Weekly Rochester Events #359: One Georgeous Lake

Thursday, November 24, 2005

For the few who care, let me just start out by noting that O'Bagelo's (165 State Street) is closed this weekend so we'll go back next week.

I started finally getting out to more than just seeing rock-and-roll bands ... in fact, to the complete exclusion of seeing rock-and-roll bands. On Friday I went to the Hibernatus Interruptus Festival of New Plays at Nextstage at Geva (75 Woodbury Blvd.) They did a reading of Hickorydickory by Marisa Wegrzyn. It's set in a world where people have actual mechanical "mortal clocks" inside them that tick down the minutes until they die (Marisa admitted knowing about DeathClock.com but said it wasn't the catalyst for the script.) For most, this clock is tucked behind their heart, but for some, it's inside their head and they are fully aware of the time they have left with the constant reminder of, well, a ticking clock. It's set in and around a clock shop and the family who runs it consisting of Jimmy, Kate, and their daughter Dale. It turns out that Dale's biological mother is Cari Lee who bore Dale when she was 17 — and was one of the unfortunate souls whose mortal clock she could hear. At that time, Cari Lee went through an unusual procedure to have it removed, and it was subsequently broken, leaving her stuck at 17 forever.

I generally liked it — it was somewhat long (3 acts and almost 3 hours) but rewarding. It makes for an interesting exercise to see a 17-year-old talk with her own 17-year-old mother — especially if the mother irritates her daughter with childish mannerisms. The play asks some pretty deep questions about maturity, death, and life, and at the same time having a lighthearted wit about it. It was also intersting to see it as a staged reading with an informal survey of audience response afterward — although the script is generally complete, it may need some fine tuning to ensure the vision of the playwright is accurately conveyed. Either that, or it's being groomed to be more palatable for commercial theater — depending on how cynical you are.

On Saturday I went to The Rochester Visual Studies Workshop (31 Prince St.) to see the new exhibition titled The Cluttered House by Jenn Libby. The artists statement said it had to do with the fleeting memories we have of the past, placed into specimen jars. In a way it got its point across, but I thought the images and shapes in the jars were far to sterile to elicit memories. Although it seems we have a lot of common ground in our lives, it's not some arbitrary fencepost we remember, it's the very specific one with the weird knotty twist in the middle that we were leaning on in the high summer goldenrod exploring our first kiss, leading us to fetishize holes and wood ... er ... or so some friend of mine said.

Although one could argue that the specimen jar motif amplifies those differences, I thought the point was far too subtle. However, another part of the exhibit met with more success: that of a slideshow utilizing family slides with a voice reading entries from an old diary. This presentation seemed more familiar to me, for I recall the trauma of sitting through numerous, lengthy, boring childhood slideshows (no offense Mom & Dad). A deadpan reading of an old diary amplifies the artificiality of the things we record. I mean, slideshows rarely capture anything about what was going on for real ... just the faces and shapes of people frozen in time. And diaries — ones similar to this one — often document the mundane actions of an individual, leaving the reader to glean only tiny bits of personality and growth (even though such diaries are often kept secret when they're written.)

Sunday night I went to the Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) to see Return to Oz. Writer/director Walter Murch was on hand (staying from last night's screening of The Conversation on which he was responsible largely for sound.) It follows Dorothy back to the world of Oz — largely following L. Frank Baum's novels Ozma of Oz and The Land of Oz and drawing visual inspiration for from the illustrations by John R. Neill in those books. As I watched I had vague recollections of the film — presumably from advertisements or possibly a Saturday-afternoon screening on television. I was a bit annoyed to find the film very much stereotypical 1980's Disney — particularly disturbing were the fade-out/fade-in around black silence, an obvious cue to insert a commercial break. However, the story, visuals, and (as Michael Neault noted in his introduction of the film) the sound design were very strong. Overall, its a decent movie, and probably one that's great for children or just less critical movie snobs like myself.

Tuesday night was the only live music I saw: Maria Gillard with bass guitarist (and fellow Burning Man afficianado) Rob Storms play at The Flipside Bar and Grill (2001 E. Main St.) I hadn't ever been there before — it's a charming local pub, decorated with record sleeves from the decades when records were prolific — it's got a cozy 1970's rec-room vibe. I'm always happy to see Maria play and sing since she's so friendly and welcoming — not to mention tremendously skilled (but not to the point of being too serious.)

In her song "When I Had No TV," (about not having a television, duh) she sings about how she was more calm then ... that sat with me and I decided to quit going to sleep with the TV on to see if I can be any less high-strung. Getting rid of the satellite dish helped a lot, but left me with the most distilled nastiness in the form of off-air commercials.

Speaking of no TV, Wednesday night I went to see It Happened One Night at the Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) In general, I liked it, but as screwball comedies go — and despite the awards received — I still like Bringing Up Baby more. Nonetheless, It Happened One Night was a rather amusing and touching movie. I can see why it's such an achievement in that early era of filmmaking, but I still like the later film with lines like the naive Susan quipping of the titular tiger, "'He's three years old, gentle as a kitten, and likes dogs.' I wonder whether Mark means that he eats dogs or is fond of them?"

Afterward I headed over to Lux Lounge (666 South Ave.) for the one night when I go there to "see the freaks." And by "freaks" I'm of course referring to "amateur drinkers" and by "amateur drinkers" I'm of course referring to the people who drift back into town to meet their townie friends but don't have any idea how to handle cheap shots and $1.50 PBR's.

T H U R S D A Y

Thanksgiving Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 9:30 p.m. is excellent 1960's/rockabilly-styled rock-and-roll from The Hi-Risers with George Miller, of The Kaisers. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+]

F R I D A Y

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 Genesee Valley Park Ice Rink (131 Elmwood Ave.) is a Family Fun Night from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. featuring a DJ, dancing, trivia, and door prizes. [source: City Hall press release] Tonight at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) is The Bon Chance Cajun Band starting around 8 p.m. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Pas sur la bouche (Not on the Lips) starting at 8 p.m. about a married woman who discovers that her husband's business partner is her secret ex-husband. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Casual acoustic soloist Lisa Dotolo will be at Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) starting around 9 p.m. [source: Starry Nites calendar] [all ages] Powerful rock-and-roll from The Earl Cram Revue will be at Spy Bar (139 State St.) starting around 10 p.m. [source: WBER calendar] Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting great surf-rock influenced punk-rock from The Priests starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Freetime] [21+]

S A T U R D A Y

Over at German House (315 Gregory St.) starting around 4 p.m. is wicked fun percussive groove-rock from The BuddhaHood, really good dub band Mountain Mojo Authority, Marcus Robinson, Thornwood Jazz, Jimmie Highsmith, Jr., The Mambo Kings, and The Bill Tiberio Group. [source: Rochester Music Coalition calendar] [all ages] Over at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) starting around 8 p.m. is Sonia Lee. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing King Kong starting at 8 p.m. Ah, the classic original version. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Tonight at Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) is Whatsie starting around 9 p.m. [source: Starry Nites calendar] [all ages] A|V Art Sound Space (#8 in the Public Market, off N. Union St., formerly The All-Purpose Room) will be hosting The Graveyards, frequently semi-melodic fast-paced noise from Pengo, Caustic Solution, and The Rainbeaux starting around 9 p.m. [source: artsound website] Really good hard rock from Low Ton, and tight, technical metal from BML will be at The Montage Live (50 Chestnut St., formerly the Montage Grille) starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: Montage calendar] The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting Garage Pop 15 featuring awesome punk-rock from The QUiTTERS, great rock-and-roll from The Grinders, awesome, tight, complex rock-and-roll from The VEiNS, the return of The Purrs, and good fast rock from The Franks starting around 10 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] Tonight at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) is Burning Snella starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: band e-mail] [21+] Tonight's another Betty's Sing-a-Long at Betty Meyer's Bullwinkle Café (622 Lake Ave.) starting around 10.

S U N D A Y

This afternoon at the Fountain Court at The Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. is a 15-minute recital on the recently installed Italian Baroque organ by Jonathan Young. [source: Memorial Art Gallery calendar] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing The Son of King Kong starting at 5 p.m. Made shortly after the original, it's more stop-motion fun! (Note the unusual start-time.) At 7 p.m. (the usual Sunday time) they'll be showing The Shining starting at 7 p.m. A troubled writer takes care of a desolate Colorado hotel to get some time away from things, but it doesn't really help is writing all that much. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) is hosting their weekly Open Mike Poetry tonight at 7 p.m. [source: Starry Nites calendar] [all ages]

M O N D A Y

Tonight at Verb Café at Writers and Books (740 University Ave.) is another Wide Open Mike with Norm Davis starting at 7:30 p.m. [source: Writers and Books calendar] There's also Open Mic Poetry at Java's (16 Gibbs St.) starting around 9 p.m. [source: Java's calendar] [all ages] Updated: Tonight is another Emerging Filmmakers Program tonight at The Little (240 East Ave.) at 9:15 p.m. They'll be screening True Believer by Dave Puls, Terminal by Jennifer Treuting, In Whose Name? by Nandini Sikand, The Wait by David Korn, Eternal Shame by Terry Cuddy, The Diversion by Elizabeth Holder, Night for a Day by Alvin Tsang and Silvana Vienne, and Dentist by Signe Baumane. 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. This time, photographer (and cartoonist and caricature artist) Dave Boyer will discuss and present images from The Essence of Japan. Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 9:30 p.m. is Grime Time, solidly good punk band The Sweatshop Boys, Moustache, and The Shitty Faggots. [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

Today from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. in Room 314, Morey Hall at The University of Rochester (Elmwood Ave. at Intercampus Dr., details on River Campus Map) is a Work in Progress Seminar titled Colorblind but not Colordeaf: Sonic Colorlines in the Work of Ann Petry [source: University of Rochester Events Calendar] Tonight at 6 p.m. at The Hands-On Chiropractic and Wellness Center (1441 South Ave.) is a Drum Circle and Rhythm Meditation with Matt Giordano from Drum Echoes. [source: WBER calendar] Tonight at The Center for Optics Manufacturing (240 E. River Rd.) starting around 6:30 p.m. is Gaurav Sharma discussing Authentication Watermarking: Security, Localization and a New Lossless Framework. RSVP to The Rochester IEEE Signal Processing Society to attend. [source: the proverbial grapevine] Tonight at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) is the Daily Perks 5th Birthday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing The Crimson Kimono starting at 8 p.m. Ok, straight from the calendar is best: In a provocative exploration of racism in American society, [writer/director Saumel] Fuller tells the tough film noir story of two Los Angeles cops, one of whom is Japanese American. Teamed up to uncover the murder of a stripper, both detectives fall in love with the same witness. The mounting tensions are accentuated by Fuller's strikingly realistic opening sequence and a brilliantly edited poolroom fight. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Tonight at The Club at Water Street (204 N. Water St.) is Men, Women, and Children, and Action Action starting around 9 p.m. [source: Water Street calendar] 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] [all ages]

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