On Thursday just after the sun went down, the first night of Hanukkah, Eric Notkin decided to come to his first ever menorah lighting on the Green simply to show solidarity at a time of rising anti-Semitism — occasioned in no small part by the violent reverberations of the Israel-Hamas war.
by
Brian Slattery |
Dec 8, 2023 8:48 am
|
Comments
(0)
Brian Slattery Photos
Barrett, Deupree, Morris.
In between sets of improvised music at Never Ending Books on State Street, the band joked with each other with the ease of old friends. Ringleader Joe Morris introduced the band to newcomers. Horn player Taylor Ho Bynum used to live in New Haven, Morris said, but relocated to Vermont; shortly after his arrival, he got 40 inches of snow.
“And I stayed!” Bynum interjected, to laughter. Morris then introduced bassist Brad Barrett. “I don’t have any good snow stories about Brad,” Morris said. He was killing time. Seeing that most of the audience had settled in, he then turned to his fellow musicians.
“All right,” he said, “Enough reality.” And began to play.
by
Brian Slattery |
Dec 6, 2023 8:59 am
|
Comments
(2)
Ann Lehman
Friends on Bench.
The two friends in Ann Lehman’s sculpture — we only know they’re friends because the title tells us so — appear as though they’re deep in the middle of a long conversation, one that started long before we arrived and will continue after we’ve gone. One is perhaps trying to convince the other of something. He’s pressing his point. The other isn’t convinced, but he’s hearing the argument out. It’s happening on a bench that could be in any public park. In short, it’s a definition of community: people coming together in an open space, exchanging ideas, listening and speaking, challenging one another knowing that the friendship is stronger than any argument, that the bonds between people matter the most.
by
Brian Slattery |
Dec 5, 2023 8:53 am
|
Comments
(0)
Ken Grimes
Untitled (The Electrical Experiments of Marconi).
Ken Grimes’s pieces in “The Truth Is Out There” partake of the style of cartoons, woodblocks, and also — thanks to the associations from the X‑Files reference in the title — the illustrations on the covers of the Golden Records aboard the deep space exploration vehicles Voyagers 1 and 2. Those contain information for any aliens that might find the record, starting with instructions on how to play the music and proceeding to a diagram showing the location of the origin of the mission, that is, us.
Grimes’s work shares that sense of playful seriousness. It muses aloud whether scientific experiments activated a distant alien probe, the tone of voice making room for wonder, conspiracy, and the skeptical response to both: Probably not. And so what if it did? The inherent humor allows for it all — yet in its dogged focus on its subject matter, puts its thumb on the scale. Grimes hears the skeptics. But what if there’s life out there? When it makes contact, how do we respond?
Yale University dropped more than $139.6 million to purchase one of downtown’s largest pieces of med-tech real estate, in a part of the city bursting with new lab and office towers.
It doesn’t plan “immediately” to stop paying taxes on the building.
by
Karen Ponzio |
Dec 4, 2023 8:33 am
|
Comments
(2)
Tyshawn Sorey Trio.
Did you hear thunder Friday night or see lightning? Probably not, unless you were one of the lucky few to attend the sold-out Tyshawn Sorey Trio show at Firehouse 12. Part of the venue’s 2023 Fall Jazz Series, these three acclaimed musicians — Tyshawn Sorey on drums, Aaron Diehl on piano, and Matt Brewer on bass — presented a scintillating set of spontaneity and skill, coupled with unbridled joy, that became a master class on how live music can be downright magical.
Pro-Palestine protesters gather at Thursday's tree-lighting.
As close to a thousand people gathered for New Haven’s annual tree-lighting celebration on the Green, hundreds protested mere feet away in support of Gaza and Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem, where there will be no Christmas celebrations due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
by
Brian Slattery |
Dec 1, 2023 8:59 am
|
Comments
(0)
Joan Marcus Photos
Taylor A. Blackman
When we first meet Boseman Salvage Junior (Taylor A. Blackman), he’s shoveling snow, and turns it into a dance. The labor he’s doing can’t take away from the grace with which he’s doing it. As he continues to move, in more abstract ways, the dance becomes a strong expression of character, a portrait of a young man with more within him than he knows how to contain. In that context, his act of shoveling becomes meaningful, given the mountain of snow that hovers in the background for his dance — and for the entire play. No matter how much he shovels in that moment, can he make a dent in it? But he works, and dances, anyway.
Yale spent $7 million purchasing two more commercial properties on Broadway, further solidifying its ownership of the university-adjacent stretch of storefronts.
Mexican restaurant owner Brenda Jain took a chance on her lifelong love for Thai food and decided “It’s Thai Time.” We decided it was time to check it out for ourselves.
Time to call in the alders: City's Kathleen Krolak, sustainability intern Lewis Johnson III at the Ives CMT meeting.
Eating, drinking, shopping, and soon enough being ho-ho and merry are all roaring back post-Covid, which is good news for Downtown and Wooster Square and the city’s economy.
However, that also means parking woes and complaints from both merchants and residents are on the rise. And don’t forget about the dreaded 8,000-person bar crawl.
by
Maya McFadden |
Nov 22, 2023 1:42 pm
|
Comments
(1)
DeJadonyea Council gets thankgiving turkey from Gateway’s new food pantry.
Twenty-five year old nursing student DeJadonyea Council cut the ribbon for a new food pantry at Gateway Community College then picked up a free frozen turkey and fixings to go with it for Thanksgiving.
Julie Parr, outside her 116 Crown home: "I felt very disenfranchised."
Julie Parr and 27 of her Crown Street neighbors didn’t get to vote in their ward’s alder race in this month’s election, because a government mess-up sent them to the wrong polling district.
by
Brian Slattery |
Nov 22, 2023 11:00 am
|
Comments
(15)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Reel life in New Haven: The 2018 Black Panther opening became a festive community event for organizers like Paul Bryant Hudson, Jennifer Quaye Hudson, and Mercy A. Quaye (pictured).
Midnight showings of classics and new movies. Packed lobbies for James Bond films. A small screening room for arthouse flicks. The smell of popcorn. The collective laughter, sobbing, and gasping as an audience took a ride through a movie together.
When Bow Tie’s Criterion Cinemas closed its doors in October, New Haveners lost the ability to have those experiences — and now face the question about the future cultural place of movies in the Elm City.
by
Brian Slattery |
Nov 17, 2023 9:17 am
|
Comments
(0)
Hyunsuk Erickson
Thingumabob Tribe #3
Hyunsuk Erickson’s Thingumabob Tribe #3 spreads out across one of the first-floor galleries of the Ely Center of Contemporary Art. Their sinuous shapes and bright colors might carry, for some viewers, suggestions of meaning. They could be seen as chess pieces, or as rock formations on an alien planet. Or perhaps they’re microscopic shapes brought to the human scale. On the other hand, are they really asking to be understood, to be perceived in that way? They can be taken as is, simply as shapes, forms, colors. Or anything in between, an apprehension of form, the content arising in the viewer.
Cool Amps' Lonnie Garris III and Nick Anderson, with their company's "laminar flow extraction module" prototype.
Retired Air Force colonel and eco-entrepreneur Lonnie Garris III returned to his home city Thursday evening to help show that the path to a climate-friendlier future — and a less carbon-intensive means of recycling lithium-ion batteries — goes through Chapel Street.
by
Brian Slattery |
Nov 10, 2023 9:00 am
|
Comments
(2)
Contributed photo
From the Shubert production of Come From Away.
A bus driver has brought a busload full of stranded airline passengers to a camp in Newfoundland, in the middle of the night. The passengers don’t really know why they’re there, and many of them are scared. When they arrive at the camp, the first passengers in line don’t want to get off the bus, and they don’t speak English. The bus driver doesn’t know how to get through to them. Then he notices that one of them is holding a Bible, and he knows his Bible. He flips the pages to Philippians 4:6: “Be anxious for nothing,” the verse begins. He points to the page. The passengers read it, and understand.
“And that’s how we started speaking the same language,” the actors address the audience.
The city’s transit department is moving ahead with plans to convert a handful of downtown streets from one-way to two-way — and is seeking public input before deciding how many parking spots should remain on George Street, where protected bike lanes should go on York, and whether or not to place a Bus Rapid Transit lane in the middle of Church Street.
by
Brian Slattery |
Nov 8, 2023 11:14 am
|
Comments
(0)
Cal Bocicault
It's Gotta Be the Shoes.
The two men in Cal Bocicault’s painting are, first and foremost, stylish, and they know it. Peering askance at the viewer, colors coordinated with themselves and each other, together they open the shoeboxes on their laps. The shoeboxes themselves become classic MacGuffins. We have no idea what’s in the boxes. For all we know, the boxes are empty. But maybe they’re not. Maybe they contain the most stylish sneakers we’ve ever seen, footwear that elevates all the clothes around it. The important thing is that the two men can see what we can’t. They know what’s in the boxes. They’re just not telling us.
by
Thomas Breen, Nora Grace-Flood and Maya McFadden |
Nov 7, 2023 2:08 pm
|
Comments
(11)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Cody Uman, in Ward 21: Voting yes on 4-year terms.
Thomas Breen photo
Outside the Conte West Hills polling place on Chapel St.
(Updated and corrected) Cody Uman, an undergraduate math major at Yale, was running late to class Tuesday after setting aside an extra hour to research the proposed changes to the city’s charter and bike over to King-Robinson School to cast his vote in Ward 21, which covers parts of Newhallville, Dixwell and Prospect Hill.
He said he was voting “yes” on the ballot measure in favor of four-year terms for all elected officials and increased salaries for the city’s alders to make sure they’re better “compensated for their time.”
Republican challenger Dave Agosta and Democratic incumbent Eli Sabin, both running for Ward 7 alder.
The quest for denser and more affordable housing, safer streets, smoother sidewalks, and a more accessible city for people with disabilities is driving this year’s contested alder race in East Rock/Downtown’s Ward 7 — along with online messages from the aldermanic challenger that made unsupported accusations of attempted murder and “intimidation,” some of which he called “satirical,” some sincere.
by
Brian Slattery |
Nov 3, 2023 8:52 am
|
Comments
(0)
Joan Fitzsimmons
The Woods.
Joan Fitzsimmons’s images both beckon viewers and warn them about what’s in store in the Institute Library’s upstairs gallery. The hands, in part because of their visual treatment, feel iconic, perhaps from an old horror movie. But what are they doing? Are they trapped? Are they casting a spell? Are these the hands of a prisoner, or is the owner of those hands doing the manipulating?
by
Thomas Breen |
Nov 1, 2023 3:31 pm
|
Comments
(3)
Ben Silvert and Andrea Weinstein with a photo of Andrea's sister and brother-in-law, Judih and Gad.
Andrea Weinstein’s sister Judih is a person of peace. She’s vegan and loves teaching English and making puppets for the children on the southern Israel kibbutz where she has lived with her husband Gad Haggai, a musician and chef. She cherishes the collectivist living the kibbutz afforded her family, writes haikus to calm herself and others, and is critical of the right-wing Netanyahu government.
That life collapsed on Oct. 7, when Judih and Gad were two of hundreds of Israelis either kidnapped or gone missing in a cross-border terrorist attack waged by Hamas.
Andrea showed up in downtown New Haven Wednesday calling attention to her sister’s and brother-in-law’s plight as she desperately seeks information.
by
Karen Ponzio |
Oct 31, 2023 2:05 pm
|
Comments
(0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
One of the photos of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo by Eduardo Longoni.
The Latino and Iberian Film Festival at Yale — a.k.a. LIFFY — commenced Monday night with a screening of the documentary film Una Mirada Honesta/An Honest Look, the story of Argentinian photographer Eduardo Longoni and his iconic images that changed history. It was a fitting way to begin the festival’s 14th year, as it has become known for its provocative and passionate presentation of films that open viewers’ eyes and hearts with stories often left untold elsewhere.
