Cover Story
Metro Justice’s reckoning point
The social justice organization has been grappling with its own sexual misconduct issue.
A new possibility for downtown’s Parcel 5
Now that there’ll be no RBTL theater on Parcel 5, what will be built on that site? City officials still want development that will draw people downtown year-round. And they believe something related to entertainment will do that. Now they’re looking seriously at “Kansas City Live!” – a combination bar, restaurant, and entertainment venue in…
Douglass statue on Alexander is replaced
Less than a week after vandalism brought down one of the 13 statues of Frederick Douglass that have been placed around Rochester, a replacement has been installed. On Thursday, more than 100 people gathered at the intersection of Tracy and Alexander Streets for the installation. Carvin Eison, project director of the yearlong bicentennial celebration that created…
Fringe will grow again next year
The KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival is adding a day to its run for next year. Organizers announced this morning that the 2019 festival will open on Tuesday, September 10, and run through September 21.
Fresh Cut: ‘Cherry on Top’ by No Glitter
With the song “Cherry on Top,” No Glitter’s Billy Martin has created a full-bodied, 90’s-influenced rocker that celebrates reconnecting with old friends.
REGGAE | Root Shock
Based out of Syracuse, Root Shock is known for playing heavy reggae-rock with a positive message, and is currently touring behind the 2018 release of its “Many Paths” EP. Vocalist Jessica Brown has the striking vibrato of Gwen Stefani and the commanding presence of Erykah Badu. The band’s sound can change from spacey and languid…
PROG ROCK | Haewa
The improvisational rockers in Haewa jam smooth and curious, with a wise eye focused on the exit. Nobody wants to stay at the party too long. With impressive subtlety, Haewa creates its own genre that pulls on ears and tugs at souls in its retro-leaning, ’70’s-era strain. It doesn’t sell its soul to the almighty…
Feedback 12/19
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. Seeking dollars…
ART | Courtney Gruttadauria
Currently on view at The Little Café Art Gallery is an exhibition of paintings and mixed media works by Courtney Gruttadauria. The space is filled with Gruttadauria’s vibrant and gestural work, ranging from landscapes to figure studies and abstract compositions. Courtney Gruttadauria’s work remains on view through Saturday, December 29, at The Little Café Art…
ART | ‘Hand Picked’
In all of the debates about migrant workers and their place in America, too little is said about their inner lives — including their artistic expressions. One of the upstairs spaces at Rochester Contemporary Art Center is currently hosting “Hand Picked: Art Expression of Farmworkers Who Feed Us,” a traveling exhibit of 30 drawings by…
ART | ‘The Way Things Go’
The latest exhibition of the Memorial Art Gallery’s three-year Media Arts Watch program is “Peter Fischli & David Weiss: The Way Things Go,” a 1987 film and video installation newly acquired by the MAG. The Swiss art duo’s multimedia work uses humor and humble materials. In this case, the film features a Rube Goldberg machine-esque,…
FILM | ‘Photo City’ screening
It’s no secret that Rochester’s history is seriously connected with the history of photography. But you might yet learn something new at this week’s screening of “Photo City,” a documentary on our city and its ingrained relationship to photography and film. Written and directed by John Murphy and Traolach Ó Murchú, and produced by Sorcha…
KIDS | Blast Off Break Week
If you’re about to have the kiddos home from school for the holiday stretch, you might be considering ways to keep them busy. The Strong Museum is hosting Blast Off Break Week during the academic recess, with a special spotlight on space. Kids can explore the ongoing Be the Astronaut exhibit, which has visitors engage…
SPECIAL EVENT | ‘Giving the Gift of Life’ fundraiser
This week Rochester Global Refugee Services will host a fundraising event, “Giving the Gift of Life,” in support of families living in Uganda’s Nakivale refugee camp. One of the oldest refugee settlements in Uganda, Nakivale is a refugee resettlement camp in Isingiro District where 60,000 refugees live with limited services and resources. Faziri Ndahiro, former…
HOLIDAY | Solstice Bazaar
The DIY initiative The Psychic Garden may be looking for a new space, but that’s not stopping it from holding the events it’s known and loved for hosting. This weekend you can finish up some holiday shopping (of locally-made goods) as you celebrate the beginning of longer days. The Psychic Garden will host a winter…
HOLIDAY JAZZ | Laura Dubin Trio
When the Laura Dubin Trio takes the stage at The Little Theatre Café for a Christmas concert, don’t expect a run-of-the-mill holiday set. Dubin, drummer Antonio H. Guerrero, and bassist Tom Lange will transform selections from “The Nutcracker,” “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” and “The Grinch” into jazz standards. There will be no shortage of Christmas…
SURF ROCK | The Isotopes
The band doesn’t sing, but it is certainly a collective of smart-mouths. The now-legendary surf mongrels that make up The Isotopes are just what this land-locked, jerkwater burgh needs: reverb-drenched, twangin’ guitar and no lyrics to confuse us. The Isotopes perform with Superty Dupes on Saturday, December 22, 9 p.m.at the Bug Jar, 219 Monroe…
Album review: ‘Images: Music of Jeff Tyzik’
Eastman Wind Ensemble ‘Images: Music of Jeff Tyzik’ Summit Records esm.rochester.edu/ewe In recent years, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra has seemingly performed compositions by Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik more consistently than that of any other composer. It’s for this reason that the Eastman Wind Ensemble’s album “Images: Music of Jeff Tyzik,” released in October, initially…
Dining review: Country Club Diner
In business at the same East Avenue location since 1934, Country Club Diner has endured through the changing times.
Film review: ‘Roma’
Telling a small-scale story with the expansive sweep of an epic, Alfonso Cuarón’s semi-autobiographical film charts a year in the lives of a middle-class family, told through the eyes of the live-in maid and nanny.
Cuomo blazes up pot legalization talk
For his first two terms, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s position on legal pot has moved from outright opposition to support for a tight-fisted medical cannabis program. But now, heading into his third term, he’s openly embracing legal pot for adults. Cuomo outlined his agenda for the first 100 days of the 2019 legislative session, and after…
Interview: Reenah Golden on equity in arts funding
Reenah Golden, artist and owner of The Avenue Blackbox Theatre, says that the cultural demographics of the city are not properly considered in arts funding discussions.
Album review: ‘Spellbound’
Jackson Cavalier ‘Spellbound’ Self-released jacksoncavalier.bandcamp.com Anyone who’s heard a live performance by Jackson Cavalier knows that iconic, riotous sound: the booming, makeshift suitcase-kick drum contraption; the unwieldy and battered acoustic guitar that riffs on blues and alt-folk themes; and Cavalier’s distinct howls and bellows that shape word for every introspective word. Recently released, “Spellbound” takes…
Rochester artists, arts groups discuss funding options
Is there a way to provide ongoing funding for Rochester’s vibrant, diverse arts community? Local artists, arts organizations, and their supporters have been discussing that question for decades, and this year, it has begun to surface again. Friday afternoon, nearly 100 people — artists, elected officials, and representatives from arts organizations large and small —…
The Stedwells find their place in Rochester’s indie pop cadre
Two parts garage rock, one part pop, one part wow, shake well, and you’ve got The Stedwells.
