If we lived in a perfect world, bands like Dangerbyrd would be the perfect bands. If we lived in an imperfect world, bands like Dangerbyrd would still be the perfect bands. The Rochester-based quartet plays without a shred of phony grandeur or self-imposed elegance. Dangerbyrd is down and dirty and a clever musical synthesis of […]
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Posted inNews & Opinion
Rochester responds to Charlottesville
A 20-year-old white supremacist named James Alex Fields Jr. rammed a car into a group of counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others. Rochester community members swiftly responded to the tragedy with solidarity gatherings held on both Saturday and Sunday nights in Washington Square Park. Saturday’s vigil […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
People pack City Council for Parcel 5 forum
City Council’s chambers needs better fans. With the room jam-packed with people Thursday night, things in the back got warm really quick — God bless the people who clung to their suits, sweaters, and jackets throughout the public forum. At a City Council public forum, almost 70 people, across more than two hours, spoke about […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
How to reduce poverty: Boost workers’ wages
The statistics shouldn’t be a surprise to any of us; many of them have been in earlier reports. But still, the numbers are staggering. And so are the rankings those numbers put us in. Rochester is the fourth poorest city among the 75 largest metro areas in the country. We have the third-highest concentration of […]
Posted inMusic
Pegasus Early Music stages its first opera, ‘Dido and Aeneas’
In the world of opera, good things often come in large, gaudily wrapped packages. Pegasus Early Music this weekend hopes to prove that small is good, operatically speaking, with a production of Henry Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas.” The opera will run this Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Jewish Community Center’s Hart Theater. “It’s been […]
Posted inMovies
Film review: ‘The Glass Castle’
Director Destin Daniel Cretton’s 2013 film, “Short Term 12,” was a sensitive story of troubled youth, told in a way that felt emotionally honest without ever pandering. He turned that tricky material into one of that year’s best films. One of “Short Term 12’s” key strengths was Brie Larson’s fantastic lead performance, and so it […]
Posted inMusic
Gateways celebrates and promotes classical musicians of African descent
Only 1.8 percent of American symphony orchestra members are African-American or of African descent, according to the League of American Orchestras. And that number doesn’t seem to be increasing significantly anytime soon. The prospect of young students of African descent not only getting into the field of classical music but succeeding in it, says Paul […]
Posted inMusic
Slap, twang, and giddy-up
Aaron Lipp is a talented young man with a talented old soul. And this unassuming multi-instrumentalist has been baring this soul on local, regional, and national stages for several years in various groups of assorted stylings. With his latest outfit, Aaron Lipp & The Slack Tones, Lipp is brandishing a guitar and leading the charge […]
Posted inMovies
Sequel looks at climate change 10 years after ‘An Inconvenient Truth’
Following former Vice President Al Gore’s campaign to educate the public about global warming, the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” did a lot to move the climate change conversation into the popular consciousness when it was released back in 2006 (and picked up a couple Oscars along the way). Now comes “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to […]
Posted inMovies
Film review: ‘Landline’
Following up their daring and all-around extraordinary romantic comedy “Obvious Child,” writer-director Gillian Robespierre and actor Jenny Slate reteam for the authentic, heartfelt, and often very funny “Landline,” a melancholy comedy about a Manhattan family in crisis. Dana (Slate) is experiencing some insecurity in her relationship with her sweet, but not very exciting fiancé, Ben […]
Posted inCulture
Swillburger opens seafood and hotdog offshoot in Pultneyville
When Brian Van Etten and Jeff Ching visited the Landing at Pultneyville last spring, they immediately saw the potential in the distinctive red building with its lakefront location. Van Etten and Ching co-own the South Wedge burger joint, bar, and video arcade The Playhouse/Swillburger — Ching also owns the Owl House on Marshall Street — […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Theater review: Bread and Water’s ‘Dionysus in ’17’
Perhaps the less you know going into a performance of Bread and Water Theatre’s “Dionysus in ’17,” the better. Written and staged by the company’s artistic director, J.R. Teeter, it should at least be said that the performance art-driven play is a modern update of “The Bacchae,” by the Greek tragedian Euripides, filtered through The […]
