Before we all go running blindly into 2012, I'd like to leave you with a few odds and ends that didn't fit into a year-end list, or that I plain forgot, or that I hope will happen in the new year.
Loving:Violitionist Sessions The folks at Gutterth have found a creative way to take a local music snapshot without doing the same old song and dance. Band sets up in living room, band plays, band answers questions. They're easy to watch, like the bands are your friends, playing just for you. Darktown Strutters' cover of Grace Jones' "Pull Up to the Bumper" was especially ripe.
Hoping: The Relatives play Dallas Last fall, I did a piece on Dallas' "best unknown gospel group." Yesterday, Robert Wilonksy told me the Relatives have never played a show in Dallas since reforming. This just can't be true, and should be rectified in 2012. Austin's Heavy Light Records will no doubt have a hand in it happening.
Praying: I can get through the first three months of 2012 Between now and March, the slots won't stop: Erykah Badu & the Cannabinoids, Adam Ant, Thurston Moore, Radiohead, 35 Denton, SXSW, Bro Fest...Not to mention local shows of note (the Black Dotz, Nervous Curtains, the Boom Boom Box CD release). Maybe I should just take it easy on NYE and make it a Forever Lazy night. (But I won't, because there's no better way to ring in 2012 than seeing Quintron and Miss Pussycat at Zubar.)
Cheers, y'all. We'll see you on the other side of midnight.