Bitter cold and snowy here in the windy city, and stone cold rock and roll was the forecast. Calling all suburbanites…it''s still hot at the Note this time of year. For those of you that missed the shows, listen up. The Poondevils kicked off the second weekend of the elimination rounds here with solid alternative rock. Voodoo Monkey Child had the biggest showing of the night Thursday, and they pumped up the crowd with their progressive rock. Astral Planes followed Voodoo Monkey Child with indy rock. Great sounding tunes, but a little following didn''t bring them through to the quarterfinals. Fisco made it through with a loud intro that led them into their set of alternative rock. Finally, the Ifficial Reggae Band closed out the night with their smoky reggae grooves. There was definitely an overcast sky on Friday, and Overcast the band played some energetic progressive rock to start the evening. Krod then switched it up with their indy rock and a cover of “I Think We''re Alone Now.” The crowd soon started pouring in though just in time for Romanti to get their attention with some screamo rock. Three of the top four bands of the night were next. Eleven Dollar Life is bringing their funky rock and long johns on through to the quarterfinals. A cloud of fog and flames carried Chokehold''s metal to the next round as well. You''ll also be able to get crunk with the hip-hop of P.L.U.T.O. Ent. in the shows to come. Rounding off the night was the noise rock of Danger Boy, the classic rock influenced Impulse and the alternative rock of Ephnix. Ephnix lead guitar player literally laid down on the ground for a guitar solo and the band will be heading back to the Note for the quarterfinals as well. Saturday was an eclectic night to close the weekend with. There was some alt. rock from Crownfrog who were joined by a cutout of George W. Bush onstage. I wonder if Mr. W would have enjoyed the political hip-hop from Agents of Change. Deficit, Humanic and Permo held it down on the heavy metal side, but when all was said and done the crowd could only pick four bands to move on to the quarterfinals. Bluzilla was one of them and they reminded Chicago why blues is still king around here. The Understory Project is also moving on with their acoustic rock sounds. They''ll be joined by Bullet Called Life and Speedwell in the quarters too. Speedwell brought the lovely ladies out of hiding with their catchy rock and roll and Bullet Called Life definitely impressed the crowd with their rock n'' roll that was very reminiscent of the old days. All in all, I had a blast all weekend at Emergenza Fest, but bring on the crowds folks. I''m getting chilly over here. Yours in Rock,