The people’s opera

Buzz has been to the opera in Vienna, Munich and Rome, and in none of those cities were we able to do what we could do at Nickel City Opera’s first production last weekend, which was take wine and popcorn to our seat. The joys of the Riviera Theatre! “This is perfect,” we told the gentleman at the concession stand. He replied: “All you need now is someone to give you a pedicure.” A pedicure? Did we really act like such a diva? Well, if we did, there was a powerful antidote in the program: a half-page ad for Airport Plaza Jewelers. Complete with rubber chicken! We love this town.

L. A. story

Saturday, Buzz hopped the Forgotten Buffalo tour to Lackawanna. What an experience! The bus blasted “2001: A Space Odyssey” as it rolled into restricted areas of the former Bethlehem Steel. We visited a bar called Cheesy’s Little Vegas, run by a former Lackawanna cop named Cheesy. Dining at a joint called Reese’s, we met the mayor of Lackawanna, Norm Polanski, and his wife. We asked Mrs. Polanski what it was like, being the wife of the mayor of Lackawanna. “It’s all right,” she said. More plain Lackawanna talk came from the proprietor of Murph’s Warsaw Inn on Warsaw Street. Asked what vibe we could expect if we returned, he said: “It’s the same any night. Working people having a drink.”

Theenigma

One of the odder Michael Jackson tributes came on the way back from Lackawanna, when the bus rocked to a polka version of Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” played by Buffalo band Those Idiots. (It’s off a new release, which also boasts a polka take on Rick James’ “Super Freak.”) The song led us to one of the biggest Michael Jackson mysteries. That one line, does it go: “The kid is not my son”? Those Idiots sang it that way. But Howard, the guy Buzz married, was once in a band called London Fog that required that he wear red spandex pants and perform “Billie Jean.” He says the line, which mystified him, was “The chair is not my son.” Maybe Jackson was singing “child.” But how does that become “chair”? Hmmm. Howard had another idea. “Maybe he meant ‘chair’ as in the chairman of a board.”

Rockaroundthe clock

How exciting is Buffalo? So exciting that there can be an all-night concert in Niagara Square, and not only does Buzz not get around to reporting on it for a week and a half, but there is so much other stuff going on that most people could not make it. Such was the situation surrounding the recent 25-hour concert held by the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame to aid the Food Bank. Buzz showed up, nonperishable food item in hand, and was startled to see only five people in the audience. And this was at 10 p. m.! What would it be like at 4 a. m.? Tough town! It makes us admire the vision of Rick Mathews, head of the Hall of Fame. Talking to The News about his charity venture, he said: “Sitting around talking about music doesn’t do anything.”

The buzz

At Lackawanna Days, the carnival toasting Lackawanna’s first 100 years, Buzz and a pal were trying to exit the beer tent to see the fireworks when a guard barred our path. “Where are you girls –er, women –going with that beer?” he demanded. Ha, ha! You called us girls! We take offense. And while we’re at it, we’ll take our beers, too. ... Fun, to take those rowboats out on Hoyt Lake! Buzz had to sign a document declaring we were in sound health, then we had to be helped into our life jacket, and then we were off.

Quote

“And remember, you don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy Jewish theater.” –Ad shown at the Amherst Theatre, spotlighting Jewish Repertory Theatre