Cover Story
Power peers
The new WOC•Art collaborative is a multi-generational, multi-racial, multi-discipline collective of creative women of color who are pooling their power to create a stronger, more visible platform for their projects and address inequity in the arts.
City school district officials say attendance-taking has improved
Rochester city school district officials say they have taken steps to improve attendance-taking over the course of the past year. At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, officials said the district hired 10 employees last year to work in the attendance department. Those employees work out of a call center located in the district’s main office…
Dinolfo proposes rate increase for pre-k special ed services
County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo wants to raise the rates the county pays for pre-school special education services for the first time since 2009. Tuesday morning, she submitted legislation that would boost the rates paid to certain service providers by 15 percent. The increase won’t happen unless the County Legislature passes the proposal. However, the Republican…
Trevyan Rowe’s death: the result of ‘failures at every level,’ officials say
Rochester student Trevyan Rowe’s death last year was the result of “systemic failures in school policies and procedures,” a state investigation has found.
Elia rejects RCSD’s improvement plan
State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia’s much anticipated response to the Rochester school board about its plan for improving the district was tough and direct: Redo it. She’ll be sending a more detailed response, she said in a letter to board President Van White, but she added: “After my review of the RCSD Plan, I want…
Classical review: RPO with Augustin Hadelich
At first, putting Sibelius and Shostakovich on the same orchestral program sounds like a dark and weighty proposition. In reality, when the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Ward Stare presented the two modern classical masters side by side on Thursday, the sound was much more nuanced.
Film preview: ‘Cat Video Fest 2019’
Filled to the brim with non-stop cat antics and feline escapades, Cat Video Fest will be screening locally at the Little Theatre Saturday, March 9, with a second showing Sunday, March 10. For the event, The Little will be partnering with Lollypop Farm, the Humane Society of Greater Rochester.
Luke Bryan, Sarah McLachlan, and more to headline CMAC
No venue in the Finger Lakes region more consistently presents high-profile summer concerts than CMAC. Several newly announced shows include some of the top musicians in country, pop rock, and rock ‘n’ roll, as well as beloved bands from the 90’s.
KIDS | ‘Superman’
Theatre Young Kids Enjoy (TYKEs) continues its 15th season this week with “It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman,” a new family-friendly version of the original Tony Award-nominated 1966 Broadway production. The story follows Superman’s dealings with Dr. Sedgwick, a vengeful scientist who feels underappreciated. Presented in collaboration with Flying by Foy — the…
ART | ‘Forces At Play’
Paul Brandwein contemplated the pervasiveness of the oval while creating the work for his new show, “Forces At Play,” which opened this month at Geisel Gallery. The form suggests planetary orbits, embryonic life, and subatomic particles, he says in an artist statement that accompanies the work. Such macro- and micro-scale considerations are often found in…
DANCE | RCB’s Masquerade
Don your dapper duds and grab a gilded mask. It’s not often you get to take in a ballet performance and hit the dance floor at the same venue, in the same evening. Rochester City Ballet’s annual fundraiser Masquerade takes place this weekend at Restaurant Good Luck’s new event space, the Jack Rabbit Club. Tickets…
ART | ‘Heart Doesn’t Know Rules’
Ithaca-based painter and educator Lin Price’s works are loosely narrative, and with their scraps and snippets of figures, animals, and objects in uncertain settings, they’re like peering into a fleeting dream. The territory’s shapes are familiar enough and you can get a sense of the emotional tones, but each canvas is ripe with mystery. Price’s…
LITERATURE | Women’s Day Readings
In celebration of International Women’s Day, Writers & Books will this week host its second annual International Women’s Day Reading. Hosted by Sonja Livingston, the event features local writers celebrating their favorite women authors by lifting their voices and reading from their works. This year’s set of writers is Lindsay Herko, Kristen Gentry, Rachel Hall,…
FILM | ‘CatVideoFest 2019’
If you’re feeling the need to mentally check out of political and weather related things for a little bit, how does a full 70 minutes of cat videos sound? This weekend, Rochesterians can, as a group, worship at the feet of the feline gods at The Little Theatre’s CatVideoFest 2019. The screening is a compilation…
Feedback 3/6
Send comments to themail@rochester-citynews.com, or post them on our website, rochestercitynewspaper.com, our Facebook page, or our Twitter feed, @roccitynews. We edit selections for publication in print, and we don’t publish letters sent to other media or generated by activist-group websites. The facts about Venezuela The US media pose as the counterweight to Trump’s unlawful excesses…
Urban Action 3/6
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.) The threat to seed diversity For the next event in its winter movie series, Color Brighton Green will host two screenings of “SEED: The Untold Story,” a documentary focusing on the history of…
Guatemalan women resist oppression
Guatemalan women, especially those who are indigenous, have long dealt with pervasive domestic and sexual violence. But historically they haven’t been able to bring about cultural change, says Brian Thompson-Royer. Brian and his wife, Sandi, have been working in Guatemala with the National Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Guatemala since 2014 to help women protect themselves…
New housing fuels hope and fears
Hoeltzer and Sullivan Streets are short and narrow one-ways with a mix of modest homes and duplexes, some of which are deteriorated, vacant, and boarded up. Similar to many streets in this northeast section of the city near Joseph and North Clinton Avenues, they’ve become enveloped in a sprawling patchwork of vacant lots that meanders…
INDIE POP | Rubblebucket
Rubblebucket’s music is a stand-out soundscape of artful,psychedelic indie-pop. It’s been 10 years since the band’s self-titled, nu-Afrobeat album dropped and made noise in the alternative music space. The single “Came Out of a Lady” was featured in the 2013 Joe Swanberg film, “Drinking Buddies”; the band has released a total of 10 albums and…
INDIE FOLK | Dead Horses
The Honest Folk concert series rolls right along on Tuesday at Good Luck with a performance from Wisconsin duo Dead Horses. Steeped in the aesthetics of Americana, there’s a straightforward authenticity in the folksy music of Dead Horses that can’t be forced. Guitarist Sarah Vos’s lead vocals are imbued with a subtle country twang, managing…
FOLK ROCK | Mike Frazier
Singer-songwriter Mike Frazier is on a mission to turn political division into unification. Rooted in Winchester, Va., Frazier has used his music to stand for social justice since debuting in 2015. He has celebrated seven releases, including his newest single, “Destitute,” a prophetically disgusted slap at the current administration. Often backed by his band The…
POP ROCK | The Capitals
It’s all around perfect, this band called The Capitals. It is pastel pop music steeped in an enigmatic stance, with even more pop on top. The local band’s self-titled debut album is not just tuneful – it’s downright bubbly; it’s sugary, but it’s also substantive. The Capitals play with non-invasive tones and grooves. The music’s…
CLASSICAL | Madrigalia
Madrigalia is not a very large choir, but it’s an accomplished one, and its sound can easily fill a large space. That’s exactly what it will be doing in three different local churches in a program called “Music for Large Spaces” this weekend: Pittsford’s St. Louis Church; Church of the Incarnate Word, downtown; and Chili’s…
CELTIC FOLK | John Whelan & Low Lily
On Thursday, Lovin’ Cup will host an energetic and synergistic collaboration between button accordion player John Whelan and the folk trio Low Lily. A fixture in the Celtic music scene for over 40 years, Whelan is a master of Irish accordion music. His effervescent melodicism on the instrument will pair well with the Vermont-based band…
Community leaders push for major change at RCSD
Reverberations from Distinguished Educator Jaime Aquino’s report about the failures of the Rochester City School District have reached a new intensity. ROC the Future, a coalition of more than 60 Rochester-area community institutions and leaders, is pushing for major change in how the school district operates. And its members have asked State Education Commissioner MaryEllen…
‘We’re better than this’: lessons from the Michael Cohen hearing
Elijah Cummings’ closing statement serves as a warning that in our civic behavior, we’re risking a lot right now.
Album review: ‘Stay Creepy’
Grease Creepers ‘Stay Creepy’ Self-released greasecreepers.bandcamp.com Grease Creepers is a local psychobilly band that’s bringing classic rock back from the dead with an energetic, punk flair. Consisting of Tommy "Fat Dead Elvis" Walsh on guitar and vocals; Ryan "Sid Malicious" Hurley on electric upright bass; and Collin "Wolf Nards" Bourne on Energizer-bunny-level drums, Grease Creepers…
Film review: ‘Greta’
The real reason to see Neil Jordan’s new dark comedy is Isabelle Huppert’s deliciously looney performance. She’s fabulous enough that you start to think being the object of her obsessive attention might actually be pretty fantastic.
‘Lessons of the Hour’ brings Frederick Douglass to MAG
Isaac Julien’s film installation is non-linear cinema, unfolding in episodes as an A/V collage across 10 large and small screens. Yet each richly-constructed scene reads as an immersive film, bringing Douglass to life.
New York Beer Project opens Victor location
The massive building holds a brewery, a tap room, three bars, an indoor beer garden, a rooftop terrace, and an event loft. A full gastropub menu of appetizers, soups, salads, pizzas, sandwiches, burgers, and seasonal plates provides perfect pairings a rotating selection of beers on tap.
Album review: ‘Flatbed Buggy’
Rudy Royston ‘Flatbed Buggy’ Greenleaf Music rudyroyston.com In his Sixth Symphony, Ludwig van Beethoven evokes everything from folk dances to thunderstorms to capture the beauty of the countryside. On the wonderful new album “Flatbed Buggy,” Rudy Royston takes a similar journey, employing a variety of musical styles to paint a vivid, aural picture of his…
Film review: ‘Everybody Knows’
The mysteries of “Everybody Knows” are ultimately fairly obvious, though the film takes its time revealing them. Director Farhadi is far more concerned with the effect the crime has on the relationships between his characters, as class and familial resentments begin to rear their heads.
Interview: Judy Collins
Folk musician Judy Collins released her first album in 1961. By the late 1960’s she was a ubiquitous radio presence with songs like Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now,” The Beatles’ “In My Life” and Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne.” On March 9, she’ll perform at Hochstein Performance Hall in Rochester.
