Thursday, January 31, 2002

JayceLand's Weekly Rochester Events #160: Square Rods in a Round Acre

In some sad news ... well, kinda sad ... Freepolls decided to delete all their old data so all those polls I made up are mostly useless. The new ones from Dream-Tools are still there but who knows for how long.

Hmm ... what else ... I fell off my bike on Saturday. I was going north on the sidewalk on Mt. Hope and heading toward Elmwood. I was keeping an eye on the cars turning through the intersection to make sure they saw me but I hit the refuse bin there with the handlebar and went right over. I landed on my knees and left hand. Everything hurt right away so I figured I didn't get seriously hurt. My wrist was acting up and I had to wear a bandage around for a couple days, but it got better so I figure it wasn't quite sprained. The last time I fell was on Monroe Avenue by The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) last August. Both times I hadn't had anything to drink--this time it's even been a couple weeks--so I guess I can stay on the wagon but not on my bike. [rim shot]

Last Friday was the unexpected treat. Anne and I got to see a really good ska band called Straighter Than Pete who opened the show over at Water Street Music Hall (204 N. Water St.) Next up was the silly punk band The Sluts who unfortunately made ska sound slow, which tainted my already only slightly positive view of The Blackouts . We headed around the corner to Mercury (171 St. Paul, formerly Red) to catch the fun punk band The Purrs followed by the serious punk band Dead Blue Hand and the hard working punk band QUiTTERS . I hung out with Amy, a friend of mine from Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) [who's dating Carl, the bass player from Dead Blue Hand] and her friends Tina and Maria. After Anne headed home, we went out to Gitsis Texas Hots (600 Monroe Ave.) to get some food. Hey, at that point I was still riding my bike ... there's nothing like that 3:30 a.m. ride home in windy 40 degree weather.

Saturday, on the other hand, wasn't such the big deal I thought it would be. I ended up going to Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) but left before Krypton 88 started. I went over to Acme Bar & Pizza (495 Monroe Ave.) to see Astronomical Unit . While there I again ran into Tina and Maria who stopped by because they heard the music on their way elsewhere. I hung out there for a while then moved on to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) around midnight. I got there in the middle of Johnny Dowd's act. He's technically a country musician but has drifted on that lonely path toward experimental music. I guess you've really got to hear it ... think country themes and melody with chaotic rhythm guitar and '80's techno-pop synthesizers. He did make a bit of a mistake when he returned to the stage after visiting the middle of the floor and handed me his guitar. I thought, "umm ... ok ..." and then he told me to play it. I said I didn't know how and he said he didn't care so I did. I figured open-fret was a valid chord so I just strummed it a bit and picked a little. He took it back after a minute or so. That was odd. Anyway, I picked up his [their?] album Temporary Shelter which is the most recent.

Speaking of cool things to buy, I bought a Leatherman Mini-Tool which is like a Leatherman Micra but instead of stupid scissors it has needle-nosed pliers. It's pretty small and the only thing I'd like is if it had a phillips driver.