Onstage 9.28.05
The history of rivals Funny, horrible, and ultimately shattering, Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog, a drama of way-inner-city life, won the Pulitzer Prize. It’s a downright showy play with extremely demanding movement and dialogue for two actors. Shipping Dock’s intimate space is incapable of the grand setting Topdog/Underdog got in a big Broadway theater, and that’s a…
Cover me
Live, original music is a rare bird. If you want to get the kick of catching it you have to dig a little. Live ain’t the problem, original is. The majority of local clubs that book live music rely heavily on cover bands. Rochester has an array of original bands, solo artists, composers, etc., but…
Inbox 9.28.05
Remarkable correspondence from the consistently unremarkable world of email At the time that Albert Birney received the following emails, he was doing a regular one-panel comic for Syracuse University’s newspaper, The Daily Orange. Most reactions to his abstract humor were favorable, but some were not. Although we can’t divulge the name in the second email,…
The broiler of Brighton
When Mark Cupolo closed his Victor Grilling Company, he swore he’d never go back to brown sauces and steaks. He had a dream of something simple, maybe pizza. But he was soon working at Max, serving up the fancy vittles again, happy to be working for and with Tony Gullace, and sleeping better without the…
Here’s an insight for you: Math is boring
With the help of my SuperSpy Night Pen, I always take diligent notes during a screening. My handwritten observations of Proof, the new Gwyneth Paltrow-Anthony Hopkins act-stravaganza, began as they often do, with little notations and a couple of quotes, then gradually devolved into increasingly desperate scrawls reading “I don’t care,” “Blah blah blah,” and…
The only way to unravel
Back in the Golden Age of the detective novel the luxury passenger train provided a propitious setting for the required murder and the subsequent mystery. Aside from establishing an atmosphere of comfort and privilege, the enclosed location nicely limited the cast of characters and therefore the number of suspects. It isolated them from the rest…
The Tyzik twist
Although no one (as far as I know) in the audience at the Eastman Theatre has ever shouted “Freebird,” The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra is, in essence, this town’s biggest cover band. Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik is an outstanding composer, musician, and Grammy Award-winning producer. But the majority of the music he conducts was written…
The XX Files 9.28.05
It’s funny what Americans say when talking to pollsters. A recent poll shows that two-thirds of Americans think creationism should be taught alongside evolution. What’s even funnier are the poll results the media choose to ignore. The same poll found that a majority of Americans favor government-guaranteed health insurance. And nearly 70 percent favor “more…
One step up
A former school district employee called a few days ago, chiding me about my column in last week’s paper. He’s one of a number of district staff, past and present, who insist that despite the district’s extreme poverty rate, most Rochester students can do well in school. As if to reinforce his phone call, out…
Metro Ink 9.28.05
Golfing under the pines Greg Papas, a man of few but direct words, explains why he and his brother Jim bought Whispering Pines Miniature Golf Course seven years ago: “It was for sale and it was right next door.” Whispering Pines, the oldest miniature golf course in the US, opened in 1930 and was originally…
Reader Feedback 9.28.05
TALKING BACK TO LANDSBURG Steven Landsburg is wrong (“On the Money,” September 7). Everybody does not benefit. The US manufacturing sector: machinists, production managers, janitors, engineers, technicians, and production workers all lost when corporations moved jobs to low-wage countries. It sure looks like the major stockholders reaped virtually all the benefits. The results of corporate…
Room with a view: the other big project
Five years from now (assuming the fast ferry’s still around) what will a Torontonian visiting Rochester for the first time experience? Posh housing? Streets lined with hip boutiques? A waterfront park? A combination of all those or something completely different? That’s the question city officials are starting to wrestle with now, as they enter the…
Cost of war 9.28.05
The totals: 1915 US soldiers, 197 Coalition soldiers, and approximately 26,092 to 29,401 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq from the beginning of the war and occupation to September 24. As of September 20, 14,641 US soldiers have been wounded in action. American soldiers killed between September 16 and 24: First Sergeant Alan N.…
Family Valued 9.28.05
Feline violence This week, a randomly selected 9-year-old and I will discuss the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. The books are a recent discovery in our household and seem to be catching on at school. What made you start reading these books? I did this summer reading thing and you could get a free book…
Fiz 9.28.05
Ready to eat? Meal, Ready-to-Eat: sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? A little stilted, sure, but it has a competent, convenient ring to it. MREs are military field rations, well-balanced meals in crush-resistant, waterproof plastic pouches. This is just-eat-it-you-need-the-fuel food. Disaster food. More than 5.5 million MREs were brought to New Orleans; people in the Astrodome…
