TeaParty Boston at Newport Folk Festival 50, Lake George and more! EEEEEEP!!!!

image via cute overload.

i am happier than this happy bunny becaaaaause

a) on a whim, i took the last two days of this week off, and i'm going to be driving up to lake george tomorrow afternoon for two days of bliss in the wilderness of upstate new york with my absolute favorite new yorkers who have not seen in FOR EV ER. lake? beerz? best friends? SIGN ME UP.

b) on friday night, jessie and i are hopping in the car and leaving cambridge for newport, rhode island because TEAPARTY BOSTON IS COVERING THE NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL. it's the festival's 50th anniversary and anyone who follows american folk/rock/indie music knows that THIS IS A BIG DEAL. our press credentials were approved yesterday so we're going to be seeing some of our ABSOLUTE FAVORITE BANDS [the avett brothers! the low anthem! the decemberists! iron & wine! elvis perkins in dearland! deer tick! ben kweller! EEEEE!!!!!!] and writing about it so that you guys can live vicariously through us for a bit. we'll be live blogging/tweeting the shows, too, so keep a look out.

in other news: works good, apartment's good, and boston fiiiinally decided it was summertime. i have never been so happy to sweat profusely in my LIFE.

hunter s. thompson in the afternoon.

mr. gonzo himself: hunter s. thompson.

i think one of my favorite memories from my short-lived stint as an office monkey at wenner media was natalie's glam rock party, when cody and adam were drunkenly retelling RS stories from days gone by and the one came up about how hunter s. thompson got a huge load of edits from an irate jann and responded by walking into jann's office with a fire extinguisher and shot the fire safety device off in the face of the editor of rolling stone. hammered cody, in turn, ripped the fire extinguisher off the columbia university dorm room wall and proceeded to pull the pin, which filled the apartment with nasty foam and left the rest of us laughing our asses off as natalie's roommate panicked and screamed at cody while donning a silver leotard and red velvet cape. we're such media dorks, guys.

anyways. long story short: i love hunter s. thompson, and when we talk influences, he may be the one that i credit when it comes to honing my creativity and giving me something to aspire to as a ballsy writer.

i'm deleting this from my profile on facebook so i wanted to put it somewhere. here it goes, my favorite hunter quote.

"...no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. whatever it meant ... history is hard to know, because of all of the hired bullshit, but even without being sure of 'history' it seems entirely reasonable to think that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a long fine flash, for reasons that nobody really understands all the time - and which never explain, in retrospect, what actually happened."

-Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

TeaParty Boston Update: Interviews, Photos, Silly Flashy Headshots and more.

hello friiiiiiiiiiends!

i know i said i wouldn't be updating, but i figured i'd give you the rundown on what's currently posted over at TeaParty Boston for your reading pleasure.

since the end of april, jessie, gab and i have been running around this city like chickens with our heads cut off interviewing, shooting, chatting with and going to see the best bands coming through town and hailing from the bean itself. between the paradise rock club, precinct and every single venue in between we've covered a lot of ground, and you can now find all of these interviews that we've been backlogging since this brainchild came to fruition a few months ago.

interviews currently up on TeaParty Boston:

-Frosty Pines: Steve, Andy and Conan, formerly of Boston indie powerhouse Baker, have reformed as a rock trio and will be playing TT the Bear's Place on July 23rd.

-The Antlers: Jessie and I had the pleasure of chatting up these Brooklynites as they were stopping through town on their way back to the burrough after their whirlwind national tour.

-Magic Magic: Probably one of my favorite Boston acts out there and definitely an act to watch. That, and these guys are hysterical.

-Taxpayer: Another one of my favorite local acts, and definitely one of the most fun interviews/shows we've ever done for TPB. Their album, Don't Steal My Night Vision, is currently playing on repeat on my iTunes.

-Thick as Thieves: Definitely my band crush. I. LOVE. THEIR. MUSIC. SO. MUCH. I stumbled across their last album while writing for Chicks with Guns last summer and I haven't stopped listening to them since.

-Au Revoir Simone: Okay Jessie looooves these keyboard-wielding ladies and it's no wonder why, seeing as they're adorable and their music is just as appealing as their personalities.

-The Luxury: Jessie and I were BLOWN AWAY by these guys at their CD Release party last week. Seriously, people. They're going to explode and you heard it here first.

-The Low Anthem: I'm really pissed that I missed this show, but these guys are amazing and Jessie snapped some sick pictures of their show at the Brattle.

-Thao with the Get Down Stay Down: Our first big interview! I love Thao. Everyone loves Thao. We hope you love our interview with Thao.

-Rock Plaza Central: Chris Eaton is such an upstanding chap and chatting him up about Rock Plaza Central's music, origami caterpillars and punching Scott Speedman was a delight.

soooo yeah. i've been busy, can you tell?

xx hil

the happy list, "i'm choosing bed before precinct on a sunday night for the first time EVER!" edition.

i have 7.5 hours until i have to be awake on monday morning, so i'll keep this list brief.

+ last night. period. i put on my pretty new dress, jessie put on her pretty new outfit [including her pretty sweet new american apparel leotard, very exciting] and we booked it over to allston to be very important people. we started off at the paradise, which basically looked like a bomb exploded in the equipment closet because four bands were soundchecking at that time, and met up with joey and joe of the click five for a brief talkin' to about how they went from shacking up in allston to speaking out against violence against women in southeast asia for mtv. afterwards, we went over to eastern standard for the most lovely meal i've had in ages - we split the cheese plate, i got the duck, jessie got the burger and we had peach cobbler [with basil icecream FOODGAAAAZM] and strawberry angel food cake for dessert. after THAT, we went back over to the paradise for the luxury's incredible CD release and saw aloud, midatlantic, the click five and the luxury ABSOLUTELY ENTHRALL the packed house. it was such an incredible show and it made me feel really, really good about what we're doing over at teaparty boston because it gives us the chance to celebrate these people and their incredible talents in a forum that caters to them as opposed to making them change for it. it was just a very, very inspiring night, and i think i speak for jessie and i both when i say that it was probably one of the best shows i've seen in boston. ever.

+ cambridge on a sunday. berryline? check. beautiful bike ride? check. lounging by the river? check. look shopping? check. sure, it's kind of a nuisance that there happened to be about 20938402938402 harvard tours passing through harvard square today, but it was a lovely sunday spent with lovely people and i shuffled back into my place around 8 sunkissed and exhausted and perfectly content. lovely.

+ farmer's markets. delicious produce, strawberry rhubarb pies, fresh bread? god, it feels good to actually go food shopping again and to support local farmers/growers/bakers as opposed to relying on the shalimar delivery guy to drop by my house every other day and to judge me when he sees that i'm ordering the same thing, again, four nights a week. i like eating healthier, preparing my own food and saving some cash. so thanks, central square + union square farmer's markets, for existing!

+ feeling very lucky. i feel lucky every single day, but lately i feel lucky moreso than usual for some reason. i have a great job in a chill office with really, really nice people. i have a supportive, nurturing family [especially my mom] that i can always call to make me feel better even on the crappiest of days. i have beautiful, exciting, interesting people in my life who never cease to amaze me with their warmth and humor and all around good vibes. i have an apartment that, though currently disgusting and covered in empty beer bottle STILL courtesy of july 4th, is very much so my nest that i love coming home to in a neighborhood i adore. and i have a burgeoning business with two of my best friends that has us living the dream and making plans for ourselves while having fun and working together to make something pretty amazing. despite blue days and unsavory characters from the past making the occasional reappearance and silly, petty drama that somehow always shows up at the wrong time... i'm truly, truly happy. i'm very much in love with life right now, and i'm going to ride this wave as long as it lasts.

because i would rather be at the beach than sitting in my cube...

i stumbled across Body Surf today, which is a collection of surfing-inspired photographs taken of waves coming from every sea and ocean on the planet. i know i'm the umpteenth-millionth person to point this out, but this summer in boston? not so warm or beach-friendly as of yet. we've had a couple of nice days, but seriously, mother nature, give us our four months of beauty and sunshine, please. we deserve it after the miserable winter we had. ANYWAY: the photographs of Body Surf are seriously making my morning and i find myself clicking through the site's gallery of surf shots hoping that i'll eventually get to go to gloucester or plum island or falmouth in the near future so that i can splash around for a bit.

favorites from body surf:

The Luxury CD Release at the Paradise Rock Club, Saturday 7/12!

so, jessie and i were lucky enough to sit down with Boston Brit Pop sensations The Luxury for girly drinks and fried pickles at Cambridge Common a couple of weeks ago. We're going to be attending their CD release for their sophomore album this saturday and we're super stoked for it, so come out to Allston and join us at the Paradise Rock Club and dance your face off.

steve borek and jason dunn of the luxury. photo credit: jessietron.

the interview is hysterical, guys. check it out at TeaParty Boston (it's the headlining article!) or click through here for a direct link to the interview.

in other news: TEAPARTY BOSTON LAUNCHED. well, softly. we've been building up to it for what seems like ages now. but it's UP! and OFFICIAL! yaaaaaaayz. i may go visit my darlings in new york for a smidge in the next couple of weeks which has been a LONG time coming, so that'll be nice. and there may be a weekend at a lakehouse in new hampshire in my future as well. long story short: it's nice to be hil this week :)

oh hey oh man oh no oh wow!

hey friends.

i've been a really busy bee working on a ton of really interesting amazing stuff for go2, TeaParty Boston and Chicks with Guns, which means that chances are i'll be neglecting this lil' bloggity blog for a bit. it's not that i don't love you; it's that, frankly, i am way too busy to be interesting right now and the TeaParty launch is kind of eating my life in the best way possible. seriously, guys, jessie, gab and i can't wait to share this with you. it's shaping up to be pretty epic.

in other news: drivers in central square, slow the hell down. i got soaaaaked in the most comical way yesterday when i was walking from mass ave to jessie's place. i couldn't even be mad, it was that ridiculous.

also: my half birthday is tomorrow! red velvet cupcakes for everyone! if the rain breaks, i am totally cracking that saved bottle of veuve on the roof and eating cupcakes and anyone who's interested is welcome to join me.