The gift of gaffe

Not everything is going wrong for Chris Collins.

Sure, the Erie County executive has been apologizing for the “poor joke” he made comparing Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver to an Antichrist.

But here’s some good news: Collins is getting a “communication and leadership” award next week in Niagara Falls from Toastmasters International.

Seriously.

Granted, Collins was picked months ago, and he’s receiving the award for his dedicated work on behalf of the county, said Chris Kent, a member of the publicity committee for the Toastmasters chapter for upstate New York.

Still, isn’t this like People Inc. giving Orchard Park a Fair Housing Award?

Or Common Cause giving State Sen. Dale Volker an Albany “Fresh Face” Award.

Or Byron Brown giving Terrell Owens the key to the city? (Nah. That one would never happen.)

But we wondered if Collins’ attempt at humor was the kind of thing Toastmasters recommends to its members.

“To answer your question,” Kent said, “no.”

‘Babeville’ block

Two years since singer Ani DiFranco renamed the converted Asbury Methodist Church she restored, “Babeville” is still hard for some to say.

“I hold Ani in high regard, but I guess I struggled,” said Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, who celebrated legislative success there this week. He chose “Ani DiFranco’s Asbury Hall” for the Facebook invitation.

The regal 133-year-old church on Delaware Avenue, with its gallery and Righteous Babe record-label offices, is now a hot spot for parties and concerts.

Some couples print it on their wedding invitations. Some don’t. Corporate types fret. Imagining scantily clad women perhaps?

Advance people balked while planning an Eliot Spitzer speech there—before news broke that the former governor patronized prostitutes.

“The irony is really thick,” said Scot Fisher, label president.

The intended meaning is of a whimsical gathering place, like Dr. Seuss’s Whoville. To Fisher, Babeville fits this city.

“When you talk about names that are goofy and unusual,” he said, “ ‘Buffalo’ comes to mind.”

A star is busted

A Buffalo man returning home from Syracuse got to see his name and likeness writ large on a billboard in downtown Buffalo late Friday morning—but it might not be exactly what he had in mind.

Members of the U. S. Marshal’s Regional Fugitive Task Force were bringing murder suspect Donnell Lloyd, 30, back to the Erie County Holding Center after arresting him in Syracuse. Detectives had been looking for him for two years.

The traveling party passed by the corner of Delaware Avenue and Chippewa Street, home of the flashing electronic billboard that features ads, weather data, community announcements—and photos of Most Wanted suspects.

Sure enough, Lloyd saw his own likeness on the sign.

“He was able to see the sign, shake his head and laugh,” Buffalo Chief of Detectives Dennis J. Richards said after hearing the story from Buffalo detectives.

Tea for three

They’re not wearing powdered wigs, waistcoats and silk breeches.

And they’re not protesting the collusion of the British Parliament and the East India Tea Co.

But 236 years after its birth, the Boston Tea Party is alive and well—in Boston,

N. Y.

Three GOP candidates created the

party to grab another ballot line and to express their frustration with town government.

The Democratic incumbents have four lines in all, but their opponents have the Spirit of 1773 going for them.

Tea Party member Jay Boardway joked that they would love to dress up in Native American garb, board a boat and dump tea into a harbor.

“I wish we could,” he said, laughing. “Right into the Eighteen Mile Creek.”

Written by Stephen T. Watson with contributions from Michelle Kearns and Gene Warner. offmain@buffnews.com