Weekly Rochester Events #339: Years Since London Really Sucked

Thursday, July 7, 2005

That night, everything was eerily quiet around town ... almost everything was closed. I was just looking for some pasta-and-cheese style comfort food. I ended up at Veneto Woodfired Pizza and Pasta (330 East Ave.) and had a great farfalle ("butterfly" pasta) and prosciutto (ham) alfredo (macaroni-and-cheese). Even that was quiet for a Saturday, but it was nice to have the option of using the diner-style bar. Later on I went to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) I caught Hinkley again who I typically describe as a cross between ambient and power-pop — an odd qualification that I still think works. Next, I saw Kill Myself on Monday again who I typically describe as "complex, hard-hitting, mid-tempo rock with a bit of chaos-rock" but this time I added a note that they're "slightly off-balance rock." Unfortunately, I'm not some Gaylord with The Knack for comparing to other bands Anytime In July, so I really can't make one of those "three-band-lists" that vaguely identify some comparable sound to the one other person in the world who knows all the bands.

Unfortunately, I hit a point of total exhaustion and simply could not stay awake long enough to see Gregory Paul. I keep meaning to see him solo since I kinda didn't like his style last time. Oh well ... maybe next time.

On the way out I saw one of those "driving billboards" and it dawned on me that people should have balloons filled with paint — I mean, who doesn't have a bucket of mystery paint in their basement? See, in the same manner that the billboard companies circumvent the law of putting up billboards by driving them around, people who despise them can chuck paint at them, and (assuming some police officer isn't right there) the company will have no way of identifying a location from which the billboard was vandalized and will have no way to prosecute. At some point it will become cost-prohibitive to keep cleaning and replacing the billboards to keep driving them around.

Unfortunately, I can't join you all in this effort. I assume you know it's very illegal to wreck someone else's property. Very.

Anyway, I had the most bittersweet Independence Day in a long time. The short version is that Jan, an old college friend and his wife Shannon are moving away, and while it's just to New Hampshire, in the last 15 years I can only remember one time when we've been away from one another for more than a month ... so this next month will be a bit weird ... the next month after that too. However the picnic at my house went well. We had a cookout and got to play on The Bike With 2 Brains and I got to show off all my toys and stuff. Oh, and we broke The Bike With 2 Brains — I climbed on the back while Jan and Todd drove ... in the process, we bent one of the forks on the back end. Later, Jan and I spied some mysterious dog poop in the lawn (and I don't have a dog ... I sure hope it was canine-sourced) and serendipitously (I sure hope it was serendipitously) finished-off the formerly bent fork: one side of the bolted axle got free, and the other side of the fork took the brunt of the force, bending both the fork and the axle.

Thankfully I can just build a new fork — better, faster, and stronger — right now I have access to spare parts and a welder. By the way, I just upgraded to MIG. That is, I have this Hobart "Handler" 135 Welder and I just recently ran out of flux-core wire and promised myself that I'd buy the parts to upgrate to metal/inert-gas (MIG) welding. In case you're wondering, flux-core welding is a bit more forgiving but messy. I think it's because there's less metal for a given diameter, so you can take your time and keep heating the material being welded without adding much wire ... and it's really messy and sputters little balls of iron-composite beads all over. MIG is almost sputter-free, but the solid wire tends to dump tons of material onto the substrate, so you have to move along pretty fast if you want to get a nice clean bead. Either that, or you can just glob on steel scar tissue all over like I have been doing.

But as for the picnic stuff, we had our requisite hamburgers, "hots," and watermellon. Oh, and also some of the most evil and tasty southern cooking: essentially, Krispy Kreme bread pudding à la mode drizzled with rum butter-creme sauce. Oh yeah, plus booze all around. Plus fireworks.

On Tuesday I ate too many left-over hot-dogs — I'll be damned to throw perfectly good food away!

Wednesday morning on WROC Channel 8 they "reported" that there has been a surge in road-bike sales due to fanaticism about Lance Armstrong. Fuck no: it's a reaction to the fact that Monroe County banned bicycles in all parks ... what was it ... 10 years ago? People are just desperate to get exercise, and they're finding that bicycling is a great way to do it, but they can't use the parks anymore. Stupid media!

T H U R S D A Y

Stealing Roses will be at Java's (16 Gibbs St.) starting around 8 p.m. [source: Java's calendar] [all ages] Tonight at Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) is Deejay Tribe starting around 8 p.m. [source: Starry Nites calendar] [all ages] Tonight's Party in the Park at The High Falls Festival Site (Browns Race and Commercial St.) starting around 5:30 p.m. features The Marshall Tucker Band with Omar and the Howlers. [source: City Hall press release] [all ages] Great classic-punk-sounding band The Groovie Ghoulies, Chixdiggit, The Teenage Bottle Rockets, and The Teenage Harlets will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] A|V Art Sound Space (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St., formerly The All-Purpose Room) will be hosting Warmer Milks, semi-melodic fast-paced noise from Pengo, and ambient/power-pop from Hinkley starting around 9 p.m. [source: artsound website] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Baby Face starting at 8 p.m. This is the pre-code "uncut" version restored from the The Library of Congress (1st and Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC) ... in it, a woman fucks her way to the top. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Pure Kona Poetry Open Mic Night is at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) tonight starting at 7:30. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] Tonight, Friday night, and Saturday night at 9:30 p.m. is the River of Light laser show at The High Falls Gorge (Pont De Rennes Bridge.) [source: City Hall press release] [all ages]

F R I D A Y

Tonight and tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 4:30 p.m., Bush Mango Drum & Dance (34 Elton St.) will be performing Night of the Drum 2005. [source: Bush Mango website] Really good reggae band Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad will be at East End Fest (East Ave., near Scio and Richmond St. near Main St.) on the Scio St. stage starting around 6 p.m. [source: JamBase calendar for Rochester] Starting around 5, the stage at Richmond's (21 Richmond St.) in the East End Fest (East Ave., near Scio and Richmond St. near Main St.) will have rock-and-roll from The Grinders, awesome punk-rock from The QUiTTERS, amazingly good punk-rock from The Blastoffs, science-geek-oriented show with some great surf-rock from The Isotopes, really good fast rock from The Franks, good punk-rock from The Staggers, and after the outdoor stage closes, awesome, tight, complex rock-and-roll from The VEiNS will be inside. [source: GaragePop Records website] The Hill Cumorah Pageant (Hill Cumorah, Palmyra, N.Y.) starts tonight and runs through next Saturday, every day except Sunday and Monday at 9 p.m. [source: Hill Cumorah website] Seemingly impossibly, rock-and-roll from The Grinders will be at Spy Bar and Grill (139 State St.) starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: the proverbial grapevine] Over at Elixir (938 South Clinton Ave.) starting around 10 p.m. is Mrs. Skannotto. [source: JamBase calendar for Rochester] Over at Brü Brewery and Restaurant (300 State St., formerly Empire Brewing) starting around 10 p.m. is wicked fun percussive groove-rock from The BuddhaHood. [source: Freetime] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing La gueule ouverte (A Mouth Agape) starting at 8 p.m. While the meaning of life may be fun, the meaning of death is a bit more somber. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages]

S A T U R D A Y

O'Bagelo's, 165 State Street, noon. Today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. is the The Corn Hill Arts Festival in the Corn Hill Neighborhood. [source: Freetime] [all ages] Over at ARTWalk (University Ave. from Atlantic to Merriman) starting around 2 p.m. is some live music ... at Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) is Southshore, at Writers and Books (740 University Ave.) is Charm and Kaution, and at Craft Company No. 6 (785 University Ave.), is Allen Hopkins. [source: ARTWalk e-mail] [all ages] Over at A|V Art Sound Space (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St., formerly The All-Purpose Room) starting around 7 p.m. is the opening for the art of Mike Twohig which will be on display until July 24. [source: artsound website] The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting great rock-and-roll from The VEiNS, The Dollywatchers, 1960's style rock from St. Phillip's Escalator, and The Flies starting around 10:45 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Burning Daylight, Gregory Paul, and The Corrections will be at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Freetime] [21+] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire) starting at 8 p.m. An angel is tempted to earth by the small pleasures of life. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Tonight's another Betty's Sing-a-Long at Betty Meyer's Bullwinkle Café (622 Lake Ave.) starting around 10.

S U N D A Y

This afternoon at 2 p.m. at Shipping Dock Theatre (31 Prince St., new location at Visual Studies Workshop) is the last chance to see It's All True. [source: Shipping Dock Theatre mailing] Meredith Bragg, excellent, mellow, digitally-looped acoustic from Autumn In Halifax, and experimental, organic jazz from The Blood and Bone Orchestra (although I think they're going by "The Years" now) will be at A|V Art Sound Space (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St., formerly The All-Purpose Room) starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: artsound website] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing The Mouse That Roared starting at 8 p.m. The Duchy of Grand Fenwick attacks the United States in an attempt to lose. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) is hosting their weekly Open Mike Poetry tonight at 7 p.m. [source: Starry Nites calendar] [all ages] Today from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. is another Community Garage Sale at The Rochester Public Market (280 Union St. N.) [source: City Hall press release]

M O N D A Y

Today is the 7th annual Cycling the Erie Canal bicycle tour sponsored by Parks and Trails NY. There will be an afternoon rest-stop from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at The Genesee Waterways Center (149 Elmwood Ave., in Genesee Valley Park.) [source: City Hall press release] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be having another installment of Surprise Cinema starting at 8 p.m. where they'll show some unique or rare film ... something for the cinephiles out there — plus, it's free to Eastman House members. [source: Eastman House calendar]

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 High Falls Neighborhood beginning at The High Falls Gorge (Pont De Rennes Bridge.) [source: City Hall press release] [all ages] Tonight at Java's (16 Gibbs St.) is Kalen Ridly starting around 8:30 p.m. [source: Java's calendar] [all ages] 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

Today from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at Aqueduct Park (Main Street by the river) is another of the Noontime Concerts featuring Ciara Lynn. [source: City Hall press release] [all ages] Java's (16 Gibbs St.) will be hosting Shannon St. John starting around 8:30 p.m. [source: Java's calendar] [all ages] Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) will be hosting Rob Falgiano starting around 8 p.m. [source: Freetime] [all ages] 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]