Cover Story
Local food gets an artistic spin
Three relatively new businesses on the Rochester food scene, Relish, Fruit Belt Seltzer, and Burwell each offer an artful take on gastronomic pleasures.
Jazz Fest 2016, Day 9: Ron reviews the Dizzy Gillespie Afro-Cuban Experience, Brian Dickinson, and Laura Dubin
Bassist John Lee played with Dizzy Gillespie for the last 10 years of the great trumpeter’s career. Lee continued that legacy Saturday night at Kilbourn Hall with the Dizzy Gillespie Afro-Cuban Experience. The group features another veteran player, master percussionist Roger Squitero, along with a host of young stars. Trumpeter Freddie Hendrix had a pivotal…
Jazz Fest 2016, Day 9: Frank reviews Tia Fuller and Flat Earth Society
Going to the Jazz Fest is like eating ice cream for nine days straight. I like ice cream, but now my tummy hurts. So before I go on a ice cream-less sabbatical, I went down one more time for the crushed nuts, the hot fudge, and jazz. Tia Fuller bopped to the max at Max.…
Jazz Fest 2016, Day 8: Frank reviews Curtis Stigers, Gregg Allman, and Los Lonely Boys
Well a wop bopa loo bop a wop bam boom. No sooner did I send up the Bat Signal for some scat then Curtis Stigers rolls into town delivering a mouthful of syllabic sensations. Suave ain’t the word; it doesn’t do the man justice. Stigers hit the stage with so much cocksure swagger it was…
Jazz Fest 2016, Day 7: Frank reviews the Lauren Sevian Quartet, Dave Rivello, and Rai Thistlethwayte
Once I finished playing Monday morning quarterback with the cats at JAZZ 90.1, I crossed the street — to get to the other side and catch the Lauren Sevian Quartet deliver some hard bop via her baritone saxophone. Miss Sevian stayed mostly in the upper register while ignoring the delicious honks and growls associated with…
Jazz Fest 2016, Day 8: Ron reviews Helen Sung, Ben Monder, and Matthew Halsall and The Gondwana Orchestra
The intimacy of Hatch Hall was perfectly suited to the highly personal set Helen Sung played Friday night. Between tunes, she told the audience about her musical journey, starting with her upbringing in Texas with a strict Russian piano teacher who told her classical music was the only music worth listening to and playing. Once…
Jazz Fest 2016, Day 7: Ron reviews Jamison Ross, Cortex, and the Claudia Quintet
Jamison Ross has played at the XRIJF before as the drummer for Cecile McLorin Salvant, but Thursday night he was at the center of the Kilbourn Hall stage. There’s no doubt about Ross’s drumming prowess; he won the 2012 Thelonious Monk Drums Competition. But when it came to one of the competition’s prizes, a recording…
Jazz Fest 2016, Day 6: Ron reviews Russell Malon and Marianne Trudel Trio
Russell Malone was one of the artists I was most looking forward to seeing at the XRIJF, and when he played his first tune at Kilbourn Hall, it seemed promising. It was his own tune, “Honeybone,” and it showcased that wonderful blend of lead and rhythm guitar, with gorgeous ringing tone, that Malone is known…
Film review: “De Palma”
Co-directors Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow sit down with esteemed filmmaker Brian De Palma in the wonderful new documentary “De Palma” for an extended, film-by-film profile of his career. As the discussion expands to cover the director’s life, influences, and filmmaking process, what emerges is a fascinating resource on the art of making movies. For…
Jazz Fest 2016, Day 6: Frank reviews Tia Brazda, Nikki Hill, Johannes Linstead, and Danielle Ponder
[IMAGE-1] Tia Brazda’s first show was sold out to the walls with a crowd forced to sit on old wooden chairs from the Marquis de Sade collection. But the charming Brazda made the pain in the ass worth it. Her just right amount of vocal flexibility was wrapped in coquettish velvet and sass — she…
Bay Vista Taqueria goes for fast, fresh tacos
Dave Jackson comes in to Bay Vista Taqueria (1205 Bay Road) at 7 a.m. each day to start prepping. The ins and outs of running a kitchen are considerably different than what Jackson had been doing for the past 12 years: operating his own web development business — although Jackson worked in the restaurant industry…
SPECIAL EVENT | Independence Day Celebrations
As we’ve come to expect, the Rochester area will be full of Independence Day celebrations this weekend. There are far too many to list in one sitting, but below are two of Rochester’s more unique takes on celebrating the Fourth of July beyond the traditional fireworks and parades. And the City of Rochester will host…
ART | “Something, Some Thing”
Mona L. F. Oates’s “Something, Some Thing” exhibition showcases her paintings over the last five years of an organic world that never stops growing. Her surreal works seem to jump into the 3D world even though they’re oil paintings on panel. Oates was born in Germany and moved to the United States in 2010 after…
SPECIAL EVENT | Bridge Street Bikes, Brews, and Barbeque
Corning’s Gaffer District will start the summer with a BBQ on Bridge Street that includes craft beer tastings from the district’s micro-breweries, a street full of motorcycles, musical performances by local bands, and more. Gaffer District restaurants will compete for the title of “Best Barbeque in Downtown Corning.” Jason “Captain America” Britton will perform motorcycle…
SPECIAL EVENT | ROCspot makes s’mores
ROCspot is using solar ovens to throw a s’mores party to kick off a schedule of educational events in reaction to the National Week of Making (which took place June 17-23). ROCspot is a non-profit organization that educates the public about solar power while slowly making our city greener. The organization has gained more than…
ART | “Primary Caucus”
Though drawings may not be the first thing that comes to mind when talking about presidential primaries and caucuses, artist Ray Ray Mitrano has created an exhibition which might change that perspective. “Primary Caucus,” which focuses on the 2016 presidential election, not only includes drawings but also live performance based on election-based questions and a…
SPECIAL EVENT | “Abolitionists and Suffragettes” Tour
As part of its series of themed tours, Mount Hope Cemetery will host an “Abolitionists and Suffragettes” tour which will tell the stories of local individuals who were once committed to both the fight for women’s rights and the anti-slavery movement. The tour includes the grave sites of Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, and many…
City pulls plug on Port of Rochester project
The financing was the problem, the city says.
Mothers Out Front to rally against oil trains
Mothers Out Front will rally in front of the Federal Building, 100 State Street, at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, July 6, in memory of the 48 victims of the 2013 oil train derailment and explosion in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. The disaster also destroyed 30 buildings in the small community’s downtown. The rally is meant to draw…
JAZZ | Clay Jenkins
Before Clay Jenkins landed at the Eastman School of Music, where he teaches jazz trumpet, he had been on the road with just about every major jazz orchestra. Groups led by Stan Kenton, Harry James, Buddy Rich, Count Basie — you name it, he played in it. And Jenkins still holds a trumpet chair in…
NOISE | International Noise Conference
It’s fitting that Rochester’s upcoming International Noise Conference is billed as a “conference” rather than a “fest.” Typically speaking, the latter term evokes images of flower crowns, $9 Coronas, and a general air of forced positivity. Holding a conference is to engage in a meeting of the minds, and if the names of some of…
STONER ROCK | Big Business
Big Business is definitely a stoner rock group, what with its low register attack and vocal wail. But unlike many of its ilk, Big Business doesn’t get mired down in sludge. Instead it comes on like a parade of metal muscle fleshed out to the max. The drive is heavy, relentless, and unavoidably cool. Big…
ROCK | Dadstache Records Anniversary Show
Local label Dadstache Records is throwing itself a party with a hell of a lineup for its third anniversary. The afternoon-long bill includes House Majority (punk and garage rock); Dumb Angel (fuzzy psychedelic pop); Full Body (indie rock a la Pavement with a loud twist); The Naturalists (poppy garage rock out of Buffalo); Pleistocene (fuzzed-out…
SOUL | Kat Wright and the Indomitable Soul Band
There’s Rochester blood coursing through Kat Wright’s Vermont veins, and soul flowing in and out of her rock ‘n’ roll with a serpentine seduction. Some of soul music’s sweet, grand dames belt, shout, seethe, and succumb, while Wright sings gently like a heartache’s apology. It’s funky in spots and beautiful all over. And it hurts…
Off the record:
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…
CLASSICAL | The RPO Around the Town
The Rochester Philharmonic wound up its subscription season on June 4, but the orchestra has more entertainment in store for the summer months. On each Tuesday in July, you can hear various orchestra members perform in the “Around the Town Neighborhood Ensemble Concerts” series at various venues in the city: on July 5 at Susan…
Cobbs Hill project’s quandary
The public often has a love-hate response to new developments, even in a city with anemic growth like Rochester. When the proposal involves one of the city’s favorite historic and recreation sites – Cobbs Hill Park – you can count on some strong resistance. That’s the situation with a proposal from Rochester Management, Inc., the…
HIP-HOP | Kutt Calhoun
For more than a decade, rapper Kutt Calhoun was part of Tech N9ne’s trendsetting record label, Strange Music. Calhoun left Strange Music in 2014 to start his own label, Black Gold Entertainment, and has recently teamed up with Philadelphia-based female emcee Whitney Peyton for the Break for Gold Tour. The pair has crossed the country and…
Feedback 6/29
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New life for Eastman Dental
Renamed “Eastman Gardens,” the iconic building on East Main has been converted to a senior living community.
Singer Tia Brazda brings retro style and force
Tia Brazda is a study in jazzy effervescence as the fizz and tingle of her voice skates the line between campy, almost cinematic fun and seductive sophistication. The singer performs Wednesday, June 29, as part of XRIJF 2016.
Jazz Fest 2016: Critics’ picks for the last half of XRIJF 2016
We’re only half-way through the 2016 Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, and there’s still a lot of music to hear. To make it a little more digestible, our music critics pick their top concerts for each day. And if you’re still looking for a full schedule of performances, or bios on each day’s musicians, keep…
Film review: “Swiss Army Man”
Reports of mass walkouts accompanied the first screenings of “Swiss Army Man” when it premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. It immediately gained a reputation as “the farting corpse movie.” That’s a reductive (although not inaccurate) representation of the film. Depicting a guileless bromance between a man and a corpse, many festival-goers…
Brexit, Trump, and us
It doesn’t seem a stretch to think that Brexit hints at what we can expect in our presidential election in November.
Adam Bello: Democrats’ next great hope?
Monroe County Democrats have struggled to win countywide seats in recent years. But Adam Bello, the new county clerk, may be the party’s next great hope. County Clerk Adam Bello: A Democrat in a high-profile county position. In Monroe County, the clerk’s office has served as a stepping stone to higher office, particularly the county…
Immigration ruling creates anxiety, fear
The Supreme Court has taken something very powerful away from a few million people: hope. And some of those people live in the Rochester region, many of them working on local farms. Last week, the court deadlocked on a legal challenge to an immigration directive from President Barack Obama. The executive order gave undocumented immigrants…
