
BEPW & Brian Larney – Sat., Aug. 13th, 5pm

Semaphora & Gold Eris – Thurs., Aug. 11th, 7 PM

The Sawtelles – Sat., 8/6/22 @ 7 PM
The Sawtelles—first group ever to play Best Video’s performance space, in June, 2011—play Best Video Film & Cultural Center Sat., Aug. 6. The show starts at 7 PM and the cover is $10.
Husband and wife duo Pete and Julie Riccio are the foundation of the Sawtelles. Their music is a balance of four elements: alternate-tuned guitar, small drum kit and two voices. Peter plays guitar and Julie plays drums; they both sing. Their sparse but intricately arranged pop is as lush as it is captivatingly unique; what is played as important as what isn’t.
This is an indoor show so proof of vaccination is required to enter and masks are required.
Will Parker – Sat., 8/6/22 @ 10:30 AM Outside – weather permitting
Will Parker plays children’s music at Best Video Film & Cultural Center Sat., Aug. 6. The event starts at 10:30 AM.
Will Parker is an award-winning children’s songwriter and teaching artist based in New Haven, CT. He writes and performs music for “kids ages 1-100.” During Will’s whimsical and interactive shows, he plays guitar and harmonica and sings original songs that engage the audience in singing-along, dancing, high-fiving, and imaginative play. He travels nationwide playing shows at libraries, schools, daycares, and festivals.
This will be an outside show. In the case of excessive heat or inclement weather, it will be moved indoors. Suggested donation is $5-10 per family but nobody will be turned away for lack of funds. Parking available behind Best Video and on Thornton Street.
Lucy’s Neighbor – Thu., 8/4/22 @ 7 PM
Lucy’s Neighbor plays Best Video Film & Cultural Center Thursday, Aug. 4. The show starts at 7 PM and the cover is $10.
Lucy’s Neighbor—named after the Mrs. Matilda Trumbull character in the “I Love Lucy” Sitcom—is an original indie rock/power pop band from New Haven. The members are Derek Di Fronzo (vocals); Dave Esposito (guitar); Tom Quagliano (drums) and Ed Flynn (bass). They will be playing songs from their three self-released CDs, the self-titled “Lucy’s Neighbor” (2011), “Over Easy” (2018), and “Till It’s Gone” (2020).
As this is an indoor show, covid protocols are proof of vax and masks required.
Sambeleza – Sat., Jul. 30 @ 5:30 PM OUTSIDE (weather permitting)
Sambeleza plays Best Video Film & Cultural Center outdoors on Sat., July 30. The show starts at 5:30 PM. The group will feature Jeff Fuller (bass), Joe Carter (guitar), Isabella Mendes (vocals, piano), and Graciliano Zambonim (percussion).
Sambeleza performs a wide variety of Brazilian songs, both old and new, with a jazz twist. Featured composers include Tom Jobim and Ary Barroso, as well as younger composers like Djavan, Debora Gurgel and Arlindo Cruz. A few originals by group members are added to the mix.
Their first CD, “Sambeleza Live,” was released in the spring of 2015. It was recorded live at Summer Solstice Samba in June, 2014 at Voices Cafe of the Unitarian Church in Westport in association with WPKN-FM. Along with Sambeleza members Isabella Mendes, Jeff Fuller and Joe Carter on that date were special guests Ali Ryerson (flute), Adriano Santos (drums) and Ze Mauricio (percussion).
Brasil (spelled with an “s” in Portuguese) is well known for its rich heritage—a blend of indigenous, African and European cultures—from which the music has risen with fascinating rhythms, soaring melodies and colorful harmonies. The musicians of Sambeleza are outstanding U. S. and Brazilian interpreters of the great songs of the bossa nova and samba traditions, as well as outstanding jazz artists in their own right. Sambeleza derives its name from two words: samba, the national dance of Brasil, and beleza, Portuguese for “beauty.”
There will be donation vases for the musicians and the venue. Please consider being generous in supporting musicians—opportunities to perform have been fewer the past couple of years. Suggested donation of $10.
The parking lot is closed off for seating. There is on-street parking on Thornton Street, as well as parking behind our building and across the street at Spring Glen Church.
Restless Mountain Bluegrass Band – Fri., Jul. 29 @ 5:30 PM OUTSIDE (weather permitting)
Restless Mountain Bluegrass Band returns to Best Video. The band plays at Best Video Film & Cultural Center in an outdoor show on Fri., July 29. The music starts at 5:30 PM.
Restless Mountain Bluegrass Band is a Connecticut-based bluegrass band that always offers a fun mix of traditional standards, entertaining classics and originals that bring fond memories and a smile. In the tradition of bluegrass, Restless Mountain is an all-acoustic band, serving up heartfelt vocals, 3-part harmonies and spicy instrumentals. Restless Mountain Bluegrass Band has been active in Connecticut for over a decade, featuring veteran musicians who love to play and entertain.
Band members are Matt Fleury (vocals, banjo), Jerry Devokaitis (vocals, guitar), Gracin Dorsey (vocals, mandolin), Scott Camara (resophonic guitar), and Dave Aston (bass).
There will be donation vases for the musicians and the venue. Please consider being generous in supporting musicians—opportunities to perform have been fewer the past couple of years. Suggested donation of $10.
The parking lot is closed off for seating. There is on-street parking on Thornton Street, as well as parking behind our building and across the street at Spring Glen Church.
James Limerick Kerr – Thurs., Jul. 28 @ 7 PM
James “Limerick” Kerr plays a set of solo dobro with vocals at Best Video Film & Cultural Center Thur., July 28. The show starts at 7 PM and the cover is $10.
Dr. James Limerick Kerr is a resonator steel guitarist, vocalist, and educator based in the NYC/Connecticut area. His solo concerts feature a unique mixture of original and classic gospel blues and bluegrass. Although his performances are solidly rooted on the foundations of Delta blues, gospel, and bluegrass, James incorporates a broad array of influences and enjoys the musical challenge of attempting to expand genre boundaries and expectations for the resonator steel guitar (Dobro). In addition to his performance endeavors as a resonator and steel guitarist, James is a music professor who holds a doctorate in classical guitar performance from Stony Brook University (SUNY).
James is the author of A Twenty-First Century Guidebook for Guitarists: Practice, Performance, and Teaching (Kendall Hunt), a textbook for college guitar students.
Dr. Kerr directs the Bluegrass Ensemble and teaches guitar at Columbia University. He also teaches guitar at Naugatuck Valley Community College, John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY), as well as at the Neighborhood Music School in his hometown of New Haven, CT.
As this is an indoor show, covid protocols are proof of vax and masks required. The cost of the show is $10 at the door.
Final screening of Japanese Horror – “Audition” – 7/26/22
Concluding the series on Tues., July 26, is Takashi Miike’s “Audition” (1999). Infamous upon its release, “Audition” places the viewer in a corporate setting inhabited with corrupt, arguably sexually-repressed film producers. Casting has never been so important… or life threatening.
“Audition” was a New York Times Critic’s Pick in 2001. Critic Elvis Mitchell wrote, “The Japanese psychological horror film ‘Audition’ has been responsible for throngs of shaken filmgoers staggering out of theaters for the last year or so; it’s ‘Fatal Attraction’ with a sense of morality instead of a need to pander—specifically, the movie’s theme is the objectification of women in Japanese society and the mirror-image horror of retribution it could create.”
Suggested donation is $7 at the door.
Support for this series has been provided to Best Video Film & Cultural Center from Connecticut Humanities (CTH), with funding provided by the Connecticut State Department of Economic and Community Development/Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA) from the Connecticut State Legislature.
douxreves w/Conor Perrault – Fri., Jul. 22 @ 7 PM
douxreve fuse elements of Art Rock, Post-Punk, and Free Jazz into well-crafted, concise songs with an eye towards an abstract, yet hopeful future.