Magical comedy, disco nostalgia, mandolin modernists, a Tennessee Williams play set in Tokyo, bonsai trees at a literacy event… we’ve entered the fantastical netherworld of July in New Haven. Anything can happen, from read-ins to art installations (including Pop & Op at Artspace, pictured above) to the reappearance of ’70s icons Eddie Money and KC and the Sunshine Band, not to mention the guitarist from the Marshall Tucker Band. It’s a wacky, wonder-filled week in New Haven.
Monday, July 22
The Beecher Park Summer Concert Series begins tonight at 6:30 p.m. with a capoeira demonstration by Ginga Brasileira and Efraim Silva. Note that the performance of the athletic Brazilian dance-like self-defense practice is held not in Beecher Park but indoors at the Mitchell Branch Library (37 Harrison Street, New Haven; 203-946-6514).
Singer-songwriters David Ramirez and Terri Lynn strum and emote 8 p.m. at The Outer Space (295 Treadwell Street, Hamden). $10, $8 in advance.
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Tuesday, July 23
The Twilight Tuesdays concert tonight in the Park for the Arts behind Neighborhood Music School (100 Audubon Street, New Haven; 203-624-5189) features the esteemed folk ensemble Goodnight Blue Moon. $20, $5 for children.
Wednesday, July 24
Library concerts are common, and very welcome, this time of year. At 2 p.m., family-friendly singer-songwriter-storyteller Tom Sieling performs at the main branch of the New Haven Free Public Library (133 Elm Street, New Haven).
Not to be confused with yesterday’s Twilight Tuesdays concert, tonight’s installment of the Twilight Concert Series at the Pardee-Morris House (325 Lighthouse Road, New Haven; 203-562-4183) tonight features the Walkingwood Mandolin Quartet. 6 p.m. Free; donations welcomed.
There’s a meetup at 5 p.m. in The Outer Space (295 Treadwell Street, New Haven) for folks interested in the 48 Hour Film Project. The project itself consumes the weekend, July 26-28. That’s when teams who’ve registered (and paid a $175 entry fee) work together to create a competition-worthy film in the space of two days. Winners will be entered in national and international contests.
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Thursday, July 25
Digging the concept of “Dig Into Reading,” which is the title of this year’s New Haven Free Public Library Summer Reading Program, the Bonsai Society of Greater New Haven is holding a free hands-on bonsai workshop for teens at the main (Ives) library (133 Elm Street, New Haven) from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Get your hands dirty, but be sure you wash them before you check out any books, dig?
The New Haven Preservation Trust is holding an open house from 5 to 8 p.m. where you can meet the trust’s board of directors and hear about historic preservation projects in the city. A heads-up that you’re attending is encouraged: (203) 562-5919 or info@nhpt.org. 922 State Street, New Haven.
The penultimate production of the Yale Summer Cabaret’s 2013 season is the Tennessee Williams drama In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel, which opens tonight at 8 p.m. It may be an obscurity in the canon of the prolific Southern dramatist, but, in its way, it’s classic Williams. Especially the “bar” part. Directed by Chris Bannow, the play runs through August 3 at 217 Park Street, New Haven. (203) 432-1567. $40, $20 for Yale employees, $14 for Yale students.
Friday, July 26
LEAP, the inner-city youth services program, has a special interest in literacy. To that end, LEAP (Leadership, Education and Athletics in Partnership) holds its annual all-day Read-In on the Green. The organization’s staff and board members, as well as “city librarians, community leaders, volunteers and employees of local corporations,” read books aloud to some of the hundreds of children who are in LEAP programs this summer. This is the rescheduled date following the rained-out original date of July 12—wouldn’t want those pages to get wet! 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on New Haven Green.
Today, Artspace (50 Orange Street, New Haven; 203-772-2709) unveils the collaborative multi-media art installation Pop & Op created for its Summer Apprentice program under the guidance of artist Erika Van Natta. The exhibit, which has a video element, is up through September 7, and runs concurrently with several other new presentations: Cloud Form by Dana Filibert, Aurora by Meghan Grubb, Thread by Adam Brent (in collaboration with his father) and mixed-medium artist Luke Hanscom’s contribution to the Crown Street Window Project, wherein artists “make street-facing installations along the Crown Street side of Artspace’s gallery.” The opening reception for all of the above is tonight from 5 to 8 p.m.
If Eddie Money has “Two Tickets to Paradise,” what does it mean that the ’70s rock heartthrob has ended up in Hamden’s Town Center Park? Luckily, the rest of us don’t even need tickets. The 7:30 p.m. outdoor show is free thanks to the Hamden Arts Commission. 2761 Dixwell Avenue, Hamden. (203) 287-2546.
Saturday, July 27
Put on your boogie shoes and sound your funky horn if that’s the way (uh huh, uh huh) you like it. KC and the Sunshine Band play live on New Haven Green tonight as part of the free Music on the Green concert series presented by Yale-New Haven Hospital and organized by INFO New Haven. 7 p.m.
The next of the monthly comedy/magic shows at BAR is next Tuesday, but Joker’s Wild gets a jump on that with the zanily deadpan conjurer Chipps Cooney, who performs Friday at 8 p.m. and tonight at 8 & 10:30 p.m. His big jokes? He tells you the secrets behind his tricks. Kind of. 232 Wooster Street, New Haven. (203) 773-0733. $18.
Sunday, July 28
Chris Hicks, guitarist for the Marshall Tucker Band and a former member of The Outlaws, leads a special bill at 8 p.m. tonight at Cafe Nine (250 State Street, New Haven; 203-789-8981), with locals Chris Berardo and the DesBerardos opening. How special? They’re giving away a Gibson guitar! $20, $18 in advance.
Written by Christopher Arnott. Photograph courtesy of Artspace.
