Tom waits tribute | recap
Short recap from the Tom Waits Tribute, hosted by Wavelength, at Double Wide on Friday, December 7th. Photos, line-up, and more!
Brittany Griffiths | 11 December 2018
photo by Waffles Weekly
Forewarning, this is an opinion piece.
Well, Tom’s birthday has come and gone. He’s another year older, and soon we will be too. No matter how hard we try, we cannot stop the passing of time. Speaking of time, it’s hard to believe that Wavelength has been up and running for over six months now. It feels like yesterday when we were all gathered at East Bound and Down to celebrate the release of the website. Which brings me to my point – Wavelength wouldn’t exist if not for all of the wonderfully talented musicians, artists, and writers living here in Dallas. You are the ones that inspired Will and I to start up this publication. The Tom Waits tribute marks our second official show we’ve thrown under the auspices of Wavelength, and we cannot be more pleased with the way the night unfolded. In full disclosure, throwing an event is always a gamble. Trying to anticipate what excites people, what other events are going on in the city that night, which bands will work well together on a bill, who can and WILL show up. It’s hard to predict. There’s an intuitive sense of functionality required in planning, but in the end – it’s all up in the air. You never know until you know. The turnout for the show was such a wonderful surprise to both of us, and like I said before, we were thrilled… but the number of bodies in the room wasn’t what made the night so magical and memorable. It was watching the crowd and how everyone interacted. It was the energy in the room. It was the people that we had the opportunity to work with. If you spend enough time with Will or myself, at some point, you are sure to hear us burst into an emphatic monologue on how much we love the cultural arts community in Dallas. That’s not to say that we live in a utopia here in Dallas or that there isn’t conflict, friction, or the ever-present misunderstanding. No, those are there. Always. But they are essential for growth, and quite frankly unavoidable. I’ll toss out the old, overused idiom here – shit happens. However, the thing we love most about the people here is that everyone understands this basic, intrinsic nature of reality and is able to move past it. There is an underlying level of personal respect that we have for each other. That is hard to come by. Believe you me.
In the past year we’ve had the opportunity to work with close to 100 musicians, artists, and writers in Dallas, and I can’t think of one terrible experience. I can’t think of one person I wouldn’t enjoy working with again. That says something about you folks. You’re good people, damn good people, and if this city has anything going for it (despite the ridiculous amount of talent) it’s that. So thank you guys for being you and for constantly giving it 100%, for being open to new ideas, and for constantly inspiring us to work harder and be better. Cheers to another year in this industrious little community we call home.
The Line-Up
photo by Marisa Latham
all photos by Waffles Weekly
Brittany Griffiths is a writer from Dallas, Texas. She is the founder and editor of Spontaneous Afflatus, an independent publishing house that specializes in poetry and short story collections, and she is also the editor of Wavelength Magazine. Her debut collection of poetry titled, Ebb & Flow, was released in 2018. She currently works as the publishing specialist for Mavs Open Press at the University of Texas at Arlington libraries.
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