It took me a minute to get up to speed (or perhaps slow down a bit) with Holly Golightlyand the Broke Offs Tuesday at the Bug Jar. The Broke Offs were really more of a Broke Off; one dude on a completely foot-driven drum set and guitar, which added slippery and reverberated atmosphere to Golightly's country-and-wisteria sound. The songs were simple, thoughtful, fragile. I think I might have heard a Howlin' Wolf cover.

El Destructo & The White Rose preceded Miss Golightly and simply get better every time I hear them. Loose never sounded so tight. I missed openers Blue Spark and Flame, but have caught them before. Much like the late Yer Mom, BS&F takes the unassuming female duo approach mixed with a lo-fi threat to get to some extremely visceral rock 'n' roll.

While folks spent time downtown drinking until they saw little green men, on Saturday I hit the Thruway and headed east to Fuul. It was The Veins, The Grinders, and The Hounds Of Hell who rocked a full Fuul in the fluffy white Canandaigua tundra. The Grinders were ridiculously loud (so loud, in fact, I ended up pulling an earplug out of my nose), but still sounded fantastic. Man, you gotta love the band's new single, "My Poor Dog," and its nods to The Coop and Johnny Thunders.

The Veins were really a treat as the first half of the early a.m. set was all classics like "Walkaway" and "You Belong In Movies" (which may or may not be about local Playmate Julie Cialini). The Veins are heavy and a million times more genuine than most contemporary heavies that fall short by spending more time shaving --- and driving nails --- through their heads and scaring parents. The Veins are the only legit heavy rock band I actually believe. OK, maybe Monster Magnet too.