JUNE 2009
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Dram Drama New Haven’s month of fabulous festivals
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New Haven I June/2009
Yale’s Doug Rae has New Haven in his blood
What you need to know about swine flu in Connecticut
13 That ‘Other’ Festival
43 InStyle
A taste of the auld sod in North Haven
The guest’s guide to June wedding wear
16 We Are the World
45 Back When The Joint Was Jumpin’
The International Festival of Arts & Ideas returns
James Lloyd Reynolds and Kristen Martin star in Goodspeed Opera House’s production of the musical 42nd Street.
Diane Sobolewski
38 Body & Soul
PHOTOGRAPH:
08 ONE2ONE
A documentary on Elm City’s rich jazz heritage
21 Pitching for Life Major-league baseball is only Craig Breslow’s No. 2 priority
47 Street of Dreams Brooks Appelbaum on Goodspeed’s winning 42nd Street
24 How Does Your Garden Grow?
55 Words of Mouth
Urban gardening in the City of Elms
The al fresco season of savor arrives at the Place
31 Creative Adaptation
62 Discovered
Having it all — career, family, home, history — in Guilford
The most fun you can have on two wheels
47 24 New Haven
| Vol. 2, No. 9 | June 2009
Publisher Mitchell Young, Editor Michael C. Bingham, Design Manager Larissa Wigglesworth, Design Consultant Terry Wells, Contributing Writers Brooks Appelbaum, Elvira J. Duran, 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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Senior Publisher’s Representatives Mary W. Beard, Roberta Harris, Publisher’s Representative Cynthia Carlson
for typographical errors or errors in publication. For more information e-mail NewHaven@Conntact.com.
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
OUR COVER Tania Libertad performs June 17 in a Courtyard Concert that is part of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas.Cover design by Terry Wells.
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IN C .
™ © 2009 EILEEN FISH ER
EDITOR’S L E T T E R
Festivus for the Rest of Us
M
ore than any other Connecticut city, New Haven defines itself by its public events. The Jazz Festival. The St. Patrick’s Day parade (Connecticut’s largest, and don’t you forget it). Fourteen years ago three indefatigable Elm City women had a dream for a new public event that they hoped would redefine their home city for the late 1990s and beyond.
EILEEN FISH ER
1014 Chapel St | New Haven | 203-782-2280
Those women were Jean Handley, Anne Calabrasi and Roslyn Meyer, and the event was the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, which this month celebrates its 14th birthday. Kicking off June 13, it’s a big, two-week-long blowout of performers from all over the world as well as thoughtprovoking “ideas” sessions. The problem is that, despite nearly a decade and a half of history and lavish marketing efforts, Arts & Ideas remains completely off the radar screen of many area residents. Though that sounds improbable, even to us skeptical journalist types, ask your neighbors and co-workers how many festival events they attended last year. Or in the last five years. One funny taste that lingers in the mouths of some of us is the reality that Arts & Ideas was oversold to us for the first few years. Organizers promised a major international event that would attract thousands of festival-goers and vault New Haven to international prominence. But we didn’t become the next Spoleto or Edinburgh, and that rankles some people who feel… maybe not “duped,” exactly, but misled. Part of the reason the festival hasn’t attracted more attendees is the reality that, despite all the strides New Haven has made in revitalizing its city center, there remains a plurality of suburbanites who just won’t come downtown except when they have to. We’d like to suggest to those people that they make an exception this year. 2009 is a pivotal date in the future of Arts & Ideas. State funding for this year’s event was in place before the worst of the recession hit. Next year state funding is almost guaranteed to be smaller, and that places tremendous pressure on event organizers to raise a greater proportion of the budget from corporate and institutional sources. And the first thing they will want to know is: How many people attended this year? Just by being there you play an important role in the festival’s — and New Haven’s — future. And you’ll have an unforgettable time in the bargain. See you at Arts & Ideas. v
— Michael C. Bingham, Editor
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I NT EL the most racy photos and began screening the wording of the ads.
Growing Farmers Markets Connecticut has produced a bumper crop of farmers markets this year. According to the state’s Department of Agriculture, this year there are 125 in the state, up from just 22 a quartercentury ago. Farmers markets are attracting health-oriented consumers and even restaurants in search of fresher ingredients. In New Haven, CitySeed organizes farmers markets year-round. To learn more visit cityseed.com.
Pimping for the Craigslist Killer? HARTFORD — State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has won his fight to eliminate ads for prostitution on Craigslist, the community Web site serving cities and towns around the world with primarily free classifieds. Or did he? Under assault from Blumenthal, Craigslist replaced its “Erotic Services” section with an “Adult” section, the site also removed
The adult ads appear to be the same but are presented in a more “dignified” fashion. However, if the new Craigslist section doesn’t meet your needs for “erotic” entertainment, we’re told that the classifieds section of the New Haven Advocate, owned by the Tribune Company — one of the world’s largest media conglomerates will.
Ruthless. The audience will be asked to sing along to hits of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Louie Prima, among others. The production opens June 19 and runs through September 5. Performances take place Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights beginning at 6:30 at Consiglio’s Restaurant, 165 Wooster Street. Visit consiglios. com or phone 203-865-4489.
armed with Tasers. Proponents of the stun guns say they’re less lethal and generate fewer lawsuits than other methods of subduing those maniacal Madison miscreants. Madison’s $1,200 (each!) electric stun guns will come equipped with audio and video recording capabilities, the better to make it onto YouTube, no doubt.
Wild Turkeys
Singing for Supper NEW HAVEN — Al fresco summer theater is coming to the outdoor garden of Consiglio’s restaurant on Wooster Street. The Luigi Board, an “interactive” musical comedy that tells the love story of Luigi and his outrageous family, was written by Elizabeth Fuller and Katie Rader and is directed by Joel Vig. Vig had a starring role in the Broadway play Hairspray as well as the off-Broadway cult hit
KENT — They might have hoped to make an episode of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, but the Connecticut environmental police had different ideas. Members of an organized ring of poachers were apprehended in Connecticut after officials realized someone was thinning out the deer and turkey population in northwestern Connecticut. The ring — three men and a woman, all from New York — were arrested May 17 on poaching charges. The foursome admitted their illegal hunting — indeed, they had filmed their exploits hoping to get them onto a cable TV hunting show.
Don’t Taze Me, Bro MADISON — After a 4-0 vote by the town Board of Police Commissioners, the Madison Police Department will soon be
Credit Where It’s Due WATERBURY — While U.S. Homeland Security officials are worrying that returning veterans will go rogue, Webster Bank is offering veterans and current members of the armed forces a $500 rebate on mortgage closing costs for purchases and refinances of owner-occupied homes. The rebate, as well as discounted ATM use, reduced rates on home equity loans and discounts to the SBA Patriot Express program, is available to anyone serving full- or part-time in the armed services, National Guard, reserves or veterans with proof of service.
The Naked Truth NEW HAVEN — Jena Hunt of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) bared her own skin painted up to look like a snakeskin in downtown New Haven May 15 to make PETA’s point that “Exotic skins belong in the jungle and not on your feet.” PETA says that snakes, alligators, kangaroos and other exotic animals are hunted and killed just for their skins. They also claim the hunting and skinning practices are often brutal as well.
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New Haven in His Blood 8
june 2009
PHOTOGRAPH:
Steve Blazo
No one knows more about the Elm City and its history than Yale’s Rae
N
ew Havener Douglas W. Rae is the Richard S. Ely Professor of Management & Professor of Political Science at the Yale School of Management. A Yale faculty member since 1967, he’s New Haven’s best-known political scientist. He served as chief administrative officer of the city of New Haven in 1990 and 1991 He’s written several books, including City: Urbanism and Its End (Yale University Press) in 2003.
vvv New Haven had a great industrial past, but a pretty tough run from the 1960s until recently. When did things start to change? New Haven in 1960 was at its population peak, more or less, but economically it was 40 years past its peak. From the 1880s through the 1920s New Haven was the Austin, Tex., or the Bay area in California of its time. There was innovation and very high-quality manufacturing and accumulation of great wealth. So it peaked even before the Depression? It created its own destruction in that the industrial city was not a fun place to live. New Haven had its merits, but almost everyone got seized by the idea of having peace and quiet [in the suburbs]. We’ll get back to suburbia, but how did you get to be in New Haven? In 1967 I came on the job market as a young academic, my original inclination was to take an offer from UC Berkeley. I was at the University of Wisconsin and I grew up in southern Indiana. I had lots of offers: My mother grew up in New Haven, there was a sentimental hold and my Ph.D. advisor was a Yale alum. He called and said, ‘I will have you killed if you don’t go to Yale.’ Do you still see yourself as a Midwesterner?
PHOTOGRAPH:
Steve Blazo
Yes, I do a Midwestern trip every summer. By now I have all the undesirable traits of both regions: I have the impatient and clipped speech of a Yankee, and some of the slow motion of a Midwesterner. 1967 was a turbulent time for New Haven. Yes, the first full year I was here included the riots. My then-wife was even more of a Midwesterner than I am, from a
small town in Missouri. We thought, ‘What have we gotten into?’ We took up residence in North Haven. It was many years later that I get caught up in New Haven, through [coaching] youth soccer. What did you come here to teach? I was in the political science department and I was teaching comparative political systems. My research work was quite technical and abstract. I was actually hired to teach American government and politics. That would have been a pretty hot subject back in 1967. It depended on who you were. Herbert Kaufman — he’s still alive and retired — was chairman of the department and was teaching the course. W. [former President George W. Bush] was in the class the year I started. This was when Yale was still all guys. They [students] had the wooden arms on the chairs and the yellow pencils and as the lecture got worse they would tap their pencils more and more loudly. Kaufman would just kind of stand there and read it to you. There were different possible reactions — one was to throw things. Kaufman just decided to leave and go off to the Brookings Institute, and I got to teach the course.
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And no tapping? I was rescued by women. I may have been a slightly more entertaining lecturer. But I was terrified of making a mistake. How have Yale students changed ? On the whole, they’ve gotten better. There has never been a time when you couldn’t look out at a room of 100 and not be seeing 50 people who were truly exceptional and maybe five who were just off the charts. Women increased the applicant pool, and women also greatly improved the culture of the place, made it more intellectual, more civil. [Previously Yale] was jockish: It wasn’t quite Animal House, but it was smart kids who were able to fulfill their career objectives by being okay students. Just okay students? Look at two Yale College well-known political figures — [George W. Bush] and John Kerry. They were both C students.
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Steve Blazo
What is the skill set that’s actually needed to do that job well?
PHOTOGRAPH:
It has to do with stamina and the ability to sit through the 11th meeting on some chicken-scratch problem to me — which looks like a life-and-death situation to someone else. For many the Daniels administration wasn’t that successful, but it can take credit for the introduction of ‘community’ policing. I am totally proud of what we did with community policing. Crime was a big mess and this town was totally out of control. Billy Farrell was police chief and his inclination was to break heads, and both black and whites in the electorate were pretty enthusiastic about breaking heads, except blacks saw it as coded racism. I didn’t fully understand it at the time, but the people who really enforce law are civilians, by creating an atmosphere of imposing discipline. In many ways some of the ugliest forces in New Haven were stirred. What was that like for you? It was tough. [City Controller] Peter Halsey and I were both white and in positions of control of the [city] budget. The black electorate looks at this and says, ‘We thought we won [the election], but it doesn’t look like it.’
New Havener Rae: ‘Every big-time true lefty [on the Yale faculty] lives in Madison, Guilford and Branford.’
Kerry was a hair better, but just a hair. Neither one was much of an intellectual. And they still aren’t. We’ve seen that for sure. Yale has been greatly improved by women. Hillary Clinton wasn’t an undergraduate student here, but her mental style is more in line with what Yale is now. As a political science professor in the 1960s, did your students see you as ‘the establishment,’ or were you an outsider, too? That is a very perceptive question about Yale. I was caught in the middle. I was a strong integrationist but I was not 10
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onboard with the more fashionable left, SDS [Students for a Democratic Society] and all the splinter groups. How did you come to work in City Hall in the John Daniels administration [199093]? In 1988 I came very close to taking an administrative job at the University of Wisconsin. As it turned out I had a wholly incorrect belief that I could be good at running a complex organization. [In New Haven] I took a position as Chief Administrative Officer of the city and that’s where I learned I had no aptitude for it.
You were certainly seen as a liberal back then, weren’t you? Yes, but here was the problem: The city was out of money. I chaired the working group on the budget, and we were the hatchet men. The union seniority rules worked in such as way that the latest hire was ultimately the first fire. They still have that. And it’s not a good thing — it actually caused me to rethink civil service. When you win an election you ought to have a little latitude to bring in like-minded people. In that period I lost 45 pounds in the first six months. I would get into the office by four in the morning so I could have time by myself before all hell broke loose. How did you bring what you learned back to academia? That experience pretty much killed political science for me — it was just wrong so often. The skill sets, the concepts [of academic political science] were so abstract and sometimes so wrong. The question shifted from what’s democratic, what’s fair, what’s just, to
‘How do you make this thing work?’ And you can’t do any public job without asking that question before any other. I went in there thinking we were a social justice movement, and came out thinking we have to figure out how to run this place. What’s an example? We were closing libraries. Why [were] we closing libraries? Because the police are untouchable and you don’t want to touch them anyway. Fire [department personnel] you do want to touch [by imposing layoffs], but they’re political clout was terrific. Wasn’t there a Yale management professor, Art Swersey, who proposed merging the fire department into some kind of public-safety unit? He almost got run out of town on a rail. He pretty much did. His idea was very sensible. Arson was a huge problem in New Haven in the 1960s. Frank Logue was not a great mayor, but what he did right was [tackle] arson. He hired a guy from MIT who collated insurance values for every commercial property, and where the insured value was far higher than the market value, the mayor’s office sent a letter indicating there would be a full investigation if a fire broke out. Arson dropped, but the fire department [remained] as big as was when the city had a lot of arson. We’re [the city is] broke, fireman sit and wait a lot, and we’re paying an outside ambulance company. [The idea was] couldn’t we cross-train the firefighters? The firefighters fought back. I went and got Swersey; I put him up to it. Oh, so you’re responsible? There were lots of stories on this. We were gonna close an engine house out in Westville, my phone rang before 6 a.m. one morning and [former Mayor Richard C.] Lee [who lived in Westville] says, ‘Doug, me boy [imitating Irish brogue] a piece of advice: Don’t f*** with my fire stations.’ Click. With those guys I enjoyed the fight, but ultimately they mostly won. Management seemed like the right thing, so I stood for tenure again over here [at Yale graduate School of Management]. Are the goals of SOM students mainly public management? No, the goals are all over the place. A plurality want to go to Wall Street and make a ton of money. Another small group will want to become consultants. There’ll be another small group that have a family business and they want to run that. Like Liz White, whose family owns
the daily newspaper up in Meriden [the Record-Journal], she’s just finishing up. Another group — probably 30 out of the 200 — want to go out and make the world a better place. And many of the very best people we get are that, because we have a reputation for encouraging that.
to be joined with the [Yale graduate] Forestry School is going up sharply. There’s also an increasing interest in the world and things like clean water, because thousand of babies die each year for lack of clean water and students want to work on that.
At one point urbanism was the hot idea on campuses. Now it’s the environment. Has that affected your students?
What were some of the forces that took down the cities, and are there now forces reviving them?
The number of good students who want
The first [force that led to decline of
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cities] was oversupply of housing that wasn’t very good. There is a set of 100 American cities that all have the same population curve; New Haven’s just at the small end of that group, but all the Connecticut cities are in it. The really big cities are different, and Boston is different. One force was the collapse of the manufacturing economy [and its replacement] with a service economy, the ‘eds’ and the ‘meds,’ for example, Yale and the hospitals. They’re stuck where they are [in the city], but all their spinoffs find the suburbs pretty attractive. The West Haven campus [of Yale], for example, or Bristol Meyers [in Wallingford]. Suburban development has been going strong since the 1920s. The New Haven schools were a battleground of race and class. Every big-time true lefty [among Yale faculty], the ones on the last five degrees on the [leftward] compass, live in Madison, Guilford and Branford. Well, the conservatives live in New Haven? Well, we do — actually the centrists. And the forces of revitalization? One of them is immigration. What
you see in sections of the Hill and Fair Haven is a little like what was going on in 1890-1900. The difference is the terrific jobs that were there then aren’t here now. But the vitality is brought on by people wanting to make the best of where they are. The cities have become a center for consumption rather than production. It is a place where people spend money. It is very hard to have regional theater in the suburbs, or a world-class museum in the suburbs. The minor genius on this front was Joel Schiavone. His development [of College and Chapel streets in the late 1980s] was brilliant — an exemplar for the rest of the country. Everyone was going for a big box. He understood a string of small shops was what people wanted. It was a tragedy he lost all his money. A ‘pioneer’ is someone with an arrow in his back. That’s exactly right. Another engine of prosperity are the major private institutions — Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Notre Dame. They all represent long-term accumulation of capital and reputation. The fundamental [competitive] problem for Yale is that Harvard is in a much bigger market. The correct response is that Yale should be concerned principally
with high-speed rail. If Yale is part of New York, Yale could beat Harvard in recruiting the best and the brightest. What kills us is the two-career family: Time and again we lose brilliant people who are married to someone else who’s brilliant, for whom there is no job in New Haven. At Harvard they have this huge market. The only way for us to get it is to be part of New York City. Some consider Dick Lee New Haven’s greatest mayor. Do you agree? He was a great mayor. But because he was so great he was able to make really great mistakes — and he made them. John DeStefano hasn’t made any really big mistakes. Is he a great mayor? I don’t think I’d use ‘great’ for John. But he’s a damn good mayor and he is good at administration. He isn’t good enough, though, to be as dangerous as Dick Lee was at vision. The battle to be fought going forward is to position New Haven in the regional economy of New York and to use our enormous advantages. We compare very favorably to most places in a 70-mile arc around New York. Also, creating more flexibility and lower costs Continued on 54
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Feis Time June’s ‘other’ international festival brings the Auld Sod to North Haven By Melissa Nicefaro
This year’s Irish festival features the North American Minor Irish Dance Championship on June 18. new haven 13
Young Connecticut fiddler and Hartt School of Music student Calley McGrane performs on the Connecticut Irish Festival’s Main Stage on June 27.
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his summer more than ever, many of us are going to need to rely on adventures in our own community to give us that “away from home” feeling. Luckily we won’t need to leave the greater New Haven area for a taste of Ireland this summer.
The Connecticut Irish Festival, Feis and Agricultural Fair, a production of the Irish American Community Center, will showcase the best in Celtic dance, sports, music and culture at the North Haven Fairgrounds on June 27-28. This year’s festival features the North American Minor Irish Dance Championship on June 28. The winner will receive the George Sweetnam Memorial Belt reserved exclusively for world-class Irish dancers. “This year is an especially big honor for us because after all of these years we’ve been in the Feis competition — the first one was in 1966 — this is the first one we’ve been asked to host,” explains festival organizer
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Bernadette LaFrance (NHM March 2008). “They call it a championship belt, so that is a really big deal. Out of all of the United States and Canada, they only pick three festivals to host the national competitions.” The dancers come from all over New England including here in the New Haven area. “Many of these competitions give the dancers some good competitive dancing under their belt before they go to Ireland or to the other international competitions,” LaFrance explains. “It’s great exposure, it’s great practice — it’s good all around.” The festival is intended for families — and not just those of Irish descent. Of course, love for a pint Irish Guinness helps. “It’s a great family event in general, primarily because there’s something for all ages,” says LaFrance. “Music is going on all day long and in addition to the dance competition, people can dance themselves.”
The festival has grown from the first Field Day in 1963, which included exhibitions of Irish dancing, a Gaelic football game against County Leitrim, a hurling match (Kilkenny vs. Cork), a youth football game, a tug-of-war and a road race. In 1966, Feis competitions were added and in that first year, almost 400 dancers participated on a stage illuminated by automobile headlights. Music, art, singing and language entries grew in number until, in 1977, it was the largest such competition in the country, with 1,600 entrants from the U.S., Canada and Ireland. In 1989 the Feis and Field Day expanded to a weekend Irish festival (now called the Connecticut Irish Festival). In addition to the spotlight on national and international step-dancing competition, there are demonstrations of such skills as bread-baking and Irish lace-making and information about genealogy, set dancing and music of uilleann pipes. This year, the Wolfe Tones head the musical line-up. Currently celebrating 45
MacTalla Mor (above) is part of the musical lineup, along with Celtic legends the Wolfe Tones.
years on the road, these legendary Dublin balladeers continue to be one of Ireland’s biggest box-office attractions, having sold out prestigious venues during the past year across Ireland, the UK, continental Europe and the U.S.
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here is something for everyone at the festival. Experience a mix of the best traditional and contemporary Irish music, set dancing, cultural exhibits, great food, a 5K-road race to benefit ALS research, cultural and agricultural displays, children’s activities, rides and an Irish shopping and craft village. There will be Gaelic football and hurling matches with teams of all ages from New Haven, Boston and Philadelphia all weekend long. Members of the Celtic Learning Project, attired in 13th-century Celtic garb, will be on hand to tell tales of Celtic lore.
The festival will also feature plenty of good food including the finest of Irish
baked goods. The Tea House features (duh) tea, scones and soda bread. In addition, there will be an international flavor to the festival with Italian and Thai cuisine, as well as summer festival favorites: hot dogs, burgers, chicken, kettle corn and ice cream. Talented Irish step dancers from all over the region will perform on both days of the festival. On Saturday the O’Keefe, Mulkerin and Lenihan Schools of Irish dance will perform. On Sunday, hundreds of dancers will participate in a competition that prepares many of them for world-class events. Some of the dancers hail from as far away as Texas, Wisconsin and Canada. The musical line-up is booked continuously for both days. In addition to the original legendary Wolfe Tones, performers include Irish rockers U2 Nation, MacTalla Mor, Kitty Kelly, Fergus, Cliudan, the Highland Rovers and the Gaelic Highland Pipe Band.
The festival will also include children’s activities and rides, including games & races, a petting zoo, pony rides and agricultural activities such as sheepherding and, of course, sheep shearing. So instead of taking the kids to the mall or the movies to pass a Saturday afternoon, take them to the festival. “Festivals like these are what families are going to need and really appreciate in this economy,” says LaFrance. “Families that can’t take a vacation this year will be depending on this to give some fun family time. Even a conservative weekend vacation is still hundreds of dollars.” Admission for adults is $8 advance, $12 at the door. Children under 16 are free. Tickets are available by contacting ctirishfestivaltickets@gmail.com, from the Irish American Community Center, Venice Place, East Haven or the Playwright Restaurant, 1232 Whitney Ave., Hamden. v
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Arts & Ideas Festival celebrates international identities, local artists By Sarah Politz
The Mark Morris Dance Co. will perform Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas June 25-26 at the Shubert.
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he International for immigrants, artists and Festival of Arts & Ideas scholars from all over the really has something world, and the power of the for everyone. Whether you everyday heroes who live like to get down to zydeco among us. and West African rhythm, “We encountered a number muse over the challenging of artists along the way who dramas of Samuel Beckett and were really excited about Anton Chekhov, marvel at the being people of the world who acrobatics of Senegalese dance, didn’t fit into easy definitions,” discuss political economics says Aleskie, “people who or are more excited about were living in Paris and celebrating Henry Purcell’s raised in Morocco and whose birthday — this year’s festival father was Vietnamese and is worth your while. was wrapped in that cultural Now in its 14th year, the diversity and trying to find festival kicks off June 13 with their role in the world. We the first of many free shows started to hear a more complex on the New Haven Green, Diaspora story than we had with the nine-piece Creole heard in the past.” party band Buckwheat Zydeco The musicians performing headlining, and the rhythmic at the Courtyard Concert Balkan sounds of Slavic Soul Series (June 16-18) are perfect Party opening at 7 p.m. The examples. In three exotic and U.S. premier of the Barabbas eclectic concerts in the Yale Theater Co.’s Circus will also Law School courtyard, jazz open the same day at the Univsaxophonist and composer ersity Theater on York Street. Miguel Zenon will explore the Two weeks of music, dance, music of his native San Juan, theater, family events and Puerto Rico, Tania Libertad “Ideas” discussions ensue, will lend her rich voice to culminating in a finale on the Afro-Peruvian songbook June 27 with the Sierra Leone and Rupa & the April Fishes, Refugee All-Stars performing, whose members have roots a group whose rootsy music in San Francisco, France comes out of the pain of that and India, will launch their West African nation’s civil romantic, bohemian swing. war and the healing now The Courtyard Concerts taking place. Salsa outfit Bio typically draw a very diverse Ritmo opens at 7 p.m. crowd, from music aficionados to intellectuals to adventurous “It’s going to be a great festival, souls of all kinds. and I think it’s going to come at a time when people “It’s meant to be a nexus are going to need something of people who might not to celebrate,” says Mary necessarily come together,” Lou Aleskie, the festival’s says Aleskie. executive director of four The other half of the festival’s years. “It’s been a very hard, theme is the “local heroes.” long winter for many people “[Former U.S. poet laureate] in many ways, weather-wise Robert Pinsky talking about and economy-wise. To have his Favorite Poem project really wonderful things that got us very excited about bring people together out celebrating everybody of their homes shoulder-tothrough understanding what shoulder to share joyfully is Connecticut’s favorite poems going to be of tremendous are,” she says. On the Green value.” June 13 at 3 p.m., Pinsky will This year’s theme, “Global host a community reading Identities/Local Heroes,” of selected favorite poems strikes a balance between New that have been submitted by Haven’s complex identity as Connecticut residents over the an international destination past few months. new haven
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With musical influences that include French chanson, Gypsy swing, Argentinean tango, Latin cumbias, American folk, and Indian ragas, the San Francisco band Rupa & The April Fishes perform June 18 in the Yale Law School courtyard.
with the Yale Center for British Art’s exhibition Paintings from the Reign of Victoria: The Royal Holloway Collection. The choir’s program celebrates the 350th anniversary of the birth of Henry Purcell. Additional Purcell programming includes a performance of his opera Dido & Aeneas by the Mark Morris Dance Group, which will draw on the talents of the Yale Collegium Players. There is a definite international bent to the theatrical offerings this year. One exciting option is the Katona Jozsef Theatre Co., which hails from Hungary, and their interpretation of Anton Chekhov’s Ivanov, a tragicomedy often considered the Russian Hamlet. It opens June 24 with a companion talk by Hungarian-American journalist Kati Marton at 5:30 at the Yale Center for British Art.
Other events spotlight the contributions of local artists, including the free “Celebration of Connecticut Bands” on the Green at 4 p.m. June 21, with Hamden underground rockers Mighty Purple, led by Steve and Jonny Rodgers, topping the ticket. Also on the bill are the teenage retro band sayWhat? from Chester and New Haven’s celebrated bluesicians, Don’t Tell Muddy, who pay tribute to the great Muddy Waters, among other legends. But perhaps the best place to spot local performers is at the Village of Villages, a call for area artists to contribute to the festival in a free celebration of world cultures and American heritage on the Green, beginning at 1 p.m. June 20-21. For families and others who act their shoe size, there is a free concert by the wacky, family-oriented alternative band They Might Be Giants at 6 p.m. on the Green June 14. Several days of “Noon to Night” programs during the week offer a chance to catch each day’s family-oriented show at 1:30, while still leaving time to picnic and get young ones home for bedtime. 18
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The festival celebrates New Haven’s growing Latin American community and the recent establishment of the Consulate of Ecuador in Connecticut with a day of Ecuadorian and Latin music on the Green June 16, with free performances starting between noon and 6:30 p.m. On June 23 you can also catch Jason Moran’s performance of In My Mind: Monk at Town Hall 1959, a multimedia piece based on Thelonious Monk’s first big band show in 1959. The cheap seats will set you back $25, up front $35. The classical program represents some exciting collaborations between out-oftowners and New Haven musicians. The remarkably cohesive, conductor-less string orchestra Sejong of New York will invite pianist Robert Blocker, dean of the Yale School of Music, to perform with them on June 21. Classical enthusiasts should also check out the Choir of Royal Holloway, University of London at 3 p.m. on June 27 at the United Church on the Green, presented in conjunction
Several “ideas” discussions are designed to tie in with music and theater performances. Expand your horizons with the African Diaspora Immersion on June 21, which begins with a tour of the African Art Collection at the Yale University Art Gallery with curator Frederick Lamp at 11 a.m. A movement workshop follows at noon in the Sculpture Garden, exposing participants to some of the dance concepts at play in the production The Good Dance — dakar/brooklyn, which opens June 25 at the New Theater. After you’ve worked up an appetite dancing, grab some lunch and head back for Robert Farris Thompson’s lecture “Afro-Atlantic Art, Dance and Music” at 3 p.m. All of these events are free, but the art tour and dance workshop require registration. For film buffs, this year’s festival features the documentary film festival “The Future Will Be Possible,” which showcases films on refugee issues, including a film on the story of headlining band the Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars (June 14, 4 p.m., 53 Wall Street). Visitors can take walking and biking tours of the city (free). No matter how good the show is, for some people the food will always be the main event — thus the Foodie tours on offer throughout the week. And for penny-pinchers, there is special value to be had at this year’s Arts & Ideas. Shoreline East will offer discounted fares from Shoreline towns to New Haven on festival weekends, with up to four children free with each adult, to encourage those who resist driving and parking to come nonetheless. Student and senior
tickets are discounted ten percent, and tickets for children 17 and under reduced by 30 percent. More than 80 percent of festival events are free, including all weekend concerts on the Green and all of the Ideas programming. Recession be darned — we will have our festival. The directors of Arts & Ideas do have their eyes on the recession, especially since Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced in February that the festival was on the list of organizations targeted for deep budget cuts for the coming fiscal year. The 2009 festival is not been significantly impacted by the cuts, because the programs are funded and booked 18 months to two years in advance — but 2010 could present a much bigger challenge. “This year’s festival has been planned for a long time,” says Aleskie. “We have been in a private-public partnership with the state for all 14 years of our existence. It still remains pretty unclear what’s going to happen with state support for a lot of organizations. The governor actually cut our funding in half for this fiscal year and zeroed us out for next year. No one really knows when this will be settled or how it will be settled.
Calabrasi was a proprietor of the Green, which is one of the only privately held city centers in America. The proprietorship is passed from one holder to the next by election. An anthropologist with a home in Italy, Calabrasi was intrigued by the small town festival traditions throughout Europe and wanted to bring that spirit to New Haven, which also has a large Italian population. The festival’s founders chose an ideal location in New Haven because of its multicultural identity and intellectual vitality. “If you look at New Haven in the context of festivals that were created in other cities, the ’90s was an absolutely
perfect time,” says Aleskie. “Most of the big, destination-oriented festivals that there are in the world now — Edinburgh, Avignon, the ones that come to mind — they take place in cities that, over time, have been intersections of a lot of different cultures. New Haven, outside of Yale, has been a very immigrant-oriented city — different kinds of immigrants as generations have gone on. So that creates a richness here. “In the ’90s, New Haven didn’t look like it does now,” she adds. “It was only 20 years since the Black Panther trials. The city was still polarized and torn apart, and downtown was still looking pretty
The Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars rock the New Haven Green June 27.
“If, in fact, our funding is eliminated,” adds Aleskie, “it would be draconian.” One sign of cutbacks at this year’s festival will be the absence of Jumbotrons for the concerts on the Green. “We took some measures to do some things in planning this year that we felt would save money without it impacting what we are and who we are,” Aleskie says. “We usually have two big video screens, which is a cool thing to have, but an expensive accoutrement. You’ll still see Mavis Staples, but you’re not going see it [on the big screen].” More than 100,000 people come to the festival each year, about 5,000 per day during the week and more on the weekends. Last year, 45 percent of attendees came from around Connecticut, 42 percent of attendees from greater New Haven and 13 percent from out of state. Despite this year’s economic climate, Aleskie says that ticket sales are up 30 percent. “Every indication is that this is going to be a record season for us,” she says. The International Festival of Arts & Ideas was founded in 1996 by three driven New Haven women, Anne Calabrasi, Jean Handley and Roslyn Meyer, who still serve on the group’s board of directors. new haven
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grim. All those other cities — Edinburgh, Avignon, Salzburg, Vienna — they were all [re]built between 1947 and 1951. And it was Europe’s effort to heal itself from World War II. So New Haven had this real need to heal itself and move forward.” The festival is supported by more than 300 volunteers each year who usher, lead walking tours and help with canvassing and marketing. Inez Bell, a 16-year-old finishing her sophomore year at the Hopkins School, volunteered last year as an usher and walking tour assistant. She says the experience “changed my life.” Bell is bringing her mother D.J. Bell and grandmother Yvonne Gore along to volunteer with her this year.
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“They were the ones who took me to the festival before I started even started going myself,” she says. Inez Bell was born and raised in New Haven and has been attending the festival since she was six years old a decade ago. She especially enjoyed last year’s finale with the Liz Lehrman Dance Exchange and looks forward to hanging out with the Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars backstage at the 2009 fest. She says she tends to volunteer at events that she plans to go to anyway and is happy to help out. Evelyn Duffner has volunteered at the festival for the past seven years since she retired from teaching school in her hometown of Milford. She volunteers at everything from ushering and assisting at walking tours to canvassing in the crowd, passing out pamphlets and manning the information booth. Her favorite activity, though, is running the Peabody Museum’s table at the Village of Villages. “The kit we bring is about how different cultures carry things,” she explains. “For us they are toys, carrying things on your head or in a pack or in a basket. But at the festival, I meet people who have actually used these things in daily life — someone from Jamaica who carried things on her head, someone from Africa who would go down to the well and carry the water back on his head. What happens is the mother or father will start to tell me the story, but sometimes it’s a new story for their children. “What [the festival] is doing is making the world smaller, bringing it all together so we come in contact with people we never would have met.” Reserve tickets at artidea.org or call 888-ARTIDEA. v
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Making a
Pitch for Life For Trumbull’s Craig Breslow, success in major-league baseball is only the second most important item on the agenda
By Steve Scarpa
Though a bit undersized and not a particularly hard thrower, Yale-educated Breslow is more likely to outwit batters than to overpower them.
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team, the Minnesota Twins, faced the New York Yankees in a mid-May fourgame weekend series. It had been a bad series for the Twins, who were swept by the Yankees. Breslow himself had had a rough time with Yankees, allowing a two-run homer to Alex Rodriguez in the bottom of the 11th inning to take the loss in Saturday’s game. He redeemed himself in Monday’s 7-6 loss, throwing two-thirds of an inning, mixing a fastball topping out in the high 80s with changeups and sliders.
Breslow: ‘It is one thing to put a check in an envelope and send it to the Jimmy Fund. It is another to visit a kid who has no hair who is lying in bed and hasn’t been outside in two weeks.’
In March, Breslow’s Strike 3 Foundation, which he founded last year, pledged $500,000 over five years to the Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital to help its pediatric bone-marrow transplant program. “It was probably a little bit ambitious, but we were okay with that,” Breslow explains, resting in the spacious Twins locker room after running in the outfield. “We raised close to $100,000 in 2008, just feeling around a bit, so we felt pretty comfortable with that [$500,000] amount. I felt like it was a great time to get involved with Yale because they have a couple of unique initiatives. They brought in some staff from around the country to develop their pediatric oncology center. I think the greatest thing is seeing the human side of the impact of what we are doing.” The funding will allow 40 children and their families to undergo treatment at Yale, rather than have to travel out-of-state for care. The funding will also support additional medical staff, data-management systems and ongoing training. Breslow is particularly gratified that the money will go towards specific, tangible outcomes.
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EW YORK — The first thing, and perhaps the most important thing, to know about 28-year-old Trumbull resident Craig Breslow is that he is absolutely devoted to finding a cure for cancer.
It was something that he knew about himself from the age of 12, when his older sister Lesley was diagnosed with pediatric thyroid cancer. That quest was solidified when he watched her successful recovery — his family was one of the lucky ones. “I understand that not everyone’s case is as straightforward as hers was,” he says. He went to Yale straight out of Trumbull High School, graduating in 2004 with 22
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a degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry, yet one more step on what appeared to be an inexorable path to medical school. But something happened along the way to med school — Breslow developed into a pretty damn good left-handed pitcher, serving as Yale’s baseball captain before being drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2002. Helping to cure cancer would have to wait. Or would it? New Haven magazine caught up with Breslow at Yankee Stadium, when his
“I’ve always felt that it was one thing to raise money and to say it was going to generic research, and while that’s great and obviously it’s necessary, there’s no palpable effect. If you could walk into Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital and see that the bone-marrow donation program is funded by the Strike 3 Foundation, first of all it is great for us, but beyond that, donors will see a greater impact,” Breslow says. “I think because of his scientific/medical background, he was adamant about working to eliminate the disease, as opposed to comforting or counseling patients,” says Joe Lizza, chief operating officer of the Strike 3 Foundation. “The work that charities do to enhance playrooms, or provide therapy, counseling and entertainment for children undergoing treatment is valuable, but I’ve always thought that if you can eradicate
the disease, you can avoid the need to altogether.” Both Breslow and Lizza, a Danbury High School teacher and close friend, visited local hospitals this past off-season. That experience only reinforced his personal resolve. “As mundane as it is, it puts a different perspective on things, all of those clichés, but the greatest thing was to see the human side of the impact of what we are doing,” Breslow says. “It is one thing to put a check in an envelope and send it to the Jimmy Fund. It is another to visit a kid who has no hair who is lying in bed and hasn’t been outside in two weeks. All it takes is five minutes with any of those kids and you realize that you’ll keep trying and that you’d make [finding a cure] a priority.” “We have also partnered with the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford at a time when they plan some new initiatives as well,” adds Lizza, a former catcher who met Breslow while working for the same baseball camp. “It is an opportune time to be involved in pediatric cancer treatment, and there is a significant need for funding.” This sort of work has always been on Breslow’s mind — because in many ways his path to the major leagues was not as ostensibly clear as his path to medicine. A 7.19 earned run average in A ball in 2004 sounded an ominous early note for his career. After being released by the Brewers, he finished the season playing in the independent Northeast League, one of the lowest rungs on the professional baseball ladder. By his own admission, if he was in a different circumstance, perhaps with a family to support, he might have walked away from the game. “I feel like my story had always been that of an underdog,” Breslow acknowledges. “I’ve always been a little undersized, I don’t throw terribly hard. Ultimately what it came down to was being really honest with myself and objectively evaluating my abilities. I think I was 23 years old at the time I got released and I’d gotten off to a rocky start, but at the time I got released I thought I was throwing the ball better. I felt like I just wasn’t ready to give up the game.” In 2005, his fortunes turned around. A successful Double-A campaign led to a call-up to the San Diego Padres. He pitched well, with a 2.20 ERA over 14 appearances. That led to a contract with the Red Sox organization, where
impressive work in the International League punched his ticket to Boston in 2006. Again Breslow pitched well, with a 3.75 ERA in 13 appearances, but that was not enough to get a permanent job in the deep Red Sox bullpen. He didn’t resurface in the majors until 2008, beginning the season with the Cleveland Indians, languishing in their bullpen before being designated for assignment. It was after being claimed by the Minnesota Twins off waivers that Breslow really flourished, pitching 49 times with an earned run average of 1.91, holding lefthanded batters below .200. “If I had to be honest, being a 26th [-round] pick out of Yale, the odds were stacked against me though it has definitely been a dream of mine — it has been the dream of every Little Leaguer who ever stepped on a field — I think there is still some aspect of where, if I didn’t think I could play in the big leagues then why play at all, then why play in the minor leagues?” Breslow asks rhetorically. Breslow has had a bit of difficulty replicating his 2008 success in the early going of this season. He has picked up his first major league win, but balanced that against two losses and a 6.75 ERA as of press time. Simplicity is the key for Breslow to be effective, according to Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. “He’s been going through some struggles throwing strikes,” the skipper says. “He needs to be real consistent in the strike zone. To be successful, he needs to get ahead in the count.”
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Gardenhire adds that while Breslow’s intelligence might be an asset, he does have a tendency to overthink his game. “There is nothing wrong with being a smart baseball player,” he says. “He comes to the ballpark, he does his work. He is a very nice young man.” (Gardenhire’s words were prophetic: Just two days after speaking with NHM, Breslow was placed on waivers by Minnesota and claimed by the Oakland Athletics.) When it comes to the Strike 3 Foundation, Breslow is hardly a handsoff administrator, an athlete lending his name to a good cause. Admittedly, his status as a Big Leaguer opens doors that might be closed otherwise. Capitalizing on that, Breslow makes asks on behalf on the foundation, and often talks directly Continued on 30
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alter Stelkovis travels from his West Haven home to lower Chapel Street just about every pleasant spring and summer day to check on his garden. For four years, he’s made the trip — back and forth — to make sure his vegetables and flowers are doing okay, exchanging happy greetings with a few friends along the way.
It may seem backwards for a suburbanite to maintain an urban garden, but it’s perfectly natural to Stelkovis. It’s all natural — organic, actually.
the importance is community building. “People in neighborhoods are working together to make changes and no matter what the outcome is, the more people you have working together, the more you can get done and the more change you will see,” she says. “It pulls the population in our neighborhoods together for the common good.” And with gardening, there is “instant common good.” You do the work and you see the results of your work right away with gardening.
Near the intersection of Chapel and “It makes people want to do more — it Norton Streets sits an oasis. It is a commmakes people see what their individual unity garden that, even in the spring, is efforts can do,” says Larson-Oboyski. blooming with color and bustling with She remembers when the Chapelseed activity. Perennials such as a weeping lot housed a huge blighted apartment flowering wisteria and six-foot tall building that needed to be torn down. rosebushes serve as a barrier from the street. The urban fenced garden sat at 1592 “People in the neighborhood didn’t Chapel Street for many years as an ugly want another building, they wanted a blighted lot. It’s safe to say it’s found itself. community garden,” Larson-Oboyski recalls. “It took them a few years to get About five years ago, Stelkovis took a the garden and the soil okay because it bus tour of downtown New Haven that was a huge building. They now have a showcased the city’s parks and gardens. vineyard in the middle of the garden and “I immediately knew I wanted to join the are growing grapes. This may be our first community garden” he recalls. “We’re in a community vineyard!” condo with enough space for a garden, but we don’t get enough sun.” As it goes, he is “We can’t supply them with everything they need, but we do get funding for now one of the garden’s coordinators. the gardens,” she says. The Land Trust He maintains four plots at what’s called provides some compost and wood chips the Chapelseed Garden — two vegetable and there are many met requests for and two flower plots. fencing, water and tools. “We have a nice cross-section of people and “The Land Trust has is working with of plantings,” he says. There are about 20 the kids at the Sound School — and plots and two 30-square-foot community are having classes at the Pardee Rose gardens. Garden area and they have started seeds “We assign a row or two to anyone who for the community gardens — especially wants to plant and it’s working out well,” tomatoes. Many people do like to do their he says. “We must stay organic, though. own seedlings — many ethnic groups The Land Trust gets for us manure and have certain preferences and they may get compost and we work from that. Nothing seeds from Puerto Rico or even from the non-organic is allowed.” southern U.S. states,” Larson-Oboyski says. There are about 50 community gardens tucked away throughout the Elm City. The Community Foundation for Greater They’re supported by the New Haven New Haven estimates that 4,000 people Department of Parks, Recreation & Trees, are involved in the city’s 50 community the Community Foundation for Greater gardens. They come from all ages, all New Haven and the New Haven Land income levels and just about every ethnic Trust. background on earth. As diverse as they are, they have one commonality: they are Doreen Larson-Oboyski is project passionate about seeing things grow from coordinator for the city’s Parks the earth. Department and co-founded the Greenspace and Community Gardens Chris Randall, president of the New Partnership Program. She says that Haven Land Trust, became involved with whether people are growing vegetables the organization he now heads because as a community group or working as a he was a gardener in the William Street community group planting trees and Garden. making their neighborhood look better, 24
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Urban Gardening
More than a mere rite of spring, community gardens are springing up citywide
By Melissa Nicefaro
Robert Wright in the Starr Street garden, one of as many as 50 that have sprung up throughout the city. Anthony DeCarlo new haven 25
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“One thing led to another and now I run the Land Trust and also the William Street Garden,” he says. He calls it amazing how his interest in maintaining a raised bed in a community garden has raised his awareness of many of the bigger issues facing city residents. The Land Trust was founded in 1982 by city residents who wanted to preserve undeveloped spaces in New Haven. The Land Trust is now supported by the city and the Community Foundation. The community gardens provide food and foster neighborhood involvement, expanded educational programs and continued protection of environmental treasures that will enhance New Haveners’ quality of life. There are 50 gardens scattered — some quaintly tucked away, others you just can’t miss — across the city. The William Street Garden has 30 members and 29 raised beds. In two beds community raspberries are grown. The rest are individually maintained and contain peas, lettuce, onions bulbs, peppers, pumpkins, tomatoes, herbs and many flowers. “There’s a lot of diversity among the gardeners themselves as well as what is grown,” says Randall. He says many prefer to start their gardens from seeds. Maria Tupper organizes the Bioregional Garden called Lifeboat Garden at 608 Whitney Avenue. The New Haven Bioregional Committee believes that gardens should be built on knowing your “life place “and where you live. They mean really knowing where you live — like digging your hands in the dirt and creating a link between our bodies and our life place.
This is the third season for the Lifeboat garden, which has joined the Land Trust to be in natural communication with community gardens in the New Haven area. The Bioregional Garden starts all of its own seeds and oversees the process all the way through. “We think it’s important for people to learn how to start their own seedlings, what they need to start with, and we manage to raise most of the money we need to support the gardens ourselves,” says Tupper. “The Land Trust is a great support and connection to other gardeners. “It’s been fun having our garden right on Whitney Avenue,” she adds. The garden is on the property of the First Unitarian Universalist Society. You might notice that the garden, as opposed to being shielded away in a back yard, is where the front lawn should be. “The way we view our garden is different from the typical community gardens where people have individual plots,” Tupper explains. “Our arrangement has worked well for us. “Since our garden is right near the street, we have many people walking by and complimenting our work. They watch our garden grow each week and tell us we’ve inspired them to plant their own. The idea behind bioregional gardens is “Food, Not Lawns,” a philosophy that is as straightforward as it sounds. “It means you’re planting in your front yard. Rather than planting lots of grass, you’re
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growing food,” she says. “What people do with their lawns is not all that great — with the pesticides and chemical fertilizers that get into the aquifer and affect our water. Better you have an organic garden right in your front yard. The neighbors might think you’re whacko to have a vegetable garden in your front yard, but you have to do it where you have your sun.” The garden has four vegetable beds and some trees. They set a time for working and whichever gardeners are available come and work on the garden. If everybody can’t come, that’s okay. The harvest is shared and divided among the gardeners. One of Tupper’s hopes is to have a bountiful enough harvest that there will be vegetables left over for canning, but since so many people are involved with the garden, there are usually no leftovers. Not too far from the Lifeboat garden is the Carmel Street Garden, which is in the process of being revitalized. Ben Bokser, a Yale University student graduating this year, organized the cleanup at the Carmel Street garden in early May. About 15 neighborhood people showed up, and the garden is ready for its bounty.
Anthony DeCarlo
Ha! Gotcha.
“We do walks, show movies, have potlucks and various things to get to know the people in our community and to have our lives be more based where we are,” Tupper explains. “One thing that seemed crucial was to help people grow their own food. The whole issue of food security — not that somebody will steal it — but you get it from a local source and you know what the food is about and that it hasn’t been shipped from California or South America. You’re not dependent on things like oil and energy costs to get it here.”
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“Everyone moved away and I took the garden over,” he recalls. “I didn’t think I could run an entire garden, let alone a whole non-profit.”
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Anthony DeCarlo
Chris Randall, president of the New Haven Land Trust, became involved with the organization through gardening on William Street.
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Anthony DeCarlo
continue with his interest in agriculture and do a farming apprenticeship program in Israel.
L-r: Angel Feliciano, Lois D’Amato and Elaine O’Donnell in Chapelseed Garden atChapel and Norton streets.
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His take on New Haven’s Community Garden program: “It’s a really cool model for allowing people to grow their own food here in the city. It is an opportunity for people to really save a lot of money. Gardening requires a minimal amount of investment and a huge amount of labor, but it can cut a lot out of peoples’ grocery bills.” It seems that once hooked, gardeners have a hard time looking back. So does this Gardner. Chairman of the Garden Committee for the Land Trust, the aptly named Ben Gardner was a community gardener himself when he moved here from Ashford, Connecticut in March 2006 and set about trying to revive a piece of land that’s on Housing Authority of New Haven property off Wooster Street. “This year, they were reorganizing their garden committee and I wanted to be involved, so that’s what got me here, as chairman of the Garden Committee,” he says.
“The spot had been in disuse for a number of years and we’re trying to get it back into better shape for planting,” explains Bokser, who became interested in organic agriculture early in his senior year when he was studying abroad and working on a volunteer program in Nepal.
he set out to gather food scraps from people in the neighborhood. Collecting scraps from the surrounding neighborhood was complicated and didn’t work so well, so he came up with a Plan B. “I went to Edge of the Woods [market], which disposes of a lot of food scraps every day, even more than this one garden could ever dream for,” he says. “We used their food waste for one or two days and built a compost out of grounds from their juicer and from produce that hadn’t been sold and were no longer fresh.
“I was working in a rural area with farmers and I became interested in gardening and farming,” he recalls. “It’s completely different there, of course, since they’re farming for their livelihood and in a very different, much more remote area. Here, gardening supplements income from other sources or provides some home-grown veg- “I tried to scope out a bunch of gardens etables for themselves so it’s not the same.” near campus and the Carmel Street Garden seemed like it needed some Bokser is part of the Yale Student help,” he says. So he organized a Environmental Coalition, which this workday. year founded a subgroup for working on Bokser just received a degree in an projects in New Haven, and one project interdisciplinary major known as was related to community gardening. Ethics, Politics and Economics. He may Bokser took on a composting project and
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“I find that most people grow a community garden because they want the vegetables and they have a passion for working outdoors and watching things grow,” Gardner explains. “They also want to get involved in the neighborhood and meet new people. There are also people who are transplants from down South and are used to having a garden — and it’s something they’d like to do here, even though it’s in the middle of a city.” Community gardens have also attracted city residents who simply want to be more self-sufficient. “I love to see people form a connection with their fellow gardeners in the neighborhood,” this Gardner says. “This year we’re seeing a lot of gardens started
back up,” explains Gardner. “Maybe they hadn’t been used to their capacity in previous years, but there is a lot of renewed interest and involvement this year. We had someone interested in starting a new garden over in the City Point area, off of Sargent Drive. They had a garden in Westville that was on private property and when the property was sold, they bulldozed it. The East Rock neighborhood is also becoming a hot spot of interest for community gardens.” Gardner moved here to do some community organizing and wound up working with CitySeed, a group that exists to engage the community in growing an equitable, local food system that promotes economic development, community development and sustainable agriculture. Now Gardner the gardener is working with the community garden program. They exist tucked away in Newhallville, or even at the bottom of East Rock, and they are in high demand today.
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Lynn Mossman oversees the gardens at Bella Vista, a senior housing complex on Eastern Street. With 1,400 residents, there is hardly enough garden space for everyone who’d like one. “The residents enjoy it so much,” Mossman says. “It’s therapeutic for them. They grow tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs — but their favorites are the tomatoes. “They go to the garden, see their friends and make new friends,” she adds. “They’ll help each other and water if someone is going away. It’s beautiful to see. “There is an arbor with a bench under it and even residents who don’t have a garden love to go sit there,” says Mossman. “We have a few residents who walk up to the garden every morning.”
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high-pitched songs with nonsense lyrics. Breslow laughs for a bit at their antics. You wouldn’t know his club had lost three in a row, and about to suffer its fourth as it struggled to remain aoat in the competitive American League Central. That’s important to him — while softspoken and innately intelligent, Breslow is a ďŹ erce competitor on the mound. But planning the organization’s upcoming events — the second annual First Pitch Gala at the Omni New Haven Hotel November 7 as well as a concert event in Minneapolis later this summer — gives Breslow a whole different task to strive for.
Baseball Continued from 23
with doctors and hospitals about the best use of his funding. “Craig is an incredibly intelligent and conscientious guy,â€? Lizza says. “But more than that, he is incredibly driven and committed. Whether we are working on a new pitch or planning a fundraiser, he is tireless. I can conďŹ dently say that there is no one who outworks him in anything he does. “Also, Craig is very hands-on,â€? adds the former catcher. “We talk every day about the goings on of the charity. We split up the work. There’s a chance that if you e-mail or call about the charity, or about donating, it will be Craig calling you back. I think that is pretty neat.â€? It is all part of a bigger plan Breslow has for his life. “This is something I’ve done deliberately – it was not a random decision on my part,â€? he says. “But on the other hand I absolutely love what I am doing every day and I am in no rush to leave it. I can play this game for another 10, 12, 15 years and never need ďŹ nancially to go to medical school and I can watch
over the foundation as it grows and have that be my impact on the medical ďŹ eld.â€? As Breslow chats with a visitor, ďŹ t young men strumming guitars start to goof around in the Twins locker room, singing
A N D
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“For me personally, it is the greatest thing I can possibly do,â€? he says. “First of all, you wake up and it is 10 or 11 o’clock and most of my friends have been in an ofďŹ ce since 9 with no idea of what the weather is like outside. [Meanwhile] we are outside on grass and I am playing a game for a living I’ve been playing since I was ďŹ ve or six years old. There are times when this game is trying and grinding, but when you take a step back and realize what you are doing, I am pretty lucky.â€? To learn more about the Strike 3 Foundation, or to donate, visit Strike3Foundation.org. v
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A full modern kitchen became one of the first priorities when Campaigne and Kestner started their new haven 31 family.
Anthony DeCarlo PHOTOGRAPH:
Campaigne and Kestner in front of their 1844 Federal in downtown Guilford’s historic district.
ATH OME
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here are always plenty of reasons not to renovate your home. In this economy there are even more reasons not to do seemingly reasonable things — like turn a sow’s ear into a waterproof fanny pack (times have changed). But there are universal verities in the human instinct to nest. No matter what the economic conditions, young couples desperately want to set down roots, many want to start spawning, and a few want create a place to spend their working hours close to home.
Russ Campaigne and Mary Jo Kestner wanted to do all those things in the “Buy Now” decade (1997-2007) when home prices were skyrocketing prior to a spectacularly disastrous implosion. They were based in Guilford and wanted to stay there. They were committed to
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living in the town center, as Campaigne’s family had for decades. They were also architects — and together they had created a wonderful design firm, CK Architects, and wanted to work close to home.
enough sun to encourage any number of skin cells to invite melanoma in for a stay, along with West Nile-bearing mosquitoes to share their bounty of infectious potential with all those sitting exposed on its cracked and splintering perch.
Campaigne and Kestner had the demographic imperative of nesting, the Beyond these subtle hazards the home career imperative of office building and resided on Boston Street, a virtual parade the advantage of pre-childrearing time of lovely 18th- and 19th-century homes smack dab in the heart of Guilford’s and energy. When those life-centering historic district — a district created priorities combined with more than precisely to outlaw that awkward deck a decade’s worth of house-designing and home improvement center-purchased expertise as architects, their set of needs “Colonial Brick” with their freshly painted and abilities just needed a focus to create “random” patches of white and black faces a home for a couple of decades of family living and an office to harbor their careers. that formed a chimney flue screaming mid-1950s suburbia made absurd by being They found that focus on a small grafted on to a 19th-century house. lot in downtown Guilford. A classic 1844 Federal home that had been “updated” The house also leaked heat like a sieve, and had very little storage space. These in the years after World War II had its were the easy fixes. High-performance small backyard invaded and conquered insulation and renovated windows in by a hovering pressure-treated yellow the historic portion of the house and pine deck that actually kept anyone from new energy-efficient units in the newer seeing that back yard if they were inside portions kept heat loss at a minimum. the house. The naked deck offered up a
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Anthony DeCarlo PHOTOGRAPH:
Before (inset) and after views of both the house and the faux barn garage (below), which became virtually a new building, with studio above and shop on the ground floor.
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For conscientious architects, finding storage within a tight envelope is an everyday professional obligation if you design homes for a living, and some careful retooling of the floor plans yielded newfound closet space. Extra space was created for two new bedrooms for their future family as well.
creative talents in subtly expressive use of what they found. First, they detoxed the most obvious offenses of the structure — set so tightly to a highly traveled street that it is a landmark by location, no matter what the design might be. The deck was removed, the brick was stucco’d over, and the brown paint bit the dust (actually, it became dust).
And then there was the brown overcoat. In its elegant simplicity, clapboard siding is almost a puritanical material. Painted white, it’s a visual no-brainer, aesthetically inert (and occasionally mandated — with black or dark green shutters — by many historic districts). However, previous owners had chosen their own their favorite color — in this case the brownest of browns — to coat the clapboards. When paired with maroon eaves, the effect was just like those “Colonial Brick” monstrosities — neither historic nor creative, just aggressively sad.
The eaves that CK Architects added use natural wood — in this case Douglas cut to a decorative outline — and raw aluminum gutters to counterpoint the painted trim and siding.
But the dead white easy-answer approach to this Federal’s paint job was rejected by this designing couple. Instead, they saw life in the old bones by using a subtle palette of grey tones that are further enlivened by the touches of creativity that only thoughtful designers can bring to bear. Natural-wood posts, metal gutters, even carefully formed concrete piers seem new but playing happily with the carefully colored 19th-century home.
Beyond the obvious challenges of a young couple starting out — dearth of cash being the most obvious disability — the Boston Street home was in zoning district that was a tightly controlled — not only by the town Zoning Board but by the aforementioned historic district
aesthetic review board. The easy answer was white. But Campaigne and Kestner had not dedicated their lives to design simply to roll over and play dead. They also knew how to play well with others, and conspired to manifest their obvious
These gestures cost more time in design than actual cash out of pocket. An extra color or two takes a few more hours than a white wash, but will not break the bank. A great builder helps, and East Guilford Construction fit the bill, executing these small gestures with a crafty precision
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PHOTOGRAPH:
Anthony DeCarlo
The entire interior, including the parlor and dining room (below), has been restored to the simple elegance of a 19th-century home, with quietly expressive colors, clear-finished wooden floors and precisely sited lighting.
PHOTOGRAPH:
Anthony DeCarlo
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that made them seem effortless (despite their tight detailing). Finally Kestner and Campaigne jumped into the fray and executed many aspects of the renovation themselves in the great Yankee tradition of sweat equity — a valuable principle in any economy. They focused the lion’s share of their interior focus on family priorities: a full modern kitchen, back door and mudroom. Realizing that children were to dominate their lives for some time (the couple have three- and ďŹ ve-year-old Energizer Bunnies in full joyful rampage) High Art interior design awaits a calmer, emptier-nest period. But the offspring bedrooms were fully prepared for years of occupancy and the entire interior was brought back to the simple elegance of a 19th-century home, with layers of 150 years of wallpapering, carpeting and trim heresies removed — replaced with quietly expressive colors, clear-ďŹ nished wood oors and cabinetry and precisely sited lighting. Beyond this aesthetic transformation, the home was altered to create a screen porch, keeping melanoma and West Nile at bay, and the footprint of a 1968 two-car garage (of course painted “barn redâ€? with white trim) was reused to build a new — and cleverly effervescent — headquarters of CK Architects that went a little further in the expression of the home’s paint/wood/ metal choreography. The faux barn garage became a virtually new building with a shop below and a studio above, increasing its original volume with a ďŹ ve-foot increase in height beyond the code limit (authorized by the local zoning board) to get headroom. The roof of the new ofďŹ ce is directly analogous to the tony paint job — it’s expressive — shed-roofed entry and dormer, the lower portion supported by the same concrete booted natural wood columns applied to the home’s rear porch. But the effect of the tightly crafted shape and eaves is so thoughtfully designed that it is neither impertinent nor kowtowing. The new studio and renovated house are subtle, expressive and ďŹ nally approvable by all the regulatory bodies that reviewed CK Architects’ design. Cost constraints and binding regulations create mediocrity in home design only when creativity is wanting. Here need met opportunity — and overcame those restrictions. No matter what the economy, human resources always trump depressing potentials — given sufďŹ cient talent. v
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Though the new flu continues to spread across international borders, most cases have been mild, nearly indistinguishable seasonal flu. Symptoms include the usual fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose and muscle soreness, although 38 percent of those infected have reported diarrhea and vomiting, which occurs with the flu but less frequently. Out of 2,600 cases in the U.S., only three have resulted in deaths, each involving preexisting conditions. This is low considering that other known strains of flu cause 35,000 deaths every year in the U.S. alone.
B O D Y & SOUL
Still, medical professionals are taking no chances. “We tend to live in the moment and not prepare for those emergencies,” says Louise Dembry, MD, epidemiologist at the Yale School of Medicine. “What we learned from SARS is to start out aggressively and back off — rather than start off tentatively and lose ground. You get one chance to get it right.”
Swine Flu: Much Ado About Nothing? H1N1 influenza A arrives in Connecticut; cases mild By Sarah Politz
A
s it turns out, April showers bring, well, swine flu. Most of the initial panic has faded, especially since the disease has not been as deadly in the U.S. as it was in Mexico. But doctors remind us that there are preventive measures that we should be taking whether a crisis looms or not.
As of May 22, there were 112 confirmed cases of novel H1N1 flu, also known as swine flu or influenza A, in Connecticut. None required hospitalization. The majority were in Fairfield County. New Haven County has had 17 confirmed cases.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a Phase 5 Alert Level, the secondhighest, which describes the virus’s ability to spread among humans. Something it has not employed is something called a Pandemic Severity Index, which predicts the number of fatalities if 30 percent of the human population were infected. At this point, this statistic would be very low, indicating that, while the disease spreads rapidly, it is expected to cause few fatalities. The WHO may have shied away from issuing a severity index to avoid the use of the panicky term “pandemic.”
Public health officials offer commonsense, age-old advice: Wash your hands frequently — before you eat, when you use the bathroom, when you take out the garbage, when you blow your nose. Don’t sneeze on your friends. Don’t let your friends sneeze on you. Get your sleep. Manage stress. Eat healthy foods. If you’re experiencing flu symptoms, stay home from work and school and consider taking Tamiflu or Relenza, two drugs which have been shown to be effective in alleviating some symptoms of the H1N1 virus. When you wash, soap and water are more effective than alcohol-based antibacterials. Scrub the backs of your hands, between your fingers and under your fingernails. The advice is not new, but neither should it be dismissed. It is such preventative measures that will keep us safe when — not if — a more dangerous disease comes our way. The recent heightened security surrounding SARS and bioterrorism have primed public health organizations for just such an event, and so they seem to have taken the pandemic in stride, though they are ever-watchful. We’ve known for decades that the flu virus can mutate; it will always be three steps ahead of us, no matter how many vaccines scientists devise. Some have even said that this year’s flu vaccine may have hampered the spread of the new flu in the U.S. — one reason why the cases haven’t been as deadly here as in Mexico. “We don’t know enough about the Mexico cases,” acknowledges Dembry. “Has the virus changed? Flu can change. It can go
from being severe to not so severe and vice versa. It could be something that has changed with the virus or about the cases in Mexico. In 1918 a deadly flu pandemic, then called the Spanish flu, killed nearly 50 million people worldwide. It was caused by the same H1N1 strain responsible for this year’s outbreak. When a New Jersey army recruit came down with swine flu and died in 1976, a campaign to vaccinate Americans was launched — with unforseen results. Tests showed that people receiving the vaccine were seven times more likely to develop GuillianBarre syndrome, a rare, treatable, but occasionally fatal form of paralysis. All told, 25 people died from side effects of the vaccine. “Pigs get flu, and that’s been going on for a long time,” Dembry says. “Pigs do transmit flu to the pighandlers. But it generally doesn’t go beyond that. This virus has some human flu genes and bird flu genes. The pigs are mixing vessels.” This year’s swine flu pandemic was caused by a mutation known as triple reassortment, in which the virus takes various genetic materials from its hosts
and incorporates them into its reproduction. The novel H1N1 virus is made up of genetic elements from four different flu viruses — North American swine flu (endemic in pigs only), North American bird flu, human flu and European swine flu. This is an unusually diverse genetic pool, making the virus difficult for the human immune system to recognize and react to.
passengers who test positive for H1N1 flu. The federal Center for Disease Control recommends that Americans “avoid all non-essential travel” to Mexico. As a precaution, Yale canceled all summer programs in Mexico, including the Yale Summer Session course and the International Bulldogs internship program. Critics viewed the cancellations as an overreaction, but most saw them as a prudent measure to protect the health of the students involved.
The most common path of transmission is personto-person. There is no evidence that the virus can be transmitted through pork. Plans for an H1N1 vaccine are being discussed, but there is no clear indication as to whether, if such a vaccine could be developed, manufacturers could make enough in time for it to be effective, and whether such an effort would be costeffective.
In late April, Dembry reported a busy week at Yale-New Haven Hospital with potential novel flu cases, but said it had subsided by early May. Experts know the flu can come in waves, so it’s difficult to predict when it will ease and when it may return. “When you think you know everything about the flu virus, it tricks you,” she says. “It can pick up genes from another animal species. We have a different vaccine every year because we’re guessing what’s circulating.”
Most countries have not issued travel restrictions against passengers from North America, although China has indicated that it might quarantine some
The virus, Dembry adds, “is very adaptive; it has all sort of strains.” v
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ART CREATING ART Life Drawing Studio Sessions are intended for artists with some drawing and/or painting experience who are looking for a group of over-18, likeminded individuals to share and create work. 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (session) & 12:30-1 p.m. (constructive feedback) June 6 at Green Street Arts Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. $14 per session ($12 members). 860-685-7871, gsac@ wesleyan.edu, greenstreetartscenter.org. Studio Tuesday is an informal, noninstructional “paint-in” that meets Tuesdays. Come work in a creative environment alongside other artists. 9 a.m.-noon June 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 at Margaret Egan Center, 35 Matthew St., Milford. Free. 203-878-6647, milfordarts. org. Bring your sewing, fine art or craft projects to the Contemporary Sewing Circle. Artists share ideas and get advice from one another the second Thursday of each month. 6-8 p.m. June 11 at Artspace, 50 Orange St., New Haven. Free. 203-772-2709, artspacenh.org.
GALLERY TALKS/TOURS Take an Introductory Tour of the Yale Center for British Art’s permanent collection. 11 a.m. June 6, 13 & 27 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu. Enjoy a Masterpiece Tour of the Yale University Art Gallery collection. Tours led by YUAG docents; each tour is different. 1:30 p.m. June 6, 13, 20 & 27 at
the YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu. Cassandra Albinson, the YCBA’s associate curator of paintings and sculpture, discusses The Artist in Exile: Jules Dalou in London in the opening lecture for Dalou in England: Portraits of Womanhood, 1871-1879. 5:30 p.m. June 10 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu. Experience Paintings from the Reign of Victoria: The Royal Holloway Collection, London (11 a.m. June 11, 2 p.m. June 14 and 12:15 p.m. June 27), get the inside scope on Seascapes: Paintings and Watercolors from the U Collection (noon June 13 & 20) and learn a thing or two about Dalou in England: Portraits of Womanhood, 1871-1879 (11 a.m. June 18, 2 p.m. June 21 & 28), all under the guidance of a YCBA docent in an Exhibition Tour. YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba. yale.edu. Enjoy Picturing Power: Controversial Victorian Paintings in the Royal Holloway Collection, a 30-minute gallery talk led by Imogen Hart, a postdoctoral research associate at the YCBA. 12:30 p.m. June 16 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-4322858, ycba.yale.edu. Ian McClure, the Susan Morse Hilles Chief Conservator, lectures on A Sum of All Our Choices, Part 1: Conservation at the Gallery. 4 p.m. June 16 at YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu. Jo Briggs, another YCBA postdoctoral research associate, helps everyone understand Drinking in London: Gavarnis Sherry Cobbler and Other Local Attractions in a 30-minute gallery talk. 12:30 p.m. June 23 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203432-2858, ycba.yale.edu.
Dorothy Powers’ original graphite/charcoal drawing, photocopied and collaged work, Times Over, is on display at the CAW Faculty Show. Enjoy this eclectic mix of pieces through June 26 at Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven. Find out which way is No Way to Treat a Lady, a talk presented by the lovely ladies Lisa R. Brody, associate curator of ancient art, and Object Conservator Carol Snow. 4 p.m. June 23 at YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu. A Conversation with Mark Morris and Joan Acocella. Mark Morris, conductor and choreographer of Dido and Aeneas (being performed at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas), discusses his work with a special focus on this project, celebrating the 350th anniversary of Henry Purcell’s birth. Joan Acocella, dance and literary critic at the New Yorker and author of the biography Mark Morris, will join the conversation. 5:30 p.m. June 23 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203432-2858, ycba.yale.edu. Join the Chief Painting Conservator Mark Aronson and Object Conservator Carol Snow, for Extreme Conservation: A Walking Tour of Yale Outdoor Sculptures. 12:20 p.m. June 24 at YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu. Hungarian-American journalist and author Kati Marton talks about her family’s journey and personal search for identity in the context of 20th century Hungarian history and human rights issues in A Conversation with Kati Marton. 5:30 p.m. June 24 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203432-2858, ycba.yale.edu.
Get in touch with your feminine side at Dalou in England: Portraits of Womanhood, 1871-1879. Pieces like Jules Dalou’s Woman Reading will be on view June 11-August 23 at Yale Center for British Art.
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Russell Potter, professor of English at Rhode Island College, leads a 30minute gallery talk on This strange and awful grave: The curious career of Landseer’s Man Proposes. 12:30 p.m. June 25 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu.
Author Jonah Lehrer, a 21st century humanist, demonstrates in Proust was a Neuroscientist that science is not the only path to knowledge, and when it comes to understanding the brain, art got there first. 5:30 p.m. June 26 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu.
EXHIBITIONS Westville’s Kehler Liddell Gallery features Live Music each Wednesday. Enjoy new sounds while perusing fine art. 7-9 p.m. June 3, 10, 17 & 24 at the Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. Free. 203-389-9555, kehlerliddell.com. Colorscapes features Karleen Loughran’s geometric and organic patches of color grounded and demarcated by rough-edged clay that creates a dynamic sense of movement. The bold yet sometimes transparent color mimics the effect of stained glass windows or light refracting from one medium to another. Through June 1 at Westville Gallery, 899 Whalley Ave., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Free. Tues.-Thurs. (until 5 p.m. Fri.-Sat.). 203387-2539, westvillegallery.com. Photographers Paul Duda, Roz Meyer, Kimmy Leaf, Kyle Moran and Lee Berchem offer a variety of work, including florals, landscapes and shots of exotic locations in both color and black and white. The artists will donate the proceeds from the sales of their photographs during the exhibit to benefit Life Haven, a New Haven homeless shelter for pregnant women and women with young children. Leaf, one of the exhibitors and owner of the gallery, describes the organization’s work as “amazing” and
and refer to topographical or aerial images. In addition, there will be hanging web-like pieces made from Asian kozo fiber. June 5-28 (reception 2-5 p.m. June 6) at City Gallery, 994 State St., New Haven. Open 12-4 p.m. Thurs.Sun or by appt. 203-782-2489, info@ city-gallery.org, city-gallery.org.
is excited that Life Haven will join her in this effort. The shelter is the largest provider of services for homeless children in the greater New Haven area. Located on Ferry Street in New Haven, Life Haven houses up to 20 families at any given time. Through June 5 at A Leaf Photography & Gallery, 91 Orange St., New Haven. 1-6 p.m. Tues.-Fri. & by appt. 203-562-5323, lifehaven.org.
Syncopation features the work of New Haven artist Thomas Stavoy. His latest work is latent with primordial energy. Come see what biological events and wonders evolve or possibly devolve through this artist’s mind’s eye. Stavoy’s work “Sky” won the Weiss Sisters Prize for Best Print in the New Haven Paint and Clay Club’s Annual Juried Show recently. June 3-June 28 (reception and artist talk 6-9 p.m. June 5) at EO Art Lab, 69 Main St., Chester. Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Fri., noon-6 p.m. Sun. or by appt. Free. 860-526-4833, chester@eoartlab.com, eoartlab.com.
New Work by Sean Beavers will allow viewers to experience Beaver’s innovative still-life compositions and near-mythic landscapes reflective of his native Maine. The colors in his works pop in all the right places. Beavers’ lemons will leave you wanting lemonade, while his apples will make you want to take a bite. Through June 6 at Cooley Gallery, 25 Lyme St., Old Lyme. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Free. 860-434-8807, info@cooleygallery.com, cooleygallery.com. Throughout its 26-year history, the Cooley Gallery has worked tirelessly to promote appreciation for and connoisseurship of the artists of the Old Lyme Art Colony. Names such as Metcalf, Hassam and Chadwick echo through American art history, and the gallery is proud to display Old Lyme Art Colony: Pillars of Old Lyme, an exhibition featuring work by that triumvirate, along with numerous first lieutenants of the Colony. Through June 6 at Cooley Gallery, 25 Lyme St., Old Lyme. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Free. 860-434-8807, info@cooleygallery. com, cooleygallery.com. David Apuzzo Photography and Art Gallery is holding its second artist’s exhibition, Boobs and Mutants, featuring the works of local illustrator Laura Klein. This showcase displays Klein’s watercolor illustrations of eccentric, cartoon-like creatures and handmade plush dolls that are innocent and cute, yet spooky and ominous. Through June 12 at David Apuzzo Photography and Art Gallery, 4133 Whitney Ave., Hamden. 203-8595825, davidapuzzo.com or mogwok. deviantart.com. That Commitment to Discovery is an exhibition of oils, watercolors and charcoal drawings by renowned painter and teacher Richard Lytle. An explorer of both the natural world
Knocking from the Inside is one of Jennifer Davies’ many handmade paper creations on view in No Rock, No Scissors, Just... June 5-28 at City Gallery in New Haven. and the imagination, Lytle makes his discoveries through close observation, experimental juxtaposition and creative reverie. His work is characterized by a mastery of line and color and presents a vision that calls for both finesse and boldness in its execution. Through June 15 at the Gallery at the Whitney, 53 Wall St., New Haven. Open 3-5 p.m. Mon. & Wed. or by appt. 203-432-0670, yale.edu/ whc/GalleryAtTheWhitney/main.html. Figuratively Speaking. View works of art and browse the Gallery Gift Shop. Through June 18 at Firehouse Art Gallery, 81 Naugatuck Ave., Milford. Gallery hours: 12-5 p.m. Thurs.-Sun. Free. 203306-0016, milfordarts.org. (un)spoken. Artspace presents a group exhibition that explores the boundaries of collaboration and artistic production within the context of a marital relationship. On view in Gallery 1, the collaborative work of three artist couples: Jesse Lambert and Linda Ganjian, Christopher Mir and Karen Dow, and Maggie Michael and Dan Steinhilber. Galleries 2–7 display
Ready To Make a Move?
each artist’s solo work. Through June 20 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. Creative Arts Workshop (CAW) displays new work by its faculty in the biennial CAW Faculty Show. The exhibition features a diverse selection of work including oil, acrylic, watercolor, collage, metals, fiber, photography, pottery, printmaking, sculpture and more with styles ranging from representational to abstract by over 50 professional artists that make up the CAW faculty. Through June 26 at Creative Arts Workshop, 80 Audubon St., New Haven. Open 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri. & 9 a.m.-noon Sat. Free. 203-562-4927, creativeartsworkshop.org. No Rock, No Scissors, Just... is an exhibit showcasing the collages Jennifer Davies has made with her own handmade paper and also papers pigmented from years of use as stencils in the monotype process. Some pieces, repeatedly dyed, are heavily textured
No Constraints defines an attitude, a self motivating creative directive and its results. Artists Emilia Dubicki and Edith Borax Morrison revel in a certain freedom. Unstressed discipline, intellectual curiosity and a joyful compulsion to work are evident in this exhibition of abstract art. Dubicki’s paintings are inspired by nature and abstraction seen in the environment. The work contains a visual blurring between the physical or material world and a more personal world of mind and spirit. Dubicki joins what can be seen with what is felt and imagined, allowing the outer world to serve as metaphor for her internal landscapes. Borax Morrison identifies with the mythological mortal Arachne, who, condemned for her great skills, is transformed into an endlessly weaving spider. Borax Morrison is compelled, pen in hand, to endlessly weaving configurations of free flowing images. June 4-July 5 (opening reception: 3-6 p.m. June 7; artists’ talk: 2:30 p.m. May 17) at Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. Open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Thurs.-Sun. & by appt. 203-389-9555, kehlerliddel.com. Images submitted to cellutations@ gmail.com, a dedicated e-mail address set up in late March, will be printed and displayed in Cellutations (slang for cell phone), an evolving exhibition
Smiles By Design Jack M. Levine, D.D.S.
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for women, opened by Queen Victoria in 1886. This exhibition includes 60 works from the Holloway collection that exemplify a range of themes in midVictorian art. Through July 26 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu.
Concentric, a 6”x 6” etching, can be found at Syncopation, an exhibition of Thomas Stavovy’s work. On view June 3-June 28 at EO Art Lab in Chester.
of cell-phone art. This unique art show features submissions from all over the world. It is an exhibition of instantly captured moments in time — fleeting scenes frozen by and shared through technology. Selected images will also be posted on the Arts Council’s Web site and/or blog. Works will not be for sale and will be replaced with other submitted cell-phone images as the show evolves. June 1-July 10 (open house 12-5 p.m. June 6) at Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery, 70 Audubon St., 2nd floor, New Haven. Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. Free. 203-772-2788, newhavenarts.org. Lyme Art Colony painter Henry C. White is the patriarch of a family of Connecticut artists and art patrons. Never-before-seen vibrant landscapes that provide insight into a new side of White’s art-making are on view in Visions of Mood: Henry C. White Pastels. A short catalogue featuring a remembrance by the artist’s grandson, painter Nelson H. White; an essay by the curator and a portfolio of illustrations accompanies the exhibition. Through July 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.
In a world of Twitter, Facebook and Instant Messaging, keeping up to date with what everyone is up to is much easier than it ever has been. Status Update uses an “ancient” art to explore emerging online networking technologies. Through August 1 at Haskins Laboratories, 300 George St., 9th floor, New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wed.-Fri. Free. 203-772-2788, newhavenarts.org. Summer Painting & Sculpture Exhibition. Celebrating the joy of summer, nearly 300 works of art by Lyme Art Association member artists will be exhibited and for sale. All four galleries have displays. June 26-August 2 (opening reception: 6-8 p.m.) at Lyme Art Association, 90 Lyme St., Old Lyme. Open 10-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. & 1-5 p.m. Sun. 860-434-7802, lymeartassociation.org. Make a deposit (or withdrawal) and get your dose of art during your lunch break at Gallery 195. The gallery’s latest exhibition showcases visual meditations on nature by Connecticut artists Claudia Cron and Barbara Hocker. Cron’s work has been exhibited in solo and group shows nationally. Hocker has exhibited her work extensively in solo and group shows in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Last year, Hocker received a grant award through the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s New Boston Fund Individual Artist Fellowship Program. Through August
7 at Gallery 195, NewAlliance Bank, 195 Church St., Fourth Floor, New Haven. 203-772-2788, newhavenarts.org. Ocean spray lovers will be ecstatic about Seascapes: Paintings and Watercolors From the U Collection, an exclusive, small but stunning exhibition of marine paintings and watercolors from the Dutch “Golden Age” and by noted British artists. More than 20 works spanning the 17th to the 19th centuries are displayed. Featured artists include Willem van de Velde (father and son), Peter Monamy, Nicholas Pocock, George Chambers, Edward Duncan and Thomas Sewell Robins. Scenes of famous naval battles, warships, privateers, fishing boats and historical vessels, including the HMS Bounty, will be on view. Through August 23 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu. In 1871, French sculptor Jules Dalou (1838–1902) was exiled from France for his left-wing connections. He lived in London for nine years, creating portrait sculptures and scenes of domesticity, seemingly at odds with his politically progressive reputation. Dalou in England: Portraits of Womanhood, 1871-1879 examines this influential period of the artist’s life when he found his niche among the English aristocracy with the support of the Countess of Carlisle at Castle Howard and created a series of intimate statuettes on the theme of modern womanhood. In addition to Dalou’s sculptures, works from Yale collections by French artists active in London before and during the same period will be on view. June 11-August 23 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu.
Time Will Tell: Ethics and Choices in Conservation examines the evolving science of conservation and the questions that arise in preserving works of art while staying faithful to the artists’ intentions, and uncovers the relationship between curators and conservators and the objects entrusted to their care. Through September 6 at the 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. Curated by Debbie Hesse and Joy Pepe, White Collar. Blue Collar. Pink Slip. explores the uncertainties, anxieties, and rewards of the workplaces that shape our identities. This installment is the first of a two-part exhibition called Home/Work. June 24-September 18 (reception: 5-7 p.m. June 30) at the Parachute Factory Gallery, Erector Sq., 319 Peck St., Bldg. 1, New Haven. On display 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Wed., 12-5 p.m. Thurs.-Fri. and by appointment. 203-7722788, newhavenarts.org. Art of Antonella Cappuccio, Contemporary Italian Paintings. Antonella Cappuccio was born on the island of Ischia in 1944. As a child, she moved to Rome, where she currently lives and works. Her works demonstrate a commitment to preserve the great traditions of Renaissance Italy. She does not separate the past styles from the present. Cappuccio has used various mediums, passing from canvas to copper and iron, from glass to mirror. Her art is the complicated expression of truth and ideas. Recent portraits include those of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Through October 4 at Knights of Columbus Museum, One State St., New Haven. Open daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free. 203-8650400, kofcmuseum.org.
C W S ‘P t t
Judy Friday: The Wild Sky. Lyme artist Judy Friday returns for her third consecutive summer with new work exploring the moods and subtleties of the Connecticut River in all seasons. Past exhibitions of her melodic paletteknife landscapes have been lauded for their ability to convey the movement of water and sky. Wild Sky promises to continue this tradition and become Friday’s most engaging show yet. June 11-July 18 at Cooley Gallery, 25 Lyme St., Old Lyme. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Free. 860-434-8807, info@cooleygallery. com, cooleygallery.com. Paintings from the Reign of Victoria: The Royal Holloway Collection, London. Thomas Holloway (18001883), a self-made multi-millionaire, purchased a group of “modern” paintings that were the crowning gift of his generous endowment of a college
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Edith Borax Morrison’s Betrothal (detail) shows how skillfully the artist works her pen and ink. View her and Elizabeth Dubicki’s other works in No Constraints from June 4-July 5 in New Haven at Kehler Liddell Gallery.
INSTYLE
Chapman of the White Dress by the Shore boutique: ‘Pay attention to the venue and to the invitation.’ PHOTOGRAPH:
Steve Blazo
Guest’s Guide to Wedding Wear How to look smashing for those June weddings — without upstaging the bride By Jessica Misener
T
he bride wears white. The groom wears a tux. The bridesmaids wear an unflattering mass of chiffon.
At a wedding, everyone’s duds are carefully dictated — except when you’re the guest. For those of us who show
up with gift-wrapped toasters and in search of the open bar, dressing for holy matrimony is often challenging. After all, one ill-chosen outfit can be more embarrassing than someone’s drunk uncle doing the Macarena. Whether you’re
sipping champagne at a country club in Greenwich or toasting with Pabst Blue Ribbon at someone’s backyard nuptials in East Rock, survive Connecticut wedding season in style with this guide to not outshining the bride. new haven
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PHOTOGRAPH:
Steve Blazo
Black Tie, Baby You probably haven’t worn an evening gown since prom night, but for this ultimate formal affair, it’s time to swath your ankles in sequins and satin. “The new asymmetrical one-shoulder gowns are a dramatic and elegant choice for black tie,” says Beth Chapman, owner of the White Dress by the Shore bridal boutique in Clinton. For black-tie optional, you can also get away with a fancy cocktail dress. Just don’t dress like you’re hitting the clubs on Crown Street; remember, you’re also going to have to sit through the ceremony in whatever glittery frock you choose for the dance floor. Gentlemen, feel free to bust out that tux if you have one; if not, save the hassle and stick to a dark suit and tie.
Church Lady Many summer weddings will follow this standard pattern: church or synagogue ceremony at 3, reception around 5, leave by 9 with Jordan almonds in tow. Dressing for this event is also by the books: pretty yet simple dress in knee- or tealength, dressy shoes and tasteful, classic
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accessories. Bring along a small, summery bag stocked with only the essentials. One easy way to keep things conservative is a pashmina-style wrap, which wards off chills in the chapel, says Chapman, and sheds easily when it’s time for the chicken dance.
Get Me to the Shoreline on Time At a beach wedding, even the bride is going to be sporting a more casual outfit, so feel free to ditch the pearls and pantyhose and slather on some sunscreen instead. This is the one ceremony where sandals are appropriate; just forgo the Old Navy flip-flops in favor of something with beads or gems. Sundresses and sunglasses are de rigueur, and if you have long hair, you’ll want to wear it up to avoid a Bride of Frankenstein situation when the breeze starts whipping off Long Island Sound.
‘Tie the Knot’ in my Lobster Print Ascot, Please Does Fairfield have weddings that aren’t hosted at country clubs? When it’s time to tee up for one of these, aim for preppy
chic. Lily Pulitzer or J. Crew dresses are always a safe bet. Chapman recommends sticking to a classic silhouette with clean lines. Also, avoid the stilettos unless you want to sink several inches into that carefully cultivated golf course; instead, slip on some fancy ballet flats or wedges —also great for busting a move with that cute groomsman.
Take a Walk with the Wild Bride A quick “I do” at City Hall. Windy vowexchanging atop Sleeping Giant. Mid-air sky-diving nuptials. For avant-garde weddings, there’s a little more leeway for your ensemble. A pantsuit, jeans, whatever you wore to work that day — all of these have the potential to be style successes; dressing to the occasion and the weather is the key. “With all weddings, pay attention to the venue and to the invitation,” Chapman says, and pare your ensemble appropriately. And by all means, a wetsuit is perfectly fine for that underwater scuba wedding. Just don’t wear a white one. v
O N S C R EE N
The Joint Was Jumpin’ New Haven’s rich jazz legacy is the star of documentary Unsung Heroes By Sarah Politz
W
hen Rebecca Abbott moved to New Haven in the late 1990s, she had already been a student of jazz for eight years, but she was about to learn a whole lot more. Though a filmmaker and Quinnipiac University professor by vocation, she soon became enmeshed in the Elm City’s vibrant jazz community and helped to found Jazz Haven, a non-profit organization that supports jazz music and education. It was there that she began to hear tales of an age gone by — a time when men did not swear or smoke in the presence of women, when the city grooved to the rhythm of the turbines at the Winchester Repeating Arms Factory and, after hours, to the jazz pouring out of the nightclubs lining Dixwell Avenue. Following the death of beloved New Haven musicians Eddie and Bobby Buster in 1999, Abbott decided that the city’s jazz legacy was the ideal subject for a documentary film. “The documentary, in a way, grew out of the playing,” she explains. “As you come to understand what jaz� is and ho w it works, then it becomes something of a metaphysical experience. With Yale and the formalized music scene in the downtown area of New Haven, I realized this is a whole separate story that’s just been overlooked for a variety of reasons. This is a story that has to be told.” Abbott had originally envisioned spending
several years researching and shooting the film, but when Connecticut Public Television (CPT) expressed interest in airing the documentary alongside Ken Burns’s 2001 series Jazz, she accelerated her shooting and editing schedule and was able to complete the film in six months. The piece debuted on CPT in January 2001, and has enjoyed widespread popularity at screenings across the state over the past few years. The film, Unsung Heroes: The Music of Jazz in New Haven, has a cast of many, but the real star is Rufus Greenlee, owner of the famed Monterey club, a classy establishment around which much of New Haven’s post-World War II jazz scene revolved. A onetime Vaudeville performer and one of the first AfricanAmerican artists to reject the trappings of minstrelsy, Greenlee opened the Monterey in 1936 and used his contacts in the entertainment industry to bring the best musicians to town. Recalls former Monterey bartender Alan (Rubbs) Williams: “That’s what made New Haven really begin to jump. It was a very rich young life of mine that allowed me to be exposed to that.” New Haveners had the privilege of hearing such masters
as Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, the latter who said he liked New Haven but left because it was “too slow” for him, according to one of Greenlee’s nieces. Hard bop pianist and saxophonist Horace Silver would often take the train up to New Haven on the weekends just to jam. Some of the most entertaining passages of Unsung Heroes are from Abbott’s interview with Silver as he reminisces about the Elm City jazz scene. “There I was lucky,” Abbott says. “I actually flew out to [Silver’s home in] Malibu and rented a camera. He was so nice about letting me come and find him and interview him. He had such fond memories of playing in New Haven.” As Unsung Heroes makes clear, the story of jazz in New Haven is also the story of division. In jazz’s heyday there were
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still two unions for musicians: Local 284 downtown for white musicians, and the Local 486 uptown for black performers. When bassist and French horn player Willie Ruff, a Yale student at the time, tried to join the downtown union, he was told that he would have to join the black union instead. It was only when Ruff enlisted the aid of lawyer and threatened a lawsuit that the unions merged.
After-hours Monterey performers
The Monterey club
Jazz patrons
Writer and historian W. Frank Mitchell, a native Ohioan who has lived in New Haven since the mid-’90s, also contributed to the film. “I’m fascinated by this city,” he says. “New Haven and Connecticut cities in general have such amazing stories to tell that are different from other parts of the country, other gritty cities around the Northeast. There’s a lot more back and forth between communities. It isn’t uncommon for blacks and ItalianAmericans and Jewish folks to live fairly closely together in neighborhoods and find ways to share.” “The music was a story about what life is all about,” says Williams. “The jazz that I’m talking about was about love, respect, family, pain, losses, grief and God. It wasn’t all that swearing and stuff. It was about intelligence. It was about music as a vehicle for breaking down barriers.” There was something about the Monterey that transcended the music, something that knitted the community together. Williams describes the Monterey as a source of positive change throughout the lives of the era’s AfricanAmericans. “That’s when many of us African-American males began to expand ourselves and try to go to other [neighborhoods] in New Haven to raise our families. We began to expand our families and to seek higher education. A lot of our kids went on to college. “So that was a benefit, and it all seemed to stem from our exposure at the Monterey, because that’s where a lot of the meeting places and strategies would be built on people’s disagreements or discomforts with the political structure in New Haven,” Williams says. “That was a foundation that helped us elevate ourselves. It wasn’t only around jazz. It’s around the people who came to New
Organist Bobby Buster
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Haven who gave us the great insight into what we should be doing with our lives.” “[The Monterey] wasn’t the only place,” recalls Charles Twyman, retired New Haven schools superintendent. The film also tells the story of clubs like Lillian’s Paradise, the Playback, the Musician’s Club, the Democratic Club and the Golden Gate. “There were other places on Dixwell Avenue, and it was like being on 52nd Street [in New York]. Especially on the weekend, you could walk from bar to bar and never miss a beat.” The film’s cuts capture perfectly the offhand, conversational style of jazz musicians as they interact and relate stories, just as they might seamlessly trade phrases on a tune, one finishing the other’s sentences, elaborating and extrapolating. The film moves along briskly, relating a lot of information orally without much academic analysis. The film, like the music, is in the moment. And film is a wonderful medium in which to tell this story, because it can capture the dynamic pulse of the time in its quick jumps and edits, moving from one clip to the next with a definite musical rhythm. The legacy of New Haven jazz has been passed on to a new generation of musicians, but they face new and different challenges. The Winchester factory that provided the Monterey with customers at all hours of the day and night has closed. Musicians sought expanded sonic vocabularies and began taking the music in a different, less accessible direction. Today’s music cultivates a small, eclectic audience. Jazz has been branded an intellectual music and has been elevated to a highbrow artistic discipline that today is taught in the world’s finest conservatories. But the roots of this music remain strong. As New Haven drummer Jesse Hameen says in the film, “Everyone’s from somewhere.” What Unsung Heroes shows us is that New Haven played a key role in the history of jazz, and is poised to continue as an important location for this music into the future. v
Chorus number from Goodspeed’s 42nd Street, which runs through Independence Day in East Haddam.
PHOTOGRAPH:
42nd Street, music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Al Dubin, book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble. Directed by Ray Roderick and choreographed by Rick Conant. Music Director Michael O’Flaherty. Through July 4 at Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam. 860873-8668, goodspeed.org.
I
f you’ve been to Goodspeed Opera House, you know what a delight is the white wedding-cake clapboard building rising over the Connecticut River. We’ve walked up the glamorous, red-carpeted stairway and enjoyed the lovely interior reminiscent of ornate performance halls of a century ago. For performers, designers and directors, though, the Opera House provides real challenges. The proscenium stage is unforgiving; the wing space on either side is small for large-cast musicals. In the press room on opening night, staff members marveled at the actors’ agility: while performers are working their hearts out onstage, others are performing almostas-intricate offstage choreography just to
Diane Sobolewski
Lullaby of Broadway Goodspeed’s 42nd Street hits all the right notes By Brooks Appelbaum
get to their places for the next number. This means that when we see this production of 42nd Street, the ultimate backstage musical, instead of seeing one backstage drama, we are actually seeing two. For these wonderful actor/singer/ dancers, one wishes an easier time; for us, their boundless energy — even when unseen — only adds to the exuberance of a show in which the plot turns on the public’s hunger for youth, beauty and verve. As a winking period piece set in the 1930s, 42nd Street fits perfectly (at least for the audience) on the Goodspeed stage. We imagine ourselves transported in time. The script’s references to the Great Depression and the Wall Street
crash elicit a rueful chuckle. Powerful but desperate director Julian Marsh (James Lloyd Reynolds) places all his hopes on his musical extravaganza: Pretty Lady. If successful, the show will not only save him but will provide employment for theater folk who have been out of work far too long. As rehearsals become dress rehearsals, we see Pretty Lady’s extravagant costumes (David H. Lawrence), pitchperfect choreography (Rick Conant) and astonishing dancing. Each time designer Howard Jones’ beautiful scrim descends as Pretty Lady’s “curtain,” we become immersed in the pleasures of the playwithin-the-play. What is lovely about 42nd Street — and, with only a few stumbles, this production new haven
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PHOTOGRAPH:
Diane Sobolewski
L-r: Elisa Kinnon, Erin West, Dorothy Stanley, Kristen Martin and Jenifer Foote in 42nd Street.
— is the balance between comic cliché and strongly anchored characters. Because the musical numbers are so over-the-top, it would take very little to burst our bubble of belief. However, director Ray Roderick has chosen and directed his leading actors so that we care about them in the midst of Pretty Lady’s glitter and glitz. 42nd Street begins with auditions and takes us through the delirious ups, the catastrophic downs, and the heightened emotional roller-coaster that is so often backstage life. Powering the emotional roller-coaster is the conflict between Pretty Lady’s star, Dorothy Brock (the sultryvoiced Laurie Wells) and its fresh-offthe-train-from-Allentown Peggy Sawyer (Kristen Martin), the chorus girl who knows nothing about matters of the heart (and even less about Brock’s brand of theatrical cat-fighting), but tap dances like her heart depended on it. Unfortunately, Roderick has placed some unnecessary stones in Laurie Well’s path. The script defines Dorothy Brock as a diva, no doubt. But Roderick creates a caricature that borders on a cartoon villainess for three-quarters of the show. However, as the story unfolds, we see that Brock is much more than this, and we should glimpse her vulnerability from the start. 48
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Wells could clearly accomplish this: Her voice alone, in her lovely ballads, gives us the heart and soul of a deeply feeling, if conflicted, woman. Kristen Martin as Peggy has the most difficult role: She must begin as an innocent slip of a lass and by the end (of course) emerge a star. It’s always dangerous to write the word “star” into a script. So few actors, real or imaginary, possess that elusive quality. Martin is charming, winning, and utterly natural in her acting scenes; we effortlessly love her. And she is, as the story claims, a remarkable dancer. But in the end, when Peggy opens her mouth to sing, she should have a voice that jolts us into star-land. That doesn’t quite happen here, but no matter. As it does every character in the play, her sweetness conquers the audience. Roderick’s only other misstep is perhaps his most important: the orchestra is simply too loud, giving the production a one-note sound. So much is happening in the many big dance numbers, visually and melodically, that the orchestra needs to support and complement the performers, to buoy them up; here it almost competes with them. Enough of that, though. Roderick and his company do so much that is right that
the show floats over these quibbles. His spotlit characters shine appropriately: Jenifer Foote is a winning Ann Reilly; Andy Lee is warm and appealing as Tim Falter; and Dale Hensley (Bert Barry) and Dorothy Stanley (Maggie Jones) are both delights, as is Erick Devine as Abner Dillon, who turns on a dime from bull in a china shop to teddy bear. The show’s strongest and most poignant character is director Julian Marsh, and the looming, chiseled James Lloyd Reynolds captures his every facet, from furiously panicked leader to bullying teacher to tentative lover to loner in the end. Directing is, in fact, the loneliest job in theater. Once opening night is over the “kids” bond; the director is left behind. Hauntingly and beautifully, Roderick and Reynolds capture this fact in the show’s final moment. Before this moment, Julian tells Peggy that as a star, she will give little chorus girls hope that one day her success will be theirs. Outside in the darkness, after the show, a very little chorus girl (maybe six or seven) skipped and flew over the Goodspeed bridge, joyously going, as the show’s song puts it, “into her dance.” This lovely production deserves every bit of her joy. v
CABARET
ONSTAGE
What does it take to ride off into the sunset? Acclaimed playwright Sarah Ruhl re-imagines the classic icon of the American cowboy and brings a bit of the Wild West into the restless lives of two newlyweds in Pittsburgh in Late: A Cowboy Song. Jen Wineman directs the production. Patrons are invited to make a night of it by having dinner and drinks at the Cabaret before the show. 8 p.m. (Tues.-Sat.) June 9-20 at Yale Summer Cabaret, 217 Park St., New Haven. $5$25. 203-432-1567, summercabaret.org
commissioned to write the first musical comedy ever produced in Korea, Magic in the Mirror, directed by Baayork Lee. Director and Choreographer Warren Carlyle returns to Goodspeed Musicals for this production. Through June 14 at Norma Terris Theatre, 33 North Main St., Chester. $42.50. 860-873-8668, goodspeed.org.
THEATER The Glass Menagerie. Tennessee Williams’ tale of illusions tells the story of a family — Laura, a shy collector of delicate cut glass animals; her overbearing mother, Amanda and Tom, the good intentioned son and brother. Laura’s world is shattered when Amanda, played by Judith Ivey, encourages a meeting with Tom’s acquaintance, Jim, played by Josh Charles. Charles has worked on the films Hairspray, Dead Poets Society, and the television series Sports Night. Don’t miss this tale of who people are and what they hold onto to survive. Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein directs. Through June 7 at Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Dr., New Haven. $62-$32. 203-787-4282, 800-782-8497, info@ longwharf.org, longwharf.org.
Eastbound Theatre presents Mere Mortals, a Richard Mancini-directed collection of six outrageous short comedies by David Ives. June 5-21 (8 p.m. Fri. & Sat., 2 p.m. Sun.) at Center for the Arts, 40 Railroad Ave., Milford. $15 ($12.50 seniors & students). 203-8786647, milfordarts.org.
Saddle up to experience playwright Sarah Ruhl’s Late: A Cowboy Song at the Yale Summer Cabaret June 9-20. llustration by Liz Groth. sponsored by the Hamden Arts Commission. 7 p.m. June 12 at Thornton Wilder Auditorium, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. merryplaymakers@ gmail.com, playmakersct.webs.com/ playwrights.htm.
Play Makers’ “Shorts” Festival is a stage reading of ten-minute plays
Come meet the down-home dreamers and low-down schemers of Music City, USA. Set in the colorful world of Nashville, Lucky Guy is a laugh-filled look at the country music scene. Watch out for the Queen of Country Music and the Biggest Used Car Dealer in town who will stop at nothing for a
new hit record. They’ll use every trick in the book to get the prize-winning singing cowboy and his song into their clutches. Will this devious duo prevail? Or will our hero end up a Lucky Guy? Don’t miss this original musical comedy packed with plenty of action and toe-tapping songs the whole family will enjoy. Book, music and lyrics all by Willard Beckham, a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music. Beckham made his debut as a composer/lyricist at Carnegie Hall. He was then
The Broadway song-and-dance extravaganza 42nd Street is based on the book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble and features music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Al Dubin. It’s the ultimate fairy tale as a stage-struck understudy becomes an overnight star. Packed with plenty of pizzazz, it will set your heart pounding with its hit parade of songs: “Lullaby of Broadway,” “We’re in the Money,” “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” and of course “42nd Street.” Through July 4 at Goodspeed Opera House, 6 Main St., East Haddam. $73$31. 860-873-8668, goodspeed.org.
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MUSIC Classical What better way to spend a summer evening than at Neighborhood Music School’s al fresco dinner/concert series Twilight Tuesdays. Grab a blanket and pack a picnic or reserve a boxed dinner. The entertainment for the night will be the Soyulla Ensemble, featuring violinist Kyu-Young Kim, Pitnarry Shin on cello and pianist Wei-Yi Yang, plus the Elm City Chamber Fest faculty. 6:30 p.m. (dinner & picnicking) 7:15 p.m. (concert) June 30 at the Park of the Arts (behind NMS), 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189, nmsmusicschool. org. A conductor-less string orchestra renowned for its cohesiveness, beautiful sound, and refreshing musical style, the New York-based Sejong will perform with pianist and Yale School of Music Dean Robert Blocker. Since its founding in 1995, Sejong has brought together individually distinguished solo and chamber musicians from around the world. Program includes HAYDN Notturno in F Major; PIAZOLLA Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (arr. Desyatnikov); GREENBERG Four Scenes; and MOZART Concerto No. 11 for Piano and Orchestra in F Major, K 413. 5 p.m. June 21 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-4324158 or 888-736-2663, 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. Come to the CD release celebration for Sided Silver Solid (Firehouse 12 Records), the new recording by Carl Maguire’s Floriculture. This group, led by keyboardist/composer Carl Maguire, features violist Stephanie Griffin, multi-instrumentalist Oscar Noriega, bassist John Hébert and drummer Dan Weiss. Based in New York since 1995, Maguire, a native of Madison, Wisc., has studied piano with Marilyn Crispell, Fred Hersch and Ursula Oppens, improvisation with Roscoe Mitchell and composition with Mark Dresser. Known for his abilities on piano, Fender Rhodes and accordion, he has led Floriculture, his main focus as a bandleader, for the past eight years, in addition to performing and recording with a wide variety of other groups such as the Laurel Anders Orchestra, Barbez, Butch Morris’ New York Skyscraper, Brett Sroka’s Ergo, the Tyshawn Sorey Quartet and the Wau Wau Sisters. 8:30 ($15) and 10 p.m. ($10) June 5 at Firehouse 12, 45 Crown St., New Haven. 203-785-0468, firehouse12.com. Family Services of Greater Waterbury presents two-time Grammy Award-
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winning Canadian jazz pianist and singer Diana Krall in concert as part of its centennial celebration. For 100 years, Family Services has provided strength and inspired hope in the lives of tens of thousands of people and families and are grateful for the outpouring of community support for their work throughout the years. Help them celebrate. Reception (6:30 p.m.) featuring wine, hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar will be held before the concert. 8 p.m. June 5 at the Palace Theater, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $125-$55 concert ($25 reception). 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org. Jacob Zonderman, a senior at Amity High School in Woodbridge and a percussion student at Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, performs A Passion for Percussion, a recital of percussion music from many genres. Proceeds will benefit the Amity High School Music Depart. and the NMS scholarship fund. Zonderman will be joined by his teachers and friends from Amity and NMS, including the NMS Premier Jazz Ensemble and the Amity High School Wind Ensemble and Drum Line. 7:30 p.m. June 11 at Amity High School, 25 Newton Rd., Woodbridge. $5. 203-799-7961. Firehouse 12’s Spring Jazz Series concludes with a two-set performance by Dutch jazz heavyweights Trio BraamDeJoodeVatcher. Led by pianist/composer Michiel Braam with bassist Wilbert de Joode and drummer Michael Vatcher, the group is touring North America this summer, performing new compositions and welcoming a local improviser into the group at each stop. For this event, the trio’s late set will feature guest cornetist (and Firehouse 12 Records co-founder) Taylor Ho Bynum. Since 1989, the members of Trio BraamDeJoodeVatcher have joyfully brought freedom and adventure to the performance of acoustic jazz. Like many Dutch musicians, the trio originally focused on the music of Thelonious Monk, but soon began performing Braam’s inclusive and irreverent compositions, with each musician playing an equal role in their realization. The band has released three CDs since 1998. 8:30 ($15) and 10 p.m. ($10) June 12 at Firehouse 12, 45 Crown St., New Haven. 203-785-0468, firehouse12.com. Prepare yourself for a great summer with a concert treat. Singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, violinist Boy Tinsley, drummer Carter Beauford and saxophonist Jeff Coffin (of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones fame) make up the American rock band, Dave Matthews Band. The band’s nationwide summer tour features lengthy improvisational renditions of their songs accompanied by video and elaborately choreographed lighting. Femi Kuti and the Positive Force will be the band’s special guest for this engagement. Kuti is an award-winning Nigerian musician whose voice is featured in the videogame Grand Theft Auto IV, where he is the host of radio station IF 99
(International Funk 99). 8 p.m. June 5, 7 p.m. June 6 at Comcast Theater, 61 Savitt Way, Hartford. $75-$40.50. 877598-8689, livenation.com. Grammy Award-winning American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist Brad Paisley performs with support from Dierks Bentley and Jimmy Wayne on the American Saturday Night Tour. Paisley’s style crosses between traditional country and pop-rock. His songs are filled with humor and pop culture references. Grab one of Paisley’s six studio albums on the Arista Nashville label to prepare to sing along. 7:30 p.m. June 13 at Comcast Theater, 61 Savitt Way, Hartford. $58.25-$29.75. 877-598-8689, livenation. com.
Rascal Flatts, the American country rock band, has Gary LeVox on lead vocals, multi-instrumentalist Jay DeMarcus and lead guitarist Joe Don Rooney (who both also lend their voices to the sound). The band has released six studio albums and a greatest hits album. Their newest album, Unstoppable, was released two months ago. They’ll be sure to play some favorites. Darius Rucker, lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, joins the show to wow listeners with his solo country hits. His first solo chart single, “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It,” is the first No. 1 country hit by a solo African-American artist since 1983. 7:30 p.m. June 26 at Comcast Theater, 61
Watch Jacob Zonderman bang the drums (or the marimba) for a good cause at A Passion for Percussion, a concert featuring Zonderman and many others. June 11 at Amity High School in Woodbridge.
Jane’s Addiction, an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, has reunited once again. Come check out vocalist Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro on guitar, bassist Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins on drums before they have a falling out again. The band has influences rooted in punk, Gothic rock and heavy metal and is well known for launching the first Lollapalooza festival, an annual touring alternative rock showcase. 7:30 p.m. June 14 at Chevrolet Theatre, 95 South Turnpike Rd., Wallingford. $55-$38. 877-598-8689, livenation.com. Grammy Award-nominated four-piece piano rock band, The Fray performs with support from Jack’s Mannequin. The Denver-based Fray released their debut album, How To Save a Life, in 2005. The band is best known for the song of the same name, which charted in the top three of the Billboard Hot 100 and was also a top 5 single in countries throughout the world. Jack’s Mannequin is also a piano rock band, created as a side project by Andrew McMahon, originally from Something Corporate. 7:30 p.m. June 20 at Comcast Theater, 61 Savitt Way, Hartford. $55.50$20.50. 877-598-8689, livenation.com.
Savitt Way, Hartford. $79.25-$34.75. 877598-8689, livenation.com. Rock out to Billy Joel, Elton John, Tom Petty, Buddy Holly and others at Billy McGuigan’s Rock Legends: People’s Choice. This dynamic, rockin’ show features six incredible musicians and lets the audience choose the songs. Through June 21 at Seven Angels Theatre, 1 Plank Rd., Waterbury. $35-$29. 203-757-4676, sevenangelstheatre.org. The Yale-New Haven Hospital Auxiliary provides lunch-noshers with Notes at Noon, a weekly summer concert series with jazz, folk, blues and rock & roll performances by seven area musicians. The schedule includes: Chris Baillargeon playing New Orleans jazz (June 12); classical rocker Steve Atwood Bank (June 19); Catfish belting out blues, soul, rock & roll (June 26); contemporary jazz by Airborne Jazz (July 10); jazz soloist Glen Roth (July 17); another jazzy afternoon with the Harry Strom Quartet (July 24) and folk & bluegrass solo with This Land is your Land (July 31). Noon in Hunter Courtyard (across from 20 York St. at Cedar St.), New Haven. Free. ynhh.org.
BELLES LETTRES The Mystery Book Club meets the first Wednesday of each month to discuss a pre-selected book. Books available for loan in advance of discussion. 3-4 p.m. June 3 at Blackstone Library, 758 Main St., Branford. Free. 203-483-6653, events@ blackstone.lioninc.org, blackstone. lioninc.org/booktalk.htm. Children’s Story Hour is a weekly Saturday get-together for children and parent story lovers alike. 10 a.m. June 6, 13, 20 & 27 at the Yale Bookstore, 77 Broadway, New Haven. Free. 203-777-8440, crc-events@snet.net, yalebookstore.com. New members are welcomed to the Blackstone Library Book Group. The group meets on the second Tuesday of every month to discuss a pre-selected book. Books available for loan in advance of discussion. 6:45-8 p.m. June 9 at Blackstone Library, 758 Main St., Branford. Free. 203-488-1441, ext. 318, events@blackstone.lioninc.org, blackstone.lioninc.org/booktalk.htm.
poems and Starbucks provides free refreshments to attendees at the New Haven Library Poetry Reading. 1-3 p.m. June 20 at Starbuck’s Restaurant on the New Haven Green. 946-2228, nhbulletin. blogspot.com.
BENEFITS Our Piece of the Pie, a leading youth development agency in Hartford, sets sail for Hartford youth in Sip ‘n’ Sail, a wine tasting cruise to benefit the organization. Guests will cruise along the Connecticut River aboard Lady Katherine’s Mystique. Several local wine experts will be on hand with dozens of wines from around the world. 6-8:30 p.m. (boarding 5:30 p.m.) June 4 at Charter Oak Landing, Hartford. $75. 860-761-7342, jo-anne.leventhal@opp. org, opp.org.
Summer Reading: The Personal Memoir. Who doesn’t associate the lazy days of summer with a chance to catch up on her reading? This session will focus on reading the contemporary personal memoir. Voices from across the country will tell of their search for identity and purpose, of turning points, of inspiration and defeat. Their journeys will be discussed, but close attention will also be paid to technique and method. If you are 16 years of age or older and are considering writing your own memoir, or have begun it already, join this five-week course and you may find that your summer reading helps you find a new model for your own work. Among the authors under consideration are Barack Obama, Rebecca Walker, Sandra Cisneros, Anne LaMott and David Sedaris. 6:308:30 p.m. June 30, July 7, 14, 21, 28 at Greenstreet Arts Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. $95. 860-685-7871, gsac@ wesleyan.edu, greenstreetartscenter.org. Library Poetry Contest winners from all categories at each branch share their
at Blackstone Library, 758 Main St., Branford. Free. 203-488-1441, dimbarion@gmail.com, freewebs.com/ branford-anime-club. The Yale Center for British Art’s third annual Children’s Film Festival will feature inspiring and award-winning independent short films for young audiences. Popcorn, live entertainment before the show. Best for ages three to ten. Audience members may come and go (films featured in both sessions are identical). 10-11:30 a.m. (session I) & 2-3:30 p.m. (session II) June 13 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203432-2858, ycba.yale.edu. Topsy-Turvy (UK, 1999, 160 min.), directed by Mike Leigh, finds the librettist William S. Gilbert and composer Sir Arthur Sullivan nearly disbanding their partnership due to frustration from the criticism of their latest comic opera. But instead of disbanding, they are inspired to create their masterpiece, The Mikado. 7 p.m. June 18 at Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu.
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. June 11 at the Center for the Arts, 40 Railroad Ave., Milford. 203-878-6647, milfordarts.org. Poet Marilyn Nelson is the author or translator of 12 books and three chapbooks. Her book The Homeplace won the 1992 Annisfield-Wolf Award and was a finalist for the 1991 National Book Award. The Fields Of Praise: New And Selected Poems won the 1998 Poets’ Prize and was a finalist for the 1997 National Book Award, the PEN Winship Award and the Lenore Marshall Prize. Nelson is a professor emeritus of English at the University of Connecticut and was Connecticut’s poet laureate from 2001-06. 12:10-12:50 p.m. June 30 at CFA Theater, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355, cfa@ wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.
CALENDAR Meanwhile, a painted portrait of the man changes to reflect every sin he commits, aging his image in the process. Albert Lewin directs. 2 p.m. June 21 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu. Directed by Alfred E. Green, Disraeli (USA, 1929, 87 min.) gives the details of prime minister of Great Britain, Benjamin Disraeli, securing the purchase of the Suez Canal. 1 p.m. June 23 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu. After the death of her father, a London woman finds employment caring for a young girl in rural Scotland. Soon she begins a passionate and secret affair with her employer, the child’s father, in The Governess (UK, 1998, 115 min.). Directed by Sandra Goldbacher. 2 p.m. June 24 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu. Wilde (UK, 1997, 118 min.). Directed by Brian Gilbert. Stephen Fry stars as the Irish poet, novelist and playwright Oscar Wilde, one of the great celebrities of the Victorian era. 2 p.m.
Children’s Story Hour Saturday morning in June at the Yale Bookstore.
ArtFarm will commemorate the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s sonnets with a Shakespeare Sonnet Slam at its Elizabethan Bash. This fundraiser is open to any adult or young person who would like to memorize and perform a sonnet while getting sponsors to pledge a donation to ArtFarm’s Shakespeare in the Grove 2009. Enjoy a magical world of drinks, food, entertainment, photos with Shakespeare, harpsichord music, renaissance swordplay and much more. Prizes for the performers with the largest total sponsorship dollars. 7 p.m. June 9 at KidCity, 119 Washington St., Middletown. $14. 860-346-4390, info@ art-farm.org, art-farm.org. Habitat for Humanity of Greater New Haven hosts its annual Summer Party on the Shore to raise funds for its homebuilding program and to honor its Master Builder Award winners. 5:308:30 p.m. June 10 at the Owenego Inn, 40 Linden Ave., Branford. $50 ($100 patrons). 203-785-0794, www.habitatgnh. org.
CINEMA Come get your Anime fix on a weekly basis with other aficionados at the Anime Club. 2-5 p.m. Saturdays
Independent film Lovers should find their way to Milford for screening this summer for the Milford Independent Film Festival.
A passionate and headstrong girl captures the love of three very different men: a sheep farmer, a prosperous bachelor and a soldier. Far From the Madding Crowd (UK, 1967, 168 min.) is based on the novel by Thomas Hardy. Directed by John Schlesinger. 2 p.m. June 20 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu. The Picture of Dorian Gray (USA, 1945, 110 min.), based on the 1891 novel by Oscar Wilde, tells the story of a handsome but morally corrupt young London aristocrat, who trades his soul to retain his youth and beauty.
June 25 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu. After the death of her husband, Queen Victoria is consumed with depression and disappears from public life. The friendship she begins with her servant, Mrs. Brown (UK, 1997, 105 min.), fills her with new life but creates scandal in the monarchy. John Madden directs. 1 p.m. June 26 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba. yale.edu. Based on the novel by Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist (UK, 2005, 130 min.), depicts the life of an orphan boy who
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com/events.html. Join Claire’s Corner Copia and Basta Trattoria in the celebration of the birth of Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia, a Venetian woman who was the first woman in the world to receive a college degree. Celebration will include foods and drinks from Venice. June 25 at Claire’s Corner Copia, 1000 Chapel St., New Haven. 203-562-3888, clairescornercopia.com.
DANCE
It’s time for pickin’ and eating those much-beloved little red berries. Enjoy a slice of pie after all your hard work at Strawberry Fest on June 13 at Lyman Orchards in Middlefield. runs away and joins a band of thieves. Directed by Roman Polanski. 2 p.m. June 27 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu. Milford Independent Film Festival. Milford will host screening events throughout July and August showcasing works of independent filmmakers of all ages. Competition is a joint effort by the Milford Public Library and the Milford Fine Arts Council. Final judging will take place August 1 at the Milford Public Library and screenings are open to the public. Films will also be screened at the Center for the Arts in Milford with a gala celebration at an Awards Ceremony on August 13. Films should be family-friendly and no longer than 30 minutes in duration. Filmmakers’ works must be submitted no later than July 10 at the Milford Public Library, 57 New Haven Ave., Milford. Entry fee of $15 for one, $10 for the second. 203-878-6647, milfordarts.org.
COMEDY Test your knowledge and have fun doing it at Anna Liffey’s Trivia Night. Teams of one to five members 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. June 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 at Anna Liffey’s, 17 Whitney Ave., New Haven. $10 per team. 203-773-1776, annaliffeys.com. The dynamic comedy duo Cheech & Chong, consisting of Richard (Cheech) Marin and Tommy Chong, are infiltrating Connecticut with their standup routine reminding everyone of the era when hippies, free love and drug culture movements abounded. 7:30 p.m. June 5 at Chevrolet Theatre, 95 South Turnpike Rd., Wallingford. $59.50-$39.50. 877-598-8689, livenation.com. Known for her brash and sarcastic stand-up routine, Mo’nique is an awardwinning comedian, celebrated author and actress, and a positive role model for voluptuous women everywhere.
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Don’t miss her and her friends in this hilarious comedy event. 8 p.m. June 26 at the Palace Theater, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $75-$45. 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org.
Mark Morris Dance Group’s Dido & Aeneas gracefully marries Henry Purcell’s 17th-century opera based on the classic mythology of Virgil’s Aeneid with contemporary movement in a lush spectacle of extraordinary dance, exquisite singing and stark stately sets. Morris will conduct the live music for this stunning dance opera, often considered the choreographer’s best work. 8 p.m. June 25 & 26 at the Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. $48$10. 203-624-1825, shubert.com.
CULINARY
The annual Alex’s Lemonade Stand is back! Pick up some lemonade and lemon cookies while painting faces and hands to raise funds to benefit the research to one day conquer childhood cancers. 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. June 13 at Claire’s Corner Copia, 1000 Chapel St., New Haven. 203-562-3888, clairescornercopia.com. If you can’t tell a good red wine from a cheap one, or if you are an oenophile, Father’s Day High-End California Reds is the seminar for you. Get reacquainted with the great high end cabernets, cabernet reserves and Meritage blends from some of California’s most famous vintners. This is for both the curious and the serious wine lovers. 5:30-7:30 pm June 14 at Chamard Vineyards, 115 Cow Hill Rd., Clinton. $100. 860-664-0299, chamard.
Learn the skills scientists use to monitor and protect streams and rivers in Explore the Stream. Explore Stony Brook, its communities and dynamics. The children (grades 3-6) will investigate water chemistry, physical properties of water, living components from bacteria and algae to insects and mammals, streambed construction, and the dynamics of flowing water. Children dress for the weather. 1-3 p.m. June 6 at Earthplace, 10 Woodside La., Westport. $15 members, $25 nonmembers. Registration. 203-227-7253, info@earthplace.org, earthplace.org. It’s getting noisy at night. At the Friday Family Campfire participants will use some interesting ways of seeing the little critters that make all the fuss. S’mores for everyone. 7:30-9 p.m. June 12 at Earthplace, 10 Woodside Ln., Westport. $8 members, $10 nonmembers. Registration. 203-227-7253, info@earthplace.org, earthplace.org. Visit with the alpacas, watch fiber processing demonstrations, enjoy free refreshments and browse the farm store filled with alpaca products at Alpaca Open Farm Day. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. June 13 at New England Alpacas, 14 Bethke Rd., Killingworth. Free. 860-6633482, nealpacas.com.
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. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays in June at Russo Park, corner Chapel St. and DePalma Ct., New Haven. 203-773-3736, cityseed.org. Beginning with breakfast on the deck of the Apple Barrel Market and continuing with numerous family-fun activities including pick-your-own strawberries, a strawberry scavenger hunt, musical entertainment, pie-eating contests for children and adults, strawberry shortcake, food sampling, outdoor food concessions, horse-drawn wagon rides and Frisbee Golf, the Strawberry Fest will be the perfect precursor to a yummy summer. 8 a.m.-4 p.m. June 13 at Lyman Orchards, 32 Reeds Gap Rd., Middlefield. 860-349-1793, lymanorchards.com.
everywhere as caricaturists and face painters capture and camouflage faces young and older, and children and parents alike create useable art from recycled products. Don’t miss the fun. 12-5 p.m. June 6 on Audubon St. in New Haven. Free. 203-772-2788, newhavenarts.org.
For a farmers market near you check www.buyctgrown.com .
FAMILY EVENTS Audubon Arts on the Edge will feature family oriented performances, programs and hands-on activities. The neighborhood’s arts organizations, galleries and retailers present an afternoon of music, dance, visual arts, spoken word, crafts and educational activities. Ensembles from ACES Educational Center for the Arts and Neighborhood Music School (NMS), along with the Dudley Farm String Band, highlight some of the musical performances scheduled for the daylong event. Also, NMS’ instrument petting zoo will offer visitors a chance to get acquainted with the tools of musicians’ trade. Dance performances and workshops presented by the Shari Caldwell Dance Center, ACES Educational Center for the Arts, and Elm City Dance Collective will also be showcased. Audubon Street will morph into a community canvas, where visitors will be able to add to the winding chalk mural. Art will be
Join the celebration showcasing the talents of Green Street’s afterschool and homeschool students and teaching artists at the Green Street Arts Festival. See lots of performances and participate in the myriad of activities — hip-hop, face-painting and refreshments. 1-4 p.m. June 13 at Greenstreet Arts Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. Free. 860-685-7871, gsac@ wesleyan.edu, greenstreetartscenter.org. The Connecticut Irish Festival, Feis, & Agricultural Fair highlights the best in Celtic dance, sports, music and culture. The North American Minor Irish Dance Championship will be held at the fair this year with the winner receiving the George Sweetnam Memorial Belt reserved exclusively for world-class Irish dancers. The Wolfe Tones head the musical line-up. Currently celebrating 45 years on the road, these legendary Dublin balladeers continue to be one of Ireland’s biggest box office attractions. The festival has something for everyone — from the best traditional and contemporary Irish music and set dancing, to great food and a 5K-road race to benefit ALS, from cultural and agricultural displays, to children’s activities and rides, as well as an Irish shopping and craft village (see story, page 13). 12:30-11 p.m. June 27 & 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m. June 28 at North Haven Fairgrounds, Washington Ave., North Haven. $8 in advance, $12 at the door (free for children under
16). ctirishfestivaltickets@gmail.com, ctirishfestival.com.
Suite 101, Milford. Free. 203-283-0014, preferredpediatricsofct.com.
Looking to get fit through fun? Come move the Nia way in Nia for Beginners. The Nia technique is an expressive fitness practice based on pleasure movements for the body, mind, emotions and spirit. This fitness class blends martial arts, dance arts and the healing arts into a routine fueled by music. You will leave this class reenergized, stronger, more flexible and less stressed. Nia is for all bodies and fitness levels. Wear comfortable clothes, bring water and be ready to have fun. Taught by certified Nia instructor Kim Renee Thibodeau. 6:30-7:30 p.m. June 30, July 7, 14, 21, 28 at Greenstreet Arts Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. $60. 860-685-7871, gsac@wesleyan.edu, greenstreetartscenter.org.
MIND, BODY & SOUL Gia Khalsa’s gentle style of Yoga has developed over her career since 1970 and is ideal for people of all ages. Learn how yoga stretches and tones the muscles, brings breath awareness and control, increases mind concentration and focus, lubricates joints and strengthens the bones, massages and conditions internal organs, balances mentally, physically and emotionally, lends flexibility to mind and body and strengthens the nervous system. 1-2 p.m. June 1, 5 & 8 at Greenstreet Arts Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. $10 ($8 members, seniors & students). 860-685-7871, gsac@wesleyan.edu, greenstreetartscenter.org.
Led by Nelie Doak, 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. 56:15 p.m. Fridays at Blackstone Library, 758 Main St., Branford. $10. 203-4881441, ext. 313, yogidoakie@earthlink. net or events@blackstone.lioninc.org, blackstone.lioninc.org.
New York-born John Edward has captivated audiences worldwide. On his internationally distributed talk shows, Crossing Over with John Edward and John Edward Cross Country, he uses his unique psychic medium abilities to connect people with loved ones who have passed on. Deeply compelling, often startling and occasionally humorous, Edward’s down-to-earth approach has earned him a vast and loyal following. 7:30 p.m. June 19 at Chevrolet Theatre, 95 South Turnpike Rd., Wallingford. $64.50-$34.50. 877-5988689, livenation.com.
Kathleen Brenner instructs adult beginners on a ten-form set of Yanstyle tai chi in Tai Chi on the Terrace. Wear comfortable clothing. 5:30-6:30 p.m. through June 9 at the New Haven Free Public Library, 133 Elm St., New
On the second Saturday of each month Sarah Aldrich Pilates invites the public to its Pilates Studio Open House. Visitors may ask questions about this transformative exercise method and learn how Pilates can help them reach their fitness goals or relieve common orthopedic issues such as lower back pain. 2-4 p.m. June 13 at Sarah Aldrich Pilates, 681 State St., New Haven. Free. 203-589-7948, sarah@ aldrichpilates.com, aldrichpilates.com.
Stretch yourself and consider YOGA this summer.
Haven. Free. Registration. 203-946 -8835, nhbulletin.blogspot.com. Pediatrician Diana Lopusny, MD, FAAP invites all to visit the Grand Opening Celebration of her new private pediatric care practice. There will be a carnival theme and valuable informational exhibitors. Lopusny embraces a homeopathic platform combined with traditional medicine for children’s health care and is active in many local and statewide organizations. 2-5 p.m. June 13 at 88 Noble Avenue,
Happiness Club of Greater Milford events are held the second Thursday of each month. All ages invited. Visitors should bring a food item (appetizer, munchie or dessert) to share. 6-8 p.m. June 11 at Golden Hill Health Care Center, 2028 Bridgeport Ave., Milford. 203-767-3582, plynn_135@hotmail.com, happinessclubmilford.ning.com. Amity Cares, a grassroots group of volunteers from Woodbridge, Orange, Bethany and Westville that partner with Habitat for Humanity of Greater New Haven, meets the third Thursday each month. Amity Cares is working on building its third house, on Dewitt Street in New Haven’s Hill neighborhood. Volunteer information and forms available on the Amity Cares Web site. 6:30 p.m. at United Church of Christ Parish House on Woodbridge Town Green. Free. 203-397-
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9433, amitycaresconcert@gmail.com, AmityCares.org. Brain Power, a presentation by the regional director of the South Central’s Alzheimer’s Association, Maria Tomasetti, will cover ways to reduce risk of serious memory issues-with focus on diet, exercise, mental and social activity; provide some fun, interactive examples of activities to help keep the mind active; give tips for making the most of your memory; explain
Clinton. Free. 860-669-9300, cstraub@ peregrine-companies.com.
SPORTS/RECREATION Cycling Elm City Cycling organizes Lulu’s Ride, weekly two- to four-hour rides for all levels (17-19 mph average). Cyclists leave at 10 a.m. from Lulu’s European Café as a single group; no
20-30 miles in length and the ride is no-drop, 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. on Sundays at Lulu’s European Café, 49 Cottage St., New Haven. Free. 203773-9288, paulproulx@sbcglobal.net, elmcitycycling.org.
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. June 26 at Temple and Chapel streets, New Haven. Free. elmcitycycling.org.
Hikes Active Singles sponsors hikes throughout the state on each month, as well 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. No dogs allowed. June’s hikes will be at Freja Park (8 a.m. June 7) in Meriden; Newgate Prison (8 a.m. June 14) in East Granby; Ragged Mountain (8 a.m. June 21) in New Britain; and West Peak Castle Craig (8 a.m. June 28) in Meriden. Free. 203-271-2125 or 860-489-9611, activesingles@snet.net, activesingles.org.
Spectator Sports Enjoy a roller mania double header featuring the Texecutioners (TXRD) vs. Gotham Girls All Stars (NYC) and Newgate Prison (8 a.m. June 14) in East Granby. 7 p.m. (6 pm doors open) June 19 at CT Sports Center, 21 S. Bradley St., Woodbridge. $10 advance, $12 at door (children under 12 free with adult). ctrollerderby.com. Join the (Ride) ‘unorganized coincidence’ at the New Haven Green.
the warning signs of serious memory issues as well as the next steps and the possible physical-treatable causes of memory issues; and provide a short overview of Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia. 7-8 p.m. June 4 at Peregrine’s Landing, 91 East Main St.,
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 long-standing Sunday morning training ride. The route is usually
One2One Continued from 12
in the operation of the city is an important thing. Let me ask about the ‘R’ word: You and others have been associated with ‘regionalism’ as a solution for urban ills in Connecticut. I’ve never seen that large organizations are especially efficient. Do you still buy the bigger region theory in Connecticut? There’s big regionalism and little regionalism. Big regionalism is tri-state New York, and in big regionalism New Haven has everything to gain from better integration, and rail is the center of that. Little regionalism — voluntary regionalism in the schools is good. There are a lot of things where there 54
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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
are benefits of scale. There should be regional fire services, regional purchasing, regional sharing of tax increments from commercial developments. If we build a big box in Hamden, for example, they get most of the tax return but the other towns should get some for an incentive to cooperate. New Haven is well positioned to be the hub of a regional effort like that. The question I always ask about Connecticut cities: Are we on our way to being upstate New York, or Princeton, N.J. Princeton is nicely connected by rail to the rest of the tri-state region, and Rochester is not. Buffalo was host of the World’s Fair a century ago; it was a big league city. It was [nearly] in the same weight class as Chicago. Its hidden flaw was it had long supply lines to the next city.
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.
Or that the next city of size, Toronto, was in another country. That’s exactly right. We’re right next to the most powerful magnet [New York City] in the western hemisphere. Well, New York has some problems again. So can you still bet on New Haven? The big things that are going on in New York: It has become a hands-down dominant business-services center, on the one hand, and a center for first location for immigrants. The outer boroughs are just popping with new people. New York is still bleeding second- and third-generation people, but they’re being replaced at more than par all the time. The current business crisis is a challenge. Yes, I would bet on New Haven — and I would put as many chips as I could on linking up with the Mother Ship to the south. v
W O RD S of MOUT H
By Liese Klein
PHOTOGRAPH:
NEW EATS: The Blue Cottage
Anthony DeCarlo
Owner Nick Colavolpe offers up a plate laden with fruits of the sea.
I
t’s clear that the Blue Cottage is not your grandfather’s clam shack when the corn on the cob arrives — along with butter, it comes with Smart Balance Buttery Spread.
Heart health is not usually a priority on a visit to a New England seafood shack, far down the list somewhere with attentive service and stylish surroundings. But the Blue Cottage in Branford’s Indian Neck section manages to combine the freshness and casual fun of a clam shack with the amenities of a more upscale restaurant. This appealing eatery provides a welcome option on nights when you want New England flavors with a bit more comfort and a lot more drinking and menu options. Located in the revamped former Indian Neck Market, the Blue Cottage has taken Cape Cod for a theme but shows refreshing restraint in the décor department, with nary a fishnet in
sight. Instead a few well-chosen items highlight an airy, wood-paneled space with cozy and clean booths and tile floors. Those floors tend to amplify sound from the lively bar area, but most booths allow for conversation in relatively normal tones. Attentive servers compensate for the clamor and are knowledgeable about the provenance of the far-ranging raw bar options. Start with fresh fare from the raw bar, which on a recent night included Wellfleet oysters and flavorful, plump clams. Impeccably fresh and briny, the Wellfleets needed no condiments and went down in a flash. The raw bar sampler also featured large and perfectly chilled cooked shrimp highlighted by a feisty cocktail sauce. The simple, clean flavors made for a winning first course, complemented by a draft beer selection that included several summer ales and
multiple decent wines by the glass. Also tasty to start was a clam pane cotto, a savory bread pudding featuring white beans, escarole and clams. Although the Blue Cottage version was a bit runny, the bright flavor of tomato and bitter greens accentuated a rich broth to make for a winning dish. But the star on a recent visit was the clam strips, expertly fried to the perfect blend of crisp and tender. With a vibrant, fresh-tasting tartar sauce, creamy slaw and a serving of steakhouse fries, it was among the better clam plates around. Yes, you won’t get the splinters and sullen teenage servers of a true Shoreline clam shack. But with its fresh take on the classics, the Blue Cottage offers an appealing alternative. The Blue Cottage, 2 Sybil Ave., Branford (203-481-2583).
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What this eatery does share with its small-screen namesake is a commitment to quality food and unusual flavors. It’s also a great opportunity to try an under-appreciated cuisine — the food of Taiwan. Marooned in a mostly empty strip mall across from the University of New Haven, Iron Chef doesn’t come off as a likely spot for superior Asian food. But the service makes up for the location: Chef Chen Chung, his wife and brother run the eatery with an infectious enthusiasm for their homeland and the warmth of born restaurateurs.
JUST A TASTE: Iron Chef Chef Chung Hsin Chen. serves up (left to right) shredded beef w.hot peppers and taiwanese sweet sausage with baby bamboo shoots at the Iron Chef i West Haven.
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They’ll happily guide you through the Taiwanese menu, dominated by meat, seafood and vegetables in a brown sauce made from slow-simmered pork. Start your meal with the Taiwan-style wings, expertly breaded and fried to toothsome perfection. The wings are juicy inside with a delicate hint of anise and serve as the perfect introduction to the subtle spices of Taiwan. Boneless honey ribs are also a good first course, chunks of chewy pork with savory-sweet sauce, addictive and perfect for snacking. That classic brown sauce added depth of flavor to a dish of shredded beef, made up of tender strips of meat sprinkled with slices of fresh green chilies. The fruity heat of the chilies enhanced the sauce but didn’t overwhelm it. A shrimp dish featured whole, batterfried shrimp atop an aromatic tangle
of vegetables and herbs for an unusual, complex play of flavor and texture. Among dishes I can’t wait to try: Threecup wine chicken, house special fried rice cake and Taiwanese sweet sausage with baby bamboo shoots. Due to Iron Chef’s limited seating, be ready to order take-out and be tempted with appetizing smells the entire ride home. The restaurant’s layout allows you to watch up-close as the chef cracks open crab shells and handles steaming woks with ease — you could almost call it a mini-Kitchen Stadium. With top-notch restaurants like Iron Chef, Swagat and Saray, plus an array of immigrant markets, West Haven is becoming a required stop on any serious eater’s itinerary. Iron Chef, 1209 Campbell Ave., Unit G, West Haven (203-932-3888).
Anthony DeCarlo
ron Chef in West Haven bears little resemblance to the Food Network reality show of the same name, much less the campy Japanese original. This humble restaurant has a dozen seats, minimal décor and there’s not a single spotlight or celebrity to be found.
PHOTOGRAPH:
I
PHOTOGRAPH:
EDITOR’S PICK: The Place
Anthony DeCarlo
Owner Dave
Kelly DePalma, Bar Manager, of the newly opened Park Central Tavern.
C
ookouts are great, but the time spent in preparation, grill time and cleanup for a backyard barbecue isn’t always how you want to spend your precious weekend hours. By offering the ambiance, flavor and some of the fun of a cookout without the stress, the Place in Guilford has prospered for nearly 40 years — and with good reason.
A modest setup of tents, tables and elongated cinder-block grill, the Place sits in a clearing right off Route 1/ Boston Post Road. The location has been home to an outdoor seasonal restaurant since shortly after World War II; owner Vaughn Knowles started working there with his future wife in the 1960s and took over operations in 1971. Although Route 1 traffic buzzes by only yards away and big-box stores are in sight, the Place manages to evoke a backyard gathering with its shaded
dining areas, gravel parking lot and servers in shorts and T-shirts. (It may be a bit too backyard for some: Be sure to bring bug spray and your own tablecloth to ensure comfort.) You’ve also got to bring your own beer or wine, an appealing amenity in these budgetconscious times. A six-pack of microbrewery Pilsner was the perfect bargain beverage to complement our seafood and corn on the cob. A table with tree stumps for seats facing the grill also allowed us to watch as grizzled cooks roasted clams over the open coals in wire baskets and slung steaks onto the grill. Those clams were a great starter, juicy and tender despite their brush with an open flame. Stick with the plain variety, as the spicy “special sauce” tends to overwhelm their delicate flavor. More spice-resilient were the peel-and-eat shrimp, nicely charred and plump. Fresh
corn also held up well to charring and added a welcome note of sweetness. Lobster was the real star of the grill — roasting seemed to concentrate the flavor and highlight the texture of this local treat. A one-pounder also yielded plenty of meat and came cracked and split for easy eating. To finish, a fresh slice of Key lime pie ranked with the best this ex-Floridian has ever sampled — creamy, tart and embellished with just the right amount of whipped cream. The pie alone is worth a trip to the Place, the perfect way to end a beach day without breaking a sweat or changing out of your bathing suit. Next time I’ll bring a tablecloth, some boiled potatoes and another sixpack — the grill is waiting! The Place, 891 Boston Post Rd., Guilford (203-453-9276).
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I
n greater New Haven, a pizzeria isn’t a pizzeria without a cooler of Foxon Park sodas in rainbow hues presiding over the dining area. Made in East Haven by the fourth generation of the Naclerio family, Foxon Park sodas are a local treat formulated specially for local cuisine.
Now Foxon Park sodas are coming to a supermarket near you as the company expands its production with new equipment, Anthony Naclerio says. All 13 classic flavors are now being sold at the East Haven Stop & Shop as of last month, along with selected A&P,
Shaw’s and Big Y stores in the area. The company is working with a distributor to expand beyond the immediate area as well, Naclerio adds. A hallmark of Foxon Park is the flavors,most of them developed over decades and inspired by favorites in Europe. There’s the white birch, herbal with a touch of mint. Iron Brew is for the adventurous, mixing the flavors of cola, cream and root beer in a highoctane concoction modeled on a Scottish soft drink. Fruit sodas include grape, cherry, orange and lemon-lime, along with ginger, cream and cola. All are
Best of all for summer is Italian-inspired Gassosa, an all-natural, lightly sweet lemon drink perfect on a hot day or with a steaming slice. Naclerio recommends mixing it with red or white wine for refreshing sangria, or with ice cream for a backyard treat. Whatever the flavor, these sodas can help bring a bit of local tradition to your next barbecue or picnic. Foxon Park sodas at Super Stop & Shop, 370 Hemingway Ave. at Trolley Square, East Haven (203-469-8895).
PHOTOGRAPH:
JUST A SIP: Foxon Park
made with real sugar — and lots of it — except for several diet variations.
Anthony DeCarlo
Anthony Naclerio’s Foxon Park Beverages is a New Haven landmark located in your fridge and restaurants throughout the region.
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Anthony Naclerio
BREAKFAST/DINERS
SOUTHEAST ASIAN/KOREAN
THAI
The Pantry, 2 Mechanic St., New Haven (203-7870392). Lines get long on weekend mornings at this East Rock institution, known for its breakfast goodies like gingerbread pancakes, fluffy waffles and hearty omelets.
Bentara Restaurant, 76 Orange St., New Haven (203562-2511). 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.
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.
Bella’s Cafe, 896 Whalley Ave., New Haven (203387-7107). 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. Parthenon Diner, 374 E. Main St., Branford (203-4810333). 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. Copper Kitchen, 1008 Chapel St., New Haven (203777-8010). Downtown’s most convenient spot for a diner-style, 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 (203878-5680). 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.
Kari Restaurant, 1451 Whalley Ave., New Haven (203389-1280). 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 (203-7762248). Great for a quick bowl of pho, Vietnamese soup, along with tasty noodle dishes and affordable Asian specialties. Limited hours, so call ahead. Oriental Pantry Grocery & Gifts, 486 Orange St., New Haven (203-865-2849). A foodie favorite for its home-style Korean dishes like soups and bibimbap. Takeout sushi, breakfast sandwiches and Asian drinks and sweets are also available. 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 fieryhot chicken galbi. 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.
Bangkok Gardens, 172 York St., New Haven (203-7898718). 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 (203-2889888). 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. The Terrace, 1559 Dixwell Ave., Hamden (203-2302077). The chef’s French training shows in this Thai eatery’s above-average plating and seductive flavor combinations. Ayuthai, 2279 Boston Post Road, Guilford (203-4532988). Quality Thai in a casual setting. Excellent duck and curry plates, along with above-average papaya salad and desserts.
CHINESE/TAIWANESE Iron Chef, 1209 Campbell Ave., West Haven (203-9323888). Unusual Taiwanese specialties and wellexecuted classics shine at this student favorite.
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House of Chao, 898 Whalley Ave., New Haven (203389-6624). This Westville institution draws diners from across the region for its bright flavors and eclectic menu.
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.
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.
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.
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. 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.
COFFEE SHOPS Cafe Grounded, 20 Church St, Guilford (203-453-6400). Tasty sandwiches and coffee drinks star at this aviation-themed cafe that operates inside a quonset hut near the town’s Green. 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. 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. 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. 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 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.
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. 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. 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.
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.
AMERICAN
FUSION CUISINE
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.
Mickey’s Restaurant & Bar, 2323 Whitney Ave., Hamden (203-288-4700). This eatery’s artful blend
Foe, 576 Main St., Branford (203-483-5896). The perfect setting for a romantic evening, Foe shines
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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 (203-859-6666). 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. Zaroka Bar & Restaurant, 148 York St., New Haven (203-776-8644). Opulent setting for one of the city’s popular Indian buffets. Enjoy the birayani pilafs, crunchy pappadum crackers and fluffy 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 restaurant with great 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 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
Family Owned & Operated Since
NEW AT CONSIGLIO’S Cooking Classes • Dine AlFresco Sunday Brunch On & Off Premise Catering
“THE LUIGI BOARD” a zany musical directed by Joel Vig from Broadaway’s “HairSpray”
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165 WOOSTER ST, NEW HAVEN • 203.865.4489 • WWW.CONSIGLIOS.COM
classics and a warm, welcoming atmosphere set this Wooster Square eatery apart. Open for lunch and private parties; also hosts a series of cooking classes. 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 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. 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 Moe’s Southwest Grill, 46 Whitney Ave., New Haven (203- 776-6637). Healthy burritos, tacos and other Tex-Mex favorites along with queso cheese sauce. Beer and wine are served, along with margaritas. 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 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 hot and stick with classics, like the silky baklava. 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 from doner to minced chicken to cubes of lamb is on tap at this 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 cozy 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 covers all the bases with cherrystones, corn on the cob, 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 (203458-2921). Pasta dishes, a stellar chowder and a full range of grilled fish set this Shoreline favorite apart. Savor Lazy Man’s Stuffed Lobster as you watch lobstermen at 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.
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; items like sea urchin roe are available.
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 homey 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. 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.
Adriana’s
RESTAURANT & W INE BAR
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. Try the beguiling infused-sake cocktails.
Grand Re-Opening One of the Top Italian Restaurants in the U.S. 2008 - Zagat Rated Private Rooms Available for Banquets Grand Avenue • New Haven () - • Free Parking
adrianasrestaurant.net new haven
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Two wheel touring of Guilford, Mystic, and Hammonassett with a high tech spin.
East Riders Segway tours are the most ‘green’ fun you can have on two wheels By Susan E. Cornell “It’s like a bike only easier, because you don’t have to work so hard,” explained one of the riders on a Segway tour of historic Guilford offered by Shoreline Segway. For those not familiar with these fun, green machines found worldwide (and touring locally in Guilford, Hammonassett State Park, and now Mystic), Segways are “twowheeled, self-balancing, environmentally friendly machines that take riding to a new level,” explains Rich Petrillo, who owns Shoreline Segway with his wife Eileen. “The Segway requires no special skills as it takes care of the balancing, and virtually anyone can use one,” Petrillo adds. Proof positive: Out of our tour group consisting of a half-dozen riders between 13 and 50-something (most not particularly athletic looking), not one of 62
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us had any trouble picking up the new mode of transportation in a jiffy. To move forward, you lean forward. To stop, lean back a little. The Segway just seems to sense where you want to go and the ride is smooth sailing. Shoreline Segway started offering guided rides of Hammonasset and Guilford two years ago and recently expanded to Mystic. The family-owned company also offers private tours, corporate outings and can add a unique dimension to weddings, birthday parties and other fun occasions. Our mission: a tour of Guilford. After an orientation covering operation, emergency stops and Segway etiquette, we were off gliding through the historic district, across the Town Green, past the Agricultural Fairgrounds and to the Town Marina on
Long Island Sound. Highlights of the hour tour included historic homes, museums, Long Island Sound, Faulkner’s and Grass Islands, as well as the tidal wetlands. While the historic lessons were cool, the true cool was the Segway itself. That futuristic feel, the conversation piece running into (not literally!) walkers and bikers about, and the thrill of riding is the true tour highlight. While riding looks fun, it’s even more fun than it looks. The company also offers glides in Hammonasset on the bike trails near the beach and onto the wetlands viewing platforms. In Mystic the glide goes through town, across the historic Mystic Bascule Bridge, and along scenic River Rd. Rides are offered year-round, seven days a week (weather permitting) by appointment. The cost is $65 per person in Guilford and Mystic and $85 for Hammonasset. Shoreline Segway also rents by the hour, day or weekend, as well as for private and corporate events. Call Shoreline Segway at 203-453-5799 or 203453-6063. v
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