Wendy Eisenberg Gets To The Point
by | Mar 20, 2019 12:10 pm | Comments (0)
Charmaine Lee Photo
If you like the guitar, complicated music, or poetry, Wendy Eisenberg wants you to come to her Friday gig at Firehouse 12 on Crown Street.
Ninth Square
Cafe Nine Makes It Private
by | Mar 13, 2019 7:13 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
Private Language.
Ryan Sindler of Private Language let loose a couple chords from his guitar. It was all bassist Matthew Peddle and drummer Nikolai Corey needed to fall, and they were off. Only after the first song did Sindler introduce the band.
“Hello,” he said. “Now let’s go around,” he motioned to the small but enthusiastic audience. No one responded.
Junk Fed Brings Bazaar To State House
by | Mar 11, 2019 7:39 am | Comments (1)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Todd Rogers.
Anthony Apuzzo and Michael Cooper were set up next to each other at the Junk Fed Pop Culture Bazaar at the State House this past Saturday. Both of their tables were filled with items they had collected over the years but now were trying to sell to make room in their homes. They thought they had perhaps hit a bit of a snag in their plans, though. There was also a lot of stuff at the bazaar they wanted to purchase.
“Everything we make we’re gonna spend today,” joked Cooper. “I already bought something off Anthony!”
Coliseum Site Plan No Longer Hinges On Conference Center
by | Mar 6, 2019 3:28 pm | Comments (14)
Paul Bass Photo
Coliseum site; developer Fowler (inset).
Conference center? No longer key to the project.
Continue reading ‘Coliseum Site Plan No Longer Hinges On Conference Center’
Nasty Women Get Divine
by | Mar 5, 2019 1:05 pm | Comments (12)
Shelby Head
Power Figure.
There’s a body in the hallway of the Yale Divinity School. Maybe it’s a mummy wrapped in linen, or a cast with a form inside it. Whatever the case, it’s on an ironing board, and it’s hard to miss the spikes driven into the spot where its sternum would be. Look again, and you see that a cable is wrapped around the body. One end goes to an outlet in the floor. The other to the iron itself. It is, in a sense, the embodiment of domestic violence — and standing next to it, it feels like a rebuke. Could you have done something to stop it?
Baobab Builds A Podcast Network
by | Mar 1, 2019 2:45 pm | Comments (3)
Brian Slattery Photo
Delerme and Corcoran inside Baobab.
Ewing at the controls.
Piyar Delerme and Kayte Corcoran, hosts of Midwife Crisis, sat in front of the microphones in New Haven’s new podcast hub, Baobob Tree’s storefront studio on Orange Street. They debated which genre to choose for the theme music. Corcoran offered punk music. Delerme demurred. Corcoran quickly offered ‘90s R&B.
“We can get together on ‘90s R&B,” Delerme said. “The punk is not going to work, despite the fact that I kill Doc Martens.”
Building Boom Spurs Public Parking Shift
by | Feb 27, 2019 3:50 pm | Comments (12)
Thomas Breen photos
270-290 State garage (left), soon to be acquired by city. Sherman-Tyler lot: Future housing? Below: Hausladen outlines changes.
The city’s parking authority is about to pick up a 278-space garage downtown, a few months before it is set to lose a 470-space surface lot in West River.
Adding the former could bring in around $600,000 a year, as well as bolster parking options for downtown’s red-hot building boom.
Dropping the latter would mean an annual $700,000 loss, but might also encourage the development of an empty lot in a neighborhood eager for housing.
Int’l “Street” Food Start-Ups Ready To Roll
by | Feb 27, 2019 8:55 am | Comments (1)
Thomas Breen photos
Eduardo De Lara shows his empanadas at Tuesday night’s pitch event.
Business Accelerator crews serve up the goods at The State House.
Loosen your belt and get ready to eat.
A cornucopia of fried, spicy, savory, and eminently portable international street food is about to hit New Haven, courtesy of a host of new food startups run by local immigrants with fare ranging from Dominican Republic-style spinach-and-feta empanadas, chutney from Mauritius, and social justice-flavored Salvadoran pupusas.
Continue reading ‘Int’l “Street” Food Start-Ups Ready To Roll’
State House Wears The Crown
by | Feb 25, 2019 8:38 am | Comments (0)
Allison Hadley Photos
Sometimes, in mid-late February, the relentless gray skies, noncommittal precipitation, and prospect of another month of similar weather can really bring a body down. And sometimes, shows like Prince Royal and MAKU Soundsystem are the equivalent of four days of tropical sunshine and relaxed vibes, the perfect prescription to cure the late winter blues.
Sinecera Means It At Cafe Nine
by | Feb 20, 2019 8:25 am | Comments (0)
Quinn Turlington, a.k.a. Sinecera, gave the crowd at Cafe Nine on State and Crown a sly grin.
“Greetings,” he said. “I’m going to play some music now.” His funny, casual demeanor was a ruse.
Songwriters Head Straight For The Heart
by | Feb 6, 2019 1:11 pm | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photo
Lydia Luce at Cafe Nine Tuesday night.
Midway through her set at Cafe Nine on Tuesday night, having already won the crowd over, Nashville-based singer-songwriter Lydia Luce motioned behind her.
“You may be wondering about the jellyfish,” she said.
Abrams Rocks State House “State” Crowd
by | Feb 6, 2019 9:04 am | Comments (5)
Markeshia Ricks Photos
The State of the Union address is about how the president sees the country. For a crowd gathered gathered at the State House Tuesday, it became about a picture painted from a different view.
Death Metal Chases Winter Away
by | Feb 4, 2019 8:30 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photo
Xenosis
“I like having shows on dates that people will remember,” said musician Mark Lyon on why he chose Feb. 2 for a triple bill of death metal advertised as “A Very Brutal Groundhog Day” at The State House this past Saturday night, including his band Xenosis.
“I mean, it’s Groundhog Day, and that movie? Who doesn’t love Bill Murray?,” Lyon added. “I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t love Bill Murray?”
Cafe Nine Drops It Low
by | Jan 30, 2019 8:29 am | Comments (0)
Brianna Coble peered out through the red spotlight to the small but energetic crowd at Cafe Nine on Tuesday night.
“Hi, I’m Brianna,” she said.
“Yes! Yes! Absolutely!” someone said from the audience.
Coble may have been soft-spoken at the microphone. But as soon as she started singing, her voice filled the room.
Multiplex Connects at The State House
by | Jan 28, 2019 1:40 pm | Comments (1)
Karen Ponzio Photo
Elm Fiction
“When I book here I want to make sure we are connecting with people who are doing similar things in other places,” said Joe Morris, musician and co-curator of Multiplex, the new improvisational music series that opened at The State House Sunday afternoon.
Along with musician and co-curator Bob Gorry, Morris has set up a series of three shows over the next three months to connect and highlight local and non-local musicians on the experimental music scene.
GO KAT GO! Celebrates A Milestone
by | Jan 25, 2019 8:37 am | Comments (0)
Nick Caito Photo
Michelle Saxton.
Michelle Saxton recalled her first foray into booking and promoting shows under the name GO KAT GO! with a big smile at Three Sheets, the former Rudy’s.
“My very first show was in this room, right on that stage!” she said. “It was September 2003, and the bands were the Blind Pharoahs from New York and the Tombs Tones from New Jersey, both old friends of mine, and I was like ‘Let’s do this you guys! Come up and play!’ And the rest is history.”
Bitch Fit Forgets To Breathe
by | Jan 23, 2019 2:13 pm | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio photos
Bitch Fit
“I’m so excited I’m forgetting to breathe,” said Megan, vocalist for Bitch Fit — one of three local bands that gave the audience some breath-stopping moments during a Tuesday night when many braved the icy sidewalks and below-freezing temperatures to be warmed and welcomed by a trio of acts all celebrating their first time playing at Cafe Nine on State and Crown.
Snowprah & Co. Melt The Ice
by | Jan 22, 2019 8:47 am | Comments (0)
Paul Bass Photo
State House, Sunday night.
Public officials from the governors on down warned people to stay home binge-watching TV Sunday night as temperatures rocketed toward zero and ice made roads slick and dangerous.
New Haven’s Ninth Square music venues didn’t get the memo.
Artspace Rides The Tide
by | Jan 17, 2019 8:24 am | Comments (0)
Sam Messer
Untitled (from Denis the Pirate series).
A sailing ship transformed, with eyes on its sails, heads toward the edge of the world, until a hand rises from the mythological depths to warn the vessel to turn back. A hurricane whirls at the center of a small square that shouldn’t be able to contain it. Empty pools bake by the seashore; are they being built or are they being abandoned? It’s hard to say.
At State House, The Moctar Is In
by | Jan 8, 2019 8:28 am | Comments (0)
Daniel Shoemaker Photo
Moctar.
Mdou (pronounced mmdou) Moctar, the Abalak, Niger-based musician, packed a New Haven venue for the third time in just over 15 months on Thursday night, playing at the State House this time, edging north in capacity from his prior two outings at Lyric Hall. Rick Omonte, who booked the show, might know why.
“Bi-Coastal” Nardy Boy Lands At State House
by | Dec 20, 2018 8:39 am | Comments (0)
Getting ready to come back north from New Orleans for a spate of gigs around southern Connecticut — including at the State House in New Haven on Dec. 27 — Nardy Boy guitarist, singer, and bandleader Renard Boissiere reminisced about a night at the Acoustic in Bridgeport a few years ago. Nardy Boy was onstage on a Wednesday night. The band always had a microphone set up for someone who wanted to join them. A woman with short blond hair asked if she could sing with them. Boissiere agreed.
“She blew the room away,” Boissiere said.
Continue reading ‘“Bi-Coastal” Nardy Boy Lands At State House’
Polluter Cleans Up At State House
by | Dec 17, 2018 8:34 am | Comments (0)
@elisonjackson Sam Perduta solo starting things off. @witch_hair_band and @pollutedchoir to follow
Posted by The State House on Thursday.
An eclectic billing of hometown electric guitar-adjacent acts took the stage at the still fresh-faced State House to celebrate the release of headliner Polluter’s new record, The Tree That Owned Itself. As a thank you to the crowd, each attendee received a ticket to a free digital download of a cross-genre session that explores the far reaches of artsy jazz punk.
Ports Of Spain’s “Able Archer” Aims True
by | Dec 14, 2018 8:33 am | Comments (0)
All the elements in the title track from the New Haven-based Ports of Spain’s latest album, Able Archer, are in place from the song’s first breath. There’s Carlson’s drums, relaxed yet urgent. There’s Ilya Gitelman’s intricate, muscular guitar. And there’s Carlson’s voice, sending a melody cascading down a startlingly poetic set of words.
“Sleep through spring / You can throw it away / And lie till the onset of autumn / Cool like a knife slipping into a wave / And lithe gliding down to the bottom,” Carlson sings. “Strong square breathing I’m a leaf on a stream / An archer who’s nocking an arrow / Unfit and insistent I’m a smear on a page / Who shoots though the target is narrow.”
“Here’s To The Handsome Guitarist”
by | Dec 7, 2018 8:19 am | Comments (2)
Sean Beirne.
“It’s nice to have the family all in one room and most of you know what I mean by the family — the NHV and CT music family,” said singer-songwriter Frank Critelli, who took a break from his bartending duties on Thursday afternoon to take the stage at Cafe Nine and talk about his friend and fellow musician Sean Beirne, who passed away on Monday from a brain aneurysm at the age of 39.
“You know how you look at a painting and the artist paints it in such a way that it draws your eyes to a specific point in that painting, something he wants you to notice? Well every time I looked at the stage and Sean Beirne was on it, Sean Beirne was that point. He was always the focus for me.”
Cave And Mountain Movers Play The Right Loud
by | Dec 6, 2018 3:01 pm | Comments (0)
Daniel Shoemaker Photos
Perched about head-high on the stage left wall of Cafe Nine, there is a roughly LP-sized wooden frame containing what at first glance looks somewhat startlingly like a ransom note: With its askew, cut and paste lettering, it reads, “make sure your volume is right for the room. THANKS.”
Short of asking whether or not Cave or Mountain Movers noticed the sign, I have no way of knowing, but whether explicitly or intuitively, the two bands responded in very different, but equally valid manners.
Continue reading ‘Cave And Mountain Movers Play The Right Loud’