It Comes and It Goes

OK, so your's truly has been doing this blog for one entire year. That's 50-ish posts, one a week, typically on a Wednesday. Spotty quality, admittedly. Some have been good. Some not so much. It comes and it goes, the inspiration.

Because that's why we do it here. Inspired, by the likes of the indie musicians we've spied, trailed, stalked, studied, and Googled from the safety of our Land of Cubes.

And Yes, "inspired by" is the proper phrase for what we've seen in the lot of ye. Creative, talented, hard-working practitioners of rock in all of it's sundry forms; playing on small bills for small bills; little heard artisans performing their arts, with an abysmally-skewed dedication-to-reward ratio.

It started with the guys and gals we knew about: Panjoma, The Future Process, Before Dawn, Watch Out For Rockets, Mr. Bear. And once we started looking around, we found that our set of "these guys deserve some attention" was missing some uber-talented folks. Killa Dilla, Art vs. Industry, Knifight, BK & Mr. E, Synthetamine. Texas Microphone Massacre, The Clouds Are Ghosts, Tin Can Phone. Zlam Dunk, The Pons, Quiet Company, The Beat Dolls, The Sour Notes, Not In The Face -

This could turn into a full time gig.

And then there's the guys we found out about but just couldn't do justice to, the acts that we're not really qualified to comment on. DSGNS, Serafia Jane, E.B.M.. Frank Smith, Marmalakes, Anneji, ...

The year has come and gone. Time to assess the damage.

On the plus side, we've made some awesome new friends. People we ran across who are just plain ol' cool and good and everything you want in a friend (or acquaintance or family member). Daniel at Vivogig, Anthony at Eye in the Sky Collective, Guillermo of Laserz, Sarah Oehrlein, Melissa Cox, Emily Heilman, Jenna Carrens, Ross Bennett, Ryan Cano, Ritchard Napierkowski, Amarah Ulghani...

But it hasn't been free, keeping up with you dudes and dudettes. Oh, sure, we spent a few dimes here and there, but the real cost has been in time. And at our age, that's the coin of the realm.

With a full-time job, plus other projects we've been dying to do - Some music related, most are not - we have to pull the plug somewhere. And, sorry to say, it's this blog that must needs be unplugged. [And, yes, we're savoring the irony of that statement.]

We'll keep it around for the sake of the linkage you've been kind enough to share. But as for new posts, they'll become rare. The same fate awaits the podcast.

That said, let's be clear about our goals: We'll still promote Austin-based indies, probably via Facebook, or perhaps some other as-yet unknown method. We'll still buy local, and pay our own way into venues to see you rock. And maybe we'll become so inspired as to pick up the keyboard again and generate some more words. Who knows what a day may bring forth?

It's been cool. We've learned a lot, met more folks to love, and heard some of the best music ever produced anywhere. And it was all here, in the Live Music Capital of the World.

Faithfully yours,
Scott

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