>> From WXXI News.

This is Connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour will be made next Sunday with a celebration of music, Rochester music and Musicians.

The Rochester Music Hall of Fame is welcoming the 2026 class of inductees, and we're going to have a preview of that event coming up later this hour.

Before that, how a federal grant will help local dentists become better trained on how to treat patients who have intellectual and developmental disabilities and certain medical conditions.

We'll talk about the impact that is expected to have.

And to kick off this weekly news roundup, Governor Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers are trying to address what some are calling a crisis situation.

The number of volunteer firefighters in New York state has dropped by at least a third in the last generation or so, and there's now proposed legislation in the Assembly that aims to help with recruitment by allowing districts to pay small stipends to possible volunteers.

That's all according to reporting from our colleague, Capitol News Bureau reporter Samuel King with the New York Public News Network.

And Samuel is back with us.

Nice to have you, sir.

Thanks for being with us again.

>> Hi.

I'm glad to be with you.

>> So, um, just this morning, Governor Hochul had an event about her insurance plan with volunteer firefighters.

So this appears to be on everyone's radar.

Moving along.

What do you see there?

Give me the landscape.

>> Well, the governor was talking about sort of touting her auto insurance plan.

And with a group of firefighter organizations from across the country, including a fire department here in suburban Albany.

Uh, they talked about what we've heard a lot is affordability and rising costs.

And her, her push and seemingly the firefighter groups are agreeing that if we reduce insurance costs, that would not only help the fire departments, but it would also help the volunteer firefighters who, again, aren't getting paid necessarily.

So reducing costs for them.

A lot of them have to respond, of course, to the station or to a scene with their personal vehicles.

The rising insurance costs also impacts them.

So that was one thing that was discussed this morning.

>> And the general backdrop of this, Samuel, it dovetails with some conversations we've had on this program in the last couple of years with volunteers from small town fire departments, small town emergency response, the challenge they've had in recruiting new volunteers, new members, and what it might take for them to not only get more people to come in and do it, but also to maintain their departments at all.

So, um, I wasn't surprised to see this story, but how would you describe maybe some of the urgency on this issue?

>> Yeah, I guess there is some debate on sort of how deep the issue goes.

We can get to that a little bit later, but a number of departments.

One department I spoke with specifically is the Clinton Heights Department.

That's across the river from the capital.

Over in Rensselaer County.

And Troy.

Uh, they had a they say he has about 35, 36 the chief tells me on his staff, but then, uh, some when you talk about active firefighters, that drops about 25 or 26.

And he says some days he feels he has enough.

Some days he doesn't.

But he says other fire departments in the area and across the state, uh, probably are in a worse situation where they feel it is very difficult to have the number of volunteers needed to respond to, uh, fire or an emergency in a, in a timely manner.

And they have to get help from a neighboring departments.

And that seems to happen a lot.

>> Yeah.

Samuel had a chance to talk to Chris Racine, who is the chief of the Clinton Heights Fire Department, about some of this stuff.

Let's listen.

>> Um, it's tough in today's society because mom and dad are working two, three jobs apiece, you know, trying to maintain bills and try to maintain a place to live for their family.

So it's tough to turn around and say, hey, join the volunteer fire department.

And, you know, give them two nights a week of your time.

And when you're in training, it might be 2 or 3 nights a week or on a Saturday.

>> So that's the chief of the Clinton Heights Fire Department.

Um, let's listen to the fire chief in Cortland County, the first vice president, um, of AfD s NY.

And this is Dave Denniston, who is talking about.

So what impact could this have on response time?

If someone needs to call 911 in an emergency?

Let's listen.

>> Many fire departments are resorting to multiple activations just to assemble a crew.

If they can assemble one at all.

This is concerning to us and is not specific to any one geographic location here in the states.

Response times are increasing all across the state.

Volunteer agencies, through no fault of their own, have closed their doors because they could no longer sustain operations.

>> Now, in a moment, I'm going to ask Samuel to describe why not everyone is on board with this.

But briefly, Samuel, you're used to covering politics where an interest group will paint a picture because they want more funding or they want something to happen in the legislature.

The sense that I get from the bites that we just heard with these fire chiefs and in talking to volunteers and talking to small town departments, as we've talked to the sense that I get, Samuel, is that they genuinely feel like they're up against it.

Like this is not a made up problem, that they're not just trying to, um, you know, sort of leverage or lobby for funding or money for no reason at all.

Like I think they are true believers and that they feel like the evidence bears it out.

What do you think?

>> Yeah, Evan, that is something that, you know, we've heard here at the Capitol, but as Chris pointed out to me, this is also a nationwide problem.

So this isn't something that is necessarily new unique to New York.

It it's happened everywhere.

I've worked in other states and have often heard about the fire service, especially volunteer services.

But even some of the professional firefighters to, to be to be honest, sometimes having trouble recruiting.

We have sort of.

One of the things that was mentioned at the governor's event this morning, she talked about, you know, you have sort of those generational firefighters, like your father was a firefighter.

Their grandfather was in the service.

Uh, and unless you have that, sometimes it can be hard to attract, um, you know, younger people or people with families as costs rise, uh, as Chris was mentioning.

So it's definitely a issue.

But, you know, some disagree on sort of how much of an issue, like some take issue with the word crisis, but I think everyone agrees that there does need to be, you know, some way to help bring people into the service.

>> So this is interesting to me.

The part of your reporting on where there's a little bit of a split.

So, so what can be done about the lack of volunteers or the need for more volunteers?

Again, the governor is saying maybe, maybe the stipend will help, but not everybody is on board, including some groups representing professional firefighters.

Samuel.

>> That's right.

They say that, you know, their push is, uh, that, um, the can you talk about that?

Is, uh, that there needs to be these hybrid departments.

We can hear from that in a moment.

But one thing that was interesting to me as well was sort of the, uh, another group and I want to make sure I get their name correctly.

The Firefighters Association of the State of New York, uh, they really pushed back on this notion of a crisis when, uh, the chiefs and fire districts were up here at the Capitol last week, they used the word crisis.

The rank and file volunteer firefighters say, uh, yeah, there's an issue, but, uh, people shouldn't worry that firefighters won't be there to respond.

They feel that there is a stipend proposals.

One tool in the toolbox.

Again, we're talking about sort of a small amount of money here.

But they also, as I mentioned, feel that there are other things that we can do in terms of helping with tuition, boosting some benefits and things like that.

They they have a very long list of, of ideas to sort of help this situation.

But you mentioned professional firefighters.

Again, they, they feel that, uh, departments should transition more to a hybrid model and they feel that would have the most success.

>> Well, let's listen to what Sam Frisina told, uh, Sam Frascino told Samuel.

Sam Frisina is the president of the New York State Professional Firefighters Association.

>> And we have seen the the only, you know, proven the best model for success.

Um, statewide and nationally has been, you know, creating departments in rural areas where it's really needed that include, um, both paid and volunteers.

Um, this way you're providing a guaranteed response.

>> So that's where Samuel, those who are not probably those who are on the political right, conservatives, people who are not big fans of unions would say, well, of course, Sam Cristina wants more paid positions.

He wants more union dues, he wants more members.

He's going to oppose the stipend.

Um, and I wonder politically how this is playing in the legislature.

What are you hearing there?

>> Well, the there is sort of interest like people definitely, especially the, uh, legislators who have a lot of volunteer firefighters in their district.

They definitely hear from their local, uh, whether it's towns or villages or, you know, counties about sort of this issue, but what to do about it in terms of whether the stipend idea is a good idea is something else.

Some of this might be a delay because of the fact that there isn't a budget yet, but there is one bill currently, right now that really focuses on this stipend issue.

Uh, would allow districts, of course, this wouldn't be a mandatory for districts, but it would give districts the opportunity to do so.

Uh, that is from the local governments chair in the assembly that is assembly Member Michaelle Solages.

She is in from Long Island and she's the chair and she's very interested in this issue.

Another bill would sort of create an on call positions.

Um, basically be allowed to pay people a $50 per call or up to $50 per call up to 5000 a year.

So maybe not going quite as far as giving, uh, stipends directly to volunteer firefighters, but allowing for sort of on call firefighters to sort of help with that.

But both of those bills really are still in the committee.

So, uh, really not seeing much movement yet.

We'll see if there is movement, especially once we get past budget and some other legislation can can move through here.

So but that that's the interesting thing.

It's a thing that all of these groups have been talking about for a while.

Uh, but there's only been sort of incremental movement over the years.

Evan, I'll mention, um, one thing is the, a training that Chris mentioned a few years ago, uh, the governor and the legislature agreed on a bill that would give some stipends for people to undergo training, uh, state mandated training.

So, so that is one thing that's moved, but the stipend idea at the moment it seems to be stalled.

>> All right.

So we'll see if if it ends up in the budget.

And so I have to close by asking this just briefly.

Um when are we getting a budget and, um, you know, I had to ask you.

>> I was prepared for this question.

Um, I was asking the people here because the majority leader, uh, she has her, her phrases and Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who's a Democratic majority leader, she says, we're in the middle of the middle.

Um, so optimistically, that could mean maybe by the end of the month, maybe another few weeks after that, uh, the, what the speaker said yesterday haven't gotten to the money yet.

They're still on these issues like auto insurance and immigration.

So we'll see how long that takes.

>> The budget was due April 1st.

It typically is late.

It is late again, but they've got a lot to work through.

And Samuel is going to be covering it as always.

Samuel King, Capitol News Bureau reporter for the New York Public News Network.

Always good.

Thanks for the work and we'll talk to you soon.

Budget or not.

>> All right.

Thanks, Evan.

>> Appreciate it.

Samuel King all right.

Brief break.

More Connections coming up in just a second.

I'm Evan Dawson Monday on the next Connections.

Rector Edward Bolshov of Ukraine joins us.

He's talking to us about the ripple effects of this war, how it has affected the people of Ukraine and the education system in Ukraine, and what he wants all of us to be thinking about as the war in Ukraine continues.

That's Monday on Connections.

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>> This is Connections.

I'm Evan Dawson dentists at the Eastman Institute for Oral health will be receiving specialized training thanks to a federal grant, and the training is expected to help create more inclusive access to quality care WXXI health Equity and community reporter and producer Racquel Stephen is here talking about this story.

Hey.

Welcome back.

Nice to see you.

>> It's been a while.

>> It's been.

>> A little while.

Yeah, it's been a little while.

>> So the $2.16 million federal grant to help train residents on how to better treat individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and certain medical conditions like HIV and diabetes.

The people involved with this say, I mean, this is a pretty big deal, isn't it?

>> No, this is this is a huge deal.

And I have to say it really, um, touches close to home for me raising a son that's non-verbal, um, and bringing him to the dentist a few times and having it be one of one of the most horrible experiences, um, just trying to like get behavioral, um, issues and just trying to get him to calm down and actually, um, sit in and really receive that treatment.

It's, it can be a struggle.

Um, so when I seen the article, I'm like, oh yeah, this is, this is something that I feel our listeners would appreciate.

>> And in the past, as a parent, do you seek out any kind of specialized care in that way?

Do you call around?

Do you try to figure out, you know, who's been where and what they what they're able to do?

>> Um, well, with my son, like his dad is more of the, you know, the authoritative figure.

So he kind of pays, listens to his dad more than I do.

So with anything as far as sitting in a chair, barbershop dentist.

I'd rather his dad handle that.

But, um, it, you know, it's different for everyone.

Yeah.

Right.

It's different.

It's different.

Everyone.

Like it's a spectrum.

So everyone experiences different.

Um, but with, with kids on the spectrum, often routine is what gets them, um, to be able to manage, um, appointments like that.

So just getting them on him on that routine.

>> You're not an authoritarian.

>> Uh.

>> I can be.

>> I mean, come on.

Um, I can.

>> Before we welcome our guests here.

You talked to doctor Sangeeta Gajendra, who is chair of the Department of Community Dentistry at the institute, who says these populations tend to lack access to oral care, primarily due to the shortage of providers who have the skill set to treat them.

Um, she said only about 5% of clinical dentistry training focuses on these most vulnerable populations, and she said the Excel program is the initiative is called is going to expose younger dentists to this experience.

I want to listen to this cut from Dr.

Gajendra.

>> If you look at the amount of dental disease that this population has, it's way more than the general population.

And of course, it's because they are not able to access routine dental care.

Once you start treating a population with huge needs, you understand what the population needs.

Then you start liking it and you want to then continue being over there.

>> I mean, pretty straightforward.

And you can see how much impact it can have.

Um, so, uh, anything surprise you in this story?

I mean, are you surprised that this initiative has taken place?

>> I'm not surprised.

But I'm, it's, I'm hopeful.

It makes you hopeful.

Um, it makes you, um, you know, going through this.

It's, it's, it's a relief that it's actually happening.

And it has been at the forefront of, um, the dental institute.

So, um, because it is, it is a concern and it is something that should be, should be, um, recognized and, and a solution.

>> So, um, I want to welcome in studio a couple of guests and one guest on the phone.

So welcome in studio to Diane Kelly, who is a parent and welcome to Ryan Kelly as well.

First of all, hi, Ryan.

>> Hey.

>> Great to have you.

And hi, Diane.

Thank you for being here.

>> Hi.

Thank you for having us.

>> Um, and I want to welcome on the line Carissa Mole, who is a parent and director of customized support at Heritage Christian Services.

Carissa, welcome.

Thanks for being with us.

>> Thank you so much for having me.

>> So briefly here.

I'm going to ask Diane in studio as a parent to tell a little bit of your own story here.

If you I mean, you've been hearing what Raquel is not only reported, but shared from her perspective as a parent.

Um, what do you think we should know from the parent perspective here?

Diane?

>> Well, first of all, this is one of the happiest things I've heard in a long time in terms of our perspective with, with the dental program, Ryan has been involved with, has been challenged with many sensory issues which have prevented him from receiving optimal dental care that, um, would have prevented a lot of the situations.

The dental, his dental history.

And, um, and right now, um, Ryan's history is that he's been, received many, many different dentists.

We've gone to many different ones.

Um, his, he has needed enough care that, um, he has not been able to receive due to the shortage of, of dentists and that being a situation such as his siblings, when they can receive, have a cavity that needs to be filled.

They're typically in the dental office, maybe two weeks later, Ryan's been told, and to our face, we'll put him on a list and he may not receive that dental care for years.

>> Because they don't have the training.

>> Because it's the dental work and also because of individuals with special needs.

They need special environments such as anesthesia to allow the appropriate dental work to be done.

Yeah.

There's not enough dentists that will be providing, um, able to provide that for the dental care that he needs.

He, due to this situation, he has had teeth, um, that have not been fixed or not been filled enough so that um, he has lost all his bottom teeth, they've all been taken out.

He now we're now working heavily with the prosthodontics department at Eastman Dental, who have actually been phenomenal.

I can't say enough about what they have done for his life.

He now has five implants on his bottom teeth, a bottom jaw, and he has a whole set of new bottom teeth.

And we meet with them only once a year now to provide care for them.

But it's been a five year process just to provide all that.

But Ryan's been wonderful.

He's taking care of his teeth now.

He's it's it's a wonderful situation, but it's been a journey of a lifetime to get here.

>> It's an equity issue, isn't it?

>> Definitely.

>> I mean, when you talk about siblings and how different it can be in one family without kids are treated.. >> Exactly, exactly.

>> How are you doing, Ryan.

>> Okay.

>> Yeah.

How do your teeth feel.?

>> Are better?

>> Yeah, better.

I mean, yeah.

Do you, uh, are you are you good at taking care of your teeth now?

>> Yeah.

>> Okay.

Let's see if mom wants to verify that.

>> Oh.

>> He he uses special things.

You want to tell him what you use?

>> All right.

>> A water pik toothbrush?

>> Yes.

>> And another special toothbrush that has bristles on three sides of the toothbrush.

>> Yeah.

>> Yes.

>> Okay.

Well, I mean, a hopeful day for you.

I hope.

Probably a lot of families who are going to be in this position.

>> Uh, definitely.

Because the waiting list is strong is a hub of professionals of expertise.

And for people to utilize their services, they actually come from throughout the state.

So there's a long, long list of those who want help with.

It's strong at Eastman Dental.

>> Before I bring in Carissa, let me just ask Ryan, do you do you like going to the dentist?

I don't know too many people who like it.

Do you like going to the dentist?

>> Yeah.

>> It's okay with you?

>> Yeah.

>> I mean, look, it gives a lot of us anxiety.

I know how you feel.

Oh, yeah.

>> I love it now.

But my first time, I remember my first time like it was yesterday.

>> Yeah.

And so.

>> So for most of us, it's not the most enjoyable experience.

And, and dentists and their staff do great jobs, but you can understand what it must be like for families like Diane's where you go.

My, the kids aren't even getting equal treatment here.

And there has to be something that can help.

Well, Carissa Mole, apparent and director of customized support at Heritage Christian Services, you want to tell me a little bit about your own experience and what you see as the big story here?

>> Yes, I will say that I was so thrilled when I saw this funding come through.

Um, just personally within our own family.

My youngest son is 13 and he is diagnosed with a very rare chromosome difference that unfortunately leads to some very poor dental outcomes.

Um, we have always had wonderful pediatric dentists, but anytime he needs specialized care, pretty much the only option is the Eastman Dental Center.

A lot of clinics won't even regardless of what the child needs, as soon as they see a diagnosis, it just seems the door closes and you are kind of shuttled toward Eastman Dental, which provides a wonderful care but has extensive waitlists.

Um, when my son, when his teeth first came through, his molars came through without enamel or very poor enamel.

Um, and that of course, then caused the molars to deteriorate very quickly.

Um, our dentist tried to do what he could to preserve the teeth.

Um, but ultimately he referred us to Eastman Dental because we knew he would need sedation and surgery to address the oral issues he was having.

Um, and when we were put on the list, we were told we were looking at about an 18 month wait list for him to be seen.

Um, even though his teeth were just actively decaying.

I felt like on a daily basis, um, really within months of that, the teeth had deteriorated.

They were falling apart, they were causing pain.

He was sobbing uncontrollably, just in so much pain.

And when they're that young, there's not a lot of pain medicine that you can give them.

Um, we went back and forth to the dentist.

We ended up in the ER because he just was truly in control, um, inconsolable with his, um, with the pain that he was in the er said, you know, there's nothing we can do, go to Eastman tomorrow morning and just see if there's any, you know, if they can move him up at all.

Um so my husband packed him up the next morning, the little two year old um, Sammy and um, brought him over to the waiting room at Eastman.

Um, he was just again crying, screaming in pain.

And I think they realized how severe it had gotten.

And he was bumped up and he was able to have the surgery the following morning.

They put in multiple crowns.

They had to remove some of his teeth.

Um, and as devastating as all of that was, he has a lot of future dental needs.

Um, he has an underbite that is going to need to be corrected by surgery once he's, um, post he has braces right now.

There's just not enough room in his mouth for all of his teeth.

He has teeth that are sideways.

He has teeth that are missing.

Remember the first X-ray at the orthodontist crying because, um, there's just so much going on there and it just seems like nobody really knows exactly what to do or how to help him.

Um, so I'm just thrilled for this funding for this training for new dentists coming in because it is such a need, even just from what I'm experiencing in our family.

>> And Chris, I'm looking at data from URMC here.

They say more than 30,000 people, including 1000 patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities from 51 New York counties, are now on the waiting list for care at Eastman Institute for Oral health.

That's a huge waiting list.

And have you thought about did you try not to think about what happens on the morning that you know, your husband is, you know, taking your child hoping that they can bump them up because of sort of the crisis moment that you're going through.

If they couldn't do that, you know, where would you have gone?

>> Uh, it is such a horrible feeling to feel that helpless when you see your toddler in that much pain.

Um, and just be at the mercy of whatever availability we can get in.

I have heard of parents who travel across the street to the state to find, um, dentists that are able to get them in a little bit sooner.

We would have done that had they not been able to.

Um, I carry private dental insurance on top of his Medicaid, his Medicaid to the Hcbs waiver.

But we carry private insurance because we want access to the, the dentist that hopefully don't have as long of a wait list.

But even then, there's an issue of the expertise and knowing how to work with a child with his needs.

>> So let me just.

Jennifer emailed to ask, what about sedation dentistry?

Is that a solution to some of this?

I don't know.

Um, first of all, Diane, you're nodding a sedation dentistry part of the, the process here.

>> Yes.

And it actually has only been through my own exploration that I found it no professional guided me in this direction.

So it's extremely important.

Ryan now, um, is able to be seen, has had a lot of his oral work attended to with dentists that provides oral sedation.

We do the IV one and um, he has had his work done, but honestly, we've had to pay privately for it because it's not a situation that is open or talked about in the public.

And he does the conscious sedation, not not the anesthesia.

>> Okay.

Um, Chris, do you want to add to that?

>> Yeah.

What we've experienced is that a lot of dentists won't, at least in the pediatrics, um, for a child with a disability, they want you to go to Eastman.

Um, I will say for some simple tooth extractions because my son's teeth like to just hang in there forever.

Um, we've had success with our pediatric dentists using laughing gas to help calm him.

And that has been successful.

Um, but anything more than that, we're always referred to Eastman, at least in the pediatric world.

>> So Chris, before I let you go, what do you want to leave with listeners as we understand the impact of this story?

And, and frankly, um, what is maybe a start to, to solving problems, but it's going to take a lot of work to, to get where we need to go.

>> Um, I think, I am hopeful that we will see greater access, shorter waitlists, more knowledgeable dentists with expertise, expertise in working with people with disabilities, even like Raquel said, to start it would, um, sometimes just helping somebody to sit in that seat is that's the hard part sometimes.

And having, um, dentists that are receiving the training on how to really work successfully with people with disabilities, um, would make a world of a difference for people with disabilities.

>> You know, the timeline for this.

Raquel.

>> Um, no, I don't believe, I think they already got the funding.

>> Okay.

>> Yeah.

>> Hopefully ASAP.

>> And they already started training.

Yeah, they already started training.

>> Yeah.

>> Um, so yeah.

>> Because sometimes funding.

>> Comes through and or sometimes funding gets.

Authorized and the money doesn't come.

>> Very, you.

>> Know, and then all of a sudden you're waiting a long time.

This is a yeah, a pretty acute need here.

Um, Diane, some final thoughts from you.

Um, again, you said this was a pretty hopeful, pretty hopeful announcement.

>> Yeah.

>> For families.

>> Exactly.

It's been a journey for us since Ryan's been younger and he's 38 now, so it's gone.

And it's also it's.

Yeah, it's and he's grown.

It's the situation's grown.

There's good dentists and there's, it's been a challenging thing.

But what I'd like to leave is, um, I would like them to include families in their training.

I'd like them to include parents in their training.

The parents, we are the voice for our children.

We are the voice for the special needs public population.

And, um, they don't they don't have it right now.

The dentistry doesn't have it.

And what I'd like to, um, what else I would like to say is maybe that's it, you know, just, just keep, keep parents involved and let parents have a story too, because that's how they're going to learn.

And, and those that can talk, there's a lot of special needs individuals who don't have the stories we do, who are able to go through the public.

But a lot of us have had such difficulty that we it's it's such a breath of fresh air, knowing that they're addressing this.

>> Well.

Raquel, years ago, I remember a conversation where I learned the phrase nothing about us without us.

Now, that's true for journalists who are covering stories about families who have children with disabilities.

It could be true for lawmakers who are setting policy and maybe setting policy without any of these families in the room, but nothing about us without us is really important.

Um, and you're doing great work bringing us these stories and letting the family speak as well.

So I want to thank you for popping in here as always.

>> Yes.

Yeah.

No problem.

Thank you for having.

>> Me.

Racquel Stephen.

>> Uh, one of the best thanks to Karissa Mole.

Good luck to you and your family.

Karissa, thanks for sharing your story with us.

>> Thank you so much.

>> Diane, and thank you very much, by the way, for that impassioned plea.

We all should be listening to your families more often.

Thank you for sharing your story.

Thank you, Ryan Kelly, good to meet you.

Thank you for being here.

Have a great day.

Yeah, have a great day.

Thank you very much.

And we've got more Connections to wrap the week here.

Next.

I'm Evan Dawson Monday on the next Connections.

Rector Edward Bolshov of Ukraine joins us.

He's talking to us about the ripple effects of this war, how it has affected the people of Ukraine and the education system in Ukraine, and what he wants all of us to be thinking about as the war in Ukraine continues.

That's Monday on Connections.

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>> One of the great traditions this time of year is seeing who made the Rochester Music Hall of Fame and the class of 2026 is out now.

They've got an event coming up.

Sunday, April 26th, 7 p.m.

At Kodak hall at Eastman Theater.

Tickets available at Rochester Music Hall of Fame.

And the president of the Rochester Music Hall of Fame, Jack Whittier is back with us.

Great way to close the week.

Welcome back sir.

>> Thanks, Evan.

It's good to see you again.

>> So, you know, all these years and you keep putting lists together with not only big local names, but you get national names like Taye Diggs, who we'll talk about.

Yeah, apparently you haven't mined all the territory yet here.

The Hall of Fame keeps growing.

>> We got a long list, and it seems like every year there's somebody else that somebody suggests that we hadn't thought about and like, hey, that might work in the future.

So we got a long list to go.

This is our 13th year though, that we're.

>> 13th year.

I was going to ask you about that.

Yeah, 13 years of doing it.

You got the big celebration coming up.

Rochester Music Hall of Fame.

If you want to get more information, um, what are you looking forward to most on the night of Sunday, April 26th?

>> Just a lot of really good music.

So it's really interesting.

Every class has kind of their own theme and flavor to it.

An interesting work on Connections.

I mean, when you really start looking at this year's class, there's Connections all over the place.

So we've got the LaBarbera brothers that are being inducted.

They performed at the Pythagorean.

They've got Connections to the Mangione brothers and all that.

We've got Tay Diggs going in Donnalyn, Champlin, both are big Broadway stars, and that's really a big thing for them.

And then we have a new award that we started about three years ago called the Ned Kaufman Award, which goes to music educators Judith Randall.

ETA is getting the award this year.

She was Donnalyn Champlin's teacher at Greece.

Athena.

So everybody's, you know, one degree of separation here, I think.

>> Evan so I'm going to I'm going to challenge you to go down the list and tell us a little bit about some of the inductees, a little bit about why they made the cut here.

Sure.

You mentioned Taye Diggs.

Now I know him as an actor, right?

He's a singer.

>> He's a singer.

>> So tell me about Taye Diggs.

>> He multiple Broadway starring roles.

He was in rent, probably probably the biggest one was was being in rent on Broadway.

>> And so Taye Diggs is a, you know, a nationally, internationally known figure.

Rochester Roots, that's a great one.

>> School of the arts.

School of the Arts.

He went to School of Arts.

>> I got we got to get Taye Diggs on the show sometime.

He's hard to pin down.

Yes.

Is he is he coming for the event?

>> Yep.

>> He'll be here on Sunday, April 26th.

Yep.

Um, you mentioned the LaBarbera brothers.

So tell me a little bit more about.

So I love this because you not only have the LaBarbera brothers, but Rochester's legendary jazz club.

The room is also on the list here.

Yes.

And the pod room is a story that I didn't know until a few years ago, when local historians, groups that are kind of doing this very important history right, are educating people like me who didn't grow up here and didn't have a chance to experience it.

And you go, well, how do I how do more people not know about the club?

Right.

So tell me, tell me more about the room.

>> So so the pod room, you know, just a legendary jazz club, you know, pretty much every jazzer that came through here in 50s 60s went there.

The Mangione obviously have Connections to there, but there's some other big stars that have, you know, they would they would perform at bigger venues and then they'd go to the room.

Stevie Wonder went there, George Benson, you know, the list goes on and on.

So it was a must stop for for, you know, out of town musicians that were performing in front of big crowds, but they wanted to go to the room.

>> Do you feel like, um, this is a community that doesn't fully appreciate what a legendary place we had with that?

>> Um, I think it's becoming better known.

You know, I'm a transplant too.

I've lived here over 30 years now.

I'm from Buffalo, so not far away, but, you know, one of the nice things for me personally, through the Music Hall of Fame is really learning some of the, the history and you know, you get, you know, the LaBarbera, which I'm anxious to, to meet, um, when they, when they come into town next week.

But you know, the associations with everybody, you know, gap Mangione, you know, we get together every once in a while.

He, he fills me in on a lot of history around here, especially on the jazz scene.

>> And I think we've got a little music that we can play.

Do we have a little music that we can play?

From his brother John, the Odd Fellows.

Yeah.

Let's listen a little bit.

>> So when I hear, you know that introduction, um, I feel like I'm listening to some of the great albums from the 70s.

I don't know when that one was laid down, but I would, I put a guess on it in the, you know, late 60s.

>> 70s that would be my guess too.

>> Classic stuff.

>> Yeah.

And, you know, uh, you know, Joe LaBarbera was, uh, drummer for Bill Evans.

Bill Evans, probably my favorite jazz pianist of all time.

He's just terrific.

So again, the Connections with everybody is just great.

>> I mean, the list there of the LaBarbera and the Pithart include Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, buddy Rich, Bill Evans, Dizzy Gillespie.

I mean, we're almost like the, the, the Kevin Bacon of music.

Oh.

>>.

>> For sure.

>> Like we're.

>> Connected to everybody in some way, aren't we?

>> Yes we are.

It's amazing.

It really is amazing.

And you know, when we do the reach out, uh, to, to get performers in here, you know, we try to do as many local people and we're going to have just great local musicians performing for the and, and with the LaBarbera this weekend.

But you know, it's, it's not a, it's not an easy task, but it's, you know, we, they take our calls, let's put it that way.

There you go.

>> Good enough.

You're honoring the living indigenous tradition of the music of the Seneca Nation.

Yes.

Tell me about that.

>> So, uh, really worked through ganondagan.

Uh, and more globally, the Seneca Nation.

It's the original music here.

And you know, as, as we researched it a little bit more, it's like, you know, this is really important to the foundation of music in general, but particularly in Rochester.

So we really felt it was important to, to honor and induct them to.

And again, or a real basis for a lot of music that happens.

>> And will we see some performance at the show?

>> Yes, it'll be very colorful.

>> Very colorful performance.

Yes.

Again, we're.

>> Talking it's going to be fun.

>> Sunday, April 26th, 7 p.m.

At the Kodak Hall at Eastman Theater.

Tickets still available at Rochester Music Hall of Fame.

So Donilon Champlin, you mentioned.

Let's talk a little bit more about that.

This is an actress and a Broadway star.

Yeah.

And this is not someone I've met too.

So you always bring us an interesting list.

I go, we got to get this person on Connections here.

Tell me about why Donilon Champlin made the cut this year.

>> Again, multiple roles on Broadway.

Uh, then I believe it was.

I think it was like a WB show.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

She was a star in that, and it was an award winner for that.

Again, Greece, Greece.

Athena High school.

I mean, it's just amazing.

You know, last year we had John Fawcett, who's the keyboard player for Bruno Mars, and he went to Churchville-chili or Gates-Chili.

I'm and just, you know, he's been with Bruno forever.

I mean, so you have these people that grew up here and are really doing amazing things, and it's great to honor them.

>> Is anybody not coming for the show?

>> Not that I know of right now.

You know, you never know in the last minute.

But, you know, um, fingers crossed that everybody's going to show up.

You know, the sky coasters is, you know, the other one.

We, we added a local legends category and we've, we've done, you know, we added the Douglas Lowry Award about ten years ago.

We honor high school seniors that are going on to major in music.

One of our, our inductees, Jack Calarco, actually is our underwriter for the awards.

So they get a cash stipend toward college expenses and they perform.

But we added the local legends this year because there's a lot of there's a lot of performers, bands that have made a really big impact, maybe more so locally.

Um, but just their staying power and, you know, Skycoaster has been around for about 50 years and we're like, we came up with this local legends, um, category and we thought they would be the perfect one to, to be the first ones to receive that award.

So we're excited about having them.

Very enthusiastic fan base from them.

So we'll probably have a lot of sky coasters, uh, followers there on Sunday night.

>> Everybody who, who follows the sky coasters, they dance a lot in the audience.

You're going to have a lot of people moving and grooving, aren't you?

>> We love it.

We love it.

Get get up and out of your seats and have a good time.

>> So let me bring in Pat LaBarbera, who is with us now.

He's a jazz saxophonist and educator and a member of the Rochester Music Hall of Fame class of 2026.

Pat, John and Joe grew up in Mount Morris, and Pat is representing the LaBarbera brothers.

Hello, Pat, thanks for making time for us.

>> Thanks, Evan.

Thanks for having me.

>> What does it mean to you to be on the list?

>> Well, I mean, it's actually threefold for me because like I mentioned, we were members of the Pyrford club at that time.

You had to become a member.

And I'm holding my membership card, which I have from 19, 1961.

Uh, and also Paul Hofler, who was the photographer, was a very good friend of mine and took my wedding pictures.

And of course, the three of us have lived in Rochester and performed there with many different people.

The Mangione brothers, of course, Joe Romano, Tony Levin, when he was living there, and we both we all lived there at one point and worked there.

>> The legendary room closed in September of 1973.

And, you know, so we're talking more than 50 years ago.

It is a piece of Rochester past.

But Jack and I were talking, Pat, about how, um, for those of us who didn't grow up in Rochester, this is something we need to be educated on.

And the more I learned about, I'm going, boy, it's a shame it's not with us anymore, but what an incredible place.

Can you describe what that was like?

>> Well, it was basically a house on the corner and you came up on the porch and then there was somebody to greet you to check you.

There was a cover charge.

At one point, I think it was like $0.50.

It was very, very minimal.

And it was like, like a it was like almost like a living room of a house.

But I'm sure that, uh, if there's somebody coming on after me talking about the petard and the origin of the name, uh, you know, it was put together because of the Knights of Pythias and the Oddfellows were looking for a meeting hall.

And so they got together and they put the pith and the OED on together to form the name.

Now, uh, contrary to somebody mentioning that I never really performed there, except later on when I did it, we did a tribute to the Shahed in Rochester with Mangione Big band, but I was always going there to listen to bands, mostly organ trios.

At that time, a lot of organists, Jimmy McGriff, brother Jack McDuff.

Uh, I remember seeing Steve swallow there, are so many different, uh, jazz musicians.

>> And so Pat, for people who make a pilgrimage now they're going, oh, it's a parking lot.

That's what it is now.

And, but the history has been described to us.

Uh, you know, it was taken down as part of urban renewal, which a lot of communities in this country saw urban renewal efforts.

Um, it's kind of a kind of a misnomer of a name because it ended up, um, dividing or destroying a lot of neighborhoods.

And I wonder if you feel like, um, you know, you look back and you feel kind of, that was a shame what happened there.

>> Yeah.

I mean, it was, it was different times.

There were other places called.

There was a place called the Lounge on State Street.

It was Clinton Hall where I saw Coltrane play.

Those places are all gone and the city has changed.

Uh, I used to see the the the Mangione brothers down on a place called The Lounge.

It was a, it was a club on State Street, I believe.

I'm pretty sure that's where it was.

Those places and even the Midtown Tower.

I used to play it with buddy Rich at the top of Midtown.

That's gone now.

That's no longer there.

But, you know, we're going back in the 60s or 60s, 70s and 80s mostly when I was performing there, 90s with Elvin Jones.

>> I mean, look, I mean, I'm still somebody Jack who thinks live music is, has an intimacy that is.

You're not gonna match anywhere else.

And, you know, we've seen a lot of clubs close to Pat's Point over the years.

Jack.

Right.

Um, but what do you want the Music Hall of Fame's future to look like?

And what do you want?

You know, sort of the texture of live music to look like in this town.

>> Sure.

So, you know, we say all the time, you know, we're an all volunteer organization.

We really have no skin in the game per se.

However, we also feel that we should be Rochester's biggest music cheerleaders and do whatever we can to really help the music and arts community collaborate and celebrate music, not just the past, but but the future.

So, you know, we're trying to embark on some new projects.

We're working with the RTL, as you know, that >> They're going through a huge renovation of the auditorium center.

We're going to take up some space there.

We're working on a plan for that.

We're going to have some display areas there, but we really want to start reaching out to the music community to say, hey, you know, if we work a little bit more, um, music business is a tough business.

You know, Pat knows that, you know, everybody that's, you know, been in it is it's tough, but it's so great.

And we are definitely at the forefront for communities our size of being a great music community.

So we need to really leverage that asset to, to make it good for the community and a great, great asset to our area.

So we're trying to find ways to to work together, maybe get people out of their comfort zones or silos a little bit to, to work together and collaboratively so they can all, all succeed, you know, the proverbial one plus one equals three or more.

And we really want to try to do that.

>> You're still doing some firsts, as we talked about with Sky coasters, you're looking at innovative ways to keep honoring and being the cheerleader.

As you talk about.

But I, you know, as a music fan, I challenge you.

I don't want to see a press release in the future that says we're, we're honoring our first AI Rochester music.

>> Oh, no way.

>> Listen, man, that's where the world is going.

>> I know, it's amazing.

>> I mean, I've had a couple things, you know, passed my way and they're like, this is a it's like, oh my gosh, that's, that's too much.

But you know, live music is so special.

It's so different.

It's almost, you know, it's like sports too.

Like, you know, you can watch sports on TV and it's great.

And, you know, certain sports are probably even easier to watch on TV.

But being at a live sporting event is different.

Like I've had season tickets for the bills for 38 years.

Watching Josh Allen in person is amazing.

It's the same thing in music though.

It's something a little bit different and you know, you get into a lot of performances and it's not just what's on the record, it's it's, you know, it's it's their interpretation and they're feeding off the crowd.

And that's really important because music is a very personal thing, and we really need to celebrate and get behind musicians and go out and see live music.

>> Pat, um, what happens if we lose live music in the future?

>> Well, that's what I agree with that.

I think that's the one thing that AI will never be able to do.

I'm saying it now.

I hope not is reproduce a live musical performance.

They can do it on a screen.

They can show bands on a screen, AI bands, but to do it in person where there's an interaction with the audience and that's what you need.

For me, live music in a club or a concert is the way to hear it.

>> Absolutely.

>> Pat, congratulations to you for being in one of the inductees in 2026, and I know they're excited to see you, and thanks for repping the LaBarbera brothers.

Thanks for coming on the program today.

>> Thank you very much.

Thank you, Pat, forward to it.

>> Yeah, a lot to look forward to every year.

It's a long list and I'm going they didn't do this one yet.

They didn't do this one yet.

Who have you not done yet?

That is going to be on next year.

Well you want to break any news right now.

>> Well.

>> We don't have anybody yet.

But I mean, you know, Renee Fleming, we identified as a charter inductee.

Her schedule is brutal.

>> Yeah.

It's just a matter of matching a schedule.

>> So it's a matter of, you know, when she's available.

And we reach out to her every year.

We've got a long list of jazz folks.

We've got, you know, if you if you look at every musical category, we've we've got a dozen or more.

I mean, I've got a 50 page list of possible inductees.

>> Amazing.

And if people want to learn more, not only about past inductees, but if, if you want people to nominate, where do they how do they find you?

>> So if you go to our website, Rochester Music Hall of Fame, there's a place that you can click on to, to say, you know, nominate somebody that'll, that'll come our way and we review them, you know, we can't induct all of them every, you know, right away.

But we, we consider everybody.

>> And so it's, uh, Rochester music.org is the website and the event coming up is in a few Sundays, uh, April 26th.

What is that?

>> A week from Sunday?

>> Nine days.

Boy, oh boy.

I know it's May already.

April 26th, 7 p.m., Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theater.

I know Jack is excited.

Uh, no AI music.

They're all real music and real human beings there.

You betcha.

You're going to pick up an ax or a guitar and get on stage.

>> Oh, they haven't let me do that yet, but.

>> All the work that you do.

>> I play in a bunch of groups around town.

So that's that's good for now.

Yeah.

>> Congratulations on this, Jack.

Thanks for popping in here.

>> You bet.

Evan.

>> Thank you.

Jack Whittier is the president of the Rochester Music Hall of Fame.

Little music to take us out on this Friday.

It's nice to hear that, isn't it?

And it's nice to celebrate local music.

It's nice to have you, as always from all of us at Connections.

Thanks for finding us on whatever platform you have found us on.

Have a great weekend.

We're back with you next week on member supported public media.

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