Houston, H-town, The H -- whichever moniker you prefer, you definitely heard it at Eastdown Warehouse's Winterfest Friday night.

The event gathered nearly two dozen local acts of every ilk, something organizer Visionary Noise is rather adept at. It's a glorious thing when it really works, even for smallish crowds -- as it did Friday night. The roster leaned toward hip hop artists and was headlined by Houston rap legend Paul Wall. His fans came dressed to be ogled. Twenty minutes before he hit the stage, thrashgrass punks Days N Daze performed for their fans, who were dressed to be "oogled." (Full disclosure: my son is in that band. And yes, he too was geeked for Paul Wall.)

The bond these bands shared was they were almost entirely Houston-based. They didn't mind mentioning it, either. Maybe being booked with Wall, who incessantly extols the virtues of being from Houston, created a sense of civic pride in the acts, who thanked, shouted out to and even sang about Hustletown (my preferred Houston reference).

Although many of the acts perform regularly here, tossing them into an appetizing gumbo before bringing out the main course ensured the best kind of crossover effect. For instance, many who were on hand for the in-sync rap potency of Dem Dayum Twinz also had the chance to see one of the city's best rock bands in Another Run.

But the man of the hour was definitely the headliner, who got name-dropped by many of the opening acts no matter what type of music they played. Wall took the stage a little after midnight with "Houston," the homage he, Slim Thug and Z-Ro wrote for the Houston Texans, whose playoff hopes were still alive in the wee hours of Saturday morning. From there, he sprinkled in some cuts from his latest release, Po Up Poet. The 14-track album released this month and features "No Favors," which Wall urged listeners to hashtag and Tweet.

With his trademark sparkling grin, Wall gave the fans the stuff they wanted, dropping in "Draped Up," "Grillz," "I'm On Patron," "Break 'Em Off," and set closer "Sittin' Sidewayz."

By the time Wall closed the show, nearly ten hours of non-stop music had been performed. Winterfest hoped to draw crowds even earlier than most EaDo happy hours begin, with the first artists hitting either an indoor or outdoor stage as early as four in the afternoon. Even on the day after Christmas, with many people relieved of work duties for an extra-long weekend, the crowd didn't filter in until after dark. And, once it was in full effect for the headliner, the extra-spacious venue had room for more fans.

So, maybe audience attendance wasn't the blizzard the event organizers hoped for, but it was a cool and uplifting breeze, thanks to so many people inquiring about bands they were watching for the first time.

It helped that the acts were benefitting from a couple of integral Winterfest players. Eastdown Warehouse got blinged-out just in time for Wall's date there. The venue celebrated its first anniversary recently and some very noticeable upgrades to the bar and seating areas had venue operator Adam Rodriguez beaming.

And, whoever booked Gritsy to handle sound duties should get a special commendation. Taking a page from Phil Spector, Gritsy created a literal wall of sound with amps that doubled as a speaker fortress of security for the headliner. A wall for Wall; it was the best sound I've personally heard at Eastdown.

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