Bootsy at the Party In The Parking Lot in Rochester New York
It was perfect weather for Bootsy’s touchdown at the “Party In The Parking Lot” last night. Of course he opened with “What’s The Name of This Town?” and when the cameras came out he said “You gotta take a picture of me because I’m not really here.”
We first saw Bootsy in the seventies at the War Memorial when the Brides of Funkenstein opened the show and Bootsy followed and was then followed by Parliament and Funkedelic. He’s still doing “Telephone Bill” and “Munchies For Your Love” from back then but not “Very Yes” and “I’d Rather Be With You.” With Bernie Worrell on keyboards he did a Hendrix tribute a Sly Stone song and sounded as good as ever but loud as hell.
Paddlewheel boat on Lake Ontario in Rochester, New York
We had read that the lake levels were unusually high and we had to see it for ourselves so we walked that way. We got there too late to see Chuck Schumer make his announcement about new measures to clean up the lake. There is hardly any beach at all at Durand. They control the lake level but they pick a level in the Spring and when we have a lot of rain they sort of have to live with the consequences. They could lower it but Montreal has a dam up there that allows water to run through it while they generate power from it and they don’t want to just dump the water for our sake.
So Wegmans grows this stuff and charges a premium for it while we can grow the same stuff for free? We haven’t even watered our garden yet this year and it’s doing fine. We’ve had fresh lettuce and spinach for weeks.
We went over to my parents to watch the US beat North Korea in the Women’s World Cup. A real clash of civilizations, the Koreans were about half the size of the Americans and young with a sixteen year in starting lineup. Rochester’s Abby Wambach had a beautiful cross and assist on the first goal. We may stop down at our neighbors for the next game since we don’t have cable. We had a big old branch come down in the last heavy rain so I’m firing up the chain saw this afternoon to take of it. I’m planning on using my new noise canceling headphones so I won’t hear you shouting at me.
Redeem Your Empties sign at Southtown Beverages in Rochester, NY
We made a point to visit the street pool today. That’s what it takes. We had only been down there once this summer. I brought my Guston book to read and finally put it down when I got to this line. “I’m not so involved with what the other guy does. You want to upset your own applecart.” Good thing I did or I’d be sunburnt.
Back in the late nineties when Margaret Explosion was was playing Friday Happy Hour at the Bug Jar Casey told about Southtown Beverage and we’ve been going there since. We only get out there a few times a year but it is always an enjoyable experience. It’s the only worthwhile establishment in Henrietta (suburb of Rochester with one of every chain restaurant or store in the world).
You drive through the building entering from the back. You open your trunk and someone takes your empties out. It helps if they’re in bags of twelve or the cases the bottles come in but they will take anything with a NY deposit. That goes for empty seltzer bottles from Wegmans and the 24 ounce Budweiser cans I find when we walk. They have have great prices on beer and “blow out’ specials on outdated beer. I picked up a case of Estrella, brewed and bottled in Barcelona with an expiration date of 5/11, for $16.99. You can stay in your car for this whole trip but I usually pull forward and park out front so I can walk back in and savor the experience with the two brothers who run the place.
I almost forgot I had a blog going here. Just as it should be. With vacation and jazz fest chalked off I reached my hand in the job jar and came up with a good one.
I spend most nights painting in the basement and it is my favorite room of the house. I like the Adirondack siding that came with the walls down there (our cat does too and uses it as a giant scratching post) but I want more white down there at least on the wall I face. So I bought some 4×8 sheets of white panel board from Home Depot and then framed in the wall so I can cover the fireplace opening. The sheets were tough to hang. Peggi and I were wrestling with them when Julio stopped by. He pitched in and had some great ideas for trimming the edges in order to cover our crude cuts.
I went to Home Depot first thing this morning and bought the trim for the top and bottom of my new wall but I didn’t go as far a julio had suggested and trim the sides. But then I changed my mind and decided to add the trim on the side so I went back to Home Depot to buy the last piece. You cut your own lengths over there and then pay by the foot. I came home and carefully cut the wrong angle on the new piece and I didn’t have any to spare so I went back to Home Depot for a third time. This is how it’s gonna be when I retire. I can see it all pretty clearly.
Jonas Kullhammar before his show at Max’s at the Rochester International Jazz Fest
The jazz pass is still a great deal so you won’t hear me complaining about the relative lack of the off beat. We stayed away from the big shows like k.d. lang, Elvis Costello and Bela Fleck and managed to find some great music every night of the nine day fest even if it meant hearing Jonas Kullhammar two nights in a row. I tracked the fest The Refrigerator for anyone who cares about this stuff.
After Norway’s “In The Country” set last night Peggi and I stopped over at Abilene to have a drink celebrate the end of the fest. I didn’t notice who was playing there but I’m guessing it was some shit kicking stuff. This is based entirely on the biker babe who came out of the back room all sweaty and ordered a shot of cherry vodka while we were talking to Olga at the bar. We skirted the crowds in the streets as we walked to the car and we were blown away by the mad sounds bouncing off the buildings, a mix whoever the extremely loud Budos Band in the tent, 38 Special on the Chestnut Street Stage and G Love & Special Sauce on the Alexander Street stage. That was some off beat stuff!
Jonas Kullhammar Quartet at Xerox Auditorium at the 2011 Rochester International Jazz Fest
Jonas charms the crowd between songs and refers to us as the “beautiful people of Rochester.” Jonas Kullhahhar Quartet have been playing together for thirteen years or so and are widely considered Sweden’s best jazz band. If they lived in the states they would be one of our best jazz bands. They’ve been at this festival three times now and we can’t get enough of them.
The piano, bass and drum rhythm section takes off like a rocket and the band is an exhilarating full tilt for most numbers. But their joyous, fresh, crisp playing is also giving way to slower, moodier, seasoned compositions with plenty of space for gorgeous piano, big bass lines and bare hand drumming. They may have stole the festival again this year. They’re playing again tonight at Max’s.
Bill Frisell on the street before his show at the Rochester International Jazz Fest
We were standing in front of the Rochester Club Ballroom but weren’t headed there. We were in the long line for Kilbourn and it was still an hour before the show when I spotted Bill Frisell heading into Brenunzio’s guitar shop on East Ave. I snapped this shot and then got back in line. The woman in front of us, who was also in line for the Frisell show, turned to us and said, “This is and embarrassing question but what instrument does Bill Frisell play?” Popularity comes with a price. After ten years the lines are longer than ever, the shows are more crowded and it’s getting harder to find alternatives to “festival favorites” like Bonarama or The Shuffle Demons.
Frisell opened with some really gnarly, prog stuff and then settled into one of his trademark, lazy, country blues things but the band never really gelled for me. I was always aware of the parts, Frisells restrained control, the plunked violin, the scattershot drums and I couldn’t hear the whole. It all felt rather tedious. We spotted Bob Martin in usual Frisell spot, right behind the sound board. He said he was having dinner with Frisell between sets. Maybe he’ll have the skinny.
Many Worlds with Greg Burk at the Rochester International Jazz Fest
“Many Worlds with Greg Burk” were the most adventurous band we have seen at this year’s festival and they were one of the best. Led by Detroit’s and now Rome’s Greg Burk on piano they indeed explored many worlds. They aired out their arrangements to the point where they teetered, just long enough to make you wonder who’s in charge and then they were off again. They have enough confidence and trust in each other to pull way back intensifying their music with every rest. Colorful arrangements featured flute, soprano and tenor sax, a great bass player and a loose limbed, left handed drummer made for an extremely melodic set
We talked to Greg after their set and told him how much we loved their music. He said they were a little nervous because they felt the other acts here were so much more straight ahead. He’s right on. With club passes that would get us into ten different venues we could not find anything else of interest last night.
Phronesis back stage at the Lutheran Church before their performance at the RochesterInternational Jazz Fest
Finally, a fresh, clear headed, energetic band, unbound by tradition and just enough off kilter to make it all brand new. Phronesis was riveting at the Lutheran Church last night. The bass player drove this band with wild abandon egged on by the frenetic drummer who dampened his snare with a towel and then rode on the snare, tom rims and just about anything but his ride cymbal. He sounded more like a tap dancer than a drummer. The piano player was great and the band tore it up.
Beer Lady at Durand EastmanGolf Course in Rochester, NY
I had always heard there was a “beer lady” at Durand Eastman and we walk that way a few times each week but I’d never seen her until now. The cans of beer she sells are on ice in the bucket attached to her cart. I reached for my camera and she said “Are you going to photograph me?” and then turned away for this shot. I told her it wasn’t a closeup but I’m sure she gets hassled by guys all day. As far as I can tell beer is big part of golf. We find cans in the woods all the time near the holes we cross and I chuck them right back out on the course.
I were asked to fill out a survey card at the Jazz Fest last night. It’s an opportunity to suggest artists you’d like to see at upcoming festivals but it’s also an opportunity for the promoters to ask how much you earn per year and how much you plan to spend at the festival. I lie about everything but the musicians I’d like to hear, Ornette Coleman, Mostly Other People Do The Killing, Ken Vandermark, Joe McPhee. Logic would tell you the information is used to give the people who have the most to spend the kind of entertainment they want. This might explain why the six venues we visited last night were packed with festival goers and such mediocre bands.
We came home and watched Monte Hellman’s 1971 cult classic, “Two Lane Blacktop” with Dennis Wilson, James Taylor and Warren Oates. I remember seeing this with Dave Mahoney back in our Bloomington Days and remember not much happened but that is the whole point.So beautiful to see the movie unfold in what feels like real time with no manipulation or plot twists and the dead pan, non actors with the masterful Warren Oates. Laurie Bird is “the girl.” Monte Hellman deliberately holds back from giving us what we want. I loved every bit bit of it.
Lucky Peterson backstage with his drummer and bass player at the Rochester International Jazz Fest
There’s one extra in this picture, the guy sitting behind Lucky Peterson. His Cuban born drummer and New Orleans’ bass player are to his right. Lucky grew up in Buffalo. You can tell by looking at his boots. He played with Little Milton and Bobby Blue Bland so his blues has soul. He is a monster on the organ, piano and guitar. He has a voice big enough to comand attention in a full house (in this case a tent) while off mic. He has the showmanship thing down with spades!
Is it my imagination or is the city falling apart? This view of downtown Rochester contrasts nicely with yesterday’s post of Madrid’s skyline. Midtown Plaza was built in 1960 and they are already tearing it down or at least we thought that was the case. We were scurrying to our next Jazz Fest stop at the Xerox Auditorium when we stopped to take in this view. I said “I thought they were tearing this whole thing down” to Peggi but a guy on the street behind us said “Oh no. They’re going to save that part of the building.”
I was thinking of the time Personal Effects had 2000 people up in that overhanging portion of this building for a record release party in the early eighties. It was called the Top Of The Plaza back then.
View of Madrid from atop El Círculo de Bellas Artes Building
It’s going to be tough pretending we are still in Madrid. We spent our last day there following the yellow PhotoEspana route of top shelf photo shows. We spent quite a while at at the “Ron Galella – Paparazzo Extroaordinaire” show at El Círculo de Bellas Artes and then took the elevator to the top floor terrace where we had a sensational view of the city.
A friend sent me a link to a story Jeff Spevak did on me as a curator of the Jazz Fest. Before we left I told Jeff to help himself to the photos I had on my site from past years festivals but I never expected this. My neighbor stopped me this morning to say “I saw the music critic dis you in the paper.” Some curator, I missed the first day while we were gone.
Art is everywhere in Madrid and quite few of the exhibitions we have stumbled on have been sponsored by the government and the admission is free. And of course there are monuments and sculptures in every plaza. Yesterday we were headed down to the Reina Sofía, Madrid’s modern art museum, and we found five or six commercial, contemporary galleries on the way.
The Reina Sofía had organized a show called “Arte en un Mundo Dividido 1945~1968” with work from their collection and in conjunction, they had a retrospective of the American painter, Leon Golub. We were excited about that but it turned out the Golub show was in a satellite site in the Parque Retiro behind the Prado. So we followed our eyes through the maze of Picassos, Richard Serras and Antonio Tápies, a Spanish painter that we liked quite a bit and headed over to the park. Golub’s scruffy tactile work holds its own with “Guérnica” from the Reina and Goya’s “The Third of May 1808” at the Prado!
Heading up Jerónimo toward the Puerta del Sol we found a heavy police presence surrounding a large crowd of Los Indignados outside a government office building. Their “15 Mayo” movement is almost a month old now and still strong. We watched for a bit while a police helicopter hovered overhead and I was still thinking about Golub’s pantings.
I have a small box of holy cards at home. I’ve collected them for many years so some are from my youth. I even have a relic of my patron saint in there that a priest friend of our family bought for me when he traveled to Italy. I was born on the feast day of Saint Paul and that’s how I got my name but it’s not the Saul/Saint Paul of the Letters, it’s Saint Paul of the Cross We used to book mark our missals with holy cards and they gave some when we made our first communion and confirmation and I fell in love with them. They were every bit as cool as baseball cards. I have some from relatives funerals and the Katarii shrine in Auriesville, New York
but most of my cards are from previous trips to Spain when we used to stop in almost every church we saw. We sort of have that under control now.
There used to be a cluster of religious shops around the Plaza Mayor in Madrid and there still are a few but the Catholics are dying and commerce has a new face. We stopped in the full blown priest supply store above and asked if they had any holy cards, they’re called estampas in Spanish, and the clerk recommended another shop where I found ten or so interesting ones for two euros.
El flamenco es filosofía pura,anõs de filosofía condensada. It is the heart of Andulasia in Southern Spain. We had to see some flamenco on our last night in Sevilla so we asked a number of people what they recommended and decided our best bet was the Museo de Flamenco founded by the famous flamenco singer Cristina Hoyos. They have a nightly show and this one included a man and woman who sang and danced, a man who sat and sang while clapping and a virtuoso guitar player. An earthy art form that came from the gypsy streets, flamenco is culturally rich. Antonia Mercé, “La Argentina,” Lorca’s muse, said “There are no schools to create flamenco just as there are no schools to create poets.”
Bull and matador in Madrid
And of course we had to take in a bullfight before leaving Spain, there is so much pomp and ceremony and rich color palette in this ritualized life and death spectacle. It’s pretty certain who is going to die here and it is sometimes messy. As a Taurus I feel sorry for the bull and almost want to root for el toro
Finding a good spot to eat in Spain is easy. Restaurants and cafés are everywhere. Picking a really good spot requires some astute attention to details. A lot of places have tables out on the street but do they have an active bar/tapa scene as well and a dining room inside? Do they serve their coffee in small glasses rather than cups? And most importantly, How many hams do they have hanging from the ceiling? Spaniards are crazy about ham. They have a chain of delicatessens called “Museo de Jamon.”
They like to have their main meal midday and la siesta is not some quaint old custom. Most places other than restaurants close down in the middle of the work day. We trade off between a big meal in the afternoon and grazing on tapas, pinchos and rationes at multiple establishments and made a point to visit Restaurante Modesto in Sevilla for the Pimentos del Padrón we spotted.
I hadn’t thought about “Kiss and Darling” in a long time. They were full color, Italian, photo novellas with young people posed perfectly in ordinary European situations along with thought bubbles or conversation that dealt mostly with romance. Nothing steamy, just dreamy. They sold them everywhere in the eighties. We used to pick them up at Bertha’s on East Main and sometimes we’d by the Spanish versions at World Wide News.
I keep flashing on them as we walk the streets of Sevilla. We’re lost most of the time but it doesn’t matter. Every street we turn on is full of people strolling, shopping or window shopping, eating and just plain living their lives out on the street. It’s like a Fellini movie and I love it.
