Cover Story
Perspectives: James Norman
Few people have developed a better understanding of the area’s poverty, the needs of low-income families and children, and the importance of fostering self-sufficiency than the retiring president and CEO of Action for a Better Community.
The week ahead: Warren’s ‘State of the City,’ a Daniel Pipes lecture, a charter school hearing
Mayor Lovely Warren will deliver the last State of the City address of her current term at 7 o’clock tonight. The venue: the downtown tech company CGI Communications, 130 East Main Street. Her talk will be streamed live on the city’s website. The Leon Katzen Memorial Lecture Series will host a talk by controversial historian…
Sharp shooting
Released nationwide this week after making a splash on the festival circuit last fall, the movie “Free Fire” is an over-the-top crime-thriller about a black market arms deal that goes horribly, unexpectedly wrong in 1978 Boston. The film has earned a great deal of praise for its cast — which includes recently-minted Oscar-winner Brie Larson,…
City Council could seek a subpoena in Bryant case
The Rochester City Council is going to consider legislation that would authorize the investigation of a citizen’s complaint against the Rochester Police Department. By approving the legislation, Council would clear the way for President Loretta Scott to issue a subpoena to the Rochester Police Department. The investigation, if approved, would center on an August 8…
Dance review: RCB’s ‘Summer of Love’
Rochester City Ballet closes its 2016-17 season with an ode to the 50th anniversary of the summer ’67
Classical review: RPO performs Mahler’s Fifth
Mahler once claimed that “the symphony should contain the world.” His Fifth seems to contain a bit more of everything than the rest of his symphonies: austere funeral marches, bad-tempered jokes, over-the-top waltzes, a breathtakingly delicate love song, and a finale that exudes manic energy and contrapuntal wizardry. A modern therapist might express some worry…
Film review: ‘Free Fire’
A black market arms deal goes south in spectacularly bloody fashion in the darkly comedic crime-thriller “Free Fire,” the latest from prolific British director Ben Wheatley. The filmmaker’s follow-up to his ambitious but flawed dystopian satire “High-Rise,” “Free Fire,” is an audacious, over-the-top genre exercise that’s somewhat scattershot in execution, but it makes for a…
Nazareth College Arts Center announces 50th season
Nazareth College Arts Center on Thursday announced the lineup for its 2017-18 season, its 50th programming season. In addition to a mix of music, dance, theater, comedy, and family performances, the season will offer special pricing and opportunities to win free tickets and VIP parking. The season opens on Friday, September 8, and Saturday, September…
Eastman School announces 2017-18 Eastman Presents series
The Eastman School of Music this morning announced its 2017-18 Eastman Presents Concert Series, with seven Kodak Hall performances planned, including a collaboration between Chick Corea and Steve Gadd and a Broadway show by Patti LuPone. All shows will be in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre (60 Gibbs Street) and start at 8 p.m. The…
SPECIAL EVENT | Rochester Erotic Arts Festival
There’s no reason to be prudish about it: sex can be a lot of fun, and most people like it. In a celebration of sex- and body-positivity — and letting your kinky flag fly — the Rochester Erotic Arts Festival, this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, will host its annual weekend of performances, workshops, art, and…
SOUL | Robert Randolph
The master blaster on the steel guitar, Robert Randolph, frequently blows his own lid on stage. Once he and The Family Band get chugging, Randolph’s hat flies off. I’ve seen him three or four times, and it happens every show. I’d say it was a calculated move if the same thing didn’t happen to me…
Feedback 4/19
We welcome your comments. Send them to themail@rochester-citynews.com, or post them on our website, rochestercitynewspaper.com, our Facebook page, or our Twitter feed, @roccitynews. For our print edition, we select comments from all three sources; those of fewer than 350 words have a greater chance of being published, and we do edit selections for publication in…
CLASSICAL | SCMR plays Mozart
The next concert by the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester is titled “Mozart and a Guggenheim Fellow.” Mozart is, well, Mozart, and the Guggenheim Fellow is contemporary composer Adam Roberts; both are represented by quartets for oboe and strings. Roberts’s music has been widely performed and praised, and he was indeed named a Guggenheim…
Urban Action 4/19
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Exposing the drone war WXXI will present “National Bird,” a documentary film Sonia Kennebeck, on Monday, April 24. The film tells the story of three veterans who become whistleblowers and speak out about…
VOCAL | Lotte Lenya Competition
The Lotte Lenya Competition Finals will return to Eastman School of Music on Saturday, and this year, the stakes have been raised. Top prizes of $10,000, $15,000, and $20,000 (the competition’s largest prizes) are up for grabs among 14 musical theater singers, which have been narrowed down from 266 initial applicants. Finalists hail from across…
Progress made on legal aid for the poor
A US Supreme Court ruling guarantees poor defendants the right to a government-provided attorney. But in New York, a patchwork system of public defender’s offices has meant that the quality of representation that defendants get can depend entirely on the county their case is in. Larger counties such as Monroe have full-time, fully staffed public…
WORLD/VOCAL | “Resurrection”
In the Byzantine Rite, services are sung, and the Divine Liturgy, a joining of voices to praise the Lord, is among its most recognized traditions. While much of the sacred music utilized in the Eastern Church is ancient, modern-day composers continue to produce new works. A four-part liturgy celebrating Easter and the Resurrection — created…
Park saver coming to Rochester
When urban planner Tupper Thomas first walked into Brooklyn’s Prospect Park as its new administrator 30 years ago, she was stunned both by its beauty and its severe neglect, she says. The park’s reputation for crime back then made many people afraid to stroll through it, even in the daytime. “I thought, ‘This is so…
SOUL-JAZZ | Takuya Kuroda
Back in the day, Clarissa Street was synonymous with jazz; that’s where the late, great Pythodd Club stood. Celebrating that legacy, the Clarissa Street Reunion Festival will host fiery Japanese trumpeter Takuya Kuroda with special guests The English Project and Paradigm Shift. Kuroda came to the US to attend Boston’s Berklee College of Music, where…
New East End whiskey bar offers late night kitchen
Doc Holliday, a well-known member of Wyatt Earp’s posse, was a notorious gambler. In a way, it’s a fitting name: Jon Wegman and Chris and Greg Joy are rolling their own dice on a new East End venture, Doc Holliday’s American Whiskey Bar and Grill (7 Lawrence Street). Greg and Chris Joy have been in…
CLASSICAL | RPO plays Mahler’s Fifth
Not all that long ago, the symphonies of Gustav Mahler were considered impossibly long, tumultuous, and neurotic; now they are audience favorites, right up there with the symphonies of Beethoven and Brahms. That said, Mahler has not been in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s repertoire all that much in recent years. Perhaps that is changing: for…
Elder artists present fresh work at Main Street Arts
Main Street Arts’ latest exhibit, “Re-emerging Artists,” showcases the work of Robert Marx and John Greene, two late-career artists whose art continues to evolve and gain new audiences. Nearly 70 drawings, paintings, and sculptures fill both rooms of the gallery’s first floor, as well as an additional space upstairs. The majority of the work is…
SPECIAL EVENT | Record Store Day
Sure, Record Store Day is all about the beloved vinyl record, but let’s not forget who puts the groove into those grooves. So while local record stores, on Saturday, April 22, are offering special releases — including one-offs for that day only — deals, food trucks, and general record-related chaos, there will be a plethora…
JAM/ROCK | Gang of Thieves
Touting its trumpeter as a one-man horn section, this Vermont-based barrel of monkeys keeps the fun as a top priority in its jams. Funky, funky, funky. Pick up a copy of its phenomenal fourth album, “Born to be Loud,” which went up to No. 4 on the “Relix” top 30, or better yet, catch them…
Kinky Friedman rises once again
Kinky Friedman is a prolific and profane man in black with his fingers knuckle-deep in all sorts of pies. He is a sharp-tongued, satirical troubadour. He has run for office (including Governor of Texas in 2006, where he received 12.6 percent of the vote). He writes crime novels in the hardboiled pulp tradition of Chandler,…
Album review: ‘Visions & Friends’
Bob Holz “Visions & Friends” MVD Audio bobholzband.com A drummer that doesn’t stand out is a good drummer. Sure, we dig the chops, the chaos, and the backbeat, but a drummer that hangs back in the pocket is hard to find. Maybe it’s the fact that we give them sticks and put drums in front…
Album review: ‘The Derelict Sound’
St. Phillip’s Escalator “The Derelict Sound” Self-released stphillipsescalator.com Welcome to the full album experience, where every song is important for what it is as well as where it is in the layout. St. Phillip’s Escalator has perfected the process on “The Derelict Sound,” not just with its cocksure, Cuban-heeled swagger, voluptuous volume, and sex appeal…
THEATER | ’42nd Street’ and ‘The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe’
The Rochester Association of Performing Arts, beginning this weekend, will have two spectacles running onstage at the Kodak Center for Performing Arts. On the main stage, Premier Productions and RAPA will present the Broadway musical “42nd Street.” The story follows Peggy Sawyer, a young actress just off the bus in New York City, as she…
DANCE | ‘Summer of Love’
As we head into warmer weather, Rochester City Ballet’s 2016-17 season finale is fittingly called “Summer of Love.” Running Thursday through Sunday at Rochester Auditorium Theatre, RCB’s latest work features the music of some of the greatest artists to emerge in the 60’s: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Animals, Cat Stevens, The Byrds, and more.…
COMEDY | ‘Paranormal Romance’
Improv comedy troupes Unleashed! Improv and Canary in a Coal Mine are joining forces for “Paranormal Romance,” a ghostly cavalcade of irreverent comedy (and occasional singing) inspired by literature and film all about supernatural entities and those who love them. Part of Blackfriars Theatre’s ongoing comedy series, the show will be performed on Friday, April…
Ted Curtis’s legacy
City manager, canal promoter, participant in multiple good-government efforts, and dreamer of big dreams, Ted was passionate about the city.
Film review: ‘The Fate of the Furious’
What the hell, Vin Diesel? No, I’m not mad that you’ve ignored my four prior letters; I know you’re busy cranking out forgettable cash-grabs like “The Last Witch Hunter” or whatever sequel you’ve decided to beat to death. But why am I only now learning that your Dominic Toretto character is not actually of Italian…
Whole Foods hearing set
Brighton officials have set a pair of meetings on the Whole Foods Plaza proposal, both dealing with key environmental review documents. The Town Board will hold a public hearing on the supplemental draft environmental impact statement at 7 p.m. May 10. (The town has posted all the documents pertaining to the development, including the latest…
Neighbors push back on new Divinity School building
Highland Park Neighborhood residents aren’t happy about a developer’s plan to put a building and parking lot near the corner of Highland Avenue and South Goodman Street, on the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School campus.
