Kevin Purdy

Sarah and Samuel Beam, on-stage at Asbury Hall/Babeville, Nov. 12, 2008. Photo by LibraRonin.

Iron & Wine is one of the very few music acts the wife and I have Absolute Agreement on, so we snapped up tickets to their Nov. 12 gig at Ani DiFranco’s Babeville, a.k.a. Asbury Hall, as soon as we knew about the gig.

Samuel Beam walked onto the stage of the renovated church hall, looked out from heavy eyes and said, “Wow. I didn’t know there were this many people in Buffalo.” At that moment, it seemed a bit like … everything anyone’s ever said about Buffalo after spending some real time here (or so I tell myself). Listening to it now, though, it seems more in line with his general shyness and modesty, to see that many people lining the halls of the arching space.

I teased PlayedLastNight.com a bit about the literalness of their releases, but, one week later, you can preview, buy and download the whole 18-song, 1-hour-35-minute Iron & Wine set from that show. The basic $9.95 package gets you MP3 files with a 160 kb/s bitrate–decent enough for headphones and non-audiophile enjoyment. $3 more gets you (via email, two days later) FLAC files that haven’t lost any audio quality in compression.

Quick tip on the sly: One YouTube user has posted three full song videos from the Asbury Hall gig. Consumer-cam quality, but pretty neat angle.

Nine things to like about the Nickel City

So the New York Times gave Buffalo’s architectural treasures the feature treatment on Sunday, detailing our city’s beautiful contradictions and breathtaking buildings. We’ve got projects designed by architectural progressives who had brilliant designs on the future, while the modern city itself … well, that’s another 40 posts or so.

They also put together a pretty great slideshow with original shots of Buffalo’s prettier parts. With a smidge of work in Picasa 3, I patched those shots into a few wallpapers for those who might dig such a thing.

They’re in 1680 x 1050 resolution. If requested, I can post more/different aspects and sizes. To download, right-click on the links below and choose “Save Links As” or “Save Target As,” depending on your browser.

• NYT Buffalo Architecture 1 (Guaranty doorway at center, spaced, with drop shadows)
• NYT Buffalo Architecture 2 (Guaranty doorway at center, less spacing, no drop shadows)
• NYT Buffalo Architecture 3 (Skyline shot of Ellicott Square Building at center, spaced, with drop shadows)
• NYT Buffalo Architecture 4 (Skyline shot of Ellicott Square Building at center, almost no spacing )

Comments and improved version links are welcome.

Zilly Rosen of ZILLYCAKES in Buffalo, NY, builds a likeness of presidential candidate Barack Obama using 1240 cupcakes., originally uploaded by shastio.

Politics aside, that is some serious devotion to a cause. A five-frosting, delciously decadent cause.