Films opening this week:
Easy Virtue - Amherst Dipson
Food, Inc. - Eastern Hills Dipson
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs - Maple Ridge; Market Arcade; Elmwood, Transit (also in 3D), Galleria, Hollywood, Quaker Regals; Flix; Transit Drive-In
Public Enemies - Maple Ridge; Market Arcade; Elmwood, Transit, Galleria, Hollywood, Quaker Regals; Flix; Transit Drive-In
Whatever Works - Amherst Dipson; Transit Regal

I love Sam Mendes; I’ll say that now. What else do I love? Comedies with indie quirk. And that leads me to Away We Go, a film that embodies the genre completely as evidenced by the trailer with its awkward laughs, (I stapled the itinerary to your coat? Really?), and “cool” soundtrack, I must have absolutely loved it … right? Wrong. I know I should, I know that people all around me are showering it with praise, but besides the final thirty minutes—‘Away to Montreal,’ ‘Away to Miami,’ and ‘Home’—it is laboriously slow and uninteresting. Sure I laughed, and stars John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph are fantastic, it’s just the story that never resonated with me. Until those last travels, taking them places that included situations of true weight, we mostly watch them reconnect with friends and family from the past to bring out some cheap laughs and a whole lot of uncomfortable. If you thought Allison Janney was quite the character in the trailer, just wait until the crazy hijinks leave her mouth in unedited glory, you may just change your mind.

For completion of review, click comments …

Leah Rankin of the University of Rochester is a Spree summer intern who’s eyeing Buffalo’s busy free summer concert world each week.

We’ve hit a trend. Thursday at the Square equals rain. While die-hard fans may be undeterred by storm clouds, the rest of us are wondering when the sun will come out for good. Last week’s thunderstorm chased Los Lobos from the outdoor stage into Lafayette Taproom. And from the looks of things, this week’s performers may have to do the same.

The band Zappa Plays Zappa is another Grammy award-winning band that has kept Frank Zappa’s avant-garde rock hits alive. The band consists of fans of Zappa’s music and musicians who have personally performed with the late rock star. Oh, and family, too—the centerpiece of the band is actually Frank Zappa’s talented son, Dweezil.

The band has toured internationally, creating a new fan base while allowing older fans to reminisce during classics like “Peaches en Regalia,” and a recent show at UB’s CFA was widely acclaimed. Let’s hope that this week, while fans remember the music of an American legend, they won’t have to be reminiscing about the summer sun, as well.

Other free shows this holiday week include Terry Buchwald in North Tonawanda, Our Lady Peace in Lockport, and of course, live acts can be seen at the annual Friendship Festival.

Here, courtesy of RDC member John Carocci, is a slide show from last night’s fabuloso Best Of WNY party, demonstrating the metamorphosis of the Real Dream Cabaret into “Royally Delicious Cuisine,” a catering company offering zero-calorie, zero-carb, zero-content food and drink amongst the other food vendors:

Lemme say, serving invisible food is every bit as much work as serving the visible kind.

Move over all you holier than thou elected officials who can’t keep it in your pants.

Take a back seat Ryan O’Neil. You had, what, 28 years to convince the love of your life that regardless of your parenting skills you were still worthy to wed? “O’Neil, who is 68, told Barbara Walters in an interview for ABC News “20/20” that they will wed ‘as soon as she can, say yes … Maybe we can just nod her head.’ Apparently the 62 year old actress is in very poor health. He told Waters that during the wedding ceremony that he may dress up ‘like a gigolo. You know? And a little thin mustache and slicked-back hair. I don’t know. We have fun, we tease about that.’” From here. I don’t have the stomach to imagine O’Neil with a pencil on, and I don’t have the time to Photoshop a montage of the 2008 mug shots of Tatum, Ryan, and Redmond, although I think they would understand time crunch issues. I mean it’s tricky to fit scoring heroin and stashing meth into a life chock full of a family member trying so very hard not to die. But none of this matters now that Michael Jackson’s heart decided to call it quits. None of these Washington or Hollywood people can even come close to what Michael and his kid brothers managed to accomplish four decades ago.

He was the only one of all this noise who mattered. We white, farm kids would hear Michael every morning during the 45 minute bus ride to school. He and his brothers would sing happy out of the part time bus driver/full time driver’s transistor radio. Back then, it was the closest any of us got to anyone of color, and we loved him. So did the bus driver. I think collectively we considered the manufactured white version - the Osmonds - cheap and weak, and being unexposed to the whole Morman phenom beyond an ability to spell “Palmyra”, half of us thought they were Jehovah’s Witnesses or a circus family. Anyway, for a whole group of sequestered southern Erie County people, the Jackson Five built a bridge, our first one.

That he and the Tatums and Redmunds of the world grew up with issues, is not a reflection of these children, but of our own failing to remember that kids are sort of ill equipped to handle strip clubs and full on spoiling. It’s not really written in a book anywhere, but if even I know it, then it must be a no-brainer.

I can sing Rockin Robin (link to YouTube version) by heart. Each word. Even the intro medley.

I should have something better to say about Farrah, besides the fact that I have always entertained a nagging thought that she should have had a better go of it in Hollywood. The Houston Chronicle writes up her bio a bit here. She only spent one year on the Angels series and still she made it to almost every boy’s bedroom wall. To not do more, all I can figure is that she had the the worst agent ever.

Farrah Red

Pantone should work her name into their pallet line up.

Leah Rankin of the University of Rochester is a Spree summer intern who’s eyeing Buffalo’s busy free summer concert world each week.

Just as the summer starts to heat up, Thursday at the Square hosts a band that’s known for making summer nights even hotter: Los Lobos. (FYI: that’s Spanish for “the wolves”).

The Grammy award-winning rock band has a distinctly Hispanic flavor, proudly calling themselves “American Chicano,” a cultural label meaning U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. They’re perhaps best known for the hit La Bamba soundtrack, but every LL album has its highlights, and this has led to a strong live following.

Interestingly, after releasing more than seventeen albums, Los Lobos teamed up with fellow “Los” band Los Lonely Boys in 2008 (who will appear at TATS on July 9) to embark on a national Brotherhood Tour. The bands still frequently perform together and have become a dynamic duo in a musical identity most closely termed “Spanglish.” Try your own Spanglish out tonight, if you’re brave—once again, the Thursday weather does not seem to be cooperating …

Do we REALLY have to remind you that Spree’s Best of WNY party is tonight, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Shea’s Performing Arts Center (646 Main St.)? I should hope not … but I will anyway. Details:

It’s the best time of year again: Buffalo Spree is celebrating the finest that our area has to offer, and we want everyone to be part of the fun!

Join us for fabulous food from twenty of your favorite restaurants, plus live entertainment from The Real Dream Cabaret, wine tasting, music, a silent auction, and the revealing of our “Best of WNY” 2009 winners (as selected by our readers and multiple panels of experts).

Food stations include: Anderson’s, Chef Bink’s, Edible Arrangements - Williamsville, Harry’s Harbour Place Grille, Fiamma Steak, Joe’s Deli, The Melting Pot, My Tomato Pie, Nick Charlap’s Ice Cream, Old Bank Bistro & Bar, The Other Woman Catering, The Red Coach Inn, Salvatore’s Italian Gardens, Sample, Shango, Spar’s European Sausage & Meats, Tandoori’s Royal Indian Restaurant,Verbena Grille and Yancey’s Fancy.

This year’s party is a benefit for Camp Good Days and Special Times, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for children, adults and families whose lives have been touched by cancer and other life challenges. To learn more about the organization, please visit www.campgooddays.org.

Tickets are $40 at the door. Ticket includes food and wine tasting, and cash bar will be available. Dress is cocktail party attire. Order tickets by calling 716-783-9119 ext. 2202 or by visiting www.buffalospree.com.

100% of the dollars that will be raised from the silent auction, plus $10 from each ticket sold benefits Camp Good Days.

My goodness—are we getting spoiled? Wilco, Gaslight Anthem, and now a return show for the Decemberists, at UB’s Center for the Arts on August 13? Killer, killer announcements.

The Decemberists previously played the CFA in 2007, and the show was utterly fantastic, proving Colin Meloy and company to be one of the finest live acts in America. This coming show has the chance to be even more intriguing, since they’re touring behind the most ambitious, and debated, album of their careers: The Hazards of Love.

A very nice opener, too: Ohio’s Heartless Bastards. Tickets go on sale this Friday. Get them fast, as this should sell out easily.

Spree editorial intern Danielle Forsyth takes a look at this weekend’s Citybration:

Western New Yorkers love a party, and this year’s Citybration is a party worth hitting. But if you think the fourth annual Buffalo Homecoming Citybration is all play and no work, think again. The four-day festival means business, and is focused on showcasing the potential, pride, and opportunities the Queen City has to offer. By shining the spotlight on success and focusing on the future, these events give the best and brightest excellent reasons to remain in Buffalo, encourage those who left to take another look, and attract new businesses to the region.

Join the more than 10,000 participants who are expected to register for a multitude of activities ranging from the Career Connections event, where dozens of local companies are actively seeking to fill open positions in WNY, to the We Are Buffalo Parade where participants are encouraged to dress up and show pride for their city. The Citybration begins on Thursday, June 25th and ends on Sunday, June 28th. Many of the festivities are free of charge, as well. To check out the full listing of events, go to www.citybration.com, and for an extended article on all that’s scheduled, click on “comments.”

Starry Night in the Garden is a fantastic idea: an evening of food and music in front of the gorgeous Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens.

Past years have featured everyone from R.E.O. Speedwagon (well, two Speedwagon-ers, not the whole band) and Vanessa Carlton. This year, like last year, skews young, with Matt Nathanson, Mat Kearney, and Safetysuit. I admit that I couldn’t pick these three out of a line-up, but all have had alt-hits recently.

The shindig is next Wednesday, June 24. Visit the Gardens’ website for info.

Provocative episode of the public radio talk show On Point today, devoted to the question “What’s a ‘Livable’ City Now?” It’s built around two recent surveys of such matters– one in The Economist and the other in a new mag called Monocle–and the fact that neither includes many U.S. cities. Pittsburgh comes off quite well in one, which I find notable given how many things our fellow Johnny Carson-monologue-punchline Rust Belt town has in common with Buffalo, both pros (size, thriving cultural scene, etc) and cons (weather, the aforementioned, etc). Toronto appears on both lists–but not NYC or any other US-ual suspect.

Intriguing batch of panelists: Tyler Brule (Monocle now, Wallpaper back in the day), Joel Kotkin (author of a new history of cities), and Pico Iyer (a travel writer I’ve long found interesting). Normally I find lists of the 25 fastest/cleanest/sexiest cities to be too silly to think about, but I appreciate the way this particular program uses a couple of them as a springboard to explore the notion of “livability,” to contrast visiting a city versus living in one, and to view American communities/neighborhoods/self-images in the context of the rest of the planet. And as a Spree editor, I fully appreciate the appeal of making lists. (Warning: if you are not a public radio devotee, you may well agree with one commenter on the show’s website who writes “Some guy from a magazine named ‘Monocle’ is telling us why Europe is such a better place to live than the US. Just another day on NPR.” To which I reply … Uh, on second thought, I’ll keep my response to myself.)

Leah Rankin of the University of Rochester is a Spree summer intern who’s eyeing Buffalo’s busy free summer concert world each week.

If it’s Thursday, it must be raining—that’s been a weekly occurrence at Thursday at the Square. While it’s dreary and overcast now, perhaps things will improve by evening.

Anyway, if you’re a Desperate Housewives fan or just a regular ABC watcher, you’ve probably heard the band that will be performing downtown Buffalo tonight. Better Than Ezra has had several hits, but performing the nasally playground taunts in the song “Juicy” that advertised the 2005 season of Housewives brought them a new audience.

In the 90s, their single, “Good” was a major pop hit, and their album Deluxe turned platinum in 1995.

The band hails from New Orleans and initially gained popularity by playing at house parties and frat houses. (Groupies called “Ezralites” follow the band attentively.) Better Than Ezra has developed a nice post-grunge flavor with strong beats, and a party atmosphere. They create an impressively large sound despite only three band members. And although there have been many theories, the trio refuses to explain the inspiration for the band’s name, and just who the heck this “Ezra” might be.

Don’t you just love nostalgia for the very recent past? Let us relive the joy which was the Real Dream Cabaret’s strolling performance at Spree’s Best of WNY party last year:

But there is no need to live in the past–the Cab will be back at Shea’s with a whole NEW act THIS year. (That’s Thursday, June 25, as we know you already know.) Don’t tell us you haven’t bought your tickets yet; just spare yourself the shame and get ‘em online this very second.

A two page Gap add in the Sunday NY Times is worth noting for two reasons: (1) there is a dress in the ad that so many women would look good in; and (2) I now have even more proof for my theory that female designers care more about the customer than the design. Alexander Wang (upper left) gives us poofy pleats and pockets that expand the hips on beyond next Sunday’s paper. Albertus Swanepoel’s hats (lower left) require the most gorgeous face in the world underneath to look any way other than frumpy, dumpy, and caught in a downpour. But Vena Cava designers Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai manage to keep it hip, simple, fresh and flattering (right). The four designers were winners in the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund emerging American designers. The challenge was to rework the classic Gap khaki look. Aside from the Swanepoel hat with the interesting band, I say that the two guys were too self-focused to get it right.

Oh, and the dress that caught my eye first? Second from the right. Slight empire waist, and a pattern choice that is bold enough to draw the eye up to a flattering boat neckline and keep the bottom half from looking bottom heavy. Now that takes talent.

When you cross the finish in a marathon or a half marathon they drape a finisher’s medal around your neck. Covering that kind of distance deserves a medal, but once you’ve worn it home there aren’t really any occasions where you can show off your athletic prowess in jewelry form. As a general rule men should limit themselves to a wedding band and a watch, but cufflinks are an acceptable adornment as well, and these, from deSignet International in Grand Island are pretty cool looking. A minor quibble: in the running community there is an ongoing debate about what to call the 13.1 mile distance. Traditionally its been called the Half Marathon, but its partisans argue that it diminishes a challenging race to refer to it as half of something. That aside, these would be a nice gift for the French cuffed endurance athlete in your life. deSignet should consider a line of triathlon accessories too.

With the Allentown Festival behind us we’re past the first significant sun exposure event of the season. This is no time to e lulled into complacency, at least for the fair-skinned. UV exposure is a constant threat, and I’m not even half joking. It’s bad enough to look like a boiled ham, but even worse is the wear and tear. Women call them “laugh lines”, and then laugh ironically, trying to hold their faces stiff. Truth is you can laugh away, but if you don’t protect yourself from the sun you’ll end up looking more like Casey Stengel than Derrick Jeter.

I’ve found that what works best for me is to have sunscreen cached all over, so that I’m never more than an arm’s length away from a dime-sized dollop. I keep a tube in my car (the car sunscreen is a high-spf sports glop that I’ll write about another time), and in my office, and at home next to the shaving stuff. I’ve got a tube in my gym bag, and one by my front door. The one I’m liking quite a bit lately is this one. Zirh Defend is only SPF 15– it is really a moisturizer with a sunscreen component– but that’s ideal for most of the time during the day, during the week. It doesn’t have a strong smell, and it rubs in quickly, so I don’t have to worry about rocking the Marcel Marceau look. If this isn’t what Jeter uses it should be.

I once gave my dad a box of Just for Men for Father’s Day. Smooth. He said I was making his hair gray, and if that was my response, he was probably not exaggerating. It’s tough to say, “Hey, Dad, thought you might like some Rogaine,” but what if he didn’t even know his hair was thinning. On the other hand, maybe you are doing your dad a favor because no one ever told him he could spend hours exploring drug store shelves for the best stuff ever. NutraLuxe MD makes two great guy-focused products for skin care, a daily moisturizer and a wrinkle serum night repair. The moisturizer seems like a snap to gift, but if you are a little utchy about giving him something with “wrinkle” in writing, here’s an even better idea. Buy an Ace Excusion Bag ($16), fill it with the NutraLuxe products, some water-based hair product like Profound Beauty’s Structure Pearl Finish ($25), and an Ace comb. He can use the travel kit, will no doubt get into the habit of taking care of his face, and learn - quite possibly - to fix his hair. At least he can always use a comb.

You may have read about Nickel City Opera’s upcoming production of The Barber of Seville” in June’s Spree or here on the blog. Now, we’ve posted a very interesting interview with NCO’s Valerian Ruminski under the web extras section of buffalospree.com by editorial intern Emmalie Vance. Take a gander, and help support a very unique artistic event.

Men are hard. Gifting is always a challenge, so I’m pleading to all to put your best ideas down. We’re a smart, creative bunch is this big city - so let’s get collective and come up with a men’s gift list that survives long past Father’s Day. Twitter away, Facebook your face off, blog till your fingers bleed, and please help. Dad’s are way cool (in their way) and they really do appreciate the attention (in their own way). My best idea so far:

A subscription to satellite radio. Sirius has packages that run from $7 to $20 per month. Let your brother buy him the radio or whatever device your dad wants for listening, and where. It can be set up in the car, in the house, mobile, the garage…. No matter where, there are a host of stations for whatever he insists on listening to at his crabby worst. It is so perfect I can’t stand it.

Ride Shotgun in a Nascar Stock Car. Cloud 9 offers different packages at different racetracks around the country, some suitably close for a day trip. If speed’s his thing, what the heck. Go for it. (My number one phrase for getting into trouble.) You can choose from 3 or 6 laps around a track, shotgun unfortunately, but at high speeds, and it is affordable.

Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds (Hardcover, of course). Dad’s are always getting reading material. Assuming you won’t be offending anyone else in the house (and assuming you have the kind of relationship that is on beyond blushing), this could be the best book ever. Go one further and put a bookmark at the month you were born. He’ll never forget your birthday again.

More. I need more.

As the Allentown Art Festival winds for the night on Saturday, things will get going at Nietzche’s. The Africo World Quartet + Jim, performing Saturday, June 13 at 6 pm (or 7 - I’m getting a conflict on the start time, but shoot early to be sure). Hang around for a cross section of African, Afro-Cuban, Puerto Rican traditional drumming and singing, with a blow up of percussion instruments.