By Elmer Ploetz

It’s not often you get a chance to hear a Grammy-nominated musician play for free, but that will be the case Saturday (July 12) when Ari Hest comes to the Buffalo Olde Brewery in Lovejoy.

Hest was nominated for Best Folk Album in 2017 for “Silver Skies Blue,” his duet album with Judy Collins. He co-wrote eight of the 12 songs with Collins on what was her first Grammy-nominated album in 40 years. The Grammy winner that year was “Undercurrent” by Sarah Jarosz.

Hest will be performing from 6-9 p.m. at the Buffalo Olde Brewery, 1221 Lovejoy, in Buffalo.

The show is a bit of a passion project from Tom Campbell and brewery owner Bill “Cody” Anderson, two friends from their college days at St. Bonaventure and it’s actually the second time they’ve brought Hest to town. The first time was a year ago.

Campbell said, “I’ve been listening to Ari for years.  Last year, I saw one his Facebook posts that he was doing ‘house parties.’ So, I called him. We talked, he told me he usually played in front of as many as 45 people and I told him I was bringing him to Buffalo.  But soon afterward, I thought to myself, ‘I don’t want to have 45 people at my house.’” 

So he contacted his old friend, Anderson, who offered the Brewery as a venue.

 “We had around 40 people there last year, including an older couple who had also been a fan of his for years who drove in from Batavia.  Ari was great, he indulged me and played a lot of his old songs during his first set, which I picked out myself. His second set was amazing, he even did a Beatles song and Peter Gabriel’s ‘Sledgehammer’!”

The Buffalo Olde Brewery has a weekly line-up of live music on its Beer Garden stage, and Campbell said Anderson told him, “‘Whatever you want to do.”

RELATED MEDIA: Ari Hest playing live in 2024

A Mulligan’s Brick Bar art pop-up

Meanwhile, a second pop-up display is popping up at the Buffalo History Museum. Jean Claude Wouters is curating another set of works at the museum.

This one is dedicated to pieces inspired by Mulligan’s Brick Bar, the long-running Allen Street watering. hole that burned in January. This follows the January show featuring works related to the Old Pink, the other legendary dive bar on Allen Street that had burned.

Wouters said this show features works from the late Mickey Harmon, Mary Begley, Michael Mulley, Debb Orrange, Jesse Zuefle, Brianna G. Robinson, Paul Slocum, Alphonso Butlak IV and Johnny Mayhem.

The opening reception is Wednesday, July 16, at the Buffalo History Museum (1 Museum Ct.) from 5 to 8 p.m. The works will be on display for an as yet undetermined amount of time.

A circus at Wilkeson Point? Why not?

We’ll have more information closer to the event, but the Flotsam River Circus will be anchored (although that might not be exactly the right nautical term) Aug. 1, 2 and 3. It will start at 7 p.m. each night.

Led by self-described ‘accordion troubadour” Jason Webley, it’s part of a journey across New York State celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal. It features a Taiwanese balance artist, an aerialist, a juggler, more musicians and who knows what else. The Wilkeson Pointe shows are the first three as they embark across the Canal itself, winding up with shows in New York City in September.