The Gusto Blog

News Arts Editor Jeff Simon and Pop Music Critic Jeff Miers hosted their weekly live chat at noon today. At 12:30 p.m. they shifted in front of the camera and continued to answer your questions live.

Podcast of video chat:

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Charles Griffasi, the indefatigable arts advocate and community event organizer who has put his stamp dozens of cultural festivals and initiatives over the past half-century, is at it again.

His Cultural Walk of Fame, a sort of idiosyncratic tribute to some of Western New York's most interesting cultural exports, has been an curious fixture on a short stretch of Elmwood Avenue for the past several years. And last Friday, Griffasi and his organization, Cultural Concert International, added 10 new names to the sidewalk tribute.

They include the composer David Shire, Lucille Ball, dancer Tony DeMarco, actress Amanda Blake, television writer Tom Fontana, concert pianist Leonard Pennario, singer Rick James, philanthropist Seymour H. Knox, Jr.

I haven't been by yet to see if the suggestion I made last year -- for Griffasi to hire a copy editor to avoid the sorts of embarrassing mistakes that have appeared in past additions to the walk -- was taken to heart. But typos or no, the Cultural Walk is a welcome addition a busy pedestrian thoroughfare and a worthy tribute to the region's cultural heritage.

--Colin Dabkowski

News Arts Editor Jeff Simon and Pop Music Critic Jeff Miers hosted their weekly live chat at noon today. At 12:30 p.m. they shifted in front of the camera and continue to answer your questions live.

News Arts Editor Jeff Simon and Pop Music Critic Jeff Miers host their weekly live chat at noon today. At 12:30 p.m. they shift in front of the camera and continue to answer your questions live. Continue to submit your questions in the same fashion and watch for a response.

Earlier this evening, many members of Buffalo's arts community gathered in the chambers of the Buffalo Common Council to make their case about the need for restoring city arts funding, which has been absent for more than a decade. The council already voted on a resolution authored by council member Michael LoCurto in support of allocating $300,000 for the Fund for the Arts (an alliance of local foundations), and council members expressed a hope that Mayor Byron Brown would include that funding in his budget.

(If not, Common Council President David A. Franczyk said he thought it would be possible for the council add in that funding and to gather the six common council votes needed should Brown veto that decision. But it hasn't come to that yet. Council member Michael Kearns, for his part, suggested allocating the money outside of the current budget process, which would avoid political tussling among a council and mayor that generally prefer to work together on budget matters.)

As has been typical of these meetings over the past several months, a wide range of cultural personalities made eloquent and forceful cases for investing public money in the arts. The usual suspects were there: Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center Executive Director Edumund Cardoni, Theatre of Youth Executive Director Meg Quinn, Music Is Art Executive Director Tod Kniazuk -- and they did their cause justice. But what set this meeting apart from some of the previous ones was the presence of a couple of impassioned and deeply informed younger voices who expressed what is becoming an increasing realization of Buffalo's very real potential to become a cultural center in the mold of Portland, Ore.

Out of the hour of speeches, these two, by actor Megan Callahan and curator and artist Jeff Maciejewski, are the highlights:

Listen to the full slate of speakers, which together represent an incontrovertible case for funding the arts at a far greater level than they're funded today:

--Colin Dabkowski

Talk movies, TV, books and more with News Arts Editor Jeff Simon.

Johnny Weir at a benefit in October, 2010. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

Johnny Weir -- the reality television star, connoisseur of avant-couture, eschewer of labels, fierce defender of flamboyance and sometime figure skater -- will make a pit stop in Buffalo on Sunday morning to sign copies of his new book "Welcome to My World."

In a one-hour stop beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday at Talking Leaves (951 Elmwood Ave.), Weir will briefly descend from his idling tour bus and greet what is likely to be a large throng of adoring fans. The stop was organized somewhat at the last minute, according to a Talking Leaves release , which also stipulates that "purchase of the book is required to participate in the signing."

Weir, for my money, ranks as one of the more fascinating pop culture personalities to emerge in the last few years. Like a lot of people, I think he initially struck me as incurably obnoxious but pretty quickly grew on me when -- in interviews and other TV appearances -- he emerged as a smart, engaging and insightful guy who nonetheless makes arguable fashion choices.

These comments, which Weir made after he was ridiculed during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, have earned him plenty of respect and have stuck with me and a lot of his fans:





The fact that he's dropping by Buffalo's Talking Leaves for a single hour, signing books, and then zipping out of town, is somehow very Weir. Catch him while you can.

--Colin Dabkowski