Reinaldo's Corner
by | Dec 9, 2022 8:30 am | Comments (0)
"I am going to dissolve the Congress."
Arts & Culture
Wábi Gathers People And Ideas
by | Dec 8, 2022 9:12 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
On Wednesday evening, dozens gathered in KNOWN, the co-work space in the Palladium Building at 139 Orange St. It was part of KNOWN’s Wind-Down Wednesdays, a chance for people to exchange ideas and just relax. But the art on the walls — like Daniel Ramos’s Monk at the Ojo de Agua — wasn’t there as a coincidence; this particular Wednesday evening was a chance to celebrate the opening of “Assemblage,” a show put together by Kim Weston of Wábi Gallery. As it turned out, the gathering of humans at KNOWN was mirrored by the exhibition itself, which Weston conceived of as its own gathering of artists, and the ideas and spirit they share.
How Ruby & Hart Became Atom & Dot -- & A Brave Girl's Author Found New Strength
by | Dec 7, 2022 3:33 pm | Comments (0)
Gail Lerner set out to write a book about a brave 10-year-old girl who climbs trees in New Haven’s Edgerton Park — and summoned bravery of her own to complete it.
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Musicians Find The Balance At Cafe 9
by | Dec 7, 2022 8:44 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
Ferrer.
Early in his set, Fernandito Ferrer issued a humble apology; he believed he was a little out of practice. “I haven’t had too many gigs lately, and it’s cold,” he said. There was no need to apologize, no evidence that he was out of practice, as his hands nimbly worked the fingerboard and strings of his guitar and his voice wafted through a room full of people at Cafe Nine on Tuesday night.
100s Turn Out For The Nutcracker At The Q
by | Dec 6, 2022 12:22 pm | Comments (0)
The following writeup about a recent performance of The Nutcracker ballet at the Q House was submitted to the Independent by the nonprofit Leadership, Education, Athletics in Partnership (LEAP).
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Collective Consciousness Comes Full Circle
by | Dec 6, 2022 8:47 am | Comments (3)
Dexter Singleton.
As Collective Consciousness Theatre in Erector Square prepares to roll out its plans for 2023, artistic director Dexter Singleton thought back to 2021, when he first walked back into the theater after the pandemic shutdown in March 2020, which interrupted the company’s run of Dominique Morrisseau’s play Skeleton Crew. “We came back into CCT and we still had the Skeleton Crew set in there,” Singleton said. “Jenny” — Nelson, who directs many CCT productions — “said it was like walking into a time warp.”
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Four Musicians Get Cozy
by | Dec 5, 2022 1:49 pm | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos.
Sarah Dunn and Kelly Kancyr.
On Saturday evening, four singer-songwriters — Sarah Dunn, Kelly Kancyr, Lisa Roberts, and Lys Guillorn — made Gather, the cozy coffee shop on State Street where just about anything and everything can happen, even cozier. They filled the eclectic space with their songs, stories, and a heavy dose of camaraderie and joy, each bringing their own unique sound and occasionally getting a little help from a friend.
42nd Annual Arts Awards Put Fashion First
by | Dec 5, 2022 9:43 am | Comments (1)
Noel Sims photo
Models walk the runway at 42nd annual Arts Awards.
The red carpet rolled out. An endless stream of apizza flew in the door straight from Big Green Truck’s ovens. DJ Cookie filled the room with tunes to get everyone on their feet.
And New Haven’s artists, designers, and fashionistas — some professional, some amateur, and a few still in strollers — gathered for an only-in-the-Elm-City celebration.
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Does "The Brightest Thing" Add Light?
by | Dec 5, 2022 9:02 am | Comments (0)
Joan Marcus Photos
Michele Selene Ang and Katherine Romans.
Set in Lexington, Kentucky (home of the University of), Leah Nananko Winkler’s The Brightest Thing in the World is a rom-com, a sitcom, and a story of addiction and recovery, of the bond between sisters, of goofy romance between a nerdy woman and a more worldly one. It has babbling drunks and maudlin drunks, tough honesty and an almost slapstick emergency, with enticing baked goods, cutesy Christmas paraphernalia, a random dance number, and a final scene of intense, visceral truth. The play, receiving its world premiere, is running now at Yale Repertory Theatre through Dec. 17, directed by Margot Bordelon.
Reinaldo's Corner
by | Dec 2, 2022 8:30 am | Comments (0)
"Mmmm ... I have doubts!"
Hip Hop For The Homeless Kicks Off Year Nine In New Haven
by | Nov 29, 2022 10:30 am | Comments (0)
Mike Marques Photo
Joey Batts.
“Year nine, can you believe it?” said Joey Batts, creator and organizer of Hip Hop for The Homeless, expressing his excitement about the annual live event, which begins on Thursday this week at The State House. It will go on to include seven shows at seven different venues throughout Connecticut, spanning the next two weeks. The event will focus on its yearly goal of raising money and collecting food, clothing, and personal hygiene items for specific organizations in each city where it is held, but it’s also focused on the local hip hop community.
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"Hallmark Holiday" Shopfest Hits Downtown
by | Nov 28, 2022 3:30 pm | Comments (2)
Kimberly Wipfler photo
The Connecticut Yuletide Carolers.
A quartet of carolers dressed in traditional Victorian holiday garb harmonized to “Silver Bells” as children laughed and passersby ambled along downtown’s busy sidewalks. Families gathered to listen outside of Union League Café, shopping bags and hot cider in hand.
Next door, children sat around tables to decorate ornaments with ribbons, bells, markers, and gems. Beyond the arts and crafts a professional ice sculptor worked his trade, using a chainsaw and chisel to carve out a holiday elf. And around the corner, Santa and Mrs. Claus posed for photos.
That was the scene on Saturday as downtown New Haven welcomed some winter holiday cheer in the form of the Town Green Special Services District’s annual “Hallmark Holiday,” which promised all-new events, special shopping promotions, and festive activities for locals and visitors alike.
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Former FLOTUS "Fistbumps" Possible Futures
by | Nov 28, 2022 3:00 pm | Comments (2)
On “Small Business Saturday,” a stack of Michelle Obama’s latest books made its way from the shelf of New Haven’s newest local bookstore to the former First Lady’s Facebook page.
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Lost Tribe Tells Musicians' Stories
by | Nov 28, 2022 8:36 am | Comments (2)
Karen Ponzio Photos
The Lost Tribe with Tang Sauce and Ghazi Omair.
The Lost Tribe’s Jocelyn Pleasant greeted audience members as she made her way through the crowd at Best Video on Saturday night to gather up her bandmates and ready them for the evening ahead. Her love of community became the theme of the night, as the band convened with friends and fellow artists to celebrate connections and conversations through words, music, and film.
Spice Mixed Just Right In Tibetan Kitchen
by | Nov 23, 2022 1:30 pm | Comments (5)
Nora Grace-Flood photos
The homemade spice rack Tsering Yangzom draws from while cooking.
Tibetan Kitchen partners in business and life: Yangzom and Sherab Gyaltsen.
Sherab Gyaltsen and Tsering Yangzom weren’t willing to spill the secret of their homemade magical mainstay chili spice-blend — but they did plump eight dumplings into a sizzling pan to reveal how to make momos you won’t forget.
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At YCBA, Two Artists Look Ahead
by | Nov 23, 2022 9:09 am | Comments (1)
Njideka Akunyili Crosby
"The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born" Might Not Hold True For Much Longer.
We can’t read the expression on the subject of the painting, but that’s not where the eye goes anyway. Maybe we look first at the vibrant clothing she’s wearing. Or maybe we’ve already seen the element that makes the painting one to stop and linger at: that the carpet is in fact an elaborate collage of photographs. Whether we know the people in the pictures or not, we recognize them as people representing a place, a past, a culture. There’s commotion beneath the calm, questions beneath the assertiveness.
BLOOM Blossoms In Buy-Local Holiday Spotlight
by | Nov 22, 2022 12:20 pm | Comments (3)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Bloom owner Alisha Crutchfield with a gift box she designed for the holidays.
Alisha Crutchfield gathered a blank journal, pens promising that “You Got This,” a homemade candle bathed in “blessings,” a chain necklace with the reminder that “Black Femmes Aren’t Your Playground” — and then labeled the overflowing arrangement the perfect present for “the person who loves self care and spending time alone after a long day of work.”
In other words, Crutchfield, the founder and owner of a year-old Westville lifestyle boutique called BLOOM, curated that care package with herself in mind.
She did so to show how she busily assembles her top-selling products in personalized baskets for those seeking professional help upping their gift giving game — and as part of a broader effort to urge New Haveners to shop local this holiday season.
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Statue's Approval Heralded, With History
by and | Nov 22, 2022 9:34 am | Comments (16)
Marc Massaro design
The approved new Wooster Square monument.
Thomas Breen photo
The Wooster Square Monument Committee at the site of the past and future statues on Tuesday.
(Updated) The group charged with coming up with an Italian heritage-celebrating sculpture to replace the long-gone Christopher Columbus statue in Wooster Square Park gathered at the site of the past and future monuments on Tuesday to celebrate a major milestone for the project — and to kick off a $300,000 fundraising drive.
Artist Collaboration Brings Out The Best At Never Ending Books
by | Nov 22, 2022 8:43 am | Comments (0)
Sara Scranton’s “Spider Girl” partakes of old circus posters and underground comics from a generation past, but it has a modern twist that tweaks the formula. “Don’t get caught in her web,” the caption warns. It gives Spider Girl a little say in the matter.
That say is brought out in the poem by Karen Ponzio of the same title. “You speak of webs woven / Though your version of a trap is / My version of home. / Should I be punished for being hungry? / Is every ‘should’ a lure / Towards my demise? / Break my heart if it feeds / Your appetite or / Brings you joy. / I can rebuild anything / You attempt to destroy.” The poem, written in response to the painting, twists the painting even further, turning it inside out. Each piece amplifies the other.
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Taylor-Made Ticket Trust Battle Looms
by | Nov 21, 2022 3:23 pm | Comments (10)
Don't Blame Me: A senator (pictured at Monday New Haven press conference), a singing star, and a super-seller point fingers for ticket fiasco.
There will be hell to pay for screwing up ticket sales to pop phenom Taylor Swift’s first tour in four years, if Richard Blumenthal has his way.
Trans 4 Trans Music Festival Honors Life
by | Nov 21, 2022 8:50 am | Comments (0)
Lindsay Skedgell Photos
Asher Kai.
Along the walls of Cafe Nine, two trans pride flags framed the stage as a crowd began to gather inside from the cold. The room quickly filled, with art vendors and band merch tables lined along the wall closest to the front door. Crowd members walked around in clear earrings with black lettering, the name ’T4T’ dangling from their ears. It was the beginning of New Haven’s Trans 4 Trans music festival, and performers had come from all over the Elm City, and as far away as Oregon, Philadelphia, and Boston, to be there.
Puppet Cabaret Gets Down To Monkey Business
by | Nov 21, 2022 8:35 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery photos
Marmol-Gagne.
Puppeteer and host Anatar Marmol-Gagne was trying to start the Pinned and Sewtered Puppet Cabaret at the State House on Sunday night. The problem: fellow puppeteer Madison J. Cripps, who attempted to hijack the audience’s interest with puppets, dance routine, and blazing harmonica. It seemed like chaos might reign for a moment, until he was dragged away by a giant red cane wielded by a silent stagehand. Marmol-Gagne smiled.
“Who invited you?” she said to Cripps, now offstage. “Oh, right. I did.”
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COINTELPRO Mastermind Gaged
by | Nov 18, 2022 9:23 am | Comments (1)
Generations after he unleashed federal law enforcement to destroy the lives of people who disagreed with him, J. Edgar Hoover has finally met his match.
Poets And Musicians Offer Salve To The Cold
by | Nov 18, 2022 9:00 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
Katy Rea.
Poetry about the end of the world. Pop music by turns dreamy, elliptical, lush, and jagged. And transfixing music from half a world away. All three art forms were on lavish display at Never Ending Books on Thursday night, as two poets and three musical acts comprised a diverse and thoroughly engrossing evening that entertained, warmed, and nourished.
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Reinaldo's Corner
by | Nov 17, 2022 3:50 pm | Comments (0)
"In order to make 'America' great against, 'I am announcing my candidacy for president.'"