Cover Story
10 stories the media missed
From the illegal dumping of fracking waste water to popular resistance to corporate water-grabbing.
New ad campaign touts Rochester — or Warren?
Rochester is a mid-sized city with a small town’s zeal for gossip. So when a mayor who is not up for re-election until 2017 starts running TV spots, people take notice. The commercial shows Mayor Lovely Warren with a child — her daughter, Taylor? — and touts some of the things happening in the city,…
Week Ahead: For the week of Monday, November 16
Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas will hold his coffee and conversation meeting from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 17. The meeting is an opportunity to meet with the superintendent in a casual setting and ask questions and bring issues to his attention. The meeting will be held at the district’s central office,…
Talking self-acceptance with Senses Fail’s Buddy Nielsen
Senses Fail plays Anthology on November 18.
Environmental group ranks legislators
Environmental Advocates of New York released its annual scorecard of state Legislators.
Brooks budget keeps tax rate flat; GOP again takes up sheriff pay
Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks’ final budget proposal, on the surface, is not a shocking proposal. She keeps the property tax flat — her legacy accomplishment as county executive — at $8.99 per $1,000 of assessed value. But shortly after Brooks released her plan last night, County Legislature Republicans introduced and passed a measure that…
Saha Med Grill finds a fast, healthy balance
When Sami Mina opened Aladdin’s Natural Eatery in 1979, he was one of the first to introduce Mediterranean cuisine to Rochester. Now, Mina is marrying the taste and health benefits of the Mediterranean diet with fast-casual dining in his latest venture, Saha Med Grill. The first location opened on University Avenue in September 2014, the…
Exhibit looks at the Xerox copier as the ‘Immovable Camera’
Xerox played a large role in West Coast art movements.
JAZZ | Eastman Chamber Jazz with Noal Cohen
From the early 1950’s to the early 1960’s, saxophonist Gigi Gryce (1927-1983) played with some of the top names in jazz, including Max Roach, Clifford Brown, and Thelonious Monk. He also wrote the jazz standard “Minority” and other notable tunes. Eastman professor Bob Sneider will lead the Eastman Chamber Jazz ensemble in a performance of…
ART | Romero Britto
Brazilian artist Romero Britto, known for his colorful and positive depiction of the world, is currently featured at the Nan Miller studio. An internationally renowned pop artist, Britto was born in Brazil in 1963 and moved to the United States — to Miami, where he currently resides — to compete in the flourishing pop art…
JAZZ | Eastman Jazz Lab Band
There will be no shortage of highlights when the Eastman Jazz Lab Band, under the direction of Rich Thompson, takes the stage at Kilbourn Hall on Tuesday night. Joel Boettger will take on the lead alto sax role on a Bob Brookmeyer arrangement of Hoagy Carmichael’s great tune, “Skylark.” Another fine saxophonist, Orlando Madrid, will…
DANCE | Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company
Nazareth College Arts Center will present the critically acclaimed, cross-cultural dance of Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company on Saturday, November 14. Nai-Ni Chen was a renowned traditional dancer in Taiwan, and at age 17, served on ambassadorial culture missions to 19 countries as a bearer of the classical dance tradition for the Republic of China. She…
CLASSICAL | Ying Quartet
The Ying Quartet — Eastman School of Music’s quartet-in-residence — returns to Kilbourn Hall on Sunday at 3 p.m. as part of the Eastman-Ranlet concert series. The popular chamber ensemble will look and sound slightly different this concert season, as siblings Janet, David, and Phillip Ying are now joined by first violinist Robin Scott. Concertmaster…
ART | “Candy Coral”
Rochester artist Torrell Arnold is featured at Roc City Cowork this November with his display, “Candy Coral.” This exhibit explores colors, patterns, repetitive symbols, and other art experiments by Arnold, focusing on the contrast of childhood curiosity and imagination against the dullness and uniformity of adulthood. Arnold’s work will be displayed on multimedia platforms. “Candy…
CLASSICAL | First Inversion performs Vivaldi and Hasse
RV 807 may sound like a sports car model, but if you’re a lover of baroque music, RV 807 may have much greater significance: that’s the catalogue number assigned to a recently rediscovered setting of Psalm 109 (“Dixit Dominus”) by Antonio Vivaldi. It came to light only in 2005, and was revealed as a major…
SPECIAL EVENT | Harvest Brew Fest
From the organizers of the Lilac Brew Fest, the Harvest Fest is a tasting event that showcases 35 craft breweries and cideries, including Saranac, Dogfish Head, CB Craft Brewers, Three Heads Brewing and many more. The festival will also include food, live music by Jackson Cavalier, and even a silent disco featuring two live DJs.…
METAL | Castle
This is no frills, hit you with a brick, doom-tinged metal. Castle keeps things heavy and simple as a trio — vocalist and bassist Liz Blackwell; guitarist Mat Davis; and drummer Al McCartney — with a focus on powerful, immovable songwriting. Some righteous heavy metal and rock influences drag themselves up from the 70’s, but…
COMEDY | Preston Lacy
Best known for starring in the “Jackass” TV series and movies, Preston Lacy stops in Rochester this Thursday during his “Fat Chance Tour.” The daredevil, actor, writer, and comedian began his comedy career by doing skits on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno before his Jackass days. He has also starred in “Christmas in Wonderland”…
R&B | Trey Songz
Trey Songz drips sex appeal. The singer makes modern R&B — a bit of hip-hop crossover, some electronic and drum-machine samples, heavy bass — that’s got lust and desire on its mind 24-7. After putting out his debut album, “I Gotta Make It,” in 2005, Trey Songz has consistently made a splash with each release:…
THEATER | “Floyd Collins”
The musical “Floyd Collins” premieres at Nazareth College this week, telling the true story of a dream turned to tragedy. In 1925, Floyd Collins attempted to make a tourist attraction out of a cave in Kentucky but accidentally got trapped inside. He learned to fight for his sanity, and his life, as he received minimal…
Mastodon rumbles into Rochester
Short answer: Mastodon is a metal band. Long answer: Mastodon is a Grammy-nominated, heavy, progressive quartet weaned on a unique and complex mix of stoner rock, prog-rock, grunge, hard rock, and heavy metal. The Hotlanta quartet shuns the textbook metal clichés of disingenuous evil and excess, and instead goes for an epic, foreboding, dynamic and…
High Falls Film Festival 2015 preview
When the High Falls Film Festival was founded back in 2001, with a mission to highlight the contributions of women in the film industry, just 17 percent of jobs behind the camera were held by women. Sadly, 14 years later not much has changed. In fact, that statistic hasn’t budged an inch. The need to…
ALBUM REVIEW: “Padme”
Caili O’Doherty “Padme” ODO Records cailimusic.com When you hear an artist as fully formed as pianist Caili O’Doherty, it’s difficult to believe that “Padme” is her debut album. But by the time she released the CD, O’Doherty had attended Berklee College of Music, performed with Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano, and Dave Liebman, and toured extensively.…
The City Seen: November 14
Last Saturday, I visited the Seneca Park Zoo after dark to see what artwork the animals had created. I am not sure if cute encompasses all the right emotions, but there were certainly more “awws” then I could count. Some of the work was directly created by the animals, like Lilac, the African elephant with…
ALBUM REVIEW: “What’s New? Reimagining Benny Goodman”
Oran Etkin “What’s New? Reimagining Benny Goodman” Motema oranetkin.com Although his latest album is an exploration of the music of Benny Goodman, Oran Etkin’s CD is appropriately titled “What’s New?”: all 12 of the tracks are highly original takes on the spirit of Goodman’s music. Like Goodman, Etkin was inspired by African-American music but can’t…
Feedback 11/11
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. Comments of fewer than 350 words have a greater chance of being published, and we do edit selections for publication in print. We don’t publish comments sent to other media. Stigma only…
Urban Action 11/11
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. All are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. How receivership of schools works The Rochester school board will host a public forum for parents, teachers, and the community regarding school receivership and its impact on city schools. The forum is from…
Citizen input sought for body-camera program
Rochester City Council kicks-off a series of public meetings tomorrow on the pending police body-camera program. Meetings will be held throughout November and one on December 3. The first meeting, on Thursday, November 12, will be held in City Council Chambers at City Hall, 30 Church Street. The city hopes to phase in the camera…
Have county Dems hit bottom?
Sometimes, the only thing that’ll unite stubborn people is a crisis, a problem so big that it just can’t be ignored any longer. This is the state that Monroe County Democrats find themselves in after last week’s elections. Dems prevailed in their barely-competitive City Council and school board races, won re-election to the Irondequoit Town…
Design for a better Rochester
Joni Monroe firmly believes that Rochester has made monumental progress toward recognizing the value of its natural and historic assets and their critical role in good urban design. Many of the city’s neighborhoods, its downtown core, and many suburban communities are improving, she says. The longtime director and founding member of the Community Design Center…
Bright earth
A show of 18 luminous, unabashedly joyful paintings by Jay Pullman is on view at Lumiere Photo’s Spectrum Gallery through Saturday, November 28. The lovely work depicts all four glorious seasons, and even the snowy scenes are cheerful enough to quell some of my dread of the impending winter. The small paintings mostly portray the…
Monroe County election shows a divided community
It matters how important the city is in the eyes of the new county executive and the heavily Republican legislature.
Theater Review: “A Twist of Lemmon” at Downstairs Cabaret
“A Twist of Lemmon” offers a rare glimpse into the creative process and personal life of actor Jack Lemmon.
Film Review: “Spectre”
Twenty-four films into its 50-year run, the James Bond series has become the equivalent of cinematic comfort food: the flavor may sometimes vary slightly, but the familiar ingredients audiences crave are always present. With the secret agent’s last outing, 2012’s “Skyfall,” director Sam Mendes was able to inject the formula with some emotional resonance –…
Film Review: “Underground”
In the days before the Internet made communication easy and the transfer of information instantaneous, films provided a crucial role in allowing us to learn about people and places that were otherwise worlds apart. This week, the Dryden Theatre will kick off a new month-long film series called “Here and Elsewhere,” which presents a lineup…
