| In all honesty, you'll have a hard time finding a "crappy" band in Austin. The competition is pretty stiff here, and because of the number of good bands around town, it's easy to find a good show.
If you like the college scene (not sure when UT lets out of class, but probably not til June?), head down to sixth street. West sixth street has an "older" (i.e. recent college grad) feel to it. East sixth street has a "younger" (i.e. 'I just turned 21 and want to drink til I puke my guts out') feel. Be sure to save room for a Bratwurst from one of the street vendors (if you're out late drinking that is).
Eric Tessmer and his band are playing at Friend's (a bar on 6th street) on the 17th, or Maggie Mae's (19th). He's an amazing guitar player (very SRV-esque). I think he does mostly SRV covers, but has some of his own stuff as well. I enjoyed watching him one time, but it got old as the night wore on after lots of guitar soloing, as I'm not really entirely into that music (but I wish I could play like he does).
There are lots of bars down on 6th with music. Maggie Mae's is a crowded spot (again, it's the college scene, lots of cute girls in sun dresses, and probably a lot more drunk college frat guys), but it's usually cover bands playing there. The patio is a good place to get a bird's eye view on the crowds below (although, the weekends have a LOT more people downtown than you may see during the week).
Not really sure what dates you're going to be here (Sunday is the 16th, and Thursday is the 20th, but you said you'd be here 17th and 18th.
Some of the "popular" venues are:
Saxon Pub (legendary place on Lamar - not considered "downtown")
Momo's (on 6th downtown)
Antone's (on 5th downtown)
Stubb's (on Red River downtown - doesn't look like there are any shows there when you're here, but you can still eat there, but it's not the greatest BBQ in town)
Cedar Street Courtyard (on 5th downtown - one of my favorite places to see live music in Austin, especially when the weather isn't too hot - my band is lucky enough to play there once in a while)
Emo's (on 6th downtown, but typically a punk-ish place)
Continental Club (on Congress - not "downtown")
Lucky Lounge (on 5th downtown) - (another place my band has played at - Boombox is a popular band there on Tuesday nights, but I've only heard them once, and was half-drunk so I can't really remember)
La Zona Rosa (on 4th street downtown - Minus the Bear is playing there on Sunday)
The Parish (on 6th street - never been there, but hear it's a cool place. OK Go is there on Wed).
I'd check out some of the downtown places while you're here one or two of thes nights, then maybe make a trip to the Continental Club or Saxon Pub one of the other nights if anything piques your interest. While walking from bar to bar downtown, you'll come across plenty other venues with music. There are lots of bars clustered over on Red River by Stubb's, but they're typically rockabilly/metal/punk bands playing over there.
Please come back and post what you saw/heard while you were here!
Grab an Austin Chronicle (available almost anywhere for free - if you can't find one, ask someone where you can get one, they can probably point you in the right direction) and check it out. It will have most of the big venues around town listed, with band schedules. Your guess is as good as anyone's as to which band is worth checking out (see first paragraph above).
Last edited by 98dvl : 05-12-2010 at 02:24 AM.
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gimme some Austin gigspam! 5/16-17 
