The Top WTF Moments Of The Year

Editor's Pick: WTF doesn't have to mean "bad," you know. About a week ago - a week exactly, as a matter of fact - En Vogue's "Free Your Mind" came on the PA at Fitzgerald's. I have been in a musical fog for a few months, where nothing was really connecting, but this song snapped me right out of it and I could feel the endorphins flowing right along with that grinding guitar riff and every thwack of the drums.

Special thanks to multiple 2011 Houston Press Music Award winners Delicious Milk for loosening the floodgates.

First it was Toronto-based sandwich company Sky Blue Sky, which named each and every sandwich on their menu after a Wilco song. Hungry customers can choose from sandwiches like the pulled pork Kingpin and or the vegetarian-friendly Via Chicago. And to wash down that Wilco-inspired sandwich, fans can enjoy Lagunitas Brewing Company's Wilco Tango Foxtrot beer. Perhaps you're not hungry or thirsty, but tired. Don't fret--Wilco's got coffee now, too.

Next was the opening of Greensboro, NC based Sticks & Stones Clay Oven Pizza restaurant, whose pizzas are all named after (North Carolina native) Ryan Adams songs. As a self-admitted foodie and music fanatic, I'm not necessarily complaining about this culinary/alt-rock union, but it did spur a "WTF?" scratching of the head.

Marc Brubaker: How about a year-long what-the-fuck moment: The Meridian Saga. Sure, things were never the same at 1503 Chartres ever since House of Blues came along and established itself as a force. But who foresaw the full-scale implosion of what ought to be a perfectly viable music venue? Who knew that we'd see not one, but five changes in management and even more in staff rollover?

It's a shame that not even one of the separate rooms has managed to find footing as a standing entity. Hey Gary Katz: Sell the building. Hey future buyer: Start small. Scale it back down to one of the smaller bars, put in a sound system, and work on creating a space for local shows. Then, once that's established, try making upstairs a lasting venue.

Craig Hlavaty: All the constant idiocy at live concerts all over town. It wasn't so much at small club shows, like at Walter's, The Mink, Mango's or Fitzgerald's. It was the bigger shows that had all the copious amounts of humanity pissing, cursing, crying, fighting, farting, after spending out the ass to see their favorite bands and artists and drinking expensive light beer.

Who can forget Farting & Whistling Man at The Dead Weather's House of Blues show, or all the fights and tears during The Cult at the same venue? Even my beloved Juggalos kept things civilized at their show a few weeks back.