Sunday, February 13, 2011 Generations of Headbangers

Last night we went down to Rack n Roll to catch ourselves some Arcane Malevolence and The Midnightmares. I also met one of the guys in The Black Noise Scam, a punk band from the New Haven area that left a great first impression on the Stamford scene. And I knew a couple of guys from Sonic Supercharger 66 from "back in the day" which is my catch all term for times not recent. One of the guys I'd gone to high school with, which is 21 years ago. Zygotes have grown to drinking age in that amount of time.

This photo is of me (21+ years ago) singing in my high school band. Riplash (or Ripplash, depending who's typing) was the coolest high school band ever. As you can see we were wind instrument free. We traded reeds for guitar picks and marching for rocking. Stage band is what they called it, and we loved every minute of it. Some of our members were also actual local rock stars. They played in bands called The Entombed, Under Siege and Atrocity - Stamford at the time had a pretty active music scene. Bands called Open Fire and Liege Lord and Impact. I wish I could remember them all.

I'd tried to be in a few bands - Psycho Bitches From Hell was the name of one band that never got off the ground - so Riplash was my only outlet to rock stardom. My teacher, who was a real life rock star having played with Menudo, was kind enough to let me sing with him at a local bar called Diamond Jim's. He was there playing drums in a band called Sister Sun, but on the break he'd pick up the guitar and we'd do "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" and I was a rock star... for a moment.

Anyway, why am I going off on this...

Last night I had the pleasure of formally meeting Pink Missile front man Danny Acedo. O. M. G. Talk about a force of nature. It was like a "celebrity sighting" moment except we were sighting each other. And, yes, we are both celebrities ;)

Overflowing with intoxicating (and possibly intoxicated) exuberance he greeted me and I returned the mutual love fest. The whole exchange reaffirming to me that I am doing the right thing and that I'm on the right path with my Headbanging Hostessing. He credited me with getting him a radio interview, I'll take the credit but I have no idea who this radio person is. LOL. I look forward to the interview where Danny will (as he demonstrated many increasingly more humorous times) talk about the local scene, talk about the bands (No Remission, Burn the Bodies, Arcane Malevolence, some band called Pink Missile) talk about The Headbanging Hostess and then he will boldly announce... I can't spoil it for you. Tune into Amish Mike to find out. I hope that's the right link. Like I said, I don't know the guy. Yet.

And, wrapping this up in a generational bow, turns out I knew Danny's brother "back in the day" because he was in Atrocity with someone who was in Riplash with me. And I was in a show with Michael Gross who was in Tremors with...Kevin Bacon.

See how we're all related?

And furthermore, the most recent band to agree to let me use their music in my videos is In It For Storms. And their guitar player's dad was my high school music teacher.

Rock on! \m/

-HH

Stay tuned for info on upcoming shows at the Rocker Room, which was called Streets "back in the day."

Tuesday, February 8, 2011 Taking Time Off From Entertaining

As successful as it was, last weeks dinner was a bitch to pull off. Two weeks in a row we tried to do BYO Breakfast Night! But with the snow flakes and my flaky friends it took two attempts to pull it off. And I just managed to scrape up enough guests at the last possible moment.

It's happened before. Corn Flake Night was only attended by my husband and I. And Blueberry Night I remember anxiously waiting by the porch door looking for guests to enjoy the 7 courses I'd made. I actually sent my husband out to pick some people up!

In the heat of summer it was hard to get people here, I'm guessing the dead of winter is having the same effect.

So I'll take a little time off and pursue some new bands, new recipes and whateverthehellelse I want. I hope everyone is enjoying the new music from Pink Missile and The Backwater Racket, I know I am! There are still a few songs on the Arcane Malevolence CD that I have yet to rape and plunder. And I'm looking forward to meeting Jacobi Wichita in the near future. Plus The Midnightmares are in the studio and Burn the Bodies will be in the studio in the next few months!

And No Remission will be at B.B. Kings in New York City in May!

And Saturday I'm going to see The Midnightmares and Arcane Malevolence at Rack n Roll! Which brings us back to the picture at the top!

Rock on and stay tuned! \m/

-HH

Monday, October 4, 2010 Kick-Ass Cooking, Kick-Ass Music and Kick-Ass Manners

That's what it's all about.

Cooking, obviously, is what started all this bloggingness. I've become a damn good cook over the last 9 months. I've made 24 videos since this all started. Some with awesome dinner party ideas, some with recipes for two and some just for fun. And, not only have I acquired over 300 Facebook fans, I've inspired two time dinner guest Jeff to start his own supper club. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what it's all about.

I can't, of course, leave out the music. I am forever thankful to Facebook for introducing me to the fabulosity that is Arcane Malevolence. Even better than their music is the fact that they're just a bunch of awesome guys, with even cooler girlfriends. And through them I met No Remission and Burn the Bodies (one of them is a cool girlfriend, there's some overlap here) and now I'm looking forward to another night of bands for dinner with The Midnightmares and, of course, Arcane Malevolence.

And now, to the manners. I've blogged about them before - but I think I've barely scratched the surface. There's a lot of mining to be done in the deep, dark caverns of modern "humanity." There I go with those quotes again. I insert them because I don't think we're very humane to each other most of the time. And that is most unheadbanging, to me.

So, that is what it is all about.

Bang on, my peeps!

-HH

Monday, September 6, 2010 Pretzel Night!

Thursday, September 2, 2010 Preparing for Pretzel Night!

This Saturday is the Arcane Malevolence CD Release Party at Seaside Tavern for their new album "Wicked Turn of the Vine."

Through a very complicated series of bookings, non-bookings, confusion and cancellations it turns out I'm making dinner for three bands, a girlfriend or two, a fraternity brother and the world's coolest Dad.

All of the bands on the bill will be in attendance. I REALLY don't know where everyone will sit. But the girlfriends can sit on laps and, thankfully, it'll be a nice balmy 73 degrees. My house won't feel so much like an oven and the porch will be inhabitable, so we should all have elbow room enough to eat our Pretzel Bread sandwiches.

Oh, yes. You read that right. I saw Pretzel Bread at Stew Leonards and it set off a culinary chain reaction in my head. So the menu is...

Fresh Mozzarella, Tomato, Basil and Prosciutto Pretzel Bread Wedge

Cheesesteaks on Pretzel Bread

and for Dessert...

Cakeballs on Pretzel Sticks finished with Black and Red Pepper!

DAYUM!

Is it Saturday yet?

Tonight I'm doing a test run of the Cheesesteaks. I'm gonna try to do it in the Crockpot! I'll let you know the results!

Bang on, my peeps!!!

-HH

Sunday, August 15, 2010 Why Local Music?

Last night The Headbanging Hostess found herself at a charming dive in Danbury, CT called Cousin Larry's. It was a benefit for the Chowda House - and to be honest I still have no idea what that's about because I didn't see any chowda.

Anyhoo.

The reason we were there, of course, was to see Arcane Malevolence. We had spent the afternoon with them, out boating with friends. It wasn't as elitist as it sounds, my dear. And then we all enjoyed a feast prepared by our hosts. We ate ourselves into comas and then the band had to go get ready to play. Ha ha :)

Anyhoo.

They were fucking awesome. Love the music, fantastic stage presence, they really put on a great show. I really didn't believe I'd just eaten dinner with them! And one of the other bands, No Remission, was also fucking incredible. They gave everything to their performance and the audience loved it - they forced an encore! The best part? They're good friends of Arcane Malevolence and I've already extended an invitation to dinner.

So why is this so important to me, getting local bands? What does that have to do with food?

Well, with so much attention being paid to eating locally and organically, why not apply the same logic to music?

I bet you can think of 20 modern day "recording artists" whose sound is the antithesis of organic. Even accomplished singers find it necessary to use auto-tune in order to appeal to the masses. (I'm talking to you Jennifer Nettles, I still love ya though!)

Local music is organic - it hasn't been fucked with by producers and labels and fouled by the pursuit of iTune downloads. It is pure, unadulterated, unhomogenized, raw and Bovine Growth Hormone free.

And just as it is important to support local farmers and restaurants it is important to support local bands and the venues that give them a place to play. A place for us all to get together and celebrate the joy of music. And I'm sorry if that sounds corny but fuck you. Coming together for a meal, coming together for a show, the important part is that we're coming together because so much in this world is constantly tearing us apart.

No man is an island. Not even Trent Reznor.

So The Headbanging Hostess pledges to support local music as much as she supports local farmers. Will you?

Bang on, my peeps!

-HH