Cover Story
Perspectives: Jean Carroll
Jean Carroll, who stepped down from the presidency of the YWCA of Rochester and Monroe County at the end of April, has been a champion of women’s issues for more than 30 years, especially those of poor women of color. She’d be the first to say she doesn’t have all the answers to the problems…
Nazareth adjuncts vote to unionize
Nazareth College’s adjunct faculty voted overwhelmingly today to join Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 200United. Adjuncts who taught in the 2017-2018 academic year voted 3-to-1 in favor of unionizing, a clear majority. Efforts to join SEIU began about a year ago. Earlier this year, an organizing committee submitted a petition to Nazareth President Daan…
Alexander: Police-citizen partnership is key
For several months, Rochester’s City Council has been considering changes to the way the city handles complaints about police conduct. Activists pushing for reform want a new police review board that would have more citizen involvement, greater access to officers’ personnel information, and responsibility for disciplining officers when complaints against them are found to be…
City, landlord to return to court next week
The City of Rochester’s civil lawsuit against landlord Peter Hungerford’s Thurston Road Realty is proceeding. The proceeding centers around two of Hungerford’s apartment complexes in the city, one at 447 Thurston Road and another at 967 Chili Avenue. The city argues that numerous code violations at the properties have gone unaddressed. It’s asking the court…
BLUES ROCK | Samantha Fish
Samantha Fish may seem angelic at first glance, but she’s actually a scrappy rock ‘n’ roll vixen. Raised by a musical family in Kansas City, Missouri, Fish switched from drums to guitar around age 15, and self-released her first album by the time she was 20. She has since released five studio albums. Fish went…
POP | Classical Mystery Tour
Classical Mystery Tour, a Beatles tribute act that will be backed by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of two genre-changing albums: “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “The White Album.” Jeff Tyzik will lead the orchestra. Each of the four main musicians looks and sounds exactly like The Beatles, down…
EXPERIMENTAL | Tigue
If you’re looking for music that feels like discovering a sixth sense, Tigue has unique powers and might just be the answer. You’ll be hard pressed to be able to compare the Brooklyn-based band (and Eastman School alums) to anyone else. Tigue is a trio of percussionists creating music that is abstract, minimalistic, and easy…
Forty years in, Rochester Women’s Community Chorus can’t help but sing
The choral rehearsal begins like any other: singers gather, and their excited, friendly chatter gradually settles down as the director guides the singers through breathing, stretching, and vocal warm-ups. The focus and the concentration grow as the women pay attention to balance and blend, tuning and tempos. The rehearsal space contains nearly 50 women, swaying…
Album review: ‘Chopin Project’
Noah Preminger and Rob Garcia “Chopin Project” Connection Works Records noahpreminger.com Consider the great composers in jazz: Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Frédéric Chopin … Chopin? He might not have known it, but with great chord structures and gorgeous melodies, Chopin has become a favorite of jazz musicians. The latest evidence is Noah Preminger…
Album review: ‘Dedication’
Steve Slagle “Dedication” Panorama Records Steve Slagle is a master of the saxophone slur, and on his new album, “Dedication,” he employs it brilliantly in his melodic improvisations. Slagle began his career in the mid-1970’s in the bands of Machito, Ray Barretto, and Lionel Hampton and went on to play with Jack McDuff and Carla…
Feedback 5/30
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 comments sent to other media. NFL rule aims to silence protest Would women have the right to vote today if they were told by men…
Urban Action 5/30
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) ROCLA will hear lessons from the Andes The Rochester Committee on Latin America will present a program titled “When the Condor and the Eagle Meet: Solidarity Delegations as a Way to Create a…
COMEDY | Karen Williams
Cleveland-based comedian, actor, and writer Karen Williams is also a diversity trainer and inspirational lecturer, whose HaHA Institute (Humor and Healing Arts) offers workshops that aim to build self-awareness and self-confidence, and encourage tolerance and respect. Riffing in a standup routine on the continuous letter additions to the LGBTQ+ group, she said: “C is for…
LECTURES | Hodinöhsö:ni’ Women
Summer programming at Ganondagan continues this weekend with two events held the State Historic Site. Scheduled for Saturday is “Around the Table: Conversations About Hodinöhsö:ni’ Women from Creation to Today,” a discussion that compares the spiritual, economic, social, and political roles of Hodinöhsö:ni’ and Euro-American women. Sally Roesch Wagner (author, historian and former executive director…
COMEDY | Brandie Posey
Los Angeles-based comedian Brandie Posey — who also co-hosts the popular podcast “Lady to Lady” — returns to Rochester this Thursday for a headlining set at Photo City Improv. Having released her punchy debut album “Opinion Cave” in 2016, Posey is cynical and self-aware, but also good-natured even as she subtly tackles issues like gender,…
HIP-HOP | A-F-R-O
Hip-hop traditionalist A-F-R-O (All Flows Reach Out) is a talented young emcee from Los Angeles. In 2014, at only 16 years old, he gained national recognition by winning a YouTube freestyle competition held by his favorite rapper, R.A. the Rugged Man — now his mentor and this tour’s headliner. The “old soul” rapper pays his…
DANCE | Garth Fagan Dance
Garth Fagan Dance is synonymous with the Rochester arts scene. A local fixture since 1970, Fagan and company continue to churn out contemporary choreography in which elements of Afro-Caribbean dance and ballet have equal footing. This Friday and Saturday, the Joseph Avenue Arts and Culture Alliance will present benefit concerts featuring the dance troupe at…
RECREATION | El Camino Trail 5K Walk
Five years ago the Thomas R. Frey Trail at El Camino was created, the 2.25 mile walkable urban greenspace offering fitness and fresh air opportunities as well as an annual 5K Walk event. This week a special 5K Walk will commemorate the trail’s anniversary on National Trails Day, supported by Genesee Land Trust, Conkey Cruisers,…
ART | RoCo’s “6×6”
A mainstay event for the Rochester Contemporary Art Center since 2008, the annual fundraising exhibition “6×6” returns this week with the opening party at 4 p.m. Billed as “The International Small Art Phenomenon,” the 2018 iteration of the RoCo show features 3,278 artists and their works, all on six by six-inch squares. Specifically dubbed “6x6x2018,”…
CLASSICAL/JAZZ | Geneva Music Festival
Beginning Thursday, May 31, there’s a lot to love about the concerts at this year’s Geneva Music Festival. With a full slate of dynamic performances by compelling artists, fans of chamber music can hear works by Bach, Britten, Dvoák, Fauré, Schoenberg, and more —featuring such artists as violinist Jinjoo Cho, pianist Michelle Cann, the Cavani…
SOUL | Allen Stone
He dresses kinda goofy, and he’s been an “American Idol” contestant, so I was halfway ready to write him off. Then Allen Stone opened his mouth and the soul poured out. I opened my mouth and “holy shit” came out. This man’s voice is incredible — no, I mean it, incredible. Born in 1987 outside…
METAL | Combichrist
They call it “aggrotech.” It’s high on the aggro meter, that’s for sure, and the tech is relentlessly regimented by the drums. The band is Combichrist; put together by the Scandinavian-born, US-based Andy LaPlegua. Combichrist is full of perfect driving beats and crunchy guitar on songs that are a celebration of excess in all categories.…
ROCKABILLY | Bloodshot Bill
Greasy lone wolf Bloodshot Bill sounds like a mixture of pomade, Nervous Norvus, Frogman Henry, Hasil Adkins, and The Phantom. His voice is positively elastic as he shifts his song selection from crooners to screamers to heartbreakers. The energy is intense. He’s a one-man band that sounds like a 10-man band. It’s gonna get steamy.…
Creating a fair city: lessons for Rochester
Making sure that cities are inclusive is critical, says Richard Florida. And that will require the involvement of universities, developers, everybody.
Writers & Books launches The Ladder literary conference
The June 16 conference at Rochester Riverfront Hotel will be a day-long boot camp featuring the expertise of more than 40 literature industry professionals and 12 different workshops, all designed to help writers up their game.
Film review: ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’
Providing the origin story of roguish smuggler Han Solo, the film feels like the result of its writers being handed a checklist of events they had to include, and their job was simply to create a narrative that could connect them. The results are messy and uneven.
Film preview: ‘The Rider’
Brady Jandreau, playing a loosely fictionalized version of himself, brings a piercing authenticity to a story about the elemental conflict that arises when the very thing that makes a person who they are might also be their undoing.
Hyper-local FB groups: Buy Nothing, just ask
The area’s Buy Nothing groups, communities of people who practice the gift economy, will host the first Rochester Free-for-All on June 2
Film review: ‘Deadpool 2’
You know the sequel doesn’t measure up to the original hit film when even the fourth wall-breaking protagonist calls out the lazy writing.
Locals Only to join East End daytime dining
As the name states, the business will emphasize all things local, focusing on New York State farmers, distilleries, and coffee roasters.
