"anticipation is the purest form of pleasure, and the most reliable." - flaubert

:)

i have been a sad, sad blogger and left OH HEY! in a serious state of neglect, but hot damn do you guys have a doozie of a post coming up. i promise. it'll happen. but in the meantime, i had a ridiculous allergic reaction to my dad's yellow lab last night and have spent all day in a benedryl coma, so now it's back to dawson's creek reruns and down comforter snuggles 'til i pass out.

but yeah. a doozie you will have.

X H

london: you make me happy.

i haven't uploaded photos yet, but i need to jot down SOMEthing about london because there's no way in hell i can go without documenting this incredible trip in some fashion or the other.

thursday: i arrived at heathrow, esme met me at the terminal with a chocolate orange in hand. we came back to her flat in east london, picked up a cheese plate on the way, made some tea and had proper girl talk/catch up time before going for an AMAZING indian feast on brick lane.

friday: sightseeing party timez. walked up and down the south bank, saw the london eye, st pauls, the millenium bridge, trafalgar sq, shopshopshopppped (absolute vintage on brick lane is MECCA), dined in covent garden, ran out for drinks in bank with esme's friend aj, spent the night dancing our faces off with suits galore until we piled into a black cab at 2am and came back and danced around with es and her dear friend aj to nina simone passing out.

today: slept in, went for breakfast in shoreditch at a gorgeous french spot called la vie en rose, stuffed our faces with eggs and toast and sausages and pan au chocolat, esme's sister sophie happened to be walking by and came in to say hello with her fiance, aj and esme and i got incredible coffee brewed on the street at broadway market and we moseyed through the most cheerful, gorgeous, treasure-filled flea market/food market/flower market for hours. we bought cakes, brought 'em back to es' flat and had tea. we're now watching grey's anatomy reruns [britain's a few seasons behind] and resting before going to sophie's christmas party and then out to dinner with es' friends.

tomorrow: our friend jon, who es and i worked with at an arts summer camp nearly five years ago, is gonna meet up with us and we'll stroll portobello road. and then we're going ice skating by the british museum, and then we're going for high tea at fortnum and mason.

the pictures i'm taking are great. i can't wait to share them with you.

seriously? this is exactly what i needed. thank you, london and esme!

fall's almost done...

i have a bit of writing to do before bed so i won't say much, but can we just talk about this tree that i saw while out causing a ruckus last night?

in other news, november is one of those months of new beginnings that i'm kind of excited to say goodbye to, if only because december means london, christmas and new year's eve. so many things to look forward toooo....

"because when a door closes in hilary jane hughes' life..."

a real proper update is coming soon as LOTS has been going on, but in the meantime i'll leave you with this because it's a) true and b) ridiculous, as andrea can literally get me laughing my butt off at the drop of a hat for no reason at all.

[10:19] Hilary: omgggg london cant come soon enough
[10:19] Hilary: and i bet you feel the same way about the bahamas
[10:19] Andrea: i do, girl.
[10:20] Andrea: but i just want to reiterate
[10:20] Andrea: that i am really excited for you
[10:20] Andrea: and THIS
[10:20] Andrea: is why
[10:20] Andrea: i dont worry about you.
[10:20] Andrea: because when a door closes in hilary jane hughes' life
[10:20] Andrea: she smashes open six windows and pulls the fire alarm.
[10:21] Hilary: HAHAHAHAHA.

i'm so, so lucky to have such incredibly wonderful people in my life who don't get going when the going gets tough.

oh, also, i'm going to london in three weeks. prooobably should've mentioned that. as i said earlier, more later, i promise. Xx H

someone cut up my credit card plz.

soooo while taking a break at work today, i was browsing through etsy.

and i bought this:

i don't NEED a necklace made out of gorgeous, silk, vintage neck ties. i don't NEED to buy said necklace, especially since this would look ideal with vnecks [aka half my wardrobe] and men's undershirts [aka the other half.]

i will need, however, a fantastic accessory or few that packs a punch and will pack easy when i whip out the passport and cross the pond next month.

seriously. just cut up my credit card now. i'll love you forever and so will my savings account.

happy halloween! i was riveting (i hope.)

so, there you have it: i was rosie the riveter for halloween after i opted to scrap being a flapper for the second year in a row. [i do love my purple fringe-all-over dapper flapper dress, though.] i spent the night dancing around like a maniac with dear friends and the only casualty of the evening was my blackberry which went swimming around 3am but luckily my pal justin fished it out of the NASTY puddle it had landed in and it miraculously survived the submersion. dear blackberry: thank you for making waterproof phones, even if they're supposedly not waterproof. that thing rang COMPLETELY UNDERWATER and it lit up so we could find it. for that, i am grateful.

november's kicking off to a ridiculously busy start: in addition to the piles of transcripts/interviews i have to sift through, my mom's putting the finishing touches on building her dream house up in maine and we just took on a HUMONGOUS account at work so i'll be here 8-6 all week, pretty much. i'm taking a break to post these photos/muse for a bit to give my brain time to energize and look at stuff that isn't drafts/articles/google analytics/research research research. i promise i miss and love all of you and i'm sorry for being so absent lately. october was insanity; november will be better by default, i'm sure, but dressing up as a feminist icon was a nice way to end my month.

so is anyone else counting down to thanksgiving? because stuffing, mashed potatoes and apple pie would make me ridiculously happy right now...

xx h

ps: i've got some major reviews coming up. judy jetson hair, i'm comin' for you.

"no one wants to hug a firecracker, hilary."

fact.

CMJ // it's cold // new boots!

what i wouldn't GIVE for a pumpkin muffin and a cappuccino from the biscuit right about now...

anyways, good morning! a few baby updates:

1) along with my cohorts jessie and gab, i'll be heading to new york city next week to cover the tail end of the CMJ Music Marathon. we're going to cover the Boston acts of the festival lineup [The Mieka Canon, Drug Rug, The New Collisions, Aloud, HO-AG to name a few] complete with photo timeline, concert shots, videos [hopefully!] and various critiques/musings. you can find our unscripted indie rock adventure [complete with copious amounts of red velvet cupcakes from buttercup and a run in at the waverley] over at TeaParty Boston.

2) interviews i've done recently for TPB: one with local favorites/Cantab frequenters St. Helena, one with Boston mainstays The Beatings, and one with the latest indie darlings to hit the charts, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. read up on some good listens here, friends.

3) after a particularly stressful day at work yesterday, i took a detour before driving home and stopped at the mall... and walked out with a quarter of my monthly wages gone. yeeeeah i'm gonna eat pasta for two weeks to make up for it. but my new party dress and blouse from anthropologie are gorgeous and these new frye boots are purrrrty:

seriously. i needed them. i keep telling myself this.

anyways. it's 9:02am. that means dayjob work time. tonight: the dodos are playing at the middle east, and i'll be watching from the ramp. if you're going, get there soon as i feel like everyone and their mother wants to snag last minute tickets to this show.

p.s.: dear fall: i thought you were going to stick around for a leeeeeeeeeettle longer to make up for the fact that summer was rainy 99% of the time. do i REALLY have to break out my winter coat two weeks before halloween? seriously? gyahhh. oh well. at least it's hot cider season.

aaaaaaaaand sleep.

well hey there, somerville.

it's sunday. luckily, my body knew i needed some rest, big time, after a most ridiculous two weeks, and i rolled over when i woke up and realized that it was 1:50. pm. i had slept half the day away, and that was exactly what i needed.

why so tired/why the oversleeping? yesterday, teaparty boston helped out with the throwing of harvest fest over at somerville's center for the arts at the armory. we were the official media partner for the event, but our tweeting/live blogging responsibilities were merely tasks compared to the other feats we accomplished that day! i had volunteered myself to joe, the wonderful man in charge and most adorable of local do-gooders, and i wound up emceeing the majority of the event and throwing together the script for the haphazard fashion show that occurred. the event was packed, everyone was happy, the endless supply of artisan beer kept festival-goers happy and the music on hand was pretty swell. it was exhausting, but it was a lovely day.

i actually made it out to tt's for the sidewalk driver cd release which was epiccccccc and i spent the majority of the evening in the pool room with the tpb/motion sick/aloud/future everybody kids. now, i'm scarfing shalimar, getting some writing done and then heading over to river gods for a video premiere party with aloud. and then it's precinct time, some old same old.

aiiiii ai ai. that's an update, though a lame one at that. tomorrow i'm either going to the advanced screening of "where the wild things are" complete with dave eggers q&a or i'm going to see wild light for a tpb feature. not a bad start to the week, huh?

The Savage Detectives: Current Book Hil Can't/Won't Put Down.

my time on the commuter rail every morning tends to get soaked up by transcribing interviews for TPB, but i'm going to a hip hop show [big digits at harper's ferry, to be precise] post "real" work tonight and didn't feel like lugging my macbook from back bay to allston and on to cambridge, ugh. on the days where pressing play on the tape recorder makes me want to gauge my eyes out, or on mornings such as this one, i read. it's not that exciting. the books i've been picking up lately have been, though. i finally devoured crime and punishment not too long ago and after that i started roberto bolano's 2666, but i used it as a pillow one especially sleep-deprived morning on the train and sadly left it on my seat :/ i was really heartbroken about the loss of 2666 - it was a hardcover, as the paperback version of bolano's opus came in three volumes prior to its release as a single softcover on september 1st, and the book itself isn't exactly flying off the shelves at barnes & noble given that oprah hasn't put her stamp of approval on it [yet] and bolano rarely tends to be a favorite amongst anyone but latin american lit majors and intellectually masturbating poets/vagabonds.

i love bolano. [i don't consider myself an intellectually masturbating poet, though i did study latin american lit pretty extensively.] i had to read una novelita lumpen in eduardo lago's Orillas Atlanticas ["Atlantic Shores"] my sophomore year at Sarah Lawrence and bolano's simple, poignant prose was easy to meander through at a point where i was conversationally proficient in spanish at best and had a waaaays to go when it came to spanish reading comprehension. i can't remember if it was eduardo or one of my other tutors/professors, in new york, buenos aires or elsewhere, who encouraged 2666, but the recommendation stuck with me and i finally found it on amazon for a decent price back when i was bored and looking for things to keep me busy during my bout of funemployment early this year. i bought it and i kept putting off starting it until i got the new gig, found myself loathing my 1.5 hour commute every morning, and needed an escape from an interview or two every once in awhile.

aaaaaaaaanyways. i love, love the savage detectives so far. i'm going to reread it in spanish when i'm through with it in english, as i fear i'm getting rusty. this particular line really struck me today, but i'm not going to give you the context for it because i feel like the sentiment stands on its own:

"You can woo a girl with a poem, but you can't hold on to her with a poem. Not even with a poetry movement."

given a few recent epiphanies, i just thought this was the right sentence for me to stumble across at the right time, and it made me think. i'm horrifically distracted by just that one sentence even still and i'm strangely okay with it, even if i have a never-ending list of things to do today. if i'm gonna be distracted, it might as well be by a genius piece o' lit that gets me thinking, right?

my friends may keep me out too late on a school night, but they keep me sane.

chief, smitty and ace at great scott, 9/12

so the lovely and talented ryan rose weaver (who's not only an established, dedicated foodie but now also our Tastes guru over at TeaParty Boston) wrote this on her blog last night and it makes me feel all kinds of wonderful:

What this means is that instead of working on service pieces, guides, features, etc. in a strictly technical sense, my hope is that this fall, me and my people are going to make some art together. We are going to riff. We are going to ad lib. We are going to graffiti our words across the Internet and hope that someone wanders along and likes what they see. We will do it because we are compelled to point out the genius of the people who are creating things in this city in the same way that bees are compelled to make honey, that birds are compelled to sing, that Jessica Simpson is compelled to soldier on doing whatever it is that she does despite all those "mom jeans" comments. We do it because we must create -- not because we must create something we can "monetize."

ryan, you're not in the picture above, which is silly, but you're so great. and everyone involved with TPB is so great. and everything that ryan just wrote is the complete and articulate and better-phrased summary of everything i love about my friends and what i do.

thanks, ryan. you just made a gloomy morning severely lacking in the caffeine department so much better.

KINGS OF LEON: The TeaParty Boston Interview. [aka: lil ol' me, jared of KoL and a tape recorder.]

i'm on my couch with some vino and a homemade oreo from city feed and i'm watching the VMAs, and i'm actually super stoked about that. the MJ tribute was pretty great, i love russell brand, and the mood seems to be particularly festive. great start, VMAs, great start.

three words on the tips of everyone's tongues tonight, regarding the VMAs? Kings. Of. Leon. the band is unbelievably huge right now. everyone can sing the chorus to "sex on fire", let's be honest. with a few shots of tequila in me i do a STELLARRR impression of caleb followill's "USE SOMEBODAAAY-AH" hook. rolling stone and spin have featured them on the covers of their magazines and nearly every music critic in the country has touted them as the biggest band in the world right now. am i the biggest fan? not necessarily, but i give credit where credit is due and after seeing caleb, jared, nathan and matthew DECIMATE the gloom that had settled in over the rain-soaked comcast center friday night with their absolutely electrifying set, i can say with absolutely no doubt that they're very, very real and worth a listen.

...also i was there because gab, jessie and i were interviewing them for TeaParty Boston. (slight ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG moment of my life.) gab was the only photographer who was granted access to shoot the show friday night. i somehow wound up backstage in a warm up room with jared, the bass player, and we hung out for something like fifteen minutes. the dude is surprisingly down to earth and humble and excited about the amazing things that he's got going for him. anyways, read the interview in full here, but check out some of gab's pics below:

(also, i gotta say, i really do work with some of the most incredibly talented and lovely women on the planet. gab and jessie, i'm so proud of the both of you and i don't think i tell you that enough.)

quick update: TeaParty Boston, Interviewz, Major FreakOuts and Other Adventures.

HI!

real quick:

1) the weekend preview is up at TeaParty Boston. if you're looking for something to do this weekend in boston, you have EIGHT GAZILLION OPTIONS available including concerts in cambridge, somerville, allston and boston proper, of course. there's also a booze-soaked LEGALIZE CACHACA! march plowing through the south end/back bay and design hive kicks off for the season on sunday. long story short: GET YOUR BUTT OFF THE COUCH AND OUT INTO THE AUTUMN AIR, AMIGOS!

2) i am interviewing the biggest f#%#$%@ band on the planet tonight before their concert at the comcast center. if you've got any pressing questions for the followill brothers, drop me a line and i'll include it in my interview.

3) have i told you lately that i'm lucky? i'm lucky.

long time no see! also: boston phoenix, WTF. regards, hil.

hey guys.

my my my, i've been a busy girl. between day job work, TPB work, enjoying the brief heat wave here in boston and riding my bike all over this city to catch up with friends new and old, i'm getting very little sleep and i'm spending very little time at home. this past weekend consisted of running around like a crazy person trying to cover Boston Band Crush's ONE NIGHT BAND [which was an incredible success], the McAlister Drive show over at the 'Dise and Jeremy's last night drumming it up with the Sea Monsters on Sunday. I'm back at my desk. I have iced coffee in my system, even if it's getting a little brisk out. life is good.

fast-forward to today, when little miss jessietron sent me the link for the Phoenix's new lifestyle piece: "A Girl's Guide to Boston Boys." this post royally pissed me off on many levels and as much as i've respected the phoenix in the past for its music coverage and photojournalism and other stuff [and hey, i have some friends over at phoenix media, ok?], nina maclaughlin's article in the Welcome Back '09 issue made me want to write to her directly and ask her to never ever write an op/ed ever again. my issues with it:

1) The Boston Phoenix is one of the OLDEST alternative weeklies in the country [second only to the village voice, i believe, or hell, it may even be older], it has an established readership and it still gets picked up even though it's a free paper with midweek circulation. what's the most important part of that last sentence? ALTERNATIVE. WEEKLY. The Boston Phoenix is NOT the Improper Bostonian [aka the glossy which boasts quips on cavity-inducing $15 cocktails and socialite photo spreads to keep the beacon hill set happy] and it's NOT the Boston Herald [aka the daily owned by Rupert Murdoch known for its blue collar/conservative slant.] it's picked up, predominantly, by readers in cambridge, somerville, allston, jamaica plain and charlestown, which host some of the most well-known [and liberal] academic institutions in the metro-Boston area as well as the most creative and innovative nightlife/restaurants/venues/museums/etc etc. i think it's incredibly short-sighted of maclaughlin, and the lifestyles editor at the phoenix who allowed this to even hit the web, to make sarcastic [and, um, entirely unoriginal] cracks at THE PAPER'S KEY DEMOGRAPHIC. Boston Phoenix, these "arrogant, competitive, and highly self-centered" men of cambridge/"members of the famed creative class" of JP who are most likely to be seen at the cemetery [wtf?]/"(aspiring) rock stars" of allston are THE ONES PICKING UP YOUR PAPERS. the yah brahs/frat boys/finance dudes of downtown/beacon hill/kenmore are hardly the gentlemen who'll be picking up the latest issue by the T on a wednesday morning. in fact, it's these assholes who are most likely to use your classified pages to wipe puke off their face after a particularly rowdy night at the liquor store/on lansdowne street. i think that this article had the potential to poke fun and crack jokes in a good-natured way: i mean, come on, we're all capable of making fun of our idiosyncracies as bostonians and we're all very aware of how we tend to distinguish ourselves by neighborhood. with that said, maclaughlin's angle on this puff piece was poorly written [line edits, anyone?] and dripping with disdain from someone clearly suffering from a case of hipster/harvard envy.

2) at the risk of sounding repetitive, this piece was COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY UNORIGINAL. oh my god! hipsters in allston with ...tattoos?! girls wearing lily pulitzer in back bay?! backwards red sox hats in... WAIT DON'T TELL ME... kenmore square?! OHMYGAHDTHATISSOHILARIOUS. you write for The Boston Phoenix. i'm sure you had ample time to pitch an idea and see it through to fruition. that should've given you PUH-LENTY of time to think of a new spin to put on this idea. also: ashmont. dorchester. SOMERVILLE. even southie [which tends to host these frat boys who're just like "the pals of your best friend's older bro."]. how about you do your research, learn how to use the subway beyond the red and green line, and get to know the city you're covering? if you're going to write off half your audience, you may as well include the neighborhoods where yes, the Phoenix is distributed and where you can find exceptions to every single "type" you defined in your piece. maybe it'll even give your story a little color and keep it from looking like the half-assed column of some Carrie Bradshaw wannabe majoring in Communications at BU.

aaaaand i'm spent. rant done. editorial staff of the boston phoenix: i expect more from you as the supposed authorities on arts & entertainment coverage in my fair city, and i never thought an alternative weekly would be so snottily exclusive. and, frankly, a little more uneducated about the city in which it resides than it should be.

in other news, teaparty boston? yeah, we won't tell you who to date based on what neighborhood you're scouring for boyfriends in, but we WILL tell you how arts & entertainment actually is in Boston and with direct quotes from the people who are making exciting things happen here. we won't be poking fun at them. OR their tattoos.

my avett brothers fangirldom knows no bounds.

seriously, guys. i'm obsessed. since folk festival 50 i can't stop listening to the second gleam and emotionalism by the avett brothers. also, JOHN HUGHES DIED?! :( anyone down for a breakfast club/pretty in pink/sixteen candles/st elmo's fire/ferris bueller/home alone marathon this weekend? preferably sunday?

anyways. here's an adorable video of the avett brothers all up in the back of their tour bus playing my favorite song of theirs, "will you return". enjoy :D

my morning was weird.

well, i guess it's still going on so "is" weird would be more appropriate, but whatever.

a little update: i am exhausted. i drove up to lake george on thursday afternoon, it took me five hours to get there because i got craaaazy lost, and then i doubled back and drove home in less than 24 hours. made it back to cambridge, picked up jessie, we drove down to rhode island in a torrential downpour and made it to newport in decent time. we got up at 7:30 on saturday and sunday mornings and worked for pretty much 12 straight hours at the newport folk festival [which was an incredible, incredible experience that i'll put into words later] and then we drove back home sunday night and got back here around 9:30. last night, we met up with the love language over at the middle east for their sold out show (!!!) with cursive and i didn't even make it to cursive's set. the love language were amazing, as usual. what a great group of people, too.

anyways, my tuesday night is going to consist of watching "the life aquatic with steve zissou" in bed with a salad [who am i kidding i'll probably order shalimar] and my laptop and i will start plowing through the first half of the newport folk fest transcripts. before i start work for the day, though, i wanted to share with all of you the two notable sights i spotted this morning while walking to work.
first off: shepard fairey. fairey got a slap on the wrist for various installations he's done in the city since his exhibit opened at the ICA and he's supposed to notify BPD of when he'll be in town AND he's not allowed to have "tagging materials - such as stickers or paste" on him when he does come to Boston. so, yeah, imagine my [pleasant] surprise when i woke up, showered, ran out my front door and literally walked into this in the parking lot behind my building:


i like shepard fairey, i'll admit it. i like his style, his collages and the murals he's done. maybe he's a douchebag in real life, maybe not, but i dig his work. i'm just bummed that i missed him painting it, that would've been sick.

secondly: after getting off the train this morning at my office, i walked through the parking lot by the commuter rail station and passed this:


please note the "please do not leave anything outside of the box" memo written across the front of the box. 987213987198273 happy meal toys? for the american red cross? really? what the hell? i literally stopped and stared at this pile of technicolor plastic for ten whole minutes before shuffling off to my cubicle shaking my head the whole way.

haha seriously. and all of this happened before 8:30 am. wow.

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.

no words, except for "thank you."

thank you.

something cheery to brighten your rainy tuesday [edit: wednesday. fail.]

this unrelenting rainy nastiness has GOT TO QUIT. this week has been AWFUL so far [edit: i'm over it, the whole thing. no need to spread the negativity.]

so to make myself feel better and to hopefully spread some joy this morning:
i give you baby kevin in a clown suit.

it toootally worked and made you laugh at your desk, didn't it.

thanks/sorry kev. and plz find those yellow chucks in your size [now.]

in other news: the band formerly known as "baker" is wonderful and TPB had the privilege of catching up with them at shay's last night, so good. the somerville jazz and blues festival is tomorrow at the armory and you should totally go. saturday is going to be FANTASTIC as TPB will be downstairs at the middle east covering taxpayer, thick as thieves, the good north, the information and barnicle. and sunday is lake street dive.

c'mon, wednesday. just make it 5:15 so i can catch my train home, go to dali or punjabi dhaba with preston for a long anticipated lady date, and then passsss out so that thursday can be here already. i heard a rumor that the sun is supposed to come out tomorrow. i'll believe it when i see it.

because i'm totally vain:

ok so these are the unedited shots of lara callahan. but i lurve them. and i think these are the only photos that actually capture ME that i've seen in awhile. elci, i love you girl! also: the photos of jessie and gab are miiiindblowingly gorgeous.

in other news: life? thanks for letting me know today that i dodged a HUUUUUUUUUGE bullet. i refuse to surrender my grocery store. (jessie gets it.) jessie, you're really great.

photos: the girls of teaparty boston.

hey friends. we're still working out the kinks over at teaparty boston (and it's taking a lot longer than we'd like belieeeeve me), but we had our very first photo shoot and got to pretend to be models for an evening. here are my favorite shots of gab, jessie and myself. we really can't thank lara callahan enough for making us feel like goddesses and working a camera better than anyone i've ever met. so, lara, we love you! [also, do yourself a favor and check out her site. it's bangin'.]







we're launching this week. i PROMISE I PROMISE I PROMISE. in other news: boston, cut the shit with this rain. i'm not kidding anymore. it's the last week of june. give me some sunshine. love, hil.

stulle-berlin wallets: definitely worth the international shipping fee.

almost exactly two years ago, los and i were finishing up eurodyssey, the two week trek we took from istanbul to amsterdam after our semester in spain came to a close. we started in istanbul, then moved onto the greek islands for a few days, then hopped on a plane to amsterdam and spent the last leg of the trip in berlin, one of my absolute favorite cities in the whole wide world. my friend konstantin, who i had met in my latin american econ class in granada, is a berliner and he oh so generously offered to play tourguide to los and i during our stay in germany's capital.

konstantin was the best possible friend we could've hoped for in berlin: he knew the city like the back of his hand and made it his personal mission to make sure that we saw all tourist attractions and all local underground spots in every neighborhood in our 3 full days there, which is no easy feat seeing as berlin is MASSIVE. knowing that we're fiends for anything shiny or pretty or beautiful and creative, konstantin took us to Hackescher Markt in West Berlin near Alexanderplatz to mosey through the community of boutiques, galleries and show rooms. i've been shopping in paris, buenos aires, rome, tokyo, all MAJOR fashion capitals of the world, and i haven't seen ANYTHING like the shops of berlin: Each store was literally a design studio where the decor was just as eye-catching as the goods and garb on display. when i say we spent HOURS leafing through hand-pressed comic books and trying on dresses that were silk-screened by the designer who happened to be working the register too i'm not exaggerating. los and i were totally enthralled with the hackescher markt, not gonna lie.

anyways, the point of all this "ICH LIEBE DICH BERLIN" business is to talk about stulle-berlin. my big purchase when we were there was a wallet that i found in this tiny, airy studio in the district that was essentially chock full o' gorgeous billfolds and bags and belts. the 45 EUR pricetag slightly deterred me at first, but nothing was going to stop me from getting that wallet. i had been using some shoddy urban outfitters canvas wallet that was entirely too big, and it was falling apart anyway... so yeah. long story short, i sucked it up and bought this beautiful baby:

two years later and we're still so happy together.

i think it may be love.

but ANYWAYS! i've been meaning to look up stulle for ages just in case, god forbid, my wallet happens to disappear or wind up, gasp, stolen. bored on the train home yesterday, i googled it on my blackberry and found, to my delight, that YES! stulle has a website. [i don't know why i assumed they wouldn't; at the time they seemed like a small operation, but now stulle wallets are being sold in the giftshop at the MoMA and it seems to be the only place where you can purchase them in the states.] i'm browsing through it this morning as i'm sitting here waiting for los to pick me up for our breakfast date [ohhh biscuit, i miss frequenting you on a daily basis!], and i'm dangerously close to picking up a new one. favorites from the site that i've seen so far:

i'm stoked that they now have leather ones instead of vinyl/imitation leather, so that may be my default wallet. i can't bring myself to throw away my blue beauty just yet, but i think it may be time for a replacement soon enough. i'm definitely eyeing the leather one. thoughts?

in other news: McAlister Drive is playing at precinct tonight and jessie and i will definitely be in attendance. if you want to see me [maybe!] sing with peter loring and the good time band around 10, or if you want to see jessie shaking a tambourine like a maniac with christoph and the boys, come by precinct around 10. dance dance pahtee timez for EVERYONE!

The TeaParty Boston Blog is UP!

HEY GUYS! OUR BLOG IS UP!

[just a heads up: this is in no way indicative of what the site will look like a week from now. it's taken longer than we'd like to put the final touches on our beta version and we don't feel comfortable launching TPB until everything is just the way we want it. as a compromise, we started contributing to our blog in hopes of getting people out to the shows and events we're covering over the next couple of weeks. as soon as teaparty boston is up and running expect a very, very big ol' YAY from me and many links so that you can go and check it out asap.]