Cover Story
URMC artist in residence fights stigmas with portraits
Charmaine Wheatley has set up camp at the UR’s Medical Center to paint portraits of individuals from two stigmatized communities: people living with mental illness, and people living with HIV
Nazareth’s adjunct faculty continue a push to unionize
A group of Nazareth adjunct faculty members, tenured faculty, and students held a rally at the main entrance to Nazareth College today to support the adjunct faculty’s right to unionize. Adjunct faculty members typically teach part-time on a contractual basis with no benefits or job security. Nazareth’s adjuncts have filed a petition with the National…
Blackfriars Theatre announces 2018-19 season
With each new season, Blackfriars Theatre seems to further test its own boundaries. In its 2017-18 season, the company set a mission to focus on more women artists and women-centered stories — to great success with its all-female “Twelfth Night,” its holiday show, “Little Women,” and the recent “When We Were Young and Unafraid.” The…
County begins reviews in aftermath of child’s death
Hanane Mouhib has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of her 7-year-old son, but county officials said this morning that Child Protective Services staff had never received any reports about Mouhib acting violently toward her children. At a press conference this morning, that’s about the only direct clarification county officials were able to give…
Rochester takes part in One Million Abolitionists project
The One Million Abolitionists project aims to put Douglass’s “Narrative” into the hands of students
JAZZ | Aaron Irwin Trio
Saxophonist and clarinetist Aaron Irwin has made a name for himself playing in the innovative large ensemble Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society. He’s also lent his talents to a variety of pop performers including Josh Groban, Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, and The Roots. When Irwin brings his trio to the Bop Shop, the audience will…
FOLK | Kirsten Maxwell
Long Island singer-songwriter Kirsten Maxwell has an ariose voice, with a ringing vibrato like that of a songbird swooping down to rest atop a bright, acoustic guitar. Her conversational lyrics create a natural segue into memorable choruses that audiences can sing along to, emulating a late-1990’s female singer-songwriter vibe like that of Jewel and Paula…
HIP-HOP | Lil Wop
Lil Wop could soundtrack a lean-fueled, late-night zombie nightmare. The Atlanta rapper uses his croaking voice to full effect in his ruthless horrorcore — he regularly calls his music hard rock, and it comes out like trap with a horror punk aesthetic. A diehard Gucci Mane acolyte (he’s got his own ice cream cheek tattoo…
CLASSICAL | Bill Murray, Jan Vogler, and Friends
Bill Murray is associated with many things — Saturday Night Live, countless iconic film roles, a penchant for golf and South Carolina — but he’s never been linked with classical music. That is, until now. In September 2017, the often eccentric performer released a classical album called “New Worlds.” On the recording, he sings and…
Album review: ‘The World Game’
Invictra “The World Game” Self-released invictraband.bandcamp.com Dude … Dude … first of all, what an absolutely killer guitar tone. Killer. Same goes for the vocals, roaring heavy and relatable, because they’re discernible for a change; rabid, angry, and snarling but discernible. Holy shit, let me say that this is some of the best metal I’ve…
Album review: ‘Whirlin’ Jack’
Whirlin’ Jack Dervy “Whirlin’ Jack” Self-released whirlinjackdervy.bandcamp.com Whirlin’ Jack Dervy comes out as if tangled up in blue on the opening of his new CD, “Whirlin’ Jack.” The minimalist production adds to the stab of loneliness that started with the reverb on his voice. Tagged as doom folk, Dervy’s new platter is lyrically foreboding, but…
Feedback 4/4
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…
BLUES | Joe Beard
Rochester’s undisputed heavyweight champion of the blues, Joe Beard, has had the blues for 80 years now. Born in Mississippi, Beard moved to sweet home Rochester in 1956 when today’s bluesmen were still in wet pants. Beard has set the blues bar in blues bars high enough to consider Rochester a blue town. Next Wednesday,…
Democrats line up to succeed Louise Slaughter
County Democrats knew that someday, they’d have to do the unthinkable: find someone to run in Louise Slaughter’s place. But any transition was never going to be clean. Slaughter herself never gave much thought to a successor. She famously resisted the notion of preparing anyone to take over her seat, so when Slaughter died last…
HARD ROCK | Rage Fest
With Less Than Hate, Many Will Fall, Rip Open The Sky, A Fitting Revenge, Living In Daydreams, and Symmetrical Defiance playing the night one, and Karma, Deadbeat, Loft Wing, Transcendence, Ecliptic Vision, A Silent Ending, and Into The Harbor playing the second night, this will be the only show you will ever need to get…
New state budget: the ins and outs
State lawmakers passed another on-time budget, but the plan dropped some of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s key proposals, including plans for early voting and reform of New York’s cash bail system. The $168.3 billion budget does contain provisions meant to counteract major changes in the federal tax law, including the new $10,000 limit on property tax…
FOLK | Christopher Paul Stelling
He’s got the hands of Chet Atkins as he fingerstyles his way beneath songs full of lonesome John Prine hope. Christopher Paul Stelling is an artist that Rolling Stone says you ought to know and I concur. He sings like tears; his guitar a battered, one-man orchestra full of the feeling you get when caught…
Urban Action 4/4
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Ending the cycle of recidivism The Judicial Process Commission’s annual fundraising and awards luncheon on Wednesday, April 25, will feature a talk on the topic “From Prison to Recovery.” Keynote speaker Susan Burton,…
ART | ‘Vision of the Voice’
Artist Joel Dow has long been a fixture in the Rochester music scene, from their work in indie folk band The Pickpockets to their experimental sound compositions under the moniker City Harvest Black. Dow’s March artist residency at Visual Studies Workshop culminates this Friday in a video exhibition called “Vision of the Voice,” their first…
FILM | ‘The Wrath of Khan’ Screening with William Shatner
Before his celebrated music career, lengthy output as a writer, and star turns in “T.J. Hooker” and “Boston Legal” — and who could forget “$h*! My Dad Says” and the Priceline Negotiator — William Shatner had a small role on a humble 1960’s science fiction TV show called “Star Trek.” We’re not sure if you’ve…
KIDS/THEATER | ‘Madagascar: A Musical Adventure’
Marty the zebra is pretty bored with his life in New York’s Central Park Zoo. While he and his friends — Alex the lion (King of the Urban Jungle), Melman the giraffe, and Gloria the hippo — have it pretty easy with an admiring public and caretakers, they’re curious about the outside world. Led by…
COMEDY | ‘Don’t Grab My Pussy 2.0’
After America’s illustrious commander-in-grief bragged about assaulting women on tape and his administration launched attacks on women’s sexual and reproductive services, some locals led by comedian Kelsey Claire Hagan took a stand with standup. The inaugural “Don’t Grab My Pussy” event held in the fall of 2016 featured monologues, poetry readings, and comedy, and raised…
LITERATURE | We All Write poets
Wednesday, April 4, marks 50 years since Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. In celebration of his messages of love and justice, a spoken word performance, “Rise Up! Speak Write Side Up Again,” will be presented by We All Write, a consortium of black women thinkers, creators, and healers. Poets Selena Fleming, Tokeya Graham, Reenah…
THEATER | ‘The Taming of the Shrew’
WallByrd Theatre Company’s theatrical presentations each receive an unexpected but somehow appropriate spin on the stories — take its 2017 staging of “Macbeth” set in a post-apocalyptic, Mad Max-esque world, for example. This month WallByrd is presents Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” fittingly mixed with the art of clowning, and directed and designed by…
Martin Luther King Jr. and our history of racism
Fifty years after King’s death, the United States has a president who has encouraged racism and mocked everything King stood for.
Interview: Director John Curran on finessing the right tone
The Chappaquiddick incident barely harmed Senator Ted Kennedy’s career. Curran’s new film asks all people — left and right of the aisle — to take a harder look at the people we support.
Anamon’s music finds chaos in the quiet
The band stopped into CITY to discuss chaos, maintaining its edge, and feeling alone
East Avenue gets a comics-coffee-cereal bar
A booze-free, pop culture-focused bar comes to the drinking district. Owners Colin Delaney and Jason Hilton wanted to offer an alternative to going out and getting schnockered.
Film review: ‘Ready Player One’
“Ready Player One” takes place within the digital world of the OASIS, a world without any rules or physical constraints. But it makes for a film lacking in real human connection, which is a problem when that turns out to be one of the story’s key themes.
