Cover Story
Local lit enlightens young readers
Local authors pen literature for kids, from tots to teens
Jazz Festival announces two 2017 headliners
The Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival has announced the first two headliners of its 2017 edition. R&B and gospel singer Mavis Staples will perform Wednesday, June 28, and roots rocker Sheryl Crow will play Thursday, June 29. Both shows are at 8 p.m. in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre. Tickets for Staples are $25-$85, and…
Mayor Barnhart? She’s thinking about it
Barnhart’s possible mayoral run must have heads spinning at the Monroe County Democratic Committee.
WEEK AHEAD: Events for the week of Monday, December 5
A public forum on the state of police-community relations will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. today (Monday, December 5), at the Adams Street rec center, 85 Adams Street. This is the last forum in Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren’s 90 Days of Community Engagement Initiative. The forum is a chance for the community…
Local bands pay tribute to promoter Tim Avery
Rochester musician and Bug Jar booking impresario Tim Avery is fighting the good fight with the big C. And musicians and music fans alike are rallying behind the man with several benefit shows. As a booking agent and promoter, Avery has proved himself indispensable in filling the void between musicians — whether local, national, or…
Film review: ‘The Eagle Huntress’
At its heart a simple story of a girl and her eagle, the charming documentary “The Eagle Huntress” follows Aisholpan, a 13-year-old Mongolian girl, as she seeks to become the first female eagle hunter in her Kazakh family. She faces an uphill battle, as director Otto Bell shows in brief interviews with the elders of…
Warren aims to get rid of red-light cameras
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren says she will submit legislation to City Council to end the city’s red-light camera program at midnight on December 31. Outstanding tickets and tickets issued up until that time would still have to be paid. She cannot wage a fight against poverty while supporting a program that disproportionately affects the city’s…
Dance review: Garth Fagan home season
Garth Fagan Dance premiered two pieces to an appreciative audience Wednesday night at Nazareth College’s Arts Center during the opening of its 2016 home season. Both pieces — Fagan’s “In Conflict” and Norwood Pennewell’s “A Moderate Cease” — were well-received, albeit different in sensibility. Pennewell’s “A Moderate Cease,” the sixth piece he has choreographed for…
No, Michael Gerson, hypocrisy is not O.K.
It’s hard to say which is more stomach-turning, the nonsensical things Donald Trump says or the half-witted things Trump’s supporters say in an effort to normalize him: “He’s a businessman, not a politician.” “He’s not erratic, he’s unpredictable.” Or my personal favorite, “He isn’t a racist, he just isn’t afraid to say what everyone else…
Three reasons to visit VSW this week
Over the next few days, Visual Studies Workshop (31 Prince Street) is offering a set of engaging shows and events. On Wednesday, November 30, check out “Bad Objects: A Night of New Media from RIT.” Taking place from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the VSW Auditorium, the one-night show explores digital art and new…
DOOM METAL | Goron
A few years ago, at a flea market in Des Moines, Iowa, I bought an old turntable that besides the requisite RPMs of 33, 45, and 78, had a fourth speed: 10. My buddy Jason was ecstatic. “Do you know what that means?” he asked. I wasn’t sure. “It means now you can listen to…
Conflict over construction at Sibley
Renovations are often disruptive, no matter the scale. So some sort of conflict between WinnCompanies and Monroe Community College’s Damon City Campus may have been inevitable. Winn owns and is renovating the Sibley Building downtown for housing and a high-tech incubator; MCC is a tenant in the building. The Monroe Community College Faculty Association sent…
VOCAL | “A City Sings for the Season”
Sibley’s department store was once the center of Rochester’s holiday shopping, and this Sunday afternoon, the building, for a third year, becomes a center for holiday music, dancing, and charity with “A City Sings for the Season.” This celebration of holiday music and dance is presented by the Rochester Oratorio Society, which will sing under…
Anti-poverty group leader: It’s time to act
Leonard Brock, director of the Rochester-Monroe County Anti-Poverty Initiative, says he knows there’s a risk that people will lose patience with the effort, even though he’s warned since the group’s 2015 beginning that it will be a long haul. “I hear all the time in the community, which is interesting, ‘Leonard, what are you doing…
ELECTRONIC/FOLK | Sparx & Yarms
While some bands take a decade’s worth of albums to figure out what exactly makes them special, others only require one to make a point. After that, the ones worth remembering fondly tend to fade quietly into the night, leaving a singular and lasting testament to their importance. Rochester’s Sparx & Yarms is one of…
Former Wafel Cart owner opens The Waffle Factory
Listening to Nick Musson talk about the path that led him to opening The Waffle Factory (30 North Avenue, Webster) will give you wanderlust. Musson graduated from Webster Schroeder High School, went on to study in Greece — Musson is Greek and Belgian — worked on both US coasts, ran a successful local food cart,…
SWING | Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
The folks who run the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival have joined with the Eastman School of Music to transplant that summer jazz vibe to the snowy winter in Rochester. Past festival favorites, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, will bring its distinctive strain of Dixieland jazz to the Kodak Hall stage for a “Wild and Swingin’…
The pressure is on for East High
It’s been almost two years to the day that the University of Rochester proposed taking over East High School; the State Education Department gave the Rochester school district few options. In a district used to crisis, East, one the lowest performing schools in the state, had become a three-alarm fire. If the UR didn’t step…
JAZZ | Ritual Trio with David Murray
Saxophonist David Murray is among the greatest improvisers in jazz today. When he joins master percussionist Kahil El’Zabar and top Chicago bassist Harrison Bankhead in the Ritual Trio, the chemistry should be explosive in the most positive sense of the word. A founding member of the World Saxophone Quartet, Murray has played with a “Who’s…
ROCK | The Kennedys
When Maura and Pete Kennedy decided to go out on a first date, she was in Texas and he was in Colorado, so they had to meet half way. The midway point was in Lubbock, Texas, where Buddy Holly is buried — the now-married couple’s date was at Holly’s gravesite. While that initial meeting…
Album Review: ‘Dada People’
Dave Douglas and Frank Woeste “Dada People” Greenleaf Music davedouglas.com Known as Man Ray, the 1920’s-era Parisian Dadaist and Surrealist artist was actually a South Philadelphia-born Jewish man named Emmanuel Radnitzky. His enigmatic identity, along with the art work and movements he spearheaded, have inspired work in a totally different genre that was also taking…
Lisa Winter fills her music with honesty
Lisa Winter’s songs are like little prayers sent up on gossamer wings. They’re lyrically impactful yet melodically gentle. The Rochester singer-songwriter is a compelling performer in her raw simplicity that’s seemingly couched in a pervading melancholy. The music shines regardless; you can blame it on her voice — a voice that comes off coquettish but…
Album Review: ‘Inspired’
Rale Micic, John Abercrombie, Peter Bernstein, and Lage Lund “Inspired” Artist Share artistshare.com They may be known for a wide variety of styles, but there is one thing that four of the top guitarists in jazz have in common: a reverence for the music and style of the late guitar giant Jim Hall. Rale Micic…
LITERATURE | “Read Local”: Aracelis Girmay
In September, local literary organizations kicked off a new “Read Local” series of featured author events, presenting opportunities for local businesses to collaborate while supporting home-grown literature. Each event is held in a bar, where attendees are encourage to meet and talk with the author over a drink. The informal nature of the series aims…
THEATER | “Big Wigs: Holiday Hams”
Now that you’ve stuffed your turkey, prepare to have your bells jingled and your chestnuts roasted as Mrs. Kasha Davis and Aggy Dune don their gay apparel for “Holiday Hams,” a seasonally festive rendition of their irreverent “Big Wigs” Las Vegas-style revue. Featuring bawdy comedy, high-energy costume changes, and impeccable impersonations of your favorite divas…
THEATER | “A Christmas Carol”
Needless to say, Geva Theatre Center’s production of “A Christmas Carol” has become a Rochester holiday tradition for many families, for the theater, and for the actors themselves. The current adaptation — by Artistic Director Mark Cuddy, with music and lyrics by Gregg Coffin — premiered in 2010, and continues to draw large crowds every…
ART | Feminist Fiber Art Gallery
Feminist Fiber Art, a traveling art exhibit curated by Rochester-based artist Iris Nectar, hosts shows, craft workshops, performances, and concerts in DIY spaces with a mission to show how feminists use fiber art to “subvert its history as ‘women’s work’ in colorful, fun, and sexually liberated ways.” For its third formal gallery exhibit, Feminist Fiber…
THEATER | “Meet Me in St. Louis”
Adapted as a live radio play, “Meet Me in St. Louis” celebrates the holiday season with the Smith family as they prepare for the 1904 World’s Fair. Produced by Screen Plays, and directed by Karen Tuccio, “Meet Me in St. Louis” will transport audiences back in time with a performance reminiscent of the live radio…
DANCE | Garth Fagan Dance Home Season
Garth Fagan Dance will present its home season this week at Nazareth College’s Arts Center, with rare first looks and Rochester premieres of two new works. The company will premiere “In Conflict,” a four-part piece choreographed by Fagan and set to music by composer Arvo P#rt, and “A Moderate Cease,” which was choreographed by Norwood…
Back to darkroom basics with ‘Under Safelight’
There’s much to be said about the disappearing scientific element of making art and the stalwart enthusiasts keeping it alive. Chemistry and creativity have strolled hand-in-hand throughout human history, but just as the majority of painters stopped grinding their own minerals when they could buy any ready-made hue, most photographers’ understanding of chemistry and calculations…
Feedback 11/30
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. Shame on…
BLUES | Jorma Kaukonen
Although he’s a founding member of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, these days, Jorma Kaukonen’s music is much more down-home acoustic. It’s a whole lot more akin to the Appalachian strain than that found in Haight-Ashbury as Kaukonen weaves around in an amazing fingerstyle attack. Feed your head. Jorma Kaukonen performs Monday, December 5, at…
Urban Action 11/30
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. Democracy Spring offers activism training Democracy Spring will hold a one-day training workshop on nonviolent political activism to achieve democracy-enhancing legislation and political reform. The event will be held from 9 a.m. to…
January 20 countdown: Who is Donald Trump?
Trump’s New York Times interview proves that we have no idea about what he believes and what he’ll do as president.
Film review: “The Handmaiden”
A seductive, sensual delight, “The Handmaiden” is just the right mix of cerebral and smutty
