Here's my selection of events in Rochester this week:
Thursday, March 5
- This evening from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Ingle Auditorium at RIT, William Phillips will discuss Time, Einstein, and the Coldest Stuff in the Universe. [source: City Newspaper events calendar, 2015-Mar-2]
- At 7 p.m. in the Shults Center of Nazareth College (4245 East Ave., Pittsford), Benjamin Ginsberg will discuss How the Faculty Has Fallen and What It Can Do.
In his lecture, Professor Ginsberg will investigate contemporary factors that inhibit schools and colleges from advancing their primary educational mission, which is a focus of his book The Fall of the Faculty: The Rise of the All-Administrative University and Why it Matters.
[source: City Newspaper events calendar, 2015-Mar-2]
- From 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Rush Rhees Library on the University of Rochester Campus, Sarah Rodriguez, Ph.D. will present a Neilly Series Lecture on her book, Female Circumcision and Clitoridectomy in the United States: A History of a Medical Treatment.
The University of Rochester River Campus Libraries' Neilly Lecture Series continues with Sarah Rodriguez, lecturer in medical humanities at Northwestern University. Dr. Rodriguez will give a presentation on the medical reasons behind female circumcision in the United States and how this practice reflected cultural ideas about female sexuality.
[source: City Newspaper events calendar, 2015-Mar-4]
- Performances of Mammoth by Kate Royal will be at the MuCCC tonight through Saturday at 8 p.m. and on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Brothers Jeffrey and Drew welcome home their ex-patriot sister Margaret to assist them in the sale of their childhood home. Over the course of her stay, the siblings must confront the terms on which they parted five years prior and reconcile the past they have clung to with the future they refuse to embrace. A play about distance, family, and whether or not love can and should ever truly be unconditional.
[source: MuCCC website, 2015-Mar-2]
- The Eastman Percussion Ensemble performs in Kilbourn Hall tonight at 8 p.m. [source: Eastman School of Music calendar, 2015-Mar-2]
- At 8 p.m., the Dryden will screen An Injury to One (Travis Wilkerson, U.S. 2002, 53 min., 16mm), preceded by A Year Along the Abandoned Road (Året gjennom Børfjord, Morten Skallerud, Norway 1991, 12 min., 35mm).
An Injury to One provides a corrective—and absolutely compelling—glimpse of a particularly volatile moment in early 20th-century American labor history: the rise and fall of Butte, Montana. Specifically, it chronicles the mysterious death of Wobbly organizer Frank Little, a story whose grisly details have taken on a legendary status in the state. Much of the extant evidence is inscribed upon the landscape of Butte and its surroundings. Thus, a connection is drawn between the unsolved murder of Little, and the attempted murder of the town itself. […] Preceded by A Year along the Abandoned Road, a breathtaking portrait of a deserted fisherman's village in northern Norway, a magic flight in a single shot during which a whole year passes by at 50,000 times normal speed. [source: Dryden website, 2015-Mar-3]
- Pseudo Youth, Cantelope, and Full Body will be at the Bug Jar starting around 8:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar, 2015-Mar-2]
Friday, March 6
- JD McPherson performs at Record Archive today at 1 p.m. [source: Record Archive website, 2015-Mar-2]
- From 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Cat Clay (Hungerford Building, 1115 E. Main St., Suite #242) is Bugzilla—Bigger Than The Beetles!. "This annual event celebrates those harbingers of spring: insects! Our guest artists have made pieces that pay homage to those critters that fly, creep and crawl." [source: Facebook, 2015-Mar-2]
- From 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Flying Squirrel, Occupy The Ballot in 2015.
In the 2013 local elections, Green Rochester candidates for Mayor and City Council included the creation of worker-owned businesses in their platform. While the ruling party won all of the seats, it turns out that we had some influence as in the beginning of February, City Hall announced that the $1.9 million Bloomberg Grant the City has received will be focused on worker-owned businesses. Of course all the money is going to hire consultants and administrators, but without actual Greens in office, that's to be expected. The point is running for public office is not just about winning and losing. It's about speaking truth to power. It's about advancing ideas and solutions. It's about conversing with people you normally would not in your daily life. That's why We have to Occupy the Ballot in 2015. There are 137 races within Monroe County this year. Each one is an opportunity to further the issue and solutions you are already working on. It's time for you to run for office.
[source: Facebook, 2015-Mar-2]
- In the Project Space at VSW is the Closing Event for Glass Mountains by Sean McFarland starting around 6 p.m. then Moonrise at 8 p.m., and music by John Lake starting at 9 p.m. [source: VSW e-mail, 2015-Mar-2]
- Starting around 7 p.m. at Writers and Books is Wide Open Mic hosted by Norm Davis. [source: Writers and Books website, 2015-Mar-2]
- The Baobab will screen Bury the Hatchet (Aaron Walker, U.S. 2010, 120 min.) tonight at 7 p.m.
Bury The Hatchet is a portrait of three Mardi Gras Indian "Big Chiefs." These New Orleans men are the descendants of runaway slaves who were taken in by the Native Americans of the Louisiana bayous. These African-American tribes were once plagued by violent gang-style clashes. Now, every year during Mardi Gras, they take to the backstreets of New Orleans, dressed in elaborate Native American -influenced costumes that they sew over the course of the year. Where they once fought with hatchets, they now battle over which Chief has the best suit. Following the Mardi Gras Indians over the course of five years – before, during and after Hurricane Katrina – filmmaker Aaron C. Walker explores their art and philosophies, as well as their struggles within their communities: harassment by the police, violence amongst themselves, gentrification of their neighborhoods, disinterested youth, old age and natural disaster. Bury The Hatchet brings to light the real people, culture, and incredible music of the Mardi Gras chiefs that inspired the Emmy-nominated HBO show, Treme, and its character, Big Chief Albert Lambreaux.
[source: Baobab website, 2015-Mar-2]
- This week's 7 p.m. movie (except Thursday) at the Cinema is The Theory of Everything (James Marsh, U.K. 2014, 123 min.) "A look at the relationship between the famous physicist Stephen Hawking and his wife." The 9:05 p.m. movie is Deux jours, une nuit (Two Days, One Night, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Belgium / France / Italy 2014, 95 min.) "Sandra, a young Belgian mother, discovers that her workmates have opted for a significant pay bonus, in exchange for her dismissal. She has only one weekend to convince her colleagues to give up their bonuses so that she can keep her job." [source: Cinema coming soon page, 2015-Mar-4]
- Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through March 22, Bread and Water Theatre (172 W. Main St.) will host performances of Aeschylus.
To return home from a bloody war, Agamemnon has slaughtered his daughter Iphigenina. Unbeknownst to him, his wife Clytemnestra has taken a lover and plots revenge against her long departed husband whose murder sets off an irrevocable chain of events that will doom his entire family.
[source: Bread and Water Theatre website, 2015-Mar-2]
- The Eastman Brass Guild performs in Kilbourn Hall tonight at 8 p.m. [source: Eastman School of Music calendar, 2015-Mar-2]
- Or head to Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre to see the Eastman Studio Orchestra perform at 8 p.m. [source: Eastman School of Music calendar, 2015-Mar-3]
- Starting around 8 p.m. at Equal=Grounds Coffee House (750 South Ave.) is the Equally Funny Comedy Showcase. "This showcase is open to performers who wish to do stand-up comedy regardless of experience level. First-timers are always welcome along with seasoned pros, Improv and story tellers." [source: Facebook, 2015-Mar-2]
- The Dryden will screen Follow Thru (Lloyd Corrigan and Laurence Schwab, U.S. 1930, 92 min., 35mm) tonight at 8 p.m. and on Monday at 1:30 p.m. for the Senior Matinee.
"That gallant idol, Charles Rogers, and the cherubic-faced Nancy Carroll, appear together and in the company of several comedians in Follow Thru, a film in Technicolor on the screen of the Paramount. By far the most amusing character in this cinema offering is Jack Haley, who is seen in the role of Jack Martin, an eccentric young millionaire, whose pet aversion is women. Mr. Haley was also in the stage musical comedy, from which the picture was adapted. Without him it would be just so many scenes of Miss Carroll looking lovingly into the romantic eyes of Charles Rogers. The story relates the attempts of a golf professional's daughter to win the golf championship from her rival in love and of her success in consequence of lessons by a golf teacher who with artful gestures, teaches her to putt her way to victory. The screen has long since discarded the week-end affairs, but, in the instance at a house party, when chorus girls, arrayed as angels, are converted into chorus devils and the fire engine filled with heavenly mites arrives to spray the scene with the contents of a celestial extinguisher, the total reaction is only a restive sigh and a hope for less exhaustive ingenuity." The New York Times (1930)
[source: Dryden website, 2015-Mar-2]
- Starting at 9 p.m. at the Memorial Art Gallery is The Masquerade Ball with music by DJ Bully, poetry by Exclusively Maisha, and live music by Mitty and the Followers, and Renae and Nate Anderson. Formal attire and mask is required. [source: City Newspaper events calendar, 2015-Mar-2]
- Starting at 10 p.m., the Little will screen Night Shift (Ron Howard, U.S. 1982, 106 min.) as part of the Mondo Movie Series.
Chuck Lumley is a nice, unassuming man. His fear of life is the primary reason he took a job as a morgue attendant rather than stay in his previous high stress job on Wall Street, despite having a natural aptitude in finance and business. He is dismayed to learn that he has been reassigned to the night shift at the morgue, if only because it will take away time available to spend with his straight-laced but neurotic fiancée, Charlotte Koogle. He is even more dismayed when he meets his new night shift colleague, William Blazejowski – who calls himself Billy Blaze – a manic, non-stop talking man, who is always trying to come up with get rich quick schemes, which are mostly hair-brained ideas. After Chuck befriends his neighbor, a good-natured hooker named Belinda Keaton, he learns that Belinda's former pimp was murdered, leaving her and many of her hooker friends pimp-less and thus unprotected by the unpredictability of their johns. From this knowledge, Billy sprouts the latest germ of a scheme: that he and Chuck, in their unsupervised state, should act as pimps – or what Billy calls love brokers – for Belinda and her friends during their night shift at the morgue. Chuck eventually agrees, if only because of his affection for Belinda, but he expands on that idea into a full-fledged pseudo-legitimate business for all their collective benefit. The questions become if this business is sustainable in light of the fact of everything about it being against Chuck's general nature, and if he will be able to balance his growing feelings for Belinda against having a personal relationship with a hooker.
[source: Little Theatre website, 2015-Mar-2]
Saturday, March 7
- At 3 p.m., the Little will screen Moonstruck (Norman Jewison, U.S. 1987, 102 min.)
Loretta Castorini, a Brooklyn bookkeeper in her late 30s whose husband died several years earlier in a bus accident, decides it's time to get married again. So she accepts the proposal of a nice, middle-aged fellow named Johnny Cammareri. Loretta is convinced her first marriage was cursed because she and her husband had gotten married at City Hall; this time, she's determined to do things right, even as she admits to her mother, Rose, that she's not really in love with Johnny. (To which Rose replies: "Good. When you love them, they drive you crazy, 'cause they know they can." Rose speaks from rueful experience; she suspects, with good reason, that her husband, Cosmo, is cheating on her.) Loretta is convinced that marrying Johnny is the safe and sure thing to do – until she meets his estranged younger brother Ronny, who tends the ovens in a neighborhood bakery. Loretta discovers that in startling contrast to the pleasant, mild-mannered Johnny, Ronny is moody and passionate.
[source: Little Theatre website, 2015-Mar-2]
- From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Harro East Ballroom is the Annual Food Tasting Party. [source: Harro East Ballroom calendar, 2015-Mar-2]
- Tonight at 8 p.m., the Dryden will screen On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, U.S. 1959, 134 min., 35mm)
Adapted from Nevil Shute's novel, Stanley Kramer's gripping film presents an early entry in the post-apocalypse genre, where the consequences of World War III leave Earth a nuclear wasteland. Gregory Peck leads a stellar cast of survivors (including Ava Gardner, Anthony Perkins, and Fred Astaire) attempting to make the most of their final days on Earth. Amid the bleak vision of the future, the characters seek to preserve the moments in life most meaningful to them. Though grim on the surface, the story provides hope that humanity will not follow this path, and avoid the devastating consequences of the atomic age. On the Beach is presented in conjunction with the Writers and Books March 2015 Community Reading Program.
[source: Dryden website, 2015-Mar-2]
Sunday, March 8
- Today at 2 p.m. and tomorrow at 7 p.m., the MuCCC will screen Shoulders To Stand On: The LGBT History of Rochester (Kevin J. Indovino, U.S. 2014, 90 min.)
Shoulders to Stand On begins by exploring a not-so-distant past: before Stonewall and before the birth of the gay rights movement. We discover a city at the height of prosperity, a city steeped in history and yet overshadowed by secrets. Before the 1970s, the fear of losing jobs and family kept gay men and women underground, living double lives. Meeting places and local watering holes were constantly under the scrutiny of police; raids and payoffs were common, unchallenged practices of the day. But in 1969, the Stonewall Riots would provide the spark that ignited voices across the nation. With the insight and courage of a small group of university students, Rochester's Gay Liberation Movement was born. Their voices quickly propelled Rochester into one of the most progressive and influential LGBT communities in the country.
[source: MuCCC website, 2015-Mar-2]
- At 2 p.m., the Dryden will screen Leave Her to Heaven (John M. Stahl, U.S. 1945, 110 min., 35mm).
An aspiring novelist (Cornel Wilde) meets a young socialite (Gene Tierney) and marries her in a blink of an eye, only to discover that his beautiful wife's love is a highly flammable passion that threatens to devour anyone standing in its twisted way. This remarkable achievement—a proper film noir in sumptuous Technicolor—is celebrated by Martin Scorsese as one his favorite films of all time, and can also be viewed as arguably one of the most Freudian films ever."Movies like Stahl's were not made for TV. Their purpose unfolds only on the big screen, where the blue-velvet skies and the lethally smooth waters of Leave Her to Heaven acquire the unquestioned clarity of a fever dream. A scornful James Agee, reviewing it at the time, said that the story might have been 'plausible enough in a dramatically lighted black-and-white picture'; but plausibility is not the issue, and color is the lifeblood of the film." — The New Yorker
[source: Dryden website, 2015-Mar-2]
- Tonight at 8 p.m. at Banzai Sushi and Cocktail Bar is the kickoff of The March Laffness Comedy Tournament. [source: Facebook, 2015-Mar-2]
Monday, March 9
- Today from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Susan B. Anthony Museum and House is a Monday Lecture Series on Belva Ann Lockwood, Lawyer and Activist presented by Denise R. Munson, Esq. "Best known for running for U.S. President in 1884 and 1888, Lockwood was also an attorney, activist, and educator." [source: City Newspaper events calendar, 2015-Mar-2]
- From 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Henrietta Public Library, Crash Test Cars.
Build a car and see if it can protect an egg in a crash! Crash Test Cars Monday, March 9 from 4:00-5:00 p.m. We've all heard of the classic egg-drop engineering challenge, so here's a twist: crash test race cars! Build your own race car using materials you can find around your house. Once you've designed and built your car we will put it to the test: Can your car protect an egg in a crash test? This program is designed for kids ages 7-12. Please register to ensure you spot.
[source: Monroe County Library website, 2015-Mar-2]
- From 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. tonight at Writers and Books is a Reading by contributors to Rochester Rewritten: Rochester in the Alternative. [source: Writers and Books website, 2015-Mar-2]
Tuesday, March 10
- Today at the Rochester Radisson Hotel at 12 p.m. is the 50th Anniversary Luncheon of the Urban League of Rochester. [source: Urban League of Rochester, NY website, 2015-Mar-2]
- From 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Pathstone Corp (404 East Ave.) is a Home Energy Workshop. [source: City Newspaper events calendar, 2015-Mar-2]
- From 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. tonight at the Greece Public Library, Michael Keene will discuss Abandoned: The Untold Story of Orphan Asylums.
Abandoned presents eye-opening, true-to-life tales of the Five Points area of New York City and the desperation of a million Irish immigrants who hoped to find better conditions in New York after leaving behind the famine they experienced in their homeland in 1848. Unfortunately, after arriving in Lower Manhattan, they found squalor, gang violence, and disease.
[source: City Newspaper events calendar, 2015-Mar-4]
- In the Auditorium of Brighton Town Hall is a Farash Property Shared Use Trail Information Meeting Open House from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. [source: Color Brighton Green website, 2015-Mar-2]
- From 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Penfield Public Library, Laurie Broccolo will discuss Protecting Natural Habitats in Your Backyard and Beyond.
Ms. Broccolo, founder and CEO of Broccolo Tree and Lawn Care and Broccolo Garden Center, will offer tips on which native plants are best suited to this area. Several other local gardeners will be present.
[source: Monroe County Library website, 2015-Mar-2]
- At 7 p.m., the Little will screen Of Stars And Men (John Hubley, Faith Hubley, U.S. 1962, 56 min.) with Emily Hubley (the directors' daughter) answering questions by Skype.
When it premiered in 1964 at New York's Beekman Theater, New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther called Of Stars and Men "An apt and instructive digest that is a pleasure to see and hear, the musical score being nicely selected," and added that it should really be showing at the 1964 world's fair. [source: Little Theatre e-mail, 2015-Mar-4]
- Tonight at 8 p.m., the Dryden will screen Primary Colors (Mike Nichols, U.S. / U.K. / France Germany / Japan, 143 min., 35mm).
Streamlined by director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Elaine May, Joe Klein's sprawling, thinly veiled roman à clef about the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign becomes an intelligent and very funny satire about the bloody game of American politics. In a media-driven world of sound bites and spin doctors, young and stubbornly idealistic Henry Burton (Adrian Lester) continues to believe in the possibility of a politician who actually cares about the American people. His hopes are pinned on Democratic Governor Jack Stanton (John Travolta), a deceptively laid-back good ol' boy from an unnamed Southern state, who's making a run for the White House alongside his equally ambitious wife, Susan (Emma Thompson). A winner!
[source: Dryden website, 2015-Mar-2]
Wednesday, March 11
- From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Cloudsmartz, Inc. (28 E. Main St.) is the TEDxFlourCity Kickoff Event.
Cloudsmartz welcomes TEDxFlourCity to their extraordinary office space at the top of the First Federal Building, overlooking downtown Rochester. This open, 360º space will allow you literally to see the entire city from 300ft up. The event is from 6pm to 9pm (sunset approx. 7:15pm). Join us at this unique venue for an evening of networking, activities, local beer, and the announcement of our 2015 Main Event speaker line-up. As always, this is a free event, but space is limited, so please register at the link below.
[source: Facebook, 2015-Mar-2]
- From 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Gates Public Library, Occupy The Ballot in 2015.
In the 2013 local elections, Green Rochester candidates for Mayor and City Council included the creation of worker-owned businesses in their platform. While the ruling party won all of the seats, it turns out that we had some influence as in the beginning of February, City Hall announced that the $1.9 million Bloomberg Grant the City has received will be focused on worker-owned businesses. Of course all the money is going to hire consultants and administrators, but without actual Greens in office, that's to be expected. The point is running for public office is not just about winning and losing. It's about speaking truth to power. It's about advancing ideas and solutions. It's about conversing with people you normally would not in your daily life. That's why We have to Occupy the Ballot in 2015. There are 137 races within Monroe County this year. Each one is an opportunity to further the issue and solutions you are already working on. It's time for you to run for office.
[source: Facebook, 2015-Mar-2]
- Tonight at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday at 2 p.m. is Puppeteers in Love at the MuCCC. "Puppeteers In Love uses four different kinds of puppetry to tell the story of two people who fall in love while puppeteering." [source: MuCCC website, 2015-Mar-2]
- Tonight at 8 p.m., the Dryden will screen National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman, France / U.S. / U.K. 2014, 180 min.)
National Gallery takes the audience behind the scenes of a London institution, on a journey to the heart of a museum inhabited by masterpieces of Western art from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. National Gallery is the portrait of a place, its way of working and relations with the world, its staff and public, and its paintings. In a perpetual and dizzying game of mirrors, film watches painting watches film. One of the ten best films of 2014 according to The New Yorker."How to film paintings? It's an exceedingly complex issue, especially bearing in mind the large number of artworks. The guiding principle was to break the frame—the framing and hanging of the paintings—in order to step into the picture. To do so, I used an approach similar to making a film, alternating between wide shots and close-ups, and then working on the depth of field in the paintings. On film, the painting comes to life if you don't see the wall, frame, or card to one side with the artist's name, title, date and technical details. Then, the painting becomes an object. My aim was to suggest that the painting is alive and tells a story all of its own." — Frederick Wiseman
[source: Dryden website, 2015-Mar-2]
- Starting around 9 p.m. at the Bug Jar is Desert Noises, American Low, and Buffalo Sex Change. [source: Bug Jar calendar, 2015-Mar-2]