People pack City Council for Parcel 5 forum
City Council’s chambers needs better fans. With the room jam-packed with people Thursday night, things in the back got warm really quick — God bless the people who clung to their suits, sweaters, and jackets throughout the public forum. At a City Council public forum, almost 70 people, across more than two hours, spoke about…
Main Street Arts decks the walls with fine jewelry
Imagine stepping into a dragon’s den that’s filled with its hoarded jewels. Everywhere you turn, surfaces gleam with precious metals and sparkling stones. Now picture this particular dragon has a penchant for organization — instead of haphazard dunes of gold and precious crystals in a dim cavern, the dragon has carefully displayed each item to…
Feedback 8/9
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…
POP | Declan McKenna
English pop-rocker Declan McKenna writes the perfect songs for summer. His music has an indelible catchiness that’ll have you bobbing your head instantly. At times, McKenna’s voice recalls the nasally, angsty Liam Gallagher of Oasis. Elsewhere, the sound is akin to that of fellow fresh-faced Brit Jake Bugg. McKenna’s debut full-length album, the expertly produced…
Pegasus Early Music stages its first opera, ‘Dido and Aeneas’
In the world of opera, good things often come in large, gaudily wrapped packages. Pegasus Early Music this weekend hopes to prove that small is good, operatically speaking, with a production of Henry Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas.” The opera will run this Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Jewish Community Center’s Hart Theater. “It’s been…
A new lion in the West
When a new brewery opens, it can often feel like it popped up out of nowhere. From the outside, we don’t usually see the intense planning and preparation that goes into starting a company. That was especially true for Canandaigua’s newest craft brewery, Young Lion Brewing Company. The brewery officially opened on June 29, but…
A farewell to the retiring Jack Allen
Jack Allen’s daughter, Linda, cautioned me before I sat down with her father. “He hasn’t picked up his horn for over a year now,” she said about the venerable big band leader and trumpeter. Well, apparently no one told Jack. I handed him his horn as a possible photo opportunity, he put it to his…
Rush preserve plan allows hunting
Down near the Rush-Avon border sits a state-protected swath of prairie-like land, where grasses, hedges, and wildflowers are interspersed with oak trees. It’s an oak opening, and there used to be places just like it all across the Midwest and this part of New York. But the 228-acre Rush Oak Openings Unique Area is the…
This shred ain’t co-ed
For one night each month, the girls-only Ladies’ Night takes over Breaking Free Skatepark
Elmwood Avenue plan up to City Council
The Terrence Building, the 17-story, 1950’s-era brick building that was part of the former Rochester Psychiatric Center, seems to jut up from the landscape at 1201 Elmwood Avenue. Over the years, there’ve been proposals for redeveloping its roughly 30-acre site – part of which is in the town of Brighton – but nothing has gotten…
Tensions build over a new RBTL theater
In April, Mayor Lovely Warren announced that she had chosen RBTL and Morgan Communities to develop Parcel 5, a key part of the former Midtown Plaza site. City Council has to approve sale of the land, and the mayor hasn’t sent Council a request for that sale. Warren’s choice was controversial from the beginning, because…
BOUNCE | Big Freedia
Big Freedia has garnered national attention for being the queen ambassador of bounce, the typically hyper-local New Orleans style. It’s a highly energetic, fast-beat, call-and-response form of hip-hop meant to be bounced to, whether it’s twerking, a wiggle, or shake. An LGBTQ person of color, Freedia will play Funk ‘n Waffles Music Hall as part…
Album review: ‘Picture Perfect’
A Vintage Year “Picture Perfect” Self-released avintageyearmusic.com On its third album, “Picture Perfect,” A Vintage Year expands on the racket contained in its previous two releases by adding a sense that the band is comfortable in its own skin. Backing it up is a musical chemistry that mixes innovative grunge deconstruction with the big time…
INDIE ROCK | Jake Bellissimo
Rochester singer-songwriter Jake Bellissimo specializes in lo-fi, bedroom indie music that is earnest, charming, and unassuming. With chamber pop orchestration added to the mix, what you’ve got is damn-near irresistible. Bellissimo — who has also gone by the moniker gay angel — will bring his well-crafted songs to Vineyard Community Space this Saturday as part…
Album review: ‘Blck Tee Shirt’
Aaron Rizzo “Blck Tee Shirt” Self-released Aaronrizzomusic.com Aaron Rizzo tears into “Gasoline,” the opening track of “Blck Tee Shirt,” with a guitar that burns hot and brilliant — like Mason Rufner’s “Gypsy Blood.” While the next track, “3 AM,” is a bold move in its reserve and mellow frankness, the energy doesn’t let up. Rather…
How to reduce poverty: Boost workers’ wages
The statistics shouldn’t be a surprise to any of us; many of them have been in earlier reports. But still, the numbers are staggering. And so are the rankings those numbers put us in. Rochester is the fourth poorest city among the 75 largest metro areas in the country. We have the third-highest concentration of…
St. Monci and Lives Styled stage dream spaces at Axom
Axom Gallery has been temporarily transformed from a white walls art gallery into a supremely fun, impossibly chic series of staged living and working spaces. A beloved local creative couple — painter St. Monci and Hannah Betts of design studio Lives Styled — have taken over the room, filling it with their art and carefully…
OPERA | ‘Tosca’
A melodrama with plenty of melodies and plenty of drama — that’s Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca,” which has been packing audiences in since 1900. Puccini’s operatic adaptation of a once-famous play by Victorien Sardou is full of romance, politics, and mayhem. The role of Floria Tosca has been the tempestuous diva vehicle of choice for star…
FESTIVAL | Rochester Black Pride
For five days, Rochester Black Pride will celebrate the black LGBTQ community in a welcoming and family-friendly way to foster community growth, highlight small businesses, and advance voter registration efforts. The festival’s opening reception will take place on Wednesday, August 9, at 6 p.m., at 60 Brown’s Race, and will feature MOCHA Art Gallery and…
PROGRESSIVE ROCK | Greg Howe
Guitarist Greg Howe is a deadpan genius with his instrument. His mug waxes cool and confident while his fleet fingers let fly with a blinding flurry that rivals Eddie Van Halen’s “Spanish Fly.” Known as a shredder and a player’s player, Howe has released nine solo records, appeared on a ton of compilations, and has…
ART | ‘Barrier’
“Barrier” is a series of large portraits by artist Marisa Bruno that investigate the impact of time and change on the body, specifically through how surgeries, age, weathering, and injuries alter our skin. “Even if an injury or surgical cut doesn’t heal perfectly or wrinkles are permanently etched, it proves that our bodies are resilient…
BLUES | Joe Louis Walker
When Joe Louis Walker’s roommate, bluesman Mike Bloomfield, met with an untimely death in 1981, Walker used that as motivation to quit the blues and start playing gospel. But the blues wouldn’t be denied. A set he performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival four years later brought him back. Since the late…
FESTIVAL | Little Italy Festival
If you can’t afford to walk the streets of Rome, Florence, or Milan, you might be able to find what you’re looking for in Rochester this weekend at the Fourth Annual Little Italy Festival: two days of Italian food, music, and entertainment. The festival begins Saturday, August 12, and will feature the musical talents of…
SURF PUNK | The Frights
Mixing surf, punk, and doo-wop, the three members of The Frights got together to kill time only to kill the band once they all went away to college. They returned to their California home to play a one-off reunion show, but a record label wig signed them on the spot. The band plays wild and…
COMEDY | Gilbert Gottfried
Gilbert Gottfried, known by some as “America’s Creepy Uncle,” stepped onto the stage when he was 15 years old, starting with standup comedy at open mic nights in New York City. Within a decade, he was hired by NBC as a cast member of Saturday Night Live, where he began his TV career. He’s also…
Bonus features: Works of art
On the third Thursday of each month, Memorial Art Gallery holds a “DeTOUR,” a new, specially curated guided gallery tour tailored to a particular theme or topic. These tours examine specific works of art, dive into some lesser known stories about pieces in the MAG’s collection, and include art facts, trivia, and interactive activities. August’s…
Film review: ‘The Glass Castle’
Director Destin Daniel Cretton’s 2013 film, “Short Term 12,” was a sensitive story of troubled youth, told in a way that felt emotionally honest without ever pandering. He turned that tricky material into one of that year’s best films. One of “Short Term 12’s” key strengths was Brie Larson’s fantastic lead performance, and so it…
