Cover Story
After Hurricane Maria, Puerto Ricans find hope in Rochester
After Hurricane Maria roared across Puerto Rico, more than 160,000 residents fled the devastated island, according to the New York Times. Many have found their way to Rochester, which has the state’s second largest Hispanic population.
Wilmorite withdraws Pittsford hotel proposal
Wilmorite has pulled its application to redevelop key property along Schoen Place in the Village of Pittsford, according to a notice sent out by the village this afternoon. Village officials say that they were notified of the company’s decision to withdraw its application on Friday by its attorney, Alan Knauf. Wilmorite planned to buy the…
LGBTQ youth at greatest risk for homelessness
Up to 1.6 million youth across America experience homelessness each year, and 40 percent of them identify as LGBTQ, according to the True Colors Fund. Rochester is no exception, Center for Youth director Elaine Spaull said at a recent press conference. The event marked the launching of By Their Side, a Center for Youth campaign…
The F Word: Can The Struts save glam?
Introducing The F Word. This will be 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. The Struts are more than they appear to be.…
Fresh Cut: ‘I Was Living Here’ by The Mighty High and Dry
The Mighty High and Dry “I Was Living Here” Self-released themightyhighanddry.com Soulful Rochester rockers The Mighty High and Dry have struck a nerve on its new single, “I Was Living Here.” With guest vocals by roots rocker Brian Lindsay and soul singer Danielle Ponder, each weighing in on a verse, the band addresses nascent issues…
Artists reflect on Frederick Douglass’s words and legacy in ‘No Soil Better’
Americans spent a chunk of 2017 grappling with taking down monuments to Confederate figures. As the US commemorates the 200th anniversary of Frederick Douglass’s chosen birthday this year, many of Rochester’s discussions are centered on the 1899 Stanley Edwards monument of Douglass that has served as a tribute of his potent words and tireless work.…
OPERA | ‘Les Enfants Terribles’
Eastman Opera Theatre is at it again. Following a triumphant production of Monteverdi’s “L’incoronazione di Poppea,” the troupe this week will offer a decidedly more intimate, modern work with minimalist composer Philip Glass’s “Les Enfants Terribles.” Based on the Jean Cocteau novel of the same name, the 1996 chamber opera follows two siblings as they…
THEATER | ‘The Hit Makers’
If you’re in a nostalgic mood for the music of the late 60’s, JCC CenterStage Theatre has you covered with “The Hit Makers, And the Beat Goes On,” beginning this Saturday and running through February 18. This musical revue showcases a smorgasbord of classic songs from a golden age in popular music, made famous by…
SPECIAL EVENT | RMSC After Dark: Night of Champions
The Rochester Museum & Science Center this Saturday continues its popular “RMSC After Dark” series of 21+ social gatherings, with “Night of Champions.” In anticipation of the upcoming XXIII Winter Olympic Games in South Korea, the event’s activities include meeting with local Olympians, Olympic trivia, Dutch shuffleboard, and more. A cash bar and snacks will…
ART | ‘Dongyi Wu: Wandering in a Deep Deep Dream’
Dongyi Wu’s work blends the boundaries between sculpture, jewelry, fashion design, and conceptual installation, and her influences include the subconscious, psychology, and surrealism. In a provided statement, she says that she seeks to “express the anxiety concealed by daily life by exploring people’s dreams.” Wu earned her undergraduate degree at the Beijing Institute of Fashion…
ART | ‘Guardians of the Arts’
Flower City Arts Center’s exhibit of woodcuts, linoleum prints, mixed-media drawings, and photographs by Marilyn Anderson closes this Friday, February 2. “Guardians of the Arts: Prints of Guatemalan Artists and Artisans” features portraits of Maya and other Guatemalan textile artists, potters, leatherworkers, blacksmiths, tinsmiths, and jewelers at work making their handcrafted wares. The exhibit is…
SPECIAL EVENT | ‘Puppy Love’
You guys, I’m about to brighten your weekend with, like, the best four-letter word: DOGS. The Strong Museum on Saturday, February 3, will present “Puppy Love,” at which you can meet service dogs from Lollypop Farm’s Pet Assisted Therapy program, retired racing dogs from Greyhound Adoption of Greater Rochester, and Biscuit from Alyssa Satin Capucilli’s…
Living Roots Wine & Co. offers transcontinental flavors
On a wall inside the production facility at Living Roots Wine & Co., two clocks hang side by side: one shows the local time in Rochester, the other the time in Adelaide, Australia. It’s a striking reminder of the transnational nature of Living Roots, an urban winery which opened its tasting room on University Avenue…
Album review: ‘From Above, Below, and All Around’
Public Prism “From Above, Below, and All Around” Self-released publicprism.bandcamp.com Public Prism seeks to define itself through sonic instigation and pressure and by dancing around anything concrete or actual. By doing so, the listener is forced into creating and/or arranging the electronic noisescape to make sense on individual terms. “From Above, Below, and All Around”…
ELECTRONIC | Noncompliant
Noncompliant (also known as DJ Shiva) creates a deep, dark, and playful shade of techno, forming a sound that’s distinct in the Midwestern rave scene. From Indianapolis, and having performed abroad — touring as far as Berlin — Shiva will be bringing her set to Rochester as part of local electronic music collective Signal >…
Urban Action 1/31
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Creating public squares The Community Design Center of Rochester will present “Creating Places We Care About,” a lecture by former Birmingham, Michigan, mayor Mark Nickita on Wednesday, January 31. Nickita co-founded Archive D.S.,…
ROCK | Uncle Uku & The Guise
It takes a big person to play a tiny ukulele in a rock band. It takes a bigger person to try and laugh at them. From Corning, Uncle Uku & The Guise is for all intents and purposes a rock band that seems to have harvested its beguiling tunes from a genre it seems to…
Feedback 1/31
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. ‘Redneck’ was the wrong word In “Martin Luther King…
JAZZ | Huntertones
XRIJF alum Huntertones continues to travel and color its sound directly from those worldly excursions. The Huntertones mixes its influences and fills them in with a brass-led charge and a big box of Crayons — yes, even burnt umber. The band’s funk never gets obnoxious and the brassy breakdowns will unhinge the sturdiest of backbones…
Yates County farmworker facing deportation
Gilberto Reyes-Herrera came to the US from Mexico about 25 years ago to escape poverty. Now 51, he has a wife and three children, and according to numerous people, he’s an upstanding part of the Yates County farmworker community. But he is undocumented, and now faces deportation. Last June, Reyes-Herrera was a passenger in a…
HARDCORE | Great American Ghost
Featuring vocals originating somewhere in or near the bowels, trading off stanzas in bursts with precise — and loud — Gatling gun guitar, the Boston boys in Great American Ghost adhere to the principles and political outrage of hardcore. The band celebrates the pressure, letting it seethe, steamy-like until the valve bursts. Great American Ghost…
Collins’ Trump support draws big slate of opponents
Republican House Representative Chris Collins has a target on his back. He was the first member of Congress to support President Donald Trump’s 2016 run, and since then, he’s been a full-throated supporter. He’s defended Trump’s orders blocking the entry of immigrants and refugees, and when the president called on GOP Congress members to pass…
CLASSICAL | Ian Bostridge and Julius Drake
An accomplished opera singer and eminent art song interpreter, tenor Ian Bostridge has a tone that can be alternately soothing and strong, tender and tenacious. On Tuesday, Bostridge will be joined by pianist Julius Drake for a performance of Franz Schubert’s epic song cycle “Winterreise” — “Winter Journey” — in its entirety. Singularly melancholic, the…
JAZZ | Jane Monheit
When Jane Monheit joins The Penfield District Jazz choir to sing “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” at one of the 48th Annual Penfield Jazz Fund Raiser Concerts, she’ll be in familiar territory. Her latest album, “The Songbook Sessions: Ella Fitzgerald,” explores the work of the singer known for that song. Since taking second place in the prestigious Thelonious…
Album review: ‘Midway Dream’
Tom Tramontana “Midway Dream” Self-released tommytandthegliders.com Tom Tramontana’s new CD, “Midway Dream,” opens up with the tune “Glory Bound” and a big stretch as high as the sky. The sweet scram and moan of pedal steel will do that; it’ll carve out a vision and paint it blue. The sound pops on track two, “All…
ROCKABILLY | Bobby Henrie and the Goners
Rock is the easy part. The fun is in the roll, and local act Bobby Henrie and the Goners rolls with the finest. The rockabilly trio, serving up roots music since 1985, is just as comfortable with old-time country, blues, and swing. Front man Bobby Henrie croons and is a lefty who plays with a flipped…
RPO announces its 2018-19 season
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra has announced its 2018-19 season, and Music Director Ward Stare continues to hone the RPO’s artistic image under his tenure. The orchestra seems to be gradually and methodically working to elevate its status to one of more national relevance. While Stare’s programming tastes can frequently be conservative, the choices he makes…
Another big plan unveiled to fix the city’s schools
Among the proposals: schools that could help reduce the concentrated poverty that is crippling the district and its students.
Film Preview: ‘The Breadwinner’
Fresh off its Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature, “The Breadwinner” opens in Rochester this week. The film comes from Cartoon Saloon, the small, Ireland-based animation studio behind the acclaimed (and also Oscar-nominated) “The Secret of Kells” and “Song of the Sea.” Adapted from Deborah Ellis’s 2000 children’s novel and directed by Nora Twomey…
Film Review: ‘Paddington 2’
The first Paddington movie was nothing short of a gift when it was released in 2015. It was the most pleasant of surprises: a simple, beautiful, open-hearted tale told with endless warmth and intelligence. “Paddington 2” just might even be a slight step up from the original. The film continues the adventures of the sweet,…
Bonus features: Meet the Cinema Theater’s new owners
Since first opening its doors in 1914, The Cinema Theater (957 South Clinton Avenue) has become one of the oldest continuously-operated motion picture theaters in the United States. With its distinctive pink art deco facade and cozy, welcoming atmosphere, the Cinema holds a beloved place in Rochester’s moviegoing landscape. That unique, welcoming atmosphere is one…
