CITY July 2021

NEWS. ARTS. LIFE. | JULY 2021 | FREE | SINCE 1971 NEIGHBORHOODS

ARTS

DRINKS

IDENTITY CRISIS IN A VERY ‘LITTLE ITALY’

SIGNING SHAKESPEARE AT THE HIGHLAND BOWL

ROCHESTER’S BEST PATIO COCKTAILS

reclaiming

PRIDE

NEWS. ARTS. LIFE. JULY, 2021 Vol 49 No 11 On the cover: Illustration by Ryan Williamson 280 State Street Rochester, New York 14614 feedback@rochester-citynews.com phone (585) 244-3329 roccitynews.org PUBLISHER Rochester Area Media Partners LLC, Norm Silverstein, chairman FOUNDERS Bill and Mary Anna Towler

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EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT themail@rochester-citynews.com Editor: David Andreatta News editor: Jeremy Moule Staff writer: Gino Fanelli Arts editor: Daniel J. Kushner Life editor: Rebecca Rafferty Calendar editor: Katherine Stathis Contributing writers: April Franklin, Emmarae Stein, Katherine Varga CREATIVE DEPARTMENT artdept@rochester-citynews.com Creative director: Ryan Williamson Designer/Photographer: Jacob Walsh ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT ads@rochester-citynews.com Sales manager: Alison Zero Jones Advertising consultant/ Project manager: David White OPERATIONS/CIRCULATION Operations manager: Ryan Williamson Circulation manager: Katherine Stathis kstathis@rochester-citynews.com CITY is available free of charge. Additional copies of the current issue may be purchased by calling 585-784-3503. CITY may be distributed only by authorized distributors. No person may, without prior written permission of CITY, take more than one copy of each monthly issue.

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JULY 2021

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IN THIS ISSUE OPENING SHOT

Malik Evans declares victory in the Democratic primary over Mayor Lovely Warren on June 22, 2021, all but assuring him the mayoralty in November. PHOTO BY GINO FANELLI

NEWS ON THE COVER

6

RECLAIMING PRIDE

With Out Alliance out of commission, a bewildered LGBTQ community picks up the pieces.

ARTS

34

LIFE PUBLIC LIVES

SIGNING SHAKESPEARE

A new production of “The Tempest” in English and ASL at the Highland Bowl goes beyond mere translation.

42

BY KATHERINE VARGA

BY DAVID ANDREATTA

APRIL AYCOCK: EVERYBODY HURTS

Monroe County’s new mental health director says there’s no such thing as a “normal” person.

BY GINO FANELLI

12

YOU CAN GET WHERE IN 20 MINUTES BY BIKE?

36

They say you can get anywhere in Rochester by car in 20 minutes. How about by bike?

You might be surprised.

BY JEREMY MOULE

18

NEIGHBORHOOD AT A CROSSROADS

The Edgerton neighborhood searches for itself in the wake of a hardcharging champion for “Little Italy.”

A MUSIC HALL FOR ALL

Photo City Music Hall has a new look, but it’s still the same old haven for punk, rock, metal, and EDM.

RANDOM ROCHESTER

44

For 35 years, Junior Rodriguez has let ocking horses roam free in his North Street backyard.

BY DANIEL J. KUSHNER

38

OLD, TRANS, AND HAPPY

Eastman Museum’s exhibition, “To Survive on This Shore,” spotlights why trans elders matter.

BY REBECCA RAFFERTY

BY GINO FANELLI

MORE NEWS, ARTS, AND LIFE INSIDE

THE ROCKING HORSES OF PUERTO RICO

BY DAVID ANDREATTA

52

MUST TRY DRINKS

The Ollie, the Lawnchair Pilot, the Ruby Splash are just some of Rochester’s top drinks this summer.

BY REBECCA RAFFERTY roccitynews.org

CITY 3

EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

COMMENTARY

Order and decency return to City Hall Lovely Warren’s mayoralty ends where it began, with a city crying, ‘Uncle!’

BY DAVID ANDREATTA

A

@DAVID_ANDREATTA

day after Malik Evans resoundingly defeated Mayor Lovely Warren in the Democratic primary, all but assuring he will be Rochester’s next mayor, he promised an administration that was “organized, disciplined, and focused.”

Booorrrriiiing.

And just what the city needs right now.

For the better part of a year, Rochester has been whipsawed by scandals that were the making of either Warren or people close to her — her mishandling of the death of Daniel Prude, her indictment on felony campaign finance fraud charges, and her husband’s arrest for what prosecutors allege was his role in a cocaine ring.

There is no one or anything else to blame for the conveyor belt of chaos that has choked the city like the Inner Loop, although the mayor has tried.

She has cried racism and misogyny and politics, just as she did at the first whiff of scandal to touch her administration two weeks into her tenure with the disclosure that she had hired her uncle to lead her security detail.

Eight years later, the city’s Democratic voters cried, “Uncle!”

They rejected Warren by a 2-to1 margin, opting for a candidate in Evans who during his time on the Board of Education and City Council earned a reputation for keeping his head amidst chaos and, more importantly, not sowing any.

The turmoil engulfing the mayor offered ample opportunity for mudslinging on the campaign trail.

Evans took none, much to the dismay of many election watchers who mistakenly viewed his reluctance to get dirty as a weakness instead of what it was — decency.

“When you get down in the mud, guess what, the mud splashes back at you,” Evans said after the election.

“And I don’t have any mud on me because we stayed positive. We wanted to run a campaign the same way 4 CITY

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DANDREATTA@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM

we will govern this city: organized, disciplined, and focused.”

Evans’s decency was on display from the outset of his campaign in January, when he declined to take the bait Warren served up in a deplorable statement she issued a few hours after he announced his candidacy.

“We’ve prepared for this moment,” the statement read. “All over the country, unfortunately, it’s been our brothers that have been first in line to take on sisters. The powers-that-be playbook hasn’t changed since the

to Warren. It was the Democratic political machine run by her mentor, the cantankerous late Assemblymember David Gantt.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Democratic primary voters also rejected two other Gantt protégés in Monroe County legislators Vince Felder and Ernest Flagler-Mitchell by roughly the same margin they renounced Warren.

Flagler-Mitchell is the minister and married father of eight children who, according to prosecutors, used his standing in the community to

Mayor Lovely Warren concedes defeat to City Councilmember Malik Evans in the Democratic primary election. PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

days of slavery. We know our ancestors are looking down upon us and asking, ‘When will our people learn?’”

The implication was that, by running against her, Evans was perpetuating a long history of Black men trying to hold Black women down.

“The Warren campaign is committed to breaking these generational curses,” the statement went on. “We’re confident that He who delivered us two victories will deliver us another victory.”

The capital “H” in “He” suggests Warren was referring to God. But it wasn’t divine intervention that delivered mayoral election wins

prey on women for sex.

Felder is the former minority leader who was ousted from his post for stubbornly pushing a pupil of Gantt’s and Warren’s as the next Democratic county elections commissioner over the objections of the rank-and-file of their party.

Together, Felder and FlaglerMitchell, with the blessing of Warren, orchestrated a breakaway bloc of Democrats in the County Legislature whose sole purpose, it seems, is to align with Republicans to spite their colleagues in the chamber and County Executive Adam Bello.

The behavior of all of them in

recent months — the dissembling, the dodging, the deflecting — is right out of the Gantt playbook. Democratic voters wisely said enough was enough.

When Rochester can’t host political and business leaders from out of town because they’re too embarrassed to be photographed standing with the mayor, that’s a problem for the city.

When the person asking Albany for financial aid for Rochester is its mayor who, along with the city’s finance director, is under indictment for alleged campaign finance shenanigans, that’s a problem for the city.

When Rochester’s police chief goes to Washington for federal help in curbing gun violence, and the mayor’s husband is an accused drug dealer with associates who go by “Mush,” “Dred,” and “Storm,” that’s a problem for the city.

Warren’s place in history as the first woman and the second Black person to lead Rochester is secure.

Her achievements — from the historic investment in the filled-in Inner Loop to investing in neighborhoods and promoting homeownership — were not insignificant.

But as the saying goes, we are the company we keep.

No one with money to spend right now is going to invest in a city whose leader is so radioactive, and no leader can effectively lead with such weighty distractions in her personal life.

What the city needs moving forward is what Democratic voters delivered when they gave Evans his mandate: a mayor whose house is in order, whose sense of decency is not in question, and whose instinct is to unify people.

Rochester knows Evans, a financial executive by day with a wife and two young sons, to be a conciliator who understands government, neighborhoods, and people.

Call that boring, if you will, but it is just what the doctor — and voters — ordered.

PHOTOS BY KATIE EPNER

roccitynews.org

CITY 5

NEWS

EMPTY CLOSET

ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN WILLIAMSON

Reclaiming Pride With Out Alliance out of commission, a bewildered LGBTQ community works to picks up the pieces.

BY DAVID ANDREATTA

A

@DAVID_ANDREATTA

rainbow-colored strip lining the storefront window of the Out Alliance, the Rochester region’s primary LGBTQ advocacy and services organization for nearly half a century, advertises the space inside as a “safe zone.”

It might be, if only the people looking for safety and support could get inside.

For a year now, the door to the agency’s headquarters on College Avenue in the Neighborhood of the Arts has been locked, and there are no signs that it will open anytime soon.

Out Alliance is for all intents and 6 CITY

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purposes dormant, with a public face that exists mostly in the form of periodic posts on its social media accounts. The organization has no employees or programming, and most of the people on its board of directors have bailed. Recruiting new directors has been difficult, and those who remain say they have spent the last year trying to stabilize the agency’s finances enough to rebuild.

But many people who relied on Out Alliance wonder whether it will open ever again, not only because of the agency’s precarious fiscal position, but also because of its lost standing in

the community it was meant to serve.

Last month, when the agency posted a benign “Happy Pride Month” message, it received an onslaught of hostile and mocking responses from people seething over its fall from atop the gay rights advocacy pyramid.

“Can the Out Alliance rebuild itself right now with any credibility? No, not at this point,” said Tamara Leigh, who was the agency’s last director of communications and let go with the rest of the staff last year.

“You’ll find a select few, usually older people who really aren’t up on

what’s going on with them, who are still reminiscent of the agency that once was,” she went on. “But for the most part, you see very hurt, angry, disappointed people who want to know where the money went, what the agency’s been doing, why they would have such incredibly tone-deaf posts that show they have absolutely no thumbprint on what the community is going through at this point.”

What the community is going through at this point is finding its footing in the vacuum left by the disappearance of Out Alliance.

For nearly 50 years, the agency

Rochester Pride Festival Parade marched down Park Avenue in 2017. FILE PHOTO

had been a catch-all social services organization for LGBTQ people and their families, despite criticism that grew louder in recent years that it catered to the needs of gay white men, who for so long had formed its base, to the exclusion of people of color, people with disabilities, and transgender or gender-nonconforming people.

During that time, there had always been smaller bands of loosely organized activists providing services on the periphery. But none had the political, social, and cultural gravitas of Out Alliance, which acted as a centralized repository for all things LGBTQ. Now, those activists, including some former employees of the organization, are busily trying to not only re-create from scratch the services that Out Alliance used to provide, but also ensure a continuation of the community’s preeminent showcase —

the Pride celebrations of July.

“I put it like this: There’s been a forest fire and there’s nothing left but the concrete slab the house was on,” said Anne Tischer, a longtime activist in the LGBTQ community and volunteer at Out Alliance. “There’s really not much to go back to.”

Rochester, it’s worth noting, is an outlier among American cities when it comes to Pride, holding events in July rather than the traditional June.

As for Pride, there will be neither a parade nor a festival, although a series of small events has been scheduled by pockets of people working on a shoestring to stitch together something resembling the spirit of the month-long celebration.

EXISTING ON PAPER Like so many legacy gay advocacy groups, Out Alliance traces its

origins to the grassroots activism born of the Stonewall riots, when students at the University of Rochester formed the Rochester Gay Liberation Front in 1970.

As the group grew to include people unaffiliated with the university, it renamed itself the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley and incorporated in 1973. The agency was known by its corporate name for decades before rebranding itself as Out Alliance.

Over the decades, the agency was the backbone and the brawn of the local LGBTQ community. It crusaded for equal rights, conducted social work, and launched educational programs for schools and workplaces nationwide.

Perhaps most importantly, though, the agency was there for people who, because of their sexual orientation, were shunned by society, including their families. Several

advocacy groups operated from Out Alliance headquarters, including PFLAG, an organization for LGBTQ people and their parents, and ROC City PRIDE Ability, a group that advocates for people with physical and intellectual disabilities.

“A lot of folks know about Pride . . . a lot of folks knew about Drag Bingo . . . but a lot of folks don’t really know the critical, day-to-day, life-saving work we did,” said Braden Reese, the former program manager at Out Alliance, who lost his job when the place shut down.

“It was a frequent occurrence that you would get folks who were struggling with food insecurity, lack of housing, inability to afford medications that were critical, struggling with suicidal ideations, folks that were CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

roccitynews.org

CITY 7

ROCHESTER PRIDE 2021 EVENTS PRIDE DAY AT THE BEACH July 3, 12-5 p.m.

Ontario Beach Park 4799 Lake Ave. katsbiggayyard.com/pop-up-pride-roc ROCHESTER RED WINGS PRIDE NIGHT July 7, 7:05 p.m.

Frontier Field 1 Morrie Silver Way milb.com/rochester GREATER ROCHESTER LGBTQ+ POLITICAL CAUCUS ANNUAL MEETING July 8, 7:00 p.m.

Genesee Valley Park, Dogwood Shelter roclgbtqcaucus.org PRIDE DAY AT THE ZOO Jul 10, 12-5 p.m.

Seneca Park Zoo 2222 St. Paul St. katsbiggayyard.com/pop-up-pride-roc Timed tickets; prices vary SPENCERPORT PRIDE POP-UP July 10, 4- 9 p.m.

Village Ice Cream Shop VICS 194 South Union St., Spencerport trilliumhealth.org/2021-pride-events RAINBOW SENIORS ROC COMMUNITY PRIDE PICNIC Saturday, July 11, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

Genesee Valley Park, Roundhouse Pavilion Organization PRIDE SING-ALONG WITH BOB DIETCH, PIANO (5-7 P.M.) & PANDORA BOXX CABARET (7 P.M.) Friday, July 16 ROAR 621 Culver Road roarroc.com Price TBA JUICE BOX: ROCHESTER PRIDE DANCE PARTY Friday, July 16, 9 p.m.

Photo City Music Hall 543 Atlantic Ave. $10 PRIDE DAY AT THE FARM: LAVENDER DAYS Saturday, July 17, 12-7 p.m.

Wickham Farm 1821 Fairport-Nine Mile Pt Road, 8 CITY

JULY 2021

Penfield katsbiggayyard.com/pop-up-pride-roc $16.95 FINGER LAKES QUEER LIBERATION PRIDE FESTIVAL Saturday, July 17, 12 p.m.-8 p.m.

Farmington Town Park 1000 County Rd. 8, Farmington FB: Black in the Burbs ROCHESTER ROAR-PRIDE OUTDOOR PARTY Saturday, July 18, 2-10 p.m.

ROAR 621 Culver Road roarroc.com $10 PRIDE DAY CELEBRATION Sunday, July 18, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Memorial Art Gallery 500 University Ave. mag.rochester.edu PRIDE DAY AT SEABREEZE Saturday, July 24, 12pm-9pm 4600 Culver Road katsbiggayyard.com/pop-up-pride-roc $40 BIG WIGS UNDER A BIG TOP Saturday, July 24, 7 p.m.

Dawn Lipson Canalside Stage at the JCC 1200 Edgewood Ave. jccrochester.org/canalside $10/$15

ROCHESTER PRIDE COMEDY SHOW WITH AMY STEPHENS Wednesday, July 28, 7:30 p.m.

Comedy at the Carlson 50 Carlson Road carlsoncomedy.com $20 PRIDE AT THE PARK Saturday, Jul 31, 12 p.m. (Rain date: Sunday, August 1) Veterans Memorial Park, Stevens Pavilion 595 Calkins Road trilliumhealth.org/2021-pride-events ROCHESTER BLACK PRIDE Friday-Sunday, September 17-19 rocblackpride.com

coming out to their families and having issues with that,” Reese said. “We would get those things at least weekly.”

Out Alliance came crashing down in spectacular fashion in June 2020 after what observers inside and outside the organization described as a “perfect storm” of problems unraveling.

Within a couple of weeks leading up to the door being locked, the Alliance’s executive director abruptly resigned amid an internal investigation and the threat of being fired, its board of directors fielded a barrage of whistleblower complaints from staff members complaining about a hostile work environment, and precipitously declining revenues went into a freefall.

The pandemic provided a convenient excuse for the agency to shut its doors and let go of its 10 fulland part-time employees, although it did receive a $64,900 federal loan from the Paycheck Protection Program.

In the ensuing months, most of the members of the organization’s board of directors left, too, either resigning outright or letting their terms lapse and declining to accept another.

Today, just three board members remain, and each of them had been on the board for only a year before the organization collapsed. They explained that their sole focus has been stabilizing Out Alliance so it can at least exist on paper.

That has meant cutting costs, paying bills, and renegotiating contracts, including the space the organization had been leasing. Its latest audit showed that the board reduced the monthly rent to $1,800 from $5,600 by downsizing the office. In all, board members said, monthly expenses have fallen to $3,500 from $54,000, with most of the difference being in wages and benefits.

“The way we look at it is our hands are tied in terms of our capacity and resources, and we’re focusing on preserving the corporation with the intent that we can rebuild,” said the board chairperson, Luis Burgos.

REBUILDING UNCERTAIN Even Out Alliance’s own accountants, though, have questioned whether rebuilding is possible.

“Certain conditions indicate that the organization may be unable to continue as a going concern,” the accounting firm Heveron & Company wrote in its annual audit, dated November 2020.

“The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the Alliance’s already delicate financial position and halted its ability to generate any upward momentum,” the audit read, pointing to the cancellation of the organization’s cornerstone fundraiser in the Pride Festival, the stoppage of programming, and a significant loss of donations.

“Management believes that this cessation will be temporary, and that after reassessing and restructuring, they will resume their vital mission stronger than ever,” the audit read.

Burgos stood by that assessment, explaining that a future Out Alliance would be more focused and less centralized.

“I think what this experience has afforded us is the opportunity to work with the community and really find out what are the priorities,” Burgos said.

“I think the Out Alliance was spread pretty thin in terms of programs, in terms of its finances.”

What a decentralized Out Alliance could look like is anybody’s guess.

But there has been some talk of the agency playing more of a supporting role to established and emerging LGBTQ groups, offering financing and guidance where possible.

Even as a shell of its former self, and with its depleted revenue stream, Out Alliance has more resources in terms of money and infrastructure than any other organization in its orbit.

Its latest audit and tax filing, which examined the 2019 fiscal year, showed net assets of about $126,000, buoyed by a bequest of $248,000 from an individual estate.

Board members and former employees also point to an extensive database at Out Alliance that holds contact information for some 4,500 people who interacted with the agency monthly. The organization also maintains archives of an estimated 10,000 items related to the history of the gay rights movement in the region, including its vaunted former newsletter, The Empty Closet.

Then there are materials that formed the primers for all the programming Out Alliance used to oversee — from social programs for youths and seniors to training programs for corporate and educational institutions.

“There’s no reason why they (current and emerging groups) can’t continue to do that with some level

A reveler whoops it up at the 2013 Rochester Pride Festival. FILE PHOTO

of guidance from the Out Alliance,” Burgos said. “All of those programs and activities don’t necessarily need to be under one roof.”

Still, if the Out Alliance is to contribute to the community in any meaningful way, its board members said, it will need more people to join the board and offer direction.

But convincing people to join the board has been a tough sell. Attendance at three meetings that board members hosted to generate interest and talk about next steps was low.

“I think there’s a mixed message, kind of, that’s out there,” said Christopher Goodwin, a board member. “So, when we’re giving updates and opening up to the community about what’s happening, it’s kind of hard because there’s not great attendance.”

HURT, BEWILDERED, FULL OF QUESTIONS Why so many in the LGBTQ community have disengaged from efforts to revive Out Alliance from the inside out becomes clearer in talking to former employees and allies of the agency.

They are hurt, bewildered, and full of questions.

How does one of the oldest LGBTQ advocacy centers in the country fall apart overnight? Where was the board of directors? Were employees’ whistleblower complaints investigated?

If so, what was the outcome?

Tax records show that Out Alliance generated between $400,000 and $770,000 in revenue annually in recent years. Where did all that money go?

“To see it going from something that looked to be very successful

in 2018 and 2019 and just kind of fall off the map so quickly and very suddenly . . . it was a shock to me and to, I think, what appears to be a lot of other people,” said Alison Agresta, who moved to Rochester from California a few years ago and found a community in the Out Alliance.

“It was sometime in June of last year that it was like, ‘We’re closing and the pandemic has to do with it,’” Agresta said. “It just didn’t feel like the whole story, and I don’t think anybody still has gotten the full story. There’s a lot of disconnect between the LGBTQ+ community and the Out Alliance right now.”

A review of Out Alliance’s tax records dating back 10 years suggest that it operated hand-to-mouth.

The agency spent more money most years than its programs and grants

and fundraising and charitable gifts generated, and its net assets fluctuated as the revenue pendulum swung.

The agency ran a surplus of $79,000 in 2019, but lost $355,000 in 2018 — about half the agency’s operating budget and as much as it paid its staff in wages and benefits. The bottom line showed it had $23,000 in net assets.

Board members attributed the deficit three years ago to a monumental snafu at the Pride Festival, in which the credit card machines being used to process entry fees to the event at Cobbs Hill Park malfunctioned and the organizers decided to allow the crowd in for free.

Many people involved in Out Alliance’s final days have accused senior management, including the board, of CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

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CITY 9

mismanaging the agency’s finances.

But none of the organization’s independent audits ever hinted at mismanagement or malfeasance.

Indeed, it was not until the organization’s most recent audit that its accountants raised the specter of the agency going under for good.

“I would not characterize it as financial mismanagement,” said Burgos, the board chair. “Would I have made different decisions, priorities, investments? Yeah. But I would not characterize it as financial mismanagement.”

In many ways, people close to the organization say, the operation was resting on a house of cards that was constructed slowly over many years as the agency became further and further out of step with segments of the LGBTQ community.

Specifically, former employees say, while efforts were made in recent years to diversify the makeup of the staff, the agency did not modify its programming quickly enough to meet the needs of people of color and transgender or gendernonconforming people.

Worse, they say, is that management tolerated racist and sexist verbal assaults leveled against employees by some Out Alliance program participants.

One staff member, Zariah Williamson, sued the organization, claiming discrimination. A state judge dismissed the case.

Goodwin, the board member, said those are “fair” characterizations of the environment at Out Alliance, but that they do not acknowledge the work that former staff and some board members were putting in to make the agency more inclusive before it fell apart.

“Yes, that has been a history of the organization. Of course, if you think about the three board members who are here now, we were new and we were engaging in the change and loving the change, but then we met with a pandemic on top of the incidents that were occurring,” Goodwin said. “You can’t not acknowledge that the former staff were making leads and strides in change.”

In a statement issued last year as the agency crumbled, the outgoing executive director, Jeff Myers, defended his tenure, saying he conducted himself with “professionalism and integrity at all times.”

In December, the remaining Out 10 CITY JULY 2021

Alliance board members, who are all people of color, posted a mea culpa message on its Facebook page, saying that while directors took “prompt action” to remedy some of the allegations, “in other instances, we may not have acted swiftly or strongly enough.”

“To the extent our past actions or inaction enabled an environment where racism and/or discrimination were permitted to exist, we are deeply sorry to everyone, including specifically former staff member Zariah Williamson,” the post read.

The post was mostly met with derisive comments.

PICKING UP THE PIECES People who were close to Out Alliance used words like “tragedy,” “travesty,” and “staggering” in describing the loss of the agency.

Former employees, whom tax records suggest were not wellcompensated, cast their work as a calling. The agency was powered by volunteers, who audits showed routinely combined for upward of 16,000 unpaid work hours a year.

Tischer, who figured she devoted 50 or more volunteer hours a week to running Out Alliance’s programming for seniors, likened the demise of the agency to “losing the love of my life.”

“Not everybody had that same feeling,” Tischer, 70, said. “Certainly people of color, certainly some constituency groups didn’t have that same relationship. But for me, I just lost the love of my life.”

She is among the many people kickstarting services for the LGBTQ community. Her group, Rainbow Seniors, is working on registering as a nonprofit corporation and duplicating what Out Alliance once provided — social gatherings, house calls to homebound seniors, legal consulting.

A problem her group and others are facing, she and others acknowledged, is a lack of name recognition. Advocates said they feared that without Out Alliance, vulnerable people who need services might fall through the cracks because they don’t know where to turn.

Tischer, for instance, told of how her seniors group has taken to mentoring parents of young transgender people because they couldn’t find help elsewhere.

“Out Alliance attempted to serve as an umbrella organization and they were

Columbia Care Medical Marijuana Dispensary in Rochester now offering ground flower NEW PATIENT SPECIAL: Receive 20% off your first purchase Out Alliance's former communications director, Tamara Leigh. FILE PHOTO

trying to do everything and I think that we lost a center point,” said Kat Wiggall, the agency’s former database administrator. “I am hopeful there will be something that comes up out of this eventually that becomes that.”

Wiggall and Reese, the former program director at Out Alliance, teamed to form Rochester LGBTQ+ Together, a group that is, among other things, cobbling together Pride events.

The group has nearly 750 members on Facebook and has organized “popup” Pride days at Ontario Beach Park (July 3), a Rochester Red Wings game (July 7), the Seneca Park Zoo (July 10), Wickham Farms in Penfield (July 17), Seabreeze Amusement Park (July 24), and at Veterans Memorial Day Park (July 31).

There are other Pride events throughout the summer, including a picnic for seniors at Genesee Valley Park for which organizers said Out Alliance has lent a hand in the form of providing tables and sound equipment, and a Black Pride event in September.

Showing Pride is one thing, though. Replicating the decades of

programming and outreach that Out Alliance offered is quite another.

“The community itself has stepped up because of the loss of Out Alliance,” said Leigh, the former communications director who now runs her own magazine, Blaque/OUT. “What’s great is there’s no red tape, we’re directly on the ground with people doing this work.

“There’s something to be said for being able to sidestep the bureaucratic things that sometimes get in the way of doing the work,” she went on.

“But without having a big machine behind you, having the name, having the [nonprofit tax status], having the contacts, having the resources of an actual organization that has the ability to lobby, that matters.

“Most of us are doing this work while trying to re-establish our lives."

Home Delivery Available

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NEWS

PEDAL POWER

Reconnect Rochester is teaching people how to navigate the city on a bike. The first group ride went from Maplewood Park to High Falls along the Genesee River.

PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

How far can you go by bike in 20 minutes?

You might be surprised.

BY JEREMY MOULE

B

@JFMOULE

rooke Fossey is used to helping people of all ages learn how to get around on their bikes. As the founder of Kidical Mass Pittsford, a group that grew into Flower City Family Cycling, she’s organized family-friendly rides to family-friendly destinations.

Fossey said her love of cycling grew from the sense of freedom she felt riding her bike as a child — a sense as powerful now as when she was 11.

“It’s like walking but faster,” Fossey 12 CITY JULY 2021

JMOULE@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM

said. “You get places quickly, you’re out in the world. I’m always waving to people and seeing people, people are shouting, ‘Hi.’ It’s just such a great feeling. I just love being on my bike.”

It is perhaps no surprise, then, that Fossey is an enthusiastic participant in Reconnect Rochester’s 20 Minutes

by Bike campaign which encourages people to take short trips by bicycle. The transportation advocacy organization has developed a series of maps that show how

far a typical person travelling at 10 mph could bike in 20 minutes.

The maps are a riff on the enduring adage that a person can drive anywhere in the Rochester area in 20 minutes. But they effectively show people how much ground they can cover pedalling at a relaxed pace, explained Jesse Peers, cycling coordinator for Reconnect Rochester.

“My hope is that it inspires people to give biking to a nearby destination a shot,” Peers said. “The reality in

America is that 50 or 60 percent of our car trips are three or fewer miles, and you’re not saving any time by driving those shorter distances.”

So far, the organization has released maps for downtown Rochester, Irondequoit, and Pittsford.

More are on the way, with Brighton, the University of Rochester Medical Center and River Campus, and Rochester General Hospital on deck.

Each map displays a geographic

Members of Exercise Express warm up before heading out on a Reconnect Rochester bike ride from Maplewood Park along the Genesee River.

PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

area in gray, with its road networks highlighted in green to show how far a typical bicyclist can get in 20 minutes.

Peers said he got the idea for the project from two other efforts: a similar map project for European capitals developed by the company Bike Citizens and a 2015 RTS bus frequency map developed by Reconnect Rochester founder Mike Governale.

The campaign is designed to appeal to casual bicyclists over hardcore enthusiasts, though the latter group may still find value in the visualizations.

THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD The maps aren’t meant to serve as route guides, but rather to illustrate the possibilities of cycling as a form

of transportation. To complete the picture, Reconnect tapped cyclists living in each mapped area to serve as a guide by sharing ride suggestions and offering tips for developing safe and comfortable routes.

Fossey introduced the Pittsford map, which is anchored at the village’s Four Corners, in a June post on Reconnect Rochester’s website.

“Seeing these maps of how far you can get in 20 minutes on a bike is really illuminating,” Fossey said. “Just looking at the Pittsford map I was surprised that you can get from the very center of the village at the Four Corners to East Rochester, to Pittsford Plaza, to a lot of the subdivisions that seem unattainable to bike there.”

In her post, Fossey explained how to get to some of the main destinations

in Pittsford, such as the library, which has ample bike parking. Similarly, she explained how her husband uses a trail to avoid busy Monroe Avenue when he bikes to the Pittsford Wegmans; that many of the town’s cul de sacs are linked through trails and other connections, which in turn can be used to bike to or from the village; and how children in Pittsford bike to school.

Pam Rogers of Irondequoit, who frequently plans and leads rides for the Rochester Bicycling Club, introduced her town’s map. She provided readers with suggestions on how to bike into the town using the Lake Ontario State Parkway trail, by bypassing a particularly hilly and busy section of Empire Boulevard, and by using a couple of pedestrian-cyclist bridges.

She also suggested restaurants,

parks, and other bike destinations, and laid out a few suggested rides, including a 15-mile tour of the town.

Rogers said she hopes the maps and posts get people thinking about hopping on their bikes to go to the store, to pick up prescriptions from the pharmacy, or even to go out for a beer.

“I don’t have to drive, I can ride my bike to places,” Rogers said. “It’s viable transportation. It doesn’t take long to get where I’m going.”

In his post on downtown Rochester, Peers used Parcel 5 as an anchor point and illustrated that roughly any part of the city is “20ish minutes” from downtown. He also wrote about how he and his family have found that they CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

roccitynews.org CITY 13

Pam Rogers, of Irondequoit, says of biking, “It doesn't take long to get where I'm going.” PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH

don’t need to bike on the city’s major streets, which are often busy and can be intimidating to some cyclists, to get to their destinations. They often make use of quieter residential streets.

“We know some people will only bicycle on less stressful streets, and that’s totally fine,” Peers said.

Above, this Recconect Rochester map shows how far cyclists can travel in 20 minutes from downtown.

Scott Wagner gives a few pointers on bike safety on a recent Reconnect Rochester ride.

PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

14 CITY JULY 2021

FITTING IN TO THE BIG PICTURE The city of Rochester has been developing a network of bike boulevards, which are essentially routes down residential streets that parallel major, high-traffic corridors.

The residential streets that make up the boulevards are outfitted with traffic calming measures, such as onstreet parking, curb bump-outs, and strategically deployed speed humps, as well as marked bike lanes or shared-use lane markings, commonly called “sharrows.”

The city began a major project this spring that will add 20 miles of bicycle boulevards to the city by the end of the year. It’s also building or improving several trails and trail connections through the ROC the Riverway project and adding new bike lanes that are separated or buffered from motor vehicle traffic.

“There’s a lot of people who aren’t as comfortable on a bike, they don’t ride all the time,” said Erik Frisch, manager of special projects for the city of Rochester. “And so for their comfort level, no matter what we deliver on arterial streets, sometimes, it’s not going to be great for them. And so providing alternatives, whether it’s the trails or the bike boulevards, is important to getting more people out.”

Jesse Peers with Reconnect Rochester outlines the route for bike riders before leaving Maplewood Park to ride along the Genesee River.

PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

Brooke Fossey, of Pittsford says of the freedom of biking, “You get places quickly, you’re out in the world.” PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH 16 CITY JULY 2021

The timing of Reconnect Rochester’s map campaign puts the organization in a good position to champion the bike boulevards. On June 16, Reconnect’s cycling advocates began leading a series of rides for the city’s Department of Recreation and Human Services. Peers said ride leaders are using the opportunity to familiarize participants with the bicycle boulevards.

The map campaign dovetails with the launch of the HOPR bike and e-scooter sharing service in the city and the company’s coming launch of bike sharing in Brighton, Brockport, Irondequoit, Pittsford, and Fairport-Perinton.

Reconnect’s effort also overlaps with some suburban communities’ efforts to become more bike friendly.

For example, the town and village of Pittsford recently finalized their joint active transportation plan, which recommends restriping and widening

shoulders on some streets in the town and village; adding bike lanes, shareduse lane markings, and bike parking; lowering the village speed limit to 25 mph, and building sidewalks or multiuse trails along some high-volume streets, including Monroe Avenue and Fairport Road.

But Fossey also wrote that the map can be misleading because so many larger streets, with speed limits of 40 mph — and cars going much faster than that — pass through Pittsford, and that many people may feel unsafe biking on them.

“Even though we have some amazing connections, we still have some work to do to make these main roads safe for people to ride on, and so that people feel safe coming out on them,” Fossey said.

Irondequoit developed its active transportation plan in 2017, becoming one of the first suburban communities in Monroe County to do so. Some of the recommendations have been carried out, such as restriping and “right-sizing” roads, according to Kerry Ivers, the town’s planning and zoning administrator. For example, St. Paul Boulevard was narrowed from four

travel lanes to two with a center turn lane, a reconfiguration that allowed for wider shoulders.

The town has also begun requiring bike parking at new developments.

When the town rezoned the former Medley Centre, it adjusted vehicle parking standards and added requirements for bike parking and storage, Ivers said.

Irondequoit’s plan also recommends expanding and better connecting Irondequoit’s trail network as well as identifying and establishing bicycle boulevards.

Municipal planners and cycling advocates argue that these types of improvements are critical because they help riders of all skill levels feel comfortable on their bikes.

But Rogers also noted that broadly encouraging biking could erode the stubborn image that cycling is more sport than transport while advancing the idea that bikes are a great way to get around, and that they can be a form of relaxed recreation.

“I always like to say it’s just not for men in Lycra anymore,” Rogers said.

“It’s just a really nice way to get out and enjoy the outdoors.” roccitynews.org CITY 17

NEWS

IDENTITY CRISIS

Lyell Avenue, a very ‘Little Italy,’ and a neighborhood at a crossroads

A father crosses Lyell Avenue with his young daughter on his shoulders. The neighborhood is a mixture of working-class families, most of which have no Italian heritage.

PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

Edgerton searches for itself in the wake of a hard-charging champion for “Little Italy.”

BY GINO FANELLI

T

@GINOFANELLI

he Edgerton neighborhood on the western banks of the Genesee River between Lyell and Driving Park avenues is a study in contradictions.

On one hand, Lyell Avenue is haunted by boarded-up storefronts, open-air drug deals, and prostitution.

On the other, signs that residents are making the best of a troubled 18 CITY JULY 2021

GFANELLI@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM

neighborhood are everywhere.

Southeast Asian refugees who call the neighborhood home picnic in their yards. The walking paths of Jones Square Park are bedecked in vibrant pastel chalk. A father carries his young daughter on his shoulders to the local convenience store.

Lydia Rivera, vice president of the Edgerton Area Neighborhood

Association, recalled that her work in the neighborhood began with the simple act of picking up trash on Emerson Street.

“I ended up just going out there every morning, picking up garbage, and [neighbors] would look at me wondering what I was doing,” Rivera said. “One day, someone finally asked me what I was doing, and I said,

‘I’m picking up the garbage, our kids deserve better than this.’”

Edgerton has for years been challenged by poverty, violence, drugs, and a lack of private investment. In the past several years, it has also endured an identity crisis.

On the brick wall of the Flatiron Building at the intersection of State Street and Lyell Avenue is a mural

featuring Italian-American icons with no link to the neighborhood or the city — performers Frank Sinatra and Liza Minnelli, the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and boxer Rocky Marciano. It welcomes visitors to the “Little Italy Historic District — Celebrating 150 Years.”

That mural was the handiwork of Silvano Orsi, a lawyer from Gates whose quest to establish a “Little Italy” in the Rochester region in recent years has been something of a personal crusade. He tried to fashion one out of a commercial strip at Lyell Avenue and Spencerport Road in Gates. When that didn’t work, he looked eastward to the city.

That was almost five years ago. This spring, Orsi announced that his Little Italy Association, which re-introduced an Italian Festival to downtown after a 30year absence, would temporarily suspend its operations as he battled what he termed a “serious health condition.” Orsi did not respond to several requests from CITY for comment for this story.

“We did a lot of good, we raised awareness, and we helped a lot of people — feeding hundreds of needy families and successfully bringing back the Italian Festival and wonderful Italian culture to downtown Rochester after more than three decades,” Orsi said in a statement.

“We helped clean up the Lyell area, and we went to bat many times for city residents and businesses, standing against crime in the area, and we also helped save the city’s soccer stadium. At least I can say I tried. For that I will always be a neighborhood champion.”

To some longtime Edgerton residents, though, he was a neighborhood terror.

In the process of carving a community centered on Italian culture out of Edgerton, Orsi made enemies of leaders in the neighborhood, who say he used his “Little Italy” social media platforms to settle vendettas and level personal attacks against people with whom he disagreed.

When Orsi was left out of a meeting of community leaders and representatives of Zweigle’s about the company’s expansion plans in the neighborhood, he accused the director of the city’s Neighborhood Service Centers, Daisy Algarin, of excluding him and posted on his association’s Facebook page a tax warrant filed against her and her

Jones Square Park fountain in the Edgerton neighborhood.

PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

A yellow plastic box was placed at the bus stop on Lyell Avenue near Dewey Avenue to be used as a bench for people waiting for the bus.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

roccitynews.org CITY 19

The “Little Italy Historic District” mural was the handiwork of the initiative’s champion, Silvano Orsi. PHOTO BY GINO FANELLI

husband by the state Department of Taxation and Finance.

The warrant, which is the same as a lien and not criminal, amounted to $282 for unpaid taxes from six years earlier. He sent the information to local media, implying that the couple were tax cheats.

The president of the Edgerton Area Neighborhood Association, Debbie Smith, said Orsi started a social media campaign against her, accusing her of being a racist and calling him a “cracker,” which she denies doing.

Rivera and Smith said that when they didn’t support Orsi’s pursuit of a $20,000 grant to build a statue of Frances Xavier Cabrini, the patron saint of immigrants, they became his target.

“He terrorized the neighborhood and its leaders,” Rivera said. “I have countless emails I’ve received from him slandering me.”

20 CITY JULY 2021

A (VERY) LITTLE ITALY AND (NOT SO) HISTORIC DISTRICT So how did a man from Gates establish an historic district in the city of Rochester? The simple answer is he didn’t.

In the mid-2010s, Orsi found an ally in former City Councilmember Molly Clifford, who introduced him to Mayor Lovely Warren. A dinner between them was arranged. Multiple sources familiar with the meeting said Orsi served gnocchi and pitched the idea of reviving the Italian Festival, which had been a fixture of the city’s festival scene until 1986.

He formed the Little Italy Association of Rochester nonprofit in 2016, and debuted the revived festival in 2017. It continued until being stymied by the pandemic in 2020. A date for the event this year has not been announced.

In June 2019, the City Council

adopted a symbolic proclamation that recognized the Lyell Avenue corridor within the Edgerton and Brown Square neighborhoods the “Little Italy Historic District.”

Orsi heralded the recognition as a victory. But his celebration was premature. The City Council does not designate historic districts.

That is a job for the state’s Historic Preservation Office. The city and state keep a roster of local historic preservation districts, and Orsi’s “Little Italy” is nowhere on either list. “(The city) does those designations because we like to do those whenever we have festivals,” Algarin said. “The mayor might say, ‘Hey, could you issue a proclamation, for say, the Corn Hill Festival?’ I have a proclamation in my own name. These are symbolic gestures city governments do to acknowledge citizens and their work.”

When asked if the city’s

designation carries any weight whatsoever, Algarin laughed.

“This is like Cuomo saying it’s Daisy Algarin Day, or someone giving Daisy the key to the city,” Algarin said.

“We have how many keys to the city?

No one has a real key to the city. You can’t just go around opening doors.”

Orsi, 53, grew up near Lyell Avenue at a time when the strip had an array of Italian-American businesses. Most of them have shuttered. Roncone’s Italian Restaurant, which opened in 1937 and closed in 2019, was the last Italian restaurant in the neighborhood.

Today, whatever Italian influence there was once was in Edgerton has all but vanished.

A 2019 Lyell Avenue Corridor study commissioned by the city noted the push to brand Lyell Avenue as “Little Italy,” but cautioned against labeling the area as being defined by a singular cultural heritage. “This draws

Debbie Smith, president of the Edgerton Area Neighborhood Association.

PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

on the district’s roots,” the study read, “although there are no longer many ethnic Italian businesses, though there are many from Asian, Hispanic, and other ethnic communities.”

Orsi subsequently filed a complaint with the federal Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division against the city, claiming it had neglected the “Little Italy Historic District” and deliberately left it blighted. His complaint cited the study, charging erroneously that the study stated there were “no longer any Italian-American ethnic businesses.”

Of the 2,474 people who live in the census tracts that cover the neighborhood, as few as 48 and as many 264 of them claim Italian ancestry, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The disparity accounts for a statistical margin of error. By comparison, the bureau estimates that as many as 1,152 neighborhood residents are Black.

The Little Italy Association’s tax filing states that the district is where “Rochester, NY’s Little Italy began and later expanded in its historic heyday.” But it is worth asking whether a “Little Italy” moniker was ever appropriate for Edgerton.

The only reference to a “Little Italy” in Rochester appears to be a mention in a 1904 Democrat and Chronicle article that slapped the nickname on Allen Street, several blocks south of the president-day district.

Certainly many Italians did immigrate to the Edgerton area during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The largest number settled in neighborhoods around Lyell Avenue and Jay Street to the south. Some 1935

descriptions of neighborhoods around Lyell Avenue, drafted by the federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation and used in redlining, noted increasing numbers of Italians, but also stated that Germans had settled the corridor.

But there were also huge contingents of Italian immigrants in other pockets of the city.

A remarkably bigoted Democrat and Chronicle article from 1879 referred to several “savage” Italian neighborhoods, and identified St. Paul Street and the surrounding neighborhood, then called Dublin, as the city’s largest Italian colony.

CRIME, DEVELOPMENT, AND SEARCHING FOR HOPE Strolling down Lyell Avenue on a recent sunny day, Rivera and Smith described a neighborhood facing challenges.

“Stability is the issue that is really hard,” Rivera said. “We see a lot of the drugs, the mental health issues, it all can affect your stability. Not everyone in the neighborhood is like that, but it is everywhere.”

Crime in the Edgerton area remains top of mind for residents.

This year to date, two murders, two dozen aggravated assaults, and a slew of burglaries, larcenies, and car thefts have taken place in the neighborhood, according to Rochester Police Department data.

One recent Thursday evening, a handful of locals gathered in the Edgerton R-Center for the neighborhood association’s monthly CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

roccitynews.org CITY 21

EARLY HEAD START + HEAD START CURRENT JOB OPENINGS Administrative Support Specialist Early Head Start Teacher Head Start Teacher Child Care Assistant ERSEA Resource Specialist Per Diem Food Service Assistant Teacher Assistant Parent Engagement Advocate

Debbie Smith and Lydia Riviera, of the Edgerton Area Neighborhood Association, say Edgerton struggles with crime, but has potential if residents come together.

PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

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APPLY NOW! Scan below or go to www.abcinfo.org to complete an online application.

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22 CITY JULY 2021

meeting. Crime was on every member’s mind, as was its effect on the neighborhood’s reputation.

“How many times do you listen to these jocks on the morning radio shows, and they’re like, ‘Hey, where are you going to pick up a girl? Lyell Avenue.

Where are you going to get a piece of crack? Lyell Avenue,’” association member Gary Goldstein said.

Prostitution and drugs are not a new issue in the neighborhood by any stretch. When the crack epidemic was in full swing in the 1980s, the area around Jones Square Park was something of a red light district. It was there that serial killer Arthur Shawcross sought his victims.

The problems of the past still hang over the neighborhood.

“Its reputation may be the greatest challenge for the corridor, which is perceived to have a high rate of criminal activity including drug use and prostitution,” read the city’s Lyell Avenue corridor study. “Adult

businesses have located on Lyell Avenue that reinforce the negative image.

Adjacent neighborhoods have many vacant lots or boarded-up homes.”

Long-time Edgerton residents acknowledge the issues and say they are nuanced. Often, it’s small things that make a difference. Rivera pointed to new trash cans on the street as a welcome addition to the neighborhood.

Before their arrival, trash cans were few and far between.

But there is plenty of work left to be done to bring the neighborhood together and create change. Tammi Herron, the administrator of the Northwest Quadrant Neighborhood Service Center, said change follows a change of “mindset” about what it means to be a neighborhood.

“Since prior to the pandemic, my motto has been let’s become neighbors and not just neighborhoods,” Herron said. “We have to get back to being neighbors. . . . We work better in numbers, because you get a consensus

association’s meetings bring a neighbor.

The more people who attend, the more voices are heard, and the more likely it is for city resources to be allocated to the neighborhood, leaders emphasized.

“Sometimes, people are waiting just to be asked.” Herron said.

of what we, as a community, want.”

Herron said the neighborhood lacks basic resources. Most corner stores don’t stock healthy food or fresh produce. The only laundromat in the area is farther west on Lyell toward Mt. Read Boulevard. No urgent care centers are accessible.

“We need people to open up businesses,” Herron said. “. . .The best way to do that is to put things in neighborhoods that people actually want. A good laundromat, a store that sells fresh produce, good quality markets like a fish market, cleaners.

When you actually put those kinds of amenities in a community where people don’t have to travel outside, they’re more prone to keeping their money in the community.”

Herron and neighborhood leaders have been trying to get more residents involved in the Edgerton Area Neighborhood Association.

Herron said that, ideally, she’d like to see each person who shows up to the

FLEXING MUSCLES, FILLING A VOID With Orsi and his Little Italy Association retreating, at least temporarily, from trying to define the neighborhood, there is room for groups like the Edgerton Area Neighborhood Association to play a more assertive role in forging the future.

Algarin, the head of the city’s Neighborhood Service Centers, suggested that the city should do away with any links to the Little Italy Association on its website.

“When we put his page up on our website, he was doing things for the community,” Algarin said. “But when things don’t go his way, like when he wants free police for events and we can’t afford that, you get put on his doo-doo list.

“I don’t know anyone who belongs to the Little Italy Association to be honest,” she went on. “I know that people in the other groups, like Edgerton, Lyell-Otis, JOSANA, they keep me informed.”

Smith and Rivera are optimistic about forging Edgerton’s future out of the shadow of “Little Italy” and said they want to help build it into a neighborhood that thrives with access to crucial services, good schools, and higher rates of homeownership. They see work to be done and don’t want to get bogged down in drama over a neighborhood group.

“When you do something to make it alive and people are helping each other, and they say, ‘Oh, I might try that,’ or, ‘I’ll help you out with that one night,’ it brings it back alive again,” Smith said. “You ever notice if you’re out cleaning your yard, someone might see that and think, ‘You know what, I’ll go out and do that too?’ It’s a beautiful reaction.” roccitynews.org CITY 23

AROUND TOWN

Activism

11th Annual Roc the Peace Fest. Sat., July 24, 12-6 p.m. Jones Square Park, 170 Saratoga Ave rocthepeace.org.

Seneca Park Zoo Community Cleanups.

Sunday Tour. Sundays, 2 p.m Mount Hope Cemetery, 791 Mt Hope Ave. North Gatehouse $12/$15. fomh.org.

The Artistic Legacy of Mount Hope Cemetery. Sat., July 3, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Sun., July 11, 9 a.m.-noon and Fri., July 30, 5-8 p.m. Jul 11: Durand Beach; Jul 30: Turning Point Park. Tools, bags, gloves provided; all ages welcome.

Registration required. Through Oct 30 336-7200.

Mount Hope Cemetery, 1133 Mt Hope Ave. $12. fomh.org.

Twilight Tour. Thursdays, 7 p.m Mount Hope Cemetery, 791 Mt Hope Ave. North Gatehouse $12?$15. fomh.org.

Festivals

July 17, 11 a.m. Mount Hope Cemetery, 791 Mt Hope Ave. $12. fomh.org.

2nd Annual Black Culture Festival. Fri., July 30, 5-10 p.m. and Sat., July 31, 12-10 p.m. Parcel 5, 275 E Main St. FB: blackculturefestival.

Perry Chalk Art Festival. Sat., July 10, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Main St . Perry perrychalkfestival.com.

Sterling Renaissance Festival.

Saturdays, Sundays, 10 a.m.-7 p.m Sterling, 15385 Farden Rd Through Aug 15 $19.95 & up. sterlingfestival.com.

Lectures

Amanda Chestnut & Jeanne Strazzabosco: Making the Series. Wed.,

July 14, 7 p.m. Fairport Library, 1 Village Landing “In This Moment” chapbooks 223-9091.

Architecture & Architects. Sat., July 10, 11 a.m. & 2 p.m. Mount Hope Cemetery, 791 Mt Hope Ave. $12. fomh.org.

The Arrest & Trial of Susan B Anthony.

Sat., July 24, 11 a.m. & 2 p.m. Mount Hope Cemetery, 791 Mt Hope Ave. $12. fomh.org.

Fake News & How to Spot It. Tue., July 13, 1 p.m. Livestream, online. Gates Public Library libraryweb.org.

History of Stained Glass. Mon., July 19, 7 p.m. Gates Town Hall, 1605 Buffalo Rd Valerie O’Hara, Pike Studios gateshistory.org.

John Strazzabosco: What Poverty Does to People. Thu., July 15, 7 p.m.

Livestream, online. libraryweb.org.

Pioneers, Reformers & Heroes. Sat., July 31, 11, 11:15 & 11:30 a.m. Mount Hope Cemetery, 791 Mt Hope Ave. $12. fomh. org.

Rochester’s Olmsted Parks. Mon., July 12, 7 p.m. and Mon., July 26, 7 p.m.

Livestream, online. libraryweb.org.

Undertakers, Wakes, & Tears: Mourning Rituals in 19th Century America. Sat.,

Kids Events

Family Movie Night. Mon., July 12, 6 p.m. JCC Canalside Stage, 1200 Edgewood Ave. Jul 12: “Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey” (1993); Jul 21: “Inside Out” (2015). Registration required jccrochester.org/canalside.

Nature Sunday Experiences. Sundays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m Genesee Country Nature Center, 1410 Flint Hill Rd Mumford $5 suggested gcv.org.

RPO: Kids Concert. Sun., July 25, 1 & 2:30 p.m. JCC Canalside Stage, 1200 Edgewood Ave. $8/$15. rpo.org.

Summer of Play. Strong National Museum of Play, 1 Manhattan Sq. (museumofplay.org) Through Jul 30 $18/$23.

Three Little Pigs. Sun., July 25, 4 p.m.

Commons Park, 1 Coach St Canandaigua Registration req. fingerlakesopera.org.

Toddler Time In The Park. Every other Tuesday, 10-10:30 a.m Lamberton Conservatory, 180 Reservoir Rd. Through Aug 17 753-7270.

Wild Wings Birds of Prey Demo. Tue., July 13, 10 a.m. and Tue., July 27, 10 a.m. Brighton Memorial Library, 2300 Elmwood Ave. 784-5310.

Holiday

Fourth of July Celebration. Sun., July 4, 1-11 p.m. Lincoln Hill Farms, 3792 Rte 247 . Canandaigua.

Independence Day. Sun., July 4, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Genesee Country Village & Museum, 1410 Flint Hill Rd Mumford $17-$23. gcv.org.

Independence Day Tour. Sun., July 4, 11 a.m. Mount Hope Cemetery, 791 Mt Hope Ave. $12. fomh.org.

RPO: Red, White, & Boom!. Sat., July 3, 8 p.m. CMAC, 3355 Marvin Sands Dr .

Canandaigua $20 & up cmacevents.com.

Zac Brown Tribute Band. Sun., July 4, 7 p.m. Frontier Field, 1 Morrie Silver Way $20/$23. milb.com/rochester.

Recreation

Maplewood Garden Walk. Sat., July 24,

10 a.m.-4 p.m. Maplewood Rose Garden, Lake Ave & Driving Pk 730-7514.

Thunder Moon Paddle. Fri., July 23, 6-9 p.m. Finger Lakes Museum, 3369 Guyanoga Rd Branchport $30/$35. fingerlakesmuseum.org.

Train Rides. Sat., July 10, 4-8 p.m. and July 17-18, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum, 282 Rush-Scottville Rd. Jul 10: Trolleys & Trains at Twilight ($25); Jul 17-18: Black Diamond Trains ($12-$15). Reservations required $25. 533-1431.

Trolley Rides. Sun., July 25, 11:30 a.m., 12:30, 1:30, 2:30 & 3:30 p.m. NY Museum of Transportation, 6393 E. River Rd $6-$10. nymtmuseum.org.

Yoga in the Pines. Sun., July 18, 10:30 a.m. & 1 p.m. Cumming Nature Center, 6472 Gulick Rd. $18. rmsc.org.

Special Events

Celebrating Chocolate. July 10-11, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Genesee Country Village & Museum, 1410 Flint Hill Rd Mumford $12-$18. gcv.org.

Civil War Living History Weekend. July 17-18, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Genesee Country Village & Museum, 1410 Flint Hill Rd Mumford $17-$23. gcv.org.

Community Garage Sales. Sun., July 11, 7 a.m.-1 p.m., Sun., July 18, 7 a.m.-1 p.m. and Sun., July 25, 7 a.m.-1 p.m.

Rochester Public Market, 280 N. Union St. Select Sundays through Oct 17 4286907.

Food Truck Rodeo. Last Wednesday of every month, 5-9 p.m Rochester Public Market, 280 N. Union St. Through Sep 29 428-6907.

Lavender Days. Thursdays-Sundays, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. and Mon., July 5, 10 a.m.-7 p.m Wickham Farms, 1821 Fairport Nine Mile Point Rd (Rte 250) . Penfield Last entry at 6pm; through Jul 18 $12-$17.

377-3276.

Pride Month. Through July 31. Various, Rochester trilliumhealth.org/2021-prideevents.

Virtual Convention Days 2021: From the Pages to the Streets. July 16-18.

Livestream, online. Women’s Rights National Historical Park nps.gov/wori.

Canandaigua Garden Tour. Sat., July 17, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Ontario County Historical Society Museum, 55 N. Main St., Canandaigua $25. ochs.org/gardentour.

Volunteers needed: E-cigarette users

Earn $100 by participating in our study!

Two visits ($50 per visit).

The second visit will be 6 months after the first. There will be lung function test and blood draw (two tablespoons), saliva, breath condensate and urine collection at each visit.

Call our Research Coordinator at 585-224-6308 if you are interested or if you have questions. Thank you!

24 CITY JULY 2021

e t a r b e l e C

r e m m Su !

I X X W h t wi

Photo: Hanna PK Credit: Janice Hanson

Pop Up in a Park

Jackie Robinson

Weekly through August 9 WXXI Kids and the Monroe County Library System are hosting Pop Ups in a Park this summer! They’ll be visiting parks in the region to have fun in our local green spaces. Learn more at WXXI.org/events.

Saturdays, July 24 and 31 at 4 p.m. on WXXI-TV It’s baseball season, so why not enjoy this Ken Burns documentary film that examines the life and times of Jack Roosevelt Robinson?

Little in the Lot

StoryCorps Virtual Tour

Throughout the summer Enjoy cafe food, live music, and a movie outside in the parking lot at The Little Theatre. See page 30 for more details.

Through July 31 The groundbreaking oral history project is collecting stories from our neighbors.

See the next page for details on how you can participate.

Hochstein at High Falls Thursdays in August at 12:10 p.m.

Join WXXI Classical host Mona Seghatoleslami at Granite Mills Park in High Falls for this free lunchtime concert series, hosted by WXXI, The Hochstein School, and the High Falls Business Association. Learn more at WXXI.org/hff

WXXI-TV • THIS MONTH The Indian Doctor Thursdays, July 1-29 at 8:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV This comedy drama set in the 1960s follows a high-flying Delhi graduate Dr. Prem Sharma and his wife Kamini’s new life in a Welsh coal mining town. Once in Wales, they quickly become embroiled in the lives of the villagers, although the regal Kamini is determined they are leaving as soon as possible.

Photo: Dr. Prem Sharma (Sanjeev Bhaskar) Kamini (Ayesha Dharker) Credit: Provided by APT

A Capitol 4th

The Latino Experience

Sunday, July 4 at 8 p.m. and again at 9:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV Celebrate our country’s 245th birthday with a starstudded musical extravaganza!

The 41st edition of America’s Independence Day celebration features performances by top music stars alongside spectacular fireworks from all over Washington, DC.

Tuesdays, July 6-20 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV Explore a broad collection of experiences, perspectives, and points of view through a variety of short films that highlight the diversity of the Latino/a/x community and illuminate the vibrancy of the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Photo: Daniela Credit: Courtesy of Jessica Daugherty

Credit: Courtesy of Capital Concerts

The Royal House of Windsor Sundays, July 11-August 1 at 7 p.m. on WXXI-TV How was the British royal family able to survive four generations of crisis?

This improbable tale of triumph is marked with ruthlessness, pragmatism, and sheer good luck.

Credit: Spun Gold and all3media International

Icon Music Through the Lens

Monday, July 5 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV In Richmond, Virginia, filmmakers Domico Phillips and Metta Bastet captured the outcry in the city as people expressed their anger over repeated acts of police brutality against people of color. Emotions ran high, violence broke out, and relationships developed through several months of marches and peaceful demonstrations.

Fridays, July 16-30 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV Revel in the eyeopening, thrilling world of live music photography through the experiences of the men and women who have documented popular music in images, from the earliest darkrooms to the fastevolving digital landscapes of the present day.

Credit: Provided by APT

Photo: Jimi Hendrix Credit: Courtesy of Baron Wolman

Why This Moment

26 CITY JULY 2021

StoryCorps’ Virtual Tour Is In Town!

Record a meaningful conversation for history!

The StoryCorps Mobile Tour is partnering with WXXI to remotely record the stories of Monroe County and Finger Lakes area residents and preserve them in the Library of Congress.

For 16 years, the StoryCorps Mobile Tour has brought loved ones together for thousands of conversations about the things that matter most. For the safety of participants during the pandemic, we’re conducting our visit virtually. Through a new process that allows participants to record remotely from their homes using an internet-connected device, we hope to foster meaningful connections during a time of physical distance.

The interview process: In a StoryCorps interview, two people are able to record a conversation with one another about who they are, what they’ve learned in life, and how they want to be remembered. A trained StoryCorps facilitator guides them through the interview process. After each 40-minute recording session, participants receive a digital copy of their interview.

With participant permission, a second copy is archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress for future generations to hear.

Our platform: During StoryCorps’ remote visit, the interview process and experience will be maintained using StoryCorps Virtual, a new, browser-based video conference platform that allows both participants to see and hear one another during their conversation, and to be joined by a facilitator remotely.

Special thanks to StoryCorps’ Rochester sponsors:

When: Now through July 31

Reservations: Visit WXXI.org/storycorps or call our 24-hour toll-free reservation line at 1-800-850-4406

StoryCorps is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

TURN TO WXXI CLASSICAL FOR MUSIC PERFECTLY TUNED TO YOUR DAY

GamePlay

WMFT Opera Series

Saturdays at 11 a.m. and again at 7 p.m. on WXXI Classical Videogames are an undeniable cultural force and serve as a fantastic point of entry to classical music for listeners of any age.

In this new series, host Keith Brown brings the music, composers and performers of the vast worlds of videogame music to life.

Saturdays at 1 p.m. on WXXI Classical From Milan to New York, Barcelona to Chicago, this series gives you a front-row seat to performances from some of the world’s greatest opera companies and performers. This month, enjoy:

Five Things of Note about Scott Wallace

7/3 7/10 7/17 7/24 7/31

Mozart: Don Giovanni (Royal Opera) Wagner: Tannhäuser (Royal Opera) Wagner: Der Rosenkavalier (Royal Opera) Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Royal Opera) Verdi: Il Trovatore (Swedish Royal Opera)

Host of Rejuvenation, airing Fridays from 6-9 p.m. on WRUR-FM

1. If you could have dinner with one artist from any point in history, who would it be?

Art Neville 2. What is your day job? Letter carrier 3. What advice would you give to your younger self? Think more before you act 4. What is one of your favorite songs? “Drown in My Own Tears” by Ray Charles 5. What are three things you can’t live without? Family, my job, and a functioning stereo.

28 CITY JULY 2021

Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin Weeknights at 7 p.m. on WXXI Classical Join host Bill McGlaughlin as he takes you on an expedition through the world of classical music. Each week, he picks a theme and follows the music wherever it leads him. Enjoy this musical journey that focuses on a particular, genre, music festival, or classical theme. It’s a sort of Outward Bound for music, with Bill as our guide to make sure we all get home safe and sound.

AM 1370, YOUR NPR NEWS STATION + WRUR-FM 88.5, DIFFERENT RADIO

Fifty and Forward: An Anniversary Celebration of NPR Sunday, July 4 at 9 p.m. on AM 1370 NPR grew up alongside a post-Watergate journalism ethos that shaped the media industry for decades.

Hosted by Audie Cornish and featuring other NPR journalists, we'll unpack that ethos: how it developed in the newsroom and changed over time, through today. Analytical, critical and forward-thinking, this program tells the story of NPR's history in the context of the growth of modern media. Repeats Monday, July 5 at 12 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Amazon: The Prime Effect Sunday, July 11 at 9 p.m. on AM 1370 Amazon, what it is and what power does it have? This special takes an in-depth look at the structure of Amazon, the invisible strings that tie together the parts, and why those parts create something the government is keeping its eye on. Credit: Mark Lennihan/AP

Support public media.

Become a WXXI Member!

Whether it’s television, radio, online, or on screen, WXXI is there with the programs, news, and information – where you want it and when you want it. If you value PBS, NPR, PBS Kids, WXXI News, WXXI Classical and so much more, consider becoming a member.

Visit WXXI.org/support to choose the membership that works for you. There are many membership levels with their own special benefits, including becoming a sustaining member.

Munk Debates Sundays, July 18 and July 25 at 9 p.m. on AM 1370 Established in 2008, the Munk Debates brings together acclaimed thinkers around the world to tackle the big questions of our time. These debates follow a classic format employing opening statements, free form rebuttals, and closing statements.

Moderator Rudyard Griffiths keeps an eye on the clock and ensures the debate flows smoothly and remains on point. The July 18th debate is on capitalism and the July 25th debate is on religion. Photo Courtesy Munk Debates.

SUMMER MOVIE SEASON IS HERE! Here’s a sample of what’s coming to your favorite air-conditioned dark room this month.

July 2: Zola July 2: Summer of Soul July 9: 2021 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour In 2020, the big screen was blank, the seats empty, and the popcorn machine barren. It was not a good year for movie theaters. But while cinemas like The Little were closed for 14 months or longer, the movies themselves were still riveting, beautiful, and just downright excellent. These films deserve to be watched on the glorious big screen, and we’re going to make that happen.

July 16: Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain July 23: No Ordinary Man July 23: All Streets Are Silent July 23-25: CatVideoFest 2021 July 30: The Green Knight

“The Lost Year: Movies We Missed in 2020” series will showcase the hits, hidden gems, and award winners of 2020 in the way they were meant to be watched … in a movie theater. The series begins July 16 and 22 with:

First Cow Director Kelly Reichardt’s quiet, intimate, caper was not only one of the year’s most underrated movies, but also a fantastic portrait of friendship (as well as oily cakes).

A taciturn loner and skilled cook (John Magaro) has traveled west and joined a group of fur trappers in Oregon Territory, though he only finds true connection with a Chinese immigrant (Orion Lee) also seeking his fortune; soon the two collaborate on a successful business, although its longevity is reliant upon the clandestine participation of a nearby wealthy landowner’s prized milking cow.

JULY 2021

*Release dates and new films are subject to change; check thelittle.org for new additions and changes

Little in The Lot: Ratatouille Wednesday, July 28 Little in the Lot details, plus live outdoor music schedule at thelittle.org

Prepare your chef’s hat -- Ratatouille, live music, and dinner outdoors in The Little’s parking lot is happening in July. Live music will also take place Wednesdays and Sundays in the parking lot throughout the summer.

VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS CALENDAR

[ Opening ] Little Theatre, 240 East Ave. Nancy Lane: Earth Calling. Fridays-Sundays.

Jul 11, 2-4pm: Opening reception.

Through Aug 4. thelittle.org/art-exhibits.

Pittsford Fine Art, 4 N Main St. Pittsford. Julia Maddalina: Portraits of the Frontline. Tuesdays-Thursdays.

Through Sep 10. pittsfordfineart.com.

Visual Studies Workshop, 31 Prince St. vsw.org. Aaron Turner: Black Alchemy. July 5-31.

[ Continuing ] Art Exhibits Artworks Gallery, 109 Fall St. Seneca Falls. Member/Guest Show. Through Jul 24. artsinseneca.org.

Central Library, 115 South Ave. Knit Democracy: New York State Capitol. Mondays-Fridays. To Aug 15. knitdemocracy.org/rochester-library.

Cobblestone Arts Center, 1622 NY 332. Seasons (to Aug 22) | Enchanted Trail Outdoor Sculpture Walk. Ongoing. 398-0220.

Geneva Historical Society, 543 S Main St. Geneva. Geneva Innovators. Through April 2022. $3. genevahistoricalsociety.com.

George Eastman Museum, 900 East Ave. eastman.org. To Survive on This Shore: Photographs & Interviews with Transgender & Gender Nonconforming Older Adults. Jess T. Dugan & Vanessa Fabbre. Through Jan 2. $7-$18.; Joan Crawford Home Movies (to Sep 5) | Bea Nettles: Harvest of Memory (Jul 9-Oct 10) | One Hundred Years Ago: George Eastman in 1921 (to Jan 2022). $7-$18.

Image City Photography Gallery, 722 University Ave. Black & White Invitational. Through Jul 11.

271-2540.

International Art Acquisitions, 3300 Monroe Ave. Master Graphics.

Through July 31. 264-1440.

Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Ave. 276-8900. The 613 by Archie Rand (to Jul 18) | Tara Merenda Nelson: FourMats (to Aug 8) | “To Help People See”: The Art of G Peter Jemison (to Nov 14) | A Sense of Place: Prints from the Collection of David Z Friedberg (to Dec 5).

Reservations required. $6-$15.

Pat Rini Rohrer Gallery, 71 S Main St. Canandaigua. The Colors & Promise of Spring. Though Jul 10. prrgallery.com.

Rochester Contemporary Art Center, 137 East Ave. 6x6x2021. Through July 18. roco6x6.org.

Yates County History Center, 107 Chapel St. Penn Yan. A Dangerous Freedom: The Abolitionists, Freedom Seekers, & Underground Railroad Sites of Yates County. By appointment. yatespast.org.

Film Dryden Theatre, 900 East Ave. Live Screenings. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 7:30 p.m. Advanced tickets required. $5$10. eastman.org/dryden-theatre.

Little Theatre, 240 East Ave. Live Screenings. Fridays-Sundays. Virtual screenings continue. thelittle.org.

Various, Rochester. Movies in the Parks. Thu., July 8 and Thu., July 29. At dusk. Jul 1: “Onward” (2020), Highland Bowl; Jul 8: “Moana” (2016), Ontario Beach; Jul 29: “The Wizard of Oz” (1939), Webster Park. monroecounty.gov/parks-movies.

Visual Studies Workshop, 31 Prince St. vsw.org. Summer Film Series: Waters of Empire. Through July 31. Online only.

Readings & Spoken Word New Ground Poetry Night. First Tuesday of every month, 7 p.m.

Equal=Grounds, 750 South Ave. equalgrounds.com.

Visiting Authors Series. Virtual Writers & Books, online. Jul 8, 7:30 p.m: Heather Lanier; Jul 10, 1 p.m: Joani Elliot; Jul 15, 8 p.m.: Te-Ping Chen; Jul 17, 1 p.m.: Ed Fuller & Gary Grossman; Jul 20, 7:30 p.m: Lilly Dancyger; Jul 22, 7:30 p.m: Joanna Scott; Jul 27: Laura Warren Hill; Jul 29 7:30 p.m: Donika Kelly; Jul 31, 3 p.m: Ed Hajim wab.org.

Art Events Arts at the Gardens. July 31-Aug. 1, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion, 151 Charlotte St .

Canandaigua $10. sonnenberg.org.

The Expanded Cinema Practice of Tara Merenda Nelson. Thu., July 29, 6 p.m. Virtual Memorial Art Gallery, online. mag.rochester.edu. Ögwe’öweh “Original People” Pop-Up. Saturdays, 11 a.m.-3 p.m Ganondagan State Historic Site, 7000 County Rd 41 Artists, demonstrations, storytellers, music, dance, shopping, & food ganondagan.org.

Light Bloom: Rainbow Edition. Sat., July 17, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Lumiere Photo, 100 College Ave 461-4447.

Ong Siraphisut: BREATHE. Thu., July 8, 6 p.m. Rochester Contemporary Art Center, 137 East Ave. rochestercontemporary.org.

Racism, Covenants, & Dreams Deferred. Fri., July 9, 5-8:30 p.m., Sat., July 10, 2-5:30 p.m. and Sun., July 11, 2-5:30 p.m. Various, Rochester Jul 9, 5-8:30pm: African American Long Table, MAG; Jul 10, 2-5:30pm: Indigenous Long Table, Ganondagan; Jul 11, 2-5:30pm: Immigrant, Refugee & Migrant Long Table, RMSC. Registration required.

FB Live: artsandjusticeROC. Susan Carmen-Duffy: Un Voyage de Soixante ans. Thu., July 15, 4-8 p.m. Sylvan Starlight Creations, 50 State St., Bldg C . Pittsford sylvanstarlightcreations.com.

Preacher Lawson. Thu., July 22, 7:30 p.m., Fri., July 23, 7 & 9 p.m. and Sat., July 24, 4, 7 & 9 p.m. Comedy @ the Carlson, 50 Carlson Rd $25.

426-6339.

Rachel Feinstein. Thu., July 8, 7:30 p.m. and July 9-10, 7 & 9 p.m.

Comedy @ the Carlson, 50 Carlson Rd $25. 426-6339.

Sky Sands. Thu., July 15, 7:30 p.m. and July 16-17, 7 & 9 p.m. Comedy @ the Carlson, 50 Carlson Rd $12-$17.

426-6339.

Steve Wrigley. Wed., July 21, 7:30 p.m. Comedy @ the Carlson, 50 Carlson Rd $15. 426-6339.

Dance Events BIODANCE & SacatheniaDance: Wander & Wonder. Through July 2, 7 p.m. Rochester Museum & Science Center, 657 East Ave. (rmsc.org) $15 suggested. biodance.org.

Dances at MuCCC. Fri., July 2, 8 p.m. and July 3-10. Virtual MuCCC, online. $5 & up muccc.org. muccc.org.

Theater A Chorus Line. Fri., July 30, 7:30 p.m. and Sat., July 31, 2 & 7:30 p.m. OFC Creations Theater Center, 3450 Winton Pl $35/$50. ofccreations.com.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE ANSWERS PUZZLE ON PAGE 54. NO PEEKING! 1

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Big Wigs Under a Big Top. Sat., July 24, 7 p.m. JCC Canalside Stage, 1200 Edgewood Ave. $15/$25. jccrochester. org/canalside.

Fred Rubino. Sat., July 31, 7 & 9 p.m.

Comedy @ the Carlson, 50 Carlson Rd $15/$20. 426-6339.

Mark Maira & Shane Allen: The Roast of Rochester. Fri., July 30, 7:30 p.m.

Comedy @ the Carlson, 50 Carlson Rd $20. 426-6339.

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Comedy

Dead Air. Thu., July 15, 8 p.m., Sat., July 17, 8 p.m., Sun., July 18, 2 p.m., Wed., July 21, 8 p.m., Thu., July 22, 2 p.m., Fri., July 23, 8 p.m., Sat., July 24, 2 p.m., Wed., July 28, 2 p.m., Thu., July 29, 8 p.m. and Sat., July 31, 2 p.m. Bristol Valley Theater, 151 South Main St $15-$36. bvtnaples. org.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Thu., July 29, 7 p.m., Fri., July 30, 7 p.m. and Sat., July 31, 2 & 7 p.m. JCC Canalside Stage, 1200 Edgewood Ave. $25-$35. jccrochester. org/canalside.

Mala. Wed., July 14, 8 p.m., Fri., July 16, 8 p.m., Sat., July 17, 2 p.m., Wed., July 21, 2 p.m., Thu., July 22, 8 p.m., Sat., July 24, 8 p.m., Sun., July 25, 2 p.m., Wed., July 28, 8 p.m., Thu., July 29, 2 p.m. and Fri., July 30, 8 p.m.

Bristol Valley Theater, 151 South Main St $15-$36. bvtnaples.org.

Seth Rudetsky’s Big Fat Broadway Show. Sat., July 17, 3 p.m. and Sun., July 18, 3 p.m. OFC Creations Theater Center, 3450 Winton Pl $37/$49. ofccreations.com.

Something Rotten. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays, 7 p.m. and Sundays, 2 p.m JCC Canalside Stage, 1200 Edgewood Ave. Through July 18 $20-$35. jccrochester.org/canalside.

The Tempest. WednesdaysSundays, 8 p.m Highland Bowl, 1137 South Ave. Through Jul 25 rochestercommunityplayers.org.

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roccitynews.org CITY 31

ARTS

REVEL IN THE DETAILS

Tara Merenda Nelson adjusts a projector for her installation, “FourMats,” at the Memorial Art Gallery. PHOTO BY REBECCA RAFFERTY

PROJECTING PERCEPTION Tara Merenda Nelson’s film and video installations jump through time at the MAG

BY REBECCA RAFFERTY

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@RSRAFFERTY

he room in the Memorial Art Gallery where Tara Merenda Nelson’s film and video installations are screening is silent except for the whirring and clicking of machines.

The devices — projectors for 16mm, Super 8, and slide film, as well as high-definition video — are in fact part of the show; each carefully positioned for their projections to align with one another to form a single image.

“FourMats,” on view through Aug. 8, features two of Nelson’s multimedia works. “End of Empire” is a tall moving image of the Kodak Tower, 32 CITY JULY 2021

BECCA@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM

with each projection stacked up to form a picture of the iconic building.

In “Moon,” each projection is a quarter of the full moon.

Aligned in this way, the stark visual differences between the projections — including vibrancy of color, clarity of details, and steadiness of the picture — are obvious. The effect leaves viewers feeling as though they’re seeing the object through four different periods of time simultaneously.

The key word here is “feeling.”

Nelson’s work is more than a simple demonstration of the progression of film and video technology. It explores the effect the technology’s nuances

have on us: how we perceive light and how we organize visuals to make deeper associations with what we are seeing.

In this case, the look of each kind of film or video is inextricably linked to the periods of time those technologies were popular, giving rise to connections we have, or think we should have, with those days.

“This is based on the Gestalt principle of organization,” Nelson said as she changed out film loops recently in preparation for the next “performance” of the installation.

Gestalt principles are about how we interpret visuals from the world

around us to create a full picture, and comprehend what we’re seeing.

Super 8 film projects at 18 frames per second, compared with 16mm film, which generally runs 24 frames per second. While the HD video records movement, it doesn’t pulse and flicker like film. The slide, on the other hand, is a constant still image.

Nelson, the curator of moving image collections at Visual Studies Workshop, said in her artist statement that she sought to identify how people perceive images and give them meaning. Her work focuses on how that perception is affected by the light that conveys the image and the

“End of Empire” (2014) and “Moon” (2015), looping film and video installations at the Memorial Art Gallery, leaves viewers feeling as though they're seeing objects through four different time periods simultaneously.

darkness between the frames, which she calls “the space of imagination.”

At the time she made the recordings (“End of Empire” in 2014 and “Moon” in 2015), Nelson said, she was wrapped up in understanding abstraction and the organization of visual information.

“But I was also interested in film and film projection,” Nelson said, adding that, as a filmmaker specializing in Super 8, she was struck by how people reported a feeling of nostalgia when they viewed Super 8 films, even when it was their first time seeing one.

“Why would you feel nostalgic?” she asked. “What are you feeling nostalgic for if this is an experience you’ve never had?”

The answer, perhaps, is in the association we have with the look of older technologies and our cultural knowledge of when and how they were used. Something filmed today on Super 8 can be mistaken for a

home movie from the 1960s because of the color, clarity, and number of frames per second that our brains automatically read as older tech.

Which is why Nelson’s portrait of the Kodak building, using four formats shot in 2014, seems to jump several decades as your eyes move down the tower. It is also why snapshots taken today on a refurbished Polaroid camera can “feel” vintage.

With the moon portrait, the visual differences between the four quadrants are fairly straightforward. Though each slice of the moon is in grayscale, some wedges are brighter than others, some details are more crisp, and, in the case of the slide film, the image is warmer.

But the Kodak Tower, projected in horizontal strips from the peak of the roof down to the base of the building at street level, has more immediate associations with the time periods of each kind of film or video.

The oldest type of film projected — 16mm, invented by Eastman Kodak in 1923 — shows the highest tier, which includes the top of the tower and the sky in a breathtaking

blue. The image is a bit fuzzy and wobbles slightly as it cycles through its loop.

Moving down a tier to the Super 8 — debuted by Eastman Kodak at the 1964 New York World’s Fair — the image is dimmer and noticeably flickers. Below that, the slide film — circa 1935 — is a steady image, but fuzzy by today’s standards. At the street level is the HD video: bright and crisp, with no jumps or flickering.

Cars whiz by, people pass into and out of the frame, and modern traffic lights and current buildings surround the base of the tower.

The lineup of formats works well in this order. Isolated in the blue sky, the top of the tower, which was built in 1914, looks as though it could have been shot when 16mm film was new.

The new buildings, traffic, and stop lights at the base were appropriately recorded with modern video technology.

Almudena Escobar López, the assistant curator of media arts at the MAG, explained that the installation was originally a performance piece that was adapted into a longerrun exhibition. But a caveat of the

projections is that their quality erodes with every “performance,” like a vinyl record that is played over and over again.

“The film loops degrade each time that you activate the installation, and they don’t last for long each time,” Escobar López said.

Like memory, the projections fade with time and, eventually, will become unreliable and lost.

“We can relate, in a way,” Nelson said, “because that’s something we’re grappling with in the human condition.”

“FourMats” is viewable on Thursdays from 4 to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m.

Included in the exhibition program is “The Expanded Cinema Practice of Tara Merenda Nelson” on July 29 at 6 p.m., an online conversation between Nelson and curator Almudena Escobar López about Nelson’s expanded cinema practice. For more information, visit mag.rochester.edu.

roccitynews.org CITY 33

ARTS

BILINGUAL BARD

Tamara Chapman, left, and Eliza McDaniel rehearse a scene from Rochester Community Players’ “The Tempest.” PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH

SIGNING SHAKESPEARE A dual-language production of “The Tempest” in ASL and English goes beyond mere translation.

BY KATHERINE VARGA

A

group of deaf and hearing actors stood in a circle onstage.

Nobody spoke. Through eye contact and a shared sense of fun, they imagined their breath had condensed into an invisible ball, which they threw, kicked, and gently tossed around the circle.

A year ago, the thought of sharing breath would have been alarming rather than playful, but everyone in the cast was vaccinated. This warm-up started a rehearsal for the Rochester 34 CITY JULY 2021

Community Players’ production of “The Tempest” — presented in both American Sign Language and English — which plays at the Highland Bowl on South Avenue from July 9 through 25 as this summer’s Shakespeare in the Park production.

“The Tempest” takes place on a deserted island, where Prospero and his daughter Miranda have been living with magical spirits for 12 years. Their quarantine ends when a shipwreck brings Prospero’s old enemies to shore.

While director Luane Davis Haggerty hopes spending time on this island will feel like a much needed vacation for audiences, she was largely drawn to the play for its magic, which allows her to explain the double reality of the dual-language production.

With a background as a playwright, actor, and theatre educator, Haggerty also has ample experience directing shows that bridge deaf and hearing actors, most recently with “Spoon River Anthology” at

Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Though a hearing person, Haggerty became fluent in ASL at a young age through growing up with a deaf grandmother. She teaches at NTID, which is offering “The Tempest” as a theater practicum for the summer session.

In Haggerty’s vision for the play, the deaf actors portray the characters as written by Shakespeare, only in ASL. The hearing actors play spirits

from the island, who voice for them using Shakespeare’s English.

Unlike other productions that use deaf and hearing actors, such as Deaf West Theatre’s “Spring Awakening” — which was on Broadway in 2015 — the hearing actors play roles with separate personalities from the characters they’re voicing.

The spirits own the island, which sometimes gets inhabited by humans who get kicked out of Europe. “They’ve created a cultural ethic that when these flawed human beings arrive, they take care of them,” Haggerty says. “They follow them around, keep them out of trouble.”

This vision of the spirits is not in the original Shakespeare. As Haggerty says, depending on how one interprets the play, “you could really hate this play.” For this production, she’s “taken away the concept of colonialism” and changed the genders of some of the characters to include more women.

“We can represent the world the way we’d like to see it,” she says.

Haggerty says the idea of spirits acting as a guardian angel for their character was taken from her observations as a director. “That’s what happens with the deaf actors,” she says. “They’ll adopt a hearing person and take care of them.”

Deaf people often feel isolated in a hearing world, Haggerty explains. When they find other deaf people who share their language, a strong sense of community is formed. This can extend to hearing people who sign or are willing to learn. Since several of the hearing actors are new to signing, student interpreters from RIT’s American Sign Language and Interpreting Education program attended rehearsals to aid in communication.

Tamara Chapman, who plays the signing Miranda, immediately bonded with the speaking Miranda, Eliza McDaniel, a senior in RIT’s ASLIE program.

“We had this connection,” says Chapman, as interpreted in English by McDaniel. “We can go back and forth together. We share a lot through our eye contact.”

McDaniel stops interpreting to excitedly sign and say, “I feel the same way! It’s wonderful to work with you. I’m like a little kid jumping up and down.”

Malik Paris, left, and Peter Haggerty play the signing Prospero and speaking Prospero, respectively. PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH

Many cast members, including Chapman, are performing Shakespeare for the first time. Others are more experienced, including Malik Paris, who plays the signing Prospero. He has performed with New York Deaf Theatre in its production of “Titus Andronicus” and with The Public Theater’s “Twelfth Night” in New York City’s Central Park.

As Paris describes it, the two languages are separate but connected.

Before the first rehearsal, Haggerty “glossed” the entire play, meaning she used English words to write the signs that could be used to convey the meaning.

She says in some ways, interpreting Shakespeare was not as hard as one might expect, considering the archaic language. Some of the inverted sentences and word order that can make Shakespeare challenging to contemporary English speakers are actually fairly close to the word order in ASL grammar.

The gloss is intended to be a road map; as the show developed, the actors added their own body language, facial expressions, manner of presenting the signs, and physical acting choices.

The deaf actors also created sign names — which in deaf culture, is

a way to represent a person without fingerspelling every letter in their name — for their characters.

Traditionally, only a deaf person may assign someone a sign name.

This production opens with a promenade of each character introducing themself and presenting their sign name. Though this practice may look Elizabethan, it comes from the classical deaf theater tradition. It also gives the audience a chance to see which deaf and hearing actors are paired together.

Two actors walking next to each other is a rare luxury given the dangers of the pandemic. Many actors have found ways to perform this past year, such as over Zoom, but are grateful to be in a rehearsal room again.

“I’m used to that emotional connection you make with people standing next to you,” says Paris, as interpreted by McDaniel.

Alongside the joy of performing in person again, there’s still an adjustment period.

Although masks were not required in rehearsal because everyone was vaccinated, a few actors still wore masks as they navigated this transition into a production that, when it was first brought to Haggerty in February,

was not guaranteed to be happening in person. Last summer’s Shakespeare in the Park production was canceled due to COVID. “It feels weird to be normal,” says Sam Langshteyn, a Deaf RIT student studying film, who plays signing Ferdinand. “My social skills are dead.”

He says he has channeled those feelings into his character, whom he describes as being clueless when it comes to love. “I can play this guy who doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing,” he says.

Creating theater in a pandemic is strange and challenging — especially when it’s Shakespeare, in two different languages, all while relearning how to be in a room of people after a year of physical distancing.

But as Haggerty tells her actors worried about memorizing Shakespeare, “Onstage, you are never alone.”

“So suppose a line drops or you suddenly go blank,” she says. “Look at your partner — their blocking, how they’re standing, where they’re gesturing. You’ll remember.”

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ARTS

ALL TOGETHER NOW

“Music in the community is the community,” says Photo City Music Hall’s owner Danny Nielsen. “It's not about me.” PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH

A MUSIC HALL FOR ALL Photo City Music Hall has a new look, but it’s still the same haven for punk, rock, metal, and EDM.

BY DANIEL J. KUSHNER

W

alking into the newlyrenovated Photo City Music Hall, you get the feeling something is missing.

It isn’t the fun-loving Goth-punk ambiance that has set the club apart from other venues since owner Danny Nielsen bought the place in 2017 and had punk rock promoter James Von Sinn decorate. The pair of neon skulls still hang behind the bar. The Nosferatu dummy, housed in his coffin, still casts a shadow across the floor.

Gone, though, are the once cozy, but limited cocktail space and the wall that separated the bar from the music 36 CITY JULY 2021

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acts — punk, metal, electronic rave, and rock — that play in back.

“We literally took a hammer to the wall,” Nielsen says of the tear-down, which began in earnest April 2020 just as the pandemic began canceling live music. “I just decided if I started knocking down the wall, there’s no turning back at that point. And it’s something that I wanted to do, but I didn’t want to second-guess it.”

Photo City Music Hall is now one huge room with a rewired sound system and upgraded speakers. The space not only offers a more open feel and better acoustics, but is symbolic of Nielsen’s aspirations for the club

to be more welcoming to Rochester’s wide-ranging music community as live concerts return.

Throughout the spring, the club hosted at least two shows per week at a restricted capacity, largely featuring local acts such as soul-pop band The Sideways, the metal mavens in Sulaco, rock band Dangerbyrd, and longtime Rochester favorites, Anonymous Willpower Duo and Jeff Riales.

Houses grew last month after the state lifted most of its capacity restrictions for live events, and performances scheduled for July include Rochester saxophonist Jimmie Highsmith Jr., Chicago electronic

musician VAMPA, and local acoustic punk musician Kaizer Solzie.

Photo City’s facelift is as much of a breath of fresh air for concertgoers — who in the past were funneled down one of two dark, ominous corridors on either side of the venue to reach the stage — as it is for Nielsen. For a time, he says, whether the club would survive the pandemic was an open question.

“I wasn’t sure we were ever going to be able to put it back together again,” Nielsen says of reopening. “Honestly, I was so scared.”

There were plenty of restless nights and false starts, Nielsen explains, such as when his deal with a contractor

fell through and cost him $10,000.

A timely fundraiser, a Paycheck Protection Program loan and other grants, and help from employees and friends, kept things afloat.

But there was a sense of loss, too.

“Being away from music, you start feeling like you’re losing something — maybe you’re losing a relationship almost,” he says. “And we had to reinstate that relationship with the community.”

Eager to retain a connection while the club was closed and construction was under way, Nielsen invited bands and musicians to perform and livestream their acts to fans. To keep it safe, he limited the number of musicians on the stage and kept to one act per night, with ample disinfectant in between.

“I think a lot of musicians were just really happy to get up there and spread their love of music again,” he says.

Von Sinn, a de facto ambassador of the local punk scene, says Photo City differentiates itself from other live music venues in the way it values its musicians.

“That was the agreement when I first came on: The bands and the artists gotta come before everything,” he says.

Valuing musicians includes accommodating their fans. Photo City has become a preferred venue for touring bands by holding fast to its reputation as a safe hangout for punks, metalheads, and EDM lovers — clientele that other venues have been known to tolerate at best, and mistrust at worst.

“Other venues I’ve dealt with, the way they’ve treated the punk scene was like a burden, instead of welcoming, opening arms,” Von Sinn says.

Nielsen says club owners who turn up their noses at niche audiences are underestimating them.

“They’re not used to business owners giving this segment that opportunity,” he says. “So honestly, this segment that people were always like, ‘Oh, they’re gonna screw it up,’ there’s a segment that has preserved this place the most.”

The renovations to Photo City have made the concert experience more accessible to everyone. Not only does the sound travel through the entire space rather than “getting smacked in by a wall,” as Photo City’s sound

Photo City Music Hall hosts shows ranging from punk, metal, and rave music to stand-up comedy and burlesque. PHOTO BY JEFF PARASIDA

engineer Jon Lalopa put it, but patrons can watch the show from the comfort of the bar.

“The casual concertgoer is just as important as the rabid concertgoer,” Von Sinn says. “A lot of people want to just sit at the bar and see a band in the distance, and they can do that now.”

To hear Nielsen talk about the renovations at Photo City, he had no choice. He has a passion for presenting live music and for showcasing the people who make it.

A Rochester native who grew up playing football and lacrosse, Nielsen says he never fit into any one social clique. Though never a musician himself, he says he discovered young that he enjoyed bringing people together through music. He’s been booking his own shows since he was 15.

“I knew I loved being around people, I knew I love booking music, and I knew I just wanted to be the guy behind the scenes — just making things happen,” Nielsen says. “I never want to be front and center on stage.

It’s just not for me.”

While playing lacrosse at Herkimer Community College, he says, he

earned a scholarship to Ohio State University. But before he could make the jump to the NCAA, a concussion derailed both his academic and athletic plans, and Nielsen dropped out.

Nielsen says that at the time, the injury left him with a contempt for sports. He returned to the Rochester area and helped his father, Howard Nielsen — owner of what was then Sticky Lips Pit BBQ on Culver Road, now Sticky Soul & BBQ — open Sticky Lips BBQ in Henrietta in 2010.

The younger Nielsen filled multiple roles in the restaurant’s beginning stages, managing the bar, booking musicians, and completing various construction tasks. Nielsen considers his time at Sticky Lips as a formative experience in which he “(learned) from the ground up, from blueprints to opening up a bar to booking shows.”

Nielsen also drew inspiration from his late grandmother, a church organist who encouraged him to become a venue owner, particularly toward the end of her life in 2016. “I remember her laying down, just telling me, ‘Dan, you gotta go, you gotta do it,’” he says, tearing up.

After engaging in preliminary talks to purchase the Bug Jar, Nielsen says, he decided he wanted a venue with an identity he could build himself.

He had just enough money to make a down payment, and in 2017, bought Photo City Improv & Comedy Club from his father.

The club, on Atlantic Avenue off Culver Road, had no sound system.

As its name suggested, the venue hosted improv comedy and stand-up performances. Unable to afford rent elsewhere, Nielsen says he lived in Photo City’s green room for the first year.

In time, he introduced live music to draw a wider audience — and feed his soul.

“Music was more successful, and you can’t fight the heart,” he says. “My heart wanted music and music has really always been my main goal.”

The club was rebranded as Photo City Music Hall last year.

“Music in the community is the community,” he says. “It’s not about me. The community does it. They’re the ones that make it. I just kind of put it out there.”

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ARTS

RAINBOW CONNECTION

“Hank, 76, and Samm, 67, North Little Rock, AR,” a portrait by Jess T. Dugan, is part of George Eastman Museum’s current exhibit, “To Survive on This Shore, Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults.” PHOTOS PROVIDED

ENGENDERING HOPE Eastman Museum’s exhibition, “To Survive on This Shore,” spotlights why trans elders matter.

BY REBECCA RAFFERTY

T

here are some stubbornlyheld and often-loud beliefs out there that transgender people are a new phenomenon, as though they materialized as part of a 21st-century youth-led conspiracy to destroy the desperately-clung-to gender binary.

It’s simply not true. There is tangible evidence in artwork, photographs, diaries, and other written accounts that gender38 CITY JULY 2021

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nonconforming people existed throughout history — and with this proof of life are records of the countless struggles and existential threats they endured.

What is true is that younger generations are leading the most public charge ever to normalize different gender identities, seizing on the power of social media and broader support from their peers than previous generations enjoyed.

Young trans people are simply more visible.

But the hardships and dangers for them are as present as ever, which advocates say is one reason that visibility of trans and nonbinary elders is important. It is crucial, they say, for youth to not only have access to the stories of people who came before them, but to see trans people who made it to old age, who not only survived, but thrived, and found

stability and joy.

This is one of the drives behind “To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults,” a photographic exhibition on view in the George Eastman Museum’s Project Gallery through Jan. 2, 2022. The show seeks to shed light on the variety of identities and experiences of more senior trans and nonbinary people.

“Gloria, 70, Chicago, IL,” says she identified as female as “a little tot.”

“Alexis, 64, Chicago, IL,” is a trans woman of Mexican and Apache heritage.

“They have very rigid binaries for gender,” she says.

“Just relating to people on a human level is really important,” says Jamie Allen, associate curator at Eastman Museum’s Department of Photography. “And that’s what this work does really well. We are not only visually confronted with people and their portraits, but then we have an opportunity to learn their stories.

And when you learn somebody’s story, you can’t avoid the fact that they are another human being who comes from someplace, who has a background, who has struggled — possibly in some similar ways as you.”

It’s easier for people to dismiss a concept they don’t understand than to shrug off an actual person seated across from them, telling their story.

Eye contact and active listening promotes empathy. And while this exhibition isn’t a real one-on-one meeting, it’s the next best thing.

“To Survive on This Shore” is the culmination of a five-year collaboration between photographer Jess T. Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre, an associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis whose research focuses on the intersection of LGBTQ issues and aging.

Dugan and Fabbre, who are a couple, traveled across the country documenting the stories of trans and gender-nonconforming people, whose lives are the intersection of their gender identity and other factors, such as age, race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, and geographic location.

The exhibition provides two entry points for viewers to connect with the subjects — through their open and

“I was always heterosexual, never a lesbian. We say I became a lesbian by attrition,” Cheryl joked.

The portrait of SueZie with Cheryl is one of sweet contentment and deep connection.

The work in the exhibition and book by the same title forms an important archive of transgender experience and activism in the United States, which is still a relatively arcane history. There are stories of deep hardship and trauma, of quiet resolution, and of the glory of settling securely into one’s authentic identity and turning around to lift up the next generation.

Atlanta-based Dee Dee Ngozi, 55, is a former sex worker living with HIV. She co-created the first trans ministry in her church, and works in a clinic across the street from the corner she worked in her previous life.

One of the best parts of the exhibition is beholding the comfort, the ease, and the grace of the subjects as they present themselves for the camera and interviewer.

“I put my money down and took my chances,” said LA-based Duchess Milan, 69, an elegant silver-haired woman in red lipstick.

“I’ve gone to all the weddings, all the funerals, and it’s a situation that everybody just thinks of me as who I am,” she said. “It’s not even an issue anymore. ‘Oh you mean her? Oh, that’s just Auntie.’”

As the elders lift the youth, they have a directive for the next generation: “If you hear our story and it resonates, it is your job to keep holding the torch,” Jay said.

“Sky, 64, and Mike, 55, Palm Springs, CA,” are a polyamorous couple who have been together for more than 25 years.

steady gazes and their accompanying first-person statements, drawn from interviews by Fabbre.

There are shared experiences among them, but trans and nonbinary identities are not monolithic. The subjects are ministers, immigrants, veterans, musicians, and grandparents.

There’s Jay, a 59-year-old resident of New York City who transitioned in the ’70s and was an LGBT political activist.

“I’m a pretty classic transgender man, as I see it, because from my earliest recollections as a tiny child I experienced myself as a boy in a girl’s body,” he says in the text accompanying a portrait of him seated on a park bench, an arm casually slung over the back. “I felt that some dreadful mistake had been made and I didn’t get the body that I was supposed to.”

That’s a familiar enough statement from a trans person. But that

bewildering experience is followed by a recounting of the horrific discrimination that both he and his partner, Eleanor, endured when receiving medical care. Jay also discusses the vastly different, more dignified treatment they received after he became “passable” as a male and the couple was “read” as heterosexual.

Then there’s SueZie, a 51-yearold Floridian who transitioned later in life, and was already married to a woman. “Her spouse just picked up with it and stayed with her, and really made that possible for her to have a life of being herself,” Allen says.

SueZie’s wife, Cheryl, weighs in, describing her acceptance of SueZie’s identity and clothing choices, the hiccups in their relationship when she chose to transition, coming to terms with the “total 180” in SueZie’s happiness, and working toward understanding. Her own identity changed, too.

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NEW MUSIC REVIEWS

approach on “Five Hundred Miles,” as the band flows through multiple time changes.

But the most surprising track is undoubtedly “Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair,” a song of Scottish origin that has an almost funereal beauty in versions by Nina Simone and Joan Baez.

On “Under Open Sky,” music that was about pining for a far-away lover becomes a joyful exploration of jazz fusion. A Latin-infused rhythm sets the stage for effervescent guitarwork that spills into a dizzying sax solo. — BY DANIEL J. KUSHNER

“SWATTING THE FLIES”

BY BENNY BLEU Finger Lakes musician Ben Haravitch is a fixture among the region’s folk and bluegrass bands — The Crawdiddies’ banjo player; bassist for The Brothers Blue, and as a member of the newly formed Temple Cabin Band with Aaron Lipp and Max Flaxsburg.

But as solo artist Benny Bleu, Haravitch deserves no less attention. His jack-of-alltrades reputation follows him on his new full-length album “Swatting the Flies,” for which he sang and played fiddle, guitar, banjo, and harmonica. The 10song collection (released on June 18) also continues the quaint evocations of old-time folk music from its predecessor, 2019’s “Warm Prickly,” but there is a key difference. ”Swatting the Flies” sounds decidedly less playful. It’s as if Haravitch is more soul-weary and introspective — no surprise given the events of the past two years. The album’s liner notes provide another clue about Benny Bleu’s suspected fatigue: “Our minds are turning to mush and our view of the stars is fading,” he writes.

“The distractions we get peddled are the flies we gotta swat. I don’t have any answers, all I know is that it’ll take a really big fly swatter.”

And so Haravitch attempts to give listeners the musical antidote. The simple, fiddle-led instrumental “Acorns and Hazelnuts” melds a somber melody with more optimistic, finger-picked rhythms from the guitar and banjo.“Washboard” Dave Paprocki’s accordion-playing lends buoyancy to the traditional tune “Speed of the Plow,” and G. Elwyn Meixner adds an uplifting lap steel twang to the Cajuncountry song “Give Me Cornbread.”

The warm Cajun-music flavor carries over to the French-language song “La Vie Sans Conflits,” or “The Life Without Conflict.” Joined by Barbara Johnston on pandeiro (a Brazilian hand drum similar to the tambourine), Haravitch injects Carribean vibes on the danceable “Belamina.”

And on the roots-rock closer, “Mediocrity,” Haravitch is backed by his newest band, The Blue Lemons, preaching a simple message of selfcontentment: “Oftentimes I’m happiest when I’m alone at night / I’m walking down the middle, the middle of the road / It might not be a very straight line but still I’m walkin home.” — BY DANIEL J. KUSHNER 40 CITY JULY 2021

“OFF IT” BY KING 20/20 J. Edward Moss, aka KING 20/20, has spread his roots into every corner of the local arts scene. Before the pandemic, he took his first steps into the world of literature through the release of “These Streets,” a collaborative collection of poetry. As a visual artist, his colorful, vibrant pop art can be seen on promotional materials for concerts and vintage clothing sellers across the city.

KING 20/20’s musical endeavors snap and shimmer with the same effervescence as his design work.

In 2018, he released his thoughtprovoking alternative hip-hop album, “CMFRTBL.” On this first full-length, he rapped about political and mental strife over danceable beats. His unambiguous, cutting vocal delivery continued on the 2020 single “Stupid Dumb.” His direct articulation of each bar had an intoxicating effect, encouraging listeners to hit the “repeat” button in a daze.

The latest KING 20/20 single, “OFF IT,” was released in early June, and moves away from rap in favor of smooth, melodic vocals with a grunge-inspired twist. Listeners are immediately greeted with a powerful bass line and crisp electronic drums — a combination reminiscent of the British post-punk band IDLES. While KING 20/20’s overall style has shifted, his affinity for creating rhythmic tracks with an ear-worm quality remains the same. On “OFF IT,” Moss enunciates the lines of the chorus over a Mac Demarco-esque guitar line, and it’s nearly impossible not to sing along.

As Moss continues to rebrand himself as a musician, listeners should pay close attention. His ability to pair high-powered beats with the raw edge of ’90s-rockers like The Pixies has resulted in a sound entirely his own. After years of experimentation, KING 20/20 may be on the verge of concocting his magnum opus. — BY EMMARAE STEIN

“UNDER OPEN SKY”

BY AARON STAEBELL Plenty of Rochester musicians have been releasing pandemic-era recordings; few are celebrating the end of COVID hibernation with previously unreleased tunes from over a decade ago. But that’s exactly what jazz drummer-composer Aaron Staebell did when he suddenly, and with little fanfare, put “Under Open Sky” on Bandcamp in mid-June.

The live, unmixed album from 2010 features a quintet Staebell put together during graduate school in an effort to find connective tissue between the folk music tradition and jazz. The timing may seem odd, but the Eastman School of Music alum and local music teacher says he noticed similarities between the old project and new music he plans to premiere next year as “Harriettsville,” prompting him to unearth “Under Open Sky.” While the sound recording itself is far from hi-fi, it captures the heightened ambiance of Howard Hanson Hall on the fourth floor of the Eastman school — and more importantly, the intuitive musical interplay between Staebell, tenor saxophonist Doug Stone, guitarists Mike Frederick and Simon Fletcher, and upright bassist Geoff Saunders.

The album starts with a faithful take on John Scofield’s swirling, uptempo composition “Wabash III.” Staebell’s band adheres more strongly to a traditional swing-music sensibility than the original, but the result is no less energetic.

The majority of the remaining songs in the set are charming renditions of standards that were in part brought to prominence by folk revivalists such as Peter, Paul, and Mary; Judy Collins; and James Taylor. When it comes to covers, it’s difficult to innovate enough to warrant a new interpretation and still honor the original melody — particularly beloved folk melodies — but Staebell’s arrangements thread the needle.

“The Water Is Wide” drifts into a daydream, with a transportive guitar solo and eventually a Charlie Parker-esque bliss-out , but not without Doug Stone’s sultry delivery of the theme as bookends.

The tragic love ballad “Barbara Allen” shifts gradually between contemplation and ecstasy. The music nearly reaches free-jazz cacophony as Staebell punctuates the din with a barrage of rim clicks, rolls, and cymbal splashes, before the song closes as a kind of reverent lullaby. The quintet keeps up its mercurial

MUSIC CALENDAR Please note: Many venues have policies for live attendance posted on their websites. Requirements may include advance tickets, masks and distancing, proof of vaccination, and food purchase, among others. Check ahead for best results.

AMERICANA

The Blind Owl Band. Lincoln Hill Farms,

3792 Rte 247. Canandaigua. Sat., July 3, 6 p.m. $20.

Paulsen, Baker, & Chaapel. Fort Hill Performing Arts Center, 20 Fort Hill Ave. Canandaigua. fhpac.org. Sat., July 10, 7:30 p.m. $15/$25.

BLUES

Ayers Fest. Lincoln Hill Farms, 3792 Rte 247. Canandaigua. Fri., July 9, 5-10 p.m. and Sat., July 10, 1-10 p.m. $20-$40.

Gordon Munding. B-Side, 5 Liftbridge Lane.

Fairport. 315-3003. Thu., July 15, 6-9 p.m.

Jimbo Mathus & The Dial Back Sound.

Abilene, 153 Liberty Pole Way. 232-3230.

Sat., July 31, 8:30 p.m. $20/$25.

CLASSICAL

The Music of Wine. Fort Hill Performing Arts Center, 20 Fort Hill Ave. Canandaigua. chamberfestcanandaigua.com. Sun., July 18, 1 p.m. $35.

The Stars Align. Fort Hill Performing Arts Center, 20 Fort Hill Ave. Canandaigua. chamberfestcanandaigua.com. Fri., July 16, 7:15 p.m. $30/$50.

Eastman Opera: Elizabeth Cree. esm. rochester.edu/live. July 9-Aug. 7.

Finger Lakes Chamber Music Festival.

Hunt Country Vineyards, 4021 Italy Hill Rd (County Rd 32). Branchport. fingerlakesmusic.org. Fri., July 30, 6:30 p.m.

Finger Lakes Opera: Summer Scenes.

Lincoln Hill Farms, 3792 Rte 247.

Canandaigua. fingerlakesopera.org. Wed., July 21, 7 p.m. $75.

Hopeman Carillon Summer Concert Series.

UR Eastman Quadrangle, 500 Wilson Blvd.

Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m.

La Cenerentola. Smith Opera House, 82 Seneca St. Geneva. thesmith.org. Thu., July 29, 7:30 p.m. and Sat., July 31, 3 p.m.

Concert will also be livestreamed. $25.

Opera Hits!. Perinton Center Stage Amphitheater, 1350 Turk Hill Rd. Perinton. fingerlakesopera.org. Sat., July 31, 7:30 p.m. $15-$40.

RPO Around the Town. rpo.org. Tuesdays, 6:30 p.m. Jul 14: Susan B. Anthony Square; Jul 28: Pittsford Community Library.

Truth is of No Color: Concerts for Social Justice. Rochester Philharmonic

Orchestra, online. rpo.org. Through July 13. Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage.

DJ/ELECTRONIC

Doctor P, Funtcase. Anthology, 336 East Ave. 484-1964. Sat., July 17, 8 p.m. $25.

Vampa. Photo City Music Hall, 543 Atlantic Ave. 451-0047. Fri., July 30, 8:30 p.m. $18.

JAZZ

Craig Snyder & Collective Force. Fort Hill Performing Arts Center, 20 Fort Hill Ave. Canandaigua. fhpac.org. Last Sunday of every month, 1-4 p.m. $10.

The Melody Masters Big Band. Olympia High School, 1139 Maiden Ln. jazz901. org. Tue., July 27, 6:30 p.m. Jazz90.1 Jazz On The Lawn. Rain date: Jul 29.

Wine Down Wednesday. The Penthouse, 1 East Ave, 11th floor. 775-2013.

Wednesdays, 6 p.m. Jul 7: Bill Tiberio Band; Jul 14: Higher Ground; Jul 21: Cotton Toe Trio; Jul 28: Jimmie Highsmith Jazz Trio. $20.

JAM BAND

Blackberry Smoke, The Allman Betts Band, The Wild Feathers, Jaimoe. CMAC,

3355 Marvin Sands Dr. Canandaigua. cmacevents.com. Sat., July 31, 6 p.m. $21 & up.

Fox 45, Snake Canyon, Burnt Sun. Photo City Music Hall, 543 Atlantic Ave. 4510047. Thu., July 22, 8 p.m.

Terrapin Flyer. JCC Canalside Stage, 1200 Edgewood Ave. jccrochester.org/canalside.

Sun., July 4, 7 p.m. $20/$30.

METAL

Perspectives, Diluted, Invictra, Death Won’t Hold, Spit Nickels. Photo City

Music Hall, 543 Atlantic Ave. 451-0047.

Fri., July 23, 7:30 p.m. $10.

POP/ROCK

Brandi Carlile. CMAC, 3355 Marvin Sands Dr. Canandaigua. cmacevents.com. Sat., July 24, 8 p.m. $31.50 & up.

Disintegration, Teressa Wilcox, Mike Brown. Photo City Music Hall, 543 Atlantic

Ave. 451-0047. Sat., July 24, 9 p.m.

Enter the Haggis. Lincoln Hill Farms, 3792 Rte 247. Canandaigua. Sat., July 24, 6 p.m. $20.

Grace Serene Band. Iron Smoke Distillery, 111 Parce Ave Suite 5b. Fairport. 3887584. Sat., July 17, 8:30 p.m.

Jack West, Brody Schenk. Abilene, 153 Liberty Pole Way. 232-3230. Fri., July 30, 8 p.m. $15.

Jason Ostrowski: Sing us a Song. OFC Creations Theater Center, 3450 Winton Pl. ofccreations.com. Sat., July 17, 7:30 p.m. $30-$52.

Jorma Kaukonen. JCC Canalside Stage, 1200 Edgewood Ave. jccrochester.org/ canalside. Thu., July 15, 7 p.m. $45-$85.

Keller Williams. Lincoln Hill Farms, 3792 Rte 247. Canandaigua. Sat., July 17, 6 p.m. $25.

Moongator, Die Kitty Die, Whirling Jack, Kaiser Solzie. Photo City Music Hall, 543

Atlantic Ave. 451-0047. Sat., July 31, 8 p.m. $5.

Oliver Wood. Anthology, 336 East Ave. 484-1964. Wed., July 14, 8 p.m. with Jano Rix & Ted Pecchio. $35.

Organ Fairchild. Abilene, 153 Liberty Pole Way. 232-3230. Thu., July 29, 7 p.m. $15/$20.

Pink Talking Fish. Lincoln Hill Farms, 3792 Rte 247. Canandaigua. Fri., July 16, 5 p.m. $25.

Shades of Grey, Alyssa Trahan, Brass Taxi. CMAC, 3355 Marvin Sands Dr.

Canandaigua. cmacevents.com. Sat., July 10, 5:30 p.m. Free admission for First Responders (w/ ID). $20.

Tommy Stinson’s Cowboys in the Campfire. Abilene, 153 Liberty Pole Way.

232-3230. Tue., July 13, 7 p.m. $25.

POPS/STANDARDS RPO Outdoors. Perinton Center Stage Amphitheater, 1350 Turk Hill Rd. Perinton. rpo.org. 7:30 p.m. Jul 9 & 10: The Sounds of New Orleans; Jul 22 & 23: Nothin’ But the Blues. 2-Pod: $48-$80; 4-Pod: $96$160 RPO: Summer Melodies. JCC Canalside Stage, 1200 Edgewood Ave. rpo.org. Fri., July 16, 7 p.m. $15/$25.

R&B/ SOUL

Jimmie Highsmith Jr Band: Heart & Soul of the 70s. Photo City Music Hall, 543

Atlantic Ave. 451-0047. Sat., July 10, 8 p.m. $40.

McKinley James. Abilene, 153 Liberty Pole Way. 232-3230. Sat., July 10, 7 p.m. $15/$20.

ROCKABILLY

Greazer Fest. Photo City Music Hall, 543

Atlantic Ave. 451-0047. Sun., July 11, 2-6 p.m. Manda-Tones, Krypton 88, Unfinish’d Bizness. $10.

VARIOUS

Cobblestone Outdoor Concert Series.

12:15-12:45 p.m. Cobblestone Arts Center, 1622 NY 332 Jul 8: Leah Ou; Jul 15: Drew Bellavia & Adam Surasky; Jul 22: Finger Lakes Opera Young Artists.

398-0220.

Concerts By The Shore. Wednesdays, 7 p.m Ontario Beach Park, 50 BeachAve Through Sep 1. Jul 7: RPO (7:30pm); Jul 14: The Invictas; Jul 21: Banda Light; Jul 28: Ignite Reggae Band ontariobeachentertainment.org.

A Little Night Music. 6:30 p.m Outdoor Little Café, 240 East Ave. Jul 7: Debbie Kendrick Project; Jul 11: Classical Guitar Night; Jul 14: Forro Estrelas do Norte & Rosa Boemia; Jul 18: Elizabeth Tighe; Jul 21: Stella Hill; Jul 25: The Occasional Saints. $5. thelittle.org/nightmusic.

Summer@Eastman. Through Aug. 6, 7:30 p.m. Eastman School of Music, esm. rochester.edu/live

RECORD STORE DAY

RSD 2021. Sat., July 17. Various, Rochester Hi Fi Lounge, House of Guitars, NeedleDrop, Record Archive recordstoreday.com. roccitynews.org CITY 41

LIFE April Aycock, Monroe County’s new director of mental health, says there’s no such thing as a “normal” person.

PHOTOS BY JACOB WALSH

42 CITY JULY 2021

PUBLIC LIVES

BY GINO FANELLI

@GINOFANELLI

GFANELLI@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM

For April Aycock, mental health is about connections

A

pril Aycock, the new director of the Monroe County Office of Mental Health, believes there is no such thing as a “normal” person.

Everyone struggles, everyone has challenges, everyone faces moments of personal crisis. For some, the experience is so chronic, getting out of bed can feel like a monumental task. All of us, she said, deserve dignity, respect, and the chance to lead a fruitful life.

“We have to talk about as a community, as a nation, what is ‘normal,’” Aycock said. “When we talk about stigma, we have to look into all of these areas where it helps for somebody to say, ‘You know what, I’m struggling with mental health,’ and create a very safe environment to disclose that.”

Aycock, whose career in mental health spans more than 15 years, joined the county in February amid a community-wide reckoning around, among other things, mental health services stemming from Daniel Prude’s fatal encounter with Rochester police.

When video footage emerged last September of Prude’s arrest, what many people saw was a system that utterly failed a person in the throes of a mental health crisis. Only hours before police confronted him running naked and acting erratic in the middle of Jefferson Avenue on a near-freezing March night, he had been released from Strong Memorial Hospital, where his brother had taken him out of fear he was suicidal.

The Office of Mental Health got swept up in the fallout from Prude’s death. An email surfaced in which Kim Butler, who was the county’s chief of clinical and forensic services, shared confidential medical information about Prude with Rochester police. She resigned from her post a few weeks after his death became public.

The incident prompted County Executive Adam Bello to convene a task force to evaluate the county’s mental health and substance use services and responses.

The task force delivered its final report in February and recommended redirecting mental health crisis calls to the 211 social services hotline, growing relationships between the county’s crisis response teams and the city’s new Crisis Intervention Services Unit, and expanding the Forensic Intervention Team (FIT).

In releasing the report, Bello announced Aycock’s appointment and said she would be in charge of putting the task force’s recommendations into action, which could come to include adding 18 positions to FIT with the aid of a $653,000 federal Department of Justice grant.

“She brings a unique lens of equity and a deep understanding of how these key issues intersect when it comes to delivering mental health services,” Bello said.

It was an effusive nod for a person who hadn’t set out for a career in mental health. Aycock said that as a young woman she wanted to be a physician’s assistant.

A failed chemistry course at Monroe Community College put her on a different path.

“I totally bombed it, and I realized I can’t do this at all, I’m going into mental health,” Aycock laughed. “But I will tell you, the main reason I went into it is because mental health and addiction have affected my family.”

Aycock said her father died from complications of heroin and cocaine use, and that she lost extended relatives to addiction. But her family, she said, was like many others in that addiction was a subject best avoided.

Today as a leader of the county’s efforts to address mental health and substance abuse, she strives to dismantle stigma. Mental health education needs to start at a young age, she said.

“We teach people to call 911 if they need help, we teach them ABCs, we teach them all of this stuff, and we need to also start teaching about (mental health) at elementary,” Aycock said. “Teaching them about mental health and if you don’t feel right, how to reach out for help and support, and how not to be judgmental.”

Aycock looks at that education through a lens of equity and inclusion. A person seeking help should be able to find it in someone who looks like them, thinks like them, and understands their needs.

“One of the first things is representation,” Aycock said. “Having a counselor who’s Black, having a

counselor who is Hispanic and understands the cultural norms, the mannerisms people present themselves with is so important, and creating that environment of safety.”

She is a realist, though. Aycock accepts that not everyone will be saved — a person can’t be given help if they don’t want it.

What the county can do, she said, is make sure it is reaching people where they are. That means, in part, ensuring the region’s on-the-ground crisis response teams are working together.

To that end, the area’s primary mental health first responders — the county’s FIT, the city’s Person in Crisis (PIC) Team, the University of Rochester’s Mobile Crisis Unit, and the 211 / Life Line’s Behavioral Health Access and Crisis Center — have begun holding biweekly meetings.

“We bring all of the crisis teams together at the table,” Aycock said. “We talk about various ways of how we are responding to community needs, what are some of the things we’re seeing in the community, what are some the ways we can improve our relationship among the four teams.”

Aycock is the lynchpin to all of them. Hers is a stressful position — not everyone can be saved, some problems can seem unsolvable, and there are always new issues on the horizon. It is a job that requires around-the-clock vigilance, demands sensitivity to nuance, and is prone to rancor from armchair quarterbacks when tragedy strikes.

A single parent of a daughter, Nayilah, and a son, Rodney, Aycock treasures opportunities to escape from work and enjoy time with them. She is a voracious reader and occasionally binge-watches “Criminal Minds.”

“A lot of times you can be so consumed in this,” Aycock said. “I also keep a journal, which really helps me be able to disconnect.”

The county faces major challenges around mental health and substance use.

The heroin epidemic, for example, is still in fullswing with 213 overdoses so far in 2021, 46 of which were fatal, according to the Monroe County Heroin Task Force.

Despite the challenges, Aycock tries to remain optimistic. She sees hope in each person successfully directed to treatment, each time she bumps into a person who once received help and is now doing better, and each lifeline offered to a person in need.

“It’s relationship building, it is connecting in a safe way, it’s that no judgment zone,” Aycock said. “Because when someone is ready, they’ll remember, ‘You know what, April said I could reach out to her.’”

roccitynews.org CITY 43

LIFE

Above, Milani, 7, the granddaughter of Carmen and Zenobio Rodriguez Jr., rides a rocking horse in their yard.

Bottom, Zenobio Rodriguez Jr. trims plants around one of the horses in his yard. Of his decorations he says, “The horses, they are my passion, you know?”

PHOTOS BY MAX SCHULTE

44 CITY JULY 2021

RANDOM ROCHESTER

BY DAVID ANDREATTA

@DAVID_ANDREATTA

DANDREATTA@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM

On North Street, rocking horses of Puerto Rico prance freely

F

or many people, Puerto Rico conjures images of pristine beaches and lush rainforests.

When Zenobio Rodriguez Jr. recalls the Caribbean island of his youth, he sees horses.

Junior, as he goes by, talks of the Paso Fino horses of Puerto Rico with such fondness that his eyes mist over. In describing them, he curls his weathered hands into tiny fists that he bobs up and down in a prancing motion to mimic the animals’ fine-step gait.

“The horses, they are my passion, you know?” he said.

His father owned horses. His uncle owned horses. Now, at 63 years old, Junior carries on the family tradition at his home in northeast Rochester, some 1,800 miles from his native land.

Packed into the fifth-of-anacre lot he owns with his wife, Carmen, at the corner of North and St. Jacob streets are more than 120 horses — most of them kneehigh, plastic horses that have been dismantled from their springbased rockers.

Like the horses of his childhood, some are for show, some are workers, some are wild.

But all of them are hand-painted in brilliant pastels that, like the colorful Spanish colonial homes on the coast of old San Juan, collect into a visual kaleidoscope when taken in from afar.

Puerto Rico is known as “Isla del Encanto,” or “Island of Enchantment.” So it is with the cheerful slice of Puerto Rico that the Rodriguezes have carved out of their corner of the world. Their yard is part vegetable farm, part amusement park, and, to some, part oasis.

“The people say when they come here to be sitting and see the horses, ‘I’m happy,’” Junior said.

“The people come and say, ‘Oh my God, I breathe here. I have peace, and the problems in my mind are gone.’”

More than 120 rockinghorses adorn the yard of Carmen and Zenobio Rodriguez Jr. at the corner of North and St. Jacob streets.

PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

By “the people,” Junior means not only friends and family, but strangers who stop outside the chain link fence ringing his property to marvel at the display in his yard. If he spots them, and they seem friendly, he invites them inside to look around and introduces them to his horses.

There are horses wearing hardhats, carrying shovels, and saddled with baskets he fashioned out of discarded pool table pockets. These are the workers.

Others carry tennis racquets or sport boxing gloves on their hooves. These are the show horses.

Some horses hide high in the branches of a maple tree. Another is on top of his garage, above a chicken coop, forever frozen in full gallop. Why would a horse be in a tree or on a rooftop? Because someone Junior loved suggested he place them there.

“This is Ricardo,” he said of his favorite horse, a handsome brown steed standing sentinel among a row of comrades in a garden bed. The horse was named after a friend who gave it to Junior before he died.

All of it makes sense to Junior, who arranges his horses and the odd assortment of kitsch he has upcycled with an artist’s eye. Every horse, every statue of the Virgin Mary, every carefully hand-painted tractor tire that Junior has shaped into flower pots, has a story.

“He is an artist,” Carmen said of her husband. “Whatever he gets, he makes something with it.”

Junior and Carmen’s story began in Puerto Rico, in the coastal town of Dorado, about 15 miles west of San Juan. The way they tell it, he worked for the local school district, she made ceramics she sold to a local souvenir shop.

They each had a child from a previous relationship before they married in 1981 and had two more children together.

Carmen, 58, came to Rochester in 1986 to help three younger halfsisters who were already here, but whose circumstances with an ailing mother, she recalled, had them on the brink of entering foster care.

She left Puerto Rico with $150, a toddler, and an infant, and said she arrived in town with a few dollars left to take care of them and her siblings, knowing no English.

Junior and their other children joined her a few months later and, by 1995, Carmen had saved enough money as a school bus driver to buy their home on North Street.

Junior is unable to work due to a traumatic brain injury that he and Carmen said he suffered in Puerto

roccitynews.org CITY 45

“I feel like I’m in Puerto Rico,” Carmen Rodriguez says of her husband’s decorations. “This is my little Puerto Rico.” PHOTOS BY MAX SCHULTE

Rico when hurricane winds blew open a heavy door that struck him in the head.

Within a year of buying their home, Junior spied what would become the first of his horses in a yard on Scrantom Street off North Clinton Avenue. He asked their owner how much he would take for the horses.

Junior said he paid the man about $5 and walked off with what would become Deyanira, a white and purple mare, and John Paul, a gray workhorse, named for their two grandchildren at the time.

After that, it was off to the races with Junior’s passion for horses.

Today, the Rodriguezes count 123 horses in their yard and said they have more in their attic, basement, and garage. Sometimes, they said, they find horses left for them on 46 CITY JULY 2021

their front porch, which is flanked by meticulously maintained rose bushes and, of course, a pair of horses.

Some neighbors complain that the exhibition is garish. They called it an “eyesore” and “overkill.” But others called it “beautiful” and “happy.” To the naysayers, the Rodriguezes posted a sign that reads, “Live your life, not mine.”

The Rodriguezes’ lives have been in Rochester for 35 years, but their Puerto Rico, they said, is in their hearts and minds and yard.

“I feel like I’m in Puerto Rico,” Carmen said as she surveyed her husband’s handiwork. “This is my little Puerto Rico.”

LIFE

SPEAKING OUT

LeeAnne Valentine at her home in Fairport. Valentine is a clinician specializing in marriage and family therapy at the Deaf Wellness Center at the University of Rochester. PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

BLACK, DEAF, AND EAGER TO BE HEARD The pandemic has shed light on disparities between communities of color and white society.

BY APRIL FRANKLIN

L

AFRANKLIN@WXXI.ORG

eeAnne Valentine, a deaf Black woman who communicates using American Sign Language, walked into a doctor’s office last year with chronic pain in her gallbladder.

A white woman who acted as the office’s interpreter attempted to help her relay her symptoms to a physician.

“Give me an MRI or whatever you need to do,” Valentine recalled 48 CITY JULY 2021

saying. “But I absolutely can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I’m really in pain here.”

The interpretation fell short, Valentine recalled. Something — an almost intangible quality — was lost in the translation.

“Her tone of voice was not very inflected,” Valentine said, who described the interpreter’s signing as “very neutral” and “monotone.”

It is a little-known fact to most people in the hearing world that American Sign Language has evolved into different dialects and that many Black deaf people use a variation of their own.

Black ASL, as it is known, has a structure and grammar distinctive of ASL that researchers say reflect the historic isolation of the Black deaf community and the ongoing influence of spoken

Black English, and evokes in its users a sense of solidarity.

The signs for some words and phrases are often more emotive and involve two hands that gesture closer to the forehead than the chin. Some words are represented by completely different signs.

The pandemic has shed light on disparities between communities of people of color and white society. This

is especially true for Black deaf people, who are a minority in an already marginalized group.

In addition to systemic racism and lack of access to health information and care faced by most Black people, those who are deaf face another obstacle in the form of communication. That obstacle can amplify the mistrust many Black people have for the medical profession.

A Black interpreter can make all the difference in a health care setting, as Valentine learned.

After days of going back and forth to see her doctor without satisfaction, Valentine was assigned a Black interpreter. Only then was she able to convince her doctor to order the MRI she had been requesting. The result of the test revealed she needed emergency gallbladder surgery, she said.

“She actually interpreted what I said, with the intent and the tone, plus my emotions,” Valentine said. “And she conveyed that to the doctor and the doctor’s like, ‘Oh, okay, okay, fine.’ And he finally took some action.”

It is a common misconception that signing is a universal language. In fact, there are as many sign languages as there are deaf communities, according to the definitive study of Black ASL, “The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL,” published in 2011 by Gallaudet University, a private university in Washington, D.C., for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Black ASL, its researchers say, is a rich linguistic system rooted in the history of segregation. Just as Americans and British share a language, there are differences in vernacular and variations in individual usage. It is hardly surprising, then, researchers say, that different signing systems evolved out of America’s segregated past.

Still, not all deaf Black people use Black ASL, although some researchers have estimated that about half of all deaf Black people do.

Joseph Hill, an associate professor in the Department of American Sign Language and Interpreting Education at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology, recalled being exposed to a blend of ASL and Black ASL in his youth.

“That standard mode of white ASL is what I saw most often growing up,” said Hill, who is Black. “But I also saw Black deaf children, my peers, who were signing differently. So I grew up with really quite a mix.

“I didn’t notice the difference between

Joseph Hill, an associate professor at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at RIT, recalled being exposed to a blend of ASL and Black ASL in his youth. PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE

cultures, communities of practice,” he went on. “I just thought, you know, everyone signs differently.”

The first school for the deaf in the United States opened in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1817. The school, which became known as the American School for the Deaf, enrolled its first Black student eight years later.

But after the Civil War, schools geared toward Black deaf students began to emerge, according to “The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL.” That separation led to differences in the way students were taught. White schools emphasized an oral method of learning, while Black schools focused on signing.

Nationwide efforts to desegregate students, both deaf and hearing, nearly a century later led to a predominantly white influence over formal education.

In schools for the deaf and programs for the deaf in mainstream schools, that translated to an emphasis on ASL and lip-reading.

“I use the same mode of communication as my white teachers,” Hill said. “Back then it was so rare for most deaf people to have Black interpreters. And it’s still rare to find black interpreters.”

Black people are underrepresented among sign language interpreters.

About 11 million Americans are deaf or hard of hearing, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and Black people make up about 8 percent of that population.

Yet just 4 percent of the roughly 10,300 certified sign language interpreters in the United States are Black, according to a recent annual report from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. The profession as a whole is largely homogeneous, with 87 percent of

interpreters identifying as white women.

ASL interpreter Kristi Love is trying to change that as the coordinator and one of the founders of RIT’s Randleman Program, which trains and mentors interpreters of color.

Love said many young Black people are unaware of ASL interpreting as a career, and that the few who enter interpreting programs often drop out due to feeling isolated.

“At times that’s important to be able to relate to somebody culturally,” Love said.

When it comes to health care settings, she said, it is the responsibility of medical professionals to be informed on the needs of deaf patients.

Patients visiting their doctors’ offices may not have the same level of access to interpreters or special ASL video discharge instructions that are provided by large institutions, like Strong Memorial Hospital.

Strong emergency room physician Dr. Jason Rotoli teaches doctors ways to better connect with deaf patients as the director of the Deaf Health Pathways course at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

He said accessibility and representation are keys to serving deaf communities. Even with an adequate interpreter, he said, hearing physicians should consider that a lack of access to health literacy can also affect the way important information is shared.

“The deaf person oftentimes may feel a little bit fearful of providing all the information that’s necessary, or maybe they don’t even know which information is necessary,” Rotoli said.

Another widely held but erroneous belief is that sign languages are visual

translations of spoken languages. They are not, and a challenge of interpreting in a medical setting is that there are not always signs to translate medical information, such as a diagnosis.

Valentine pointed to terms like “heartburn” and “stroke,” which she said are foreign to some deaf people because they aren’t often used in conversation.

“All these medical conditions, you know, that people don’t understand they don’t have access to. So it’s hard for them to explain what’s going on,” Valentine said.

These barriers tend to be especially pronounced in the Black deaf community, and have been underscored by the pandemic.

A National Institute of the Deaf study in 2020 found a need for improved guidance on managing COVID-19 and navigating health care for deaf communities. The study showed that deaf people who exhibited signs of the virus frequented emergency rooms for treatment, despite guidelines for people to stay home and call their doctor.

Another NTID study found that 78 percent of deaf students of color felt that their health literacy skills were lacking.

JT Reid, who is Black and deaf and a board member of the nonprofit Partners in Deaf Health, said he didn’t see a large turnout of Black deaf people at vaccine clinics.

“I honestly maybe seen two or three Black deaf people there,” Reid said. “So, I’m like, where are the rest of my community? It seems like they just did not get the information, and that’s very unfortunate.”

Reid said he believes lack of access to health care information contributes to health disparities in the Black Deaf community.

Many doctors speculate that Black deaf people experience greater health disparities. Because the general deaf population is often excluded from medical research, however, to what extent disparities exist are often unknown.

Valentine said outreach in the Black deaf community will take extra effort, in part because years of discrimination have fomented fear and mistrust of the health care system. She said Rochester’s Black deaf community is small, but accessible, and she encouraged hearing people inside and outside of the medical profession to spend some time with them.

“Just because we’re Black and deaf, please don’t ignore us,” she said. “You know, we want to thrive. We want to stand on our own.” roccitynews.org CITY 49

LIFE

BEANS & GREENS

The GateHouse’s Durand Niçoise salad, with its greens, olives, green beans, roasted potatoes, egg, and seared ahi tuna, proves that meat can be the accent to a veggie-centered meal.

PHOTO BY RYAN WILLIAMSON

DESPERATELY SEEKING SALAD — AND SIX SPOTS THAT DO IT RIGHT

BY REBECCA RAFFERTY

R

@RSRAFFERTY

ochester restaurants, from the upscale to the mom ‘n’ pop, have a vegetable problem.

Veggies may be on the menu, but they’re often a wilted, overcooked, unoriginal afterthought. I’m hard-pressed to find a tempting veggie item on most menus. I hopefully scan the weak salad options, then turn to the deep-fried sides in desperation, and end up ordering some meaty main with fries. Again.

Even the handful of dedicated vegetarian or vegan spots focus a lot of attention on meat substitutes, trying to replicate a burger or pulled pork for 50 CITY JULY 2021

BECCA@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM

those who don’t want to eat something that had parents, but kinda, sorta (definitely) want it to taste like it did. I’m not knocking anyone else’s choices, but I don’t want tempeh.

This mission of mine isn’t about avoiding or replacing meat, but about finding the dishes where the vegetables shine. I’m not a vegetarian, but I really love vegetables and other fruits of the earth: beans, greens, roots, squashes, sprouts, mushrooms, and pods. Stew ’em, toss ’em, roast ’em, marinate ’em, sautee ’em, pickle ’em . . . you get the picture.

I actually prefer veggies to be the stars of my meals, but unless I make a concerted effort to prepare a vegetable-centric dish myself (which doesn’t happen often enough), I continuously fall into the meat, starch, and grease trap.

Restaurant Good Luck’s chef and co-owner, Dan Martello, tells me it’s not difficult to make a delicious vegetable-based meal.

“I think sometimes the best vegetable dishes are the most simple dishes,” he says. “As long as you’re getting a quality product, you don’t

really need to do much to it. People shouldn’t be afraid of vegetables.

They’re delicious and they shouldn’t be intimidating, because they’re technically pretty easy to cook.”

When cooking for yourself, he says, you can get by with roasting or sautéing most veggies with a little oil, salt, and pepper. There’s a lot of flavor to unlock in those innocuous-looking stems and sprouts.

In the restaurant scene, Martello says he’s seeing more demand for vegetable-based dishes from healthand environmentally-conscious

Filling, without making you feel uncomfortably full.

The Grain & Green: Branca’s Charred Broccolini Salad ($12, vegetarian) Ingredients: broccolini, quinoa, farro, chickpeas, spiced almonds, ricotta salata, garlic scape vinaigrette A salad that proves it doesn’t need an actual bed of greens as a base to be healthy and filling. This one is slightly smoky and salty, and filled with protein, pleasingly-textured grains, and delicious spice and herb notes.

Lento has several tasty vegetable-centric dishes, including this Vegan Spring Vegetables and Grains entrée.

PHOTO BY REBECCA RAFFERTY

The Hearty Two-mealer: The GateHouse’s Durand Niçoise salad ($17) Ingredients: greens, olives, green beans, roasted potatoes, egg, grilled ahi tuna, basil vinaigrette

It's meant to be shared, but you might find that you want Good Luck’s Red Lentils dish with curried sweet potatoes and sweet agave all to yourself. PHOTO BY RYAN WILLIAMSON

clients, which further incentivizes eateries to put better vegetable dishes on their menus.

“I think meat is never gonna go away, but I think vegetables are definitely going to be the center of the plate,” he says. “The meat, I think, will be kind of the accoutrement as opposed to the main dish.”

With a lot of hunting and a little help, I’ve found several local restaurant menus whose offerings won’t have you turning to that meaty main with fries.

Again. These aren’t boring salads or mushy hummus wraps, either. They’re perfect vegetable dishes that’ll have you coming back. Some are staples, but others are seasonal and will rotate off the menu before long, so check them out soon!

The I-just-want-somethinglight Salad: Lento’s Roasted Red & Gold Beet Salad ($9, vegetarian) Ingredients: beets, arugula and baby Tuscan kale, pistachio crumble, sunflower seeds, feta, honey ginger vinaigrette I can’t rave enough about this salad.

The beets are tender and their mildly earthy flavor is well-balanced with the bright and silky, lightly sweet vinaigrette, tangy cheese, and the saltiness of the sunflower seeds and pistachios. Everything, from the greens to the beets and toppings, is smaller than bite-sized and evenly distributed, so you get the perfect bite every time you lift your fork.

The GateHouse has several great salads named for local landmarks. The Highland Park has berries and edible flowers, and the Cobb’s Hill is, you guessed it, a take on a Cobb salad. But the Durand Niçoise stands out as a meal-in-itself. Loaded with beautifully prepared veggies, a hard-boiled egg, strips of seared ahi tuna, and accented with the saltiness of olives and an herby-bright dressing, this is a good example of a non-vegetarian dish that centers the vegetables.

The Could-be-dessert: Acorn Squash at The Vesper ($12, vegetarian) Ingredients: acorn squash, burrata, hazelnuts, honey, balsamic People who shirk squash are missing out. Squashes require little in the way of actual preparation, and roasting them brings out loads of unexpected flavors, including, in the case of acorn squash, an earthy sweetness.

And they’re so versatile! You can top the squash with spiced and savory ingredients or, in the case of Vesper’s version, play up the sweetness. The blend of silky burrata, crunchy hazelnuts, honey, and tangy balsamic vinegar here is heavenly.

The Supreme Comfort Food: Red Lentils at Restaurant Good Luck ($13, vegan) Ingredients: red lentils, curried sweet potato, agave, swiss chard, flat bread Good Luck has a family-style menu, which means you’re supposed to order a few menu items to share with your partner or party. But good luck not bogarting the whole platter of red lentils when it comes to your table. The balance of subtle heat with delicate sweet will have you spooning up the mushy mixture and sopping up every last drop with the wedges of soft pita bread on the side. The portion is indeed shareable, but you won’t mind ordering it for one.

The Steak Replacer: The Cub Room’s King Trumpet entree ($20, vegetarian) Ingredients: trumpet mushroom, bok choy, sweet peas, sugar snaps, broccoli rabe, white asparagus, black garlic, lemon It’s been great to see area restaurants shift away from the overuse of portabellas as the go-to mushroom. ’Bellas have a tendency to overpower a dish, and I prefer the more subtle but still flavorful shiitakes, maitakes, oysters, and trumpets. Cooked beautifully so it’s neither rubbery nor slimy, the tender trumpet in this lemon-peppery dish is paired nicely with a variety of crisp, fresh veggies.

roccitynews.org CITY 51

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TO OUR HEALTH

Becca Pesce, bar manager at Velvet Belly, builds the Garden Party cocktail, which is her take on sangria. Inset, the White Ferrari and Lawnchair Pilot at Bar Bantam. PHOTOS BY REBECCA RAFFERTY

MIXED, MUDDLED, AND READY TO MINGLE Bring on happy hour with creative summer cocktails at these hot spots.

BY REBECCA RAFFERTY

L

@RSRAFFERTY

ost during the summer of 2020 was the ability to meet friends at one of your favorite watering holes on a balmy evening and unwind together over a creative concoction.

Now that we’re bellying up to bars again, celebrating that simple pleasure and our city coming back to life, many bar managers have hit the ground running with summer menus featuring seriously delicious drinks.

Take Rufus Cocktail Lounge at The Mercantile on Main, for example. The bar is inside the food court in the Sibley Building across from “The Five” (the 52 CITY JULY 2021

BECCA@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM

former gravel pit known as Parcel 5), but its ample sidewalk seating offers the perfect perch to check out the summer events scheduled for that new green space, or to just watch people playing frisbee or walking their dogs.

When you go, order the rum-based Ollie (Plantation rum, pineapple juice, honey, lemon, sugar-salt-cinnamon garnish), a sweet-tart variation on rum and pineapple with an unexpected kick of salt and cinnamon. The blend is the creation of Anthony Rouhana, the bar manager at Rufus and The Cub Room, and is named for the

skateboarding trick in which the rider kicks the tail while jumping to make the board pop into the air.

“It’s a subtle difference, but that cinnamon-sugar-salt rim just kind of elevates you,” Rouhana says.

His idea of a refreshing summer cocktail is one with a little spice to offset the sweet, such as the signature daiquiris he makes upon request with fresh strawberries, local honey, and jalapeños.

Just a few blocks away is Native Eatery & Bar, which offers ideal environments for dining and drinking on a good-weather day. Its patio offers

wonderful views of Washington Square Park and the activity around Geva Theatre Center. But if you can’t snag a seat there on a nice day, the staff will open the enormous glass doors to the patio to let in the light and air outside.

Pineapple is a summer trend on cocktail menus around town, and appears in a few of Native’s current drinks. The mezcal-based Pineapple Express (Madre mezcal, aperol, tepache, charred pineapple, ginger, lemon, house-made grenadine) hit the spot on a recent hot evening with its smoky-sweet taste of the tropics, as scraps of cheerful conversation floated by on the breeze.

Bar Bantam, located in the lobby of The Metropolitan, is another super downtown spot with a good patio. If you enjoy whiskey, try its aptly-named Lawnchair Pilot (bourbon, lemon, aperol, averna). Served chilled and “up,” its notes of citrus and caramel make this drink easy and floaty, like its namesake Larry Walter’s patio-chairand-helium-balloon flight.

Over in the East End, The Daily Refresher has cozy couches and smallgroup seating for a more intimate night out, and has a cool view of downtown on the second-story patio out back.

Of the Daily’s current cocktails, the Ruby Splash (gin, Lillet, aperol, elderflower, lemon juice, soda, cuke & rosemary) is a spring menu item that’s going to be carried over into the summer. Lucky you, because this one is a beaut — the intense citrus of the aperol and lemon juice complement but don’t overpower the heady herbal notes of the gin, elderflower, and rosemary.

A cucumber garnish wraps all of your senses with a cool, fresh feeling.

Farther out from the downtown core, but no less idyllic for people

watching, is Velvet Belly, the newest addition to the restaurants at the Rochester Public Market. In the past several years, the Public Market district has seen an explosion in businesses, including several spots to grab dinner and drinks inside and surrounding the market gates. You can effectively barhop just hitting the few joints along Railroad Street and Public Market Way. Velvet Belly, which opened in early June, offers global coastal cuisine and an ebullient drink menu. Bar manager Becca Pesce has a penchant for introducing ingredients from the kitchen into her cocktails.

For example, VB’s spicy margarita, the Shark Bait, contains a syrup that Pesce infused with togarashi, a Japanese spice blend (chili, ginger, orange peel, sesame, seaweed), that is used in the food and gives the Shark Bait an umami bite.

On an herbal kick, I was drawn to the Garden Party (rosé sangria, bergamot, hard seltzer). This was daring for me — I’ve never been a fan of sangria, which I’ve always regarded as fruit salad doused in chilled wine.

But Pesce may have converted me. The rosé base has a delightfully complex depth to its flavors, blending the wine with cognac and bergamot liqueur, as well as Katboocha’s Tiki Rosé kombucha. And there are no soggy berries clogging up the glass, only an elegant orange slice balanced primly on the rim. Capped with H2Roads’ hard seltzer to give it a little fizz and the scent and flavor of raspberries, the drink is an absolute delight.

Pesce says she tries to have something for everyone on the cocktail menu. That doesn’t just mean offering a wide variety of drinks, but also being conscious of allergies, and not leaning too heavily on grapefruit — which can interfere with medications — in her recipes.

It also means including several wellthought-out, non-alcoholic cocktails that go beyond standard sodas, juices, or Shirley Temples.

The VB “soft drinks” menu currently includes five beverages that are some playful combination of juices, seltzer, coconut water, and fun flavor combinations, such as the Seahorse (lychee, ginger, lemon, soda water) or the Bait + Switch (passionfruit, vanilla, lime, togarashi).

“How can there be options that everyone feels comfortable ordering?

Bar Manager Anthony Rouhana makes an Ollie at Rufus. Left, the Spray Tan at Native is another summery concoction. Below, Velvet Belly’s signature sangria, the Garden Party.

PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH

That’s something I feel pretty passionate about,” Pesce says. “There can be several reasons why someone can choose to not drink alcohol — it’s none of my business.”

What is her business is being inclusive for her clients, whether they’re the designated driver, on the wagon, or entertaining children with adventurous palates.

“We’re finally rounding the corner of a very, very difficult year,” Pesce says. “And it’s been so awesome seeing everybody come out and having cocktails that are a celebration, that look good, that taste good. I think that’s something that people are looking forward to, you know — celebrating and feeling like humans again, being out and about and feeling good about it.” roccitynews.org CITY 53

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JOY’S PARTNER

Across

Answers to this puzzle can be found on page 31

PUZZLE BY S.J. AUSTIN & J. REYNOLDS

1. Items for discussion 7. Annie, e.g.

13. Whacked 20. Bodysuit

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

23

22. Leftmost spot in a bowling alley, usually

26

23. **Poster in a lab

31

25. Longtime “General Hospital” star

35

9

10

11

12

13

21

20

21. Small abnormal lump

8

15

16

17

18

19

40

41

42

71

72

73

102

103

104

22 25

24 27

28

32

29

30

33

36

14

37

34

38

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26. _____ ex machina 43

27. Vigoda and Lincoln, for two 28. Let go 30. Pit 31. Western treaty grp.

32. Initials often (and redundantly) preceding “machine” 33. House of Seven Gables town

47

48

37. **_____ Farm, makers of Goldfish Crackers and Milano Cookies 40. Puncture or pressure preceder 43. Prepare for a shower

62

66

67 74

47. Federal statute that is not violated by showing one’s vaccine card 50. Passes

76

87

92

93

69

65 70 79

84

88

89

85

90

94

91

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96

100

101

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44

113 118

109

114

115

119

120

121

122

123

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126

53. Requirement for a Sunday driver?

54. Business Wile E. Coyote should have bought stock in 55. Morales of “NYPD Blue” 56. Hollywood’s William H. 57. Seldom seen 59. Appetizer that might come “loaded” 61. **Fairy tale breakfast food 63. Country with 10 residents per square mile 65. Meadow 66. Minecraft block crafted with sand and gunpowder 67. Cropsharing syst.

71. Genre for Public Enemy 74. NYSE debut 76. Director Christopher and actor Lloyd 78. **First aid solution sold in brown bottles, familiarly 80. Finishes a deck, maybe 83. _____ rope (slangy term for a snake) 84. Target location?

85. Actress Lupino and others 86. Lacquered metalware

68. **July celebration in Rochester since 1972, or what is “spread” in each starred clue

87. Neurodegenerative disease plaguing many NFL retirees

69. It can be hi or lo

89. “Laughter in the Rain” crooner Neil

54 CITY JULY 2021

91. Billy Blanks-led workout fad of the 1990s 92. Means justifiers, hopefully 93. Term for a missing G.I. 95. Shoreline problem 97. Frequent result in English football, or infrequent result in American football 98. **Northeastern capital founded in 1636 101. Tool used on Willy Wooly

110. Alma _____ 112. Have a _____ (attempt) 113. Sicilian volcano 115. Fed 116. Learn, to the unlearned 118. **Business scam requiring impossible levels of recruitment to turn a profit 121. Nuptial 122. Padmé’s husband

105. Spinoff of TV’s “JAG”

123. Rubbernecker

107. Hall of Fame quarterback John

124. Dishes that might be Greek or Denver

108. Fitting 109. Game where you skip but don’t hop or jump

125. Scotch brand owned by Bacardi 126. Flynn and others

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62. Object of veneration in an Orthodox church

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63. Dice game where superstition dictates players not say “the S-word”

5. A.F.L.-_____

64. Madison Square Garden and MGM Grand

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68. West Bank grp.

7. Winner of eight Tony awards, or one Oscar award

70. Places for 56-Down

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16. Grammy winning soul singer Bryson

82. Signs of surgery

17. **Carbohydrate consisting of bonded sugar molecules

88. 63-Down roll with 35 to 1 odds

18. Hydrocarbon suffixes

90. Turn away

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84. Podcaster Maron

91. Perfectly 94. Perch for a frog 96. Deadlock 98. _____ Bay, bit torrent site 99. Johnson with a hard nickname

33. What a house might be built on

100. Avoid cooked foods

34. Poet Nash

102. With 109-Across, top dog

36. Firefighter Red

103. Crown covering

37. _____ de León

104. Laser printer supplies

38. Company that has owned PayPal, Reverb, StubHub, and Braintree

106. Infamous L.A. hotel documented in a Netflix series

39. Owed

108. Defiant response with a question mark

41. G.I.’s attire 42. Southern Paiute people

110. Office communication

44. U.S. President born in 1911

111. Name derived from the Hebrew for “ground”

46. Common weapon for a cleric in Dungeons & Dragons

112. Phone nos.

47. Numerical prefix 48. “The Heat _____” 49. **Formal false teeth?

51. Employee without a nametag, maybe 52. Bygone casino where Frank Sinatra and Count Basie recorded a live album

113. Mideast leader 114. Containers for Altoids 115. “_____ she blows!”

117. Ink 119. Alias 120. Middle: Abbr.

56. Letters that can take six years to arrive?

58. Issa of “Insecure” roccitynews.org CITY 55

JULY 2021