Now that Spring Break is over, the cold reality of the remaining semester is hitting students with a force seen clearly on the disheartened faces of every sun burnt co-ed. Returning to the grind for these last months, it is not uncommon to see students on North Campus studying late into the night in the Lockwood Library, returning from practices run long, or from nocturnal workouts in Alumni Arena. Usually after these tasks (and almost certainly during) a student can feel run down and depressed, but lately on Tuesday nights the Music Is Art Foundation and the Center for the Arts(CFA) are giving students a reason to take a break from all the hard work and meet up with friends for free coffee and live music at Music Is Art Live @ the Center.
Starting in early March the CFA began offering this concert series free of charge to the general public as part of the Music Is Art’s spotlight on local music and all other forms of art in the Buffalo area. Not only is it a series of mini concerts combined with a very cozy coffee house atmosphere, but it is also being taped professionally for broadcast on the student channels and other local stations.
Jamie Enser, who has worked as a producer for the last twelve years at networks such as MTV, CNN, and Nickelodeon, is producing the series with help from Robbie Takak of the Goo Goo Dolls and the CFA’s Executive Director Tom Burrows. UB students are beginning to become excited for Tuesdays nights and are giving a positive response to the show; and Enser couldn’t be happier.
She says, “People should be excited because Music Is Art Live @ the Center features some of the area’s best musicians and artistic talent, and a number of your fellow UB students are working on the project. It’s also a chance to be part of a television program, and experience how it all comes together. And best of all - the events are free!”
With a format and atmosphere which is similar to that of VH1’s Storytellers combined with PBS’s Austin City Limits, Music is Art Live features two musical performers who perform at 9 and 10 p.m. respectively. The doors, however, open to the public at 8 p.m., allowing anyone to walk around and observe the numerous other performance artists who are stationed behind the stage. Every week a mixed bag of artists from all around Buffalo put their work on display at the Center. A number of cartoonists, dancers, sculptors, weavers, painters, and print artists have already frequented the background area, enriching the concert experience and providing a living, breathing artistic background for the music performances which take place.
On this particular Tuesday night, which is March 21, a four foot long sculpted worm hangs suspended from a lighting rig next to the stage. Underneath, a sculptor is fast at work at a new piece that will more than likely be completed by the time the night is over. The usually starkly white stairs of the CFA are flooded with a dim aqua blue light, adding some depth to the background and at the same time pushing the attention to the brightly lit stage. On the stage and at the foot of it are huge rugs covered with comfortable pillows and surrounded by equally inviting couches, providing a prime area for coffee sipping and just general overall appreciation of all the arts on display.
The first act on is a solo percussionist named David Wasik, who makes it a point to get the audience involved in his performance. He says before he begins that at some point he’ll be asking for assistance, and that he isn’t sure when he’ll need it, but will ask for it when he “feels it.” About half way through the song Wasik tells a story of how he spent New Years Eve with monks overseas at a music festival, and that at midnight all of the people celebrating joined the monks in a big “ohm” to warm the room and ring in the New Year. Of course he then asks the audience to join him, and they oblige, in a giant “ohm” which rumbles throughout the CFA.
Following a short break the second performers, Fold in Half Cat, come on stage. After the excellent warm up from Wasik, the audience is sufficiently prepared to be blown away by a band touted as possibly one of the best local bands around. They surely live up to the expectations, combining the musical sensibilities of a more jazz-influenced early No Doubt with a Fiona Apple sneer and swagger. Each song they perform burns up the room and the conclusion of their set is met with appropriate applause from an audience obviously won over.
Overall, and essentially, the Music is Art Live at the Center is a great weekly event which provides free entertainment equally to ardent fans of the performers and just the casual passersby. Concerning the future, Jamie Enser sees big things for Music Is Art Live, saying, “We hope to see it grow to the point where we can incorporate regional or even national acts into the series.”
Acts which are lined up in the near future include Terry Sullivan with David Kane and popular local rock band Last Conservative doing a full-band acoustic show. For more information about future performances and also the dates and channels for eventual airings you can check out their website at www.ubcfa.org. Also, don’t forget to stop by every Tuesday at 8 p.m. in the atrium of the CFA. Music Is Art Live @ the Center is an experience the likes of which you won’t find anywhere else; it’s a very big step for entertainment at UB.
