Weekly Rochester Events #260: 104 For a Tenth of a Second

Thursday, January 1, 2004

In a tenuously related topic ... since it is the beginning of the year, I was going to write some largely pessimistic predictions about 2004, but I won't bother with most of it. The only big thing, I guess, is that George W. Bush is going to be re-elected. The other thing is that there will be a bunch of electronic voting machines in place for the elections and some of them will dramatically fail, and some will be rigged to produce absurdly impossible results. However, the press will give the whole system the "A-OK" and largely ignore the problems, only touting the high-speed recalculation features. It's really too bad, I guess ... of course, no point saying goodbye to America yet because it hasn't happened ... oh, but it will. I assure you. *sigh*

Enough of that future stuff: what's up with the past?

I'm glad you asked, because a few weeks ago I did a favor for a friend of mine and wrote a show review for the The Rochester Music Coalition printed newsletter "RMC Music Scene," I think it's called. Well, the first issue came out and my article was nowhere to be found. Come to find out, it was rejected because it reviewed the bar as much as the band and they don't want to get into bar reviews. Worse, though, was because it gave a somewhat negative impression of the bar, and *gasp* they can't publish anything remotely negative.

Which was one of the concerns I had about writing in the first place. The fools ... they're dooming themselves to failure. I mean, if you only write positive articles, you'll end up looking like a pep-rally for local bands. People who believe the articles will end up going to shows, being disappointed, and never go back. On the other hand, imagine if they read that a band was just "pretty good" or that a bar is dark and dirty ... maybe they'd have an actual honest view of what their experience would be like, and if they went, might be amenable to going again.

Anyway, no sense letting fairly good writing go to waste, so here's the article:

Monty's Krown is a finicky place. At first glance, it's a dark, dirty dive with otherwise friendly beer snobs lining the bar. To a regular, it's a dark, dirty dive that sells good beer for cheap, draws a seemingly blue-collar crowd willing to chat like self-taught anthropologists, and is becoming a two-headed hippie/punk music club, although with limited success.

Astronomical Unit is a bright and organic funk band with a rock edge. One could also say they're a groove rock band with a funk edge. One might even get away with suggesting there's a bit of jazz hidden in there too. But I may be the only one to say that aside from The Buddhahood, AU is the only band who can coax dance moves from my uncoordinated bones.

Anyway, from a band's perspective, I imagine that the Krown is a particularly unforgiving place. A bad show can make them feel like they've been seduced in the darkness only to find their mate has the stereotypical crooked teeth to go with that British accent. On the other hand, if they can get the regulars to like them enough so they don't throw beer coasters, it can be quite an intimate experience for band and audience.

For the Astronomical Unit show on December 4, the crew of primarily heavy-metal and punk-rock regulars conceded their acceptance. As both a Krown regular and an AU fan, I think things went pretty well. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was AU's best show ever, but it certainly was an intimate experience: the low lights and low stage gave the impression that you were having a beer with them than watching them play.

All-in-all, a good show at a good bar by a great band.

Monty's Krown is at 875 Monroe Ave. You can find out more about Astronomical Unit at their website, http://www.astronomicalunit.com/.

T H U R S D A Y

New Year's Day Ok, so there's not a whole lot going on today, but if you're really looking for something, over at the new Keys Martini and Piano Bar (233 Mill St.) is a dueling piano show with Craig Jensen, Cindy Chen and Ashton Wolf starting around 8. [source: Freetime]

F R I D A Y

Over at Water Street Music Hall (204 N. Water St.) and also on the Club side is The 8th Annual High School Battle of the Bands starting at 5 featuring Third Estate, Public Aggravation, Fantasy Controller, Rebus, Almost Tomorrow, Bromine, FiveStar Riot, 2 For Flinching, The Dismissed, Uprising, 8 Point Blank, Jaxom, Clockwork, The Grievants, Adrian's Revenge, Forgotten Monday,and Trinity Sunrise. [source: Water Street calendar] Jazzy swing from Bobby Henrie and The Goners will be at Montage Grille (50 Chestnut St.) starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: Montage e-mail]

S A T U R D A Y

O'Bagelo's, 165 State Street, noon. Tonight at Montage Grille (50 Chestnut St.) is The Steve Greene Quartet starting around 8:45 p.m. [source: Montage e-mail] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing 2001: A Space Odyssey starting at 8. Thirty-five years and this science fiction movie still fails to look absurd ... well, except we don't use nixie tube displays and incandescent projection systems, but aside from that ... [source: Eastman House calendar] Good, fast rock from The Franks, instrumental surf-rock from The Isotopes, and high-quality rock-and-roll from The Hirisers will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:45 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar]

T U E S D A Y

Updated: The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting witty acoustic soloist Joanna McNaney, and Shawnee Boyee along with okay Sublime cover band Bad Fish who were recently added ... all starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Starting around 9 at Comix Café (3450 Winton Pl.) is their Improv and Open Mic show. [source: Freetime] 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. [source: Daily Perks calendar]

W E D N E S D A Y

Bassist Victor Wooten will be at Water Street Music Hall (204 N. Water St.) starting around 8 p.m. [source: Water Street calendar] Updated: Margaret Explosion will be at The Little Theatre Café (240 East Ave.) tonight starting around 8, I guess. [source: WITR calendar] 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. [source: Daily Perks calendar]