I'm just goofing off with this one!
Bands(clockwise from each number) (get it? it's a clock tower)
- Counter-protest? (2 words): TEAR GAS / Ж: ZHE / Survival kit item: RADIO / Bay Area city: VALLEJO / Swill: PAP / Capital of Uganda: KAMPALA
- ____ of hand: SLEIGHT / Attended via audio (2 words): CALLED IN / Edison's haunt (2 words): MENLO PARK
- Subject of my master's degree: LINGUISTICS / In Australia, they go on cars: TYRES
- Function of a clock tower (2 words): SHOW TIME
Rows
- Roof of mouth: PALATE / "I Love Bees," e.g.: ARG
- Grades, as papers: MARKS / She recognized your foul stench when she was brought on board: LEIA
- Copy: APE / Cocktails named for the country with the fastest fixed broadband speeds in the entire world: SLING
- Assumed name of Cyrus Teed (this clue is your excuse to learn about Cyrus Teed): KORESH / SHF unit: GHZ
- Not in favor: ANTI / How many times have I done Marching Bands for a "tower" puzzle?: TWICE
- Irishman's Joe: PESCI / Nicholas II, for one: TSAR
- Wheel that can roll sideways: OMNI / Donald's twin sister: DELLA
- Come together (weird, arguably incorrect spelling): JELL / Sidestep: AVOID
Across the unclued middle row is the answer, PLYMOUTH.