Notes & Events for Social Connection & Beloved Community

• Buffalodown at The Cave this Thursday!
• Musings on Music – DJ Sike and his like are true musicians
• Featured Events – 40 this week, loving the variety, appreciate submissions!
• Listening Links – all local this week
• Reading Rundown – submissions welcome here as well!

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

Happy Monday, y’all! Please join us this Thursday, September 26th, at The Cave, for our third Buffalodown event!

Buffalodown: Only Human will uplift humanity amidst the rise of AI, led by the band Grosh and inspired by Only Human author and technology professional Frank Gullo.

The members of Grosh are preparing a unique set of both original songs and new covers inspired by Only Human, having embraced this theme and Frank’s sci-fi novella about the struggle between humanity and the rise of AI, as told through one of the last human quarterbacks in a future football league dominated by robots.  

Doors will open at 6pm for an hour of open social time, followed at 7pm by the Buffalodown talk show featuring conversations with Frank and advocate India Walton, a roundtable on the rise of AI, and performances by Grosh and DJ Sike. After a brief intermission, Grosh will take us home with this one-time-only set for the occasion, including big hits and deep cuts befitting this theme.

Advance tickets are available through Reconnecter paid membership or directly through The Cave, and pending capacity at the door.

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Become a supporting member of Reconnecter and receive event tickets!

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 Musings on Music

A case for the DJ being a musician

In the spirit of honoring humanity in the age of AI, one of the conversations we’ll have as part of the Buffalodown this Thursday at The Cave will feature DJ Sike and the debate around DJing and musicianship.

There’s a common and disputable claim that a DJ is not a musician; first, consider that DJing is one of the five elements of hip hop, an entire culture built around music as innovated by DJ Kool Herc in the Bronx in 1973, when he started mixing different funky “breaks” in records through two turntables to encourage dancing, which led to breakdancing and MCing aka rapping, two other core elements of hip hop. If one considers the core elements of jazz music as improvisation and syncopation, then observes the same two elements in DJing and MCing, one can clearly see the hip hop DJ as a musician. Of course, a deeper dive reveals that there are many kinds of DJs, some of whom like the OG Kool Herc use turntables in ways comparable to guitarists and such – thus the term, turntablist, and case in point, Buffalo’s own DJ Sike, who will be performing and discussing the subject this Thursday at the Buffalodown.

I’ve enjoyed Sike’s evolution over the past decade-plus from a low-key cratedigger – a term for DJs who dig through crates for golden old vinyl at record stores, thrift shops, estate sales and on – to a renowned party presence and first-call turntablist for bands and solo musicians seeking that unique kind of collaboration that a DJ can bring, from providing a backbeat to scratching as a lead instrument.

Two leading examples of Sike as a straight-up member of a band are the Vitamin D band led by VIn DeRosa and the Damone Jackson Outcome, the latter heavy on improv with a weekly residence on Tuesdays at Central Park Grill.

Sike is gonna show us a few things on Thursday at The Cave, and talk about it, too – we’ve long been having enlightening conversations about the craft and his adventures in DJing in Buffalo, and I’m excited to carry these into the Buffalodown talk show setting, join us!

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Become a paying member to help us present and promote Buffalo music and art!

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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.

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Become a paying member to help us promote community events!

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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.

• Roadblocks to Opportunity: Fighting Transportation Inequality – WBFO What’s Next – “Transportation inequality restricts access to jobs and key services for community members. GObike and the Coalition of Economic Justice are two groups that aim to change the system through their transit initiatives and legislative recommendations.”
• Reconnecting to Prevent Social Unrest – WBFO What’s Next – 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.

• “Freedom to read,” Banned Books Week at Buffalo & Erie County Public Library – WBFO – “Banned Books Week kicks off today – with a wide range of events sponsored by the Buffalo and Erie County Library. Their mantra for the week is “freedom to read” – as book bans hit a national high last year with over 4-thousand instances according to PEN America.”
• Buffalo to begin adding fluoride to public drinking water for first time in 9 years – The Buffalo News – “…for more than seven years, Buffalo officials did not adequately alert residents that fluoride was no longer added to the public water. Its only notice to Buffalo’s more than 200,000 water customers was a sentence in small type on the Water Board’s annual water quality report.”
• “Sostre vs. The State” – Challenger News – “…organized by the Justice for Geraldine and Martin Campaign, the Progressive Book Club 716, and Prisoners are People Too, Inc. 1412 Jefferson Avenue marks the site of Sostre’s former Afro Asian Book Shop, and where Sostre and Geraldine (Robinson) Pointer were wrongfully arrested on July 15th, 1967. “Sostre vs. The State” continues the Justice for Geraldine and Martin’s push to call upon Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Keane (D) to review and vacate Pointer and Sostre’s convictions.”

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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!