CLUB CHATTER

Baby, you're a star

Alison Pipitone should be long gone from Buffalo by now. If AniDiFranco is our city's ambassador for alternative-punk-folk,Pipitone has for some time been Buffalo's most reliable roots-rocker, though that term fails to capture the roughshod, ripped-knee glory of her band's blend of folk, rock 'n' roll, country andpunk, nor Pipitone's sneer-to-a-smile stage persona.

Not that we should be complaining; Pipitone has enriched the rockscene around here, and knowing she and her band are in our townmakes it feel -- I dunno, cooler, I guess.

Still, you can't keep a good woman down, as Pipitone sings on herbutt-kicking new album, "Tiger Babies," which she and her band willcelebrate with a release party at 10 tonight inside Nietzsche's, 248Allen St.

If Lucinda Williams can make it big after slogging it out in thegin-joint margins for years before finally getting her due, so canPipitone. She has packed "Tiger Babies" -- recorded beneath thewatchful eyes and ears of Sessions Recording Studios/Sportsmen'sTavern guru Dwayne Hall, and featuring contributions from Buffalovirtuosos such as Rob Lynch, Jim Whitford and a host of others --with swanky, scruffy electric guitars, bruised but beautiful vocalsand more hooks than you'll find on 10 Billboard Top 100 albumsduring any given week.

Part of the Pipitone charm can certainly be attributed to herslamming band, composed of upright bassist-supreme Rebecca Mercurio,veteran skin-beater Pat Shaughnessy and guitarist Graham Howes.These folks can handle gutter-bound shuffle, relaxed swing,rockabilly swank or the combo of all of them that is theirresistible dance of "alt-country." Get Pipitone and band a sweetshowcase spot during next year's South by Southwest festival inAustin, Texas, and I doubt they'll be Western New York's littlesecret much longer.

Speaking of Austin, recent Buffalo transplant Pamela Ryder isjourneying north from her adopted hometown to open the proceedingsfor Pipitone at Nietzsche's. All the more reason you should bethere.

Admission at the door for Pipitone's "Tiger Babies" release partywill be $7. For more information on Pipitone and "Tiger Babies,"visit www.alisonpipitone.com. Reach Nietzsche's at 886-8539.

***

Gig pick

Wednesday finds the Buffalo Icon, 391 Ellicott St., hosting oneof the hippest shows of the summer, as California's RX Banditsheadlines a 7 p.m. gig that will also feature sets from State Radio,Desa and Monty Are I.

This is one not to miss, I suspect, though I'll confess to neverhaving seen the Bandits (vocalist/guitarist Matthew Embree,guitarist/keyboardist Steve Choi, saxophonist/keyboardist StevenJess Borth II, trombonist Chris Sheets, bassist Joseph Troy anddrummer Christopher Tsagakis) in concert. Still, the group'sremarkable evolution -- from straight-up, several-generations-removed ska band in the late '90s, to today's incarnation as a multi-idiom powerhouse bravely fusing whatever styles and sounds itsmembers feel like delving into -- makes it excitingly unique on themodern-rock landscape.

The band will be dropping material from its forthcoming album,"And the Battle Begun," due in October, during the show. In what isbecoming an increasingly common occurrence, material from the newalbum has already leaked to the Internet. The Bandits have respondedby posting a few of the new songs online themselves, throughlegitimate channels. Check www.rxbandits.com for a taste of what'sto come, including the tunes "Crushing Destroyer" and "In HerDrawer."

Tickets for this exciting gig are $12. Call (888) 223-6000 tocharge them by phone, or visit any Tops location.

e-mail: jmiers@buffnews.com