Ways to connect the dots this week: Investigate the justice system and then a murder mystery. View fleeting chalk art, precious fine art and everlasting concrete art. Enjoy old-timey jazz and old-timey home movies.
Monday, October 14
50 years after Yale opened its doors to female undergraduates and 150 years after it admitted the first female graduate students, the university is celebrating with a year of programming titled “Women at Yale.” And with its season opener, the Yale Jazz Ensemble is joining that effort by featuring some of the music of Melba Liston, “a prolific bandleader, arranger, composer, and trombonist” who wasn’t a Yalie but was the “first lady of trombone.” The show, which is free, starts at 7:30 p.m. inside Morse Recital Hall (470 College St, New Haven).
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Tuesday, October 15
At Gateway Community College (20 Church St, New Haven), “New Haven’s State’s Attorney Patrick Griffin, Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Kane, and the Division of Criminal Justice invite you to participate in a community forum” to discuss some radically sensible reforms, such as “a Prosecutor’s Office that screens cases before the first court appearance to ensure that defendants spend less time in court and more time getting the help and services they need.” 10 a.m. to noon; free.
Wednesday, October 16
Events at opposite ends of State Street emphasize hominess outside the home. First, from 6 to 8 p.m., the upscale Corsair apartment building (1050 State St, New Haven) hosts an Upper State Social Mural Fundraiser featuring food from local restaurants. Proceeds from $30 tickets go toward “art projects in our neighborhood, starting with the planned mural on the Trumbull Street Underpass.”
Second, from 8 p.m. to close, The State House (310 State St, New Haven) hosts a no-cover Living Room Night, when you can play board games and ping pong and, given the imminence of Halloween, watch a “scary movie” (which starts at 9 p.m.).
Thursday, October 17
Also appropriate for Halloween season is a Whodunit Mystery Murder gala, playing out from 7 to 10 p.m. and benefiting Branford’s Legacy Theatre. The black tie-optional event, which includes “a reception and silent auction, troupe of actors performing an interactive murder mystery theater performance, and full-course dinner,” takes place at The Woodwinds (29 Schoolground Rd, Branford). $150.
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Friday, October 18
“Performing the timeless classics that everyone remembers” starting at 7 p.m., the latest version of the Glenn Miller Orchestra comes to the Elm City about 75 years after Miller himself—who was stationed here for year or two during World War II—left. It’s all the better that the big band is coming to the Shubert Theater (247 College St; 203-562-5666), which neighbors Miller’s extended accommodations at what was then the Hotel Taft. $52-72.
A free Album Release Soirée for local rock act Chaser Eight, which has a revamped lineup and sound—a superior blend of alt-rock touchstones with new moves that surprise and delight—promises to be quite an occasion. The location is the New England Brewing Company (175 Amity Rd, Woodbridge), where, along with the show, “Lucky Soul Tattoo will be there giving flash tattoos”; “Ferni’s Barbershop will be there chopping mops and drinking hops”; and “Wolfski’s will be slinging pierogi all night,” with pop rock band Laini and The Wildfire, indie pop-punk band Mandala and emcee Puma Simone joining Chaser Eight on stage.
Saturday, October 19
New Haven marks Home Movie Day—“an annual celebration of amateur films and filmmaking at many local venues worldwide, providing an opportunity for individuals and families to see and share their own home movies with an audience in their community”—from noon to 4 p.m. at the New Haven Museum (114 Whitney Ave, New Haven; 203-562-4183). Accepting 8mm, Super8 and 16mm formats (hopefully VHS will make the cut in the near future), you can drop your contributions off between noon and 2 p.m., with the screenings happening from 2 to 4. Free.
Also going from noon to 4 p.m. is the 4th annual New Haven Chalk Art Festival, which brings chalk artists and admirers to Broadway Island (near 56 Broadway, New Haven) and the sidewalk outside Yale University Art Gallery (1111 Chapel St, New Haven). Family-friendly entertainment includes face painting, a magician and a “Kids Freestyle Zone with free chalk for the first 150 participants,” as well as live music. Free to attend.
In concert with the New Haven Preservation Trust, Christopher Wigren, deputy director of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation and author of Connecticut Architecture: Stories of 100 Places, is leading “A Very Concrete Tour of New Haven” from 1 to 2 p.m. Attendees should meet Wigren in front of Trinity Church on the Green (230 Temple St, New Haven), where they’ll no doubt already be in view of some of the concrete Wigren plans to highlight. Free; registration requested by Wednesday, October 16.
Sunday, October 20
City-Wide Open Studios 2019 continues today (and yesterday) with Erector Square Weekend. It happens, of course, at the wonderfully atmospheric artist complex Erector Square (315 Peck St, New Haven; pictured very partially above), where, from noon to 6 p.m., roughly 90 artists working in just about every style and medium are opening their doors to anyone who wanders in. Free to attend.
Written and photographed by Dan Mims.
