Here I go again…..

Over Thanksgiving I attended two shows at the Town Ballroom in Buffalo, a very nice smaller venue with great sight lines and acoustics.  It’s a cool place if you don’t mind standing for a show.  There are some seated areas but mostly reserved for people with extenuating circumstances.  This is a storied venue, has had a few name changes and owners over the years. Nat King Cole, Miles Davis, Snoop, my personal hero Patti Smith just to name a few.  One of my favorite Canadian bands is 54-40 and after I did a YouTube post about their perfect song I Go Blind ( you may know it from the Hootie and the Blowfish cover) I saw that they would be performing at the Ballroom. I jumped on buying two tickets because, you know, hope, lol.  I trekked into the city solo but had posted on socials that I had an extra ticket and lo and behold, found a friend to jump on it and join me, so I sort of went solo, haha!  The very next night I was lucky to have a friend join me for the Lemonheads.  Yeah, I stood for five hours two nights in a row but that’s the kind of commitment I have to live music.

At the next solo concert I struck up a conversation with Kathy and Kathy, two ladies who asked to share my table while I was enjoying my pre-Allman-Betts Band beverage. The A-B Band plays the Buffalo area every year. Every year I want to go but don’t.  Until I had my fuck-it-I’m-going alone epiphany. Again, acoustically perfect venue, aisle seat, great sight lines, fun people.  Especially Kathy and Kathy from Niagara County.  They chatted about their kids and grandkids, how they had been to the show the year previous. Their friends stopped by our high-top table to join in the convo.  I love hearing from other people about their musical excursions, who they’ve seen, who is good in concert, what other music they like.  I could talk music with people forever.  I wish I had more people in my life that wanted to talk about music.  But alas…..

As I wrote, the Allman- Betts Family Reunion plays at Kleinhans Music Hall almost every year. I thought about going in 2024, but as you know by now I was a hesitator…trying to overcome that habit … .and so I hemmed and hawed and didn’t go.  Once I saw that Amanda Shires would be touring with them for this 2025 show I just went for it.  The weather was shit on the way home, like really bad, but that’s the price you pay living on the edge of nothing except Lake Erie in December.  The show was trippy- very cool light show and graphics.  They played the entire Eat A Peach album for the first set and then some other classics for the second set including Greg’s stuff with Cher which I thought was surprising.  But Greg and Cher did spend time in Buffalo when he was trying to detox after they had Elijah Blue, so there is that Buffalo connection.  

I would recommend if you like classic southern rock, or any band that spent time with Jimmy Carter at the White House, or just any classic rock from the 70s, check out A-B Band.  Derek Allman and Duane Betts are the real deal, offspring of rock royalty, and gifted musicians in their own right.

Next up was a cover band, but a really freaking great one, Bad Sneakers from Rochester, New York, and as you can guess they cover Steely Dan, one of my all time favorites. I’d seen members of Steely Dan, not Fagan or Becker, but some of the other cast of rotating characters that made up the band at The Iridium, Les Paul’s club, in New York.  And let me tell you, THAT was fucking amazing experience.  This show wasn’t quite like that but it was pretty good considering. This was at a newer small venue that is trying to break into the local music scene and I‘ve been there several times and like it because it’s small and intimate.   The band performed Aja in its entirety for their second set. Aja was one of the albums that I got from my Columbia House record and tape club membership before I had any idea who, what, or how fucking amazing Steely Dan was.  I think I was 11. And Aja was an album I listened to over and over again in college while trying to cure a broken heart. 

But wow. Just fucking wow was this band good.  I got my ticket at the last minute so again had to stand but was lucky to find a spot at the bar so I could at least lean.  The couple next to me, as per usual, were fun and sang along loudly to every single song with me. And again, cuz of the lovely WNY weather, the ride home was crappy.  But I persevered because the music is that important!