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Medics, muses, murals: Wall Therapy for Rochester & beyond
If you’ve taken North Union Street on your way to the Rochester Public Market since last July, it’s possible that you’ve noticed the beautiful, serene girl hanging out under the railroad overpass. Her eyes are lowered and she won’t return your gaze, but even the wheeling sparrows adore her, and trail her from a distance.…
CONCERT REVIEW: Indie Music Revolution Festival, Methanol, Brooklyn Haley, Melia, Goodbye Ronnie, The Roc City Stompers, Roots Collider, Electro Kings, and The Campbell Brothers
The Indie Music Channel brought its Indie Music Revolution Festival to Water Street Music Hall this past weekend. The event boasted a cornucopia of young talent, including plenty of stuff from the home team. I caught Methanol Friday as the band blasted its big rock with hooks. This group has really settled into a solid…
NEWS BLOG: County Lej voting on five-year capital “wish list” – including MCC downtown move
Tonight the County Legislature will hold its annual vote on a five-year plan for county infrastructure projects. The 2013-2018 Capital Improvement Program includes Monroe Community College’s proposal to move its downtown campus. College officials want to move the Damon City Campus from the Sibley Building on East Main Street to several buildings in the Kodak…
NEWS BLOG: Obama, Romney, and the Supreme Court’s balance
Fer heavens’ sake: who knew? According to a column in this morning’s Wall Street Journal, there are only three conservatives on the Supreme Court: Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Antonin Scalia. And there are four liberals: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Stephen Breyer. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy are…
NEWS BLOG: A downtown campus, from MCC’s perspective
This is a corrected version of this story. While student safety is the narrative the media has cottoned to, it’s just one element driving MCC’s proposed move to the Kodak campus on State Street. Emeterio Otero, the college’s executive dean, and MCC spokesperson Cynthia Cooper took us on a tour of the Sibley building –…
NEWS BLOG: Killing th future
I’m seriously depressed I’ve been doing some reading on urban violence — specifically, where these kids are getting their guns. The answer is terrifying and oppressive: everywhere. The primary pipeline, according to the stuff I’ve read, is friends and family. Also: through burglaries, illegal sales at gun shows, corrupt gun dealers, people selling guns on…
NEWS BLOG: A couple of fracking films worth watching
Most people probably think of “Gasland” when they think of fracking documentaries. But really, it’s just one of several good films on the topic. This week, I’ve had the opportunity to watch a couple of them. One of them, “The Sky is Pink,” is a free, short film put together by “Gasland” director Josh Fox.…
NEWS BLOG: CPAC whiz kid Jonathan Krohn outgrows conservatism
We’ve all known super-brainy kids. We’re awed by the purity of their intelligence and their ease at processing so much information despite their age. But they can be a little annoying, too. That’s what I thought when I heard then-13-year-old Jonathan Krohn, the prodigious Right Winger who spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference several…
VIDEO GAMES: “Final Fantasy VII” Coming to PC
“Final Fantasy VII,” often heralded as one of the greatest RPGs ever made, will be hitting PCs as a digital download. The game will come with new features, such as cloud saves, a game editor, and an in-game achievement system. “FF VII” will available later this year, in the meantime check out the announcement trailer…
NEWS BLOG: Taxes, smaxes- paying for health care
I’ve loved watching Mitt Romney wrestle with the issue of taxes and the Affordable Care Act. First his campaign staff said Romney doesn’t consider the ACA’s penalty a tax; then yesterday, Romney himself said he does. That means, of course, that he was perfectly happy to raise taxes in Massachusetts for something he thinks his…
Rochester to review animal care
Rochester Animal Services is getting a top to bottom review not because there’s anything wrong, officials say, but because they want to make sure the organization is operating as efficiently as possible. City Hall has been shopping for an independent expert to do the review. The deadline to submit proposals was Friday, June 29. The…
Tackling truancy
The Rochester school district is gearing up to launch a comprehensive approach to combat truancy this fall. The approach would include the district, the City of Rochester, county social services, the Rochester Police Department, and Family Court, says Rochester Mayor Tom Richards. The details of the program are being kept under wraps, but Richards says…
New life for Seneca language
The Seneca Indians have lived in the Western New York region for thousands of years. They were one of the most important nations of the Iroquois League and created a highly developed society, says Jason Younker, a professor of anthropology at the Rochester Institute of Technology. But few of the Seneca people living today are…
MCC: Afghanistan campus?
Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks recently met with the Democrat and Chronicle editorial board, and board members Tweeted choice nuggets throughout the meeting, including what they say Brooks said about MCC’s downtown campus. The gist: If the project stays on its current course, it is likely doomed to failure, and that would throw the entire…
MCC trial balloon
During its July 10 meeting, the Monroe County Legislature will vote on its multi-year plan for county projects, called the Capital Improvement Plan. | This year’s plan is controversial because it includes Monroe Community College’s move from the Sibley Building in the heart of downtown, to Kodak-owned buildings on State Street. | Rochester Mayor Tom…
Electric “Avenue”
“Avenue Q” swept the three major musical categories at the 2004 Tony Awards (Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score), and deservedly so. It is one of a string of recent shows that prove that the American musical is still an art form with lots to offer audiences, and not just a money-making opportunity for entertaining…
Dems must get fired up over health-care law
“That political leaders defend a system that rations health care based on income, job status, and health condition is unconscionable.” So Republicans have decided to make repealing the Affordable Care Act the focus of their campaign for the White House and Congress. The Supreme Court says the law is constitutional, but House Speaker John Boehner…
News from Week Past 7/4
David Bellavia won Monroe County in the 27th Congressional District Republican primary, but he lost the election. Former Erie County Executive Chris Collins is the Republican Party’s candidate against incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul in November. Also: attorney Wendy Long won the statewide US Senate primary and will face incumbent Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand in November. Ontario…
Mussels from Brussels
There’s something kind of sexy about descending into a restaurant without windows; time just seems to stop, and you could be anywhere in the world. So if you find yourself at the East End’s newest eatery, Victoire, order one of the eight beautifully presented preparations of moules et frites (a/k/a mussels and fries) ranging from…
Feedback 7/4
Send comments to themail@rochester-citynews.com, or post them on our website, rochestercitynewspaper.com, our Facebook page, or our Twitter feed, @roccitynews. Comments of fewer than 350 words have a greater chance of being published, and we edit selections for publication. Truth in labeling of fracking fluid While driving the upper west shore road of Keuka Lake, Yates…
The new direction in female movies
If nothing else, “Magic Mike,” the new movie from Steven Soderbergh, of all people, suggests that in our time the chick flick demonstrates more flexibility than one might ordinarily expect. Appropriately thin in its plot and completely predictable in its resolution, like both film versions of “Sex and the City,” the film dedicates itself to…
Inside the 2012 RJFF
This year marks the 12th installment of the Rochester Jewish Film Festival and the first under the guidance of JCC cultural director Lori Michlin Harter. She and her tireless team have gathered together some of the planet’s best contemporary cinema — 23 features this time, both narrative and documentary — about the Jewish experience. Read…
No boundaries, no expectations
You Women was conceived in short bursts via text message, with snippets of songs being sent back and forth by the two official members of the band, Ian Proper and Ian Egling, both from the Rochester band Sports. In You Women, the two share primary songwriting duties, each playing all instruments and singing on their…
Dispatches from the Jazz Blog, pt. 2
Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers put on a simply amazing show full of humor and instrumental dexterity. And both the laughs and musical prowess helped to give the sold-out Kodak Hall crowd at the band’s matinee on Wednesday, June 27, a crash course in bluegrass. Purists may balk — and I’m inclined to…
