Yep… Ass burn.  There was a vendor giving out samples of some ridiculously hot sauce with that ever so appealing moniker.  People were standing in line waiting for the spicy torture that can let loose an amazing rush of endorphins.  The only problem is that if it goes in hot…  you get the point.

The 19th annual Austin Hot Sauce Festival is a regular part of the Wells family Austin calendar.  It is always during the hottest part of the summer.  This year it was nice at 99 degrees in the shade.  We were there to eat drink and listen to some music.  We came to the right place.

Two beers down and I leave my wife and daughter in some shade and head for the front of the stage.  Three other bands had already played and Paula Nelson was on the band stand crooning into the microphone.  I dont know whether it was the heat or what but she seemed reserved.  Her smile was omnipresent and her voice was crystal clear, but it seemed to me that she was holding something back.  Having seen her before tearing up the stage at Bat Fest in 2008 (another Wells family calendar item), I guess it was the heat.  I took a few photos and went back to get more beers and ice for my daughters neck bandanna.  We stood around a while next to an Austin head-shop vendor trying to convince my 4  year old that those pretty glass pipes were not toys or Christmas ornaments.  They did have some bubbles though.  We headed for the cooling station after that for some water and a turn standing in front of an evaporative cooler.

The last band of the afternoon was called T-Bird and the Breaks.  I wrote about them in this blog in January I think.  They had opened up for The Diamond Smugglers.  Anyway these guys have been on the road all summer playing what used to be the chitlin circuit.  Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and of course Austin.  They do this new old-school funk with a simple driving base line, super rhythmic guitar, three horns and some hot chicks singing back up.  The drummer was like a metronome.  Song after song the made the crowd, us included, bounce in the sunny heat oblivious to the dangers of dehydration and stroke.  Damn they jammed.  This is a band I would pay good money to see with or without my camera in tow.  Go and see them when ever you can.

Hot, still sweating, and wishing for Ice cream, go out and see some music.  Where ever you are in Texas.