Rochester firefighter and family man
John Grieco has found a hobby in art forged from iron. Weremember his past life as drummer for Rochester’s pre-Grunge rock
group Down With People.
Grieco’s studio is operated out of a
Quonset hut at 153 Railroad Street at Rochester’s Public Market. On a frosted,
clear-blue Saturday morning he’s got the wood-burning stove going full tilt as
he greets an appreciative audience of walkups. He creates armoires, benches,
tables, magazine racks, flower boxes, and a lot of other things out of recycled
metal, wood, and tile. You may have seen his work on ArtWalk (he has a bench
there), or in the window at Arena’s Florist, or at the Memorial Art Gallery’s
Clothesline Festival.
How exactly did he turn an arc welder
and old iron into art? “The tools are really very simple,” he says. “I took a
couple continuing education classes; otherwise you might wind up blind.”
Fifteen years ago Grieco had
different pursuits. Take an example from late 1989, at the former Friends and
Players club at the corner of Goodman and Clinton: As the Stripminers destroy
the PA system, Grieco does pull-ups on the house lighting rig. Earlier that
summer Grieco’s band, Down With People, opened for the Butthole Surfers at
Idols for what had to be the loudest show I’ve ever seen.
Down With People — Grieco on drums,
Jack Schaefer on guitar, and Zeppi Vin Doigts on bass — got its start mainly
because the members all worked at Rochester’s Public Market. The music itself
was bizarre mixture of troglodyte drumming, progressive rock racket, and
marching band brass blare. On top of it all the voice of Jan Cermak would swoop
and bray like the vulture from H.R. Pufnstuf.
Now a City of Rochester fireman of 15
years, Grieco is usually located at the North Clinton Station. “I love being
there, I see a lot of action,” he says. Grieco has been training new recruits
as well: “That’s good, too. It gives me a chance to pass on real work
experience to the new guys.”
And he’s passed on his drumming
genes. “We took our kids out to see Stomp,”
he says. “They play all my old drums now.”
To
see examples of John Grieco’s work, visit his website, www.objectmaker.net.
— Dave Cross
Room
to park
As
the family of elephants at the Seneca Park Zoo expands, its space must, too.
That
might seem simple, but Monroe County’s plan to enlarge the zoo led to a
several-year turbulence.
In
2002, the county adopted a zoo master plan that included a larger space for
elephants — plus new exhibits and a large new parking lot. The approval came
despite protests from environmental groups, the Landmark Society, some
neighbors, and the city. The plan hasn’t been implemented, however, because of
lean county budgets.
Into
this stalemate came word this summer that one of the zoo’s elephants was
pregnant. But instead of prompting a renewed battle over the park’s fate, the
news appears to have brought signs of a truce. County Executive Maggie Brooks
announced last week that the elephant exhibit, which was to expand into the
current parking lot, will be built in another space.
“By
allowing the visitor parking to remain in its current location, we have laid
aside an issue which had become contentious among residents of our community,”
Brooks said. Instead of expanding parking, the county plans an off-site lot
with shuttle service to address overflow problems.
Many
expansion opponents, including the Landmark Society, approve of that solution.
“The
elephant exhibit plan will give zoo supporters an approach to improving the zoo
without harming the park,” reads a Landmark Society statement.
Still,
the group tempers such praise with the reminder that the 2002 plan — which
they opposed — remains in place.
This article appears in Dec 29, 2004 – Jan 4, 2005.
