Cover Story
What about the survivors?
Tina Starr’s multimedia exhibit and performance ‘Like a Kiss’ confronts the epidemic of rape and assault
The F Word: Good art, bad artists
The F Word. An online column for me 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. There’s a menagerie of despicable people roaming the Earth today. Sexual predators are…
Reimagine RTS moves into next phase
The first phase of Reimagine RTS, an effort to plan for the future of the region’s bus system, is complete. And RTS officials expect to release a draft plan in May that’ll lay out potential route designs and make recommendations about things such as bus frequency. During the first phase, RTS and its consultants gathered input…
Classical review: RPO performs ‘The Music of Swan Lake’
In Thursday’s concert of mostly ballet music at Kodak Hall, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra showed flashes of pure brilliance. Unfortunately, the performance as a whole was lackluster. The RPO opened the program with a trio of AntonínDvořák’s “Slavonic Dances,” and was joined onstage by members of the Rochester City Ballet. Stare conducted with a light…
RCSD grad rate improves despite inequities
The Rochester City School District’s graduation rate jumped to 51.9 percent in June 2017, according Wednesday’s press release from State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia. That’s a 4.2 percent increase from the 47.7 percent graduation rate in June 2016, the second-highest increase of New York’s Big Five school districts. If the students who graduated in August are…
Law enforcement agencies launch heroin task force
The Monroe County District Attorney’s Office and law enforcement agencies across the county are partnering on a new task force that will collect data about heroin overdoses and route intelligence to local agencies in the hopes of building strong cases against heroin dealers. The task force is the latest county-level plan targeting the opioid epidemic. Monroe…
Rejected grant was a missed opportunity for Monroe County
Monroe County officials don’t often turn down grants, especially big ones. So when the county rejected a $2.6 million state grant for the Monroe County Public Defender’s Office to expand its representation of parents facing child neglect or abuse allegations, some members of the local legal and social-services communities were understandably confused. And they see…
COMEDY | Paul Rodriguez
Comedy @ The Carlson has quickly become a premier destination for stand-up comedy’s household names, respected road comics, and burgeoning talent alike. This Thursday, Veteran comedian Paul Rodriguez comes to town for a three-day run at The Carlson, bringing his impeccable timing, energetic delivery, and clever cultural observations to Rochester audiences. A longtime stalwart in…
Urban Action 2/7
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Douglass and today The Rochester Contemporary Art Center (137 East Avenue, downtown) will host a discussion on the topic “What Would Frederick Douglass Do?” at 7 p.m. February 8, focusing on the region’s…
THEATER | ‘The Royal Family”
Theater lovers in need of an escape from reality would do well to consider “The Royal Family” — a play about actors caught in their own bubbles — running now through February 18 at Lyric Theatre. Presented by Screen Plays, the comedy follows the Cavendishes — a notable family of thespians based on the real-life…
New name, old faces
When Hieu Luong thinks of the color blue, he pictures the ocean and the magical and relaxing effects that being close to water can have. It inspired him to add the color to the name of his new restaurant, Blue Taro (942 Monroe Avenue) that has opened in the building that used to house Le…
SPECIAL EVENT | FC3 Winter Mini-Con
If having the Flower City Comic Con once a year wasn’t enough to fulfill your cosplaying and nerdom needs, then thank Crom, you’re in luck. The annual convention dedicated to comic books, cosplaying, and other popular geeky culture, is coming back with a miniature Winter convention to The Mall at Greece Ridge. Much like its…
FUNK | Pigeons Playing Ping Pong
The enthusiastic musicians of Baltimore-based quartet Pigeons Playing Ping Pong are colorful and funk-focused, bringing, as guitarist Greg Ormont explains it, raw, visceral energy and “a sweaty basement party turned into a legitimate theater approach.” The fanbase, known as the “flock,” reflects the band’s fun antics, with loud sing-alongs and silly costumes. A lot like…
LECTURE | ‘Frederick Douglass and His Photographic Legacy’
With around 160 separate images, Frederick Douglass was the most photographed American of the 19th century. The great abolitionist saw the medium as an incredibly useful tool: Photography was a way to ensure true depictions of African-Americans; it was a way to directly combat racist caricatures and showcase the dignity and humanity of people of…
HIP-HOP | YoungBoy
Eighteen-year-old YoungBoy — also known as NBA (Never Broke Again) YoungBoy — has been climbing to the top and putting Baton Rouge, the home of Boosie and Kevin Gates, back on the map. YoungBoy’s production has that Louisiana sound, with deep bass lines, keys, and MIDI guitar riffs, and he seems to be able to…
Theater review: ‘Jake’s Women’ at MuCCC
Every occupation has its hazards, but there’s something about writing that lends itself to endless scrutiny and fascination in pop culture. Is it the necessary isolation, the ensuing ego, or the vulnerability of the act, perhaps? All of the above are key catalysts in Neil Simon’s 1992 play “Jake’s Women,” which is being staged by…
Eddie Money looks to recharge his legacy with musical ‘Two Tickets to Paradise’
Eddie Money careened into the room like a one-man parade. The veteran rocker was his own hype man as he pin-balled from desk to desk during a recent visit to CITY Newspaper. In case there was any doubt, he was wearing a hoodie that said “Money, Money, Money” on the back. “Eddie Money, the rock…
LATIN JAZZ | Tiempo Libre
It’s another cold, snowy weekend morning as I write this, so the thought of spending a couple of hours with a group that’s been described as “a multi-cultural aphrodisiac” sounds pretty good. When the members of Tiempo Libre were music students in Havana, they learned the sounds of American pop, jazz, and classical music by…
Album review: ‘Something Worth Destroying’
Apologist “Something Worth Destroying” Self-released apologist.bandcamp.com With the concept of listening and sharing music bound for the digital realm exclusively, I find that I don’t have piles and piles of CDs on my desk anymore. I have more room for my Lemmy statue to waltz by my computer. So on slow weeks, I end up…
CLASSICAL | Tchaikovsky’s ‘Swan Lake’
This week, the RPO will perform a lively concert featuring compositions specifically written for ballet or with movement in mind. With this focus on symphonic works for dance, Music Director Ward Stare has chosen some real gems that are ideal for his buoyant, charismatic conducting aesthetic, including Bartók’s thrilling ballet music for a rather seedy…
Album review: ‘Love & Money’
The Brill “Love & Money” Pleasure Point Records brillyeah.com I hope I’m not unmasking Batman here, but The Brill is actually Rochester-based artist and one-man band Paul Thatcher. The Brill is a rock ‘n’ roll superhero who has just produced “Love & Money,” an excellent rock ‘n’ roll record, over in England. As an added…
CHAMBER MUSIC | ‘Common Ground’
A joint presentation by contemporary classical ensemble fivebyfive and jazz-world fusion band The Rita Collective, “Common Ground” is guaranteed to feature music you’ve never heard live before. Area composers Dean Keller (The Rita Collective), Eric Polenik (fivebyfive), and Marc Webster wrote new works exclusively for this event. That lineup alone would be cause for celebration,…
METALCORE | Rochester Rampage 2018
While contemporary metalcore is somewhat distanced from its hardcore-adjacent roots (see: From Autumn to Ashes, Eighteen Visions, et al.), it still shares the same penchant for the theatrical. Rochester Rampage will showcase some of the most promising up-and-coming metalcore acts the city has to offer. Bands like Scenery With Solace, Transcendence, and Shepherd of Rot…
FOLK | Her Dad’s Banjo
You wouldn’t guess it if you’ve been indoctrinated by any of the country music currently polluting the airwaves, but the genre has a rich history steeped in resistance and the political. Zora Acephala understands this to a masterful degree, and her project, Her Dad’s Banjo, is at once a celebration of country and folk music’s…
PUNK | The Emersons
This is the kind of punk rock we need more of here in Rochester. I’m not saying The Emersons aren’t enough, just that I’d like to see more. Dig the band live and you’ll see: it’s a fist-pumping cavalcade just a few clicks shy of being considered out-and-out hardcore — what with its break-neck tempos…
Feedback 2/7
We welcome your comments. Send them to themail@rochester-citynews.com or post them with articles on our website, rochestercitynewspaper.com. Those of fewer than 350 words have a greater chance of being published; we edit selections for publication in print, and we don’t publish comments sent to other media. Immigration and the courts Stories like this are by…
UR study hopes to help victims of domestic violence
Getting a court order of protection is a fundamental tool to protect victims of domestic abuse from further abuse by their attackers. And getting the order as quickly as possible is critically important. That typically requires carefully documenting bruises and other injuries. But frequently, that’s not as simple as taking photographs of the affected areas…
ROOTS | Sean Rowe
What if Leonard Cohen were a cowboy? What if Neko Case had a beard? What if a voice so powerful and deep could gently strike a chord so exquisite within you that you couldn’t help but cry? Well you’d be talking about Sean Rowe. Seeing this man is like going to church without all that…
The year full of news about Donald Trump
Trump’s behavior as the president hasn’t surprised me. The surprise has been the reaction from the Republicans in Congress.
Film preview: ‘The 2018 Oscar-Nominated Shorts’
It’s that time of year again, as ShortsTV once again brings all fifteen of the year’s Oscar-nominated short films from the Animated, Live-Action, and Documentary categories into theaters around the country. Get an advantage in your office Oscar pool, and catch up with all the nominees before the Academy Awards ceremony takes place on Sunday,…
Film review: ‘The Cloverfield Paradox’
Netflix dropping a trailer for the latest “Cloverfield” movie in the middle of Sunday’s Super Bowl appeared to be business as usual. After all, most of the year’s big-budget blockbusters debuted splashy new footage during the big event. But when that ad promised the movie would be available to watch immediately after the game? That…
Film review: ‘Winchester’
The story of Sarah Winchester, infamous heiress to the Winchester Repeating Arms company fortune, is a fascinating one: growing despondent after the death of her infant daughter and then her husband, Sarah (played here by Helen Mirren) moved to San Jose in the late 1800s. There, she purchased a modest property, turning it into a…
