SHiNDiG! 2011 is taking submissions

The very lovely Oh Wells came out on top at last year’s SHiNDiG! finale (and rightly so), but it was the Tolkienesque nu-ravers WIZERDZ who got in the best line of the evening when they announced mid-set that they had already “forseen the results of this contest.” Not that they were about to let imminent defeat stand in the way of a fine performance.

This is the era of titanic, industry-stroking, multi-million dollar exercises like the PEAK Performance Project, which means we should cherish SHiNDiG! all the more. The boozy and ramshackle battle of the bands competition run by CiTR radio is older than most currently serving members of our police force, going back to at least 1985 according to this winners list on CiTR’s website.

A flurry of emails between the Straight and the CiTR offices couldn’t determine the actual year of SHiNDiG!’s debut (see, drunk and ramshackle), but who cares what happened in the last century, anyway? All you need to know is that any band that ever mattered in this no-dick town did its time at the Rail under that funky CiTR banner.

Moving forward, as corporate types like to say, SHiNDiG! 2011 is taking submissions, here. Closing date is Friday, August 12.

Last year’s SHiNDiG! winners, the Oh Wells