"Hungry Wolf" was infinitely rhythmically stretched with maracas and bongos, becoming less tribal as it morphed into a loungy, funky-feral version, as if Curtis Mayfield hijacked the song or the band was performing at the vintage Balinese Room in Galveston.

Bonebrake, in fact, was bedecked in an Operation Ivy T-shirt, paying homage to the post-hardcore ska punks that reigned in the Bay Area in the late 1980s, yet he played rather softly when on drums, playing throughout the night with delicate strokes, not steely skin-slaps.

Some tunes did compact themselves into blood-throbbing statements, like the tightly rendered noir beach tune "Blue Spark" (always reminds me of writer John Fante) and lean crowd pleaser "White Girl." In turn, "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts" was dedicated to Keith Morris of both Circle Jerks and OFF! who roiled the House of Blues last weekend with his personal thunder. That drew applause and roars of approval.

And they actually waited until the encore to unveil "Adult Books," X's recently re-released first single. Introducing the song, Doe exposed an interesting note about its triggering idea. No less than Engelbert Humperdinck was "the evil villain that helped create this song in a way," he attested, as Bonebrake seemed to guffaw and recoil.

Then they delivered a true solid punch to the evening, "Devil Doll," jokingly referred to as "Devil Dogg" on the handwritten set list in front of Doe.

X might not have walloped the crowd with the manic force they harnessed last time, but they delivered a satisfying soul kitchen worth of tunes exploring their roots, musical breadth, and passion for literate poetic territory.

Personal Bias: More than ten years ago, I shopped at a last-call thrift store in Austin with Exene Cervenka and Randy 'Biscuit" Turner of the Big Boys. One person's trash is another's treasure.

The Crowd: A crew of vintage indie, underground, punk, and rockers, slightly silver-foxy in the hair, or with a few wrinkles like myself, along with some young Turks trying to soak up the authentic punk vibes.

Overheard In the Crowd: "Who is that other guy onstage?"

Random Notebook Dump: Nothing is much more exciting than an entire crowd singing "Los Angeles" at full volume.

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