Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Flaming Lips, Disco Biscuits, Leon Russell, Goo Goo Dolls

The Flaming Lips will be in Charlottesville at the Charlottesville Pavilion and while I usually don't mention a lot of C'ville shows on the blog this one is worth mentioning because (1) I'm going and (2) this is a band you must see live before you die. Men in giant hamster balls walking over the crowd, aliens, angels, trippy movies, confetti guns, balloons, fake blood, boxing nun puppets, and first-rate psychedelic music; a Flaming Lips show has everything you want out of a rock and roll show and more. Tickets are still available for $40 each, doors open at 6, show starts at 7 with opener Stardeath and White Dwarfs. Here they are playing a song from their latest album, "Embryonic", called "Convinced of the Hex":


If you can't make it to the Lips show tomorrow night, you may want to check out indie pop/rock band, Xiu Xiu, who will be at the Canal Club. Doors open at 7:30, tix are $13, and Tune Yards, Nude Photos of Celebrities and Marionettw will open. You may like Xiu Xiu if you like Animal Collective or The Cure. Here's the video for their song "This Too Shall Pass Away (For Freddy)". It reminds me of playing "Adventure" on the Atari 2600.:


Friday & Saturday, electronica dance jam band Disco Biscuits come to The National. Both nights doors open at 7, show starts at 8, tix are $22.50 in advance, $25 day of show. John Lee & the J.L.e open Friday and DJ T-bone open on Saturday. Disco Biscuits come on around 9 both nights. Here they are last year in Ogden CO:


Disco Biscuits off-shoot bands will play after the shows at The National. Conspirator (down-tempo, trance, drum n' bass) featuring Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner of the Disco Biscuits will play at The Canal Club on Friday night. That show will start at 11 PM with The Former Champions and DJ Chenchilla. The show will run until 4 AM so drink your Red Bull. Tix are $20.

Saturday night, M80 Dubstation (dub, electro & bass) featuring Jon Gutwillig of Disco Biscuits will play at Alley Katz with openers Joe Nice & Numbernin6. That one will run from 10 AM until 4 AM. Apparently the boys from Disco Biscuits don't need sleep. This one is $10 in advance, $15 day of show.

The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival (commonly known as Coachella) takes place out in Indio CA this weekend, Friday through Sunday. Headliners include Jay-Z, LCD Soundsyste, Those Crooked Vultures (featuring John Paul Jones of Led Zep and Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters/Nirvana), Muse, Faith No More (reunited and it feels so good), Gorillaz, Pavement (also reunited) and Thom Yorke of Radiohead along with a bunch of other bands. You can check out the live FREE webcast on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/5Gum. The webcast will run Friday, 4/16: 8pm-3am EST, Saturday, 4/17: 7pm-3am EST, Sunday, 4/18: 7pm-3am EST. (It says EST but we are in EDT as far as I know. Does that mean we spring forward an hour? Oh, well, just tune in at 8 PM or 7 PM and see if they've started yet.) No schedule of artists is on the site so I don't know who you will see.

Saturday is Record Store Day when your local independent record stores will be celebrated all around this great nation of ours. Our local independent record store is Plan 9 in Carytown, of course. There will be a bunch of free goodies available at the store along with special Record Store Day only items available for purchase from some of your favorite bands including Bruce Springsteen, Ani DiFranco, Beastie Boys, Bon Iver/Peter Gabriel, Buddy Guy, Dave Matthews, Devo, Drive-By Truckers, Elvis Costello, Elvis Presley, Flaming Lips, Gogol Bordello, Goldfrapp and much much more. There will also be some live in-store performances. Here is the lineup:

10:00am DJ Chew La Rock (Funk/Soul/Rockabilly)

1:00pm Against Me! (http://www.againstme.net/)

3:00pm Super Vacations (www.myspace.com/meetthevacations)

4:30pm Samson Trinh & the Upper Eastside Big Band (performing selections from Abbey Road) (www.samsontrinh.com/uesbigband)

Classic rock piano man Leon Russell will be at The Hat Factory on Saturday night. Show starts at 8 with House Of Fools opening. Tix are $20 for General Admission, $30 for Reserved Seats.
You can read Leon's biography HERE but here is a short list of the people he has collaborated with over the years: Glen Campbell, Joe Cocker, Willie Nelson, Edgar Winter, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, J.J. Cale, David Gates, Bruce Hornsby, Hal Blaine, Tommy Tedesco, Bobby "Boris" Pickett, B.B. King, Freddie King, Bill Wyman, Steve Cropper, Carl Radle, Chuck Blackwell, Don Preston, Jesse Ed Davis, Rita Coolidge, Gram Parsons, Barbra Streisand, Ike & Tina Turner, Ricky Nelson, Herb Alpert, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Ann-Margret, Dean Martin, Marvin Gaye, Dave Mason, Steve Winwood, and groups such as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, The Monkees, The Astronauts, The Accents, The Fencemen, The Ventures, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, Jan & Dean, Gary Lewis & The Playboys, Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Rolling Stones, The Ronettes, The Crystals, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Everly Brothers, The Righteous Brothers, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Tractors and on and on and on… Not too shabby.
Here's Leon playing his famous "Jumpin' Jack Flash/Youngblood Medley" at the Concert for Bangladesh with George Harrison & Eric Clapton on guitar, Ringo on drums and a host of other huge names.


On Tuesday, Goo Goo Dolls play at The National. Tix are $36.50 in advance, $40 at the door, doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener The Rocket Summer. They've had a number of hits including "Name", "Iris", "Slide" and their cover of Supertramp's "Give A Little Bit". Here is perhaps their greatest performance, singing "Pride" (like "Slide") with Elmo.


OK, I'm off to bed. Have to rest up for the Lips show.

Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

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