Family 3.30.05
‘Here Come The ABCs’ They Might Be Giants is a songwriting and performing duo that has been writing witty songs for 20 or so years now. This disc, coming right after big success with their family-friendly NO!, is mostly made of soundtrack songs for the DVD of the same name. All of the songs are…
Hero of the Revolution
It’s not difficult to imagine Arnold Matlin as a pediatrician, the profession from which he recently retired after 33 years. With his restless energy and jovial demeanor, it’s easy to picture him being as gentle as possible when a shot is necessary or coaxing infants to stick out their tongues. But there’s more to a…
Pride dunks prejudice
Looking back, the Harlem Globetrotters did more harm to the cause of racial equality than good. True, over the last eight decades the Globetrotters became arguably the most famous professional sports team on the planet. But they did it by reducing themselves to clowning, by exploiting racial stereotypes. The Globetrotters essentially became the athletic equivalent…
What a difference a generation makes
Anyone who doubts the famous maxim attributed to Karl Marx (or perhaps his cousin Groucho) that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce, need only take a look at the new movie Guess Who. In its updating of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner of 1967, the film demonstrates that a comparable Marxist pattern…
You gotta have faith. And bullets.
I was asked recently what I believed in. I replied that I believed in believing — not in any kind of structured religious way, but absolute faith in yourself and your choices, as well as an unbending belief in the inherent good of others. It’s been my observation that only two varieties of people operate…
City’s choice: film
Harry Knuckles and the Pearl Necklace is about… umm… well, it’s about two hours long, and… uhh… Bigfoot is in it, and… oh, it’s got lesbian cannibals and nuns with breakaway habits, and… hmm… it defies description, really. Harry Knuckles (Phil Caracas), an aptly named superspy, and his Mexican wrestler sidekick El Santos are on…
Braiding mediums
ImageMovementSound may be one of Rochester’s best-kept secrets. Most residents don’t even know it exists. But outsiders seem to know. Kelly Ferris, a first-year SUNY Brockport grad student from Tennessee says, “One of the reasons I came here to Rochester was to be a part of this festival.” In its ninth consecutive year, ImageMovementSound 2005…
Downright infected
That Joe Beard is one suave individual. After I made a mess of the Clarissa Room stage on March 5, Beard and his blues crew came out swingin’ and rocked the joint. All it takes is a little shakin’ on the dance floor and Beard really leans in. I packed up my gear that night…
Music review 3.30.05
Sam Prekop, Who’s Your New Professor – Paul Bley, Nothing to Declare
The XX Files
Like a missionary in a land of heathens, my friend is trying to save the souls of my children. To save them, specifically, from me. She thinks I’m not letting them do enough “normal” kid stuff. When the family saw a silent film at the Dryden Theatre despite the kids’ pleas to see SpongeBob SquarePants,…
Saving Schiavo: hypocrisy without limit
In near-record time, the Terri Schiavo case has morphed into a national cause célèbre stoked by the almost unlimited self-righteousness and hypocrisy of the Bush Administration. The family tragedy has been happily picked up by Tom Delay, who’s seeking to divert attention from his growing scandal woes. Continuing the political grandstanding, Bush rushed back to…
Tell me a yarn
On the second floor of Midtown Plaza, taking up a small amount of the space that the old Scrantoms once inhabited, is one of downtown’s best (and most needlessly) kept secrets. In its 20-year existence, owner Nel Adams’ Village Yarn Shop has done time in Village Gate (hence the shop’s name) and on Monroe Avenue,…
Resurrecting the urban wasteland
It took a public shaming from the New York Times before it was released, but state money to fund brownfield cleanups is finally flowing to where it was intended. Last week Governor Pataki and the leaders of both houses of the state legislature announced a breakthrough that freed $30 million to help with the cleanup…
Body count 3.30.05
The totals: 1,528 American soldiers, 176 Coalition soldiers, and approximately 17,233 to 19,608 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq from the beginning of the war and occupation to March 29. American soldiers killed from Mar 23-29: Specialist Francisco G. Martinez, 20; Fort Worth, Texas | Lance Corporal Kevin S. Smith, 20; Springfield, Ohio |…
Reader feedback 3.30.05
A charter-school debate, front-porch dangers
The schools’ problem? Concentrated poverty
“The sky is falling.” And as usual, it is falling on schoolchildren. Recent headlines place the academic performance of US students near the bottom of the world. These reports are partially true, but problems with our education system are exaggerated for some groups of students and underreported for others. Consider that: • Countries we…
