As I walked into Hammerjacks on Friday night during Madahoochi's first set break, I had to wonder what the band was thinking. The St. Louis jam quartet, primarily known for playing the funk/blues/jazz/rock amalgam that jam band fans adore, was drinking as death metal played over the jukebox and the male bartender entertained patrons by blowing flames. I would bet that this isn't their ideal venue, but the skilled musicians won most of the crowd over with an excellent choice of covers and some bouncy originals.

Madahoochi was almost strategic in their setlist, luring listeners in with some well-executed covers like The Beatles' "I Am The Walrus," Sublime's "Get Ready" and some Pink Floyd then playing their own bluesy funk tracks. All four band members, drummer Joe Winze, bassist Beto Moreno, guitarist Scott Rockwood and keyboardist Shawn Hartung, took turns on vocal duties and captured a good portion of the crowd's attention with original jams that also veered towards reggae and Latin grooves with techno touches. Only a few complaints could be made. The band took a bit too long in between songs and while they seemed to show great restraint in the length of their jams, there were less than a handful of times where the repetition of a riff grew tiresome despite the killer soloing on display.

Every player in the band demonstrated an incredible amount of musicianship (props to Moreno for flawlessly pulling of the bass run on the Zeppelin track "Immigrant Song") but the MVP was Rockwood, who demonstrated equal parts bluesy know-how, jazz nuance and speed metal precision. One of the Hammerjacks regulars turned to me and told me she thought this band was terrible. I immediately disagreed. They may not be for the usual Hammerjacks crowd, but as far as I'm concerned, the band can come back to St. Joe any time.

On the night of the Mardi Gras Parade, there were tons of options for live music. I settled for The Vous and Jean Claude Van Halen a.k.a. Blue Oyster Culture Club, who were putting on a special birthday bash show for Clover, wife of the band's guitarist and singer Todd Cooper. This wasn't your typical '80s tributepalooza. They tried to play songs that Clover liked along with their typical hard-rock replications of '80s classics. Some of them worked (Clutch's slugging grooves on "Willie Nelson") others obviously needed work (their attempts at the theme from "The Lost Boys" and U2's "Where The Streets Have No Name").

The guys occasionally let other vocalists take the reigns, including Full Power bassist Ryan Arn and IT singer Rick Hoffman, who traded verses on Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'." As a person who has seen B.O.C.C. on more than a handful of occasions, I would have to say they had an off night. But with a packed space full of close friends singing along and the birthday girl smiling in the front, you would think otherwise.