14 February 2021 - Alannah Myles - Love Is

I wanted to post something appropriate for today.  This second single by Canadian superstar Alannah Myles, the follow up to the huge "Black Velvet", seems to be a good choice. 

Except... funny story... It was actually her debut single in Canada. In the rest of the world, the other song came first. In her home country, this one did. And THIS song also got the Juno nomination for Single of the Year in 1990 (it lost to "Black Velvet"). 

Although often forgotten, this song was a top 40 hit. Alannah Myles is no one hit wonder!!!!!!  Anyway, enjoy the video that most of the world enjoyed in 1990.

This is one of those songs with two official videos. Here's the Canadian version. 

13 February 2021 - Cannibal Corpse - Hammer Smashed Face

As we started Buffalo Week, we thought we had a pretty good representation of Buffalo music.

We forgot one huge name, featured in the movie Ace Venture: Pet Detective.   So, we're including Cannibal Corpse, death metal pioneers from Buffalo, today. 

More than thirty years into their career, Cannibal Corpse is still making music, with a new album dropping in April.  However, we invite you today to enjoy a classic song by the band.  

12 February 2021 - Green Jellö - The Flight of the Scajaquada

This song deserves its own post and an explanation.

The Scajaquada Expressway is Route 198, a highway that runs through Buffalo, NY.  Buffalo, as you know, is known for its snow (although Rochester and Syracuse both regularly get more, but DO NOT GET ME STARTED).  Let's just say that The Scajaquada is not a place you want to be during a blizzard.  During the late 1980s, when this song was released, it wasn't a safe highway.   

There's all sorts of Buffalo references in this song.  All sorts of Buffalo-area schools that you would have heard on a late-1980s school closings announcement on the radio are referenced, as are several popular news personalities from that period.  

Oh, one more thing.  Thanks to another lawsuit, when the song was reissued as part of their 1993 album Cereal Killer, they had to spell it "Skajaquada", but I refuse.  That's not its name.  I also preserved the band's original name here.  

12 February 2021 - Green Jellö/Green Jellÿ - Three Little Pigs

Shockingly, just as soon as this Buffalo punk band got a little success, Kraft sued them and forced a name change. 

No matter.  This novelty tune - amazingly about exactly what you think it is, if you've never heard it - was a Top 20 MAINSTREAM POP RADIO hit.  Radio played the hell out of this song.  When the single was first released in 1992, it was ONLY available on video - it is the first known video single. Although it did get a CD release later, the sales of the video were enough to earn the single Gold certification.

Prepare to be entertained.

The YouTube comments of this live version include the comment "this song is heavier than it has any right to be."

Not wrong.

This performance from 2019 shows that they haven't faded in the quarter century since this was a new song.  

11 February 2021 - John and Mary - Red Wooden Beads

I saw John and Mary twice at St. Bonaventure University in the early 1990's - I want to say 1991 and 1992.  When I went to that first show, 

1) I had John Lombardo sign my copy of Hope Chest by 10,000 Maniacs - the same copy that Natalie Merchant signed and yes, he signed it first.  

2) I purchased their first album, Victory Gardens, and yes, they both signed it.

They were both exceptionally nice.  And exceptional performers.

When I went to that second show, they BOTH remembered my name.  And were happy to see me.  

Now, technically, I saw them a 3rd time at St. Bonaventure, in 1995, after Natalie Merchant left 10,000 Maniacs and that band appeared essentially with John and Mary instead of Natalie - a lineup that pretty much has stuck to this day (John is only a part-time member and Mary did leave the band for awhile), so there's not a lot of John and Mary music anymore, but they don't not exist and they still make music together.

This was their debut single and the song they opened with at that first show.  

10 February 2021 - 10,000 Maniacs - What's the Matter Here?

Seeing a theme this week yet?  

Well, we've got one.  

10,000 Maniacs formed in Jamestown, NY in the 1980s and quickly made a name for themselves on the Buffalo music scene, eventually getting a major label record deal and a broader audience.  

This was the band's 4th single from their 1987 album In My Tribe, and despite the heaviness of the song, it was a minor hit for the band.  Natalie Merchant and Peter Buck wrote the song, from the point of view of someone seeing a neighbor's child being abused.  

The band still performs the song live, with Mary Ramsey on the microphone now.  It's still just as poignant.

9 February 2021 - Ani DiFranco - 32 Flavors

If you live in Western New York, you know who Ani DiFranco is.  She's one of the first artists to eschew major label flirting with her and go off in her own direction.... and still remained financially viable and visible to big names in Hollywood. While she left Buffalo many years ago, that is where she grew up and recorded much of her earlier music. 

This song was from DiFranco's 6th studio album, Not A Pretty Girl.  A clear pun on Baskin-Robbins, it's likely her best-known song not performed as part of a Julia Roberts movie soundtrack.