A big name in jazz returns this week to the scene where he got his start, while local movie-makers take turns showing scenes on the silver screen, while mildly dissident efforts introduce healthy variety into the area’s summer festival scene.
Plus, all-you-can-eat pie.
Monday, August 3
Michael Morand, Yale’s inimitable, omnipresent deputy chief communications officer—@mimoct on Instagram—loves to snap shots of New Haven with his cellphone. He also loves New Haven’s public library system, enough that he’s supplying the main library’s new Ives Gallery space with its first exhibit. InstaMimo, it’s called, featuring 50 of Morand’s photos on the library’s lower level, and this is the last week to see it, with the blown-up photos coming down on Friday. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday, with closing time a few hours earlier on Fridays, at 5 p.m. Free. 133 Elm St, New Haven. (203) 946-8835.
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Tuesday, August 4
Tenor saxophonist and Neighborhood Music School alum Wayne Escoffery has been finding success in New York’s pro jazz scene for 15 years now. Currently a member of the official Mingus Big Band and the Tom Harrell Quintet following many other gigs of note along the way, he also leads his own group, the Wayne Escoffery Quartet, which in turn leads the latest show in NMS’s Twilight Tuesdays summer concert series tonight. Held in the Park of the Arts behind the school (100 Audubon St, New Haven; 203-624-5189), bringing picnic dinners and beverages is encouraged, though it sounds like there’ll be a food truck or two on site, plus wine and beer for sale by Neighborhood’s neighbor Koffee?. General admission tickets cost $20 each, with reserved table seats going for $30 a pop, and you can show up as early as 6:30 p.m., with the concert set to begin at 7:30.
Wednesday, August 5
The 48-Hour Film Project, executed this past weekend in New Haven, would be tough enough if there were no stipulations to its central challenge, which calls on teams of filmmakers to craft original short movies in a mere two days. But stipulations there are. Revealed at the opening gathering this past Friday, each film must air the dialogue, “She’s a good friend of mine;” each must include at least one glove as a prop; and each must include the character Robert (or Rachel) Poe, insurance agent. Then there’s the biggest curveball of all: a genre assignment, also revealed at the start of the 48. See how it’s all panned out tonight at Criterion Cinemas (86 Temple St, New Haven; 203-498-2500), where two group premieres, comprised of distinct 13-film sets, show at 7 p.m. and 9:30. Tickets run $11 per group screening or $20 for both.
Thursday, August 6
Usually passed over in favor of sweet, refreshing fruits, you don’t often see vegetables as the headliners for summertime festivals in Connecticut. Commencing today, the 2015 North Branford Potato & Corn Festival—or “PoCo”—is a clear exception, honoring its theme with potato sack races and corn-shucking contests; baked potatoes and roasted corn; and a “1k Tater Trot”/“5k Spud Run,” plus a cornhole tournament. There’s also a “first annual” coed softball game tonight at 6, a DJed car show at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow, fireworks at 9:15 Saturday night and a “cow chip raffle” at 1 p.m. Sunday—which, if it is what I think it is, means picking a plot of land on a field painted into a grid, then winning money if a cow does its business there. That’s in addition to food and craft vendors, amusement rides and more than 20 musical acts across the free-to-attend festival’s four-day run.
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Friday, August 7
It’s high time for tonight’s Pie On9 event, wherein New Haveners make pies to enter into a contest, and where revelers gobble ’em up during a block party on Orange Street north of Crown. At last year’s occasion, demand outstripped an impressive 130-pie supply, leading to shortages as the all-you-can-eat event wore on. Best, then, to get there as early as you can within the 6-to-8 p.m. window, which also boasts a la mode possibilities thanks to Ashley’s Ice Cream, a cash bar courtesy of Ordinary and tunes from DJ Tootskee. Proceeds from $15 advance adult tickets ($18 at the door) and $5 kids’ tickets (ages 6 to 12) benefit CitySeed’s “Food Stamp Double-Value Program,” which helps those on food stamps stretch them a heck of a lot further at CitySeed’s farmers’ markets.
Saturday, August 8
Earlier this week, Criterion Cinemas devoted a couple of screening slots to short films made mostly in and around New Haven, none more than a few days old. Last night and tonight at 11:30, it’s going the other way, devoting a couple of screening slots to a feature film set in a far-off place, finished nearly 30 years ago: The Princess Bride (1987). Part of Criterion’s 2015 “Insomnia Theater” series, Criterion aired the cult classic last summer for its morning-time counterpart “Movies & Mimosas” series. Of course, the thing about a classic is that it never really gets old.
Sunday, August 9
The Shoreline Jewish Festival, happening today from noon to 5 on the Guilford Green, signals its sense of humor via a Ten Commandments-themed promo flyer, which declares revised imperatives like “Thou shall not miss the Jewish country singer,” “Thy children shall jump & play on inflatables” and “Thou shall not forget dessert.” In addition to that Jewish country singer, who goes by the name Mr. Shabbos, there’s also Lazer Lloyd, “Israel’s most acclaimed blues guitarist” according to organizers, plus klezmer specialists Zev & The Klezmen. And in addition to dessert, food covering “American & Israeli fair favorites” will be available for purchase. Free to attend.
Written and photographed by Dan Mims. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.
