The Gay Movies

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











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
























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

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

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


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

Cinco de Mayo happenings at City Steam

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

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

Celebrity Sighting at Whole Foods!

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














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

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.

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.

Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys

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






















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

We leave you with this:

DSW: Lesbian Edition

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


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

Gay Times and Happy Hours at Koji

Its a fact: downtown Hartford is not known for being a popular Scenic destination. We don't call it the douchestrict for nothing.

However, we have and will face difficult parking and the risk of encountering "bro" culture for a good cause. Our interests in film festivals, queer events, late night falafel, sexy bands and wacky parades have gotten us out there. The area also offers a variety of happy hours that range from tolerable to awesome.

One of my favorite happy hours is at Koji on Asylum Street. Koji fancies itself as a "Yakitori and Sake bar" that serves grilled veggies and meats on a stick for a dollar or two apiece, with a spicy orange mystery sauce (delicious), and carries an impressively large variety of top-shelf sake. I don't know anything about that expensive sake, but feel free to buy us a round if you see us!

Happy hour goes from 4-7, so you don't even need to rush out of work to take advantage of the half price appetizers and $5 saketinis. There is usually one flatscreen tv playing some sort of kitschy Japanese monster film, and one playing 80s music videos. On a few, smaller screens, there are photo slideshows of what appears to be a drunk Saturday night crowd, with an air of downtown douchiness. We will pass on that scene.

On Sundays, Koji hosts an "Alternative Night", which is like, some kind of weird code name for Gay Night. You can expect a Dj, sexy dancing, drink specials, and gaeity- you know, the usual. Dave the handsome bartender also clued us in to a girls night and gay karaoke being added to the mix, along with a Fag Hag Ball- fun!































Their postponed-due-to-snow-Christmas party (or XXXMas Party, as they call it) may be worth checking out this Sunday, especially for those of us don't have to work on Monday. There is no cover, but dropping $20 will get you open bar from 9-11. So, depending on how fast you can drink sake bombs and scorpion bowls, it may just work out.

Koji Alternative Night has a facebook page here.

Don yer gay apparel

Thursday, December 23: CT Guerrilla Queer Bar @ TBA, Hartford

Hey look, it's that time again! Fourth Thursday means CT Guerrilla Queer Bar, that fun night out when CT GLBTAs descend upon a location to be announced (get it on the Facebook action for updates) and turn it gay for the night - like Katy Perry! The past couple of months the CT Guerrilla Queers broadened their horizons with forays into Manchester and New Haven. The party is back in Hartford this week, at a location - you guessed it - to be announced. We'll update when we get the word.

Never attended Guerrilla Queer Bar before? Wondering what you might expect to find there? Well, a whole lotta friends-of-the-blog, which we think recommends itself. And probably some gals in sensible footwear.

And for sure an excess of ridiculous hijinx perpetrated by grown-ass grown-ups for humiliating photo opps, like this one:

May your holidays be gay, gay, gay

Saturday, December 18: The Connecticut Gay Men's Chorus presents "There's Something About Merry" @ Shubert Theater, New Haven

The Connecticut Gay Men's Chorus celebrates 25 years with a holiday musical show. Hey, what is that - hair gel? We can't think of anything cleverer to add when the flier is this good. But Jackie totes enjoyed a show by the CGMC last year, DH used to play with these guys (music, used to play music), and their visually hilarious mailings were a highlight of Katie's tenure at the Advocate (the Hartford one, not the gay one, alas). And this is pretty much the only holiday concert we'd ever consider attending.

Their upcoming bingo nights sound even more fun, what with the boozing, gaming, fooding and contests.

Under where?

Saturday, December 11: All-male wet underwear fundraiser @ 168 York Street Cafe, New Haven

Q: Boxers or briefs?

A: Who cares?

As we were just saying, we only want to go to charitable events that are also sexyfun. And we would totally pay up to see our new friend and favorite New Haven drag queen Robin Banks hosting an all-male wet underwear contest, even if it wasn't to benefit some folks who have taken a creative approach to falling on hard times. [But seriously, we need a frakking national health care system. We've certainly had fun at these sorts of benefits before, but ultimately we dream of a day when American health care is socialized and universal and our debauched good times can be strictly capitalist transactions-ed.]

We caught Robin's "farewell" show last weekend at the Cafe, which we'd like to say more about, if there was any time, but this week is HELL, sorry. It only took us like a month of talking about it to actually make it there - just like it only took Katie Scenic a month to figure out that Robin Banks is a hilarious pun and not a real name. We're just thrilled to announce that Robin isn't really going away-away - just taking a pause for a little reinvention (you know, like Madonna?), and not even a long enough pause to miss hosting this weekend's fun. The Scenics were pleased to explore 168 York Street, a charming dive-y basement joint - it's like your father's gay bar. Saturday night's event is $20, which you can probably write off if you're that organized.

Our life is an endless succession of people saying goodbye

Saturday, Dec. 4: Farewell Robin Banks Show @168 York Street Cafe, New Haven

But we only just met Robin Banks! Apparently it's time for saying goodbye already. But this time at least the drag/variety show will be on a Saturday, so we think we can actually be there! The Scenics experienced a collective epic SceneFail when we all missed Guerrilla Queer Bar at Anna Liffey's last week, so we owe it to ourselves - and all of you, in our own minds - to hit up a piece of gay New Haven ASAP.

Let's not drag this out, shall we?

Sunday, November 14: Passion for Drag Finale @ Up or On the Rocks, Hartford

OK, the "drag" puns are getting pretty lame, but what do you want from us? We've already mentioned the ongoing drag show competition at Up or On the Rocks' gay Sunday nights a couple of times, so we're sure you already know the score. But just wanted to  make a quick note that tomorrow is the grand finale. Glasscock? Sounds dangerous!

Some Sunday Options

Sunday, November 7: 

Lesbian Night! @ Tisane, Hartford

Drag show @ Up or on the Rocks, Hartford

Robin Banks Variety Show @ York Street Cafe, New Haven

We've mentioned all these events before, but our service to you is to keep reminding you of great things to do around Hartford and the wider CT world. There's probably a ton of open mics of variable quality going on at bars throughout the state, but that doesn't really interest us. Our top picks for this Sunday are all queer to some degree, so apologies to our many homophobic Nazi meathead friends and readers... including the once monthly estro-fest at Tisane (first Sunday of the month, bitches) and the weekly drag competition at Up Or On The Rocks. And for our New Haven base, we recommend the Robin Banks Variety Show at the York Street Cafe, which is not a "gay night" per se but is definitely hosted by a dude in a dress and outrageous makeup - and is sure to be our newest favorite thing as soon as we manage to make it down. Maybe some New Haven hotties can let us "crash" sometime for an after-party, because driving home is hard! By the by, we can find no evidence of these events on the venues' sites, which is distressing, but our independent research confirms that they are happening. Good thing we're doing our job!

Do we have readers in towns in CT besides Hartford and New Haven? Wait, what other towns? Tell us about your favorite Sunday night activities that aren't horrible open mic nights or just plain "drinking." Or "watching HBO." We already know about that.

Get with Robin Banks on the regs

Sunday Nights: The Robin Banks Variety Show @ York Street Cafe, New Haven

Just days ago we were pleased to meet Robin Banks and encouraging you to check out the drag performer's costume party and contest in New Haven... Now we're psyched to see that Robin Banks is hosting fun and really cheap beer-fueled excitement every Sunday night at the York Street Cafe. Robin is of course a riot in his own right, but tells us that these nights are intended to share the spotlight with a cornucopia of local talent, interspersing flashes of Banks-y brilliance with interludes of karaoke, music and dance. Which is pretty much what our blog is all about (substituting Scenic brilliance), so we applaud this effort and intend to attend asap.

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.

Holla! It's gonna be compete-for-our-affections Thursday

Oh no, where shall we go this Thursday? We already mentioned the great 80s themed party for our pals CONNetic Dance, which will be going down at Shish and OK Go at the Webster. But don't forget - this Thursday is fourth Thursday which means it's Guerrilla Queer Bar (v.4). This month the Queer Guerrillas are mixing it up a bit and have their sights set on Manchester. Ooohh, where are they gonna go? Will it be the Tiger, the Main Pub, Shea's [a bar I won't even link to on account of their shitty website just put me out of commission for like five minutes - so that would probably be a bad choice]. We'll keep you posted as this story develops.

Decisions, decisions!

Drag Us To Hell

Sunday, Oct. 17: Drag show/competition @ Up or on the Rocks, Hartford

We mentioned the existence of a gay night at Up or on the Rocks in our previous post about things to do on your "odd nights" out. Since then we've been told by a tipster that these Sunday night events are in fact awesome and we should go and check out the drag performers. Wary as we are of the douchestrict, we give Up or on the Rocks a pass on account of previously booking our NYC boyfriends Black Taxi (a hot band), having a gay/drag night, and not being Black Bear.

Northampton: By Day

We admit that part of Connecticut's charm is being able to leave. People love to talk about how close we are to those "real cities", Boston and NYC, but who has the resources to actually go on any regular basis? I rarely leave my bed, let alone cross state lines. Although it can be rewarding to hunt down fun activities in Hartford, sometimes we don't want to have to work for it. Fun should come to US! Luckily, we live in the center of everything (middle of nowhere?), and can drive in pretty much any direction to find someplace worthy of our "travel" tag.

When gay culture was still new and fascinating (and hadn't completely taken over our lives yet), we would oft stroll around Northamption center and admire the rainbow flags, lesbian street performers and gift shops full of useless novelty items. We returned recently to reaquaint ourselves with the area, and see if record stores still exist.

They do, but are definitely on the endangered species list. Noho's Turn It Up! Records is still hoppin'. They are still in their cozy basement locale on Pleasant Street. The place is packed with have bins of new and used vinyl, CDs and DVDs, which I am mostly too lazy to look through these days, but it's nice to see people are still into that. Sadly, Dynamite Records was DOA. All that remains is a skeleton of their most recent location on Main Street, evidence that there was a time when two records stores could coexist peacefully.

I'm not sure why the mark of a vibrant cultural community is an abundance of stores that sell old used crap, but we all know it is. Raven Used Books has been a beloved Noho landmark for 17 years. The large college population helps keep this place afloat, but anyone could spend an entire day in there. I found an adorable book of Andy Warhol's cat prints, and a posthumously published Jack Kerouac/William Burroughs collaboration that was on a clearance rack. (Clearance racks being the only place I can afford to shop).

Since it was the middle of the day, we decided to indulge in ice cream rather than booze. At Herrell's I tried a vegan caramel ice cream made from Mimiccreme. It was possibly the best thing I've ever eaten.

After hitting up all our old favorites, we needed some guidance on binoculars. Luckily, "Backyard Birds: A Birdwatcher's Store" was nearby! It's run by a really nice older couple that explained binoculors to us and let us wander the streets of Noho trying out various pairs.

Connecticut, you know I love you, but sometimes I gotta go see my MA mistress to keep things interesting.

The GLBT Sandwich: A Dream Come True

I've been forming a joke/idea about a GLBT sandwich for months now - DH Scenic can vouch for this, we've totally discussed it. It would be a sexy twist on a BLT, obvs. So it kind of lit a fire under my ass (OUCH!) when I read this from a Jezebel post about 10 Inane Kelly Bensimon Quotes (whoever she is, right?):

1.) "I was at Mohegan Sun for the opening of their Mohegan Sun Days event, it's their [monthly] GL — GLBT night. I always think that sounds like BLT."

Well, yeah, it does! And great minds obviously think alike. I had to seize the moment and make the GLBT sandwich happen at it's peak of cultural relevance.

We had discussed possibilities for the "G." Like guacamole:


And gouda:


Tonight I went for both, cause why not. The more "G" the better around here!



It was fucking delicious.