Boozy learning. Hardcore hearing. Hobbyist feasting. Localized chronicling. Healthy competing. Artsy partying. Escapist imagining.
Those are the basic ideas, anyway, this week in New Haven.
Monday, June 1
The back room at BAR (254 Crown St, New Haven) is the setting for the latest “Astronomy on Tap” event, featuring a trio of academics tackling topics of… universal… import. Wesleyan postdocs Kevin Flaherty and Wilson Cauley are giving respective talks on “The (Not-So-)Turbulent Life of Planet-Forming Disks” and “Living Inside the Bubble: Magnetic Fields and Planetary Atmospheres”—a cosmic before-and-after, if you will—while Yale researcher Ivelina Momcheva delves into the “Hubble: The Little Telescope That Could.” Meantime, attendees enjoy “astronomy-themed drinks” and “prize giveaways.” 8 p.m. Free.
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Tuesday, June 2
“My rock and roll is not to entertain but to annihilate.” Infamous punk rocker/shock performer GG Allin, who died of a heroin overdose in 1993, was less concerned with music than he was with culture, taking extreme measures—including mutilating himself on stage, duking it out with spectators and, as in a performance captured by the documentary Hated: GG Allin & the Murder Junkies, stripping nude and defecating mid-show—to combat what he saw as the sanitization of rock ’n’ roll and the phoniness of polite society. Tonight at Cafe Nine (250 State St, New Haven; 203-789-8281), the Murder Junkies—the last band to back Allin, with a lineup that retains two members of the original four—leads what’s bound to be a less messy, but still messy, kind of bill. Opening up the night is all-female punk act Damn Broads, followed by New Haven punk-scene favorite The Lost Riots. 9 p.m. $10, or $8 in advance.
Wednesday, June 3
Even at $65 per ticket, the “Chefs of Our Kitchen” series at Gateway Community College (20 Church St, New Haven), hosted by the school’s impressive culinary arts facilities, has to be one of the more economical foodie indulgences around. Tonight’s installment begins at 6 o’clock with wine, beer, soda and hors d’oeuvres during a “pre-event reception.” Then, at 6:45, the featured chef—this time, Neil Fuentes, a.k.a. “The Singing Chef,” who normally helms the kitchen at Jojoto in Branford—live-prepares a three-course, wine- and beer-paired meal for ticket-holders, who also receive a copy of Fuentes’s forthcoming “mini-cookbook” and get to ask questions while the cooking’s in progress. Sweetening the pot is validated parking, if you use the Temple Street Garage.
Thursday, June 4
The Group with No Name asks, “What’s growing, New Haven?” during a happy hour gathering tonight at the Marsh Botanical Gardens (227 Mansfield St, New Haven). Attendees are invited to “tell a little story about something you’re trying to grow in our beautiful city” and to bring a contribution of food or drink to share. 5:30 to 7:30. Free.
Friday, June 5
As of 7 tonight, the New Haven Documentary Film Festival is underway, opening in Yale’s Whitney Humanities Center (53 Wall St, New Haven; 203-432-0670) with a “special work-in-progress screening” of Rebecca Wexler’s We Break Things. According to the fest’s website, the doc “peels back the curtain on one of society’s increasingly powerful political forces”: the ragtag community of hackers who “build and break technology to defend civil liberties worldwide.” The full itinerary, which includes showings at the Ives Main Library (133 Elm St, New Haven; 203-946-8835) and emphasizes local filmmakers, is long and varied but maintains a spirit consistent with the best traditions of documentary filmmaking: earnest interest in the different, the misunderstood, the overlooked.
Kickstarting with a 7:15 opening ceremony tonight at Southern Connecticut State University’s Jess Dow Field (501 Crescent St, New Haven), the state Special Olympics’s 2015 Summer Games brings some 2,500 athletes competing in track and field, gymnastics, aquatics and other kinds of events, including tennis and soccer matches, to the area. It also attracts locals looking to support the endeavor with eyeballs and cheers, with a schedule that’s entirely free and open to the public.
Saturday, June 6
It’s a big day for the Arts Council of Greater New Haven. First, from noon to 5 p.m., the council’s putting on its free annual Audubon Arts on the Edge event. Technically an all-ages affair, families with younger children will feel especially at home among the communal chalk art, face painting, storytelling, magic tricks and kid-friendly dance, music and theater shows. Then, after an hour’s break, the organization celebrates its 50th birthday with a themed party for adults. Encouraging us to dress up like it’s the 1960s (when the council was born), enticements include live ’60s music, food from Da Legna, beer from Erector Brewing Collective and a cocktail from Ordinary. Tickets go for $50 apiece or $35 if you’re a member, with sales ending today.
Sunday, June 7
Two compatible events channel renewed popular interest in comics and fantasy tales today. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 554 Woodward Avenue, the New Haven Comic & Collectible Spectacular gathers together 50 tablers offering a “great selection of comics, toys and collectibles” for sale. Admission runs $3.50 per person unless you happen to be 10 years old or younger, in which case it’s free.
Meanwhile, over at the North Haven Fairgrounds (300 Washington St), the Robin Hood Springtime Festival—active yesterday and for the past two weekends as well—enjoys its last swashbuckling hurrah, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. A huge number of diversions—from lively performances to medieval-style games to fantastical shops to a running story that involves various characters from Robin Hood lore—includes the other festival-goers, many of whom take the opportunity to dress up as knights and fairies and the like. General admission tickets cost $17, with kids aged 7 to 15 getting in for $10 and the 6-and-under set attending for free.
Written and photographed by Dan Mims. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.
