Sunday, February 04, 2007



One Regret: Not solving the case of the missing Lemurs drummer.*

Top 10 (Musical) Regrets of 2006: It's All About The Love in 2007

Last night I had a weird conversation with a local musician about the lack of seriousness regarding coverage of local music and the overwhelming coverage of underwhelming bands. It made me a little self-conscious and introspective. Sure, I would love to write reviews for The Onion (if they think I'm funny enough). But maybe it's time to write more serious articles and reviews of local bands, besides the occasional CD review in INsite or Whoopsy! Magazine. So this is probably one of the most serious blogs ever posted on Kill The Critic.

Yes, some of the details in this list may inject humor, but it is purely coincidental. 2006 was a wacky year.

10. Missing Heartless Bastards on New Year's Eve - December 31st 2006. Yes, I finally got to see and hear The Blow live at The Mohawk, and I've already seen Heartless Bastards live, and talked with them in person. In fact, I interviewed singer Erica Wennerstrom in 2005, before all the well-deserved hype about HB's second release in 2006, "All This Time". But not being able to see them that night was something I regret.

9. Recording the Field Music interview with a defective tape at Emo's before their SxSW and Austin, TX debut. I still have the microcassette, but I still haven't figured out what we were saying, and I was so nervous my notes consisted of a few incomplete sentences. (Yes, ladies, these three handsome gents from Sunderland, UK are more gorgeous and gentlemanly - and distracting - in person.)

8. Getting scooped on an interview with Horse+donkey y Audra Schroeder of The Austin Chronicle. This is actually a prime example of not following my journalistic instincts last year and finally interviewing them after a series of coincidental run-ins with all three band members in late 2005 and throughout 2006 on Red River, and at various local clubs around town. I even had a chance to interview them a couple of months before Horse+donkey's interview hit stands around Austin in the January 19, 2007 issue of The AC.

7. Walking out of the Dosh show after Sole/Anticon performed because the bartender at Emo's Lounge pissed me off while I was waiting on being served. I've saved the details for LiveJournal, but I will state for the record that now I know how The Invisible Man feels. I have banned Emo's bar - not the club. I just won't be wasting my money on Dos Equis and Tito's. I feel justified because I've been a courteous customer and generous tipper, and their poor, discriminating service was unjustifiable.

6. Not submitting articles to Soundcheck and Austin Music Magazine. I have been ahead of their publication in terms of hot artists by months, and years even, but I have been reluctant to submit articles to the magazines for fear of rejection. But after reading some of their articles and reviews, and reading my own work, I realize that fear was unjustifiable. So expect more in print from me in 2007. (My fingers are crossed.)

5. Not keeping all of my writing samples on back-up disks. My old computer crashed, and on it I have many interviews and reviews from print publications that are now lost. I have some old magazines, however, and will scan and save them - after I find a record of my purchase for a scanner and finally have it fixed or replaced.

4. Procrastinating and not posting blogs as frequently as I should. Sometimes daily music blogs aren't going to happen. But I will change this soon, this summer in fact when I will be attending more shows. So bookmark this blog as one of your new favorite music reporting sources.

3. Not purchasing a digital camera sooner. Now that I have one, I don't know how I ever lived without one. I regret missing some cool shots of bands because I didn't have a camera or couldn't find a photographer.

2. Letting local CDs pile up and collect dust. My resolution is to review most of the CDs I didn't review in 2006. Word is bond.

1. Not getting a final interview with the band Zom Zoms. See previous post.

~ diy-danna

*The Lemurs drummer isn't really missing. But Number 11 on the regrets list would've been not being able to figure out why I can't remember what The Lemurs sound like after hearing them live. Especially after all the hype. I just don't get why they are so amazing. I'm not a hater, and it's all about the love in '07, but I still have ears and individual taste...Kill me. Or whatever...