Wed 13 Jun – Hi-Lites, Sinai Fiyah, Ryan Scroggins & The Trenchtown Texans

Trenchtown was without Nathan on sax this night, but 2 guys from the Hi-Lites filled in on the horn duties, which was cool. Missed most of Sinai's set hanging out upstairs, but the headliners were pretty boss, much more old skool than I thought they would be.

Fri 11 May – George Clinton and The Parliament Funkadelic

Jeremy called me up right before this one saying he had an extra ticket, so we went down there and arrived right as they took the stage. This was a very entertaining show, almost as much about the experience of seeing the band as the music itself. The crowd was really into it and there were probably about 15 people on stage at any given time. Lots of costumes and wigs both onstage and in the crowd. Was glad I got a chance to go to this, as it is…

Sat 5 May – Ryan Scroggins and The Trenchtown Texans, The Pocket, Umbrella Man

Truly a fine showcase of the amazing talent to be found in the Central Texas ska scene today. The Pocket, in particular, was a veritable all-star collective…you would never have guessed this was only their second live performance. Members of all 3 bands hopped on and off stange interchangeably throughout the night. Sarah, Paul and I went to this one together (we were trying to hook Paul up with our neighbor Courtney, who never showed), and ran into all the usual suspects at this one.

Tue 1 May – Toots and The Maytals

Kind of a disappointing show, to be honest. Just didn't seem like the energy level was there, either from the crowd or the band. Sound was off (could hardly hear the vocals if you were towards the back), and his backing band kind of seemed like they were just phoning this one in. Though I may just be comparing it unfairly to his show at Flamingo several years back, which was amazing. Got in free thanks to Jeremy, who got 4 tickets to this from his job. I wish more reggae acts…

Wed 25 Apr – Fishbone, Lordz, Opposite Day, Lick Lick

Got there in time for Lick Lick, which is Matt from Middlefinger's new project, but missed Opposite Day. Ran into Stacy on the way in, who got me into the show free on the Casino list. She was there with her boyfriend, and Sam & Steph were there too. Fishbone was great, really energetic set that went all the way till 2AM (although the Emo's crew was turning on the house lights from 1 on). Seemed like there were some sound problems, but no one cared after 20 minutes.

Sat 21 Apr – Austin Reggae Festival 2007

Although this was the 14th annual occurrence of this event, I have somehow managed to avoid attending until this one. Got there Saturday around 4pm, just in time to catch the Trenchtown Texans set. Ran into Lionel and Susie, Jon, P. Kelly and hung around with them for a few hours. Wandered the vendor booths and caught a few minutes of the acoustic stage. Ended up cutting out early as Easy Star was taking the stage, after some smoke hit me pretty hard. Sarah actually had to drive down and take me…

Fri 13 Apr – Old 97's

Sarah, Brian, Andy, Paul, Sarah K and I went to this one…hung out at Headhunter's beforehand and knocked back a few (more than a few in Andy's case!), then headed over to Stubb's in time to catch the last few songs of the opener. Some nasty looking weather started rolling in before Old 97's came on, and the show was postponed for probably about 45 minutes. We were huddled right in front of the speaker on the right hand side of the stage the whole time, which was pretty god damn loud. Ended up…