The Weekly Breakdown #5

May 29th - June 4th 2025

May 29, 2025

I spent the weekend visiting family and friends, seeing/listening to some great music, and picking some up along the way. The weather was cold, rainy, and inside-ish, but somehow I survived it all, and managed to snag the amazing video I’ve included here for you all. Featured in the video is the Clock of Nations, a VERY of-its-time (1962) clock, that was housed at Midtown Plaza in Rochester, NY. Midtown Plaza was a mid-century marvel of shopping, being the first downtown indoor shopping mall, designed to boost suffering urban retail sectors. It was home to two anchor department stores, a host of other shops, and offices for key area businesses; it also housed the ever-great Monorail (the train hung and circled the bottom of a freestanding track ), Santa’s Magic Mountain (truly amazing), and the Clock of Nations. The venture was such a big deal in 1962, that the mall opened to 5000 people, and was reportedly visited by one Walt Disney (yes, him). After Midtown Plaza closed, the clock was temporarily housed in an unworking state at the airport, and then went into permanent storage. It was restored this past year, is in full working order, and has fresh paint touchups to boot. It’s stunning.

But back to Mr. Disney. It’s thought that rather than the clock being a bastardized rip-off of It’s a Small World, the Clock of Nations (and I’ll go as far as to say the monorail… and ahem, magic mountain) were inspiration sources for Mr. Disney and, perhaps, Mary Blair. It’s A Small World did not debut until 1964, two years after Midtown Plaza and the Clock of Nations burst onto the scene. I’m going to give the Disney crew their due for the pure artistic ability that is on display at their attraction, but… I’m going to let Rochester stand up proudly for itself and claim some credit here. So what do you think? Inspired connection? Trying to hard to claim some credit? Let me know!

And now… onto things to see and do this week. It’s a busy one!

Hung Up On a Dream: The Zombies Documentary

Thu May 29th 12:30pm - 2:00pm FINAL DAY @ Quad Cinema, Manhattan

Public Theatre Mobile Unit's Much Ado About Nothing

Thu May 29th 6:30pm - 8:30pm @ Astor Place May 29-31; @ Bryant Park June 3-8, Manhattan

SAVAK w/ Gotobeds & Skull Practitioners

Thu May 29th 7:00pm - 11:00pm @ Union Pool, Brooklyn

DJ Drew Redmond (Side Show Record Shop) w/ special guest DJ’s.

Thu May 29th 10:00pm - 3:00am @ Milos Yard, Queens

Copy/Paste/Print/Repeat: Mike King & the Art of the Gig Poster

Fri May 30th 10:00am - 9:00pm @ Poster House, Manhattan

Budos Band