I used to book bands at SXSW in Austin, TX every March, and it was right around this time of year that I would start finalizing deals with the venues on Sixth Street while making sure my bands got the slots that afforded them the most industry attention. I’d kick off my annual mid-January ritual with a nod to the quote I have had hanging in my office for a number of years:
“Scattered among these things are reminders that sound once existed: a metronome, a drumming pad, a guitar pick, a trumpet mouthpiece, a music stand, a tuning fork, a block of rosin…The older instruments bear the marks of those who have already played them, the scuffs and bites and dents that are the mysterious scars of sound.