Weekly Rochester Events #336: It's "North That Will Borrow." Enunciate, You Hick.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

First off, I didn't make it. I couldn't pull off getting the The Bike With 2 Brains together for the ARTWalk (University Ave. from Atlantic to Merriman) Muse-a-Thon on Saturday morning. See, it was supposed to be Tuesday night last week that I was going to finish up the frame, but as the completion time slipped from 4 p.m. to 5 to 6:30, I realized I wasn't going to get to Austin-Spencer Collision (2433 Brighton-Henrietta Townline Rd.) until Wednesday morning.

Compounding the problem, they underestimated the amount of time to hit all the odd angles and facets of the frame (i.e. way different from the big, flat car-body-panels they're used to) so come Friday afternoon, they were still painting at the end of the day. One of the owners was coming in on Saturday when they're ordinarily closed and he called me around 9 a.m., but by then I realized I'd never finish by the end of the ARTWalk (University Ave. from Atlantic to Merriman) event at noon, much less be there for the beginning. I gave up and said I'd let the parts dry some more and get them on Monday.

Despite this, the rest of the week was sort-of light on shows. Thursday I got to see Mikabomb do their really good, high-energy pop-punk-rock at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) On Saturday I was there again, and the highlight was the chaotic stage antics that went along with the good high-energy classic-style punk of Destrux.

With the rush to get the bike project gone, I spent Sunday doing nothing. Well, goofing off anyway. I bought one of those mini-refrigerators at a garage sale a few weeks back. I'm going to use the Peltier cooling system for a personal air conditioner, but I messed around with converting the refrigerator itself into a portable mixer/amplifier setup. Nothing like having spare parts lying around. So I guess that's not "nothing," right?

Anyway, I got the bike parts on Monday morning — it's now a navy blue color (in its synthesized state — so orange it is, then. All right.) It took about 15 minutes or so to get all the masking tape off things and to touch up the spots on the eyes that got sprayed-through. Worse, though, was that it took almost 2 hours to get the front wheels reassembled and trued. If I had attempted this on Saturday, starting at 9:30 when I would have returned with all the parts, it would have been 11:45 by the time I finished just that stuff, and the event ended at noon. I feel somewhat vindicated, but it's too bad I couldn't make it. There'll be a next time to bring this out again. In the mean time, I might just get the website updated with all this stuff.

I did want to get back to that "respect" idea I was talking about last week. [Also, I think I'm going to largely drop the technique of trying to integrate the essay into the week's events — I'll save it for when it obviously will work, not forcing it in every time.]

It hit me the other day when I was riding the tall bike around. (No, not a bird, but congratulations on following the references.)

I passed a house on South Avenue where a bunch of people were hanging out on the porch. A girl said, "wow, that's a big bike." Then some guy said, "that bike is huge," doing his best Tiny Elvis impression. Another guy piped up and asked, "what is the purpose of being up that high?" and I (having had some practice giving quick answers to people due to the bike) took a split second to reply with, "... so people will yell at me."

But enough bragging. Later on I was hollered at with, "pop a wheelie!" I didn't have a witty retort at the time, but I realized later that I really hate having orders barked at me: it's disrespectful.

And it's this kind of "respect" that I'm talking about. Don't bark orders at me ... I mean, you might as well yell out "A-button! A-button!" to dehumanize the situation even further. I'm beginning to think "respect" is just the unspoken introduction, "I respect that you are a person with your own projects, needs, and problems, but may I ask, ..." before making a request. (For those who have problems with "people not doing their jobs," or "not being helpful," try chewing through that before you utter your first word to another human being.)

I blame our consumer culture, and especially the nature of large corporate retail stores and restaurants [ok, who's surprised by that?] The gist there is that you can order people around — the workers there are essentially slaves at your beck-and-call and no longer people to whom one makes requests. I mean, what ever happened to asking for something? Many people go into McDonalds and demand, "give me a Big Mac." While I think the "may I have ..." or "would you ..." is unnecessarily formal, I keep the sentiment that I'm making a request with something like, "could I get ..." or "I'd like ..."

I'm pretty sure we're screwed, though.

T H U R S D A Y

This afternoon starting at 5:30 p.m. is a tour of the East Avenue area, Rochester's "Grand Boulevard" conducted by Cynthia Howk, Architectural Research Coordinator for The Landmark Society of Western New York and starting at Chapel Hill Apartments (8-10 Prince St., formerly the Academy of the Sacred Heart.) Bring a picnic dinner for later. [source: Rochester Genealogical Society website] Tonight at Park and Berkeley St. (online map) is The Vedas starting around 6:30 p.m. [source: WBER calendar] [all ages] Johnny's Irish Pub (1382 Culver Rd., still smoke-free) will be hosting Jenny Curran starting around 8 p.m. [source: Johnny's Irish Pub calendar] Tonight's Party in the Park at The High Falls Festival Site (Browns Race and Commercial St.) starting around 5:30 p.m. features Kelly Hunt with Joe Beard and The White Devils. [source: GaragePop Records website] Today is the last day to see Gifts from the Creator: Native American Traditional Arts at The Gallery at the Arts and Cultural Council for Greater Rochester (277 N. Goodman St.) [source: Arts and Cultural Council e-mail] Pure Kona Poetry Open Mic Night is at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) tonight starting at 7:30. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages]

F R I D A Y

Today from 12:15 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. The Landmark Society of Western New York (133 S. Fitzhugh St.) is having a free tour of Grove Place (map) starting at Eastman Place (387 Main St. E.) [source: Landmark Society calendar] Larry Sugarman, and great guitarist and singer Kinloch Nelson will be at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) starting around 8 p.m. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] Tonight at 10:30 p.m. and tomorrow at 11:30 p.m. at Nextstage at Geva (75 Woodbury Blvd.) is Geva Comedy Improv. [source: Geva Theatre website] Tonight at Spy Bar and Grill (139 State St.) is power-pop/rock-and-roll band The Earl Cram Revue starting around 10 p.m. for their CD release party. [source: the proverbial grapevine] Starting tonight at Shipping Dock Theatre (31 Prince St., new location at Visual Studies Workshop) is a new play titled It's All True about Orson Welles' difficulty making The Cradle Will Rock. Showtimes are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. The play runs until July 10. [source: Shipping Dock Theatre mailing] Updated: Tonight at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) is power-pop/ambient band Hinkley with subtle acoustic soloist Owen Brimijoin and The Missing Planes starting around 10:30. [source: band e-mail] [21+]

S A T U R D A Y

O'Bagelo's (165 State Street), noon. Today from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. is the Maplewood Rose Festival at The Maplewood Rose Garden (Driving Park and Lake Ave.) [source: City Hall press release] [all ages] This morning from 10 a.m. to noon at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) is their Upstairs Downstairs Tour where Eastman House members can check out the areas of the house ordinarily off-limits to visitors. [source: Eastman House e-mail] Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:45 p.m. is really good punk-rock/fast-rock/surf-rock band Angel, Dust & Hoffman, The Clockers, and fun, good punk-rock band The Flour City Knuckleheads. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Tonight at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) is Songwriters in the Round featuring witty, accomplished acoustic soloist Brian Coughlin, excellent acoustic soloist Maria Gillard, and Alan Whitney starting around 10:45 p.m. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) will be hosting Robin Hood starting around 9 p.m. [source: Starry Nites calendar] [all ages] Tonight starting around 9 p.m. is an A|V Art Sound Space (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St., formerly The All-Purpose Room) benefit show titled UNNNNNNN featuring "a night of unknowns." [source: artsound website] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Control starting at 8 p.m. Director Tim Hunter will be on hand to introduce and discuss his film about a violent convict who is put on an experimental agression-reducing medicine then released into society. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Don't forget about Betty's Sing-Along at Betty Meyer's Bullwinkle Café (622 Lake Ave.) tonight starting around 9 — rumor has it some of the jazz pros made their way there last weekend for some fun-filled jams ... a good time no matter what, though. [source: the proverbial grapevine] Updated: High-energy rock band Bee Eater, Arson Ember, and good medium-tempo, high-distortion rock band The Black Arrows will be at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) tonight starting around 10:30. [source: band e-mail]

T U E S D A Y

Tonight is another Tuesday Nature Nights Guided Bike Ride from 6:15 p.m. to 8 p.m. of the University of Rochester Neighborhood starting at the corner of Library Road near Fauver Stadium at The University of Rochester (Wilson Blvd. at Library Rd., #42 on River Campus Map.) Kimya Dawson, nicely poetic electric guitarist (as "Wolf Colonel," at least) Jason Anderson, and Strand of Oaks will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 9:30 p.m. In case the name sounds familiar, Radio8Ball picked Kimya's track, "Lullaby for the Taken" when I tuned in in late December of last year and asked if I should go back to Burning Man in 2005. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] Over at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que (99 Court St.) starting around 10 p.m. is really good blues-charged rock-and-roll 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] [all ages]

W E D N E S D A Y

The Rochester IEEE Signal Processing Society will be sponsoring a lecture at The Center for Optics Manufacturing (240 E. River Rd.) from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the topic of Halftone-Based Digital Watermarks by Dr. Shen-ge Wang of Xerox Labs. RSVP on the website if you're interested. [source: the proverbial grapevine] Tonight at 8 p.m. at The Bop Shop (274 N. Goodman St., in Village Gate Square) is the musical trio of Steve Rush, Tom Abbs, and Geoff Mann. [source: Bop Shop calendar] [all ages] Tonight at Acme Bar & Pizza (495 Monroe Ave.) is excellent blues-influenced rock band Gionie Clash starting around 9 p.m. [source: band e-mail] 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] [all ages] Tonight at The Club at Water Street (204 N. Water St.) is another Open Mic Wenzdaze with Acoustic Café from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and then Rock-n-Roll Circus starting at 9 p.m. [source: Water Street calendar]