S pring is about to be sprung! Judging from the stuff happening in New Haven, romance may not quite be in the air, but an effervescent feeling of animated discourse and outdoorsiness certainly is. Take a walk, listen to poetry, honor great leaders and free your mind. New Haven is nearly in bloom.
Monday, March 18
The Greater New Haven Water Works Coalition wants to inform you about rainwater, run-off and sewer overspills. There are ways that you, as a citizen, can keep city sewer pipes from flooding. The talk is called “Bringing in the Rain.” 5 p.m. at Mitchell Branch Library, 37 Harrison Street, New Haven. (203) 946-8117. Free.
Tuesday, March 19
The seasons fly by. Yesterday the park rangers were holding a Winter Bird Walk (3:30 p.m.). Today’s activity (9:30 to 11 a.m.) is advertised as a “Pre-Spring Hike.” That’s the spirit! Both meet at the Barnard Nature Center, corner of Route 34 and Ella T. Grasso Boulevard. Free; a $2 donation is recommended for non-New Haven residents. (203) 691-3539.
Mark Lamoureux and Nate Klug read at the Infinite Well acupuncture center’s latest poetry evening. 7:30 p.m., 123 Court Street, New Haven. (203) 537-0699. Both poets are New Haven-based (Klug is a student at Yale Divinity School) and have been published in numerous national literary journals.
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Wednesday, March 20
Debby Applegate won the Pulitzer Prize in Biography for her first book The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher. She’ll discuss that book, and perhaps her next one (a bio of the famed New York brothel-keeper Polly Adler), with WNPR host Colin McEnroe from 12:30 to 2 p.m. at the Institute Library (847 Chapel Street, New Haven; 203-562-4045). The talk is free, and will be broadcast live on The Colin McEnroe Show. Audience members are encouraged to RSVP.
Sarah Lou Richards comes from Connecticut but currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee, which has clearly colored her winsome folk/pop tunes like “Wishing Well.” Richards plays Cafe Nine (250 State Street, New Haven; 203-789-8281) with Mike Clifford, Marjory Lee and Joy Ike. 8 p.m., $7.
Thursday, March 21
Daymond John, founder of the FUBU fashion empire and a co-star of the ABC series Shark Tank, speaks on “Taking the Plunge: You Can Swim With the Sharks” as part of the Yale University African-American Affinity Group Speaker Series. “Prior registration is strongly encouraged.” 6 p.m. at the Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall Street, New Haven. (203) 432-5660.
The New Haven Symphony Orchestra whisks through the folk-dance frenzy of Dvorak’s eighth symphony, Kodaly’s Dances of Galánta and Smetana’s The Bartered Bride. The dance theme of these classical works is augmented with a new piece, Daniel Bernard Roumain’s Wood Box Concerto. Talk about a box step! $15-$69. Woolsey Hall, 500 College Street, New Haven. (203) 865-0831.
Friday, March 22
Neighborhood Music School’s latest free “Faculty Fridays Concert,” 7:30 p.m. tonight at the school’s Recital Hall (100 Audubon Street, New Haven), offers “The Oriole, The Nightingale and Other Rags” from the likes of Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb and James Scott. Tubaist Art Hovey also did the musical arrangements.
The copacetic jazz emporium Firehouse 12 doesn’t like to repeat itself. Even if a dynamic band blows the roof off the place (or, to give this intimate listening room its due, achieves harmony with its spiritual surroundings), it can be years before they get booked again. There are just too many great experimental jazz acts to showcase. The genius jazz pianist Matthew Shipp, for example, hasn’t played Firehouse in seven years, and that last visit was a solo show. This time he brings his famous Matthew Shipp Trio—himself, bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Whit Dickey. Admission for the 8:30 p.m. set is $18; the 10 p.m. set costs $12. 45 Crown Street, New Haven; (203) 785-0468.
Saturday, March 23
The Yale Center for British Art has a film series to accompany its extravagant exhibit of Edwardian Opulence. Today, it’s a fun choice: the curiosity The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, which follows the title character through a succession of wars, from the Boer War to World War II. It’s based on a popular old comic strip by David Low and directed by the great Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. The screening (and the exhibit, for that matter) is free. 2 p.m. Yale Center for British Art. 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. (203) 432-2800.
For a war film of a decidedly different temperament, the Democracy Forum film series is screening the 2007 documentary Afghan Women: A History of Struggle, 3:15 p.m. at New Haven Free Public Library (Ives Main Library, 133 Elm St., New Haven; 203-946-8130). The screening observes Women’s History Month.
Sunday, March 24
The New Haven Paint and Clay Club has held its Annual Juried Art Exhibition for 111 years now, and has called the John Slade Ely House (51 Trumbull Street, New Haven) home since the early 1960s. The juror this year is Helen Klisser During of the Westport Arts Center. The opening reception is this afternoon from 2 to 5 p.m.
Parenthetical Girls (pictured above), the experimental pop band from Washington State, has worked with orchestras, complex vocal arrangements and deep inner visions. The band’s relatively stripped-down new album Privilege (originally released as a series of hand-numbered vinyl EPs) has received rapturous reviews. Parenthetical Girls light up The Outer Space (295 Treadwell Street, Hamden; 203-288-6400) tonight at 9:30 p.m. $10, $8 in advance.
Written by Christopher Arnott.
