absolutely had a blast last night at the DOMA showcase on lower greenville. was so excited to have a car full of buddies join me -
batman, the piledriver, and knuckles all decided to make an appearance, which always makes for a better time. plus which, i managed to control my uh, intake and quite successfully ride that line between bliss and barfing (yay, me).
looked like the event was a success to me - big crowds everywhere, lotsa drunken hot chicks dancin (surely the measure of success for any event, eh?). did think it was strange, tho, that Live 105.3 was one of the big sponsors, since i really doubt they play (or have even heard of) any of the artists showcased. maybe i'm wrong.
started out at the cavern, where
The Frenz was playing. definitely liked the groove-filled guitar-heavy stuff, not so much the electronic stuff (which kept reminding me of buck rogers sound effects). the piledriver looked like he was about to slit his own throat. was hoping to hear one of their songs called "pete freedman is a cunt", but they didn't play it. maybe because pete was in the audience (although i woulda thot that would make them want to play it even more).
chatted with the aforementioned pete during their set, and axed him why they didn't stagger start times (seems like an obvious thing to do). he said they might do that next year.
after that, the boys grabbed some pizza at the greenville ave pizza company. no alt-universe girlfriends to be found there, unfortunately.
next up was the
backsliders. definitely some good-timey high-energy rock, with hot-chick lead (had a janis joplin vibe goin on). definitely NOT hard rock, the category they're nominated in, but that's neither here nor there. the piledriver was about to kick the guitar player's ass, cuz he kept tryin to steal the spotlight from janis.
after watchin most of the backslider's set, i stumbled over to catch the end of
glen reynold's set. i liked the little i heard - i think i should've gone there instead. definitely want to check out those guys in the future.
saw a couple
shibboleth songs next. yes they are very talented, but i've seen them many times before, and i lose interest easily with (most) instrumental bands, so i split early.
after a break on the roof of the Pubic House, headed back to the cavern to catch
sean kirkpatrick. seen Sean many, many times, and i never get tired of it. such an amazing talent. last night, he went solo - no trio. before the set, i tried to talk him into playing "The Bottle Let Me Down" (a Merle Haggard cover he does that just slays me), but no dice. 'twas prolly for the best - i woulda made a fool outta myself belting out the lyrics at the top of my lungs. anyways, it was a great set.
stuck around the cavern to catch
Florene next, cuz you know i loves me some florene (review
here). batman was there, too - he said gavin and aaron looked like they were on the junior-high AV team, what with all the equipment and them being so young and all (that batman, he so
clever). heard two songs, which were awesome as usual, but i just couldn't stand the thought of missing
Matthew and the Arrogant Sea (who are probably my favorite local band right now (review
here)), who unfortunately were scheduled at the same time (stagger, dammit!!!). once again, they did not disappoint. this time, the crowd was big and noisy enough that i
was able to sing along at the top of my lungs without botherin anybody (well, except for the guy right in front of me, maybe). And so i did. great set as usual. the highlight of the whole showcase for me.
stuck around for the first bit of
salim nourallah and the noise's set. good stuff. i saw salim solo a couple times at dada and dug it, and the full band was a nice addition.
went over to check on knuckles and the piledriver, who had gone to see
Whiskey Folk Ramblers, who they are now totally gay for. WFR sounded a lot like AM Ramblers to me, meaning really good bluegrass. easily the highlight of the showcase for those two.
about this time, batman's boyfriend showed up (i kid), and we all went back to the roof of Pubic House so they could spend some quality time together.
so that's about it - all in all, a pretty damn fun night. wish this sorta thing would happen more often.
see you out there...
Loxsly was up next. I'd heard them once before and dug it. Can't say I remember anything about their set that night, tho. i'm sure it was great. (soory!)
The Lymbyc System, from brooklyn/austin, headlined. beautiful, beautiful stuff. usually just two guys, one on keys and one on drums, with lots of effects. sometimes joined by a violinist, which was a really nice addition. really dug it.
first up was 
next up was 
last up was 
all in all, a fantastic night in denton...