Late Night Pick: Franz Ferdinand

Watch Scottish alt-rockers Franz Ferdinand (not the reincarnated Archduke) on a repeat of Last Call with Carson Daly tonight (1:35 AM, NBC). Here's Franz at a festival called "T in the Park" which was held a couple weeks ago doing their hit, "Take Me Out":



Here's Beck on last night's Colbert Report doing "Heart is a Drum":

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Here's a web exclusive of another one Beck did last night:

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Late Night Pick: Beck

Beck will be on Colbert Report tonight at 11:30 on Comedy Central. His "Song Reader" album will be released tomorrow. It was originally released last year in sheet music form only. Now it will actually get an album release with other artists doing the songs on the album, except for Beck himself on one song. Artists on the album include Fun., Tweedy, Norah Jones, Lord Huron, Jack White, David Johanson, Jason Isbell, Sparks, Jack Black, Loudon Wainwright III and others. After the sheet music came out, Beck encouraged people to record versions of the songs. Here's Max Miller's (featuring Rachel Roth) version of "Now That Your Dollar Bills Have Wings":



Here's the two songs Classixx did on Jimmy Kimmel Live Friday:

Late Night Pick: Classixx

Electronic dance/neo-disco duo Classixx will be on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live that originally aired on Monday (11:35 PM, ABC). Also on the show will be the cast of the highly anticipated new Marvel movie, "Guardians of the Galaxy", so if you don't know, you can find out what a Rocket Raccoon and a Groot is. Here's Classixx's "I'll Get You" from 2009:



Here's Sharon Van Etten on last night's Late Show with David Letterman:



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Weekend Picks: Circulatory System, I Am the Avalanche, Blues Traveler, Smash Mouth, Sugar Ray, Lee Boys, Diamond Center, Fear of Music

Saturday. Beer. Bourbon DIPA Beer. Barrel Aged Beers (3 new ones). Barrel Day at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery. It's free to get in, starts at 2 and goes until 9. Live music starts at 5:30 with The Welcome Hips (Newly formed in RVA, synth-pop channeling the jangle-y rock sound of the Velvet Underground, the Walkmen) at 5:30; Whtie Laces (Dreamy, atmospheric indie-pop from RVA) at 7; and Diamond Center (Electrified folk freak-out drone, but don't be scared) at 8. This will be Diamond Center's last show of the summer, so don't miss it. Here's Diamond Center at Strange Matter a couple years ago (we really need some new videos guys):

Diamond Center is going to have to hustle to get to Hardywood. They are pulling double duty on Saturday as they'll be at Strange Matter for a psychedelic early show. Doors will open at 5, music starts at 5:30 with a new Richmond band with a cool name, Father Sunflower & The Golden Rays (have they been playing Plants vs. Zombies?), then comes Diamond Center, then the headliner, Circulatory System out of Athens GA. Tix are $10 in advance, $12 day of show. Here's Circulatory System at the Caledonia Lounge in Athens on National Slurpee Day (7/11):



The Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Across America comes to Richmond Tuesday. The event will be at The Broadberry starting at 5 PM. This is a celebration of craft beer and they'll have 12 beer collaborations Sierra Nevada did with craft brewers created specifically for the event. Proceeds from the festival will go to the state brewers guilds in the host state of the festival. Proceeds from the sales of the 12-pack will go to hop and barley research, with the idea that fostering the development of new types of hop varieties and barley crops will help fuel the continued expansion of new flavor experiences for the ever-expanding tastes of craft drinkers. It's FREE to get in and Fear of Music, your local Talking Heads tribute band, will provide the soundtrack. Fear of Music needs some new video too, so here's the Talking Heads doing "Heaven":

At The Camel Tuesday night, I Am the Avalanche headlines a punk rock show with Somos, Rustbelt Lights and We Call This Courage opening. Doors are at 7, show starts at 7:30, it's $12 in advance, $14 at the door. Here's I Am the Avalanche's "The Shape I'm In" (not The Band song):



Wednesday night at Innsbrook, it's a whole bunch of pop-rock bands from the 90's on the Under the Sun Tour 2014 with Blues Traveler, Sugar Ray, Uncle Kracker and Smash Mouth. Gates open at 5, show starts at 6, tickets run from $20 for General Admission to $99 for Gold Circle Platinum (really, Innsbrook, this Gold Circle shit has to stop). Here's Blues Traveler from 2012 with "You Don't Have to Love Me":

The sacred steel sounds (like Robert Randolph) of The Lee Boys will light up The Broadberry on Wednesday night. DJ Williams will open the show and hopefully sit in with the boys. Doors open at 8, tix are $7 in advance, $10 at the door. Here's The Lee Boys with "Smile":



Have a great weekend! See you at Hardywood on Saturday and if you are going to the Phish show in Portsmouth on Wednesday, hit me up, and we'll hang out!

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Sharon Van Etten

Indie folkie Sharon Van Etten will be on Late Show with David Letterman tonight (CBS, 11:35 PM). You might want to check SVE out if you like Brandi Carlile, Polica, or Cat Power. Here's Sharon doing "For You":



Here's Common doing "Black Majik" on last night's Jimmy Kimmel Live:



He also did "Kingdom":

Late Night Pick: Common

Alternative rapper Common has a new album out, "Nobody's Smiling", and he'll be on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight (ABC, 11:35 PM) to do "Black Majik" and "Kingdom" from that album. Also on the show tonight will be Bobcat Goldthwait, who I once drove in my car from the radio station where I worked back to his hotel. No, he doesn't always talk that way. Yes, that's a weak claim to fame. HERE is Common's Advice for 6 Common Situations. And here's Common's "The People":



And here's The Hold Steady on last night's Conan:

Late Night Pick: The Hold Steady; Free Widespread Panic webcast tonight

Tonight's Late Night Pick is indie rockers The Hold Steady on tonight's Conan (TBS, 11 PM). You might dig The Hold Steady if you like Bruce Springsteen, The Who, Husker Du,  or The Replacements. Here they are performing at a recent Bing Lounge session for KINK Radio. There are three other songs and an interview from the session if you like what you hear.



Tonight, there is a FREE webcast of Widespread's Panic acoustic show from Bob Weir's TRI Studios. The show starts at 8 ET and is repeated at 11 ET. There are also repeat showings on Thursday, 7/24 at the same times.

Late Night Pick: Phish

If you missed Phish's performance on Late Show with David Letterman (11:35 PM, CBS) last month, you can catch the repeat tonight. Only 11 days until their 2 night run in Portsmouth starts. Here they are doing "Chalk Dust Torture" on Randall's Island in NYC on 7/13/14. Smoke 'em if you got 'em. This one clocks in at 28 minutes.



Here's the considerably shorter "Bring Me Your Loves" from St. Vincent on Letterman last night:

Weekend Picks: Robert Cray, John Hiatt, Gordon Lightfoot, Fireworks, Old 97's, Tommy Stinson, Avers, PBR, No BS! Brass Band, Big Payback

All weekend long, you can watch the Pitchfork Festival online live from Chicago IL. Find out what all the hipsters at Pitchfork.com are diggning with live performances from Beck, Kendrick Lamar, St. Vincent, Giorgio Moroder, Tune-Yards, Danny Brown, Schoolboy Q, Sharon Van Etten, Neneh Cherry, Speedy Ortiz and many others. Go to pitchfork.com to check it out starting on Friday at 4:30 PM ET, Saturday and Sunday at 2 PM ET.

Lots of music locally this weekend. Punk poppers Fireworks will be at The Camel on Friday for a show that includes Young Statues, Better Off, Another Treehouse Acquaintance, and Centerfolds. Doors open at 7, show starts at 7:30, $12 in advance, $14 at the door. Here's Fireworks with "Detroit":

People's Blues of Richmond hit up The Broadberry again on Friday night. It's $8 in advance, $10 at the door, doors open at 8 and Consider the Source opens. PBR comes on at 10. They'll be heading up to NYC for a couple shows in August, stretching out that fan base. Here they are doing "Born to Die" the last time they played The Broadberry:

All weekend long, WRIR puts on the Commonwealth of Notions:Volume 4 in venues all over town. Here's a little video about the festival.



On Friday night, check out Avers, Sundials, Lightfields, Hot Dolphin, and Clair Morgan at Strange Matter. Show starts at 8:30, doors open at 7:30 and it's just $5 to get in. You can check out the rest of the shows on the poster up there. Avers don't have a lot of video out there but here's some short clips from their show at Friday Cheers on 5/30 so you can get a taste of their psychedelic garage pop sound. You can spot me in the crowd at one point but you have to look fast.


Free music at Plan 9 in Carytown Saturday afternoon. Chris Schlarb and TLVS will perform there with TLVS on at 12:45 and Chris on at 1:30. Here's the little press blurb:

Chris Schlarb (on the Asthmatic Kitty record label) is a musician, composer and producer based in Long Beach, California. His newest album, Making The Saint, was recorded alone inside a 140-year old Gold Rush cabin in the San Bernardino mountains. With no collaborations or distractions, Making The Saint contains the most intimate music of his career. SPIN Magazine calls the album, “Gorgeously meditative… Chris Schlarb is a wizard with the guitar. Making the Saint has an inclusive, panoramic feel…” The New York Times calls his playing, “Immersive… meticulous and controlled.”

Here's his cool animated video for the song "Great Receiver":

The big National Beer Expo sponsored by Capital Ale House is here in Richmond all weekend.The big events are at the Convention Center but a special after hours gig goes on at Capital Ale House downtown staring at 6 on Saturday evening. Food is included in the ticket. They'll be tapping special beers every 1/2 hour on the 1/2 hour and James Brown tribute band, The Big Payback will help you get your groove on. You have to get your tickets in advance on the Beer Expo ticket site which is HERE.

No BS! Brass Band will kick it over at Balliceaux Saturday night.Show starts at 10 and it's $10 to get in. No BS! just played the Lowdown Hudson Blues Fest in NYC with Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Robert Cray, John Hiatt and Lake Street Dive among others. Here they are showing their RVA pride in New Haven CT in June:



Folk legend Gordon Lightfoot is at the Carpenter Theatre on Sunday night. Tix are $49 to $64. Show starts at 8 and get there on time. The show is billed as "An Evening With Gordon Lightfoot" which usually implies no opener and a nice long show with your headliner. Here he is in 1974 doing "Sundown":



Alt-country band Old 97's come to The National on Tuesday night. Tix are $15 in advance, $18 at the door, doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with Tommy Stinson. Rolling Stone magazine picked the Old 97's latest album, "Most Messed Up" as one of the best albums of 2014 so far. Here's a tune from that album with a title I can dig, "Let's Get Drunk & Get It On":


Wednesday night at Innsbrook Pavilion, the aforementioned Robert Cray & John Hiatt will be in town for your listening pleasure. Tickets run from $15 for GA lawn to $99 for Gold Circle-Platinum (gold or platinum, Innsbrook Pavilion, pick one) with $35 & $55 Gold Circle price points in there too. Gates open at 5, show starts at 6. Here's one from Robert Cray, filmed just a couple days ago:



And here's one from John Hiatt for an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien back in '94:



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: St. Vincent, RIP Johnny Winter

Check out St. Vincent on Late Show with David Letterman tonight (CBS, 11:35 PM). She'll be opening for the Black Keys here in Richmond at the Coliseum on December 6. Though she's on the Letterman show tonight, she did an hour long "Live on Letterman" web performance last night. You can check it out below:

Blues guitar great Johnny Winter passed away in Switzerland last night at the age of 70. Rolling Stone posted a nice tribute HERE. Here's part of his performance at Woodstock (thanks to Wyatt for finding this one):



Here's Broods doing "Mother and Father" on last night's Late Night with Seth Meyers.