The news is undoubtedly heartwarming, and, in addition to the fact that Hurricane Katrina victims will benefit from the sale of an event comp c.d., HearSay’s list of Stuff To Do This Weekend When Not Pleasure Crafting will include coughing up the 10 bucks to hang in Deep Ellum. But (there’s always a “but,” isn’t there?) here are a couple-a things to keep in mind: First, there are about a zillion bands on the bill, and a few of ’em aren’t even from North Texas – so unless the event organizers wanted to piss me off and SAY ‘ALLO TO MY LIL’ FRIEN’!!! (a.k.a. my angry letter-writing pen), then, heck yes, they’re lucky they let a few 817-based bands make the cut. Second, “Hey, North Texas New Music Festival! SXSW called! They want their mobs of non-showerin’, smart-ass indie-rock pricks back!” Seriously, isn’t one weekend-long festival that has more to do with getting hammered, eating horrifying pizza, and knockin’ boots than with the “signing” of burgeoning bands enough? The New Music Festival’s web site boasts that, in the past, talent scouts from major labels, such as Interscope, Island/Def Jam, and Warner Bros., have made the scene – BFD. What New Music Fest event organizers (and SXSW’s, incidentally) should be braggin’ on is how many bands have played the festival and consequently been “signed.” However, in the event’s defense, I’d spin the info. Instead of “signed” these days, you could just as easily say “became toothless indentured servants.” Visit www.newmusicfestival.com.
… Just FYI: Speaking of the City That Never Bathes, HearSay was pleased to learn that Austin-and-NYC-based emo darlings nonpareil American Analog Set recorded their latest full-length, the achingly beautiful Set Free, at 9 Legend (né Legend House) – in Funkytown – actually marking the first time that internationally acclaimed musicians from the Capitol visited Fort Worth without a gun to their heads. (Just kidding: AmAnSet made a record here before, but the band’s never been as well-known as it is today.)
… Like Mama always said: Flattery will get you everywhere. Case in point: Grand Unifying Theory. After my boss, Associate Editor Anthony Mariani, wrote a really dynamic (read: bor-ing!) first-person story about his technological inadequacies, the GUT guys e-mailed him to say that a.) they felt his pain, b.) he’s pretty much the most kick-ass, handsomest, most likable, handsomest, most brilliant journalist around (um, whatever, dudes!), and c.) he needs to listen to GUT’s music. Well, even though I know he hasn’t listened to a single GUT tune, I have, and I can say that they’re somewhere between Weezer and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Check ’em out this Sat., at the Inferno, 125 Ave. A, in Denton, with Ben Zephyr and Radio King. Call 940-395-2629.
… Tonight (Wed.) is a Katrina benefit at the Wreck Room (3208 W. 7th St., in Cowtown; 817-348-8303), featuring Peach Truck Republic, Stephen Pointer, and Exit 380. The cover is just one dirty Hamilton.
Contact HearSay at hearsay@fwweekly.com.
