Arts & Culture

Cafe Nine Rides The Darkwave

by | May 26, 2023 8:17 am | Comments (0)

Brian Slattery Photos

Midnight Psychic.

Unapologetically pounding drum machines. Guitars and basses suffused with enough effects to meld with the keyboard washes in the background. Vocals floating in a sea of reverb. The sound of darkwave — a morose, sexy strain of music that rose out of punk and new wave in the early 1980s and has turned out to have a persistently long life — washed over Cafe Nine on Thursday night as three bands showed an eager audience how it was still done, four decades in.

Continue reading ‘Cafe Nine Rides The Darkwave’

Reinaldo's Corner

by | May 26, 2023 8:00 am | Comments (0)

There goes an inexpensive life preserver.

Painters Find The Point In The Abstract

by | May 25, 2023 8:16 am | Comments (0)

Esmeilyn Tejeda

Herterochromia Iridium.

Esmeilyn Tejeda’s Herterochromia Iridium is the portrait of a man and an exercise in style. Tejeda’s attention to the details of her subject’s face and the abstractions she introduces work together to reveal something of the subject, his strength and his vulnerability. The painting is part of a series of Tejeda’s, and the aim of that series — an exploration of how facial expressions give way to deeper personal insights, the challenges of removing our masks to reveal who we are when confronted with public scrutiny, and the juxtaposition between the facade we display versus the emotions we attempt to subdue” — shines through.

Continue reading ‘Painters Find The Point In The Abstract’

Best Video Goes To Bat For "May"

by | May 24, 2023 8:34 am | Comments (2)

Nicky (John Cassavetes) is squirreled away in a seedy hotel. He’s sure that the mob has a contract out on his life. He calls Mikey (Peter Falk) his childhood friend and the only ally he thinks he has left in the world. Mikey arrives to tell Nicky that he’s just being paranoid; everything’s going to be fine. The problem is, Nicky’s right. And Mikey just might be in on it.

Continue reading ‘Best Video Goes To Bat For "May"’

Today's Ted Toon

by | May 24, 2023 8:00 am | Comments (0)

Trey Moore Takes A Trip

by | May 23, 2023 8:34 am | Comments (0)

Ike Abakah Photo

Trey Moore.

Love Drugs,” the first cut from the New Haven-based musician Trey Moore’s new album Psychedelic Love Drugs, starts as a smooth number, a sultry guitar, a gentle rhythm. Reality,” Moore sings. I want it now.” As if in response, the song kicks into a new mode, with swirling keyboards, a dirty drumbeat, lush strings. It’s a signal for what the album has in store; as the name implies, Psychedelic Love Drugs is about expansion — mentally and musically.

Continue reading ‘Trey Moore Takes A Trip’

Memorial Playground Takes Shape On Winchester

by | May 19, 2023 2:38 pm | Comments (5)

Thomas Breen photos

Pilar Sanzari leads the flower planting at the newly built Kathy Carroll Playground at 660 Winchester.

Charla Nich and Kathy Carroll's daughter Kate Chivian on Friday.

Pilar Sanzari dug her gloved hands in some freshly poured soil to plant a colorful array of Shasta daisies, azaleas, petunias, and marigolds — as a vibrantly hued new playground took root behind her in honor of a beloved late Yale professor and substance use treatment researcher.

Continue reading ‘Memorial Playground Takes Shape On Winchester’

Ghost Of Bill Monroe Welcomes The Sabbath Queen

by | May 19, 2023 8:39 am | Comments (0)

Contributed Photo

David Sasso, at far left, recording the new album with Jacob's Ladder.

Hunkered at home with his Martin D28 guitar one Blursday evening during the lockdown depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, David Sasso heard familiar melodies come out a new way.

Fast forward to May 2023: Sasso returned home to debut a bluegrass take on a traditional Jewish prayer service, with an album of said music about to drop.

Continue reading ‘Ghost Of Bill Monroe Welcomes The Sabbath Queen’

Reinaldo's Corner

by | May 19, 2023 8:00 am | Comments (0)

Jazz Quintet Comes Full Circle

by | May 18, 2023 9:02 am | Comments (1)

Brian Slattery Photos

Halfway through the first number from the Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere Quintet at Cafe Nine Wednesday night, the band already sounded like they’d be playing for hours. A first, highly energetic section of solos was winding down, and there was a brief pause in the music. As the others in the ensemble held a chord, drummer Ryan Sands stood up for a few seconds, just long enough to take off his coat, then hit the next beat without a hitch. It was a signal both that the music was getting hot, but also that the musicians were getting comfortable — as well they should.

Continue reading ‘Jazz Quintet Comes Full Circle’

Four Artists Emerge For Spring

by | May 17, 2023 8:55 am | Comments (0)

Danae.

Anastasia Mastilovic’s painting Danae may be named after a figure in Greek mythology, but her style makes the figure evocative of more. The woman could be a goddess or a mermaid. She could be in repose, or unleashing magical powers. Or perhaps it’s all a metaphor, about power, latent and dynamic, and how it can be used to transform the world.

Continue reading ‘Four Artists Emerge For Spring’

NHSO Shows The Way Forward

by | May 16, 2023 8:29 am | Comments (0)

MIchelle Cann and Alisdair Neale.

An historic premiere. Significant anniversaries and, in some cases, a final concert for several members of the orchestra. An orchestra program featuring works entirely by Black American composers, not presented in February, when one of those composers was in the audience. Another work performed by a Grammy-winning classical pianist. 

Friday night’s final concert for the New Haven Symphony Orchestra’s 2022 – 23 Classics season at the John Lyman Center for the Performing Arts was loaded with significance.

Continue reading ‘NHSO Shows The Way Forward’

Swifties, Senator Step Up On Antitrust

by | May 15, 2023 3:35 pm | Comments (9)

Nora Grace-Flood photo

McDonald, Blumenthal, Le and Grayson boosting antitrust bill Monday.

Richmond Le stood outside the Shubert Theater in support of his favorite superstar and her worldwide fans who have both been affected by the bungled concert sales of an under-fire concert-broker — and spoke out in favor of legislation that would break ticket services’ stranglehold over music venues, artists and audiences.

Continue reading ‘Swifties, Senator Step Up On Antitrust’

Night Market Grows The Party

by | May 15, 2023 8:43 am | Comments (4)

Brian Slattery photo

A people-filled, car-free Orange St. at Friday's fest.

Throngs of New Haveners descended on the Ninth Square for hours on end for the latest Night Market, an evening bazaar” that saw people of all ages fill the streets, stalls, and shops, dance on the sidewalk, and generally pass the time outdoors together.

Continue reading ‘Night Market Grows The Party’

Cross Culinary Champs Bring Home The Gold

by | May 12, 2023 4:59 pm | Comments (8)

Nora Grace-Flood photos

Cross chefs-in-training show off their culinary chops at Friday's presser.

Punchy restaurant pitches and smoke from searing scallops filled Wilbur Cross Friday morning as students showed off lessons learned from participating in a nationwide youth culinary competition — and from living in a small city as culturally rich as the meals served up by the school’s award-winning cooking crew.

Continue reading ‘Cross Culinary Champs Bring Home The Gold’

State House Says Goodbye

by | May 12, 2023 8:56 am | Comments (1)

Brian Slattery Photo

The State House Co-Owner Carlos Wells.

The closing of The State House has brought forth a wealth of emotions from the New Haven music community as it prepares for the end of the State Street venue’s five-year run as a Ninth Square powerhouse of productions, showcasing everything from heavy metal multiple band bills and R&B jam sessions to sequin-studded cabarets, puppet theater, and DJ-driven dance parties. With the last show currently scheduled for May 28, co-owner Carlos Wells hopes to concentrate on the next two weeks of shows that will take the venue to its end in a celebratory fashion.

Continue reading ‘State House Says Goodbye’

"Ripple" Carries The Season Home

by | May 10, 2023 8:50 am | Comments (0)

Joan Marcus Photos

Christina Anderson’s the ripple, the wave that carried me home starts with a perky voice on an answering machine, bright and insistent. The young woman on the other end is trying to get a hold of an older woman. The reason is a civic event, the dedication of a swimming pool, which is to be named after the older woman’s father. When the older woman — Janice — finally calls the young woman back, she is polite, but hesitant. There’s a little pain in her voice, and (the audience can see) more pain on her face. The phone call is bringing up difficult memories. Why would the renaming of a swimming pool do that?

Continue reading ‘"Ripple" Carries The Season Home’

Fair Haven Art Show Finds A Place To Land

by | May 9, 2023 8:40 am | Comments (2)

Milena Alvarez

Luz.

Luz, by Milena Alvarez, gets its effect first and foremost from the atmosphere the artist captures. It’s a picture that looks hot, a blazing afternoon. The people are keeping cool. The artist is part of the painting, as all three subjects are aware of her, which complicates things. Was the artist just taking their picture? Or was the artist interrupting something? The ambiguity is heightened by the subjects’ blurred faces. They seem relaxed enough, but we’ll never know what they’re thinking.

Continue reading ‘Fair Haven Art Show Finds A Place To Land’