Late Night Pick: Broken Bells

Conan is not a repeat tonight (every other late night talk show is) and he's got Broken Bells tonight on TBS at 11 PM. You can pick up a limited edition Broken Bells "Holding for Life" 12'' vinyl on Record Store Day tomorrow featuring three previously unavailable remixes plus acapella and instrumental versions. Here's "The High Road":



Here's Schoolboy Q on last night's repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live doing "What They Want":

Broadberry Grand Opening, Chili Cook Off, The Coathangers, Local H, Del McCoury Band, Hypercolor, Dopapod, Legend 20th Anniversary, Record Store Day

Thursday night, the newest venue in Richmond, The Broadberry, has it's first of two Grand Opening shows. It'll have 24 beers on tap and go-go dancing platforms. Ladies, wear your tassles. The first night brings the RVA funk with No BS! Brass Band, Black Girls and Goldrush. Doors open at 8 and it's $10 to get in. The second Grand Opening event is on Saturday night with the best of RVA jamtronica and Former Champions, The Polychrons and Silo Effect. Again, the doors open at 8, and it's $10 to get in. I'll be going for free thanks to winning a little Facebook contest and I thank The Broadberry for that. I'm looking forward to seeing the place and I'm sure I'll be spending a lot of time there in the future. Buy tickets for these shows now as they are looking like sell-outs because everyone wants to see the new place. Here's Former Champions at The National in March 2013:



Friday, down at the Beacon Theatre in Hopewell, reigning king of bluesgass, Del McCoury and his Band will take the stage. DelFest is happening again Memorial Day weekend in Cumberland MD with Del McCoury Band, String Cheese Incident, Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby, Yonder Mountain String Band, Railroad Earth, Bela Fleck, The Travelin' McCourys and more. Here's a fun video with Del McCoury Band riding down Esplanade in New Orleans in a horse-drawn carriage and playing some fine music:



In town on Friday, alternative indie pop post-grunge rockers Local H are at the Canal Club with The Vacant Stairs and Red States. Doors open at 7:30, tix are $12 in advance, $14 at the door. You may like Local H if you like Sponge, Foo Fighters, Third Eye Blind, Everclear, Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, or the Pixies. Here's Local H getting crazy covering Lorde's "Team":



It's Record Store Day on Saturday so celebrate your local independent record store by heading to Plan 9 and buying one of the special Record Store Day releases on vinyl or CD  from one of your favorite artists. There will also be music at Plan 9 with WRIR DJs from 10 AM - 2 PM, Eric Hunter & The Distractions at 2 PM, The Orewlls at 3:30 PM, and The Skaters at 5 PM. Here's The Orwells having fun on the Weezer Cruise this year:



At Richmond International Raceway Saturday it's the XL102 Chili Cook Off with a great lineup including Seether (7 PM), Panic At The Disco (5:30 PM), A Day to Remember (4 PM), The Hold Steady (2:30 PM), Kongos (1:30 PM), and The Orwells (12:35 PM before they head to Plan 9), Fun Size (11:45 AM) & Strongbow (11 AM). Gates open at 10:30 AM and it goes until 8. Tix are $18 in advance and $40 at the gate. If you are looking to prioritize your band watching, in order of my preference, check out The Orwells, A Day to Remember, The Hold Steady, Panic! at The Disco, Kongos, then Seether. Here's A Day to Remember's "Right Back At It Again":



It's Legend Brewery's 20th Anniversary Party at Legend Brewery on Saturday from 2 PM - 8 PM. It's $10 to get in, but only $12 to get in and get an all you can eat wristband. Mmmmm, all you can eat. There will be live music from The Remnants, Wayne Reynolds, Slack Family Band, and Black Girls. Bring the kids because there will be a kids area with face painting, balloon sculptures and special 2% beer for the kids (just kidding about the beer, though they would sleep well that night what with the playing outdoors and the alcohol). And they'll have their new Bourbon Barrel Imperial Brown Ale.

At The Camel Saturday night, see Hypercolor (were they named after the Hypercolor shirts of the 80s?), James Wallace & the Naked Light and The Trillions. Show starts at 9 and it's 7 bucks to get in. This is the release party for Hypercolor's new EP. Here's their excellent new song, "100 Hands". I've only listened to this song 3 times today and I'm already in love with it.



Tuesday night, alternative/indie/garage/punk band, The Coathangers are at Strange Matter. Doors open at 9, show starts at 10 with openers The Audacity, The Nervous Ticks, The Ar-Kaics and DJ Santa Claud spinning between sets. It's $10 to get in. Here's The Coathangers video for "Follow Me". That may or may not be The Coathangers in the video. I'll let you decide.



Over at Canal Club on Tuesday, jamtronica band Dopapod takes the stage to melt your face. Doors open at 8 and The Shack Band opens. Tix are $7 in advance, $10 at the door. Dopapod jammed with Papadosio at Papadosio's 8th anniversary show. Here it is:


I took the latest BuzzFeed Quiz, "What Music Era Do You Belong To?". I got Laurel Canyon in the Late '60's/Early '70's. Not a bad place to be, but too mellow for me I think. If you want to take the quiz for yourself, go HERE.

Have a great weekend! See you at Legend Brewery and The Broadberry on Saturday!

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Schoolboy Q

Check out west coast, left field rapper Schoolboy Q on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight at 11:35 PM on ABC tonight. He'll perform "Studio" and "What They Want". Here's Schoolboy Q enjoying some time on vacation with some ladies who I'm sure are close, personal friends in "Man of the Year". I believe the guys will like this video. Language is NSFW. Jiggly parts may be NSFW either.

Dirty Dozen Brass Band; Late Night Pick: Rosanne Cash

Get your New Orleans on tonight with the funky and fantastic Dirty Dozen Brass Band at Capital Ale House downtown. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 and no opener is listed. Tix are $15. Here's DDBB in Germany in 2008:



Tonight on Tavis Smiley (check the web site for local air time), it's music royalty Rosanne Cash. As always, don't know if Rosanne will perform or will just be interviewed, but even if just an interview, her history is rife with interesting stories. Rosanne is currently riding high on the strength of her excellent new album, "The River & The Thread". Here she is doing "500 Miles" on Austin City Limits:



Here's U2 doing "Ordinary Love" acoustic on last night's Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon:

Black Lips @ National, Late Night Pick: U2

Garage rock band, Black Lips, will be at The National tonight. Doors open at 6:30, show starts at 7:30 with opener, Natural Child. Tix are $20 at the door. You might dig them if you like the Rolling Stones, Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, or The Kinks. Here's the Black Lips "Bad Kids". Sing along with the bouncing ball!



Almost all the late night show are in repeats so watch U2 on a repeat of Jimmy Fallon's first Tonight Show (11:35 PM on NBC). We are still waiting for U2's new album and last reports said it might not be out until next year, which would make 6 years since their last album. Here's U2's "Beautiful Day":



And here's KISS with some bonus content from The Tonight Show on Friday night doing "Hotter Than Hell/Firehouse":

Late Night Pick: KISS

They were just inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last night amid all the usual egos and controversy but that's all put aside tonight as KISS performs on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon tonight at 11:35 on NBC. For all the wrangling that went on before the Hall of Fame ceremony amongst the original members, they did play nice (but not play music) in last night's ceremony. Read about it HERE. And here's the original band in a full show from 1976:

Weekend Picks: The Wonder Years, Branford Marsalis, Future Rock, Beer Parties

Philly punk-pop band, The Wonder Years (yes, they named themselves after the TV show) will be at The National tonight. Tix are $19. Doors open at 6, show starts at 6:30 with openers Fireworks, Citizen, Real Friends and Modern Baseball. Certainly getting  a lot of bands for your money there. Here's Wonder Years' new video for "Dismantling Summer".



Jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis will be at the Modlin Center with his Quartet tonight. Show starts at 7:30 and tix range from $10 - $40 depending on your demographic. Here's the press blurb on Branford in case you don't know him:

NEA Jazz Master, renowned Grammy Award-winning saxophonist and Tony Award-nominated composer Branford Marsalis is among the most revered instrumentalists of his time. Having cut his teeth in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and his brother Wynton’s quartet, Marsalis has become one of jazz’s most forward-thinking, innovative, and prolific practitioners. Marsalis has performed and recorded with jazz legends including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, and Sonny Rollins and has collaborated with everyone from Sting to the Grateful Dead. 

 Here's a half-hour of the Quartet live from Germany in 2003:



People's Blues of Richmond will rock The Camel Friday night. Shack Band will open, doors will open at 8 and it's $5 to get in. This is the start of a tour that will take PBR to NC, GA, SC, a big dip through FL, LA (including New Orleans), MS, AL, TN, and then returning to RVA and The Camel on 5/3. Good luck on the tour, boys and stay out of the swamps! There be gators there. Though a gator skull would look cool on top of your amps. Here they are doing "Die, Die, Die" at The Camel on 11/30/13.



Saturday, it will be a beautiful day to drink beer (well, what day isn't, really?) but it will be even more beautiful at RVA Rocks On Tap on Mayo Island. It'll run from noon until 5 with all of your favorite local craft breweries, and ONLY local craft breweries, providing the suds. Please, please, please, don't embarass yourself by asking for a Coors Light. Tix are $25 for GA, $40 for VIP. Both tickets get you unlimited sampling and you can buy a 16 oz. beer for $6 - $7 each. VIPs get in an hour early, have a catered VIP section, preferred parking and a free treat at the official after party at Southern Railway Taphouse. There will be bands too, but they don't list who.

Saturday night, it's jamtronica time, so you can dance until the binky falls out of your mouth with Future Rock, The Manhattan Project, and Groove Status at the Canal Club. Tix are $10 in advance, $15 at the door and the doors open at 9. Here's Future Rock on New Year's Eve 2013 with "Reaching New Heitz":

Sunday it's more beer and bands with The Southern Belles at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery for their release of their Capital Trail Pale Ale (say that three times fast), and we know Richmond loves their pale ales. Things get underway and besides beer and the Belles, the food trucks will be out too so you can chow down. Here's the Belles full set at The Camel on 4/4/14:



Have a great weekend! More on next week's bands next week.

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Hafez Nazeri

That didn't take long. It was announced today that Stephen Colbert will leave his pseudo-Republican Colbert Report behind and take over for Dave Letterman on the Late Show. That's a great choice and it will be fun to see what Colbert does with the show.

For tonight's late night pick, we're going world music with Hafez Nazeri, an Iranian composer. He'll be on Tavis Smiley on PBS tonight. Check your local listings for time. Here in Richmond, Tavis is on at 3 AM on channel 57 so set those DVRs. As always with Tavis, don't know if Hafez will perform or if they'll just talk. Hafez's "Rumi Symphony Project: Untold" is currently #2 on the world Classical album charts. Here's the Project peforming "Enlightenment":



On the rock side, here's "Tom Petty" doing "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" with Stevie Nicks on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last night. You may recognize the guys that introduce them too.



And finally here's Birds of Tokyo on Jimmy Kimmel Live Tuesday night with "This Fire":

Late Night Pick: Birds of Tokyo

Alt/indie rockers from Australia, Birds of Tokyo, will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight at 11:35 PM on ABC. On Facebook, they shared some highlights from their first tour of America:

So we’ve finished our first lap of the USA and now we are about to embark on some exciting LA performances. Here are the highlight stories that we’ll happily elaborate if provoked.
 1. When arriving in Nashville, we realized we had left Westy in Knoxville, he’d missed the bus and took a 4 hour taxi to get to the show on time.
 2. In Dallas, Kenny was punched in the head and mugged (he’s fine not even a bruise) in broad daylight in front of a group of nervous onlookers.
 3. In San Fransisco we witnessed a homeless man grab a street artists’ painting, and smash it through a window of the pub we were in.
 4. In New York Glenn rested his arm on a hot pipe in the band room and suffered third degree burns right before we went onstage.
 5. In Denver we only had 15 miles left in our gas tank before we finally found a petrol station in the middle of a snow blizzard.
 HONERABLE MENTION - We were greated with complimentary condoms at the Portland hotel, had delightful catfish sandwiches in the middle of Tennessee, -27 degree (Celsius) temperature in Minneapolis.
 Above all, the trip has been pretty f**king hilarious and we very much intend on doing a second lap. Special love and thanks goes to all the kind folk we’ve met along the way.

And  here they are with "Lanterns":

Here's Nas & Q-Tip doing "The World Is Yours" on last night's Tonight Show:

Late Night Pick: Nas featuring Q-Tip

A lot of rap stars don't last more than an album or two, burning brightly, quickly and then never heard from again. Nas bucks that trend and has been consistently making good records since his classic "Illmatic" came out in 1994. He's joined tonight on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon by another classic rap artist, Q-Tip. Nas may be performing something off of "Illmatic" tonight as he is doing a number of events surrounding the 20th anniversary of that album including performing the whole album live at the Lovebox Music Festival in the UK, releasing new mixes of the songs on a release called "Illmatic XX", and releasing a documentary called "Time is Illmatic". Here's Nas doing "Patience" with Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley in 2010:

Here's Sky Ferreira performing "I Blame Myself" on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Friday night: