The Buffalo News from Buffalo, New York • 20

C2 The BufealoNewsTuespayJanuary31 2012 Continued from the Life Arts Cover ENTERTAINMENT Globetrotters put on their game face Players bring their show to UBAlu mn i Arena By Melinda Miller EATURES EDITOR The Harlem Globetrotters are stopping in Buffalo this week on their 2012 world tour with a game or more correct ly a show on riday at the University at Alumni Arena Herbert Lang will be getting here early though to visit Women and Hospital on Wednes day and teach some young pa tients how to spin a basketball on their fingertips It will at least be fun trying what we Lang said by phone last week a Globetrotter is definitely more than being a basketball player Getting to see the kids to do things with them Lang who raised his public profile to new heights when he and teammate Nathaniel Lofton twice appeared on says a big part of what could be one of the best jobs on Earth is delivering the to kids: Stay in school stay healthy follow their dreams or him the dream at first was football up as a kid I would watch the Globetrot ters on Disney or Wide World of but I started out as a football Lang said He switched to basketball in high school and played at Cen tenary College of Louisiana while on his way to a degree in health and physical education His nickname describes his style on the court which ac cording to his biography he used to win the National Asso ciation of Basketball Coaches WvMi 1 I A bWJj I I A 1 fK2 Nathaniel Lofton left and Herbert Lang of the Harlem Globetrotters thrill a young fan during a recent appearance The team stops at the University at Alumni Arena on ndav Preview Harlem Globetrotters 7 pm riday Alumni Arena University at Buffalo North Campus Tickets $20 $45 through ticketmastercom Slam Dunk Contest in 1998 He has been a Globetrotter since 1999 Up until then he said he had never spun a basketball in his life until I joined the team that 1 even Lang said laughing coaches in school were all about funda mentals I was recruited for my basic basketball skills and my good leaping Valuing teamwork also helps something he showed in abundance while tearing around the world with Lofton for Amazing was he said the second time when they came in second was harder than the He said the race teams spend about a month compet ing their experiences are edited down to fill a season of weekly one hour shows Asked if his regular globetrotting life helped he has been to more the 90 countries he said thing about being on tour with the Globetrotters is we have people to coordinate everything our hotels our travel On The we were on our The exposure has made him more recognizable and nowa days he said when he meets fans after the games people ask him Big not always together believe it or not but we are good he said And this does make for a change from the other questions they get: Meadowlark Lem Curly (Both men have been retired from the court for years but they are still popular motiva tional speakers and keep their hands in the game Meadow Lemon turns 80 this year red Neal will be 70) The current roster has its own claims to fame Besides its reality show stars it boasts the tallest pro basketball player in the world Paul Sturgess a 7 foot 8 Briton and the short est in the history Jonte Hall at 5 foot 2 along with the first female Globetrotter in nearly 20 years atima Maddox be carrying with them to Buffalo 86 years of tra dition compounded by decades of being basketball ambassa dors to the world but they wear it easily Lang said just wake up in the morning travel anywhere from one to four hours to the next city meet and greet our fans and just try to give them some Globetrotter And no he said they never ever get tired of hearing Georgia the theme song email: mmillerbuffrurwscom latest is sparse mostly acoustic COHEN from Cl of Leonard in 1967 Cohen makes records only when he has something to say it would seem from 2004 and New from 2001 balanced diy as a bone intonations against largely synthetic backings synths and drum ma chines a tendency compellingly initiated with the early effort but one that yielded diminishing returns with each subsequent effort Happily is a sparse and largely acoustic affair with pianos acoustic guitars gently brushed snare drums and percussion doing most of the lifting and the subtle employment of female backing vocals acting as lace to leather During album opener a piece that moves along with a supple gospel feel Cohen gruffly speaks of a manual for living with and refers to himself as lazy bastard living in a The song summons a certain end of the road lambency its gentle gait aided by deft ly employed strings and percussion follows and we are instantly re minded of shabby and shambolic doppelganger Tom Waits as Cohen leads a junkyard jazz band through a funereal tiff ing on the Prayer arrives in the form of a fin ger picked acoustic blues as Cohen spits out a grim rhyme scheme: got no fu ture 1 know my days are few The not that pleasant just a lot of things to do 1 thought the past would last me But the darkness got that too remind ed of Bob Dark another getting a little bit tired of all of this liv themed lament And yet Cohen makes this all sound kinda fun an inevitable state of mind that one might as well grin and bear There are moments of resplendent beauty tucked into the folds and wrinkles of the gorgeous melody and female vocal harmonies that herald the hymnlike the mournful harmonica that haunts the twilit edges of the waltz time the ephemeral arfisa organ that chugs subtly through parting shot Different This ear candy offers brilliant contrast to af fable croak and is a testament to the bril liance of the spare song arrangements Inescapable death Betrayal leeting love The shadowy presence of a none too pleased deity The sexual commingling of shame and desire lust and love these are as ever themes When it comes to working them into prose poetry popular music has never produced anyone else who can do so with an equal blend of technical brilliance weary wit and the glimmer of joy that comes when we choose to laugh rather than cry The ideas may be old but they are far from dead email: jmiersbuffnewscom airbanks built a following in last job WIVB from Cl relations at Crystal Mountain Resort and four year con tract in Traverse City expired at the end of 2011 never know which di rection the bosses are going to take so you get your safety net in she said put some feelers out there and this one Channel 4 sounded like a good fit from what they wanted and what I Musial sees airbanks mak ing a quick connection with Buffalo viewers always looking for someone especially for a main anchor who sees the world in a real way and has the ability to sift through things quickly and can handle them selves in front of a group of a thousand at a dinner down town or 300000 people watch ing an evening airbanks had built a follow ing in Traverse City (population 15000) with community volun teerism especially in raising breast cancer awareness "The newsroom I was com newsroom I was comingfrom was small and it had gotten smaller in recent years Wed gone through a couple rounds oflayoffs 1 want ed more professionally I was also lookingfor a dif ferent environment Diana airbanks on finding her new job ing from was small and it had gotten smaller in recent years gone through a couple rounds of said air banks wanted more profes sionally I was also looking for a different environment I needed some inspiration and motiva airbanks will also report stories and is accustomed to shooting and editing video was the first to mention that when she came into said Musial said it gives her a sense of knowing from start to finish where she wants to go with the airbanks took up running after the birth of her daughter inspired me to start run she said girlfriend asked me to run a 5K which turned into a 10K which turned into a half marathon arid then three marathons one in Chica go and two in In addition airbanks learned to ski as part of a sea son long series in Great alls I was in Montana they believe I know how to she said we did a series of weekly stories from the selection of equipment to starting on the bunny hill By the end of that season I was skiing black Born in California air family moved to south ern Illinois when she was 3 By elementary school she was in St Louis and attended a mid dle school located one block from an Anheuser Busch brew ery In high school she moved to Maryland where her mother lives today airbanks graduated from the University of Maryland with degrees in broadcast journal ism and American literature liked to read and I liked said air banks remember looking through a course catalog and stumbling across Journalism 101 It clicked I could tell stories for a living and I have to be a grad student to do When airbanks started in television in Montana her mother had a calming influ ence she explained always thought of her when delivering the she said helps keep me re laxed but I also run the story through my head asking if my mom would be upset by it If talking to my mom that means eveiyone else will under stand Starting in a new job in a dif ferent television market is a challenging experience but airbanks said she is exactly where she wants to be! in a transition peri airbanks said Tm ener gized by the younger people who can multitask like crazy inspired by the older jour nalists who have this history of telling these incredible stories can learn from she said excited by email: jkwialkowskibuffhewscom New owners adjust to blindness PET TALES from Cl After a brief period of shy ness Benjamin out of his shell and he started to crack ev erybody says Desmond were always taking pic tures of him standing and open ing all the cupboards and then jumping into the very upper cupboards above the Despite age physical problems and initial resistance to meeting them Desmond says loved him from the second we got him and you could tell he was really thankful for getting a good home To this day you can see Late last year the couple de cided they wanted a pal for Ben jamin At first they considered a puppy but they quickly figured out that with two full time jobs and plenty of community activi ty they have the time to train a puppy and be home to let it out every few hours realized a puppy was not going to fit with our says Desmond He started taking trips to the SPCA Serving Erie County shel ter in the Town of Tonawanda to look at available dogs but none seemed quite right Then on Dec 29 in the very last wing they visited they spotted a sweet faced 4 year old pug named Ace appealed to us was that he was the correct says Desmond want a very small dog and we have the home for a very large dog Plus his breed pugs are cute although I did know about their medical problems I as sumed right away that he going to be there long before he was adopted Then we looked at his tag which said that he was Since Abraham look blind Desmond and Bautista were taken aback first we said We do says Desmond was says Bautis ta thought going to be a lot to Changed lives Yet they hung around near his run as a worker who had been photographing Ace snapped his picture When she finished she approached them says Desmond said Were you guys looking at the We said we were and she said let his blindness stop you Please take a look You guys would be great for Desmond and Bautista kept talking as they watched the happy dog 10 minutes I thought Why says Desmond really have the ideal situation for him We have kids we have a fairly easy house we have a ton of time but the time we do have is entirely devoted to Bautista recalls we got talking we said going to be different? Not too The more Desmond looked at Ace the more concerned he became not about how a blind dog would change their lives but about what would happen if they take him home Desmond says started to wonder we take him will he go to the right peo The couple took Ace into a room to get to know him better and outside for a walk On the way the exuberant dog bumped into several doors and walls before they got the hang of guiding him with the leash was clear that he was abso lutely says Desmond think we talked about it for 20 minutes and decided can do says Des mond Ace had to be neutered so they left him at the shelter for a day or so which gave Desmond and Bautista time to do their homework They spent hours reading about living with blind dogs and they made some sim ple modifications to their home such as placing throw rugs in doorways so Abraham would know by feel that he was about to leave the room Renamed Abraham Lincoln the dog fit into the family im mediately except for one poi gnant problem explain to Benja min that Abraham is blind so when Abraham is walking and Robert KirkhamBuffalo News of people look at these animals as says Justin Desmond with Ashley Bautista and pug Abraham Lincoln the wrong way to look at UMHk Jdj Hr ftUHI jni runs into Benjamin Benjamin takes it as a sign of says Desmond has never attacked him but he will give him a swat and on that first swat Abraham turns and walks right away We watch that very closely but other than that everything is good and they have already started to cuddle Devoted to Abraham Desmond says Abraham is so intelligent about learning his surroundings and using his other to get around and so confident and happy on walks that peo ple know blind until we tell Still they watch out for him vigilantly and says Desmond a stronger bond because we are there to protect him and almost as if he un derstands Of course the couple won ders what life was like before he wound up at the SPCA was surrendered be cause the owner said they had too many pets But he also has cropped ears and that is not normal for a pug so we wonder if maybe at one point he was used as a bait says Des mond the thing about adopting an older animal always wondering what his life was like behavior gives hints that he always blind He plays fetch for exam ple combing the floor to find a toy after thrown so ex cited when he finds it that we play that a says Desmond Desmond and Bautista are devoted to Abraham who adores them in return will follow one of us at every mo ment and when one of us sits down the one he wants to be says Desmond read a comment online that pugs are a mixture of dog and cartoon and everything about him is so quirky and funny ugly and yet the cutest thing ever enthusiastic greetings says Bautista me so happy to come Making a difference Their strong bond with Abraham and the love he has added to their lives sealed the deal that I will never adopt a young perfect animal says Desmond doesn't feel right when you can be making such a bigger differ ence to another animal who is going to otherwise be over looked and never get adopted It matter if the animal is 5 or 10 if you can make a differ ence for whatever years they have Many people looking for a pet pass by older animals or those with physical or emotion al issues lot of people look at these animals as broken and that was said about Benjamin just for being an older says Desmond the wrong way to look at it There is a ton of overlooked joy that these ani mals can Desmond and Bautista are both grateful to the shelter worker who encouraged them to look again at Abraham get a chance to see her again but I wanted to thank her for giving us that little says Desmond email: aneuillebuffnewscom Iff.