Weekly Rochester Events #442: Years of Continuous Settlement

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Last Thursday I headed to The Rochester Public Library (115 South Ave.) to finally check out a meeting of The Inventor's Society of Western New York. I gathered that in some meetings, people discuss their inventions, but this one was rather boring and bleak. It was about their new website and about patent laws and such. Basically everything that sucks about knowing how to do things.

It made me not want to make things anymore. Well, not for public consumption anyway. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the patent attorneys are a racket that treat inventors like dogs: "jump through the hoops for us!" they say. Well screw you. I won't play your game where you say I need a patent to protect me — when in fact all it protects me from is someone else patenting my idea and preventing me from building what I invented.

I mean think about it: if I invent something useful for people and get a patent it, that means I can sue somebody else if they try and build the same thing. Of course, I have to prove that what they're building violates my patent, sinking my life savings into lawyers and hoping that I win and get my investment back. On the other hand, if I don't patent my invention and build it anyway, somebody else can sue me for the same kind of thing. They can even patent my own idea and sue me for it, leaving it up to me to prove that I invented it before them.

My solution for now is to write about how to make things. That way, people who have skills to make things will benefit from my inventions and everyone else will suffer their miserable lives without. Especially the patent lawyers and patent office and all their leeching pals.

But anyway, Ali and I stopped by the crew from Drinking Liberally at Monty's Korner (355 East Ave.) and picked up a pretty good dinner from The Pita Pit (311 Alexander St.) next door. It's always a good time hanging out drinking with people who think for themselves ... well, at least "think for themselves more often than average."

On Friday I went out to The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) to see Alejandro Jodorowsky's La moñtana sagrada (The Holy Mountain). What a wild friggin' movie. I don't know where to begin explaining it. For one thing, it's a non-stop barrage of visuals and acts like you've never seen. I've never been very good at picking up on metaphor and this film seems to leave the doors wide open for interpretation. I assume it was created from our romantic view of what dreams are like: that perfect world that makes sense only within the dream. In other words, the film spouts forth a seemingly endless supply of visceral, perfect dream imagery that — in the world of the movie — it is accepted without question and otherwise completely unexplained. The best part, though, is that the secret to eternal life is that it's just a movie. And then Ferris Bueller tells you to go home.

Saturday I had fun biking around to garage sales and getting some pretty good deals (on things I was actually looking for). That night Ali and I got together to go to Tapas One Seventy Seven (177 Saint Paul St.) for dinner. No special occasion — just that we had earmarked some money for one thing a while back that never came about so we planned to go have a nice dinner. And indeed it was! I had the ostrich steak which was great — even though it came out far rarer than "medium" (and our server was sharp enough to notice and offer to have it cooked more). The wine was great ... Ali's beef tenderloin was excellent ... the lemon cake dessert was excellent. All around great! [And pretty expensive.]

Sunday morning we followed a night of drinking with friends with a requisite trip to the diner. This time it was The Blue Horizon Restaurant (1174 Brooks Ave.) Although I stuck to a simple bacon-and-eggs breakfast, everything was very good and service was fast. [And not expensive.]

That afternoon we went to Ali's friend's house to pick up a couple kittens. The mother cat was killed by a car so the 6 kittens were fed by hand. One was to be hers to keep her other cat company and the other was for a friend of hers. Well, the tiger-faced gray kitten was okay but the solid gray one was a complete asshole. All it would do is to hiss and scratch. The tiger-faced one was okay, and once Ali got the asshole to her friend's farm, the tiger-faced one started warming up and looks like it'll become a good little cat.

Monday night I made it to The Little (240 East Ave.) to catch one entry in Little Foreign Film Festival: Starfish Hotel. I found it to be very well executed, but rather confusing and not all that unusual a story. Basically a guy is reading the horror novelist of the day and he starts really getting into the stories. Or maybe they're getting into him. I guess it's all about what's real and what's not — the idea that you can be one thing in one place and another elsewhere and maybe if you try hard enough, you can become completely unreal — although at a price.

On Tuesday night I got out to Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) to check out the music there. Starting off was Bending and Breaking which I ended up liking, but felt they're the kind of band that people would say is a "good jazz band" and, like other bands of that ilk, I had trouble staying interested in them. Well, after a while I warmed up to them, especially their more improvised pieces. Also there was Lemon Lime Tennis Shoes who are a really good ska-punk band. They felt out of place at a coffee shop, but I've noticed that Boulder's music choices are often bolder than expected. Oh, and the salad and smoothie I got were both quite good.

In case anyone's paying attention, I got out to do some more barefoot running. Last Thursday I went for a short run and although my calves were sore, they were at least sore in that "developing muscles" kind of way rather than "I think you really hurt yourself" way. On Monday I was out again, this time finally finishing a mile. I'm continuing to take it slowly because not getting injured is more important than running marathons by the end of the month.

T H U R S D A Y

The Flat Iron Café (561 State St.) will be hosting Deborah Branch starting around 8 p.m. [source: Flat Iron Cafe webstie] Over at Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) starting around 8 p.m. is The Terriers. [source: Starry Nites calendar] [all ages] Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) will be hosting Baby Shivers Boutique starting around 8 p.m. [source: Boulder Coffee MySpace site] [all ages] Over at Big City Summer Fest (Browns Race and Furnace St., the Lamar Stage) starting around 9:20 p.m. is The Small Stars. [source: Big City Summer Fest website] The Velocet, The Spirit of Ontario, and The True Believers will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] The rocking rockabilly of Krypton 88 will be at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que (99 Court St.) starting around 10 p.m. [source: Dinosaur Bar-B-Que calendar] Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting Cavalcade starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Freetime] [21+] This evening from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) is The South Wedge Farmers Market. [source: Rochester Turning] [all ages] 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 from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m., tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. is The Taste of Rochester (1 E. Main St. to St. Paul St.) featuring foods from area restaurants. [source: RocWiki] This evening from 5 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 metalwork and woodwork by Jun Suk Min. [source: Arts and Cultural Council website] 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] Tonight at 6 p.m. starting at The Rochester Contemporary Art Gallery (137 East Ave.) is a historical bike tour titled From Grave to Cradle: Sites, Insights and Foresights of Great Rochester Innovators guided by Ron Richardson. [source: Obadiah Dogberry Society e-mail] [all ages] Tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m. at The School of the Arts (45 Prince St.) is a presentation of the RO(chester)TO(ronto) Dance Series by The Park Avenue Dance Company (15 Vick Park B). [source: Craigslist Rochester events] Tonight at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) is impressive and excellent organic, experimental jazz from The Blood and Bone Orchestra starting around 8 p.m. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] The Dan Puccio Quartet will be at Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) starting around 8 p.m. [source: Starry Nites calendar] [all ages] Over at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) starting around 8 p.m. is Walri, and Smock. [source: Boulder Coffee MySpace site] [all ages] Tonight starting around 9 p.m. at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is the Art Opening for artwork by Ed Repard along with a performance by his good, loud, fast rock band El Destructo. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Over at The Flat Iron Café (561 State St.) starting around 9 p.m. is Micah. [source: Flat Iron Cafe webstie] Tonight at Bodhi's Cafe & Lounge (274 Goodman St. N., in Village Gate) is Andrew Marks starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: Bodhi's Cafe MySpace page]

S A T U R D A Y

Today from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. is "The Famous & the Forgotten" Tour starting at Mt. Hope Cemetery Office (1133 Mt. Hope Ave., near the South Gate) [source: Freetime] Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) will be hosting Steven Piper starting around 8 p.m. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] The Lovetts will be at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) starting around 8 p.m. [source: Boulder Coffee MySpace site] [all ages] The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting The Detroit Cobras, great 1960's-style rock from St. Phillip's Escalator, good punch-rock from The Cheetah Whores, and hard-hitting, loud punk-rock from Ghostharm starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] Over at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. is very good metal from Sulaco, Old Boy, fun and mean rock from Eddie Nebula and the Plague, and great punk-rock/hard-rock from The UV Rays. [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

Today at 2 p.m. at The Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) is a What's Up Lecture with Debora McDell discussing the Soldier's Heads sculpture. [source: Memorial Art Gallery 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]

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. Water Street Music Hall (204 N. Water St.) will be hosting acoustic-rock harpist Mary Shannon, Mesh Factor, and excellent, daring acoustic soloist JoAnn Vaccaro starting around 8 p.m. [source: band e-mail] Over at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) starting around 8 p.m. is Speakeasy, and Robin Hood. [source: Boulder Coffee MySpace site] [all ages] Tonight at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is Frankie and his Fingers, and Olive Drab and The Etceteras 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

Independence Day The Apostles Of The Hidden Son will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. [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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