Cover Story
Wheels that deep fry, keep on turning
After the phenomenal success of this year’s two Food Truck Rodeos at the Rochester Public Market, at this point it’s fair to say Rochester officially has a scene. The problem now is that, due to licensing and zoning issues, very few opportunities exist for the food trucks to operate downtown.
Holiday Guide 2012
The holidays have a quiet way of sneaking up on us. One moment it’s October, and seemingly the next it’s Christmas Eve, and you’re wondering how you’ll manage to get your cat to sit quiet for the car ride to your parent’s house. (It’s not going to be easy). As much as it isn’t entirely…
Pittsford apartment project still has hurdles to clear
The Pittsford Village Board narrowly approved special permits for an apartment complex at 75 Monroe Avenue, but residents aren’t done fighting the project. Last night, I received a press release from Friends of Pittsford Village, a group that’s at least a couple of months old. Many residents in the village believe that the proposal from…
Medley housing has potential investor
A housing component for Medley Centre may soon have a prominent investor. Representatives from the AFL-CIO’s Housing Investment Trust have had several meetings with developer Scott Congel about investing in a 40-story apartment complex on the Medley Centre site, says Eugene Caccamise, president of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local No. 3. Caccamise mentioned the discussions…
Daily Choices: What to do on Wednesday, November 21
SPECIAL EVENT: Get your fill of Jell-O this Thanksgiving in more ways than one at Tilt’s “Night B4 Thanksgiving Jell-OH Wrestling Extravaganza.”DeeDee Dubois vs. Vanity Fair, Lady Dee vs. Ms. Kitten K., Lez Be On Me vs. The 2 Timing Titty’s, and two matches picked from the crowd. Doors open at 9 p.m. 21 and…
Pittsford apartments OK’d
A proposed apartment complex in the Village of Pittsford is a step closer to construction. On Monday, the Village Board voted 3 to 2 to approve the site plan and necessary permits for an upscale apartment complex at 75 Monroe Avenue, the former Monoco Oil site. | Mayor Bob Corby and Trustee Paula Sherwood voted…
Daily Choices: What to do on Tuesday, November 20
FILM: Feel your adrenaline levels spike by watching world-class athletes tackle some of the world’s most impressive peaks in Warren Miller Entertainment’s 63rd film, “Flow State.” It screens tonight only at the Auditorium Theatre (885 E. Main St.) at 7:30 p.m. $20. 222-5000. rbtl.org. MUSIC: Music and art together? How can you say no to…
Medley, RBTL have theater agreement
Meanwhile, the East Irondequoit school district is pursuing the Medley developer for failing to meet goals.
RBTL considering theater at Medley Centre
The Rochester Broadway Theatre League’s board is in favor of locating a new theater at Medley Centre in Irondequoit, reports channel 10, WHEC. Earlier this year, RBTL signed a memorandum of understanding with Medley Centre developer Scott Congel. Channel 10 reports that Congel and RBTL representatives are negotiating an operating agreement.
[UPDATED] Pittsford board may vote on apartment proposal tonight
The Pittsford Village Board meets today at 8:30 p.m. regarding a proposed apartment complex at 75 Monroe Avenue. A vote on the project is likely. A subsidiary of Mark IV has proposed redeveloping the former Monoco Oil site, which borders the Erie Canal, into upscale apartments. The board is considering site plan approval and special…
Daily Choices: What to do on Monday, November 19
FILM: If you missed the first few days of the Polish Film Festival 2012, here’s one last chance to check it out. Two films will be shown at 7 p.m. Monday at the Little Theatre (240 East Ave.): “The Emperor’s Toys,” a short, and “80 Million,” a feature-length film. After the screening a reception will…
Daily Choices: What to do on Saturday and Sunday, November 17-18
ART: Knock off some holiday shopping this weekend at Rochester Museum and Science Center Women’s Council’s 42nd Annual Holiday Bazaar Arts & Crafts Sale. The sale runs 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sunday. With more than 200 elite fine artists and craftspeople, you’re bound to find something for even the…
Remembering the Wii: Six years of motion controls
A lot sure has changed in six years.
I remember some of it like it was yesterday, like the giant poster-tube-meets-piggy-bank I had decorated with Nintendo Wii images that I had printed out and taped to it. The Wii was going to be the first home console I got on launch day, the first…
Concert Review: The Fools at Dinosar Bar-B-Que
I’m not fooling when I tell you that The Foolsain’t foolin’. Sure, the name might come off as dismissive, but these fools positively rocked my ass Thursday night at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, where more heat was coming off of Mickey Ames’ guitar than from the smoker out back. This long-haired cat is in the Rochester…
Concert Review: RPO’s Tchaikovsky’s “Pathetique”
The headline number from last night’s Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra concert, conducted by Arild Remmereit, was the 45-minute performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 in b-minor, Op. 74 (the “Pathétique”). Unfortunately, instead of being a headline in all caps, it came in lower case as a missed opportunity. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1940-1893) is one of the…
Governor Cuomo, storm damage, and climate change
In an op-ed published yesterday, Governor Andrew Cuomo says that “extreme weather is the new normal” and that New York needs to “act, not react” to prepare for the events. Cuomo’s article acknlowedges climate change, and touches on the human activities that are exacerbating it. He writes that the state needs to be smarter about…
Daily Choices: What to do on Friday, November 16
MUSIC: Don’t let the last name fool you; Joe Bonamassa is every bit an ax-slinging virtuoso like his British blues-rock contemporaries, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. That’s heavyweight company and Bonamassa is the one-in-a-million guitar prodigy everybody wanted to be when they were growing up. The Bonamassa story reads like a dream. The Utica native…
Is a natural gas-fueled industrial boom good for the planet?
It seems that any effort to address climate change is plagued by criticism that it’ll cripple economic growth. As long as fossil fuels are cheap and abundant, not just in the United States but across the globe, that dynamic will probably continue. For an idea why, consider the story published yesterday by the Washington Post,…
Mayor: MCC showdown an artificial crisis
Rochester Mayor Tom Richards says Republicans in the County Legislature are making the MCC situation “unnecessarily confrontational.” The Legislature could vote as soon as next month on borrowing for the list of projects the county plans to tackle in 2013. Included in the county’s Capital Improvement Plan is millions in borrowing for MCC’s new downtown…
Petraeus scandal may pull covers off the effects of war
Fresh off his re-election, President Obama will be holding a press conference later today. Presumably he’ll want to talk about his looming battle with Congress over avoiding the fiscal cliff. But the first questions the White House press will almost certainly ask will concern the sex scandal involving his top CIA and military brass. The…
METAL: Chillum
This band’s motto comes as no surprise. All you have to do is look at its name. The Flower City stoner-rock trio brags, “We play your basement and do your drugs.” And believe me, the fog is prevalent in the group’s sound. Grimm Belcomb (bass and yelling), Mark Metzger (guitar and yelling), and Mike McGee…
RECREATION: Curling Club Meeting
Curling is a sport in which players skillfully slide stones across a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four rings. This weekend the Rochester Curling Club is inviting area teens, ages 12-17, to try out the Olympic sport for themselves. An open house will be held at 71 Deep Rock…
SPECIAL EVENT: Celebration of the Kahn Church
Though we’re not always aware of them, Rochester has some pretty special architectural gems. For example, I once spoke with an Italian exchange student who was delighted to see in person the First Unitarian Church (at 220 S. Winton Road), which he had seen in slides in an art-history course back home. The building was…
MOVIE REVIEW: “Skyfall”
Apparently smashing all box office records for a James Bond flick, “Skyfall,” the latest addition to what essentially has become its own genre, follows most of the conventions the series has established while adding a few new devices and concepts. After 50 years of Bondage, audiences know pretty well just what to expect — fisticuffs…
MOVIE PREVIEW: The 2012 Rochester Polish Film Festival
The Rochester Polish Film Festival, sponsored by the Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies at the University of Rochester, writes its 15th chapter this year, with eight features and four shorts that explore the myriad aspects of the Polish experience. Guest artists who will be on hand to present their work include veteran…
Light it up
The Greater Rochester area was once home to a number of professionally created light displays, such as the ones put on at Sonnenberg Gardens in Canandaigua and Northampton Park in Brockport. But not everyone is eager to invest hundreds of dollars into teeny lights, or to spend weekends and free evenings setting up displays, or…
THEATER REVIEW: “Sister’s Christmas Catechism”
Christmas items started infiltrating stores before Halloween. Holiday music is already on the radio. Thanksgiving is next week. I know, I know; it’s depraved. The holidays are upon us, and it’s safe to say that none of us is ready for the mad rush that accompanies the end of another year. But ready or not,…
From sleigh ride to slay ride
There’s no surer sign that the holiday season is upon us than the inescapable barrage of popular Christmas music saturating the airwaves. The worst part isn’t that most of the songs sound the same (artists often seem afraid to mess with what’s already proven successful), but that the end product inevitably feels…safe. And boring. Once…
Feedback 11/14
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. Comments of fewer than 350 words have a greater chance of being published, and we do edit selections for publication in print. We don’t publish comments sent to other media. Give students…
Eating is the reason for the season
One of Olena Dilai’s favorite memories of growing up in Ukraine was caroling during the Christmas season. Dilai, an assistant professor of mathematics at Monroe Community College, and her family now sing the same carols at their home in Webster after Christmas Eve supper. She says the tradition reminds her family of their heritage. “Christmas…
MUSIC FEATURE: Charles Pillow
The theme is so grand, it’s almost as well known as the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. It arrives a long way into the piece, but just about everyone knows “The Great Gate of Kiev” from “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Still, you’ve probably never heard it the way it will be performed by…
2012 Holiday Events Calendar
Continuing/Ongoing [Exhibit] Annual Holiday Poinsettia Show at Lamberton Conservatory. 180 Reservoir Ave. More than 1,000 poinsettias in more than 15 different varieties. Runs November 30-January 6. Daily 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Closed Christmas Day. $2-$3 (children 5 and under free). 753-7270. Monroecounty.gov/parks. [Exhibit] Holiday Displays at the George Eastman House. Display and silent auction of more…
Homeowners wanted
The plan is in its infancy, but City of Rochester officials may take a program designed to increase owner-occupied housing downtown and replicate it in the city’s neighborhoods. Which neighborhoods, when, and exactly how the program would work are still open questions. “There are no decisions, just ideas at this point,” says Bret Garwood, the…
BLUES/ROCK: Joe Bonamassa
Don’t let the last name fool you: Joe Bonamassa is every bit an axe-slinging virtuoso like his British blues-rock contemporaries, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. That’s heavyweight company, and Bonamassa is the one-in-a-million guitar prodigy everybody wanted to be when they were growing up. The Bonamassa story reads like a dream. The Utica native was…
Presidential election boosts local candidates
Local political observers say they’re not surprised that incumbent Democrat Louise Slaughter beat Republican Maggie Brooks, the Monroe County executive, in their Congressional contest. But they are surprised, they say, by Slaughter’s margin of victory. According to unofficial results from the Monroe County Board of Elections, Slaughter bested Brooks by about 15 percentage points, 166,342…
FUNK: Ocupanther
This outfit takes its name from the ocular panther, a strange mythological beast that can apparently enter one’s being through mere eye contact, “hypnotizing the mind and terrorizing the soul.” The Rochester-based quartet hopes that its intelligent and progressive take on funk does the same amount of wreckage between your ears. The group’s talented pair…
League focuses on Lake Ontario
The Rochester League of Women Voters has decided that its advocacy work will include protecting Lake Ontario and addressing issues affecting the lake. During a meeting last week, the group adopted a position drafted by the Lake Michigan League of Women Voters, an interstate organization of league chapters around Lake Michigan. The position spells out…
CLASSICAL: Cordancia
Kathleen Suher and Pia Liptak, artistic directors of Cordancia, had an idea in 2009 to create of a chamber-music ensemble that would focus on vibrant, eclectic classical music, and they have been scheduling interesting programs ever since. Suher is an oboist. Liptak, a violinist. On Friday night, with David Harman at the podium, Cordancia brings…
Board: Dollar store poor fit
Although their opinion is not binding, Rochester Preservation Board members are unanimously opposed to replacing a historic former church at 660 West Main Street with a Dollar General. | Board members offered remarks on the proposal at a meeting last week, but did not take a vote. Their comments will be taken into consideration when…
DJ/ELECTRONIC: The Quadratic Trio
Have you ever heard an album that made you swear you were under the ocean when you shut your eyes and listened? If you’ve spun The Antlers’ recent release “Undersea,” or the Tears Run Rings masterwork “Distance,” then you know exactly what you’re in store for with The Quadratic Trio. This band takes that spacey…
Urban Action 11/14
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Social workers discuss human rights The Social Welfare Action Alliance Rochester Chapter hosts “Human Rights in Human Services,” a roundtable discussion at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, November 16. Fred Newdon, coordinator of community…
FOLK/ROCK: Greg Klyma
Buffalo-based, blue-collar troubadour Greg Klyma grew up the son of a garbage man. This hard-nosed work ethic has informed an extensive catalog and a tireless touring schedule. As much a storyteller as he is songwriter, Klyma utilizes a slew of instruments (guitar, mandolin, harmonica, piano) to color his narrative approach. Sarah Craig, from Caffé Lena…
The next four years
The 2012 election provided plenty of reasons to celebrate, Barack Obama’s re-election only one of them. A record number of women in the Senate. The first openly gay Senator. A House of Representatives with more Latinos, more Asian-Americans, three new openly gay members…. Also worth celebrating: the stunning dedication of voters, some of whom stood…
ROCK: Toast to the Troops
For years I thought the Good Rats were from Rochester, because the band played here so much. But turns out they hail from downstate. These Long Island barroom rock ‘n’ roll underdogs have rocked and rolled practically forever — since 1964, to be exact. Their hit “Tasty” was my favorite air-guitar-in-my-underpants tune (replaced for a…
ROCKABILLY: Rockabilly Riot
If last week’s Rosie Flores/Marti Brom rockabilly filly, double-trouble hootenanny didn’t unscrew your lid, then this twang-tastic triple bill ought to do it. First up is the honky-tonk husband/wife combo of Kraszman & Fishwife, a June-and-Johnny-esque duo that has monster guitarist Todd Krasz dialing back to sing some good ol’ Americana with his old lady.…
Daily Choices: What to do on Thursday, November 15
SPECIAL EVENT: Who will it be? Dominoes?Lite-Brite?Magic 8 Ball?Pogo stick? Our money is on Clue. Find out at 10:30 a.m. today as the National Museum of Play (1 Manhattan Square) holds its annual induction ceremony for the Toy Hall of Fame. The ceremony is included in regular museum admission ($13, ages 2 and under free).…
ART EVENT: Holiday Bazaar at RMSC
At the Women’s Council’s 42nd Annual Holiday Bazaar Arts and Crafts Sale, visitors will experience the largest shopping event the council has sponsored yet, featuring more than 200 fine artists and craftspeople. On Friday, November 16, 5-9 p.m.; Saturday, November 17, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.; and Sunday, November 18, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Rochester Museum and Science…
FILM: Warren Miller’s “Flow State”
As I write this Rochester has only received the softest dusting of snow for winter 2012-2013. But we know more is coming, so the showing of Warren Miller Entertainment’s new film “Flow State” seems particularly well-timed. On Tuesday, November 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the Auditorium Theatre (885 E. Main St.) Warren Miller’s 63rd film…
SPECIAL EVENT: Toy Hall of Fame at Strong
Thursday, November 15, will be a big day for some of the toys residing at the National Museum of Play (1 Manhattan Square). At 10:30 a.m., the museum will host its annual Toy Hall of Fame induction ceremony for toys that have “achieved longevity and national significance in the world of play and imagination.” Current…
SPECIAL EVENT: MuCCC Benefit Show
The thing about community spaces for the arts is that there isn’t nearly enough funding to support them. The thing about buildings is that they require a lot of maintenance. The Multi-use Community Cultural Center has been a boon for indie and emerging theater groups, variety shows, and performances of all sorts, since it debuted…
