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Rochester Fringe 2017 Preview Guide
The sixth annual KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival runs Thursday, September 14, through Saturday, September 23, with more than 500 shows in and around downtown Rochester. It’s hard to know where to start.
Film review: ‘Menashe’
Set in an ultra-orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, “Menashe” is a gentle dramedy about a Hasidic widower named (you guessed it) Menashe (played by Menashe Lustig), as he muddles his way through life. The charismatic, but rather hapless young man is cursed with a personality that often butts up against the conservative traditions of his…
Debate gave closer look at personalities
During yesterday’s mayoral debate on WROC-TV, challengers James Sheppard and Rachel Barnhart did their best to inflict serious damage on incumbent Lovely Warren. But whether you were undecided or were just leaning toward one of the three, it’s unlikely that the debate did much to sway your decision. For one thing, none of the three…
Film review: ‘Home Again’
Everything you need to know about Hallie Meyers-Shyer’s charming romantic fantasy, “Home Again,” can be summed up with a single shot of a sign for an elementary school play attended by the film’s characters. It’s the sort of sign you can tell the director saw as having a rough around the edges, school project kind…
Rally will support DACA and ‘dreamers’
The Greater Rochester Coalition for Immigration Justice will hold a rally at noon Friday in support of DACA. The rally will be held in front of the federal building at 100 State Street.
Critics’ picks: Frank De Blase
PUSH Physical Theatre, Pinch and Squeal, “The Black Bird of Death,” and more.
Critics’ picks: Rebecca Rafferty
“Lady Philosophy on Trial,” “Labyrinth,” “You’re Being Watched,” and more.
Critics’ picks: Adam Lubitow
“50 Shades of Gay,” Bad Idea Entertainment and “Good Joke/Bad Joke Bingo,” “Big Knockers: Debunking the Fox Sisters,” and more.
Critics’ picks: Amanda Fintak
“3D Sound Experience in the Immersive Igloo,” Fringe Street Beat, Discover India, and more.
Critics’ picks: David Raymond
“13 the Musical,” “The Queens Speak,” “When Shakespeare’s Ladies Meet,” and more.
JAZZ FUSION | Brand X
When Brand X formed in 1975, jazz fusion was in its infancy. The group’s peers included Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, the Headhunters and a few others. Since then Brand X has disbanded and re-formed many times. It’s also had some illustrious members, including Phil Collins in the late-1970’s. Four decades later, Brand X is recognized…
ART | ‘Fuse’
Nazareth Art Professor Mitchell Messina is known for his ceramic sculptures and installations that center on the human form, usually interacting in some way with various objects of our making. These objects in the past have alluded to traditional tools, but most recently, the human form becomes the object itself, entangled and ensnared in accoutrements…
CLASSICAL | Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon
Following the triumphant premiere of the opera “Don’t Blame Anyone” last fall, composer and Eastman School of Music professor Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon and soprano Tony Arnold will reunite for the debut performance of “Songtree for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble.” Once again, Zohn-Muldoon utilizes the poetry of contemporary Mexican writer Raúl Aceves — this time, juxtaposing it…
THEATER | ‘Wild Horses’
“We weren’t freedom fighters, we were freedom takers” is the tagline for Allison Gregory’s new play “Wild Horses,” a funny, emotional play about an adult woman reflecting on a teenage summer, how it changed her, and how it affected her search for identity and independence. “Wild Horses” was produced this summer at the Contemporary American…
COMEDY | Ricky Velez
Ricky Velez has plenty of stoner stories and New York City anecdotes. The up-and-coming comedian was a regular on the gone-too-soon “Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore,” and appeared on “@midnight” and Aziz Ansari’s “Master of None.” He’ll be doing a three-night stint at Comedy @ The Carlson this weekend. Ricky Velez will perform Thursday, September 7,…
City effort aimed at increasing accountability of local landlords
The people in the apartment across the street are still partying, music blaring, at 2 a.m. The next-door neighbors moved out in the middle of the night and left heaps of trash at the curb. These are familiar scenarios for residents in some city neighborhoods, and they’re often left scratching their head and asking: where…
Media expo hopes to converge tech with the arts
Virtual and augmented reality is a much different story now than what it was back in the 1990’s. Virtual reality then had made a brief buzz in the tech and gaming worlds, but was written off as nothing more than a novelty. Today, however, most smartphones come with accessories to turn your device into a…
I Scene It: U2 at New Era Field
I underestimated U2. Of course, I know the band and its music — and I understand the band’s massive relevance in rock history — but until Tuesday night, I’d never fully grasped what a powerhouse it is still. There’s a reason the band can pack out Buffalo’s New Era Field: U2 delivers a show that’s…
Fringe 2017: Information
Get the run down on venues, tickets, parking, and the extras you should know about.
Village character at center of Pittsford standoff
Wilmorite’s plan to develop the last gap in the Village of Pittsford’s treasured Schoen Place waterfront district was destined to cause some friction from the get-go.
Fringe 2017: Headliners
What to know about the acts headlining the 2017 Rochester Fringe Festival.
Final market finds of the summer season
Rochester-area markets and farm stands by this time of the year are overflowing with seasonal fruits and vegetables of all colors, shapes, and sizes. The summer season is fleeting, though, and fall is in the air, so look for late-summer finds before autumn arrives and the farm stands start to clear out. Early September is…
Freewheelin’
“The Bicycle Men” returns to Rochester Fringe Festival with quirky songs and irreverent humor.
Itzhak Perlman returns to Rochester for a cinema serenade
Itzhak Perlman’s appearances with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, which date back to 1970, have included the great works of the concerto repertoire, like Beethoven, Brahms, Prokofiev, Bartók, Tchaikovsky. This week, Perlman will return to the RPO — performing for the first time with Music Director Ward Stare — in a program of a different kind…
Feedback 9/6
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…
Bloodshot Bill leads a one-man boogie
Straight out of Quebec, Bloodshot Bill is a howlin’, snarlin’, croonin’ great ball of fire. As a frenetic and frantic one-man-band, the Montreal madman captures the essence of primitive rock ‘n’ roll in between hiccups and some vicious slapback. Beneath an oil-slicked ducktail that would make an Exxon executive blush, Bloodshot Bill intones salaciously, evoking…
Urban Action 9/6
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Talk focuses on Central America and US policies The Rochester Committee on Latin America will present “More of the Same in Central America,” a talk by Grahame Russell, on Wednesday, September 6. Russell…
‘Rainforest IV’ performance gives voice to objects at MAG
“Rainforest IV,” an interactive sound-sculpture collaborative performance, will be installed at the Memorial Art Gallery Thursday, September 7, through Sunday, September 10.
AMERICANA | Shannon McNally
Shannon McNally’s voice will stop you in its tracks. It’s a voice with a lazy, laconic lilt and a flinty edge and attitude. McNally calls her music “blues-Americana,” but that’s two well-worn words that, in this case, fall short. This woman’s songs, in tone and topic, pack a wallop with her understated delivery. She’s been…
FOLK | Turtle Hill Folk Festival
Golden Link Folk Singing Society’s annual, weekend-long Turtle Hill Folk Festival will begin this Friday. More than just a series of concerts, the festival has a strong community vibe, complete with music workshops during the day and singalongs around the fire at night, playgrounds, mini-golf, nature trails, and various vendors selling food and crafts. The…
IRISH | Nathan Carter
A performer dubbed “the Irish Michael Bublé” — you’re already intrigued, aren’t you? — Nathan Carter is only 26, but in his native country he is a very big deal. He’s already produced three albums and two singles that have topped Irish charts. But while he is a star in Ireland, he’s an unknown quantity…
ROCK | Toward Space
Sounding a bit like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Richmond’s Toward Space unleashes a sonic blast of psychedelic lo-fidelity. There’s roots in the chaos that still stand up and keep the band just teetering on the brink. It’s rough, ragged, and cool, and sounds like it’s been recorded in The Stooges’ Funhouse. Toward Space plays with…
LECTURE | Harry Lang: ‘Fighting in the Shadows’
Two relatively disconnected worlds — of hearing and of deaf people — slide against one another, the former understanding precious little about the latter. And except for a few household names, there hasn’t been much acknowledgement of deaf individuals throughout history. Author Harry Lang’s latest book, “Fighting in the Shadows: Untold Stories of Deaf People…
How racist is Rochester?
Zoning codes, employment practices, development policies, voting laws, criminal justice policies: all of these have helped keep people of color impoverished.
Witness Palestine series branches out in sixth year
The Witness Palestine Film Series, back for a sixth year, continues its mission to spotlight the human rights issues at the heart of the decades-spanning conflict between Palestine and Israel. Along with the annual film series (which runs through the beginning of October), this year’s festival branches out with a multidisciplinary program of events that…
Film review: ‘Tulip Fever’
The long-delayed period romance, “Tulip Fever,” comes to theaters amidst of flurry of expectations spurred on by its disastrous production history and a spectacularly botched theatrical release.
Theater review: ‘Twelfth Night’ at Blackfriars Theatre
When a theater company opens the season with an experimental take on a Shakespearean work, it’s a calculated gamble. In a digitally saturated world that provides a three-minute video version, SparkNotes study guide, and Wikipedia synopsis for every play in The Bard’s canon, there’s no guarantee audiences will care enough to see a three-hour run…
Film review: ‘The Oath’
Baltasar Kormákur directs Icelandic revenge thriller “The Oath,” which finds a protective father turning to bloodshed in order to keep his family safe.
