Cover Story
Industrial power play
The former Kodak Park, now known as Eastman Business Park, is seen by local and state leaders as an economic development lynchpin for the Rochester region. The 1,200-acre site is evolving from Kodak’s film and chemical manufacturing hub to a cluster of renewable energy and advanced manufacturing companies. And that, say local business and government…
CONCERT ANNOUNCEMENT: Victor Wooten coming to German House
Five-time Grammy winner and bass aficionado Victor Wooten is coming to Rochester, playing November 13 at the German House Theater. Tickets go on sale Friday, September 14 and run $25-$30. They can be purchased at The House of Guitars, Aaron’s Alley or online at ticketfly.com, or with no service charge at Needledrop Records or the…
So long, intercept
Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks says the sales tax intercept has saved the county $30 million in Medicaid costs since it took effect in 2008, but now she wants to repeal it. The intercept, controversial when it was introduced, is an arrangement where the state takes approximately half of the county’s sales tax revenue and,…
Rochester teacher evaluations approved
The Rochester school district’s teacher evaluation plan has been approved by the State Education Department. The SED requires all teachers and principals to receive an annual evaluation, which will result in a score of highly effective, effective, developing, or ineffective. The new plans mark the first year that evaluations are directly linked to student performance…
The health-care discussion we’re not having
There is a time bomb hidden in this whole health care debate, and it has nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act. [Image-1] This potential catastrophe is a result of the Budget Control Act that President Obama signed into law in 2011. Unless Congress and the president act to change the law, approximately 8…
All eyes are on Chicago
It’s hard not to be fascinated by what’s going on in the Chicago School District. The teacher strike in the nation’s third largest school district, now in its second day, has all of the elements of great drama. For starters, there’s Rochester’s connection to the Chicago schools’ chief, Jean-Claude Brizard. After a tumultuous three and…
Global warming, YouTube style
A NASA video showing global temperature changes between 1880 and 2011 resurfaces and should remind political leaders that they need to develop sound climate policies.
Daily Choices: What to do on Tuesday, September 11
LITERATURE: Central Library’s free lunchtime lit program, Books Sandwiched In, kicks off today, 12:12-12:52 p.m., with Dan Rather’s "Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News,” reviewed by Rochester’s own newsman Don Alhart. Bring a sandwich to the Kate Gleason Auditorium at Central Library (115 South Ave.). For more info: 428-8350, libraryweb.org. THEATER: Playwright Justin Rielly…
The week ahead: meetings on teacher evals, East truancy, Sibley building; key primaries
The Rochester school board will hold a special session Tuesday night, September 11, to discuss the latest version of the district’s teacher evaluation plan. The plan was recently submitted to the State Education Department for approval. All teachers and principals must be evaluated using the new plan this school year. The evaluation plan has been…
Chicago’s teachers can strike, New York’s can’t
The Chicago teachers’ union is on strike and, as a result, parents are trying to figure out what they should be doing with their children. The Chicago Tribune is keeping a running tab of strike news here. This type of disruption is alien to New York parents. Like it or not, the state’s public school…
Daily Choices: What to do on Monday, September 10
LITERATURE: If you love “young adult” fiction but can’t quite be classified in the target demographic, join the Adults Who Love YA Book Club at Wood Library (134 N. Main St., Canandaigua). The first meeting takes place today 6-7 p.m., and participants should bring a YA book or title for consideration. For more information, call…
Daily Choices: What to do Saturday-Sunday, September 8-9
FESTIVAL: The M&T Bank Clothesline Festival takes place Saturday and Sunday on the grounds of the Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave.). Visit local and regional artists and get a jump on holiday shopping Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m. or Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The $5 admission also gains you access to the gallery. Info: 276-8900,…
CONCERT ANNOUNCEMENT: Chiddy Bang coming to UR
Philadelphia based hip-hop duo Chiddy Bang will be coming to the University of Rochester next week. The group will be playing on Friday, September 14, in the Goergen Athletic Center. Doors open up at 7, prices run $12-$23 and can be purchased in person at the Common Market or at urochestertickets.com.
Obama’s plan: stay the course
Some of the folks in our newsroom disagree with me, but I didn’t think last night’s wrap-up of the Democrats’ convention was as strong as it could have been. President Obama’s address, while good, wasn’t one of his best. And Joe Biden went on far, far, far too long. That said, there were plenty of…
Bad memories haunt Sibley deal
The extended limbo in which the City of Rochester has found itself over the Sibley building — unable to collect on a huge outstanding debt, unwilling to foreclose on a massive, underused building — has made City Council members gun-shy. They say they want to make sure the city doesn’t fall into the same trap…
Concert Review: Metric at Water Street Music Hall
With a set-up and light show that threatened to blow the doors off Water Street Music Hall last night, Canadian new wave/electronica band Metric positively rocked the house to a near-sold-out and rabid audience. Anticipation was high for this show, the buzz emitting from unlikely sources as the crowd was a cross-section of tastes, ages,…
Obama’s speech: tax breaks vs. opportunity
Political convention speeches are meant to be emotional and rhetorical. They’re meant to fire up the base, and President Barack Obama’s Democratic National Convention speech last night was no exception. PHOTO COURTESY STEVE JURVETSON Barack Obama That said, there was still a moment in Obama’s speech where the rhetoric really surprised me, pleasantly so. It…
Daily Choices: What to do on Friday, September 7
SPECIAL EVENT: ZooBrew takes place tonight, 5:30-9 p.m., at Seneca Park Zoo (2222 St. Paul St.). Enjoy food, adult beverages, music by Last Minute Blues Band, and check out the animals without having to navigate through masses of children. Admission is $10 and the event is restricted to ages 21 and over. For info: 336-7200,…
Clinton Country
There are a lot of things you could say about Bill Clinton. You get the bad and the good with the former president. His legislative achievements, the North American Free Trade Agreement, Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell, and the Defense of Marriage Act were flawed policies when he signed them into law. Even Clinton agrees that DADT…
“So You Think You Can Dance” 2012: The Final 4 Revealed!
This season has been more of a whirlwind than usual (programming issues to blame there), and it feels that way, too. Between skipping weeks, the new elimination format, and multiple double eliminations, we’ve got some winners and some definite losers in the Final 6, and ultimately in the Final 4 – but we’ll get to…
Daily Choices: What to do on Thursday, September 6
LECTURE: The Rochester Area Vegetarian Society will present a new six-lecture series, “A Plant-Based Diet: Eating for Health and Happiness” with Ted Barnett, M.D., 7-9 p.m., at the Jewish Community Center (1200 Edgewood Ave.). The series continues Thursdays through October 11, and will include food samples and recipes. Call to register: 461-2000. More info: rochesterveg.org.…
“Face Off” Season 3: Here there be dragons
What an unusual and fun challenge! Last night’s episode of “Face Off” was a good example of precisely what I like about this show. It’s creative, it focuses more on the work than interpersonal drama, and the output of the contestants was so wild and imaginative that you will absolutely not see anything else like…
Convention realities: an America divided
Over the weekend, I reread Ryan Lizza’s terrific New Yorker piece, “The Obama Memos: The Making of a Post-Post-Partisan Presidency.” It’s an insightful look at President Obama’s struggles during his first term — his mistakes, his compromises, his actions that made Republicans feel betrayed, the obstruction by Republicans…. And one of the most fascinating sections…
Dems back off on climate policy
The Democratic Party of 2012 is less ambitious on climate policy than the Democratic Party of 2008. I’m referring specifically to the party’s platform, which it approved yesterday, the first day of its national convention. It’s available here in PDF and ebook formats. In some areas, the platform makes commendable progress; the call for marriage…
CD REVIEW: Richard Sussman Quintet “Continuum”
If you think they’ve stopped writing jazz standards like they used to in the late 1950s, listen to the new album by the Richard Sussman Quintet. Appropriately titled “Continuum,” the CD is full of tunes that harken back to the best of the hard-bop years while retaining a contemporary feel. The opener, “Spare Change,” is…
Urban Action 9/5
This week’s calls to action include the following and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) The Rochester Committee on Latin America presents the film “Granito: How to Nail a Dictator” at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, September 5. The film looks back at an event involving genocide and then returns…
CD Review: Chick Corea and Gary Burton “Hot House”
To say that pianist Chick Corea and vibraphonist Gary Burton enjoy a certain simpatico would be a great understatement.
Let it be
After years bumping around the music business, Cruelty Free’s Corey Bates doesn’t push it or try too hard anymore. He’s content to let go and let it be. Through career ups and downs on both coasts, the singer-guitarist no longer questions his intentions or those of his music. “I used to say, ‘Am I over…
It’s a bird…it’s a plane…it’s Wii U
E3 is long behind us, and while it left more questions than answers on Nintendo’s new console debut, the Wii U, the Big N has been quite mum on any details since.
Romney’s powerful pitch
Now the attention is on Charlotte, and the Democrats are going to have to go some to stage a more successful convention than the Republicans did. Conventions may not do much to sway the general public, but they can help shape a campaign, laying out its general thrust. And they can fire up the people…
Guardians of the great and glorious
The shapes and scopes of our cities are constantly shifting around us, and at times, great losses occur with a callous lack of consideration toward preserving valuable aspects of art and history. Transition is inevitable, and it’s often left to grass-roots groups to become the guardians of these potential casualties. Such is the case with…
Why does the world keep on turning?
Method Machine’s production of “Angels in America” — which it started earlier this year with the first part, “Millennium Approaches” — is the second staged version I’ve seen of Tony Kushner’s epic, Pulitzer Prize-winning drama. I originally saw it nearly a decade ago, put on by a company in Virginia that had built an entirely…
Turtle Hill Folk Festival
Head out to the Turtle Hill Folk Festival to fill your family’s final summer days with fiddlers, banjos, guitars, whistles, mandolins, dulcimers, harps, and toe-tapping. For three days, the Golden Link Folk Singing Society presents its annual festival with offerings ranging from concerts to workshops to dances to barbeques. Pitch a tent for field camping…
Feedback 9/5
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. The need…
The Wombats
After a platinum-selling 2007 debut that boasted one of the catchier singles of that year (who can forget “Let’s Dance To Joy Division”?), The Wombats took three and a half years to release a follow-up, 2011’s “This Modern Glitch.” On the new release some of the Liverpool band’s rougher edges have been sanded down, but…
New Shows Opening
With the onset of the academic year, our sweet little college town’s art exhibition offerings have just about doubled. Just in time for chillier weather, return indoors and check out some art. Here are some of the shows that open this week; for more information on art openings, visit our calendar at rochestercitynewspaper.com. All events…
Barry Manilow and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
There’s death, taxes, and Barry Manilow. Manilow’s career has simply been decades of atmospheric success. In 1978, five of his albums were on the best-selling charts simultaneously. He has owned the Adult Contemporary charts for almost 40 years as a performer and producer, working with greats such as Bette Midler and Dionne Warwick, as well…
Festival of Food
It’s like Christmas for local foodies: the annual Festival of Food, put on by regional food bank Foodlink, is back on Monday, September 10, 6-9 p.m. Food and festivals go hand in hand in Rochester, but Festival of Food isn’t your average funnel cakes or kettle-corn stands. More than 100 area restaurants, farms, vineyards, breweries,…
Turbo Fruits
Jonas Stein (guitars and vocals) formed this Nashville quartet while his other band, Be Your Own Pet, was slowly coming to an end. Stein, and an early incarnation of Turbo Fruits (which included Be Your Own Pet drummer John Eatherly) released its self-titled debut through Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace! record label in 2007. When Be…
M&T Bank Clothesline Festival
The grounds may be undergoing a substantial remodeling, but the M&T Bank Clothesline Festival will still be taking place Saturday and Sunday, September 8-9, at the Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave.). Clothesline is one of the premier arts and crafts festivals in the region, with more than 400 artists from 40 counties in New…
sKoOba, Arehouse
When you step into sKoOba’s realm, prepare to be transported to a vaguely otherworldly place that somehow feels familiar. Mostly this is because his work is very reminiscent of video-game music, and most especially so in the upbeat tracks. SKoOba makes no secret of video games being an inspiration, but unlike some artists like Crystal…
India Day / Turkish Festival
August was absolutely jam-packed with festivals every weekend, but we’re not done with summer just yet, Rochester. Celebrate ethnic and cultural diversity this weekend with two more festivals. Check out the 17th annual Turkish Art & Folk Festival, held at 677 Beahan Road in Chili, Friday, September 7-Sunday, September 9. Enjoy foods such as dolma,…
Robb G, Skanntron
Saturday, September 8 Port of Rochester, 4699 Lake Ave. 6:30 p.m. | $20-$25, 18+ | riprocboatcruise.com If ever you wanted to get down on a boat, this is most certainly your time to do it. Sailing out of the Port of Rochester, RIPROC has taken over the Harbor Town Belle for this one night foray…
International Games Innovation Conference
Time to get your game on — at least academically speaking. The 4th Annual International Games Innovation Conference is hitting the National Museum of Play this week, bringing with it three days of programming likely to appeal to the programmers among us. Keynote speakers include Seamus Blackley, co-creator of the Xbox and president of Innovative…
Wallace Roney
Trumpeter Wallace Roney has played with a “Who’s Who” of jazz, including Tony Williams, Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, and Sonny Rollins. He’s also enriched the work of pop stars like Carole King and Joni Mitchell. But perhaps most important is his relationship with the late Miles Davis. After hearing Roney at…
Rochester Antiquarian Book Fair
With the approach of autumn, it’s time to think of cozy activities, like curling up with some good reads. If you’re in the market for new-to-you novels, or want to expand your collection of timeless tomes, the event of the year approaches. The 2012 Rochester Antiquarian Book Fair will take place Saturday, September 8, 10…
Metric
Begin with Coldplay, remove Chris Martin, add Jenny Lewis sound-alike lead vocalist/keyboardist Emily Haines along with a bit of 80’s new wave, and you have a starting point for Canadian-American quartet Metric. Unless you’re from up north or deep into soundtracks, this could be one of the best groups you’ve never heard of. Metric’s latest…
Ellison Park Cyclecross Race
Although it has been around since 2008, this year the Rohrbach’s Ellison Park Cyclocross Race will expand to cover two days of bike racing and beer in Rochester’s Ellison Park (off Blossom Road) on Saturday and Sunday, September 8-9. Cyclocross combines road cycling and mountain biking. Cyclists compete on 1.5- to 2-mile circuits that include…
Pack Your Lunch
Just in time for back to school, James Leach looks at some grown-up alternatives to the boxed lunch, including Japanese bento boxes.
Cyclists urge sharing the road
As a triathlete, Mary Eggers logs plenty of time on her bicycle. But after her friend, Fairport teacher Heather Boyum, was killed in July while riding in Penfield, Eggers had been hesitant to take to the road. It didn’t help that, shortly after the Boyum tragedy, another of Eggers’ friends was run off the road…
Deep in the dark heart of Texas
Though the dreaded NC-17 rating usually frightens producers and directors, it apparently didn’t deter William Friedkin, whose work includes not only such classics as “The Exorcist” and “The French Connection,” but also the daring and highly unpopular “Cruising.” His new film, “Killer Joe,” most likely earned its rating not for the usual causes, i.e., excessive…
State to intervene in RCSD
The Rochester school district is one of 70 public school districts in New York flagged as a “Focus School District” by the State Education Department, an unfavorable designation given to low-performing districts. Twenty-two Rochester schools have been classified as “Focus Schools” and 30 are “Priority Schools,” designations under the FSD umbrella. The new classifications are…
Teacher evals revamped
The Rochester school district’s first attempt at a teacher evaluation plan for the 2012 to 2013 school year was rejected by the State Education Department. Revisions have been resubmitted, and Rochester Teachers Association President Adam Urbanski says he’s confident that this version will be approved. | The SED wanted to see greater clarification of the…
A repurpose-driven life
Greentopia’s second year finds the sustainability celebration expanding to include a full-blown film festival. Under the care of Linda Moroney, festival director by day and documentarian by night, Greentopia | FILM features four nights of primarily nonfiction films, all focusing on various aspects of the increasingly crucial need for us earthlings to reduce, reuse, recycle,…
Rochester’s underground justice system
Whenever Rochester Police Chief James Sheppard is asked to explain this year’s surge in violent crime, he answers that many of the city’s altercations are the result of “ongoing disputes.” It’s a response that some people find wanting — after all, couldn’t most shootings, stabbings, and assaults be attributed to a dispute of some kind?…
Chocolate shrapnel
The Pro Jam is a well-oiled circus that sets up its tent at alternating venues each Tuesday night. Last week’s hang ‘n’ bang was at Skylark Lounge before a full house. The beauty of this jam is it truly jams musicians together that would never think to play with one another otherwise. The common denominator…
Best of Rochester 2012: Campaign Materials
[ Trying to vote in the Final Ballot? Click here ] Looking for a way to promote yourself, your business, or your organization in Best of Rochester 2012? Our FREE campaign materials are a good place to start! Download the ZIP file by clicking the graphic below for a printable 8.5×11 poster, Facebook & web…
