Buzz Blog

If you clip the coupons from The Buffalo News' Sunday paper one of the surprise dividends you get is, you get to see ads for some mighty unusual things.

Such as this!

Here is a closeup on our favorite part of the ad. Imagine, you are awake in the middle of the night and there this thing is, splashing the time up all over the ceiling.

Buzz also likes how at the top of the ad it says: "Receive a Free Surprise Gift With Every Order."

If we do not all immediately get on the phone and order this clock for everyone on our gift lists, we have all seriously lost our mojo.

We tend to take our treasures for granted here in Buffalo. We do not realize how impressive they look in a new light!

Take the picture up above! It is of the boogie pianist Annie Philippone, sitting at the upright piano, with pianist Jackie Jocko on the right in the foreground. It looks like a painting by Charles Burchfield! You look at it and think: That is the hippest place in the world and how do I get there?

One woman wrote as much on Facebook, where the picture was posted.

"Where is this joint?" she asked.

And of course it is Nietzsche's, 248 Allen St.

Nothing touristy about it, just been there forever, growing like moss, organically over time. Right in our own back yard.

Lucky us!

Spotted, and appreciated, at Airport Plaza...

Is that appetizing or what?

When was the last time you saw that sign?

We will now step back and show it in context...

Buzz has not dined there but we will make it a point to in the near future. That Reuben must be tried.

And, of course, the Zywiec!

Two reasons to love the free market: Tops and Wegmans.

The Wegmans ad makes you want to say "Aaaahhhh." It is so relaxing!

Whereas the Tops ad is screaming at you like a carnival barker.

But even being opposites they compete.  And they go right on ahead and name names! A closeup of the cover of the Wegmans ad:

The bargain turkey price this year is 49 cents a pound. That is at least 10 cents over last year's, a 25 percent increase. We are just saying. 

But why look a gift turkey in the mouth? We will gobble it up.

And give thanks, as always, for our rival supermarkets!

It is invigorating to see Buffalo through the eyes of people here for the first time. One such lucky fellow is Ted Sperling, the Broadway conductor who is in town this weekend to conduct the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Sperling had fun at Friday morning's concert at Kleinhans Music Hall. It is part of the "Coffee Concert" series, meaning that before the concert you jazz yourself up with free coffee, mountainous doughnuts and cute little bagels.

"This is the first time I've been in Buffalo. Also the first time I've given a concert at 10:30 a.m.," Sperling joked, as the crowd, all of us high on caffeine and sugar, laughed happily.

He added: "It's the first time I've ever seen doughnuts this big and bagels this small!"

Whee! Here's an idea: As long as New York is the Big Apple, can Buffalo be the Big Doughnut?

It has a ring to it!

The sunsets have been so stunning this week! Here is a photograph I took yesterday.

Isn't that exotic? It look as if I was photographing a Texas oilfield or something. I was just out by the Boulevard Mall.

What did we do before cell phone cameras?

They put great art within everyone's reach!

The Christmas trees are going up! And it is about time.

Above is the Tree @ the Lafayette. We asked the clerk at the check-in desk when it went up and she said yesterday.

Here is a shot of elves putting our tree up today at The News.

Buzz is not proud of our ability to enjoy Christmas well ahead of the fact. It dismays our friends, the eagerness with which we embrace the season, way too early. We do not mind the commercialism either. We like the tinsel and sparkle. We need that good cheer. Bring it on!

Here are cool decorations @ the Lafayette, over one of the fireplaces.

Last week, speaking of the Lafayette, someone raised an interesting question.

"Did the Lafayette ever look this good?" he mused.

Meaning, did it look this good when it first opened, back in 1901?

We wonder as we wander...

It is fun to track the news from a century ago! On Nov. 6, 1912, The Buffalo Evening News announced that the United States had elected a new president, Woodrow Wilson.

He was the challenger, defeating Republican incumbent William Howard Taft. Taft's vice president, Buzz Blog readers might recall, had just died.

Wilson would be re-elected four years later to a second term. When he ran for re-election his slogan was "He Kept Us Out Of War." Of course it was during his second term that the United States did enter World War I.

Wikipedia tells us that Wilson is the president who played the most rounds of golf -- almost 1,000 rounds, or one every other day.

And now for the Buffalo connection: President Wilson drove a Pierce Arrow.

It is on display in a museum in his hometown of Staunton, Va. ...

... and Wilson loved the car, a Pierce Arrow limousine that the museum reminds people was made here in Buffalo in the plant on Elmwood Avenue.

The Pierce Arrow being a quality car, it still runs.

You know how everyone is telling everyone today to vote?

A co-worker did that for a wrong number.

A guy called her number by mistake and said he was a truck driver, and --

"Did you vote?" she asked him.

"Uh, yes," he said. "I did."

As Buzz has said before, Buffalo's slogan shouldn't be "Talkin' Proud." It should be, simply, "Talkin.'"

This morning after voting, Buzz ran into Airborne Eddy Dobosiewicz, the comedian, Off Beat Cinema TV star, and Dyngus Day organizer. Eddy was driving a big Jeep and was sporting a loud tie patterned with American flags.

He was invigorated with Election Day drama.  Dyngus Day people are all worked up because today is the day the American people finally get to choose. And they are thrilled with the high voter turnout.

So, let your voice be heard! What's it going to be ...

... smoked or fresh?

Vote on their Facebook page.