The Gusto Blog

A print by Anne Muntges on view during the Buffalo Book Fest on Saturday at the Western New York Book Arts Center.

There's no denying it now -- Infringement has kicked into high gear. Here are today's five best bets (about which I make no promises, and of which you should all feel free to dispute or ignore):

• The first Buffalo Book Fest, an event in which you can actually have you own print made with an actual steamroller, gets going at the Western New York Book Arts Center at 10 a.m. and runs through 5 p.m. Check this out for more.

• How many times during the year will you have an excuse to visit the rooftop of the Broadway Market? I'm guessing not too many, which is why you oughtta head to the Buffablog Broadway Market Rooftop Extravaganza, which starts at 1 and features performances by some of the best-named bands in all Infringement land: Victory for Poland, Sleepy Hahas, The Merchants, Handsome Jack and local favorite The Albrights.

• I have no idea what the Triastedeit Theatre is, but I enjoy the work of Václav Havel, the accomplished essayist and playwright and former Czech president who died late last year. The company performs his one-act play "Audience" at 5 p.m. in Westside Stories at 205 Grant St.

• I could not in good conscience go a year without recommending a performance by master puppeteer Michele Costa, the gifted performer whose lovely and often sad vignettes on life in the city instantly transport the viewer to strange and enchanting places. This year, Costa performs her new story "symphony," the first performance of which takes place at 5 today in the sweaty back room of Rust Belt Books.

• There is probably no better way to end your day than by checking out the "Wham Bam Thank You Slam Part Deux," a jam-packed collection of poetry (slam and otherwise), burlesque performances and, as the kids say, sick beats. That starts at Nietzsche's at 9 p.m. and runs until 3 a.m.

--Colin Dabkowski

Later this week, look for my Gusto story on the upcoming Infringement Festival, which runs in an estimated 72 venues from July 26 to Aug. 5. In the meantime, check out the festival's full (and very much subject-to-change) schedule, just posted at infringebuffalo.org.

--Colin Dabkowski

Cirque du Soleil presents "Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour" at 8 p.m. July 31 in First Niagara Center. The production combines the music of Michael Jackson with the choreography of Cirque du Soleil.

Tickets are $50 to $250 and go on sale at noon June 1 through the box office, online at www.tickets.com or charge by phone at (888) 223-6000.

For more information, visit www.cirquedusoleil.com/MichaelJackson.

Earlier this evening, members of Buffalo's cultural community dominated an hour-long public hearing of Buffalo Common Council. The cultural funding advocates, responding to a city budget that includes no funding for the arts, echoed and in many cases built upon the eloquent arguments of last year's Erie County cultural funding crisis.

Together, they made a strong collective case for the restoration of a small and stable level of funding to benefit the myriad cultural organizations within its limits. Buffalo cut the majority of arts funding out of its budget during the economic downturn that followed the Sept. 11 attacks and has not restored it since --though, after much haggling, it did provide emergency funding to arts groups during last year's county funding crisis.

Some highlights from the evening's remarks follow. (Please excuse the shaky camera work and note that most speakers or their organizations are members of the Greater Buffalo Cultural Alliance.)

Tod Kniazuk, executive director of the Arts Services Initiative:

Fortunato Pezzimenti, producing director of the Irish Classical Theatre Company:

Meg Quinn, artistic director of Theatre of Youth

Laurie Dean Torrell, executive director of Just Buffalo Literary Center:

Randall Kramer, executive and artistic director of MusicalFare Theatre:

Edmund Cardoni, executive driector of Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center:

Jamie Moses, publisher of Artvoice:

Molly Quckenbush, executive director of the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site:

James Lanker, president of the Give for Greatness board and University at Buffalo professor:

--Colin Dabkowski

Easter is here and Buffalo is warming up for Dyngus Day. Like a giant, fat butter lamb, the Polish festival, which happens on Easter Monday, is getting bigger and bigger.

The Dyngus Day Parade begins at 5 p.m. Monday (April 9) in front of Corpus Christi Church, at the corner of Clark and Kent just east of the Broadway Market. The corner bars in the surrounding neighborhood will be hopping with polka music and even a singing bartender or two.

But why wait until then? The doors open today (April 8) at the Dyngus Day Millennium Hotel (2040 Walden Ave., Cheektowaga). At 7:30 p.m. Bishop Edward Grosz kicks off the festivities by blessing the instruments. After that, all heck breaks loose: John Valby sings his Dyngus Day Song, the Piatkowski Brothers play polkas, and Al Crew entertains from 10 p.m. until closing in the lounge.

On Monday (April 9), the hotel is rocking again, from 6 p.m. on into the night. Valby will be back, and you can also enjoy the stylings of Polka Family, Jimmy K and Ethnic Jazz and Joe & The Schmoes.

Admission either night is $10. For info on the Millennium Hotel, call (800) 323-3331.

For other events, check out www.dyngusdaybuffalo.com.

-- Mary Kunz Goldman

Erica Cornejo, Principal Dancer with Boston Ballet, performs as part of Neglia Ballet’s "Spring Suites" on March 24.

Neglia Ballet Artists will welcome the accomplished Argentinian ballet dancer Erica Cornejo and her husband, Carlos Molina, for its spring concert in Buffalo State College’s Rockwell Hall (1300 Elmwood Ave.) at 8 p.m. today (March 24).

The duo, each of whom is associated with the Boston Ballet, will perform pas de deux from the late-19th century ballet "Le Corsaire" and "Spring Waters," a gasp-inducing piece with lots of lifts that is, according to a Neglia release, rarely performed in the United States.

The program of both classical and contemporary works will include an excerpt of George Balanchine’s "Agon" set to music by Stravinsky; "Dohnanyi Serenade," a neoclassical piece for six women choreographed by Neglia executive director Heidi Halt; and "Unnatural Selection," a contemporary piece performed by choreographer James Garber and Marybeth Hansohn.

Lithuanian-born dancers Vilia Putrius and Mindaugas Bauzys will dance a new piece by Victor Plotnikov, as well as a popular pas de deux from "Don Quixote."

Tickets to the concert are $18 to $25, with more information at 447-0401 or www.negliaballet.org.

-- Colin Dabkowski

Doug Varone and Dancers perform tonight (March 24) in the University at Buffalo Center for the Arts.

For the past two weeks, Doug Varone and Dancers has been in residency at the University at Buffalo working to create a new dance piece that will premiere at UB’s Center for the Arts on today (March 24). The company, founded in 1986 and known for its innovative choreography and educational work, created the new piece after spending a week with patients in Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Women and Children’s Hospital as part of the CFA’s ambitious Arts in Healthcare program.

The residency, funded in part by a large National Endowment for the Arts grant, marks the first time the program has had professional touring artists who have worked in local hospitals for an extended period. The dancers’ work with patients was filmed on flip-cams and later used to put together a 10-minute piece. For the new dance and much of its recent work, the company uses an unorthodox concept known as "blind eye choreography," a language- and image-driven approach created by Varone in 2006 in the wake of his hip surgery.

Tickets to today's event, which starts at 8 p.m., are $11.50 to $22.50. More information is available at
645-2787 or www.ubcfa.org.

-- Colin Dabkowski

Give for Greatness Executive Director Megan Callahan speaks in June, 2011 in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Photo by Charles Lewis / The Buffalo News.

Give for Greatness, the fundraising and arts advocacy organization launched last year during the Erie County cultural funding crisis, is hosting its first Students for the Arts festival this afternoon in Kleinhans Music Hall.

The event, meant to highlight the organization's incipient mentorship program and to spread the word about its 2012 fundraising campaign, features work by G4G mentors Jennifer Fitzery, Cassondra Argeros, Patrick Moltane, Jill Greenberg, Jim Bush, Sarah Haykel and Marcus Wise and many local students. Representatives from 18 local cultural groups will also be on hand so local sutdents can learn more about the educational opportunities they offer.

Visit G4G's website for more info.

--Colin Dabkowski

Tod A. Kniazuk, the first executive director of the Arts Services Initiative. Photo by Robert Kirkham / The Buffalo News.

The Arts Servcies Initiative, a broadly based organization (with no website!) that hopes to bring the concerns of arts and culture to the forefront of the Buffalo-Niagara region's agenda, has elected its first full board of directors.

The new board, announced on Tuesday by the organization's executive director Tod A. Kniazuk, contains the usual suspects from Western New York's art world as well as serveral members whose presence on the board speaks to its wider regional ambitions.

First, the more or less usual suspects, who hail mostly from Erie County's active cultural world or from institutions with longstanding arts affiliations:

E. Frits Abell, the preservationist and arts advocate who founded the Buffalo Expat Network and the fledgling Echo art fair.

Laurie Dean Torrell, longtime director of Just Buffalo Literary Center.

Paulette Harris, the accomplished artistic director of the Paul Robeson Theatre.

Sarah JM Kolberg, a consultant and adjunct professor in the University at Buffalo's Media Study department who formerly served on the staff of former New York State assemblyman Sam Hoyt.

Kate Koperski, director of the Castellani Art Museum since 2007.

Randall Kramer, co-chair of the Greater Buffalo Cultural Alliance and artistic and executive director of MusicalFare Theatre.

Gerald Mead, local artist, collector, curator and Buffalo State College professor.

Theresa Quinn, attorney with Magavern Magavern Grimm and local pianist and musical director.

JoAnne Schwartz, a vice president of community reinvestment with M&T Bank.

And now for the slightly less expected members of the inaugural ASI board.

James Allen, director of the Amherst Industrial Development Agency.

Mark McGovern, project manager with the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

Irene Rykaszewski, director of the Lewiston Council on the Arts.

The inclusion of BNMC and AIDA officials speaks to the desire of the ASI's first director to spread the conversation about arts and culture beyond the echo chamber it sometimes inhabits. The inclusion of a Lewiston cultural figure is also a plus sign, in terms of casting a wider net that reaches beyond Erie County. This reads to me like good news, though in the future it would be good to see the balance tilt a little bit more to extra-cultural circles.

--Colin Dabkowski

Boston-based chamber music group Cordis performs with LehrerDance.

LehrerDance, the energetic Buffalo-based dance company with a growing national reputation, is heading off on tour once again. But before it takes off, the company will break in its new show "Kaleidescopica," a collaboration with Boston-based chamber music group Cordis, at 7:30 p.m. today (Feb. 2) in the University at Buffalo’s Center for the Arts, North Campus, Amherst.

The new show is billed as a "sight and sound experience that melds the athleticism of dance, the excitement of multimedia, and the euphoria of music." Lehrer’s company is known for its athleticism (both in the nature of the choreography and the ability of its dancers) and Cordis for its stylized, contemporary take on chamber music -- a combination that is sure to produce unorthodox results.

Tickets are $11.50 to $26.50, with more info at 645-2787 or www.ubcfa.org.

-- Colin Dabkowski