Convention: - noun - a rule, method, or practice established by usage; custom: the convention of showing north at the top of a map.
Convention would dictate that if Dave and I were to resurrect this blog in time for SXSW, that we would do so by attending a different pre-southby concert than last year. You know… variety and all…
Well — crap!
In a surprising move, Dave and I decided to mock convention and DO THE EXACT SAME THING AS LAST YEAR. That’s right, fair reader… We attended yet another WWMF show one weekend prior to SXSW.
(BTW — David argues that, actually, convention would dictate that we attend the SAME show. I disagree — I believe that for the blogging world it is variety that is the convention. Aren’t semantic battles fun?!)
This one, however, was noticeably tamer than last year (though not from our lack of trying). After pounding countless Sparks and shockingly “clear” rum and Cokes from Casino el Camino (anyone familiar with the strength of the Casino pour KNOWS what I’m talking about), we stumbled over to Emo’s for the WMMF CD release party for “What Doesn’t Kill Us”. Had I listened to the album PRIOR to the show, I might have saved my money and stayed home. Luckily, my heart was pumping so hard from all the caffeine, the only thing I could hear for the majority of the show was my own thumping pulse.
The show, much like their album, was good but not great. In fact, Dave and I felt The Lemurs (who opened) were better. The addition of a new guitarist did little to overcome some fairly uneventful indie music. WMMF played with passion, but you can only put so much paint on a turd. In fact, the only time the crowd came out of its lull, was during the songs from “Trying to Never Catch Up”. Don’t get me wrong… We danced… But that was more of an “all hopped up on Sparks” thing than an “awesome show” thing. Needless to say, I’m not optimistic about the future of this formerly great Austin band.
