Cover Story
Speaking English
Chris “Hollywood” English preaches the secular gospel with The English Project’s new album
Film review: ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’
With three different live-action iterations of the web-slinging hero appearing across six different films over the span of the last 15 years, it was hard to work up enthusiasm for another. But fresh characterizations and an appealing cast set the new Spider-Man film apart.
Rochester Fringe unveils 2017 lineup
The first World Fringe Day seems an appropriate time for the Rochester Fringe Festival to announce its full 2017 lineup. During its Big Reveal press conference at The Little Tuesday morning, the Fringe released this year’s schedule, including more than 500 shows in venues in and around downtown Rochester. The sixth annual Rochester Fringe Festival…
Film review: ‘The Little Hours’
That the Catholic League decided to issue an official condemnation of this wacked-out story of three horny medieval nuns immediately after its Sundance premiere should tell you everything you need to know about Jeff Baena’s gleefully obscene comedy.
LECTURE | “Seeing Clearly Now”
Saudi activist Mohammed Saad will give a talk, “Seeing Clearly Now: Creative Technology for the Blind in Saudi Arabia,” at the George Eastman Museum discussing his personal experiences as a blind photographer in Saudi Arabia. Saad teaches photography classes to the blind to dispel myths about the capabilities of folks who are visually impaired. Those…
THEATER | “Rumpelstiltskin”
“The queen will never win the game” and Rumpelstiltskin is his name. The audience already has the upper-hand when it comes to the 400-year-old fairy tale made famous by the Brothers Grimm. Coming to Rochester for RAPA’s Family Theatre Summer Show, a kid-friendly production of the story will call upon the audience to participate. Kids…
ART | Folk Art Guild Craft Weekend
There’s still time to register for several classes that will be offered at the Folk Art Guild’s Ninth annual craft weekend, including lessons in theater, timber frame building, and filmmaking. Taught by master artisans, these workshops are for creative people of all skill levels and offer the opportunity to dive head-first into the arts and…
Girl Develop It promotes women in tech through meet-ups
A meeting of Rochester’s Girl Develop It chapter looks a lot like a group of freelancers working in a coffee shop. Heads bent over laptops, brows furrowed in concentration, the click-clacking of computer keys creating a sort of musical orchestration. According to the National Center for Women in Technology, women represent just 26 percent of…
FOLK | The Wood Brothers
I can’t think of a better supporting act for Tedeschi Trucks Band at Highland Bowl this Saturday than The Wood Brothers. The trio makes soul-soothing folk music with homespun charm and just enough high-energy, rock ‘n’ roll grit to get the blood pumping. Brothers Oliver and Chris Wood and Jano Rix know how to rouse…
CLASSICAL | Water Music NY
In July 1717, George Frideric Handel’s “Water Music” was given its first performance on boats traveling London’s Thames River. A century later, on July 4, 1817, construction began in Rome, New York, on the Erie Canal. This summer New York State is celebrating both events in a creative way: Water Music NY, a seven-day event…
PUNK | SinnFest IV
If you’re even remotely familiar with Western New York punk music, chances are you’ve run into James Von Sinn at least once. He’s not exactly difficult to miss — a towering, heavily tattooed, almost vampiric figure with a heart of gold — and he’s far and away Rochester’s premier curator of all things heavy and…
Round-up: nightcaps and nibbles
It’s 9 p.m. on a Wednesday, and you’ve just gotten out of a movie or show, but no one’s ready to call it quits just yet. While it may not be the right evening to paint the town, a slice of something sweet and a glass of wine might strike the balance between opening the…
ALT-ROCK | Fuel
In the nightmarish post-grunge landscape, the bands touting radio-ready singles were king and those still riding Nirvana’s coattails were simply cannon fodder for the club circuit. Tennessee rockers Fuel were (and remain) one of the only bands to emerge from this particularly bleak period of music and achieve commercial success while still retaining a sense…
It’s time to build support for a regional school
This time every year, many of us get a big emotional lift from the Jazz Festival. And for me, it’s not just the music. It’s all those people. Downtown. The Jazz Festival, Fringe, and other big attractions aren’t the only signs of a stronger downtown. Enough people are moving into the new developments that we’re…
FOLK/JAM | Keller Williams
Singer-songwriter Keller Williams is a one-man jam band, consistently creating a completely unique experience for every audience. He does this by utilizing a slew of instruments — including acoustic guitars, wah-wah pedals, and looping machines — and composes each song live on stage. Independent and self-taught, Williams playfully describes his genre as A.D.M (acoustic dance…
Album review: ‘here now’
Sharon Coates “here now” Self-released sharoncoatesmusic.com The title, and to a greater degree the words on “A Bullet Ain’t Got a Name” — the opening track on Sharon Coates’s beautiful new CD, “here now” — caught me unaware right out of the gate. It’s been rolling around in my head for the past two days;…
ELECTRO-POP | Hank & Cupcakes
There is nothing Hank & Cupcakes can’t do. OK, the pair struggles with stuff like cold fusion and time travel, but when it comes to tunes or putting on a show, Hank & Cupcakes is the Lamborghini of live acts. Bassist Hank suspends reality with pedal effects that make the duo sound more like a…
Album review: ‘Loaded Goat’
Loaded Goat “Loaded Goat” Gabby Records reverbnation.com/loadedgoat Loaded Goat’s new three-song EP plays out in a cinematic display of violence and cool. The record isn’t at all over-the-top, and it keeps the chaos at bay. Though initially a studio-bound one-man-band, Rob Roemer has plugged in some humanity in order to scratch the itch and heed…
CLASSICAL | RPO Around the Town
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra may perform less frequently during the summer, but it still gets around. In addition to summer concerts with the full orchestra (many of them conducted by Ward Stare), for four weeks starting next Tuesday, the City of Rochester will present RPO musicians in hour-long Around the Town ensemble concerts throughout the…
Feedback 7/5
Send comments 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 edit selections for publication in print. ‘Policing’ the police Frank…
Threats to Medicaid lead to sit-in
About 25 members of the disability-rights group ADAPT were arrested and charged with trespassing after a sit-in at the Monroe County Republican Committee’s headquarters on State Street last week. The group asked county Republicans to go on record opposing any health-care legislation that caps or cuts federal Medicaid funding. About 40 people took part in…
School board approves studying a regional school
The Rochester school board has taken the first step in exploring the feasibility of a regional school designed to attract a diverse student body. Board members voted last week to include the measure in a study of the district’s school-choice policy, which already under way. The school could be much like the one proposed more…
Ben Morey gets help climbing ‘Mt. Doom’
Ben Morey listens to the news when he writes music. That would explain the clever pessimism running through the song “Been Gone,” from his epic album “Mt. Doom,” just released on June 30 through City of Quality Records and Dadstache Records: “I don’t shudder when I read the news / You know nobody in the…
FESTIVAL | Geneseo Summerfest
The Village of Geneseo is kick-starting the month of July with its 35th Summer Festival and Sidewalk Days, hosted by the Geneseo Rotary Club. You can spend two days wandering through downtown and Village Park, stopping to shop at various artisan vendor stations, or grab a bite at one of the local churches or Rotary…
Keeping the mentally ill out of prison
Ronnie Cox speaks in a soft, gentlemanly voice. His thinning, curly black hair is speckled with white, and his left hand wobbles with a slight tremor when he talks. Cox, who is 64, spent 16 years in prison. He was addicted to heroin and cocaine, and he contracted hepatitis C, a viral infection that often…
SPECIAL EVENT | La Cantina Drag Brunch
Havana Cabana will help you forget about the recent un-seasonable rain and wind with “La Cantina Drag Brunch,” an island getaway-themed brunch. Wash down a Caribbean-inspired buffet with mimosas and cocktails by the pitcher, while enjoying performances by Ortensia de Loren, Miss Deelicious, Vanity Faire, and Darienne Lake, who is a former contestant on “Rupaul’s…
COMEDY/MUSIC | Live+Love+Laugh
Grammy Award-winning R&B and soul artist Monica will perform this weekend at Kodak Center for Performing Arts in the Live+Love+Laugh concert series. Joining her will be three comedians: Anthony Jimenez, also known as Imagine, who has been featured on Latino Laughter and Comedy Central; Georgia-native Mope Williams, who has been featured on BET’s “Comicview”; and…
Preview: 2017 Rochester International Jewish Film Festival
The warm weather brings with it Rochester’s largest summer film event: the annual JCC Ames Amzalak Rochester International Jewish Film Festival. Marking its 17th year, the festival celebrates Jewish culture and heritage through nine days of film screenings, live performances, guest directors, and post-film discussions. The RIJFF begins Sunday, July 9, and runs through Monday,…
