Cover Story
Downtown’s rebirth
The first in a four-part series on the changes happening downtown looks at the housing market. Numerous new developments are drawing people downtown, but is the growth sustainable?
Federal microbead ban is now law
Starting July 1, 2017, manufacturers will no longer be allowed to include plastic microbeads in personal care and cosmetic products. The House and Senate passed legislation establishing the ban earlier this month, and President Barack Obama signed the final bill yesterday. Previously, several states banned microbeads and major retail chains such as Wegmans announced plans…
Monroe County Legislature to elect new president
The Monroe County Legislature will hold its annual organizational meeting at 5 p.m. on Sunday, January 3, at the County Office Building, 39 West Main Street. The big item on the agenda is the election of a new Legislature president. Republican Legislator Jeff Adair has served as president since 2010, but he’s term-limited out of…
County to assist REACH homeless shelter
Monroe County officials will provide support for a temporary emergency homeless shelter after all. The Rochester Emergency Action Committee for the Homeless had sought $50,000 in funding from the county for its shelter, which opened November 30 on Main Street. But county officials rebuffed the request, ostensibly over concerns about how the shelter would handle…
Maggie Brooks hired at RTS
The speculation is over: outgoing County Executive Maggie Brooks has landed a gig as an RTS executive. Brooks has been tapped to be the transit agency’s vice president of strategic initiatives, a move that’ll probably come as a surprise to few. RTS officials recently created the position to better connect and work with regional groups,…
Downtown and its future
Careful planning and development incentives can guarantee that downtown will serve and benefit all of us.
JAM | The Vassar Brothers
Yeah yeah, I know bluegrass is a genre, so is the whole earthy jam thing. But you don’t necessarily have a specific set of instruments in jam as you do in bluegrass. Therein lies the confusion surrounding Rochester’s own Vassar Brothers. The band brandishes bluegrass artillery, but the band jams, creating a sort of frantic,…
SOUL | The Main Street Lights
This 8-piece from Rochester is tall in talent and maturity for being such a young troupe. Soulful and powerful vocals rise over tight rock grooves, as the band moves easily between mellow moods and sassy funk-rock. Together since January 2015, The Main Street Lights released its 8-track debut album, “Manifest Destiny,” last August. The Straw…
AMERICANA | Woody Pines
Woody Pines will take you back to shined shoes shimmyin’ on wood floors and rolled sleeves on arms holding Southern whiskeys. Woody Pines is ragtimey, country blues that feels aged and authentic, amblin’ and sweet. There’s a depth in the simplicity and a shine in the vintage. A self-titled album came out earlier this year…
AMERICANA | Folkfaces
Yeah, “folk” is in the name, but Buffalo’s Folkfaces draws from every original American genre and adds a healthy dose of acoustic punk to seal in the cracks. There’s blues and jazz; bluegrass, jug-band, and ragtime; and kazoos and washboards. Folkfaces is just a team of young musicians interpreting old styles with original cuts. Folkfaces…
Chet Catallo is more than just a guitar player
We could all just call it a day and go home if we labeled Chet Catallo simply as a “guitar player.” And though that’s how the man considers himself, it would be a disservice to the Gibson-endorsed, multi-Grammy Award nominee and his history, his pedigree, and his six-string savvy. This year marks 31 years for…
ALBUM REVIEW: “Homes”
Gilad Hekselman “Homes” Jazz Village giladhekselman.com A few years ago, when singer Patricia Barber performed at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, I couldn’t help feeling like I was hearing two stars. Every time guitarist Gilad Hekselman took a solo, it was world class. Looking him up later, I could see that the “world” part…
Lucinda Storms stands out across styles
On a recent chilly, rainy morning, painter and glass bead maker Lucinda Storms and I drank tea and discussed her work in her cozy space at the Hungerford Building, where she has had studios on and off for 20 years. Currently, she’s situated in a long space on the third floor, her row of windows…
ALBUM REVIEW: “Press Enter”
Romain Collin “Press Enter” ACT Music romaincollin.com While touring with Wayne Shorter, pianist Romain Collin not only acquired a strong philosophy of life, he also got a future album title. One day, Shorter was discussing various friends who had great ambitions but never acted on them. Finally, he looked at Collin and said, “Press enter.”…
ART | “In Line with Nature”
If you’re looking for an injection of color to break up the dreary doldrums of December, pop over to John Chrissos: “In Line with Nature” exhibition at Lumiere Photo’s Spectrum Gallery (100 College Avenue). In his colored pencil and graphite drawings of natural settings, Chrissos explores a minimalistic aesthetic in a range of saturated hues.…
Urban Action 12/23
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. All are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. Discussion of memoir on the Jim Crow south Moving Beyond Racism Book Group will meet at 7 p.m. on Monday, January 4, to discuss “Black Boy,” a memoir by Richard Wright. The first…
SCIENCE | “New Discoveries in Our Solar System”
The vastness of the universe becomes even more incredible when you consider how very much we still don’t know about the immediate vicinity of our own star. Perhaps you stay up on the latest news and speculations from NASA’s spacecrafts and probes. But if you’d like this knowledge paired with amazing visuals, join Rochester Museum…
Feedback 12/23
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. No-Fly List…
COMEDY | “‘Twas the Night After Christmas”
And somewhere in town, a few comics were stirring with a laughable sound. And that’s as far as we go with the poetry. After the bustle of Christmas day has been settled, The Comedy Club will continue the good cheer with a night of area comedians. Marianne Sierk — the co-host of The Wease Show…
Pride Agenda passes the baton
The revelation that Empire State Pride Agenda will discontinue its main operations next year has stunned many in the LGBT community. The Pride Agenda is a pillar in the gay rights movement, advocating on behalf of a long list of issues in New York since 1990, including hate-crime legislation and marriage equality. The group has…
THEATER | “My Fair Eliza”
When he wrote the 1913 stage play “Pygmalion,” George Bernard Shaw named it for a Greek mythological character that carves a girl from ivory. The plot follows a phonetics professor who is challenged to reinvent a London flower girl with a Cockney drawl into a lady with a high society lilt. The play inspired Lerner…
Group flags abuse report trends
The Monroe County’s Department of Human Services estimates that it’ll field more than 8,900 reports of child abuse and neglect in 2016. The number has been rising since at least 2008, when the county received 7,453 such reports, according to budget documents. Typically, around 90 percent of the reports involve neglect allegations, while fewer than…
SPECIAL EVENT | “Downton Abbey” screening
The life and times of the Crawley family resumes on January 3, with the sixth and final season of “Downton Abbey.” For fans that want to kick off this momentous occasion in true style, the Little Theatre will host five screenings of the first episode on Sunday, December 27. The screening alone is free, but…
Fresh bread and care put Shmeg’s up a level
Shmeg’s hits just about every note that would make it a perfect stop if Guy Fieri’s signature show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” came to Rochester. For better or worse, that list would start with the portions. From what I had heard about the Gates restaurant before eating there, the sheer quantity of food was one…
HOLIDAY | “John Denver’s Rocky Mountain Christmas”
As sure as snow is a sign of winter, the music of John Denver meant Christmas during my childhood. In fact, nobody did Christmas quite like John Denver. While other entertainers sang under the mistletoe, Denver performed in a groovy geodesic dome. He was an iconic figure whose legacy includes those signature television appearances. This…
ROCK ‘N’ ROLL | The Quitters
The Quitters are one of the best bands to ever come out of this town. Songwriting, musicianship, presence, the band had it down and were kings of the 1990’s Rochester music scene, when at the top of their game, The Quitters quit (ironic isn’t it?) with its members ultimately dissolving into other projects, family life,…
Theater review: Screen Plays’ “Holiday”
It’s an often overlooked fact that playwright Philip Barry (best known for “The Philadelphia Story”) was a Rochester native. But this weekend and next, Screen Plays — a local group that specializes in stage versions of Hollywood’s Golden Age films — brings to life one of Barry’s more popular works, “Holiday.” The plot follows Johnny…
Film review: “Youth”
Two affluent, aging, creative types contemplate love, life, and regrets in the melancholy dramatic-comedy “Youth” from Italian director Paolo Sorrentino (“The Great Beauty”). Michael Caine portrays a renowned composer, Fred Ballinger, now semi-retired and enjoying an extended stay at a luxurious spa in the Swiss Alps. In this secluded paradise the wealthy patrons can laze…
Film review: “The Uprising”
In his first feature-length film, British journalist and filmmaker Peter Snowdon assembles nearly 100 YouTube videos uploaded by protesters during the Arab Spring, using the footage to fashion a loose narrative that creates a fictionalized account of a single revolution that spreads across the entire Middle East. Taking images from separate uprisings that occurred in…
Film review: “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”
It’s been 10 years since the last “Star Wars” film, and there’s a ridiculous amount of expectation being heaped upon “The Force Awakens.”
