Hell, even
the scenesters seemed like good people. Some are a bit
too proud of their roles, true, but certainly not all of them. Most seemed a mixed bag of nervousness, uncertainty and eagerness. And the problems they gabbed about in their scene weren't all that unique to this city. Actually, listening to their diatribes about
an abundance of local talent,
a lack of a consistent audience and
a dearth of proper media coverage, well...it kinda reminded me of the dismay of Colorado Springs scenesters. That had me smiling—not because it squelched any homesickness I may have had—but because
it reeked of naïveté. As in: Maybe those of you who are too immersed in this local music scene don't know just how good you've got it here. Sure, there aren't huge lines and crowds at every single deserving show held around the area on a given night, but when and where is there ever? Besides, it's not like a number of the shows I saw in my whirlwind opening weeks tour weren't
shoulder-to-shoulder packed.
Which brings us (oh yeah...) to the music itself. Some of the live performers I caught in my Dallas early-goings were really fucking good: indie rockers
Ella Minnow, grindcore duo
the Akkolytes, Centro-matic frontman
Will Johnson, Pleasant Grove frontman
Marcus Striplin and the guys who spin at The Cavern's
Cool Out Mondays. Some were really fucking weird:
Loop 12 and
The Great Tyrant, upon first sight/listen weren't the surefire hits I was promised. And some were really fucking sleep-inducing (really!):
Victory March's instrumental rock sound wasn't exciting enough to keep a member of
Here in Arms from falling asleep on a couch in the back of The Cavern when the two acts shared a bill there.
So what does this all mean? Hell if I know. But I'm pretty stoked to continue trying to finding out. And I'm pretty excited about the fact that I'll no longer have to use MySpace as my main means of doing so. Because, really, I have too many e-prostitutes in my top friends as it is.
Oh, and in case you were wondering: Local Act A is absolutely amazing. Transcendent, even. They're pretty much the greatest thing to ever come out of Dallas. They'll definitely get signed by a major (even though they repeatedly say they don't want that), and they'll definitely be on the next Zach Braff movie soundtrack, which will inevitably turn them into overnight national media darlings. It will be epic.
Ha! I was kidding...
They totally suck!