C ollege commencement ceremonies have commenced, so you might think you’ve got commensurately quieter times ahead. Think again, between the mighty roars of electric guitars, marching drums and classic cars.
Monday, May 22
University of New Haven conferred degrees to its graduates two weekends ago. SCSU did it on Friday, Quinnipiac and Albertus Magnus did it over the weekend, Yale is doing it today and Gateway does it later this week. You can finish a much quicker ascent—several of them, actually—at City Climb (342 Winchester Ave, New Haven; 203-891-7627), an indoor climbing gym where first-timers scale for free every Monday after 7 p.m.
Tuesday, May 23
From 6 to 7, with the help of the New Haven Zen Center and New Haven Insight, the Ives Main Library (133 Elm St, New Haven; 203-946-8835) hosts its weekly Tuesday Evening Meditation class. Run by volunteer instructors, the idea is to “[guide] people towards beneficial meditation practices.” Free.
sponsored by
Wednesday, May 24
Blending some rock sensibilities with emo’s youthfulness and sense of irony, the emocore band Piebald, formed in Massachusetts in 1994 and officially broken up in 2008, is back from the dead for a show at The Ballroom at The Outer Space (295 Treadwell St, Hamden; 203-288-6400). Opening the 8 p.m. bill is the likewise hard-to-define Simon Doom, which plays new wave-adjacent music it thinks would qualify as pop-punk, “if pop-punk didn’t mean pop-punk.” $25.
Thursday, May 25
At 5:30 p.m., the Yale University Art Gallery film series African Cinema, 1966 to the Present screens its finale: La Belle at the Movies (2015), “a documentary film exploring the rise and fall of the movie house in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” where 10 million people live without a single movie theater, yet “a love of the movies is still alive and well.” Free. 1111 Chapel Street, New Haven. (203) 432-0600.
At some point, the bombastic and charismatic Hillhouse Band (pictured above, circa October 2014) has probably come to you—during City-Wide Open Studios, or the Greater New Haven St. Patrick’s Day Parade, or Westville’s ArtWalk. Tonight you can go to it—at James Hillhouse High (480 Sherman Pkwy, New Haven), from 6 to 9 p.m., when the band puts on its Spring Concert. $5 suggested donation.
Friday, May 26
Local photographer Paul Duda’s spent bits of the past eight years of his life working on his Life Past series, a fine-arts “study of towns across America that died due to a single event. From the lost production of mineral mines, to the closing of a highway off-ramp, from agricultural failure due to drought, or a single tornado, the photographs capture a glimpse of what once was.” The photos get an opening reception at a nontraditional gallery space, the tavern Ordinary (990 Chapel St, New Haven; 203-907-0238), tonight at 7 p.m. Free to attend.
Saturday, May 27
At 9:30 p.m. for $8, bands with local ties and big-pond talent blow some hair back at Cafe Nine (250 State St, New Haven; 203-789-8281). The headliner is Kings and Liars, a technically polished heavy metal act that doesn’t lose musicality in the shuffle. The second act, comprised of members of once-beloved area act The Smyrk, is Model Decoy, a deliriously pleasing hard rock-R&B fusion that writes impressively original songs riffing on “nerd” culture phenomena like the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series. The opener is Chuggernaut, who says it “will make you feel things you should see a specialist for,” and whose brilliant cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” is better than the original.
Sunday, May 28
The 23rd Annual Memorial Weekend Car Show happens today in the main lots at Quinnipiac University (275 Mount Carmel Ave, Hamden). Featuring hundreds of classic and other cars—“stock, modified, custom muscle, street rods, pro street and special-interest” vehicles manufactured no later than 1986—it’s a feast for the eyes, and for the part of the brain that craves blasts from the past. The first cars start showing up at 8 a.m., and awards are handed out at 3 p.m., so mid- to late morning is probably a good window for spectators to arrive. Admission is $4 per person or free for kids under 12.
Written and photographed by Dan Mims. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.
