READERS' PICK: Jonathan Richman, Alejandro Escovedo, Mike Ness and the night Link Wray called the cops on a taper in the audience; the first-annual Cover-Up (an all-local band bash so hot that pipes in the Hotel's aging plumbing actually exploded; no causal connection was ever proved); the Halloween masquerade ball; Gerry Cantrell, Ozomatli, Club Havana, the annual Prom Night for post-collegiate revelers; Electric Company Saturdays with Spyder Rhodes...there's something going on, or going down, every night of the week in no-holds-barred Club Congress. Don't miss the Hotel's 80th birthday party on October 1, featuring swing kings Royal Crown Revue.
READERS' POLL RUNNER-UP: Fourth Avenue (See Best Annual Festival, this page; and Best Place To Soak Up Urban Ambiance, page 14.)
