And if you will consider hanging out in the Queen City’s finest corner gin mills, off the beaten path saloons and heavenly dive bars as “busy” then we are on the same page.

Starting in this week’s ARTVOICE is a regular column called Three Guys Walk Into A Bar which derives its name from the start of a thousand old jokes. Like those innumerable jokes, it would seem there is an endless amount of old bars in Western New York. The aim is to visit as many off as possible with me and a couple other guys – and by “guys” we can be talking about dudes, gals or whatever – showing up and taking in everything these joints have to offer.

We start the journey of Three Guys at a place of old wood walls, strong drinks and Nightmares: the unsung Hertel Avenue treasure called Del Denby’s.

Read about it here.

Who better than the kid from Little Italy – who became America’s premier cinematic auteur – to get behind the lens for the big screen epic on the Hoboken boy who became an American enertainment icon? It was announced yesterday that Universal Pictures and Mandalay Entertainment have tapped the mighty Martin Scorsese to direct a forth-coming Frank Sinatra biopic. We hope Scorsese can avoid the urge to cast Leonardo DiCaprio as Ol’ Blue Eyes.

Scorsese’s next picture is Shutter Island and due in October starring – surprise, surprise – Leo DiCaprio. He also continues his tradition of great music docs with a George Harrison film due in 2010.

Frank’s legacy continues to bloom with the catalog currently in reissues overhaul most recently with Seduction: Sinatra Sings of Love (Rhino) and the recently launched SINATRA.COM for all think Frank. They all need to get on the good foot and reissue and remaster this downbeat, overlooked masterpiece – said to be one of the singer’s personal faves among his own recordings.

The once and always mighty electro-art-punk spuds DEVO close out their amazing set with a rendition with “Beautiful World” with their elemental manchild mascot Booji Boy taking the lead vocal.

To me, seeing the original DEVO was every bit as great as seeing the original Kiss reunited with makeup on, hearing Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens playing as Big Star and watching David Bowie pull “Quicksand” into a set at Shea’s.

So the live blogging didn’t work out as there were some… ummm… network issues with mobile service that made it almost impossible. I was able to Twitter and the big feature hits the street and artvoice.com on Thursday.

The Heartless Bastards at Stubbs (courtesy my iPhone)

In the coming days I’ll add some more pictures, stories, reviews and various nonsense from the magical, musical week that was in Texas here at Record Needles blog. Think of it as the expanded version.

This will be my sixth year attending SXSW – the massive music festivals in Austin, TX where thousands of performers play and the global music industry converge for one week – and the half decade thus far has proven an interesting gauge of changing winds of technology, how we communicate and how  media delivery is changing.

With each passing year, it was at SXSW where I really noticed how getting – in myself and those around me – how getting and sharing information was rapidly changing.

In 2004, I remember lugging my heavy old laptop PC and having a tough time getting the internet in my hotel room and checking my email twice a day.  Now I can’t fathom not checking my iPhone every ten minutes for updated information.

The Fratellis with Pete Townshend in 2007 (courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan)

In 2007, my Who-obsesed eye spied Pete Townshend’s amp, guitar rig and trusted guitar tech Alan Rogan on the side of the stage during a day time set by  The Fratelli’s set. I quickly started sending text messages to friends and cohorts to get there post haste. When they all started pouring in and with time catch the legendary guitarist roll through a version of “The Seeker” with the young Scottish band, I saw the ease, directness and power of text messaging.

SXSW revelry circa 2008: Rachel Ray (L), Donny Kutzbach (R) / photo - David L. Dewey

In 2004, I had to get a new suitcase for all the compact discs I acquired. In 2009, I will fit as much as I can on my hard drive… and maybe still need a  suitcase for all the vinyl!

Also in 2009, my reporting will change but still stay somewhat the same.

In addition to the final SXSW recap in the March 26-April 1 issue of ARTVOICE, I will be doing live blogging and Twitter “tweeting” throughout the maddening  blur of the sun-baked, alcohol-soaked and music omnipresent week in Texas.

No matter how the flow of info changes and how much wired – or wireless – we become, the other thing SXSW also proves: there’s nothing that can kill live music and it’s ultimately one of the most powerful forces on the planet.

Feel free to join me for the ride either here at Record Needle In The Camel’s iPod or at Twitter

Beatles toys are back in 2009!

It’s not a surprise as it’s been bantered about in video game and music circles for the better part of year, but the official announcement came today.

Apple Corps, Harmonix and MTV Games officially announced the global release of Rock Band: The Beatles this morning.

The press release declares:

The Beatles: Rock Band will allow fans to pick up the guitar, bass, mic
or drums and experience The Beatles extraordinary catalogue of music
through gameplay that takes players on a journey through the legacy and
evolution of the band’s legendary career. In addition, The Beatles:
Rock Band will offer a limited number of new hardware offerings modeled
after instruments used by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison
and Ringo Starr throughout their career.

A teaser website is up at www.thebeatlesrockband.com and the game will be available for XBOX 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii with retail ranging from $59.99 for basic verison to $249.99 for a premium bundle.

While The Beatles: Rock Band is not the first video game platform to highlight a single band’s music (that milestone belongs to last year’s hohum Gutiar Hero edition of Boston’s once badboys, Aerosmith)  it is significant is it’s the first time Apple Corps – along with EMI Music, Harrisongs Ltd, and Sony/ATV Music Publishing – has agreed to present The Beatles music for a video game.

It’s further remarkable to see such notoriously particular copyright holders unleash an entire catalog on such a scale but it says a lot of where the music business is right now and how it is hoped that legacies will be intact

With aim not only to hook the gamers but also legions of Beatles diehards, careful attention paying attention to details including Rock Band-playable  replications of the Fabs’ original gear to a release date of September 9, 2009  (Get it??? Number nine… Number nine… Number nine…)

Here’s to hoping there will be a sitar so I can virtually master “Within You Without You” or a Yoko Ono expansion pack to hover over the procedings and annoy your opponents.

Have I been keeping up on that end? Not at all.

So, here’s my first blast at redemption.

A glance of the things that came into my orbit in the last couple days weren’t exactly “all new.” They all had a warm familiarity and that can be a wonderful thing.

In the last couple years, Ani DiFranco has made more local news as  patron saint of the corner of West Tupper and Delaware. That’s hardly the whole story, however.

Beyond the rehabbing of the historic downtown church she now calls Babeville, Ani’s also been busy being a mother to daughter Petah (born in January 2007) and not so much slowing down her musical life as balancing it with her new role. 2007’s best of Canon marked a quick stop gap as DiFranco was readying to move ahead. Her new album finally comes out September 30 and some well-placed friends over at Righteous Babe made sure I got a copy of Red Letter Year a little early.

A couple listens in, it has to be her most daring and engaging work in years. In some ways, it feels like the “post-Ani” Ani record. While it doesn’t lack any of the immediacy of her earlier work, it does bear the marks of a record that was slowly and carefully put together over time. Her writing is a naked and honest as it’s ever been but there’s a tempered subtley and a very jazz imbued flair. Ani getting torchy? A little bit and it’s a terrific turn of events. You can see the goings on of all things Ani at her Righteous Babe site.

And on the other side of riot grrrl rock/feminism aisle, Rhino says “We do put out!” to one the greatest punk movies ever. Now, everyone can finally see Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains!

The 1981 cult classic chronicling the rise and fall of an all girl punk band in the seamy world of rock and roll – with a cast including real punks like Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook, The Clash’s Paul Simonon and “white punk on dope” Fee Waybill – had about a thirty second theatrical release and would only occasionally pop up on late night cable television in the ’80s, filling hours on the old USA Network’s killer wee weekend hours program Night Flight. Otherwise, it was a coveted bootleg in the days of VHS.

Finally, a very spiffed up digital release is on the shelves as the first installment of Rhino’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Cinema series. The DVD has the usual upgraded sound and picture and includes breand new commentary track with stars Diane Lane and Laura Dern as well as one with director Lou Adler.

It’s a full-on girl punk revival almsot thirty years later. The Stains even have their own MySpace page.

And as I go back through my past, I can admit that I owned Tony! Toni! Toné!’s 1993 new jack swing opus Sons Of Soul highlighted by the irrepresible hit “If I Had No Loot,” complete with its Ice Cube sample. The band issued one more album before Raphael Saadiq went solo. Now, Saadiq on his own was always a bit of a headscratcher. I liked some of his production work but his Lucy Pearl project was lackluster and his solo records sounded – to me – like unremarkable standard fare r&b/soul,pop.  What happened to that son of soul?

This time he got it so right it’s as if he stepped out of Hitsville USA studio circa ‘66 into a time machine.

An unabashed homage, with The Way I See It Saddiq has made a record of all new tunes but written and recorded with the stylistic earmarks, cool and sheer power of prime Motown, Stax, Huff/Gamble and the like. Saadiq has never been a straight revivalist. He was always the type to mix a bit of “old school” so as not to scare off modern audiences. This time around, he’s clearly not worrying about that.

One look at the Marvin Gaye-aping cover and you get an idea where he’s going.

The bio reads, “Listening to The Way I See It, it’s immediately obvious that it could have been recorded thirty years ago.”

Thirty years? Try forty!

The entire record is in the vein of ’60s to early ’70s-style soul. It’s a gem and I’m hooked. Listen to some songs here.

Why I didn’t have my own giant hunk of grease across ARTVOICE’s recent food issue is beyond me because – besides music – one of my favorite things to debate and talk endlessly about is food here in the Queen City.

There’s nothing like deliberating with friends what joint has got the better wings or wecks, ever trading off favored off the beaten path gin mills and surprise spots of gastronomical treasure in attempting to trump one another.

No stretch of local road rates higher on the great food scale for for me as the mile of Delaware between Hertel and Kenmore Avenues. It’s here where I insist you can buy Buffalo’s best Italian sausage and pork products (Scime’s Rite Price), get chicken wings that put every other in joint in town to shame (Kelly’s Korner) or grab for a great sub, ravioli dinner or custard at host of other choice stops.

So it was fitting that along this part of Delaware – making that all too often stop for the beloved Three Cheese Burrito – I saw this sight: what I decided was a sort of a tap out in a veritable Buffalo fast food Clash of the Titans.

Click on the picture for a closer view.

The Queen City-native died today of an apparent heart attack at the age of 58 while doing what he loved: working on the news at NBC, specifically Meet The Press – the mother of all political programs – where he served as host for the last 17 years.

In his announcement of the sad news this afternoon, NBC’s Tom Brokaw called Russert “a true child of Buffalo and always stayed in touch with his blue collar roots which he was raised and the ethos of that community.”

It was true. And Buffalo never let go of Russert.

Born and raised in South Buffalo and a Canisius High School graduate, he IS/WAS the pride of Buffalo, NY. Now we toss that around about people who have passed through this city but I can’t think any person who was more endeared here across the boards: no sports figure, no politician, no one.

He moved on in the world but never really moved away. He continued to return to the city he always felt was his home to visit and care for his father Tim Sr. – the center of his best selling books – and frequently mentioned Buffalo on the air.

I’ve spoken to local football fans who didn’t give a hooey about politics but would still tune in to hear Russert sign off with his weekly “Go Bills!” He was the subject of a Bison’s bobblehead that proved to be one of the team’s most successful and memorable promotions ever.

Russert leaves behind his wife Maureen Orth and a son, Luke. He will be sorely missed especially in this heated political season where his brand of tough but fair journalism set the standard. As recently as this past week’s Meet The Press, you could see the fire in his eyes and joy on his face tearing into the facts of the coming presidential race.

Back home, we’ll miss him even more so. Buffalo is probably never going to have another cheerleader like Tim Russert. We were lucky to have him.

Ahhhh, the glorious mid-90s. While we were waiting for the information superhighway to bolster to 8 lanes a side, we were still figuring out what was cool courtesy of zines.

The lovingly compiled, hipper than hip cut and paste missives from the dawn of desktop publishing were a stapled together staple for (I have to say it… gross!) Generation X denizens looking to keep up with wot was worth keeping up with.

Buffalo had a few great ones, one of which was Slack. While hitting the strip for a tandem of Village Green, Apollo Records, Adr-Ian’s Bagels and (insert yer favorite long-gone Elmwood Avenue business) you could pick up a copy of the mostly monthly zine for free.

I was still a year away from the legal age of 21 when Slack published issue #8 all about beer, glorious beer. Boy, can I use it now

Luckily, Slack publisher Mark Wisz – former ne’er do well, now local design maven – has put it online. You can and should check it out here at his blog:

RoamBuffalo blogspot

Now that Slack is making its way to online archives, it’s time for Avenue Player. Chris Celeste, are you reading this?