by | Jul 20, 2021 9:45 am | Comments (1)
Natalie Kainz Photo
Some came for the tunes, some came for the pies, and others just came for the vibes.
Continue reading ‘As R&B Fills The Air, Mexican Sweet Corn Pie Takes The Prize’
by | Jul 20, 2021 9:26 am | Comments (0)
A luminous, painterly, Oscar-winning interpretation of a beloved literary classic was the subject of Monday night’s Animation Celebration, the latest installment of the now-long-running film conversation series hosted by Haley Grunloh, library technical assistant at the Mitchell Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library.
by | Jul 19, 2021 2:53 pm | Comments (4)
Owner Josue Santana at his new restaurant across from Stop & Shop.
Inside a new fast-food Puerto Rican restaurant on Whalley, Chef Raul Santiago combines richly seasoned pork fried rice, pinto beans, and oven-marinated pork onto a plate. He then tops the entire dish off with a large serving of sweet plantains.
“That’s it!” said Santiago, holding out a plate of Arroz con Gandules.
Continue reading ‘Today’s Special: Mambo Arroz con Gandules’
by | Jul 19, 2021 9:48 am | Comments (0)
by | Jul 19, 2021 9:40 am | Comments (0)
“Horse,” the lead song from Nose Bleed’s self-titled album, starts with an ambling beat, a simple guitar line, keyboards murmuring in the background. “I want to see how the other half lives because too much honey has made me sick,” the vocals intone. “I want to feel something sweet.” Then the song suddenly kicks into a higher gear, the drums and guitar gaining urgency. “The face of Our Lord,” the vocals sing. “You can’t hurt me any more.”
by | Jul 16, 2021 9:13 am | Comments (0)
Joy Bush
Troubled Turnips.
The turnip’s gnarled skin and desiccated sprouts stand out all the more because of the vivid red background they’ve been placed in front of. Nearby is a head of lettuce rendered inedible by time and neglect, a beet imploding with rot, a potato molding and sprouting at the same time. Joy Bush’s vibrantly decaying vegetables are part of “The Shape of Color” — the latest exhibit at City Gallery on Upper State Street, running now through Aug. 8, featuring the work of Bush, Judy Atlas, Rita Hannafin, and Tom Peterson — and, it turns out, born of a deeply political moment.
by | Jul 15, 2021 12:26 pm | Comments (1)
Natalie Kainz Photo
Customers check out produce at the Sunset Farm booth.
Six new vendors reopened CitySeed’s Downtown Farmers Market after a pandemic pause — and used the occasion to test out Chinese at-home meal kits, vegan granola mixes, and “No Trace” soaps they hope to develop into thriving commercial lines.
by | Jul 15, 2021 9:30 am | Comments (5)
Reinaldo Goeyenechea/La Voz Hispana
by | Jul 15, 2021 9:27 am | Comments (0)
“Hi! Hey everybody!” Nick Grunerud says at the beginning of The Best Wing of the Psych Ward, his latest release as Underwear. As Grunerud tests the keys on his keyboard, we hear cheering in the background, of a live audience. “Thanks for coming out. It’s been a long time — do I need to mention all this? Is it obvious?” he says with a laugh. “I guess I’ll start.” He then launches into “Been A Long Time,” full of the fractured vocals, glitchy keys, surprising samples, and dance rhythms that have become the vocabulary Grunerud uses to build his songs. “It’s been a long time since I went back in,” he sings. “It’s been a long time since anyone gave me confidence.”
Continue reading ‘“Best Wing In Psyche Ward” Album Marks New Beginning For Underwear’
by | Jul 14, 2021 9:18 am | Comments (0)
In her new video for “Paradise,” New Haven-based rapper Snowsa — formerly Snowprah — stares down an adversary over the mysterious contents of a duffel bag. Her antagonist accosts her. There’s an argument. He throws a punch. Snowsa ducks it and throws a punch back. She makes contact, and he staggers. She grabs the bag and runs, out into the streets of the Hill, toward friends, toward safety.
by | Jul 13, 2021 1:24 pm | Comments (0)
Natalie Kainz Photo
Westvilleans line up for pie Monday.
Any way you slice it, the competition was fierce Monday at Westville’s annual “Hi-Fi” pie-baking contest outside Mitchell Library.
The youngest competitor, 12-year-old Vivian Balazs faced up against a returning champion’s mixed-berry pie, her brother’s ombre berry delight, and six other delectable creations.
In the end, Balazs’ “Blackberry Pie with a Lattice top” took the winning prize — a $50 gift card to the Devil’s Diet dessert bar.
by | Jul 13, 2021 9:29 am | Comments (2)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Vercillo and LaPiano.
Where does one find Snoopy keeping company with NSYNC and the Sweathogs? In Westville, and more specifically, at Lower Forms, the new vintage and resale clothing store located on 16 Fountain St.
The store celebrated its grand opening this past Saturday with an onslaught of happy shoppers combing through the racks for T‑shirts, jeans, and more.
Continue reading ‘Lower Forms Raises the Bar With New Vintage Clothes Outlet’
by | Jul 13, 2021 9:26 am | Comments (0)
by | Jul 12, 2021 4:39 pm | Comments (4)
Lisa Reisman Photo
Michael Jai White: Calling on community.
Michael Jai White brought a message to movers and shakers: Help me make studio opportunities for the community in my latest venture.
Continue reading ‘Movie Superhero Lays Out “Jaigantic” Community Vision’
by | Jul 12, 2021 9:41 am | Comments (0)
Nelson.
Sunday afternoon’s tribute at Cafe Nine to New Haven-based musician and writer Rob Nelson, who died of a heart attack on May 26 at the age of 56, began with a reading of an excerpt of Walt Whitman, from his preface to Leaves of Grass.
by | Jul 12, 2021 9:39 am | Comments (1)
by | Jul 12, 2021 8:00 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
Brian Ember.
Baroque-pop theatrics and pop confections went head-to-head on Friday night at Cafe Nine on the corner of State and Crown Streets, as the New Haven-based Brian Ember and Youth XL gave two sets of music that heralded the return of something a lot like pre-pandemic normalcy to the long-running music club.
by | Jul 9, 2021 10:09 am | Comments (0)
Garrison Zweers Photo
Paul Belbusti.
Laughter and conversation permeate the air while percussion, horns, and piano each tap in to begin “Just For Fun,” the sing-a-long-ready first single off Mercy Choir’s latest album, the eclectic Kitchen Knife Collection. Whether you have ventured out to a live show recently or are still keeping yourself socially distant, local singer-songwriter Paul Belbusti has created a listening experience for everyone who wants to feel alive in the moment.
Continue reading ‘Mercy Choir Hones In On “Kitchen Knife Collection”’
by | Jul 8, 2021 6:11 pm | Comments (3)
Natalie Kainz Photo
Alisha Crutchfield-McLean cuts the ceremonial ribbon.
Sending the aroma of essential oils, flowers, and bath products out into the surrounded Westville neighborhood, Alisha Crutchfield-McLean officially opened the doors to her new store BLOOM on Thursday.
The lifestyle boutique, marketplace and community center at 794 Edgewood Ave. celebrated its opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by 50 city and state officials, staff, and Westville residents. The community gathered to sample an array of health products, get to know one another, and ponder the role of BLOOM in their city.
Continue reading ‘Lifestyle Boutique Springs To Life In Westville’
by | Jul 8, 2021 9:42 am | Comments (0)
Album cover of Comfort in Illusion.
“Of Uncertainty,” the first track from Head With Wings’s new album Comfort in Illusion, starts as the title implies, drums, bass, guitars, and vocals each occupying their own space, the atmosphere around them uneasy. The melody carries words that reflect the musical mood: “From where I’m holding down / relentless / protecting my / relaxation / or so I thought / I began to question it all,” Joshua Corum sings. “Doubt from within / strangled my wits / to choke out the best part of my being / I fed it backwards / back towards my gut / yet I still hunger.”
by | Jul 7, 2021 9:20 am | Comments (0)
On a rainy Tuesday afternoon, Trish Clark, Benjamin Hecht, Michael Illian, and Isabelle Gasser — all filmmakers and film enthusiasts — met at Best Video Film and Cultural Center on Whitney Avenue in Hamden. They were there to say hello after a year apart, and to prepare for New Haven’s 11th annual 48-Hour Film Project, a filmmaking competition that happens in cities across the country and beyond, and in New Haven, will span the weekend of July 30 to Aug. 1.
The result will be a few dozen short films, at least a few of which will train their lenses on the Elm City.
by | Jul 6, 2021 9:19 am | Comments (0)
Eva Skewes Photos
Dress rehearsal for Heaven or California.
Aerial routines. Juggling. Tumbling. All in the service of telling the real and tragic story of the Donner Party, a group of wagon-train settlers who, in 1846, tried to get to California from the Midwest but were trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the winter of 1846 – 47; those who survived did so by resorting to cannibalism. This was the vision of director Liz Richards, who, with the help of a crew of New Haven artists, will bring that vision to life as Heaven or California, performed at Air Temple Arts on July 10.
by | Jul 5, 2021 2:11 pm | Comments (3)
Emily Hays Photo
Stephen Ross and Jason V. Watts outside their soon-to-open restaurant and music spot.
Jason V. Watts and Stephen Ross are bringing food from across the African diaspora — from jollof rice to jerk chicken to collard greens — to the spot the former home of the high-end Indian restaurant Thali.
The new restaurant, Jazzy’s Soul Kitchen and Lounge, is slated to officially open at the corner of Orange and George in September.
by | Jul 5, 2021 9:27 am | Comments (0)
Kate Henderson
Mitochondrial Eve.
Kate Henderson’s Mitochondrial Eve stands in Kehler Liddell Gallery like an altar, a place to make an offering to art, science, and perhaps a higher power all at the same time. The figure in the middle, holding aloft a shape that evokes an egg, partakes of past representations of religious figures and fertility goddesses. The plants growing up around her suggest fecundity. But the letters floating around her give it away; it’s the protein sequence of DNA, the building blocks of life, that turn a double helix into a celebration of life.
by | Jul 4, 2021 10:14 am | Comments (1)
