Weekly Rochester Events #292: What's an Editor to Do?

Thursday, August 12, 2004

• How did things go?
• Did you have a good time?
• Are you dating?
• Are you not dating?
• Are you friends?
• Will you see her again?

• I don't know.

Har har ... really, though I guess things are going well, but the we're still in the process of trying to figure out what kind of relationship we're going to have, if any. It seems rather sterile to talk about, but much more messy and rewarding to actually do it.

Of course, now that I'm actually blogging (ergo by putting up personal information about my daily life) I should mention again that this page isn't a blog. I note it especially because this site was mentioned in a Democrat and Chronicle article about a site run by Jason Wilder, a guy in Ogden, that is an MP3 blog. It's called Mystery and Misery and I think it would be described better as a post-magazine-era music review site. Whereas a traditional magazine would be published on a specific schedule, Wilder adds articles ad hoc on an ongoing basis; plus he offers samples of music from the bands he reviews due to the linkable nature of the web.

Speaking of the single corporate newspaper we have in town, I've also been pondering what makes corporations go bad. (And, just now, thinking about how great a "reality" TV show that would be.) I started from a point of liking some companies and not liking others — based on how they behave in the world. I couldn't bring myself to condemn all corporations because many of them provide valuable services (or at least useful or wanted services) to mankind. However, even ones that provide a useful service do so in such a way that the overall value of their existence can be called into question.

I needed some other benchmark upon which to decide. Mind you, it won't be long before the movie The Corporation will be showing at The Little (240 East Ave.) in which the filmmakers attempt to psychoanalyze a corporation and ultimately conclude — if I remember correctly — that its behavior is psychopathic. In one way, the problem is that a corporation has no soul, feelings, empathy, or morality built into it. In theory, any company would gain those things from the people who are employed by it, but in practice it seems that people are willing to allow instructions from their boss to override their own better judgment.

I believe the problem is simply that it is very easy for a corporation to become "evil" if it has no human leader. In publicly-held companies, there is no human leader but board of directors who are charged with the task of doing whatever is best for the stockholders. Unfortunately, the desires of the stockholders are easy to oversimplify — it is easy to say that the only thing stockholders want is for the value of their stock to increase — and I think it's through this trap that corporations turn evil.

I haven't really thought much about a solution except that I'd like to see the legal power of a corporation reduced or eliminated. If there is a person or group of people who both have the power to influence change within a company and who take responsibility for the actions of the company, only then should a company be granted preferential treatment in the eyes of the law.

However, this theory isn't done baking yet, so I'll have to wait to see if I can come up with a way to more accurately explain exactly what "evil" behavior is and then to determine what causes it.

F R I D A Y

Tonight at Montage Grille (50 Chestnut St.) is Dr. Demento starting around 8:30 p.m. with a show of novelty music and videos. [source: Montage e-mail] Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) will be hosting wild spoken-word artists Urknee and Bjürton, aRFK, and great jazz-influenced jamming from The Blood and Bone Orchestra starting around 8 p.m. [source: WITR calendar] Irondequoit Town Hall (1280 Titus Ave.) will be hosting Burning Snella starting around 7 p.m. at the gazebo. [source: band e-mail] Over at Water Street Music Hall (204 N. Water St.) starting around 9:30 p.m. is a House of Hellfira presentation of The Scary Monsters, The Unfed, NI-25, and Levinhurst along with DJ's Darkwave, Cyberstorm, and Dangler. [source: Water Street calendar]

S A T U R D A Y

O'Bagelo's, 165 State Street, noon. If you're a member of George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) be sure to stop by to take part in their Upstairs Downstairs Tour of all the stuff that Eastman House does starting at 10 a.m. [source: Eastman House calendar] Today starting around 11 a.m. is another Carifest downtown featuring Caribbean everything. [source: Freetime] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Cavale (Trilogy 1: On the Run) starting at 12:30 p.m. followed by Un couple épatant (Trilogy 2: An Amazing Couple) at 3 p.m. then Après la vie (Trilogy 3: After Life) at 5 p.m. The first follows a terrorist and the guy who ratted him out, the second is about a paranoid hypocondriac whose secrecy about his ailments cause his wife to hire a private investigator, and the third explores how a guy is blackmailed into ratting out the terrorist in the first. Alternatively, you can watch the three films on the successive evenings of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 8 p.m. [source: Eastman House calendar] Tonight at The Rochester Visual Studies Workshop (31 Prince St.) is Home Movie Day starting around 7 p.m. (if you've got your own home movies, bring them by around 6 for review.) [source: Visual Studies Workshop e-mail] Today is another Bike Ride at High Falls from 10:30 a.m. to noon at The High Falls Gorge (Pont De Rennes Bridge.) The ride is designed to be relatively easy ... 10 miles or less along the Genesee Riverway Trail and on-road into the community. [source: City Hall press release] The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting The Texas Terri Bomb, The Midnight Creeps, and tight punk-rock from 5 Watt Bulb starting around 10:45 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting high-power rock from Bee Eater, tight modern rock from Veluxe, and heartfelt power rock from Blue Spark and Flame (now as a three-piece band) starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Monty's Krown calendar] Marcie, The Last American Virgins, and Mad Sumo will be at The Club at Water Street (204 N. Water St.) starting around 10 p.m. [source: Water Street calendar]

S U N D A Y

Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) in an early show starting around 3:30 p.m. is Bad Business, Marathon, The Break, Witness, and Thieves Auction. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Tonight at artsound (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St., formerly The All-Purpose Room) is another Rochester Indymedia screening starting around 3 p.m. and including footage from the Democratic National Convention. [source: artsound website] The Crimson Ghosts, The Phantom Creeps, and "clean" death-metal from The Nocturnal will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:45 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Irene Moon, The Three-Legged Race, and semi-chaotic rock from Nod will be at artsound (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St., formerly The All-Purpose Room) starting around 9 p.m. [source: artsound website]

T U E S D A Y

Tonight is another "Trees In Our Neighborhoods" Walks starting at the gazebo in Mt. Hope Cemetery (North Gate, 791 Mt. Hope Ave.) at 6:15 p.m. [source: City Hall press release] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Gunn starting at 8 p.m. Remember Peter Gunn on TV? I didn't think so. This is the movie adaptation that came out afterward and has never been available on video. [source: Eastman House calendar] Tonight at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is really good rock/synth-pop from Crime and Judy, punchy power punk-rock with Devo and rap influences from The Slats, and Autumn In Halifax starting around 10:45 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Over at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que (99 Court St.) starting around 10 p.m. is blues-charged rock-and-roll/groove-rock from Buford and the Smoking Section [source: Dinosaur Bar-B-Que 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 Starry Nites (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) is light bluesy jazz instrumental band The Lumiere Gypsy Jazz Trio starting around 8 p.m. [source: Freetime] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing The Lineup starting at 8 p.m. This film noir film takes place entirely in daytime San Fransisco, providing not only a good amount of film entertainment, but also a view into the city's life in the 1950's. [source: Eastman House calendar] Over at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10 p.m. is The Teenage Harlets. [source: GaragePop Records website] Poor People United meets tonight and every Wednesday at 7 at St. Joseph's House of Hospitality (402 South Ave.) [source: the proverbial grapevine] 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]