Comments on: Who Is In?? Free Times Music Crawl

By: T

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:40:40 +0000

There always are, and always will be good bands overlooked/not chosen. Is it because “Paul” Wall and the FT staff are pricks? Nope…its because there are a limited number of slots to fill, people have different tastes in music, etc. etc. Do I really have to explain it? I mean, sure I cry myself to sleep at night when bands that I’m involved with don’t get chosen for the St. Patrick’s Day Festival, but I move on.

And as for the Austin comment, I’d say we’re right on track for Columbia since Austin’s population is about 6 times that of Columbia. The Music Crawl is a good thing and thanks FT for doing it.

By: DString

DString — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 05:33:48 +0000

Thanks for the comment Kevin. I think some people just need to know their voices are being heard. Wouldn’t it be awesome if Music Crawl was someday like SXSW or the Nashville thing!

By: kevin oliver

kevin oliver — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:54:34 +0000

Let me first say that I’m not an employee of FT, merely a freelance contributor, so anything I say is not an official statement from the paper, just my own informed opinion.

To answer a couple questions/issues in the comments so far:

The band selection process is never easy, I have been involved in it to some extent most years, though I was not able to much this year. The ones who get in are a combination of invited bands, typically established acts who are important in the scene and are hopefully guaranteed to draw some people out to the show, and those who submitted entries. The quality of the music, recording, and entry package has a lot to do with who gets in, i’d say, as in past years there were some totally unknown names whose submitted materials blew the listening party away. The lesson here is, if you really want to get in, don’t just send in a bio on notebook paper with a badly recorded demo from your garage. Oh, and make sure your songs don’t suck.

As for the Music Crawl suffering in comparison to SXSW, well duh. Four or five days of wall-to-wall music and parties vs. six hours of bands on four stages, there’s not much comparison. FT isn’t trying to put on a huge festival, though. the original intention was to get together a bunch of this town’s best talent both younger and older acts and let people discover new local music on a single night at a very low price, which I think it has accomplished every year.

Oh, and before you complain about the poor organization of the Music Crawl (a rant in which you did not mention the name of the band you manage), which the FT staffers put together concurrently with the arduous task of publishing a weekly newspaper which features coverage of many local bands like the one you manage (which you did not name), you might want to get the music editor’s name right–it’s “Pat” Wall, not “Paul.” Maybe that’s why he didn’t return your messages?

By: VaVa Drea

VaVa Drea — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:39:19 +0000

I’m from Austin home of SXSW where hundreds of great bands get a chance to show their skills. Why are we limited to so few bands? Are you serious that there will only be 25 groups? This thing needs to be better organized. I submitted a band I manage and was told I’d be contacted by snail mail email and phone call about whether or not they were chosen. I called Paul Wall and left a message 2 weeks after they said they’d make a decison and never even got a call back. I guess 25 bands is a heavy load to carry. Whatever.

By: Jackson Collins

Jackson Collins — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 04:07:02 +0000

It will probably be 20 really crappy bands and 5 good ones. From reading the comments and looking at who played last year

A) Columbia must have a terrible music scene
B) The Free Times sucks at picking good music

C) The good bands in SC don’t give a shit about playing music crawl so it is filled with the rejects. Give or take a few of course. There are some good people playing

By: Bentz Kirby

Bentz Kirby — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:16:12 +0000

Yeah, well, Cats and Cobras should have gotten in, but there is no way to know what they are looking for when they do their selections. Obviously, Sunshone Still and Danielle Howle are no brainers. I have heard a lot of frustration with the Music Crawl, but I think it’s a good thing for the city and am glad they do it.

Peace,

Bentz

By: Cats and Cobras

Cats and Cobras — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:19:05 +0000

Yeah it sucks we didn’t get it in this year, we’re a newer band though, just means we have to work harder to get in next year. We’ve got some friends playing in it so we’ll be there supporting them.

By: Meredith

Meredith — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 06:32:26 +0000

Oh those two bands probably aren’t any good anyway.

Unless they are these bands…

http://www.myspace.com/catsandcobras
http://www.myspace.com/bourbonbros

in which case the Music Crawl people must be crazy for not including them.