A former train graffiti artist goes small.
BY DAVID ANDREATTA
GANONDAGAN
Clan members at the historic Victor site educate future generations.
JESSICA L. PAVIA
BY JEFF SPEVAK
19 24
ALBUM REVIEWS
Our takes on music from Beastview Maul, Joseph Bologne, Nick Finzer, and Russell Scarbrough Big Band.
BY PATRICK HOSKEN, DANIEL J. KUSHNER AND RON NETSKY
20
A JAZZ RETROSPECTIVE
After attending every year, Jeff Spevak looks back on two decades of RIJF.
BY JEFF SPEVAK
CENTURY-OLD STYLE Eastman student
Gavin Rice’s commitment to the 1920s runs deep.
BY DANIEL J. KUSHNER42 POSTCARDS FROM INTERSTATE 90
We traveled east and west to find the best spots for a quick day trip or overnight stay.
BY CITY STAFF
60
CITY VISITS
We asked Rochester Lilac Festival attendees what’s on their summer bucket list.
BY MIKE MARTINEZ
68
WHAT ALES ME
Smugtown Brewing will be the first brewery from a bonafide local beer legend.
BY GINO FANELLI
The year I was born, CITY Newspaper turned 14.
At age 21, I was commuting to the city regularly as an editorial intern for the Democrat and Chronicle, and CITY Newspaper turned 35. Java’s on Gibbs Street was a popular weekend destination, and I often picked up free copies of both CITY Newspaper and Insider Magazine (RIP) to read with my whipped cream- and sprinkle-topped hot chocolate.
Today, (a few) years later, as CITY turns 52, I’ve been given the honor of leading the longstanding publication into something of a pivot: focusing on more arts & culture reporting as the WXXI newsroom arm leads the way on hard news, as well as continuing the rebrand from from CITY Newspaper to CITY Magazine.
These are huge steps for the once alt-weekly operated by Bill and Mary Anna Towler for 48 years.
The biggest, perhaps, since WXXI bought the paper in 2019 and publishing moved from weekly to monthly magazine in 2020. (Quick reminders so we’re all on the same page: WXXI, our local non-profit NPR affiliate, owns this magazine. It also owns The Little Theatre.)
Beginning with this issue, you’ll notice more changes as we reimagine what a monthly arts & culture magazine looks like in 2023. Revamped sections. Dedicated beats for the writers. A bigger freelance pool. More arts coverage. More Finger Lakes coverage. More visuals. More web stories. More social media. More events where you can connect with our team.
Oh, and don’t worry—just like he said, David Andreatta’s still working just a few desks away from me. He even wrote two stories in this issue. (We couldn’t let him off that easily.)
As someone who grew up reading magazines and dreaming of a job in publication, being placed at the helm of CITY is a responsibility I take very seriously. I’ve also been freelancing for CITY since 2015 (thanks to Jake Clapp, the OG arts editor-turned-good friend who hired me to review theatre) and held various PR/marketing roles throughout the years, so I’ve had the pleasure of working with the Towlers as well as the entire current staff. (Even Jeff Spevak and I go way back—we were cubicle buddies when I worked for the Democrat and Chronicle’s Insider Magazine in 2010.)
As a millennial who graduated during the Great Recession and holds a master’s degree in arts journalism, I realize how rare it is to land a job you love in a place you also love. I’m grateful to the Towlers for their legacy. To WXXI for their forward-thinking that kept CITY alive. To David for his tireless groundwork the last four years, and to the rest of the newsroom for their welcome and support.
Becoming the editor of CITY feels, in many ways, like a homecoming. As I’ve told many people who asked how it’s going—I feel like I’m exactly where I should be.
Now, let’s tell some stories.
@LEAHSTACY
LEAH@ROCHESTER-CITYNEWS.COM
As long as we're taking the time to re-establish CITY's mission, we thought this would be a good time to reintroduce the core team. Along with the help of our WXXI colleagues and our freelance contributors, these are the folks that make this publication happen every month.
When she's not editing the next great arts & culture story, Leah is searching for a perfect restaurant Caesar salad and taking podcast-fueled walks around NOTA.
Taking care of business. Working for the weekend. Breaking the law. Born in the USA.
Fish Dad, Cat Dad, Real Dad. Rad Dad.
REBECCA RAFFERTY
SALES
Sponsorship maven for CITY, The Little Theatre and WXXI Public Media. Parent twice over… or, like, 25 times over if you count her fledgling farm.
DANIEL KUSHNER
SENIOR ARTS WRITER
Award-winning arts reporter. Unsuccessful novelist. Wine drinker. Dog enthusiast. Avid Tom Waits disciple. Favorite headline: “Mitch McConnell
Returning to Senate After Head Injury.”
ARTS WRITER
CITY writer since 2008. Now a mother of two, Becca loves introducing her kids to the arts, parks, food, and everything else she loves about living in Rochester.
ARTS WRITER
Dan is a recovering hipster who sings, writes poetry, drinks craft beer, and is fatally obsessed with Buffalo sports teams and Premier League soccer.
DAVID WHITE
ADVERTISING CONSULTANT
On call 25-8, always available for meetings over tacos. Bucket list includes: seeing every MLB stadium before I die. Favorite song: 'Go for soda' by Kim Mitchell.
JACOB
ART DIRECTOR
Outside of his design & photography work at CITY, you'll find Jacob scream-singing "Kid Charlemagne" on his motorcycle or slamming Diet Cokes in the sun.
KATHERINE
CIRCULATION MANAGER
Kate enjoys being a regular at local diners where she takes her coffee black.
JUNE 2023
Vol 51 No 10
On the cover:
Illustration by Ryan Williamson
280 State Street Rochester, New York 14614 feedback@rochester-citynews.com phone (585) 244-3329 roccitynews.com
PUBLISHER
Rochester Area Media Partners LLC, Norm Silverstein, chairman
FOUNDERS
Bill and Mary Anna Towler
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT themail@rochester-citynews.com
Editor: Leah Stacy
Senior arts writer: Jeff Spevak
Arts writers: Daniel J. Kushner, Rebecca Rafferty
Contributors: David Andreatta, Mariel Brinkerhoff, Jim Catalano, Quajay Donnell, Noelle Evans Gino
Fanelli, Patrick Hosken, Mike Martinez, Ashley Mason, Jeremy Moule, Aaron Netsky, Ron Netsky, Jessica L. Pavia, Sarah Pavia, Max Schulte, Mona Seghatolaslami, Georgie Silvarole, Jeff Spevak, David Streever, Scott Pukos, Matt Yaeger, Denise Young
CREATIVE DEPARTMENT
Director, Strategy: Ryan Williamson
Art director: Jacob Walsh
ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT ads@rochester-citynews.com
Sales director: Alison Zero Jones
Advertising consultant/
Project manager: David White
OPERATIONS/CIRCULATION
Operations manager: Ryan Williamson
Circulation manager: Katherine Stathis kstathis@rochester-citynews.com
CITY is available free of charge. Additional copies of the current issue may be purchased by calling 585-784-3503. CITY may be distributed only by authorized distributors. No person may, without prior written permission of CITY, take more than one copy of each monthly issue.
CITY (ISSN 1551-3262) is published monthly
12 times per year by Rochester Area Media Partners, a subsidiary of WXXI Public Broadcasting. Periodical postage paid at Rochester, NY (USPS 022-138). Address
changes: CITY, 280 State Street, Rochester, NY
14614. Member of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia and the New York Press Association.
Copyright by Rochester Area Media Partners LLC, 2021 - all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, photocopying, recording or by any information storage retrieval system without permission of the copyright owner.
WXXI Members may inquire about free home delivery of CITY including monthly TV listings by calling 585-258-0200.
An infinitely ‘grammable installation by Yayoi Kusama is the MAG’s big fall exhibition.
Immersive installations are always crowd pleasers, providing opportunities for audiences to not only view artwork, but to lose themselves in a built environment. Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama takes this concept to the next level with her otherworldly Infinity Mirrored Rooms, allowing viewers to really see themselves in the art.
This September, the Memorial Art Gallery (900 University Ave.) will host Kusama’s 2017 work, “Infinity Mirrored Room — Let’s Survive Forever,” in its Docent Gallery. The installation will transform the space with mirrored walls as well as dozens (or is it hundreds?) of stainless steel orbs placed on the ground and suspended from the ceiling, creating a seeming multiverse of endless reflections. Bright LED lights will simulate a blinding void above, the light bouncing off of the silver spheres before being absorbed by a twin void of dark carpet below. Expect the work to repeat itself across Rochesterians’ social media.
Kusama’s work is an invitation to consider complex ideas about the universe, existence and our place within it all. It’s the depth of her concepts that have earned the Tokyo-based nonagenarian world renown, a place in global museum collections, nods from the avant garde fashion world,
and Japan’s highest cultural honor, bestowed by the Imperial family.
See the work Sept. 14, 2023 through May 5, 2024. Visit mag.rochester.edu for details.
Local collage artist Celia Crane took her chosen artform to a new level during COVID when she converted her tiny garden shed into Vayo Collage Gallery, a wee-walls space that would, for the next three years, host exhibitions of collage art from around the world.
Bikes and animal nests were evicted, inner white walls were installed, and back-lit cotton attached to the ceiling simulated dreamy clouds. Crane created calls for work, and the mail began to roll in. She accepted submissions from cut-and-paste artists around the world, created a virtual space to share the work during the pandemic, and allowed cautious by-appointment-only visits to the physical space. Now, as participation in exhibitions steadily grows, Crane is about to retire her shed.
Originally planned for June, the next exhibition, “New Dimensions in Collage,” will be the first show in Vayo’s “newer, larger structure east of town,” according to a cryptic message from Crane. Now scheduled for July 8-29, the show will feature work by dozens of artists from 16 countries—so far. Because the exhibition date was pushed back, submissions are still open, through June 10. Visit vayogallery.com to participate, and look for another update from CITY soon.
A genderfluid clothing boutique is coming to 284 Monroe Ave. this summer. A former kratom shop will
soon be filled with custom-made original wear headdresses, hot-hued and skimpy attire, structured gowns, soft menswear, and bodysuits with bondage elements will line the racks on the retail side of Luci & Dona, which will also house a studio and workshop.
The queer- and Latinx-owned designer clothing company just returned from vending at RuPaul’s DragCon in L.A. in May. Owners Josean Vargas and Mikey Rodriguez have created custom clothing for clients since 2013 under the name J. Vargas and since 2014 have annually showcased full runway collections at Fashion Week of Rochester.
In 2017, the duo began to focus on creating looks for drag queens and in 2018 rebranded to Luci & Dona, named for their own drag identities (Rodriguez is “Lucida Brite” and Vargas is “Donatella Mirage”). Their client base includes Rochester-based queens Aggy Dune, Wednesday Westwood, DeeDee Dubois, Ambrosia Salad, and Eva Flow. Their threads have been worn on national television by Darienne Lake, Mrs. Kasha Davis and Ginger Minj on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and by Ada Vox on both “Queen of the Universe” and “American Idol.”
When the pandemic hit, Vargas and Rodriguez pivoted to join the army of folks creating cloth masks and opened a website at lucianddona.com to sell readyto-wear designs. The studio became a popular shopping stop for folks getting ready to hit local underground queer dance parties after the pandemic waned. The new shop will continue to offer items off the rack and also cater to clients for custom designs, camp and cosplay.
— BY REBECCA RAFFERTYLocal couture shop Luci & Dona is getting a storefront.
Evolving arts & culture news on our radar.
On May 10, Senate Bill S6786 was introduced, a proposal that would allow wine to be sold in New York State grocery stores. The bill, which is sponsored by Senator Liz Krueger and cosponsored by Senators Cooney, Hoylman-Sigal and Felder, would allow grocery stores over 5,000 square feet with more than 65% of revenue from grocery sales to sell wine.
A group of local wine shops had a feeling this was coming— we first heard rumblings about the possibility of this bill back in January when it came to light that Wegmans Food Markets hired a powerful lobbying firm to make it a reality.
At face value, this bill sounds like a no-brainer. More access to wine is a good thing, right? But it’s a little bit more complicated than that.
Here’s what Bill S6786 would impact, locally and regionally:
1. The wine selection for New Yorkers would suffer. Corporate grocery chains don’t typically go out of their way to help small grower-producers. They stock and sell large production wine that nets them the highest amount of gross profit. New Yorkers deserve locally owned neighborhood stores that recommend and offer wines with their customers in mind. Simply put: small wine shops believe wine is a product of place, with cultural and historic significance, not a commodity.
2. Winery sales from the Finger Lakes and beyond would be significantly hurt, as one of their key distribution channels is cut from the
equation. Local winegrowers depend on neighborhood wine merchants to promote and sell their wines to local customer bases. Historically, chain grocery stores prefer to sell their own private label wines, and not the wines produced by local farmers who don’t have the means to market, sell and distribute at the high costs corporate entities require. The local wine industry would shrink as the wine business becomes more and more commoditized.
3. New York State families would be put out of work and small business
would take a giant step backwards. It wouldn’t just be stores and local wineries that are hurt as the big hulking grocery chains gobble up the wine market—the small specialty importers and distributors that independents buy from and promote would be forced to shrink their selection, lay off sales personnel and eventually close as the lost sales add up. Finger Lakes winemaker at Osmote and friend of Pinnacle Ben Riccardi said it best: “Wine shops help farmers. This bill won’t.”
Put simply, the best independent wine shops do not do what they do
purely for money. For many of us, it is our life’s passion. We stock our shelves with the obscure, interesting and delicious. On top of that, we actively help support our local communities and the arts. We love sharing wine with our communities and do not want our business to become “Amazon-ified.”
Please consider calling your local representatives and telling them you oppose Bill S6786.
A note about the proposed bill to sell wine in grocery stores.Matt Yaeger, co-owner and general manager of Pinnacle WIne & Liquor. PHOTO BY LEAH STACY
BY DAVID ANDREATTA @DAVID_ANDREATTA DANDREATTA@WXXI.ORG | PHOTOS BY MAX SCHULTE
Alex Price remembers how the gloomy Goodman Street Railyard hissed after dark with aerosol energy for graffiti artists like him.
The chain-link fences, the towers, the spotlights, and the railroad
workers roaming between boxcars gave the place the feel of a prison yard. For Price, entering in the dead of night with a duffel bag teeming with spray-paint was like a covert military exercise.
There were the games of cat-and-
mouse with the switchmen and the cops. There were territorial disputes between artists. Sometimes the freight car — a 30-ton steel canvas — would roll, threatening life and limb. Danger was the drug.
“If it’s not the train people that are going to get you, maybe it’s somebody else painting graffiti that doesn’t want you in their train yard,” Price said.
That was before he came of age — middle age, that is.
These days, Price, 39, is more likely to be hunched over a desk in his home art studio on South Union Street, marker in hand, plying graffiti to a tiny model freight train car.
On a recent day in late spring, he was tagging a replica of a blue refrigerated boxcar with his moniker — “Demon.” His long hair was in a ponytail under a baseball cap and he wore a black T-shirt emblazoned with “Vandals.”
“Painting trains at my house, in the sanctity of my home and my studio, there’s no risk, there’s no adventure,” Price said.
But replicating the work he once did on real trains in miniature form in his studio has its own rewards.
“Some people meditate. Some people go out in the woods,” Price said. “There’s that little Zen moment. For
me, when I’m sitting here and have some music playing or listening to a podcast . . . I think that is a peaceful way to escape.”
Trains have long been synonymous with escape in American lore. They cut through the landscape on their way to other places, maybe better places, their plaintive cry beckoning in the night.
For nearly as long as trains have crisscrossed the country, though, there have been people who have defaced them.
Railroad workers were perhaps the first vandals. They wrote in chalk on wooden boxcars the arrival and departure times and other information about the contents of a car for colleagues in distant railyards.
By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, hobos who illegally hopped freight trains were leaving their mark, and more. Their drawings, as explored in the 2010 documentary “Who is Bozo Texino?” were a complex code of messages that informed fellow travelers where they were, where they were going, and what was ahead.
The roots of spray-paint graffiti date to the late 1960s in Philadelphia, where a prolific tagger who went by “Cornbread” tattooed the city.
A few years later, young people in The Bronx linked to the fledgling hiphop culture began spray-painting the sides of subway cars, turning the city’s transit system into a rolling museum of art, or blight, depending on one’s point of view.
The train graffiti of modern times draw from its lineage. Graffiti on
boxcars today spans the spectrum, from hastily scrawled tags to extravagant works of art that make use of stencils, shadows, and shading.
Ed O’Connell, president of the Rochester Model Railroad Club, is no fan of graffiti on trains, model or otherwise.
He acknowledged, though, that train graffiti is omnipresent and model railroaders turn to artists like Price to mimic reality. Price recently taught a clinic at the club on how to weather and graffiti model trains.
“In some ways it’s vandalism, and some of it is quite artistic,” O’Connell said. “. . . We do have real life railroaders who come down to our open house and say (of the graffitistrewn trains), ‘Ooh, hey that’s pretty cool.’”
The club, in the basement of the First Universalist Church on South Clinton Avenue, is a hangout for Price. There, he runs his trains on the club’s elaborate replica of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, capturing videos of his artwork in action (he posts on
Instagram under @demondoesthingz).
“Seeing my trains in these scene settings, it is a pretty awesome feeling,” Price said as his engine pulled a line of graffiti-covered freight cars through a miniature industrial stretch of Buffalo.
“The kids that are getting into modeling are into replicating dirty areas with trash and graffiti, the kind of things you see in the real world,” he said. “So there is a whole culture of modelers that are into this dirtier, grimier, grittier stuff.”
Price pays the bills working for a ski and snowboard apparel company, but he has managed to earn some pocket money with his hobby. He charges between $100 and $200 for most of his work, which appears to be the going rate. Hand-painted, graffiti-strewn model trains recently listed on eBay for between $25 and $300.
It may be tempting for a newcomer to the hobby to go overboard and paint the entire side of a boxcar. But the goal, model train graffiti artists say, is to replicate the real world.
That means tagging perhaps just a
corner of a boxcar, and only so high as the average person could reach. It could also mean leaving a tag unfinished. Sometimes the artist’s canvas rolls away, bound for some faraway destination.
The work of some artists is so spoton that the average observer has a hard time distinguishing between the replica and the real thing in a photograph.
Bruce Bayard, a model train graffiti artist from Oregon, is one of them. His website, modeltraingraffiti.art, displays photographs of his miniature creations against real railroad backdrops.
“It’s kind of freaky,” he said. “When you look at these things, you’re really not sure what you’re looking at. People keep asking me, ‘What am I looking at here? A model or a real train?’”
Many of the jobs Price gets from model railroad buffs are requests for him to replicate graffiti that they have photographed on a real train.
“When it comes to the reward of doing the miniature trains, for me that is if I can replicate the things I’m seeing in the real world, make them completely on scale in a miniature
sense, where if I hold up the small one in front of a photograph of the real one you wouldn’t know the difference,” Price said.
It had been more than a year since he tagged a real train before he got the itch a month ago and went for it. He said the timing “just felt right.”
Sometimes, Price said, he wishes he lived in the middle of nowhere in a little town with a manufacturing plant where trains shuttled in and out all day and night, and he could paint them all.
“I would know all 200 people that live in that area or work there and they would just say, ‘There’s the guy that paints the trains,’ and no one would say a word about it,” Price said. “But those places are hard to come by these days.”
Then he took the cap from a marker and drew on the blue refrigerated boxcar in his hand.
The path to the Ganondagan is winding, flanked by rows of wildlife. In the fall, visitors are welcomed by long grasses rustling against the wind; in the winter, snow hides busy bodies beneath the soil; in spring, dandelions and pesky garlic mustard plants begin to flower; and in summer, milkweed feeds butterflies and soft mushroom bodies devour old logs that line the perimeter.
“Welcome to the woods edge,” the first of three stones reads. It’s a nod to “The Edge of the Woods,” a traditional
ceremonial welcome, which continues: “They will lead you by the arm to the principal gate.” Outside the Native American museum, which sits on a hill just outside the town of Victor, is a fire pit to dry traveler’s tears and cold water to treat throats for clear communication. Cultural Liaison
Ansley Jemison, member of the Wolf Clan, said it’s “a sort of reciprocity, a compassion, a condolence of cleaning somebody off and brushing away any kind of challenges they may have had, and then welcoming them in.”
Ganondagan is the original site of a 17th century Seneca town, where there are still remnants of homes from 350 years ago—before the longhouses were burned as the French approached. Now, it’s the only New York State historic site dedicated to Native American heritage, and sprawls over 569 acres complete with three marked hiking trails: the Trail of Peace, the Earth is Our Mother Trail, and the Granary Trail at Fort Hill.
The historically accurate bark longhouse sits at the mouth of the hill,
neighbored by two gardens: the Three Sisters—corn, beans, and squash—and Creation’s Garden, a medicinal wheel.
Inside, strong hickory holds up the bed frames and ceiling. Small fire pits dot the middle, their basins filled with ash leftover from last season. Kalen Fontenelle, member of the Heron Clan, photographer, and interpretive tour guide, said visitors can even smell the past.
“We smoke it out,” he said. Before
CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
opening the longhouse for the season, fires are started so creatures who hibernated over the winter “know we’re
The staff here is multigenerational and familial, much like it would have been originally. “It would have been one community to a longhouse, but that community was your parents, your uncles and aunts, your cousins, your grandparents and great-grandparents,” said Fontenelle. He, along with his brother, are the first two Seneca children to be born and raised on the site in over
“[Ganondagan] keeps us in a historical window, but shows we’re still
Haudenosaunee confederation is not lost to the past is a huge motivator for the historic site, and influences every decision made. Specifically with what art is shown, and how Historic Site Manager Michael Galban showcases contemporary Indigenous
Always on display are artifacts from the Seneca people, with dioramas showcasing what life was like for Indigenous people on Turtle Island. Visitors can also watch the awardwinning short film, The Iroquois
In addition to their permanent shows, there’s rotating exhibitions. Last featured was Haudenosaunee women, and now through September is the Wampum Otgoä exhibition (arts writer Rebecca Raferty interviewed Galban for
Ganondagan is an insistence that Indigenous life, creativity, and influence did not end hundreds of years ago, as so many textbooks would have people believe. The historic site represents a vibrant, progressive community that, as Galban put it, “does not stay stagnant.”
Two such inspired endeavors are the White Corn Project and Jemison’s podcast, The Original Peoples. The White Corn Project is reintroducing an heirloom corn back into Indigenous communities, providing a historical crop for health and ceremonies.
Dr. Peter Jemison, Ansley’s father and member of the Heron Clan as well as retired historic site manager, said when the French attacked the region, corn was the thing they went after.
“To me, it seemed important to bring corn back to this location,” he said. “It was one of our Three Sisters and, as we say, Dioheko – it sustains us.”
The younger Jemison’s podcast brings Indigenous peoples and their voices into a format where they have time to unpack a lot of the stories. “We’re sharing it out to Indigenous or nonnative communities, and finding ways that people can find those connecting points and new information,” he said.
Ganondagan is a rare opportunity to learn and experience Indigenous life through an interpretive museum run by Indigenous people. For the Jemisons, Fontenelle and Galban, that’s what it’s all about.
“We’re finding different ways to connect with people,” said Galban. “And share these stories.”
Danny Doran and his pal Stephan Werk were sitting at a table in Doran’s Brooklyn apartment when the idea came. As professionals working in New York City’s commercial and documentary film industry, any random moment might serve as inspiration. So they began speculating about the bottle sitting before them. Mezcal. A Mexicobred alcohol that is something like tequila. But not really.
“I think there’s so much story,” Doran recalls saying at the time, “that goes into each bottle of mezcal.”
So much story, in fact, that
they made a documentary. “Sons of Mezcal” will show at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 7 at The Little Theatre as part of the Rochester Cocktail Revival. Werk directed the film, and Doran edited it. Both Werk and Doran, a Rochester native and graduate of Pittsford Mendon High School, will be virtually present for a post-film talkback following The Little showing. (Which will be followed, of course, by a boozy after party at Lucky’s, 628 Winton Road.)
Doran and Werk got so worked up over that bottle of mezcal in Doran’s apartment that they decided to go to Mexico themselves to see how it works.
“We bought our tickets that night,” he said.
Shooting from the hip, even if it’s shooting a documentary, seems to be a Doran thing. He learned the basics of whitewater kayaking at Lock 32 on the Erie Canal.
“That’s sort of the genesis for all this really, filmmaking and everything,” he says.
A genesis that led him to a kayaking high school in Missoula, Mont., what Doran calls an “alternative education opportunity.” Which then led him to semesters studying in Chile and China. Which led him to the Adirondacks.
“You go to these cool places, andyou want to show your friends and your family what you’re doing, because they’re not with you,” he said. “Some of these places are in the wilderness. You’re deep in the Adirondacks. Places you can only get to by kayak. So we would bring our cameras, and that was how I started.”
His work is in advertising and short films, emphasizing the color of living life. Advertising that grabs the viewer’s attention through, as he called it, “outlandish examples of humanity.”
The other side of Doran’s work is documentaries.
“Anything can be a documentary,” he said, “if you dive deep enough into it.”
And dive they did. That trip to Mexico, to “research” mezcal, was “a crazy four days,” Doran said.
Upon returning home, they got down to business. An alternative work opportunity, if you will, that meant a return to Mexico. “Sons of Mezcal” explains what mezcal is, and how it’s made. But perhaps more importantly, the culture that creates the spirit.
“I think a lot of times, when you drink alcohol, you don’t necessarily think about where it comes from,”
Doran says. “With wine you do. Once you start becoming interested in wine, I think that there’s a lot of ‘the story sells the bottle of wine,’ right? In a lot of ways. And I think that’s very similar in mezcal.
For Doran, it was the first time he was thinking about the people who made mezcal and where it came from. Considering that, rather than just having a margarita.
The filmmakers explored what Doran calls the “generational connection to the land” shared by the people of the southern state of Oaxaca. And the process -- the taste of mezcal differs by distilling styles, and from region to region.
“Each bottle tells a little story of where it comes from,” said Doran.
Every story begins with the agave plant. It is no short-term crop, with agaves typically growing from six to eight years – or maybe 25 in the wild – until they are larger than a basketball, then harvested and roasted in a pit for five days.
Tequila is made from the blue agave plant, “a narrow and distinct classification,” Doran said. Mezcal, however, is derived from a much wider sample of agave plants and their distillates. How wine is distilled, in oak or stainless-steel barrels, imparts a distinctive taste. The same is true of mezcal. Copper or clay barrels? The process lends itself to the mezcal’s spiciness, or perhaps adds a smoky taste.
“Each region does it a little differently,” Doran said.
“Sons of Mezcal” also presents the human touch. The sons -- and daughters -- of mezcal. Mezcal makers “learning from their fathers and grandfathers,” Doran said. One distilling wizard in his 80s, passing it on to “his sons, his sons’ sons, and their songs, making mezcal.”
In addition to the screening, “Sons of Mezcal” is available – as of late last year -- on streaming services such as Amazon Prime, Apple TV and Google Play.
Doran will be streaming himself, as he’ll join the June 7 talkback virtually from Kansas, where he has a bike race.
But he’ll be there in spirit, literally and figuratively.
“I’ll have mezcal in hand,” he said, “we’ll still raise a glass together.”
It’s not an outdoor concert season without Dave Matthews Band, and the jam-band scene veterans are not waiting long to make their appearance in Western New York. They’ll lead off the Darien Lake Amphitheater summer season on June 14.
The Dave Matthews Band tour follows the release of its new album, “Walk Around the Moon,” which has produced two singles so far, “Madman’s Eyes” and “Monsters.”
As is often the case with shows at Darien Lake, a time machine seems to have been involved in the booking process. The schedule includes a July 28 date for Foreigner, which is generally minus Rochester’s Lou Gramm; in fact, it’s minus any Foreigner originals besides guitarist Mick Jones.
(If you want to catch somewhatthe-real-thing, The Lou Gramm All Stars have an Oct. 7 show at Kodak Center.)
Other artifacts playing Darien this summer include Boy George & Culture Club (July 29), Matchbox 20 (Aug. 1), 50 Cent “The Final Lap Tour” (Aug. 5), Godsmack and
Staind (Aug. 6), Pantera (Aug. 9), Nickelback (Aug. 16), The Offspring and Sum 41 (Aug. 20), and The AllAmerican Rejects (Aug. 21).
Not lumped into that group is the July 30 “Outlaw Music Fest” (start time: 3:45 p.m.) featuring its 90-yearold headliner. Because it’s Willie Nelson, dammit!
Bringing Darien Lake into the 21st century is Rapper Jelly Roll (Aug. 3), sublime indie rockers The Lumineers (Aug. 22) and the electronic-music duo Odesza (Sept. 1). Also on the schedule is KIDZ BOP (July 14).
Darien has a lighter-than usual country-music offering in Luke Bryan (June 16) and Sam Hunt (July 15).
The region’s other large outdoor shed, Constellation Brands-Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center, opens with Santana on June 22, and the rest of the season isn’t exactly peach fuzz.
Set your radio back three decades for Tears For Fears (June 27), Counting Crows (July 2), “Rain – A Tribute to The Beatles” (July 13), The Doobie Brothers (July 14), Pat Benatar and
Neil Geraldo (Aug. 4), and Duran Duran (Sept. 3).
(Duran Duran!)
Perhaps Weezer (July 3) belongs on that list as well, but at least it’s bringing along the superb Baltimore pop band Future Islands. How superb? Check out its electrifying performance of “Seasons (Waiting on You)” on “The Late Show With David Letterman” in 2014.
CMAC veers into moreadventurous territory with the “Roc the Lake Music Festival” featuring the pop group AGR (July 7). The Tedeschi Trucks Band is joined by Ziggy Marley (July 11). And The Chicks –you loved ’em as The Dixie Chicks, even if you don’t love them with that anachronistic, since-changed name – have an Aug. 11 concert with Ben Harper.
Rounding out the CMAC lineup are some acts that have a little, and sometimes a lot, of country music to their sound: Darius Rucker (June 24), Kane Brown (July 9) and Dan + Shay (Aug. 19).
— BY JEFF SPEVAKHigh above the waters of Keuka Lake sits one of the most picturesque venues in the Finger Lakes: Point of the Bluff Vineyards in Hammondsport. Now in its third year, the Concerts at Point of the Bluff series will once again host an eclectic roster of nationally known performers.
Among this year’s highlights are the Taj Mahal Quartet and Los Lobos join forces on their “Ground Zero Blues, Roots and Rock Tour,” which will bring together two legendary rootsmusic bands on June 10. Taj Mahal has been combining folk, blues, Hawaiian and Caribbean influences since the mid-60s, while Los Lobos – who draw from Mexican, rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, Latin, and myriad other styles – are marking the 50th anniversary of their founding in East Los Angeles.
Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives have been carrying the torch of traditional country music for
more than 20 years, recording several ambitious albums while continuing to pay tribute to their forbearers. Their latest records, “Altitude,” just came out in May; they’ll play POB on July 8.
Lyle Lovett, who plays July 30, is another in a long line of brilliant singer-songwriters from Texas, and His Large Band has enabled him to deploy shifting musical backdrops for his distinctive vocals and occasionally deadpan lyrics.
Steve Earle – another great Texas songwriter – returns for a solo acoustic show on August 26 followed by Old Crow Medicine Show (August 27), a group that originally drew inspiration from the Ithaca string-band scene before going on to score a massive hit with “Wagon Wheel.”
More stellar singer-songwriters visit in September, with Patty Griffin showcasing her twangy vocal style (Sept. 16), followed by Ani DiFranco (Sept. 17), the Buffalo native who has inspired a legion of fans with her personal, political lyrics and aggressive guitar rhythms. Michael Franti (of Spearhead) and Friends close out the summer season on Sept. 30.
All POB concerts begin at 2 p.m.
See the complete 2023 lineup at concertsatpob.com.
— BY JIM CATALANOAudition date: June 24 from 1 to 4 p.m.
Callbacks: June 25 from 5 to 8 p.m. / Blackfriars Theatre / Directed by Danny Hoskins. By appointment only; email info@blackfriars.org to schedule. Initial auditions will take place in groups of 1012 and consist of cold reads and improv games. Bring a headshot, resume, and your calendar to complete the rehearsal conflicts. blackfriars.org/auditions-clue
Deadline: June 7 / Corn Hill Arts Festival / All emerging artists are encouraged to apply. The festival takes place July 8-9, and draws thousands of visitors. cornhill.org/emerging-artists-expo
Deadline: June 10 / Main Street Arts Gallery, Clifton Springs / Artists ages 18+ who live in New York State can submit their work for consideration for an upcoming naturefocused exhibition. Artists may submit up to 10 pieces and are encouraged to submit that many, as selected artists will be invited to show multiple works. mainstreetartscs.org
Deadline: June 30 / WXXI Public Media and The Little Theatre / A juried media competition for youth (ages 13-18) in the Rochester region. The screening and awards ceremony will be held on Aug. 3 at The Little. wxxi.org/teenfilmfestival
Deadline: June 14 / New York Foundation for the Arts and The Joy of Giving Something / $7,000 cash grants open to New York state photography artists living and working outside of New York City. Awarded to five artists working in traditional and experimental photography or any form in which photographic techniques are pivotal. nyfa.org/awards-grants
— COMPILED BY REBECCA RAFFERTY
Classical music composers of color have long been largely ignored or disregarded almost exclusively in favor of white men of European descent.
Only a handful of history’s Black composers — such as Florence Price, William Grant Still, and Julius Eastman (no relation to George Eastman) — are beginning to receive their flowers, albeit after their lifetimes.
An early trailblazer for Black composers, Bologne, an 18th-century French composer and violinist is also the subject of the 2022 film “Chevalier,” which played at The Little Theatre in May. His 1780 opera “L’Amant Anonyme,” whose title translates to “The Anonymous Lover,” was released earlier this year in a world premiere recording by Cedille Records, and features soprano and Eastman School professor Nicole Cabell in the lead role of Léontine.
“L’Amant Anonyme” is a live recording from a June 2022 production by Chicago’s Haymarket Opera Company, but the clarity and fidelity of the sound lends studio quality to strong, heartfelt vocal performances. Performing opposite Cabell in her portrayal of a well-to-do widow who is skeptical of finding love again is tenor Geoffrey Agpalo, who plays Léontine’s close friend and secret admirer Valcour. The majority of the opera details the will-they-won’t-they dynamic between the prospective lovers as Valcour waffles between sharing his true feelings and keeping his love a secret, all while writing Léontine anonymous letters of affection and sending her gifts.
“L’Amant Anonyme” is in the opéra comique style, which means spoken dialogue precedes each aria, duet or trio, and ballet dancers perform during select instrumental interludes. Though you can’t hear the dancers, Saint-Georges’s light and lyrical style suggests elegant movement throughout, and the vocal performances of Cabell and Agpalo are strong, consistent, and refined. Fans of Mozart’s operas just might find a new favorite composer in Saint-Georges.
— BY DANIEL J. KUSHNERBeastview Maul, the experimental noise duo of John Schoen and Joe Tunis, has one of the best band names in Rochester. It also fits the music: heavy and unexpected, with a bite.
Four droning compositions comprise their latest release, “Aloha From Beastview Maul,” which Tunis’s Carbon Records released in March. Listeners may unconsciously try to identify individual instruments in order to grasp what actually creates the sounds flooding into their ears. But on “Aloha,” the noise is the instrument.
Two songs stretch out for nearly 15 minutes each. In that time, Schoen and Tunis make a potent cacophony befitting the opening track’s title. (A “Fata Morgana” is a mirage visible on the horizon line.) Their beautiful racket — made from copious amounts of guitar fuzz and electronic adjustments — plays tricks. Sonic figures can be heard that simply aren’t there.
Hellacious siren wails at the nine-minute mark? A phantom helicopter around 4:50? By the time the mirage recedes, the logical brain understands these as aural apparitions. But the ears know what they heard.
“Iron Wheels” offers a cyclical churn, like the warm whirr of heavy machinery. The closer, “Horripilation,” deals in comparatively psychedelic color as the pair add textures the way painters approach landscapes. The dedication is not far from the work Tunis and Schoen maintain in their other group, Pengo; it also follows the thrum of Beastview Maul’s first album, “Lido Scuffle,” which dropped in 2022.
Then, there’s “Gonna Reach out & Stab Ya,” which plays like William Basinski’s “The Disintegration Loops,” if the loop in question was a warping cassette copy of Steve Miller Band’s 1982 pop hit “Abracadabra.” It offers a reprieve from the thick murmurs and even poses a commentary on the nature of music itself.
As Beastview Maul melts a number-one song down into audio goo, the unknown comes to the fore. They’ve killed the familiar. They’ve also spawned new life.
— BY PATRICK HOSKEN
Over more than a century of jazz history, composers have dealt with every aspect of relationships (“My One and Only Love”), special times and places (“April in Paris”) and a variety of feelings (“Mood Indigo”). But many of today’s jazz artists are reaching beyond standard themes in a more philosophical way. A case in point is “Dreams, Visions, Illusions,” the new album by Eastman School of Music graduate Nick Finzer.
Since moving to New York in 2010, Finzer has forged a career as a trombonist, composer and arranger. He’s also the founder of Outside In Music, a record label boasting dozens of releases. But his entrepreneurship has not dimmed his desire to express his own musical vision. (Finzer plays at the Rochester International Jazz Festival on Thursday, June 29.)
Finzer’s titles provide a strong indication of what he’s thinking about while composing. From the first searching tune, “To Dream A Bigger Dream,” through compositions like “I Thought I Should Take The Road Less Traveled” and “I Did What They Said,” Finzer attempts to translate his philosophical thoughts into musical statements.
It doesn’t seem Finzer would mind if beautiful songs like “Aspirations and Convictions” evoke other responses in the listener. The same can be said for the gorgeously wistful “Visions or Mirage.” Although he is outstanding on trombone throughout, “Dreams, Visions, Illusions” proves to be more of a showcase for Finzer’s compositions. He wrote and arranged all 10 tracks, beautifully exploiting the tonal palette of his sextet.
Rather than produce a trombonecentered album, Finzer generously showcases his bandmates: Lucas Pino, tenor saxophone and bass clarinet; Alex Wintz, guitar; Glenn Zalenski, piano; Dave Baron, bass; and Jimmy Macbride, drums.
Whether or not the album makes you think about your own choices in life, it’s a strong musical statement start to finish.
– BY RON NETSKY
Those who think nothing good came out of the pandemic haven’t heard “Fun Times,” the new album by the Russell Scarbrough Big Band. When Covid-19 hit, Scarbrough, who is assistant professor of jazz studies at Houghton University and leads jazz ensembles at Houghton and Canisius College, suddenly had some time on his hands. He decided to undertake an ambitious project, recording 10 of his compositions with his own big band, with one catch – the musicians he worked with were never in the same room.
Scarbrough used software that “read” his musical notes and transformed them into robotic-sounding big band arrangements. Those digital versions were emailed to 44 musicians, minus the written part (let’s say fourth trumpet) they were to play. Once they recorded their parts and emailed them back, Scarbrough spent hundreds of hours editing them.
When he’s not offering lush orchestrations on beautiful ballads like “Spiral Song,” Scarbrough delivers an irresistible mix of jazz and funk on tunes like “Max-Q.” “Startups,” the record’s funkiest and oddest tune, features Scarbrough as a lecturer (read: nerdy rapper) asking rhyming-couplet questions about Silicon Valley. The text, by Jason O. Gilbert, a writer for “The Daily Show,” was curated from questions on Quora. Because Scarbrough earned his doctorate degree at the Eastman School of Music, the album is populated by a “Who’s Who” of Upstate New York musicians. Great solos abound by local jazz luminaries like trumpeter Clay Jenkins, saxophonist Bill Tiberio, guitarist Bob Sneider and trombonist Scarbrough. Also contributing are Kristen Shiner McGuire, vibes; Dean Keller, saxophone; John Nyerges, piano; Herb Smith, trumpet and Andy Calabrese, organ; to name a few.
“Fun Times,” the record’s title, is meant ironically as a commentary on the state of the world circa 2020 and 2021. Scarbrough’s joyous music may be viewed as an antidote to the chaotic state of the world.
– RON NETSKY
BY JEFF SPEVAK @JEFFSPEVAK1 JSPEVAK@WXXI.ORG
Perhaps you were there, 21 years ago. What was then Rochester’s Frontier Field. Where, emerging from the darkness behind the right-field fence, was Aretha Franklin. The stage for the iconic singer was set up at the pitcher’s mound, where Franklin was delivered by golf cart, like a relief pitcher, to close out the final night of the first Rochester International Jazz Festival. The other acts that night – the Red Wings had the day off – were the trumpet player Chris Botti. The funk of Dr. John. The Average White Band. The
Blues Brothers Band. The Rippingtons. I was there. I’ve been at every night of all 19 Rochester International Jazz Festivals. That first one was seven days long, 14 venues wide.
Norah Jones was there. She was an unknown when they booked her. But by the time Jones arrived in Rochester, her debut album, “Come Away With Me,” was already exploding, on its way to No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. It went on to win five Grammys.
Knowns, and unknowns. Over the years, the Rochester International Jazz
Festival has only added to that luster. Among the big names at this year’s festival, which runs from June 23 through July 1 in downtown Rochester, is guitarist Pat Metheny and (the already sold-out show) Bonnie Raitt at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre. We have outdoor appointments with the likes of St. Paul & the Broken Bones and Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers.
And fan favorite Trombone Shorty will be here. He’s already played the event seven times.
In some respects, this is a festival built on familiar hometown comforts. So this year you’ll find pianist Harold Danko, saxophonist Vince Ercolomento and the after-hours jazz sessions with the team of guitarist Bob Sneider and the trumpet of Mike Cottone, all of them hailing from Rochester.
Some faces look vaguely familiar: the vintage jazz vocalist Miss Tess has played Rochester’s clubs in past years.
Singer Curtis Stigers and saxophonist Houston Person are among many musicians returning for another appearance or two, or eight, at the Rochester International Jazz Festival.
Then there is intriguing experimentation. The exotic guitarist and vocalist Lionel Loueke, who grew up in the African nations of Benin and the Ivory Coast, will team up with American jazz singer Gretchen Parlato at Kilbourn Hall on Thursday, June 29.
It can also be a festival of the extraordinarily odd – take Finland’s Joona Toivanen Jazz & Fly Fishing, billed as “the world’s only fly-fishing and film-making jazz quartet,” will play two shows at Christ Church on Tuesday, June 27.
Over the past two decades, the Rochester International Jazz Festival has arrived each June with adrenalized anticipation. As with Norah Jones, sometimes with these festivals – which are booked months in advance –timing and luck can be everything.
When this year’s lineup was announced in March, co-producer Marc Iacona remarked that he looks forward to finding under-the-radar acts.
“To be honest with you, it’s really some of the new artists I haven’t heard, heard before, with some showcases, and I’m looking forward to that,” he said.
Iacona and fellow co-producer John Nugent repeat some variation of those words every year.
But they’re true.
The 50 shows of that first Rochester International Jazz Festival in 2002 drew an estimated 15,000 attendance over its seven days. A year later, the fest was expanded to 10 nights, headlined by Tony Bennett, George Benson and Al Jarreau. It worked. Attendance doubled, to 30,000.
The trend for this 20th edition of the festival – hitting that milestone this year since it was canceled due to COVID in ‘20 and ’21 – has been forever up. And it has evolved. Three years in, the fest migrated from Frontier Field and High Falls to the city’s East End. It was the first year that Gibbs Street, for what was to become the event’s standard nine nights, was renamed “Jazz Street.” It was also the first festival that saw the Big Tent in the parking lot across from Eastman Theatre.
The coming and going hasn’t always been smooth. Harro East Ballroom and Abilene Bar & Lounge dropped out after disputes with Nugent and Iacona. Other venues, like Anthology, have shut down.
But other spaces emerged, such as the outdoor park at Parcel 5, off E. Main Street.
By 2006, Club Passes were selling out (perhaps you’ll remember that as the year Woody Allen played clarinet with his band in Eastman Theatre). A year later, the festival became resoundingly international with the introduction of the Nordic Jazz Now series. This became the most eclectic series. Typically, Norway’s Susanna – just Susanna – delivered a slow-burning carnival of despair. The Nordic bands arrive swimming in twin streams of jazz tradition and the avantgarde. The opening to “Can’t Shake Loose,” written by one-time ABBA member Agnetha Fältskog, was like listening to a ship breaking apart as it falls to the ocean floor. The Flat Earth Society, a Belgian 14-piece band, was textbook Frank Zappa theory of “Make a Jazz Noise Here.”
For 2023, that curious artistry of bands like Joona Toivanen Jazz & Fly Fishing – “Global Jazz Now,” as the series is now called – has been shifted to Christ Church. At the other end of the spectrum is the Eastman Theatre. Sony Rollins in 2005. James Brown in 2006. Jerry Lee
Lewis in 2007. Also that year, when Solomon Burke played the room, a huge throne was erected onstage for the sizeable soul singer.
By then, the festival attendance hit an estimated 120,000.
Jeff Beck sold out his first show at Eastman in 2010, so a second one was added. And Bernie Williams, a few years retired from his former job of playing centerfield for the Yankees, played guitar at Eastman as well.
Hometown favorite Steve Gadd, regarded as one of the great jazz drummers, returned in 2016 to celebrate his 70th birthday, with a surprise guest: James Taylor, who played three songs, and out of the evening came a 2017 Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.
Homecomings have been a nice reminder of Rochester’s global contributions to music. In 2014, Fairport native Vijay Iyer returned home to play the Kilbourn Hall piano. The world’s greatest vibraphonist Joe Locke – all agree on that – grew up in Rochester, and has played the festival seven times.
The past is always present. At Kilbourn Hall in 2008, singer Kurt Elling leaned coolly and casually against the piano, every inch the hip jazzman in his sharp suit and jet-black, swept-back hair. Sometimes singing, sometimes scatting like a tree full of exotic, excited songbirds. His show was called “Dedicated to You,” with much of the evening resurrecting the 1963 classic album by John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman.
Catherine Russell overlooked no detail in mining the 1920s, 30s and 40s. With “Make It Do” she sang, “You can’t pull the wool over my eyes, you can’t get away with telling those lies like that.” The audience roared and applauded with approval when it recognized how that 1936 theme
applied to the White House resident of the moment, Donald Trump. This year, she’ll be back for her eighth festival.
It’s not about jazz. It’s about music. You want banjo? Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers played Eastman Theatre in in 2012 and 2014. You want the blues? That was Samara Joy in 2019, drifting deep into vintage blues, so deep that it’s uncertain who wrote this song, or even what the precise, suggestive lyrics are: “If you don’t like my peaches, why did you shake my tree?” She’ll be back this year, perhaps to expand on that line. The music is often about resurrecting the past, blowing the dust off of antiques. Like the night Tessa Souter presented a dramatic reading of The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby.” When she came to the chorus, she stretched it out — “Alllllllllllllllllllllll the lonely people” — to heartbreaking effect. You, the listener, were one of the heartbroken.
The female trio of hobo jazz, VickiKristinaBarcelona, returns this year to give us the music of Tom Waits. At Kilbourn Hall one year, Bill Frisell eased into a version of The Beach Boys’ “In My Room,” that was so beautiful it had people in tears. The New Orleans party that is Trombone Shorty may be playing the festival for the eighth time, but that’s not the record. This will be Frisell’s 10th appearance at the festival, the most of any non-Rochester musician.
Add it all up, and it comes to what the jazz fest estimates was last year’s attendance, 210,000.
As my friend, the local ceramics sculptor Nancy Valle said to me a few years ago, “It’s like ‘Rochester feels like a big city night.’”
Eastman School of Music student Gavin Rice loves the Jazz Age. Like, really loves the Jazz Age.
To call him obsessed with the music, technology, and fashion of the 1920s is to get even closer to the truth.
The 19-year-old wears original antique clothes daily (the only exception frequently being reproduction pants faithful to the era), which he tailors himself using a Singer sewing machine from 1921. He
even starches his own collars to get as authentic a look as possible. During a recent visit to his apartment near the Eastman School, Rice wore a vintage “day suit,” complete with a striped shirt and starched imperial collar, silver patterned cuffs, a square tie, a vest from 1899, pants with suspenders, a dark coat and a straw hat.
He also collects and restores vintage phonographs, the predecessors of modern record players. The machine that sparked Rice’s obsession was
a 1916 Edison Diamond Disc phonograph given to him as a gift when he was 12. But the device had seen better days, and was missing its tonearm, crank and front grill. He decided to fix the machine and replace the parts.
Rice, a Cape Cod native, owns more than 50 instruments that are more than 100 years old. His most prized instrument is an 1865 baritone saxophone made by Auguste Feuliet, who was the apprentice of Adolphe
Sax, the inventor of the saxophone. Rice says his bari sax, which he bought on the online instrument marketplace Reverb, is one of only two that were made.
Rice’s collection is so extensive that he regularly borrows from it to supply his extracurricular early-jazz band, Gavin Rice and His Famous Collegians, with authentic period instruments. He and the band have even hosted dances at the University of Rochester, something he plans to continue in fall 2023.
At Eastman, Rice is a double major in music education and jazz performance, concentrating on upright bass.
“My goal is to be a jazz educator, talking about more than what is talked about nowadays, because early jazz is a dying breed,” said Rice in a recent Zoom interview. “And I would like people to learn more about the history of jazz (aside from) the three main people — Louis Armstrong, King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton.”
In addition to being a full-time student, Rice works at Bernunzio Uptown Music and is an assistant professor of early jazz at Syracuse University. He also serves in a similar, though unofficial, teaching role at Eastman.
Fellow Eastman School student Misha Studenkov, who plays piano as one of the ‘Famous Collegians’ in Rice’s band, said the bandleader’s close-to-comprehensive understanding of jazz is impressive.
“He’s one of the most knowledgeable people I’ve met about any individual kind of jazz, with the early jazz style,” Studenkov said. “He’s incredible at the other styles of jazz. He plays almost every instrument proficiently.”
And while Rice’s fashion sense might be viewed as eccentric by Eastman students and faculty alike, Studenkov says the early jazz specialist is respected.
“People know that he’s a nice guy, that he’s super passionate about what he does — a great teacher, mentor, all of those things,” he said.
Before entering his junior year, Rice said he’ll spend the summer arranging songs for his band to play by drawing from 1920s stock arrangements and customizing them with his own compositional elements (a standard practice in that era). He’s also working on finishing a solo album he calls “Home-Recorded Hot Jazz,” on which he plays every instrument in multitrack arrangements created on the digital audio software Logic Pro.
Studenkov added that Rice doesn’t restrict himself to the limited technology of the ’20s. “He uses modern technology,” said Studenkov. “He plays video games in his free time, and that’s certainly not a 1920s pastime.”
While Rice isn’t longing to return to a lost decade of music and culture, he does think the Jazz Age is still relevant today.
“I do a lot of things that represent the past. I record wax cylinders, I run a 1920s jazz band, I dress in all original clothes,” said Rice. “I don’t want to say I’m stuck in the past because that’s a very closed mindset — but although I live in 2023, I’m doing everything I can to bring 1923 to now.”
Full calendar of events online at roccitymag.com
THURSDAY, JUNE 1
Abilene Bar & Lounge, abilenebarandlounge.com
Dynamic singer-songwriter Nikki Hill returns to familiar stomping grounds at Abilene when the touring rock ‘n’ roll artist stops in Rochester for two consecutive days, beginning tonight and concluding on Friday. Hill is clearly inspired by early rock greats like Chuck Berry, but draws deeper still from the wells of gospel, the blues, and soul music. If you need authentic roots rock in your life, experiencing the songs of Nikki Hill in person is more than a solid bet. You can get $35 tickets in advance, or pay $40 at the door. Doors open at 4 p.m., and the two shows each start at 7:30 p.m.
DANIEL J. KUSHNERFESTIVAL
Greek Orthodox Church, rochestergreekfestival.com
If you think baklava tastes like heaven, try loukoumades — fluffy, bite-sized pieces of honey dough that just melt in your mouth. You’ll get the chance to indulge today through Monday, June 4, at the first big Greek festival of the summer, where you can also
get your fill of spanakopita, gyros, lamb shanks, flaming cheese, dancing, refreshing drinks, kids’ activities, and shopping at the Greek marketplace. From 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.
REBECCA RAFFERTYMuCCC, muccc.org
Claude-Michel Schönberg’s 1980s musical adaptation of the classic Victor Hugo novel “Les Misérables” — which follows ex-con Jean Valjean on his road to redemption in a tumultuous Paris in the years after the French Revolution — is a fixture in pop culture. After the enduring success of the original West End and Broadway productions, the starstudded 2012 film version featuring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway brought the music drama to a whole new generation of fans. Rochester’s Open Road Theatre is presenting a different version entirely — a full-length play adapted by Tim Kelly and drawn from the novel — directed by ORT’s Karen Dieruf. Expect a diverse local cast including students and seasoned thespians alike. The production opens tonight at 7:30 p.m. and runs through Sunday, June 4 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $17. DK FILM
Dryden Theatre, eastman.org
The folks at the George Eastman Museum refer to the Nitrate Picture Show as “a festival of film conservation,” which it absolutely is, but most descriptions of it use some sort of combustible wordplay. Why?
Kodak used to make movie film out of a nitrate cellulose base that would ignite without careful handling. It stopped in the 1950s, but Eastman has a bunch of prints archived in a
building with carefully controlled conditions. Each year, the museum celebrates these obsolete but stunning prints through the Nitrate Picture Show, drawing film enthusiasts from well outside of Rochester. This year’s highlight: a screening of a Technicolor print of the 1947 classic “Black Narcissus,” which is known for its tense plot and stunning visuals. Passes range from $150-$275 for the whole festival, though tickets for individual screenings can be purchased at the box office if seats are available.
JEREMY MOULEFRIDAY, JUNE 2
FESTIVAL
Fairport Village, fairportcanaldays.com
Returning for its 46th year, Fairport Canal Days offers three days of music, food vendors, and art merchants, as well as the popular Erie Canal rubber duck race for charity. Kick things off with the Chicken BBQ from 4:30 to 9 p.m. on Friday night, shop on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and stay for live entertainment during Canal Night from 7 to 11 p.m. Things wrap up with more vendors and food on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. RR
210 South Ave. The event will also serve as a fundraiser for the Center for Youth, which provides housing and other vital resources for LGBTQ+ youth. At last year’s Spectra showcase, TGW Studio raised $2,100, thanks to donations from event attendees. Other activities, including postcard design and letter-writing for LGBTQ+ youth, provide additional ways for attendees to show their support.
LEAH STACYUpstairs Gallery at RoCo, projectpeaceandlove.squarespace.com
Unity helps create a story that binds people to one another, a crucial goal of Project Peace & Love’s mission. Using the colors cyan, magenta and yellow, artists submitted what “Peace & Love” means to them. These works will be on display through the entire month of June, with an opening reception at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 2. The $5 admission fee includes admission to both Project Peace & Love’s show and RoCo’s 6x6 show. LS
SATURDAY, JUNE 3
DANCE
Radio Social, photocitymusichall.com
TGW Studio, tgwstudio.com/spectra
In honor of Pride Month, TGW Studio, an LGBTQ+/non-binary/ woman-owned and -operated social impact marketing firm, is holding its second annual Spectra showcase. Spectra is a public art show celebrating the voices and artistic talents of Rochester’s LGBTQ+ youth. It will take place at TGW Studio,
Get ready for Radio silence as Powered by Photo City presents a pop-up disco dance party at Radio Social (20 Carlson Rd.) Three channels featuring electronic dance music, hip hop, R&B, Top 40 and throwback hits will play through your personal headphones as you rock and roll through the 32,000 square foot bowling alley and social club. The 18+ event begins at 8 p.m., and a valid photo ID is required for headphone rental. Tickets are $10 early bird, $15 pre-sale. LS
Genesee Valley Park, reconnectrochester.org/roc-n-roll
Let’s ride! Today is World Bicycle Day and you can celebrate the twowheeled contraption on your own or at ROC ‘N’ Roll, a Reconnect Rochester fundraiser. The multi-modal transportation advocacy group invites bicyclists of all ages and abilities to ride 8 or 33 miles. The 8-mile course follows traffic-free trails, while the longer route includes public roads and dedicated infrastructure. There will be snacks. Suggested donations are $2535.
DAVID STREEVERThe Well, irishrochester.com
Arguably the most dynamic and creative Irish musician of his generation, fiddle and flute player Frankie Gavin is a soloist, bandleader, composer, and arranger whose influence on the trajectory of Irish music cannot be overstated. In his nearly six-decades of playing music, Gavin has shared the stage with great traditional Irish musicians as well as The Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, Stéphane Grappelli, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. In 2010, he was named the fastest fiddle player in the world by the Guiness Book of World Records. While renowned for leading the influential Irish super group De Dannan since the 1970s, the master here makes his first solo tour since beating cancer into remission. Gavin will be accompanied by nextgeneration talent Catherine McHugh on piano. The show begins at 7:30 p.m., and admission is $20. RR
Aberdeen Square, 19wca.org
The 19th Ward Association’s neighborhood festival celebrating deep history and current community opens with a pancake breakfast at 8 a.m., followed by games and activities for kids, local vendors, entertainment, and more until 4:30 p.m. A parade starts at 11 a.m., leaving from the 19th Ward Community Association office at 216 Thurston Road. RR
Brown Square Park, vsas.org
A must-attend, cuteness overload event for animal lovers, the festival returns for a 17th year, featuring a 5K and 10K walk, live music, food trucks, sponsor giveaways, vendors, pet contests, and other activities for families, including, of course, the furriest members. A virtual option for dog walks will be available for those who can’t attend in person. Proceeds from the race and fest help fund food and care for shelter animals, and support adoption, lost and found, and spay/neuter programs. The festival takes place from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Brown Square Park across from Rochester Animal Services. RR
SUNDAY, JUNE 4
Geva Theatre Center, geva.org
After a month-long run on the Wilson Stage, this production turns into a pumpkin after today’s closing performance at 2 p.m. This version of the beloved fairy tale began in 1957 as a made-for-television musical starring Julie Andrews but has been tailored and tucked over the decades more than Cinderella’s gown. The keynote songs have been retained, but a lot has been added and deleted to appeal to modern audiences. Any way you slice this timeless classic, the shoe, er, glass slipper fits. Tickets range from $28 to $72.
DAVID ANDREATTA
Memorial Art Gallery, mag.rochester.edu
For the better part of a year, the southwest lawn of the Memorial Art Gallery’s campus has been a mess of construction as the second phase of the Centennial Sculpture Park is underway. That period is ending, and the chaos of machines, materials, and moved earth has yielded two monumental sculptures — “Lover’s Rainbow” by Mexican artist Pia
Camil, and an untitled mosaic wall by New York City-based artist Rashid Johnson — new pedestrian pathways, and refreshed landscaping. These additions join 12 other sculptures that were installed when the Centennial Sculpture Park opened in 2013. The gallery is marking a 10-year anniversary of the park and its more accessible grounds by offering free museum admission, yoga, art projects, lawn games, and more from noon to 4 p.m. RR
Bug Jar, bugjar.com
The Chicago rock band Rezn likes its music nice and sludgy. Shoegaze, doom metal, and even a bit of grunge finds a way into the psychedelic stew that’s cooking. Rezn’s newest EP, “Solace,” features searing guitars set over plodding rhythms and epic grooves that take their time unfolding. Fans of Rochester bands King Buffalo and Haishen will feel right at home with Rezn. The death metal band Oryx and hometown doom metal outfit Goron play in support. Doors open at 8 p.m., and the bands bring the heavy at 9 p.m. Tickets for the 18+ show are $12-$14. DK
TUESDAY, JUNE 6
831 Genesee Street, westsidemarketrochester.com
Greens, garlic, and beets; maybe some Amazing Grains Bread, and oh! How about some kettle corn? Some recipes from the Arnett Mobile Library? Or a bike tune-up from R Community Bikes? Market season is here, and the
Westside Market in the St. Monica’s Parking Lot (831 Genesee Street) runs from 4-7 p.m. on Tuesdays starting today through early October. Check out their website for a list of vendors and details on more of what is in season, or just grab a basket and explore. MONA SEGHATOLESLAMI
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7
FILM
The Little Theatre, thelittle.org
From director Stephan Werk and Rochester-born editor Danny Doran comes a breathtaking documentary that chronicles agave production in a new way. Ingrained in the culture of Oaxaca, Mezcal is more than an intoxicating spirit - it is the sacred link that binds modernday mezcaleros to their ancestors. “Sons of Mezcal” transports you into this living history as it follows four families passing their traditions on to the next generation. Sample agave from the brands featured in the film and grab a Little popcorn before you settle into your seat in the beautifully renovated Little Theatre 1. A brief virtual talkback with Doran and Werk, moderated by RIT professor and One Take Documentary Series programmer Linda Moroney, will follow the film, along with an after party at Lucky’s (628 Winton Rd. N.) at 9 p.m. Tickets are $12. LS
Bug Jar, bugjar.com
The last time Bad Cop / Bad Cop came to town, I recommended that readers who are into heartfelt, melodic punk check them out. Well, the band is coming back tonight and that recommendation stands. The group doesn’t have a new record out, but that’s no problem. Binge the heck out of the old stuff, especially “Warriors” and “The Ride,” which are great to have in your summer rotation anyway. The Last Gang and On the Cinder open. Tickets are roughly $18 for those over 21, and $20 for those over 18. JM
ART
6x6x2023
Rochester Contemporary Art Center, roco6x6.org
The popular annual exhibit officially opens to the public (ticketed online previews began May 12; with ticketed in-person previews May 30), featuring
6,033 pieces from around the globe. For a $5 admission fee, art lovers can browse and buy a 6x6 work for $20, and proceeds support future exhibitions & public art. This year, 164 artworks from Ukrainian artists and refugees will also be available for $50 each, with $30 from each sale benefiting Roc Maidan, a charitable organization providing humanitarian and medical aid to Ukraine. On July 7, an additional fundraiser will be held at RoCo for Roc Maidan. LS
Genesee Riverway Promenade, rochestercocktailrevival.com
Bask in a summer sunset along the Genesee while sipping cocktails on the newly formed Riverway Promenade and meeting the creative forces behind the June issue of CITY Magazine.
Hors d’oeuvres and two cocktails are included with each $29 ticket. 21+ only, and the event runs 6-8:30 p.m. LS
MuCCC, muccc.org
Audiences of this beguiling comedy by Sarah Ruhl will be told when the lights dim to silence their cell phones — only to hear the one belonging to a man sitting quietly in a café on stage ringing and pinging incessantly. That phone becomes the portal to a wacky odyssey for the woman who answers it after discovering that the man’s reason for not picking up isn’t rudeness, but rigor mortis. This production by hummingbird theatre co. boasts a terrific local cast that includes Scott Adams, Dawn Marie Sargent, and MJ Savastano. The dead man’s phone starts ringing today at 7:30 p.m. and won’t stop until the run closes on June 11. Tickets are $15 online and $20 at the door. DA
Seneca Niagara Casino, Niagara Falls, senecaniagaracasino.com
No matter what he’s in, from “Saturday Night Live” to “The Wedding Singer” to “A League of Their Own,” comedian Jon Lovitz has always managed to stand out – and often steal the show. Now he has his own standup show that’s making a two-night stop at 8 p.m. June 8 and 9 at the casino’s The Bear’s Den. DENISE YOUNG
Salena’s Mexican Restaurant, facebook.com/salenasmexican/events
Though they’re commonplace and ubiquitous goods these days, tequila and chocolate both have Mesoamerican origins as sacred beverages. Honoring those origins with information and delectable pairings, this event runs from 6 to 8:30 p.m. and tickets are $55. RR
FRIDAY, JUNE 9
MUSIC
The “G” Lodge, Hannibal, heydudeafterhours.com
The Gauger family’s hunting lodgeturned-Airbnb and event space is a destination concert venue for upstate New York music lovers who dig summer festival vibes. The “G” Lodge’s sixth annual Family Hoedown, which benefits Rochester music and arts nonprofit The Local Sound Collaborative, is three days loaded with talented regional bands. Rochester acts including The Honey Smugglers, Archimedes, The Forest Dwellers, and Elephino will play this Americana-centric fest, which runs today through Sunday, June 11. Weekend passes for humans are $70, while dog passes are $10. Small RV camping is $40, and large RVs will be charged $60. DK
Memorial Art Gallery, mag.rochester.edu
The MAG’s annual fundraiser, presented by the Gallery Council, brings together art and collectible cast-offs that are ready to be adored anew by fresh owners. Dubbed “Rochester’s most prestigious garage sale,” it’s an event people flock to each year to spend time digging through gently used antiques, original artwork, jewelry, fine china, silver, small furniture items and more. The sale starts today from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., continues the same hours on Saturday, and runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is free, but if you want to shop ahead of the crowds, pay $20 and take advantage of the sneak peek from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 8. RR
FILM
The Little, thelittle.org
A yearly tradition at The Little: a “Purple Rain” screening near Prince’s birthday. Purple outfits, purple punch, normal-hued popcorn. Prince Rogers Nelson would be proud. The film starts at 8 p.m. Air guitar practice starts immediately.
SCOTT PUKOSInnovative Field, rochesterrealbeer.com
These days it’s difficult to even recover from the last beer festival before there’s another one coming around the bend. But the Real Beer Expo is, and always will be, special. A decadent celebration of all things beer, this year’s festival will feature 65 craft beverage purveyors from near and far, curated by beer writer Will Cleveland, who was passed the torch
by festival founder and former Tap & Mallet owner Joe McBane. While Cleveland has brought together an eclectic mix of breweries, it’s the beer itself that is the star of the show. The Expo has become known as the place where breweries let their freak flag fly, serving up some of the most unique, and often bizarre, experiments only to be found at the festival. Doors open at 5 p.m. for VIP, 6 p.m. for general admission. Tickets are $55. GINO
FANELLI
Mendon Ponds Park, gvc-adk.org
Rochesterians are professional summer-ers, meaning we take good advantage of being outdoors when the sun is actually shining. And there’s so many natural features in our region to enjoy, even when the weather is dismal. At the 24th annual Outdoor Expo you can partake in demonstrations and workshops for hiking, canoeing, kayaking, backpacking, camping, bicycling, and other outdoor activities, all presented by a variety of local clubs and organizations. Live entertainment will be provided by Golden Link Folk Singing Society. Sponsored by the Genesee Valley Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club and Monroe County Parks, the festival will take place at the beach area of Mendon Ponds Park from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Admission is free. RR
Brockport Welcome Center, brockportny.org
I started school in my birth state of Florida (shhh, don’t tell anyone) where, believe it or not, I learned the Erie Canal song. Natives of this region never believe me when I say that, but it’s true — that’s how important the waterway is to our national history. The canal serves a different purpose than it used to, with more pleasure cruising than industry these days, but it’s still worth celebrating. The annual party that marks the opening of the navigation season of the Erie Canal takes place today, featuring family activities, kayaking, biking, music, a Barge Charge 5K, and food. This year’s event marks Brockport’s
bicentennial, when the Erie Canal terminated there for two years before it was completed to Buffalo. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., admission is free. RR
Lincoln Hill Farms, lincolnhillfarms.com
The Canandaigua summer concert venue Lincoln Hill Farms’ calm pastoral landscape is set to become one big dance party when the high-energy brass bands Moon Hooch, Too Many Zooz, and Lucky Chops take the stage to drop heavy beats and chunky riffs. It’s like a nonstop, live-music rave, as waves of funk, jazz, and hip-hop wash over the listener. Moon Hooch’s last visit to the region was at the 2018 Rochester International Jazz Festival, and you don’t want to miss them this time around. I can’t recommend this show more. You can arrive as early as 5 p.m., but the music won’t kick off until 6 p.m. $30-$65. DK
Perinton Center Park Amphitheater, rochesterevents.com/perinton
The Wood Brothers are based in Nashville these days, but have a strong relationship with Western New York. Among other gigs, the trio has played the Rochester International Jazz Festival and the Lilac Festival. There are two brothers. Oliver is the guitarist and lead singer, Chris Wood is the bassist, who you may also know from his work with Medeski Martin and Wood. The band is rounded out by percussionist Jano Rix, who sometimes resorts to what he calls the ‘shuitar,’ an acoustic guitar modified with the trash-heap precision percussion of empty tuna cans. This is organic rock at its best. And do not be late for the similarly minded acoustic duo opener, Shovels and Rope. Gates at 5:30 p.m., show at 7 p.m. Tickets start at $39.50.
JEFF SPEVAK
Asbury Hall at Babeville, babevillebuffalo.com
Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn has recorded more than 400 songs since his self-titled debut album came in 1970s. Known for his politically minded lyrics and complex guitar style, Cockburn has tackled timely topics such as human rights, environmental issues, and Christianity during his long career. He’ll be joined by special guest Dar Williams, who has garnered a wide following during her 30-year career both as a songwriter and as an author of four books. The all ages show begins at 8 p.m., and tickets are $50 plus fees. JIM CATALANO
TUESDAY, JUNE 13
THEATER
Auditorium Theatre, rbtl.org
Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Lee Harper’s novel received glowing
reviews when it opened on Broadway in 2018 for both staying true to the storyline in the book and breaking its narrative structure to play on the modern stage. Coming to Rochester by way of the Rochester Broadway Theatre League, the show stars Richard Thomas (of John-Boy Walton fame) as the widower lawyer Atticus Finch, who bravely stands up to racism in small-town Alabama in the 1930s. The production opens today at 7:30 p.m. with eight performances through June 18. Tickets range from $50 to $110. DA
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14
Landmark Theatre, landmarktheatre.org
Indiana native John Mellencamp has come a long way since his 1976 debut as “Johnny Cougar.” His 1985 album “Scarecrow” was one of the best albums of the decade, presaging the alt-country movement while landing hits such as “Small Town” and “Lonely Ol’ Night.” His voice has roughened over the years, but he’s still writing compelling songs, as demonstrated on recent albums such as “Sad Clowns & Hillbillies” (2017) and “Strictly a One-Eyed Jack” (2022). His latest album “Orpheus Descending” comes out on June 2. This show begins at 8 p.m., and tickets start at $59. JC
Photo City Music Hall, photocitymusichall.com
The Fault Lines1 Tour features Chris Corner and his live band for the first time since 2019, performing muscular IAMX classics as well as new material
from two full-length albums, to be released in conjunction with each leg of the tour. Expect IAMX’s psychosexual explosive and passionate performance paired with striking theatrical lights, visuals, filth glam and the never-ending existential need to become one with the audience. Special guests Speak Machine open the 18+ show, tickets are $25 in advance. Doors at 7 p.m., music at 8 p.m. LS
THURSDAY, JUNE 15
Blackfriars Theatre, blackfriars.org
The opening lyrics of this giddy romp through ancient Rome promise “Something familiar, something peculiar, something for everyone: a comedy tonight!” What makes this staging of the classic musical something peculiar — and delightfully fun — is its all-female-identifying cast. The approach turns on its head the traditions of Roman theater, when all roles were played by men, and promises to make this classic farce that much more farcical. The production premiers today at 7:30 p.m. and plays through June 25. Tickets range from $30 to $35. Students are $20. DA
FRIDAY, JUNE 16
MUSIC
Hollerhorn Distilling, hollerhorn.com When Hollerhorn Distilling sustained major fire damage last May, it was unclear when the popular Naples-
based distillery and outdoor concert venue would reopen again to the public. Fast forward just one year later, and the resilient hotspot is working toward a complete comeback later this summer. In the meantime, live music has resumed at Hollerhorn, and tonight’s show features the Catskillsbased Americana-rock band The Felice Brothers, who combine an indie sensibility with intimate folk-inspired ballads and jangly country tunes. The Felice Brothers make clever, heartfelt music with melancholic tendencies — sounds like the perfect accompaniment to a stiff drink. The doors open at 7 p.m., and the music starts at 8 p.m. The 21-and-over, rainor-shine show is $30 in advance and $35 at the door. DK
Parcel 5, rochesterdowntown.com
Downtown Definitely brings back this popular summer event for four nights this summer, kicking off with Marvel Studios’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” All screenings are free and family friendly. Grab a bite from local food trucks, enjoy classic movie concession items and snag a spot on the grass by the large outdoor screen.
“To Kill a Mockingbird”FILM
The event begins at 7 p.m., with the film screening at dusk. LS
FESTIVAL
St. Dimitria Macedonian Orthodox Church, macedonianfest.com
If the nuances of the Balkans are all Greek to you, head to the Macedonian Ethnic Festival where you can enjoy the distinct culture of one of the peninsula’s many old empires. Learn the difference between social and prebattle dances, sample the national dish (a bean casserole called tafche grafche) and luscious pastries, and take home a bottle of Macedonian wine. From 5 to 11 p.m. on Friday, noon to midnight on Saturday, June 17, and noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday, June 18. RR
SATURDAY, JUNE 17
COMEDY
MuCCC, muccc.org
The improv comedy troupe Polite Ink. wants you to know that being an adult doesn’t have to suck all the time. To prove it, the gang is once again ditching its goodie-goodie PG-13 rating for its second annual one-night-only show of adult humor and shenanigans. Don’t bring the kids. Beer, wine, and cider are available for purchase. Tickets are $10 in advance online or $15 at the door. DA
FESTIVAL
Dr. MLK Jr. Memorial Park, rochesterjuneteenth.com
Juneteenth commemorates the ending of slavery in the U.S. The first festivities took place on June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Grander landed in Galveston, Texas, with news that the war had ended and emancipation had come. The holiday has been celebrated since but has only gained national recognition in recent years. The event features a parade, spoken word, reenactments, youth scholarship awards, art, cuisine, and children’s activities from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is free. RR
George Eastman Museum, Eastman.org
Get to know the “boomtown” city that was home to the founder of Kodak, George Freakin’ Eastman. The ride starts at the George Eastman Museum and rolls from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., and the limit is 12 people per tour. Admission is $30 for nonmembers, $25 for members of the George Eastman Museum, and the tour includes one admission to the museum to be used any day you want to stop inside. NE
SUNDAY, JUNE 18
828 North Clinton Avenue
Every Sunday afternoon (1-5 p.m.) through October 15, catch up on shopping from local vendors, hear live music, and experience the energy of one of Rochester’s newest outdoor markets, La Marketa at The International Plaza. La Marketa is also right across from one of the most beautiful buildings in Rochester: St. Michael’s Church, which dates back to 1873. It’s like visiting a European cathedral in the heart of Rochester, and worth a visit for aesthetic as well as spiritual reasons. MS
MONDAY, JUNE 19
Bop Shop, bopshop.org
Brooklyn-based musician Devin Gray has played percussion with a veritable who’s who of the current jazz scene, as well as leading and composing for several of his own bands. When Gray comes to Rochester, it will be just him, his drums, and an array of cool electronics. This solo show should be a bit of a trip and a chance to experience some wide-ranging, experimental art in sound. The show starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are $20 (half price at the door for students with ID). MS
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Genesee Valley Park Riverbend Shelter, itsyourrace.com
The ROC Juneteenth 5k is back for its sixth year, celebrating the end of slavery on June 19, 1865. This year, the event is dedicated to Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was chased and killed in 2020 by three white men, while out for a run near his home in Georgia. Participants will be able to compete on a USA Track & Field-recognized 5K course and celebrate with food, music and awards after. Registration is $28.50 with fees (live race day registration will be available), and funds raised will go towards the Minister Franklin D. Florence Civil Rights Heritage Site at Baden Park in Rochester. DS
TUESDAY, JUNE 20
PARTY
Linwood Gardens, linwoodgardesn.org
If you missed May’s annual Tree Peony Festival of Flowers, the Summer Solstice Soiree offers another rare opportunity to stroll the grounds of Linwood Gardens. The event takes place from 6 to 9 p.m., and includes live folk music, a four-course dinner, drinks, sunset s’mores and yard games at the historic Hillcrest Estate and grounds, which once entertained the likes of Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and Ethel Barrymore. A second tier of tickets allows visitors access to the grounds at 5 p.m. and includes a guided tour of the gardens and property. Tickets are $102 -$118. RR
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21
Kodak Center, kodakcenter.com
Wednesday at Kodak doesn’t have quite the same ring as “Saturday in the Park,” but it’ll do as the when and where to catch the welcome nostalgia trip that is the band Chicago. The group has brought “rock and roll with horns” to its fans for more than 55 years, and it’s still putting out
new material. Chicago’s latest album, “Born for This Moment” from 2022, includes more of the band’s signature sophisticated pop song arrangements, fusing elements of soft rock and smooth jazz with charming results. Tickets for the 8 p.m. show start at $99. DK
THURSDAY, JUNE 22
CMAC, cmacevents.com
Carlos Santana is one of a handful of living guitarists whose sound is immediately recognizable. His “Smooth” style fusing rock, jazz and Latin music made him a breakout star at the original Woodstock Music and Art Festival, before becoming a 10-time Grammy award winner, the recipient of three Latin Grammys, and a 1998 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. With nothing left to prove but plenty more music to make, the 75-year-old musician comes to Canandaigua with his 1001 Rainbows Tour. Expect a career-spanning set featuring plenty of classics from Santana and his band of the same name. The doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the music starting at 8 p.m. Current ticket prices start at $58. DK
FRIDAY, JUNE 23
it began in 2020. Santino plays the straight man to Lee’s notoriously eccentric persona, but it’s all terribly silly stuff. If you catch the show live tonight, expect plenty of improvised dialogue, irreverent bits, and a bit of physical comedy thrown in. “Bad Friends” is kind of like a modern Abbott & Costello routine, if Bud and Lou decided to try smelling salts just for fun. The 7:30 p.m. show is $31$65. DK
Ontario Beach Park, cityofrochester.gov/harborfest
It’s a week-long beach party! Marking the opening of the summer season at Ontario Beach, Rochester Harborfest features entertainment, professional sand sculpting demonstrations, a huge car show and a boat parade of lights, a volleyball tournament, children’s area, food vendors, tours of the historic lighthouse, free rides on the 117-yearold Dentzel Carousel, and more. Through June 27. RR
Hunt Country Vineyards, fingerlakes-music.org
Summer in the Finger Lakes includes opportunities to combine the pleasures of classical music with the beauty of nature and the occasional glass of wine from local vineyards, including with the Finger Lakes Chamber Music Festival (FLCMF). The free concert starts at 6:30 p.m. MS
The Little, thelittle.org
Kodak Center, kodakcenter.com
Los Angeles-based stand-ups Andrew Santino and Bobby Lee are an unlikely comedy duo, but that’s been the whole premise behind their top-charting comedy podcast “Bad Friends” since
Thanks to a pleasantly whimsical TikTok trend, Wes Anderson’s signature filmmaking style is once again all the rage. His latest movie features a superstar cast (Scarlett Johansson! Tom Hanks! Steve Carell!), a fictional 1955 desert town, a jet pack, and maybe aliens (!?). It’s the movie event of the summer for art house fans. Screens through June at The Little. SP
“Bad Friends” with Andrew Santino and Bobby Lee
Roy Orbison & Friends: A Black and White Night
Thursday, June 8 at 9:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV
Santana Live at the U.S. Festival
Saturday, June 3 at 4:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV
Mavis Staples at Symphony Center, Chicago
Tuesday, June 6 at 9:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV
Carole King: Home Again Live in Central Park
Thursday, June 8 at 8 p.m. on WXXI-TV
From Carole King’s 1973 concert in Central Park to Mavis Staples’ recent return home to Chicago to perform at the Symphony Center, to Santana’s 1982 performance at the U.S. Festival in San Bernardino, California and Foreigner’s first-ever reunion concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of their Double Vision album – WXXI brings you the best seats in the house to these concerts and more.
Foreigner: Double Vision – Then and Now
Wednesday, June 7 at 9:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV
Courtesy of Rock Fuel Media 2019
Friday, June 9 at 10 p.m. on WXXI-TV
A cult-like figure since his low-budget, unrehearsed and unedited Joy of Painting programs first aired in 1982, the late Bob Ross’ enduring popularity is attributable to more than just his paintings. In this special you’ll see Bob complete his beautiful “Home in the Valley” painting and witness his wet-on-wet painting technique. And, you’ll explore the varied and sometimes unlikely ways that Bob’s image, voice, and catchphrases have become a part of the pop culture landscape.
Monday, June 12 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV
Gay and Lesbian
Latinos Unidos
(GLLU) was founded in 1981, only a dozen years after the Stonewall rebellion and only a couple of years before the HIV/AIDS pandemic began to ravage LGBTQ communities. GLLU was the greater Los Angeles area’s first major Queer Latino organization, and the film chronicles events surrounding GLLU at a pivotal time in the history of LGBTQ equality, women’s rights, and civil rights movements that shaped the destinies of GLLU’s communities for decades to come.
Friday, June 16 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV
Sondra Radvanovsky portrays the mythic sorceress in this Met premiere of Cherubini’s rarely performed masterpiece. Joining her are tenor Matthew Polenzani as Medea’s husband, Giasone; soprano Janai Brugger as her rival for his love, Glauce; bass Michele Pertusi as her father, Creonte, the King of Corinth; and mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova as Medea’s confidante, Neris. Provided by PBS
Monday, June 19 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV
Join host Alejandra Ramos and judges Leah Cohen, Tiffany Derry, and Graham Elliot as a new group of talented home cooks showcase signature dishes, share heartfelt stories, and compete to win the national search for The Great American Recipe of season two.
Wednesday, June 21 at 10 p.m. on WXXI-TV
Through the lens of endometriosis, a disease that affects 1 in 9 women, Below the Belt shares the personal and inspiring stories of four patients urgently searching for answers to their mysterious symptoms.
Tuesday, June 27 at 8 p.m. on WXXI-TV
Visit the Catskills hideaway where, in the 1950s and 60s, an underground network of transgender women and cross-dressing men found refuge. American Experience offers a moving look inside a secret world where the persecuted found freedom and acceptance.
Photo: Gay and Lesbian Latinos Unidos (GLLU) marching contingent in the Christopher Street West Gay Pride Parade, West Hollywood, 1982. Photo courtesy Louis Jacinto
Photo: Bob Ross. Courtesy of Bob Ross, Inc.
Photo: Graham Elliot, Tiffany Derry, Leah Cohen, and Alejandra Ramos. Credit: Courtesy of PBS
Photo: Film poster. Credit: Courtesy of Jeannette Collins
Photo: Donna, New York City. Circa 1963. Courtesy of Collection of Elizabeth Wollheim
Monday, June 19 at 3 p.m. on WXXI Classical This radio special honors the memory of enslaved people, the pain of their condition, and the tragedy of racism today through a musical soundscape featuring Black composers. It also celebrates the lives and accomplishments of Black people in our country with the hope of greater freedom and a more united future. Author and musicologist Jeffry Yelverton hosts.
Weekdays at 6 p.m., June 1 on WXXI Classical Hosted by bassoonist Garrett McQueen, this series features exceptional compositions and exquisite performances, celebrating the Gateways Music Festival’s mission of connecting and supporting classical musicians of African descent.
Wednesday, June 21 at 3 p.m. on WXXI Classical Summer Solstice Celebration highlights composers and musicians that celebrate this time of year, inspiring you to join in celebrating the longest day of the year.
Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. on WXXI Classical Host Bill McGlaughlin delves into a wide assortment of topics in classical music. Each five-program series builds off a single theme ranging from composer biographies to explorations of various cultures, musical styles, and time periods.
Photo: Garrett McQueen. Credit: Nate Ryan/MPR
Sunday, June 11 at 9 p.m. on WXXI News/NPR
Hear remarkable stories of LGBT+ rights, told by the people who were there. You’ll meet the first openly gay political candidate in the US, revisit the first Pride March in the UK, and hear about the diaries of the woman commonly referred to as ‘the first modern Lesbian’.
Fridays from 9 p.m. to Midnight on WRUR-FM 88.5
Host Doug Curry highlights the full spectrum of blues music past and present, acoustic and electric, with a perspective that spotlights the history of the people, places, and even the politics behind the recordings. Doug connects the dots between the evolution of music and larger forces of Black culture from which the music is nurtured. He brings both a scholarly enthusiasm and a hip, confident swagger to each show, delivering the blues with a style all his own.
Sunday, June 18 at 9 p.m. on WXXI News/NPR
Join host Jesse Sparks for a celebratory summer edition of The Splendid Table’s newest “podbaby,” The One Recipe. Jesse talks to culinary superstars about their summer entertaining strategies. They’ll discuss the recipes that work for a crowd and explore cooking traditions and foods with influences from all over the world. They’ll leave you with ideas to jumpstart your own summer parties, whether you’re celebrating Juneteenth, graduation, Father’s Day or the Fourth of July.
Whether it’s television, radio, online, or on screen, WXXI is there with the programs, news, and information — where you want it and when you want it. If you value PBS, NPR, PBS Kids, WXXI News, WXXI Classical, and so much more, consider becoming a member.
240 East Ave thelittle.org
(dir. Wes Anderson)
Writer/director Wes Anderson (The French Dispatch, Moonrise Kingdom) is back with another visually stunning trip into his wonderfully weird imagination.
“Asteroid City” takes place in a fictional American desert town circa 1955. The itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.
Starring Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Steve Carrell, and many, many more.
Also playing in June: “It Ain’t Over” (Yogi Berra documentary), “You Hurt My Feelings” (A24 comedy starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus).
Series details + tickets at thelittle.org
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
7:30 p.m. Friday, June 2
Whimsical, evocative, beautiful, and disturbing in the best ways. Ben Whishaw plays a serial killer obsessed with capturing an elusive aroma.
Something New 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 10
A beguilingly heartfelt rom-com starring Sanaa Lathan and Simon
7:15 p.m. June 15 + 3 p.m. June 17
Tickets and details at thelittle.org
The film explores the elemental phenomenon of sound by weaving together 32 specific sound explorations into a cinematic meditation on the power of sound to bend time, cross borders, and profoundly shape our perception of the world around us.
The Dude abides, but don’t mess with the rug, man (it really ties the room together). This quotable Coen Brothers 1998 classic celebrates its 25th anniversary with a special Little screening. Wear your best bowling shoes.
Tickets and details at thelittle.org
Opens June 23 at The Little! Full trailer at thelittle.org
SATURDAY, JUNE 24
Innovative Field, milb.com/rochester
The Rochester Red Wings take the field today against the Omaha Storm Chasers in Rochester American Giants jerseys. The uniform switch is a tribute to the former Negro Leagues minor league team that called the Flower City home in the 1940s. This being Saturday night, fireworks will follow the game. The opening pitch gets tossed at 6:45 p.m. Tickets range from $13 to $25. DA
Pont de Rennes Bridge, Reconnectrochester.org/local-historybike-tours
Get to know stories of Smugtown Rochester’s past from the best vantage point, cruising along the streets and paths of this boomtown-gone-bust that has kept its grit, status anxiety, and creativity alive. It’s also a chance to see what the city has done for bike infrastructure, and what remains left to the imagination. This is a chilled, ced 8-mile tour from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. There is a $25 suggested donation. NE
SUNDAY, JUNE 25
Point of the Bluff Vineyards, concertsatpob.com
The deep-voiced country singer has scored five No. 1 singles, including “Your Man” (which has racked up more than 100 million video views) and “Would You Go With Me.” Alyssa Trahan, a native of East Rochester now living in Nashville, will open the show. Doors at 2 p.m., with music at 3:30 p.m. Tickets from $75. JC
MONDAY, JUNE 26
Bop Shop, bopshop.org
At a time of an embarrassment of riches for music lovers who embrace jazz and plenty of other genres, take note of these two low-key legends who are coming to town: percussionist Kahil Elzabar and saxophonist David Murray. The two have played music together for 40 years, including a dreamy and wide-ranging album in 1989, called “Golden Sea” featuring Afro-centric jazz incorporating thumb pianos, bass clarinet, and more. Their set at The Bop Shop starts at 8 p.m. and tickets to see this world traveling duo are $25 in advance, $30 day of show. MS
TUESDAY, JUNE 27
CMAC, cmacevents.com
Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith are still going strong together in Tears for Fears, which scored hits such as “Head Over Heels,” “Shout,” and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” all from 1985’s “Songs from the Big Chair.” In 2022, the British duo released a new album titled “The Tipping Point,” its first in 17 years. Cold War Kids, the alt-rock band from Long Beach, California, will open the show. Doors at 6 p.m., and tickets start at $39.50. JC
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28
The MuCCC, muccc.org
This annual celebration of movement features a series of new contemporary performances by a variety of established and emerging choreographers and companies on the stage. Through July 1, the center will present two programs,
alternating every other night, that are inclusive of many contemporary dance styles, featuring new works by participating choreographers. This year’s lineup includes Dances at MuCCC originators Laurie MacFarlane and Ruben Ornelas, as well as Rochester favorites Katherine Marino, Ethan Beckwith-Cohen, Caitlin Mahon, Joshua Lang, Anne Harris Wilcox, and many others. All performances take place at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12 ($15 at the door), $10 for students and seniors, and free for ages 10 and younger. RR
THURSDAY, JUNE 29
Rochester International Jazz Festival, rochesterjazz.com
One of the standout experiences of last year’s Rochester International Jazz Festival was hearing Ms. Lisa Fischer insert jazz standards into a song by the Rolling Stones and then, a 16th century operatic lament - making them all her own, with a voice and presence that were impossible to deny. For many years, Fischer was the backup singer and duet partner for all manner of famous rock and pop singers, then gained more individual recognition after being featured in the documentary, “Twenty Feet from Stardom.” She takes center stage again at the Temple Theater at 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. Admission is $30 or included with the RIJF Club Pass. MS
FRIDAY, JUNE 30
FILM
Dryden Theatre, eastman.org
“A kiss on the hand, may be quite continental...but diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” While those immortal lines by Leo Robin, with music by Jule Styne, were sung first by Carol Channing on Broadway, it’s Marilyn Monroe who delivered the immortal onscreen performance in the 1953 film, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” directed by Howard Hawks. See her, along with Jane Russell as her fellow showgirl, in this confection of a movie-musical on a 35mm print at 7:30 p.m. at the George Eastman Museum’s Dryden Theatre. MS
Known until recently as the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo’s major art museum was founded in 1862. Today, it’s the sixth oldest public art institution in the United States and on the cutting edge of contemporary museum culture.
Poised to reopen on June 12 after a four-year, $230 million expansion and renovation, the freshly dubbed Buffalo AKG Art Museum now houses more than 50,000 square feet of state-of-the-art exhibition space, five classroom studios, a public gathering space with a major sculptural commission, underground parking, and more than half an acre of public green space at its 1285 Elmwood Ave. campus.
All that extra room means the ability to pull more work out from the vaults. AKG Director Janne Sirén said in years past, the museum was able to show roughly 130 works from the collection at any given time.
“Now, our visitors will be able to see more than 400 works,” he said. Everything about the museum’s new design serves a central concern for museums and galleries as they shift fully into the 21st century: inclusion. And at 161 years old, Buffalo AKG is poised to grow with future generations.
A key word for the museum’s new identity is “porous.” Major characteristics of the new building and renovations promote visual communication between the museum’s interior and the outside world.
“Effectively, it’s a way of pulling down that barrier that separates the museum from what lies beyond the museum,” Sirén said.
Designed by Shohei Shigematsu of the New York firm Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and New York firm Cooper Robertson, the new Jeffrey E. Gundlach Building is a glittering, glass-walled tower wrapped around a central exhibition space to keep the art safe from sunlight exposure.
Visitors and some indoor sculptures inside the structure–as well as the serpentine glass skyway–will be visible from street level.
“Art museums have historically been somewhat inaccessible—castles on a hill,” Sirén said. “They’ve protruded this sense of inaccessibility, perhaps even elitism. The challenge we gave to our architect was a building that communicates with its public.”
An entire wing of the museum will be free to visitors year-round. Museum leadership hopes the renovated Seymour H. Knox Building— especially its new Town Square space— will be used by the public as a place to rest, eat lunch and socialize.
Major structural changes to the Town Square’s ceiling, floors and walls were required to convert the 6,000-square-foot center from an outdoor courtyard and sculpture garden into a weather-tight room that supports the Knox building’s anchor artwork.
The work, “Common Sky,” is a several-ton, site-specific sculpture designed by renowned Icelandic-Danish installation artist Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann of Studio Other Spaces, and it’s in line with the AKG’s new transparent aesthetic. Heavy as it is,
the work seems to float above the square where performances, readings, and other events will be presented.
Overhead, dozens of mirrored and clear glass triangles reflect activity and funnel into a hollow glass column that reaches the floor and brings the sky down “into” the space.
“It allows us to be close to the elements even though the space is enclosed,” Sirén said.
The Town Square is flanked by the cafe, Cornelia—named for Cornelia Bentley Sage Quinton, the museum’s second director and the first woman director of a major art museum in the United States—and the Creative Commons, an accessible, multigenerational learning space that’s the result of the first-ever philanthropic partnership between the LEGO Foundation and a fine art museum.
“That’s a space where children of all ages, whether they are one or 90, can engage and learn through the act of play,” Sirén said.
In recent years, the AKG has more aggressively collected works by Black, Latino and Indigenous artists, including Niagara Falls-based artist Jay Carrier (Onondaga/Tuscarora).
Carrier’s painting “The Hand of the
Devil Was Warm in the Night” came to AKG’s collection in 2022. It’s a mixed media work of an Indigenous man with headdress regalia. He’s proud it’s part of a major contemporary collection today.
“Inroads are being made,” Carrier said, regarding museum representation of Indigenous fine artists. “But it comes in waves.”
The museum will also debut a sitespecific artwork commissioned from Dominican artist Firelei Báez: a 30-footlong mosaic based on an Afrofuturist myth about women cast overboard in the Middle Passage thriving underwater, titled “Chorus of the Deep (something ephemeral and beautifully whole, when seen from the edge of one’s vision, too full when taken head on).”
Engaging audiences is a Sisyphean task, but one that the Buffalo AKG is up for, Sirén said.
“There’s something in the DNA of the museum—being on the cutting edge, being revolutionary for the sake of being revolutionary—I think it’s been easier for us to pivot our collecting power,”Sirén said. “It hasn’t been a challenge for us to be courageous once again.”
An extended version of this article is available at roccitymag.com.
A whirlwind spin around the ample arts scenes of our Great Lakes sister city.
BY REBECCA RAFFERTY | PHOTOS BY JACOB WALSH
The newly renovated AKG Art Museum may be Buffalo’s star attraction this summer, but you could fill weeks exploring the rest of the city’s arts and cultural offerings. Here are some handy highlights just a short drive from the museum’s grounds.
Grab an avocado toast and cold brew at Tipico Coffee & Cafe (1084 Elmwood Ave.) before heading to the Burchfield Penney Art Center (1300 Elmwood Ave.), which is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The center holds the largest public collection of art by painter Charles E. Burchfield as well as the work of 800 other artists connected to Buffalo and Western New York. It regularly launches exhibitions of contemporary art, often with an emphasis on craft. When you visit, look for “Camp Everything,” a Pride- and nostalgia-themed multimedia artwork designed by Adam Weekley and spearheaded by the Burchfield Penney Art Center, in collaboration with Torn Space Theater Company.
Torn Space (612 Fillmore Ave.) itself is worth checking out. The company is known for its avant-garde performances that take audiences out of the theater and make creative use of environments in and around Buffalo — performances are staged annually outdoors with the industrial backdrop of the riverside Silo City (85 Silo City Row). While you’re down by the river, don’t miss the chance to snap a selfie with Buffalo’s iconic Shark Girl sculpture by Casey Riordan, one of the first — and arguably the most popular — public art initiatives for the AKG.
On the edge of Elmwood Village is Buffalo Institute of Contemporary Art (BICA) at 30D Essex Street, home to exhibitions, installations, and performances, and a supporter of BIPOC and emerging artists. BICA is also the publisher of regional visual arts review magazine Cornelia (corneliamagazine.com).
Across the Frederick Law Olmstead-designed Delaware Park from AKG is the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Darwin D. Martin House (125 Jewett Pkwy). You don’t have to be an architecture nerd to appreciate this detailrich wonder, which was built between 1903 and 1905 and includes the main residence, secondary house, gardener’s cottage and conservatory, all in Lloyd’s celebrated Prairie-style design.
Once you’re done dreaming of moving in, check out nearby Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center at 2495 Main St., where you can take in exhibitions, screenings, classes, and more. Then head up to Hertel Ave. to check out a host of independently owned culture hotspots, including Gutter Pop Comics and Revolver Records (which has a second location in Elmwood Village).
Pop into the Hertel location of Buffalo-based lloyd Taco Factory for imaginative takes on tacos and other street fare, and a bar stocked with zero-proof spirits in addition to normal booze.
Between Elmwood Village and Allentown, stop to read up on this, that, and the current revolution at indie bookstore Burning Books (420 Connecticut St.), and grab a hoagie and a Genny beer at Remedy House (429 Rhode Island St.). In Allentown proper, check in with Native-owned K Art Gallery (808 Main St.), which promotes contemporary Indigenous artists, and cap off the day with a show at Nietzsche’s (248 Allen St.) — whether it’s a band, burlesque, comedy, or open mic, you’re sure to be entertained.
The true beauty of public art is accessibility. There’s no admission fee, it’s outdoors, and it can be enjoyed by anyone, at any time. While Rochester has so much of its own public art, our neighbors to the west in Buffalo also offer a plethora of colorful, thought-provoking, imaginative murals to explore during a day trip to the Queen City.
So don’t let the ‘Keep Buffalo a Secret’ mural on Main Street fool you–they want you to know about all they have to offer. Here are just a few walls and areas to explore:
Greetings from Buffalo, 461 Ellicott Street – You can’t say you were in Buffalo without a photo in front of a mural that says ‘Buffalo,’ right? This playful postcard themed mural by local artist Casey Milbrand has become a destination for tourists and a quintessential stop to prove you were actually there.
Wildflowers for Buffalo
465 Washington Street – The 80’ x 160’ wall by Detroit-based Louise Jones is one of the largest murals in Western New York, and at the time was the largest of her career. The floral patterns that overlook the adjacent parking lot were based on research by Jones and conversations with horticulturists. Through the process, she identified a number of plants native to the region to incorporate in the mural.
Hertel Avenue Walls
Hertel Avenue – A public art project that started in 2017, dedicated to showcasing art along Hertel Avenue.
“The Magic Buffalo” by Bunnie Reiss at 1322 kicked off the project, with several more walls joining since, including the “Buffalo Map,” a mural inspired by the Goo Goo Dolls; and a mural by São
Paulo-based artist Kobra depicting one of the region’s most famous residents, Mark Twain, and his friendship with John T. Lewis.
Hertel Alley – Running parallel to Hertel Avenue for three blocks between Traymore and Colvin are more
than 20 murals created as part of The Hertel Alley Street Art Festival, which launched in 2019. The public art festival expanded the Hertel Walls project and activated the alleyway as a fun space for people to visit. The festival returns this year from June 10-11 with new murals to be installed.
Cobblestone Commons - Over the course of three summers (2020–2022), 12 artists painted 12 individual murals in a range of styles, colors, and themes on the South Park Avenue façade of the DL&W Terminal located in the historic downtown district. The project includes work from Rochester’s own Bradd Young, AKA SALUT.
Freedom Wall, Michigan Avenue and East Ferry Street – At this intersection, which serves as the northern entrance into the Michigan
Street African American Heritage Corridor, you’ll find the portraits of 28 local and national Civil Rights leaders painted by local artists John Baker, Julia Bottoms, Chuck Tingley, and Edreys Wajed.
Walking around the showroom in Buffalo’s CooCooU27 is like stepping into an edgy mid-century loft.
Adorned with industrial neon signs and colorful tufted rugs, the front of the shop is staged rooms. As you venture to the back, the space gets more punk rock, with stacks of bent lamination furniture from the 1960s and rows of wire Bertoia chairs lifted high on scaffolds.
It’s part of the art of the space. While the antique store’s entire collection is objectively rare, owner Michael Merisola isn’t especially precious about it.
History Mural (44 Allen Street) from Buffalo-based artists Mickey Harmon and Ari Moore, which recognizes LGBTQ+ activists through portraits of key local and national figures.
“I’ve been collecting for 40 years, so I end up with a lot,” he said. “You can never sell as much as you buy. The very rare things get photographed and put away.”
His modernist design haven is located at 111 Tonawanda Street, in the city’s Black Rock neighborhood. The 12,000-square-foot space holds thousands of objects, ranging from cult classics like tulip-shaped dining tables to brightly colored kinetic sculptures.
In fact, Merisola’s keen eye has earned him a reputation as one of the best vintage dealers in the country. His furniture has been featured in films like Guillermo Del Toro’s “The Shape of Water,” which won an Oscar for set design. It’s also a favorite of local hot spots.
Today, he sets a high bar for what he brings in.
“There are things you find that you know you’re not going to ever see again,” Merisola said. “I look for unusual, quality, and rare. It’s got to check all those boxes.”
The store’s 1stDibs page reads like a Museum of Modern Art catalog, featuring everything from early Noguchi paper table lamps to first-generation Eames lounge chairs.
Metamorphosis #5, 1665 Main Street – A mural you can’t miss, quite literally, as the vibrant colors and upward arrow patterns are visible for blocks as you approach down Main Street. When completed in 2019, this was the largest mural of Tavar Zawacki’s career and became the largest in Western New York.
(Josh) Allentown – Alongside restaurants, art galleries, music venues, and you’ll find some great public art in the Allentown neighborhood, including Voyage from Chuck Tingley (224 Allen Street); the recently completed Beau Stanton mural (569 Delaware Ave.); and the Stonewall Nation: WNY LGBT
Love Black, 712 Main Street –Completed in 2020 by Edreys Wajed and James “Yames” Moffitt, the words “Love Black girls even when they become women; Love Black boys even when they become men” are etched in the silhouette outlines of a Black girl and boy facing each, serving as an important reminder that loving and respecting the rights of individuals must transcend age and race. The piece continues to be timely in conversations around racial justice.
For more info, or to build your own list of murals to see, visit stepoutbuffalo.com, buffaloakg.org and hertelwalls.com.
Peggy Wong is owner of the nearby restaurant Dapper Goose, and many pieces at her business are from Coocoou27 – she said Merisola has good style.
“He takes care of his pieces, and hardly any of them need refinishing,” she said. “It’s a little quirky, but there’s always something really clean and stylish there.”
Getting his start well before the age of the internet, Merisola gave himself a crash course in design at the library. In his twenties, he and his wife furnished their home with mid-century furniture from thrift stores, which was “cheap and cool” at the time.
During a weekend trip to Manhattan, he sold everything to a gallery worker who was impressed by his taste. He opened CooCooU27 shortly after, in 1987, and the business has grown since.
That includes an entire vintage convertible—Merisola’s own. In this treasure trove of beautiful interiors, the basement is the most raw and avant garde, but the space as a whole is a paradise for those who want to experience high-end furnishings up close. Merisola takes pride in leaving the bumps and scratches, what he calls the “old patina,” untouched to show the history and character of each item.
“I tell people – if you want new stuff, you can either refinish it or buy something new,” he said.
Merisola is also dedicated to preserving the past. In a city that’s home to both Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House and a world-class art gallery, CooCooU27 plays an essential role in Buffalo’s design community. It’s a place people can come to admire great art–and even take some home.
“It’s not just furniture,” said Wong. “He has a spectrum of things that all involve lifestyle. The feel that he creates, he captures it really well.”
To shop virtually, visit 1stdibs.com/ dealers/coocoou27.
A peek inside the mid-century warehouse you never knew existed.PHOTO PROVIDED
It is not a stretch to imagine that most people taking in a view of High Falls don’t know the geological scope of what they’re looking at. They see a waterfall.
What they’re really looking at, though, is water rushing over the foothills of a vast cliff that stretches in a northwest arc for about 1,000 miles through Ontario to Wisconsin, jutting to great heights at times and diving into a couple of Great Lakes along the way.
In Ontario, they call it “The Mountain.” In Wisconsin, they call it “The Ledge.” But the proper name of this ecological wonder is the Niagara Escarpment, so-christened for its most notable feature — Niagara Falls.
The escarpment is virtually indistinguishable from the landscape of western New York, but its unmistakable ascent over the border has taken on mythical proportions in Ontario, where more than a million people a year explore it in the form of day hikes on the celebrated Bruce Trail.
The Bruce Trail is the granddaddy
of Canadian walking paths, tracing the entire length of the escarpment 450 miles across Ontario, from parkland just north of Niagara Falls to the wild azure waters of the Bruce Peninsula at Georgian Bay.
The path has been called “a ribbon of wilderness,” and nowhere is that description perhaps more apt than in the Niagara region, where the trail is as likely to meander through serene forests and cascading waterfalls as it is busy hubs of industry, meticulously manicured suburban backyards, and bucolic vineyards.
The Niagara Bruce Trail Club, which maintains that section of the trail, hosts weekly and free guided hikes ranging from 90 minutes to five hours on the trail and on its miles of side trails, including moonlight walks in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
For more ambitious hikers, the club offers “Trail Angels,” who could be described as saints sent to Earth by the hiking gods.
Here’s how they work: a hiker looking to walk from Point A to Point B drives their vehicle to Point
B and parks. From there, a Trail Angel is waiting to transport them in another vehicle to Point A, where the hiker can begin the trek on foot. The service is free, but donations to the club are accepted.
One of the more intriguing aspects of the guided hikes, for Americans, is hearing the historical perspectives of the Canadian chaperones. It’s like browsing the Library of Congress in a Bizarro World.
In Canada, the Connecticutborn John Butler, whose British Loyalist Butler’s Rangers slaughtered American patriots across New York and Pennsylvania during the
Revolutionary War, is a folk hero. And each June, the club offers a paid hike that follows the footsteps of Laura Secord, often called “Canada’s Paul Revere,” who walked 20 miles along the escarpment to warn British soldiers, “The Americans are coming! The Americans are coming!” during the War of 1812.
The hike ends at the remnants of the historic DeCew House, where the real Secord delivered her message, and where today a historical interpreter in costume playing her serves visiting hikers lunch. She saves the country and then waits on people. Does it get any more Canadian?
Margaret Northfield, who leads historical hikes for the club, said the annual Secord hike draws as many as 200 people from across Canada and the United States.
“I tell people on the bus, ‘You know, Laura did it in a long skirt, so don’t complain about your clothing,” Northfield said. “She didn’t have hiking boots or poles, either.”
Register for a hike at niagarabrucetrail.club.
A ribbon of wilderness, wine, and history is just a walk away.
Acold glass of wine–a Finger Lakes Riesling, perhaps?--is a hallmark of summer in our region, and the opportunity to learn about what’s in your glass from an industry professional can make it all the more enjoyable.
In 2022, Maiah Johnson-Dunn became the beverage programming manager for New York Kitchen in Canandaigua, a nonprofit center focusing on New York agriculture, food, and craft beverage education, with a goal to grow the beverage class offerings. Since her arrival, the program has seen exciting expansions as she’s built on a foundation of existing programming–inheriting an array of already-popular classes–to offer a variety that appeals to guests of all kinds. The growing, impressive roster of instructors includes sommelier Thera Clarke, who took over as resident sommelier at Hermann J. Wiemer after an impressive career in New York City fine dining; Dr. Bruce Smoller, a professional wine educator; Heather McKechney, a chemistry professor; Sandy Waters, a 20-year veteran of the wine sales industry; Dunn herself, a wine writer with bylines in both local and national publications.
“I want there to be something for everyone,” said Dunn, “and I want this classroom to be popping all day, every day of the week.”
Class offerings range in topic and angle, allowing guests to taste and learn about beverages through different lenses. More traditional wine tasting classes such as “Flight School” offer an opportunity to taste wines from around the world paired with cheeses, while the “Science and the Grape” series takes a niche approach to learning about wine through the science and chemistry of individual grape varietals.
For history lovers, “Lit History” classes explore the history behind beer, wine, and spirits such as Bourbon, and for those who want to learn about wine but might not know where to start, Dunn teaches a class called “Wine for Normals,” loosely based on the popular podcast “Wine for Normal People” in which sommeliers break down wine concepts for the every day wine-lover, bucking the antiquated notion that wine has to be pretentious or snobby.
In addition to the standard class programming, Dunn is also focusing on the offerings of certification courses for wine trade professionals, consistently offering certifications
for levels 1–3 through the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET), and just this spring began to offer certifications in Italian wine through the International Wine Scholar organization.
Moving forward, Dunn says guests can expect an ever-diversifying list of wine classes as well as expansions into beer, and cocktail-related programming. While NYK doesn’t have full-time resident instructors with a beer or cocktail focus on the roster right now, Dunn said her connections with professionals in the Finger Lakes and Rochester have helped her to start offering these types of classes.
“I have partners in the region –we’ve been able to do cocktail classes with Black Button Distillery, and we’ve done a zero-proof cocktail class with AltBar out of Rochester,” she said.
“For beer, I have Brewery Ardennes from Geneva coming in July. For those classes, I’m really leaning on the community to make it happen.”
Aside from the beverage class offerings, New York Kitchen offers an array of cooking classes, from handmade pasta and to sushi making, to cooking camps for kids. There’s also an onsite tasting room featuring New York State wine and beer. nykitchen.com.
Lincoln Hill Farms, the bucolic event and concert space situated on more than 95 acres of Canandaigua farmland, wasn’t always the popular summer show spot it is now.
Things began modestly in 2018, when the venue hosted its first show on a rental stage and served as the location for a few weddings. By the following year, Lincoln Hill had firmly established itself as a regional go-to for Americana and jam band-friendly music with hippie vibes. Lincoln Hill’s concert booker, Jon Willis, had scheduled more than 100 musical acts to play during the 2020 summer season.
While COVID stalled Lincoln Hill Farms’s swiftly rising star, it couldn’t shoot it out of the sky. More than 60 different artists will play the outdoor stage this summer, and the concerts have shifted to include additional popular touring artists like the saxophone-centric dance band Moon Hooch on June 11 and singer-songwriter Shakey Graves on August 9 as well as high-profile ’90s throwback acts Toad the Wet Sprocket, The Wallflowers, and Guster (June 22, August 4, and August 8 respectively).
“Nostalgia sells,” Willis said. “We’re at a time in our lives right now (where) we want to embrace our past and things we enjoyed musically, and try to relive it to see if it’s still as good as it was back then.”
There are other changes to Lincoln Hill’s 2023 concert series as well. Regional concert promotion company DSP Shows has come on board to present several of the national shows in conjunction with Willis and the venue. These upcoming performances include singer-songwriter Joan Osborne on June 2 with her homage to Jerry Garcia and indie rock band Deer Tick on June 8, followed by the rock scions in The Allman Betts Band on July 7 and bluegrass legend Del McCoury and his band on July 15. Roots reggae artist Matisyahu returns on August 12.
Lincoln Hill Farms will also host the Finger Lakes Celtic Games & Festival on May 20, a free Father’s Day event on June 18, a Fourth of July celebration featuring an extensive fireworks display, and its annual BrewFest on August 5 featuring headlining musician Keller Williams
playing Grateful Dead covers with the modern bluegrass band The Hillbenders
Sunday Fun Days, the venue’s free, familyfriendly series, will continue to spotlight local bands, although the weekend concerts will be scaled down from weekly events throughout the summer to just four Sundays in July.
“We want to make sure that all financial walks of life can get some enjoyment out of what we have,” Willis said. “We want everybody to get to feel the vibe of the farm and how great it is, and just enjoy a nice day.”
Folk musician Ben Haravitch, AKA Benny Bleu, is set to play with his band The Brothers Blue on July 2. He recalls playing Lincoln Farms with guitarist Max Flansburg for the “Long Hard Year” album release show in 2021, and fishing for bass with Flansburg in the pond just behind the Silo Bar before the concert. He says Lincoln Hill’s surroundings set it apart from other venues, and noted the venue’s versatility in accommodating both prominent touring artists and local musicians with a large following.
“You’re on a farm that has a lot of trees around it, there’s a pond,” Haravitch said. “You really do feel removed from suburbia, and you’re in a very cool atmosphere.”
Lincoln Hill Farms is dog-friendly, though leashes are required, and multiple food and beverage options (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) are available for purchase on site. Parking is $10 (cash only) per car for all events, with the exception of free parking on Father’s Day, Sunday Fun Days, and HalloweenFest. Carpool parking with four or more people is free except on July 4.
Now in its sixth year as a summer concert venue, Lincoln Hill looks to expand to bigger shows while keeping its family-friendly vibes.PHOTO PROVIDED
When the summer sun warms the water, anchored boats line the docks, and the world seems to come alive along Canandaigua Lake’s sandy shoreline, there’s no better time to dip your toes in — quite literally — a new sport.
Canandaigua Sailboard, a water sports rental shop perched on the northern edge of Canandaigua Lake at 11 Lakeshore Dr., offers a variety of rentals – stand-up paddle boards, kayaks, tandem kayaks, pedal kayaks — and sells boards, attire, life jackets, sunscreen and other accessories.
With peak summer fast approaching, the staff at Canandaigua Sailboard is eager to get as many folks hooked on water sports as they possibly can.
“We have an amazing beginnerfriendly area — we’re not sending you out into an ocean,” said Jenny Timineri, who is the director of stores for the Neon Wave Family of Brands, which acquired Canandaigua Sailboard in 2020.
“You can go all around the north end of the lake, and you’ll never have boat traffic because this is all no-wake zone. You’ll never be way too deep where you’re struggling, you’ll never have weird currents,” she said. “You could go out for four hours and not be too deep to touch, and still have fun.”
The experience is customizable in terms of equipment, guidance, duration and cost. Kayak and stand-up paddle board rentals start at $25 for the first hour and $10 every hour after that, but half-day ($45) and full-day ($65) rentals are offered at a discount. Life jackets, launching and a brief inhouse tutorial are all included.
The staff tries to meet people where they’re at when they come in to try out kayaking or paddle boarding, said General Manager Alyssa Mahagan,
who joined the company in early 2020. She gets the hesitation people feel at first: three years ago, activities like wake surfing and snowboarding were sports she never envisioned herself enjoying. But through her job, she’s had an opportunity to get out on the water and discover that it’s something she really does love.
“It’s just wild seeing that I really sat in my interview and I was like, ‘I would love to work here,’ but I also was just very open that I didn’t think it was ever going to be something that I was going to do or be good at,” Mahagan said.
“And now that’s the highlight of my summer. I got to learn something new.”
The offerings go beyond day rentals: there’s night-time illuminated SUP rides on Thursdays and Saturdays; weekly equipment rentals for people who want to keep a kayak at their Airbnb; private parties for groups or bridal events; and a summer wake surfing camp for kids aged 6-15.
They’ve even helped someone plan a paddle board-themed proposal on the lakeshore — not technically a service they offer, but they’re always down to help, Timineri said.
Getting to share exceptional
outdoor experiences with people — whether it’s first-timers, out-of-towners or seasoned experts — is the best part for this team.
““We are all very much genuine members of the communities that we’re building — whether we have done it since we were three, or we started three years ago. It doesn’t really matter,” Timineri said. “We still find the passion and the drive to do it, and then you find this insane desire to want people to come and do this. You want to share that with people so badly.”
It’s 5:30 p.m. on a Saturday and the street hums with energy. String lights glow overhead as a band warms up for their set on the brick-paved road. People steal hugs from friends who have just arrived. Others glance around curiously, sipping glasses of chilly rosé from the patios of surrounding businesses. Soon, a crowd will pack the narrow block, eagerly listening on as the bass starts to thump.
This is Geneva’s Linden Street, a cultural hub. Located at the top of Seneca Lake, it serves as the gateway to the Finger Lakes. And for those exploring the region’s countless wineries, breweries, and distilleries, it’s one of the largest towns (or perhaps, small cities) before hitting Watkins Glen in the south or Ithaca to the east.
The Ontario County town experienced a renaissance over the last
decade as a small group of devoted preservationists came together to develop Geneva’s charming road once known to locals as the alleyway you drive down to drop off mail (the post office is adjacent).
Now, for anyone who’s planning a weekend away or escaping Rochester or Syracuse for the day, Linden Street is a good starting point. The most exciting eateries and bars, arguably, cluster on a single block.
James Emery Elkin is one of the street’s early business owners – he opened wine bar Microclimate and cocktail bar The Linden Social Club in 2012.
“So many winemakers have been drawn here,” he said. “Because of that industry, the people who come here are young and motivated. They have upstart mentalities, and they come from all over.”
Christoper Bates, owner of F.L.X. Table, a communal dining experience
that has been featured in “Travel + Leisure” and “The New York Times,” said the establishments in the region reflect that upstart ethos.
“We’ve moved away from being a bachelorette party destination to having more clout in the wine world,” he said. “Those things lead to a more elevated dining experience beyond just small-town stuff.”
for Bates’ wine label Element, and they offer bottles from small producers that are rarely shipped outside of the area. Instead of the ice wines and sweet rieslings the Finger Lakes are known for, he favors drier, more elegant wines. The shelves at F.L.X Provisions are lined with local beer, cider, and NA options as well.
Next door is Finger Lakes Goods, which exudes coziness and stocks local grocery items like Syracuse Salt and Arbor Hill sauces. Tip: their artisanal popcorn and freshly baked cookies make good driving snacks. At night, sister store Vinifera turns into a candlelit, basement speakeasy. It’s another one that serves exclusive wines from the likes of Weis, Boundary Breaks, and Dr. Konstantin Frank. (Catching a theme here?)
When Bates and his wife, Isabel Bogadtke, decided to open a second place after their popular hot dog concept F.L.X. Wienery in Dundee, the Linden Street block’s other vibrant business drew them to the area. At the time, there was an oyster bar-turned-gastropub, Elkin’s wine bar, and the dreamy venue and gallery space Left Bank.
Today, Bates has three restaurants on Linden Street: F.L.X. Table, casual fried chicken spot F.L.X. Fry Bird, and gourmet pantry and wine bar F.L.X. Provisions.
“Our goal is to represent the best of our region,” he said. For those pulling into town around lunch, it’s fun to start with a hearty Cubano sandwich from Provisions, chat with the friendly staff—their recommendations are always top-notch—and grab a jar of the housemade brown butter caramel sauce to bring home.
The space is also a tasting room
The Rusty Pig opens around 4 p.m. for either a late lunch or early dinner, depending on the day’s lineup. While indulgent, their pulled pork sandwich and bourbon sriracha glazed wings are the perfect fuel for exploring the block’s stunning murals or hanging around until live music begins at 6:30 p.m.
The Live From Linden series is a fixture in the summer Geneva scene. For the past eight years, it has featured 40 free live music nights (weatherpending) on Fridays and Saturdays starting in May. Linden Street resident and community booster David Linger founded the series.
“We are a group of people on Linden Street with the common goal of making Linden a better place and more conducive to enjoying themselves,” Linger said. “I guess two of my true passions are music and Geneva, and I put them together.”
With his partner, Geneva native Wendy Marsh, Linger was also responsible for revitalizing the
Guard Building and turning the area into a cultural destination. The duo and other business owners in the area conceived of closing off the street and transforming it into a pedestrian paradise during the biweekly block party, similar to something found in Europe.
After the live music stops, bars and restaurants keep their outdoor seating set up until closing – and an ideal place to close out the night with dinner or snacks and a drink is Microclimate. In the wake of the pandemic, Elkin decided to shutter his wine bar after nearly a decade in business, but it experienced a rebirth thanks to Ellie Dolan and Anthony Do, who took it over in 2022.
“The perfect people came along and resurrected it,” said Elkin.
The curated menu includes drinking-friendly small plates with Asian-inspired flavors. Do, an alum of F.L.X. Table and a Culinary Institute of America grad, pushes the envelope in the space’s pint-sized kitchen, creating magic with only an electric oven and a rice cooker.
“People are a little bit shocked by what we’re able to pull off out of our kitchen,” said Dolan.
One such dish is glazed salmon collars and charred Chinese broccoli with bonito flakes, which two people could easily share. Recently, they added whole roasted fish to the menu to satisfy pedestrians in search of “real food,” said Dolan.
Only time will tell how this next generation of business owners will further shape Linden Street—and Geneva.
“It’s great to see more and more people come with energy and bring new things to the region,” said Bates. “We’re really starting to enter a new era that makes this a cool destination for people.”
In a lot of ways, Geneva is the most ideally located destination in the Finger Lakes: roughly halfway between Rochester and Syracuse, at the northmost point of Seneca Lake, and conveniently positioned near the thruway. It’s a small city that boasts an intriguing food and beverage scene featuring farm-to-table restaurants like FLX Table and breweries such as Twisted Rail, Climbing Bines, and Big aLICe Brewing.
Geneva is also home to The Smith Center for the Arts, the historical, beloved venue more commonly known as the Smith Opera House. Built in 1894, the Smith served as a moviehouse for most of its existence until an ambitious renovation project completed in 2001 returned the building to its 1930s art deco grandeur.
The Smith has hosted a plethora of top-flight musicians over the years, from rock legends Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Ray Vaughan to the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and jazz great Pat Metheny.
The Smith’s executive director Susan Monagan — who previously worked as a theater arts management professor at Ithaca College and was a board member at the State Theatre in Ithaca — said hosting a wide range of inclusive performances is a top priority.
“We are looking at ‘How do we make this a community space? How do we bring as many different kinds of people through the doors as possible?’” said Monagan. “‘How do we get grants to help make that happen so that we’re subsidizing ticket prices?’”
Currently, The Smith Center for the Arts hosts a variety of concerts, dance performances, children’s programming, and community events for celebrations like FLX Pride and Hispanic Heritage Month. The Smith Center for the Arts also has partnerships with the Geneva Music Festival and the National Women’s Hall of Fame, which will host its 2023 Induction Ceremony at the venue on September 30.
Events at The Smith are privately hosted through rental, presented directly by the venue, or
put on by concert promoters and organizations with whom the venue has longstanding relationships.
Recent shows featuring 1950s vocal group The Platters and classic rock band Hot Tuna were presented by The Smith itself, while concerts like the July 14 concert featuring folk music icon Judy Collins are put on by the regional concert promotion company DSP Shows, which is based in Ithaca.
DSP Shows President Dan Smalls said it’s a beautiful room.
“And in summer, it’s kind of like the
northern version of Ithaca on the next lake over,” he added.
Over the years, DSP Shows has brought artists such as country singer-songwriter Lyle Lovett, indie rock bands Modest Mouse and The Decemberists, folk rock legend Stephen Stills, and blues guitarist Robert Cray to The Smith.
Smalls has worked with Monagan since 2008, when they helped to create State Theatre of Ithaca, Inc., a nonprofit organization started to keep the city’s historical State Theatre in business. Monagan then became one of the nonprofit’s first board members.
Although DSP Shows had presented concerts at The Smith Center for the Arts prior to Monagan’s tenure as executive director, Smalls said their past work together led to greater collaboration between the two organizations.
Smalls said. The Smith’s nonprofit status and focus on community enrichment balances well with DSP Shows’ concert offerings.
“It’s a really good partnership in that way — they have a wonderful kids program, and some wonderful classics, and we can round that out with the contemporary comedy and music that we’re known for doing in the region.”
At 125 years old, The Smith Center for the Arts is a go-to destination in the Finger Lakes.
In the heart of Geneva’s downtown district is a grand brick building designed by Rochester architect Andrew Jackson Warner. At street level, elegant corner windows are papered with community class listings. Just inside the door is an art gallery, filled with vibrant hanging works. This is The Dove Block Project, part of The Dove Block commissioned by Geneva contractor and businessman William G. Dove in 1878. Though the building has seen many iterations, from 1930-38 the third floor was most famously the studio and residence of revered modernist artist Arthur Dove (William’s eldest son). In 2006, Elizabeth Wenman and associates rescued the property from demolition and today, thanks to renewed energy (including a recent $50,000 state grant for interior renovations), The Dove Block Project offers classes, events and exhibitions for the community and visitors to the Finger Lakes region. thedoveblockproject.org
BY LEAH STACY
Natural deodorant cream refills and applicators. French lentils by the pound and bulk incense. Olive oil, laundry detergent and liquid soap ready to siphon into reusable containers. Dozens more organic, sustainable products, all sans plastic, line the shelves and tables of Marilla’s Mindful Supplies, which opened in 2019. The small, sunny shop displays many of its wares out to sample or smell, and also stocks eco-friendly evergreen and low-waste products like bamboo brushes, cotton soap bags and beeswax wraps. Good news for Rochesterians: owner Marilla Gonzalez will open a shop on South Avenue this summer. marillas.com
It’s 4:29 p.m. on a Wednesday, somewhere in JFK Terminal 4. The woman a few seats over has removed her mask to hurriedly stuff crinkle cut fries in her mouth and swig down a chocolate milkshake. We’re boarding soon, so I unwrap my burger just enough to take the classic still-in-the-wrapper shot for Instagram, then dig in before we start lining up for the flight.
I’m guilty of the same Shake Shack order every time: the ShackBurger, which is a single Angus beef patty, American cheese (the only one that melts right), lettuce, tomato, and ShackSauce on a toasted potato bun. The only thing I add is pickles for a little crunch. If I’m feeling particularly reckless, I add on an order of cheese fries-those same crinkle cuts my neighbor was eating, but topped with gooey, pale orange sauce. Usually I’m headed home from JFK to Rochester after a quick trip to New York City, but this time it’s a layover on my way to another city. As I sit there chewing my glorified happy meal, I wonder how many burgers I’ve eaten in airports -and how many times it’s been Shake Shack.
I have this theory, you see, that it’s the quintessential travel meal. Specifically Shake Shack, specifically a burger. Maybe that’s nostalgia talking, years of holding up this tradition-or maybe there’s some science to it, kind of like how you’re more likely to cry on an airplane (the lower air pressure in the cabin reduces oxygen levels in the brain, which can heighten negative emotions.) My penchant for a travel burger could be science-related, too. High cortisol levels from stress increase cravings for sugary or fatty foods, and traveling can certainly be stressful sometimes. Nothing like a layover burger followed by a good cry while watching “Ticket to Paradise” with Julia Roberts and George Clooney (that may or may not be true).
When I found out that Shake Shack was finally opening in upstate New York, it made perfect sense that it would be at Thruway exits. Travel burgers-of course. It’s like I planned it myself. On a recent trip to Geneva to shoot photos for this issue of CITY, photographer Ryan Williamson and I stopped to test the travel burger theory (though he got a chicken sandwich, so he’s now fired). As I munched the burger (completely consistent with my airport ones, by the way) I wondered why I loved it so much. It’s not the best burger I’ve eaten (I have subcategories for that). This much food makes me feel sleepy and overly full. But as I sat on the freshly constructed gray patio at the Junius Ponds rest stop, it hit me. It’s not cortisol cravings or carb loading. It’s that Shake Shack burgers are adjacent to many of my most treasured memories: travels solo and partnered, to nearby and distant cities. It’s forever linked to adventure, exploration, inspiration-and that truly makes it my happy meal.
ANDY NAHAS, FOUNDER OF THE PROSPECT FUND AND MusicPower PRESENTS
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BY PATRICK HOSKEN
As a concert promoter, Dan Smalls lives for what happens onstage. But he also revels in the quiet moments behind the scenes.
“I can tell you a million fun stories of how my now-15 year old, who was then 6, was whacking ping-pong balls with Joe Kwon and Seth Avett backstage,” said Smalls, who runs DSP Shows in Ithaca.
Smalls has been bringing major musical acts to the northeast for more than a decade. His business puts on shows in venues stretching from Buffalo to central Massachusetts. Smack in the middle is an unlikely spot for concerts: Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards in LaFayette, 80 miles east of Rochester.
This year, when Avett and Kwon came through with their Americana group, The Avett Brothers, it was with a bit more fanfare. The group put on a sold-out two-night stand on May
19 and 20, kicking off Beak & Skiff’s superlative summer concert series.
The program has become a hub for independent and smaller-tier alternative and folk acts since launching in earnest in 2016; last summer’s lineup boasted national artists like Modest Mouse, Bright Eyes, Death Cab For Cutie and more.
The stars are also out for 2023. Folk-pop artist Noah Kahan, indie-rock group Fleet Foxes and bluegrass strummers Nickel Creek are just some of the marquee names set to hit the grounds through July.
Megan Corona, Beak & Skiff’s marketing manager, said the organization takes pride in shining a spotlight on beloved artists who don’t often make their way through Central New York, but have a dedicated fan base there
“We like the smaller, more independent bands that maybe have a bit of a niche following,” Corona said. “People are so happy to hear
they’re playing in LaFayette. We get people from Pennsylvania, from Massachusetts, Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Binghamton. Maybe it’s a niche band that isn’t playing at these huge venues, but when they come to Beak & Skiff, they sell out, and it really unites people.”
With a dozen diverse shows, 2022 was a banner year at Beak & Skiff, partly because many artists had simultaneously resumed touring after a pandemic-induced pause. 2023 boasts slightly fewer gigs (nine total), though three had already sold out by early May.
Smalls said he knows getting big-name indie acts to an apple orchard requires some education. Fans of punk band The Gaslight Anthem (May 27), for example, may not have ever been to a show in that kind of venue. Beak & Skiff — with its cider tasting room, general store and bakery mere steps from a 4,000-person capacity outdoor stage amid verdant hills — is a far cry from a dark nightclub or a basement show.
But once fans arrive, Smalls said the amenities speak for themselves. That extends to the vibe backstage for artists, too. The extra comforts give them a reason to consider trekking to a farm south of Syracuse instead of driving on to a larger city.
“We’re not the first-play markets,” Small said. “But my job is to make it incredibly easy for artists and managers and agents to choose to play our markets.”
Sometimes, they even bring their families along.
“When they come up for these twoday shows, it’s really relaxing and fun,” he continued. “My goal is that when bands show up, it feels like an off-day that they just get to play at a show at the end of.”
Beloved alt-rock band Death Cab For Cutie performed at Beak & Skiff
in July 2022. Dave Depper, who plays guitar and keyboards, said he found the experience restorative.
“Waking up on the bus in the morning is always a fun guessing game: Am I in the parking lot of a convention center? In an underground parking garage? On a downtown street? Beginning the day in the middle of a picturesque, rural apple orchard was definitely a first for me,” Depper said via email. “What a refreshing change of scenery!”
At a time when the live music industry remains imperiled on both sides of the barricade, convenience and self-care are more important than ever. Even the most loyal fans are being priced out of concerts by predatory ticketing practices, while artists often can’t afford to tour at all — and when they do hit the road, they typically lack the mental health support to ensure a successful run.
A venue in an apple orchard can’t magically untangle all these issues, but Corona highlighted the ongoing serenity of Beak & Skiff as a major draw.
“The hill that it’s on is a natural amphitheater, so as you go up, you’ll see families with blankets. Cider donuts are served to the crowd once the concert ends, so you can grab those on your way home,” she said. “It’s just a very relaxed, tranquil environment.”
experience
Saint Urban in Syracuse offers a road trip-worthy evening.
BY LEAH STACY
From behind nondescript buildings off a side street in Syracuse’s Westcott neighborhood gleams a scrawly neon sign in deliberately typeface: Saint Urban. It’s affixed above an equally nondescript door; a portal to one of the best-kept dining secrets in upstate New York.
Saint Urban, named for the patron saint of all who work in the wine industry, opened in 2019 when Chef Jared Stafford-Hill returned to his native Syracuse after a 20year career in New York City that included Craft, Hearth, Adour by Alain Ducasse, Gramercy Tavern, and Union Pacific.
Hill grew up in the Westcott neighborhood-known for popular cinema-style music venue Westcott Theater and historical Thornden Park-and returned home with a concept never-before tried in Syracuse: an ever-changing, seasonal monthly menu available in prix fixe courses and paired with a different wine region.
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For example, May’s region was Côte de Beaune in France, and dishes on the prix fixe menu (offered in three-, five-, or seven-course options) ranged from Peekytoe Crab Fondue to Rohan Duck Breast, with carefully curated wines available by the glass and bottle.
Since opening, Saint Urban has been featured in Wine Spectator and Maxim , but only a few people from neighboring cities have caught on
to its existence. Certified sommelier Chris Grocki is one of them. He’s made two trips to Saint Urban from Rochester: for Northern Rhône in March and Loire Valley in April.
“It’s a once-in-a-dining-career find, married with beautiful ambiance, precise stemware, and knowledgeable service that provides the kind of experience usually only found in cities like New York City or Chicago,” he said.
According to the Michelin Guide, two-star places are worth traveling across the country for, and Grocki ventured that Saint Urban is approaching the same level.
“This is the kind of place that would easily earn a Michelin star were they given beyond Hudson Valley,” he said. “That level of attention to detail is wonderful, and we don’t see it enough. It’s one of the only true wine-driven experiences in all of central and western New York.”
sainturbanwinebar.com
The food hall and startup incubator offers culinary adventure.
BY JIM CATALANO
Serving as both a food hall and an incubator for start-up dining ventures, Syracuse’s Salt City Market offers an eclectic experience for those with adventurous palates.
Visitors can take a culinary trip around the world with stops in Burma (Big in Burma), Jamaica (Erma’s Island), Ethiopia (Habiba’s Ethiopian Kitchen), Thailand (Firecracker Thai Kitchen), Vietnam (Mamma Hai), and the Middle East (Baghdad). They also can sample food from around the U.S., from soul food (Miss Prissy’s) and southern cooking (Soulutions) to sweet treats and drinks at Cake Bar or Farm Girl. Early risers and night owls alike will find a home at Salt City Bar, which is open 7 a.m. until midnight on Sunday through Thursday and 8 a.m. until 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. The upper floors of the market building offer 26 apartments with views of downtown Syracuse.
Inside the airy building, tantalizing smells waft from each booth, colorful seating areas are peppered along the large windows and a steady hum of conversation and food preparation serves as the theme song. The exterior of the multi-story, saltbox building is painted black and stands out among the Brutalist and art deco structures sprinkled throughout downtown Syracuse.
Salt City Market opened in 2021, after more than a decade of planning. It was inspired by similar ventures around the country, particularly the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis, and The Allyn Foundation funded the $25 million project, establishing another nonprofit – Syracuse Urban Partnership – to own the building and run the food hall. The building’s first floor is home to 12 vendors as well as the Syracuse Cooperative Market grocery store and a community meeting room.
Despite opening during the pandemic, Market Manager Adam
Sudmann said the market quickly found its footing.
“This place is doing really, really well,” he said. “We’re hitting our marks in terms of drawing people. We’re helping our vendors to build generational wealth doing what they love.”
Merike Triere, executive director of the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, said the market has had a transformative impact on its neighborhood. It borders both Armory Square, the popular dining district, and Syracuse’s Near Westside,
one of the city’s oldest (and formerly wealthiest) neighborhoods, now home to the city’s growing Latinx, immigrant and refugee communities. Salt City has become both a social hub and business headquarters for some of these residents.
“The Salt City Market has created a space unlike any other in Syracuse,” she said. “It is a downtown anchor and has established itself as a go-to spot for business meetups or social gatherings. It’s a place to grab delicious food, enjoy a cocktail, pick up groceries, hold a meeting, or meet
up with friends.”
Sudmann is always looking to expand the market’s offerings and said there’s a huge amount of interest in a newly available kiosk.
“It’s really about building up neighborhoods,” Sudmann said. “In 10 or 20 years from now, hopefully we can look back and say, ‘here’s what we’ve done through this.’”
Salt City Market is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. Individual businesses within the market may have different hours. saltcitymarket.com
“I grew up in the area and have been away for five years. I have a whole list.”
“I don’t know anything here, so I’m just following his lead. I just moved here from Dallas.”
“I try to get out to the lake as much as possible with the dog, hang out, throw the Frisbee.”
RIT
“Jazz Festival-I’ve never actually been, I’ve been told about it by friends so I wanna go check out the music.”
“I go jet skiing every summer on Lake Ontario, even though I had a near death experience.”
“Red Wings games! I’ll go to any game when they’re in town, and I’ll get an Italian sausage.”
What’s on your local summer bucket list?
AUSTIN DARLING (AND CASPER)
ASSISTANT MANAGER, LIMA
“My wife and I always put Letchworth on our summer to-do list, along with Grassroots Music Festival.”
NIKITA LANE
INNOVATIVE FIELD STAFF, ROCHESTER
“I want to do as many roller coasters as I can-personally I like The Superman at Darien Lake.”
ANDREW DORMITZER
STUDENT AT SCHOOL 23, ROCHESTER
“My dad promised me a treehouse and it still hasn’t been built, so I wanna build that.”
TIMOTHY DUNN
LAND SURVEYOR, ROCHESTER
“As much Party in the Park as possible. I go alone and I don’t end up leaving alone, there’s always friends there.”
ADELLE REALE
DIGITAL MARKETING SPECIALIST, SYRACUSE
“Camping-I’ve been to Chimney Bluffs the last few years. There’s a campsite in Webster that’s like $20 a night.”
NINA MATTHANHASAK
TECHNICIAN AT HARRIS, GREECE
“I’m a spur-of-the-moment person, so whatever comes and whoever says ‘let’s go do this,’ I’m up for it.”
Big things can come in small, red, juice-laden packages. Just ask Debi Bower, founder of the longstanding blog Day Trips Around Rochester, NY.
“This is a really big time of year,” she said, “where everything starts to cycle and renew again, as far as getting out and actually spending time in the world and getting out of hibernation.”
She looks forward to strawberry season.
“Picking strawberries is one of my favorite things to do when it comes to produce,” Bower said. “You cannot beat fresh strawberries.”
That’s not to say she doesn’t try to beat them. Her book, and the accompanying website, daytrippingroc. com, casts a wide net. A two-hour-drive net, anyway. Waterfalls. Eons-old gorges.
The book is an attempt to ameliorate our tendency to take for granted that which is right at hand. Such as Letchworth State Park, commonly called “The Grand Canyon of the East.”
“I’ve talked to so many lifelong residents of Rochester who have never been to Letchworth, and to me, it’s just one of those magical places,” said Bower. “You don’t just go there to do one thing. You can sit beside a waterfall, or hike some of the really challenging trails. You can fish, there’s a trout pond there. You can hang out at the nature center, there’s a beautiful museum. There’s paved roadways, there’s trails that lead all along the river.”
“Day Trips Around Rochester New York,” also available as an eBook and audiobook, is the second recent guidebook celebrating the charms of Western New York, alongside local writer Robin Flanigan’s “100 Things To Do In Rochester Before You Die.”
Bower, who lives in Scottsville, was a Girl Scout troop leader when she began assembling lists of things to keep the girls busy. As her own two daughters aged out of the Scouts, those lists began expanding in scope. “We weren’t looking to do
young child activities so much anymore,” she says.
So her lists began adding hiking, searching out waterfalls and, steering away from nature, urban exploration. There is a gap between young families and empty nesters, and Bower aims to help fill it. The book offers suggestions for retirees as well. People whose lifelong careers are over, but their lives are not. People now asking, Bower said, “how do I fill my days with something?”
The guide comes from “years and years and years of research and experience.” Bower poured through books and travel brochures. She polled Instagram, asking, “Where is that place? How did you find it?” By 2017, Bower had launched the first version of the website.
A first version because, unlike the static nature of a printed book, the website is under frequent revision. Recently, the site featured area options on Mother’s Day, the Lilac Festival and the PGA Championship.
“I think it’s become a community,” Bower said, “where it wasn’t intended to be that way in the beginning. It started as a journey, a website and social presence.”
Her website now has a community of 34,000 subscribers, with 16,000 followers on Instagram.
“Sometimes I’d just share my favorites,” Bower said. “Once you put a list out there, everybody wants to contribute.”
She lists amusement parks. And 20 paved or gravel paths for ease of strolling. Much of the book has been road tested, photographed or observed by Bower, who holds down a full-time job at Wegmans. But just distributing copies of “Day Trips Around Rochester New York” is a full-time job as well.
And what does Bower recommend, besides Letchworth and Highland Park? How about uncovering new day trips?
Maybe Carpenter Falls near Skaneateles, with its formerly difficult path now boasting an easily accessible boardwalk?
“If you have time to do anything around this area, find water,” she said. “Water anywhere.” Lake Ontario. The Genesee River. The Erie Canal. Pick a Finger Lake. Irondequoit Creek. Braddock Bay.
“You will find something interesting to see there,” said Bower. “And something interesting, too, along the way.”
But it’s not necessarily about the destination. Sometimes it’s about the trip.
“For ice cream, you could plan a whole day trip around one ice cream place,” Bower notes. Instead of one, she offers 52.
How does she set a standard for ice cream?
“Do they serve ice cream is probably the standard,” Bower said. If the ice cream is handcrafted, that might get a mention. But does any ice cream ever not make the cut?
“No,” Bower said, definitively. “Never.”
Not every city is a stone’s throw from the site of the founding of a major world religion. But as of 200 years ago this September, Joseph Smith of Palmyra, NY (about a half hour southeast of Rochester) claimed an angel directed him to a spot on Hill Cumorah. There, so the story goes, he found golden plates engraved with what would become “The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.” Today, the hill where he allegedly found the plates, the print shop where the book was first published and other sites important to the folklore still remain and welcome visitors.
While the Hill Cumorah Pageant, which once brought hundreds of Mormons together every summer to recreate stories from their holy book, has been discontinued, people can still explore the hill itself. Paved and unpaved trails lead to the top, where visitors will find Torleif S. Knaphus’s The Angel Moroni monument, placed there in 1935, a few years after the church reacquired the land where Hill Cumorah sits. Since the hill will no longer be used as a stage, a reforestation effort has begun to make it as woodsy as it was in the early 1800s.
A few miles north of the hill is the Smith Family Farm, which includes a replica of the log cabin, built on the original foundation, where Smith and his family lived before moving into the main house. Here also is the Sacred Grove, where Smith claimed to have had a vision prior to the one that led him to Hill Cumorah. A little further north, on Palmyra’s East Main Street amidst restaurants, shops and a truss tower flag pole built to honor President Benjamin Harrison and veterans of the Civil War, is the Grandin Building, where the first 5,000 copies of “The Book of Mormon,” in addition to various other books and publications, were printed.
These sites are owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and their purpose is to preserve its history. Tours of the dwellings and the Grandin Building include many things the missionaries who lead them believe but visitors may not. This does not detract from the experience. Visitors are entering the Mormon world, but one does not need to be religious at all to appreciate the sites.
A free tour of the Smith house and log cabin includes details of how people lived in the 1800s, with period
furniture and some original flooring and fixtures. A tour of the Grandin Building, which features two copies of “The Book of Mormon” from the original run, takes visitors through how books were made back then, from printing and binding to creating leather covers with gold leaf titles. Why are capital letters called ‘uppercase’ and their smaller kin ‘lowercase’? Hear the answer on that tour.
Anyone can enjoy a leisurely climb to the top of Hill Cumorah and appreciate the view afforded therefrom. The Sacred Grove is a peaceful path through a small, mostly untamed wood, with all the natural pleasures that suggests, along with benches for rest and occasional displays that relay some of the history.
One need not anticipate a revelation to be moved by a walk among the trees, flowers, birds, and bees; with the sound of Crooked Creek adding to the ambiance.
For guests who are interested in more information about the church for any reason, there is a Visitors Center at the base of Hill Cumorah. Inside are various exhibits that convey the same basic history the tours do, some art, a replica of the golden plates, and a display of copies of “The Book of Mormon” in many different languages. And perhaps it goes without saying, but if any visitors to these sites should subsequently see the musical “The Book of Mormon,” they will be better equipped to appreciate it.
From Mormon landmarks to living history, there’s something to learn
There are many great spots in the Finger Lakes to visit – but even better, there are many charming places to stay. From castles to historic inns, you can be transported to another time in a quest to experience a bygone era. When making summer plans, consider adding these spots to your list for an overnight getaway that’s not far from home and reminiscent of another time.
A beauty listed on the National Register of Historic Properties, this Grecian-inspired inn was built circa 1840 and known as a popular health center down the entire east coast. Visitors came to experience the healing powers of the water from a local sulfur spring. As a result, the Inn has had its fair share of popular guests: George Eastman, Henry Ford and Thomas
Edison; even Eleanor Roosevelt and Katharine Hepburn were guests at one point. Today, the space has 14 boutique rooms, a large wrap-around porch, and dining in the tavern (try out the salmon bruschetta and the pasta rosa). For some additional local flair, the nearby Avon Vintage Drive-In is a great date night spot. avoninnny.com
Listed on the National Register of Historic Properties, this castle has it all: 11 boutique rooms, two restaurants, a winery and spa – all overlooking beautiful Seneca Lake. The land was named Bellehurst meaning “beautiful forest,” in 1852, but it wasn’t until 1888 that the four-story mansion began to be built, commissioned by a woman – which
had the town in a stir. Mrs. Otis changed the name to Belhurst, and construction took more than four years to complete as she had materials imported from Europe. Since that time the castle has been a speakeasy, a casino, and now, a restaurant and hotel. You’ll find the Chambers – all named after a piece of the castle’s history - maintain their historical roots, with antique furnishings and art, oriental rugs and unique architecture. Guests also receive access to a complimentary wine spigot in the hallway during their stay. The spa offers relaxing treatments, and Edgars serves a classy, white tablecloth dinner in the original dining room. Locally, Belhurst is adjacent to many of the famed wineries and breweries along Seneca Lake – Fox Run, Billsboro Winery and Glenora, to name a few. The castle is also a short drive to the town of Geneva, where guests can find live music and more on the bustling Linden Street every Friday and Saturday during the summer. belhurst.com
Main Street. Nearby attractions include the Genesee Country Village & Museum and the Jell-O Gallery Museum.
farmerscreekside.com
Geneva on the Lake | 1001 Lochland Rd, Geneva
On the western shores of Seneca Lake, this romantic, Italian-themed villa is also on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1914 as a private residence and modeled after Villa Lancellotti in Frascati, Italy, the interior does not disappoint – it’s fitted with marble fireplaces, Italian tapestries, and ionic columns. In 1981, it became a resort and now offers 29 guest rooms in a renaissance theme. Romance is everywhere, accentuated by European influence. The gardens transport guests to Versailles, and the dining to Tuscany. In-house restaurant Diciannove Dieci (1910) features farm-fresh ingredients, and wine tastings at local vineyards are just a short drive away (for more in the Italian theme, Ventosa Vineyards is down the street). genevaonthelake.com
Built around the 1820s, the Inn was one of the first buildings in Le Roy. It wasn’t always a restaurant, but originally served as a hat factory and private residence. After a fire claimed most of the structure in 2004, owner Bill Farmer gave the property spent over a decade repairing the original charm, which overlooks Oatka Creek. The spot is now restored, and waterfront dining is sublime, with a menu that features sushi and prime rib. The few rooms were repaired to reflect the design of the authentic inn, with original wood beams, fireplaces and soaking tubs. Most include a view of the Oatka Creek falls or historic
To find a delightful town and welcoming lodging, look no further than the Sherwood Inn in idyllic Skaneateles. Founded in 1807, the Sherwood Inn has a centuries-long reputation: a tavern that provides comfort, delicious food and cozy lodging for all. While some of the previous spots mentioned have undergone renditions since their original founding, the Sherwood has stayed true to its roots with a consistent theme. Right in the heart of downtown Skaneateles, the Inn stands out as a gathering spot for many events that happen throughout the year. The location overlooks Skaneateles Lake and is within walking distance of popular local shops and restaurants as well as the famed Mirbeau Inn & Spa. The rooms have cozy amenities, with fireplaces and four poster beds. Each weekend in December, the main street of Skaneateles turns into a Dickens-themed Christmas festival, and Sherwood is an ideal place for an authentic stay. sherwoodinns.com
Odds are if you drank a Rochester-brewed beer in the past couple of decades, Jason Fox’s hands were involved somewhere down the line.
The current head brewer at Dansville’s Battle Street Brewing, Fox formerly led brewing at the now-defunct Custom Brewcrafters, where he developed the legendary Caged Alpha Monkey IPA
and pumped out contract-brewed beers for then-fledgling breweries like Three Heads and Warhorse. On top of that, brewers Fox worked with and trained are now strewn across the Rochester brewing industry—Zach Allard now leads Iron Tug, Nick Mesrobian is at Roc Brewing, and Bruce Lish consults with several breweries around the region after years as Three Heads’s lhead brewer.
After leaving Custom Brewcrafters in 2011, Fox went into the food processing industry while offering his services developing wastewater treatment and brewing systems for breweries across the region.
After three decades in the industry, he’s worn every cap imaginable, aside from one—brewery owner. Until now.
This fall, Fox and his business partner
Joel Chiarenza plan to open Smugtown Brewing at 2199 East Henrietta Road.
It’s a process Fox began in earnest about four years ago, and it’s slated to be the first brewery in the town of Henrietta.
“It’s time, everything just has to be the right time, right place,” Fox said. “I found the more that I tried to force it, the less I wanted it to work.”
On May 10, Fox and Chiarenza
Jason Fox (left) and Joel Chiarenza will launch Henrietta’s first brewery this fall. PHOTO BY GINO FANELLIIt’s
received the official go-ahead for Smugtown by a unanimous special permit approval by the Henrietta Town Board. And it wasn’t the first time Fox had found himself in that spot.
Back in 2021, Fox received a special use permit to open a brewpub in the plaza with Beers of the World on East Henrietta Road, then dubbed Search Hill Brewing. That project went belly up when the tenant occupying the space where the brewery was planned decided not to leave.
Fox sees now as a better time to start anyway: Battle Street, where he’s brewed since 2020, is up for sale as a turn-key brewing operation. (It can be yours for $800,000.)
Smugtown will be a five-barrel brewhouse located in a plaza that already has a Habitat for Humanity ReStore and a bottle and can redemption center. The property is owned by Chiarenza, who will serve as an equal partner in Smugtown with Fox.
“I’ve always envisioned it to be a great spot for a restaurant or a brewery,” Chiarenza said. “The fact that we’re doing both there is going to be spectacular.”
At Smugtown, Fox plans to brew mostly traditional beers with the occasional sour ale and hazy IPA offerings. The food will be a Tex-Mex barbecue homage, featuring plenty of smoked brisket and burgers. The bar will also host small musical acts indoors on the weekend, which became a topic of debate due to Henrietta’s vague noise ordinances.
The brewery is currently having a set of new brewing equipment built, and it should be arriving over the next few months. When the brewery opens, Fox plans to have the cooler stocked, whether brewed on its native system or brought over from Battle Street.
“It’s going to be a wide range of beers,” he said. “Henrietta’s got a wide range of demographics here so I’m not going to alienate anybody. It’s not going to be a super high-end hipster brewery pumping out nothing but slushies and muddy IPAs.”
The town of Henrietta has been supportive in welcoming the brewery-the vote to approve the permit was met with applause from the crowd of residents in the town meeting room and a final question from town boardmember Joseph Bellanca.
“So,” he said. “What’s your first IPA going to be called?”
Jay’s Kitchen is now open at Henry’s Convenient Market (519 Merchants Rd.), serving Halal food from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Scoop a variety of kabobs in addition to specials like the manto (chicken dumplings with Afghan spices and yogurt over lentils) and the bolani (flatbread stuffed with potatoes, green onions, Afghan spices, and fried). There’s also an Over The Rice Box that comes with a variety of chicken preparations, from barbecue to makhani, or other meat and notmeat proteins. (585) 314-2452
Move over, ice cream! Summer has a new strolling snack. East Rochester favorite Leo’s Bakery and Deli (101 Despatch Dr.) recently installed a cannoli bar — that’s right — featuring a variety of shells, fillings, and toppings to mix and match. Open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Mondays through Saturdays, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. leosbakeryanddeli. com
Taco Tuesday has hit Tavo’s Antojitos y Tequila (425 Merchants Road), which now features an exclusive, Tuesday-only menu. No reservations and no menu previews. It’s first-come, first-served only from 4 to 10 p.m., with picnic table outdoor seating available. instagram.com/ tavosroc
Artisan burrito kitchen Nita Burrita recently opened at 739 S. Clinton Ave. in the spot formerly occupied by McCann’s Local Meats. The menu is filled with classic and creative burritos, like the Deadpool (deep fried with short rib, cheese, cilantro and pickled onions) or the Padrino (flour tortilla with rice, picadillo, pan seared chicken, crispy marinated
pork, house guac, cheese, hot sauce and pickled jalapeños). The space also hosts a second brand from the same team, Madd Mac’s Artisan Mac and Cheese, which uses the comfort food staple as a base for a wide range of flavors — try the Royal with Cheese (a quarter pound burger chopped up with sauteed onions, diced pickles, ketchup, and mustard and topped with lettuce, tomatoes, and onions) or the Butter Chicken (house garam masala, yogurt marinated chicken, cooked into cavatappi pasta with house mornay sauce). nitaburrita.com
Rochester-based Fee Brothers (453 Portland Ave.) has released a new bitters flavor, rounding out their offerings to 20 varieties. The recently added Turkish Tobacco tastes of sun-cured tobacco, coffee, clove, and nutmeg, and is recommended for bourbon, rum, and mezcal-based beverages. feebrothers.com
We’re keeping an eye on 260 E. Broad St., where UnWine’d will open in suite 130 at Midtown this summer. The space will offer food, music, and an interactive wine bar (curious to see what that means). unwinedroc.com
This summer will bring a new spot to the North Winton Village from several of the Good Luck partners and Taylor Wilde, a former chef at Good Luck. WildFlour, located at 20 Browncroft Blvd., will be a counter service lunch spot offering pizza by the slice, fresh pastas, and sandwiches on house made focaccia. A prefixe, Italian-style dinner service will highlight local ingredients. There’ll also be a retail space with cheeses, house sauces, and Italian imports for sale. instagram.com/wildflour.
rochester
Step back in time for an historical
happy hour. On Friday, June 2, Genesee Country Village & Museum (1410 Flint Hill Road, Mumford) will host its annual History on Tap event from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. The festivities feature craft beers, wines, and ciders—including GCV&M’s own historic brews—live music, food, and after hours rambles through the 19th-century village. The event is 21+ and tickets are $27-$30. Throughout the month, GCV&M will also present Spring Garden Teas, featuring warm and cold summerinspired teas along with savory and sweet treats from the museum’s own confectionery and raspberry-lemon mimosas. The event will also showcase 19th-century spring and summer fashion pieces from the museum’s costume shop. Wear your most impressive spring hat or fascinator for a chance to win a prize! The event series takes place Wednesdays and Thursdays, June 7-8 and June 21-22. Tickets are limited and cost $40-$45. gcv.org
— COMPILED BY REBECCA RAFFERTYACROSS
1. Untouchable serves
5. Silly Bandz, e.g.
9. Dance moves
14. Goes downriver
19. Accessory whose color indicates attainment of a level in martial arts
20. The only U.S. state where a majority of the population belongs to a single church
21. Young fowl
22. Spooky
23. Jessica of “Fantastic Four”
24. Final emperor of the JulioClaudian dynasty
25. Lineup
26. Old witch
27. “Just do it” or “Where’s the beef?”
29. Russian who was nominated for four Nobel Prizes in Literature and three Nobel Peace Prizes
31. Directs attention (to)
32. In whatever way
34. Australian bird species whose eggs are incubated by males
35. Defensive tower on the edge of a castle
37. Akin
40. Controlled, as a horse
42. Sheltered side
45. Country singer whose name is an archaic term for the number two
48. Political grp. symbolized by an elephant
49. Crab that lives in a scavenged shell
50. Wail
51. Red Ryder pump action product
53. Calf-length skirt
55. Wifi thermostat brand acquired by Google in 2014
56. 3:00 on a compass
57. Get ready to bake cookies
59. Reasons for some absences
61. Over there, y’all
63. Information on a ticket
64. Cry noisily
66. Protein that creates elasticity in dough
69. Like a colicky baby
70. Walk through water
71. Recipe amt.
72. Lightning unit
74. Diving acronym
78. Deep clean a vehicle
80. Sib to sis
81. Three-person card game
85. Nation of birth for 45-Across
87. Poet Nash
89. Childbirth assistant
91. Probability of winning
92. Window ledge
95. Lighted sign over a door
97. Power tool for a roofer
124. Artificial waterway
125. Bellybutton debris
127. Pioneering TV singing competition, familiarly
128. Pet pests
129. Love to bits
130. _____ vera
131. Ward (off)
132. Child’s bear
133. Cares for, as a garden
134. ** Double _____ (increase one’s commitment to a risky plan... or a way to make sense of the answers to the starred clues)
135. Pine or oak
1. Embarrass
2. Instrument for Yo-Yo Ma
3. Joint used for nudging
4. ** With 134-across: Closer to the audience // Decidedly so
5. Mess-prevention tool
6. Had breakfast
7. Barroom missle
8. Scat!
9. Twitch
10. Inflict anguish as punishment
11. Currency of Portugal
12. ** With 134-across: Minimize // Period of inactivity
13. Pig’s digs
14. Guinness book achievement
15. Eagle’s home
16. ** With 134-across: In the first few rows // Files obtained from the Internet
17. Artificial coloring
18. Witnesses
28. Street crosser
30. CFL replacement
31. Fair, or fairly 33. Old t-shirt, maybe 36. Les États-_____
38. Male 124-Down
68. Societal standard
70. Chunk of cash
73. Pork cut
74. One of five in a large ice cream at LuGia’s
75. Inner circle
76. ** With 134-across: In Oz // Moved to a smaller home
77. Sporting fish related to the perch
79. Highway fees
81. ** With 134-across: Decline in business // Change to a lower gear
82. Metric prefix
83. Not many
84. Seabird with a forked tail
86. Off the path
88. One column on Santa’s list
90. Tribe that lent its name to two states
93. Golf club with a metal head
** With 134-across: Discreet // Reduced in status
