A t this point in the cultural calendar, there are enough people back in town for the art galleries to be in full swing and for classes and workshops to start up. Though it’ll be a few more weeks before the local theater and concert season truly kicks in, enjoy nightclubs, classes, art openings and outdoor events this week in New Haven.
Monday, Sept. 3
Happy Labor Day! The Green is overrun with the New Haven Road Race—not just the starting and finishing lines for the morning’s three circuits (20K, 5K and Kids Run) but also registration tables, band stages, info booths, food vendors (including lots of free samples) and assorted play areas for children.
Tuesday, Sept. 4
Celebrated local singer/songwriter Joe Flood, who’s worked with The Band, Artie Traum, Mojo Nixon, Jono Manson and The Bottle Rockets, eschews his own composition tonight and instead interprets tunes by the late French composer Georges Brassens 7 p.m. at Café Nine (250 State St., New Haven; 203-789-8281). This “Joe Flood Soiree Brassens” early show may get saucy—Brassens worked radical political ideas and sexual suggestiveness into many of his complex cabaret songs—and is followed on the Café Nine stage tonight by an even more unpredictable event: a 9 p.m. birthday bash for Café Nine staffer and underground circus performer Uber Dami, with live bands and more. $5 cover.
sponsored by
Wednesday, Sept. 5
The recent film Pariah gets a screening at Yale’s Whitney Humanities Center (53 Wall St., New Haven) at 7 p.m., followed by a discussion with Terri Francis of the university’s Film Studies department, film producer and Yale alum Lisa Cortes (Precious) and film critic Tambay Obenson of The Obenson Report blog & podcast (and the site Shadow and Act). The event is sponsored by the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism. Free.
Southern Connecticut State University’s Lyman Hall offers a comedy concert of bantering twins The Lucas Brothers and Comedy Central’s Michael Blaustein. $10; free to SCSU staff and students.
Thursday, Sept. 6
Another film screening at the Whitney Humanities Center, with a different sponsor, cultural origin and perspection. Being There, the Hal Ashby film starring Peter Sellers, based on the Jerzy Kosinski novel, will be discussed from a religious perspective by Sally Promey and Ron Gregg, 7 p.m. 53 Wall St., New Haven.
Friday, Sept. 7
The Haven String Quartet, the classical ensemble which runs the Music Haven music-instruction program in New Haven schools, will perform this morning at 11:30 for shoppers at the CitySeed Farmers Market in the Hill, 34 Park St. New Haven. (203) 745-9030. Details here.
Linda Lindroth, the accomplished and eclectic local artist who teaches about “visual culture” at Quinnipiac University, unleashes Trickster in Flatland at the Giampietro Works of Art Gallery with an opening reception tonight from 5 to 8 p.m. Inspired by Edwin Abbott’s classic mathematical fantasy book Flatland, Lindroth uses photography to play with the concepts of dimension and perception. The show will be up through October 3. In the Erector Square artist’s-studio complex at 315 Peck Street, New Haven. (203) 777-7760.
The many special events at the monthly On9 celebration of Ninth Square share a health-and-fitness theme this time, with the calming title Breathe On9. From 6 to 8 p.m., stroll around the downtown blocks of State, Chapel, Crown, Orange and other Ninth Square streets and enjoy discounts and special activities at area shops. The evening opens with a 6 p.m. flash mob event in Pitkin Plaza, behind the 360 State Street building at the corner of State and Orange, followed by a preview of next month’s fitness-conscious FitWeek (October 1-7). Participating shops include Sarah Aldrich Pilates, Devil’s Gear Bike Shop, New Haven Rolfing and Jamuna Bodywork. Elsewhere, there are art exhibits, food and wine tastings and a fashion show.
Saturday, Sept. 8
Some people use the weekend to fix up their houses. Today, they can put down the hammer and instead take a Historic Preservation Workshop explaining the state’s Homeowner’s Tax Credit. Preservationist Thea Buxbaum and historian/Preservation Officer Mary Dunne discuss “one of the nation’s most generous rehabilition incentive programs for individuals.” Sponsored by the New Haven Preservation Trust. 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Westville’s Austin Street Inn & Gallery of Art, 9 Austin St., New Haven. Free; registration recommended. (203) 562-5919.
There’s an opening reception, from 3 to 5 p.m., for City Gallery’s display of abstract acrylic and watercolor paintings by Kathy Kane. The exhibit remains on view Thursdays through Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. until the end of September. 994 State St., New Haven. (203) 782-2489.
One single event today, however, encompasses art, tradition, outdoorsiness and community like no other: the Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. in Edgerton Park (entrance on Cliff Street; the park straddles the border of New Haven and Hamden along Whitney Avenue). The festival, which was once split between free events and a paid concert, is now no-charge all day. Acts include Cheryl Wheeler; Pesky J. Nixon; String Fingers; The Sea, The Sea; The Levins and many others, plus the traditional Connecticut Song Circle. The Green Expo is an event unto itself, with eye-opening innovations and opportunities for the environmentally conscious. Plus there are food vendors, kids’ activities, talks, workshops… The full schedule is at www.ctfolk.com.
Sunday, Sept. 9
“Unity and Diversity” is the theme of the Miss India Connecticut Pageant being held tonight at the Shubert (247 College St., New Haven; 203-562-5666). The event is “not only a pageant but also a movement to bring a greater assimilation of Indians and local Americans in Connecticut,” according to organizers. It’s also a beauty pageant which wants its contestants to be healthy and fit: one of the judging criteria is based on Body Mass Index, which determines the appropriate weight ratio based on a person’s height. Judges hope that this element and the awareness of healthy lifestyles will help reduce eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia. 4 p.m. $15-$78.
Just a few blocks from the Shubert, in one of the city’s other historic concert halls, Isabelle Demers performs works by Felix Mendelssohn and Max Reger on the historic Newberry Memorial Organ in Woolsey Hall (500 College St., New Haven; 203-432-5062). It’s part of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music’s Great Organ Music at Yale series.
