Sections

Neighborhoods

Features

WNHH Radio

Follow Us

NHI Newsletter

Legal Notices

Arts & Culture

Reinaldo’s Corner

by Reinaldo Goyenechea/La Voz Hispana | Nov 11, 2021 5:07 pm | Comments (0)

I have executive privilege; these documents are mine …

Hawkins Jazz Collective Keeps Swinging At The Owl Shop

by Brian Slattery | Nov 11, 2021 9:11 am | Comments (1)

Brian Slattery Photos

Before he sat behind the drums, Gil Hawkins, Jr. addressed the crowd at the Owl Shop from the microphone set up in the middle of the stage. ​“Wednesday night is jazz night at the Owl Shop. It’s been that way for years.” For the Hawkins Jazz Collective — this Wednesday made up of Hawkins on drums, Mike Godette on guitar, and Lou Bocciarelli on bass — ​“years” meant well over a decade, Covid-19 shutdown notwithstanding. As the group slid into its first tune, it created a sense less of normalcy (whatever that means anymore) than of timelessness.

Continue reading ‘Hawkins Jazz Collective Keeps Swinging At The Owl Shop’

When Software Meets Songwriting: Musician Cracks The Code

by Brian Slattery | Nov 10, 2021 8:42 am | Comments (1)

From seemingly all around the classroom at District Arts and Education on Tuesday evening came a series of meandering tones, a series of chirps and clicks. The sounds were coming from an open-source live-coding program called Estuary, and they were the result of musician Carl Testa feeding it a couple simple commands. He was about to demonstrate how people could use the program to make music together by coding in real time.

The demonstration opened up possibilities for gaining confidence in learning how to code. It also suggested compelling questions about what music composition is when the software makes some of the decisions.

Continue reading ‘When Software Meets Songwriting: Musician Cracks The Code’

Artist Builds City From Scraps

by Brian Slattery | Nov 9, 2021 8:34 am | Comments (1)

From a distance on Audubon Street, it looks like a city has sprung up inside the gallery space of Creative Arts Workshop, stretching far back into the building. Come a little closer, though, and you see that the buildings are rusted, almost derelict, the windows empty. Go inside the gallery and explore, and you come across the small outline of a person, lying there as if outlined in chalk. There’s a small tablet close by, but its screen glows only a blank blue.

Where are all the other inhabitants? What happened to them?

Continue reading ‘Artist Builds City From Scraps’

Arts Awards Celebrate Educators

by Brian Slattery | Nov 8, 2021 9:04 am | Comments (1)

Leigh Busby Photo

The ceremony for the Arts Council of Greater New Haven’s 41st annual arts awards returned to being an in-person event on Friday, as people gathered at the John Lyman Center for the Performing Arts at Southern Connecticut State University to honor several of New Haven’s artist educators: Miguel Gaspar Benitez, James and Tia Russell Brockington, Allen ​“Dooley‑O” Jackson, Linda Lindroth, Patrick Smith, and Bill Brown and Sally Hill.

Continue reading ‘Arts Awards Celebrate Educators’

Musical Project Grows From Global Connections

by Brian Slattery | Nov 5, 2021 8:47 am | Comments (0)

“Let all the fruits fall down,” a chorus intones. Then a firm piano chord, and a strong voice sings: ​“Moving through the orchard / you strode through the grove / arms grabbed apples of the sun / trunks were strong, you thought ​‘love.’” Something in the voice suggests an emotional complexity, signaled by a single bell. ​“Came back next spring,” the singer continues. ​“stripped the branches clean / Earth there for you to devour or protect / you come off gentle, wind up mean.” The song picks up momentum until it hits the chorus, lush with strings, pounding drums, hands clapping. It’s the arrival of a new collaboration of talents that already encompasses New Haven, New York, and Australia, and promises more.

Continue reading ‘Musical Project Grows From Global Connections’

Three Bands Make Room For Everyone At Cafe Nine

by Brian Slattery | Nov 4, 2021 8:12 am | Comments (0)

Brian Slattery Photos

Blvck Hippie.

Josh Shaw of Blvck Hippie was on tour from Memphis, but had nothing but praise for the two New Haven acts — Glambat and Mightymoonchew — who had preceded him on the stage at Cafe Nine on Wednesday night. He declared himself maybe a little intimidated. ​“Why did both bands have to sing so good?” the headliner said. ​“I’m a little self-conscious now.” He was paying the same respects to his openers as they’d paid to him, in a night filled with music that was both personal and partylike.

Continue reading ‘Three Bands Make Room For Everyone At Cafe Nine’

Steven DiGiovanni Blurs The Lines In CAW Exhibit

by Brian Slattery | Nov 2, 2021 7:54 am | Comments (3)

Hiroshi’s Chair.

It’s a painting of a room, rendered with fidelity, but suffused with light and sadness. Even without knowing who Hiroshi is, there is a sense of loneliness to the scene, though it’s not abject; there’s comfort there, too. It turns out that Hiroshi is a close relative of the painter, Steven DiGiovanni, and the family lost Hiroshi to Covid-19. The story brings into focus what’s in the painting already. In the way DiGiovanni depicts the room, and especially the chair, well-worn, well-loved, we feel it all, both Hiroshi’s absence and his presence.

Continue reading ‘Steven DiGiovanni Blurs The Lines In CAW Exhibit’

Light Upon Blight Scares Up Film Score

by Karen Ponzio | Nov 1, 2021 10:17 am | Comments (0)

Karen Ponzio Photos

Light Upon Blight

Best Video brought back one of its most anticipated annual events on Saturday night: the Light Upon Blight live scoring of a horror film, and this year’s choice — the 1932 classic Vampyr — provided ample spooky and surreal images to inspire four musicians to create a matching soundtrack that suited the mood.

Continue reading ‘Light Upon Blight Scares Up Film Score’

Kiara Matos Opens Doors On Orange Street

by Brian Slattery | Nov 1, 2021 9:24 am | Comments (3)

Brian Slattery Photo

Matos at her new downtown haunt.

A customer walked into Kiara Matos’s new storefront ceramics studio and gallery on Orange Street looking to buy two matching mugs she had seen earlier on the shelf. The problem: In between visits, another customer had come in and already bought one of them.

“Don’t worry,” Matos said. ​“I’ll make more.”

“You’re doing well!” the customer beamed.

Continue reading ‘Kiara Matos Opens Doors On Orange Street’

Killer Birthday Show Brings Seasonal Spookiness To Cafe 9

by Karen Ponzio | Oct 29, 2021 9:10 am | Comments (0)

Karen Ponzio Photo

Addy Edward and Sarah Golley Thursday night at Cafe 9..

Killer clowns, candy, and catchy tunes that make you want to dance are not typically associated with one another, but Thursday night at Cafe Nine a combination birthday/Halloween celebration with two local acts showcasing their original music brought them together.

Continue reading ‘Killer Birthday Show Brings Seasonal Spookiness To Cafe 9’

Comedy Night Relieves Tension Of The Times

by Brian Slattery | Oct 28, 2021 8:53 am | Comments (0)

Brian Slattery Photos

It was just after 8 p.m. on Wednesday, and host Dan Kalwhite lost no time warming up the healthy crowd for the latest A Guy Walks Into a Bar comedy open mic night at Cafe Nine, which featured returning performers from September’s installment as well as fresh new faces. He fished the crowd for anything interesting they have eaten for dinner.

One audience volunteered that she’d had pretzels for dinner — at a pizza place outside New Haven, before coming down to the club on State and Crown.

“They serve pretzels at a pizza place?” Kalwhite said. ​“The pizza must be terrible.”

Continue reading ‘Comedy Night Relieves Tension Of The Times’

Artist Creates A New Faith

by Brian Slattery | Oct 27, 2021 9:12 am | Comments (0)

On one level, Christian Curiel’s painting of the woman by the water is realistic; she’s sitting in a natural position, not like she’s posing for a picture, but like she’s just gotten out of the water. But ritual soaks the atmosphere around her, in the way her face is painted, the flowers in her hair, the candles floating on the water. Then there are the shapes in the air around her that have no place in a realistic painting, as if Curiel has made visual the intangible spiritual act that has just taken place. In the end, though, you might say the key to the whole painting is the cinderblock at her feet. It looks at first like it’s resting in the shallows, but the woman’s feet suggest the water’s deeper than that. Is the cinderblock floating in the water? Are all the rocks floating as well?

Continue reading ‘Artist Creates A New Faith’

Two New Local Albums Celebrate The Tried, True And New

by Brian Slattery | Oct 26, 2021 8:00 am | Comments (0)

You know where you are from the opening flourish of Joe Flood’s ​“Hard Time Blues,” as a warbling harmonica cuts a line through a swinging rhythm from two guitars, a bass, and janky percussion. ​“It’s been hard times,” Flood sings. ​“They cut me open, sewed me up / I’m still not quite the same / People dying / Friends and loved ones up and gone / And only life to blame.” The lyrics talk about hardship, but Flood sings with the easy confidence of a seasoned pro. It’s all a setup, as it turns out, for a chorus that opens out into lush territory, and the lyrics suddenly become hopeful.

Continue reading ‘Two New Local Albums Celebrate The Tried, True And New’