This Week in New Haven (July 26 – August 1)

T he contrast is set to high as a tragedy precedes a picnic and Harry Potter meets hardcore.

Monday, July 26
Now that the postponed and COVID-clamped 2020 Summer Olympics are underway, Ives Main Library’s Olympic Flix film series aims to “discover new perspectives” on the games. A two-week Monday-Wednesday-Friday screening schedule starts today at 2 p.m. with Hands of God (2020), which follows Iraqi boxers as they navigate the fractured homeland they’re hoping to represent in the Olympics. Free. 133 Elm Street, New Haven. (203) 946-8130.

sponsored by

The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven

Wednesday, July 28
The first tour in a decade for Bright Eyes, whose “singular ability to flip deep intimacy into something universal” spans “unpolished demos or fuzzy folk, electrified rock or country twang,” comes to the Westville Music Bowl (45 Yale Ave, New Haven) for a 6 p.m. show featuring special guests Japanese Breakfast and Lucy Dacus.

At 6:30 p.m., East Rock Brewing Company (285 Nicoll St, New Haven; 475-234-6176) hosts a free Marvel Universe-themed game of trivia. “First come-first play.”

Starting today at 7 p.m., The Legacy Theatre (128 Thimble Islands Rd, Stony Creek, Branford; 203-315-1901) presents a four-week run of Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex, “a story of arrogant leadership, ignored prophecy, intergenerational curses, willful blindness, and a pestilence and ecological collapse that ravages the archaic city of Thebes.” $45-75.

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Minibar - Wine, beer and spirits delivered to your door or reserved for pickup

Friday, July 30
From 5 to 7 p.m., the next Picnic in the Plaza offers “one-of-a-kind picnic boxes” from Prime 16 and two mix-them-yourself cocktails concocted by Ordinary, plus tunes from local treasure Tim Palmieri and fun and games—ping pong, cornhole, Big Jenga, card games—throughout Temple Plaza. $45.

Also at 5 p.m., fresh-faced local singer-songwriters Meggie Czepiel—with her “thoughtful yet optimistic lyrics and cheerful acoustic guitar”—and Alec Pedersen—with a style “heavily influenced by the American folk revival, as well as jazz, blues, and country”—perform on the deck at Best Video (1842 Whitney Ave, Hamden; 203-287-9286). Czepiel, by the way, is the daughter of Kathy Leonard Czepiel, Daily Nutmeg’s associate editor. “No cover charge but please bring cash for the musicians’ tip jar.”

Saturday, July 31
Being a fictional character isn’t stopping Harry Potter from getting a birthday party at Walnut Beach Creamery (17 Broadway, Milford; 203-878-7738), which, on its Facebook page, promises “trivia,” “contests,” a prize wheel for costumed customers and ice creams including “our famous butter beer” homage as well as a quartet of completely new handmade flavors themed after the four houses of Hogwarts. Noon to 10 p.m.

Tonally opposite from ice cream-fueled wizarding-world escapism is tonight’s 9 p.m. show at Cafe Nine (250 State St, New Haven; 203-789-8281). Murphy’s Law—a “huge part of the New York and American hardcore legacy”—headlines, with “New Haven’s own Punk/Ska provocateurs” The Simulators opening. $18.

Written by Dan Mims. Photographed by Kathy Leonard Czepiel. Image features Lauren Lewis and Melissa Melonson at last month’s Picnic in the Plaza. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.

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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.

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