Cicadas mating: if you only get laid once every seventeen years, you gotta make it count! Photo by L. Elliott.
From the Peabody Museum, via The Mercurial
An extraordinary natural phenomenon is about to take place. This year the 17-year cicada will emerge from colonies in undisturbed forested regions in south-central Connecticut. Expect to see and hear these fascinating creatures starting at the end of May and throughout the month of June. Read more »
By Fugawi
Originally published in The Mercurial.
I made a decision to go to Salton Sea in the middle of July last summer. Located 110 miles northeast of San Diego, California and 70 miles north of Mexicali, Mexico, Salton Sea is way out in the Sonoran Desert, 226 feet below sea level, where the average daily temperature is upwards of 110 degrees. The decision was made to go in summer because it was pretty much the only time my best friend could fly down to Los Angeles to meet me for a week of adventure in the deserts of Southern California. Thankfully the best friend has a keen sense of adventure. We both had some reservations about the heat, and “the smell” – Salton Sea has a fish die-off that sometimes runs to 12,000-plus a day! The stench in the summer can be much less than pleasant. What could be so special about this place that it can drag me out into such ugly weather, even if it is a “dry heat,” you ask? Read more »
Steve Rodgers outside his newest venue in Hamden, Connecticut. Photo by Marilyn Catasus.
By Laurie Lawless
Originally published in The Mercurial.
Moving away from making music to providing an outlet for it was a crucial turning point in Steve Rodgers’s life. It was 2003 when he decided to open The Space, an all ages concert venue, in an old, beat down 1960s industrial park in Hamden, Connecticut. Now, almost a decade later, The Spaceland Ballroom is set to open this Friday – Rodger’s third music venue in the same industrial park. Read more »
By Christopher Baldwin and Carrie Johnson
On a Saturday afternoon, Carrie, Jim Clegg of Pink Missile fame and myself decided to take a little day trip up to Cheshire, CT to visit the Barker Character, Comic and Cartoon Museum. We didn’t really know what to expect, riding on a recommendation from a couple of friends of ours who said the place was worth the trip. After working around Jim Clegg’s world-domination schedule (which I might add usually keeps him thoroughly detained), we set up the date and off we went on a surprisingly enjoyable non-alcoholic adventure. Some red Gatorade, anyone?
First things first, we all met up at Seaside Tavern for some tasty sliders. You can read more about the food at Seaside here. After gorging ourselves at the capacity and speed of Hungry, Hungry Hippos, we piled somewhat uncomfortably into my truck and took off for the highway. Read more »
By Dan and Kristien Del Ferarro of OmNomCT
Part of the excitement of checking out Sunday’s big game (we are under obligation by the mega-monopolies that rule this world not to say what we’re actually talking about but to hint at what we’re talking about, even though you all know what we’re talking about, though of course we could ask permission, but we’d probably be denied use of the name) is the excitement, the adrenaline rush, and eating and drinking whatever the hell you want. Yeah, there are no limits at all on the biggest game day of the year. So, we’ve put together a check list of things to do on February 3, 2013. Read more »
Photo courtesy of The Mercurial
By Janet Serra
Originally published in The Mercurial.
A wondrous world made of over 500,000 tiny Lego blocks promises one of the season’s most delightful holiday treats when ‘All Aboard with Bill Probert and Friends’ fills the Leonhardt Gallery at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center in Connecticut, now through January 27, 2013. Whizzing trains, soccer fields, airports, elevated highways and spinning wind turbines, country farms, and city gardens will be among the amazing parts of this third edition of the big and busy 365-square-foot trainscape. Read more »
We'll take some wings with those keyboards... Lyra performing at Seaside Tavern on 9/8.
One thing Stamford musicians never have to worry about is finding a place to play – or getting some good grub before the gig. Last month, you read about Fiddler’s Green; this month, we’re featuring another staple of Stamford’s music scene, Seaside Tavern. (Not that Alternative Control is biased or anything… *cough*)
This Cove Road bar has a long history. Known as Jimmy’s Seaside for twenty-four years, it changed hands and names in 2007. There are three separate sections, so patrons can watch the bands in the back, play pool in the side room, or escape to the front for a quieter meal. Seaside is known for its great selection of bar food: according to local bassist Johnny Pluckman, it has “more types of sliders than I’ve ever seen anywhere, more wing sauces than Buffalo Wild Wings, great specials, a great filet…” His Lyra bandmates agree that the food is great – vocalist Ryan Bair describes Seaside’s chicken cordon bleu bites as, “the bomb, yo” and guitarist Mike Devaney says they have the best wings in Stamford. Read more »
