ELLICOTTVILLE ENTERTAINMENT (12/12/08)
Checking Out the Tunes and Other Stuff In Ellicottville
By Robby & Sherm Wilkens

After a rainy mid-week we are back to cold temperatures for the next couple of days and the Holiday Valley snow guns are booming. We should have pretty good skiing this weekend and that will be a good thing. Before we get started Robby and I wish to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our grandson Ben on his sixth birthday this coming Tuesday.

Now here we go today Friday December 12, 2008 will begin a week featuring nine bands and two DJ’s. Things get started tonight 9:00 PM in the usual way with “Personable D.J. John Barry” doing what he does best, which is showing off his personality LIVE from the fun surroundings of Balloons Sound Booth. It is John’s, audience sensitive, attitude that makes his show so much fun. He also makes Balloons an excellent Friday night stop for enjoyable music, fun dancing, and good eats creating an all-around good time. By the way I wish to thank both “DJ John Barry” and “DJ Frank Watson” for the cocktail they bought me in Balloons last Saturday. Thanks Guys.

Moving just south on Monroe Street at 9:30 PM tonight The Double Diamond will have a relatively new band that was here just last month, “Straight Edge”. This group is made up of members from “Two Hour Notice” and “The John Doe Band”. They are very high energy “Classic Rockers” and put on quite a show. The Double Diamond is a perfect home for this young and audience friendly group.
Saturday’s music gets going at 5:00 PM in Balloons with a new band for Ellicottville “The Stevie Project”. This is a three-piece Buffalo group featuring the music of “Stevie Ray Vaughn”. A quote from their press billing “The Stevie Project, founded in the summer of 2008, features the music of Stevie Ray Vaughn. The Sounds are created with exacting precision, which is eventually enveloped in soulful improvisation. Done exactly as Stevie would have wanted it done”. This ought to be real GOOD. Also remember, Balloons is an all-ages friendly place with an excellent menu so families may enjoy the music and food in a wonderful atmosphere for everyone. Following “The Stevie Project”, “DJ Chatty Frank Watson” will be in charge of the fun and games from Balloons Sound Booth. Believe me, Frank will continue the on-going dancing and fun with his “Around The Corner” sense of humor, yet still in a very acceptable manor for his all-ages audience.

The first of the two Saturday night shows begins 9:00 PM in The Gin Mill with another of the really fun bands to play here in Ellicottville “White Lightin”. This group features our own Freddie Joseph of “Kuk & Freddie” fame on percussion. Their music is “Classic Rock” with just a taste of country. They are, as always, very up beat and fun and GOOD STUFF for just listening and or dancing. In The Gin Mill the choice is always yours. Also with The Gin Mill’s kitchen open till midnight and everything served at user-friendly prices, you can make a complete night of food, music and fun.
The second Saturday gig, The Canadian Tuxedo Party, featuring the music of another of our local bands, “Tripper Harrison” begins at 9:30 PM in The Double Diamond. This will be a “Denim Disaster Dressed” event featuring a gravy fountain complete with free French Fries for all of our Canadian and Canadian want-A-be friends of Ellicottville. This will be another “Off The Wall” yet really fun event that happens so often in The Double Diamond.

You can now tell winter has arrived because we no longer have a quiet Sunday. The Double Diamond will have an acoustic duo “Holly and Ray” playing from 8:00PM till midnight this Sunday. Ray is an acoustic guitar and vocalist while Holly is the female vocalist from “Jokers Wild”. All last winter Brooks & Company had acoustic groups playing on Sunday night. Believe me this was a really fun music event. From the billing on this duo, The Double Diamond’s Sunday music should pick up where it left off last spring.

Now moving to our regular weekly music venue. We start Monday with “Pasta and Blue Grass” 7:00 PM in The Gin Mill. As happens every Monday, The Gin Mill offers an “All U Can Eat” spaghetti and garlic toast dinner preceded by a wonderful salad for only $5.95. With the order of two dinners, there is a $10.99 bottle of wine available also. You can enjoy this excellent meal plus the wonderful “Blue Grass with Heart” music of “The Blue Mule Band” this and every Monday evening in The Gin Mill.

MONDO MONDAY Ellicottville’s only “All Original Music Happening Experience” is next beginning around 10:00 PM Monday night in The Double Diamond. “Jack Darvacaet” and his crew consisting of possibly “Lil Joey”, “Frankie Da Drummer”, ‘On The Bass Brandon”, “Fritz The Kat” and a few other possibilities like “Ace Kodine” and the like create one of the more fun music experiences available to us on a weekly basis. The Double Diamond is where you can experience this fun and “Off The Wall” event most every Monday.

Wednesday is the next music night with “W, W, and W&W. starting at 9:00 PM Wednesday in The Gin Mill. Thirty-five Cent Wings served by Mr. Chorny and The Gin Mill Good Guys plus the acoustic music of John Winston and Joe Wagner make The Gin Mill an excellent place to spend Wednesday night.

The Gin Mill rounds out the music week with a 7:00 PM performance by “Kuk & Freddie”. There is also a distinct possibility “Lil Joey” will join in on spoons. The really mellow yet well-selected cover music of “Kuk & Freddie” creates an atmosphere reminiscent of a “Sixties or Seventies” coffee house located some where in San Francisco. This gig is really quite good and The Gin Mill on Thursday is where it happens.