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FESTIVAL PREVIEW 2015
CITY Newspaper’s guide to the summer festival season
Gates Dems announce candidates
Republican Gates Town Supervisor Mark Assini almost pulled off a stunning upset In last year’s Congressional elections. He finished less than 900 votes behind Representative Louise Slaughter — a Democratic powerhouse. Assini has been upfront about his desire to take on Slaughter again in the future, but this year he is up for re-election as…
Update on downtown development projects
News on the Chase Tower, 88 Elm Street, Geva Theatre upgrades, and more.
Funke signs on to child safe products bill
Republican State Senate Rich Funke has signed on to legislation that would ban some heavy metals and toxic chemicals from children’s products. Funke was originally set to announce his support for the legislation, the Child Safe Products Act, last month, but he pulled out of a scheduled press conference. His spokesperson said that he was…
Arts Preview: Young Filmmakers and Viktor Mitic
On Wednesday, May 13, WXXI and University of Rochester Medical Center will host a screening of documentaries by young filmmakers at The Little Theatre (240 East Avenue). The event is part of the Raising 100,000 Voices project, which is in its 10th year and is part of a national outreach effort designed to help us…
Genesee in unchartered territory
The Genesee Community Charter School faces a serious challenge to its charter renewal because its enrollment, as almost anyone familiar with the school knows, doesn’t reflect the city’s student population.
CGR updates child care subsidy report
The number of Monroe County children receiving subsidized day care decreased between 2007 and 2013, and the incomes of families receiving the subsidies are also trending downward, according to an updated analysis from the Center for Governmental Research. CGR released its initial analysis of Monroe County child care subsidies in November, and the report identified several…
WEEK AHEAD: Events for the week of May 11, 2015
Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas will hold his monthly coffee and conversation meeting from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 14. The meeting is an opportunity for teachers, parents, students, and community leaders to meet with the superintendent in an informal setting to ask questions and address concerns. The meeting will be held…
Film Review: “Lambert & Stamp”
To fledgling filmmakers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, it seemed like a great idea: Find a rock group to manage and then make an artsy documentary about the process. Colleagues at England’s Shepperton Studios in the early 1960’s, Lambert and Stamp were unlikely friends; the former enjoyed a posh but closeted upbringing as the son…
Film Review: “The Water Diviner”
Just a glance at his filmography — “Gladiator,” “Master and Commander,” “Noah” — tells you that Russell Crowe knows about starring in sweeping historical epics, so it’s a little frustrating that he seems to have learned nothing from Scott, Weir, Aronofsky, et al., about how to direct them. Crowe stars in his disappointing feature-filmmaking debut,…
RG&E-Ginna agreement not just a two-sided issue
The people who work at the Ginna nuclear power plant and the people who generally oppose nuclear power are probably never going to agree on the future of the facility. That much was apparent at a hearing yesterday on a proposed contract for Rochester Gas and Electric to temporarily prop up the economically struggling plant.…
Your weekend in art: May 9-10
Mother’s Day weekend usually entails brunch (OK, let’s be real, weekends in general usually entail brunch), but given the glorious weather and loads of exciting things to do, supplement the omelets and mimosas with a side of the arts. Here are a few weekend art suggestions; for more events, check out the listings in our…
Mr. Clean
It’s safe to say Brian Regan has this stand-up comedy thing down pat — the guy has been at it for more than 30 years.
Theater Review: “Violet” at Blackfriars Theatre
It is hard to argue with the success of “Violet.” Despite a weak script and a tiring group of songs, this hit-the-road-and-discover-yourself musical has managed to resonate with both audiences and critics ever since its original Off-Broadway premiere in 1997. The 2014 Broadway revival gained four Tony Award nominations — most notably for its lead…
Relich says Skelos should give up leadership post
Monroe County Republican Party chair Bill Reilich has joined the ranks of the state GOP leaders calling for Dean Skelos to resign his post as Senate majority leader. Earlier this week, federal prosecutors charged Skelos with conspiracy, extortion, wire fraud, and soliciting bribes. He’s accused of taking actions that would benefit two companies, as long…
JCC CenterStage announces 2015-16 “Melting Pot” Season
JCC CenterStage Artistic Director Ralph Meranto announced the lineup for the theater’s 2015-16 Season during a digital press conference on YouTube. The 39th JCC CenterStage Subscription Series will include two world premiere musical events, two regional premiere plays and a high-profile revival. “The season is a Melting Pot,” Meranto said. “Each show reflects differing worlds…
State board will examine fast food wages
The state’s labor commissioner will convene a wage board to look into the pay in New York’s fast food industry. Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the plan yesterday in a New York Times editorial. The State Labor Department has the power to convene wage boards to recommend minimum wages for specific industries, as long as an…
Theater Review: “Into the Woods” at JCC CenterStage
Mounting a stage production shortly after the release of a lavish, big-budget film adaptation of the same material is always a tricky proposition. On the one hand, the publicity surrounding a movie release brings in a lot of new eyes, attracting people who are curious to see what the original material might look like. But…
Art preview: “Namaste” and gallery closing
In March, Ock Hee Hale, owner of Ock Hee’s Gallery (2 Lehigh Street, Honeoye Falls), announced to customers that due to a sobering health scare, she will simplify her business, which has included a retail store, art gallery, and landscaping design. "I asked myself the same question that I asked myself 20 years ago when…
UR raises concerns about proposed RG&E-Ginna contract
The region’s largest private employer has some serious concerns with a proposed contract between Rochester Gas and Electric and the struggling Ginna nuclear power plant. Under the proposal, RG&E would temporarily prop up Ginna — with RG&E’s customers paying the bill. In a May 1 letter to the Public Service Commission — a state regulatory…
Vargas says he’s ‘100-percent committed’ to the RCSD
There was a small crack in the Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas’s silence last week concerning his notice of claim against the city school board. Vargas wouldn’t say whether he intends to proceed with the litigation, but he did speculate about his future with the district. Vargas talked about his job performance, starting with a…
Report: DEC staff make case for Seneca Lake gas-storage project
Department of Environmental Conservation staff appear to lean toward granting state permits for an underground gas storage facility in the Finger Lakes, based on comments in a procedural filing, reports Capital NY. At issue is an application from a subsidiary of Texas-based Crestwood Holdings to convert a salt cavern into storage for up to 88…
Revised law empowers school supers
A revision to the state education law concerning failing schools could give Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas substantially more authority at a time when he’s at serious odds with the school board over management. Though it’s still unclear, the law appears to give Vargas the ability to make sweeping decisions to improve failing schools, including…
Festival frenzy
After one of the coldest winters on record, Rochesterians are finally beginning to stop shivering and rediscover the world that exists outside of heated buildings and cars. While the summer months are endlessly beautiful, fall always seems to arrive too soon — right as soon as we get used to sunshine and shorts weather. But…
Urban Action 5/6
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. Closing the achievement gap Monroe Community College will hold a symposium, “Black Male Achievement in Higher Education,” to examine the challenges that impact college achievement, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 7. The…
Beyond the blooms
Ten things you may not know about Highland Park Rochester’s Highland Park may be known best as the site of the annual Lilac Festival in May, but the 150-acre park offers lots of year-round interest, including a ramble through Lamberton Conservatory and the arboretum, a variety of memorials and monuments, a castle with Sunken Gardens,…
Cue marks
The late, great film critic Roger Ebert often described movies as “empathy machines,” allowing us to understand different hopes, aspirations, dreams, and fears. I can’t think of a better explanation of the film medium’s unique ability to make us identify with another human being, putting us completely in their shoes. But that machine only works…
ROCK | Chevelle
If it weren’t for the heavy riffs and proficiency, you could call Chevelle a boy band. Granted there’s no choreography and blow dried pompadours, but they are a good looking trio, nonetheless. Offering up a post-grunge dirge with industrial-esque forays and significant energy and might, Chevelle rocks. Originally comprised of three brothers, the trio came…
The faces of globalism
The story of art has almost always walked hand-in-hand with the story of money. Wealthy patrons have commissioned the most intrepid artists throughout the centuries, making celebrities of painters, sculptors and their subjects. Artists’ life works have been immortalized in private collections and museums, some appreciating in value beyond comprehension. The current exhibition on view…
ROCK | Psychedelic Furs
Too suave to be punk, too cool to be new wave, The Psychedelic Furs were one of the many bands that fell in the cracks. In fact, with its punk aggression, 1977 London birthdate, and new wave associates it would make sense to say the Furs made the cracks. With its thick, fuzzed-out guitar driving…
COMEDY | Michael McDonald
Michael McDonald is probably best known for his 10-year stint on “MADtv” performing gut-busting sketch comedy. For years, McDonald was the go-to guy for impersonations on the show, parroting a host of characters and celebrities from Dr. Phil and Chris Martin to Saddam Hussein. MADtv-watchers will remember Sean Gidcomb, Bible Dude, and the Depressed Persian…
SPECIAL | Girls Rock! Cover Show
Girls Rock! Rochester, the rad local non-profit organization that empowers young girls through music, is having its annual cover show benefit. Think Halloween meets karaoke night, except it’s actually rehearsed and there are some pretty decent local musicians playing it. About 15 bands, covering the likes of Rilo Kiley, Neil Young, and the Rolling Stones…
SPECIAL EVENT | “Listen to your Mother”
“Listen to Your Mother” is a nationally-organized series of live readings from local authors and performers on the subject of motherhood. Planned for the Friday before Mother’s Day at the Memorial Art Gallery, the readings are an eclectic selection of Rochesterian perspectives on parenting that are as beautiful and varied as their authors. Whether the…
ROCK | The Blind Owls
The Blind Owls is rock ‘n’ roll from Corpus Christi, Texas, keeping the 1960’s alive. The energetic, young foursome look like they were born in the late 1990’s, but their suits, and period glasses and hairstyles say otherwise. Catchy hooks, surf guitar noodles, and they sound a lot like one of their main influences, The…
SPECIAL EVENT | Rochester Bike Week
Rochester cyclists can celebrate the beautiful spring weather with Rochester Bike Week, Rochester’s spin on National Bike Month, bike to work week, and bike to school week. The week is packed with community rides, bike-related film screenings, and clinics throughout the city. The official week is Sunday, May 10, through Monday, May 18, but bike…
CLASSICAL | “porgy And Bess”
George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” is often called the Great American Opera, and I can’t argue with that. First produced on Broadway in 1934, “Porgy and Bess” eventually found a home in opera houses throughout the world (though it has made periodic returns to Broadway, most recently in 2012). The score (with lyrics by DuBose…
METAL | Misery Index
Deathgrind is one of those brutally intense fusion genres that needs to balance well in order to work — but when it works, damn, it will blow your eardrums out. Misery Index has been a prime example of how to do the noise well, ramming together the dread, doom, and technicality of death metal with…
SPECIAL EVENT | Cinco de Mayo 1K Fun Run
Cinco de Mayo may be officially over, but some people don’t want to stop celebrating. So, in honor of Siete de Mayo, Black Button Distilling is hosting a 1K fun run on Thursday. Runners will begin in four waves at the top of Railroad and East Main, have a brief “water stop” (which might consist…
HIP-HOP | Yoni Wolf
Nothing ever seems out of the ordinary for Yoni Wolf. The guy’s main project, WHY?, has been a well-received powerhouse of alt hip-hop and genre-fluid indie for more than a decade, and he seems to pop up in the best places with his guest appearances, mixtapes, and remixes. Wolf is now on a small solo…
THEATER | MuCCC College Theater Festival
College students who want to develop their talents for directing, acting, and writing have a strong ally in MuCCC, which is presenting its annual College Theater Festival this Saturday, May 9. (It’s thoughtfully scheduled after most finals.) Local college students and teachers provide the short one-act plays, and the theater professionals at MuCCC (not to…
Drifting through downtown
For those that might only go downtown at night for concerts or other events, it can be easy to forget that there is life in the area during the day, before it empties out after all the nine-to-fivers go home. Drifters L.B. is a new restaurant located inside the recently opened Hilton Garden Inn (155…
THEATER | “The Yeomen of the Guard”
The Off-Monroe Players — Rochester’s Gilbert and Sullivan company — will present “The Yeomen of the Guard” as its spring production. In this tale of the Tower of London and its famed Yeomen guards, the stage is set with the wrongful accusation and imprisonment of one Colonel Fairfax. Various efforts by his friend, Sergeant Meryll,…
Wild about Weiland
Give Scott Weiland a break. Really. It’s easy to dismiss the 47-year-old singer for the erratic behavior, drug drama, and endless quirks, but those are the same elements to the man’s on-stage chaos and flamboyance — chaos and flamboyance that have solidified him as one of this generation’s great front men. Weiland and his band,…
Changing images of art
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik and Rochester City Ballet Artistic Director Jamey Leverett will both present interpretations of another’s art onstage this weekend. “Images: Musical Impressions of an Art Museum” is a suite of seven movements that Tyzik wrote based on seven pieces of art from the Memorial Art Gallery. Leverett choreographed…
ALBUM REVIEW: “Bright Days”
Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad “Bright Days” Easy Star Records livepanda.com The Rochester reggae-roots road dogs in Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, have really outdone themselves on this very-non reggae outing, “Bright Days.” It’s splendiferously magnifantabulous and you can quote me on that. Now this isn’t the band’s first departure from its one-drop, rock steady…
Feedback 5/6
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ALBUM REVIEW: “In The Beginning”
Wes Montgomery “In The Beginning” Resonance Records wesmontgomery.com By the time Wes Montgomery died of a heart attack in 1968, at the young age of 43, he was widely regarded as the best guitarist in jazz. But by then his records were weighed down by covers of pop songs backed by overwrought strings. His best…
Rochester, the game
You’ve landed on Ontario Beach Park. But, oh no, the algae count is high, so you can’t swim. Lose a turn. You’re stuck in a roundabout on the way to Seabreeze. Pay fine of $50. The food trucks are out! Yippee! Collect $10, and a case of heartburn. Those examples are jokes, but a property…
Final Braddock Bay designs ready
The US Army Corps of Engineers has released proposed designs for a project intended to restore the Braddock Bay wetlands. The agency will hold a public meeting on the designs at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 7, at Greece Town Hall, 1 Vince Tofany Boulevard. Corps representatives will explain the plan and what happens next.…
Busing the kids
To come up with a real solution to the fights, we have to address their roots. And nobody wants to do that.
Film Review: “Avengers: Age of Ultron”
With “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” it seems there’s just too much to balance.
Film Review: “Cheatin'”
The thing about love is that there’s too much that our limited language prevents us from truly expressing, so it’s fortunate that there exist artists who are able to convey the tangled emotions that mere words can’t. If you’ve ever seen any of animator Bill Plympton’s award-winning work, you know that he rarely relies on…
Film Review: “An Honest Liar”
“It’s okay to fool people as long as you’re doing it to teach them a lesson which will better their knowledge of how the world works,” James Randi tells us at the outset of “An Honest Liar,” an unexpectedly revealing documentary portrait of Randi the man as well as his alter ego, an illusionist known…
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 7, Episode 10: Prancing Queens
Guys, Monday night’s episode made me very anxious — that must mean we were down to the bottom six. The episode opened after Miss Fame’s departure. Miss Fame really did seem like a sweetheart, further evidenced by the fact that she left individual notes for all the queens that were left in the competition. This…
