North drama production sends life lesson to audience
by ELIZABETH TAUFA Reporter
      The Williamsville North Drama Club will present Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" as its fall production, to be held Friday and Saturday, Nov. 16 and 17 in the school's auditorium, 1595 Hopkins Road, Williamsville. The drama is a turn-around from last year's production, Neil Simon's "Rumors.
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Family Activities
      thurs. 15 Art Gone Wild - The sixth annual event will feature artwork created by animal residents of the Buffalo Zoo, 6-9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, Pearl Street Grill and Brewery, Pearl St., Buffalo. $. 995-6133, www.buffalozoo.
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Announcements
      • AVRIL LAVIGNE - Tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 17 for Avril Lavigne's "Best Damn Tour," with special guests Boys Like Girls, 7 p.m. Saturday, March 29 at HSBC Arena. Tickets are $25, $35 and $49.
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Christmas
      fri.16-sun. 18 Holiday Gift Show at the Kenan Center - 5-9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17; and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18, Kenan Center, 433 Locust St., Lockport, 433-2617, www. kenancenter.
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Theater
      thurs. 15 The Pillowman - Martin McDonagh's haunting and profoundly unsettling play directed by Robert Waterhouse. Preview pay-what-you-can performances at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15. Opens at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov.
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A hip musical
      What if a racially diverse trio of singers reinterpreted the music of the Andrews Sisters, Buddy Holly, Elvis, The Beach Boys, The Beatles and many other artists? The result would be MusicalFare Theatre's regional premiere of "A Brief History of White Music," through Dec. 9.
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'American Gangster' is American made
MOVIE REVIEW
by KEN BARTOLOTTA Reporter
      In spite of its title, I'd be hard-pressed to call "American Gangster" a mob movie. Sure, it takes that well-traveled path of the fish-out-of-water gangster seeking some sort of redemption in his pursuit of the American dream, but in the end it's a film about the system and the loopholes and crac...
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Film/Video
      fri. 16 Dan Monceaux & Emma Sterling - Australian artists-in-residence duo of Monceaux and Sterling will premiere the experimental audio-visual work produced while at Squeaky Wheel. The premiere will be preceded by a collection of experimental shorts that have influenced the duo's creativ...
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Literature
      thurs. 15 Northside Writers Group - 7 p.m. the first and third Thursday of the month, Ascension Lutheran Church, 4640 Main St., Amherst. 626-4204 Nathaniel Mackey - Poet, critic and literary theorist, presented by Poetics Plus/Exhibit X Fiction Reading programs at UB, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, ...
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Symphonic/Classical
      fri. 16 Todd Wilson - Visiting Artist El Trio Gitano - Featuring Mir fri. 16-sun. 18 Leonard Bernstein's 'Mass' - sat. 17 Saturday Night at the Movies Saturday, Nov. 17, Kleinhans Music Hall, 1 Symphony Circle, Buffalo; $.
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Performance
      thurs. 15 The Cat Venom Comedy Group - Presents improvised skits using social and political humor, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, Center for Inquiry, 1310 Sweet Home Road, Amherst; $. 636-4869, Ext. 409 thurs. 15-sat.
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Concerts
     fri. 16 "Don't Let's Start" because you know They Might Be Giants will be the "Boss of Me" and you at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16 at the Town Ballroom, 681 Main St., Buffalo; $. 852-3900, www.townballroom.com
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Live Local in WNY
      thurs. 15 Dick Whiskey, with Gentlemen Callerz, 10:30 p.m., Merlin's, 727 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo; $. 886-9270, www.merlinsbuffalo.com Underground Style (Other Side of Hip Hop), with DJ Optimus Prime, Kush B, Emcee Debug, D.F.C.
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Speakers
      thurs. 15 Alice Roosevelt Longworth, From White House Princess to Washington Power Broker - Author Stacy A.
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Announcements
      • PHOTOGENIC SEARCH - K & M Productions will be holding a Photogenic Search at noon Saturday, Dec. 1 at the Walden Galleria Mall, Cheektowaga. Babies to adults, male and female, are eligible to enter.
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Art
      fri. 16 The Art of the City: Photographs by Michael Mulley - Opening reception at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16, open weekdays from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. from Nov. 19-Jan. 3, WNED's Horizons Gallery, 140 Lower Terrace (across from the Adam's Mark Hotel), Buffalo; free.
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Dance
      fri. 16-sun. 18 Buffalo Contemporary Dance - Presents five shows: "Rapid Motion Through Space Elate One," "Bikini Launch," "Come When I Call You," "To Russia with Love (for Galitchka)" and "Carpe Diem," 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 16, 17 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18, Alt Theatre, 255 G...
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Fun songs heard on Surowiec's 'Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas'
CD REVIEW
by RISA WASIK Assistant Copy Editor
      Matt Surowiec and the Tricentennial Band's "Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas," a holiday CD resurrecting the songs from Jim Henson's Christmas special from 1977, brought a lot of attention from my coworkers as it lay on my desk waiting for review.
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