CITY March 2022 by CITY Magazine

NEWS. ARTS. LIFE. | MARCH 2022 | FREE | SINCE 1971 FIELD TRIPS

WHAT ALES ME

CHOWHOUND

GET OUT OF THE HOUSE AND INTO THE WILD

TRY A FLIGHT FOR BETTER BALANCE WITH YOUR BREW

FOR IRISH BREAKFASTS, MULCONRY’S IS THE REAL MCCOY

Where The Jig Is Never Up Rochester's Rochester's traditional traditiona al Irish Irish music music scene scene ain't ain't all all shamrocks shamrocks and and leprechauns. leprechauns.

2 CITY

MARCH 2022

IN THIS ISSUE OPENING SHOT

March is prime maple sugaring season, and Genesee Country Village & Museum celebrates with demonstrations storytelling, and pancake breakfasts. See page 44. PHOTO BY ERICH CAMPING

NEWS

UNDERCUTTING THE BAIL REFORM BACKLASH

ARTS

LIFE

Critics love to point to violent crimes committed by people freed without bail. There just aren’t that many. BELLO’S MIDTERM EXAM

Checking in with Monroe County Executive Adam Bello halfway through his turbulent first term.

BY JEREMY MOULE

At museums, the unassuming picture frame sheds its sidekick image and steps into the spotlight.

‘YOUR CHILDREN ARE VERY GREATLY IN DANGER’

D&C education reporter Justin Murphy pens an extensive and engaging history of Rochester’s troubled schools. BY EVAN DAWSON

MORE NEWS, ARTS, AND LIFE INSIDE

ON THE COVER

WHERE THE JIG IS NEVER UP

PUBLIC LIVES

JENNIE SCHAFF MOVES UP IN THE FARASH BUILDING

An educator soars to the top of one of the largest private charitable organizations in Rochester.

BY DAVID ANDREATTA

BY GINO FANELLI

THE ART AROUND THE ART

BY JEREMY MOULE

For devotees of Rochester’s traditional Irish music scene, promoting Irish culture is more than an annual beer-soaked bar hop.

CHOWHOUND

THERE WILL BE BLOOD — AND THAT’S A GOOD THING

When it comes to authentic Irish breakfasts, Mulconry’s of Fairport is the real McCoy. BY REBECCA RAFFERTY

BY DANIEL J. KUSHNER

WHAT ALES ME

EMBRACE A FLIGHT FOR BETTER BALANCE

How a beer writer got more out of his brew by drinking less. BY GINO FANELLI roccitynews.com

CITY 3

INBOX WANNA SAY SOMETHING? NEWS. ARTS. LIFE.

CITY wants to hear you rant and rave. Your feedback must . . . . . . be no more than 250 words . . . respond to CITY content . . . be engaging

MARCH, 2022 Vol 50 No 7 On the cover: Photograph by Jacob Walsh

CITY reserves the right to edit for accuracy, length, and readability.

280 State Street Rochester, New York 14614 feedback@rochester-citynews.com phone (585) 244-3329 roccitynews.org

Send your rants and raves to: feedback@rochester-citynews.com

CITY, 280 State St., Rochester, NY 14614 (ATTN: Feedback) GOOD TIMING When I received my February issue of CITY I thought the timing of your cover story could not have been better. The cover and the photograph under the headline “At the Corner of Sorrow and Despair” was so sad and so true. I have been lobbying Congress and the president for a long time regarding the issue of violent crime in our country. What needs to be done is to start town hall meetings and block parties to encourage citizens to reclaim their streets and communities. Just complaining about a problem never solved anything. Ronald Royce Powell, Nunda EXCUSE ME? The “Inbox” in CITY’s December edition contained a letter to the editor regarding the proposed filling in of the Inner Loop North in which the writer wrote, “The Inner Loop is not as imposing as some suggest.” I beg to differ. I found the Inner Loop East to be a half-mile long, eightlane wide (including adjacent access roads) no man’s land. It was literally a moat, separating the neighborhoods from downtown. Walking and biking between downtown and the East End was depressing. Inner Loop North is no different. Another reader wrote that filling in the Loop will increase surface street traffic and that “that’s a negative for drivers, city residents, cyclists, pedestrians, and pollution.” Since the eastern portion of the Loop was filled in, making Union 4 CITY

MARCH 2022

PUBLISHER Rochester Area Media Partners LLC, Norm Silverstein, chairman FOUNDERS Bill and Mary Anna Towler

The north section of the Inner Loop looking south from the Market View Heights neighborhood. PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

Street two-way, I find driving that stretch from Monroe Avenue to Main Street to be quick and easy. I have also found that cycling and walking are significantly more efficient by not having to cross at a bridge, and infinitely more enjoyable with new residents and businesses lining the street rather than seeing the back side of buildings and parking lots. Filling in Inner Loop East has been a boon for the more affluent East End. The neighborhoods bordering the Inner Loop North deserve the same opportunity for reconnecting their neighborhoods to downtown and reclaiming land to spur development and economic opportunity. Filling in the Inner Loop North is imperative and must be done with neighborhood input on how to move forward once filled in. Martin Petrella, Rochester PUMP DOWN THE VOLUME I read in CITY that the Pride festival is returning to Cobbs Hill Park (“Pride parade and festival return to Rochester,” Feb. 1). I am a tenant at Cobbs Hill Village, a senior living apartment complex near the basketball courts at the park, and have lived here for 14 years. The years when the festival was at Cobbs Hill were bad. The first year we received a flyer saying while the

parade was going on, no one could leave the complex along Norris Drive. Ambulances come here at least once or twice a week to tend to tenants. The parking is so bad when the tenants try to leave because cars are blocking the way for them to exit. We have to have security here to make sure they don’t park in our small parking spaces. But the worst is the volume level of the music. The first year I had three fans, an A/C unit going, and my headphones on, and I still couldn’t hear anything but the music and my floors were vibrating. The back of my apartment faces the area where people walk near the forest. I saw a couple of men having sex there during the festival, even though there was a sign stating that the forest was off limits. Why doesn’t the park or the Pride organizers take all this into account when planning the music festivities? Why must our rights for “quiet enjoyment” be violated over and over again? How about having the festival at the Red Wings stadium or a larger place? It is bad enough that the basketball courts have countless nights of loud music during the summer where the police are called daily by the tenants. Signs say don’t play loud music and it is in the bylaws. Please help us. Kungaa Elizabeth Joseph, Rochester

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT themail@rochester-citynews.com Editor: David Andreatta News editor: Jeremy Moule Staff writer: Gino Fanelli Arts editor: Daniel J. Kushner Life editor: Rebecca Rafferty Calendar editor: Katherine Stathis CREATIVE DEPARTMENT artdept@rochester-citynews.com Creative director: Ryan Williamson Designer/Photographer: Jacob Walsh ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT ads@rochester-citynews.com Sales manager: Alison Zero Jones Advertising consultant/ Project manager: David White OPERATIONS/CIRCULATION Operations manager: Ryan Williamson Circulation manager: Katherine Stathis kstathis@rochester-citynews.com CITY is available free of charge. Additional copies of the current issue may be purchased by calling 585-784-3503. CITY may be distributed only by authorized distributors. No person may, without prior written permission of CITY, take more than one copy of each monthly issue. CITY (ISSN 1551-3262) is published monthly 12 times per year by Rochester Area Media Partners, a subsidiary of WXXI Public Broadcasting. Periodical postage paid at Rochester, NY (USPS 022-138). Address changes: CITY, 280 State Street, Rochester, NY 14614. Member of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia and the New York Press Association. Copyright by Rochester Area Media Partners LLC, 2021 - all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, photocopying, recording or by any information storage retrieval system without permission of the copyright owner. WXXI Members may inquire about free home delivery of CITY including monthly TV listings by calling 585-258-0200.

@ROCCITYNEWS

EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

CITY rallies for “Operation Paper Route.” What about you? BY DAVID ANDREATTA

@DAVID_ANDREATTA

DANDREATTA@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM

onsider this a call to action. If you’re among the thousands of people who pick up your monthly copy of CITY at any of our hundreds of newsstands, chances are good that the person who delivered your magazine this month also had a hand in writing it. For the last two editions — February and March — the small but spirited CITY team rallied to personally deliver roughly 20,000 copies of the magazine to nearly 400 stops in an effort to counter a distribution crisis. The team was focused on a single goal: getting copies into your hands by the first of the month. That might sound simple enough, but it hadn’t been happening more often than any of us would care to admit. In the preceding months, we were reminded of that frequently by readers who inquired about the whereabouts of their magazine and by our own experiences of visiting newsstands and finding them empty or stocked late. When CITY was a weekly newspaper, it enjoyed quality service from a loyal distributor for years. But just weeks before CITY was to return to newsstands as a monthly magazine in September 2020 after a pandemicinduced publication hiatus, that distributor folded. We were left to scramble for a new distributor in the midst of government lockdowns and labor shortages that were climbing to epic proportions. One option emerged in a company that specializes in delivering newspapers locally and beyond. We signed a contract with that company and breathed a sigh of relief. But our relief slowly turned to distress, and eventually torment, when it became clear that our distributor could not meet the terms of our contract. Frustrated and fed up, we cut ties with the company in January and took matters into our own hands. Literally. The staffers behind the bylines you know and trust to bring you timely, conversation-starting coverage of the news, arts, and culture in our

CITY staffers have rallied to deliver 20,000 copies of the magazine in each of the last two months. Here, Editor David Andreatta drops off the February edition in the Neighborhood Of The Arts. PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

community packed the trunks of their vehicles with bundles of magazines and hit the road — in a snowstorm. I’ve always been proud of CITY, but I don’t think I was ever prouder than that day. The endeavor was an exercise in duty, humility, and self-reflection. The best part was meeting the small-business owners who host CITY newsstands and how thrilled so many of them and their customers were to see us — not just the magazine, but the people behind it. “Delivering the magazines gave me a chance to interact with the people and places that have been supporting us and helping get us out to readers,” said News Editor Jeremy Moule, who has been with CITY for 15 years. “Not only did I enjoy it, but I learned a little bit about our community in the process.” The highlight for Rebecca Rafferty, CITY’s life and culture editor, was walking into the bus terminal downtown with a bundle of magazines and being

greeted by a man who blurted, “Thank God! My phone’s dead.” Staff writer Gino Fanelli went into paperboy mode grudgingly, but returned to the office after a day on the road beaming at the hearty greetings he received. “I got to see first-hand how much we resonate in this city, how many people were stoked to see me with a stack of magazines,” Fanelli said. “That gave me a lot of hope that we’re doing good work and making a difference.” WANTED: UNSUNG HEROES We will continue delivering the magazine as long as necessary. But we’re hoping to find a permanent solution for our distribution by spring. The problem now is a nationwide shortage of delivery drivers and couriers. You might not know it if you’ve been following the “Freedom Convoys” in Canada that have crept into American border cities, but

truckers are in short supply. You can help, though. If you’re looking for part-time work that gets you out and about in our community just one or two days a month, we have a job for you. You can inquire with CITY’s Circulation Manager Kate Stathis, who was the linchpin to CITY’s “Operation Paper Route.” She can be reached by phone at (585) 784-3506 or email at kstathis@rochester-citynews.com. “When delivery of goods and services run smoothly, it’s easy to take for granted what we rely upon the most,” Stathis said. “I appreciate people who reliably take pride in timely delivery, especially when a job well done often means going virtually unrecognized.” To those of you who may join us, know that many people who read and enjoy CITY will appreciate the work that you do.

roccitynews.com

CITY 5

NEWS

DOUBT ON BAIL

State data undercuts the bail reform backlash

FILE PHOTO

Less than 2% of criminal defendants are arrested on violent felonies while free without bail. BY GINO FANELLI

@GINOFANELLI

yquan Rivera was already a notorious criminal when he was arrested in December 2019 on a felony charge of selling fentanyl to undercover officers. He had been released from prison only eight months earlier after serving a 10-year stretch for shooting Rochester Police Officer Anthony DiPonzio in the head as a 14-year-old boy. Given that history, a judge ordered 6 CITY

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GFANELLI@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM

Rivera be held in Monroe County Jail on $25,000 cash bail. But two weeks later, Rivera, then 25, was released under a controversial new law that eliminated bail for most misdemeanor and non-violent felonies. To critics of the law, Rivera’s release only meant he would be free to reoffend while awaiting trial. Their worst fears were confirmed 18 months later, in June 2021, when Rivera was arrested on

allegations that he strangled his girlfriend and violated an order of protection. This time, he was held on $40,000 bail and was subsequently convicted on the drug charge while in jail. He is now serving a 15-year sentence in state prison. Rivera’s case and those of other known criminals accused of committing crimes while free and awaiting trial on other charges have

been highlighted by critics of the law as examples of the perils of ending cash bail. But a CITY/WXXI News examination of state Office of Court Administration data on every criminal case to go through Rochester City Court since the law began suggests situations like Rivera’s are outliers. Between Jan. 1, 2020, when the law took effect, and June 30,

2021, the latest date for which data was available, 1,035 of the 8,492 criminal defendants who were arraigned in Rochester City Court — or roughly 12 percent — were arrested on new charges while awaiting trial. Of the 1,035 people who were arrested anew, 136 of them — or 1.6 percent of the total — were arrested on violent felonies. “There are always repeat offenders that pick up additional offenses while they have other charges pending,” said John Bradley, assistant public defender with the Monroe County Public Defender’s Office. “What isn’t getting talked about much is what would have been different under the bail statute?” The state data does not — and cannot — show how many of those defendants would have been ordered held on bail and how many of them might have posted bail. BAIL REFORM AND DATA What is commonly referred to as “bail reform” is formally The Bail Elimination Act of 2019. The new law specified a list of offenses on which judges could set bail, but also included a list of mostly nonviolent offenses that were no longer eligible for bail. For the latter offenses, judges are required, with some exceptions, to set release terms that do not involve money. Judges can take two paths in these cases. They can release defendants without conditions except that they return for their next court dates, or they can release defendants on what are known as “non-monetary conditions,” such as wearing an ankle monitor or adhering to an order of protection. The Bail Elimination Act also required courts to start compiling data on arraignments and release conditions. Most courts, including Rochester, had not done that before, making it impossible to compare and contrast post-bail reform data. But Rochester’s post-bail reform data can be compared with that of other upstate cities. On the

District Attorney Sandra Doorley has remained quiet on bail reform. She said a confluence of issues has led to a spike in violent crime. PHOTO BY RYAN WILLIAMSON

whole, the percentage of criminal defendants arrested while free without bail are comparable with other cities. For instance, of the 11,672 defendants arraigned in Buffalo City Court, 12 percent were arrested on new charges while their previous cases were pending. Roughly 2 percent of those arraigned were arrested on a violent felony. Of the 8,080 people arraigned in Syracuse City Court, 16.7 percent were arrested before their cases concluded. Again, roughly 2 percent were arrested on violent felony charges. The Monroe County District Attorney’s Office is in the process of collecting its own data to better understand the effects, if any, of bail reform. “There’s so much anecdotal information out there,” District Attorney Sandra Doorley said. “That’s why I haven’t really been

speaking on it, because I haven’t gotten the hard data yet.” She sat at a large hardwood desk in her office on North Fitzhugh Street piled high with files. After looking over the Office of Court Administration data, Doorley said it seemed in line with what she’s seeing in the courtroom, with one exception: the percentage of defendants for whom bench warrants were issued because they never showed up for a follow-up court date. The state data suggests roughly 10 percent of defendants in Rochester fell into that category. Doorley estimated it was closer to between 25 and 30 percent. “I think this is way underreported,” Doorley said. Bradley, the assistant public defender, agreed to some extent. He said it seemed that more people than usual are not showing up to court on appearance tickets. He attributed the situation to turmoil

in the courts during the pandemic. “For a long time, especially more toward the end of 2020 and the first part of 2021, the court system was a mess. They just didn’t know how to handle this,” Bradley said. “People who did have appearance tickets were showing up outside of the courthouse and being told, ‘No, we’re not allowing anybody out of custody into the courthouse today, here’s your next court date.’” A POLITICAL FLASHPOINT The change in the law coincided with a rise in violent crime. Shootings and homicides in Rochester hit all-time records last year, with 419 and 81, respectively, according to Rochester Police Department data. But the uptick in crime locally and across the state mirrored spikes in much of the rest of the country. CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

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CITY 7

ROCHESTER REARRESTS JANUARY 1, 2020 - JUNE 30, 2021

= 1% of TOTAL ARRAINGMENTS

= NO REARREST BETWEEN ARRAINGMENT AND DISPOSITION = MISDEMEANOR

= NON-VIOLENT FELONY

BUFFALO REARRESTS JANUARY 1, 2020 - JUNE 30, 2021

SYRACUSE REARRESTS JANUARY 1, 2020 - JUNE 30, 2021

= VIOLENT FELONY

Homicide records were broken in many cities, including Austin (89), Indianapolis (271), and Philadelphia (559). Texas, Indiana, and Pennsylvania all have cash bail. Nevertheless, some law enforcement officials have pegged the increase in violent crime in New York on bail reform. Republican politicians in particular have portrayed the rising crime as an assault on public safety by the Democratic majority in Albany which pushed bail reform through the Legislature. “Tackling the crime crisis isn’t rocket science,” read a campaign email from Congressmember and GOP gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin. “We need to oppose the radical Defund the Police movement, fire District Attorneys who refuse to enforce the law, and REPEAL CASHLESS BAIL!” Former Gates Police Chief Jim Vanbrederode made similar remarks in February when he announced his campaign for a state Senate seat. At the announcement, Joe Robach, a former Republican state Senator who now advises the Monroe County GOP, launched into a tirade against bail reform and a recent parole reform package signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul. The crowd ate it up. “Literally, we have people in the city of Rochester, where we live, who get caught with an illegal handgun and get an appearance ticket like they rolled through a stop sign,” Robach said. “Only to find out two weeks later that that same individual took someone’s life and was involved in a shooting.” None of the 136 people who were arrested for a violent felony while awaiting trial on a previous crime were charged with murder or manslaughter. Twelve were charged with assault, and four were charged with non-fatal strangulations. One of the latter was Rivera. VanBrederode frequently criticized the bail reforms during his final months as chief. Two days before he announced his candidacy, VanBrederode sat down with CITY to lay out his thoughts on the state’s bail reforms. When presented with the state’s data, he dismissed it. CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

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MARCH 2022

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“They’ll blame bail reform on anything they can think of, they’ll blame global warming on bail reform.” - JOHN BRADLEY, ASSISTANT MONROE COUNTY PUBLIC DEFENDER

Former Gates Police Chief Jim VanBrederode is running for the State Senate, partially on a platform of repealing Democrat-enacted criminal justice reforms. He’s flanked by former state Sen. Joe Robach, left, and Monroe County GOP Secretary David Dunning. PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH

“The thing about the statistics is, just remember one thing, crime is meant to be not caught,” VanBrederode said. “For all the burglaries we go to, storefront window smashed out at 2 o’clock in the morning, of all the burglaries we write the reports for, the solvability rates are not that great.” VanBrederode said he’d rather see reforms that provide rehabilitation services to people in custody and that allow judges to order defendants held on bail if they believe that person poses a threat to public safety. Bradley, the public defender, said bail reform has become a scapegoat for its critics. “To blame it on the bail statute in any way, these are the same people that hated the idea of bail reform to begin with,” Bradley said. “They’ll blame bail reform on anything they can think of, they’ll blame global warming on bail reform.”

10 CITY MARCH 2022

FACT CHECK In New York, the purpose of cash bail was to ensure that a defendant returns for their next court date. Legal experts disagree over whether cash bail is constitutional, though. Some argue that holding people in jail on cash bail that they cannot afford runs afoul of prohibitions on excessive bail and fines and depriving “any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” in the Constitution. About a quarter of the 8,492 arraignments in the state data were ultimately dismissed. That’s almost double the number of people who were released at arraignment and arrested on another offense before trial. Jullian Harris-Calvin, director of the Greater Justice New York Program at Vera Institute of Justice, which has pushed for eliminating cash bail since the 1960s, said it’s convenient to blame bail reform for the increase in violent crime because it offers a simple solution− get rid of bail reform. She said that the problem has been driven by several factors,

including school closings, a reduction in social services, and separation from social and family networks. “There’s just no information to show that bail reform in and of itself has done anything other than make sure that poor, mostly Black and brown New Yorkers don’t have to pay their way out of pretrial detention while wealthier New Yorkers charged with the same offenses are able to pay their way easily,” Harris-Calvin said. Harris-Calvin noted that many categories of crime have held steady or decreased during the pandemic. In Rochester, robberies rose by 2.6 percent between 2019 and 2021, to 502 from 489, according to Rochester Police Department data. But that is still well below the recordhigh of 900 robberies in 2013. In 2021, larcenies in the city were the lowest in a decade, falling to 4,281 after peaking at 7,370 in 2012. Doorley’s office has been working with Rochester Institute of Technology and Measures for Justice, an organization based in Rochester

that works with law enforcement agencies to collect and analyze criminal justice data, to create a public database of court cases. “You look around the state, and you see that other places have seen an increase in violence as well, but not like Rochester,” Doorley said. “We’ve had bail reforms issues, we’ve had judges setting lower than normal bail on violent offenses, we’ve had turmoil in the Police Department where we’ve seen turnover in the administration and retirements, we’ve had social upheaval with the Daniel Prude case,” she went on. “Rochester has been a unique area if you think about all of the issues we’ve dealt with in the past year. And then you want to add COVID in? Sure, go ahead.”

roccitynews.com CITY 11

NEWS

MIDTERM EXAM

County Executive Adam Bello said that despite a pandemic, political strife, and more, he’s been able to move his agenda forward. PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

Adam Bello dishes on his turbulent first two years BY JEREMY MOULE

@JFMOULE

ounty Executive Adam Bello stood at the podium, straightening his gray suit while reporters set up their cameras and microphones around him. He had just announced some enhancements to the county’s child care subsidy program, but the reporters wanted an update on the homeless people living in the Civic Center Garage downtown, and what the county was doing to address it. The issue was by no means a new development. In 2014, when Republican Maggie Brooks was county executive, the agency that ran the garage hired a security firm to keep the people seeking shelter there out. The move precipitated a crisis that peaked when the city bulldozed a 12 CITY MARCH 2022

JMOULE@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM

tent encampment that for many garage dwellers had become a last resort. Half-way through his first term as county executive, Bello saw the problem as an opportunity to try something he preached on the campaign trail: collaboration. He sent a team of county employees, from social services staff to workers from the Department of Environmental Services, to team up with Rochester police and city staff to try to get the garage’s residents into formal housing. Bello took office at a turbulent time. Just weeks after he defeated incumbent Republican Cheryl Dinolfo in 2019, GOP legislators moved to strip him of some powers. They failed amid a fierce public backlash.

He took office on Jan. 1, 2020, and within four months the state’s pandemic lockdown went into effect. He’d also spend much of that year and the next tussling with a supermajority formed by the GOP caucus and group of breakaway Democratic legislators. The supermajority was dismantled last year when Democrats took a one-seat majority in the Legislature. But Bello still faces a chamber that is effectively under Republican control. Sabrina LaMar, one of the breakaway Democrats, was elected president and is caucusing with the GOP, effectively giving Republicans a 15 to 14 majority. During a wide-ranging, hour-long conversation, Bello touched on how the pandemic altered his agenda once he

got into office, his plans for economic development, why he believes it was appropriate for the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency to give tax breaks to Amazon, and how it’s still essential for the county to plan for the future. Below are excerpts of our interview, which have been edited for brevity and clarity. AS A CANDIDATE YOU STRESSED PLANNING FOR THE COUNTY’S FUTURE. HOW DO YOU DO THAT AT A TIME OF SUCH UNCERTAINTY? There’s no question that my plans going into office were a little upended when the pandemic struck, as were

everybody’s plans for 2020. Everything changed for everybody. As I laid out my State of the County last year, we did our budget last year, it was really pivoting to what those other priorities are. It’s continued investments in public health, public safety, also looking at our economic conditions and our workforce development to get people into jobs and training for jobs that exist. And then also investments in infrastructure. I’m talking about roads and bridges but I’m also talking about those amenities that make Rochester a great place to live to help recruit and bring in that workforce and those families. . . We just did a record $7 million investment in our county parks system that we’re still working through. We launched the comprehensive plan process in the second half of last year and right now we’re working through public input sessions and working through different groups who are providing input for the county’s future. We have to be able to walk and chew gum here at the same time.

WHEN YOU RAN, YOU SAID THAT THE PUBLIC DESERVED AN APPROACH TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT THAT IS ACCOUNTABLE AND TRANSPARENT. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TOWARD THAT? What I’ve done is made it very clear that when a project comes looking for a tax benefit through the COMIDA board . . . there has to be some level of public benefit that comes back to the public, whether or not that’s in job creation, whether that’s in a public amenity or something of that nature. The example that I was referring to that was inappropriate and shouldn’t happen again was the example of the Midtown Athletic Club’s expansion project that they did, where I think it was just universally acknowledged that even if they didn’t get the COMIDA benefit they would still move forward with the expansion. What I’ve advocated for is that projects like that not be eligible to go through the COMIDA process, but instead there has to be some public benefit.

WHAT IS THE COUNTY’S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY AT THIS LATE STAGE OF THE PANDEMIC? It’s all about jobs. I don’t know a single company in our county that isn’t hiring right now and despite that, we’re also leading the state in private sector job growth. We’re going to be the first region in the state, in my view, to be able to fully recover our job numbers from before the pandemic. I think that speaks volumes about the foundations that we have here and the climate. But we still have to do more work because everyone seems to be hiring. I think there’s a disconnect here between people who are looking for work, because there’s still an awful lot of people who still don’t have work or they’re underemployed. My economic development strategy here right now is to try to close that gap, that skills gap. There are a lot of job training programs that are just training people then sending them out into the universe to look for work. We can’t think of it that way. We have to think about the job that exists, link that with the training program, and then that’s how you put them through. You find an individual, you train them into the job so you fill the job.

HOW DO YOU SQUARE THE INCENTIVES PACKAGE PROVIDED FOR A NEW AMAZON FULFILLMENT CENTER IN GATES WITH THAT PHILOSOPHY? That’s the due diligence of the COMIDA board and their legal team. What happens with Amazon is when they sign up for a PILOT program like this, it provides that year-over-year certainty as to what their payments are, so that when they are working with their lenders and their business model, they know what their payments will be. It also provides certainty to the governments what their payments will be. Amazon is in the process of hiring close to 1,000 people, so you want to talk about public benefit. Not only by the construction project are the town, county, and school district receiving an awful lot of money in payments, they’ve created over 1,000 full-time jobs there that are permanent jobs to work in the facility, not to mention all the construction jobs that went into that project as well. That’s one of the largest construction projects our region has seen almost ever. PEOPLE HAVE BEEN LIVING IN THE CIVIC CENTER GARAGE FOR YEARS. WHY DO YOU THINK THE PROBLEM

PERSISTS? ARE COUNTY PROGRAMS SET UP TO HELP THESE PEOPLE? The previous approach to dealing with the garage was to either, one, ignore it, or number two, try to arrest your way out of the problem, lock all of the doors, and hope for the best. Obviously, neither of those approaches worked. We created a partnership with the city of Rochester and I cannot understate how important that partnership is between the county and the city, the county executive and the mayor. And here it worked. This started last summer. We started bringing our support systems down there to see if something like this would work and since last summer up through last week (the first week of February) we’ve placed over 50 people in some sort of emergency shelter, housing, or some other support system. I think this new approach is working. There was even an arrest made last week of an individual who should not have been in that garage. He had five warrants. What a great partnership we had with the Rochester Police Department to go in there, not to arrest your way out of the problem but to look for people who are creating that unsafe environment and get them out of there. It was fantastic. I think this is the new model because, on a lot of issues that we face as a community, you talk about breaking down barriers and you talk about people operating in silos, you couldn’t have had a better example than what was going on at the parking garage. This intensive effort is meant to have a consistent engagement. It’s not a oneand-done. IN JULY, YOU ANNOUNCED AN EFFORT TO REDESIGN COUNTY SOCIAL SERVICES. WHAT HAS HAPPENED WITH THAT PROJECT TO DATE? The ultimate goal is to deconstruct the centralization of services at St. Paul Street and Westfall Road and instead embed our services out into the community. [Monroe County’s social services offices are located in buildings at 690 St. Paul St. and 111 Westfall Road.] We piloted this new way of thinking when we used our rental assistance program. We received federal dollars, as did most governments, to set up our own rental assistance program. Instead of contracting with one agency or just

going through our Human Services Department, we decentralized it using community-based organizations to have them reach out to their clients in their communities that they’re closest to. It’s going to take about three years. But right now we are in the interview stage to make sure we have the feedback from those who actually use the system. We’ve got to talk to people who actually use social services and find out how to make it work better for them. We spend over half a billion dollars a year in our social service supports programs and we still have one of the highest concentrations of poverty in the country, particularly amongst children. So something we’re doing hasn’t been working over the last decade, two decades. This isn’t a problem that just suddenly existed a year ago, this is something that’s been built for a long time. THERE’S NO MORE SUPERMAJORITY IN THE LEGISLATURE, BUT REPUBLICANS MORE OR LESS CONTROL THE CHAMBER. DO YOU SEE ANY SHIFT IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LEGISLATURE? Certainly they don’t have a vetoproof majority anymore, which I think does, by its very nature, will change the relationship and make it more collaborative. Functionally, the Republicans had a 19 to 10 majority for my first two years, they now have a 15 to 14 majority. Clearly a message was sent to the Legislature that people want collaboration not just fighting. Honestly, if I could survive two years with a 19-10 Legislature, a 15-14 Legislature’s not going to bother me. I view it as I’ve got a job to do. My priorities were clearly laid out, we fought the pandemic together with so many different community organizations despite the politics that existed upstairs and I’m going to continue to focus on my priorities: public health, public safety, economic development, and infrastructure. It’s very difficult to argue with those things because they’re not politics. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or you’re a Republican, you live in the suburbs, you live in the city. These are bread and butter issues, they’re common sense priorities that I think everybody can get behind. roccitynews.com CITY 13

NEWS

BOOK REVIEW

A reporter asks us to stop lying about schools Justin Murphy’s new book is an extensive examination of Rochester’s troubled public school system — and a call to action to fix it. BY EVAN DAWSON

@EVANDAWSON

EDAWSON@WXXI.ORG

ew people today know that one the most serene stretches of road in Rochester — a length of Lake Avenue lined by cemeteries — was once a staging ground for violence against schoolchildren. But for several months during the 1971-72 school year, the gravestones of Holy Sepulchre and Riverside cemeteries acted as parapets for white parents battling efforts to integrate schools. From their positions behind the monuments, they hurled rocks and bricks at passing school buses carrying Black students. The bombardments were so persistent that year that one school administrator recalled watching a school bus that appeared empty save for the driver pull into Charlotte Junior High School. When it came to a stop, Black children who were passengers inside got up from the floor where they had been hiding from view, dusted themselves off, and exited into the school. The ugly scenes are recounted by Democrat and Chronicle education journalist Justin Murphy in his new book, “Your Children Are Very Greatly In Danger: School Segregation in Rochester, New York,” which is perhaps the most extensive and engaging history ever written of the troubled and muchmaligned Rochester public school system. The book, slated to be released March 15, is not only a recitation of the racism that has impeded Rochester public schools and, thus, the city and its suburbs, but a call to action to achieve what Murphy calls “the joy of learning that is possible when children from different backgrounds meet in the classroom on equal terms.” His hope, he writes, is that the history he unearthed will illuminate a quest for “new ideas, new strength, and a new resolution to stop lying about the way things are.” 14 CITY MARCH 2022

Your Children Are Very Greatly In Danger: School Segregation in Rochester, New York By Justin Murphy Illustrated. 286 pp. Cornell University Press. $32.95

The author, Justin Murphy, in his Rochester home. PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

Among the first steps to getting there, Murphy proposes, is for the greater Rochester community to acknowledge what he has observed for years: local schools are segregated. “The idea of desegregation, irrespective of political boundaries, needs to reenter the conversation,” Murphy, 36, said in an interview.

“Because it really has been striking, and an ultimate victory for the people who opposed desegregation in the 1970s, that it’s not even in the realm of things we might do to improve the schools.” A long and significant list of Black leaders have come to believe that desegregation is a waste of time. How

many rocks need to be thrown through bus windows before Black families see that they are not welcome, and will never be? Yet, studies find that segregation is tied to wide academic achievement gaps. Research shows that Black students who attend desegregated schools are more likely to graduate and less likely to be incarcerated, or live in poverty. They make more money. They report better health. In his book, Murphy makes a case for desegregation by outlining the parade of ideas that were designed to save Rochester schools. Charter schools. Vouchers. Takeovers. After-school programs. Separate diploma tracks. They all fail, he writes, because the acceptance of segregation makes that failure inevitable.

The book opens with a series of stories from the 1800s, chronicling the first debates about integrating schools in fledgling Rochester. One story hinges on a recorded complaint in 1841 from an unnamed Black father who argued that if his children couldn’t attend school, then he shouldn’t have to pay taxes. His argument inspired school leaders to question how Black children should be educated. Their choice of “separate but equal” schools was hindered by the price tag of new facilities. Integration was a solution, but the school board caved to the steady stream of complaints from white parents. Eight years later, with the problem still nagging, board member John Quinn noted that girls had recently been allowed to attend common schools. “No citizen,” he was quoted as saying, “would want a colored boy sitting in school beside his daughter.” The book is an exhaustivelyresearched march through the ensuing decades, with one shocking episode after another. Not even Frederick Douglass could rally Rochester to integrate schools. “Your Children Are Very Greatly In Danger” does not conclude with a single call for reform. Murphy argues that countywide schools need to be on the table, but that they present only one path to desegregation. He also calls for a more inclusive version of the Urban-Suburban program, which places students from the city in suburban districts. But his most compelling idea is embracing a willingness to educate all children in the county about its racist history. Murphy grew up attending Penfield schools and learned essentially nothing about the events he researched for his book. Now married and raising two young children, he and his wife live in the city of Rochester. Their kids will attend the very Rochester schools on which he has reported — some might say infiltrated because of the thoroughness of his coverage — over nearly eight years. Murphy joined the Democrat and Chronicle in 2012 and has been a journalist for 14 years. Very few Americans would have been familiar with critical race theory, which denotes that systemic racism

“I think we underestimate not just what kids can handle, but on what they pick up on and already know,” Murphy said. PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

is ingrained in American society, when Murphy set out to write his book about four years ago. Today, the culture wars over its application in public schools have turned school boards into battlegrounds. Dozens of United States senators have branded it “activist indoctrination.” White parents have complained that they don’t want schools to teach their kids to feel guilty for being white. “I would agree with that, when you put it that way,” Murphy said. “I don’t want my kids to hate themselves for being white. But in my experience, it’s not that hard to talk through this stuff with your kids. Kids are smart. I think we underestimate not just what kids can handle, but on what they pick up on and already know.” In his book, Murphy chronicles the systemic forces that stripped Black families of opportunities to build wealth in Rochester. He spares no one, and readers will encounter the racism wielded by some of Rochester’s most famous names. Just a few years after George Eastman’s death in the 1932, his

Eastman Kodak Co. employed 16,351 people. Only one was Black, a porter. Murphy quotes Eastman’s longtime butler, Solomon Young, who was also Black, as once saying, “George Eastman was a lot of good things, but it was never his intent that African-Americans would be working in a factory in Rochester.” Starker still were the words of John Nothnagle, the principle behind the eponymous local real estate firm. While running for a seat on the Rochester school board in 1961, Murphy writes, Nothnagle was accused by the NAACP of being “a silent and active participant in the Rochester brand of apartheid.” Nothnagle is said to have replied “that whites were fearful of their neighborhoods being invaded by wife-beating, knife-wielding, illiterate Negroes.” Every chapter in Murphy’s book delivers devastating vignettes like those. That’s why, despite the supercharged political atmosphere around the notion of systemic racism, Murphy believes his accounting of what happened in Rochester is not inherently political.

“There will be people who perceive my book as a threat to their worldview, or their expectation for their children’s education,” he said. “But it’s also the case that what I wrote in the book actually happened. When you get a true accounting of history out into people’s hands, my hope is that will transcend political forces.” His book takes its name from a 1964 essay by James Baldwin, who warned white people of the effects of racial separation on children. “I know you didn’t do it, and I didn’t do it either, but I am responsible for it because I am a man and a citizen of this country and you are responsible for it, too, for the very same reason: as long as my children face the future they face, and come to the ruin that they come to, your children are very greatly in danger, too,” Baldwin wrote. “They are endangered above all by the moral apathy which pretends it isn’t happening.” Rochester, Murphy writes, like a lot of places in the United States, has a deep familiarity with that sort of apathy. roccitynews.com CITY 15

16 CITY MARCH 2022

roccitynews.com CITY 17

ARTS

BEAUTIFUL BORDERS

Claude Monet’s “Waterloo Bridge, Veiled Sun,” center, hangs at the Memorial Art Gallery in a dealer frame between two works, Monet’s “The Rocks at Pourville, Low Tide” and Paul Cézanne’s “View of Mt. Marseilleveyre and the Isle of Maire,” that have been reframed. PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

COMPLETING THE PICTURE The humble frame — once considered inconsequential — has come into its own. BY DAVID ANDREATTA

@DAVID_ANDREATTA

he permanent collection at the University of Rochester’s Memorial Art Gallery holds important paintings by greats like Monet, Cézanne, Matisse, Homer, and Cassatt. So a recent tweet from the museum that saluted what is perhaps the art world’s most overlooked supporting actor — the humble picture frame — might have seemed out of character to the museum’s Twitter followers. “Sure, paintings are cool, but have 18 CITY MARCH 2022

DANDREATTA@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM

you ever noticed the frames?” read the tweet, accompanied by a photo of the corner of a gilt frame elaborately festooned with an ersatz Arabic theme. That frame lines Jean-Léon Gérôme’s “Interior of a Mosque” and was hand-carved by Eli Wilner & Co., a leading framing restoration expert in New York City, at a cost of $20,000. Half of the price tag was paid by a grant, and half by Wilner, according to the museum. In recent years, frames have shed their sidekick status and stepped

into the spotlight at museums and galleries, earning newfound attention from curators and collectors as works of art in their own right. “The painting is the work of art, but frames are also a work of art and they work together for a whole,” said Nancy Norwood, the Memorial Art Gallery’s curator of European art. “The frame really can bring the work of art to life. But the frame can also kill a work of art.” Frames are fundamentally utilitarian objects. They exist to

protect the painting and provide a boundary for the viewer’s wandering eye. Until fairly recently, many museums and collectors saw frames as interchangeable and expendable. That began to change around the turn of the millennia, when museums around the country, armed with new scholarship about how artworks were originally framed, began reconsidering how their showpiece works were presented and became fussier about authenticity. They embarked on costly

Cézanne’s “View of Mt. Marseilleveyre and the Isle of Maire” before (top) in an 18th-century Revival style frame, and after (bottom) in a replica 19th-century Louis XV gilded Revival frame hand-carved by Paul Mitchell, of London. The reframing project cost $7,500. PHOTOS PROVIDED BY MEMORIAL ART GALLERY

reframing projects and set about convincing their donors that the right frame, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars, was more than window dressing. “The scholarly study of art history focused on paintings for about 150 years and other media was often overlooked,” said Joseph Godla, chief conservator at The Frick Collection in New York City. “Now research is branching out and frames and decorative arts are receiving more attention.” In the fall of 1999 the MAG installed “The Frame In America:

1860-1960,” an exhibit of mostly just frames. Dubbed “the show without the art,” the exhibit asked viewers to reconsider the role of the frame as an intermediary between painting and wall, and as a complement to the art it holds. Two years later, the museum held a fundraiser specifically for frames. Much of the proceeds went toward reframing Claude Monet’s “The Rocks at Pourville, Low Tide,” a work from 1882, with a hand-carved, beaded and gilded frame that cost $20,000. CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

roccitynews.com roccitynews.org CITY 19

Jean-Léon Gérôme’s “Interior of a Mosque” came to MAG in a whitewashed frame. PHOTO PROVIDED BY MEMORIAL ART GALLERY

The painting’s new frame was gilded and elaborately festooned with a hard-carved ersatz Arabic theme by Eli Wilner & Co., a leading framing company, at a cost of $20,000. PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

“The frame on this was completely inappropriate,” Norwood said of the work. “It was actually pink and it was a killer for this painting. People who would come in, the general public but even scholars of Monet, and say, ‘Oh my God you have to reframe that painting!’” Norwood said the museum routinely uses local framers, but relies on hand-carving specialists for restorations of its major works, of which there have been a handful in her 22 years at the museum. There are a couple of reasons why a Monet might end up in a gaudy pink frame, according to scholars. Nineteenth-century art dealers frequently used their showiest frames to convince buyers that Impressionist CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

Nancy Norwood is the curator of European art at the Memorial Art Gallery. She playfully calls frames that interfere with the art “cringe frames.” PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

20 CITY MARCH 2022

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www.col-care.com/location/rochester New York Medical Marijuana ID required to make a Medical Marijuana purchase. roccitynews.com CITY 21

One of the most important American works in MAG's collection is “Summer Street Scene in Harlem, 1948,” by Jacob Lawrence. PHOTO PROVIDED BY MEMORIAL ART GALLERY

An ebonized frame with strong molding was selected as a replacement to emphasize and enhance the images in work. PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

and post-Impressionist works were consequential. But also, frames were more often chosen to enhance the owner’s décor rather than the paintings they held. The latter was why “View of Mt. Marseilleveyre and the Isle of Maire,” a landscape by Paul Cézanne painted around 1882 and a significant work in the MAG collection, was encased in an ornate 18th-century Revival style frame. George Keyes, the chief curator emeritus at the Detroit Institute of 22 CITY MARCH 2022

Arts, disliked the frame so much during a visit to the museum four years ago that he offered to pay for the work to be reframed. “I’ve decided your Cézanne desperately needs a new frame,” Norwood recalled Keyes telling her. “It’s one of the most important pictures in your collection, and it’s horribly underserved as it is.” Museum officials settled on a replica of a relatively plain late 19thcentury Louis XV gilded Revival handcrafted by one of the foremost

The pastoral landscape “Near Andrésy,” by Charles François Daubigny, hangs in a “cringe frame” whose showiness contrasts with the simplicity of the work. MAG is eyeing a new frame priced at $11,000. PHOTO BY DAVID ANDREATTA

framers in the world, Paul Mitchell, of London. The cost was £4,000, or roughly $7,500. Keyes is currently financing another reframing by Mitchell, this one of a work by 17th-century Dutch painter Jan van de Cappelle titled “View off the Dutch Coast.” Finding frames authentic to the time period of a painting is not the only goal, however. How the frame works with a piece and honors the artist’s intentions are also considerations. For example, one of the Memorial Art Gallery’s most important American paintings, “Summer Street Scene in Harlem, 1948,” by Jacob Lawrence, was reframed a few years ago in black with heavy molding and a subtle gold liner reminiscent of a 17th-century Dutch frame. “But it really emphasizes and enhances the figures in the work,” Norwood said. Some painters cared so much about what surrounded their art that they designed their own frames. That was the case with a work by American artist Harold Weston at the museum. His “Three Trees, Winter, 1922” is behind a simple gilt frame that Weston envisioned, making the frame an extension of his painting. In a way, the frame is about guiding the experience of the artwork almost imperceptibly. “It can help tell your story, it can be very allegorical, if you want it to

be,” said Rheytchul Kimmel, master framer and owner of Lumiere Photo. “It completes part of the messaging.” Norwood jokingly calls frames that contrast or interfere with the work they surround “cringe frames.” She said the museum still has a few of them, but that they are slowly being weeded out thanks to the generosity of donors and other benefactors. Among Norwood’s “cringe frames” at the Memorial Art Gallery is one that she adores — a highly-decorative gilded frame with elaborate swirls in the corners that holds a pastoral landscape by 19thcentury French painter Charles François Daubigny titled “Near Andrésy.” “The frame is fantastic, it’s absolutely gorgeous, and it has nothing to do with the painting,” Norwood said. When the museum had Mitchell do a mockup of what was planned for the van de Cappelle, it requested a mockup for Daubigny’s work to put on its wish list. Norwood called the demonstration frame “transformative.” Its price tag: $11,000. “I love this frame, it’s a beautiful work of art,” she said of the “cringe frame” currently on the piece. “But when you think of a frame and a painting as a sort of marriage, you want it to be complementary.” Additional reporting by Rebecca Rafferty. roccitynews.com CITY 23

VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS CALENDAR For up-to-date information on protocols, vaccination and mask requirements, and performance cancellations, consult the websites of individual venues.

[ OPENING ] ART EXHIBITS Flower City Arts Center, 713 Monroe Ave. Wall-to-Wall: 2022

CALL FOR ARTISTS

DANCE EVENTS

Members Exhibition. March 4-April 23. Reception Mar 4, 6-9pm. flowercityarts.org.

6x6x2022. Through April 12. Rochester Contemporary Art Center, 137 East Ave. 461-2222. roco6x6.org.

Carmen. Fri., March 4, 8 p.m., Sat., March 5, 8 p.m. and Sun., March 6, 2 p.m. Theater at Innovation Square, 131 Chestnut St., & Fri., March 11, 7:30 p.m., Sat., March 12, 7:30 p.m. and Sun., March 13, 2 p.m. Fort Hill Performing Arts Center, 20 Fort Hill Ave . Canandaigua $25 & up. rochestercityballet.org. DANCE/Strasser. March 31-April 2, 7:30 p.m. Rose L. Strasser Studio, Hartwell Hall, Kenyon St Brockport $9/$17. 395-2787. Riverdance. Thu., March 31, 7:30 p.m., Fri., April 1, 8 p.m. and Sat., April 2, 2 & 8 p.m. Auditorium Theatre, 885 E. Main St. $40-$75. rbtl.org. ROCeltic. Fri., March 11, 12:15 p.m. Cobblestone Arts Center, 1622 NY 332 398-0220.

We Want Your Comics & Zines!.

Geisel Gallery, Legacy Tower 2nd Floor Rotunda, One Bausch & Lomb Place.

Through April 30, noon. Central Library, 115 South Ave. Central Library is seeking self-published zines for the Library’s Zine Collection in the Arts Division 428-8380.

Eva M Capobianco: Exploring the Trail. Through Apr 29. Reception Mar 10, 5-7pm. thegeiselgallery.com.

Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Ave. 276-8900. Up Against the Wall: Art, Activism, & the AIDS Poster. March 6-June 19.

Mercer Gallery, MCC, 1000 E. Henrietta Rd. Judy Gohringer: Paths & Portages. March 3-April 1. Reception Mar 3, 5-7pm. 292-2021.

Rochester Contemporary Art Center, 137 East Ave. The Warp & Weft [Face to Face] | On The Shoulders Of Giants by Ya’qub Shabazz. April 1-May 7. $2. 461-2222.

[ CONTINUING ] ART EXHIBITS Arts Center of Yates County, 127 Main St. Penn Yan. Pastel Society of Western New York. Through March 26. (315) 536-8226.

Cobblestone Arts Center, 1622 NY 332. Jason Dorofy. Through April 11. Reception Mar 4, 5-7pm. 398-0220.

Genesee Valley Council on the Arts, 4 Murray Hill Dr. Mt. Morris. Finding Common Ground: An Encaustic Exhibition. Through Mar 26. gvcarts.org.

Geneva History Museum, 543 S Main St. Geneva. Geneva Innovators (to Apr 30) | Historic Scrapbooks: Gluing the Past Together (to Jun 25). Through June 25. $5. (315) 789-5151.

George Eastman Museum, 900 East Ave. eastman.org. Dutch Connection (to Mar 6) | Digitized Films from the Collection: Two-color Kodachrome (to Mar 27); James Tylor: From an Untouched Landscape (to Jun 5); Joshua Rashaad McFadden: I Believe I’ll Run On (to Jun 19). $7-$18.

Image City Photography Gallery, 722 University Ave. Red. Through March 20. 271-2540.

INeRT PReSS, 1115 East Main St. Illustrations by Frederick Richardson. Through March 31. Selected prints from the online exhibit. inertpress.com.

International Art Acquisitions, 3300 Monroe Ave. Kaoru Mansour: Hikari to Shokubutsu. Through March 31. 2641440. Joy Gallery, 498 1/2 W Main St. Rising through the Pandemic. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Through Mar 26. 436-5230.

Main Street Arts, 20 W Main St. Clifton Springs. Jennifer Hecker & Juan Perdiguero: Relics of the Here and Now. Through April 7. mainstreetartscs.org. 24 CITY MARCH 2022

Want to see your event in our calendar? Visit roccitynews.com and click on the calendar tab or email calendar@rochestercitynews.com Submit your events by the 15th of each month for consideration for our print edition.

Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Ave. 276-8900. Chitra Ganesh: Sultana’s Dream (to Jun 5); Sky Hopinka: Memories of Movement (to Jul 17); SALUT: Dawgs | Kota Ezawa: National Anthem (to Aug). $6-$15.

Nu Movement, 716 University Ave. Valerie Berner: Here. Through April 2. 704-2889.

Ontario County Historical Society Museum, 55 N. Main St., Canandaigua. Our Family Companions: The History of Pets in Ontario County. Through April 30. ocarts.org.

RIT Bevier Gallery, 90 Lomb Memorial Dr., Booth Bldg 7A. Anna Ballarian Visiting Artist Series. Through March 9. Fall 2021/Spring 2022: Letha Wilson. 475-2646. RIT City Art Space, 280 East Main St. The Heart, Not The Eye. Through March 12. RIT Photojournalism capstone exhibition. cityartspace.rit.edu.

ART EVENTS 5th Annual Anthony Mascioli Rainbow Dialogues. Sat., March 19, 9 a.m.5 p.m. Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Ave. 276-8900 The AIDS Crisis in Rochester: A Community Responds. Backyards Sale. Second Saturday of every month, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Java’s Roasting Room, 65 Pennsylvania Ave theyardsrochester.com. First Friday. First Friday of every month, 5-9 p.m. Various, Rochester firstfridayrochester.org. Handcrafted Hungerford. Second Saturday of every month, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The Hungerford, 1115 E Main St. hungerfordevents.com. Open Studios. Second Saturday of every month, 6-9 p.m. Anderson Arts Building, 250 N. Goodman St. andersonalleyartists.com.

RIT Level Up Virtual: Deaf Art Collections. Wed., March 9, 4 p.m. Online, . rit.edu/events/level-virtualdeaf-art-collections.

COMEDY The Calamari Sisters: Divas for Dinner. Sat., March 26, 4:30 & 8 p.m. JCC of Greater Rochester, 1200 Edgewood Ave $55,$65. 421-2000.

Half Time: Dario Joseph & Sara Shipley.

Out & Play | 40/40 Vision. Through March 12, 6-9 p.m. $2. 461-2222.

Sat., March 5, 8 p.m. Comedy @ the Carlson, 50 Carlson Rd $15. 4266339. Hasan Minhaj. Sat., March 5, 7:30 p.m. Kodak Center, 200 W. Ridge Rd. $45 & up. kodakcenter.com/events. Jeff Garlin. April 1-2, 7 & 9:30 p.m. Comedy @ the Carlson, 50 Carlson Rd $25. 426-6339. Michael Ian Black. Thu., March 24, 7:30 p.m. and March 25-26, 7 & 9:30 p.m. Comedy @ the Carlson, 50 Carlson Rd $25. 426-6339.

Visual Studies Workshop, 31 Prince St. vsw.org. Project Space Artist

Mrs. Kasha Davis, Ambrosia Salad & Darienne Lake: Erin Go Braless. Thu.,

ROC Dome Arena, 2695 E Henrietta Rd. Henrietta. Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience. Through March 20. $24 & up. vangoghrochester.com.

Rochester Contemporary Art Center, 137 East Ave. A Change is Coming | Come

Residency. Through Sep. 4. Mar 16Apr 17: Samantha Box.

FILM Little Theatre, 240 East Ave. Beyond the Fold: Journalism on Screen. Second Thursday of every month, 7 p.m. Mar 10: “Good Night, and Good Luck” (2005). $7-$12. thelittle.org/ beyond-the-fold.

March 17, noon. Comedy @ the Carlson, 50 Carlson Rd $20. 4266339. Polite Ink: Cloud Nine. Sat., April 2, 7:30 p.m. MuCCC, 142 Atlantic Ave $8-$15. muccc.org. Shuli Egar. Thu., March 10, 7:30 p.m. and March 11-15, 7 & 9 p.m. Comedy @ the Carlson, 50 Carlson Rd $12$18. 426-6339.

THEATER Cirque International. Sat., March 5, 7 p.m. Smith Opera House, 82 Seneca St. Geneva $29/$39. thesmith.org. Company. March 3-4, 7:30 p.m. and Sat., March 5, 2 & 7:30 p.m. OFC Creations Theater Center, 3450 Winton Pl $36.50 & up. ofccreations.com. Firewater. March 24-26, 7:30 p.m. MuCCC, 142 Atlantic Ave Nickel Flour $10-$20. muccc.org. Forbidden Broadway’s Greatest Hits. Fri., March 25, 7:30 p.m., Sat., March 26, 2 & 7:30 p.m. and Sun., March 27, 2 p.m. OFC Creations Theater Center, 3450 Winton Pl $25/$35. ofccreations.com. How to Catch Creation. TuesdaysSundays Geva Theatre, 75 Woodbury Blvd Feb 22-Mar 20 $25+. gevatheatre.org. Mass Appeal. March 17-19, 7:30 p.m. and Sun., March 20, 2 p.m. MuCCC, 142 Atlantic Ave Hummingbird Theater Co $15/$20. muccc.org. Men On Boats. Fri., March 25, 7:30 p.m., Sat., March 26, 2 & 7:30 p.m. and Sun., March 27, 2 p.m. Webb Auditorium, James E. Booth Hall, RIT Campus, Lomb Memorial Dr . Rent. March 7-8, 7:30 p.m. Auditorium Theatre, 885 E. Main St. $33-$78. rbtl. org.

Somewhere Over the Border. Tuesdays-Sundays Geva Theatre, 75 Woodbury Blvd Mar 30-May 1 $25+. gevatheatre.org. Surely Goodness and Mercy. ThursdaysSundays Blackfriars Theatre, 795 E. Main St Mar 18-Apr 3 $30.50-$36-50. 454-1260. Tracy Jones. Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays JCC Hart Theatre, 1200 Edgewood Ave. Mar 5-20. Live captioned Mar 20, 2pm $30/$35. 4612000.

INSIDE WXXI PUBLIC MEDIA | WXXI-TV PBS AM 1370/FM 107.5 NPR l WXXI CLASSICAL WRUR-FM 88.5 l THE LITTLE THEATRE

The Rolling Stones: A Bigger Band Live on Copacabana Beach Monday, March 7 at 10 p.m. on WXXI-TV On February 18, 2006, The Rolling Stones performed from Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro to an audience of 1.5 million people. It proved to be one of the biggest free concerts ever and a critical moment in Rock and Roll history. Photo: Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, and Charlie Watts Courtesy of ©️ 2021 Promotone BV

Tower of Power: 50 Years of Funk and Soul Thursday, March 10 at 8 p.m. on WXXI-TV Groove to the signature sounds of the iconic soul-funk-R&B band, still playing to “Souled Out” crowds as they tour the world. From their 1970 record East Bay Grease to today, five decades later, the band has provided the soundtrack for generations. When you tune in, you’ll learn more about their April 13th performance at Kodak Center. Credit: Courtesy of Brian Rachlin

Enjoy these music specials in March! Mumford & Sons Live from South Africa: Dust and Thunder Saturday, March 26 at 11 p.m. on WXXI-TV Filmed in 2016 before an adoring audience of die-hard fans in South Africa, this special captures the group in their prime and gets to the very heart of what makes the British folk-rock band such a great act. Photo: Singer/guitarist/drummer Marcus Mumford | Credit: ©️ David East

Waylon Jennings The Outlaw Performance Friday, March 11 at 10 p.m. on WXXI-TV At the pinnacle of the outlaw movement in country music, Waylon Jennings gave an exclusive performance in Nashville. This 1978 concert, featuring a 16-song set that combines with Jennings’ own words about his life and music, was taped but never released for broadcast. Photo: Waylon Jennings | Provided by APT

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WXXI TV • THIS MONTH

Jamie Oliver Together Born to Riverdance Friday, March 4 at 8:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV Enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to be a part of one of the most successful dance productions in the world. When you tune in you’ll learn more about their upcoming performance at the Auditorium Theatre March 31 and how you can get tickets!

Saturdays at 1 p.m., beginning March 19 on WXXI-TV At a time when the dining table is the new restaurant and we increasingly spend more time with friends and family, chef Jamie Oliver is taking home-cooking to the next level. This four-part series is the ultimate guide to bringing people together over delicious and achievable food. Photo: James and his family | Provided by APT

Photo: Dancers practicing | Provided by APT

Midsomer Murders, Season 20 art/WORK Tuesday, March 8 at 8 p.m. on WXXI-TV WXXI-TV brings you this digital series from CITY that spotlights those working in the arts sector in Rochester. Hosted by CITY’s life editor Rebecca Rafferty, this season explores the role of the curator. Curators of visual art, seasons of theater, film festivals, and musical performances discuss what it takes to do what they do. Photo: On location at the Bug Jar Credit: Katie Epner 26 CITY MARCH 2022

Thursdays at 8:30 p.m., beginning March 17 Entering its 20th season, this series is arguably Britain’s bestselling TV drama export. The classic whodunit drama series centers on Inspector Barnaby, who is kept very busy investigating murders despite the apparent idyllic nature of the county. Fans of this series won’t want to miss 20 Things to Do in Midsomer Before You Die, airing Thursday, March 3 at 8:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV. The special features stars past and present discussing the peculiar quirks of the delightful yet deadly Midsomer county. Photo: Neil Budgeon as DCI Barnaby and Nick Hendrix as DS Jamie Winter Provided by APT

Carol Burnett: A Celebration Sunday, March 6 at 8:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV Enjoy classic clips, laugh-out-loud moments, and memorable stories from comedian, actress, and sketch/ variety performer Carol Burnett’s legendary career in this special.

Women and the Vote Tuesday, March 1 at 8 p.m. on WXXI-TV This film by Rochester-based filmmaker Linda Moroney visits the gravesites of several suffragists at five cemeteries across New York State on Election Day 2020. The mosaic-style documentary looks at the past 100 years of women’s political equality, the present moment, and the possibilities for the future. Repeats 3/20 at 7 p.m.

Photo: Carol Burnett Provided by APT

2022

Women’s History Month

Homeward Bound: The Lives of Women Composers Tuesday, March 8 at 3 p.m. on WXXI Classical Enjoy this hour-long radio special dedicated to the lives of women composers from the 17th century through the present day with a focus on their personal lives, their struggles, and what they devoted their lives to beyond music.

In honor of Women’s History Month, WXXI celebrates the accomplishments and contributions of women with documentaries and stories that spotlight women’s experiences in history. For more programs, visit WXXI.org/wh.

Josephine Baker: The Story of an Awakening Monday, March 14 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV Josephine Baker was born into poverty in Missouri in 1906. She moved to France where she became a dancer hailed as the Queen of Paris, joined the French Resistance, and became a civil rights activist. Repeats 3/20 at Midnight. Photo: Josephine Baker Credit: Murray Korman/Bryan Hammond Collection

Pioneers in Skirts Perfect 36: When Women Won the Vote Sunday, March 20 at 3:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV In July of 1920, all eyes were on the Tennessee capital as anti- and pro-suffragists each fought for their vision of a socially evolving United States. This film chronicles the dramatic vote to ratify this amendment and the years of debate about women’s suffrage that preceded it. Picture: In 1936, Mrs. Anne Dudley Dallas led a march from the Tennessee capital to Centennial Park. Credit: Pretzel Pictures

Monday, March 28 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV This film tells the inspiring story of young women with pioneering ambitions — and the obstacles that get in their way. Follow the experiences of these women as they take action to overcome biases and setbacks for today’s woman and the next. #BEaPioneer roccitynews.com CITY 27

TURN TO WXXI CLASSICAL FOR MUSIC PERFECTLY TUNED TO YOUR DAY

Best of the BSO 2021 Tuesdays at 8 p.m., beginning March 15 on WXXI Classical Host Brian Bell presents Grammy-winning recordings of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra Pops, by current Music Director Andris Nelson, along with predecessors Seiji Ozawa, Charles Munch, and Arthur Fiedler among others, going back decades to the legendary Serge Koussevitzky.

The Envelope Please: A Brief History of Oscar Winning Film Music Friday, March 25 at 3 p.m. on WXXI Classical Host Lynne Warfel guides you through an hour of classic movie scores from Academy Award-winning films past and present.

Support public media. Become a WXXI Member! Live from Hochstein Wednesdays at 12:10 p.m., beginning March 23 on WXXI Classical Hosted by WXXI Classical’s Mona Seghatoleslami, Live from Hochstein broadcasts live from the Hochstein Performance Hall (50 North Plymouth Ave. in Rochester). Open to the public and free to attend, the lunchtime series features performances by some of the finest artists from the Rochester area’s musical community. The series repeats at 10 p.m. the day of the concert. Performances in March include: • 3/23 Nazareth Women Composer Festival – Works of Rebecca Clarke, Libby Larsen & Joan Tower • 3/30 Music of Franz Danzi and Amanda Harberg with the Antara Winds Photo: Host Mona Seghatoleslami Credit: Aaron Winters 28 CITY MARCH 2022

Whether it’s television, radio, online, or on screen, WXXI is there with the programs, news, and information — where you want it and when you want it. If you value PBS, NPR, PBS Kids, WXXI News, WXXI Classical, and so much more, consider becoming a member. Visit WXXI.org/support to choose the membership that works for you. There are many giving levels with their own special benefits, including becoming a sustaining member.

AM 1370, YOUR NPR NEWS STATION + WRUR-FM 88.5, DIFFERENT RADIO Fresh Air with Terry Gross Weeknights at 7 p.m. on AM 1370 Fresh Air opens the window on contemporary arts and issues with guests from worlds as diverse as literature and economics. Host Terry Gross’ extraordinary ability to engage guests of all dispositions makes this award-winning show one you won’t want to miss. Photo Credit: Dan Burke

Witness: Women’s History Month Sunday, March 6 at 9 p.m. on AM 1370/FM 107.5 Selected from the BBC’s Witness History program, we hear moving, inspiring, and even outrageous stories about a few of the most important women in living memory. Segments include: How women in the North of England took to the streets in the late 1970s to protest against a serial killer; Sandra Day O’Connor: America’s first female Supreme Court justice, China’s ‘Kingdom of Women;’ ‘Jane’ The underground abortion network; American writer, Ursula Le Guin; and Dr. Ruth Westheimer: The woman who got America talking about sex.

Do you have what it takes to perform at the Tiny Desk? NPR Music wants to hear from you!

The Tiny Desk Contest is back for its eighth year, welcoming submissions from unsigned artists across the country. Here’s what you do:

Rhythm Lab Radio Sundays at 7 p.m. on WRUR-FM WRUR is pleased to add Rhythm Lab Radio to its schedule. Hosted by Tarik Moody (pictured) from 88Nine Radio Milwaukee, the program redefines the urban sound with a mix of jazz, electronic, hip-hop, and soul music. Each week, Tarik introduces you to new artists that are testing boundaries and making music that does not fit neatly into a single box.

1. Create a new video that shows you playing one song you’ve written. 2. Do it the way you’d perform a Tiny Desk concert: at a desk (any desk!). 3. Upload your video to YouTube. 4. Fill out NPR’s entry form before 11:59 p.m. on March 14. You’ll find the entry form, more details, and the official rules at: tinydeskcontest.npr.org. #TinyDeskContest

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Abilene On The Road and The Little Concert Series presents Jill Sobule

Beyond the Fold: Journalism on Screen

GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK 7 p.m. Thursday, March 10

Wednesday, March 16th at 7:30 p.m. Tickets at thelittle.org Jill Sobule’s work is at once deeply personal and socially conscious, seriously funny and derisively tragic. In a dozen albums spanning three decades of recording, the Denver-born songwriter/guitarist/ singer has tackled such topics as the death penalty, anorexia nervosa, shoplifting, reproduction, the French Resistance, adolescent malaise, LGBTQ issues, and the Christian Right. Her hits include “I Kissed A Girl”—the first openly gay-themed song ever to crack the Billboard Top 20—and the alt-rock anthem “Supermodel” featured in the film “Clueless”.

NEW MOVIES:

MARCH EDITION! @

30 CITY MARCH 2022

When Senator Joseph McCarthy begins his foolhardy campaign to root out Communists in America, CBS News impresario Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) dedicates himself to exposing the atrocities being committed by McCarthy’s Senate “investigation.” Murrow is supported by a news team that includes long-time friend and producer Fred Friendly (George Clooney). The CBS team does its best to point out the senator’s lies and excesses, despite pressure from CBS’ corporate sponsors to desist. TALKBACK: What level of responsibility does the media have to criticize and be the voice of dissent from government policy? “Beyond the Fold: Journalism on Screen”—a six-part film series collaboration between CITY and The Little Theatre—looks at where journalism has been, where it is, and where it’s going through the lens of some of the most memorable movies about the craft.

Purchase tickets at thelittle.org

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Drive My Car (2022 Oscar nominee)

Wild adventure. The multi-verse. Googly eyes. Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels, the film is a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action-adventure about an exhausted Chinese American woman (Michelle Yeoh) who can’t seem to finish her taxes.

Adapted from Haruki Murakami’s short story, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car is a haunting road movie traveling a path of love, loss, acceptance, and peace. Winner of three prizes at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, including Best Screenplay.

The Worst Person in the World (2022 Oscar nominee) The Worst Person in the World is a modern dramedy about the quest for love and meaning in contemporary Oslo.

The Batman In his second year of fighting crime, Batman uncovers corruption in Gotham City that connects to his own family while facing a serial killer known as the Riddler.

For tickets & more showtimes, visit thelittle.org

MUSIC CALENDAR For up-to-date information on protocols, vaccination and mask requirements, and performance cancellations, consult the websites of individual venues.

ACOUSTIC/FOLK

Burns & Kristy. Cafe Veritas at First Unitarian Church, 220 S Winton Rd. cafeveritas.org. Sat., April 2, 7:30 p.m. $20. Davey O. Little Cafe, 240 East Ave. 2580400. Wed., March 30, 6:30 p.m. Jackson Cavalier. Little Cafe, 240 East Ave. 258-0400. Wed., March 23, 6:30 p.m. Jill Sobule. Little Theatre, 240 East Ave. thelittle.org. Wed., March 16, 7:30 p.m. $25/$30. Kinloch Nelson. Little Cafe, 240 East Ave. 258-0400. Wed., March 16, 6:30 p.m. Mad Agnes. Rochester Christian Reformed Church, 2750 Atlantic Ave. Penfield. Fri., March 11, 7:30 p.m. $5$25. Rosa Boemia. Little Cafe, 240 East Ave. 258-0400. Sun., March 27, 6:30 p.m. Tracy Grammer, Grace Conheady. Cafe Veritas at First Unitarian Church, 220 S Winton Rd. cafeveritas.org. Sat., March 5, 7:30 p.m. $20. Women Roc: Celebrating Women in Music. Lovin’ Cup, 300 Park Point Dr. lovincup.com. Sat., March 19, 7 p.m. $10.

AMERICANA

Grand Canyon Rescue Episode. Abilene, 153 Liberty Pole Way. 232-3230. Sat., March 19, 8 p.m. $10. JAVA. Little Cafe, 240 East Ave. 2580400. Fri., March 11, 6:30 p.m. The PV Nunes Band. Little Cafe, 240 East Ave. 258-0400. Thu., March 10, 6:30 p.m.

BLUES

Clarence Spady Band. Fanatics, 7281 W Main St. Lima. fanaticspub.com. Sat., March 12, 7 p.m. $20/$25. Mississippi Heat. Fanatics, 7281 W Main St. Lima. fanaticspub.com. Tue., March 29, 7 p.m. $20/$25. Popa Chubby. Fanatics, 7281 W Main St. Lima. fanaticspub.com. March 21-22, 7 p.m. $30/$35. Sonny Landreth & Cindy Cashdollar. JCC Hart Theatre, 1200 Edgewood Ave. 4612000. Fri., March 18, 7:30 p.m. $35/$40.

CLASSICAL

Anna Maxwell, harp. Nazareth College

Wilmot Recital Hall, 4245 East Avenue. 389-2700. Fri., March 11, 7:30 p.m. Bach Cantatas. Glory House International, 111 N Chestnut St. Sun., March 20, 3 p.m. Brass Quintet Jukebox, Wilmot Brass. Nazareth College Wilmot Recital Hall, 4245 East Avenue. 389-2700. Sun., April 3, 5 p.m. Eastman Piano Series. Kilbourn Hall, 26 Gibbs St. 274-3000. Fri., March 4, 7:30 p.m. and Thu., March 31, 7:30 p.m. Mar 4: Seong-Jin Cho; Mar 31: Eric Lu. $23 & up. Eastman-Ranlet Series. Kilbourn Hall, 26 Gibbs St. 274-3000. Sun., March 27, 3 p.m. Aizuri Quartet. $29-$43.

Eastman@Washington Square. First

Universalist Church of Rochester, 150 Clinton Ave S. Thursdays, 12:15-12:45 p.m. Mar 3, 10, 17, & 31. Faculty Artist Series. Kilbourn Hall, 26 Gibbs St. 274-3000. Sat., March 19, 7:30 p.m. and Sat., March 26, 7:30 p.m. Mar 19: Eastman Virtuosi; Mar 26: George Taylor, viola. $10. Going for Baroque. Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Ave. 276-8900. Sundays, 1:30 & 3 p.m. W/ museum admission: $6-$15. If Music be the Food. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 25 Westminster Rd. 271-2240. Sun., April 3, 7:30 p.m. Reginald Mobley, countertenor. Downtown United Presbyterian Church, 121 N. Fitzhugh St. pegasusearlymusic. org. Sun., March 27, 4 p.m. $25. Schola Cantorum: Compline. Christ Church, 141 East Ave. 454-3878. Sundays, 9 p.m. Candlelight concert every first Sunday at 8:30pm. Spotlight on Faculty. Hochstein Performance Hall, 50 N Plymouth Ave. Fri., March 4, 7 p.m. and Fri., April 1, 7 p.m. Coming Home: A Journey. $10. Women in Music. Nazareth College Glazer Music Performance Center, 4245 East Ave. 389-2700. Sun., March 6, 3 p.m. Works by Rebecca Clarke , Margaret Bonds, Amy Beach, Joan Towers, Chen Yi, & more.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL

Composers’ Concert. Kilbourn Hall, 26 Gibbs St. 274-3000. Tue., March 22, 12:30 p.m.

Heavy: Music with Bite with fivebyfive.

ARTISANworks, 565 Blossom Rd. fivebyfivemusic.com. Sun., March 20, 4 p.m. $15/$18.

COUNTRY

Ezra Furman, Katy J Pearson. Bug Jar, 219 Monroe Ave. bugjar.com. Mon., March 7, 8:30 p.m. $15/$17.

DJ/ELECTRONIC

Black Tiger Sex Machine, Kain Wachi, Vampa, Hairtage. Anthology, 336 East

Ave. 484-1964. Wed., March 30, 8 p.m. $26. Bonobo, Jordan Rakei. Anthology, 336 East Ave. 484-1964. Fri., March 4, 9 p.m. $32.50. Signal > Noise: Move D, Joe B. Photo City Music Hall, 543 Atlantic Ave. 4510047. Sat., March 19, 10 p.m.

JAZZ

AfroHORN. Lovin’ Cup, 300 Park Point Dr.

lovincup.com. Thu., March 24, 8 p.m. $25/$30. Bob Holz & A Vision Forward. 75 Stutson, 75 Stutson St. 75stutsonstreet. com. Fri., March 4, 8 p.m. $15. Bob Sneider Trio. Little Cafe, 240 East Ave. 258-0400. Fri., March 18, 6:30 p.m. Dean Keller’s Soul Jazz Joint. Little Cafe, 240 East Ave. 258-0400. Thu., March 24, 6:30 p.m. CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

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MUSIC CALENDAR

Diana Krall. Auditorium Theatre, 885 E. Main St. rbtl.org. Wed., March 30, 7:30 p.m. $35+. Greece Jazz Band. Greece Baptist Church, 1230 Long Pond Rd. jazz901. org/events. Thu., March 10, 7 p.m. Hassan Zaman. Little Cafe, 240 East Ave. 258-0400. Fri., March 4, 6:30 p.m. Laura Dubin Trio. Tower Fine Arts Center, 180 Holley St. Brockport. 395-2787. Fri., March 11, 7:30 p.m. $9/$17. Monday Night Jazz. UUU Art Collective, 153 State St. 434-2223. 8pm; Late-night sessions: 10:30pm. $5. The Rich Thompson Trio. Little Cafe, 240 East Ave. 258-0400. Sun., March 20, 6:30 p.m. The White Hots. Little Cafe, 240 East Ave. 258-0400. Fri., March 25, 6:30 p.m.

JAM BAND

Mochester, Rockstead, Briana Horton.

Water Street Music Hall, 204 N. Water St. waterstreet2020.com. Thu., March 10, 7 p.m. $10. Organ Fairchild. Abilene, 153 Liberty Pole Way. 232-3230. Sat., March 26, 8 p.m.

METAL

Attack Attack!, Conquer Divide, Until I Wake, Across The White Water Tower.

Montage Music Hall, 50 Chestnut St. 2321520. Wed., March 30, 6 p.m. $20/$25.

Defeated Sanity, Skeletal Remains, Vitriol, Splattered. Montage Music Hall,

50 Chestnut St. 232-1520. Sat., March 12, 6 p.m. $17/$20. Judas Priestess. Montage Music Hall, 50 Chestnut St. 232-1520. Fri., March 18, 8 p.m. $17/$20.

Killswitch Engage, August Burns Red, Light The Torch. Main Street Armory, 900

E. Main St. 232-3221. Fri., March 11, 7 p.m. $38.

Polariss, Like Moths to Flames, Alpha Wolf, Invent Animate, Destroy//Create.

Sasami. Bug Jar, 219 Monroe Ave. bugjar. Schaffer The Darklord, LEX the Lexicon Artist. Bug Jar, 219 Monroe Ave. bugjar. com. Thu., March 24, 8 p.m. $10/$13.

Stick Men. Lovin’ Cup, 300 Park Point Dr. lovincup.com. March 31-April 1, 8 p.m.

The Wonder Years, Spanish Love Songs, Origami Angel, Save Face. Anthology,

336 East Ave. 484-1964. Thu., March 17, 7 p.m. $27.50.

PUNK/HARDCORE

Sedai, Cult Fiction, Only Shallow, Agitated Earth. Bug Jar, 219 Monroe

258-0400. Thu., March 31, 6:30 p.m.

Street Armory, 900 E. Main St. 232-3221. Mon., March 14, 7 p.m. $35. Junk Yard Field Trip. Fairport Brewing Co., 1044 University Ave. 481-2237. Fri., March 11, 8:30 p.m. $10. Korn, Chevelle, Code Orange. Blue Cross Arena, One War Memorial Sq. bluecrossarena.com. Tue., March 22, 6:30 p.m. $25 & up.

The Revelators, Fuzzrod, The Stone Lows. Bug Jar, 219 Monroe Ave. bugjar.

com. Sat., March 12, 9 p.m. $10/$12. Sam Nitsch. Little Cafe, 240 East Ave. 258-0400. Sun., March 13, 6:30 p.m. Sammy Rae & The Friends. Water Street Music Hall, 204 N. Water St. waterstreet2020.com. Wed., March 9, 6 p.m. $20/$25. 32 CITY MARCH 2022

Square, 131 Chestnut St. rochesterjazz. com. Tue., March 15, 7:30 p.m. $30/$35. Judy! A Song is Born. The Cabaret at Studio B, 28 B West Bank St. Albion. 354-2320. annsings.com. Sun., March 20, 2 p.m. $18. Taurus Savant. Little Cafe, 240 East Ave. 258-0400. Sat., March 12, 6:30 p.m.

Barn Salt. Iron Smoke Distillery, 111

Parce Ave Suite 5b. Fairport. 388-7584. Thu., March 17, 7 p.m. $5. Celtic Thunder. Kodak Center, 200 W. Ridge Rd. kodakcenter.com/events. Sat., March 12, 8 p.m. $33.50 & up. Cherish the Ladies. Smith Opera House, 82 Seneca St. Geneva. thesmith.org. Fri., March 18, 8 p.m. $22.50/$40.50. Irish Music Sing Along. Barry’s Old School Irish, 2 W. Main St. Webster. 5454258. Fri., March 11, 7 p.m. Sisters Of Murphy. Three Heads Brewing, 186 Atlantic Ave. 244-1224. Mar 11, 8pm

WORLD

Barbara B Smith World Music Series. Eastman School of Music, 26 Gibbs St. Tue., March 22, 7:30 p.m. Mar 22, Hatch Hall: Okaidja Afroso. $15-$25.

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Coheed & Cambria, Sheer Mag. Main

Catherine Russell. Theater at Innovation

SEASONAL

NOISE/EXPERIMENTAL

Alex Goettel. Little Cafe, 240 East Ave.

VOCALS

Ave. bugjar.com. Fri., March 4, 8 p.m. $10/$12.

POP/ROCK

Live Happy Hour. Wednesdays, 6 p.m. Record Archive, 33 1/3 Rockwood St. Mar 9: Hey Mabel, Mar 16: JunkYardFieldTrip, Mar 23: The Cool Club & & The Lipker Sisters, Mar 30: Jerry Falzone & Liars Moon 244-1210. Women in Music Festival. March 21-25. Eastman School of Music, 26 Gibbs St esm.rochester.edu/wmf.

Chestnut St. 232-1520. Tue., March 15, 8 p.m. $20.

Abilene, 153 Liberty Pole Way. 232-3230. Fri., March 25, 9:15 p.m. $5.

VARIOUS

Summer Salt, Renata Zeiguer, Kate Stephenson. Montage Music Hall, 50

Montage Music Hall, 50 Chestnut St. 2321520. Thu., March 31, 6:30 p.m. $18.

Nod, Will Veeder, Beastview Mall.

Tempest. Lovin’ Cup, 300 Park Point Dr. lovincup.com. Wed., March 30, 7 p.m. $25. The Town Pants. Smith Opera House, 82 Seneca St. Geneva. thesmith.org. Sat., March 12, 8 p.m. $20.

com. Sun., March 6, 9 p.m. $12/$14.

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ARTS

IRISH EYES

Traditional Irish musicians gather on Monday nights at Carroll's Restaurant and Bar. Pictured: John Michael Ryan on the button accordion, Sean Rosenberry on the bodhrán, Mick McQuaid on the flute, and Jenifer Hopkins on the concertina. PHOTO BY MATT BURKHARTT

WHERE THE JIG IS NEVER UP For devotees of Rochester’s traditional Irish music scene, preserving heritage is more than a once-a-year beer-soaked bar hop. BY DANIEL J. KUSHNER

he banjo player and the tin whistler in the corner of Barry’s Old School Irish, a cozy pub on Main Street in Webster with forest green walls and tartanupholstered bar stools, were in the middle of a lively session before a good crowd on a recent blustery Saturday afternoon. Then someone brought up the 34 CITY MARCH 2022

@DANIELJKUSHNER

DKUSHNER@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM

looming St. Patrick’s Day holiday, and the musicians could not contain their contempt. Peri Malone on the tin whistle was annoyed at the annual pageantry of her Irish heritage being reduced to what she called “shamrocks and beer.” The leader of the session, Sean Rosenberry on the banjo, echoed the sentiment.

“It’s a bit frustrating to see this rich, nuanced culture reduced to a stereotype,” Rosenberry said. For them and other devotees of the traditional Irish music scene around Rochester, promoting Irish culture is more than a once-a-year beer-soaked bar hop. Sessions, as the routine gatherings of musicians are known, are a means of preserving

Irish identity. Their music and everything it represents — a wordless communication between a people who have endured war, famine, economic ruin, and waves of emigration — date back to the Gaelic communities of the Emerald Isle some 2,000 years ago. Sessions are the essence of

Ted McGraw, 84, organized the first traditional Irish music sessions in Rochester and is considered the godfather of the scene. PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH

traditional Irish music. They can vary in size and quality, but they tend to hew to the same design. Musicians, usually anchored by a leader, gather at whatever tavern will have them, unpack their instruments, and play. Sometimes a pair of musicians show up. Sometimes five or more. They show up at places like Johnny’s Irish Pub on Culver Road, which hosts two sessions on the last Sunday of the month, and Charlotte Tavern on River Road for the “Tuesday Tunes” session. The gatherings are more art form than gig. Their players are not there to perform, but rather to create jigs and reels in the aural tradition, without the aid of sheet music. It is perhaps why so many Irish musicians have an ear for the melody of the tunes they play, but can’t recall their names.

Shawn Casey, a rhythm guitarist on the scene, said that listening has a lot to do with the magic of a session. “The best musicians listen, and they never put in too much,” he said. “They put in what’s needed, and sometimes playing nothing is the best thing you can do.” The music typically consists of a single melody played by fiddles, flutes, accordions, concertinas, or Uilleann pipes (an Irish bagpipe), often with the accompanying rhythm of an Irish drum known as the bodhrán. The tunes are played in simple keys such as A, C, D, or G, and typically consist of 16 to 32 bars. “In terms of melodic content, in terms of chord structures, it’s very user-friendly,” said John Michael Ryan, a self-taught multiinstrumentalist on the scene who

primarily plays the button accordion and concertina. (Ryan is the partner of CITY life editor Rebecca Rafferty.) “It’s pretty easy to pick up.” Ryan, 33, who grew up with three Irish step-dancing siblings, started a weekly Irish music session at the now-closed Sheridan’s Pub on Mount Hope Avenue after returning from a summer spent in Ireland in 2010. Soon afterward, he launched the sessions at Barry’s. “It’s important to know that your ancestors weren’t the stereotype that you see every March,” Ryan said. “They were real people who had their flaws and their good points, like anybody else, but they had real

PHOTO BY MATT BURKHARTT

traditions and real things that they actually engaged with, that aren’t the plastic, leprechaun-y stuff that you see once a year. And it’s important to keep those things around, because if not, all you have is the stereotype.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 36

roccitynews.com CITY 35

Peri Malone plays the tin whistle with session leader Sean Rosenberry on the banjo at Barry’s in Webster. PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH

After returning from a backpacking trip in Ireland in 2010, John Michael Ryan founded several sessions in Rochester and Geneseo. PHOTO BY MATT BURKHARTT

The origins of the Rochester “trad” music scene, as it is known, can be traced to the immigration boom following World War II and the establishment of private clubs by Irish immigrants to promote fellowship and preserve their heritage. When the Harps Club was opened on Buffalo Road in 1959 by the Gaelic Athletic Association, it was riding a revival of traditional Irish music after decades of the sound being cast as backwards “bog music” unfit for modern times. That began to change with the founding of the Comhaltas Ceoltóiri Éireann (or “Society of the Musicians of Ireland”) in 1951. It was not until 1973, though, that the Harps Club would begin hosting sessions. They were launched that year on a monthly basis by button accordion and concertina player Ted McGraw, who today is widely considered the godfather of Rochester’s traditional Irish music scene. The Harp Club sessions later moved to the Friendship Tavern on Lake Avenue, where they became weekly occurrences. McGraw recalled one that included some extreme instrumentation: three hammereddulcimer players, three upright bassists, and 17 fiddlers. “I always welcomed everybody — even bad players,” McGraw said. He and other session musicians 36 CITY MARCH 2022

organized formally in 1986 when they collectively became the Rochester Irish Musicians’ Association, also known as the Tom Finucane Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóiri Éireann. McGraw, now 84, said the quality of melodies set traditional Irish music apart. “When’s the last time you heard a modern tune on the TV or radio that you could pick up a handle and take it along with you?” he said. “There are very few pieces of music you hear these days that have a melody to them.” McGraw played tens of thousands of those melodies over the airwaves during the 43 years he hosted his weekly radio show, “Irish Party House,” on WXXI Public Broadcasting. The show was a Sunday afternoon mainstay for people of Irish heritage, whom McGraw greeted each week with a cheery Gaelic reception of “Cead mile failte,” meaning “A hundred thousand welcomes.” When McGraw retired the show in 2017, fellow Irish musician Dave Halligan remarked to the Democrat and Chronicle that the show kept people of Irish heritage connected. “Once a week, when you were listening to that show, you knew that people from all the different elements of the Irish community were listening at the same time,” Halligan said at

Newcomer Mickey Jordan joins a session at Barry’s Old School Irish. PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH

the time. “Our hearts and souls were together for that one hour.” Halligan, an accordion and flute player, said in a recent interview that sessions serve the same purpose, acting as both a social network and training ground for practitioners and admirers of an ancient Irish tradition.

“I think it’s the music and the interaction, the camaraderie and the friendship between musicians,” Halligan said.“It’s the community of musicians who are connected through their hearts and their spirits, through this music. They share tunes, and they share stories.”

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LIFE

Jennie Schaff took over as CEO of the Farash Foundation at the start of the year. Behind her is a photo of Max and Marian Farash, who founded the charitable organization. PHOTO BY RYAN WILLIAMSON

40 CITY MARCH 2022

PUBLIC LIVES BY JEREMY MOULE

@JFMOULE

JMOULE@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM

JENNIE SCHAFF MOVES ON UP AT FARASH The new Farash Foundation CEO says education is on the agenda.

wo tiny figures in wheelchairs rest on a bookshelf in Jennie Schaff’s office. They were a gift, given to her when she completed her doctorate in education at George Mason University years ago. But now, as she begins her tenure as the chief executive officer of one of the largest private charitable organizations in the region, the Farash Foundation, the figures are a reminder of how she got there. “If you were to ask me what brought me to where I am today, I would say from the very beginning it was working with kids with disabilities,” said Schaff, 49. That’s no understatement. Schaff began volunteering at Al Sigl Center and United Cerebral Palsy while in middle school. In college she studied physical therapy with the intent of working with children with severe disabilities. When she got into the field, she was “blown away” by the assistive technologies available to youngsters, and frustrated by how few people knew how to use them. She enrolled at George Mason to focus on better ways to teach children with disabilities. That eventually led her to Nazareth College, where she was a professor for 13 years and directed programs focused on inclusive and early childhood education. She also carved out a niche teaching her students how to use technology in classrooms. “I loved the duality of being able to teach the teachers, who would then teach students,” Schaff said. She spoke from her seat behind a circular table in her tidy office on the top floor of the Farash Place on East Avenue near Union Street. Three months earlier, her office was on the first floor of the building, where she was the chief executive of Jewish Family Services. There, she oversaw the operation of a food pantry in Brighton as well as initiatives around mental health,

Jennie Schaff’s background in education caught the attention of the Farash Foundation. PHOTO BY RYAN WILLIAMSON

parenting, and senior care. At the Farash Foundation education is again near the top of her agenda. The foundation was established in 1988 by real estate developer Max Farash and his wife, Marian. Tax returns for 2020, the last year for which records were publicly available, show that the foundation had $309 million in investments and gave out roughly $10 million in grants. In accordance with the wishes of Farash, who immigrated to Rochester as a child from a Jewish village in what is now Macedonia and died in 2010 at the age of 95, half of the organization’s annual grants go to Jewish initiatives locally or globally. The other half goes to recipients in Monroe and Ontario counties. The organization provides funding for arts and cultural programs and gave out $5.6 million in pandemic relief grants over the past year. But education has been a key focus of the organization, too. For example, the foundation’s signature education program, the First

in Family scholarship, assists students who are the first in their family to attend college with expenses not covered by financial aid. The organization also provided funding for last year’s launch of the Rochester Education Fellowship, a position independent of the foundation that was developed to study city public and charter schools and create a plan to enhance services to the students that attend them. Daan Braveman, the chair of the Farash Foundation, said board members were drawn to Schaff because of her education background and her grounding in the Jewish community. Schaff replaced Holli Budd, who retired as chief executive officer at the end of 2021 after 10 years at the helm. Braveman was Nazareth College’s president from 2005 through 2020 and his tenure overlapped with Schaff’s for most of her years there. “She was, I think, one of the best professors in the school of ed,” Braveman said. “The students really enjoyed her and learned a lot from her,

and her colleagues respected her.” There’s a well-known concept in Judaism called tikkun olam, which translated from Hebrew means “world repair.” Many Jews interpret tikkun olam as an individual responsibility to make the world a kinder and more just place. The phrase underlies the commitment many Jewish organizations and people, including Schaff, have to social justice and reform. Schaff said her mother modeled the concept for her and ingrained in her children “that we need to find somewhere to volunteer or to do good in this world in conjunction with whatever else we wanted to do.” “Growing up, that was hugely important,” Schaff said. “I believe wholeheartedly that because this was ingrained in me as a child it became super important to me as an adult, and it’s why I’ve done a lot of work throughout my adult life with youth and trying to engage youth in social activism and volunteerism and civic engagement.” Schaff, a married mother of three children and two step-children, took the helm of the Farash Foundation with a 10-year strategic plan developed by her predecessor and the board in hand. She and other foundation officials are now working to better define its priorities, a process she hopes will bring the organization more bang for its buck and make clearer to grantseekers the types of programs it aims to fund. Among them is an initiative meant to help more teachers, particularly teachers of color, prepare for a career in education, with an emphasis on teaching in the city. As part of those efforts, the foundation recently invited proposals for a new round of grants, this time stressing teacher retention. “Now is an opportunity for the foundation to look inward and try to determine where it is that we can be either more specific or target our dollars,” Schaff said.

roccitynews.com CITY 41

LIFE

IRISH HELLO

A traditional Irish breakfast spread is a hearty, heavy meal that will last you all day, and includes some ingredients that are nearly impossible to find in Rochester. Mulconry’s Irish Pub and Restaurant offers the complete platter every Sunday. PHOTO BY RYAN WILLIAMSON

THERE WILL BE BLOOD — AND THAT’S NOT A BAD THING When it comes to Irish breakfasts, Mulconry’s serves up the real McCoy. BY REBECCA RAFFERTY

@RSRAFFERTY

round a dozen people gathered shortly after noon on Superbowl Sunday at Mulconry’s Irish Pub and Restaurant in Fairport, but they weren’t there to watch the game. Their cheerful banter with owner Damien Mulconry carried above the din of pint orders and forks scraping up the reason for their visit — the Irish breakfast. It was Patrick and Kathleen Claire’s first time there, and they came specifically for the dish. The Webster 42 CITY MARCH 2022

BECCA@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM

couple were impressed with the spread. Patrick grew up visiting his family in Ireland every summer, and has fond memories of eating the traditional breakfasts his aunt made for the family. “When we were over there a couple years ago, I had her Irish breakfast every day and it was so good,” Kathleen says. A traditional Irish breakfast is difficult to find around Rochester. Only a couple of places trot them out around St. Patrick’s Day, but one can

be had at Mulconry’s any Sunday of the year. You’ve heard of corned beef hash and bangers and mash. But there’s much more to Irish fare. Less common around these parts is the Irish breakfast – a substantial, savory platter that includes eggs, baked beans in tomato sauce, bangers, rashers (Irish bacon), sauteed mushrooms and grilled tomatoes, brown bread, and what the Irish call black and white pudding.

The puddings are nothing like they sound. Once you know what they are, it might be tough to set that knowledge aside and give them a try. But you definitely should. Black pudding is the type of blood sausage that’s common in the United Kingdom (other varieties, such as the German blutwurst and French boudin noir are variations on the dish). The Irish version is traditionally made with pork or beef blood that is cooked or dried and mixed with a bonding

Owner Damien Mulconry with a portrait of his grandfather. PHOTO BY RYAN WILLIAMSON

agent (usually pork or beef suet) and a cereal filler (oatmeal, oat groats, or barley groats) until it’s thick enough to solidify when cooled. Flavorenhancing seasonings are also mixed in, such as mint, thyme, marjoram, and a variety of spices. White pudding is broadly the same thing — without the blood. The sausages get their names from their dark and light coloring. They’re pan fried until crispy and served sliced. And they’re both delicious: chewy and rich with a salty crust from the frying. Aside from the Irish breakfasts, Mulconry’s menu features other Irish fare, including shepherd’s pie and boxty, which is a traditional fluffy potato pancake filled with whatever they have on hand. Mulconry says he works with different distributors to import the sausages, beans, and bacon for the breakfasts, because he wants it all to be the real deal. You really can’t get black or white pudding locally (we know, because we called every butcher in the county). But Mulconry’s makes the dense, slightly sweet Guinness brown bread in-house. Irish breakfasts were originally the fare of farm laborers, who would fill up in the morning and have enough energy to last the whole day. Today, tradition has become a treat. “Growing up, Mom and Dad would make it for Saturday or Sunday breakfast,” says Mulconry, adding that during the week your options were porridge, beans and toast, or Corn Flakes. “We don’t have fucking Lucky Charms,” he says with a roll of the eyes. “But Saturday, Sunday, we’d say, ‘Ma, any chance for a fry-up?’” People like Mulconry and Patrick

Claire, who ate black and white pudding as children, are unfazed by the concept of blood sausage. “I didn’t find out what was in it until I was in high school,” Patrick says, adding that by then, he didn’t care. If the breakfast sounds like Ireland’s version of the garbage plate, you wouldn’t be too far off. It’s hearty and satisfying, but also meaty, greasy, and starchy — and a go-to indulgence after a night of over-indulging. “It’s used as a cure to a good old hangover,” Mulconry says. “But it’s going to hurt afterwards.”

CHOW HOUND AltBar, which has been hosting alcohol-free beverage pop-ups in Rochester, will be a resident business at The Commissary at The Mercantile on Main. AltBar will present a variety of zero-proof cocktail parties, beginning with a grand opening on Saturday, March 26, from 6 to 9 p.m. Admission is free. Details at altbarroc.com. Le Petit Poutine food truck opened the brick and mortar Petit Poutinerie at 44 Elton St. in February. The restaurant’s menu is packed with the truck’s popular poutine variations as well as new dishes, like curried lentils over paneer, and a variety of sandwiches and sweets. The Saucey Chef opened a new location at 1011 Culver Road, and is offering Creole, Cajun, and Asian fare as well as sweet treats for pick up on Wednesdays through Saturdays, 2 to 8 p.m. The menus change daily. More information at facebook.com/ thesauceychef. The CurATE event series spotlights small food businesses by offering monthly surprise meals that customers can get delivered or pick up at the German House in the South Wedge. The next dinner is offered on Wednesday, March 9, and feeds two people for $35 ($40 for delivery). Order ahead and get more details at curatemeals.com.

roccitynews.com CITY 43

LIFE

FIELD TRIPS

RMSC’s “Expedition Dinosaur” exhibit is for dino-lovers of all ages with life-sized animatronic creatures and interactive games. PHOTO BY JACKIE MCGRIFF, COURTESY ROCHESTER MUSEUM AND SCIENCE CENTER

THE FAMILY THAT PLAYS TOGETHER (YOU KNOW THE REST) These family-oriented recreational activities are the perfect antidote to cabin fever. BY REBECCA RAFFERTY

@RSRAFFERTY

ebruary break is over, and there’s a seemingly unending stretch of winter ahead of us that could play out like this: work and school, the homework huddle, chores, sleep, repeat. Pandemic restrictions are slowly lifting, but as people try to get back to normal life, kids might be experiencing more than the usual levels of cabin fever. Which, as you know, makes for a chaotic household. The antidote is available in the form of family-oriented recreational activities offered by area institutions and parks. Here and there, a few hours outside in the crisp air or taking in a museum exhibit can make a world of difference. 44 CITY MARCH 2022

BECCA@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM

We’ve included a mix of outdoor activities and indoor educational options to exercise the body and mind.

HANG OUT WITH THE LIZARD KINGS Dinosaurs went the way of the, well, dinosaur long before our ancestors ever stood upright. But our fascination with the ancient reptiles endures. Still, it can be hard to wrap our minds around the reality of the beasts. So it’s always fun to seize the opportunities when dinos jump off the textbook pages and are brought to “life.” If your kids are too young to watch

the pulse-pounding “Jurassic Park” films, head over to Rochester Museum & Science Center’s “Expedition Dinosaur” exhibit, now on the museum’s third floor through May 1. It features life-sized, roaring and moving animatronic versions of several species, as well as interactive puzzles, challenges, and paleontologist activities. Visitors can learn what and how the dinosaurs ate, where and how they lived, and — just like in “Jurassic Park” — contemplate elements of the dinosaurs that live on in modern-day birds. Admission to RMSC (657 East Ave., rmsc.org) is $20 for adults, $19 for

seniors and college students, $18 for ages 3 to 18, and free to kids under 3 and museum members.

SNOWY TREKS IN THE PINES Located in Naples, RMSC’s Cummings Nature Center offers year-round recreation for families, including the use of 12 miles of ski trails and a three-mile snowshoeing loop, with the option of renting the necessary equipment. Both activities offer the chance to get the blood moving without too much daredevilry and at a slow enough pace for children to spot winter wildlife along the trails. Cumming also offers accessibility-

focused adaptive skiing sessions that provide one-on-one instruction and specialized equipment ($20 per class, $60 for full session). Themed Winter Wild Walks are scheduled for every weekend in March. Learn how to identify animal tracks on March 5-6. The session on March 12-13 focuses on identifying the early signs of spring. The last two weekends are centered on the history and science of maple sugaring. Programs take place at 10:30 a.m. on weekends, special pricing applies, and registration is required. Cumming Nature Center is located at 6472 Gulick Road. Winter admission is $5 per person and free to RMSC members. Ski and snowshoe rental is $5-$15. Call ahead at (585) 374-6160 to be sure trails are open.

Ground, Tonia Loran-Galban, and Veronica Reitter, hands-on tree-tapping activities, and maple-flavored treats at the Depot Restaurant. There are spicy maple wings, a maple Monte Cristo, maple-walnut blondie sundae, and for the adults, maple craft beer. Pancake Breakfast seatings take place at 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m., and noon. The meal includes plain or cinnamon swirl pancakes and New York maple syrup, sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, and a hot beverage, with vegetarian and gluten-free options. ASL interpretation will be available for select programming on Saturday, March 19, and Sunday, March 27. Visitors should dress warmly, as most events take place outdoors. Tickets for the Maple Sugar Festival and the Pancake Breakfast are sold separately and range from $10-$13 each, or can be purchased in combination for $16$22 (noon seating only). GCVM is located at 1410 Flint Hill Road, Mumford. More info is available at gcvm.org.

CULTIVATING A YOUNG NATURE-LOVER

COURTESY GENESE COUNTRY VILLAGE & MUSEUM

THE SWEETS THAT GROW IN TREES Speaking of maple sugaring, that longstanding regional art is the focus of one of the most popular annual events at Genesee Country Village & Museum. The Maple Sugar Festival and Pancake Breakfast weekends take place March 19-20 and March 26-27 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’s easy to take the simple breakfast staple of syrup for granted and forget all about what goes into making it. Visitors of all ages can directly witness the technology involved at the museum’s Sugarhouse, where its evaporator transforms watery sap into the thick sweet stuff we drizzle on our pancakes and waffles (or directly onto fresh snow!). The museum puts an historic spin on its educational efforts, so there are lessons in the techniques and tools that settlers to the region used to collect sap and transform it into maple sugar. This includes discussions led by Haudenosaunee storytellers Perry

The wintertime programs for children at Letchworth State Park offer the benefits of time in the fresh air while fostering the next generation of ecominded citizens. Take, for example, the adorablynamed “Knee-high Naturalist” programming. Geared toward kids ages 3 to 6 (accompanied by an adult), it’s held every-other Monday through March 21, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the park’s Humphrey Nature Center. Each event is themed, and may include storybook reading, crafts, or a short nature walk. The next meet-up is on March 7. Register by calling (585) 493-3682. Then there’s the all-ages Project Feederwatch, sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This is a great family activity that helps train young citizen scientists and future naturalists. Participants meet at Humphrey Nature Center for bird count days every Saturday and Sunday through April 7, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. You’ll learn about the lives and habits of birds that stick around in the winter, and learn ways to practice citizen science at home. Letchworth, which is located in Castile, also offers weekly themed hikes and other activities. For a full list, visit parks.ny.gov/ events. roccitynews.com CITY 45

LIFE

WHAT ALES ME

CITY beer columnist Gino Fanelli samples a flight at Copper Leaf Brewing in Pittsford. PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH

TRY A FLIGHT FOR BETTER BALANCE WITH YOUR BREW Small pours are key to building a healthier relationship with beer. BY GINO FANELLI

@GINOFANELLI

eer has been an inextricable part of my adult life, both the drink and the culture surrounding it. So the idea of telling you to consume less beer to enjoy it more is hard to swallow. But around six months ago, I realized I needed to make a change and cut way, way back on beer. I had developed a routine, which the pandemic set in stone. I’d get up, go to work, run errands, then come home and savor a pint or two. Weekends by and large revolved around 46 CITY MARCH 2022

GFANELLI@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM

picking up fresh cans from whatever brewery piqued my interest. That’s not to give the impression I was a raving alcoholic. In fact, my routine was more or less in line with federal dietary guidelines, which recommend that men limit their alcohol intake to two or fewer drinks per day to reduce the risk of alcohol-related damage. For women, the recommendation is one drink a day. There are plenty of studies that suggest a drink a day is good for you.

But I suffered for it. Sleep eluded me, my stomach churned throughout the day with post-IPA regret, and the exhaustion I felt made me anxious. The money I spent on special beer releases was getting embarrassing and expensive. My change happened like this: I limited myself to three pints in the evening two days a week, typically on the weekend. Almost immediately I slept better and had more energy. My anxiety lessened and I even dropped weight.

These were positive developments, but I was left with the problem of how to actively keep beer in my life. It was a situation that involved a philosophical question: How can I have a healthy relationship with something I truly love, while that thing can be, when consumed in excess, poison? I wasn’t alone in wrestling with that question. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13 percent of Americans said they drank

PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH

more as a result of pandemic-related stress. An April 2020 article on the beer culture website Good Beer Hunting openly asked how brewers can ethically market their products during a time of rampant overuse. Overindulging in alcohol is a social norm. Ads for Budweiser or Bacardi show beautiful people having the times of their lives. Meanwhile the rest of us mere mortals drink to celebrate, to lament, to socialize, and to detach. For many, the words of Homer Simpson ring true: “To alcohol: the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.” The solution for me was in embracing flights of beer — an assortment of brews, usually four to six, served in sample-sized glasses. A typical flight glass holds five to seven ounces, compared with 16 in a pint glass. Most craft breweries offer flights, but many beer bars have them, too. An option that had once been reserved for helping me figure out which beer to order was now the main event. Four pours adding up to a single pint was an opportunity to try more styles of beer in a sitting, while drinking much less. There were ancillary benefits. When I cut down on beer, my palate became more astute, allowing me to better note even the subtlest flavors. At home, smaller servings are now the norm. Two pints of a double IPA, which was once a typical evening for me, is now an indulgence I would struggle to complete. The change brought me to the realization that I love beer, but not alcohol. I appreciate the flavors of malts and hops more when I can sidestep their side effects. For the years I’ve been writing about beer, I’ve maintained that beer is for everyone. I still believe that, and I believe that includes people seeking a healthier relationship with alcohol.

DRINK THIS NOW, FLIGHT EDITION: Faircraft Brauhaus

25 Parce Ave. Suites 100-105, Fairport Faircraft embraces a fiercely loyal interpretation of classic German and European beers. It serves mainstays such as Märzens and helles as well as more off-thebeaten path offerings like rauchbiers and Scottish 70-shilling ales. Eli Fish Brewing

109 Main St., Batavia Since opening in 2018 as Genesee County’s first brewery, Eli Fish has made a splash with a tap list of varied, eclectic offerings. From near-extinct styles like the Dortmunder strong ale known as “Adambier,” to fruit punch-imbued sour ales, Eli Fish is a dream stop for curating a perfect flight. Copper Leaf Brewing

50 State St., Building G, Pittsford Copper Leaf opened in spring 2021 and came out of the gate with stunning forays into wild-fermented ales. A flight at Copper Leaf can run the gamut from funky, fruitladen sippers to the understated spice of a prime roggenbier. Strangebird Brewing

62 Marshall St., Rochester At Strangebird, American wild ale godfather Eric Salazar and brewers Nicki Foster and Micah Krichinsky pump out some of the most inventive beers in the state. For example, an imperial interpretation of the Polish smoked beer Grodiziskie or a tequila barrel-aged ale laced with grapefruit mimicking a paloma cocktail. While you can handpick your flight, each brewer offers a set of four pre-picked brews showcasing their unique styles.

roccitynews.com CITY 47

THE ONLY ANSWER TO HOMELESSNESS IS A HOME

PCHO provides a robust continuum of services that include community-wide homeless outreach, permanent supportive housing, rapid rehousing, Health Home care management, Peer advocacy and so much more.

SCAN TO LEARN MORE OR VISIT PCHO.ORG

48 CITY MARCH 2022

ABOUT TOWN For up-to-date information on protocols, vaccination and mask requirements, and performance cancellations, consult the websites of individual venues.

LECTURES

Brighton’s Black History: Beyond the Deeds. Wed., March 9, 1 p.m. Brighton

Memorial Library, 2300 Elmwood Ave. 784-5310. Ewing Forum: Adam Frank. Sun., March 27, 4 p.m. Fort Hill Performing Arts Center, 20 Fort Hill Ave . Canandaigua $10/$25. fhpac.org.

Henry Horvath: How the Northville-Lake Placid Trail Led to Denali. Wed., March 9, 6:30 p.m. Eisenhart Auditorium, Rochester Museum & Science Center, 657 East Ave.

Luminous Journey: Abdu’l-Baha in America 1912. Sun., March 13, 2 p.m.

Pittsford Community Library, 24 State St Pittsford 248-6275.

Mourning in the Morning: Abelard Reynolds & America’s First Indoor Mall.

Sat., March 12, 10:30 a.m. Virtual Central Library, roccitylibrary.org Reshaping Rochester: The Ideal City. Wed., March 23, noon. A Home in the City: Equity & Affordability. Online,. Science on the Edge. Thu., March 10, 7:30 p.m. and Thu., March 24, 7:30 p.m. Rochester Museum & Science Center, 657 East Ave. (rmsc.org) Mar 10: Andre O. Hudson, Antibiotics Resistance: The Good The Bad, & The Ugly; Mar 24: Dr. Grover Swartzlander, Solar Sailing: Exploring Space on a Beam of Sunshine $3-$15.

Vintage Tweets: A Discussion of Suffrage Era Postcards. Sun., March 27,

2:30 p.m. Perinton Historical Society & Fairport Museum, 18 Perrin St. Fairport Carol Crossed, presenter 223-3989. Winter Walking Tour. Sat., March 26, 11 a.m. Mount Hope Cemetery, 1133 Mt Hope Ave. $12. fomh.org.

KIDS EVENTS

100 Acre Woods. March 26-27, 11 a.m.-

3 p.m. Strong National Museum of Play, 1 Manhattan Sq. (museumofplay.org) . Blippi The Musical. Thu., March 10, 6 p.m. Kodak Center, 200 W. Ridge Rd. $35.50 & up. kodakcenter.com/events. Brick Bonanza. March 5-6, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Strong National Museum of Play, 1 Manhattan Sq. (museumofplay.org) $19$31. CoComelon Live: JJ’s Journey. Mon., March 28, 3 & 6 p.m. Kodak Center, 200 W. Ridge Rd. $29.50 & up. kodakcenter. com/events. Last Stop on Market Street. Sat., April 2, 11 a.m. & 2 p.m. and Sun., April 3, 2 p.m. JCC Hart Theatre, 1200 Edgewood Ave. 461-2000. Matilda Jr. Fri., March 18, 7 p.m., Sat., March 19, 2 & 6 p.m. and Sun., March 20, 2 p.m. OFC Creations Theater Center, 3450 Winton Pl $12. ofccreations.com.

The Rainbow Fish Musical. Fri., March 11, 7 p.m. and Sat., March 12, 2 & 6 p.m. OFC Creations Theater Center, 3450 Winton Pl $10. ofccreations.com.

HOLIDAY

A Siamsa Irish Event. Wed., March 9, 7 p.m. Penfield Public Library, 1985 Baird Rd. 340-8720. St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Sat., March 12, 12:30 p.m. City of Rochester, Downtown rochesterparade.com.

RECREATION

Edgerton Model Railroad Open House.

Last Saturday of every month, 11 a.m.2 p.m Edgerton Community Center, 41 Backus St 428-6769. Full Moon Waterfall Walk. Fri., March 18, 6-9 p.m. Letchworth State Park, 1 Letchworth State Park . Castile Meet at Inspiration Point; 493-3600. Nature Sundays. Sundays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m Genesee Country Nature Center, 1410 Flint Hill Rd Mumford $5/$10. gcv.org. Owl Prowl. Sat., March 12, 9 a.m., Thu., March 17, 9 a.m., Sat., March 19, 9 a.m., Thu., March 24, 10 a.m., Sun., March 27, 9 a.m. and Thu., March 31, 9 a.m. Braddock Bay Raptor Research, 199 E Manitou Rd. $5. bbrr.org.

Signs of Spring Walk. Sun., March 20, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Letchworth State Park, 1 Letchworth State Park . Castile Meet at Mt Morris entrance gate 493-3600. Weekend Wild Walks. Saturdays, Sundays, 10:30 a.m Cumming Nature Center, 6472 Gulick Rd. $4. rmsc.org.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Finger Lakes Winter Carnival. March

18-20. Downtown Canadaigua. fingerlakeswintercarnival.com. Happiest Hour. Thu., March 24, 5:309:30 p.m. Strong National Museum of Play, 1 Manhattan Sq. (museumofplay. org) .

Maple Sugar Festival & Pancake Breakfast. Saturdays, Sundays, 10 a.m.-3

p.m Genesee Country Village & Museum, 1410 Flint Hill Rd Mumford $11/$13. gcv.org. Maple Weekend. Saturdays, Sundays Various Maple Producers, New York State mapleweekend.nysmaple.com. Maple Weekend Train Rides. Saturdays, Sundays, 9 a.m Arcade & Attica Railroad, 278 Main St Arcade Train ride, sugar shack tour, & pancake breakfast. to benefit Charlotte House Comfort Care, North Java. $55. aarailroad.com. Rochester Indie Comics Expo. Sat., April 2, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sibley Square, 250 East Main St. wnycomicarts.com.

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LIFE

ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVES

Answers to this puzzle can be found on page 32

PUZZLE BY S.J. AUSTIN & J. REYNOLDS ACROSS 1. Chick, in England 5. Cowboys’ competition 10. Cook’s garment 15. Pointer’s word 19. Actor Epps

22. Put on edge?

26. Deep desire

28. Penny pincher 29. Abbr. on a tire

37. Banderas of “Puss In Boots” 42. Midwestern state with a nonrectangular flag

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112

91 97

104 107

43. Leaps

49. Word before the closing credits of un film

35 41

44. **Skepticism about a 1980s antidrug slogan?

40. Vanquished, permanently

31. Catcalled? 35. Canadian venue, with “Centre”

30. Elizabeth of cosmetics 33. _____ Lingus

28 31

23. **Vegetable patch on a body of water in the Pacific Northwest? 27. Weapon for The Mandalorian

20. Blunder 21. “Sad” star sitting on a bench in a meme

115

111 116

117

118

119

50. Old west lawman role for Costner 52. Id checker? 53. Old politician Stevenson

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

54. Site for a boxing match 57. Prepares coffee 60. Summer camp drama scenes 63. Trent Reznor’s band, for short

89. Tool used in a 5-Across

113. Aid for an M.C.

DOWN

64. Not to mention

91. H.S. subj.

116. Come up, as a topic

1. Danceable songs, in modern slang

66. Garden implement that is also a term for a woman of ill repute

93. Snack company owned by PepsiCo

118. At the same speed

2. Early morning declaration

68. Thurman of “Pulp Fiction”

122. Sound of complaint

95. Org. concerned with air quality

3. 17-Across sometimes experienced on the road

69. Breakfast you might be feeling

96. ** Bedroom timepiece enthusiast?

123. ** Music session played inside an oyster shell?

70. **Honeydew that confuses red and green?

101. Christian holiday whose date is determined by a Jewish holiday

126. “I got this round”

5. Hi-_____

74. Manage

127. Aft

6. Part of Juliet’s soliloquy

77. Hindu honorific

104. Unfortunate, if not ironic, weather on your wedding day

128. Gen ed course, familiarly

7. Hooded figure in Celtic lore

78. Singer/activist Horne

105. Campus authorities

129. First word of a 1952 (and 2003) bestseller

8. Ages

79. How to shout on the Internet

106. German thoroughfare

83. St. crosser

107. Reason for carrying an Epi-pen

84. Tudor feature

110. Boot camp taskmaster: abbr.

131. Meteorologists’ predictions, for short

86. Vends

111. Salt for a sitz bath

132. Nintendo creature who hatches from an egg

88. Bank account deduction

112. Find a new tenant

50 CITY MARCH 2022

130. Message status

133. Mmes., across the Pyrenees

4. “You wish!”

9. Long drawn-out problems 10. Letters between two names 11. Extra in a crime procedural, for short 12. X-ray units 13. Club with no members?

14. Character portrayed by Sally Field or Whoopi Goldberg 15. Supreme Court justice Marshall 16. Throng 17. See 3-Down

74. Class for a high school sr. 75. Egg-shaped 76. Bit of dinero 80. Drives a getaway car, e.g.

18. Many first-time drivers

81. A powerful singing voice, colloquially

24. Go viral on Twitter

82. A good first guess in Wordle

25. Terrific

84. Amusement park race vehicle

30. Sneaker brand popularized by RunDMC

85. Oklahoma city

32. Adjective for an owl

87. Boy

34. Gentle incline

90. Watched movies prior to their release

36. “What have we here?”

92. Takes a turn

37. Classic BBC sitcom, to fans

94. Makes the second hit in volleyball

38. Bête _____

97. Semi truck

39. Melodies

98. These days

40. Jokey adjective for an owl on the day of the big game

99. “Horrible” funny pages denizen

41. Hassles

100. Quantity of disorder in thermodynamics

44. Initials in fantasy literature

102. Like a stadium crowd

45. Li’l Abner’s surname

103. Costco offerings

46. Forearm bone

106. College assignment that students may find terrifying

47. Night crawlers or peanut butter 48. Snuff containers 51. Soak up 55. French locale that sounds rather pleasant 56. Stir 58. Mural surface

107. Knight’s wear 108. Sierra ______ 109. Source of Peruvian wool 111. Awards hosted virtually in 2021 by Russell Wilson, Megan Rapinoe, and Sue Bird

59. Heavens

114. J. Lo. and Ben again, or maybe not, who can keep track

61. “I’m happy either way”

115. Fella

62. Apt rhyme for 58-Down

117. In that case

65. Most popular Halloween costume in 2014

119. Slightly open 120. House: Sp.

67. Feminine suffix

121. Ambulance workers: Abbr.

69. Fairy tale opening

123. Yoga accessory

71. Fired (up)

124. Hosp. areas

72. Third-largest metro area in Texas

125. Yellowfin tuna

73. Aged

roccitynews.com CITY 51

52 CITY MARCH 2022