Cover Story
Cheers!
The smell of wet cereal and yeast is in the air at Rohrbach’s Railroad Street brewery. It’s 9 a.m. on a Thursday and the staff is well into the first of two daily brewing shifts. Workers run hoses between the brewing and fermenting tanks, while Jim McDermott, Rohrbach’s director of brewing, tests samples at a…
COMMENTARY: Too much firepower, not enough reason
In practically every discussion of gun violence, some Second Amendment type inevitably invokes the old, cringe-worthy cliche: Guns don’t kill people, people do. So let’s re-frame what happened last weekend in Orlando. A person — one who pledged allegiance to ISIS — murdered 49 people and injured more than 50 others in an atrocious act…
COMMENTARY: After Orlando, I’m still not ready to give up hope
I still hope we can find a way to love each other and live peacefully.
Week Ahead: Events for the week of Monday, June 13
The Bachelor Forum and the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley will host a community vigil at 7 p.m. on Monday, June 13, at the Forum, 670 University Avenue, to remember the lives lost in the Orlando mass shooting over the weekend. A public meeting on the pending police body camera program will take place…
Film review: “Hollywood Beauty Salon”
Screening Tuesday, June 14, as part of the Reel Mind Theatre and Film Series, “Hollywood Beauty Salon” is a documentary focusing on the clients of a beauty parlor located in the Germantown Recovery Community in Philadelphia. The salons is part of a program to help people cope and recover from mental health challenges and addiction,…
Project aims to expand solar access
Residential solar power has grown rapidly in recent years, fueled largely by improved panel efficiency, decreased equipment and installation costs, and aggressive state and federal tax incentives. But some groups have limited ability to tap into solar. Renters and condo owners usually can’t install arrays on their buildings, for example. And not all homeowners have…
RCSD reportedly makes its choice
Luvelle Brown, currently head of Ithaca schools, is reportedly RCSD’s new superintendent.
Desegregation hero is focus of new play
When we think about school desegregation in the US, the 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education immediately springs to mind. But the roots of the movement stem from a lesser known lawsuit. Seven years earlier, Mendez v. Westminster School District was a landmark desegregation case that ended school segregation in California and had direct…
The Mighty High and Dry keeps moving
As sort of a tip of the hat in the rearview mirror to The Band, The Mighty High and Dry pile on an extra helping of storied songs suitable for framing on its new CD, “The Next Waltz.” This is a true test of the time that goes into crafting a record. And with the…
Two exhibits include paintings of evolving identity
The first time I spied one of Shane Durgee’s paintings was during a punk show at the old Smugtown Mushrooms location near the Public Market. Pushing a narrow path between rooms, drink it hand, I looked up at the wall to see an oddly familiar element from my childhood: embedded in a riot of swirling…
ALBUM REVIEW: “Catharsis”
Jon Greeno “Catharsis” Self-released jongreeno.bandcamp.com Rochester guitarist Jon Greeno has assembled an all-star cast for this gentle foray into peace and reflection on his new CD, “Catharsis.” Greeno lays back to let the collective star power shine before picking up the brush to paint wide swatches of tonally astute guitar. Greeno’s dexterity is slick and…
ART | Keith Haring: “Apocalypse”
Keith Haring’s “Apocalypse” portfolio gives visual representation to a time when HIV/AIDS did, in fact, look something like an usher to the end of mankind. An activist through his art, Haring teamed up with writer William S. Burroughs in 1988 to create drawings and poetry as a vision of the HIV virus as the harbinger…
ALBUM REVIEW: “Droplets”
Kind of Kind “Droplets” Self-released kindofkind.bandcamp.com What makes this three-piece indie outfit out of Rochester, and this record for that matter, so progressive is its hairpin stop and start dynamics. You can practically smell burning tires and brake pads. It’s as if the chord progression never repeats itself, and for Kind of Kind, this totally…
SPECIAL EVENT | “Identity Through Animal Tracking”
Expert tracker John Stokes this weekend will lead an “Identity Through Animal Tracking” workshop that includes traditional animal tracking and survival skills, understanding predator and prey relationships, peacemaking, storytelling, and more. This event is ideal for hikers, hunters, and outdoors lovers who are looking to find a deeper connection between humans and the natural world.…
KIDS | “Rockets, Robots, and Ray Guns”
The Strong Museum of Play explores science-fiction in its new exhibit, “Rockets, Robots, and Ray Guns,” using an assembly of classic arcade games, props from famous sci-fi media, and interactive components. The exhibit includes themed zones on aliens and monsters, the world in apocalyptic, utopian, and dystopian form, the new frontiers of space, ray guns,…
Housing project fails to win over EMMA leaders
A housing complex heavy with one-bedroom units is not what the struggling EMMA neighborhood needs, say leaders of the East Main, Mustard, and Atlantic Avenue neighborhood group. They want owner occupancy, stability, and stores befitting a corridor that’s an important gateway to downtown, they say. But the project’s backers are going ahead, anyway. The Community…
SPECIAL EVENT | Rochester Real Beer Expo
More than 50 breweries — with around 100 craft beers available — will fill the Blue Cross Arena on Saturday for The Rochester Real Beer Expo. Le Petite Poutine, McCann’s Local Meats, Swan Market, and Little Venice Pizza will be selling food, and the bands Mulberry Soul, Sisters of Murphy, and Krypton 88 will perform…
Urban Action 6/8
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. All are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. Vigil to free Jalil Muntaqim Members of Metro Justice and advocates of justice reform will gather for a vigil at the corner of South Avenue and Byron Street at 4 p.m. on Thursday,…
THEATER | “Separate is Never Equal”
Seven years before the pivotal Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954, Mexican-American students challenged discriminatory laws in the schools of California and won. A children’s book by Duncan Tonatiuh, “Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation,” tells about that fight for Mexican-Americans to attend a “whites only” school…
Feedback 6/8
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. Poor transit…
Debating the merits of military school
If you’ve ever been to a Rochester school board meeting when board members are talking about closing a school, you know how volatile those meetings can get. The fury and blame fly in every direction, especially at board members. Rarely, however, do parents or community leaders strongly object to a proposal to open a new…
Controversy can’t overshadow the food at I-Square
Whenever I-Square is mentioned at this point, most people can’t help but start to parse through the web of politics that has surrounded the Irondequoit development over the last 2 months. Local journalists, including those from City, have done a comprehensive job covering the controversy and resignations. Unlike those news stories, I’d rather talk about…
CLASSICAL | Finger Lakes Chamber Music Festival
When it comes to musical mottos, you could do worse than “world-class music experienced upfront and casual.” That’s the philosophy of the Finger Lakes Chamber Music Festival, which starts its 2016 summer season this Saturday, June 11, at Hunt Country Vineyards in Branchport. (The FLCMF takes full advantage of the abundant wineries in the Finger…
JAZZ | Rob Garcia 4
In the thriving Brooklyn jazz scene and beyond, drummer Rob Garcia is a major player. He’s appeared on more than 40 records and has enhanced the bands of Wynton Marsalis, Anat Cohen, Woody Allen, and many others. When Garcia is the leader, his compositional skills are on display along with his drumming. With him at…
BLUES ROCK | Savoy Brown
Formed in Soho in 1967, Savoy Brown rocked in the same vein as cats like John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, which paved the way for blues-based rock. They were some of the first to put some fiery boogie in the beat. Almost 50 years later, Savoy Brown is still at it with original guitarist Kim…
GARAGE POP | PWR BTTM
PWR BTTM is having a bit of a moment right now. Liv Bruce and Ben Hopkins formed the band at Bard College back in 2013 as a three-piece, and gathered a devoted collegiate following for its glittered-out stage attire and freewheeling, ecstatic live shows. Since then, the high-flying garage-pop trio has become a duo, refining its high-flying…
ROCK | Must Be The Holy Ghost
As if the lush soundscapes created by Must Be The Holy Ghost weren’t impressive enough on their own, here’s the kicker: there’s only one man behind them. Jared Draughon cut his teeth in the vibrant mid-2000’s North Carolina scene that birthed bands like He is Legend (who Must Be The Holy Ghost recently toured with)…
VARIOUS | High Falls Summer Concert Series
The High Falls Summer Concert Series, hosted by Hochstein School of Music and Dance, will host 10 free, lunch-time concerts — from Americana, blues, and folk to jazz and indie rock — throughout Rochester’s warmer months. This summers bands include Something Else (June 9), Talking Under Water (June 16), Woody Dodge (June 23), Mambo Kings…
Film review: “Maggie’s Plan”
The world of academia is given a light skewering in the charming “Maggie’s Plan,” a screwball-ish romantic comedy from writer-director Rebecca Miller (daughter of playwright Arthur Miller). Revolving around a love triangle between self-involved, intellectual Brooklynites, the film calls to mind the works of Woody Allen and Noah Baumbach. Maggie (Greta Gerwig) wants to be…
Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and America’s principles
I’ve tried to resist the feeling that doom is staring this country in the face. But that’s becoming more and more difficult.
Film review: “The Lobster”
A wholly original film, “The Lobster” manages to glean some universal truths about how we view love from its outlandish premise.
Classical review: Olga Kern with the RPO
For his first-season finale as RPO music director, Ward Stare begins and ends the program with two sumptuous French celebrations of bad behavior.
