If you made it past the icy weekend without a slip-and-fall, you’re fleeter-of-foot than some of us (ahem). Congratulate yourself in a number of stand-up ways this week in New Haven.
Monday, January 6
Today might feel like your first real workday in a while. If you aren’t too busy catching up with your own work, catch up with others’ via the Smithsonian Institute’s traveling photographic exhibit The Way We Worked at the main branch of the New Haven Free Public Library (133 Elm St, New Haven; 203-946-8130). The images depict 130 years of “American workplaces, work clothing, working conditions and workplace conflicts,” and will be traveling somewhere else after January 19.
Tuesday, January 7
Tuesday is Stella Blues day for musicians seeking fresh audiences and audiences seeking fresh musicians. In other words, it’s open mic night. Hosted by local rockstar Seth Adam, “sign-ups start at 8:00 and fill up quickly,” so don’t delay if you want to play. 204 Crown St, New Haven; (203) 752-9764.
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Wednesday, January 8
If you go by Spin or Rolling Stone, the punk quartet Against Me! (pictured above) earned that exclamation point in 2007, when its album New Wave—an odd synthesis of inoffensive chord progressions and middling tempos on one hand and rebellious, gruff-sung lyrics on the other—was the former’s album of the year and cracked the latter’s top 10. According to Pitchfork’s hipster wisdom, the band’s heyday was closer to its genesis with the release of debut LP Reinventing Axl Rose in 2002, marked by the performers’ “refusal to do anything resembling a second take.” Tonight at Toad’s Place (300 York St, New Haven; 203-624-8623), the band will likely perform material from its forthcoming album Transgender Dysphoria Blues, and none of us really knows what we’re in for. The Sidekicks and The Shondes open the 8 p.m. show. $17, $15 in advance.
Thursday, January 9
Reynolds Fine Art (96 Orange St, New Haven; 203-498-2200) is hosting one of its second-Thursday-of-the-month Drink & Draw events to ring in the new year. For $25, get art supplies to play with, wine to drink and subjects—sometimes human—to put to paper. RSVP via info@reynoldsfineart.com or the phone number listed above to register. 7 to 9 p.m.
Friday, January 10
Singer Sarah Borges is a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll and another national-pressed music artist swinging through New Haven this week. She used to be the frontwoman of Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles. Then the band broke up, and Borges linked up with one of the ex-Singles. No longer single, Borges took time out to have a son before soldiering on as a solo artist with a new backing band, which is how she’ll appear tonight at Cafe Nine (250 State St, New Haven; 203-789-8281). The surprisingly male Girls, Guns and Glory opens the 9 p.m. bill. $12, $10 in advance.
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Saturday, January 11
CitySeed has consolidated all its various farmers’ markets into a weekly Saturday event from now through April. For fresh local produce even in winter, head to the “Indoor Winter Market” at Metropolitan Business Academy (115 Water St, New Haven) between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Then hurry over to the Ives branch of the New Haven Free Public Library (133 Elm St, New Haven; 203-946-8130) for a 1 p.m. book talk on Large Scale: Fabricating Sculpture in the 1960s and 1970s, about an era when artists relied upon industrial manufacturers for help and often hit their heads against walls as a result. Jonathan Lippincott’s the speaker and the book’s author.
Sunday, January 12
Long Wharf Theatre’s new production is new indeed. The world premiere performance of Heidi Schreck’s The Consultant, in which “a precocious young consultant is brought in to save a middle-aged adman’s job, and maybe his life,” happened this past Wednesday and continues showing most days of the week through February 9. Today there’s a matinee at 2 p.m. and a weekend-cap at 7. 222 Sargent Dr, New Haven; (203) 787-4282. $54.50-74.50. http://longwharf.org/consultant
Written by Dan Mims.
