Saturday, May 15: SkinFest @ Sully's Pub, Hartford
This Saturday you can party all day and night at Sully's Pub, where our friends the Libertine Collective are presenting SkinFest, which is a benefit for something called the World Skin Project, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about and preventing skin cancer. Cancer! That's serious business!
But we can have fun with it. SkinFest will include performances by area musicians we totally know: Bipolar Jukebox, The Kelvins, Matt Zeiner and Bret the One Man Band. We've said hilarious things about most of these guys in the past here on the blog. Let's laugh at all our old zingers again. We called Zeiner and Bipolar's Andre "handsome, talented, prematurely old sounding keyboard frontmen." We called the Kelvins "stylish cockrockers." Jeez, looks like we forgot to bag on Bret when we mentioned him (unless you think mentioning hipsters in the same breath is an automatic dis). Let's just say he's Dashboard Confessional-esque, and not only because he's from WeHa. LOL, one of these days our words are gonna get us in trouble - the day people start reading our freakin' blog!
SkinFest is also gonna feature Naked People getting painted, by area artists such as Libertine-in-chief H.L. Groen. We hope the paint will be packing a hefty SPF. SKIN CANCER PEOPLE!!!
We also hope that "raffles and surprises galore" include some free biopsies, so we can find out what the hell these moles are already.
Friday, May 14 @ Cafe Nine, New Haven Saturday, May 15 @ ArtSpace, New Haven Wednesday, May 26 @ Cafe Nine, New Haven
Tweefort Records along with Cafe Nine and ArtSpace present Elm City Popfest 2010, which will feature a variety of CT talent alongside imports from the UK and important US cities like NYC and Chicago. Our bloggie buddies CT Indie have written a very detailed and informative preview post about it, so we'll just direct you over there for more info and enticement, and mention on a personal note that friend-of-the-blog Steven Deal (we totally know him!) will be playing Friday night.
The Pist Reunion Tour 2010 Friday, May 14: w/ Feetfirst, Havnotz, M-13 @ Heirloom Arts Theatre, Danbury Saturday, May 15: w/ Broken, Eddie and the Louvers, The Paraplegics, Sadplant @ Club Hell, Providence, RI Saturday, June 5: w/ Feet First, Guilt Trip, The Wankys, Chaos Destroy @ Club Europa, Brooklyn, NY
We've mentioned our adolescent love of CT hardcore/punk legends The Pist before, and we are pretty damn excited to make up for lost time and maybe actually see them live this summer. Since our professional lives are in the shitter, we have more use than ever before for pissy anthems like "The Customer is Always Right." This is wonderful:
And you can never ever have enough of aggressive pro-choice atheism.
Thursday, May 13: "Join Together with the Bands" @ Acoustic Cafe, Bridgeport
Whilst partying in Bridgeport this past weekend, we became real-life acquainted with our FB friend Julia (this happens almost every time we go out now - awesome!). She is a self-appointed independent cheerleader of the Bridgeport scene, and keeps us up to date on what's happening at great venues in BPort like Acoustic Cafe and Two Boots. Who knew? Friend her up if that's your hood. We hope she doesn't mind the public blog mention, but those 797 people can't possibly all be real-life friends, right?
So thanks, Julia, for letting us know that a nice local band we've been wanting to see, The Mercury Seed, will be playing at Acoustic Cafe's "Thursday Night Music Club," along with other area musicians - T-Bone, Mike Cusato Band, and some other peeps we haven't quite heard of but we're willing to learn.
Julia started out blogging like us, but then moved her game over to FB, which we must admit, is the quick and easy way to communicate and invite. We're gonna try and tough it out as bloggers with an FB component though. FB is quick and easy for sure, but all those invites and friendships and RSVPs seem so fickle and nebulous. As she explained to us on Saturday, she just wanted to make the best out of living in Bridgeport and let people know that they didn't need to leave town to find things to do. That's how we feel about CT in general (hence the blog). If you're complaining there's nothing to do, you're lying, lazy, not trying, or maybe you just don't have a really awesome partner - in crime, that is - to go out with and elevate trips to the Lot or the local bar to a criminally good time. The latter we can't help you with. We also can't help it that, yes, CT is like "6 degrees of Kevin Bacon," wherein "your ex" plays the role of Kevin Bacon and "everyone else you meet" plays the role of Hollywood. Sorry. LOL, Kevin Bacon just played here a few weeks ago. Maybe he did your ex while he was in town. Wouldn't that be ironic?
Whoa, digression much! Point being, we'd like to see the Mercury Seed, Thursday at Acoustic Cafe. Or anywhere else. Repeat listens to their newest CD, Remains, has revealed the strength of the lyrics, which seem to be the post-mortem for a relationship gone sour, where the guy is all sad because couldn't they just have communicated better? OMG, Volker Lemmer, please be our boyfriend?
Saturday night - date night again! We rounded up a couple young gentlemen friends (i.e. our beards) and set off on another adventure. Our first destination was Matt Mullarkey's much ballyhooed (by us) show of punk rock flier art. As per our own advice, we took the scenic route (Route 8) to get there. We've been raised on lore of BPort's epic poverty and scariness, and we're sure it has its moments but frankly, we found the neighborhood we ended up in downright quaint and certainly "not any worse looking than Hartford." Well, other than the "gallery" itself which was kind of an abandoned looking building surrounded by barbed wire (check out the FB gallery).
We've mentioned Matt numerous times on the blog - he's been a Connecticut punk scene fixture forever, with bands including The Injections, Elvis McMan, The Pink Slips, and currently The Midnightmares, as well as a flier artist extraordinaire. We've enjoyed both his music and fliers for years (something like half Jackie Scenic's life, and nearly half of Katie's, if you want to do that math...). So of course it was lovely to see the man, the band and the artwork. Jackie is pretty sure she attended this show in the late 90s:
We caught the tail end of The Midnightmares, and were once again taken in by their screamy, raucous charms. We also enjoyed part of the set by Shangk, who look like regular dudes, but rock out like nobody's business. We're going to see if anyone we know will book these bands in Hartford. We're sick of having to drive so far!
Well, either it was too fucking loud or we are too fucking old, but in any event, we had other business to attend to and didn't stay in Bridgeport long. Pretty soon it was on to Rudy's in New Haven. After a moment of panic over the fact that the bar was out of cider, we settled on some drinks (including a beer called WTF, which we've just now realized is, ugh, a Wilco reference) and sat down at one of those giant wooden tables. Between the tables, the poor lighting, the general rowdiness, and of course the ever-present cowled and scowling figures lurking in all the dark corners, the whole thing was very Prancing Pony.
The first band we saw was Skeletonbreath. They play that gypsy punk business, like Gogol Bordello or Kiss Kiss, or all those bands from the soundtrack for Everything is Illuminated. Only they do it strictly instrumental. They go completely spastic on every song, with the one dude sawing away on his violin, and the drummer attacking his kit like a rabid animal. We're convinced they referenced a GWAR riff in one song. We were transfixed. What with the absence of lyrical content and the intensity of their live energy, we suspect they may lost something in translation on CD, but we'd love to see them again. Maybe a field trip to Southpaw in Brooklyn June 4 is in order (we've totally been there).
We spoke with the bass player of 420 Blackbirds early in the night, and from her mellow demeanor and Temple Grandin-esque wardrobe, we expected something a little bit country. And, well, there were some of those basslines (you know the ones), but they were rowdy, heavy, seasoned punk/rock. We were told the personnel in this band have been CT scene fixtures for 20+ years, so maybe we've seen their previous work, we don't know... We do know the singer looks like one of our romantic interests, Vampire Bill from True Blood. We'd love to see him - er, them - again too.
By the time the Vultures (more New Haven music fixtures) came on, we were kind of all rocked out. Our toilet paper ear plugs were wearing thin (shame on Rudy's not selling ear protection, btw). Alas it was time to go. Our time in New Haven was, as usual, fraught with scenic envy. We admired their men, their women, their Belgian fries. This woman in particular:
We're already planning a return visit. We suggest you do the same. We're thinking burlesque next Sunday at Jokers Wild.
May Daze Night Gallery and Shop Stroll Friday - May 7, 2010 5:00 - 8:00 pm Main Street, Chester Center, Chester, CT Free parking is available at the Water Street and the Maple Street parking lots, both a short walk to the center. A town that Google Maps barely recognizes but our mothers' talk about frequently, Chester, CT, is having a quaint summer stroll through it's artsy town center this evening. Chester is home to many art galleries and boutique-y shoppes and looks just charming. If you won't be enjoying hookers in bloomfield tonight, why not get your culture on?
Participating merchants include: Lori Warner Studio/Gallery Leif Nillson Spring Street Studio and Gallery Rarities Chester Gallery eo art lab The Local Beet Restauarant L&E
Don't those places sound just lovely? And who even knew that shit was there?
The flier says it all. Hooker's Summer brew is making it's first appearance of the year tonight at the Hooker Brewery Open House. We have very much enjoyed this party in the past and can't wait to try this oddly-flavored beverage.
The Hooker Brewery is located at 16 Tobey Road in Bloomfield, CT. Open House is from 5-8 with a $10 cover.
"Back in the day" Team Scenic used to be on a (snail) mailing list for Matt Mullarkey (of The Injections, Elvis McMan, The Pink Slips, The Midnightmares) and get all these great fliers in the mail about upcoming punk shows at venues you'll all remember like the Tune Inn and the Muni. Check out this pre-internets (no websites listed!) classic:
We were psyched about seeing shows, but we loved the fliers too! We weren't the only ones - the Gallery at Black Rock is putting on a show of Matt's "disposable art" at the Gallery at 51 Crescent Ave. in Bridgeport. The show opening will include a performance by Matt's current band, the Midnightmares, who we've seen before and thought were a ton of screamy, lady-fronted fun. There will also be beer and another band, Shangk.
And just for kicks, and to keep things personally nostalgic, here's a piece of Mullarkey art (from the Injections demo cover?) copied by Katie Scenic onto an absurd coat she imagined was acceptable scenewear in high school:
Team Scenic arrived fashionably late at Sully's, which means we parked in the sketchy lot and everybody was already drunk. The big event was a benefit for a friend of the blog who apparently has diabetes and some giant medical bills, and that's serious stuff, but like murder and church burnin's, it's OK to have fun with it! Benefit party nights are the future of health care. Actually, they're the present. It's on.
Our only serious cultural discovery of the evening was Emilyis, who does some trip-hop/hip-hop flavored action (check her out!), is sexy, and has amazing hair. She used to be a fixture of Sully's infamous Tuesday nights, which we don't know anything about, and is currently NYC based - good luck, girl! We weren't there to critique music. We came to party. We objectified women.
We met these hipsters. LOL, the one on the right (with the femme jacket and giant safety pin thru his ear) got all offended when we called him the H-word and started asking him about Williamsburg and stuff. But then it got late and he wanted a ride to the Warehouse, which is where all the cool kids (old people, actually) seemed to be headed. He was all 'Those are my peeps there, I can get you in for free.' We'll take it!
It was true - they were his peeps, he got us in for free. Thanks, guy! We were a little put off by the cops hanging around by the parking lot entrance, but whatever - we're old as shit and not doing anything illegal! Our new friend took us to a "VIP" area, and not to brag or nothing, but we've been backstage places before (a lot), and usually when you go somewhere off-limits, someone immediately offers you some booze or drugs - or even some chocolate (thanks, Lacuna Coil, that was adorbs!). None were forthcoming. It was just some kids we went to high school with sitting around on couches. We needed a beverage. We got some beers at the bar and observed the natives.
WTF, is it the 90s? Who are these party monsters? How does the next generation learn just how to dress like tools for the club? We observed the sweaty bodies, bugged out eyes and shambling gaits and played an easy round of 'guess my chemical.'
The techno-whatever was really loud, and we weren't high, so pretty soon it was time to go. It was really late anyway. The end.
I-84, the Joan Rivers of highways, is getting some work did. We can't really remember a time when all lanes were open and functioning. If you still consider this a usable roadway and not just a parking lot, you need to stop fooling yourself. 84 is a physical racial barrier through the state's capitol and a giant hideous asphalt waste of space.
It is also the breeding ground for some of America's worst drivers:
The 2009* Allstate Best Drivers Report has been released and 3 of Connecticut's major cities scored poorly. New Haven ranked 155 out of the 193 cities surveyed..Bridgeport was a couple notches worse at 157 and Hartford was nearly dead last at 190.
#33, I-84, Hartford, CT Weekly hours of bottleneck congestion: 112 Worst bottleneck: Westbound, US 44/Connecticut Blvd/Exit 53 Length of worst bottleneck: .16 mi Weekly hours of congestion on worst bottleneck: 18 Speed of worst bottleneck when congested: 17.1 mph
Commuter Buzz: "We have assured through this settlement that every penny necessary to assure proper completion of the work is done without additional taxpayer money being spent," Attorney General Richard Blumenthal told the New Haven Register after settling a suit against three contractors that flubbed repair work on I-84.
If you plan on getting anywhere within a reasonable amount of time, we suggest you avoid this monstrosity and take the scenic route.
This Saturday you can party all day and night at Sully's Pub, where our friends the Libertine Collective are presenting SkinFest, which is a benefit for something called the World Skin Project, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about and preventing skin cancer. Cancer! That's serious business!
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