Weekly Rochester Events #354: Just a Regular Ordinary Year

Thursday, October 20, 2005

This past week started out going quite well but then tended to fall apart pretty bad toward the end.

Thursday I got out to the lecture at The Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) where Jennifer Prutsman-Pfeiffer talked about "Mummy Peabody" on display. She had a chance to get him CAT scanned at Strong earlier in the year, following up on X-rays and a physical restoration done in 1991. It was interesting to note the detail in the CAT scan over that in the X-rays. The broken bones found in the X-ray were confirmed as happening long after death — and probably in transit from Egypt long ago, as the records note that it was damaged in shipping. That part constituted about one third of the lecture.

She went on to discuss two of the more interesting finds in her regular job as a forensic archaeologist. The first being an unusual unearthed grave in Webster, I think. The more interesting one was that of a skeleton recovered from Mount Morris just recently. She determined that the guy was buried in the old church cemetery from almost two centuries prior — noting a turn-of-the-20th-century article where the cemetery was moved to accomodate new construction in town. The fascinating thing was that the guy was probably a very early settler in the area, judging from the extremely harsh way his body was used throughout his life — he had evidence of all kinds of repetitive-stress injuries like ossification of his spine, hips, and knees that suggested he was involved with a variety of types of hard labor throughout his life.

Anyway, after that I got to A|V Art Sound Space (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St., formerly The All-Purpose Room) in time to see Chad Oliveiri finish his computer-generated experimental music set. Next was Autumn In Halifax who did a great performance of his (it's just one guy) effects-modified, looped, acoustic and electric guitar solo work. If I remember right, he did a few new songs that were of the same high caliber of the rest of his work. Finishing things up was Petracovich who's a soloist named Jessica from San Fransisco. She sings with her practiced and tender voice over synth-piano, xylophone, 1990's-style crunchy-synth drums (you know ... the slightly distorted synth-drum sound) and occasional use of additional synthesizer voices. One of her songs is apparently featured in The Fog (and despite bad reviews, she's certainly not to blame.) Overall, the show was great ... heck, there was even a full-house at the A|V.

On Friday my left leg started acting up and I went to the chiropractor who said it was either a muscle pull (like it felt like) or a problem with one of my spinal discs. That night I just hung out at Lux Lounge (666 South Ave.) and stopped at California Rollin' at Village Gate Square (274 N. Goodman St.) to give a friend some really good sushi. Saturday I did my usual shopping at The Rochester Public Market (280 Union St. N.) then hung out at O'Bagelo's (165 State Street) where I got back in touch with an old coworker who I actually got along with.

Unfortunately, my leg got worse and worse, and I was limited to walking about as far as my property extended. Pretty much like invisible fencing. I ended up going to the hospital and they suspected muscles again so I ended up with muscle relaxants and doctor's orders to take a bunch of ibuprofen. Monday I went to the orthopaedics doctor recommended by the hospital. By that time I had lost the ankle reflex (the one where they tap behind your ankle and your foot twitches) so they figured it was a problem with my sciatic nerve and figured it was a slipped disc. They prescribed Methylprednisolone (really, that's what it's called) which is some kind of wicked steroid that'll make my discs shrink back to manageable size and now I can take acetaminophen but not aspirin-related stuff like ibuprofen.

So I've been spending the last couple days not going to Lux Lounge (666 South Ave.) for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on Tuesday and not going to see Break of Reality at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) on Wednesday, but rather just gorilla-walking around the house (i.e. taking the weight off my spine) and watching lots of movies — thank goodness for all that extra shit they put on DVD's nowadays. I only wish Rob Reiner or William Goldman had more to say about The Princess Bride. I mean, not only was Thelma & Louise a great movie, but both the director's commentary and the writer/stars commentary on the DVD were at least interesting and at most quite entertaining.

Hopefully I'll be better for Halloween and stuff ... I have my doubts about doing much this coming weekend which is too bad because I was going to get a costume ready ... oh well. Maybe next year. Also, I'd love to see Laurie Anderson at The Egg (near Howard St., Albany) on Thursday, October 27. I'm kinda glad I didn't buy tickets yet on account of my lack of mobility.

Oh, and I keep meaning to mention that Electronic Word Preservation Guild needs submissions. They do the Inbox feature in The City Newspaper where people send in peculiar, funny, or unique e-mails to be savored for eternity in printed form.

T H U R S D A Y

Tonight at 6 p.m. in the Dryden Theatre in George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) is a Wish You Were Here Photo Lecture by Steve McCurry titled The Unguarded Moment about a more personal approach to portraiture. [source: Eastman House calendar] The Inventor's Society of Western New York will be meeting tonight in Kate Gleason Auditorium at The Rochester Public Library (115 South Ave.) starting around 6:30 p.m. [source: Rochester Public Library calendar] [all ages] Tonight at A|V Art Sound Space (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St., formerly The All-Purpose Room) at 8 p.m. is the second Inside/Out Concert featuring excellent, innovative acoustic soloist Ian Downey,classically trained bassoon duo Rachael Elliott and Lynn Hileman, and Maths Balance Volumes. [source: artsound website] [all ages] Tonight at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is Thee More Shallows, excellent 1980's-styled rock band Tiger Cried Beef, and poetic and minimalist acoustic soloist Kelli Shay Hicks starting around 8:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] Tonight at Apartment A (265-A Perkins Rd.) is a house party featuring great, poetic electric guitar soloist Wolf Colonel, and Casey Dienel possibly starting around 9 p.m. ... I never did find a start time. [source: band e-mail] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Nun va Goldoon (A Moment of Innocence) starting at 8 p.m. A young man stabs a policeman then becomes a director; he meets the ex-cop at a casting call and decides to film a reenactment of the original incident. [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

Tonight and tomorrow is Ghost Walk starting at Third Presbyterian Church (4 Meigs St., at the corner of East Ave.) every 10 minutes from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. [source: Landmark Society e-mail] [all ages] Tonight at Java's (16 Gibbs St.) is Funksody starting around 10 p.m. [source: Rochester Music Coalition calendar] [all ages] Tonight at Stooges (511 E. Ridge Rd., formerly Curley's Saloon) is the very good bluegrass band The String Theory Bluegrass Band starting around 10 p.m. [source: Freetime] Starting tonight at 10 p.m. and running through tomorrow at 11:30 p.m. is the 25 1/2-hour Improvathon by Geva Comedy Improv at Nextstage at Geva (75 Woodbury Blvd.). [source: Geva Comedy Improv e-mail]

S A T U R D A Y

O'Bagelo's, 165 State Street, noon. Today from noon to 2 p.m. is the 2nd Annual Great Bowls of Fire Chili Cookoff at The Genesee Center for the Arts (713 Monroe Ave.) [source: Genesee Center for the Arts calendar] [all ages] Today from 3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. in Lander Auditorium in Hutchinson Hall at The University of Rochester (Elmwood Ave. at Intercampus Dr., details on River Campus Map) is a panel discussion titled Hurricane Katrina: How Will We Respond Next Time? featuring the CEO of Rochester Red Cross John Buttrill, University of Rochester History Department chair Theodore Brown Religion and Classics Assistant Professor Anthea Butler, and SUNY Geneseo Associate Professor Rosemarie Chierici all moderated by Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of The Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies Fredrick Harris. [source: University of Rochester Events Calendar] Tonight at 7 p.m. at A|V Art Sound Space (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St., formerly The All-Purpose Room) is PHYSIC 1.0 featuring video and audio from diss0nance, IDA, DACTYL, live-radio mixed with effects from Lank, Meek, Micah Pastore, Mike Twohig, Nigh-a-List Food Works, nybbl, DJ Water, Our Baby, Parul, RION, Sincere Trade, The Sleeping Kings of Iona, Solipsistic Babyhead, TALIXZEN, and 100FACE. [source: band e-mail] [18+] Over at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) starting around 8 p.m. is really good acoustic soloist Leah Zicari, and very good acoustic soloist Mary Simon. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] This evening at The Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) is the Fall Party from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. featuring music by cover band Brass Taxi. [source: Memorial Art Gallery calendar] Over at Hot Shots (1046B University Ave.) starting around 9:30 p.m. is a Benefit For Breat Cancer Research featuring great, nerdy-fun, surf-rock band The Isotopes, and good punk-rock from The Emersons [source: WBER calendar] All kinds of rock-and-roll from Japan from Electric Eel Shock, The Coffin Lids, and more rock-and-roll from The Grinders will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:45 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing The Mask of Fu Manchu starting at 8 p.m. The recent version of this Boris Karloff classic featuring scenes censored in the original release. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting punk-rock with an Irish slant from Tom Foolery and the Shenanigans starting around 10:45 p.m. [source: Freetime] [21+] 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

Today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. is the The Bop Shop Record & CD Convention at The Bop Shop (274 N. Goodman St., in Village Gate Square.) [source: Bop Shop calendar] Today at The Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. is Free Admission Day. [source: Memorial Art Gallery calendar] Today from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Artisan Works (565 Blossom Rd.) is the Lehmann Stringed Instruments Guitar Festival featuring dozens of local musicians including the really talented and varied guitarist Kinloch Nelson, Tina Albright, Dave Arenius, Dennis Monroe, and Larry Sugarman. [source: band e-mail] Today at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the Fountain Court of The Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) is a brief presentation and demonstration of the installed Italian Baroque organ by Nicole Marane unfortunately titled Going for Baroque. [source: Memorial Art Gallery calendar] Updated: This evening starting at 4 p.m. at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is a Benefit for Ben Wight, a local tatoo artist who recently had complications during knee surgery. The show features awesome, tight, complex rock and roll from The VEiNS, Finisher, Borrowed Time, Achilles, Grime Time, good metal from Warblade, and more. Spot Coffee (200 East Ave.) will be hosting Burning Daylight starting around 8 p.m. [source: WITR 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]

M O N D A Y

Updated: Tonight at 7 p.m. at The Interfaith Chapel at The University of Rochester (Elmwood Ave. at Intercampus Dr., details on River Campus Map) is a meet-and-greet with the candidates running for Rochester City Councilmember. [source: the proverbial grapevine] 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 from 12:12 p.m. to 12:52 p.m. in Kate Gleason Auditorium at The Rochester Public Library (115 South Ave.) is another Books Sandwiched-In discussion by Nazareth College President Daan Braverman about Becoming Justice Blackmun: Harry Blackmun's Supreme Court Journey by Linda Greenhouse. [all ages] Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 9:30 p.m. is The Sex Slaves, Ex-Lion Tamer, and Grime Time. [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

Updated: Tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Twelve Corners Gazebo Park (Monroe Ave. at Elmwood Ave.) is a Vigil for 2,000 Killed in Iraq. 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 Keith Fullerton Whitman, and Joe+n featuring Chad Oliveiri. [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]