by | Jan 21, 2020 1:08 pm | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
Ngoma.
Before the Peabody’s 24th annual Zannette Lewis Environmental and Social Justice Professional Poetry Slam began on Monday afternoon, poet and emcee Ngoma had a word for people who brought their children to see it.
“I’m going to warn you that we don’t censor people,” he said. “We don’t pull punches.” And for the next couple hours, none of the poets competing in the slam did.
by | Jan 20, 2020 1:24 pm | Comments (1)
Allison Hadley Photos
Josh Kroscen, manager of Pine & Iron Axe Throwing — which opened on Chapel Street on Friday — was patient.
“Try keeping your arms straight, and make sure you’re following through,” he said to me.
I paused at the black line that lay between me and a brightly lit, infuriatingly pristine target, shifting my grip on the hatchet in the vain hope I would suddenly develop the skills to launch it effectively at this target. I stepped; I swung. The flat of the axe clattered against the target. More satisfying thunks rained down all around me from other groups in other lanes; I sighed and tried again.
by | Jan 20, 2020 8:51 am | Comments (1)
Gregory Gagliardi Photos
Last Thursday at the State House, there was a line around the block to hear Lil B talk.
by | Jan 17, 2020 1:10 pm | Comments (2)
Paul Bass Photos
Atticus top chef Matt Wick preps to assemble vegan “soppressata.”
You can’t imagine how Matt Wick can pack so many flavors into one juicy meatless sandwich.
Until you watch him make it.
by | Jan 17, 2020 1:05 pm | Comments (12)
Thomas Breen photo
Mayor Justin Elicker (center) posing with Joann Wilcox, Oliva Martson, Mike Brown, and Jason Burns at Three Sheets Thursday.
Local creatives turned out to Three Sheets bar not for a hardcore punk show or an underground art fest, but to petition the newly elected mayor to keep city dollars and cultural opportunities open to those who already live, work, and perform here.
Continue reading ‘Beer In Hand, Mayor Urged To Support Local Art’
by | Jan 16, 2020 9:27 pm | Comments (1)
“My grandmother … I’m going to give up royalty …”
by | Jan 16, 2020 9:38 am | Comments (7)
Contributed photo
Newly appointed city arts czar Adriane Jefferson.
Mayor Justin Elicker has tapped a state arts program manager with a background in promoting youth professional development and cultural equity to be the city’s next top arts and culture official.
by | Jan 15, 2020 12:58 pm | Comments (0)
Lisa Toto
The Evolution of Wonder Woman, Student Movement, and Stevie.
Riotously elaborated watercolor sets. Animated creatures bursting from their frames. Cars balanced on their heads.
In their first show at Kehler Liddell Gallery in Westville, the gallery’s new members each display, in their own way, a taste for the playful.
by | Jan 14, 2020 1:53 pm | Comments (0)
The American immigrant story is taking a new turn — away from focusing on assimilation and back toward examining the past.
by | Jan 14, 2020 1:13 pm | Comments (0)
William Frucht
Rhinoceros House 1.
A dirty bowl next to a post covered in peeling paint. Natural forms, of leaves or coral, ready to float into space. Heaving waves under heavy winds. These three distinct artistic viewpoints are part of the same exhibit at City Gallery on upper State Street until Jan. 26.
by | Jan 13, 2020 1:25 pm | Comments (0)
Marjorie Wolfe
In the lens of Marjorie Wolfe‘s camera, the wind roils air and water together, driving the clouds through the sky and whipping up peaked waves into foamy surf. Her image captures the moment forever. But if she’d come back the next day — or even a few hours before or after — maybe it wouldn’t be there at all.
by | Jan 13, 2020 9:00 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photo
Perennial
“Tell me, Hamden, Do you like experimental music?” Chad Jewett of Perennial asked the audience at Best Video on Friday night. He was answered with a chorus of yeses and woos. “Wanna hear something a little avant garde?” More woos ensued; if the packed house at the Hamden performance space was any indication, it appeared that there were more than enough music fans ready to hear whatever this band was ready to offer.
Perennial was one of three acts on a bill that built up from acoustic to looping to an all-out rage, each act layering upon the other, each one with lyrical lushness as well as sonic pleasures.
by | Jan 10, 2020 1:39 pm | Comments (1)
Paul Bass Photos
Nebyat Shewaye taps kombucha at his new “farm-to-counter” eatery.
Two secret recipes produced this aromatic pan of “fir-fir” beckoning to visitors inside the bright confines of downtown’s new “farm-to-counter” restaurant.
by | Jan 10, 2020 1:01 pm | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photo
JanaeSound
“How about FaTE?” said Janay Woodruff — vocalist for JanaeSound — at beginning of her band’s set Thursday night at Cafe Nine. “We were destined to be together!”
It was a play on words, but also words of wisdom as these two acts with two powerful and enigmatic vocalists came together for one incredible evening of goosebump-inducing music.
by | Jan 10, 2020 8:35 am | Comments (4)
Contributed photo
Harvey Redak on his horn.
Mark it down, please: Friday, Jan. 10, as Harvey Redak Day.
Never heard of it? Well, I have the proclamation right here on my desk. Not from the governor, or any state or local official. Still, it is proper looking, and it contains the requisite numbers of “To Wit” and “Whereas,” even if the only signature at the bottom is mine.
by | Jan 9, 2020 6:40 pm | Comments (0)
“It will be a hard revenge…”
by | Jan 8, 2020 1:01 pm | Comments (1)
Deborah Berke Partners
Rendering of NXTHVN plan
Emily Hays Photo
NXTHVN Executive Director Nico Wheadon with Arts Council Executive Director Daniel Fitzmaurice outside commission meeting.
The founders of NXTHVN intend the arts community under construction in New Haven’s Dixwell neighborhood to be so public-facing that its art gallery will literally be transparent.
by | Jan 8, 2020 8:45 am | Comments (1)
Brian Slattery
Serenita.
Singer-songwriter Steph Serenita announced that she would start her set at Cafe Nine on Tuesday night like she always did, and proceeded to pound out a beat on her guitar and belt out Janis Joplin’s “Lord Won’t You Buy Me a Mercedes Benz.” Her voice filled the room and ears of the audience who had come to see her on a triple bill with Hatfield and Outside Reality that proved to be a night of strong voices and reverence for the dead.
by | Jan 7, 2020 1:58 pm | Comments (1)
Paul Bass Photo
Jordan Watson performing “A Change Is Gonna Come” at the inauguration.
A famous vibraphonist gave a boy named Jordan Watson some tips. Like: Center your body when you perform. Always be conscious of the theme, even when you’re improvising.
by | Jan 7, 2020 12:58 pm | Comments (1)
Tony Falcone
Solar Solitude.
On one side of the NewAlliance Art Gallery there’s a painting of a ship, another painting of a happy family. On the other side of the gallery, there’s another painting of a ship — except this one is sailing through space, heading to a distant star. And on the wall nearby, two gargantuan paintings that offer a vertiginous bird’s‑eye view of nothing less than a vision for the future.
It’s all part of a 45-year retrospective of Tony Falcone, who calls himself an “accidental artist,” but has a novelist’s eye for telling stories of the past, and sharing visions of the future.
by | Jan 6, 2020 5:44 pm | Comments (0)
Mamadi Doumbouya photo
Dwayne Betts (right) and his new poetry collection, Felon.
Reginald Dwayne Betts was 17 years old and locked up in solitary confinement in an adult prison when he found his calling to become a poet.
Continue reading ‘Dwayne Betts’s Path From Prison To Poetry’
by | Jan 5, 2020 10:23 pm | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photo
You’re Not Listening! Brass Band
Surf punk, sweet head-banging riffs, and a Gwen Stefani singalong accompanied by a sousaphone and glockenspiel — on Friday at The Cellar on Treadwell, The Sandy Clams, Minorchy, and You’re Not Listening! Brass Band made up an eclectic triple bill, ushering in the new year with enough raucous fun for music fans of any genre.
by | Jan 3, 2020 8:53 am | Comments (4)
Chef Bun Lai at Miya’s: 12 months of culinary mayhem remain.
Miya’s, the Howe Street restaurant that changed New Haven and then the world, is planning to end its long run — but not for another year.
by | Jan 3, 2020 8:36 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photo
Taylor.
Even before their song-swapping set began at Best Video Thursday night, Shawn Taylor and Dick Neal were talking.
“You got the Willie Nelson thing going on your guitar there, Shawn,” Neal said, pointing to a hole Taylor had worn through the top of the instrument just below the pick guard. The reference to the country legend was apt, for a set filled with songs about memories and music itself.
by | Jan 2, 2020 10:36 pm | Comments (0)
“Sorry for losing patience …”