Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Tea Leaf Green & Drive-By Truckers

A couple concerts of note this weekend.

Tea Leaf Green plays a free show at Plan 9 (the greatest music store in Richmond) in Carytown at 5 PM on Thursday. Then they'll play their full show at Toad's Place that night. Doors open at 8. Tickets are $17. TLG is a jam band in the blues/classic rock tradition. If you like bands like The Jayhawks, Widespread Panic, Phish, moe., Disco Biscuits or Hot Tuna, you might dig these guys. I saw them once a couple years ago and thought they would good, definitely good enough to check out again sometime.

The Drive-By Truckers will be at the Charlottesville Pavilion on Saturday with the Avett Brothers opening. Doors open at 6, show at 7, tickets are $30. I've heaped enough praise on the Truckers in past blogs. Check 'em out if you can. If I wasn't leaving for a conference early the next morning, I'd be tempted to head out to C'ville myself.

That's it for this week. Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Thursday, September 11, 2008

The Cult, Cosmic Charlie, Louis CK, Robert Earl Keen

OK, I need to do a quick blog tonight. I am travelling to Philly this weekend with my 4-year old, Zach. We are going to the Phillies game on Saturday with my dad. It will be Zach's first big league game and it should be a crazy one. It will be a sold-out, day game on Fox with playoff implications. Look for us. We'll be behind home plate near the top of the stadium.

Didn't do a blog last week because my grandmother passed away. She was 88 and I was glad to have her for as long as I did. She was in good mind right up until the end. The funeral was weird because everyone seemed to be a cousin I had never met. She lived in Springfield MA her whole life and the Italian community is very close-knit. As someone said, "In those days, when you got married, you moved upstairs or next door". The funeral was held in the church she was baptized in and went to her whole life. Its pretty rare to live your whole life in one place these days.

The Cult plays at The National on Friday night. The Cult were one of my favorite rock bands from the 80s and they could rock. One of my favorite albums is The Cult's "Electric", produced by Rick Rubin, with a great blend of bombast and heaviness but with a beat that could get the chicks dancing. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with local band Ki:Theory opening. Tix are $29.

Also Friday night, jam band Cosmic Charlie plays at the Canal Club. They'll be doing their "Dark Side of the Dead" show. From their web site: "Dark Dide Of The Dead is a hybrid show featuring the music of both the Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd. The centerpiece of the show is a live performance of Pink Floyd's legendary "Dark Side Of The Moon" album. The album is performed start-to-finish, by the Cosmic Charlie "big band" that includes backup singers & saxophone." Show time is at 9 and tix are $12.

Comedian Louis C.K. plays at University of Richmond on Friday night. Louis was the star of the short-lived but much beloved (at least by me) HBO series, "Lucky Louie" (clip is not work friendly). He also had a great HBO comedy special and I laughed more than I have to an HBO special in a while. He's lewd. He's crude. And he's f'in hilarious. The show is at The Modlin Center for the Arts Camp Concert Hall, University of Richmond. Tix are $15. Show starts at 7:30.

Finally, Texas alt-country troubador, Robert Earl Keen is at the Charlottesville Pavilion on Saturday night. Sons of Bill are opening. Doors open at 5, show starts at 6. Tix are $27. Go see him because he's awesome. Though FYI, he'll be at Toad's Place on 11/15 according to his web site.

Have a great weekend.

Tony Jordan