Busta and Doug E. Fresh brought it; K-Ci
and JoJo should have left it back home
Posted inMusic
Frank De Blase
Posted inNews & Opinion
Maria Friske’s roadside attraction
Maria Friske moves frenetically about the colorful chaos of her Roosevelt Street studio. With sketches scattered across the floor amidst paper-plate pallets full of swirls, and larger renderings lining the walls, you don’t know where to look first. Yet walking through her studio you simply can’t stop looking everywhere. The intense colors, the characters, and […]
Posted inMusic
Swingin’ on the DL
Frank
hits David “Fathead” Newman at Montage and St. Phillip’s Escalator at Bug Jar
Posted inMusic
Kissing Etta James
The Jazz Bloggers’ final notes on Etta James, Robert Glasper, Wayne Shorter and more.
Posted inNews & Opinion
The Lobster Quadrille doesn’t need an amen
The Lobster Quadrille is a seven-piece band steeped in faded-lace Southern gothic pathos, ethos, superstition, and doom. Sepia-toned songs of cotillions, consumption, damnation, elation, and salvation pour out like the sweat on frontman Solomon Blaylock’s brow. The band’s ragtag hobo instrumentality —- clarinet, organ, tambourine, bucket, washboard, slide whistle, kazoo, pots ‘n’ pans, and odds […]
Posted inMusic
James Brown nearly took off my head
Since the 5th Annual Rochester International Jazz Festival started on June 9, City Newspaper‘s music writers have been keeping tabs on the action at our Jazz Blog at www.rochester-citynews.com. The blog is updated daily with our critics’ takes on what they saw the night before, and what they’re looking forward to next. Below find a […]
Posted inMusic
Jazz on the pop side of the street
“It’s really everything in life,” says singer/songwriter Sonya Kitchell, explaining what sparks her creativity. “It can be the color of sunlight. It can be watching somebody on a stoop. It can be listening to sirens outside a window, or it could be anything.” Sure, you could dismiss this as an evasive, teenage shrug of sorts. […]
Posted inMusic
Suicide Frankenstein
You know, sometimes it’s fun to look at the guts and the bones they cling to. I’m talking about rock bands here. As they tweak, tune-up, goose, augment, and twist, rock bands are as much fun to watch as the final draft. A lot of the well-oiled machines you dig onstage are put together suicide […]
Posted inSpecial Sections
Godfather of the revolutions
Rock ‘n’ roll’s primal scream can be traced back to James Brown. It came from within this man. And at 73 years old it’s still in his soul, in his throat, and in your face. He’s the Reverend Cleophus. He’s The Godfather of Soul. Soul Brother No. 1. Mr. Dynamite. He’s the hardest working man […]
Posted inMusic
New Horizons’ ageless symphony
It’s an extremely bright Tuesday morning outside the First Unitarian Church on South Winton. A symphony of lawnmowers hums in the distance. Birds chirp loudly and kids being dropped off for daycare from an endless convoy of mini-vans chirp even louder. It ain’t Peer Gynt, but it’s beautiful. And over this springtime cacophony, the sound […]
Posted inMusic
Out there, dad
Thing and I were commiserating outside the Bug Jar last Tuesday night trying to make sense out of the racket within. He copped to the Captain. “It’s music from the other side of the fence,” he said. “Opaque melodies that bug most people.” The Blood And Bone Orchestra was on stage playing music on the […]
Posted inMusic
Noodles and demons
The Budhahood’s guitarist/singer, Tony Cavagnaro, is one laid-back cat. He oozes contentment, charm, and cool. Even when he leans into his guitar to summon noodles and demons while sporting a Viking helmet (like he did Friday at The German House — a fantastic venue, I might add) he still manages to wax cucumber. You see, […]
