The featured event for the week is Saturday's The Big BANG! at Evening Star Concert Hall.
13.8 billion years ago, a large-scale evolution started taking place in a moment called the BIG BANG, and we're all products of the whole history of the Universe up until this point. So Nathan Bluerock has decided to have all of us come together at this huge birthday party/multi-genre event to celebrate our existences! Come colorful. Come Extravagant. Because they do this to give outcasts a space to feel at home and express themselves, network, grow, and build the love community. To inspire thought and motivate action. To give a stage to the demonstrators of existence. And to DANCE LIKE CRAZY, whether it is to remember or to forget.
Featuring:
OPEN MIC from 7-8 p.m.
Your HOST(ess) with the most(ess), Tyreese Maye
The Stand Up Comedian Called Travis
Arlowe Price's FREAK SHOW as Zombie Santa
The Hypnic Jerks, Grace Of Faults, & Big Tim will be performing
Wet Paint's EP release and ROCK N ROLL performance
DJ FE'NETIKS, Loki Dnb, Basha, & Pulsejunkie B2B DJ Oddity on the decks
Greg Burt is a Concert Promoter/Sound Guy/Music Supporter/Keyboardist/etc. He can be reached at Greg@FTMPEvents.com. For the full FTMP show calendar, visit www.FTMPEvents.com.
NIAGARA FALLS -- Kiefer Sutherland must have liked it here. Having performed at Buffalo Iron Works over the summer, the actor-turned-country-singer is making a quick re-visit in the form of a Feb. 18 concert at Seneca Niagara Casino & Resort.
Tickets are $45 each for the intimate Bears Den setting at the casino, where Sutherland will showcase his debut album “Down In A Hole.” The country music collection is the culmination of what he calls the “closest thing I’ve ever had to a journal or diary.” In addition to the Iron Works show in May, Sutherland's tour has included performances at this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards and on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Sutherland has been a professional actor for over 30 years, starring in movies such as "Stand By Me," "The Lost Boys," "Young Guns," "Flatliners," "A Few Good Men." He is perhaps most known these days for his award-winning role as Jack Bauer on the hit FOX series "24." Sutherland now stars on the hit ABC series "Designated Survivor."
Unknown to many during the course of his career, Sutherland has taken on other vocations with the same kind of dedication and commitment - one of those being music. In 2002, Sutherland, with his music partner and best friend Jude Cole, began a small record label called Ironworks. The goal of this label was to record local musicians and distribute their music at a time when the music industry was going through a monumental shift. Some of their artists included Rocco DeLuca and the Burden, HoneyHoney and Billy Boy On Poison.
In early 2015, Sutherland played Cole two songs he had written and wanted to record as demos for other artists to record. Cole responded positively to the songs, encouraged Sutherland to record them, and the album grew organically from those recordings. Two songs became four and four grew into six, until Cole suggested that they make a record. The collaboration resulted in Sutherland's debut album, "Down In A Hole."
He hit the road for the first time earlier this year, and has performed the album live across the country.
"All of these songs are pulled from my own personal experiences," Sutherland said. "There is something very satisfying about being able to look back on my own life, good times and bad, and express those sentiments in music."
He continued, "As much as I have enjoyed the writing and recording process, I am experiencing great joy now being able to play these songs to a live audience, which was something I hadn't counted on."
Purchase tickets at 8 Clans or the Players Club Store inside Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino, online at www.ticketmaster.com, at any Ticketmaster location, or order by phone by calling 1-800-745-3000.
More information is available by calling 1-877-8-SENECA (1-877-873-6322) or visiting www.SenecaCasinos.com.
CANANDAIGUA -- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will make a stop in Western New York in July as part of their 40th anniversary tour.
The July 2 show at CMAC offers lawn tickets beginning at $40, and two levels of pavilion tickets for $95 and $140. Doors open at 6 p.m. for the 7:30 p.m. show. If lawn tickets remain they will be sold for $45 on the day of the show.
Tickets will be available beginning Friday at Ticketmaster – online, charge by phone 800-745-3000 and ticketmaster outlets. Tickets will also be available at The Blue Cross Arena Box Office.
Kill the Clock is a local, four-piece pop punk outfit from Buffalo. Their new EP "To All My Friends and Family" is upbeat and energetic, with complex rhythms and a professional-sounding mix (with one exception, as noted below). You can hear many influences of their genre in their music, which calls to mind Good Charlotte, Brand New, Fall Out Boy, Blink-182, Relient K, and Stiff Little Fingers.
Opening track “Fighting the Weather” features great harmonies and backing vocals and is the best mixed track on the EP -- too bad it's only 55 seconds long. It feels like as soon as it starts to grab you, it abruptly ends. I would have loved to have heard this song fleshed out some more; as it stands, it feels like an unfinished segment of a song. The second track, “Rookie with Potential,” pushes forward with cool, distorted fuzzy bass and driving drums, while “Welcome Back Weekend” inspired me to do some air-drumming in my living room. “The Red Flower” ends with some tight lead guitar hooks but isn't very catchy or memorable on the whole. The title track closes out the EP. The mix seems a little muddy for this track, as the drummer's toms sound completely lost and the vocals are too loud; otherwise it's another not-particularly-memorable track.
To All My Friends and Family is upbeat and catchy. That said, it sounds just like every other pop-punk/emo band of the last 15 to 20 years. While the lyrics can be witty from time to time, it's filled with too many of the banal cliches that mark the genre.
From their videos, Kill the Clock looks like they'd deliver a fun and energetic live performance, but to be truly memorable, you have to take the genre and add your own flair to it, not just follow in the footsteps from the last 20 years. They clearly have the chops to be a valuable contributor to the local music scene, but they need a sound that is truly their own.
Ryan Gurnett has a B.S. in Music Industry from The College of St Rose. He has worked as a studio engineer, live sound engineer, producer and sound editor and has been a musician for 25 years. He is currently the bassist for The Lady, or the Tiger?. Email him at never_really_been@hotmail.com or find him on Twitter @SirWilliamIdol.
This week's feature event is Turn Up For Toys: 9 p.m. Friday at Surrender.
There are many less fortunate families in the area and Buffalo's Rinse 716 hopes to make a difference by collecting as many toys as they can to help provide underprivileged children with a wonderful holiday season! Come celebrate the holidays with their annual Turn Up For Toys event and give back to the community! Featuring a variety of local DJs & Producers including Beretta, Stacks, Keeter b2b Special Blend, Nsmbl, Bando, DJ Kai, Scafetta, Hal b2b Neko, Martian, & more in 2 rooms full of sound. The night will include a variety of EDM & Bass Music and the cost to get in is only any Unopened Toy Donation ($10 value or more). So get to Surrender on Main St in Buffalo this Friday starting at 10:00pm and join this party for a great cause!
Caskey: 6 p.m. Sunday at Evening Star Concert Hall
Greg Burt is a Concert Promoter/Sound Guy/Music Supporter/Keyboardist/etc. He can be reached at Greg@FTMPEvents.com. For the full FTMP show calendar, visit www.FTMPEvents.com.