SPECIAL EVENT: See all Park Avenue has to offer this holiday season at the 19th Annual Park Avenue Holiday Open House. From 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. enjoy holiday decorations, holiday music, horse-drawn wagon rides, hot roasted chestnuts, Santa Claus, and more. 721-3299. park-avenue.org.
MUSIC: Jean Grae isn’t a household name like Nicki Minaj, but if you know Hip Hop you know Jean Grae. A daughter of South African jazz musicians, she was raised in NYC and is an alumna of the High School of Performing Arts. Her songs including “My Life” and “Love Thirst” from “Jeanius” with 9th Wonder (2008) take me back to my favorite acid jazz-tinged Hip Hop tunes from the 90’s. Leave it to Jean Grae to take a rhyme and a beat and give it life. With DJ Chris G, DJ Tim Tones, Hassan Mackey, Sub-Soil, Moses Rockwell, JD Riggz, Show Money, Los Monroe, and Dungen tonight at Lovin’ Cup (300 Park Point Dr., 8:30 p.m., $12-$15).
SPECIAL EVENT: Not sure what’s in and what’s out these days? Get some Christmas gift ideas for the fashionistas in your family at the Pluta Cancer Center Foundation’s Trés Chic Fashion Show from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will feature a variety of local designers, with all proceeds benefiting a newly-created women’s cancer fund in honor of Dr. Sandra McDonald, radiation oncologist at Pluta. $65. For more info, contact Tricia Potocki Marsherall at tpotocki@plutacancercenter.org or 486-0571. plutacancercenter.org.
MUSIC: Lindsay Lou Rilko’s lyrics celebrate big, bad, quirky Jim Thompson-esque characters fleshed out and set to music. Her tales of moonshiners, bank robbers, and other assorted American renegades get kick and a giddy-up from her Michigan based Flatbellys. The band keeps it fresh with frequent trips into pop territory peppered with bluegrass gold. See the group yourself tonight at Abilene (153 Liberty Pole Way, 9 p.m., $8-$12).
LECTURE: Discover more about the people our ancestors first encountered when they arrived on the Mayflower at RIT’s lecture and concert, “RIT Celebrates Native American Heritage Month with Radmilla Cody.” Cody, a traditional Navajo recording artist, will discuss her personal experiences as a survivor of domestic violence and growing up as a biracial woman and perform some of her music. 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Free. Vignelli Center for Design Studies, RIT Campus, 1 Lomb Memorial Dr. 475-4982. rit.edu.
MUSIC: Have you heard, there’s a rumor in St. Petersburg? Word on the street has let us in that the St. Petersburg Men’s Ensemble will be performing tonight at the United Methodist Church of North Chili (2200 Westside Dr, North Chili Chili, umcnorthchili.org). Practice your best Russian, and head on down at 7 p.m. tonight to check them out. Tickets run $5-$10.
LECTURE: Learn about African American art in its various forms at Nazareth College’s Artist Conversation with Garth Fagan and Alison Saar at 7 p.m. The talk that is in conjunction with the Arts Center’s “Contemporary African American Printmakers exhibit, will take place in the Peace Theater (room A14) in the lower level of the Arts Center, and will be moderated by Ruth Fine, retired curator of special projects in modern art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C. Performance at 8 p.m., $40-$55. 4245 East Ave. 389-2525. naz.edu.
MUSIC: If a still camera adds 10 pounds, I don’t want to know how much a video camera adds. But, it’s probably worth the risk to be capture in part of local fame, and tonight you have just that chance: Head on down to Tala Vera (155 State St., tala-vera.com) for the video shoot for local rock group Nimrod Wildfire. You’ll get to be made immortal, and also get a free download card for the album. Can’t go wrong there. Cover $5, start time 8 p.m.
This article appears in Nov 28 – Dec 4, 2012.
