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The best fest time of year
Inside our annual Festival Preview Guide, CITY rounds-up the dates and details of all of those festivals, which we hope will be useful in planning your summer
Classical review: RPO performs Brahms and a Higdon world premiere
In a polished, powerful showing, the RPO debuted a new work by Jennifer Higdon
Fight over Cobbs Hill Village intensifies
City Council will not be voting on the Cobbs Hill Village project at its meeting next Tuesday. Mayor Lovely Warren has submitted an amended version of legislation, with new details about the apartment affordability rates. The new information was submitted today at a meeting of City Council’s Neighborhood and Business Development Committee. Rather than asking…
Upstate farm worker Dolores Bustamante loses asylum appeal
Dolores Bustamante, a Wayne County apple farm worker, and a group of her supporters sat through a seven-hour court hearing Tuesday at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia. And before she went inside the facility that morning, a crowd of people rallied around her, chanting “Dolores, aguanta, el Pueblo se levanta” (“Dolores, endure, the…
FOLK | ‘Rochester Roots’
Rochester Folkus will bring together five pillars of the region’s folk community. A veteran of the scene for more than 40 years, folk master and multi-instrumentalist Allen Hopkins will host this vibrant showcase of local musicians who are actively keeping their respective traditions alive and thriving. Mitzie Collins is Rochester’s preeminent expert and educator on…
Festival Preview Guide 2018
The winter gear is stored away for another terrible time, and even the spring attire is banished back to the depths of the closet. It’s now time to bust out the festival hats — Rochester’s top season is upon us. Of course, part of what makes this such a fun time of year is that…
INDIE POP | Brother Sundance
Rylan Talerico, a k a Brother Sundance, is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist and indie pop producer whose sonic waves are rippling around the country. Talerico developed Brother Sundance after transitioning away from his punk-blues band as a teenager in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Talerico’s smoky, warm voice has a bite to it similar to that of Joe…
Feedback 5/9
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…
ROOTS ROCK | Tav Falco’s Panther Burns
There is no one quite like rocker Tav Falco. He is regal. He is debonair. And he plays some of the greasiest lo-fi rock ‘n’ roll you’ve ever heard. His recordings are full of scratches and dust and a salacious trashiness that rips through convention. Live, he’s a spooky, hip-twichin’, pelvis-grindin’ come-on personified. Tav Falco’s…
Urban Action 5/9
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Police oversight changes sought The Police Accountability Board Organizing Committee and Enough is Enough-Rochester will hold “Show Up for Police Accountability!,” a public forum, on Friday, May 11. The two groups have been…
THEATER | ‘The Bridges of Madison County, the Musical’
In Robert James Waller’s “The Bridges of Madison County,” Italian war bride Francesca stays at home while her family attends the Iowa State Fair, and by chance a handsome National Geographic photographer stops at her farm seeking directions. The story has enjoyed immortality through perpetual reinvention — the 1992 best-selling novel was adapted for screen,…
Urban farmers can grow corn on the corner
At its peak in the 1950’s, Rochester’s population climbed above 332,000. The city was booming. But after losing about a third of its population, not to mention many businesses, Rochester was left with more than 3,000 vacant lots. Instead of being empty eyesores, though, many of the lots have been repurposed for urban agriculture. More…
Eastman Museum plans forum on restoration projects
Restoration of the George Eastman Museum’s historic mansion will soon move into the next phase, but the museum needs financial support. Museum staff will submit a funding request application to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Community members can learn about the status of the project at a public forum…
Groups hope to revitalize Joseph’s vacant lots
Joseph Avenue’s history is as old as Rochester’s. It was one of the first areas where early Rochesterians settled, and right up through the first decades of the 1900’s, it remained a destination point for immigrants just arriving in the city. For a long time, it was also the center of the area’s Jewish community.…
FILM | ‘Voices of the Community’
The Native American Cultural Center and Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) ROC will this week present a screening of four documentaries at Visual Studies Workshop. The program, “Voices of the Community — Developing Strategies to Promote Indigenous Healing” will feature “More Than a Word,” a film about sports teams names and mascots that are…
Andrew W.K. goes over the top to see the other side
Andrew W.K. wasn’t always what he considers “a servant to the party gods.” Despite having had music lessons since he was 4 years old, W.K. originally never considered music as a career. Before he became an indisputable force of party-rock positivity, he had moved to New York City in his early 20’s with different aspirations:…
FILM | ‘Hurricane Bianca: From Russia With Hate’
In the 2016 indie LGBTQ comedy film, “Hurricane Bianca,” Bianca Del Rio — the winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 6 — stars as Richard, a New York City school teacher who relocated to a small town in Texas, where he’s outed and fired. Richard reappears as his alter-ego, Bianca del Rio, to seek revenge…
Album review: ‘Searching Hands’
Buffalo Sex Change “Searching Hands” Admirable Trait Records buffalosexchange.bandcamp.com Buffalo Sex Change is back with a new set of songs, following up a self-titled, full-length debut album that more closely replicated the duo’s high energy performances. On “Searching Hands,” all the elements that make BSXC potent are still there: Phil Pierce’s jangly, surf-tossed guitar work;…
ART | ‘Germinate’
Feminist women’s art collective The Politits will this week present “Germinate,” an installation of their work at Loud Cow studio in Spencerport. The one-night-only event serves as a showcase of new work by ‘Tits members Melissa Huang (pictured), Tina Starr, Lindsey Collier, Kristina Kaiser, Rebecca Lomuto, and Jacquelyn O’Brien. Artist Aaron Delahanty hosts shows —…
Album review: ‘Black Holes’
Great Red “Black Holes” Self-released facebook.com/greatredband On its debut EP, “Black Holes,” Great Red makes music that slowly but surely pulls the listener into the sound. The band sounds completely contemporary, but it’s also a throwback to 90’s alt-rock. The guitars of Mark Bamann and frontman Zach Kochan can be alternately subtle and bombastic, including…
ART | ‘Indelible Reflections’
Artists Jason Barber and Cordell Cordaro have teamed up to present “Indelible Reflections,” an art show that explores abstract reflections on unforgettable elements of their pasts. Both Barber and Cordaro were raised in Rochester by immigrant parents and grandparents. Through artwork and photographs, the artists contemplate the collision of cultures within them as well as…
THEATER | ‘Hamlet’
The tragic Prince of Denmark takes the stage this week with Screen Plays’ production of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Directed by Lindsay Warren Baker, this production is set in the present day and features M.J. Savastano in the title role. With the news of his father’s unexpected death, Hamlet returns home from university to find his…
DESERT ROCK | Howling Giant
More than just a band, Nashville’s Howling Giant is an entire concept. Heavy on the cosmic themes — heavy on everything, really — Howling Giant creates a world that conjures dark and villainous imagery. Beneath the epic riffery and overdriven guitars, is a story of sea voyages and androids with bloodlust in outer space. That…
Art and soul
The Corn Hill Arts Festival hits 50 August 1969: Astronauts from the Apollo 11 lunar landing have just returned home; The Beatles have just taken their famous “Abbey Road” cover photo; and the Woodstock Festival was held in Upstate New York. Farther northwest from Bethel, a group of neighbors — also artists — decide to…
CLASSICAL | RPO Performs Higdon Premiere
As the 2017-18 concert series winds down, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and its music director, Ward Stare, gear up for a program that may prove to be among the season’s best. There are few compositions in orchestral literature more hauntingly beautiful than “Four Sea Interludes” from Benjamin Britten’s masterful opera “Peter Grimes.” Devotees of symphonic…
World of food
At Rochester festivals, the quickest way to connect with a culture is through food There are numerous cultures that will hold celebrations this summer during Rochester’s dozens of festivals. Greek, Caribbean, Puerto Rican, Turkish, African, Asian, Italian, Ukrainian, and many other cultures will showcase their living traditions during the season. While these festivals will showcase…
Donald Trump and Nixon: do you see the similarity?
The day-after-day developments, the attacks on the media, the tension between the White House and the Attorney General ….
Monster movie team taps Rochester sculptor
A live-action short film, “The Molok,” is being planned by filmmakers and artists in New York City and Rochester, and is scheduled to be completed in early 2019. Right now, the creators are making a monster.
Where there’s Blackberry Smoke…
Blackberry Smoke singer and guitarist Charlie Starr doesn’t care whether you call his band a country band, a rock band, or a southern rock band. He leaves it up to you. Since the dawn of the aughts, this quintessential quintet from Atlanta has been barnstorming the globe with a good-time blend of all three of…
Kombucha culture expands booze-free beverage options
The explosive kombucha movement is similar to that of craft beer and third wave coffee, driven by millennial trendsetters — a group with a growing number seeking sober alternatives to a night out.
Film review: ‘Tully’
Charlize Theron plays Marlo, an overwhelmed 40-something wife and mother of two children, with a third on the way. Fearing for his sister’s well-being, Marlo’s brother hires night nanny Tully — a millennial Mary Poppins.
