Cover Story
Fifty years of Garth Fagan Dance: Music. Healing. Love.
At 80 years old, and 50 years after creating his namesake dance company, Garth Fagan reflects on the highs and lows of his life and career.
Ex-Congress member Chris Collins sentenced to 26 months in prison
Chris Collins, who was a rising political star as an early and ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, delivered a tearful apology before his sentencing.
Classical review: RPO with Fabien Gabel
This week’s Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra concert may be titled “Gabel Conducts Beethoven,” but forgive me, Ludwig lovers — the real news here is the non-Beethoven half of the program.
Rochester clergy urge state leaders to uphold bail reform
Rochester clergy are urging state leaders to resist mounting pressure from law enforcement and constituents to repeal or modify the new bail reform law.
City Council to confirm Police Accountability Board appointees
City Council is set to confirm Police Accountability Board appointees, but the board’s legality is still being challenged in court.
Why do education advocates say the state owes RCSD $86 million?
Advocates charge that the state veered from its financial commitment to Rochester schools to the tune of $86 million.
Democratic state Senate challenger Jen Lunsford drops out to run for Assembly
Four months after announcing her intention to run for state Senate, Jen Lunsford is now running for the Assembly.
ROCKABILLY | Tammi Savoy & The Chris Casello Combo
With a voice like Laverne Baker’s, Chicago-based singer Tammi Savoy’s take on R&B and rock ‘n’ roll sticks to the cleaner side of things. That’s not to say you won’t hear her growl ferocious and purr salacious a time or two, but the real swingin’ diablo is guitarist Chris Casello, who bops, thumps, bangs, and…
Hidden depths
Based on true events, Terrence Malick’s sweeping period drama “A Hidden Life” tells the story of Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector during World War II who refused to swear loyalty to Hitler or fight for the Nazis.
ROCK | Kids in the Basement
Playing in a band is supposed to be fun. So is going to see a band. Trying to describe a band like Kids in the Basement is fun, too, but a little more complicated. These guys are a jam band without the annoying bits. It’s a little funky, without throwing a wrench into the whole…
Feedback 1/15
CITY welcomes your comments. Send them to feedback@rochester-citynews.com with your name, your address, and your daytime phone number for verification. Only your name and city, town, or village in which you live will be published along with your letter. Comments of fewer than 500 words have a greater chance of being published, and we do…
FOLK | Eric Andersen
Eric Andersen was one of a handful of singer-songwriters to emerge in the 1960s with anthems that seemed emblematic of a generation. His best-known song, “Thirsty Boots,” is about the civil rights activists known as the Freedom Riders, but he also wrote poetic tunes like “Violets of Dawn,” “Dusty Box Car Wall,” and “Blue River.”…
TRADITIONAL FOLK | Alyssa Rodriguez
Rochester fiddle player Alyssa Rodriguez is comfortable playing in bands of various genres — whether it be the retro-jazz outfit Gregory Street Vagabonds or Irish rock band Sisters of Murphy. But Rodriguez seems most at home as a folk music specialist. While she is well-versed in Irish folk music, she’s created her own local niche…
City Council stands behind reformed ex-convict for Rochester PAB
Miquel Powell shot a woman when he was 21. Now, at 38, he has been appointed to the Rochester Police Accountability Board.
JAZZ | The Rita Collective
When four musicians draw inspiration from a Tunisian oud player and form a world music ensemble, what tunes might you expect to hear in their repertoire? How about Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name,” or Michael Jackson’s “Man In The Mirror”? Turns out, these songs sound great when explored by superb jazz players…
The soothsayer
Singer-songwriter Eric Andersen is a kind of folk music prophet, whose music has been performed by Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt, and Pete Seeger.
Poking at politics
In advance of his January 17 performance at Nazareth College, comedian W. Kamau Bell chatted with CITY about immigration, activism, identity, and stepping outside of what you know.
A melodic match
Dining writer Chris likens the culinary partnership of Roc City Ramen and Poké Sushi to the melding of individual artists in a music supergroup. When it works, it’s gold.
Album review: ‘Baker Street’
Baker Street ‘Baker Street’ Self-released bakerstreetmus.com You really ought to get to know the promising Rochester soul quintet Baker Street. This group of Nazareth College musicians — led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Karis Gregory, and producer-keyboardist Matt Ziegler — has created the most polished debut album I’ve heard in a long time. The band subtly…
Album review: ‘Shep Treasure’
Shep Treasure ‘Shep Treasure’ Self-released secretbandcamp.bandcamp.com There’s a warm glow that radiates from Shep Treasure’s newly released, self-titled EP. It’s the kind of warmth that you find in disquieting times. Maybe it’s okay when things are not okay — when all that’s left are ghosts of perceptions you once agonized over. All seven songs, written…
A bank for people who don’t trust banks
Many people don’t use the mainstream banking system, often because they don’t trust it or because they face barriers to accessing it.
KIDS | Winnie the Pooh
Now in its 16th season, Theatre Young Kids Enjoy T(YKEs), will this month present the musical, “A Winnie the Pooh Birthday Tail,” in honor of author A.A. Milne’s 138th birthday. On the eve of his Eeyore’s birthday, he’s lost his tail, and it’s up to Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and the rest of the Hundred Acre…
ART | ‘Seeking Beauty’
Maureen Outlaw Church, Anne McCune, and Phyllis Bryce Ely are three landscape painters who share a studio headquarters in The Hungerford Building. All three work with encaustic wax, which gives their work a powerful textural element. Even with a common medium, subject, and studio, the three painters’ work diverges to cover a huge range of…
SPECIAL EVENT | Day of Compassion
Compassion is an essential ingredient in any community. The Strong is highlighting this value on Martin Luther King Day, with a long afternoon of inclusive programming for kids and families. In addition to taking in the current and ongoing museum exhibits, visitors can catch a sensory-friendly performance of interactive puppet show “Go Home Tiny Monster”…
THEATER | ‘2 Pages / 2 Voices’ Staged Reading
Writers & Books has partnered up with Geva Theatre Center for another edition of the annual “2 Pages / 2 Voices” staged reading. This whirlwind tour of local talent is a windfall for those of us with short attention spans: writers are limited to two pages of material for each dramatic work, and limited to…
ART/LECTURE | MAG HeARTthrobs DeTOUR
Before the selfie, the thirst trap, and the influencer, there was oil on canvas. Rochester’s very own Memorial Art Gallery is home to a fine sampling of historical hotties immortalized in the frame or on the pedestal. Join MAGsocial for the next event in its series of themed tours, this time putting the spotlight on…
CLASSICAL | Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra with Fabien Gabel
The RPO’s Philharmonics series begins the new year this week with some ballet without dancing, some opera without singing, and some Beethoven. Popular guest conductor Fabien Gabel — the music director of the Quebec Symphony Orchestra — is joined by Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen, making his Rochester debut with Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto (the composer’s…
ART | ‘Sprawling Visions’
Located in the Finger Lakes village of Clifton Springs, Main Street Arts is a not-for-profit gallery that maintains an open call for art year-round. Its first show of the new decade, titled ‘Sprawling Visions,’ pulls together works submitted from 26 artists from around the country, over a three-year period. Executive director and curator Bradley Butler…
mewithoutYou enters its 20th and final year
The post-hardcore band mewithoutYou and its spiritually-seeking frontman Aaron Weiss have always defied neat explanation.
Film review: ‘Little Women’
Greta Gerwig’s film distinguishes itself from countless iterations of the novel with a work that delivers a supremely faithful adaptation while also offering a fresh, creative perspective on the material.
Mayor, City Council member trade barbs over Charlotte development
Mayor Lovely Warren and City Council member Jose Peo accuse the other of lying and playing favorites in the process of developing the Port of Rochester.
Congressional special election date looks like a rigged game
Combining a special election to replace disgraced Chris Collins with a presidential primary would save money. But it comes with another cost: credibility.
No cash? No problem soon for RTS bus riders
RTS will bring its buses into the cashless era.
The F Word: ‘No one will ever know’
“If All Rochester Wrote the Same Song” is nothing short of brilliant. But it isn’t just about the music. It’s about the community as a whole.
