I love interviews because they are full of ideas. Whether they are explicitly stated by the interviewee or come up long after as I ruminate on the conversation, it’s impossible to talk to someone without learning about their worldview in the process.
In a continued attempt to highlight more local makers as well as musicians, I turn my sights to a tote-bag maker this week.
Once in a while, it’s good to do something that makes you really uncomfortable. This weekend, I did just that.
Spring is upon us, full force. The transitional seasons are my favorites here in the Finger Lakes. It never ceases to amaze me how our dreary winters can birth such verdant springs — each a lesson in the power of rebirth and resurrection. For those who are perpetually cold, such as myself, w…
Though this column tends to highlight musicians and venues in the Finger Lakes area, I like to mix it up now and then.
Writer’s block. It haunts us all. When the white blank page that so often looks like an invitation suddenly turns into a yawning void that seems impossible to fill, it’s a bad day.
One of the best things about going to a concert is that it’s super easy to convince people to come with you. So, a couple of Wednesdays ago, I called my folks and asked them to join me for an evening of live music and wine at Ventosa Vineyards in Fayette.
Spring is, without fail, the most magical season here in the Finger Lakes.
Years ago, on a trip to Edinburgh, I picked up a little Penguin Modern Library Classics chapbook entitled “Why I Am Not Going to Buy A Computer” by environmental writer Wendell Berry. This little, mint-green book has sat on my shelf ever since, but I decided to pick it up the other day. A sh…
I met Kara Fink recently at a house show my band played a month or so ago. The lineup consisted of artist friends of Barn Burner Recordings, a new studio in Rochester, and Kara and her husband, Parker Story, closed out the night with a solid set of freshly written tunes and staple covers.
As I write this, my bandmate and I are rounding the corner into Pennsylvania. We’re embarking on our first tour, dubbed “Face to Face Tour 2022.”
A Phelps girl born and raised, I jumped at the chance to head down to Crafty Ales & Lagers the other night to catch James Draudt’s set. I grabbed a porter (my go-to at Crafty’s) and settled in just as James delivered a Matchbox Twenty cover worthy of Rob Thomas himself.
My newest television series fascination is Hulu’s “The Dropout.” Centered on the life and (try-hard) schemes of famous fraudster Elizabeth Holmes, the show is a fascinating look at one woman’s ironclad determination to double down on something that doesn’t work.
The Finger Lakes area is home to many musical genres, but the sound of the Endless Mountain Derelicts is quintessentially FLX.
If I could choose a word, just off the cuff, to describe my millennial generation, I’d say: curation. For better or worse (I’d argue most often better), millennials are choosy.
So far, this column has focused on local musicians, many in the Finger Lakes area. Naturally, though, our region is home to artists of more than one discipline or medium.
There are a host of reasons why the Finger Lakes area is special, but being a musician, I’m partial to its venues. At least one night of the weekend just begs to be spent catching a live show or hanging out with friends at a local spot. I’m sure a few places have already come to mind for you…
I’ve been rather nostalgic lately. Have you? There are numerous things throughout recent days that keep reminding me of memories seldom accessed. And the Finger Lakes region sets the place for many of those.
The first few weeks of each January are some of the most optimistic days of the whole year. There’s something about a fresh calendar, 365 whole days yet to come and full of endless possibilities, that puts a spring in your step.
That was one weird Christmas. Granted, Christmas 2020 was probably weirder for many, but for some reason last year was mostly run of the mill for my family. But the unpredictability of life, especially these days, comes for us all, sooner or later.
For this round of “Sit for A Spell,” I corresponded with Donna Colton.
When I was about 10 years old, I became deeply interested in learning about the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. Intrigue sparked by a recent viewing of the early 2000s blockbuster hit based on the incident, I plumbed my local library for as many research and testimony books as I could. Sunday-n…
For the last four or so years, my Sunday nights have not been complete without a Compline service. At about 8:53 p.m., some friends and I empty our pints at the nearby bar, throw our coats on, and take the short walk to the Christ Church on East Avenue in Rochester. Passing through the large…
Another week has come, and with it a brand-new set of possibilities. I’m not talking about life — I’m talking about tacos.
2008 was the year I joined Facebook. A way to stay connected with my older cousin in college, I was an early migrator from Myspace, which had just begun to go a more commercialized route.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year — well, maybe just to me. The Ithaca Book Sale has returned.
Over the past 18 months, concerts have been held on a wish and a prayer. The bigger the venue, the greater the hesitancy — and for good reason. But adaptability and the soul’s need for music and community have combined to foster the resurgence of an old faithful: the house show.
Last week, I came across an article in the New York Daily News entitled “Researchers accidentally release parasitic wasp butterflies in Finland.”
It seems like every week a new issue creeps up that divides us. And while disagreement is a natural and welcome byproduct of a free society, the cancel culture that has arisen in the past few years is a toxic misstep. Have we lost our ability to find common ground with our counterparts? Are …
Like lots of arthouse film buffs, I was really excited to see David Lowery’s recent adaptation of the classic chivalric romance “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” And while my expectations for classic story adaptations aren’t very high at all, I was kind of disappointed. Okay, quite disappointed.
Can I tell you a not-so-secret secret? I kind of love “Dawson’s Creek.”
Someone told me recently that book-buying is an entirely separate hobby from reading. I’m not ashamed to say that I’m a glutton for both.
When’s the last time you wrote a letter? No, not in an email or for a professional opportunity, but just for fun?
Is it Superman? Nobody knows what “it” is. Not even the Pentagon.
When I was younger, my grandpa would take me fishing at Webster Bay. Too young to really care about bettering my catch, I was there for one reason and one reason only: the post-fishing diner club. Grandpa and I would meet a couple of his friends at the dock and head out to eat with them afte…
Of all the industries that have been hit hard by the pandemic, local music scenes have endured one of the worst years in recent memory. Small bands and solo acts that rely on merch and ticket sales to keep living the dream were thrown in a tailspin, forced to pivot and search for work in a d…
A couple weeks ago, I visited Dallas, Texas with some friends for a conference. One of the conference leaders, who moonlights as a real estate agent, mentioned that over 1,000 people are moving to Texas every day. The market there is booming. When I asked him what’s motivating these migratio…
Like lots of other kids, lots of other girls, I wanted to be an astronaut. But while the child-rearing conversation of the ’90s and early ’00s was littered with self-aggrandizing language like “Believe in yourself,” “You can do anything,” and the impotent classic “Everyone’s a winner,” my pa…
For as many summers as I can remember, my Dad and I spent most Saturday mornings going to garage sales. Dad would wake up at 5:30 a.m. (as dads do) and put together a strategic map of the day’s sales while I slept in as late as his excitement would let me. Soon, I’d crawl up into the cab of …
I’d like to say a word for an unsung hero of the COVID-19 pandemic: the small-business owner.
A few weeks ago, the New York Times published an oped by author Leigh Stein entitled “The Empty Religions of Instagram.” The piece made a substantial splash, complete with an accompanying graphic that showed a halo-crowned iPhone. Stein holds an interest in, and here examines, the popularity…
The good ol’ fashioned Sunday drive is a relic from a bygone era, but for me, it hasn’t lost its luster. One advantage of living not too far from your hometown is the excuse it gives you for a long drive out of the city. Don’t get me wrong, I love Rochester in all its urban hecticity, but I …
(Editor’s Note: Today we introduce a new regular column by Finger Lakes Times copy editor Abbey Sitterley. It will run every other Tuesday.)
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