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Of all the major artistic movements of the 20th century, surrealism may be the one modern filmmakers find the most inimitable. With its roots in the often incongruous works of French poets Robert Desnos and Paul Eluard, it should come as no surprise that the one true purveyor of the movement in film might be…
209 Dartmouth Street
Woodwork Warms Spacious Dartmouth Home This 1910 home sits in the middle of a long, residential block between Monroe Avenue and Harvard Street. Its rich streetscape includes plentiful street trees and colorful, three-story homes. Dartmouth Street is part of a large, continuous and well-maintained residential fabric. The usable porches, street parking and garages tucked in…
Old is new again
“I’m a chance taker, you might say,” says Geno Delafose from his ranch in Eunice, Louisiana. “Traditional tunes are what I do best and nobody else was doing them. I play the music that I love. I believe in myself.” Delafose is talking about a decision that he made in 1994 when he took over…
Stop the steamroller. Reject Gonzales
As US Attorney General, John Ashcroft had a multitude of frightening beliefs and policies. Alberto Gonzales, nominated to succeed Ashcroft, has his own. During last week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont seemed concerned about Gonzales’s past. But, said Leahy, looking back at the Ashcroft record, Gonzales’s nomination “seems to offer…
News, busted
The local TV news was in a tizzy. On Thursday, January 6, the live noon broadcasts on WROC (Channel 8) and WHEC (Channel 10) were interrupted, just as they were trying to report on the Highland Hospital power outage. A man wearing a beige body suit labeled “Invisible Suit” and a man in a mask…
Reader feedback 1.12.05
Downtown growth, police review, breaks for business
Body count 1.12.05
To honor the war dead and fill an information gap in US mass media, City Newspaper will run weekly lists of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians killed during the occupation of Iraq. The totals: 1,354 American soldiers, 160 Coalition soldiers, and approximately 15,229 to 17,443 Iraqicivilians have been killed in Iraq (a recent survey published…
A life’s sentence
Former death row inmate Shujaa Graham says that if he was guilty of anything, it was of trying to organize his fellow prisoners in the California prison system. It was 1969 and Graham was 18 when he went to jail for robbery, though he had been in out of juvenile hall for years. Out on…
Winter Guide 2005
The writers at City Newspaper want you to enjoy this land of snow and ice. Look inside and learn how to eat like royalty off the winter pantry, where to party in the snow like it’s 1999, where to get your culture, all about the contemplative sport called ice fishing, and the dates of upcoming…
Or you could just stay in
Maybe you’re of the hibernation school. You burrow into your home in December, swaddle yourself in flannel and goose down, and subsist on frozen pizzas and canned goods until April. If so, that’s cool. No one will judge you. Even the most winter-loving Rochesterians, though they dance and hug themselves with every snowfall, will spend…
Role playing in a time warp
Gerard Stembridge’s funny play, That Was Then, now getting its American premiere at Geva Theatre Center, makes an interesting point about the everlasting battle between the Irish and English: Their roles have been reversed. Ireland is enjoying an economic and population boom and replacing its agricultural industry with high tech industry and its dependence on…
Hypothermia is the price of contemplation
It’s 8:20 a.m. and 10 degrees outside. My fingertips are beginning to numb inside my new Isotoner gloves. I wear long underwear and jeans, but a frosty wind rips through them as if they were fishnet stockings. My pen freezes and I can’t take notes. At such an extreme temperature, my digital voice recorder’s display…
Soldier’s heart
The first time Kristin Peterson’s husband hit her, she was asleep in their bed. She awoke that night a split second after Joshua’s fist smashed into her face and ran, terrified and crying, to the bathroom to wipe the blood spurting from her nose. When she stuck her head back into the bedroom, there he…
Who needs California? The winter pantry
It’s become a dull cliché to say that the best cooking is that which cooks least, starting with the finest, freshest produce. It’s kind of a French idea ripped into California overdrive by food gurus like Alice Waters of Chez Panisse fame. And well, yeah, great produce handled with a light touch usually results in…
Help on the ground: a local perspective
Framed prominently on the wall behind Tom Cray’s desk is an excerpt from Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried. The quotation describes what Vietnam soldiers carried, ranging from the mundane to the monumental, the literal to the figurative: “They were afraid of dying, but too afraid to show it. They carried the emotional baggage…
If life gives you snow, make snow angels
These are the events that make you hope the weather stay wintry. How else do you set a world record for snow angels or carve ice sculptures? And chili tastes so much better when it’s cold out, doesn’t it? We have two local winter festivals, and several more are within a drive. Let’s celebrate winter.…
Refighting Vietnam (in Rochester)
During last year’s presidential election, many political analysts felt the dialogue sometimes seemed unable to break free of issues surrounding the decades-old conflict in Vietnam. Perhaps that’s because our nation hasn’t finished wrestling with the ghosts of that controversial war. And now that struggle is defining the way we react to Iraq. Just ask anyone…
Shovel your blues away
After spending the first few weeks of the new year getting fat and staying warm, you’re gonna wanna go out. I know it’s cold and miserable outside, but don’t pretend this is your first winter either. Things kick off with the Cincinnati white boys gone Mississippi black, Thee Shams, at the Bug Jar on January…
Getting schooled
Big Media has eroded local sports. These days, if an event isn’t shown on ESPN or a national broadcast network — if people aren’t talking about it on The Jim Rome Show — it’s widely considered minor league, unimportant nationally and locally. Many Rochesterians let national media coverage determine how they feel about this city.…
Get your coat, get your culture
It’s not rocket science: To keep warm, you gotta keep moving. And just because you’re wearing boots and your winter hat makes your hair look funny doesn’t mean you can’t get out and get your culture on. This is just a sketch of some of the artsy highlights from now until March. Be sure to…
The doom of Bobby Darin
According to his own oft repeated account, Kevin Spacey labors under something of an obsession with the singer Bobby Darin, whose life and career inspire the new movie Beyond the Sea. After several years, a number of false starts, and some pre-production difficulties, Spacey ended up collaborating on the script and directing the picture, in…
City’s choice
> City’s choice: nature centers It only takes a few minutes in the car to get you into the wilderness: or seeming wilderness. Two nearby nature centers give you everything you need — equipment and miles and miles of calm, groomed trails — to enjoy a winter workout on foot, cross-country skis, or snowshoes. RMSC’s…
Get down with your hip, drunk self
“If the cops are around, something good must be happening.” Charles Bukowski says this with a twinkle in his eye, but knowing what we do about him, he was probably serious. The acclaimed writer, unapologetic alcoholic, and failed misogynist is resurrected in John Dullaghan’s Bukowski: Born Into This (Friday, January 14, 8 p.m., Dryden Theatre,…
Family valued 1.12.05
Get thee to the RMSC The Rochester Museum and Science Center (RMSC) is always a great family destination. In addition to the standard exhibits, there are usually special events going on. This week, there are two that sound particularly appealing. If you’re a space junkie, you might already know that the European Space Agency’s Huygens…
