Cover Story
Connecting the spectrum
“Question Bridge: Black Males” October 3 through November 16 Rochester Contemporary Art Center, 137 East Avenue Opening reception: October 3, 6 to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday: 1-5 p.m., Friday: 1-10 p.m. | $2, free to members | 461-2222; rochestercontemporary.org When giving public talks about the video project, “Question Bridge: Black Males,” artist and educator…
Forum Thursday on police-community relations
The United Christian Leadership Ministry and the Coalition for Police Reform will hold a forum on police-community relations at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 2, at the Inner Faith Gospel Tabernacle Church, 32 York Street. The purpose of the forum is to hear community complaints about police tactics. A press release from the church says…
Film Review: “The Skeleton Twins”
If nothing else — and sadly, there is not much else — “The Skeleton Twins” demonstrates once again that just about every movie entered in one of those ubiquitous film festivals wins some kind of prize, and that many even win a lot of prizes. The picture arrives in this region having won a screenwriting…
Film Reviews: “Tracks” and “The Congress”
“Tracks” (PG-13), Directed by John Curran Opens Friday at The Little Curran will do a Q&A after the 7 p.m. showings on Friday, October 3, and Saturday, October 4, at The Little. In “Tracks,” Rochester native John Curran (“The Painted Veil,” “We Don’t Live Here Anymore”) directs the true story of Robyn Davidson, a young…
O’Brien, environmental group push fracking legislation
New York has a de facto moratorium on high-volume hydraulic fracturing, but some of the state’s landfills and water treatment plants have been taking in out-of-state fracking wastes. Some local governments — none in Monroe County — have even used brine from fracked wells to de-ice roads. During a press conference this afternoon, Democratic State…
WEEK AHEAD: Bicycle boulevards meetings; Warren Facebook chat; march remembers Latasha Shaw
At 4 p.m. on Wednesday, October 1, the City of Rochester will hold two “pop-up meetings” to discuss preliminary recommendations in the city’s bicycle boulevards plan. The meetings will be held at two locations, both along potential routes. One site is the 19th Ward’s Aberdeen Square Park, 330 Post Avenue; the other is the Averill…
Adam reviews “Spoon River Rochester” and “Bushwacked”
Combining aspects of a flash mob, performance art, and historical ghost walk, the wonderfully eerie “Spoon River Rochester” adapts the text of Edgar Lee Masters’ “Spoon River Anthology” with a cast of over 150 actors (including Mayor Lovely Warren) delivering poems from the work, each one an epitaph of a single resident of the titular,…
David reviews “Chocolate Casi Amargo,” “You Are Where,” and “M.I.A.”
I only know a few words of Spanish, but I really enjoyed “Chocolate Casi Amargo,” (“Chocolate, Almost Bitter”), a one-act written and directed by Candide Carrasco and presented Saturday afternoon on the TheaterRocs Stage at Xerox Auditorium. The play has no plot to speak of, it’s just a late-night conversation between a long-married couple, Isabel…
Frank reviews Teressa Wilcox Band, Violet Mary, the Heroic Enthusiasts, and The Campbell Brothers
I’ve been going to see Teressa Wilcox since she was a teenage chick with a pick. And her voice’s timbre has always taken a back seat to her gentle phrasing. But not tonight, Jack. Homegirl was on the Gibbs Street Stage just a-belting it out. And her band ratcheted it up to help serve Wilcox’s…
![[UPDATED] New York’s Comcast-Time Warner decision could come in November](https://i0.wp.com/www.roccitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/news_icon1_newspaper.webp?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
[UPDATED] New York’s Comcast-Time Warner decision could come in November
New York regulators will probably make their decision on the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger by the end of fall. When the State Department of Public Service announced its review of the merger in late May, it said that the process would take about four months. But department staff requested an extension, according to a filing…
Vargas projects an increase in grad rate
Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas says that the district is projecting a 50.5 percent graduation rate for the 2010 cohort — meaning students who started high school in 2010. The 2010 group is the first required by the state to pass all Regents exams in order to graduate. These students will have also worked through…
Casey reviews “Garth Fagan Dance: Up Close & Personal”
Experiencing Garth Fagan Dance perform is a little bit like coming home, especially when you live in Rochester where the cutting edge contemporary dance company (now in its 44th year) also resides and works. Familiar dancers, familiar pieces, familiar Fagan — both wise and jocular in his comments and anecdotes. Seeing the company dance in…
Film Review: “Tusk”
Continuing the fascinatingly odd path Kevin Smith’s career has taken since he helped kickstart the 90’s indie movie scene with “Clerks,” the filmmaker’s latest is a horror-comedy tailor-made for those with a taste for the spectacularly bizarre. The idea behind “Tusk” sprang from Smith’s mind during the taping of his popular podcast (a snippet of…
Rebecca reviews “Moment of Impact”
Created and performed by Bronwyn Sims of Strong Coffee Stage Company, “Moment of Impact” is a strange, multimedia, one-woman show that explores how trauma experienced and tragedy witnessed can change the trajectory of a life. Inspired by real events, the story is told through the creative use of a sparse set, theater, dance, and aerial…
Adam reviews “140 Characters or Less” and 20 Penny Circus
The second social media-centric comedy show of my Fringe Festival experience this year, “140 Characters or Less: A Twitter Comedy Show” delivered the #funny. Hosted by comedian Dario Josef with a rotating cast of local stand-ups, the show shares some DNA with Comedy Central’s popular “@midnight” program — mixing Twitter-based humor with traditional stand-up comedy.…
Meeting on East High’s future indicative of hurdles going forward
Imagine East High School with a 95 percent graduation rate. Imagine walking through the front doors without having to go through metal detectors. Imagine a school so popular that there’s a waiting list to get in. That’s a sample of the ideas that surfaced yesterday at the University of Rochester Vision Summit. Others included college…
690 St. Paul cleanup plan released to the public
The Department of Environmental Conservation is taking comments on a brownfield cleanup plan for parts of 690 St. Paul Street, a multi-building property that includes Rochester school district space and the Rochester Prep High School — a charter school. A few years ago, there were concerns about the air quality in the school district’s space; the…
David reviews “The Cougar and the Cabana Boy”
If you’re not quite ready to say goodbye to summer, slip on your flip-flops and catch one of the remaining performances of "The Cougar and the Cabana Boy" at Xerox Auditorium. This original musical by Dresden Engle and J. Daniel Lauritzson features a very agreeable cast and a story as light and colorful as the…
Casey reviews Biodance and “Diaghilesque”
All of Rochester could have been lit by the energy Biodance exuded at GEVA’s Nextstage last night. The show reminded me of a collection of excellent short stories. Each unique piece vibrant and well-worked out — good enough to stand alone, but even better as a group. Missy Pfohl Smith, Artistic Director of Biodance, seems…
Rebecca reviews “Merged II”
The final Fringe Festival performance of “Merged II” was presented on Wednesday night at Geva’sNextstage. This deeply moving and visually stunning series of performances was a fantastic celebration of the human body’s capabilities to strive and express and explore and persevere. A few of the seven pieces resonated more powerfully with me than others. A…
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
Based on most local media coverage of Ward Stare, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s new music director, you would know that he’s young, he’s handsome, and he looks good in a tuxedo — all excellent attributes in a conductor, of course, but … The media have approached Stare’s musical credentials more gingerly; nonetheless they are definitely…
JAZZ | Charlie Hunter & Scott Amendola
From Duke Ellington and Cole Porter to Hank Williams and The Cars, Charlie Hunter & Scott Amendola are all over the musical map. They’ve just recorded four EPs, each focused on one of the above artists. So when Hunter takes the stage tonight at Lovin’ Cup along with his excellent drummer, Amendola, you can expect…
The Dmitri Matheny Group
Perhaps you’ve seen it before … A pachuco limps the gutter stroll on Cuban heels while a street walker checks her face in a busted compact mirror. A hard guy tries to soft sell, snake eyes roll, and folks from vice to nice rub shoulders on the hot asphalt parade. Somewhere in the distance, a…
HIP-HOP | Vic Mensa
It’s easy to draw up comparisons between Vic Mensa and Chance The Rapper — who put out an incredible second mixtape, “Acid Rap,” last year. Both are 21 year olds from Chicago, routinely work together in a similar groove, and have received a lot of acclaim from the same sources (XXL Freshman class 2014, SPIN,…
ALBUM REVIEW: “Pink Elephant”
Pink Elephant “Pink Elephant” Self-released Pinkelephant.bandcamp.com Rochester heavy quartet, Pink Elephant is a forward thinking band with one eye in the rear-view mirror. On its self-titled album, the band is gloriously ensconced in the big 90’s sound of big drums, big guitar, big anthems, but is clearly not happy in being just a re-hash. Recorded…
VARIOUS | American Villain Fest
Rochester-based American Villain Apparel is an alternative clothing line established in 2013. Co-founder Jeremy Seaver describes the label as fast growing — he puts it this way: “If we could get Miley Cyrus to wear one of our shirts, we would — not that it would be our first choice.” Seaver, a veteran of the…
CLASSICAL | Amenda and Friends: A Transfigured Night
First Muse Chamber Music will open its 2014-15 season, Sunday, with performances by the Amenda Quartet, Michael Kannen with David Brickman, and Maria Lambros. The Amenda Quartet — violinists David Brickman and Patricia Sunwoo, violist Melissa Matson, and cellist Mimi Hwang — will begin the night with a performance of the last of Beethoven’s “early”…
Photos from “TriviaCITY”
CITY Newspaper’s second annual trivia night at the Rochester Fringe Festival featured 17 teams competing at 5 rounds of questions about Rochester, the Fringe, and weird-knowledge trivia. Questions ranged from disco-song-origins, to fill-in-the-blank limericks on notable Rochesterians, a visual round of local logos, and a test of knowledge on the history of the Erie Canal.…
SPECIAL EVENT | Roaring 20’s Ball
On Friday, September 26, Groove Juice Swing will host its 5th annual Roaring 20’s Ball at Bush Mango Drum & Dance on 34 Elton Street in Rochester. The event begins at 7 p.m. with a free lesson in the 1920’s popular dance style, The Charleston, and continues on, 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., with social…
A sandwich greater than the sum of its parts
Roast beef on kümmelweck, better known simply as beef on weck, is a humble sandwich. It’s a venerated staple in Buffalo-area restaurants and taverns, yet mysteriously, has not taken a solid foothold in the Rochester area in the way that Buffalo’s other culinary pillar, the chicken wing, has. Beef on weck consists of only three…
THEATER | “Pass It On”
Anyone who has been in recovery knows the names, or at least the first names, of Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous. The two men met in a hotel in Akron, Ohio, in 1935, and their efforts to keep themselves and others sober led to the formation of AA and the…
Feedback 9/24
Send comments 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 and edit comments from all three sources. On the waterfront Development plans for the Charlotte port area are drawing comments from both opponents and supporters. A sample of recent submissions:…
Cautious optimism for skate park
Sometime this fall, the City of Rochester will begin the process to repair the Genesee Crossroads parking garage at Andrews and Front streets, and to overhaul the adjacent Genesee Crossroads-Charles Carroll Park. Part of the work may also help set the stage for a skate park. The city has $5.1 million set aside for garage…
Taming East Rochester’s main drag
In East Rochester, the stretch of West Commercial Street that runs past the Piano Works mall can feel more like a runway than a village street. Years ago, the state built an off-ramp from Interstate 490 that dumps vehicles right onto West Commercial; the ramp opens up into a wide, four-lane road. Many drivers don’t…
Lovely Warren: Rochester’s mother mayor
Technically, Lovely Warren ran against incumbent Tom Richards in last year’s mayoral race. But by making education the centerpiece of her campaign, Warren arguably ran against the Rochester City School District, too. Warren tapped into widespread disgust with years of poor graduation rates and shockingly low student achievement, especially among blacks and Latinos. And she…
Urban Action 9/24
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Mentor training offered The Judicial Process Commission will hold mentor training from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday, September 29, and Tuesday, September 30. Mentors are needed to help individuals as they…
‘I Believe’: Fringe and Rochester’s future
“The Book of Mormon” is headed back to Rochester, complete with the fresh-faced, dizzily optimistic Elder Price singing “I Believe.” And that song has been running through my mind the last several days, competing with less happy thoughts. Rochester has been through a tough time this month, losing, in the space of 48 hours, a…
LECTURE | Criminal Justice Seminar
As involved as we may think we are in government, the general public remains pretty happily hands-off when it comes to the justice system. Participation in a jury is far more rare than voting, and many of us seem content to watch the news but look away from the fates of the incarcerated masses. On…
CLASSIC METAL | Judas Priest
You’ve got to love Priest. But you can’t trust them when they claim they’re hanging it up after 40+ years and 17 studio albums. The bands last Epitaph World Tour was supposed to be it, along with the release of the concept album “Nostradamus” in 2012. But the only farewell was from original guitarist KK…
SPECIAL EVENT | The Warner Castle Soiree
Horatio Gates Warner built the Warner Castle in 1854 to resemble his ancestral castle in Scotland. On Wednesday, September 24, the Rochester Civic Garden Center will host the Warner Castle Soiree as a late-summer celebration of recently revived portions of Alling DeForest’s original design for the area’s courtyards and sunken garden. Guided tours will be…
DOOM METAL | Jucifer
More stoner than stoned, heavier than heavy, grungier than grunge, doom metal duo Jucifer is the loudest thing you’ll ever see or feel. Founded in Athens, Georgia, in 1993 by guitarist Gazelle Amber Valentine and drummer Ed Livengood the band quickly got attention with its uber-heavy, slow dirge launched through an absolute, floor to ceiling…
SPECIAL EVENT | “When the Sun Goes Down”
A couple of years ago, I encountered “What’s Up with Yuk?” a picture book about positive and negative choices, by Rochster-based author Nanette Nocon and illustrator John Kastner. This clever teaching device follows the adventures of “Yum and Yuk,” who each have an opposite approach to life — one is joyful and makes the most…
DANCEHALL | I-Octane
Most of the time that I listen to reggae and dancehall, I enjoy the music but get a little frustrated at not being able to understand the words (I’m looking at you, Sean Paul and Shabba Ranks). This isn’t the case when listening to I-Octane though. His lyrics are generally comprehendible and more importantly carry…
