Gotta love them early shows...especially when you're a music fan with a short attention span. Saturday night at 7 p.m. yielded a modest crowd at The Club @ Water Street for Jon Dee Graham and The Silos. The Silos were powerful as hell, riding the rail between barroom rock and atmospheric alt-country (damned if I don't come up with a new genre each week...). The atmosphere came from Graham, who joined the band mid-set to play lead guitar. By rolling up the volume on his guitar after striking the strings, the notes seemed to materialize outta nowhere before cascading into the canyon. Silos guitarist Walter Salas-Humara played a battered electrified acoustic that in its wooden hollowness sounded hungry and mean, the way guitars are supposed to sound.

Made my first trip to High Fidelity Saturday night to dig The Atomic Swindlers with new guitarist Mike Gladstone and Atomic prodigy Josh Netsky. The Swindlers swirled big and electric, exuding even more confidence and flexing more rock muscle with Gladstone at bat. Mistress of ceremonies April Laragy tested the limits of her range with mighty sex appeal in a Bowie t-shirt that was so tight, Dave looked like one of those heads on Easter Island. I mean, I wasn't staring or anything....much.

I'm quick to dismiss young and cute if that's all there is to it. But this Josh Netsky kid the Swindlers have taken under their wings and into the studio, is real, real good. (And yes, he's the son of City jazz critic Ron Netsky --- but that has nothing to do with it.) Netsky writes, sings, and plays in a well-thought-out pop plane that sparkles under Swindler-style production. His reedy voice is casual and sincere. Believe me, there is going to be a trail of broken hearts behind this young man before long.

Rounded out the night at the Dinosaur, where Joe Beard held court for a nut-to-butt crowd. Beard's as real as it gets. Dig this week's cover story, then go and dig you some Joe.

If this year's Music Fest actually gets off the ground it will in all probability be the last. With City Council slashing funds for the festival from $721, 750 to a paltry $250,000 the quality --- and diversity --- the MusicFest once provided will be gone. The event will be for one day only --- July 21 --- at Frontier Field.

Music festivals do work in Rochester, obviously. But I feel this administration is clueless as to what works and how to go about getting it here. Mistake No. 1 was whittling it down from an all-around music festival to one featuring strictly urban music --- even the Rochester International Jazz Festival has mixed it up.

Provided the weather cooperates, this year's Lilac Festival line-up should be fun. From quirky to country, from classic to swingin', Highland Park is gonna sound as good as it smells.

Soul Coughing's Mike Doughty with The Push Stars' Chris Trapper plays May 11. New Orleans bluesy chanteuse Maria Muldauer will turn the place into an oasis (before midnight, though) on May 12. Zydeco wild man CJ Chenier will squeeze the box May 13. The Lilac Fest goes country May 14 with Sammy Kershaw. Folks can cut some rug --- or lawn in this case --- to the incredible swing of The Spanish Harlem Orchestra with poly-rhythmic boogie courtesy of guests De Sol on May 15. The Stylistics bring vocal soul a la Philly on May 16. Progressive (well, it was at the time) rock legend Edgar Winter plays May 17 in what has to be the most eclectic and coolest choice in this year's line-up. And the Sim Redmond Band gets a little Dead 'n' earthy with guests The Park Ave Band May 18.

 As always there'll be tons of area high school and middle school bands as well as fantastic Rochester artists like Blue Jimmy, Mike Zale, The Buddhahood, and String Theory.

Urban Transit went suburban and played it slick and smooth at Six Pockets Saturday night. Despite falling snowflakes the size of manhole covers some folks managed to make it out. Urban Transit's main thrust is keyboardist Jon Tucker, who typically ads the B-3 cream to Steve Grills & The Roadmasters. So it was a pleasure to hear him roll through some piano-based stuff. The band played Steely Dan and Ramsey Lewis smooth with its supple tones and circular grooves, and stayed that course when dishing out the originals as well. The twin guitar attack --- including Promise's Adam Bradley --- added a nice 'n' nasty electric edge to the music.

And speaking from experience, it's hard to play your heart out for small crowds sometimes. But it's even harder when whatever joint you're filling up with music leaves the goddamn TVs on. That's just plain rude.

Later that night is was back into the land that time forgot. The last time I hit the Penny Arcade, Anthrax was on stage. But on this particular night it was Johnny Smoke's on-stage celebration for its new CD For A Dollar,which apparently is a little right wing in the lyric department. Pumped through The Arcade's mammoth PA the band sounded outstanding, full of the rock swagger and bravado a lot of new American bands have forsaken.

I talked with Bernie Talty --- a.k.a. Skull --- the other day, and he says there's hope. You see, Talty gives guitar lessons and a lot of the kids are coming in wanting to learn Angus and Tony and Jimmy riffs again. That's not to say that the old stuff is the only stuff, but until the new bands stop whining, stop over-thinking, and get back to the danger, the masters are all we have.

Which leads me back to Johnny Smoke. It ain't young and it ain't necessarily doing anything new, but it's got balls, and it will not be denied. Kids are just gonna have to put down the Coheed and Cambria and go dig some rock like Johhny Smoke, or The New York Vaults or Methanol or The Veins or Wolfmother or Buckcherry. Oh, and turn off the TV, already.

Pierre Dorge and the New Jungle Orchestra swung madly at The German House Theatre Monday night with Ellington elegance and Sun Ra psychosis. Dorge was pleasant and soft-spoken between tunes, yet his eyes danced excitedly as windows into his oddity. He hung back behind his guitar allowing the whole band plenty of shine time. The music was luxurious one minute --- just long enough for you to catch the groove and start snapping your fingers --- and angular and jittery the next. It was as if it was being played on the back of a flatbed truck that started out on smooth blacktop and wound up barreling off-road. Very, very cool.

Braved the cold Saturday night (man, am I getting sick of this shit) to see L.A. Guns, The Veins, Bludwulf, and The Purrs. Got there in time to hear The Purrs rap up a loud set of energetic, catchy stuff despite the band's rather stoic stage presence. The Veins' onstage energy, however, matched the music. This band writes some incredible songs in the anthemic big rock vein. This is a rock fan's dream band with some incredible players. Rob Filardo's playing is the closest you'll ever come to hearing an actual melody coming from drums that still hold down a solid and savage beat. Jett, his brother-in-law stage left, positively wrung the life out of his virgin white Flying V, while front man Dave Gentner oversaw the goings-on like with a mixture of amusement and apocalyptic satisfaction. Why weren't you there?

Maybe it's because the headliner was a not-quite original line up of L.A. Guns. The two original members that did make it --- singer Phil Lewis and drummer Steve Riley --- brought along two young capable cats for this tour. The band was a little more rock 'n' roll than its Sunset Strip days and played a little more solid, genuine, and whittled-down for the club scene. And it may be a bummer playing to half-filled clubs, but that's where rock ‘n' roll's at these days. Still sounds good, anyway.

I'm gonna Jimmy the Greek this one for y'all. Break Of Reality is gonna win a Grammy someday. Bank on it, sluggo. Often a glowing endorsement from me is the kiss of death, and frankly I don't cotton to the mainstream. But this band has something everyone needs: excitement, originality, and an undeniable intensity that louder, heavier bands only dream of. And it has bridged the classical/rock gap while other bands have fallen short, or horsed it into the boat with way too much bombastic pomp.

The quartet's packed farewell show at Roberts Wesleyan College was breathtaking. The first set was subdued, with drummer Ivan Trevino manning a lone djembe. Somehow this cat still manages to pull of double-kick tricks with his palm. If I could move my hands that fast, I'd never leave the house.

The second set started out in pitch blackness with the sounds of an ominous wind blowing through the PA. Cellist Patrick Laird appeared in a lone spotlight in one of the aisles and began to saw within a sea of feedback, reverb, and chaos. It was chilling, it was cool. Cellist Erin Keesecker followed. By the time the entire group was back on stage and Trevino stood behind a full kit, the band was in full gallop. This is the goose contemporary music has been waiting for, and it is leaving our shores for NYC and beyond. I will miss it.

The kings of geek rock --- who can also throw down some mean honky tonk --- Ween will play Wednesday, June 13, at The Club @ Water Street, 204 North Water Street, 325-5600, 8 p.m., $25-$28, 16+

It was 1981 and I was 14 years old when the crowd began to roar as the lights began to dim. It was The Police on stage and it was my first concert. I have a patchy recollection of the set list and the impact it had on me --- the volume, the beat, the crowd --- just the intensity of it all. But it was my first time... and it changed my life.

Years later I brought my 11-year-old brother Tommy to see The Ramones at The University of Rochester Palestra. Via my indoctrination and influence he was already a fan but he had never been in front of something that big, nor had he been in the middle of something so wild and chaotic. The band came out and his eyes got big. He started howling with me. We were right in front. It was his first concert, and in a way it was mine, too... again.

Which leads me to last night. Angelina, my 13-year-old niece has been ga-ga over The Format. This was going to be her first concert and Uncle Frank was able to get her in early to meet the band, get an autograph, and some snapshots. The Water Street Music Hall show was outstanding and she and her girlfriend seemed to have a great time bounding around and singing along for the first time in a way I hope she'll want to do a lot. It was my third shot a first time and I couldn't be more proud. You always remember your first time. I've been lucky to have three of 'em.

The  CMAC season is out, with a few more dates still pending. Mark your calendar for:

-Glenn Beck, June 15

-Diana Krall w/Chris Botti, July 9

-Clay Aiken, July 19

-The Moody Blues, July 27

-Allison Krauss & Union Station, August 3

-Jeff Corwin, August 5

-O.A.R., August 8