Cover Story
The Rochester 10
The Greater Rochester area is filled with talented, driven people working to make the region a better place to live, work, and play. But often it seems that the same names dominate headlines, while others who are working tirelessly within their own spheres go under the radar. This annual project — the Rochester 10 —…
Parent makes tough decision concerning RCSD
When people talk about Rochester’s schools, the conversation often involves sweeping generalizations, bad-mouthing teachers, and characterizing city children and parents in unfair ways. Some of the most challenging and effective work in education is being done in city schools; and many parents are elated with their children’s school and teachers. But that work and the…
RG&E-Ginna contract due January 15
Rochester Gas and Electric and the owners of the Ginna nuclear power plant have about a week left to file a contract for the utility to buy electricity from the plant. But it’s still not clear exactly how much the agreement is going to cost RG&E customers. In November, the state Public Service Commission ordered…
Film Review: “Stray Dogs”
Master Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang is infamous for his deliberate pacing and use of extremely long takes, frequently composed as master shots, in which little action occurs on screen. Perhaps understandably, this sort of technique has earned him as many admirers as it has detractors. He forces the audience to wait and observe, letting us…
Film Review: “Actress”
Though “Actress” is billed as a documentary, director Robert Greene’s fascinating, somewhat enigmatic portrait of actress Brandy Burre strikes a delicate balancing act as it allows reality to blur together with fiction. Burre, whose most well-known role was as a recurring character on the television series “The Wire,” stepped away from acting when she became…
Pleasantly enraged
It doesn’t take much to set Lewis Black off. The comedian, author, and actor — well-known for his appearances on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and his own Comedy Central show, “Lewis Black’s Root of All Evil” — has made a prolific career ranting about the things that agitate him. Madly gesturing with his…
WEEK AHEAD: Services for Mario Cuomo; RPD reorg meeting; RCSD school expo
Calling hours for former Democratic governor Mario Cuomo will be held today at a funeral home in Manhattan. His funeral services, which are open to the public, will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Manhattan. Cuomo, father of Governor Andrew Cuomo, died last week at the age of…
Film Review: “The Imitation Game”
In the past, Hollywood usually reflected American anti-intellectualism by showing professors as unworldly, unmanly, possibly even impotent buffoons, which makes “A Beautiful Mind” of a decade or so ago something of an anomaly. Like that movie, however, the two most recent depictions of professors on the screen, though also based on fact, feature two brilliant…
Cuomo flip-flops on legislation to protect teachers
The other shoe has fallen. Just days ago, an aide to Governor Andrew Cuomo sent what some describe as a fairly pointed anti-teacher letter to State Education Commissioner John King and Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, seeking advice for improving education in New York. The letter attaches student performance almost entirely to teacher performance and raises questions…
CHOW HOUND: Feeding the workforce
Ted Stiker is a familiar face in the Rochester restaurant industry — he started Rochester’s Top Shelf Staffing, an event planning and service staff provider located downtown. After receiving many requests from clients to add catering to his available services, Stiker opened Tedwards Café and Catering (183 East Main Street) in April 2014. Tedwards serves…
Feedback 12/31
We welcome your comments. Send them to themail@rochester-citynews.com, or post them on our website, rochestercitynewspaper.com, our Facebook page, or our Twitter feed, @roccitynews. Irrational fears persist The pushback by some parents against establishing the Urban-Suburban program in Spencerport can only be explained in terms of thinly veiled racism. None of their stated arguments hold up: city…
Marina may miss a season
A hiccup with the developer will likely set the marina project at the Port of Rochester back a season, says Mark Gregor, manager of the Environmental Quality Division for the City of Rochester. About half of the marina basin has been excavated, he says. The city and The Pike Company mutually agreed to close out…
Honeoye Falls braces for new limits
The Village of Honeoye Falls will use a $30,000 state grant to study the future of its waste water treatment plant. Officials expect that the plant’s treated water will eventually be subject to new limits on the amounts of phosphorous and copper it can contain, says village administrator Greg Emerson. Village leaders say that they…
Landowners’ lament
In a recent conference call, House Representative Tom Reed said that the state’s decision to ban high-volume hydraulic fracturing is “the wrong decision for New York State’s future.” And he said that property owners should be compensated for the money they could’ve made from fracking on their land. Reed called the decision a missed opportunity…
“Rochester’s Refugees”
There’s a lot of talk of “two Rochesters” — cities divided by the different experiences of the haves and have-nots — but we might argue that there are as many Rochesters as there are people who live here. Some of these Rochesters remain obscure to others; while some of them expand as they come into…
ART | “Pond Rot” launch and gallery opening
Panoptic Press (located in the Hungerford Building, 1115 East Main Street, studio 210) was founded in 2013 by Steven Arenius, Justin M. Knipper, and Bile, and specializes in handmade, limited-run printed media and apparel. The members are based in Rochester and Tokyo, and have collaborated with various artists, including Justyn Iannucci, Patrick O’Neil Vesper, and…
EXHIBIT | Winter Medieval Art Show
Opening Friday, January 2, Brighton Memorial Library will host a month long exhibit of “medieval” style art, featuring pieces that were created using egg tempera, a painting technique popular during the Middle Ages that involved mixing powdered pigment with egg yolk. Each of the 35 panels featured in the exhibit were painted by local Rochester…
FILM | MuCCC’s 2015 New Year’s Film Festival
On Thursday, January 1, MuCCC will host its 2015 New Year’s Film Festival. Running from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., the festival features 12 hour of public domain films and cartoons spanning from the 1920’s to the early 1960’s. Opening the festival at 8 a.m. is an hour long screening of various vintage cartoons. The…
R&B | Guy; Tony Toni Toné; and Troop
Still silk shirt smooth and buzz cut fresh, throwback R&B is poppin’ into town with a few 90’s icons. From 1988-1992, on opposite sides of the country, Guy (Harlem, New York) along with Tony Toni Tone (Oakland, California) and Troop (Pasadena, California) were laying down singles that would all see the No. 1 spot on…
SPECIAL EVENT | Winter Warmth: A Soup-er Benefit
Ring in the New Year with a cozy, community-oriented gathering that benefits a worthy endeavor. On Friday, January 2, Cat Clay (The Hungerford Building, 1115 East Main Street, studio 242) will host its annual “Winter’s Warmth: A Soup-er Benefit,” held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The event is held in collaboration with the Healthy…
FOLK | Local Singer-Songwriters in the Round
Local Singer-Songwriters in the Round brings together four acoustic performers that share the stage at one time and take turns playing their tunes. Mixed in are anecdotes that tell stories behind the songs. The featured musicians for this concert are Jed Curran, Connie Deming, Davey O., and Steve Piper. Jed Curran (pictured) has been a…
ROCK | Rubblebucket
The term “left-field arrangements” accurately describes what Brooklyn indie-dance group Rubblebucket does with its music. Using everything from saxophones to Moog synthesizers, the band conjures up trippy, psychedelic tones throughout its shows. The writing is just as out there as the music, as the song “Triangular Daisies” shows —”Triangular daisies make me spacey, for you,…
POP | The Demos
Jason Milton, front man of local quintet The Demos, has seen his band’s debut album, “Lovely” reach number one on FMQB’s Sub-modern Album chart but counts performing outside in Times Square as one of his most surreal moments. The Demos played to a packed crowd at New York City’s CBGB Music & Film Festival in…
CLASSICAL | “The Music of Downton”
If you ever use the words “Anglophile” and “ubiquitous” in the same sentence, it will probably also include “Downton Abbey.” Everyone’s favorite British costume drama, and the show that taught Americans what a Dowager Countess is, begins its fifth season on January 5. WXXI is going all out to celebrate, with a swank New Year’s Eve event, a preview…
ROCK | Willie Nile
New York City’s Willie Nile played here last year as part of the Big Rib porkstavaganza. And though it wasn’t a blues act exactly, the band didn’t stray too far from the blue notes. Nile and his band were outstanding as they brought the sights and sounds of the Bowery to the people in the…
Urban Action 12/31
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Duffy shares local, state outlook Friends and Foundation of the Rochester Public Library will present a talk by Bob Duffy, former Rochester mayor and former lieutenant governor of New York State, at 12:12…
Teressa Wilcox
All those self-appointed divas, overwrought soul sisters, affected caterwaulers, and auto-tuned tarts ain’t got nothin’ on Rochester’s Teressa Wilcox. It would seem everyone who parks themselves in front of a mic with a dream in their heart and a song on their lips tries for honesty, raw emotion, and energy. But it’s that effort —…
Gary Holt
Gary Holt Because I Can Self-released Regional nob-twiddler, studio hot shot, recording guru par excellence, and all-around swell egg, Gary Holt has pulled the Padre Pio act on this CD. That’s not to say the cat has received the stigmata, but he’s managed to be on both sides of the mic to produce “Because I…
For the homeless, no shelter from the storm
I parked in the Civic Center garage every day for the better part of 30 years. I became accustomed to the homeless men and women who spent nights and frigid days in its darkest and dankest corners and stairwells. They were sleeping or sleeping one off, often resting their heads on plastic bags that contained…
