This Week in New Haven (July 23 – 29)

A s presentations pique our interest, there’s music by a Beach and music by a beach, plus lots of art. 

Monday, July 23
Matthew Bogdanos, a Manhattan assistant district attorney tasked with clamping down on the illegal antiquities trade, comes to William L. Harkness Hall (100 Wall St, New Haven), where he’s set to discuss “ISIS & Antiquities Trafficking: Al-Qaeda 2.0” at 5:30 p.m. Edifying his points with “extraordinary photographs,” Bogdanos will trace the path an artifact might take from seller to buyer and, before that, “the development of the global black market from al-Qaeda’s involvement in the aftermath of the looting of the Iraq Museum in 2003 to ISIS’s current, large-scale, systemized pillaging.” Free.

sponsored by

The 2018 Connecticut Open

Tuesday, July 24
College Street Music Hall (238 College St, New Haven; 203-867-2000) hosts headliner Beach House, whose leisurely dream pop is more dream than pop, favoring variations on persistent themes over the usual verses, choruses, bridges. The opener is Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, an odd bird with a new wave edge that likes slow stuff, fast stuff, electronic stuff, shouty stuff and maybe anything else it can get its hands on. $29-35.

Wednesday, July 25
At 6 p.m. in The Range at Lotta Studio (911 Whalley Ave, New Haven), it’s the next PechaKucha. Featuring locals delivering often delightfully offbeat presentations in a “20×20” format (20 slides, each shown for 20 seconds), this occasion’s theme is “Summer Lovin’.” Free.

The New Haven Museum’s next Twilight Concert at the Pardee-Morris House (325 Lighthouse Rd, New Haven) starts at 7 p.m., but you can start your lounging or picnicking up to an hour before. The live music this time—“a mix of jazz standards, classic ballads, big band-era tunes, Latin music and modern jazz”—comes courtesy of the New London Big Band. The food truck, meanwhile, is Shoreline Prime, though you can bring your own food if you like. Free to attend.

Thursday, July 26
From 5 to 7 p.m., the Ely Center for Contemporary Art (51 Trumbull St, New Haven) holds a closing reception featuring the fruits of its latest AIR (artists-in-residence) program, in which the artists, working in media such as paint, textile and even sound, have converted the rooms of the center’s 1905-built Elizabethan-style home into working studios. For the reception, participants “will be present to discuss their overall creative practices as well as the works produced during the eight-week program.” Free.

Friday, July 27
From 4 to 7 p.m. at Artspace (50 Orange St, New Haven; 203-772-2709), a party marks the opening of three exhibitions: Paying Homage: Soil & Site, “an exhibition of the work from Artspace’s 2018 Summer Apprenticeship Program”; Ball Snake Ball, a collection of “objects and installations by a group of emerging and mid-career artists… who use clay to confront issues of environmental justice specific to their communities;” and Hand Dug CT: Ceramicists in the industrial flow, featuring works by “a group of Connecticut-based ceramicists and potters who experiment with the harvesting of native clays and minerals.” Meanwhile, a mobile pottery truck called Pots on Wheels will be parked outside, offering a hands-on, kid-friendly introductory lesson. Free.

Saturday, July 28
At Whitneyville Cultural Commons (1253 Whitney Ave, Hamden), the Connecticut Irish Theater Troupe presents Lay Me Down Softly, a play conjuring a 1960s traveling roadshow as it “tours the Irish countryside with bumper cars, bearded ladies, rifle ranges and the main attraction: the boxing ring.” All is well, such as it can be in a fighting tent, until the arrival of a “mysterious beauty” with a connection to the tent’s inhabitants, which is when “the gloves come off and the boys come out swinging.” Showtimes are 7:30 tonight and 3 p.m. tomorrow, with tickets costing $20.

Sunday, July 29
Live music on the beach is tough to beat. This week’s installment of the Walnut Beach Summer Concert Series, with bands playing under the Devon Rotary Pavilion along Milford’s Walnut Beach (pictured above), stars the 5 O’clocks and their repertoire of cover songs spanning Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move,” Janice Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart,” Prince’s “Kiss,” Bruno Mars’s “Grenade” and, fittingly enough, The Vogues’ “Five O’clock World.” 4 to 7 p.m.

Written and photographed by Dan Mims. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dan has worked for a couple of major media companies, but he likes Daily Nutmeg best. As DN’s editor, he writes, photographs, edits and otherwise shepherds ideas into fully realized feature stories.

Leave a Reply