Weekly Rochester Events #351: Wellness Isn't Doing So Well

Thursday, September 29, 2005

I've been in a pretty pathetic mood lately — what with being a do-nothing slacker with no reason to exist — so I thought I'd just dispense with any attempt at an essay and dig into the few things I did ...

Actually I did do something that people might find slightly interesting. I have long been curious about this, and I dug around and found an article titled Forget the SUV — Jets Really Suck Down Fuel from Allined Pilots Association "Position Papers". It says, "on an average flight from Los Angeles to New York, a Boeing 767 burns around 50,000 pounds of fuel. Jet fuel weighs about 6.7 pounds per gallon, so that's 7,463 gallons." The distance between L.A. and New York is 2,450 miles so that works out to 0.328 MPG. However, considering you can put about 200 people on a plane, that works out to about 65 MPG per person which isn't all that bad.

On Satuday I tried to get out to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) ... I saw most of the set from The Bloody Hollies which was really quite good ... some powerful punk-rock ... but I got to be too exhausted and was home before 1, missing The Isotopes entirely. I was sleeping an average of 9 hours a night all weekend ... a whole 9 hours more than usual. Did I mention I was a slacker? Regardless, it's too bad about the 'Topes show.

Monday I went to the Emerging Filmmakers show at The Little (240 East Ave.) Unisong by Tyler Finck, porcelain by Jon Karafin, and Trap (ease) by Amber Hares set the mood for what was mostly a surreal and abstract night. A Tragedy in Four Parts by Daniel Mauro was a bit lighter and more traditional — Mauro externalizes a character's inner desires through well-done split screen work. Children of God by Kiera Faber was a really impressive animation about the sex trafficking of young girls. One Balloon by Aruna Naimji and Aram Hekinian was a really interesting metaphor for life, following a woman from childhood into maturity; the oversimplified abstractions used in each part really amplified the absurdity of our Western model of growing up.

The big draw was Wegmans Cruelty by Compassionate Consumers and it didn't disappoint. I'm accustomed to seeing "documentaries" that attack a corporation, but they always seem to sensationalize the trivial and are unable to convey complexity. In this case, the complaint was simple, visual, and visceral. Wegmans maintains a large chicken farm in Wayne County and the conditions are deplorable — even for stupid chickens. They are kept in cages stacked 3-high with mesh floors, allowing the lower birds to be defecated upon. Each cage held between about 5 and 9 chickens which represented about 40% of the volume of the whole cage — there was barely room for the birds to move, and impossible for them to do so without stepping on one another. The documentary found dozens of dead birds — some badly decomposed — in cages with living ones. Several chickens had escaped their cages and were living in the piles of feces below the cages; one being rescued from being trapped neck-deep in it.

Now I'm not one to really care much about chickens, but this was quite absurd. I'm also not one to experience nausea [although a bit squemish about knee and eye surgery] but this was really friggin' gross. I doubt Wegmans, like any corporation whose overriding motive is profits, will change their ways. They have already charged the filmmakers with burglary — stealing chickens (the filmmakers refer to it as "rescuing" as the birds stolen were badly in need of veternary attention.) They also broke into the farm house because Wegmans does not let anybody but workers into the farms (and that apparently includes other Wegmans workers or management.) It's clear that none of the major media outlets will do anything because they all get paid a pretty penny for sucking W-Cock.

Not that the Wegmans case particularly matters, though, since this is pervasive in the industry. According to the filmmakers on hand, farming industries have lobbied that even if an action is illegal, no one farm can be charged if it is a pervasive practice. Thus (according to the filmmakers) although there is a New York State law making it illegal to deny an animal food or water, the birds who get their necks caught in the cages and are left to die don't count because that's common practice across all chicken farms.

Heck, these practices are so pervasive, that farms like these have thier own certifications that are actually met: in Wegmans case this is both the New York State Egg Quality Assurance Program and the "Animal Care Certified" mark. This kind of thing doesn't fill me with any confidence for any certification mark ... I'm getting to demand to see where my food comes from, although in reality I gamble with my health like everybody else. But let me just finish by saying that I might just puke if I see someone lick the shell of an egg right out of the package. I swear: it was that nasty.

I rearranged the order of films to suit my needs, but Karen vanMeenen programmed things expertly enough to arc back and finish on the lighthearted On the Cutting Room Floor of Oblivion by Todd Washburn. In it, Todd himself stars in a music video for an abbreviated rendition of Wang Chung's "Everybody Have Fun Tonight." Not only was the video 1980's stylized, I think I recognized a clip of the screen from a handheld phoshpor-screen version of Tron's MCP. I didn't get a chance to ask but in further research, I found that he notes it on the website.

T H U R S D A Y

Paradigm Café (3118 E. Henrietta Rd., formerly Blue Sunday) will be closing its doors and there's a sale from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for all the store fixtures and everything else ... every day through October 1. [source: Paradigm Cafe calendar] Today from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. is a presentation by Megan Cole titled Illness, Stigma, and Being Female: The Gender Connection in the Welles Brown Room of The Rush Rhees Library in The University of Rochester (Library Rd. near Intercampus Dr., #1 on River Campus Map.) [source: University of Rochester Events Calendar] Tonight at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is The Spunks, Gito Gito Hustler, and good punk-rock from The Emersons starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] 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

Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) will be hosting Jon Bolden starting around 8 p.m. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] Apparently The Critical Mass Bike Ride is tonight starting at 5:30 p.m. at the clock tower near The Wilson Commons at The University of Rochester (Library Road, #39 on River Campus Map.) [source: the proverbial grapevine] The works of Moi Dugan will be on display at Genesee Pottery at The Genesee Center for the Arts (713 Monroe Ave.) starting tonight at 6 p.m. through October 9. [source: Genesee Center for the Arts calendar] Tonight at 7 p.m. is the opening of Metaphor & Mimesis at The Rochester Contemporary Art Gallery (137 East Ave.) featuring the works of Billie Grace Lynn and Ann Clarke. The show runs until October 31. [source: Rochester Contemporary calendar] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Man in the Shadow starting at 8 p.m. The owner of a ranch (and by extension, the most powerful man in a small town) has henchmen who beat a farmhand to death and the sheriff must bring justice. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Mrs. Skannotto, The Ops, and The Levar Burtones will be at Elixir (938 South Clinton Ave.) starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: band calendar] A|V Art Sound Space (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St., formerly The All-Purpose Room) will be hosting disorienting spoken-word/electronic/experimental band Gaybot, and down-tempo medium-fi synth-pop from Roger Houston starting around 10 p.m. [source: artsound website] [all ages]

S A T U R D A Y

O'Bagelo's, 165 State Street, noon. This afternoon at Abundance Cooperative Market (62 Marshall St.) will be a performance of minimal acoustic guitar and autoharp by Kelli Shay Hicks from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. [source: band e-mail] Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting great A.D.D. rock from Gaylord, and tight, technical metal from BML starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: band e-mail] Tonight at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is The Greenhornes starting around 10:45 p.m. [source: Whole Lotta Shakin' calendar] 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

Over at A|V Art Sound Space (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St., formerly The All-Purpose Room) starting around 10 a.m. is Artist Row — Public Market Art Fair featuring minimal acoustic solo work from Kelli Shay Hicks, excellent mellow, electronically-enhanced acoustic from Autumn In Halifax, Cloud Hands, Marc McNulty, and Chad Oliveiri. [source: Carbon Records calendar] [all ages] Today from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. is Hispanic Heritage Family Day at The Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) [source: Memorial Art Gallery calendar] [all ages] The Lonesome Sisters will be at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) starting around 2 p.m. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] Forgotten Spaces at A|V Art Sound Space (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St., formerly The All-Purpose Room) closes tonight at 5 p.m. [source: artsound website] Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 8 p.m. is the Hip Hop Haven open mic. [source: band e-mail] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Dog Day Afternoon starting at 7 p.m. A couple guys try to rob a bank on what turns out to be the hottest day of the summer and the whole thing goes awry. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Updated: This evening at 8 p.m. at The Rochester Visual Studies Workshop (31 Prince St.) they'll be showing The Corporation on the wall facing University Ave. [source: the proverbial grapevine] 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] 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

The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Willenbrock starting at 8 p.m. A married car dealer becomes attracted to a young student and his life takes a sudden turn. [source: Eastman House 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

The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing The Iron Horse starting at 8 p.m. Philip C. Carli will be on hand to provide piano accompaniment to this silent film about the kinds of people who built the transcontinental railroad. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Dean's Change Jar, and rapid-fire modern metalish rock from The Gentlemen's Club will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:45 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] 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

This evening at 7:30 p.m. is a Hispanic Heritage Lecture in the auditorium at The Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) featuring Jaime Arredondo speaking on The Mexican Muralist Movement and the American Artists It Influenced. [source: Memorial Art Gallery calendar] [all ages] There will be a Just Poets Reading and Open Mike tonight at 7 p.m. at Verb Café at Writers and Books (740 University Ave.) [source: Writers and Books calendar] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing The Black Cat starting at 8 p.m. Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi both star in this film about Satan-worshippers ... and done just before the enforcement of the motion picture production code. [source: Eastman House calendar] [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]