I rolled into town Sunday evening just in time to get to the Blue Note, on the west side of Cincinnati, and catch the last couple of sets in Semifinal #4. A nice spacious room with good sound and great lights, it has the feel of a friendly neighborhood tavern, not unlike my usual watering holes, accept the huge freakin'' crowd of people goin'' crazy about the fact that their band just advanced to the final. After a couple of days of relaxation, it was time for Thursday''s semifinal show! The story of the night was a band by the name of CLEMMER. They brought out a modest group of fans do to the fact that the band is moving to Arizona the following week and had their big farewell show the prior Friday night. That fact didn''t stop the band from getting on stage and putting on a larger than life show. With a very solid rhythm section, the guitarist and singer, which are brothers, lead the band through a very fluid set of songs that got the fans of all the other groups rockin'' with them. I even heard members of other bands hoping that CLEMMER would win. Now they''ll have to make the trip back to the Nati and put on one more farewell show for their faithful. Friday night I was surprised to see two jam style bands in the show, as that''s not something I''ve seen much of in the festival. So imagine my surprise when they were both fantastic and both won over the crowds and advanced to the final. AUTUMN''S HAZY EYES, which is a 4-piece of younger college kids, has a nice mix of acoustic and electric guitars with a good, sort of Dave Mathews feel without the sax, fiddle and without Dave Mathews. The songs are original and the vocals are a good match for the sound the band is working for. They were followed up by TRIFECTA FUNK, which is exactly what the name implies. Well, maybe not exactly. It is a 3-piece group that plays a funky style of music, but unlike most of the bands that rock the Emergenza stage, this group has abandoned the guitars and opted for keyboards. At first listen, I think of Ben Folds Five meets Billy Joel, then maybe its more like the love child of Sly Stone and Elton John, but then again maybe it''s the illegitimate grandkids of Jerry Lee. Like any really good original group, its hard to grasp a label for these guys, except maybe to say that they are really good. Saturday night, brought yet another really good jam band to the stage by the name of THE HILL. They entertained the crowd by mixing their original stuff with quick blurps of covers added into their longer than average jams. You better be prepared to move your feet and have a good time if you find yourself at one of their shows. Sunday was started off with FLUWID, a hard rock/metal band that ignited their huge following, which showed up hours before the show and couldn''t wait to rock out. Fluwid is a very tight band with good songs and one cover that the crowd really seemed to get off on. Later that the night THE FUNKY BUDDHA took the stage and entertained their crowd with catchy tunes about fun stuff like gettin'' high and havin'' a good time. The Cincinnati final is set and looks sure to be a good time with a mix of very talented bands and groups that like to entertain, dance and have fun.