Newport Folk Fest 2011! BAM!

Thanks to miss HikerinHeels, we ventured to the Newport Folk Fest 2011 lineup announcement party. It was at the Middlesex and sponsored by Magic Hat and Bacardi. A delicious treat! But, but, but! The best part was obviously the line-up. I went last summer without expectations and it blew the rest of my (relatively awesome) summer events out of the water. The line-up was incredible, the venue unbeatable. We didn't see a bad act the entire time we were there.

And this year looks just as good. An incredible line-up featuring some big names, some smaller ones and some favorites. Two bands played last night, Brown Bird (they were great!) and the David Wax Museum, whom we saw last year and features a kick-ass jaw bone player (not a joke). Spoiler alert: both bands are playing this summer.

Do you want to see the whole lineup AND my smiling face? Check out this video I was a part of. It was a super fun concept and I was pumped to be a part of it.

Newport Folk Festival Lineup Announcement (official) from Kitchen Sessions on Vimeo.

Is Bigger Better?

Well, yes. For certain things, like paychecks and karat size, obviously. But for the rest of my life, if the options come in large or cozy, I'll often opt for cozy. Just about the way to make anything cuter is by making it pint-sized. 

This has been a summer of concerts. We've traveled to enormous festivals complete with tailgating and intimate venues with probably only 200 or so people. And decidedly, the smaller, the better. I'm over concerts at arenas, period. I wouldn't deny that's the goal for many recording artists, but as a consumer, it is not a good way to absorb the experience. It becomes all popcorn and drunks rather than emotions and adrenaline.

This is Gilette Stadium.

This is what a concert looks like at Gilette.

This is the Newport Blues Cafe.  And what it's like to see Stephen Kellogg and the 6kers there. 

So, in conclusion, I'll choose small in the future and leave the arenas to the kids. Because now that I am 25, I'm just a bit wiser.

Country Music Weekend 1: TSwizzle at Gilette

On Saturday, my rather adult friends and I joined New England tweens to indulge in a little highschool-Barbieworld-meets-Beiber-fever.

Unexpectedly, the 16-year-old 'heartthrob' crashed my Taylor Swift concert and sent the hearts of 55,000 teenage girls (and their poor, unlucky parents) into overdrive. But not a single resident of 63 Berkeley was too pleased about his appearance. Please see Rachel trying to get into it and Arestia, simply, not:


I did capture a picture of the Beib if you are so inclined.

I must say: It was pretty heartwarming to see all these little girls swooning over this other tween. Heaven help the kid when he gets his first zit. It must have been like seeing the New Kids in '89.

Taylor put on a good show but I was underwhelmed with her performance. (Who am I to judge, right? Yea, but who cares.) It was the last night of her 15 month Fearless tour, so obviously girlfriend is tired. But, at this point, she knows the drill. We are very excited and paid LOTS of money (PLUS Gilette Stadium parking, bastards) to be here. She faked some tears which was unbearably cheesy and she has perfected a vacant deer in headlights look followed by a hair toss that made highschool cheerleading coaches across the stadium clap in ecstasy. Despite my complaints, we had a good time thanks to the majority of a container of box wine [which we shared with an actual mom] and a moderately good outdoor concert.

Good seats, no? Actually we had nosebleeds so we hung out in this standing room only corner all night.

Do you see all those men...in one row!?!

This little munchkin brought her Barbie. It was an elusive thing to capture on film!