I got yet another speeding ticket yesterday - my first one in almost 3 years… at least I know it’s been more than 2 years.

I was running late for my kid’s Kindergarten graduation and then I got stuck in slow moving traffic out in the country. Finally when I got around the 10mph under drivers I got 2 minutes down the road and then at the bottom of a hill I was nailed by a state trooper. (By the way, those hats gotta go.)

Apparently I was going 76 in a 55. I really don’t know how fast I was going - and I’m not just saying that. I was not paying attention at all, but I will tell you that I was completely in control, there weren’t any other cars or people around, and even if I was going that fast I don’t really care. Why? Because almost nobody else does.

I just got back from a weekend in the NYC area  - driving around on Long Island, and the major highways that get you there (81 & 87). People are in a hurry and they were weaving in and out of traffic - which I agree is a bad idea - and passing me like I was standing still when I was going almost 80mph - in a 55 no less! I even had a local cop from out that way blow past me going way over the speed-limit.

I completely admit that I break the law and speed at least once every single time I operate a motor vehicle - period. I’m willing to bet that most of you do too. I don’t care if it’s 5 over or if you were going 140mph either way you’re guilty and you have little to no respect for these traffic laws. The same goes for those of us who do not come to complete stops at all intersections.

What pisses me off about the laws in this wonderful country is that there seems to be an acceptance that the laws only apply to some of us. If you have money and lawyers you can get away with just about any crime you want… Apparently if you’re a cop you can speed whenever you want. Go ahead, turn on your lights and siren to blow through traffic… get through that red light - break all the laws you pretend to uphold and place so much importance on just to get to the Drive Thru at Wendy’s, or pull into a mobile station. I have seen this a bunch of times.

I really hate some of our laws, but like most people I don’t go around making it my life’s work to get them changed either. I’ve tried raising the issue before - I’ve been yelled at by cops, judges, lawyers, I even argued a ticket for myself in court and basically won - only to then have the judge tell me that the state will just re-file the charges the following morning and then the court will do everything in it’s power to make sure I get the maximum punishments allowed by law, so then I chickened out and took a plea. (Then they asked me if I was in law school and then told me I should really consider it. WTF?!)

What I hate more about laws I don’t agree with is that they aren’t equally enforced. If you want drugs to be illegal then make all drugs illegal. Why can’t we smoke pot but we can drink ourselves retarded? Why is it that people speed every day - drive right past a cop going 5 or 10 over the posted limit and nothing happens? If speeding is really so serious, then why is it that most tickets are reduced in court?

Why the hell is it legal to buy a car that can go so fast if it’s so important to drive at or below the speed limit? I used to paint cars and part of my job was driving these cars to my shop. I was a young idiot when I started that job and I’ve hit the governor on many vehicles - usually between 99 and 119. Once I got in a BMW M3 coupe and I did over 140mph on a back road out in Rush, NY - and that car could have gone even faster.

At least give me the logic that I was going out of my way and doing something wrong and I got punished just like everyone else. No exceptions, no reductions. It just further re-enforces to me that it’s more about fines than it is safety and rules. Don’t give me the crap about 30% of traffic fatalities are attributed to speed either. I can take numbers and statistics and tell you anything I want with them. Are they counting people who are driving recklessly? Because that is totally different than going even 40mph over the limit in most cases.

Fact is I’ve driven a few old American cars in stock form. They handle poorly and didn’t have Overdrive. Going 65mph in a 1969 Oldsmobile 442 feels like you’re going at a pretty good rate of speed. Cars today are far superior. They’re smoother, they handle better, they’re more stable at speed, they have a bazillion more safety features, the list just goes on. I trust any reasonable adult to handle driving over the speed-limit as long as they feel comfortable and are in control.

I propose we drive less and drive safer, more fuel efficient cars. Actually, I’d love to see more public transportation around which just about solves my speeding addiction entirely. But until that utopia is upon us, set the speed limit way up there… 85mph or something like for a major highway. The road where I got nailed yesterday is posted at 55mph but I think it should be 70mph. Admittedly there have been times in the past that I’ve gone over 100mph in the same area, but I’m not saying that should be legal.

The only place people should slow down is in heavy traffic, road hazards, or in areas with lots of people around -  something most of us would just do out of common sense anyway. Then we get rid of these big V-8 powered gas guzzlers the cops are driving around or sitting in running all day looking for speeders. They aren’t supposed to chase anyone anyway, so they don’t need them for speed and if they really need to go fast you just need to look around to see that even a little car with a 4 banger can be quick as hell these days.

The speed limit purely a money making business run by towns and insurance companies. I heard the insurance companies actually buy the police their radar guns! Fitting since once you get a ticket on your record they jack your rates through the roof.

So, watch the road ahead - someone is out for your wallet, and if it ain’t the cops, the gas companies surely are.

Let me first start by saying that Friday Night / Early Saturday morning left a few friends of mine with the feeling that Rochester is a hopeless culture vacuum and that any good music or art that comes from this town will probably die here as well.

One of my pals was so bothered that he has now purchased the domain, “www.rochesterhatesmusic.com.”

When it’s up and running, “Rochester hates music” will be a site dedicated to exposing Rochester music and musicians that never ever ever ever ever get talked about or exposed in the other 2 or 3 places that you have a shot to be written about in. (Problem B is going to be getting traffic to the site so that these musicians are actually read about.)

Next I’d like to point out that in no way do the following opinions about to be expressed in this column represent Dragonflyeye.net or it’s affiliates, nor should the comments be taken out on any of the author’s affiliates - again, who are we kidding because in a culture vacuum nobody reads this stuff anyway…

There is a myspace page and a website called Rochester Underground, and frankly I see nothing underground about it.

I see a lot of flash and glitz, I see a lot of photos of hot bar girls, and Abercrombie / Hollister looking 20 somethings out bar hopping, drunk and sucking down lame ass light beer, chasing down the American dream in a new computer age perverted sort of I-Phone holding statue of liberty with her thong showing and a look in her eye of no more than a 15 second attention span, while shitty clean cut A-street cover bands  pour on the schmooze over a Sublime song that will have everyone singing along.  They covered the fucking East End Fest for Christ’s sake! It doesn’t get any further from underground than that! Who played this year - let me guess, some old dues and Uncle Plum again?

I walked on stage at 11pm Friday night at the Dub-land underground (coincidence here?) to a pretty large spill over crowd from the East End Fest. I Found out that 3 kinds of people came. Dressy looking club people trying to get laid who probably thought they’d hear another Alexander street style cover band and some straight from the 60’s hippies. Dirty looking smelly bastards who act like they’re loaded all the time and dance like they’ve watched the Woodstock movie a few too many times. Neither of these two types of people really wanted to pay at the door to the underground part of dubland - where the bands play.

The cover started at 3 and steadily worked it’s way to free just to get people down there and hope to recoup from sales at the bar. I stood and watched the remaining members of a now broken up band play a duo acoustic show to a great crowd who danced and cheered for every song.

The third kind of people came to see the second band - my group the Spirit of Ontario. They paid whatever price was asked of them because they understand that is how this whole thing works. They came to listen to music and have a good time. They gritted their teeth and tried very hard to be polite to the first band who honestly wasn’t very good. They covered a Bob Marley tune in a soulless white boy that would have stole the fire from the Rastafarian’s spliff.

Still the room was doing pretty well for itself when shortly after 11 I strapped on my Telecaster (a guitar by the way which some 19 year old kid at RIT told me he hates, cause it’s lame and looks old.) and the band began to vamp the opening riff for Albert King’s “Oh Pretty Woman.”

By the time the first verse was wrapping up - and we’re taking a blues tune, so that wasn’t very long - more than half the room emptied out. But It was still packed upstairs - as well as that part of town still getting the spill over from East End Fest.

We ripped into a few originals that usually go over well with crowds. More people were leaving and less and less were coming down.

By a 1/4 of the way into our set I was playing the guitar with my teeth and throwing every bit of guitar player flash into the show to try and at least win a response from the new people - and I hate that shit. If that’s what it takes to get people to pay attention then I have a serious problem with it.

With my top lip was bleeding, my throat burning from singing over a terrible stage monitor system, I was sweating like someone threw me into a pool, and I realized that I was playing for the converted. That’s how it stayed for the next hour. So we turned into a jam band and just fucked off the rest of the night. We even made up a few songs.

Point is - see past my bitterness here - I know from playing around here for a few years that there are many people who put on excellent shows in town. I know there are many people who write songs that contend with Dylan or whoever. I know there are bands that are just good bands with a great sound and good songs who never get any attention. If it was just me and the boys I’d just assume we sucked or we’re too loud, but other bands who are great get the shaft too. I’ve heard some metal and hardcore bands who are pretty damn loud too, so I don’t by the volume thing anymore either.

So here’s my promise, as my band is usually on the verge of going away any how. I am going to record to the best of the abilities we have and to the best quality we can get (better then you think I bet) the most kick ass Rock and Roll record we can muster up. I’m actually going to aim for the middle with the song selections. Something most people can dig and can throw in the car and speed to. Then I’m going to flood this town with copies of it. If I don’t get any radio stations or local independent news places to talk about it then I give up trying.

When it boils right down to it, I had a lot more fun playing in the basement with a tape recorder… making demos and running on a dream of getting it together enough to play at Milestones, the Bug Jar, and Waterstreet to a full house.

The bubble burst and I’m getting closer to 3o - and feeling closer to 50.

I don’t really know where the real Rochester Underground is, but my guess is you’ve got a better chance of finding it at bars like the Lux Lounge where there usually isn’t anything but a schizophrenic  juke box cycling between the Ramones, disco, rap, and The Sex Pistols.