CITY Newspaper, January 15, 2020

JAN. 15 2020, VOL. 49 NO. 18

FIFTY YEARS OF GARTH FAGAN DANCE:

MUSIC. HEALING. LOVE. RTS buses are going cashless

Special election has GOP fuming

W. Kamau Bell: Talks to CITY

TRANSPORTATION, PAGE 5

COMMENTARY, PAGE 3

COMEDY, PAGE 20

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Give high-speed rail a chance

I question the tone of David Andreatta’s editorial on highspeed rail across New York state (“New York’s High-speed Rail Fail,” Editor’s Notebook, January 8).

Given the mounting dangers of climate change, the possibility of convenient, affordable mass transit across the state is something to celebrate. The current time it takes to travel to New York City by train offers an alltoo-clear reason why the trains and train station are currently underused. The opportunity to travel by train to New York City in the same time it takes to drive there, without the hassles of driving and the complications of parking in Manhattan, would be a popular option. And with cheaper rates than flying (which can still take four hours, between waiting at the airport for a flight and traveling and arriving at one’s destination), highspeed rail shouldn’t be so quickly dismissed.

JEREMY SARACHAN, BRIGHTON

Thanks for the recent column on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposal for yet another high speed rail study.

While I agree that the train isn’t currently competitive with cars or planes in travel time, there may be other angles to consider. Upgrading the 2 CITY

JANUARY 15 - 21, 2020

CITY reporter to the rescue

exit the car to try to make the electronic key work and, that failing, offer to take the stranger and her heavy bag of groceries home?

On Saturday, December 28, I was lucky enough to tap on the car window of Gino. Indeed, Gino answered my call, assisted me, and went out of his way to take me home — offering to do so with the most elegant gesture of a gentleman, by insisting that it was no trouble, just a few blocks from his usual route.

We had a most pleasant conversation about CITY. Thank you so much, Gino, for your kindness and being a good Samaritan. This may not be a newsworthy story, but readers should know the excellent character of this CITY writer.

As a CITY enthusiast, it was a wonderful surprise for me to meet CITY staff writer Gino Fanelli in the parking lot at the Wegmans on East Avenue. The circumstances were somewhat unusual.

How many people do you know who would roll down their car window in a parking lot when a stranger taps on it?

And how many people might respond without blinking an eye, to hand over a cell phone to a stranger who says she forgot her keys, and needs to call her husband because she is locked out of her car?

And, after seeing the phone KITTY JOSPÉ, ROCHESTER call not go through, how many people would go the extra mile to CITY staff writer Gino Fanelli. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN WILLIAMSON maximum train speed to 90 mph could cut the travel time, improve reliability, and increase frequency. It would take advantage of station upgrades already completed and train replacements that Amtrak has recently announced. As a frequent traveler by train to Albany and western Massachusetts, I know that a good number of travelers on this route go to intermediate stops like Albany and the Hudson Valley, for which the train is more competitive.

Of course there may be better ways to spend state budget dollars, but that’s a bigger question. Let’s not rule out higher-speed rail because we can’t afford a very high speed train for upstate New York.

MIKE LEHMAN, PITTSFORD

Why not a park at Parcel 5?

In October, two artists and volunteers created a public artwork on the vacant gravel lot that is Parcel 5 in downtown Rochester.

The artists and volunteers

swept the gravel into a design an acre in size. The public artwork was called Midtown Mandala and it was the last time Parcel 5 was used for anything.

There have been many proposals for Parcel 5.

There were proposals to build a Broadway theater with condominiums and a marketplace. None of that seems to be an option anymore. These days, the city wants to build a yearround festival site on Parcel 5 with a visitor center. We already have a good visitor center a few buildings away from Parcel 5. It’s open all day throughout the week and it’s even open a little bit on Saturday. There’s no need to relocate the visitor center.

Why not create a public park? Building something like Washington Square Park on Parcel 5 would add beauty to the city. People visiting the city would appreciate how nice it would be to have a park right on Main Street.

I really think it’s the best idea for the city. It’s been nice to hold events like the Jazz Festival or the Fringe

Festival, but we need to commit to a public park with grass and trees and benches and sculptures and statues.

It’s something everyone can admire every day and all year around.

DAN BAUMAN, SPENCERPORT

Tom-Tom is like North Korean TV news

Allow a mild complaint about CITY’s lack of diversity in one specific area — political cartoons.

How is reading the political cartoons in CITY like watching North Korean TV news?

You only get one point of view. In North Korea, the “Dear Leader” is always beneficent. In “This Modern World,” by Tom Tomorrow, President Donald Trump is always malevolent.

The hazard of producing morality plays with the same theme, year after year, is boring one’s audience. I confess to being bored witless

by Tom Tomorrow. I doubt I’m alone in my boredom.

Mr. Tomorrow might be surprised to hear that there is much to be satirized on the left as well as the right. But Tom Tomorrow is tone deaf to other voices or viewpoints.

I do not call for the silencing of Tom-Tom. I call for the addition of more instruments to your house band — other cartoonists with diverse notes to play in the American political fugue.

The addition of a cello, or even a trumpet, might prove welcome to many readers, though regarded as “deplorable” by some.

PETER KILBRIDGE, GATES

Correcting ourselves

The January 8 Editor’s Notebook contained costs to lease the empty retail spaces at the Rochester train station that were provided by Amtrak and were inaccurate.

The leases range from $2,512 to $3,930 per year, not per month, according to Amtrak.

The commentary has since been updated online.

News. Arts. Life.

Greater Rochester’s Alternative Newsweekly January 15 - 21, 2020 Vol 49 No 19 On the cover: Photograph by Max Schulte 280 State Street Rochester, New York 14614 themail@rochester-citynews.com phone (585) 244-3329 rochestercitynewspaper.com Publisher: Rochester Area Media Partners LLC, Norm Silverstein, chairman. William and Mary Anna Towler, founders EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT themail@rochester-citynews.com Editor: David Andreatta News editor: Jeremy Moule Staff writer: Gino Fanelli Arts & entertainment editor: Rebecca Rafferty Music editor: Daniel J. Kushner Music writer: Frank De Blase Calendar editor: Kate Stathis Contributing writers: Rachel Crawford, Roman Divezur, Katie Halligan, Adam Lubitow, Ron Netsky, Katie Morey, David Raymond, Declan Ryan, Leah Stacy, Chris Thompson, Hassan Zaman CREATIVE DEPARTMENT artdept@rochester-citynews.com Creative director/Operations manager: Ryan Williamson Designer/Photographer: Jacob Walsh Digital content strategist: Renée Heininger ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT ads@rochester-citynews.com Sales manager: Alison Zero Jones Advertising consultant/ New business development: Betsy Matthews Advertising consultant/ Project mananger: David White Advertising consultant/ Classified sales representatives: Tracey Mykins OPERATIONS/CIRCULATION kstathis@rochester-citynews.com Business manager: Angela Scardinale Circulation manager: Katherine Stathis Distribution: David Riccioni, Northstar Delivery CITY Newspaper is available free of charge.

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Address changes: CITY, 280 State Street, Rochester, NY 14614. Member of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia and the New York Press Association. Annual subscriptions: $35 ($30 senior citizens); add $10 for out-of-state subscriptions. Refunds for fewer than ten months cannot be issued. Copyright by Rochester Area Media Partners LLC, 2020 - 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. @ROCCITYNEWS

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK | COMMENTARY BY JEREMY MOULE

Congressional special election date looks like a rigged game

After months of dawdling on scheduling a special election to fill the 27th Congressional District seat vacated by disgraced former Representative Chris Collins, Governor Andrew Cuomo appears poised to make a bad call.

The governor has said nothing about the election, but a state lawyer told a judge in open court the other day that Cuomo would set the election for April 28, the same day that Democrats are expected to pack polling sites for the presidential primary.

In hinting at his decision months ago, Cuomo claimed that combining the elections would save money. A special election for a seat spanning eight counties, like the 27th District, would certainly have a hefty price tag. Cuomo has put the figure at $1 million.

But the decision will come at another cost — credibility, for both the governor and the Democrat who may be elected.

I grew up in Medina, Orleans County, right in the thick of the district. In my lifetime, that swath of suburban and rural western New York has been represented by folks like John LaFalce, Tom Reynolds, Kathy Hochul, and until recently, Collins, a Republican.

My family runs a few generations deep in the area and many of my relatives still live there. So do many of my former classmates, family friends, old neighbors, and so on. They are the people — retired autoworkers, a retired Kodak employee, a retired nurse, corrections officers, an occupational therapist, an office worker — who will play a part in electing Collins’s successor.

They’re liberal, moderate, and conservative, but they all share one thing: some level of skepticism or distrust of politicians and government.

Cuomo, a Democrat, is headed down a path that reinforces their skepticism and could undermine the integrity of the election.

State Republican Party Chair Nick Langworthy was on to something when this week he called Cuomo’s move “partisan manipulation” and “a slap in the face to western New Yorkers who won’t forget he put his own interests above their right to representation in Congress.”

Langworthy is a partisan himself, of course.

But on this matter, he’s absolutely right.

Republican Monroe County Elections Commissioner Doug French clearly articulated the problem with holding the special election on the same day as the presidential primary.

That day, he noted, Democrats are going to turn out in droves to vote for any of the half-dozen presidential candidates who will be on the ballot.

Republicans, on the other hand, may not even have a primary in which to cast a vote. A few Republicans have announced their intent to challenge President Donald Trump, but none has made the ballot yet in New York.

Unaffiliated voters — the third largest bloc in the area — won’t be voting in any primaries.

Democrats will have a baked-in turnout advantage.

How is that fair? Republicans are rightly fuming. If the shoe were on the other foot, and it was a Republican governor who tried to pull this sort of move, Democrats would be understandably furious.

Nate McMurray, the former supervisor of Grand Island, appears to have the Democratic nomination locked up. He narrowly lost the election to Collins in 2018 and is an outstanding candidate. But if he wins the special election, many constituents will not accept his victory as legitimate.

The scenario promises to frustrate Democrats in the district, who will no doubt spend a lot of time and effort defending the result.

Consider, too, that the special election only determines who will finish out Collins’s term, which expires at the end of this year. The winner of the special election will likely face a new challenge in the general election set to follow in November, which is arguably the more important contest.

Incumbents typically have an advantage in any election, but the popular resentment toward McMurray or any other Democrat who will likely win in April has the potential to limit their tenure in Congress to a mere eight months.

Langworthy seems to understand what Cuomo doesn’t. “(T)he people of NY-27 are being denied a voice because Andrew Cuomo is trying to rig an election,” Langworthy said.

A strong allegation that in this case is right on point.

Jeremy Moule is CITY’s news editor. He can be reached at jmoule@rochester-citynews.com. rochestercitynewspaper.com

CITY 3

[ NEWS IN BRIEF ]

Collins to be sentenced

A family man who had a momentary lapse of judgment. A businessman who used public office to increase his personal wealth.

The roughly 170 letters filed in U.S. District Court this week in the case of former Congress member Chris Collins paint very different pictures of disgraced politician. More than 100 came from family, friends and even members of Congress, asking for leniency. Another 65, mostly from Collins’s former constituents in New York’s 27th Congressional District, say he should be made an example of.

All were sent to U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick, who will sentence Collins for insider trading on Friday, January 17. In a memo, federal prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Collins to the maximum of nearly five years.

Public defender hires under fire

Monroe County Legislature Democrats want an explanation for five new hires in the county Public Defender’s Office, all of whom worked previously worked in either County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo’s administration or

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for Legislature Republicans.

They are planning to question Public Defender Tim Donaher about the hires during the Legislature’s meeting Tuesday, January 21. Donaher’s reappointment to another two-year term is on the Legislature’s agenda.

“At least from the optics of it, it doesn’t look proper,” said Democratic Minority Leader Vince Felder.

The hires in question are: • Former county attorney Merideth Smith, who most recently was deputy director of administration for the county’s Department of Human Services. She was hired as a senior assistant public defender.

• Former Assistant County Executive Michael Molinari, who was hired as a staff assistant.

• Bonnie Stein, former executive secretary to former county Human Resources Director Brayton Connard. She was hired as executive secretary to the public defender.

• Jamie Anthony, the former chief of staff for the Legislature’s Republican majority, has been hired as secretary to special counsel.

• Former executive secretary Lillian Gucciardo has been hired as confidential secretary to division heads.

News POLITICS | BY DAVID ANDREATTA

Mayor, City Council member trade barbs over Charlotte development

Mayor Lovely Warren and City Council member Jose Peo. FILE PHOTO

Charlotte residents received a letter recently from Mayor Lovely Warren accusing their newly-elected City Council member, Jose Peo, of lying to them about the process to develop the Port of Rochester.

“Recently… Mr. Peo shared false information regarding the potential development of Parcel 1 in Charlotte, which is unfortunate because Mr. Peo knows that these assertions are simply a lie,” Warren wrote on January 8.

It was a sharp rebuke in response to a report by Peo in the latest Charlotte Community Association newsletter that stated an out-oftown developer described being “hand-picked” by the mayor to develop the port.

Peo was among two dozen residents who in December met with the developer, Clifford Turner, of Kentucky-based Land Development Services Inc., and Ruth Brooks Ward, a local real estate agent and donor to the mayor’s campaign who acted as his liaison to the neighborhood.

Attendees said Turner and Ward gave the impression that the mayor backed their plans to build a hotel and condo complex on a parcel at Lake Avenue for which the city recently issued a request for proposals.

Reached by telephone, Turner denied saying he had been “hand-picked” and said he has never spoken with the mayor about the project. He cast the meeting as a fact-finding mission to better learn what Charlotte residents wanted.

Mayoral spokesperson Justin Roj said Warren never directed Turner or any developer to talk to residents. “(W)e consistently tell developers that they need to have the support of the community to successfully develop their projects,” Roj said.

The mayor’s letter came to light this week when Peo likened it to a “political communication” and announced plans to introduce legislation to require City Council to approve all her mailings.

David Andreatta is CITY’s editor.

He can be reached at dandreatta@rochestercitynews.com.

Right now, Rochester bus riders can only pay their fares using hard cash or one of RTS’s various passes. The buses aren’t equipped with readers for debit cards. But the public transit agency is aiming to launch a cashless, mobile payment system for riders in April.

Regional Transit Service bus riders will soon be able to board buses without cash or passes.

The public transit agency is aiming to launch a cashless, mobile payment system for riders in April. RTS spokesperson Tom Brede told CITY the new option will work through the agency’s app and online accounts linked to a source of funds, such as a credit or debit card, enabling riders to pay their fares as they board by scanning a code displayed on their smartphone screens.

Right now, riders can only pay their fares using hard cash or one of RTS’s various passes. The system does not have a reader for debit and credit cards. It is not an outlier — transit systems across the country are just now equipping their bus fleets with onboard cashless payment systems.

Mumina Ali takes the bus a few times a week. When asked if she thought the new system would be convenient for her, she offered a single word: “Definitely.”

Currently, for riders who prefer to hop aboard without cash, there are two, relatively antiquated methods for obtaining a bus pass.

One involves the rider ordering the pass online and the rider waiting for the agency to mail the pass to his or her home. The other requires a rider to access a pass from one of the vending machines at the downtown RTS

Bus pass kiosks at the downtown RTS Transit Center. FILE PHOTO

Transit Center or the agency’s East Main Street headquarters. The machines accept cash and credit and debit cards.

For anyone not carrying cash or a bus pass, catching a bus from a stop other than the downtown station or the bus agency’s headquarters can be a challenge. There often aren’t ATMs nearby.

The new payment system will also have options for customers who don’t have or

don’t want to use smartphones, or who may not have credit cards, debit cards, or bank accounts. Vending machines will provide reloadable cards.

Brede explained that both approaches will use “fare capping” to prevent people from overpaying for bus rides. The system will automatically give riders a daily pass once they spend $3 on fares in a day, the same price as a full-day pass, he said. The

same will apply to the $56 monthly pass.

The RTS app will also have a role in the transit agency’s new so-called “on-demand zones,” formerly community mobility zones, which will be put in place when the Reimagine RTS plan takes effect on June 29. That plan lays out how RTS will overhaul routes and operations.

The on-demand zones are located largely in the suburbs, and replace what RTS officials considered to be underused fixed routes out to places such as Brockport, Webster, and Pittsford. Many of those routes also had limited service hours.

Some elected officials — particularly in Brighton and Henrietta — have criticized the decision to eliminate fixed routes in their communities.

The transit agency plans to serve the zones using smaller buses or vans, which it will own and operate. Users will be able to schedule rides and pick-ups within those zones using either the RTS app or by calling the agency’s customer service center.

“The great thing about the on-demand zones is they’re going to run seven days a week,” Brede said. “It’s going to be an expansion of service.”

Jeremy Moule is CITY’s news editor. He can be reached at jmoule@rochester-citynews.com.

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CITY 5

ON THE MARGINS | BY GINO FANELLI

A bank for people who don’t trust banks Jonathan Marullo figures he closed all his bank accounts about 17 years ago.

He said he wanted out of what he called the “nonsense charade” of banking regulations, believing the system would collapse, like it did during the Great Depression, and which it eventually would again during the Great Recession.

“The numbers don’t add up,” Marullo said. “I don’t trust banks, and I don’t trust bankers with my money.”

Marullo, who was homeless for a decade, instead relies on alternative financial services like Chester’s Check Cashing. Chester’s operates four locations in Rochester, specifically in lower-income neighborhoods on West and North Clinton avenues and West Broad and North Goodman streets.

Chester’s advertises taking a 2.11 percent fee on any check cashed.

“I sign the check over and they take a percentage cut,” Marullo said. “I just look at it as a cost of doing business.”

Marullo isn’t alone. Many people don’t use the mainstream banking system, often because they don’t trust it or because they face barriers to accessing it.

In his recent State of the State address, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a plan for the state to invest $25 million over five years to expand access to banking and credit services in low-income communities.

He said that money will go to the state’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, which provides funding for banks that specifically cater to low-income lending. Cuomo dubbed the initiative the Excelsior Banking Network.

“Too often our most vulnerable New Yorkers are subject to predatory businesses, and they get shut out of the banking system that enables upward mobility,” Cuomo said.

The governor expects that the state’s contribution will leverage a total $300 million in investment in underserved communities, in the form of loans and credit offered by CDFIs. But for that investment to materialize, the state will have to convince people who live outside of the mainstream financial system that they should use banks.

WHO ISN’T BANKING? In his address, Cuomo said that 25 percent of New York households either don’t have bank accounts or seldom use one.

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FILE PHOTO

That figure is a bit misleading.

The governor took it from a 2017 Federal Deposit and Insurance Corporation (FDIC) survey that found 8.7 percent of New Yorkers were “unbanked” and 17.2 percent were “underbanked.”

An “unbanked” person is one who doesn’t have a bank account and doesn’t use traditional banking services at all, like Marullo. An “underbanked” person is one who has a bank account and uses traditional banking products, but also uses alternative services such as pawn shop loans or non-bank money orders.

Rochester fared better than the state average, at 4.9 percent unbanked and 14.6 percent underbanked.

On a national scale, the number of unbanked households is trending downward, from just over 9 million in 2013 to about 7.7 million in 2017.

At the same time, the holdouts appear more dug in against banking than ever before. In 2013, for instance, 40 percent of unbanked respondents had no plans to open a bank account, compared to 59 percent in 2017.

“I’d look to hold out as long as I possibly can,” Marullo said. “The only thing that I could see making me open an account is getting an inheritance.”

But the majority of people who opt out of the banking system are people who have been historically marginalized.

According to a 2019 Federal Reserve report, 14 percent of African-American households and 11 percent of Latino households weren’t using banks or any banking products in 2018, compared to 4 percent of white households.

Likewise, 14 percent of households with incomes under $40,000 were unbanked, compared to 2 percent of households with incomes between $40,000 and $100,000, and 1 percent of households with incomes over $100,000.

“It’s partly the legacy of red-lining that’s been happening since Reconstruction,” said Barbara van Kerkhove, researcher and policy analyst at the Empire Justice Center.

“But I also think there’s a lot of racism that’s still happening in our community and the way things are structured.”

There remain obvious racial disparities in lending.

For example, the report found, banks denied lines of credit to black people earning under $40,000 a year at nearly twice the rate of white people in the same income category (59 percent to 31 percent).

While loan applications for white people earning more than $100,000 annually were denied 8 percent of the time, they were denied 21 percent and 17 percent of the time for blacks and Latinos, respectively.

“The culture of this country is we don’t see it as a structural issue, we see it as an individual, that that person is lacking, that they couldn’t do the work,” van Kerkhove said.

But factors like language can also be an issue, said Melissa Marquez, the CEO of Genesee Co-op Federal Credit Union, one of four CDFIs in Rochester that would have access to the new Excelsior Banking Network seed funding.

Marquez said the credit union has 12 employees, half of whom speak Spanish.

Others on staff, she said, speak Nepalese, Swahili, and Somali.

“That’s one of the things that can exclude people from banking, it’s hard

to trust someone with your money if you don’t speak the same language,” Marquez said.

FILLING THE GAPS Turning away from banks, either because of exclusion or distrust, can be costly.

Loan rates serve as a good example.

“A normal used car loan, you can probably get 12-13 percent for an older used car, but these (subprime lenders) are getting rates five to 10 points higher,” van Kerkhove said.

Under New York’s usury laws, a borrower and lender can agree to loans that carry interest rates as high as 24.99 percent. Charging interest above 25 percent is a felony.

A big part of what Genesee Co-op does is help people burdened with loans with interest rates pushing the 24.99 percent limit lower their rates.

“We see a lot of people who have gotten auto loans at 18 or above, right up to that 24.99 percent limit,” Marquez said. “In general we help people refinance those rates down to between 7 and 12 percent.”

While she notes that there will always be people who avoid the banking system for a variety of reasons, Marquez sees the Excelsior initiative as “exciting,” offering an opportunity to expand on services to low-income communities.

Genesee Co-op is a smaller financial institution, with about 3,590 members and a total of just over $23.3 million in assets, according to the National Credit Union Administration. But that, Marquez said, doesn’t paint the whole picture of the bank’s impact.

“Look at this way,” she said.

“Our little $23 million credit union had more mortgage loans, in terms of sheer number, in 2017 than JP Morgan Chase did here in Rochester.

“That’s because JP Morgan is not making loans to the people we’re serving.”

Gino Fanelli is a CITY staff writer. He can be reached at gfanelli@ rochester-citynews.com.

rochestercitynewspaper.com

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DANCE. HEALING. LOVE. That’s Garth Fagan.

At 80 years old, and 50 years after creating his namesake dance company, Garth Fagan reflects on the highs and lows of his life and career.

BY JEFF SPEVAK

Norwood Pennewell’s adoptive father was dead by the time he was 16 years old, and his adoptive mother was gone a few years later.

Jeff Tyzik speaks of growing up in a dysfunctional home.

When they first set eyes on Garth Fagan, and what he was doing with dance, Pennewell and Tyzik were “blown away.” Independently of one another, both use that phrase. They were college students then, searching for their identities, and they were intimidated.

As for Fagan himself, there have been voids to fill in his life as well. A broken relationship with his father, a marriage that fell victim to two people with high career aspirations, and a 2-year-old daughter who died tragically.

What is broken, can be healed. In the case of these three men, healing came through music and dance. That healing process is ongoing.

Pennewell joined Garth Fagan Dance in 1978 as that blown-away student, and is now a teacher, principal dancer, and personal assistant to Fagan.

Tyzik, the principal Pops conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, spent the last half of 2019 assembling “50 Years of Garth Fagan Dance,” a celebration between the RPO and the dance company to be presented January 24 and 25 at Eastman Theatre’s Kodak Hall.

That’s 50 years of the dance company in western New York. And, on May 3, 80 years of Fagan roaming larger geography, planet Earth.

“I’ve got to take five pills a day,” Fagan said recently. “For cholesterol, for all kinds of problems, but it works.” If Fagan drops something on the floor, he might have to call for his other personal assistant, Bill Ferguson, to pick it up. “I don’t bend as well as I used to, but these are minute things.”

Fagan is a Tony Award winner for his choreography on the Broadway hit, “The Lion King.” He once teamed up with Wynton Marsalis for “Griot New York,” a celebration of the city’s urban life. His dancers move to classical, jazz, African, and Caribbean music. Sexually hot duets, black street sensibilities, and bird-like ballet poses erupt into athletic leaps. No combination is unthinkable. Fagan’s choreography for Duke Ellington’s only opera, “Queenie Pie,” was presented at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1986. That same year, Fagan took the hit song “Slave to

the Rhythm” by fellow Jamaica native Grace Jones, threw in some recorded comments by Jones, and came up with a dance called “Mask Mix Masque.”

Much of that sprawling artistry will be celebrated this year. Among many other events, Fagan will be joined by his friend, the pianist Monty Alexander, at the Rochester International Jazz Festival for a June 24 show at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre. WXXI-TV is re-airing an episode of the interview show, “Norm & Company,” with Fagan at 8 p.m. on January 30. Next week, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Garth Fagan Dance studio will offer free dance lessons throughout the day; check garthfagandance. org for details.

For all of these 50 years and international acclaim, Fagan has remained

deeply rooted in Rochester. The company’s studio is downtown at 50 Chestnut Street. Its home theater is at Nazareth College Arts Center. Fagan himself lives on a moneyed street off East Avenue, in a little red-brick neocolonial mansion built in 1927. The garden in the backyard has a pagoda and a whimsical metal piece by Rochester sculptor Paul Knoblauch standing by a rock-strewn pond and fountain.

Fagan often says profound things. Creating a new dance piece is, he once said, “Reaching for a unique, deep, rich, shattering something. For me, that comes from a place of solitude.”

Yet Fagan is also slyly funny — he showed off that side of himself a few years ago when he appeared as a guest on National Public Radio’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.” He likes food, wine, nice clothes, jewelry, sports cars, people, and culture.

“And I’ve been all over the world,” he says. “Every major city I have been in, and some pretty minor ones.” He’s been to six of the seven continents (the Antarctic dance scene has yet to emerge). “Everybody claimed us,” Fagan says of these world tours. “Every single community wanted us to be from them.

“And we said, ‘Thank you, thank you.’”

Travel and bringing home new ideas: that’s Garth Fagan Dance.

continues on page 10

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PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

rochestercitynewspaper.com

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To see a video interview with Jeff Tyzik (left) and Garth Fagan in the WXXI studios, visit rochestercitynewspaper.com. PHOTOS BY MAX SCHULTE

“Different languages, different attitudes, different things that audiences bring into the theatre with them,” Fagan says. “What they ate, what they discussed at home, what they saw on TV or whatever, you know. All of that, it energizes the performances, it hurls things at the performances, and we either catch them, or we let them fall by the wayside. But we try to catch them and use them, because travel is knowledge and information.”

He’s appreciative of where he came from, and where he has been. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Fagan had to push against his father as a teenager seeking room to breathe. “My daddy was tough, my dad was an Oxford man and tough as nails,” Fagan says. “You either did it perfectly or you didn’t even attempt to. And I survived that.”

Dad wanted his son to go into academics. Fagan wanted to dance. He joined Jamaica’s National Dance Theatre Company, run by the country’s best-known dance choreographer, Ivy Baxter. He was 20 when he followed her off the island, dancing in an outdoor stadium at Cuban President Fidel Castro’s 1959 inauguration.

A year later, Fagan left for Detroit, where he had relatives, and studied psychology at Wayne State University. But his body rejected academic life; he was lured away by the school’s strong dance program. Fagan was soon working with city dance students and the Detroit Contemporary Dance Company as primary dancer and choreographer. Ten years later, he was on his way to New York City, intending to study with the iconic Alvin Ailey. But first, he took a few weeks 10 CITY JANUARY 15 - 21, 2020

to teach a summer dance course at the State University College at Brockport.

And then, he just never found a reason to leave. Fagan began teaching unlikely candidates for dance: poor kids from Rochester who had no training. Fagan called it The Bottom of the Bucket, But...

Dance Theatre. By 1981, it was shortened to The Bucket Dance Theatre. A decade later, when his own name had grown enough to carry the company, it became Garth Fagan Dance.

The dancers come and go, yet loyalty is intrinsic to Garth Fagan Dance. There is Pennewell, for instance. Natalie RogersCropper joined in 1981, dancing deep into pregnancy, and now directs the Garth Fagan School of Dance. Steve Humphrey has been with Fagan since the early days, and is still dancing. “I formed this company to keep mature dancers performing, so that lots that we learn in life from outside our art form, they can bring to the stage,” Fagan says.

“Whereas as other art forms, actors, they’re all going to their dotage, even as young as me.”

Fagan’s humor works alongside the serious matters at hand. He has danced to the rhythms of Duke Ellington. And for Ellington, there was no coasting through a show.

“Duke was my mentor,” he says. “And Duke cursed me out after a performance in Toronto, Canada. I did a matinee performance and I thought, oh, I’ll just telegraph it, because I’ve got a show tonight. And honey, Duke said, ‘Don’t you ever do that again. I don’t know who was out there dancing, that was not you, you

left it in the wings. How dare you,’ blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I’ll never forget it, as long as I live. And that was a blessing, and these were mentors that cared about us and cared about the standards and taught us about the standards and insisted that we uphold them. Hallelujah.”

Tyzik, too, feels the shadow of Ellington and his longtime accompanist, the pianist and arranger Billy Strayhorn. Ellington’s “Take the A Train” will be a part of the Fagan tribute. “When I’m in the room

Le'Tiger Walker & Davente Gilreath in Fagan's "Distant Kin." COURTESY ROSALIE O'CONNOR PHOTOGRAPHY

working on it, I feel like Duke and Billy are looking over my shoulder,” Tyzik says.

“I feel like they’re in the room. So there is a deep, transcendent, spiritual thing that happens in those moments, when you’re creating something, and I’m sure Garth has a similar experience, because that’s where those moments come from.”

So Fagan is a mentor, and a healer of dancers’ souls, who compares his charges to

a canvas and oil paints. Where canvas and oils are silent, however, his dancers conjure the full range of human emotion.

Fagan fosters relationships with his dancers.

Pennewell was once too shy to ask Fagan about joining The Bucket, but Fagan coaxed him out of his shell. Even after a handful of classes that evolved into casual rehearsals, “I didn’t really realize I was in the company, if you can believe that,” Pennewell says.

During rehearsals for a piece called “Salon for a Fashionable Five-Toed Dragon,” a comment on the fashion industry, Pennewell believed he was an understudy. Then the costume designer pulled him aside, needing to take measurements. “Uh, why?” Pennewell asked. He was in the show.

Later, at another show, “I was browsing through the program, I saw that I was listed as rehearsal director,” Pennewell says.

Another nudge up the ladder from Fagan.

“He told me, ‘It’s a big responsibility, don’t let it get to your head.’”

And 12 years ago, Fagan was at a postperformance talk when he announced that Pennewell would choreograph a piece the following year.

Today, Pennewell remains the director of rehearsals. And he’s choreographed a piece almost every year. No one aside from Fagan and Pennewell has choreographed for Garth Fagan Dance.

“At some point, you have to send the bird out of the nest, the bird has got

Norwood "PJ" Pennewell has been one of Garth Fagan Dance's teachers, principal dancers and is one of Fagan's personal assistants. PROVIDED PHOTO

to fly,” Pennewell says. “He’s not gonna micromanage your development as a choreographer. He’d say, ‘You’re going to have to fall on your face, just as all of us did.’ The fun part of the journey is trying to figure out how to get back up. It’s your time to come up with what it is you want to say.”

Pennewell was born in North Carolina, but grew up in Schenectady, with adoptive parents.

He participated in gymnastics and martial arts, and learned to move easily in different circles.

“I was seeing white people, and Japanese people, too,” he says. “I was somehow able to hang out with all of these people. I’d go to the Italian neighborhood and play backgammon, or dreidel with the Jewish kids.”

At Garth Fagan Dance, Pennewell, who is 60, answers to PJ. “PJ is my son,” Fagan says. “If he was my flesh and blood son, I could not love him more.” Fagan refers to himself as having been a mischievous young man. Pennewell also uses that word to describe his younger self: “I put him through some trials and tribulations.

But he stuck with me.”

Their relationship filled a void in his life, Pennewell says, just as the company and its dancers have for Fagan. “Garth would say,” Pennewell says, “if his daughter had lived and prospered, she would have been like Natalie.”

Fagan was once married. His wife, Norma, was a model from Europe. They had two children, then separated in 1964.

Their son lives in the West Indies. Shortly after Norma had moved to Paris with their daughter, the girl was killed in a car accident. She was 2 years, 10 months old.

Tyzik grew up in Hyde Park, a Hudson River town north of Poughkeepsie, where

Fagan had stayed close to Norma through the years, and she came to New York City to see him win the Tony in 1998. She died two years later of pancreatic cancer.

Over time, in bringing Garth Fagan Dance to Jamaica and showing off what he had created, Fagan healed the rift with his father.

“We fought, but we loved each other, there was not a bigger love in my life than him,” Fagan says. Although his father is gone, he says, “To this day, when I have a problem, I go back to Daddy and I say, ‘What should I do, what do you think? Blah, blah, blah, blah.’ Because he’s going to give me perfect, good advice.

Not easy to get to, not easy to accomplish, but ultimately satisfying and enriching, and that’s what I apply to my dancers.”

Sarah Herbert, Le'Tiger Walker, Anna Lee, Adriene Hodge, and Davente Gilreath of Garth Fagan Dance perform "Distant Kin." COURTESY ROSALIE O'CONNOR PHOTOGRAPHY

Roosevelts and Vanderbilts walked the streets. That wasn’t Tyzik’s street. “I came from a very dysfunctional home, and music was my salvation,” he says. “I sat at a room with a piano, and I poured out my emotion into the sound that I was plunking down on a keyboard.”

Tyzik found that, if he couldn’t get approval at home, he could get it from others. He was a sixth-grader playing for adults, and they were applauding.

“I thought, you know, this makes people feel good, so that was my motivation,” Tyzik says.

He was playing Taps at ceremonies where people took seriously what a guy with a trumpet was doing, standing alongside four guys with uniforms and medals, as well as Eleanor Roosevelt and her son, John. “I realized you meet some incredible people through music,” Tyzik says.

He was working at a car wash during high school, earning $1.05 an hour.

Then some young musicians he knew landed a gig where they were going to play for two hours and earn $15 each, plus food and drink. “And I thought, maybe you can make money at music,” he says. “So it came from a place of solitude to a place of… well, this could be an interesting life.”

Tyzik remembers the first time he saw Fagan. It was 1969 and he was a student in an Eastman School of Music summer ensemble, playing a Miles Davis piece to accompany a troupe of Fagan dancers.

“I was so enthralled with the human body, the movement to music,” Tyzik says.

“But also with the musicians being right there, it was an incredible experience. It was a dream of mine at that point to work with Garth.”

That dream would take decades to materialize.

“I have to say, I was not confident at the time as a musician, I scared myself off,” Tyzik says. “I didn’t think I could live up to the amazing things that Garth was creating.”

All of this comes together at “50 Years of Garth Fagan Dance,” for which Fagan has chosen a Brahms piece, a cello concerto, a Jelly Roll Morton piece, and a Spanishflavored piece by Heitor Villa-Lobos.

“So there’s great music there of an incredible variety,” Tyzik says. “And the fact that over time, even though I’m known here as the Pops conductor, I have conducted a fair amount of

classical repertoire, I have a feel for all that. I was really excited for the variety of music he chose.”

Pennewell says Fagan could make his home in New York or Chicago or San Francisco or any other major market.

“He found this area that felt spiritually right, the environment,” Pennewell says.

“Oatka Park, the lakes and the Finger Lakes, and the Southern Tier. When things got rough he would take his sports car and drive fast and go to the Oatka Trail and chill out.

“And when he’s creating, you can’t call him, he takes no calls. He needs that solitude to find that kernel. That new thing, that’s not repeating himself.”

Tyzik is also the principal Pops conductor with The Detroit Symphony, The Oregon Symphony, The Florida Orchestra, and The Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Yet, like Fagan, he chooses to live in Rochester. He cites it has having “endless possibilities,” and being a good place to have raised his daughter.

“With the RPO, I’ve had my own orchestra for 26 years now,” he says. “I’ve written 400 things for them to play, I can come in and experiment, I can say I want to work with Fagan and they say, ‘OK, let’s make it happen.’”

Pennewell calls Fagan a humanist. “What you want to see onstage are people who are dancers, not dancers trying to portray certain kinds of people,” he says. “Everybody maintains their individuality, but they work together for a common goal. This is an example for what society is all about.”

And it’s about moving forward; that after 80 years, 50 of them here, this is no time to stop.

“I had to accept all of the dramas, that human beings who are my canvas, and my oil,” Fagan says. “And when I painted with canvas and oil they never spoke back to me and told me…” — and here, Fagan affects a comically whiny voice — “‘Oh, my boyfriend is gone. Oh, my girlfriend…’

“No, none of that. But with human beings you have to bring that in, you have to absorb it, and keep the work going forward,” he says. “But still give them a nice hand, a pat, whatever, and get them out of their doldrums. And let them know that history has proven to you that this, too, would pass. And just roll up your sleeves and fight it, and find a way to improve it. Amen.”

Jeff Spevak is WXXI’s arts & life editor and reporter. He can be reached at jspevak@wxxi.org. rochestercitynewspaper.com CITY 11

R

AI S S A N C E

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C h a r ter

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A

CA

EN

ts

S

Ar of th e NURTURING CHILDREN TO ENLIGHTENED ADOLESCENCE ool

Public Announcement: NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR Writing Charter School Renewal Document Bids will be received by Renaissance Academy Charter School of the Arts until 5pm on: January 24th, 2020.

At the time and place advertised, and promptly thereafter, all bids that have been duly received will be publically opened and read aloud 299 Kirk Road, Rochester, NY on Monday, January 27th, 2020 at 10:00am

Description of Product for Bid: Completion of NYS Education Department Charter Renewal Agreement For Renaissance Academy Charter School of the Arts The contract will be awarded to the responsible bidder whose bid is responsive to this invitation and is most advantageous to the agency, price and other factors considered.

Please go to the school’s website for a copy of the full Request for Proposal.

By:

Craig Eichmann

Title:

Chief Operational Officer

Publication Dates: January 15, 2019 – January 21, 2020 Publication Sites: Newspaper: City Newspaper

School renacad.org

For more Tom Tomorrow, including a political blog and cartoon archive, visit www.thismodernworld.com.

SEARCHING FOR CITY? WE’RE EVERYWHERE.

At CITY, we regularly hear from people who ask, “Where can I pick up a copy of CITY?” If you’re reading this, you’ve found your copy. But perhaps there’s a more convenient location for you to pick up your favorite weekly read. We’re probably in more places than you ever knew, or thought to look.

We decided to take the guesswork out of the hunt and create an online interactive map detailing the hundreds of locations where stacks of CITY are waiting for readers like you.

12 CITY JANUARY 15 - 21, 2020

Copies can be found all over Rochester and the city’s adjacent suburban towns, but also as far west as Brockport and Hamlin, as far south as Avon and Geneseo, and as far east as Canandaigua and Farmington. What can we say? We get around.

Check out the map on our homepage at rochestercitynewspaper.com under the “About” tab and find your CITY today.

Thank you for reading.

Dining & Nightlife

Left: the Johnny Cashew sushi roll and right (top and bottom) the Black Mamba sushi roll, on the menu at Poké Sushi. PHOTOS BY JACOB WALSH

A melodic match Roc City Ramen & Poké Sushi 319 EXCHANGE BOULEVARD MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, 11 A.M. TO 9 P.M. 448-0047; ROCCITYRAMEN.ORG/EXCHANGE-BLVD [ REVIEW ] BY CHRIS THOMPSON

Something I miss from my childhood is posse cuts: two or three (or six) hip-hop groups coming together to form supergroups that would record long songs. These defined my early- to mid-1990s. Think “We Are the World,” but actually good. They were like audio Avengers. My high school and college earphones were perennially flooded with verses by Native Tongues, Hieroglyphics, Flipmode Squad, and Juice Crew. If the

song title was followed by “featuring [insert two or three extra artists],” then I needed to possess it. The more, the merrier. It takes a great producer to get five or more artists with completely different cadences and voices to properly meld together for an album, yet still maintain their individuality, and for it to sound effortless. For anyone who will claim that their lack of hip-hop knowledge prevents them from making a connection to what I am saying: trust me, you can. The Traveling Wilburys was also a posse, and every one of their songs was audio gold.

What on earth does any of this have to do with food or restaurants? Michael Kiyosji Goode, the owner of Alexander Street’s Roc City Ramen (formerly Brooklyn Ramen), opened a second location on Exchange Boulevard in Corn Hill. And at this new spot, he’s permanently featuring Rochester’s popular pop-up sushi venue,

Adam Hamilton’s Poké Sushi. On the surface, this may not seem like a big deal since both ramen and sushi are Japanese cuisine. While that is true, they are completely different types of fare under the same roof, forming a culinary symphony.

The ramen at Roc City is still as abundant as it was at Alexander Street, with noodles cooked just right in broths that complement the respective dishes’ main protein. The Shio ($11.25) is pork medallions and seaweed accompanied by fried onions, sesame seeds, and radishes, all swimming in a small sea of clear chicken broth. Noodles flow in abundance in the bottom of the bowl like a bed of savory kelp on an ocean floor.

For the meat-free, the Vegan Miso ($10.25) is a cloudy, creamy broth that masks the berg of noodles, corn, bamboo shoots, sprouts, and mushrooms. And there are

three other ramen choices and a menu that offers gyozas (fried dumplings), curries, and rice dishes, so there’s a food scenario for anyone’s palate. Goode has always been an enthusiastic chef, and he has maintained that positive energy at the Exchange location, where he greets everyone with an ear-to-ear smile.

Poké Sushi has existed as a pop-up for two years. Hamilton was inspired to open in that capacity while he was working at Ox & Stone and had an itch to strike out on his own. He guest-hosted a light kitchen takeover at Roc Brewing Company. From there, he bought himself a sushi block and display refrigerator, and Poké Sushi was born.

My first experience with Poké was at The Hideaway on Park Avenue, where Hamilton hosts a weekly pop-up every Wednesday from 7 to 11 p.m., offering a small menu that features his most popular specialty creations. The Black Mamba ($16) is a delicious blend of soft shell crab, cucumber, and black tobiko, topped with eel sauce, scallions, spicy mayo, and more tobiko. The crispy onion crunchies in the center give a savory-sweet crunch to the roll.

Because I’m a sucker for a decent rockabilly food pun, I also ordered the Johnny Cashew ($13), a roll that consists of smoked salmon, steamed shrimp, cashew butter, and cucumber, and then topped with avocado, eel sauce, and sprinkled with black sesame and scallions. I ate both rolls like a monster.

Both of these rolls are available at Poké Sushi in Roc City Ramen’s Exchange location. And with the assistance of Hamilton’s intrepid sous chef, Brenda Perkins, he has expanded his menu to feature all of his specialty creations in addition to classic sushi and sashimi items, poké bowls, and hearty dinner and lunch specials. Also — I’m not sure if I was just lucky or if this is the norm — but both times I visited Roc City Ramen last week, ‘80s pop tunes floated in the air. There’s something fitting about eating things from the sea while Billy Ocean is playing in the background. I was okay with the whole scenario.

Roc City Ramen and Poké Sushi will likely be a new staple of the Corn Hill area.

The combined restaurant is a great place to enjoy a quiet night or to bring your buddies and feast on Goode and Hamilton’s creations.

Chris Thompson is a freelance writer for CITY. Feedback on this article can be directed to becca@ rochester-citynews.com. rochestercitynewspaper.com CITY 13

Upcoming

Music

[ METAL ] Black Label Society Friday, March 27.

Main Street Armory. 900 East Main Street. $35. 8 p.m.

232-3221. mainstreetarmory.com; blacklabelsociety.com. [ AMERICANA ] Dead Horses Friday, April 10.

Abilene Bar & Lounge. 153 Liberty Pole Way. $12 advance, $16 day of show. 8 p.m. 232-3230. abilenebarandlounge.com; deadhorses.net.

RPO with Fabien Gabiel

THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, AT 7:30 P.M. SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, AT 8 P.M. KODAK HALL AT EASTMAN THEATRE, 26 GIBBS STREET $30-$115 | RPO.ORG; FABIENGABEL.COM [ CLASSICAL ] The RPO’s Philharmonics series begins

the new year this week with some ballet without dancing, some opera without singing, and some Beethoven.

Popular guest conductor Fabien Gabel (pictured) — the music director of the Quebec Symphony Orchestra — is joined by Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen, making his Rochester debut with Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto.

This unusually programmed concert winds up with a suite from Prokofiev’s mega-opera “War and Peace” — colorful, melodic, and brand-new to the RPO’s repertoire.

— BY DAVID RAYMOND

Tammi Savoy & The Chris Casello Combo FRIDAY, JANUARY 17 ABILENE BAR & LOUNGE, 153 LIBERTY POLE WAY 8 P.M. | $10 ADVANCE, $15 DAY OF SHOW ABILENEBARANDLOUNGE.COM MISSTAMMISAVOY.COM [ ROCKABILLY ] With a voice like Laverne Baker’s, Chicago-

based singer Tammi Savoy’s take on R&B and rock ’n’ roll sticks to the cleaner side of things. That’s not to say you won’t hear her growl ferocious and purr salacious a time or two, but the real swingin’ diablo is guitarist Chris Casello, who bops, thumps, bangs, and twangs all over the neck. The combination of these two talents might just ignite the joint.

— BY FRANK DE BLASE

PHOTO BY STÉPHANE BOURGEOIS

An Evening in Granada

The guitar music of Spain Saturday, March 21, 2020 The Hochstein Performance Hall

www.jasonvieaux.eventbright.com • Tickets on sale now 14 CITY JANUARY 15 - 21, 2020

Grammy Award winner Jason Vieaux

[ ALBUM REVIEWS ]

[ WED., JANUARY 15 ]

Baker Street

ACOUSTIC/FOLK

‘Baker Street’ Self-released bakerstreetmus.com

see a band. Trying to describe a band like Kids in the Basement is fun, too, but a little more complicated. These guys are a jam band without the annoying bits. It’s a little funky, without throwing a wrench into the whole rockin’ apparatus or putting a kink in the four-on-the-floor drive. This is a fresh take on the bar band aesthetic, and should be dug firsthand. Ocular Panther and Continental Drifft will also play.

You really ought to get to know the promising Rochester soul quintet Baker Street. This group of Nazareth College musicians — led by singersongwriter and guitarist Karis Gregory, and producer-keyboardist Matt Ziegler — has created the most polished debut album I’ve heard in a long time. The band subtly blends elements of funk, jazz, R&B, and reggae with its brand of smoothgrooving, mid-tempo soul music.

Gregory’s tenor vocals are rich and warm, with just the right amounts of earthiness and ethereality. The vibes are laid-back, and the songs have plenty of indelible, danceable hooks. Highlights include the carefree, solo-filled eponymous track, the retro-jazzy “Way Too Long,” the reggaeinflected “Fantasize” and its subsequent, subterranean interlude, and the sweet, straightforward love song “Ladybird.”

Baker Street plays its album release show, along with Free Casino, on Saturday, January 18, 9 p.m. at UUU Art Collective, 153 State Street. $5. 490-0115. facebook.com/bakerstreetmus.

— BY FRANK DE BLASE

— BY DANIEL J. KUSHNER

Kids in the Basement FRIDAY, JANUARY 17 BUG JAR, 219 MONROE AVENUE 9 P.M. | $5 | BUGJAR.COM FACEBOOK.COM/KIDSINTHEBASEMENTBAND [ ROCK ] Playing in a band is supposed to be fun. So is going to

Shep Treasure

Eric Andersen THURSDAY, JANUARY 16 ABILENE BAR & LOUNGE, 153 LIBERTY POLE WAY 7:30 P.M. | $22 ADVANCE, $25 DAY OF SHOW ABILENEBARANDLOUNGE.COM ERICANDERSEN.COM [ FOLK ] Eric Andersen was one of a handful of singer-

songwriters to emerge in the 1960s with anthems that seemed emblematic of a generation. His best-known song, “Thirsty Boots,” is about the civil rights activists known as the Freedom Riders, but he also wrote poetic tunes like “Violets of Dawn,” “Dusty Box Car Wall,” and “Blue River.” When Andersen takes the stage at Abilene, he’ll be accompanied by percussionist Jagoda and multi-instrumentalist Eric Lee, who has played with Peter Rowan, The Kennedys, and a host of other bluegrass, folk and Americana artists. Jeff Riales will open the show.

— BY RON NETSKY

‘Shep Treasure’ Self-released secretbandcamp.bandcamp.com

There’s a warm glow that radiates from Shep Treasure’s newly released, self-titled EP. It’s the kind of warmth that you find in disquieting times. Maybe it’s okay when things are not okay — when all that’s left are ghosts of perceptions you once agonized over. All seven songs, written

by Sabrina Nichols, are unsettling but somehow homey. Nichols is an established songwriter with a growing repertoire of bedroom-pop, going back to her time in the all-too-short-lived band, Slumbers.

More than just bedroom tapes, however, this is a full-band, full-of-sound EP. Jangly ’90s guitar, melancholic vocal lines, and quick-witted lyrics fit snugly in a four-piece format. Everything about ‘Shep Treasure’ is done with heart and crystalclear intention. It’s honest and raw, but it’s also damn fun to bop along to. This EP should be required listening for everyone’s winter survival playlist.

— BY KATIE MOREY

Liza Bridgman, Adrianna Noone. Abilene, 153 Liberty

Pole Way. 232-3230.

7:30 p.m. $5.

Matthew O’Brian, Joe Kaplan.

Temple Bar & Grille, 109 East Ave. 232-6000. 9 p.m.

Rochester Folkus. Downstairs Cabaret Theatre, 20 Windsor St. 325-4370. 7 p.m. Dave Shaver, Niki Roosa, Vern Lindberg, Bill Thomas. $10.

AMERICANA

Tyler Westcott & Friends.

Little Café, 240 East Ave. 258-0400. 7 p.m.

The Observers.

COUNTRY

Sean Patrick McGraw.

Dinosaur BBQ, 99 Court St. 325-7090. 9 p.m.

DJ/ELECTRONIC

Slander, Midnight Tyrannosaurus, Shadient.

Main Street Armory, 900 E. Main St. 232-3221. 8 p.m. $30.

JAZZ

The Rita Collective. 80W, 7 Lawrence St. 730-4046.

7 p.m.

POP/ROCK

Advance Base, Sinai Vessel.

Small World Books, 425 North St. 7 p.m. $5-$10 suggested.

[ THU., JANUARY 16 ] Holly Near. Downstairs

Cabaret at Winton Place, 3450 Winton Place. 325-4370.

7p.m. $30.

JAVA. Little Café, 240 East Ave. 258-0400. 7 p.m. continues on page 17

rochestercitynewspaper.com CITY 15

Music church, and no longer sermonizes about Jesus at the now-defunct Cornerstone Festival, as he did in the mid-2000s. And of course, Weiss is no longer in his early 20’s.

The quintet is anchored by Aaron Weiss and two other founding members: Rick Mazzota is still a ferocious Tasmanian devil of a drummer; guitarist Mike Weiss, Aaron’s brother, is still churning out angst-ridden but melodic riffs. And over top of the din, Aaron is still screaming existential poetry that draws Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faith traditions into one spiritual saga of seeking.

As mewithoutYou enters 2020, the final year of its existence before it amicably disbands for life’s next chapters, Aaron Weiss hopes he’s changed from the person he was when the band began. “I had either a presumption that I had discovered certain answers or an expectation that I would discover them,” he says, “and I needed to know things or understand things.

And that’s become less and less over time, to the point where I’ve even found some of those so-called understandings to be a hindrance in my progress in that path.”

A consistent element throughout mewithoutYou’s seven-album discography is a palpable level of unease and discomfort, particularly when it comes to matters of faith and doubt. “I have more peace when I don’t carry around this big rolodex of answers,” Aaron says. But what he calls his “obsession with God, or questions of morality, Truth” has been a constant.

THE

D ODE BR W LASE ITH FRANK W

‘No one will ever know’ “If All Rochester Wrote the Same Song” is nothing short of brilliant. This year, participants were instructed to write a song including the phrase “No one will ever know” in the title or in the song itself. Rochester songwriting nobility and lyrical glitterati set to the task like rabid dogs. Friday night’s show at Hochstein Performance Hall was a near-sellout.

Now, I could go on and on about the various performers, 21 in all. But there are far too many highlights to shine a single light on. Ross Bracco did a treatment of the song with stringed accompaniment that was heartbreakingly gorgeous. We’re talking goosebump territory here. The Lipker Sisters were dyn-o-mite, with the Lipker Mom filling in for an absentee sister. Jeff Riales’s voice boomed deep, and is suitable for weddings, funerals, dancing with your sweetie, or even ordering Chinese takeout.

My WXXI homeboy Jeff Spevak waxed weary, Beat, and blue. A personal highlight was Dick Storms, with the phrase “We storm the dance floor waxing Argentine,” among other notable quips. Storms appeared on stage with two dancers, cutting a tango rug that came off sublime and subtly salacious.

All were supported by a crackerjack house band that brought the music home.

But this wasn’t just about the music. It was about the community as a whole. No one will ever know — unless we keep this up.

Frank De Blase is CITY’s music writer. He can be reached at frank@rochester-citynews.com.

Visit rochestercitynewspaper.com for an extended version of The F Word every week.

Speaking over the phone from somewhere in Idaho, where he was caulking a bookshelf in a

mewithoutYou is (clockwise from left) bassist Greg Jehanian, guitarist Brandon Beaver, drummer Rick Mazzota, singer Aaron Weiss, and guitarist Mike Weiss. PHOTO BY AMIE SANTAVICCA

Conversion experience mewithoutYou WITH THRICE, DRUG CHURCH, AND HOLY FAWN TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4 ANTHOLOGY, 336 EAST AVENUE 6:30 P.M. | $25 | AGES 16 AND UP ANTHOLOGYLIVE.COM MEWITHOUTYOU.COM [ FEATURE ] BY DANIEL J. KUSHNER

16 CITY JANUARY 15 - 21, 2020

A lot has changed for mewithoutYou since forming 20 years ago, but the Philadelphia post-hardcore band has always defied neat explanation. mewithoutYou no longer tours in a bus that ran on vegetable oil collected from restaurant dumpsters. The soft-spoken but still-vocal frontman Aaron Weiss seems more reluctant to speak from the stage against the hypocritical materialism of the Evangelical

tiny house he’s built for his wife and children, Aaron Weiss speaks freely about hope and gaining new perspective. “In order to make room for what’s new, I have to let go of what’s old,” he says. “And so it’s this constant dying and rebirth, or a constant sort of emptying out, in hopes of being refilled with something fresh or deeper or fuller.”

These words echo the sentiment of the chorus in “Paper-Hanger,” from mewithoutYou’s 2004 sophomore album “Catch for Us the Foxes” — an enduring, still explosive exemplar of the band’s signature style: “I was dead, then alive/ She was like wine turned to water then turned back to wine/ You can pour us out, we won’t mind/ A scratch around the mouth of the glass/ My life is no longer mine.”

The overt spiritual imagery in mewithoutYou’s music isn’t surprising when you consider Mike and Aaron Weiss’s eclectic religious upbringing. The two brothers were

CLASSICAL

Eastman at Washington Square Lunchtime Concert. First

born to an Episcopalian mother and a Jewish father, who had both converted to Sufism, a form of Islamic mysticism. But while Mike says his background helped him to “keep an open mind,” spirituality doesn’t enter into the music-making equation for him, as it does for Aaron, the band’s lyricist. “When I’m creating the music,” Mike says. “I’m not thinking about God or, I’m not inspired by my faith, or anything like that.”

And after more than 20 years of making music together, Aaron’s vocal approach to the songs — whether he’s yelling, singing, or screaming — still surprises Mike. “Regardless of what my expectations were, his talent usually comes in and makes it great,” Mike says of his brother. “I don’t ever feel disappointed at the end of the day, when I’ve had time to really digest what the song is. The process of unlearning what I thought it was is definitely real, because we spend so much time with the instrumentals before they have vocals on them.”

In addition to “Catch for Us the Foxes” and the band’s subsequent album “Brother, Sister,” Mike Weiss cites the band’s two most recent full-length records, “Pale Horses” and “[Untitled],” as containing that identifiable mewithoutYou guitar sound. When Aaron is asked which of the band’s songs he is proudest of, he points to “[Untitled]” and its related EP of the same name, “which are so much fresher to me and came out of a place that’s closer to where I am now,” he says.

Despite’s Aaron’s connection to the “[Untitled]” songs — what will likely constitute the band’s last newly recorded output — the music he writes and the music he enjoys listening to are two very different things.

“I don’t listen to our music, to put it plainly,” he says, “and I don’t listen to music that sounds like our music.” Far from the world of hardcore and rock, he inherited his father’s taste in the music of Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel. Aaron went on to listen to indie acts such as The Smiths, Neutral Milk Hotel, Joanna Newsom, Sufjan Stevens, and Will Oldham.

Looking ahead to life after mewithoutYou, Mike Weiss is unsure what he’ll do next, but he knows he wants to continue with music in some way. “What makes me feel most like

myself is definitely playing the guitar,” he says, “and I feel most comfortable in that space and creating and performing, or just sharing or talking about music.”

Aaron Weiss, who has a doctoral degree from Temple University in urban education and completed his dissertation on Islamic education, is looking to get back into academia, ideally to teach at a university.

“That happens to be a time in my life that I felt very alive and very fulfilled,” he says, “was when I was living basically a solitary life — researching, reading, writing.”

“Actually, I should even mention it now,” he says, “if anybody knows of a college of education looking to hire somebody, we are open to traveling.”

In addition to its forthcoming winter tour — playing in support of Thrice and the 15th anniversary of its album “Vheissu” — mewithoutYou will embark on a spring tour, playing “Brother, Sister” at shows in its entirety, before an official farewell tour in the fall.

Aaron Weiss says he had always wanted mewithoutYou to achieve some kind of moral transcendence. That goal still exists, but not as he had originally thought.

“Rather than wanting us to be unified around some religious ideas or some moral lifestyle or teachings,” Aaron says. “I’ve come to realize it would be sufficient if I would get my own life in order: if I would get my own heart straight, if I would clear out my mind from all the judgmental thoughts I have about the other guys in the band or people who come to talk after the shows, or my own impatience and my own dissatisfaction.”

“I spent so many years trying to get the other guys in the group to catch fire with what has been lit within me, to share the vision that I’ve been shown, or that seems so clear to me about a different, more radical, or more beautiful way to live than the standard patterns of the world, so to speak,” he says.

“But I’ve given up on that. At least, I’m trying very much to give up on the urge to try to convert others — even within my own group — to convert others to my way of seeing or being, and rather allow myself to be converted to accepting everybody as they are.”

Daniel Kushner is CITY’s music editor. He can be reached at dkushner@rochester-citynews.com.

Universalist Church of Rochester, 150 Clinton Ave S. esm.rochester. edu/lunchtime. 12:15-12:45 p.m.

ECMS Faculty Showcase.

RPO: Gabel Conducts Beethoven.

Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, 60 Gibbs St. 7:30 p.m. Preconcert chat 1 hr before showtime. $30-$115.

Third Thursday Concert: The Art of the Fantasy. Memorial Art

Gallery, 500 University Ave. 276-8900. 7:30 p.m. Nathan Laube, organ. Works by Byrd, van Noordt, Sweelinck, L. Couperin. w/ gallery admission.

Visual Music v2. Kilbourn Hall, 26 Gibbs St. 274-3000.

7:30 p.m.

JAZZ

Mel Henderson & Joe Chiappone Duo. Via Girasole Wine Bar, 3

Schoen Pl. Pittsford. 641-0340.

7 p.m.

HIP-HOP/RAP

Ro$co, Lil bank, Flight Gawd Luxxi, Faustrhome, ¢el, Quincy Vibes. Bug Jar, 219 Monroe Ave. bugjar.com. 9 p.m. $15/$20.

POP/ROCK

Ben Rossi & Friends. Three

Heads Brewing, 186 Atlantic Ave. 244-1224. 8 p.m. $10.

[ FRI., JANUARY 17 ] ACOUSTIC/FOLK The Fog. Via Girasole Wine Bar, 3 Schoen Pl. Pittsford. 641-0340.

7 p.m.

Head to the Roots. Fairport Brewing Co., 1044 University Ave. 481-2237. 8 p.m.

Larry Fox. Greenhouse Café, 2271 E. Main St. 270-8603. 7 p.m.

CLASSICAL

Eastman Organ Community Concert. Episcopal Church of the Ascension, 2 Riverside Street.

585-458-5423. 7 p.m.

Music for Transformation: A Criminal Justice Initiative Impacting the Lives of the Incarcerated. UR Rush Rhees

Library, 755 Library Rd. 2755804. 2 p.m. Decoda Residency.

DJ/ELECTRONIC

Holiday Hangover Silent Disco.

The Penthouse, 1 East Ave, 11th floor. 775-2013. 9 p.m. $10/$15.

SE2 Silent Disco. Photo City Improv, 543 Atlantic Ave. 451-0047. 9 p.m. $10/$15.

JAZZ

The Annie Wells Band. Little Café,

240 East Ave. 258-0400. 8 p.m.

rochestercitynewspaper.com CITY 17

Music

Singer-songwriter Eric Andersen is a kind of folk music prophet, whose music has been performed by Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt, and Pete Seeger. PHOTO BY PAOLO BRILLO

The soothsayer [ COMMENTARY ] BY JEFF SPEVAK

At age 76, Eric Andersen considers himself to be in “The Danger Zone.”

“Half the people I knew are not around anymore,” he says. “Townes is gone, Lou Reed is gone, Rick Danko is gone, Janis is gone.

Joni, almost.

“You can’t argue with gravity and health.”

The list of intriguing people Andersen has been around would take up paragraphs here.

Bob Dylan, of course. Dylan recorded one of Andersen’s songs, “Thirsty Boots,” about civil rights and the Freedom Riders of the ’60s. If Dylan does one of your songs, you must be doing something right.

Andersen grew up in Snyder, a town near Buffalo, but as a songwriter he emerged from the Greenwich Village scene. Now he’s 18 CITY JANUARY 15 - 21, 2020

talking by phone from his home in The Netherlands. But he hasn’t turned his back on the United States.

That revolution-loaded coil of ’60s songwriters circling our social consciousness brings him to Rochester for a 7:30 p.m. show on Thursday, January 16, at Abilene Bar & Lounge. Rochester’s Jeff Riales opens the night.

Andersen’s released more than 25 albums. Johnny Cash, The Grateful Dead, Fairport Convention, Linda Ronstadt, and Pete Seeger have all recorded his songs. “I’m very interested in creatives, and probably I feel much more akin to artists than anybody else,” Andersen says. “They’re like a kind of, how can I explain it? A virtual family.

They’re always around, they’re always on hand, and fortunately I’ve been lucky to work with those people.”

Andersen seems to read a lot. He wrote a critical piece called “The Danger Zone,” published in a collection called “Naked Lunch @ 50: Anniversary Essays,” on the classic surrealistic novel by William Burroughs. “He patently had probably one of the greatest predictive minds in the 20th century,” Andersen says. “I mean, he foresaw a lot of stuff, and he included these insights in his books. And I think people got titillated by these insights and they had a hunch: ‘Yeah, he’s on the right track. This could be true.’”

Indeed, “Naked Lunch” was published in 1959, but characters addicted to oxycodone seem all too familiar today. And the city of Interzone, where “Nothing is true, everything is permitted” has the now-familiar totalitarian truth of a government whose every statement seems a lie.

“And his humor,” Andersen says of Burroughs. “I’m very interested in writers.

A lot of people think that writers like, for example, Kafka or James Jones or, I’m trying to think of other writers — Leonard Cohen, for example — people think of them like they’re almost so heavy and complex and hard to get into. But basically they were our literary comedians. They were the ones who really had the humor. Hemingway, he had sarcastic drollness.”

But there’s nothing funny about Andersen’s song, “Rain Falls Down in Amsterdam,” which starts with the Nazis and warns “The Fourth Reich’s coming, baby.”

“It’s about the rise in Fascism, which I predicted, like, 30 years ago,” he says. “A lot of times you’re like soothsayers.”

Soothsayer. We should be listening a little more closely.

“It’s tough now to put your finger on things,” Andersen says, “because, you know, with the news cycle 24/7, by the time you want to write something, something else happens, it usurps the thing you’re writing on.”

So he thinks broadly: “Climate change, populist evil, if you will, where people just forget their humanity and just protect themselves out of fear.”

“Negligence,” Andersen says. “Purposeful destruction. Greed, the almighty buck coming over the humanity of the world.” Dwelling on climate change has led Andersen to a new song, “Crime Scenes,” as we watch Australia reduced to cinders.

He’s lived in The Netherlands for 15 years.

What’s its look like to Andersen, as he gazes across the Atlantic Ocean?

“What I see is pretty frightening for people because it’s the Wild West, man,” he says. “Anything’s game. You’re in the wrong place, take the wrong turn, and you’re gonna take a bullet. You don’t have that in Europe.

You don’t have that feeling in Europe, or other places.

So, he’s frightened. For us?

“Aren’t you?”

Jeff Spevak is WXXI’s Arts & Life editor and reporter. He can be reached at jspevak@wxxi.org.

ACROSS t H E UN I V ERSE is Jeff Spevak’s

weekly arts column. To read more, visit rochestercitynewspaper.com.

[ SAT., JANUARY 18 ] ACOUSTIC/FOLK Bryan Dwyer. Fairport Brewing Co., 99 S Main St. Fairport.

678-6728. 6:30 p.m.

David O. B-Side, 5 Liftbridge Lane. Fairport. 315-3003.

5-7 p.m.

Mike Pullano. Via Girasole Wine Bar, 3 Schoen Pl. Pittsford.

641-0340. 7 p.m.

Sam Kaiser. Boulder Coffee, 100 Alexander St. 454-7140. 7-9 p.m.

AMERICANA PHOTO BY AARON WINTERS

The Lonely Ones. Little Café,

TRADITIONAL FOLK | ALYSSA RODRIGUEZ

Rochester fiddle player Alyssa Rodriguez is comfortable playing in bands of various genres — whether it be the retro-jazz outfit Gregory Street Vagabonds or Irish rock band Sisters of Murphy.

But Rodriguez seems most at home as a folk music specialist.

While she is well-versed in Irish folk music, she’s created her own local niche as a practitioner of the traditional Scandinavian folk style and the Swedish keyed fiddle, known as the nyckelharpa. The distinctive, reverberant sound that emanates from the instrument is worth hearing firsthand, and you’ll have two opportunities to do so this week. Rodriguez’s debut EP, “Chicory,” will be released this spring.

Alyssa Rodriguez will play on Saturday, January 18, 9 p.m. at The Spirit Room, 139 State Street. $5. 397-7595. facebook.com/TheSpiritRoomRochester; alyssarodriguezmusic.wixsite.com. Rodriguez will also give a nyckelharpa presentation on Monday, January 20, 7 p.m. hosted by the Rochester Guitar Club at Asbury Church’s Red Room, 1010 East Avenue. Free for Rochester Guitar Club and Golden Link members, $5 for non-members. rochesterguitaclub.com.

— BY DANIEL J. KUSHNER

Cousin Vinny. Salvatore’s

Pizzeria & Pub, 1217 Bay Rd. Webster. 671-9420. 7:30 p.m.

JAM BAND

Flying Boxcars. Sager Beer Works, 46 Sager Dr Suite E. 245-3006. 7:30 p.m.

The John Payton Project.

Johnny’s Pub, 1382 Culver Rd. 224-0990. 9 p.m.

POP/ROCK

The Living Room Session.

B-Side, 5 Liftbridge Lane.

Fairport. 315-3003. 8 p.m.

Open G. Bar Louie, 98 Greece Ridge Center Dr. 797-1054.

8 p.m.

Plan B. Dinosaur BBQ, 99 Court St. 325-7090. 10 p.m.

Silver Streak. Pineapple Jack’s, 485 Spencerport Rd. Gates.

247-5225. 9 p.m.

SIRSY, JUMBOshrimp. Iron Smoke Distillery, 111 Parce Ave Suite 5b. Fairport. 8 p.m.

Classic Albums Live: Led Zeppelin II. Kodak Center, 200 W. Ridge Rd. kodakcenter.com.

7:30 p.m. $20 & up.

Kevin Reed. B-Side, 5

Liftbridge Lane. Fairport.

315-3003. 5-7 p.m.

BLUES

East End Drifters. B-Side,

[ SUN., JANUARY 19 ] CLASSICAL Compline. Christ Church, 141 East Ave. 454-3878.

Going for Baroque. Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Ave. 276-8900. 1 & 3 p.m. .

Opera Guild of Rochester: Beat the Blahs. Temple B’rith Kodesh,

Rochester Classical Guitar: Paul Galbraith & Antonio Meneses.

26 Gibbs St. 274-3000. 7:30 p.m.

RPO: Gabel Conducts Beethoven.

Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, 60 Gibbs St. 8 p.m. Pre-concert chat 1 hr before showtime. $30-$115.

DJ/ELECTRONIC Army of Bass. Firehouse Saloon, 814 S. Clinton Ave. 319-3832. 10 p.m.

HIP-HOP/RAP

Usher vs Trey Songz. Water

Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, 597 East Ave. (646) 943-0746. 3 p.m. $15/$20.

JAZZ

The JAMbalaya Session. The

Spirit Room, 139 State St. 397-7595. 7:30 p.m. $5.

METAL

Black Sabbitch. Montage Music Hall, 50 Chestnut St. 232-1520.

8 p.m. Female Black Sabbath tribute. $15.

Street 2020, 204 N Water St. 471-8916. 7 p.m. $10/$20.

[ MON., JANUARY 20 ]

METAL

JAZZ

Call For the Priest, MoonChild. Montage Music

The Rita Collective. Little Café,

Hall, 50 Chestnut St. 2321520. 8 p.m. Judas Priets & Iron Maiden tributes. $10.

Goron, The Highest Leviathan, Alien Autopsy, Heathens.

Bug Jar, 219 Monroe Ave. bugjar.com. 9 p.m. $5.

POP/ROCK

Pearly, Beef Gordon, Le Cheetah. Small World Books,

PUNK/HARDCORE

Brewing, 186 Atlantic Ave. 244-1224. 7 p.m. $10.

Black Rock Zydeco. Harmony House, 58 East Main St. Webster. 8 p.m. Dance lessons 7:15pm. $10-$15.

CLASSICAL

Duo Montagnard. Hatch Hall,

REGGAE

The Medicinals. Three Heads

ZYDECO

2131 Elmwood Ave. 385-6971.

1 p.m. “Werther,” introduced

by Peter Dundas. Screening & docent talk series. $10.

Grille, 109 East Ave. 232-6000.

9 p.m.

R&B/ SOUL

Baker Street. Temple Bar &

Noble Vibes. Johnny’s Pub, 1382 Culver Rd. 224-0990.

8:30 p.m. $5.

5 Liftbridge Lane. Fairport.

315-3003. 8 p.m.

425 North St. 8 p.m. $5-$10 suggested.

Springer. Pineapple Jack’s, 485 Spencerport Rd. Gates.

247-5225. 9 p.m.

Teagan Ward. Sager Beer Works, 46 Sager Dr Suite E. 245-3006. 7:30 p.m.

Anonymous Willpower.

Abilene, 153 Liberty Pole Way. 232-3230. 5:30 p.m.

Chris Cady. Record Archive, 33 1/3 Rockwood St. 244-1210. 4-7 p.m.

240 East Ave. 258-0400. 8 p.m.

REGGAE

Clockmen, The Keelers, The Raye Black, Martin Freeman.

Photo City Improv, 543 Atlantic Ave. 451-0047. 7 p.m. Ravens Night for a Good Caws. $10.

240 East Ave. 258-0400. 7 p.m.

Smugtown Stompers & Carol Mulligan. Radisson Hotel, 175

Jefferson Rd. flowercityjazz.org.

6:30 p.m. $7/$12.

METAL

BROJOB, Hunt The Dinosaur, Left To Suffer. Montage Music Hall,

50 Chestnut St. 232-1520.

6:30 p.m. $16.

POP/ROCK Big Logic. Murph’s Irondequoit Pub, 155 Pattonwood Dr. 342-6780. 5:30 p.m.

[ TUE., JANUARY 21 ] ACOUSTIC/FOLK Spring Chickens. Little Café, 240 East Ave. 258-0400. 7 p.m.

CLASSICAL

Tuesday Pipes.. Christ Church,

141 East Ave. 454-3878. 12:10 p.m. Lunchtime concerts by Eastman organists. rochestercitynewspaper.com CITY 19

Comedy continually advocate. This is the thing that becomes exhausting. You have two jobs: you have a job you’ve been hired for, and then you have the job that you owe it to your people to do, and this is true whoever you are. Whatever your race is or your sexual orientation is or your gender or whatever, if there’s not enough of you, you start to advocate for people and you don’t get paid for those jobs. And people find it annoying when you bring it up all the time, as I’ve learned, but you just have to decide.

I got brought through the door by Chris Rock. He wouldn’t necessarily put it that way, but that’s exactly what happened. And so for me, I know enough about the history of our people to know that. Martin Luther King Jr. is one guy, he didn’t do it by himself.

I feel a responsibility to always be advocating and bringing more people through the door because a lot of times, I’ll be meeting about projects or things, and I’m aware that the only reason there’s multiple people of color in there is because I’m the one who advocated that they be there, otherwise I’d be in a room full of white people.

Comedian W. Kamau Bell visits Rochester this week to perform his stand-up show, “The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour.”

PHOTO BY JOHN NOWAK

Poking at politics “The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour” FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, AT 7:30 P.M. CALLAHAN THEATRE, NAZARETH COLLEGE ARTS CENTER, 4245 EAST AVENUE $45-$75 | 389-2170; ARTSCENTER.NAZ.EDU [ INTERVIEW ] BY CHRIS THOMPSON

W. Kamau Bell is a stand-up comedian and author who uses humor to shed light on serious issues of inequality in the U.S., in the vein of Dick Gregory and Richard Pryor before him. I first learned of him in 2007 when he released his first comedy album, “One Night Only,” and started performing his one-person show, “The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour.”

His work and success caught the attention of Chris Rock, who produced the show 20 CITY JANUARY 15 - 21, 2020

“Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell” for the FX and FXX networks from 2012 to 2013. After that, he produced two televised comedy specials: “Semi-Prominent Negro” for Showtime, and the follow-up “Private School Negro” for Netflix.

Bell is the host of CNN’s five-time Emmy winning docuseries, “United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell,” which will premiere its fifth season in April. Amid all of this, he still found the time to produce the long-running podcast, “Denzel Washington Is the Greatest Actor of All Time, Period,” and more recently, “Politically Re-Active,” a two-season podcast in which hosts Bell and Hari Kondabolu interview prominent news, political, and entertainment figures including Jake Tapper, Representative Pramila Jayapal, and S. E. Cupp.

Nazareth College will host Bell on January 17 as he presents “The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour.” CITY chatted with him in advance

of his visit, and I resisted the urge to fanboy for 45 straight minutes. Here’s an edited version of that conversation.

CITY: You’re a five-time Emmy winner for “United Shades of America.” And notably, during your acceptance speech for the most recent Emmy win, you called out in the industry for its lack of diversity. You admitted that even in your own show, sometimes there are not enough people of color and black folks behind the scenes of the show, behind the camera. And recently Orlando Jones and Gabrielle Union both got fired from the same production company, which seems symptomatic of a greater issue. What do you think it would take for the industry to change their attitudes about people of color, behind the scenes and in front of the camera?

W. KAMAU BELL: I think it’s important

that those of us who get in, and get some level of power and influence, bring other people through the door. And you have to

You got criticized hard for interviewing Klansmen and were accused of giving a platform to Richard Spencer. You never apologized for it, and now it looks like Spencer and others, like Milo Yiannopoulos, are losing their platforms. And a lot of comedians that have been peddling a lot of racist and homophobic things are losing their platforms after being exposed. So do you feel kind of vindicated for what you did?

I believe that I was not giving them a platform and I thought it was weird to get that criticism. Would I do things differently if knew then what I know now? I would do my entire life differently knowing what I know. But having said that, I just never bought into the idea that I was giving them a platform. I think a lot of people, especially in the wake of the election, a lot of people on the left got afraid; it was easier to criticize me than admit the fact that America is under siege, or that America is a scarier place than you believed it was. So it’s easier to criticize me than to go, “What does he want me to look at and how do I deal with that?”

So I just I felt like a little bit of a scapegoat.

As I’ve said before, giving the Klan a platform would be like, “Tonight on the United Shades: It’s the Klan! The Klan are going to host the show. I’m going to take a break!” Like backdoor pilots in the ‘70s and ‘80s for new sitcoms, a backdoor pilot for “The Klan Hour.”

But I do think that at some point, we’ve seen enough of that. And so every week I’m not going to meet with the Klan just because I think you need to see who the Klan is. I’m not going to meet. There are other shows and media that every week, it’s a new hateful person, and that’s not what I want to do.

And the thing about the Richard Spencer thing — it was clear to me that most people saw the commercial and didn’t see the show and then read articles about the commercial, because 80 percent of the show was about diversity through immigration. Opening our borders to refugees makes America a better country.

Nobody wrote an article about that.

Yeah, and it was only like five minutes of Spencer.

Yeah. And you can’t talk about the immigration and refugee stuff without talking about the forces in this country that are aligning against it. So to me you have to talk about both. It was fun to be attacked by the left for once. I was reading articles where some guy said, “W. Kamau Bell should’ve punched Richard Spencer in the face.”

Really, guy who wrote an article on the computer? Would you have done that? And also, no sense of the idea that, as a black man, if I punch a white guy the face on TV, then I’m separated from my family.

Now by the same token, with the Klan episode there was specific feedback from black folks who were like, “Why do we need to see this? We already know the Klan exists.”

Well, that is true that you do. But there are a lot of people who think this is a thing of the past, who need to be confronted by America’s current racism in all of its forms. Every episode has that, with some communities saying, “I already know this because this is my community.” But a larger section of people are like, “I didn’t know; I needed this.”

Your show has not only spotlighted reprehensible people but also positively spotlighted the Sikh and Gullah communities. Do you think artists and comedians have an important role in spotlighting diaspora communities?

I think that this is the kind of work I want to do. I don’t think everybody will do this.

I always think, especially as a comedian, we also get to pick what we want to talk about, and I’m not gonna sit here say, “Everybody has to do what I’m doing.” Because I think it’s a great thing that there’s a comedian out

there for everybody. There’s stuff out there for everybody. So I’m not going to say other people need to do this. I think the world needs all of it. I don’t only take in the kind of content that I make. I take in all sorts of things. I’m just grateful I live in a time when there are outlets like CNN doing this type of work. Because when I was coming up, I never could have imagined having a TV show on CNN. That was not a thing that existed. Certainly for a kid who wanted to be a comedian, because there was certainly not a comedian with a show on CNN. So I think for me, I just feel fortunate that I live at a time where this is an avenue for me.

Yeah, absolutely. I guess a few good things did happen this year. Or this century.

Yeah, but also that’s balanced out by the fact that this show is also like an indictment of America. But you know, so I’m glad that I live in a time where I could do a show where I get eight episodes a year to indict America for its sins!

Do you plan on shedding a spotlight on more little-known small diaspora communities?

Yeah, I think something we have to do every season is highlight communities that feel like they aren’t being understood well enough in mainstream channels. So, yeah, we are working on season five right now. We’ve got an episode about Iranian Americans of New York and an episode about Venezuelans in and around Miami. So those are two examples of communities. That’s one of the things, when we sit down and talk about the new season, we’re always looking for episodes like that, because I think people really appreciate those.

I really enjoy them because I get to learn a lot about communities I don’t know that much about and I think it’s something we do in a way that nobody else does.

Regarding “Finding Kamau,” in which you explored your genealogy, what would you say to folks who are suspicious of giving their DNA to an agency like that?

Certainly, I respect people’s cynicism around those things. But this is what I did. This is what it did for me. I think the reason why I did it was more about what it did for my parents and how I saw them react to the information. And for anybody who’s suspicious of that, I understand; also, you might want to take that smartphone out of your pocket. We make these choices all day long about what we will and won’t share.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t be suspicious.

I accept your suspicion of it, and there are things I won’t do in my life while I’ll do other things. So we’re all constantly linking everything to our Facebook pages which is also linked to our Instagram and also walking past 100,000 cameras a day. I just think for me, I made that judgment call based on what I thought it could do for me and my family.

super goofy and well-written and some of the greatest comedy writers that we have are on that show — from the perspective of being a comedian, I think it’s great. And from the perspective of liking sitcoms, I think it’s great. So that’s my favorite show right now.

But I mean, I also watch “Shark Tank,” so I don’t know what I’m talking about.

I mean, everybody’s gotta have a guilty pleasure.

And it looks like you found a lot of interesting things. There was a great-great uncle who was in the Civil War.

Yeah we had him, and we did find some activists, at least two people doing activism.

It was great. I was excited about this learning about the percentages of who I am, because I’m really curious about that stuff.

But for my parents, there are all these names that they’ve heard all their lives that they don’t really know who these people were.

And so they were excited to really sit down and engage and find out about who some of these people are. For black people in this country, the only way we’re going to find this stuff is if we really do the proper family digging through records and newspapers, because once you hit slavery, we’re all just property. It takes a lot. So for that, for the work they did, for that alone, I really appreciate it. It was worth it for me Yeah. After about two or three generations, there always seems to be a wall, specifically for black folks. Because once you hit the slave records, there are no names. They don’t care about ethnicity of the people. They don’t care about, you know, what region of Africa they came from.

Yeah. So I’m happy that we have these organizations, and there are other organizations other than Ancestry.com who will do the work and help you find that stuff out.

Do you have any other shows besides your own show that you would suggest people watch? Is there anything you’re interested in right now?

Well, I was in the middle of production. So I haven’t seen anything in a while.

I mean, my favorite show on TV is “The Good Place.” That’s my happy place. I grew up with Ted Danson on TV with “Cheers.”

I’m a big fan of all the people on “The Good Place.” To have a show on network television that is talking about ethics — and it is also

Yeah. And it’s done in an hour. And there’s not, “Next week on ‘Shark Tank’….” No, it’s over, and you don’t have to see those people anymore.

You traveled to Africa. Do you have any tips for people who want to travel to Africa?

I went to Kenya, so I certainly feel like I only know about Kenya. If you can, go on a safari, even if it seems to kind of old school and weird. It really was amazing to be in a tiny vehicle and see lions walking around you, and giraffes. You may think, “I’ve already been to a zoo,” but you can’t really prepare yourself for it.

Also for me, it’s such a different experience to be at a place where you just see black faces everywhere at all levels. It’s like the way DC used to be before gentrification.

I was excited to go back with my kids. For me, I think getting out of the country — and I haven’t done enough of this — but it’s just, being in a different airport out of the country. I think the more we in our lives can have that feeling of, “I don’t understand any of this,” the more you expand the idea of what is possible. Then things start to be less weird to you just because you haven’t experienced them. Just like the thing we talked about earlier, the big problem with this country is that people think their corner of the country is the country, and then when they see someone doing something else, they go, “That’s wrong, I don’t do it that way.”

That’s just not helpful.

An extended version of this interview is available online at rochestercitynewspaper.com.

Chris Thompson is a freelance writer for CITY. Feedback on this article can be directed to becca@rochester-citynews.com.

rochestercitynewspaper.com CITY 21

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[ OPENING ] Frontispace @ Art & Music Library, 755 Library Rd. Colleen Buzzard: Granularities. Jan. 15-Feb. 21. Through Feb 21.

273-2267.

Pat Rini Rohrer Gallery, 71 S Main St. Canandaigua.

Emerging Artists & Their Mentors. Jan. 18-Feb. 22.

Reception Jan 18, 5-7pm.

394-0030.

RIT Bevier Gallery, 90 Lomb Memorial Dr., Booth Bldg 7A. Start Here Scholastic Art Exhibition. Mondays-Saturdays.

Reception & awards: Jan 17, 5-7pm. 475-2646.

Williams Gallery at First Unitarian Church, 220 S Winton Rd. Maureen Outlaw Church, Phyllis Bryce Ely, Anne McCune: Seeking Beauty.

Mondays-Fridays. Reception Jan 17, 6-8pm. Through Mar 2. 271-9070.

Art Events [ THU., JANUARY 16 ] The Collecting Series: Katherine Reid. 7 p.m. Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Ave. 276-8900 w/ gallery admission.

DeTOUR: MAG HeARTthrobs.

6 p.m. Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Ave. 276-8900 $12. [ FRI., JANUARY 17 ] Bowie Birthday Bash. 6 p.m.

Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Ave. 276-8900 $10. [ SAT., JANUARY 18 ] Gallery Opening Celebration.

1-4 p.m. Pittsford Fine Art, 4 N Main St . Pittsford 662-5579.

Comedy [ THU., JANUARY 16 ] Trevor Wallace. 7:30 p.m.

Comedy @ the Carlson, 50 Carlson Rd $20-$50. 4266339. [ FRI., JANUARY 17 ] Unleashed! Improv. 8 p.m.

Special Guest: Thank You Kiss.

Blackfriars Theatre, 795 E. Main St $12/$15. 454-1260.

Dance Events [ SUN., JANUARY 19 ] Bolshoi Ballet: Raymonda. noon. Little Theatre, 240 East Ave. Screening from 2017-18 season $18/$20. thelittle.org.

Theater 2 Pages / 2 Voices. Tue., Jan. 21, 8-9 p.m. Writers & Books, 740 University Ave wab.org.

Anastasia. Tue., Jan. 21, 7:30 p.m. Auditorium Theatre, 885 E. Main St. $38-$90. rbtl.org.

Lillian. Jan. 16-18, 7:30 p.m. and Sun., Jan. 19, 2 p.m.

MuCCC, 142 Atlantic Ave $10. muccc.org.

22 CITY JANUARY 15 - 21, 2020

ART BY JIE LI

ART | ‘SPRAWLING VISIONS’

Located in the Finger Lakes village of Clifton Springs, Main Street Arts is a not-for-profit gallery that maintains an open call for art year-round. Its first show of the new decade, titled ‘Sprawling Visions,’ pulls together works submitted from 26 artists from around the country, over a three-year period.

Executive director and curator Bradley Butler has assembled the show based around visual cues rather than a conceptual or metaphorical theme, with a result that is moody, provocative, and perfect for a winter afternoon.

A reception will be held on Saturday, January 18, from 4 to 7 p.m. “Sprawling Visions” is on display from Saturday, January 11, through Friday, February 14, and gallery hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Main Street Arts, 20 West Main Street, Clifton Springs. 315-462-0210; mainstreetartscs.org.

— BY DECLAN RYAN

Magic in the Making. Mon., Jan. 20, 4-7 p.m. Geva Theatre, 75 Woodbury Blvd Behind-the-scenes tours gevatheatre.org.

Newsies. Fri., Jan. 17, 7:30 p.m., Sat., Jan. 18, 7:30 p.m. and Sun., Jan. 19, 2 p.m. Hale Auditorium, Roberts Wesleyan College, 2301 Westside Dr $17-$23. roberts.edu/clc.

Rochester’s Rich History: The Words of Martin Luther King & Malcolm X. Sat., Jan. 18, 1 p.m. Central Library, KuslerCox Auditorium, 115 South Ave 428-8370.

Slow Food. Wed., Jan. 15, 7:30 p.m., Thu., Jan. 16, 7:30 p.m., Fri., Jan. 17, 8 p.m., Sat., Jan. 18, 2 & 8 p.m., Sun., Jan. 19, 2 & 7 p.m. and Tue., Jan. 21, 6 p.m. Geva Theatre, 75 Woodbury Blvd $25-$71. gevatheatre.org.

Community Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day [ SUN., JANUARY 19 ] 49th Annual MLK Celebration: Keeping the Dream Alive.

4 p.m. First Community Interfaith Institute, Inc., 219 Hamilton St. 461-0379.

[ MON., JANUARY 20 ] 39th Annual MLK Celebration.

11:30 a.m. URMC, Whipple Auditorium, 601 Elmwood Ave. Day of Compassion. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Strong National Museum of Play, 1 Manhattan Sq. $16.

263-2700.

Day of Dance Classes. 11 a.m.3:45 p.m. Garth Fagan Dance, 50 Chestnut St Registration advised 454-3260.

MLK Day Community-Wide Celebration. 9-11 a.m. Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, 60 Gibbs St. MLK Memorial Service. 10 a.m.

Smith Opera House, 82 Seneca St . Geneva thesmith.org.

Activism [ THU., JANUARY 16 ] Roe v Wade: 47 Years of Life Changing Progress for All. 7 p.m. First Unitarian Church, 220 S Winton Rd Toni Van Pelt, National NOW President 512-8801. [ FRI., JANUARY 17 ] Women March Weekend.

Through Jan 19. Rally & march Jan 18, 12:30pm.

Trinity Park, 27 Fall St . Seneca Falls womenmarchsenecafalls. com.

Data & Disruption: How One Organization Overcame the Odds to Change the Game for Criminal Justice Reform.

6:30 p.m. The Harley School, 1981 Clover St Amy Bach, Measures for Justice.

Day Off ZooCamp. 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Seneca Park Zoo, 2222 St. Paul St $45/$55. 336-7213.

Magic Show with Chris Wilkinson. 11 a.m. Penfield Public Library, 1985 Baird Rd. Ages 4+ 340-8720.

Kids Events

Recreation

[ WED., JANUARY 15 ] Book & Beast. 11 a.m Seneca Park Zoo, 2222 St. Paul St 336-7200.

DC Super Heroes: Discover Your Superpowers. Through Jan. 19. Strong National Museum of Play, 1 Manhattan Sq. $16. 263-2700.

Wildlife Action Crew: Elephants & Poaching. 6-8 p.m. Seneca Park Zoo, 2222 St. Paul St Ages 13-18 $45/$50. 336-7213. [ THU., JANUARY 16 ] Art & Story Stroll: Arctic Animals. 11 a.m. Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Ave. 276-8900 $15. [ SAT., JANUARY 18 ] Kids Carnival. 3-5 p.m.

Canandaigua YMCA, 32 N Main St . Canandaigua canandaigua-ymca.org.

TYKEs: A Winnie the Pooh Birthday Tail. 11 a.m. & 2 p.m. JCC Hart Theatre, 1200 Edgewood Ave. $18/$20.

461-2000. [ SUN., JANUARY 19 ] Lunar New Year Celebration.

2 p.m. Brighton Memorial Library, 2300 Elmwood Ave. 784-5310. [ MON., JANUARY 20 ] Blackstorytelling League of Rochester. 11 a.m. Brighton Memorial Library, 2300 Elmwood Ave. 784-5310.

[ MON., JANUARY 20 ] Snowshoe Excursion. 12-1 p.m.

Seneca Meadows Education Center, 1977 State Rte 414 . Seneca Falls Reservations required (315) 539-5624.

Lectures

[ SAT., JANUARY 18 ] Beginner Birder Trip: Songbird Trail. 9:30 a.m. Mendon Ponds Nature Center, Douglas Rd. Saturday Snowshoeing. 1-3 p.m.

Helmer Nature Center, 154 Pinegrove Ave $3/$5, $15/family.

336-3035.

[ THU., JANUARY 16 ] History Happy Hour: Witches & Witchcraft. 6 p.m. Nox, 302 N Goodman St $22. 318-2713. [ SAT., JANUARY 18 ] Saturday Morning Garden Series: Wetlands. 11 a.m.noon. Tinker Nature Park, 1525 Calkins Rd 359-7044.

[ SUN., JANUARY 19 ] Diane Zielinski: Walking the Coast of Portugal. 2:30 p.m.

Penfield Public Library, 1985 Baird Rd. 340-8720.

Sunday Forum. 9:50 a.m.

Downtown Presbyterian Church, 121 N. Fitzhugh St. Family Panel: Further Explorations in Gender & Spirituality 325-4000. [ TUE., JANUARY 21 ] Tuesday Topics. 12:12-12:52 p.m Children’s Literacy.

Central Library, Kate Gleason Auditorium, 115 South Ave. ffrpl.org.

Literary Events [ THU., JANUARY 16 ] Book Discussion Group. 7 p.m.

Penfield Public Library, 1985 Baird Rd. Gail Honeyman’s “Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine” 340-8720.

Iron Book Discussion Group.

3 p.m. Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” Irondequoit Library, 1290 Titus Ave 336-6062.

Just Poets Presents. Third Thursday of every month, 7 p.m. Nox, 302 N Goodman St 318-2713.

[ SAT., JANUARY 18 ] Edgar Allen Poe Night. 7 p.m.

Nox, 302 N Goodman St 3182713. [ SUN., JANUARY 19 ] Poetry Slam: I Had a Dream. 6 p.m. Water Street 2020, 204 N Water St $20-$35. 471-8916.

Rochester Poets: Bruce Bennett.

2-5 p.m. Legacy at Cranberry Landing, 300 Cranberry Landing Dr. 260-9005.

Telling The Tale: Privilege.

4:30-7:30 p.m. Nox, 302 N Goodman St $7. 318-2713.

In Memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "I have a dream that my ...children will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

We salute the following students for the example they have set with their lives in school and in the community by living the ideals of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King Recipients 2019 #4 - Symia Wyatt

#42 - Liam Henderson

East Upper School - Suemoddy Handy

#5 - Monae Quinn

#43 - Esther Laracuente

#7 - Ashton Jones

#44 - Anthony Bridges

Integrated Arts and Technology H.S. - Melody Confesor

#8 - Jamani Mitchell

#45 - Jhmari Mitchell

Leadership Academy for Young Men - Jourdan Hill

#9 - Carlos Gaston Lopez

#50 - Ayushma Rai

Monroe High School - Eladio Pagan

#10 - Eurasya Lewis

#52 - Shane Beckford

#12 - Alexa Pimentel

#53 - Ava Corria

Rochester Early College International H.S. - Naseer Bradley

#15 - Roquell Camacho

#57 - Jo’be Martell

#16 - Isha Mohamed

#58 (Elementary) - Yuan Soto

#20 - Joshua Rosano

East Lower School - Sarah Adams

#23 - Matthew Howland

Northwest Junior High - Phoebe King

Vanguard Collegiate High School - Identity Lee

#29 - Armando Hussein & Fernando Hassan

Rochester International Academy (Elementary) - Ganaf Ahmed

Wilson Magnet Commencement Academy - Duane Henry

#33 - Joshua Rosado

#58 (Secondary) - Noah Teague

#35 - Jadier Santos

Bilingual Language and Literacy Academy - Nasmil Campusano

#39 - Lanell Simmons

Celebrating 37 years of outstanding students!

Rochester International Academy (Secondary) - Mpenzi Yohana School Without Walls - Diavonte Allen

The 37th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. tribute awards ceremony will be held at Wilson Foundation Academy, on January 21, 2020 at 6:30 pm. The Public is invited.

Rochester Teachers Association Human Relations Committee rochestercitynewspaper.com CITY 23

Film

August Diehl and Valerie Pachner in “A Hidden Life.” PHOTO COURTESY FOX SEARCHLIGHT

Hidden depths “A Hidden Life” (PG-13), DIRECTED BY TERRENCE MALICK OPENS FRIDAY, JANUARY 17 [ PREVIEW ] BY ADAM LUBITOW

Based on true events, Terrence Malick’s sweeping period drama “A Hidden Life” tells the story of Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector during World War II who refused to swear loyalty to Hitler or fight for the Nazis.

24 CITY JANUARY 15 - 21, 2020

From a storytelling standpoint, it’s the director’s most accessible film in years, especially when set against the filmmaker’s comparatively experimental and esoteric recent films like “Knight of Cups” and “Song of Songs.” There’s more narrative drive here than either of those films, though “A Hidden Life” is no less philosophicallyminded, grappling with issues of faith and morals, conviction and sacrifice.

While the rest of the villagers in the small mountain village of Sankt Radegund buy into the nationalistic rhetoric espoused

by those in power, Franz (played by August Diehl) stands by his convictions. And he suffers for it, facing constant pressure and harassment from the townspeople — most persistently their xenophobic mayor. Franz is called up to serve, but when he still refuses to swear loyalty, he’s imprisoned and faced with the threat of execution for treason. In jail he’s routinely humiliated and abused by guards intent on breaking him.

Much of the story is told through the letters Franz and his wife Franziska, nicknamed “Fani” (Valerie Pachner), wrote

to one another when they were separated.

Even after they’re apart, the film spends as much time with Fani as it does with Franz.

And while Malick shows us the personal costs Franz faces for his beliefs, the film considers the morality of his actions bringing further suffering on Fani and their three young daughters, who haven’t necessarily signed on for the abuse he receives. Fani finds herself scorned by the villagers, and her daughters taunted by their peers.

Throughout the film Franz is repeatedly dragged before various figures of authority to be interrogated about what purpose he feels there is in his stubborn defiance. They’re all quick to tell Franz that his actions don’t have the power to stop the war, Hitler won’t hear of his protests, the public at large will never know his name.

And so the story grows larger implications, about obeying one’s conscience, holding true to one’s convictions and values while knowing there’s likely to be no reward beyond the hope that in some small way — one you might not ever see — it will matter.

Though “A Hidden Life” didn’t feel the Academy’s love when Oscar nominations were announced Monday, it deserves to find an audience. It’s an absorbing and often moving testament to the actions of ordinary people when confronted with the evils of the world, and Malick subtly connects his film’s crisis with concerns of the present day. His heartfelt message offers a somber reminder that it’s often the unsung acts of resistance that may very well save us all.

An extended version of this preview is onling at rochestercitynewspaper.com.

Adam Lubitow is a freelance writer for CITY. Feedback on this article can be directed to becca@ rochester-citynews.com.

For information: Call us (585) 244-3329 Fax us (585) 244-1126 Mail Us City Classifieds 280 State Street Rochester, NY 14614 Email Us classifieds@ rochester-citynews.com EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY

All real estate advertised in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act, which makes it unlawful, “to make, print, or publish, any notice, statement, or advertisement, with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin.” Familial status includes children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians, pregnant women and people securing custody of children under the age of 18. This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertisement for real estate which is in violation of the law. Our readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis. Call the local Fair Housing Enforcement Project, FHEP at 325-2500 or 1-866-671-FAIR. Si usted sospecha una practica de vivienda injusta, por favor llame al servicio legal gratis. 585-325-2500 - TTY 585-325-2547.

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We’re on the ‘gram. @roccitynews rochestercitynewspaper.com CITY 25

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Employment JOB OPPORTUNITY - $18.50 P/H NYC $16 P/H LI up to $13.50 P/H UPSTATE NY If you currently care for your relatives or friends who have Medicaid or Medicare, you may be eligible to start working for them as a personal assistant. No Certificates needed.

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Volunteers ADVOCATE FOR CHILDREN Volunteers needed for CASA. Help neglected and abused children.

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26 CITY JANUARY 15 - 21, 2020

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Call/Send your resume to: RPC Human Resource Office 1111 Elmwood Avenue Rochester, New York 14620 (585) 241-1900 Fax: (585) 241-1981 E-mail: RPC-Human.Resources@omh.ny.gov AA/EOE

rochestercitynewspaper.com CITY 27

Legal Ads [ LEGAL NOTICE ] Notice of formation of a limited liability company (LLC). Name: PAK Leader Tools, LLC. Article of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on December 10, 2019 Office location: Monroe County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to the LLC, 1685 Edgemere Dr., Rochester NY 14612.

Purpose: For any lawful purpose. [ LEGAL NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of Family Nails Salon LLC. Art. Of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 12/02/19.

Office Location: Monroe County. Street Address of principal business location: c/o The Limited Liability Company, 500 South Union Street, Spencerport, NY 14559.

SSNY shall mail copy of process: c/o The Limited Liability Company, 500 South Union Street, Spencerport, NY 14559.

Purpose: any lawful purpose. [ LEGAL NOTICE ] SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK – COUNTY OF MONROE INDEX # 2015/003939 FILED: 12/6/2019 SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS AND NOTICE Plaintiff designates MONROE County as the place of trial. Venue is based upon the County in which the mortgaged premises are situated.

U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR SASCO MORTGAGE LOAN TRUST 2006-WF2, Plaintiff, against ERNEST DOUGLAS A/K/A ERNEST DOUGLAS, SR., AS ADMINISTRATOR OF AND HEIR TO THE ESTATE OF LORETTA CRUMITY A/K/A

BETHLY L. DOUGLAS and WILLIAM F. BEYERBACH, if either be living and if they be dead, the respective heirsat-law, next-of-kin, distributees, executors, administrators, trustees, devisees, legatees, assignees, lienors, creditors and successors in interest and generally all persons having or claiming under, by or through said defendant(s) who may be deceased, by purchase, inheritance, lien or inheritance, any right, title or interest in or to the real property described in the Complaint, ERNEST L. DOUGLAS, AS HEIR TO THE ESTATE OF LORETTA CRUMITY A/K/A BETHLY L. DOUGLAS, TYNISA MCCULLOGH, AS HEIR TO THE ESTATE OF LORETTA CRUMITY A/K/A BETHLY L. DOUGLAS, MIDLAND FUNSING LLC, STONY CREEK APARTMENTS, GE MONEY BANK, NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION AND FINANCE, THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, and “JOHN DOE” and “JANE DOE”, the last two names being fictitious, said parties intended being tenants or occupants, if any, having or claiming an interest in, or lien upon the premises described in the complaint, Defendant(s). TO THE ABOVE NAMED DEFENDANTS: YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the Complaint in this action and to serve a copy of your answer, or, if the complaint is not served with this summons, to serve a notice of appearance on the plaintiff’s attorney(s) within 20 days after the service of this summons, exclusive of the day of service (or

28 CITY JANUARY 15 - 21, 2020

To place your ad in the LEGAL section, contact Tracey Mykins by phone at (585) 244-3329 x10 or by email at legals@rochester-citynews.com within 30 days after the service is complete if this summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York); and in case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint.

NOTICE YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME. IF YOU DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT

BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEYS FOR THE MORTGAGE COMPANY WHO FILED THIS FORECLOSURE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT, A DEFAULT JUDGMENT MAY BE ENTERED AND YOU CAN LOSE YOUR HOME. SPEAK TO AN ATTORNEY OR GO TO THE COURT WHERE YOUR CASE IS PENDING FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON HOW TO ANSWER THE SUMMONS AND PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY. SENDING A PAYMENT TO YOUR MORTGAGE COMPANY WILL NOT STOP THIS FORECLOSURE ACTION. YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT. The foregoing Summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an order of the Hon. J. Scott Odorisi, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Monroe County, granted on the 26th day of November, 2019, and filed with the Complaint and other papers in the office of the County Clerk of Monroe County.

THE OBJECT of this action is to foreclose a mortgage upon the premises described below, executed by

LORETTA CRUMITY to WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A. recorded on February 17, 2006 in Book 20302, Page 660, MTG# M# CW 038499, in the Office of the Clerk of the County of MONROE, which was thereafter modified by agreement dated March 31, 2008 creating a new modified principal amount of $88,618.69, which was then assigned by assignment executed April 23, 2014 to U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR SASCO MORTGAGE LOAN TRUST 2006-WF2 and recorded on April 25, 2014, in Book 1753, Page 602, covering premises known as 4181 Mount Read Blvd, Greece, NY 14616 AKA 4181 Mount Read Blvd, Rochester, NY 14616 (Section 60.09, Block 6 and Lot 11). ALL that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, situate, lying and being in the Town of Greece, County of Monroe and State of New York. To the above named Defendants: YOU ARE HEREBY PUT ON NOTICE THAT WE ARE ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT A DEBT AND ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. There is due and owing to plaintiff the sum of $76,883.10, with interest thereon at 5.73100% per annum adjusted from July 1, 2014. The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the premises described above to satisfy the debt described above.

UNLESS YOU DISPUTE THE VALIDITY OF THE DEBT, OR ANY PORTION THEREOF, WITHIN THIRTY (30) DAYS AFTER YOUR RECEIPT HEREOF THAT THE DEBT, OR ANY PORTION THEREOF, IS DISPUTED, THE DEBTOR JUDGMENT AGAINST YOU AND A COPY OF SUCH VERIFICATION OR JUDGMENT WILL BE MAILED TO YOU BY THE HEREIN DEBT COLLECTOR. IF APPLICABLE, UPON YOUR WRITTEN REQUEST, WITHIN SAID THIRTY (30) DAY PERIOD, THE HEREIN DEBT COLLECTOR WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH THE NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE ORIGINAL CREDITOR. IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED A DISCHARGE FROM THE UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT, YOU ARE NOT

PERSONALLY LIABLE FOR THE UNDERLYING INDEBTEDNESS OWED TO PLAINTIFF/ CREDITOR AND THIS NOTICE/DISCLOSURE IS FOR COMPLIANCE AND INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. HELP FOR HOMEOWNERS IN FORECLOSURE New York State requires that we send you this notice about the foreclosure process. Please read it carefully. SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT You are in danger of losing your home. If you fail to respond to the Summons and Complaint in this foreclosure action, you may lose your home. Please read the Summons and Complaint carefully.

You should immediately contact an attorney or your local legal aid office to obtain advice on how to protect yourself. SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE The State encourages you to become informed about your options in foreclosure. In addition to seeking assistance from an attorney or legal aid, there are government agencies, and nonprofit organizations that you may contact for information about possible options, including trying to work with your lender during this process.

To locate an entity near you, you may call the toll-free helpline maintained by New York State Department of Financial Services’ at 1-800-269-0990 or visit the Department’s website at http://www. dfs.ny.gov Rights and Obligations YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO LEAVE YOUR HOME AT THIS TIME. You have the right to stay in your home during the foreclosure process.

You are not required to leave your home unless and until your property is sold at auction pursuant to a judgment of foreclosure and sale. Regardless of whether you choose to remain in your home, YOU ARE REQUIRED TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR PROPERTY and pay property taxes in accordance with state and local law. FORECLOSURE RESCUE SCAMS Be careful of people who approach you with offers to “save” your home. There are individuals who watch for notices of foreclosure actions in

order to unfairly profit from a homeowner’s distress. You should be extremely careful about any such promises and any suggestions that you pay them a fee or sign over your deed. State law requires anyone offering such services for profit to enter into a contract which fully describes the services they will perform and fees they will charge, and which prohibits them from taking any money from you until they have completed all such promised services. Aldridge Pite, LLP. Attorneys for the Plaintiff, Fifteen Piedmont Center, 3575 Piedmont Road, N.E., Suite 500, Atlanta, GA 30305 Our File 117527471B [ NOTICE ] 24 Prince Street, LLC (LLC) filed Arts. of Org. with NY Secy. of State (SS) on 10/30/19. LLC’s office is in Monroe Co. SS is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SS will mail a copy of any process to 2604 Elmwood Ave., #113, Rochester, NY 14618.

LLC’s purpose: any lawful activity. [ NOTICE ] 721 Cedarwood LLC (LLC) filed Arts. of Org. with NY Secy. of State (SS) on 12/5/19. LLC’s office is in Monroe Co. SS is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SS will mail a copy of any process to 44 Field St Rear, Rochester, NY 14620. LLC’s purpose: any lawful activity. [ NOTICE ] Drenos LLC Arts of Org. filed SSNY 10/11/19.

Office: Monroe Co. SSNY design agent for process & shall mail to 26 Brighton St Rochester, NY 14607 RA: US Corp Agents, Inc. 7014 13 Ave #202 Brooklyn, NY 11228 General Purpose [ NOTICE ] East Henrietta Plaza LLC, Arts of Org. filed with Sec. of State of NY (SSNY) 12/27/2019.

Cty: Monroe. SSNY desig. as agent upon whom process against may be served & shall mail process to Law Office of Anthony A. Dinitto, LLC, 2250 West Ridge Rd., Ste. 300, Rochester, NY 14626.

General Purpose.

[ NOTICE ]

[ NOTICE ]

G And W Realty Group LLC Arts of Org. filed SSNY 8/9/16. Office: Monroe Co. SSNY design agent of LLC upon whom process may be served & mail to 114 Birr St Rochester, NY 14613 General Purpose

MEGHAN L. FOX, PSY.D., P.L.L.C. filed Articles of Organization with the New York Department of State on June 5, 2019. Its office is located in Monroe County. The Secretary of State has been designated as agent of the Company upon whom process against it may be served and a copy of any process shall be mailed to 1580 Elmwood Ave, Suite D, Rochester, NY 14620. The purpose of the Company is psychological services.

[ NOTICE ] Gilletek LLC, Arts of Org. filed with Sec. of State of NY (SSNY) 12/5/2019. Cty: Monroe.

SSNY desig. as agent upon whom process against may be served & shall mail process to 707 Mendon Rd., Pittsford, NY 14534.

General Purpose. [ NOTICE ] Honest Properties LLC (LLC) filed Arts. of Org. with NY Secy. of State (SS) on 11/9/15. LLC’s office is in Monroe Co. SS is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SS will mail a copy of any process to 249 Cherry Creek Ln., Rochester, NY 14626. LLC’s purpose: any lawful activity. [ NOTICE ] Ingerson Stone Homestead, LLC, Arts of Org. filed with Sec. of State of NY (SSNY) 12/9/2019. Cty: Monroe.

SSNY desig. as agent upon whom process against may be served & shall mail process to Tina M. Schuth, 4317 Canal Rd., Spencerport, NY 14559. General Purpose. [ NOTICE ] Laine Recruiting, LLC (LLC) filed Arts. of Org. with NY Secy. of State (SS) on 11/15/19. LLC’s office is in Monroe Co. SS is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SS will mail a copy of any process to 10 Cali Ridge, Fairport, NY 14450. LLC’s purpose: any lawful activity. [ NOTICE ] Little Button Craft LLC (LLC) filed Arts. of Org. with NY Secy. of State (SS) on 1/2/20. LLC’s office is in Monroe Co. SS is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SS will mail a copy of any process to 658 South Ave., Rochester, NY 14620. LLC’s purpose: any lawful activity.

[ NOTICE ] MGD Ventures, LLC (LLC) filed Arts. of Org. with NY Secy. of State (SS) on 12/5/19. LLC’s office is in Monroe Co. SS is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SS will mail a copy of any process to 64 Commercial St., Suite 401, Rochester, NY 14614. LLC’s purpose: any lawful activity. [ NOTICE ] MSZ PROPERTIES LLC (LLC) filed Arts. of Org. with NY Secy. of State (SS) on 12/5/19.

LLC’s office is in Monroe Co. SS is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SS shall mail a copy of any process to LLC, 919 Culver Road, Attn: Michael S. Zwas, Rochester, NY 14609.

LLC’s purpose: any lawful activity. [ NOTICE ] Not. of Form. of JLD Concepts LLC. Art. of Org. filed by Sec’y of State (SSNY) 12/16/19.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY DESIGNATED AS AGENT OF LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY may mail a copy of any process to 316 Valley Road, Rochester, NY 14618. Purpose: Any lawful activity. [ NOTICE ] Notice is hereby given that an alcohol beverage license, pending, has been applied for by the undersigned to sell Liquor, Beer & Wine retail in a food and beverage operation under the Alcohol Beverage Control Law at: 1891 Ridge Rd Webster, NY 14580 - On Premises Consumption Liquor

Legal Ads License for Moma Lor’s Cafe Inc /dba Moma Lor’s Cafe

Pittsford, NY 14534.

Purpose: any lawful activities.

[ NOTICE ]

[ NOTICE ]

Notice of Form. of SMOOTH CHOICE, LLC (the “LLC”). Art. of Org. filed with Secretary of the State of NY (SSNY) on 12/10/19.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 516 Locust Ln, East Rochester, NY 14445.

Purpose: any lawful purpose.

Notice of formation of 834 East Main LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/23/2019.

Office location, County of Monroe. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 511 West Ave, Rochester, NY 14611.

Purpose: any lawful act.

[ NOTICE ]

Notice of Formation of AfriSino International LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) on December 2, 2019. Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 552 Mendon Road, Pittsford NY 14534. Purpose: any legal activity.

Notice of Formation of 1343 Fairport Nine Mile Point Road, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/13/15.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 1343 Fairport Nine Mile Road, Webster, NY 14580. Purpose: any lawful activity. [ NOTICE ] NOTICE OF FORMATION of 31BRICKS LLC. Arts. of Org. were filed with Secretary of State of NY (“SSNY”) on 1/3/2020.

Office in Monroe County.

SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process may be served.

SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC 56 Nettlecreek Rd, Fairport , N Y 14450 . Purpose: any lawful activity. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of 447 Long Pond LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/31/19.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 28 East Main St, Ste 1500, Rochester, NY 14614.

Purpose: any lawful activity. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of 5707 East Lake Road, LLC. Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 12/12/19.

Office location: Monroe Co. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 1 Grove St, Ste 200,

[ NOTICE ]

[ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of ANCHOR SECURE, LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 10/17/19.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 58 WEST AVE., SPENCERPORT, NY 14559 . Purpose: any lawful activities. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of Brand 52 LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 10/23/19.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 135 Brannon Lane Webster NY 14580.

Purpose: any lawful activities. [ NOTICE ] Notice of formation of BS POTTERY, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/24/2019.

Office location, County of Monroe. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 369 Hampton Blvd, Rochester, NY 14612. Purpose: any lawful act.

To place your ad in the LEGAL section, contact Tracey Mykins by phone at (585) 244-3329 x10 or by email at legals@rochester-citynews.com [ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of Clark Ridge Hill LLC; Art of Org filed with Sec’y of State (SSNY) 1/3/2020; Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 14 Jennifer Circle, Rochester, New York 14606. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of COLLERAN CONSULTING LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 09/03/19.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 4278 East Ave, Rochester NY 14618. Purpose: any lawful activities. [ NOTICE ]

14619. Purpose: any lawful activity. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of Ezekiel Properties LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 11/20/19.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 99 Orchard Street Webster, NY 14580 . Purpose: any lawful activities. [ NOTICE ] Notice of formation of FLX ONE LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/12/2019. Office location, County of Monroe. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o The LLC, 10 Rippingale Rd, Pittsford, NY 14534.

Purpose: any lawful act. [ NOTICE ]

Notice of Formation of DIETRICH MANAGEMENT, LLC. Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 11/26/19.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY may mail a copy of any process to LLC, 45 White Village Dr., Rochester, NY 14625. Purpose: any lawful purpose.

Notice of Formation of Forest Ink LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 11/21/2019.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 471 N Goodman ST., Rochester, NY 14609.

Purpose: any lawful activities.

[ NOTICE ]

[ NOTICE ]

Notice of formation of Digital Infrastructure, LLC (the “LLC”).

Articles of Organization filed with the NY Secy of State (“SOS”) on 1/25/19. The office of the LLC is in Monroe County. SOS is designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SOS shall mail a copy of such process to 780 Ridge Rd, Ste. 4, Webster, NY 14580. The LLC is formed to engage in any lawful activity for which an LLC may be formed under the NY LLC law.

Notice of Formation of ICON PRODUCTIONS LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 11/06/2019.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 16 Colonist Lane Rochester NY 14624 . Purpose: any lawful activities.

[ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of E&A HOTEL, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 6/5/19.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 762 Brooks Avenue, Rochester, NY

[ NOTICE ] Notice of formation of JDR Distributing LLC (the “LLC”). The LLC was formerly known as Digital Creative Distributing, LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the NY Secy of State (“SOS”) on 1/28/19. The office of the LLC is in Monroe County. SOS is designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SOS shall mail a copy of such process to 780 Ridge Rd, Ste. 4, Webster,

NY 14580. The LLC is formed to engage in any lawful activity for which an LLC may be formed under the NY LLC law.

Henrietta, NY 14586.

Purpose: any lawful activity.

[ NOTICE ]

Notice of formation of KMB Investors, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/25/2019.

Office location, County of Monroe. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o The LLC, P.O. Box 12551, Rochester, NY 14612. Purpose: any lawful act.

Notice of Formation of JLD ASSET MANAGEMENT, LLC. Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 12/30/19.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY may mail a copy of any process to LLC, 111 Colby St., Rochester, NY 14610.

Purpose: any lawful purpose. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of JMG Income Tax & Business Services, LLC. Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 1/3/2020.

Office location: Monroe Co. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 3 N. Main St, Fairport, NY 14450.

Purpose: any lawful activities. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of Kali Madison Designs LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 11-2619. Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 239 High Street Ext, Fairport, NY 14450.

Purpose: any lawful activities. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of KeySpoke Software LLC. Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 11/14/2019. Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 620 Park Ave #328 Rochester NY 14607.

Purpose: any lawful activities. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of KHVTO LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 1/28/19. Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 40 Gainsborough Pl, W

[ NOTICE ]

[ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of LADS Properties LLC. Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 12/3/19.

Office location: Monroe Co. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: the LLC, 486 Spring Water Lane, New Canaan, CT 068406009. Purpose: any lawful activities. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of Lucid Garden LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 11/29/2019.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 1100 Pittsford Mendon Ctr Rd Honeoye Falls, NY 14472. Purpose: any lawful activities. [ NOTICE ] Notice of formation of Mark M Hills Remodeling, LLC (the “LLC”). Articles of Organization filed with the NY Secy of State (“SOS”) on 1/25/19.

The office of the LLC is in Monroe County. SOS is designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SOS shall mail a copy of such process to 780 Ridge Rd, Ste. 4, Webster, NY 14580. The LLC is formed to engage in any lawful activity for which an LLC may be formed under the NY LLC law. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of NATURE NEVER LIE LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 9/27/2019 Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process

against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 15 Henry Street, Rochester Ny 14605 . Purpose: any lawful activities.

67 Branchwood Lane, Rochester NY 14618.

Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

[ NOTICE ]

Notice of Formation of Seven 5 Realty LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 1219-19 Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 629 WHISPERING PINES CIRCLE ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, 14612.

Purpose: any lawful activities.

Notice of formation of Otis Creek Estate LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/8/2019.

Office location, County of Monroe. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, c/o 12 Silent Meadows Dr, Spencerport, NY 14559.

Purpose: any lawful act. [ NOTICE ]

[ NOTICE ]

[ NOTICE ]

Notice of Formation of Premier Communities LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 12/13/2019.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 105 West Ave, Fairport, NY 14450 . Purpose: any lawful activities.

Notice of Formation of Sibley Mercantile OF MM LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/17/19.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Cogency Global Inc., 122 E 42nd St, 18th Fl, NY, NY 10168. Purpose: any lawful activity.

[ NOTICE ]

[ NOTICE ]

Notice of Formation of RK FARMS, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/02/20.

Office location: Orleans County. Princ. office of LLC: 12130 Alps Rd., Lyndonville, NY 14098.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of Sibley Mercantile OZ LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/17/19.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Cogency Global Inc., 122 E 42nd St, 18th Fl, NY, NY 10168. Purpose: any lawful activity.

[ NOTICE ]

Notice of Formation of Sibley Redevelopment 2 of MM LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/12/19.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Cogency Global Inc., 122 E 42nd St, 18th Fl, NY, NY 10168. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Notice of formation of RR Street Grill, LLC. Art.of Org. filed Secretary of State of NY (“SSNY”) 12/9/2019.

Office location: Monroe Co. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 109 East Avenue, Rochester, NY 14604. Purpose: any lawful purpose. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of ServerTech LLC Art. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/11/2019.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to

[ NOTICE ]

[ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of Sibley Redevelopment 2 OZ LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/12/19. Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom

rochestercitynewspaper.com CITY 29

Legal Ads process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Cogency Global Inc., 122 E 42nd St, 18th Fl, NY, NY 10168. Purpose: any lawful activity. [ NOTICE ] Notice of formation of SITO’S SWEETS, LLC. Art.of Org. filed Secretary of State of NY (“SSNY”) 12/9/2019.

Office location: Monroe Co. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 30 Rosemont Circle, Rochester, NY 14617.

Purpose: any lawful purpose. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of SK-NY Estates LLC. Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 12/17/19.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 12 Boulder Brook Ct, Belle Mead, NJ 08502.

Purpose: any lawful activities. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of Soulstainable Living LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the New York Department of State on 09/20/2019. Its office is located in Monroe County. The United States Corporation Agents, Inc. has been designated as agent upon whom process against the Company may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: 734 Grand Avenue, Rochester NY 14609. The purpose of the Company is any lawful activity. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of TOP SHELF HOCKEY TRAINING, LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) November 8, 2019. Office location: Monroe County. 10 Falcon Trail, Pittsford, N.Y. 14534/ SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail copy of process to Office location. Purpose: any lawful activity [ NOTICE ] Notice of Formation of Twin Pillars Properties LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) on 01/07/20 Office location: Monroe County. SSNY

designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC at 69 Crossfield Road, Rochester, NY 14609. Purpose: any lawful activities. [ NOTICE ] NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE: Self-storage Cube contents will be sold for cash

by CubeSmart Management, LLC 7 Chapel St Rochester NY 14609 to satisfy a lien for rental on January 23rd 2020 at approx.

12:00 PM at www. storagetreasures.com [ NOTICE ] Notice of Qualification of 640 Fishers Road LLC. App. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/24/19.

Office location: Monroe County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/19/19. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o The LLC, 2604 Elmwood Ave, Ste 352, Rochester, NY 14618. DE address of LLC: 874 Walker Rd, Ste C, Dover, DE 19904.

Arts. of Org. filed with DE Secy of State, 401 Federal St, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Qualification of AT Sweden NY II, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/27/19.

Office location: Monroe County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/23/19. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o National Registered Agents, Inc., 28 Liberty St., NY, NY 10005, also the registered agent upon whom process may be served. Address to be maintained in DE: 160 Greentree Dr., Ste 101, Dover, DE 19904. Arts of Org. filed with the DE Secy. of State, Po Box 898, Dover, DE 19903.

Purpose: any lawful activities. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Qualification of Nelnet Servicing, LLC. Authority filed with NYS Dept. of State 09/30/19, formed in NE 10/27/08. Princ. bus. addr.: 121 S. 13th Street, Ste 100, Lincoln, NE 68508. SSNY design agent of LLC & shall

30 CITY JANUARY 15 - 21, 2020

To place your ad in the LEGAL section, contact Tracey Mykins by phone at (585) 244-3329 x10 or by email at legals@rochester-citynews.com mail process to same address. NE address of LLC: same address.

Arts. of Org. filed with NE Secy of State, P.O. Box 94608, Lincoln, NE 68509-4608. Purpose: all lawful purposes. [ NOTICE ] Notice of Qualification of Rose & Associates LLC. Fictitious name in NY State: Rose Surgical Products LLC. App. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/19/19. Office location: Monroe County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 9/26/18. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 401 Allens Creek Road, Rochester, NY 14618. DE address of LLC: The Corporation Trust Company, 1209 Orange St, Wilmington, DE 19801. Arts. of Org. filed with DE Secy of State, 401 Federal St, #4, Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: any lawful activities. [ NOTICE ] Ruff Mutts Grooming, LLC, Arts of Org. filed with Sec. of State of NY (SSNY) 10/25/2019.

Cty: Monroe. SSNY desig. as agent upon whom process against may be served & shall mail process to 204 Paddy Hill Dr, Rochester, NY 14616.

General Purpose. [ NOTICE ] Siyon Tax Service, LLC, Arts of Org. filed with Sec. of State of NY (SSNY) 11/22/2019.

Cty: Monroe. SSNY desig. as agent upon whom process against may be served & shall mail process to Suk Biswa, 1249 Latta Rd Apt 4, Rochester, NY 14612. General Purpose. [ NOTICE ] SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS IN TAX LIEN FORECLOSURE– SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, COUNTY OF MONROE – TLF NATIONAL TAX LIEN TRUST 2017-1, Plaintiff, UNKNOWN HEIRS AND DISTRIBUTEES OF THE ESTATE OF PHILIP R. MANDELL JR. Defendants. Index No. 008742/16. To the above-named Defendants –YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the complaint in this action within twenty days after the service of this

summons, exclusive of the day of service or within thirty days after service is completed if the summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York. In case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the complaint. Plaintiff designates Monroe County as the place of trial. Venue is based upon the county in which the property a lien upon which is being foreclosed is situated.

The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an order of the Hon. J. Scott Odorisi, J.S.C., dated October 22, 2019, and entered on November 21, 2019.

The object of this action is to foreclose a Tax Lien covering the premises located at Section 104.10, Block 1, Lot 35 on the Tax Map of MONROE County and also known as 27 Jordan Avenue, Rochester, New York.

Dated: December 19, 2019 BRONSTER, LLP Attorneys for Plaintiff, TLF NATIONAL TAX LIEN TRUST 2017-1 By: Yan Borodanski 156 West 56th Street, Suite 1801 New York, New York 10019 (347) 246-4647 [ NOTICE ] SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS IN TAX LIEN FORECLOSURE– SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, COUNTY OF MONROE – TLF NATIONAL TAX LIEN TRUST 2017-1, Plaintiff, UNKNOWN HEIRS AND DISTRIBUTEES OF THE ESTATE OF BENNIE H. JOHNSON A/K/A BENNIE JOHNSON, Defendant.

Index No. 4404/16.

To the above-named Defendant –YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the complaint in this action within twenty days after the service of this summons, exclusive of the day of service or within thirty days after service is completed if the summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York. In case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the complaint. Plaintiff designates Monroe County as the place of trial. Venue is based upon the county in

which the property a lien upon which is being foreclosed is situated.

The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an order of the Hon. J. Scott Odorisi, J.S.C., dated November 12, 2019, and entered on December 26, 2020.

The object of this action is to foreclose a Tax Lien covering the premises located at Section 106.59, Block 2, Lot 4 on the Tax Map of MONROE County and also known as 329 Central Park, Rochester, New York.

Dated: January 8, 2020 BRONSTER, LLP Attorneys for Plaintiff, TLF NATIONAL TAX LIEN TRUST 2017-1 By: Yan Borodanski 156 West 56th Street, Suite 1801 New York, New York 10019 (347) 246-4647

General Purpose

[ NOTICE ]

45 Bellaqua, LLC (“LLC”) filed Articles of Organization with the NY Sec. of State (“SSNY”) on 1/10/20.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail a copy of process to 4545 E River Rd, Suite 100, West Henrietta, NY 14586.

Purpose: any lawful activity.

TheChocolateCo And Bake Shop LLC, Arts of Org. filed with Sec. of State of NY (SSNY) 11/20/2019. Cty: Monroe. SSNY desig. as agent upon whom process against may be served & shall mail process to 1330 Drake Rd., Brockport, NY 14420. General Purpose. [ NOTICE ] Tokin Management, LLC. Authority filed SSNY on 11/25/2019 Monroe CO LLC formed Wyoming 10/18/2019 exists 30 N Gould St STE N. Sheridan, WY 82801 . SSNY design agent for process Et shall mail a copy of process to: 763 Linden Ave, Suite 2, Rochester, NY 14625 General Purpose. [ NOTICE ] TRACK ONE, LLC (LLC) filed Arts. of Org. with NY Secy. of State (SS) on 5/6/2003. LLC’s office is in Monroe Co. SS is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SS shall mail a copy of any process to LLC, 1800 Chase Square, Rochester, NY 14604.

LLC’s purpose: any lawful activity. [ NOTICE ] Tree Of Life Counseling, Lcsw, PLLC Arts of Org. filed SSNY 12/20/19.

Office: Monroe Co. SSNY design agent for process & shall mail to 95 Allens Creek Rd Building 1 #250 Rochester, NY 14618

[ NOTICE ] Wraithmarked Creative, LLC Arts of Org. filed SSNY 11/14/19. Office: Monroe Co. SSNY design agent of LLC upon whom process may be served & mail to 21 Goodway Dr Rochester, NY 14623 General Purpose [ NOTICE ] Wyers Point, LLC, Arts of Org. filed with Sec. of State of NY (SSNY) 10/25/2019.

Cty: Monroe. SSNY desig. as agent upon whom process against may be served & shall mail process to Attn: Tricia L. Vantucci, 5 Ampor Beach, Hilton, NY 14468. General Purpose. [ Notice of Formation ]

[ NOTICE OF FORMATION ] EASTSIDE MARRIAGE & FAMILY THERAPY, LLC filed Articles of Incorporation as a professional service LLC, with the New York Department of State on 11/05/19. Its office is located in Monroe County. The Secretary of State has been designated as agent of the Company upon whom process against it may be served and a copy of any process shall be mailed to The LLC, 625 Panorama Trail, Rochester, NY 14625. The purpose of the LLC is to provide Marriage & Family Therapy. [ Notice of Formation ] Gryska Agencies, LLC (“LLC”) filed Articles of Organization with the NY Sec. of State (“SSNY”) on 11/20/19 effective 1/1/20. Office location: Monroe County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail a copy of process to 1567 East Henrietta Road, Rochester, NY 14623. Purpose: any lawful activity.

[ NOTICE OF FORMATION ] NAME: Affronti, LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on December 9, 2019. Principal office: Monroe County, New York. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 130 D Linden Oaks, Rochester, NY 14625 Attn: Member.

Purpose: any and all lawful activities. [ NOTICE OF FORMATION ] Notice of Formation of 1384 Bellagio LLC. Articles of Organization filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/3/2019. Office location: Monroe County SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to principal business location: The LLC, 2851 Monroe Avenue, Rochester, NY 14618.

Purpose: any lawful activity [ Notice of Formation ] West General Contractors, LLC (“LLC”) filed Articles of Organization with the NY Sec. of State (“SSNY”) on 1/13/10.

Office location: Monroe County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail a copy of process to 37 Richmond St., Rochester, NY 14607. Purpose: any lawful activity. [ Notice of Formation of FRUMUSA PERFORMANCE LLC ] Arts. Of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on July 1, 2019. LLC location: Monroe Co., NY. Princ.

Office of LLC: 498 Manitou Beach Rd., Hilton, NY. 14468; SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Princ. Office of LLC. Purpose: Any lawful activity. [ NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LLC ] 33-39 Ellicott St, LLC filed articles of organization with the New York Secretary of State on 12/10/2019 with an effective date of formation of 12/10/2019. Its principal place of

business is located in Monroe County.

The Secretary of State has been designated as agent upon whom process may be served.

A copy of any process shall be mailed to 695 Howard Rd., Rochester, NY 14624. The purpose of the LLC is to engage in any lawful activity for which Limited Liability Companies may be organized under Section 206 of the New York Limited Liability Company Law. [ NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LLC ] WBGL, LLC filed articles of organization with the New York Secretary of State on 12/9/2019 with an effective date of formation of 12/9/2019.

Its principal place of business is located in Monroe County.

The Secretary of State has been designated as agent upon whom process may be served.

A copy of any process shall be mailed to 1755 Gloria Drive, Fairport, NY 14450. The purpose of the LLC is to engage in any lawful activity for which Limited Liability Companies may be organized under Section 203 of the New York Limited Liability Company Law. [ NOTICE OF FORMATION OF PIERSALL CONSULTING LLC ] Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of NY (“SSNY”) on 12/09/2019. Office in Monroe County.

SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process may be served.

SSNY shall mail copy of process to PIERSALL CONSULTING LLC, C/O JEFFREY S. PIERSALL, 720 ADMIRALTY WAY, WEBSTER, NY 145803910. Purpose: any lawful activity. [ NOTICE] JLT OPERATIONS, LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 12/3/2019.

Office in Monroe Co. SSNY desig. agent of LLC whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail process to 140 Floral Dr., Rochester, NY 14617, which is also the principal business location. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. [ SUMMONS AND NOTICE ] SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK – COUNTY OF MONROE INDEX # E2019006716

Legal Ads FILED: 07/19/201 Plaintiff designates Monroe County as the place of trial. Venue is based upon the County in which the mortgaged premises are situated. NEWREZ LLC D/B/A SHELLPOINT MORTGAGE SERVICING, Plaintiff(s), against SHANNON A. YOUNG, ESL FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, “JOHN DOE #1” through “JOHN DOE #12,” the last twelve names being fictitious and unknown to Plaintiff, the persons or parties intended being the tenants, occupants, persons or corporations, if any, having or claiming an interest in or lien upon the premises, described in the complaint, Defendant(s). TO THE ABOVE NAMED DEFENDANTS: YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the Complaint in this action and to serve a copy of your answer, or, if the Complaint is not served with this Summons, to serve a notice of appearance on the Plaintiff’s attorney within twenty (20) days after the service of this summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within 30 days after the service is complete if this Summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York) in the event the United States of America is made a party defendant, the time to answer for the said United States of America shall not expire until sixty (60) days after service of the Summons; and in case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint. NOTICE YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME IF YOU DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT

BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE MORTGAGE COMPANY WHO FILED THIS FORECLOSURE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT, A DEFAULT JUDGMENT MAY BE ENTERED AND YOU CAN LOSE YOUR HOME. SPEAK TO AN ATTORNEY OR GO TO THE COURT WHERE YOUR CASE IS PENDING FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON HOW TO ANSWER THE SUMMONS AND PROTECT YOUR

PROPERTY. SENDING A PAYMENT TO YOUR MORTGAGE COMPANY WILL NOT STOP THIS FORECLOSURE ACTION. YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT. NOTICE OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT: THE OBJECT of the above captioned action is to foreclose on a mortgage dated June 01, 2005, executed by SHANNON A. YOUNG to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. as nominee for HSBC Mortgage Corporation (USA) to secure the sum of $79,200.00 and recorded in Book 19702 of Mortgages at page 181, in the Office of the CLERK of the County of MONROE on June 01, 2005, which mortgage was assigned to NEW PENN FINANCIAL LLC DBA SHELLPOINT MORTGAGE SERVICING N/K/A NEWREZ LLC D/B/A SHELLPOINT MORTGAGE SERVICING, by assignment of mortgage which was executed on October 17, 2018, covering premises known as 379 FRENCH ROAD, PITTSFORD, NY 14534 (Section 150.16, Block 1 and Lot 16).

ALL that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in Town 64, Township 2, Range 4, Town of Pittsford, County of Monroe, State of New York. The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an order of the Hon. J. Scott Odorisi, JSC of the State of New York, and filed along with the supporting papers in the Office of the Clerk of the County of Monroe on 12/18/2019. YOU ARE HEREBY PUT ON NOTICE THAT WE ARE ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT A DEBT AND ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. There is now due and owing from the Borrower to the Plaintiff, the principal sum of $56,583.55, plus interest thereon from October 01, 2018, in addition to those accumulated late charges and those recoverable monies advanced by Plaintiff and/or Plaintiff’s predecessor-in-interest on behalf of SHANNON

Fun A. YOUNG together with all costs, including but not limited to, attorneys’ fees, disbursements, and further allowances provided pursuant to the underlying loan documents and applicable law in bringing any action to protect the Mortgagee’s interest in the Subject Property. The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the premises described above to satisfy the debt described above.

UNLESS YOU DISPUTE THE VALIDITY OF THE DEBT, OR ANY PORTION THEREOF, WITHIN THIRTY (30) DAYS AFTER YOUR RECEIPT HEREOF THAT THE DEBT, OR ANY PORTION THEREOF, IS DISPUTED, THE DEBTOR JUDGMENT AGAINST YOU AND A COPY OF SUCH VERIFICATION OR JUDGMENT WILL BE MAILED TO YOU BY THE HEREIN DEBT COLLECTOR. IF APPLICABLE, UPON YOUR WRITTEN REQUEST, WITHIN SAID THIRTY (30) DAY PERIOD, THE HEREIN DEBT COLLECTOR WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH THE NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE ORIGINAL CREDITOR. IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED A DISCHARGE FROM THE UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT, YOU ARE NOT PERSONALLY LIABLE FOR THE UNDERLYING INDEBTEDNESS OWED TO PLAINTIFF/ CREDITOR AND THIS NOTICE/DISCLOSURE IS FOR COMPLIANCE AND INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. HELP FOR HOMEOWNERS IN FORECLOSURE New York State Law requires that we send you this notice about the foreclosure process. Please read it carefully. SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT You are in danger of losing your home. If you fail to respond to the summons and complaint in this foreclosure action, you may lose your home. Please read the summons and complaint carefully. You should immediately contact an attorney or your local legal aid office to obtain advice on how to protect yourself. SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE The State encourages you to become informed about your options in foreclosure. In addition to seeking assistance from an attorney or legal aid office,

there are government agencies and nonprofit organizations that you may contact for information about possible options, including trying to work with your lender during this process. To locate an entity near you, you may call the toll-free helpline maintained by the New York State Department of Financial Services at 1-800269-0990 or visit the Department’s website at HTTP://WWW.DFS. NY.GOV. Rights and Obligations YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO LEAVE YOUR HOME AT THIS TIME. You have the right to stay in your home during the foreclosure process. You are not required to leave your home unless and until your property is sold at auction pursuant to a judgment of foreclosure and sale. Regardless of whether you choose to remain in your home, YOU ARE REQUIRED TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR PROPERTY and pay property taxes in accordance with state and local law. FORECLOSURE RESCUE SCAMS Be careful of people who approach you with offers to “save” your home.

There are individuals who watch for notices of foreclosure actions in order to unfairly profit from a homeowner’s distress. You should be extremely careful about any such promises and any suggestions that you pay them a fee or sign over your deed. State law requires anyone offering such services for profit to enter into a contract which fully describes the services they will perform and fees they will charge, and which prohibits them from taking any money from you until they have completed all such promised services.

Leopold & Associates, PLLC, 80 Business Park Drive, Suite 110, Armonk, NY 10504

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32 CITY JANUARY 15 - 21, 2020