Leave Your Genre at the Door

Outdoor and multi-venue festivals aside, Leave Your Genre at the Door is Houston's premier musical buffet under one roof. As the name suggests, the annual event brings together local artists from across the musical spectrum to prick up some unfamiliar ears and hopefully win some new fans — although given the amount of cross-genre bills that happen in Houston on a regular basis, it's really just one of those blown up to Chase Tower-size proportions. Headlining this third installment is the reunion of irie-time reggae crew Sound Patrol and an epic underground-MC showdown between B L A C K I E and Fat Tony. The $10 cover gets all-ages sampler sets from the Pocket, Buxton, Listen Listen, Limb, Tax the Wolf, Electric Attitude, Ellypseas, Shina Rae, Satin Hooks, Female Demand, the Mathletes, Check Other, Love Field, sings, brains for dinner and charming patter from host and homegrown R&B misfit (You)genius (lineup subject to change, of course). "The fact that [artists] are limited to playing for such a short time amongst a ton of really great musicians, I feel, lays a certain amount of pressure on them to play a bit better than they usually do," says LYGATD organizer Kamerra "Kam" Franklin. "Who doesn't love a little competition, right?"