Don Potter is plugged into Christmas. He returns to Rochester this weekend for four Holiday Pops shows – one Friday, two Saturday, one more on Sunday — with Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.
Music
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ROCK | The Ginger Faye Bakers
They released a coupla albums, played a bunch of crash-and-burners, and then just kind of vanished. The band has since contributed several songs to the hit Showtime series “Shameless,” but for guys who rock as relentlessly as The Ginger Faye Bakers, they haven’t performed much lately. With a simple format of three and the rawness […]
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SOUL-POP | Siena
Siena is a Rochester band specializing in tuneful ballads it calls “soul-folk,” but don’t be mistaken: the music is a vessel for dynamic singer-songwriter Siena Facciolo. Her 2018 debut album “Dear House” is an impressive collection of well-crafted chamber pop songs driven by earnest, piano-centric arrangements and colored with tinges of jazz and classical music. […]
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JAZZ-SWING | Gregory Street Vagabonds
What do you get when you gather a group of software developers, IT engineers, pathologists, artists, educators, service workers, and retirees to play music in a South Wedge home? Gregory Street Vagabonds, of course. Mostly consisting of amateur musicians, the Vagabonds’ common denominator is a love of swing dancing. When they play The Little Theatre […]
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HOLIDAY ACOUSTIC | Watkins & the Rapiers
Watkins & the Rapiers’ annual “Holiday Storybook” is a study in wiseass Christmas cheer. Formed in 1997, the band will play a fresh new batch of Christmas tunes, which fly in the face of our country’s annoying obsession with silent nights, mangers, and red-nosed anything. The songs are about such topics as unionizing elves and […]
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Album review: ‘Engine Core Phenomenal’
Treasure Plate ‘Engine Core Phenomenal’ Self-released treasureplate.com If you like “Mystery Science Theatre 3000,” you’ll dig this. “Engine Core Phenomenal” is some wacky shit, both visually and audio-wise. And thankfully, it’s a lotta fun. The brilliance behind Rochester’s sci-fi rock band Treasure Plate is that both halves need each other to make any sense. You […]
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Album review: ‘The Gift’
Karl LaPorta ‘The Gift’ Self-released store.cdbaby.com/karllaporta Looking back at Karl LaPorta’s 2012 album, “The Gift,” his piano-playing leads velvety and valiant, providing a pleasant shag in which listeners can wiggle their toes. The album is concise in its various platforms and plateaus, with shining highlights throughout. In particular: Dig the tasteful guitar that shows up […]
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An eclectic holiday music playlist
I am not a religious person and I’m highly allergic to earworms. So, around this time of year, with Christmas music everywhere, I’m the guy at the supermarket with my fingers in my ears.
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The F Word: Ka-ching
For the swingin’ side of things, I caught Big Bad Voodoo Daddy playing its holiday show at Kodak Center on the Ridge Sunday night. Though small in number, the audience ate up all the big bad voodoo the band could throw at it.
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The F Word: Deafening silence
Tommy Stinson was a quiet storm as he vacillated between righteous anger, subtle inebriation, and sheer showmanship this past Wednesday night at Bop Shop Records.
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HOLIDAY CLASSICAL | Pegasus Early Music’s ‘A Baroque Noel’
Christmas is best celebrated with friends and with music. Pegasus Early Music offers lots of both in its “Baroque Noel” this Sunday afternoon, a concert of seasonal 17th-century gems brought to life by a full Baroque choir and orchestra. The friends include many faces and voices familiar to Pegasus fans, and this concert also includes […]
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Album review: ‘Sensorama’
Haewa ‘Sensorama’ Self-released haewamusic.bandcamp.com On this, Haewa’s seventh release, Rochester’s psychedelic darlings have opened up their creative space again. The album “Sensorama” is a study in infinite time and space. But there are finite, synthesized layers that swirl and converge upon the listener, serving as a safe place to go before diving back into the […]
