Clubland

Bad news for fans of ludicrous, beer-fueled mayhem: Austin power-punk troika El Flaco is terminating its often tempestuous -- though never less than mutually satisfying -- several-year relationship with Houston's Inner Loop club culture. Long a live-music mixer of choice at Rudz! and other Montrose-area watering holes, the band has decided to call it a career by the end of this month.

The announcement comes on the eve of the release of its long-awaited CD, no less, and rumor has it the band's contract with ZZ Top guru Bill Ham's Lone Wolf Management is at the root of the band's problems (imagine that). So consider the band's Saturday show at the Blue Iguana a bittersweet farewell.