Upon arrival we checked into the hotel, picked up our stinking badges, and spent the rest of the afternoon at the Gingerman trying to sketch out a tentative schedule. Hillary served us beer. We liked Hillary. 

For that evening, neither of us really had any particular must-see bands, so we headed for a club called The Metro first, mainly because their lineup included a couple of interesting band names ("King Konga" and "Genitallica", for instance). We saw a bit of King Konga, and they were a decent and fairly tight Dave Matthews Band wannabe, but they didn't hold our interest for very long, and soon we were back out on 6th street. Our next stop was Emo's Jr., where we saw a bit of a band called "The Four Corners." Again, they didn't hold our interest very long. In fact, it seemed like even the vocalist was disinterested (Note to Jay: this was the "Uhhhhhhhh.... Uhhhhhhhh... Uhhhhhh..." group) (Note to everyone else: these were actually the lyrics to the second part of the plodding two-part epic number that eventually drove us out).

Next stop was Emo's Proper, and hot damn  I wish I had taken my camera for this. The band was called I Am Spoonbender, and we were instantly intrigued by the chick in the Star Trek uniform tinkering around with the combination of analog and synth drums as they were setting up. Synth drums and chicks in Star Trek uniforms rule. A bit later a stunningly beautiful Asian girl comes out and twiddles with her keyboard rig, and does a mic check with her telephone handset. Did I mention they used telephone handsets for microphones? We were sold. So, eventually the lights go down, the dry ice fog starts rolling  in from off of Town Lake, and the band took the stage. BIG THUMBS UP. How can I describe this band? Synth-driven, percussion-driven, visually stunning, lilting vocals, hypnotic trance-inducing, but you're quickly snapped out of your trance by the dynamics of the very animated percussionist... who, by the way, actually turned out to be a dude. But I'd SWEAR he must've been wearing fake breasts when he was setting up.

After this performance, I raised a clenched fist to the cold gray sky and vowed that never again would I leave the hotel room without my digital camera.