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Ocean acidification tops the annual list of important stories ignored by the mainstream media.
Everything we have on the Ferguson grand jury decision
A grand jury has decided that Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson should not face any charges for shooting and killing Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager.
To our readers
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Frankel weighing second county exec bid
A few names have been circulating as potential Democratic county executive candidates for the 2015 election: former Brighton Supervisor Sandra Frankel, former District Attorney Mike Green, and Lieutenant Governor Bob Duffy. Yesterday, Duffy was tapped to serve as the new CEO of the Rochester Business Alliance — a job he’ll start in January. If Duffy…
Geva announces capital campaign
Representatives at Geva Theatre Center announced at a Thursday morning press conference that the organization has publicly launched a $10 million capital campaign. About $8 million toward the $10 million has already been raised since the campaign entered a quiet phase of fundraising in 2009. Front & Center: The Campaign for Geva seeks to transform…
Human toll of school suspensions is devastating
Should a student be suspended for tugging on a teacher? What’s the likelihood of a student returning to school after a multiple-day out-of-school suspension? Are special-needs students able to make up instruction time lost to suspensions? And how long should it take for school officials to notify parents that their child has been arrested and…
Bill Cosby, under fire, is scheduled for April show in Rochester
Bill Cosby, at least for the moment, is scheduled to appear in Rochester next April. Discuss. RBTL sent out an e-mail this morning announcing pre-sale tickets for Cosby’s April 25 appearance at the Auditorium Theatre. Cosby has been under fire from all directions in recent weeks for the alleged sexual assault of numerous women. The…
ART | “Ancestral Personas” and “My Visual Life”
At more than midway through the month, gallery shows are winding down before brand new exhibits go up. This week and next are your final chances to check out the following shows before they close. Through November 22, AXOM Gallery (176 Anderson Avenue, Suite 303) is hosting Sue Blumendale’s “Ancestral Personas: figurative paper forms.” Breaking…
JAZZ | Helen Sung
Helen Sung has performed with greats like Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, and Clark Terry. She won the Kennedy Center’s 2007 Mary Lou Williams Piano Competition and has appeared on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz. Listen to any of her six wonderful albums and you will understand why she has emerged from a crowded field of pianists.…
FILM/SPORTS | No Turning Back
On Saturday, November 22, the Auditorium Theatre will host a screening of Warren Miller’s “No Turning Back.” Warren Miller Entertainment’s 65th annual feature film about skiing and snow sports, “No Turning Back” chronicles the world’s top winter athletes as they hit the slopes across the globe in locations like Niseko, Mt. Olympus, the French Alps,…
HIP-HOP | Waka Flocka Flame
Waka Flocka Flame has recently made news, but not with his music. The rapper put the word out he was looking for a personal blunt roller, a job he would pay $50,000 a year for, and apparently received over 60,000 applications. It’s unclear if anybody has been hired, so if it sounds like a dream…
THEATER | “The Cripple of Inishmaan”
In 1934, a Hollywood film crew arrived on the western coast of Ireland to make a documentary about life on the Aran Islands — an isolated life that at least one inhabitant, “Cripple” Billy Claven, considers barren, poverty-stricken, and boring. Billy dreams of getting a part in the documentary as his ticket out. That’s the…
Eastman Jazz Café with Vic Juris
Listening to jazz guitarist Vic Juris play one crystal-clear post-bop solo after another, it’s hard to imagine that his love affair with the instrument began with the raucous, distorted wails of hard rock heroes. But during his teen years in Parsippany, New Jersey, in the mid to late 1960’s, Juris was enamored of the guitarists…
FILM | Witness Palestine Film Series
The Witness Palestine Film Series is an annual event which utilizes the medium of cinema to shed a light on an underrepresented point of view in the Middle East conflict: that of the Palestinian people. Presenting a collection of documentary and narrative films that focus on the issue of human rights, the event seeks to…
From sound chip to stage
There’s a special connection that video gamers have to the music used in the games they play. A lot of it is iconic, recognizable by many who’ve never touched a console because it has worked its way into popular culture: the “Super Mario Bros.” theme, for instance, and the perilous “Space Invaders” song. Even Pac-Man’s…
SPECIAL EVENT | Rochester Mini Maker Faire
This weekend, designers, inventors, and creators will be celebrated at Rochester’s inaugural Mini Maker Faire. The DIY festival will be held Saturday, November 22, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center (123 East Main Street). The event will be filled with exhibitions, demonstrations, hands-on activities for all ages, presentations, speakers, live…
ALBUM REVIEW: “For All of You”
Extended Family “For All of You” Self-released Facebook.com/Extendedfamilymusic More of a generous offering than an album, Extended Family’s “For All of You” doesn’t wait long to tug at the joy inside us all. The band creates plenty of happy as well, but its true talent lies in mining it from deep within its own listeners.…
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
Two prizewinners joined forces last week as guest artists with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor José Luis Gomez won the Georg Solti competition in 2010; pianist Vadym Kholodenko won the gold medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2013. They made an impressive team in a front-loaded program that put the heaviest, or…
Looking for a leader for the White House
Many of us have been reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism” this year. And boy, is it relevant right now, as Americans assess the fallout from the midterm elections and prepare for the 2016 presidential race. “Bully Pulpit” – a phrase coined by…
The expanded familiar
Writers & Books has expanded its annual “If All of Rochester Read the Same Book” program by introducing a Debut Novel Series, which seeks to familiarize Rochester audiences with authors who have recently published their first books. The first work in the new series is “The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing” by Mira Jacob, who visited…
“King Lear”
Which of Shakespeare’s plays is his greatest? It’s a fatuous question, of course, but if I had to choose, I think “King Lear” would be a front-runner. That may be a reflection of growing older: this play has profound and unsettling things to say about aging, physical and mental decline, selfishness, abuse of power, and…
“Citizenfour”
In January of 2013, activist and filmmaker Laura Poitras received a series of encrypted e-mails from an anonymous sender claiming to have proof that the public had been duped, and that the National Security Agency had been lying about the extent of its ability to spy on American citizens. The sender identified himself only with…
Holiday Guide 2014
Finding the joy Each year, the holiday season sneaks up on us, spreading stress and anxiety giftwrapped as joy. Then, we swear to ourselves, “Never again. Next year I won’t let the rush to buy presents, or the constant scheduling get in the way of my enjoyment of the season.” But it’s inevitable. It was…
“Voices Across the Divide”
In this eye-opening documentary, screening as part of the Witness Palestine Film Series, Israeli author Alice Rothchild interviews Palestinian survivors of the Nakba. Rothchild collects an oral history of their culture, knowing that such stories are what keep a history alive. She also hopes that an open dialogue will lead to a broader understanding and…
MUSIC: A sacred oratorio
When it comes to the classical Christmas music sweepstakes, Handel’s oratorio “Messiah” is the world — or at least the English-speaking world — heavyweight champ. Few, if any, works of classical music have been so continually popular as “Messiah,” and none is more closely and affectionately associated with Christmas. For many people, the Christmas season…
Feedback 11/19
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…
“Stone Cold Justice” and “From al-Araqib to Susiya”
Closing out the Witness Palestine Film Series is this documentary double feature, beginning with “Stone Cold Justice.” Originally created to be broadcast on Australian news, the film investigates the shocking Israeli military prosecution specifically targeting Palestinian children and the results of a policy which cultivates fear in the citizens of the West Bank. Particularly distressing…
DINING: The edible gift guide
If you’re looking for gifts that are out of the ordinary and will fill the stomachs of your friends and family, City Newspaper’s dining team has gathered a selection of its favorite food and food-related items to help you shop for all the names on your gift list. The editorial team stands behind each of…
RG&E must negotiate with Ginna
Rochester Gas and Electric customers will likely prop up the struggling R.E. Ginna nuclear power plant. The state Public Service Commission has directed RG&E to negotiate a temporary electricity purchase contract with Ginna. Earlier this year, the plant’s owner, Exelon subsidiary Constellation Nuclear Energy Group, filed a petition with the PSC requesting that action. In…
ROCK | Heavy Temple
Spacey and thumpy with trance-inducing undulations, you float through Heavy Temple. The kick drum sets the pulse for the female lead’s — High Priestess NightHawk — vocals to float over. Her guitar shifts from a floaty wah-pedal sound to a distorted fuzz in the same minute. Heavy Temple seems to want to take you to…
ART: New heirlooms
As we engage in the fall-swallowing holiday madness, go ahead and disdain the horrors of the mall. More and more, people are turning to support the local, handmade, and “upcycled” movement, but it can be hard to find all three aspects in one. Local maker Nancy Topolski is a triple threat, offering some seriously sweet…
Stealing Susan B.?
The years can erode the complexity of historical figures. Their lives are reduced to two-dimensional images on currency and schoolroom walls, and then are further distilled into one-note symbols for the movements and mores of the day. But the facts are almost always more robust, frustrating, and fascinating. That’s certainly the case for Rochester suffragist…
BLUES | Joe Bonamassa
Dressed in two-piece cool, dapper six-string assassin, blues-rock guitar hero Joe Bonamassa looms over the stage, brandishing his guitar like Tyrannosaurus Rex. Schooled in the older electrified, jammed out guitar style of cats like Gary Moore, Jimmy Page, Robin Trower, and though quote-rich, Bonamassa is a fierce original in his seemingly effortless technique. It’s contagious,…
CALENDAR: Holiday Events
Wednesday, November 19 Holiday Display & Auction More than 25 holiday wreaths designed and donated by local florists, through Nov. 30; tabletop tree displays of pre-lit, three-foot decorated trees continues through Dec. 18; Sweet Creations Gingerbread house display will continue through Dec. 17. George Eastman House, 900 East Ave. 271-3361 x 242. eastmanhouse.org. Festival of…
DINING NEWS: East meets West
Fusion cuisine is a common concept for restaurants. It allows for more menu options and an opportunity to blend traditional ingredients from more than one region to make something new and original. The concept for East/West Kitchen (337 East Avenue) is a fusion of Russian, Vietnamese, and American cuisine. Andrea Lanphere, Alex Zapesochny, and Thuan…
SINGER-SONGWRITER | Josh Ritter
Just further proving the theory that bad times make for good music, Josh Ritter’s latest album, “The Beast in Its Tracks” (his seventh), is a visceral celebration or perhaps more of a lovelorn lamentation of the singer-songwriter’s disintegrated marriage. Emotionally charged? Yes. A pity-party? No. Lyrically adroit and vocally bittersweet, his music picks up steam…
Greentopia | FILM calls for submissions
Greentopia’s film festival, Greentopia | FILM, has opened a call for submissions to its 2015 edition, which will take place Tuesday, March 17, through Sunday, March 21. Deadline for submissions is December 22, 2014. Each screening will be followed by a Q&A session with the director (in person or via Skype), or a discussion with…
Urban Action 11/19
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Police reorg meetings The Rochester Police Department is reorganizing from a two-division patrol model into one that divides the city into five patrol sections. Several public meetings will be held to gather input…
JAZZ | Eastman Jazz Lab Band
The Eastman Jazz Lab Band, directed by Rich Thompson, has a program on tap packed with highlights. For the premiere of “Milestones for EJL” (Eastman Jazz Lab), the band will be augmented by a piccolo and a Mariachi brass section. The piece, arranged by Rochester trumpeter Mike DiMartino, quotes melodies by Miles Davis, Duke Ellington…
ART EVENT | “The Art of Preservation”
Architectural illustrator John C. Wenrich transformed skyscrapers into atmospheric and otherworldly, towering castles, and locomotive steam engines into hulking, fire-breathing beasts. He imbued his watercolor paintings of barns and rural asphalt plants with a sense of sturdy beauty, just as he injected an ethereal element into his images of world fair exhibits and war-torn city…
A CAPELLA | Eight Beat Measure
Often when I’m driving in my car I will sing Jimmy Page’s guitar solos a capella, but it sounds god-awful probably, and I’m guessing I would lose friends if I ever busted it out with them in the car. Eight Beat Measure, RIT’s all-male a capella group, is worlds above my car singing when it…
