Music is Art: Home at Last! Plus Folkfaces Fest 8, new show announcements, and this week’s must-see gigs

By Jeff Miers
Above: AI Design by Kim Miers

Well, music lovers, we made it. 

The mad dash has slowed down to a more reasonable trot. Which is not to suggest that we aren’t going to be offered an abundance of tantalizing shows in clubs and concert halls – we are, which you’ll see proof of, if you read on. But the frantic vibe – which the great Buffalo musician David Kane once described as a ‘Got a gig – gotta go!” mentality – has mellowed now that the Borderland Festival is in the memory book and Music is Art is in the rearview mirror. To everything, there is a season, and so forth…

Speaking of Music is Art, last weekend’s MIA Festival offered a perfect cap to the Western New York summer concert season of 2024. The 22nd MIA Fest went off without a visible hitch – the weather cooperated, the tireless production team pulled off the miraculous feat of turning the Terminal B Amphitheater and Great Lawn areas of the Buffalo Outer Harbor into a mini-city for all of us freaks and geeks from the Buffalo music & arts community, and our region’s broadly diverse and beautifully eclectic music scene was celebrated by a large, exuberant crowd. 

I’ve attended every Music is Art Fest but one – Covid ruined 2023 for me – over the past 23 years, and as we all know, the locations have changed often. From the early years in the Elmwood Village, to the grounds around what we now know as the AKG Art Gallery and Delaware Park’s Marcy Casino and Rose Garden, to Buffalo Riverworks, with a brief, one-year stop at the Erie County Fairgrounds along the way. (That was my least favorite year. Just sayin’. Music Is Art just doesn’t feel right if it’s not taking place in Buffalo.) 

The Festival has always been an amped-up carnival for us music & art types, no matter the location. But it must be said that, as cool as Buffalo Riverworks and RiverFest Park were for festivals past, about halfway through this year’s festivities, it hit me – Music is Art Fest seems to have found it’s true home at the Outer Harbor. 

The waterfront locale, the sprawling grounds, the awesome nooks and crannies of the space, the vastness of it all – all worked in MIA’s favor, big time. With some 26 stages, such a broad variety of music, art and activities, and such an into-it fanbase, the festival needs a venue that matches the vibe that has always been at the heart of MIA’s mission. In my view, they’ve found it. 

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Folkfaces Fest 8

Thursday, October 3 – Sunday, October 6, Cherry Hill Campground, Darien Center, NY

Summer is over, so bring on the Fall bacchanals!

Here’s a big one. Tyler Westcott and his Folkfaces friends are back with what is surely their broadest and most diverse lineup to date. For their 8th annual celebration of all things grassroots, Tyler and the gang are taking over their favored spot – Cherry Hill Campground, a 63-acre slice of heaven in Darien Center, NY – for 4 days of music, camping, wandering through the gorgeous woods, patronizing worthy vendors, and inevitably, communing with nature and music in whatever manner floats your boat, as long as it harms no one else.

This year’s Fest has a theme – “The Infinite Riddle: Chicken or the Egg?,” a question I feel wholly ill-equipped to answer with anything resembling authority – and as ever, includes a slew of camping options, workshops, an artist village, a kids tent, midnight movies, morning yoga, art installations, a mycology foray, costume contests, raffles, open jams (woot!!!), a volleyball court, horseshoes, community bonfires, hiking trails, and more.

Here’s this year’s full lineup: Consider the Source, Lightnin’ Luke (Artist at Large), Folkfaces, The Plate Scrapers, DiTrani Brothers, Joe’s Truckstop, Sally Babys Silver Dollars, The Bandit Queen of Sorrows, The Crybabies, Cory Grinder & the Playboy Scouts, Hypnotic Clambake, Hunter Burgamy, Dwight Hawkins, Isto, Steel City Jug Slammers, Annie and the Fur Trappers, Well Worn Boot, Billy Scribbles, Flying Object, Cammy Enaharo, Slyboots Circus, C’est Bon Cajun Dance Band, The Steam Donkeys, St. Vith, The Mustard Tigers, Leftover Stew, Tyler Bagwell & Sally Schaefer, The Beard and the Bird, Dr. Jazz & the Jazzbugs, Joseph Elliott Trudgeon, Adam the Traveling Pianist, Shaun Jones, Plant Water, a square dance with Jim Kimball & Geneseo Stringband, and a Sunday Songwriter Circle with Brian Thomas, Tom Robert, Adrianna Noone, Walter, and Julia Monica (of Aperature).

Get your tickets, scope the daily schedule, and explore camping options here.

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David Cloyd “Ocean of Hours” (single) Out Now

Listen now at your preferred music platform.

Ladies & gentlemen, we have a bona fide pop classicist in our midst. Red Sky Warning, written and performed by my friend (and sometime co-conspirator in music education ventures) David Cloyd, mixed and mastered by Blake Morgan, drops in early 2025, but the album’s first single, “Ocean Of Hours,” is out now.

“I’ve dug deep here in Buffalo, raising a family and embedding myself here in this region’s musical landscape,” says Cloyd, who moved to Buffalo from New York City a decade back. “And I’ve loved all of it. But, it’s also meant I’ve had to step back from the ‘artist’ part of me during these years, and that’s been hard, too. That juxtaposition—the love of what I’ve been doing, and the ache of what I’ve been missing—is precisely what this album, and what the song ‘Ocean Of Hours,’ are about.”

Dip your toe into “Ocean Of Hours.” You’re welcome!

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Reconnector presents Buffalodown: Only Human – Honoring Humanity in the Age of AI, featuring Grosh and DJ Sike

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JUST ANNOUNCED:

Drea D’Nur will perform “A Requiem for Our Suffering”at Buffalo AKG to mark close of BEFORE AND AFTER AGAIN 

Friday, October 11, from 7 pm at the Ralph Wilson, Jr. Town Square, Knox Building at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo. FREE

This week, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum announced a special event to mark the close of Before and After Again, an exhibition that responds to the tragic slaying of ten members of Buffalo’s Black community on May 14, 2022.

Since its opening, the exhibition has been visited by tens of thousands of people. To celebrate the exhibit, Drea D’Nur will present a piece blending music, narrative and visuals, entitled “A Requiem for Our Suffering.” The event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit dreadnur.com.

Rubblebucket

Saturday, January 18, 2025, 7 pm at Electric City, Buffalo. $29.50 to $79.50. PreSale Tickets on sale – Code: FALL. General tickets on sale September 27, 10 am.

Funtime Presents:

The Strictly Hip w/ Canadian Tux

Wednesday, November 27, 7 pm at the Town Ballroom, Buffalo. $27.22

“Weird Al” Yankovic: Bigger & Weirder 2025 Tour

Friday, July, 11, 2025, 8 pm at Darien Lake Amphitheater, Darien Center, NY. $40.50-$145.75. PreSale Tickets on sale – Live Nation code: SETLIST. General public tickets on sale September 27, 10 am.

AWOLNATION w/Bryce Fox

Tuesday, April 22, 2025, 7 pm at Town Ballroom, Buffalo. $48.06

Marc Scibilia

Thursday, April 3, 2025, 7 pm at Electric City, Buffalo. $25. PreSale Tickets on sale – Code: FALL. General tickets on sale September 27, 10 am.

King Buffalo w/Handsome Jack

Saturday, December 28, 7 pm at Electric City, Buffalo. $25-$75. PreSale Tickets on sale – Code: FALL. General tickets on sale September 27, 10 am.

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THIS WEEK:

Guabaza: Latin Roots Music

Thursday, September 26, 7 pm at PAUSA art house, Buffalo. $20/$15

Neko Case w/Imaad Wasif

Sunday, September 29, 7 pm at Asbury Hall in Babeville, Buffalo. $48.50.

Live Dead & Brothers

Thursday, September 26, 7pm at Sportsmen’s Tavern, Buffalo. $35

Killer Queen ft/ Patrick Myers as Freddie Mercury

Saturday, September 28, 8 pm at the Center for the Arts Mainstage Theatre, University at Buffalo. $43/$53/$63

Buffalo Jazz Composers Workshop

Friday, September 27, 7 pm at PAUSA art house, Buffalo. $15/$13

Burchfield Penney and Pappy Martin Legacy Jazz Collective Celebrate John Coltrane’s Birthday

Friday and Saturday, September 27 and 28, 7:30 pm at Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo. $35 single day pass/$90 two day pass. Get tickets here.

Friday night: George Caldwell Quintet, featuring special guest Bill Easley (Saxophone), Tim Clarke (Trumpet), Sylvester Sample Jr. (Bass), Sean Jefferson (Drums), and George Caldwell (Piano

Saturday night: Curtis Lundy & Umoja, alongside musicians Jordan Williams (Piano), Abraham Burton (Saxophone), and Jeff “Tain” Watts (Drums).

Both concerts will feature opening performances by the Love Supreme School of Music student and faculty band from the Pappy Martin Legacy Jazz Collective.

Social Distortion (rescheduled)

Tuesday and Wednesday, October 1 and 2, 7 pm at the Town Ballroom, Buffalo. $58.66

Bikini Trill w/ Hip Monarch

Sunday, September 29, 7 pm at Buffalo Iron Works, Buffalo. $20/$25

Opening Night: Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra with Joshua Bell

Saturday, September 28, 7 pm at Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo. $31-$151.50

Thursday Night Music: Son BoriKua

Thursday, September 26, 5:30 pm at the Wilson Town Square, Knox Building at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo. FREE

Buffalo Music Coalition presents

Saturday Sessions: Miller & The Other Sinners Trio

Saturday, September 28, 4 pm at Flying Bison Brewing Company, Buffalo. FREE

Black Sabbitch 

Friday, September 27, 9 pm at Sportsmens Tavern, Buffalo. $20

Trevor Hall w/ Yaima

Tuesday, October 1, 7 pm at Electric City, Buffalo. $39-$89.

Iris Dement w/ Ana Egge

Saturday, September 28, 7 pm at Asbury Hall in Babeville, Buffalo. $45.

Moontricks w/ Will Evans

Wednesday, October 2, 7 pm at Buffalo Iron Works, Buffalo. $18/$20

WNY Dead

Saturday, September 28, 7 pm at Buffalo Distilling Company, Buffalo.

Dean Brownrout’s “No Big Deal” Book Release Party

Monday, September 30, 5pm at Marble + Rye, Buffalo. FREE

Coral Moons w/ Johnny & The Man Kids + Tuesday Nite

Thursday, October 3, 7 pm at Buffalo Iron Works, Buffalo. $15/$20

Thursday Night Live: Saranaide

Thursday, October 3, 5:30 pm at the Wilson Town Square, Knox Building at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo. FREE

Performing with Harry Graser on piano, Brian DeJesus on bass, and Damone Jackson on drums.

Telekinetic Yeti, Bonginator, and local band TBA

Wednesday, October 2, 7 pm at Mohawk Place, Buffalo. $$

Weird Phishes (Radiohead x Phish mashup)

Friday, September 17, 7 pm at Drumroll Stage + Sushi Pub, Geneseo, NY. $10

CODA performing Led Zepplin

Saturday, September 28, 8 pm at The Cove, Depew, NY. $10

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