KEEPING VINTAGE VOODOO VIABLE
To some music aficionados, the digital age’s onset seems
more like an onslaught. And it’s completely unacceptable. Sure, music is more
accessible — mouse clicks are quicker than trips to the record store — but
there’s less tangibility, nothing to hold on to or read while you listen.
“That whole approach, I think, really sucks” says Saxon
Recording’s Dave Anderson. “Because it has taken the human
element out of everything.”
Anderson has run
Saxon Recording on East Main Street
since 1984. And even in this digital age, Saxon remains a one-stop operation
for recording musicians. Here, without a record label’s backing, a band on a
budget can record, mix, master, and package a project almost overnight.
Saxon provides everything a band could need — right down
to registering a bar code — to get a product into fan’s hands. And that
product is just as important, according to Anderson,
as the music it conveys.
“Why is it that people aren’t
interested in the pictures and the credits and the liner notes?” he asks. “When
you download something, what is it? It’s nothing but a number.”
Still, Andersonain’tnoLuddite.
A band can stroll into Saxon and walk out with a marketable product, thanks to
the digital technology and seasoned producer’s ear Anderson
provides. He adds in a healthy dose of vintage voodoo: old mixing boards,
reverb plates, amps, a prodigious vintage mic
collection, and a record lathe. That’s right, a mid-’50s Presto cutting lathe
that produces acetates for record pressing. So a band can still get its tunes
on a vinyl 7″ or 12″ platter. (Those acetates are also in high demand among
hip-hop and dub musicians, who need the format to manipulate and create their
sound.)
With modern technology at odds with the vintage in a lot of
cases, Anderson manages to harness
both. There will always be a market for music products in a physical, 3-D form,
he says. “There are always going to be people who are genuinely enthusiastic
about listening to music,” he says.
Info: 288-3150 or www.saxonrecording.com.
— Frank De Blase
SALES TAX SMACKDOWN
It’s a rare thing for Maggie Brooks to make enemies — even
temporary ones — publicly. It’s rarer still when they’re among the people
considered her strongest supporters: civic-minded, moderate business leaders.
That’s what makes the spat between the county executive and
the Rochester Business Alliance so intriguing.
Last week an e-mail went out under Alliance CEO Sandy
Parker’s name to RBA members, outlining the group’s opposition to a tax
increase of any kind — sales or property. Then it went on to make this
surprise statement:
“Instead of raising taxes to meet this challenge, however,
we believe that all levels of local government must use the opportunity to
reduce expenses. There are dozens of potential cost-saving measures to explore,
and we have offered the help of Rochester Business Alliance members to analyze
and implement them. I am delighted to report that both CountyExecutiveBrooks
and Mayor Duffy have responded positively to this offer.They are meeting July 14 to
discuss cost-saving ideas and map out a plan for implementing cost cuts in
place of tax increases.”
That drew a quick denial from the county executive’s office.
“Basically the meeting referenced in the e-mail is not the
meeting the county executive agreed to attend,” county spokesperson Larry Staub
told City Newspaper. Brooks thought the meeting was centered exclusively on
exploring cost-sharing measures with the city in addition to — not instead of
— the sales-tax hike, Staub says. If she thought otherwise, “she wouldn’t
have agreed to the meeting,” he said. In fact, he added, she may yet withdraw
her commitment to attend if the RBA insists on seeking alternatives to a sales
tax increase.
“We don’t think that solution exists,” he said. “It’s too
late in the game to be considering just cuts. There’s not one that we haven’t
considered.”
Furthermore, Staub said, the county couldn’t cut its way out
of an impending budget deficit “without devastating the quality of life the
community enjoys.”
Staub is portraying the whole affair as one major
misunderstanding.
Not the RBA.
“What we sent to our members speaks for itself.”
That was about all Ellen Rosen, the RBA’s vice president of
marketing, communication, and membership had to say when contacted by City. No
further clarifying press release or statement is in the offing, she said.
Democrats in the CountyLegislature have already proposed a
plan that purports to balance the budget without raising taxes. Introduced just
before Maggie’s own “Community Solution,” it relies heavily on charging
municipalities for the Sheriff’s Road Patrol and seeking a paymentin lieu of taxes from the Monroe County
Water Authority. Brooks rejected the plan. Instead, she proposed raising the
sales tax by three-quarters of a percent and opting into a plan that transfers
the county’s Medicaid obligations to the state in exchange for its local share
of sales tax.
Even as Brooks’ and Parker’s surrogates were trading
remarks, the county and local municipalities were sending out a flurry of press
releases insisting that a recent court decision backs their particular side in
a dispute over the legality of that plan.
— Krestia DeGeorge
BACK IN THE POLS’ COURT
As Rochester,
like many cities, was preparing for Gay Pride celebrations last week, gay-rights
advocates were trying to cope with sobering news: the Court of Appeals ruling
that New York’s constitution does
not guarantee same-sex couples the right to marry.
In a 4-2 decision, the court rejected arguments by gay and
lesbian couples who maintained that their constitutional rights were being violated
and that the state’s marriage law is discriminatory.
“It was hard to read it,” Kris Hinesley, executive director
of the Gay Alliance of the GeneseeValley,
said of the ruling. “Many of us were hopeful that the decision would follow Massachusetts.
It was crushing, but it is not over yet. It’s just going to take longer.”
In the majority opinion, Justice Robert Smith wrote that the
issue was not whether gay marriage is right or wrong. Instead, he said the state’s
century-old marriage law was written at a time when the prospect of same-sex
marriage was not considered. Any change in the law should come from the state
legislature, he wrote.
For same-sex couples, what’s at stake is access to the same
benefits as heterosexual couples. “It is undisputed that the benefits of
marriage are many,” wrote Justice Smith. Of the more than 300 identified, he
said, the most important are tax advantages, protection of wills and probates,
making health-care decisions, and obtaining insurance.
But he also concluded that the state legislature could
continue to oppose same-sex marriageif it thought that would be in the
best interest of children. Recent research indicating there is no evidence to
support such claims is “limited,” Smith wrote.
Sue Morgan and Jenny Gaul, parents of a 3-year-old daughter,
were among about 200 supporters of gay marriage at a rally in WashingtonSquarePark
following the ruling.
“At first I was disappointed and really frustrated,” said
Morgan. “But when I read the part about providing stable environments for
children, it made me furious. Their ruling puts children and their families in
jeopardy. It’s interesting for them to take that position and then validate the
stigma associated with families like ours.”
Also at the rally were Bess Watts and Anne Tischer, who exchanged
vows in WashingtonSquarePark more than two years ago.
“Here we are, still fighting for equality,” said Watts.
“In America,
this is not supposed to happen. People should be mad. Why are we still standing
outside on the curb, when everyone else gets to go inside?”
Despite the setback, Duffy Palmer of the Empire State Pride
Agenda said the ruling did not come as a complete surprise. “This is a civil
rights matter,” he said, “and we have prepared for this decision with meetings
all over the state, from the North Country to the
Southern Tier. Our legislators know that we are going to hold them
accountable.”
“There has never been an aggressive push in the legislature
for a gay-marriage bill,” said Joe Tarver, also of the Pride Agenda, “because
they wanted to wait and see how the court ruled. That’s what these last two
years of litigation have really been about. The Assembly has always been the
chamber that has been a traditional ally of the community. They were the first
to push for anti-hate crime and anti-discrimination measures. And we think the
work will begin there, and of course, with Tom Duane [a gay senator from Manhattan)
in the Senate.”
The court’s ruling could intensify the political debate,
putting a spotlight on the governor’s race. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the
leading Democratic candidate, says he supports gay marriage. Tom Suozzi, who is
challenging Spitzer in a primary, quickly issued a statement after the ruling
saying that he favors some form of domestic partnership. In the past, however,
he has said he does not support gay marriage.
But to local activists like Rich Ognibene, stepping back
from marriage is not an option.
“I get so upset,” he told protestors at Thursday’s rally, “when
reasonably intelligent people come up to me and say things like: ‘Gosh,
couldn’t you call it something besides marriage, because it makes people so
upset?’ Why do we have to keep doing this? We’re not going to sit in the back
of the bus so other people can feel more comfortable.”
by Tim Louis Macaluso
SAVING THE MURALS
When the owner of the Inn on Broadway
wanted to remove a wall between two banquet rooms to create one large room, he
ran into a problem. And it wasn’t a typical construction nightmare like
removing a load-bearing wall. Instead, it had to do with two murals attached to
the wall, painted in 1929 by Rochester
artist Erwin Merzweiler.
The murals are part of a series depicting historical scenes
of Rochester, including High Falls, the Erie Canal, and the two problem murals:
of the early University of Rochester River Campus and the Memorial Art Gallery.
When word about the construction reached the artist’s granddaughter, Lynn
Reina, she was concerned that the murals would be destroyed.
The expansion’s complete, and the murals have survived —
relocated to another wall. And it’s hard to tell they were moved.
The biggest concern was that the murals were thought to have
been painted directly on the walls. They were not, says spokesperson Michael
Hydzik.
“The contractor discovered that they were actually painted
on canvas,” says Hydzik. “Apparently the glue that held them to the wall has
aged considerably, because they lifted right off without any problem. And they
went right back up without incident. They didn’t crack or peel or anything —
which was a fear, because they are obviously old.”
“It really worked out fine,” he says, “because this is
exactly what we wanted. “The way the murals were placed really joins the space
together, so it doesn’t look like two separate spaces.”
“It was never the owner’s intent to destroy them,” he says.
“He has invested so much in trying to preserve this old building.”
— Tim Louis Macaluso
WEDGE WI-FI
You don’t need to buy a coffee to get wireless anymore — at
least at the corner of South and Alexander. The pocket park known as Nathaniel
Square now has free wi-fi access. There are also
several electrical outlets and a security camera (so no one is tempted to walk
away with your laptop).
Free wi-fi, says South Wedge Planning Committee Executive
Director Dan Buyer, almost completes the park. Its last element: a statue of Nathaniel
Rochester designed by local artist Pepsy Kettavong. Kettavong also created many
of the park’s other features, including the metal pergolas. The total cost of
the park is around $300,000.
— Sujata Gupta
This article appears in Jul 12-18, 2006.
