Halloween casts its delightful shadow for days and days.
Monday, October 28
“Brexit Briefing: Updates & Understanding a Country Divided,” the first panel in a two-part series, convenes at noon in Horchow Hall (55 Hillhouse Ave, New Haven). Featuring Yale law/poli sci professor Bruce Ackerman, 2019 World Fellow Nizam Uddin and poli sci lecturer Bonnie Weir—and moderated by history professor Paul Kennedy—“this two-part panel series will examine the current Brexit crisis in the United Kingdom, with a view to untangling and understanding the current legal and political layers that present the country with its biggest constitutional crisis in modern history.” Free.
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Tuesday, October 29
From 4 to 5 p.m, Harvard prof Robert Reid, “a specialist in African American culture and a prominent scholar in the field of race and sexuality studies,” discusses “James Baldwin and the Practice of Celebrity” at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library (121 Wall St, New Haven). As a black writer, speaker and activist, Baldwin used his sharp pen and tongue to push for change, especially during the civil rights era, and though he died in 1987, his speeches and interviews are still contributing to America’s discourse on race thanks to the power of Youtube and social media. Free.
Pacific Standard Tavern (212 Crown St, New Haven) hosts another Tuesday show by ’member?, whose rotating lineup is nonetheless devoted to a singular mission: helping audiences remember the music of the past by performing it. This performance’s theme is Halloween, with costumes encouraged and “surprises” promised. 9 p.m.; no cover.
Wednesday, October 30
Halloween happenings kick into a higher gear. There’s themed trivia with the cats of Mew Haven Cat Cafe (904 Whalley Ave, New Haven; 5-6:30pm; $17); a Hallow-Weiner Doggie Costume Party at Oak Haven Table & Bar (932 State St, New Haven; 5-8pm; $0-10); a costume party on The Deck at Amarante’s Sea Cliff (62 Cove St, New Haven; 5-9pm; no cover); a HalloQween Drag Show at Olives & Oil (124 Temple St, New Haven; 6-10pm; no cover); and themed trivia with no cats but lots of potions (beers) at East Rock Brewing Company (285 Nicoll St, New Haven; 7:30-10pm; no cover).
Thursday, October 31 – Halloween
Here we go, in chronological order: The First Unitarian Universalist Society of New Haven (608 Whitney Ave, New Haven; 5-9pm; bring candy) ensures there’s no actual gore with a kid-friendly Vegan Trick or Treat Gathering. The Whitney Humanities Center (53 Wall St, New Haven; 7pm; free) screens horror classic The Shining. Stella Blues (204 Crown St, New Haven; 8pm-1am; $15 in advance or $20 at the door) embraces the subterranean with a Sewer Spectacular featuring a “filthy lineup” of hard and heavy bands. The State House (310 State St, New Haven; 9pm-1am; $5) tosses goth and industrial music into the cauldron and conjures a “celebratory dance in honor of All Hallow’s Eve.” Ordinary (990 Chapel St, New Haven; 9pm-12:30am; no cover) is throwing an Apocalyptic Zombie Prom. Toad’s Place (300 York St, New Haven; 9pm-1am; $6.50 in advance or $15 at the door) is turning off the lights and turning on the lasers during a blacklight glow party. Cafe Nine (250 State St, New Haven; 9pm; no cover) twists its monthly Shake ’N’ Vibrate “all-vinyl dance-off” into a holiday party with a costume contest. Te Amo Tequila (182 Temple St, New Haven; 10pm-1am; no cover) boasts a dance party and costume contest with generous cash prizes. And Partners Cafe (365 Crown St, New Haven; 10pm-2am; no cover) hosts a “spooky Halloween edition” of recurring “inclusive dance party” Modern Love.
Friday, November 1
The clock has struck midnight, but Halloween’s not over as far as Next Door (175 Humphrey St, New Haven; 8pm; $13) is concerned. The pizza restaurant’s Halloween Party & Cabaret promises “live music, games, go-go
Yale Cabaret (217 Park St, New Haven; 203-432-1566) is pinging the holiday, too. This week’s show—with performances yesterday at 8 p.m., tonight at 8 and 11 and Saturday at 8 and 11—is Burn Book, which takes inspiration from Halloweenish IP The Crucible and The Craft (as well as Mean Girls). $25, with discounts for Yale students, faculty and staff.
Saturday, November 2
Today and tomorrow from noon to 6, Alternative Space Weekend, the finale of this year’s City-Wide Open Studios arts festival, repurposes Building 410 at Yale West Campus (100 West Campus Dr, Orange), where more than 200 artists will fill offices, lounges and other former white-collar working spaces (like the one pictured above) with a dozen commissioned installations and countless artworks. The installations, in at least one way or another, satisfy this year’s theme of Older but Younger, “explor
The parade portion of this year’s Day of the Dead Festival, organized by Unidad Latina en Acción and known to draw an incredible array of puppets and props, steps off at 6 p.m. outside 26 Mill Street, New Haven. (You can meet there earlier, at 4 p.m., to work on your flair with other paraders.) The destination is 491 Blatchley Avenue, about a mile away, which is presumably where the advertised music—by a salsa band, a mariachi band and a DJ—and food await. The underlying purpose each year is to “honor community heroes and ancestors who are too often forgotten,” and this year there’s a compelling twist, with the festival “dedicated to the living beings, flora and fauna, that are facing extinction in the Amazon.” Free to attend.
Sunday, November 3
Speaking of honoring community heroes, a Farewell to the Redeemer Organ concert is planned from 7 to 8 p.m. at Church of the Redeemer (185 Cold Spring St, New Haven; 203-787-5711). Referring to the church’s Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ, which it’s had for nearly 70 years, organizers say that “this will be the last public performance on this glorious instrument in New Haven as it leaves us to serve another community.” And it’s going out in style, with performances by Yale’s university organist Thomas Murray, Trinity Church’s musical director Walden Moore, Yale’s director of chapel music Nathaniel Gumbs and award-winning Juilliard undergraduate Eddie Zheng.
Written and photographed by Dan Mims. Image depicts an empty office in Building 410 at Yale West Campus. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.
