Downtown

Vigil Uncovers Humanity Amidst Violence

by | Apr 26, 2024 6:24 pm | Comments (0)

Thomas Breen photos

Margaret Olin and Josh Weinstein ...

... at Friday afternoon's "humanity vigil" at Yale.

There were no flags at Friday afternoon’s humanity vigil” on Yale’s downtown campus.

There were only people — from New Haven and Jerusalem and Haifa and beyond — eager for a place to talk about peace in a time of death and discord.

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Portable Bathrooms Multiply On Green

by and | Apr 26, 2024 4:14 pm | Comments (3)

Laura Glesby Photo

Alex Nieves checks out a freshly-cleaned portable toilet on Thursday afternoon.

An accumulation of feces, old clothes, and drug paraphernalia prompted the city to increase the number of portable restrooms on the New Haven Green from two to six, as city officials search for a more permanent bathroom solution. 

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"La Práctica" Balances Humor And Humanity

by | Apr 9, 2024 9:02 am | Comments (0)

A still from La Practica.

On Monday night Yale Film Archive’s Cinemix series offered a selection that exemplified its description of itself as stand alone screenings of standout films.” La Práctica (The Practice) — the latest from Argentinian writer/director Martín Rejtman — is the story of a yoga instructor’s interactions with students old and new as he maneuvers his way through his ever-changing world. Presented in conjunction with the Latino and Iberian Film festival at Yale (LIFFY), the event included a post-film Q&A with Rejtman, moderated by LIFFY’s founder and executive director Margherita Tortora. 

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Yale Film Archive Adds Sound to Silents

by | Apr 5, 2024 11:25 am | Comments (1)

Still from Within Our Gates.

As Yale Film Archive launches into the last quarter of its 2024 spring semester programming, it offered something a little different on Thursday evening: silent films that each had a special distinction. 

The first, presented in conjunction with the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, was a selection of Solomon Sir Jones Films from 1924 to 1928 that are currently a part of the library’s holdings. The second was a showing of Within Our Gates, a 1920 film written, produced, and directed by Oscar Micheaux; it’s the oldest known surviving film with a Black director. One more bonus: both films on this evening were accompanied by live music, played by pianist Donald Sosin.

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Chappell Roan Rides The Next Wave

by | Apr 4, 2024 9:10 am | Comments (0)

Brian Slattery photo

Chappell Roan on Wednesday at College St.

The jury is still out on whether American culture, or the music industry, can create another superstar, like Michael Jackson or Prince, like Madonna or Bruce Springsteen. Maybe Beyoncé, now 42 years old, and Taylor Swift, 34, are the last of their kind. But if future superstars are still possible, one of its more likely candidates — Chappell Roan — played at College Street Music Hall on Wednesday night to an ecstatic, sold-out crowd that couldn’t get enough.

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More Luxury Apts. Open On Audubon

by | Apr 3, 2024 12:07 pm | Comments (38)

Thomas Breen photos

What's that, Spinnaker VP Frank Caico? Why it's ...

... more and more and more apartments on a rebuilt Audubon.

Another 60 high-end apartments are now available to rent on a transformed Audubon superblock.

Wait, hold on a second: Half of those newly opened residences have already been snapped up, by more and more people able to afford monthly prices of $2,500 and higher.

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A&I Gives Sneak Peek At 2024 Festival

by | Mar 29, 2024 9:18 am | Comments (5)

artidea.org

Jazz vocalist Samara Joy, an A&I headliner this year.

Shakespeare in circus, choral fusion, climate activism and optimism talks, making your own empanadas: this eclectic mix of events and more is part of this summer’s International Festival of Arts and Ideas, which is returning with a full schedule of programming that covers just about anything an arts and culture lover would have a taste for — and maybe something they have never tasted before.

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Early Voting Kicks Off Tuesday

by | Mar 22, 2024 3:58 pm | Comments (9)

Thomas Breen Photo

Republican and Democratic registrars of voters Marlene Napolitano and Shannel Evans on Friday.

New Haveners can start casting early ballots in person (but not for very long) next week for the first time — even if this particular vote might not have much at stake.

The election is a Democratic and a Republican presidential primary. Officially the primary takes place April 2. But Connecticut is embarking on a newly approved plan to allow some days of early voting, which begins next Tuesday.

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Yale Gallery Goes Beyond "The Scream"

by | Mar 22, 2024 11:08 am | Comments (2)

Madonna.

The Yale University Art Gallery’s show Munch and Kirchner: Anxiety and Expression” — running now through June 23 on the gallery’s fourth floor at 1111 Chapel St. — begins with a moment at an art gallery over 100 years ago that feels like it could happen today, or any time. In 1912, the text relates, there was a monumental exhibition of modern art” in Cologne, Germany that aimed to illustrate how the most cutting-edge groups of the day drew inspiration from the work of a slightly older generation.” That big-tent approach, however, turned out to be fraught.

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Artists Explode The Runway

by | Mar 21, 2024 11:44 am | Comments (1)

Portrait of a Lady — Spilling the Tea; La Artillería De La Reina — Gimme My Flowers Now; Nefertiti of House Nubia — Bamboo Earring Only 1 Pair.

Sandy Clafford’s trio of paintings take over the space near the window of the Institute Library’s upstairs gallery for the show Look Book” — running now through May 23 in the Chapel Street library, with an opening reception tonight. They make a bold fashion statement, though not one that follows easy rules.

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Family Dollar Shoppers Don't Want Change

by | Mar 19, 2024 4:25 pm | Comments (5)

Alex Ankrah and Josephine Bailey: Family Dollar is a top-dollar date space.

Mother and daughter Hinasta L and Celeste Burrell left Family Dollar with Rockin’ Protein, hand sanitizer, period pads and heavy hearts — as they prepared for potential closure of the only store in the city keeping their pockets lined with more than lint.

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Yale Rep's "Escaped Alone" Lets Everyone Understand

by | Mar 15, 2024 10:10 am | Comments (1)

Joan Marcus Photos

Rosato, Shipley, Wolf, Borsay in the new play at Yale Rep.

A group of women are talking together in a garden, under the shade of a tree. In the patterns of their speech, their ability to finish one another’s sentences, it’s clear they’ve been friends for years. But their conversation is about nothing serious. It’s just a way to spend an afternoon. Suddenly there’s a piercing sound, a blinding light, and the stage is plunged in darkness, the tree suddenly a stark silhouette against a roiling background. From one of the women, we get a report of calamity, of mass death, utter mayhem. The lights blind again, and we return to the sunlit garden, the four women still just talking as though nothing has changed. But something has changed.

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Tech Philanthropist Buys Union League Building

by | Mar 11, 2024 5:54 pm | Comments (26)

Thomas Breen photo

1032 Chapel, now owned by Technolutions' Alexander Clark.

Technolutions photo

Megadonor Clark: "A young Beethoven on Red Bull."

A local tech CEO and ascendant patron of downtown New Haven” plans to undertake a multimillion-dollar renovation of the Union League Cafe’s historic home — after buying the Chapel Street property from Yale for more than $4.3 million.

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All-Ages Folk Punk Show Celebrates Community

by | Mar 11, 2024 10:25 am | Comments (1)

Leo Slattery Photo

A lone child in a Rubik’s Cube hoodie stood in the middle of the small black box space at Witch Bitch Thrift on Saturday night, trying and failing with a kendama, a Japanese wooden ball and stick toy. Around him, people trickled in in groups of two or three, ready to see folk-punk acts Apes of the State, Myles Bullen, and Lars and their Lilac Ukulele. 

The band members socialized, waving to the people they recognized and smiling and introducing themselves to those they didn’t. Everyone was dressed for the occasion: a sea of Doc Martens, work boots, and old sneakers. Pants, mostly black, usually dotted in patches of the wearer’s favorite bands. The magnum opus, an Apes t‑shirt from a previous tour. April, lead singer of Apes of the State, seemed equal parts flattered and fascinated by the appearance of her decade-old merch. The most diehard of fans wore battle jackets, a punk tradition of sewing handmade patches of bands onto a denim coat. The battle jackets at this particular show almost all had Apes of the State on them. It was standing room only, save for a chair left in the corner that people piled coats under. The chair itself remained empty, as if for Elijah the prophet.

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Film Archive Celebrates End Of The Art World

by | Mar 8, 2024 9:50 am | Comments (0)

Karen Ponzio Photos

Alexis Krasilovsky.

Thursday night the Yale Film Archive added two new jewels to their Treasures series: a new 35 mm print of Daisies, the 1966 Czech New Wave film directed by Vera Chytilova, and a new 16 mm print of End of the Art World, the 1971 documentary made by Alexis Krasilovsky while she was a senior at Yale. Celebrated with a free screening at the Humanities Quadrangle, the event was made even more special by the presence of filmmaker and writer Krasilovsky, who introduced the films and participated in a Q&A afterward.

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