Going South in a good way
“Trend” means, “a general tendency or inclination.” Add the letter “y,” and you get, “of or in accord with the latest fad or fashion.” Park Avenue is too established to be “trendy,” and could probably be called just, “chic.” Now, the East End? That’s trendy. South Avenue? Decidedly not, but there is a clear tendency…
A touch of Homer in a grand American story
Although critics constantly announce their discovery of fashions and trends, as Senator Eugene McCarthy noted of the New Hampshire primary, what looks like ground swell may turn out to be merely a frost heave. It may seem remarkable, however, that two grand military epics set in the 19th century should open within weeks of each…
Women stripping and kicking
If seeing a nude Diane Keaton in Something’s Gotta Give tested your gag reflex, you might want to skip Calendar Girls (opens Friday, January 2, at the Little Theatre). Instead of one middle-aged woman in her birthday suit, you get 11 in Girls. Even though Girls is based on a true story, it still…
Backwards and forwards
The best you can say about 2003 is that it isn’t 2004, the year the far right will gorge itself on power, while liberals-moderates will choke on their own shortcomings. For the moment, however, the realities of 2003 are all we’ve got. And as I look back over America’s recently traveled roads, it looks…
Shuffleboard on ice
Perhaps you’ve seen it on TV: a giant rock sliding across the ice as two folks with squeegees maniacally sweep and scrub the ice in its path. Some 500 years ago, the Scottish, lamenting the Highlands’ golf-less winters, played this game with rocks and standard-issue kitchen brooms on frozen rivers. They called it “curling,” deriving…
No union at ECH — yet
The Episcopal Church Home and the National Labor Relations Board have reached a settlement over allegations that ECH used unfair labor practices to prevent the home’s 235 employees from unionizing. Employees at ECH initially approached 1199 SEIU Upstate because of dissatisfaction with benefits, staff turnover and shortages, lack of a clear pay scale for…
Fast ferry, past and future
The Rochester-Toronto fast ferry has faced its fair share of controversy. But if fast-ferry service between Toronto and Rochester starts in May 2004, something sweeter may fill the air. And it won’t be the smell of Pennsylvania coal. It’ll be nostalgia. In March of 1954, four years after the last voyage of the car…
Roads to nowhere?
Roads, unquestionably, tie a community together. And no more striking example exists of the division between city and county in this community, say Democrats in the county legislature, than the lej’s decision to stop pavement-marking services in the city. “It’s more evidence of the county and the suburbs basically treating the city as a…
Readers feedback 12.30.03
Why fire Pethic? I want to make it clear that I do not go along with fellow musical associate Joe Romano’s “beans from bananas” dis towards WGMC (“Sideman,” December 3). I’ve always praised the many improvements station manager Jason Crane has brought to WGMC, and have been especially impressed with his mini-biographies of historical jazz…
Everybody was Kung Fu fighting
Art and privilege have a lot in common. To produce images, you must be connected to the apparatus that allows images to be made, disseminated, and seen. When dealing with images of the underprivileged, the artist is responsible for the context in which the images will be viewed. For some, it may be just enough…
Everybody was Kung Fu fighting
Art and privilege have a lot in common. To produce images, you must be connected to the apparatus that allows images to be made, disseminated, and seen. When dealing with images of the underprivileged, the artist is responsible for the context in which the images will be viewed. For some, it may be just enough…
All blues
When Diane Armesto begins to sing, it’s as if she’s in a trance. Her eyes close as her spare vocals dance around the melodies, drawing out some words melismatically, cutting others off abruptly. On a recent Saturday evening at the Little Theatre Cafe the three instrumentalists in her quartet — Bill Dobbins, piano; Fred…
