The Gusto Blog

Josh Pacino from The Honesty Theatre performs as Ulysses Penniworth in "Reader's Theater" in Burning Books on July 27, 2012 as part of the Buffalo Infringement Festival.

The Infringement Festival has its roots in theater, and this year's festival features any number of short, one-off theater performances by little known troupes and individuals. The Honesty Theatre, about which I suspect we'll be hearing a lot more in the near future, recently relocated to Buffalo from Batavia. I just took in its first local performance at Burning Books (a radical bookstore and reading room on Connecticut Street that is well worth checking out on its own), a presentation of a short piece called "Reader's Theater."

When actor Joseph Mallison, as one Nigel Cunningham, announced that the piece would consist of readings from overlooked works of literature, delivered in "almost inexcusably delicious stentorian tones," I was intrigued. When he pulled out the diary of one 13-year-old Jessica Townsend and began reading dramatic interpretations of her teenage angst, I was hooked. The totally tongue-in-cheek affair went on to include readings from a hilariously anachronistic '60s manual on how women should conduct themselves and excerpts from actual Craigslist personal ads. I shot a little clip, which doesn't exactly give you a sense of how well this stuff is written (as a kind of pastiche of Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward), but it's worth watching regardless:

This was for sure one of the funniest bits of theater I've seen on any stage locally this year. Sadly, it won't be performed again during the festival, but you can catch The Honesty Theater, founded by Heather Rae Ackerman, on Aug. 24 at Buffalo East (1410 Main St.) performing their original piece "Games." Which I highly suggest you do.

--Colin Dabkowski

Isaac Johnson, Neil Coletta, and Tyler Brown play a game during January's "Improvising Consciousness Medicine Show." The symposium on human consciousness returns from July 27 to Aug. 1, 2012 in the Manny Fried Playhouse and Burning Books.

Today is the second of 11 days of Infringement. If you've recovered from last evening's boisterous opening ceremonies in Nietzsche's, here are a few tips for what to catch today:

• At 6 p.m. in the Manny Fried Theatre, the University at Buffalo's Intermedia Performance Studio presents its "Improvising Consciousness Medicine Show." The first one of these strange mashups of brain theory, gaming and interactive theater went down in January. And this one, according to a release, will be "aided by a real alien intelligence and autonomous robots" and challenge audiences "to uncover the secret future of their own minds."

•Poetry is always a big part of Infringement, and this year one of the highlights is sure to be Molly Burhans' performance of her original poetic epic "Peach Tree Galaxy." I caught some of that at the Infringement preview earlier this month, and you can see it in this video I shot. But better yet, head out to SP@CE 224 at 6:30 p.m. today to see Burhans do her thing in person. And if you miss it, no worries, because she'll be giving another performance at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday in Burning Books.

•This suggestion is three-in-one, just because each seems like a must-attend event. Art openings featuring live music and all sorts of interdisciplinary events will consume the city tonight in these three way cool off-the-beaten-track art spaces: Filigree's, featuring comics and more by Sal Sciandra and performances from Quest for Friends, Monoculture and The Tins; Main (St)udios, featuring 20 Fingerprints, Chow Monstro/Chow Art, Living Art, Como Agua and lots more; and Wasteland Studios, an awesome art space with a head-spinning variety of art by many local underground artists, including signs from the Occupy Buffalo movement. 

• In the first of several Infringement performances, local fire-dancing troupe Pyromance presents its show "A Buffalo Pyromance" in Days park starting at 9 p.m. Checking out the troupe is always a fine way to wind down from a busy day of Infringement -- or in the case of tonight's performance, warming up for a trip to Nietzsche's for the:

• 2012 Infringement Pirate Parrrty, a costume-themed affair featuring a half-dozen or so bands, including Ginger James, Sparky Sings a Song, RONALDRAYGUN, Chester Copperpot and Randle and the Late Night Scandals. That gets going at 10 p.m. and runs till the wee hours. Costumes get you $2 off the $5 cover.

--Colin Dabkowski

First-time Infringement performer and blues musician Peter Sorkin first caught my attention during the Infringement Festival preview event at Merge earlier this month. Here he is at Cafe Taza tongue-in-cheekly introducing and playing his song "The Residential Treatment Facility Blues": 

 --Colin Dabkowski

I spotted this very cool Infringement sculpture (presumably based on this year's official Infringement artwork by Dan Zeis) this afternoon outside the Infringement venue El Buen Amigo. Next to the sculpture are El Buen Amigo founder Santiago Masferer, right, and a friend.

--Colin Dabkowski

Shea Akers of Pyromance does her thing in Days Park during last year's Infringement Festival. Photo by Dave Pape.

Today marks the first day of the 2012 Buffalo Infringement Festival, an 11-day, city-consuming carvnival of weird that includes just about every type of cultural activity imaginable. Wading through the fest's 800 performances, 144 music acts, 76 multidisciplinary shows, 78 visual art exhibitions and 14 films -- all listed on the festival website -- can be daunting, to say the least.

So each morning until the last day of the festival on Aug. 5, check in here for my own personal recommendations (sometimes based on past experience, sometimes on advance word, and sometimes on total guesswork) of five Infringey activities to check out during the day. Keep in mind that half the fun of Infringement is wandering around Allentown and into events that no one told you would be especially promising, but which wind up blowing your mind. Do feel free to ignore these suggestions if you are so inclined, or to leave comments in the blog about things you've seen, liked or recommend.

Also make sure to bookmark The Gusto Blog and to check back regularly for photos, videos, interviews, mini-reviews and other content of an Infringement-tinged nature throughout the festival.

I'll post today's five picks below. Happy Infringement everyone!

•Thing number one on any Infringer's schedule, whether newbie or veteran, oughtta be tonight's Opening Ceremonies at Nietzsche's, a venue that is more or less the nerve center of the festival. The evening will feature performances by a dozen or so troupes and/or bands, ranging from the Wham Bam Poetry Troupe and the Buffalo Burlesque Collective to rock/hip-hop act Lazy Ass Destroyer and "new wave electro dance rock" outfit Quest for Friends. If you can't find something you like at this party, which gets goin' at 8 p.m., you might as well quit while you're ahead.

•Peter Sorkin, a Dylanesque blues guitar player who recently moved to Buffalo to work as a community organizer, turned in an awesome bite-sized performance during the Infringement preview event at Merge. See him play in the video I put together here. Luckily, Sorkin plays on a lot of dates and in a lot of places during this year's festival, the first of which is tonight at 5 p.m. at Cafe Taza, the pint-sized coffee shop and artsy hangout on Elmwood Avenue near Allen Street.

•"Incident at Deer Lick," a touching, pitch-perfect performance of a short story written and delivered in the style of Mark Twain by the inimitable Franklin LaVoie, has popped up at Infringement before (I wrote about it two years ago) and is an inarguable must-see. Head to the Crane Library at 7 tonight to check out the first performance, or see the Infringement site for the remaining four, through Aug. 4.

•Sketch-comedy duo Todd Benzin and Don Gervasi are -- I can vouch for this personally -- always good for a minimum of three guaranteed, genuine belly laughs. Their suggestion-driven act Babushka!, an Infringement spin-off of their successful comedy troupe Eclectic Improv has been a festival staple for years. The first of its many 2012 performances takes place tonight at 8 in Burning Books, the radical reading room on rapidly reviving Connecticut Street.

•Can't make it to the fest today? That's cool, because Buffalo State's radio station, 91.3 FM WBNY, is hosting a whole slew of bands throughout the day from 7 p.m. all the way through to 2:30 a.m. This is an excellent chance to check out some new local music, including Final Conspiracy, Alex Berkley, Erin Sydney Welsh, Drooka, Keith Michaud, Autoverse, ZFX and Kari Jo's Nightmare.

Please feel free to drop your own suggestions in the comments section, and Happy Infringement one and all.

--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

UPDATE: I'm told via Twitter that the mini-drama that erupted yesterday amid organizers of the Buffalo Infringement Festival has blown over. This from the official @InfringeBuffalo Twitter account: "We hit our fund raising goal, so that one guy (and anyone else) who complained about us asking for money, can shush now :)" Whew.

Just now, Infringement Festival oragnizer Janna Willoughby-Lohr made this posting on the public Facebook page of the Buffalo Infringement Festival:

In response to complaints about fundraising requests for Buffalo Infringement:

To ALL Buffalo Infringement Festival artists and performers:

If you are not willing to donate your time and effort to make this festival possible and you're not willing to donate your money to make this festival possible then you are NOT a part of making this festival happen and you should own up to it and not participate.

Continue reading "UPDATE: Discontent in the ranks of Infringement" »

On Thursday, the intrepid organizers of the Infringement Festival hosted a preview event at Merge restaurant on Delaware Avenue. The evening featured snippets of poetry, music, dance and descriptions of events coming up during this year's festival, slated for July 26 to Aug. 5. Here's a clip of some highlights from Thursday's presentation: 

--Colin Dabkowski

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

Aaron Water performs during "ALTFringement" tonight.    Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News

If you missed this year’s mammoth Infringement Festival, which took over the streets of Allentown back in early August, fear not. For a cool $5, you can catch a healthy sample of some of the festival’s more curious and wonderfully strange acts in "ALTFringement," a variety show and fest fundraiser set for tonight (Dec. 17) in the Alt Theatre (255 Great Arrow Ave., third floor).

The vibe of this Infringement event (one of several held throughout the year) is decidedly dancey, with performances from the always-moving Aaron Water, the Miraculous Rhythms of Sankofa with bellydance troupe Euphraxia, the Mone Dance Project and music from the Noise Project, Poverty Hymns and DJ Soma. The evening also will feature performances from members of the newly formed Buffalo Burlesque Collective, a consortium of Buffalo’s various and innovative nouveau-burlesque troupes.

The party gets started at 8, with more information at www.infringebuffalo.org.

-- Colin Dabkowski