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Ralph white and his traditional Cajun band were great. I hadn't seen Ralph play since he left the Bad Livers. He has certainly found a great band in the Playboys. It is nice to know Austin has such good Cajun music available

This show was a bit short lived as Pug decided he had had enough music after the first set. But it was a good set.

Like most open mics, this was a mixed bag. There was at least one guy who was horrible, but most were decent. Interesting songs. One guy was particularly good - in a Martin Sexton kind of way.

Both Megan and I agreed the Mat McCormic is worth seeing again. Collin Gilmore got an early leg up by riding on his dad's coattails. He is fun to watch, though it may be a while before he settles into his own style.

What a great joint! TCs is located in East Austin and is an old school blues joint. It is a small, run down shack with personality oozing out of it. There were signs on the wall prohibiting all kinds of behavior that seemed to be going on anyway in and around the place (e.g. gambling, fighting, smoking pot, prostitution, etc...). Mike put on a strong show and they clearly love his band. One old woman who was particularly taken with him and who had just won the lottery that day bought drinks for everyone in the house - that's a first for me!

The Musical this year was The Secret Garden. It was done well, though Big River still remains my favorite. It was nice to see the show where Eric Stratman got the song Lilly's Eyes.

I got home late from a pool party with some friends and couldn't convince anyone to go out to see music with me. So I headed downtown alone to see what was going down at the Elephant room, the best jazz club in town. I was treated to the funky instrumental jazz of gnappy - sax, guitar, bass, drums. I will definitely look for them again.

The best part of this show was being introduced to Walter Traggart. He has gotten lucky enough to have Scrappy Jud put together his entire band (nearly everyone from Loose diamonds except for Troy Campbell), but there is a reason scrappy took interest in this new artist. Walter has an incredible voice - strongly reminicient of Elvis Costello with that same huge range and range of styles. The rest of the show was fun as well, particularly the Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers who I hadn't seen up to that day.

Opal Divine's has a great multi-story outdoor deck that is perfect for watching the sunset and listing to music. The food is decent, but the scotch selection is fantastic. Elizabeth is standard swing /vocal music that is remenicient of Patsy Cline. Fun, but I wasn't blown away.

After all these years, Toni has finally started charging a cover for Hippy Hour. It is about time. It works out better for her, I always put $5 in the tip jar anyway, so it is no extra cost, but it keeps the crowd down to a manageable level. It is still packed, but there was no line. The show was excellent and we were treated to Warren Hood sitting in his father's old seat and playing fiddle and mandolin.

Old style blues act with three harmonizing singers. Each of them had huge soulful voices. We listened to the show from the volleyball courts and managed to get in a few games

With Scrappy Jud playing guitar (he plays with just about everybody these days!), Ian's band is really solid. For those who aren't familiar, Ian was the keyboardist for the British supergroup, the Faces (featureing Ron Wood and Rod Stewart). Since the 80's, he has been living in Austin and filling in Scrappy's role on the keys - he has played on more albums than I can count over those years.

Strange combination of musicians, but it worked. THey alternated between country rock standards (e.g. Charlie Daniels Band, Hank Williams Jr, Lynard Skynard), Texas swing, and originals.

Birthday Challenge one-day event and party at our place. No time to see music.

I went there expecting to see Los Jazz Vatos, but instead was treated to this band I had never heard of. CLV could most closely be compared to Santana - and they did several covers of his songs. But they also did originals and their interpretation of old soul tunes. Strong guitar, percussion, horns, and singing.

Another excellent discovery for the Birthday Challenge. Fronted by the old guitarist for 8 1/2 Souvenirs, this new band was formed around a love for Jango Reinhart style jazz. It features two guitar players who alternate rifs, a sax/clarinet player, bass, and drums. They play at a smoke-free happy hour every third Monday and the swing dancers show up in force.

Working on quartet arrangements for the upcoming weekend.

Flew to San Francisco after work.

Jazz band concert featuring the works of Count Bassie. Spectacular show! What more can I say?

Jam with Trevor & Danny Wheatman, Matt Montgomery, Tim & Todd Carter, Phil Salazar, Ed Littlefield Jr, Joe Viticoe, & many others - The jam was watched by many including Steve Miller in the front row