If you've been keeping up with 'Around Town' for the past two weeks, you might've realized that on just about every Friday of the month, a major museum in Buffalo is open to the public for free - perfect for us college kids on college budgets.
This Friday, the Buffalo History Museum, located at 1 Museum Court in Delaware Park, is open and free from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Museum itself is a major part of Buffalo history, as it is the only remaining building from the Pan-American Exposition of 1901, held in Buffalo.
The Museum faces the Japanese Gardens, where the first-ever Cherry Blossom Festival opens on Wednesday, April 23. Current exhibits at the Museum include "Street of Shops," a recreation of Victorian Buffalo; the John R. Oishei Native American Gallery; and "Bflo. Made!" which displays more than 700 inventions and products from Western New York including the kazoo, Cheerios and the Pacemaker, according to the Museum's website.
Even though we're almost a month into spring, it seems like the flowers are stuck underground and winter is still looming overhead. But a visit to the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens this weekend will cure any winter blues you've still got. The annual Spring Flower Show at the Gardens is running until April 27. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., you can explore the Gardens and see baby bunnies, chicks and lambs in celebration of spring. With 12 houses, each with their own theme, the Gardens can provide a few hours of escape from gloomy rain and muddy grass.
Laughter is the best cure for a stressed-out-student, and this Friday and Saturday Tammy Pescatelli will be performing at Helium Comedy Club, a new downtown comedy venue that's been growing in popularity.
Pescatelli is from the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, National Lampoon's Funny Money and NBC's Last Comic Standing, according to the club's website.
Another new venue in Buffalo is Pausa Art House, at 19 Wadsworth St. in Allentown (just around the Allen Street 'bend'), which hosts live music every weekend and is only $5 for students. Performances begin at 8 p.m., with doors at 6 p.m. - giving you time to sit down, have a glass of wine and mingle with other audience members in what Pausa's Facebook page describes as "boutique" entertainment.
Friday night, the Three Kings Trio will be performing "April in Paris" - Parisian-inspired music mixed with the Trio's jazz repertoire, according to Pausa's website. On Saturday, Dr. Steve McCaffery, the David Gray Chair of Poetry and Letters in the UB English Department, will be performing with local contemporary classical music group Wooden Cities. They will be performing an extended version of their program at the Words event, last weekend at Burchfield Penney Art Center.
Always wanting to keep you informed about major poets in Buffalo - on April 18, Clark Coolidge will be giving a reading at the Just Buffalo Literary Center, on the 2nd floor of the Western New York Book Arts Center. Coolidge is a major postmodern poet, having published more than 40 books of poetry. The reading, which begins at 8 p.m., is free and open to the public.
Some days, all you want to do is spend money and browse things that are on sale. If you're an international student wanting a little dose of home, or if you just like perusing through more diverse varieties of food and clothing, the West Side Bazaar may be just what you're looking for. Located at 25 Grant St., the Bazaar opened in 2009 to help new immigrants to the United States "enter the mainstream of city life" while preserving their cultural traditions and heritages, according to the Bazaar's website. Businesses at the Bazaar include Gysma's African Style, run by Gysma Kueny who immigrated to Buffalo from South Sudan 12 years ago, Anokha Leewu Enterprises, Pou Ma's business, which sells d?(c)cor, clothing and jewelry and Burmese Ma Theint's Moonlady Arts and Crafts. You can also find a diverse selection of worldly food at the Bazaar like an Abyssinian Ethiopian Cuisine stand, Pure Peru and Rakhapura Mutee & Sushi.
With the semester coming to close, it's time to see what Buffalo has to offer before you're locked in Lockwood, ferociously typing up your last paper that you promised yourself you wouldn't procrastinate on (or maybe that's just me). Have fun.
email: emma.janicki@ubspectrum.com
