by | Jul 2, 2021 1:03 pm | Comments (10)
Natalie Kainz Photo
Alisha Crutchfield-McLean at her new lifestyle boutique.
A “community oasis” is blossoming on the corner of Edgewood and Central Avenue — where handmade birdhouses hang from the ceiling, flowers spring from shelves, and a garden sprouts lavender.
by | Jul 2, 2021 9:27 am | Comments (3)
New Haven Preservation Trust photo
Newhall Gardens.
These photos and the following write-up were submitted by the New Haven Preservation Trust.
This year, the New Haven Preservation Trust celebrates its 60th Anniversary and recognizes the creativity and preservation of some unique structures built in the founding year of 1961. The Trust also reflects on the prescient and deeply relevant vision of one of its founders and embraces a New Haven partner with the shared spirit of appreciation of our city’s multi-cultural heritage.
Continue reading ‘Newhall Gardens Wins Top Preservation Award’
by | Jul 1, 2021 4:12 pm | Comments (0)
by | Jun 30, 2021 1:53 pm | Comments (5)
Music mogul and noted superyacht owner David Geffen has donated $150 million to Yale School of Drama so that all students can attend tuition-free in the future.
Continue reading ‘$150M Gift Means Free Sailing For Yale Drama Students’
by | Jun 30, 2021 8:41 am | Comments (3)
Contributed Photo
From top left: Layo Bright, John Guzman, Alyssa Klauer, Africanus Okokon, Daniel Ramos, Warith Taha, Patrick Quarm, Marissa Del Toro and Jamillah Hinson.
Seven artists and two curators have won yearlong fellowships at the Dixwell-based art center NXTHVN.
The fellows hail from Brooklyn, Texas and Ghana and came out on top from among over 325 applicants to get to New Haven. One fellow, Africanus Okokon, was already living in New Haven and attended Yale for a master’s degree in fine arts.
by | Jun 28, 2021 2:45 pm | Comments (4)
Emily Hays Photos
Meryem Bostanci interviews Shelagh Laverty at QU media camp.
Asked by interviewers to demonstrate a hidden talent, rising Wilbur Cross senior Shelagh Laverty touched her tongue to the tip of her nose.
The group was practicing man-on-the-street interview techniques at a media production camp at Quinnipiac University. Rather than asking strangers policy questions, however, the teens asked their classmates to show off talents, jokes and victory dances.
by | Jun 28, 2021 1:10 pm | Comments (1)
Charlie Widmer locked eyes with his wife in the front row.
“There is nothing for me but to love you and the way you look tonight,” crooned the trained operatic tenor. The song was Frank Sinatra’s “The Way You Look Tonight.” The soft accompaniment came from piano, saxophone, bass … and the squeals of seagulls on Long Wharf.
by | Jun 28, 2021 9:03 am | Comments (1)
Sophie Sonnenfeld PHoto
Trevor Benjamin and his daughters Yasmina (center) and Leila.
The lures of jerk chicken, Jamaican music, island crafts, dancing — and, this year, free vaccinations — brought a crowd from throughout the region to DeGale Field in Goffe Street Park Sunday afternoon for the 7th annual New Haven Caribbean Heritage Festival.
Most of all, as one participant put it, it was a day to celebrate New Haven’s Caribbean culture and come together as a community.
Continue reading ‘For 7th Year, Caribbean Community Celebrated In Goffe Street Park’
by | Jun 27, 2021 8:05 pm | Comments (6)
Sophie Sonnenfeld Photo
Zinc owner Donna Curran with U.S. Sen. Blumenthal at the restaurant Friday.
Donna Curran, owner of Zinc Restaurant across from the Green on Chapel Street, received word in May that she was getting federal pandemic assistance — and then a month later a letter arrived basically saying, “Never mind.”
Continue reading ‘Visiting Zinc, Blumenthal Vows To Deliver Restaurant Pandemic Relief’
by | Jun 25, 2021 10:25 am | Comments (2)
Ramen noodles bathed in a clear chicken and dashi broth, topped with a gooey, soft-boiled ajitama egg, shiitake mushrooms, and torched char siu combined into a riot of flavor at Menya Gumi, a self-described “hole-in-the-wall” ramen restaurant on Orange Street.
by | Jun 25, 2021 10:18 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Chef Franco
Is the clam boil the perfect summer food?
I got to decide that for myself, as did around 20 others, on Thursday night as the International Festival of Arts and Ideas presented Summer Cooking with Chef Arturo Franco-Camacho, an interactive cooking event broadcast via Zoom and featuring the long-beloved New Haven-area restauranteur.
by | Jun 25, 2021 10:16 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
Erik Elligers (r.). Mat Crowley (l.).
The audience applauded even the sound check for the New Haven-based Goodnight Blue Moon, as four members of the seven-piece band — Erik Elligers on guitar, Mat Crowley on mandolin, Nancy Matlack on cello and banjo, and Vicki Wepler on violin, with all four providing vocals — regaled a crowd of about 70 on Thursday night, in the latest of Best Video’s run of outdoor shows since the weather warmed up in April.
by | Jun 24, 2021 4:53 pm | Comments (0)
“Those who do not want to be vaccinated will be imprisoned and vaccinated in the buttocks.”
by | Jun 24, 2021 9:12 am | Comments (0)
Daniel Shoemaker Photo
Mountain Movers at Cafe Nine in 2018.
“I Wanna See the Sun,” the first track from World What World, the new album from New Haven-based underground anchors The Mountain Movers, starts right where the band’s previous full-length release, Pink Skies, left off. There’s the powerful, elemental rhythm section of Ross Menze on drums and Rick Omonte on bass. There’s Dan Greene’s surging rhythm guide, his voice and elliptical lyrics serving as a guide through the band’s sonic landscape. And there’s Kryssi Battalene’s guitar, first prowling in the background, them roaring to the front in the song’s second half like a howling storm.
by | Jun 23, 2021 9:43 am | Comments (26)
Steve Hamm Photos
Solar nexus: Workers install panels on Hotel Marcel roof. Below: the new landscape.
Green history is being made on Long Wharf.
by | Jun 23, 2021 8:48 am | Comments (1)
Ionne.
“Rocket,” from New Havener Ionne’s For Those Who Remain, begins with a plaintive triad from a piano. A woman’s voice, clear, calm, and resolute, asks questions. “Why are we expecting someone else to save us? Why do we think that there’s someone else coming to save us?” she says. Other voices chime in, about social justice, racial equity, environmental repair. The beat accelerates; the music hurtles forward. Ionne floats over the top: “They all said we’d heal / On a rocket to paradise / I can’t help but feel / Like we’re running away,” he sings.
by | Jun 22, 2021 9:40 am | Comments (1)
Brian Slattery Photos
The Huneebee Project — a regional beekeeping project maintains beehives in a community garden on Arthur Street in the Hill — was part of the experience tours connected to the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, which runs through June 27
For those who participated in the visit to the Huneebee Project Saturday and Sunday, it was a fascinating dive into bee biology, plant sex, and the big wonders that can come from small green spaces in a city.
by | Jun 22, 2021 9:33 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photo
Quan Grant.
A rock duo and a single singer with a message were among the offerings Monday afternoon at Bear’s in Fair Haven, as the barbecue joint, partnering with the social services organization Marrakech, participated in Make Music New Haven, an event tied to a statewide and national effort that brought dozens of bands out to make music across the city from midday into the night.
by | Jun 22, 2021 9:32 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Briana Williams and Cliff Schloss.
As the sun began to set Monday evening, Make Music New Haven hosted an afterparty on the rooftop of the Arts Council building, with five acts and a DJ spinning tunes in celebration of another year of international Make Music Day.
by | Jun 21, 2021 12:50 pm | Comments (2)
Wooster Square Monument Committee
A sample design for the four panels.
Six artists are competing to design a monument to Italian-American heritage to replace the now-removed Christopher Columbus statue in Wooster Square Park.
The Wooster Square Monument Committee now faces the task of narrowing down the options.
Continue reading ‘Six Artists Vie For Columbus Statue Replacement’
by | Jun 21, 2021 8:44 am | Comments (1)
Brian Slattery Photos
Kevin Monroe and Devotion.
Before Kevin Monroe and Devotion hit the stage Sunday afternoon on the Green, Rev. Kevin Ewing of Baobab Tree Studios (and formerly of Center Church on the Green) addressed the hundreds of people who had gathered to hear the music and the message. He pointed out that gospel music has been a part of the programming of the International Festival of Arts and Ideas for years, and this year was no different. He welcomed people who already knew gospel and people who were about to get their first taste.
“For those of you who don’t know what gospel is, sit back,” Ewing said. “You’re about to learn something.”
He then turned to the faithful. “Church folks know what to do,” he said. “I hope you brought your shouting shoes.”
by | Jun 21, 2021 8:40 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Abiodun Oyewole.
Park of the Arts became a poetry garden on Friday night as famed poet and teacher Abiodun Oyewole led a poetry workshop for grateful attendees as part of the International Festival of Arts and Ideas.
by | Jun 21, 2021 8:38 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
Ceschi.
Ceschi, Phat A$tronaut, and Siul Hughes stood together on the stage of the Space Ballroom Friday night, near the end of a triple bill that marked the reopening of the venue since Covid-19 shutdown restrictions were lifted. A packed house stood close to the stage in front of them.
“I was very hesitant” to put on the show, Ceschi (a.k.a. Julio Ramos) said. “I didn’t know if people wanted to do this. Obviously you do.”
Continue reading ‘New Haven Music Heroes Reopen Space Ballroom’
by | Jun 19, 2021 10:43 pm | Comments (9)
Maya McFadden Photo
Solar Power and community at Dixwell festival’s dance party.
Tracey Massey at Hill fest: “We’re building another Wall Street.”
From the Hill to Dixwell, New Haveners celebrated Juneteenth with dance, soul food, and investments in Black businesses.
by | Jun 18, 2021 3:38 pm | Comments (4)
Thomas Breen photos
Rohn Lawrence and Jay Rowe light up the stage.
Toad’s owner Brian Phelps (center) with SBA CT Director Marx, Rep. DeLauro, and Sen. Blumenthal.
For the first time in 15 months, musicians took the stage at Toad’s Place — with the promise of more tunes to come, thanks to a federal bailout slowly making its way to shuttered venues across the country.
Continue reading ‘Toad’s Place Snags Fed Bailout $, Announces August Reopening’