I usually don't do Mavs post after a loss, but Jesus Christ. I absolutely cannot believe what went down tonight, especially in overtime. I'm not a conspiracy theory person, and no, I don't think that the NBA orders refs to extend a series by giving one team all the calls, but the league likes to protect their starts, and it sure seemed that they were going out of their way to protect Wade tonight. In the second half, he took more foul shots than the ENTIRE MAVS TEAM. And that last foul at the end of overtime? Well first of all, it wasn't a foul in any way, shape or form, and it shouldn't have been called at any point in a game (watch the replay if you don't believe me). But refs NEVER call fouls like that at the end of the game unless it is so obvious that they can't get away with not calling it. Way to go guys. Deciding a Finals game on free throws. I don't know what else to say.
And lets not forget what Josh Howard did. Not that the Mavs were likely to make a last second shot like that anyway, but come on. I knew they only had one time out left. Why didn't he? There is a debate about whether he actually called a time out or not, but it sure looked like he did in the replay, and the look on his face afterward kind of said it all. I just can't believe he did that, and there is NO excuse for it, despite his solid performance otherwise.
Earlier today, I said that this game was a must win for the Heat. And it was. But they won it, and because of the way it went down, I'm not sure that the Mavs can recover. I really hope they do, but I'm not feeling very good about it. This could be our one and only chance to see the Mavs get this close, and it feels like its slipping away.
I suppose I don't need to tell anyone that the Mavs game is on @ 8 tonight (although I guess I just did). The word is that Avery moved the team out of their plush hotel near South Beach and shipped em 45 minutes away to some suburban chain hotel. He's also not allowing them to hang out with friends and family as much. Good move. It seems that the Mavs went down there ready to relax and wrap the whole thing up, but now they know, as well as we do, that there is still a lot of work left to be done. I would stop short of calling this game a "must win," because no matter what, we'll have the two games back in Dallas if we need them. In fact, even though everything seems to be going Miami's way, I would say that this is a must win for THEM, because I don't see them (or anyone else) winning two in a row in Dallas.
Stack's absence is probably going to hurt, but it might also inspire the rest of the guys to get pissed, step up and have big games, even if they failed to do so in the San Antonio series when Terry was suspended. Although we all want Stack in the game, I don't think his absence will hurt as much as Terry's did, and I still feel like we have a good shot at winning this game. Lets hope so. And where the hell has Devin Harris disappeared to by the way?
Broadcast Sea | Exit the King | The Great Tyrant | Man is Mostly Water (Rubber Gloves) Stoner rock, black metal, ambient noise, prog metal... it seems that there has been a resurgence of interest in these sounds recently, and I guess this is the show where some of the local incarnations of this sound are being showcased. Although we're not totally crazy about Broadcast Sea as of yet, we think they, along with Exit the King and the wonderful Great Tyrant, are certainly worth checking out even if the aforementioned genres aren't really your thing. Great Tyrant is certainly one of the most adventurous bands in the area right now, and should be experienced at least once.
1. The Undoing of David Wright | The Night Game Cult | Nora Keyes | Madame P (Hailey's- $6) Of course you guys know the Undoing already, and Denton's Night Game Cult sounds pretty cool too, although we don't know much about them. They kind of do a minimal electro dance thing in the spirit of Junior Boys and stuff like that, which means that its good if not actually danceable. Probably worth checking out. Nora Keyes sounds like a midget witch singing in a broadway musical being performed in front of a bunch of rotting corpses. Its honestly some of the strangest music I've heard in a while. The first song on their Myspace page is too annoying for words, but the second one, "The Show is Over," is quite good. And if Nora Keyes is the stangest band I've heard in a while, Madame P is the second, although they (she?) are (is) almost as creepy. This is the place to be if you want to hear some really different stuff tonight.
Boogdish | Chin Up Meriwether | Eat Avery's Bones (Metrognome- Ft. Worth $5) This should be another great show too. Boogdish, from Belton, TX (wherever the fuck that is) remind me of Soft Cell with more of a bedroom pop feel and much more aggressive, punk influenced vocals. Chin Up will be liked by fans of the post-punk neotwee K Records sound of the late 80s/ early 90's. And EAB always puts on a great show.
Teenage Symphony just posted two new songs on their Myspace page, "A Promise" and "I'll Never Forget You." We usually don't make little announcements about Myspace crap, but they are both really good and well worth your time, unlike most Myspace band bulletins about "Check out or new shit" or whatever.
1. Echo and the Bunnymen (Gypsy Tea Room- $20) I'm not going to go into a whole long thing on Echo and the Bunnymen, because I seriously doubt I could say anything about them that you haven't read or heard someone say before. I thought their most recent album was really good considering how old they are, and how bad it COULD have been. And actually, scratch that, I though it was pretty damn good independent of that stuff too. If Ian can still sing, which I bet he can, this will be one to remember.
Also, DJ G will be spinning at an Echo afterparty over at Avenue Arts (825 Exposition near Minc and the rest of the Expo park area). its $5, and his sets always rule.
2. Constantines | Oakley Hall (Sons of Herman- $10) The Constantines are one of those bands that you just KNOW is going to be really good live, and honsetly, is there any other band that reminds you of Fugazi and the Boss at the same time? They play a lot of loud and fast, but also some slow and textured, and it will be interesting to see how the latter is pulled off live. Shine A Light was one of my favorite records a few years ago, and although I don't like their latest quite as much, I'm still pretty pumped up about this show. Oakley Hall should be a great opening act if you can get there early (by Sons of Hall standards, which could mean like right now).
Residual Echoes | Mammatus (Metrognome Collective) Do you still need to be convinced that Metrognome is THE cutting edge venue in the Metroplex? I don't. Mammatus' sprawling, distorted stoneresque noisescapes should not be missed by anyone that gives a shit about that sort of thing.
(and you are going to start to see some changes around here in the next week. A new writer, some features that we've never tried before, and some other things that we don't wanna tell you about right now. Basically, we're going to be trying some new and different shit to see what sticks. Keep those eyez ballz peeled.)
