Cover Story
Wendell Castle stays hands-on
While Wendell Castle has incorporated modern technology into making his sculptural furniture, the storied artist still starts with pencil and paper Of all of the studio’s tools, analog or digital, the pencil is still Wendell Castle’s favorite. To him, drawing is discernment. His love for the tactile nature of making marks is palpable; his description…
I Scene It: KISS at Blue Cross Arena
I piled into the Blue Cross Arena with the local contingency of the KISS Army for the band’s show Monday night. Everything in rock ‘n’ roll these days seems to be in flux, and aging rockers — fans and bands alike — are busy re-inventing themselves to smooth the jones. Openers The Dead Daises was…
Upper Mt. Hope to host candidate night
Upper Mt. Hope neighbors are asked to RSVP by Saturday, September 3, to attend the meet the candidates night. The event is at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, September 6, at St. Anne Church, 1600 Mt. Hope Avenue. RSVP to: umhn@umhn.com or president@umhn.com Seating is limited to 100 people. Invited to attend are the four candidates…
Film review: “Southside with You”
Dramatizing the first date between Michelle Robinson and Barack Obama, “Southside with You” plays first and foremost as a smart, simple romance.
Film review: “Don’t Think Twice”
Comedian Mike Birbiglia made headlines a few weeks back when he took to Twitter to express his frustration with the MPAA’s decision to slap his latest film, “Don’t Think Twice,” with an “R” rating simply because the film had a couple scenes in which adults smoke pot. Meanwhile, Birbiglia argued, a film like “Suicide Squad”…
Film review: “Equity”
Over the years, we’ve gotten plenty of films about the cutthroat world of high finance, but from “Wall Street” to “The Big Short,” they’re all typically male-centric affairs. The fact that “Equity” is the practically unheard of financial thriller told from the female perspective immediately distinguishes itself from the pack. Filled with great performances –…
ALBUM REVIEW: “Mulberry Soul”
Mulberry Soul “Mulberry Soul” Self-released Mulberrysoul.com Arising out of the Rochester Folk Art Guild and the picturesque vista that is Naples is Mulberry Soul, a band that deftly interprets this earthen beauty. Though acoustically planted, Mulberry Soul’s instrumentation is positively electrifying. The band burns bright with a kind of new-grass slant on bluegrass. And man,…
ALBUM REVIEW: “American Acid”
American Acid “American Acid” Rat Records reverbnation.com/americanacid Sick-o graphic artist and resident keeper of Rock-N-Roll Social Club’s bottom end Doug Mac has re-emerged from the primordial hard rock ooze with the trio American Acid and its new six-song, self-titled release. By its sheer existence, the band exemplifies the fundamental differences — and the confusion that…
Feedback 8/24
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. Buildings don’t…
Urban Action 8/24
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. Meeting to review School 16’s construction plans The SouthWest Common Council Education Committee will hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 24, to review initial design plans for the overhaul…
Plaseebo plays with the macabre
Bob Conge has been collecting vintage toys for 50 years. They fill the barn attached to his 1840’s farm house on a Wayland, New York, property that also includes a cemetery and a collection of 1950’s and 60’s robots. And he says he’s got a certain fondness for ghosts. All of these aesthetics inform the…
THEATER/MUSIC | Sankofa Evening of Theatre and Jazz
Now in its ninth year, the Sankofa Evening of Theatre and Jazz Festival is a late-summer staple on the Rochester arts scene, and an important showcase for original plays by African-American writers. The featured play for the first weekend is “4 Men on a Couch,” an “urban comedic drama” by award-winning playwright Anne L. Thompson-Scretching,…
El Camino neighborhood crafts a new vision
The El Camino neighborhood is struggling with some tough problems, but residents don’t want to let those challenges define their community. In that Rochester neighborhood – which is bordered by the Genesee River on the west, North Clinton Avenue on the east, Avenue D to the north, and Upper Falls to the south – many…
ART | “The Winning Images”
Pittsford fine art photography venue Gallery 96 opened the exhibit “The Winning Images,” last week, featuring work by the Niagara Frontier Regional Camera Clubs. The NFRCC is a coalition of 17 camera clubs, spread across an area from the Niagara Peninsula in Southern Ontario, through Western New York, and into Pennsylvania. “The Winning Images” features…
CLASSICAL | The James Brothers
Toronto-born brothers flutist Chris James, and Aaron James, pianist and organist, have gone their separate but successful musical ways. Still they occasionally reunite for duo performances, which this summer takes the form of an Upstate New York tour. After stops in Auburn (where Aaron is music director of St. Mary’s Church) and Buffalo, the James…
Student arrests are in a downward trend
About 4 percent of the Rochester school district’s students were arrested at school during the 2008-2009 school year, usually for fights that resulted in charges of disorderly conduct. Among other things, the arrests were symbolic of the public’s negative perception of city schools. But the number of arrests in city schools has fallen significantly over…
VARIOUS | Harmony Festival
The rise of “fest culture” in the world of underground music is a particularly divisive topic. While music festivals allow tons of kids to watch all of their favorite bands in one convenient location, it can be hard for local scenes to compete with the massive bills these fests boast. With Harmony Festival, Rochester-based booking…
Thai Mii Up may have just been fate
Linda Seng believes in fate. A week after her beloved grandfather passed away, he came to her in a dream and gave her some numbers. In Seng’s culture, numbers are important, and her family was shocked that she did not immediately go out and play those numbers in the lottery. Lo and behold, her father…
METAL | Lord Dying
It’s easy to get carried away with sludge metal. Worshippers at the altar of the riff often find themselves poised at one of two extremes: playing 20-plus minute feedback-laden dirges to half-catatonic audiences or essentially becoming a loud blues-rock band. While neither one of these things is inherently bad, it’s nice when a sludge metal…
SPECIAL EVENT | The Wave Fest
On Thursday, a fundraising event will be held for the Student Arts Foundation, a non-profit that supports art education and artistic advancement for students in Rochester. The Wave Fest will bring together art, fashion, and music for a party at E|R Studios (470 State Street).The night will feature live painting by Bariq Cobbs, the creator…
HONKY-TONK | Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue
Don’t know about you, but the word “honky-tonk” has always meant “COUNTRY” in all caps, boots with roots, and a truly American sound routed geographically in the South for the most part. Exhibit A your honor; New Orleans’ Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue. For 10 years now, this group is cliché free as…
SPORTS | Vintage Base Ball
There’s still a little time left this summer to catch a vintage base ball game in the Silver Base Ball Park at Genesee Country Village and Museum. Matches at GCVM are played according to the rules adopted on December 14, 1864, by the National Association of Base-Ball Players in New York — meaning no gloves,…
PUNK ROCK | Sexy Teenagers
I’ve only seen Rochester-based band Sexy Teenagers once, so I felt it necessary to check for a few details in the Googlesphere. Definitely modify your search some and specify “Rochester band.” You’ll find these Upstate, upstart punk rockers in all their ragged mid-tempo glory. ST play just fast enough to be risky and just slow…
JAZZ | Mike Titlebaum’s Music Because Music
Titles like “Schmeezlemop” and “The Sordid Tale of Glinkleglorp and Alisha” give you some idea of the unusual music journey offered by Mike Titlebaum’s Music Because Music. Titlebaum, who is director of jazz studies at Ithaca College, earned his degrees at the Eastman School of Music. A formidable saxophonist, Titlebaum has played with Lee Konitz,…
KISS will get you coming and going
Rock ‘n’ roll is as much about attitude, shock value, and spectacle as it is about the music. I learned this at a young age. It was 1975, and I was 9 years old. We had a record party at school and my pal Henry bought in KISS “Alive.” Now most of the other kids…
The big Rochester myth about downtown crime
Downtown Rochester is safe. But the myth about its crime rate has been repeated so often that it’s now general public perception.
Film review: “Kubo and the Two Strings”
The latest from Laika is a visually stunning and wildly entertaining ode to the power of storytelling
VOTE NOW: Best of Rochester 2016 Primary Ballot
The Best of Rochester 2016 primary ballot is now closed! Please check back on Wednesday, September 21, for our final poll! It’s time to go over the ropes for City Newspaper’s Best of Rochester poll. Each week, City covers the important news and events happening in Rochester. But during our annual readers’ poll, we want…
Arts Council board is restructuring
Big changes are afoot with the Arts & Cultural Council. Last Thursday, the board elected philanthropist Dawn Lipson as its new president. Other new officers include former Brighton Supervisor Sandra Frankel; Bleu Cease, director of Rochester Contemporary Art Center; Eric Townell, artistic director of Rochester Lyric Opera; Baal Bhagat, a director with the Kalidas Indo-American…
