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)

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

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?)

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.

WINNING!?

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.

YAY SIDEWALK DAVE TIME AGAIN!

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.

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.

The Boys are Back in Town (Again)

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.

The best in background music - DJ Norman Beats @ The Half Door

Mondays & Thursdays: Are You Looking for the Beats? @ The Half Door, Hartford

Some guy at a bar with an iPod may not sound like hot, blogworthy news, but when that guy is friend-of-the-blog DJ Norman Beats (or Anthony as we like to call him) and his iPod is, dare we admit, full of even cooler music than our iPods, and he knows what we want to hear better than we do, it's worth noting. We pretty much hate club music of all types, and even we get tired of karaoke now and then. But we never get tired of eating, drinking, or hanging out with our BFFs. The Half Door is certainly not a new venue for us, but in recent months has become a much cooler destination, thanks to elite indie rock sets by Mr. Beats (who is also Tuesday Trivia guy, which is great fun as well, at least when we won, that one time).  Oh, and monthly gigs by our sweethearts, Sidewalk Dave (next one is January 26). After last night's Creative Cocktail Hour we needed someplace to keep on boozing and blabbing. At the Half Door we enjoyed luxurious beers (including delicious Young's chocolate stout), greasy apps, a guy with stunning facial hair, and tunes by Franz Ferdinand, Depeche Mode, Ambulance LTD, Queen, Kaiser Chiefs, Joy Division and Lady Gaga, among others, and a final karaoke-style Take That serenade by our DJ pal, who we (easily) coerced into posing for this unflattering photo featuring SuperScenic Vision!

The Half Door: We totally drink there.

2010: The Year in Scenic

We can't pretend to have kept up with new movies, music or television shows in 2010 like many other blogs and publications who have been posting listicles like they're going out of style (ha, the listicle is always in style, and double ha - it sounds like testicle!). So here's just a random assortment of shit that was great for us in a CT Scenic kind of way this year. 

Film?!

This was basically a shit year for movies, which could have really thrown us off course, since going to the movies had been a major "social" activity for us in previous years. There's nothing very social about going to a movie though, is there? Well, we didn't really see shit worth mentioning in the mainstream theaters this year, but we enjoyed (or in some cases didn't enjoy) various indie offerings from our favorite "alt" venue, Real Art Ways. We're a little ashamed to admit it, but our "movie of the year" title will have to go to The Human Centipede, even though by a lot of objective standards this film was rather awful. But we developed a special relationship with this movie and helping host it's Hartford debut at RAW was one of the coolest things we've ever done - in any year.  Though we were a little disappointed at how few people were actually willing to pose as human centipedes themselves. Seriously, fully clothed - what's the big deal? Congrats again to the few who participated. Anyone else wanting to redeem themselves in this department, it's never too late to send us your pics!

We also enjoyed that great documentary about Phil Spector and awkward first date flick Antichrist. And outside the RAW bubble, we had a great time with the cast and crew of A Safe House at the Silk City Flick Fest, and were relieved to find out their movie was great too, so we didn't have any of those weird straining-for-a-fake-compliment moments. "Um, yeah, guys, that was really really... interesting."

Supernatural Threats

Although we'd much rather have sex with vampire hotties (from Sweden if possible), 2010 was undeniably the year of the Zombie. And while definitely don't want sex of any kind with actual zombies no matter their nation of origin, zombies have nevertheless created better opportunities for participatory fun this year than their blood-sucking brethren. We were inspired by special effects pro Matt Corrigan's how to make (and kill!) a zombie clinic. And we'd heard of Zombie Pub Crawls before, but never in CT! We were encouraged by the enthusiastic participation we witnessed at Hartford's First Annual Zombie Pub Crawl.

CT Music

Well, if you've been following us at all, you already know our favorite CT band is Sidewalk Dave, and that we love them so much we want to marry them, even if we can't seem to get their names straight (sorry, Chris - who the fuck is Bruce?). We're so glad they came into our lives, played our excellent party, and have a regular gig at The Half Door (next one is Jan. 26 - we'll totally be there). We're also excited by Sidewalk Dave's similarly Americana oriented CT friends, The Proud Flesh and Elison Jackson. 

Our other favorite CT band is Baby G, who play sad, sad original blues. We recently caught the duo version of this act and were lucky enough to snag a demo. We hope Baby G will have an official release sometime soon. We need more! Baby G has a gig coming up at The Buttonwood Tree Jan. 8. 

And our other, other favorite CT band The Midnightmares have been helping us to relive our punk rock adolescence (well, those of use who had a punk rock adolescence, ahem). We first reunited with our old friend Matt Mullarkey during the early days of CT Scenic, and including his latest band at our party was kind of a no-brainer. Looks like our next shot at them isn't until Feb. 12 at some place called Rack n' Roll in Stamford. That is not our neck of the woods. Maybe we can just throw another party.

Scenic Envy

The Scenics are all Hartford-ish based, but we're not afraid to visit other towns in CT (and sometimes other states!). This year we found ourselves returning again and again to New Haven and Torrington. In New Haven we just can't get enough of live music and burlesque at Cafe Nine, where there always seems to be something enticing on the schedule. And our favorite New Haven gay bar, 168 York Street Cafe, is just so homey - and home to our "favorite New Haven drag queen" (ha - like we know any others!) Robin Banks. New Haven's downtown is just so much bigger and better than Hartford's, with some many places we actually want to go within walking distance of one another. When we aren't drinking at the bars, we're enjoying New Haven's bounty of "ethnic" cuisine, at such Scenic favorites as the York Street Noodle House and Mamoun's falafel.

Torrington is CT's sexy little secret. Yeah, you're like "Torrington? Sexy? Puh-lease. "Well, shows what you know. We'd be going out in Torrington all the frakking time if it were just a little closer. Our top spots there are the Rocket food truck (they sell deliciously, semi-healthy food from high quality and local ingredients - out of a truck!), Brazen Betties (amazing clothing, jewelry, arts and crafts by exclusively CT peeps), and Snapper Magee's (a punk rock oriented bar). CT Scenic has called Torrington "the next god damn Collinsville." Believe it.

Trendy hobbies and interests

This year two out of three Scenics became Bikram fanatics. It's how we manage to keep our sexy figures in spite of the relentless drinking, eating and general debauchery that maintaining this blog demands of us. We didn't have any yoga background prior to this and understand it's a controversial practice, but we're in it now and we can't imagine doing yoga without the 105 degree heat.

We've also been all over this burlesque trend. We've been to a bunch of shows featuring CT burlesque performers and think they are just about the sexiest, funnest gigs around. All our favorite dancers will be participating at a benefit for the CT Humane Society's Fox Clinic Jan. 8 at Daniel Street in Milford.

And of course there were donuts. We started in with the donut reviews because love donuts, and we can totally afford them. We've enjoyed CT's best indie donuts at shops throughout the state. And even though we thought they kind of sold out with that Advocate cover, we're still gonna eat them.

Well, this post could go on and on forever, but we have parties to get to and shit like that. This year we really hit our stride with the blog, and we truly appreciate the encouragement and support from our friends and readers, as well as the party invites from those readers who became our friends. We know commenting on this Blogspot site can be kind of a pain in the ass - it doesn't even work with certain popular browsers. But we'd love to hear from you and get your hot tips about great CT stuff, even if you don't actually know you. Especially if we don't actually know you! That's the point - CT Scenic is for everyone. Send us an email or join us on Facebook if you haven't already. Or celebrity sight in public.

Happy New Year.

Urban Busk - we totally know them!

Friends-of-the-blog Urban Busk are making the kind of positive cultural contribution the Scenics fully intended to make. Before we lost all our ambition and settled for coasting along on our looks, that is. CT peeps may already know Daniel Salazar III for his music. Now get to know him for his video production on these fun segments featuring area musicians along with host Kenell Turner. This could be a really awesome contribution to the scene - and to the Scenic blog! It's a visual world, but many artists still don't have any material with passable audio available on Youtube, a lose-lose scenario. 

Urban Busk is just getting under way, but check out their first two installments. Actually, we just saw Josh Aciares the other night at swanky Firebox Restaurant. Listen to that all that sensitivity - he could be the next James Blunt!

We've enjoyed JP Palace in a previous musical incarnation... what was it called? Trousersnake? Somthing cocky... looking it up now... oh, right - GIRTH. Totally blanked on that for a minute! Good thing Jackie wrote about them back in the early days of the blog. Anyway, check out JP:

If we were Urban Busk (hint, hint), we'd looking into doing upcoming segments on superior area talent like our sweethearts Sidewalk Dave (who have lots of good vids, but we can't get enough of them), or deliciously sad songstress Baby G (who could so benefit from improved Youtube presence, as could our posts about her). The Scenics will also strive (or at least talk with great enthusiasm about striving) to get our shit together into some kind of musical act so that Urban Busk will feature us!

Sidewalk Dave: Two Very Important Engagements

Wednesday, December 15: Sidewalk Dave @ BAR, New Haven
Thursday, December 16: Sidewalk Dave @ Black-eyed Sally's, Hartford

We may seem to repeat ourselves around here, but we'll never stop reminding you about Sidewalk Dave gigs, because we're still that excited about them, after all these months! In fact, the more we've seen them live and listened to their tunes at home (and in the car, and on the trail, and at work), the more we like them and selfishly appreciate that they are still something of a hidden CT treasure, sure to be stolen away from us by teenage girls or twenty-something boys one of these days (ugh, screw them).

We've also gotten to know the fellows from Sidewalk Dave a bit through a series of professionally toned emails, brief and barely heard conversations between sets and, of course, sexting. The more we find out, the more there is to love. So we're so happy to announce that we're upgrading Sidewalk Dave from "pretend boyfriends" to "pretend fiancés," and we're totally kvelling over Bruce and Dave's gracious imaginary efforts to make honest women out of Katie and Jackie (if they don't make honest women of each other first).

If you're a new reader (thanks for dropping by!), we'll play it straight for a minute here and suffice it to say that Sidewalk Dave are our favorite CT band. They play rootsy indie rock. They're twangy and sound prematurely old (a characteristic of many of our favorite musicians who are not actually old, as well as those who are). Their lyrics mostly revolve around alcoholism and religious faith, subject matter that is probably far more appealing in a song than IRL. They sort of remind us Murder By Death, minus the sexy cello playing broad, which reminds us that Adam Turla from MBD is hot, hot stuff and we kinda totally have his phone number, which... ok, sorry, we tried. Hope you got the picture, and hope to see you at one of these gigs!

Check out the latest music video from Sidewalk Dave. This one is about booze AND religion:

We are thankful for Sidewalk Dave

Wednesday, November 24: Sidewalk Dave @ The Half Door, Hartford

Our regulars already know and love Sidewalk Dave, but for the newcomers, let's take a moment to recap. This great New Haven band was enterprising enough to contact the Scenics early this year for self-promotional purposes. We would have given them press regardless (was that like our first email ever?!), but we were pleased to be able to put our genuine enthusiasm behind them after checking out their material - great songs and self-produced videos. So when it came time to plan our great Blogaversary celebration, it made perfect sense to invite Sidewalk Dave to play. We had yet to see them live or meet in person, but we promised them donuts, liquor and inadequate pay, and they said yes and showed up at the appointed time and place. We were impressed with their punctuality, as well as their youthful good looks and eccentric wardrobe choices. 

By the end of the night our whole party was impressed with their awesome live performance, which we later described as twangy and hard rocking beyond our expectations. Since then we've been lucky enough to see them a few more times here on our home turf, and look forward to more of their monthly gigs at the Half Door. We've gotten to know their recordings and are floored by Dave's religion and alcoholism obsessed lyrics. Because nothing is more appealing to a Scenic than a literate alcoholic perspective (or drug-addled in general, let's be honest - may we suggest some of our favorites - Bukowski, Burroughs, Burroughs, Thompson, Welsh, or on the music side, cause that's what we're talking about - Elliot Smith, Murder City Devils, and our eloquent famous friend Peter Dolving). We should be so fucked up, but we're just miserable about nothing. Join us and drown the pain of being alive this Wednesday!

Proud Flesh and Pizza

Friday, November 5: The Proud Flesh @ Bohemian Pizza, Litchfield

Proud flesh and pizza? Hmmm... that actually sounds pretty disgusting, if we were really referring to that overgrowth of granular tissue that can be an undesirable consequence of wound healing. But we're not. The Proud Flesh is a CT band that plays a tasty brand of roots/Americana, very much in the vein of some of the other area bands we've been mentioning lately, like Elison Jackson and Sidewalk Dave. And yes, it turns out these guys are all personally (or personnel-ly) connected.

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).

This Friday - date night? - you have an opportunity to check out this great band AND eat some of the fanciest, most delicious pizza (and salads, and beers, etc.) in all of CT at Litchfield's Bohemian Pizza, which we've blogged about previously. Revisit our memorable meal, complete with food porn pictures.

Pleased to meet Ms Robin Banks

Sunday, Oct. 31: Halloween Costume Contest w/ Robin Banks @ York Street Cafe, New Haven

We're always saying things like "the best part of going out in CT is the celebrities," and you're probably like whatever, these Scenics are delusional. And you'd be right on the last point - but seriously, when you go to all the right parties you find there are VIPs all around you (and by you we mean us). We're so glad we went to the Lipgloss Crisis event at Cafe Nine last night. Our walk to the club from another part of town helped serve to placate our usual Scenic Envy when we saw that New Haven has a "douchestrict" too (complete with a Black Bear - ugh!), but once we got to Cafe Nine, everything was cool, and we started running into important people like that guy that used to be in Sidewalk Dave, the real Lipgloss Crisis (our earlier identity confusion resolved), burlesque performer Dot Mitzvah, and the amazing Robin Banks, a New Haven drag legend (pictured here with All Systems Go-Go, who promise to put some content up on that page soon).

We're so glad we met Robin, so now we know about one more great Halloween-y thing to do this weekend. Check out a costume contest hosted by Robin Banks at New Haven's 168 York Street Cafe this Sunday night at 11 p.m. Robin is a riot, so this is definitely going to be a winner.

Midweek Music: Elison Jackson

Wednesday, Oct. 27: Elison Jackson @ Cafe Nine, New Haven

We recently received a request for publicity from CT folkies Elison Jackson, and we're so happy to report that they are great and we can wholeheartedly endorse them on their musical merit - not just because they are friends of our friends Sidewalk Dave and we are flattered by email (though these latter factors can't possibly hurt; cue influx of emails from bands pretending to be friends of Sidewalk Dave). Actually Elison Jackson (a band, not a dude in the band) sounds a bit like Sidewalk Dave does in their mellower mode, especially in the vocal delivery, which manages to sound jaded and vulnerable at the same time. You can check out their whole album online here. And go see them live tomorrow night at Cafe Nine along with The Proud Flesh and Plume Giant.

How about that band pic? They're just like regular dudes. We'll just go on thinking of them as looking like the fake band picture that they also use.

Friends of the Blog Friday: Sidewalk Dave, Midnightmares, etc.

Friday, Oct. 22:
Sidewalk Dave @ Bespoke, New Haven
The Midnightmares, They Hate Us, Out to Lunch, Arcane Malevolence @ Seaside Tavern, Stamford
"Subversive Manipulations of Technology" @ Billings Forge, Hartford

Some of our BBF (Best Bloggie Friends) have gigs tonight. By now Sidewalk Dave needs no introduction around here; see them tonight in New Haven at Bespoke. And our other oft-mentioned friends The Midnightmares have a gig in Stamford with a bunch of other bands at the Seaside Tavern. HAHA - Arcane Malevolence look hilarious!


We aren't quite on a hugging basis with artist Balam Soto (the way we are with Dave and the 'Mares), but we're working on that, and we're impressed by what we've seen of his work online and intrigued by the description of "Subversive Manipulation of Technology," a collaborative new media effort by Soto and a group of CT/NYC artists, which promises a "union of electronic movement, improvisational dance and movement, large-scale interactive projections and video, experimental instruments and circuit bending." Circuit bending? Fascinating! The performance will be at 8 p.m. at Billings Forge. Afterwards you can go next door for pricey pricey drinks at the Firebox (a fancy restaurant, not a sexual euphemism).

Play us out Dave!

Another shot at love with Sidewalk Dave

Saturday, Oct. 16: Sidewalk Dave @ The Half Door, Hartford

We'll never miss an excuse to advise you to check out our favorite CT band Sidewalk Dave. We love them for their brazen lyrical blend of godliness and alcoholism, their youthful good looks, Dave's Amish-inspired wardrobe, Bruce's love of donuts, and everything else we've found out about them. We're excited that the Half Door likes Sidewalk Dave as much as we do and will be bringing them to Hartford on a regular basis.

Ken Krayeske (We totally know him!) Green Party

Wednesday, Sept. 29 (that's today!): Green Party Rally @ Sisson Tavern, Hartford


Oh, hey Ken Krayeske and Connecticut Green Party, way to compete for our affections with Sidewalk Dave tonight. But sure, we guess political alternatives, progressive agendas and unabashed anti-war sentiment are as important as deliciously twangy local indie rock. Maybe we can find some way to merge the two. Actually, the Green deal starts at 7 p.m., so you can probably make both. Sisson Ave.: hot tonight.

Krayeske, former Advocate badboy, local indie journo and famous Rell antagonist, is running for Congress for the Greens. Tonight's event at local dive-y joint the Sisson Tavern will include taping for a TV spot, so attention whores: be there.

Sidewalk Dave: We totally love them!

Wednesday, Sept. 29: Sidewalk Dave @ The Half Door, Hartford
Saturday Oct. 16: Sidewalk Dave @ The Half Door, Hartford

Remember back in August when we threw basically the best party ever, and introduced many of you to your newest favorite band (or newest favorite CT band, if you must qualify them so) Sidewalk Dave? Well, we're thrilled to see they've got some dates coming up at the Half Door, one of our regular hangs anyway.

Check out this very rockin music video they made, which even includes footage from our party. Hott:

(Musical) Friends of the Blog Week

Remember that great band Sidewalk Dave from our fabulous party? Your new favorite band? They have two New Haven gigs this week. Wednesday night they play at BAR and Thursday night they'll be at Cafe Nine. We're psyched about rock shows at BAR. We've seen some great acts there over the years, like Adam Franklin and Magnolia Electric Company, and they have some of the coolest looking bathrooms in the state! (Which you know we'll document for you if we make it down.)


How about that superfun punk band from our party? The Midnightmares? You can see them this Saturday in East Hartford at 125 Riverside Drive. It's part of the Advocate's Grand Band Slam, which the paper seems to have neglected to create a page for on their great website.


And those Brooklyn hotties Katie Scenic liked so much the other night? They'll be playing in Stamford on Friday at someplace called Rack n Roll (not really our neck of the woods, unfortunately) with CT gal Daria Musk, who seems very nice, if not exactly our type. They are also playing in Hartford on Saturday at Up or On the Rocks, and we can't think of another - er, a better - reason to go there. Aw, we kid. They've booked some other "friends-of-the-blog" lately, so they must be alright. Looking forward to this gig for sure!