Many current and (especially) former Hallwalls staff members ...
... were reunited as guests at the celebration following
the "Dude Wedding" of Ron EhmkeÊ(performance curator 1985Ð1993)Êand
Don Kreger, Buffalo Yacht Club, Saturday, June 28, 2008.
CLOCKWISE FROM BACK ROW LEFT (with position): Matt Isaac (film curator), Ron Ehmke (performance curator), Carolyn Tennant (current media arts director), Meg Knowles (technical director), Maria Venuto (technical director), Ed Cardoni (current executive director), Cheryl Jackson (education coordinator & technical assistant), Jody Lafond (video editing coordinator), Margaret Smith (director of development, public relations, & performance), Anne Wayson (interim visual arts curator), Mike Huber (performance intern), Carl Lee (technical director), Tony Billoni (performance curator), Polly Little (office manager & current development director), Gail Mentlik (video & film curator).
If you attended one or both of Ani DiFranco's debut concerts on September 11 or 12; or Righteous Babe Records (RBR) recording artist Andrew Bird's concert on September 24; or Hallwalls' co-presentation with NYCÕs Brecht Forum of guitarist Marc Ribot in a rare solo concert a month later, on October 11; or the sold-out appearance by Turkish novelist and 2006 Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk which launched Just Buffalo's and Hallwalls' Babel literary series on November 8, 2007; or Ariel DorfmanÕs Babel appearance on December 7; or any of the many special fundraising events held in Asbury Hall by various nonprofit community organizations (Buffalo First, GLYS, YMCA, WNY Food Bank, etc.) in recent months, you have already had the pleasure of experiencing the new custom-designed, state-of-the-art sound system (and new acoustical treatments, including towering purple velvet curtain) RBR has now installed in Asbury Hall, the main assembly space in the newly renamed "Babeville" (formerly "The Church"). As memorable as were the innumerable earlier events held in Asbury Hall by Hallwalls and many other presenters before the sound system was in place—starting with our own grand opening on January 14, 2006 and ending with former president Bill Clinton's campaign appearance for (and with) U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton on August 27, 2007—none of them sounded quite as good as events do now (and will from now on) since Ani and RBR president Scot Fisher powered up their new sound system this past fall.
Other pre-sound system events in Asbury Hall included appearances by such notable performers, speakers, and celebrities as poet Amiri Baraka & others paying tribute to Robert Creeley on what would've been Creeley's 80th birthday (May 2006); authors Jake Halpern & Dianna Dillaway reading from their new nonfiction books; jazz musicians Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, & Steve Swallow (part of WNED's 2007 Guitar Festival); Hallwalls' jazz artists-in-residence William Parker (March 2006) & Roswell Rudd (September 2006); New Minimalism pioneer Tony Conrad; performance artists Gary Nickard & Reinhard Reitzenstein; The Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo; Buffalo Opera Unlimited (in an all-Mozart program); The Buffalo Select Chorus; Amy Taravella, Buffalo Contemporary, and Folkloric dance companies; comedian, author, and erstwhile Air America radio host Al Franken (in a live broadcast for WHLD); actor Alec Baldwin (in a benefit for Road Less Traveled Theatre Company); CNN broadcaster Lou Dobbs (hosting a nationally broadcast town meeting); goalie Ryan Miller & other 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres, along with former Bills quarterback and Hall of Famer Jim Kelly (in a benefit launching Miller's new Steadfast Foundation); Governor Eliot Spitzer, Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, Mayor Byron Brown, and many, many others.
In his review of Ani's Babeville debut in The Buffalo News, rock critic Jeff Miers called the sound quality "pristine," and in a recent article in the Chicago Tribune (10/31/07), feature writer Chuck Myers wrote: "The former Delaware Asbury Methodist Church has never looked so good—or conveyed clear, crisp sound so well."
Future Hallwalls-sponsored events in Asbury Hall include the NYS Music Fund-supported concert by Butch Morris with the Buffalo Improvisors Orchestra (2/29/08), the remaining 2008 Babel authors Derek Walcott (3/13/08), and Kiran Desai (4/24/08); the world premiere of Meet the Composer's New Music for Soloist Champions program (3/15/08); and the second annual Yvar Mikhashoff Legacy Concert with world-renowned solo pianist Winston Choi (4/18/08).
CLOCKWISE FROM BACK ROW LEFT (with position): Matt Isaac (film curator), Ron Ehmke (performance curator), Carolyn Tennant (current media arts director), Meg Knowles (technical director), Maria Venuto (technical director), Ed Cardoni (current executive director), Cheryl Jackson (education coordinator & technical assistant), Jody Lafond (video editing coordinator), Margaret Smith (director of development, public relations, & performance), Anne Wayson (interim visual arts curator), Mike Huber (performance intern), Carl Lee (technical director), Tony Billoni (performance curator), Polly Little (office manager & current development director), Gail Mentlik (video & film curator).
NEW SOUND SYSTEM FOR ASBURY HALL: FALL 2007—WINTER 2008
If you attended one or both of Ani DiFranco's debut concerts on September 11 or 12; or Righteous Babe Records (RBR) recording artist Andrew Bird's concert on September 24; or Hallwalls' co-presentation with NYCÕs Brecht Forum of guitarist Marc Ribot in a rare solo concert a month later, on October 11; or the sold-out appearance by Turkish novelist and 2006 Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk which launched Just Buffalo's and Hallwalls' Babel literary series on November 8, 2007; or Ariel DorfmanÕs Babel appearance on December 7; or any of the many special fundraising events held in Asbury Hall by various nonprofit community organizations (Buffalo First, GLYS, YMCA, WNY Food Bank, etc.) in recent months, you have already had the pleasure of experiencing the new custom-designed, state-of-the-art sound system (and new acoustical treatments, including towering purple velvet curtain) RBR has now installed in Asbury Hall, the main assembly space in the newly renamed "Babeville" (formerly "The Church"). As memorable as were the innumerable earlier events held in Asbury Hall by Hallwalls and many other presenters before the sound system was in place—starting with our own grand opening on January 14, 2006 and ending with former president Bill Clinton's campaign appearance for (and with) U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton on August 27, 2007—none of them sounded quite as good as events do now (and will from now on) since Ani and RBR president Scot Fisher powered up their new sound system this past fall.
Other pre-sound system events in Asbury Hall included appearances by such notable performers, speakers, and celebrities as poet Amiri Baraka & others paying tribute to Robert Creeley on what would've been Creeley's 80th birthday (May 2006); authors Jake Halpern & Dianna Dillaway reading from their new nonfiction books; jazz musicians Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, & Steve Swallow (part of WNED's 2007 Guitar Festival); Hallwalls' jazz artists-in-residence William Parker (March 2006) & Roswell Rudd (September 2006); New Minimalism pioneer Tony Conrad; performance artists Gary Nickard & Reinhard Reitzenstein; The Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo; Buffalo Opera Unlimited (in an all-Mozart program); The Buffalo Select Chorus; Amy Taravella, Buffalo Contemporary, and Folkloric dance companies; comedian, author, and erstwhile Air America radio host Al Franken (in a live broadcast for WHLD); actor Alec Baldwin (in a benefit for Road Less Traveled Theatre Company); CNN broadcaster Lou Dobbs (hosting a nationally broadcast town meeting); goalie Ryan Miller & other 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres, along with former Bills quarterback and Hall of Famer Jim Kelly (in a benefit launching Miller's new Steadfast Foundation); Governor Eliot Spitzer, Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, Mayor Byron Brown, and many, many others.
In his review of Ani's Babeville debut in The Buffalo News, rock critic Jeff Miers called the sound quality "pristine," and in a recent article in the Chicago Tribune (10/31/07), feature writer Chuck Myers wrote: "The former Delaware Asbury Methodist Church has never looked so good—or conveyed clear, crisp sound so well."
Future Hallwalls-sponsored events in Asbury Hall include the NYS Music Fund-supported concert by Butch Morris with the Buffalo Improvisors Orchestra (2/29/08), the remaining 2008 Babel authors Derek Walcott (3/13/08), and Kiran Desai (4/24/08); the world premiere of Meet the Composer's New Music for Soloist Champions program (3/15/08); and the second annual Yvar Mikhashoff Legacy Concert with world-renowned solo pianist Winston Choi (4/18/08).
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