The Buzz: T-R-O-U-B-L-E
Just like peas themselves, peas in a pod aren’t to everyone’s liking. So Buzz was relieved a month ago when Gary Crosby, chief financial officer of Buffalo schools, e-mailed us that he already knew he looked like Christopher Walken.
“I had a guy in the Elmwood Pet Shop tell me that he did security for Walken when he was in Buffalo for the Modigliani exhibit,” Crosby wrote. “He looked me over and said, ‘You could be him.’ “ We hope we get half as gracious a response when we point out how much WBEN-AM’s Tom Bauerle looks like Travis Tritt.
Trophy boys
At the Diva Debris Sale last weekend in Cabaret in the Square in Snyder, the best part of the experience was not buying two Hengerer’s hatboxes (75 cents each), a sequinned sheath dress ($4), a silver colander ($2), two tiki torches (75 cents each) and a wooden chair hand-painted by supreme diva Mary Kate O’Connell ($2).
No, the memory we’ll treasure into eternity is parading two blocks down the sidewalks of Main Street, followed by three boys from Nichols carrying these trophies. What fun! Ordinary mortals go through life and never have an experience like this. The boys’ names were Sean, Max and Brett, and they were cute and helpful as could be. “We’d do anything for Mary Kate,” they said. What’s her secret?
The town crier
Buzz is going to miss the big old livery stable that’s falling down on Buffalo’s West Side. Our friend Peggy lives behind it, and we drank many a beer in the stable’s cool shadow, gazing up the vast, brick, ivy-covered wall.
But now we wonder whether it blocked too much of the outside world. Like many of the stable’s neighbors, Peggy had to move out of her house temporarily for safety’s sake. Monday, a friend called her on her cell to invite her to a party. “I’m sorry, but I’m out of town,” Peggy said. “Where are you?” our friend asked. “I’m in Williamsville,” Peggy answered. Hello!
Foul weather friends
When do we welcome pouring rain? When it’s accompanied by pouring beer. Most memorable aspect of David Sanborn’s concert last week at Thursday at the Square: You could buy beer without waiting in a long line!
“I love Buffalo!” Sanborn crowed to the crowd. “You don’t let rain bring you down!” Au contraire! With which, we pray for rain tonight, when the square welcomes Martin Sexton with the Mike Doughty Duo.
The buzz
With Shakespeare’s dark, violent “King Lear” now playing in Delaware Park, the big question is: Who faces the bigger challenge, Saul Elkin, playing Lear, or Buzz, trying to sip Chianti as the carnage unfolds? ... Overheard Sunday at Nietzsche’s, about the animalistic bass player who jumped up to accompany boogie pianist Annie Philippone: “He looks as if he should be in chains.”
Quote
“WHY LIE NEED BEER” –Sign held by man standing at the Niagara Street exit of the I-190
