with a secret society that keeps white people happy to keep racism at bay.
Knox Goes Away (Transit Center, Walden Galleria)
Michael Keaton directs himself, Al Pacino, Marcia Gay Harden, and James Marsden in this thriller that debuted at TIFF last September.
Snack Shack (Quaker Crossing, 2450 Amelia Dr, Orchard Park)
Two teenage friends run a poolside snack shack, until a new girl threatens to come between them, in this early-90s-set coming-of-age comedy.
Arthur the King (in wide release)
Mark Wahlberg befriends a dog (the Arthur in question) while in the middle of a grueling 435-mile race across the Dominican Republic. With Simu Liu, Juliet Rylance, and Bear Gryllis as himself.
Irish Wish (Netflix)
For the day that’s in it, as they say in the old country. Lindsay Lohan makes a wish and switches places with her best friend’s bride on their wedding day in this romcom.
Gaami (Transit Center)
Reclusive Shankar goes on a journey to find a cure for a rare condition, but must confront the questions haunting his own life. In Telugu with subtitles.
Manjummel Boys (Elmwood Center)
A group of friends have misadventures on a vacation to Kodaikanal. In Malayalam with subtitles.
The Peasants (Elmwood Center)
This animated historical drama for adults is based on Wladyslaw Reymont’s Nobel Prize-winning novel of the same name, and uses the same painted animation technique as directors DK and Hugh Welchman’s previous film, Loving Vincent. In Polish with subtitles.
Yodha (Elmwood Center, Walden Galleria)
Sidharth Malhotra and Raashii Khanna star in this action thriller. In Hindi with subtitles.
Saturday 3/16
The Illustrated Mark Twain (Talking Leaves Books, 951 Elmwood Ave, 1-2pm)
Twain scholar and Buff State emeritus professor Thomas J. Registad reads from and signs his book The Illustrated Mark Twain and the Buffalo Express, containing works Twain wrote during the year he worked for a Buffalo daily newspaper.
Leanne Morgan (Mainstage Theater, UB Center for the Arts, 4 & 7pm, $40/50/70)
Morgan’s stand-up special So Yummy as 50 million views on YouTube, and her first Netflix special dropped last April.
The Town Pants (Iron Works, 49 Illinois St, 8pm, $25ad/$30, 18+)
These Celtic roots rockers hit town just in time for St. Patrick’s Day.
The Living Room (Mohawk Place, 47 E. Mohawk St, 7pm, $10)
This Rochester band performs “Rust belt ballads and murder lounge vibes.” With Last Night Songs, Sons of Luther.
Natalie Prauser (Electric Avenue, 300 Ellicott St, 7pm, $10)
Prauser combines the 60s Laurel Canyon sound with 70s outlaw country. With Marty Bush, Twenty Thousand Strongmen.
Cirque International (Buff State Performing Arts Center, 7:30pm, $39/49)
A new generation Cirque-style show, featuring acrobats, gymnasts, and contortionists from all over the world.
Arm’s Length (Rec Room, 79 W. Chippewa St, 6pm, $28.50, 16+)
with Carly Cosgrove, Ben Quad, Saturdays at Your Place.
Buffalo Jazz Composers Workshop (PAUSA Art House, 19 Wadsworth St, 7pm, $13/15)
Celtic Sessions (Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St, 4:40pm, FREE)
Sunday 3/17
St. Patrick’s Day Parade (Delaware Ave, 2pm, FREE)
Buffalo celebrates Ireland and Irish Americans with a 10:30am mass at St. Joseph’s Cathedral, and then a parade down Delaware Ave, starting at Niagara Square.
Babeville Parade Day (9th Ward, 341 Delaware Ave, 1-5:30pm, $5)
A post-St. Patrick’s parade show, featuring Folkfaces and Old World Warblers.
Cool Cool Cool (Iron Works, 49 Illinois St, 7pm, $20adv/$25, 18+)
Funk, house, and R&B with a horn section.
The Wazmopolitans (Duende, 85 Silo City Row, 4-6pm)
A trio of Dave Wasik (drums), Bob White (keyboard), and Greg Millar (guitar).
Boney James (Kleinhans Music Hall, 3 Symphony Circle, 7pm, $51.50)
Smooth jazz saxophonist.
Monday 3/18
Futh (Mohawk Place, 47 E. Mohawk St, 6pm, $15)
wird
Tuesday 3/19
Jake Xerxes Fussell (9th Ward, 341 Delaware Ave, 8pm, $20)
NPR’s Ann Powers called Fussell, “maybe the leading interpreter of American folk music right now.” With Alex Dupree.
Angelo Colina (Helium, 30 Mississippi St, 8pm, $33, in Spanish)
Colina is a Venezuelan comic who’s taken over the Spanish-language comedy scene since arriving in the U.S. in 2018, co-founding Español Please as part of the New York Comedy Festival, and Gente Funny, Washington D.C.’s first Spanish comedy showcase. Now he’s touring with his show, Solito.
Dopapod (Iron Works, 49 Illinois St, 7pm, $20adv/$25, 18+)
This quartet plays a mix of funk, rock, jazz, bluegrass, and electronica.
Open Mic (Cucina @ Hotel Richardson, 444 Forest Ave, 6-8pm)
This weekly open mic features music, poetry, and comedy. Register at jkonze@douglasdev.com.
The Steam Donkeys (Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St, 6-8:30pm)
Rustbelt Comedy Showcase (Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St, 9pm, FREE)
Open Mic Night (Milkie’s, 522 Elmwood Ave, 6-9pm)
Dragula Viewing Party & Drag Show (Milkie’s, 522 Elmwood Ave, 9pm; $10)
Wednesday 3/20
Super Freak: The Rick James Story (Shea’s Buffalo, 650 Main St, 7:30pm, $51-107)
Je’Caryous Johnson stars as the Buffalo-born funk superstar.
Brad Upton (Helium, 30 Mississippi St, Wed/Thu 7:30pm, $33)
Upton has over 160 million views on Dry Bar Comedy, and frequenty toured with the late, great Joan Rivers.
Moon Hooch (Iron Works, 49 Illinois St, 7pm, $20adv/$25, 18+)
This band’s unconventional sound includes them using found objects to make music. With Honeycomb.
Brit Floyd (Kleinhans Music Hall, 3 Symphony Circle, 8pm, $31-161)
This Pink Floyd tribute act re-creates the Division Bell tour, with laser show.
Comedy Open Mic (Milkie’s, 522 Elmwood Ave, 9pm)
The 3 Body Problem (Netflix)
Netflix tries to adapt Liu Cixin’s seemingly unfilmable sci-fi epic, about aliens from a doomed planet contemplating an invasion of Earth.
X-Men ’97 (Disney+)
This new animated series tries to re-create the vibe of the classic 90s animated series.
