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Karen Ponzio |
Sep 11, 2023 8:43 am
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Lara Herscovitch and The Highway Philosophers.
Lara Herscovitch sang through her sound check, making up lyrics apropos for the day and place: “We are not in a monsoon. It’s a beautiful day.”
Not a drop of rain was to be found on Saturday at the CT Folk Fest and Green Expo, though the heat and humidity was of the late summer variety. A full day and night of music and spoken word on two stages, as well as hourly activities for children and adults, food, drink, and a multitude of vendors awaited visitors behind the stone walls of Edgerton Park. This reporter took in a third of the acts that performed from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
At "Rohn Lawrence Through the Decades" benefit concert.
Toad’s Place on York Street lit up as a cadre of jazz musicians gathered to pay homage to one of New Haven’s own axe men extraordinaire, Rohn Lawrence, and to raise money to help young guitarists follow in the late musical legend’s footsteps.
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Karen Ponzio |
Sep 5, 2023 8:31 am
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Codefendants.
Sunday night was the hottest night of the week, literally and figuratively, as Space Ballroom hosted the first Northeast U.S. show featuring Codefendants, described as a “genre fluid musical collective” and comprised of three heavy musical hitters: Fat Mike, Sam King, and New Haven’s own Ceschi Ramos. The band released an album, Crime Wave, in March 2023 to much praise and adoration and have been spreading their words, music, and vibrancy with a variety of shows ranging from clubs to arenas across the country. But on this night, supported by friends and family, they hit one of hometown favorite Ramos’s original stomping grounds.
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Karen Ponzio |
Aug 28, 2023 8:17 am
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Frank Critelli lends vocals to Big Fat Combo.
“I don’t know about you guys, but it’s been a Friday,” said Julie Smith as she introduced local favorites Big Fat Combo, who were performing their scheduled patio show indoors at Best Video due to rain. It was about to become even more of a Friday as technical issues turned into an opportunity for the local music community to step up, step in, and turn the venerable video store and performance space into a friendly singalong for a portion of the evening.
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Brian Slattery |
Aug 24, 2023 9:09 am
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Cabins, East!
On Wednesday three rock bands — Cabins, East!, Pyramid Rose Band, and headliner Laney Jones — brought loud guitars, driving drums, strong vocals, and a lot of heart to a rapturous audience at Cafe Nine, in a night that hearkened back to pre-pandemic days of casual abandon while adding a healthy dose of post-pandemic compassion and care.
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Eleanor Polak |
Aug 24, 2023 9:06 am
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Nick Aubin performs at Gather.
“Nice to see a lot of familiar faces, nicer to see the unfamiliar faces,” said Nick Aubin, the host of a weekly Open Mic Night at Gather, located at 952 State St. The coffee shop brimmed with faces, open and smiling, many of them ready to play multiple roles over the course of the evening: performer, fan, and friend. At their core, open mics form a hub for the community, a safe space for artists familiar and unfamiliar, veteran and newcomer, to showcase their creativity.
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Karen Ponzio |
Aug 21, 2023 8:53 am
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That Virginia at Witch Bitch Thrift.
The Black Box at Witch Bitch Thrift echoed with music, laughter, and an ever-present sense of community as AcoustiQueers made its premiere at the event space on Saturday night. A series that — according to Witch Bitch’s social media post, “creates an intimate space to celebrate queer music and queer joy” — was started by artist Eli Wood in New York City in 2017. After playing one of those events, the store’s co-owner and musician Virginia Semighini received permission to bring the series to Connecticut, where it ran until 2018. With the evolution of the Whitney Avenue thrift store to now include an event space, the series is being revived and, on this evening, features Semeghini, the New Haven-based trio Untold Joys, and a solo performance by Olive Tiger.
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Brian Slattery |
Aug 17, 2023 8:33 am
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Lindley Creek.
From the stage, Joe Delillo of Audrey Mae, the regional bluegrass band opening for touring national act Lindley Creek, asked what could have been a dangerous question: “Who in here is not having a good time?” The capacity crowd at Cafe Nine responded with dead silence. Delillo smiled. “Good,” he said, to cheers. It was a joyful moment that embodied a night of bluegrass raucous enough to bring people out in droves to the club on State and Crown for a late summer acoustic throwdown.
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Brian Slattery |
Aug 16, 2023 8:21 am
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Lucy's Neighbor.
Three New Haven-based bands took the stage at Cafe Nine on the corner of State and Crown Tuesday night to share new songs, try out new ideas, and ease into the kind of playing musicians can do when they have a common history and chemistry.
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Eleanor Polak |
Aug 14, 2023 7:39 am
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The Jawns perform at Gather.
Gather, the coffee shop and restaurant located at 952 State St., ran wild with drums, guitars, sound systems, and more from the four bands that performed there on Friday night. With a combined 17 band members and double that amount of audience members, the shop felt like it could burst at the seams. Instead of exploding outward, the energy in the room folded in on itself to create a volcanic mass of writhing bodies and whirring rhythms.
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Brian Slattery |
Aug 9, 2023 8:26 am
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“Outcrop,” the first track from Tells or Terrier — the recent release from Jeb Bishop on trombone, Nathan McBride on bass, and New Haven improvised music stalwart Joe Morris on drums — begins with searching, pulsing notes from all three musicians, quickly finding their way into their sound. Before long, the music gains velocity, as Morris and McBride settle into a faster mode of playing while Bishop deploys the flexibility in a trombone’s tone that can make it sound like a human voice, like animal calls. There’s rigor, but also deep camaraderie, a shared sense of humor and determination, that makes the music hang together.
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Brian Slattery |
Aug 8, 2023 8:57 am
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Wayne Coyne at Monday night's show.
Giant inflatable pink robots. Enormous balls filled with confetti. And a veteran band, playing as well as ever, fronted by a singer who was all heart. Now-venerable psychedelic rockers The Flaming Lips returned to College Street Music Hall Monday night to an ecstatic, sold-out crowd ready to take in a show that delivered heaps of fun — and empathy.
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Karen Ponzio |
Aug 7, 2023 8:25 am
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Jim LoPresti shakes away the stress with his bamboo leaf rattle.
If asked where one might go in New Haven for a moment or two of meditative stillness, few people would suggest Crown Street, known for its bustling and crowded restaurants and bars as well as a bevy of sounds that would challenge any symphony. But one place offers, among other wellness and restorative practices, a chance to take in an hour of music made specifically to center its participants and give them a chance to remain present and thoughtful in their minds and bodies.
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Eleanor Polak |
Aug 3, 2023 9:09 am
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Jakki Cousins and Azora Lindsay at the keyboard at Wilson library.
Hanhe Choi and Azora Lindsay ran around the Music Room at Wilson Branch Library like kids in a candy store.
But instead of tooth-rotting sweets, the 23-month-old and 2‑year-old kiddos were focused on a range of keyboards, drums, and shakers, as pleasing to the ears as candy would be to the tongue.
The toddlers rushed from instrument to instrument, touching everything they could and figuring out how to create the loudest sound. Before long, the room filled up with a cacophony of joy.
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Eleanor Polak |
Jul 31, 2023 9:05 am
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Love n' Co at Saturday's Folk on the Edge.
In 87° weather, under the scorching afternoon sun, Love n’ Co and The Lost Tribe made the thick, heated air dance with compelling rhythms and infectious energy.
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Karen Ponzio |
Jul 28, 2023 8:46 am
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Zoe Jensen Photo
Issue 11 cover featuring coeditor Mar Pelaez.
Connectic*nt, a bimonthly zine that has created a space for artists and writers from across the state to experiment with words and visuals — as well as an ever-growing community that thrives on sharing with and uplifting each other — turns two years old this month. The anniversary issue, the zine’s 11th, will be released this Saturday, July 29, complete with celebratory events including a DJ-centric dance party (now famously known as Club C*nt) at Diesel Lounge on Friday night and a zine fair at Bradley Street Bike Co-op on Sunday.
Under the helm of current coeditors Zoe Jensen and Mar Pelaez, the publication has come a long way from Jensen’s original plan of publishing a single zine that included the art and writing of friends who had been distanced from each other during Covid shutdowns. The public demand for more, and the fun being had by everyone involved, was too much to not let it become a regular and permanent part of the new normal.
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Eleanor Polak |
Jul 27, 2023 9:02 am
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"Rockin' Richard" and Bobby Mapp at The Towers.
A local music legend got his due Wednesday night during a celebration at The Towers of Bobby Mapp, who was the original drummer for The Five Satins and is now a resident at the senior living community located at 18 Tower Ln.
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Karen Ponzio |
Jul 26, 2023 8:54 am
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Psychedelic Don Ho Down Orchestra
On any given night you can walk past Christopher Martin’s, the restaurant and bar at 860 State St., and hear the clinking of glass and animated conversations from inside, or from one of the many outdoor tables that line its sidewalks. On Tuesday evenings, however, you can hear live music, and on this Tuesday, it was the music of the Psychedelic Don Ho Down Orchestra, a band comprised of seven stalwart and seasoned musicians from the New Haven scene.
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Eleanor Polak |
Jul 25, 2023 9:08 am
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Westville neighbourhood lines up to buy homemade pies.
The air over Beecher Park, located at Mitchell Library at 37 Harrison St., rang with chatter, music, and a heavenly mixture of sugar, spice, and everything nice.
Westville Village Renaissance Alliance hosted on Monday evening the latest installment in Hi-Fi Pie Fest, its weekly summer pie baking competition, a community-centric event complete with food and live music.
It’s “really just getting people together,” said WVRA Executive Director Lizzy Donius, who sported a Hi-Fi Pie Fest t‑shirt bearing the words “Come for the music, stay for the pie!” The slogan, said Donius, is interchangeable. Some people come for the pie and stay for the music.
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Brian Slattery |
Jul 25, 2023 9:03 am
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Maya Elise and the Good Dream.
On Monday night three acts — Low Ceilings, Kendra McKinley, and Maya Elise and the Good Dream — brought the warmth of connection and culture to an appreciative crowd at Never Ending Books, turning the communal spot at 810 State St. into a sanctuary.
Welcome to Tulsa -- with Dylan lyrics at the airport terminal.
Tulsa — As a touring folk-country singer-songwriter’s band kicked into gear, a regular pointed to a stuffed possum wrapped in Christmas lights suspended over the bar. The possim, he said, had a backstory.
As he spoke, I knew we’d come to the right place to find people to help start the Independent’s new multi-city arts reviewing initiative.
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Karen Ponzio |
Jul 21, 2023 9:39 am
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The Storytellers.
“Storytellers assemble,” said Zach Andersen into his microphone, as he beckoned the three singer-songwriters who would be joining him on The Cellar at Treadwell stage Thursday night. It was the 13th installment of Storytellers in The Cellar, the bimonthly event that finds Andersen and guests rotating through their songs and the stories behind them. This evening also happened to be the second anniversary of the series, which began in July 2021 and has not seen any repeat performers yet, save for Andersen, who curates, hosts, and performs at each one.
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Eleanor Polak |
Jul 20, 2023 9:26 am
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Natalie Somekh via Instagram
John McCrea.
The Westville Music Bowl really lives up to its name. Sitting in the center feels like being dropped to the bottom of an enormous serving piece, with nowhere to look but up at the great blue walls of seats around you, the evening sky above, or the stage straight ahead. On the menu for Wednesday evening: Cake, a now-venerable alternative rock band hailing from Sacramento, California.
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Brian Slattery |
Jul 17, 2023 3:07 pm
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Sallow Friend.
Four bands made an emotional evening of music at Never Ending Books Sunday night, as Nose Bleed, Sallow Friend, Mildly Allergic, and Kitchen gave a rapt audience songs that were by turns energetic and meditative, angular and wistful.
