Mixed Martial Arts may appear violent, but they can actually teach discipline to the next generation

By Kevin Almasy

Photos by Michael Davis

Behold the future, a 30-something who has seen it all, some things twice, and his just-old-enough-to-drink stud of a sidekick. They are smart, charming, humble and extremely dedicated to their craft. They are two men that by all accounts are genuine nice guys. But they're also two guys you wouldn't want to get into a fight with, for fear of being knocked unconscious.

Gore galore dominates two scary evenings at Eastwood’s Palace Theatre

By Bill DeLapp

For those in the mood for old-school buckets of blood, Eastwood’s Palace Theatre, 2384 James St., fills that need with two fright nights this weekend. Friday, June 13, offers screenings of three features, while zombie costumes, hard rock and a quintet of creepshows will take over all day and into the night on Saturday, June 14, for the fourth annual Shaun Luu Horror Fest. (See Tom Kahley’s What’s Shakin’ item for price configurations or call 463-9240 for information.)

The village of East Syracuse is officially under red alertas a legion of mutant zombies are ready to be let loose. This wholeghastly account began developing years ago and from that point on,these events kept snowballing into a reign of terror that has notabated. But there is no reason to panic: This is controlled chaos.

The zombies will actually be dead-living, notliving-dead, and they will be meandering about for upstate New York’sinaugural Zombie Walk. The 1-mile walk, along with a 5K skate/rundubbed the Run for Your Life, kicks off the fourth annual Shaun LuuHorror Fest, a melange of hard rock and grisly flicks taking placeSaturday, June 14.

During the era of I Like Ike buttons and I Love Lucy,drive-in theaters married America’s dual fascinations for the automobile and family values, the place where mom, pop and theirpajama-clad kids headed for a night of double features and tantalizing treats at the concession stand. Drive-ins, however, were also labeled“ passion pits” for a certain randy demographic, when greaser Romeos and their mini-skirted dates cruised in their big-finned hardtops all the way to the back row for purposes other than watching the movies.

Four cocksure laddies get wet for Rarely Done’s gay romp Bath House: The Musical

By James MacKillop

Gays gave us camp, it must be remembered, for which the nation must be forever grateful. Camp humor is all about style, a recognition of exaggeration and excess. To deal with it, the humorist employs spoof and parody. When a gay man in drag spoofs Barbra Streisand or Bette Davis, even lovingly, we know it’s because Babs and Bette were just too much, and straights get it. 

Help Me, Rwanda

Political power plays in Africa underscoreThe Overwhelming atIthaca’s Hangar Theatre

By James MacKillop

 

On the face of it live theater does not seem the rightmedium to portray the epic horrors of the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Evendirector Terry George’s powerhouse 2004 film Hotel Rwanda achieved its most resonant effects with what it did not show, like the car unable to travel on a dark country road for all the strewn dead bodies we do not see. Yet J.T. Rogers’ The Overwhelming,the season opener at Ithaca’s Hangar Theatre, achieves profound resultsin sequences of astounding dialogues in which characters speak shockingtruths and shocking lies—if only we could tell the difference.

Chart Condition

Cortland Rep boogies down for 8-Track: The Sounds of the ’70s

By Bill DeLapp

It doesn’t seem like we’ve ever left the 1970s, with mass media leading the current retro charge. Will Ferrell’s Semi-Pro, about that decade’s dissolving of the American Basketball Association, is now on DVD shelves. Casey Kasem, his voice no longer resonant enough for broadcasting chores, instead has repackaged 1970s-era flashback editions of his American Top 40 rundowns for syndicated radio. (The program airs Sundays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., on WSEN-FM 92.1.) And last week CBS-TV premiered Swingtown (Thursdays, 10 to 11 p.m., on WTVH-Channel 5), a salacious soap opera about 1970s suburban hedonists that’s shaping up to be a guilty pleasure, with its period-flavor dialogue (“Who’s up for a Harvey Wallbanger?”) and randy references to membership in the Mile High Club.  

Double your pleasure with a second Walter’s Café,now open in Manlius

By Michael K. Thomas

Can it be considered a neighborhood caféif half your clientele is from another town? Walter Babla, owner ofWalter’s Café, 7076 Cedar Bay Road, Fayetteville, was posed with thatquestion when on top of menu orders, several regulars making the tripfrom the town of Manlius would request that he open another diner intheir neck of the woods. His customers suggested a building that was upfor sale and seemingly made to order; the venue last housed Carma’s atthe Market Place, located within the Manlius Marketplace, 4500 PewterLane. 

Double your pleasure with a second Walter’s Café, now open in Manlius

By Michael K. Thomas

Can it be considered a neighborhood café if half your clientele is from another town? Walter Babla, owner of Walter’s Café, 7076 Cedar Bay Road, Fayetteville, was posed with that question when on top of menu orders, several regulars making the trip from the town of Manlius would request that he open another diner in their neck of the woods. His customers suggested a building that was up for sale and seemingly made to order; the venue last housed Carma’s at the Market Place, located within the Manlius Marketplace, 4500 Pewter Lane. 

Check out the Michael Davis slideshow

Hot as a description for music assumed a different denotation during the downright sweltering 2008 Syracuse New TimesSyracuse Area Music Awards, held June 6 during downtown’s Taste ofSyracuse event at the corner of West Washington and South Franklinstreets. Yet 90-degree-plus temperatures that would make Dante’s Infernofeel like a Baskin-Robbins didn’t stop new and veteran musicians fromcoming together and offering a smorgasbord comprising the best of thelocal scene.