Stories & Events for Social Connection

• Honoring 5/14
• Musings on Music: Porchfest is peak social connection
• Featured Events: 20+ this week, encouraging submissions!
• Listening Links: thanks for the submissions!

 Welcome to the Buffalodown, thank you for your attention!

This is a solemn week for Buffalonians, as we mark three years since the May 14th terrorist attack on our Black community at Tops on Jefferson.

I’ll remember that day in 2022 for its glorious start full of sunshine and community events (I’d attended four by the time I got the news) interrupted so mercilessly by a flood of texts with the news; I rushed to the scene on some sort of impulse and encountered in the crowd an acquaintance staring with concern into the sea of first responders and yellow tape, and informing him of the inside info that I’d received – that one of the ten community members murdered was one of his family and someone I knew, retired Buffalo Police Lieutenant and Tops security guard Aaron Salter.

The days and weeks that followed were a whirlwind of grief and solidarity – toward the latter, I’m grateful that the Solidarity Ride I helped organize is ongoing and growing, see the event listing for multiple flyers. While overall these expressions lessen over time as mainstream attention moves on, we are presented with a call to conscience, especially as we mark the anniversary – who among us is honoring the victims? What have we done to address the root causes of this calamity? How can we help each other heal?

Please consider these two answers:

• Shoutout to the Clementine Gold Group for leading a 5/14 Day of Service and Remembrance, “inviting our community to engage in both meaningful action and communal connection” with an array of activity from 9am-7pm. This interview on BTPM NPR brings light to the inspiration behind the effort.
• Shoutout to Mark Talley, son of one of those ten fallen souls, Geraldine Talley, for channeling his grief into creating the nonprofit Agents for Advocacy and inviting me to join its board of directors, a service I’m beginning this month and encouraging everyone to support however they see fit – from donating your time, talents and treasure, to inviting Mark into new communities to share his mission “to create a world where every individual, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or background, can live free from fear and inequality.”There are many ongoing ways to get involved, including another event this 5/14 listed below. Learn more about it all straight from Mark in this heavy interview with Jillian Hanesworth earlier this week on BTPM What’s Next.

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Musings on Music

Porchfest is peak social connection

Folks who’ve subscribed here since this time last year might recall my feelings and experiences about Porchfest – in short, it’s peak social connection, especially for lovers of music. I enjoyed pairing performers with porches for one of the earliest local editions of it in the Elmwood Village, and now as a resident of the neighborhood consider it one of my favorite days of the year – floating about a walkable neighborhood to the tune of live music in every direction surrounded by welcoming residents and wide-eyed visitors makes Porchfest perfect for feeling part of a community.

A concept that started elsewhere in our country has made its way here as many perfect party concepts do – once people in this party town pick up on it, they go all in, and thus we now have more annual Porchfests beyond Elmwood including South Buffalo, new in Parkside this year, and many surrounding towns and cities, all of which I’ll include in the event listings as they come.

Two reasons I’ll pass on spotlighting any specific porches to seek out: there are some 74 with more than 200 performers, and a big part of the fun for me is just floating toward whatever draws my ears and eyes, so that’s my recommendation for anyone planning to attend. Please say hey if you see me there!

Photo by Newell Nussbaumer. Enjoy below a few videos I took from Porchfest 2024

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Events in the Week Ahead

Thanks to all who’ve submitted their events! Welcoming submissions with a flyer and link to seamus@reconnecter.org.

Visit and subscribe to The Buffalo Hive for the comprehensive community events calendar we’ve been calling for!

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Listening Links

hanks to the local folks below for submitting their latest podcasts!

Day of service planned for 5/14 mass shooting anniversary – BTPM NPR

Remembering May 14th: Honoring Lives Lost & Community Reflections – BTPM NPR – “First, Jillian Hanesworth is joined by Mark Talley, who lost his mother Geraldine Talley in the shooting. The two discuss processing grief, and the importance of allowing the community to grieve in its own way. Next, Ekua Mends-Aidoo sits down with Garnell Whitfield, Former Buffalo Fire Commissioner and Candidate for Buffalo Mayor. The two discuss how resilience, leadership, and empowering others lead to growth, and the impact of his mother, Ruth Whitfield, who passed away in the tragedy.”

Breaking Excuses & Embracing AI with Larry Mietus – TechXY Turbo – Many will recall TechXY Turbo host Frank Gullo from our Buffalodown: Only Human event last year, in which we explored the emergence of AI and Frank’s fun and related novella, Only Human, about one of the last human quarterbacks in a future football league dominated by robots. In this debut of his TechXY Turbo podcast, “Larry shares insights on AI’s role in business strategy, the future of work, and the biggest tech-driven transformations happening today.

In the Flamingo Lounge with Tsavo Highway – “Emily Scripps and Peter Kern from Tsavo Highway visited the Flamingo Lounge on May 1st. An engaging conversation along with music ensued. Their goal is simple: to create memorable experiences through authentic performances and a shared love of sound.”

In the Flamingo Lounge  Seamus Gallivan – who wants to listen to a whole hour of me rambling?! Seriously grateful for Greg and this historical document of Buffalo’s music scene, now well past this 150th episode of open-ended stories behind the scenes – hopefully you’ll find this episode enjoyable, especially if you’ve bothered to subscribe to Reconnecter and read this far into it.

  The Emergency is Here – The Ezra Klein Show – “The president of the United States is disappearing people to a Salvadoran prison for terrorists: a prison built for disappearance, a prison where there is no education or remediation or recreation, a prison where the only way out, according to El Salvador’s justice minister, is in a coffin.

“The president says he wants to send ‘homegrown’ Americans there next.

“This is the emergency. Like it or not, it’s here.”

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Thank YOU for reading this far and being part of it all – extra thanks to everyone supporting this work with a membership at www.reconnecter.org!

Please share with friends to sign up for next week’s Buffalodown, and reach out with any feedback, all ideas welcome!