Weekly Rochester Events #302: Pop a Cat to Pedal?

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Ok, so let me get to it. On Thursday, I got to see Ossia New Music at Eastman Theatre (60 Gibbs St.) perform three modern works. I thought that Edgard Varèse's Octandre was the most interesting of them — it was described in a review in 1923 (March 5, 1923 in the New York Herald by W. J. Henderson, according to the program notes) in this way:

An Octandre is a flower having eight stamens. Mr. Varèse's Octandre was no flower; it was a peach. It cannot be described. It shrieked, it grunted, it chortled, it mewed, it barked—and it turned all the eight instruments into contortionists.

Later that night I headed to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) to see three more performances. The first of them, like the first of the last three, was my personal favorite. In this case

[shit ... I'm writing like crap. Let me try this again.]

From there I headed to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) to see more cool stuff. Being a math-nerd (did I mention I kicked ass for Schalmont High School (1 Sabre Dr., Schenectady) in the Math Olympiads when I was in high school? er ... I mean, I beat up nerds ... yeah, that's it) I really liked For The Mathematics who do this great Devo-influenced power-pop with a distinct mathematical poetry to the lyrics and structure of songs. Next was The Race who do this thematically dark, but somehow musically light rock, and The Six Parts Seven who do mellow instrumental rock, but just complex enough to still be interesting.

Friday night I went on a hunt for happy hour food, but arrived at Lux Lounge (666 South Ave.) a half-hour after all the pizza had been voraciously consumed (that is, a half-hour after the pizza arrived.) I ended up going to that new-ish Japanese place Kobay (690 Park Ave., formerly Aaron's Place and Bistro Seven) which apparently is partnered with Esan Thai Restaurant (696 Park Ave.) next door. I gotta say, they make some very good sushi, and even enter forbidden territory like California Rollin' at Village Gate Square (274 N. Goodman St.) by making non-traditional rolls. I tried their Sunshine Roll which is banana, avocado wrapped in salmon (a textural harmony) their Crispy Spicy Roll which was a special, crisp tempura spicy tuna, and a reasonably delicate hamachi roll (perfect hamachi rolls are a rarity ... this one was quite good.) They also provided good tuna and snapper nigiri. Due to a miscommunication from the kitchen and I almost got a big plate of desert roll intended for the chefs to sample ... as a consolation they made me a couple pieces: tempura banana with sesame seeds on the outside in coconut sauce and shredded coconut. It's all as good as it sounds.

By Saturday, I had enough of the band scene ... nothing happening that night had really inspired me, so I thought I'd look for a place to chill out and chat. Heck, I was looking for herbal tea — that kind of chill. I hopped on my regular bar bike (since it had rained earlier and I only have front brakes on the tall bike) and headed out. The Little Theatre Café (240 East Ave.) had Diane Armesto Quartet whom I don't particularly like because — although she's an all-right singer — she asked me to be quiet while she was singing as I was in the midst of talking with two charming women last Valentine's Day at the Little Café. Besides, it was so crowded that I wouldn't have been able to really meet new people. Spot Coffee (200 East Ave.) was also crowded so I skipped it, and I was feeling a bit old — that is, twice as old as the typical 17-year-old patron — for Java's (16 Gibbs St.) I stopped briefly at Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) but walking in the door was this guy who I don't particularly care to talk with, and he always ends up seeking me out to chat. Shit.

So, I took a trip down Park and cinsidered Café Cibon (688 Park Ave.) but it was also crowded, and Spin Caffé (739 Park Ave.) was full of nerdy guys hooking up with the wireless Internet on their laptops. I made my way all the way down Monroe from Culver to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) but wasn't, as I said, interested in seeing the bands. I headed back to Lux Lounge (666 South Ave.) as my fallback.

After biking for an hour or so all over town, I decided to start out with something mellow. Since they don't have tea, I opted for the autumnal treat of hot cider ... ordinarily mixed with alcohol of some kind, but I took it plain. Beth the bartender let me know she picked the mug with the baby chick on it. I noted that there was one on each side, and quipped to a friend of mine, "Two chicks at the same time. Awesome." I also managed to make a reasonably good impression on an attractive quick-witted woman (but don't get your hopes up ... she's still in the midst of ... well, let's just say she's "not available.")

On Sunday afternoon I was out at A|V Art Sound Space (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St., formerly The All-Purpose Room) to see Super Marimba which, indeed was super marimba. Payton MacDonald, the sole performer, does some very interesting, cyclic digital loops with the marimba — the six-mallet power-chord stuff was really cool.

Whew ...

On Tuesday night, I got out to the Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) to see some interesting films. Soldiers Pay was a documentary made by director David O. Russell as a supplement to the DVD release of his political comedy Three Kings from 1999. One of the tie-ins between the documentary and movie was that a half-dozen or so members of the U.S. troops in Iraq, on a mission to seek out *ahem* resources from the local citizenry stumbled upon about US$350,000,000 in United States $100 bills. The combination of wartime moral flexibility and the opportunity to effectively retire upon returning home overwhelmed their otherwise righteous sensibilities and an investigation ensued which resulted in the dishonorable discharge of one of the mid-level officers involved. This story mirrors the central story of Three Kings in which four soldiers set out to smuggle US$100,000,000 of gold stolen from Kuwait by Sadam Hussein's armies shortly after the end of Desert Storm in 1991.

What I found so remarkable about Three Kings was that despite the otherwise wide-eyed honest telling of wartime atrocities, it still manages to keep a sense of humor about it. Billed originally as an action-comedy, it really doesn't fit that category, because it's more of a political historic relic — and in some ways, even more pertinent today as the U.S. is in the midst of another war with Iraq. At least you can go and rent Three Kings and go watch it at home, even if Warner Brothers decided to scrap the re-release that was to include the supplement of Soldiers Pay because the director wanted to ensure it was available to viewers prior to the 2004 elections.

As I'm writing this, my James Bond Stealth Camera came in the mail. I gotta say, it's pretty cool. It's actually larger than a standard Zippo by about 15% on each dimension. Regardless, it takes decent pictures in household lighting situations (it appears to have a shutter speed that runs down to about a half-second.) It's got only 8 megabytes of internal storage, though ... the good news being it's default behavior is to act as a USB storage device, so Apple computers can use it (and presumably Linux and anything else that supports USB storage.) It runs on a single AAA battery ... umm ... it's minimum focus distance is about 6 inches ... audio recording is in 11,025 samples-per-second uncompressed 8-bit Microsoft WAV files (which QuickTime can import) ... I guess that's about everything that Digital Dream left out of the description that would otherwise be important (and that I could discern from using the camera.) Oh, and the video clips it can record are not currently readable by anything other than the Windows software.

Oh yeah ... the awesome cookie came from Open Face (651 South Ave., right by the corner of Hickory) It's their shortbread chocolate chip cookie. Get down there and try it out while they've still got it ... it's also a great (if small) place for lunch. Go there. Seriously ... I don't want my curse where "things I like go away" to strike again (see also, Keebler Deluxe Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, Kodak Royal Gold 25, Ray-O-Vac Renewal batteries, and anisette soda at Spot coffee.)

T H U R S D A Y

Tonight at The Little (240 East Ave.) at 7 p.m. is a special showing of American Reunion about the day leading up to the 2001 20-year high-school reunion and the events surrounding the former students. Producer Eric M. Klein will be on hand to answer questions after the film. [source: Little Theatre e-mail] Over at Verb Café at Writers and Books (740 University Ave.) tonight at 6 p.m. is another Screenplay Salon with Jack Garner introducing Chinatown [source: Writers and Books calendar] Tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Downstairs Cabaret (540 East Main St.) is the start of the new play 7 Sins with James Judd which will run until November 7. [source: Downstairs Cabaret calendar] Tonight at 7:30 p.m. at The Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) is an Archaeology Lecture titled Archaeology in the Era of the Grand Tour with Elizabeth Bartman speaking about 18th-century collector Henry Blundell. [source: Memorial Art Gallery calendar] Starting around 6:30 p.m. tonight in the Curtis Theatre at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.), Vincent Cianni will present the Speaking Of Photography Lecture where he'll discuss his book We Skate Hardcore: Photographs from Brooklyn's Southside followed by a book signing. [source: Eastman House calendar] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Zombi Holocaust (Dr. Butcher M.D.) starting at 8 p.m. A butchered film makes for a butchered story of butchering. [source: Eastman House calendar] James O'Brien, good punk-rockified '70's rock band The Atomic Forces, and Tommy Brunette will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 9 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Really good blues-charged rock-and-roll/groove-rock band Buford and the Smoking Section will be at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que (99 Court St.) starting around 10 p.m. [source: Dinosaur Bar-B-Que calendar] The Clarissa Room (293 Clarissa St., formerly Shep's Paradise) will be hosting The Elle Jazz Trio, and David McGuire starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: WITR calendar] Pure Kona Poetry Open Mic Night is at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) tonight starting at 7:30. [source: Daily Perks calendar] Find the Propaganda Box at The Liberty Pole (Liberty Pole Wy.) today from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. playing independently produced videos giving an alternative view of political events than the mainstream media. [source: the proverbial grapevine] Tonight at Murph's Irondequoit Pub (705 Titus Ave., formerly Irondequoit Town Lounge, next to the House of Guitars) is an Open Mic hosted by the talented acoustic soloist JoAnn Vaccaro starting around 8 p.m. [source: band e-mail]

F R I D A Y

Tonight and tomorrow night starting at 7 p.m. at Third Presbyterian Church (Meigs St. and East Ave.) is the annual Ghost Walk sponsored by The Landmark Society of Western New York. [source: Landmark Society calendar] Tonight at Spy Bar and Grill (139 State St.) is a bunch of garage rockers playing acoustic with Todd Dentico, Sara Strusz, Jay Kast, and Kevin Kast starting around 10 p.m. [source: Rochester Rock and Roll Yahoo! Group] Tonight at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que (99 Court St.) is excellent 1960's rockabilly-ish rock band The Hi-Risers starting around 10 p.m. [source: Dinosaur Bar-B-Que calendar] Over at Fat Moe's (4419 Dewey Ave.) starting around 10 p.m. is the tight, great modern-rock band The Meddling Kids. [source: Freetime] From 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. tonight, Artists for Kerry presented by The Monroe County Democratic Committee (121 East Ave.) will be at The Rochester Visual Studies Workshop (31 Prince St.) and will feature Pam Davis, talented acoustic soloist Maria Gillard, Kathryn Howard, Larry McGory, Joy Lynne Messinger, clear, bright, quick-witted soloist Allen Power, Jack Prewitt, and Roy Wood. [source: Visual Studies Workshop e-mail] Find the Propaganda Box at The Liberty Pole (Liberty Pole Wy.) again today from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. playing independently produced videos giving an alternative view of political events than the mainstream media. [source: the proverbial grapevine]

S A T U R D A Y

O'Bagelo's, 165 State Street, noon. Abundance Cooperative Market (62 Marshall St.) will be hosting Paul Blackburn starting around 1 p.m. [source: Abundance Co-op calendar] The Genesee Waterways Center (149 Elmwood Ave., in Genesee Valley Park) will be having a Giant Outdoor Water Sports Equipment Sale including used boating equipment and other outdoor equipment from other businesses from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. [source: Freetime] This morning from 10 a.m. to noon is another Canal Path Cleanup for The Upper Mount Hope Neighborhood Association starting on Kendrick Road near Ronald McDonald House (333 Westmoreland Dr.) [source: Upper Mount Hope Neighborhood Association flyer] Tonight at The Rochester Visual Studies Workshop (31 Prince St.) is Delusions of Adequacy Night featuring Tarantula, Saeta, Hula, and Gregg Yeti starting around 8 p.m. [source: Delusions of Adequacy e-mail] Michael McNeill, Elliott Kirby, and Mike Montalbano will be at Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) starting around 9 p.m. following Tarot Readings from 6 to 9 p.m. [source: Starry Nites calendar] A Live Dueling Piano Show with Fidelio, and Todd East will be at Keys Martini and Piano Bar (233 Mill St., formerly Chrome Nightclub) starting around 7 p.m. [source: Freetime] At The Hive in The Wilson Commons at The University of Rochester (off Library Road, #39 on River Campus Map) at 8 p.m. tonight is Rocktoberfest 2004 featuring 1980's-style rock from Tiger Cried Beef, The Dead Men, really tight punk-rock from 5 Watt Bulb, and The New Mummies starting at 8 p.m. [source: the proverbial grapevine] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Cowards Bend the Knee starting at 8 p.m. where a hockey player ditches his pregnant girlfriend for the daughter of a brothel owner. Following the film is two shorts film animations: The Phantom Museum: Random Forays Into the Vaults of Sir Henry Wellcome's Medical Collection, and In Absentia. [source: Eastman House calendar] Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting The Science Fiction Idols, punk/hard rock band The UV Rays, and awesome punk-rock band The Blastoffs starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Rochester Rock and Roll Yahoo! Group] Tonight at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is good acoustic-rock/groove-rock band Gregory Paul and the Autumdivers, The Atomic Swindlers, and high energy rock band The Earl Cram Revue starting around 10:45 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Andy Gilmore's A Dance of Dust and Flies closes this evening at A|V Art Sound Space (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St., formerly The All-Purpose Room.) and as part of the closing party at 9 p.m. is a fundraiser for A|V Art Sound Space titled Groups and features impressive organic experimental jazz from The Blood and Bone Orchestra, very good ambient/droning experimental from Entente Cordiale, and Fried along with visual presenters. [source: artsound website]

S U N D A Y

This afternoon from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. is Goodness, Gracious, Great Bowls of Fire! Chili Competition at Genesee Pottery at The Genesee Center for the Arts (713 Monroe Ave.) [source: Genesee Center for the Arts calendar] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing The Doctor and the Devils starting at 5 p.m. Anatomical researchers ignore the source of bodies to experiment on ... [source: Eastman House calendar] This afternoon starting at 2 p.m. at The Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) is a Dance Performance by The Elizabeth Clark Dance Ensemble. [source: Memorial Art Gallery calendar] Today is the last day to see Morning Walks 2002-2004, photography of Doug Barton-Smith at The Sunken Room Gallery at The Genesee Center for the Arts (713 Monroe Ave.) [source: Genesee Center for the Arts calendar] The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting The Viva Voice, power-ish rock from Seven Head Division, and Silhouette starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar]

M O N D A Y

Tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the Curtis Theatre at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) is a lecture about his book Within the Stone presented by Bill Atkinson about art and digital printing. [source: Eastman House calendar] Starting at 7 p.m. tonight is Holistic Nite at Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) featuring an Introduction to Wicca (and Its Relation to Halloween) by Donna Church. [source: Starry Nites calendar] Tonight at 6:30 p.m. at St. Anne Church (1600 Mt. Hope Ave.) is the The Upper Mount Hope Neighborhood Association General Meeting featuring Mary Ockenden, Director of Space Planning at University of Rochester Medical Center (601 Elmwood Ave.) who will speak about the site of Wegmans (1411 Mt. Hope Ave.) and Art Lentilucci, Director of Zoning for the city, who will speak about the sale of state land on Elmwood and South and other local zoning concerns. [source: Upper Mount Hope Neighborhood Association flyer] Thinking About Drinking — you bet I am ... er, I mean, that's the title of a discussion group about how to safely drink in the 1829 Room in the Student Alumni Union at RIT (One Lomb Memorial Dr., campus map image) from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. [source: RIT Events Calendar site] Tonight at 9:15 p.m. is another in the Emerging Filmmakers Series at The Little (240 East Ave.) Tonight's films include Rachel Siegel's Girl Power: Volume I, Jonathan Sean Karafin's 134 spencer, Christine Victoria Dunn's jelli debut, Sharks in the Water by Dave Puls (of Animatus Studio) Texas Bullsh!t by Renee Sotile and Mary Jo Godges Scrapple by Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass, Sivan Kaplan's Life in a Shell, Stefan's Silver Bell by Sam Zalutsky, and Tonya Hurley's best friEND. [source: Little Theatre e-mail] Tonight's another Wide Open Mike with Norm Davis at Verb Café at Writers and Books (740 University Ave.) starting around 7:30 p.m. [source: Writers and Books calendar]

T U E S D A Y

If you're interested in dropping off items for Tuesday's Treasures at The Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) on November 2, today is the day to do it from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. See their website for details. [source: Memorial Art Gallery calendar] Verb Café at Writers and Books (740 University Ave.) is hosting another LITalk tonight at 7 p.m. [source: Writers and Books calendar] This afternoon in the Gleason Auditorium of The Rochester Public Library (115 South Ave.) is another Books Sandwiched In from 12:12 p.m. to 12:52 p.m. Today, Rochester Police Chief Robert Duffy will discuss Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference about how ideas become "common knowledge." [source: Rochester Public Library calendar] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) starting at 8 p.m. A horror classic ... [source: Eastman House calendar] Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 9 p.m. is The Beerzone, fun punk-rock band The Flour City Knuckleheads, and Irish-slanted punk band Tom Foolery and the Shenanigans [source: Bug Jar calendar] A|V Art Sound Space (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St., formerly The All-Purpose Room) will be hosting Tan as Fuck, and semi-melodic fast-paced noise from Pengo starting around 10 p.m. [source: artsound website] Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) is hosting an Acoustic Open Mic from 8 to 10. For this one, there's no microphones and it's pretty open ended. [source: Daily Perks calendar]

W E D N E S D A Y

Navy Day It's Wide Open Mike night again at Verb Café at Writers and Books (740 University Ave.) tonight at 7:30 p.m. Starting around 9:15 p.m. tonight is a Total Lunar Eclipse which peaks at 11 p.m. and ends around 1 a.m. [source: NASA Eclipse Home Page] Poor People United meets tonight and every Wednesday at 7 at St. Joseph's House of Hospitality (402 South Ave.) [source: the proverbial grapevine] Tonight from 8 to 10 is an Open-Mic Comedy Night at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) While once it was a workshop type of environment, it's now more-or-less a regular open mic ... by default it's still a place to try out new stuff. [source: Daily Perks calendar] Find the Propaganda Box on Monroe Ave. at Sumner Pk. today from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. playing independently produced videos giving an alternative view of political events than the mainstream media. [source: the proverbial grapevine]