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As we crawl out from beneath the weight of COVID, the two-year wait is over for the biggest event on the calendar this week: The Rochester Music Hall of Fame. You’ll find the complete CITY calendar here.
Melvin Seals & JGB
7:30 p.m.
JCC Auditorium
Jerry Garcia nicknamed Melvin Seals “Master of the Universe” — and for good reason. Seals has been a powerful presence in the music industry for more than 30 years, wearing performer and producer hats. He’s perhaps best known for playing the electric organ in the Jerry Garcia Band, which he now leads under its acronym, JGB. The mission? Continue playing the favorites. The stopover in Rochester features Ron Holloway on the sax. Tickets range from $50 to $75.
— DAVID ANDREATTA
Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Cassidy Acoustic Hot Tuna
7:30 p.m.
JCC Auditorium
After Monday’s JGB show, you might as well have slept in the parking lot in anticipation of yet another blast of ’70s California hipster vibes. Kaukonen and Cassidy emerged from the psychedelic fumes of Jefferson Airplane to chase their folky blues muse for the next half century. Tickets are $60, and $90 for the first five rows.
— JEFF SPEVAK
Maria Schneider conducts the New Jazz Ensemble
7:30 p.m.
Hatch Hall
Schneider, perhaps the most-acclaimed composer and conductor in big-band jazz today, wraps up her four-day stay at her alma mater, Eastman School of Music, to conduct her new composition, “The Great Potoo.” If you’re not an avid birdwatcher, as Schneider is, the potoo is a spooky-looking bird native to Central and South America.
— JEFF SPEVAK
Ali Siddiq Brings the Funny
7:30 p.m.
Comedy @ The Carlson
Most stand-ups cut their teeth in bars and clubs, but Ali Siddiq honed his comic chops in the Texas state penitentiary system. He was incarcerated at 19 and fell into comedy while trying to make the best of six years behind bars. “I was doing two or three shows a day because I was working the laundry with 15 people and I was the one who was saying stuff,” he told the comedy news site Splitsider in 2016. If you haven’t seen his “Comedy Central” special, now’s your chance to catch him. Through April 30.
— DAVID ANDREATTA
Jim Gaffigan
7 and 9 p.m.
Auditorium Theatre
We can’t get enough of this guy, so a second show’s been added. Standup comedian Jim Gaffigan’s career spans three decades, but in 2020 he won over the hearts and minds of Rochesterians by — you guessed it — eating a garbage plate from Nick Tahou Hots, then following it up (to wild applause) by devoting six solid minutes of his set to the beloved Rochester dish. I won’t abuse this platform by offering my 100-percent correct take on which spot does the plate best, but I will say that Gaffigan is making his triumphant return to our city, this time at the Auditorium Theatre. Will he indulge in Rochester’s weirdest pride point a second time? Only time will tell. Jim: If you’re reading this, have your team email me at [email protected]. I have some advice.
— JACOB WALSH
McKinley James
8:30 p.m.
Abilene Bar & Lounge
The world first met McKinley James in 2015, when he was 14-year-old freshman Mickey Smay at Webster Schroeder High School, starring in the video for country star Eric Church’s “Mr. Misunderstood.” Now living in Nashville, and even before going to Church, James had been pursuing a future in rock, leaning rockabilly hard. The drummer wasn’t hard to find. It’s James’ father, Jason Smay, who used to play for Rochester’s Hi-Risers. This is not a novelty act: Just 19 years old, McKinley James is for real. Tickets are $15 advance, $20 at the door.
— JEFF SPEVAK
Rochester Music Hall of Fame concert
7 p.m.
Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre
Delayed a couple of years by COVID, the latest class finally gets the stage: The Dady Brothers, the Eastman School of Music and Eastman Theatre, producer Mick Guzauski, jazz singer Nancy Kelly, jazz drummer Roy McCurdy and Michael Laiacona, founder of Whirlwind Music Distributors. Among the performers is former Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens and the funk, rock and soul of Fishbone.
— JEFF SPEVAK
Melvin Seals & JGB
7:30 p.m.
JCC Auditorium
Jerry Garcia nicknamed Melvin Seals “Master of the Universe” — and for good reason. Seals has been a powerful presence in the music industry for more than 30 years, wearing performer and producer hats. He’s perhaps best known for playing the electric organ in the Jerry Garcia Band, which he now leads under its acronym, JGB. The mission? Continue playing the favorites. The stopover in Rochester features Ron Holloway on the sax. Tickets range from $50 to $75.
— DAVID ANDREATTA
Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Cassidy Acoustic Hot Tuna
7:30 p.m.
JCC Auditorium
After Monday’s JGB show, you might as well have slept in the parking lot in anticipation of yet another blast of ’70s California hipster vibes. Kaukonen and Cassidy emerged from the psychedelic fumes of Jefferson Airplane to chase their folky blues muse for the next half century. Tickets are $60, and $90 for the first five rows.
— JEFF SPEVAK
Maria Schneider conducts the New Jazz Ensemble
7:30 p.m.
Hatch Hall
Schneider, perhaps the most-acclaimed composer and conductor in big-band jazz today, wraps up her four-day stay at her alma mater, Eastman School of Music, to conduct her new composition, “The Great Potoo.” If you’re not an avid birdwatcher, as Schneider is, the potoo is a spooky-looking bird native to Central and South America.
— JEFF SPEVAK
Ali Siddiq Brings the Funny
7:30 p.m.
Comedy @ The Carlson
Most stand-ups cut their teeth in bars and clubs, but Ali Siddiq honed his comic chops in the Texas state penitentiary system. He was incarcerated at 19 and fell into comedy while trying to make the best of six years behind bars. “I was doing two or three shows a day because I was working the laundry with 15 people and I was the one who was saying stuff,” he told the comedy news site Splitsider in 2016. If you haven’t seen his “Comedy Central” special, now’s your chance to catch him. Through April 30.
— DAVID ANDREATTA
Jim Gaffigan
7 and 9 p.m.
Auditorium Theatre
We can’t get enough of this guy, so a second show’s been added. Standup comedian Jim Gaffigan’s career spans three decades, but in 2020 he won over the hearts and minds of Rochesterians by — you guessed it — eating a garbage plate from Nick Tahou Hots, then following it up (to wild applause) by devoting six solid minutes of his set to the beloved Rochester dish. I won’t abuse this platform by offering my 100-percent correct take on which spot does the plate best, but I will say that Gaffigan is making his triumphant return to our city, this time at the Auditorium Theatre. Will he indulge in Rochester’s weirdest pride point a second time? Only time will tell. Jim: If you’re reading this, have your team email me at [email protected]. I have some advice.
— JACOB WALSH
McKinley James
8:30 p.m.
Abilene Bar & Lounge
The world first met McKinley James in 2015, when he was 14-year-old freshman Mickey Smay at Webster Schroeder High School, starring in the video for country star Eric Church’s “Mr. Misunderstood.” Now living in Nashville, and even before going to Church, James had been pursuing a future in rock, leaning rockabilly hard. The drummer wasn’t hard to find. It’s James’ father, Jason Smay, who used to play for Rochester’s Hi-Risers. This is not a novelty act: Just 19 years old, McKinley James is for real. Tickets are $15 advance, $20 at the door.
— JEFF SPEVAK
Rochester Music Hall of Fame concert
7 p.m.
Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre
Delayed a couple of years by COVID, the latest class finally gets the stage: The Dady Brothers, the Eastman School of Music and Eastman Theatre, producer Mick Guzauski, jazz singer Nancy Kelly, jazz drummer Roy McCurdy and Michael Laiacona, founder of Whirlwind Music Distributors. Among the performers is former Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens and the funk, rock and soul of Fishbone.
— JEFF SPEVAK
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