Weekly Rochester Events #454: To Be Queen for Nine Days

Thursday, September 20, 2007

For the most part, the past week consisted of working on Ali's new house and eating out for meals.

Last Wednesday I had a nice time chatting early at Solera Wine Bar (647 South Ave) then headed to Lux Lounge (666 South Ave.) and got into another good conversation. Then on Thursday I went to Ali's with some of her stuff from the trip and helped her unload some things from her apartment. We went to Highland Park Diner (960 S. Clinton Ave.) for dinner ... I had the mushroom-steak which was tasty but more of a good burger patty ... at least it was completely satisfying, especially when coupled with mashed potatoes. Friday I went to Ali's house and helped her dad with a bunch of little projects. Some of her friends and family showed up to clean before the big move tomorrow ... we got pizza around the corner at Salvatore's Pizza (1018 S. Clinton Ave., formerly Two Paisans Pizza) which was very good — I'm a fan of good crust and this was flavorful and perfectly cooked.

Afterward I went to Solera Wine Bar (647 South Ave) once again and had this delicious malbec blend. It was pretty late when I left but I went to Lux Lounge (666 South Ave.) anyway. I ran into some friends and hung out until after close. I ended up getting to bed around 3. Worse, though, was that Saturday I got up at 7 a.m. to get to Ali's apartment and help move everything that was left. Her extended family showed up — some at her parents' house to get things out of storage. We all met back at Ali's new house and got everything moved in a matter of hours. We went to a party for a friend of Ali's who's moving to Texas in a few weeks and although our intention was to take a nap for a few hours, it turned into "sleeping all night".

We called a friend on Sunday to see if he'd meet us at Flour City Diner (35 Chestnut St., formerly Danny's East End Café) but he was away from town for the moment. The two of us went and it was an okay experience. Our server was quite young and she missed a few things along the way, like failing to check on us at all or fill up the empty coffee. The "Cajun Benedict" — this week's eggs benedict special — was a bit disjoint as well: the spicy andouille sausage fought against the bland bean sauce and sweet corn muffin, leaving the egg on its own. It's usually better ... and of course, the rest of the meal was fine. I helped Ali work on some stuff around her house then we went to Paola's Burrito Place (1921 South Ave., formerly Big Dog's Hots) for a delicious dinner.

That night we walked to Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) for the show there. First up was Argus Eye who are a rock band with a stoner-rock sound and long songs ... good and pleasantly not tiring. Next was Long Lake who I didn't like as much because although they were good, they had too much of a typical modern-rock sound. Finally The Mathematicians took the stage and brought more of their synth-pop/hip-hop math-nerd-rock antics. I was surprised to find a lot of fans I'd never seen before, presumably from finding them on the Internet.

Monday I was again at Ali's with her dad — we had to put basement jack posts in place where a prior (i.e. 1970's) forced-air furnace installer cut the floor joists in the basement to stick in vents — which, for those of you not horrified, damages the structural integrity of the house. No wonder the floors are crooked. That night we went to Ming's I (1038 S. Clinton Ave.) for a tasty cheap meal. Tuesday was similar ... Ali's dad and I installed carpet in the living room. On that night we went to Gusto (277 Alexander St.) for dinner and The Corn Hill Creamery (290 Exchange Blvd.) afterward for dessert. Gusto was excellent: very traditional just-like-nanna's Italian and Sicilian dishes with balanced, flavorful seasoning. I highly recommend the angel hair pesto and Ali really enjoyed the lasagna special (particularly because she's a fan of peas in pasta — apparently a Sicilian tradition).

T H U R S D A Y

Today at 4:30 p.m. in the Hawkins-Carlson Room of The Rush Rhees Library in The University of Rochester (Library Rd. at Intercampus Dr., details on River Campus Map), Edward J. Blum will discuss I Wonder Where Christ's Gone?: How Langston Hughes and W.E.B. Du Bois Tried to Save Jesus. [source: University of Rochester website] Tonight at Lux Lounge (666 South Ave.) is the opening reception for art by Four Local Artists featuring works by Michael Ford, Lorraine Bohonos, Jay Lincoln, and Aaron Burto. [source: City Newspaper] [21+] The Inventor's Society of Western New York will be having their monthly meeting in Rundel Auditorium at The Rochester Public Library (115 South Ave.) starting at 6:30 p.m. [source: Rochester Public Library calendar] This evening at 7 p.m. at The Asbury First United Methodist Church (1050 East Ave.) is a meeting of The Rochester Genealogical Society featuring a selection of 6 discussions dealing with genealogical research. [source: Rochester Genealogical Society website] [all ages] Videohippos, good shoe-gazer drone/mellow rock from The Sleeping Kings of Iona, and City Harvest Black will be at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) starting around 8 p.m. [source: A|V Space website] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing River's Edge starting at 8 p.m. Director Tim Hunter will be on hand to introduce and discuss his film. It's about a group of kids who dispassionately observe the ramifications of the murder of one of their classmates by her boyfriend. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Tonight and every Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the Learning Center at Brighton Memorial Library (2300 Elmwood Ave.) is a meeting of The Rochester Movie Makers Club [source: AIVF Salon Rochester Yahoo! Group] Drinking Liberally meets at 8 p.m. tonight at Monty's Korner (355 East Ave.) [source: RocWiki calendar]

F R I D A Y

POW/MIA Recognition Day This afternoon 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 The Rochester Print Club Exhibit. [source: Arts and Cultural Council website] Tonight from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at The Oxford Gallery (267 Oxford St.) is the opening reception for artworks by Bill Santelli, and John Lombardi. [source: Oxford Gallery website] This evening at 6 p.m. at The Williams Gallery at The First Unitarian Church of Rochester (220 S. Winton Rd.) is the opening reception for In Abeyance — Hemlock & Canadice: Two Lakes, Two Alternatives, Two Concerned Citizens by Christine Sevilla, and Gloria Betlem. [source: City Newspaper] Tonight starting at 7 p.m. at Water Street Music Hall (204 N. Water St.) is Rock For Food, a benefit for Foodlink (936 Exchange St.) featuring The Hoodies, The Demos, Shelflyfe, and more. [source: Water Street calendar] [all ages] Organist Wim Viljoen will be performing tonight at 7:30 p.m. at St. Anne Church (1600 Mt. Hope Ave.) [source: Freetime] [all ages] Tonight at 8 p.m. and tomorrow at 9:45 p.m. is another performance of The Nuts and Bolts Comedy Improv Troupe at Upstage at The Auditorium Center (875 Main St E.) [source: Nuts and Bolts e-mail] Tonight at The Bop Shop (274 N. Goodman St., in Village Gate Square) is The Jack and Jim Show: Think 69 featuring Eugene Chadbourne, and Jimmy Carl Black starting around 8 p.m. [source: Bop Shop calendar] [all ages] Tonight at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) is slightly off-balance, complex, hard-hitting, mid-tempo rock band with a bit of that chaos-rock from Hungness (formerly Kill Myself on Monday), and talented experimental acoustic soloist Gregory Paul starting around 8 p.m. for their Ron Paul Awareness Performance. [source: Boulder Coffee MySpace site] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada starting at 8 p.m. and again on Sunday at 7 p.m. The movie is about a man trying to return the body of his friend to his family in Mexico. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] The Club at Water Street (204 N. Water St.) will be hosting a hippie groove rock band with a great lead singer called Sim Redmond, and The Breakfast starting around 9 p.m. [source: Water Street calendar] [all ages] The Low Budgets, Warsquad, and The Insubordinates will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+]

S A T U R D A Y

If you'd like to get together with some other people to go to The Windmill Farm and Craft Market (3900 State Route 14A, Penn Yan) and get lunch at The Essenhaus (1300 State Route 14, Penn Yan), then get on MEETinROCHESTER and sign up to get together at Frontier Commons (1225 Jefferson Rd.) to do a road trip there starting at 9:30 a.m. [source: MEETinROCHESTER calendar] Today starting at 10:15 a.m. at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) is their Upstairs/Downstairs Tour for Eastman House members. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) will be hosting daring, talented acoustic soloist JoAnn Vaccaro starting around 8 p.m. [source: Starry Nites calendar] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Blood Tea and Red String starting at 8 p.m. and then again tomorrow at 5 p.m. The Eastman House calendar says, "in this hauntingly beautiful stop-motion animation fantasy, a group of aristocratic mice commission a human-like mechanical doll from 'the creatures who dwell under the oak.' When the wily creatures — part fox and part raven — decide they can't live without their doll, the mice resort to thievery ... and that's just the beginning of this strange fairy tale for adults." [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Over at Java's (16 Gibbs St.) starting around 9 p.m. is NeoCollage. [source: Java's calendar] [all ages] Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. is the CD release party for surf-rock-and-nerdy-stage-show band The Isotopes, good punk-rock from The Emersons, and Irish-slanted punk-rock from Tom Foolery and the Shannanighans (not Shenanigans). [source: Bug Jar calendar] [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 3 p.m. at The Center at High Falls Fine Art Gallery (60 Browns Race) is the opening of Reunion. [source: City Newspaper] [all ages] This afternoon at 4 p.m. at Jeremiah's Tavern (1104 Monroe Ave.) is a meeting for contributors at RocWiki and "interested others". [source: RocWiki calendar] Walri, and The Soups of the Day will be at Java's (16 Gibbs St.) starting around 9 p.m. [source: Java's calendar] [all ages]

M O N D A Y

Tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Ciminelli Lounge at The Eastman Commons in the residence hall of The Eastman School of Music (100 Gibbs St.) is a New Music Recital with David Gompper. [source: Eastman School of Music calendar] [all ages] Once again at Verb Café at Writers and Books (740 University Ave.) it's another Wide Open Mic with Norm Davis at 7:30 p.m. [source: Writers and Books calendar] [all ages] Tonight at 8 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall at Eastman Theatre (60 Gibbs St.) is the Jazz Department Ensembles Showcase. [source: Eastman School of Music calendar] [all ages] In theory, there is another Emerging Filmmakers Program tonight at The Little (240 East Ave.) at 9:15 p.m., but I haven't heard anything about it so your guess is as good as mine. As soon as I get the details I'll post the films. 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 Kate Gleason Auditorium at The Rochester Public Library (115 South Ave.) is Books Sandwiched-In. Today, Nathan Robfogel will discuss Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989 by Michael Beschloss. [source: Rochester Public Library calendar] [all ages] This evening at 7 p.m. at Verb Café at Writers and Books (740 University Ave.) is another 25 and Under reading, featuring works by people whose age matches the title. [source: Writers and Books calendar] [all ages] Over at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) starting around 8 p.m. is accordion and a crosscut saw duo Dreamland Faces. [source: Boulder Coffee MySpace site] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing a program of very early (historically) movies starting at 8 p.m. First, The Story of the Kelly Gang is noted in the calendar as "probably the world's first feature film" and is the tale of Australia's folk hero Ned Kelly. They will also be showing The Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole and Thunderbolt. Live piano accompaniment will be provided by Philip C. Carli. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting The Sodapop Kids, The Heart Attacks, The Urgencies, and good bar-rock/thrash band The Hounds of Hell starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+]

W E D N E S D A Y

Starting tonight at 7 p.m. at Downstairs Cabaret (172 West Main St.) is the start of a limited return-engagement of Ava. [source: Downstairs Cabaret calendar] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (Aguirre, the Wrath of God) starting at 8 p.m. A Spanish explorer mutinies an expedition and takes dangerous chances to find the legendary golden city of El Dorado. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting rapid-fire modern metalish rock from The Gentlemen's Club, Handsome Jack, and The Nearby starting around 9:30 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]

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