"Twas the night after Christmas and all through the pad,

my rock 'n' roll jones was stirring, so I hit the bricks, dad,

down to dig The Beaumonts, Quitters, and Klaws

and make my own fun, sans old Santa Clause."

OK, that's enough. But seriously, it was a great four-band pile-up at The Bug Jar last Friday night. I regrettably missed the chanteuse-driven noir of Hotel Reverie, but arrived in time to see The Beaumonts beau-mount the bandstand. The trio had an incredibly full sound, and the band masterfully utilizes the space between what it actually plays, and what it doesn't: loud sounds louder next to quiet; cool's cooler when it's shoulder to shoulder with hot. With a few well placed trumpet solos, exploratory chord phrasing, and plenty of slash 'n' burn guitar work, The Beaumonts rocked the joint. A couple of Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson covers were welcome surprises. If they had played The Jam, I would've kissed them all on the mouth.

Honestly, I had written off The Quitters' new line-up as just another good group. With half of the Snyder brothers gone, I figured the fraternal magic that wrote some amazing pop/rock was out of there as well. Well, I was wrong. The new roster was just incredible as it tore through songs that, though we'd never heard them, immediately latched on. It didn't let up. It didn't quit.

Buffalo's garage rock perverts and Get Hip Records million-sellers The Irving Klaws closed the night with Sonics-esque, Count Bishops-like rock 'n' roll with a little swing, on account of the upright bass, Russ.

The Lovin' Cup was overflowing with love Saturday night with a funky jam band line-up. For me, it seems like a lot of theses post-hippy, Medeski Martin & Wood disciples find the vamp, hang on the vamp, and don't know when to let the vamp vamoose. Boston's organ-based trio Dopopod found the vamp no problem, batted it around with its crisp guitar and juicy B3, but let it go when it was time. Don't camp on the vamp, baby.