F asten your seat belts. Flights of one sort or another—space travel, crowd surfing, wine-tasting and the departure of a long-running exhibit—have us strapping in this week in New Haven.
Monday, July 13
Connecticut, the third-smallest state in the country by area, apparently rocks when it comes to rocks. According to the NHFPL, we have “one of the most diverse assemblages of rocks—in composition and origin—of any state in the nation.” You can learn about it today at 6:30 p.m. inside the Mitchell Branch (37 Harrison St, New Haven; 203-946-8117), where members of the New Haven Mineral Club are giving a free talk, followed by some “hands-on” learning, titled “A Brief Survey of CT Geology and Mineralogy.”
Tuesday, July 14
Yesterday was about the terrestrial, and today is about the extra-. At 8 p.m. at BAR (254 Crown St, New Haven; 203-495-8924), the next installment of Astronomy on Tap brings the public to the cosmos, fueled by beer, pizza and “astronomy-themed drinks.” Tonight’s talks include Yale post-docs Michelle Collins and Tyler McCracken discussing advances in our understanding of Pluto and recounting delivering a spectrograph to Lithuania, respectively, plus Middlebury physics professor Eilat Glikman telling us about “Sunlight: From Quantum Birth through a 100,000-Year-Long Journey.” Free to attend.
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Wednesday, July 15
Israeli indie punk band Monotonix was all sweat and octane. It made a habit of setting up in the middle of the room as opposed to the stage, and its 360-degree audiences made a habit of hoisting band members up into the air—most notably the drummer with some of his drums, which he would still be playing. Monotonix’s guitarist Yonatan Gat is now leading his own eponymous outfit, which seems to borrow his former band’s anywhere’s-a-stage philosophy and some of its hard-and-fast approach but also aims for new musical horizons, engaging slowness and atmospherics and pinging countless musical styles. The man and his band sit atop the bill for the free 9:30 show tonight at BAR, with New Haven rock bands Head with Wings and The Morning on Fire leading things off.
Thursday, July 16
It’s been a while—about nine months—but Flights of Fancy, the normally semi-annual wine-tasting and discounted shopping walkabout, is back. For $20 (or $15 with a wine glass from a previous event), attendees receive a glass and a map at The Study at Yale hotel (1157 Chapel St, New Haven), then visit any of about 30 shops and restaurants along Broadway and Chapel Street. Each pours a different wine curated and donated by The Wine Thief, while also offering savings on their wares. Lasting from 4 to 8 p.m., participants eventually head back to The Study for dessert, coffee and a prize drawing.
Friday, July 17
Fridays and movies—they just go together. The first of four special screenings today is Selma (2014), showing at the Ives Main Library (133 Elm St, New Haven; 203-946-8835; free) at 2 p.m. with a discussion to follow. Then it’s The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), screening for free at the Whitney Humanities Center (53 Wall St, New Haven) at 7 p.m. At 8:30, there’s a free showing of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) outdoors at College Woods, a green space between Livingston, Cold Spring and Orange Streets at the southwestern foot of East Rock. Finally, at 11:30 p.m. tonight and tomorrow, North by Northwest (1959) takes its turn in this summer’s “Insomnia Theater” series at Criterion Cinemas (86 Temple St, New Haven; 203-498-2500).
Artspace (50 Orange St, New Haven; 203-772-2709) gives its new exhibition Arresting Patterns: Race and the Criminal Justice System an opening reception tonight from 5 to 8. In Patterns, “selected artworks use serial repetition as a strategy for showcasing how one action, repeated over time”—like, say, persistent discriminatory practices at various levels of the justice system—“may accumulate, spread or evolve into another version of its original self,” organizers say. Local artist Titus Kaphar provided the inspiration for the show and is helping lead the charge in other ways, exhibiting work while also helping 18 local high schoolers create a “companion exhibition” to go along with the main. Free to attend.
Saturday, July 18
The first of this summer’s two free “Music on the Green” concerts kicks off tonight at 7:30, featuring the musically laid-back but socially conscientious funk act WAR. The band’s most persistent hits from its 1970s heyday include “Low Rider” and “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” Slightly deeper catalog includes “Spill the Wine,” recognizable perhaps for its turns in movies like Boogie Nights and Remember the Titans, and “The Cisco Kid,” one of WAR’s biggest hits way back when. To go with the concert, a smattering of food trucks—from Cafe Romeo to Pierogies on Wheels to Ben & Jerry’s—have been brought together for “a mini-food truck festival along Temple Street.”
Sunday, July 19
You have until 5 p.m. today to get to know James Abbott McNeill Whistler, the artist behind the ultra-famous work Whistler’s Mother. Since January, he’s been getting special attention from the Yale University Art Gallery (1111 Chapel St, New Haven; 203-432-0600) via Whistler in Paris, London and Venice, which includes “three of his earliest and most innovative sets of etchings,” with each set representing “an important period in Whistler’s life.” Again, act quickly, though; when the gallery closes for today, the exhibit closes for good.
Written by Dan Mims. Readers are encouraged to verify dates, times, locations and prices before attending events.
