100 Posts! /Check out B.O.M.B. Fest!

Just noticed when I signed in today that I hit 100 posts with my last one. Wow!

Thanks for reading, everyone. Garrett said he wanted to contribute to my blog, but I don't think that makes sense for one called "The Freesia Fix," so I might start a new one in the near future. We'll see where our collaboration goes.

In the meantime, I got my B.O.M.B. Fest and Lady Gaga tickets in the mail this week!

If you haven't heard of B.O.M.B. Fest, it's May 30 at the Durham Fairgrounds, and it's for a good cause. The line-up includes Lupe Fiasco, Of Montreal, Girl Talk, Brand New, Mute Math, Ra Ra Riot, Jay Electronica, Cool Kids and many more bands including one of our local favorites, M.T. Bearington. Definitely check this festival out: http://www.bombfest.com/

You have 33 days left to buy tickets, which are $50 plus fees and well worth it. I saw Of Montreal last year at Toad's Place, and the show was incredible. They're one of my favorite bands to begin with, but they really put on a fun show - complete with crazy guys in stretch suits rolling around and doing stunts and lots of wacky costumes. I've also seen Girl Talk twice, and it's always a party when he comes around. I'd pay $50 to see two of the bands listed, but it's an all-day festival with a lot of bands. It starts at noon and goes 'til 10 p.m. that night, and there's going to be bunch of vendors and a Ferris wheel!

Another bonus: This is pretty much in my backyard. So all you CT friends who ever thought we don't get many good shows (myself included), this is a pretty great exception. I can't wait.

Daffodil Festival this weekend!

Having lived in Meriden my entire life (I was even born here in the old hospital!), the Daffodil Festival is a pretty big deal to me. I love it. It reminds me of childhood. And home. Because it IS home. And no other fairs or festivals can really compare - it's an entire weekend at Hubbard Park, when the daffodils are in bloom. And there's a whole lot of them. I don't know the estimate, but signs there are sure to brag about how many thousands of daffodils are in the park. Aside from being beautiful, there's a ton of things to see and do - there are a ton of food vendors in the food tent, rides, games and even a craft fair. Another bonus: there's free admission and free parking - something a lot of local fairs and festivals don't do.

Then there's the live music. I remember the days when a big headliner would come - like the Nashville Country Star winner or Eric Burdon and the Animals - but .because of budget constraints, there are now smaller acts, but that's not a bad thing either. Some of these smaller bands make it big - MGMT played the Daffodil Festival back in the day, and I'm kicking myself for not seeing them since I was probably in the park at the time. The New Haven Advocate actually printed an article recently about the Daffodil music: Flower Power: Local bands bloom at Meriden’s Daffodil Festival.

So here are the details so you can get here yourself:

Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
10 a.m. food tent, rides and craft fair open.
11 a.m. music entertainment begins.
11:30 a.m. parade begins (This is a lot of fun! I used to march in it.)
Fireworks begin at 8:30 p.m.

Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
10 a.m. food tent, rides and craft fair open.
11 a.m. music entertainment begins.

"All Shuttle Buses will pick-up and drop-off riders at Platt High School, 220 Coe Ave. Wilcox Technical School 298 Oregon Road, Westfield Meriden 470 Lewis Avenue and Downtown Meriden HUB 88 State Street," according to the Web site, and parking is free. Shuttle runs Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The buses are also running until 9 after the fireworks.

For more information and a music schedule, go to the Daffodil Festival website yourself: http://daffodilfest.com/

(Photo above from Thundafunda Free Online Photos)

Not even kidding - HIT ME WITH A TEXT!

I heard this song on the radio on my way home from work tonight, and it is RINGTONE GOLD, at least for text messages. (Note: I actually find this song absolutely hilarious, which is why I love it.) This is almost as good as Twitter Girl (I swear to LOL, she twittin' OMG), which I also heard on the radio at some point.

It's like these guys are no longer fighting with the critics saying their songs are just geared toward selling more ring tones. They're just not fighting it. (One of the lyrics is even about a ring tone, "lately it's your favorite song." I'll take it. I think it's better not to fight it. Also it gives me a good chuckle while listening to the radio.

I especially enjoy the beginning "J-j-j-j-J-Rrrrrr" in the beginning for Jason Derulo. Also, I have to point out that the girlfriend has her own category on this guy's buddy list. Yeah, we all know we did that back when when we used AIM..

Thao with The Get Down Stay Down, Magic Man and All The Friends - Tuesday night at The Space

I love Thao with The Get Down Stay Down, so I was really psyched for this show on 4/20 at The Space in Hamden. It was everything I hoped it would be and more. Thao rocked it with her raw vocals and interesting ways of playing the guitar (she used a toothbrush for a bit), and the Get Down Stay Down owned it with their skills and use of crazy different instruments. The whole band just had fun with their set, and it was contagious. Before they started "When We Swam," Thao said Adam had a special dance that was kind of provocative. It wasn't that provocative, but the song kind of is, which I love. Then they went into "Swimming Pools," which was cool because people knew these songs, and this part of the show was more like a singalong. During "Beat Health Life and Fire" and a few other songs, they gave us some cool beats to clap to - not just your usual 4-4, and it was a lot of fun. At some points, Thao turned around and started drumming, and Adam started hitting the cymbals with these tambourine-like pieces. Willis on the drums looked like he was using different instruments - or maybe just drinking from a camel back water bottle. They just have a really unique, upbeat, indie rock sound, and it makes me want to be more interesting. i.e.) I wish I thought of playing the guitar with a toothbrush!


Before them was Magic Man (pictured above). I'd been listening to Magic Man a bit before this show because their album is available for free download here: http://magicman.bandcamp.com/. It's a really good album - you should download it - but Magic Man is actually much better live! I think it was because they got to improvise more, and the lead singer got to show off more vocals. He also had a lot of stage presence - very Ezra Koenig mixed with Brandon Flowers - and he looked like Zac Efron mixed with Tim Urban. (I'm totally cool with how creepy I sound.) You could tell that all the musicians in this Boston-based band are talented. You can hear it on the album, but the sounds of the drums, guitar and bass really stick out from the background MacBook-composed music when it's live. The repeating back beats are ridiculously catchy, and that combined with their stage presence and musical talent made for a great set. Magic Man started with "Daughter," which is my favorite song off the album, and they kept the good vibes going through the set. They also had a pretty heated performance of their song "Monster." You could tell that a lot of people were hearing them for the first time, and I think they made a good first impression. They also gave a shout-out to Manic Mark for booking them, which was really nice because he does deserve credit for all these great Manic Productions shows.


All The Friends (pictured above) went on first. They were really chill and a pretty sweet start to the night. About half the audience was sitting on the floor, which is why my picture is kind of dark and far away - I didn't want to step over anyone, and it was a pretty relaxing, but fun set. They had a clarinet and trumpet on top of the usual rock band instruments, so it was like if my marching band friends and I got together and made a prog rock band. (I stole that line from Garrett.) They gave out sampler CDs with two of their songs, which are also available on their Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/atfband. We got to talk to some of them after their set as we picked up a CD, and they were really cool - they were such friends!

On a side note, I also got a chicken pesto sandwich - my first sandwich from The Space - and it was delicious. I got some pesto on my dress, but my Tide-To-Go pen took the stain right out! Yep. Pretty good night.

The Thermals at The Space

We had to go to a show on Record Store Day. Didn't realize this until halfway through The Thermals set, but it was really the perfect end to a pretty awesome day. I'd never seen The Thermals before, but I listened to some of their stuff and really liked their sound, so I decided to check them out on Saturday night at The Space in Hamden. Good decision. They rocked it! Being the headliner, people were pretty excited as they started to play, but they really got the crowd going a few songs in as more people started dancing, singing along and just getting into it. The Thermals have this raw, indie, garage punk sound that just makes you want to rock out. Kind of expectedly, they ended with "Now We Can See," but it was an awesome ending - complete with a clap-and-sing-along.


Past Lives (pictured above) went on right before The Thermals, and I thought they were pretty cool. They also rocked out (you could tell because they got super sweaty), and I think that enthusiasm was contagious. The Coathangers - an all-girl shouting punk band - went on first, before Past Lives. They reminded me of Bikini Kill, and while it's not my favorite kind of music, I couldn't help but like them. You could just tell that they always have fun, and they were especially adorable as they were watching The Thermals and cheering their tour mates on.

Record Store Day: It's like Christmas, except you buy records for yourself

Happy Record Store Day, everyone! Started in 2007, Record Store Day is a day to celebrate local independent record stores. As part of the celebration - which is the third Saturday of every April - several artists saved releases for Record Store Day, and some even made appearances at record stores across the country. Here's how our Record Store Day adventure unfolded:

We woke up really early (9 a.m. is early for a Saturday) and drove to Redscroll Records in Wallingford. Then we got into a pretty long line to look at the special Record Store Day releases. Once we got to the special boxes, we picked up the Flaming Lips' "Dark Side of the Moon" vinyl, the Gogol Bordello singles vinyl and Grace Potter & the Nocturnals special Record Store Day release. Then we picked up a couple other CDs (we went to Redscroll on Monday for the start of their sale and picked up a bunch of stuff then) and got a sweet surprise at checkout: a special Record Store Day reusable bag that's perfect for fitting records - complete with funny banter about records printed on it. Wow!

But wait, there's more! Here's a list of stuff we found in the bag: a Record store Day 2010 "Choice Cuts" record, a cloth record player cover thing with an MGMT logo, A "Select-o-Hits" sampler CD, a Coachella sampler CD and booklet, a "Priority Records" sampler CD, "The Infection" sampler CD, a "Record Store Day Soulful Delights" CD, "I <3 Independent Record Stores" sampler CD, an RCA/Jive Urban Sampler, "Unusual Animals Vol. 1" sample record, "The Constellations" sample record, a "Bridge Nine" summer 2009 compilation CD, a button, some promotional postcards and stickers, a comic book and a Record Store Day bumper sticker.


Now I'm sitting in my living room surrounded by stuff and piles of plastic wrap. See? It's just like Christmas!

Justified freak out: Lady Gaga tickets go on sale Monday!

I'm kicking myself for not buying tickets to the canceled Lady Gaga show at the Oakdale.

I wanted to go, but I didn't get around to buying tickets, and at the time, I couldn't think of anyone to go with. Now that I've realized that everyone loves Lady Gaga, my friends and I have the dire task of getting tickets to the Sept. 16 show at the XL Center in Hartford as soon as they go on sale on Monday, April 19 at 10 a.m.

I'm scared.

Everyone who purchased tickets to the canceled show received a personal password to get tickets before they go on sale to the general public Monday. So that's a good chunk of tickets already gone. AND Lady Gaga has been selling out like crazy everywhere. She sold out three, not one or two, but THREE shows in less than an hour at Madison Square Garden - an arena bigger than the XL Center, which is only holding one show.

SO, we're going to sit at our computers all morning, cross our fingers, hit refresh at 10 a.m. and hope for the best.

(Note: I embedded "Telephone" above because it's awesome.)

MGMT Congratulations - It's OK to scratch off the cover!

EVERYONE! RELAX! IT'S OK!

The new MGMT album, "Congratulations," which drops tomorrow, April 13, comes with a limited-edition scratch-off cover, and while you may be nervous about scratching it, it's OK to! I was nervous about ruining the cover, but I compare this to eating something the way a chef intends it to be eaten. The album has a scratch cover, which means it should be scratched. Note: My album had a sticker on the plastic wrap saying that it was a special scratch-off cover. If yours doesn't say that, I would maybe try scratching it with my fingernail to make sure it is a scratch-off cover.

Here's the hilarious preview video for the limited-edition scratch-off cover: MGMT Congratulations Scratch Off Cover Preview.

Spoiler alert: If you want to be surprised on what the cover looks like underneath the psychedelic purple-and-magenta checker print, DO NOT SCROLL DOWN. I'm posting a photo of the end results. However, if you need to see what it looks like to decide whether or not to scratch, scroll down! It's cool, I promise!


First, some of the scratch-off editions come with a really cool coin to use for your scratching. It has tiny numbers and a fork on one side and crazy cat/creatures on the back that match the front cover.

If you're lucky enough to have one of these coins, start scratching. If not, I'll give you a minute to find a penny or something.


Tip: The scratch-off part is only the purple and magenta. I read in the preview video comments that someone screwed up their cover. I think they might have tried to scratch the cat wave/surfer picture on the side too hard.

Once you're done, congratulations! You now have a cool, kind of avant-garde cover with the crazy animation surrounded by a black-and-white landscape of band members, a picnic, one guy looking through a telescope, etc. while both outdoors and inside a room:


"Congratulations" is pretty great, by the way. It's classic MGMT with their psychedelic dance pop, but it feels a bit deeper and more mature, maybe even more creative than their 2007 debut, "Oracular Spectacular." I'm not sure which style I like better, but I do know that I'm totally feeling "Congratulations" right now. I've been listening to it stream online for a few weeks now, so I'm glad to have a hard copy of the CD, especially because of this cool coin/scratch-cover promo.

Wilco at the Bushnell

(Hooray for blurry cell phone photos that I get yelled at by ushers for taking!)

You know when you're pretty tired once you get to a show because it's the end of the long week? Yeah, that happened to me, but I got my second wind during this show.

This was Wilco's first appearance in Hartford, and my second time seeing them, and it was awesome. The first time I saw them was at Tanglewood, and I couldn't really see, even with seats because I had really tall people in front of me. This time I got an aisle seat and normal-height people in front of me. It was much better. This show in general was a lot better too - and it took me about 20 minutes to get there! My boyfriend read up on Wilco's set lists from recent shows, and we were expecting maybe two sets and an encore. About two and a half hours into the show, we realized they were just playing one long set. They pulled out all their old favorites and stuff from all of their albums. According to the Courant's Eric Danton, they played 36 songs for over three hours. (I'm glad he kept track because I didn't.)

"Wilco the Song" was a great start to the night, and then they went straight into "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" - two songs we listened to in the car, I might add. Basically, every song we thought they would play or were hoping they'd play, they did. My favorite part was toward the end after we had a sing-along to "Jesus, etc." They really rocked it toward the end, especially with "Heavy Metal Drummer" and then "I'm the Man Who Loves You" - two of my favorites. It was one of those cases where I could tell they played a long time and appreciated it, but I also couldn't believe they played for so long because it was so fun.

Seeing the Flaming Lips for the first time in three years!

And it should be amazing. Just got our tickets Friday to their July 24 show with Stardeath and White Dwarfs at Mountain Park in Holyoke, Mass. Tickets are $37.50 plus fees and can be purchased here: http://www.iheg.com/mountain_park_main.asp

Here's where I've seen the Lips before: New York City, Boston and Madrid. Those shows were in 2006 and 2007. It's like they never come to Connecticut. Even so, Lips shows are totally worth the extra travel. The shows are huge productions and just awesome. Worth the extra drive, even if it is a pain. This show's on a Saturday, so the extra drive won't be too much of a hassle. (No, I didn't go all the way to Madrid just to see them - I was studying abroad that summer, and they were at an awesome festival.)

Another cool point: They're performing Dark Side of the Moon in full at Bonnaroo, and their cover CD is selling right now, so we should get some tracks off that. Enjoy the video above.