Saturday night was a great night for blues. As rain pattered on the windows of Cafe Nine on the corner of Crown and State Streets in New Haven, a small and diverse crowd of music lovers sipped beers and munched pretzels as they listened to Buffalo Nichols give a lesson in the music of musicians like Robert Johnson and B.B. King. That lesson, in time, made the joint jump, with a few couples two-stepping in front of the stage.
Expect plenty of storytelling, visual art, bookmaking, and oral history explorations in Fair Haven in the year to come, now that a neighborhood-anchoring nursing home has tapped a new artist-in-residence to lead its annual Cultivating Connections program.
by
Brian Slattery |
Sep 26, 2023 8:34 am
|
Comments
(0)
Birthing a New Sky (Mira and Sora).
The central figure in Birthing a New Sky (Mira and Sora) has immediate, obvious associations with the Buddha, and with meditation and enlightenment. But it’s not just a generic picture of a spiritual leader. The silhouette is specific; it’s an individual, a real person, alive today. Colors course through the shape of their body, the shadows of multitudes of people. The image buzzes with movement and growth, but also exudes balance and peace, connection with nature and with the self. It points toward the future with a sense of genuine, earned lightness and hope.
by
Brian Slattery |
Sep 22, 2023 8:33 am
|
Comments
(0)
Pebble Stone
The Prince and the Magic Lake and Fable.
Two narratives are laid out on the wall. They follow at first familiar forms, a plucky young person setting out on a quest. But they quickly take an unusual turn. Within four panels, they’ve ended on cliffhangers that feel, in a strange way, almost existential. “Who is this?” one protagonist asks. “Who are you?” the other says. Laying them out in parallel adds to the fun. It points out the repetition. Are they just iterations of the same story? (Are most stories just iterations of previous stories?) Is there a moment when these story lines might come together? Or is this all there is?
by
Brian Slattery |
Sep 21, 2023 8:25 am
|
Comments
(1)
Brian Slattery Photos
A rumination on the question of why people write — delivered by legendary culture writer Greil Marcus — that took in his personal history, the history of the tail end of World War II, and David Lynch’s classic Blue Velvet proved a moving and thought-provoking start to Yale’s Windham Campbell Festival on Wednesday evening. The festival, which runs Thursday and Friday, celebrates the world of words, centering on this year’s recipients of the Windham Campbell Prizes.
by
Lisa Reisman |
Sep 20, 2023 5:04 pm
|
Comments
(9)
Lisa Reisman file photo
Michael Jai White: Movie studio is “definitely happening. We just have to regroup a bit.”
Movie poster for White's newly released movie, "Outlaw Johnny Black."
The scene: an out-of-the way mining town ruled by a notorious land baron. The situation: a cowboy-turned-outlaw seeking to avenge the death of his father with a bullet bearing the name of his nemesis. The upshot: posing as preacher, he learns the power of community.
It’s “Outlaw Johnny Black,” the latest release of action star Michael Jai White, otherwise known as the visionary behind Jaigantic Studios, the major movie studio seemingly poised to rise on a desolate stretch of River Street in Fair Haven before vanishing over the last year.
White’s message on “Outlaw Johnny Black,” which is now screening at Criterion Cinemas: tune in. On Jaigantic Studios: stay tuned.
by
Brian Slattery |
Sep 20, 2023 12:07 pm
|
Comments
(1)
One wall of the gallery is a long stack of lively faces, the energetic style matching the animation in the faces. They match their subject, a clown in the old-school sense, more Charlie Chaplin than Ronald McDonald. The artist, Brian Flinn, has numbered the series under the title Auditions. It’s an entertainer looking for a gig. But for Flinn, it’s a sly double meaning, because it’s also a test run for new way for making art. Does it pass?
by
Karen Ponzio |
Sep 20, 2023 9:05 am
|
Comments
(1)
Karen Ponzio Photos
MINIPNG.
Audubon Street is a promenade of institutions that ignite creativity and keep it alight. For the past year that street has also housed the storefront of artist/designer MINIPNG (a.k.a. Eiress Hammond), who has made a home away from home for fans of her original handmade clothing as well as lovers of vintage pieces and accessories from the late ’90s and early ’00s. This Saturday, Sept. 23, she is co-presenting an event that will be bringing an even larger creative crew to the street from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
A leading East Coast concert promoter has signed up to help book shows at the Westville Music Bowl, after teaming up with the local group that runs the ex-tennis stadium-turned-music venue.
by
Brian Slattery |
Sep 19, 2023 9:08 am
|
Comments
(0)
Roberta Friedman
Aglow.
Aglow has been given the right name. It’s an abstract of shapes and colors, but the vibrant yellow in the background suffuses it with sun, with life, as if the viewer is looking upward through something — the slide of a single cell, or a lattice of bridges — into a summer sky. The way the colors keep separate, yet flow together, makes the effect possible, and that is the result of the technique the artist uses. That technique, it turns out, is the focus of the show.
Pride Center Executive Director Juancarlos Soto (center): "Come party with us!"
Drag performances, banned books, rainbow flags and more will be on display across New Haven this week — as the city kicks off its annual pride festival.
by
Karen Ponzio |
Sep 18, 2023 9:00 am
|
Comments
(3)
Karen Ponzio Photos.
Silent Book Club New Haven selections for September.
Are you one of those people who grabs a book with all intentions of plowing through a decent number of pages and ends up not reading any — distracted by the phone, the TV or household chores? The Silent Book Club might be perfect for you.
by
Karen Ponzio |
Sep 11, 2023 8:43 am
|
Comments
(0)
Karen Ponzio Photos.
Lara Herscovitch and The Highway Philosophers.
Lara Herscovitch sang through her sound check, making up lyrics apropos for the day and place: “We are not in a monsoon. It’s a beautiful day.”
Not a drop of rain was to be found on Saturday at the CT Folk Fest and Green Expo, though the heat and humidity was of the late summer variety. A full day and night of music and spoken word on two stages, as well as hourly activities for children and adults, food, drink, and a multitude of vendors awaited visitors behind the stone walls of Edgerton Park. This reporter took in a third of the acts that performed from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
by
Babz Rawls Ivy |
Sep 8, 2023 8:55 am
|
Comments
(0)
Nina Westervelt -El Nino production photo
Julia Bullock.
The following writeup was submitted by Babz Rawls-Ivy, the host of WNHH’s morning radio show “LoveBabz LoveTalk” and the editor-in-chief of the Inner-City News.
Yale Schwarzman Center announced its 2023 – 24 season lineup featuring boundary-pushing artists and powerful performances. From Corinne Bailey Rae to Renée Fleming, attendees from the Yale and New Haven communities will experience deeply personal and culturally immersive performances.
by
Brian Slattery |
Sep 7, 2023 8:30 am
|
Comments
(2)
Brian Slattery photo
Artists at work on City-Wide's return.
In artist Oi Fortin’s studio in Erector Square, seven artists were taking old signs for City-Wide Open Studios, salvaged from Artspace’s basement before it closed, and rearranging and redecorating them for a new purpose: the return of City-Wide Open Studios to the Fair Haven arts complex on the weekend of Oct. 21 and 22.
by
Karen Ponzio |
Sep 7, 2023 8:28 am
|
Comments
(0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
David and Diego meet over ice cream in the film Strawberry & Chocolate.
Last Friday the New Haven Free Public Library decided to serve dessert first, as Strawberry & Chocolate was screened as the inaugural film in the Ives Branch’s September Free Friday film series. The 1993 Cuban film, directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabio, was also the first of four films that will be screened every Friday in September at 2 p.m. in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.
At "Rohn Lawrence Through the Decades" benefit concert.
Toad’s Place on York Street lit up as a cadre of jazz musicians gathered to pay homage to one of New Haven’s own axe men extraordinaire, Rohn Lawrence, and to raise money to help young guitarists follow in the late musical legend’s footsteps.
by
Brian Slattery |
Sep 6, 2023 8:30 am
|
Comments
(0)
Julie Smith, Best Video’s executive director, stood before the crowd of about 20 moviegoers who had assembled for the film and cultural center’s Tuesday night screening. “I know this film generally brings up a lot of conversation, so stick around,” she said. The film in question was Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, kicking off Best Video’s series of screenings of movies by the acclaimed director, that proceeds every Tuesday of the month through Sept. 26.
by
Karen Ponzio |
Sep 5, 2023 8:31 am
|
Comments
(0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Codefendants.
Sunday night was the hottest night of the week, literally and figuratively, as Space Ballroom hosted the first Northeast U.S. show featuring Codefendants, described as a “genre fluid musical collective” and comprised of three heavy musical hitters: Fat Mike, Sam King, and New Haven’s own Ceschi Ramos. The band released an album, Crime Wave, in March 2023 to much praise and adoration and have been spreading their words, music, and vibrancy with a variety of shows ranging from clubs to arenas across the country. But on this night, supported by friends and family, they hit one of hometown favorite Ramos’s original stomping grounds.
by
Lucy Gellman, The Arts Paper |
Sep 4, 2023 8:58 am
|
Comments
(1)
Lucy Gellman / Arts Paper photo
Co-Op student Tahzir Streater: "It's gonna take a lot of practice."
Harriett Alfred stepped forward, running her right hand alongside a piano that had sat silent all summer. She took a deep breath, her face glowing in the morning sunlight. In the second row, senior Jamie Harris lifted her Spongebob-patterned nails to the desk, knowing exactly what was coming next. It was her last first day of high school, and she was ready to lead the charge.
“Good mooor-ning!” Alfred belted. In a still-sleepy soprano, Harris answered, her voice blending with over a dozen for the first time in months. She was ready to be back.
When a friend told me about a conversation sponsored by Community Action Agency of New Haven’s Black Maternal Health Project on Wednesday, I changed my plans for the night, hopped in my pickup truck, and headed to Southern Connecticut State University’s campus. I wanted to see the film Aftershock and hear the panel of Black women health providers talk about it and the stories it tells — true stories of two families that lost their wives, moms, and daughters due to preventable birthing complications.
by
Brian Slattery |
Aug 31, 2023 8:09 am
|
Comments
(0)
Brian Slattery Photos
On one side of Hotchkiss Street at the intersection of Edgewood Avenue on Wednesday evening, along the side of the bookstore Possible Futures, a DJ on the corner pumped out irresistible grooves while friends greeted one another, browsed books, and snacked on empanadas and mimosas.
On the other side of the street was a cheerful sign that read “Happy 75th Birthday Fred!” with a timeline laid out beneath it. The Fred in question is none other than Fred Hampton, Black Panther Party leader and revolutionary.
by
Brian Slattery |
Aug 30, 2023 9:10 am
|
Comments
(3)
Brian Slattery photo
Tea Montgomery’s installation greets the visitor who enters the art show at the Lab at ConnCORP for 6th Dimension, an Afrofuturist festival running in New Haven and Hamden now through Oct. 21.
Its choice of materials, its structure, and its placement in the space create a combination of moods that clash against one another, whether it’s the soft drapery versus the raw pipes in the ceiling, the gauzy light from the windows versus the ripped fabric crawling across the floor, or the rattan chair, redolent of the famous photograph of Huey Newton, but empty now. Is it waiting for the next Huey? Who might that be? What future might they lead us into?
by
Brian Slattery |
Aug 29, 2023 8:23 am
|
Comments
(2)
Brian Slattery photo
Making a sailboat from the squiggly plastic of a 3D gun. Making even more complex objects from 3D printers. Exploring the open worlds of videogames. All of these and more — much more — happen at the Teen Center and Makerspace Drop-In, Monday through Thursday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Stetson Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library, located in the Q House at 197 Dixwell Ave. The event and the space are intended to help library patrons learn to create, explore the library more deeply, and have fun doing it.
