City Newspaper – PopWars

September 27, 2012August 17, 2019

Art Run

Bench designed by John Dodd in front of City Newspaper building in Rochester New York

We went on an art run this afternoon, stopped at Rochester Art Supply downtown to pick up some natural white acid free matt board and some 140 pound watercolor paper. Peggi was looking for a frame for a small watercolor but they don’t carry framing supplies here so we headed over to Lumiere. Bill Edwards, the owner of Light Impressions was there setting up green folding chairs for a reception and artist’s talk tonight with Brian Oglesbee. The gallery there was filled with his beautiful prints, no Photoshop by digitally printed as if that matters.

We left the car parked out front and walked over to the Village Gate too see if John Dodd had finished installing his benches. He has two in front of City Newspaper, a left one(pictured above) and a right one on either side of the entry way. He must have just finished installing them as a few people were discussing them as we approached. Mary Anna Towler, the editor of City News, walked out while Peggi was sitting on one and she exclaimed, “We got our benches!” She asked Peggi if they were comfortable.

As I write this I’m thinking I should have complimented her on the great job City does each week with their publication. You have to leave town and pick up the alternative press there to realize how lucky we are here to have such a relatively hard hitting, thought provoking rag.

Busker Battle

Street musician at the City Busker show in Rochester, NY

We saw about half of the buskers on East Avenue before we found the tent where the folks from City Newspaper were handing out the guitar picks that you were supposed to vote for your favorite buskers with. This was a pretty cool cool event and we had no trouble at all handing out the five picks we were given. This guy switched between accordion and washboard. He had taps on the front of his shoes and an assortment of funky percussion attached to his washboard.

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December 15, 2008August 26, 2019

Isn’t Grappling Enough?

Art work at 2 Vine Restaurant in Rochester, NY

The Democrat & Chronicle seems to be falling apart. They have laid off about ten percent of their staff and there were ridiculous typos in the paper this morning like this head, “McCain Rejects Criticism Republican of Obama”. The typos have to be bad for me to notice. Readership is declining (more like dying) and they can’t seem to think their way out of the box. How about some more interesting local content? I already knew someone threw a shoe at Bush before I opened the paper. In fact I had already seen the video.

City does an amazing job with local stuff. There is some meaty political coverage and Frank DeBlase is a joy to read and they even have an art critic. Imagine that. Rebecca Rafferty reviewed the RoCo Members Show last week. We had been to the opening and saw plenty of things that we liked. I usually just let my eye wander and stop when something seems pleasing so I knew I had missed a lot. It’s hard to see the show when so many people are milling about but it’s fun to see the people. We wanted to go back and this time we brought Rebecca’s review and we tracked down the drawings and paintings that she cited. It was a lot of fun.

I like art criticism regardless of whether I agree with it or not. Roberta Smith’s review of “Marlene Dumas: Measuring Your Own Grave“, a mid-career survey at MoMA was tough. Marlene is one of my favorite painters of all time and easily my favorite living painter. She draws raw and right on and her paintings are luscious. Roberta worked extra hard to knock her down. Here’s a quote. “Fusing the political and the painterly, it grapples with the complexities of image making, the human soul, sexuality, the beauty of art, the masculinity of traditional painting, the ugliness of social oppression. How much it delivers on these scores is a question that this exhibition doesn’t quite answer.” Why does this exhibition have to “deliver” any of this. Isn’t grappling enough?

We had an incredible dinner at 2 Vine. We shared a Thai flavored Calamari appetizer and Peggi and I both ordered the bass special. The waitress explained that all their fish comes fresh daily from Boston and it is never frozen. It was also prepared first class. Crispy on the outside but light and moist on the inside with a very delicate orange flavor. It was the best fish I have ever had in my life. Which brings us to the art on the walls. Egon Schiele on Red Bull and Jagermeister?

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