Last night I had the pleasure of watching a live performance of the phenomenal rock group called Simple Life at Milestone’s in Rochester… and had the unexpected good fortune to catch up with an old friend.

The Simple Life is based in Syracuse, N.Y., and for me the big draw was a chance to see my co-worker, Jim Lucas, on the drums. Yeah, Jim spends the bulk of his week trying desperately to fool us into thinking he’s a respectable nine-to-fiver. But the reality is that he’s a holy terror on the drums. He’s got talent and passion and puts on a hell of a show.

To be fair, the rest of the band is just as good. I’m no music expert, but I can tell you that these guys exhibit incredible skill, versatility and creativity. Click on the link I provided above to check out their MySpace page. You can sample their music, see their schedule and purchase CDs.

While I was there, I unexpectedly ran into a longtime friend who’d been trying to reconnect with me for a few months. Our schedules are so vastly different that we just kept missing each other — until last night.

Matt Guarnere is a fella who lived just down the street from me for the first 18 years of my life. We graduated in the same class from Greece Olympia High School, and together we wrote and produced an original play — something that I don’t think anyone at Olympia has done before or since.

Matt is a smashingly talented vocalist and drummer, and he can hold his own on the guitar and keyboards too. He’s also a capable recording engineer and producer. His music hearkens back to the best of ’70s rock, but that’s only the foundation for what he does: he’s filtered the genre through his own unique sensibilities and come up with something that’s all his own. Again, use the link I provided to check out his Web site. It’s well worth it. He’s told me he has some big plans for his career that he’s not quite ready to announce. He gave me an inkling as to what’s up, and I can only say that it’s damned exciting. Keep watching this guy.

Matt and I have been trying to reconnect for several weeks but our respective schedules rarely click. It was nice having a chance to catch up with this good friend. It’s a crime that we lost touch given that we, y’know, live in the same town! But sometimes these things happen. The good news is that the years fell away when we talked and we picked up where we left off. Matt has proposed a joint project that would utilize my graphic and Web design skills, and I can’t wait to discuss it with him. I’ll add more details here as they become available.