How'dya like him now?

Waaaayyyyy back in August 2010, this blog endorsed Ned Lamont in the Democratic primary that would determine who would battle to become the next guv'nor of CT. We all know how well that worked out, although we found the several comments from Malloy's blog police somewhat entertaining.

And so it went, back to the daily grind for us at Scenic HQ. And then it started.

To be honest, whoever was unlucky enough to land in the governors seat would not have an easy job, due to chronic mismanagement by the previous occupants Rell and Rowland.

First it was some easily ignored news articles (I think we were hung over). Then facebook posts about how it was a shame the Rocky Hill-Glastonbury Ferry was going to be closed (a last minute deal averted the shutdown of the oldest operating ferry in the USA). Once again, after a momentary sigh, I told myself, well, tough times, we can't be so sentimental, stiff upper lip old chap.

Unfortunately as time has gone on, the chorus against Malloy has gotten louder. And not just the right side wingnutz you'd expect to oppose any Democrat. For example, competing (you did vote for us in the Hartford Advocate reader's poll, didn't you) blogger Colin McEnroe wrote this column calling out Malloy on his recent state of the state address (the end of the column points out the hypocrisy in the potential teachers salary negotiations after giving eyebrow rising concessions to state workers).

But what I read a couple of hours ago really takes the cake.

Malloy is ZEROING OUT all arts organization funding (about $11 million) as of July 1!!!! That is right in the middle of the year, in case you didn't notice. Arts organizations, who carefully considered their budgets this year counting on the funds, are now left high and dry (well maybe not so high). The administration claims the organizations can "compete" for funding, although no details on any aspect of this competition can currently be provided.

Strangest part is the announcement of $10 million to be dumped into advertising the state in order to attract more tourists. Which leaves me to wonder what are those tourists going to do when they get here?

More importantly what are the Scenics going to do without a robust arts scene? Sex, drugs and rock n roll gets kinda boring after a time (actually, total lie, it never gets old).

After taking all the above into careful consideration, I have decided to do the only thing I can at this time:

This blog officially endorses Ned Lamont for Governor. If he decides to run again (it wouldn't surprise me if wanted to be done with elected office here).

Per his Facebook page Ned just returned from Egypt and Tunis, and will be giving a talk at CCSU on February 28 in Vance 105. Topics will include the Arab Spring uprisings and the situation in Syria.

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!

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.

An Interview With Georgina of Black Diamond Body Piercing

While some Scenics are known for performing masochistic deeds such as bikram yoga, this Scenic has a penchant for needles and body modification. We're actually thinking about taking our circus sideshow act on the road. Perhaps we will even debut as an attraction at this year's Odd Ball! Witness the wonder of Katie's and DH's sweat! Marvel as Laura Fitzscenic cleans her earlobes! Jackie Scenic's pointing will astound you!

















When it comes to the piercing aspect of body modification, the go-to girl in the Hartford area would, of course, be Georgina Williamson. Georgina has been adorning faces and body parts in West Hartford since 1997, and has developed a solid reputation as being a skilled and knowledgable professional. In late 2008, Georgina opened Black Diamond Body Piercing on Park Road in West Hartford, and has been the Hartford Advocate Readers Poll favorite her first two years in business.












Black Diamond stands out for many reasons. It is an upscale piercing studio, rather than a tattoo shop with a piercer. Piercing is the focus here, and the idea was to create a clean, relaxing, almost spa-like environment. Black Diamond is also a jewelry boutique, that offers a large selection of piercing jewelry and traditional style earrings.















The shop is also an art gallery and showcase for local talents. Hey, theres friend of the blog and local art star HL Groen's work!






























In addition to selling high quality (and totally gorgeous) body jewelry, Black Diamond carries pieces by local jewelry designers. Wait, isn't that SuperLula's fun and awesome plastic candy and glitter jewelry!?!


































Georgina recently took some time to answer our hard hitting questions and talk a little about the piercing industry.

How did you get started?

I honestly can’t remember a time in my life that piercings and tattoos weren’t of interest to me. I grew up in Long Island, very close to Manhattan and spent a lot of time in the Village, so I was exposed to a lot of different lifestyles and culture at a pretty young age. I can remember wearing fake ear cuffs and nose rings and drawing on myself with sharpies as young as age 8 (which didn’t go over very well with the Catholic school I attended!).

I came to Hartford for college in 1995 as a psych major, and quickly realized a “traditional” job wasn’t really what I wanted for myself, but I stayed to please my parents. I got my first professional piercing shortly after getting to school and I was instantly hooked. I soon got another, and another, and so on... all but the first piercing I got done at the same shop and the piercer there and I became fast friends. I ended up hanging out there a lot and constantly asked to watch him work. Once he saw how interested I was in it and that watching didn’t gross me out or phase me at all, in fact it excited me, he offered me an apprenticeship. It was basically like going to school full time (40hrs a week) and I was still going to college full time, but I loved every second of it and soon realized this is what I was looking for. Piercing is definitely what I was meant to do with my life.















What do you like best about your job?

There are so many things I love about what I do. First of all, I love that I just get to be myself all day, not some “work version” of me like so many people that I know, but I also really enjoy the look on someone’s face when they see their new piercing for the first time. There’s nothing like that feeling of making someone else so incredibly happy!

What about your job is most challenging?

Being a piercer definitely comes with challenges. I think the biggest challenge for me is to be patient with people when they do the exact opposite of what I recommend, and then ask me how to fix what they messed up. That gets a little frustrating sometimes, but I just remind myself that they don’t live in this world of piercings day in and day out, and they don’t intentionally ignore me. There’s a lot of conflicting and outdated information on the internet, not to mention “friends” who have one piercing and think that makes them an expert, and it’s my job to help them navigate through all of it.
















I feel like I've seen piercing trends come and go like anything else, and I'm sure you must notice things like that. Like, in the mid nineties, all these girls started getting their navels pierced. Then, a few years later, tongue piercings became super hot. Is there any particular piercing that is popular right now?

I agree there are definitely trends... but some never seem to go. Not a single day passes at work without navel, nostril, and cartilage piercings. They are definitely here to stay. Right now the biggest trend is definitely microdermal anchors. They’re so versatile.... you can put them just about anywhere on the body and the beads options are endless. I think they’re here to stay as well.















(Georgie bedazzled my chest tattoo with a sweet microdermal)

Do you have any interest in getting into doing more extreme mods, like implants, or shaping or splitting body parts?

I have a lot of respect for the people who do those kinds of mods.... but they’re not something I’m looking to do. I have a few piercer friends who do them in the tri state area and I just refer people to them.

What if there was a way to implant a horn on a person's head to make them like a unicorn?!?

That would be awesome! I think that you should get one. I’ll give you a card ;)

At my diminutive height, I think having a horn on my forehead would be kind of dangerous at crowded parties. Perhaps one of the other Scenics would be interested in this. I see you are a member of the Association of Professional Piercers. What’s that all about?

The piercing (and tattoo) industry is, for the most part, unregulated. In CT, there are very basic requirements, like a minimum age, but when it comes to sterility, jewelry quality, and training, there is absolutely nothing. They basically think it’s the responsibility of the person who wants a piercing to do the research and make sure that the place they choose is clean. Unfortunately, many people don’t know that, so they assume if the shop exists, it must be clean and you must know what you’re doing. Sadly, this is not the case.

The APP (Association of Professional Piercer’s) is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to keeping piercings professional and safe. They help make legislation (in the states that are interested) to keep standards of practice high and keep legislators educated about piercing safety. To be a member of the APP, your shop must meet a VERY long list of “environmental criteria” such as hand washing sinks in every piercing room, a proper “clean” room where cleaning of dirty instruments and autoclaving (steam sterilizing) of instruments, jewelry and needles occurs separately from all other parts of the shop, as well as the overall professionalism of a shop. You also have to meet “personal criteria” such as answering a questionnaire to prove your overall piercing knowledge, and being certified in first aid, CPR and blood-borne pathogens (just like any medical professional). They also have minimum requirements for jewelry quality. This is something that is largely overlooked.... even if the piercing is done correctly, but the
quality of the metal is poor, you will have a lot of problems, possibly rejection of the piercing and may even end up removing it completely because it “just won’t heal”.

So, in a nutshell, going to an APP member piercing shop can give you piece if mind that you have chosen a place with the highest of standards in every way. You can verify memberships and learn more about them at www.safepiercing.org.





























What do you look for when selecting jewelry to sell at the shop?

Well, as far as body jewelry goes, I only sell the best of the best. Any surgical steel (316LVM ASTM F-138) or titanium (6AL4V ELI ASTM F-136) I use/sell is implant grade and is totally hypoallergenic (and no, this is not the same stuff you can buy at the mall). All the gold, white gold and platinum I sell is solid, not filled or plated. As for looks, all of it is hand made with hand set high quality synthetic AND/OR genuine gemstones. The only silver jewelry I sell is for ear lobes (it’s not an appropriate metal for body piercings or any healing piercing) and is solid .925 sterling silver. When it comes to non-metal jewelry, for instance stone, wood, bone and horn, it’s all hand–made and most importantly, beautiful and unique.

As you know I also sell other kinds of jewelry (necklaces, bracelets etc....) as well as art from local artists. My only real “requirement” for that is that I like it, it’s made locally, and would appeal to my clientele.















When you're not poking holes in the fine people of the Hartford area, what do you like to do in the Hartford area?

I’m kind of all over the place. I do enjoy a night out with my friends here and there.... usually at the Spigot or wherever my husband’s band, the Soul Merchants is playing. I also love to go antiquing, thrift store shopping, art shows..... game night at friends houses is a favorite in the winter time. In general, as long as I’m with the people that I love, I’m happy.

The Soul Merchants- we've totally blogged about them! Anything else?

Going out on my own in 2008 was a little scary at first. I now know it was the best decision I’ve made since I chose this profession. The response has been incredible, so there was definitely a need for an all piercing shop in the area, even more so than I realized. I just want to take a moment thank everyone who supported me and continues to support the shop every day with their continued patronage and referrals. I hope to serve as a friendly place for professional piercings, amazing jewelry, as well as a gallery for local artists to get their work out there for many years to come!















Thank you, Georgina. We love your shop and wish you the best! Good luck in that Hartford Advocate Poll we keep mentioning around here.

Photos of Georgina's work can be seen at www.blackdiamondbodypiercing.com. as well as on facebook.

Please help us be winners - we are your favorite, no?

 Vote CT Scenic for Best Blog and any other category you think is appropriate (or not) in the Hartford Advocate Readers Poll!

After careful consideration, we truly feel deserving of this designation. We've seen other CT blogs, and while most of them do whatever thing it is they set out to do (discuss politics, music, being a guy living in Hartford, etc.), we can't help but notice what many of them don't do - update frequently, make us laugh, adopt a snappy, "snarky" blog-like tone, link, link, link, acknowledge that they are not a newspaper and that people don't actually want to read lengthy descriptions of... anything, etc. Amiright? And what other totally unpaid, volunteer operated blog threw an awesome party and got everyone drunk for a song last year? Or made The Human Centipede a fun, participatory experience? We can't think of any.

Now we know that Colin McEnroe is pretty much going to win this category forever, because he's a popular, long-established, professional (gets paid) radio and newspaper personality with a commercial platform who writes an amusing and intelligent column that his newspaper chooses to call a blog. But we would be very, very happy to win second place in this category. And if we do, we promise to throw another party to celebrate. 

Don't be lazy - actually vote!

Thank you!

-Team Scenic

New Year, New Blogger: Presenting Laura Fitzscenic

Apologies for the utter lack of posting so far this year, but it's winter in New England and CT Scenic happens to be operated unpaid by depressive types, so motivation levels have been rock bottom. We asked ourselves, "What would Big Love do?" and the answer was obvious: THIRD WIFE! (In case organizational structure around here is unclear, Katie Scenic = Bill Paxton, which means our Irish cousin Laura Fitzscenic is totes Margene, and we have impossibly high expectations for this enthusiastic pixie/"reformed" party girl to lift us all up out of our ruts, and have loads of babies for us. And by babies, we mean blog posts - cause ugh, babies.)

(Stylistas Laura and Katie have been working 

on a new line of eyewear, SuperScenic Vision!)

Jackie found Laura for us the old fasioned way - through OK Cupid! She wooed her with a flattering blog post. And in a classic dick move, arranged to meet her at a Creative Cocktail Hour at Real Art Ways and then didn't show (or did, but for drama's sake... who can remember?). Luckily, Katie Scenic was there was there to pick up the pieces, and Laura has since been rapidly promoted through the ranks of real-life friends with all of us, and has been along for the ride on many a Scenic outing. 

 (the night we met)

We wouldn't let just anybody share the privilege of blogging, but Laura has proven herself to be Scenic through and through. Like that time we presented The Human Centipede and she created an original jewelry item for the occasion. And Fitzscenic wasn't afraid to 'pede up herself. Check out this great Halloween photo:

(That's Fitzscenic in the middle)

Laura is always down for Scenic favorite activities, like eating pho, talking shit and totally living at Tisane. But best of all, she also up for trying new shit, and frequently leaves Hartford to visit CT towns we've barely heard of, like Madison. We can't wait to hear all about it!

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.

GWAR: fifteen years of fandom

Tuesday, December 28: GWAR @ Toad's Place, New Haven

Christmas is coming just a little late for Scenics, who are amped as anything to see GWAR play at Toad's place this Tuesday. The Scenics have all enjoyed live GWAR in recent years, but Katie Scenic is "celebrating" fifteen years of GWAR shows - that's half her wasted life. Katie pitched a story about GWAR to the Advocate recently, but they said some other guy in New Haven was already doing it. Screw him! Actually, he did a pretty nice job, asking questions about their artistic roots and intellectual side. Also in this article, frontman Dave Brockie claims that the band doesn't have any groupies, but we know better!

(Halloween 2009: DH & Katie attend GWAR, cleverly costumed

as John & Mackenzie Phillips; DH loses his daughter/date)

If you're really, really interested in GWAR's origins, the best place to turn is Brockie's column about the history of the band that he's been writing for the RVA News (the band is from Richmond, Virginia, not Antarctica, anticlimactically enough). Brockie is terribly clever, and doesn't actually need journalists to reinterpret him or make his sentences more coherent. For the record, we totally know him, but we didn't want to bother him with another stupid interview, so we decided to catch up with Katie about her personal history as a GWAR fan, which is really more in keeping with the tone of this blog (e.g. all about us).

CS: So, uh, tell us about your history as a GWAR fan.

KS: I first heard GWAR on MTV's Headbanger's Ball, and one of my early "boyfriends" was a big fan - and so were all his degenerate friends! Which was really lucky for me, because we only "went out" for like two weeks, but it was like months before GWAR was coming around to Connecticut. Mommy Scenic was a really indulgent parent in a lot of ways, but not so indulgent that she drove me to concerts or anything like that. But my "ex" had a friend that also liked me, and he was old enough to drive, and had his license, so he took me to my first GWAR show, at the Sting in New Britain. At least, I think that's how it happened. Mommy Scenic probably should have just driven me to these concerts herself. Because finding my own ride basically meant hanging out with a worse and worse crowd. Older boys with long hair, leather jackets, and some totally illegal habits. Oh well, it was only a year or so before I was able to drive myself. 

(1997: 17 year-old Katie Scenic after a GWAR show)

As a young person, I was equally impressed with GWAR's potty humor as with their more politically subversive content. Oh wait, I still am. Equally impressed or whatever. Watching current political figures and idiot celebrities of tabloid culture like Michael Jackson, Paris Hilton, and Monica Lewinsky get ripped apart onstage in explosively gory effigy just never loses its edge. Once I had my own driver's license and wheels, I was able to introduce the GWAR experience to some of my "non-metal" friends. Like Sara, who was super smart and intellectual and politically active, even as a teenager. During one show we attended together, GWAR tore up and violated the corpse of then-recently deceased Princess Diana. Rather than get offended, Sara was delighted and said the most insightful thing - "It's like how she was totally raped and violated by the media in her death" -  thereby rationalizing and excusing more or less every questionable act performed during a GWAR show from there into eternity. Thanks for that, Sara!

Sara liked GWAR so much that she went along to subsequent shows and years later, when she was a paralegal in NYC she was thrilled to host me for a weekend to go see frontman Brockie's art show at MF Gallery. This was in 2001 or 2002, but it wasn't too soon for Brockie, dressed as a giant singing rodent, to desecrate a model of the World Trade Center as a finale to his set of bad karaoke. But hey, it was OK! It was just like the media and George W. Bush raped and violated our national identity in the aftermath of 9/11. We met some guy at the art show who took us to see a two-headed turtle after. This is not a sexual euphemism. That's really what he showed us. Yay, New York!

(At age 21, Katie can legally enjoy a beer with her heroes)

In 2003 or 2004, when I was working at the Hartford Advocate, I was able to channel my love for the band into something constructive - a feature article! The record label guy gave me Brockie's phone number, and I've been drunk dialing him ever since. Usually around Valentine's Day or so, when I always get down about being an old spinster. 

 (Stalking on the streets of Brooklyn)

Earlier this year, as a Scenic, I visited the MF Gallery in its new Brooklyn location for another art show by Brockie and other GWAR members, where Brockie revisited his "Chippy" character, and put on a week-long webcasted "Crack-a-thon" of live performances. You may have read about it here!

I don't enjoy GWAR shows in exactly the same wild-eyed way I did as a kid. I used to memorize every lyric to their songs to scream along at concerts, and go fearlessly into the mosh pit in order to get close to the stage and soaked by the maximum amount of their fake bodily fluids, all the while on a natural high. But I'm old and delicate and self-conscious now. I don't want to lose my teeth or glasses! I want to stand in the back of the room, sipping a drink, hoping to catch a buzz, rolling my eyes at ugly young people and their easy fun. Actually, that's just what I'm better at now, and I do try to stick with my natural talents. Those were, in fact, the days! But I still get off on the audacity and originality of GWAR's live production and the immense artistic and physical effort that goes into such a touring show.

What can you expect from GWAR live? A professional blogger from Gawker recently expressed her disapproval of the band's onstage slaughter of one Sarah Palin. She obviously lacks the rich history with the band and multifaceted appreciation of their cultural relevance and secretly sophisticated humor that we Scenics have. Her loss!

No Skipping!

It has come to our attention - repeatedly, regrettably - that many of our readers aren't really following the blog and don't check daily or read every post, in spite of our efforts to remind you via mirroring all of our blog activity on Facebook, not to mention making ourselves available to many of you for "friendship." In fact, it is often our closest friends and colleagues who fail as followers. Are they ashamed of us? Why?  Our amazing blog makes them feel inadequate about their successful careers and meaningful romantic relationships? This failure becomes clear when we have live-action conversations about the awesome things we've been up to, or when they FB comment on some fun photos we've just posted with sentiments like "Oh, I would have gone to that if I had known it was going on" or "I love that foreign band you saw live last night, loved them for years, hope they get another American tour some day in this difficult economy for musicians." Of course there would be no cause for such laments if they just glanced at the blog every day or subscribed to it or simply clicked through from our Facebook profile. 

just sayin'

80s Party!

Thursday, Oct. 28: Glam Slam 80s Dance Party for CONNetic Dance @ Shish, West Hartford


While Jackie and I technically lived through the 80s, we were actually born in the [early] 80s, so our experience with 80s "style" in its day was mostly hypothetical, piped in through TV and movies or visiting grown-up cousins. And we're kind of glad we missed that boat, because as awesome as being big Cure fans or whatever would have been, hairspray is actually really bad news, and we're glad that Clueless and Clerks could be our generation defining films instead of... whatever people ten years older than us like that much. This also means we're poised to embrace 80s nostalgia at parties like this upcoming benefit for our favorite ballet hipsters and finally dress like our really cool babysitters. Or Madonna.

(Great Aunt Katherine would have had an Etsy store today!)

I'm planning on finally wearing out this great Betsy Johnson dress I happen to own (for like 10 years) that could lend itself to a Madge "Like a Prayer" look - yeah, it looks like underwear. I mean, especially combined with my luscious brunette locks and just the right crucifix. And maybe a sexy black Jesus. Or maybe something completely different. May as well let that dress simmer for another ten.

80s pop culture imagery and style dominated my childhood, including the signature styles of my first favorite recording artists, Paula Abdul and Guns n' Roses. But these were getting towards the end of the decade; in the earlier half it was more like Star Wars, Dark Crystal and Masters of the Universe capturing my imagination. Ooh and Voltron! Needless to say, my day-to-day style sucked. Believe, Katie Scenic was not a born fashionista.

(some idiot would pay big bucks for this E.T. sweatshirt)

Let's make up for lost time next Thursday!

Post-Party Flick Picks

Friday, Oct. 8 - Sunday, Oct. 10: Silk City Flick Fest @ Downtown Hartford (various venues)

Surely you've been following our posts about this weekend's Silk City Flick Fest. But maybe you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by the cornucopia of cinematic offerings. Luckily, we went ahead and attended the VIP opening party at the Atheneum tonight for you, so we're able to highlight a few especially noteworthy films and events - if only based on how much we enjoyed/remember drinking with and chatting up the filmmakers.


Sorry for the short notice, even though we already notified you once, but if you don't have a "real job," definitely attend Matt Corrigan's "Monsters and Gore" discussion/workshop tomorrow (Friday) at noon at Young Studios. Matt (an adorable ginger, see picture below, and party legend according to Jackie) works out in Hollywood now, but we quickly figured out that he's really from around these parts because he doesn't have an accent (CT speaks English correctly). If you can't make Friday, he'll be talking "Shoestring FX" on Saturday at 10:30 a.m., also at Young Studios. Speaking of gore effects on a budget, we impressed Matt by telling him we totally know GWAR (this is true).


We enjoyed director Stephen Schioppo's New York accent and talking the talk with him about living in horrible apartments and closet-sized bedrooms in the city. Check out his gangster drama, A Safe House, screening Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at Capital Community College.



And speaking of New York, Katie Scenic spent some time in Brooklyn last weekend (checking out another Silk City flick, S&Man, in advance - for you), so of course she had to talk neighborhoods with one of the guys behind Apostles of Park Slope (we've totally been there), which sounds like a conversation-driven dramedy with heart, Catholicism, and apparently lots and lots of swearing. Catch Apostles Saturday night, 7:30 p.m. at Young Studios.



Anyway, there's much, much more (including afterparties at downtown bars, and this time we mean actual afterparties, not awkward sexual encounters, though those can probably be arranged, somehow). The action is centered around Main Street, and venues include the Wadsworth Atheneum and the CT Science Center. But we trust you've already read our previous previews and write-ups. The Scenics will be on the scene all weekend. Be sure and say howdy.

S&Man (We totally know everyone, basically)

Friday, Oct. 8: S&Man @ The Silk City Flick Fest, Hartford



We're movers and shakers here at CT Scenic. We totally live here, sure, and we try and let you know what's going on, but we also totally go important places (like NYC) and no one can escape our succubus claws. Friday night I traveled to Brooklyn to preview S&Man, one of the films that will be playing at this weekend's Silk City Flick Fest here in Hartford (10 p.m., Young Studios, we already told you to come out for this shit, this is great).

S&Man (pronounced "Sandman" not "S & M man," btw) is a horror documentary, or more accurately a film within a documentary if that makes any sense by writer/director JT Petty, and just so happens to prominently feature interview footage with my would-be soulmate, independent horror/comedy/porn auteur and metal zine legend Bill Zebub. So we're talking like no degrees of separation here. So when I heard the film was screening at a kitschy Brooklyn theater (reRun) that serves booze and culinary delights like popcorn with your choice of various butters, duck fat or bacon fat, I was like so there. Seriously, click the link, read their menu. It's food porn for fatties.


S&Man was probably a little more special to me than it might be to you, what with my personal connection to one of the main subjects, and due to the fact that it also featured footage from Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, a painfully graphic sexually violent film that provided the entertainment for one of my most meaningful and memorable "dates" in high school... ah, sweet nostalgia (also: RIP, friend, see this is sad and deeply personal shit for me, OK). But it might be special for anyone who: enjoys indie or mainstream horror, has an interest in academic critical studies of horror, is a fan of Bill Zebub, enjoys underground or DIY film making. Petty's film is hardly comprehensive or conclusive on the subject, but definitely touches on some provocative subject matter, and throws some perverse drama into the mix just for fun.

In Brooklyn, Petty hung around for a little Q&A with the audience. But to be honest, the audience members just weren't that perceptive, and I had had a few drinks, so I just kind of took over and dominated the "discussion" with some great observations about how Let the Right One In is like the best movie ever, and Petty graciously shut up and agreed. I hope that session was as good for him as it was for me! Whatever, we're like BFFs now. Now we totally know him.


I said my piece at the Brooklyn Q&A, so I promise to STFU this Friday, and encourage you to come out, ask better questions, support this festival, and meet Petty here in Hartford. We're working hard to get Bill Zebub here for the show as well. You can help, if you just close your eyes, clap your hands and say I do believe in fairies...

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:

The Human Centipede Experience

Back in September of last year I was first alerted to the existence of The Human Centipede by this blog post and immediately sent an email to DH with the link and the message "let's definitely not ever see this movie. in fact don't even click this link." But with all the hype and amusing novelty t-shirts and necklaces and supposed comedy (very tedious) that ensued, Team Scenic somehow ended up hosting the premiere of the film at Real Art Ways and attempting to coerce viewers into posing as human centipedes themselves.

In spite of a pretty good turnout - especially for a film that has already been available in various capacities for months, we had few participants willing to actually pose (check out the few, the proud on our FB galleries). Even for the opportunity to win this one-of-a-kind jewelry item by crafty bitch and BFF-of-the-blog SuperLula (though surely you can commission her to make more).


Still, we had a good time playing with our (impressively realistic!) medical props and costumes and feeding people fake drugs with fun explanations about muscle relaxants and immune suppressants and vitamin supplements and stool softeners. And of course latex gloves are never not fun. (Actually, these are vinyl.)


As for the movie itself, I would encourage you to take the remaining opportunity to see it on the big screen this weekend at RAW. The concept is so much more disgusting in its contemplation than in its on-screen execution. It was actually a lot of laughs (thanks to a combination of terrible acting, overacting and inept scriptwriting by director Tom Six), and I didn't notice any walkouts at our screening.

Hype about this film has included a tagline "100% medically accurate," which of course is completely absurd. But true in the sense that (**SPOILERY**) this film's rendering of an ATM human centipede would stand no chance at survival. Actually, I can imagine a much more horrifying film based on the same concept only with better medical accuracy. In the existing film, the surgical fusion is fast and glossed over. In reality, to attempt such a fusion with any hopes for a lengthy survival of the fused victims would take multiple operations and recoveries from a series of body modifications and treatments. This would be truly horrible to behold (consider The Fly, a much more affecting biological nightmare) and prolong the fear and anticipation for the both characters and the viewers. As it is, you get an unbelievable quickie surgery on characters who have been so hastily or unflatteringly portrayed to begin with that you barely sympathize with them anyway. There's oodles more "wrong" with The Human Centipede from a critical perspective, but to analyze is to miss the point here. We had a shit-ton of fun watching it, and even more fun anticipating it and developing an arsenal of centipede themed jokes and puns. Bring friends and think of it as participating in the culture.

ATM @ RAW: Show us your centipedes!

Friday, August 20: Human Centipede Pre-Op w/ CT Scenic @ Real Art Ways, Hartford


OK, so we basically only blog about ourselves now. Last week we issued a challenge of sorts to Real Art Ways, suggesting that a great way to kick off gross-out torture porn medical nightmare horror flick The Human Centipede's run at the theater would be to get patrons to pose for pictures as human centipedes. Well, they wisely recognized that this is a genius fun idea and asked CT Scenic to host the shenanigans, which will take place before the movie's Hartford debut, Friday Aug. 20.

In his review, Roger Ebert famously refused to assign any stars to The Human Centipede, deeming "the star rating system unsuited to this film," and warns viewers that "no horror film I've seen inflicts more terrible things on its victims than The Human Centipede." He also said "you don't want to be part of the Human Centipede at all, but you most certainly don't want to be in the middle."



Wait, yes you do. Come to Real Art Ways Friday, bring friends, and show us your centipedes. The Scenics will be there with special treats (probably donuts, duh) and pre-meds to facilitate your fusion. Real Art Ways will be selling beer and wine (as always). Hopefully your "heads" will be considerate and drink for three. Antics will be fully clothed/non-pornographic, so if your friend groups are as slutty as ours, we reckon you've already done much, much worse together, hygienically speaking. We already 'peded up (at our amazing party). And not because we were drunk, but because we said we would do it in a previous post. And look - these ambitious cosplayers took it to the next level. Really, it's no biggie.



The Human Centipede will play at Real Art Ways Aug. 20, 21, 27 & 28, 9:30 p.m. We've been saving ourselves to see it in the theater so watch it for the first time with us!

In Case You Missed It: The Blogaversary Bash

I am so fucking proud of this blog and so totally proud of our awesome First Blogaversary Party which went down Saturday. I mean, "we totally blog here," but this was our opportunity to do instead of just comment and actually make something scenic happen. Earlier this year, someone asked me what I would want to do for my ideal birthday celebration, and I said I'd really like to put on a show with some hot band that I want to push on people, and loads of people would come and have a drunken good time and love the music. Well, on my actual birthday, I just went to my crappy job and my unpaid internship as usual and then let some drunk girl hump my leg on stage to Lady Gaga karaoke, which was pretty ok birthday stuff I suppose... But with this Blogaversary I got my event promoter fantasy (and a few others) fulfilled.

Let us take a moment to appreciate Jackie Scenic's excellent flier for our gig one more time:


That's your fine bloggers' faces MS Paint-shopped onto the bodies of Three's Company, in case you missed it.With a flier like that, I don't know who could resist our gig.

I mean, obviously some people resisted, but the turnout was just fine. The major stress involved in party-planning was refreshment shopping. Trying to calculate how many people we thought would show up and how much they could possibly drink. Our math turned out pretty perfectly - we didn't run out of anything essential, and didn't have too too much left over either. At a Scenic party you'll never drink like common people, so we had a drink agenda in effect which did not allow for any chintzy crap like cola or other lame mixers. We served you Dark & Scenics (Bacardi dark rum + Gosling's ginger beer), Tom Scenics (Gin, selzer and organic lemonade), and Scenic Screwdrivers (vodka + Polar orange dry), with some variations thereon, and you loved that shit. You drank it up. (So did we, perhaps to excess).

Donuts from Luke's and Windsor Donut & Deli were a big hit as well, and our hearts were warmed to see our friends and fans, including many Scenic celebrities, indulging:

Look, that's Tom Pizzola, much beloved/reviled area music critic

Sidewalk Dave's adorable drummer, Bruce is clearly loving it

Rubber Pants drummer Jeffrey is definitely interested (what's up with drummers and donuts?!)

Fashion icon and living legend JCC is obviously metabolically gifted.

Our entertainment for the evening was awesome. We already liked Sidewalk Dave, but now we can upgrade him/them to Katie Scenic's pretend boyfriend status, because they were just so great, and adorable and nice to boot. And rocking harder and twangier than we expected - much to everyone's delight. They turned up the heat on our party and we're pretty sure they landed some new fans. Totally go check them out, they have some upcoming area gigs. And style for miles:


The Midnighmares brought their raucous punk rock theatrics, perfectly timed to coincide with the party's maximum alcohol buzz. Special props to lead screamer and one of our newest BFFs Rachael Pixie, who is always dressed to impress and poses like no other:


Everybody loved the space, which we can't take any credit for really, except for having the good taste to book it. We rented Monster Lab Recording Studio for the evening (and the excellent technical services of Monster/Sexy MF Ramon Morant), which happens to be an ideal show/party venue as well as a recording studio, with a Brooklyn hipster loft feel and a comfy bar/hangout room as well as appropriate live music room.

Speaking of fantasy fulfillment, I also got to be a bartender for the end of the evening after our graciously borrowed professional went home. I'm pretty sure I was awesome at it. But this was definitely about the time when state of consciousness went from pleasantly buzzed to devastatingly drunk (hard to resist all that liquor, especially whilst serving delicious mixed drinks to lovely friends). But Sunday's all-day hangover was merely a testament to the greatness of the party.

Additional thanks and props to: our door guy, KT; unofficial, self-appointed door guy Justin; sexy bartender Christina. And of course our readers, friends and fans who came out and made it a scene.

Well, now that that's over, we'd better get back to telling you what to do/eat/see/listen to in CT.