Cover Story
Winter warmup
Something feels a little incongruent with publishing this Winter Guide during a relatively mild winter. There hasn’t been much snow in the first month of 2017, and a streak of days with temperatures in the upper-30’s and mid-40’s would fit better in April rather than a Rochester January.
Spiritus Christi’s Rev. Myra Brown is ordained a priest
Myra Brown was just 8 years old when she says she first realized she wanted to help and serve others. Brown, 51, has had several spiritual callings in her life, she says. And on Saturday, Brown, a deacon at Spiritus Christi, became the third African-American woman in the US to be ordained as a Catholic…
Rochester protesters strike defiant tone
Sunday’s rally in Washington Square Park was both a moment of catharsis and an act of defiance against President Donald Trump for his immigration ban, enacted by executive order on Friday. The order temporarily bans citizens of six Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States: Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and Iraq. Syrian immigrants are…
Week ahead: Events for the week of Monday, January 30
The Monroe County Parks Department will release a draft of its Highland Park South master plan on Wednesday. The plan will be available at www.monroecounty.gov/parks. The county’s Parks Advisory Committee will review and take comments on the draft when it meets at 6 p.m. on Thursday, February 16, at Olmsted Lodge in Highland Park, 171 Reservoir…
Photo Gallery: Rally draws opposition to Trump’s ban
Hundreds of protesters filled Washington Square Park on Sunday to voice opposition to President Donald Trump’s move to ban immigrants from several mostly Muslim countries from entering the United States.
This week in the mayor’s race: Friday, January 27
There’s not a lot new to report this week in the Rochester mayor’s race. I will tell you that sensitivities are remarkably high, especially considering that we still only have one candidate (James Sheppard). I’m worried, though, with all the talk about the race being a proxy to wage old wars: white and black; Park…
Body cameras coming to city schools
Rochester police officers stationed in the city school district will start wearing body cameras. The officers, known as school resource officers, will be issued cameras and go through training on various days from February 20 to February 24. No date has been set yet for officers to start wearing cameras on duty. The police department’s…
Film review: “A Dog’s Purpose”
There’s no lazier way to get a laugh out of an audience than cutting to a dog’s face as a punchline. Similarly, there’s no easier way to wring tears from an audience than putting that dog in jeopardy, or even killing off the poor pooch entirely. Both are shortcuts filmmakers can take when they want…
Monroe County to receive $1.1 million in arts funding from NYS
New York State announces more than $41 million in support of arts and cultural organizations
Choose your noodle
Local restaurants capitalize on the ultimate comfort food
All roads lead to Village Gate
Ever since The Gate House moved into the former location of Espada Brazilian Steak last Fourth of July weekend, there has been a void in Village Gate. Kristen Flores-Fratto, the owner of The Gate House, knew another restaurant could flourish in the large, visible location at the end of the courtyard. Flores-Fratto and her husband,…
Scheduling fresh air
Earth Explorers provides winter recreation for kids
PROGRESSIVE ROCK | Umphrey’s McGee
Every generation has an American jam band for its time. Umphrey’s McGee is just that: a band consistently being compared to Phish and The Grateful Dead, with similar extended improvisational sets made of two parts, encouraged live audience tapings, and a constant touring schedule. What separates this group is its ever-evolving experimental, progressive style. Although…
Sweeping through winter
Broomball, like a cross between hockey and soccer, brings out all kinds of Rochester players
ROCK | Rock for Women’s Rights
Women and rock are banding together for a charity show with all proceeds going to Planned Parenthood. Slated to play is the purple princess of the heavy guitar Melia, blues-rock mama Deborah Magone, Jane Evil and Zadoc Angel playing an acoustic set, and the Windshield Bugs featuring Nancy Halligan and Sara Petry, along with artists…
CLASSICAL | “The Phoenix Cellist”
I don’t know what a Phoenix Cellist may be, but it does lend its name to an appealing concert this Friday in the Hochstein School’s “Spotlight on Faculty” series. Cellist Kathleen Murphy Kemp (also of the RPO) and pianist Doleen Hood present a short but sweet program that includes cello sonatas by Gaspar Cassado (the…
Renaldi pictures the ‘Manhattan Sunday’ at Eastman
Photographer Richard Renaldi’s new body of work, “Manhattan Sunday,” which opened at George Eastman Museum on Friday, straddles the lines between portraiture, street photography, and still life. Featuring photographs made on eerily empty Manhattan streets in the wee hours after the clubs let out, the work also captures the blurred lines between nightlife and daybreak,…
OPERA | Julia Bullock
Soprano Julia Bullock has the kind of voice that immediately captivates. It has an enthralling combination of power and pathos. The result is a highly expressive and intangible human empathy that Bullock will undoubtedly bring to the Lyric Theatre stage on Monday. A proven interpreter of contemporary classical music, Bullock has had a pivotal role…
OPERA/THEATER | “The Old Maid and the Thief”
Italian-American composer Gian Carlo Menotti’s “The Old Maid and the Thief” is a popular choice among opera ensembles looking to produce one-acts with compelling human drama. The Nazareth College music department’s Opera Workshop will interpret this story of young lovers, aged gossips, and deception in a short run that begins on Friday. The Nazareth College…
EMO | Sinai Vessel
North Carolina’s Sinai Vessel describe itself as “punks for sissies” on its Bandcamp profile, which is potentially the undersell of the century. While this kind of self-deprecating humor is all too common in the emo circuit, for a band like Sinai Vessel, a phenomenally tight emo three-piece that blends gut-wrenching vulnerability with massive choruses, it…
ART | “Confluence”
Although the new exhibit opening at Oxford Gallery this week bears the title of a painting by a featured artist, “Confluence” is also an apt name for a showing of artwork by two different people. Two streams of artistic focus and style converge on Saturday, January 28, at 267 Oxford Street. Featuring paintings and drawings…
BROADWAY | Norm Lewis
Norm Lewis doesn’t need much spin; his impressive theater resume speaks for itself: he’s played Porgy in “Porgy & Bess,” and has appeared in “Sondheim on Sondheim,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Les Miserables,” “Chicago,” “Miss Saigon,” and on and on, all on Broadway. He was also the first African-American to play the Phantom in the Broadway…
FILM | “The Search for Silverspear”
A project more than 25 years in the making, local filmmaker Curtiss Markham will present his stop-motion animated film, “The Search for Silverspear,” on Saturday, January 28, 8 p.m., at the Visual Studies Workshop (31 Prince Street). Starting in 1987, when Markham was just 13 years old, the young director shot the film frame-by-painstaking-frame on…
ROCK | Tyler Westcott
It’s a madcap, madman’s parade when Folk Faces’ Tyler Westcott blows through town with a jalopy full of merry pranksters. The man hails from the Buffalo tundra but has his self-effacing, acerbic wit to combat the cold. Westcott brandishes all manner of musical weaponry that when shoehorned with his wry lyricism and accelerated jazz and…
FILM/LECTURE | “Human Trafficking: A Rochester Problem, Too”
In observance of Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Month, St. John Fisher College will tackle the human rights issue on a local and national scale with a two-day event, “Human Trafficking: A Rochester Problem, Too.” Things begin Wednesday, January 25, with a screening of “Sold.” The film, directed by Jeffrey D. Brown, follows a young…
Tony Trischka remains a banjo hero
The banjo. Although often maligned, or at least misunderstood, the instrument has a hero in Tony Trischka. This Syracuse native has slung the five-string banjo in groups like The Down City Ramblers and Country Cooking, and produced Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers’ 2011 album, “Rare Bird Alert.” He’s also received a Grammy nod…
DANCE | Shen Yun
The dance and music company Shen Yun cultivates 5,000 years of Chinese culture for live performances around the world. The non-profit organization brings ancient Chinese tales and stories to life using classical dances, backdrops, traditional costumes, and a live orchestra. In this performance Shen Yun recreates the Land of the Divine, or “Shen Zhou,” of…
Album review: ‘henry’
Periodic Table of Elephants “henry” Self-released periodictableofelephants.bandcamp.com Periodic Table of Elephants might raise a question with its artwork — is that a cookie on the cover? — but the power duo is heavy on its debut EP, “henry,” stomping its way through four songs that leave no doubt to what this band stands for. Recorded at…
Netflix vs. chill
When you’re snowed in, make your own movie marathon with these suggestions
Album review: ‘Beautiful Disease’
A Vintage Year “Beautiful Disease” Self-released avintageyear.bandcamp.com A Vintage Year’s sophomore EP, “Beautiful Disease,” resonates with some juxtaposition: influenced by grunge, the band blends in elements of prog- and alt-rock for a more contemporary sound. It roars like an engine. “Beautiful Disease” opens up with “Lot to Say” and wastes no time launching into a…
Through the winter
The big concerts, theater performances, and events to look forward to in the beginning of 2017
Feedback 1/25
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. We nailed…
Urban Action 1/25
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. Faithful plan for the underserved The Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester will sponsor a two-part event, “Fresh Wind in Our Sails: Caring for the Underserved.” On Thursday, January 26, the Rev. Tim…
Shells spell distress
Much of the sand at Ontario Beach is currently covered in grey and white shells. They’re everywhere; it’s like walking on a carpet of walnuts. The shells are from dead zebra mussels, an invasive species that first appeared in Lake Ontario in the late 1980’s. (Some are also, more than likely, shells from the similar…
Nuclear subsidies: bailout or rescue?
Not too long ago, Upstate New York’s three nuclear power plants were on the verge of shutting down. They simply could no longer sell their electricity for enough to cover the cost of generating it. This April, however, electricity consumers in New York will begin paying to keep those plants online while New York makes…
Film review: “Split”
The career of M. Night Shyamalan has had its ups and downs over the years. After being anointed the next Spielberg following the massive success of “The Sixth Sense,” “Unbreakable,” and “Signs” in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, the filmmaker faltered with middling efforts, “The Village” and “The Happening,” before completely squandering any goodwill…
For the next four years: watch, protest, and heal
Each of us has to take responsibility for change. Saturday’s marches have to be the beginning, not the end.
Theater review: “Sylvia” onstage at Geva
To herald in 2017, Geva Theatre Center is throwing its audiences a bone. “Sylvia,” which features a canine-centered storyline, opened on January 14; it’s the second comedy in Geva’s Wilson Stage season, following last fall’s season opener “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” “Sylvia,” penned by Buffalo-born playwright A.R. Gurney, premiered…
