The Steam Donkeys, currently a five-piece who also played the first Tri-Mania, opened the main music area downstairs, which had two stages this year. The band sounded pretty good and, as seems usual now, very tight, playing lots of country swing, weepers, country rock and twangier songs. Guitarist Charlie Quill played some fluid, twangy lead on the instrumental “Panhandle Rag,” and John Dieckman added smart but not too flashy pedal steel guitar all night. There were three or four couples dancing throughout the set (one couple, in their 50s or 60s, did some fine two-stepping and looked like they were having a ball), and after several originals, the Steam Donkeys ended their set with their traditional “train medley,” consisting of “Train, Train,” “Folsom Prison Blues (which they segue into “Pinball Wizard” while playing the same basic melody and rhythm),” “Wabash Cannonball,” “On the Road Again” and “Chicken Train.” While things sounded good, they also sounded a bit too safe; one friend confirmed it for me after the show when she came up and said, “that was OK, but they have got to change their set a bit.”

We went upstairs to visit a few friends’ studios and exhibits and to go to Val‘s darkroom at the Buffalo Arts Studio, and after Val took some photos, we went back to the music area for David Kane’s Them Jazzbeards, who we haven’t heard in almost two years. The combination chamber jazz, cool jazz, soul jazz and noir movie soundtrack the band plays remains as strong, if not stronger, live than recorded. It was also a treat to see and hear violinist Mike Miskuly playing with the band again. Playing songs from all parts of its 15-year or so career, the band was sharp, dreamy, swinging and/or industrial when necessary, and frequently displaying humor while deflating most pretension bubbles. The audience was noticeably larger for Them Jazzbeards than the Steam Donkeys, at least in part because more people were at the event that earlier.

After going back to the Buffalo Arts Studio and visiting a few more artist friends, we went back downstairs to catch (and photograph) Jackdaw, Buffalo’s most intense Celtic-flavored rock band, which was playing in the second, larger music area just off the first area. The crowd was enormous, loud and seriously drinking, which hopefully helped them through the unfortunate fact that while the members of Jackdaw were giving it their all, the size and configuration of the area provided absolutely horrible sound quality. Familiar as I am with the band’s music (except their most recent CD, “Triple Crown,” which I have not heard yet), the sound forced me to think hard a few times before I knew which song was being played a few times. After one song, towering singer and accordionist David A. Moore said, “I don’t know if you know, but there is a bit of an echo in here,” followed by guitarist, banjoist and mandolin player Tim Byrne echoing Moore’s exact statement. Byrne’s singing of “Gutterfly” was impressive, as was Joe Davies’ fiddle

While this ended the portion of the music that I had intended on catching (and a little more), Val had to go back to photograph one more band, Thrown to the Wolves, basically a duet of two guys playing guitars and singing. It was much less than happy time, virtually acoustic metal/rock and gothic, but the songs were very heartfelt and catchy; it was too bad the crowd had thinned out so much by then.

There was also a cabaret area, traveling clowns, actors and other performers (including Ron Ehmke), poetry and other literary readings and several theater and dance performances.