Cost of war – 5.31.06
The totals: 2463 US soldiers, 222 Coalition soldiers, and approximately 37,918 to 42,288 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq from the beginning of the war and occupation to May 26. 3405 Iraqi police and guardsmen have been killed since January 2005, according to an estimate compiled from news reports. American soldiers killed between May…
Jazz Fest Schedule
Friday, June 9 Eastman Theatre Woody Allen & His New Orleans Jazz Band $50-$95 Kilbourn Hall Charlie Hunter Trio RIJF Club Pass Big Tent Gap Mangione Quintet 6pm Djabe 8:30 & 10pm Max of Eastman Place Rachel Z Milestones Mahavishnu Project Montage Henderson-Schonig Trio featuring Dr. Lonnie Smith Little Theatre Bill Dobbins Trio Jazz Street…
‘Absolutes’ and abortion
In 1998, Buffalo became a flashpoint in the abortion debate with the murder of Barnett Slepian, a doctor who performed abortions. But the conditions that led up to the conflict were in place much earlier, and abortion was only one of them, says Eyal Press. Press, a New York City-based journalist, is the son of…
37 Magee Avenue
Gracious City Living: 37 Magee Avenue Magee Avenue is a broad city street in the historic Maplewood neighborhood, with a wonderful variety of very well cared for and architecturally interesting homes. Mature trees line the street and the properties are attractively landscaped. It is a most welcoming neighborhood. This lovely 1,896 square foot home on…
Sign-up sheet: anticipating a draft
Every day, more than 4,000 young American men register for the Selective Service. Most of them, says Paul Frazier, do so without any understanding of their rights, options, and the grave responsibility they have just accepted.
City Newspaper’s Jazz Blogs
Starting Saturday, June 10, check in every day to see our writers’ takes on the previous night’s shows at the 5th Annual Rochester International Jazz Festival. With more than 600 musicians performing in 170 concerts, they’ll have plenty to dish about. Did they get their tongues twisted at BraamDeJoodeVatcher? Who felt good about James Brown?…
Gearing up for lead law
Like it or not, the city’s lead law will take effect July 1. The legislation, which passed six months ago, requires all city rental housing built before 1978 to be tested for lead hazards, such as deteriorated paint and airborne lead particles. “Childhood lead poisoning is one of the most common and preventable pediatric health…
Fiz – 5.31.06
Candy coated About a year and a half ago, Henrietta artist Keith Avery set his artistic talents on an unlikely canvas: Pez dispensers. You know Pez — it’s the tablet candy sold in supermarket checkouts that pops out of cheap plastic sticks, typically topped with the heads of cartoon characters like Donald Duck or movie…
An Upstate farmer takes on Albany
Mark Bitz isn’t the kind of man you’d expect to lead a revolution. The turkey farmer from OnondagaCounty is so soft-spoken it can be difficult to hear him at times, and he frequently stops for real pauses between sentences. But the calm demeanor with which he carries himself at public speaking engagements belies a depth…
Family valued – 5.31.06
The Lion King has left town, but the vibrant music and movement of Africa is alive and well year-round at Bush Mango Drum and Dance.
Dropped out? Where the students went
Barely half of all Rochester high-school students graduate on time, a disturbing fact that Superintendent Manuel Rivera calls “unacceptable.” But contrary to public perception, that doesn’t mean that the other students dropped out. For the first time, the CitySchool District has tracked students as they entered high school as ninth graders, following their progress for…
Reader feedback – 5.31.06
The Bush diversion, the egg-farm sentence
2006 Rochester International Jazz Festival
The 2006 Rochester International Jazz Festival is heavy on greats who are carrying on legacies.
Godfather of the revolutions
Rock ‘n’ roll’s primal scream can be traced back to James Brown. It came from within this man. And at 73 years old it’s still in his soul, in his throat, and in your face. He’s the Reverend Cleophus. He’s The Godfather of Soul. Soul Brother No. 1. Mr. Dynamite. He’s the hardest working man…
RCDC steps into the spotlight
Eight dancers fly across the studio, jumping and spinning with technical prowess in time to the speeding music. A man in full business attire accompanies his pedestrian movements with an ever-changing, politically charged vocal soundtrack. Changing the pace, a woman in flowing white gently glides about the empty stage, pausing to contemplate the one movement…
Rochester International Jazz Festival 2006
The 2006 Rochester International Jazz Festival is heavy on greats who are carrying on legacies. McCoy Tyner emerged from John Coltrane’s classic quartet. Wayne Shorter was part of Miles Davis’ greatest septet. And Phil Woods, who, as a teenager, got to know Charlie Parker, will revive some of the master’s music. On the funk side,…
Do you love me now?
It’s the sort of thing envisioned among whiskey-fueled dreamers at 3 a.m. but never actually attempted once the think tank sobers up: make a movie that takes the hardboiled slang perfected by wordsmiths like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler during the first half of the 20th century and crams it into the maws of modern-day…
Keys to greatness
Up-and-coming pianist Glasper is one of the few true jazz artists signed to Blue Note in recent years.
Apocalypse on Alcatraz
Although the title, X-Men: The Last Stand, and even several of its discussions and incidents promise some finality — perhaps even an end to this dreary series — the X-Men, in the noble tradition of popular film, will probably, alas, continue their struggle to fight evil, defend mutants and mutation, and rummage around in their…
From Brussels with love
At the age of 84 Toots Thielemans has lived through much of the history of jazz. You can hear it in his playing. From plaintive blues, through swinging rhythms, to the be-bop boldness of his improvisations, Thielemans has absorbed it all. The Belgium native speaks six languages, but none are as powerful as his seventh:…
What’s your solution?
In a large urban school district, things are seldom as simple as they seem. That’s the case, in Rochester, with the school drop-out rate. As Tim Macaluso’s article on page 12 relates, the true drop-out rate isn’t nearly as high as many of us have assumed. But that’s not the full story. Each year, hundreds…
Taking flight
When Phil Woods steps onto the Eastman Theater stage at the Rochester International Jazz Festival he will be carrying on a tradition that has enriched his career for six decades. As a young man Woods idolized Charlie “Yardbird” Parker. After a long career steeped in his hero’s legacy, he will be bringing some of Parker’s…
Swing set
What’s the best way to warm up for the Rochester International Jazz Festival? Attend the festival that started it all. Swing ‘n Jazz IX, Rochester’s longest-running jazz festival, sponsored by and benefiting The Commission Project, takes place Friday, June 2, through Sunday, June 4. TCP sends top-notch musicians to schools around the country, exposing students…
Perpetual motion
Talk about starting at the top. McCoy Tyner was barely 20 in 1960 when he was tapped by John Coltrane to become part of arguably the greatest quartet in jazz history. Tyner stayed with Coltrane until 1965, playing on some of the seminal albums of the 20th century and having his creative abilities challenged at…
Metro ink – 5.31.06
GOD ART It was October 2004. Lex Blaakman was talking to God. Or God was talking to him through a paintbrush. He drew, he says, something wholly unfamiliar: a painting of a giant wave juxtaposed with football legend Reggie White with a heart on his forehead. Just two months later, on December 26, the tsunami…
Spotlight on
Asylum Street Spankers Austin, Texas’ The Asylum Street Spankers are Tin Pan Alley ragged and beat poet sharp. They’re Dixieland with a pre-war jazz jump. They’re deranged and irreverent in the extreme. They are 100 percent acoustic (that is to say, un-mic’d and unplugged) and will cordially invite folks to “shut the fuck up” if…
Suicide Frankenstein
You know, sometimes it’s fun to look at the guts and the bones they cling to. I’m talking about rock bands here. As they tweak, tune-up, goose, augment, and twist, rock bands are as much fun to watch as the final draft. A lot of the well-oiled machines you dig onstage are put together suicide…
The cats on stage
To take full advantage of all the RIJF has to offer, you have some planning to do. Read this section for short descriptions of nearly every act in the festival. Our critics — Frank De Blase, Ron Netsky, Chad Oliveiri, Saby Reyes-Kulkarni, and Eric Rezsnyak — give you the information you need to decide which…
