I can’t remember where it was that I first saw the Red Elvises. It was a moose lodge or a VFW or something like it around 10 years ago. I do remember liking the band’s twangtastic surf-rockabilly sound steeped in Russian shtick. It was all dudes in red who played seriously, even if they didn’t […]
Concert Review
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I Scene It: JD McPherson at Downstairs Cabaret
Is they is or is they ain’t? Well, it’s gotta be JD McPherson’s songs: tough little retro-fitted rock ‘n’ roll gems that come from the music’s red, white, black and blue early days of Chess or Sun. The days when Ike Turner still had some say in what was cool. If not, it’s definitely the […]
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I Scene It: St. Vincent at Water Street Music Hall
I was stumped on the opening for this St. Vincent show
review so I asked Frank for a little De Blase help. This
is what he gave me: It was a night of ugly guitar and ethereal beauty…
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I Scene It: The Barry Brothers, The Sadies, St. Phillip’s Escalator
Man, you should of heard those Sadies go, go, go. Water Street Music Hall (the club side) was packed with the wintery wounded and weary to hear these tenacious Toronto roots rockers lay it down with a matchless, venomous attack. I’ve seen The Sadies at least a half dozen times and have to say this […]
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Concert Review: Breaking Benjamin at Main Street Armory
There was a snowstorm warning issued for Rochester on Valentine’s Day, but don’t tell that to the large crowd gathered inside the Main Street Armory to get a first glimpse at the new Breaking Benjamin. The hard rock band had been on hiatus for the last five years, and after settling a certain amount of […]
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Concert Review: RPO featuring Vadym Kholodenko and José Luis Gomez
Two prizewinners joined forces Thursday night as guest artists with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor José Luis Gomez won the Georg Solti competition in 2010; pianist Vadym Kholodenko won the gold medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2013. They made an impressive team in a front-loaded program that put the heaviest, or […]
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Concert Review: Heavy Trash at Water Street
If you couldn’t slow down and go down to the Heavy Trash low-down throw-down at Water Street Music Hall, then I’m here to rub it in. You missed a mondo killer rockabilly shock transmission from the very heart of primal rock ‘n’ roll. Direct from New York Cit-ay, Heavy Trash heaped on the sleaze just […]
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Concert Review: The Empty Hearts at Sticky Lips Juke Joint
From my balcony perch at Sticky Lips Juke Joint during The Empty Hearts’ positively packed show Tuesday night, it was as if I was staring into a boiling, balding caldron of Scorgie’s remnants and black-clad bon vivants. All the kids were there. We’re getting older, but still love our rock ‘n’ roll. And this was […]
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Concert Review: Rochester Chamber Orchestra’s “Jan DeGaetani: A Musical Legacy”
The mezzo-soprano Jan DeGaetani, who taught at the Eastman School of Music and lived in Rochester for many years, died a quarter-century ago. Her influence as a teacher, a proponent of new music, and simply as a great vocal artist, is still strongly felt — or should be. The Rochester Chamber Orchestra’s first concert of […]
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CONCERT REVIEW
I was feeling hungry as I headed out to The Mighty Stef show at the Sticky Lips Juke Joint on Thursday night. It would be the final local concert for the Irish rock quartet. The band made Rochester its home base during its North American tour. When I caught The Mighty Stef’s gig at Sheridan’s Pub on […]
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CONCERT REVIEW: Gogol Bordello
Ukraine-born front man Eugene Hütz and his multicultural crew played to a crowded Main Street Armory, Saturday night, when Gogol Bordello made its Rochester debut — and the Gypsy punk band proved why it is one of the most celebrated concert experiences in all the land. Opening act Man Man started the festivities. Lead singer-pianist […]
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Concert Review: “Music at Corn Hill Arts Festival and Big Rib BBQ and Blues Fest”
All the original Ramones are dead and gabba gabba hey gone and yet Kanye still walks the earth. Who’s in charge here? So, I Mounted the two-wheeler and dodged the drizzle to hit the outside scene. The Corn Hill Arts Festival is such a cool event. As folks milled around buying lawn ornaments they didn’t […]
