Buffalo Rising

The former Highmark Building at 257 W. Genesee Street has snagged a significant tenant.

There’s a new shop in town, and it goes by the name of The Warp Game Store. WNY is no stranger to cool gaming stores, but this one feels rather special.

THE BASICS:? With guest mezzo-soprano Susan Platts, JoAnn Falletta conducts the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in her specialty, four early 20th?century works, three by Stravinsky and one by Ravel at Kleinhans Music Hall, Friday 3/14 at 10:30 am and Saturday 3/15 at 7:30. (716),-885-5000 or?bpo.org (https://bpo.org/) Runtime: 2 hours, including one intermission There’s an ad on TV where Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds wonders why he has to keep making commercials for his Mint Mobile company, expressing surprise that some people still don’t get it.? I feel the same way when talking about JoAnn Falletta conducting music of the early 20th?century.? I’ve used words and phrases such as that this music is “in her wheelhouse,” or “music she was born to conduct,” or that this is her “special sauce” or “expertise.”? When she conducts this sort of music, it doesn’t get much better. So I was a little surprised that Kleinhans Music Hall had empty seats on Friday morning.? Whatever.? It was the first unbelievably warm sunny day after a particularly crappy, icy winter and people wanted to be outside.? And I think that the “Snowbird” BPO subscription package doesn’t resume until after the official start of Spring, later this month.? And the concert featured a classical singer, not a flashy pianist or violinist (although it did feature the BPO’s beloved concertmaster, violinist Nikki Chooi, but you wouldn’t have known that if you weren’t there, and the singing was the smooth mezzo/alto voice of Susan Platts… very hypnotic… but you might not have known that either).?? So what did we hear?? The concert was bookended by two Stravinsky works that really show off the individual talents in the orchestra, the sort of thing that Falletta loves to program.? Although the “Pulcinella Suite” was composed in 1922, Stravinsky used music from the Baroque era (think Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel) as his starting point, and the 40% smaller orchestra reflected that (no percussion battery, no clarinets) while allowing the flute, oboe, bassoon, and French horns to shine (I overheard one audience member whisper “charming”) along with a single trumpet and tour-de-force performances from principal trombonist Jonathan Lombardo and first violinist Nikki Chooi.?? I think that because back in the very early 20th?century, Stravinsky’s ballet scores for “The Rite of Spring” and “The Firebird” gave him a “bad boy” reputation, people over 100 years later might think his music will be “difficult” or “thorny.”? It is anything but.? It is, as mentioned, quite charming.? The concert ends with Stravinsky’s “The Song of the Nightingale,” and before we heard that, Falletta picked up a microphone and walked us through the story of an ailing Chinese emperor, the bird that healed him (played by principal flutist Christine Bailey Davis), and the mechanical bird that couldn’t (played by principal oboeist Henry Ward).

<a class="wp-block-button__link wp-element-button">Article and video by J. Garrett Vorreuter</a> (https://lnkd.in/eyjzci-2) Anyone familiar with Western New York can tell you that the region is a mecca for great antiques stores, but for 60 years Sloan’s Antiques (https://lnkd.in/ef5tMK_D) on Williams Street has withstood the test of time.

Author: Ann Peterson (https://lnkd.in/eumUS8pY) My lifelong love of photography started when I was four years old, following a frog beside a stream on a family vacation. I remember the feeling of wonder and delight as I captured the movements in the life of this tiny creature.

Chalk up another win for the 400 block on Elmwood Avenue. Haraz Coffee House has opened its doors at 471 Elmwood, bringing with it a different type of café offering in the Elmwood Village.

Buffalo has always been a city of good neighbors, a place where community, authenticity, and heart are at the center of everything. That same ethos extends to its dining culture, which has quietly but steadily evolved to include a robust fine dining scene.

The City is planning a $5 million police training facility at 379 Paderewski Drive in the Broadway Fillmore neighborhood and across from the Central Terminal. The new training facility and shooting range would involve renovations to the former American Legion Adam Plewacki Post No. 799 building that is owned by the City.

(https://lnkd.in/eGeh2ZeV Main Street will remain A groundbreaking has been held for The Salvation Army of Buffalo’s redevelopment of its three-acre campus along Main Street in Allentown. The kickoff celebration for the Hope on Main Emergency Family Shelter?is the first of the three-phase, $100 million project.

<a class="wp-block-button__link wp-element-button">Author: Matthew Chavez, NORLIC Project Manager</a> Jane Jacobs said: “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” America’s “Main Street” is a place created by everybody. The creative energy of our country is on full display when we come together to live, work, play, and act neighborly in a shared space.