This Week in New Haven (October 7 – 13)

T his week’s cultural and recreational depths are as staggering as the pre-Halloween scares at week’s end. 

Monday, October 7
If you’re up and at ’em and you’ve got the morning free, the New Haven Bird Club is wandering around the 700-acre Yale Golf Course (200 Conrad Dr, New Haven) from 8 to 11, “looking for fall migrants such as raptors, warblers, vireos, and sparrows, as well as resident bluebirds and woodpeckers.” And of course, you can use the opportunity to scope out the course, whose website says it’s been “voted the #1 college golf course in America,” though it’s not immediately clear how that was decided. Free.

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Joyful Learning at Cold Spring School

At the opposite end of the day, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., Hamden author Tory Bilski discusses her recently published memoir, Wild Horses of the Summer Sun, at Miller Memorial Library (2901 Dixwell Ave, Hamden; 203-287-2680). The book “follows Bilski as she meets up with fellow women travelers each June at Thingeyrar, an Icelandic horse farm,” where “they escape their ordinary lives to live an extraordinary one… at the edge of the world, if only for a short while.” Free.

Tuesday, October 8
Experimentation and explosiveness reign tonight at The State House (310 State St, New Haven), where Dysrhythmia “combines avant-garde elements of progressive rock and jazz with heavy metal” at the top of an 8:30 bill opened by Behold… The Arctopus, whose instrumental fare is “inspired by both metal and 20th-century classical music.” $10 in advance, $15 day of.

Wednesday, October 9
The season opener at Long Wharf Theatre (222 Sargent Dr, New Haven; 203-787-4282) is the world premiere of On the Grounds of Belonging, which tells a tale of same-sex, interracial romance in Jim Crow-era Texas, where even the underground (and illegal) gay bars were segregated. The play opens for previews tonight with a 7 o’clock show ($35.50-70.50), with showtimes through November 3.

Thursday, October 10
At Kroon Hall (195 Prospect St, New Haven) from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., pop-up exhibit “A World You’ve Never Seen: Exploring the Ocean Monument off Connecticut’s Shores” examines something you might never have heard of, either: the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, “the first and only marine national monument in the U.S. waters of the Atlantic and a beacon of climate resilience.” The event features “a virtual tour of the wildlife found in the monument, with a renowned research scientist as your tour guide”; a “live Q&A session with a panel of experts”; and “food/wine/beer” at the beginning, from 6:30 to 7. Free; registration encouraged.

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New Haven Symphony Orchestra presents Tchaikovsky's Fifth with special guest Jennifer Koh

Friday, October 11
“An Afternoon of Arabic Literature and Music” goes from 4 to 5:45 p.m. in the Whitney Humanities Center (53 Wall St, New Haven). The literature is the acclaimed novel The Baghdad Clock (2016), as read by its author, Shahad Al-Rawi, and English translator, Luke Leafgren. The music comes courtesy of the Layaali Arabic Music Trio, a Boston-based ensemble that’s been performing for nearly three decades. Free.

Saturday, October 12
After a grand opening party last weekend, bonanza visual arts festival City-Wide Open Studios enters the first full weekend of its monthlong itinerary: Westville & Private Studios Weekend, where the public can visit 97 artists “in their private studios throughout New Haven, West Haven, North Haven, and Hamden” from noon to 6 p.m. today and tomorrow—and, of course, see a whole lot of artwork along the way. Special touches include organized bike tours, a block party in Westville and “Dance Church,” which seems to be a guided communal movement session.

The best place to celebrate Oktoberfest in New Haven has to be Connecticut’s only German-style brewery, East Rock Brewing Company (285 Nicoll St, New Haven), whose first annual Oktoberfest party lasts from 1 to 5 p.m. and spans both the beer hall and the factory floor. Along with live music and games, $25 standard tickets ($15 designated driver tickets also available) include “entry, 1st beer, and a commemorative stein,” with $6 “beer and pretzel” tickets to redeem at various bar and pretzel stations. A couple of food trucks will also be on hand.

And from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., new spot Rize Nightclub (160 Temple St, New Haven; accessible via Temple Plaza) celebrates its grand opening, promising an “intense” experience on the dance floor and drink specials until 10:30.

Sunday, October 13
“Celebrat[ing] the beauty of growth after destruction, the abandonment of all that is perceived ‘normal,’ and the mystical pull of artists and weirdos that draws us all together”—and encouraging attendees to “dress to possess”—this year’s Oddities Bazaar lasts from noon to 7, featuring 20 vendors selling artwork, antiques and other items on the “horror and macabre” side of things along with food, live music and “a special closing ceremony that we guarantee you’ll never forget.” It’s happening in a fitting place: the lot outside the Halloween-season attraction Fright Haven (411 Barnum Ave Cutoff, Stratford; $20 in advance), which opens its doors—leading to haunted landscapes named Psycho Ward 13, Cabin in the Woods and Carnival of Lost Souls—at 7 p.m, just as the bazaar is coming to a close.

Written and photographed by Dan Mims. Image features a graffiti installation by REO of HI Crew, which was live-painted during City-Wide Open Studios 2017. 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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