New Haven magazine February 2009

FEBRUARY

2009

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ODE TO JOY

A New Haven poet rocks the inauguration

ONE2ONE Architectural titan César Pelli

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New Haven I February/2009

César Pelli, New Haven’s master builder to the world

A little-known treasure trove of musical instruments

15 New Haven’s Coolest Singles

49 ONSTAGE

Just in time for Valentine’s Day — so hot, they’re cool!

At Yale Rep and LWT, tales of families in turmoil

29 Ode to Joy

55 WORDS OF MOUTH

At the inauguration, a New Haven poet versifies to the world

Winter eats at Caseus, Delaney’s Tap Room and more

31 A New Haven Classic

62 DISCOVERED

Reclaiming a gracious 1928 Douglas Orr home

Steve Blazo

44 Sound Investments

PHOTOGRAPH:

8 ONE2ONE

How sweet it is at Connecticut’s chocolate factories

36 Body & Soul Love your heart, and it will love you back

38 Takin’ It to the Street Madison’s surprising, provocative Sculpture Mile

New Haven

| Vol. 2, No. 5 | February 2009

Publisher Mitchell Young, Editor Michael C. Bingham, Design Manager Larissa Wigglesworth, Design Consultant Terry Wells, Contributing Writers Brooks Appelbaum, Elvira J. Duran, Joyce Faiola, Michael Harvey, Liese Klein, Cindy Marien, Melissa Nicefaro, Tashema Nichols, Joanna Pettas, Ron Ragozzino, Steven Scarpa, Cindy Simoneau, Editorial Assistant Sarah Politz, Photographers Steve Blazo, Anthony DeCarlo

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february 2009

Advertising Director Laura Whinfield, Senior Publisher’s Representative Mary W. Beard, Publisher’s Representatives Cynthia Carlson, David Gullotti, New Haven is published 12 times annually by Second Wind Media Ltd., which also publishes Business New Haven, with offices at 85 Willow St., New Haven, CT 06511. 203-781-3480 (voice), 203-781-3482 (fax). Subscriptions $24.95/year, $39.95/two years. Send name, address & zip code with payment. Second Wind Media Ltd. d/b/a New Haven shall

not be held liable for failure to publish an advertisement or for typographical errors or errors in publication. For more information e-mail NewHaven@Conntact.com.

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That’s the title of Barack Obama’s second book. The volume was an extension of the landmark address Obama gave at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, a speech that vaulted him to national prominence — and ultimately to the White House.

The title came from a sermon delivered by Obama’s controversial pastor of 20 years, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Audacity of Hope. It’s a good turn of phrase.

But is hope really audacious? Isn’t hope just as often an expression of desperation — the final refuge on the road to the pit of despair?

Hope and fear were in delicate counterpoise January 20 as a new President assumed office. Hope for a new beginning, but fear about an economy that had worsened gravely since Election Day and about which no one seems to have any clear remedy. We want to hope, because it numbs the fear.

NHM Editorial Assistant Sarah Politz sojourned to Washington for the inauguration — on her own dime, not on assignment for us. She invested considerable time and travail to be able to be a first-hand witness to history.

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Viewing the spectacle from the Silver Zone (“reserved for the unluckiest of ticket-holders,” she explains), she at first didn’t think the trouble and expense of getting to D.C., plus the inconvenience of getting up at 5:30 a.m. and enduring the bone-chilling cold, “was going to be worth it.

“Obama’s speech was uplifting,” Sarah continues, “but more he told us to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off. Being in the middle of the crowd, sensing all around me that everyone felt the same sense of purpose and responsibility — that’s what it was about. I don’t think even the experience of watching it on TV could capture the emotion of it. It was too big.”

Sarah sums up the experience: “My mom called me on the ride home to tell me she watched on TV. ‘This is your generation’s Woodstock,’ she said. Maybe it was. In any case, I’m glad I was there.”

— Michael C. Bingham, Editor

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Parade Needs More Green NEW HAVEN — Tough times for New Haven city coffers have put the squeeze on the 53rd annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Connecticut’s largest. Organizers of the March 15 event must raise more than $35,000 over its typical annual budget to defray the costs of police overtime, cleanup and other out-of-pocket city costs. Last year’s Hibernian hoedown drew some 300,000 rollicking revelers to downtown — which means lots of cops and time-consuming cleanup.

In late January parade organizer Ed DiMatteo told INTEL his group was about halfway to the total $115,000 goal, but the show was expected to go on. This year’s grand marshal, Orange attorney Brian Enright, is leading the charge. He told WTNH-TV that, despite tough times, “This parade is not in jeopardy.”

You can support the effort by purchasing T-shirts and other

EAST HARTFORD — We expect that four-star U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus must have earned his share of gold stars growing up. Petraeus, commander of the U.S. Central Command and former chief commander of multinational forces in the Iraq war, is credited with implementing the “surge” that turned the Iraq war effort around.

the-art video production labs, a 350-seat theater, two dance studios, a photography lab and a 3D arts studio. Designed to train and inspire 450 students from across the region, the school is already receiving national accolades. Last month U.S. News & World Report cited the “Co-op” as among the nation’s top high schools.

NEW HAVEN — The $70 million Cooperative Arts Humanities Magnet school opened in downtown New Haven late last month. Designed by César Pelli’s Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects (see story, page 10), the school will attract and serve students from across the region with state-of-

Escape To Academe NEW HAVEN — Gregory J. Fleming, 45, former president and chief operating officer of Merrill Lynch & Co. and “a leading authority in the global financial services industry” has accepted a teaching position at the Yale School of Law.

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Fleming’s resignation from Merrill was announced January 8, just a few weeks after top Merrill executives handed out more than $4 billion in bonuses to employees of the taxpayer-bailedout but essentially bankrupt company. Merrill President John Thain pushed up the date of the bonuses ahead of the company’s merger with Bank of America.

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february 2009

PHOTOGRAPH:

Steve Blazo

New Haven’s master builder to the world reflects on a legacy that remains a work in progress

A

rgentine native César Pelli, 83, former dean of Yale’s School of Architecture, has been designing buildings for nearly six decades, many of them from his office on Chapel Street in downtown New Haven.

Cited by the American Institute of Architects in 1991 as one of the ten most influential living American architects, Pelli’s reputation soared to yet greater heights with a growing list of signature buildings across the globe — from the Petronas Twin Towers built in 1998 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (at the time of its completion the world’s tallest building) to the Center for the Performing Arts in Miami. In Connecticut the architect’s firm, Pelli Clarke Pelli, saw the completion of the Malone Engineering Center at Yale and the recent opening of New Haven’s Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School in downtown New Haven. And this spring the Connecticut Science Center will open in downtown Hartford, forever altering the Insurance Capital’s skyline. NHM Publisher Mitchell Young interviewed Pelli for ONE2ONE.

vvv The types of buildings you design are usually costly, and many large buildings are for large financial companies. So do you expect significant impact on your business because of the financial crisis?

We have crossed our fingers. All architects are going to be in serious trouble. It’s not just financial buildings: Yale [for example] is postponing its construction, and residential of course is dead.

How have materials changed what architects do, and how have leading architects changed materials?

Materials don’t change so fast. The basic materials have improved, but we still use steel like 50 years ago. We still use concrete, stone. The basic change is not so much the materials, but computers have allowed the engineers to calculate much more complicated structures accurately.

There are not [as] many new materials as it seems.

When one looks at the older Yale buildings, they’re great stone structures, but today we’re seeing a much different vision.

That is a huge change and it started happening in the 19th century and was complete by World War II. The stone we use today is still stone but we use it in a totally different way. In the past to use stone, it was cut in blocks, one stone [placed] on top of each other and they supported the building. The buildings you see across the street [along Chapel Street], those are transitional. They are stone but they have inside a steel structure.

Many of your buildings look like they’re covered by a skin.

Covering a building with stone is not that different that covering it with glass or metal. The thin-stone technology that is newer goes back to the early ’70s and it had to do with machines to cut the stone — Italians of course were the ones that did that. We use the old materials but we use them in different ways. The glass we use today is a much more efficient glass from an energy point of view.

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In cooking, people these days wanting healthier foods, but that often means surrendering some flavor. Is something analogous going to happen as we demand more green and energy-efficient buildings?

On the contrary. [The green movement] has had a very positive effect on design.

It has been very exciting. There was a previous effort in the ’70s energy crisis that did not go very far. The industry did not quite respond. Today the industry has responded with extremely efficient processes and materials. Now the whole construction industry can come together.

The Malone Engineering building at Yale is built on what seems like a postage stamp.

Were you concerned about how you could create a signature building in such a tight spot?

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[Laughs.] We told them they had a difficult site. They knew they had a difficult site. We took a quick look and we saw that it was feasible, [but] that it was hard and that it would have to be shoehorned in. We ended up with a very efficient building. We didn’t expect at the beginning it would be so efficient.

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You’ve designed some of the grandest buildings in the world. And here you are in New Haven in what is clearly the least pretentious office space a major architecture firm might have.

Architects make their homes in funny places. Most architects in town have offices in very similar places. We love it here.

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Greater New Haven has this remarkable group of architects. That seems unusual for a small city.

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This is exceptional; there are a few other places also. There was a time we were working in Aspen and there are so many architects in Aspen — I think they like to be there for the skiing. Architects are relatively mobile. Most architects in the past depended primarily on local work.

Today some do, but the work has ceased to be local. Technology [has helped make it possible]. When we started this office in 1977 the technology was not there.

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I came from Los Angeles to be the dean of the School of Architecture, and then we were selected to design the renovation of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. I had no office, so we quickly had to set [one] up. We found this space — well, not quite this space, but a little corner of it. There were many tenants on this floor, [but] as we grew we could have more space. Now we have all the space available.

When you’re considering a project, how much are your decisions based on commercial needs and how much is it based on what you want to do?

It’s always a mixture, not exactly half and half, but that’s what it tends to be.

Some projects are more purely artistic, some more commercial. We take no purely commercial work. All the work has to have some artistic aspects to it. It can be a simple building, but we have to able to sense we have done something wonderfully architecturally.

How do you manage client expectations? If your firm is hired the expectations must be pretty high to begin with.

It varies. There are plenty of people who come to us and are primarily interested in the bottom line.

They picked the wrong guy then.

No, no — we are also very cost-conscious.

Even the people who are primarily interested in the dollars, they still want a handsome building.

PHOTOGRAPH:

Some of your buildings like the Miami Center for Performing Arts — which I have to say is design beyond belief — are expected to be true signatures for the city.

Steve Blazo

Yes, it was a wonderful and extremely difficult project.

Because of the politics?

Yes, Miami is a very political city.

How did you get to the U.S. in the first place?

I came to the U.S. on a nine-month scholarship to do graduate studies at the University of Illinois/Champaign. I came straight from Argentina to the middle of the country. I was an architect already in Argentina.

How did you first decide that architecture would be your field?

That’s a longer story, but my mother was involved with very advanced education.

She talked; she wrote books about it; she started a new college. One of the ideas when I was little was that it was best to go school as early as possible. So I was put in school two years earlier than everyone else. It was a disaster with sports and a disaster with girls, but I was 16 when I had to choose a career. I looked at what my local university offered.

Was that in Buenos Aires?

No Tucumán [province]. We’re about 900 miles north-northwest [of the city].

’I was put in school two years earlier than everyone else. It was a disaster with sports and a disaster with girls, but I was 16 when I had to choose a career.’

So really the middle of nowhere.

[Laughs.] The center of the world to me.

I knew nothing about architecture, but what it offered seemed appealing. Once I entered and realized what architects do, I fell completely in love with it. I got the scholarship, and I came to the U.S. When you’re designing a building, do you have an expectation that you are trying to change the vision of the city or region?

Sometimes you do; not always. That was the case with the Petronas Towers [Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia] because the building was so significant. They wanted from the beginning the building to become a symbol for the city. We just finished an arena in Tulsa [Okla.]. In the contract they said we have to design an icon for the city. They wanted an icon, and they got an icon.

Yes, from the pictures I would agree they have an icon, but it doesn’t look very expensive.

It isn’t expensive; [but] it’s very exciting and the people love it. It’s the right

proportions, the right forms, the right materials. It all comes together. That [building] is using new materials; it’s all covered with a stainless steel skin, with a special brushing.

You’re designing a major new building in San Francisco. When most of us think of San Francisco we think of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Transamerica building.

Does a backdrop like that make it harder or easier to design?

The interesting thing in San Francisco is it has gone through stages. There was indeed a moment when they built the Transamerica Tower, shortly after the Bank of America Tower [when they were] progressively moving forward, taking chances. Then there was a reaction: ‘This is changing the character of San Francisco; let’s limit the heights.’ And today after

many years of limiting the heights, they have ended up with a whole number of buildings, all [of] the same kind, [and many people said] ‘We’ve created a very boring city here.’ This is the city planning and the city itself [wanting to] change the silhouette.

When we interviewed New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, we asked if he minded that New Haven was a city of architecture critics, and he said he liked it. But what does it do for you when you’re trying to design something?

Absolutely, the more architectural critics [the better]. It means more people are involved; this is exceptional for a city.

I don’t see that much interesting architecture in New England, especially in commercial buildings. It’s mostly coming from government and schools. new haven

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Even in Boston, which has had lots of new buildings, there’s not that much that’s been very exciting over the years.

Well, we don’t have much commercial building here. Boston is terrible; we just pulled out of a project, we were presenting to 50 groups with different ideas. One says make it taller, one shorter, fatter, make it skinner. They have so many hurdles.

When you got the commission for the Science Center in downtown Hartford, it was also a small spot and next to several very uninteresting buildings including the new convention center. The design fits in but also is very exciting. How did you accomplish this?

They [also] had a difficult site. We always look very carefully at what is around [a potential building]. For me that’s very important. In the end the most important thing we do is not just to build a building; it is to contribute to a city. The important thing is how good the whole block of buildings is. We designed a building that would be very sympathetic and compatible and I think we have achieved it. There are three different buildings with different materials and they all work together.

Well, if you didn’t do that it would look very odd and out of place.

Some architects like that. And some buildings can look odd, because there are all functions. [For example] Ingalls Rink [a/k/a the ‘Whale,’ home to Yale’s hockey teams]. It is odd in relationship to the buildings around it, but it is a good oddity.

And a few oddities like that are okay, but they have to be the right function. Not every building should be odd.

It didn’t seem like there was much political interference over the Science Center in Hartford.

We had many bumps; also the original budget was very inadequate. It’s getting done and will be open soon.

It’s probably the first grand design in Hartford since the Phoenix Boat Building.

I always loved the Phoenix Building from when I was here in the early ’60s. The building was much more visible than today and it was a fairly economical building. They were able to achieve something very beautiful and iconic with modest means.

In your company, are you the one who

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says, ‘This is what the building is going to look like,’ or is it a collaboration where everyone throws in their ideas?

It is a collaboration, but somebody has to have the last word. It is not important where the ideas come from; the critical thing is which ideas to adopt. We all grope together toward a vision; I decide which way to go. It is very rare that you have a vision [at the outset]. This is more like walking in the woods how to get to the other side.

What did you think of your teaching career here and the impact of Yale’s School of Architecture?

I love it. I love teaching. The School of Architecture here is a fantastic school.

Many of the architects here came from all different parts of the country; they loved it and they stayed here.

In seeing the comments about some of the renovations of Louis Kahn’s Yale University Art Gallery and Paul Rudolph’s School of Architecture building, it seems architects can be pretty snippy.

Very, very [laughs]. Actually, it’s a nice quality in the culture — people are open with each other and more direct.

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What are some of your favorite buildings?

with a project for decades?

One of my favorites is the building — I don’t remember what the function is today.

It is across from the Malone Center and was built for the secret society Wolf’s Head. [The 77 Prospect Street structure currently houses the Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies.] It’s a very lovely building, very handsome building.

I love Branford College. I love the Paul Rudolph garage.

You do. We are doing a project in Bilbao, Spain. We won a competition in 1993; the project is under construction now and we’ll be finished in 2011. I designed a project in Los Angeles, the Pacific Design Center, around 1970; the first phase was finished in 1975. Then we did a second phase in the 1980s, now we are doing the third phase. By the time it is finished it will be 2011 — exactly 40 years after I started.

You may be alone on that last one.

I think it is a fantastic piece of architecture.

Is there enough defense of architecture?

There is a great interest [in], support of and preservation of good buildings.

Sometimes it’s carried too far and they want to preserve anything just because it’s old. [The preservation movement] is one of the healthiest recent developments.

Preservation and sustainability are two new attitudes, ways of looking at architecture, and both are contributing a great deal.

Some projects seem to be stuck in the planning stages forever. How do you stick

We don’t know the names of the architects of many ancient buildings, but today we take note of Louis Kahn building or a César Pelli building. Has that affected how the company works?

No question. [It’s] very, very, healthy for architects [to receive] that kind of recognition of the work.

Knowing they may be talking about your building 100 years or more from now, how do you keep your hat size down?

[Laughs.] Fame, when it hits you, is very corrosive. Many of my friends are strongly affected by this. For me it was very incremental, very small aspects.

How are things different today than when you started?

The latitude that architects have today is much greater. People will not only tolerate, but will want extravagant forms or extravagant expressions or use of materials. Also, computers make the production of fanciful forms very easy.

Did you imagine as a young architect some of the kinds of buildings you’re designing today?

Never. When I came back to New Haven, I came with the expectation of being an academic, being a dean and teaching, writing a book. I had no idea; I was going to have an office here — no expectations.

So why did you do it?

Because I was elected to design the renovation on the [New York] Museum of Modern Art. And once we did that, we had other projects.

What do you think buildings will look like 25 years from now?

There is only one thing I know about the future: It is not going to be like what we imagine it today. v

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ll the good ones are already taken, you say?

Au contraire.

There is absolutely no reason to spend another Valentine’s Day hunkered down on the couch with a pint of Cherry Garcia glued to a Friends marathon. Your dream date is out there — in fact, he or she might even be right in these pages.

For the first time New Haven has assembled an, ahem, interesting cross-section of women and men who share

one important characteristic — they’re unattached. And we’ve even done much of the dirty work — “qualifying” them on the basis of tastes, values, habits and of course what they look like.

Unlike some of those other Connecticut cities, New Haven is totally a cool singles town — just check out Crown Street any Thursday night! And here are nine of the coolest singles we know. Enjoy — then go check out to see which ones are on Facebook.

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Danyel Corinne Aversenti, 27 Catering sales manager, the Study at Yale (a new lifestyle boutique hotel on Chapel Street) Single, no children

Favorite book: I have too many favorite books to mention; currently I am reading Angela Carter’s The Magic Toyshop. I can’t put it down!

Favorite film: I can’t think of one, although I prefer a good documentary over a Hollywood ‘blockbuster.’

Favorite TV show: I don’t watch TV. I haven’t for almost seven years now.

Favorite Web site: Studyhotels.com — that’s right, always pushing product!

Favorite music: I hate to say this, and I know it’s what everyone says, but I really do like everything.

Celebrity lookalike: I have been told that I resemble Mimi Rogers and Minni Driver.

I don’t see any similarity with Minnie, except maybe our giant heads. I’ll have to Google Mimi later, because I don’t even know who she is.

Love me, love my: To love me you really must love my weird quirks, and of course respect my desire to succeed. One is only privy to the quirks once I feel comfortable with them. As for my desire to succeed, I find I really enjoy work. I enjoy spending time at the Study, and most of all I still enjoy learning — all of which are obvious in my dedication.

When it comes to dating, what’s your deal breaker? Deal breaker No. 1: If you ask me what kind of research we do at the Study at Yale. Yes, this actually happened.

I just looked at him in disbelief. It was pretty obvious that he had not listened to anything I said when we first met.

Deal breaker No. 2: If you can’t make me laugh within the first two minutes of conversation. I can’t deal with dull people.

Is it okay to break up by e-mail? Telephone?

Everything is circumstantial.

If you could have dinner with any three living people, who would they be? Barry Sternlicht, Nolan Russo Jr. and Richard Branson. I know Sternlicht and Branson are cliché, especially considering my industry. Sternlicht, being a hotelier. and Branson, who owns both an airline and a massive record company, are very inspiring to me. I have a fourth choice, but I’d prefer not to disclose it. Let’s just say it is a certain political figure who recently moved into a white house, close to a hill.

Three items you can’t live without: My business cards — one never knows when the opportunity for a sale may arise. My cell phone — I know; it’s so sad. Water — at least, that’s what science has told me.

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Steve Blazo

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Favorite book: My current favorite is Why Americans Hate Politics, by EJ Dionne Favorite film: The Empire Strikes Back.

Favorite TV show: I loved the John Adams miniseries on HBO. Favorite Web site: Salon.com.

Favorite music: I have a soft spot in my heart for cheesy 80’s pop, but I also love classical music and various singer songwriters.

Pedro Soto, 31 Assistant operations manager, Space Craft Mftg., New Haven Single, no kids

Celebrity lookalike: More than one person has said that I look like the Verizon Wireless guy.

Love me, love my: Two kittens, Roxie and Boomer.

When it comes to dating: My deal-breaker is generally a lack of self-confidence. I’m attracted to women who are very content with themselves.

Is it okay to break up by e-mail? Telephone?

I’d say it’s not okay to break up via e-mail.

The telephone might be okay, depending on the length of the relationship.

Three living people I’d like to have dinner with: David McCullough, Alton Brown and Ben Folds.

Three items I can’t live without: My iPhone, my cast-iron skillet, and my glasses!

Favorite reality TV show: I have to admit that the first few seasons of Survivor had me hooked.

Game show you would totally clean up on: Since I contain a massive collection of random facts, I think I’d be a force to contend with on Jeopardy.

Favorite talk show host: Jon Stewart.

America’s obsession with celebrity culture is: A signpost of the decline of American civilization...but did you see what Britney was wearing in her last video?

The sunrise: stay up late or wake up early: Definitely stay up late to see it. I’m not a morning person!

Make dinner or reservations: While i enjoy discovering new restaurants, I love cooking at home even more. I think I just love food.

Favorite thing to do alone: Making a nice breakfast on Saturday morning and watching my TIVO’d episodes of This Old House.

Habit you’d like to break: Always getting somewhere five minutes after I needed to be there.

Your type: I’d like to think I don’t, my family would probably disagree. I think I generally go out with smart, self-assured women.

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Steve Blazo

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Favorite book: The Great Gatsby.

Favorite film: Imitation of Life.

Aisha Staggers, 34

Favorite TV show: Law & Order.

Assistant Director, Center for Public Policy & Social Research, Central Connecticut State University

Favorite music: Depends on my mood, usually whatever I am listening to at the moment. But you can never go wrong with Hip Hop (Old School, preferably).

Single, one daughter, age 6

Favorite Web site: cga.ct.gov.

Celebrity lookalike: You mean, I’m not a celebrity!? I look like my mother circa 1972, no celebrity influence needed.

Love me, love my: Mind. It never quits!

Love my confidence. I have finally gotten to a place in life where I am comfortable in my own skin and happy with who I have become and who I have yet to be.

When it comes to dating, what’s the deal breaker? Lying about the little things. If he lies about the little things, he will definitely lie about the big things!

Is it okay to break up by e-mail?: Never.

Telephone: Equally rude.

If I could have dinner with any three living people, they would be: Jay-Z (he’s amazing), Prince (he’s a genius), Barack (he’s an icon).

Three items I can’t live without: My child, my makeup, and Diet Coke with lime.

Favorite reality TV show: Real Housewives of Atlanta.

Game show I would totally clean up on?

Deal Or No Deal?

Favorite talk show host: Keith Olbermann.

America’s obsession with celebrity culture is: Parasitic, ridiculous, and so addictive!

The sunrise: Stay up late or get up early?

Stay up late to see it, I do it at least once a week!

Make dinner or make reservations?

Reservations.

Favorite thing to do alone: Think, I usually come up with the answer when given the solitude to do so.

Habit I’d like to break: Worrying about nothing.

My type: My family would say “yes,” I guess they are right. Tall (at least six feet, on the thin side), dark (nice, but not a requirement), and handsome (completely in the eye of the beholder, sometimes the sweetest personality can make an ordinary man the most beautiful man in the world).

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Anthony DeCarlo

Favorite book: It changes as I pick up the next book, but currently it’s Freakonomics.

Authors I re-read from time to time include Jane Austen, J.R.R. Tolkein and Edward Rutherford.

Erin Gustafson, 32

Favorite TV show: 30 Rock.

Immigration Specialist, Yale University

Favorite Web site: Fivethirtyeight.com.

Single, no kids

Favorite film: Princess Bride.

Favorite music: I have very eclectic tastes in music. Currently my iPod Shuffle is full of nearly all ‘80s music, plus some Haydn for a New Haven Chorale concert I’m singing in.

My new favorite band is Vampire Weekend.

Celebrity lookalike: As I kid I was told I looked like Jodie Foster. In college I was told I looked like Gillian Anderson (specifically Scully from the X Files). Just this week I was told I looked like Julianne Moore. I don’t see any of that!

Love me, love my: Sense of adventure and thrill at learning new things!

Dating deal breaker: Rudeness to anyone from waiters to colleagues.

Is it okay to break up by phone or email?

Good heavens no! There are of course always exceptions, but if you’ve developed a personal relationship with someone I think you owe them the respect of doing it in person.

Three living people I’d like to have dinner with: Barack Obama, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Mo Rocca.

Three items I can’t live without: my Mac iBook, the New York Times and good wine.

Favorite reality TV show: Dirty Jobs.

Game show I’d clean up on: Jeopardy. The College Edition.

Favorite talk-show host: Jon Stewart.

America’s obsession with celebrity culture is: Sad. Sunrise—wake up early or stay up late?: Wake up early. But it better be a darned good sunrise, and there should be a beach or mountaintop involved.

Make dinner or reservations? Make dinner! I love to cook with and for my friends, and I love trying new recipes from Bon Appetit or Cooks Illustrated.

Favorite thing to do alone: Go for a run.

Habit I’d like to break: Snacking at work.

We have events all the time at work and end up with leftover bagels, brownies, bags of Cheetos.

My Type: Anyone who loves learning, debating and great conversation.

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Anthony DeCarlo

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Valentine Gift Guide 5 2

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THE SHOPS AT RICHARD PENNA Wishing Love... Light & Peace

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248-4345 RICHARD PENNA SALON Air Brush Makeup, Lash & Hair Extensions, Brazilian Keratin Trt.

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281-9000 T HE FRENCH DOOR Fine Gifts & Decor Seasonal Sparkle, Bridal & Baby

248-3131 SHOE AND SHE Designer Shoes, Handbags & More Aquatalia, Bernardo, Sam Edelman

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2456 W HITNEY AVE, HAMDEN new haven

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Valentine’s Day...

When only the best will do

1. Venus Loveseat

$2,205. Romantic and wonderful, this loveseat harkens back to Victorian style, but is in no way stodgy. And of course, is reminiscent of Venus, goddess of love, on the floating seashell. Available in more than 20 fabrics. Fairhaven Furniture, 72 Blatchley Avenue, New Haven.

2. A diverse assortment of jewelry, ranging from $25.00 and up. Richard Penna Salson, 2456 Whitney Avenue, Hamden.

3, 4. Petunia Pickle Bottom bag by Cake, $342.

Hanky Panky low rise thong comes packaged as Red Roses $24 ea. Urban Objects, 1022 Chapel Street, New Haven.

5. Red Patent Pump Aquatalia by Marvin K. Made in Italy. Shoe and She, 2458 Whitney Avenue, Hamden.

6. Free Pandora logo keychain with Pandora

Chocolate and Cherry Facial • Bed of Roses Wrap Chocolate Souffle Massage • Spa Romance Package Instant Gift Cards Online at rituals-spa.com

purchase of $100 or more: February 1st through 14th, while supplies last! Libero Jewelers, 32 Middletown Avenue, North Haven.

7. A sexy, rich, delicate, classy champagne.

Perfect for you and your Valentine. Mt. Carmel Wine & Spirits, 2977 Whitney Avenue, Hamden.

8. “Diamond engagement rings and bands

4 Water Street • On the Green in Guilford • 203.458.SPAS

hand made on the premises.” Joseph A. Conte Jewelers, Inc. 2582 Whitney Avenue, Hamden.

9. Spoil your Valentine with Lollia products.

Candles, lotions and more. French Door, 2456 Whitney Avenue, Hamden.

10. “Whether it’s a small box of truffles or a “Will You Marry Me?” truffle proposal, H Mangels Confectioner will make your Valentine smile.”

107 River Street, Downtown Milford.

11. ro Mosca Padded Computer Brief (Retail $375). Raggs, 1020 Chapel Street, New Haven.

12. Pieces are handmade in silver, crafted by artisan Sherry Tinsman. By The Sea Inn and Spa, 107 Montowese Street, Branford.

13. Hand crafted ceramic hearts, sizes and color vary. Wave Gallery, 1046 Chapel Street, New Haven.

14. Harvey’s Seatbeltbag exclusively in CT at Idiom. Made in USA, $104. Idiom, 1014 Chapel Street, New Haven.

15. Everything your “art” desires! All price ranges depending on your creativity! Hull’s Art Supply and Framing, on 1144 Chapel St. New Haven, and 1 Whitney Avenue, New Haven.

16. Stylish, elegant earrings range from $28.00 to $48.00. London Limited, 1209 Chapel Street, New Haven.

17. A delicious pampering of Hungarian Cocoa and Sour Cherries that will leave your skin touchable, soft and sweet smelling! Decadent treatments for Face, Body, Hands and Feet only at Rituals Spa, 4 Water Street, Guilford.

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Favorite book: That’s a tough one. Recently The Glass Castle.

Libby Kingsbury, 50 Graphic designer, Pequot Press Single, never married, no kids

Favorite film: One of my favorites is The Birdcage. It always makes me laugh.

Favorite TV show: Boston Legal.

Favorite Web site: I’m not surfing enough to have one.

Favorite music: Anything acoustic.

Love me, love my: Dog. When it comes to dating, what’s your deal breaker? Big ego, dirty fingernails.

Is it okay to break up by e-mail? Telephone?: That’s pretty lame.

If I could have dinner with any three living people, they’d be? Barack Obama, the Dali Lama, James Taylor.

Three items I can’t live without: My guitar, a CD player, a good book.

Favorite reality TV show: Not interested in them.

Game show I’d totally clean up on: Wheel of Fortune.

Favorite talk show host: Bill Moyers.

America’s obsession with celebrity culture is: Pretty silly.

The sunrise: Wake up early (but only for that!)

Make dinner or make reservations: Reservations.

Favorite thing to do alone: Play music.

Habit you’d like to break: Sleeping too late.

My type: Tall and outdoorsy.

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Steve Blazo

Favorite book: Any of the Harry Potter books.

Favorite film: Steel Magnolias or The Shawshank Redemption.

Favorite TV show: Six Feet Under.

Alex Dyer, 29

Favorite Web site: Facebook.com.

Episcopal priest/associate for parish life

Favorite music: Almost everything!

Single, no kids

Celebrity lookalike: Barney Rubble.

Love me, love my: Occasional messiness.

When it comes to dating, what’s your deal breaker: Someone who does drugs.

Is it okay to break up by e-mail? Telephone?

E-mails are never cool. Using the telephone may be okay under extreme conditions like you cannot meet in person because of distance. If at all possible breakups should always be in person.

Three living people I’d like to have dinner with are: Robin Williams, Peyton Manning, Barack Obama (at his house).

Three items I can’t live without: Family, friends and my computer.

Favorite reality TV show: Top Chef.

Game show I would totally clean up on: The Price Is Right.

Favorite talk show host: Jon Stewart.

America’s obsession with celebrity culture is: A bit unhealthy.

The sunrise: Stay up late to see it? Or wake up early? I would stay up late to see it.

Make dinner or make reservations? Sunday to Thursday, make dinner. Friday and Saturday, make reservations.

Favorite thing to do alone: Sleep.

Habit I’d like to break: Working too much.

My type: I prefer slim or athletic guys with a great smile and I am a sucker for an accent.

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Steve Blazo

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Favorite book: Jane Austin.

Favorite film: The English Patient.

Ann Lindsay, 48 Manufacturing director of operations and image consultant Divorced, 2 boys 14 and 15

Favorite TV show: I don’t watch TV — I have no time, it seems. My bedroom TV worked once; then my son stole the cable with the yellow and red and white ends for Playstation 3. I put a TV in the kitchen last fall with a “CNN only from 7 to 7:30 a.m.” rule so I can pick up a little of what is going on in the world and don’t feel like I live under a rock!

Favorite Web site: The only ones I log on to are professional or for a quick weather or movies listing.

Favorite music: Classic rock. I do not own an iPod (did I mention I lived under a rock?). My son burned me a CD for the car which I love. It has Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Dave Mathews to name a few. In the house I tend toward background music like classical, New Age or NPR. Celebrity lookalike: Farrah Fawcett.

Love me, love my: Antique home.

When it comes to dating, what’s the deal breaker? Smoking.

Is it okay to break up by e-mail?

Telephone? E-mail breakup is okay for Internet dating. Telephone breakup is fine if there has been five dates or less.

If I could have dinner with any three living people, they’d be: Obama, Hillary and my Dad in Arizona.

Three items I can’t live without: Pizza, sushi and high heels.

Favorite reality TV show: I don’t watch reality TV because the last thing I need to see at the end of a long day is to angst over someone’s struggles. I have watched The Millionaire and What Not To Wear for professional reasons.

Game show I would totally clean up on: I could only hope to clean up on Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?

Favorite talk show host: I guess in the evening, as a single parent of two teen boys both in prep school, who has a full time day job as director of operations at a manufacturing plant, with laundry and groceries, and dinners and dishes, and kid papers to edit and tests to help study for, oh, and a boyfriend and a social life... I guess after that, I just go to bed.

America’s obsession with celebrity culture is: Fantasy. I think that people like to live vicariously — they like to pretend that the glamour and glitz they see celebrities

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Anthony DeCarlo

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Favorite Book: Eat Love Pray.

Favorite movie: When Harry Met Sally.

Favorite show: Millionaire Matchmaker.

Favorite Web site: Fiveguys.com (oh, and Greatdatenow.com).

Favorite music: Hip-hop/Top 40.

Celebrity lookalike: That redhead on that TV show…oh, Kate Walsh.

Beth O’Malley, 41 Masters level Social Worker, Matchmaker & Restaurant Owner Divorced, Two kids, 5 and 9

Love me, love my: Two beautiful, brilliant, gorgeous children. LOL I’m not partial, I’m just the mom!

Deal breaker: Boring, bad breath and bad manners.

Okay to break up via e-mail or telephone?: No freaking way! In person only, talk it through, learn and grow from it and stay friends! My best friends are my ex’s!

If I could have dinner with three living people, they would be: My crew of girlfriends, the man I am dating and my two children! No one famous? Hmm. Well, if Brad Pitt asked I would not say no!

Three things I can’t live without: My chocolate stash, the gym and my “Crackberry” with unlimited text messaging!

Favorite reality TV show: The Bachelor.

Game show you would totally clean up on: The Dating Game.

Favorite talk show host(s): Kelly and Regis.

America’s obsession with celebrity culture: No clue. I hardly watch TV — who has time?

See the sun rise — stay up late or get up early?: Stay up late, no question, in order to see it from the beach or our boat!

Make dinner or reservations: Make dinner? Uh, not me, maybe him, but I do make “excellent reservations”!

Favorite thing to do alone: Eat chocolate or go for a run.

Habit I’d like to break: Eating chocolate or forgetting to work out.

My type: Witty, loves to laugh — but who doesn’t? He is totally macho and yet romantic: He knows how to open the door for a woman and send flowers/chocolates to her office. Older and wiser than me a bonus, sophisticated, worldly, adventurous, successful and fun! Fun! Did I mention fun? Can actually dance at a club and play rugby or football. That is perfection.

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Steve Blazo

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Favorite book: Don’t have one.

Chris Sattler, 28 Director of sales Single, no kids

Favorite film: No favorite movie either, but I do I like a lot of the ‘normal guy’ films. I just saw Iron Man and that was good.

Favorite TV show: The Daily Show and Colbert Report. That is the only time I have for TV. Oh yeah, and Entourage. Gotta watch Ari and Johnny Drama.

Favorite Web site: CNN.com and CNBC.com.

Favorite music: Hip-hop and reggae.

Celebrity lookalike: None that I know of.

Although, I have gotten Colin Farrell twice, but I do not see any resemblance.

Love me, love my: Bull mastiff and tattoos.

When it comes to dating, what’s a deal breaker? Boring girls who don’t know how to have a good time.

Is it okay to break up by e-mail? Telephone?

Yes, but it depends on how long you have been dating.

If you could have dinner with any three living people, who would they be? Good question! My man Obama, Warren Buffet and Angelina Jolie (because she is hot!).

Three items you can’t live without: iPhone, my big boy Tango (bull mastiff), and vacations.

Favorite reality TV show? Don’t watch too much reality TV but I do like Girls Next Door.

Game show you would totally clean up on?

I don’t know. Anyone where you have to tell the truth. I really don’t have anything to hide.

Favorite talk show host? Jon Stewart.

America’s obsession with celebrity culture is: Weird. Although the first couple rounds of American Idol are always funny. Simon bashing talentless people who are completely clueless is funny.

The sunrise: Stay up late or get up early?

Stay up late to see it.

Make dinner or make reservations?

Reservations. I eat out every night.

Favorite thing to do alone: I don’t know, it seems like I am never alone. I guess take Tango out for some exercise.

Habit you’d like to break? I have to get back on track with my diet. It is just so hard when you are ridiculously busy and always on the run.

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Steve Blazo

My type: Mostly South American, Brazilian, Colombian — but really any girl with an exotic look. It seems to be a problem of mine.

All the world was the stage when a New Haven poet graced the inauguration of Barack Obama with verse

By Sarah Politz

O

n January 20, New Haven poet Elizabeth Alexander addressed an estimated global audience of one billion — by far the largest audience in recorded history for a poetry reading.

President Barack Obama chose Alexander, who is also a professor of AfricanAmerican studies at Yale, to compose and present an “occasional poem” at his historic inauguration.

Alexander was just the fourth poet to read at a Presidential inauguration, after Robert Frost at John F. Kennedy’s in 1961, Maya Angelou at Bill Clinton’s first in 1993 and Miller Williams at Clinton’s second in 1997.

“It’s a tricky job,” Alexander admitted in a pre-inauguration interview. “On the one hand, the poem has certain work to do: It has to serve the day. It has to speak to the occasion. What you hope for, as an artist, as with other poems, is that you can find that language that is resonant beyond the moment. That’s been the challenge.”

Asked if she found the size of her audience daunting, Alexander said: “It’s so enormous that it’s almost liberating. How

do you begin to think about what that means? You can’t. So that just means I’m left with my usual resources to make the best poem I can and then deliver it.”

Alexander delivered her poem immediately following Obama’s address and just before the Rev. Dr. Robert Lowry announced the benediction. “That placement highlights the poem’s real need to function as song or prayer,” she explained. “Poetry is presented to us in very distilled language. Poetry takes place in a condensed space, where every single breath is important, and so I think that means that a lot of energy and power is concentrated in the poem itself. And it gives us an opportunity in the listening or the reading to pause and let ourselves be shifted by language used in refreshing ways.”

In preparing her inaugural poem, Alexander drew inspiration from poets who “have spoken to the moment in a way that is large and resonant,” she explained.

“I’ve been returning to Gwendolyn Brooks, Walt Whitman, Robert Hayden, W.H. Auden, Seamus Heaney. But I’ve also had

Elizabeth Alexander, President Obama’s inaugural poet of choice, is also a professor of AfricanAmerican studies at Yale.

to put those poets aside so that I can listen to my own music and hear what it is that I might bring to the task.

“I’ve just been trying to keep my inner and outer ears open and to really listen for language that is out of this moment,” added the poet.

Alexander befriended Obama in the early 1990s when both were on the faculty of the University of Chicago. She recalls her first impressions: “In those years of getting to know each other, I found him to be a remarkably curious and listening human being, an unusually brilliant human being and a very humble human being, which has been a very important part of what we’ve seen of him in the last few years.

“I have so much admiration for the brilliance, tenacity and grit with which his campaign was executed and with which the election was won,” Alexander added. “This is a victory that belongs to the people, in a quite explicit way. And Obama himself always talked about how it was bigger than him.”

She said that Obama’s choice to include a new haven

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Andy Barnett PHOTOGRAPHS:

Praise Song for the Day

By Elizabeth Alexander Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each other’s eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere, with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum, with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

An audience estimated at 1.8 million assembled in Washington, DC, where Alexander presented her poem.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky.

A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.

We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed, words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of some one and then others, who said I need to see what’s on the other side.

I know there’s something better down the road.

We need to find a place where we are safe.

We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain: that many have died for this day.

poet in the inaugural ceremonies bodes well for the role of the arts in the new administration: “When he was on Meet the Press a few weeks ago and talked about the White House as the ‘people’s house,’ he spoke about the importance of the arts and how there would be art and poetry in the White House,” said Alexander. “Both explicitly and also by example, I think we’ve seen that this is someone who understands the value of language and who respects the necessity of art.”

Born in Harlem and raised in Washington, D.C., the 46-year-old Alexander has been a professor at Yale since 2000 and will become chair of the African-American studies department beginning with the 2009-’10 academic year. She is the mother of two sons, ages nine and ten.

She is the author of five volumes of

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poetry, including The Venus Hottentot (1990), Body of Life (1996), Antebellum Dream Book (2001), American Sublime (2005) — a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and an American Library Association Book of the Year — and Miss Crandall’s School for Young Ladies and Misses of Color (2008), which earned the Connecticut Book Award. In 2007, she was awarded the first Jackson Prize for Poetry.

In American Sublime, her poem “Ars Poetica #1,002: Rally” now seems hauntingly to prefigure her moment on the world stage. “I dreamed a pronouncement/about poetry and peace,” she writes, an invocation delivered “on the quintessentially/ frigid Saturday/to the rabble stretching/ all the way up First.” As inaugural poet, Alexander brought that dream to a reality of unprecedented proportions.v

Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.

Praise song for every hand-lettered sign, the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself, others by first do no harm or take no more than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national, love that casts a widening pool of light, love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air, any thing can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp, praise song for walking forward in that light.

New Life for a New Haven Classic A businesswoman reclaims a gracious Douglas Orr home for the 21st century

By MICHAEL C. BINGHAM

PHOTOGRAPH:

David Ottenstein

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ew Haven rightly prides itself as Connecticut’s cultural capital — and it’s true. No other Constitution State city large or small boasts the Elm City’s treasure trove of art, music, theater and culinary riches.

And, of course, architecture. When many visitors think “New Haven architecture,” the looming Gothic presence of Yale leaps to mind. But there’s so much more, and the roster of renowned architects who have worked here is long and distinguished.

One of them is Douglas Orr (1892-1966), who dominated New Haven architecture in the mid-20th century. The City of Elms is dotted with notable examples of his residential and commercial works.

He designed at least a dozen buildings along Church Street (the former SNET headquarters, now known as the Eli luxury apartments, is an Art Deco triumph) and Whitney Avenue (most New Haveners have driven past his gracious New Haven Lawn Club about a million times), but was less in tune with the newer architectural styles such 32

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as International Modern, having started designing in the neo-Colonial and Art Deco modes.

Orr designed the graceful brick Georgian at 123 Ogden Street for a Miss Olive Louise Dann in 1928. Three quarters of a century later the property was acquired by businesswoman Allison Shemitz Schieffelin, who is chairman and CEO of the West Haven lighting-design firm Elliptipar that was founded by her father, Sylvan R. (Sy) Shemitz in 1977.

Schieffelin bought the house some three years ago and spent about a year and a half renovating the structure before moving in in 2007. And while the new owner invested extensively in a thorough renovation, she has taken great care to preserve the character of this gracious home.

“I have made very few modifications to the style, spirit and aesthetic characteristics that would have been appropriate when it was built,” explains Schieffelin. “So this is truly a 1930s house.”

“This house, the moment I walked in, had none of the features of a modern

McMansion,” Schieffelin recalls. “It’s big [about 6,000 square feet], but it’s the coziest, warmest house I could have found.

I don’t feel dwarfed by any of the spaces, and it’s because of the care the architect took to keep the scale right” — to keep it human.

Although the new owner took care to preserve the structural and architectural “bones” of the home, new electrical, plumbing and lighting infrastructure were installed. As well, virtually every room in the structure is wired for data, video and audio, and a central server can send audio and video content to plasma monitors and speakers throughout the house. Douglas Orr would scarcely comprehend.

But that’s all underneath the hood. In terms of visible details, the house looks as it might have before the first stock-market crash in 1929.

Nearly all of Orr’s original woodwork, for example, remains, including gorgeous moldings and original oak flooring throughout the house (uncovered in many rooms for the first time in decades), given

PHOTOGRAPH:

One room Orr would likely not recognize is the kitchen, which has been updated to standards of 21stcentury luxe.

David Ottenstein

ATH O ME

a rich new dark stain that makes the wood grain “pop.”

Schieffelin’s father designed the lighting of the Jefferson Memorial and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, both in Washington, D.C. Following a long career on Wall Street, Schieffelin came to Connecticut to help her father run the business with an eye toward taking the helm one day. It is an irony that daughter’s new home was the final major lighting design project Shemitz undertook before passing away in 2007.

“I feel lucky to be in a house by such a famous architect, because architecture was so important to [my father] and to our family,” says Schieffelin.

“When we went on family vacations we noticed the lighting everywhere we went — from the local restaurant we ate in to the Smithsonian Institution.”

Befitting the family business, the home’s lighting is a wonder of function and form.

Schieffelin proudly shows off reproduction Art Deco fixtures she has found in obscure places.

Many early 20th-century homes, even quite large ones, are characterized by lots of small (by 21st-century standards) rooms. Surprisingly, Schieffelin has not knocked down walls willy-nilly, although she converted some first-floor windows into French doors and added doors to some rooms (the formal dining room, for one) for convenience and architectural balance.

estimate how many carpenter man-hours were required to sand down the ill-considered faux finish and reclaim the splendor of the original.

A N D

B U I L D

At the top of a graceful curved stairway is a gallery that houses at least a dozen large drawings executed by Orr as he designed and then redesigned the house. “These are all attempts to [design] this house, and you’ll notice that only one [presumably the last] actually looks like how this house turned out to be,” the owner explains. Over the span of Orr’s imaginings, the structure evolved from a Tudor to the brick Georgian that actually was constructed.

Also on the second floor are the master and guest bedroom suites as well as Schieffelin’s home office, which is decorated in an African motif to commemorate the safari adventure to Zimbabwe and South Africa she took to celebrate her 40th birthday. The office is also the nerve center for the home’s electronic media infrastructure, including and audio and video/data monitors in virtually every room. “All the computer equipment lives here,” Schieffelin explains, gesturing to a console on the wall. From her wireless keyboard she works off of a large, flat-screened plasma wall monitor.

Certain rooms inspire “wows” from first-time visitors. One is the library, which with its dark wooden floor-to-ceiling paneling and large fireplace looks like the set of the 1930s movie (the scene in which very rich men repair after dinner to the refuge of the library for cognac and cigars).

The home’s AMX system uses touchscreens and remotes to control devices such as video projectors and displays, PCs, DVD and VCR players and recorders, cameras, teleconferencing systems, audio/video switchers and processing equipment, projection screens and even security systems. “You can send or save or store TV and music and video from anywhere and to anywhere,” explains Schieffelin.

The rich knotty-pine paneling had been (amazingly) painted over by a previous owner.

Schieffelin says she can’t even

One of the second story’s most distinctive features are four original oval windows that, along with the outsized

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PHOTOGRAPH:

David Ottenstein

Living room windows were replaced with French door to mirror those in the adjacent room to the right.

PHOTOGRAPH:

brick chimney on the Ogden Street side, comprise the home’s visual signature and truly anchor it as an example — albeit a superlative one — of its era.

David Ottenstein

One flight up, an unprepossessing door opens into the most surprising space in the house — a giant open playroom/ bar/lounge with vaulted ceilings that, in the Roaring Twenties could have accommodated a good-sized ball (but it would have been on the ground floor so as not to inconvenience the guests).

The room’s unprepossessing entryway makes it seem almost as an architectural “secret.” “When I was in kindergarten kids called me ‘Allison Wonderland,’” Schieffelin recounts. “And because of that tiny door, that’s what it feels like the space is” — a wonderland of after-hours relaxation and whimsy. Improbable as it seems, the previous owner used the thirdfloor space as a closet.

“This is our favorite place in the house,” Schieffelin says. “We watch Sunday football here pretty much every week.

And we play a lot of shuffleboard.”

The game of choice is shuffleboard, and 34

february 2009

A previous owner had painted over the magnificent original knotty-pine paneling with a grey-green faux finish.

Schieffelin even found an Art Deco illuminated shuffleboard scoreboard from the 1930s to grace the wall.

“The most important decision about the house,” she says, “was deciding what game would go in the game room. Everybody assumed there would be a big pool table here” — she gestures to the center of the room — “but then I thought that would take up too much room. I thought about ping-pong, but I hate the noise. Then one weekend I was skiing in Vermont and I saw a shuffleboard table, and I knew I had found the right [game]. It turns out that shuffleboard was popular during the period [in which the house was built].”

Its signature three chimneys and graceful oval windows make this Orr masterpiece a New Haven landmark

Tucked away in a corner of the game room — almost as a secret within a secret — is a tiny marvel of a bathroom with amazing matched one-foot-square onyx tiles from Connecticut Stone “that I fell in love with,” Schieffelin says.

Her original contractor, she explains, “didn’t know that boxes of stone are put in order [by pattern], so he randomly took them out of the boxes and put them aside.

So what we did was lay all the tiles out on the floor and put them all back together like a puzzle. So everyone who came over got to contribute to the game of ‘Put

the Onyx Back Together.’” The effect is stunning, as is the illuminated wash basin that emits a warm red glow from within.

Asked how much she invested in her home, Schieffelin replies, “Way more than I should have.” She estimates that the final figure “is somewhere between $2 million

and $3 million. But it’s been just this unbelievable labor of love because I really wanted to be involved in everything.” And even after all the work and all the money, “We really didn’t change the spirit of the house,” she says. v

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B O D Y & S OUL

Pump It Up How to love your heart — so it will love you back

By Sarah Politz

A

ncient philosophers used to think that the human heart was the epicenter of cognitive function, and anyone who has ever had his or her heart broken would likely agree. These days science has set us straight, but how much do we really know about giving the heart the tender love and care it deserves?

Close to 700,000 people die of heart disease every year in the U.S., amounting to about 29 percent of all deaths, according the in fiber are good choices. If you feel like Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, indulging for Valentine’s Day, choose while another 300,000 Americans lose red wine in moderation, which helps their lives each year to related vascular prevent hardening of the arteries, and dark disease. Recent food advertising initiatives chocolate (look for a high cacao content, have muddied the waters enough to with its heart-friendly flavonoids). befuddle even the most mindful health “That’s called the French Paradox,” Muhs nut, so here’s a guide to what will, and says. “Even though the French eat the rich, will not, actually improve your ticker’s fatty foods, they have cholesterol that is well-being. much lower than ours. It’s been shown If you smoke, quitting is probably the that people who drink a moderate amount single most important health decision of wine each night do have lower rates of you can make. “People who smoke in vascular disease. The same has been said every possible way have worse disease, about antioxidants in green tea. Every have disease that is less responsive to little bit adds up.” the treatments we give, are more prone Simply understanding your risk factors to complications after the treatments,” can go a long way to protecting your explains says Bart E. Muhs, MD, associate heart. “Make sure you see your doctor professor of vascular surgery at the Yale to check your cholesterol and to get that University School of Medicine. “So if under control and control your diabetes, there’s one thing that you could do, it’s to exercise, not be overweight. Those are stop smoking.” the things we’ve known about for a Aside from staying smoke-free, long, long time that make a difference,” maintaining a healthy diet and regular recommends Muhs. It’s important to get exercise routine are the best weapons a physical once a year and keep track of against heart disease. Heart-healthy foods your blood pressure and cholesterol. High like whole grains and vegetables high 36

february 2009

An arterial graft in an endovascular aneurysm repair, a minimally invasive treatment for abdominal aortic aneurysms.

Screenings for aneurysms are recommended for high-risk patients.

blood pressure can damage artery walls, making them stiff, which can restrict the flow of blood to the heart. A build-up of cholesterol can build up in the walls of your arteries and cause blood clots, which increase the risk of a heart attack.

If you have a family history of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or heart attacks, you should be extra aware of what you can to maintain your cardiovascular system.

Men are at a greater risk of developing heart disease compared to pre-menopausal women, whose higher levels of estrogen give them an added advantage. In postmenopausal women, heart attacks are the leading cause of death in the U.S. If you represent several risk factors, you may want to consider seeing a cardiologist for regular intervention screenings to ensure early detection of any problems such as arterial blockage or aortic aneurysms.

For individuals entering their retirement years, especially those who have smoked or have a family history of aneurysms, Muhs especially recommends a screening for vascular disease which, like heart

disease, is caused by the restriction of blood flow, often to the lower part of the body, which is called peripheral arterial disease. Medicare now covers the screening for men entering the program who have certain risk factors.

“A lot of people know the signs and the symptoms of a heart attack,” Muhs says.

“About half as many people know the [vascular disease symptom] of limitation of blood flow to your legs. Yet peripheral vascular disease is about twice as common as coronary heart disease. Patients with blockages to their legs are most likely to die of a heart attack with a year.

“But 90 percent of patients with vascular disease are asymptomatic,” he adds.

“That’s when the screening comes in.

Ten years ago, if you came to a vascular surgeon, they would want to do [invasive surgery or] say why don’t you come back when it gets worse? The change now is that lifestyle has become much more important. We are intervening at a much earlier stage than we used to. That’s why awareness is so important.”

There has been more talk in recent years about the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, found naturally in fatty fish like mackerel,

vitamin A, which is toxic if consumed in large quantities. Soy products such as tofu and soymilk contain alpha-linolenic acid, which can turn into omega-3 fatty acids in the body, but they can also contain hormones, so should be a moderate part of any diet.

lake trout, herring, sardines, tuna and salmon. Now, fish oil has long been on the list of hoaxes in the literary imagination of centuries past, peddled by itinerant, would-be “medicine men” from dusty suitcases riddled with small, muddily labeled bottles of magical, cure-everything elixirs.

But there’s something to it. Omega-3s have been shown to help the body regulate cholesterol levels, but they are much more effective when consumed in the meat of the fish rather than from a supplement, which is often taken from the fish’s liver.

The alternative sources of omega-3s that have flooded supermarkets and health stores in eggs, spreads and supplements are often derived from flaxseed oil, whose omega-3s are harder for the body to absorb.

The American Heart Association recommends omega-3 supplements of 1 g per day for those who already have heart disease; simply eating fish twice a week is a better choice for most healthy people, as it provides a good source of protein without saturated fat. And as in many cases, natural sources of nutrients are better than their synthetic substitutes, which can have unknown effects. Fish oil, for example, is often combined with

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Even getting an extra hour of sleep may reduce your risk for heart disease, according to a study released in December in the Journal of the American Medical Association, in which subjects who slept an extra hour were less likely to develop calcium deposits, which harden the arteries of the heart. While the study does not establish a causal relationship, it stands to reason that sleep gives the body time to repair damage and reduces stress, which is a factor in high cholesterol. v

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Takin’ It to the

Street

Madison’s provocative, surprising Sculpture Mile sets new standard for ‘public’ art

The Sculpture Mile, outdoor public sculpture exhibition, Madison Center. ‘Refreshed’ annually. Curated by the Hollycroft Foundation. Free.

A Eight-foot painted steel sculpture, ‘Tres Gatos,’

by Old Lyme’s Gill Boro.

murder of crows flew up around me, startled by the fire department siren, as I began the Madison Sculpture Mile on a crisp winter morning.

As its name suggests, the Sculpture Mile includes some 40 outdoor sculptures by different living artists set within walking distance throughout the center of Madison. It stretches from the Boston Post Road/Route 79 intersection at the west end of town (the fire department end), wanders back through the shopping mall behind Main Street, resurfaces on the Boston Post Road at the library, and continues east as far as Scotland Avenue.

It’s a pleasant walk, a very manageable stroll, there’s no sense of either “Is that all there is?” or, alternately, “How much more of this is there?” Madison has been hosting this exhibition for some years now, it is the first of its kind in the country and the length is just right.

The larger works — the ones that are impossible to miss — are prominently displayed on the roadside grass verges along the route, and can easily be viewed from a passing car. The majority of pieces, however, are concentrated on the redbrick walkway that begins alongside the Wine Shop on Main Street and continues through to Scranton Park.

The selection of works is broad and inclusive. There are traditional figures on pedestals, abstract wood constructions, semi-figurative works, heavy steel industrial-like fabrications, small animals in the bushes, a ceramic pole — whimsical ideas and ponderous aesthetics.

Public sculpture is the unabashed exhibitionist of the arts. Painting and other graphic works are usually tucked away in galleries and museums where they

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have to be sorted out and appreciated in conditions of their own choosing. One has to be of a mind to go there and confront art, and the works themselves are able to frame their arguments in well-lit, quiet, contemplative surroundings. Public sculpture, on the other hand, is out there 24/7 waiting to surprise you — through all kinds of weather, enduring abuse from crows and their friends, and traffic and sirens and delinquent dogs and a few malcontents out for a little vandalism (though Madison has been remarkably free of it).

“Sculpture is what you bump into when you back up to look at a painting,” quipped Abstract Expressionist painter Ad Reinhardt. Encountering outdoor sculpture, even when you are prepared for it, is different from gallery-going. You may well be thinking of something else entirely, the groceries or getting to the bank, when the work surprises you. And there’s the difference: Sculpture is part of the real world. It is three-dimensional, has weight and mass and is made of wood, stone or metal — some knowable material.

It is not describing something; it is what it is. You can rap it with your knuckles, slide your fingers over it, feel a sharp edge or a soft curve, how hot or cold it is. It is a far more interactive object than a painting.

You can walk around it, and when you do it changes. What’s behind it changes, too.

What outdoor sculpture does, whether you like the particular work or not, is draw attention to where it is. The tree behind it, the yellow jeep parking alongside, the snow on top of it, the old man talking to himself about it. They are all part of the experience of the work. Sometimes the work is in direct contrast to its location (sharp-edged stainless steel amid the foliage); others blend into their environment so well you might miss them.

Outdoor sculpture heightens our awareness of our surroundings. It makes us pause, if only briefly, to consider other things — the ladder leaned against the wall, the carefully wrapped fire hose, the delivery man stacking crates by the store. It makes us think of how things are put together, of gravity and balance and context. It shows us the ingenuity of man in relation to materials.

’Contortionist’ in bronze and marble by New Jersey sculptor Mary Ellen Scherl.

Some people still carry a grudge against abstract art, as though its entire purpose is to mock the viewer. There’s no great trick to it. Think of the rock ‘n’ roll our parents said was nothing but noise. All the sculptor is doing is offering a set of circumstances for your consideration. new haven

39

Think about it, and if you still think it’s a bunch of hooey then, at least, the act of contemplation alone was something of value. And it’s hardly just a fad; abstract art has been around way too long for that.

So long, in fact, that there is already an academy of the new, where certain themes and forms have been repeated so often that they have quickly become as worn and tired as yesterday’s pop song. And there is some Old School figurative sculpture — once reserved for generals on horseback

Elaine Godowsky’s ‘Ramblin’ Roses’ leads a parade of six sculptures in Madison’s Scranton Park.

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— which now seems fun and refreshing having been out of sight for a while.

Fun is important. If art is to teach us anything it must engage us first, provoke curiosity or some sense of wonder. And with 40 works on view there is broad appeal. One piece in particular appealed to me: Mary Ellen Scherl’s “Contortionist.”

It made me laugh out loud. I imagined the artist with a smile on her face every day she worked on the sculpture. But no matter your taste, rest assured the

organizers have taken the New England weather approach: If you don’t like this one just walk on a few steps and there’ll be something completely different.

The Sculpture Mile is selected and organized by the Hollycroft Foundation, and supported by local businesses and donors. From May through October, 45-minute docent-led tours begin at 11 a.m. each Saturday at the Scranton Park Pavilion in the Stop & Shop parking lot. v

Prix de Rome winner Anthony Padovano created this marble portrait of mythical ‘Narcissus.’

CREATING ART

Joe Saccio presents an artist talk on Organic to Synthetic: One Sculptor’s Process. 2 p.m. February 8 at the Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. Open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Thurs.-Sun. and by appointment. Free. 203-389-9555, kehlerliddell.com.

Studio Tuesday is an informal, noninstructional “paint-in” that meets each, um, Tuesday. Come work in a creative environment alongside other artists.

9 a.m.-noon February 3, 10, 17 & 24 at Margaret Egan Center, 35 Matthew St., Milford. Free. 878-6647, milfordarts.org.

The Backbone Shiver: Darwin and the Arts, the opening lecture of the exhibition Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts, is presented by Dame Gillian Beer, King Edward VII Professor Emeritus, University of Cambridge. 5:30 p.m.

February 11 at the YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba. yale.edu.

It’s hip to knit. The Blackstone Knitting & Crocheting Group meets Wednesdays in the Lucy Hammer Room. Informal gathering for knitters, crocheters and other fiber artists of all ages, from beginner to the expert.

First-time knitters welcome — coaches available. 5:30-7:45 p.m. February 4, 11, 18 & 25 at Blackstone Library, 758 Main St., Branford. Free. 203-488-1441 ext.

313, events@blackstone.lioninc.org, blackstone.lioninc.org.

Bring your sewing, fine art or craft projects to the Contemporary Sewing Circle. Artists share ideas and get advice from each other every second Thursday of the month. 6-8 p.m.

February 12 at Artspace, 50 Orange St., New Haven. Free. 203-772-2709, artspacenh.org.

GALLERY TALKS/TOURS Yale School of Music graduate student Sannya Hede lectures on Art in Context in All in One: Finding Meaning in Indian Classical Dance, Music and Art. 12:30 p.m. February 3 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu.

Experience “Endless Forms”: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts under the guidance of a YCBA docent in an Exhibition Tour. 2 p.m.

February 15, 11 a.m. February 19 & 26, noon February 21 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba. yale.edu.

Celebrate Black History month in style along side this beautifully crafted Fulani Maiden and many other works by international Black artists in Heart and Stone. February 3-28 at White Space Gallery.

Take an Introductory Tour of the YCBA’s permanent collection. 11 a.m.

February 7, 14 & 28 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-4322858, ycba.yale.edu.

Lee-Nam Lee’s New Media Art: Reinterpreting Traditions and Spirit in the Digital Age. Artist Lee-Nam Lee gives the gallery talk In More Depth. 4 p.m. February 17 at the YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-4320600, artgallery.yale.edu.

Jonathan Smith, Professor of English at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, speaks on Darwin, Evolutionary Aesthetics and Victorian Visual Culture. 5:30 p.m. February 18 at the

ART Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba. yale.edu.

Graduate Student Symposium. This one-day graduate student symposium focuses on the intersections of art and science, in commemoration of the bicentenary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species

by Means of Natural Selection. The symposium ends with a Keynote Lecture (5:30 p.m.) on Visible Empire: Natural History and Visual Culture in the 18th Century Spanish World by Daniela Bleichmar, assistant professor of art history, Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Southern California. 9 a.m.

February 21 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free.

203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu.

Get the lay of the Yale British Art Center’s land with an Architecture Tour. 11 a.m. February 21 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-4322858, ycba.yale.edu.

The Art in Context series welcomes Graeme Reid, lecturer in women’s & gender studies and anthropology at Yale. Reid will lecture on the Capricious

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Orange St., New Haven. Open Noon-6 p.m. Tues.-Thurs. & noon-8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Free. 203-772-2709, artspacenh.org.

CRITIC’S PICK Two Peas in a Pod Carrie Mae Smith’s love of all things food shines through in her oil on panel painting Three Spoons, One Knife with Blue Napkin.

travel and her migrant farming experience, as well as working as a private chef during the summers on Martha’s Vineyard.

— Elvira J. Duran

The Helen Byler and Carrie Mae Smith exhibition features new work by West Havener Helen Byler and Carrie Mae Smith (who hails

from West Tisbury, Mass.), prizewinners of Painting as Presence, the 2008 National Exhibition juried by William Bailey.

Byler’s series of figure

Changes of Costumes and Fashions.

12:30 p.m. February 24 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu.

Max Klinger’s Glove Cycle: Dream Narrative and the Fetish Object. A gallery talk by Katherine Alcauskas, the Florence B. Selden YUAG Curatorial Intern in the gallery’s Department of Prints, Drawings and Photographs.

12:20 p.m. February 25 at the YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-4320600, artgallery.yale.edu.

paintings move beyond the usual stiff poses. The culinary treasures and landscapes found in Smith’s paintings come from her passion for

and professional photographers from Connecticut, entitled Images. Noted curator and collector Ben Ortiz will discuss the many questions that come to mind when thinking about an art purchase. Wine & gourmet cheeses will be served. 6-8 p.m.

February 6 at the Guilford Art Center, 411 Church St., Guilford. Open noon-4 p.m. daily. $10. 203-453-3890, donita@ shorelinearts.org or info@shorelinearts. org, shorelinearts.org/images.cfm.

“After Darwin” by Timberlake Wertenbaker. A reading by members of Yale’s English department, directed

by Murray Biggs, adjunct associate professor of English and theater studies at Yale. 5:30 p.m. February 26 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-4322858, ycba.yale.edu.

In continuing with its tradition of exhibiting Nativity scenes from around the world during the Christmas season, the Knights of Columbus Museum exhibits Nativities of Europe: Folk Art to Fine Art and Christmas in Connecticut this year. Through February 9 at Knights of Columbus Museum, 1 State St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Free. 203-865-0400, museum@kofc.org, kofcmuseum.org.

Artist Red Grooms responds to works on view in Picasso and the Allure of Language in the Lecture Series: Contemporary Artists on Picasso. 5:30 p.m. February 26 . YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Free (space is limited). 203432-9525, artgallery.yale.edu.

Chanoyu: A Constant Thread in Japanese Art & Aesthetics. Join Richard M. Danziger, LLB, private collector and tea connoisseur. 4 p.m.

February 10 at the YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu.

EXHIBITIONS

Renowned photographer and University of Hartford School of Art faculty member Ellen Carey discusses the works in this year’s Images exhibition during a Gallery Talk. 7-9 p.m. February 12 at the Guilford Art Center, 411 Church St., Guilford. Open noon-4 p.m. daily. $10. 203-453-3890, donita@ shorelinearts.org or info@shorelinearts. org, shorelinearts.org/images.cfm.

Group Experiment features selected works by many artists. Through February 1 at EO Art Lab, 69 Main St., Chester.

Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat., noon-6 p.m. Sun. or by appt. Free. 860-526-4833, chester@eoartlab.com.

Kehler Liddell Gallery hosts a Live Music session every Wednesday in Westville. Enjoy tunes while perusing works of art. 7-9 p.m. February 4, 11, 18, & 25 at the Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. Free. 203-3899555, kehlerliddell.com.

A Special Night for Art Lovers, a preopening viewing of works by amateur

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february 2009

Stains and Puddles. Joe Fucigna creates abstract sculptural forms using common industrial materials like rubber and plastic to explore ideas of transformation and flux. Through February 14 at Artspace, 50 Orange St., New Haven. Open Noon-6 p.m. Tues.-

Through February 6 at Creative Arts Workshop, 80 Audubon St., New Haven.

Open 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily, 9 a.m.-noon Sat. Free. 203-562-4927, creativeartsworkshop. org.

Thurs. & noon-8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Free. 203772-2709, artspacenh.org.

Architect Duo Dickinson presents images that speak about the natural processes of decay and evolution as revealed through the structural components used in the iconic architecture that characterizes Venice, Italy in Erosion/Revelation. Through February 14 at Artspace, 50 Orange St., New Haven. Open Noon-6 p.m. Tues.Thurs. & Noon-8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Free.

203-772-2709, artspacenh.org.

Recent Work. Using wood, tape, paint and plastic to create his variously scaled abstract forms, Jonathan Waters investigates the physical and perceptual relationships that exist between painting and sculpture.

Through February 14 at Artspace, 50

In her site-specific installations, Miriam Songster confounds viewers’ understanding of space and place by overwhelming their senses. In Dirt, Songster radically alters the conventional function of the “white cube” gallery through her sensorial intervention. Using a custom-made perfume, Songster brings the outside in by infusing the gallery with the unexpected smell of fresh dirt. Through February 14 at Artspace, 50 Orange St., New Haven. Open Noon-6 p.m. Tues.Thurs. & Noon-8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Free. 203772-2709, artspacenh.org.

In her highly detailed, realistic drawings, Paris-based artist Tali Gai presents unsettling scenes of figures caught in varying states of physical and psychological transition. Though spare and elegant, her intimate drawings, found in My House Was Collapsing to One Side, are filled with emotion ranging from fury and anxiety to lust and humor. Through February 14 at Artspace, 50 Orange St., New Haven.

Open Noon-6 p.m. Tues.-Thurs. & noon-8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Free. 203-772-2709, artspacenh.org.

Jacob Galle’s single-channel video juxtaposes ordinary activities occurring in extraordinary settings. In [spring fever/pilgrimage], the camera captures Galle trekking to a beautiful and remote mountainous locale in order to accomplish the most mundane of domestic duties: drying laundry.

Through February 14 at Artspace, 50 Orange St., New Haven. Open Noon-6 p.m. Tues.-Thurs. & noon-8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Free. 203-772-2709, artspacenh.org.

Sasha Rudensky: Photographs. In her first major solo exhibition Sasha Rudensky (Wesleyan ’01) showcases two recent photographic series: Remains, which explores the political and social transformation of the

Hans and Anton Le Mair, Highland Lakes, NJ by Hrvoje Slovenc is one of the works featuring a couple of the many family member power teams found in Family Business. Through February 27 at the Parachute Factory Gallery at Erector Square.

the Fire, Wesleyan has commissioned Stan’s Café to produce a version of the work which will help humanize the issues of climate change. At the conclusion of the installation, the rice will be donated to local food banks.

February 20-March 3 (opening reception 5 p.m.. talk 5:30 p.m. February 20) at the Zilkha Gallery and Olin Library Lobby, Wesleyan University, Middletown.

Free. 860-685-3355, cfa@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa or www.wesleyan. edu/feettothefire.

former Soviet Union by focusing on the intimate details of everyday life, and Demons, a series of hybrid portraits, or “moments,” of family members and friends in which theatrical gesture is used to suggest a fantastical version of the artist’s childhood. Through February 15 at Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. Open noon-4 p.m. Tues.-Sun. (until 8 p.m. Fri.).

Free. 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan. edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

The series Screencasts: Cinema as Medium in Contemporary Art brings Rajendra Roy, the Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film at the Museum of Modern Art in New York to present Don’t. Move. Motion Pictures by Patty Chang. 5:30-7:30 p.m. February 19 at the YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Free.

203-432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu.

Organized by students in a Wesleyan seminar, the exhibit Modern Times: American Graphic Arts, 1900–1950, includes works by John Taylor Arms, Thomas Hart Benton, Martin Lewis, John Sloan, Grant Wood and others.

Through March 5 at the Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, 301 High St., Middletown. Open noon-4 p.m. Tues.-Sun. Free. 860-685-2500, lberman@wesleyan. edu, wesleyan.edu/dac.

Experience the selected works by Patty Chang featured in Screencasts: Cinema as Medium in Contemporary Art. 6:309:30 p.m. February 20 at 212 York Street, Room 106. Free. 203-432-0600, artgallery. yale.edu.

Take part in hands-on demonstrations, visit CAW’s fully equipped studios and meet teachers at the CAW Open House. Staff will be available to answer questions and help you select the perfect class for spring. Enjoy the CAW Student Show on view with an opening reception during the open house.

Spring session features a wide range of classes and workshops for young people and adults and runs March 16June 6. 2-5 p.m. February 22 at CAW, 80 Audubon St., New Haven. Free. 203-5624927, creativeartsworkshop.org.

Family Business brings together diverse artists and media to explore the business of being a family. Curated

by Howard el-Yasin and Debbie Hesse.

Through February 27 at the Parachute Factory Gallery at Erector Square, 319 Peck St., Bldg. 1, New Haven. 203-7722788, karsenault@newhavenarts.org.

Prepare yourself for an emotional journey that questions your reality.

Although the artwork hangs on a wall, it leaps from its static position into the portals of your emotional world.

You may laugh, cry, or rejoice in your new found freedom. The one-of-akind, recycled-material masks in Let the Spirit Move You from Standstill into Action tell their stories visually and poetically. Mask-maker and poet Deborah McDuff will perform readings of her work during the reception. February 1-28 (reception: 4-7 p.m. February 7) at City Gallery, 994 State St., New Haven. Thurs.-Sun. noon4 p.m. or by appointment. Free. 203782-2489, debrwil@mail.com, info@ city-gallery.org, city-gallery.org.

White Space Gallery celebrates Black History Month by spotlighting Shona stone sculpture from Zimbabwe in Heart in Stone. Works of local and international black artists and sculptors will also be featured. February 3-28 (reception all day February 14) at White Space Gallery, 1020 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily (until

The Guilford Art Center once again houses an excellent collection of photographs, like Sea Wall by Kathryn Frederick, in IMAGES during the month of February (the 8-28).

7 p.m. Thurs.); Sun. by appt. Free. 203495-1200, whitespacegallery.com.

Established in 1981, Images is the oldest and most highly regarded annual juried photography competition and exhibition in Connecticut. The goal is to encourage excellence among photographic artists and to provide a community forum for the exhibition and sale of their work. Images features all forms of photography and is judged by three highly qualified photography industry professionals. Jurying this year’s exhibition are: Vicki Goldberg, author and New York Times photography critic; Daniel Goodwin, artist and fine art chairman at the State University of New York/Albany; and photographic artist Justin Kimball, visiting assistant professor of fine arts at Amherst College. February 8-28

(opening reception 2-5 p.m. February 8) at the Guilford Art Center, 411 Church St., Guilford. Open noon-4 p.m. daily.

Free. 203-453-3890, info@shorelinearts. org, shorelinearts.org/images.cfm.

Of All The People In All The World is a fascinating performance/art installation that uses grains of rice to bring formerly abstract statistics to life. In this captivating exhibition, each grain of rice is equal to one person and you are invited to compare the one grain that is you to the millions that are not. The work has been performed in cities from Los Angeles to Melbourne and past installations have included the people born today in the world and those who will die today, everyone who was killed in the Holocaust, all the millionaires in the U.S. and everyone who is HIV-positive. As part of Feet to

Layers of Time & Memories: A Retrospective of Hand-Dyed Watercolor Torn Paper Collage Portraits from 1988-2006. Marilyn Cohen’s work is a reflection of collage — layers of lives and families, images and memories. The colors and textures are like the colors and textures in each life. Through March 8 at Thomas J. Walsh Gallery, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield. Open 11 a.m.5 p.m. daily except Mon., noon-4 p.m.

Sun. Free. quickcenter.com.

Who I Am on the Inside is an exhibition of works by young people in the state’s juvenile justice system. The Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance organized the exhibit to highlight the struggles and potential of these young people. Through March 13 at the Small Space Gallery, 70 Audubon St., 2nd floor, New Haven. Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. Free. 203-772-2788, dhesse@ newhavenarts.org, newhavenarts.org.

Works by CAW students in all media including book arts, drawing,

Continued on 54

CRITIC’S PICK Kaleidoscopic Visions In Transformative, Keith Johnson shows off new photographic work that continues his exploration

of repeated or extended imagery. Much as a poet explores the topography of word and repeating

text, or a filmmaker splices film into montage — Johnson moves beyond a single photographic image to a reconsidered or transformed topology in multiple images. Joseph Saccio’s works range in size from large indoor and outdoor installations to small pedestal pieces. His material is often natural and organic, frequently with wood or found A photo of a UK Hedge is more than a hedge when Keith Johnson performs his magic on it.

objects joined in what he calls a “primitivistic manner that expresses personal feelings associated with myth and ritual, loss and rebirth.”

Both artists’ pieces may transform your way of seeing the world.

— E.J.D. Through March 1 (reception 3-6 p.m. February 1) at the Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven.

Open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Thurs.Sun. and by appointment.

Free. 203-389-9555, kehlerliddell.com

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PHOTOGRAPH:

Jim Anderson

OF NOTES

Sound Investments One of New Haven’s best-kept secrets is Yale’s amazing bounty of musical instruments

By MARINA CELLA

T

ucked in a small stone building at the center of Yale University’s campus on Hillhouse Avenue is one of the oldest collections of musical instruments of its kind in the world. The Yale Collection of Musical Instruments, a museum that houses two floors of American and western European instruments from the past four centuries, originated in 1900 when New Haven resident and New Haven Symphony Orchestra co-founder Morris Steinert donated his private collection to Yale. Since then the collection has tripled in size, acquiring instruments from across a broad spectrum of cultures, each instrument unique and carrying with its own story of the past.

Since its 1961 move from its previous location under the dome of Woolsey Hall, the collection has swelled to close to 1,000 instruments including rare stringed, woodwind and keyboard instruments, as well as a collection of bells from many cultures. Although the collection came into existence with Steinert’s original bequest, in the early 1960s it grew with the addition of the private collections of Belle Skinner and Emil Herrmann.

Today the international collection serves as an important historical resource for Yale music students, faculty, musicians, instrument makers and the public alike.

Several courses offered in the Yale music curriculum include presentations by the staff of instruments from the collection, and tours with demonstrations are also presented to community organizations.

Curator Susan Thompson, who first joined the staff three decades ago, says what most excites her about her job is

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European keyboard instruments from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries from the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments

that she is able to learn something new about musical instruments every day. “I learn things about their history, design, construction, acoustics or the context in which they are played,” she says. “As I walk around the museum or bring an instrument out of storage to examine, I always see something new about it.”

Thompson adds that an important part of her job is to help preserve the instruments for posterity. “We interpret the instruments; we write about them, photograph them, and we also make them available for students to play.”

The keyboard instruments at the core of the collection are housed on the second floor of the museum and feature organs,

clavichords, harpsichords, spinets and pianos. Two small epinettes (Medieval harpsichord-family instruments) are thought to have been owned by Marie Antoinette and are perhaps the rarest pieces featured in the collection, along with the most contemporary of the keyboard collection, a replica harpsichord built during the Early Music revival of the late 20th century.

A representative selection of stringed instruments from the Italian, German and French schools include examples of the violin, lyre guitar, tenor viol and guitar. One of the most unusual instruments of the string family displayed near the entrance of the museum is a

thin wooden walking cane that functions as a violin. A smaller collection of nonWestern instruments includes examples from Asia, Africa and South America.

Another of the rarest instruments in the collection is a Russian bass horn, which has the maple body of a bassoon, but the bell of the instrument is a metal serpent’s head.

Due to the prodigious size of the collection, only ten percent of the instruments are on view at any given time.

The rest remain stored in the archives and are displayed on a rotating basis.

Many of the instruments that have been restored are played in performances in the exhibition hall on the second floor, which also serves as a recital hall. Rolling platforms allow the keyboard instruments to be moved to make room for seating.

Now in its 42nd annual concert series, the museum plays host to the oldest concert series of its type in the United States and typically plays to sold-out audiences.

The concerts feature instruments from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries played by performers including members of the Yale School of Music faculty and

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internationally acclaimed musicians and ensembles.

Not all of the instruments in the collection are candidates for restoration; some have been damaged over centuries or ruined by well-intentioned but misguided attempts to restore them,. Thompson explains that before an instrument is restored, a very selective policy is used to determine whether enough of the original instrument remains intact to permit a successful restoration.

“Some instruments we collect because they are examples of the past, so it’s not particularly important that they’re all able to be played,” she notes.

The collection has regular public visiting hours and also hosts lectures, demonstrations and special events. It is well worth a visit to attend a concert or simply view these magnificent instruments.

Open 1-4 p.m. weekdays (except Mon.), 1-5 p.m. Sun. September-June at 15 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven. Visit yale.edu/ musicalinstruments for concerts and events.

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MUSIC Classical Orchestra New England holds its annual BaroqueFest where Vivaldi’s Four Seasons will come to life and feature a narrator. 8 p.m. February 7 at Battell Chapel, New Haven. $35-$20.

888-736-2663, shubert.com.

Yale Opera will present a new production of Mozart’s classic opera Die Zauberflöte (“The Magic Flute”) directed by Marc Verzatt, with set design by Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams.

Maestro Federico Cortese will conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale.

Follow the sound of Tamino’s magic flute into Mozart’s bewitching fairy tale opera where good triumphs over evil, darkness gives way to light and love conquers all. 8 p.m. February 13-14 and 2 p.m. February 15 at the Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. $41-$19.

203-562-5666.

Pianists Lindsay Garritson (5 p.m.

February 2), Amy Jiaqi Yang (5 p.m.

February 21), Lulu Yang (2 p.m. February 24) and Martin Leung (5 p.m. February 24 at Sudler Recital Hall, 100 Wall St., New Haven), perform Student Recitals this month. Also performing in her own recital on Valentine’s Day is violinist Katie Hyun (8 p.m. February 14). At Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4158, yale. edu/music.

Yale School of Music’s Degree Recitals series continues with Artist Diploma Recitals by Matthew J. Wright on trombone (8 p.m. February 4 at Sudler Recital Hall,100 Wall St., New Haven), Ana Sinicki, mezzo-soprano, (8 p.m.

February 21) and pianist Wei-Jen Yuan (5 p.m. February 23). At Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-4324158, yale.edu/music.

C major, Op. 103; BRAHMS Sonata in F minor, Op. 5. 8 p.m. February 10 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. $18-$10 ($5 students). 203-4324158, yale.edu/music.

Symphony No. 10; DVORAK Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70. 8 p.m.

February 21 at Woolsey Hall,500 College St., New Haven. $15-$10 ($2 students).

203-562-5666, yale.edu/music.

Take a quick break from work to enjoy tunes with your eats during the Lunchtime Chamber Music concert.

12:30 p.m. February 11 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. 203432-4158, yale.edu/music.

Holloway, Linden & Mortensen.

John Holloway plays violin along with Jaap ter Linden on cello and Lars Urik Mortensen, harpsichord. 3 p.m.

February 22 at Collection of Musical Instruments, 15 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven. $20 ($15 seniors, $10 students).

203-432-4158, yale.edu/music.

¡Vamos a Mexico! Thomas C. Duffy directs the Yale Concert Band in a program which includes Sensemayá (Silvestre Revueltas), En Memoria de Chano Pozo (David Amram), Amparita Roca (Jaime Texidor), Danza de los Duendes (Nancy Galbraith) and the premiere of A Number of Things, Jay Wadley’s new concerto for trumpet and wind ensemble with Thomas Bergeron on trumpet. SHOSTAKOVICH Festive Overture; BACH O Mensch Bewein Dein Suünde Gross; DUFFY Guardian Angels and BAGLEY National Emblem March will also be featured. 7:30 p.m.

February 13 at Woolsey Hall,500 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4113, yale. edu/yaleband.

The Chamber Music Society’s Daedalus Quartet performs HAYDN Quartet in F minor, Op. 20 No. 5; MENDELSSOHN Quartet in A minor, Op. 13 and CARTER String Quartet No. 5. 8 p.m. February 17 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. $34-$27 ($14 students) 203-432-4158, yale.edu/music.

Toshiyuki Shimada directs the Yale Symphony Orchestra joined by the Yale Glee Club in a program including BRAHMS Nänie; MAHLER Adagio from

The Yale School of Music Ensembles series brings the Yale Percussion Group to the stage in a free concert under the direction of Robert van Sice. 8 p.m.

February 22 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4158, yale. edu/music.

Malcom Bilson performs the inaugural recital on the YSM’s new fortepiano, built by Roger Regier. SCHUBERT Impromptu in F minor; BEETHOVEN Sonata in E-flat, Op. 31 No. 3; SCHUMANN Forest Scenes; BRAHMS selections from Opuses 76, 118 and 119. 8 p.m. February 24 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. $18-$10 (students $5). 203-432-4158, yale.edu/ music.

Graduate students from the Yale School of Music perform Chamber Music.

12:30 p.m. February 25 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu.

Simone Dinnerstein, one of the most compelling women pianists performing today, has fast been gaining international attention as a

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february 2009

The nation’s premiere chamber music company performs works by Dvo ák and Bartók. Since its inception in 1969, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) has been unmatched in its field, bringing audiences the highest-caliber performances of an extraordinary repertoire dating as far back as the Renaissance and continuing through the centuries to the finest works of our time. This group of expert repertory musicians presents chamber music of every instrumental combination, style and historical period in its extensive concert season in New York, its national tours and its many recordings and national radio broadcasts. Led by Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han, the artistic

One and Two Pianos, Four and Six Hands will feature Yale School of Music’s Boris Berman and Wei-YiYang performing not oft heard pieces.

Parisot, Ilya Poletaev, WeiYi-Yang and Dean Robert Blocker. Alumna Pei-Yao Wang and student Reinis Zarins also add their hands to the mix.

Enjoy songs and ensembles performed by the Yale Voxtet with student choral conductors. 8 p.m. February 6 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4158, yale.edu/ music.

Pianist Robert Blocker performs a program including the world premiere of Ezra LADERMAN’s Decade; PROKOFIEV Piano Sonata No. 9 in

Wendy Sharp & Friends. Violinist Wendy Sharp performs a program of chamber music with faculty and guest artists. 8 p.m. February 28 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free.

203-432-4158, yale.edu/music.

CRITIC’S PICK Hands-On Music-Making

New Music New Haven. Ezra Laderman, artistic director and featured faculty composer, performs a program featuring the world premiere of his Fourth Piano Sonata, with pianist Ryo Yanagitani, plus works by other Yale composers. 8 p.m. February 5 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free.

203-432-4158, yale.edu/music.

The Great Organ Music series brings David Yearsley to Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music. 8 p.m. February 8 at Marquand Chapel, 409 Prospect St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4158, yale. edu/music.

commanding and charismatic artist.

Her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations earned the No. 1 spot on the Billboard classical chart in its first week of sales. Her program includes SCHUBERT Four Impromptus D. 899, Op. 90; BACH French Suite No. 5 in G major BWV 816; WEBERN Variations for Piano, Op. 27; SCHUMANN Kreisleriana, Op. 16. Enjoy a pre-concert Art to Heart discussion from 7-7:40 p.m. with Howard Kissel, New York Daily News chief drama critic and cultural tourist.

8 p.m. February 27 at Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield. $35. quickcenter. com.

The Yale School of Music (YSM) puts on a concert with music for One and Two Pianos, Four and Six Hands. This striking program features rarely-

heard works for piano six hands alongside music for two pianos and piano four hands with eminent YSM pianists Boris Berman, Claude Frank, Elizabeth

The first half of the program spotlights works of Mozart, opening with the overture to The Marriage of Figaro arranged for piano six hands. This unusual transcription was created by the renowned piano pedagogue and composer Carl Czerny, who was born in 1791, the year of Mozart’s death. This is followed by Mozart’s Andante with Five Variations for Piano Duet

in G major, K. 501, for piano four hands, and the Sonata for Two Pianos in D major, K. 448.

The evening’s second half opens with another novelty for six hands: the seldom-performed Homage to Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich

by Alfred Schnittke. The evening ends with a masterpiece, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in the composer’s own transcription for piano four hands. Months before the groundbreaking Rite premiered in Paris in 1913, Stravinsky himself played this four hand version with none other than Claude Debussy.

— Elvira J. Duran 8 p.m. February 4 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. 203432-4158, yale.edu/music

Popular Drum Circle. Bring any hand percussion, large or small, and a chair and join this improvised ensemble. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Every Sunday at the bus stop at Cross High School, 181 Mitchell Dr., New Haven. Free. jef@eastrockstudio. com.

See how the worlds of jazz, gospel, blues and marching bands meld together in what are the sounds of Zooid (Henry Threadgill’s all-acoustic band). Appearing at Wesleyan University on February 6. core of CMS is a multi-generational, ever-evolving musical community. 8 p.m. February 28 at Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. $25 ($18 seniors & students). 860-685-3355, cfa@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Henry Threadgill and Ensemble Zooid. On the cutting edge of music for the past 25 years, Henry Threadgill incorporates his expertise in jazz, gospel, blues and marching bands freely in a mix with various world music. He views these elements as evolutionary, using past ideas as ingredients rather than foundations for musical synthesis. Zooid is Threadgill’s all-acoustic band, which heavily features stringed instruments. A “zooid” is an organic cell capable of independent movement or several cells forming a colony. 8 p.m. February 6 at Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. $21 ($18 seniors & students).

860-685-3355, cfa@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a Grammy Award-winning a cappella group from South Africa and is regarded as the country’s cultural emissary at home and around the world. Formed over 40 years ago

by Joseph Shabalala, they rose to international prominence after appearing on Paul Simon’s Graceland album. Ladysmith continues to record

A higher standard within reach

and perform the unique and beautiful, deep traditional harmonies of South Africa in major venues around the globe. Don’t miss their performance in Fairfield. 8 p.m. February 6 at Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield. $40$30. quickcenter.com.

Graduate student Brian Parks performs on the organ in the recital Activated Progressions for Organ and Selected Works. 7 p.m. February 7 at Memorial Chapel, Wesleyan University, Middletown.

Free. 860-685-3355, cfa@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Del McCoury Band. Del McCoury has been one of the most revered figures in bluegrass for the last 50 years. His band has won International Bluegrass Music Association Entertainers of the Year nine times; McCoury has been Vocalist of the Year four times, and the band won a Grammy in 2006. 3 p.m.

February 8 at the Little Theater, 1 Lincoln St., New Haven. $60-$50. 203-430-6020, guitartownct.com.

Secondhand Serenade performs a concert for all ages, with support from Meg & Dia, White Tie Affair and Rookie of the Year. 7 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.) February 8 at Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven. $18 in advance, $20 day of show. 203-624-TOAD, toadsplac@aol.com, toadsplace.com.

The Derek Trucks Band: Already Free 2009 Tour. Noted for his live performances with the Eric Clapton

Band and the Soul Stew Revival, Derek Trucks’ finest work is as the bandleader in his own group, the Derek Trucks Band. One of the most critically acclaimed guitarists and the youngest musician to be named in Rolling Stone’s list of the Top 100 Guitarists of All Time, Trucks embarks on his Already Free 2009 international tour, a celebration of his much anticipated sixth studio album of the same name.

7 p.m. February 8 at the Palace Theater, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $51.75-$27.25.

203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org.

Multiple Grammy-nominated, Bluegrass mega-super star Claire Lynch is bringing her killer band to Madison for a night of straight-ahead, full-bore traditional bluegrass: the old school stuff. Come hear what a fivetime International Bluegrass Music Association award-winner sounds like.

7:30 p.m. February 13 at North Madison Congregational Church, 1271 Durham Rd., Madison. $20 ($5 children). 203421-3241, workdog@mindspring.com, northmadisoncc.org/9.html.

The contemporary Stomp and Praise: Gospel Extravaganza, hosted by Wesleyan’s Protestant Chaplain, the Rev. Joan Cooper Burnett, features the electrifying Nubian Gents and Feminine Fire, a Christian step group from New York. The unique combinations of stepping and original vocal performances are moving, entertaining and contagious as the abilities, talent and originality of the group mesmerize

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audiences. Other performers include Voices of Freedom Gospel Choir from the University of Connecticut, awardwinning violinist Kersten Stevens and a variety of performers from Wesleyan University. 8 p.m. February 13 at Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. $15 ($12 seniors & students).

860-685-3355, cfa@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

What better way to close out Valentine’s Day with that special loved one than with a concert of Irish music courtesy of Connecticut fiddler P.V. O’Donnell and New York-based Dan and Bonnie Milner. O’Donnell originally hails from Inishowen in County Donegal — the most northerly peninsula in Ireland.

He was born there in the town of Buncrana. His father was also a fiddler so O’Donnell was introduced to the fiddle at a very early age. O’Donnell has performed in many places, still teaches music and performs regularly.

He returns regularly to Ireland to refresh his tunes and to play with many of the modern day musicians and to swap tunes with them. Dan and Bonnie Milner are husband and wife. Together and with separate groups, they have performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe. 8 p.m.

February 14 at First Congregational Church, 1009 Main St., Branford. $15 ($12 members, $5 children under 13).

203-488-7715, branfordfolk@yahoo.com, folknotes.org/branfordfolk.

Famed singer Julie Budd comes to Waterbury for this once-in-a-lifetime Valentine’s Day Pops concert featuring several of her favorite songs of love and romance, accompanied by the Waterbury Symphony. Budd has been romancing audiences for years, sharing the stage with legends Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and Carol Burnett. 8 p.m.

February 14 at the Palace Theater, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $75-$20 ($10 students). 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct. org.

Wesleyan Orchestra Symphonic Workshop. In the culminating event of a three-day residency, the Wesleyan University Orchestra will perform the works of Native American composer Barbara Croall. Under the direction of guest conductor Roy Wiseman, the

Orchestra will also rehearse Croall’s new composition on global climate change commissioned by the Feet to the Fire project to be premiered on May 1. Croall belongs to the Odawa tribe and has been actively performing on and composing for both Anishinaabe musical instruments and European classical instruments since 1995. 8 p.m. February 18 at Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown.

Free. 860-685-3355, cfa@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Yale Jazz Ensemble. A performance featuring charts by Thad Jones, Herbie Hancock, Dewey Redman and from the Glenn Miller book: Song of the Volga Boatman, Anvil Chorus and St. Louis Blues March. 7:30 p.m. February 19 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4113, yale. edu/yaleband.

Fado is the traditional music of Portugal — proud, austere and deeply melancholic. Mariza is the music’s biggest star for a reason. Experience what Rolling Stone calls “not musty nostalgia but exuberant 21st-century pop, with a low, mesmerizing alto that’s as commanding as any pop singer today.” 8 p.m. February 20 at Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield. $35-$25. quickcenter.com.

The Cardinals — Ryan Adams (vocals, guitar, keys), Neal Casal (guitar, vocals), Chris Feinstein (bass, vocals), Brad Pemberton (drums) and Jon Graboff (pedal steel, vocals) — make a stop in New Haven in support of their new CD, Cardinology. Ryan Adams is a prolific singer-songwriter and the band is known for explosive live concerts, crossing genres by blending country, anthemic jam rock, pop and folk, while producing a hybrid that echoes Neil Young, the Byrds, Gram Parsons and U2. At a recent concert in Dublin, the Cardinals performed songs from Cardinology alongside those from Cold Roses, including crowd favorites “Let it Ride,” “When the Stars Go Blue” and “Two.” 8:30 p.m. February 20 at the Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. $38. 203-562-5666, shubert.com.

American pop and jazz singer Tony Bennett, who made “I Left My Heart in

Don’t miss your chance to witness the guitar picks of the youngest musician to be named in Rolling Stone’s list of the Top 100 Guitarists of All Time. See Derek Trucks lead his band The Derek Trucks Band in concert February 8 at the Palace Theater.

San Francisco” famous, will grace the stage in Wallingford. 7:30 p.m. February 21 at Chevrolet Theatre, 95 South Turnpike Rd., Wallingford. $75-$55. 203269-8721, livenation.com.

The Performance Coffeehouse presents NYC-based duo Friction Farm. 8 p.m.

February 27 at Center for the Arts, 40 Railroad Ave., Milford. $10. 203-8786647, milfordarts.org.

The Spanish Harlem Orchestra has established itself as a standard bearer of contemporary Latin music. Directed by world-renowned pianist, arranger, and producer Oscar Hernández, the thirteen-member Spanish Harlem Orchestra has reintroduced the classic sounds of New York City salsa to music lovers worldwide. 8 p.m. February 21 at the Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. $33-$15. 800-228-6622, shubert. com.

Hammer of the Gods recreates the sights, sounds and mystical aura of a real Led Zeppelin concert as 100,000 watts of sonic brilliance and a spectacular array of lights explode, while the band performs flawless renditions of classic Zeppelin songs, including “Dazed & Confused,” “Stairway to Heaven” and “Moby Dick.”

8 p.m. February 27 at the Palace Theater, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $52.25-$32.25.

203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org.

Alto, tenor and baritone saxophonist Charlie Kohlhase has been a part of Boston’s jazz scene for more than 20 years. Kohlhase’s music spans a broad range of styles with an emphasis on the contemporary and the improvised.

Featured artists in the group: Eric Hofbauer on guitar, Jef Charland on bass and Mike Connors on drums. 3 p.m. February 22 at the Russell House, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free.

860-685-3355, cfa@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Catch a spirited tribute that recreates one of the famous Summit at the Sands hotel shows, where the group known as the Rat Pack was creating hipster legend with a free-wheeling, no-holds-barred nightclub act starring Vegas’ four favorite sons: Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Joey Bishop. 8 p.m. February 27 & 28, 2 p.m.

February 28 & March 1 at the Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. $68-$15. 800-228-6622, shubert.com.

Singles - Ann

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Island Sound.

enjoying would enrich their own lives and make them happy. The women are always thinner and the men always richer, and their happiness often more elusive than our own.

Make dinner or make reservations: Yes, both. Depending on level of exhaustion and if I have kids in the house. And if I want to share with others [I prefer to entertain guests in rather than out). And who is buying?!

The sunrise: Stay up late to see it? Or wake up early to see it: I guess either, sunrise with coffee in my robe, up on a bluff overlooking the Sound, from the deck of my beach house (when I have one!) or sunset, glass of red wine, leftover sushi takeout remains strewing the deck of my boyfriend’s boat softly rocking on Long

Favorite thing to do alone: Read/nap by the fire.

Habit I’d like to break: Inability to lose ten pounds.

My type: Masculine, successful, kind, fun, ethical and sexy!

A Shared Sense of Place New works at Yale Rep and Long Wharf illuminate families in turmoil

By BROOKS APPELBAUM

E

ven after the “regular” holiday season, New Haven still has cause to celebrate. Following the world premiere of Paula Vogel’s A Civil War Christmas, Long Wharf Theatre gives us the world premiere of Athol Fugard’s Coming Home, directed by Gordon Edelstein (through February 8).

In addition, Yale Repertory Theatre is presenting the East Coast premiere of Octavio Solios’ Lydia, opening February 6. While Coming Home and Lydia share a strong sense of place, otherwise the two plays could not be more, and more excitingly, different.

In Coming Home, as in many of Fugard’s works, the South African playwright gives his characters long passages that allow us to understand their delicate, and changing, nuances of emotion. “He is a rich storyteller,” says Edelstein, and the director recognizes his responsibility to “activate the language” and to make these passages dramatic. Clearly, this is a challenge that Edelstein welcomes as an honor.

Although the ravaging epidemic of AIDS figures in the plot of Coming Home, Edelstein feels strongly that this is “not a play about AIDS. It is a play about a young mother trying to prepare a good future for her son because she knows she is going to die.”

Edelstein describes Athol Fugard as “a regional writer,” whose work is nevertheless universal. He compares

Roslyn Ruff stars as a young mother dying of AIDS who tries to safeguard her young son’s future in Athol Fugard’s Coming Home.

Fugard’s “sense of place” to Dickens’ London and Faulkner’s imaginary Yoknapatawpha County, among others.

To become familiar with the world of Coming Home, Edelstein and his set designer, Eugene Lee, traveled to New Bethesda, South Africa, where Fugard grew up and Coming Home is set. Fugard now lives in California, and Edelstein and Lee stayed in his New Bethesda house during their visit. Says Edelstein, “My imagination was stoked by this trip in ways that I would not have known.” The director notes that the set is “as close an approximation of what we saw” as possible.

Lydia, by Octavio Solis, is another play very much rooted in a specific place and time: El Paso, Texas during the 1970s, against the backdrop of the Vietnam War. Solis grew up during this time and in this place, but they do not simply serve as the play’s setting. Place is also central to Solis’ process: “I see the places I write about; I never see a stage,” explains the playwright.

The play has had one previous production (at Denver’s Center Theatre Co.), and for this East Coast premiere, Solis considers himself fortunate to be working with the same director (Juliette Carrillo) and five of the same actors. However, in deference to the two new company members, the ensemble started their rehearsal process as if from the beginning. “If we discovered the same things, so be it,” says Solis. But because the new actors asked such strong and searching questions, the group did what Solis describes as “deep-tissue work on the play.”

Such evocative and metaphorical language comes naturally to this playwright. He began writing as a poet, and he says, “I tend to infuse a lot of poetry in my work.”

He also compares his playwrighting process to that of writing a poem. He never outlines but instead moves from image to image, not necessarily knowing even what scene he is in. When I point out how beautifully some of the moments in Lydia’s script fit together, he laughs. “I’d love to take credit for all that dramaturgy, new haven

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and some of it was deliberate,” he says.

“But mainly, I was in the groove.”

Solis adds: “You have to recognize as you write the motifs you are going to use. The clues are there; the play is laying itself out for you.” For him, a play “is a lot more like a poem than a novel: a poem is about a feeling, and you can’t sustain the feeling all day long. You take a deep breath slowly, let it out, and that’s the play.”

In the case of Lydia, Solis’ “deep breath” took two weeks of writing five to eight pages each day. Clearly, the work had a real momentum behind it, and part of that had to do with his choice to write from the point of view of a young woman, Ceci, whose brain has been terribly damaged in an accident. “When you are working with someone whose vision of the world is skewed, it’s liberating,” he says.

Such liberation was especially useful to Solis because he initially resisted writing a family play. “I had an aversion to that,” he acknowledges. “I knew I’d end up drawing on my own experiences.” But allowing the audience to “see through Ceci’s incomplete and fragmented brain and memories” offers access to something beyond literal reality. While Lydia appears at first to be set inside one realistic home, many other places are very much present through each of the characters’ memories, fantasies, and plans.

Silence is also a central force. And the one outsider to the family — the new maid, Lydia — feels the silence, and understands how it is destroying each of the family members in a uniquely terrible way. About this silence, says Solis, some friends said to him, “’Oh, man — that’s just the classic Latino household’” in which no one acknowledges secrets or pain. But then, he heard other responses: “‘That’s the classic Irish household’”; “‘That’s the classic Italian household,’” he says, laughing. “It’s human.”

Solis chooses to write for the theater, and not screen or television, because he believes the stage respects its writers.

And he respects his audience. “I make them complicit in making the magic and preserving the mystery,” he says. “I need the audience to finish the picture for me.” As one who began as an actor and a director, he also respects his performers.

“The choice an actor makes from a deep well of feeling is always right.” v

FEBRUARY 20 TH - 8 PM • FEBRUARY 21ST - 2 & 8 PM 203.755.4700 • palacetheaterct.org Group Sales Hotline • 203.755.8483 x134 100 East Main Street, Waterbury, CT

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AUDITIONS

a.m. February 9 at Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield Goodspeed Musicals holds University, 1073 North local Equity auditions for Benson Rd., Fairfield. $15 its 2009 season, including: ($12 children). quickcenter.

42nd Street (March 16-July com.

4), Camelot (June 15Valentine’s Day is a day September 19) and A Funny for honoring love and Thing Happened on the Way lovers; to this effect, the to the Forum (August 31Shoreline Arts Alliance in November 29). Candidates collaboration with Guilford must be available for four Youth and Family Services weeks of rehearsal and a fourand TEAM Guilford to 14-week performance run. presents A.R Gurney’s Goodspeed seeks adult male Pulitzer Prize-nominated and female actors and boys Show your loved one just how much you care with tickets play Love Letters. Starring ages ten to 12. Non-union to a Valentine’s Day show for true romantics. Join Scottie in this beloved two-person performers will be seen Bloch and Peter Walker in Love Letters, playing on Val Day play are Chester residents as appointments permit. at the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Guilford. and veteran actors Scottie Interested performers should Bloch as Melissa Gardner bring a résumé, photo and Follow Meg Miroshnik’s story of a and Peter Walker as Andrew Makepeace sheet music and be prepared to sing muse with creative ambitions of her Ladd III. 4 & 8 p.m. February 14 at First two short numbers: an up-tempo song own in A Portrait of the Woman as a Church of Christ, Scientist, 49 Park St., and a ballad. Music must be legible Young Artist. Under the direction of Guilford. $25 ($20 seniors & students). and in the proper key. Accompanist will Dipika Guha. 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. & 11 203-453-8047. be provided. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. February 7 p.m. Fri.-Sat. February 26-28 at Yale & noon-5 p.m. February 8 at Goodspeed Cabaret, 217 Park St., New Haven.

The Drowsy Chaperone, the new Opera House, 6 Main St., East Haddam. $15 ($10 students). 203-432-1566, ysd. musical comedy that is swooping By appointment only. 860-873-8664 ext. cabaret@yale.edu, yale.edu/cabaret. into town with tons of laughs and 387, goodspeed.org. the most 2006 Tony Awards of any musical on Broadway, begins when a THEATER die-hard musical fan plays his favorite CABARET cast album and the show magically Veronica Jonkers left her beloved Hold for Beauty, a production bursts to life. Audiences are instantly grandfather’s farm to pursue her conceived and directed by Frances immersed in the glamorous, hilarious dream of a singing career in Cape Town.

Black. The kitchen will serve dinner, tale of a celebrity bride and her Carrying a painful secret and a heart snacks, dessert and drinks from 6:30uproarious wedding day, complete with filled with disappointment, she returns 7:45 p.m. at the early show and snacks, thrills and surprises that take both the after his death and strives to plant the dessert and drinks from 10-10:45 p.m. cast and the audience soaring into the seeds of a new life for her young son in at the late-night show. Wait-lists for rafters. 8 p.m. February 20-21, 2 p.m.

Coming Home. Playwright Athol Fugard the performance will begin one hour February 21 at the Palace Theater, 100 finds hope in human relationships before the performance. 8 p.m. Thurs.E. Main St., Waterbury. $58-$48. 203-755and the power of the imagination in Sat. & 11 p.m. Fri.-Sat. February 12-14 at 4700, palacetheaterct.org. his newest work. Directed by Gordon Yale Cabaret, 217 Park St., New Haven.

Edelstein. Through February 8 at Long $15 ($10 students). 203-432-1566, ysd.

Crimes of the Heart. Eastbound Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Dr., New cabaret@yale.edu, yale.edu/cabaret.

Theatre presents a play by Beth Henley, Haven. $60.75-$45.75. 203-787-4282, under the direction of Chris Peterson.

800-782-8497, info@longwharf.org, In Alii Dreams of Ala Wai, an older 8 p.m. February 6-7, 13-14, 20-21 and 2 longwharf.org. brother searches for his missing p.m. February 8, 15 & 22 at Center for younger brother, through a shadowy the Arts, 40 Railroad Ave., Milford. $15 Who do you call when there’s a mystery landscape of downtown Honolulu. By ($12.50 seniors & students). 203-878-6647, you just can’t solve? Nate the Great, of Susan Soon He Stanton. Directed by milfordarts.org. course. But can he solve the baffling Charlotte L. Brathwaite. 8 p.m. Thurs.case of the missing painting? Find out Sat. & 11 p.m. Fri.-Sat. February 19-21 at Set in the 1970s on the Texas border in this new musical based on the book Yale Cabaret, 217 Park St., New Haven. separating the U.S. and Mexico, Lydia

by Marjorie Weinmen Sharmat. The $15 ($10 students). 203-432-1566, ysd. is an intense, lyrical and magical new Theatreworks/USA production of Nate cabaret@yale.edu, yale.edu/cabaret. play that marks the Yale Repertory the Great entertains young audiences debut of award-winning playwright in grades K-4. 1 & 3 p.m. February 8 & 10

Coming Home will make its South African debut in March at the Baxter Theatre Centre at the University of Cape Town.

Here, Long Wharf Theatre actors (left to right) Roslyn Ruff (Veronica Jonkers), Colman Domingo (Alfred Witbooi) and Mel Eichler (Mannejtie Jonkers) powwow with their Baxter Theatre Centre counterparts Bronwyn Van Graan (Veronica Jonkers) and David Isaacs (Alfred Witbooi). Catch the U.S. showing through February 8 at Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven.

ONSTAGE Octavio Solis. The Flores family welcomes Lydia, an undocumented maid, into their El Paso home to care for their daughter Cecí, who was tragically disabled in a car accident on the eve of her quinceañera, her 15th birthday. Lydia’s immediate and seemingly miraculous bond with the girl sets the entire family on a mysterious and shocking journey of discovery. Lydia is an unflinching and deeply emotional portrait of a Mexican immigrant family caught in a web of dark secrets. Directed by Juliette Carrillo. February 6-28 (opening night February 12) at Yale Repertory Theatre, 1120 Chapel Street, New Haven. $65-$20.

203-432-1234, yalerep.org.

Experience high flying, non-stop action at the Palace Theater when the Golden Dragon Acrobats cartwheel their way into Waterbury on Feb 28.

The Golden Dragon Acrobats represent the best of a time-honored tradition that began more than 25 centuries ago. World renowned impresario Danny Chang and choreographer Angela Chang combine award-winning acrobatics, traditional dance, spectacular costumes, ancient and contemporary music and theatrical techniques to present a show of breathtaking skill and spellbinding beauty. 8 p.m. February 28 at the Palace Theater, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $40$25. 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org.

Haley Walker is a Texan in New York City with a top-tier restaurant to run, a teenage daughter to raise and a dating scene to navigate. From the privacy of her bedroom, she dishes about her hilarious adventures in Theresa Rebeck’s Bad Dates. With charm and quirky grace, Haley takes us through a motley array of suitors, looking for the man who will fit her like a great pair of shoes. By Directed by Eric Ting.

February 18-March 22 at Long Wharf Theatre Stage II, 222 Sargent Dr., New Haven. $62-$32. 203-787-4282, 800-7828497, info@longwharf.org, longwharf. org.

new haven

51

BELLES LETTRES The Writers Group of the Milford Fine Arts Council, which includes fiction and poetry scribes, meets monthly.

Bring work in progress or completed manuscripts. 7:30 p.m. February 12 at the Center for the Arts, 40 Railroad Ave., Milford. 203-878-6647, milfordarts.org.

BENEFITS Girls, put your PJs on and join the American Heart Association for the Biggest Pajama Party in Connecticut: A Go-Red-for-Women Night Out. Have fun and relax with your gal pals, support the Go-Red-for-Women movement and learn all about taking care of your heart. Red pajamas and fuzzy slippers are encouraged. Enjoy spa treatments, live music, yoga, health screenings and much more.

Wine, beverages and heart-healthy hors d’oeuvres will be served. 6-9 p.m.

February 5 at New Britain Museum of American Art, 56 Lexington St., New Britain. $25. 203-294-3554, kristin. decapua@heart.org, heart.org.

To benefit its Quality of Life Initiatives, Leeway, a skilled nursing facility dedicated solely to helping people living with HIV/AIDs, hosts its annual gala: Jazz at the Q. Gala begins with cocktails and silent auction (prizes include Red Sox and New York Giants tickets as well as week-long vacations to Cape Cod and Newport), followed by dinner and live auction. After dinner acclaimed jazz vocalist Giacomo Gates will perform, accompanied by pianist Kent Hewitt, guitarist Tony Lombardozzi and bassist Jeff Fuller.

Special honoree is recently retired 16-term New Haven State Rep. William Dyson (D-94), who was instrumental in crafting the legislation that made Leeway possible. 5 p.m. February 22 at the Quinnipiack Club, 221 Church St., New Haven. $250-$175. 203-865-0068, pjacobson@leeway.net.

CINEMA Director of Fairfield University’s American Studies Program, Leo O’Connor presents Americans in Post-WWII Europe: A Film Perspective.

O’Connor will introduce each film and lead a post-film discussion. All of the classic films are set in major European cities. Light refreshments will be served. February 11: The Third Man (UK, 1949, 104 min.), a film-noir directed

by Carol Reed with the screenplay by British novelist Graham Greene, was nominated for Best Director, Best Film Editor and won an Oscar for Best Cinematography. Joseph Cotton stars in the film as Holly Martins, an American

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writer of popular Westerns, with Orson Welles as his mysterious childhood friend, the corrupt Harry Lime. Anna, played by Alida Valli, is the friends’ love interest and Trevor Howard is the fair-minded British Major Calloway.

The film is set in occupied post-war Vienna, a shadowy place underscored by the movie’s haunting theme music, unforgettably played on the zither and the arresting mood created

by Reed’s dramatic black-and-white vision. February 25: An American in Paris (USA, 1951, 113 min.) is one of the great American musicals; it stars Gene Kelly, who choreographed all the dance numbers. He also dances and sings to the music and lyrics of George and Ira Gershwin. “I Got Rhythm,” in which he tap dances and teaches a group of Parisian children to sing in English, captures the joyous spirit of the film. 7 p.m. at the Multimedia Room of the DiMenna-Nyselius Library, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield. Free. 203-254-4010.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (USA, 2003, 138 min.)

A British frigate and French warship stalk each other off the coast of South America during the Napoleonic Wars.

Based on episodes from three of the novels in Patrick O’Brian’s acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin series, director Peter Weir interweaves a story of personal and military conflicts that necessitate difficult choices for Jack Aubrey, the captain of the HMS Surprise, and his ship’s surgeon, Stephen Maturin, also a naturalist, who is determined to collect natural history specimens on the Galapagos Islands. 2 p.m. February 28 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-4322858, ycba.yale.edu.

corner Chapel St. and DePalma Ct., New Haven. 203-773-3736, cityseed.org.

DANCE Dancer and choreographer Lou Conte opened the doors to his Hubbard Street Dance studio more than 30 years ago, launching one of the country’s most successful dance companies and yielding movement so arresting it caught even Fred Astaire’s eye. 8 p.m. February 14 at the Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield. $45-$35.

203-254-4110, quickcenter.com.

FAMILY EVENTS The Home Show produced by North East Expos Inc. returns to the Arena at Harbor Yard. All tickets include free admission to the seminars. February 7-8 at Arena at Harbor Yard, 600 Main St., Bridgeport. $8 (children under 14 free).

203-368-1000, arenaatharboryard.com.

The fun of Saturday Story Time continues the exploration of nature through popular children’s books.

Bring your family and learn how plants and animals survive the winter, why no two snowflakes are alike and much more. As always, there will be guest appearances by the Coastal Center’s animals, fun crafts will be made and the outdoors will be explored (weather permitting) to help the story come to life. 3:15-4 p.m. February 7, 21 & March 7 at Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal

Center at Milford, 1 Milford Point Rd., Milford. $5 members, $10 non-members ($3 child member, $6 child non-members, $5 seniors). 203-878-7440, ctaudubon. org/visit/milford.htm.

High Seas and High Tea! Bring your Valentine (or not) for sweets, tales of gales and make-your-own treats. Come dressed as your favorite pirate, princess, ship’s captain or monster from the deep blue sea. 10:30 a.m. February 14 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-4322858, ycba.yale.edu.

The Harlem Globetrotters 2009 World Tour is a must-see for your family this year. Don’t miss out on the high-flying action and non-stop excitement. With ball-handling magic, gravity-defying dunks and crowd interaction, the Globetrotters will create life-long memories for all. 7 p.m.

February 20 & 1 p.m. February 21 at the Arena at Harbor Yard, 600 Main St., Bridgeport. $128.25-$20.25. 203-368-1000, arenaatharboryard.com.

Have a few mad scientists around the house? Then bring them to the Coastal Center’s Saturday Scientists to enjoy an hour of wacky science experiments. New theme explored each week. Discover how to make gooey slime from cornstarch and water, how to launch a rocket with Alka Seltzer and how to get an egg into a bottle without touching it. Participants will also be taught some fun, safe and easy science experiments to do at home on cold

CRITIC’S PICK Icy Treats

COMEDY Test your knowledge and have fun doing it at Anna Liffey’s Trivia Night.

Teams of one to five compete for prize money. Topics range from music to movies, politics to Shakespeare, geology to sports and everywhere in between. Ages 21 and older. Arrive early to get a table. 9 p.m. February 3, 10, 17 & 24 at Anna Liffey’s, 17 Whitney Ave., New Haven. $10 per team. 203-773-1776, annaliffeys.com.

CULINARY City Farmers’ Market at Wooster Square. Enjoy food from local farms including seafood, meat, milk, cheese, organic greens, root vegetables, handcrafted bread and baked goods, honey, more. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. every other Saturday through May 2 at Russo Park,

Lyman Orchards’ annual Winterfest & Food Expo features indoor and outdoor activities, aquaticthemed ice sculpting demonstrations by nationally renowned and award-winning ice-carver Bill Covitz

and all-you-can-eat samples of Lyman’s fresh-made products in the Apple Barrel Market. The event also includes horsedrawn carriage rides, pony rides and a fruit tree-pruning

workshop by Lyman’s experienced arborists.

— Elvira J. Duran 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Feb 2122 at Lyman Orchards, Rts. 147 and 157, Middlefield. 860-3491793, lymanorchards. com.

winter days. Appropriate for families with kids ages 8 and older. 10 a.m. February 28 at Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center at Milford, 1 Milford Point Rd., Milford. $7 member, $12 non-members ($5 child member, $8 child non-members, $5 seniors). 203-878-7440, ctaudubon.org/visit/milford.htm.

LECTURES/DISCUSSIONS The Open Visions Forum welcomes Lincoln biographer and Senior Vice President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harold Holzer in celebration of the Lincoln Bicentennial. 8 p.m.

February 9 at the Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield. $45. 203-2544110, quickcenter.com.

Mayor Cory Booker. Newark, N.J. Mayor Booker speaks on “Bridging the Divide: The Strengths and Challenges of Diversity in America.” Part of the Open Visions Forum. 8 p.m. February 18 at the Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield. $45. 203-254-4110, quickcenter.com.

MIND, BODY & SOUL Yoga promotes a deep sense of physical, mental and emotional well-being. Classes are designed to help cultivate breath and body awareness, improve flexibility, strengthen and tone muscles, detoxify the body and soothe the spirit. All levels welcome.

Bring a yoga mat. Class led by Nelie Doak. 5-6:15 p.m.

February 6, 13, 20 & 27 at Blackstone Library, 758 Main St., Branford. $10. 203-488-1441, ext. 313, yogidoakie@ earthlink.net or events@blackstone.lioninc.org, blackstone.lioninc.org.

Family chiropractor Victoria Rothenhausen will offer a free Trigger Point Massage and Natural Pain Relief Workshop. In business for 22 years, Rothenhausen is a founding member of the Milford Chamber Health & Wellness Council and was named as one of the “20 Noteworthy Women of Greater New Haven” in 2008.

Space is limited and reservations are recommended.

6:30 p.m. February 18 at 67 Turnpike Sq., Milford. 203877-4655.

Happiness Club of Greater Milford events are held the second Thursday of each month. All ages invited. Visitors should bring a food item to share such as appetizer, munchie or dessert. Guest speaker this month is Stacey Krone Battat, co-founder and president of Kiwi Publishing. Her topics range from social action and community involvement to internet safety and self esteem. 6-8 p.m. February 12 at Golden Hill Health Care Center, 2028 Bridgeport Ave., Milford. 203-767-3582, plynn_135@hotmail.com, happinessclubmilford.ning.com.

SPORTS/RECREATION Beach Fun Come join fellow hikers, cruisers and other singles organizations at the Active Singles (30-50-year-olds) Beach Party and Dinner Dance. This Hawaiian beach party features summer food: ribs, chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, other hot and cold entrées, salads and many desserts. Beer, wine, soda, coffee and tea included. Dress for the beach. Expect door prizes, dance contests and cash prizes for best Hawaiian outfit. All styles of music will be played by the DJ. 5-11 p.m. February 7 at the Lithuanian Club, 24 Golway St., Manchester. $35. 860-645-8648. activesingles.org.

single group; no one is dropped. 10 a.m. every Sunday at Lulu’s European Café, 49 Cottage St., New Haven.

Free. 203-773-9288, elmcitycycling.org.

The Little Lulu (LL) is an alternative to the longstanding Sunday morning training ride. The route is usually 20-30 miles in length and the ride is nodrop, meaning that the group waits at hilltops and turns so that no rider is left behind. The LL is an opportunity for cyclists to get accustomed to riding in groups. Riders should come prepared with materials (tubes, tools, pumps and/or CO2 inflators) to repair flats. 10 a.m. Sundays in February at Lulu’s European Café, 49 Cottage St., New Haven. Free. 203-773-9288, paulproulx@sbcglobal.net, elmcitycycling.org.

Critical Mass. Participants meet at the flagpole on the New Haven Green at 5:30 p.m. on the last Friday of each month for a slow-paced ride through New Haven

streets. The ride ranges from 30 minutes to over an hour depending on weather. Critical Mass is not an organization; it’s an “unorganized coincidence” — a movement of bicycles in the streets as traffic. After the event, everyone is invited to a potluck dinner at the Devil’s Gear Bike Shop. 5:30 p.m. February 27 at Temple and Chapel streets, New Haven. Free. elmcitycycling.org.

Hikes This four-mile, Class C hike will work its way through the Lake Wintergreen Loop. Rain cancels. 10 a.m.

February 1, meet at the Lake Wintergreen Parking Lot, Main St., Hamden. 203-393-0141, nhhc.info.

Active Singles sponsors hikes on the first and third Sunday of each month throughout the state, as well

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Cycling Elm City Cycling organizes Lulu’s Ride, weekly two- to four-hour rides for all levels (17-19 mph average).

Cyclists leave 10 a.m. from Lulu’s European Café as a

860-563-2111 or visit jenksproductions.com to receive a 1 day on-site PARKING COUPON new haven

53

hiking. Steady rain cancels. Work up an appetite and bank eating allowances for the potluck later in the day. James Fullmer leads. 8 a.m. February 7, meet in parking area on north side of Rt. 66 about .5 miles west of Guida’s, Middlefield. 860-663-3373, nhhc.info.

The Harlem Globetrotters spice up basketball for the whole family with whirls, twirls and unmatched ball-handling skills. Enjoy the fun on February 20 & 21 at Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport. as occasional dinner dances, beach parties, cruises, bus trips, coffee and conversations. There is never a fee or dues collected to belong to Active Singles. February’s hikes will be at East Rock (9:30 a.m. February 1) in New Haven and Daniels Farm Road (9:30 a.m. February 15) in Monroe.

Free. 203-271-2125 or 860-489-9611, activesingles@snet.net, activesingles. org.

If you enjoy out-and-back ridge walks, moderate ups and downs plus lots of great views, then the four-to-seven-mile, Class B Mattabesett Trail Mt. Higby Black Rock hike is for you. Bring rain gear. There will be one mile of silent

Art Calendar Continued from 43

jewelry, fiber, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, and much more will be on view in the CAW Student Show. February 22-March 13 (reception 2-5 p.m. February 22) at CAW, 80 Audubon St., New Haven.

Open 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily, 9 a.m.-noon Sat. Free. 203-562-4927, creativeartsworkshop.org.

A prolific artist whose work defies easy categorization, Mark Mulroney borrows familiar imagery from popular culture and turns it on its head. In Wet with Glee, his newly commissioned installation for Gallery 1, Mulroney renders colorful images of people, places and things in an illustrative, even cartoon-like, style. Through March 14 at Artspace, 50 Orange St., New Haven. Open Noon-6 p.m. Tues.-Thurs. & noon-8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Free. 203-772-2709, artspacenh.org.

A range of media from realistic to abstract, representing varied issues from identity to environmental concerns, can be seen in Oppositions, a juried exhibition of recent artwork exploring dichotomy and/or binary opposition presented by the Arts & Literature Laboratory. Works will be

54

february 2009

Cockaponset Trail at night will be a four-mile, Class C hike where a flashlight and warm clothes are required. There will be a potluck after the hike at leader Larry Hoyt’s house.

Bring drinks and a dish to share. Rain or bad driving conditions cancels. Pace 1.5 mph. 6 p.m. February 7, meet in parking area on north side of Rt. 148 in Chester. 860-767-0180, nhhc.info.

meet at the parking lot on Carmel Ave. 203-393-0141, nhhc.info.

Spectator Sports Catch some hard-hitting ice action at one of the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers games this month. The Sound Tigers face off against the San Antonio Rampage (7 p.m. February 11), Philadelphia Phantoms (7 p.m.

February 13), Norfolk Admirals (4 p.m. February 15 & 7 p.m. February 17), Portland Pirates (1 p.m. February 22), Albany River Rats (7 p.m. February 25),

Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins (7 p.m. February 28). At Arena at Harbor Yard, 600 Main St., Bridgeport. $43-$17.

203-368-1000, arenaatharboryard.com.

Please send CALENDAR information to CALENDAR@conntact.com no later than seven weeks preceding calendar month of event. Please include date, time, location, event description, cost and contact information. Photographs must be at least 300 dpi resolution and are published at discretion of NEW HAVEN magazine.

This six-to-eight-mile, Class B trek through Rockland Preserve, Mica Ledges, Mt. Pisgah will be a slightly hilly walk with great views. All-weather gear is essential, especially at lower temps. Bring two liters of water and lunch. Also bring stabilizers, yak-traks or crampons if temperature is freezing.

Steady rain cancels. One to two miles of silent hiking. 8 a.m. February 21, meet at the Rockland Preserve parking area on Rt. 79 (west side) in Madison. 860-6633373, nhhc.info.

Sleeping Giant State Park Hike. A ten-mile, Class A hike where the leaders choose the trails. Enjoy beautiful views.

Dress warm. 9 a.m. February 22, meet at the parking lot on Carmel Ave. 203-4351962, nhhc.info.

Another Sleeping Giant State Park Hike. This will be a six-mile, Class B hike. Dress warmly. 10 a.m. February 28,

integrated with furniture in a unique architectural space. Through March 21 at River Street Gallery at Fairhaven Furniture, 72 Blatchley Ave., New Haven.

Open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Wed., 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Thurs., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat., noon-4 p.m. Sun. 203-776-3099, fairhavenfurniture.com.

The Prodigal Son Returns: The Art of Soichi Watanabe. A resident of Koshigaya City, Saitama, Japan, Soichi Watanabe is the 2008–‘09 artist in residence at the Overseas Ministries Study Center in New Haven.

Watanabe graduated in 1982 from the Ochanomizu Art School in Tokyo after having earned, a decade earlier, an economics degree from Tohoku Gakuin University in Sendai. He teaches at a private art school that he started in 1982. Watanabe’s oil paintings have been displayed in numerous solo exhibitions, including “The Encounter and the Hope” at Meiji Gakuin University,Tokyo, in 2000; “Prayer for Peace” at the Ein Karem Gallery, Tokyo, in 2006; “Meeting Jesus” in 1993 and “The Revelation of John” in 1999, both at the Nisshin Gallery, Tokyo, and “Make Straight the Way of Lord,” Ginza Towa Gallery, Tokyo, in 2008. Watanabe is a member of the Japan Christian Art Association and the Asian Christian Art Association. Through March 26 at Yale

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers cut up the ice in seven homes games this month. See the Tigers claw up the competition in Bridgeport at the Arena at Harbor Yard.

Institute of Sacred Music, 409 Prospect St., New Haven. On view 9 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays. Free. 203-432-5062, yale. edu/ism.

Artspace presents seven solo exhibitions in Galleries 2-7 including artists Kwadwo Adae, Gail Biederman, Stephan Millar, Jeremy Bell and others. February 17–March 28 at Artspace, 50 Orange St., New Haven.

Open noon-6 p.m. Tues.-Thurs. & noon8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Free. 203-772-2709, artspacenh.org.

Emerging, a photography exhibit exploring the nature of rebirth. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. February 1-April 1 (opening reception 5-7 p.m. February 14) at Wink Art & Design, 87 Whitfield St., Third Floor, Guilford. Free. 203-453-5921, digitalwink. com.

The Road Less Traveled: Thomas Nason’s Rural New England, examines the visual poetry of printmaker Thomas W. Nason (1889-1971). The exhibition draws parallels between the carefully carved, deliberate lines of Nason’s wood engravings and the thoughtfully chosen, measured language of poet laureate Robert Frost, with whom he collaborated. Through April 12 at the Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $9 ($8 seniors & $7

students, free under 12). 860-434-5542, flogris.org.

Tea Culture of Japan: Chanoyu Past and Present illuminates the importance of Japanese tea culture and examines the ways in which it has evolved over the centuries. Through April 26 at the Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Tues.-Sat. (Thurs. until 8 p.m.) & 1 p.m.-6 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-432-0600, artgallery. yale.edu.

Building on the rich collection of artworks and materials at the YUAG and the Gertrude Stein Archives at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Picasso and the Allure of Language surveys the relationship between art and literature, and painting and writing, in Picasso’s work. The exhibition includes approximately 80 objects and begins with an examination of Picasso’s early associations with writers such as Gertrude Stein, Guillaume Apollinaire and Max Jacob and concludes with the postwar period, when Picasso became an international celebrity. Through May 24 at YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven.

Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. (Thurs. until 8 p.m.) & 1 p.m.-6 p.m. Sun. Free.

203-432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu.

W O RD S of MOUT H

By Liese Klein

he cuisines available in downtown New Haven span the globe, but only in the last few months has the food of Nepal appeared on an Elm City menu. But like its namesake nation, this intriguing dining experience is off the beaten track, hidden at the back of the menu at MarketPlace on Temple Street.

MarketPlace makes its home beneath the facade of the Temple Street Garage, across from the Criterion Cinemas in a space once occupied by a coffee shop. The coffee shop décor remains, although MarketPlace’s comfortable booths and warm lighting elevate it above the generic. Much of the menu also devotes itself to diner-style foods.

But the back pages of the menu are what have attracted the attention of the city’s foodies, with well-prepared and flavorful Indian and Nepalese fare. Fine food is to be expected from MarketPlace

Indian and Nepalese fare shines along with diner favorites at MarketPlace, headed by (from left to right) Executive Chef Keshab Sharma, owner Laxman Sharma and Chef Nelson Cosetl.

The dishes are (from left to right) applehoney chicken salad, Marketplace Mixed Grill kebabs, Chicken Casalinga with roasted peppers and potatoes and a cucumber salad.

owner Laxman Sharma, who also runs Branford’s acclaimed Darbar India, and whose skilled hand with spices and ingredients make the dishes stand out.

respects and requires plenty of beer to quench its fires. The ample serving of fluffy white rice studded with fresh peas also helps temper the sauce’s intensity.

Begin your South Asian sojourn with the papri chaat appetizer, an unusual combination of crisp, cracker-like rounds, chickpeas and potato — all slathered in tart tamarind sauce and yogurt. It sounds unlikely but blends into an intriguing mixture of crisp and creamy, sweet and savory. Also offered as an appetizer are Nepalese memo vegetable dumplings, rarely found outside of major cities.

Also flavorful was a shrimp biryani, served in a ring encircling a dish of rich yogurt sauce. The shrimp was tender and well seasoned and complemented by the complex spice blend of the biryani. The naan bread, fresh-baked and slathered with pungent blend of garlic, cilantro and oil, harmonized with the symphony of flavor at our table. Complement your meal with MarketPlace’s decent selection of bottled beers, wines and specialty drinks.

Palate primed, you’re now ready to try the fiery chicken vindaloo entrée, one of the spiciest dishes found in these parts on a regular menu. A well-made vindaloo hits first with an intense pepperiness, then the tang of vinegar, then pure heat.

MarketPlace’s version delivers in all

Anthony DeCarlo

T

PHOTOGRAPH:

NEW EATS: MarketPlace

MarketPlace may not sound like a South Asian restaurant, or look like one. But the dishes, flavors and spices are there and make this offbeat eatery worth a visit.

Marketplace, 21 Temple St., New Haven (203-777-6900).

new haven

55

“A treat for the Senses” – Hartford Courant “Amid elegance, a variety of Indian dishes” – New York Times

Fine Indian Cuisine 148 York Street, New Haven, CT 203.776.8644 www.zaroka.com

northern italian cuisine

Michael’s Trattoria < Valentines

Day

<

reservations recommended

— excellent wine list — Zagat Rated

203 269-5303

Close to Chevrolet Theatre 344 Center St, Wallingford 56

february 2009

JUST A TASTE: Delaney’s Restaurant & Tap Room

W

ith its prime Westville location and lively Tap Room bar, Delaney’s on Whalley Avenue in New Haven has long been a favorite with locals and college students looking for a fun night out. But with a new menu tapping into the vogue for “beer cuisine,” this sprawling restaurant is looking to draw serious eaters as well.

Start your evening by choosing an ambience from Delaney’s multiple seating areas: Are you in the mood for AC/DC and dart action in the Tap Room, or the wood-paneled calm of the smaller dining room? Seats at a second, interior bar are often at a premium but larger parties can be seated in the main dining room, brightly lit and lined with work by local artists.

Even with the new menu, pub grub favorites like the addictive wings in buffalo and honey BBQ flavors and crisp calamari are still featured. You can also still savor Delaney’s signature burgers with your choice of toppings and several decent vegetarian offerings like the “Treehugger” hummus wrap. But now you can also order mussels steamed in a tangy broth of orange juice and wheat beer and

accompanied by tasty slabs of garlic bread.

The small but tasty shellfish also come in a broth with chipotle chilies and lager.

Flavors drawn from beer styles also show up in some new entrées, including a sweet and savory salmon glazed with maple syrup and stout. The fish was moist and flavorful but almost upstaged by mashed potatoes spiked with Sriracha hot sauce. A Drunken Chicken entrée featured a sauté enlivened by pilsner beer. Side dishes include crisp and savory sweet potato fries and plantain chips. Stick to classics like carrot cake for dessert as the new menu’s crêpe dish arrived cold and unappealing.

A highlight of the Delaney’s dining experience, of course, is tapping into the area’s best draught beer selection.

Diners this month can still savor winter beers from regional brewers Smuttynose, Southern Tier and Magic Hat or dip into hearty quaffs like nearby New England Brewing’s Imperial Stout Trooper.

Delaney’s makes for an affordable and enjoyable night on the town.

Delaney’s Restaurant & Tap Room, 882 Whalley Ave., New Haven (203-397-5494).

Anthony DeCarlo

FRESH • ORGANIC • NUTRITIOUS • DELICIOUS

PHOTOGRAPH:

The wings are still hot and the beer’s still cold, as managers Mike Shanahan and Jennifer Pruna display, but Delaney’s in Westville has expanded its menu to include more ambitious dishes.

BREAKFAST/DINERS

hours, so call ahead.

The Pantry, 2 Mechanic St., New Haven (203-787-0392). Lines get long on weekend mornings at this East Rock institution, known for its breakfast goodies like gingerbread pancakes, fluffy waffles and hearty omelets.

Oriental Pantry Grocery & Gifts, 486 Orange St., New Haven (203-8652849). A foodie favorite for its homestyle Korean dishes like soups and bibimbap. Takeout sushi, breakfast sandwiches and Asian drinks and sweets are also available.

Bella’s Cafe, 896 Whalley Ave., New Haven (203-387-7107). Brunch with flair is the specialty at this Westville favorite. You can’t go wrong with the daily specials or omelets like the Tuscan with eggplant and peppers or the Tex-Mex with cheddar and salsa.

Soho New Haven, 259 Orange St., New Haven (203-745-0960). Right downtown and in an elegant space, Soho draws a diverse crowd for its top-notch Korean fare. Try the mandu dumplings and fiery-hot chicken galbi.

Parthenon Diner, 374 E. Main St., Branford (203-481-0333). Open 24 hours for hearty, well-made Greek and diner fare, with some low-carb and vegetarian offerings. Another location (not 24/7) in Old Saybrook at 809 Boston Post Rd.

Midori, 3000 Whitney Ave., Hamden (203-248-3322). Big flavors in a small space are the hallmark of this Korean/fusion restaurant, tucked away in a strip mall. Best bets are soups, the fresh-tasting bibimbap and spicy bulgogi.

Copper Kitchen, 1008 Chapel St., New Haven (203-777-8010). Downtown’s most convenient spot for a dinerstyle, affordable fry-up of eggs, bacon and toast. Cash only, but you won’t need much of it.

Patricia’s Restaurant, 18 Whalley Ave., New Haven (203-787-4500). Tasty and very affordable diner basics in an unironically retro setting near Broadway and the Yale campus.

Athenian Diner, 1064 Boston Post Rd., Milford (203-878-5680). Visible from Interstate 95 — if not from outer space — this chrome-and-glass landmark draws customers from all over the region with its hearty portions and tasty classics. Great Greek favorites and overstuffed sandwiches. Open 24 hours. Also open all night in New Haven at 1426 Whalley Ave.

SOUTHEAST ASIAN/ KOREAN Bentara Restaurant, 76 Orange St., New Haven (203-562-2511).

Supersized noodle soups and spicy curries are good bets at this Ninth Square Malaysian/fusion hotspot.

The stylish interior and extensive cocktail list also make it an excellent pre-nightlife stop. Open for lunch.

Kari Restaurant, 1451 Whalley Ave., New Haven (203-389-1280). Bright flavors and unusual ingredients make this Malaysian restaurant worth the drive up Whalley. The friendly servers are happy to explain the cuisine to newcomers and highlight the catch of the day.

Pot-Au-Pho, 77 Whitney Ave., New Haven (203-776-2248). Great for a quick bowl of pho, Vietnamese soup, along with tasty noodle dishes and affordable Asian specialties. Limited

THAI Thai Taste Restaurant, 1151 Chapel St., New Haven (203-776-9802). A standout on Chapel’s “Thai Row,” with toothsome basics like pad thai, drunken noodles and green curry.

Bangkok Gardens, 172 York St., New Haven (203-789-8718). Tasty Thai in a charming, light-filled dining area with great service. Wide ranges of classics and vegetarian options.

Rice Pot Thai Restaurant, 1027 State St., New Haven (203-772-6679).

Great spot for a romantic dinner and some truly tasty Thai food.

Try the impeccably fresh spring rolls, delicately flavored soups and assertive curries.

Thai Awesome, 1505 Dixwell Ave., Hamden (203-288-9888). Tangy curries and rich soups make this Thai eatery worth the drive from downtown, but leave time to find parking on this busy stretch of Dixwell.

Open Every Day: Lunch & Dinner

The Terrace, 1559 Dixwell Ave., Hamden (203-230-2077). The chef’s French training shows in this Thai eatery’s above-average plating and seductive flavor combinations.

Ayuthai, 2279 Boston Post Road, Guilford (203-453-2988). Quality Thai in a casual setting. Excellent duck and curry plates, along with aboveaverage papaya salad and desserts.

CHINESE/TAIWANESE

Bo Vale ok your nt reser ines Day vat with ion KUM O!

Iron Chef, 1209 Campbell Ave., West Haven (203-932-3888). Unusual Taiwanese specialties and wellexecuted classics shine at this student favorite.

20% Off Hibachi 50% Off Sushi, Sashimi, & Rolls

House of Chao, 898 Whalley Ave., New Haven (203-389-6624). This Westville institution draws diners

Our bar is now open until 2 a.m. Thurs. Fri and Sat. with a live D.J.

Mon–Sat: 4:30–10:30pm and All Day Sunday 7 Elm St, New Haven: 203-562-6688 (Free Parking After 5:30 & All Day Sun)

new haven

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Winter Menu at Caseus

C

aseus, the youthful cheese-centered bistro on Whitney Avenue in New Haven, recently marked its first year in business. But diners are the ones who should really be celebrating, as the food at Caseus is just getting better as owner Jason Sobocinski explores what the region has to offer.

Sobocinski does his best to showcase local and seasonal foods on his menu, and the cold months present his biggest challenge. Lucky for us, you’d never know that fresh produce is hard to find in February by sampling the winter menu. By tapping into a network of greenhouse growers both in-state and in New York, a Caseus salad can still dazzle with crisp mustard greens strewn with tender slices of shaved fennel and golden beets. Bringing it all together is the seasonal highlight of another region, ruby-red grapefruit at its peak of flavor, along with a touch of honey from New Haven’s Swords Into Plowshares apiary.

A second appetizer showcases barley, which makes an appearance in a poached duck egg appetizer. The grains are cooked to tender perfection with dried apricot and bathed in buttery egg yolk with a touch of pistachio oil. This dish redeems a grain long overcooked and found mainly glued to the bottom of a soup can.

The chef’s appreciation of citrus also comes into play in an entrée of braised pork shoulder burnished with a layer of house-made marmalade. A rich and salty mound of mashed potatoes

offsets the sweetness of the tender pork and makes for a satisfying winter feast.

Another warming treat is a dish of delicate ricotta gnocchi enrobed in a ragù sauce chunky with housemade pork sausage, topped off with a dusting of pecorino chosen from the cheese shop downstairs. A piquant layer of cheddar sauce also brightens a side dish of broccolini, cooked to al dente perfection.

Make sure to save room for dessert, specifically the zeppoli served with lemon curd and caramel. These

from across the region for its bright flavors and eclectic menu.

aviation-themed cafe that operates inside a quonset hut near the town’s Green.

Lao Sze Chaun, 1585 Boston Post Rd., Milford (203-7830558). You don’t get much more authentic locally than this outpost of Szechwan delicacies and tasty dim sum.

Publick Cup, 276 York St., New Haven (203-787-9929).

Top-notch sandwiches, coffee drinks and teas with a creative flair and a studious vibe that befits its oncampus location. You can even order ahead online.

East Melange Too, 142 Howe St., New Haven (203848-3663). Affordable and authentic noodles and Cantonese classics keep this lively eatery near Yale hopping at all hours.

Kasbah Garden Cafe, 105 Howe St., New Haven (203-777-5053). Quality teas, good conversation and Moroccan treats on New Haven’s best outdoor patio.

Great Wall of China, 67 Whitney Ave., New Haven (203-777-8886). Its location near downtown’s best Asian market and an affordable, high-quality buffet attracts a multicultural clientele to this Yale-area spot.

Willoughby’s Coffee & Tea, 258 Church St., New Haven, (203-777-7400). Enjoy both the low-key ambience and the region’s best selection of premium roasts and rarities at this small chain.

With Branford and Madison locations.

COFFEE SHOPS Cafe Grounded, 20 Church St, Guilford (203-453-6400).

Tasty sandwiches and coffee drinks star at this

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february 2009

Bare Beans Coffee, 14 East Grand Ave., New Haven (203-260-1118). A funky new outpost of quality beans and drinks over the bridge in Fair Haven. Weekday mornings only for drinks; order top-quality organic, Fair Trade and eco-friendly beans online at

zeppoli have a lovely, cakey crust and interior rendered creamy and soft from fresh ricotta cheese. Dipped first in tart lemon curd, then caramel, it may the best dessert in New Haven right now.

In its first year in business Caseus has drawn both neighborhood crowds and raves from the likes of the New York Times. Winter may the perfect time to sample this eatery’s innovative and consistently excellent fare.

Caseus, 93 Whitney Ave., New Haven (203-624-3373).

barebeanscoffee.com.

Cafe Atlantique, 33 River St., Milford (203-8821602). Visit this neighborhood favorite for creative caffeinated classics, bistro food and wine and a charming indoor/outdoor seating area.

FUSION CUISINE Mickey’s Restaurant & Bar, 2323 Whitney Ave., Hamden (203-288-4700). This eatery’s sophisticated interior and artful blend of Israeli and Italian flavors bring big-city flair to downtown Hamden.

Sip a Mickey’s margarita with your Marrakech salmon and Israeli couscous and you’ll swear you’re on the beach in Tel Aviv.

Bespoke, 266 College St., New Haven (203-5624644). High-end Latin fusion with a flair, wit and excellent service. Try the lobster arepa and duckconfit empanada upstairs at Sabor, the in-house Latin lounge. Fixed-price pre-theater menu serves up three courses for only $29.

Anthony DeCarlo

Caseus owner Jason Sobocinski (center), Head Chef Chris Sanseverino (left) and Sous Chef Joseph D’Alesio show off the New Haven bistro’s winter menu, which features dishes like a lamb slider, ricotta gnocchi with sausage and a beet and shaved fennel salad.

PHOTOGRAPH:

EDITOR’S PICK

6.M .77

OES - www.moesn h.

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Kudeta, 27 Temple St., New Haven (203 562-8844).

Every major cuisine of Asia is represented on Kudeta’s menu, with something for every taste in an evocative interior. Generous and inventive drinks along with good sushi and noodle dishes.

com

ve – New Haven ey A

Formosa, 132 Middletown Ave., North Haven (203-2390666). Creative and beautifully presented dishes with pan-Asian panache. Don’t miss the Szechwan “ravioli,” tender chicken dumplings in a delicate peanut sauce, or Taiwanese seafood specialties.

WELCOME TO 4MOE’S itn

Friend House, 538 Boston Post Rd., Orange (203-7956888). In a plaza next to Trader Joe’s, Friend House brings together stylish sushi and Chinese and Thai favorites. Best bets are the inventive hand rolls with ingredients like mango, tempura flakes and mint.

- KIDS EAT FREE -

1 CHILD PER ADULT - SATURDAYS: 4:30 TILL 8PM

- EST. 1974 -

GREAT MEXICAN FOOD 161 Park Street New Haven, CT 203-562-2499

FRENCH Union League Café, 1032 Chapel St., New Haven (203562-4299). New Haven’s most beautiful dining room and world-class cuisine near the heart of downtown.

Le Petit Café 225 Montowese St., Branford (203-4839791). Prix-fixe menu features beautifully prepared classics with a modern twist in a casual setting.

Caseus, 3 Whitney Ave., New Haven (203-624-3373).

Quiche and onion soup with top-notch cheeses stand out at this charming bistro.

Gastronomique, 25 High Street, New Haven (203776-7007).Classics like croque monsieur and steak tartare, plus sandwiches and burgers, expertly prepared at affordable prices. Takeout only.

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AMERICAN Bespoke, 266 College St., New Haven (203 562-4644).

Cutting-edge presentation and flavor combinations take center stage at this successor to Roomba. Latin flavors are featured in the upstairs lounge, called Sabor. Open for lunch.

Call now for Valentine’s Day reservations

Foe, 576 Main St., Branford (203-483-5896). The perfect setting for a romantic evening, Foe shines with sublime beef and pasta dishes. A black fig and cherry-glazed duck breast also showcases the chef’s sure hand with poultry. Lunch and bar menu.

Sage American Grill & Oyster Bar, 100 S. Water St., New Haven (203-787-3466). The tranquil harborfront view sets off skilled seafood and raw bar selections.

Excellent seasonal specials and a full bar add to the attractions of this veteran favorite.

Foster’s, 56-62 Orange St., New Haven (203-8596666). The chef himself is likely to bring over your meal at this acclaimed newcomer in Ninth Square.

Comfort food with cutting-edge flair like llama burgers on toasted brioche.

Zinc, 964 Chapel St., New Haven (203-624-0507).

Consistently excellent food, drinks and service in a central location. Innovative seafood like tamaricured tuna with wasabi oil is a good choice, along with the drink specials and seasonal desserts.

INDIAN Thali, 4 Orange St., New Haven (203-777-1177).

Downtown’s best Sunday buffet, with ample meat and vegetarian selections as well as fresh masala dosa crepes and unusual treats like goat curry and carrot pudding.

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59

Anthony DeCarlo

EDITOR’S PICK

PHOTOGRAPH:

Champagne Rose from Mount Carmel Wine & Spirits

Skappo Italian Wine Bar, 59 Crown St., New Haven (203-773-1394). White truffles and chestnuts are two of the compelling flavors you’ll encounter at this cozy eatery in Ninth Square. A great place to sample wines and small plates in an unpretentious setting.

Tre Scalini Ristorante, 100 Wooster St., New Haven (203-777-3373). Acclaimed pasta, seafood and antipasti in an opulent Wooster Square setting.

Also open for lunch.

L’Orcio, 806 State St., New Haven (203-777-6670).

Outstanding modern Italian in an intimate setting.

You can’t go wrong with the pasta specials and perfectly cooked and seasoned steaks.

Roseland Apizza, 350 Hawthorne Ave., Derby (203-7350494). Don’t let the casual pizzeria decor fool you — this Valley favorite makes some serious Italian food. Look for the daily specials and enjoy.

Bob Feinn, owner of Hamden’s Mount Carmel Wine & Spirits, is recommending a Champagne rose this year to customers looking to create an amorous ambience on Valentine’s Day.

’

T

is the season to think pink, so why not bring something blushcolored but sophisticated to your Valentine’s Day table this year?

Bob Feinn, owner of Hamden’s Mount Carmel Wine & Spirits, is recommending a Champagne rosé this year to customers in a romantic frame of mind.

From the aptly named village of Bouzy, France, Bouzy Rosé Brut Champagne is a rich, fruity blend of red and white wine which still boasts champagne’s crisp, dry finish, Feinn says.

It’s estate-bottled and

offered on a limited basis at the store for about $50 a bottle.

Another sparkler ideal for an amorous evening is prosecco, the effervescent Italian white that has become trendy in recent years.

“It’s never been as popular as it is now,” Feinn says, adding that prosecco’s low alcohol content and smooth flavor make it appealing year-round.

His pick for prosecco is Carpenè Malvolti, a historic producer with bottles in the $20 range.

Finally, for the romantic with the budget to match

his or her passions, try Bordeaux from Chateau Calon-Segur, which features a beautiful, simple heart on its label.

For about $70, you get the evocative bottle plus a first-class wine. “It’s a dry red with a lot of complexity and depth to it,” Feinn says. The romantic motif comes from the chateau owner’s passion for his product, he adds.

“His heart was in the wine,” Feinn says.

Mount Carmel Wine & Spirits Co., 2977 Whitney Ave., Hamden (203-281-0800).

Adriana’s Restaurant, 771 Grand Ave., New Haven (203-865-6474). Meat is the thing at this Grand Avenue favorite, especially veal and sausages. Fresh pasta and classics in a formal setting.

MEXICAN Baja, 63 Boston Post Rd., Orange (203-799-2252). An expansive salsa bar and fish taco entrée appeal to homesick Californians and big eaters.

Guadalupe la Poblanita, 136 Chapel St., New Haven (203-752-1017). Simple, authentic cuisine from Puebla in a down-home atmosphere.

Jalapeno Heaven, 40 N. Main St., Branford (203-4816759). Tasty Americanized fare in a cozy setting with excellent margaritas.

Long Wharf Taco Trucks, Long Wharf Drive near Veterans Memorial Park, weekdays at lunch. Tacos as they’re served in Mexico — just corn tortillas, meat, cilantro and a spicy sauce — eaten al fresco by New Haven Harbor.

Mezcal, 14 Mechanic St., New Haven (203-782-4828).

Big portions and wide-ranging menu with lots of surprises. No liquor license.

Taqueria Mexico No. 1, 850 S. Colony Rd. Wallingford (203-265-0567). The best tortas — or small sandwiches — in the area, filled with spiced meat and accompanied on the weekends by a lipsmacking posole hominy soup.

Viva Zapata, 161 Park St., New Haven (203-562-2499).

Toothsome classics and a killer sangria in a festive pub atmosphere. Open for lunch.

MIDDLE EASTERN Zaroka Bar & Restaurant, 148 York St., New Haven (203-776-8644). Opulent setting for one of the city’s most popular Indian buffets. Enjoy the birayani pilafs, crunchy pappadum crackers and desserts.

Royal India, 140 Howe St., New Haven (203-787-9493).

Tasty North Indian fare in an intimate setting on Howe’s mini-restaurant row. Nice variety at lunch buffet with fresh bread.

Darbar India, 1070 Main St., Branford (203-481-8994).

Award-winning shoreline favorite with excellent atmosphere and north Indian classics, run by Royal India owner. Spicy vindaloos and tandooris are a good bet.

Coromandel, 185 Boston Post Rd., Orange (203-7959055). Great breads and regional specialties from the

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february 2009

local outpost of a celebrated Fairfield chain. Try the shrimp in coconut sauce and unusual lentil dessert.

Swagat, 215 Boston Post Rd. West Haven (203-931-0108).

A tiny outpost of south Indian favorites near the University of New Haven. Best bets are the masala dosa and vegetarian dishes, plus the friendly service.

ITALIAN Consiglio’s of New Haven, 165 Wooster St., New Haven (203-865-4489). Beautifully executed Italian classics and a warm, welcoming atmosphere set this Wooster Square eatery apart. Also open for lunch and private parties and hosts a series of cooking classes.

Mamoun’s, 85 Howe St., New Haven (203-562-8444).

Cheap plates of falafel and Syrian-style specialties like stuffed eggplant keep this student favorite hopping late into the night. Make sure the fryer’s fired up and stick with the classics.

Istanbul Café, 245 Crown St., New Haven (203787-3881). With its airy yet opulent interior, this critics’ favorite has the best ambience in town and consistently flavorful food. A grilled octopus salad and red lentil soup standout, along with lamb dishes.

Turkish Kebab House, 1157 Campbell Ave., West Haven (203-933-0002). Every kind of kebab imaginable, from doner to minced chicken to cubes of lamb, is on tap at this neighborhood eatery. Also vegetarian and seafood options.

King Falafel, 240 College St., New Haven (203-8483076). Follow a trip to the Shubert with a tasty falafel sandwich across the street at this late-night favorite. Large portions of the freshest fried chickpea patties in town, with all the trimmings.

Kasbah Garden Café, 105 Howe St., New Haven (203777-5053). Moroccan-style lamb and vegetable dishes prevail on the limited but tasty menu. Savor mint tea and baklava outside on the idiosyncratically landscaped patio.

SEAFOOD Lenny’s Indian Head Inn, 205 S. Montowese St., Branford (203-488-1500). Fried clams praised by national critics and the freshest steamers around make Lenny’s a local favorite. The Shore Dinner includes cherrystones, corn, lobster and steamers.

Lenny & Joe’s Fish Tale, 1301 Boston Post Rd., Madison (203-245-7289). What it lacks in formality it makes up for in taste — the freshest, crispest fried seafood around. The perfect spot for quick eats after beach or a coastal drive, with an ice cream stand onsite.

Guilford Mooring, 505 Whitfield St., Guilford (203-4582921). Pasta dishes, a stellar chowder and a full range of grilled fish set this Shoreline favorite apart. And where else can you savor Lazy Man’s Stuffed Lobster as you watch lobstermen work on the Sound?

YellowFin’s Seafood Grille, 1027 South Main St., Cheshire (203-250-9999). Flavors are light and bright at this fusion eatery, with a menu that ranges from cioppino to Asian scallop salad to Tilapia St. Tropez. A raw bar and house-brewed beer round out the offerings.

Jimmie’s of Savin Rock, 5 Rock St., West Haven. 9343212. Take the family out and enjoy the boardwalk view at this West Haven institution, known for its moderate prices and casual atmosphere. All the fried favorites, a full menu of broiled fish and lobster and the famous split hot dog.

SUSHI Wasabi, 280 Branford Rd., North Branford (203-4887711). Good quality rolls and sashimi at reasonable prices, along with Korean specialties like mandu dumplings and bibimbap rice bowls. The sake flows freely on Monday nights, a favorite with students.

Akasaka, 1450 Whalley Ave., New Haven (203-3874898). Unusual specials like baby octopus and blowfish make this veteran eatery worth a visit.

Live sea urchin roe and scallops are also a best bet, along with tasty pickled vegetables.

Sono Bana, 1206 Dixwell Ave., Hamden (203-281-9922).

Fresh fish, inventive rolls and extensive combo options make this a neighborhood favorite. Try a fruity saketini with your sashimi “boat” and ask the chef to load up on the catch of the day.

Miya’s Sushi, 68 Howe St., New Haven (203-777-9760).

Unusual combinations like rolls with cheese and Ethiopian spices are the draw at this Elm City institution. Let go of your preconceptions about sushi with help from some of the beguiling infusedsake cocktails.

Number 1 Fish Market, 2239 State St., Hamden (203624-6171). Make your own sushi at home with fresh seafood from this market, which supplies many

area restaurants. The helpful staff will steer you toward the best quality tuna, salmon, scallops and red snapper.

VEGETARIAN Claire’s Corner Copia, 1000 Chapel St., New Haven (203-562-3888). This veggie veteran has updated its menu with lots of vegan options, of-the-moment meat substitutes and superfoods like acai berry juice.

The ambience and great location seal the deal.

Edge of the Woods, 379 Whalley Ave., New Haven (203-787-1055). The natural market offers a superb selection of vegetarian products in addition to a lunchtime buffet with salad bar, hot entrées like lasagna and seitan stir-fry and a colorful array of main-dish salads.

Shoreline Diner & Vegetarian Enclave, 345 Boston Post Rd., Guilford (203-458-7380). Non-veg diner fare along with vegan favorites like a tempeh Reuben with sauerkraut on grilled rye and “Twin Towers” of vegetable strudel. Great place for groups with different dining preferences.

Thali Too, 65 Broadway, New Haven (203-776-1600).

Tasty Indian vegetarian street food you won’t find anywhere else in the state, if not the region. Try the super-sized masala dosas and exotic yogurt drinks.

Ahimsa, 1227 Chapel St., New Haven (203-786-4774).

Wide-ranging vegan fare is featured at this (kosher) eatery that uses no animal products. South Indianstyle dals and curries star at the daily $10 lunch buffet, with more offerings at Sunday brunch.

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61

PHOTOGRAPH:

Anthony DeCarlo

How Sweet It Is

By Joyce L. Faiola

R

utgers anthropologist Helen Fisher unravels the Rubik’s Cube of love in her book Why We Love. Turns out that passionate love is a potent mental cocktail of dopamine sprinkled with norepinephrine. The tome describes the brain areas that light up whenever someone “crazily in love” sees images of her or his beloved and the aroused brain areas are the same that produce the euphoria chemicals of dopamine and seretonin.

Luckily, these same areas also light up when we eat chocolate — and Connecticut’s own Munson’s chocolates are just about the best you can get. I’ve eaten my way through a box of 36 meltingly marvelous chocolates (ate half of each, shared the other halves) and stuffed my cheeks with their pecan bark and… Oh, well — let’s just say I’ve been really happy all week!

I toured the pristine Munson chocolate factory in Bolton, and in addition to the oversized photo of Lucy and Ethel in their chocolate assembly-line fiasco, this is a groovy place that produces 3,500 pounds of chocolate a day. I ate an orange cream that was still warm. Ah, the aroma: I asked my tour guide and sales manager Jim Florence if they could bottle it and then perhaps I wouldn’t have such chocolate cravings. “I don’t think it works that way,” he laughed.

Josephine and Ben Munson began this labor of love in 1946, and today it’s a third-generation family-owned enterprise with countless loyal adherents. Proof that they’re out of this world? In 1997 Munson’s chocolates were presented as gifts to the crew on the Russian space station Mir when it docked with Atlantis.

More recently U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney

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february 2009

Fired Up! employee Maria Gold.

Munson’s Jim Florence shows off some of the dainties and sweets that take center-stage some time right around the middle of the month.

(D-2) handed out thousands of Munson’s chocolate bars to soldiers in Iraq.

Reflects Karen Munson: “When you grow up in a family business you see the passion and commitment it takes to run a successful company. It’s both an honor and challenge to represent the third generation, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.” Stores are statewide. Call 888686-7667 or visit munsonschocolates.com

T

hompson Chocolate in Meriden produces four million pounds of chocolate each year in a plant the size of an airplane hanger — and my tour guide, Chief Operating Officer Bob Lis, knows every square inch.

Thompson’s began when Meriden native William Thompson went to Philadelphia at age 17 to apprentice with candymaker Steven Whitman (the famous Whitman’s Sampler, with the cross-stitching on the box, remains an American icon). In 1879 he returned to his hometown and began Thompson Candy: today Thompson Chocolates is famous for it molded seasonal chocolates and Adora, which are

chocolate disks with 500 mg of calcium.

The plant is a wonderland of candymaking machines that produce foilwrapped Valentine’s hearts by the millions; here’s where Harry Potter’s molded chocolate frogs are made and packaged. The dark chocolate here is smooth, almost smoky with its nuances, and the milk chocolate melts on the tongue with a buttery essence. Visit thompsonbrands.com for retail locations, or contact the Meriden shop (203-235-2541) directly.

B

y the way, for a snazzy retro date on Valentine’s Day, stop by the Equinox Diner in Orange, where at both lunch and dinner ladies will receive a free dessert with any main course. Here you’ll find superior comfort and upscale menu offerings (not to mention the best meatloaf on the planet) and all kinds of diner favorites that rock. Desserts are baked in-house: don’t miss the bakery case where they show it all off. Equinox Diner, 285 Boston Post Road, Orange, 203-298-4100, equinoxdiner.com. v

The Pine Brook School Presents:

A PARENTING ROADMAP a speaker series designed to guide parents through key milestones of childhood

Wednesday, January 21 st • 7-9 pm

Fostering leadership, creativity, and friendship in your pre-teen A discussion for parents of children ages 8 - 11 Presented by Bill Kaplan, Former Head of the Wightwood School

Wednesday, February 4 th • 7-9 pm

Reading: What happens when your child learns to read Understanding the developmental stages in learning to read Presented by Elizabeth Hart, Ph.D.

Wednesday, March 4th • 7-9 pm Raising your child for success

How to foster successful life skills in children Presented by Tracie Bush, Behavioral Consultant

FRITZ & HAWLEY VISION CENTER Learning as a way of life

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