Hil in the Dig this week: Newport Folk, Ladies Rock and more...

that's l'il ol' me interviewing taylor goldsmith of dawes and mr. john shade at newport folk 2010. photo: jess hodge

today, i ran out, bought a baguette, a hunk of manchego and a chocolate bar, and sat down on my couch with the fan pointed directly at me for a day-long Top Chef marathon. why the laziness/comfort food? after this past weekend, which was filled with the music festival of my dreams, quality time with best friends/partners in crime and some good ol' fashioned late night debauchery, i. am. beat.

it's cool, though, because i spent all day writing yesterday and today. what have i been working on? The Newport Folk Festival Run-Down, Day 1 and Day 2 for the Weekly Dig.

covering newport folk this year was inspiring and enlightening, to say the very least. i saw one of the best live sets of my life courtesy of Dawes. i hung out along the waterfront with Christian Letts of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros after their set that nearly had to be cancelled due to the insane crowd that swarmed the stage. i got to catch up with the Matt the Ice Cream Man and see how his road trippin' series is going.

to single out one moment of the weekend would be tricky. OH WAIT. no, actually, it wouldn't be tricky at all. i got to sit down with my favorite band, the Avett Brothers, and talk about their music and their contribution to the Newport Folk legacy before their set on sunday.

i gush about them in the second day of the Dig's Newport Folk blog writeups, but there's really so much more that could be said for these guys. maybe i'll post the transcript from the interview here eventually. in the meantime, i'll let you look at jess' absolutely phenomenal photographs [PLEASE look at her tumblr, by the way] that she snapped during the interview and the avett brothers set on the fort stage:

scott avett backstage. swoooooon?

seth avett backstage.

this man singing "the ballad of love and hate" brings me to tears, always.

JOE MOTHERLOVIN' KWON ON THE CELLO, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.

this dude is a four-stringed wailin' wonder.

bob crawford, aka one of the best bass players in existence.

can we talk about seth's hair here, please?

aaaaaand a banjo-gasm from scott avett.

please and thank you.

in addition to my newport fangirly glee, i also have a piece in print making the rounds this week - a lady rock showdown for an upcoming show at the middle east! if you pick up the dig this week, you'll find my feature on women in boston rock in the arts & entertainment section. this was one of the most fun photoshoots i've ever worked with mikey (mad props for such a stellar photo, mr. basu) and hanging out with the girls of this blue heaven, the downbeat 5, the sun lee sun beam, st. helena, do not forsake me oh my darling and naked on rollerskates was great great great. also, can we talk about this photo?

so, folks, that's what i've been up to :) pick up the dig or check it out online, but either way, you'll be reading some stuff of mine!

now, it's off to family dinner at dalí and hopefully a pimm's cup this evening or something. august, how did you show up so fast?

X H

Hil in the Dig: The SXSW Preview and 5 Drink Minimum!

in the most recent issue of the Dig, I have two pieces. yayz.  

first: as you all probably know by now, I'm taking off next Wednesday morning for Austin, Texas with the engimatic Jess Hodge by my side.  we're going to be running up and down Congress Street like chickens with our heads cut off in order to ensure that we catch each and every single set we wanna see, but we're gonna do it!  I swear!  if i was able to squeeze 25+ sets into 3 days at CMJ this year, catching every single Boston band showcasing at SXSW will be cake.  (i hope. gulp.) my SXSW preview is here, but be sure to check back on the Dig's website next week for showcase play-by-plays and plenty of Lonestar-induced debauchery.

secondly: cara, managing editor extraordinaire over at the Dig, was kind enough to include me in the Dig's semi-annual nightlife guide, Five Drink Minimum.  this installment of 5DM was centered on hotel bars, so los, mikey and I slinked our way into the sultry clutches of Noir at the Charles Hotel.  Five Drink Minimum, for those who haven't read the guide before, is basically a guide to getting hammered: we, the reporters, must imbibe in five cocktails at the assigned location, and each cocktail is picked out ahead of time (#1 is bartender's choice, #2 reflects the vibe of the surroundings, #3 is stranger's choice, etc. etc...).  this isn't horrifically difficult to do at Noir, as all of the drinks are just as pleasing to the palate as they are potent, soooo basically we got a little rowdy and the phrase "cheating-on-my-wife-ish" may have gotten thrown around a bit.  read all about it here and check out mikey's sick photo above and in the Dig - his is what they chose for the front of the feature :)

i have so much to do before SXSW it's not even funny.  here's hoping i get all my work done, pack, and steer clear of the green beer in southie on sunday afternoon.  (yes, i will be heading to south boston for the st. paddy's day parade with my girlfriends on sunday.  yes, we're going to a rooftop party and marcy's probably going to wind up doing a backwards and upside-down kegstand this year.  yes, i am ashamed to admit that i'm a little excited about it.)

X H

oh hey! it's hil writing about thick as thieves in the weekly dig.

thick as thieves! from left: kellen, aaron, mike and tyler.  

go see them downstairs at the middle east on 2/27.

in the latest edition of the weekly dig [which hits the streets tomorrow, look for the orange boxes and pick one up!], i had the goofy joy of interviewing a dude in a band i've loved for years who's also become a good friend.  tyler's the singer in thick as thieves, which is undeniably one of my most favorite boston bands.  i've interviewed the guys in thick as thieves once before, and that conversation took place on a particularly sunny saturday afternoon in kellen and tyler's living room over the course of nearly two hours.  this time, i had a last minute opportunity to chat the dudes up and plug their upcoming show with the lights out and cure for static, so i leapt on it and got tyler on the phone and the next thing you know he's talking about djembes and bloody guitars.  my favorite songs by them are "disasterology" and "weak end with no end", and i'm hoping i'll hear both saturday night.

aaanyways, go read all about it.  here's a link to this week's Defend Yourself! with Tyler Littwin of Thick as Thieves.

in other news, my editor totally made my life when he addressed me as "ms. gonzo" in an email.  yes, i'm a huge, huuuge nerd for revealing this.  no, i don't care in the slightest.

story for a sunday afternoon...

it's gorgeous out, so of course i woke up from sunbeams to the face at 9am. karen, best friend from a lifetime ago in spain, surprised me with a weekend visit and we spent the past couple of days catching up and celebrating friends birthdays and eating delicious things and drinking cups of tea upon cups of tea upon cups of tea. pretty heavenly. now, marcy and i are making thin mint/oreo brownies and watching clueless. yessss. sunday, it could be love.

i've been leaving this blog in the DUST because i've been so busy, so here's a brief recap of what's been keeping me away...

what hil's been up to lately:

+on a whim, i used up all of my remaining vacation days for 2009 and booked a last minute ticket to london on the cheap to go visit esme, a dear friend who i had worked with at an arts camp in maine a few summers ago. it literally feels like not a single day has passed since the last time we hung out and we're the definition of friends who can pick up where they leave off. esme has a beautiful flat in hackney [east london], so i spent about a week tagging along with her, shopping in shoreditch, making pizza while watching the x factor finale, getting lost/completely overwhelmed in top shop, scoping out the pop life exhibit at the tate and belting out amy winehouse's "valerie" in a rock-e-oke contest in covent garden. [i won said contest, prize being a £100 bartab, much to our friends' delight.] the trip was all i could've asked for and more and delivered exactly what i was looking for: a little jaunt out of boston, a little time away from what's happening in these parts, a lot of time to reevaluate some stuff going on/get my priorities and sanity in check. i'm looking into grad school in london and i can't wait to go back. londontown is officially another city to hit the "we get along famously and i could live here!" list, after buenos aires, chicago and lisbon.

+moved on from my post at TPB and am now an arts & entertainment contributing writer at the weekly dig, which is a move i couldn't be more thrilled about. i've been an avid reader of the dig for quite some time now, so to be a part of that editorial team is all walks of awesome. also, i wrote my first ever big paper feature, and i'll be covering SXSW in march for the dig which is kiiiiiind of a dream come true. (i mean, really. i'm gonna be all gonzo about it and i'm potentially going to be a band van stowaway.) here's a few of the pieces i've done so far -

-my feature on boston carnival rockers Mighty Tiny

-defend yourself! Q+As with Mystery Roar, Sidewalk Driver, the David Wax Museum, and my very own junior prom date Garett Hawe who just happens to be one of the featured ensemble members in the touring production of 101 Dalmatians: The Musical.

-a review on the DVD box set of Dawson's Creek. (guys, WB 90s teen dramas are totally emotional.)

-an exit poll or two, including one with my dad after thanksgiving dinner.

+ i turned 24, and had an absolutely wonderful day dancing, drinking and stuffing my face alongside my favorite people on the planet. look to the previous entry for the rundown.

+ i'm making music again. more on this development later, but it involves guitar and fishnets and 80s hair-dos and a debut at the lizard lounge early this spring.

+SXSW. I AM SO EXCITED. i can't wait to get my butt to texas.

those are the big things anyway. whenever i start writing these "oh hey hi it's met let's catch up lists" i always lose steam halfway through and forget important things. those are the biggies, though. it's nice to be back.

X HIL