So, about that new Rudy's

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

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!

The Totes Horny Roundup

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!

Hipstercana Wednesday: Sidewalk Dave & Elison Jackson

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)

$5 Movies

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

Friends-of-the-blog New Haven takeover

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.

Holly Golightly and The Proud Flesh

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.

I'll like whatever Kimono Josh tells me to like

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!

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

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!

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

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

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.

Midweek Magic @ Bespoke

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!

Naughty By Nature (yeah you know them)

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.

New Haven: Get Ready to Scream

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

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... : (

We'll pretend it's our birthday too!

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!

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

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.

Hey Girl, it's your Birthday

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!

Punk Rawk Weekend

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!

So You Wanna Be A Rock N' Roll Star

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!