Cover Story
Night of the living thread
A lifelong passion for scary movies led Ben Scrivens to start Fright Rags, an online purveyor of original horror-themed T-shirts. The Rochester-based company now has a global fan base, and is getting work from major movie studios.
Negative focus on College Town isn’t fair, some tenants say
Some tenants worry that obsession on recent closings will hurt the whole development.
Book tour for ‘The Human Superorganism’ stops in Rochester
Rodney Dietert’s new book, “The Human Superorganism,” looks at the universe of microorganisms that surround the human body.
County contract chaos grows
Jail deputies aren’t alone; only two of the county’s eight labor unions have active contracts.
RCSD students still struggle with the basics
How much stock should we place in test scores? Very little, many parents and educators say. Tests represent a small snapshot of how students are performing at a given time, and there are other forms of measurement, they say. But what if the scores show a pattern? What does it mean when year after year,…
Steve Dubnik takes the helm at The Strong
The Strong National Museum of Play today announced that President and CEO G. Rollie Adams has announced his plan to retire effective December 31, 2016, and will become president and CEO emeritus at The Strong, assuming a consulting role and assisting with fundraising and advice on strategic museum development. Concurrent with this announcement, the museum…
The City Seen: July 30-31
City Newspaper last weekend stopped by City Hall and traveled out to the Village of Spencerport for its Canal Days Festival. City Hall’s Link Gallery is currently displaying Frank Liberti’s photography, which features panoramic views of Rochester’s architecture and everyday life on aluminum plates. His high contrast, wide-view shots gave visitors a new perspective on…
FESTIVAL | Waterfront Art Festival
The Waterfront Art Festival (now in its 43rd edition) is back in Webster for the second year in a row. The new location offers more room, shade, and different parking options for attendees who come to see the work from more than 120 artists, including fine art and homemade crafts. The festival also includes live…
OFF THE RECORD: Louise Slaughter
Needless to say, music is an integral part of all our lives, from the rock concert T-shirt you proudly wore to school the day after the show to the songs you chose for your wedding. It’s our motivation, and it’s our soundtrack. You can learn a lot about a person simply by hearing what they…
Feedback 7/27
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. Airport should…
Urban Action 7/27
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. Chance to learn about reducing solar’s cost ColorBrightonGreen.org is coordinating “Green Drinks to Solarize Monroe County,” an information session to talk about a state program that reduces the cost of solar panels. It…
Week Ahead: Events for the week of Monday, August 1
The Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative at United Way will hold a public meeting Tuesday night in Penfield. It is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on August 2 at the Eastside Family YMCA, 1835 Fairport Nine Mile Point Road. The event is being billed as a “community Town Hall meeting” and it is free and open…
Whole Foods critics get lawyers
Three groups opposed to a planned Whole Foods and retail plaza on Monroe Avenue say that they are prepared to sue the Town of Brighton if their concerns aren’t addressed. Two of the groups represent people who live close to the project site, and the third represents anonymous Monroe Avenue business and residents. All three…
Five takes on “House and Home” at Main Street Arts”House and Home”
The current show at Main Street Arts in Clifton Springs, “House and Home,” offers achingly nostalgic looks at mostly rural environments. The works of three painters, one printmaker, and one mixed-media sculptor explore the physical structures and nebulous dreams that make a home, and together they build a sense of domestic tranquility, the passage of…
Bike share hits smaller metros
Buffalo started a program recently, and Rochester is exploring the idea
THEATER | “Loot”
For its summer staged reading, The Penfield Players will dig into “Loot,” a (very) dark comedy of questionable taste. Written by Joe Orton, the play follows Dennis, who works in a funeral parlor, and Hank, who recently lost his mother, as they pull their first heist as young thieves. After robbing the bank next door…
Embracing common humanity
Teaching and promoting a message of peace is important to the Seneca people, says Meg Joseph, executive director of Friends of Ganondagan. And one way to do that, she says, is through an upcoming event, “Breaking Bread, Building Bridges,” which is from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, August 7, at the Seneca Art…
SPECIAL EVENT | Seneca Lake Plein Air Arts Festival
Where the great outdoors and art-making meet, there is the Seneca Lake Plein Air Arts Festival. The event will take place on the east end of Seneca Lake and the surrounding vineyards and orchards, with painters, sculptors, and artists of all kinds will be working on creations in the outdoors from 7 a.m. to 3…
Nosh puts its emphasis on having the right team
When we walk away from a restaurant experience, more often than not, it’s what we didn’t like that is more memorable than what we did. John Nacca and Pete Lezeska are friends and business partners who found themselves having a meal together and discussing what they didn’t like about recent restaurant experiences — everything from…
ALT-ROCK | Holy White Hounds
Des Moines, yet another place where Bugs Bunny took a wrong turn on his way to Pismo Beach, is the home of Holy White Hounds, a genre-defying alt-rock band that flouts definition including that of genre-defying alt-rock band. Founded in 2005, this fearsome foursome plays angular rock with a refreshing newness and differentness powered by…
BLUES/PROGRESSIVE | Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy
This show is for all you six-string aficionados, you swingin’ Guitarzans, and guit-fiddle mechanics. Presenting the guitar from its muddy roots to its stratospheric vapor trail will be this expansive double bill starring blues legend Buddy Guy and innovative guitar master Jeff Beck. At 79, Guy still blazes across the stage playing the Chicago-style electric…
HIP-HOP | Riff Raff
While most performers struggle to establish an identity, Horst Christian Simco, better known as Riff Raff, spills out multiple aliases at a continuous pace: Jody Highroller, The Neon Python, and The Peach Panther are just a few of this rapper’s alter egos. Riff Raff became an Internet sensation with tunes like “Bird on A Wire,”…
REGGAE | JAH9 and The Dub Treatment
A staple on the music scene in Kingston, Jamaica, since 2009, JAH9 and The Dub Treatment is fronted by dub poet and social activist Janine Cunningham. JAH9 promotes messages of positivity and empowerment, layering poetry about gender and the African diaspora over playful, effervescent grooves, and the group’s upcoming album, “9,” due out in September,…
AMERICANA | Julie Rhodes
If you’ve ever watched shows like “Justified,” “Sons of Anarchy,” or “Preacher,” there’s a certain aesthetic of music that might immediately come to mind. It’s a down and dirty brand of blues-rock, and Julie Rhodes embodies all that is wonderful about that genre. Rhodes has the grit in her voice that makes her absolutely authentic…
ROCK | Quilt
Sometimes you just want to scratch the classic rock itch, but you like to keep your ear to the metaphorical ground when it comes to what’s new. The Boston quartet Quilt has somehow concocted a wonderful mix of 70’s balladry and modern dream pop that’s landed them everywhere from NPR to “Last Call with Carson…
CLASSICAL | “Song of Peace”
Music at Incarnate Word is collaborating with the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence for “Song of Peace,” a concert described as “a choral celebration of peace within our community,” and consists of a wide range of music from classics by Mendelssohn and Gerald Finzi to contemporary composers Dale Warland and Joan Szymko. The concert will…
ART | This is Our Youth
MuCCC is currently hosting a week full of events to celebrate the art created by the youth of Rochester. The series — which presented “Junk,” an original play performed by Dream, Visualize, Create about addiction, and an art gallery opening for Mariah Rose and Roman Cobb, two Monroe Community College students, earlier this week —…
SPECIAL EVENT | “Songs for Pulse”
Last month’s mass shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub was a horrific tragedy. But in the aftermath, many have been inspired to heartfelt acts to raise awareness of LGBTQ issues and to help the Pulse survivors and their families. This Monday, August 1, Downstairs Cabaret will present a concert fundraiser, “Songs for Pulse,” featuring cast members…
KIDS | Sci-Fi Summer: Starships and UFOs
The Strong National Museum of Play’s Sci-Fi Summer continues with a starships and UFOs themed weekend. Kids can make tinfoil and paper plate UFOs, meet “Starship Troopers” actor David Ramsay in costume, who will share his film experiences, and take pictures with the TARDIS, from “Doctor Who.” All Sci-Fi Summer activities are included with the…
The Beaumonts boogie to its own beat
You might think they do, but musicians don’t owe you a damn thing. Now I’m not speaking of those shallow showbiz shills with all their kowtowing and condescension, but about artists who brilliantly marry words and melody together. You know how it is: you fall in love with a particular artist’s sound. You love it,…
Film review: “Star Trek Beyond”
At first blush, director Justin Lin might appear an odd fit to take over the “Star Trek” film series. While helming four of the seven entries in the “Fast and Furious” franchise, Lin proved himself a maestro of swaggering action, crunching metal, and revving engines, all characteristics that seem a far cry from “Trek’s” earnest…
