An 18th-century draft of the No Child Left Behind Act would have pushed students way beyond math and reading. It might have required extensive testing in the Seven Liberal Arts, inherited from the ancient Greeks, which ranked music with geometry and astronomy. It’s hard to exaggerate the importance of music in pre-Enlightenment worldviews. People from […]
Music Features
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The Tyzik twist
Although no one (as far as I know) in the audience at the Eastman Theatre has ever shouted “Freebird,” The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra is, in essence, this town’s biggest cover band. Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik is an outstanding composer, musician, and Grammy Award-winning producer. But the majority of the music he conducts was written […]
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The legend of Blüdwülf
Blüdwülf is a metal band full of punks… or a punk band full of metal heads. Frontman Reverend Sinn doesn’t really sing. He bellows. He rants. He spews. He’s a punk. But the precision freight-train thrash of the longhairs behind him shrugs off stock punk shackles. “As long as there’s a teenage boy and a […]
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Living mix tape
“I actually have a pile of records this high that I have yet to listen to,” sighs Keven Atoms. Atoms feels a little anxious about it, the same way you might when there’s homework hanging over your head. It may seem funny, but for Atoms, Queen Knobtweekah, and Jhim — a group of DJs that […]
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Five for fighting
An hour before taking the stage Sunday night, the bald 18-year-old hunted for a good couch to nap on at Water Street Music Hall. The month before, Charlie Coté lay in a hospital bed at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, uncertain if he would respond to a last-resort treatment for malignant melanoma — […]
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Heir apparent
Another one was getting out. Rock ‘n’ roll troubadour Joff Wilson was finally pulling up Rochester stakes to hang in the Big Apple. The cat had exuded Bowery all along anyway. Fans, friends, and fellow musicians gathered at Monty’s Krown recently to send Wilson off, hoist a pint, and wish him well. The Krown was […]
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After the rain
I didn’t (and couldn’t) see every act perform, but I was really into the Rochester MusicFest 2005 for what I did experience. Coming in on the tail end of Nina Sky’s performance on Saturday, July 16, got my body moving as soon as I stepped on the grounds. Shortly after was Jagged Edge’s ballad-filled set, […]
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The power of Cotton
Flash forward from the music that exploded in the late 1940s and you’ll be swimming in a sea of white. Black is beautiful, but today, it’s rarely considered rock ‘n’ roll. “I think it is,” says New York City rocker Danielia Cotton. “Blacks were instrumental in rock ‘n’ roll coming into play. No one gives […]
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Like a larger-than-life music box
It’s practically impossible to succinctly review 100 concerts. And there’ve been nearly that many since we issued last week’s piece on the Rochester International Jazz Festival’s opening weekend. For those who missed out: our sympathy. This year’s RIJF was the best yet in terms of programming and (despite a few initial snags) overall organization. Over […]
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Automatically the underdog
“All the punk songs that I could ever think of have already been written several times over,” says Motorpsychos guitarist Pam Simmons. “Metal gives you more room: that welcome dissonance and rhythm.” With just the right amount of Iron City savvy and metal guts goosed with punk speed, Motorpsychos’ sound is more about its […]
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Opening notes: Jazz Fest in review
Four years along and the Rochester International Jazz Festival seems to be doing just fine. Throughout opening weekend, almost every Club Pass venue was filled to capacity as late-comers were turned away. But our music writers were there for all of it. Following is a compilation of their impressions from the festival’s first couple days. […]
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Still bopping
Three months ago Down Beat magazine ran an extensive article titled “Where to buy jazz.” It wasn’t about large chains that deal in volume; it focused on those small, idiosyncratic stores you might find in the hippest neighborhoods of New York City, Boston, or Chicago. But the picture illustrating the article had a two-word caption: […]
