New Haven magazine May 2009 by Second Wind Media Ltd

MAY

2009

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Foodie MY MOTHER, MY SELF Mothers Day reveries

ROSA IN BLOOM One 2 One

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New Haven I May/2009

Rosa DeLauro on the inside looking out

A new coffee-table book loves Connecticut’s shoreline

14 Heritage

37 At Home

From canal to rail to trail

How one couple found value in the 1990s recession

16 Gridiron Goes Gaelic

42 Body & Soul

A new generation learns to love Gaelic football

Striking a blow against breast cancer

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35 Bibliophile

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08 ONE2ONE

18 My Mother, My Self 47 Ofnotes Moms, and the daughters who love them

New Haven’s own ‘Southern’ bluesman

24 Foodie Haven

51 Onstage

New(ish) area eateries you simply must experience

Playwright Monica Bauer ‘emerges’ no more

30 Cheap Thrills

62 Water, Water Everywhere

Have a recession-resistant blast this spring

Making a splash at CoCo Key’s new aquatic park

62 24 New Haven

| Vol. 2, No. 8 | May 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

may 2009

Senior Publisher’s Representative Mary W. Beard, Publisher’s Representatives Cynthia Carlson 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

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EDITOR’S L E T T E R

The (Thick) Envelope, Please

very graduation speaker in the history of graduations says the same thing: “’Commencement’ means ‘beginning,’ so graduation isn’t an end — it’s the start of a promising new chapter in your life.” For the high school Class of 2009, as for every other class, that received wisdom is only half-true. Sure, they’ll soon be entering college (or, for the less academically oriented, entering the workforce), but graduation also signals the end of two important elements of the new grads’ lives: saying goodbye to lifelong friends, and leaving home.

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For parents of this year’s high-school grads, children born in 1990 and 1991, this spring has been a pressure cooker unlike any other. Those years marked the apogee of the so-called “echo” baby boom — the last chance for many baby boomers then in their mid- to late 30s to have that long-deferred child. And then they all did, all at the same time. For all those fresh-faced 18-year-olds, that meant competition for places in the college class of 2013 was tougher than at any time in history. (The number of annual births in the mid- 1950s was higher than in the early 1990s, but far fewer children attended college then than now.) In the May 2008 NHM, Duo Dickinson wrote of his elder son’s imminent departure for college (“It’s All About the Bumper Sticker”): “When you bought all the right toys to hang over your child’s cradle to maximize his simultaneous potential to be a rocket scientist, world-class composer and visual artist (not to mention President of the United States), it was impossible to believe that some institution that you think is “the best” would not take a similar view of your child as the potential savior of all mankind.”

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Last year was Mr. Dickinson’s year to discover that cruel truth; this year was mine. The April 19 New York Times published an article profiling about a dozen high school seniors, their academic credentials, career aspirations, colleges applied to and where they were accepted and rejected. One young lady from a fine private school took all AP courses and finished with a weighted GPA of 4.75 (it took me some time to calculate how this was even mathematically possible, but it is). Yale rejected her. Actually, Yale probably laughed at her. The Blue Mother this year accepted just 7.5 percent of all applications — an historic low. Mind you, this doesn’t mean that only 7.5 percent of graduating high-school seniors were good enough for Yale; it means that only 7.5 percent of graduating high-school seniors who thought they were good enough for Yale actually were good enough. For parents, the most uncomfortable aspect of this danse macabre is being forced to take stock of your child truly objectively, through the cold, clear lens of SAT scores, GPAs and extracurriculars. For many, to be forced to take such a sobering assessment is, well, sobering. For our little vintage-1991 bundle of joy, it worked out pretty well. But it would have been a lot easier of he had been born in 1992. v

Complimentary Manicure — Michael C. Bingham, Editor 6

may 2009

I NT EL military colleges. Last year the speech was also at the same disclosed location, although it was given by thenVice President Dick Cheney. President George W. Bush addressed the 2007 graduates. Both discussed Iraq, Afghanistan and international terrorism

Trouble Passing Airport Security? Urban folklore may have it as a common occurrence that surgeons leave their tools behind — or rather inside — their patients, but one study showed that it happens in only one of 7,000 cases. The Hartford Courant adds that state regulators claim “retained objects,” which doesn’t sound nearly as bad, were discovered 65 times in Connecticut patients for four years beginning in 2004.

We’re Feeling More Secure Already NEW LONDON — Former Arizona governor and current Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano will keynote the Coast Guard Academy’s 128th commencement on May 20. The academy has just under 1,000 cadets and is the smallest of the

Napolitano remarks may take a different track since she has recently been defending her agency’s release of a report that veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan may be recruited by anti-government, right-wing extremists.

in charges on the accounts. He faces 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fine. Bad boy Baddhio was also arrested when he defrauded Princeton University back in 2004 in another credit-card scheme. At the time of that arrest he had already faced similar charges in California and Massachusetts, where he impersonated a Harvard employee in order to open credit card accounts. Baadhio’s lawyer is asking for leniency, claiming a long prison sentence would deprive the scientific community of valuable research and that an illness is causing him brain damage.

Money Still Talking in City of Elms

How Much for the Movie Rights? HARTFORD — Randy Baadhio, who at age 22 earned a doctorate in physics, has pleaded guilty to credit-card fraud — again, and again, and again. Incarcerated since his 2007 arrest, the former Stamford resident stole credit card information over the Internet and racked up more than $142,000

Optherion Inc. attracted $5 million to develop diagnostic and therapeutic solutions for macular degeneration. And Samara Innovations received $100,000 for medical-device R&D.

NEW HAVEN — Venture-capital investment is down 61 percent, with a paltry $3 billion invested nationwide in the first quarter of 2009. Here in Connecticut the picture was much brighter. Five companies brought in more than $37.5 million, compared to only $20 million to Connecticut in the first quarter of 2008. In New Haven, Rib-X Pharmaceuticals attracted $25 million to develop new antibiotics, while Affomix Corp. received $5.2 million to develop biomedical technology for screening of antibodies.

Martialing Forces in Shelton SHELTON — Four-time world champion Grand Master Park will host the Connecticut State Taekwondo Championships May 30 at the Sports Center of Connecticut on River Road in Shelton. The day-long event is expected to draw more than 1,000 spectators and competitors from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey. The participants range in age from four to adult. Winners qualify to compete in the Junior Olympics and the National Championship scheduled for July in Austin, Tex.

You Win Some, You Lose Some LEDYARD — Connecticut’s Indian casinos are enjoying a rebound in slotmachine revenues. Foxwoods’ March take was $62 million, a 1.0 percent increase over the same month last year and six percent more than in February. Mohegan Sun’s take was $66 million, a 15-percent year-over-year decline but four percent above February, and the second-consecutive monthly increase. Other recent headlines haven’t been quite so positive. Boston’s “Craigslist killer,” med student Phillip Markoff, was en route for a return trip to the casinos when he was apprehended by the police with his very alive fiancée. Another Mass. miscreant, Joanne Salvatore, didn’t do much for Foxwoods’ PR when she left her nine-year-old daughter alone in their hotel room. The daughter refused to crap out: She rolled 911 and police came to clean up the bets — and Ms. Salvatore.

new haven

may 2009

PHOTOGRAPH:

Her party now ﬁrmly in control of the reins of powers, New Haven’s ‘congresswoman for life’ steps to the fore

Steve Blazo

Rosa in Bloom

osa L. DeLauro has represented Connecticut’s Third House District since 1991, and is currently serving her tenth term. She was born and raised in New Haven’s Wooster Square neighborhood, where her father, Ted DeLauro, was a city alderman and nicknamed the ‘mayor of Wooster Square,’ and her mother, Luisa, was the longestserving member of the Board of Aldermen (1965-98). The 66-year-old lawmaker sits on the House Appropriations and Budget Committees. She also chairs the AgricultureFDA Appropriations Subcommittee and is a member of the Labor-Health, Human Services-Education and Financial Services Appropriations subcommittees. She is married to inﬂuential Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg.

vvv Did you know that when you let Rahm Emanuel stay in your Washington, D.C. basement that he would become the second most-powerful person in the world? I’ve known Rahm for 30 years. I’ve always known him to be smart, bright, enterprising, irreverent, iconoclastic, all of the above. He’s the perfect set of attributes for the job he’s in now. And he was an outstanding member of Congress. And he loves it, so I wouldn’t put it past him to run for another ofﬁce.

PHOTOGRAPH:

Steve Blazo

The first bill signed by the President was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which you worked on for 12 years. Is this in return for your hospitality toward Emanuel [laughs]? There’s the Lilly Ledbetter piece [the bill is named for an Alabama woman who after working at a Goodyear plant for 20 years discovered she was earning significantly less than male workers in equivalent jobs] and then there’s the Paycheck Fairness, and we’re still working on the Paycheck Fairness bill. I don’t like to be self-serving, but yes, Rahm knew during the campaign the issues that I believed were important economic issues for then-candidate Obama to take on. I wrote memos to Rahm, to David Axelrod, to the President directly about the issue of pay equity, yes. What’s the difference between the two bills?

Ledbetter redresses a role that the Supreme Court initiated. Lilly could only file her suit under what is currently now Title VII [of] the Civil Rights Act [of 1964, which outlawed disparate impact and disparate treatment of protected classes], which caps her damages. She proved discrimination, and the courts awarded her $3.8 million. But she was only allowed to file under Title VII, which capped the award at about $360,000. Because current understanding of the law she could file a suit based essentially on her last paycheck. Lilly for 20 years did not know that she was being paid less for the same job. She got this anonymous tip. So the [Supreme] Court ruled in favor of Goodyear. They changed the intent of the original law, and she got zero, nothing. That being said, what Ledbetter did was to overturn, essentially, the court. You don’t have forever to file now. You have two years.

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Paycheck Fairness tightens up and strengthens the Pay Equity Act of 1963. It says that if you prove intent to discriminate, you can file a suit and your damages are not capped. It also lifts a prohibition that says that employees can’t talk about their salary with one another. Women have been fired for having a conversation about what their salary is with someone else. Are you getting administration support for Paycheck Fairness? Oh yes. There’s support for Paycheck Fairness. The House passed both Lilly and Paycheck, the Senate the first time [in 2008] fell three votes short of Ledbetter and they hadn’t taken up Paycheck. Then Paycheck passed in the House. The Senate [now] needed to do more work on Paycheck Fairness because they hadn’t taken it up yet. So they passed Ledbetter, the President signed Ledbetter and it was Rahm Emanuel who saw that it was ready to go. And he also knows that next on the docket has got to be Paycheck Fairness, as does the President. It was wonderful. One of your biographies calls you a ‘fierce liberal.’ Oh, God. Would you tell me what that

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Steve Blazo PHOTOGRAPH:

you help us with this? Can you do that?’ Community. That was what they were about, and they tried to help navigate the system for people. That’s the perspective that I come from. That’s what I want to do, and I do it from a congressional seat, where I have the opportunity [not only] to address these issues and understand them, but also to do something that has to do with public policy that can address those needs. That for me is the primary construct. Are people still doing what your mom and dad did? What has happened to that concept? You have a lot of good people who continue to serve on the Board of Aldermen, but also people are in the community who have a real mission — the advocacy community or people who volunteer to look at how you can make a difference. What I view as the strength of the institutions that I serve in — it’s not what it does every day, because sometimes it does the exact opposite of what you’d like it to do or what you think would be useful — I view its potential, which is what its strength is. And if you look historically, you’ve got Social Security, Medicaid, Civil Rights, GI Bill, programs for middle-class families to get their kids to school, a new GI Bill today. Think about the way in which there has been an opportunity created. That’s what the strength and the power of [government is], to make [the country] reach its potential. That’s what leaders and administrations do.

DeLauro greeting supporters at the Cherry Blossom festival inWooster Square last month. Both her parents were aldermen, and father Ted was known as the ‘mayor’ of the Square.

means? I have no idea. How do you describe your worldview? For me, it’s about my background, from a blue-collar, working family. My dad came as an immigrant. He served in the U.S. Army, worked as an insurance salesman, served on the [Board of Aldermen] in New Haven — it was a non-paying job. He had a daughter to educate, so he worked for the city. He was the ‘mayor of Wooster Square.’ He was. That was his neighborhood, his community. He started as the city court interpreter for the Italians coming through as immigrants many years 10

may 2009

ago. A working class, immigrant family only dreams that their daughter will serve in the United States House of Representatives. My mother worked in the old sweatshops on State Street, a garment worker. My view is that people work hard. They do everything that’s right, try to raise a family, so forth. So their economic security is very important to me. And the overarching concept of the job for me is that — my folks both served on city council. As you know, my mother [Luisa DeLauro] served for 35 years, the longest-serving member [of the Board of Aldermen]. Their role was as advocates. They didn’t write legislation. It wasn’t necessary. People came in, ‘Luisa, Ted, can

Here we are in a really difficult time, and it’s almost like when Democrats say black, the Republicans say white. And they’ll switch the next day. Sometimes you don’t know whose team anybody’s on. You’ve been there for 20 years now. Is the system fixable? My view is it has to be fixable, because of the opportunities that the institution can provide, especially at this time. The most recent example to me is the economic recovery program. We are in a crisis. How can you just sit in a closet and say, ‘We shouldn’t do anything to address the current issues’? Everyone — I’ve sat with the leadership around the table with economists who are left, right, center, wherever they are, across the spectrum. ‘You’ — and they pointed to us — ‘you need to do something in the way of a recovery package that is big and bold that gets money into the hands of people who are going to spend it. Look at mechanisms to create jobs.’

You keep in mind that a year ago, before the last election, we passed in the House a bill that was $61 billion for an economic recovery. It didn’t go anywhere, couldn’t get any support. So when we come back in the midst of this crisis, the economists start to talk about $300 billion. Then they start to talk about $600, $700, $800 billion. That’s not a number that somebody pulled out of a hat. They said the level of investment that you’re going to have to make has two purposes: short-term economic recovery and long-term investment in growth. Central principles. Mechanisms to create jobs. Energy, environment, infrastructure that pertains to that, broadband, smart grid, alternative sources of energy products, wind, solar, whatever it is — new energy because it’s new technology, it’s new jobs, it’s green jobs, it’s a whole new way of looking at things, as well as school modernization, roads, bridges, transit. This does create jobs. But you cannot delay. If you’re going to do something, it’s got to be ready to go. That is what’s going to be the edge of it.

community organizing in that sense. So you were a ‘community organizer,’ too? It sounds like it’s made up now. Then there was an arm of CPI called the Community Action Institute, and what it did was to train community organizers all along the Eastern Seaboard. So it was not only Connecticut, it was Vermont, Rhode Island, Maine, etc. And Frank Logue

headed that effort before he was mayor. That’s where I went to work with this wonderful human being called William T. Rowe. Rowe Housing is named after Rowe. He’s really the father of adult education. It was the two of them, and it was a training facility. It was traveling, community organizing, and that’s where I got my start. Frank [Logue] ran in ’75. It was a very interesting time politically, because it was

Secondly, states, localities: serious revenue shortfalls. How do you stop the hemorrhaging, mitigate the hemorrhaging so that states and localities don’t have to lay police and fire off, teachers and those kinds of professionals? Health, big issue. Throw kids off HUSKY? Hell, no! Those are the two principled things. So you have within this piece the wherewithal in terms of infrastructure, transportation, all of that effort happening. Then you have the assistance to the states for Medicaid. We call that the safety net, right? Right. You’ve got to do that. The other thing is the extension of unemployment insurance. Connecticut is going to get 13 weeks on top of what we have because we have higher unemployment. Our unemployment went from 4.9 percent last year to 7.3 this year. It’s not just a number. It goes back to who are these people — they have kids, car payments, mortgage payments. They have dreams for their families. What happens to them? They’re people who want to work. You’re first job in politics was for Frank Logue, right? When I finished graduate school, I didn’t have a job. I just got my master’s from Columbia in international politics. I was looking around for a job, couldn’t find a job. In any case, we had at that time a city of New Haven summit called Community Progress Inc. (CPI), which was the first of the economic opportunity programs,

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a primary. We won. I can’t remember the numbers; there was a recount. And then Frank asked me to go to work for him, which I did. Food safety has been a primary issue for you for a pretty long time. How did you get there? I went to serve on the appropriations committee in 1992. I served on labor, health, education and human services — because I was interested in health and a lot of the working issues. I was looking for another subcommittee, and when I looked at the agriculture and Food & Drug Administration, it had health, all the nutrition programs, as well as agriculture policy. So I said, ‘That’s good; it looks like I will learn.’ I got beautiful advice from someone whom I treasure and who is really a brother — [U.S.] Sen. [Chris] Dodd. And I was looking at committees, and he said to me, ‘Rosa, don’t go where you’re comfortable and where you know all about it, for two reasons: learn about other areas of the country, learn about other issues and get to know other members who are not exactly like you — not from the Northeast, not from an urban area.’ A brilliant piece of advice. It’s

a great portfolio. But you took that on as food safety, right? I started with that. [You might think] I don’t come from agriculture — but [Connecticut has] dairy farms, we have specialty crops, [but] people don’t know that. The beginning of this stage is about agriculture, which is why you have an extension service, why you have the block for meeting on the Agriculture Experiment Station, the ﬁrst one in the nation. We are an agriculture-based [state], but not in the way Texas, Montana, and some others are. For me, I didn’t know all those states, but it was about what was happening [in the] Food & Drug Administration with food safety, with drug safety, all about the nutrition programs, the WHIP program, the food stamp program, the school lunch, school breakfast — what’s happening there. So I got into the issue of food safety. The chair of the committee at the time was Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). He’s now in the Senate. Wonderful chairman. We got involved in standards for mammography, because not that long ago there weren’t [any]. So we looked at those issues. I introduced, very early on before 9/11, legislation that said,

let’s increase our inspection circuits for food, and I lost in the subcommittee, I lost in the full committee, and I lost on the ﬂoor of the House. There were a lot of food scares, even before 9/11. Everybody kept saying we’ve got the safest food supply in the world. We’re now going to have the food police. [In 1993 300 cases of salmonella poisoning were traced to Jack-in-the-Box restaurants in the Paciﬁc Northwest.] Four youngsters eventually died. The [U.S. Department of Agriculture] started to take a look at its internal mechanisms and do some changing there. Today we have 15 agencies that deal with food safety in some way or another. The two principal ones are USDA and the FDA [Food & Drug Administration], and both of those come under my jurisdiction. The President is now saying here’s $1 billion for the FDA. But you’re not totally happy with that? No, no, the President’s radio address last week — whoa — we couldn’t get the prior administration to think about food safety as a national issue. Not only that, you’ve

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got the Secretary of Agriculture talking about a single food agency. I’ll talk to you about the two pieces of legislation. The gentleman testiﬁed from Kellogg [CEO David Mackay] a couple of days ago [calling for more effective government regulation after his company lost $70 million to the recent salmonella outbreak because it had to recall peanut-butter crackers and cookies]. His industry is going out of business because there are no standards. They’re going out of business — spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and now peanut butter. Peanut butter, a highrisk food? People are not buying peanut butter, they’re not buying peanuts, they’re not buying any of the peanut-based products, because they’re scared. And they’re asking for mandatory, federal, enforceable standards. Several years ago Dick Durbin and I, he in the Senate and me in the House, introduced something called the Safe Food Act, which would take all the 15 agencies’ jurisdiction and meld it into one, single food safety agency with what it needed by way of mandatory recall, traceability, working with the state laboratories, an internal mechanism to identify the foods

at greatest risk, to develop performance standards, processes by which you move forward, inspecting facilities at greatest risk, and inspections according to what the risks are. So that’s a single agency. Who would be against that now? The industry. [The Safe Food Act] was eight years ago. So nobody was ready back then. Nobody wanted to even talk about it. It was this crazy, cockamamie idea that DeLauro in the House, Durbin in the Senate, that’s going nowhere. But one or two years ago, I did something, because the number of outbreaks at the FDA was so signiﬁcant. Keep in mind that the FDA has jurisdiction over 80 percent of our food supply. USDA has some pieces in place. FDA has nothing in place, whether it is domestic — no internal processes, nothing for domestic protection or international is worse. So what I worked on with a number of people, outside groups — we looked at the FDA and said, okay, let’s bifurcate the responsibilities. Let’s have an agency that deals with food safety and an agency that deals with drug

and device safety — still continue to be under the umbrella of Health & Human Services, but the President would appoint a commissioner for each agency that would be conﬁrmed by the Senate, have its own resources and move forward. That began to get a lot of traction. It has a lot of traction. We have had so many of these outside groups, including Charitable Trust, which doesn’t endorse legislation. The peanut butter outbreak has really galvanized people to say that this is a crisis. It’s like a perfect storm. It demands national attention. This is not just this person who thinks that this is a good idea. You’re in the sweet spot. You’ve been doing this now for 18 years, and your party’s in power in Congress and a sympathetic President in oﬃce. If you look out over the next several years, aside from the political battle, what do you want to see happen most? First of all, I want to see us work to create 3.5 million jobs. I want this to work. I also want to see the investment for the future. Economic security for people in this nation is critical. That’s something that I spent a lot of time on. v

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calls the section “a critical link” because, among other things, it takes the trail through the historic neighborhood of Newhallville, which she describes as a “jewel of African-American culture.” “It is a vibrant place, though it has had its downturns,” she says. “This neighborhood also doesn’t have as much open space, so the trail is critical in that way and as a way for the people who live here to get out in a carbon-free way. This links Connecticut’s cultural capital with the traditional wooded landscape of the interior.”

Mayor John DeStefano (second from left) joins Lisa Fernandez, Louis Mangini (right) and others in a groundbreaking ceremony for the last section of trail joining New Haven and Hamden.

Happy Trails At long last, New Haven and Hamden partner to join trailheads By Sarah Politz

f you are taking your bike out of the shed for an inaugural spin on the historic Farmington Canal Trail this spring, then you may notice some welcome improvements — and there are more to come. Where in the past you may have had to leave an uneven portion of the trail for the more smoothly paved street, you will find the path has been finished, a bridge constructed and the authoritative “Trail Closed” signs removed. The town of Hamden plans to finish trail construction up to the New Haven city line by late spring, and on April 6 New Haven broke ground on the remaining half-mile section, which will stretch from Shelton Avenue at Starr Street up to the Hamden line. The two ends are projected to join in approximately six months, in time for autumn riders to enjoy.

may 2009

Once ﬁnished, the section will bridge a gap that connects downtown New Haven, the Yale campus and other major employers with communities up through Cheshire. “Any of us who have ridden different parts of [the trail] know what an amazing journey it is,” says Mayor John DeStefano, an avid biker. “To travel this trail in Cheshire is to experience something very different from what you do in Hamden and from what you do in the completed part of the New Haven trail [from Hillhouse Avenue to Starr Street].” “People these days talk about the need for regional cooperation,” adds Hizzoner. “This has been regional cooperation, institutional cooperation and cooperation over time.” Lisa Fernandez, president of the Farmington Valley Rails-to-Trails Association,

“It just goes to show that the city of New Haven is once again ahead of the curve,” says Louis Mangini, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-3). An additional 1.9 miles of trail are in design to run from downtown New Haven to Long Wharf and the waterfront, where in the past the old canal line would discharge cargo to shipping vessels in the Long Island Sound. Construction on the southernmost portion is expected to begin in about a year. “Even though we have more trail to build south of downtown to get to the waterfront, the critical part was to link up with Hamden, which opens the trail to the most people,” explains project manager David Barone. The trail is carved from the former Farmington Canal, which snaked through the Farmington River Valley from New Haven Harbor through the Connecticut towns of Hamden, Cheshire, Southington, Plainville, Farmington, Avon, Simsbury, East Granby and Sufﬁeld to Northampton, Mass. Completed in 1835, the canal was in use for 12 years before rail rendered it obsolete. Explains Bruce Donald, president of the Farmington Valley Trails Council, which oversees the trail from Plainville north to the Massachusetts line: “In the 1820s when America was starting to become the manufacturing powerhouse that it ended up being, there was a huge need to move people and goods. This northsouth corridor along the rich and fertile

Farmington Valley was one years that there has been a of the first places, along with preponderance of opinion — and the Erie Canal and a few a lot of political support that others, where people were we never really had [before].” desperate for that kind of “There’s a very real economic communication and movement improvement, and there’s of goods and services to people.” tourism dollars,” explains As railroads began to crisscross Donald, “not to mention the the land and the pace of quality-of-life issue and the commerce accelerated, the fact that you’ve got something canal was replaced in 1848 by that is now finally a safe venue the New York-New Havento be out to rollerblade, walk, Hartford Railroad, which push a carriage or bike. It’s operated until a flood in the so hard to build them that 1980s put it out of commission. the towns that have them are Some portions of the rail really very lucky.” right-of-way remained in use As Yale’s Director of in Plainville as late as 1987, but Sustainable Transportation have now been mostly retired. for the past two years, Holly Citizens in southern Parker has been a part of the Connecticut formed the university’s efforts to make Farmington Valley Rail-toway for the trail to pass Trail Association in 1987 to through campus. Yale provided prevent the sale of the rightfunds to redesign functional of-way and to protect it for pedestrian bridges over the recreational use. The first trail trail on Temple and Prospect construction began in Hamden Streets. The university also put and Cheshire in the early 1990s up the money to take the trail with funds from the Federal from Temple Street through Transportation Act of 1991. the Audubon Arts District.

“This is an area where it made “The demand for more and perfect sense to use the rails-to- better bicycle paths and trails concept to rail bank the accommodation on the trails, to buy the right-of-ways roadways for bicyclists is — and thank God they did,” growing,” Parker says. “New says Donald. “And these days Haven has the highest number instead of motors moving on of bicycle commuters in the the line, it’s a space for people state. The university has — with the same concept of recently located over 600 putting communities together employees to 25 Science Park, a in a safe manner without using building located directly along fossil fuel and gaining some the Farmington Canal Trail.” health beneﬁt.” Extending the Farmington Today the Farmington Canal Canal Trail between New Heritage Greenway extends Haven and Hamden has been some 84 miles from New a long time coming. And Haven to Northampton, Mass. with more people than ever Over half, about 54 miles able to access the path, future and growing, has so far been completion of a New England developed as a paved trail for Greenway can’t be too far over non-motorized recreation and the next hill. commuting. The Farmington “I think this is going to be one Canal is an ofﬁcially of the most popular parks in designated part of the East the region,” says DeStefano. Coast Greenway, which will “It will be an amazing ride.” eventually cover 2,600 miles The Farmington Valley Trails from Maine to Florida. Council celebrates National Trails “It’s been a long haul to Day on June 6 with the 12th annual get these pieces done,” Trails in Motion Tour. Meet at acknowledges Donald. “It’s Iron Horse Blvd., Simsbury. See only been the last couple of fvgreenway.org for details. v

new haven

PHOTOGRAPH:

Anthony DeCarlo

Having a ball: Sons and daughters of the auld sod are afforded the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of their parents at the NHGF&HC in East Haven..

Gridiron, Gaelic-Style The New Haven Gaelic Football & Hurling Club connects IrishAmericans with their heritage and gives parents a chance to pass on a legacy By Cindy Simoneau

rom the shouting on the sidelines, the uninformed observer might think she was witnessing the highstakes drama of a league championship — not the first day of outdoor practice. Parents are screaming words of encouragement hoping the field filled with boys and girls of various ages and skill levels will meld into a cohesive unit of experienced players. Another season of Gaelic football is underway at the New Haven Gaelic Football & Hurling Club (NHGF&HC), whose 60-year tradition of play is continuing for another generation of these

Irish-American children whose ancestors brought the sport, whose roots trace back to the 14th century, from their homeland many years ago. Gaelic football is played by teams of 15 on a rectangular ﬁeld with H-shaped goals at each end. Points may be scored by kicking the ball in the net below the crossbars, or by kicking or hitting the ball with the ﬁst through the crossbars. “Go. Run. Keep up with him. Good,” shouts Doug Hanlon, club board member whose daughter is new to the sport. “I’m happy she wants to participate, but

this was her idea, not mine,” explains Hanlon, whose son is also a player. “Where else can your children compete in a co-ed sport with others from throughout the state and just enjoy having fun?” The same scenario is described by others who explain that their children want to learn a new sport, even though their classmates and friends may not, because their fathers and siblings have played for years. While a generation ago the sport was for guys only, it is now co-ed. Throughout the Sunday afternoon-long sessions, many fathers, some who coach the youth and others who just watch from the sidelines, reminisce about their own past experiences as they watch their progeny follow in family footsteps. Participation in the fast-paced sport in Connecticut is growing in popularity as families seek to reconnect with their Hibernian heritage. The New Haven club had only about a dozen youths participating as recently as 2005; this year nearly 150 children have signed up to play. With more than 70 families participating,

they hail from many New Haven and Fairﬁeld County communities, and even as far away as Springﬁeld, Mass.

watching their kids as the kids do participating,” he says. “It’s good, fun, competitive play that welcomes everyone.”

Teams are grouped by ages from eight, ten, 12, 14 and 16 and up. The teams compete in the New York GAA Minor Board League.

This year the New Haven club will send teams to play in competitions from Boston to Philadelphia, and in July to San Francisco for the Continental Youth Championships. This year will mark its fourth participation in the national championship tournament.

While team play has been associated with the club since it began in 1949, over the years there have been ﬁts and starts to enrollment as the popularity of other sports dominated children’s interest. The current program is the result of the dedicated effort of many 30- and 40-something fathers who themselves played on the club’s 1982 and 1985 teams that traveled to tournaments in Ireland to participate in international competitions. Patrick (Packy) Lillis is one of those players who now coaches and watches as his children, Aidan and Patrick, continue the family tradition. Lillis says he loves seeing the children of other former teammates also participating. “The kids are having a grand time, but they also take the task of teamwork and good play very seriously,” explains Lillis. Anther teammate in Ireland was John McGowan of Branford, who likewise coaches and has two boys in the program. “I think the adults have as much fun

On the ﬁeld, children are schooled in the art of soloing or drop-kicking the ball and kicking and passing to their teammates. The patient coaches often stop practice to explain what went right or should be corrected from the last play. They remind them of the rules and the need to play their positions and stay with opponents. The club operates out of the Irish American Community Center on Venice Place in East Haven, its home since 1967 when it was purchased from the St. Casimir’s Men Club of the Lithuanian community. During the week there are a variety of cultural activities including Gaelic lessons, history classes, dancing lessons and social events. In the summer the center hosts a popular summer camp program. But on weekends the clubhouse and adjacent ﬁeld come alive with football and hurling.

Often standing on the sidelines, watching play, is 83-year-old Sean Scollan, who is the only living original club founder and a former four-time president. Other club founders were the late Jim McGuinness, Eddie Brasil and Patrick Bohan. Scollan says the club and teams’ successes are a far cry from its humble beginnings when members would solicit donations for uniforms and team travel from patrons at New Haven’s pubs. “I think is wonderful and unbelievable to see so many children out here learning this sport in the tradition of their fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers,” says Scollan with pride. A former longtime player himself, Scollan said football play leads to a special connection to Irish heritage and friendships based on the common goal of preserving the traditions. “When we started the club we always hoped it would be somewhere families could come and participate in sports and other activities together,” he says. “This has been successful beyond our dreams. I give a lot of credit to these members and admire their dedication to their families and history.” To learn more, visit iacc-ct.com. v

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My Mother, My Self

PHOTOGRAPH:

Anthony DeCarlo

may 2009

Daughters and mothers discuss the special bond that binds them in heart and memory

Mother’s Day

By Melissa Nicefaro

All of a sudden, your little worshipper is about to turn into a pre-teen. With horror, you see yourself in her actions — and sometimes even her words — more every day. In your daughter’s eyes, you know nothing about anything. She tolerates your tirades about messy rooms and forgotten homework with that blank stare that shouts “Are you going to shut up any time soon?” She’s got one eye on her instant messenger and the other on the cell phone. (Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.) The ﬁrst time you’re called the meanest mom on earth, it feels good. You feel like you’ve done your thing. But the next 90 times, it doesn’t have the same ring to it. There is not enough Xanax in the world for being the mother of a teenage daughter. We long for the sleepless nights when she was a newborn.

environment, you ﬁnd boys telling girls they can’t do certain things. It starts when you’re quite young and it worried me.” And it’s up to mom to teach them otherwise. So Woodside would walk her girls to school instead of put them on the bus. She wanted to raise girls who could cope and she wanted them to walk ten miles through the woods and feel great about it. While other kids their age were going with their families to Disney World, Woodside took her kids hiking on the Appalachian Trail. She started a tradition with her girls and they hiked every year. It was special mother-daughter bonding time that she thought they’d all cherish forever. And they still do. “When they were adolescents, they asked if, instead of hiking, we could just go shopping and I cajoled them into it one more time and said we wouldn’t have to go again,” Woodside recalls.

PHOTOGRAPH:

Anthony DeCarlo

“I really felt that girls just don’t get an opportunity to feel strong today,” she says. “Even in an elementary-school

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She was deliberate about it. Growing up with three older brothers, Woodside did not have the sense that she was strong. “It’s just the way boys were,” she recalls. “I didn’t realize what strength I had in me until I was in high school and I went out for the track team. It was like suddenly the lioness had been released. That had a huge impact on me.”

Today, 20-year-old Elizabeth Eddy is in What was all that talk about a special college and 18-year-old Annie Eddy is mother-daughter bond, anyway? That a senior in high school. Woodside kept relationship doesn’t come without hard her maiden name after marriage, but her work and willingness to accept change in daughters have her husband’s name. the people we love. Remember that old “I think I see signs of things I did right saying that we’re hardest on the ones we with them — knock on wood,” Woodside love the most? Or better yet, remember being told, “Just wait until you have kids!” says. “I keep saying I’m lucky. They occasionally rebelled, just like any kids. when you were younger? (I can still hear There are two basic principles that I my grandmother’s words when I see tried to stick to: I didn’t want to be a myself — or should I say “hear myself” busybody in their lives. I didn’t want — in my pre-teen.) to micromanage their lives: ‘Do your Christine Woodside of Deep River homework, or not.’ I tried to back off.” wanted her daughters, now 18 and 20, to And she knows to cherish the time she realize at a young age that they could be shares with the girls. just as strong as boys. It was critically important to her.

Gustav Klimt c. 1905

very little girl yearns to be “Mom.” She puts on something frilly, smears her face with lipstick and trots around in mom’s high heels — because that’s exactly what moms spend our days doing, right? Yeah. Especially if it’s hot red lipstick. Then your precious little girl starts to grow up. She realizes that you barely even have time to shower and pull your hair back in a ponytail every day. She asks why you’re all dressed up when you’re in a pair of jeans and not the standard-issue yoga pants.

“They do come back around,” she says. “I hear myself being like my mother and sometimes I don’t know if that’s a bad thing or not. I do know that I’m not going

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“The relationship between mothers [and their daughters] should be parental and many times there is a divorce or something else the family is dealing with that can make a friendship relationship between parents and children confusing to the child,” Cutillo says. “There is most certainly a special bond between mothers and daughters, and much of it is instinctual, but quite a bit of it is learned through life’s experiences. “Talk to your daughter, encourage her to talk to you and most importantly, listen to your daughter when she talks to you,” Cutillo says. Keeping the mother-daughter bond and relationship strong and appropriate is difﬁcult through trying times. Joanne Proshansky and her daughter Lori Fyfe discovered that the hard way. Explains Proshansky: “We had a long road. Her dad and I divorced when she was 15, and I can’t even complain about rebellion, but it was rough on all of us. She, of course, wanted to go out with her friends every chance she got.” So Proshansky adhered to one rule that helped her through “that age” with her daughter: Be consistent with the things that really matter. Every parent knows that we have to pick and choose your battles. We know we should, anyway. “You put your girls to bed a 12-year-old angelic little child, and watch them while they’re sleeping — and they wake up 13 and an alien has moved in,” Proshansky says. Her little frilly-dress-wearing princess had suddenly become a teenager.

The 2006 death of the mother who raised her as a single parent ‘left a huge hole in her life.’

to be a liar to them. Even if I have to soften the truth, I won’t lie to them.” Woodside has one hope for her girls: she wants them to be independent and she believes the rest will fall into place as they grow into adulthood. “I want to know that they can take care of themselves,” she explains. “When I was pregnant, I remember thinking that if nothing else, I want my daughter to have a good sense of who she is.” When children are young, parents are

may 2009

continually cautioned that they are not supposed to be “friends” with their children. But doesn’t friendship just come naturally with love? Not exactly. “A common mistake mothers make with daughters is treating them as a friend in their early teenage years,” says Susan Cutillo, director of outpatient psychiatry at New Haven’s Hospital of Saint Raphael. “Later, friendship is completely appropriate, but looking at your daughter as a peer in the younger teen years can be trouble.”

“I remember when she was a teenager, she’d come downstairs to go to 4 o’clock mass on a Saturday afternoon and her hair would be teased sky-high and she’d have on that thick black eye makeup and I’d make her clean it off,” Proshansky recalls. “I told her, ‘You’re going to dress like class, not trash.’” “I remember yelling at her to clean her room, but I got tired of hearing myself,” she says. “I let her room be a mess and said once a month, ‘It needs to be thoroughly cleaned, and we’re not going to argue every single day.’” But when they can’t ﬁnd something in their room because it’s a mess, it’s still mom’s fault. Fyfe knows that now that she’s a mom herself. Knowing she had a close bond with her mother, and even seeing the bond her mother shared with her grandmother, Fyfe looked forward to

having children of her own. She felt the bond right away with both of her girls, although, the first time around she had her own health to focus on. Just 15 days after birth of her first daughter Fyfe was diagnosed with a serious infection. “I was so sick,” Fyfe recalls. She had IVs in both arms and couldn’t hold her daughter. “But my mom came and put a Boppy pillow on me and laid Hannah on my chest. Having her close to me was all I cared about, even with how sick I was,” she says. Proshansky, who lives right next door to her daughter’s family, stayed with Fyfe for two weeks after the birth of her granddaughters. The four generations lived in two houses next door to each other until Fyfe’s grandmother passed away in March 2008. “She was the most amazing woman,” Fyfe says. “She was really cool and funny and I know my mom and I miss her very much. She was such a blessing.” The three women had become the greatest of friends and confidants. “You become even closer when you pass that transition and it happened for us when she was around 17 and she started to realize the responsibility was all hers,” Proshansky says. It was then that she realized she’d done her job. Lori Larsen of West Haven is one person who simply needed a sense of friendship from her mother. Larsen lost her father when she was just a little girl. He was hit by a train in upstate New York and died instantly, but Larsen found some good in the tragedy. That’s just the type of person she is. An only child, Larsen was raised by her mom and grandmother and the three formed a very strong and loving relationship. Even as an adult, Larsen’s every move was made with her mom’s support. She spoke to her mother every day, often more than once. They were the best of friends. On August 21, 2006, Larsen received a phone call with the news that no daughter ever wants to hear: Her mom was dead. “It left a huge hole in my life,” she says. “Being an only child, we were very close. We talked every single day and I looked up to her. She had the best personality — so outgoing. I’ve had so many tragedies in my life and now most of my family is dead.”

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never got to open a wellness center of her own and we’d always talked about that. I became a massage therapist the year before she died and always loved helping people lose weight.” She created a bright and happy place that offers weight-loss programs, massage therapy, personal training, life coaching and has a vegetarian café. “Sometimes bad things in life catapult us to a good direction. I feel that I’m here for a reason,” says Larsen. But the hole in her heart where her mother used to be will never heal. Larsen knows that the special bond between mother and daughter is built on love, but grows with respect, friendship and listening to one another. Tricia Lin, director of the women’s studies program at Southern Connecticut State University, has learned ﬁrsthand how a relationship can suffer when a mother does not listen to her daughter. “I spent most of my life rebelling against my mother,” says Lin. “We were so similar — just too much of the same person. Even though I’ve been in the United States since 1980 and haven’t seen her a lot over the last 20 years, when I go see her I still feel her energy and then my rebellion follows.

Christine Woodside (second from left) wanted her daughters Annie (left) and Elizabeth (with father Nat Eddy) to be ‘as strong as boys.’

Her mother, Mary Dittus, befriended a man while living in New York. “She wanted in the worst way to have a male friend. He was a shady character with a history of drug abuse,” Larsen says. “He was a friend of the family for ﬁve years. She liked him, so I accepted him. She moved to Florida, but he was sad without her here, so Dittus moved him to Florida with her.” Four months later, Dittus was dead at 60 years old, allegedly at the hand of a man she tried to save. The friend from New York, Anthony Dabado, 49, and his friend Joseph Diﬁore, 36, are charged in her murder and are awaiting trial in Pinellas County, Fla. “We don’t really know who did what — she was stabbed and hit over the head — but there is a lot of evidence and they’ve both been behind bars since August 2006,” says Larsen. “She was a great mentor to me. She was a very strong woman and had been through a lot in her life. She just

may 2009

wanted to help Anthony and be a good friend to him.” Healing after losing her mom didn’t come quickly or easily for Larsen. A ﬁrm believer in the special bond that a mother and daughter share, Larsen was lost and completely alone. It’s gotten easier, but Larsen still feels her mother with her every day. “I know she was proud of me,” she says. “I’ve had to create my own happiness with her gone. There’s a lot of stuff that happens in life and it’s not all so nice. Sometimes when I talk about what happened with my mom, it seems so surreal. It happens to everybody else, but to me?” Mary Dittus was a massage therapist and weight-loss coach who often dreamed of opening her own spa. “Right around Mother’s Day in 2007 — to honor my mom — I opened Look At Me Now in her memory,” says Larsen. “She

“She is so present in my daily living, even though she’s not physically near me,” Lin continues. “I am generally a mature person and was even when I was in my 20s. At this point in my career and life, I have really learned to appreciate her so much — so much more than what I can express in words. Growing up, we never developed the talking relationship.” Through her work in women’s studies, she has learned why she and her mother share such feelings. And even though there has always been a gulf separating this mother and daughter, Lin still feels “immensely tender” toward her mom because she knows that her mother has many lost dreams and opportunities — her life experiences got in the way of a strong, respectful relationship. “She’s from a generation with certain ideologies that she was socialized in,” Lin says of her mother, who still lives in her native Taiwan. “She couldn’t see herself living a full life after her husband left her. When she looks at her daughter who is divorced, single, having a full career with a college degree, master’s degree, then a Ph.D, there’s an amount of envy that she cannot even express.”

The envy is based on the expectations she had for herself and the things she never achieved. Jennifer Guarino, an adjunct English professor at SCSU, also teaches courses in the women’s studies department. As a mother, Guarino makes a conscious effort to let her nine-year-old daughter be her own person — and that’s not always so easy. Guarino teaches Representations of Motherhood, a course that focuses on social construction of motherhood and looks beyond the surface of the way motherhood is placed on a pedestal in American iconography. “We are taught in our society that motherhood is instinct, but if you think of motherhood as something that is learned, rather than instinctive, you may be less quick to judge a bad mother,” Guarino explains. “I think it’s another myth in our society that our children are representative of us. Every parent — mother or father — wishes the best for [his or her] child, but I try to resist living my life through my child. Many people blame a mother for a child’s actions and there are also

many [parents] who take credit for their children’s accomplishments. “My child is a good person, so that must mean I’m a good mother,” Guarino says. “Some of that is true, but you also have to let children be who they are. Sometimes you can do all the right things and that doesn’t mean your child will be perfect. Children are their own beings and it’s not up to us to take responsibility for everything good that they do — or for everything bad that they do.” As we’re trying not to take credit for our daughters’ accomplishments, we also have the huge responsibility to make sure to be present enough in their life to make a difference. Without being a buttinski, of course. “With girls especially, it’s difﬁcult,” says Guarino. “There are so many dangers out there and we try to make everything perfect so they don’t have to experience any negatives, but at some point, they have to learn it on their own. They need to learn and be who they are.” One of Lin’s areas of expertise is Asian literature and she notes there is a tremendous amount of writing about

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mothers, daughters and their relationships. There is a lot of analysis, but it’s also prevalent in ﬁction. Take Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club, which tells the story of four mothers, four daughters and their experiences as Chinese immigrants to San Francisco. Lin describes it as “quintessential of mothers and daughters.” The book probes the question of whether there is a critical moment when a daughter suddenly sees her mother as another woman, or whether it is more of an evolution. Though she has no children of her own, Lin knows that, when it comes down to it, relationships between people are different. Lin has two sisters, and all three of them relates differently to their mother. Says Lin: “According to my people, your life is never complete unless you have a son. That’s a notion we were brought up with. My parents waited for a son to come into their life to stop having children. My sister, who lives in Taiwan, was happy with her two daughters and said they’re much closer to your heart. They understand you. They read your heart and mind.” v

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Chow Town Five new(ish) restaurants youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve simply got to try By Liese Klein

may 2009

s I slid over to make room for a dinner companion on a recent night at Heirloom, I picked up my wine glass, a long-stemmed beauty that set off the golden hue of Albariño white wine to perfection. Without a fuss and in the blink of an eye, the waitress had picked up the napkin that had been underneath the glass and repositioned it at my new spot, just in time for me to set down my drink. It was the kind of attentive pampering you don’t expect in New Haven, long the home of surly pizzeria teens and hamburger-slingers as quick with a snarl as a squirt of mustard. (Don’t even think about asking for ketchup.) But the opening of Heirloom late last year at the Study at Yale, the new Chapel Street boutique hotel, marks the crest of a wave of stylish new eateries that have truly made New Haven a regional dining destination.

At Heirloom, attention to detail starts at the opening to the parking garage, set off from the downtown streetscape with a slab of textured stone. That perfectionism holds through with every artfully designed plate, exquisitely balanced sauce and instantly refreshed water glass. And let’s not even get into the towels in bathrooms and the doormen who usher you out at the end of the meal. It’s a New York-style dining experience right here in the City of Elms. Yes, the prices are high and portions on the modest side, but you won’t be going to Heirloom to carbo-load. The luxurious dining room makes a far better setting for a romantic dinner or drinks and snacks from the moderately priced bar menu. Sit at the bar and watch CNBC with the New York Times-reading businessmen or eavesdrop on the grad students trying to impress professors. “I’m very happy to be in New Haven,” says Chef John Nordin, who has worked with chefs like Todd English and David Burke of New York’s River Café. He has honed his technique over 25 years working for top chefs like these in New York City, where he focused on classic French and Italian cuisine. “I’ve had all kinds of inﬂuences,” he says.

The sleek, chic ambience of the Study at Yale’s popular new eatery, Heirloom, ups the ante for Chapel Street dining. PHOTOGRAPHS:

Anthony DeCarlo

Nordin came to the Elm City last year from the Mohegan Sun casino, where he helped legendary Boston chef English open an outpost of his culinary empire. After six years in Uncasville, Nordin was ready to try his skills as a head chef on a larger stage. “There are a lot of great restaurants here in New Haven,” Nordin says. “It’s very good to be in a place where there’s so much competition.”

Elm City denizens are more adventurous than the “meat-and-potatoes” diners that predominate at the casino, Nordin notes. He’s sold a lot of seafood and pasta since Heirloom opened, and has expanded his repertoire of local seasonal produce. Early spring at the restaurant brought a profusion of ramps, the wild leeks prized for their funky, garlicky flavor. The ramps went into a risotto served with skate wing last month. Although Heirloom’s menu definitely mines the “New American” trends of recent years with luxury comfort foods like short ribs and macaroni and cheese, Nordin insists on making all his basics from scratch. Veal and shrimp stock is made as needed, with bones and shrimp shells stewing for hours. Ethereal Caputo pasta flour from Italy goes into the eatery’s gnocchi, so delicate they must be made fresh every day. “There definitely are some familiar things on the menu, but I’m really trying to keep with the French technique,” Nordin says. “Everything is made in-house.” Lucky for us here in the New Haven area, Heirloom is far from the only ambitious eatery to unite style and substance in an evening out. Bespoke, just down the street on College, still shines with its Latin-inspired flavors, skillful servers and stunning interior. In Ninth Square, the slowly blossoming restaurant district south and east of the Green, Foster’s and Thali attract serious eaters as 116 Crown lures those seeking tasty small plates and inventive cocktails in an elegant setting. Dolci on State Street is the new kid on the block with its upscale lounge ambiance. In Milford, Johnny Ray’s and Bin 100 have attracted attention with their far-ranging menus and big-city vibe. Shoreline foodies continue to flock to Foe in Branford in its new location. It’s truly a great time to be eating out in the Elm City area, especially as events like New Haven Restaurant Week make even the highest-end restaurants affordable to almost everyone. Below are four more restaurants that have opened in the past several years and remain on the cutting edge of exciting trends in regional dining. Bon appetit!

Lean and Green Ahimsa, New Haven There’s not much greenery visible from the windows of Ahimsa, the vegetarian restaurant at the corner of Chapel and new haven

L-r: Owner Jason Sobocinski, head chef Chris Sanseverino and sous chef Joseph D’Elisio say ‘cheese’ at Caseus in New Haven.

Out of this world (if out of the way) Libby Meissner at her outstanding Ansonia eatery, the aptly named Crave.

may 2009

Howe streets west of downtown. But vegetation of all kinds is profuse on the plates of this inventive eatery, where the specialty is both raw and cooked food that is free of all animal products. The Shah family opened Ahimsa two years ago as part of their dedication to vegetarianism and the concept of ahimsa, or nonviolence. The restaurant has attracted a following with tasty specialties like raw lasagna, nut loaf, grilled vegetable sate and an array of raw and vegan desserts.

campus, along with vegan Caribbean fare at Elaine’s Healthy Choice on Whalley Avenue. West Haven’s Catch a Healthy Habit is a nexus for raw food enthusiasts, with its rib-sticking smoothies and snacks offering a tasty entrée into cuisine never heated above 120 degrees. And let’s not forget about Edge of the Woods, which offers a wide-ranging buffet of vegetarian hot and cold foods throughout the day along with all the raw materials to make your own produceheavy creations.

“Deﬁnitely more people are trying this kind of eating,” says Anita Shah, family matriarch and chef.

One could say that in New Haven these days, it really is easy being green.

Vegetarianism may be getting more attention with the ascendance of the green movement, but New Haven has long been a magnet for those who like their steaks made of tofu. Claire Criscuolo of Claire’s Corner Copia ﬁrst opened at Chapel and College in the 1970s but continues to innovate on her wide-ranging menu. She also remains a pioneer in the generous pay and beneﬁts she provides her employees. But the last few years have seen the vegetarian universe expand to include the Indian street food of Thali 2 on the Yale

Home Cooking from Far Away Lao Sze Chuan, Milford You won’t get a fancy tablecloth when you sit down to eat at Lao Sze Chuan, just a sheet of paper. You won’t get a fork and knife, either — just a set of low-end disposable chopsticks. What you will get is one of the most interesting and unusual Chinese meals around, featuring everything from frog legs to Szechuan

peppercorns. An outpost of a Chicago Chinese food mini-chain, Lao Sze Chuan opened on the Post Road early last year. Local foodies and their blogs were soon abuzz with news of a truly authentic dining experience available a stone’s throw from this regional shopping Mecca. Classics like Kung Pao chicken and Mu Shu pork are executed expertly here, but the real attractions are rarely seen specialties like dry chili rabbit, beef tendon and jellyfish Szechuan-style. That numbing Szechuan peppercorn shines in a complex blend of celery, slabs of garlic and tender slices of fish studded with both dried and fresh chilies. As the region’s immigrant population grows, more and more ethnic eateries like Lao Sze Chuan are offering dishes and ingredients seldom seen outside of major cities. New Haven itself has benefited from an influx of Central and South Americans, with excellent Mexican food available at Mezcal, Guadalupe la Poblanita, Wallingford’s Taqueria Mexico and even the vans parked along Long Wharf. Lovers of Southeast Asian delicacies can

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palate, along with Jean Pierre Vuillermet, chef at the Union League Cafe. At Branford’s Le Petit Cafe, the menu changes weekly to accommodate what’s best from suppliers. All of these eateries bring together a passion for local, seasonal food with international ﬂair and a European sense of style and elegance. Thanks to chefs like Sobocinski and Appel and the CitySeed farmers markets, you’ll ﬁnd more Connecticut-grown food on your plate around town than ever before. Now why can’t I get my garden to grow stuff like that?

Bright Lights, Small Cities Crave, Ansonia Ansonia is not on most New Haveners’ short list of day trips — it’s a small city in the Naugatuck Valley chieﬂy known for its factories and passion for high school sports. But for nearly two years eager diners have been making the trek out Route 34 to Crave Restaurant & Wine Bar, an Ansonia eatery that has been attracting lots of local buzz. Owner Libby Meissner’s Latin roots are evident in the bright ﬂavors and exotic ingredients in Crave’s dishes, and her warmth is evident in the restaurant’s convivial atmosphere.

Chef Yun Gui Zhou brings home-style Chinese cuisine to the Post Road in Milford with Lao Sze Chuan.

choose between downtown’s Bentara and Westville’s Kari. West Haven lures lovers of Turkish food with both Saray and Turkish Kebab House and excellent Indian food can be found both along New Haven’s “curry row,” at West Haven’s Swagat and at Orange’s Coromandel. Who needs a plane ticket when tongue and tripe salad can be found down the road from the Post Mall?

Fresh and Local Caseus, New Haven The change of seasons means almost a complete turnover of menu at Caseus, the inventive bistro with attached cheese shop on New Haven’s Whitney Avenue. Out 28

may 2009

go the ramps and asparagus, in come the eggplant and tomatoes, followed by winter squash and greens. This eatery’s specials aren’t determined by what’s in the cooler at Restaurant Depot but rather by what’s the back of a local farmer’s Subaru. You’ll ﬁnd duck eggs raised in the region over easy with shaved local asparagus. North Haven-grown tomatoes are paired with cheese sourced from across the globe. New Haven native Jason Sobocinski has built Caseus into a locavore’s paradise, but he’s hardly the only one tapping into Connecticut’s homegrown bounty. Denise Appel at Zinc has made a name with her seasonal menus and sophisticated

But what’s best about Crave is its ability to please all palates with everything from savory empanada pastries to grilled Cajun shrimp to crab and mango spring rolls. And that’s just the appetizer menu. Crave is one of a crop of moderately priced and welcoming restaurants in towns like Hamden, Milford and Wallingford that offer a local alternative to big-ticket city dining or chain eateries. At Taste in Hamden, fresh, inventive food comes without a shocking price tag but with a friendly face and a waiter who may know your name. At the Bridge House in Milford, excellent wines and beers by the glass accompany elegant takes on burgers, pasta, seafood and steak. Michael’s Trattoria in Wallingford offers some of the best Italian food in the region in a dining room that feels like home. None of these eateries will break the bank, but all will make you feel welcome and all genuinely appreciate your business. A night out in the suburbs doesn’t have to mean a chain or pizza with these elegant and excellent alternatives right around the corner. v

Inspired vegetarian delights like Nasi Lemak with Malyasian rice, spinach, tofu and peanuts in a red sauce can be found at Ahimsa on Chapel Street.

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Just about every Simpson but Jessica will be on Hand when Cheshireâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Barker Character, Comic & Cartoon Museum reopens next month.

may 2009

PHOTOGRAPH:

Anthony DeCarlo

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Enjoy May the inexpensive and fun way By Melissa Nicefaro

t’s ﬁnally May, and we’ve made it through another cold winter. Have we also made it through another cold recession? Hmm, maybe.

But now what? Go and spend hundreds of dollars at tourist traps to pass the day? It’s true that entertaining a family, or even yourself, can cost a fortune, but it doesn’t have to. We’re not talking window shopping, or strolling around watching other people have fun. We’re talking about take-in-some-culture and wash-it-downwith-a-burrito-and-a-beer kind of fun. Move over, recession — we’re going to have some good, old fashioned, cheap fun (wink, wink)! No excuses.

Learn Tai Chi This ancient Chinese martial art promotes health, ﬁtness, ﬂexibility and longevity. Adults are invited Tuesday evenings from 5:30 to 6:30 from May 5 through June 9 to explore the ancient practice of tai chi in a six-class series on the New Haven Free Public Library terrace overlooking the Green on Elm Street. Instruction is designed for adults at a beginner’s level. Instruction is provided by Kathleen Brenner, who has studied tai chi for 19 years and has won several gold, silver and bronze medals in international tai chi competitions. The class is free, but registration is required at taichi.eventbrite. com or call 946-8835.

Book Discussion Group, For Real Ladies, believe it or not there are some book discussion books that actually read and discuss the book. This appears to be one of them. On May 27 from

6 to 7:30 p.m., the Elm Street Book Group discusses Louise Shaffer’s novel Serendipity at the Ives Memorial (i.e., main) Library. The author will join the discussion and books will be available for sale and signing. A limited number of books are available for checkout at the library. There is no charge for the event.

novice to experienced runners who gather on trails, roads and tracks to motivate each other and share the agony and ecstasy of running. They meet rain or shine (or snow or sleet) and discuss strategy, injury prevention, nutrition, safety and anything else that arises before heading out to run. Visit running.meetup.com/164.

Ready for Some Football?!

…Or, If You Prefer, Walk

It’s not even close to football season yet, but that doesn’t mean a thing to a group of adults who just want to get out and have some dirty, old-fashioned fun. Opening day for the New Haven Flag Football Meetup Group was April 26 and organizer Shakur Namzoff has an invitation for some free fun: “Throw your scarf and gloves in the closet, break out the football jersey you haven’t worn since the Super Bowl and let’s play some football!

Some of us feel more “at one with the road” when we’re walking. For us, the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Leadership Center presents Walking Tours of New Haven. There are four self-guided walking tours to choose from. Each tour includes maps and mp3 audio ﬁles and lasts 30 to 90 minutes.

The group meets at 3 p.m. on alternating Saturdays at College Woods Park on Orange Street. There are 48 members in the group, and though not all show at every game, there are more than enough for a good game. “A Meetup is a great way to make new friends,” says Namzoff. As cliché as it sounds, there’s just something about getting together with a group of people who share your interests and doing your thing. Visit ﬂagfootball.meetup.com/107 to learn more.

Run for Your Life! Dan Cummings, a Guilford realtor, started a Meetup of his own. The New Haven Runners meet for a Sunday Morning Run at 8:30 every week. According to Cummings, it is a group of

The Theater and Museum District Tour is narrated by Bruce DelMonico and Steve Rupar. It starts at Info New Haven (corner of Chapel and College stops). Stops include White Space Gallery, Union League Café, Skull & Bones, Harkness Tower & Old Campus, Arts & Architecture Building, the Yale Repertory Theater, Yale Center for British Art, Louis’ Lunch and the Shubert Theatre. The Beinecke Area Tour is narrated by Steve Rosenberg. It starts at Memorial Hall (southwest corner of College and Grove) and continues to Woolsey Hall, the Scroll and Key Secret Society, Sprague Hall, Woodbridge Hall, Gallows and Lollipops, the Commons, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Sculpture Garden, Yale Law School, Mory’s, Toad’s Place, Yale Drama Message Board, Sterling Memorial Library, the Book and Snake Secret Society and the Grove Street Cemetery. new haven

PHOTOGRAPH:

Discover the world in your back yard with Steve Rosenberg, who leads the Beinecke area tour at Yale.

Anthony DeCarlo

The Audubon Street Tour is narrated by Jim Wright and begins at the Foundry Building (corner of Audubon and Whitney). It continues on to the Foundry Music Company, the Neighborhood Music School, the Park of the Arts, the Farmington Canal, the Creative Arts Workshop, the New Haven Symphony, the Arts Council, the New Haven Ballet, the Educational Center for the Arts and ends at the Little Theater. Finally, the Tour Around the Green is narrated by Miriam James and Carolyn Walker. It begins at the Bennett Fountain on the southeast corner of the Green (corner of Church and Chapel). The tour continues with stops at the New Haven City Sign, the Flagpole War Memorial on the Green, the U.S. Post Ofﬁce and Courthouse, the Amistad Memorial, New Haven City Hall, the New Haven County Courthouse, the New Haven Free Public Library, the Graduate Club, United Church, Center Church and ends at Trinity Church.

Go Soul Searching The Grove Street Cemetery at 227 Grove Street is a National Historic Landmark. The cemetery was established in 1796 and is the ﬁrst chartered burial ground in the country. Well-rested occupants include 32

may 2009

Noah Webster, Gen. David Humphreys, Roger Sherman, Charles Goodyear, Walter Camp and A. Bartlett Giamatti. A self-guided touring map identifying many of the eminent buried in the cemetery is available from the cemetery ofﬁce. If you prefer guidance of the live, human persuasion, a free one-hour walking tour is sponsored by the Friends of the Grove Street Cemetery at 11 a.m. Saturdays and at noon ﬁrst and third Sundays through November. Meet at the cemetery’s chapel building immediately inside the Egyptian Revival gates on Grove at High Street. If you’re looking for some slightly more aged spirits, the New Haven Crypt at the First Church of Christ (Center Church) on Temple Street, bears tombstones that date back to 1687. Free tours are offered April through October on Thursday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

without any Smart Boards or even any computers, the kids might not believe that this was once a fully functional school, but free tours are available by appointment. Call 203-488-0423. The oldest house in Connecticut predates the Little Red School House by about 166 years. The Henry Whitfield State Museum at 248 Old Whitfield Street, Guilford went up in 1639. There are three floors furnished with period antiques and additional local history exhibits. The museum is not free, but we are talking Guilford. It’s open April 1-December 14, Wednesday-Sunday 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., closed holidays. Entry costs adults $4, seniors and college students with ID are $3 and children from 6-17 are $2.50. Free under age six. Call 203-453-2457 or visit whitfieldmuseum.org.

Knight at the Museum ‘Free’ on the Shoreline? The historical lesson doesn’t end at the city boundaries. The shoreline is loaded with oft-overlooked old charm. The Little Red School House at 13 Old Post Road in North Branford is the oldest one-room school house still standing in New Haven County. Built in 1805, it was in continuous use until 1890. The school house was recently restored and furnished. Now,

The Knights of Columbus Museum at One State Street is one of those oftenunderappreciated spots in the city. The museum features both special exhibits of religious art and history and a large permanent exhibit showcasing the order’s history, the life of founder Fr. Michael J. McGivney and papal history. May through Labor Day, the museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free admission and free parking.

Get to the Art of the Matter From May 7 through July 26, the work of Thomas Holloway (1800â&#x20AC;&#x201C;83), a selfmade millionaire who dedicated himself to creating a world-class collection of â&#x20AC;&#x153;modernâ&#x20AC;? paintings, will be on view at the Yale Center for British Art. The collection, Paintings from the Reign of Victoria: The Royal Holloway Collection, London will showcase 60 extraordinary works by artists including David Roberts, Sir Edwin Landseer, William Powell Frith and Sir John Everett Millais. This collection formed the crowning gift to his generous endowment of a college for women (now known as Royal Holloway, University of London), which he founded in 1879 and which was opened by Queen Victoria in 1886. As Tim Barringer, Paul Mellon Professor of the History of Art at Yale, observes in his introduction to the exhibition catalogue, the Holloway collection is a â&#x20AC;&#x153;Babel of narratives, of colors and textures, each competing for the viewers attention in a clamorous marketplace of the visual.â&#x20AC;? Yaleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library also hosts an exhibit featuring the photography of Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964). Among his subjects are a very young Diahann Carroll, Billie Holiday in tears, Paul Robeson as Othello, Althea Gibson swinging a tennis racquet and a procession of opera stars, composers, authors, musicians, activists, educators and journalists who made notable contributions to the cultural and intellectual life of the country. The Beinecke Library is free and open to the public. The exhibition area is open 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;til 5 p.m. Fridays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. From May 14 to June 17, New Haven Free Public Library will host Centuries of Inspiration, a memorial exhibition of paintings by Jules L. Szemanczky. The exhibit takes place in the Performing Arts Area of the Main (Ives) Branch. Jules L. Szemanczky taught art in the New Haven Public Schools for 33 years, teaching courses in painting, art history, graphic lettering, ceramics, wood-work design and carving, and metal engraving at both Hillhouse and Cross High Schools.

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Cappuccio’s Absent Love (at the Knights of Columbus Museum) is based on Titan’s Sacred ad Profane love, Titan depicts a bride and Venus both representative of love. Capuccio removed the bodies to symbolize modernity’s farewell to God and values.

May 31 at the Old Bethany Airport on Rt. 63. Two rings will be in continuous operation all day long with 165 classes for Hunters, Jumpers, Arabians, Morgans, Carriage Driving, Pleasure, English and Western Horsemanship. More than 100 horses and ponies will compete for state and regional awards. The show begins at 8 a.m. and lasts all day, rain or shine. Admission is $3 (under ten free). E-mail jaycyn195@aol.com or call 203-272-0142.

Bring on the Night

Photography Weddings & Family Events Your Location or Ours 203-882-9424

may 2009

“It’s great fun, even if you are not at musician just to see so many local performers in one night,” he says.

We weren’t kidding about the burrito. C.O. Jones at 969 State Street is one of the few holding on to the free happy hour offering. (Remember when Archie Moore’s had free wings for happy hour?!) Monday through Thursday from 4:30-7 p.m. and Friday from 4:30-6:30 p.m. the Mexican eatery offers half-price house margaritas and free burrito bar. It’s a great, cheap way to end a busy workday or kick off a long weekend.

Every Friday from 5-8 p.m. the station coordinates live acoustic music with free admission at Anna Liffey’s Happy Hour. The performers booked so far are Chris Barber, May 1; Casey Chafe, May 8 and Seth Adam, May 15. Anna Liffey puts out a great free Happy Hour Buffet for the event. The drink special is $2.50 Coors Light Pints.

Thursdays, Café Nine at 250 State Street showcases local bands, usually with no cover charge. On May 7, the club offers a night of great Connecticut folk music with Closely Watched Trains and Lys Guillorn and Ponybird. It is a great way to experience local talent.

What About the Kids?

Another great, and yes, very inexpensive way to bring on the night is with Connecticut rock station UltraRadio.com. The group hosts Hard Drive Live every Wednesday at Daniel Street in Milford. The event showcases three local original rock bands per week, free admission, prize giveaways, drink specials. The ﬁrst band goes on around 9 p.m.

213 New Haven Avenue, Milford

On Tuesday, May 12, from 8 p.m. until midnight, UltraRadio.com’s monthly acoustic open mic happens at Viva Zapata at 161 Park Street. Hosted by one of our area’s top singer-songwriters, Seth Adam, it is always a great night of live acoustic performers. Other than Seth, station general manager Randy Borovsky never knows who will show up to play, but all musicians are welcome to perform.

It won’t happen ‘til next month, but it’s worth the wait. The Barker Character, Comic & Cartoon Museum reopens June 14. The Cheshire museum has more than 80,000 items including comic strips, cartoon, Western, TV and advertising collectibles from 1873 to today. The grounds include a cartoon theater, storybook stage, western area, children’s playhouse, trivia games, scavenger hunts, Snow White wishing well, California Raisin and Gumby Museum, animation art and sculpture gallery. Open Saturdays from noon until 4 p.m. And free! Call 203699-3822 or visit barkermuseum.com. v

B IB L IO FI LE S

Shore Enough Exploring the amazing diversity of the state’s shoreline communities Connecticut Coast, by Diana Ross McCain. Published by Globe Pequot Press. 288 pps. $29.95.

By Michael C. Bingham

s much as any state, Connecticut deﬁnes itself by its relationship to the ocean, and particularly its coastline.

We love our shoreline — maybe too much. For one thing, in perhaps no other state is the shoreline so inaccessible to the public. Of the state’s 583 miles of shoreline, only 30 miles of it are publicly owned beaches. Demand for access to the waterfront far outstrips supply. There are 24 municipalities on Long Island Sound between the New York and Rhode Island state lines, and Durham author and historian Diana Ross McCain proﬁles each of them in Connecticut Coast, a richly illustrated sojourn along the shoreline published last month by Globe Pequot Press. The 370 years that have passed since the beginning of European colonization have unalterably transformed the state’s coastline. Urban ports including Stamford, Bridgeport, New Haven and New London would be unrecognizable today by the original inhabitants. But the coastlines of other towns, particularly in the less populated eastern stretches of the state, are little changed since Colonial days. When those of us in greater New Haven think “shoreline,” we are wont to reference the picture postcard-perfect images of verdant, little-spoiled Guilford and Madison. But some other coastal communities have more intriguing histories of their relationship with the sea. Many communities like to boast that they

are “on the move,” but in the case of late 19th-century East Haven, that claim assumes a literal dimension. When originally incorporated as an independent town in 1785, East Haven’s western boundary was New Haven Harbor and the Quinnipiac River. However, East Haveners’ generosity in supporting the Civil War left it with a crushing ﬁnancial burden, so in 1881 the town cut an unusual deal with its larger western neighbor: New Haven would assume all East Haven’s Civil War and bridge-construction debts, and in return East Haven would cede the western half of the town to New Haven (today known as the Elm City’s East Shore neighborhood). That was last time New Haven and East Haven agreed on much of anything. Another Long Island Sound community frequently “on the move” in its earlier years was Stratford, which after its settling in 1639 quickly became an economic powerhouse of the Connecticut colony, especially in shipbuilding and oystering. But in the late 18th and early 19th centuries the “Town for All Seasons” became a shadow of its former self when the present-day towns of Monroe and Shelton were separated from it. It was halved again eight years later when the northwestern section was incorporated as the new town of Trumbull, and then in 1821 shaved down to its present size when western reaches of the town were removed to be included in the then-new town of Bridgeport — today Connecticut’s most populous urban center.

The Aryans of Darien owe their town’s independence from Stamford to cold Colonial winters (perhaps not so different from that of 2008-09). Connecticut law required all citizens to attend Sunday worship, which meant that each week Darien residents had to make the long trek on foot or horseback to the Congregational meetinghouse in Stamford. In the 1730s the deaths of several people attempting to get from Darien to Sabbath services sparked a movement to establish a separate parish with its own meetinghouse. Thus Middlesex parish, incorporating the present-day Darien, was created in 1737. McCain discovers that during the Revolutionary War Norwalk was home to more loyalists than perhaps any other Connecticut town. Contemporary estimates suggest that as many as a quarter of the town’s citizens remained loyal to George III even after July 4, 1776. During the Revolutionary War Connecticut was in the tinderbox of the ﬁrst major insurrection against the most far-reaching empire in history. “For a good number of years during the Revolution, Connecticut was really on the front lines of the war,” says McCain. new haven

â&#x20AC;&#x153;From 1776 to 1783, all of Long Island was in the hands of the British. So you could look across Long Island Sound and see the enemy country over there.â&#x20AC;? For example, on July 11, 1779 Norwalk â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that Loyalist bastion â&#x20AC;&#x201D; lay a smoldering ruin. The ďŹ res that had laid the town low had been started not by lightning or human carelessness â&#x20AC;&#x201D; â&#x20AC;&#x153;They had been deliberately set by enemy British raiders to destroy food and war materiel stockpiled at Norwalk for the soldiers ďŹ ghting for American independence,â&#x20AC;? writes McCain. The objective: â&#x20AC;&#x153;To teach residents an unforgettable lesson about the penalty for rebelling against the British Crown.â&#x20AC;? More than a century later, as the ďŹ shing and shipbuilding industries declined, Connecticut assumed a new role as a playground for New Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s elite. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You developed the whole resort concept, with 300- and 400-room hotels that used to be down on the shore,â&#x20AC;? says McCain. While the Great Depression may have dimmed the appeal of the grandest resort hotels, the ascendance of the automobile freed commuters from railroad timetables and made southwestern Connecticut burgs such as Greenwich the most desirable

bedroom communities for the cream of New Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commercial class â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as they remain to this day.

town â&#x20AC;&#x201D; every town had roads, every town had ships, every town had weather.â&#x20AC;?

The Gilded Age gave way to World War I, which precipitated the rapid industrialization of cities like Bridgeport and New Haven. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some [cities] were doubling and tripling their population every 20 years,â&#x20AC;? McCain says. She says she is particularly impressed by â&#x20AC;&#x153;the enormity and the speed of the changes, and how you go from agricultural to resort to industrial [uses of the shoreline]. Then you have the suburbanization of post-World War II, which again is a huge growth period. So I was taken by how much [the coastline] had changed â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and the fact that it changed not just once, but several times.â&#x20AC;? Connecticut Coastâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s town proďŹ les are broken up by chapters on subjects not speciďŹ c to particular towns: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Traveling Up and Down the Coast,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Recreation,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;A Motley Group of Lighthouses,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Coastal Weatherâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Coastal Fishing and ShellďŹ shing.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;These were themes or topics that [municipal] borders transcend and deserved to be treated separately,â&#x20AC;? explains McCain. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They were common to every

New Haven â&#x20AC;&#x201C; St. Ronan St.

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The idea for the volume came originally not from the author, but from the publisher. McCain says Globe Pequot was attracted to a previous volume she had authored for the Connecticut Historical Society on State Heroine Prudence Crandall. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They had seen that and liked it, so they called me up,â&#x20AC;? McCain recounts. Connecticut Coast is richly illustrated with some 200 images from Colonial-era broadsides to early maps to century-old black-and-white photographs of beachgoersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; attire in the modest Victorian swimwear of the period. Next up for authoress McCain? â&#x20AC;&#x153;I just ďŹ nished up doing a book for Globe Pequot on mysteries and legends of New England,â&#x20AC;? she says. That is due to be in stores in August. In the meantime, sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also working on a new volume for Wesleyan University Press on the Underground Railroad in Connecticut. And as the weather warms, McCain is looking forward to basking near the inviting waters of Long Island Sound herself. Her favorite shoreline community? Guilford, of course. v

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' 3 & & ) 0 6 ) 4 & . */ 0 . & 3 & . 0 3 % " 3 4 0 / 0 / & & - */ ( 4 "5 6 3 5 )634% % " : * / 1 - & " 4 . " 3 $ ) " / " : " / % % " 1 3 & $ " - **/ ' 0 3 ' 0 3 . 0 3 & . " 5 *0 /

Designed by noted architect R.W. Foote, this breathtakingly beautiful 1921 Colonial Revival home dazzles. One of New Havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exceptional homes. Impressively restored and meticulously renovated it unites classic detailing with the modern conveniences expected in homes of this quality. Features include Porte Corche; Loggia; Grand formal rooms; ball room; gourmet state-ofthe-art kitchen; butlerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pantry; expansive master bedroom suite. $1,790,000.

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How one couple found value in the 1990s recession By Duo Dickinson

Making the McIntyresâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; new home meet federal regulations involved raising its floor above a mandated level. But to get back down to the beach can be awkward (or at least ugly) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; unless that transition is made into a design feature. PHOTOGRAPHS:

Mick Hales

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The open living area has its octagonal shape lofted an extra two feet to maximize the full view at the south end of the site.

ATH O ME

hen Bruce McIntyre called me one snowy winter day in 1993, I thought he was crazy. He said he and his wife Renee might want to buy a home — right in the middle of the last economic recession when many more homes were for sale than there were buyers to be found for them. Sound familiar?

We met in the cold overcast morning to ﬁnd one of the most promising coastal sites I’d ever seen in my career as an architect, having focused my work on a few hundred families’ domestic dreams. “Promising” can be faint praise when it comes to children and homes; in this case the building had been poorly remodeled about a decade earlier. It leaked both rain and freezing air like a sieve, and when I did my due diligence in the basement I 38

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found the kind of dramatic rot that had scared potential buyers away for the past year or two.

because the McIntyres had to sell their existing home in the same depressed market and I begged them to budget about $50,000 to stabilize and detox the existing The home also suffered from about ﬁve structure, there was no wiggle room. decades’ worth of tacked-on additions, Timing is indeed everything, and lowering roof lines (and the windows not only was their offer accepted, but tucked under them) and decreasing the the McIntyres’ house sold for just pitch of a roof that barely kept the oftenenough money to allow me to get to horizontal rain out of the home. Amid work applying some balm to their the rolling ﬂoors, bits of leftover walls compromised tent of a home. First parked themselves in the middle of rooms, order of business was to clean out the making any appreciation of the site a peekrot and stabilize the structure. Leaky a-boo affair. roofs were scabbed over and shot sliders As bad as the building was, the site was were replaced. Those enigmatic wall its opposite. To the south there was a fullfragments were transformed into slender blown, 120-degree view of Long Island columns, brightly celebrated with Renee’s Sound, to the east nestled a small private irrepressible palette of exuberant colors beach, to the west arched the line of and fun and funky accoutrements and Hammonasset Beach and to the north lay — voilá! Viability for a decade’s worth dozens of acres of pristine salt marsh. of occupancy. Because these repairs and enhancements also happened in a I knew that only a few years before this depressed building climate, the work was site would have fetched twice what Bruce done at a relative bargain-basement cost and Renee could offer for it. But desperate after some careful budgeting. times call for desperate offers — and

If timing is everything, the three rules of real estate ain’t chopped liver either: “location, location, location.” These “rules” allowed a dysfunctional house to be tolerable as property values rose over the early years of the 21st century. But no amount of exciting color and decoration could overcome the baking southerly light that stressed out the AC and bleached out all that décor. Patched rooﬁng cannot keep out wind-driven coastal rain forever, and low eaves meant no view for those standing up in the living room. Windows set in place 20 years ago without any overhanging protection cease to keep the weather out, no matter how much caulk is applied. But rehabbing a coastal property beyond these half measures and stopgaps is no simple matter. Virtually all existing coastal properties older than your kids do not meet present local zoning, state building or federal coastal codes. The rules now mandate that anything beyond the judicious application of bailing wire and chewing gum (and, of course, yet another layer of paint) requires a complete code review of all the aforementioned standards.

The non-ocean-view side of the new McIntyre house, complete with protective rooflets over almost all windows and a venting cupola.

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Even where there is no view to celebrate, the design of the home allows the windows, trim, newels and decorative paintings and light fixtures to maintain the visual ‘pace’ of the rest of the house.

In the go-go era of the last decade’s housing feeding frenzy, thousands of aspiring homeowners bootstrapped codecompliance to rationalize endless zoning code variances to create the bloated, looming and frankly ugly boxes that now crowd the coasts of Connecticut (and all the other salt water-worshipping states). In this case the owners “walked the talk” of true sustainability by making a distressed home viable for a full decade. Eventually, though, it just could not be sustained without a major structural overhaul and full surface replacement of siding, roofing, doors and windows, a level of renovation that to meet federal standards would have required raising the house’s first floor several feet and creating an entirely new foundation. At this point even I, a non-native but ardent swamp Yankee, realized that the further salvaging of a terminally flawed box was simply stupid. So four years ago the McIntyres dove in, going through full design and approvals processes involving design fees and months of hearings, which culminated in a bidding exercise during a heated construction climate where finding value was as hard as finding shade on this sun-drenched coastal site. A comprehensive bidding process to three good contractors netted Waverly Builders — Paul and Jacqui Torecellini of Branford. By breaking down these bids into 40plus price points the McIntyres could control where they spent and where they didn’t. Unlike home buying, bidding for construction should never be “take-it-orleave-it,” no matter where the economy is. Good bidding reveals where to save, spend or plan ahead in any market.

A pre-fabricated metal firebox is surrounded by exotic stone slabs, capped with a mantle of salvaged walnut and its raised hearth is surfaced by heartshaped stones.

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Eaves cost money, and natural wood shingles and decking are also more costly than other materials, as are good windows (vinyl clad with stainless steel hardware). But over time they pay for their added cost and then begin saving money, as painting is limited to trim, and water and sun are held at bay. Extra zones for heating and cooling control do cost more, but six zones, versus the usual two or three for a four-bedroom house like this, save money every day; an occupied room can be cool in winter or warm in summer. A cupola with operable windows provides a ﬂue to vent any heated air as well by limiting the time air conditioning is used. But the biggest savings are always found in the thoughtful design that allows four bedrooms and a home ofﬁce to be accommodated in less than 3,400 square feet. Higher ceiling heights make tight

Courtesy of the homeowners.

spaces feel larger and can be designed to fit under a zoning code’s limitations if you take the time to design a home instead of inflating a plan to the largest envelope possible. Beyond mere dollars, design allows this exquisite site to be appreciated from every room inside the tightly planned home. The decks and steps that provide physical connection to the sand and surf were awkward in the original home, but with some thought they can provide easier access and show off the view. Design is not a new thing; it’s been around since we began to think about building. But in the bygone boom’s mindless rush to bloat, elegant design was overcome by greed and ego. Bruce and Renee McIntyre saw value where ugliness and risk prevented anyone from buying their diamond-in-the-rough site. They knew that ultimately design could maximize the potential of a unique piece of land and at the same time truly reflect their values. Through aggressive bidding to attentive builders, the McIntyres protected their assets despite building during a boom time. That’s what anyone can do, no matter how scary the zeitgeist seems. Duo Dickinson is an architect in Madison. v

The ‘before’ that came before the ‘after’: The original house as the McIntyres found it in the early 1990s

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B O D Y & SOUL Women who are at high risk are now being referred for MRI screenings as well. Philpotts will host a presentation and discussion at 6 p.m. on May 21 at the Guilford Free Library entitled “Breast Cancer: The Imaging Strategies to Protect Yourself.” “I’ll talk about the different modalities that we use in breast imaging, because there’s so much more than just mammography, even though that’s our cornerstone and gold standard,” she says. “We’re doing a lot of MRI, but it’s not for everyone. Anyone with a lifetime risk of breast cancer over 20 to 25 percent can beneﬁt from MRI. That’s women with genetic mutations and with a strong family history [of cancer].

Think Pink This Mother’s Day area women (and those who love them) can strike a blow against breast cancer By Sarah Politz

Ronald McDonald cuts the ribbon at last year’s inaugural Walk to Empower, which raised approximately $154,000 to support those whose lives have been touched by breast cancer.

reast cancer is a tough one. Only ten percent of breast-cancer risk is genetically related, while the other 90 percent is linked to lifestyle and environmental factors. With average risk factors, a woman has a one in eight chance of getting breast cancer over the course of an 85-year life span. The disease seems to strike at random, hitting ﬁt and unﬁt, healthy and unhealthy, deserving and undeserving individuals alike.

Scientists have much to learn about the causes of breast cancer, but we do know a few things: physical activity may help, and early detection is paramount. The annual observance of Mother’s Day is a good chance for women, both mothers and daughters, to take time out to ensure that they are doing everything they can to care for their health and spread the message about breast cancer awareness. 42

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“With breast cancer, there’s really no prevention,” says Liane Philpotts, MD, chief of breast imaging for Yale-New Haven Hospital and co-director of the Yale Breast Center. “The best way is for people to protect themselves by screening properly.” Since breast cancer is usually asymptomatic in its early stages, screening is critical for early detection. Most women should start getting mammograms every year at age 40. Those with a family history of breast cancer or other risk factors should get mammograms starting at age 35. It is important not to miss yearly screenings, Philpotts says, because a given year’s results are compared to past years’ for a baseline. Digital mammography is now widely available, increasing the accuracy and quality of mammogram results.

“It’s not for the general public, but anyone with a new cancer nowadays is getting an MRI, at least in New Haven,” Philpotts adds. “Because ten percent of patients will have other sites of disease that we didn’t know about before, so we’re ﬁnding those with MRIs. But we’re very careful about who we recommend.” Connecticut has the third-highest rate of new cases of breast cancer in the nation, according to the Connecticut Breast Cancer Coalition. Explains Melinda Irwin, associate professor in the Yale School of Medicine’s Division of Chronic Disease Epidemiology: “Our incidence of breast cancer has gone up because more women have had screenings. At the same time, our mortality has gone down because we’re able to treat earlier and women are getting diagnosed at earlier stages of disease — stage one or two.” For women over age 20, a monthly breast self-exam can be key to early detection, as many women are intuitively more in tune to small changes in their bodies than doctors are. Medical professionals recommend that women perform a self-exam each month following their menstrual cycle to check for irregularities. According to the American Cancer Society, consistent alcohol over-consumption has a clear link to an increase in the risk of breast cancer, and obesity contributes to the likeliness of developing the disease as well. There has been no conclusive evidence as to whether oral contraceptive

pills, which contain estrogen, increase breast-cancer risk. Hormone-replacement therapy, often initiated to combat menopausal symptoms, has a clear link to breast-cancer risk when taken over a period of years. Recent scientific studies have shown links between regular exercise and decreased incidence of breast cancer in women. Even 150 minutes per week, or 30 minutes a day over five days, is beneficial. “The strongest research currently is based on physical activity and weight,” Irwin says. In March, she received a grant for $7 million from the National Cancer Institute to begin a new study this summer to examine the effects of regular exercise on the side effects of the hormone therapy that often follows radiation treatment for cancer. Patients often experience a side effect known as arthralgia, or inflammatory joint paint, for years following treatment. “We have confidence that exercise will not only improve the side effects of their therapy, but I have done research showing that exercise is associated with improving survival,” Irwin explains. One way to test this theory

(unscientiﬁcally, of course) is to join in Breast Cancer Network of Strength’s second annual Walk to Empower. The event takes place on Mother’s Day, May 10, at New Haven’s Lighthouse Point Park. The event is a fundraiser for the Branfordbased non-proﬁt’s multitude of programs supporting breast cancer survivors and their families. Formerly known as the Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization, Breast Cancer Network of Strength offers resources including a YourShoes hotline, which offers peer support and “replaces fear with facts”; local support groups; an annual symposium and a new program, “A Day for You,” that provides outreach and information about breast cancer to underserved communities. Special events coordinator Lydia Jandreau says that while the new research is exciting, Network of Strength focuses its efforts on supporting those whose lives have been touched by breast cancer. “The mission is to ensure through information, empowerment and peer support that no one faces breast cancer alone,” she says. “People see pink ribbons and they think research. But we’re not

waiting for a cure; we’re helping people today who are walking in it right now.” The original Walk to Empower began in 1991 in Chicago with a single woman, two-time breast cancer survivor Margaret Harte, “to serve as a source of hope, inspiration and support.” The movement has now expanded nationally; the walk at Lighthouse Point is just one of 18 sister events in cities across the country. The walk takes place from 9 to 11 a.m. (intentionally brief to accommodate traditional Mother’s Day celebrations). “It’s very quick; come, do your walk — take your mom to lunch,” says Jandreau. The antique carousel at Lighthouse Point will also be available for participants to enjoy, and sponsor McDonald’s will bring a climbing wall and serve apple dippers and Newman’s Own coffee at the event. Network of Strength raised $154,000 at last year’s event and hopes to raise $200,000 on May 10. Whether you know someone whose life has been touched by breast cancer, or you simply want to show solidarity with those who struggle with the disease, take this Mother’s Day to support the strength and power of women to overcome and endure. v

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ART CREATING ART As part of the En Plein Air Workshops, Karen Winslow teaches the secret to creating an illusion of light, form, space and depth through simplification. Student will learn to analyze value relationships, color relationships, spatial relationships and structure by using a controlled palette (with a grayscale) in Painting in Mass: Learning to Simplify. All levels are welcome. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. May 2-3 at Lyme Art Association, 90 Lyme St., Old Lyme. $150 members, $200 non-members. 860434-7802, lymeartassociation.org. 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) May 2 & 16 and June 6 at Green Street Arts Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. $14 per session ($12 members). 860685-7871, 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 May 5, 12, 19 & 26 at Margaret Egan Center, 35 Matthew St., Milford. Free. 203-878-6647, milfordarts.org. Join Yale students and gallery staff as they relate folktales and myths from across the globe to works of art in the Yale University Art Gallery collection in Stories and Art. All ages welcome; drawing materials provided for older children. 1 p.m. May 10 at the YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu. In Introduction to Outdoor Painting in Oil (9 a.m.-1 p.m. May 11-13) and Introduction to Outdoor Painting in Watercolor (9 a.m.-1 p.m. May 18-20), instructor Lou Bonamarte explores the fun and joy of painting outdoors. Learn how to deal with a constantly changing light source, continual color changes, value, composition and design. Bonamarte is a graphic designer and illustrator turned full-time fine artist; he has received awards from the American Watercolor Society, Salmagundi Club, Academic Artists Association, American Artist Professional Watercolor Club and the Rockport Art Association. Part of the En Plein Air Workshops. All levels welcome. At Lyme Art Association, 90 Lyme St., Old Lyme. $300 members, $355 non-members. 860-434-7802, lymeartassociation.org. Flash Forward. This series is a chance for photographers and photo enthusiasts to share work, tips, questions and opportunities. Bring

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up to five recent works to share with the group or participate in monthly photo projects and share results online. 7-9 p.m. May 12 at Green Street Arts Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. $5 ($3 members). 860-685-7871, gsac@ wesleyan.edu, greenstreetartscenter.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. May 14 at Artspace, 50 Orange St., New Haven. Free. 203-772-2709, artspacenh. org. William P. Duffy will demonstrate the value of a quick drawing on toned paper before executing a full color painting for his workshop on Landscape Painting in Oil. The whole class will paint after the demonstration and later take part in a group critique. Duffy will instruct on using a simple four-value approach as a tool in design, understanding the role of color and contrast in the creation of mood, achieving focus through value and color contrast, shape diversity, edge manipulation and thick and thin paint quality and simplifying value patterns to achieve unity and impact amongst other topics. Part of the En Plein Air Workshops. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. May 15-17 at Lyme Art Association, 90 Lyme St., Old Lyme. $325 members, $350 non-members. 860-434-7802, lymeartassociation.org. Sue Chism, holder of a BFA in sculpture from the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, will be teaching a five-day workshop on Sculpting the Horse. For this En Plein Air Workshop, a live horse will model for the class six hours each day. The goal will be to complete a 12- to 24-inch sculpture of the particular breed of horse. Emphasis will be placed on character, gesture, anatomy and structure as well as basic principles of sculpting. All levels welcome. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. May 18-22 at Lyme Art Association, 90 Lyme St., Old Lyme. $525 members, $575 non-members. 860-434-7802, lymeartassociation.org. Landcape Painting. Hollis Dunlap teaches painters how to embrace and work with the unique opportunities and challenges of working outdoors. Tackle the unpredictable nature of the weather and changing light conditions by creating relatively uncomplicated work methods. The class will work with a simple set up of primary colors and small panels. Each painter will be encouraged to determine a solid compositional idea before applying paint to the canvas and to continue with that idea for the duration of the painting. Dunlap will demonstrate how to effectively set up a composition, apply paint and mix color in order to get the most out of outside painting time. Part of the En Plein Air Workshops. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. May 30-31 at Lyme Art Association, 90 Lyme St., Old Lyme. $250 members, $295 non-members. 860-4347802, lymeartassociation.org. The Milford Fine Arts Council (MFAC) officially issues its Call for Artists

for the upcoming 23rd annual New England Arts & Crafts Festival. This popular juried festival takes place July 11-12 on the Milford Green. In the past, the event has hosted hundreds of original displays with participants from throughout the U.S. Artists interested in participating may download an application from the MFAC Web site or request one via mail. Space is limited and all applications are juried. Handmade items only. Entry deadline June 19. MFAC, 40 Railroad Ave., Milford. 203-878-6647, milfordarts. org.

GALLERY TALKS/TOURS Take a Yale Student-Guided Tour of the Yale Center for British Art’s permanent collection. 1 p.m. Sat.-Sun. at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203432-2858, 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. May 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23 & 24 at the YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu. Morrison’s Pills: Victorian Philanthropy and British Art. Tim Barringer, Paul Mellon Professor of the History of Art at Yale University, gives the opening lecture for the exhibition

Paintings from the Reign of Victoria: The Royal Holloway Collection, London 5:30 p.m. May 6 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba. yale.edu. Lynn Hunt, Eugen Weber professor of history at UCLA, lectures on the 18th-century work of Bernard Picart in Visualizing Religious Difference: Picart’s Religious Ceremonies and Customs of All the Peoples of the World (1723–1737). Hunt teaches French and European history and the history of history as an academic discipline. Her specialties include the French Revolution, gender history, cultural history and historiography. Her current research projects include a collaborative study of an early 18thcentury work on comparative religion that appeared in seven volumes with 250 engravings by the artist Picart. 5:30 p.m. May 8 at YCBA, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba. yale.edu. Joseph Cunningham, author and curator of the American Decorative Art 1900 Foundation speaks on The Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs: Rediscovering an Arts and Crafts Designer. 5:30 pm May 14 at YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. (Thurs. until 8 p.m.) & 1 p.m.-6 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu.

CRITIC’S PICK: Peeling Back Reality Sean Beavers is one of America’s most talented contemporary artists. New Work by Sean Beavers will allow viewers to experience his 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. 860434-8807, info@cooleygallery. com, cooleygallery.com. — Elvira J. Duran.

Yellow Spiral is an excellent example of Beavers’ ability to manipulate oil on canvas into realistic images.

EXHIBITIONS An exhibition of wall sculptures by Jonathan Waters and Joy Wulke is entitled Smoke & Mirrors. Waters combines painting and sculpture to create geometric constructions that explore the conceptual region between the two- and three-dimensional realms. Wulke, who studied environmental design at Yale, evokes architectural patterns with her sculpture, using fragmented glass and organic materials. Through May 1 at Gallery 195, NewAlliance Bank, 195 Church St., Fourth Floor, New Haven. 203-772-2788, newhavenarts.org. Celebrate Darwin’s bicentenary in style with a visit to the YCBA’s interdisciplinary exhibition Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts. The exhibition illuminates the impact of Darwin’s most important theories on artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Through May 3 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. Westville’s Kehler Liddell Gallery features Live Music each Wednesday. Enjoy new sounds while perusing fine art. 7-9 p.m. May 6, 13, 20 & 27 at the Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. Free. 203-389-9555, kehlerliddell.com. Seduced: The Relevance of Landscape in the 21st Century. This group exhibition of landscape works in multiple media considers the art historical legacy of the genre, the power of nature, land-use politics and the relativity of aesthetic beauty. The works can be profoundly beautiful, but they also represent appalling environmental conditions, therefore expressing the aesthetics of the environment’s decline. Featured artists include Diane Burko, Leila Daw, Karen Glaser, Joseph Saccio, Larry Schwarm, Joseph Smolinski and Joy Wulke. Through May 8 at Guilford Art Center, 411 Church Street, Guilford. Open noon-5 p.m. weekdays. Free. 203453-5947, guilfordartcenter.org. Westville ArtWalk is Connecticut’s largest all-volunteer community event. Enjoy art exhibitions from local, regional and national artists, a craft fair and a full day of events for kids and adults of all ages. Includes Mother’s Day gift-making, nature crafts, climbing wall, hike in Edgewood Park, historic walking tours and live music. 5-10 p.m. May 8 & 11 a.m.-5 p.m. May 9 throughout downtown Westville. Free. westvillect.org. The Juried Student Show is an annual display of students’ artistic works created during the academic year. Through May 12 at Seton Art Gallery, University of New Haven, 300 Boston Post Rd., West Haven. Open 1-5 p.m. Tues.-Thurs., noon-6 p.m. Fri., noon-3 p.m. Sat.-Sun. Free. 203-931-6065, newhaven. edu/setongallery. Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes explores the social and cultural impact of suburbia through

the lens of artists Gregory Crewdson, Dan Graham, Catherine Opie and Edward Ruscha, among others, and the visionary projects of architectural firms such as Fashion.Architecture.Taste, the Center For Land Use Interpretation, MVRDV (Netherlands-based Maas, van Rijs and de Vries) and Estudio Teddy Cruz. Through May 10 at Yale School of Architecture, 180 York St., New Haven. Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. & 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat. 203-432-8621, architecture. yale.edu.

Under Observation: Portraits of Young Mothers – Anja, an archival pigment print with a frosted white aluminum shadowbox frame, conceived and created by Alexandra Diracles, is part of the variety of art projects found in Sky’s the Limit: Built, Unbuilt or Just Imagined. Catch the zaniness through May 15 in New Haven at Creative Arts Workshop.

The ability to perceive and express a sense of the clever, amusing or absurd is a unique form of art. Humor in Art can evoke laughter, as well as serve as a vehicle to explore serious subjects, such as relationships, politics, the economy, the environment or the excesses of consumer culture. All media are acceptable for this exhibit. Juror Colleen Flannery works in a variety of media. Her work as a muralist, illustrator, sculptor, painter and mehndi artist frequently celebrates the beauty and joy of different cultures in an ever-growing global neighborhood. Flannery has a degree in illustration from Kendall College of Art & Design and is currently finishing work on her teaching certificate. Through May 14 at Firehouse Art Gallery, 81 Naugatuck Ave., Milford. Open 12-5 p.m. Thurs.-Sun. Free. 203-3060016, milfordarts.org. Creative Arts Workshop presents Sky’s the Limit: Built, Unbuilt or Just Imagined, a show of audacious art projects by artists from across the country that address the relationship of our physical environment and human life. Janet Echelman, internationally recognized artist specializing in public art installations and sculpture, juries the exhibition. Through May 15 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. 203562-4927, creativeartsworkshop.org. Spectra is the annual members’ show of the Photo Arts Collective, an Arts Council program whose mission is to cultivate and support a community

of individuals who share an interest in photography through workshops, lectures, exhibitions, portfolio reviews, group critiques and special events. Featured artists include Joe Azoti, Christopher Beauchamp, Joy Bush, Penny Cook, Rod Cook, Jim Fiora, Bob Giannotti, Kenneth Hanson, Sharon Hirsch, Art Johnson, Roy Money, Dana Osborn, Maryann Ott, Archie Stone, John Weinland and Marjorie Wolfe. Through May 22 at Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery, 70 Audubon St., 2nd floor, New Haven. Free. 203-772-2788, newhavenarts.org. Building on the rich collection of artworks and materials at the YUAG and the Gertrude Stein Archives at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Picasso and the Allure of Language surveys the relationship between art and literature, and painting and writing, in Picasso’s work. Through May 24 at YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. (Thurs. until 8 p.m.) & 1 p.m.-6 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu. In Judith Joy Ross: Photographs, the photographer presents large-format portraits of ordinary people — public school children, visitors to the Vietnam Memorial and Iraq war protesters. Visitors will see three decades of Ross’ visionary photos, which illuminate her subjects’ simultaneous vulnerability and strength, as well as their trust in the artist. Through May 24 at the Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, 301 High St., Middletown. Open noon-4 p.m. Tues.-Sun. Free. 860-685-2500, wesleyan.edu/dac. Sharon Crain’s photographs of Chinese people in China — Balancing the Changes: Photographs by Sharon Crain present a personal view of the changes she has seen since her first visit in 1977. Experience a photo-historybook containing images ranging from blue padded suits to high fashion, from 12-to-a-room dorms to Internet access, squads of steel Flying Pigeon bicycles to the rush of sleek Audi sedans, claystove noodle shops to stainless-steel grill Western fast food. Through May 24 at Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies Gallery, Wesleyan University, 343 Washington Terr., Middletown. Open noon-4 p.m. daily except Mon. Free. 860685-2330, wesleyan.edu/east. Frosty the Snowman faces many more challenges these days. A warmer globe may mean less snow shoveling for some, but affects so many ecosystems in not-so-great ways that everyone should seek out more information about how to help combat global climate change. In conjunction with Feet to the Fire, Wesleyan’s 18-month climate-change initiative, Zilkha Gallery presents Global Warning: Artists and Climate Change, an exhibition that explores climate change through the lens of visual artists. Through May 24 (May 1 reception 5-7 p.m.; 5:30 p.m. curator talk) at Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. Open noon-4 p.m. Tues.-Sun. (until 8 p.m. Fri.). Free. 860-

685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. Significant Form: Works in Collage by Eugene Healy and Rex Prescott Walden. Two area artists, Eugene Healy and Rex Prescott Walden, exhibit their collage works that attempt to achieve significant form — art that communicates the ideas and information suggested by its forms rather than the form itself. Healy weaves lines, shapes and colors into certain combinations and relationships that move all those who view his creations. See his abstractions of shore scenes materialized with paint, sand, fragments of printed fabrics and pieces of window screens. Walden considers “the making of art nothing but a series of highs and lows — [a] search for the highs that enables the painter to continue.” Each of his works holds the many risks he has decided to take to get closer to a high. Through May 26 at Hull’s Art Supply & Framing, One Whitney Ave., New Haven. Free. Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tues.-Fri. & 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. 203-907-0320, HullsNewHaven. com.

ivika Hansen Denegre’s framed and embellished 11 x 14 inch quilt is one of the many curiosities displayed in the Branford Artists Cooperative’s Mother’s Day Three Woman Show, running May 1-31 at the BAC in Branford.

The Branford Artists Cooperative gallery hosts a Mother’s Day ThreeWoman Show, featuring the artwork of fiber artist Vivika Hansen Denegre, textile artist Owen Sea Luckey, and jeweler and sculptor Kristin Merrill. Although juggling the challenges of motherhood and the passion for art is a balancing act, all three women agree that their artwork flourishes because of their roles as mothers. The patience and care it takes to create each one of their pieces of art is similar to that of mothering. May 1-31 (preview reception: 6-9 p.m. May 1; opening reception 11 a.m.-4 p.m. May 2) at Branford Artists Cooperative, 211 Montowese St., Branford. Open 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Tues.-Thurs or by appt. Free. 203-5896995, branfordartistscooperative.com. In the Middle. Group exhibit featuring works by Seth Anderson, Thaddeus Beal, Heather Mae Erickson, George

new haven

Alexis Brown shows off prints and paintings, while Susan Clinard displays her sculpture in Paper, Clay, Bone. This exhibition explores forms found in nature — animal and human, distorted and perfect, found and inspired. Clinard and Brown share a mastery of their individual crafts and mediums and present a thrilling emotional tour of nature’s truths. Through May 31 (opening reception: 6-9 p.m. May 8; 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. 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. May 8-June 1 (artist reception: 6-9 p.m. May 9) 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.). 203-387-2539, westvillegallery.com. Come have your world distorted, just as Dalí Would! View the final editions of hand-signed, limited edition lithographs by Salvador Dalí as well as rare, exceptional Dalí hand-signed lithographs and sculpture from the Clot Collection of Dalí Sculpture. The defaced Dalí lithograph plates are also on view. Through June 6 (open house 12-6 p.m. May 2) at White Space Gallery, 1020 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily (until 7 p.m. Thurs.); Sun. by appt. Free. 203-495-1200, whitespacegallery.com.

Through June 6, Dalí Would! shows off just how eccentric an artist Salvador Dalí really was. Visit White Space Gallery in New Haven for a show you’re sure to remember.

may 2009

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. May 12-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. May 1-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 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. May 21-June 18 (opening reception: 6-8 p.m. May 21) at Firehouse Art Gallery, 81 Naugatuck Ave., Milford. Gallery hours: 12-5 p.m. Thurs.-Sun. Free. 203-3060016, 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 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. 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

Photo: Kevin Van Aelst

Fellner, Charlie Goodwin, Elizabeth Gourlay, Julie Gross, Sarah Gustafson, Vaune Hatch, Jerome Hershey, Janet Lage, Mitch Lyons, Kelly Jean Ohl, Pamela Marks, Meg Brown Payson, Marc Petrovic, Ross Racine, Debra Ramsay, Thomas Stavovy and Malcolm Wright. Through May 31 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.

Haskins Laboratories’ newest exhibition, Status Update, shows us just how technology-driven our lives are. On view through August 1.

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. 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 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. May 7-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.

Art of Antonella Cappuccio, Contemporary Italian Paintings. Antonella Cappuccio was born on the island of Ischia in 1944. As a young child, she moved to Rome, where she currently lives and works. Her works demonstrate a strong commitment to preserve the great traditions of Renaissance Italy. She does not separate the past styles from the present, nor does she ignore the accomplishments of earlier, renowned artists. Cappuccio has successfully 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.

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 (reception: 5-7 p.m. May 14) 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. 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. May 28-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.

From May 7-July 26 Yale Center for British Art museum goers will find works of art like Sir John Everett Millais’ Princes in the Tower (1878) in Paintings from the Reign of Victoria: The Royal Holloway Collection, London.

OF NOTES

Baker: ‘I always tell people, I’m a Louisiana-born New Yorker, and now I’m living in Connecticut.’

The Blues, By George Guitar man Baker: part Southern bluesman, part conservatorytrained composer By Sarah Politz

ou may think you’ve got George Baker ﬁgured out. The blues guitarist is a ﬁxture on the New Haven music scene, hosting the jazz jam at Café Nine or performing originals with his group, the George Baker Experience. He’s from the South. He plays the blues. End of story, right?

Though Baker is a ubiquitous presence, his past is something of an enigma. His career has followed a remarkable trajectory from his birth in New Roads, La. in 1938 to New Haven in 2009. He has played music that spans divisions of genre and geography, and is one of the most versatile musicians of his generation.

“The ﬁrst music I ever heard in my life was country-and-western, Grand Ole Opry,” he says. “I remember we used to get dressed and walk about a mile to my cousin’s house just to listen to the radio.” Baker came late to the guitar, picking it up at age 17, when by chance he was pressed into service. “One night I had asked the guitar player could I take his guitar home, and my uncle tuned it with what’s known as open tuning,” he says. “So I learned three songs in open tuning. One was ‘Okie Dokie Stomp’ by Gatemouth Brown. I went back and the guitar player showed me the conventional way, and he let me take it home again, and I learned those

same three songs in the conventional tuning. So the next week was Christmas Eve, and the guitar player was nowhere to be found. They looked at me and I said, ‘I only know three songs.’ “And I was able to fumble my way through the gig, and I loved it and from that day on I played guitar.” He began gigging with local R&B singer Boo Gautier, and then hit the road with Earl Davis and the Upsetters, and later the Drifters (“Under the Boardwalk”), the backing band for Hughie (Piano) Smith (who penned hits like “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie-Woogie Flu” and “Don’t Ya Just Know It”). In 1959 the Drifters’ tour brought them to New York City for two weeks. Baker was enamored: “I said, when the band breaks up, I’m coming back to New York. So when the band broke up in ’61, I came back to New York.” That was the start of something good, because Baker started studying classical new haven

guitar at Brooklyn Conservatory, where he met saxophonist Trevor Lawrence, a lifelong friend who is now Bakerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s producer. At the time, Baker was learning classical ďŹ nger-style technique during the day and then using a pick on the stand at night, a difference he embraced: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I really got a lot out of [the Conservatory]. I got some real ďŹ&#x201A;exibility, because music was music, academically.â&#x20AC;? Word traveled quickly about Baker, who was especially ďŹ&#x201A;exible because of his virtuoso technique and ability to read music, and soon his playing was in great demand. He landed the gig in the house band at the Apollo Theater, where he had the opportunity to play with every band that came through that legendary venue. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Roland Chambers was [Marvinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gayeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s] guitar player at the time,â&#x20AC;? Baker recalls. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Roland took sick, and somebody in Marvinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s group called [producer] Bobby Robertson to ask if he knew of a good guitar player who could read, and they told him there was a good guitar player at the Apollo Theater already. So we played together for three days, and I asked [Gaye] if could conduct the band. He thought I was crazy. I remember â&#x20AC;&#x201D; I only made two mistakes. So after Marvin says, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Man, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like you to work with me, but I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work that much.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;Three months after that, [Gayeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s smash hit] â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I Heard It Through the Grapevineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; was released, and that changed everything,â&#x20AC;? Baker recounts. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was great.â&#x20AC;? The year was 1968; Baker would join Gayeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s group as musical director and guitarist for the next three years. He then joined singer Melba Moore on the road for 18 months before returning to New York. He enrolled in graduate school at Queens College to study music theory and composition â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with jazz pianist Marcus Miller as a classmate â&#x20AC;&#x201D; in 1977 and 1978. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s when I studied jazz, much later,â&#x20AC;? he says.

Like many tumbleweed musicians, Baker considers himself a New Yorker, but he moved to New Haven in 1985 to be closer to his daughter and granddaughter, and has been a regular onstage and off ever since. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I always tell people, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a Louisianaborn New Yorker, and now Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m living in Connecticut,â&#x20AC;? he explains.

standards â&#x20AC;&#x153;Johnny B. Goodeâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;House of the Rising Sun,â&#x20AC;? are Bakerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original compositions. Baker claims to have come to the blues relatively late, after moving to New Haven, although one imagines that playing with Marvin Gaye might have taught him a thing or two. But Baker points to a transformative experience he had at a late-1990s performance by Buddy Guy at Toadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Place.

All those places have left a mark on Bakerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s playing. At this stage of life he has slipped comfortably into the role of a â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really what got me interested in veteran Southern bluesman, deďŹ ned by his checking out the blues myself,â&#x20AC;? he says. taste for wailing, funky lines and a deep Perhaps it is Guyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blues that so resonate R&B pocket that swings as hard as it rocks. with Baker because they take him back to his roots; it turns out that Guy was born But that blues sensibility is a cover, in just two years earlier and several blocks a way, for Bakerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s underlying musical away from Baker in New Roads. experiments. As a guitarist, he holds sway over both melody and harmony. He can But New Haven has adopted Baker, who make a line sound slick and simple, while really does seem to show up everywhere, underneath he constructs chords ďŹ lled from jazz jam to rock club to hole-in-thewith strategic substitutions and alterations. wall dive bar, a habit which allows him to cross-pollinate between communities and His classical training never leaves him; he genres of musicians without hesitation. is supremely analytical, and can execute Seated at a CafĂŠ Nine table one afternoon with academic precision, running musical for an interview, he greets wait staff and calculations and emotive lyrical power customers by name, and they return the alongside one another simultaneously. gesture with a respectful but intimate, And occasionally, an arpeggio or phrase â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hey, George.â&#x20AC;? will remind the listener that Bakerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heart is in New York, and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not afraid to let Baker suspects that this is because he does loose his bebop chops. his homework on New Haven musicians. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I know all the young musicians, all the It did not take Baker long to form his old musicians, all the black musicians, own band in New Haven, the George all the white musicians, all the jazz Baker Experience, which started playing musicians,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I know all of them, Mondays at the former Poco Loco because I always go and see them play.â&#x20AC;? restaurant on Whalley Avenue. They also got to work on a debut album. The ďŹ rst New Haven music-lovers have beneďŹ ted cuts were recorded in 1992 at what was tremendously from Bakerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presence; then Reservoir Studios â&#x20AC;&#x201D; now the Space the diversity of his experience belies his in Hamden. The recording would take tremendous musical talent â&#x20AC;&#x201D; like most 12 years to complete, between sessions Louisiana musicians, he can make just in New Haven and trips to Hollywood about any kind of music sound soulful â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to work at Trevor Lawrenceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Blue Palm not to mention his ability to bring people Studios. The CD-DVD set Mojo Lady together from different backgrounds, sit was released in 2006 on Bungalo Records; them down and start swapping stories, all but two of the tracks, the revisited one blues lick at a time. v

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Adrian Slywotsky, Conductor of Neighborhood Music School’s Greater New Haven Youth Orchestra, will lead the group in the Youth Ensembles Spring Concert on May 10 at Battell Chapel in New Haven.

Classical Barbara Croall: Messages. Native American composer Barbara Croall was commissioned to compose a new work on global climate change to be performed by the Wesleyan University Orchestra under the baton of guest conductor Roy Wiseman. Croall is Odawa and balances her time between work in outdoor education rooted in traditional Anishhinaabe teachings and composing music. She has been actively performing and composing for Anishhinaabe musical instruments as well as for Western instruments since 1995. Her music for soloists, small and large chamber ensembles, symphony orchestra, film, dance and theater have been premiered internationally. This program will also feature winners of the Wesleyan Orchestra Concerto Competition. 8 p.m. May 1 at Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355, cfa@ wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Hall, 470 College St., New Haven except where noted. Free. 203-432-4158, yale. edu/music. The Hillhouse Opera Co. performs its Spring Opera Scenes. Scenes from Madame Butterfly, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, Der Rosenkavalier, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Les Huguenots. 7 p.m. May 1, 4 p.m. May 3 at St. James Episcopal Church, 62 E. Grand Ave., New Haven. $10 ($25 per family). Percentage of proceeds to benefit St. James’ Christian Academy. hillhouseoperacompany@ gmail.com, hillhouseoperacompany.org. The Collegium Musicum is a performance ensemble dedicated to exploring and performing the diverse vocal and instrumental repertories of the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods of European music. 7 p.m. May 2 at Memorial Chapel, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355, cfa@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

The Yale Philharmonia with Music Director Shinik Hahm, Assistant Conductor Julian Pellicano and pianist Reinis Zarins join forces to perform STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegel, RAVEL Piano Concerto for Left Hand, RACHMANINOFF Symphony No. 2. Zarins is a winner of last year’s Woolsey Hall Competition. 8 p.m. May 1 at Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4158, yale.edu/ music.

Music teachers Anthea Kreston and Jason Duckles host the Spring Chamber Music Extravaganza, featuring mixed groups enrolled in the chamber music program at Wesleyan. A variety of small classical groups will perform works by composers from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and contemporary eras. 2 p.m. May 3 at Russell House, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355, cfa@ wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Enjoy excellent (and free) serenades by Yale School of Music students in their Degree Recitals. Student recitals (at Sudler Recital Hall, 100 Wall St., New Haven) begin with mezzo sopranos Gala El Hadidi (2:30 p.m. May 2) and Chrystal Williams (4 p.m. May 2), continue with baritone David Pershall (4 p.m. May 4) and tenor MichaelPaul Krubitzer (5:30 p.m. May 4) and conclude with Jeremy Bowes on bass (4 p.m. May 7) and baritone Vince Vincent (7:30 p.m. May 7). Pianist KaiYin Huang (5 p.m. May 1) performs a Master of Music Recital, while cellist A Yung Kim (8 p.m. May 1) presents an Artist Diploma Recital. Sprague

The Wesleyan Wind Ensemble under Peter Hadley performs an eclectic and engaging array of works for winds and percussion in WesWinds Spring Concert. 8 p.m. May 5 at Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355, cfa@ wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. The Trinity Choir of Men & Boys and Choir of Men & Girls (NHM, November 2007) step out from their normal liturgical duties for Spring Songs!, a fun-filled evening of music drawn from Broadway and popular song, with cabaret-style seating for the audience. The music is complemented by an array of desserts available for

purchase, as well as a silent auction of a wide variety of items and useful services. 7:30 p.m. May 9 at St. Mary’s Church Parish Hall, 5 Hillhouse Ave.,, New Haven. $25. 203-776-2616. Join the Waterbury Symphony for an evening of exploration of the rich history and diversity of the Waterbury community through music, with a celebration of the story of the African American slave, Fortune, enslaved in Waterbury during the 18th century. Concert features the world-premiere of the cantata The Maunumission Requiem: Fortune’s Bones, written by Ysaye Barnwell and inspired by Marilyn Nelson’s moving poem about Fortune’s life and death. 8 p.m. May 9 at the Palace Theater, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $75-$20 ($10 students). 203755-4700, palacetheaterct.org. For its spring concert the New Haven Oratorio Choir & Orchestra has suspended its regular $20 ticket price and invites music-lovers to pay what they can (children, students with ID free). MOZART Coronation Mass, ZELENKA Miserere, HENDEL selections from Anthem for the Funeral of Queen Caroline. 8 p.m. (pre-concert talk 7:30) May 9 at Trinity Lutheran Church, 292 Orange St., New Haven. 203-248-4416, president@newhavenoratorio.org. Neighborhood Music School’s Greater New Haven Youth Ensembles Spring Concert brings the Elm City the melodious sounds of the auditioned youth Concert Band and Concert Orchestra (2:30 p.m.) and Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Youth Orchestra (4 p.m.). May 10 at Battell Chapel, New Haven. Free. 203-624-5189, nmsmusicschool.org.

MUSIC Toshiyuki Shimada directs the Yale Symphony Orchestra in its annual Commencement Concert. 6 p.m. May 22 at Battell Chapel, New Haven. Free. 203-432-4158, yale.edu/music. The Yale Glee Club performs a Commencement Concert conducted by Jeffrey Douma. The performance will include works by Guerrero, Grieg, Pärt, Rachmaninoff, Rorem and others, as well as traditional Yale songs. 8 p.m. May 23 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. 203-432-4136, yale. edu/music. Yale School of Music Ensembles stage their Commencement Concert with many outstanding performers from the Class of 2009. 4 p.m. May 24 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4158, yale.edu/music.

Popular Fresh off a two-week stint performing his original live electronic score for the Yale Repertory Theater’s production of Dostoevsky’s Notes From The Underground, saxophonist/composer Michaël Attias, the Israeli-born son of Moroccan parents, returns to New Haven with the Michaël Attias Quintet. The group expands Attias’ longtime trio, Renku, featuring bassist John Hébert and drummer/ percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, to include French horn player Mark Taylor and pianist Jacob Sacks. Each performance is a unique journey and each player an equal agent of power

CRITIC’S PICK: Ocean’s Eleven This

Have a gas with heart throbs of old. Catch a spirited tribute that recreates one of “the summit’s” shows at the Sands hotel. It was beneath the bright lights of Las Vegas that the group known as the Rat Pack created hipster legend with a free-wheeling,

anything-goes nightclub act starring Vegas’ favorite sons: Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Joey Bishop. The Rat Pack Is Back features uncanny vocal recreations, humor and a live big band that sends audiences back in time. Tunes

include, but are not limited to: “That’s Amore,” “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Mr. Bojangles.” 8 p.m. May 15-16, 2 p.m. May 16 at the Palace Theater, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $59-$49. 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org. — Elvira J. Duran

new haven

and change in directing the dreamflow. The Michaël Attias Quintet’s debut recording, Twines of Colesion, was recorded over three nights at the Coimbra Jazz Festival last June and will be released later this year on Clean Feed Records. 8:30 ($15) and 10 p.m. ($10) May 1 at Firehouse 12, 45 Crown St., New Haven. 203-785-0468, firehouse12. com.

Anthony Braxton: Large Ensemble. Professor Anthony Braxton’s student ensemble performs his music. 8 p.m. May 4 at Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860-6853355, cfa@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan. edu/cfa. Yanni Voices is a brand new concert event, featuring pianist and composer Yanni’s orchestra from around the world and his four “voices” delivering a soothing, entrancing performance. Feel romance, passion and sensuality ooze from the stage of stunning choreography, magnificent costumes and dynamic imagery shown on enormous video screens. 7:30 p.m. May 5 at Arena at Harbor Yard, 600 Main St., Bridgeport. $125-$25. 203-368-1000, arenaatharboryard.com. The Annual Organ Romp features faculty, student and guests performing premieres of new works together with interesting or even wacky pieces not usually played on the organ. 10 p.m. May 7 at Memorial Chapel, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860-6853355, cfa@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan. edu/cfa.

Toumani Diabate, world master of the kora, performs on his West African 21-string harp on May 2 at Wesleyan University in Middletown.

Grammy Award-winning world master of the kora, Toumani Diabate, performs on his West African 21-string harp. He is among the first artists responsible for introducing this beautiful instrument to audiences around the world and has collaborated with many renowned artists including Björk, blues master Taj Mahal and jazz vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater. He is at the vanguard of a new generation of Malian griots (bards) continually looking for ways of modernizing while still honoring their traditional music. 8 p.m. May 2 (7:15 p.m. pre-concert talk by music professor Eric Charry) at Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. $22 ($18 seniors, $6 students). 860-685-3355, cfa@wesleyan. edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. Drum Circle. Bring any hand percussion, large or small, and a chair and join this improvised ensemble. 12 p.m. every Sunday at the bus stop at Cross High School, 181 Mitchell Dr., New Haven. Free. jef@eastrockstudio.com. Spring Taiko Concert. Led by Mark H. Rooney of Odaiko New England, Taiko (Japanese drumming) at Wesleyan has reached its sixth semester. In the style of Kumidaiko (ensemble drumming), the introductory and advanced classes learn rhythm drills, physical forms, traditional and contemporary pieces. The recital will be a display of the skills, techniques and rhythms that both classes have learned over the semester. 7 p.m. May 3 at World Music Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. $3 ($2 students). 860-685-3355, cfa@ wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

may 2009

Grammy Award-winning singersongwriter John Prine performs his timeless classics “Angel From Montgomery,” “Hello In There,” and “Unwed Fathers” along with others with help from guitarist Jason Wilber. His songs have been adopted (and adapted) by the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Bette Midler, Tammy Wynette and Johnny Cash. 8 p.m. May 8 at the Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. $50-$40. 800-228-6622, shubert. com. Peter Brötzmann/Nasheet Waits Duo. Legendary German multiinstrumentalist Peter Brötzmann and New York drummer Nasheet Waits bring spontaneously improvised music to New Haven this month. Brötzmann is a self-taught musician and co-founder of a record label. His early work helped lay the foundation of the European free jazz scene. His discography boasts nearly 200 recordings, with more than 65 as a leader/co-leader. Nasheet Waits, the son of Motown and modern jazz drummer Freddie Waits, has been the drummer of choice for Orrin Evans, Antonio Hart, Fred Hersch, Andrew Hill and Jason Moran. He was also a member of Max Roach’s renowned percussion ensemble, M Boom. 8:30 ($15) and 10 p.m. ($10) May 8 at Firehouse 12, 45 Crown St., New Haven. 203-785-0468, firehouse12.com.

traveled across North America singing his songs. With several landmark recordings early in his career for FolkLegacy Records in Sharon, Staines is part of the Branford Folk Music Society’s (BFMS) season-long tribute to Folk-Legacy’s 45 years as an integral part of the folk music scene. Staines emceed the Sunday hootenanny at the renowned Club 47 in Cambridge, Mass.; won the National Yodeling Championship in 1975 at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Kerrville, Tex., and has appeared on various radio and TV shows. Don’t miss his original songs, traditional folk tunes, contemporary country ballads and possibly a yodeling tune or two. 8 p.m. May 9 at First Congregational Church, 1009 Main St., Branford. $12 members, $15 others ($5 12 and under). 203-488-7715, branfordfolk@ yahoo.com, folknotes.org/branfordfolk. American acoustic guitarist and bluegrass great David Grier performs an intimate concert. This three time International Bluegrass Music Association Guitar Player of the Year and two-time Grammy Award winner is sure not to disappoint. 3:30 p.m. May 10 at Neighborhood Music School, 100 Audubon St. New Haven. $20 ($10 students). 230-430-6020, guitartownct. com.

David Grier will show everyone why he’s been IBMA “Guitar Player of the Year” three times. Learn how Grier strums his guitar on May 10 at Neighborhood Music School in New Haven.

Korean Drumming. Spend an evening experiencing pangut, a kind of Pungmulnori, which is a Korean folk music tradition that includes drumming, dancing and singing. It is performed with Kwangari, Janggu, buk and Jing (various drums). 7 p.m. May 10 at World Music Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. $3 ($2 students). 860-6853355, cfa@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan. edu/cfa.

The Trinity Choir of Men & Boys and the Trinity Choir of Men & Girls perform an evening of light classics, popular songs and show tunes during A Grand Night for Singing. Desserts will be served. Sponsored by Trinity Church on the Green. 7:30 p.m. May 9 at St. Mary’s Church Hall, 5 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven. $25. 203-776-2616, trinitynewhaven.org.

Legendary singer, songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen comes back to tour the States after 15 years of absence. Don’t miss Cohen with a full band, including Sharon Robinson and the Webb Sisters, Roscoe Beck, Neil Larsen, Bob Metzger, Javier Mas, Rafael Gayol and Dino Soldo on this stop of their world tour. 8 p.m. May 14 at the Palace Theater, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $252.25-$71.75. 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org.

For four decades, New England native folk music man Bill Staines has

There’ll be no snowstorm to keep Bob Zentz away this time around. Zentz

has been described as a one-man minstrel show and a performer with a wide array of contemporary, traditional and original songs. Concertgoers can expect to hear traditional Celtic tunes and ballads, science fiction songs, sea chanteys, tales of “old timers and old rhymers” and poetry set to music. Zentz accompanies himself on a variety of acoustic instruments, including guitars, dulcimers, banjos, autoharp, concertina, melodeon, cittern, Jew’s harp and harmonica. He has recorded several albums including two on the Folk-Legacy label that quickly became classics of the American folk song revival. 8 p.m. May 16 at First Congregational Church, 1009 Main St., Branford. $12 members, $15 others ($5 12 and under). 203-488-7715, branfordfolk@ yahoo.com, folknotes.org/branfordfolk. Metal band Korn fills the stage an intense live show with support from Shadows Fall and Dark Day Sunday. 7:30 p.m. May 22 at Chevrolet Theatre, 95 South Turnpike Rd., Wallingford. $39.50. 877-598-8689, livenation.com. Richard (Cookie) Thomas & His Trio. The smooth vocals of Richard (Cookie) Thomas are back by popular demand. Hear Thomas channel the likes of Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and Johnny Hartmann in his performance. 8 p.m. May 22 at Center for the Arts, 40 Railroad Ave., Milford. $12. 203-878-6647, milfordarts.org. British alternative rockers Coldplay visit Connecticut. Join frontman Chris Martin, lead guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer/ backing vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Will Champion for a night filled with hits like “Yellow,” “The Scientist,” “Clocks” and “Viva la Vida.” 7:30 p.m. May 23 at Meadows Music Theater, 61 Savitt Way, Hartford. $115.40-$45.27. 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. May 7-June 21 at Seven Angels Theatre, 1 Plank Rd., Waterbury. $35-$29. 203-757-4676, sevenangelstheatre.org.

Charismatic crooner, Leonard Cohen, performs with a full band on May 14 at the Palace Theater in Waterbury.

‘Emerging’ No More Working from a lifetime of experience, playwright Monica Bauer finds her voice

WO R D S o f M O UT H By Brooks Appelbaum

Ê TE S

onica Bauer describes herself, modestly but misleadingly, as an “emerging playwright.” In the common understanding of that word, she is emerging from a life comprising several successful careers into the career she was born to do. In the professional sense of the term, she is becoming noticed: prizes, publications and productions are giving Bauer an audience base that includes Denver, Boston and off-off Broadway.

INSTYLE

O U T D O O RS

\My Occasion of Sin, says playwright Bauer, ‘sits in that awkward intersection where blacks and whites in the ‘60s first started to speak to each other — as people.’

Now living near New Haven, Bauer recently presented a staged reading of her widely produced play, The Maternal She still speaks with wonder about the patron of playwrights,” not only ran Instinct, as a benefit for the Connecticut opportunity: “You didn’t have to pay a the Boston Theatre Marathon but also Food Bank. The enthusiastic audience that fee, and you didn’t have to have an agent, headed the playwriting program at Boston caught the production made it clear that in and it was only ten minutes. So I thought, University. Snodgrass invited Bauer to their estimation she had passed “emerging” ‘Okay, they will not produce a musical, apply to the BU program and awarded — she had arrived. but they’ll produce a ten-minute nonher a teaching fellowship. In a year, she musical play. Can I write a ten-minute earned a master’s in creative writing from When asked about her beginnings as a non-musical play to get something in the BU. In a short three years, Bauer’s was playwright, Bauer says, “Playwrights are being produced off-off Broadway. not born; they are made and sometimes re- Boston Theatre Marathon?” So Bauer wrote a play called The Most Important made.” No statement could be truer when Bauer has not only found a welcoming Thing. describing her journey. As a precocious home in New York, however. She says, youth, Bauer was the pit conductor for The Most Important Thing was accepted. “I’ve been very happy to find in New Megan Terry’s seminal rock musical, Viet And seeing her play produced by Haven a group of local actors whom I love Rock, and she was always writing music professional actors and directed by a topand who have done work for me.” Among and performing in a rock ‘n’ roll band. But flight director was one turning point; the these are Carolyn Ladd (Lillian in New she never imagined making a living in other was created by the audience. Haven’s staged reading of The Maternal musical theater. Instinct) and Greg Mouning. “There is a moment in The Most Bauer’s theatrical life began for the second Important Thing when there’s this huge Mouning has been reading a part for time after marriage, motherhood and twist,” explains Bauer. “And I could just Bauer in a play called My Occasion of professional stability. When her daughter hear the entire audience’s intake of breath, Sin that Bauer has been developing since entered college, she was ready to return all at the same time. It was just incredible.” graduate school. “My Occasion of Sin is to musical theater. By this time, Bauer a play about race, and it’s a play unlike The success was heady but, Bauer allows, had moved to Boston and discovered the any other play about race, I think, in that “I was smart enough to know that I needed Boston Theatre Marathon, which issued it sits in that awkward intersection where training.” Kate Snodgrass, “this sainted open invitations for ten-minute plays.

BODY & SOUL

O N S CRE EN

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ONSTAGE AUDITIONS Casting Call for actors and directors for Play Makers’ ‘Shorts’ Festival, a June 12 stage reading of ten-minute plays, sponsored by the Hamden Arts Commission. Bring brief bio and head shot. Auditions 7 p.m. May 4-5 at Thornton Wilder Auditorium, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden, and noon-2 p.m. May 5 at Arts Council of Greater New Haven, 70 Audubon St., New Haven. merryplaymakers@gmail.com, Playmakersct.webs.com/playwrights. htm. Photo: Carol Rosegg

Junie B. Jones and her friends explore first-grade experiences in a fun and entertaining musical. Based on the books by Barbara Park. At the Palace Theater May 22.

THEATER Girls Night: The Musical follows five 30- and 40-something friends as they relive their past on a wild karaoke night out. Being friends since their teens allows the five to remember their early years, celebrate their current lives and look to the future. The characters are incarnations of your own friends — there’s Carol, the party girl; Anita,

Four volumes in Barbara Park’s Junie B. Jones series of books — Junie B, First Grader (at Last!); Junie B, Boss of Lunch; Junie B, One-Man Band and Top-Secret Personal Beeswax: A Journal by Junie B (and Me!) — are the inspiration for the new musical Junie B. Jones. The musical explores Junie B. Jones’ experiences with new friends, new glasses, sugar cookies, the annual kickball tournament and other various first-grade angst-ridden situations. Follow her adventures as she writes down the story of her life in her “TopSecret Personal Beeswax Journal.” Best for Grades: K-5. 9:30 & 11:30 a.m. May 22 at the Palace Theater, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $8. 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org. 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 well-intentioned son and brother. Laura’s world is shattered when Amanda (Judith Ivey) encourages a meeting with Tom’s acquaintance, Jim, played by Josh Charles. Charles has appeared in the films Hairspray, Dead Poets Society and the TV series Sports Night. Don’t miss this tale of who people are and what they hold onto to survive. Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein directs. May 13-June 7 at Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Dr., New Haven. $62-$32. 203-787-4282, 800-7828497, info@longwharf.org, longwharf. org. The Yale Rep brings Arthur Miller’s Pulitzer- and Tony-winning masterpiece

Death of a Salesman to its stage for the first time in a brand new production with artistic direction by James Bundy and featuring three-time Emmy and two-time Tony nominee Charles S. Dutton as Willy Loman. For Loman, as for many, the American Dream is the only dream. Achieving that dream is a whole different story. After 36 years on the road in its pursuit, the traveling salesman, haunted by missed opportunities and an uncertain future, must come to terms with a lifetime of self-deception that has distorted his dream into an American tragedy. Through May 23 at Yale Repertory Theatre, 1120 Chapel St., New Haven. $65-$35. 203-432-1234, yalerep.org.

Photo: Corbis

the truth dealer who tells it like it is; Liza, the one with all kinds of “issues”; Kate, the boring designated driver and Sharon, the devilish angel who decides to tag along. The Girls bring many girly favorites into the mix. Sing along to “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “I Will Survive,” “Say a Little Prayer” and many more. 8 p.m. May 15-16, 2 p.m. May 16-17 at the Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. $52-$15. 203-624-1825, shubert.com.

Arthur Miller looking debonair in his office the year (1949) he won the Pulitzer Prize for best play. Watch his prize-winning work, Death of a Salesman, at Yale Repertory Theatre from April 24-May 23.

CRITIC’S PICK: Street Stories

From the team that brought you Singin’ in the Rain, Goodspeed Musicals opens its 2009 season with the dazzling Broadway song-and-dance extravaganza 42nd Street, with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Al Dubin based on the book by Michael Stewart

and Mark Bramble. It’s the ultimate fairy tale as a stagestruck understudy becomes an overnight star. Packed with razzmatazz and plenty of pizzazz, it will set your heart pounding with its rhythmically tapping feet and hit parade of songs: “Lullaby of

Broadway,” “We’re in the Money,” “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” and of course “42nd Street.” Through June 28 at Goodspeed Opera House, 6 Main St., East Haddam. $73$31. 860-873-8668, goodspeed.org. — Elvira J. Duran

blacks and whites in the ‘60s first started a jazz musician named Luigi Waites. He “So,” Bauer continues, “this play is a to speak to each other — as people.” Bauer came from segregated north Omaha to coming-of-age story, fictionalized, about mentions with profound admiration “the segregated south Omaha to teach drums. I that black girl who died, and a young great August Wilson, writing his cycle adored him.” white Polish Catholic girl who wanted to of plays about the black experience. I learn how to play the drums. It’s inspired “So this play comes partly from my own couldn’t do that, but I can write about by my life but it’s not autobiographical. experience and partly from the real history what it was like in the ‘60s when black And I have no idea who this young black of my hometown, which almost no one people and white people first began to teenager was. I’ve never met her family; knows about. Omaha had one of the most speak to each other because that comes there’s never been anything written about brutal race riots in the ‘60s, in 1968. The from my childhood and young adulthood.” her. Her name was Vivian Strong, and the north side of town, which is where the character’s name is Vivian.” “I lived in a segregated white area of town” black population was segregated, was so in Omaha, Neb. “It was a Polish area, and decimated that it still has not come back; A staged reading of My Occasion of Sin there was an accordion studio just two today, you can go block after block and will be held at New Haven’s Church of blocks from my house. And in 1968, the there’s nothing there. It was all burned to the Redeemer, 185 Cold Spring Street, accordion studio went almost overnight the ground. That riot was touched off by at 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 31., to benefit from ‘Lady of Spain’ to ‘Let It Be.’ And the killing of a 14-year-old black girl by a the Connecticut Food Bank, suggested I got the chance to take drum lessons white police officer, who shot her in the donation, $10. v from the first black man I had ever met: head at point-blank range. 52

may 2009

BELLES LETTRES Children’s Story Hour is a weekly Saturday get-together for children and parent story lovers alike. 10 a.m. May 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 at the Yale Bookstore, 77 Broadway, New Haven. Free. 203-777-8440, crc-events@snet.net, yalebookstore.com. Andrew J. Bacevich presents The Limits of Power, an unparalleled examination of America’s current predicament from a conservative historian’s viewpoint. Come find out why both conservatives and liberals heed his words and what it is he believes needs to be done to fix our problems. 7 p.m. May 1 R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations required. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. NPR contributor and author Jessica Bram discusses Happily Ever After Divorce. Bram touches on many a topic of interest to those recently, and also those not so recently, divorced — from custodial visits to re-exploring the world of dating. She gives readers an honest and optimistic look at life after divorce. 7 p.m. May 5 R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations required. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. Celebrate the writing excellence of students in Middletown public schools, grades 6-12, at A Celebration of Silent Sounds. Students will read their winning submissions of one-act plays, short stories and poetry from the annual literary magazine Silent Sounds. 7 p.m. May 5 at World Music Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355, cfa@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. For the animal and adventure lover in us all, Richard Conniff shares his tales of running after (and sometimes away from) animals all over the world from Swimming with Piranhas at Feeding Time. Tigers, leopards and 90-pound snapping turtles are just a few of the beasts Conniff has encountered during his travels. 7 p.m. May 6 R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations required. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. Nina Planck, organizer of New York City’s legendary Greenmarkets and author of Real Food: What To Eat and Why, delves into Real Food For Mother and Baby, her candid look at how to feed yourself and your child during the pivotal first few years. 10 a.m. May 7 R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations required. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. World-renowned physician and chief of cardiac surgery at Yale John Elefteriades, MD discusses Transplant (NHM, March 2009), a fictional mystery medical thriller that will make your heart stop. 7 p.m. May 7 R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations required.

CALENDAR

203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. Haul those manuscript pages out of your drawer, dust them off and sharpen your prose. Writers Out Loud-Literary Open Mic offers authors a night to share works-in-progress, socialize and seek out constructive comments. Readings are limited to prose short stories or excerpts under ten minutes. Open-mic signup begins at 7 p.m., readings at 7:30 p.m. Each evening is limited to six readings, with time for one-on-one feedback and sharing afterward. 7-9 p.m. May 7 at Greenstreet Arts Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. $8 ($5 members, seniors & students). 860-685-7871, gsac@wesleyan.edu, greenstreetartscenter.org. In his 23-year tenure as Yale University’s chief investment officer, David Swensen has added over $20 billion to the school’s endowment. Find out what makes him so successful when he discusses Pioneering Portfolio Management, his new book that provides insight and real-world examples for those of us less experienced in the investment world. 7 p.m. May 8 at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations required. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. Everyone loves daydreaming of a summer day and having pizza for dinner. Come indulge in both with Jenny Han when she presents The Summer I Turned Pretty, a novel all about summer love. For 12 years and older. 7 p.m. May 11 at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations required. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. Take a Victorian boarding school story, a Gothic mansion mystery, a romp about a clique of girlfriends, a dark other-worldly fantasy — mix them all together and you get the Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray. The Sweet Far Thing, the final volume in the trilogy, will be discussed by Bray, along with a talk about her life as a writer. 7 p.m. May 12 at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations required. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. D.J. MacHale discusses Pendragon 10: The Soldiers of Halla, the final installment of his wildly successful Pendragon series that centers around Bobby Pendragon. MacHale is a writer, director, executive producer and creator of several popular television series and movies including Are You Afraid of the Dark?, The Tale of Cutter’s Treasure and Tower of Terror, a film starring Kirsten Dunst. 4 p.m. May 13 at Mercy Center, 167 Neck Road, Madison. Free. Reservations required. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. Writers and readers are invited to Breaking In: A Look at Book Publishing, a panel discussion about the process of publishing in today’s book market. Panelists include moderator Jessica Bram, author, NPR

commentator and owner of Westport Writers Workshop; Lucy Hedrick, nonfiction author and writing coach; Prill Boyle, author of Defying Gravity: a Celebration of Late-Blooming Women; novelist N.A. Nelson; and literary agent Denise Marcil. Discussion will explore what’s hot in the industry, how to draft a nonfiction book proposal, finding and working with an agent, and how to succeed in writing contests. 5:30-7 p.m. May 13 at the New Haven Free Public Library, 133 Elm St., New Haven. Free. Registration. 203-946 -8835, nhbulletin. blogspot.com.

The panel discussion Breaking In: A Look at Book Publishing will teach writers how to get published. Join (left to right) Prill Boyle, Jessica Bram, N.A. Nelson, Lucy Hedrick, and Denise Marcil at The New Haven Public Library on May 13.

Don’t feel like a victim of cancer any longer. Instead, be inspired to take control of the process of fighting off the disease by award-winning medical oncologist Richard Frank, MD. His humanitarian approach in Fighting Cancer with Knowledge and Hope will have many seeing things in a new light. 7 p.m. May 13 at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations required. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. World-renowned chef and restaurateur Emeril Lagasse signs copies of his newest work, Emeril at the Grill. This is a ticketed book signing; you will receive a ticket when you purchase a copy from R.J. Julia. 5 p.m. May 14 at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations required. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. 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. May 14 at the Center for the Arts, 40 Railroad Ave., Milford. 203-878-6647, milfordarts.org. Sherrie Mathieson knows what it takes to dress for success. She has costumed and styled for roles, Academy Award-winning actors, sports figures, comedians, rock stars, dancers and many other industry leaders. Find out how to look equally stylish in Steal This

Style, full of helpful tips on how mother and daughter can take style advice from each other. 7 p.m. May 15 at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. Brooklyn demonstrates why Irish novelist and critic Colm Toibin has received multiple awards. Meet the author and listen to him discuss his luminous novel about Irish immigrants in 1950s New York. 7 p.m. May 16 at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations required. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. When one has four little ones under age eight, a lot goes on in the kitchen. Emily Franklin presents Too Many Cooks, her food memoir detailing how she tried tons of new recipes for her family over the course of a year. Jampacked with easy recipes and a healthy dose of vim and vigor. 7 p.m. May 18 at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations required. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. Beloved author Elizabeth Berg returns to R.J. Julia to present Home Safe, a novel about a woman, her daughter, and a surprising change in life. Heralded as “somewhere between Anne Tyler and Alice Hoffman,” Berg is the author of 18 novels, including ten bestsellers. 7 p.m. May 20 at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations required. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. Claire Cook, bestselling author of such novels a Must Love Dogs, Life’s a Beach and Summer Blowout, always has fun anecdotes to share — like the fact that she wrote her first book in a minivan while waiting for her daughter at swim practice. 7 p.m. May 21 at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. Award-winning novelist and satirist Christopher Buckley discusses his memoir, Losing Mum and Pup, the tragicomic true story of the year in which both of his larger-than-life parents — conservative icon William Buckley Jr. and socialite Patricia Buckley — died. Ticketed event. 7 p.m. May 24 at the Owenego Inn, 40 Linden Ave., Branford. $15 (includes a coupon towards your book purchase). Reservations required. 203-245-3959, mownbey@ rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. Who ever heard of Wicked Plants? Well, if you’ve had a run in with poison ivy or oak, then you know what Amy Stewart is talking about. Stewart, the author of The Earth Moved and From the Ground Up, will share information about even more terrifying plants. 7 p.m. May 26 at

new haven

R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. Meet a movie star and get in some reading with critically acclaimed actress Julianne Moore (The Hours, Far From Heaven, The End of the Affair) visits Madison. Moore will sign copies of her newest children’s book, Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully, a funny, inspiring story about confronting bullies. Ticketed book signing; you will receive a ticket when you purchase a copy from R.J. Julia. 4 p.m. May 27 at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. Help welcome Australian author Kate Morton for her presentation of her latest novel, The Forgotten Garden. Morton’s The House at Riverton was a Sunday Times (UK) No. 1 bestseller in 2007 and a New York Times bestseller in 2008. The Forgotten Garden was previously released in Australia, where it was a No. 1 bestseller. 7 p.m. May 28 at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com. Hope to share your written words with the public? Long to hear new writers as they workshop their latest pieces? Express yourself (or listen to others do the same) at Open Mic Night. Participants are asked to limit readings to five to eight minutes each. 7 p.m. May 29 at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. Reservations required. 203-245-3959, mownbey@rjjulia.com, rjjulia.com.

BENEFITS Singer/songwriter Amanda Kaletsky, opening act for Coldplay earlier this year, performs a benefit concert for Amity Cares–Habitat for Humanity. Other performers include Amity High School Chamber Singers, the Amity High cast of Rent, the Bethwood Suzuki Music School Performance Team and the Greater New Haven Combined Choir. Also, silent auction and raffle. WTNH’TV’s Jocelyn Maminta will host. Experienced singers invited to join the Combined Choir under Kaletsky’s direction for this special performance. 6 p.m. May 9 at Amity High School, 25 Newton Rd., Woodbridge. $12 ($8 students & children). 203-3979433, amitycaresconcert@gmail.com. Harbor Health Services, Inc., a community behavioral health agency in Branford, holds Road to Recovery, its annual fundraising gala. Take part in a live and a silent auction. Enjoy music, food and cocktails while honoring State Rep. Deborah W. Heinrich (D-101) with the Community Partner Award, VNA Community Healthcare with a Dedicated Service Award, and citing Yale-New Haven Hospital, the Regional Water Authority and Covidien for outstanding volunteerism. May 14 at the Owenego Inn, 40 Linden Ave., Branford. $50. 203-483-2667 ext. 240, egangi@harborhealthservices.org, harborhealthservices.org.

may 2009

Everyone is well aware of the rising cost of education; Lauralton Hall is actually doing something to help. The Lauralton Hall $100,000 Tuition Raffle will help someone sleep a little easier knowing they will be able to pay their child’s tuition. The $100,000 tuition raffle prize can be used for any level of education. With a limit on ticket sales, the odds of winning are 2,500 to 1 — better than any state lottery. Tickets can be purchased at the school on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. via cash, check or credit card. Winner need not be present on day of raffle. 8 p.m. May 14 (raffle) at Lauralton Hall, 200 High St., Milford. 203-877-2786, jkinsella@lauraltonhall. org, lauraltonhall.org. Middletown’s ArtFarm will commemorate the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s sonnets with a Shakespeare Sonnet Slam! This fundraiser 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. 7 p.m. May 15 at ArtFarm, 119 Highland Ave., Middletown. $10. 860346-4390, info@art-farm.org, art-farm. org.

quality face time with the executive producer of both radio programs, Doug (the Subway Fugitive, Not a Slave to Fashion, Bongo Boy) Berman (Wesleyan ‘84), and several other guests who will discuss their shows and why NPR tolerates them. Guests include Car Talk hosts Tom and Ray Magliozzi and Peter Sagal and Carl Kasell of Wait, Wait...Don’t Tell Me! 8 p.m. May 22 at Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. $50 ($100 reception & program). All proceeds support scholarships for Green Street Arts Center afterschool program. 860-685-3355, cfa@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. Concepts for Adaptive Learning’s fundraiser, Wines of Spring, will afford attendees the opportunity to sample 80plus wines from more than 25 wineries and snack on hors d’oeuvres while light jazz music plays in the background. Organization provides computer training and refurbished computers to disadvantaged families of public school children. May 20 at Anthony’s Ocean View, 450 Light House Rd., New Haven. $45 advance, $50 at door. Curtis-Hill@ cox.net.

CINEMA Enjoy a retrospective of some iconic American music in Pete Seeger: The Power of Song (USA, 2007, 93 min.). See footage of Johnny Cash, Bill Clinton, Bob Dylan, Leadbelly, many others. Directed by Jim Brown. 3-4:30 p.m. May 1 at New Haven Free Public Library, 133 Elm St., New Haven. Free. 203-946 -7431, nhbulletin.blogspot.com.

Dominic and Mary Sorresso sell hope (in the form of a $100K raffle ticket) at one of Lauralton Hall’s events this year. On May 14, one lucky winner will take home the grand prize in the Lauralton Hall $100,000 Tuition Raffle.

Help celebrate the energy, passion and commitment of American Heart Association volunteer leadership, corporate and individual donors, medical professionals, researchers, heart survivors, and sponsors in the fight against heart disease and stroke at the annual Connecticut heart ball, Black and White with a Splash of Red. Live and silent auction, reception and dinner, with music by the BaHa Brothers. WVIT’TV’s Keisha Grant will emcee, and ESPN’s Karl Ravech will receive the Fred Harris Turning Point Award. Guests invited to wear black and white with a splash of red (black tie optional). 6-11 p.m. May 16 at Mohegan Sun, One Mohegan Sun Blvd., Uncasville. $300. 203-294-3514, americanheart.org/ctheartball. Experience NPR Without The Dignity: Doug Berman & Friends at the Green Street Arts Center benefit for the Afterschool Program. Instead of listening to Click and Clack on NPR’s Car Talk, or to NPR’s satirical news quiz, Wait, Wait...Don’t Tell Me! in your car, fans can spend

Test your knowledge and have fun doing it at Anna Liffey’s Trivia Night. Teams of one to five compete for prize money. Topics range from music to movies, politics to Shakespeare, geology to sports and everywhere in between. Ages 21 and older. Arrive early to get a table. 9 p.m. May 5, 12, 19 & 26 at Anna Liffey’s, 17 Whitney Ave., New Haven. $10 per team. 203-773-1776, annaliffeys.com.

CULINARY City Farmers’ Market at Wooster Square. Enjoy food from local farms including seafood, meat, milk, cheese, organic greens, root vegetables, handcrafted bread and baked goods, honey, more. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. May 2, (from 9 a.m.) May 16, 23 & 30 at Russo Park, corner Chapel St. and DePalma Ct., New Haven. 203-773-3736, cityseed.org. In celebration of their Amalfi heritage and tradition the St. Andrew the Apostle Society kicks off its Italian Festa Celebration with an Anniversary Awards Dinner. Two members, Anthony Pisanelli and Florence (Diana) Rosarbo, will be recognized in appreciation of their outstanding service and dedication to the Society, their Italian heritage and to the greater New Haven Community. Evening of fun starts with cocktails (open bar) and hors d’oeuvres, full-course surf & turf dinner followed by tasty desserts and coffee. Noon May 3

at Anthony’s Ocean View, 450 Light House Rd., New Haven. $40. 203-4661607, pattijoespo@sbcglobal.net, ssaanewhaven.com. Beer and frozen cocktails may seem like summer drinks, but wine is a potation for all seasons. As the warm weather approaches sample wines of all colors at Chamard Vineyards’ wine seminar Whites, Reds & Rosés for the Summer to find some new favorites to serve on the deck, at the beach or the pool. 5:30-7:30 pm May 16 at Chamard Vineyards, 115 Cow Hill Rd., Clinton. $50. 860-664-0299, chamard.com/ events.html.

DANCE Spring Dance Concert. Student choreographers present works created after a full year of dance composition studies. 8 p.m. May 1-2 at Patricelli ’92 Theater, Wesleyan University, Middletown. $5 ($4 students). 860-685-3355, cfa@ wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. Beginning dance students perform works of various styles including jazz, Afro-Brazilian, Balinese, Javanese and Bharata Natyam (South Indian classical dance) at the Worlds of Dance Concert. 2 p.m. May 3 at World Music Hall & Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355, cfa@ wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Catch some cool moves at Lord of the Dance at the Palace Theater in Waterbury on May 7. Your eyes will be mesmerized while your ears enjoy the sounds of traditional modern Celtic music and dance. Witness Lord of the Dance, a passionate old Irish folklore love story expressed through dance numbers. You won’t believe what their feet can do. 7:30 p.m. May 7 at the Palace Theater, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $53-$43. 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org. West African Drumming & Dance Concert. In West Africa, dance is life embodied in rhythm and movement. It celebrates and reinforces life and its various cycles. From conception to death, West Africans are called to honor and celebrate the different stages, achievements and successes of life, as well as to mourn and remember bitter experiences and losses, through music and dances. 3 p.m. May 8 at CFA Courtyard (rain site: Crowell Concert Hall), Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355, cfa@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Photo: Judy Sirota Rosenthal

Dance students of all ages perform in Neighborhood Music School’s Spring Dance Concert. This year’s concert will be done in three parts on May 10. Your dance card awaits at the Arthur Murray Dance Party. The Palace Theater’s orchestra lobby will be the stage set for an evening of drinks, dancing and light dining. Have an afterwork cocktail and hit the dance floor with instructors from the Arthur Murray in Hamden, who will demonstrate some of their moves. Cocktails and complimentary hors d’ouerves will be served before taking a private dance lesson from a professional dance instructor. At 8:30 p.m., the Dance Party will get into full swing with music provided by Powerstation Events. 5-11 p.m. May 8 at the Palace Theater, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $10 cover, $50 lesson fee. Registration limited to 50. 203755-4700, palacetheaterct.org. Associate dance professor Nicole Stanton premieres her commissioned work, Threshold Sites: Skin to Skin, a collaboration with anthropology professor Gina Ulysse. Piece examines how choreographic processes can explore and address the social and cultural issues that contribute to lack of ecological awareness. The piece features several dance faculty members as performers/collaborators and will be performed in the new green performance space in the Bessie Schonberg Studio. 4 p.m. May 9 at Bessie Schönberg Dance Studio, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860-6853355, cfa@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan. edu/cfa. The Neighborhood Music School Dance Department presents it annual Spring Dance Concert. The concert will be performed in three parts: 11 a.m., 1 p.m. & 3:30 p.m. May 10 at ECA’s Arts Hall, 55 Audubon St., New Haven. $10

(children under 12 free). 203-624-5189, nmsmusicschool.org. Rachel Boggia and Iddi Saaka: Dancing the Imagination. New Wesleyan dance faculty members Rachel Boggia and Iddi Saaka present and discuss their new choreography addressing the politics of movement, privilege and identity. 2-4 p.m. May 10 at Greenstreet Arts Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. $8 ($5 members, seniors & students). 860-685-7871, gsac@ wesleyan.edu, greenstreetartscenter.org. Yale’s first and only step team, Steppin’ Out, performs Steppin’ Out On Vacation, an exciting and adrenalinefilled set of dances that will entertain and educate. Be introduced to “step,” an African-American dance form derived from the celebratory and religious practices of African dancers. 7 p.m. May 23 at the Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. $25-$20. 203624-1825, shubert.com.

FAMILY EVENTS Hit the trails for a quick Slimetastic walk to find anything in nature that generates slime. Upon returning to the building participants will make different slimes and discover the science behind them. Best for grades K-5. Parents not required to stay. 4-5:15 p.m. May 6 at Earthplace, 10 Woodside Ln., Westport. $8 members, $18 nonmembers. Registration. 203-227-7253, info@earthplace.org, earthplace.org. Krazy Kool Legos Challenge. For four- to eight-year-olds who love Legos. Shari O’Neill, owner of Krazy Kool Creations, offers a 90-minute event

that will inspire creativity, encourage children to share, cooperate and think about how they play. 11:30 a.m. May 16 at Earthplace, 10 Woodside Ln., Westport. $25 members, $30 others. 203-227-7253, info@earthplace.org, www.earthplace. org. Leila Day Nursery School hosts its annual Spring Fair complete with musicians, pony rides, a zip line, arts and crafts, games, tag sale, food and refreshments. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. May 16 (rain date May 17) at Leila Day Nursery School, 100 Cold Spring St., New Haven. Free (tickets for games, activities and food 50 cents). All proceeds benefit tuition-assistance programs. 203-624-1374, leiladay.com.

Leila Day Nursery School’s Spring Fair on May 16 gives New Haven County kids (and parents) the chance to enjoy the spring weather, while helping the school assist others in need.

LECTURES/ DISCUSSIONS The Rediscover Historic New Haven series at the New Haven Museum involves a cast of civic personalities and experts in a multi-dimensional exploration of little known and familiar treasures that make New Haven a gem of the Northeast. Join NHM’s Bill Hosley to discuss Destination City: New Haven as Urban Heritage Park (May 6). The panel discussion, Made in New Haven, Conversations About Industry & Invention (May 13), will include Bill Brown from the Eli Whitney Museum; Yale’s Carolyn Cooper; and Dean Nelson of the Museum of Connecticut History. 5:30 p.m. at the New Haven Museum & Historical Society, 114 Whitney Ave., New Haven. $5. 203562-4183 ext. 11, newhavenmuseum.org.

Excerpts from commissioned works by students and faculty, final projects by students enrolled in Barry Chernoff’s course in Guyana and video of activities over the course of the 18-month project will be showcased in Feet to the Fire Culminating Celebration. 8 p.m. May 9 at Beckham Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355, cfa@ wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

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. May 1, 4, 8, 15, 18, 22, 29, 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. 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. May 5-June 9 at the New Haven Free Public Library, 133 Elm St., New Haven. Free. Registration. 203-946 -8835, nhbulletin.blogspot.com. The Art of Living: Building Computer Basics with Shawn Hill. Get a short (and free) introduction to computer basics in four classes over four weeks. Learn how to create Microsoft (MS) Word documents and explore the possibilities of creating household or small business budgets and lists

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Church of Christ Parish House on Woodbridge Town Green. Free. 203-3979433, amitycaresconcert@gmail.com, AmityCares.org.

Bird watchin’ enthusiasts enjoy the sights at last year’s Early Bird Watchers’ Hike. This year’s hike through Sleeping Giant State Park on May 10 is sure to yield many a watchin’ opportunity. Wear comfortable (but quiet) shoes. using MS Excel. All levels of computer experience welcome. 6:30-8 p.m. May 6, 13, 20 & 27 at Green Street Atrs Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. Free. Registration. 860-346-4845, neatmiddletown.org/ programs.htm. 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. May 9 at Sarah Aldrich Pilates, 681 State St., New Haven. Free. 203-589-7948, sarah@ aldrichpilates.com, aldrichpilates.com.

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. May 14 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

MILLS LAW FIRM Representing Cyclists Throughout Connecticut John W. Mills Board Certified Civil Law Trial Advocate

One Whitney Ave, New Haven 203.776.4500 www.millslawfirm.org 56

may 2009

Wallingford Happiness Club holds a discussion led by Jim Rinere, Madison resident, husband, father, coach, successful business executive and “survivor of life.” Rinere will discuss his struggles with depression and the personal evolution of understanding that has enabled him to live a life of deliberate intent and happiness. He combines humor and brutal honesty in an entertaining and thoughtprovoking session. 7-9 p.m. May 26 at Choate Rosemary Hall, Ruutz-Rees Hall, 333 Christian St., Wallingford. Free. happinessclub.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 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 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. Critical Mass. Participants meet at the flagpole on the New Haven Green at 5:30 p.m. on the last Friday of each month for a slow-paced ride through New Haven streets. The ride ranges from 30 minutes to over an hour depending on weather. Critical Mass is not an organization; it’s an “unorganized coincidence” — a movement of bicycles in the streets as traffic. After the event, everyone is invited to a potluck dinner at the Devil’s Gear Bike Shop. 5:30 p.m. May 29 at Temple and Chapel streets, New Haven. Free. elmcitycycling.org.

Hikes Identify wildflowers, as you hike through Sleeping Giant State Park on the Spring Wildflower Hike. Wear comfortable shoes, bring snacks and water. No pets, please. 1:30 p.m. May 3, meet at bulletin board at park entrance, Sleeping Giant State Park, opposite Quinnipiac University on Mount Carmel Ave., Hamden. Free. 203-272-7841, sgpa. org. Active Singles sponsors hikes throughout the state on the first and

third Sunday of 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. May’s hikes will be at Lovers Leap (9 a.m. May 3) in New Milford and Blackrock State Park (9 a.m. May 17) in Watertown. Free. 203-271-2125 or 860-489-9611, activesingles@snet.net, activesingles. org. Early Bird Watchers’ Hike. Set out early to see the avian life in Sleeping Giant State Park. Wear comfortable shoes, bring binoculars, snacks and water. No pets, please. 8 a.m. May 10, meet at bulletin board at park entrance, Sleeping Giant State Park, opposite Quinnipiac University on Mount Carmel Ave., Hamden. Free. 203-272-7841, sgpa. org. Come see what hiking is all about on a Beginners’ Hike, a trek for those with little to no experience. Wear comfortable shoes, bring snacks and water. No pets, please. 1:30 p.m. May 31, meet at bulletin board at park entrance, Sleeping Giant State Park, opposite Quinnipiac University on Mount Carmel Ave., Hamden. Free. 203-272-7841, sgpa. org.

Participatory Sports Get ready to tee off at the North Madison Congregational Church (NMCC) Golf Tournament, where you can play in support of youth programs at NMCC including the housing mission trip to support Katrina victims. Raffles, prizes and auction items will run throughout the day. Dinner to follow at Wharf Restaurant. 11 a.m. May 5 at Madison Country Club, Madison. $150 (includes lunch). 203421-3241, nmcc.office@cshore.com, northmadisoncc.org. Golf for Kids. 18 holes of golf, including a BBQ lunch, buffet dinner, contests, prizes, golfer’s goody bag and silent auction. Supporting a not-for-profit organization has never been more fun. May 11 at Lyman Orchards Golf Club, Middlefield. $180 per golfer, $640 per foursome. Proceeds to benefit the Children’s Home. 860-635-6010 ext. 327, sgraves@childhome.org.

Spectator Sports It’s hell on wheels as the Connecticut RollerGirls take on the Devil’s Rejects and the Ave Marias in hard-hitting roller derby action. 7 p.m. May 9 at Connecticut Sports Center, 21 S. Bradley St., Woodbridge. $10 advance, $12 at door (under 12 free with adult), ctrollerderby.com. Please send CALENDAR information to CALENDAR@conntact.com no later than seven weeks preceding calendar month of event. Please include date, time, location, event description, cost and contact information. Photographs must be at least 300 dpi resolution and are published at discretion of NEW HAVEN magazine.

WO R D S of MOUT H

NEW EATS: Park Central Tavern

Anthony DeCarlo

taurant with lots of exposed wood, upscale appetizers and animated chatter, only the view out the front window isn’t Chapel Street or Ninth Square, it’s a quiet stretch of Whitney Avenue — and the address isn’t New Haven, it’s Hamden.

PHOTOGRAPH:

Ft’sÊaTE S typical evening in a stylish res-

By Liese Klein

INSTYLE

O U T D O O RS

Park Central Tavern is the latest ambitious restaurant to open in the suburbs hoping to draw diners in the mood for something urbane yet local. Nestled in Hamden’s mostly residential Spring Glen neighborhood, Park Central offers another attractive option to those seeking an affordable yet memorable night out.

BO D Y & S OUL O N S C R EE N

Hamden native Harry Scoble opened Park Central late last month with Chef Rob Johnson, a veteran of Cibo in Branford and Aqua in Clinton. “We think there’s a lot of excitement,” Scoble says. “We have steaks and chops and seafood and everything you’d expect to see in a dining room, along with tavern fare like sandwiches and burgers.” The tavern concept also means an ample beverage selection with dozens of wines and six draft beers. An appetizer special of fried oysters was perfectly crisp and browned on the outside, tender and briny on the inside. The delicate flavor of the plump shellfish was better accented by a sprinkling of lemon juice than the assertive cocktail sauce and tartar sauce served on the side. A chicken quesadilla was also tasty, balancing tender chicken with poblano peppers, jack cheese and a beautifully charred tortilla. I finished off with a dessert trio of crèmes brulées. With its appealing and accessible menu, friendly service and upscale ambiance, Park Central is sure to be a draw to those seeking big-city style close to home. Park Central Tavern, 1640 Whitney Ave., Hamden (203-287-8887).

Kelly DePalma, Bar Manager, of the newly opened Park Central Tavern.

new haven

BREAKFAST/DINERS 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. 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.

SOUTHEAST ASIAN/KOREAN

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.

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.

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.

THAI

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

JUST A SIP: Smyth’s Trinity Dairy Products Dale Smyth treks down from her Enfield farm (on the Massachusetts/ Connecticut border) to sell at the Wooster Square Farmer’s Market.

PHOTOGRAPH:

Anthony DeCarlo

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.

f “farm fresh” had a flavor, it would be something like the creamy, tangy richness of a spoonful of Smyth’s Trinity Dairy yogurt. You can almost taste the grass of the Smyth family spread in every slurp of Smyth’s milk, heavy cream or eggnog.

Starting mid-month you can get your fix of this dairy goodness every week, with the return of the regular CitySeed Farmers’ Market in Wooster Square. The market’s been open on a limited basis every other week or so all year, but soon after the cherry blossoms fade, the crowds and the vendors are back. To find the market, look for the strollers, buskers and bushels of produce along the

may 2009

Thai Taste Restaurant, 1151 Chapel St., New Haven (203-776-9802). A standout on Chapel’s “Thai Row,” with toothsome basics like pad thai, drunken noodles and green curry. Bangkok Gardens, 172 York St., New Haven (203-7898718). Tasty Thai in a charming, light-filled dining area with great service. Wide ranges of classics and vegetarian options.

sidewalks of Russo Park at the corner of Chapel Street and DePalma Court, around the corner for the famous pizzerias. Be prepared to hunt for parking, but a cup of coffee from Fuel, the hip coffee shop at Wooster and Chestnut, can help power your search. This year Smyth’s Trinity is back at the farmers’ market with their yogurts and milk, harvested twice a week from the family’s herd of 30 cows in Enfield. The milk products come in returnable glass bottles in flavors including coffee and chocolate and in varieties including whole, one percent, skim, half-and-half and heavy cream. Yogurt in plastic containers comes in fruit, plain and vanilla flavors. Enjoy your yogurt

with the toasted goodness of New Haven-made Nate’s Naturals granola, new to the farmers’ market and now sold at outlets including Whitneyville Food Center and Bishop’s Orchards. The Crunchy Yankee variety was a hit with its lightly sweet combination of oats, wheat germ, oat bran, cranberries, spices and walnuts. Also great with some fresh milk are pastries from SoNo Baking, a South Norwalk company that has market-goers queuing in droves. Connecticut’s harvest season may be a few months off, but the Wooster Square Farmers’ Market is the worth the stop at any time year. Wooster Square Farmers’ Market, Russo Park, New Haven (203-773-3736).

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.

New Seasonal Spring Menu

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.

UNIQUELY CREATIVE NIGHTLY SPECIALS

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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Iron Chef, 1209 Campbell Ave., West Haven (203-9323888). Unusual Taiwanese specialties and wellexecuted classics shine at this student favorite.

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.

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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.

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EDITOR’S PICK: Liuzzi Gourmet Market

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.

Dominic Liuzzi oversees a veritable warehouse of gourmet Italian foods.

bbondanza was the word that kept popping into my head as I toured Liuzzi Gourmet Market for the first time. The Italian word for “abundance” is an appropriate description of Liuzzi’s profusion of pastas, cheeses and meats.

A North Haven institution for decades, Liuzzi’s in recent years has drawn foodies from around the region for its fresh-made ricotta, mozzarella and exotic items like cacioricotta, a sheep cheese of Puglia.

Five generations of Liuzzis have worked at the market and their experience shines through: The guy behind the counter here will not only sell you some cheese, but advise you on how to serve it and store it. Liuzzi’s is also noteworthy for its grocery items like pastas in every conceivable form and flavor and gradations of olive oil rarely seen outside the Old Country. This is the place to find fresh Italian seasoning, bitter sodas and some of the best frozen ravioli and filled pastas in the region.

Cafe Atlantique, 33 River St., Milford (203-8821602). Visit this neighborhood favorite for creative caffeinated classics, bistro food and wine and a charming indoor/outdoor seating area.

FUSION CUISINE Mickey’s Restaurant & Bar, 2323 Whitney Ave., Hamden (203-288-4700). This eatery’s sophisticated interior and artful blend of Israeli and Italian flavors bring big-city flair to downtown Hamden. Sip a Mickey’s margarita with your Marrakech salmon and Israeli couscous and you’ll swear you’re on the beach in Tel Aviv. Bespoke, 266 College St., New Haven (203-5624644). High-end Latin fusion with a flair, wit and

may 2009

Prices can be high but deals can also be found on items like bulk Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and house-brand Italian tomatoes in the can for only 99 cents. Best of all you can do your shopping surrounded by North Haven nonnas, under the gaze of a 90-plusyear-old Liuzzi relative beaming from a picture above the register. Abbondanza indeed. Liuzzi Gourmet Market, 322 State St., North Haven (203-248-4356).

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. 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).

AMERICAN Bespoke, 266 College St., New Haven (203 562-4644). Cutting-edge presentation and flavor combinations take center stage at this successor to Roomba. Latin flavors are featured in the upstairs lounge, called Sabor. Open for lunch. Foe, 576 Main St., Branford (203-483-5896). The perfect setting for a romantic evening, Foe shines with sublime beef and pasta dishes. A black fig and cherry-glazed duck breast also showcases the chef’s sure hand with poultry. Lunch and bar menu. Sage American Grill & Oyster Bar, 100 S. Water St., New Haven (203-787-3466). The tranquil harborfront view sets off skilled seafood and raw bar selections. Excellent seasonal specials and a full bar add to the attractions of this veteran favorite. Foster’s, 56-62 Orange St., New Haven (203-859-6666). 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 most 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 shoreline favorite with excellent atmosphere and north Indian classics, run by Royal India owner. Spicy vindaloos and tandooris are a

good bet. Coromandel, 185 Boston Post Rd., Orange (203-7959055). Great breads and regional specialties from the 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 many vegetarian dishes, plus the friendly service.

ITALIAN Consiglio’s of New Haven, 165 Wooster St., New Haven (203-865-4489). Beautifully executed Italian classics and a warm, welcoming atmosphere set this Wooster Square eatery apart. 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 cozy eatery in Ninth Square. A great place to sample wines and small plates in an unpretentious setting. Tre Scalini Ristorante, 100 Wooster St., New Haven (203-777-3373). Acclaimed pasta, seafood and antipasti in an opulent Wooster Square setting. Also open for lunch. L’Orcio, 806 State St., New Haven (203-777-6670). Outstanding modern Italian in an intimate setting. You can’t go wrong with the pasta specials and perfectly cooked and seasoned steaks. Roseland Apizza, 350 Hawthorne Ave., Derby (203-7350494). Don’t let the casual pizzeria decor fool you — this Valley favorite makes some serious Italian food. Look for the daily specials and enjoy. 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 addictive 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 ﬁred up and stick with the 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 are standouts, along with lamb dishes. Turkish Kebab House, 1157 Campbell Ave., West Haven (203-933-0002). Every kind of kebab imaginable, from doner to minced chicken to cubes of lamb, is on tap at this neighborhood eatery. Also vegetarian and seafood options. King Falafel, 240 College St., New Haven (203-8483076). Follow a trip to the Shubert with a tasty falafel sandwich across the street at this late-night favorite. Large portions of the freshest fried chickpea patties in town, with all the trimmings. Kasbah Garden Café, 105 Howe St., New Haven (203777-5053). Moroccan-style lamb and vegetable dishes prevail on the limited but tasty menu. Savor mint tea and baklava outside on the idiosyncratically landscaped patio.

SEAFOOD Lenny’s Indian Head Inn, 205 S. Montowese St., Branford (203-488-1500). Fried clams praised by national critics and the freshest steamers around make Lenny’s a local favorite. The Shore Dinner 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. And where else can you savor Lazy Man’s Stuffed Lobster as you watch lobstermen at work on the Sound?

SUSHI Wasabi, 280 Branford Rd., North Branford (203-4887711). Good quality rolls and sashimi at reasonable prices, along with Korean specialties like mandu dumplings and bibimbap rice bowls. The sake flows freely on Monday nights, a favorite with students. Akasaka, 1450 Whalley Ave., New Haven (203-3874898). Unusual specials like baby octopus and blowfish make this veteran eatery worth a visit. Live sea urchin roe and scallops are also a best bet, along with tasty pickled vegetables. Sono Bana, 1206 Dixwell Ave., Hamden (203-281-9922). Fresh fish, inventive rolls and extensive combo options make this a neighborhood favorite. Try a fruity saketini with your sashimi “boat” and ask the chef to load up on the catch of the day. Miya’s Sushi, 68 Howe St., New Haven (203-777-9760). Unusual combinations like rolls with cheese and Ethiopian spices are the draw at this Elm City institution. Let go of your preconceptions about sushi with help from some of the beguiling infusedsake cocktails. Number 1 Fish Market, 2239 State St., Hamden (203624-6171). Make your own sushi at home with fresh seafood from this market, which supplies many area restaurants.

VEGETARIAN 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 extensive offerings at Sunday brunch. 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 location seals the deal. Edge of the Woods, 379 Whalley Ave., New Haven (203-787-1055). The natural market offers a superb selection of vegetarian products in addition to a lunchtime buffet with salad bar, hot entrées like lasagna and seitan stir-fry and a colorful array of main-dish salads. Shoreline Diner & Vegetarian Enclave, 345 Boston Post Rd., Guilford (203-458-7380). Non-veg diner fare along with vegan favorites like a tempeh Reuben with sauerkraut on grilled rye and “Twin Towers” of vegetable strudel. Great place for groups with

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.

FRESH • ORGANIC • NUTRITIOUS • DELICIOUS

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PHOTOGRAPH:

Courtesy of CoCo Key

Water, Water Everywhere

the hassle and expense of real travel. As they say, “Every day is a bright, sunny 84 degrees at CoCo Key.”

Brass City’s new liquid asset: an indoor water park for all ages

Sure, you’re consolidating the tropics into 55,000 square feet, but within that are Parrot’s Perch (with slides for younger kids, water cannons and a 300gallon dump bucket which dumps water on “screaming” visitors), body and raft waterslides, a Lazy River, an indoor/ outdoor spa, Adventure River, water basketball and the Key Quest Arcade. For dining, there’s Pizza Hut, A&W and the Wet Rooster Bar, for those times you don’t want to relive your childhood.

By Susan Cornell

hy do people have kids? They’re cute? They’re entertaining? They’ll take care of us in old age? Maybe, but with a 13- and 15-year-old I now occasionally wonder what on earth we were thinking about. Then the “re-experiencing childhood” argument kicks in. You know, kids are an excuse to play with toys and do cool stuff all over again without appearing mentally unstable. That is, regardless of how great your own childhood was, kids allow you to go for seconds — to relive your own youth vicariously. This is the case with the new-toConnecticut CoCo Key Water Resort, which opened in Waterbury in October, although when we were kids the closest comparison to relive was the Slip ’n’ 62

may 2009

Slide in the backyard or maybe, on a super-special occasion, an outdoor water slide. CoCo Key proves childhood is better the second time around because it’s a ﬁeld trip that “really rocks” for all ages (admittedly, the target market is eight- to 13-year-olds). CoCo Key Water Resorts are found throughout the U.S. but there is only one in the Nutmeg State. The indoor water parks are designed to be a close-to-home, affordable escape. The name “CoCo Key,” along with the atmosphere and décor, has that Key West tropical feel. Sure, we knew it was a bleak, 45 degree April day in the parking lot, but it was pretty easy to stick that in the back of the mind and think sunshine, islands, thatched roofs, palm trees and clear seas — not to mention sans

Day passes cost $29 or $39 depending on the day of the week and whether or not it’s a school break. There are also “Family 4-Packs,” special offers and events, and an annual membership pass. According to the PR rep, the best deal is packaging with an overnight stay at the adjacent Holiday Inn. Since opening last fall, more than 2,000 birthday parties have been hosted. With a waiting list of 500, I didn’t ask if adult parties were an option. v

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