Flanfire

Wednesdays at Artz Rib House - tasty food and tasty music from Floramay and Shelley, the South Austin Soul Sistahs. But there's a catch. No show next Wednesday, as Shelley is joining the Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers for Blues on the Green and Floramay is off to a gig in Wimberley with her full band (including guitar gunslinger Will Knaak). The following Woden's Day the daring duo will return for a final outing together before Floramay heads north to Buffalo and then off to her second wedding in Budapest, Hungary. Her second marriage to her first husband (for the European family) will occur in a millennium-old church, we are told. Shelley, meanwhile, is "due" in mid-August.

In a possible harbinger of things to come, our new pal Aaron Hamre took the mike during the break and played three of his songs. Aaron, who just moved to Austin, is from Santa Fe but has Texas roots. We spent the day with him and his wife on Sunday, starting at Threadgill's World Headquarters for the gospel brunch with the Gospelaires. Their brand new CD, produced by Dale Watson, is now available, and if you like gospel music, you will thoroughly enjoy and be moved by the work of Warren, Alonzo (Streetwize), and the band. Their two-hour set went by so fast we almost forgot to eat.

After stopping for coffee (chai for me) at Jo's, we trekked over to the Alligator Grill where for the first time I got to hear the Regulars. I especially liked the songs of David Allen, including "Wait." Jennifer in particular liked the guitar stylings of Mark Parish. Others include George Macias on acoustic guitar and Mike Roberts on bass - plus Ron (I still do not know his exact last name) on harmonica and occasional keyboards, and a drummer who was not introduced. Others among you probably know these guys much better than I. Often, I am told, they have drop-in musicians. Once, I have heard, the great James Cotton stopped by to grab some gumbo (or other faux Louisiana food) and joined the band on stage. Having seen Cotton in his prime and also more recently at Antone's in an impromptu duet with Rob Roy Parnell, I can attest to the quality of such a performance.

There is a regular (sic) coterie of Austin music lovers who frequent the Alligator on Sunday afternoons, some of whom normally wander across and down the street to the Saxon Pub for the Resentments. Lovers of that band have been fasting for a while during the band's tour of Europe, but I hear the boys will be back next Sunday. Of course, that is also the day of the Father's Day Barn Dance - so people will have to choose. Sigh!

After our rousing afternoon of music, we had a quiet dinner at home with our new friends. It was a very good day.