The seasons of a lifetime
One of the most unusual motion pictures of the year, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring (the title is probably less unwieldy in the original, which renders each section with a single beautiful character), indicates that even in the midst of American cultural hegemony, a world cinema continues to exist and even thrive. The…
Also playing…
French director Claude Chabrol’s films usually contain two reliable elements. The first is the languid, privileged life of the bourgeoisie the French so enjoy documenting on film. Even the early Les Bonnes Femmes, which was not about the upper class but about shopgirls, portrayed the girls’ lives as stressless lollygagging marked only by shopping adventures…
Sweet machine music
In June, there’s good reason to shuffle off to Buffalo: The June in Buffalo festival. To the outside world, June in Buffalo, started by composer Morton Feldman in 1975, is a week of contemporary music concerts hosted by the University at Buffalo. To participating young composers, however, it is a conference of workshops that bring…
Angels or Popeye
It seemed like Nancy Sinatra’sboots were made for just kinda standing there on the Montage’s groovy, new, and improved stage. She launched the early show with the sexy cool she’s known for with a super-sensual rendition of “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” but that was it. The show was a yawn fest…
Oh, just let ’em fail
Far be it from me to suggest that the editorial page at The Other Paper is racist. You can draw your own conclusions. Here are excerpts from recent editorials in the Democrat and Chronicle: May 16, on the Rochester school district, which will have to cut crucial programs if it doesn’t get more…
The XX files
We were standing in the center of Munich last month watching the mechanical dancers swirl to the glockenspiel’s music when we saw it: a crowd bristling with anti-American signs rolling like a dark storm cloud toward my family. This was exactly what I had feared. My husband and I had started planning this spring-break…
It’s (Republican) party time!
The Monroe County Republican convention was held last week, with hundreds of the faithful gathering to celebrate achievements, nominate candidates, and generally schmooze with other operatives and playmakers. Held at Logan’s Party House on Scottsville Road, everyone who is anyone among the county GOP machinery was in attendance. The stars of the evening however,…
Reader feedback 5.26.04
Brockport’s finances, torture in Iraq
Body count
To honor the war dead and fill an information gap in US mass media, City Newspaper will run weekly lists of American/”Coalition” soldiers and Iraqi citizens killed during the ongoing occupation of Iraq. The totals: 797 American soldiers, 111 “Coalition” soldiers, and approximately 9,000 Iraqi soldiers and 10,750 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq…
Dancing around the teapot
Hallmark Danceworks, a modern dance company in Rochester, has no permanent home. Moving from space to space, as far west as SUNY Brockport to central locations in downtown Rochester, Hallmark dancers rehearse wherever they can. Hallmark Danceworks includes Artistic Director Liz Hallmark and three other permanent members. When her choreography calls for it, Hallmark…
The Green monster
Reports of the Green Party’s death have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, according to David Cobb, who hopes to become the party’s presidential candidate, the Greens are bigger and stronger than ever — despite a widely-held view that the party was hurt by Ralph Nader’s run in the 2000 election. “While the Democrats…
Shaw starts sparkling
Shaw Festival’s 2004 season got off to an early and rollicking start with three effervescent comedies. Two more plays conclude the opening “week” at the end of May. Seven more productions will follow and play into December. These first three set the bar high. First, Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell directs G. B. Shaw’s classic…
‘Will work to pay fine’
Chuck Cerankosky knows panhandlers. As the manager of Java’s on Gibbs Street for the past three years, he’s used to dealing with people who use the coffee shop’s sidewalk seating as a “market for panhandling.” He knows many of them by name, and he knows that many are either physically or mentally disabled. And…
Swing shift
Downtown gears up for the Rochester International Jazz Festival
Family valued
Candid camera obscura Big kids can make their own images with cell phones and digital cameras, computers, and video cams. But that’s expensive, high-end technology — what’s a little kid to do? My 7-year-old son and I “invented” a solution one day while fooling around with a magnifying glass. A miniature reflection of the…
Swing shift
Downtown gears up for the Rochester International Jazz Festival
“Fire on the Genesee”
When women say they love a man in uniform, do they mean a thick, wool reproduction of a Confederate Army uniform, complete with gold braid and flattened-pancake hat? After chatting up a few soldiers at Saturday’s Civil War reenactment at Letchworth State Park, my vote is a wholehearted “yes!” Enthusiasts crowded the yellow tape…
The two Polish gentlemen of Verona
In food circles, the West side is considered a wasteland, which isn’t entirely fair. Though most of our fancy restaurants are on the East side, the West and Southwest sides abound in Hispanic, Jamaican, and soul food. But move outside the city and even this apologist scratches his head. Greece has jewels in Bernard’s Grove…
Home repair
Red Wing Jason Bartlett broke his left wrist during a game on Saturday, May 8. The 24-year-old shortstop will likely miss four to six weeks. Despite sitting out 15 games with the injury through May 24, Bartlett was still in the top-40 in IL hits. He rode an eight-game errorless streak before breaking his…
