Weekly Rochester Events #425: In Gregorian Time

Thursday, March 1, 2007

So last Wednesday I was toying with what to do and decided to check out The Island at the Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) I suspected it would be "a crummy way to cash in on Jaws' oceanic theme to have an investigator of missing boats learn it's actually a team of pirates he must infiltrate" and that's pretty much it. I had a hard time really caring about anybody in the film. Michael Caine plays a reporter who goes to investigate boats disappearing in the Bahamas, and one thing leads to another, and all of a sudden he's the sex slave to some pirate woman and his son is brainwashed into becoming a pirate himself. It's a series of convenient coincidences that lead them to eventual safety — at least presumably. I still don't get why this was included in the "pirate" series of films ... not good enough to be good, and not bad enough to be good. Just rather weird.

On Thursday I headed to Kilbourn Hall at Eastman Theatre (60 Gibbs St.) to check out the performance by Ossia New Music. I was dead tired and could barely stay awake. That said, I liked all the pieces they played. Diademes was a rather long but varied piece that at times brought out everything from fear to whimsy. To my relatively untrained ear, it felt like it was composed in the 1930's rather than 1961. Herzgewächse was a haunting piece with what seemed to be some challenging soprano vocals. In Nonet, the first part was "flittery" and whimsical whereas the second was quite a bit more desolate. For the last piece, they played the video portion of M Is for Man, Music, Mozart and performed the music live. The movie appeared to be a ballet company literally and figuratively following the music. I found the music rather mesmerizing, like watching the glow of Christmas lights.

On Friday I decided I'd buy some rat traps to catch a squirrel that is living in the insulation in my attic. I got back with them and didn't have the heart to do it ... I got the distinct feeling that it was really wrong to kill the beast. I checked the Internet about getting rid of squirrels, and after finding some sites that indicated scent-based methods don't work, I decided I'd pick up one of those non-lethal traps and just move the squirrel to some other locale.

That evening Ali and I went to Dogtown Hots (691 Monroe Ave.) for some delicious hot dogs for dinner. Afterward we headed to the Dryden Theatre for the A/V Geeks Greatest Hits. It was an excellent selection of short, ephemeral films curated by Skip Elsheimer. He said the theme of the show was catchy songs, and indeed they get do get stuck in your head. I particularly liked Telezonia which teaches kids to use the phone ... or something ... by having an effete dude in a snappy, white futuristic suit whisk kids off to some nether-world of telephone instruction. I think I was the only one who noticed their fake phone number, 555-2368, was that of the Ghostbusters. In Drugs Are Like That a couple boring kids play with some classic Legos and discuss drugs with interludes to scenarios that conclude with the titular phrase. Things like spinning around in circles and getting dizzy — "drugs are like that." Or playing the OCD game of avoiding cracks lest you "break your mother's back" so much that in your late-30's you get knocked on your ass when you whack into a board carried by some construction workers — "drugs are like that." It's the kind of phrase that might come in handy ...

On Saturday night, Ali came up to the city and we went to see Geva Comedy Improv at Nextstage at Geva (75 Woodbury Blvd.) It was a really good show and we won the "grand prize" of the raffle that included a gift certificate to Record Archive (1880 East Ave.) and tickets to see Our Town playing at Geva (75 Woodbury Blvd.)

Sunday morning I was reading the blog of my old friend Sondra Carr and she supplied a short entry that linked to a blog entry by a guy named Julian Walker titled The Secret: Spiritual Cinema? Sondra and I have been talking about this movie The Secret that's been making the rounds in the new-age circles. We've noted that it presents a correct philosophy — that the things you wish for the most in your mind guide the direction of your life — but that it neglects responsibility and realism. If you wish for a million dollars, where does that come from? What if somebody else was wishing for things as well? We never developed a very concise way to explain the flaws in the film, but Walker's review approaches it from an expert position — from a "true" spiritualist perspective.

Now, within the review, along with his follow-ups in Part Two, and Part Three, I was introduced to a concept entirely new to me.

I consider myself a rational person. I tend to view the world as being perfectly logical and it's up to me to divine that logic from it. Any fantastic concepts always have a rational grounding. If I get the "feeling" that I should go 43 miles-an-hour to breeze through all green lights and it turns out exactly right for miles on end, I assume there's a rational explanation — perhaps that my innate timing and ingrained understanding of patterns allowed me to predict what the traffic pattern designers had created. I certainly don't think that it was my observation of the behavior of squirrels earlier in the day that gave me such special knowledge, or that I was carrying a crystal that amplified my energy and caused the world to adapt to my whim.

That said, I found myself falling short when it came to the unanswerable. What is the experience of dying like? Lots of people have died (I assure you) yet we still don't know — truly — how our mind would interpret the experience.

So around the middle of Julian Walker's Part Two he points to The Pre/Trans Fallacy, an excerpt from Ken Wilber's book Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution. The gist is that rationality is not the pinnacle of human knowledge. In other words, I had thought that there were things like creationism, energy crystals, and spirits which were non-rational and therefore inherently inferior to rational concepts like evolution, the mind as a tool of creation, or the behavior of dogs.

Wilber introduced (I believe) the concept of a new spectrum of measure: prerational, rational, and transrational. Prerational is things like believing you can change the world by wishing, or the belief in a corporeal Santa Claus while transrational is the understanding of the metaphoric power of self-affirmation, or the belief in Santa Claus as a man-made construct. Rational concepts build upon and explain prerational concepts; transrational concepts build upon and explain rational concepts. Most important to me is that a transrational idea does not break rational rules whereas a prerational idea does.

Now, I'm not an expert by any means so I'll probably return to this concept and adjust my understanding as I learn more about it. But at first blush, this fills in a gap that I had been running up against in my own life — that some spiritual concepts were not rational but were apparent. I mean, there's no such thing as Santa Claus — the magical old man who lives at the North Pole — yet in a way, he does exist as a metaphor for where gifts come from when the giver wishes to remain anonymous. As such, we can talk about the effect Santa Claus has on the world even though there is no Santa Claus, something we can't do in a purely rational world.

On Sunday night I happened to catch a glimpse of Bill O'Reilly being interviewed on 60 Minutes. This got me to thinking about the outset of the war with Iraq and the belief that Iraqis would jump for joy at the arrival of American soldiers and the war would be over in no time. Proponents of not making a plan to finish the war and leave Iraq always struck me as being immune to logic. I think it's prerational — it's wishing that we will prevail (whatever that means, exactly) and the birds will sing and there will be peace.

I'm afraid that doesn't survive rational argument: What are the measurable conditions that we must observe in Iraq to consider the war a success and get our soldiers back home? What steps will we take to ensure that we are approaching those conditions? What is the timeline for accomplishing the incremental goals and when can we expect to be done? Until all those questions are answered, all the wishing and praying for our troops in the world won't do jack shit, but once those questions are answered, wishing and praying for victory and for the well-being of the troops will get Americans focused and in line with victory. The prerational view says that wishing for victory is enough. The transrational view says that wishing for victory when there is a clear objective gets people thinking about success and motivated to take steps to make it happen.

Anyhow, Sunday afternoon Ali and I headed to East Rochester to see the screening of the film about pineapples called "Tid Bits" that I acted in. We stopped at Take-a-Break in Piano Works Plaza (349 W. Commercial St., East Rochester) which is this great diner — solidly good diner food, reasonable prices, and a friendly staff. You can't beat it. Anyway, we went to East Rochester High School (200 Woodbine Ave., East Rochester) to see the movie. I thought it was okay and might even be pretty funny if it were pared from its 30-minute length to less than half that. The thing is, it was conceived by a girl for her pineapple-loving friend who was returning from a vacation — the screening was to welcome the family home, and in that context it was a lot of fun. The final segment of "P.A." (Pineapples Anonymous) in which I appeared was the best. I actually thought I did a pretty good job of acting — not award-material, but pretty good, and as another friend pointed out, my scene was "the best in the film [backhanded compliment omitted]."

Earlier that day I had set up the squirrel trap. It's just for one specific squirrel. It used to climb the magnolia tree, jump to the first-floor roof of the kitchen, climb the power line to the satellite dish, jump to the roof, and get into the attic through a roof vent. Well, I didn't want it in there so I took down the satellite dish but it could still make the jump from the mounting screws to the roof. So I cut back the branches on the magnolia tree and it changed course to climb the hose reel to the flower box to the phone lines to the security light to the roof and into the attic. Well, I set up the trap on the flower box. When I returned on Sunday, the trap was sprung and the food was gone. My neighbor had called and left a message that she was worried it had no water ... alas, it had managed to escape. I fixed the defect in the trap (the rear door could bend open enough to let the squirrel out) and set it out again. Well, on Monday I found there was no food but the trap was open. I had set the trigger too strong.

On Monday night Ali and I headed to The Emerging Filmmakers Series at The Little (240 East Ave.) The films were generally very good but I particularly liked H.P. Lovecraft's The Other Gods by Mike Boas which Mike had "restored" a formerly "lost" shadow-animation from the 1930's ... all plausible and rather spooky, actually. I Named Her Angel by Nefin Dinç was a documentary about a girl learning the Mevleviye sema ceremony that includes a beautiful spinning dance that gives the illusion of slow motion.

Tuesday night I headed to Brighton Town Hall (2300 Elmwood Ave.) to check out the lecture put on by One Universe Resource Service (OURS) with Karen L. Scholler, "Ye: Awi Noohgwa" or "She Who Carries Love" about animal spirit guides. I thought it was an okay presentation, in part because some things seemed to be bullshit to me and others were plausible — I mean, it's one thing to observe the animals to assess the state of the world, but it's quite another to rely on them to predict disasters. Presumably that's the idea in the Seneca tradition: to observe animals and accept their behaviors as a gift of communication. I felt much more comfortable picking things that I thought were junk-science (i.e. amplifying spiritual energy states) and things that were interesting (observing and accepting the seemingly strange behavior of a group of crows, for instance.)

Anyway, on Wednesday I got to do some animal observation: of a squirrel. In a trap. I finally caught the bugger. I brought it way out to Rush and let it go into a forest. If nothing else, it won't make its way back to my house and my roof and my attic.

I kind of miss it, though.

T H U R S D A Y

This afternoon in the Gleason Auditorium at The Rochester Public Library (115 South Ave.) from 5:15 p.m. to 6 p.m. is another meeting of the Thursday Thinkers. Sandy Baker will give a lecture titled Around the World in 60 Minutes: Ethnic Markets of Rochester. [source: Rochester Public Library calendar] [all ages] This evening at The Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. is What's Up discussion of the Suit of Armor with Nancy Norwood. [source: Memorial Art Gallery calendar] [all ages] In the Dryden Theatre over at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) is a lecture by photographer Ron Haviv tonight at 6 p.m. His works are on display as part of the Darfur/Darfur exhibit. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] The Eastman Chamber Music Society will be at Kilbourn Hall at Eastman Theatre (60 Gibbs St.) starting around 7 p.m. [source: Eastman School of Music calendar] [all ages] Tonight at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) is poetic acoustic Americana solist Kelli Shay Hicks, morose soloist Carbonic, and talented, alternative acoustic soloist Ian Downey is Famous starting around 8 p.m. [source: Boulder Coffee MySpace site] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing The Lady Vanishes starting at 8 p.m. Alfred Hitchcock keeps us wondering where that old woman went. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Tonight at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is a night with The Brokedown starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] Over at High Fidelity (170 East Ave., formerly Milestones) starting around 10:30 p.m. is wicked fun percussive groove-rock from The BuddhaHood, and Space Agency. [source: High Fidelity MySpace page] Pure Kona Poetry Open Mic Night is at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) tonight starting at 7:30. [source: Daily Perks calendar] Tonight at 8 p.m. at Bodhi's Cafe & Lounge (274 Goodman St. N., in Village Gate) is an Open Mic. [source: the proverbial grapevine] Drinking Liberally meets at 8 p.m. tonight at Monty's Korner (355 East Ave.) [source: RocWiki calendar]

F R I D A Y

Today from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. is the annual reopening of The Stone-Tolan House (2370 East Ave.), "the oldest place in the county." [source: Landmark Society calendar] This evening from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. is the opening reception at The Image City Photography Gallery (722 University Ave.) for works by Seyda Deligonul in an exhibit titled Whispers Within which will be on display through March 25. [source: Image City Photography Gallery e-mail] Artist G. Peter Jemison will be give a lecture in the Auditorium at The Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) about Famous Names by Jaune Quick-To-See Smith. [source: Memorial Art Gallery calendar] [all ages] Tonight and tomorrow at 7 p.m. Crispin Glover will be at the Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) to present Crispin Hellion Glover's Big Slide Show prior to the screening at 8 p.m. of his film What Is It? about a man tortured by his inner demons and by other people. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Today at The Mercer Gallery at Monroe Community College (1000 E Henrietta Rd., in Building 5) from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. is the opening reception for Mapping Linguistics by Kelly Roe which will be on display until March 30. [source: Mercer Gallery calendar] Tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. at New Life Presbyterian Church (243 Rosedale St.) is your last chances to see Romeo and Juliet by Burning Barn Theatre. [source: Burning Barn Theatre e-mail] Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) will be hosting Aaron Maras starting around 8 p.m. [source: Boulder Coffee MySpace site] [all ages] This evening at 8 p.m. in the Strong Auditorium at The University of Rochester (Elmwood Ave. at Intercampus Dr., details on River Campus Map) is a performance of The Vagina Monologues. [source: University of Rochester website] Tonight at 9 p.m. at The Flat Iron Café (561 State St.) is a comedy show with Moosie titled Through the Eyes of a Bronx Girl. [source: Flat Iron Cafe webstie] Tonight at 9 p.m. at the Community Learning Center at The University of Rochester (Elmwood Ave. at Intercampus Dr., details on River Campus Map) is a performance by Dufus, disorienting spoken word and experimental electronic music from Gaybot, and The Comanche Club. [source: band e-mail] This Other Life will be at High Fidelity (170 East Ave., formerly Milestones) starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Rochester Music Coalition calendar]

S A T U R D A Y

Today from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. is a free City Living Bus Tour of homes in the Northeast area of the city starting at The Landmark Society of Western New York (133 S. Fitzhugh St.) [source: Landmark Society calendar] A|V Art Sound Space (N. Union St. at Trinidad St., #8 in the Public Market, formerly the All-Purpose Room) will be hosting an art opening for Paintings by Jay Lincoln starting at 7 p.m. which will be on display until March 24. Also, at 10 p.m. is music by Harry and the Potters, Ju-Jajuba, and variable-but-good rock band A Wonderful. [source: A|V Space website] Tonight at Downstairs Cabaret (172 West Main St.) is the 7th Anniversary Show of Nuts and Bolts Improv Troupe at 7:30 p.m. and again at 9:30 p.m. [source: Nuts and Bolts e-mail] This evening around 8 p.m. we should be able to see the tail end of the Total Lunar Eclipse as the moon rises and the sun sets. [source: NASA Eclipse Home Page] Tonight at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) is an opening for art by Taylor Guerin with music from Triglactagon. [source: Boulder Coffee MySpace site] [all ages] Over at The Flat Iron Café (561 State St.) starting around 9 p.m. is The Project 2 Trio. [source: Flat Iron Cafe webstie] The Ettes, The Esperantos, very good punk-rock from The QUiTTERS, and rock-and-roll from The Grinders will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [21+] Over at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. is 40 Rod Lightning. [source: JamBase calendar for Rochester] [21+] Tonight's another Betty's Sing-a-Long at Betty Meyer's Bullwinkle Café (622 Lake Ave., a.k.a. "Bullwinkle's") starting around 10.

S U N D A Y

Over at Abundance Cooperative Market (62 Marshall St.) starting around 12 p.m. is autoharp Americana with Kelli Shay Hicks, and Al Bersch. [source: Carbon Records calendar] [all ages] This afternoon from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. at East High School (1801 Main St. E.) is the first of three City Living Sundays about home buying in the northeast neighborhoods of Rochester. [source: Landmark Society calendar] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? starting at 7 p.m. about an advertising executive who tries to get a movie star to endorse a product. Also showing are nitrate prints of Porky's Poultry Plant and Plane Daffy along with the short The Fox and the Grapes. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Tonight and every Sunday at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) is a Comedy Open Mic with Matt Rohr at 7:30 p.m. [source: the proverbial grapevine] [all ages]

M O N D A Y

Over at Kilbourn Hall at Eastman Theatre (60 Gibbs St.) starting around 8 p.m. is The Eastman Wind Orchestra. [source: Eastman School of Music calendar] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Albert Paley: In Search of the Sentinel starting at 8 p.m., a documentary about the Sentinel sculpture that stands at RIT (One Lomb Memorial Dr., campus map). [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Bored? Why not check out 1980's DJ night at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 11 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar]

T U E S D A Y

This morning at 7:30 a.m. in the cafeteria overlooking the arboretum in Bausch and Lomb (140 Stone St.) is the Artists Breakfast Group meeting ... anyone interested in art or creativity is invited. Today from 12:12 p.m. to 12:52 p.m. in Gleason Auditorium at The Rochester Public Library (115 South Ave.) is another Tuesday Topics. Craig Jordan will discuss Scientific Facts of Stem Cell: Research for a Layman. [source: Friends of the Public Library e-mail] [all ages] The Flat Iron Café (561 State St.) will be offering a Salsa Dance Class tonight at 8 p.m. [source: Flat Iron Cafe webstie] Kilbourn Hall at Eastman Theatre (60 Gibbs St.) will be hosting The Eastman Collegium Musicum starting around 8 p.m. [source: Eastman School of Music calendar] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Son of Paleface starting at 8 p.m. According to the Eastman House calendar, this film is "in serious contention with Blazing Saddles for the screen's greatest Western parody." Preceded by Porky's Railroad and Dog Meets Dog. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Tonight at A|V Art Sound Space (N. Union St. at Trinidad St., #8 in the Public Market, formerly the All-Purpose Room) is Reuben Radding starting around 9 p.m. [source: A|V Space website] The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting The Hall Monitors, and punch-rock from The Cheetah Whores starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) is hosting an Acoustic Open Mic from 8 to 10. [source: Daily Perks calendar]

W E D N E S D A Y

Today from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at The Rochester Public Library (115 South Ave.) is a Blood Drive so if you have any extra blood, come on by. [source: Rochester Public Library calendar] [all ages] Tonight at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) is Nate Hanks starting around 6 p.m. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] Mayor Robert J. Duffy will be at The Edgerton Community Center (41 Backus St.) from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. for a town-hall meeting on recreation and community centers. [source: City Hall press release] Tonight at 7 p.m. at The Baobab Cultural Center (728 University Ave., formerly on Gregory St.) is a screening of Akeelah and the Bee. [source: Baobab website] Tonight at The Little Theatre Café (240 East Ave.) is talented acoustic soloist JoAnn Vaccaro starting around 7:30 p.m. [source: Freetime] Tonight at Kilbourn Hall at Eastman Theatre (60 Gibbs St.) is The American Horn Quartet starting around 8 p.m. [source: Eastman School of Music calendar] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Le ballon rouge (The Red Balloon) and Zéro de conduite: Jeunes diables au collège starting at 8 p.m. The former is about a red balloon following a boy through the streets of Paris and the latter is about a group of students plotting revolution in their boarding school. Both are considered classics of cinema. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Poor People United meets tonight and every Wednesday at 7 at St. Joseph's House of Hospitality (402 South Ave.) [source: the proverbial grapevine] There's an Open Mic for Acoustic Music at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) tonight around 8. [source: the proverbial grapevine] Tonight at Café Underground Railroad (480 W. Main St.) is a Spoken Word/Poetry night starting around 9 p.m. [source: the proverbial grapevine]

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