The Buzz: Gardener Vexed by Rabbits Opens a Harebnb

'I'm serving him veggies on a silver platter'

May 29, 2025

Quote

“Invite your friends. And if the concert is bad, invite your enemies.”

— Avanti conductor Mason Cancilla, at a rehearsal for a concert 5 p.m. Sunday at St. Louis Church

Orchestrated Chaos

Reviewing hundreds of concerts for The Buffalo News, Buzz never glimpsed the backstage madness — until now. As an alto with the St. Louis Choir and the St. John Paul II Schola Cantorum, we’re knee-deep in rehearsals. And last Wednesday at St. Louis — prepping for a concert with Avanti, we sang with an orchestra for the first time. Chaos reigned: musicians and singers tripping over one another, sheet music flying, sopranos in a different zip code. Thank heavens Avanti’s conductor, Mason Cancilla, kept his cool. “It’s like musical Twister,” he quipped. Want to see how this shakes out? The concert is 5 p.m. Sunday at St. Louis Church, Main and Edward. Buzz will be the one in the back row, dodging flying music and trying not to fall off the Twister mat.

Harebnb

Gary Marino, ballet master, and his Parisian wife, Daniella, have a cat named Rodney — so named because he was a stray found on Rodney Street. And now they know: You can take the cat off the street, not the street out of the cat. Rodney’s a hunter. Recently, he presented Gary and Daniella with an injured baby bunny (courtesy of his own claws). Gary, distraught, fixed a plate of spinach for the bunny and set him up with a cozy bed in the garage. “Normally I’m trying to keep rabbits out of my vegetable garden,” he wailed. “Now here I am serving one veggies on a silver platter. What’s next — am I going to light him a candle?” You never know. Because his heart leapt the next morning: the spinach was gone. The bunny had rallied!

House of the Rising Stuff

41 Irving Place. Photo courtesy of the Stock Exchange.

The Stock Exchange’s Elmwood Village Estate Sale of the Week looks like a must. It’s at 41 Irving Place, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Reasons to go: 1. Elvis memorabilia. 2. Fish bowls. 3. Thrown pottery. 4. More pottery. (Love how the listing words it that way.) 5. Antique clocks, so we can bring that Brideshead Revisited look to our hovel. 6. Buffalo memorabilia! We can all use more. 7. Just to see the house —built in 1880 and listed on Zillow at $669,900. Can we purchase the house while we’re there? Sure — right after we win the lottery. We’ll be admiring it from the fish bowl section, thank you very much.

Pomp and Circumbobulated

Graduations and concerts have been colliding at UB’s Center for the Arts, and Buzz’s brother George found himself caught in the crossfire. Waiting for a concert, he was approached by a couple clutching three silver graduation balloons. “Can you hold these while we go into this graduation?” they asked. George sized up the situation — balloons weren’t allowed in the hall. “You want me to stand here holding these balloons?” he asked, gently. They said yes. Frazzled by the moment — graduations will do that to you — they clearly weren’t thinking. Moved by their plight, George agreed. “I’ll do it,” he said. “But I might leave them somewhere you’ll see them.” The balloons had clips, so he parked them in a visible spot and floated off into the evening.

The Buzz

Visiting the Buffalo Zoo the other day, Buzz got a shock: The sheep were naked! Juniper, Ivy, and their woolly pal (Buzz didn’t catch the third name) didn’t even look like sheep — just smooth, slightly embarrassed creatures. They’d been shorn, the keeper explained. Meanwhile, the Zoo has announced that Wines in the Wild is back by popular demand. It’s June 18, from 5 to 9 p.m. Buzz wants to go. Animals and a nice red? Count us in. We’ll try not to spill anything on the sheep.