Cover Story
Drawing the line on sex offenders
Len Douangtavilay, a Level 3 sex offender, once lived 200 feet from athletic fields used by Penfield youth. The discovery of this fact has prompted Penfield officials to propose residency restrictions on sex offenders, potentially putting Penfield in conflict with state law. New York’s courts assign sex offenders a Level 1, 2, or 3 designation,…
![[UPDATED] Vargas needs to build credibility before asking for a contract extension](https://i0.wp.com/www.roccitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/vargesbolgen6_square.webp?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
[UPDATED] Vargas needs to build credibility before asking for a contract extension
Updated at 2:05 p.m.; 3/17/15: A statement from Vargas’s attorney follows this blog post. Original post: If it’s true, it’s probably one of the strangest things to happen at the Rochester City School District. The Democrat and Chronicle’s Justin Murphy reported yesterday that three anonymous sources told him that Superintendent Bolgen Vargas offered to drop…
Trafficking legislation signals new approach to Women’s Equality Agenda
For the past two years, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 10-point Women’s Equality Agenda has existed in a sort of suspended animation. Senate Republicans would only pass nine of the 10 points, since the last one would have put the abortion rights guaranteed in Roe v. Wade into state law. And Assembly Democrats insisted on passing all…
Theater Review: “Our Suburb” at JCC CenterStage
In “Our Suburb,” a new play on stage through March 29 at JCC CenterStage, Thornton Wilder’s 1938 Pulitzer Prize winner, “Our Town,” is repurposed for a new generation. Originally set in a fictional New Hampshire town in the early 1900’s, Wilder’s classic dissected family cyclicality and the fragility of life: teenagers growing up, getting married,…
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 7, Episode 3: ShakesQueer
On last night’s “Drag Race,” I got to hear eliminated Sasha Belle say “I overthunk my strategy” again which made me even happier that she was gone. Before sashaying away in last week’s episode, Ms. Belle wrote “Ginj for the win” on the mirror, causing Kennedy Davenport to mutter, “Opinions are like assholes, everybody has…
Week Ahead: Education events, foreclosure report; village elections, new United Way chief, Zoo master plan
This post has been corrected. The City of Rochester, the Rochester City School District, and the United Negro College Fund will hold three events on Friday, March 20. The first is the “Historically Black Colleges and Universities College Fair” for area students in 11th and 12th grades. The students must register with their high school’s…
Geva announces 2015-16 season
Geva Theatre Center today announced its 2015-16 season which will feature 14 major productions and events across the non-profit theatre’s 43rd year. The season’s lineup will feature a mix of well-known titles, like the musical comedy “Monty Python’s Spamalot”; Tony Award winners, such as “Red,” the acclaimed drama about painter Mark Rothko; and an offering…
Film Review: “Run All Night”
There’s a reason Liam Neeson doesn’t have an Academy Award, and that’s because as a dramatic actor, he is just shy of awful. Yeah, he did receive an Oscar nod for 1993’s “Schindler’s List,” but let’s admit that any one of us could get nominated in the lead role of a Steven Spielberg Holocaust movie.…
Blink and you’ll miss it
Friday, March 13: Closing and opening art shows
Snow mounds present a danger
Now that the weather warms, we still see nice mounds at almost all bus stops in Rochester. There was no attempt to clear the RTS stops throughout the winter months. The kids like climbing on them while waiting for the bus, though slipping into oncoming traffic is a risk. Some riders have treaded a path…
State budget will include emissions reductions funding
State lawmakers have their eyes on a multi-state greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program as a source of revenue for the 2015-16 state budget. According to an article published on Capital, the state political news website, Governor Andrew Cuomo and the State Senate have proposed sweeping funding from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative into the forthcoming state…
U of Oklahoma’s stark reminder
Imagine you’re the parent of a college-age child. Your son or daughter managed to get accepted into a respectable school and you’ve pulled together enough money to help pay for it. You’re a proud parent, thinking that years of nurturing and guidance paid off. Then you turn on the television only to find an image…
Building a better zoo
The Monroe County Parks Department is developing a new master plan — a guide for development and growth — for the Seneca Park Zoo. And this time, there will be no attempt to encroach into Seneca Park. “We don’t need that headache,” says county parks director Larry Staub. “We don’t want it.” The county’s 2001…
Public Market neighborhoods need a boost
I like the idea of a direct connection between Village Gate plaza and the Hungerford Building; the two share a similar sensibility and right now, Hungerford kind of hangs out there on East Main, isolated, like Alcatraz. (Although I think some effort needs to be made to make Hungerford easier to navigate both inside and…
Theater Review: RBTL presents “Annie”
“Annie” is about optimism. Set during the Great Depression, Annie’s response to a homeless person’s complaints of empty pockets is, “At least you have pockets!” It is still a timely message. Given the flood of recent news about ISIS, racist tunes from certain fraternity members, and 6-foot snowdrifts, this production — on stage at the…
I Scene It: Red Elvises at Sticky Lips Juke Joint
I can’t remember where it was that I first saw the Red Elvises. It was a moose lodge or a VFW or something like it around 10 years ago. I do remember liking the band’s twangtastic surf-rockabilly sound steeped in Russian shtick. It was all dudes in red who played seriously, even if they didn’t…
Fringe Festival now accepting submissions
The First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival is now accepting submissions from all artists interested in participating in the 2015 festival. Applications can be submitted at rochesterfringe.com until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22. Those submissions will be approved and accepted only by the Fringe Festival’s participating venues: Bernunzio Uptown Music, Blackfriars Theatre, Eastman School of…
COMEDY | Katt Williams
Raised in Cincinnati, comedian Katt Williams rose to popularity in 1999, when he began to tour extensively. He has since become known for TV and film appearances in “The Boondocks” (voice acting credit), “Norbit,” and “First Sunday,” but is probably most recognized for his role as Money Mike in “Friday After Next.” He has occasionally…
CELTIC | The Outside Track
On top of a flock of instruments — fiddle, accordion, harp, flute, guitar and whistle — you can expect step-dancing and tight vocal harmonies from The Outside Track. The Outside Track recently won Best Group in the Live Ireland and TIR awards. Each of the five young members — hailing from Ireland, Scotland, and Cape…
THEATER | “Our Suburb”
Thornton Wilder’s classic play, “Our Town,” depicts American life in the early 1900’s as it was in the small (fictional) town of Grover’s Corners. Based on this familiar-to-many theater piece, “Our Suburb” transplants the show’s setting to playwright Darrah Cloud’s hometown, Skokie, Illinois. Skokie became famous in 1977 for fighting a proposed neo-Nazi group march…
HIP-HOP BLUES | G Love and Special Sauce
The blues and hip-hop; two genres that often elude white artists. They are both so steeped in the black experience that to be white and perform them tends to threaten that artist’s legitimacy and credibility. Not G Love. This Philadelphia native has taken down home Delta blues and given it hip-hop jump and bravado. The…
SPECIAL EVENT | The Slave Experience and the Underground Railroad
On Tuesday, March 17, the Perinton Historical Society will host a narrative presentation that traces the journey of American slaves from capture and enslavement in West Africa, to potential freedom on the Underground Railroad. Educator Jerry Bennett will present a multimedia lecture incorporating maps, songs, books, handouts, and anecdotal stories all related to an oft-neglected…
CLASSICAL | Brass and Organ Spring Spectacular
The Society for Chamber Music in Rochester will present a packed program on Friday, March 13, with its Brass and Organ Spring Spectacular. The concert features members of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s brass section: trumpeters Douglas Prosser, Wesley Nance, and Herbert Smith; W. Peter Kurau, horn; trombonists Mark Kellogg, Timothy Smith (of the Buffalo Philharmonic…
Not with a bang but a whimper
While the daily dramas of our lives take center stage, it’s easy to take certain big things for granted, like the qualities that make Earth a “Goldilocks” situation for life as we understand it. In her debut novel, “Age of Miracles,” Karen Thompson Walker paints an intimate picture of humanity trudging through a great and…
Foxy Laddies
Though the band is up and running in high gear, Rochester cool, rhythm and blues sensation, The Fox Sisters still has a little of that new band smell wafting in there with the Aqua Velva and sweat. The band has now horned up the ranks with a little hard-hitting brass atop the bruising rhythm section.…
Green tint
The Greentopia Film Festival returns next week for another year of bringing advocacy through film to Rochester audiences. Held Tuesday, March 17, though Saturday, March 21, the festival will present 34 films from 20 countries around the world — including eight locally-produced films and several New York State and world premieres. Festival Director Linda Moroney…
ALBUM REVIEW: “Naked Brunch”
Harmonica Lewinski “Naked Brunch” Reel Time Records harmonicalewinski.bandcamp.com Listen, I don’t mind — it’s my job to preach on about the righteous rock ‘n’ roll that comes across my desk — but thanks to the wise-ass garage rockers in Harmonica Lewinski, here’s yet another review I had to bang out at home because I have…
Film review: “It Follows”
“It Follows” opens with a classic horror scene: A teenage girl runs from her home and down her suburban street, desperately fleeing from … something. The viewer can’t see whatever presence is terrifying her so much, but she clearly can. She drives off into the night. We pick up to find her alone on the…
ALBUM REVIEW: “Cinderella”
“Cinderella” Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Walt Disney Records music.disney.com After a particularly brutal winter, no score is better suited to usher in the spring than Patrick Doyle’s shimmering, beautiful work for Disney’s new live-action “Cinderella.” Re-teaming with director Kenneth Branagh for their 11th film together, Doyle’s score is brimming with classical orchestration and transforms into…
Feedback 3/11
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. Comments of fewer than 350 words have a greater chance of being published, and we do edit selections for publication in print. We don’t publish comments sent to other media. Editorial missed…
Film review: “Red Army”
Examining the intersection of politics and sports, director Gabe Polsky tells the story of the Soviet Union’s “Red Army” national hockey team during the Cold War. Winning three Olympic gold medals and eight World Championships, the legendary team dominated the sport in the late 1970’s and early 90’s. Narrated by the team’s captain, defenseman Viacheslav…
Charged up
A new $1.5 million center at Rochester Institute of Technology will help companies small and large move new battery technologies out of their labs and toward commercial production. State and school officials unveiled RIT’s Battery Prototyping Center last week. The facility, headed by RIT research scientists Christopher Schauerman and Matt Ganter, will work with companies…
Urban Action 3/11
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Film on farming and sustainability ColorBrightonGreen.org will show the documentary film “Cowspiracy: the Sustainability Secret” at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 18. Filmmakers Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn investigate the impact of large-scale…
A taste of France in the East End
Vive Bistro and Bakery wants to make vegan food more inviting for the uninitiated. “We find if we refer to our menu as plant-based, it’s a lot less scary for people,” Nick Lemesis says with a laugh. Lemesis is co-owner of Vive Bistro and Bakery (130 East Avenue), a new French-inspired vegan restaurant in the…
FOLK | Todd Snider
Outlandish and existential, Todd Snider is a story-telling troubadour. He hails from Portland, Oregon, and now calls East Nashville home — he’ll tell you 95 stories about that. A raucous mix of unintentional stand-up comedy, stream-of-conscious ramblings and folk songs, his shows are an event. He’s a Hunter S. Thompson-esque character: outspoken, lewd, smart enough…
JAZZ | Levin Brothers
Bassist extraordinaire Tony Levin is best known for his work with Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, and Stick Men. But when he takes the stage at Lovin’ Cup he’ll be reuniting with his brother Pete Levin, a formidable B3 organist who has worked with artists ranging from Jaco Pastorius to Paul Simon. The Levin Brothers will…
ART | “Not a Full Deck”
March 14 will mark the final gallery hours of the Shoe Factory Art Co-op’s current exhibit, “Not a Full Deck.” The exhibit is multidisciplinary, with photographic, digital, paint, mixed media, and sculptural offerings all based on the unifying motif of playing cards. The 13 artists whose work is featured portray this ordinarily commonplace visual in…
WORLD | Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus
When the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus toured in Europe more than a decade ago, one of its performances was at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The Detroit-based musical ensemble began the recital by singing a cappella and later joined in with the bandura, a harp-like acoustic instrument. What followed was one of the most…
COMEDY | EstroFest
EstroFest, a local comedy collaboration founded in 1999, is staging a collection of weekend shows at Nazareth College. You might recognize some of the cast members from their “day jobs”: Norma Holland is an early-morning news anchor for 13WHAM; Dresden Engle owns Dresden PR, a public relations firm in Brighton; Andrea Holland is the head…
BLUES | Eric Sardinas
San Diego slide guitarist Eric Sardinas is a cross between Johnny Winter and The Human Torch. I’m not kidding: The guy literally sets his guitar on fire. And whereas Hendrix knelt before his six string effigy to conjure the flames at Monterey, Sardinas continues to play. Fire hazard? Perhaps. A knockout show? Fo’ sho’. This…
The latest bad news from the city school district
Tension between the superintendent and the school board has erupted into public view, and that’s terrible in many ways – not the least of which is that any bad news from the district reinforces the public’s poor opinion of it.
