Weekly Rochester Events #305: The French Settle for Mississippi

Thursday, November 11, 2004

So, I'll fall back on the old technique of writing about the week in review.

Last Friday I got out to George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) to go to the Celebration of Colorama which apparently excited all the TV stations enough to show up. The presentation was very cool ... I hadn't realized Kodak had a gigantic picture in Grand Central Terminal (E. 42nd St. & Park Ave., New York City) that they'd change every few weeks. The history fascinating — to me as a photographer, my interest was piqued by the optical enlarger they used to create the 10-foot by 30-foot images on film, albeit in a series of smaller strips that they spliced together. After that I went to The Community Darkroom at The Genesee Center for the Arts (713 Monroe Ave.) to see the opening of their Foundations show. Unfortunately, I really wasn't particularly inspired by any of the photographers' images, and I didn't even think I might be comparing to the images I had just seen. On a whim I stopped by Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) and stumbled upon their open mic acoustic show ... they stuck bongos in front of me, so I tried to keep a beat on songs that seemed right. Either I'm an amazing natural drummer that caught everyone off guard or I was so bad that nobody would comment on my lack of skills. I'm betting on the latter.

On Saturday night, I got out to see JoAnn Vaccaro perform at Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) She was also a participant last night (thus making it three days in a row she'd played in public.) (And I didn't ask about the bongos.) Anyway, the place was filled (in its present small size) with 15 or so people, mostly fans. I was glad she played my personal favorite song of hers, "My Memory," and held the entire place in rapt silence with it.

For an abrupt change in musical style, I went to Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) in time to just miss The Isotopes ... and, from what I could gather, an awesome performance. I did get to see The Blastoffs who also played my favorite of theirs — "Timebomb." They were followed by more excellent, wicked loud punk-rock from The Emersons.

The rest of the week I was trying to keep up on the website, and write all this crazy stuff for The High Falls Film Festival. I'm excited as hell this year, not only to go (which I have anticipated more in past years when I had a job to take a vacation from) but because I'm holding an authentic press pass in my hands. With some encouragement from friends around town (a.k.a. Karen and Dayna) I wrote to the festival to ask for a press kit on the merits of this very website. Hooray! Finally, a perk for 6 years work.

This year I decided to go through in detail and pick things out of interest. As in the past, the festival offers a bunch of overlapping programs and I just wish I could see them all. So, what I thought I'd do is list out the things I am really going to miss missing so I can see my top picks which I'll list in the daily events.

Anyway, early on Thursday night, I'll try to go to the Screenplay Live! event at Blackfriars Theatre (28 Lawn St.) so I'm going to miss two films that look really good. At 6:30 p.m. in back at The Little (240 East Ave.) is A Place of Our Own about black families who had vacations at Martha's Vineyard a generation ago, and the effects of racism on them. Pretty much concurrently at 7 p.m. is Kinsey at the Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) about the life of Alfred Kinsey, author of the book Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. I think this may make it to commercial release, so I should have another shot at seeing it.

Late on Thursday, I'm going to try and see Juvies at 9 p.m at The Little but I'd also like to go see Travellers and Magicians at 9:30 p.m. in back at The Little about a couple men — a university graduate and a student of magic — who embark on journeys to find a different life. I opted for the former since the director, Leslie Neale will be on hand to answer questions.

Early on Friday I'm probably going to see Lipstick & Dynamite, Piss & Vinegar: The First Ladies of Wrestling at The Little and pass up The Woodsman at 7 p.m. at the Dryden Theatre about a convicted child molester released from prison and trying to integrate himself back into society. Also showing is July '64 about the Rochester race riots of 1964 at 6:30 p.m. in the back at The Little but I had the chance to see it before, albeit on TV. Later on Friday evening at 9:30 p.m. I'm planning to see Jailbait at The Little and forsaking DiG! at 9:15 p.m. also at The Little, a documentary about 1990's post-punk bands The Dandy Warhols and Brian Jones Massacre.

Saturday gets even crazier, since there's stuff going on all day. First, around noon I'm going to try and get to M.C. Richards: The Fire Within at The Little at 11 a.m. since it'll wrap up and give me enough time to get to O'Bagelo's (165 State Street) — if a little late. The Documentary Panel at 11 a.m. at the Curtis Theatre of George Eastman House also looks interesting as documentary makers discuss the documentary in terms of its factual and subjective facets. Also starting at 11 a.m. is 20 Fingers in back at The Little about the daily lives of Iranian couples with an emphasis on the oppressive rules applied to women. At 12:45 p.m. in back at The Little is Brotherhood about New York City firefighters and the uniqueness of their daily lives during and after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Later in the afternoon, I'll probably still be at lunch at 1:45 p.m. and miss the Conversation with Joan Allen at the Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House. I'd like to try and make it out to see Still the Children Are Here in back at The Little at 3:30 p.m. then head over to the second Shorts Program in the same place at 5:15 p.m. This means I'm going to miss this year's Women of SoFA in back at The Little featuring [what looks to be an awesome set of] short films from RIT's School of Film and Animation students. I'll also miss Persons of Interest at 4:45 p.m. in the Dryden Theatre about people detained under suspicion of terrorism being denied due process, as well as Historias mínimas (Intimate Stories) in the front theater of The Little at 5:15 p.m. about three strangers making a journey from their small Argentine village to a larger town 200 miles away for various odd reasons.

Later that night I'm going to try and make it to the 7:15 p.m. show of Easy in the front theater at The Little then head over to the Gala Night Party at the ballroom at The Rochester Club (120 East Ave.) and maybe sneak out early to catch the Shorts Program #3 at the Dryden Theatre at 10:45 p.m. Of course, all this means I'll miss the closing night awards presentation and screening of Off the Map at the Dryden Theatre at 7 p.m. about a family who is scratching out a somewhat acceptable existence in a desolate locale until an IRS agent appears to collect unpaid taxes (er ... that is, he visits them to collect unpaid taxes, not that he creates the illusion thereof.)

Sunday offers a little relief. I think I'm going to try and get to Rolling at 11:00 a.m. in back at The Little. To do this I'm going to miss out on Heir to an Execution in the front at The Little at 10:30 a.m. about the filmmaker's grandparents being executed during the McCarthy Red Scare and why they were willing to die for their cause. From there I'd like to get to the Dryden Theatre at 12:30 to see A Conversation With Lois Smith, and forgo Arna's Children in the front of The Little at 1 p.m. about a theater group in Palestine for children traumatized by the loss of their friends and relatives in the Israeli/Palestine conflict.

Later that afternoon, I'd like to check out the Master Class with Jean-Louis Rodrigue in the Curtis Theatre at 2 p.m. I'm going to miss Another Road Home at 3:50 p.m. in back at The Little about the documentary maker's trip to be reunited with her Palestinian caretaker friend-of-the-family before she moved to the United States.

Of course, I never actually follow the plan ... there's always someone who suggests I should see one thing or another for really good reasons and I end up doing that instead.

Oh yeah ... by the way, here's all the festival events listed in a tab-delimited file that shouldn't be too hard to import into a datebook or handheld ... I saved it with both Macintosh and Microsoft newline formats.

T H U R S D A Y

Veteran's Day The Bertrand Russell Society will be at Verb Café at Writers and Books (740 University Ave.) tonight at 7 p.m. where Alan Bock will discuss Russell's Why I am Not a Christian. [source: Writers and Books calendar] This evening at 6:30 p.m., Abundance Cooperative Market (62 Marshall St.) and Peacework Farm will be having a Potato Tasting featuring 11 potato varieties. [source: Abundance Co-op calendar] This evening's festivities for The High Falls Film Festival include: 11 a.m: "Coffee With ..." Panel Discussion with Filmmakers at Crowne Plaza (70 State St.) [Ok, so this one isn't evening.] 6 p.m.: Local actors will perform a Screenplay Live! at Blackfriars Theatre (28 Lawn St.) ... specifically, Kelsey Simons' In the Lives of Brothers about a salt miner caring for his mentally disabled brother. 9 p.m: in back at The Little (240 East Ave.) is Juvies about the harsh punishments delivered to juveniles tried as adults and the resulting fracturing of their families. [source: High Falls Film Festival website] The International Socialist Organization will host a discussion titled How Did Bush Win the Election? in Room Clarke A upstairs in the student union at RIT (One Lomb Memorial Dr., campus map image) tonight at 7:30 p.m. [source: the proverbial grapevine] The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting The Old Canes, Chin Up Chin Up, and rock/emo synth-pop band Healthcare starting around 9 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Pure Kona Poetry Open Mic Night is at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) tonight starting at 7:30. [source: Daily Perks calendar] Tonight at Murph's Irondequoit Pub (705 Titus Ave., formerly Irondequoit Town Lounge, next to the House of Guitars) is an Open Mic hosted by the talented acoustic soloist JoAnn Vaccaro starting around 8 p.m. [source: band e-mail]

F R I D A Y

Third Estate will be at The Club at Water Street (204 N. Water St.) starting around 8 p.m. [source: Water Street calendar] Tonight at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is The Lobster Quadrille starting around 7 p.m. for the happy hour acoustic show. [source: Rochester Music Coalition calendar] Friday's The High Falls Film Festival activities include: 11 a.m: "Coffee With ..." Panel Discussion with Filmmakers at Crowne Plaza (70 State St.) 7 p.m.: Lipstick & Dynamite, Piss & Vinegar: The First Ladies of Wrestling in the front at The Little (240 East Ave.) about, well, the early days of female wrestling. 9:30 p.m: Jailbait in back at The Little (240 East Ave.) about a young thief who's imprisoned for 24 years and becomes the target of prison rapists. [source: High Falls Film Festival website] Tonight at Paradigm Café (3118 E. Henrietta Rd., formerly Blue Sunday) is "feel good jazz, pop, and soul" from Eric Crittenden, with concert visuals by Jeff Garbaz starting around 9 p.m. [source: Paradigm Cafe calendar] Over at The Clarissa Room (293 Clarissa St., formerly Shep's Paradise) starting around 9:30 p.m. is Mark Cassara [source: Freetime]

S A T U R D A Y

O'Bagelo's, 165 State Street, noon. The Reynolds Auction Company will be hosting another Surplus Vehicle Auction at The City Surplus Yard (210 Colfax St.) this morning starting at 9 a.m. (preview at 8 a.m.) [source: Reynold's Auction website] Saturday's The High Falls Film Festival activities include: 11:00 a.m: M.C. Richards: The Fire Within is playing in the front theater at The Little (240 East Ave.) about the life of M.C. Richards, a woman who helped provide the groundwork for the new age movement in art and in life. 3:30 p.m: Still the Children Are Here is in back at The Little and is a documentary about the Garo families in Sadolpara and their day-to-day lives. 5:15 p.m: the Shorts Program #2 will also be in back at The Little and will feature such shorts as For Gracie about a trio of elderly people who steal from yard sales and pawn their loot to pay for their friend's funeral, and The Last Full Measure about a 9-year-old facing her fears as her father returns from war. 7:15 p.m: Easy will be in the front theater at The Little about a young woman looking for a lasting relationship who is suddenly presented with two suitors. 9:30 p.m: The Gala Night Party will be at the ballroom at The Rochester Club (120 East Ave.) 10:45 p.m: Shorts Program #3 will be at the Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) and includes films such as A Woman Reported about a woman imagining escape in the moments before a hate crime and Internal Turmoil of the Plastic Kind about a couple aging starlets discussing their lives as their beauty fades. [source: High Falls Film Festival website] Tonight at 7 p.m. at The Rochester Visual Studies Workshop (31 Prince St.) is an Opening Reception for two MFA thesis shows: photographs in Dan Christmann's Blind Shots and audio and video in Liz Richards' Trans Parent. [source: Visual Studies Workshop e-mail] Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. is awesome punk-rock band The QUiTTERS, The White Devils, and 4-piece punk-rock/power-rock band The Scarlets. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Over at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que (99 Court St.) starting around 10 p.m. is "reggae, ska, R&B, soul, groove, dance hall style" band The Hotsteppers. [source: Dinosaur Bar-B-Que calendar] Paradigm Café (3118 E. Henrietta Rd., formerly Blue Sunday) will be hosting good acoustic soloist Gregory Paul starting around 9 p.m. [source: Paradigm Cafe calendar] Really good punchy punk-rock from 5 Watt Bulb, and very tight modern rock band Veluxe will be at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: band calendar]

S U N D A Y

This afternoon at 2 p.m. is the closing performance of George Bernard Shaw's John Bull's Other Island at Geva (75 Woodbury Blvd.) [source: Geva Theatre website] Barbara Fox's New Work closes tonight at The Rochester Contemporary Art Gallery (137 East Ave.) [source: Rochester Contemporary e-mail] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Bewogen koper (Brass Unbound) starting at 5 p.m. A documentary filmmaker travels around the world to see how other cultures use traditional European brass instruments. [source: Eastman House calendar] This afternoon at Water Street Music Hall (204 N. Water St.) is The 8th Annual Blues for the Birds Benefit Concert for The Braddock Bay Bird Observatory (Braddock Bay State Pkwy., off the Lake Ontario State Parkway at East Manitou Rd.) starting at 2 p.m. and featuring Joe Beard, Julie and the Intruders, Chris Beard, Fred Vine, Texas Son, Billy Joe and Rockin' Red, Billy B. and the Rhythm and Blues All Stars, Dan Schmitt and the Shadows, The John Cole Blues Band, Blue Thunder, The Mud Kings, The Electrokings, Mary Haitz Band, Keith Harden, The Dynamics, The Rhythm Junkies, The Blue Express, The Beale Street Blues Band, Steve Grills, and students from The Jammers School of Music. [source: Water Street calendar] The High Falls Film Festival mostly wraps up today with: 11:00 a.m: Rolling will be shown in back at The Little. about the daily lives of people in wheelchairs. 12:30 p.m: A Conversation With Lois Smith, will take place at the Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) A publicist in Hollywood, she's among the best. 2 p.m: Master Class with Jean-Louis Rodrigue will be in the Curtis Theatre. Rodrigue is a choreographer and movement specialist who teaches the Alexander Technique of relaxation through movement. 6 p.m: Dorian Blues will be shown in back at The Little and is about a closeted homosexual young man who realizes his sexuality but is not comfortable coming out. [source: High Falls Film Festival website] Today is the start of the The Polish Film Festival at The Little (240 East Ave.). [source: Little Theatre calendar] The Pleasure Club, Tungsten 74, The Mini Band, L'Dorado, and good power-ish rock band Seven Head Division will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 9 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] This afternoon at 3 p.m. at The Conservatory at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be a Holiday Musicale featuring "Mr. Eastman's favorite classical music played on the original Aeolian pipe organ." [source: Eastman House calendar]

M O N D A Y

Tonight at Verb Café at Writers and Books (740 University Ave.) at 7 p.m. is another Reading & Open Mike from The Just Poets. [source: Writers and Books calendar] From 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) is Holistic Nite featuring Dr. Joe Powers of Soul Graffiti at the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School (1100 South Goodman St., in Strong Hall) presenting Understanding the 'Dark' Side. [source: Starry Nites calendar] Updated: Tonight they'll be showing The High Falls Film Festival's Audience Award Winners at The Little (240 East Ave.) The winning feature film, Dear Frankie will be shown at 7 p.m. and is about a divorced mother who creates a fictional father for her son to replace his real, abusive father. The winning documentary, Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids about a photographer who goes to Calcutta's to document the conditions in brothels, but finds that she wishes to help the children (who would otherwise take their mothers' business) by teaching them photography will be shown at 9:30 p.m. [source: High Falls Film Festival website] Tonight at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is Weedeater, and Jumbo's Killcrane starting around 9 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar]

T U E S D A Y

Tonight at Verb Café at Writers and Books (740 University Ave.) at 7:30 p.m. is another Genesee Reading Series. [source: Writers and Books calendar] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be presenting Pioneers of Animation starting at 8 p.m. Former Rochester accordian/bow-played musical saw duo Dreamland Faces will provide musical accompaniment to Scaling the Alps, Domestic Difficulties, Weary Willies, Trapped, The Breath of a Nation, Felix the Cat Flirts With Fate, Felix the Cat Trips Thru Toyland, Priscilla and the Pesky Fly, The Old Family Toothbrush, and Bobby Bumps and His Goatmobile. [source: Eastman House calendar] The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting God or Julie, excellent 1980's-perfect-rock-style band Tiger Cried Beef, and The Grievants starting around 10:45 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Really good blues-charged rock-and-roll/groove-rock from Buford and the Smoking Section will be at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que (99 Court St.) starting around 10 p.m. [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

University of Rochester Medical Center (1411 Mt. Hope Ave., formerly Wegmans) will be having a Surplus Property Sale today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. [source: the proverbial grapevine] Over at Verb Café at Writers and Books (740 University Ave.) tonight at 7 p.m. is another 2000 Word Club Open Mike. [source: Writers and Books calendar] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Alleman (The Human Dutch) starting at 8 p.m. Just a documentary about daily life in Holland. (I wanted so badly to use the word "ethnographic" just like the Dryden calendar but found I didn't need it.) [source: Eastman House 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] 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]