The Blog of Jason "Jayce" Olshefsky

Ali was really sad she couldn’t make it, but Christina and I forged on to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) to see The Lobster Quadrille play. Opening up was Daryl Fleming and the Public Domain who did a fine job. They spun some lyrical, interesting, groove-rock-ish country/folk/rock … if that’s any help at all. The Lobster Quadrille really did a great job too. They brought their Gothic satirical gospel back to the Bug Jar, and even had a bunch of toy instruments so the audience could join in too. Their new CD is — like many bands CD’s — an idealized studio form of their live work, but it gives us fans a chance to learn all the words.

Ali and I headed to The Constellation Brands Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center (CMAC) (Lincoln Hill Dr., Canandaigua) to see David Byrne and Ani DiFranco. She bought me the tickets for our anniversary last month and I gotta say, I had a great time. Oh yeah, and we saved the $10 on parking because Ali has friends who live about a quarter mile from CMAC and they let us park there. That savings paid for all of about 1 beer, though.

Anyway, Ani DiFranco — although I don’t seek out her work — was very good. I imagine she’s incredible to see in a small venue, but it’s terribly difficult to pull off that kind of personal connection among a thousand people. Since I’m not all that familiar with her, I wasn’t nearly as excited or interested.

David Byrne, however, has been consistently great in my book. I liked his PowerPoint-based art in Trees, Tombstones, & Bullet Points when I saw him present it in October, 2004 and I’ve enjoyed what he’s done with music. In this show, he didn’t use as much multimedia as I’d seen before, but all the performers were dressed in white and changed appearance considerable with the use of stage lighting and the lighting on the back curtains.

I’ll be sure to look for the new album because it has the power and pop-rock feel of old Talking Heads stuff while still feeling current (as if old Talking Heads heard by fresh ears doesn’t sound modern enough). We were about to leave after the second encore, but he and his band were coerced into a third encore so Ali and I headed to the front row. The security guards eventually even let the stairways fill up with people.

Overall it was a blast and I had a great time. Thanks, Ali!

It’s been a while, but I got back to Monty’s Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) to catch The Enablers. It was fun to get back to the old haunt, and the band didn’t disappoint. They play a strong mix of punk and rock, although at this point it’s mostly cover songs. Their originals were solid and the mix of music … I mean — wow — who plays the Hollies?

I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on them … even if they do change their name. [In my opinion, The Enablers is a fine name, but at the request of the lead singer, I added my favorite fake band name to their list of possibilities: Fist the Bride even though it was destined for a fake metal band.]

I headed to Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) to check out the bands. To be honest, I didn’t like any who opened up but the night was redeemed when Jon Moses brought up members of each band and included them in his wild acoustic improvisation.

I got a little melancholic listening to the first bands (and I’m not going to mention them by name because it just isn’t worth it; in fact, half the problem was nobody operating the mixing board, and I was too mopey in my melancholy to bother to step up and do it). After having gone out to see bands so often for so long, it all seems to blur together at times. I mean, obviously everyone there had originality to add to the human musical vernacular, but it was all derivative (as it has been in almost every case forever), and all trying to be something — trying to be some direct affectation on sound … scripted … logical.

When Jon Moses played, though, his songs were absurdly simple: repetitions of barely 3 chords on guitar and often with just a single sentence of lyrics. That was just the foundation, though. The real show was in the spontaneous improvisation. It was not scripted, and even though that form of improvisation has been done some uncountable number of times before, it was exciting. Because by not being scripted, no body knew what was going to be the result — very different from even one person knowing. It was dangerous. And it worked.

Later that night, Ali and I headed to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) to see the bands. Starting off, Stone Baby did some pretty good ambient noise although I got tired of it before they had finished. Likewise, the last band was Mountains who did also performed some good ambient noise — somewhat different and somewhat more engaging than Stone Baby.

Autumn In Halifax played in the middle. I was impressed when I first heard Dave Merulla’s solo presentation, but have grown to love the band with “the Leaves” — a semi-rotating group of backup performers. On this particular night, I made a note that they “uncork my dreams and inspires me to create”. The meandering melodies and the ambiguous lyrics lead my mind to a place where I contemplate my dreams, goals, and projects in life. It’s really a treat.

One of Ali’s friends was having a combination birthday and engagement celebration. We met them at The Beale Street Cafe (689 South Ave.) as Ali’s friend’s neighbor’s uncle [or something] was in the band, Third Degree. We had a few drinks there and a good time. The band did a fine job with the classics and standards … sometimes encroaching on exceptional, in fact.

Afterward, we all went out to ruin music in our own way: karaoke. The first suggestion on the table was The Boulevard Restaurant (412 Empire Blvd.) I looked to see if the much-closer Elixir (938 South Clinton Ave.) still had karaoke on Saturday nights but to no avail in the local papers present at the bar. So it was off Empire. I managed to sing The Turtles’ “Happy Together” without much trouble but I also gave Jimmy Buffet’s “Come Monday” a go as well. Alas, despite having self-administered the right amount of public singing fluid, the song still didn’t sound good to me. I decided that it was in fact a difficult song to sing. Others fared better, including Ali, and particularly this guy who was in our group who broke karaoke: halfway through his song, the computer conked-out and had to be rebooted.

We were very happy to have a generous fiancée who played a staunch designated driver role. He brought us back to the city and we had planned to go to Mark’s Texas Hots (487 Monroe Ave.) but Ali observed he wasn’t excited about it so made some excuse about the person lying in the sidewalk with the paramedics around them being a reason to not go. Ali and I, however, walked from her house there.

We got in around 3 and double-dated with a couple guys we met in line to share a table as there was — of course — a line, and it was — of course — cold. I corrected my prior attempt at the perfect plate and came pretty close: macaroni salad and fries topped with meat sauce and over-easy eggs — this time skipping the onions. Much better than my last attempts.

I headed out to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) to see Chae Hawk, and The Secret Secret Dino Club. Okay, actually I went specifically because Secret Secret Dino Club is headed by a guy named Jayce, born just before I left high school and not far from where I grew up (according to the MySpace page). [That, and I'm writing this far later than I had intended so some people might miss it entirely.]

Anyway, the show was kicked off with a DJ along with a video projection. The Secret Secret Dino Club was up first and did some fun and clever hip-hop. Chae Hawk brought some stuff that was a little … oh, I don’t know … less whimsical? — but similar nonetheless. The crowd was much younger than I was (except for some parental-looking folks) and this style of music is kind of new to me. It’s an exercise in overstimulation — between the prerecorded music for the performers, the live performance, the video projection, and a DJ adding in a couple turntables, it can get to be a bit overwhelming. But somehow it all stays coherent, and with a thoroughly rough edge — kind of like an extension of the gritty garage sound of the 1960′s and the punk sound of the 1970′s, this is the gritty sound of the generation with access to cheap digital replication and editing.

As for Jayce, I stopped after the show and said hi. He said he’s usually met by black women who share his name, and I’m the first guy. My own nickname was cemented by the presence of the cartoon show Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors during high school (and for you geeky trivia nuts [you know who you are], none other than J. Michael Straczynski wrote 13 episodes, according to IMDb). I told Jayce this and he said he was also named after a cartoon — presumably the same one. How weird is that? And who’d have thought that 20 years after naming a kid that that he’d end up 3 hours away from home and run into someone who got the same name from the same place.  But he’s going to have to keep looking because I’m not his father.

I headed out to the Gallery at Potential Life Studios (34 Elton St.) to check out The No-Tone Party. I got there a little early and got to chat with the folks from the studio — Jeremy and Colleen, I think. They run a nice space for music, art, and performance.

Anyway, the show was primarily organized by Ian Downey and Nuuj. The idea was for musicians to record pop songs that had no appreciable notes. For the most part, the songs pit the two concepts against one another, as if “pop song” and “melody” were opposites. As such, most of the songs were either not very catchy or they included some melodic element. I decided that the closest approximation to the no-tone pop song would be the rhythm of a train: a recognizable and appealing “music”. Before I became overwhelmed with tiredness (as I’ve been going to bed rather early lately) I did hear one song that captured that kind of element.

We’ll have to see where this all goes … if it’s not a genre unto itself, some version of it will probably start appearing in alternative-rock within a couple years.

OK, this one’s specifically dedicated to John Lam. Whenever we talk about JayceLand, he frequently comments that I don’t blog “properly” — often posting an entry for — say today — on next Wednesday. So this one’s for you, John: it’s 2:59 a.m. and after the event about which I’m about to blog. …

So I went to Monty’s Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) earlier. I arrived in time to catch just a song-and-a-half of Jesse Sprinkle. I liked what I heard, but don’t feel confident opining further due to insufficient experience. Next was Burning Daylight who are really swell. Jesse plays drums in this band — and I met lead-singer/guitarist Nick and bassist Tim afterward. I generally stand by my database-stored comment from December 21, 2006 at the Bug Jar: “unremarkable bar-rock except when they get more punk-rock”. [No offense, guys: let me qualify ...]

I had a great time. I considered heading to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) for the metal and metal-like show featuring (among others) Sulaco (featuring some friends of mine) but instead, I opted to get a pint or two (or three) at Monty’s Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) instead and enjoy some, well, bar-rock. Burning Daylight does a fine job with a mix of [mostly] originals and [some] covers in a bar-rock/punk-rock style. I mean, what more can I say? Have you been at a bar where some band was playing and had a drink or two, and noted, “hey, these guys are pretty good.”? It’s that kind of personal experience that really doesn’t carry over well to radio-play or other popular, substantive fame. It’s just … well … nice. With notably-sexceptional exceptions like “Black Soul, Black Heart”, it’s not the kind of thing you’re going to get nagging in your head. But that one song can keep you coming back.

Heck, maybe it’s whatever it was that Ali and her friend were so impressed that the band played for them. Or maybe it’s just that Tim’s this kind of faux-Canadian [in the "gosh, aren't those Canadian folks polite and kind" kind of way] Buffalo … umm … resident. Or that I owe Nick, Tim, and Jesse a drink [and $1.33 more each] for giving me their CD (Jesse 2x for supplying his personal-favorite own CD in addition).

In conclusion, thanks: you guys gave me a great time (even despite that poor dude who got carried away by ambulance for whatever reason … at least it wasn’t body-bag). So when you’re at your regularly-paying day-jobs, know that I thought your time was worth its while. Sure, your songs aren’t on ‘BER regularly [or are they?: I'm so irritated by the Guisto-inspired BOCES-training-esque 'play what the people want' kind of crap that I barely listen anymore].

But whatever: play live and there’s someone there who’ll love it.

I headed out to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) a second time [and a late update to the JayceLand page, in case you wondered if you missed it the first time]. First up was Bird Show which consisted of one guy playing synth-sourced, digitally-altered, experimental, anti-melodic, anti-tempo music. It was a lot like interesting ambient — only not mellow. Next was Sun Circle who did a trippy meditative set — in one song, for instance, they harmonized reed instruments with a rolling synth tone and burned incense; it was actually a lot better than you might expect.

Finishing up was Autumn In Halifax — joined by “leaves” Joe Tunis and R. Scott Oliver. Although I loved Dave’s solo work when he first started playing as Halifax, I’ve come to really enjoy the new line-up, especially now that it’s more mature. The lush poetry of Dave’s lyrics works just as well now as it did before, only now it’s set against a more traditional three-piece band.