Weekly Rochester Events #438: Poland and Lithuania United

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Well, since I'm having a garage sale this coming weekend I'd rather not be sitting around writing a big essay. Unfortunately for any of you who like to read a lot, since last weekend was Memorial Day, I also didn't go out and do lots of exciting things. ... but here goes ...

Last Thursday I stopped at Monty's Korner (355 East Ave.) to hang out with the crew from Drinking Liberally. I was amused to learn that one of the guys who goes brought up a Thursday Thinkers event from a couple years ago about fundamentalism — he and I were both there but didn't happen to meet.

On Friday Ali and I went to The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) to see Psycho. Ali admitted having never seen it before, and I only remember bits and pieces, and at best I saw it on video at some point. The movie is quite the thriller, maintaining tension and shocking the audience appropriately a couple times. Unfortunately, there's an epilogue where a moronic psychologist goes on and on explaining how Norman Bates became his mother, unsympathetically telling of how he killed Marion. Marion's sister and Marion's lover scarcely reacted to confirmation of a gruesome death just a week prior.

Saturday I made it out to The Rochester Public Market (280 Union St. N.) but it was absolutely packed. Thank goodness I have that bicycle and trailer or else I would have spent all day just looking for a place to park my car. When I got back home, Ali and I tried to go to The Rochester Greek Festival but it actually wasn't that weekend — explaining the lack of traffic. To appease our desperate need for Greek food, though, we went to Mykono's Express (1330 Mount Hope Ave.) and picked up some stuff, stopped for some wine, then went home. We had some excellent bison burgers mixed with feta — the original plan — along with the Greek sides we got.

That night Ali decided to stay in so I went to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) to check out the bands. I still like Margaret Explosion but I don't know why they're playing this particular line-up — regardless, I found them to be virtually trippy jazz; their style is inviting but not demanding, so if you choose to stay and listen, they're quite innovative, but if you want to go do something else, well, that's cool too. The middle band was Daryl Fleming who was great — a folk-acoustic qua rock band with quite a gospel-sounding edge. I also stayed for The Lobster Quadrille as well who were a lot of fun.

Sunday Ali and I went to her kid sister's piano recital followed by a picnic at her parents' house. How classic is it to spend the afternoon building a brand new grill with your girlfriend's father on Memorial Day weekend? — with beer. We got home quite late and had the opportunity to get up late and lounge around on Monday. We had the leftover bison-burgers and some delicious tuna-noodle salad that Ali made.

Monday night Ali had returned to her house so I went to Emerging Filmmakers at The Little (240 East Ave.) All the films were quite good. This Is It by David M. Korn was a bittersweet tale of an old man reminiscing about photographs in modern New York, told in flashbacks to old films. Lucky by Jesse Kross was quite good too, although a friend of mine and I debated it afterward. It was the classic tale of a woman who dies who gets the special opportunity to return for one more day with her boyfriend. They spend the day doing the commonplace things they love. The trouble with it was that it gives a little too much exposition about the afterlife experience, and worse, it concludes shockingly (albeit unconvincingly "true") which cheaply redefines the meaning of the first part of the film.

But my favorite for the night was Maze by Neal Dhand. It started out with a great title sequence that reflected the content of the film excellently. Basically it's about a guy who is fascinated with mazes and he uses them as a metaphor for solving problems in his own life. He is attracted to a woman he meets while delivering packages and tries to figure out how to woo her. He resorts to the mazes as a sort of mysticism which he follows without moral judgment to a disastrous conclusion. All major aspects of the film were excellent: acting, writing, directing, and cinematography.

On Tuesday I spent most of the evening taking things out of the stereo. My CD player and LaserDisc player had died a while ago so it was time to clean things up. I pulled everything out of the cabinet and cleaned things up. In the process I also took apart the amplifier I built in August, 1990 and fixed it "one last time."

Anyway, the point of the exercise was to simply get the broken CD player and LaserDisc player ready for the garage sale I'm having this weekend. Instead, I ended up rearranging the living room. I guess it was due — after all, it's been 9 years pretty much unchanged.

T H U R S D A Y

This evening at The Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) is a House Tour Slide Talk with Jean France starting at 7:30 p.m. [source: Landmark Society calendar] [all ages] The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting Pisschrist, gimmicky but good heavy metal from Blüdwülf, Crucifist, Assbeer, Blood Bath and Beyond, and Spoonful Of Vicodin starting around 8 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) will be hosting Devon Trumell starting around 8 p.m. [source: Starry Nites calendar] [all ages] Teagan and the Tweeds will be at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) starting around 8 p.m. [source: Boulder Coffee MySpace site] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Cherez ternii k zvyozdam (To the Stars By Hard Ways) starting at 8 p.m. An artifical woman is the only survivor of an abandoned deep-space vessel who wants to return to her home planet to restore it to its natural, unpolluted state. Although apparently a restored version, it's still full of cheesy science-fiction stereotypes — and hopefully my personal favorite, android women. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Rockin' rockabilly band Krypton 88 will be at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que (99 Court St.) starting around 10 p.m. [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] Tonight at 8 p.m. at Bodhi's Cafe & Lounge (274 Goodman St. N., in Village Gate) is an Open Mic. [source: the proverbial grapevine] Drinking Liberally meets at 8 p.m. tonight at Monty's Korner (355 East Ave.) [source: RocWiki calendar]

F R I D A Y

Today, tomorrow, and Sunday during normal garage-sale hours is The Upper Mount Hope Neighborhood Association Garage Sale. Although I only signed up for Saturday (probably from about 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) I plan to have my sale on Friday and Sunday as well, so stop by Jayce's House (45 Whiteford Rd.) [source: Jayce] Today and tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and again on Sunday from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. is the Greek Festival at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church (962 East Ave.) [source: Freetime] Today from 4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. is Fairport Canal Days (Main St., Fairport) [source: Rochester Music Coalition calendar] Tonight at Daniel Ward Salon (721 University Ave., formerly at 717 Park Ave.) from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. is the opening reception for new artwork on display titled Retrospect: Variations over Time by L. John Cielinski. [source: Daniel Ward Salon website] [all ages] Tonight at Water Street Music Hall (204 N. Water St.) is Madison Set, and Divine Hysteria starting around 7 p.m. [source: Water Street calendar] [all ages] This evening at 7 p.m. at The Baobab Cultural Center (728 University Ave., formerly on Gregory St.) is the opening of an art exhibit titled Jazzed Emotions Beyond Time and Space by Angela Rossi. [source: Baobab website] Over at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) starting around 8 p.m. is talented guitarist and singer Kinloch Nelson, and Jerry Cali [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] Tonight at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) is The Soups of the Day, and Amos the Human starting around 8 p.m. [source: Boulder Coffee MySpace site] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Die Große Stille (Into Great Silence) starting at 8 p.m. and again on Sunday at 7 p.m. It's apparently a largely [entirely, maybe] dialog-free documentary about the solitude of the Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse monastery in the French Alps. [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 Vertonen, Jason Talbot, Tumul, Stone Baby, and Tinnitustimulus starting around 9 p.m. [source: A|V Space website]

S A T U R D A Y

Today at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) is the opening of a new exhibit titled Vital Signs: Place. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Host Echo, and Sensei Starman will be at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) starting around 8 p.m. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) will be hosting City Harvest Black starting around 8 p.m. [source: Boulder Coffee MySpace site] [all ages] Tonight at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is Third Estate, Crash Martinez, and A Lowercase You starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting Hunu? (featuring members from Colorblind James Experience) starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Freetime] [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

Java Joe's (N. Union St. at Trinidad St., #1 in the Public Market) will be hosting The All Night Ramblers starting around 10 a.m. (in the morning, that is.) [source: Rochester Cajun Zydeco calendar] Over at The Bop Shop (274 N. Goodman St., in Village Gate Square) starting around 2 p.m. is Cleveland Fats. [source: Bop Shop calendar] [all ages] 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

Tonight at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) is Baby Gramps starting around 8 p.m. [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

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. Tonight at 7 p.m. at The Baobab Cultural Center (728 University Ave., formerly on Gregory St.) is a lecture on "Jazz as protest and social commentary" with Carl Atkins. [source: Baobab website] Over at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) starting around 8 p.m. is Nathaniel Seer. [source: Boulder Coffee MySpace site] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Virginia City starting at 8 p.m. in which a Union officer is assigned to steal a shipment of gold from the Confederate army during the American Civil War. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Handsome Jack, great, tight, contemporary punk-rock from 5 Watt Bulb, and classic-styled punk from The Teenage Junkies will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) is hosting an Acoustic Open Mic from 8 to 10. [source: Daily Perks calendar]

W E D N E S D A Y

The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Billy Liar starting at 8 p.m. in which a man's fantasy world starts intruding on reality. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10 p.m. is Tri-State Conspiracy. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] 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] Tonight at Café Underground Railroad (480 W. Main St.) is a Spoken Word/Poetry night starting around 9 p.m. [source: the proverbial grapevine]

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