With a look of defeat, Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School (BRAMS) eighth grader Dakarai Langley lifted his left foot and dangled it over the edge of an auditorium stage as a song shook the dark room with the lyrics: “Would anyone cry if I finally stepped off of this ledge tonight?”
And then Langley kept dancing, proving to everyone in the room before him just how lucky this city is to have this young artist call New Haven his home.
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Brian Slattery |
Dec 15, 2022 8:55 am
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Leonard Cohen: celebrated songwriter, poetic dreamboat, ladies’ man, writer of “Hallelujah,” a song so ubiquitous and covered so many times that even Cohen, by the end of his life, felt maybe people should give it a rest. Diving into the details of all that, for some, would be enough.
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Karen Ponzio |
Dec 13, 2022 9:14 am
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Myles Bullen.
Strange Ways was the place on Monday night not just for your holiday shopping needs, but for your live music needs. The Pitkin Plaza storefront hosted four acts that started the festive season off right with plenty of fun, friendship, sharing, and caring. It is all part of owner Alex Dakoulas’s goal of making his downtown location, with its open side room, into a hub for shopping and gathering.
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Brian Slattery |
Dec 12, 2022 9:07 am
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New Haven-based ska band The Simulators had finished the second song of its skank-filled set at College Street Music Hall on Saturday afternoon when bassist Zachary Yost had a question: “Who’s enjoying spending all their money on all these lovely local vendors?” He meant the dozens of artists and artisans who had jammed into the place for the College Street Punk Rock Holiday Flea, which, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., changed the College Street performance space into a bazaar for original art, thrift clothing, instruments, records, and much more.
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Brian Slattery |
Dec 7, 2022 8:44 am
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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.
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Karen Ponzio |
Dec 5, 2022 1:49 pm
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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.
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Karen Ponzio |
Nov 29, 2022 10:30 am
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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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Karen Ponzio |
Nov 28, 2022 8:36 am
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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.
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Lindsay Skedgell |
Nov 21, 2022 8:50 am
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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.
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Brian Slattery |
Nov 21, 2022 8:35 am
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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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Brian Slattery |
Nov 18, 2022 9:00 am
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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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Karen Ponzio |
Nov 14, 2022 8:31 am
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Ghost Lot.
Two three-piece bands shook up Best Video on Saturday. One was fairly new to the New Haven scene. The other was a couple years in, but with deep roots. Both had enough hard-hitting sound to get the crowd riled up and ready for more.
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Adam Matlock |
Nov 14, 2022 8:20 am
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Aleks Karjaka Photo
Orli Shaham.
It is one thing to go to a performance by the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, or any other orchestra, to witness a subdued spectacle — 50 to 60 musicians on one stage, working to convey a piece of art with sometimes dizzying levels of interconnected parts. That was of course on display in Friday’s performance, featuring works by Coleridge-Taylor, Chopin, and Brahms, featuring Orli Shaham as the soloist for Chopin’s Piano Concerto in F minor.
Steve Mednick emerged from this week’s elections with two more charter revisions under his belt, and a new album of politically inspired original music.
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Karen Ponzio |
Nov 11, 2022 8:45 am
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Jon Veleas Photo
The Bargain.
“There’s something in the moon / I feel it in my bones / The end is coming soon / Repent and be reborn / Don’t be broken into pieces / Cast into the fire / Don’t walk in slippery places / And fall into the mire.”
Thus begins “Garden of Sorrow,” the first song off the new album’22 by The Bargain. Heady topics, but delivered with the most heavenly of sounds by the three singer/songwriter/musicians who make up the band: Frank Critelli, Shandy Lawson, and Michael “Muddy” Rivers. The 11 songs on the record feel like lightening in a bottle — an empty bourbon bottle perhaps? — captured at sunset on a crisp fall day.
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Karen Ponzio |
Nov 7, 2022 8:50 am
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Movimiento Cultural
The world-renowned Shubert Theatre was home to some of New Haven’s own on Saturday night, as a show entitled Elm City’s Finest brought artists performing everything from bomba to dramatic monologues to rock ‘n’ roll to this first-of-its-kind event. The evening also included work displayed by local visual artists, food from local restaurants, and wares from local vendors.
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Brian Slattery |
Nov 3, 2022 8:16 am
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Pocket Vinyl.
Eric Stevenson leaned hard over the piano, his arms spread like wings, his hands like spiders. Intricate figures of notes poured from his fingers, and he sang in a high clear voice, as unironically advertised, about “defiant hope.” Nearby, her back turned to the audience but her work plain to see, Elizabeth Jancewicz deftly began with a blank canvas and began painting a bird in woods. Then she set it all on fire. The people in the audience sat in near-complete silence, giving the music and the artwork all their attention. It was that kind of night at Cafe Nine, one in which the crowd gave the musicians free rein of the room, and got, in return, a show of rare intimacy.
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Brian Slattery |
Oct 25, 2022 9:04 am
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Mike Scialla of T!LT.
On Sunday evening just before 7 p.m. five new bands arrived at Space Ballroom in Hamden. About three and a half hours later, the audience had seen over a dozen musicians representing the youngest generation of the area’s musicians — many of whom honed their skills during the shutdown and are now more than ready to take their place in New Haven’s music scene.
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Maya McFadden |
Oct 24, 2022 8:51 am
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Erika Zelocuatecatl: "When we get together as diverse as we are, we come as a united chorus."
Maya McFadden Photo
Career students perform "Latino Moves" at Friday's fest.
The sounds of salsa, bachata and merengue filled Hill Regional Career High School alongside a host of Spanish-language pride as staff and students celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month.
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Allison Hadley |
Oct 24, 2022 8:36 am
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Daniel Shoemaker Photos
Just how far can a groove take you? To the depths of space, to stretches of desert punctuated by towns nestled among the dunes? On Saturday at Cafe Nine, Dilemastronauta and Imarhan gave a masterclass in those kinds of grooves, courtesy of promoter Shaki Presents (Rick Omante).
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Adam Matlock |
Oct 21, 2022 8:41 am
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Joel Thompson.
The hints of boldness are scattered throughout the catalog for the New Haven Symphony Orchestra’s 2022 – 23 season. Maybe you only counted Brahms once. Beethoven three times, but two of them are concerti. You might have noticed the number of names a casual fan of the orchestra might not be as familiar with. But the boldness is especially apparent in this Sunday’s season opener, which features the New England premiere of contemporary composer Joel Thompson’s “To Awaken the Sleeper,” paired with Dmitri Shostakovich’s 11th Symphony — two works that show classical music’s ability to speak to the issues of its time.
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Brian Slattery |
Oct 20, 2022 9:05 am
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June of 44.
Early in June of 44’s set, after a strenuous number, two sound tech men rushed onto the stage to reattach drummer Doug Scharin’s drum mics. Vocalist and guitarist Jeff Mueller turned around with a smile on his face. “He’s hitting the hell out of them,” he said. To Scharin directly, he said, jokingly, “what are you doing?”
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Brian Slattery |
Oct 18, 2022 9:07 am
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Olive Tiger.
“Gather,” the opening track from Olive Tiger’s latest release, Softest Eyes: Side B, is well-named. Over a bed of tremulous tones, a violin issues a call, something like a hymn. A cello responds with a message of its own. Then there’s an abrupt right turn, into crunchy electronica, hard-hitting percussion. All the elements are brought together for an emotional peak, and then a long, glitchy fall. It’s the sound of people who have done some experimentation and know what they want. It also doesn’t sound quite like anything else.
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Karen Ponzio |
Oct 17, 2022 10:45 am
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Long Wharf Theatre leaders at Audubon St. fest Saturday.
Lucy Gellman / New Haven Arts Paper photo
Bidding adieu to 222 Sargent stage on Friday.
Audubon Street burst into party mode Saturday as Long Wharf Theatre celebrated its move from a Sargent Drive stage to offices downtown — as well as the beginning of a new itinerant model of presenting works across various locations in Greater New Haven.
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Brian Slattery |
Oct 13, 2022 9:04 am
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Tiny Ocean
“Culling of an Ache,” the first song from Tiny Ocean’s latest album, Shot by My Arrow, starts with a fingerpicked guitar, sketching out a harmonic structure that the rest of the band — electric guitar, bass, and drums — unexpectedly slides into. Together the three instruments create a slow, swinging sound, a little bit country, a little bit lounge, and a lot of vibe. There’s a sense of space, a tinge of menace. “There’s a red ribbon in my bedroom,” the vocalist sings. “graceful, hideous, without a face.” The lyrics paint a mysterious picture. Then the chorus opens up, following the singer’s voice: “When it’s loud,” she sings, and the music swells; “it makes me quiet,” she finishes, and the music calms. “Culling of an ache,” she adds, and the guitar responds. The music pauses, and moves on.
