Here are some Just Buffalo history highlights from the 1980s. Scroll down to move forward along the timeline.
Fantasy & Science Fiction
Friday, December 5, 1980
Where:
Artists Gallery
30 Essex Street
Buffalo, NY 14213
Opening reception with readings by Harlan Ellison and Tom Disch
Date: December 5, 1980
Time: 2:00 p.m.
A panel discussion led by Dr. Leslie Fiedler, with Tom Disch and Harlan Ellison
Date: December 6, 1980
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Costume ball with music and refreshments
Date: December 6, 1980
Time: 9:00 p.m.
Ink
Monday, April 5, 1982
A Just Buffalo publication featuring new works by contemporary authors, including Tom Raworth, Alice Notley, Michael McClure, Simon Pettet, Tom Pickard, Victor Hernandez Cruz, Steve McCaffery, bp Nichol, Robert Creeley, Peter Culley, and many more.
Jayne Cortez & Amiri Baraka
Monday, May 16, 1983
Featuring: Jayne Cortez (with the rhythm section from Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time) and Amiri Baraka (with David Murray, saxophone and Steve McCall, drums)
Where:
Tralfamadore Cafe
100 Theatre Place
Buffalo, NY
Date: May 16, 1983
Time: 8:30 p.m.
Robin Willoughby & Bill Sylvester
Sunday, December 4, 1983
A Reading
(Pictured: Robin Willoughby)
Where:
Nietzsche’s
248 Allen Street
Buffalo, NY
Date: December 4, 1983
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fielding Dawson: How to Write a Novel
Tuesday, March 20, 1984
A Just Buffalo Writing Workshop
Where:
Allentown Community Center
111 Elmwood Avenue
Buffalo, NY
Date: March 20 & 22, 1984
Time: 7:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m.
Across State Lines
Friday, May 25, 1984
Featuring: Ed Dorn and Lucia Berlin
Where:
Allentown Community Center
111 Elmwood Avenue
Buffalo, NY
Reading
Date: May 25, 1984
Time: 8:30 p.m.
Talk
Date: May 26, 1984
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Spoken Arts Radio: March 1985
Saturday, March 2, 1985
Featuring: Mike Basinski, Sam Abrams, Marilyn Hacker, Anne Waldman, Jayne Cortez, and Cynthia Ball-Williams.
When: Saturdays at 6:00, WBFO FM88
WNY Writers-in-Residence Reading
Friday, March 21, 1986
Featuring:
Ed Baxter III | R.D. Pohl | Jack Shifflett | Elizabeth Willis
Where:
Allentown Community Center
111 Elmwood Avenue
Buffalo, NY
Date: March 21, 1986
Time: 8:30 p.m.
Spoken Arts Radio: May 1986
Thursday, May 1, 1986
Featuring: Gwendolyn Ashbaugh, Mike Boughn, Jack Clarke, Tama Janowitz, and Barry Yourgrau.
When: Sundays at 6:00, WBFO FM88
Other Readings By: Victor Cruz and Miguel Algarin
Spoken Arts Radio: October 1986
Friday, October 3, 1986
Featuring: Ansie Baird, Ann Haskell, Robert Bertholf, and Bruce Comens
When: Sundays at 6:00, WBFO FM88
Readings By: Susan Dix, Alan Bigelow, and Beth Baker Bowers
David Lunde & Alan Bigelow
Sunday, October 12, 1986
A Reading
(Pictured: Alan Bigelow)
Where:
Nietzsche’s
248 Allen Street
Buffalo, NY
Date: October 12, 1986
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Casselberry-Dupreé: All Women’s Reggae Band
Saturday, October 3, 1987
Featuring: Toshi Reagon and Annette Aguilar
When: October 3, 1987, 8:00 and 11:00 p.m.
Where: Little Harlem Hotel, 496 Michigan Ave
Journey
Thursday, December 17, 1987
A Poetic and Musical excursion which traces the development of contemporary Black American music, from its roots in traditional African rhythms.
When: December 17, 1987, 7:00 p.m.
Where: Buffalo & Erie County Public Library Auditorium
‘Journey’ Band
Thursday, December 17, 1987
Left to Right: Douglas Gaston, Gregory Millar, Tony Gloster, Rodney Appleby, Skip Williams (front)
Alexis DeVeaux
Wednesday, January 27, 1988
A Reading to Commemorate the Birth and Life of Dr. Martin Luther King
Where:
Erie Community College City Campus Auditorium
Main Street & Ellicott Street
Buffalo, NY
Date: January 27, 1988
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Brooks and Jazz
Saturday, February 6, 1988
A Tribute for African History Month
Where: Rockwell Hall, Buffalo State College
Date: February 6, 1988
A Concert Featuring Greg Millar, Joanne Lorenzo, Rodney Appleby and Hari Pender
Time: 7:00 p.m.
A Poetry Reading Featuring Gwendolyn Brooks
Time: 8:00 p.m.
An Evening of Free Speech: Poetry and Prose
Saturday, April 23, 1988
A Reading to Benefit the Margaret Randall Defense Fund
Featuring: Robert Creeley, Diane DiPrima, Margaret Randall, Jimmie Canfield and Michele Wallace
Where:
Allentown Community Center
111 Elmwood Avenue
Buffalo, NY
Date: April 23, 1988
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Sharon Holley & Karima Amin
Saturday, February 11, 1989
Along This Way: Storytelling in the African Tradition.
Where:
Downtown Library Auditorium
Buffalo, NY
Date: February 11, 1989
Time: 2:00 p.m.
An Evening with Victor Hernandez Cruz
Friday, June 2, 1989
Where: The Senior’s Center in the Hispanics United of Buffalo
Date: June 2, 1989
Time: 8:00 p.m.
In/Form: Monologue Marathon
Sunday, June 11, 1989
Featuring:
Ron Ehmke | Tammy Ryan | Manny Fried | Susan Hodge Anner | Francine Witte | Eileen Myles
Where:
TheatreLoft
Buffalo, NY
Date: June 11, 1989
Time: 1:30 p.m.
An Evening with Rita Mae Brown
Saturday, September 9, 1989
Where: Rockwell Hall Auditorium
When: September 9, 1989 at 8:00 pm
An Afternoon with Peter Matthiessen
Sunday, October 15, 1989
Novelist, naturalist, journalist and explorer Peter Matthiessen (1927-2014) travelled the world, writing about its remote corners, its vanishing cultures and the destruction by man of its fragile environment.
Where: Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center
Date: October 15, 1989
Time: 4:00 p.m.
An Evening with Molly Peacock
Friday, November 17, 1989
Of poet Molly Peacock’s work, Robert Creeley says, “She has a genius for saying the most necessary things in the quietest way – so that intensive dilemmas of feeling and person become a common fact for all who care to listen.”
Where: Church of the Ascension
When: November 17, 1989 at 8:00 pm
Flying Words Project Residency: Peter Cook & Kenny Lerner
Monday, December 4, 1989
Where: St. Mary’s School for the Deaf
When: December 4-7, 1989
“Deaf poet Peter Cook and voice Kenny Lerner are becoming recognized as pioneers in the relatively new art form of deaf poetry. They will be in residence for four days at St. Mary’s to work with young students, many of whom may believe that poetry is only for the hearing. Through the use of American Sign Language, body language, mime and performance techniques, these two artists will encourage the students to find expression in poetic form.”