Weekly Rochester Events #265: It's Times for London, John

Thursday, February 5, 2004

• If you give Montana Mills Bread Company your e-mail address, they will sell it to spammers. Since I've got the JayceLand domain, I make up a new address for each company, and the one I used for Montana Mills gets tons of junk mail. Thanks a bunch.
• That matchmaking service eHarmony.com has a bit of a scam going. They guarantee they will match you with one person for each month you sign up. The trouble is they include people who haven't paid—and to just sign up (without paying) you can get a free personality test which (for some) has value in itself. So I paid my $99.95 for 3 months and got several matches ... only two had paid, and many of the rest hadn't even bothered to finish their profiles. I went in expecting to be able to take advantage of the guarantee because I wasn't in the majority of people who would "OMG-me too!" a dream to move to the suburbs to raise 2.5 children (plus my picture appears in the dictionary among the antonyms to "desirable") but I was disappointed to learn I would be matched with what I can only assume are shills.
• I was disappointed that after spending over $3,000 over the last 7 years on service to [satellite dish television service provider] dishNetwork that they wouldn't cover the cost of even the cheapest new receiver that would let me take advantage of the fancy features they now offer. Therefore, I will complain as loud as I can that their program guide is sluggish to the point of unusability and none of their features work. (Do you hear me dishNetwork? Hello? Darn ... I didn't think so.)

Ok, so here's the complaint: what the hell is everyone's problem? First, step back from the initial shock of "I haven't seen that happen before ... are they allowed to show that?" Next, take off your long johns and other unmentionables of your Puritanical upbringing and set them aside. Now, assess this question at the root of my argument: should women be ashamed of their breasts?

If the answer is yes, your Puritanical upbringing may have crusted itself onto your crotch so try again. To put it in less uncertain terms: people who think women should be ashamed of their breasts should be severely bludgeoned with a truncheon (or, if they wish, feel free to truncheon them with a bludgeon.)

For the rest of you, consider the following reactions and their underlying meanings (and sorry for making two lists in one editorial ... I'll try to do better next time:)

• "It's indecent."—And why is it indecent? Are women's breasts indecent, and if so, they should be ashamed of them. Move back to square one.
• "I didn't want to see it."—Sorry. It happened ... sometimes by having your eyes open, you will see things you don't like. Try to deal with it.
• "What will I tell my children when they ask 'What's that?'"—It's a woman's breast. She's got them because she's sexually mature and can have babies who can get milk from them. (Plus, although they're just soft and warm when you're young, if you grow up to be a gynophile^*, they're even better.)
• "The action of ripping a woman's clothes off is demeaning."—The stunt was agreed upon and rehearsed beforehand by Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake (although apparently something they kept secret from their bosses.) They were acting out a scene which included aggressive erotic actions—things which are arousing and healthy for a consenting couple (as I felt their act and song implied that their stage characters were consenting.) Note that the same actions are demeaning only if applied to a non-consenting partner.
• "This kind of sexualized acting is not appropriate for young people to see when they're watching a game."—Which young people, exactly? The ones whose impressionable minds are being taught by football that you need to be big to win, you need to fight "battles" to succeed, and you are either the best or you are a loser? How about the older ones who were aroused by the glint of a bare breast but will need to figure out how that arousal relates to their significant other through trial and error? With all the calls for sensorship, a young person might even be inclined to think that mom and dad think breasts are something to be ashamed of.

I think I got the most vocal opinions I've heard, so I ask again, what the hell is everyone's problem?

Ok ... <HR> break. I got the pictures back that I took at the show at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) with Keith Parkins, Kelli Hicks and Sneaky Dragons. I was playing a bit with exposures and trying to avoid oversaturating the red, but I think it's just a defect/feature in Kodak's processing system that red stuff just goes too bright—I had to tweak the picture to the right and managed to recover a lot of the detail that was originally lost. And yeah, it really was that dark ... blame your eyes for not being sensitive to red. What else ... I went to Montage Grille (50 Chestnut St.) last week to see the Big Drum Songwriters in the Round which is a pretty cool four-songwriter show ... worth much more than the $0 of admission. On Thursday I went to Thursday Thinkers at The Rochester Public Library (115 South Ave.) ... Jerry Ciccone of CATS, LLC and Bill Price, the Port of Rochester Project Manager discussed the Fast Ferry. The only thing I really cared about was whether you can bring bikes ... it looks like it'll be $25 per person and some fee like $10 each way ... not too cheap for a day trip, but it would be cool to bike to Toronto for the day. Later that night I got out to George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) to see movies. The first was Wonderwall which was okay—I appreciated that 1960's filmmaking included a unique feature I like to call "arbitrary suspension of disbelief" where they just put something in the film, and since it exists in that world, you must accept it. However, the characters came off as caricatures of real people created by someone who was high on pot—probably an apt description. The short film preceding it was called Reflections on Love and followed a couple rapidly moving from seeing one another for the first time through getting married ... more like a reflection on an acid trip about love, but close enough all around. Friday saw me back at the Dryden to see a really great and unique combination: The Films of Ladislaw Starewicz with Tin Hat Trio doing accompaniment. The best of the five films, I thought, was Les grenouilles qui demandent un roi (The Frogs Who Wanted a King) because the guy from the band said they performed music for this film shortly after the 2000 elections and decided the silent hollow log king was Al Gore and the evil frog-eating stork king was George W. Bush—imagery that really helped bring dead animated frogs to life. Tuesday was my other foray out for the week. First, I made it to the Tuesday Talks at noon at the library ... Police Chief Duffy and Criminology Professor John Klofas indicated the city's pretty safe unless you are involved in the drug trade. Professor Klofas also answered a question I had about drug enforcement—I thought that increased penalties would ultimately cause drug prices to go up, making the risks more worthwhile, but he said that the demand for drugs was largely unrelated to the penalties, so it's really just supply-and-demand that sets prices—harsher penalties really don't affect prices nor demand.

Otto Hauser from Sneaky Dragons sat almost perfectly still for 2 whole seconds during the performance at the Bug Jar on Janaury 27, 2004.

Anyway, later that night I went to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) to see Healthcare who were more rock-ish and less "emo synth-pop"-ish than I remembered. The Wills Wilde is a great new punchy contemporary rock-and-roll band. The last ones up, Hi Vol. Components were an above average, faster-than-average, and louder-than-average modern rock band ... not really too exciting to me.

Well, that's all from the soapbox and other things. Try to get out an do things this week ... heck, even stay home and watch the PBS special on Monday. Just do things.

F R I D A Y

The Club at Water Street (204 N. Water St.) will be hosting a spectacular showcase of punk rock with Rochester's The Flour City Knuckleheads, The Clockers, NoFX cover band (and former Sluts members) The Moron Brothers, fucking awesome punk-rock from Rochester's The Blastoffs, Irish-slanted punk (well, one guy plays a fiddle) from Tom Foolery and the Shenanigans, and solid punk-rock from The Emersons starting around 8 p.m. [source: Water Street calendar] Ah yes ... It's time once again for The Rochester International Film Festival to present their Best of the Fest from the past (including 2003) at the Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) starting at 8. If you recall correctly, it should be clear that my picks for the best films will be the ones chosen. They were: Mount Everest—Up Close and Personal by Ron Strobel, Malvern, PA 19 at 11 by Michael Schwartz, Marina Del Rey, CA All That I Perceive by Lindsay Daniels, Oakland, CA The Least of These by Rik Swartzwelder, Solver Spring, MD Die Leiden der Jugend (The Sorrows of Youth) by Brian M. Plow, Athens, OH Alchemy by Anna Condo, New York, NY Unearthed by Christina Spangler, Cold Spring, NY Taste It All by Richard J. Liukis, Los Angeles, CA Water by Gabriele Zamparini, New York, NY Shadowboxer by Vilka Tzouras, Brooklyn, NY [source: Eastman House calendar] If you want to spend a few extra bucks ($12) Montage Grille (50 Chestnut St.) will be hosting rock-and-blues band The Commander Cody Band starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: Montage calendar] Fat Moe's (4419 Dewey Ave.) will be hosting your fix of modern rock and cover songs from Uncle Plum starting around 10 p.m. [source: Freetime] This evening at the Strong Auditorium on the The University of Rochester (River Campus Map) is really funny comic Mitch Hedberg starting at 9 p.m. [source: Freetime]

S A T U R D A Y

O'Bagelo's, 165 State Street, noon. I doubt you can get tickets now, but Henry Rollins will be at RIT (One Lomb Memorial Dr., campus map image) tonight. [source: CAB calendar] The Hayseeds, and Urknee and Bjürton will be at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) starting around 8 p.m. [source: WITR calendar] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing A Hard Day's Night starting at 8. Just a day in the life of the Beatles. [source: Eastman House calendar] Bangers and Trash, Tokyo Sex Destruction, and Bullet Train To Vegas will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:45 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Tonight is the closing reception for a photography and installation by Scott Laird titled Balls and Pins along with a sound installation by Joe Tunis at The All-Purpose Room (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St.) starting at 7:00 p.m. [source: All-Purpose Room calendar] Molly Shea Band will be at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Freetime] Tonight at Duels Café (17 E. Main St.) is the first of their official comedy shows featuring Kevin Berry, "D-Low" Danny Brown, Paris and Joe Fico with host Dan Liberto (of the The Comedy Company) probably starting around 8 or so. [source: Freetime]

T U E S D A Y

Over at The Rochester Public Library (115 South Ave.) in the Gleason Auditorium is this week's Tuesday Topics titled Stems, Cells, Cloning and Bioethnics which will be in debate format between Dr. Timothy Madigan from the University of Rochester Medical Center Division of Medical Humanities and Dr. Michael McQuillen from the University of Rochester Medical Center Professor of Neurology all set to run snugly from 12:12 p.m. to 12:52 p.m. [source: Rochester Public Library calendar] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Shake!: Otis at Monterey and Jimi Plays Monterey starting at 8. See Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix play at the 1967 Monterey Pop festival in these two films constructed from prior documentary footage. [source: Eastman House calendar] Tonight at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is Infatuating Lena, high-energy, but uninteresting rock from Russians, and punchy drums-and-guitar punk-rock from Blue Spark and Flame starting around 10:45 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] 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

The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing The Vampire Lovers starting at 8. Mmmm ... blood sexual massacre. Gaaah. [source: Eastman House calendar] Over at Montage Grille (50 Chestnut St.) is another Big Drum: Songwriters in the Round starting at 6:30 and including Jeff Riles and Deborah Magone. [source: Montage calendar] Later, Ben Monder, and Ted Poor Trio will be at Montage Grille (50 Chestnut St.) starting around 9 p.m. [source: Montage calendar] Tonight's another presentation from Ossia New Music starting at 8:00 p.m. sharp in Kilbourn Hall at Eastman Theatre (60 Gibbs St.). This time it's a Concert of Multimedia Works featuring Memories of Texas Towns and Cities from Andrew Rudin and Beckett from Vincent Calliano. [source: Ossia New Music 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] Very cool jazz/jazz-rock band Margaret Explosion will be at The Little (240 East Ave.) starting around 8 p.m. [source: Little Theatre e-mail]