I read that Esa Tapani, the Eastman School of Music's guest recitalist on Monday, February 25, is an award-winning horn player. He won the Nordic horn competition in 1989 and was nominated for Brass Player of the Year in 1990 by Lieksa Brass Week. I read that he is arguably one of the best horn players in the world, with years of concerts under his belt and a resume that includes many of the world's major symphonies and chamber groups.But what I heard from Tapani as he played a two-hour recital, designed to showcase his French horn skills, was anything

Parked beneath fedora shade, jazz beater Eddie Israel celebrated his 84th birthday Friday night, doing what he does - talking with his sticks' tasty licks. Israel's Thatt Groupp set the keen tone Friday night for the packed Bistro 135 in East Rochester; it's an uber-cool joint with desserts as big as my head. Israel has got to be one of the most relaxed cats to ever ascend to the throne, and he fired off pops and accents amidst the sweet swing. Don't forget, this is a dude who once kept time for Dizzy.On Saturday openers Over The Rhine blew Ani

Mordecai Lipshutz, one of the most recognizable voices on Rochester radio, is retiring from his afternoon shift on WXXI 91.5 FM. For more than 30 years Lipshutz has brought music to classical fans with a dignified eloquence and deep understanding of music.This however, is not the final adios. You can take the boy out of music, but you can't take the music out of the boy."You'll still hear me bravo-ing from the balcony of the Eastman Theatre," Lipshutz tells City. "And I'll still be singing the last song of the Jazz Festival." He'll also continue with his Christmas and New Year shows on

I counted a mere three sips of water, and even fewer gulps of air, as Henry Rollins talked non-stop for three hours last Tuesday at the Harro East Ballroom. The way he overlapped stories and moods was brilliantly put together. It wasn't so much a diatribe as it was a conversation where you're just too enthralled to participate. Standing in what frequently looked like a martial arts pose, Rollins went from the election to the war to world travel to Van Halen fans to his relentless urge to stick it to the man, and to the discovery that sometimes, he

As much as Bruce Springsteen's newer stuff bores me, his live intensity sells it. I walked out of Blue Cross Arena Thursday night with a better understanding and appreciation of all of The Boss' stuff. "Born To Run," "Darkness On The Edge Of Town," "The River," and especially "Nebraska" are my faves, and he dipped into them a little for the sold-out crowd. I was knocked out when he pulled off a raw and rockin' version of "Reason To Believe," howling through a Green Bullet mic. The band was lean and mean, and despite the venue's size it gave the

Party in the Park will not take place at the High Falls Festival Site this year, according to Lorie Lachiusa Barnum, the city's director of cultural affairs. A Rochester Gas & Electric hydro power project slated to begin in the High Falls gorge in May has bounced the free concert series to a new, yet-to-be-determined location.That new venue won't be the recently renovated Manhattan Square Park, which previously housed the series. "Our event outgrew it," Barnum says of the downtown location. "The size of the crowd and the size of the stage needed for our level of acts."The city is

Got a big taste of chaos at the Main Street Armory last night with a long list of the new heavy. Hardcore, punk, and heavy metal have been melted down and polished into pure adrenaline and aggression. Top of the heap is Atreyu, which has developed beyond the teeter-totter of the genre's standard-issue scream/sing/scream dynamic. Unfortunately, when you get close to 4,000 sweaty kids screaming/singing/screaming, you tend to horse it into the boat. All of the subtlety found on the band's latest "Lead Sails Paper Anchor" went out the window as the group pummeled and pounded like a monster truck

I counted a mere three sips of water, and even fewer gulps of air, as Henry Rollins talked non-stop for three hours last Tuesday at the Harro East Ballroom. The way he overlapped stories and moods was brilliantly put together. It wasn't so much a diatribe as it was a conversation where you're just too enthralled to participate.Standing in what frequently looked like a martial arts pose, Rollins went from the election to the war to world travel to Van Halen fans to his relentless urge to stick it to the man, and to the discovery that sometimes, he is

Got a big taste of chaos at the Main Street Armory last week with a long list of the new heavy. Hardcore, punk, and heavy metal have been melted down and polished into pure adrenaline and aggression. At the top of the heap is Atreyu, which has developed beyond the teeter-totter of the genre's standard-issue scream/sing/scream dynamic. Unfortunately, when you get close to 4000 sweaty kids screaming/singing/screaming, you tend to horse it into the boat. All of the subtlety found on the band's latest "Lead Sails Paper Anchor" went out the window as the group pummeled and pounded like a

The four grease monkeys in Rumble Club rumbled into the Bug Jar Thursday night, coming from Kentucky with the leather-stetson'd double-bassist promising to "soak your drawers" as soon as the band took the stage. Relying heavily on the old minor seventh for the majority of its 45-minute slap-back stampede, the band played rockabilly on the danger side. And don't the ladies love a low voice? Lead singer Jack Coray rumbles with a sub-strata drawl that I'm sure fulfilled the band's earlier promise; there wasn't a dry seat in the house. The volume was big and bold, loud enough to feel