ELLICOTTVILLE ENTERTAINMENT
(04/24/2009)
Checking Out the Tunes and Other Stuff In Ellicottville
By Robby & Sherm Wilkens

As announced previously the Ellicottville music scene will have a new addition on July 19th at Holiday Valley. The Rotary Foundation for Youth will be hosting the Americana Folk Art & Music Fair. Part of the weekend includes an outdoor concert on the slopes at Tannenbaum Lodge on Sunday July 19th from noon to 7:00 PM. This family event will feature some great acts like Old Dawg and Country Jam with National recording artists The Doerfels and Canadian Juno award winner Tom Wilson. The hills will be buzzing so bring your lawn chairs, picnic gear and the entire family for this interactive music fair. Stayed tuned to this column for more information on this event which is part of the evolution of the Antique Farm Fair that will take place on Saturday July 18th in front of the town hall. click here for more info

April has about a week to go. Both Holiday Valley’s Double Black Diamond Golf Course and Elkdale Country Club are up and running. So far The Golf Season is off to a pretty good start. With the weather prediction for this weekend, sunny and seventies, things will just get better from here.

However, music wise we still are on the slow side as to quantity. Quality, well, we still have what we have always come to expect here in Ellicottville, some real GOOD STUFF. Starting today Friday April 24,2009 through next Thursday we will have seven bands, two DJs and, like last week a Two Day Bartenders Choice Music Extravaganza.

Things get going at 8:00 PM this evening in Madigans with the beginning of “The Two Day Bartenders Choice Music Extravaganza”. What this is, the bartenders on duty will be choosing tunes that will be played through Madigans Excellent Sound System. Like last week, requests will be honored for both tunes and artists if they are in inventory they will be featured. Remember this is a two-day event. Therefore, plan on a Madigans Partying Good Time for both Friday and Saturday night.

Back on Monroe Street, at 9:00 PM “Personal DJ John Barry” will be showing off his personality and spinning your favorites LIVE from Balloons Sound Booth. As always John’s tune selection will be well in tune with wishes of the audience. Whether it’s dancing, partying or just plain listening John will accommodate. Therefore with the good tunes accompanied by Tom’s good eats served till 10:00 PM, Balloons should be on your list of places to kick-off the weekend.

Saturday’s music begins where Friday left off. That being 5:00 PM in Balloons with “The Buddy Hinds Band”. Again like last week and the week before, this is another of what I call the really wonderful bands that have played Balloons since this 5:00 PM gig started. We originally knew this group as “The Buddy Hinds Blues Band” then, with some changes, they became “Big City Thrill”. Now they are back to “The Buddy Hinds Band”. Their music is still the up-beat blues to rock sound that makes them so much fun. Again, thanks to MK2 and all the wonderful Balloons Staff that make Saturday afternoon so much fun all year round. Following “The Buddy Hinds Band” “DJ Marty Mayhem” will keep the party going from Balloons Sound Booth. Mayhem, I guess in Ellicottville, is synonymous with “Party Continuation”. For sure it is in Balloons.

This Saturday there will be two 9:00 PM music starts. “Steve Dudley” will be doing his “Cocktail Rock” gig in The Double Diamond beginning at 9:00 PM this Saturday. Steve is a one-person show that really interacts with the audience. Most of the tunes he does are a result of a request. It is an acoustic show that has a tendency to become some real fun stuff. The Double Diamond is a perfect setting for Steve because of the closeness of the audience. Another feature of The Double Diamond is a separate dinning room allowing their excellent food to be enjoyed away from the fun in the bar.
Also at 9:00 PM Saturday “Ray D O’Flyer” will be in The Gin Mill. Radio Flyer, as these guys are known, are a thro-back to Rockin Oldies Weekend. Their music consists of Old School Rockin Roll, Honky Tonk, and Swing A Billy all the way to The Blues. I just hope we see some Poodle Skirts and Bobby Socks to go with The Gin Mill fun times. Remember The Gin Mill serves good food till midnight at user-friendly prices.

After a quiet Sunday, at 7:00 PM Monday The Gin Mill kicks off the music week with “Pasta & Bluegrass”. As everyone knows, you may enjoy all the spaghetti and garlic toast U can eat for $5.95 PLUS enjoy some of the finest Bluegrass Music with Heart preformed by “The Blue Mule Band” Their music is both cover and original. The Heart comes from some of their original tunes like “Standing in The Rain”. This is really an excellent Gin Mill gig.

Around the corner on Monroe Street MONDO MONDAY will begin at 10:00 PM in The Double Diamond. “Mr. Jack DarVaset” and a condensed cast of characters that will include “Frankie The Tip Jug Drummer” and “Basser Brandon The Hydro Ceramic Engineer” will be doing their, and Ellicottville’s only, “All Original Music Event”. Believe me the whole Double Diamond experience on Monday night is a true EXPERIENCE worth catching.

Wednesday at 9:00 PM, we move back to The Gin Mill for Wednesday, Wings, Wagner and Winston. Like every Wednesday for twenty-five years, Joe and John’s acoustic Folk to Southern Rock music enhanced by The Gin Mill’s thirty-five cent wing special and further enhanced by Mr. Chorny’s antics from behind the bar, make The Gin Mill the place to be on Wednesday night.
The week’s final music gig takes place 7:00 PM Thursday also in The Gin Mill with a new version of “Kuk and Freddie” that being “Freddie and Brian”. With Kuk on vacation, Freddie Joseph teamed up with Brian Hicks the rhythm guitar player from “White Lightnin” one of the three bands Freddie plays in. From what Freddie tells me, we will here “Kuk and Freddie” type of music with, just maybe, a little bit of a “County Twist” This should be another fun night in The Gin Mill.