The DC local music scene offered up a heaping portion of eclectic musical styles last Sunday at the 9:30 Club for the Emergenza Finals. Some of the areas best bands came out to show 1800 Washingtonians what the city''s got hiding just below the surface of button-down shirts and never-ending filibusters. I''ve been all around North America, and witnessed some great local music, but never in my life have I seen such an amazing array of different styles come together on one night. The Dreamscapes Project came back for their second taste of the finals, coming in second place, and having the honor of releasing their latest disc at the infamous 9:30 Club. Rude Buddha always brings it on stage, and this time they brought the thunder in the crowd too. They had, by far, the loudest and most rawkus crowd response of the night. The band skyrocketed recently upon winning the opening slot at the DC101 Chili Cookoff, and personally, I think "Payback" is one of the greatest songs in the world... EVER. Jackie Gino and Jebus, played and placed back to back, both putting on amazing performances.  Jackie Gino had the honor of being voted the best band of the night by their fellow musicians.  As far as their NoVA brethren Jebus go... I just can't get that country funk of out of my head... HOLY JEBUS!  Relative newcomers to the scene, Overhead Switch, continues to shock me every time I have the honor of seeing them play. Front-man Chris threw the keys towards the back of the stage this time out... a good move indeed. His presence on stage deserves to be front and center. The youngsters of the night, North Avenue, and Adopt-A-Highway let us know that when the 20-somethings are sittin'' on the front porch talking about the good ''ol days, that the DC scene will continue to thrive. Adopt-A-Highway in particular just plain rips it. How these 15 year olds play a style of music that was perfected before they were born so genuinely is beyond me. Congrats to their guitarist for being awarded as the best of the night. Honor By August has some of the best song-writing around. Great harmonies, and amazingly in-sync instrumentation make me think that we''ll be hearing from these guys again very soon. Rock Tronics and Long Since Driven came from miles and miles to represent their respective ''hoods, both putting on performances of a lifetime. The Crawford Players represented the DC jam scene, letting everyone know that it''s not just about hardcore anymore. BOB... yellow axe and all came out strong in the finals. They''ve progressed a ton in the last year... getting spins on DC101 Local Lix and just finishing up recording at the infamous Dragonfly Studios. Keep an eye out for their latest demo. I can''t mention The Alphabetical Order without mentioning how sonically together they are. They definitely had one of the best performances of the night, the coolest band name, and most importantly they have Kate, the only woman to grace the stage the entire night. Thank you to all the bands who came out and shared, to quote Dave from TDSP, " They played the first show of the season in DC... and they played the last. Restoring Poetry in Music took home the grand prize of the night, a trip to the regionals, as well as a hat-trick of individual musicianship awards. RPM''s bassist Drew stepped up and held it down on the choruses assisting MC Raw Poetic, the best vocalist of the night, and helped catapult them on to the next round, and a shot at the national finals. RPM puts on one of the most undeniably amazing shows around. They can''t be classified, and if the music business has a brain in it''s skull, they won''t be stopped. Good luck in the regionals. Represent it for all of DC. A special thanks goes out to all of our judges... Evan and Olivia from Washington Social Club, Scott Ball from Ernie Ball, Brian Meader from Chuck Levin''s Washington Music Center, and Amber and Anna from D