Journal

It was a wonderful weekend for music. The Rugger Band led nicely into a time of sunshine, cool breezes, tornadoes and good-time music.

Hometown favorite olospo travelled to Oklahoma City for a Thursday night dig at Trainspotters – a venue that’s difficult to find, but conveniently BYOB.

After a not-so-slight run in with the law, we made it to the show. The spot was little more than a regular-sized house in a residential area of OKC.

The owners received very little monetary compensation for their efforts and said they just wanted to bring good music to their town. Nice.

We told the guys about our run in with the Oklahoma’s finest and they were sympathetic, luckily they had yet to start the second set.

The band is still building a fanbase in OKC, so it decided to play a fun set for those of us who were present for the experience.

An impromptu performance of Yes’s “Roundabout” spawned from the band’s requests for requests.

G ‘n R’s “Mr. Brownstone” returned to the fold, a true crowd favorite, as well as an unexpected “Undone (The Sweater Song)” and an “Us and Them” that featured guest saxophone.

These were, of course, sprinkled in with the band’s fine-tuned originals like “Dirty Rita” and “William and Aaron.”

After the show, we said our goodbyes and headed back to Texas – we’d had enough of Oklahoma’s kind of hospitality.

Friday was basically lost due to a 6 a.m. return time from OKC. We cut our losses and prepared for Saturday – Beta Chili Cook Off and another night of olospo.

By the time we arrived at the Green Elephant everyone was already near wasted.

The sounds of “Feel Like a Stranger” hit me before I made it to the gates. Dead Thing, Dallas’ own Grateful Dead tribute band, played some good and some not-so-good Dead covers.

The smell of multiple chilis mixed with “Not Fade Away” in the warm April air was truly a perfect combination.

Many beer-drinkin’, chili peddlers found the time to move around to what Dead Thing had to offer. Eventually the guitarist had to plead with the crowd so that he could make another engagement – that’s praise.

The next band, Buffalo Head, hailed from Kilgor, Texas, and mixed familiar covers with originals that easily blended into a repetoire of ’70s and ’80s southern rock and reggae-inspired tunes.

The band started strongly with “One Way Out” a la Allman Brothers. The three piece performed the number well despite a clear lack of hammond organ.

Throughout Buffalo Head’s set, they stopped to ask who had the best chili. Everyone claimed to be the head chili-cooker, but clearly all but one of them were lying.

Everyone had a great time, enjoying a day of bliss, brought on by large amounts of beer. Well, maybe all but one girl who left early, around 11:30 a.m.

The two NCAA semi-final games gave pause to the weekend’s music, until we headed to Club Clearview later Saturday night.

We got there early and walked around the place – it’s pretty cool, lots of differently themed rooms.

We set up camera equipment and waited for the show to begin. The band played to a crowded house. They opened with the Beatles’ “She Said She Said” and never looked back.

We stayed until long after the show ended, getting more footage and chillin’.

It was a tiring weekend, but in a good way.