To Infect Or Not To Infect
by | Apr 17, 2020 11:44 am | Comments (0)
To infect or not to infect? Isn’t that today’s question?
How else may I pose it? What other way could it be?
Arts & Culture
Covid-19-Era Crafted Cocktails To Go
by | Apr 17, 2020 11:43 am | Comments (0)
Allison Hadley Photos
A cocktail kit from Sherkaan.
As social distancing wears on, walls become conversational, watching movies featuring crowds becomes fraught, and masks are a necessary fashion accessory, life still finds a way. No coffeeshops open? Enter FaceTime coffee dates. No restaurants open to gather with friends? Zoom dinners!
But what of the deliciously crafted cocktail from a mixologist, presented just-so in a coupe glass with an artful garnish? How do we fill the void that happy hour left?
New Haven Kicks Out The Quarantunes
by | Apr 16, 2020 10:00 am | Comments (0)
A vibrating synthesizer, then a slinky drumbeat and cooing vocal. Jangling guitar strings and a tambourine. A wash of cymbals and spacey cascades of notes from guitars. With New Haven and most of the rest of the country on lockdown, and shows local and elsewhere cancelled until further notice, a few holed-up musicians set themselves what under normal circumstances might be near-impossible tasks. Laura Wolf decided to write and record a song a day. Mickey Blurr decided to cover a song a day, playing multiple instruments. And Eggy, with its tour schedule dismantled by Covid-19, recorded a live set as if it was still on the road.
State House Streams The Hits
by | Apr 15, 2020 10:15 am | Comments (1)
Vapors of Morphine.
The bass comes in rumbling yet clear. It’s joined by pulsing drums and burbling sax. Then the singer’s rich voice intones the words. “You’re good, good, good — so good, good, good.” The lyrics are simple, but the pushing rhythm gives them a deeper meaning. It’s pulling light from darkness, hope from despair. It’s the band Vapors of Morphine playing at the State House on State Street. The set was from October. The State House, having recorded it that night, is streaming it now. And there’s much more to come.
Midnight Strangers Emerge On Streets Of Westville
by | Apr 14, 2020 9:30 am | Comments (4)
Still from the newly released “Speed of Light” video.
In the heart of Westville, a young musician walks past the ghost rubble of a former hot spot and imagines traveling at the “speed of light.”
Continue reading ‘Midnight Strangers Emerge On Streets Of Westville’
Best Video Members Defend Their Favorites
by | Apr 14, 2020 9:28 am | Comments (0)
Musician and filmmaker Brendan Toller stared out from a pink-lit living room, explaining how, with Best Video closed, he would have to dig into his own film archive for movies to watch under lockdown. “One of my favorite films that I have, that I know I’m going to be watching in this quarantine bunker, is Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, by Fassbinder.” Toller went on to explain that Rainer Werner Fassbinder, in the ups and downs of his career, had a breakthrough with his story about an interracial couple in Germany. The film was itself a remake of Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows. And, most important, Toller said, “this is one of those films that changed my life. What I’m always looking for in art, I say to people, ‘well, it did or didn’t change my life.’ This film … changed my life.”
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Huck’s Defenses Were Ready For Covid
by | Apr 13, 2020 4:41 pm | Comments (1)
“Huck on air” at WYBC.
Popular radio deejay Darryl Huckaby didn’t miss a beat on the air when Covid-19 came to his door — thanks to years of healthy living.
Sonnet For “Peak Death Week”
by | Apr 13, 2020 11:35 am | Comments (0)
My father’s favorite poem used to be
“They flee from me who once did me seek”
Bitsie Fund Open For Arts Grants
by | Apr 13, 2020 10:37 am | Comments (0)
Courtesy Bitsie Fund
Clark.
The Bitsie Clark Fund for Artists, established in 2018, is now accepting applications from New Haven-area artists for 2020. The deadline to apply is May 1.
Local Musician Reaps “Harvest”
by | Apr 13, 2020 10:32 am | Comments (0)
Brian Dolzani cut a convincing outline for a working musician, the kind of traveling troubadour that would fit right in with a line-up of legendary songwriters. The wide-brimmed, bone-white fedora and close-cropped, grey-flecked beard gave Dolzani a convincing road warrior grizzle, but he spoke with soft and sincere gratitude as he addressed his invisible audience.
Covid Updates: 146 Local Artists Funded; Covid Cases Rise To 559; Health Centers Expand Service
by | Apr 11, 2020 6:03 pm | Comments (1)
Arts Council of Greater New Haven
Artists who received grants.
The city and the Arts Council have given out grants to 146 New Haven artists and arts organizations as they struggle to stay afloat during the Covid-19 crisis.
The Local Bands Show Goes Remote
by | Apr 10, 2020 1:08 pm | Comments (2)
Karen Ponzio photo
Rick Allison and Frank Critelli (with a photo of James Velvet) at Cafe Nine.
“Frank? Frank? Frank? Hello?” Rick Allison called out to Frank Critelli — his friend and cohost of The Local Bands Show.
“Hello?” Critelli answered.
“You’re sounding a little more distant than usual, Frank!” Allison said with a laugh, but he was only slightly joking. Critelli was there via phone, doing his first remote cohosting of the show, which has been on WPLR 99.1 FM at 10 p.m. on Sunday nights for 33 years (and is also replayed on CygnusRadio.com Mondays at “noonish”).
50-Video Challenge Brings Earth Day Home
by | Apr 10, 2020 9:27 am | Comments (1)
Chris Ozyck wants you to know that there are 90 million dogs in America, or one pooch for every four inhabitants. Only about 40 percent of their owners pick up after them.
That adds up to whole lot of doo doo that’s washing into rivers and streams and lakes, which is why we can’t swim in many of them, including the lovely Quinnipiac River.
You might find that gross. Or surprising. Or surprisingly engaging. Ozyck hopes you also take that knowledge and become a better steward of the environment.
Kierstin Sieser Shoots The “Moon”
by | Apr 10, 2020 8:56 am | Comments (0)
“In The Reading,” from Kierstin Sieser’s new album Shark Tooth Moon, starts with a splash of electric guitar, a swinging acoustic guitar behind it. A sound a little bit like a small gong finishes the melody the electric guitar began. “Made a wish on a wishing card / the only one she said / turn myself into a kite / to get pulled in your wind,” Sieser begins singing. With a simple chord change, the mood shifts; the lyrics shade a little darker, but the music gets brighter. “But I know I’m going down / and I don’t know how to stop it,” Sieser sings. The way she sings the line, you’re not at all sure she wants to know, either.
Elijah The Prophet Dials In For Virtual Seder
by | Apr 9, 2020 9:18 am | Comments (2)
Zoom
Wednesday’s state-spanning virtual seder.
We were at the point in our virtual seder when we were supposed to invite Elijah the Prophet into the room. At our table, a place had been set. Elijah’s glass of wine was full. My wife Steph was explaining to the 21 adults and 3 children assembled online that we all just needed to open our doors to let the prophet in. On each screen, we watched as people got up to open their front doors. Then a new icon appeared in the lower right-hand corner of the gallery of windows.
“Oh, look,” Steph’s mother Laurie said, “Elijah the Prophet is connecting to audio.”
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“Elijah The Prophet” Descends
by | Apr 8, 2020 2:30 pm | Comments (1)
Nu Haven Kapelye members on newly released “Eliyahu Ha Navi.”
Elijah the Prophet came to New Haven just in time for Passover — but he sounded different.
Trump Plague Fantasia
by | Apr 8, 2020 1:56 pm | Comments (4)
Trump Plague Fantasia
Creative Arts Workshop Opens Online Doors
by | Apr 8, 2020 9:28 am | Comments (0)
In his basement studio on Edwards Street — but before a virtual audience of 30 — sculptor Charles Jones explained on Tuesday night how to build dishes out of clay.
He didn’t use a potter’s wheel, or particularly specialized tools. He had a length of wire. He had a rolling pin. He had scraps of wood and paper, and some foam, and pieces of Plexiglas that he explained he had found in the trash.
“It’s really just a matter of looking around and finding things that’ll work,” he said.
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DJ Diamond D Coaxes Covid Into Open
by | Apr 7, 2020 6:01 pm | Comments (16)
Diamond Powell Sr. was sick and tired of hearing that black people don’t have to worry about contracting Covid-19. Because he is black — and has been sick and tired with Covid-19. To the point that he thought he was dying.
Pandemic Passover, Pandemic Easter
by | Apr 7, 2020 1:05 pm | Comments (0)
Pandemic Passover, Pandemic Easter
Community Tips Cafe Nine
by | Apr 7, 2020 10:53 am | Comments (2)
Staffer Margaret Milano on the first Friday of the campaign.
Paul Mayer, whose Cafe Nine nightclub faces an uncertain post-Covid-19 future, said the suggestion for a virtual tip jar for his employees came from “out of the blue.”
Have Pole, Will Travel
by | Apr 6, 2020 9:17 am | Comments (0)
Chris Randall Photos
Jessica Lynn.
Jessica Lynn — founder, owner and instructor at Polefly Aerial Fitness — has a travel pole that has made its way over the past six years through a variety of New Haven locations, from a talent show at the Yale Forestry School to a burlesque show at Elm City Social and many places in between. Currently, however, it resides at Lynn’s house as she and her staff seek out ways to share the same talent and training typically available at Polefly’s Wooster Street studio with their beloved community during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Part of Polefly’s answer: video.
Reinaldo’s Corner
by | Apr 3, 2020 3:14 pm | Comments (0)
“I will not pay the security of the Dukes of Sussex.”
“I told you to invite him to the wedding.”
Pandemic Deadline Verse
by | Apr 3, 2020 12:03 pm | Comments (1)
Field Hospital, Central Park
For Stuart Kramer
Sam Carlson Finds The Opportunity In Isolation
by | Apr 3, 2020 9:57 am | Comments (1)
Carlson.
“Holy Motors,” from S.G. Carlson’s new release Sing The Hits, ambles along in an easy way, but it’s tinged with a little sadness; it’s a late summer evening with the first bite of fall. That bite is reflected in the lyrics: “You know I’m dying for it / You know I’m dying to be / Just a rock in a stream,” Carlson sings. “And when you’re making your coffee / And when you’re brushing your teeth / I’ll be here living the dream.”
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