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Sober Bands? Quelle Horreur!
Wow. Just wow. Apparently now in Seattle, one of the hippest cradles of indie music on our fair planet, performing musicians can’t drink onstage. They never could, really, but the applicable law was written decades ago and, since it’s been outmoded for a long time, has never really been enforced. For whatever reason, the city recently has begun forcing club owners to crack down on thirsty musical offenders. (At the heart of the law is the fact that performing musicians are, legally, temporary club employees.) “For many musicians, free booze is part of their pay,” said Jeff Prince, a Weekly staff writer and pro muso, hinting that club owners probably won’t be happy either, having to pay bands more out of pocket. “Also, traveling musicians play the same songs night after night. You try to sing the same song for the 1,423rd time in a row without having a few drinks to make it bearable.” Eric Griffey, another Weekly staffer and pro muso, with the Rivercrest Yacht Club, said, “That’s ridiculous. I doubt it would stop me or anyone else from playing there, but [the crackdown is] more likely to encourage bands to get trashed before the show, possibly making it a worse experience for everyone.” For the record, the Texas Alcoholic Beverages Commission isn’t arguing for anything similar to be proposed by the legislature in January. Still, all similar Big Brother-ish laws start the same way: Some city institutes a policy, and the rest of the country follows. But whom exactly is Seattle trying to protect? Because that’s why we have laws, right? To protect the citizenry. The club owners? The customers? Other drivers on the street at closing time? The Seattle rule’s mission isn’t clear, though policy would allow Seattle officials to classify any of the aforementioned groups as potential victims of drunk driving and/or drunken behavior. Or maybe Seattle is just trying to protect good taste. “I will admit that I grow tired of watching musicians who make slamming down beer after beer and tequila after tequila and getting drunk as part of their stage show,” Prince said. “Watching performers slowly disintegrate into a sloppy stupor onstage is seldom fun.” … The monthly national music magazine Paste includes a compilation CD with every issue. October’s features indie-rockers Calhoun’s “Breathe” off the Fort Worth quintet’s most recent album, Falter.Waver.Cultivate. For you sports fans keeping score at home, we selected the same song to appear on our annual Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards compilation CD last year. Coinky-dink? Pick up this month’s Paste at any local bookstore. … Free tickets! Along with Spune Productions, the Weekly is giving away two pairs of tickets (four tix total for you non-math majors) to each of two upcoming shows at Lola’s Saloon (2736 W. 6th St., 817-877-0666): Wayne “The Train” Hancock with Fort Worth’s awesome, old-timey Whiskey Folk Ramblers on Halloween night, Fri., Oct. 31, and Chicago’s Dylanesque, Beatles-esque Redwalls with The Tomorrow People and Fort Worth’s Lifters, on Sun., Nov. 2. Tix will be given to the first people to e-mail their full names to either anthony.mariani@fwweekly.com or lance@spuneproductions. Valid identification will be required to pick up the tickets at the door.
Contact HearSay at hearsay@fwweekly.com.
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