Weekly Rochester Events #241: America's Isotope

Thursday, August 21, 2003

The really cool thing going is that Mars and Earth will be really close next week. According to the University of Washington Astronomy Department page about the Mars Opposition of 27 August 2003, at 5:51 a.m. next Wednesday, Mars will be nearly as close as it gets to the Sun while Earth is at is furthest, making Mars only about 56 million kilometers from Earth. Since Earth orbits the sun faster than Mars, we pass Mars about every 26 months. The closest approaches vary between about 100 million kilometers and 56 million kilometers, typically close to the average of 78 million kilometers. Next year in September we'll be on the other side of the Sun from Mars, 378 million kilometers away. The really cool thing is that Mars hasn't been this close since 57,537 B.C. (remember that, Todd?) and won't be this close again until year 2287. It will occupy a whopping 25.1 arcseconds which is about 1/72 the width of the Moon. Really, that's big ... it will appear about size of a dime 500 feet away, or about the thickness of a stick pin at arms-length. The moon is only about 3/16 inches wide at arms length—about half as wide as an AAA battery.

It's clear that the Moon is bigger than Mars when they were close in the sky on July 17.

Really—this is really cool. You can stop making fun of me any time now.

Anyway, last Saturday was a fun night. I decided I wanted to see all the bands at both The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) and Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) I biked out to the Krown for dinner then went about a mile up Monroe to Dunkin Donuts (300 Monroe Ave.) for some coffee (and one of the worst donuts I've ever had) on the way to the Bug Jar to see Bee Eater. Then I went back to the Krown and saw a couple songs of The Franks and hung around for a couple songs from The Grinders. From there it was back up to the Bug Jar after that and I got to see the last few songs The Retreads were playing. I hung out for the start of The QUiTTERS then went back to the Krown but just missed Low Ton so I rode back to the Bug Jar to finish the night with the QUiTTERS, then rode home.

Boy was I tired.

I still am tired, but that's because I went out last night and stayed up late to see Joanna McNaney. I got a bit of a nap in but it didn't help too much ... and I've got the show with The Dickies, The Blast-Off's, and The Shackletons tonight. It looks like another black coffee day tomorrow at work.

Oh, that's right ... we had a "big" blackout last week too. Ok, I guess I could say it was "big" (instead of " 'big' " ... er, without the quotes) because it was. However, I was annoyed by the news people who kept fishing for interesting stories, but all they got was "it was inconvenient and everyone was nice." I only heard two funny stories, and they weren't on the news:

My neighbor works at the hospital (as a researcher) and had some power problems and was heading home. He stepped on the elevator, and just as the doors closed, the last thing he overheard from outside was "I guess it's affecting the entire northeast." The elevators are on generators, though, so he didn't get stuck. The other story was from my friend who was on a conference call at work. They were talking with cities all over the northeast—Ottawa and New York among them (I think.) The power dropped out for a second so they reconnected and everyone apologized for dropping the line because they had a power outage ... a collective "Uh oh" followed.

T H U R S D A Y

It's another of Screenplay Salon at Verb Café at Writers and Books (740 University Ave.) from 6 to 9 for $12. Jack Garner will introduce and discuss The Year of Living Dangerously about the political upheaval in Indonesia in 1965. Crime and Judy, fast, disharmonious rock-like punk with Uncomfortable People, and (possibly) Pinebender will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 8:30 p.m. Over at Johnny's Irish Pub (1382 Culver Rd., still smoke-free) starting around 8:30 p.m. is acoustic cover pianist Todd East The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing La notte di san lorenzo (The Night of the Shooting Stars) starting at 8. The view of the world through the eyes of a young girl. This world, though, is Italy in 1944 just before the German troops were vacating the area just ahead of American troops. Tonight at Highland Bowl (South Ave. at Robinson Dr.) they're showing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets starting around 8:30 or dusk or whenever. Pure Kona Poetry Open Mic Night is at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) tonight starting at 7:30.

F R I D A Y

Bob Dylan will be at New York State Fair (I-690 near Route 695, Syracuse, N.Y.) starting around 7:30 p.m. Friggin' awesome spoken-poetry-over-jazzy-funk-music ... umm ... band, I guess, Dream Engine will be at Spot Coffee (East Ave. and Mathews St.) Dinosaur Barbeque (South Ave. and Court St.) will be hosting the super rock band The Hirisers starting around 10 p.m. Metal band Sulaco, and KEN Mode will be at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. Tonight at Casava Jamaican Restaurant (420 Central Ave.) is a "Faces of Jazz" Jam Session starting around 10:30 p.m. Over at Norton's Pub (1730 Goodman St.) starting around 9:30 p.m. is ... if I remember right, multi-styled cover songs mostly with Rochester Brass and Electric.

S A T U R D A Y

Tonight at Water Street Music Hall (204 N. Water St.) is part of the "Faces Of Jazz" Concert Series featuring "a night of latin rhythms" with Provocativo starting around 8:45 p.m. Over at Letchworth State Park (Nunda, NY) starting around 1 p.m. is Edible Plant Walk which might be only slightly less interesting than the Hallucinogenic Plant Walk, and slightly less disturbing than the Oedipal Plant Walk. It's at the Snake Hill Overlook ... wherever the fuck that is (and I only say that because there's no way to find any maps, and the one I did find that was a scan of the trail map didn't include the overlooks.) The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Lost Highway starting at 8. This didn't really make sense to me when I saw it 6 years ago, and I just want to go back and see if I can make any sense of it now. O'Bagelo's, 165 State Street, noon. Over at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. is a rockabilly show with Lords of the Highway, and Krypton 88. Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:45 p.m. is a night of punk rock and rockabilly with The Fleshtones, Angry Johnny and the Killbillies, The Cougars, and The Rabies. Tonight at Richmond's (21 Richmond St.) is my favorite funk/rock band Astronomical Unit starting around 10:30 p.m. For your fix of modern rock and covers, Spenders (1600 Lyell Ave.) will be hosting Uncle Plum starting around 10 p.m.

M O N D A Y

Tonight at New York State Fair (I-690 near Route 695, Syracuse, N.Y.) is Meat Loaf, and Cyndi Lauper starting around 7:30 p.m.

T U E S D A Y

Tonight at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is Dexter Romweber, The Ghostwriter, and Diesel Daddy starting around 10:45 p.m. Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting Parotia starting around 10:30 p.m. Over at Montage Grille (50 Chestnut St.) starting around 9:30 p.m. is the innovative funk band, The Filthy Funk. Over at Mt. Hope Cemetery (South Gate) is Yours for Humanity: Susan B. Anthony and The 1853 Women's Rights Convention starting around 9:30 a.m. I guess the idea is that women will want to go with this, and since they stay home all day doing nothing but sit around watching their stories, they'll probably have the time to get out to this event. What? Offensive? Why? 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.

W E D N E S D A Y

According to the University of Washington Astronomy Department page about the Mars Opposition of 27 August 2003, at 5:51 a.m. this morning, Mars will almost as close to Earth as it ever gets. It's the bright orange dot in the sky you keep seeing ... and it doesn't twinkle like stars do. Updated: Unfortunately, Wolf Eyes, and Pengo Incognito are not going to be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) tonight ... the show has actually been moved to a place called Hallwalls in Buffalo. Tonight at Montage Grille (50 Chestnut St.) is Eastman Faculty Jazz Ensemble with Rich Perry starting around 8:30 p.m. How can you go wrong with a band with both "Eastman" and "ensemble" in the name? The Penny Arcade (4785 Lake Ave.) will be hosting Anthrax, E-Town Concrete, and Lacuna Coil starting around 9 p.m. Tonight from 8 to 10 is an Open-Mic Comedy Night at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) While once it was a workshop type of environment, it's now more-or-less a regular open mic ... by default it's still a place to try out new stuff.