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UR laser lab survives Trump threat, stays in energy race
The University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics is one of the most important scientific research facilities in the country.
Bike Week starts Friday
Rochester Bike Week is back, and it starts Friday evening with a bike ride through the Beechwood neighborhood and the Light Up the Night ride. Beechwood ride leaves at 5:30 p.m. from the Thomas P Ryan Recreation Center, 530 Webster Avenue; and the Light Up the Night ride starts at 7:30 p.m. and leaves from Genesee…
Divinity school has new buyer
The sale of the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School’s campus to Top Capital of New York is off, CRCDS official Thomas McDade Clay, says. “But we have a new buyer,” said McDade Clay, who is the school’s vice president for institutional advancement. Top Capital had planned to invest $36 million in renovations to the divinity…
City Council’s turn to hear pluses and minuses about Cobbs Hill Village
Plans to redevelop Cobbs Hill Village apartments have been among the most controversial in recent memory, generating sharp criticism concerning the project’s design and its proximity to the park. City Council will hold a public hearing concerning the project at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 9, in Council Chambers. Mayor Lovely Warren submitted legislation to…
RTS wants input on possible new routes
For much of RTS’s ongoing project to modernize and redesign its public transit system, the agency has been clear that its goal is to have a bus system that offered frequent service; faster, more direct trips; and wait times under 30 minutes. Today, the agency released a draft proposal of new routes drawn to achieve…
Projecting the Nitrate Picture Show
Eastman Museum’s projectionists discuss the technical art of screening notoriously combustible nitrate films.
Bridging mental health awareness with Free Comic Book Day
Local comic book writer and illustrator Nigel Carrington will hand out free previews of his new West African-influenced comic.
Album review: ‘Strange Paradise”
“Strange Paradise” takes the idea of the repeated phrase to its limits. But the music is far from monotonous. Tigue has created trance music that is accessible and complex, danceable and contemplative
Album review: ‘All Can Work’
John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble “All Can Work” New Amsterdam Records johnhollenbeck.com John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble’s “All Can Work” was released back in January, but it’s still hard to pin down. Conducted by JC Sanford, the music isn’t exactly jazz, and it’s not quite contemporary classical; abstract elements of world music are nearly impossible to trace…
RAPA Family Theatre’s expanded 2018-19 season
It’s never too early for a young person to learn the phrase “you do you.” RAPA Family Theatre’s coming 2018-19 season thematically focuses on wit, adventure, and embracing your uniqueness.
JAZZ | Expansions: The Dave Liebman Group
Saxophonist extraordinaire Dave Liebman was just getting started in the 1970’s when his John Coltrane-like style caught the ear of Coltrane’s former drummer, Elvin Jones. It wasn’t long before Liebman was turning heads at the top of the jazz world with Miles Davis’s band. With Expansions, Liebman and veteran bassist Tony Marino continue the tradition…
KIDS | ‘Treasure Island’
RAPA Family Theatre concludes its 2017-18 season this week with the final stretch of “Treasure Island.” The classic story, based on the adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, follows 16-year-old Jim Hawkins as he sets sail with Doctor Livesay and Squire Trelawney in search of secret treasure. Jim learns about the treachery of pirates and…
ROCK | The Big Lonesome
The Big Lonesome gives off the vibes of that sophisticated indie band you fell in love with in college. Fans of seminal rock groups from the 1990’s and beyond, like Built to Spill and Pavement, can find plenty to latch onto with this quartet. The Big Lonesome’s frontman Chad Gosselin knows his way around a…
COMEDY | Trevor Noah
There’s a lot to love about South African comedian Trevor Noah’s concise and bitingly hilarious political commentary. The current host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” also has a must-see special, “Afraid of the Dark,” streaming on Netflix. In the hour-long show Noah makes smart observations on power dynamics and fear as he deftly swings…
CLASSICAL | Diane Walsh
Pianist Diane Walsh has the two essential musician traits that can’t be taught: charisma and musical sensitivity. Her command over melodic phrases feels effortless, and she conveys the mood of a composition in a way that transcends the notes on the page. As part of the First Muse chamber music series, Walsh will be joined…
ACTIVISM | Rochester Activism Fair
The second annual Rochester Activism Fair returns to Visual Studies Workshop this week, featuring the opportunity to learn more about dozens of established and new organizations connected to environmentalism, social justice, housing justice, animal rights, political reform, gun reform, and much more. The event is geared toward connecting potential volunteers with activist organizations that are…
ROCK | Amy Rigby
Singer-songwriter, and former Sham, Amy Rigby takes the weight of her wryly written songs and gives them a kick in the pants. She’s done it as half a duo with her second husband Wreckless Eric and more so as a solo performer where she intones relaxed and pretty, belying the storm brewing beneath. Rigby is…
THEATER | ‘More Than Just A Night’
Rochester musician Jake Bellissimo’s new musical, “More Than Just A Night,” follows the story of a young songwriter as she finds herself living in a foreign city after graduating from college. Through her experiences, the musician, played by Eastman graduate Cassidy Thompson, comes face to face with matters of identity, queerness, and mental illness and…
BLUES | Guy Davis
It sounds simple. He makes it look so easy. But rest assured, it’s not. It’s the blues, and Guy Davis has got ’em. Davis plays it low down and greasy from the heart and from even further down into his guts. It’s not fair: we all have the blues in us to a certain degree;…
AMERICANA | The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Southern Indiana’s pre-eminent purveyor of blues, stomp, and vintage country freakout, The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band sounds like it predates FM radio. The Reverend Peyton’s booming yet inflected voice and his finger-picking guitar style are the keys. Both lend rootsy qualities to the tunes while his band — which isn’t big — creates an…
Feedback 5/2
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. 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 do edit selections for publication in…
Urban Action 5/2
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Talking ourselves into war The Flying Squirrel will show the documentary “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” for its Monday Mayhem event on May 7. Actor Sean…
Album review: ‘Irregardless’
Superty Dupes “Irregardless” Self-released supertydupes.bandcamp.com While the lyrical concepts on Superty Dupes’ new album, “Irregardless,” aren’t so serious, the music is no joke. Right off the bat, Superty Dupes slaps the listener in the face with a big, fat stack of funk on “Pancakes.” Throughout the album, Jim Watkins rips solos on his guitar and…
Cuomo tells ICE to cool it
Governor Andrew Cuomo is taking a tougher stance with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. In a cease-and-desist letter sent last Wednesday, Cuomo called out ICE on recent actions in the state, threatened to follow with legal action, and announced modification of an executive order to prohibit ICE from making arrests in state facilities…
Album review: ‘Just One More’
Just One More “Just One More” Self-released justonemore.bandcamp.com Just One More’s new, self-titled EP explores existential questions, but it stays fun and keeps a not-too-serious vibe, all in a classic punk format. Just One More is the brainchild of singer and guitarist Brandin Ross, created when he was on hiatus from the punk band Preemptive…
Rochester’s poverty talk has to include evictions
New York State reported 38,055 evictions in 2016 and according to Rochester City Court information, there were 3,510 evictions in Rochester in 2017.
Rochester’s transportation and poverty are linked, report says
If you live in the Rochester area, want to get a job, but don’t have a car, you’re in a tough spot. That’s been the conventional wisdom in Monroe County for some time, perpetuated through individual experience, anecdotes, and public discussions. And a new report commissioned by Reconnect Rochester, a local transportation advocacy group, confirms…
ART | ‘A Womb of One’s Own’
Visual Studies Workshop’s Summer Institute, running May 19 through June 29, offers intensive workshops by visiting artists, including Brooklyn-based creator Hernease Davis. Davis will be in town in early June to teach “Imaging Empathic Possibilities,” which will examine how empathy can be used by artists to create worlds that challenge complexity in community structures, systems,…
VIDEO: Museum of Play inducts four games into Video Game Hall of Fame
Despite forming a billion-dollar industry that has made an undeniable impact on mainstream pop culture and technology, most people still don’t consider video games to be an art form. Every year, though, the video game industry inches closer to being recognized as a serious medium in entertainment. And the Strong National Museum of Play is…
ART | ‘The Birth of the Universe’
Ben Taylor has quite the educational pedigree: he studied ceramics with Hall Riegger at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts; worked as an assistant to Keene College’s director, Fran Merritt; and earned an MFA studying conceptual art with Carl Florsheim at Temple University. But he shirks the title of “artist” in favor of calling himself a…
Is Rochester’s development meeting everybody’s needs?
Rochester has a serious shortage of quality housing for low-income residents and for the homeless. What’s our plan to deal with that?
Rochester Art Collectors grows support for makers
A new grassroots collective, the Rochester Art Collectors, aims to grow the local base of art buyers and create a stronger, more efficiently networked art scene.
Preview: The Reel Mind series
For the past ten years, The Reel Mind series has been fighting the stigma of mental illness with empowering stories of advocacy and psychiatric wellness told through film, live theater, and art.
Steadfast spins new versions of classic sandwiches
The brand new East End eatery hits the sandwich-soup-salad spot, offers vegan and vegetarian options, and a bit of nightlife. And quick bites previews: Cinco de Rhino, pop-up wine dinner, food & beer pairing
Hamid Drake masters the heartbeat of the universe
The names at the top of DownBeat Magazine’s Critics Poll are constantly changing in most categories from year to year. But, in recent years, one name has been stuck at the top in the percussion category: Hamid Drake. Whether he’s playing a hand drum or a full set, Drake’s dexterity, subtlety, and precision are aurally…
Film preview: ‘Lean on Pete’
Writer-director Andrew Haigh’s film is gorgeously-shot and devastating, moving deeper than the quintessentially American tale of a boy and his horse.
