Rock Baby Rock It 12 Feat. The Octanes, Los Skarnales, Jesse Dayton Continental Club July 21, 2012

See the pin-ups and hot rods of Rock Baby Rock It in our slideshow.

Hot was the operative word at Saturday's Rock Baby Rock It hot-rod show/musical extravaganza. With temperatures in the high 90s, the parking lot filled with hot-rods was like a Lawrence of Arabia death march in the afternoon heat.

So hot, we thought the makeup might literally melt off all the ladies who had dolled up for the pin-up contest to be held later in the evening. Cutesy umbrellas were everywhere.

But that didn't stop bands from scorching through one-hour sets that proved rockabilly is alive and well in Houston. Adam Burchfield's Octanes brought their own heat as they tore through much of their last album in the blazing sun.

We hadn't seen the Octanes in a while, and they had certainly upped their game for this gig, and were welcomed by a crowd of maybe 200 who huddled in what little shade there was between the buildings at Main and Winbern.

Water sales were brisk.

Perennial favorites Los Skarnales followed and, with the sun moving to the west, found themselves in almost full sun as the set began about 30 minutes behind schedule.

But front man Felipe Galvan, dressed in pink for the occasion, posed in a rock-star stance in front of the stage before counting off "Una, Otra Vez" and leaping onto the stage to get his part of the party started. And Skarnales proved once again that their crowd will follow them anywhere, anytime, in any kind of heat.

The band has recently rearranged its personnel, but little seems to have changed performance-wise as they raced through "Borracho" and other long-time crowd favorites. Galvan was dripping like a marathon runner by the time the action stopped.