CITY Magazine. Arts. Music. Culture.
Rochester, New York's source for arts, music, events listings and culture, on the web and in print every month. Offering alternative news since 1971.
You have to wonder how Francis Bellamy (1855-1931) would greet today’s fracas over
the Pledge of Allegiance.
You know what drives me nuts? Honkys. I don’t think I’m coming down too heavy on my pale brethren when they sell themselves short. Allow me to explain. Last Thursday Vince Neil (sans the Crüe) played the Water Street Music Hall to a tragically small crowd. The band sounded great and seemed stoked to be […]
What you need to understand before we begin is that hiphop is a culture. It’s a theory, a philosophy. But like the Tao, or trying to define exactly what “porn” is, it’s hard to nail down. Hiphop incorporates breakdancing, MCing, DJing, and graffiti, but it is not defined by those elements alone. It’s a movement […]
I had to drive to Toronto to see one of last summer’s most overlooked films, but this Saturday night, thanks to the Dryden Theatre, you’ll be able to treat yourself — without leaving the country — to Wet Hot American Summer. It’s a brainy spoof of those popular bawdy teen sex romps from the late […]
In the late 1980s, when Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura teamed up for the film Predator, America was deregulating and otherwise fantasizing its way into economic trouble. Soon enough, ordinary working people spied some monsters among the dollar signs. One was called consumer debt, with credit-card marketers getting top billing. There are stealth predators, […]
Community voices Thanks and congratulations to City and Ron Netsky for the splendid interviews in “Jump Jim Crow” (June 4, June 11). Both the historical and personal dimensions of these reminiscences are indispensable to our community memory. Voices that I have known over the years came through clearly, which was for me a wonderful bonus. […]
Feeding the world Farm work is a demanding job, and without migrant workers, it’s difficult to imagine much of it getting done. To show its appreciation, the Brockport community has held “Bienvenida” for the last 20 years, a day to welcome migrant workers, the vast majority of whom now come from Mexico. “This is a […]
On a balmy June night, in a dank East Main Street rehearsal space, amidst the grime, beer bottles, and static, The Veins made it. No Grammy. No applause. No fat cats puffin’ cigars with hollow promises and crossed fingers. No glittery glamazons hanging on their arms, just a few girly pictures lost among a sea […]
The Golden Age of Comic Books began back in the ’30s and ended with the adoption of the Comics Code in 1954, but a comics renaissance is taking place right now. Spider-Man is the fifth-highest-grossing movie of all-time, and The Hulk’s trailer is leaving fans salivating for its release next summer, along with Daredevil and […]
Because motion pictures require a good deal of time to plan, finance, produce, edit, publicize, and release, The Bourne Identity, a typical espionage thriller dealing with violent international intrigue, lags far behind current events and contemporary awareness. Although calling the picture “a 21st century spy film,” the folks who put the whole complicated, expensive project […]
People are always saying there’s no good Mexican food in Rochester. It’s certainly true that we don’t have the variety you’d find in Texas or California, but the general pronouncement might say more about the taste of the speaker. Besides the chains, we also have Maria’s, Salena’s, and Los Amigos, all of which are good […]
It’s obviously Barbara Biddy’s enormous affection for Jonathan Harvey’s sweetly quirky play Beautiful Thing that energized Shipping Dock’s exceptional production. Not an easy assignment, the play about awkward first love between two working-class teenage boys in southeast London carries the added burden of comparison with a film version that has become internationally beloved. Well, Biddy […]
