Cover Story
Emerging Artists 2015
Each year, City Newspaper highlights four young Rochester-based artists who are beginning to come into their own. The following emerging artists — Chara Dow, Evyn Morgan, Johnnie Smith, and Kurstie Grimble — come from diverse origins and work in a range of media, but all share the drive to generate and sustain artful lives. Those…
Rochester ranks high in brain power
In a knowledge-based economy, where are the brain banks? Washington-Arlington-Alexandria ranks as the biggest brain bank among large US metros, with 23 percent of residents holding graduate and professional degrees, according to a recent study. Rochester rounds out the top 10 of brain-powered metros with 14 percent. And if small cities are included in the…
Classical review: Sound ExChange presents HEX
On Sunday, Rochester’s Studio 180 — a posh Chelsea-style gallery space meets homey hipster loft on St. Paul Street — was the sight of Sound ExChange’s latest concert event. The thoughtful, engaging, and ever-accessible concert of contemporary classical chamber music featured a new but highly recognizable ensemble, HEX. Comprised of the original Sound ExChange lineup…
Week Ahead: For the week of Monday, December 21
The Rochester Regional Group of the Sierra Club will hold a candlelight vigil today, Monday, December 21, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., at Twelve Corners in Brighton. Organizers of the vigil want to bring attention to species that are near extinction and those that have recently been declared extinct due to human activities. Luminaries…
Vargas issues dire warning before last board meeting
The performance last night by the boys chorus at the Leadership Academy for young men was moving and bittersweet. The chorus performed before the school board meeting — the last for Bolgen Vargas as superintendent of Rochester city schools. Clad in their sharp navy blue blazers, the boys sang several gospel-tinged songs as part…
Shoppertunity at “Wintercraft”
Only a few more days remain of “Wintercraft,” the annual holiday show and sale of handmade items made by local artists, held at Genesee Center for the Arts & Education (713 Monroe Avenue). The show features decorative and utilitarian ceramic vessels and Rochester-pride ornaments, colorful aprons, and a variety of letterpress goods. This latter group…
Medley Centre faces auction, again
Medley Centre’s owner once again faces the possibility of losing rights to the dead mall and several related properties. This time, the issue is Bersin Properties’ unpaid debt to Passero Associates. Bersin hired the local engineering firm to help draw up plans to develop the former Irondequoit Mall, but never paid Passero in full for…
Short doc shows impact of drugs on North Clinton neighborhood
I found this video on Reddit and believe it deserves a wider audience. It’s a mini (about 10 minutes) documentary on the effect that open-air drug markets have on the North Clinton neighborhood in Rochester. And it is heartbreaking. “Living With Open-Air Drug Markets” was produced by Zack DeClerck, the Ibero-American Development Corporation, and the…
Theater review: “White Christmas” at RBTL
It’s been an unseasonably warm December in Rochester, and at this point there’s a very small chance of snow for Christmas. In other words, it’s a welcome time for Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” to open at the Auditorium Theatre for a pre-holiday run. The musical was adapted for the stage in 2004, exactly 50 years…
FUNK | Filthy Funk
Rochester-rooted electro, hip-hop, and soul troupe, Filthy Funk, is reuniting to rock a rendition of its 2009 album, “Eklectric.” Since 2002, the band has played its funky beats and soaring vocals on stages around the Northeast. FF took a bit of a hiatus the last few years while its core three members were igniting other…
THEATER | “White Christmas”
For all those dreaming of a white Christmas this year, there’s a little inspiration coming to the Auditorium Theatre: the stage adaptation of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” the 1954 film starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney. It’s the iconic story of a hit song-and-dance duo that travels to Vermont to mount a fundraising…
HIP-HOP | G Herbo
G Herbo’s voice carries the weight of a man well past his years. The 20-year-old rapper grew up in a violent part of Chicago’s East Side — an area horrifically nicknamed Terror Town — and well, they say write what you know. Herbo’s music can be called drill — a Chicago hip-hop subgenre that uses…
Calling for Cala
A petition to draft Bill Cala as the next Rochester schools superintendent is on Change.org. It’s not clear who is behind the effort. The petition is directed at the Rochester school board, and the goal is to gather 500 signatures. Cala is former superintendent of the Fairport school district and is also a former interim…
CLASSICAL | RPO’s Gala Holiday Pops
In its 22nd year, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s Gala Holiday Pops performance is likely a well-known tradition for a lot of Rochester families celebrating the season — but it’s still worth highlighting for the orchestra’s engaging and beautiful performance. Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik will lead the performance, which will feature the Festival High School…
Fatima Razic builds beauty out of an ugly world
Beautiful music is even more so when born of an ugly world. Singer-songwriter Fatima Razic has a gorgeous voice: It aches, it evokes, it emotes, and it delivers a truck load of goosebumps. It is the sound of the artist crying out from within. There is no casual way to dig this 34-year-old Rochester-based musician.…
ALBUM REVIEW: “Letting Go of the Dial”
The Beaumonts “Letting Go of the Dial” Self-released facebook.com/thebeaumonts Hey, who remembers Haircut 100? Who remembers 5Head? I open with these questions because those are two bands The Beaumonts remind me of on its brand new CD, “Letting Go of the Dial.” Haircut 100 was pure brit pop confection. 5Head — as I’m sure you…
ALBUM REVIEW: “Better Angels”
Woody Dodge “Better Angels” Bugtussle Records woodydodge.com It only takes a few good bands to turn a scene into a scene. Yes there are more than a few competent roots-rockers pouring it out nightly on the Rochester stage, but it is constants like Woody Dodge with its longevity that truly define this town’s stake in…
Feedback 12/16
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. Comments of fewer than 350 words have a greater chance of being published, and we do edit selections for publication in print. We don’t publish comments sent to other media. School board…
Urban Action 12/16
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. All are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. Library to hold series on photonics The Friends and Foundation of the Rochester Public Library will tackle the subject of photonics during its Tuesday Topics in January, starting on Tuesday, January 12, with…
City festivals to get fairness check
Rochester is known for its festivals, and the annual Jazz Festival is the undisputed jewel in the crown. But some people, including a member of City Council, say that the festival is treated like a favorite child and that it’s time to insist on more transparency. The City of Rochester will put together a committee…
Next step: making sure we don’t blow $500 million
It sounds like a lot of money, but in terms of government spending, $500 million really isn’t, which is why careful investment in projects that move the Finger Lakes economy forward and finally shake off the region’s Rust Belt past is so important. The Finger Lakes is one of the three regions to win $500…
Black Sheep taps rock history
On a recent trip out West, a guy asked where I was from. After divulging that I was from Rochester, he immediately shouted out, “Wegmans! Kodak! Lou Gramm from Foreigner!” Lou Gramm is Rochester’s favorite son, so it is only fitting that his own son, Nicolas Grammatico, recently opened a restaurant in Corn Hill Landing…
JAZZ | Bobby Militello
Bobby Militello was working his magic on saxophone and flute with the Maynard Ferguson band in the late-1970’s when he caught the ear of an audience member. It was Dave Brubeck who had recently lost his long-time saxophonist Paul Desmond to lung cancer. After joining the legendary quartet in the early 1980’s, Militello toured and recorded with…
BLUES | Delbert McClinton
In the early 1960’s, singer-harmonicat Delbert McClinton’s band The Straitjackets backed up numerous blues heavyweights like Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Jimmy Reed. These legendary artist are what helped cultivate McCinton’s blue collar blues full of a ragged roar and keen chops on the harp. Live shows are unbeatable sweat fests. Not to be…
ART | “Embrace Every Angle”
Artistry and athleticism is the focus on “Embrace Every Angle,” a group photography exhibit and fundraiser currently on view at Carlson Cowork (60 Carlson Street). Eleven photographers have collaborated with artist and yoga and fitness instructor, Liza Savage-Katz, in creating unique images of people engaged in yoga poses in various environments of Rochester. The project…
INSURGENT COUNTRY | 40 Rod Lightning
Though they were laying low for a spell, the boys in Rochester’s only true insurgent country band, 40 Rod Lightning, are back with the hammer down. Songs about sleeping single, drinking double, domestic bliss, and murder help the alcohol go down. David Allan Coe would be proud. Don’t let the tongue-in-cheek humor distract you from…
THEATER | “Swimming to Cambodia”
In 1983 Spalding Gray played in the movie “The Killing Fields” — and, being Spalding Gray, he later wrote a long dramatic monologue that wandered among his experiences making the film, his memories of the Vietnam Era, and his life in New York in the 1980’s. “Swimming to Cambodia” was a great success in numerous…
CLASSICAL | Sound ExChange
The upcoming concert “HEX” at Studio 180 is the end of the beginning for the contemporary classical collective Sound ExChange. Formed by Eastman School alumni in 2011, the chamber ensemble has long been engaging the community with innovative programming that rejects the traditional concert paradigm in favor of a more interactive experience with audience members.…
SPECIAL EVENT | “Snowkus Pocus”
While the prospects of a white Christmas in Rochester are looking slim — a good or bad thing depending on who you ask — Cirque-tacular Entertainment will create its own winter wonderland with its show “Snowkus Pocus.” The winter-themed circus and variety show will feature aerial acrobatics and feats, dance, comedy, and visual storytelling, like…
CLASSICAL | Winterfest
Just in time for the holidays, the Eastman Community Music School (ECMS) presents Winterfest, an all-day extravaganza packed with performances by ECMS students. And with a diverse range of ensembles from a flute choir and brass ensembles to jazz groups and guitar ensembles, you’re sure to find the right concerts to suit your ear. If…
ART | “Present: Three Views”
The fleetingness of time can make it hard to stay present. Through December 30, a showcase of three artists’ work at Geisel Gallery (second floor, 1 Bausch & Lomb Place) crucially reminds us to slow down and stay in the moment. “Present: Three Views” features Stephen Merritt’s elegant vessels and totem-like clay sculpture; Jonathan Merritt’s…
What Trump’s support says about the country
Donald Trump may not become our next president, but that won’t cork the hatred he has set loose.
Film review: “Macbeth”
Undeterred, Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel, making only his second feature after “The Snowtown Murders,” delivers an oppressively bleak take on the familiar tale.
Film review: “Impossible”
The centerpiece selection in the Dryden’s “Here and Elsewhere” film series, “The Impossible” comes from French experimental filmmaker Sylvain George. Combining elements of political radicalism with formal experimentation, the film examines the current Calais migrant crisis, as refugees fleeing troubled areas like Darfur, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq attempt to cross the English Channel in the…
Film review: “Beasts of No Nation”
Fresh off receiving a host of year-end awards and nominations — from the Golden Globes to the Indie Spirit Awards — “Beasts of No Nation” is now officially an Oscar contender, so the time is right to pay a visit to this potential game-changer. It’s the first narrative feature distributed by Netflix, and if it…
Film review: “The Second Mother”
Anchored by a warm, wonderful performance from Regina Casé, the Brazilian film “The Second Mother” is a heartfelt social drama from director Anna Muylaert. Casé plays Val, a live-in housekeeper for a wealthy São Paulo family, whose life is disrupted when her estranged daughter, Jéssica (Camila Márdila), comes to stay with her. Though Val hasn’t…
Theater review: “The Game’s Afoot” at Blackfriars
On paper, “The Game’s Afoot” has all the trappings of an enjoyable play. On stage, it’s a different story.
