Dollars or sense? The news at the local daily
The Democrat and Chronicle has been losing readers — and the paper’s management and reporters have vastly different views on how to fix things. Is Gannett’s push for high profit hurting the community? A report from inside the D&C.
Onstage
The gospel of the playground Blackfriars’ cast of talented young performers is presenting Godspell,a wildly imaginative treatment of the Gospel according to St. Matthew. Originally John-Michael Tebelak’s MFA directing thesis, Godspell is “a celebration of life.” Its clownlike youngsters play and sing joyously in an abandoned playground as a modernized Jesus teaches them through parables.…
Hitching a ride through galactic grotesques
The cult following, especially among young people, of the Douglas Adams novels — and the radio and television series they spawned — will probably guarantee the profitability of the new feature-length film based on his signature book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Without that large and presumably eager audience, however, I doubt that the…
Your guide to a movie tailgating weekend
Do you enjoy movies but can’t bear the thought of dealing with the same one for two grueling hours? Sufferers from short attention spans: Put down that can of Mountain Dew and rejoice! It’s time once again for the Rochester International Film Festival, more commonly referred to as Movies on a Shoestring. 2005 marks the…
It doesn’t have to be beautiful
“Nothing,” jokes Matty Sonar, describing what attracted him to playing in local noise outfit Gaybot. “I didn’t like it at all,” he says, “and I don’t know if I do now.” For Sonar, who provides beats and plays guitar, saxophonist Chris Wicks, and mastermind Brian Blatt (who most often embodies the Gaybot persona, though he…
The new propaganda
Browsing through the Brighton library recently, I came across a video from a 1982 PBS mini-series titled “A Walk Through the 20th Century.” This particular installment was called “World War II — The Propaganda Battle,” narrated by Bill Moyers. Being a history buff, especially about World War II, I checked it out. The film compares…
XX Files
There were two pharmacies in the village where I grew up outside of Boston: the neat one owned by Mr. Margolis, where my brother and I picked up my father’s medicine, and the cluttered one with the nudie magazines on display. This is where we bought my mother’s cigarettes. Even though we had to cross…
Let me tell you a story
Library clerk Mary Ellen Baxter tries to vary the themes for the Henrietta Public Library’s storyline, her self-proclaimed “baby.” But some themes just bear repeating. She’s repeated the “Please & Thank You” month several times. “Because we have children come in, and their manners are just like — well,” she says. “I have my little…
Reader feedback 5.4.05
Breck Street’s music, Nicaragua’s history
Body count 5.4.05
The totals: 1,582 American soldiers, 180 Coalition soldiers, and approximately 21,239 to 24,106 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq from the beginning of the war and occupation to April 30. American soldiers killed from April 24-30: Specialist Gary W. Walters Jr., 31; Victoria, Texas | 1st Sergeant Timmy J. Millsap, 39; Wichita, Kansas |…
Fighting poverty’s effects — with music
You’ve heard them a thousand times, the little taglines that have followed conversations about Rochester for years. Rochester “has a lot of old money.” Rochester “is a white-collar town.” Rochester “is an arts and culture city.” Here are a couple of more recent ones: Rochester’s children are the 11th poorest in the country and the…
Inbox
Welcome to the inaugural installment of Inbox, a column dedicated to remarkable emails. Inbox began in 2002 as the only annual zine dedicated to preserving email. The initial concept was a spoof on museums that try to preserve and catalogue the completely meaningless trifles of life. However, after receiving more than 150 submissions for the…
Family valued 5.4.05
Intriguing sprockets and a lowly worm Has Rochester grown tiresome? Head to the Buffalo Museum of Science for Springs, Sprockets and Pulleys, the mechanical sculptures of Steve Gerberich, on exhibit through June 26. There were no German guys named Dieter hosting the exhibit during our visit, but we did see a guitar-playing robot that looked…
Fiz
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