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PRIMARY DAY IS JUNE 25
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Laura Dubin Trio brings ‘West Side Story’ to 2019 CGI RIJF
Two young people from different backgrounds meet and fall in love — and society tears them apart. You may recognize that as “West Side Story.” Here’s another story: Two young people from different backgrounds meet and fall in love — and end up making music together all over the world.
2019 CGI RIJF offers daytime concerts, workshops
The 2019 CGI Rochester International Jazz Festival will host 12 p.m. performances at the Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County and 1 p.m. jazz workshops at the Eastman School of Music’s Ray Wright Room, Monday June 24 through Friday, June 28.
Historians discuss the Broad Street Bridge
City Council member Mitch Gruber, a historian himself, will be joined by City Historian Christine Ridarsky, and Michael Brown, assistant professor of history at Rochester Institute of Technology, for a June 19 discussion on the Broad Street bridge and aqueduct.
Confusion around special education programs continues
Even as preschool special education providers began inking contracts with Monroe County this week, the county has continued to clarify what those contracts mean. The new agreements, set to take effect July 1, laid out new reimbursement rates for preschool special education services. The county sets these rates, and pays the providers, to ensure that…
Rochester Sudanese youth protest against massacre in home country
Sudan’s transitional military government has been increasingly violent against peaceful protesters. Local organizers are holding a demonstration in support of the Sudanese people at noon Saturday in front of the Liberty Pole.
Bronson releases RCSD improvement bill
Assembly member Harry Bronson has released a draft of the Rochester City School District Empowerment Act, a bill he says will help improve student outcomes in Rochester schools.
2019-20 Eastman Opera Theatre boasts two double bills
Eastman Opera Theatre continues to stage productions of operas outside of the standard repertoire. But while EOT has frequently highlighted the work of living composers, the 2019-20 season features lesser-known operas from both the 18th and 20th centuries, including works by important but underappreciated composers.
Arts groups share ideas on boosting downtown
Representatives from four US cities took center stage at an Arts in the Loop symposium last week at the Eastman School of Music, sharing their ideas on how to boost Rochester’s economic development through arts and culture. A coalition of arts groups, community leaders, and others, Arts in the Loop hopes to help revitalize downtown…
Nominations sought for arts steering committee
A collective of local arts organization members is putting together a committee with the intention of getting Rochester’s arts and creative communities involved in the city’s comprehensive plan process. Last month the city of Rochester presented a draft of “Rochester 2034,” its 15-year comprehensive plan for improvements in housing, transportation, economic growth, and other areas.…
ROCK ‘N’ ROLL | Alison Pipitone Band
Buffalo’s Alison Pipitone is a straight-up, straight-ahead barroom rock ‘n’ roller. Her music is like a rough-and-rowdy, sawdust-strewn soundtrack for blue-collar romeos, and as she puts it, “Dancing Girls on the Tables.” Some might call the music “Americana.” I say we drop the “a” at the end. Let the folkies keep it. Pipitone plays sheer…
BLUES | Doug MacLeod
With a tapping foot and a slapping hand for percussion, fantastic fingerpicking mixed with slide guitar and strumming, and a voice as rough as gravel, Doug MacLeod is the ultimate one-man blues band. Over the last four decades he’s paid his dues working with greats like Big Joe Turner, Big Mama Thornton and Eddie “Cleanhead”…
REGGAE | The Wailers
After the untimely death of the legendary Bob Marley in 1981, Ashton “Family Man” Barrett took The Wailers’ baton. Barrett still runs the legendary group. Though the band hasn’t released any new material in a spell, it still keeps up a heavy touring schedule. Simply one of the best. The Wailers, Root Shock, The Buddhahood,…
ACOUSTIC ROCK-POP | Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds
Few figures in pop music are as polarizing as Dave Matthews. He and his band have been a staple of jam-friendly rock music for a quarter-century, and in the process have become either a beloved live act or an irritating musical aberration, depending on who you ask. I maintain that a lot of the backlash…
COMEDY | Joel McHale
Comedian Joel McHale has made an entire profession of satirizing pop-culture and reminding us how ridiculous some of the stuff we watch truly is (hello, “The Bachelor”). He has done a bit of everything, from hosting 12 successful seasons of E!’s “The Soup” to starring in the beloved comedy series “Community” and hosting the 2014…
AMERICANA | Jon Itkin & The Receivers
Jon Itkin is best known as the guitarist for folk-bluegrass outfit The Crooked North. But Itkin also applies his steady strumming and concise country songwriting to his own project. Saturday’s show will feature solo acoustic tunes as well as backing from his band The Receivers, in its debut gig. Expect plenty of blue-collar folk songs,…
ART | Western New York Pottery Festival
The ninth annual Western New York Pottery Festival will welcome more than 20 regional and national ceramicists with the juried show’s opening this weekend. Most art festivals are focused on two things: showing and selling. While that’s certainly important to the artists you’ll find at this festival, there will also be a large focus on…
INDIE ROCK | Muler
Every now and again, Rochester’s Muler pokes its head out to prove there are plenty of arrows left in their indie quiver. Muler, in essence, possesses a sound that’s more than just “indie,” but that’s the only term that comes close, without having to dismantle your record collection. The band encompasses the dynamic push-and-pull of…
SPECIAL EVENT | Wine Tasting Cruise
Boozin’ while you’re cruising, cruisin’ for a boozin’, booze on a cruise, and I’ll stop there. The Sam Patch Packet Boat has been a beloved member of the Erie Canal culture for 25 years, its yellow exterior as characteristic of the canal as the flocks of pigeons and hungry ducks. And with their annual Wine…
SPECIAL EVENT | Brighton Eco-Fair
With all of the news of the increasingly dangerous climate changes, it’s important for people to come together as a community and decide to alter our ways. This weekend, the Brighton Farmer’s Market will welcome nonprofits and green vendors as part of the Brighton Eco-Fair. The event is organized by ColorBrightonGreen.org, a non-profit dedicated to…
SPECIAL EVENT | ‘Cultivating Creative Agency’
This weekend’s “Cultivating Creative Agency” conference is all about creating a more inclusive space within the art and design fields for Black and Indigenous People/Persons of Color, or BIPOC. Through a panel discussion and plenty of time to mingle, the event is poised to create an honest, educational conversation about agency and inequity in the…
THEATER | ‘Four Men on a Couch’
This weekend Dark Blue Mondaze and {theater}+{náfsi} will present “Four Men on a Couch” at Bread and Water Theater this weekend. The urban comedy by acclaimed playwright Anne L. Thompson-Scretching focuses on four men who are down on their luck. Using a balance of absurd comedy, shock, and tears, “Four Men on a Couch” presents…
FILM | ‘EVA: A-7063’
Earlier this month we passed the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the pivotal Allied victory during World War II. Surrounding worldwide commemorations were discussions of the importance of recording memories directly from those who lived through that time, before those voices are lost to history. For decades there have been many efforts to obtain and preserve…
Urban Action 6/12
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Rochester’s innovation economy The Rochester Downtown Development Corporation and Greater Rochester Enterprise will present “Growing the Innovation Economy: Tapping Talent and Place to Ignite Rochester” on Tuesday, June 18. Panelists will discuss what…
Health care, not jail for some suspects
Some people accused of crimes in Monroe County will be diverted away from jails and into mental health care under a program that began last week. Police officers and sheriff’s deputies now have the option to refer people accused of misdemeanors or low-level violations to a behavioral clinic instead of booking them into jail. If…
Album review: ‘Queen Shade & etc’
Beef Gordon ‘Queen Shade & etc’ Self-released beefgordon.bandcamp.com If you dig the late Wesley Willis, then you’ll love Beef Gordon’s debut “Queen Shade & etc,” which comes out on Friday, June 14. This album took guts to record, making haunting electronic tunes with the help of a Casio MT-68 keyboard. The clear, overtly smooth tone…
Black Pride: history and the work ahead
Rochester Black Pride Collective balances even its most celebratory parties with discussions of serious work. On Saturday night RBP held a fundraiser for this fall’s Black Pride Festival, announced a scholarship for trans students, and revealed the new Roc Black Pride flag.
Jines, rain or shine
Rochester mainstay Jines offers a wide-ranging and inventive menu of tasty homemade food at reasonable prices (including Greek specialties and breakfast all day), as well as outdoor seating on the prime people-watching corner of Park Avenue and Berkeley Street.
Film preview: ‘The Dead Don’t Die’
The new zombie comedy “The Dead Don’t Die” suggests that it’s society itself that’s currently making writer-director Jim Jarmusch most apprehensive, and the film ultimately offers up his rather bleak appraisal of the modern world.
Sugar Glider: new name, same sweet songs
The Rochester art-folk group formerly known as The Sugar Gliders has been making headway in the local music scene with its irresistible, heart-melting lullabies. The band has also made plenty of changes, morphing from a duo to a quartet, changing its name, and working on a debut studio album — expected to be released at…
Album review: ‘Blue Darling’
Aaron Lipp & The Slacktones ‘Blue Darling’ Self-released on Temple Cabin Records aaronlipp.com The sweet country-swing emanating from the grooves of Aaron Lipp and the Slacktones’ brand new single is intoxicating. Is it Lipp’s haphazard phrasing? The soft moan of the pedal steel? The casual 2/4 lope to and fro on the string bass? Yes,…
