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The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History has started a cool-seeming new off-site program for barstool philosophers. PUBlic Knowledge will be a monthly gathering “celebrating brains and brew,” according to the museum, at pre-determined local watering holes. For the inaugural event –– Tue., Jan. 4, 2011, at 7 p.m. at Brownstone Restaurant (840 Currie St.) –– Dallas Morning News pop and rock critic Thor Christensen will discuss the worldwide influence of musicians from North Texas, focusing on the “influence [that] musicians from Fort Worth, Texas” –– as opposed to “Fort Worth, Ohio,” I guess –– “have made on the music scene.” Couple of problems. First, Christensen is from Dallas. Secondly, his main job is writing about national acts, not local talent of either the underground or mainstream varieties. (The words “Justin Beiber” have actually appeared in the DMN –– and DFW.com, for you folks keeping score at home –– and not in a sarcastic way. You have my word that unless we’re talking about the mind-boggling lameness that is associated with those two evil words, you will never see them in the Weekly.) Third, since Christensen’s a Dallasite, the museum should forgive us yokels for expecting his knowledge of Fort Worth music to begin and end with The Toadies. Lastly, what about jazz? Ever heard of a little ol’ F-Dub dude named Ornette Coleman? Pret-ty influential, that guy. Anyway, of course I’m more than a little perturbed that a Fort Worth museum had to look to Dallas for information on Fort Worth music –– when I’ve been writing about Fort Worth and Fort Worth-only music for the past seven years and have an office right down the street. Pfft.

 

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6 COMMENTS

  1. This is total crap! If they knew anything, they would have Weekly writers there! This just doesn’t make sense. What an insult to FW Music.

  2. I love how Dallas folks are now so interested in Fort Worth’s Music scene. Someone may want to send that guy directions as I bet he will be “stuck in traffic”. BS and bad form.

  3. Enough is enough…

    There’s a serious double standard here.

    All I see is complaining about how Fort Worth music doesn’t get enough credit from outside publications, specifically the Dallas Observer…

    How can you complain about others not reporting on Fort Worth bands, when you make it a point to keep what you write about 100% Fort Worth. It makes zero sense.

    Keep your trap shut, you’re doing more damage than good for our local artists. Why not spread the love a little more and maybe the favor will be returned…

  4. First of all, my job isn’t to be a cheerleader for local artists — I can’t be concerned with whether they’re thriving or not. My job is to present readers with good, interesting stories, and over the course of several years, I’ve learned that our readers want to read about the artists in our backyard — not the artists in the backyards 30 miles to the east. If we had more room in the paper, maybe I could see featuring Dallas or Denton bands. But since we don’t, and since there’s a seemingly limitless supply of quality 817 bands, our focus will remain 100-percent 817 local. The Observer doesn’t have any space constraints and can stretch into Fort Worth. All HearSay is saying in his column today is that if you’re going to include Fort Worth in your coverage, then, well, include Fort Worth in your coverage. Don’t shortchange the entire city. No double standard.

  5. The Observer is not distributed in Fort Worth, yet they continue to throw FW bands a bone every now and then, at least the ones that make the effort to play in Dallas.

    I’m sure FW Weekly readers would be interested in Dallas or Denton artists who are making good music, just like Observer readers have supported FW bands like Telegraph Canyon, etc…

    I just think it’s a little absurd to complain about the lack of FW artists in the Observer. It is the DALLAS Observer, naturally they are going to spotlight more Dallas bands than FW. And Denton has always had more bands in the little D than FW does. Even if you included Dallas and Denton artists in your coverage, it would still be 80-90% FW bands talked about. To me, the Observer is right on with how much they include FW.

    I still don’t understand how you complain about this. If anything, they should be complaining about how you slam anything that isn’t FW.

    Can’t we all just get along?

  6. Well, I’m pretty sure you can pick up an Observer in parts of Arlington and East Fort Worth (and even Downtown, I think), whereas the Weekly doesn’t circulate at all in Big D. And like I said, if we had more room in the paper, I could probably see mentioning the occasional Dallas or Denton artist. Alas, space is at a premium at the Weekly, and there’s a seemingly limitless number of 817 artists to write about. As for HearSay’s complaint about the lack of Dallas coverage, c’mon. He’s just looking for something to bitch about, and in this week’s column, the one about the Observer, he goes out of his way to indicate that he’s being as ridiculous as you think he is. He was just looking for an excuse to talk about some of his favorite 817 songs of the year. If you really want something to debate, call him out on his choices.

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