When Johnny Cash gave mainstream country the finger in Billboard I felt vindicated. However, that crappy McCountry is still running rampant. To quote Hank Williams III, country music today has lost its O. I suppose that's true for most genres; the mainstream we're all getting shoved down our throats just isn't any good, or representative of a genre as a whole. But back to country - and the middle finger. 40 Rod Lightning played one and gave the other just the way I like it Friday night at Dubland Underground, a cool downstairs joint with a quasi-Scorgies feel in a neighborhood that is essentially in an original live music vacuum. I'd never seen a whole set from these guys. They plowed through a real strong set of insurgent country. And as the booze took hold and loosened them up a bit, they hit a nice stride that had the crowd hooked. Ninety minutes later and with little blood left in their whiskey stream, the band hillbilly'd "The Ace Of Spades" as if it had been a country tune all along.

Went to Chamber Music Rochester's "The French School: Quartos Plays Faure and Ravel" at The Memorial Art Gallery Sunday night. The opening number was Faure's "Dolly Sweet" - a piece written for four hands (that's 20 fingers) that featured pianists Michael Landrum and Joseph Werner. The two gentlemen were brilliantly in sync, but I gotta say I can't relax when the execution is so precarious; just one slip and the whole thing could wipe out. It's kinda like waiting for the inevitable wreck at NASCAR. Landrum and Werner kept it precise and kept the rubber side down with quite a bit of feeling, addressing each of the six movements with a lilting grace and flow.

Quartos followed with a spirited take on Ravel's "String Quartet In F Major." The problem I have at these classical events is I read the program before the show, so I knew Ravel was a bit of an upstart or the imagery behind Faure's work. When listening, I hear and identify these things. But I wonder if I hadn't peeked before, how would the music have struck me?