Lesbians and the Spin Cycle

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

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)

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

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

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

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!

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

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... : (

Fancy groceries in Hartford

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

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

Friday, March 18 through Sunday, March 20: Massachusetts Tattoo and 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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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

 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

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!