September First Thursday at the Butler-McCook House & Garden Summer Concert Series Concludes, New Art Exhibit Opens September 3rd, 5:30-7:30 pm Don’t miss the conclusion of the Free Summer Concert Series at the Butler-McCook House & Garden! Thursday, September 3rd, will feature guitar and mandolin music by Judy Handler and Mark Levesque, and the opening of Street Seens, a vibrant exhibit by artist Joan Coderre. First Thursday will also feature Connecticut-made wine from Sharpe Hill Vineyard – the official wine of Connecticut Landmarks – soft drinks and light appetizers. Visitors are encouraged to bring the kids, picnics and lawn chairs. A $4 per drink donation is kindly requested.

Following the incident detailed below, I wrote this to share with friends. I realized, though, that other people might want to hear it and that it’s really quite relevant as a testimony to racial profiling in Hartford (and in general). So, here it is, in its unedited glory:

Last night, around 10 pm, Opton and I left Hartford for Queens. We passed a West Hartford PD car parked in the Deangelo’s parking lot on the way to the highway and he turned out on to the street behind us and followed us on to 84. About 15 seconds later, he pulled us over. Obviously Opton was going the speed limit; he’s Mr. Safety First. We both had our seatbelts on. He’d used his signals correctly. I couldn’t think of a legitimate reason for them to pull us over, and as my anxiety was building I looked over and saw a sort of resigned, knew-this-would-happen look on his face. The cop came up to the car and shined a flashlight directly into the car – on Opton’s lap, on his face, on mine, and told him that… you ready? The plastic frame around his license plate was obscuring the “Constitution State” on the bottom. Continue Reading

A panel of activists discusses reproductive freedom in the wake of the Dr. George Tiller’s murder.

Click here to download the MP3

Telecult Powers(NYC) headline a night of noise bands at La Paloma.

7 PM at La Paloma Sabanera Coffeehouse

405 Capitol Ave., Hartford

$5 suggested donation

BYOB

Sat Aug 22, 7pm, Charter Oak Cultural Center, 21 Charter Oak Ave, Hartford. Val Ramos Flamenco Ensemble, one of the best Flamenco fusion groups in the country, is joined by a singer from Seville, Alfonso Cid, and a fabulous flamenco dancer, Julissa Cadenillas. Free. 249-1207,

Sat Aug 22, 10am-1pm, Asylum Hill Congregational Church, 815 Asylum Ave to Sigourney Park, Hartford. Members of Asylum Hill Congregational Church and Asylum Hill Neighborhood residents have worked together to create original masks and giant puppets for the Sigourney Park Family Festival. To prepare for this event, lead artist Anne Cubberly and teaching artists George Herrick and Elizabeth Moss guided the puppet designs using recycled materials, culminating in an event they call, “Make the Trashy Puppet Dance.”  Pancake breakfast at AHCC, followed by a puppet parade to Sigourney Park. 525-5696, ahcc.org