T he volume of a quiet week suddenly spikes over the weekend, with a busy Saturday and an inspiring Sunday.
Tuesday, January 9
At 7 p.m. with free popcorn, Hamden’s Best Video shows Best in Show (2000), an instant-classic mockumentary “follow[ing] five entrants in a prestigious dog show.”
Wednesday, January 10
Ari Lehman played the original, adolescent version of Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th (1980) and grew up in Westport. Now he leans into that bona fide by calling his band First Jason, who are bringing their ’80s-grade rock to Cafe Nine for an 8 p.m. show with local act Shame Penguin.
Thursday, January 11
Starting at 8 p.m., Yale Cabaret reopens right about when Yale does with a three-day, five-performance run of MFA candidate Kim Zhou’s And the Beetle Hums. “Four characters (and a beetle) have been trapped in a sleepless limbo. At their wit’s end, they wrack their brains for absolutely any way to get out- and they make an unexpected rediscovery…”
Friday, January 12
A Time for Burning (1966) screens in Yale’s Humanities Quadrangle at 7 p.m. The hourlong Oscar-nominated documentary, shot cinéma-vérité style and released between the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., follows “a Lutheran minister in Omaha [who] attempts to integrate his all-white congregation.”
Saturday, January 13
From 10 a.m. to 1, kids and families can craft “peace wreaths in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.” at Coogan Pavilion. “Wear appropriate clothes to paint in.”
Amarante’s Annual Bridal Show by the Sea—at Amarante’s Sea Cliff, of course—happens from 11 a.m. to 2. and promises vendors and a fashion show, food and cake sampling and raffles and prizes.
Starting at noon in Milford, Dockside Brewing’s Second Annual Après Ski Event invites partiers, especially those dressed in their “best ski or snowboard attire,” to “an afternoon filled with amazing raffles, music by Bobby Wheeler, cozy fire pits, and delicious specialty cocktails!”
A 2 p.m. artists’ reception at City Gallery celebrates Blue Does Not Mean Sky, an exhibition featuring abstract works by painter Judy Atlas, sculptor Meg Bloom, photographer Phyllis Crowley and art quilter Rita Hannafin. “French painter Henri Matisse once explained, ‘When I apply green, that does not mean grass, when I apply blue, that does not mean sky,” the gallery in turn explains. “Abstract Art does not attempt to be literal in that way; it uses other means to express the feelings and visions of the artists, guiding the viewers to new perspectives.”
Looks like we’ll get at least one blizzard this year: “Opus’ Blizzard B-Day Bash 2024,” a festival at Toad’s Place featuring 14 metal bands on two stages between 4 and 10:30. FYI, the event’s namesake is Opus Lawrence, drummer for the headlining (and locally rooted) act Dead By Wednesday.
A “winter flame” mixology class at Madeline’s Empanaderia offers the chance to make and drink “warm, traditional cocktails with a kick of fire” while trying “some of the best hand-crafted empanadas.”
Neither the Yale nor Harvard men’s hockey teams are having good years. But that symmetry only heightens the chance of a tight and exciting game starting at 7 at The Whale.
Sunday, January 14
From noon to 3, the Ely Center of Contemporary Art hosts a closing reception for multiple exhibitions. As part of the event, three artists—Desmond Beach, Lesley Finn and Donald Guevara—co-present a collage workshop, each “lead[ing] their own collage stations [and] highlighting their own take on the art form.”
Ahead of MLK Day tomorrow, the 28th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Legacy of Social & Environmental Justice festival, spearheaded by the Yale Peabody Museum and co-presented with the New Haven Museum, holds the first part of its two-day itinerary: “an afternoon of inspiring family programs celebrating Dr. King’s life and legacy” from 12:30 to 3:30 at NHM. “Storytellers Joy Donaldson, Waltrina Kirkland, and Clifton Graves will share stirring fables, anecdotes, and stories that honor King’s work and testify to his impact on the justice movement”; “Ms. Hanan’s Dance and Beyond will present an interactive performance of cultural dance and drumming from the African diaspora”; and guests will “discover kid-friendly activities throughout the Museum.”
Written by Dan Mims. Image 1, featuring Dead By Wednesday, photographed by Anthony Frisketti. Image 2 features, from left, Michael McKean, “Miss Agnes” and John Michael Higgins in Best in Show. Image 3 features, from left, Ernie Chambers and L. William Youngdahl in A Time for Burning. Image 4, provided courtesy of City Gallery, features New York Energy by Rita Hannafin. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations, prices and other details before attending events.
