Not to sound like a cheerleader, but every show I saw last week at our 11th Annual Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards showcase downtown was pretty packed and sounded great.
What gave me the warmest, fuzziest feeling, though, wasn’t the number of compilation CD’s we sold for our charity sponsor, SafeHaven of Tarrant County – about 400, peddled at five bucks a pop, totaling about $2,000 for the shelter for abused and battered women and children. (Via the sale of our annual compilation CD’s over the past three years alone, we’ve raised more than $10,000 for the group.)
Nor was it the sheer amount of people who spent their Sunday afternoon and evening with us – about 5,000 came and went throughout the day, packing all five of our host venues: 8.0 Bar and Café, Bent Lounge, the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium, Paddy Red’s Irish Pub, and Scat Jazz Lounge. No, the warmest, fuzziest feelings that welled up in my breast had to do with the cross-pollinations I witnessed, like old timers and their kids taking in young stoner-rockish bands, and hirsute metal-heads at female acoustic singer-songwriters’ sets, and indie-rockers checking out Texas Music acts. At least five people came up to me -enough for a quorum – and said something to the effect of, “Man, I’ve never heard of this band – they’re awesome,” which was truly heart-warming though, y’know, not that good for me.
“Well,” I wanted to say, “If you’d actually read our paper once in a blue moon, you’d probably already be a fan – we’ve written about them ad nauseum, to the point that some readers have griped about it.” Also, the number of ballots that have piled into the Weekly offices has been ridiculous. Our child-laborers – uh, I mean “interns” – and webperson have been slaving away around the clock, trying to tabulate every last vote in time to have trophies made for the winners, who will be announced at a nominees-only party about two Sundays from now and in the paper the following week.
Thanks to all the bands that played: The Burning Hotels, Tame … Tame and Quiet, Pablo and the Hemphill 7, Stella Rose, April Geesbreght, KatsüK, Whiskey Folk Ramblers, Collin Herring, Titanmoon, Stumptone, Black Tie Dynasty, Maren Morris, Rivercrest Yacht Club, Panther City Bandits, Stephen Pointer, Jefferson Colby, Josh Weathers Band, Pretty Baby, Elizabeth Wills, Goodwin, PrinceRodriguez, Blackland River Devils, Merkin, JZ & Dirty Pool, The Campaign, The Great Tyrant, Telegraph Canyon, the cut*off, and Lifters.
Thanks also to everyone at the Weekly who pitched in, the handful of local media outlets (out of, like, 900?) that had the good sense to recognize and help us promote what is easily the biggest and best 817 show of the year, and, of course, the sponsors, host venues, and fans. Perhaps the best compliment I got was the next day, when a buddy of mine sent me an e-mail saying, “Music Awards is evil.” He didn’t mean that we’re up to the devil’s work over here but that the party itself and assorted after-parties -and there are many – always lead to major hangovers. Mission accomplished. See you all next year.
Contact HearSay at hearsay@fwweekly.com.
