Cover Story
Rehabilitating the soul
Sole Rehab, a two-year-old DJ collective, is helping underground house culture thrive in Rochester
Gateways celebrates and promotes classical musicians of African descent
Only 1.8 percent of American symphony orchestra members are African-American or of African descent, according to the League of American Orchestras. And that number doesn’t seem to be increasing significantly anytime soon. The prospect of young students of African descent not only getting into the field of classical music but succeeding in it, says Paul…
Film review: ‘Rumble’
Examining the considerable contributions made by Native Americans to America’s popular music, the documentary “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World” is celebratory as it fills in missing chapters in the story of rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, blues, and soul. But it also doesn’t shy away from our country’s horrific legacy of discrimination against its…
City Council will hold Parcel 5 public forum
Rochester City Council will hold a public forum on Thursday, August 10, to hear comments and concerns about the development of Parcel 5 at Midtown. The open comment period starts at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers in City Hall, 30 Church Street. The city announced in April that, if City Council approves it, Parcel…
Portraits of places
I first viewed images from Lucinda Devlin’s daunting photographic series, “The Omega Suites,” in 2012, when the work was displayed at SUNY Brockport’s Tower Gallery. The photographs — sobering, meditative looks into execution chambers and other spaces where the condemned spend their final hours — have always stuck with me. Devlin’s work is being shown…
ART | ‘On the Side’
What lies at the root of commercial artists’ work is still their original passion to create beautiful images. “On the Side” highlights that artwork created by local advertisers in their free time. The exhibit, presented by Rochester Contemporary and the Rochester Advertising Federation, will run from Thursday, August 3, through Saturday, August 12, at the…
FILM | Free Our People Film Festival
The first Free Our People Film Contest, developed by the Center for Disability Rights here in Rochester, called for video submissions that focused on institutional biases that keep people with disabilities in nursing homes instead of playing active roles in their communities. The winning submissions have been selected and will be shown at a festival…
THEATER | ‘Fielder’s Choice’
Hummingbird Theater Company will present “Fielder’s Choice,” written by the Democrat and Chronicle’s David Andreatta, a drama about a strained father-son relationship that relies heavily on a mutual love for Major League baseball parks. Produced and directed by Donald B. Bartalo, the show is small with a three-person cast: Peter Doyle plays the role of…
CLASSICAL | Gateways Music Festival
In association with the Eastman School of Music, the 2017 Gateways Music Festival will begin Tuesday, August 8, and run through Sunday, August 13. More than 120 classical musicians of African descent will be featured in around 50 solo, chamber, and orchestral concerts throughout Rochester. Aside from concerts, the festival will also include a panel…
FESTIVAL | Park Ave Summer Art Fest
Each year, Rochester’s Park Ave Summer Art Fest blows out the first full weekend in August as the neighborhood showcases the area’s culture, art, and businesses. Park Avenue will be closed to vehicles, allowing ample room for a juried art show — featuring more than 350 artists in 13 different categories — vendors with varied…
Slap, twang, and giddy-up
Aaron Lipp is a talented young man with a talented old soul. And this unassuming multi-instrumentalist has been baring this soul on local, regional, and national stages for several years in various groups of assorted stylings. With his latest outfit, Aaron Lipp & The Slack Tones, Lipp is brandishing a guitar and leading the charge…
ART | ‘Illuminate’
As part of the August First Friday, Gallery Q, The Triangle neighborhood, and ImageOut are partnering to present “Illuminate,” a gallery event celebrating the LGBTQ community. “Illuminate” will feature artists Chen Wang, Citlali Fabián, and Katie Efstathiou, and puts a focus on projection and installation-based art. Wang will display animations that explore sexuality and gender…
Album review: ‘Content’
Joywave “Content” Hollywood Records joywavemusic.com Joywave swings it like a velvet hammer on its new album, “Content.” This whole thing is a goddamn gem, with the band forging though a multi-colored collection of unique possibilities into a sonic land of its own. Dynamically it’s a thrill ride, from little room handclaps — where you can…
ROOTS ROCK | Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats
He’s got a hustler’s shuck ‘n’ jive and a jackleg preacher’s rant ‘n’ rave — sonofabitch, it’s Nathaniel Rateliff. The man manages to take the dark side of Americana and mash with it the bright. Born in rural Mississippi, when Rateliff opens his mouth to sing, you know it’s from a real place. Soulful and…
Album review: ‘Blue Spark’
Lost Wax Collective “Blue Spark” Self-released facebook.com/lostwaxcollective To describe Lost Wax only in terms like jazz, soul, or Afro-beat would box the band into something it clearly can’t fit in. This new nine-piece, polyrhythmic, future-soul collective of talented musicians — from several Rochester bands, including Mosaic Foundation, Haewa, and Got Herb — takes advantage of…
ROCK | The End of the Ocean
Next thing I know, I was asleep at my desk, my elbows sloshing around in drool; I was hypnotized by the stuff I was listening to by Columbus, Ohio’s soundscape sculptors The End of the Ocean. It was huge, even though it had kicked off in an ultra-mellow exploration where the band built the road…
Feedback 8/2
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. For our print edition, we select comments from all three sources; those of fewer than 350 words have a greater chance of being published, and we do edit selections for publication in…
AMERICANA | Tarbox Ramblers
A host of ingredients, from early blues to gospel, came together in the raw energy of Appalachian music. The Tarbox Ramblers not only keep those songs alive, the group continues the tradition with its own evocative contributions. The urgency of the sound of slide guitarist and singer Michael Tarbox, bassist Scott McEwen, and drummer Robby…
Urban Action 8/2
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Reading about racism As part of a year-long series, the Moving Beyond Racism Book Group will hold a book discussion on “Racism: A Short History” by George Fredrickson on Monday, August 7. The…
CLASSICAL | ‘Dulcemelos’
As part of its “Summer @ Eastman” program, the Eastman School of Music will present a rare concert on Thursday, highlighting Mexican music written for the salterio, or hammered dulcimer. The featured performers include the salterio group Duo Dulcemelos — Alejandra Barrientos and Hector Larios — along with their two sons, pianist Mitzie Collins, and…
On the road with Zagster
A couple of weeks ago, bike racks appeared on what seemed to be every corner in downtown Rochester, with Zagster’s signature white bikes fixed with a basket in the front and rack in the back. And most important, they were being used. In the first day, says Zagster Bike Share Rebalancer Allen McAllister, somewhere between…
INDIE ROCK | Pale Lungs
This Saturday at the Bug Jar is practically a holiday: it’s Tim Avery’s birthday show. The Rochester impresario will be celebrating in style with a full lineup featuring touring acts Charmer and Pale Lungs as well as local bands California Cousins and Barbarossa. For those of us who listened to emo growing up, Pale Lungs…
Trump’s transgender ban: Another time to resist
The big news out of Washington last week was the health-care vote. But that bit of positive news shouldn’t erase another big development: Trump’s decision to ban transgender people from military service. It’s not surprising that Trump has jettisoned yet another vulnerable group. He tosses aside anybody who gets in the way of something he…
SOUL/JAZZ | RC & The Gritz
Known by many as Erykah Badu’s band, RC & The Gritz is an eclectic all-star group of nationally praised touring musicians in the jazz and hip-hop scenes. With avant-garde beats, atmospheric melodies, and rapping over New Orleans jazz and funk, the Texas supergroup is gaining hyper recognition. Both its albums, “Pay Your Tab” and “The…
Bringing back Bull’s Head
Up until about the 1950’s, the Bull’s Head area was a thriving part of the southwest section of the city. Though it’s still remembered fondly by many people, particularly in Rochester’s African-American community, right now Bull’s Head is scarred by vacant lots and abandoned buildings. It’s often better known for the free public health clinic…
Programs train the public to help overdose victims
At this point, the opioid crisis is inescapable. Prescription painkiller abuse and the use of increasingly dangerous heroin-fentanyl mixtures is happening across social and economic lines. And the disease of addiction has some people so firmly in its grip that locally they’ve overdosed in parking lots, libraries, and other public places. Some have even overdosed…
Mexico comes to Corn Hill
No matter where the owners of Paola’s Burrito Place end up, the Rochester public seems to find them. The family’s new venture, Mi Barrio Burrito Place (319 Exchange Boulevard), opened in June of this year. “It’s a different location with a different name, but the same owners and the same great food,” says Jesus Enriquez,…
Sequel looks at climate change 10 years after ‘An Inconvenient Truth’
Following former Vice President Al Gore’s campaign to educate the public about global warming, the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” did a lot to move the climate change conversation into the popular consciousness when it was released back in 2006 (and picked up a couple Oscars along the way). Now comes “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to…
Film review: ‘Landline’
Following up their daring and all-around extraordinary romantic comedy “Obvious Child,” writer-director Gillian Robespierre and actor Jenny Slate reteam for the authentic, heartfelt, and often very funny “Landline,” a melancholy comedy about a Manhattan family in crisis. Dana (Slate) is experiencing some insecurity in her relationship with her sweet, but not very exciting fiancé, Ben…
Film review: ‘Lady Macbeth’
What starts off as a genteel period film, the chilling “Lady Macbeth” gradually reveals the irreparable rot at its core. Set in 1865 rural England, the film tells the story of 17-year-old Katherine (Florence Pugh), who as the story begins, has been sold into a loveless marriage to Alexander (Paul Hilton), a man more than…
