Articles
Posted inMusic
REVIEW | ‘Brutalist’ by Andrew Cloninger
There is a lot to process on Andrew Cloninger’s new album, “Brutalist.” Processing, in fact, could serve as the guiding concept behind the album. Song titles like “Archive” and “Field Notes” suggest raw sonic material of various sorts underwent a careful process of refinement, sifting or even distilling. Instead of clean, repeatable melodies and chord […]
Posted inMusic
How a struggling Lima pub became a blues haven
On a quiet stretch where Routes 5 & 20 cut through Lima, there’s a low-slung building that doesn’t call much attention to itself. You could pass it without realizing that, on certain nights, it becomes one of the most intimate blues rooms in the Northeast. Inside Fanatics Pub, something unlikely has been unfolding — steady, […]
Posted inMovies
REVIEW | ‘The Odyssey’
“Is Christopher Nolan Catholic?” That’s the first thing I Googled upon exiting “The Odyssey.” As a director, Nolan has built a filmography around tortured men: atomic-bomb patriarch J. Robert Oppenheimer; dream wanderer Dom Cobb in “Inception;” marooned Joseph Cooper in “Interstellar.” But Nolan’s latest protagonist, the Greek hero Odysseus, endures a barrage of suffering so […]
Posted inCulture
The veteran-owned Rainbow Cammo is a gathering place for the queer community
During the pandemic, Malcolm Keim was making soap in about 200 square feet of basement space. What began as a hobby, sparked in part by a college assignment illustrating scientific concepts through soapmaking, gradually grew into something larger. Artist markets led to a website. A website led to appearances at the Rochester Pride Festival. “It […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘Circus in the City’ anchors Rochester Fringe Festival 2026 lineup
There can be no ESL Rochester Fringe Festival without the Spiegeltent, the signature mirrored hall that houses many of its shows. Indeed, the Spiegeltent will return for the fest in September. But this year’s Fringe also brings a slew of outdoor acrobatics, trapeze and aerial arts performances to downtown venues like Parcel 5 and Gibbs […]
Posted inMusic
REVIEW | ‘Rosa do Inverno’ by Rosa Boemia
For the uninitiated, Rosa Boêmia is sultry summer samba, sans singing. The Rochester three-piece’s name translates from Portuguese to English as “bohemian pink,” and they play choro, an upbeat, classical style of Brazilian music with roots in 19th-century Rio de Janeiro. If you’re unfamiliar with choro (as I was), “Rosa do Inverno” is a great […]
Posted inCulture
Local radio show ‘Rainbow Roc’ celebrates 10 years of proud LGBTQ+ advocacy
When Brian Hurlburt applied to host a radio show on low-power community broadcaster WAYO-FM, the station didn’t technically exist yet. This was 2015, and organizers were still laying cables and installing power racks before launching. Hurlburt wanted in. He’d worked in radio before, hosting a show in Batavia, and he dreamed of returning to the […]
Posted inMovie Reviews
REVIEW | ‘The Invite’
The latest directorial effort from Olivia Wilde (“Booksmart,” “Don’t Worry, Darling”) pulls off, with great success, something that few recent films with similar pedigrees — smaller, successful distributor; A-list cast; hybrid genre — have managed: actual humor amidst emotional stakes. It helps that Wilde helmed one of the best, if underrated, teen comedies of the […]
Posted inTheater
REVIEW | ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ at Highland Bowl
In the era of AI slop and bot accounts, it’s easy to be nostalgic for the Internet of yore — somewhere around 2015, before courts were weighing the damage social media companies have done to youth and when influencers were still somewhat novel. That long-ago year is the setting for a phone-obsessed “The Taming of […]
Posted inCulture
Three Finger Lakes ice cream shops bringing the heat
Milk, cheese, yogurt, artisanal ice cream: while the Finger Lakes may be lesser known for its dairy production, the region is a quiet cornerstone in New York’s lactose industry. During the summer months especially, ice creameries boom, from classic mom-and-pop shops to artisanal makers that specialize in unique styles and flavors. CITY visited three creameries […]
Posted inCulture
The Finger Lakes 411: a historical primer on Rochester’s sister region
Since the height of the pandemic in 2020, the central region of New York State has experienced a significantly renewed interest as an area in which to vacation, relax, explore and relocate from distant visitors and New Yorkers alike. For those of us who grew up around the lakes and casually claim one as our […]
