Weekly Rochester Events #403: What Assassin, Unravel, and Sherbet Have In Common

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Let me start with what I did then talk about some random stuff then talk about what's coming up. Mostly it's ranting about shit, though.

Sound good? (If not, avert your eyes, heathen.)

So last Wednesday I got out to The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) to see Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Jim Healy introduced it and made it sound pretty good — after all, it was a huge blockbuster when it came out, and the complaints were largely that it was too dark for kids, spurring the creation of the PG-13 rating. However, after watching it, my recollection of its suckitude was spot on. The plot and characters are so thin that it's practically offensive. Scenarios happen with no basis in reality — I mean it's plausible that a thousand-year-old trap with a giant rolling boulder would still function, but I can't buy that nearly instantly fatal poison will wait for a fight scene to finish, or that a rickety mining cart can handle a 60-mile-per-hour jump across 40 feet of missing track. Not to mention that apparently Indians (the ones from India, that is) come in three flavors: wise old men, children, and women pining for their children. And who was the director who instructed the extras?: were those guys supposed to be angry or cheering? The only thing "good" about it was that it was action-packed.

Friday I got up and paid my IRS fine — I thought it was because I didn't need to fill out a 1040 and they made a mistake, but it was because they couldn't accept my check that I accidentally dated April 10, 2005 — they can't cash it if it's more than a year old — so my second check was 16 days late resulting in a $100 fine and another $7 or so in interest. What a great way to start the day.

That evening I made it to Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) to see Danny Price. The guy's really good ... he's a bit of a folk singer and a bit of a rocker, and either side is mixed with a lot of wit and humor. He can go from rich, emotive folk to pounding energetic rock in songs back-to-back.

Later I got dressed up as a bad lion tamer (hyphenate as you wish) with torn clothes and a whip for the circus-themed Under the Big Top, another Spectacle of Saints and Sinners Burlesque Troupe show at TiLT Nightclub and Ultralounge (444 Central Ave.) We had a really good time there ... the burlesque was better than last time although it still aims to please a theatrically-minded crowd more than the masses. An excellent addition to the show was musical interludes by The Lobster Quadrille ... I can't think of another band that would fit so well — their satirical gospel-rock motif was a perfect-fit for the night.

On Saturday I at least finished up installing Apple OS X 10.3 "Panther" on my old G3 PowerBook. It is indeed faster — worth it alone for the upgraded version of Mail which is tolerably fast, unlike its absurdly crippled predecessor.

Anyway, that night I headed to The Little (240 East Ave.) for the The Manhattan Short Film Festival but when I got there, the line was out the door and it was already 7 p.m. I mulled for a moment waiting in line — arriving at the show late, all that stuff — and eventually gave up and left. What's the deal with the Little begging for money and members all the time? Every time I go on the weekends there's a line out the door ... maybe if they staggered their show times a little more people like me wouldn't walk away ... [I can go on: why show movies only for a week? What if I already made plans by Thursday when the new films are listed and can't see it that weekend? And why is the music unbelievably loud in the cafe when the sound on the films is barely audible? ...]

So I headed to A|V Art Sound Space (N. Union St. at Trinidad St., #8 in the Public Market, formerly the All-Purpose Room) to see the double show there. Mike Twohig's iMPROVISED !MPLOSIVE VICE was really good as usual — I love his distorted figures with their blended abstract and concrete imagery. Dennis "Deny" Smyth's Your General Journey was also very good — definitely rooted in graffiti art and skateboarding culture.

On Sunday things went very very swell with Ali meeting my parents in Schenectady. Everyone had a great time and got along better than I could have expected.

Monday I headed out to The Little (240 East Ave.) once again ... this time for the Emerging Filmmakers Series. It was an adult-themed show, and oddly the styles seemed more limited than in other shows — where one might see a humorous animation followed by a dramatic piece followed by an experimental film. I thought Lucidity by Anthony DeJohn was really good in its surreal (nearly abstract) portrayal of a murder. Fickle by Joseph Fusco was a humorous piece about the various kinds of relationships we humans have and how they play out. Focus by Tisa Zito was an interesting documentary about a schoolteacher with some peculiar personality traits — if I knew her in person I would have written her off as someone I wouldn't want to know, but got to appreciate her through the documentary. But the final film, Clonal Eclipse of the Heart by Mark Justison, Rachel K. Sreebny, and Brendan van Meter was the crown jewel of absurdity. Even Karen vanMeenen commented that, as a student film, this is the kind of ambitious project that advisors advise against. It's the story of a guy who can't get a date (in traditional live-action) and his prayers are heard by aliens (who are 3D animated) who make a clone of him for a science fair project and send the clone to Earth to help him get a date. It goes on from there, but you'll have to see it somehow.

Okay, so maybe I'm mistaken about the range of films shown.

On Tuesday Ali and I went to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) to see the show there. We both liked Roger Houston who is getting a bit of a following around town. While I was in the shower the next day, it dawned on me that his style should be called "synth-hop" — a hybrid of synth-pop and hip-hop since his singing drifts between spoken word and lightly melodic singing, all over synthesized music carefully crafted from the widely varied instrumentation at his disposal. On the other hand, neither of us really liked Trees Are Down. I will say this, though: they do surprisingly loud and fat heavy-rock from just a guitarist and a drummer.

On another random note, on Wednesday, I happily cancelled my Sprint cellular service. When I was on the road, it didn't work at all west of Missouri except for the largest cities, so I ended up talking a lot on my "daytime" minutes and ended up with a $150 phone bill. It all seems rather pricey for service so bad that I'd actually rather take a chance using pay phones.

I was trying to figure out what to write for something meaty in an essay, but all that kept coming up was something about green energy and getting my house in order. What I mean is that if I were to do all the work to prepare for the limited power from a solar panel or wind generator that it wouldn't really be worth it to go to solar or wind after all since my total power consumption would become remarkably low.

What I'm getting at is that if I were to take my current house, say, and go around replacing all the lighting with high-efficiency LED's and unplug all the appliances I don't use (i.e. 2 watts to the microwave when it's displaying the clock, 5 watts for the clock radio in the guest bedroom, 10 watts to the VCR when it's off) and insulate better and put in an on-demand hot water system, that by the end, I'd cut my power bill by at least half. Once I'd done all that, the ecological impact of the remaining power consumed would be so minimal that it probably wouldn't be all that ecologically beneficial to disconnect from the power grid.

That said, I'm still a ways off from fixing all those existing problems, but at least if I make plans to go solar, I'll never actually have to lay out the money to get the solar panels in the last place — you know what I mean?

So anyway, as promised, check out all this stuff coming up!

On Friday afternoon, my friends who worked all summer without me and prior to that for several years with me have finally finished their first installment of their project. Kenichiro Sato of Big Picture Rochester (formerly ROMA, the Rochester Outdoor Museum of Art) will be unveiling the gigantic photomosaic which will decorate the side of The State University of New York (SUNY) Brockport MetroCenter (55 St. Paul St., formerly the Rochester Chamber of Commerce) for some time. With "Phase 1" completed, a lot of those problems like getting the pictures printed and mounted should be in the bag, leaving the issue of raising adequate money to create an outdoor museum of photography.

On Saturday I'm rather excited to go see Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation at the Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) The film is a shot-for-shot reenactment of Raiders of the Lost Ark done by three 12-year-old friends starting in 1982. The filmmakers will be at the screening to introduce the film and answer questions about it. It just seems like a good fun time.

Well I'll leave the teasers at that — there's a lot of things going on this week, so pay attention.

Oh yeah: one last rant. On Tuesday Ali and I were hunting for some late night food and ended up going to Acme Bar & Pizza (495 Monroe Ave.) for pizza slices. Well, let me just say they now make the worst pizza ever. I mean, as the hierarchy goes, it's like Mr. Shoes Pizza (1921 South Ave.) and other local places on top, then a tier like Pizza Hut and the like, then a tier like Dominoes and Papa John's, then to things like frozen stuff, and on down to even those nasty "Pizzerias" chips, and finally to this shit. It was like Acme took year-old Communion wafers and slapped on some ketchup with oregano (and not good oregano: the kind you buy in pound-sized containers at the dollar store) along with mozzarella that is so close to being moldy that it just gets clumpy when melted. I couldn't believe it — I mean, Acme was one of the staples of at-least-pretty-good pizza, and now I'm thinking Papa Johns would be a better choice post-midnight. Heck, if they dumped a bunch of pizza-flavored Combos on a plate it would have been more palatable.

[Just so you know.]

T H U R S D A Y

Tonight at the Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) is a Wish You Were Here Lecture with documentary photographer Jonathan Moller starting at 6 p.m. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Today from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the gallery at The Arts and Cultural Council for Greater Rochester (277 N. Goodman St.) is the opening reception for works by the DRAW Art Group. The exhibit runs through October 12. [source: Arts and Cultural Council e-mail] Tonight at The Club at Water Street (204 N. Water St.) is Alex Skolnick Trio, and Hard Logic starting around 7:30 p.m. [source: Water Street calendar] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Die legende von Paul und Paula (The Legend of Paul and Paula) starting at 8 p.m. So what was communistic Germany like? Well, it was the kind of place that made this film "the longest-playing film in the history of East German cinema" (according to the Eastman House calendar). It's about a single mother's relationship with a married diplomat. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Over at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) starting around 8 p.m. is the excellent acoustic soloist Danny Price. [source: Freetime] [all ages] Somolian Bonaparte will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] Over at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que (99 Court St.) starting around 10 p.m. is the rocking rockabilly band Krypton 88. [source: Dinosaur Bar-B-Que calendar] Pure Kona Poetry Open Mic Night is at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) tonight starting at 7:30. [source: Daily Perks calendar] Drinking Liberally meets at 8 p.m. tonight at Monty's Korner (355 East Ave.) [source: RocWiki calendar]

F R I D A Y

This afternoon at 4:30 p.m. is the unveiling of the photomosaic from Big Picture Rochester (formerly ROMA, the Rochester Outdoor Museum of Art) at The State University of New York (SUNY) Brockport MetroCenter (55 St. Paul St., formerly the Rochester Chamber of Commerce) followed by a reception at VENU Resto-Lounge and Nightclub (151 St. Paul St., formerly Sienna). [source: the proverbial grapevine] 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.) to The Liberty Pole (1 Liberty Pole Way) at 6 p.m. and heading through the city from there. [source: the proverbial grapevine] This evening at 6 p.m. is the opening reception for New Works by Steve Carpenter (on display through October 1) at his studio, #176 Anderson Alley (250 N. Goodman St.) followed by a screening of Making of a Painting by Tim Wells at 7 p.m. [source: Arts and Cultural Council e-mail] Tonight at 7 p.m. (in actuality, probably more like when it's dark) is a showing of The Big Lebowski as the Off Campus and Apartments Student Association (OCASA) Drive-In Movie in Parking Lot D at RIT (One Lomb Memorial Dr., campus map). [source: RIT Events Calendar site] Tonight at 7 p.m. at Writers and Books (740 University Ave.) is the Writers & Books 25th Anniversary Silent Auction & Raffle. [source: Craigslist Rochester events] Tonight at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) is very good singer/guitarist Kinloch Nelson, Fred Vine, and Dave Arenius starting around 8 p.m. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) will be hosting good rock/power-pop band playing borderline novelty songs, The Badenovs starting around 8 p.m. [source: Boulder Coffee website] [all ages] Over at Eastman Theatre (60 Gibbs St.) starting around 8 p.m. is The Eastman Wind Ensemble. [source: Eastman School of Music calendar] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Lost in America starting at 8 p.m. in which a yuppie couple decides to exit 1980's society and end up desperately trying to scrape by with their meager real-world skills. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Tonight at Java's (16 Gibbs St.) is Inward Becomes an Anthem starting around 8:30 p.m. [source: band e-mail] [all ages] Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 9 p.m. is super loud effects, feedback, and loops of reed instruments from Wolf Eyes, high-distortion omni-frequency noise from John Wiese, and frequently semi-melodic fast-paced noise from Pengo. Plus you get to see some really upset people out to listen to DJ's and do some dancing when everything runs a little longer than expected. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] Water Street Music Hall (204 N. Water St.) will be hosting really good dub (electronic reggae) band Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad starting around 10 p.m. [source: Water Street calendar] [all ages] Vermicious Khannids will be at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Freetime] [21+] Tonight and tomorrow at 10:30 p.m. at Nextstage at Geva (75 Woodbury Blvd.) is another Geva Comedy Improv show. [source: Geva Theatre website]

S A T U R D A Y

Today from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at The Granger Homestead and Carriage Museum (295 N. Main St., Canandaigua) is a Civil War Encampment and reenactment. [source: Craigslist Rochester events] Today starting at 10:30 a.m. at Mt. Hope Cemetery (791 Mt. Hope Ave., the North Gate) is a Walking Tour: Rochester's Visionaries and Inventors. [source: Freetime] Today from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.at Firemen's Field (383 Monroe St., Honeoye Falls) is the Custom Brewcrafters (93 Papermill St., Honeoye Falls) Autumn Festival of Ales. [source: RocWiki] This afternoon at 2 p.m. at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) is a Visiting Artists Exhibition and Panel Discussion about the current exhibition Why Look at Animals and featuring photographers Harri Kallio, Rebecca Norris Webb, Forest McMullin, and Frank Noelker. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Today from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at The State University of New York (SUNY) Brockport MetroCenter (55 St. Paul St., formerly the Rochester Chamber of Commerce) is an indoor exhibition of works by Big Picture Rochester (formerly ROMA, the Rochester Outdoor Museum of Art) featuring music by Dubblestuff and an Open House by The St. Paul Quarter Association. [source: Big Picture Rochester website] Over at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) starting around 7 p.m. is Joshua Levi Gillikin. [source: Boulder Coffee website] [all ages] Tonight at 7:30 and again at 9:30 p.m. is Nuts and Bolts Improv Troupe (see their site at ImprovAmerica too) at Downstairs Cabaret (172 West Main St.) [source: Nuts and Bolts e-mail] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation starting at 8 p.m. A shot-for-shot recreation of Raiders of the Lost Ark done by three 12-year-old friends, Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala, and Jayson Lamb starting in 1982. Now grown, they will be on hand to introduce the film and answer questions. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Tonight at A|V Art Sound Space (N. Union St. at Trinidad St., #8 in the Public Market, formerly the All-Purpose Room) is Gaybot's Birthday featuring disorienting blend of spoken word, electronic effects, and repetition from honorees Gaybot, Dufus, down-tempo, percussion-heavy rock band A Wonderful, and Beatrice is Dead starting around 9 p.m. [source: A|V Space website] The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting The Juliet Dagger with all the rock-and-roll of rock-and-roll except that the dirty jock-strap hard edge has been cleaned up with a little sugar and spice and everything nice; fun, high-energy punk-rock from The Flour City Knuckleheads, and rock-and-roll from Static Cling starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [21+] Tonight at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) is The Kode, The Kinde Trio, and Armcannon starting around 10:30 p.m. [21+] Tonight's another Betty's Sing-a-Long at Betty Meyer's Bullwinkle Café (622 Lake Ave., a.k.a. "Bullwinkle's") starting around 10.

S U N D A Y

Today starting at 10 a.m. at The Rochester Public Market (280 Union St. N.) is the 2nd Annual Public Market Arts Fair: Artist Row [source: Arts and Cultural Council e-mail] Today at 11 a.m. at The Brockport Elks Lodge No. 2110 (4400 Sweden Walker Rd., Brockport) is Pug-o-Ween 2006 sponsored by The Western New York Pug Group. [source: Craigslist Rochester events] Baby Gramps will be at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and again from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] Today at 2 p.m. at The Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) is a lecture titled On O'Keeffe's Craft: Drawing, Color and Photography by Sarah Whitaker Peters. [source: Memorial Art Gallery calendar] [all ages] This evening at 7 p.m. at The Hochstein School of Music and Dance (50 North Plymouth Ave.) is the Music Educators Wind Band Music featuring Al Fabrizio with guests, The Canandaigua Academy Wind Ensemble. [source: Hochstein calendar] [all ages] Over at Spot Coffee (200 East Ave.) starting around 7 p.m. is Tori Sparks. [source: WBER calendar] [all ages] Tonight at 8 p.m. at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is another Hip Hop Haven. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Over at A|V Art Sound Space (N. Union St. at Trinidad St., #8 in the Public Market, formerly the All-Purpose Room) starting around 9 p.m. is The MoHa!, and Ada le O. [source: A|V Space website] Tonight and every Sunday at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) is a Comedy Open Mic with Matt Rohr at 7:30 p.m. [source: the proverbial grapevine] [all ages]

M O N D A Y

The Bop Shop (274 N. Goodman St., in Village Gate Square) will be hosting Conference Call starting around 8 p.m. [source: Bop Shop 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

This morning at 7:30 a.m. in the cafeteria overlooking the arboretum in Bausch and Lomb (140 Stone St.) is the Artists Breakfast Group meeting ... anyone interested in art or creativity is invited. Today from 12:12 p.m. to 12:52 p.m. in Gleason Auditorium at The Rochester Public Library (115 South Ave.) is another Books Sandwiched-In. Chrys Baldwin of The New York Wine and Culinary Institute (800 S. Main St., Canandaigua) will be reviewing My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme. [source: Friends of the Public Library e-mail] [all ages] This evening at 6:30 p.m. in the Gordon Field House at RIT (One Lomb Memorial Dr., campus map) is a screening of In Debt We Trust featuring RIT professor Robert Manning. [source: RIT Events Calendar site] A|V Art Sound Space (N. Union St. at Trinidad St., #8 in the Public Market, formerly the All-Purpose Room) will be hosting Tara Jane O'Neil, excellent mellow acoustic with digital loops and some subtle effects from Autumn In Halifax, and complex, melodic chaos-rock styled band Idatel starting around 8 p.m. [source: A|V Space website] Tonight at 8 p.m. at The Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) is a program entitled More Pioneers of Animation featuring dozens of examples of early animated films from 1910's and 1920's. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Solidly good, very loud, fat/full, fast bar-rock band The Spaces will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] Tonight at 7 p.m. at The Flat Iron Café (561 State St.) is the Hot as Fire Spoken Word / Open Mic hosted by Moosie. [source: Flat Iron Cafe webstie] Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) is hosting an Acoustic Open Mic featuring JoAnn Vaccaro from 8 to 10. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages]

W E D N E S D A Y

Tonight at 5:30 p.m. at The Monroe Golf Club (155 Golf Ave., Pittsford) is An Evening of Great Taste Wine Tasting and Silent Auction Fundraiser to support research and medical care at The AIDS Community Health Center (87 Clinton Ave. N., #4) [source: Gay Alliance website] Over at The Club at Water Street (204 N. Water St.) starting around 7:30 p.m. is Chris Trapper. [source: Water Street calendar] [all ages] The Blue Man Group will be at The Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial (100 Exchange Blvd.) starting around 7:30 p.m. or something. [source: JamBase calendar for Rochester] This evening at 8 p.m. at Eastman Theatre (60 Gibbs St.) is a performance by The Eastman Wind Orchestra. [source: Eastman School of Music calendar] [all ages] Tonight at 8 p.m. in the Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) is a program titled Lives of Performers 1: I, An Actress. From the Eastman House calendar, "this fun and campy program of classic underground films from the 1960s and 1970s investigates notions of classic Hollywood-style feminine glamour." They'll be showing Blonde Cobra, Hold Me While I'm Naked, I, an Actress, and Match Girl. [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]

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