Flanfire

Stubbs' Bar-B-Q has long been known as an all-ages music venue as well as for its signature finger-lickin' food. We all owe a lot to the late C. B. "Stubb" Stubblefield - who like so many legendary Lubbock natives left his hometown to grace Austin with some great food AND great music.

This past weekend, state senator Kirk Watson sponsored a "Register to Rock" event at Stubbs -- featuring eight of Austin's hottest teenager-led bands, including Joker and The Daze, both of whom have signfiicant roles in the upcoming major motion picture "Will," whose stars include Vanessa Hudgens of the "High School Musicial" series, Disney star Alyson Michalka (of Aly and A.J., who just opened for Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus on Thursday night, and "Friday Night Lights" star Scott Porter (he's the quadriplegic quarterback).

An acoustic version of The Daze (Chris Ritchie and singer-songwriter Evan Butts; drummer Aaron Lemke was out of town) opened the show, followed by sets from Shockraid, Joker, Dell Valle's Noise in Action, and The Fireants (featuring Ian Stewart on electric violin) -- all of which acts I missed!? I DID get to catch Max & Henry (singer Max Tolleson, Henry Gillespie on lead, Victor Ziolkowski on drums, and Troupe Gammage on drums) -- those boys love to rock! Next up was keyboardist A. J. Vincent (who has some chops; his other gig is The Bright Light Social Hour) -- and closing out the show was Blues Mafia (which shares a rhythm section with Joker). Lots of people registered to vote during the event, which was well attended all afternoon. Apparently, Butts' mom came up with the idea for the register to rock show, sold it to Sen. Watson, and good things happened.

I had just been at Stubbs the night before for sets from The Alice Rose (who are already working on a new recording), The Lonely H (average age, 20), and The Century (the old Black Water Gospel but with David Jimenez replacing Jesse Duke on lead guitar). The Lonely H -- which hails from Port Angeles, Washington, and played SXSW two years ago and will be back this year -- plays classic rock. Lead singer Mark Fredson (who also plays keyboards) is not yet 19; neither is drummer Ben Eyestone. Brothers Eric (guitar) and Johnny (bass) Whitman, like Fredson, are surfer dude type blonds; Johnny (shown with Slowtrain bassist Matt Roth) just turned 21 -- these dudes could have stuck around for the Register to Rock show, but are actually on a three-month road tour that will take them just about all over the USA. They won over an Austin crowd chock full of other players who virtually adopted them and put them up for the night -- after what I hear was a "little" after-hours fun. But that's what makes Austin special -- that and the fact that the local lads were impressed that the "H-ers" had played Juarez, Mexico the night before. [Longtime fans note the absence of former lead guitarist Colin Fields -- who opted to stay in school this quarter, giving the moustached Eric Whitman the "lead."]

A highlight for the weekend, though, was the long-awaited debut of The Century -- with old BWG standbys Juan Gutierrez on vocals and guitar, Travis Woodard on drums, and Dan White on bass adapting to the very different guitar style of Berklee-trained Harlingen native David Jimenez (seen also with Bruce James). The same old songs have been recrafted -- a little slower, more dramatic (especially the wonderful "Goldmine" and "Conspiracy Row"), and maybe a little darker (how can you play dark sounds with the ebullient Mr. Duke?). Slowtrain's Adoniram Lipton joined the band for most of the songs, including "Big Black Cadillac" and some brand-new numbers toward the end of the set. Juan slipped in a Pearl Jam cover before ending with "I Shall Be Released," with Adoniram on guitar and Nathaniel Klugman on keyboard. One of the new ones, "Skeleton Tuxedo," has a jazz feel -- this was good stuff!!! And I cannot forget to mention that the boys also played "Fool's Good," one of my very favorites.