Arts Features

David Temperley composes tuneful, expressive pieces in a classical mold. But he also draws on influences from the popular music he grew up listening to on the radio. These inspirations include disco, The Rolling Stones, James Taylor, and The Police.

Governor Andrew Cuomo is again pushing for legislation that would allow the sale of alcoholic beverages in movie theaters.

This is a concept that Cuomo has backed for the last few years, but which has faced some opposition in the state legislature.

It was a little more than seven years ago that a handful of diesel fume-belching bulldozers, excavators and front-end loaders began gnawing away at a nondescript parking lot in downtown Rochester. Broken brick and chunks of asphalt were hauled away in dump trucks. Like a team of archaeologists revealing the signs of a forgotten civilization, work crews scraped away layers of debris to uncover the foundation of the old RKO Palace Theater.

The arts & life scene was full of news in 2019. As we look back at the news of the year, we bring the spotlight to the arts. Producer Veronica Volk talks with WXXI Arts & Life editor and reporter Jeff Spevak.

Here is more proof that the world of movies can be a surreal experience: when we catch up with Karolyn Grimes, who memorably played the 6-year-old Zuzu Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” she’s passing through Texas as a passenger in a car driven by Paris Themmen; he played Mike Teavee, the television-obsessed kid in “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.”

Even the slightest brush with cinema history can be everlasting fame.

It's a reasonable question to ask: What the hell were Bat McGrath and Tricia Cast doing in Nashville?

It's 8 p.m. on a snowy Wednesday night in November, and a crew of musicians is gathered in the cozy third-floor attic of Ben Morey and Katie Morey-Preston's home, which doubles as a recording studio and rehearsal space.

The group is gathered to rehearse for a rather unconventional event: a live performance of Harry Nilsson's "The Point!," which will take place at the Cinema Theater on South Clinton Avenue on Nov. 23 and 24. The all-ages event is a fundraiser for The Submarine School of Music, a community music school that the married couple hopes to launch in fall 2020.