I started out by heading to The Record Archive (33 1/3 Rockwood St.) to catch the in-store bands. First up was Jay Repp playing solo. I generally liked his acoustic-rock and modern-rock style, but I wasn't particularly drawn-in by it either. As before, I greatly liked other/other/other with their melodic trancey synthesized music. It just touches on dreamy and ethereal, but stays rooted in gently danceable beats.
Since I'm trying to lose the weight I gained last week getting stuffed (perhaps just in time for Thanksgiving when I'll put it back on again) I peeked at the Chocolate Mousse [flavored] Peeps label to see what I was getting into:
Very small cats, indeed.
I guess the label copy writers got the last laugh on that one. In case you're wondering, they weren't half bad. They actually had a chocolaty flavor over the regular mushy dust flavor you expect of Peeps. Of course, I think I didn't read the whole label so I might have made a terrible mistake:
Let's hope it's also food.
Ali and I got a chance to get out of the house for a bit on our visit to her mom and step-dad in Florida to check out the local fauna. I searched the Internet for Pensacola's Mad Happy
(a band I've liked quite a bit and who I would expect to play in places I'd like to visit) to see if they had played anywhere in nearby Tarpon Springs.
They apparently had [although in a more thorough search, I don't think they did], so we went to The Neptune Lounge and Cyclery (13 S. Safford Ave., Tarpon Springs, FL): a bar/lounge by night and a bicycle shop by day (albeit next-door to one another) situated along The Pinellas Trail. We managed to hear the last song from the first band but got to see The Sound of Armada who played a good variety of jammy modern rock with a distinctive country flair.
From there we went to The Zone (121 E. Tarpon Ave., Tarpon Springs, FL) which was a nightclub and lounge. I gather that the reggae-funk band on the nice outdoor patio was called Paris, and indoors, they were playing a typical dance DJ mix. It was almost like two clubs in one … something I guess I should expect from such a small town.
I decided to go for a run while visiting Ali's family in Florida. I've been eating like it's Thanksgiving, and I realized last night that I couldn't pull it off more than one day in a row. So I went out for a 4-ish-mile run. Being accustomed to 35°F, temperatures approaching 80°F with a 70°F dew-point (thanks, Hurricane Ida), I needed all the extra water I had to finish up. Also, I noticed that there's a lot of dirt that ends up on the roads and sidewalks. I imagine it's because of dust from tires wearing down (my feet were much more black than at home), and because the lack of regular rain to wash it away.
I know I've mentioned TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design): Ideas Worth Spreading quite a few times already, so when I heard there would be an independently-originated series here in Rochester, I couldn't help but go. They called it TEDx Rochester and held it at Geva (75 Woodbury Blvd.) My hopes were high, but I fully understood that not every lecturer would produce an astoundingly favorite lecture.
After a rocky start with the A/V system, Adam Frank got things started. He spoke about the artificiality of the conflict of science and religion. Basically his argument was that science enhances religion because it lets us see more of the world, and if you're a believer in a creator, seeing more of what was created is a good thing.
Larry Moss was next, speaking about his "Airigami": creating art with balloons. At first blush, the whole thing seems as thin as a metaphor using balloons would be if written here. But because the medium he uses is so accessible, he's able to create sculptures with people who don't even share a common language — and he has. Many times. On the one hand, it's astounding and on another, obvious. Definitely one to think about (and hopefully, a lecture that will be prominent on TED's own website).
I was also pleased by a performance by GEOMANTICS Dance Theatre who, like PUSH Physical Theatre, used an amalgam of the varied forms of physical performance to express ideas.
A nano-scale chemist and physicist Todd D. Krauss provided insight into some of his work (as several other lecturers did). Although I didn't find that his talk met my lofty expectation of an "idea worth spreading", he did bring up an interesting bit of new technology: cadmium-selenium nanoparticles. The fascinating thing about them is that they fluoresce different colors of light based on their size. As such, one can create whatever colors they want using the same material.
What he did not touch on that I wish he had was the ramifications of nanoparticles and organic life: specifically, isn't "little particles stuck through cell walls" one of those triggers for cancer? And while he dispelled the myth that artificially-intelligent nanobots will kill us, I think he did a disservice by neglecting to even approach the topic of nanoparticles doing damage in much more banal ways.
Finishing up the night was Geva Comedy Improv who, sadly, were not able to finish their performance in the time allotted.
Overall it was definitely worth it to take time off to see it. But I hope that in the future, things are a bit more refined.
I had been working on a pig-head mask for quite a while, anticipating using it for a movie and for Halloween. Well, as Halloween approached, I buckled down and finished it. Since Ali and I were going to head to my cousin's wedding on Halloween night, I took the opportunity to join the Night of the Living Wedge Halloween Pub Crawl so I'd have a chance to show it off. I started a little late, so I decided to catch up with the crawl at Solera Wine Bar (647 South Ave.)
From there, we hit Lux Lounge (666 South Ave.), The Tap and Mallet (381 Gregory St.), and The Keg (315 Gregory St., behind German House where Rohrbach's used to be) before finishing at Caverly's Pub (741 South Ave., formerly Genesee Co-op Credit Union). I was receiving great praise for my costume — partly because I had clarified what I was trying to be with the addition of some hospital-style scrubs and a "Hello, my name is" tag reading only "H1N1" … plus, the eyes would heartbeat-blink red, and I could hit a button so they'd brighten to a blaring blue-white. As it turned out, I won the darn costume contest. I spread around some holiday cheer, favoring a couple homemade costumes before heading home to pass out.
The MEETinROCHESTER organizer snapped a picture that I'll unabashedly use here:
Jayce as H1N1 on Halloween
I stopped by The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) for the show — one I was quite excited about. Dr . Hamburger was providing projected video over the bands. Starting out was The Leaky Boat Blues which was Tim from A Wonderful. He played some great acoustic that I really liked. Next was a nearly minimal version of Baby Shiver's Boutique. I have to make it a point to see these guys more often — their "motley folk" music is enhanced by their singer's crystal clear and ever-so-melancholic voice. Finishing up the night was Autumn In Halifax — just Dave this time accompanied by the electronic-boxes form of the Leaves. His luscious, poetic acoustic rock always cracks open some inner creativity and I'm left longing for the night to never end.
I thought 15 minutes was sufficiently early to arrive, but by the time I got to the The Caroline Werner Gannett Project, Ingle Auditorium at RIT (One Lomb Memorial Dr., campus map) was completely full and I had to watch a video-feed with another 60-or-so people in the 1829 Room next door. Designer Stefan Sagmeister was the speaker and he did indeed discuss Design and Happiness. You can get an idea of what the discussion was like through his similar TED lecture from a few years ago: Stefan Sagmeister shares happy design.
As I had expected, the lecture gave me some inspiration. I knew Sagmeister would comment on the tenuous balance of being creative — after all, he closes his design studio for a year in every five years to do non-work-related endeavors.
His observations on happiness reminded me of that which I often forget: that much of happiness is a temporary feeling. He divided it up into three layers: short-lived joy, mid-ranged satisfaction from accomplishment, and long-term fulfillment from pride in one's life. I forget that happiness at one layer is not experienced the same as at other layers: although my life philosophy has generally kept me fulfilled, that does not make me feel joyful in and of itself.
His lecture also reminded me that good design matters. It's good to have a world where we can feel pleasure, and we can feel pleasure from interacting with something well-designed. And by that, I mean everything. Like I think the Frederick Douglass — Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge (formerly the Troup-Howell Bridge) is a good design: it carries vehicles across the river just as effectively as a bridge that looks awful, but it has a certain elegance to its design that makes people feel good. On the other hand, The Monroe Community Hospital (435 E. Henrietta Rd.) is apparently having a chain-link fence erected around it: an ugly barrier that says, "we have problems with the likes of you entering our property" and makes people feel bad. And to think that everything in the world can effect a mood like that: wow.
I headed to Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) to catch the show there. When I got there, Where is Fred Brown? was already playing. Conceived as a three-piece with John Valenti, Alfred Brown, and Paul Burke, it's temporarily named for the absence of its middle member. They played a great set of melodic trance-snyth. It had this nice dreamlike finish to it. I also stayed for The Bogs Visionary Orchestra who played some excellent "new Americana", so-to-speak: rooted in Americana, but with a modern-rock presence. Unfortunately, the flu I'd been fighting for the past three days was getting the best of me and I didn't stay for Seth Faergolzia.
I think I'm starting to see the boundaries of the next social revolution. Let me lay out a little context of recent references that I believe are related.
First, I talked last year about the "monkeysphere" idea. The basic idea is that our primate brains can only accept about 150 people who we consider part of our clan, tribe, or village, and beyond that, all the other people are equivalent to "things" in the world.
Next is related to things I've seen in discussions about Burning Man and the idea of "community". To me, the notion of "community" is like a lot of words: they are there to provide a spectrum upon which to measure. So when one says, "the community", that is a reference to a specific group of people with traits that tie them together. The thing that is important is that being "in the community" means you have the traits of the community — it does not mean that you must adapt your behavior because of your physical location. In other words, actions cause description; description does not cause action.
Related to that, I recently found a new term: POSIWID. According to Wikipedia at least, Stafford Beer coined the term as an acronym for "[the] purpose of [a] system is what it does". The underlying principle is that the intended function of a system is irrelevant: its purpose (or function) is solely defined by what it does. If, for instance, you set out to create a community of people who share art and resources, you might end up with a big party in the desert: the purpose of that system is a big party in the desert, no matter what your intentions were.
I have observed (especially in the last 10 years) that people I encounter are much more polarized by political party or political views than ever before. It is probably most attributable to whom I hang out with, but I also believe there is a trend. What I mean, specifically, is that I was finding prejudice in myself concerning politics: that I would judge someone favorably or unfavorably solely based on their political party affiliation. I thought this was interesting to observe, and generally not good.
I also see the strong opinions of people concerning socialized health care. Although there many facets to it, the one I find most interesting is the debate on whether an arbitrary stranger should be cared for. I'm neglecting any specifics because you can create straw men to support either side (i.e. abusers of a taxpayer-funded system versus a hard worker who circumstantially loses access to care). The question is: will you help someone you don't know anything about?
So finally, what's this next revolution?: it's how we treat strangers.
I see people lining up along a spectrum. On one side are people who are only willing to help those people they know personally (i.e. who are within their "monkeysphere") at the expense of the well-being of people they don't. On the other are people who willing to support everyone equally, even if that means they may not have resources to help people they know personally.
I think it is more noble to lean toward helping everyone, and a testament to the superiority of humankind. However, I also know that such civility is frail: a small percentage of people working to their own advantage can poison the whole system. All societies have blind-spots and points of leverage for the advantage-seeker, but civility is maintained by the unspoken agreement among people that they not take advantage at those points. And in America, there are socially-acceptable points to find advantage: that permission is specifically what allows capitalism to work.
Anyway, I find myself playing both sides of the fence for the time-being. I have a network of friends who I help freely (with my time, skills, money, and resources) and who will do likewise for me. I also strive for a better solution that is more inclusive because I feel better when my behavior also helps other people.