Genesee Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Julia Plato. Photo by Howard Owens
It's that time of year when the Genesee Symphony Orchestra rosins up the bows and gets crackin' on holiday chestnuts such as “Christmas Festival,” “Sleigh Ride” and selections from “The Nutcracker.”
The annual holiday concert is at 4 p.m., Sunday, at Genesee Community College.
GSO's concertmaster, Julia Plato, is looking forward to taking the solo on another holiday favorite, the winter movement from Vivaldi's “Four Seasons.”
She's excited about it, she said, because "I think it's insanely easy to make it sound modern, even though it was written through like 300 years ago. It still has so much excitement and vigor and, yeah, personality that you would never know that it was written in the 1700s."
Plato, who is originally from the Hershey area of Pennsylvania, is in her second year as the first chair of the GSO, under the direction of conductor S. Shade Zajac.
She's been involved in orchestra performance since she was a child, participating in the youth orchestra in her hometown.
"That's kind of where I fell in love with playing music," she said. "I went to school for music education in Ithaca and wound up teaching in Pittsford."
Through a friend, she heard about GSO during the pandemic, when the orchestra was still finding ways to perform, and that piqued her interest.
"I was so excited because I just wanted to have a group to play with, and it just lined up really well with the time that I moved to the area, and I found a good group of people to perform with," she said.
She's found it inspiring to work with Zajac.
"He has got such a great taste and repertoire," she said. "He selects very nice, well-rounded programming from all the modern works that you may not have heard to the classics that everyone hopes to hear."
Genesee Symphony Orchestra Music Director and Conductor S. Shade Zajac Photo by Howard Owens.
Pavilion Fire and mutual aid companies are on scene of a barn fire close to a residence reported on Old State Road at Moag Road.
The call came in just before 8 p.m.
The first responder on scene reported a fully involved working barn fire.
The Pavilion chief requested a second alarm. Dispatched: Batavia's FAST team, Bethany, Stafford, Le Roy, with mutual aid was requested from Livingston County and Wyoming County.
Christmas in the Village returns to Oakfield on Friday and Saturday with a full slate of holiday cheer, ranging from a parade and the arrival of Santa to a Christmas ornament scavenger hunt.
The fire truck parade delivering Santa and Mrs. Claus to Triangle Park is at 5 p.m. on Friday.
There will be food and beverages available for purchase at Memorial Park from the OA Parent Teachers Organization and Santino's, and Sweet Ally's will have special hours, staying open until 6 p.m.
The grand lighting of Winter Wonderland in Memorial Park is after the parade at approximately 5:30 p.m.
The evening will also feature musical performances by the Genesee Country Church children's choir, the Olympians, as well as the O-A Central School chorus and swing choir.
The Caryville Inn will be serving holiday drink specials.
On Saturday, it's Oakfield's own Small Business Saturday with an ornament scavenger hunt that will encourage participants to visit businesses in the village.
The first 50 participants or families receive a wreath, instructions and a stamp card. It starts at 11 a.m. at The Goose Farm Market, 33 South Main St., and runs until 2 p.m.
A festive wagon will provide transportation throughout the village during the hunt.
The winners announced at prizes award at 2 p.m. at The Goose.
Santa Returns on a fire truck to Triangle Park at noon and will hear children's Christmas wishes until 2 p.m. in the gazebo while cocoa and cookies, courties at the Oakfield-Alabama Lions Club will be served.
Additional special events.
Genesee Society of Model Engineers – Open House with working model trains on display. Holiday cookies will be served.
Zeliff Farm Market – open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with specials on meat packages available. Samples of Snack Sticks and Meatballs too.
Haxton Memorial Library – games, crafts, and movies
Rusty Rail Bar & Grill / Strikeforce Lanes – opens at noon and will have bowling
Assemblyman Steve Hawley, Kelly Borrello, and State Sen. George Borrello at Adam Miller Toys and Bicycles during Shop Small Saturday. Photo by Howard Owens.
State Sen. George Borrello and Assemblyman Steve Hawley, both small business owners themselves, demonstrated their support for locally-owned businesses in Batavia on Saturday -- part of the national campaign, Shop Small Saturday -- by stopping at a half-dozen local businesses.
“Independently owned businesses make our downtowns more vibrant, spur additional growth, employ our neighbors and contribute to our tax base,” Borrello said to The Batavian. “In addition, every dollar spent at a small business has a greater multiplier effect. Many local shops rely on local suppliers and services and also contribute to local charities and community organizations."
Their stops included Oliver's Candies, YNGodess Shop, Charles Men's Shop, Batavia Bootery, Valle Jewelers, and Adam Miller Toys and Bicycles.
Borrello's wife, Kelly, accompanied the two legislative representatives on their rounds.
Nerds Gone Wild at Labor Daze Music and Food Festival in Oakfield in 2023. Photo by Howard Owens.
If the raucous audience reaction at Labor Daze at the end of this summer is any indication, the kids, the parents, and even the grandparents are going to go wild for Nerds Gone Wild on Saturday at Batavia Downs.
The Nerds struck cover-band-formula gold a decade ago with a theme that falls somewhere in between the traditional bar band and the now trendy tribute band. Call it a "concept band," though Nerds Gone Wild founder and CEO Eddy Tabone still likes "tribute band."
"I don't disagree with that (the term concept band)," Tabone said. "You're right. The reason we're an 80s tribute band is that right now tributes are so hot. I want to make sure that we don't get lost when people are searching for us, I don't want them looking for, they may be looking for an 80s tribute, so I want to make sure that word is included, so when they Google it, we show up."
Nerds Gone Wild's concept is to make the 1980s fun again -- with over-the-top-colorful costumes that play off the cartoon stereotype of nerds (think Steve Urkel, Sheldon Cooper, or to go right to a rock-and-roll source from the 1980s, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick) and the high-energy and stagecraft of the post-New Wave era.
"Basically, it is just like a buffet, a buffet of all the 80s stuff,” said Tabone. "We have a little bit of New Wave. Top 40. We do a hair band set. We do a ladies of the 80s block. We do a dance medley."
Audience participation is a big part of the concept. At some point in the show, kids are invited onto the stage to dance with the band. When the Nerds play the Rick Springfield hit, "Jesse's Girl," there is usually a young woman from the audience on stage, and the lyrics of the chorus are changed to that lady's name.
Band members never stay stationary for very long -- dancing, jumping, skipping across the stage, and interacting with audience members.
"We just try to capture, you know, like superheroes, the superhero look with a professionally done gimmick, and then, contagious fun," Tabone said. "We're playing the music to create that vibe that was in the 80s."
The concept of Nerds Gone Wild started floating around the brain of Tabone years ago, at least the idea of doing a 1980s tribute band.
"I've always been a 1980s guy," said Tabone.
For 35 years, he's led a cover band called Route 66 (that band still gigs), and then about a decade ago, a WNY band that played mostly 1980s hits called it quits.
"I heard they were breaking up, and I said to my wife. 'What a shame," said Tabone, who is retired from the beer industry and has started his own talent agency (he's looking to connect with musicians in Genesee County). "I said, 'I gotta put this 80s project together.'"
Then he took a trip to California.
"My sister-in-law turned me onto a band in Southern California, and they dress like nerds, and I said, There it is," Tabone said. "I came back to Buffalo and started asking people, and they go, 'You're crazy.' 'It's never gonna work.' It all came together, and we debuted with a lineup and had our first show in August of 2013."
Yes, the Nerds did celebrate its 10th anniversary this year, and it's progressed from a band "that's never going to work," that intended to only play a show or so a month, to a band that plays up to 95 shows a year and has been selected three times by readers of the Buffalo News as "The Best Live Band in Western New York."
With that kind of success, a band can host its own Eastern Caribbean Cruise on the Norweigan line, as they will do for the fifth time this March.
After a break for the pandemic, Tabone said, "We're back on the seas again where we do this Cruise with Nerds Gone Wild, where people from Buffalo or Rochester or wherever get to come on a cruise with us. We have a special dinner with them. We take some photos. We do a private performance for them on the ship. And then, on the last day at sea, we do a show for the cruise line."
The band's current lineup is Tabone, aka "Eugene" (his Nerd name) on drums and vocals, John "Gilbert" Gibbon, on bass, guitar, and vocals, Ed "Milton Wild" Wyner, lead vocals and guitar, Brian "Irwin" Beaudry, keyboards, keytar, vocals, and Eric "Barney" Rovner, lead guitar and vocals.
To find out more about the band and the cruise, visit nerdsgonewild.com.
The show at Batavia Downs in the Park Place Events Center is open to all ages -- kids will go wild for the engaging and interactive entertainment, but it really is an all-ages show, so kids should bring their parents and grandparents, who will be equally entertained. Doors open at 7 p.m. The Nerds take the stage at 8 p.m. And the best part, admission is FREE.
"After a long, long Friday and Saturday of shopping, you want to take a break and come down and close your eyes and relive the great music of the 80s," Tabone said.
Nerds Gone Wild at Labor Daze Music and Food Festival in Oakfield in 2023. Photo by Howard Owens.
Nerds Gone Wild at Labor Daze Music and Food Festival in Oakfield in 2023. Photo by Howard Owens.
Nerds Gone Wild at Labor Daze Music and Food Festival in Oakfield in 2023. Photo by Howard Owens.
Nerds Gone Wild at Labor Daze Music and Food Festival in Oakfield in 2023. Photo by Howard Owens.
Father Ivan arrived in Batavia in 1986 at St. Mary's and became parish priest when St. Mary's and St. Joe's merged in 2008.
Over his nearly four decades of service to the community, Father Ivan has led a migrant ministry, and a prison ministry and served at the VA Hospital.
Trujillo was ordained in Jamestown in 1990 and became an assistant at St. Mary's in 1986.
As a young man in Bolivia, Trujillo was inspired both to the ministry and to serve the poor. While studying philosophy in school, he was mentored by the rector, who was a Jesuit with a passion for caring for poor people. That example led Trujillo into the ministry, the priest told The Batavian in 2013.
As a result, a good deal of Father Ivan's work in Western New York was with the poor and less fortunate. He worked with the poor and sick in his own parish, ministered to inmates at Attica and Wyoming correctional facilities, and worked with migrant workers in Genesee, Orleans and Niagara counties.
Rev. Trujillo will lie in state on Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m. and Friday from 10 to 11 a.m. at Resurrection Parish/St. Mary's Church, 18 Ellicott Street in Batavia, where a Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday at 11 a.m. Most Rev. Michael William Fisher, Bishop of Buffalo, will be the Principal Celebrant. The interment will be private in Grandview Cemetery in Batavia.
Hoops runs in the McCulley Family DNA, and that trait was fully on display on Tuesday in Rochester when cousins Callie and Amelia took the court against each other for the first time in their respective college careers.
Callie is in her final year, as a fifth-year senior and the University of Rochester. Amelia is just starting at William and Smith College. Both young women helped their respective Notre Dame squads win Section V titles and both scored more than 1,000 points in their high school basketball careers.
Callie graduated in 2019 and Amelia last year.
U of R got the win on Tuesday, 83-72. Calle scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Amelia scored five points and had three rebounds.
Good music was part of the Thanksgiving celebration at Ri-Dans in Batavia on Wednesday night with the Rusty Fisher Band and the Growlers Blues Band both taking the stage.
A bicyclist has reportedly been hit by a car on West Main Street, Batavia, between Bogue and Woodrow.
City Fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.
UPDATE 2:09 p.m. by Joanne Beck: The patient was initially unconscious, but came to and is being examined by Mercy EMS and is likely going to be transported to a local hospital with minor injuries.
More than two dozen football players from Genesee County made the West's roster for the Eddie Meath All-Star Game, which was played Monday at U of R's Fauver Stadium.
The East beat the West 21-6.
Genesee County players on the West roster:
Trent Woods, Alexander
Clayton Bezon, Alexander
Case Hill, Alexander
Landyn Thomas
Cole Grazioplene, Batavia
Mekhi Fortes, Batavia
Brian Calderon, Batavia
Damon Linzy, Byron-Bergen
Anthony Leach, Byron-Bergen
Max Wilson, Byron-Bergen
Tony Piazza, Le Roy
Jackson Fix, Le Roy
Drew Strollo, LeRoy
Cal Koukides, Le Roy
AustinPangrazio, Oakfield-Alabama/Elba
Ashton Bezon, Oakfield-Alabama/Elba
Bodie Hyde, Oakfield-Alabama/Elba
Angelo Penna, Oakfield-Alabama/Elba
Tyson Totten, Pembroke
Jeremy Gabbey, Jr., Pembroke
Sean Pustulka, Pembroke
Jaden Mast, Pembroke
Brennan Royce, Pembroke
Joe Bauer, Pavilion
Tyler Brady, Pavilion
Austin Cummings, Pavilion
Ella Mattice of Le Roy participated as a cheerleader.
A structure fire is reported at 2993 Batavia Oakfield Townline Road, Oakfield.
Oakfield Fire dispatched.
UPDATE 4:44 p.m.: Second Alarm. Town of Batavia Fire and East Pembroke Fire dispatched. A person reportedly trapped in the structure. Alabama Fire to fill in at Oakfield Hall. Mercy EMS dispatched.
UPDATE 5:15 p.m. Joanne Beck: One occupant and two dogs were rescued from the structure safely. No other occupants are in the home. No flames and only light smoke are on scene at this time.
The fire is under control, and responding fire departments are starting the overhaul.
UPDATE 7:43 p.m.: The scene commander was Chad Williams, first assistant chief of Oakfield Fire. The first chief on scene confirmed that there was a structure fire and a person inside, along with two dogs. That chief and a state trooper coaxed the occupant out.
A neighbor had reported the fire and the occupant was apparently unaware of the fire.
Williams said the first engine on scene arrived quickly.
He said, "We made quick work into the house and ended extinguishing the fire, knocking down the base of it, and we made some headway to find where it was located." He said the fire appeared to have started with or near a wood stove.
The occupant was checked by medics and had no apparent injuries.
Asked about the quick work of the firefighters to knock down the fire, Williams said, "That's that's what we trained for. We don't get these very often. A lot of folks, when we do this training, they're like, 'oh boy, why do we got to keep doing this training?' But you know, once that training kicks in, it's like muscle memory. It just kicks in. It's second nature. They go in they do what they got to do, and then everybody comes out unscathed."
Scoring more than 100 points in a game is one way to ensure you punch your ticket to a state championship game, and that's how the Pembroke Dragons did it on Saturday, beating Section III's Frankfort-Schuyler Maroon Knights 107-64.
"I started my coaching career as a modified assistant for Batavia Football in 2007 I can honestly say I have never seen anything like this game in my entire career at any level of football," said Pembroke's head coach, Brandon Ricci.
The Dragons did it all on the ground -- not even arching a punt across the field.
Tyson Totten ran for 626 yards and 10 touchdowns. Ricci called his performance, "one of the most spectacular displays of athleticism in Dragon history."
Fullback Caleb Felski gained 146 yards and scored three touchdowns. He converted five two-point conversions.
QB Vijay Dhanda also ran for a TD.
The score by quarter:
1st quarter 28-16
2nd quarter 51-42
3rd quarter 91-56
4th quarter 107-64
Defensively the Dragons were led by Felski with 14 tackles, while Totten and Sean Pustulka each had 11. Jayden Mast, Jayden Bridge, Octavius Martin, Caleb Kimmel, Vijay Dhanda, and Jacob Johnson all had five or more tackles. Tyson also added an interception, while Pustulka had two picks, two fumble recoveries and one forced fumble on the day.
The Dragons take a 12-0 record in 8-man football when they play for the state championship in Cicero on Friday. They will meet another undefeated team, the Moravia Blue Devils, from Section IV.
Le Roy QB Tommy Condidorio sweeps around the left end. Photo by Ed Henry
A touchdown 16-yard pass from Payton Bradley to Isaac Maddox with six seconds left in the Far West Regional broke a 13-13 tie, giving Salamanca the win 21-13 and delivering Le Roy its first and final defeat of 2023.
Scoring up to that point had been tit-for-tat on Saturday. Le Roy scored in the first quarter on a one-yard run by Drew Strollo, and Jack Currin converted the point-after. In the second, Arlen Newark scored on a 45-yard pass for Salamanca. Newark also kicked the extra point.
Le Roy answered two minutes later on a 3-yard run by Strollo, but the PAT kick was blocked.
Midway through the third quarter, Salamanca knotted things up on a 33-yard Isaac Maddox run but also had its kick blocked.
For Le Roy, Strollo gained 68 yards, scored two touchdowns, gained 17 yards on three receptions, and on defense had five tackles.
Tonny Piazza gained 77 yards on 19 carries. Tommy Condidoria was 4-7 passing for 12 yards. Holden Sullivan and D.J. O'Geen had six tackles each on defense.
The Oatkan Knights finish 2023 with an 11-1 record. That 11th win was the program's record-setting 16th Section V title.
Drew Strollo (far right) puts the Knights on the scoreboard with a one-yard rush at the end of the first quarter. Photo by Ed Henry
The Le Roy defense swarms to the Salamanca's back. Photo by Ed Henry
Battles in the trenches were the order of the day. Photo by Ed Henry.
Le Roy’s Xavien Walker breaks up a potential score at the goal line. Photo by Ed Henry
Batavia Downs Gaming President and CEO Henry Wojtaszek presented representatives from the Rochester Veterans Treatment Court with a check for $7,000 to help support their efforts of assisting Veterans within the court system.
On Oct. 21, a Vets night dinner was held at Batavia Downs in conjunction with a night of live racing. Proceeds from live and penny auctions were collected in support of the Rochester Veterans Treatment Court.
“We are appreciative to Sean Schiano from Batavia Downs for thinking of us, “said Ray Melens, Lead Mentor for the Monroe County Veterans Court. “The funds are so important for us to continue our work as we look to assist Veterans who find themselves within the court system. We strive to identify and treat the underlying issues facing many Veterans to help them get back on the right path.”
“Veterans have a special meaning for Batavia Downs, “said Wojtaszek. “So many of our own employees volunteered their time, as well as donated many of the baskets for our Penny Auction. One of our directors, Michael Horton, was the auctioneer for the live-action which helped raise additional funds.”
Following his personal meeting in China with President Xi Jinping last month, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer today detailed how the new deal President Biden has struck with China to crack down on the scourge of fentanyl could be a major step forward to curb the opioid crisis in New York, but said now more than ever it is imperative to hold China accountable and ensure there is compliance with their commitments.
“The agreement President Biden has announced with China is a long overdue step which has the potential to help cut off the supply of fentanyl at its source and stop this drug before it ever enters our country and hits the streets of New York, but now it is more vital than ever to hold China accountable for the commitments they have made,” said Senator Schumer. “Fentanyl has wreaked havoc in New York and across America, with this crisis stemming in large part in China, where large chemical companies openly and illicitly sell precursor chemicals to buyers in places like Mexico, where it is manufactured and illegally shipped to our most vulnerable communities here in NY. During my visit to China last month, we were pointed and direct with President Xi, I told him the devastating impact I have seen the opioid crisis have on New York families. I am pleased to see China take what could be a major step forward to cut off the flow of fentanyl, and I am going to be watching like a hawk for progress.”
Specifically, Schumer explained China has said it will take new action to enforce its own regulations against the companies that make precursor drugs in a major step to potentially cut off the flow of this deadly drug. A similar notice to the industry in 2019 led to a drastic reduction in seizures of fentanyl shipments to the United States from China. Schumer said the U.S. also has information that that PRC police have taken law enforcement action against Chinese synthetic drug and chemical precursor suppliers. As a result, certain China-based pharmaceutical companies ceased operations and have had some international payment accounts blocked. This probably represents the first law enforcement action against synthetic drug-related chemical sellers by Chinese authorities since 2017.
In addition, China and the United States will be launching a counter-narcotics working group to bolster law enforcement and information sharing to cut off the flow or precursor drugs and illicit fentanyl. The U.S. and China have both said they will also start working on an ongoing basis at the senior level to directly address this crisis and start working closely together to carry this initiative forward. In conjunction, Schumer said these long overdue steps have real potential to reduce the flow of these drugs into the United States and places like New York, and ultimately save lives.
