Tolstoy would be proud. There’s a strange mix of war and peace in New Haven this week. There’s a Yale talk on “respect of human life” and a Yale screening of the new Evil Dead. There’s a soldier who balanced the horrors of his tour in Iraq by birdwatching. Cafe Nine offers some feisty ragtime on Monday and acousticized classic punk rock on the following Sunday. There’s baroque and new classical composers and experimental popsmith Zammuto. Take solace in the wide range of choices available on the cultural calendar in New Haven this week.
Monday, March 25
Woody Pines is an old-school ragtime/jazz/blues entertainer, singing of “The Hobo and His Bride” and “The Train That Carried My Gal from Town.” The rootsy troubadour, who’s fronted fine bands in Oregon and North Carolina, pulls into Cafe Nine (250 State Street, New Haven; 203-789-8281) for an 8 p.m. set. $6.
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Tuesday, March 26
Yale’s Order, Conflict and Violence lecture series presents Luca Falciola talking about “The American White Radicals and the Respect of Human Life: Analysis of the Dynamics of Restraint of Political Violence (1969-1981).” We can never talk too much about respect and restraint. 4 p.m. at Rosenkranz Hall, Room 005, 115 Prospect Street, New Haven.
Wednesday, March 27
Violinist Edson Scheid and cellist Soo Jin Chung of the Yale Baroque Ensemble play works by Bach (the J.S. one), Haydn and Corelli. 5:30 p.m. at the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments, 15 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven. (203) 432-4158.
The eagerly awaited (by ghouls) remake of Evil Dead gets a sneak preview screening 7 p.m. at Yale’s Whitney Humanities Center (53 Wall Street, New Haven). To save the surprises for others, no recording devices of any kind will be allowed in the auditorium, including cell phones. How scary is that?
Thursday, March 28
Jonathan Trouern-Trend is a birdwatcher. He’s also in the Connecticut National Guard, which means he did some of his birdwatching while on two deployments to Iraq. He discusses his experiences in a lecture, “Birding Babylon: A Soldier’s Journey from Iraq,” 5:30 p.m. at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, 170 Whitney Avenue, New Haven. (203) 432-5050.
The latest New Music New Haven concert of original and provocative new neo-classical works features five composers who teach at the Yale School of Music: David Lang, Martin Bresnick, Jack Vees, Ingram Marshall and Hannah Lash. This is a spectacular line-up, and all the cool New York concert halls are probably very jealous. 8 p.m. at Morse Recital Hall (inside Sprague Memorial Hall), 470 College Street, New Haven. (203) 432-4158. Free.
Friday, March 29
The Beyond French: New Languages for African Diasporic Literature conference at Yale tackles such topics du jour as “immigration, language choice, cosmopolitanism, global citizenship, and world literature.” The event, which continues all day tomorrow, features speakers from Harvard, Dartmouth, UCLA and many other universities, plus writers from Senegal and Morocco. Most sessions happen at the Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall Street, with a Saturday morning session at the Romance Languages Lounge, 82-90 Wall Street.
From French-African literature to the former frontman of indie-rock legends The Books: Nick Zammuto brings his new band Zammuto, which expands his experimental soundscapes beyond the cello/guitar combo of The Books, to the new Spaceland Ballroom (part of The Space club complex at 295 Treadwell Street, Hamden; 203-288-6400). 9 p.m., $15.
Saturday, March 30
The life, spirit and vivid artwork of Ficre Ghebreyesus—the Yale School of Art grad and Caffe Adulis restaurateur who died last year—are celebrated in a retrospective exhibition entitled Polychromasia, which opens today at the invaluable local gallery Artspace (50 Orange Street, New Haven; 203-772-2709). The exhibit is accompanied by an elaborate catalogue with essays praising Ghebreyesus.
Sunday, March 31
It’s a night of living punk rock legends at Cafe Nine (250 State Street, New Haven; 203-789-8281) when the original bassist for the Sex Pistols, Glen Matlock (pictured above), and the guitarist for the New York Dolls, Sylvain Sylvain, join forces, doing separate solo acoustic sets plus a few tunes together. 8 p.m. $18, $15 in advance.
Written by Christopher Arnott.
