Shiny Hot Sauce Ribs and Moonpies for dessert

The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival 2012 was at the new Fiesta Gardens location. My personal opinion is this; the location was so much better. Parking was pretty damn easy, traffic walking to and from didn’t feel life threatening, and the layout was really patron friendly. The booths were lined up around the perimeter and the pavilion in the center housed not only the blind tasting part of the event but the stage for the musical performances as well. 

I have attended the last three Hot Sauce Festivals (and plan on continuing that) and written up the respective blogs for them too. This is the first year I took the time to solicit some of the vendors and try what was available. DAMN! There was some good hot sauce out there that we tried. The one that I will call out by name here was the unanimous winner between my girlfriend and I was My Chihuahua Bites (http://www.mychihuahuabitessalsa.com) – Queso Blanco. We have found their hot sauce at our local HEBPlus in Kyle, sadly…no Queso Blanco. Check out their website and tell me where you find it.

The live local music blends pretty damn well with the festival. If you are not standing in front of the stage checking out the band(s) you can still hear them all around the park. It makes for really good ambiance when you are waiting in one of the many, many lines or while your mouth is burning from that last habenero sauce you tried. The music I heard this year was wonderful (not that it hasn’t been wonderful in the past), but I really was diggin on Mike and The Moonpies and REALLY had a great time with Shiny Ribs.

I will be honest and say that I only caught the last 10 minutes of Mike and The Moonpies (http://www.mikeandthemoonpies.com), but they definitely snapped my attention as soon as I got there. With some fun covers and smooth originals they drew your attention and drew the crowd. Although the sun was still cooking the crowd they definitely made it worth hovering in the heat and shuffling your feet. Although I will try to avoid being at another performance of theirs out doors in the heat of the day, I will tell you to make a point of checking them out anyway, anywhere. In a nice bar with seats, a table, and food…Hell yeah!  

SO here is the challenge put before everyone in attendance that day and to you reading the blog…do a search on Google for Shiny Ribs (http://www.reverbnation.com/shinyribs) and you are assured that the only thing you will find IS about this band! This is the command from their lead singer and showman, Kevin Russell. I had a preconceived notion of how freaking great this performance would be because the make up of the band includes members of The Gourds. Oh what fun! “It was unexpected to see them perform a song that was so popular in its time. I mean Really! Who the Hell covers TLC’s - Waterfalls?”  The Shiny Ribs do and they did it well. In their other incarnation I mentioned before, they are known for doing a cover song here and there and make it a countrified, hell yeah, audience singing along, kind of event.

Whether you see them acoustic or plugged in this is one of those Austin originals you have to see. I am glad to have seen them and will happily take you along for the ride next time they fire up a set.

Laters