If you're a regular here at the Audio File, you know that I always talk about the "Coachella Moment"--that perfect moment that defines the festival.

Wednesday night, I had my "South By Southwest Moment"--which was seeing Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings at Stubb's.

The band is releaseing its new album, "I Learned the Hard Way," in early April. I got a sneak preview and it is just absolutely fantastic. I'me a huge fan of the band's most recent release, "100 Days, 100 Nights" and it tops that.

Anyway, why we care is that the Dap-Kings bandleader, bassist and producer, Gabe Roth, is a Riverside native. He also co-founded Daptone Records, the band's label which puts out incredible neo-soul records.

I ran into Gabe before the show and he said Austin has been crazy. We're trying to figure out a time to meet up and talk about the new record a little bit more.

Back to my point--if you haven't seen the band yet, do so.

Someone behind me in the crowd (and it was a packed crowd of thousands who waited in line to get in) proclaimed her to be the female James Brown. All she is missing is the cape. Seriously. She's that good.

The band opened up with two new tunes off "I Learned the Hard Way." Jones wished the audience a happy St. Patrick's Day and said she donned her green-sequined dress for the occasion.

They also gave a shout out to Riverside during their rendition of "This Land Is Your Land." If you've seen "Up In the Air," you'll know it. I think I might have been the only person who hooted and hollered when they said Riverside.

The band sounds like it came out of 1965. They record on analog equipment and only record as a whole band live in their studio in Brooklyn.

What really amazed me was watching how Gabe leads the band. He's up there playing bass, but he's also an incredible bandleader. When Jones took the crowd through a trip on the "Soul Train" and did some of the biggest dances ever (including the Mashed Potato and the Funky Chicken), with a nod of his head and the movement of his bass, the band would slow down or speed up.

Also, you have to love the natural moments--Jones lost her shoe while aboard the "Soul Train" and told the audience that wasn't going to stop her.

I couldn't get closer than this, but here's a sample of the show during one of the more mellow moments.

Voters have spoken and tonight the first competitor of "American Idol's" top 12 was sent home. After a week of Rolling Stones songs, the bottom three included Paige Miles, Tim Urban and Lacey Brown.

Inland contestant, Andrew Garcia of Moreno Valley, made it through another results night after singing Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" to mixed reviews from the judges Tuesday night.

Over the past three weeks, results shows have slimmed down the number of contestants from 24 to 12 by sending home four performers each week.

Urban, who sang an unusual version of "Under My Thumb," got the "sit down" from host Ryan Seacrest, leaving Miles and Brown waiting to find out which of them didn't get the votes.

Last night Miles sang "Honky Tonk Woman" and Brown sang "Ruby Tuesday."

After much drama and suspense it was announced that Brown would be going home.

Guest performers on the show included Season 7 winner David Cook, Orianthi and Ke$ha.

Remaining competitors include Lee Dewyze, Aaron Kelly, Casey James, Tim Urban, Michael Lynche, Siobhan Magnus, Katie Stevens, Paige Miles, Crystal Bowersox and Didi Banami.

Ready to see Sharon Jones an the Dap Kings at Stubb's.

Just ran into bassist and Riverside native Gabe Roth. He said it has been crazy since the band got to sxsw.

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I saw Divide the Day rock out at Ace's Lounge last night in Austin and I have the pictures to prove it. Enjoy!

The members of Neon Trees were kind enough to do a quick video interview with me after we did our longer sit down.

Here they are talking about SXSW and what it's like to have their album out.

Neon Trees doesn't think pop is a dirty word, or a bad way to describe the band's sound.

"We want to be that bigger than life thing," singer Tyler Glenn said.

Glenn and guitarist Chris Allen grew up in Murrieta and Glenn followed Allen to Utah when he moved there for school. In the underground arts scene of Provo, they found kindred spirits in bassist Branden Campbell and drummer Elaine Bradley and became Neon Trees.

The band's major label full-length debut album, "Animal," hit stores on Tuesday and is climbing up the iTunes chart.

"It felt like Election Day," Glenn explained, comparing Twitter feeds and the iTunes charts to election results.

So far it looks like the band is winning. They're one of the most buzzed-about bands at this year's SXSW, to boot.

See the band in San Diego on Monday for 91 cents (yes, less than the price of a load of laundry) and get their song "Animal" on iTunes this week for free.

While music writer Vanessa Franko is walking the streets of Austin for South by Southwest, I filled in for this afternoon's "This Week in Idol" recap of the performance show.

Get the low down on the best and worst of the night - and who we think might be in danger - on the show here.

Just had a blast talking to Neon Trees, a band that is based in Utah now but also has ties to Murrieta.

The band's debut album, "Habits," came out on Tuesday and is already charting high on iTunes.

So what did the band do to celebrate? They clapped in the van.

Actually, they tried to look for the album in Kansas on their way to Austin, and stopped at a Walmart.

However, the new release shipment hadn't gotten in yet and with the predominantly country CDs on sale they weren't sure it would be there.

However, they received a ton of picture messages from friends and family.

I will have more with the band later after I get a break from some panels and if all things go well, we will have a video with them, too.

AUSTIN--I landed yesterday for South By Southwest (SXSW) and I feel like I am already at home. I have never seen so many clubs and so much live music packed into one area.

After a long day of traveling, I got the lay of the land and was off to see some music, even though the official music event doesn't start until today.

I think there are some bars that don't even exist anymore, yet they're still venues. I can tell that I'm going to need to get to places really early for official showcases.

I caught up with Inland band Divide the Day and saw them at Ace's Lounge. Once again, file them under bands that can melt your face off. Here's a quick photo from the cameraphone. There will be more once I can snag some time to edit the real ones today.

Also, many thanks to Jennifer Dean for filling in on the live "American Idol" blog.

I'm signing off. Good night of "American Idol." Ellen was ON tonight. Funny stuff. Seacrest seemed off. Tune in to inlandsocal.com or PE.com for a live video "Idol" recap.

Crystal Bowersox - can't wait to hear this one. We learn about Crystal's supportive dad, who has always driven her to gigs.

She sang "You Can't Always Get What You Want." Sounded solid as usual, but maybe a little too much like other performances.

Randy: "I don't think it was your best performances but ... I love you."
Ellen: "Here's the think, you sing with such ease. It's so effortless. What I've been missing from you that I saw tonight was personality."
Kara: "I agree. You're so comfortable up there ... but tonight you loosened up a bit more."
Simon: "You came out here tonight 100 percent the clear favorite. You chose a song that didn't have what you needed. This is the first time I think you were beaten by somebody ... Siobhan."

Aaron Kelly was adopted at 5 years old. His first performance was at a school talent show.

He sang "Angie." It was a little boring for me, but apparently I'm wrong because the judges raved.

Randy: "You were definitely born to sing. The tender moments, almost sometimes I could hear a little Justin Timberlake."
Ellen: "Are you trying to do your hair like mine? I thought that was such a great song choice for me."
Kara: "I beat you up good last week, but you showed me good. Really great."
Simon: "I must admit, I did fear for you when I heard it was Rolling Stones week. But you chose, absolutely 100 percent the right song. It was one of your strongest performances to date."