29° and Sunny
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We visited The Caz Saturday for Miller and the Other Sinners recording a live show at the new Seneca Street club in South Buffalo.
General Manager Andre Pilette oriented us to the QR code ordering for the cashless venue.
Miller, had with him trumpet, sax, keys, drums and a trio of backup singers. He was great as always.
He’s one of a few local musicians, like Grace Lougen and Grosh who leave me mystified by not being recognized by a bigger and even national audience.
If Greta Van Fleet can get played in regular rotation on major radio stations, Grosh should too. Ditto Miller.
Music is a common language. Soul is what it touches. Blues is what I never get from Miller. It is hard to feel blue with such a warm sound. Indeed I am gonna rise up.
It is our new favorite place to see a show because the acoustics are impeccable. Curtains soften echoes as do baffles on the ceiling about. The atmosphere was great.
It will be interesting to visit Samuel’s Grande Manor on Feb. 22 for Big Martha’s Allman’s tribute and see how it stacks up.
As I waited for the show to start I Googled news about The Caz and came to an excellent feature by Toni Ruberto in the Buffalo News. It wasn’t until the next morning that I realized it was the lead in the Gusto section of Sunday’s paper. The Buffalo News does that a lot, putting a story out 24 hours or more ahead of when it runs in the paper.
Pilette was featured in the story, wearing a sportcoat, Grosh shirt and feather fedora reminiscent of Gord Downey, totally hip. He said he has a wall of fedoras to match his sportcoat collection.
What was built as Southside Bank on Seneca Street closed as Liberty Bank and was vacant when purchased by developer Jake Schnieder for $150,000 in 2018. The Caz was built out at a cost of $2.5 million.
We will be back for additional shows but will be a bit more careful. We had planned to get a bite preshow, but when we got to the restaurant, “Yummy’s”, also on Seneca, it was closed so we took our chances with The Caz kitchen.
We split a Cajun Alfredo pasta with chicken. Our server brought us extra plates, which was good, but no spoon or way to serve it. It was soupy with a nice kick, but with a tip and taxes was $29.04 for a medium-sized portion that was way too greasy/saucy especially with no bread to soak up the excess.
A single beer cost $11.61 with taxes and tip. Two ounces of Three Chord Bourbon was more than $20. Beth had a Mule and we shared some deep-fried cauliflower. The food was middling bar grub at gourmet prices. Every order is a new hit to your card. There is no way to run a tab and a 20% tip is cumpolsory. When I added it all up, all in, one shared entree, a shared app, a cocktail, a glass of beer and one bourbon came to a whopping $98.04. Toronto prices in South Buffalo.
I am going to buy tickets to see Bywater Call in March, a sort of Americana band of the sort we used to love seeing at the Tralf, almost reminiscent of Donna the Buffalo, Driftwood or Shovels and Rope, but we will be eating first. I will nurse a single beer. Beth may have wine or a cocktail but that will be it. Ticket prices are reasonable, the sound is excellent but we need to avoid being soaked that way for food and beverage again.
Here is a link. We bought mezzanine tickets for Bywater Call. Let me know if you'd like to join us. https://www.thecazbuffalo.com/
