Cover Story
Rochester’s folk community isn’t easy to pin down
The Rochester area is a hotbed for folk music — even if it’s difficult to define what ‘folk’ means.
Town hall meeting tonight on criminal justice reform
Even though there has been a steady decrease in crime in New York State, the population of county jails continue to grow and more than half of the people who sit in them have not been convicted of a crime. But they remain incarcerated because they can’t afford bail, according to advocates for criminal justice…
Funke to face challenge from Penfield Democrat Lunsford
Jen Lunsford, an attorney who lives in Penfield, will try to unseat Republican State Senator Rich Funke. Lunsford, a Democrat, announced her candidacy for the 55th State Senate District seat this afternoon at Monroe County Democratic Committee headquarters. The seat covers parts of eastern Monroe County and western Ontario County, and though the registration in…
The F Word: The right to keep and arm bears
The F Word. An online column for Frank De Blase to pontificate, ruminate, placate, and salivate. We’ll have reviews and previews, we’ll discuss trends in local and national music scenes, and we’ll try to do it as reverently as possible. Yup. Let’s get started. Who am I to argue with Ronnie Van Zant? He was…
Campbell Brothers, Steve Gadd among inductees to 2018 Rochester Music Hall of Fame
The Rochester Music Hall of Fame this morning announced its lineup for the seventh annual induction ceremony. The ceremony will be held Sunday, April 22, 7 p.m., in Kodak Hall at The Eastman Theatre. This year’s inductees include percussionist, composer, and Eastman School of Music faculty member John Beck; the Grammy Award-winning sacred steel supergroup The Campbell…
Feedback 2/21
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…
Fresh Cut: ‘Faberge’ by Vacation Daze
Some bands spell out their influences on their sleeves, but Vacation Daze sounds like a grand composite of different genres. It’s evident on the band’s new track, “Faberge.”
The complex legacy of Joel Seligman
Joel Seligman will step down as the University of Rochester’s president next week, a move that he clearly didn’t want to take but decided the University needed. The controversy over sexual harassment accusations against Professor Jaeger was simply too big, and Seligman made his decision even before outside investigators released their report about the University’s…
SPECIAL EVENT | Baobab Business Marketplace
The Baobab Cultural Center this week kicks off the first event of its new monthly Baobab Business Marketplace series, which will spotlight about 10 vendors each 4th Saturday. Support local entrepreneurs of African descent while you shop to the sounds of soul music. Visit bobrochester.com for an extensive list of black owned biz to support…
‘Black Magic Slays Magical Negro’ events celebrate creativity of WOC
Oprah recently gave an inspiring speech, and suddenly people began calling for her to make a 2020 bid and fix this nation’s ills. With this in mind, Rachel DeGuzman of 21st Century Arts has continued her crucial “At the Crossroads: Art + Justice” programming this month with a four-part series, “Black Magic Slays Magical Negro,”…
Album review: ‘The Early Riser’
Doug Stone / Josiah Williams “The Early Riser” Self-released dougstonejazz.com; jdeanwilliams.com Over the last decade, artists like Robert Glasper and Q-Tip have explored the intersection of jazz and hip-hop. But the jazz side of that equation has usually consisted of pretty light grooves. Local saxophonist extraordinaire Doug Stone has teamed up with Peoria, Illinois, rapper…
COMEDY | The Second City
The Second City has been an American comedy institution for nearly 60 years, and no improv group has churned out more household names — the likes of Bill Murray, John Belushi, Jane Lynch, Tina Fey, Bob Odenkirk, Amy Poehler, Keegan-Michael Key, Tina Fey, and Stephen Colbert all emerged from the Chicago-based troupe. The current group…
Album review: ‘Begin Again’
Better Angels “Begin Again” Self-released Guitarist and singer Bob Snow calls his project Better Angels, and Better Angels has a new album it calls “Begin Again.” The album’s opening track, “Desert Country Living,” plays out like a Jimmy Buffett song lost in a rural setting. The album picks up next with a gentle rock groove…
ROCK | Thanya Iyer
Thanya Iyer, a Montreal musician, began assembling her eclectic team of sonic visionaries in 2012. Using pretty much every instrument except guitar, Thanya Iyer and her band has performed in various regional music festivals in Canada, such as POP Montreal, MURAL Festival, and Shigawake Music Festival, and released its debut album, “Do You Dream?,” in…
Creatives in the cold
No one is immune to the itch to check out until the sun returns. For their parts, artists must fight the urge to power down for the season, and instead keep the creativity flowing.
FUNK/JAZZ | Trombone Shorty
Trombone Shorty got his nickname when he first brandished a trombone that was bigger than him. He led his first band at age 6 and was touring internationally at 12. His sound is a New Orleans blast furnace of funk and roll, and it has brought him to the White House and made him the…
BLUES | Shemekia Copeland
The blues is in her blood. The pride of Texas guitar-slinger Johnny Clyde Copeland, Shemekia Copeland no longer needs to drop her dad’s name to open doors. This soulful and sultry singer routinely blows doors off of venues, from juke joints to festival stages, with her big, beautiful blues. Her latest album, “Outskirts of Love,”…
CLASSICAL | RPO with Yevgeny Kutik
For those concert programs when Kodak Hall is just too large and grandiose, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra takes to Hochstein Performance Hall for its Sunday Matinees and a chamber music vibe. This Sunday, the RPO will be joined by the electrifying Russian-American violinist Yevgeny Kutik, who will perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3. Kutik’s musical…
FILM | ‘Movies with Live Soundtracks’
As part of its current Community Curator Program series, Visual Studies Workshop this Saturday will host “Movies with Live Soundtracks,’ curated by Joe Tunis of local, avant-garde record label Carbon Records. The program will feature rarely seen films from the VSW vault paired with live sets from Rochester noise bands Pengo, NO, and Jungle Heart.…
CLASSICAL | ‘Mozart at the Lyric Theatre’
Collaborations as ambitious as “Mozart at the Lyric Theatre” don’t come along very often. Here, the Lyric Theatre co-Opera-tive, New York State Ballet, Rochester Oratorio Society, and a cast of professional opera singers will band together for a multidisciplinary performance that looks to be nothing short of epic. The performers will pair two masterworks by…
EMO | KVLT Daddy
Something interesting happens a little over a minute into “The Crone,” the lead track on Syracuse-based emo upstarts KVLT Daddy’s 2017 EP, “Dreaming in Dog Years”: at the beginning of an already uptempo verse, singer and guitarist Kyle Beam throws down an unabashed metal riff. It’s the sort of palm-muted, double-time thrash riff you’d expect…
DANCE | PUSH Physical Theatre and Ying Quartet
The Landmark Society is celebrating its 80th anniversary in a big way this Friday at the historic Hochstein Performance Hall with a momentous performance that brings together two of Rochester’s most high-profile performing groups. PUSH Physical Theatre and the Ying Quartet team up for an uncommon collaboration, in which they will be joined by emerging…
METAL | Extinction A.D.
The Long Island thrashers in Extinction A.D. — which is essentially hardcore greats This is Hell with a new guitarist (Ian Cimaglia) — are injecting their tried and true punk formula with a healthy dose of shredding. The band’s latest record, this year’s “Decimation Treaty,” is a brutal, no-nonsense crossover-thrash offering that marries hardcore’s seriousness…
Urban Action 2/21
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Whole Foods meeting moved The Town of Brighton will hold a public hearing concerning a zoning application for the proposed Whole Foods Plaza project at 7 p.m. Wednesday, February 28 – at a…
LATIN JAZZ | Mambo Kings
The Mambo Kings made its orchestral debut 20 years ago with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik. And since then, the Latin jazz quintet has become a renowned act on the jazz festival circuit, and a frequent guest ensemble with orchestras around the country. Its blend of Afro-Cuban sounds and rhythms…
ART | ‘See the Rhythm: The Art of Ya’qub Shabazz’
Whitman Works Company this month presents an exhibition of wood carvings and paintings by East Rochester-based Ya’qub Shabazz (Sankofa Studios). Shabazz’s art celebrates the energy and life of African heritage within the continent as well as the diaspora, and is also reflection on his experiences growing up in Chicago’s South Side. He’s a former case…
Rules for asylum-seekers change at Batavia Facility
Last November, a federal judge ruled that the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia could not detain asylum-seekers without parole or bond hearings. But as those proceedings began in December, in more than a dozen cases immigration judges set prohibitively high bonds for asylum-seekers — as high as $15,000.
Krooks full of hooks
On its rockin’ debut EP, “Steal the Show,” The Krooks blend some unlikely sounds that tug ears in multiple directions. There are subtle, and not-so subtle, influences flying about the band’s rock ‘n’ roll soundscape. The consistency lies in singer Sara Passamonte’s vocals — vocals that exude mood and myriad tones that come sailing out…
Unter Biergarten brings the Wurst to the East End
There has been a collaborative trend in Rochester restaurants over recent years with restaurant owners partnering on events and sourcing products from each other. Unter Biergarten (120 East Avenue), which held its grand opening last Thursday, is no exception. Chef and owner Derrick DePorter has created a menu of what he calls “Bavarican” cuisine —…
RECREATION | Native American Winter Games
Ganondagan State Historic Site will this week host the 15th annual Native American Winter Games, which will include both indoor and outdoor fun such as Iroquois social dancing with Bill Crouse and the Allegany River Dancers, storytelling, a competitive game called snowsnake, snowshoeing, and dog sled demonstrations. Food will be available for purchase, including Iroquois…
Race, fear, and America’s gun problem
Behind Americans’ love of guns: a manufactured, exaggerated fear of crime and the nation’s unresolved issue of race.
Film review: ‘Black Panther’
Disney’s choice to release Marvel’s “Black Panther” during Black History month was both cynical and smart. The company identified an underserved film-going population and gave them a $200 million hero, exploiting the annual celebration of black excellence to pad the stats for its latest blockbuster — the first black-directed Marvel adaption with a mostly black…
Film review: ‘Early Man’
One of the most appealing things about the films of Aardman Animations is their hand-crafted nature. From fingerprints in the modeling clay to the simple character designs, their films possess a rough-hewn, tactile quality that sets them apart from the more polished work of studios like Laika — which puts a more modern spin on…
