CT Scenic

Burlesque-Paris Style

2012-02-13T12:26:00.002-05:00

We all know the French are renown as the worlds best lovers, but what about their burlesque chops? They claim to be the best, although CT has Dot Mitzvah and Kitty Katastrophe (two of CT Scenic's faves). Who's right? We're about to find out, our friends at RAW are bringing the documentary Crazy Horse to us, screening on March 2. Check out this too sexy for youtube trailer while you still can.

By the way...

2012-02-06T21:32:00.002-05:00

In case you've been wondering "What's going on with the blog?"

It's not you, it's us.

Sincerely,

The Scenics

The Onion Strikes Again

2012-02-06T16:34:00.003-05:00

The Scenics tend to like everything dark and sarcastic. So, we were delighted a few months back with this gem from our favorite news source.

Well it turns out that a certain someone (Rep. John Fleming, R-La., of course) thought it was real, posting it on his facebook page in order to stir up the rage of his constituents.

So, about that new Rudy's

2011-07-24T16:22:00.010-04:00

Its about time we checked out the new Rudy's in their new location, which opened on the corner of Chapel and Howe a few months ago, just a few blocks away from their old location, which we now know as Elm Bar. I'm not sure what we were expecting to walk into, but totally experienced a moment of shock and confusion as we took in the large, clean, newly painted, and did I mention CLEAN landscape of the bar and restaurant area.

(Pardon the crappy pics, the Scenic with the good cellphone camera was busy last night, probably sexting)

The stark contrast to the dark, dingy, carved up little dive bar that is associated with the name Rudy's was a little disorienting at first, but we found that many of the old tabletops and wood panels, with years of initials lovingly and deeply etched in, had been preserved and put into the back room. It certainly is spacious; the front room, where is bar is located, is clean and restaurant-y, and the back room has a teensy bit of old Rudy's nostalgia.

The entertainment for the evening was a handsome dude DJ team doing what a friend described to us as a "Shag Frenzy-esque" dance night, which is just getting off the ground and hoping to become a regular monthly fixture. The music was fun, and I can't claim to be hipster enough to recognize most of it, but did enjoy dancing to Crystal Castles, Ladytron, Talking Heads, Franz Ferdinand, and the Ting Tings. They had this really sexy lightning lamp on their table!

My first drink was this tiny little thing for $6.50, but I quickly wised up and asked for a taller glass for my next, um, 5.

I saw lots of people enjoying fancy beers in interesting looking glasses, and for those of you who care, the Guinness cost $5.50. Although Rudy's now has a full kitchen, I failed to see a menu laying around or anyone really eating food, except for the fries and a few people eating salads at the bar. Its like, its Rudy's, but Rudy's plus... wearing fancy pants... with a bathroom that is not totally scary and gross.

Compete For Our Affections Friday

2011-07-07T16:04:00.006-04:00

Friday, June 8
Rhythm and Juke Blues Jumpup II @ Vegas Blvd

All four Scenics gave unanimous and enthusiastic approval for Part I back in April, and are looking forward to Brownbird Rudy Relic, Daddy Longlegs, Diablo Dimes and Orb Mellon's encore performance at our favorite Hartford hipster dive. Hartford has a lot of love for Rudy Relic's steel guitar performances, complete with physical stunts such as leaping through the air, rolling on the ground, dancing on his chair, and jumping right over people's heads while playin' the blues (and can do this without accidentally teabagging anyone, like the stripper from last Friday's outing).

Live Band Karaoke @ Coach's Bar and Grill

We're thrilled that our friends Bandwith Karaoke have found a Hartford home and will be kicking off their monthly gigs at Coach's. Yes, we will brave the douchestrict to watch friends and strangers live out their rock n' roll fantasies onstage, karaoke style, and maybe we will be so brave that we get onstage ourselves. Get there early to sign up!

Wry and The Sweet Ones @ Elm Bar

We have it on good authority that Elm Bar is the place to be some top-notch rock n' roll entertainment tomorrow, from CT-based Wry and Brooklyn (as in NY, not CT)-based The Sweet Ones. According to what we've heard from these bands so far, this seems to be the case, and you can't beat the $3 pricetag and now, thanks to us, new lower prices on the Guinness!

Men, Inc.: We totally went there

2011-07-03T09:52:00.006-04:00

The other Scenics have really gone out of their way to help celebrate my "Birthday Week," starting Friday night with a surprise night out at the all-male revue - CT-based Men, Inc., doing their monthly-or-so gig at our favorite downtown bar, Up or On the Rocks (really, it's totally our favorite). We've joked about checking one of these things out for ages. Now we've finally been there. The other Ladies Scenic had wanted to plan a party with my very own private stripper, but that was going to be overly expensive and complicated venue-wise. We're all glad it worked out this way though. I mean, we've all had personal attention from a naked dude before. The gaggle of other scantily clad drunk broads and the douchestrict setting were what really put the night over the top for us.

The Scenics are not exactly the target demographic for these kinds of shenanigans, since nothing is really taboo or off-limits in our minds, and our actual sex lives are so incredibly hot and kinky... But how about a little recognition and respect where it's due - it was fun and different to see a bevvy of dudes with rock hard, outrageously muscled, impeccably groomed bodies. This being America, it's hard enough finding a non-obese body to enjoy. We get the odd skinny guy now and then - you know, that guy who eats and eats and eats and never gains any weight? But he's no stunner with his shirt off, just scrawny, amiright? Nevertheless, we ultimately concluded that although we liked their bodies and appreciate all the work they obviously put into them, we didn't really care for what they were actually doing with them.

Their costumes were very "Not Another Porn Movie," starting with the Sexy Police Officer, and their moves included a lot of weirdly feminine lapdance-style gyrations. The other thing they kept doing was getting chicks on stage into awkward positions on stage and dry humping them, which just seemed kind of embarrassing for all involved. We were impressed with the athleticism of the dancer known as The Main Event, who did vaults and handsprings to end up with his crotch in various gals' faces and laps. Amazingly, no one was injured, though one girl looked a bit chagrined when his scrotum grazed her scalp. If any of us tried to to anything like that, there would have been ankles sprained and teeth everywhere. Yet much as we admired these maneuvers, it was just kind of weird and icky when he put that one big-ish girl down like the base of a cheerleading pyramid and lined some other slags up on top of her and gleefully switch-hit dry-humped them all.

Always sensitive to the feelings of others, I let the fellas know that we were "mostly into chicks" - a slight deviation from reality. This only made them work my lap (and Jackie's!) twice as hard, which was cute. I was particularly partial to this hunk of manflesh - he's the rock n roll one.

Without delving too deeply into stereotypes about sex and gender, let it suffice to say that there is a difference between the all-male revue and the "gentlemen's club," and a reason why the all-male revue must subsist on monthly club nights and private gigs, but the gentlemen's club is open daily. The goal for most of the attendees for Men, Inc. seemed to be to relish the embarrassment of their friends - no so much to actually get off on the proceedings. When the guys came around to lap dance and "let it all hang out" (I'll never wash that Ed Hardy shirt again!) all the ladies in the vicinity had out their camera phones to shamelessly capture their friends in the act, and this was totally all right with the guys! But hey, with a body like that, may as well get those pictures out there! That's been my governing theory lately anyway.

Check out Men, Inc. live around CT!

Oddities

2011-07-02T11:54:00.004-04:00

Um, what?

The Totes Horny Roundup

2011-06-30T15:18:00.005-04:00

CT Scenic has been consistent and efficient in providing you dear readers with solid recommendations on local music, food, arts culture, and nightlife (well, maybe not recently... this Scenic has personally been busy kicking off the summer with a good old fashioned bender, my bad!), but one area of content that has been glaringly absent is the seedy underbelly of Connecticut! So, here is the scenic guide to CT's perviest places, and stuff to do when you're totes horny.

Adult Films. People are often surprised to find out that old fashioned adult movie houses still exist, and even more surprised to hear that we have one right here in Hartford. 3/4 of Team Scenic have actually been to the Art Cinema; not with debaucherous intentions, but to watch a burlesque documentary as part of the Hartford Film Festival. We didn't care for the movie, but were quite taken by the scenery of the rundown movie house, the porn film canisters laying about, and the general air of sleaze. And the fun doesn't stop there, oh no! Connecticut is actually home to two adult theaters, the other being the Fairmount in East Haven.

Swingers. We are aware that Hartford has an onsite swinger's club, located in a nondescript building in a shady neighborhood, that you've probably driven by a bunch of times without even realizing the pervery that goes on in there. Team Scenic is not, at this time, able to give you any kind of investigative reporting on this joint, but according to their website, they have a kickass buffet.

Ok, tangent, just for a moment? I've always been slightly disturbed by the Kahoots tagline: Lunch with a View. The thought of enjoying a turkey club while staring at a naked woman humping the floor for dollars just seems so... ew. And now, I wonder about these swingers lining up to serve themselves some baked ziti and garlic bread in the middle of reenacting a scene from Caligula. Are they naked at the buffet? Did the owners install genital guards as well as sneeze guards?

And oh yeah, speaking of strip clubs! A little piece of trivia: you are not allowed to wear SuperScenic glasses in The Gold Club. Why? We don't know! Sometimes you just know to keep your mouth shut and take off your damn glasses when the man tells you to.

Motels. The Berlin Turnpike is pretty much the go-to for any kind of motel sleaze you're looking for; there are plenty of pay by the hour rooms with huge mirrors, themed rooms such as the exotic Jungle Room (grr!). Actually, The Berlin Turnpike is probably 80% sleazy motels.

Adult Stores. Well, they're all over the damn place. Perhaps you even have one of those superstores in your town, and the townsfolk got all enraged when they found out about it. A successful chain in CT is VIP, and when I was there the other day, you know- doing research, I was disappointed to see that they no longer carry my favorite ill-advised adult novelty, The Fist. Literally, its a big rubber arm and fist.

We're sure there's much more where this came from, and don't be too shy to tell us about what goes on in your freaky little town. CT Scenic: dedicated to culturally well-rounded journalism!

Mrs. Murphy's: out-of-state indie donuts

2011-06-25T23:08:00.000-04:00

Last month Katie Scenic had the best donuts ever at Dough in Brooklyn, NY; last week, Katie and Jackie followed up on a hot tip from a coworker and crossed another CT border to try Mrs. Murphy's donuts in Southwick, MA (which is only like 20 miles from headquarters, so no big deal... we've been this far for donuts before).

The Scenics were joined by Vet Tech Gene and professional ice cream model Dayna (you may remember her from our post about delicious Abby Dabby ice cream in West Hartford), who happened to hit it off over their shared exotic hobby, spinning poi. Everyone in the crew shared an interest in donuts. Alas, it was mid afternoon on a Sunday, so Mrs. Murphy's was sold out of jellies and creams, with only the plainer varieties - crullers, glazes, cinnamon - left. The donuts were huge, which is a good start.

Dayna thought she'd try her hand at donut modeling.

This is very clever - see, she's spelling "cool" with the glasses and the donut... But that's so literal. Strictly commercial stuff. Not everyone has what it takes to do donut editorial. But her work with ice cream is seriously edgy shit. There's a lot of nuance to food modeling.

The chocolate donuts were a particular hit - having a very subtle, not-too-sweet flavor. The cinnamon was a little dry and cakey for Scenic tastes (we've spoken of donut purity - our preference for a a fried dough-like texture and flavor). The iced coffee was rather terrible, but is available by the bucketful, if size is your thing. Speaking of size, Vet Tech Gene is new to the gang, but somehow guessed at our love of lowbrow humor and dick jokes. He hasn't even seen the blog, but he was blown away by the crullers and wanted to make sure we would let our readers know they were the biggest and thickest he/we'd ever seen - far superior to ordinary crullers in length and girth. "It's so unsatisfying when you just put it your mouth and it's all over in two bites." What a donut perv! He can come and eat donuts with us any time. In fact, we'll be sure and head back to Mrs. Murphy's real soon for some followup, because we can't truly assess the joint without trying the jellies. Right?!

There's more to being Pretend Boyfriends than just increasingly embarrassing blog posts

2011-06-25T22:13:00.000-04:00

We acknowledge the possibility that some of the bands we're totes horny for may find our affections a little embarrassing, or wish that we would talk more about their great music than their good looks - you know, the beautiful ones always want to be told they're smart, the smart ones want to be told they're beautiful. *YAWN* Anyway, we obviously think they're music is good if we're spending our time reviewing it and telling you to go to their shows. If you want to know what they sound like, click the god damn links. When we say total package, we mean total package.

As esteemed members of the imaginary press, we take advantage of our band boys, demanding their free music, attempting to monopolize their attention at shows, asking them to pose for foolish pictures. And they are always so obliging! We give them blog support sure, but do any of you lazy bums even show up 99% of the time? Well, today we gave something back. Two of our pretend boyfriends from Black Taxi found themselves stranded with a dead car in New Britain today en route from New Hampshire. Katie Scenic got the word from their publicist and immediately ditched her plans with her real-life friends to bail the guys out. (JK, she had no plans - seriously, Fitzscenic is out of town, DH had a gig, and Jackie was, like, scissoring or something.) She found the fellas lounging handsomely near the baseball field and delivered them to New Haven's Union Station. What an awesome fake girlfriend!

What better excuse to start blogging after a month of dead air than to talk about what swell people we can be when we really want to. And one more time, here's Black Taxi:

Somebody around here book these guys, eh?

One night stand with a sexy out-of-towner

2011-05-24T17:51:00.000-04:00

The Bright Light Social Hour @ Up or on the Rocks, Hartford

Our facebook friends know we've been trying to get a buzz going for this Texas band that's swinging through town this Thursday. We caught wind of them because a.) they've been living out a van on tour and they smell and b.) they're friends of our Brooklyn boyfriends, Black Taxi, who we were totally hot for at their Hartford debut. The Bright Light Social Hour fellas look and sound like damn good stuff, so we feel really lucky to catch them at a stage of their career when they don't just automatically skip Hartford (or only stop here for snacks), which is why we've been pestering you all so hard to actually turn out for this one. Check out their whole album - it's great!

We're kind of out of touch with genre, but we're pretty sure they're hipsters (the pineapple is a dead giveaway). These days everything "cool" just sounds like the Rolling Stones in their disco phase to us. By which we mean classic but funky and danceable (these are good things). And oversexed - just look at that mustache!

In deference to the short attention span and run-of-the-mill FB event invite fatigue we're sure you all experience, we've attempted to hook you by pairing this exciting band show with our first ever "Guerrilla Han Solo Bar," which will henceforth be Scenic code for something we extra especially think you should check out, even more than the other stuff we think is also worth your time. We assure you the Scenics and at least one other person that we know of will be there dressed as Han Solo (sometimes we just dress like this anyway). So of course we encourage you to get on that too. Because who doesn't enjoy shooting first, palling around with Wookies, and pairing a studly dark vest with an chest-baring pale shirt, amiright?

Hipstercana Wednesday: Sidewalk Dave & Elison Jackson

2011-05-23T18:44:00.001-04:00

Wednesday, May 25

Elison Jackson, The Donkeys, Citay @ BAR, New Haven

Sidewalk Dave @ The Half Door, Hartford

Competing-for-our-affection on a Wednesday? Guys, really?

We've seen Elison Jackson twice, but both gigs were in private basements which we didn't feel comfortable telling you about (like anybody listens to us anyway...) and we liked them live even better than what we've heard of their recordings, which are nice and all, but don't quite convey Sam's delicate Thom Yorke/guy from a band you've never heard of-esque vocal delivery or the chemistry of the current band lineup. So we're looking forward to their upcoming release, which is now in the works with that guy from M.T. Bearington we met that one time. We'd see them again, in a basement or wherever they may roam! In a box, with a fox, etc.

Elison Jackson will be the local boys on a gig with Californians The Donkeys and Citay, who we are too lazy to check out in the context of a post about our CT hipstercana favs. This Wednesday night indie rock interlude is brought to you, as always, by Manic Productions.

Do you ever notice how we plug the same stuff over and over again? That's on purpose. You want to know every crap thing going on at every club with no regard to quality or style? That's somebody else's actual job. This is our passion, and there's only so much of it to go around. And there's only so many people of taste in the state. We can't be spreading them too thin either.

Speaking of passion, Sidewalk Dave returns this week for their monthly Half Door gig. They are celebrating their new EP release, Can't be Your Friend (which you can preview right there at the link). We're sufficiently turned on by Dave's explicit lyrical references to sexual acts and bloody dismemberment set to pleasant, jaunty indie/alt-country melodies, but have to admit to being less than enamored with this cover art.

(appetite for self-destruction)

We hope you appreciate the depth of artistic integrity it takes for us to unfavorably critique our favorite things - even just the CD cover. In point of fact, the Scenics have a well-documented history in support of women disrobing (and most recently, a song about a Disrober - we're all about that shit!), but this particular composition of vacant-eyed chicks as visual props just leaves us flat. It's also weirdly familiar.

(I think we've seen this movie too)

CT Metal: Rekindling the Romance

2011-05-22T12:39:00.004-04:00

(Ipsissimus)

As I've mentioned time and again, I was a pretty seriously committed metalhead in my youth and young adulthood, and in an effort to be down I was willing to try really hard to get into all kinds of crap if it seemed trend-evil enough. But now that I've branched out musically and I'm entering early Cougardom, it's a bit harder to get my meat up about new metal, the local scene in particular, being all too familiar with the pay-to-play tactics of some local clubs, which falsely elevates those bands with the nicest friends or most indulgent parents. I know peeps who will just get drunk and headbang to any old crap, but they probably have IQs less than 100 and I just can't get down like that. And sorry, death metal, you may be "technical," but you are are terrible at any volume. Show me the catchy riffs or go home.

(Nightbitch)

As you may have read here on CT Scenic, I've been pretty excited about CT stoner/metal band Treebeard ever since catching their first gig at then newly opened Elm Bar, and I thought they were just as great on a second viewing at the same venue. So when I saw that they were playing Cherry Street Station with scene vet and all-the-way-back-t0-high-school pal Ryan's two bands, Ipsissimus and enticingly named Nightbitch, I thought this show had promise.

And when I pulled up to the poorly marked club on a desolate industrial block by the train tracks in Wallingford, I knew I was in for a real treat. And when I observed the dirt cheap prices ($4 for Magic Hat!) and amazing back smoking yard, I mentally punished myself for never having been to this club before.

(Corrupting a garden gnome. Smoking is so cool.)

Bygones. I was probably right. Most of those shows I opted not to drive 45 minutes to probably were indeed awful. But not this one! Nightbitch got this party started right. The three piece has "the guy from Treebeard" (and like 10 other bands - Chris) on drums and vocals, which is wicked impressive just by itself, and Ryan delivered all those catchy guitar riffs I was just craving. Their music is seriously good and reminded me of Danzig, but their not-so-serious, over-the-top evil song titles and perverted between-song banter, explaining that this song is about masturbation and that song is about werewolves fucking and whatnot really hit the spot (my g-spot, duh).

Next up was De Omega, featuring the bass player from Nightbitch (the theme of this show was Nightbitch and all the guys' from Nightbitch's other bands). They were described as "tech metal." They're all instrumental, which is inherently a bit less entertaining than sex/party metal, but they had some really lovely, dark atmospheric bits (as I might have said if I were writing metal journalism) and the bassist and guitarist were like nonstop tapping, which was giving all the young dudes in the crowd hella wood.

I am automatically skeptical of new American black metal, because it sort of seems like a style that is maybe better left to a certain time and place (Norway, 80s/90s), but I'm gonna have to hand it to Ipsissimus as well. It pains me to dole out such unadulterated praise about one night, but here again we had Ryan's being awesome on guitar at the heart of things, and the vocalist had a pretty killer rasp, and he made the most complicated banter comment about Nightbitch's set: "That band just did what your genitals were..." And I was like "huh?" and then totally got that he meant "ROCK HARD!" and it was the best thing ever, and I will never make fun of American guys for having black metal alteregos again.**

I have to admit to being overcome by pumpkin syndrome and leaving around midnight, before Treebeard got around to playing. Sorry Treebeard! But I already knew I liked them, so 4/4 stars for this gig! Look out for Ipsissimus' brand new release, The Way of Descent, on Metal Blade Records. Treebeard will be playing a gig at Cafe Nine June 11, and Chris from Treebeard, who has perfected human cloning, will also be playing that same night with Garbage Barge, who list GWAR as a primary influence and thus win my immediate good will - also at Cherry Street Station with for "Garbage Barge's Birthday Masquerade." We'll keep you posted about upcoming gigs from any of these fine bands as we hear about them. Check the FB for more sexy pics.

**LYING!

The Gay Movies

2011-05-21T11:08:00.003-04:00

May 26-June 4: The Connecticut Gay and Lesbian Film Festival @ Cinestudio, Hartford

First of all, we'd like to wish the film festival a very happy 24th birthday, and excluding only the Hartford Art Cinema, we couldn't think of a better venue to celebrate in than Trinity's lovely Cinestudio.

From the looks of things on the festival's website, we can all look forward to a diverse offering of short and feature length queer films. We are particularly interested in a short from Canada, titled "5 Dysfunctional People in a Car", (which is one person away from being "Team Scenic in a Car") based on this description: A 43-year-old woman, her 21-year-old boyfriend, her unhappily married sister, an aging mother and a burgeoning lesbian niece take a ride into discontent one winter's afternoon.

Then, there is another short titled "Gayby" on Saturday, that comes with this disclaimer: Warning: this film contains an incredibly awkward sex scene. Well, regardless of your sexual preference, we can all relate to that.

On the last day of the festival, there is a promising looking feature film called "Going Down in La La Land" and we're not just saying that because of the strong possibility of hot male nudity- really! From what we got from the trailer, this looks like it may be one of the standouts of the festival, funny and intense.

OH! And if you ACT NOW! (or very, very soon), you can get tickets at a discounted rate through Groupon. See you at the gay movies!

Happy Crickle Day!

2011-05-21T02:13:00.004-04:00

Do you like made up holidays? Do you like inappropriate touching and gift giving? Awkward traditions? Well, we have something miraculous to tell you! Some friends of the blog recently clued us in to the word "crickle", a word that they invented as a hybrid of the words "creepy" and "tickle". Seriously, its on urban dictionary, so its totally valid and real. And, the first annual Crickle Day happens to be today, May 21st! We're told that this holiday should be celebrated by giving inappropriate gifts to your friends (box of latex gloves?), or maybe an outing at the Gold Club for a little bit o' holiday sleaze. Happy Crickle Day to one and all!

Friends-of-the-blog compete-for-our-affections Friday

2011-05-19T23:28:00.000-04:00

Friday, May 20

Sidewalk Dave @ The Outer Space, Hamden

(fake boyfriends of the blog celebrate their new release, Girls, Girls Girls)

Black Taxi @ Rack n Roll, Stamford

(sexy out-of-town Brooklyn hipster boyfriends of the blog, hot off SXSW, etc.)

The Ninas @ Bank Street Cafe, New London

("just good friends" - hey, Ninas, get your act together so we can be all lazy and just post youtube!)

Terrible, awful, SEXY decisions! We feel just like Kelly Taylor.

(Does anyone know where I can score some blow?)

Lunching in Woodbury

2011-05-19T19:06:00.003-04:00

Ohhh Woodbury. You are slowly becoming my favorite CT town, and today may have just sealed the deal. With 2 hours to kill betwixt work appts, I wandered Route 6 in search of some entertainment. I headed for one of my fav indie natural food stores, New Morning, but instead pulled into the Good News Cafe to investigate. I hesitated in my car for a few, until the Meat Without Feet truck pulled up, and decided that was a sign to go in.

I've been driving by this place for months, but the timing was just never right until now. The sign is a little confusing, partially why I hadn't ventured in yet. I mean, can I get a cup of coffee to go or what?

I kind of expected to walk into Tisane when I opened the door, and I wasn't too far off. The walls are covered in artwork - paintings, photos, a mural in the bar, some weird sculptures hanging from the ceiling; and there is a case housing some Bridgewater chocolates and other baked items.

I sat at the bar, ogled some guy's martini, and perused the menu. A bit pricey, so I got the vegetarian-soup-of-the-day and some oysters. (I know. Weird.)

The soup was some kind of kale, chickpea concoction that far exceeded my expectations of a veg soup. The oysters were.. yknow.. oysters. I chatted up one of the "regulars" sitting next to me who shared his abundant knowledge of the restaurant, the owner, and other sights to see in CT. Apparently this restaurant is often written up as the best restaurant in CT and is visited by celebs on route to their summer homes. (Swoon? Whatever.) The owner, Carole Peck, has been featured on Martha Stewart several times and just opened another restaurant literally across the parking lot, Zeeburger. Apparently it's the cat's pajamas. (Maybe I would have known any of this if I ever read other blogs?) Coincidentally, we love cheeseburgers this week, and can't wait to check that out. Bob, our new friend at the bar, explained how he helped shape the new burger place with his suggestions of putting syrup in the milkshakes, and cooking the burgers by request, not just guessing. He also suggested Heinz ketchup, but doesnt think Carole will go for it. She makes everything from scratch, no artificial-anything allowed.

Here is Bob's coconut cake. He insisted that it be included:

Well, I still had 45 minutes to kill, so I went for round 2 - an iced cappuccino and a chocolate-peanut butter cookie.

Everything was just delightful. I would definitely come back, however, Zeeburger is next on my Woodbury agenda. Who knew there were amazing restaurants just sitting there on route 6 all this time? Not only is the food amazing, but the staff were friendly and willing to talk Bob and I through our lunches. The bartender, Michael, was both charming and informative. He told me about the Bethel Cinema, which used to be a porn theatre but now plays indie films. And some hiking trails nearby at something called Steep Rock. Looks like we have our work cut out for us in the-middle-of-nowhere, CT. Stay tuned.

Phallic Artistry at Elizabeth Park

2011-05-17T15:03:00.000-04:00

We haven't featured much art that looks like a penis here lately, have we? Hey, this sculpture at Hartford's Elizabeth Park looks like whale peen! They're bendy.

The lady Scenics observed this on an idyllic afternoon at the park recently, one of those Sundays when it wasn't raining. We're looking forward to the majesty of the rose garden (where we're all gonna gay-marry each other one day), and maybe taking the brunch shift at The Pondhouse Cafe some time soon.

Lucky - FOR YOU - I keep chatting up all these hot men

2011-05-17T12:43:00.004-04:00

I never get to talk to you all about the hottest rock n roll band on the planet, J Roddy Walston and the Business, because this isn't a music blog or anything and in my years as a fan they have not seen it fit to visit CT, so I've been forced to travel to New York and Boston to see them. As we've noted before, it's a good thing Hartford is so "conveniently" located - it only takes a couple-to-several hours and many dollars to reach destinations in either of those cities. We're lucky if cool bands even stop here for snacks. Well, this week I took a walk on the wild side and traveled to Brooklyn on a weeknight to see them play at my new favorite venue, Brooklyn Bowl, a giant bowling alley/music venue with obscenely portioned food and great beer on tap that plays cult films (like The Warriors and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) projected on the wall and on big screens over the bowling lanes... J Roddy is doing a "residency" there this month, playing every Monday night. You all should go and see them up close and cheap before they are hugely famous and won't be available to humor silly questions while soundchecking their own instruments like "Is there a dollar amount you can tell me that would get you guys to Connecticut?"

The band is from Baltimore and they play rock n roll with classic blues and southern influences. They are charismatic as hell, with dirty, catchy lyrics about fucking and fighting, and everyone in the band does what they do really well and they all do all these great backing vocals and falsettos and stuff, but why should I describe it when you can just listen? First time I saw and heard them I walked in on them playing this song and I was immediately hooked. The room was packed - we couldn't see shit, so I'm not being superficial here, I didn't even know they were handsome for like another year - I turned to my friend and said "OMG I want to sit on their face - METAPHORICALLY"**

But before J Roddy played last night, there were these opening bands, and all this idle time. I was already hanging out with more or less the coolest guy in the room (you remember professional donut model Will... omg he always has the craziest work stories like "and so now this beautiful androgynous Dutch chick is totally licking glaze and sprinkles from the contours of my exquisite washboard abs..."), so it's not like I was trying to meet peeps. But then Will disappeared for a bit, and the next-best-looking man in the club happened to sit down near where our group was sitting, so I asked him if he was a fan of the band.

He didn't know them, but knew they were playing Bonnaroo, and his band was playing Bonnaroo, so he was curious... So OK, this guy is really cool, obvs, but I'm really cool too because I dress badly and know more about J Roddy Walston and the Business, who are about to be his favorite too. And then he casually mentioned that his band played with the Allmans, so I was like "blah blah blah...Matt Zeiner...?" and lo and behold he and I have a mutual friend in Connecticut! And this guy's band, The Jamie McClean Band, is actually gonna be in charming little Colinsville for a gig next month - so it's a good thing he happened to meet Hartford's second favorite local blogger, right?!

He just happened to have a CD on him ("Is that a CD in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? Oh! It is a CD! Give me!") which I checked out on the ride home. And what do you know, this guy is really good. We've occasionally mentioned how challenging we Scenics sometimes find it to describe art or music that isn't about being tortured or miserable without sounding like we're being insincere. And here I have that challenge again, because this guy reminds me of Steve Miller or the Black Crowes, and I mean that as a compliment, because I grew up on classic rock radio like anybody else my age, and it's rockin and catchy and he has a nice voice and these great guitar solos. A quick Youtube perusal finds him sitting in with everyone from Govt Mule to Blues Traveler to Gavin DeGraw. But is it my fault that reality has conspired to make me identify most closely with songs about boozing up, fucking up and inner rage, and not so much with songs about this great, total package guy who is not at all ashamed of expressing his sexuality and how he loves this chick and isn't trying to keep it on the DL or also go after some other chick? Whatever. I'm looking forward to checking this guy out June 18th at Bridge Street Live. And don't worry, we'll remind you about it again before then!

**(I cannot emphasize enough the importance of saying what you really mean and differentiating between literal and symbolic language, and neither can this guy)

Fishing, anyone?

2011-05-15T21:01:00.005-04:00

As a 13 year old kid on the shoreline of Connecticut, seeing those Master Bait and Tackle commercials on TV was a frequent source of amusement.

Yes, its a real store. And yes, 20 years later, it's still funny.

$5 Movies

2011-05-15T19:53:00.005-04:00

We've already told you about the late night screenings of old favorites in Hartford and New Haven, but in case you're new, or just not paying attention, here are a few movie outings you may be interested in.

~Friday May 20 and Saturday May 21- Pink Floyd: The Wall @ The Criterion, New Haven

Have you been feeling nostalgic about taking LSD and watching some fucked up shit? Here ya go.

~Friday May 20 and Saturday May 21- The Rocky Horror Picture Show @ Bow Tie Cinema, Hartford

What is going on here? We've noticed that Rocky Horror has been playing pretty regularly at Bow Tie over the last few months, but haven't heard anything about a live cast performing alongside the movie. Anyone want to organize one? We have a veteran Rocky Horror performer right here on Team Scenic.

Spot the Scenic, and win a prize*!

~Friday May 27 and Saturday May 28- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan @ The Criterion, New Haven

....we should also organize some audience participation to go with this one.

~Friday May 27 and Saturday May 28- Pee Wee's Big Adventure @ Bow Tie Cinema, Hartford

Amazing Larry is the most underrated character of this beloved movie (obviously).

*a photoshop of you with Tim Curry

In Soviet CT, Boston Comes to You!

2011-05-10T19:01:00.008-04:00

Boston rock band The Few are comin' to town! (We totally know their manager - shoutout Bryan Donoghue!) They're playing 2 shows, Friday at the Hessian Lion in Avon, and Saturday at the Mapletree Cafe in Simsbury. The band has a little something for everyone... they are described as classic rock, blues, funk, soul... y'know, all the funnest genres. The lead singer, Jaime MacKenzie, is not only a hottie, but classically trained and hella talented. Her husband, Kevin MacKenzie, sings, plays amazing guitar solos, and reminds us that functional relationships can exist! Bassist Ryan Martin is a luthier who crafts custom instruments for the band. (How impressive is that??). We don't know much about drummer Shaemus Shepard, but the imternets tell us that he kicks ass. The live show promises both visual AND aural excitement, as they do something involving a projector, and tend to bust out bizarre instruments like the mandolin or the washboard. They are upbeat and fun and dancey and this should be a wonderful time. This is also a great opportunity to check the Hessian Lion which we hear has all of our favorite things - couches, $4 Guinness, and sexy bartenders! See you there.

Friends-of-the-blog New Haven takeover

2011-05-09T23:56:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, May 11: Sidewalk Dave & Johnny Corndawg @ BAR, New Haven

Friday, May 13: Steven Deal, The Jackies, Stark Raving Lulu @ Elm Bar, New Haven

By now you're all well aware of our special feelings for New Haven's Sidewalk Dave, and if you're not, well, here... This Wednesday watch Sidewalk Dave's Dave play with himself (*sizzle*) for a rare solo gig at BAR, which will also feature this Johnny Corndawg fellow, who we're just looking into now, but his style seems to be that cherry blend of singer-songwriter and autism spectrum disorder that always drives us out of our pants. This show is brought to you by Manic Productions. They seem to like it when we say their name. Maybe if we say it enough they will book our out-of-town pretend boyfriends, Black Taxi, to play in New Haven. We only go to New York for donuts. Gigs are impossible.

Friday night our friend Steven Deal will be playing at Elm Bar, who we apparently bullied into lowering their ridiculous Guinness prices in our greatest accidental accomplishment yet, along with some girlie bands. We totally don't know The Jackies, but their name is certainly promising!

Steven and Katie met via JDate and hit it off famously over some fries, back when that Elm joint was real Rudy's. Oy! The self-loathing of these two though! He's a nazi reenactor; she once ghost-wrote an unflattering portrait of David Ben-Gurion for a scholarly publication. Ha ha, just kidding - they only look Druish.

I call that a donut, the best I ever had

2011-05-09T22:41:00.006-04:00

Sorry CT, sometimes I've got to get away. This weekend I left your sorry ass for Brooklyn, where I drank beer, ate a turkey sandwich, had some mediocre latenite diner food, consumed copious amounts of iced coffee, watched dvds, played videos on youtube, listened to tunes on Grooveshark - stuff I simply cannot do here at home. Well, the least I could do was review some indie donuts while I was there! You remember how we used to review donuts on the regs before donuts went and jumped the shark?

(Professional donut model Will has his work
cut out for him staying so fit selling donuts)

Sunday morning my host and I walked to Dough. I immediately noticed that the donuts were the size of small pillows, then gawked over enticing flavors like chocolate chipotle and hibiscus. Ultimately, I played it kind of safe with a cinnamon sugar donut and one slathered in chocolate "with cocoa nibs." These donuts were huge, but I ate two - for you. And while I am so happy that they were as delicious as one could possibly hope, it is with some regret that I admit they are better than any of those CT donuts we tried last year, which will now pale in comparison. The cinnamon sugar one tasted just like perfect, fresh fried dough, and the topping on the other was rich, real chocolate. Can a thing be moist and fluffy at the same time? Yes, I do believe it can. What if a sheep got left out in the rain? These donuts were simultaneously moist and fluffy. I must report that the "dollars to donuts" exchange rate we've boasted of before is less favorable when we're talking about New York gourmet donuts; in the city, we are only half as wealthy.

(Lucky girl! Katie Scenic can't get over how big it is!)

CT Oddities

2011-05-08T20:03:00.005-04:00

This exists:

Abbott Tech, Danbury

Holly Golightly and The Proud Flesh

2011-05-07T15:55:00.006-04:00

Sunday, May 8: Holly Golightly and The Proud Flesh @ Cafe Nine

It was only a week ago that 3/4 of Team Scenic had fun seeing MT Bearington and Eula at Cafe Nine, and the awesome streak continues with Holly Golightly and the Proud Flesh on Sunday. After you take your mom to see Mommie Dearest, take her to this!

I have a friend that makes me mix cds for my birthday every year, and she always includes a track by Holly Golightly. Having absolutely no knowledge of who Holly Golightly is, I had always gotten the feeling that she was a garage musician from the 60's by the way those songs sounded. Not the case! As it turns out, her career began in the 90s, and she was also a part of Thee Headcoatees (who we've totally heard of). Because I am lazy, here is what her website has to say:

Although often connected with garage rock, HOLLY GOLIGHTLY'S music is more a mixture of pre-rock electric country blues, folk and less frantic rock & roll. It brings to mind a bourbon soaked honky tonk bar, evenings on a dusty front porch with your faithful hound, cracked hearts and foot stomping good times. She creates a world all of her own, one that's warm hearted, true to it's roots and not swayed by fads and fashions.

And let's not forget the Proud Flesh, who, if you've been paying attention around here, you've totally heard of. Katie Scenic enjoyed their performance at that guy's house that time, and also told you about their album Tiny Picture Frames over here.

Farm to Street... specifically, Broad St.

2011-05-07T11:06:00.012-04:00

We'd been hearing rumors that the chefs from Middletown's It's Only Natural were going to start a vegan food truck business, but didn't have any details- until I came into work on Thursday, to find this friendly note from a thoughtful coworker:

The Billings Forge Farmer's Market is a nice place to enjoy your lunch break on a Thursday. Besides selling produce, bread and cheese from local farms, vendors also sell artisan soaps and other handmade goods, cargo bikes, and there is usually some kind of live music going on. I got a cup of organic fair trade coffee from Bean and Leaf before going to check out the GMonkey Truck.

Oh, such options! I had run into a scenic pal who recommended the black bean burger, and yet another scenic pal who had nice things to say about the spicy peanut noodles and the smoothies. I was interested in the chili, but decided to get the burger instead.

Ok, friendly suggestion? More burger, less bread. Maybe even less bread, and a few GMonkey fries (those are the sweet potato fries that are so delicious at ION). A few bites in, I realized it would be in my best interest to take the top pieces of bread off and actually enjoy the flavor of chipotle and pesto, which is what I was going for. The black bean patty was quite tasty, but for $7, eh... I wound up throwing that bread away.

Anyway, the GMonkey truck will be at Billings Forge every Thursday, and that is good. They also have a regular gig in Durham, and possibly Bushnell Park. Check out their calendar on facebook, and if you beg them hard enough, maybe you can get tasty organic vegan truck food where you live.

I'll like whatever Kimono Josh tells me to like

2011-05-06T21:03:00.007-04:00

Sunday, May 8: Old Man Lady Luck, Chumps, Electric Bucket @ BAR, New Haven

So Wednesday night I went to see that Kimono Draggin' farewell show *sniff* - you remember, it was like, one post ago. I got their early so I could say hi to the band fellas, and right away Josh wanted to know why wasn't I wearing my Morbid Angel t-shirt, which made such a splash on facebook when I posted this adorable old picture:

This got us into a whole thing about what huge metal dorks we all were and how horribly unfashionable "back in the day." And Kimono Chris said something about Slayer or maybe it was back patches, and I had to confess to this item:

(which was actually cobbled together from hand-me-downs for an
80s themed day back in the 90s, but still... yeah... this)

Anyway, I explained that I had indeed considered various outfits that evening to pay fitting tribute on the occasion of their final show, but had ultimately decided to go with kind of a "sexy Han Solo" vibe because it was Star Wars Day, and earlier Josh had posted "May the Fourth be with you" on Facebook, and then we got into it about how much we love those movies and what great Star Wars toys we all own.

(truth: I just like to dress like Han Solo, and then I saw the Star Wars Day thing - synchronicity!)

Point being, these guys are obviously my long lost brothers, so if one of them says check out some band that's playing a must-see show this Sunday, I'm gonna take the thirty seconds on youtube and check out the band. Old Man Lady Luck seems to be some kind of stoner/doom heavy thing, which I can dig, and a New Haven "supergroup" to boot (members of the Vultures, Bloarzeyd and Murdervan - we've mentioned all those cats here before). And wow, Steve Albini worked on their record. That's some serious indie cred right there. And dig that flier! That broad with the hot body and the big beard will be me after menopause if I keep up the Bikram!

I'm too hungry to check out those other bands right now, but isn't this enough? Check the links... sorry, Electric Bucket's is a myspace page. Those are the worst!

Cinco de Mayo happenings at City Steam

2011-05-03T19:50:00.007-04:00

Drink away your Cinco de Mayo to the sweet sounds of Shuli Egar, John Tole and CT local Claudia Stavola. They will be at City Steam this Thursday to hilarify you and raise funds for our most favorite film festival, the Silk City Flick Fest. You're not having deja vu, we went to a very similar fundraiser last year, and had a super time. Shuli made all our favorite kinds of jokes; penis jokes, Jewish jokes, midget jokes, etc... but even better was when another comedian dropped the "faggot"-bomb, and all the homosexuals in the audience dramatically gasped in unison. Well, that guy apparently was not invited back, but judging by the blow-up doll on Claudia's webpage, she is our kind of lady. Come down, drink delicious local beer, hear funny things, and support this year's film festival!

PS. We know downtown sux, but there will be free parking on Morgan Street!

Our life is an endless succession of people saying goodbye: Kimono Draggin' Edition

2011-05-03T18:20:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, May 4: Kimono Draggin', Cats and Cats and Cats, Ladycop @ BAR, New Haven

(Kimono Joe got SuperScenic Vision for his B-Day, that's how much we like him)

Alas, with heavy hearts we bid farewell this week to our recent "newest favorite CT band" Kimono Draggin' - seems we only just met and fell in love with them, WTF.

Well, at least they're playing themselves out. We've been checking the Wednesday night scene at BAR where consummate show booker Manic Productions has been doing great things, presenting indie rock from near and far. It's pretty cool. It's free, they brew their own beer, there's pizza, and these big padded fish tank thingies you can sit in if you're lazy. And as you would expect, the joint is typically full of CT music scene-lebrities, like this guy.

In case you haven't heard them and were too lazy to click the link above (which is one of our funniest posts, seriously!), here's what we had to say about Kimono Draggin' on our first impression:

These guys are kind of like Mister Bungle, if Mister Bungle was actually fun (for us) to listen to. By which we mean they are amazing technical musicians playing silly, schizoid music that pretty much makes a raucous mockery of overblown rock and metal as well as overly earnest alternative styles via genre hopping, shredding, goofy lyrics, outrageous falsettos, and unexpected references. They also made adorable small penis jokes about their half (3 1/2") of the 7-inch. You know this means their actual cocks are HUGE.

Since then we've also learned that bassist/singer Josh is an amazing whiskey blogger, which doesn't tell you much about their music, but may give you some idea what drinks to buy him. Suffice to say, we are bummed that these guys are calling it quits as a band, especially since the Scenic ladies had high hopes of using our association with them to realize their video vixen fantasies. Oh well, maybe those puppet people can give us something debauched to do on camera instead if we keep talking them up.

The FB event tells us KD is playing first, so don't be late. We haven't heard Cats and Cats and Cats but understand they've come all the way from the UK to charm us with their accents. Ladycop is from NYC; let's show them that CT knows how to stand around with arms crossed in slovenly dress just as well as Brooklyn, thank you very much.

This new KD vid does not feature any Scenics, but it's still hot stuff!

"The Mother of Them All!"

2011-05-02T18:37:00.005-04:00

Saturday May 7 and Sunday May 8: Mommie Dearest at Bowtie Cinema, Hartford @ 11am

Looking for something special to do with mom this weekend? Take her to a screening of the unintentionally hilarious mother-from-hell biopic, Mommie Dearest! This Mother's Day classic has played in years past at New Haven's Criterion Cinema, but this year, Hartford will be getting the wire hanger treatment.

You know, Bow Tie should really consider a Mother's Day screening of Fitzscenic family favorite mom movie, Serial Mom. My own mother actually introduced me to this movie when it came out in the 90s, and inadvertently started my undying love for everything John Waters. My mom regards Kathleen Turner's character as some kind of personal role model, but really, who hasn't fantasized about murdering someone for simply getting on your nerves?

As legend has it, Mom Fitzscenic even made a little prank call to one of her friends one intoxicated night, imitating the obscene phone call Serial Mom makes in the movie (you'll have to google that one yourself).

Funk in Bristol

2011-04-28T17:00:00.003-04:00

Look, we understand that Funk is probably the family name, but when you're in the dead body business, perhaps you'd consider calling your funeral home and crematorium something a little more tasteful. That's all.

From New Britain with Love

2011-04-27T19:53:00.009-04:00

Crazy kids.

Stanley Park, New Britian, CT

New Haven Friday: Rock N' Roll and (partially) Naked Men

2011-04-27T17:03:00.006-04:00

Friday, April 29: EULA Record Release party @ Cafe Nine, New Haven- with special guests MT Bearington and DJ Bootybeats

We were thoroughly impressed by EULA's noisy, pop-punky, female-fronted performance at last years SWAN Day CT, and have given them a little bloggie love around here, too. Theres something about their shouty, raw, dissonant sound that makes us nostalgic for all those Kill Rock Stars compilation records! Well, this Friday they will be celebrating the release of their own record, at New Haven's scenic venue of choice, Cafe Nine. MT Bearington will also perform, and as if that wasn't enough awesome for ya, they are also offering vegan treats and something called "mystery punch".

And while you're wasting gas to go have fun in New Haven, you might as well check out Men Incorporated, the all male revue we told you would be happening at Terminal 110.

(His name is Charles Steel)

We've never been to see male strippers before and the idea strikes us as more ridiculous than sexy (possibly a little gross?), but that's ok; we like all of those things. These dudes will be appearing at Up or On The Rocks next Friday, also.

Step up to the mic

2011-04-25T20:57:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, April 27: Live band karaoke with Dean Falcone & Friends @ Cafe Nine, New Haven

Friday, April 29: "Halloween and a Half" live band dress-up karaoke with Bandwith Karaoke @ The Well, Cromwell

(Scenic pal Chris was not too shy to perform

with Bandwith Karaoke on night in Plainville)

Although most of Team Scenic is usually too shy to actually perform at all these karaoke gigs we're always telling you are awesome, we support the notion that we are all starring in the movie of our own life and encourage center stage grabbing and scene stealing at every turn. Laura and Katie have checked out CT's two major live band karaoke gigs and thoroughly enjoyed the show, in spite of totally chickening out of actually trying it.

We've written up Dean Falcone's take on live band karaoke before. We were impressed with the band's musicianship, and how helpful and supportive they were of less confident performers. Their song selection was mostly classic rock. This gig happens monthly or so.

Bandwith Karaoke has a lot of newer rock in their set - the alt radio rock of the 90s and early 00s, which really takes 3/4s of the Scenic's back, whether we like it or not. They also played some hard rock of the 80s (we were impressed by their rendition of "Dr. Feelgood" sung by a particularly talented participant). Bandwith Karaoke have been playing frequently, including weekly gigs at Black Bear in Milford. We understand they'd like a Hartford gig, if anyone powerful is reading this? We think it's cool that they are encouraging costumes at this week's Cromwell gig. Sometimes Scenics just wear costumes to karaoke anyway.

Celebrity Sighting at Whole Foods!

2011-04-24T21:08:00.003-04:00

Today I made a quick run into Whole Foods, and noticed an adorably faggy punk boy who stuck out like a sore thumb. Naturally, I stared. He walked over to his friend, who I immediately recognized as gay punk icon Hunx of Gravy Train and Hunx and his Punx!

Gravy Train's shows were some of the funnest I've ever been to, and I can't get enough of the youtube music videos for Hunx's new band- come on, he's adorable! Well, I wasn't going to let this be like the time I saw my idol John Waters and just stood there gawking, so I went over to say hi and make some awkward conversation. I found out that he was was on his way from New York to Boston to play a show, and he and "Hunx Jr", as he introduced his friend, were stopping off for some snacks. Right here in West Hartford, folks!

Midweek Magic @ Bespoke

2011-04-24T15:01:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, April 27: An Evening at Bespoke Ideat Village Fundraiser @ Bespoke, New Haven

Ideat Village, some kind of fun event-throwing artistic collective with a cute name, is just one more reason for us to have Scenic Envy for New Haven, and their fundraiser happening midweek at Bespoke sounds fun and delicious. It's a little out of the Scenic budget range, alas, but we expect that some of you may have well-paid jobs and might be willing to shell out for good cause and a good time. Bespoke is a fancy, "sutainable" joint, so we're sure their twist on a menu promising "TV dinners" and homemade ice cream will actually be creative and amazing. And some of the Scenics' favorite New Haven performers, including hilarious burlesque gal Dot Mitzvah and drag queen Robin Banks will be performing, so there is nothing about this that won't be awesome, except maybe your wine spritzer hangover in your cubicle (you work in a cubicle, right?) Thursday morning. A very limited number of tickets are being sold, so if you're interested, get right on this!

Shag Frenzy is back

2011-04-23T13:04:00.003-04:00

Tonight: Shag Frenzy @ Arch Street Tavern in Hartford

Shag Frenzy, the "indie disco night" hosted by a husband-and-wife DJ team, was wildly popular in its day and hopped around to several venues before calling it quits. Much to the delight of well, anyone who ever enjoyed dancing their ass off at this hipster fest, Shag Frenzy will be returning to Hartford on the third Saturday of each month, this time at the Arch Street Tavern.

We've never been regulars at this event, but always appreciated the fun atmosphere and setlists that include punk, new wave, disco, and britpop. Shag Frenzy, Connecticut needs you. Welcome back.

Watching TV: The Killing

2011-04-23T11:37:00.004-04:00

Another great thing to do (when not being "scenic") is watch TV. Fitzscenic and I both share a deep and somewhat shameful affection for the original 90210, but I don't really want to talk about that, because CT Scenic is about our discerning taste and cultural elitism. I haven't being keeping up with pop culture that well lately, so I stumbled upon the premiere episode of The Killing on AMC by accident, and became immediately hooked. The plot is a murder mystery in which the murder of a teenage girl incriminates a surprising array of suspects, including her classmates, teachers, a politician, and maybe some organized crime, too? But that's not really what's so great about it, not for me anyway.

I was drawn in by the characters, particularly the two detectives, portrayed by Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman, whose charisma and emotional believability carry the show. You may recall the lead actress from HBO's (terrible) Big Love, where she portrayed twin sister polygamists. I was impressed with her performance there, in spite of that show's ridiculous plots and unlikable leads characters. She conveyed a real seriousness and vulnerability that her roles called for, and she's unconventionally hot (at least dressed down for these roles - truthfully, she's just straight-up gorgeous), which is some how even more appealing than the conventional kind. Her male partner is kind of a hottie as well (which I already thought before I read that the actor is Swedish!), and his character has all the best lines. He dresses like a bum and speaks in curses and slang ("douche"!) and routinely portrays a pothead looking to party in order to gain the trust of teenage suspects.

The sexy does not stop there. The sexiest male cylon (BSG, duh) Callum Keith Rennie plays a supporting role as detective lady's possibly sinister fiance. And True Blood's most funnest villain, maenad (and also BSG alum) Michelle Forbes, who inspired me to get these bangs that look so good on me, plays the grieving mother of the victim. So it's like a big TV reunion of actors I'd totally do. What a treat!

The Killing is on Sunday nights. It's available on demand with your fancy cable, so you can catch up. It's great. Watch it.

CT's Got Game

2011-04-22T21:15:00.004-04:00

Sometimes going out and being scenic feels a little less appealing than enjoying the comforts of home, especially when it costs $50 to fill up your Hyundai (or whatever you roll around in). There are many ways to be entertained at home, and assuming you have some friends, a game night can be a great way to spend an evening in. Here are a few games that we like.

1. Pass the Pigs

This is a classic dice game, only instead of dice, you roll these cute little piggies. Depending on how they land, you will score different point values until you decide your turn is over, or you "pig out" (see above). Watch out for the dreaded "oinker"- pigs touching in any way means you go back to zero! That sucks!

2. The Game of Things

This is a game that allows you to be really creative, and if you are like us, display your poor taste and crude sense of humor. During each round, someone will pick a card and read the category to the other players, who write down their answers on little pieces of paper. Examples of the categories may be "Things you shouldn't play catch with", or "Things you shouldn't do while driving". When all the answers are passed in, they will be read aloud and each person will try to guess who said what. Hilarious, right?

3. Bottle Topps

This game invites you to "Stack 'em High and Stack 'em Wide", and by 'em they mean these wood chips... which by the way are made from real wood, as you may notice from the above picture (Parker Brothers included the seal of Real Wood in 5 out of 6 box panels, to make sure you understand). Not unlike Jenga, this is a game that requires manual dexterity and not fucking up by spilling all the pieces, so obviously the more you drink, the more exciting it becomes.

Abby Dabby: we'd totally live there

2011-04-21T19:17:00.003-04:00

When Jackie and I first started blogging, a lot of Scenic content hearkened back to our teenage years when we first met and started doing, well, the same exact stuff we do now, pretty much, only at the time it was normal adolescence, not arrested development... One of the more socially acceptable things we used to do was eat ice cream in West Hartford Center. Back in the day, Baskin Robbins was a frequent destination, for cool treats of course, but equally importantly for cool dudes. Our girlfriend group enjoyed a collective crush (before everyone went gay?) on the staff at said establishment, some of West Hartford's hottest long haired/band guys a couple years older (then-world of difference) than ourselves.

(Inside Abby Dabby looks just like an ice cream parlour)

Well, lately Jackie and I have been hitting the ice cream pretty hard, and we're pleased we don't have to go to swank, crowded, expensive-to-park-at West Hartford Center anymore to do it. In fact, we can get indie ice cream at totally unfashionable Bishops Corner at Abby Dabby. On a recent visit, the very friendly owner served us and pushed samples pretty enthusiastically, and we had a laugh remembering a story Baskin Robbins alum "Steve from the Skegs" used to tell us about some crazy lady who used to come in and ask for samples and expect to be spoon fed by the staff!

(Scenic pal and professional ice cream model Dayna
just bought sneakers the color of those sprinkles)

Abby Dabby features ice cream by Ashley's (maybe this Ashley's?) and New Hampshire's Walpole Creamery. We've been especially turned on by unexpected flavors like burnt brown sugar and ginger (with chunky bits of candied ginger). They keep giving us ice cream cards to punch and get a freebee and we keep losing them. Scenics don't really care for children, we believe they should be not seen and not heard, but we are glad to live in such a kid-filled community as can support a neighborhood ice cream joint like Abby Dabby.

Puppet Movie Encore

2011-04-21T19:11:00.003-04:00

This Friday and Saturday: Encore presentation of Josh and Todd, Paris in Plantsville gallery

Josh and Todd: The Story of a Man and His Puppet is a film that asks the question, What would you do if you woke up one morning to find a monster has moved in with you? And furthermore, what would you do if said monster was getting wasted with one-eyed puppet strippers in your living room?

If you missed the premiere back in February - which you most likely did, since we didn't recognize anyone there- don't worry. You didn't totally blow it. Paris in Plantsville will host encore screenings this Friday and Saturday at 8:00/doors at 7:00. And this time around, your $5 donation will put you in the running to win one of filmmaker Jon Bristol's puppet creations. And after you see the hot puppet-on-human action in the film, you may be even more eager to be chosen as the winner.

Brownbird back again

2011-04-21T17:46:00.005-04:00

Saturday, April 23: Brownbird Rudy Relic @ Vegas Blvd., Hartford

Rudy Relic has a rabid little Hartford following and not for nothing. I caught his act (check the sexy FB gallery!) a few months back and was just floored by his antics - performing sans microphone or amplification, rolling around on the floor, jumping off the stage, inviting audience participation, and rocking his very slick signature skinny tie/wingtips look, as seen in this here music video:

You may have read about the Scenic charm of "Vague-ass Boulevard" here before... You won't want to miss this colliding of the spheres - hot, original talent, giant beers and obesifying treats! Last week all four Scenics were together in the same room, an unprecedented first, believe it or not. The lure of Rudy Relic should be sufficient to bring about a second such gathering. Consider it the All-Scenic seal of approval, a high standard from Hartford's second best local blogger(s). no? See you there? Stalk you later?

WINNING!?

2011-04-21T16:55:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I was sincerely surprised to read in the Hartford Advocate Readers Poll that CT Scenic had come in second place for "Best Local Blogger," and even more astonished to see that we had beaten third placer Colin McEnroe, who we had anticipated losing to and predicted to win first place back when we were first begging for your votes.

We already knew we hadn't won-won, since real winners were notified in advance and trotted out for pictures and interviews (I participated in this process on the editorial side, once upon a time). Our relative victory over famous professional Colin was sweet, but we were startled and frankly pissed to see a blog we've never even heard of, Sprinkles of Parsley, take the cake. Colin we would have expected. We would have graciously accepted defeat at the hands of one of the seemingly more dedicated and earnest (see, we're so humble) CT scene blogs like CT Indie or Real Hartford. But food porn - really CT?

If I may pull a Kanye on my own blog's behalf here for a moment: that lady may live in our state, and those pictures are really high resolution, for sure, but that shit has nothing to do with Connecticut, and it's only a "blog" because free blogs are an idiot-proof way to put content on the internet without knowing dick about websites, not because it includes links or commentary or current events or anything else normally associated with the tone or character or blogging.

We totally hate parsley.

This may seem like "sore losing" but would you expect anything less (or is it more) from us? Bitch, please. Whatever it takes to feel like a win.

And now that we're winners, I feel kind of bad about not posting for like four weeks. That makes us kind of a lousy blog. But truth be told, as much as I like to carry on about providing an awesome community service via CT Scenic in my more self-aggrandizing moments, my participation is purely self-serving and any benefits to the readers are purely coincidence. And lately the blog just doesn't isn't delivering for me in the "artistic fulfillment" department, I've failed to get the only jobs that would consider CT Scenic a resume asset, and my non-working hours seem better spent on my food and exercise hobbies/addictions and actually hanging out with the Scenics, who really are the best people ever. But when I look back on the year and a half of Scenic, I realize that many of the best times and new friends are directly tied to CT Scenic-isms, whether it was our own events, things we were encouraged to "blog about" by others, or people who probably wouldn't have been impressed with us if we didn't have some stupid creative angle. Oh wait, if there's anyone actually like that latter, we totally hate them too. It doesn't happen often, but sometimes people say they like what we do and that it actually got the to check something out or like something they wouldn't have otherwise known about (like local TV music guy, Chip, who liked a band we suggested so much he put them on his show and totally plugged us!).

Thanks Chip, and Sidewalk Dave, Real Art Ways, and everyone who voted for your meaningful encouragement and indulgence along the way. In honor of this Readers Poll victory, we pledge to be a better blog, at least for the next couple days. We also intend to fulfill our earlier promise, in case anybody noticed it, to throw a victory party, which we hope will closely resemble our Blogaversary bash in terms of delivering the booze, bands, donuts, gaudy fliers and live Human Centipede reenactments. Alas, we don't have a date or anything yet - everything hinges on being able to pin down our dream bands and venue.

Thanks for bearing with us and reading this terrible post. Enjoy the latest video by our dream band, Black Taxi, and stay tuned.

Naughty By Nature (yeah you know them)

2011-04-20T18:06:00.004-04:00

Friday, April 23rd: Naughty By Nature @ Terminal 110, New Haven

I recently got invited to a friend's birthday party at a New Haven bar, and somewhere within the invite, it was mentioned that there would be a live performance by Naughty by Nature. Um, what?

Lest you wonder if this is some other band called Naughty by Nature, we can assure you that it is exactly who you think it is. And we'd also like to mention that Terminal 110 has an All Male Revue scheduled for April 29, so, we may need to see what that's all about. You know, for research purposes. For you.

Lesbians and the Spin Cycle

2011-03-27T16:51:00.006-04:00

Monday, March 28: Ladies Night at Spin; Spin Cycle Cafe in Newington

Its a shame we haven't yet checked out Spin Cycle Cafe, but with having laundry facilities in our own homes, and eating/boozing facilities in our own neighborhoods, we've honestly had little need for it. However, we can all appreciate the brilliance of putting a bar/cafe in a laundromat. And the only thing that could possibly top the idea of washing your socks while going on a date, is washing your socks while partying with lesbians!

This Monday will be the grand kick off party, and will continue as a weekly event. Handsome Dave of Koji gay fame is the person responsible for this awesome idea, and states that this will be the first weekly ladies night in an otherwise straight bar in Connecticut. Remarkably, this may also be the first weekly ladies night in a laundromat, anywhere.

The action starts at 9, and there is a $3.00 cover. We've been promised drink specials, live entertainment, and food.

Fahrenheit 860

2011-03-25T22:28:00.003-04:00

WHAT: "Investigate Building 7: A Call to Reexamine the Most Important Event of Our Time"
WHERE: Millard Auditorium, University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Ave, West Hartford
WHEN: Saturday, March 26 9:30am - 9:30pm

This weekend WWUH presents a call-to-action focusing on "Building 7", a third building in the World Trade Center complex, that fell hours after the intitial collapse of the twin towers. Examination of the available evidence does not support the official explanation of a fire-induced collapse, and concerned citizens are urging officials in NY to open an investigation. A panel of experts including writers, researchers, engineers and 9/11 family members will present the overwhelming evidence supporting the need to reexamine the events of 9/11.

The schedule can be found and other info can be found here.

The Advocate reads CT Scenic so you don't have to (again)

2011-03-23T17:13:00.000-04:00

You may remember when it happened with the donuts - a cover story by someone not named Katie Scenic?! And after all those indie donut reviews we did. Well, the tribute is flattering. But flattery won't pay for our $6 Guinnesses this Friday.

This week we're pleased to see our friends You Scream I Scream featured in Dan Barry's Ear Might column, or blog, or whatever they're calling it these days. But his angle on tolerable YSIS - drawing a contrast with intolerable indie rock duos Matt & Kim and Mates of State, and then making a comparison to also-tolerable White Stripes, sounds astonishingly familiar. We're aware that Dan is a reader, so now we know what homage feels like. Dan also recently wrote an essay about how little money he makes as a freelance writer for the paper. But how much should one be paid for writing casual missives about local pop culture, really? We stopped pretending this was work ages ago, but would gladly take the $8,000 a year as a party budget (more great Scenic parties for you, that is) and keep our day jobs.

Cuvee: We totally want to live there

2011-03-23T17:09:00.004-04:00

We recently mentioned our interest in checking out Cuvee's 50% off everything happy hour, after noticing a sign for it during a boozy Saturday night there. So, when a friend suggested a Tuesday happy hour meetup, we decided to take Cuvee for a spin and see if it was as awesome as we thought it would be.

It was.

Now, the drinks and food at Cuvee are definitely overpriced, but not outrageously so. When you consider the loungey, swanky atmosphere, plush couch seating, and the air of sexiness, their prices are about what you'd expect. Its certainly not the first time we've overpaid for food and drink simply because we like the place. But two hours of getting everything for half off makes it so much more fun and easy to sample items from the huge booze menu, and interesting small plates of food.

We decided to jump right in with some martinis made with low calorie vodka- pink lemonade for Jackie Scenic and straight up for Laura Fitz. Everyone knows that "low calorie" usually equals "fucking awful", but we actually couldn't taste any difference... probably because vodka doesn't taste very good to begin with.

We made our way around the menu, taking full advantage of that discount. A lot of the cocktails we tasted were on the sweet side, but we did really like the Glacial Pear. For food, we tried their tuna tartar, hummus, ricotta and fig jam crostini, and our friends went with some sushi. Everything was simple and tasty and we enjoyed it, but honestly, we might have been a little drunk. We didn't go for the Sexy Donuts this time around, but were excited to see a couple down the bar eating them.

Justin the bartender was friendly and attentive, and more importantly, extremely tolerant of our antics over the course of four hours. It was such a good time that we decided that we'd like to go there every day, and perhaps even move in. There are lots of comfy couches to sleep on and enough room for everybody. See you from 5-7pm!

Get Your SWAN On

2011-03-22T22:49:00.007-04:00

Saturday, March 26: SWAN Day CT ; East Hartford Cultural Center

This coming weekend will mark the fourth annual SWAN Day CT (Support Women Artists Now), being held at the East Hartford Cultural Center. Leave it to Ms Swan Day herself, Jennifer Hill, to even know that East Harford has a Cultural Center, and to put together a fun and awesome female festival of performers and artists. Ms Hill maintains that SWAN is "more Lollapalooza than Lilith Fair" and will represent the wide variety of lady musicians and artists working in Connecticut.

Sure, there is a cover charge of $12, but SWAN promises a full day of musical performances, burlesque performances, live painting, and an art gallery. Spend some time with painter Kerry Kozaczuck, sexy snake handler Nikki LeVillain, face-rockers She Eats Planets, and jewelry designer extraordinaire SuperLula (aka Fitzscenic)... and many, many more talented Connecticut ladies.

And, if drinking beer is something that you're into, know that Olde Burnside Brewing Company will be serving it up at this awesome event.

Happy unbirthday Guerrilla Queer Bar

2011-03-22T17:35:00.000-04:00

Thursday, March 24: Guerrilla Queer Bar v.9 @ TBA, Hartford-ish

Wow, this week marks 9 months of Guerrilla Queer Bar! That's long enough to make a baby, if you swing that way (Yuck!). Good thing at the very first Guerrilla Queer Bar those safe sex advocates who showed up gave out all those rainbow condoms, so there's no GQB baby boom to worry about!

Maybe you're new to the blog, or life, or alternative culture... Glad to have you! Guerrilla Queer Bar is a monthly GLBTA (the "A" is for allies or "Anyone but Assholes") gathering that descends upon a different bar each month, much to the inevitable delight of that unsuspecting bar. Location is announced the day of or day before-ish via the Facebook group, or here on the blog if we're feeling unusually diligent. It's hardly original, but it never gets old.

YAY SIDEWALK DAVE TIME AGAIN!

2011-03-22T06:32:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, March 23: Sidewalk Dave @ The Half Door, Hartford

In recent months we've seen a bunch of Sidewalk Dave's pals and members playing with their also-awesome bands, but we haven't made it to an actual SD gig in some time. People are liable to think we're breaking up. But we're totally not. In fact, things are hotter than ever, especially with bass player Mike back in the band, making it a one-to-one boy-girl Sidewalk Dave to Scenics ratio, which would be like totally perfect if all the Lady Scenics were straight... So, OK, there was the requisite bit of "we're in love with Sidewalk Dave" for the post. But seriously, we are. They're so good. And just look at them! Whatever, who needs one-to-one? It's a Wednesday night gig, which means $2 Irish pints. Even we can afford that, and envision a several-beers-to-Scenic ratio. Check out their latest Youtube action (thanks guys for the steady stream of fresh stuff to post!), a slide show video which includes many topless pictures and some locales you may recognize.

New Haven: Get Ready to Scream

2011-03-21T23:25:00.000-04:00

Thursday, March 24: You Scream I Scream, Mixtape & John Parson @ Cafe Nine, New Haven

(Audrey just threw up in her ears a little bit)

Don't be fooled by this picture of the key players (but not the keyboard player) from You Scream I Scream doing their very best impression of an insufferable couple/duo band (you know how we totally hate those). We happen to know YSIS both personally and musically and know that they aren't even a duo and they happen to be quite sufferable besides. We've seen them draw an impressive crowd in Hartford, where they put on a highly entertaining show featuring some of the sexiest background vocalists we've ever seen. Yes, we're being all inside jokey to please our friends. What else is new? This is a fun band. DH and Katie Scenic enjoyed being extras in their music video last year. See it for yourself. Spot the Scenics, and maybe you'll dig the band too!

How will they fare against the slightly less desperate, less eager to settle-for-mediocrity-because-people-are-nice New Haven scene? Find out Thursday at Cafe Nine.

Return of Treebeard

2011-03-21T22:43:00.000-04:00

Friday, March 25: Treebeard & Keelraker @ Elm Bar, New Haven

In spite of our recent intense annoyance over $6 Guinness and other factors, we aren't gonna pretend like $3 isn't a reasonable cover charge and Treebeard isn't a totally awesome band that everyone should check out. Well, maybe not everyone. But if you like metal, or Clutch (i.e. stoner rock), totes go. We caught this new New Haven band a few weeks ago (er, yikes, months!), and we just may need to catch them again this week if we have even an ounce of energy on Friday. So good! We hope they'll play in a room more suited to playing and listening to live music some day, if anyone knows of one of those? Poor music scene... : (

Fancy groceries in Hartford

2011-03-20T22:30:00.001-04:00

Hartford has been atwitter for some time now about the prospect of groceries downtown. Ah, Downtown Hartford, where they forgot to put residents and necessities. Well, there's nothing like making up for lost time. We didn't know quite what to expect. From the way "everyone" talked about the "need" for a "real grocery store" in Hartford, we pictured something a little more practical. So the reality of The Market at Hartford 21 proved to be a delightful, whimsical surprise for three out of four Scenics enjoying a lazy Sunday together.

After an initial WTF moment over the cereal bar.

But fine, OK, this is sort of a practical idea - people working in Hartford might want something boring for breakfast, and it's a nod to the American tendency to aspire to such an air of carefree and casual that to take the "trouble" to bring identical ordinary cereal from home would be unthinkable.

Moving on. We were wowed by thing after thing. Like the fresh pasta bar.

And the homemade gelato, with appalling flavors like Bacon and Bloody Mary. The staff were friendly and invited us to try a sample. The bacon flavor was less disgusting than it sounds, but we'll stick to the less adventurous varieties on return visits.

The prepared foods looked fancy and delicious and put Whole Foods to shame (not that that's such a stress - ugh, Whole Foods prepared foods...). We drooled over pork shanks and crab cakes and forbidden rice.

Good thing we didn't visit this joint hungry. We wouldn't have been able to resist peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes or the array of Nassau chocolates and candy. Or sushi and appetizers by Ginza. Or quail eggs and elitist CT soda.

We were impressed by tasteful displays like this one (Grandma's CT soaps smell amazing!):

And displayed our usual poor taste around the whole dead pig and some phallic vegetables (we were too tired for pointing today, but we got a friend to stand in):

Today's visit on full stomachs and empty wallets was all gawking, no buying. But we all agree that The Market is a welcome addition to Hartford and we'd totally eat there.

Nostalgic in New London

2011-03-20T19:38:00.006-04:00

This weekend friend-of-the-blog and drummer-of-The-Ninas Melinda invited me to see on of her all-time favorite CT bands, The Reducers, who were playing at the El N Gee in New London. OMG the El N Gee! I was SO there. The club has gone through various opening, closings and incarnations in recent years, but it was the site of many of my earliest live show experiences (multiple Typo O Negative shows stand out in my mind) dating back to my first driving days. I remember fondly and longingly the boundless energy I once possessed to drive to and from semi-distant shows - on a school night! (And I mean I woke and up and performed above averagely at school the following day, not just made it home in one piece.)

Even as we pulled into the parking lot, I was beginning to feel nostalgia for the bygone days (and really, who doesn't get a little misty eyed over ample, free, safe parking at a club?). Melinda laughed because she has a little nostalgia on me, but come on, I'm talking '96-'97 here, and I'm starting to get these gray hairs. I remember walking out of that parking lot to say goodnight the night I met my soon-to-be-boyfriend. It was the summer after graduating high school. We had just seen Exodus. He saw me sulking (unrequited crush ignoring me, as usual) and offered to buy me a beer. I was too young to accept and I looked and dressed like crap, but he was undeterred! We discussed the relative merits of the then-fresh Swedish melodic death metal movement (my stuff) and the classic heavy metal of Iron Maiden (his stuff). And Kurt Vonnegut (we aren't total morons). I was so innocent we had to arrange to meet again under the pretext of playing guitar together!

But soon enough Melinda was caught up in the memories too, when we spotted this couch outside the club. Is it possible that this couch been here for ages? Or do people just keep dumping couches there?

Inside the club was very much the same as it ever was. Possibly a little bit nicer than it's ever been, actually. With a shiny new bar and plush toilet paper in the restrooms, which were nevertheless comfortingly graffiti covered.

Hey! Charles Diamond is a fan of the blog we've kind of neglected. Now we're posting about him, kind of...

Much like the old days (at least the old days I recall, Melinda tells me the slightly older days were different, better) - and much to my disappointment - the bar selection was limited to mostly crappy beer and a bare bones liquor collection featuring vodka in a plastic bottle. But even crappy beer can make me sentimental. My El N Gee boyfriend used to drink this one beer, and I was too young and inexperienced to have an opinion about beers (or legally purchase them). I've never seen another human being consume this beer, nor seen it in a bar. And here it was at the El N Gee! Anybody drink this? I thought about getting one for old times sake, posting a picture to Facebook, etc., but then I remembered that beer makes you fat.

It turned out our band wasn't going to be on for some time, so we ended up taking a little neighborhood detour and having large, reasonably priced but mediocre food and drinks at Hanafin's, a pretty charming Irish bar favored by cute bearded lads. By the time the Reducers got around to playing the club was respectably crowded. The Reducers have been around for ages - 30 years or something and play punk/power pop with nods to the Ramones and classic rock n roll. So anyone Scenic-aged or younger operating under the delusional notion that their generation invented cool, take notice. With all these years of playing behind them, they are tight as hell musically and have an adoring fanbase to show for it. Eventually most of the audience was dancing... I don't go in for that, of course, but even I could not resist their addictive beats and melodies. My feet and hips may have moved, and I particularly enjoyed the song "Company Man" about a corporate suck-up. Melinda pointed out fans from the old days, including some folks whose adult children were now dancing alongside their moms and dads. Sweet!

Check out The Reducers in Japan from 2004:

The Reducers were also featuring in the documentary and CD compilation It Happened But Nobody Noticed about the CT punk and new wave scene in the late 70s and 80s. Hey, we blogged that up back in the day (2009). But nobody noticed!

Tattoo Weekend

2011-03-14T21:14:00.007-04:00

Friday, March 18 through Sunday, March 20: Massachusetts Tattoo a nd Art Festival, Sturbridge Host Hotel and Convention Center

It's always an exciting time when we step out of Connecticut for a minute and visit one of our friendly neighboring states. This weekend, we will be attending the 5th Annual Massachusetts Tattoo and Art Festival, held in scenic Sturbridge, MA.

A tattoo convention, in Sturbridge? Sure, we know what you're thinking.

There will be live piercing and tattooing all weekend, primarily by Massachusetts-based artists. However, the lovely and talented Kelly Green (real name!) will be representing Connecticut, and I am excited to have booked a sitting with Khan, who comes all the way from Japan.

Kelly Green

Khan

There will be vendors, contests, and live entertainment by bands that don't have websites and the Lucky Daredevil Thrill Show.

I like to think I am building towards my future with all these tattoos. Since I will probably never be able to afford retirement, my plan is to live my golden years as a circus sideshow attraction.

We encourage all of you to come out and get CT Scenic tattoos this weekend! Even if you're not ready to commit to that kind of amazingness (yet), it seems like there will be plenty to do if you're just interested in body modification, art, or some old-fashioned gawking.

Bad Baba Ghanouj at Shish

2011-03-14T18:36:00.009-04:00

A few months ago, I procured some of those discounted gift certificates from restaurant.com (they sell $25 gift cards for $2 all the time; totally worth checking out). When we were looking for something to do on Thursday night, Laura Fitzscenic and stand-in Scenic Dayna wound up cashing one in at Shish Ultra Lounge in West Hartford. Ultra!

Now, we only knew two pieces of information about Shish before entering; that its some kind of jammin night club on the weekends where this kind of thing goes on:

and, that they have a dress code.

Tailored Casual Attire Only
Dress or Designer Footwear
No Sport Style Head wear

(We left our visors in the car.)

First of all, this place looks cool. There are two rooms, with lots of leather sectionals and other comfy seating, interesting looking light fixtures, a large dance floor (are you imagining this ok? Because we totally slacked on taking pictures.); they did a great job of making an inviting space where you would totally want to have a sick party. Guerrilla Queer Bar, anyone?

Our waiter brought over the list of "signature" cocktails, and proudly claimed that they had all been "invented by people who work at Shish and could not be found anywhere else". Um, we find it a little hard to believe that they can take credit for the combination of dark rum and ginger beer, aka Dark and Stormy, aka Dark and Scenic. We decided to not point this out and just go with a Cucumber Martini (good) and a Miami Vice (too sweet).

The food menu was small and generally uninteresting, so we decided to just go with some hummus and baba ghanouj. We enjoyed the lemony hummus, but the baba ghanouj? It had a familiar flavor that I just couldn't place, but Dayna was able to identify it immediately:

We sent it back immediately and ordered a small pizza as a replacement. Imagine our surprise when we received the bill and noticed the $9.00 charge for the uneaten baba ghanouj. We could have bought some actual cigarettes with that money! When we questioned our waiter, he explained that the owner generally doesn't allow charges to be removed from the bill for any reason. What? Not that we have a habit of sending food back in restaurants, but sometimes it has to happen, and this policy is totally out of bounds.

With some persistence, we got it removed. You don't go to Shish for the food, is what we were told by friends later on that evening, and we back that statement. I guess you go there to drink and dance. I don't know if this Scenic will ever be interested in experiencing that aspect of Shish on a Saturday night, but who knows.... stranger things have happened.

Scene on Stage: The Proud Flesh

2011-03-14T16:43:00.007-04:00

Well, actually there was no stage. It was a basement show at a bougie home in scenic Farmington (thanks so much for your hospitality, guy!). This may have made for a better show anyway, since it allowed New Haven hipstercana act The Proud Flesh to showcase their stripped down, acoustic, no mics, minimal percussion, three guys standing and singing version in an environment intimate enough for this to work. I was pretty much enamored of their performance, and it was fun to meet my blog/facebook friends in person. I also got a copy of their CD, Tiny Picture Frames, which I've been listening to exclusively in my car since Friday.

And if that weren't enough to feel good about, two out of three Proud Fleshies from Friday showed up the next night to see my other new friends Kimono Draggin play at stupid Elm Bar, and we got chatting, and somehow got on the subject of press for the band, and they mentioned how annoying it is when journalists don't write anything about their album. And I was like, "is it annoying when I write posts and just focus on a band's handsomeness or our imaginary romance?" And they agree that that was OK too. But I said that now that I had and loved the CD in hard copy, maybe I could say some more things about it. But looking back on what I did say about it five months ago, I'm pleased to realize I had things pretty right the first time (and didn't say any silly about them either!):

The opening track of The Proud Flesh's Tiny Picture Frames, "Lord don't let me," gives a full-on hoedown first impression, but the next several tracks are much more stripped down, melancholic and haunting (just the way we like it), bringing to mind national acts we enjoy, like Murder by Death and Bright Eyes, or The Snake The Cross The Crown, who most of you have never heard of, but should have. Check out Tiny Picture Frames at bandcamp... and if you don't dig the busy first song, skip ahead to the glorious gloom and doom of "Gold Leaf and Bone" or "Three Sheets," because wallowing in it is more your thing (it's totally our thing).

I'd say the same thing today! Same favorite songs, same band comparisons. But if there is any question as to whether my critical faculties are intact, or maybe I'm just sucking up because I like the band personally and hope for more party invites, I'll add a few less favorable remarks - so you'll know my overall enthusiasm is sincere. I don't love the female vocals that are included on several tracks. I don't know who she is, and I'm sure she's very nice and attractive like the rest of the band, but her voice lacks character and the arrangements don't bring much to the table in terms of dazzling harmonies or anything. And the noodley instrumental part of the second track, "Ghost Stories," would probably pop a little more if Elliott Smith or Adam Turla had played on it.

Elm Bar: You're on notice

2011-03-13T17:37:00.001-04:00

You ever let a little thing get to you and then just obsess over it all night? Well, that's what happened to 1/2 of Team Scenic last night at New Haven's Elm Bar. You remember the Elm Bar - the Rudy's imposter that opened up at the site of the old Rudy's? In spite of our general impression of sleaze over the building owners' maneuvering out of "Rudy" only to reopen the joint in its exact image, we were prepared to accept another venue where we could see cheap gigs by awesome local bands like Treebeard and Kimono Draggin. But we are not prepared to accept six dollars for a Guinness at a place that is essentially a dive and a dump - and on a weekend where bars throughout the state are running Guinness specials for Fitzscenic's favorite holiday no less! In fairness, we found that some of their other drinks were a pretty decent deal (monster liquor drinks for $6.50 or $4 for a Sea Hag). But we couldn't get over this Guinness thing!

This joint is hella classy!

Elm Bar, you are not a fancy bar/restaurant. You do not have comfortable seating, great acoustics, nice bathrooms, or anything else going for you other than the reputation of your predecessor. We're aware that the bands are being paid off the door. Your clientele are fans of stoner rock, punk and metal, 30-somethings that are still dressing like rebellious teenagers. Price accordingly. We know that when we're out at a bar there is an intricate calculus at work in our heads at all times, weighing the desire to catch a buzz against concerns about calories and budgets (concerns which tend to wane with the onset of a cheap buzz), so that we're actually more likely to buy 4 or 5 cheap drinks than 1 or 2 expensive drinks, because what's the point of stopping at 2, amiright? If that math isn't clear enough, we're saying we're likely to pay $20 or more on cheap drinks but unlikely to spend any dollars on pricey beverage.

graffiti on the tables makes it feel like old times?

Additionally, we attempted to cash in a drink ticket from the band labeled as good for "1 domestic beer or 1 well drink," but were informed that it would only cover a lousy domestic beer - the Brooklyn Lager and other moderately less revolting selections were off limits. Try some truth in advertising ("1 el cheapo beer or hangover inducing liquor drink"), or better yet, spring for a "fancy" beer (like Guinness!) for the bands that put in substantial time and effort to play for meager money.

Bagpipe Dreams

2011-03-09T17:55:00.006-05:00

Its that time again! You know, the time of year when non-Irish suburbanites put on their silliest green getups and come to vomit green beer all over our nice city, all in the name of... ? Just kidding, city dwellers and actual Irish Americans will also be there to honor their heritage by flashing in exchange for green beads on this special day: The St. Patrick's Day Parade. See you in the douchestrict!

Righteous indignations aside; parades can be fun. Here are a few that will be happening in our fine state.

Hartford: Saturday, March 12, starts at 11am
New Haven: Sunday, March 13, starts at 1pm
New London: Thursday, March 17, starts at 3pm
Mystic: Sunday, March 20, starts at 1pm
Greenwich: Sunday, March 20, starts at 2pm

We'll pretend it's our birthday too!

2011-03-09T17:09:00.001-05:00

Saturday, March 12: Kimono Draggin' & The Black Noise Scam @ Elm Bar, New Haven

It's a birthday show for musicians Joe and Jeff, but we can't think of a better gift than a show by our newest favorite CT band Kimono Draggin'! As you may recall, we totally loved them on a recent Scenic outing. And since then they've become really awesome Facebook friends (witty comments, tasty tunes, news we can actually use, etc.). You can be an ordinary citizen and love this band for their outlandishness at face value - funny voices, guitar heroics, Sesame Street references, etc. Or if you're some kind of huge nerd, you'll get all extra aroused by their ample musical prowess and the fact they they covered a Frank Zappa song, made a strange Clockwork Orange referencing video, and went to Europe to play at some Zappa fest! Here's some footage from the very gig where we fell for them:

We haven't had a chance to go gaga for The Black Noise Scam yet, but we thought Jeff and his wife were nice and adorable (and probably ought to avoid classic rock covers) at that live band karaoke gig we attended, so we're looking forward to checking him out in his proper element this weekend. We think they're punk, but have no damn patience for myspace pages.

Happy birthday fellas, and thanks for gifting us with your beautiful music!

We'll have what she's having!

2011-03-08T19:18:00.000-05:00

Friday March, 11 - Wednesday, March 17: Orgasm, Inc. @ Real Art Ways, Hartford

This Friday we can all have an Orgasm (Inc.) at Real Art Ways, which is good news, because Real Art Ways is great - the best, no, really, love them - but we've been there so many times, lately it sometimes feels routine, perfunctory. And sometimes we have a headache. We've been waiting for just such a thing to bring that spark back to our relationship.

But seriously, this film looks educational, and it's going to be about female anatomy and sexuality and appears to feature middle aged women, and that always makes people uncomfortable! It's about attempts by the pharmaceutical industry to create "a Viagra for women" (we'd totally try it, but there's not much we wouldn't). So it's about the modern medicalization of every aspect of your being, and how there's nothing about you that a little chemical tweaking couldn't improve. But in a lighthearted way.

The film's director, Liz Canner, will be Skyping in after Saturday's show, and on opening night (Friday), they're promising free chocolate. You know, women and their chocolate.

Its Go Time!

2011-03-08T19:03:00.005-05:00

We were thinking it would be really helpful and awesome of us to suggest some good happy hours in Connecticut. As we started to realize how much research this was going to need, GoTime.com came across our radar and saved us a lot of work. Phew! GoTime is searchable by city, and gives detailed information and reviews of places to get get cheap food and drinks after work. You can even make it an app on your fancy little phone, if you swing that way.

Two great happy hours in Hartford are Feng, and Koji (which was mentioned here). Cuvee in West Hartford is next on our list. We enjoyed the cozy, loungey, slightly swanky vibe and enormous drink menu at January's Guerilla Queer Bar so much that we made a repeat visit this past Saturday, and noticed that they advertise a 50% off Everything Happy Hour. They also have something on their dessert menu called "Sexy Donuts". Um, YES.

You readers clearly have good taste; where do you go?

Bandwith Karaoke: The hardest working live band karaoke in CT

2011-03-01T21:30:00.000-05:00

We quite enjoyed Dean Falcone & Friends' live band karaoke down in New Haven at Cafe Nine that one time, but we need it more than just once a month or so or whenever. So it's a good thing CT now has two gigging live karaoke bands since the recent debut of Bandwith Karaoke, who have been courting us pretty aggressively on Facebook, which means we may have to actually perform with them one of these days ("Paparazzi" of course). Unfortunately they've been mostly playing at faraway/difficult to stomach places like Black Bear (ugh) in Milford (double ugh) on Tuesday nights (*snore*). So we're pleased as punch to find out they have another regular gig a little closer to Scenicville, Wednesdays at The Firehouse in Plainville. Plainville? We've totally been there! (Katie Scenic used to take guitar lessons at the Macri School of Music. But she didn't take them very seriously.) And apparently we already have a Plainville tag. Something must have happened there before! This photo of Bandwith Karaoke makes them look all arty and mysterious, but we expect shit will look a lot sillier with you fronting the band.

Middletown Friday

2011-03-01T17:30:00.004-05:00

Friday, March 4: "The Art of Speed" Hot Rod and Kustom Kulture Art Show @ MAC Gallery in Middletown

Speaking of stuff to do this week, Middletown's MAC 650 Gallery is hosting the opening of "The Art of Speed" Hot Rod and Kustom Kulture Art Show. Go for the socializing, stay for the cool car art. Or, do it the other way around... whichever you prefer.

Don't hurry out of town when the arty party is over. We've heard a local band called Straddledaddy (um, ew) may be drawing a crowd down the street to Hair of the Dog, and the official art show afterparty is being held at Eli Cannon's Tap Room. I recently spent a lovely Sunday afternoon at Eli's and was reminded of how much I enjoy their huge beer selection and quirky decor. Hope to see you there!

Saturday Night at the Farm

2011-02-28T21:27:00.012-05:00

Welcome to the very first post with the "Shoreline" tag! For better or worse, its the part of Connecticut I grew up in, and find myself down there now and then. This Saturday, I met up with my family at a restaruant called Aspen in Old Saybrook, for the birthday celebration of Super Fitzdaddy.

Aspen was very lovely and expensive, if you're into that sort of thing. It was also pretty vegetarian un-friendly and expensive, and I'm not into that sort of thing. I did notice, however, that I was conveniently positioned for a nostalgic visit to locally legendary dive bar, the Monkey Farm.

It's been many years since my last visit to the Monkey Farm, and I fondly remember it as a mecca for the town drunks and the generally sketchy, where some sort of action was always happening. Like the time I saw a dude take a drunken swing at a big tough guy, and swiftly get flung through a pane of glass. Then there was the time I was playing the bowling game and enjoying a possibly roofie-infused cocktail; next thing I know, I can't stand and am getting escorted out, Weekend At Bernie's style.

Speaking of the bowling game, I found out that its actually called "Puck Bowling", and was disappointed that the Monkey Farm no longer has the machine. Any leads on a Connecticut spot that has one would be greatly appreciated!

Even though there is no bowling game, the Monkey Farm has a jukebox, a pool table, a number of dart boards, and a few arcade games. A pint glass of Stoli and club soda cost me $5.00.

(We totally don't know him)

We had been there for about 15 minutes, and just as I was about to remark that the bar seemed a bit nicer than what I remembered, Black Tooth Guy came over to chat us up. We learned that this intoxicated fellow went to the same high school as us. How about that!

(My sister totally got Mr. Black Teeth's digits on the back of this napkin!)

Then, heartwarming memories flooded in as we witnessed a young woman performing a Weekend at Bernies walk right out the door. The bar patrons must have been impressed, as they enthusiastically applauded.

The Monkey Farm is not a place you go to find class or good hygiene, but it is entertaining, the drinks are cheap, and the roofies are free. And as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. I've also heard that they have pretty decent bar food, but I cannot speak from personal experience. Oh, and the bathrooms have chalkboards where you can write poignant messages like this one:

Time "Marches" on: Better blogging in the next month?

2011-02-28T17:41:00.005-05:00

Pardon the lack of posts in recent weeks. I was busy adjusting to a new temporary job and working on a 30 day Bikram yoga challenge (daily sessions!). Tonight will be day 33 if I make it. And why shouldn't I, what else is there to do on a Monday night? Or any night? Drink? Sleep? Ponder the depressing reality, as I do more and more often and in increasingly vivid terms, that my last "real" job and "non-imaginary" romantic involvement were so far in the past that I can't actually remember what either is like? Haha, just kidding - life is so wonderful and there is plenty to do in CT, all the time!

Well, it's a little late for tonight - you're probably tired at the start of the work week anyway, because you have a job, so let's just cruise straight to Tuesday. You could go to Trivia Night with great background music at the Half Door in Hartford, or attend Real Board Games at RAW, where scrabble is probably a drinking game.

CT's awesome music booking, Hartford neglecting Manic Productions has been presenting free indie rock at BAR, one of our favorite New Haven venues, on Wednesday evenings, and this Wednesday our favorite guys, Sidewalk Dave, will be playing along with Motel Motel (who we assume are like Duran Duran, only cheaper and with suspicious stains on the comforter) and Dinosaur Feathers, who are archaeologically sound. I haven't been to BAR in ages, but remember it fondly for fanciful bathrooms, pizza, pool and own-brewed beer.

This being "first week" you can hit up the Wadsworth Atheneum's monthly party on Thursday evening. This month has a French theme, and as always there will be participatory art, live entertainment and a film, in addition to the great museum. Give your sweatpants the night off!

First week also means a Friday open house at Hooker Brewery. Maybe some assholes had a domestic dispute at your house and you need a new pint glass. (You get a pint glass.)

I've mentioned before that some of my peeps and I used to be Jesse Malin regulars. Well, the story-rocking grown-up punker is back in the area again Friday, this time at Cafe Nine, appearing with locals we've totally heard of, The Black Noise Scam, and Christian Marrone, a guy we are Facebook friends with. Sounds like the Jesse is doing the full band thing this time around, which is promising.

Friday is also the live debut of friends-of-the-blog, The Ninas, who will be at the Bank Street Cafe in New London. CT peeps may remember some of the bandmembers from their previous bands like the McStatics and Legs Akimbo, if we've got our facts straight. More and better detail on these guys later!

Saturday our pals Bobbie Peru will be performing at Snapper Magees in Torrington. We've already told you Snapper's is great and Torrington rules. We recommend you make a day of it, including shopping at Brazen Betties and eating from the Rocket Fine Street Food truck. We're actually dumping Bobbie Peru in favor of their best friend Kimono Draggin' cuz we're total friend fuckers from back in the day, but don't that stop you from seeing them!

Oh, one more first week thingie - "womens party" at Tisane Sunday night. Maybe we'll start with brunch and just stay right on through.

Well, there's most of the week for you, in case I'm too busy sticking my head up my ass (IT'S A BIKRAM POSTURE OK!) to post again soon.

Elmwood Puppets in Paris (in Plantsville)

2011-02-20T10:00:00.007-05:00

We here at CT Scenic like to support our local arts community (and arty parties). Its not often that we hear about local filmmakers or puppeteers, so we were very excited about Josh and Todd: A Story Of A Man and His Puppet, which premiered last night at Paris In Plantsville.

On a personal note (aka lets talk about ME for a moment), I worked at a puppet theater during my college years in Boston, and it was easily the most enjoyable job I've ever had. I loved seeing different puppeteers come in every week, and was just as interested in the puppet making process as the performance aspect.

Because of that experience, I have a residual fondness for puppets and was happy to discover that Elmwood Productions are doing some very fun and creative projects with monsters. And, these monsters are the kind that drink, make out, and generally behave badly- characters we can all identify with.

We arrived to the gallery about 10 minutes late, to find that there was standing room only. A seat would have been nice, but it was almost nicer to see local indie filmmakers debuting their work to a packed house. The film was very funny and got many laughs from the audience. Puppet drug use and puppet nudity are pretty much always guaranteed to be hilarious, but the human actors also got their fair share of laughs.

Afterwords, the three filmmakers, and members of the cast, spoke a little bit about the process of making Josh and Todd, which cost just under $1,000 to do. Elmwood Productions made a great little film that obviously a lot of work went into, and we look forward to more of their action. This was also a great reason to get us out to Scenic Plantsville; and by the way, Paris In Plantsville, we're not through with you.

How inspiring! Is anyone interested in funding CT Scenic: The Movie?

Scenic book recommendation: Lloyd Kaufman's Make Your Own Damn Movie: Secrets of a Renegade Director

What's going on TONIGHT!!!!

2011-02-18T15:43:00.003-05:00

Hey there scenics, in case the warm weather this Friday has your juices flowing....

The New Britain Museum of American Art (56 Lexington Street, New Britain, CT) is throwing a shindig it's calling MAD Party! - Snowballed!

Aside from the name being a bit close to another event (and what's with that name anyway? Doesn't anyone know what it means?) tonight is notable for the fact that there will be LIVE BANDS!!!! No DJ's like that other art party that happened yesterday. Performances by Mixtape, Ponybird, and If Jesus Had Machine Guns. And it's TONIGHT! 8-11pm

For those who feel the urge to travel, a special show tonight in Northampton Mass at The Elevens: Mitch Easter Band, School for the Dead, Boy Genius, and Ribboncandy.

For thse who may not recognize the name, Mitch Easter is a well known producer who worked with REM, The Hang Ups, Pavement, Suzanne Vega, Game Theory, Marshall Crenshaw, and Velvet Crush. It will be a great night of somewhat guitar-jangly rock.

And in case you missed it, tonight is the Burlesque-A-Pades, February Frolic

Black Mariah Film + Video festival

2011-02-15T16:58:00.003-05:00

The Black Mariah Film and video festival is back in town (West Hartford, at the University of Hartford this Wednesday and Thursday 2/16&17, 7:30pm, to be exact). Actually, we could say back in CT, as this will be the only showing of these works in the state, and only one of three scheduled showings in New England.

What the heck is a Black Mariah? Rather than reinvent the wheel, the opening paragraph on the festivals website says:

Since 1981, the annual Black Maria Film + Video Festival which takes it’s name from that of the world’s first motion picture studio built by Thomas Edison in 1893, has been an international juried competition and award tour, has been fulfilling its mission to advocate, exhibit and reward cutting edge works from independent film and videomakers. The festival is known for its national public exhibition program, which features a variety of bold contemporary works drawn from the annual collection of 50 or more award winning films and videos.

One can find the tour schedule here

Each of these showings is individually curated, so a selection of winning works will be shown. Superstar professor and video artist Gene Gort will present the evenings screenings.

I have sporadically attended these showings since, ummm, well never mind that. Let's just say history shows this to be an interesting and rewarding experience.

Admission is $6, free for those who can whip up a student ID. The movies start both nights at 7:30pm. Screening is in The Wilde Auditorium, located inside the Harry Jack Gray Center. Since the University of Hartford is rather poorly marked, a campus map is here

Hey Girl, it's your Birthday

2011-02-12T08:42:00.000-05:00

Sunday, February 13: Lipgloss Crisis presents "Valentines Day Spectacular Burlesque Show/Birthday Bash" @ Cafe Nine, New Haven

Soulmate-of-the-blog, photog and scene-star Lipgloss Crisis is throwing a major event in honor of her own birthday Sunday, and for Valentine's day by default (or anti-Valentines if you swing that way). We don't believe in love, so we'll be going for the Happy Birthday aspect. Oh, and the sexy (extensively previously blogged about) burlesque gals, hula hoopist, drag queens, music and accessory scenester freakshow we know will turn up.

Congrats to LC on her recent Advocate publicity (on the cover!), and infinite props to her for arranging some of our favorite nights out in recent months. We've been hotly anticipating this party and can't wait to spend the night sucking up and presenting her with tokens of our boundless affection. We're also excited to see the newly formed Hartford burlesque troupe, the Beat City Beauties (it's true - Hartford is pretty beat). The Facebook event page has a little more wit and clarity than us this morning, so we'll end by borrowing the birthday girl's own wonderful line "bring a date or your bitterness!"

Sheesh, we might need an ass-kissing tag!

Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys

2011-02-09T19:29:00.004-05:00

We like boys who like us, and we like boys who like other boys. We also like theme parties! This Sunday, Koji Alternative (gay) Night is having a party for homodudes and the ladies who love them (or conversely, fag hags and their special fellas).

Like the last gay Koji party we told you about, $20 will get you open bar from 9-11pm (and more than likely, drunk on sake drinks). Otherwise, there is no cover.

We leave you with this:

Punk Rawk Weekend

2011-02-09T18:43:00.000-05:00

Friday, February 11: Damn Broads (and much, much more) @ El n Gee, New London
Saturday, February 12: Valentine's Day Punk Rock Show @ Anna Liffey's, New Haven

We've mentioned our little crushipoo we have on the Damn Broads here before... Well those chicks are bringing the noise in New London and New Haven this weekend. And what do you know? A club called the El n Gee still exists. We spent important parts of our formative years there. Wonder what it's like now! We haven't heard of any of those other bands, but they're punk so, you know.

Saturday's show is a veritable friends-of-the-blog-fest, featuring the aforementioned Broads, the oft-mentioned Bobbie Peru, and the maybe once mentioned, stylish and handsome Main Street Suits (we totally know them - er, one of them!). And The McGunks, who we totally don't know, but they seem like a good time, if you enjoy being yelled at.

Ooh, all this New London posting. Maybe we'll give them their own tag!

A New Haven Hipster in (New) London

2011-02-09T17:58:00.000-05:00

Saturday, February 12: M.T. Bearington @ The Oasis Pub, New London

Hey, remember just the other week we met Matt, the guy who puts the M.T. in M.T. Bearington? We found out that not only was he that guy, but he also used to play in a band with the genuises from Kimono Draggin'. So he is probably a genius too. Well, MTB is playing a gig in New London this weekend, a town we promise to personally visit some day. Maybe when it feels like spring.

Sorry, the Oasis is too cool (because it's an oasis) to have a real website. Mystery = Sexy? We can't even deal with linking to MySpace pages anymore.

Cruel Winter

2011-02-09T17:34:00.005-05:00

Its been grim out there, folks. But don't worry- we have it on good authority from both Punxsutawney Phil and the psychic from Tisane that spring will come early this year.

Last night, as I was admiring the decorative water stains that have been growing on my bathroom ceiling over the last week, it started to remind me of how people look up at the clouds and see different images. Then, it kind of reminded me of the Rorschach test.

What do you see?

Submit your interpretations to be analyzed by the Scenic Amateur Psychology Institute, and a chance to win a prize*.

*A souvenir jar of leak water

Exploring our options at Ichiban

2011-02-08T23:45:00.005-05:00

One evening after a recent Bikram session, DH and I were on the prowl, looking for some hot soup. We never thought we'd see the day, but we were feeling all Pho'd out! DH confessed that he had been experimenting with other soups, but he was willing to share. We headed to Ichiban in Hartford. Ichiban has been one of my favorite spots for a lunch special lately (though my lunch specialing days are mercifully over, thanks to employment) - their BBQ short ribs bento box is off the hook. But I hadn't really explored the Korean side of the menu before.

Kimchee Geegae caught my eye, 'cause Jackie and I had enjoyed some kimchee stuff at York Street Noodle House on our last date. It's a spicy stew with kimchee (cabbage) and pork. But that's just the beginning! There's all this other great stuff in there, like straw mushrooms and some sort of fishball and a grand array of garnish dishes on the side (like pickled octopus - with pickles!), and it's served in a metal catering type dish over real live fire. This is all really impressive, but we don't recommend impressing a date with this meal, at least not a first date. Go for something less gassy. Sorry to get you all aroused and then bring you down with that gross little piece of reality, but we like to think of this blog as a public service and would be remiss if we didn't warn you. Fortunately the Scenics have all been unseemly around each other for years...

DH was so hungry after having don two Bikram sessions that particular day, he was in the clean plate club. I really enjoyed my first time, but it was so big I had to bring half home, which was subsequently yoinked by Mommy Scenic, who also dug it. Reliving that dinner via that post got me all droolie. I will require a revisit. SOON.

Reasons to shop New Park

2011-02-08T23:28:00.000-05:00

These days, West Hartford's little "industrial" stretch is good for more than just getting us from Point A (Fitzscenic's place) to Point B (Pho Boston, duh). In fact, we're pretty much obsessed with Hartford Baking Company now that we've tasted their delicious Stumptown Coffee and fresh baked breads and scones (ginger and raisin and cranberry orange - oh my!). And pecan sticky rolls and caramel hazlenut chocolate squares...

Awash in a sea of crappy coffee, we easily forget that it should be more than just a caffeine kick and social prop - that coffee can actually taste good and go down smooth, unlike the bitter water that frequently passes as such. And that it's color should be rich and brown, even when cream is added! The regular old coffee at HBC is great; the espresso drinks are works of art:

Whenever we visit NYC, among the many things stirring up scenic envy are the wealth of decent coffee and fresh baked goods available on every corner - at least in the cool neighborhoods! Well, here in Hartfordshire we are still far from realizing that dream, but we hope that our smaller coffee connoisseur community will turn out on the regs for HBC and keep them in business.

Ho! What have we here? Right next door to HBC is a lovely consignment shop, Panache. How have missed this place? Oh, right, there didn't used to be a coffee and treats destination in this neighborhood so we just weren't looking. But our eyes are open now! Sorry fellas, this shop is pretty much for the ladies in the clothing department. But maybe you need some glass trinkets for your home? The clothes are by and large fashionable and in great condition, and have been conveniently organized for our browsing ease. Unfortunately, they are also kind of pricey, so we couldn't go home with everything we wanted (story of our lives!). It's very clean and tidy inside and easy to find what you are looking for (unlike some other shops we've experienced). The proprietor is particularly proud of the shop's shoes and accessories, which were impressive.

As was this coat, which some adoring suitor really ought to man up and buy for Katie Scenic.

More Arty Action this Saturday

2011-02-03T11:43:00.005-05:00

We have yet to make a visit to Paris In Plantsville, a new-ish gallery that we've been hearing a lot about lately. We've become aware of a few resident artists through their attendance and participation in recent events at Artspace Hartford, The MAC 650 Gallery, and the Charter Oak Cultural Center, and are interested to see what they have going on in ol' scenic Plantsville.

Andy Morrow

Joe Bun Keo

Andre Rochester

(UPDATE: Because the weather continues to ruin everything, REBIRTHDAY has been rescheduled to Sunday, February 20th. See you there!) Paris In Plantsville will celebrate it's first year in operation with an event titled REBIRTHDAY, a juried group show and breast cancer fundraiser. They are asking for a $10 donation from non-members; there will be live jazz and a modern dance performance by Rachel Ryan (we tried googling her to find a link for you, but only came up with a porn actress of that name- we cannot make any promises either way). The opening goes from 6:00 to 10:00pm.

Another event that has caught our attention is the screening of Josh and Todd: A Story of a Man and His Puppet, which will premiere at Paris In Plantsville on February 19th. We love indie films, we love puppets, we love puppet nudity, and we think this will be a lot of fun.

The filmmakers and actors will be doing a Q&A right after the movie, for those of us who want to learn more about micro-budget filmmaking, working with puppets, or anything else you want to know. The movie starts at 8pm.

DSW: Lesbian Edition

2011-02-02T14:23:00.004-05:00

You may or may not have noticed that I fell off the face of the Earth a few months ago. It was a combination of a chronic stomach illness and a new fulltime job that did it. What better way to return to the planet then by shoe-shopping for the new job! I obvs went to DSW, a lesbian's (and Grandma's) dream. I went to the Plainville store, but I think there is also one in Manchester. The mission was a pair of professional-ish black shoes that could also withstand travelling all over CT in this awful weather, as I do for the new job. DSW carries all the best pro-lesbian brands; Born, Clarks, Aerosoles, Merrell, etc. (You know what I'm talking about.)

It was a little overwhelming, but in the end, I triumphed with 4 pairs of shoes for $120. A steal! And those furry ones are totally ridiculous, I know, but they are my new favs, and you will probably see them at Tisane if you're lucky.

Tune in, Tokyo

2011-02-02T13:12:00.006-05:00

Tokyo Sushi, the new sushi joint on Farmington Ave in West Hartford, has quickly become one of our favorite area dining establishments. That's the place that opened in the former home of Kingswood Market back in September, practically across the street from Butterfly.

While driving by, you can see a large sign that reads "Sushi Bar" and "Cocktail Lounge", but once you actually approach the door, a neon posterboard sign reads "Temporarily BYOB". Well, that is just fine with us, especially with the friendly and helpful guys in Harvest Wine & Spirits next door. Have you been there? They have a great selection of wines and a "beer cave", and we just heard that they also host beer and wine tastings. Sign us up!

The next thing you will probably notice at Tokyo is this amazing chandellier in the foyer. At first, we thought we might have been feeling the effects of working closely with an industrial strength adhesive during hours of making SuperScenic eyewear in a poorly ventilated area- but no, those crystals contain lightbulbs that actually change colors! Lovely.

Recently, Scenic telepathy must have been in effect as Katie and DH showed up mere minutes after I did, without any planning. Crazy, right?!? To accommodate our now larger party, our seating got moved to the private room located just beyond the monster fish tank.

Katie has a fondness for the King Salmon Roll; I always go for the Spicy Twin. These are both on the special menu posted by the sushi bar, with other fancy rolls we have tasted and liked. DH went with some spicy tuna rolls and octupus sushi; we all had a round of miso soup and shared an edamame appetizer. The portions are generous, and the fish is ridiculously smooth and fresh tasting. Also appreciated: brown rice upon request.

Tokyo will also make you a special roll to your liking if you tell them what your favorite types of fish are. We totally don't know Ty Hong, but apparently he is a guy from West Hartford that goes there all the time and had a roll named after him (we ate it, its good). We'd like to someday see a Scenic Roll up on that menu!

Its refreshing to find good sushi in West Hartford with free parking, reasonable prices, and BYOB. Color us impressed.

Art by Amy

2011-02-02T09:18:00.001-05:00

Saturday, February 5, 5-8 p.m.: Reception for "Conscious Evolution: Reflections of a Master's Program" by Amy Mielke @ Artspace, Hartford

In recent months we've attended a couple of art show events at Artspace Hartford, and the spot is getting to be nearly as hot for arty parties as RAW or the Wadsworth - packed house, competitive parking, bands, booze, etc. We've been looking forward to this solo exhibition by Amy Mielke. Of course she's become a "friend-of-the-blog," and we also know she was a driving force behind last month's massive open show, which featured a ton of work by a zillion artists, so we applaud her awesome scene-making and are eager to see her in the spotlight this weekend.

The show wil feature works created over her two year course of study at The Graduate Institute, along with a retrospective of earlier works. She's also lined up some hot area musical talent for the event, including Stephen Haynes, Matt Sargent and Todd Merrell from the Hartford Sound Alliance. Massachusetts based kombucha company Katalyst will be sampling and selling their product, which is a totally enticing bonus for us - certain Scenics have recently become hooked on kombucha (fermented tea and juice drink - it's fizzy and vaguely alcoholic!). In keeping with the community spirit, there will also be herbavore/localvore friendly snacks from area businesses. Classy!

So You Wanna Be A Rock N' Roll Star

2011-02-01T22:05:00.010-05:00

This past Friday was reopening night at Cafe Nine, and grand unveiling of the renovations and improvements they've been working on for the last two weeks. Scenics Katie and Laura Fitz came out to admire the new bar, floors, and bathrooms (!), and more importantly, to see what this Live Band Karaoke thing is all about.

As we expected, Live Band Karaoke was a lot of fun and pretty much a brilliant idea. Dean Falcone and Slowpoke played the part of the live band, providing their wide repertoire of rock n' roll songs that anyone could jump on stage and sing. The participants ranged from actual musicians to disasters (we like disasters). Our favorite performers were this youthfully enthusiastic duo, who we've already mentioned in a previous post.

Speaking of CT celebrities, the singer of Dead by Wednesday was in our midst (and on the stage).

While he certainly had a stage presence and good singing voice, we could have done without his crude dance moves and frequent touching of his own crotch. Fortunately, conscientious Katie Scenic brought some "gently used" ear plugs, which were quite useful in this situation.

Musically, the band was fantastic, and although they have a list of songs to choose from, they also demonstrated the ability to figure out a song on the fly. When a singer seemed a little stuck, the guys in the band would provide helpful cues and backup vocals. The song choices seemed to mostly fall into the classic rock category, so we need to do a bit of brushing up before feeling confident enough to perform. But even from a spectator's standpoint, Live Band Karaoke was a lot of fun and we look forward to more of it!

Locker Room Humor

2011-02-01T19:30:00.004-05:00

These days I can't resist making my jokes out loud - keeping them to myself would be selfish and wasteful. Now I'm gonna recount them on my blog too, for (I presume) your enjoyment.

Like the other night at the bar, these two really young guys were doing funny hand games with each other, and I saw them setting up for the ol' "hand vagina" - so I was all "OMG are you doing the hand vagina thing?" And they were all "Totally!" And then they totally did it! And I said "Have you ever seen a real vagina?"

And then yesterday at yoga, these college chicks are talking about college stuff in the locker room after class. And one of them is like "OMG have you ever been to Wesleyan? It's unlike any college campus I've ever been to. Everyone there is like a total hipster. And they have this house, it's like a frat but not, or something, the Eclectic House. And every year they have this Sex Party, and they play porn on the wall, and it's basically a big orgy! That would never happen at my college." And I was all "But once you get out of college, that's like every party."

Amiright?!

(Boo! Looks like the Sex Party is no more. That's OK, they have a lifetime of sex parties to look forward too. Good thing they are getting fit and limber at Bikram!).

Record Stores: The Movie

2011-01-29T11:49:00.004-05:00

We're always marveling about how every time we leave the house we meet some fascinating CT celebrity or other. Last night Fitzscenic and I checked out live band karaoke with Dean Falcone and friends at reopened and beautifully renovated Cafe Nine, which was every bit as awesome as you'd expect. I was so intrigued by (hot for) a duo of enthusiastic repeat performers, I had to go talk to them. As it turned out, these young men weren't just budding alcoholic BFFs with rock n' roll fantasies, they're rising scene stars - the guy that built the lovely new bar at Cafe Nine ("It's going to look even better in ten years" said he; "So are you," said she), and the guy who was dressed like he raided my closet who created a low budget documentary, I Need that Record: The Death (or Possible Survival) of the Independent Record Store, Brendan Toller.

Toller hit up some (now defunct) CT businesses for his film, including independent record store Trash American Style and Record Express (the West Hartford store was once the destination for my allowance/babysitting money, and where I bought my first menacing looking t-shirt). He also talked to famous people like Thurstan Moore, Ian MacKaye and Noam Chomsky.

The Scenics love record stores and lament their endangered status. We love physical music product, and supporting independent businesses, and listening to music far too morally questionable to be found at Walmart. If you're looking for physical records in CT today, you can still find them at Redscroll and The Telegraph. My favorite record store was Phoenix Records, which doesn't quite exist anymore, but "Phoenix Carl" still has some vinyl and CDs at his audio equipment shop, Puretone Audio, in Litchfield, and there's a Phoenix eBay store. Brass City Records has apparently taken the "diversify" approach as well; check out Brass City Records and Old Tools. We know a lot of old tools in CT, but had no idea we could turn a profit on them!

IDEA! You know what would be a neat event? A screening of Toller's film combined with a market by surviving local music vendors. And drinking. Real Art Ways?

An Interview With Georgina of Black Diamond Body Piercing

2011-01-26T16:25:00.020-05:00

While some Scenics are known for performing masochistic deeds such as bikram yoga, this Scenic has a penchant for needles and body modification. We're actually thinking about taking our circus sideshow act on the road. Perhaps we will even debut as an attraction at this year's Odd Ball! Witness the wonder of Katie's and DH's sweat! Marvel as Laura Fitzscenic cleans her earlobes! Jackie Scenic's pointing will astound you!

When it comes to the piercing aspect of body modification, the go-to girl in the Hartford area would, of course, be Georgina Williamson. Georgina has been adorning faces and body parts in West Hartford since 1997, and has developed a solid reputation as being a skilled and knowledgable professional. In late 2008, Georgina opened Black Diamond Body Piercing on Park Road in West Hartford, and has been the Hartford Advocate Readers Poll favorite her first two years in business.

Black Diamond stands out for many reasons. It is an upscale piercing studio, rather than a tattoo shop with a piercer. Piercing is the focus here, and the idea was to create a clean, relaxing, almost spa-like environment. Black Diamond is also a jewelry boutique, that offers a large selection of piercing jewelry and traditional style earrings.

The shop is also an art gallery and showcase for local talents. Hey, theres friend of the blog and local art star HL Groen's work!

In addition to selling high quality (and totally gorgeous) body jewelry, Black Diamond carries pieces by local jewelry designers. Wait, isn't that SuperLula's fun and awesome plastic candy and glitter jewelry!?!

Georgina recently took some time to answer our hard hitting questions and talk a little about the piercing industry.

How did you get started?

I honestly can’t remember a time in my life that piercings and tattoos weren’t of interest to me. I grew up in Long Island, very close to Manhattan and spent a lot of time in the Village, so I was exposed to a lot of different lifestyles and culture at a pretty young age. I can remember wearing fake ear cuffs and nose rings and drawing on myself with sharpies as young as age 8 (which didn’t go over very well with the Catholic school I attended!).

I came to Hartford for college in 1995 as a psych major, and quickly realized a “traditional” job wasn’t really what I wanted for myself, but I stayed to please my parents. I got my first professional piercing shortly after getting to school and I was instantly hooked. I soon got another, and another, and so on... all but the first piercing I got done at the same shop and the piercer there and I became fast friends. I ended up hanging out there a lot and constantly asked to watch him work. Once he saw how interested I was in it and that watching didn’t gross me out or phase me at all, in fact it excited me, he offered me an apprenticeship. It was basically like going to school full time (40hrs a week) and I was still going to college full time, but I loved every second of it and soon realized this is what I was looking for. Piercing is definitely what I was meant to do with my life.

What do you like best about your job?

There are so many things I love about what I do. First of all, I love that I just get to be myself all day, not some “work version” of me like so many people that I know, but I also really enjoy the look on someone’s face when they see their new piercing for the first time. There’s nothing like that feeling of making someone else so incredibly happy!

What about your job is most challenging?

Being a piercer definitely comes with challenges. I think the biggest challenge for me is to be patient with people when they do the exact opposite of what I recommend, and then ask me how to fix what they messed up. That gets a little frustrating sometimes, but I just remind myself that they don’t live in this world of piercings day in and day out, and they don’t intentionally ignore me. There’s a lot of conflicting and outdated information on the internet, not to mention “friends” who have one piercing and think that makes them an expert, and it’s my job to help them navigate through all of it.

I feel like I've seen piercing trends come and go like anything else, and I'm sure you must notice things like that. Like, in the mid nineties, all these girls started getting their navels pierced. Then, a few years later, tongue piercings became super hot. Is there any particular piercing that is popular right now?

I agree there are definitely trends... but some never seem to go. Not a single day passes at work without navel, nostril, and cartilage piercings. They are definitely here to stay. Right now the biggest trend is definitely microdermal anchors. They’re so versatile.... you can put them just about anywhere on the body and the beads options are endless. I think they’re here to stay as well.

(Georgie bedazzled my chest tattoo with a sweet microdermal)

Do you have any interest in getting into doing more extreme mods, like implants, or shaping or splitting body parts?

I have a lot of respect for the people who do those kinds of mods.... but they’re not something I’m looking to do. I have a few piercer friends who do them in the tri state area and I just refer people to them.

What if there was a way to implant a horn on a person's head to make them like a unicorn?!?

That would be awesome! I think that you should get one. I’ll give you a card ;)

At my diminutive height, I think having a horn on my forehead would be kind of dangerous at crowded parties. Perhaps one of the other Scenics would be interested in this. I see you are a member of the Association of Professional Piercers. What’s that all about?

The piercing (and tattoo) industry is, for the most part, unregulated. In CT, there are very basic requirements, like a minimum age, but when it comes to sterility, jewelry quality, and training, there is absolutely nothing. They basically think it’s the responsibility of the person who wants a piercing to do the research and make sure that the place they choose is clean. Unfortunately, many people don’t know that, so they assume if the shop exists, it must be clean and you must know what you’re doing. Sadly, this is not the case.

The APP (Association of Professional Piercer’s) is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to keeping piercings professional and safe. They help make legislation (in the states that are interested) to keep standards of practice high and keep legislators educated about piercing safety. To be a member of the APP, your shop must meet a VERY long list of “environmental criteria” such as hand washing sinks in every piercing room, a proper “clean” room where cleaning of dirty instruments and autoclaving (steam sterilizing) of instruments, jewelry and needles occurs separately from all other parts of the shop, as well as the overall professionalism of a shop. You also have to meet “personal criteria” such as answering a questionnaire to prove your overall piercing knowledge, and being certified in first aid, CPR and blood-borne pathogens (just like any medical professional). They also have minimum requirements for jewelry quality. This is something that is largely overlooked.... even if the piercing is done correctly, but the
quality of the metal is poor, you will have a lot of problems, possibly rejection of the piercing and may even end up removing it completely because it “just won’t heal”.

So, in a nutshell, going to an APP member piercing shop can give you piece if mind that you have chosen a place with the highest of standards in every way. You can verify memberships and learn more about them at www.safepiercing.org.

What do you look for when selecting jewelry to sell at the shop?

Well, as far as body jewelry goes, I only sell the best of the best. Any surgical steel (316LVM ASTM F-138) or titanium (6AL4V ELI ASTM F-136) I use/sell is implant grade and is totally hypoallergenic (and no, this is not the same stuff you can buy at the mall). All the gold, white gold and platinum I sell is solid, not filled or plated. As for looks, all of it is hand made with hand set high quality synthetic AND/OR genuine gemstones. The only silver jewelry I sell is for ear lobes (it’s not an appropriate metal for body piercings or any healing piercing) and is solid .925 sterling silver. When it comes to non-metal jewelry, for instance stone, wood, bone and horn, it’s all hand–made and most importantly, beautiful and unique.

As you know I also sell other kinds of jewelry (necklaces, bracelets etc....) as well as art from local artists. My only real “requirement” for that is that I like it, it’s made locally, and would appeal to my clientele.

When you're not poking holes in the fine people of the Hartford area, what do you like to do in the Hartford area?

I’m kind of all over the place. I do enjoy a night out with my friends here and there.... usually at the Spigot or wherever my husband’s band, the Soul Merchants is playing. I also love to go antiquing, thrift store shopping, art shows..... game night at friends houses is a favorite in the winter time. In general, as long as I’m with the people that I love, I’m happy.

The Soul Merchants- we've totally blogged about them! Anything else?

Going out on my own in 2008 was a little scary at first. I now know it was the best decision I’ve made since I chose this profession. The response has been incredible, so there was definitely a need for an all piercing shop in the area, even more so than I realized. I just want to take a moment thank everyone who supported me and continues to support the shop every day with their continued patronage and referrals. I hope to serve as a friendly place for professional piercings, amazing jewelry, as well as a gallery for local artists to get their work out there for many years to come!

Thank you, Georgina. We love your shop and wish you the best! Good luck in that Hartford Advocate Poll we keep mentioning around here.

Photos of Georgina's work can be seen at www.blackdiamondbodypiercing.com. as well as on facebook.

Oh no, that didn't seem at all desperate

2011-01-25T20:05:00.001-05:00

Some friends-of-the-blog have been involved in the making of a forthcoming, locally produced sci-fi film, Sensory Perception. Corbin Bersen is on board, they are eager to point out - and you can be too! Sensory Perception will take your Facebook *likes* but what they really need is your money. There could be a producer credit in this for you. Check it out.

We are LOL'ing over this teaser: "The inhabitants of Brass City wake up, sad and devastated, each and every morning. No one is sure why, and people don't talk about it..."

We just totally met this guy, and here he's playing a show!

2011-01-25T19:13:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, January 26: Jarrod Gorbel (The Honorary Title), M.T. Bearington (Matt Thomas solo), John Parson @ BAR, New Haven

(She isn't drunk, she's a mime)

The other night at the Bobbie Peru/Kimono Draggin' gig we saw this hipster looking guy (beard, tattoos, Magic Hat No. 9), so obviously we had to chat him up, which went kind of like this:

CT Scenic: Is that your girlfriend?

Guy: No, I just met her.

CT Scenic: Is she on drugs? I'll have what she's having.

Guy: No, she went to mime school.

CT Scenic: No shit? Haha, like that Bobcat Goldthwait clown movie. Robin Williams is teaching mime school. It's a classic. Anyway, she should probably ask for a refund. I am not buying her glass box routine.

Guy: I gotta check that out.

CT Scenic: This band (Kimono Draggin') is awesome.

Guy: Yeah, I played in bands with these guys.

CT Scenic: What bands?

Guy: One of them was called Leaves of Lothlorian.

CT Scenic: That is so hot. Are you in a band now?

Guy: My band is called M.T. Bearington.

CT Scenic: We totally know you!

He'll be performing this Wednesday at BAR, part of the new series of free weekly Manic Productions gigs.

We suspect they are using the term "Hygienic" ironically

2011-01-25T18:29:00.000-05:00

Friday, January 28: Hygienic Hootenanny @ Muddy Waters, New London

Saturday, January 29: Hygienic Art XXXII Salon des Independents @ Hygienic Art Galleries, New London

We don't often make it to CT's southeast corner. Alas the journey all the way down Route 2 is too long and bleak, and we don't even have a handle on the falafel situation down there. But if we lived closer to the area, or got the damn wormholes fixed already, we imagine we'd be getting a lot of our elite cultural needs tended to by Hygienic Art.

This weekend parallel dimension Team Scenic would be kicking things off Friday night with the Hootenanny, which has a "False Hearted Lovers" theme and a gentle warning to "leave the young ones at home," which we are behind 100%. Sounds like if we lived in New London, we'd be taking our extended cups of coffee at the venue, Muddy Waters Cafe.

Saturday night we'd be taking in the massive open invitational art show. Katie Scenic went to one of these things many years ago and was impressed by someone's 3-D neon light phallus art, and by a band that performed with a robot (dude in cardboard box costume) keyboard player. New London has been hip for ages!

PSA: Cheap Eats via Restaurant.com

2011-01-25T17:31:00.002-05:00

Our friend Hartford Foodie recently tipped us off to restaurant.com, and their sale of local gift cards for less than face value. The site is searchable by zip code, and I found plenty of places I had totally heard of and not heard of. I happened to click the link when they were offering an 80% off coupon code, and grabbed up $150 worth of gift cards for $15.50! Sometime in the future, we will be dining on the cheap at spots such as New Haven's Istanbul Cafe, the douchestrict's own Tavern Downtown, and the dining area of our favorite karaoke shitshow, Butterfly.

Restaurant.com is currently offering another 80% off deal that is good through January 31st. When you enter the word MEAL at checkout, you can get $25 gift cards for $2 (in Connecticut and everywhere else, too). Sweet! As Rachel pointed out, many of these gift cards have a minimum purchase of about $5 or $10 dollars over their value, but since they are practically free- BFD.

Bon Appetit, from your Best Blogger candidates (how are those votes coming along?)

Bronze Radio Return Returns

2011-01-25T13:58:00.000-05:00

Friday, January 28: Bronze Radio Return @ Up or On the Rocks, Hartford

We've mentioned Bronze Radio Return before, and how, of all the CT bands - including our Favorite Bands - these guys probably have the most commercial potential. This doesn't mean we like them best (duh - we prefer stuff that clears rooms), but it might mean that you - and any swoon-prone ladies in your life - will. Groupie their asses before they become rock stars (yeah, like they don't all have girlfriends), and let's all support Up or On the Rock's brave booking of original local talent against Hartford's explicit preference for terrible cover bands.

The band is also celebrating the release of their second album, Shake! Shake! Shake! Somebody get those boys some phenobarbital!

Don't like our predictable jokes and irreverent tone? Here's what the Courant had to say about Bronze Radio Return, with more actual details about Friday's show.

The Boys are Back in Town (Again)

2011-01-25T11:41:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, January 26: Sidewalk Dave @ The Half Door, Hartford

CT Scenic's Favorite CT Band/Fake Fiance(s) Sidewalk Dave return to the Half Door, the home of $2 Irish pint Wednesdays (and our favorite indie rock DJ/trivia guy the rest of the week). We've said a lot about this band and how obscenely great they are in the past. Revisit those posts, or just gaze upon topless Dave and mentally commit to attending this week.

In straight SD news, we know the band has been recording just lately and look forward to picking up their latest as soon as it exists in old-fashioned hard copy. We've also been enjoying their mix CD for 2010. If you've been living under a rock, musically speaking, like us, Sidewalk Dave's 10 Best Songs of 2010 is a great catch-up kit.

See you there? Stay thirsty.

Mark Twain: Dirty Old Man

2011-01-25T11:27:00.000-05:00

Thursday, January 27: R-Rated Twain @ City Steam Brewery, Hartford

In addition to his pioneering work as a YA novelist and gangsta rapper, famous Hartford resident Mark Twain also dabbled in literary pornography - the filthy written word! The Mark Twain House presents an evening of theater based on Twain's adult-oriented works and promises it's going to be salty good fun. The Sea Tea Improv group (Get it? Sea Tea = CT), whose credentials include the Hartford Stage Company and the Upright Citizens Brigade, will perform. The event will also include the world premier of a short comedy by West Hartford playwright David Ryan Polgar, Mark Twain: Ladies Man, which imagines Twain as a cock-blocking wingman. Sounds jersylicious!

This event is 21+, so we're banking on plenty of nudity and cursing (or maybe just free-flowing beer). Reservations are to be made through the Mark Twain House, not City Steam.

Derby Boys on Derby Girls (not a sex thing)

2011-01-24T23:30:00.000-05:00

Friday, January 28: CT Death Quads present "Brutal Beauty" @ Criterion Cinemas, New Haven

Hey, didn't we just say we'd try and maintain our enthusiasm and keep you posted about derby related stuff? Well, those same great fellas who hosted the super-fun 80s skate the other night, the CT Death Quads, will be hosting the CT premier of a documentary about derby, Brutal Beauty, at New Haven's Criterion Cinemas. It's about the women of Portland, Oregon's Rose City Rollers. The derby dudes will be doing Q&A, meet-and-greet and merch at Friday night's evening shows, which are at 7:20 and 9:30 p.m. We've mentioned Criterion's almost-midnight movies in a previous post; this Friday you can catch creepy puppetry classic The Dark Crystal (a childhood favorite of certain Scenics) at 11:30 p.m. How about a double feature?

Scenic Envy Part 694837: In which we eat delicious noodles, drink hot chocolate and get a new favorite band

2011-01-23T21:43:00.000-05:00

Saturday night was a momentous occasion - the reunion of estranged-ish blog partners Jackie and Katie Scenic, who journeyed to New Haven for datenight - dinner and a show! Right away our plans went awry. We intended to eat dinner at Miya's Sushi (we have a crush on one of the servers), but we were thwarted by a ridiculously packed house and hour long estimated wait time. Screw that. Scenics have no such patience. Every where you turn in New Haven there's some tempting "ethnic" food establishment, but we opted for a sure thing - a revisit to the York Street Noodle House where we shared a vegetarian dim sum sampler and ordered identical bowls of coconut curry soup. Or almost identical. Different noodle choices. Choices! What bliss. We've already told you how great this Noodle House is in a previous post.

After gorging ourselves at the Noodle House it was a little early for hitting the bars, and Jackie is off the sauce for the moment, so we took a little walk ("to burn off a calorie") down the street and stopped for hot chocolate at the Blue State Coffee, where Jackie enjoyed a straight edge hardcore hot chocolate.

We also "enjoyed" a little anxiety about being surrounded by Yalies (we assume everyone in New Haven goes to Yale), but comforted ourselves with the knowledge that before they were Ivy Leaguers they were just asskissing high school students. Insufferable!

Once the clock had struck an appropriate hour we headed to Stella Blues, where friends-of-the-blog Bobbie Peru and Kimono Draggin' were playing. We'd never been to this joint before. It's pretty vanilla for New Haven (bear in mind, our New Haven experiences are usually limited to Cafe Nine and Rudy's/Elm Bar gigs - we don't exactly visit their Black Bear). We had a laugh at their cheesy wall posters. Who's idea of rock n roll decor is this - Lindsay Weir?

LOL. The patrons were pretty straight too. This may have been a not-quite-right venue choice for such freaky bands (who each cleared the room a little more - what's up with women and hating bands, eh?). We've seen Bobbie Peru before and enjoyed mainman Bert's always excellent fasion choices and the band's aggressive alternative noise all over again. The band was celebrating the release of their new split 7-inch with their music BFFs Kimono Draggin' - isn't that quaint?

Kimono Draggin' have been around for years, but somehow we've missed them! Our loss, because they are basically our newest Favorite Band (which doesn't mean they've displaced anyone else in our hearts - they've entered the Favorite Band class). It's a bit of a cop-out to say, but this band really must be experienced live to believe, understand, know, love, etc. It just isn't going to translate on your computer screen. This may be why we hadn't seen them yet! But we know better now.

These guys are kind of like Mister Bungle, if Mister Bungle was actually fun (for us) to listen to. By which we mean they are amazing technical musicians playing silly, schizoid music that pretty much makes a raucous mockery of overblown rock and metal as well as overly earnest alternative styles via genre hopping, shredding, goofy lyrics, outrageous falsettos, and unexpected references. They also made adorable small penis jokes about their half (3 1/2") of the 7-inch. You know this means their actual cocks are HUGE.

After the set we told them how wonderful they are (though it's clear from their playing that they fully realize their own wonderfulness) and how we regret that we'll never see them in Hartford, since Hartford pretty much has a raging semi for vanilla (the word of the night) shitrock cover bands and innocuous jammy puke bands like the McLovins (OMG they're soooo young!). If Thomas Kinkade were a band, he'd win the Hartford Advocate's Band Slam for sure. It's like the complacency capitol of the world or something.

Still with us? Check out Kimono Draggin' this Thursday, January 27 at Daniel Street in Milford.

About that Elm Bar

2011-01-23T18:45:00.004-05:00

Previous posts have covered the closing of awesome New Haven venue Rudy's (a favorite Scenic destination in the past) and the re-opening of the physical location as Rudy's-esque Elm Bar, as well as the promise of a new actual Rudy's restaurant/bar which is still in the works. This weekend the Elm Bar started hosting live music gigs. I was there to take in the scene with Big Mike and Yale/New Haven legend Phil.

We started our evening down the street at Mamoun's - Scenics cannot get enough falafel - and proceeded to the bar with happy stomachs. The experience was Rudy's-esque from the beginning - the little outside fenced-in area is unchanged, and the cover charge was was only $3. And the door guy was a blast from my past - Adam from Groovski! That band was great! I totally love him! He's playing in a band called Procedure Club now.

Inside was very crowded and kind of a sausage party, as the saying goes. Bearded sausage - as you'd expect for a stoner rock gig. Although there's a bunch of new stuff about the interior - the tables and wall coverings and a spacious third bathroom (for the third sex?), but they've made every effort to keep things the way they used to be. Patrons have been hard at work carving up the new tables. Classy!

They aren't calling them Belgian frites or anything, but the Elm Bar is offering "Fresh Fries" and a variety of dipping sauces, which of course was one of the main attractions at the old Rudy's. We didn't actually see anyone eating these - maybe it made them feel dirty. The beer selection also reflected some Belgian roots, including my favorite girlie treat Lindeman's Framboise Lambic and this Belgian ale, Orval, that I tried (for free - thanks bartender guy!).

I'm not a very good beer critic, but I gave a taste to an expert and he said it was interesting in that it tasted like a white beer in spite of its amber color. Big Mike said it smelled fruity. I like the fancy bottle and thought it was drinkable, and that's all I really ask. Why don't you ask the Beer Advocate?

The arrangement of the bar is essentially unchanged from Rudy's days, so it's as cramped and uncomfortable for watching live music or attempting to hold a conversation as ever. The backroom is empty right now, but I imagine they'll be debuting a pool table any day now. We stayed for sets by Gasoline Therapy and Treebeard. Gasoline Therapy seemed pretty cool, until Treebeard blew them out of the water. Treebeard are a new, legitimately awesome, wicked heavy, Clutch-like stoner rock band. The jam they closed their set with was revelatory, and I will make the effort to see them again.

This outing drove home once again the staggering scene differences between Hartford and New Haven; there is no venue in the Hartford area where an original stoner/metal band can pull a packed house. And I can't think of a single bar around here serving Belgian style fries with a variety of sauces - much less pulling a vaguely sleazy copycat maneuver to keep the fried potatoes rolling the way we remember them.