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The Reverend Billy of the Church of Life After Shopping delivered this brief sermon on Thursday afternoon, September 24, conveying his benediction on protesters against the G20 summit that took place in Pittsburgh last week.

Below is Assistant Erie County District Attorney Mark Sacha’s complete statement accusing his boss, Frank Sedita, of refusing to prosecute Steve Pigeon for election law violations, as detailed by Mike Beebe and Bob McCarthy in this Buffalo News article:

My name is Mark Sacha and I am an Assistant Erie County District Attorney.  I have served in that capacity for over 22 years.  I was hired by the Honorable Richard Arcara in 1987.  I was promoted to supervisory positions by the Honorable Kevin Dillon and District Attorney Frank Clark.  Until January 2, 2009, I held the position of Deputy District Attorney with signing authority on behalf of District Attorney Clark.  I have been in charge of most of the specialized units of the District Attorney’s Office and in that time supervised over 100 Assistant District Attorneys.  I have been the chief public corruption prosecutor in Erie County over the past ten years.

As such I am thoroughly familiar with the New York State Election Law and the importance of Election Law prosecution.  I was the lead prosecutor in the investigation of the Paul Clark campaign for Erie County Executive.  It is in that capacity that I feel legally, morally and ethically obligated to speak out about matters that effect the public’s right to free and fair elections.  These matters involve conflicts of interest, abuse of discretion, and abuse of power.  These matters involve the District Attorney’s sworn responsibility to enforce the law and do justice in the public interest.  These matters include instances where the power of the District Attorney has been used improperly to protect political interests and to retaliate against me for pursuing an ongoing investigation.

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Margaret Cho started her career like a bottle rocket and, at first appearances, seemed to burn out just as fast. By her early 20s, the young comic was already doing acts for big names such as Arsenio Hall and Bob Hope, and had opened for Jerry Seinfeld. And in 1994, she starred in her own sitcom on ABC, All-American Girl. The show, however, was made on shaky ground, as the producers weren’t sure how to handle a sitcom family of Asian heritage. They wanted to keep things ethnic and edgy, but at the same time stay clear of anything that could be construed as racist.

Margaret Cho

The confusion resulted in a show that was muddled, watered-down, and cancelled after a single season. It was a hard hit for Cho, and led her into the throes of drugs and alcohol addiction. But by the 2000s, Cho, and her career, started to rebound. She returned to stage performances, having several stand-up specials as well as launching a burlesque-style variety show in L.A., and has become a prominent figure in the gay and lesbian rights movement. She has now returned to television with Lifetime’s Drop Dead Diva, and is in the midst of entering the music world, recording her debut album, Guitarded, which is set for a 2010 release.

With her tour rolling into Buffalo on Monday, September 28, AV and Margaret had a brief chat.

AV: What’s it like to return to the harsh mistress that is syndicated television? Hopefully Drop Dead Diva is treating you better than All-American Girl.

MC: Yes. I love Drop Dead Diva. It’s an incredible show and I am so excited to be a part of it. We have incredible guest stars like Rosie O’Donnell—who I was laughing with about how we have done so much together, from standup comedy to writing books to playing in Cyndi Lauper’s backing band, me on backup vocals, Rosie on drums. Also we had Liza Minnelli and Paula Abdul and Tim Gunn. Every episode is like a gay pride edition of The Love Boat.

AV: On the topic of All-American Girl, it’s been reported that the show’s producers hired a coach to teach you how to “be more Asian.” Was that situation just as absurd and degrading as it sounds?

MC: They hired an Asian consultant to help with the “authenticity,” which is to me ludicrous. Do they need authenticity for any other ethnicity? It’s not like we were some remote tribe from the Andes. They were treating Asian people like we were some kind of extreme outsider culture—but there were never Asian people on TV then, so I guess that is why. Yes, it’s very insulting and absurd, but they didn’t know better and neither did I.

AV: It’s often been said that every comedian wishes he or she was a rock star. Now that you are touring for your upcoming CD, do you feel you are fulfilling a long-standing dream? And do you feel you are doing a better job at it than Eddie Murphy did (granted that “Party All the Time” is a unwaning classic)?

MC: Well, the songs are more like Eddie Murphy’s “Boogie in Your Butt”‘ than “Party All the Time,” although “Party All the Time” is a great song and was produced by Rick James! And it’s is true that all comics want to be rock stars, but we are also very sensible about it. What I want to be is a guitar comic—a long-lost profession, very popular in the ’80s but now they are extinct. I am bringing it back. So it’s joke songs, not serious at all.

AV: What should music fans expect from your show: hard-hitting punk; solemn, heartfelt folk; gangsta rap; jokes about people’s privates?

MC: It’s all there, every genre from hip hop to a bit of electronica, totally guitarded folk music, putting the “cunt” back in country. So everything.

AV: Hard-rocking, burlesqueing, politically outspoken, Asian-American comedians seem to be everywhere these days. What makes you so different?

MC: I am the greatest! [Laughs.] No but really…I am the fucking best.

—interview by geoffrey anstey

Yuichiro Yamada

Everyone in this community has some opinion on our local businesses. Some of us do everything in our power to support them. To these people, local businesses might as well be a part of the family. So for these people, Yuichiro Yamada, a documentary filmmaker and graduate student at UB, made two documentaries to follow the life and times of these businesses that color our streets, speak up in our communities and act as the familiar placeholders in our routines about the city.

Just Browsing takes a look at our local bookstores such as Talking Leaves, Rust Belt Books and Second Reader, and how they do business as a small, endangered enclave of independent booksellers. Yamada’s other feature, Irreplaceable, was shot during the last days of New World Records and focuses on the loss to the Buffalo community caused by its closing.  A loss that some may argue was like…well, losing one of the family.

They will be screened to the public as a part of collaboration between Hallwalls and Talking Leaves at Hallwalls Cinema, after which Yamada will be on hand to answer questions. Wednesday, September 30, 7-9pm. Hallwalls Cinema @ Babeville, 341 Delaware Avenue.

Yamada’s work focuses on local and independent businesses as members of the city landscape and how they are impacted by events in the city, the economy and the country. His films focus on these businesses both here in the US and in his native Japan.

Yamada couldn’t have picked a better place to film these documentaries seeing  as how the landscape of Buffalo’s independent businesses is a sore spot for some, a pride and joy for others, but certainly a point of discussion for everyone.

—ann marie awad

Looks like Mayor Byron Brown and Steve Pigeon are together again, again. Their on again, off again political relationship appeared to be down for the count just two months prior to the September 15 Democratic primary, in the fallout of the NYS Senate coup that stalled Albany this summer. At the time, the Buffalo News described Pigeon as “radioactive,” explaining why Brown’s campaign declined a June 25 fundraiser Pigeon was to host. The event might have raised $100,000 for the mayor’s campaign.

Now, Pigeon is on the State payroll for $150,000 as counsel to Pedro Espada (the off again, on again Democratic senator who left and rejoined the party along with Hiram Monserrate this summer), and he is also serving as Mayor Brown’s lawyer, according to this petition filed last Friday. Four people signed the affidavits reporting lines at polling places: Cindy Cooper, Omar Price, Mary Scarpine, and Cavette Chambers. Scarpine notarized Chambers’s affidavit, Chambers notarized Scarpine’s, Cooper’s, and Price’s. They all work for corporation counsel in city hall.

The petition is a follow-up to this order issued by judge John M. Curran late Tuesday night which sought to keep voters at certain polling places from being disenfranchised.

In response to our (clearly satirical) “Sponsor a Buffalonian” feature in this week’s paper, we received this very real solicitation for sponsorship from a real live Buffalonian. Contact editorial@artvoice.com if you’d like to make a donation, or of you’d like to solicit sponsorship for yourself.

Nicole

Name: Nicole

Age: 27

Home: Allentown

Lives off: Commission and tips

This is Nicole. She has her Masters Degree in Museum Studies and is currently working as a waitress. She is single and has no children.

What Your Donation Means: Nicole is suffering from a very sad wardrobe as well as not being able to pay her bills. If you donate a few bucks to her, she would be willing to perform a fashion show of  new clothes for your benefit.

It was the final home exhibition game of this September, and tickets for this game were not included in the season ticket packages. But for the 11,008 fans who were at HSBC Arena, including the usual smattering of blue and white clad Leaves fans, the crowd tonight was thoroughly entertained, as the Sabres defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2, thanks to second period goals by Jason Pominville, Jochen Hecht and Cody McCormick.

Buffalo took control of this game early on, outshooting the Leafs 18-5 in the first period, but were unable to finish and put the puck past netminder Joey McDonald. New Sabres tough guy Cody McDonald and Leafs forward Jay Rosehill got into a spirited fight early on, call it a draw. And Mike Grier, lined up with Paul Gaustad and Jochen Hecht, showed flashes of brilliance throughout the game, none more so than in the first period.

The Sabres got on the board early in the second thanks to a one timer from the slot by Nathan Paetsch. Jochen Hecht made it 2-0 a few minutes later, but Toronto got back into it thanks to a penalty shot goal by Jiri Tlusty, after he was upended from behind by defenseman Tyler Myers (assist on a bad giveaway by Chris Butler, who looked lost out there all night long and was arguably the worst performer on the ice). Cody McCormick then netted his first goal in a Sabres uniform to make it 3-1, but give props to Jeff Cowan for taking the puck to the net, the type of play we have seen too little of these past two seasons.

“We’re taking a little bit of a different approach this year,” said Nathan Paetsch after the game, who learned that he was indeed awarded the first goal of the game, following a scorers decision that at first gave Jason Pominville the tip in. Paetsch, who is fighting for one of the final roster spots on the defensive bench, a position he is all too familiar with, added, “Our guys are sick and tired of not making the playoffs, for our fans, for our team, for our coaches.”

Pominville stated that even though it’s only preseason, these two division rivals were in regular season form out on the ice tonight. “There was a real sense of passion and desperation out there tonight. Our fans feed on it, and everyone rises to it. We definitely put on a better show when Toronto comes to town, and here it is only September.”

Coach Lindy Ruff was in a particularly spirited mood following a solid outing by his team. While appreciating Cody McCormick’s toughness on the ice, Ruff stressed that this will be a team effort. “When it comes to that you can look in a lot of directions, we got Rivet and Gaustad and Kaleta. I think we’ve got a pretty good team that’s tough.”

Talking about the game, Ruff said, “We don’t really want to take the foot off the gas that much. I’d rather have the team play a tight game, These are good games to play in. We have to protect the lead. We have to learn to play the tight games. Tonight could have been 3-0 if Pominville scores. Instead it comes the other way and they get a penalty shot and it’s 2-1 and you have to battle to stay in the game.”

The Sabres are now 3-0-1 on this preseason, and travel to Canada this weekend for games against Montreal and Toronto. The regular season begins a week from Saturday at HSBC Arena against the Montreal Canadiens.

–Best line of the night… Lindy Ruff commenting on Drew Stafford’s busted lip. “Stafford had his lip stitched up in Washington, following a high-stick in Washington. Then his first shift out he got hit in the face again and blew it wide open, so he had to get stitched up again. At least it was after the red carpet walk.”

If you couldn’t get into your usual parking space at the Buffalo Club this morning, blame it on UB President John Simpson, who held his annual community address across the street at Babeville. I think I was the only sucker who put a quarter in a meter on the street. And I’m lucky I had a quarter, because the automated kiosk on Delaware Avenue was broken and wouldn’t accept credit or debit cards.

This year’s speech, “Buffalo-Niagara at a Crossroads,” riffs on themes borrowed from bluesman Robert Johnson and poet Robert Frost.

Teddy Roosevelt also received major props in the address, as Simpson reminded us, “If we are really to be a great nation, we must not merely talk big; we must act big.” As in UB2020, get it?

Simpson also borrowed Roosevelt’s warning to skeptics: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Dust and sweat and blood, people. You can’t make this stuff up. He even threw in a reference to the Russians and Sputnik. But don’t take my word for it, read it for yourself by clicking here.

And for the heck of it, I’ll offer another Teddy Roosevelt quote, for your edification: “A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.”

1956 Lincoln Capri, Franklinville, N.Y.

I know, I know… I’ve been involved in an ambitious house painting job these past couple of weeks, and the spare time is scarce. But yesterday when I saw this 1956 Lincoln Capri sitting in the back row of a small used car lot in Franklinville I had to stop.

...from the brochure

Not the top of the line, the Capri was overshadowed by the more expensive Premiere, but they both had the same styling which was all-new for 1956. This particular car still looks to be in pretty good shape on the outside, but the interior looks as if someone has (or had) a restoration in mind, as it’s quite disassembled. Still, not too bad for its age!