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OCTOBER 2008

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New Haven I October/2008

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10 From Saddam to Serenity In ONE2ONE, a physician-turned-artist migrates from Hussein hell to Westville

Anthony DeCarlo

14 You Know the Drill A nine-time national championship New Haven drill teams takes the U.S. by storm

16 I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do Believe in Spooks Sampling the best of the scary season in southern Connecticut

21 Man of the Moment Amid a Wall Street meltdown, can Yale’s Robert Shiller save the U.S. economy?

25 That Man’s a Saint At least, maybe — as Knights of Columbus founder Fr. Michael McGivney bid to become the first U.S. priest elevated to sainthood

28 At the Center of It All The newest home on St. Ronan-Edgehill symbolizes a neighborhood in transition

34 The Print’s the Thing Path-breaking photography from the Doris Bry collection on view at YUAG

OUR COVER Photography: Steve Blazo Model: Britt Anderson Make-Up & Hair: Leanne Harpin Styling and Body Make-up: by “Z” Cover Design: Terry Wells 4 october 2008

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New Haven I October/2008

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43 Unholy Trinity

Steve Blazo

At the Rep, an actress extraordinaire plays Queen Elizabeth, Hitler and Reagan — in the same play

46 Jazz Master Next Door A regular guy in Branford, trumpeter Laco Deczi is a jazz giant in Europe

56 Words of Mouth Sweet Relief breathes fresh air into Audubon dining, plus Crown Street’s new Landsdowne Grille

62 Green Acres This fall Lyman Orchards has it all, ,including an amazing maze

New Haven Vol. 2, No. 1 | October 2008 Publisher Mitchell Young, Editor Michael C. Bingham, Design Manager Larissa Wigglesworth, Design Consultant Terry Wells, Contributing Writers Brooks Appelbaum, Elvira J. Duran, Joyce Faiola, Michael Harvey, Liese Klein, Cindy Marien, Melissa Nicefaro, Tashema Nichols, Ron Ragozzino, Steven Scarpa, Cindy Simoneau, Margaret Waage Photographers Steve Blazo, Anthony DeCarlo Advertising Director Laura Whinfield, Senior Publisher’s Representatives Mary W. Beard, Ronni Rabin, Publisher’s Representatives Cynthia Carlson, Paula Thompson, Sara Zembrzuski New Haven is published 12 times annually by Second Wind Media Ltd., which also publishes Business New Haven, with offices at 85 Willow St., New Haven, CT 06511. 203-781-3480 (voice), 203-781-3482 (fax). Subscriptions $24.95/year, $39.95/two years. Send name, address & zip code with payment. Second Wind Media Ltd. d/b/a New Haven shall not be held liable for failure to publish an advertisement or for typographical errors or errors in publication. For more information e-mail NewHaven@Conntact.com.

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EDITOR’S L E T T E R

Volume Two, Number One

Featured Artists Patricia Locke Mundelein, Illinois MAR Santa Barbara, California

his month we begin the second step on the journey that is New Haven magazine, which debuted in October 2007. The cover of that very first issue featured an attractive couple dining at a New Haven sidewalk café under the legend “Fall in Love” (get it — “fall”?).

Thomas Mann New Orleans, Louisiana Amy Kahn Russell Wilton, Connecticut

Well, a lot of you “got it,” and from what we’ve heard from many readers since then is that they fell in love with the new publication. When I penned the first of these letters 365 or so days ago, I wrote that our objective was to create the best city magazine between New York and Boston. And I believe we’ve done just that.

Josh Simpson Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts Ed Levin Cambridge, New York

By Patricia Locke

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Now, beginning our second year, the challenge is anything but more of the same. Even as this new magazine changed the local media landscape (and, in the view expressed to us by many, changed the way New Haveners thought about their hometown), all of us in the media struggle to keep pace with a world roiling with (to use Barack Obama’s favorite word) change. How much is different a mere 12 months later? Certainly no one in October 2007 could have imagined that the female politician on a major-party Presidential ticket would be anyone other than Hillary Rodham Clinton. Or that the nation’s (and, by extension, the world’s) financial infrastructure would implode so fast and so far, resulting in a partial nationalization of the financial-services industry likely to have consequences more far-reaching than anything seen in this country since the 1930s. Or that the juggernaut New England Patriots would run the table all the way to the Super Bowl, only to see their march toward 19-0 immortality so cruelly derailed by… the Giants? In one month Americans will elect a new President, and whichever of the two men we select, either promises to take the nation in a very different direction from the last eight years. What that will bring is impossible to predict, but it’s clear that the ancient Chinese proverb (“May you live in interesting times”) is our faithful watchword. Either Obama or McCain will be well-advised to make the early acquaintance of Yale economic guru Robert Shiller, who coined the phrase “irrational exuberance” to explain the 1980s stockmarket run-up and whom our Liese Klein profiles in this edition. Almost before I write this letter at the beginning of our third year, the first American priest is likely (though not certain) to be named a saint. That is course is Fr. Michael J. McGivney, loyal and steadfast parish priest of St. Mary’s on Hillhouse Avenue and more famously the visionary founder of the Knights of Columbus. Steven Scarpa takes the measure of this remarkable man in these pages. We warmly thank you, our loyal readers and valued advertisers, for making this longtime dream a reality. We think this is just the first many, many birthdays. v

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Water, Water Everywhere WATERBURY — This month marks the opening of Connecticut’s first-ever water park, the CoCo Key Water Resort at the Holiday Inn in the beautiful Brass City What’s a “water park,” you ask — similar to waterboarding? Au contraire! Part of the Holiday Inn’s $10 million renovation, the park houses three 40-foot water slides, an activity pool, “dip-in” movie theater, adventure river, indoor/outdoor spa, interactive play island, arcade, birthday party spaces and so much more. The facility opens October 2, and is sure to be a splash.

Tummy Tucks May Mean Big Bucks HAMDEN — Personal trainer Dave Parise says that the stress of today’s economy and the

Connecticut’s Creative Capital

CAMBRIDGE, UK — People in Connecticut are often more creative than many of their fellow Americans, but less likely to socialize, new research from the University of Cambridge (UK) suggests.

from more than 500,000 online surveys to create a “personality map” of the U.S., showing that different types of people are more likely to live and flourish in different parts of the country.

Mystic Opens New Observatory MYSTIC — On September 12, Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration opened its new Gurdon and Kathy Wattles Marine Mammal Observatory. The observatory overlooks Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration’s Aquatic Animal Study Center. Though the center is closed to the public, the observatory provides visitors the opportunity to see and learn about the animals staying in the center’s two large, circular pools. The pools house animals that have been rescued and are undergoing rehab.

Nutmeggers also tended to exhibit a relatively low level of “conscientiousness” — meaning that they tend not to place as much emphasis on traditional value systems, such as religion, compared with many other Americans.

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The New Big Blue West Haven —The University of New Haven has just installed a new blue artificial turf inside the 4000 seat Ralph F. DellaCamera Jr. Stadium . The NCAA Division II program is reinstating football, and the UNH Chargers will begin playing in 2009 in the Northeast10 Conference. UNH becomes the second school in the nation to go blue following Boise State, which started the ‘trend’ in 1986. According to the Idaho Statesman newspaper, UNH’s choice is not making the potato people happy, “New Haven’s imitation is flattering, we consider the blue turf to be part of our identity, and we place great value on that uniqueness”, said Rachael Bickerton, the university’s director of trademark licensing and enforcement. UNH Athletic director Debbie Chin had her own take “We’re making a statement. We’re bringing football back and we’re doing it the right way,’’.

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From Saddam

Serenity

10 october 2008

PHOTOGRAPH:

Steve Blazo

As a physician, Ala Bashir treated the Iraqi dictator. Today, the heals spiritually through his acclaimed art

Perfection in Color & Style! 287.1919

orks by Iraqi artist and physician Lesley works hard to promote my work. Ala Bashir have been on display But what happened in Iraq deﬁnitely casts at the Corvus Art Center in a not-healthy shadow on what she was Westville since April 2006. Bashir’s life as doing. a physician for Saddam Hussein and one of How has your family in Iraq fared? Iraq’s most respected artist has been chronicled Every Iraqi family has suffered either in in his memoir The Insider: Trapped in the time of Saddam or after the collapse of Saddam’s Brutal Regime (Time Warner the regime. All Iraqis are equal now. 2005). Bashir has received widespread media attention, including segments on the History Do they feel they’re all in the same boat? Channel, ABC, BBC, CNN, Charlie Rose Yes. At the time of Saddam, the regime and others. Bashir was trained as a surgeon at the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, UK. was bad — it was brutal. People were hoping it would change. The last two Last month several major works created by years of the regime, all Iraqis could feel Bashir after the fall of Saddam’s regime were the regime was collapsing. This is the sold to the Museum of Middle East Modern norm in Iraq: no one system goes forever. Art in Dubai, UAE for a sum that was not The Saddam regime was unique because it disclosed but is said to be the largest amount ever paid for works by a Middle Eastern artist. lasted for almost 30 years. The difference between previous regimes and now ] is Bashir’s work was brought to New Haven the people knew there was only one guy by designer Lesley Roy, who established the — one evil guy. Most of the Iraqis they can Corvus Art Center to house Bashir’s collection deal with the situation, thousands of years and market his work. The gallery is not open in the same sort of system. Now many, to the public except for exhibitions but much of too many groups they (the Iraqi people) the artist’s work as well as more background can’t ﬁgure out how to deal with it can be found at alabashir.com. New Haven Publisher Mitchell Young interviewed Bashir.

vvv How did you get you and your work to New Haven?

PHOTOGRAPH:

Steve Blazo

In 2003 I was in Amman, Jordan and met a friend who had left Iraq and was living in America. He was with an American guy and they invited me to their apartment. I showed them my recent work, which I had done in Qatar and some of old paintings I had done in Iraq that were on a CD. They eventually showed Lesley Roy the CD. Lesley got interested and called me in London and said, Can I come to look at your work?’

Sunni and Shia in the same tribe? Oh yes. I have [among] my cousins some Sunnis, some Shia. [Religious conﬂict] was inﬂated in the news. In actual fact it wasn’t a big issue.

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What’s it like for you as a man without a country? Even when I was very young, it was very strange — I never felt that I belonged to one land. We divide ourselves. [Studying] medicine helped me deepen this idea in my mind because of our physiology — we are all the same. How did you become a physician?

What were you expecting in the States?

When I ﬁnished secondary school, I scored very high marks. At that time I was entitled to get a scholarship to come this country or go to England — that was the usual [path to higher education]. Because I was the only son, my mother wasn’t very happy to let me go. At that time people that scored high marks went to medical or engineering school.

This country is a country of opportunity. If you can work hard you can do well.

I didn’t choose to go to medical school; my parents said, ‘If you go to medical

She arrived the same day the History Channel was arranging an interview; all my paintings were with a friend in Kent. We went together and this was the ﬁrst time she saw my [original] work. She got very interested and said, ‘I’ll do something for you in the States.’

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PHOTOGRAPH:

Steve Blazo

which was just beginning. I did the first re-plantation of a hand in the Middle East. I was trained at a very good center in England. The ‘juniors’ [the U.S. equivalent would be intern] who were there with me became the best in the world. The person who did the first freetissue transfer in the world, Ian Taylor, was with me as a junior. How did your friends in Iraq see you? As an artist more than a doctor. Even Saddam himself [knew] of me before we met. In Iraq at that time there was [an artistic] movement known as the so-called Baghdad or Iraqi school of art. They didn’t like what I was doing; they thought I was influenced by Western art, which in fact I was not — not at all. Saddam was attracted to my work. If you ask me why, I don’t know. His secretary comes, and says, ‘The president sees your painting in the newspaper. He likes it — you have a different style from other Iraqi artists. Always there is something attached to it, an idea.’ How did you come into direct contact with Saddam?

school, you’ll feel free, not a slave to the government.’ So going to medical school wasn’t my aim, but it worked out good for me. At the same time I was a student at the Institute of Fine Art [in Baghdad]. How did art and medicine mix for you? After I ﬁnished my primary medical education, I went to England for training in surgery. I had to [experience] all branches of medicine, I didn’t like it at all. I couldn’t see myself being a chest physician or cardiac physician, to go through the same procedure every day — that was a nightmare for me. So I chose plastic surgery — there is a big space you can contribute.

didn’t like. It doesn’t ﬁt with my ideology. Were you still painting at this point? Oh yes, I exhibited every year, twice a year — all the years. So where is your heart? With painting. Even in plastic surgery, I have a lot of new techniques published — but still I love art more than medicine. In medicine and surgery you deal with only one person. In art you deal with thousands of people. I went back [to Iraq] because my mother was seriously ill; it was late 1972 I was trapped; I couldn’t leave.

How did you get back to Iraq?

What kind of market was there for plastic surgery?

My ﬁrst job was at the New Jersey Medical Center, but I changed my mind and went back to England. Maybe I was wrong, but I thought they looked at medicine like a business, a market. This I

Before I went back they would do just very trivial things — skin grafts, routine procedures. I was trained in maxillofacial surgery, for fractures of the face, and I introduced microvascular surgery,

12 october 2008

The Iraq-Iran war came [lasting from 1980 to 1988]. I got involved in treating the injuries of war — in my own hospital 22,000 Iraqi soldiers and officers. Sometimes we received 100, 200 injuries per day. You cannot deal with that: Each one needs very extensive surgery — five hours, eight hours. This forced me to think of solutions, so I invented new techniques. We did a lot free-tissue transfers, moving muscles from one part of the body to another, re-plantation of hands and fingers. In 1982 Saddam demanded from all [cabinet] ministers to choose 25 individuals from each ministry — guys who had done good things in their professions. I was chosen to meet with him. When the minister mentioned my name, Saddam said, ‘I know an artist with the same name.’ And the minister said, He’s the same guy.’ Saddam said, ‘Come to my office.’ He didn’t mention anything about my achievements in medicine. He talked about history of Iraq and the importance of art to people. Three days later , (the minister asked to meet) he said, ‘You’ve been chosen to be a member of the presidential medical team.’ At that time what did the average Iraqi think of Saddam? They still thought he was a very great man. At that time he wasn’t the way he [eventually] became.

Was it the Iran-Iraq war that changed him? No, he [started to change] before the war, the day he became president in ‘79. When you were growing up how religious were the people? Iraq it was always a secular country, no hate between religions at all. All the time there was a group of people that don’t believe in God even; nobody even cared. Our neighbors on the right side were Catholic; they had two boys. On the left side was a Jewish family. I had a friend [there], Sam — we were very close.

As an artist in Baghdad, how were you treated? As long as I can remember the government always encouraged the arts. When the Baathists came [into power] they encouraged art, but not a good type — always about war. Generally speaking (the government) encouraged art, literature, dance. Whether it was genuine encouragement I don’t know. Where is Ala now?

When you don’t feel free you have to be very careful what you say. Now I feel free and it has even started to influence my style of painting. It’s very difficult to tell people who haven’t been suppressed how suppression can influence them. All my life I tried to suppress my feeling about my environment. At that time in the regime it was hell, it was a nightmare. They said Saddam was against this group or that one. This was not true — he was against anyone, everyone.

Now I feel all the years in Iraq — was that a dream, or is this a dream? I don’t know.

How did your art evolve? In 1980 I started to take one subject and work it — like love or hate or suppression. When I cam back from England in 1973-74, I knew two guys they’re innocent and they were sentenced to death. I started to think about the feeling of a guy he is innocent, but for some sort of reason he was accused for something that he is to be punished for death. I tried to work on the moment before his death — what this guy is thinking, what was his feeling? It was a profound education for my mind, it helped me to see things differently. The ﬁrst thing he is going to realize is that there is no tomorrow, no future. Once people are convinced there is no tomorrow, they don’t care for their past. It came to my mind that time lost its depth for him — the past, present and the future are the same. Like you see a painting on a canvas: When we look at the painting we see depth, but it’s a deception. So time is the same: it’s ﬂat. So this guy now doesn’t care.

Continued on 24

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All your work affects me strongly. But ironically, your paintings of Jesus have the greatest effect on me. Paintings by a Muslim appreciated by a Jew? I did my first painting of Jesus Christ in 1957. It was very naïve. I was attracted or sympathized with him because of his pain. But then I discovered his ideas are more important. I myself don’t care if Jesus Christ is a prophet, is God, but I think his invitation is something eternal. We need love and forgiveness, this is what attracts me now. With my latest work, my belief is that people fail to institute his ideas into daily life. There’s a gap between them and what Christ invites them to do. I think [it is] because they look at him as a human figure on the cross. In fact, he is an idea.

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PHOTOGRAPH:

Anthony DeCarlo

This summr New Haven’s Nation Drill Squad & drum corps won its ninth national title.

Drill, Baby, Drill!

without a purpose usually just end up in trouble and without a job or career. We show them hard work has a beneﬁt.”

For the members of this renowned New Haven drill squad, practice, practice, practice makes perfect

The group is comprised of as many as 80 members who range in age from just ﬁve to 20. It is the most skilled 35 of them, plus six drummers and adult chaperones, who made the 13-hour bus trek to Detroit.

By Cindy Simoneau

hen it comes to helping young people in New Haven ﬁnd a positive direction in life and a worthwhile activity to keep them from aimlessly hanging out in the streets, Doug Bethea and the Nation Drill Squad & Drum Corps have built a winning combination — and they have the trophies to prove it. Like a small army in their purple and black uniforms, the youth snap to attention and march around Goffe Park to the beat of the drums following the exact directions of their barking leaders. The results of the precision drilling day after day, month after month paid off in this 14 october 2008

summer when the group was rewarded with first prize in a national competition in Detroit. The national title is the culmination of many years of finishing in the top three at competitions. It was the ninth national title for the 20-year-old organization, which not only provides an activity for inner-city youth, but its organizers say helps mold them into adults with a purpose who see the rewards that dedication and hard work can bring in life. “They gain a confidence in themselves and each other,” Bethea explains. “They see that those just hanging around their neighborhood with nothing to do and

The competition is one of ten the group travels to throughout the year. They a;sp perform at events and parades, including New York’s Puerto Rican Day Parade. “It’s important they show the people and themselves what they have accomplished. They learn to take pride in their work and to give back to the community,” says Bethea, who started the organization when he was just 19 years old. A driver for AMR Ambulance and an outreach worker for the New Haven City Alliance, Bethea sees the group as a life mission. Bethea and his wife, Titiana PersonBethea, are organizers of the squad and drum corps, which is directed and

choreographed by Isiah Little and Kevin Moody. The basement of the Betheas’ Goffe Street home functions as a sort of museum and storage facility for the group’s trophies, photos and equipment and a hangout for group members who come to visit when they are not practicing. “They know they can come here and talk to us and others and get help. But we don’t make it easy. They have to learn to help themselves solve their problems,” says Bethea, whose own children all are involved in the group. “There’s thrill to drilling and seeing everything being put together into one big drill,” says Tyisha Howard, 16. “I love to travel and see places. And you never have to wonder what to do with your time — there’s always practice. I’ve made many close friends from the drill squad.” “When we were kids there were safe places to go after school and on the weekends,” Bethea explains. “Today there are not as many places for youth, so we needed to ﬁll their time and give them some direction and some activity that they could do. “We teach them to have pride and conﬁdence in themselves,” he adds. “They learn to depend on each other and that their actions can affect the group’s

success. Through the competitions and performances they also learn what it’s like to travel and how to represent themselves, their families, their city and the group at many different places. For many of them, besides school, this is the only place they get all those lessons.” Also, Bethea says, the team members bond and become a family of sorts, helping each other through various challenges of life. When one member was in a serious car accident recently, it was the drill squad members who rallied to her side and helped her put back the pieces of her memory. In fact, it was her recollection of her drill exercises and their repetition that helped put her on the path to recovery. Participating in the group is not a casual commitment — the young people dedicate themselves to hours of drill and drum practice four to ﬁve days per week. Over and over again they practice their marching in varying arrangements and then keep time with the cadence of the drums and drill directors. For the drum corps members there is not only the skill of drumming and keeping time for the marchers, but the physical development that comes with hauling and marching with 40-plus pounds

of equipment strapped to your body. “Drumming gives me something to do besides just work. It keeps me, and others, off the street, which is where we would be,” explains Tremont Inabinet, who has been a drummer for six years. Another skill team members learn is leadership. Through the years, those demonstrating a higher level of achievement are given positions of responsibility in the group. And it is them and the adult leaders who help mold the newer, younger participants into the smooth marching unit. “They work so hard, but they see that that’s exactly what it takes to make something out of your life,” says Bethea. In fact, many alumni often return and stop the group members at performances to tell them how their years of practice, practice, practice helped them achieve their own goals. “We see them off to college and starting their own businesses in New Haven, and we’re happy to have a part in their lives and to see our family grow.” For information about joining or contributing to the Nation Drill Squad contact Doug Bethea at 200 Goffe St., Apt. 34D, New Haven 06511 or phone 203-676-5134 v

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GhostStories

Searching for, and ﬁnding, spirits in the material world

ctober can bring out a little spooky in most of us, but by November, especially for the skeptics, the dirty-sexy-spooky phase passes (like a ghost in the night).

You know there are times when you feel the touch of someone’s hand on your arm, only to turn around and see nobody there. Or maybe you’re of the category of nonbelievers who sees a something out of the corner of your eye, only to find that you really are alone in the house. Or are you? No chance. You’re certainly not the first to witness paranormal activity. Across the state, there are ghost hunters and paranormal experts. Maybe it’s time to let visions of Bill Murray in Ghostbusters go and accept that we do share the temporal earth with sundry nonmaterial beings. In April, Donald Carter’s book Connecticut Seaside Ghosts (Schiffer) hit the local book shops. It was prominently displayed on a front-and-center table of local reads at Borders in the Westfield Connecticut Post Mall. It flew off the shelf — not in a supernatural way, but that’s not to say hands weren’t shaking just a bit. In his book’s 14 chapters (though 13 would’ve seemed more suitable) Carter delves into the stories of the haunted houses of Elm Street in Stratford, the story of the Bridgeport Poltergeist that later became the focus of a Steven Spielberg blockbuster film, a haunting on Milford’s Charles Island and in old houses on High Street, and at the abandoned Remington Arms Factory in Bridgeport. Carter is a smart guy and he’s very convincing when it comes to paranormal activities. He has a degree in criminal justice from Manchester Community College, and a University of Hartford BA in ancient and American history. He works as a Wesleyan University campus police officer and when he’s not chasing college kids, he’s chasing ghosts. He says it seemed a natural progression of his interest in history. Currently Carter is working on a second book, Ghost Towns of Connecticut, scheduled for release in spring 2009. One of Carter’s favorite stories is about the Ghost Ship of New Haven.

The Center Church Crypt is the final resting place for some of New Haven’s earliest citizens.

PHOTOGRAPH:

16 october 2008

Steve Blazo

“In January of 1647, the New Haven colony invested its meager resources in a grand venture,” he writes. “A freight ship of 150 tons was specially built in

PHOTOGRAPH:

Author and ghost-chaser Carter at New Haven’s Evergreen Cemetery, where you are advised not to stand on the tomb of Mary Hart at midnight.

Steve Blazo

Rhode Island for the colonists. They stocked it with trade goods, such as furs, that were much in demand on European markets. The ship embarked upon cold and icy seas. Unfortunately for the New Haven colonists, it failed to return from its expected three-month voyage.” His story continues: “The famous Reverend Davenport prayed with the townspeople for a sign from God, to show them what had become of the ship, as well as the New Haven men aboard. One stormy night, more than a year later, they received the answer to their prayers. After the great storm abated, colonists emerged from their homes to see an amazing apparition in the clouds. A great ghost ship tossed about among the clouds, as if at sea. The mast snapped and the ship toppled over, sinking into the depths. The apparition was witnessed by many, and well documented in contemporary accounts. Since then, for over 300 years, New Haven’s ghost ship has been seen several times, usually just after a storm.” Before continuing , let’s clear something up: a ghost is not an intelligent entity. “It’s kind of like a recording,” says Carter. “It’s a moment in time that keeps replaying itself or a repeating apparition like a bride walking down the stairwell where she fell and died. It’s one event in time that we keep seeing or hearing.” Well. Now that we’ve put that burning question to rest — or have we? — what is a spirit, then? “A spirit is some part of a soul or personality that is left behind,” Carter explains. “It can be through trauma or just that the person had a very strong personality or unﬁnished goals. Some part of their intelligence is still behind and can interact with us, answering a question with an answer that makes sense.” How refreshing that sounds in a world where we can scarcely expect the same of living, breathing humans. “I believe in a soul and I also believe that we don’t always go on to where we’re meant to go after death,” says Carter. “My biggest frustration is the hardliners on either end — the believers who believe everything they hear, from aliens to UFOs, or the hostile skeptics who believe we try to make a buck off of it.” Carter says. “We don’t take any money for any of our research. “We have quite a bit [of paranormal activity] in Connecticut that many people aren’t aware of: we have the Headless

Horseman of Canton, the Ghost Ship of New Haven and several ghost towns in [the Litchﬁeld County communities of] Dudleytown, Cornwall and Wells Woods in Columbia, Connecticut.”

In her book Ghost Stories and Legends of Eastern Connecticut (History Press), Donna Kent proﬁles hauntings in New London, Mystic, Brooklyn, Wyndham and Franklin. She too is fascinated by Dudleytown, which is in Cornwall and is known as one of Connecticut’s most haunted locations. According to Kent, director of her own

Ansonia-based paranormal research group, the Cosmic Society: “This long deserted town was settled in the 1600s and strange deaths, reports of madness and insanity, poor soil and weather conditions did not make the place conducive for prospering. There were strong indications of occult activity, and today, numerous reports, photos and video add evidence to this location’s notoriety. Remains of old cellar holes and foundations are currently off limits to the public, however the Appalachian Trail, which runs through Dudleytown, is public property open to hikers.” Don’t look for ghost towns along the shoreline, though. There are too many people. new haven

“There aren’t ghost towns along the shoreline,” Carter explains. “Remember that 80 percent of Connecticut residents live along the coasts since waterways have always been a high center of population, and anything that was there has since been built over by modern buildings.” Kent has harbored a lifelong fascination for most anything abnormal. “I loved stories about the Bermuda Triangle, Ouija boards — anything,” she explains. “My parents supported me. They didn’t believe in ghosts, but they didn’t discourage me from believing.” Kent hosts monthly meetings and workshops and directs haunted Connecticut tours year-round. “One of my tours is centered in New Haven, where we do a crypt crawl underneath Center Church on the Green that holds the bodies that were moved from the Green years ago,” Kent says. She founded her business, the Cosmic Society of Paranormal Investigation, about 13 years ago and has scouted out hundreds of places across the state. She visited Fort Nathan Hale during daylight hours, as opposed to nighttime when most

ghost hunting occurs, and came back with a lot of orbs on photographs. “They’re so prevalent at some spots,” Kent says. “They represent the spirit’s energy and can be a sign — when looked at with a lot of other evidence — that there is a ghost. Orbs are not evidence enough — it could be moisture or dust, but an orb along with a strong EVP [electronic voice phenomena] — you might have something.” Her favorite story is about a gentleman whom she has never met in human form: Mr. Abliah Peet, who died in 1864 and is buried in Nichols Farms Burial Ground in Trumbull. She ﬁrst encountered him when she pulled over to take a few pictures, as she often does when she encounters an old burial ground. “Behind one of the gravestones was a man who I didn’t see until I saw the picture,” Kent explains. “I did a lot of research and discovered that his family is somehow related to mine. “I have seen many ghosts and forms of energy, but this particular time I had this overwhelming feeling to stop the car, get out and take the last two pictures on my

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18 october 2008

roll of film,” she says. So she took a wide shot of the cemetery. “When I got the film back, there was this man with a beard and mustache. He has appeared in my house and has become a spirit guide.” Kent says she feels she is at one with the spirits. “Spirits have an emotional reason for becoming earthbound,” she explains. “These are human spirits — not angels or bodiless beings. Quite often they don’t know they’re dead. Hey, maybe I’m dead. Nobody listens to me,” she jokes. “Many people are fine with a little benign ghost, and most of them are not harmful,” she explains. “They just want attention when it’s an anniversary of a death or a special occasion. Where there is one, there are usually more. They like company, but that can turn into too much of that energy. They shouldn’t be earthbound and they should be on the ‘other side.’” She and her Cosmic Society group, Kent says, have helped many ghosts cross over to the other side. Her encounter with Mr. Peet gained her an appearance on a segment on the Fox television show Sightings.

PHOTOGRAPH:

The show producers wanted to know what psychics she worked with, but there were none.

Steve Blazo

“Psychics? I just have this photo here,” Kent explains. “I’m just a mom — I was a mom with a keen interest.” The show called in paranormal investigator and hypnotist Joyce St. Germaine to analyze the photo. She hypnotized a gentleman who volunteered the spirit use of his voicebox to answer questions. What came through is that Mr. Peet wasn’t an earthbound ghost with a problem at all (stick with us here). He knew that by showing up in the picture would further Kent’s career and that she would meet St. Germaine, a human who would know how to get help for his father who had never crossed over because he had killed someone in a drunken rage. “I know — skeptics say, ‘Yeah, sure lady,’” says Kent. “But I believe it.” In addition to her monthly meetings — held at a very popular spot for spirits, the Carousel Restaurant in Seymour — Kent hosts haunted tours of Connecticut. An afternoon and evening tour that leaves from Norwich takes place October 26, while a November 1 tour will leave from Stratford and will cover the Southwestern portion of the state.

The New Haven leg of Kent’s tour will cover the Evergreen Cemetery, where it is believed that bad things will happen to anyone who comes too close to the ancient grave of Mary Hart.

Donna Kent, who founded the Cosmic Society, leads tours of the Center Church Crypt.

Haunted Houses All houses wherein men have lived and died Are haunted houses. Through the open doors

He but perceives what is; while unto me All that has been is visible and clear.

The harmless phantoms on their errands glide,

We meet them at the doorway, on the stair, Along the passages they come and go,

From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands, And hold in mortmain still their old estates. The spirit-world around this world of sense Floats like an atmosphere, and everywhere

There are more guests at table, than the hosts Invited; the illuminated hall Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts, As silent as the pictures on the wall. The stranger at my ﬁreside cannot see The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;

An undiscovered planet in our sky.

Owners and occupants of earlier dates

Impalpable impressions on the air, A sense of something moving to and fro.

Of earthly wants and aspirations high, Come from the inﬂuence of an unseen star,

We have no title-deeds to house or lands; With feet that make no sound upon the ﬂoors.

These perturbations, this perpetual jar

Wafts through these earthly mists and vapors dense A vital breath of more ethereal air. Our little lives are kept in equipoise By opposite attractions and desires; The struggle of the instinct that enjoys,

And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud Throws o’er the sea a ﬂoating bridge of light, Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd Into the realm of mystery and night,-So from the world of spirits there descends A bridge of light, connecting it with this, O’er whose unsteady ﬂoor, that sways and bends, Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1858)

And the more noble instinct that aspires.

new haven

This is one of Carter’s favorite stories.

this is a curse. People believe that if they come and stand on the grave at midnight, something horrible will happen to them.”

“The story is that Midnight Mary [Mary Hart] had a midnight stroke or heart attack and was buried alive,” Carter explains. “In New Haven’s Evergreen Cemetery, you may find a very unusual gravestone,” Carter writes. “It is rough hewn of pink granite, bearing the name of Mary Hart, who died in December of 1824, at the stroke of midnight. Students from nearby Yale University, and other locals, have dubbed her “Midnight Mary” and an entire canon of curse legends abound of people foolish enough to stand upon her grave at midnight.” The story continues: “According to legend, the poor woman was not truly dead when she had been buried. Her aunt had horrible nightmares that Mary had been buried alive and insisted that the coffin be disinterred. When it was, the body was horribly contorted and deep scratches had been clawed on the inside of the coffin lid... at least, that’s how the story goes. “The entire premise for [the tale] is the quote about the tombstone, which reads, ‘The people should be troubled at midnight and pass away,’ and it is believed that

SCHOOL

There are many reports of voices coming from her grave. One might wonder how a police ofﬁcer can have an interest in something so intangible as paranormal research. Police ofﬁcers depend on concrete, tangible evidence in order to do their work. Much the same is true for Carter’s spiritual beliefs.

The quote is in fact biblical, from Job 34:20, and in its entirety reads: “In the moment shall they die and the people shall be troubled at midnight and pass away: and the might shall be taken away without hand.” Sorry, Midnight Mary. “That has only to do with the fact that she died at midnight,” Carter says. “It doesn’t imply that something bad will happen to other people who come there at midnight. It seems that whole legend cycle has more to do with Mary Howe of Maine, who is also referred to as Midnight Mary. She was a spiritualist who went into a trance and died — but not before she was buried alive. “I was disappointed to debunk Midnight Mary,” acknowledges Carter. “But I was able to ﬁnd another documented case of premature burial that did happen here in Connecticut. Minnie Bedner was believed by relatives to have been buried alive at St. Augustine’s Cemetery in Bridgeport when she was 17 years old.”

“The skills that I use as a police officer come in handy in paranormal investigation,” he explains. “I’m acquiring data, reading people and their body language and getting to the whole truth. I also have to investigate before I go in and determine if it is worth any further investigation. I need to determine the voracity of my sources before I even begin with an investigation. I’ve learned in both lines of work to never trust the first source completely.” Carter became interested in paranormal research when his friend and coworker Matt Sinsigalli founded the New England Paranormal Video Research Group. Carter knew that there were so many ghost stories floating around that had little or no basis in fact. The tellers of Continued on 24

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Can This Man Save the U.S. Economy

By Liese Klein

Yale’s resident Cassandra calls for reforms

he weekend was supposed to be about memories, Mory’s and merriment. But instead of sipping gins-and-tonic on Old Campus, several hundred Yale graduates gathered in the law school’s auditorium during their reunion weekend this summer.

Clad in polo shirts and jeans, the audience radiated a kind of anxiety rare at Yale’s usually boozy and festive reunions. After all, only months after the collapse of Bear Stearns, a major investment bank with close ties to Yale, the grads were gathered to hear more bad news from the university’s most famous doomsayer. With his corn-fed looks and Midwestern twang, Professor Robert Shiller doesn’t fit the stereotype of economic scold. But in his remarks to the Yale alums and in a new book, Shiller relentlessly drives home a rather unflattering truth: The financial industry and ordinary Americans alike were been caught up in a speculative frenzy that rivaled the Tulip Mania of the 1630s and the dot.com fever of the 1990s. Now they were paying the price as that bubble burst. Only this mania didn’t involve exotic flowers or far-fetched business plans, it literally was the roof over our heads — the housing-price bubble of the past decade. Now that roof is crashing down and threatens to take the entire economy with it, and Shiller’s prescient warnings have made him one of the most-quoted and sought-after experts in the nation.

Shiller: ‘Mortgage lenders didn’t think they were cheating these homebuyers — they were giving them an opportunity to get in on the gold rush.’

Shiller took the alumni audience through a history of the U.S. housing market and the sudden jump in home prices that fueled the subprime meltdown. His lecture blended economics, current events and, most intriguingly, psychology.

new haven

“There was something in our psyche I think that changed our attitudes toward the housing market,” Shiller said. “Mortgage lenders didn’t think they were cheating these homebuyers — they were giving them an opportunity to get in on the gold rush.”

You haven’t seen wood paneling until you’ve seen the wood paneling at Yale’s

subprime crisis widened. Why such celebrity for an academic long known mainly for his number-crunching on housing prices? In a “dismal science” not known for its predictive powers, Shiller has correctly forecast the bursting of not one, but two, major bubbles. His book Irrational Exuberance, predicting the deﬂation of tech stocks, came out at the very peak of the bubble, “one of great calls in stock market history,” according to Money magazine. Scoffed at earlier this year for predicting housing-price declines could equal those in the Great Depression, the main worry as the fall approached was that Shiller was actually too optimistic. Of course bubbles inevitably burst, and skeptics have accused Shiller of such consistent pessimism that, like a stopped clock, he’s bound to be right once in a while. New York University economist Nouriel Roubini, who also forecast the crash and predicted in February that every major investment banks would go bust, has been dubbed “Dr. Doom.”

Economics Department. It’s spotless and ornately carved and gives off the warm, lambent glow of priceless woods not to be found at your neighborhood Lowe’s. The paneling also covers every conceivable surface in the converted mansions that house Yale’s economists on Hillhouse Ave. Robert Shiller hasn’t had much of an opportunity to appreciate these opulent surroundings this fall as he travels the country promoting his new book, The Subprime Solution. Less than 200 pages long and written for the general reader, the book made headlines almost as soon as the ink was dry. A month into the book’s release, Shiller was still traveling the country and appearing on TV as the 22 october 2008

But what is notable about The Subprime Solution is not its “I told you so” negativity, but its optimism. Shiller sees lots of opportunities for constructive reform in the current crisis and asserts that none of the major parties in the crisis acted in bad faith. What the nation’s ﬁnancial system, media and general public were guilty of, he argues, was a blind faith in the ever-rising housing market. Boom psychology seems to erase memory of past bubbles and their aftermaths even as momentum builds. “An epidemic of irrational public enthusiasm for housing investments was the core of the problem,” he writes. Much of the meat of the book details the stratospheric rise in home prices between 1997 and 2006, a jump without major impetus from construction costs, population increases or interest rates. Instead, Americans were caught up in a changing zeitgeist that put homes at

the center of investment strategy and investment at the center of economic success. “The Protestant work ethic that had underlain the national psyche for so long underwent a makeover,” Shiller writes. “We no longer admired those who were merely hard workers. To be truly revered, one had to be a smart investor as well.” But as prices soared, leaders across the spectrum seemed to buy into the myth of ever-escalating prices. “We were facing not a bubble but a froth — lots of small local bubbles that never grew to a scale that could threaten the health of the overall economy,” former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said. The media piled on with “new era” stories that inflated the bubble, spurring more spending and more growth that led to even higher prices. “Feedback loops appear, as price increase encourage belief in ‘new era’ stories, promote the contagion of those stories, and so lead to further price increase,” Shiller writes. That contagious optimism in ever-rising prices led mortgage lenders to extend credit to those who couldn’t afford the homes they were buying, and led regulators to turn a blind eye to relaxed standards. To avoid bubbles in the future, there needs to be more transparency in transactions both one the level of individual homebuyers and in the entire real estate market, Shiller says. First, homebuyers need help in navigating the complicated terms of mortgages and financial products, he says. For example, using a system of “co-pays,” the government could subsidize financial advice for lower-income people and help them avoid traps like some types of subprime mortgages. Second, instead of punishing the financial markets for their overreaching, the government should widen the scope of products available to manage real estate risk. With wider use of futures markets, investors all over the world can act to curb price bubbles if they think an area’s housing market is overvalued. Third, new types of mortgages should be created to allow for fluctuations in the value of homes. Under Shiller’s “continuous-workout mortgage,” the terms are adjusted monthly to reflect the housing market and the borrower’s ability to pay, both indexed to local economic indicators. Homeowners could be further

protected by home equity insurance to counteract the effects of declining prices. “Home equity insurance would eliminate the risky, often highly leveraged position in which so many homeowners find themselves today,” Shiller writes. The opportunity in the current crisis is a chance to restructure the management of risk in both individual housing transactions and the financial markets as a whole, Shiller says. The free market, including expansion of a real estate futures market, can insure that housing prices never get out of control again. But don’t expect homes to become the sterling investments they once were. “The idea that public policy should be aimed at validating the real estate myth, preventing a collapse in home prices from ever happening again, is an error of the first magnitude,” Shiller writes. “In the long run, the home-price drops are clearly a good thing.” The book brings the crisis up to the point of the first major bank collapses and ratchets up the urgency of Shiller’s message. The stakes in solving the crisis are not just financial: The author fears for the future of America’s soul as well.

“Allowing these destructive changes to proceed unimpeded could cause damage not only to the economy but to the social fabric — the trust and optimism people feel for each other and for their shared institutions and ways of life — for decades to come,” Shiller says. “The social fabric is indeed at risk and should be central to our attention as we respond to the subprime crisis.” If it’s Thursday, Robert Shiller must be in Washington, testifying before Congress or speaking at a think tank. He may be in a limo, arranging for interviews on ﬁnancial news shows or speaking to reporters. It’s an unusual life for an academic, but Shiller’s only the latest Yale professor to take a central role in the national conversation about economic policy. This summer, Shiller was appointed the Arthur M. Okun professor of economics, a post named for a Yale scholar who focused on the impact of unemployment on the economy and served on President John F. Kennedy’s Council of Economic Advisers. “Shiller is an absolute natural to be named to that chair,” says William Brainard, an emeritus professor of economics and

former chairman of the department. “Shiller is somebody whose research interests have almost always been focused on real-world problems.” “Real-world problems” also concerned late Yale professor and Nobel Prizewinner James Tobin, who also served on Kennedy’s council and took an active role as a member of the Federal Reserve board and a consultant to the U.S. Treasury. Yale’s William Nordhaus served on Jimmy Carter’s council and currently focuses his research on the economic impacts of climate change. And Yale-trained economists may have a more direct opportunity to affect policy in the future: Barack Obama’s main economic advisor, Austan Goolsbee, got both an undergraduate and master’s degree in the ﬁeld at Yale before securing a doctorate at MIT. But a post in academia may actually free economists to utter some hard truths — even those that make an audience full of well-heeled Yale alumni squirm. “This crisis is an opportunity for leadership to improve our ﬁnancial institutions,” he told the graduates this summer. “We can do even better.” v

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HALLOWEEN Continued from 20

these legends hadn’t done their research, but Carter was going to. “A lot of what has been passed on is misinformation,” he says. “I was skeptical about paranormal investigations in general, but at that point, the only stories I’d heard were about a bunch of teenagers going into abandoned houses and they run out screaming that it’s haunted.” He handled case histories for the research group but was never very keen on doing residential investigations. Upper School Grades 9 – 12

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Reﬂect Your Own Personal Style

“Any supernatural legend that has lasted over the past couple of hundred years, then it’s a good legend and a great story to tell,” Carter says. “If you can ﬁnd any paranormal data or photographic anomalies, you can consider what happened all those years ago.” Consider the poem “Haunted Houses” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (see sidebar) that sums Carter’s work up. “You can interpret it to mean that every house where men and women have lived and died is haunted by the memories and the events that happened there,” Carter explains. “You don’t know whether he’s speaking literally about ghosts haunting, or if he’s speaking symbolically about the memories that live on. “It’s a beautiful poem and it perfectly sums up my belief,” says Carter. “It doesn’t really matter if the ghosts are there or not; the memories are there. Even if you don’t believe in ghosts, stories don’t die.” v ONE2ONE Continued from 20

Do you think Iraq can ever develop a democratic culture? It might happen, but I don’t know many years it will take. You did a series of paintings of West Rock. What inspired them?

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24 october 2008

I discovered many people in New Haven haven’t been [to West Rock] and don’t know about this mountain. I think heritage and history brings a lot of good things to people. I was sitting here in your seat and looking at these rocks and the movement of the sun. They create a lot of images, you can see a lot of shapes. It reminds me of Sumerian and Babylonian ﬁgures. This mountain reminds me of the past; human beings are linked together. I think it is a way to see how civilization moved from that part of the world to here.

The

Saint

The beatification of Knights of Columbus founder Fr. Michael McGivney proceeds apace

By Steven Scarpa

ucked in the back of the Church of St. Mary, an impressive Gothic stone edifice on Hillhouse Avenue across from Yale’s Department of Psychology, is a small tomb — a dark marble crypt in the shape of a cross. It is the final resting place of the Rev. Michael McGivney, a priest who served at the church from 1877 to 1884. McGivney’s tomb has no epitaph, simply the dates of his birth and death and a description: “The Founder of the Knights of Columbus, March 29, 1882.” The crypt holds the mortal remains of a man whose life was so exemplary that the Catholic Church is considering elevating him to sainthood. On a summer afternoon the church is quiet before the daily Mass, a few of the faithful on their knees praying. A young priest with dark hair wearing a white robe and purple stole walks across the back of the church, genuflects in front of the altar and takes up his post in the confessional closest to McGivney’s tomb. Shortly before the service a few people line up in the aisle to have the sacrament of reconciliation administered to them.

Another priest lights candles on the altar in preparation for the noon Mass. There are murmurs coming from the confessional. A woman, after kneeling in prayer for a brief

time, walks to McGivney’s crypt and rests her right hand on the foot of the cross. Visits like these are becoming increasingly common. The Very Rev. Joseph P. Allen, OP, pastor of St. Mary’s, says he occasionally receives word from the Knights of Columbus’ Supreme Headquarters that a group, usually from another Knights chapter, is coming through and he then arranges a guided tour. Not every visit to McGivney’s crypt is as preconceived. Some, like the woman in the church this afternoon, come alone seeking McGivney’s intercession and a quiet moment of prayer. “Sometimes they come on their own,” Allen says. “They see someone [from the church] and they ask about it.” The scene this afternoon at St. Mary’s is a scene that McGivney would have recognized immediately. It reﬂects the daily rhythms of a Roman Catholic church, the place he loved beyond anything else.

A 2006 biography entitled Parish Priest, written by Douglas Brinkley and Julie M. Fenster, attempts to flesh out the specifics of McGivney’s life. What emerges is a figure many Catholics are likely to recognize. It’s clear from

St. Mary’s’ Church on New Haven’s Hillhouse Avenue houses the mortal remains of the man who may become the first ever American priest to attain beatification. PHOTOGRAPH:

Anthony DeCarlo

new haven

and temptations of modern life were drawing men away from moral living and a connection with the church. McGivney saw the popularity at the time of secret societies — organizations officially condemned by the church — and sought to replicate that model using Catholic values as the bedrock. “This was a guy who could take a step back and look at the grand scheme of things,” Korten explains. What made the Knights different was that it was a Catholic group led by laymen — seemingly anathema in the ultrahierarchical Catholic Church of the 19th century. “The very first thing that made McGivney’s idea so extraordinary was that it came from him,” wrote Brinkley and Fenster. “An ordained representative of the Catholic Church, he was advocating the creation of an outside group.” The Knights were then, as now, a benevolent society geared toward offering members financial security should they fall on hard times. “It drew men closer to the church,” Korten says.

As a parish priest McGivney was conscientious, even meticulous, but also ‘a guy who could step back and look at the grand scheme of things.’

his biography that McGivney didn’t spend his days in New Haven in grand acts of poetic martyrdom, nor did ﬂashy miracles radiate from his ﬁngertips. “It is a legitimate way to sainthood, but it isn’t the only way,” says Pat Korten, vice president of communications for the Knights of Columbus. The priest spent the majority of his time engaged in the prosaic but vital matters of parish life: raising money to complete construction of St. Mary’s (the cornerstone was laid in 1870 and the church was dedicated four years later); making sure that the Catholic youth of New Haven were engaged in morally enriching activities, such as theatricals and sports; tending to the sick and dying; and of course administering the sacraments. According to contemporary accounts he was a familiar

26 october 2008

figure, ubiquitous in church life, both commanding and charismatic in persona. McGivney was born in Waterbury in 1852 and after a seminary career that moved in fits and starts due to his family’s financial difficulties, he was ordained in 1877. He began his service in St. Mary’s Church in 1878. After serving in New Haven for six years, McGivney is named pastor of St. Thomas Church in Thomaston. He died of pneumonia in 1890 — a common killer of priests in the 19th century because of their continual exposure to the sick. He was 38 years old. McGivney’s major contribution — beyond a life regarded by all who knew him as exemplary — was the creation of the Knights of Columbus, whose world headquarters are a commanding presence on the Elm City skyline. Church officials in the 1880s were concerned that the forces

In the 19th century, priests and the laity worked at a healthy remove from one another. Priests ministered and administered and the faithful prayed and contributed, but a more extensive relationship generally did not exist. “But Father McGivney did not see a deep gulf between his parish work and the life of the city,” observed Brinkley and Fenster. It began with a few local businessmen at the head of the Knights — and naturally there were birthing pains. Egos and agendas have a way of working themselves into and tainting even the most altruistic of endeavors. Throughout it all, McGivney was steadfast in his belief that the organization would work, serving both the souls of the men who comprised its membership as well as the people in the surrounding community. In the intervening century and a quarter, McGivney’s modest little group founded on Hillhouse Avenue has attained a scope and power he could scarcely have dreamed of. Today the Knights of Columbus has 1.75 million members in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Poland and the Philippines. Korten estimates that the $67 billion in life insurance underwritten by the organization provides helps 45 million people. In 2005, the Knights donated $139 million and 64 million hours of volunteer services, according to the organization’s records. In addition, the group was able to pay for the restoration of the façade of St. Peter’s (Rome) Basilica in the 1980s and

annually pays for the television broadcast costs of Masses from the Vatican. “This is no small thing,” Korten explains. “It gives us the ability to do things Father McGivney could not have anticipated.”

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It was Archbishop Daniel Cronin, head of the Archdiocese of Hartford, who in 1997 became the ﬁrst to call for an investigation of McGivney’s potential for beatiﬁcation. The case — a 700-page record of McGivney’s life — was presented to the Vatican in 2000, where it has been under review by the Congregation for the Cause of Saints. Rev. Gabriel O’Donnell, formerly a priest at St. Mary’s, serves as McGivney’s postulator, a combination of researcher and advocate, according to Parish Priest. “[The foundation of the Knights of Columbus] is the main thing, aside from his personal holiness,” Korten says. “Most of his life was spent in complete dedication to his parishioners.”

It requires a pair of miracles — a tangible signal from God that a person is blessed — for one to be finally be canonized by the Church. In McGivney’s case, the Church is investigating one miracle, the specifics of which Korten says he cannot discuss at this time. However, it is believed that through McGivney’s intercession a dying person was restored to health. Vatican historians and medical professionals will examine the specifics of the claim and render a judgment about whether they believe it is legitimate. McGivney’s cause has been fast-tracked by the church — “fast” being a relative term for an institution whose time horizon spans millennia. Pope John Paul II quickly advanced consideration for McGivney’s canonization and Pope Benedict XVI made specific mention of the priest’s work in an April 19 sermon in New York. McGivney is likely to become the first American-born priest named a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. “I think it will happen in time,” says Fr. Allen. “These are all of the steps in the process. If it is meant to be, it is going to happen.” v

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In order for a person to be considered for sainthood by the church, a thorough investigation of his or her life must be conducted. If the candidate’s life is adjudged morally sacrosanct and without blemish, he or she is then be named a “Venerable Servant of God” by the church, a status McGivney attained in March of this year. This designation is an acknowledgement of the sanctity of the candidate’s life, but is not the ﬁnal step.

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At Home with History The newest home on a tony street reﬂects a neighborhood at the crossroads

AT H O M E

harles Dickens famously called New Haven’s Hillhouse Avenue “the most beautiful street in America.” And in the 19th century surely it had few rivals. But in the 21st century, along with its cathedral-like canopy of elms, Hillhouse Avenue’s private residents are long gone, supplanted by institutional uses connected to the Yale octopus. Because of that, most New Haveners today (if they were being brutally honest) would probably allow that the Elm City’s most desirable address is St. Ronan Street/ Edgehill Road. It is an anomaly that they are in fact the same street, divided by the perpendicular Highland Street. (St. Ronan came ﬁrst; Edgehill was a later extension.) Just a century ago, the neighborhood Don and Alice Schwartz enjoy today was considered positively rural. Pre-Civil War, what is now known as St. Ronan-Edgehill lay on the grounds of the great James Hillhouse estate (which stretched from Grove Street northward to the present Highland Street) and Eli Whitney estates (which stretched from Highland into Hamden). Where those two grand estates met is where the Schwartzes’ 2 Edgehill home sits today. The Hillhouse family left a lasting imprint on the neighborhood. Many of its great oak trees were planted by James Hillhouse (1754-1832), the entrepreneur and civic leader responsible for the enactment of the ﬁrst municipal tree ordinance in the United States. The principal artery to and through the area — Whitney Avenue — was laid out by Hillhouse as the original Hartford Turnpike.

2 Edgehill was originally designed as passive-solar. This sun-drenched, south-facing room on the ground floor is dominated by a koi pond (left) and jungle-like house plants. PHOTOGRAPH:

The neighborhood took its name from a reference in “Sachem’s-Wood,” a poem by Hillhouse’s son, James Abraham Hillhouse, to “St. Ronan’s well,” a reference in turn to a novel by Sir Walter Scott. (The provenance of the name Edgehill is easier to discern.) And though they might not all know

Anthony DeCarlo

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A ceramic work by Don Schwartz and a grandfather clock from Alice Schwartz’s family lend a personal touch to the formal dining room. PHOTOGRAPH:

Anthony DeCarlo

where “St. Ronan” came from, most area residents today are keenly aware of their neighborhood’s place in the life of the city past and present. This autumn the neighborhood was embroiled in a vigorous debate about whether to create a St. Ronan-Edgehill historic district, which would regulate demolitions and alterations to the exterior of the stately residences. Proponents say they want to protect their neighborhood from intrusive or inappropriate development; others fear it as a potential “engine of oppression,” as one resident told the New York Times. (The district was defeated in a September 23 referendum.) St. Ronan-Edgehill lies between Whitney Avenue and Prospect Street and includes some 200 houses of varied architectural styles, dating from the late 19th century to the mid-20th (with one exception; see below). Much of the neighborhood is on 30 october 2008

the National Register of Historic Places. Architecturally speaking, in this part of the United States the most common type of single-family residence has two stories. Farther to the south and west, single-story ranch homes are predominate, in large part a function of cost and convenience. One ﬂoor, two ﬂoors — which is better? If you really want to know, better not ask Don and Alice Schwartz. That’s because their home was built on 11 — that’s eleven — separate levels. Of course, the couple’s home isn’t a skyscraper, technically: The architectdesigned structure was built into a steep hillside (Edgehill, get it?) some 20 years ago as a passive-solar structure that adroitly (and perhaps clairvoyantly) employed the topography of the lot (just down the hill from the former St. Francis Orphan Asylum, better known today

as the Foote School, whose soccer pitch abuts the Schwartz property) as a form of natural insulation to save on heating costs. The Schwartzes bought the 4,400-squarefoot house in 2000 from New Haven architect Peter Kosinski, who had designed the structure as a passive-solar house, but never entirely completed it. It likely is the most recent new construction in the St. Ronan/Edgehill neighborhood, but its rich red brick façade and lush landscaping complement its surroundings beautifully. Another fun fact about the Schwartz home: There are seven oceans on the planet, but this New Haven couple have their own body of water inside their home. A commodious koi pond on the ground level, in a south-facing room the couple call “the jungle” (lots of large tropical plants) is home to an indeﬁnite number of the ornamental domesticated carp,

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much prized in their native Japan. This is anything but a toddler’s goldfish bowl — these are substantial fish (about 18 to 24 inches in length — if you caught a fish this size in a mountain lake, you would be phoning the taxidermist) ands the pond is substantial enough that Don Schwartz isn’t quite sure how many creatures actually reside in it (the koi share the pond with an indeterminate number of frogs). When you’re a mere member of the koi polloi, you must embrace anonymity. Don Schwartz made his money investing in emerging technology companies. Alice Schwartz sells real estate for Hamdenbased Press/Cuozzo Realtors. But his passion (he calls it a “hobby,” but that diminishes his level of artistry) is creating ceramic art, of which the Schwartz home is a happy and very replete gallery. A sunny upstairs space houses Don Schwartz’s studio, centered around a large kiln used to cure the ceramic tiles. “I’ve been doing it my whole life,” Don Schwartz explains, “but I never learned how to do it. It’s not rocket science.” Don and Alice Schwartz in the room they refer to as ‘the jungle.’ PHOTOGRAPH:

Anthony DeCarlo

One of the first upgrades the Schwartzes undertook was the kitchen. At left was formerly a wall that closed off the space, and the owners added warm cherry cabinets and marble countertops. PHOTOGRAPH:

Anthony DeCarlo

32 october 2008

Don Schwartz came to his “avocation” innocently: When he began dating Alice, “My wife was an art student,” he recalls, “and I used to help her with her homework.” That constitutes the extent of

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his formal training in the ﬁne arts. Nevertheless, he is almost preternaturally productive as an artist working in a painstaking medium. Schwartz estimates that he has produced more than 100 largeformat ceramic pieces, each meticulous mosaics composed of hundreds of handcrafted colored tiles less than one inch square. Some works also incorporate glass beads fabricated by their son, a glass-blower, as well as natural materials. Schwartz is a big thinker, too, and many of his works touch on political (one work is called “Life in a Socialist Fish”), religious (an upstairs bathroom is graced by a depiction of the Garden of Eden) and historical (a work depicting the Israel-Lebanon war incorporates Alice Schwartz’s father’s World War II military “dog tags”) themes. The Schwartzes are recent empty-nesters (not counting their three cats), so their grown children’s rooms are gradually being assigned new functions. One obvious upgrade was the kitchen, with its marble ﬂoors, black-granite countertops and rich cherry cabinetry (replacing the white laminate originals).

A cherry bedroom set also graces the master bedroom, with large windows revealing a panorama of the neighborhood. Windows in the house’s top level, reached by spiral staircase, afford a commanding view of East Rock (or “Sassacus,” as it was known in James Hillhouse’s time). It’s a sunny, happy aerie, with its bright arched ceiling of knotty pine.

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Many if not most homeowners never quite consider their houses “done” — there’s always a new project to undertake, or some system to upgrade. The Schwartzes hedge a bit on this question. “By right we probably should build a master [bedroom] suite,” allows Don Schwartz, especially if they ever put the home on the market. “But it doesn’t really bother me to walk to the bathroom.” So in that sense maybe it really is “done.” So even as the Schwartz home complements its surroundings, its newness and prominence at the heart of St. Ronan-Edgehill symbolizes a neighborhood at a crossroads — revering its distinguished past without wishing to become trapped by it. v

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In Doris Bry’s ‘inadvertent’ collection of landmark photographs, the print’s the thing By Michael Harvey

ver the summer the Yale University Art Gallery exhibited a number of photographs from the collection of Doris Bry. She is a scholar of the photographer Alfred Stieglitz and was a longtime associate of the painter Georgia O’Keeffe. Eight students selected more than 70 prints from her collection of more than 200, which is on long-term loan to the gallery as a teaching tool. This is the third such exhibition. The photographs were elegantly framed and hung on walls of a muted clay color and lit with subdued light. There was, ironically, no photography allowed.

Irving Penn, ‘Harlequin Dress — Lisa Fonssagrives Penn’ (1979). Platinum-palladium print mounted on aluminum, 20 1/16 X 19 1/8 in.

34 october 2008

The exhibit concentrated almost entirely on black-and-white photographs of the pre-digital 20th century, and many of the best-known names in American photography such as Irving Penn, Walker Evans, Margaret Bourke-White and Ansel Adams were presented along with one or two lesser-known catchers of light. The images, as might be expected from such masters, were quite sumptuous, some were signature prints like Paul Strand’s “Wall Street” or Bernice Abbott’s “5th Avenue Nos. 4,6,8.” Others were immediately recognizable by subject or point of view such as Ralph Steiner’s overhead shot “Boy on a Bicycle” or Lewis Hine’s “Mechanic in His Shrine.” And given Bry’s long association with Georgia O’Keeffe it was not surprising to see a number of Southwest landscapes by Laura Gilpin, William Clift and Adams.

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Paul Strand, ‘Iris, Georgetown, Maine’ (1928). Platinum-palladium print, 9 5/8 X 7 13/16 in.

Throughout the gallery the student selections appeared in small groups, some attempting to draw comparisons such as likening landscapes to the ﬂeshy folds of a reclining nude, or grouping “Roxbury,” Lilo Raymond’s rumpled sheets on an unmade bed, with the rumpled rocks of Frederick Sommer’s “Painted Desert.” Others were clearly taken with the soft, misty, atmospheric prints of trees and sky, while someone else matched the Atget’s carved stone statues with Abbott’s family on an urban stoop. Since these were selections from the collection it is hard to know what was left out, but overall they give a sense of Doris Bry’s sensibility as drawn to lowkey formalism. More than any particular subject matter the content of these pictures exuded a quiet stillness. Empty landscapes, empty rooms. There were

very few human subjects visible, and where there were people they were mostly paused, emotionless, staring back at the camera like Lotte Jacobi’s “Head of a Dancer.” The worker in Richard Benson’s “Sugar Mill at Aguirre” is immobile, and seems to be as dusted with sugar as the machinery around him. Even the boy and his dog in Bourke-White’s “You Have Seen Their Faces” seem like ﬁxtures in the doorway. Moving from image to image with their emphasis on the subtle tonal possibilities and qualities of surface it was clear that the common theme was ﬁne printing. Only one print, Irving Penn’s “Harlequin Dress-Lisa Fonssagrives Penn,” jumped out from the rest with its stark, graphic black-and-white checks. While most of the images were gelatin silver prints, which was the usual method of making

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black-and-white prints, there were also enough of the more obscure printing methods: palladium prints, ferrotypes, ﬂatgravure, albumen, rotogravure and even a Woodburytype to make this practically an historical overview of the photographic printing process.

In his catalogue essay Richard Benson makes the case for ﬁne printing, for the uniqueness of the print as an object. “The collection embodies the idea that the object itself is unique, and that this uniqueness is the holder of content,” writes Benson. He makes the point that the content is in the print and not the negative, and feels that reproducing images in less-than-optimum circumstances has degraded photography, making it seem less of an art form. It is

a purist’s position Alfred Stieglitz (the eminence gris behind this exhibition) would endorse and fitting for the connoisseur quality of Doris Bry’s collection. However, many would argue that elevating the print to the unique object status seems to fly in the face of photography’s democratic nature. Ease of production and replication are precisely its strength, and what has rendered it largely free of dogma. The millstone borne by the uniqueness of the “fine art” object is what Walter Benjamin in his famous essay Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction called an “aura” — all that baggage we associate with art: the stately museums, the haughty galleries, the critical gobbledygook, the intimidating wall labels that contradict what you thought. So is it desirable to make the print a unique object?

Laura Gilpin, ‘Shiprock from the North Rim of Mesa Verde’ (1926). Gelatin silver print, 7 9/16 X 9 5/8 in.

36 october 2008

Since the beginning of photography making prints has been part art, part alchemy: by cropping and shading, and long hours spent steeped in chemicals the printer could turn a good photograph into a wonderful one. Now, of course, the digital revolution has changed photography and printing, too. Without chemicals or even a darkroom, the photographer can totally remake an image on a computer. By taking the original image apart they can isolate, adjust and remix the picture much the way a sound engineer mixes a hit tune. And best of all, once the exact mix has been deﬁned it can be saved and replicated on demand. Once again technical innovation has made previously exclusive beautiful prints as available as the original Kodak camera. It almost seems like cheating — all you need now is a good eye.

Collectors, once inspired to collect, usually do it in determined fashion. They set themselves goals, feel the need to complete sets, have the best example of this or that, and often go to absurd lengths to snag their prize. In the end their collections often become impersonal — more about that determination, the money they spent, and polishing their egos than it does about the love of their subject. Doris Bry calls her collection “inadvertent,” acknowledging a more casual approach. More the way we accumulate books, it seems: something interesting here, something there, like the eclectic collection on our shelves — a core of favorites spilling over to include curiosities and whims and gifts and some we disliked and some we don’t even know how they got there. Her collection is not quite so catholic or haphazard as that. It is a more purposeful and focused personal library of ﬁrst editions and rare books and signed copies where not only the content and the printing but story of why and how they were collected is what has made them such desirable objects. Paul Strand, ‘Alfred Steiglitz, Lake George, New York’ (1929). Gelatin silver print, 6 5/8 X 7 7/16 in.

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ART Marcia Pointon — senior visiting scholar, Yale Center for British Art, professor emeritus of art history, University of Manchester, and honorary research fellow at London’s Courtauld Institute of Art — lectures on Material Maneuvers: Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (1660–1744) and the Power of Objects. 5:30 p.m. October 1 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-4322858, ycba.yale.edu. Celebrate the autumn season with Harvest at the Firehouse Art Gallery. Artists’ interpretations of harvest in oil, acrylic or watercolor paints, pen, ink, pencil and charcoal, collage, photography and sculpture will be on view. Juried by artist and printmaker Barbara Harder. Through October 2 at Firehouse Art Gallery, 81 Naugatuck Ave., Milford. Open noon-5 p.m. Thurs.Sun. Free. 203-306-0016, FHGallery@ optonline.net, milfordarts.org. Paris, Providence, Putnam: Tracking an American Woman Artist. Join curatorial fellow Amanda Burdan for a lecture based on her scholarship into the life and work of Putnam artist Rosa Peckham Danielson, who traveled to Paris in the 1870s to study painting and went on to be a founding member of the Providence Art Club. As Fehrer Fellow Burdan will work for the Griswold Museum on a variety of research projects in the curatorial department. Light reception follows lecture. 7 p.m. October 2 at the Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $5. 860-434-5542, flogris.org. Douglas Hyland, director of the New Britain Museum, will give an art talk in the Chauncey Stillman Gallery. 5:30 p.m. October 3 at Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, 84 Lyme St., Old Lyme. Free. 860-434-3571 ext. 135, KBarkerCraven@ LymeAcademy.edu, lymeacademy.edu. Conjurings: Where the Abstract and Surreal Collide is a visually stunning array of paintings by contemporary artist Clinton Deckert in which surreal imagery and abstract thoughts collide. Deckert is influenced by the Surrealist movement, Dada and abstract expressionism. He is inspired by the artists Max Ernst, René Magritte, Francis Bacon and Salvador Dali. Deckert refers to his art as “surreal mindscapes,” a merging hybrid of the surreal and abstract. The works are oil paintings that result from combining random abstract thoughts and surreal imagery. His technique is both exploratory and spontaneous. Through October 4 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. American artists have been lured south

38 october 2008

since the 19th century. Among the best known are Connecticut native Frederic Edwin Church and master watercolorist Winslow Homer. Both traveled in search of unusual scenery, which they found in Jamaica, the Bahamas, Florida and Bermuda. For artists from North America, the tropics offered a simpler way of life unburdened by the stresses of modern urban life. They recorded the distinctive places and people they met as tourists, soaking up the local culture. Over time, enjoyment of the tropical climate deepened into appreciation of the region’s people. Will Howe Foote and Abram Poole composed powerful portraits of island residents in Jamaica and Dominica. In Reynolds Beal’s etching, “Sponge Fishing, Florida,” men fish for natural sponges, once a major industry in the northern Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Warm Winds: Connecticut Artists in the Tropics examines the appeal of yearround painting, varied and plentiful subject matter and simpler way of life offered by warmer climes. The 60-plus paintings and works on paper chronicle Connecticut artists’ longstanding love of the tropics, which continues to this day. Through October 5 at the Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $10 ($9 seniors & students, $6 children 6-12, free under 6). 860-434-5542, flogris.org. As part of the Art in Context series Marcia Pointon, senior visiting scholar at the Yale Center for British Art, hosts an informal 30-minute discussion of individual objects of art in Thomas Lawrence’s Male Portraits. Meet at the information desk. 12:30 p.m. October 7 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-4322858, ycba.yale.edu. Amanda C. Burdan, Griswold Museum scholar-in-residence and first recipient of the Catherine Fehrer Fellowship, hosts Treasures from the Vault and Elsewhere: Art & History

Investigations, a series of lecture-style investigations of objects retrieved from the Museum’s vault. Each month Burdan presents the historical framework of these objects and uses them as springboards to the cultural, social, or political contexts that informed and inspired the artist. This month’s topic: “Walker Evan’s Early Dawn Farm, Route 156 (c. 1955)”. 11 a.m. October 8 at the Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme. Museum admission: $10 ($9 seniors & students, $6 children 6-12, free under 6). 860-434-5542, flogris.org. The CultureKids Series Photo Hunt will help children learn about basic components of photographic composition including framing, vantage point and camera distance to subject, by seeking out objects that represent fall’s Federal Heritage Months-Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15) and American Indian Heritage Month (November). Each child will use one of Green Street’s digital cameras to photograph one or two items on display within the building. Children will then have supervised time to print the photographs for an exhibition to be displayed at Green Street throughout the month. Recommended for children ages 7-10. 1 p.m. October 11 at Green Street Arts Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. Free. 860-685-7871, greenstreetartscenter.org. 3 at BAC is an exhibition featuring the work of three artists. David Frank is a potter who creates vessels full of color and life at his studio on an old chicken farm in Guilford. Rex Walden is a painter who say he takes risks to keep “paint-friendly.” Sid Werthan is a conceptual artist who employs a base of sculpture, found objects, digital photography, video and sound installation combined with Eastern aesthetics to merge the concepts of Japanese Zen Buddhism, martial arts doctrine, meditation

and motorcycle. All three artists are members of the Shoreline Arts Trail. Through October 11 at Branford Artists Cooperative, 211 Montowese St., Branford. Hours are Tuesday and Thursday 10-3 and Saturday 11-3.Free. 203-5896995, branfordartistscoopertive.com. Stories and Art. Yale students and YUAG staff relate folktales and myths from across the globe to works of art in the gallery’s collection. All ages are welcome and drawing materials will be provided for older children. Meet at the information desk. 1 p.m. October 12 at the Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Mon. (until 8 p.m. Thurs.), 1-6 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu. Like the swirls of ornamental grotesques that adorn architecture, metalwork and textiles, the boundaries between beauty and strangeness were extremely fluid in Renaissance and Baroque art. Through monsters, hybrid creatures and bodies that twisted into fanciful shapes, artists visualized myths and dreams, delighting their viewers by seemingly limitless flights of fantasy. Drawn from the Davison Art Center Collection, The Bizarre and the Beautiful: Fantasy as Visual Pleasure in Renaissance and Baroque Prints features works by Agostino Carracci, Enea Vico, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Christoph Jamnitzer, Jacques Callot, Hendrick Goltzius and others, probing the essence of art and artistry of the period. Through October 12 at the Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, 301 High St., Middletown. Open noon-4 p.m. Tues.-Sun. Free. 860-685-2500, lberman@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan. edu/dac. CAW Faculty/Guest Artist Show. Show encompasses two exhibitions in the Creative Arts Workshop’s Hilles Gallery. On the ground floor, An Impulse to Order features paintings by Michael Mancari of the CAW drawing and painting department as well as guest

CRITIC’S PICK We All Need a Little At a time when America’s presidential race is heated and heading toward the finish line, Josephe Adolphe’s piece Girl Running exemplifies the Change that may be coming for the whole nation.

Kehler Liddell Gallery presents Change, an exhibition including paintings, works on paper, photography and

sculpture in the first group show of the 2008-09 season by gallery artists: Joseph Adolphe, Amy Browning,

Frank Bruckmann, Jason Buening, Susan Clinard, Rod Cook, Matthew Garrett, Lisa Hess Hesselgrave, Blinn Jacobs, Keith Johnson, Gigi Horr Liverant, Lawrence Morelli, Edith Borax-Morrison, Hank Paper, Joseph Saccio, Roger Van Damme,

Gar Waterman, Alan Shulik, Marjorie Wolfe. These artists respond individually to the subject matter by exploring changes in their work and their world, from the personal to political, a change of view or choice of medium. — Elvira J. Duran October 2-26 (reception: 4-8 p.m. October 3 & 4, artist roundtable: 1-3 p.m. October 5, 12, 19 & 26) at Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. Open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Thurs.-Sun. & by appt. Free. 203-389-9555, kehlerliddell.com.

artist Rachael Wren, who will present a series of paintings. While different in temperament, the works of both artists are outcomes of a common endeavor — finding a sense of place and creating a cohesive world with its own internal logic through the process of painting. The second group will feature works by Corinne McManemin, also of CAW’s drawing and painting faculty, and guest artist Jerry Weiss in The Figure. McManemin’s lifelike sculptures and Weiss’ realistic paintings will reveal a freshness of individual vision to this classical form. Their work challenges the viewer to step into the artist’s world as the hand of the artist remains exposed through the layers of clay and strokes of paint. Through October 17 (closing reception: 5-7 p.m. October 17) at Creative Arts Workshop, 80 Audubon St., New Haven. Open 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri., Sat. 9 a.m.-noon. Free. 203562-4927, creativeartsworkshop.org. Join Curator Amy Kurtz Lansing for a Gallery Talk during which she highlights some of the accomplishments of one of America’s greatest female sculptors, Bessie Potter Vonnoh. Lecture is held in conjunction with the exhibition Bessie Potter Vonnoh: Sculptor of Women. 2 p.m. October 19 at the Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme. Museum admission: $10 ($9 seniors & students, $6 children 6-12, free under 6). 860-434-5542, flogris.org. Sol LeWitt Wall Drawings: Beautifully Radical. A lecture on wall drawings

by independent curator Andrea MillerKeller. 5:30 p.m. October 23 at the Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu. Join Bessie Potter Vonnoh: Sculptor of Women curator Julie Aronson, curator of American painting and sculpture for the Cincinnati Art Museum and a leading Vonnoh scholar, for To Look for Beauty in the Everyday World: The Sculpture of Bessie Potter Vonnoh, a lecture illuminating the artistic career of a remarkably talented woman. Standing alone as the only American sculptor of her generation to make images of contemporary women and children a specialty, Vonnoh navigated the male-dominated sculpture field to create a niche in which a woman could be a professional success. 2 p.m. October 25 at the Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme. $9 lecture ($15 lecture & exhibition). 860-4345542, flogris.org. Studio Tuesday is an informal, noninstructional “paint-in” that meets each Tuesday. Come work in a creative environment along with other artists. 9 a.m.-noon October 7, 14, 21 & 28 at Margaret Egan Center, 35 Matthew St., Milford. Free. 203-878-6647, milfordarts. org. It’s hip to knit. The Blackstone Knitting and Crocheting Group meets Wednesdays in the Lucy Hammer Room. This informal gathering is

for knitters, crocheters and other fiber craftspeople of all ages, from the beginner to the expert. Firsttime knitters welcome — coaches available. 5:30-7:45 p.m. October 7, 14, 21 & 28 at Blackstone Library, 758 Main St., Branford. Free. 203-488-1441 ext. 313, events@blackstone.lioninc.org, blackstone.lioninc.org.

for imagined figures and events. October 3-29 (reception & artist talk: 6-9 p.m. October 3), at EO Art Lab, 69 Main St., Chester. Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.Wed., 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., noon-6 p.m. Sun. or by appointment. Free. 860-526-4833, chester@eoartlab.com, eoartlab.com.

New York artist, Julie Gross, debuts her work in Squeeze at EO this month. Gross’ work is eye-catching and thoroughly engaging. Her supreme compositional skill and command of concept allow Gross to create paintings of wondrous color and form where viewers take immense joy in searching

The Big Apple gives Conn. a friendly (and talented) Squeeze this month. EO Art Lab houses the colorful canvases of Julie Gross through October 29.

One of the leading historians of photography, Douglas Nickel has organized traveling exhibitions devoted to Ansel Adams, Lewis Carroll and snapshot photography and has published extensively. Before joining the Brown faculty he was director of the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson and curator of photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Nickel’s lecture, Carleton Watkins: Photography in the Eye of the Beholder, examines the work of Carleton Watkins, a carpenter from upstate New York who traveled to California during the Gold Rush and became the most accomplished American landscape photographer of the 19th century. Nickel organized a retrospective of Watkins’ career for SFMOMA; it traveled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. 5:30 p.m. October 30 at Memorial Chapel, Wesleyan University, 221 High St, Middletown. Free. wesleyan. edu/cfa. Northeastern University Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History Vered Maimon lectures on The Face Is

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a Politics: On Chris Marker’s “Staring Back” as part of Screencasts: Cinema as Medium in Contemporary Art series. 5:30 p.m. October 30 at the YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-4320600, artgallery.yale.edu.

and Peter Paul Rubens. Through November 30 at the YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Mon. (until 8 p.m. Thurs.), 1-6 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu.

ArtShip at Fellowship Place is an artists’ cooperative for members who are interested in creating art, as well as exhibiting and selling their work at art shows, juried exhibits, and gallery shows. The process of creating art helps members with problemsolving, goal-setting, and helps reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression and schizophrenia. Each year, Fellowship Place welcomes more than 500 people who suffer from a chronic mental illness to their campus in downtown New Haven, where they find acceptance and opportunities to learn new skills, be productive, and give back to the community at large. ArtShip: An Exhibition of Fellowship Place Artists will give the community a chance to experience these artists’ works. Through October 31 at the Small Space Gallery, 70 Audubon St., 2nd floor, New Haven. 203772-2788, dhesse@newhavenarts.org, newhavenarts.org.

A Slice of America: Selections from the New Britain Museum of American Art will be on view in the Chauncey Stillman Gallery in the Administrative Center of Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, while the Excellence in Painting and Sculpture Exhibition featuring Samantha Webber & David Krevolin, award recipients from the Class of 2006, is exhibited in the Sill House Gallery. Through November 22 at Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, 84 Lyme St., Old Lyme. Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Sat. Free. 860-434-3571 ext. 135, KBarkerCraven@LymeAcademy.edu, lymeacademy.edu.

Buildings, a juried exhibition at the Firehouse Art Gallery in Milford, features artists’ fantasies of buildings in the medium of their choice — painting, drawing, photography or 3D. The juror is Josephine Sheridan Robinson, whose art background traces to Southwark College in London. Her own works reflect her love for architecture by creating large canvases of cityscapes. She has been represented in many group shows at the Kehler Liddell Gallery and the Elm City Artists Gallery in New Haven. She has had a solo show at the Byron Roche Gallery in Chicago, Ill. and Artscapes at the Knoxville (Tenn.) Museum of Art. Currently Robinson teaches at the Silvermine Guild Art Center in New Canaan, the Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven and Milford’s Adult Education Department. October 9November 6 (reception: 6-8 p.m. October 9) at Firehouse Art Gallery, 81 Naugatuck Ave., Milford. Open noon-5 p.m. Thurs.Sun. Free. 203-306-0016, FHGallery@ optonline.net, milfordarts.org. The Knights of Columbus’ newest exhibition, Etchings of the Eternal City: Piranesi’s Rome, examines firstedition prints by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, the premier Italian printmaker of the 18th century, world renowned for his magnificent topographical works titled Vendute di Roma (Views of Rome). Twenty-two of these views are the subject of this show. Exhibition also includes Mallio Falcioni’s contemporary photographs of the Roman sites represented by the antique etchings. Also on display are two original plates used in the printmaking process. Through November 9 at Knights of Columbus Museum, 1 State St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Free. 203-865-0400, museum@kofc.org, kofc. org/museum. Life Drawing at Green Street. In these uninstructed sessions, the

40 october 2008

The Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts exhibits very detailed pieces in Excellence in Painting and Sculpture Exhibition and A Slice of America: Selections from the New Britain Museum of American Art. Both shows will be on view through November 22. class will start out with a short period of drawing a nude figure in gesture poses followed by approximately two hours of longer poses where the artist can develop a more detailed drawing. Artists must arrive at 11 a.m. (no latecomers). Limit of 12 artists per session. Ages 16 and older only. 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (session) and 12:30-1 p.m. (constructive feedback) October 4, 18, November 1 & 15 at Green Street Arts Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. $12 per session ($10 members). 860-685-7871, greenstreetartscenter.org. In conjunction with the Bessie Potter Vonnoh exhibition, the Griswold Museum has invited sculptor Sue Chism to demonstrate the sculpting process with a model in the gallery on five consecutive Sunday afternoons. A graduate of the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts and an instructor at Lyme Art Association, Chism is the recipient of several prestigious sculpture prizes. She has won the National Sculpture Society’s annual figure sculpting competition (the Walter and Michael Lantz Prize) and been selected twice for its annual awards exhibition. She has received numerous commissions and her work appears in private collections throughout New England. 1:30-4:30 p.m. October 19, 26, November 2, 9 & 16 at the Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme. Museum admission: $10 ($9 seniors & students, $6 children 6-12, free under 6). 860-434-5542, flogris.org. Grand Scale: Monumental Prints in the Age of Dürer and Titian showcases mural-size prints from the late 15th century to 1630, when ambitious rivals painted images to assert political rule or simply to adorn wall surfaces-prompted printed imagery to expand. Surviving in fewer numbers than smaller prints, mural-size print ensembles sometimes reached over ten feet in height and 16 feet in length. Grand Scale displays approximately 50 oversize prints from the German, Italian and Netherlandish schools, including compositions by Sandro Botticelli, Albrecht Dürer, Titian, Jacopo Tintoretto, Bartholomaeus Spranger

No Boundaries is a one-woman show by resident artist Denise Parri. The show features a new, edgy body of work. From the organic to the highly textured and from calm to vibrant, this mixed-media show hosts a frenzy of design and diversity. Through October 7-November 22 (reception: 5-8 p.m. October 10) 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. Still Life Drawing & Painting: Studio Sessions. Still Life Studio Sessions are intended for artists with some drawing and/or painting experience who are looking for a group of like-minded individuals to share and create work. Each student will be asked to create one still-life arrangement (schedule will be determined at the first session). Easels are provided; materials and paper are the responsibility of the participants. This is a collective session (no instructor). Exhibition opportunities will be provided for regular participants. Ages 18 and older only. 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. (session) and 2-3 p.m. (constructive feedback) October 16, 23, 30, November 6, 13, 20 & December 5 at Green Street Arts Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. $10 per session ($8 members). 860-685-7871, greenstreetartscenter.org. Wesleyan’s Zilkha Gallery will present a major, semester-long exhibition, Framing & Being Framed: The Uses of Documentary Photography examining how visual artists use documentary photography in their work. Artists often employ more than one system of representation in order to reinforce, subvert or go beyond the meaning offered by the images themselves. Some also use photographs to critique the documentary medium itself. Exhibition features work by (among others) Wendy Ewald, Andrea Geyer, Jim Goldberg, Eric Gottesman, Emily Jacir, An-My Le, Susan Meiselas, Ann Messner, Walid Raad, Martha Rosler and Krzysztof Wodiczko. Through December 7 at Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. Open noon-4 p.m. Tues.-Sun. (until 8 p.m. Fri.). Free. 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.

edu/cfa. The Pearl of the Snowlands: Buddhist Prints from the Derge Parkhang. The Derge Parkhang is one of the foremost cultural, social, religious and historical institutions in Tibet. Founded in 1729 by Denba Tseren, the Derge Parkhang today is an active center for publication and distribution of Buddhist texts and images, preeminent examples of the Tibetan woodcut printing tradition. The exhibition’s large, finely cut prints of buddhas, protective deities and tara, together with astrological charts, story prints and charms were printed from some of the 300,000 blocks in the Parkhang collection. They open a fascinating window into the beliefs, symbols and learning of Tibetan Buddhism. Photographs and video introduce the people of Derge who have preserved and revived the Parkhang’s position as one of the most precious pearls of Tibet’s living culture. Through December 7 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. A New Reality: Black-and-White Photography in Contemporary Art, an exhibition of 98 photographic works is derived from a major private collection of photography amassed by New Jersey residents Anne and Arthur Goldstein. A New Reality explores the continued use of black-and-white photography as a medium of visual and historical consequence. The exhibition also reflects the expanding technical and conceptual role of photography, emphasizing its recent adaptation to the complex and psychologically charged images and narratives desired by contemporary artists. Through December 7 at Thomas J. Walsh Gallery, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield. Open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tues.-Sat., noon-4 p.m. Sun. Free. quickcenter.com. Los Angeles native John August Swanson paints in oil, watercolor, acrylic and mixed media. He is an independent printmaker of limitededition serigraphs, lithographs and etchings. His art proudly displays the rich cultural heritages he inherited from his Mexican mother and Swedish father. Swanson addresses himself to human values, cultural roots and his quest for self-discovery through visual images (including Bible stories and social celebrations such as attending the circus, a concert and the opera). He also tells of everyday existence, of city and country walks, of visits to the library, the train station or the schoolroom. All his parables optimistically embrace life and one’s spiritual transformation. See his story in The Story of Our Journey: The Art of John August Swanson . October 1–December 12 (reception: 4:30-6 p.m. October 9) at Yale ISM Great Hall, 409 Prospect St., New Haven. On view weekdays 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Free. 203-4325180, yale.edu/ism. Claire’s Corner Copia welcomes Original Abstract/Spiritual

Landscaping Paintings by Douglas Deveny, its 2008 resident artist. Deveny, who lives in Westville, attended Savannah College of Art & Design and earned his art degree from Southern Connecticut State University in 2006. Through December 31 at Claire’s Corner Copia, 1000 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 8 a.m.-9 p.m. weekdays (Fri. until 10 p.m.), 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Sat., 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Sun. 203562-3888, info@clairescornercopia. com or doug@douglasdeveny.com, ClairesCornerCopia.com. Celebrating a major gift of more than 200 photographs from the collection of Allan Chasanoff (Yale College 1961), First Doubt: Optical Confusion in Modern Photography will explore the seldom-discussed phenomenon of optical confusion in photography. Drawn from the Chasanoff collection, as well as from YUAG’s permanent collection, First Doubt will feature approximately 100 photographs by a diverse array of photographers across the 20th century. Seen together, they reveal the interpretive nature of the lens and the interpolative nature of the photograph. October 7-January 4 at YUAG, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Mon. (until 8 p.m. Thurs.), 1-6 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu. In 1795 Benjamin West, the Americanborn president of the Royal Academy in London, fell victim to an elaborate hoax. He was persuaded that an old

technical analysis, copies of the fake manuscript, and other works on paper pertaining to the hoax. Through January 4 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Mon., noon-5 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu.

David Cox uses watercolor over graphite with scraping out on wove paper to create a very life-like painting of the Sun, Wind, and Rain (1845). Cox’s work will be at Yale’s Center for British Art October 16 through January 4 in the exhibition Sun, Wind, and Rain: The Art of David Cox.

manuscript purporting to contain long-forgotten recipes held out hope of rediscovering Venetian High Renaissance techniques of oil painting. West used these materials and techniques to execute an ambitious historical painting: Cicero Discovering the Tomb of Archimedes. But the manuscript was a fake and the story an absurd invention. When the fraud was exposed, West suffered profound professional embarrassment. Seven years later West painted an almost identical version of his painting, this time according to his own methods. Benjamin West and the Venetian Secret brings together both versions of West’s composition, along with recent

The Yale Center for British Art is the first and only U.S. venue for a major retrospective of David Cox (1783-1859). Marking the 150th anniversary of the artist’s death, Sun, Wind and Rain: The Art of David Cox examines the work of this important figure in the development of British landscape and watercolor painting. The first significant exhibition since 1983 devoted to his work, it includes more than 100 watercolors and drawings as well as approximately a dozen oil paintings. The works are drawn from the center’s collection, as well as from public and private collections in Great Britain and the U.S. October 16-January 4 (opening lecture: 5:30 p.m. October 15) at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Mon., noon-5 p.m. Sun. Free. 203432-2858, ycba.yale.edu. Bessie Potter Vonnoh: Sculptor of Women spotlights a selection of Bessie Potter Vonnoh’s (1872-1955), the leading sculptor of American womanhood of her time and a pioneer among female artists, small sculpture and garden statuary that portrays women as both icons of beauty and moral guardians of family and home.

The Florence Griswold Museum serves as the first venue for this landmark exhibition organized by the Cincinnati Art Museum. Vonnoh and her husband, painter Robert Vonnoh, were both involved prominently in the Lyme Art Colony and lived in Lyme for many years. Like American Impressionist painters, Bessie Vonnoh took contemporary daily life as her subject matter, focusing on statuettes of women and children dressed in the period’s fashions. October 11-January 11 at the Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St. Old Lyme. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. Museum admission: $10 ($9 seniors & students, $6 children 6-12, free under 6). 860-434-5542, flogris.org. To accompany the Vonnoh sculptures, the museum will display the exhibition Women Artists in Connecticut: Selections from the Florence Griswold Museum. This group of works from the museum’s permanent collection focuses on the contributions of women artists in Connecticut, particularly the members of the Lyme Art Colony. Paintings, works on paper, portrait miniatures and sculptures created between the 1870s and today provide a context for Bessie Potter Vonnoh: Sculptor of Women. Women’s early focus on still-lifes and garden scenes and their involvement in fields such as illustration and miniature painting reflects both the challenges they faced

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CRITIC’S PICK Locally Made Beautiful, one-of-a-kind artworks, crafts and jewelry by some of Connecticut’s’ best artisans can be yours if you visit the Guilford Art Center’s annual holiday sale, Artistry on the Shoreline, through Jan. 11.

Why circle the mall parking lot looking for a spot? Why stand in long lines to buy massproduced, foreign-made holiday gifts when Connecticut is home to some of the world’s

most accomplished artisans? Artistry on the Shoreline, the Guilford Art Center’s annual holiday sale, will feature fine handmade crafts and art by artists who live and work on the Connecticut

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shoreline. This highly anticipated annual event will take place in the Guilford Art Center’s recently renovated Shop on the Center’s campus. Vibrantly painted and filled with lavish displays of handmade crafts, the shop is even more dazzling during this annual holiday sale, when items by scores of new artists make for an even greater array of objects to choose from. This year a shoreline/ beach theme will run through the show and display, underscoring the seaside origins of

many of the artists. Artistry will also feature special events and activities for all ages throughout the season, including performances by an array of community music and theater groups, food and beverage tastings and the annual Jewelry & Champagne evening (December 4). The opening night event, Dive Into Artistry (5-7 p.m. October 23), will feature beach-themed music, entertainment and food. — E.J.D. October 20-January 11 at the Shop at Guilford Art Center, 411 Church St., Guilford. Open noon-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri. & noon-5 p.m. Sat. Free (all items individually priced). 203-453-5947, info@ guilfordartcenter.org, guilfordartcenter.org.

in entering the professional art world as well as the unflagging creativity that enabled them to flourish. Featured artists include Cecilia Beaux, Fidelia Bridges, Matilda Browne, Margaret Cooper, Judy Cotton, Elisabeth Gordon Chandler, Mary Roberts Ebert, Caro Weir Ely, Elizabeth Enders, Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, Barbara Eckhardt Goodwin, Lilian Westcott Hale, Breta and Lydia Longacre, Dorothy Ochtman and Margaret Hardon Wright. October 11-January 11 at the Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. Museum admission: $10 ($9 seniors & students, $6 children 6-12, free under 6). 860-434-5542, flogris.org. More than 150 crosses and crucifixes collected from around the world (where they were used in churches or by individuals) are on loan from the extensive Yvonne Shia Klancko Collection of religious items and displayed for the first time in Crosses & Crucifixes. Exhibition includes an artifact from the Balkans made more than 800 years ago. At Knights of Columbus Museum, 1 State St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Free. 203-865-0400, museum@kofc.org, kofc. org/museum.

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Triple Threat In Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play at Yale Rep, actress Kathleen Chalfont channels three titans of history — two of them men By Brooks Appelbaum

tticus Bookstore Café is crowded as usual at 1:30 on a Friday afternoon. From my tiny table in the back, the last available, I can barely see the front entrance. But when Kathleen Chalfont strides through the door, there is no mistaking her. Tall, with cropped hair and a swinging step, she looks like someone who would be equally at ease playing numerous roles in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America (for which she was nominated for a Tony), or acerbic professor Vivian Bearing in Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer-prize winning Wit (for which Chalfant won the Outer Critics Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Drama Desk Award and an Obie), or Virginia Woolf. Recently, Chalfant was seen as the redoubtable Mrs. Gottlieb in Sarah Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone. Yet her off-stage manner is informal, conﬁdent and kind. “Please — call me Kathy,” she says, lightly tossing off her success with, “I got very lucky.” Of course, luck has only been a part of this extraordinary woman’s journey, and you can see this in her eyes, which are unlike any other’s: midnight blue, sharp, brilliant in every sense of that term, and alive with determination, curiosity and humor. She chooses her mode of expression carefully, using emphasis frequently, and her speech — low and resonant — is that of a woman who cares deeply for words and their precise meaning. And once she begins talking about her three roles (two of them male characters) in Sarah Ruhl’s new work, Passion Play, it’s clear that for Chalfant, who has often gravitated toward projects with strong political themes, this script in particular strikes especially strong chords.

Kathleen Chalfant as Adolf Hitler in the Yale Rep’s production of ‘Passion Play’ by Sarah Ruhl.

Ruhl’s Passion Play, at the Yale Repertory Theatre from Sept. 19 through October 11 revolves around actors putting on a version of the Christ story, but its themes and its mode of storytelling are far more complex. From Chalfant’s point of view, “It is a meditation on the relationship between government and religion, and between personal life and religion. And it’s set in three pivotal moments when those issues arose.” Chalfant explains that Passion Play is written in three parts, each of which can be performed individually, in repertory or as a three-act event. The Rep is doing all three plays in one evening, which gives this actress a particular challenge. The setting of the ﬁrst cycle, she explains, “is in England when Queen Elizabeth was trying to move the country from the internationalist Catholic Church to a state church in which she was the head of the church.” The second part of the evening is set in 1934, “at a time when Hitler was co-opting all possible forms of mythology and nationalist sentiment.” The version of The Passion Play that Hitler championed, she notes, was one in which the villains are very notably the Jews. The third cycle of Ruhl’s play takes place in 1984, “which was” — here Chalfant makes a wry face — “well, ﬁrst of all, 1984, and the beginning of Ronald Reagan’s second term.

“It was Ronald Reagan’s administration that re-introduced religion and the uses of religion as an activation tool for political organizing,” Chalfant explains. “Under previous, even Republican, administrations, the country had been much more both secular and ecumenical, you might say, using Enlightenment principles of religion rather than the idea of America as a Christian country.” Of the three roles she plays Chalfant says: “First of all, I guess I should say that I’m the first woman who’s played this part because the part consists of playing Queen Elizabeth I in the first play, Hitler in the second play and Ronald Reagan in the third play. And as you might imagine, the most difficult to do is Ronald Reagan.” I ask the obvious: “Because we all know what he’s like?” “Well, we all think we know what he’s like, and he’s not exactly like that,” she counters. “And he’s been conflated with George Bush, and he’s not anything like George Bush. What he really was, was a 1930s-trained American movie actor who actually was good at stuff. He actually could ride horses, and apparently people always liked him very much. He cared very much about being an actor and he actually was quite a good football player. And his accent was the equivalent, in his time, of BBC English now because he new haven

came from Illinois, and he had the perfect Midwestern accent. He was also blessed with great comic timing, and he loved performing. But it’s very tricky to do, and I’m not at all sure I’ve accomplished it.”

By contrast, “Queen Elizabeth is fun,” Chalfant allows. Nevertheless, “She is a complicated ﬁgure because she returns in the play at a surprising moment with a slightly different iconic function.”

Her approach to portraying the Gipper: “What I decided to go for was to try to ﬁnd his complete relaxation because he was absolutely comfortable as a performer, and he believed what he said,” Chalfant explains. “I think his ideology was Warner Brothers, 1938. He began acting when he was in his middle 20s, and he’d acted before that. So [portraying Reagan] was the hardest because he had been in people’s lives.”

Moving to the themes of Passion Play, Chalfant explains: We thought that the inﬂuence of religion would be slightly muted in this election, but it’s come back completely full-force, so of course the issues that Sarah’s dealing with in this play are in front of us all again, so we’ve now fallen into a parallel universe. This is the second play of Sarah’s that I’ve done, and I thought when I was doing Dead Man’s Cell Phone in New York in the spring that she writes fairy tales with a spine of steel, and she is surprisingly ﬁerce.”

Of her other male character, Chalfant explains: “There’s another challenge when you play Hitler because everyone has their own ideas about Hitler. Sarah [playwright Ruhl], in her subversive kind of way, has made Hitler more complicated at the beginning so that there is some surprise with him. And he is of course terrifying because he too was a performer! And, as is famously known, he studied his gestures. So I found a speech of his, which he gave in Munich, and there were a number of gestures which aren’t the usual ones, but which are in their way even more

Playwright Ruhl’s writing, says actress Chalfant, is redolent of ‘the most exalted things and the earthiest things you can imagine.’

terrifying and equally studied. So you ﬁnd for instance that until he does, he doesn’t engage his left arm while his right arm is working: his left arm is practically inert. The uniform has a swastika on his left arm, so his left arm is like a billboard for his movement.”

The play’s fairy-tale element has to do in part with its humor. “There’s lots of comedy in this play, and that also has to do with the director because Mark WingDavey’s style is a kind of rollicking style, and the play responds to it because it’s about a play, so there’s a kind of Waiting for Guffman ‘rehearsal of the play,’” she explains. “And it often rides a knife Continued on 54

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”A Christmas Carol” Saturday, December 6, 2008 2:00 pm • Adults $15/Children 12 and under $10

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is the season for merriment and fun! Catch the holiday spirit with this musical interpretation of Charles Dickens’ classic story of Ebenezer Scrooge, whose cold heart is warmed after a Christmas Eve encounter with three holiday spirits. Appropriate for all ages.

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ONSTAGE THEATER Murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery are the cornerstones of this sultry and alluring Broadway musical hit. Chicago is the story of seductive nightclub dancer Roxie Hart, who finds that the road to fame can be a trail of blood. Part of the Webster One Night Only Series. 2 & 8 p.m. October 4 at the Palace Theater, 100 East Main St., Waterbury. $63-$53. 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org.

Who said books are boring? If You Give a Pig a Pancake & Other Story Books is a new musical revue that brings everyone’s favorite books to life. Catch the show on October 5 at Quick Center for the Arts in Fairfield. If You Give a Pig a Pancake & Other Story Books. A bright and bouncy new musical revue based on everyone’s favorite books including Diary of a Worm, Horace and Morris But Mostly Dolores, How I Became a Pirate, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, Lilly’s Big Day, The Paper Bag Princess and more. For grades K-4. 1 & 3 p.m. October 5 at Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield. $15 ($12 children). quickcenter.com. The quintessential story of friendship by Robert Harling, Steel Magnolias serves up a slice of life in Louisiana that’s as warm and comforting as sweet potato pie. In the haven of Truvy’s beauty salon, six very different women come together to share their secrets and bare their souls, throwing in a little neighborly gossip for good measure. From weddings to divorces, babies to funerals, new beginnings to happy endings, they weather every event in their lives with grace, determination, and perfectly coifed hair. Directed by Jacqueline Hubbard. Through October 5 at the Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main St., Ivoryton. 860767-7318, info@ivorytonplayhouse.org, ivorytonplayhouse.org. The work of legendary director Peter Brook returns to the U.S. with The Grand Inquisitor, adapted for the stage by Marie Helene Estienne from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov.8 p.m. October 10-11 at CFA Theater, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. $21

($18 seniors & students). 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan. edu/cfa.

CRITIC’S PICK Stand By Me

Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl, author of The Clean House and Eurydice, returns to Yale Rep with Passion Play: an epic trilogy of plays, directed by Mark Wing-Davey and performed in one evening. Strong language, nudity. Through October 11 at Yale Repertory Theatre, 1120 Chapel St., New Haven. $65-$20. 203-432-1234, yalerep.org. Defending the Caveman, by Rob Becker, holds the record as the longestrunning solo play in Broadway history. Through October 12 at Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Dr., New Haven. $38-$28. 203-787-4282, 800-782-8497, info@longwharf.org, longwharf.org. Performed by the New Haven Theater Co., The Legend of Pedro de Urdemalas is a family-friendly adaptation of folklore from Central and South America that uses music, dance, puppetry and storytelling. The mischievous narrator, Pedro de Urdemalas, is a trickster and practical joker who weaves a world where animals talk, visitors from the next world walk in this one, and nothing is exactly as it seems. 8 p.m. (7:30 p.m. reception) October 17 at Green Street Arts Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. $8 ($5 members, seniors & students). 860-6857871, greenstreetartscenter.org. I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change celebrates the mating game by taking on the truths and myths behind that contemporary conundrum know as “the relationship” — from dating to love and marriage, through the agonies and triumphs of in-laws and newborns, trips in the family car and pickup tactics of the geriatric set. This hilarious revue pays tribute to those who have loved and lost, to those who have fallen on their face at the portal of romance, to those brave souls who have dared to ask someone out. Opening in 1996, it became the second longest-running show and longest-running revue in off-Broadway history. Through October 19 at Seven Angels Theatre, 1 Plank Rd., Waterbury. $45-$32.50 ($10 students). 203-757-4676, sevenangelstheatre.org. A sophisticated comedy by Yasmina Reza (translated by Christopher Hampton), Art accomplished the remarkable feat of winning Broadway’s Tony Award for Best Play, London’s Evening Standard Award, and Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy in the same year. In Art, the relationships among three friends — Serge, Marc and Ivan — are pushed to the breaking point when Serge spends a small fortune on a painting which he considers a masterpiece but which Marc considers a joke, while Ivan tries to keep the peace among all three friends. Directed by Scott R. Brill. 8 p.m. Fri. & Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. October 3-19 at Center for the Arts, 40 Railroad Ave., Milford. $15 ($12.50 seniors & students). 203-878-6647, milfordarts.org. The true life story of Elizabeth

Based on the book by Brian Hill, The Story of My Life is an intimate musical comedy with music and lyrics by Neil Bartram. This new musical tells the story of two childhood friends and how that friendship profoundly defined their lives. Thomas Weaver is a bestselling, awardwinning author. Alvin Kelby was his best friend for 30 years. But time can test the bonds of friendship, and when it does, Thomas calls on the only resource he has — his stories of Alvin — to learn where things went wrong. A richly

melodic musical, The Story of My Life is a soaring tribute to the power of friendship and the people who change our lives forever. Directed by Tony Award-winner Richard Maltby Jr. Orchestrations will be provided by Jonathan Tunick, longtime orchestrator for television, film and the stage. Tony-nominated Malcolm Gets, whose Broadway credits include Passion, Amour and Dreamgirls, plays Alvin. Gets may be best known to audiences as Richard on the television comedy Caroline in the City and was

Keckly — her rise from slavery to entrepreneurial freedom then scandal and decline — will unfold before your eyes in They Call Me Lizzy from Slavery to the White House. Keckly was best known as dressmaker to Mary Todd Lincoln and as author of Behind the Scenes, 30 Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House. This is the moving tale of one woman’s life during the 19th century. Born into slavery in 1818, Lizzy eventually managed to purchase her freedom. She made her way to Washington, D.C., where her dressmaking skills and entrepreneurial savvy brought her to the attention of many political families. In this 60-minute presentation join actress Tammy Richardson as the story of Lizzy comes to life, full of twists and turns, bravery and remarkable resilience. Living history at its best. 7 p.m. October 21 at Blackstone Library, 758 Main St., Branford. Free. 203-488-1441 ext. 313, events@blackstone.lioninc.org, blackstone.lioninc.org. A play by Tim Crouch, England is a powerful, layered play that explores the significance of institutions: the gallery,

Plenty of good looks and good acting run in the story of this show’s life, with Will Chase (left) as Thomas and Malcolm Gets (right) as his friend Alvin.

recently featured in the film version of the show Sex and the City. Thomas is played by Will Chase, whose Broadway credits include High Fidelity, Aida, The Full Monty, Rent and Miss Saigon. — Elvira J. Duran October 10-November 2 at the Norma Terris Theatre, 33 North Main St., Chester. $42. 860-873-8668, goodspeed.org.

the church, the hospital, and the relative values of art and heart. Staged in a gallery space and surrounded by works of art from another culture, the show looks at difference and dislocation and the point at which cultures intersect. Reservations required. 6:30 p.m. & 8:30 p.m. October 28 & 30 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203432-0668, ycba.yale.edu. Come along for the adventure of a lifetime with Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck Finn and runaway slave Jim take a musical trip down the Mississippi River in Mark Twain’s classic tale. A slice of pure Americana. Adapted from the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Big River draws from an eclectic collection of musical styles including Cajun, gospel, blues and country. Music and lyrics by Roger Miller. Choreographed by John MacInnis. Directed by Rob Ruggiero. Through November 30 at the Goodspeed Opera House, 6 Main St., East Haddam. $63$26. 860-873-8668, goodspeed.org.

new haven

O F N OTES

The Virtuoso Next Door Jazz trumpeter/composer Laco Deczi may be the most accomplished musician you’ve never heard of

Deczi’s story ‘is one of both joy and sadness,’ says his friend Chris DePino.

By Sarah Politz

aco Deczi doesn’t answer the doorbell. He’s too busy telling lurid stories about the exploits of the Russian mafia in communist Czechoslovakia, answering his cellphone in any one of four languages, and going out to flip the charred fish on his prized backyard grill. He intersperses his tall tales with occasional phrases on his trumpet, sounds filled with a haunting purity and nostalgia that transport the listener to a time and place distant in mind and memory.

In Bratislava, Slovakia, where Deczi was born in 1938, and throughout what is now the Czech Republic, you would be hard pressed to find a person on the street who does not know his name and his music. On his Czech tours, he performs for audiences of up to 1,000, including diplomats and presidents. A film biography of his life, titled VoÐná noha, was released in the Czech Republic in 1990. The trumpeter and prolific composer enjoys a different kind of celebrity in his East Haven neighborhood. He spends his days puttering around in an old white Mitsubishi with the bumper hanging off, catching snapper in Long Island Sound and recording in his home studio. He knows where to get the best pizza in town, who will cut you a deal on auto repair, and who could be persuaded to give you a deal on waterfront property. With his flyaway hair, bare feet, and tan shoulders, he looks more like a beach bum than a jazz star. 46 october 2008

Still, Deczi is a consummate performer and storyteller, and slips in and out of recollections as his hard blue eyes focus and then unfocus on the world around him. “I live[d] in communism, and listened [to] American music on short-wave radio,” he says, in a heavy accent. “At this time there was no records, nothing.” Among his heroes were hard bop trumpeters Blue Mitchell, Fats Navarro and especially the virtuosic Clifford Brown, who he calls, simply, “a genius.” Deczi worked his way up through the cafés and bars of Prague, and started writing his own music when he was about 20 years old. Throughout the 1960s, he was a part of vibraphonist Karel Valebny’s SHQ Ensemble, a forward-thinking post-bop group that encouraged Deczi’s propensity for the avant-garde. He started his own group, Jazz Cellula, at the end of 1967 to perform his original compositions, inspired by Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Then, in 1970, Dezci got the education of his life when he began what would become a 15-year stint with the statesponsored Czech Radio Big Band. “That was probably the best big band this time in Czechoslovakia,” he says. “For those 15 years I got a [lot of] experience, because all those musicians were better [than me].” He started to gain some recognition as a soloist, and in 1971 released his ﬁrst solo album, Sentimental Trumpet.

While creative expression and free speech were strictly controlled under the communist government, according to Deczi, the communists did not consider jazz to be too grave a threat: “The communists don’t bother [with] jazz, because they don’t know what it is,” he explains. “There’s no words. You can strike up the rock band, with the words, and make a protest. But doodly-doodlydoodly-doo — that’s nothing strange.” Even though many the world over consider jazz to be at the outer edge of creative freedom. Deczi escaped from communist Czechoslovakia in the early 1980s using papers forged for him by an artist friend. He landed in Berlin, where, he said, “The Germans took care of me.” AfricanAmerican trumpeter Carmell Jones, who gained his fame with Horace Silver’s album A Song for My Father, was also living in Berlin at the time, and Deczi took the chance to study with him. Jones died in 1996, a date Deczi repeats each time he looks at the photo of Jones he has tacked to his studio wall. On an invitation from Sonny Costanzo, who Deczi describes as an “excellent trombone player, very special,” the trumpeter came to New York City for a visit in 1984. He was soon gigging regularly with Costanzo’s big band in Connecticut, and in 1985 moved permanently to the United States. Costanzo’s death in 1993 meant the

loss of a mentor, but Deczi found other collaborators. Drawing on players from his gigs at small clubs in New York and a few musicians from New Haven’s Café Nine jazz session, Deczi founded Jazz Cellula New York in the mid-1990s, which has since released about a dozen albums of Deczi’s original music on the Arta, Multisonic and New York Sound labels. The ensemble currently features the talents of Frenchman Eric Meridiano on piano, Nob Kinukawa of Japan on bass, and Deczi’s son Vaico on drums. They recently completed a Czech tour in which they performed for the president of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus, among other grandées, and plans are in the making for a live album to be released soon. Business back in the States, however, remains slow. “It is problem,” Deczi says, “because there used to be much more work, more money here. Now it’s very bad — for everybody. I am up and down. Everybody lives the jazz musician life.”

“Laco’s story is one of both joy and sadness,” says his friend, harmonica

player and former Republican State Party Chairman Chris DePino. “America has given him freedom of expression to create musically. In Czech Laco is a household name, with millions of people who grew up with his music turning out in droves to see his concerts. Here, his experience has been that of an everyday, struggling musician working to get the attention of a non-interested public. “He came from a place where you could go to jail for saying the word ‘marketing,’” DePino adds. Now, when Jazz Cellula tours the Czech Republic, Deczi is rewarded with a homecoming ﬁt for a jazz prince. “When we toured the Czech Republic, there was never a moment where the house wasn’t packed and the audience wasn’t listening,” says DePino. “With those former Communist Bloc folks, it’s like anything goes with them — they cherish their freedom more than you can imagine. They relish people exhibiting creativity in front of them, because that’s something they were never able to do.” Deczi is a man of many talents; he paints, writes ﬁlm scores, and has published a book on jazz improvisation in Czech. By some estimates, he has written more than

300 compositions, some of which were lost when he escaped from Slovakia. One of his dreams is to write for symphony orchestra. “I listen [to] all music,” he says. “I listen [to] African music, Arabian music,” which might be a clue to the source of the fascinating harmonic and chromatic scales he uses in his writing. At age 70 he shows no signs of slowing down. Leapfrogging the stuck-in-themud disease that can afﬂict some jazz practitioners, Deczi seems eternally in touch with the youthful pulse of his audience. “We’ve got a [big] young audience,” he explains. “The old one is in the cemetery, rooted, like a ﬂower in the ground.” Perhaps it is that Deczi’s compositions are so utterly danceable, full of pulsing polyrhythms and exotic scales, completely infused with the sounds of his Eastern European roots, giving his music a distinctive voice that is a rarity in a music market saturated with sound bytes and often unfriendly to music that requires a longer attention span. It is true that, had he had the opportunity to develop his music in America from the Continued on 54

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MUSIC Classical The Triton Trio — Ani Kavafian, violin, William Purvis, horn and pianist Mihae Lee — will perform sonatas for violin and piano, and horn and piano, by Beethoven as well as Trio by Poul Ruders. 8 p.m. October 1 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4158, yale.edu/music. Simon Bainbridge, a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London, is a guest composer for New Music New Haven. Bainbridge’s Clarinet Quintet will be performed along with music by Yale composers. 8 p.m. October 2 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4158, yale.edu/ music. Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center returns to the Quick Center. There will be a pre-concert “Art to Heart” discussion (7 p.m.) with journalist Robert Sherman. Wu Han joins seven of her colleagues in an evening of Milhaud, Boulez, Ravel and Messiaen. 8 p.m. October 4 at Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield. $35. quickcenter.com. Works by Russian composer Alfred Schnittke (1934-98) music are the focus of Chamber Music of Schnittke. Syoko Aki, violin; Jesse Levine, viola; Ole Akahoshi, cello; Elizabeth Parisot & Wei-Yi Yang, piano. Program: Serenade for Five Instruments; Cello Sonata; Homage to Stravinsky, Prokofiev & Shostakovich and String Trio. 8 p.m. October 6 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4158, yale. edu/music. The Jasper Quartet, the graduate quartet-in-residence at the Yale School of Music, is J Freivogel and Sae Niwa, violin, Sam Quintal, viola; and Rachel Henderson, cello. HAYDN Quartet in D Major, Op. 76 No. 5, JALBERT String Quartet No. 3, BEETHOVEN String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 127. 8 p.m. October 7 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4158, yale. edu/music.

SHOSTAKOVICH Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Opus 77, Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47. 8 p.m. October 11 at Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. $15-$10 ($2 students). yale. edu/music. Music for Three: Bold Works for Piano, Violin & Cello is a program of adventurous works for piano trio featuring Erika Schroth, piano, with Adrian Slywotzky, violin and Miriam Eckelhoefer, cello. Works will include the rock-inspired Nivea Hair Care Styling Mousse by Dutch composer Jacob TV, the “Spring” Trio of Astor Piazzolla and a world premiere of a trio by Neely Bruce. 8 p.m. October 11 at Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. Yale at Carnegie Hall. Enjoy a Sprague Hall sneak peek of the concert scheduled for October 14 in Zankel Hall of Carnegie Hall. MOZART Serenades for Winds in C minor, K. 388, plus works by Dvorak and Strauss. Also, new work written for the occasion by faculty composer David Lang featuring faculty artists Stephen Taylor, oboe, David Shifrin, clarinet, Frank Morelli, bassoon and William Purvis, horn, with YSM graduate performers. 8 p.m. October 13 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4158, yale. edu/music. The Trio Con Brio Copenhagen program includes HAYDN Trio, RAVEL Piano Trio, SMETANA Piano Trio in G minor. 8 p.m. October 21 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. $31-$27 ($14 students). 203-432-4158, yale.edu/music. Graduate Yale School of Music students perform a Chamber Music Concert in the Library Court. Meet at the information desk. 12:30 p.m. October 22 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu.

Thomas C. Duffy directs the Yale Concert Band. GERSHWIN Cuban Overture, ANDERSON Bugler’s Holiday, Blue Tango, The Syncopated Clock and The Typewriter in honor of Leroy Anderson’s centennial. 7:30 p.m. October 10 at Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4113, yale. edu/music or yale.edu/yaleband.

Korean sisters Soo-Jin Hong and Soo-Kyung Hong and Danish pianist Jens Elvekjaer make up Trio Con Brio Copenhagen. The Trio will be performing in New Haven at Sprague Hall on October 21.

Michael Friedmann, piano, performs music by Schumann and Boykan as well as Beethoven’s “Diabelli” Variations as part of the Faculty Artist Series. 8 p.m. October 10 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4158, yale. edu/music.

Get your fill of Bach, Bresnick, Janacek, Strauss and Verdery at the Faculty Artist Series presentation of guitarist Benjamin Verdery. 8 p.m. October 22 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4158, yale.edu/ music.

Yale Symphony Orchestra with soloist Kisho Watanabe, violin.

20th Century Music for Two Pianos with pianists Boris Berman and

48 october 2008

Wei-Yi Yang. DEBUSSY En blanc et noir, STRAVINSKY Concerto for Two Pianos, BARTOK Sonata for Two Pianos. Also, percussion featuring faculty percussionist Robert van Sice and graduate percussionist Michael Zell. 8 p.m. October 23 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. $18-$5 ($5 students). 203-432-4158, yale.edu/music. Through the centuries composers have been inspired by visual images. Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky wrote his imaginary musical tour, Pictures at an Exhibition, after experiencing a collection of Russian artwork. Even Beethoven used music to depict scenes from a walk in the country in his Symphony No. 6. Maestro Leif Bjaland and the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra explore the fascinating connection between the visual arts and its influence on music in Pictures For Your Ears. Audience members will also learn about synesthesia, a condition in which artists and composers perceive colors and music together. Best for students in grades 3-5. 10:30 a.m. October 24 at The Palace Theater, 100 East Main St., Waterbury. $8. 203-7554700, palacetheaterct.org. Farhad Hudiyev conducts the Yale Philharmonia in a performance of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2. Julian Pellicano leads the band for Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Weber, while Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps (Rite of Spring) is conducted by Shinik Hahm. 8 p.m. October 24 at Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. Free. yale.edu/music. Opera Appreciation. Charlotte D’Aniello leads a lively video and lecture presentation on “Ghosts of Opera.” 7-8:30 p.m. October 27 at Blackstone Library, 758 Main St., Branford. $5. 203-488-1441 ext. 313, events@blackstone.lioninc.org, blackstone.lioninc.org. Opera Scenes 1. Scenes from Giulio Cesare, The Bartered Bride, Idomeneo, Don Carlo and Werther will be performed by the Yale Opera. 7:30 p.m. October 31 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. $12-$8 ($5 students). 203-432-4158, yale.edu/music. In all the world there’s nothing quite like the annual Yale Symphony Halloween Show, led by YSO Music Director Toshiyuki Shimada. Come see why. 11:59 p.m. October 31 at Woolsey Hall, New Haven. $10 general admission (advance only). 203-432-4158, yale.edu/ music.

Popular As part of Wesleyan’s annual Navaratri Festival of Indian arts and culture, the university’s South Indian music faculty displays their talents in Vocal Music of South India. Adjunct Instructor B. Balasubrahmaniyan, vocalist, will be joined by Artist in Residence David Nelson on mrdangam and guest artist Anantha Krishnan, violin. The concert will open with short student performances. 8 p.m. October 2 at Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University,

283 Washington Terr., Middletown. $12 ($10 students). 860-685-3355, boxoffice@ wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. James Moody Quartet. The great jazz saxophonist performs in a program that will also feature dancer Carmen de Lavallade. 8 p.m. October 3 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. $32$20 ($12 students). 203-432-4158, yale. edu/music. Celebrate the YMCA’s 150th anniversary with the world’s one-of-a-kind disco icons, Village People. These six talented men combine energetic choreography with outrageous fun and lots of bumping and grinding, singing and dancing, to provide great entertainment for all. They’ll have everyone gyrating and moving their arms in the air to form the letters YM-C-A. 8 p.m. October 3 at the Palace Theater, 100 East Main St., Waterbury. $75-$30. 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct. org.

Shake your groove-thing with the Village People October 3 at the Palace Theater in Waterbury.

Ned Rothenberg’s Sync. The Boston Globe describes “Sync [as being] envisioned as a modified sax/bass/ drum trio, where the bassist has been replaced by Jerome Harris on either acoustic guitar or acoustic bass guitar, and where the drummer’s role is taken by Samir Chatterjee on tabla and dumbek. With Rothenberg moving among alto sax, clarinet, bass clarinet and the Japanese shakuhachi and composing looping ribbons of melody with odd rhythmic contours, the trio has found a most palatable merger of jazz and Asian music.” 8:30 & 10 p.m. October 3 at Firehouse 12, 45 Crown St., New Haven. $15-$10. 203-785-0468, firehouse12.com. Sandhi: North Indian Music Performance. Renowned Indian classical musicians Pandit Ramesh Mishra and Samir Chatterjee present performances on two of the most celebrated instruments from North India. Having trained under the legendary maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, Mishra has received recognition as an outstanding artist of India for his mastery of one of the most difficult and unique string instruments, the sarangi. Chatterjee is a virtuoso tabla player performing worldwide as a soloist and with other outstanding musicians from both Indian and Western musical traditions. 2 p.m. October 4 at the World Music Hall, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. $12 ($10 seniors & students). 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Indie rock darlings Death Cab for Cutie performs in a concert for all ages. 7:30 p.m. October 4 at Chevrolet Theatre, 95 South Turnpike Rd., Wallingford. $35. 203269-8721, LiveNation.com.

CRITIC’S PICK Spicin’ Up the East Coast Midón may have lost his sight at birth (due to spending time in an incubator without proper eye protection), but he found his way in life with the help of music. His musical path led him to be a backup singer for Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin, Julio Iglesias and Jose Feliciano before concentrating on his solo work.

Maestros Mysore Manjunath and Mysore Nagaraj are two of the most brilliant violinists in Indian classical music today. Music of South India brings them together in Connecticut for a concert of Karnatak music. Srimushnam Raja Rao will join in on mrdangam and Ravi Balasubramanian on ghatam. 8 p.m. October 4 (7:15 p.m. pre-talk) at the Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. $17 ($12 seniors & students). 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. William Tatge is a jazz pianist and composer who was born and raised in Italy by American parents. He has performed in many leading jazz venues and festivals in Italy and Europe with his own ensemble and as a member of other ensembles. His performances are characterized by an integration of the many musical paths he has explored over the years: from jazz to pure improvisation, from classical to new music. 3 p.m. October 5 at the Russell House, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. American singer-songwriter Melissa Ferrick is the daughter of a public school teacher who managed several

The New Mexico-born, New York-based Raul Midón brings to his music earnest, lyrical

songwriting; full-bodied vocals steeped in soul; a singular syncopated,

free-jazz bands on the side. As a child Ferrick would often accompany her father to clubs on Boston’s North Shore to watch the bands perform. She began taking classical violin lessons at age five, and then moved on to piano. In elementary and junior high school, she learned the trumpet and bass. Altogether, she received 12 years of formal music training, including two years each at the Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music. Ferrick taught

herself to play the acoustic guitar at Berklee and dropped out after two years to pursue her music career. 7 p.m. October 5 at the Space, 295 Treadwell St., Hamden. $20. 203-288-6400, booking@ thespace.tk, thespace.tk. The Cast of Beatlemania features members from the original Broadway cast of Beatlemania. These four seasoned performers recreate the magic and timelessness of The Beatles, beginning with the songs that first caused the world to stop and take

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Midón brings currency to a rich tradition of pop inventiveness, combining the beguiling soulfulness of Stevie Wonder, the inventive appropriation of non-indigenous musical elements pioneered by Paul Simon and the trend-defying individuality of Bill Withers. — Elvira J. Duran 8 p.m. October 24 at Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield. $35-$30. quickcenter.com.

notice of the four mop-topped lads from Liverpool. 8 p.m. October 10 at the Palace Theater, 100 East Main St., Waterbury. $50-$40. 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org. The Shakers ‘n’ Bakers are an improvising ensemble that reinterprets the music of the utopian religious community known as the Shakers. Their repetoire is primarily drawn from the body of work known as the “Vision” or “gift” songs which sprang from the Shaker community during the period

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BELLES LETTRES Fashion journalist Zandile Blay will present So You Want To Be in Fashion? How To Get and Succeed in the Business of Fashion. A native of Ghana, Blay is fashion editor of Paper magazine and a contributing writer for America Online, Giant, the Huffington Post and Vibe. She writes about style and culture while taking fashion, beauty and travel stories to international heights. Blay earned a master’s in fashion journalism from Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London in 2007. She also holds dual bachelor’s degree in political science and broadcast journalism from Syracuse University. 7 p.m. October 13 in Alumni Hall at Quinnipiac University, 275 Mount Carmel Ave., Hamden. Free. 203582-8200, quinnipiac.edu. The Letters Committee of the Milford Fine Arts Council, which includes writers of fiction and poetry, meets the third Wednesday each month. Bring work in progress or completed manuscripts. Come and enjoy an evening of fun. 7:30 p.m. October 15 at the Center for the Arts, 40 Railroad Ave., Milford. 203-878-6647, milfordarts.org. The Sunday Salon Series presents Amy Bloom: A Reading & Conversation. Connecticut-based author Amy Bloom (Wesleyan ‘75) will read selections from her short-story collections as well as her most recent novel, Away. Bloom is the author of Come to Me, a National Book Award finalist; A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You, nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award; Love Invents Us; and Normal. Her stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Short Stories and many other anthologies. Bloom teaches creative writing at Yale and Smith College. 2 p.m. October 19 at Green Street Arts Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. $5 ($3 members, seniors, & students). 860-685-7871, greenstreetartscenter.org. The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright hailed as “the most highly acclaimed playwright of his generation” by Salon. com is the subject of A Conversation with Tony Kushner, a discussion of his wide-ranging and controversial body of work. Kushner is best known for his two-part epic, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. He also wrote the screenplays for Mike

50 october 2008

Have A Conversation with Tony Kushner about Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes and his screenplays for Angels in America and Munich. He’ll at Wesleyan on October 30. Nichols’ film of Angels in America and Steven Spielberg’s Munich. Tackling the most difficult subjects in contemporary history, Kushner rejects ideology in favor of what he calls a “dialectically shaped truth” that, in his view, must be outrageously funny, absolutely agonizing and advance the societal

dialogue. He gives voice to characters that have been rendered powerless by the forces of circumstances — a drag queen dying of AIDS, an uneducated Southern maid, contemporary Afghans — and his efforts to see all sides of their predicament incorporates a sly subversiveness. 8 p.m. October 30 at

Author and mountaineer Wendy Booker will keynote the NBC 30 Women Against MS Luncheon. Booker was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998. Although initially devastating, that diagnosis served only to catapult her from ordinary bystander to passionate enthusiast. A casual jogger, she began to train relentlessly for marathons, including Chicago, Boston, New York and the Marine Corps Marathon. Unwilling to give in to unpredictable and sometimes baffling symptoms, she charted a course that eventually led her to mountaineering and attaining the Seven Summits (the highest mountains on each continent — Kilimanjaro, Denali, Elbrus, Aconcagua, Carstensz Pyramid, Vinson and Everest). All proceeds benefit MS research. Noon October 17 at Aqua Turf, 556 Mulberry St., Plantsville. $100. 860-714-2300 ext. 230, eventctn. nationalmssociety.org. Attend The Pink Partini Fashion Show in support of MidState Medical Center’s Cancer Center. Fashions featured in the show come from the Dressing Room in Wallingford, Kimberley Boutique in West Hartford, Lyn Evans of West Hartford, Kuboo’s

CRITIC’S PICK Financial Independence is Bliss Lori Nelson finds time to do it all – write, preside over a publishing company and look good.

for the company, her connection with children, achieving her dream of owning a business and the power of networking.

Nelson Publishing of Mitchellville, Md. is a family-based independent publishing company formed in 2006. It provides books for children of color and is best known for its Hillary series, which introduces children to fundamental business and financial concepts. Lori Nelson, company president and author of the series, will discuss The Business of Children: The Animated Truth. Learn how she started Nelson Publishing, what the future holds

She founded the company after observing her mother’s battles with mainstream publishing houses. Nelson created Nelson Publishing to share her writing and the writings of other authors who want to address special needs and concerns of children. — Elvira J. Duran 7 p.m. October 14 in Alumni Hall at Quinnipiac University, 275 Mount Carmel Ave., Hamden. Free. 203-582-8200, quinnipiac.edu.

CINEMA Bollywood Music and Culture. Wesleyan’s music faculty member, B. Balasubrahmaniyan, will talk about the history and music culture of Bollywood films. Although Indian film music is considered more entertainment than art, it reflects many aspects of music and cultures within India and its global diaspora. Event is part of Wesleyan’s annual Navaratri Festival of Indian arts and culture. 4:15 p.m. October 1 at Daltry Room (Rehearsal Hall 003), Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan. edu/cfa.

Get all-pinked-up on October 28 to show your support for the MidState Medical Center’s Cancer Center. The Center’s Pink Partini Fashion Show will feature clothing from local Conn. boutiques.

Children’s Boutique of West Hartford and other area boutiques. Hors d’oeuvres and cocktails, including a signature martini (Dream Girl) will be served. 6-9 p.m. October 28 at Aqua Turf, 556 Mulberry St., Plantsville. $50 (registration required). 203-694-8742.

Melodramatic Bollywood films showcase Indian song and dance and feature aspects of culture such as a lavish wedding scene. Bollywood Dance Workshop & Film includes a workshop on the eclectic dance styles of Bollywood films as well as a screening of the hit movie Guru (India, 2007, 166 min.). 7 p.m. October 1 at Fayerweather Beckham Hall, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. $10 ($8 students). 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. The Yale Center for British Art is the premiere U.S. venue for Gilbert & George, a moving biographical film tracing the lives of Gilbert Prousch and George Passmore from their humble beginnings to their prominent role on the world’s artistic stage. The first

screening on will be introduced by Jonathan Katz, Clark-Oakley Fellow at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute and guest curator at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. 5:30 p.m. October 2 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu. When two English cartographers visit a small South Wales village to measure what is claimed to be the first mountain inside of Wales, the proud villagers are very disappointed to learn that it is, in fact, a hill. So at once they set out at once to magnify their molehill into a mountain in The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain (U.S., 1995, 99 min.). Directed by Christopher Monger. 2 p.m. October 25 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-2858, ycba.yale.edu. Experience a Halloween treat with the silent film The Bells (U.S., 1926, 92 min.) with live accompaniment by student organists. This classic American horror film combines elements of the traditional ghost story with shades of Edgar Allen Poe and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The Bells follows an ambitious innkeeper (Lionel Barrymore) on a downward trajectory into insanity after he murders a wealthy traveler to settle his debts. Though he is not suspected of the crime, the innkeeper is haunted by a hypnotist (Boris Karloff) in a traveling carnival and his conscience is tormented by a

blood-smeared apparition of the dead man, who comes seeking a confession of his own. 10 p.m. October 31 at Memorial Chapel, Wesleyan University, 221 High St., Middletown. Free. 860685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

COMEDY Test your knowledge and have fun doing it at Anna Liffey’s Trivia Night. Teams of one to five people compete for prize money. Topics range from music to movies, politics to Shakespeare, geology to sports and everywhere in between. Age 21 and older. Arrive early to get a table. 9 p.m. October 7, 14, 21, & 28 at Anna Liffey’s, 17 Whitney Ave., New Haven. $10 per team. 203-773-1776, annaliffeys.com.

CULINARY Treat yourself to vegetarian Indian delicacies at the Navaratri Festival’s annual feast, Bhojanam. 6 p.m. October 4 at World Music Hall, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. $16 ($10 children 12 & under). 860-685-3355, boxoffice@ wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. Enjoy local food including organic and pesticide-free salad greens, herbs, allnatural meat, eggs, honey, handcrafted bread and more. City Farmers’ Markets, New Haven are Connecticut-grown, producer-only marketplaces featuring organic and pesticide-free food. City

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Farmers’ Market at Edgewood Park takes place Sundays through November 23. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. October 5, 12, 19 & 26 at Edgewood Park, Corner Whalley and West Rock Ave., New Haven. 203-7733736, cityseed.org.

CRITIC’S PICK Keeping Up the Fight Rigoberta Menchú Tum in her native Guatemala.

Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchú Tum will deliver the lecture, The Life and Times of Rigoberta Menchú Tum. Tum was named a Nobel Laureate in 1992 for her work in social justice and ethnocultural reconciliation based on respect for the rights of indigenous peoples.

City Farmers’ Market at Wooster Square. Enjoy local food from local farms including seafood, meat, milk, cheese, organic greens, root vegetables, handcrafted bread and baked goods, honey and more. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. October 4, 11, 18 & 25 at Russo Park, corner Chapel St. and DePalma Ct., New Haven. 203773-3736, cityseed.org. The Downtown Milford Business Association will host the Milford Farmers’ Market on Saturdays through October 25 in the heart of downtown. Fresh produce, breads, cheeses, seafood and other Connecticut-grown and -raised produce. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. October 4, 11, 18 & 25 in downtown Milford on River St. between Railroad Ave. and Darina Pl. 203-874-0115, downtownmilfordct.com. Summer may be over, but the fall harvest is just warming up at Lyman Orchards. Lyman features more than 20 varieties of apples from which to Pick Your Own Apples. Apples from Empire to Empress, from the tangy Early Mac to the tart Granny Smith, from the sweet Spencer to the juicy Jonagold and from Fuji to Rome. All of the orchard’s apples are grown in an ecologically responsible way. Through October 31 at Lyman Orchards, 32 Reeds Gap Rd., Middlefield. Open 9 a.m.-7 p.m. daily. 860-349-1793, lymanorchards.com. Pick Your Own Pumpkins. Pumpkinpicking season runs from midSeptember to late October at Lyman Orchards. Whether you are looking for the perfect fall decoration, a jacko-lantern, or a delicious tasty treat, pumpkin picking is the perfect family autumn adventure. Lyman’s Own pumpkins are available in two varieties: sugar and carving. Through October 31 at Lyman Orchards, 32 Reeds Gap Rd., Middlefield. Open 9 a.m.-7 p.m. daily. 860-349-1793, lymanorchards.com. City Farmers’ Market Downtown boasts food from local farms, including organic and pesticide-free salad greens, herbs, flowers, honey, artisan bread and more. Open 11 a.m.-3 p.m. every Wednesday through November 26 at 165 Church St., New Haven. 203-773-3736, cityseed.org.

DANCE The sexy athleticism, exuberant and joyous movement of Parsons Dance Company is a fusion of the gesture and movement that characterizes the modern dance vocabulary, but with the discipline and precise execution one expects from a classical company. David Parsons has been hailed as an innovative choreographer and dance companies worldwide have performed his extraordinary body of work. Postperformance “Art to Heart” Q&A with the company. 8 p.m. October 3 at Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University,

52 october 2008

During the 1980s, she took on a leadership role in the Committee of the Peasant Union and was involved in a strike the CUC organized for better conditions for farm workers on the Pacific coast. She joined the radical 31st of January Popular Front, helping to educate the Indian peasant population in resistance to massive military oppression. While in exile in Guatemala, Tum helped to found the United Representation of the Guatemalan Opposition.

1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield. $45-$35. quickcenter.com. Bharata Natyam Dance Performance. Anita Ratnam, one of India’s most gifted artists, is an accomplished classical and contemporary dancer and choreographer whose career spans four decades and more than 1,000 performances in 15 countries. She has received numerous awards and recognition for her work in the performing arts in India and abroad as a choreographer, scholar and cultural activist. 8 p.m. October 3 at Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. $15 ($12 seniors & students). 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan. edu/cfa. Learn some smooth moves with Anita Ratnam at the Bharata Natyam Dance Workshop. 11 a.m. October 4 at Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. Fall Faculty Dance Concert. An evening of new works performed and choreographed by Wesleyan’s Dance Faculty. 8 p.m. October 31-November 1 at Patricelli ‘92 Theater, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. $8. 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

FAMILY EVENTS The Yale Astronomy Department hosts a Public Stargazing Session. Twice monthly the department runs a public

night during which astronomy buffs can come and peer through one of the department’s many telescopes and have questions answered about the wonders of the night sky. Viewable celestial objects change seasonally, and range from the moon to the planets to nearby star clusters and galaxies. 7 p.m. October 7 & 21 at the Leitner Family Observatory, 355 Prospect St., New Haven. Free. cobb@astro.yale.edu, astro.yale. edu. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Bellobration, a high-energy circus extravaganza, features the mischievous yet endearing comic daredevil Bello, whose iconic orange skyscraper hair, hilarious antics and fearless approach to daredevilry have prompted his meteoric rise in popularity. Bello performs alongside exotic animals including majestic and agile Asian elephants, Royal Bengal and white tigers, as well as an international cast of gravity-defying acrobats, all in an electrifying story line guaranteed to captivate children of all ages. Show up an hour before show time for free allaccess pre-show. October 23-26 at Arena at Harbor Yard, 600 Main St., Bridgeport. $90-$15. 203-368-1000 or 203-624-033 Pumpkins & Paint: A PumpkinDecorating Workshop. Celebrate All Hallow’s Eve by decorating an uncarved pumpkin. Use acrylic paint, feathers, pom-poms, foam and glitter to turn a miniature pumpkin into an extraordinary (or scary) work of art. Cider and donuts at 2 p.m. October 26 at the Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme. $9 ($7 members).

Her advocacy work for Indian rights has earned her several international awards. Tum, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, has dedicated her life to organizing resistance to oppression in Guatemala and advocating for the rights of Indian peasants. Tum was born to a poor Indian peasant family and raised in the Quiche branch of the Mayan culture in Guatemala. Reform work by her and her family aroused opposition leading to the arrest, torture and death of her parents and brother. — E.J.D. 7 p.m. October 27 in the Recreation Center at Quinnipiac University, 275 Mount Carmel Ave., Hamden. Free. 203-582-8252, quinnipiac.edu.

860-434-5542 ext. 111, flogris.org. Halloween Trick-or-Treat at Clinton Crossing Premium Outlets. Children 12 years and younger are welcome to trick-or-treat at participating stores and the management office. 4-7 p.m. October 31 at 20-A Killingworth Tpke. (Rt. 81), Clinton. Free. 860-664-0700, premiumoutlets.com/clinton. Fright Haven. A haunted house attraction offering visitors three separate creepy venues to scream their fears away in — all under one roof. Dread your way through Dead End Manor; tiptoe across Frightmare Fear Institute Pitch Black Haunt and shiver among the Carnival of Evil — in 3D. Enjoy 25,000 square feet of indoor “terror” that’s scarier and more gory than ever. October 3-November 1 at (former CompUSA building), 401 Boston Post Rd., Orange. Open Thurs.-Sun. $10 per attraction, $20 for all 3 attractions, $35 VIP speed pass. 203-799-FEAR, FrightHaven@aol. com, FrightHaven.com. This year’s Corn Maze takes the form of a ladybug carved into a four-acre cornfield. Walk through the maze just for fun, use the map to plot your route or answer a series of trivia questions along the way that point you in the right direction. Lyman’s corny Corn Cops can also guide you through the maze. Portion of the proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society. Through November 2 at Lyman Orchards, 32 Reeds Gap Rd., Middlefield. Open 9 a.m.-7 p.m. daily. $9 ($5 children ages 4-12). 860-3491793, lymanorchards.com.

HISTORY Small Things Considered. From a nutmeg to a strand of George Washington’s hair to the classic Wiffle Ball, discover the big impact small objects have made on history and our lives. Through November 29 at the Connecticut Historical Society, 1 Elizabeth St., Hartford. Open noon-5 p.m. Tues-Sat. $6 ($3 seniors, students). 860-236-5621, CHS.org.

LECTURES/ DISCUSSIONS Join Eddie Luzik, a University of New Haven associate professor of chemistry, for Biodiesel from Acorns? a lecture examining biofuels from local seed crops. Think that Connecticut’s modest size and population mitigate against its becoming a source material producer for renewable transport fuels without serious alteration of the landscape? Well, think again. In this presentation the chemistry, agricultural and intellectual opportunities for benignly generating biofuel in the state will be discussed through experiments with unrecognized campus seed crops. 3 p.m. October 7 at Marvin K. Peterson Library, Upper Level, UNH, 300 Boston Post Rd., West Haven. Free. 203-932-7191, newhaven.edu. Technology education specialist Tara Rothman will lecture on It’s More Than Just a Game as part of the Quinnipiac Sigma Xi Albert Notation Memorial

Series Seminar. Rothman will discuss how educational games and gamedesign theory are revolutionizing how students learn as well as the role of the teacher in the classroom. Rothman will explore how strategies used in games and game development mimic teaching strategies and how they are motivating people to learn. Rothman is a technology education specialist at Area Cooperative Educational Services (ACES) in North Haven. 4-5 p.m. October 14 in the Clarice L. Buckman Theater at Quinnipiac University, 275 Mount Carmel Ave., Hamden. Free. 203582-8200, quinnipiac.edu.

MIND, BODY & SOUL This religious service, led by A.V. Srinivasan, celebrates the victory of good over evil and marks the most auspicious day of the year for beginning new endeavors, especially in learning and the arts. The Saraswati Puja (Hindu Ceremony) audience may participate and bring instruments, manuscripts and other items for blessing. 11 a.m. October 5 at World Music Hall, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. The Geography of Happiness in New Haven. Laura Turlington and Luca DiMatteo from One Community Programs will be conducting an interactive “play-shop” about how people connect with happiness through

their surrounding environments and bodies. Turlinton and DiMatteo are teachers of Toltec traditions in the lineage of Don Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements, and Rita Rivera Fox. 6:30-8 p.m. October 23, City Hall, 165 Church St., Meeting Rooms 1 & 2, New Haven. Free. newhavenhappiness@gmail.com, newhavenhappinessclub.ning.com or Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible. Start the week off right with a Sunday Morning Recharge: Meditate! Learn to cultivate and maintain a happy, positive mind. Everyone is welcome for an inspirational talk, special prayers and guided meditation with Buddhist teacher Kaitlyn Brayton. 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Sundays, October 5, 12, 19 & 26 at Mariner’s Corner, 2415 Boston Post Rd., Unit #11, Guilford. $10 (free for members). 860-268-3863, info@odiyana. org, meditationinconnecticut.org. 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 your body, and soothe your spirit. All levels are welcome. Please bring a yoga mat. Class led by Nelie Doak. 5-6:15 p.m. Fridays, October 3, 10, 17, 24 & 31 at Blackstone Library, 758 Main St., Branford. $10. 203-4881441 ext. 313, yogidoakie@earthlink. net or events@blackstone.lioninc.org, blackstone.lioninc.org.

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ONSTAGE Continued from 44 edge between Grand Guignol and great seriousness. Sarah has woven all these strands together in a very, very convincing and in the end deeply moving way. The emotional power builds and the style changes, too, from act to act as we move closer to our own time.”

OF NOTES Continued from 47 beginning of his career, he might have achieved more commercial recognition. Then again, a Laco Deczi who had not endured and trumped communism would not be Laco Deczi at all. It is the struggles he endured that molded him into the supreme individualist he is

CALENDAR Continued from 53

feet. 10:30-11:30 a.m. Tuesdays through November 18 at Green Street Arts Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. $5 ($3 for members, seniors and students), advance registration required. 860-685-7871, greenstreetartscenter.org.

SPORTS/RECREATION Cycling Night Ride on the Canal. Enjoy the warm weather and get those base miles up with a weekly two- to three-hour ride up the Farmington Canal Trail. Riders maintain a very moderate (15-17 mph) pace. Participants should bring lights (some may be available for loan) and helmets. 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays October 7, 14, 21, & 28 at the Devil’s Gear Bike Shop, 433 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203-7739288, thedevilsgear.com. Elm City Cycling organizes Lulu’s Ride, weekly two- to four-hour rides for all levels (17-19 mph average). Cyclists leave 10 a.m. from Lulu’s European Café as a single group; no one is dropped. 10 a.m. Sundays October 5, 12, 19 & 26 at Lulu’s European Café, 49 Cottage St., New Haven. Free. 203-7739288, 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. October 31 at Temple and Chapel streets, New Haven. Free. elmcitycycling.org.

54 october 2008

Although Chalfant has much more to say about Ruhl’s masterful connections between religion, politics and theatermaking, it’s time for her to rehearse. She ends by emphasizing both the beauty of the writing and the magic of the play’s theatricality.

these things all the time: the most exalted things and the earthiest things that you can imagine,” Chalfant says. “People weep and laugh and sing and dance in a big community.” Once again, this singular actress has found a play into which to pour her passion.

“That is the great wonder of this play because it makes you think about all of today. In a world full of copies, Deczi is one of a kind. He disdains both free jazz and high society as parallel evils. He throws nothing away, preferring to repair it — a methodology one can see in his compositional process as well. The man is hopelessly in love with his music: He is constantly penning new tunes, and ﬁnds no greater joy than to sit

Road Races Put your costume on and head over to the annual Playwright Halloween Run. The New Haven Rugby Club hosts this 5K and Kids Race. Sprint, run or walk in costume and raise money for Gaylord Hospital’s Connecticut Jammers Quad Rugby Club. Races start and finish near New Haven’s Playwright Pub. After the race enjoy great food and live music at the Playwright. 9:05 a.m. October 26 at The Playwright, 144 Temple St., New Haven. 203-481-5933, jbsports.com.

Spectator Sports Cheer the American Hockey League’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers on vs. Albany River Rats (7 p.m. October 18) and the Philadelphia Phantoms (4 p.m. October 19). At Arena at Harbor Yard, 600 Main St., Bridgeport. $43-17. 203368-1000 or 203-624-033. soundtigers.com The Tour of Gymnastics Superstars brings together the American Gymnastics Stars from the Beijing Summer Games including Gold Medalist Nastia Liukin and Silver Medalist Shawn Johnson & Chellsie Memmel. Experience a gymnastics extravaganza that includes appearances from some legendary athletes including Paul Hamm, Joseph Hagerty, Justin Spring, Morgan Hamm, Johnathan Horton, Kevin Tan, Shannon Miller, Blaine Wilson and more. Jordan Pruitt, Disney/Hollywood Records, will perform live. 7 p.m. October 29 at Arena at Harbor Yard, 600 Main St., Bridgeport. $79.75-$29.75. 203-368-1000 or 203-624-033. 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.

uninterrupted in his studio, perfecting Jazz Cellula’s most recent recording. Sitting and listening to the band’s new live album, one gets the sense that Deczi’s star is still on the ascendant. And if this is any measure, listeners here will come to realize what an outsized talent they have living right next door.

MUSIC CALENDAR Continued from 49

of inspiration from 1837-50. The texts of many of the songs are partially or entirely written in the languages of inspiration; some are identified loosely as African, Native American or “moon” languages. The Shakers ‘n’ Bakers use this body of music as a focal point for composition and improvisation. 8:30 & 10 p.m. October 10 at Firehouse 12, 45 Crown St., New Haven. $15-$10. 203-7850468, firehouse12.com. Former Hot Water Music frontman Chuck Ragan has become a musical troubadour, writing stripped-down acoustic songs that retain the same passion evident in his punk rock career. His latest effort, Feast or Famine, beautifully captures the sound of a gifted singer/songwriter as he journeys into the next chapter of his musical life – with an acoustic guitar in hand. Also with: Ben Nichols (of Lucero), Tim Barry (of Avail) and Frank Turner (from the UK). 7 p.m. October 12 at the Space, 295 Treadwell St., Hamden. $15. 203-288-6400, booking@thespace.tk, thespace.tk. Members of the Elephant 6 (E6) collective — including members of Neutral Milk Hotel (Julian & Scott Spillane), some members of Olivia Tremor Control & Circulatory System, plus other E6 bands like Elf Power, The Gerbils and more — will perform a show in which everyone plays each other’s songs and the stage show, like that of the Music Tapes, features all sorts of strange gadgets and instruments — including a seven-foottall metronome. 7 p.m. October 15 at the Space, 295 Treadwell St., Hamden. $10. 203-288-6400, booking@thespace.tk, thespace.tk or manicproductions.org The hot young alternative bluegrass group, Crooked Still, is on a mission to bend the boundaries of traditional music. The unlikely combination of banjo, cello, fiddle and double bass drives this low lonesome band, whose

captivating vocals and high-wire solos have enraptured audiences all over North America and Ireland since 2001. Five unique musical personalities merge to form Crooked Still. Aoife O’Donovan’s refined, sultry vocals float over Tristan Clarridge’s rumbling cello riffs, Dr. Gregory Liszt’s futuristic fourfinger banjo rolls, fiddler Brittany Haas’ melodic improvisations and Corey DiMario’s pulsing bass lines. 8 p.m. October 17 (7:15 p.m. pre-talk) at the Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. $22 ($18 seniors & students). 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan. edu/cfa. McCoy Tyner Quartet. McCoy Tyner’s blues-based piano style, replete with sophisticated chords and an explosively percussive left hand, transcended conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music. His harmonic contributions and dramatic rhythmic devices form the vocabulary of a majority of jazz pianists. 8 p.m. October 17 at Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield. $50-$40. quickcenter.com. As a sideman and a leader, Josh Roseman’s distinctive voice, boundless vision and kaleidoscopic approach to music make him a genre-bending and compositional master of scrutiny. Josh Roseman’s Execution Quintet finds trombonist and master of chaos Roseman joined by frequent coconspirators and edgy creative voices harvested from Brooklyn’s new jazz scene. Taking the chordless groups of Henry Threadgill and the early Dave Holland Quintet as artistic points of departure, this quintet presents a program that is wholly original. 8:30 & 10 p.m. October 17 at Firehouse 12, 45 Crown St., New Haven. $15-$10. 203-7850468, firehouse12.com. The greater community of musicians and their families are invited to Join the Orchestra and Play Along! at an open rehearsal. Orchestral musicians

are invited to play, but all are welcome to attend. Music by Kurt Weill. Angel Gil-Ordonez will conduct and host. 1 p.m. October 18 at the Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. Singer/songwriter Jesse Malin was the face of the glam/hard rock band D Generation for eight years before it disbanded in 1999. Malin, a punk with a soft heart, didn’t stop writing music. His love for Neil Young, Tom Waits and Steve Earle influenced his work to the point where he spent the next two years working on a fresh, countrified sound. Ex-Whiskeytown frontman Ryan Adams, who’d been a friend of Malin since the D Generation days, was impressed with Malin’s new approach. Adams offered to produce Malin’s debut album. The Fine Art of Self Destruction appeared in the UK in October 2002 and stateside fans got their hands on the album in January 2003. 7 p.m. October 18 at The Space, 295 Treadwell St., Hamden. $10. 203-288-6400, booking@thespace.tk, thespace.tk or manicproductions.org Musica Viva. Join Wesleyan faculty and students from the Music Department in a recital celebrating Western art music with host Angel Gil-Ordonez. The Wesleyan Concert Choir joins the celebration and the Wesleyan Ensemble of the Americas performs music by American composers. Roy Wiseman conducts. 1 p.m. October 19 at Memorial Chapel, Wesleyan University, 221 High St, Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355,

wesleyan.edu/cfa. Experience Hendrix 2008. An officially sanctioned tribute to the legendary Jimi Hendrix with some of the best guitar players from around the world. 7 p.m. October 19 at the Palace Theater, 100 East Main St., Waterbury. $79.50-$49.50. 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org. Blues Traveller performs a concert for all ages. 8:30 p.m. (doors open 7:30 p.m.) October 22 at Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven. $20 advance, $25 at door. 203-624-8623, toadsplac@aol. com, toadsplace.com. Gerald Albright, Jeff Golub, Jeff Lorber, and Peter White are featured in Guitars and Saxes, to celebrate SCSU’s 40th anniversary. 8 p.m. October 24 at John Lyman Center for the Performing Arts, Southern Conn. State University, 501 Crescent St., New Haven. $32 ($25 faculty & staff, $25 series, $15 SCSU students). 203-392-6154, tickets. southernct.edu. In a musical age of predominantly solo careers, Bad Touch — alto saxophonist Loren Stillman, guitarist Nate Radley, organist Gary Versace, and drummer Ted Poor — has set out to nurture their identity as a collective. With a shared goal of developing improvised music, these likeminded musicians draw on a wide spectrum of jazz improvisational techniques within original compositions. As freelance musicians, each has collaborated, recorded, and traveled internationally with some of the most established

WELCOME TO MOE’S Located In Audobon Square

names in jazz, including Bill Frisell, Paul Motian, Cuong Vu, Chris Potter, Ben Monder, Billy Hart, John Scofield, Maria Schneider, John Abercrombie, Al Foster and Charlie Haden. 8:30 & 10 p.m. October 24 at Firehouse 12, 45 Crown St., New Haven. $15-$10. 203-7850468, firehouse12.com. From the frenetic paced opening of Benny Goodman’s “Bugle Call Rag” to the show’s blockbuster finale featuring Louie Prima’s “Sing, Sing, Sing,” Five by Design and the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra celebrate the swing movement from 1937-1955 in Club Swing. 8 p.m. October 25 at the Palace Theater, 100 East Main St., Waterbury. $75-$20 ($10 students). 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org. The musical video game Rock Band is coming to Bridgeport for Rock Band Live. The tour will let Rock Band bands rock their way onto the main stage with a truly interactive experience that allows you to compete in a head-to-head competition for the chance to play on the main stage in-between bands like Panic At The Disco, Dashboard Confessional, Plain White T’s and The Cab. Bands will be selected through a local radio station, national contests and on-site at the show. 8 p.m. October 28 at Arena at Harbor Yard, 600 Main St., Bridgeport. $39.95-$29.95. 203-3681000 or 203-624-033, arenaatharboryard. com. Surrounded by the artwork selected for the exhibition Women Artists in

Connecticut, Thomasina Levy, an internationally recognized mountain dulcimer player, singer, and songwriter and former Connecticut State Troubadour (2005-06), will offer a one-woman salon-style concert in the gallery. Levy will weave together the best of traditional and contemporary folk in Your Life Is Your Masterpiece: Music to Stir the Soul. 7 p.m. October 30 at the Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $15 (includes admission to gallery). 860434-5542, flogris.org. Linda Eder is one of the most important and exciting contemporary interpreters of the Great American Songbook. Singing with amazing power and clarity, Eder’s visual presence and phenomenal talent have won her raves from critics and fans alike. 8 p.m. October 31 at Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield. $60-$50. quickcenter.com. Magic. A new quartet featuring the three members of Trio X and Mikolaj Trzaska. 8:30 & 10 p.m. October 31 at Firehouse 12, 45 Crown St., New Haven. $15-$10. 203-785-0468, firehouse12.com. Billy McGuigan returns as Buddy Holly in Rave On: The Music of Buddy Holly. McGuigan wrote and co-produced this revue featuring nine musicians and acclaimed by reviewers and audiences alike all over the U.S. October 23November 2 at Seven Angels Theatre, 1 Plank Rd., Waterbury. $45-$40. 203-757-4676, sevenangelstheatre.org.

The

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46 WHITNEY AVE – NEW HAVEN – 203.776.MOES

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the blue pearl RESTAURANT & LOUNGE New Haven’s Tastiest Hideout Happy Hour • Thurs & Fri, 4-6 pm Martini Specials • Late Night Menu 130 COURT STREET • NEW HAVEN 203.789.6370 • THEBLUEPEARLNEWHAVEN.COM

new haven

W O RDS of MOUT H By Liese Klein

usion cuisine is one thing, but a buffalo-chicken egg roll?

NEW EATS: Lansdowne Bar & Grill

This diner had her doubts seeing such a concoction on the menu at the new Lansdowne Bar & Grill on Crown Street. But one bite banished all skepticism — the spicy, meaty chicken took beautifully to the crisp egg roll wrapper and tasted great with a fresh bleu cheese dipping sauce. That egg roll was gone in a heartbeat. Unusual contrasts are what make Lansdowne distinctive: It has baronial carved woodwork and interior paneling — along with more than 30 TV screens blaring with the game of the day. This “Irish” bar also features extensive wine and cocktail offerings along with a basic beer menu.

Food offerings are “an Americanstyle menu with Irish influence,” according to General Manager Tom McDaniels.

The food and service are consistently top-shelf, and Lansdowne’s chef, John Uitti, has a few tricks up his sleeve, like a prosciutto-and-ﬁg French dip sandwich, persimmon-croissant bread pudding and a pave, or scalloped-potato cake, with Brie and trumpet mushrooms. Lansdowne opened in September, the second venture of South Carolina-based restaurateur Kevin Amin. Located on the ground ﬂoor of the former Chapel Square Mall, the pub spans more than 5,000 square feet with a private dining room, two stage areas and ample bar frontage.

56 october 2008

Anthony DeCarlo

Lansdowne Bar & Grill, 179 Crown St., New Haven (203-285 3939).

PHOTOGRAPH:

Lansdowne is a natural for those seeking a classy place to watch the Patriots or quaff an after-work Guinness. But food-lovers should also take note of this classically American hybrid of cuisines and cultures.

Anthony DeCarlo

Join us every Sunday

PHOTOGRAPH:

for the largest Buffet Brunch on the Shoreline

483-9995 168 North Main St. Branford

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

CHEF ON THE GRILL Tanya Harris, Mama Mary’s Soul Food

f soul food is about making simple ingredients sing, Tanya and Robert Harris are virtuosos. At their new Mama Mary’s restaurant on Whalley Avenue, the barbecue is tangy, the greens tender and the fried okra boasts a crispy coating and a creamy interior. Located in a former kosher bakery, Mama Mary’s offers some of the best soul food in town in a relaxed, elegant atmosphere. Tanya Harris works as a nurse by day and helps run the eatery by night with her husband, who does most of the cooking.

The chopped barbecue. My husband’s family is from Alabama, and chopped barbecue is a Southern cuisine. It’s pork roast, ﬁnely chopped with vinegar and spices.

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

What are your more unusual dishes? Pigs’ feet. People of all different ethnicities eat pigs’ feet. We have a woman from Newport, R.I., she comes at least once a week and she loves the pigs’ feet. She says in Singapore it’s a delicacy and she loves how my husband prepares it. Another thing people come for is chitterlings. It’s deﬁnitely a Southern favorite. It has a strong taste. What has it been like to open up on Whalley?

My husband, Robert Harris, had a restaurant — he took over the old location of Sandra’s on Congress Avenue. We opened on Whalley Avenue July 14. He’s been cooking all his life: His mom has six children and taught all of them how to cook. Three of them have worked in restaurants. I’m a registered nurse, so I assist at the restaurant.

It’s a more mixed crowd. People feel at home when they come in, no one feels apprehensive about the neighborhood. The pace of Whalley Avenue is much more upbeat and it’s deﬁnitely much busier; we weren’t used to the volume.

Comfort food. Soul food is food that you know someone put their heart and soul into it. Everything takes time; everything is individually cooked and prepared. My husband is there preparing the food every single day — he’s passionate about it.

Fine Indian Cuisine

What are your best-sellers?

How did you get into the restaurant business?

How would you describe soul food?

– New York Times

What would you say to someone who’s never tried soul food? Do one thing at a time. Remember, barbecue ribs are considered soul food, and fried chicken. It’s not as distant as many people may think it is. It’s a very laid-back cuisine, in a very laid-back atmosphere. People will be pleased with the quality and texture of the food. Mama Mary’s Soul Food, 372 Whalley Ave., New Haven (203-562-4535).

THE Place to Eat on Wooster Street

Come Eat on our Patio for a Little Bit of Outdoor Italy

776-4825 he view from Brunello’s Ristorante is framed by ﬂowers and features an artfully planned front garden overlooking Branford’s Main Street. It’s a quintessentially New England tableau, but Brunello’s will take you to Italy and back with its polished cuisine.

Brunello’s opened earlier this year in the prime Main Street location once occupied by the Tenderloin Steak House. A new venture by the former owners of Tenderloin and New Haven’s Café Goodfellas, Brunello’s features ﬁne Italian food in an intimate, personalized atmosphere. The soft light and well-chosen furniture makes for a relaxed setting for a romantic dinner or business meeting.St • New Haven 127 Wooster

(203) 776 - 4825

AnastasiosRestaurant.com new haven

JUST A SIP

BEST OF: CHINESE ron Chef, 1209 Campbell Ave., West Haven (203-9323888). Unusual Taiwanese specialties and

well-executed classics shine at this student favorite. House of Chao, 898 Whalley Ave., New Haven (203-389-6624). This Westville institution

draws diners from across the region for its bright ﬂavors and eclectic menu. Quirky hours, so call ahead. Lao Sze Chaun, 1585 Boston Post Rd., Milford (203-783-0558). You don’t get much more

authentic locally than this outpost of Szechwan delicacies and tasty dim sum.

Bishop’s Orchards Apple Cider

he smell of fall may be burning leaves, but the taste of autumn is deﬁnitely apple cider. And New Havenarea residents are lucky to have on of the region’s best cider makers right here in our backyard: Bishop’s Orchards of Guilford.

Keith Bishop is the ﬁfth generation of his family to make cider, and Bishop’s sells about 70,000 gallons of the amber stuff each year. Sales peak around Thanksgiving, although you can pick up a gallon year-round thanks to the farm’s cold storage facilities. Temperature is the key to making a tasty cider, explains Bishop. Apples from Bishop’s own groves are kept chilled as the pressing day approaches. “It’s important to make the cider while the apples are cold,” Bishop says. Also crucial is the right blend of apple varieties — a taster samples each batch continuously as it’s made to ensure the proper balance of sweet and tart. October’s blend generally includes McIntosh, Macoun, Cortland, Ida Red and Delicious varieties. Tarter apples “give a little snap to the cider,” Bishop says. Turn up at Bishop’s early in the week to sample the elixir literally hours after its made. You can also watch the cidermaking process in a video on the store’s Web site (bishopsorchards.com). Or best of all, stop by the store and buy a few gallons of cider along with the fresh-picked apples it’s made from. Bishop’s Orchards, 1355 Boston Post Rd., Guilford (203-453-2338). 58 october 2008

East Melange Too, 142 Howe St., New Haven (203848-3663). Affordable and authentic noodles

and Cantonese classics keep this lively eatery near Yale hopping at all hours. Great Wall of China, 67 Whitney Ave., New Haven (203-777-8886). Its location near

downtown’s best Asian market and an affordable, high-quality buffet attracts a multicultural clientele.

BEST OF THE REST AMERICAN 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 skill 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 favorite. Foster’s, 56-62 Orange St., New Haven (203-8596666). The chef himself is likely to bring over your meal at this acclaimed newcomer in Ninth Square. Comfort food with cutting-edge ﬂair like llama burgers on toasted brioche.

FRENCH Union League Café, 1032 Chapel St., New Haven (203-562-4299). New Haven’s most beautiful dining room and world-class cuisine near the heart of downtown. Le Petit Café 225 Montowese St., Branford (203483-9791). Prix-ﬁxe menu features beautifully prepared classics with a modern twist in a casual setting. Caseus, 3 Whitney Ave., New Haven (203-6243373). 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.

FUSION CUISINE Mickey’s Restaurant & Bar, 2323 Whitney Ave., Hamden (203-288-4700). This eatery’s sophisticated interior and artful blend of Israeli and Italian flavors bring big-city flair to downtown Hamden. Sip a Mickey’s margarita with your Marrakech salmon and Israeli couscous and you’ll swear you’re on the beach in Tel Aviv Bespoke, 266 College St., New Haven (203-5624644). High-end Latin fusion with a flair, wit and excellent service. Try the lobster arepa and duck-confit 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 (203795-6888). 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 (203239-0666). Creative and beautifully presented dishes with pan-Asian panache. Don’t miss the Szechwan “ravioli,” tender chicken dumplings in a delicate peanut sauce, or Taiwanese seafood specialties. Kudeta, 27 Temple St., New Haven (203 562-8844). Every major cuisine of Asia is represented on Kudeta’s menu, with something for every taste in an evocative interior. Generous and inventive drinks along with good sushi and noodle dishes.

INDIAN 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. Buffet is $7.95 daily ($9.95 on Sunday). Royal India, 140 Howe St., New Haven (203-7879493). Tasty North Indian fare in an intimate setting on Howe’s mini-restaurant row. Nice variety at lunch buffet with fresh bread. Weekday buffet is $7.95, Friday-Saturday is $8.95 and Sunday $9.95. Darbar India, 1070 Main St., Branford (203-4818994). Award-winning shoreline favorite with excellent atmosphere and north Indian classics, run by Royal India owner. Spicy vindaloos and tandooris are a good bet. Friday-Sunday lunch buffet is $9.95. 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. Weekday lunch buffet $9.95 ($11.95 on weekends). Swagat, 215 Boston Post Rd. West Haven (203-9310108). 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. No buffet, but open all day and very affordable.

ITALIAN 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 (203-735-0494). 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.

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.

MEXICAN

Mezcal, 14 Mechanic St., New Haven (203-782-4828). Big portions and wide-ranging menu with lots of surprises. No liquor license.

Viva Zapata, 161 Park St., New Haven (203-562-2499). Toothsome classics and a killer sangria in a festive pub atmosphere. Open for lunch. 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 (203-7521017). Simple, authentic cuisine from Puebla in a down-home atmosphere. Moes, 46 Whitney Avenue, New Haven (203-776-6637). Southwest grill styled food. Speial attention to the tortilla. Jalapeno Heaven, 40 N. Main St., Branford (203-481-6759). Tasty Americanized fare in a cozy setting with excellent margaritas.

Taqueria Mexico No. 1, 850 S. Colony Rd. Wallingford (203-2650567). The best tortas — or small sandwiches — in the area, ﬁlled with spiced meat and accompanied on the weekends by a lip-smacking posole hominy soup.

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. Kasbah Garden Café, 105 Howe St., New Haven (203-777-5053). 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

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.

Lenny’s Indian Head Inn, 205 S. Montowese St., Branford (203488-1500). 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.

Istanbul Café, 245 Crown St., New Haven (203-787-3881). This critics’ favorite has the best ambience in town and consistently ﬂavorful food. A grilled octopus salad and red lentil soup are standouts, along

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

MIDDLE EASTERN

Open 7 days a week

50% Off Sushi, Sashimi & Rolls

Open for Lunch and Dinner

Mon–Sat: 4:30–10:30pm & All Day Sunday

7 Elm Street, New Haven: 203-562-6688 (Corner of State & Elm Street)

Book Your Holiday Party Now Take Out Available

Free Parking After 5:30pm, All Day Sunday

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EDITOR’S PICK

PHOTOGRAPH:

beach or a coastal drive, with an ice cream stand onsite.

Anthony DeCarlo

Guilford Mooring, 505 Whitfield St., Guilford (203-458-2921). 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? 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 housebrewed beer round out the offerings. Jimmie’s of Savin Rock, 5 Rock St., West Haven. 934-3212. Take the family out and enjoy the boardwalk view at this West Haven institution, known for its moderate prices and casual atmosphere. All the fried favorites, a full menu of broiled fish and lobster and the famous split hot dog.

SUSHI Wasabi, 280 Branford Rd., North Branford (203488-7711). 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 (203387-4898). 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 (203-2819922). 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 (203777-9760). 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 infused-sake cocktails. Number 1 Fish Market, 2239 State St., Hamden (203-624-6171). Make your own sushi at home with fresh seafood from this market, which supplies many area restaurants. The helpful staff will steer you toward the best quality tuna, salmon, scallops and red snapper; items like sea urchin roe are available.

Sweet Relief Café

n a downtown dominated by national sandwich chains, Sweet Relief Café is a breath of fresh air. The café’s eclectic sandwiches, smoothies and teas are a refreshing antidote to the mass-produced fare increasingly sold in the funky district where Audubon meets Whitney Avenue. Eric Rogers opened Sweet Relief a decade ago with a focus on fresh sandwiches with an unusual twist — fruit ﬁllings. The menu has since evolved into a mix of more standard deli offerings with the occasional fruity kick.

Strawberries bring out the best in chicken breast, cheddar cheese and walnuts in the Dream Wrap, of Sweet Relief’s best-sellers, Roger says. Best of all, the chicken breast is grilled fresh for each sandwich, the heat bringing the ﬂavors together into a sweettart symphony. Mangos elevate the turkey wrap and pineapple-mango salsa enlivens both the Sante Fe wrap and a blackened-salmon sandwich. Custom-made smoothies in ﬂavors like mangobanana and kiwihoneydew round out your meal and get those

enzymes ﬂowing. The café is also one of the few locally featuring Harney & Sons teas, a Salisbury-based purveyor of some of the best blends this tea-drinker has ever sampled. Their Winter White Earl Grey lyrically enhances the gentle bite of white tea with citrusy bergamot. With its creative sandwiches and ﬁne quaffs, this Audubon Street veteran should be able to hold its own in a franchised world. Sweet Relief Cafe, 99 Audubon St., New Haven (203-789-9800).

VEGETARIAN Ahimsa, 1227 Chapel St., New Haven (203-7864774). Wide-ranging vegan fare is featured at this (kosher) eatery that uses no animal products. South Indian-style dals and curries star at the daily $10 lunch buffet, with more offerings at Sunday brunch. 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 60 october 2008

a colorful array of main-dish salads. Shoreline Diner & Vegetarian Enclave, 345 Boston Post Rd., Guilford (203-458-7380). Nonveg diner fare along with vegan favorites like a tempeh Reuben with sauerkraut on grilled rye and “Twin Towers” of vegetable strudel. Great place for groups with different dining preferences. It’s Only Natural Restaurant, 386 Main St., Middletown (860-346-9210). Worth the ride up

I-91 for award-winning entrées like sweet potato enchiladas, tempeh “crab cakes” and a generous macrobiotic plate. Full slate of vegan desserts including chocolate mousse couscous cake.

BAKERIES Marjolaine, 961 State St., New Haven (203-7898589). Buttery croissants and creamy pastries showcase the quality ingredients used by this East Rock neighborhood favorite.

1999-2007 “Award of Excellence”

Stop in Soon and See Our Newly Renovated Dining Area!

Wine Spectator magazine

Lucibello’s Italian Pastry Shop, 935 Grand Ave, New Haven (203- 562-4083). Cannolis to die for are the specialty here but also try the delicately flavored pignoli and other Italian cookies. 4 and Twenty Blackbirds, 610 Village Walk, Guilford (203-458-6900). A Shoreline star for wedding cakes, cheesecakes, pies and cookies. Libby’s Italian Pastry Shop, 139 Wooster St, New Haven (203-772-0380). Top off your pizza excursion with a cannoli or Italian ice at this Wooster Square institution. Take the Cake, 2458 Boston Post Rd., Guilford (203-453-1896). Brides and sugar fiends flock to this bakery’s tasty mousse cakes, fruit tarts and innovative spice cookies. Bread and Chocolate, 2457 Whitney Avenue, Hamden (203-907-4079). Breads and pastries made fresh along with coffee drinks, soups, salads and sandwiches. Edge of the Woods, 379 Whalley Ave., New Haven (203-787-1055). The best spot in town for kosher, gluten-free and vegan baked goods-the chocolate babka and linzer cookies are outstanding.

Best Italian Restaurant, Statewide, 2007–2008 Connecticut Magazine Reader’s Choice Poll

YellowFin’s

New Fall & Winter Menu

Seafood Grille

Introducing our own

Homemade Bouillabaisse & Lobster Ravioli Where OLD New England Meets NEW New England

203-250-9999

100 Wooster Street New Haven • 777-3373

yellowﬁnsseafoodgrille.com

1027 South Main Street • Cheshire

HOT DOGS Blackie’s Hot Dog Stand, 2200 Waterbury Rd., Cheshire (203-699-1819). It’s all about the relish at Blackie’s, a Cheshire institution since 1928. Simple pork and beef dogs are all they make-just tell them how many you want and get a birch beer on the side.

Open Seven Days

Lunches $5 & Up

Glenwood Drive-In, 2538 Whitney Ave., Hamden (203-281-0604). Top-quality Hummel meat make the dogs sing at Glenwood, a Hamden favorite since 1955. Spicy relish and thick-cut fries complement the toothsome wieners. Mr. Mac’s Canteen, 2004 Bridgeport Ave., Milford (203-874-1515). Chili’s the specialty at Mr. Mac’s, with locations in both Milford and Monroe. The meatless, beanless chili’s spicy goodness plays off the perfectly cooked dog for fast-food bliss. Fries and other toppings are also excellent. Al’s Hot Dog Stand, 248 S. Main St., Naugatuck (203-729-6229). Wieners with all the toppings plus shakes, fries and fountain drinks are the draw at this regional favorite. Open late in the summer for al fresco dining after the ball game.

Hibachi • Sushi • Pan-Asian Catering & Parties Welcome Happy Hour! M–TH, 3-6: All Beer 1/2 price, Premium Drinks $5

Chick’s Drive Inn, 183 Beach St., West Haven (203934-4510). The perfect snack after a day at the beach, a Chick’s dog beneﬁts from charbroiling and excellent condiments

514 Bridgeport Avenue, Shelton • 929-8666 451 Kings Highway, East Fairﬁeld • 610-6888

www.KobisRestaurant.com new haven

Anthony DeCarlo

Visitors prepare to lose themselves in Lyman’s Ladybug Maze.

Don’t miss the photogenic birthday-cakewhite Lyman Homestead that is available for weddings and events.

PHOTOGRAPH:

Over at the Apple Barrel store the fruits of the land are for sale if you don’t pick your own. The peaches were the biggest I’ve seen. There’s also a bakery and you can even peek inside while a baker’s dozen of bakers are baking; making glorious fudge brownies, all kinds of fresh bread, mufﬁns and desserts and those giant high-topped apple pies, winners of the “Best Apple Pie” in Connecticut Magazine’s readers poll for 11 years in a row.

Green Acres in Middlefield The fall Lyman Orchards has it all, including an amazing maze Joyce L. Faiola

leven hundred acres, and I really wanted to see them all so I spent two afternoons and I’m going back for more. Just as soon as I buy a compass.

I thought I was just going to trek through a maze (I did), enjoy barbecued chicken under a tent (I did) and feed some ducks (ditto). But what I didn’t know was that this incredible destination offers so many things to do, see and eat that you need to spend a full day and bring a GPS. Now operated by John Lyman III, the eighth generation of Lymans, this utopia’s ﬁrst seeds were planted in 1741 when John and Hope Lyman purchased a 36-acre parcel that has grown with each generation to become what you see today. I began my ﬁrst visit with a slow, steady climb up what felt like a mountain (my ears popped and I had to put my car into second gear). Spread out before me and 62 october 2008

in perfect patterns along each hillside was endless rows of fruit trees. Puffs of clouds promenaded in the pale blue sky and the air smelled like apples. No — peaches. No — pears. Anyway, it smelled like fruit. I got out of my car to stretch my legs and fell into a small ditch. No one saw me. I walked and walked and walked and lay in the grass and watched a falcon overhead. Across the street is the highly regarded Lyman Orchards Golf Club with a restaurant and patio that has an unbelievable view and two 18-hole courses: one traditional, designed by Robert Trench, and the other designed by Gary Player which is covered with what look like giant mole hills along the landscape. There’s a driving range perched on the top of a hill with a panoramic view and if your ball sails more than 400 yards (downhill, obviously) it lands in a pond.

You can smell the being-made-right-now cider doughnuts when you pull in the parking lot, and if you buy a full pack you will eat the full pack before you make it back to your car. There’s a restaurant that serves food in a little café or out on the glorious deck overlooking a pond where all those ducks swim. This spring Mike Welch set up a full kitchen on the deck and there are lines of folks who dig in (like me) for such goodies as scrumptious omelets, crispy waffles covered with fresh Lyman blueberries and other wake-up-andsmell-the-coffee goodies. “Being part of the family tradition that has worked this beautiful land for 267 years is pretty awesome and every year is unique,” John Lyman III told me. “If you farm you have to be an eternal optimist and working with nature continues to give me great energy.” Oh, yes, the ladybug corn maze. Eightyear old Sarah Dingley and her five-year old sister Rachel made it out after an hour of twists and turns but I got lost and starting feeling like Mr. Grant in North By Northwest so I used the cheat sheet one of the guides showed me. When I came out of the halfway door, maze volunteer Carl Richter remarked, “Are you going back in to finish it?” Not today. Utterly exhausted and yet relaxed I sat under the tent and sipped Lyman’s cider. Along came Tom in his golf cart. “What do you do here?” I asked. “I keep everything clean and pretty,” he said, smiling. I gave him my address. Lyman Orchards, Rts. 147 & 157, Middlefield (860-349-6015, lymanorchards.com). Ladybug corn maze is open until November 2. v

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