Weekly Rochester Events #350: Where to Find a Local SUNY

Thursday, September 22, 2005

So I finally had a chance to review Salon.com's "Timeline to disaster" and caught up on all the stuff on Hurricane Katrina that I missed while I was away. What a clusterfuck. I hope that Bush didn't risk the lives of all those people with his inaction because he rationalized that they were poor and his unemployment numbers would improve, or perhaps that one of his buddies wanted the gulf-coast property on-the-cheap. However, I have to remember that he's a Christian and I believe he's achieved "Christian enlightenment:" that you can do anything you want because you're a flawed human and still go to heaven if you just confess your sins.

On another tangent, this sort of thing got me thinking about "the economy." Benchmarking things like gross domestic product is an attempt to measure progress. Heck, the value of things in a unit of currency is in itself an attempt to compare values of otherwise dissimilar items. I think of it like a thermometer.

You can stick a thermometer outside and measure the temperature. But what if you ignore all other evidence of temperature? What if you artificially manipulate the temperature around the thermometer? Water might be frozen solid, but the thermometer — assisted by a match — may read a cozy 72°F.

See we're not measuring "progress" anymore. Sure, someone might make money selling plastic widgets that let you stuff your grocery bags in one end and pull ones to use from the other, but does that solve any problem? Is it really progress? Is it really "good?" The stock market is another distorted measurement of progress — yet it's pounded into our heads that things are "good" when the market is "up" when it really has no bearing on the quality of things going on in the world.

So I'm done with the whole "helping the economy." I'll just do things that make things better — for people; for the environment — but certainly not to make the numbers look better.

Anyway, on Thursday I got to George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) to see La nuit fantastique (The Fantastic Night). In it, the protagonist Denis is berated and ridiculed at his job and in his life because he's seen as a lazy dreamer with an unquenchable penchant for sleep. In his dreams he has control over his destiny and seeks Irène whom he desperately desires. While the film is entertaining on its own, only by knowing its historical context — being made in 1942 by Marcel L'Herbier during the German occupation of France — does it reveal its metaphor to French life, and the somewhat surprising historical note that it passed the censors.

I stopped by The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) after that and got to see Gaylord do a great show (despite some of the band members' complaining of their errors.) I didn't get to see Drums and Tuba much at all because I was talking with one of their friends hawking their merchandise. They're all from New Orleans and although she found out her house was okay, she's worried how reconstruction will go — worried that they would build some sterile, lifeless replica of the area's former charm.

On Friday I went to Artisan Works (565 Blossom Rd.) to check out the gallery opening show there. It's actually very similar to going there any other time except that this time it was full of people over 45 and had bands playing crowd-safe music. And there was cheese and snacks.

Saturday morning I woke up with a bit of a hangover and decided to quit drinking for a week and then reassess the situation. I protested that tonight was the third birthday party for Lux Lounge (666 South Ave.) but retorted, "if not now then when?" which convinced myself. That evening I headed out on my sprial bike for the celebration and joined the "freak parade" of 30 or so people to walk around the block. (By the way, am I the only person who quits drinking and then goes to the bar he always hangs out at and doesn't drink?) Unfortunately, I was actually experiencing alcohol withdrawal symptoms and found that people "made me feel itchy." I tried to be more isolated than usual but realized I was in the wrong place to do that so I went home.

Sunday I ordinarily take a break from things but lo and behold, there were actually things I wanted to get to. I headed out to ARTWalk (University Ave. at Atlantic Ave.) for the ARTWalk Alive event and nearly became a parade on my own — I was somewhat disappointed that my tall bike drew as much attention as it did ... was the artwork on display really so bland that people were trying to take pictures of me?

Anyway, I left there to got to a showing of Burning Barn Theatre production of Romeo and Juliet at New Life Presbyterian Church (243 Rosedale St.) I'm always afraid to see any performances from my friends because I'm afraid it won't be good. Thankfully it was pretty good ... moving at times even. Although surprising at first, the martial-arts-based fights were very well coreographed and fit right into the production. I thought Beth Gwara's interpretation of Mercutio was particularly consistent, entertaining, and well-acted. The last 4 performances will be this coming weekend ... well worth the $5 admission.

Later that night I got to see Rush To War: Between Iraq and A Hard Place outside at The Rochester Visual Studies Workshop (31 Prince St.) ... it was yet another rational, intelligent discussion of why we're at war in Iraq and the kind of film that (should any of them see it) supporters of the President's actions will unfailingly deny as "liberal fact-telling" or some such nonsense.

Anyway, to wrap things up quick this week, The City Newspaper's "Best Of" contest is going on and I felt it necessary to share my boring responses:

• Eat, Drink
  • Indian restaurant: India House, Loehmann's Plaza
  • Italian restaurant: Veneto
  • Thai restaurant: Thai Taste
  • Cup of coffee*: O'Bagelo's (always very good, cheap, in a real ceramic mug, and with free refills)
  • Diner: Mt. Hope
  • Pizza*: Mr. Shoes
  • Place to get fresh-baked bread: please tell me! (seriously ... other than Wegmans)
  • Burgers*: Dicky's when the kitchen's open
  • Sushi restaurant: California Rollin'
  • Barbecue*: Sticky Lips
  • Fish fry*: On the Rocks (Mt. Hope) (last time I checked it was good, but they've changed the menu a lot since then)
  • Place to take someone for a birthday dessert: Edibles
  • Subs*: Rubino's
  • Bar with best beer selection: MacGreggor's
  • Bar/restaurant to impress a wine connoisseur: Lola (in point of fact, you can't impress a wine connoisseur)
  • Bar/restaurant to order beer in a can: Six Pockets (mmm ... Genny cans)
  • Place to eat at 3 a.m.: Mark's Texas Hots on Monroe (it's like a petting zoo, so bring your rubber gloves)
  • Place to take a vegetarian: Skippy's
  • Place to take your parents when they're visiting: Rooney's (especially if they're paying)
  • Place to cure a hangover: a time machine (lukewarm salty water tends to work too because you're not as likely to puke it back up)
  • Place for a first date: Highland Park in the morning
  • Place for a last date: City Hall (come on — how could you beat City Hall?)
  • Place for a secret rendezvous: the bar at the Hyatt (locals generally don't go to hotel bars except for secret trysts)
  • Bar to have a conversation in: Lux
  • Delicacy*: Zweigels (go ahead: get a "hot dog" in any other part of the country)
• Consumer Affairs
  • Place to find affordable gas: W.'s anus
  • Way to deal with rising gas prices: use your legs, tubby (why didn't you plan for this a decade ago? look around the world, people!)
  • Record store (non-chain): Record Archive
  • Place to find a paperback for less than $5*: that honor-system house on Westmoreland
  • Place to buy a used car: police auction
  • Most honest auto repair: Do it yourself. Be honest.
  • Place to buy a gift: Wilson Hardware (True Value on Monroe by 490)
  • Place to find antiques: curbside on Spring Clean-Up Week (count on the stupidity of others.)
  • Place to get vintage clothes: Godiva's
• Media savvy
  • Radio station for morning-show banter: WDKX
  • Hottest news anchor: Kristen Miranda (WHAM 13)
  • Blog: JayceLand.com (this is the one to remember to answer correctly)
  • Slogan to replace "Rochester Made For Living": Rochester: Where Art Leaves
• Inside scoop
  • Employer: self
  • Place to see and be seen: Lux
  • Place to see and be unseen: Paradise Alley
  • Community role model: Adam McFadden
  • Place to get your car broken into: Pittsford Plaza
  • Greater Rochester bragging point: Eastman House/Dryden
  • Use of public funds: South Plymouth/Ford St. roundabout
  • Misuse of public funds: Renaissance Square
  • Evidence the region's outlook is good: people keep coming back because of the Rochester "Boomerang Effect."
  • Evidence we're all going to hell: City Newspaper thinks Chris Maj is insane but John Parinello is not
  • Way to lure people to the area: stop bashing Rochester at every turn
  • Celebrity you'd like a one-night stand with: Amanda Irwin-Ladwig, actress in The Water Coolers (always the married ones ... *sigh*)
  • Best-kept secret: The south end of Aqueduct Park is 5 degrees cooler than anywhere else.
  • Most annoying public person: John Parinello (and he'll probably be the next mayor, driving the city right into the dark ages)
  • Item to buy at the Public Market: "Benign Girl" dolls and accessories
  • Day trip: Niagara Falls via Route 104
• Body moving
  • Bike route: Canal Path from Genesee Park to Schoen Place ... get ice cream.
  • Thing to do on the Genesee River: debris fishing on the Inner Loop Bridge
  • Go-karts: The Gravel Pit in Batavia
  • Cross country skiing spot (specific as possible): Middle of Mount Hope (when possible.)
• Be merry
  • Cheap thrill: Free PB&J and cheap PBR's on Tuesday at Lux.
  • Place to pass out: In the park at the Lilac Festival.
  • Original band: Gaylord
  • Cover band: The Meddling Kids
  • Band name: Gaybot (either that or BELBIVDEVOIVOD)
  • Theater production of 2005 (name show/theater): The Water Coolers @ Downstairs Cabaret
  • Music concert of 2005 (name artist/venue): The Mathematicians at Monty's Krown, May 12, 2005
  • Art show of 2005 (name show/venue): Cirque: a Summer Soiree and Selections from Two Years of Collaborative Art at Genesee Pure Kona @ Daily Perks
  • Club to hear live music: Bug Jar
  • Place to see a cheap concert: Monty's Krown
  • Gay bar: J.D. Oxford's (closeted)
  • Way to spend $10: Tuesday at California Rollin': $8.50 Shirashi bowl + $1 Sapporo ... or leave a tip.
  • Way to spend $1,000: Donation to JayceLand.com
  • Public place to throw a party: Ellison Park
  • Happy hour: Lux
  • Pickup line you've heard in 2005: Do you have any out? Do you want to make some? (ok, so I made it up ... who didn't?)

T H U R S D A Y

Tonight through Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 is Burning Barn Theatre's production of Romeo and Juliet at New Life Presbyterian Church (243 Rosedale St.) [source: Burning Barn Theatre website] Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) will be hosting really good harmonizing banjo/mandolin duo Red Branch starting around 8 p.m. [source: Starry Nites calendar] [all ages] Easy Action, and groove-metal band Kalpana will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Goupi mains rouges (It Happened at the Inn) starting at 8 p.m. From the Eastman House calendar: "A city boy visits his estranged (and strange) country relatives, who operate under their own set of laws and morals. When the matriarch is mysteriously murdered and her savings go missing, the disturbing bonds of the clan are called into question." [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]

F R I D A Y

Today and tomorrow at 11 a.m. and 12 noon in Dandelion Square at The University of Rochester (Elmwood Ave. at Intercampus Dr., details on River Campus Map) is a show from Ossia New Music titled Merger by Abby Aresty. [source: Ossia New Music calendar] Tonight at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) is Geva Comedy Improv performing City Council Improv starting around 8 p.m. [source: Geva Comedy Improv e-mail] Water Street Music Hall (204 N. Water St.) will be hosting Shatter the Silence 2005 Benefit Concert for Alternatives for Battered Women starting around 5 p.m. There's a bunch of bands including the wicked fun percussive groove-rock band The BuddhaHood. [source: Water Street calendar] [all ages] Downstairs Cabaret (540 East Main St.) will be hosting the improvisational group TheatreSports™ tonight at 10 p.m. and tomorrow at 10:30. [source: Downstairs Cabaret calendar] Tonight at Blackfriars Theatre (28 Lawn St.) is the opening of the new comedy Boston Marriage starting tonight at 8 p.m. and continuing through October 2. [source: Blackfriars Theatre website] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing The Wobblies starting at 8 p.m. commemorating the 100th anniversary of The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] The Blue Room (293 Alexander St.) will be hosting Mrs. Skannotto starting around 10 p.m. [source: JamBase calendar for Rochester] [21+] Excellent rock-and-roll from The Hi-Risers will be at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que (99 Court St.) starting around 10 p.m. [source: Whole Lotta Shakin' calendar] Tonight at The Montage Grille (50 Chestnut St.) is Alison Pipitone starting around 10 p.m. [source: Montage e-mail] Tonight at Spy Bar (139 State St.) is really good punk-rock/hard-rock with a little rockabilly from The UV Rays starting around 10 p.m.

S A T U R D A Y

O'Bagelo's, 165 State Street, noon. Tonight at The Club at Water Street (204 N. Water St.) is great ska band The Know How, The Hoboz, The Expired, and The Levar Burtones starting around 5 p.m. [source: Water Street calendar] [all ages] Over at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) starting around 8 p.m. is Songwriters in the Round featuring the great acoustic soloist Maria Gillard, Jeff Riales, and witty, accomplished soloist Brian Coughlin. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] Today from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The Rochester Riverside Convention Center (123 E. Main St.) is The BattleBots R3 Tournament. [source: Freetime] Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. is great, zany surf rock from The Isotopes, The Bloody Hollies, and more surf-rock from The Mofos [source: Bug Jar calendar] This evening in the Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) at 8 p.m. is a special appearance by Don Hertzfeldt (also at Internet Movie Database) to discuss and introduce a program of his animation. The show will feature Ah, L'Amour, Genre, Lily and Jim, Billy's Balloon, Rejected, and The Meaning of Life. [source: Eastman House calendar] Updated: Tonight at The Hungerford Building (1115 E. Main St.) building #1, second floor is The Earl Cram Revue with Andre Fox probably all getting going around 10:30. 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

The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting The Willowz, 1980's-style rock band Tiger Cried Beef, and good ska-influenced, high-energy punk-rock band The Grievants starting around 8 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing All the President's Men starting at 7 p.m. Ah yes ... the fictional retelling of the Watergate scandal. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Updated: This evening at 8 p.m. at The Rochester Visual Studies Workshop (31 Prince St.) they will be showing Chaves: Inside the Coup (a.k.a. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised) along with Bill Moyers' Speech to Media Reform Conference and WMD: Weapons Of Mass Deception. 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]

M O N D A Y

Tonight's another Wide Open Mike with Norm Davis starting at 7:30 p.m. at Verb Café at Writers and Books (740 University Ave.) [source: Writers and Books calendar] [all ages] Tonight at 9:30 p.m. at The Little (240 East Ave.) is another in the Emerging Filmmakers Series featuring Unisong by Tyler Finck, A Tragedy in Four Parts by Daniel Mauro, (Immobility)3 by John Waterman, Children of God by Kiera Faber, One Balloon by Aruna Naimji and Aram Hekinian, Wegmans Cruelty by Compassionate Consumers, porcelain by Jon Karafin, Trap (ease) by Amber Hares, and On the Cutting Room Floor of Oblivion by Todd Washburn. [source: Little Theatre calendar] Over at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) starting around 10:45 p.m. is Jim Reilley. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] Bored? Why not check out 1980's DJ night at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 11 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar]

T U E S D A Y

Today at The Rochester Public Library (115 South Ave.) from 12:12 p.m. to 12:52 p.m. in the Kate Gleason Auditorium is Books Sandwiched-In. Today, Ted Curtis will discuss Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation by Peter L. Bernstein. [source: Rochester Public Library calendar] [all ages] Tonight at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is Bang! Bang!, power-ish rock from Seven Head Division, and Grime Time starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] Over at A|V Art Sound Space (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St., formerly The All-Purpose Room) starting around 9 p.m. is ErstQuake 2 featuring Toshimaru Nakamura, Taku Unami, Tomas Korber, Sean Meehan, and Barry Weisblat. [source: artsound website] [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

Updated: Paradigm Café (3118 E. Henrietta Rd., formerly Blue Sunday) will be closing its doors and there's a sale starting today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for all the store fixtures and everything else ... through October 1. [source: Paradigm Cafe calendar] The Hive Mind, Luasa Raelon, The Cornucopia, and The Rainbeaux 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 p.m. [source: artsound website] [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] There's an Open Mic for Acoustic Music at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) tonight around 8. [source: the proverbial grapevine] [all ages]