Weekly Rochester Events #233: Perhaps a Little Beethoven

Thursday, June 26, 2003

Lunch on Saturday is at Jayce's House (45 Whiteford Rd.) around noon. Bring your own food for the Almost Buddhist Garage Sale. No, scratch that: all my tables will be filled with junk, so I'm just going to buy some pizzas from someplace decent and let people eat that. I'll get some soda too. Which reminds me, I'm having my Almost Buddhist Garage Sale this weekend. Hopefully it'll just be on Saturday. Basically I've got a whole spare householdsworth of stuff which I'm going to get rid of. Everything is $1 or less because I just want it to go. It's "Almost Buddhist" because I'm freeing myself of my possessions, just not all of them. I'm also going to put up a sign that says that if someone buys something it means they promise to not just throw it away—they'll give it to someone else or recycle it. I doubt that will actually change anything, but at least it'll be said. Unfortunately I don't have enough space to set everything up beforehand so I don't think I can really let all my friends pick through before the start ... sorry, y'all. In preparation, I've been going through my house from top to bottom (literally) picking out things that I don't need at all. I'm getting fried looking at my stuff and not knowing whether or not it's useful. It's really an odd feeling to look at an object and not have any idea what you're supposed to do with it—part of your brain is saying, "Can you part with the object in your hand?" and the other half is saying, "I don't understand the question," or worse, just giving a puzzled look. What else. I was at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) last Thursday and there were about 6 or 7 bicycles parked outside including mine. I checked the Chinese calendar, and sure enough, this is the Year of the Bicycle. My own bar bike now has climbing bars—those little extensions at the ends of the handle bars that point up (like little ram horns, sort of) to help climb hills. I've had this junk bike in my basement that had them and I finally got around to putting them on. Boy do they help. I think I'm going to break another crank because I am so tempted to really lay down some power when climbing hills. I'm really impressed ... plus they're more pleasant to hold onto when riding on rough surfaces like the scratched-up part of Monroe by The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) I've actually got two unrelated notes about work although they're actually related only because they're about work. First is that we've got a mandatory shutdown next week to "save money." Don't ask me how this is supposed to work—we can use our vacation time so the company spends money but gets no work done. It's like trying to save on your food bill by staying home for a week all the time and eating at home versus going out but returning home so you can eat at home. I mean it's not like I work in a factory where it would be significantly cheaper to not be there.

Absurdly wordy garage sale signs

The other thing was that I went for a walk behind the building in this construction area. There is a stream running through it which I think is a natural stream. I was wondering how it had been redirected since they bulldozed the hill so I was out there walking around. It seems to just pop out of the ground about 20 feet below the top of the hill they excavated. I saw there was part of the dirt cliff face that was being eroded away so I went to take a look. I stepped on what appeared to be packed sand but was actually loose mud. My foot went down like, well, a foot into it. I stepped onto some rocks with the other foot and pulled it out ... oh well, I was wearing my tire sandals and I didn't lose it in the hole, plus I was wearing shorts so I figured I'd just rinse off in the shower at work. I explored the cliff face a little then went back. Like a smart monkey, I didn't go back through the same area. What I did do, though, was to stick my other foot into the same kind of dirt, this time down to my knee. I got out of it the same way, but I had to slink into the building with both feet covered in mud.

I just thought that was pretty funny. Too bad nobody saw it or else they could make fun of me for it.

On the live music front, I pretty much blew the whole weekend. Well actually, just Saturday.

On Thrusday I was very excited to get to see Antigone Rising again. They were at Manhattan Square Park (130 Chestnut St.) and really blew the crowd away. I talked with Kristen (the rhythm guitarist and background vocalist) for a few minutes after the show. They'll apparently be back for the next East End Fest (East Ave., near Scio and Richmond St. near Main St.) in July. I also got to check out Pure Kona Poetry Open Mic Night at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) which apparently was their tenth anniversary night. I can only hear people read poetry—at least on an amateur level—for a half hour or so, so I headed out. By now it was just getting to be around nine, but since I started so early, I decided to call it a night.

Saturday was a wash because I helped a friend move. Man, she had a lot of stuff. Plus, her apartment was way in the back of the building so we had to haul it by hand truck to the front and down four stories in the elevator so it took quite a while. Lots of books, too. In all, six hours of nearly non-stop hard labor. Our reward was a trip to India Palace (1900 S. Clinton Ave., in Loehmann's Plaza behind Zebb's) which was great. We got out of there around 9 and I went home to nap for an hour before going out but decided that my uniformly sore body would do better to just go to bed.

Sunday was more of the same as I moved things from the attic to the garage for the sale this week. I ended up crashing around 8:30.

I did get out on Monday to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) and saw The Teenage Junkies and The Mistreaters. The Teenage Junkies are a new punk cover band ... I'd like to have seen them play faster, but as Frank De Blase might say, "their unrefined guitar work is reminiscent of the early days of punk." The Mistreaters do some really tight classic-style punk with a rock basis. To be honest, Randy told me the other band was a cover band, but he didn't say that about the Mistreaters so although I don't think they're a cover band, I actually don't know.

On Tuesday I made up for all that sleep I got over the weekend, again at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.). What was going to be a low-key show with just Joanna McNaney turned out to be an awesome bucket of fun since Astronomical Unit and Snmnmnm filled in for Dresden Dolls who cancelled last week. I liked Joanna just like the last time I saw her in April when I said, "She's an acoustic soloist who's got a great stage presence and is pretty funny too. Oh, and pretty too ... I'm so totally in love." In her on-stage banter she said she likes girls, so I think I'm ill equipped to get any "totally in love" reciprocal action. She was amused to have a fan, though. I've gushed about Astronomical Unit in the past, although as a five-guy band, they're ill equipped to receive any "totally in love" action. Same goes for Snmnmnm. Regardless, I thought this particular show was much better than any of their past three shows I've seen so I look forward to more goodness before they move to North Carolina.

Anyway, I was pretty wound up when I left at 1:30, so I was worried about a sleepless night so I rode home faster than normal trying to tucker myself out. I was pretty tired when I got in, but my worries were answered when I couldn't sleep ... I ended up getting about an hour of real sleep and two hours of tossing around so Wednesday was a heavy coffee day at work and warranted a long nap when I got home.

T H U R S D A Y

Over at Manhattan Square Park (130 Chestnut St.) starting around 5:30 p.m. is some favorite hippie bands: Max Creek, Big Leg Emma, and Justin King. The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Le Corbeau starting at 8. How can you resist a French film noir taking a crack at paranoia about the Nazi's at a time in America like this? The gender-ambiguous, sexually charged, punk-rocker Temptress, and The Zombie Girls will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 9 p.m. Tonight at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) is decent punk with The Emersons, and Lobby Bar starting around 10:30 p.m. Johnny's Irish Pub (1382 Culver Rd., still smoke-free) will be hosting the rock-cover solo pianist Todd East starting around 9 p.m. Pure Kona Poetry Open Mic Night is at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) tonight starting at 7:30.

F R I D A Y

Over at Rochester Visual Studies Workshop (31 Prince St.) starting around 7:30 p.m. is the unique rock-based sound of Uforkestra for Summer Celluloid SLAM featuring avant garde films over music. Tomorrow night too at the same time! The talented acoustic rocker John Akers will be at Johnny's Irish Pub (1382 Culver Rd., still smoke-free) starting around 9 p.m. Tonight at Spenders (1600 Lyell Ave.) is your fix of modern rock and covers with Uncle Plum starting around 10 p.m. Slammer's Bar and Grill (4650 Dewey Ave.) will be hosting more modern rock and covers with Perfect World starting around 10 p.m.

S A T U R D A Y

Lunch at Jayce's House (45 Whiteford Rd.) around noon. I'll be buying pizza. The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing The In-Laws starting at 8. If nothing else, the movie that brought us the line, "Don't shoot! I'm a dentist." Over at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. is a double dose of surf rock with the clean and polished The Isotopes, and the not so clean and not so polished Cousin Al and the New Generation. Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:45 p.m. is Los Halos, generic melodic rock that's remarkably interesting from The Staylows, Nod, and The Black Lips. For tonight's fix of modern rock and covers, Perfect World will be at Slammer's Bar and Grill (4650 Dewey Ave.) starting around 10 p.m. Ok, I lied. More modern rock and covers will be at Spenders (1600 Lyell Ave.) with Better Days (or skip their irritating Flash intro) starting around 10 p.m. Over at Mt. Hope Cemetery (North Gate, 791 Mt. Hope Ave.) is A Circle of Friends: An Abolitionists' Tour of Mt Hope Cemetery In 1860 starting at 10 and at 11:30. Over at The Club at Water Street (204 N. Water St.) starting around 10 p.m. is the live acoustic band with an electronic industrial sound, Concentric.

S U N D A Y

The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting High on Fire, Bludwulf, and Heatseeker starting around 10 p.m.

M O N D A Y

Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:45 p.m. is Mr. Airplane Man, The Audios, and acoustic power-rock/punk rock with Your Mom.

T U E S D A Y

The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting At the Spine, Turn Pale, and Uncomfortable People starting around 10:45 p.m. 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.

W E D N E S D A Y

Tonight at Bennigan's (120 E. Main St.) is a Poolside Party with local disco and rock cover band The United Booty Foundation starting around 5 p.m. Over at Rain (360 Monroe Ave.) tonight is a show titled Long Live Rock. I'm not sure if that's past or future tense, though, which would make a heap-o-difference. 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.