A nostalgia revived
Geva seems committed to producing Neil Simon’s “BB” trilogy of autobiographical plays, starting this year with a splendid January production of Brighton Beach Memoirs and now topping that with a flawless Biloxi Bluesto open the fall season. Both cast Dennis Staroselsky as Simon’s alter ego, Eugene Morris Jerome. I hope to see him next year…
Learning curve
Rob Brown answers tough questions on urban education
You vs. terrorism
You may not think much of Rochester Gas and Electric during a blackout. But at least the utility’s helping to fight the War On Terrorism. RG&E has included a booklet recently with electric bills that should allay all your deepest fears. It proclaims “You Can Help Prevent Terrorism, Too.” Yes, now every one of you…
Mingling comics and real life
In a no doubt apocryphal scene purportedly from the protagonist Harvey Pekar’s life, American Splendor opens with the young Harvey out Halloween trick-or-treating with some other boys. His friends are all dressed as superheroes — Batman, Superman, etc. — but Harvey steadfastly rejects costumes and maintains his own identity. The moment sums up most of…
From burqas to bunnies: a second dose of Toronto
Here’s the dirt on the second half of the Toronto International Film Festival, which just ended Saturday (September 13) evening. The Good The Brown Bunny: Vincent Gallo’s notorious road-trip flick, which was booed out of Cannes this past May (it was an unfinished print that ran 30 minutes longer than the final version screened here),…
Is nothing sacred?
Friday’s Wall Street Journal reported a new low in corporate advertising, and in the desperation of cash-strapped institutions: A 140-foot-long billboard now dominates the front of Grace Church on Broadway in New York City. The church sold advertising rights on the billboard to Citibank (and, before it, to Infinity) to help pay for some…
Odd day of hope
It’s 9/11 all over again as I write this. Two years dead and gone, and the tragedies, ironies, and absurdities keep coming. A request is floated for $87 billion to maintain an illegal military occupation; a treasured veterans’ hospital meanwhile faces closure. A top Nazi propagandist dies at 101; her methods are immortalized on…
The XX files
Rochester has me feeling a little blue lately. The wicked high murder rate. The sad, sorry state of downtown. The poverty. To cheer myself up I sometimes squint my eyes like a kid looking at the stars until a gleaming vision of Rochester of yesteryear comes into focus. It’s the early 1900s and a city…
News briefs 9.17.03
‘Prime’ numbers A couple Monroe County towns fired their leaders last week. In Chili, incumbent supervisor Steve Hendershott lost to County Legislator Tracy Logel in the Republican primary, 1,207 to 815. Hendershott goes on to the general election on the Conservative and Independence lines, but insists he won’t campaign. Likewise, Channing Philbrick lost…
Reader feedback 9.17.03
Protesting the transit center, energy waste, the Bush carnage
Meet me at the B&L lodge
Monroe County is selling naming rights to lodges in its park system. “Throughout the United States, budgets are being reduced,” says parks director Frank Allkofer, calling the move a “revenue enhancement.” The county is starting with the more popular lodges in its 20-park system — lodges in Greece Canal Park, Black Creek Park,…
