Culture
celebration
A careful balance: Eastman Philharmonia explores Shostakovich’s turbulent world
Eastman honoreds the 50th anniversary of his death with a colorful palette of student and faculty concerts, performing his most personal, anxious, political, energetic, and tragic works.
Concert Review
The Mountain Goats bring fervent Indie Folk to Water Street Music Hall
These guys had way too much energy for a Thursday night.
Bug Jar
Pennsylvania band feeble little horse comes upstate
Despite their fickle instruments, they still put on a show, and the crowd followed the energy by pushing, shoving, and dancing around the venue.
Album Review
“Vie”: a return to comfort, a loss of life
“Vie” delivers peppy synth and the fun, sexual lyrics that fans have come to expect and enjoy.
live in concert
CT Views: Ethel Cain live in Buffalo
Cain vocalized like a woman possessed, gasping and moaning in a sensual yet unsettling way that fit the grimy, sinister tone of the song.
comedy
“Saturday Night Live” Season 51 preview: the hires, the hosts, and the heartbreaks
If these new cast members can bring in fresh energy, new identities, unique senses of humor, and continue to hook younger audiences from TikTok and Instagram, we should be in store for a smooth transition into the next generation of “SNL.”
Cats
The Rochester Fringe Festival was the cat’s meow
With snippets of comedy and commentary in between, each member of the kitty cat ensemble took the stage to showcase their feline fine skills: baton tossing from Cody the Twirler, limbo and floor acrobatics with the Kenya Golden Lion Acrobats, and even a trio of trained pups (much to the fright of the ensemble themselves. Poor kitties.)
Album
Not Sick of “Lovesick” by the Happy Fits
That being said, “Lovesick” has all the hallmarks of a classic Fits album and is a welcome step forward for the band.
Dance
Mormon Wives, the “Crocodile Hunter” Heir, and Meredith Blake returns: “Dancing With the Stars” is back
This season features Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles, not one but two MomTok stars, a group of Mormon TikTok moms from the hit reality show “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” “High School Musical” star Zac Efron’s brother, and many more.
Album Review
Pain to Power proves that Maruja can create jazz-punk catharsis in long-form
What emerges is a furious yet meditative statement: a debut that doesn’t just protest — it sings, screams, whispers, and builds meaning.
