Cover Story
A gym for people who feel uncomfortable at “the gym”
Six years ago, Christine Walker had never met a person like her romantic and business partner, Lore McSpadden. Not just in the lovestruck sense, but also in the literal sense. McSpadden is transgender and non-binary, a person whose gender cannot be described simply as “male” or “female.” Walker, 39, said she knew “that trans folks…
Bello announces key players in his administration
The county executive-elect is keeping the county’s human services commissioner but bringing in a new zoo director.
Vaping casts cloud over cannabis legalization
After state lawmakers failed to legalize recreational cannabis this past session, Governor Andrew Cuomo took some steps to further the goal of legalizing marijuana in New York in 2020.
Rochester School Board approves 175 layoffs, including 109 teachers
Commissioners said cutting employees was their only option to close a budget deficit
JAZZ | Andy Calabrese and Chet Catallo
It wasn’t exactly hard bop, but a lot of jazz fans couldn’t help turning up the volume when Spyro Gyra’s “Shaker Song” or “Morning Dance” came on theradio in the 1980s. Guitarist Chet Catallo was an original member of the group and a writer of some of its tunes. Since then, Catallo has branched out…
HOLIDAY | RPO’s ‘Gala Holiday Pops’
If anything qualifies as a popular local holiday tradition, it’s the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s Holiday Pops concert, masterminded by Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik. For the 2019 edition, with four concerts this weekend, the musical mix is comfortably familiar: a little pop, a little classical, and a lot of favorite Christmas carols (a few of…
SOUL-POP | Siena
Siena is a Rochester band specializing in tuneful ballads it calls “soul-folk,” but don’t be mistaken: the music is a vessel for dynamic singer-songwriter Siena Facciolo. Her 2018 debut album “Dear House” is an impressive collection of well-crafted chamber pop songs driven by earnest, piano-centric arrangements and colored with tinges of jazz and classical music.…
JAZZ-SWING | Gregory Street Vagabonds
What do you get when you gather a group of software developers, IT engineers, pathologists, artists, educators, service workers, and retirees to play music in a South Wedge home? Gregory Street Vagabonds, of course. Mostly consisting of amateur musicians, the Vagabonds’ common denominator is a love of swing dancing. When they play The Little Theatre…
Album review: ‘Engine Core Phenomenal’
Treasure Plate ‘Engine Core Phenomenal’ Self-released treasureplate.com If you like “Mystery Science Theatre 3000,” you’ll dig this. “Engine Core Phenomenal” is some wacky shit, both visually and audio-wise. And thankfully, it’s a lotta fun. The brilliance behind Rochester’s sci-fi rock band Treasure Plate is that both halves need each other to make any sense. You…
Album review: ‘The Gift’
Karl LaPorta ‘The Gift’ Self-released store.cdbaby.com/karllaporta Looking back at Karl LaPorta’s 2012 album, “The Gift,” his piano-playing leads velvety and valiant, providing a pleasant shag in which listeners can wiggle their toes. The album is concise in its various platforms and plateaus, with shining highlights throughout. In particular: Dig the tasteful guitar that shows up…
Dems look to fill Robach-sized hole in Senate
The party has its best chance in 18 years of taking the 56th Senate District seat that Republican Joe Robach has firmly held.
Fine dining in an alley
The front dining area of bowling alley and social club Radio Social recently rebranded as Ophira, with a menu rooted in traditional Mediterranean cuisine.
Bombed out
‘Bombshell’ works hard to completely absolve its characters of their own complicity in the creation of the toxic product churned out by Fox.
Don Potter plugs into Christmas with the RPO
Don Potter is plugged into Christmas. He returns to Rochester this weekend for four Holiday Pops shows – one Friday, two Saturday, one more on Sunday — with Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.
FAMILY | ‘Breakfast (for Dinner) with Santa Under the Stars’
Most breakfast-with-Santa events (understandably) take place in the morning, but the Rochester Museum & Science Center has planned an evening event that includes educational activities and treats. Two seatings take place this Friday night only, at 5:30 and 7 p.m., featuring a buffet of favorite breakfast foods served under the night sky (projected on the…
FILM | ‘Go Tell It on the Mountain’
Screening this week in The Baobab’s Friday Film series is “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” the 1984 PBS-produced made-for-TV movie based on James Baldwin’s 1953 semi-autobiographical novel. Set in the 1930s, the story examines both the positive and oppressive impact of the church on the lives of African Americans. It follows the journey of…
ART | ‘Working with Wax 2019’
Rochester has its fair share of art collectives, clubs and groups. Some are general gatherings based on the particular suburb where the members live, and others are more specifically geared toward an interest in one medium. Take, for example, the Rochester-based Working with Wax group, which currently an exhibit of new work by group members…
Feedback 12/18
CITY welcomes your comments. Send them to feedback@rochester-citynews.com with your name, your address, and your daytime phone number for verification. Only your name and city, town, or village in which you live will be published along with your letter. Your phone number and address will not be published. Comments of fewer than 500 words have…
ROCK | The Ginger Faye Bakers
They released a coupla albums, played a bunch of crash-and-burners, and then just kind of vanished. The band has since contributed several songs to the hit Showtime series “Shameless,” but for guys who rock as relentlessly as The Ginger Faye Bakers, they haven’t performed much lately. With a simple format of three and the rawness…
HOLIDAY ACOUSTIC | Watkins & the Rapiers
Watkins & the Rapiers’ annual “Holiday Storybook” is a study in wiseass Christmas cheer. Formed in 1997, the band will play a fresh new batch of Christmas tunes, which fly in the face of our country’s annoying obsession with silent nights, mangers, and red-nosed anything. The songs are about such topics as unionizing elves and…
Council approves vacancy study legislation
The study is a necessary first step for the city to opt into state rent stabilization laws.
RCSD students to lose role models with cutting of black, Latino teachers
Among the 152 teachers that may be laid off, 21 of them are black.
An eclectic holiday music playlist
I am not a religious person and I’m highly allergic to earworms. So, around this time of year, with Christmas music everywhere, I’m the guy at the supermarket with my fingers in my ears.
Let us have lettuce in Webster
Webster residents keep chasing greenhouse farms, and the hundreds of jobs they promise, out of town.
Funke won’t run in 2020
Senator Rich Funke is following in the footsteps of several other Republicans who, facing a future in the Senate minority, have opted to leave the chamber altogether.
Supporters and opponents of plastic bag ban find fault with proposed state regulations
After March 1, grocery stores, clothing shops, big-box retailers and others in the state will no longer offer single-use plastic bags to shoppers.
The F Word: Ka-ching
For the swingin’ side of things, I caught Big Bad Voodoo Daddy playing its holiday show at Kodak Center on the Ridge Sunday night. Though small in number, the audience ate up all the big bad voodoo the band could throw at it.
Made of star stuff
The plot of ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ is an origin story of sorts, a prequel to ‘Peter Pan.’
New Guillermo del Toro joint ‘Nightmare Alley’ to be filmed in Buffalo
The film will star Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Rooney Mara, and Willem Dafoe. A casting call for extras has been issued in Western/Central New York.
