Alright, I spent six hours online sampling bands to come up with my anticipated schedule for CMF.  I thought I would share this effort for the benefit of many—assuming anyone trusts my judgment of course.  In the alternative, if any of you want to avoid running into me this is a fantastic way of knowing where NOT to go (come on, I know there’s at least one of you out there, I have annoyed quite a few audience members in the past).

I will begin with an explanation of the motives behind the selection criteria.  In past years I made the mistake of doing too much venue hopping.  The result was that the travel time made it a little too hectic to absorb all of the bands and purchase any notable albums.  There are also the inevitable line-ups where it becomes impossible to get into random shows.

To the selection criteria then: first, I am trying to limit venue hopping as much as possible, and when I do hop, the places are close to each other.  It should generally take no longer than 5 minutes to walk between venues.  Second (and closely related to the first point), I am therefore judging my selections more in terms of the whole line-up rather than just the particular bands.  I know I am missing some great isolated sets around the city.  That being said there isn’t a single band on my list that doesn’t pique my interest, even if the band is solidly in a genre that I know little about.  Third, I am making an effort to throw in some foreign (or at least non-local) bands, the more foreign the better, but never for the sheer sake of it.  Lastly, my musical tastes generally focus on originality and co-mingling of musical genres.  I don’t like pointless thrashing, I don’t like pure country, I don’t like obvious rock, and I generally don’t like pure folk.  Female vocalists are a bonus.  As such, the bands on my list will generally be a little bit different and they will always have decent vocal work.  Highlighted in bold are some strong suggestions.

To my humble schedule:

Wednesday Night

 9:00 pm     Lordy Lordy @ Rancho Relaxo (hereinafter “Rancho”)

10:00 pm    Go for the Eyes @ Rancho

10:30 pm    Courage my Love @ El Mocambo Upstairs (hereinafter “ElMo Up”)

11:00 pm    Ryan Wagner @ Rancho

12:00 am    Alcoholic Faith Mission @ Rancho

Thursday

 9:00 pm     Familia @ ElMo Up

9:30 pm     Birds of Tokyo @ ElMo Down

10:00 pm    Some Community @ ElMo Up

10:30 pm    Parlotones @ ElMo Down

11:30 pm    Amos the Transparent @ ElMo Down

12:30 am    Wildlife @ ElMo Down

Friday

 8:00 pm     Nash @ Sneaky Dee’s (hereinafter “Sneaks”)

9:00 pm     Christien Summers @ Sneaks

10:00 pm    Bravestation @ Sneaks

11:00 pm    Allie Hughes @ Sneaks

12:00 am    Paper Lions @ Sneaks

1:00 am     Meligrove Band @ Sneaks

2:00 am     Make Your Exit @ Sneaks

3:00 am     Dvas (Electronica) @ Sneaks

               or  Static in the Stars (solid Rock) @ Hideout

Saturday

 8:00 pm     Desperate Union @ Fairmont Canadian Room (hereinafter “Canadian”)

8:20 pm     Hannah Georgas @ Canadian

8:50 pm     Bombay Bicycle Club @ Canadian

9:30 pm     Hollerado @ Canadian

10:05 pm    Chad @ Canadian

**11:00 pm    Janelle Monae @ Canadian**

12:00 am    Madrid (Electronica) @ ElMo Under

                or Golden Dogs (Alt. Rock) @ Rivoli

1:00 am     Kidstreet @ ElMo Under

2:00 am     Humans @ ElMo Under

3:00 am    Arowbe @ ElMo Under

Sunday

 9:00 pm     Smugshot @ Rancho

10:00 pm    Danger Bees @ Rancho

11:00 pm    Crimes in Paris @ Rancho

And those are my selections.  Excuse any typos, as you can see from posting time, cutting it dangerously close to missing the first show.