“They’re really down-to-earth guys,” said Rachael Markel, 20, of Durham. “They’re positive music,” said her companion, Dan Carey, 21, also of Durham. They and over 200 other hatebreed lovers crammed into Hamden's Exile on Main Street yesterday, where the down-to-earth guys were autographing copies of their fifth album, “Supremacy,” just released Tuesday.

hatebreed devotees wait for their signed CD at Exile on Main Street.

“They’re the best hard core out there,” said Chris Frodel, 28, of Hamden, waiting on line inside the Skiff Street music shop.

Many of hatebreed’s songs are short on lyrics. This one is called “Betrayed By Life”:

”In a cold unforgiving world -- alone with fear and weakness, oppressed and dying slowly -- countless people have been betrayed by life. No one is exempt. No one is safe. So many lives will be taken. So many lives have been ruined. So many lives hang in the balance. So many lives have been lost. Betrayed by life. As survivors we are left to mend their wounds, we are left to dry there [sic] tears. We are left to pick up the pieces of those who have been betrayed by life.”

“The message overall is be true to yourself and what you believe in, and you can achieve what you like,” said Stephen Wayne.

Sunshine Sets on Larry's

Bernadette Laubach holds Sara while Mathew dances nearby and Sasha sits on her mother's, Christiane Draeger's, lap.

Words and pictures by Betsy Driebeek

About 300 people came to the eighth and final summer concert at Larry's playground Wednesday evening. They listened to the Sunshine Road Show, munched on picnic food and took in the pleasant weather. They also reminisced about the quickly vanishing summer of ’06.

August 16, 2006

Ya Gotta See Joe

Julia Hirsch lights up the stage at Thorton Wilder Hall.

Words and pictures by Sharon Bass

I grew up on Broadway musicals. When I moved to Dallas from my native New York as a newlywed, I refused to go to the theater. I was used to the best. I was spoiled.

But one who loves theater as I do cannot go forever without it. So eventually I ventured to community shows, which proved to be a gamble. Last night, I saw the final dress rehearsal of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” put on by the Whitney Players Theatre Company in Thorton Wilder Hall. I have to say I rolled some pretty sweet dice. The show knocked me out.

Julia Hirsch, who plays the narrator in this biblical operetta, has a fabulous voice. Her range, her delicate high notes were a real treat (I plan to see the show again this weekend). Equally appealing is David Cristensen, who plays Joseph, the son of Jacob. Like Hirsch, his singing and stage presence were all-pro. A pure delight to watch.

Director Cindy Simell Devoe did an amazing job with her cast of 72, which includes 24 kids. She produced a chorus line that is powerful and friendly and practically flawless. It’s really a beautiful production all around. About 100 dazzling costumes were bought on ebaY and through dance and theater catalogs.

The cast started rehearsing in June. Today is opening night. You really shouldn’t miss this one. It’s a Joe everyone can enjoy.

“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” runs Aug. 16-20 at 7:30 p.m. at Thornton Wilder Hall, Miller Library Complex, 2901 Dixwell Ave. Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. Tix $12/advance, $15/at door. Co-sponsored by the Hamden Arts Commission. FMI, call 248.8766.

Profiles in Peace & Justice

Ka Hsaw Wa of Burman.

QU exhibits portraits of human-rights activists from around the globe

Words and pictures (of the photos) by Sharon Bass

With malignant war taking center stage in the collective conscious, it’s refreshing to be reminded that there are powerful leaders who instead fight peacefully and passionately for every human's rights. Albert Schweitzer, a beloved missionary, philosopher and physician, was one such leader.

“I’d like to educate the general public on people who have taken a serious risk to make a difference in their countries,” said institute director David Ives. “To stop something that should be stopped [Apartheid] or begin something that should be done.”

Familiar and relatively unknown faces of human-rights heroes are displayed on the stark, creamy walls of the Schweitzer Institute.

Bruce Harris of Guatemala/United Kingdom. He is called Central America’s foremost advocate for street kids. Harris has run Casa Alianza in Guatemala City since 1989. It provides food, shelter, medical care, drug rehab, legal aid and other services to 4,400 homeless children living on the street.

The photos were taken by the late photojournalist Eddie Adams. In 1969, he received the Pulitzer Prize for his picture “Saigon Execution.” He photographed 13 wars, from Korea in the early ’50s to Kuwait in 1991.

Ka Hsaw Wa of Burman. He is the founder of EarthRights International, which filed a precedent-setting lawsuit against Unocal, a U.S.-based oil company. The suit charges that Unocal hired Burmese government agents who allegedly committed extortion, torture, rape, forced labor and murder against the local indigenous people.

Kerry Kennedy, daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy, published Adams’ work that is on display at Quinnipiac, in her 2000 book, “Speak Truth to Power: Human Rights Defenders Who Are Changing Our World.” In it, she profiles such human-rights activists as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Costa Rica President Oscar Arias Sanchez, Sister Helen Prejean, author of “Dead Man Walking” and Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, author and philosopher.

Marina Pisklakoua of Russia. Because of her efforts, the Russian government for the first time tracked domestic violence. It found nearly 15,000 women were killed and another 50,000 hospitalized every year because of the abuse.

The Schweitzer Institute is sponsoring the exhibit in conjunction with Kerry Kennedy's lecture "Speak Truth to Power," in Quinnipiac Alumni Hall, at 7 p.m. Sept. 12. Free. FMI, visit the institute