Notes & Events for Social Connection & Beloved Community

By Seamus Gallivan

• Beau Fleuve Peaks This Week
• Musings on Music – Tedeschi Trucks Band to play Artpark…and Sportsmen’s?!
• Featured Events – 40+ this week, submissions welcome!
• Listening Links – Bookmarking The Public Good
• Reading Rundown – Humboldt & Scajaquada in the news again

Welcome to the Reconnecter Roundup! This free weekly email connects people, places, and causes by featuring events, news, and notes.

Happy Monday, y’all! Still two weeks of Buffalo summer event abundance, see the event section below for proof!

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Beau Fleuve Celebration Keeps on Growing

Shout out to Lindsey Taylor, founder of the nonprofit Beau Fleuve Music & Arts Celebration, which has grown over the past eight years from an ambitiously diverse summer festival into a year-round community lifestyle brand that’s “Culturally Activated & Community Engaged,” peaking this weekend with a series of events leading up to the Sunday festival at the Central Terminal – where Lindsey moved the event from Silo City a few years back and now consults on overall events such as concerts, film screenings and a fitness bootcamp.

Everyone’s invited to the Beau Fleuve cookout; looking forward to seeing kindred spirits at Burchfield Penney on Thursday for a reception recognizing a bunch of Buffalonians (including myself) for our work in community, and the main event at the terminal on Sunday – most likely catch me by the live music stages and Libby’s Lemonade Stand, all welcome with a ticket.

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 Musings on Music

Tedeschi Trucks Band Returns to Artpark..with Side Show at Sportsmen’s?!

Tedeschi Trucks Band is my musical heaven – a literal marriage both of people and bands, as respectively renowned bandleaders Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks joined forces in 2010 to form a 12-piece powerhouse of sound complete with six singers, a horn section and double drummers, united in spirit through songs about love, truth and belonging.

Fortunately for us in Western New York, TTB has a long and beloved history here, thanks in great part to Dave Wedekindt, interim president of Artpark – where the band will return on Tuesday for a show with tickets still available – who detailed his decades-long relationship with Derek in this recent episode of the Why Music Matters show with Jeff Miers, beginning with being one of the first to book Derek’s band in a big venue after he went out on his own from the Allman Brothers Band in which he was raised as a touring teen phenom.

I had the privilege of reviewing that show in 2003 for The Buffalo News, and was inspired to open it with a quote by Carlos Santana: “When you can play from your heart, you are being open and honest. And when that is the case, the instrument becomes the vehicle by which you can reach others with the music.”

From there I added, “If anyone today exemplifies Santana’s vision of building that vehicle from all the world’s music, throwing away any maps, and carving new roads to unknown destinations, it’s the Derek Trucks Band … He can be so soothing with one note and strike powerfully with the next, all beautifully fluid and delivered with cruise-control ease.”

Having witnessed their show this past Friday in Canandaigua, I can testify that their musical vehicle for love and truth and belonging is running as smoothly as any I’ve ever seen, and I’d love to see folks reading this in person at Artpark this Tuesday! Simply put, they’re everything I could ever want in a band and concert, and I hope you’ll see them with me and agree

… But wait, there’s more!

Last night, the Sportsmen’s Tavern family posted on Facebook, “Last minute show addition THIS MONDAY NIGHT. Members of Margo Price’s Band, as well as members of Tedeschi Trucks Band, will be performing a free show at [updated to 9pm]. Doors 5pm. They’re playing for tips so bring some cash. Hope to see you there. Could be really fun night!”

According to Sportsmen’s patriarch Dwane Hall, the connection came through Hall’s longtime Stone Country bandmate Randy Bolam, who now lives in Virginia and hangs in Nashville often, where he met Margo’s new bassist, Alec Newman. After making the Buffalo connection, Alec asked Randy where his they could find a pickup gig on their off night here, and was excited at the Sportsmen’s idea, having played there before with Kelsey Waldon.

I’ll write more next week about the TTB-Buffalo connections that already run deeper – even beyond Derek’s great uncle Virgil Trucks pitching for the Bisons back in the day! – for now, looking forward to seeing folks at Sportsmen’s tonight and Artpark tomorrow!

 

And all things connected, here’s the Reconnecter house band at our Buffalodown back in April with a glorious cover of TTB’s “Bound for Glory.”

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Events in the Week Ahead

Thanks to all submitting their events! Welcoming event submissions with a flyer and link to seamus@reconnecter.org.

Listening Links

As we prepare to launch the Reconnecter podcast and a section for podcasts on our website, adding weekly listening links that align with the intentions of Reconnecter.

Fighting Against Injustice Through Theatre with Ujima – The Public Good – “How are the creative outlets of theater and the arts a direct pathway to healing and justice for subjugated populations? On this summer High Road series episode, our guests, Gabriella McKinley and High Road Fellow Daniela Gloster from Ujima Company Inc., will discuss the salient and creative work Ujima is producing around injustice and carceral systems. ”
What’s Next? | Reconnecting to Prevent Social Unrest – WBFO – Leaving this link up for a while, as I’m honored to have been invited onto this profound program – this went real deep from the jump, please listen! Here’s how they described it: “Seamus Gallivan’s latest endeavor is Reconnecter, a ‘social connection space’ that aims to bring people together in person and online ‘by illuminating the ties that bind us.’ That means music showcases, variety shows, and media elements — all to help provide a need that he believes can help prevent social unrest. Gallivan sits down with Thomas O’Neil-White to speak about the power of reconnection and his plans for the new project.”

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Reading Rundown

With intent to connect, inform, and inspire action, every Reconnecter Roundup closes with links to other sources and stories that deserve more attention. Always welcoming links to read and share at seamus@reconnecter.org.
New map shows areas of Buffalo with worst air pollution – The Buffalo News – “Buffalo neighborhoods such as Hamlin Park, Masten Park and Kingsley around the intersection of the Kensington and Scajaquada expressways are among the most burdened by high levels of air pollution, according to the DEC’s data.”
September Scajaquada Speaker Series – Buffalo Rising – “The Black Rock Riverside Alliance (BRRAlliance) has planned, and is hosting, a free speaker series at the Burchfield Penney Art Center on Tuesday evenings in September.”
Infographic: Wealth and poverty in our communities – Investigative Post – “Census data shows Buffalo continues to struggle with high poverty. Over a dozen suburban Erie County towns boast incomes above New York State’s median household income.”
100 years ago, social clubs were everything. Now young Latinos carry them forward – NPR – “…the small-but-beloved spaces functioned as mutual aid networks.”

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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 Monday’s Reconnecter Roundup, and reach out with any feedback, all ideas welcome – we’re just getting started!