Weekly Rochester Events #273: The Premiere First Lady

Thursday, April 1, 2004

I've been looking forward to this update for a little while since it falls exactly on April Fools' Day. I had some ideas for tricks to play today (except for the first one below which I heard from someone else) so try them out if you're entirely uncreative.

• If you work somewhere that has a coffee area, fill your coffee cup halfway with cold water without anyone seeing. Rush into the coffee area when there's some other people around to witness it, fill your cup with hot coffee, then drink the whole thing as fast as you can and run back out again.
• Wear some fake arms that make it look like you have them raised in a "rollercoaster pose" and drive around town with a gigantic grin on your face. Keep the car windows down and yell a lot too.
• If you're living with someone, put frosted plastic over the face of their alarm clock so it's impossible to focus on the numbers in the morning.
• Eat at a regular restaurant. Eat everything on your plate except for one little thing ... maybe a French fry or a piece of onion or something. When the server returns to see if you'd like anything else, say, "No—but could I get this wrapped up?" They'll usually respond with "What?" Don't repeat yourself, just smile and nod reassuringly. (A personal favorite of mine.)

Anyway, last Friday I got out to Norton's Pub (1730 Goodman St.) to see a couple bands. Four + None is a fun cover band ... not exactly what I'd seek out anymore, but they at least put on a pretty entertaining show. Next was The Meddling Kids which I've meant to see since I know a couple of the guys in the band and I saw their "middle" incarnation which kinda sucked back in the Mercury Star Lounge days. Thankfully this time they're really good ... high energy modern rock. Nothing Earth-shattering, but they put on a good show.

On Saturday I was having a shitty day. I think it might have been that all-day drizzly rain stuff, and I suspect I wasn't alone ... I ended up going to Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) because that's what I expected everyone else to do. (See, it really was that bad a day ... I was originally planning to go see something new ...) Anyway, I saw The Emersons, The Grinders, and The UV Rays—all of whom I've seen before ... they still play fine and the show was good (at least loud music can sometimes drown out the voices in my head.) I think the Emersons are from Buffalo because they drew in a bunch of new-to-me faces including some really attractive women ... too bad I was in such a foul mood or else I might have been able to make an ass of myself again.

After the class on Monday I went to see the Emerging Filmmakers show at The Little (240 East Ave.) I felt super cool because I knew about seven people involved with the scene, none of whom knew that I knew any of the other ones—I was like The Kevin Bacon that day. I also had seen two of the films shown already, and I'm pretty sure I was the only one who has seen all three public screenings of Unearthed by Christina Spangler (the one about a potato with one sighted eye) in Rochester. Plus, I was happy that it was a sold-out show with about 300 people—it's a wonder what a little advertising push will do to increase the number of people up from a couple dozen people at prior screenings. I was also glad to see that Unearthed got a warm reaction from the audience, but it's too bad that when there's lots of people at any show at the Little it seems there is some technical problem—this being no exception as the sound was barely audible and the projection was a bit muddy.

Anyhow, among the highlights were A South Bronx Tale by Janis Astor del Valle about a couple young lesbian girls struggling to be themselves while facing a homophobic Bronx neighborhood. It starts out a little choppy (both literally and figuratively) but once the story gets rolling it's pretty powerful, barely leaving room for just a little hope. Farm Tours by Joanna Heatwole was good too ... it's a mini-documentary about large farming corporations driving out local farmers in this area—one of the farmers laments that his saddest day was when they decided to add french fries to the snack bar menu to make ends meet, meaning he'd have to do the job of short-order cook he was deliberately avoiding by getting into farming in the first place. Passage by Brian Vogt was a very good computer animation about a guy who daydreams through various artisticly styled worlds in an art museum. It's a cut above most of what I've seen because it actually exploits the advantages of computer animation for reasons of telling a story rather than to demonstrate a new technique. Matthew Ehlers' Who's Your Daddy was naturally short, fast-paced, and funny ... I don't think as good as his prior films but amusing nonetheless. The only sour point in my book was Spring in Awe by Martina Radwan which I just can't stand ... it's a pre-film-school quality project with a single-minded approach that doesn't say anything more than a couple sentences on the topic of war becoming entertainment.

To wrap up the week I got out to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) to see The Isotopes do a best-I've-seen-yet show of their surf-rock instrumental work. I thought The Preacher's Kids were okay with their drum/bass/three-guitar variety of standard rock-and-roll band. They're really better than that—I was letting my desire to go home and get some sleep cloud my judgement and I didn't give them a fair shot. The best of the show by far, though was the middle band: Darediablo who do this great high volume, high distortion drum-guitar-keyboard flavor of modern rock.

Coming up, I've finally got some time to myself since the class wrapped up. I already took on another task of helping out with Friday's Synaesthesia I show—what with the seeing and the avant garde and the loud and the screechy noises. I'm just glad I heard about it ... it's not well advertised, and hopefully future shows will be. I'm also psyched to see Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter on Saturday, and Amazon Women on the Moon should be lots of fun next Wednesday.

T H U R S D A Y

April Fool's Day Mayor William A. Johnson, Jr. will be discussing the city budget shortfall tonight in the auditorium at James Madison School of Excellence (200 Genesee St.) from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. [source: City Hall press release] The University of Rochester (River Campus Map) will be hosting comedy improv troupe In Between the Lines (Drama House, University of Rochester Campus) at Drama House for a Habitat for Humanity benefit starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: In Between the Lines calendar] The Neanderthals, and super talented rock-and-roll with a 1960's/rockabilly slant from The Hirisers will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:45 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Tonight the Eastman Contemporary Percussion Ensemble will perform in Kilbourn Hall at Eastman Theatre (60 Gibbs St.) starting at 8 featuring guest soloists Dean Witten, and Ward Hartenstein, conductors John Beck and Douglas Perkins, and the music of Hartenstein, Beck, Varèse, Philidor, and Takemitsu. [source: Eastman School of Music calendar] Starting tonight at 6:30 p.m. and through May 16, Studio 789—The James Madison School of Excellence Photo Club Exhibition (student photography) will be on display at the Link Gallery at City Hall (30 Church St.). Tonight there is a special presentation of slides from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. [source: Genesee Center for the Arts calendar] Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, and the great funk-rock band Mountain Mojo Authority (click here to skip their annoying flash intro) will be at Star Bar (123 Liberty Pole Way, formerly Tilt and Velocity) starting around 9:30 p.m. Apparently they're trying out the live music thing. [source: JamBase calendar for Rochester] Pure Kona Poetry Open Mic Night is at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) tonight starting at 7:30. [source: Daily Perks calendar] Keyboardist and singer Roz from Bullwinkles Café (622 Lake Ave.) will be at Starry Nites (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) starting around 8 or so. [source: the proverbial grapevine]

F R I D A Y

Tonight and tomorrow at Downstairs Cabaret (172 West Main St.) is Nuts and Bolts Improv Troupe (see their site at ImprovAmerica too) starting around 8 p.m. [source: Nuts and Bolts e-mail] Abundance Cooperative Market (62 Marshall St.) will be having their Third Anniversary Celebration Art Show Opening and Reception featuring photographs from Steve Piper, Julie Gelfand, Ira Srole, and Marilyn Anderson tonight starting at 7 p.m. and running through the weekend. Additionally, Michael Warren Thomas will be broadcasting from the store tomorrow from 9 to noon. [source: Abundance Co-op calendar] Synaesthesia 1 will be at Rochester Visual Studies Workshop (31 Prince St.) starting at 8 p.m. featuring visual and aural avant garde work from Chad Hunter, Kelli Hicks, PETE, Moira Speer, Micah Pastore, Hilary Taillie, semi-melodic noise from Pengo, Brenden Steltz, XTLieRack, Evidence, and BelBivDeVoivod featuring Kenneth Tyrone of The Tyrones. [source: the proverbial grapevine] Rock-and-roll band The Earl Cram Revue will be opening for the Rochester Rocky Horror Picture Show at German House (315 Gregory St.) tonight starting around 8. [source: WITR calendar] Tonight at Fat Moe's (4419 Dewey Ave.) is modern rock and covers from Uncle Plum starting around 10 p.m. [source: Freetime]

S A T U R D A Y

O'Bagelo's, 165 State Street, noon. The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter starting at 8 p.m. I missed this last year because it correlated with my birthday and Bug Jar fest, but now I get a second chance—and director Lee Demarbre will be on hand to introduce it and answer questions. [source: Eastman House calendar] Over at The Penny Arcade (4785 Lake Ave.) starting around 9:45 p.m. is Rush cover band Spirit of Rush, and fun rock band Burning Snella. [source: band e-mail] Tonight at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is punk-rock from The Bloody Hollies, very good but pretty typical punk/punk-rock from The Bamboo Kids, and Pearlene starting around 10:45 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Over at Starry Nites (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) starting around 9 p.m. is Brad Yoder. [source: Freetime] Updated: Punchy contemporary rock-and-roll from The Wills Wilde, really tight punk-rock from 5 Watt Bulb, and great airy acoustic soloist, Kelli Hicks will be at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: the proverbial grapevine] Tonight at Curley's Saloon (511 E. Ridge Rd.) is disco and rock covers from The United Booty Foundation starting around 10 p.m. [source: Freetime] Alexander Street Pub (291 Alexander St.) will be hosting modern rock and covers from Better Days starting around 10 p.m. [source: Freetime]

T U E S D A Y

The Rochester Public Library (115 South Ave.) will be hosting another of their Books Sandwiched In in Gleason Auditorium from 12:12 p.m. to 12:52 p.m. Today's discussion will revolve around Cook Off: Recipe Fever in America by Amy Sutherland with WYSL 1040 AM radio host Michael Warren Thomas. [source: Rochester Public Library calendar] Mayor William A. Johnson, Jr. will be discussing the city budget shortfall tonight in the Celebration Center at Third Presbyterian Church (Meigs St. and East Ave.) from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. [source: City Hall press release] Write Woman Computer Products, Inc. (2320 Brighton Henrietta Townline Rd.) is auctioning off some of their office furniture and equipment today starting at 10 a.m. through The Reynolds Auction Company They're moving to a new location and need to clear out some space. [source: Reynold's Auction website] In what looks like a really cool show, RantMusic, and The Blam will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) 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

Tonight at Johnny's Irish Pub (1382 Culver Rd., still smoke-free) is Ciara Lynn starting around 8:30 p.m. [source: Johnny's Irish Pub calendar] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Amazon Women on the Moon starting at 8 p.m. Just a bunch of sketches done as television commercials on the late late movie. Remember late late movies? *sigh* This is the one with my favorite bit of sketch comedy, Son of the Invisible Man. [source: Eastman House calendar] At Montage Grille (50 Chestnut St.) tonight starting around 6:30 p.m. is another Big Drum: Songwriters in the Round featuring Kate Silverman with Bob Stephenson, Bonnie Abrams, Connie Deming, and Scott Shippers. [source: Freetime] 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] Poor People United meets tonight and every Wednesday at 7 at St. Joseph's House of Hospitality (402 South Ave.) [source: the proverbial grapevine]