Rochester news

• Naz planning to continue full in-person learning this fall

  17-03-2021 20:56
  
  The president of Nazareth College says the school plans to continue full in-person learning this fall.
  
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• Rochester Ten | Jon Spacher

  05-08-2026 16:01 via roccitymag.com
  
  Age: 50
  Hometown: Rochester
  Current residence: Rochester
  Occupation: CEO and co-owner, Fee BrothersJon Spacher doesn’t come across as someone eager to be the face of anything. Gregarious but understated, he’s more at ease talking about Fee Brothers than his own role spearheading it all.But as CEO of the esteemed Rochester cocktail ingredient company founded in 1864, Spacher deserves a sliver of limelight. Some 30 years back, he studied astrophysics — a field focused on the uni
  
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• Rochester Ten | Pam Sherman

  05-08-2026 16:00 via roccitymag.com
  
  Age: 64 Hometown: Staten IslandCurrent residence: PittsfordOccupation: President and founder of The ShermanEDGE; authorBefore Pam Sherman wrote two books, she was traveling the world building a coaching business based on her experiences. Before that, she landed a syndicated newspaper column by making an editor’s wife laugh in a dressing room. Before that, she was an award-winning stage actor in DC for 17 years. And before any of the curtain calls, she was a lawyer.Sherman was born in
  
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• Rochester Ten | Nydia Padilla-Rodríguez 

  05-08-2026 15:59 via roccitymag.com
  
  Age: 73Hometown: RochesterCurrent Residence: RochesterOccupation: Artistic director and founder of Borinquen Dance TheatreNydia Padilla-Rodríguez loves dance: from salsa to tap to Garth Fagan technique, she has a passion for all styles and appreciates how movement celebrates culture. But what Padilla-Rodríguez loves even more than dance is people. Her company, Borinquen Dance Theatre, is rooted in Puerto Rican culture and folk dance, but its largest impact is functioning as a safe
  
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• Rochester Ten | Jenna Manetta-Knauf

  05-08-2026 15:59 via roccitymag.com
  
  Age: 49Hometown: GreeceCurrent residence: GreeceOccupation: Owner of Bella Events GroupOn a blustery night in December, the winds from a winter storm scattered Jenna Manetta-Knauf’s igloos across downtown Rochester.One was in the middle of the ice rink. Another was halfway down Court Street. Some of the domes had splintered into pieces – metal frames and clear plastic panels strewn about Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park.Roc Holiday Village was scheduled to open in just a few hou
  
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• Rochester Ten | Jeffrey McCune, Jr.

  05-08-2026 15:59 via roccitymag.com
  
  Age: 48Hometown: ChicagoCurrent Residence: RochesterOccupation: Frederick Douglass professor and founding chair of the Department of Black Studies at the University of RochesterRye old fashioned with extra cherries — a spirit-forward drink that balances spice and sweet, the perfect preamble for great storytelling.  That’s Jeffrey McCune’s drink order, and it mirrors the heart of his work.  Growing up in Chicago, McCune was a theater kid who loved math. He c
  
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• Rochester Ten | John Kucko

  05-08-2026 15:58 via roccitymag.com
  
  Age: 61Hometown: BinghamtonCurrent residence: PenfieldOccupation: Digital content creatorDuring a recent MRI, John Kucko laid inside a tube with a cylinder resting inches above his face. Physically, he remained still for about 30 minutes while the machine captured images of his brain.But mentally, he took a trip to the Adirondacks.“I just closed my eyes and started thinking about Lake Placid,” Kucko said. “It was really snowing good, which I love.”It’s a trick he&r
  
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• Rochester Ten | Beatriz LeBron

  05-08-2026 15:58 via roccitymag.com
  
  Age: 45Hometown: The BronxCurrent resident: RochesterOccupation: Executive director, Father Tracy Advocacy CenterShortly after 10:30 on a weekday morning, people are already gathered outside the Father Tracy Advocacy Center at 821 N. Clinton Ave. By the end of a typical day, about 200 people will have passed through the building. A woman waiting near the entrance points a first-time visitor toward the correct door. To many people passing along North Clinton Avenue, the gathering outside might l
  
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• Rochester Ten | Andria B. Langston

  05-08-2026 15:58 via roccitymag.com
  
  Age: 35Hometown: RochesterCurrent residence: Rochester and Washington, D.C.Occupation: Co-owner, WDKX; actor, writer and producerAndria Langston freely admits that she does not know how to relax.Perhaps it’s because she is the only child of the only child of Andrew and Gloria Langston, who came to Rochester 52 years ago with next to nothing and proceeded to build a radio dynasty. Whatever the reason, it explains why she is pursuing full-bore two separate and ambitious careers. And th
  
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• Rochester Ten | Max Kelley

  05-08-2026 15:57 via roccitymag.com
  
  Age: 32 (33 on Aug. 16)Hometown: WebsterCurrent residence: RochesterOccupation: Software engineer at Applied Materials; station manager at WAYO 104.3 FMLong before Max Kelley helped establish one of Rochester’s most beloved community institutions, he was sitting beside his Italian grandfather, listening to voices travel across an ocean through an old Grundig shortwave radio tuned to broadcasts from Italy. Fascinated by the mysterious sounds drifting through the speaker, Kelley claime
  
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• Introducing the 2026 Rochester Ten

  05-08-2026 12:00 via roccitymag.com
  
  The word ‘scene’ is used to describe many things: a location; part of a film or play; in popular culture, the overall vibe or energy of a place.For this year’s Rochester 10 cohort, scene is a throughline.In the August pages, you’ll meet folks you have perhaps heard of in passing more than seeing them around the community. Maybe it will provide a face to a name. This is a cohort not chosen based on their visibility, but for the visibility they bring to others and to the r
  
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• Arts groups invited to apply for Monroe County grants

  03-08-2026 18:36 via wxxinews.org
  The post Arts groups invited to apply for Monroe County grants appeared first on CITY Magazine. Arts. Music. Culture..
  
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• The artist burning wood to reach ‘Elevated Places’

  31-07-2026 18:38 via roccitymag.com
  
  The walls of ARTISANworks pop with fine-art paintings, kitschy collectibles and even a pinhole camera built from a Tibetan skull. This month, the art-dense venue will also be home to woodworks that channel ancient mythology and wisdom via earthy presentation.“Elevated Places,” a gallery event on August 8 presented by the Rochester Black Arts Council, centers 14 new pieces from artist Aaron Calvin directly inspired by the concept of the divine feminine. They’ll help set the ton
  
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• REVIEW | ‘The Commons’ by Thornéd Crown

  30-07-2026 19:20 via roccitymag.com
  
  Thornéd Crown may describe themselves as a “dungeon folk outfit,” but the Rochester band’s debut cassette release “The Commons” is a stylistically diverse collection of (mostly) instrumental songs, ranging from the modal psych raga of “Swamprun,” reminiscent of Kikagaku Moyo or Goat, to the ‘70s folk horror movie soundtrack territory of “Torchlight.”Expanse by Thorned CrownOpening track “Plains/Fireside” is a loose g
  
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• The 19th-century sandlot in Mumford

  29-07-2026 07:54 via roccitymag.com
  
  By the time you’ve traversed through the 68 buildings that make up the circa 19th-century Genesee Country Village & Museum (GCVM) and made your way to the furthest point of the 600-acre grounds, your brain may be convinced you’ve traveled back in time. Especially once you step through a wooded tree line and beneath an arch donning the field’s name — Silver Base Ball Park — onto a 19th-century replica baseball field (think the 1919 Black Sox stepping through the
  
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• REVIEW | ‘Are We Damned?’ by Goat Farm

  29-07-2026 03:46 via roccitymag.com
  
  If you’re looking for music that doesn’t just sound good, but also takes hold of you and reaches all the way down to your soul, Goat Farm’s new album, “Are We Damned?” (released June 20) is an excellent place to start. The stoner metal group based in Rochester has outdone itself with a collection that manages to be both heavy and ethereal in the same note. It’s atmospheric, sludgy and lyrically inspiring, commanding attention and demanding action in a world t
  
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• Annual ArtsBloom grants benefit city school music education

  28-07-2026 19:24 via wxxinews.org
  
  The post Annual ArtsBloom grants benefit city school music education appeared first on CITY Magazine. Arts. Music. Culture..
  
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• REVIEW | ‘Hard Candy for Hard Times’ by Handsy Grandma

  28-07-2026 19:11 via roccitymag.com
  
  Listeners who gravitate toward punk rock, fast-paced music that makes them jump as well as engaging messaging will feel a sense of belonging with Handsy Grandma. The band’s “Hard Candy for Hard Times,” available July 24, brings all the energy with 16 dynamic tracks ready to pump up listeners for the heat of summer. The Rochester-based trio with an unforgettable name made their first debut back in 2025 with the EP “Sweaty and Weird.” Relatively new to the scene
  
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• REVIEW | ‘Brutalist’ by Andrew Cloninger

  27-07-2026 05:09 via roccitymag.com
  
  There is a lot to process on Andrew Cloninger’s new album, “Brutalist.” Processing, in fact, could serve as the guiding concept behind the album. Song titles like “Archive” and “Field Notes” suggest raw sonic material of various sorts underwent a careful process of refinement, sifting or even distilling.Instead of clean, repeatable melodies and chord progressions propelling songs forward, the Canandaigua artist lets simple melodic fragments, riffs and d
  
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• REVIEW | ‘Brutalist’ by Andrew Cloninger

  27-07-2026 05:09 via roccitymag.com
  
  There is a lot to process on Andrew Cloninger’s new album, “Brutalist.” Processing, in fact, could serve as the guiding concept behind the album. Song titles like “Archive” and “Field Notes” suggest raw sonic material of various sorts underwent a careful process of refinement, sifting or even distilling.Instead of clean, repeatable melodies and chord progressions propelling songs forward, the Canandaigua artist lets simple melodic fragments, riffs and d
  
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• REVIEW | ‘Tales of the Finger Lakes, Western New York & Beyond’ by Growl Bear

  25-07-2026 14:49 via roccitymag.com
  
  With local Americana band Growl Bear’s new offering, the 20-track concept album “Tales of the Finger Lakes, Western New York & Beyond,” its frontman, singer-songwriter Jeremy Button, has produced a group of story-songs that stand on their own while also making a collective statement about upstate New York culture. He has also secured an impressive roster of Americana-bluegrass musicians from the region who lend their distinctive and recognizable talents to the music. The s
  
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• Review | ‘The Big Cheese’

  24-07-2026 14:43 via roccitymag.com
  
  American cheesemongers have a chip on their shoulders. It’s not entirely unwarranted. American cheese (the category) is fairly young, all things considered, gaining traction only in the 1970s, and is often conflated with the giant bricks of yellowish-orange American cheese (the product) found in grocery stores across the country. “The Big Cheese,” a new documentary from director Sara Joe Wolansky (a former video producer for “The New Yorker”), looks to course-
  
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• Review | ‘The Big Cheese’

  24-07-2026 14:43 via roccitymag.com
  
  American cheesemongers have a chip on their shoulders. It’s not entirely unwarranted. American cheese (the category) is fairly young, all things considered, gaining traction only in the 1970s, and is often conflated with the giant bricks of yellowish-orange American cheese (the product) found in grocery stores across the country. “The Big Cheese,” a new documentary from director Sara Joe Wolansky (a former video producer for “The New Yorker”), looks to course-
  
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• The nation’s first founding farm animal sanctuary marks 40 years in Watkins Glen

  23-07-2026 18:22 via roccitymag.com
  
  It’s 1986, and Gene Baur is selling vegan hotdogs at Grateful Dead shows. Surrounded by the sounds of Jerry Garcia and company, Baur spends his time educating fellow “Deadheads” about the cruelties of animal agriculture, providing firsthand accounts from his investigations at factory farms, stockyards and slaughterhouses. Then Baur finds Hilda, a discarded sheep left for dead at a stockyard in Pennsylvania. What started as Baur’s act of compassion to save Hilda&rsqu
  
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• The nation’s first founding farm animal sanctuary marks 40 years in Watkins Glen

  23-07-2026 18:22 via roccitymag.com
  
  It’s 1986, and Gene Baur is selling vegan hotdogs at Grateful Dead shows. Surrounded by the sounds of Jerry Garcia and company, Baur spends his time educating fellow “Deadheads” about the cruelties of animal agriculture, providing firsthand accounts from his investigations at factory farms, stockyards and slaughterhouses. Then Baur finds Hilda, a discarded sheep left for dead at a stockyard in Pennsylvania. What started as Baur’s act of compassion to save Hilda&rsqu
  
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• The Witches of Water’s Edge dance to benefit others

  22-07-2026 17:30 via roccitymag.com
  
  It’s a Wednesday night in Seneca Falls, and a group of women prepares for another busy weekend of performances. In a few days, they’ll don pointy hats, grab their broomsticks and dance into their roles as modern-day witches. But they aren’t just dancing for spectacle —- they’re raising awareness. The Witches of the Water’s Edge, a volunteer dance troupe that started recruiting members in March, uses performance, community and creative expression to estab
  
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• The Witches of Water’s Edge dance to benefit others

  22-07-2026 17:30 via roccitymag.com
  
  It’s a Wednesday night in Seneca Falls, and a group of women prepares for another busy weekend of performances. In a few days, they’ll don pointy hats, grab their broomsticks and dance into their roles as modern-day witches. But they aren’t just dancing for spectacle —- they’re raising awareness. The Witches of the Water’s Edge, a volunteer dance troupe that started recruiting members in March, uses performance, community and creative expression to estab
  
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• Trillium to issue refunds after Rochester Pride Festival cancellation

  21-07-2026 15:56 via wxxinews.org
  
  The post Trillium to issue refunds after Rochester Pride Festival cancellation appeared first on CITY Magazine. Arts. Music. Culture..
  
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• Trillium to issue refunds after Rochester Pride Festival cancellation

  21-07-2026 15:56 via wxxinews.org
  
  The post Trillium to issue refunds after Rochester Pride Festival cancellation appeared first on CITY Magazine. Arts. Music. Culture..
  
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• How a struggling Lima pub became a blues haven

  20-07-2026 07:09 via roccitymag.com
  
  On a quiet stretch where Routes 5 & 20 cut through Lima, there’s a low-slung building that doesn’t call much attention to itself. You could pass it without realizing that, on certain nights, it becomes one of the most intimate blues rooms in the Northeast. Inside Fanatics Pub, something unlikely has been unfolding — steady, unflashy and deeply human.Jim Shelly didn’t set out to build a blues destination. He didn’t even grow up on the blues.“I was into pro
  
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