Cover Story
Love languages
It’s that time of year when love — or the commercialization of love — is in the air. Can you feel it? We can at CITY, and we’re delighted to present our first-ever Sex, Love & Relationships issue. We hope it helps get you in the mood for Valentine’s Day, or at least get through…
Monroe County lowers parents fees for child care subsidies
The Bello administration estimates the change could save families $560 per year.
Kolb is latest Republican to bow out
The 10-term Assembly member resigned as his conference’s leader after he was charged with DWI and now he’s not seeking reelection.
2020 CITY Readers’ Picks: Songs of Love and Despair
In conjunction with CITY’s Guide to Sex, Love, & Relationships, we asked you to tell us which local music you think best exemplifies feelings of Love — as well as songs that evoke its heartbreaking cousin Despair — and you didn’t disappoint.
THEATER | ‘Blues for Mister Charlie’
Emmett Till’s 1955 murder in Mississippi was a galvanizing event in the early days of the Civil Rights movement. The 14-year-old was killed by vigilantes after being falsely accused of making advances toward a white woman. His murderers were never indicted despite admitting to the killing. Two years later, Harlem-born acclaimed author James Baldwin returned…
JAZZ | Bob Sneider
No one represents the Rochester jazz scene more than guitarist Bob Sneider. He’s led the jam sessions at the Rochester International Jazz Festival for almost 20 years, sharing the stage with luminaries like Wynton Marsalis and Eric Alexander. With a style recalling Grant Green and Barney Kessel, he’s toured with Chuck Mangione and accompanied stars…
LITERATURE | Toni Morrison Celebration
Toni Morrison was a giant of American literature, with career highlights that include the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Medal of Freedom. Aside from her luminary literary output, Morrison was also a lifelong scholar and educator who held professorships at a number of institutions including Harvard, Rutgers, and Bard. These two threads…
CLASSICAL | Incantare
Classical fans are no strangers to early music concerts featuring compositions from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. But those who attend the Valentine’s Day concert at The Perkins Mansion are in for a treat when the quartet Incantare performs. Liza Malamut, Ben David Aronson, and Garrett Lahr play the sackbut (the predecessor to the modern…
FAMILY | Animals as Superheroes
For years, the creators of superhero stories used animals as a shorthand to convey a hero’s greatness — a name can signal the agility of a spider, the ferocity of a wolverine, or the secretive nature of a bat. For kids raised in a world where superhero stories have taken over film and television, the…
METAL | September Mourning
[Updated and revised ] The Los Angeles band September Mourning is quite lively for looking so dead. It comes off as a sort of radio play, a doomed fairy tale which drags fans in with its macabre grind and death rattle. Leading the whole affair is Emily Lazar, whose singing can take the form of…
SPECIAL EVENT | Roc the Love
Arc of Monroe has been offering enriching programs and services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the Rochester area for more than 60 years. Local arts advocacy group OFC Creations has partnered with a variety of local artists and creative organizations to deliver “Roc the Love,” an upcoming variety show fundraiser to benefit…
Album review: ‘Back in Time’
Gary Peet and Random Company ‘Back in Time’ Self-released garypeetmusic.com Gary Peet and Random Company cover all the phases of love — from the first kiss to the big kiss-off — on the new release “Back in Time.” The album starts off in breakneck swing mode with the cut “Do You Want to Dance.” From…
FILM | ‘Always in Season’
“Always in Season” is an award-winning documentary that examines the history of lynching in America by following the grim particulars of one family’s experience. African-American teenager Lennon Lacy was found hanged from a swing set in Bladenboro, North Carolina in 2014. His death was ruled a suicide by officials and went uninvestigated despite circumstances that…
Album review: ‘Much Much Nice’
Aweful Kanawful ‘Much Much Nice’ Self-released awefulkanawful.bandcamp.com When I first met Austin Lake, a k a Aweful Kanawful, he commandeered the proceedings by setting himself on fire. No shit, on fire. On his new album, “Much Much Nice,” the fidelity runs high — higher than on previous outings. And the man is still on fire…
RECREATION | NordicFest
Cumming Nature Center in Naples is a 900-acre wilderness preserve that features six miles of trails. This weekend the center is hosting its annual NordicFest event to benefit the Genesee Valley Nordic Ski Patrol, which keeps these trails safe year-round. The family-friendly event runs all day Saturday, and features a number of educational activities including…
Brunch brew
Last week Nate Kester released his second sour out of Irondequoit Beer Company’s five-barrel brew house. Dubbed Permanent Waves, it’s a modest 4.5 percent sour brew flanked by 125 pounds of blood orange and 150 pounds of mango puree.
CLASSICAL | Society for Chamber Music in Rochester’s ‘Baroque and Blue’
The formality of Baroque music and the directness of the blues are a winning combination for the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester. The group has presented several concerts with this theme, and has another coming up this Sunday at Hochstein Performance Hall. For the 2020 installment, the Baroque representatives are a trumpet sonata by…
Joe Pug, middle-class troubadour
Joe Pug writes narrative songs with what a kind of “rough-hewn poetry.” He’ll play Good Luck on Monday, February 17.
Hazardous terrain ahead
As is often the case with English-language remakes, “Downhill” ends up smoothing out the rough edges of the source material, removing some of the potent ambiguity at the heart of the original’s examination of masculinity, family dynamics, and gender roles.
Save the date
Alternative options for your Valentine’s Day
‘Change of heart’ pushes police ‘annoyance law’ repeal
In a bipartisan push, Monroe County legislators are looking to repeal a newly-enacted law that prohibited intentionally annoying police officers and first responders.
Love – is it in the cards?
A tarot conversation with Fayebriel Barrette
Single, hold the mingle
Some pointed words about the tyranny of couple-culture
Sex ed for every body
Inclusive yoga instructor and sex educator Jenna Weintraub is all about normalizing and enhancing our experiences
Stay safe, Rochester!
With all this talk of love and sex, it’s important to remember that safety matters. Monroe County is not immune from the effects of sexually transmitted infections. Statistics for the New York State Department of Health indicate that as of December 2018, 2,318 people in the county are living with HIV and AIDS. In 2018,…
A savory, bittersweet lunch
There is nothing like freshly made food for lunch. Everything at Dumpling House in Henrietta is made to order, and each bite of the soupy Xiao Long Bao literally bursts with flavor.
Safe sparks
Exploring enthusiastic consent in romance novels
THEATER | Bronze Collective Theatre Fest
Now in its 6th year, the Bronze Collective Theater Fest is a week-long winter festival of African American theater works. This year’s theme is “Moving Forward,” and some of the shows offer an early look at productions Rochester audiences can see throughout the 2020 calendar. While the lineup includes something for everybody, fans of Rochester…
POP-SOUL | Soul Passenger
Soul Passenger is a study in cool. Whether these musicians are driving you to tears with something by The Police or dishing out original blues-tinged rock, Soul Passenger is the quintessential bar band. The group plays Three Heads for the first time on Valentine’s Day. Soul Passenger plays Friday, February 14, 8 p.m. at Three…
She’s not there
“Next to Normal” can best be defined as a rock musical and a moving journey through one family’s battle with mental health, suicide, and drug abuse. It’s shockingly relatable. The Goodman family could easily be living in Spencerport or Webster.
INDIE ROCK | Longwave
Though I haven’t pressed The Demos or The Stedwells directly, it’s safe to say that Longwave is an influence to their sounds in no small degree. All three bands boast swirling vocals and create a hypnotic euphoria with their music. Lineup issues have plagued Longwave to some degree, but the Brooklyn-based band (by way of…
RCSD superintendent warns of 800 layoffs without state bailout
RCSD Superintendent Terry Dade told Albany lawmakers on Tuesday that the district will have to lay off 800 people if the state doesn’t meet its request for $35 million in emergency aid.
County lawmakers take step toward a climate plan
Bipartisan legislation submitted to the Monroe County Legislature would establish a county Climate Action Plan Advisory Committee.
Transition team gives Bello his charge
Monroe County Executive Adam Bello’s transition team has identified 29 items for him to focus on during his first term.
Vape rules loophole keeps flavors on shelves
Flavored vape products were banned by the FDA, but a loophole in the rules has kept them on store shelves.
City eyeing $10 million convention center terrace expansion
The city is looking to expand the southern terrace at the Joseph A. Floreano Rochester Riverside Convention Center.
The RPO announces 2020-21 season, the last of the Ward Stare era
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2020-21 season will inevitably be viewed through the lens of Ward Stare’s final season as music director.
Meet the people who light up Rochester’s skyline
The soft, luminescent kiss to the Rochester skyline has many wondering who is behind the nighttime lights. His name is Mark Glickman and his cell phone is the switch.
Feedback 2/12/20: Postcards as activism, PAB appointee is deserving, Romney is no hero
This week, readers respond to Postcard Fridays, defend the PAB appointee with a criminal background, and dispute Sen. Mitt Romney’s “hero” status.
Commentary: If I were mayor . . .
A public shaming square at Parcel 5. Re-branding “Center City.” A funding stream for the arts. The crow as the official city bird. Fill in the Inner Loop. What would you do if you were mayor of Rochester?
The F Word: the neighbor of the beast
CITY Music Writer Frank De Blase catches an Aaron Winters photography show and a concert from The Iron Maidens at Montage Music Hall.
Unearthing the forgotten stories of Mt. Hope Cemetery
The book, “Beyond These Gates: Mountains of Hope in Rochester’s African-American History,” seeks to ensure that black residents who broke barriers in life and were laid to rest at Mt. Hope Cemetery continue to inspire.
Opera review: RPO presents “The Mother of Us All”
When Virgil Thomson died in 1989, Leonard Bernstein’s reaction was something to the effect of “We all loved his music, but we never played it.” I doubt that Ward Stare would have bothered to present Thomson’s opera “The Mother of Us All” unless he believed in it completely,
Film preview: ‘Color Out of Space’
An adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft short story, “Color Out of Space” centers on the Gardner family, who’ve recently relocated from the city to a remote farmhouse in rural Massachusetts. With its mix of straight-up horror, gooey makeup effects, and performances that dance along the edges of camp, the film is the platonic ideal of…
