http://www.lockportjournal.com en-us Copyright CNHI All Rights Reserved. 5 Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:28:00 +0000 http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_336113133.html http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_336113133.html It’s Christmas Eve, 1943 and the troops are far from home. The USO entertainment team has left their own families behind to bring cheer to the war zone and “I’ll be home for Christmas,” is the song in everybody’s heart.That’s the premise of “GI Holiday Jukebox,” a musical review at Stella Niagara in Lewiston that is also a salute to Niagara’s own military forces. Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:16:00 +0000 http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_326101810.html http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_326101810.html It seemed like the day would never arrive. Guns N’ Roses’ “Chinese Democracy” album became an infamous mess and a long-running joke as the years — 14 of them — rolled by. When pressed, Guns N’ Roses leader Axl Rose always insisted the album was coming. But almost every interested observer was skeptical. Dr. Pepper offered a free can of its soft drink to “everyone in America” if “Chinese Democracy” was released during 2008.Get ready to drink up. “Chinese Democracy” will be released Sunday and sold exclusively at Best Buy. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:14:00 +0000 http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_325101841.html http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_325101841.html Bobby Anderson has been a lot of places since he walked the hallways of the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center as a young man.He probably never dreamed back then — when it was a high school — that he would return one day as one of the stars of a reality TV show called “Hell’s Kitchen.”Anderson will be among the special guests at the “Holiday Open Studios — Open Galleries,” being held Friday evening. The event, which one organizer called “one of the biggest and best holiday extravaganzas the NACC has ever experienced,” will allow the public to step inside many of the artist studios at the facility and participate in some holiday festivities, as well. Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:51:00 +0000 http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_322105448.html http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_322105448.html When asked how Murder By Death’s dark, Western-tinged sound comes out of a place like Indiana, singer/guitarist Adam Turla said it takes an understanding of the state, which just this year switched from red to blue on the political landscape.“Indiana’s a funny place,” Turla said. “Nobody knows where to put it. In some of ways it’s the center of the country, but a lot of people there think it’s where the South starts. In other ways it’s like the Midwest, so it’s hard to pinpoint what kind of music comes out of there.”The band’s sound is just as mixed up, drawing from hard rock and punk influences while blending in a healthy dose of Southern sounds to create a style all their own, while the lyrical themes are just as complex, even though some of the early songs were spun on the fly. Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:56:00 +0000 http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_319100737.html http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_319100737.html Another widely treasured work of English-language literature has come to life in the Tonawandas.And there endeth similarities between “Tuesdays with Morrie” and “The Hobbit.” The “Morrie” play was staffed by just two actors, a learned fledgling and a geezer with an early bedtime. The Towne Players’ “Hobbit,” dramatized from Briton J.R.R. Tolkien’s pioneering fantasy novel, looks like an all-ages Halloween party, a cast of 26 ranging from single digits to don’t-ask. Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:38:00 +0000 http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_318101943.html http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_318101943.html Roller skating on stage without careening into the front row seats is the current challenge for a group of student actors at Niagara University.Stage manager Kurt Erb hopes for a visceral response from the audience when “The Rink,” opens tonight with a preview performance at the Leary Theatre. Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:16:00 +0000 http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_315102456.html http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_315102456.html I look forward to the third Thursday of November almost as much as the first day of walleye fishing season. As the clock strikes midnight on this day, the new vintage of Beaujolais Nouveau is released to the world. Over 60 million bottles of this wine make their way from France for worldwide distribution. This young wine, grown from the gamay grape, is very fruity, light-bodied and virtually tannin-free, making it extremely easy to drink. In fact, it is as close to a white wine as a red wine can be. It is best served chilled to really bring the fruit flavor forward. Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:50:00 +0000 http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_312095448.html http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_312095448.html Scene: A wild dance party in some cutting edge bar. The DJ plays a tune so hot that everybody is on their feet, screaming and throwing their fists in the air. The room is about to explode in a frenzy of jubilant movement when the song ends and the DJ puts on a slow song. Can you say buzzkill?It’s the number one DJ mistake. But there are others, according to Derek Hockenberry, a DJ and party promoter who has been out in the local bars nearly every night lately, stirring up a buzz for his first event at 10 p.m. Saturday at Kold One’s on Third and Main streets in Niagara Falls. Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:13:00 +0000 http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_311111746.html http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_311111746.html The question posed by the tagline of “America the Beautiful” is simply stated, but complex and multi-faceted enough to carry a film: Is America obsessed with beauty?The new documentary, which deals with our country’s emphasis on body image, opened in limited release a few months ago. North Tonawanda’s Riviera Theatre will host the film’s Buffalo-area premiere on Tuesday. Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:08:00 +0000 http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_308102750.html http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_308102750.html There aren’t many choices for daytime TV watchers who don’t have access to cable. Soap operas, daytime talk shows and court shows dominate air time.This article is a look at that final category — the wonder of televised justice — and the differences between the court shows. Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:50:00 +0000 http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_303165050.html http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_303165050.html The Niagara Regional Theatre Guild’s production of “Tuesdays with Morrie” is simultaneously poignant and uplifting, with powerful performances by its two-man cast. Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:46:00 +0000 http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_303164747.html http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_303164747.html Being president in the movies or television may not come with the power of the position, but it has its advantages. Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:06:00 +0000 http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_301101015.html http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_301101015.html When Bud Redding played with Green Jello back in the early ’80s, he used to cover his keyboard with plastic so he didn’t end up with green gelatin all over everything.That’s the kind of band Green Jello was when it started up in the Kenmore area. The group would show up in outlandish costumes, spilling out of a hired limousine. There was a wheel of torture that lead singer Bill Manspeaker used to tie himself to and spin around on while he sang. And at the end of every performance, there would be a green Jell-O food fight. Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:22:00 +0000 http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_298100105.html http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_298100105.html “Tuesdays with Morrie,” the Niagara Regional Theatre Guild’s next production, has become an honored staple of regional theater.Based on a short and wildly popular 1997 book by sportswriter Mitch Albom, the play with limited staging and a two-person cast is inexpensive to produce but full of importance, humor and wisdom. It is the modern and American version of an ancient tradition, an elder’s handing down of life’s lessons to a young acolyte. Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:50:00 +0000 http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_297095944.html http://www.lockportjournal.com/nightandday/gnnnightandday_story_297095944.html They come cheap and gory. They’re usually released on weekends with little competition. They’re usually panned by the critics. They end up profitable.They are the new horror films, and they are as unstoppable as the evil forces depicted in them.It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when and where horror films became so ominous — lurking on nearly every upcoming box office weekend, but it’s been that way for most of this decade.