Cover Story
Mount Hope Cemetery: A buried treasure
Many know Mount Hope as the final resting place for notable Rochesterians like Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, and others. But countless other interesting facts and legends surround the burial grounds.
Hugs and hisses: Liz and Mary Cheney
The hugs and hisses between the Cheney sisters is more than a celebrity girl-fight. The daughters of former Vice President Dick Cheney went at it when Liz Cheney, in her bid for the Senate seat in Wyoming, told Fox News recently that she’s against same-sex marriage. Mary flipped when she watched her sister dis same-sex…
Rochester gets good marks on equality
The Human Rights Campaign has given the City of Rochester high ranks on its 2013 Municipal Equality Index scorecard. The city grabbed 98 out of a maximum 100 points on the scorecard, which examined a broad range of criteria, including existence of non-discrimination laws, recognition of domestic partnerships, existence of school anti-bullying policies, and whether…
ARTS: Holcomb announces retirement from Memorial Art Gallery
Early Tuesday morning the Memorial Art Gallery announced that Grant Holcomb, the Mary W. and Donald R. Clark Director of the institution, will retire effective July 1, 2014. Holcomb has been MAG director since 1985, and under his tenure he shepherded the ongoing year-long 100th anniversary celebration and the development of the Centennial Sculpture Park.…
Vargas wants area colleges to take over Rochester city schools
Rochester city schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas says he wants as many schools as possible to eventually be under the full management of Rochester-area colleges. He says that he wants at least one school to be under a college’s management by 2015. Vargas made several far-reaching proposals tonight to members of the school board. Vargas appeared…
Theater Review: Pittsford Musicals’ “Les Miserables”
After sitting through a disappointing 2012 film adaptation and the lackluster 25th anniversary touring production that made a stop at the Auditorium Center back in May, I admit that, despite my fondness for the show, I wasn’t quite sure I was ready to subject myself to yet another staging of “Les Misérables.” Thankfully, I decided…
WEEK AHEAD: Common Core hearing, Highland Market open house, public meeting on Irondequoit library plan, much more
The New York State Assembly Office of Public Affairs will hold a forum to hear testimony on the recent statewide implementation of the Common Core curriculum. The event will be held from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, November 20, at the Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Avenue. Information: (518) 455-5073. Rochester schools Superintendent…
AG’s office wants to rehear Wiesner case
The state Attorney General’s Office has filed a motion to dismiss charges against Robert Wiesner. Sort of. Wiesner, who is the husband of County Executive Maggie Brooks, is one of four defendants in a case of alleged bid-rigging involving two county-linked local development corporations. In an indictment, the attorney general’s office charged Wiesner with two…
GateHouse reportedly lays off Monroe County reporters
In tweets, Messenger Post reporter James Battaglia says that GateHouse Media has laid off its Monroe County reporters.
Concert Review: RPO plays Rachmaninoff, Strauss, Hindemith
If you love Rachmaninoff even half as much as I do, you are going to love the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s delivery of his Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, led by guest conductor Junichi Hirokami. This week’s concert offering of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra packs in nearly an hour of Rachmaninoff in its second half,…
LDC’s: the scandal (almost) everyone saw coming
Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks apparently isn’t ready to give up on local development corporations. Brooks reiterated her support for the quasi-governmental bodies at a tense press conference last week, which came on the heels of the arrest of four people, including her husband, for allegedly carrying out an elaborate bid-rigging scheme. The four, including…
Group pushes for brownfield tax credit reforms
An updated Environmental Advocates of New York analysis of the state’s brownfield redevelopment tax credit program says that since 2003, the program has cost in excess of $1.1 billion, but only 131 sites have been cleaned up. And of those 131 sites, only 82 projects claimed tax credits through 2012. The program is costly, but…
Democrats on the run; you could set your watch to it
Say what you want, but we’re all pretty clear on what the Tea Party and the far right wing of the Republican Party stands for: opposing President Obama on everything and obstructing government. What do Democrats stand for? Well, that depends. Democrats are fond of nuanced positions. And truth be told, they’ll run like scared…
No LDC action in Lej, but secondhand dealer proposal revived
Democratic legislators’ efforts to advance a package of local development corporation reforms during Tuesday’s Legislature meeting were short-lived. The caucus had unveiled and introduced the legislation, which called for eight specific reforms, earlier in the day. The sponsor, Legislator Paul Haney, submitted them as matters of urgency so that, with Adair’s consent, they could be…
Warren appoints two to lead her transition team
Rochester Mayor-elect Lovely Warren has appointed a local lawyer and an RIT professor to lead her transition. Christopher Thomas and Dr. dt ogilvie are serving on a volunteer basis. The transition team will also hire Strategic Community Intervention LLC, founded by former Rochester Mayor Bill Johnson, to consult. Current mayor Tom Richards will be a…
Has higher ed lost its edge?
For the last 50 years, a college education almost guaranteed a secure job with a good salary and benefits; you wouldn’t have to endure the backbreaking labor of your first-generation parents working in factories, digging sewer ditches, or trying to eke a few hundred bucks a month out of a plot of land. But the…
Food benefits decreasing
In Monroe County, food stamp cuts come at a time of growing need. In January 2011, 108,078 people in 55,220 Monroe County households received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, according to the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. In August 2013, the number had risen to 120,332 recipients in 63,973 households. The current decrease,…
Pop/Rock | Little Big League
Little Big League, based in Philadelphia, makes music that recalls the pop-punk sound of the 90’s and early 2000’s, when the genre was heavily influenced by the burgeoning indie-rock scene. Reminiscent of artists like Tegan and Sara and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the band combines a pop-punk-inspired love of melody and structure with hazy, distorted…
Urban Action 11/13
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Sustainable food lecture Nazareth College will present “Leading Change and Innovation,” a lecture by Ellen Gustafson at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 19. Gustafson is a sustainable food activist, entrepreneur, and the founder…
Alternative | Herzog
What would “sunshine” pop sound like if it grew up on the west side of Cleveland, informed by the bitter winds of Lake Erie? Simple: Herzog. Nick Tolar and company’s mesmerizing power pop is driven by extremely well-crafted melodies echoed by chugging, warped guitars. The songs are colorful and urgent, bright with their moments of…
Lovely Warren’s next campaign
Even if she hadn’t won last week, Lovely Warren would deserve credit for focusing relentlessly on the existence of “two Rochesters” during her campaign for mayor. Dealing with poverty and its consequences in Rochester’s inner city is the most important challenge this city faces. In less than two months, Warren will be responsible for leading…
Pop/Rock | Eddie Spaghetti
Growing up in Tucson, Eddie Spaghetti did everything he could to shield himself from the country twang which surrounded him. In 1988, heavily influenced by punk and metal, he helped form the widely influential, incomparable garage-rock outfit, The Supersuckers. The following year the band found itself in Seattle, and part of a burgeoning underground music…
DINING REVIEW: Rumi’s Grill and Cafe
Route 31 is a busy thoroughfare, particularly the section south of the 590 ramp and north of the Pittsford village. It’s a suburban, commercial juggernaut. Get a bestseller fix at Barnes & Noble, a bag of frozen Parisian carrots at Trader Joe’s, a whimsical serving platter at People’s Pottery, a Pomeranian-sized Christmas sweater at Petco…
Pop/Rock | “Once Upon a Dream” starring The Rascals
It was actually during Steven Van Zandt’s speech inducting The Rascals into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that the folks behind the HBO hit “The Sopranos” first got a taste of him, and Silvio Dante was born. Well Van Zandt is at it again with The Rascals in producing and presenting “Once Upon…
“Of the Ordinary”
Without the few wall-mounted paragraphs, which provide minimal information about each of the artists and their corresponding projects featured in the show, the current exhibit at Visual Studies Workshop would merely be a collection of baffling pictures unattached to meaning, an almost alien encounter. “Of the Ordinary” is made up of photographic imagery, largely unshackled…
ART EVENT | WinterCraft
We’re deep into the holiday shopping season now, so if you’re scratching your head about what to get some people on your list, the Genesee Center for the Arts and Education (713 Monroe Ave.) is here to save the day. On Friday, November 15, the annual art and craft show and sale WinterCraft will open…
KIDS | Rochester Children’s Book Festival/In Another Galaxy Weekend
Books can catapult your imagination to otherwise unreachable heights, and make you smarter in the process. As Dr. Seuss put it, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” This Saturday, November 16, do your child a favor and bring him or…
DANCE | Shanghai Ballet/Galumpha Dance
If watching “Dancing with the Stars” is your idea of taking in a dance performance, I’m here to tell you there are much better ways to get your dance fix. There are two live acts coming to Rochester this Friday, November 15, to open your eyes to the possibilities of the artform. The first act…
SPORTS | Roller Derby/Amerks Hockey
Being a mega-fan of baseball, I’m saddened every year once the season’s over, because that means the days of enjoying live sports outside are pretty much over for the year. There’s nothing like sitting outside in the summer weather watching the Red Wings play while eating a Zweigle’s and drinking a Rohrbach. Sure, you can…
SPECIAL EVENT | Astronomicon Convention
Where can fans of sci-fi and aspiring writers attend programming with such titles as, “Can You Like Literary SF Without Being a Snob?” and “When the Series Jumps the Dragon”? At the 12th Annual Astronomicon sci-fi convention, which will be held at the Radisson Hotel Rochester Riverside (120 E. Main St.) from Friday, November 15,…
LECTURE | Colum McCann
To award-winning Irish author Colum McCann, being a small part of humanity’s long storytelling legacy is a privilege, and the only thing that can trump life itself. “I love the fact that our stories can cross all sorts of borders and boundaries,” the author said in a recent interview. His works of fiction have done…
THEATER | “Exit, Pursued by a Bear”
Sometimes just the title of a play is enough to intrigue you into snapping up a ticket. How can you not want to see what happens when “Exit, Pursued by a Bear” plays Thursday, November 14, through Sunday, November 17, at MuCCC (142 Atlantic Ave.)? The description of Lauren Gunderson’s play on the MuCCC website…
“12 Years a Slave”
One of the most important movies to appear in the current season, “12 Years a Slave” provides a relevant lesson in some of the darkest passages in the nation’s history as well as a reminder of just how long a shadow that history casts. Beyond its relatively simple and straightforward story, it suggests the moral…
Pop/Rock | Stephen Kellogg
Rootsy rocker Stephen Kellogg has 86’d his band The Sixers but soldiers on regardless. His newest foray into songwriter fame is an epic stab at Turkey Day with his opus “Thanksgiving.” The tune brings to mind another extrapolated seasonal tradition, Arlo Guthrie’s 1967 roundabout look at the war in Vietnam, “Alice’s Restaurant.” Timely, huh? I…
“Thor: The Dark World”
The latest chapter in Marvel Studios’ ever-expanding big-screen universe, “Thor: The Dark World” picks up not long after the events of 2012’s “The Avengers” to check in on the continuing adventures of the heroic Norse god. Much like how “Iron Man 3” found Tony Stark in a darker place, suffering from PTSD after his near-death…
10³²K
There’s no mistaking it when Ku-umba Frank Lacy really gets going. He lifts his trombone to the sky and then plunges it back to the ground in a split second. Up and down the long horn goes while the note he’s suspending spreads far and wide. “I’m into a sort of rarefraction of the sound,”…
Classical | RIT Performing Artists Concert Series
Two hands. Four pianos. This lead-in of double keyboards means double excitement when pianists Benjamin Hopkins and Christopher Goodpasture take the stage at RIT. Hopkins won first prize in the Rio Hondo Symphony Young Artist Competition. In 2008, Hopkins won awards from the Rochester Philharmonic League and debuted with the RPO. In 2011, Goodpasture won…
Feedback 11/13
We welcome your comments. Send them to themail@rochester-citynews.com, or post them on our website, rochestercitynewspaper.com, our Facebook page, or our Twitter feed, @roccitynews. For our print edition, we select comments from all three sources; those of fewer than 350 words have a greater chance of being published, and we do edit selections for publication in…
Drum & Dance | Bush Mango
Rochester loves percussion, which makes it a natural home and performance venue for Bush Mango, a 13-member company featuring drumming, dancing, and performance. Bush Mango’s holiday performance on November 16 is titled “Kibola Kei Kei,” which translates as “Moon over Kibola” (a village in Guinea, West Africa). The music is poly-rhythmic; the dancing is dynamic.…
