Cover Story
Enemy of the people
When Aaron Cantú arrived at his new job at the Santa Fe Reporter in New Mexico last year, he came with the baggage of a recent arrest. Two months earlier, he spent a night in jail with hundreds of others detained during protests on Inauguration Day in Washington, DC. His actions consisted of walking, wearing…
Rare sheet music inspired by Frederick Douglass obtained by UR
Beyond its connections to Douglass, the sheet music gives a snapshot to life for middle class African-Americans in the mid-1800’s
RPD officers accused of assault
Longtime social justice activist and President of United Christian Leadership Ministry of Western New York, Rev. Lewis Stewart said Christopher Pate was the victim of police brutality that occurred on May 5, 2018 on the corner of Fulton Avenue and Bloss Street. Stewart read from a written statement during a press conference earlier today, as…
Congressman Chris Collins suspends re-election campaign
[UPDATE]Republican Representative Chris Collins, who was arrested earlier this week on charges related to insider trading, has suspended his re-election campaign. Collins had initially said that he would continue to seek re-election to Congress. In his announcement this morning, he said that after discussions with family and friends, he had concluded that it was “in…
Fresh Cut: ‘Negative Space’ by Ben Morey
Eschewing the pop panache of his magnum opus, “Mt. Doom,” Ben Morey opts for a scaled-down and somber sound on his new singe, “Negative Space”
BLUEGRASS | The Del McCoury Band
With 50 years of musical legacy, singer-guitarist Del McCoury has created dozens of classics oozing with honky-tonk swag and a bit of rock ‘n’ roll dirt. McCoury leads a quick-picking bluegrass quartet, and keeps it a family tradition with his sons Ronnie and Rob on mandolin and banjo, respectively. The McCourys are accompanied by Jason…
POP | Free Cake for Every Creature
Free Cake for Every Creature began in 2012 as a solitary musical project in singer-songwriter Katie Bennett’s bedroom. Eventually developing into a full project, the Philadelphia-based band now features a rotating collective of Bennett’s friends and fellow musicians. Bennett’s voice is bright and sweet, like a squeaky little mouse, with a playful yip to her…
ROCK | Incubus
For more than 25 years, Incubus has dug into virtually every corner of the rock domain. The band started out in nu metal and funky alt-rock territory on “Fungus Amongus” and “S.C.I.E.N.C.E.” before exploding in 1999 with “Make Yourself” — you probably still hear “Drive” on the radio at least twice a day. But Incubus’s…
Album review: ‘In Real Time’
John Bailey “In Real Time” Summit Records johnbailey.com Trumpeter John Bailey has been enhancing the music of major stars for decades. He joined The Buddy Rich Band while in college and went on to play with Ray Charles, Ray Barretto, and Arturo O’Farrill. Now in mid-career, he put together a first-rate band to express his…
Album review: ‘The Quest’
Andreas Varady “The Quest” Resonance Records andreasvarady.com On “Lost Memories,” the opening track on “The Quest,” guitarist Andreas Varady unleashes a torrent of notes with such urgency, that it’s disappointing to hear the tune end after about a minute. Listeners will want a lot more than this enticing prelude, and Varady delivers. He’s only 21,…
SPECIAL EVENT | Happiest Hour: Space Cadet Camp
Calling all space cadets: Report for training, dancing, and a sci-fi costume contest at The Strong’s next event in its popular Happiest Hour series for ages 21 and up. “Happiest Hour: Join Me, Human, for Space Cadet Camp” is an after-hours event filled with lightsabers, arcade games, access to the “Rockets, Robots, and Ray Guns”…
FILM | Rochester Teen Film Festival
The Rochester Teen Film Festival each year presents young filmmakers in Rochester with an opportunity to participate in a true, competitive film festival. A jury reviews all submissions, screenings are held at The Little Theatre, and and a variety of rewards are given to the winners. This year the awards include the new Phillip Seymour…
ART | ‘The Visionary Works of Cathal Brendan O’Toole’
AXOM Gallery’s latest exhibition, “The Visionary works of Cathal Brendan O’Toole,” honors the work of the late Dublin, Ireland-born artist. O’Toole traveled around the world learning drawing, printmaking, and painting starting in the 1920s before landing in Rochester, where he retired as an art director in television in 1971. His work has been exhibited extensively,…
THEATER | Summer Academy Showcase
Local teen actors each summer have the chance to hone their skills at Geva Theatre’s Summer Academy, a professional theatre training program that provides students at all levels of theatre experience with personalized training from professional artists in the industry. The program auditions actors ages 12 to 18 who want to define and develop their…
SPECIAL EVENT: ‘Meteor Showers, Storytelling, and Song’
The final summer event in the Friends of Ganondagan series brings award-winning singer Joanne Shenandoah (Oneida, Wolf Clan) to the Seneca Art & Culture Center for an evening of “Meteor Showers, Storytelling, and Song.” Shenandoah will give a presentation based on her 2018 audio recording, “A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison.” (If…
Feedback 8/8
Send comments to themail@rochester-citynews.com, or post them on our website, rochestercitynewspaper.com, our Facebook page, or our Twitter feed, @roccitynews. Comments of fewer than 450 words have a greater chance of being published, we edit selections for print, and we don’t publish comments sent to other media. Voting ‘barriers’? What ‘barriers’? In the latest in our…
KIDS | ‘Charlotte’s Web’
E. B. White’s classic children’s book “Charlotte’s Web” tells the story of how a determined farm girl and a special spider save a radiant pig from the dinner plate. A team of talking barnyard animals work together with Charlotte the spider to save Wilber the pig, teaching lessons of love, compassion, and creativity along the…
CLASSICAL | Bach Cantatas
Publick Musick’s concert next Wednesday night will bring together two musical glories: the church cantatas of J.S. Bach and the Craighead-Saunders Organ at Rochester’s Christ Church. This exact copy of a German baroque organ is not only spectacular-looking, it produces a perfect sound for the music of Bach. It will get a bit of a…
OPERA | ‘Die Fledermaus’
Johann Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus,” which premiered in 1874, certainly wasn’t the first Viennese operetta, but it has remained one of the most popular. That’s probably because it contains all the necessary operetta ingredients: mistaken identities, narrowly-averted adultery, ladies’ maids masquerading as ladies, waltzes, and champagne — lots of waltzes and lots of champagne. “Die Fledermaus”…
Apathy and laziness also cause low voter turnout
My accumulated observations lead me to conclude that the main reason for low voter participation today is that people are lazy or simply don’t care.
Preview: Rochester Black Pride Festival 2018
Now in its third (official) year, the annual intersectionality-focused Black Pride Festival features workshops and discussions, parties, concerts, a cookout, and youth-focused events.
Advocates, lawmakers push for abortion law vote
Abortion has been legal in New York since 1970, three years before the Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide through its decision in Roe v. Wade. But when New York liberalized its abortion laws, it kept them in the state’s penal code. Women are allowed to get abortions, and physicians are allowed to perform them, but…
Chow Hound: The Old Stone Tavern
The Old Stone Tavern recently opened in the South Avenue space previously occupied by Orbs Restaurant and Bar, and offers bar comfort food with vegan and gluten-free options.
Film review: ‘Christopher Robin’
The film’s lesson is that Christopher is neglecting the truly important things like family, and needs to recapture the joy of his childhood. But pop culture encouraging grown men to cling to the things they loved as children hasn’t exactly worked out too well for the world lately.
My Vegan Uncle puts its stamp on neo-jazz
Over the years, Roberts Wesleyan College has been an unassuming home for several important independent artists during their formative musical years. The husband and wife duo Timothy and Kathy Dick of Auld Lang Syne, indie folk-pop musician and frequent Sufjan Stevens collaborator DM Stith, and frontwoman Teagan Ward of Teagan and the Tweeds have all…
Film review: ‘The Spy Who Dumped Me’
As the espionage action begins to overpower the comedy, the film’s violence turns shockingly brutal at times, leading some of those laughs to catch in the throat. The film can be uneven in laughs and thrills, but when Kate McKinnon’s on screen that’s almost good enough.
