From the ’hood to Henrietta
“‘Resurrected eyesore in Henrietta,’ yeah, say that,” Mike Infantino tells me. Infantino’s Market Restaurant now occupies the former Friendly’s on East Henrietta Road, which stood empty for a couple of years. It did surprisingly well on Mushroom Boulevard for nine years before the move — “A dead-end street!” Infantino interjects, “And we had waiting lines!…
Wasting time like a pro
The US Labor Department might soon have to create a public service announcement for pro sports. It would warn of the disastrous economic impact that could occur when teams purposely play a procrastinating, chew-up-the-clock style of offense. The ad would be based on the 1980s drug-prevention PSA of a father confronting his pot-smoking son.…
Not enough pins to tie McNamara down
After 40 years, we should all be ready to forgive and, ah, remember. But Robert S. McNamara probably never will win this critic’s heart or mind. And Errol Morris’s polished documentary, even with the dual bonus of an Oscar and Philip Glass’s primordially appropriate music, is too good for the former whiz kid, defense…
Also playing…
A child is left alone for the weekend in a grand apartment with only the servants to pester in The Fallen Idol (1948). The film could probably coast along entirely on the banter between the young boy, Phillipe, and Baines the butler, or by following Phillipe about on the miscellaneous adventures he busies himself with,…
T-Model Ford is a bad man
You can romanticize all you want, but the blues has been gentrified. It’s been homogenized and castrated. Hell, it’s for everybody now. It’s practically Disney in some parts. That is unless you travel deep, deep into the Delta. There’re cats down there that never got out — at least until the revivalists at Fat…
The marriage trap
Same-sex marriage has become an issue, at least for the moment, in the presidential campaign. We may never know what George Bush, John Edwards, and John Kerry really think: The topic is so emotional that its mere mention forces a political stance. Attitudes will change. Years from now, same-sex marriage will be no more…
The xx files
Bakari Kitwana, hip-hop expert and former editor of The Source, came to Nazareth College last fall and announced hip-hop is becoming a political movement. I was more than a bit skeptical. It’s a seductive idea — tethering good causes to pop-culture phenoms — but does it work? More often than not, the so-called do-gooders…
Meaningful matchmaking
A SUNY Geneseo student by day and a mentor by weekend, Adam Devitt watches movies, eats burgers, goes swimming, and plays arcade games with a second-grader named Skyler (both pictured). Last year, they spent one Saturday hiking through Stony Brook Park, and another at a Halloween party where Skyler picked up a prize for best…
The marriage market
Amid a swirl of popular images — The L Word on many lips, queer eyes locking onto straight guys, Rosie not finding but proclaiming her heart in San Francisco — gay and lesbian issues are all over the map. But the top gay issues are not glitz and style or pomp and circumstance, but…
Reader feedback 3.3.04
Amendment would deny rights Supporters of President George Bush’s proposal for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages should carefully consider the full ramifications of that proposal — if they also support the freedom of religion safeguarded by our Constitutional Bill of Rights. While there are many Christians and members of other religions who believe…
An apology from our staff
A recent City article has created understandable concern among readers and non-profit organizations. In our cover article “Need to Feed,” published February 18 and placed on our website that week, we included several quotes containing false statements and unfair accusations about local non-profit groups that distribute food to the needy. Those statements should…
A mother’s not-so-perfect life?
It’s no secret that mothering young children can be isolating, exhausting, and demoralizing. Mothers have been (guiltily) exploring these feelings since the women’s movement first shed light on them decades ago. And for all the advances women have made since the feminist revolution, not much has changed in the parenting department. Society still places…
Contemplating American beauty
Does art have to have meaning? Does it need to be spiritually uplifting, morally challenging, and politically provocative? Does art have to have a purpose? It’s an age-old debate, but a new exhibition at the Memorial Art Gallery, highlighting the work of American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, offers a response to the schism between beautiful purpose…
A phony American dream
Most people who see Arthur Miller’s masterpiece Death of A Salesman feel that they know a Willy Loman in real life, though each knows a different Willy Loman. That great character is so richly conceived that he seems painfully real and right, even in completely varied castings. Originally, two very different actors brilliantly played…
Homeless
The first car is just a warning, but the cop means business. The garage-employee vehicle cruised by, blasted a rude reveille, and moved on — a signal to the sleeping men that it’s time to hit the road. The men rise slowly from the garage floor — a concrete bed feathered with free…
