I was eagerly anticipating this show! A band I loved (Slush Fund), a band I'd heard a lot about & had finally just heard & loved (Mexican Cession), a friend's friend's band that sounded like they'd be good (What's Up, Chuck?), and a band I'd heard a lot of good things about but had never seen or heard (Counterclockwise), all together at one show! What's Up, Chuck? was on stage first. I think it'd be fair to mention that the singer was one of the hottest guys I've ever seen (but, blah, he smokes :() :). So, if they weren't good, we'd at least have something to look at. They were, however, awesome! The singer sometimes played guitar, the lead guitarist Ben from What's Up Chuck? sometimes did lead vocals, they had an excellent chick drummer, and the bassist was really good too ('cept when his bass came unplugged once :)). This guy from the audience (i'm assumming he's perhaps in a band?) got on stage to sing a song with them, which was cool. Some kids got up on stage and were skanking around too. They're a ska-type band, but without horns. The singer even announced for one song, "This is a song that we think would sound better with horns. But we don't have any." My friend Patty thought the one song was even less than jake-esque. The only 'problem' these guys encountered was when the fire alarm went off and shut the

PA system down. Not ones to just sit and sulk and let the time drag by just waiting, they started playing goldfinger's "Mable" (the instruments were still amplified), with the crowd rallying around and shouting out the lyrics. This was awesome :). This is a band we are definitely, definitely going to check out again! Between bands, we went over to chat with Slush Fund's bassist, Kevin, where he unfortunately informed me that they wouldn't be playing that night afterall :( (singer Derek was quite sick). Sigh. Now the night wouldn't be so perfect. Next up, Mexican Cession. Two trumpet players, a saxophone player, a trombone player, a keyboardist, a bassist, a guitarist, and a drummer/vocalist. Wow. They came out all silly and energetic, and kept it up right through to the end of the set. They were fun! I am so not a dancer, but these guys had even me skanking and pogo'ing and grooving. The crowd was wild and into it - looking at them, you'd think this was a big name, well known, national-type band up there. These guys are a must-see ... another bill with them and WU,C? (and hopefully slush fund!) would be heaven! Counterclockwise. Well, we'd gone and sat down, and then counterclockwise took the stage. Shortly into the first song, I turn to Patty and say, "I'm ready whenever you are!" to which she replies, "We'll give them one more song." Well, we did, but ... that wasn't working. So we picked up and left. My dream show would replace them with someone else.

live list