Weekly Rochester Events #234: A Little Corporal

Thursday, July 3, 2003

Let me just put the events chronologically for bragging rights ... on Thursday, I went out with a couple friends and we had dinner at Aaron's Place (690 Park Ave., formerly Bistro Seven) which has yet to serve me anything but excellent food in each of my four visits over the past year. On Friday I got to see Uforkestra do another of their multimedia rich presentations ... also an excellent show, but I liked the way they did it last time where you could watch both the band and the video (this time they were under the projectors instead of the screens.)

Saturday, of course, was the first day of my "Almost Buddhist" Garage Sale. I put up the ten signs around the neighborhood and got started putting things out around 8 ... later than I had hoped. I had people lined up just before nine and I finally let them in once I had most of the stuff in order. The big-ticket things (worth more than $10 at most other garage sales) went quickly. Nobody gave me really incredulous looks about it, mostly just passing understanding. Not even the guy who got the digital camera for $1. He seemed happy about it, but not puzzled. Bummer. There was a steady flow for four hours or so while people got good deals at things that were generally more than a buck, but that I was selling for a buck. I bought pizza from Mr. Shoes Pizza (1921 South Ave.) around noon and shared it with a couple friends who stopped by, along with one of the customers. Things slowed down by afternoon as the average price of what was left dipped close to $1. I decided to change things and offered $1 for a bag or a box of stuff. That perked things up a bit ... people would come in and grab one or two things, then they'd start stuffing the bag with what would end up being no extra cost. Sunday brought more of the same. I made a time-lapse movie of both days and set it to The Groovie Ghoulies' Rat Race. I didn't ask them if I could use the song beforehand but I'll ask after the fact and see if they want me to not use it. The breaks in the song hit just right, though ... one at lunch on Saturday, and the other at night. You can download the 4.5MB QuickTime time lapse movie, or if you're not a QuickTime kind of person, download the same thing as a 10MB MPEG1 movie. I really should get the .htaccess file set up so people won't link directly to the movie files and gobble up all my bandwidth. Oh well ... maybe when it becomes a problem.

People really moved fast when they were on camera

Anyway, on Saturday night I got out to see Concentric who do lengthy beat-based music which really is a lot like house club-music. Unfortunately it's a lot like house club-music so it gets old just as fast. I also got to see The Staylows who do adequately complex jammy fast rock—if that makes any sense. I pretty much called it a night at that point.

On Monday I spent the day reading the horrid House of Representatives Act #3162, "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" or the "USA PATRIOT" Act of 2001 (I could only bring myself to skim its 342 pages.) I ended up writing a letter panning most of the violations of the Bill of Rights to Congress and the President ... good luck on that. However, during the day I got to Corky's Craving Parlor (1136 Monroe Ave.) which is indeed what it says ... look forward to going there for the next non-O'Bagelo's Saturday. The Red Osier roast beef with horseradish cheddar really kicked ass.

That night I went to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) and saw The Audios who I saw last month too—they do some really great punk-rock and have a lively stage presence. Next was Your Mom who pulled out all the stops for a remarkable female-centric, maternal-centric, Amazon-style punk-rock show. Finally was Mr. Airplane Man who I really didn't care for ... their well-executed blues-driven old-school rock was a bit too standard for my taste.

Tuesday brought more food ... I stopped by O'Bagelo's (165 State Street) for lunch then stopped by George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) for a while. They've got an exhibit on architecting gardens in nature and stuff, but it just smacked too much of elite rich snobs for me. I got some eats at the Tea Room then got a smoothie from Varsity Café (622 Monroe Ave., formerly Silvio's)

That night I got out to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) again and saw Uncomfortable People who do fast, disharmonious, de-tuned rock—like punk, but not very danceable. At least they have a consistent sound, but I thought they were trying too hard to rekindle a new thing based on the rationale behind punk in the first place. The band shares some members from Sneaky Dragons which I really liked, but I guess you can't win them all. Next was Turn Pale who were somewhat like 1980's new age mixed with punk and metal, but pretty good, actually. Finally up was At the Spine who do very well executed punk-rock with political folk-song lyrics. In all a good evening.

Wednesday I got out to CJ's Gourmet Soups (9 E. Main St.) for lunch which is really really good. I stopped by this place Duels Café which is a little hole in the wall but I'll have to get back there because it looked cool. I got a cookie at Cheesy Eddie's (602 South Ave.) which is (a) still around, and (b) still really good.

There's nothing like having a week off to just eat and eat and eat. Biking all over the place has offset the eating part, but it's still fun.

T H U R S D A Y

Modern rock Uncle Plum, and One Particular Harbor (a Jimmy Buffett tribute band) will be at Manhattan Square Park (130 Chestnut St.) starting around 5:30 p.m. The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting El Guapo (not The Super Nasty Bukkake Band as it says in their calendar—both are part of the same concept born from the ashes of The Sluts though) and the Irish influenced punk band Tom Foolery and the Shenanigans starting around 9 p.m. Over at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. is the new-to-me (and possibly misspelled or misnamed) Shree. Over at Johnny's Irish Pub (1382 Culver Rd., still smoke-free) starting around 9 p.m. is folk rock and covers with The Earthtones Pure Kona Poetry Open Mic Night is at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) tonight starting at 7:30.

F R I D A Y

Independence Day From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Strong Museum (1 Manhattan Square Pk.) is a show, presumably for kids, titled Patriotic Crafts where presumably you write longingly about the freedoms and liberties we should be enjoying. I don't know why they didn't want me to teach it ...

S A T U R D A Y

O'Bagelo's, 165 State Street, noon. Thatcher, Drivin' By, Today's Not Tomorrow, Breaker, and FiveStar Riot will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) early starting around 3:30 p.m. Tonight at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is a bunch of power rock-and-roll and punk-rock with Bee Eater, SuperPimP, and Low Ton starting around 10:45 p.m. Norton's Pub (1730 Goodman St.) will be hosting the modern rock/cover band Better Days (or skip their irritating Flash intro) starting around 9 p.m. Over at Fat Moe's (4419 Dewey Ave.) starting around 10 p.m. is more modern rock and covers with Uncle Plum Today is the start of the Sterling Renaissance Festival (15431 Farden Rd., Sterling, N.Y.) for anybody who might want to call women wenches. The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Donnie Darko starting at 8. I think I was supposed to have seen this or something ... anyway, it's about an odd series of events one teenager goes through above and beyond what ordinary teenagers go through.

S U N D A Y

Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 8 p.m. is heavy metal with Speedealer, Fallguy, and Herod. I guess it's $10 to get in, but it includes picnic-style eats.

T U E S D A Y

The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting Scotland's The Threats, No Regard, Bludwulf, and power-rock/punk band The Shackletons starting around 10:45 p.m. Over at the worlds worst music club, Milestones (170 East Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. is Jerseyband, for their CD Release Party with the cool, jam-ish band Thought. Tonight at The Club at Water Street (204 N. Water St.) is a House of Hellfira show with Defragmentation, Cyonotic, and trance-experimental band (with dijareedoo) Diana Behlke along with DJ Hellraver and DJ Dangler starting around 10 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

The really good acoustic soloist JoAnn Vaccaro will be at Earthtones Coffee House (1217 Bay Rd.) starting around 8 p.m. 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.