T he happy haunting grounds of New Haven are a fine place to find yourself at the end of October. There are several earth-friendly events to dig this week, from graveyard tours to gardening tips. Indigenous peoples of Paraguay (discussed at the Peabody Museum) and a gala and performance from the Elm City Dance Collective also help keep us grounded.
Monday, October 29
Claudio Magris—Italian novelist, essayist, columnist, former member of the Italian senate and longtime professor of modern German literature at the University of Tristesse—will make even Yalies feel like underachievers when he visits campus at noon to talk about his novel Blindly. Don’t worry; you don’t need to know several languages to enjoy it, as it’s just been translated into English. 82-90 Wall Street, third floor, New Haven. (203) 432-0595.
Tuesday, October 30
David Mayfield is the lead guitarist and sometime vocalist for Cadillac Sky. His own band, The David Mayfield Parade, plays 8 p.m. at Café Nine (250 State St., New Haven. 203-789-8281). The $10 cover also gets you sets by Hoots & Hellmouth and Elison Jackson.
If you’re of a poppier persuasion, ace British tunesmith Citizen Cope transfixes Toad’s Place at 9 p.m. $25. 300 York Street, New Haven. (203) 624-TOAD.
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Wednesday, October 31
Not everyone celebrates Halloween. Non-spooky events today include a 5:30 p.m. lecture at the Yale Center for British Art (1080 Chapel Street, New Haven; 203-432-2800) on “London Squares and Gardens Fit for a Queen,” by architect/historian Todd Longstaffe-Gowan. The event is co-presented by the YCBA and the Royal Oak Foundation.
But if you want to go where gardeners fear to tread, the New Haven Preservation Trust is leading a free “Halloween Walking Tour: Exploring Grove Street Cemetery” at 1 p.m. and again at 2 p.m. at the Grove Street Cemetery Gate (227 Grove Street, New Haven). Pre-registration is required: (203) 562-5919.
Halloween party opportunities include one at The Outer Space (295 Treadwell Street, Hamden, 203-288-6400) with music from High Tides and Party Horse and cash prizes for the best costumes. 7 p.m. $5 with a costume, $8 without.
At Toad’s Place, there’s the usual WPLR Kooks & Spooks Convention, also with costumes and prizes. 300 York Street, New Haven. $5, $10 if under 21. (203) 624-TOAD.
Thursday, November 1
The Yale Philharmonia concert 8 p.m. at Woolsey Hall (500 College Street, New Haven) features works by Chabrier (“España”), Koetsler (“Concertino for trombone quartet and string orchestra,” featuring the Handsome Dans trombone quartet) and Rachmaninoff’s second symphony. Free. (203) 432-4158.
There’s also a Yale Glee Club concert tonight at Marquand Chapel (on the Yale Divinity School campus, 409 Prospect Street, New Haven; 203-432-4136). Special guests are the Schola Cantorum Coralina, from Cuba. Free.
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Friday, November 2
Another first Friday of the month, another On9 Ninth Square window shopping event. The theme this month is Faces On9, with discounts, gallery openings, open houses, samples, demonstrations, performances and other delights at a variety of businesses in New Haven’s Ninth Square district (bordered by State, Crown and Church and Court streets). The celebratory mood includes the openings of two new businesses—Yolande’s Bistro & Creperies at 99 Orange Street and Luck and Levity at 118 Court Street—and the first anniversary of Elm City Market.
The Elm City Dance Collective is an eclectic group of choreographers, dancers and other terpsichorean types who consistently demonstrate that there’s strength in numbers. The collective’s annual Performance & Gala has an intriguing location this year: The Grove co-working space at 71 Orange Street, New Haven. The new works being performed are “Beauty Culture,” choreographed by Kellie Ann Lynch, and “Contemporanea,” choreographed by Lindsey Bauer. The Friday show ($20, $15 for students & seniors, $10 high school students) is a performance only. Saturday ($50, or a pair of tickets for $75) is also a gala, with refreshments, a silent auction and a DJ.
Saturday, November 3
It’s Indigenous Peoples Day at the Yale Peabody Museum. The family-friendly, four-hour event (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) augments the info contained in the museum’s current Big Food exhibit about the Ache natives of Paraguay, plus more general info on “hunting, gathering and traditional agriculture of indigenous cultures around the world.” 170 Whitney Avenue, New Haven. (203) 432-5050.
The Music Tapes has gained a reputation for unbelievable live shows which stretch the boundaries of club music concerts (and tapes) and enter worlds of prestidigitation, experimental theater, spoken word performance and other fun stuff. The band, which released its first album in 1999 and existed in various forms for years before that, is the brainchild of Julian Koster of the legendary musical collective Elephant 6 and the bands Neutral Milk Hotel and Chocolate USA. The Music Tapes fills in a blank canvas at The Space. 7 p.m. $14. 295 Treadwell Street, Hamden. (203) 288-6400.
Sunday, November 4
Halloween was Wednesday, but there’s still a bone or two to pick. New Haven Museum’s got a lecture on the “Christ’s Church Bones”—skeletal remains dug up from “A Forgotten 19th-Century Irish Catholic Cemetery: Archaeology, History and Forensic Science at Christ’s Church, New Haven.” Dr. Nicholas Bellantoni, an archaeologist with UConn’s Connecticut State Museum of Natural History and Archaeology Center, tells us where the bodies are buried. 2 p.m. at 114 Whitney Avenue, New Haven. Free; donations welcome. (203) 562-4183.
“It ain’t over until the fat lady sings,” they say. But operas have to begin somewhere. The 33-member New Haven Chamber Orchestra offers an assortment of “Opera Overtures” by Rossini, Verdi, Bizet and others at Fair Haven School (164 Grand Avenue, New Haven) for free.
