Cover Story
College students in fossil fuel fight
Colleges in the Rochester area and across the country have gone to great lengths to build up their sustainability cred.
MUSIC: Jazz Fest announces full 2013 line-up
The 2013 Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival line-up was announced on Tuesday, March 26. In all 1200 artists will perform 280 concerts over the nine-day festival running June 21-29. (NOTE: The official press announcement appears in full below.) The June 28 soul double-bill of Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and The James Hunter 6…
Secondhand dealer legislation advances in the Monroe County Legislature
A proposed county law to regulate pawn shops, secondhand dealers, and jewelry and coin exchanges will advance to a vote by the full County Legislature. Last night, the Legislature’s Agenda/Charter Committee approved the legislation, with Democratic Legislator Mike Patterson offering the only vote against it. Patterson said he supported the idea behind the legislation, but…
RCSD budget launches the Vargas years
This is a corrected version of this story. In the budget he’s proposed for the coming school year, Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas lays out a longer-term vision that marks a clear shift from the past. While the goals and priorities are the same as many of his predecessors’, Vargas is trying a different approach…
Deciding DOMA
The US Supreme Court is hearing legal challenges this week to two major pieces of LGBT-related legislation: California’s Prop 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Voters in California narrowly approved a ban on same-sex marriage, known as Proposition 8, in November 2008. The ban was upheld by the California Supreme Court in May…
Judge voids Southern Tier village’s water sales
A judge’s ruling calls for a halt to the Village of Painted Post’s water sales to a Shell subsidiary, SWEPI, LP. The company was using the water to frack wells in Pennsylvania. Under the agreement the village would have received a minimum of $3.2 million over a five-year period. In 2012, Painted Post officials signed…
Daily Choices: What to do on Tuesday, March 26
Literary: If I had to predict a good way to spend your lunch break, I’d put our money on the free discussion of Nate Silver’s “The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail – but Some Don’t,”
Video Game Preview: Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Wii U/3DS)
Capcom’s “Monster Hunter” series is quite the behemoth. A hit series in Japan, but still somewhat under the radar in the West, “Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate” is an updated version of the 2010 Wii game “Monster Hunter Tri.”
Concert Review: Greener Grass Band, Bordertown, Extended Family
You can always tell when Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad is off the road, because there are multiple Dan Keller sightings as the GPGDS guitarist sits in with various bands around town. On Friday night I caught the cat tickling the ivories beneath a porkpie hat with the Greener Grass Bandat the Firehouse Saloon. This…
Week Ahead: Prop 8 and DOMA Supreme Court hearings, RCSD budget, city budget forum, keeping an eye on pawn shops
The US Supreme Court will hear a legal challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act beginning on March 27. In anticipation, a local collaborative group that includes representatives of the LGBT, religious, and labor communities will hold a couple of events this week. Under DOMA, marriage is limited to one man and one woman…
Daily Choices: What to do on Monday, March 25
Music: You’ve cast your votes. You’ve seen them perform. Now come on out to see who Lovin’ Cup Idol’s 2013 (300 Park Point Dr., lovincup.com) winner will be. The red carpet finale takes place tonight, so head on down and see who ultimately takes the crown.
Few layoffs in RCSD budget for next year
Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas will present a final draft of his $728 million budget for next year to board members. The budget adds 10 new reading teachers specifically for students in grades K-3, according to a background document provided by the district. Vargas plans to move forward with longer school days in up to…
Warren sets tone for her campaign
Lovely Warren officially launched her bid for mayor today. WATCH VIDEO
Concert Review: RPO’s “Romantic Dvorak”
While I’m generally not one to subscribe to the applause-o-meter of an audience, Thursday night’s Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra concert started with a quieter-than-usual opening clap level and escalated with each performance into a rousing standing ovation by the concert’s conclusion. Guest conductor Andreas Delfs and the RPO certainly woke up the audience with rousing and…
Daily Choices: What to do on Friday, March 22
Special: Yes, we know, we want the cold weather to finally come to an end, too. (So much for spring beginning this week, right?)
“American Idol” 2013: Results (Top 9 to Top 8)
The show opened with the Jimmy Iovine recap, which I always find fascinating. Jimmy is the one person who I feel actually knows what’s going on this season. He found Wednesday night confusing, because some of the singers were good, some were bad, and yet the judges were nice to all of them. He basically…
Lawsuit challenges state gun control laws
An NRA-backed lawsuit against New York officials seeks to gut much of the SAFE Act, a package of gun control laws enacted earlier this year. Specifically, the lawsuit asks a judge to invalidate the assault weapons ban and the ban on high-capacity magazines. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of several plaintiffs, including Beikirch Ammunition…
West Main Street church keeps ‘historic’ label
Rochester developer Marvin Maye lost his bid today to have a West Main Street church taken off the city’s list of historic properties. Maye owns the church but wants to tear it down so he can build a Dollar General. The historic designation adds another hurdle for Maye to clear in his push to demolish…
Concert Review: Samantha Fish at the Dino
Only her hairdresser knows for sure, but last time I saw Kansas City blues guitarist Samantha Fish at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival Big Tent, she was a blonde, and part of the Girls With Guitars three-woman ensemble. Wednesday night we all saw red… redhead, that is, as a now-auburn-tressed Fish was the only…
Video Game Review: Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)
“Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon,” developed by Next Level Games (the studio behind “Punch-Out!!” for Wii, “Mario Strikers Charged”) is the sequel to 2001’s GameCube launch title, “Luigi’s Mansion.” Everybody’s favorite green-clad plumber reluctantly returns to the spotlight after an evil entity shatters the Dark Moon, which was keeping the peaceful ghosts of Evershade Valley in…
State officials announce budget deal
Last night, legislative leaders and Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that they were near an agreement on the 2013-14 budget. Details were few at the time of their press conference, which is embedded below. However, the governor’s office just sent out a press release with more information. Included in the budget is:· An approximately $1 billion…
RCSD Superintendent Vargas prepares final budget
This has been the quietest budget season in recent memory for the Rochester school district. There’s been no talk about cutting teachers, but there are some worries. Superintendent Bolgen Vargas is banking on Governor Cuomo’s “pension smoothing” proposal to help reduce the district’s $52 million budget gap for the 2013 to 2014 school year. He’s…
Court cases could decide fate of fracking bans
News broke this week that a state Supreme Court justice upheld the Town of Avon’s ban on fracking. Lenape Resources, a Western New York drilling company, sued the town and the Department of Environmental Conservation to overturn the ban. Several news outlets reported that Avon is the third community whose fracking ban survived a legal…
Daily Choices: What to do on Thursday, March 21
Music: It’s almost like they did it on purpose! Abilene (153 Liberty Pole Way, abilenebarandlounge.com) will be celebrating its fifth anniversary tonight, which is none other than the wood anniversary. Who will be playing? Woody Pines! Music is free and kicks off at 8:30 p.m. Drink specials and prizes round off the celebrations.
“American Idol” 2013: Top 9 Perform (Beatles Week)
Oh, gee. Beatles week. Because we haven’t done THAT countless times before. At least Nikki Minaj showed up on time tonight. Before we got to the actual singing, the show had to do some quality whoring. Carly Rae Jepsen apparently still exists, and she’ll be debuting her new song on the season finale, and it…
Local events coincide with DOMA hearing
The US Supreme Court will hear a legal challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act beginning on March 27. In anticipation, a local collaborative group that includes representatives of the LGBT, religious, and labor communities will hold a couple of events next week. Under DOMA, marriage is limited to one man and one woman…
RCSD teachers say discipline is still a serious problem
Disruptive, disrespectful, and violent student behavior is a serious problem in some city schools, say some teachers I’ve spoken to recently. Poor student behavior and meaningful discipline has been a problem in some city schools for years. The problem was so serious that it resulted in an overuse of suspensions: thousands of students were sent…
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[UPDATED] Lovely Warren will run for mayor
The City Council president will make her official announcement at a press conference on Friday morning.
THEATER | “PhotoPlay”
Lively creativity can arise from minimal material, and at times, artists will place deliberate restrictions and constraints on a project in order to see what emerges. Producer John Borek’s latest conceptual art piece, “PhotoPlay,” will consist of 20 90-second plays to be performed inside a photo booth, and will take place at 7 p.m. on…
SPECIAL EVENT | Persian New Year Celebration
I stand by all previous statements I’ve made about trading our freezing, depressing, and drunken New Year holiday for the traditional Persian New Year celebration of Nowruz, which is celebrated in the springtime. What could be more logical or lovely than pausing to revel in the new life stirring and budding all around you, the…
“Race: Are We So Different?”
I have visited the “Race” exhibit at Rochester Museum and Science Center twice so far, and both times caught college classes crowding the different stations, with students and teachers strolling in pairs or small groups and discussing with one another — and with community members — the heavy things that we must discuss. I witnessed…
DINING REVIEW: Banzai Sushi & Cocktail Bar
The South Wedge is quickly becoming my go-to place for just about anything I might need. Craft beer? The Tap & Mallet fills that niche admirably. A reliable place to take your girlfriend and her parents for dinner? Zeppa Bistro’s a great choice. Jamaican for lunch? Peppa Pot. A dive bar to suck down PBRs…
Feedback 3/20
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. Oil, gas,…
POP/ROCK | The 1975
Though none of its members can claim to have been born quite near the year that is the band’s namesake, that hasn’t stopped Manchester, England’s The 1975 from releasing three lauded EPs in quick succession since last summer. On the second EP, “Sex,” in particular, the quartet demonstrates the ability to alternate between sticky-sweet ballads…
“The Call”
Her appearance in “The Call” suggests that Halle Berry, who’s been very busy lately, occupies a position in Hollywood as a kind of female counterpart to those male stars who specialize in action movies. Aside from playing Catwoman, she also serves as one of the charter members of the X-Men in that blockbuster franchise. Most…
PROGRESSIVE JAZZ | Bill Frisell
Famed author and pal-o-mine Charles Benoit once described the two schools of writing to me: plotting and plodding. The plotters lay it out ahead of time, the plodders discover as they go. Bill Frisell is a plodder, in this case with a Tele in lieu of a typewriter. I mean, how could he know where…
HONKY TONK | Wayne Hancock
Before Hank III nasally announced a return of outlaw country to the outlaws, there was Texas troubadour Wayne Hancock. A songwriter since he was 12, Hancock landed in 1995 with “Thunderstorms and Neon Signs.” He also contributed heavily to the aforementioned Williams’ debut. Hancock is the real deal, a throwback to general stores and sawdust…
Urban Action 3/20
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Preservation conference The Landmark Society of Western New York and Rochester Colonial are among several sponsors of the conference, “Outside the Box: Innovative Preservation Practices for the 21st Century,” on Friday, April 19,…
DJ/ELECTRONIC | Nina Flowers
If you don’t watch “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” then I pity you. It is a brilliant mix of entertainment and inspiration, and the costumes and performances routinely put out by the drag-queen participants are astonishing to behold. Nina Flowers is the universally beloved runner-up of Season 1 of the show, and in addition to being a…
Our guns and our fear
Yet another multiple-victim shooting, this time just a couple of hours east of Rochester, in Herkimer and Mohawk. More deaths. More critical injuries, lockdowns, community trauma. And yet there seems little hope that Congress will enact a sensible gun control law. And New York State’s new law is under attack. I admit that I don’t…
ROCK | Goodbye Ronnie
Occasionally an album emerges from the pack and flirts with the possibility of being one of the classics. “What Have We Done” is an acoustic folk-inspired album from Goodbye Ronnie, a.k.a. Ronnie Lickers, a veteran drummer for local prog-metal group BML. Lickers takes us on his journey of self-reflection with a collection of songs that…
Daily Choices: What to do on Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24
Special: What are your New Year’s plans? The Persian New Year, that is – otherwise known as Nowruz. If you want to get in on this Persian party, stop by the Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave.) on Sunday for “Ode to Wine: A Program of Poetry, Art and Culture,”
JAZZ | Eastman Chamber Jazz
Keyboardist David Paich is a member of the rock group Toto, known for writing and singing ear candy like “Hold the Line,” “Rosanna,” and “Africa.” A top session musician, composer, and producer, he also wrote the soundtrack for the David Lynch movie “Dune.” Drummer Dennis Mackrel is the leader of the Count Basie Orchestra. What…
“The Gatekeepers”
In the Oscar-nominated documentary “The Gatekeepers,” a gripping recounting of the history of the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israeli filmmaker Dror Moreh has achieved a remarkable feat. Not only in creating a powerful, passionate, and clear-eyed examination of an exceedingly complex subject, but in miraculously convincing all six surviving former heads of Shin Bet, Israel’s secret…
INDIE | Chris Cohen, Light Feelings
Chris Cohen has done plenty of work with other bands, including Haunted Graffiti and Deerhoof, and has the likes of Pitchfork and Captured Tracks tooting his horn. He finally released his first solo work. The music is firmly mid-tempo and ranges from psychedelic to easy-listening 60’s pop, and is geared toward hanging out on your…
“Planet of Snail”
“Planet of Snail” is the final presentation in the Dryden Theatre’s “Cinema Guild” series, which has screened a wide-ranging selection of recent movies from the foreign and independent film distributor, and it’s as sweet and life-affirming a film as you could ever wish to see. The South Korean documentary, from director Yi Seung-jin, offers a…
DANCE | River North Dance Chicago
If the first teases of spring haven’t gotten you longing for the summer’s heat, the sexy, jazz-based choreography of internationally acclaimed River North Dance Chicago will. On the scene since1989, the company is beloved for its bold, emotive, theatrical dance, and has been the subject of three Emmy-winning documentaries on the company and the individual…
MUSIC FEATURE: Houston Person
Houston Person still remembers the day in 1950 that changed his life. He was a typical 16-year-old in his hometown of Florence, South Carolina. He sang in the high-school choir and glee club, but he was mostly interested in football and basketball. Then, Christmas morning, his parents gave him a surprise gift: a tenor saxophone.…
FILM | Women’s History Month Film Series
It’s the merry month of March, so it’s time for the Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender and Women’s Studies’ annual showcase of girls on film. SBAI and WXXI will host “Women & Power: Women’s History Film Series,” with 10 stories about women across many cultures, to be screened at the Little Theatre (240 East…
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[UPDATED] The mark of Ginger Beard
“Ginger Beard” sounds like a pirate, or maybe a red-haired chippie doing human-shield work for a closeted so and so. The mark of Ginger Beard — whoever that is — is spreading through the South Wedge like white plastic lawn chairs spreading through suburban summers. GB has been plastering the Wedge with wheat paste posters…
LECTURE | Breeding Endangered Animals
For decades preservation endeavors have worked to prolong/revive myriad endangered species. But for various reasons, there are complications in getting some animals to breed in captivity. Learn more about this cumbersome topic at this week’s Science on the Edge lecture, “The Science and Technology of Breeding Endangered Species when Mother Nature Needs a Helping Hand.”…
Rebellion in education funding
Michael Rebell isn’t a household name, but to many New York educators and parents, particularly those in New York City, he’s a hero. Rebell was co-counsel for the plaintiffs in the landmark Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit against the state. Rebell argued that the state was failing to provide the New York City school district…
THEATER | “Bob”
We all know the rags-to-riches story of the American Dream, in which a disadvantaged individual rises to one of various tops by virtue of his own will and initiative. “Bob,” the comedic production currently presented at Geva Theatre Center’s NextStage (75 Woodbury Blvd.), follows just such a journey in its title character, who was born…
