Cover Story
Artistry and swagger
During the 2014 Rochester Fringe Festival, FuturPointe, a Rochester-based dance company co-founded by Guy Thorne and N’Jelle Gage, presented “Unbridled” with photographer Carrie Mateosian. While the audience crowded up close at the outside venue downtown, company members Liam Knighten and Melinda Phillips each had a turn at being photographed by Mateosian while they were being…
Art preview: WALLTHERAPY 2015
WALL\THERAPY organizers have announced a partnership with URBAN NATION, a Berlin-based organization that supports street art, for the launch of an international exchange program between Rochester and Berlin. This summer, artists curated by UN director, Yasha Young, have been invited to participate and contribute to WALL\THERAPY 2015, curated by Ian Wilson (founder, co-curator) and Erich…
![[UPDATED] RTS says no more city student busing](https://i0.wp.com/www.roccitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/carpenterbill_sidebar-e1755023328102.webp?resize=163%2C245&ssl=1)
[UPDATED] RTS says no more city student busing
RCSD says it will give students daily bus passes and they will ride buses like every other user.
Comcast ends New York merger review
Last week, Comcast publicly and definitively ended its bid to swallow up Time Warner Cable. Part of the merger process involved regulatory reviews in the states, mostly around the transfer of Time Warner’s franchise agreements to Comcast. In New York, the company had petitioned the state Public Service Commission to clear the way for the…
WEEK AHEAD: For the Week of April 27, 2015
The Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley will hold a rally today, Monday, April 27, in support of marriage equality to coincide with the US Supreme Court’s hearing on the subject. The rally is one of many that have been coordinated around the country and will be held in front of the Kenneth Keating Federal…
Your weekend in art
It may seem like winter has returned today, but this weekend promises sunnier days and a bit more warmth. So don’t sink back into hibernation mode, get out and grab some culture. Here are a few highlights to start with. For more art events, visit our calendar. Oxford Gallery (267 Oxford Street) opens a new…
Comcast ends bid to merge with Time Warner
The Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger is off. This morning, Comcast released a statement saying that it’s calling off the deal. The decision comes after reports that Comcast and Time Warner faced growing resistance from Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice staff. Here’s the statement from Comcast’s Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts: Today, we…
Are problems with Wegmans’ East Avenue lot intractable?
Since the new East Avenue Wegmans store opened two years ago, the company has received 100 complaints — just on the parking lot. Dan Aken, Wegmans’ manager of site development, relayed that figure to the more than 60 people gathered in a meeting room last night to learn about the company’s plans to improve the parking…
Building a machine
City spoke with “Ex Machina” director Alex Garland about moving into the director’s chair.
Eastman announces 2015-16 Eastman Presents Series
The Eastman School of Music has announced its 2015-16 Eastman Presents Series, which will include performances from Wynton Marsalis, Kristin Chenoweth, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. All performances begin at 8 p.m. and will take place in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, 26 Gibbs Street. The series will open on Wednesday, September 30, with The…
DEC releases final Hemlock-Canadice plan
Pretty much out of the blue, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has released its final Hemlock-Canadice State Forest unit management plan, and simultaneously announced the addition of 165 acres to the preserve. The state bought the land at Burch Hill Road and County Route 37 in Canadice earlier this month from Barbara Christoff, who wanted to…
Long Island Medium Theresa Caputo brings the Spirit to Rochester
My husband told me afterward that I was yawning — loudly — during Theresa Caputo’s appearance at the Blue Cross Arena last night. Caputo, also known as the Long Island Medium, has a show on TLC where she purports to bring news from the great beyond to grieving loved ones here on the ground floor.…
Climate change is not just a future problem
Climate change is a young person’s problem, but it’s also a moral issue for people of all ages. Let me explain. We, as in all of the people on earth, are already seeing the effects of climate change: heatwaves are becoming more frequent and more intense, droughts are worsening, the oceans are warming, ice caps…
Most valuable player
Over his six-decade career, bassist Ron Carter has been part of some of the greatest bands in jazz history. He’s played with Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Eric Dolphy, Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, Bill Evans, and many more. He has received just about every honor awarded in his field. But when he is inducted…
DANCE | Garth Fagan Dance 75/45 Gala
Garth Fagan Dance marks Fagan’s 75th birthday and the company’s 45th season with a gala benefit, “Celebrating Genius, The Man, The Company” at the Hyatt Regency this Saturday. The internationally acclaimed company will be performing at the event, including Fagan’s piece “Passion Distanced” which features an 11-minute solo for Norwood Pennewell. In 1988, Pennewell danced…
Southern tier man
It’s funny how a band can encapsulate a sound without actually playing that style verbatim or getting caught up in its dramatics, semantics, or identifying call. Take for instance Hume, New York’s Barry Brothers; formed in 2011, these boys play southern rock but they don’t. They’re not from the South, they hail from the southern…
Fools = gold
The archetype of the fool is a complicated one, but we can learn a thing or two about the value of clowns from Shakespeare and rodeos. And apparently, from Iceland. Jón Gnarr is an anarchist comedian, actor, and artist who served as mayor of Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. His forearm tattoos — Reykjavík’s coat…
ALBUM REVIEW: “The Winter Blue”
Jesse and the Sprinkles “The Winter Blue” Bluebrick Recordings jessesprinkle.bandcamp.com The family that plays together, stays together … or at least stays warm. Drummer and producer to the stars Jesse Sprinkle bundled up the wife and kids and piled them into the studio to commiserate and even celebrate this region’s unrelenting winter. The resulting record, “The…
Short stuff
For 57 years now, the Rochester International Film Festival has been must-see viewing for local film buffs. Better known as “Movies on a Shoestring,” the annual event holds the remarkable title of being the oldest continuously running short film festival in the world. Presenting four unique programs of short films over the course of three…
ALBUM REVIEW: “Love is a Pendulum”
Joe Locke “Love is a Pendulum” Motéma Music joelocke.com When I heard that hard-driving vibraphonist Joe Locke’s new album, “Love is a Pendulum,” was based on a poem of the same name by Barbara Sfraga, I was a bit skeptical. Then I read the poem. It’s a beautiful work, dealing with the elusiveness of love,…
JAZZ | Bill Dobbins
The great Billy Strayhorn was born 100 years ago and Eastman professor Bill Dobbins is celebrating his centennial year. A superb pianist, Dobbins will play some of Strayhorn’s best known tunes like “Isfahan,” “Passion Flower,” and “Upper Manhattan Medical Group,” but he’ll also play rarely heard works like “Paradise,” “Le Sacre Supreme,” and “Boll Weevil…
Feedback 4/22
We welcome your comments. Send them to themail@rochester-citynews.com, or post them on our website, rochestercitynewspaper.com, our Facebook page, or our Twitter feed, @roccitynews. Comments of fewer than 350 words have a greater chance of being published, and we do edit selections for publication in print. We don’t publish comments sent to other media. RCSD’s priorities…
JAZZ | Trevor Watts & Veryan Weston
British saxophonist Trevor Watts has been at the forefront of free jazz since the mid-1960’s. A founding member of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Watts has collaborated with a “Who’s Who” of experimental jazz players including Archie Shepp, Don Cherry, and Evan Parker. His partner in improvisation at the Bop Shop will be the equally intrepid…
Wegmans seeks fix for East Ave. lot
At its peak hours, the East Avenue Wegmans can be a frustrating place. But it’s a popular urban grocery store, so a little inconvenience is understandable. But the parking lot is beyond frustrating, and the target of many customer complaints, says Dan Aken, Wegmans’ manager of site development. There’s an element of disorder in the…
AMERICANA | Eilen Jewell
Eilen Jewell is a gal out of Idaho that you oughta know. With a firm grasp on country-honk-a-billy she is the very definition of music that falls under the Americana umbrella. Her voice is seductive, plaintively nonchalant, and deceptively sweet. I don’t know whether to run to her or run away. I can’t keep my…
Atheists fight Christian afterschool club
The most dangerous thing at this afterschool meeting of the Good News Club at Chestnut Ridge Elementary School in the Churchville-Chili school district appears to be the game of blindfolded dodgeball in the gym. But members of another local group, the Young Skeptics, will tell you that Good News is dangerous and should not be…
Urban Action 4/22
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Talking about the turbulent 1970’s Faculty members of the College at Brockport will hold a panel discussion concerning gender, careers, and a sense of purpose in the 1970’s following the performance of “Loose…
Love at first sight
When Alessio Troiano, a native of Italy’s Abruzzo region, first visited his girlfriend in Rochester, he fell in love with the region’s summer. (I didn’t ask him about the Rochester winter). “I loved it so much that the next time I came, I made my father come with me,” Troiano says. On that visit with…
ELECTRONIC | Norm Talley
Norm Talley brings his grooves straight from the Motor City, dropping deep house with dancy dubs. He’s gained attention in the last five years for releasing a number of acclaimed singles on European labels. This 45 Euclid showcase is the follow-up to Rochester’s Signal > Noise series inception show last month. It will be Talley’s…
DANCE | Rockin’ the Tango — Rockabilly Style
If your dance moves are old-school, the 1950’s want you back for a night. Tango Cafe Dance Studio is hosting a “full-throttle rockabilly night” with Rockhouse Riot playing live music. The dance studio recently relocated to the Jonathan Child House, a Greek mansion built in 1837 for the first mayor of Rochester. Tango has updated…
ROCK | Arkells
This 5-piece Canadian rock band feels both throwback and modern. Pumping guitars and 4-to-the-floor beats dominate, while the band’s flair comes through the high-energy live performance. Arkells is striving to create something more cinematic and grand. A few days before the release of its third and latest effort, “High Noon” (2014), the band collaborated the…
THEATER | “Richard II”
What’s a Shakespeare play without a flawed monarch? The problems that lay heavy on the head of a British king are the raisons d’etre for four of Shakespeare’s greatest history plays: “Richard II,” the two parts of “Henry IV,” and “Henry V,” collectively known as the Henriad. The Shakespeare Players will perform the whole cycle…
CLASSICAL | First Inversion
First Inversion, one of the newest of Rochester’s myriad choral groups, is already nearing the end of its first season. For the season finale this week, director Lee Wright will lead an evening of spirituals and folksongs — both of which have been fertile material for classical composers for centuries. Along with a survey of…
SPECIAL EVENT | “Better Block” Pop-Up
A section of Arnett Boulevard in Rochester’s 19th Ward Neighborhood will transform this Saturday with pop-up restaurants, stores, a yoga studio, and other local vendors. The “Better Block” project will open in the Arnett Trolley Stop District, between Rugby Avenue and Wellington Avenue. The project is part of a nation-wide movement that aims to demonstrate…
VOCAL | Bernadette Peters
Actress, singer, and Broadway legend Bernadette Peters will bring her talents to the Kodak Hall stage this weekend. Peters, who has won numerous Tony and Drama Desk Awards, is one of the most critically acclaimed performers in Broadway history. She will perform a mix of old favorites and lesser-known songs from her expansive solo repertoire.…
THEATER | “Hairspray”
“Hairspray,” the acclaimed Broadway musical, will be presented in all its teenage-glitz glory in four performances by the National Technical Institute for the Deaf Performing Arts program at Rochester Institute of Technology. In this well-loved, coif-heavy production, Tracy Turnblad peruses her dream of performing on the Corny Collins Show, while trying to win the affection…
HIP-HOP | Lecrae
With his 2012 album, “Gravity,” Lecrae became the first hip-hop artist to win a Grammy for Best Gospel Album. The album had debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, and Lecrae was catapulted into the mainstream consciousness. His seventh studio and latest album, “Anomaly,” debuted at No. 1 on both the Billboard 200 and…
KIDS | “Story Quest”
The brainchild of students in SUNY Brockport’s Arts For Children program, “Story Quest” is an “interactive fairy-tale” for kids featuring original songs by Tom Lake and Chelsea Bentley, performed by Phil Herford, Brian Jackson, and Jeff Brice of Silverfish. “Story Quest” is heavy on audience participation, with lots of opportunities for kids to engage with…
ATMOSPHERIC | Solstafir
This apocalyptic amalgam couldn’t come from anywhere but Reykjavík, Iceland. Solstafir’s blend of metal, melodic psychedelia, and classic rock has a gentle brutality unmatched by anyone else in this genre… that’s because there is no one else in this genre. Its chaotic with an end-times feel and a bleak yet densely layered orchestration . How Solstafir will fit its largess…
THEATER | “The Road to Where”
It is a truism that life often makes more sense in the rearview mirror; what feels like aimless wandering in the moment often seems like a clearly marked road in retrospect. In “The Road to Where,” coming Friday to Geva’s Fielding Nextstage, writer and actress Cass Morgan takes a look at her own circuitous history. Telling…
Artist collaboration: “MUSE 2.0”
On Wednesday, April 22, Rochester artist Brian O’Neill will present a sequel to last year’s successful “MUSE” exhibition of paintings he created in collaboration with Rochester City Ballet. The exhibition will be on display at Nan Miller Gallery (3000 Monroe Avenue) through May 14. O’Neill’s relationship with the dance group was born out of two…
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 7, Episode 8: Conjoined Queens
We knew it was happening. We knew someone was coming back. I was taking bets all week that it was Trixie — I think many Drag Race viewers were thinking that. It would be her chance for redemption. She was the obvious choice. It clearly wasn’t going to be Kandy Ho; as Katya said, “She…
Film Review: “Merchants of Doubt”
With his new documentary, “Merchants of Doubt,” activist filmmaker Robert Kenner (“Food, Inc.”), sets his sights on the professional pundits-for-hire who present themselves as experts in their field, but in actuality are just shills for corporations who use them to stall any political action that might improve public health, but hurt their bottom lines. Starting…
More and more theaters
Building or renovating performing arts venues is just the first step. To keep them going takes big endowments, ticket sales, fundraising.
Film Review: “Ex Machina”
If you’re like me, you tend to shy away from science fiction. Getting invested on any make-believe plane is difficult enough without all the chilly technical mumbo-jumbo required to craft a futuristic but still-plausible setting. Plus there’s always a Big Idea of some kind, usually a commentary on man’s hubris, which rarely results in anything…
