‘We play’
When class is in session for CapoeiraMandinga Rochester, the rhythm grabs you from the parking lot. As you enter the Elton Street building, the steady thump… tha-thump… tha-THUMP suddenly swells, reverberating down the stairwell. The pulse and boom of sound envelopes you and connects with a place deep in your body. Even before you’ve laid…
A dream of some substance
At its very least, director Michel Gondry’s follow-up to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind answers the head-scratcher, “What sort of person walks away from $50 million?” Apparently that individual would be brimming with humanity and humility, as terrified by the burden of power and celebrity as he is intrigued by its perks. In short,…
Revenge and redemption in the modern West
While Brokeback Mountain continues to outrage an assortment of the ignorant, the nostalgic, and the vehement with its alleged attack on the stirring falsehoods of the Western, another version of the honored form practically slunk into town with barely a peep of protest from the right. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (a mouthful of…
A diva takes action
Grammy Award-winning Jessye Norman flies to Rochester this week to sing a benefit concert for Action for a Better Community, a non-profit agency which helps local people in poverty. (It’s headed by her brother, James Norman.) In an interview, Ms. Norman reflected on the Grammys, her family, and Saturday chores with the Metropolitan Opera. City:Congratulations…
Where’d this come from?
As far as I can tell country music has been co-opted by yuppies. So I’m pretty suspicious of anything claiming to be country. Look, wrapping yourself in the flag as you burn rubber in your pick up truck on the way to see some cookie-cutter cowboy sing about his flag and his pick up truck,…
Music reviews – 3.8.06
Hans Davidsson, David Higgs, William Porter The Eastman Italian Baroque Organ Gothic Records An instrument stars in a new LOFT recording, which like many solo organ CDs, exists to showcase a particular set of pipes. On this CD, three guys rev up the Eastman Italian Baroque Organ (recently installed at the MemorialArtGallery) and show us…
Metro ink – 3.08.06
Maybe it seems hard for you to imagine how expanding the county’s water system could be controversial
Reader feedback – 3.8.06
Christian schools: pros, cons
Cost of war – 3.8.06
The totals: 2301 US soldiers, 206 Coalition soldiers, and approximately 28,864 to 32,506 Iraqicivilians have been killed in Iraq from the beginning of the war and occupation to March 5. 2960 Iraqi police and guardsmen have been killed since January 2005, according to an estimate compiled from news reports. American soldiers killed between February 22…
Wooing upstate
“I want to talk to you about the 13th largest state”
49 Navarre Road
Prime House in a Prime Location Honestly, this lovely, white frame Colonial at 49 Navarre Road is in the city of Rochester, but just barely. Located just off St. Paul Boulevard north of East Ridge Road, within easy walking distance of the Frederick Law Olmsted-designed Seneca Park and zoo, the Genesee River, and the Irondequoit…
Family valued – 3.8.06
Tax season It wasn’t the fact that I’d forgotten to claim my children last year that prompted me to hire a professional tax preparer this year. How I could have forgotten them, I don’t know. I suppose it wasn’t a case of faulty memory, really. It was just that while I was rushing to complete…
Fiz – 3.8.06
Can you keep a secret? Thanks to that great big confessional called the Internet, we don’t have to be burdened by our secrets anymore. There are websites like postsecret (postsecret.blogspot.com), which asks people to send in secrets on hand-crafted postcards, and grouphug (grouphug.us), where visitors can post the contents of their souls and be identified…
The garden inside the house
It’s a striking image — large, glossy, vibrantly colored. A young girl stands in the lush greenery of a tropical forest; her black skin contrasted against the extreme whiteness of her dress. Punctuating the green is a purple-y pink phallic flower just to the right of the girl’s shoulder, and in her right hand she…
