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Memorial Day is fast approaching and for many this holiday weekend marks the official kick-off to WNY’s summer season.
However since its inception in 1868, the true purpose of Memorial Day has been to honor the men and women who have defended the United States in our country’s wars and conflicts.
In tribute to those who have fought under the banner of the American Flag, this week’s Buffalostyle will feature WNY veterans who have endured combat situations in World War II and The Iraqi Conflict, as well as a New York City police officer involved in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack.

Music for the show will spotlight patriotic tunes penned in honor of those who served and the Stars and Stripes for which they fought.
Tune in Friday at during Buffalostyle’s new time slot of 7 to 8 pm for this unique show. Call in at 886-9696 or email your comments and questions to .

This past weekend we went down to the NY Metro to see Ricky Gervais live at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. Tickets to the show were issued via .pdf file that Ticketmaster emailed to me.

I waited until I was at my parents house to print the tickets out, and then we went out to lunch. This is Saturday, so I was excited to see part of the game on NBC. I got on my phone to check the score, and T-Mobile said that there was no further information .

We get back to the house around 3pm and there was no power. That means no game, and thank God I printed the ticked out when I did.
For some reason, I thought the show was at 9pm.

. I figured that out at around 5:20. We got in the car and got caught in nasty traffic on the Hutch and again at the end of the Henry Hudson.

It was my intention to go down to 30th Street so I could avoid a and the nonsense around Times Square. Except it was now 6:40 and the traffic was stopped partly because all the cruise ships were getting ready to depart from the West Side.
We got off at 56th Street, intending to go crosstown to find parking and then figuring out a way to get down to 34th and 7th.

But the street festival was making traffic crazy, and Times Square traffic was already backed up past 56th at Broadway. We pulled over for a second to grab something from the store. I looked up and saw that the sign said, No Standing 7am - 7pm M - F .

It was Saturday. It was 7. I took the key out of the ignition and locked the door.

We walked down in the direction of Madison Square Garden, and I wanted to find a subway stop but didn t know where the closest one was. . We hopped on the 1 train - two stops to the Garden - and entered the arena with 20 minutes to spare.

You know that feeling when time is not exactly on your side and you have to rely on faded memory and luck to get somewhere on time? Yeah, that s called stress.
We got to our seats and watched the people milling in.

The stage was sparse; a black curtain, a mic stand, and a podium.
The lights dimmed at 8:05 and Gervais voice announced, Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. David Bowie .

Bowie came on stage to cheers, dressed in a black tux. He approached the mic stand, acknowledged the crowd, and took a harmonica out of his pocket. He blew a note.

I turned to my wife and whispered to her what I thought the first words out of Bowie s mouth would be, Chubby little loser . They were. The crowd went nuts.

Bowie gave an impromptu performance of a song from one of the best scenes ever recorded in comedy history.
The show was brilliant and Gervais picked bits from his various shows; Animals, Politics, and the current tour, . Gervais comedy is different from American standup.

Anyone who is familiar with Eddie Izzard would recognize what Gervais does on stage. It s a more narrative and thoughtful version of standup.
After an hour and a half of excellent comedy, we exited MSG on 8th Avenue and strolled up towards the extraordinarily bright lights of Times Square where we watched the tourists snapping photos and peeked in and out of shops to get some tchotchkes for Madeleine.

A quick bite to eat and some time at the tri-level M M World store, and we were back in the car on the way to Westchester.
Walking up 7th Avenue that evening, it was great to experience the sights, sounds, and smells of a city that is so familiar, yet one that we don t get to see often enough.
UPDATE: The .

Thanks to TomServo0 in comments for , as well.
Shorter Buzz must have caught on because as the weeks go on.
It was printed in yesterday s edition of the only local daily paper.

: The Sabres are a big deal. Schumer is boring. Cheektowaga is a punchline even in Canada.

Headlines are stupid.
And people wonder why I don t do this every week anymore. 9.

0.
Best regard,
Hit by a Van? … Buy a Cezanne!

A lawyer Buzz knows has this painting that’s been in his family forever. Now it’s on eBay. With pictures and everything!

He lays out the saga: It’s pretty, it’s old, he took it to Sotheby’s but they said the signature wasn’t Cezanne’s, he respectfully disagrees – and now it’s up to us, the potential buyers, to sort it all out. “I make no representations or warranties,” he writes. “Do your Due Diligence.

The painting can be viewed in Buffalo, N.Y., at a mutually convenient time.

” Aw, gee. Thanks to the Albright-Knox, everyone’s deaccessioning.
.

For kicks, I put a bid in, but it didn t meet the reserve.
The rest of the Buzz article is standard 7.9 fare, but
The last line should be their motto.

Dylan is a balding, bespectacled man with a scarf who hates everything that is popular or current. He prefers extremely old technology. Examples of things that he does not like include television, donuts, CDs, and air conditioning.

His favorite musicians are the pop group The Fad Three and megaphone crooners Dickie Crickets and Kid Jersey.
Dylan appears twice during the series. In his first appearance, he joins Droopy at a donut shop and complains about technology.

In his second appearance, he is shown with his landlord, Victor (played by Bob Odenkirk).
Back when I was a kid, I listened to Imus in the Morning because the buzz in New York was that he was back and better than ever - back from a firing because he was a drunk and a coke addict. We re talking 1979 and Idi Amin had been deposed and sought refuge in Saudi Arabi, and Imus was making phony phone calls that I don t remember because they weren t very funny.

In the early 80s, WNBC used to promote Imus and Howard Stern together.
Anyhow, when Stern was fired from WNBC, he was off the air for a few months and first appeared on K-Rock in his old afternoon drive slot before soon moving to mornings. Once that change happened, I pretty much never listened to Imus again.

Why? Because he sucked and wasn t funny.
After Stern s departure from WNBC, he and Imus feuded, and it came out that among other things Imus used racial epithets towards some of the staff at WNBC, including a secretary.

You may recall his depiction in the movie Private Parts as being less than positive. Howard and Robin often talked about what a dismissive prick Mr. Imus was when they arrived as the new kids at NBC.

So, we know Imus was a self-important, racist jerk. Why his idiotic outburst at the Rutgers womens basketball team is any surprise is beyond me. He hasn t had ratings in years, and his constituency has pretty much been inside-the-beltway types who wouldn t know comedy if it kicked them in the groin from behind.

Imus has been taken off of MSNBC (if you can t listen to him, how on Earth could you watch that?) The voices calling for his dismissal from CBS radio are growing louder and more numerous. He s been suspended for 2 weeks.

For the , with them relishing the trouble Imus has gotten himself into, and the fact that (as far as they re concerned) the rest of the country sees his true colors. Listening to them dissect Imus pathetic appearance on the Rev. Al Sharpton s radio show was compelling.

So, Imus is getting his comeuppance and really no one cares. (Except Opie Anthony Jim Norton, who are defending him on their radio show, which incidentally pulled a 0.0 in Chicago and Las Vegas in the last ratings book.

Attaway, boys.)
But what is interesting to me is that Imus loudest accusers are people who have their own histories of slipping up similarly.
Jesse Jackson called Jews hymies and New York hymietown in 1984, yet his livelihood wasn t taken away.

Sharpton was found liable for defamation in connection with the Tawana Brawley fiasco, yet he hasn t had his livelihood taken away, and he never even bothered to apologize for ruining Stephen Pagones life.
During the Crown Heights crisis in 1991, Sharpton referred to Jews as diamond merchants and led a march that ended with the murder of a Rabbinical student by a crowd chanting Kill the Jew . Yet Sharpton still has his radio show, and even ran for President.

When an African-American landlord raised the rent on the Jewish-owned Freddy s Fashion Mart in Harlem, Freddy s had to start eviction proceedings against an African-American owned subtenant. Sharpton came in and blasted this white interloper , whose store was eventually burned to the ground, killing 7.
So, when you hear Sharpton or Jackson call for the firing or removal of someone who made insensitive remarks, wonder why the same wasn t demanded of either of them, and whether they ought to be casting stones.

With that being said, Imus will never return to the CBS radio airwaves. That s probably a good thing, since the Rutgers womens basketball team didn t deserve to be called a racist, misogynist name by that old bastard.
Please forgive the little trip down memory lane.

The Sopranos returned last night with a brilliant episode that dredged up Livia s ghost and possibly offered some foreshadowing with the constant long shots of the lake.
As always, has a great roundup (packed with spoilers), complete with some details you may have missed.
When Tony started asking Janice, I m different how?

How am I different?, I can t have been the only one to flash back to the Funny how? scene from Goodfellas, can I?

Not at all. Joe Pesci probably came to just about everyone s mind at that moment.
1.

At the fundraiser for recovering Buffalo Police Officer Patricia Parete, a woman mistakenly thought that she had previously been introduced to Mary s husband by Alec Baldwin. Namedroppy!
2.

Mary suggests that everyone may someday have nude photos of themselves posted to the internet. I ll pause here so you can shudder. Mary went to Samples, which is a new restaurant on Allen that basically serves amuses bouches for a buck a piece.

She then non-sequiturs into something she saw at Walgreens called Female Fat Burner . Foody!
3.

Mary wants to renovate her old house and learned about Arts and Crafts style homes at a restoration fair. That style differed depending on the owner s nationality. Germans are straight and square while the French are curvy and sexy, she learns.

Mary is German. Buzzy!
4.

Upon reading that Marty Biniasz had declared the Cotter to be the World’s Largest Dyngus Day Squirt Gun,” Mary wonders whether we can we go hit on a sexy Great Lakes freighter? Jokey!
The Buzz column has been shrunk to give more room to all things American Idol, but it s still packed with personal anecdotes.

I .
Otherwise, all original content is © 2004-2007 AJB Those opinions are mine and mine alone, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of WNYMedia.net, the WNY Coalition for Progress, Revitalize Buffalo, or the BP's employer, family, pets or automaton gadgetry.