DUL Holiday Giveaway Winners
About a month ago we announced a super duper holiday giveaway, asking you all for a paragraph about your favorite musical moment of 2011. We received a lot of great submissions. Seriously, we are stunned and humbled by what you’ve shared with us, dear readers. We wish we could print all of the stories we heard, but that would defeat the point and get out of hand, really. Here, we’re sharing our favorite four. They touched us. They made an impression. They felt like a stories we’d want to tell our friends, if we had experienced them. They earned our attention and deserve recognition, and here they are for you to read …
So, congrats to Jake N., Lisa E., Matt R., and Kristen S. for winning gift baskets of goodies from our favorite Pittsburgh indie music friends! Special thanks to all of the bands for donating their merch, too. We love yinz. Here’s to a wonderful year of Pittsburgh musical experiences.
Jake N.
Greetings from the Pacific Northwest,
I’ve had some amazing music experiences this year between seeing some of my favorite bands for the first time (Bon Iver, Taking Back Sunday, New Shouts) in amazing fashion. My submission, however, is for a show that will not be duplicated.
I saw Rx Bandits for the first (and last) time at the 9:30 Club in DC this summer. I hadn’t been in a pit for a long time, mostly because the music I’ve been listening to doesn’t lend itself to a lot of crowd movement. Rx Bandits, though, encourage quite a bit of movement independent of thought. They’ve been one of my all-time favorites for years and during the first song I knew I had to ditch my stand-in-the-back friends and get as close to the front as possible, right up with the big fans who knew every word. They’ve created a following that’s encouraged love and respect between fans, which is amazing for any band. We sang loud, we pushed and shoved to get close, we moved because we couldn’t stand not to. Rx Bandits‘ time came to a close on the farewell tour, but their message will continue to live through other artists preaching love as the movement.
Lisa E.
My favorite moments could be some of the amazing shows I’ve been to this year… Braddockfest — my first time ever seeing Andrew Bird and it was with Kurt Vile! … dancing around with some of my favorite people to the infectiously poppy, catchy sounds of New Shouts at their dance party… being swept up in the sheer adoration the band and audience had for Mangum and the boys and their wonderful creation at GarfArt for Neutral Uke Hotel… surprise belly-dancing at Thunderbird for the Sidi Touré show… a summer afternoon with good friends, sitting on a blanket in a park, being reminded of how endlessly fun both Jukebox the Ghost and local favorites Big Hurry are… so many more. These make good stories. But the times that consistently stay me, whether I want them to or not, are mine alone… rediscovering or being introduced to artists or albums that end up taking over my record player, my car stereo, my iPod, my brain, my life… singing without shame — the way you only can when you’re alone on a long drive — The Shirelles, or The Coasters, or Carole King… exploring the vastly confusing inner workings of my brain in the midst of a non-drug-induced high thanks to the compilation album (really? a compilation?? yes) Forge Your Own Chains… dancing around my apartment to Cults — singing “Never Heal Myself” and yelling the “fuck you” part to no one, because I couldn’t say it to the person I wanted… learning to let go of negative feelings and gaining a new appreciation for the songs I associated with them… finding all of this incredible music that makes up the soundtrack to the entirely unworthy story of my life.
Matt R.
2011 was full of great musical experiences, but seeing a band from Vancouver play Garfield Artworks to a packed house of three (yes, 3) had to be the most special. I discovered Said The Whale in Summer 2010 whilst in Vancouver on business, and discovered their Pittsburgh show after returning to B.C. this October and trying to catch them in their hometown. The guys and gal were playing a Monday night show 2700 miles from home, and besides me there was only a girl from Punxsutawney who found them on YouTube and her boyfriend. Despite the lackluster attendance, they recognized that the three of us who did show up were true fans of their music, and they repaid that by pouring their hearts into a great set. They didn’t mind chatting at length as they packed up their gear to continue the circuit of North America with stops in Philly and NYC, and were just as genuine and down-to-earth as our local favorite bands (engineers of several experiences rivaling this one). Said The Whale are doing what they love, and bringing joy through their music whether there are hordes of fans or just a few who stumbled across their tunes and decided they were worth a couple hour drive and/or starting the work week off with a late night show.
Kristen S.
I saw the NY punk band Latterman, who broke up in 2007, play a reunion show at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia this year. I drove from Pittsburgh to Philly with a friend, and we had to drive back that night since it was finals weekend. After a 30 minute nap, coffee, and car sing-a-longs for hours, we made it back the next day at 9am. Seeing a band I never thought I’d see play live and screaming to every single song while a smile was on my face and my voice was giving out made that exhausting trip completely worth it. I had Latterman songs in my head for days, even thinking about that night brings back the same smile to my face. Latterman has albums that I’ve spent a lot of time listening to, albums that I care about like they were best friends almost. That night was like reuniting with all of my best friends, and sharing it with a room full of people who felt exactly the same way made it unforgettable.
Thanks again to everyone who entered and shared their personal thoughts. We will definitely do more of these giveaways in the future, so stay tuned and keep your minds open for special experiences to share. Happy (belated, we suppose, but whatever) holiday season to everyone!
Filed under: Homegrown Goodness, Song Diary
