Tuesday, May 31, 2011

My Morning Jacket webcast tonight & Late Night Pick of the Night

Don't forget the My Morning Jacket webcast starting tonight at 9 PM on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/MyMorningJacketVEVO?feature=artistob

Tonight's Late Night Pick of the Night is indie-pop band The Morning Benders (bonus points for the cool band name) on Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35 AM on NBC.

Hmmm, seems to be a "morning" theme today.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: Dennis Coffey

Tonight's Late Night Pick of the Night is member of the legendary Funk Brothers, who performed on most Motown recordings between 1959 - 1972 (watch the marvelous documentary "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" for the full story), Dennis Coffey on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:35 AM on NBC.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys have returned with a new album and I'm sure they'll play a selection from it tonight on Letterman at 11:35 PM on CBS.  Also, its always cool to see monkeys play instruments.  Wait, they aren't real monkeys?  But if they were it would look something like this:

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Nanci Griffith, RVA Music Night, Oregon Hill Funk All-Stars, Susan Greenbaum

While the Memorial Day weekend is traditionally slow for music as the venues figure everyone is out of town or at a cookout, there are some things to do this weekend.

Thursday night, folk great Nanci Griffith continues the Groovin' in the Garden series at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.  Tix are $25 in advance for GA lawn, $30 at the gate or $40 in advance for Reserved seating.  Gates open at 5:30 and the show starts at 6 with The Kennedys.  Here's Nanci singing "Love at the Five and Dime":


You can watch the webcast of the Summer Camp festival all weekend long on iclips.net.  Here is the lineup for the webcast.  All times are Central time so add an hour to get Eastern time.  But you knew that.  Just trying to help you if you're drunk.
Friday
4:30 - Rev. Payton's Big Damn Band*
5:00 - Cornmeal
6:15 - moe.*
7:00 - TBA
8:15 - BoomBox*
9:00 - Umphrey's McGee
10:15 - Lotus*
11:30 - Umphrey's McGee
1:00 - STS9*

Saturday
5:15 - Family Groove Company*
6:15 - Gaelic Storm*
7:15 - SOJA*
8:00 - Umphrey's McGee
9:15 - Keller Williams*
10:00 - Umphrey's McGee
11:15 - Big Gigantic*
12:15 - moe.*

Sunday
1:30 - Umphrey's McGee
2:15 - Huey Lewis and the rUMors (note: this is Huey Lewis backed up by Umphrey's McGee)
3:15 - Fareed Haque & MathGames*
4:00 - Cornmeal
5:15 - TBA
6:00 - Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers
7:30 - Bela Fleck & The Flecktones*
8:00 - Widespread Panic (audio only)
10:00 - TBA
11:15 - moe.*

* Denotes delayed performance

Friday Cheers on Brown's Island features local bands this week at RVA Music Night with Three Sheets to the Wind (70's yacht rock), NO BS! Brass Band (New Orleans style brass band) and Long Arms (alt country).  Its only $5 to get in so its a good chance to get a sample of some local bands that you can catch around town.  The show starts at 6:30.  Here is NO BS! Brass Band doing "Tom Sawyer".  Yes, Rush's "Tom Sawyer":


After Cheers, you can head over to The Camel to check out the Oregon Hill Funk All-Stars with opener Soundstorm.  The show starts at 10 (if you believe Oregon Hill's Facebook page) or 9 (if you believe the Camel site) and I don't know if there is a cover because The Camel doesn't say "no cover" but neither do they list a cover.  Camel, your web site would be a good place to note such information.  Here are the All-Stars on RVA-TVs "House Show".  If you want to skip ahead to where the music is, go to 1:30:


Susan Greenbaum Band will be at Ashland Coffee & Tea on Saturday night if you aren't too stuffed with hot dogs and hamburgers to make it out.  The show starts at 8 and tickets are $10 at the door.  Here's Susan performing "Here No More" at AC&T in Feburary:


Tuesday night on YouTube, My Morning Jacket will webcast their concert from Louisville KY starting at 9 PM.  You'll be able to see it HERE.  This may be some small consolation since they don't seem to know Richmond exists, not having played here since I saw them at The Canal Club in January 2004.  Oh sure, they flirted with us one year, scheduling a show at The National at the end of one December, only to pull it away and cancel, like the Grinch stealing Cindy Lou Who's Christmas tree.  Bastards.  Anyway, here is the promo for the webcast:


Onto Moviefone's Best Music Scenes in Movies list with the band that played my wedding, Randy Waston & Sexual Chocolate.  OK not really, but don't you wish they did.  This is Eddie Murphy's best singing performance since "Party All The Time" (how much coke do you think he & Rick James did at those sessions?)


And just for the hell of it, here's "Party All The Time":


Paste Magazine's 25 Best Music Videos of 2010 reaches number 4 with the awesome and lovely Janelle Monae.  The dancing is off the hook in this video and there is a whole dystopian magic society story going on too.


Have a happy & safe Memorial Day weekend and take a moment to remember those that gave their lives for our country.


Tony Jordan

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Mick Jagger's New Supergroup & Late Night Pick of the Night: Brad Paisley

Mick Jagger has formed a new supergroup with Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), Damien Marley and Joss Stone.  Click HERE to read all about it.  It sounds like it could be interesting.  Sometimes these side projects can allow these megastars to get out of their routine and come up with some good, different music, like Paul McCartney's electronica Fireman project.

Tonight on Late Night, I'm going country with Brad Paisley whose new album, "This Is Country Music" has been getting great reviews.  Brad will be on Letterman tonight at 11:35 on CBS.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Sat. & Sun. Hangout Fest Webcast schedule

Here is the rest of the schedule for the Hangout Fest Webcast.  Times are CST so add an hour to get ET.:
Saturday
1:30 - Slightly Stoopid
2:30 - Mariachi El Bronx*
3:30 - Cee Lo Green
4:30 - Primus
5:45 - Avett Brothers
7:15 - The Flaming Lips
8:45 - Soja*

Sunday
1:00 - Easy Star All Stars*
2:00 - Matisyahu
3:15 - Keller Williams*
4:00 - Ween
6:00 - Michael Franti
7:30 - Galactic
9:00 - TBA

* Denotes delayed performance

Today's Hangout Festival Webcast Schedule

Today's Hangout Festival Webcast starts at 3:15 ET and is almost exactly what I predicted.  Hopefully, I'm as good with my Preakness bet.  Also, hopefully we'll see My Morning Jacket taped and appearing later this weekend on the webcast.

Here is today's lineup.  All times on here are CST.
2:15 - Brandi Carlile


3:30 - Umphrey's McGee

4:30 - Grace Potter & the Nocturnals

5:45 - Warren Haynes Band

7:00 - STS9

8:30 - Widespread Panic (Audio only stream)

Late Night Pick of the Night: Fleet Foxes

Check out the harmonies of Fleet Foxes tonight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC at 12:35 AM.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: Prince

Tonight's Late Night Pick of the Night is the greatest R&B musician of my generation, Prince.  He'll be on a repeat of Lopez Tonight tonight at midnight on TBS.

Raphael Saadiq, Trombone Shorty, Brandi Carlile, Hangout Music Fest webcast

Took about 24 hours to recover from the Flaming Lips show at The National on Sunday night.  It was a typical Lips show which meant it was great with lots of punk psychedelic music, balloons, confetti, arty videos, guys in bear suits, hot young girls in Dorothy (of Wizard of Oz) costumes dancing in stage, you know, the usual.
Here, lead singer Wayne Coyne praises The National and then the Lips do a new song called, "Is David Bowie Dying?"  The video is a little shaky but the sound is decent.  BTW, some language in the Wayne's intro is NSFW.:


Also, went to see Perpetual Groove on Friday at Brown's Island.  They were pretty good.  The first hour was a little hit or miss, with good songs mixed in with some cheese.  The groove also went on a bit too perpetually at times with the band beating a particular riff to death.  But the second hour went swimmingly with the groove indeed quite good and danceable and a nice cover of Talking Heads' "Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place)" to close the show.  There was a huge crowd for this show and it was very loose with a strong smell of herb permeating the air and even someone selling nitrous oxide balloons, which I did not partake of but others seemed to enjoy.

Onto this week.  Raphael Saadiq, who I've been seriously pimping in my Late Night Pick of the Night picks over the last few weeks, will be at Groovin' in the Garden on Thursday night at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.  Gates open at 5:30, show starts at 6 with opener Quadron.  Tix are $25 in advance for GA, $30 at the door for GA and $40 in advance for General Reserve Seating.  Raphael started in the group Tony Toni Tone which I liked because my name is Tony and this cute girl used to call me Tony Toni Tone.  Raphael is a new-old soul man and if you like soul music from any era, you'll dig him.  Here he is with his band performing "Good Man" at SXSW this year:


On Friday, Saturday & Sunday, the sold out Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama will be webcast on iclips.net.  They don't have a schedule posted yet but bands playing include Paul Simon, Foo Fighers, Widespread Panic, My Morning Jacket, The Flaming Lips, STS9, The Avett Brothers, Ween, Warren Hayes and much more.  The festival starts at 2:15 PM ET on Friday, 12:15 PM ET on Saturday and Sunday so check iclips then and see what time they are starting.  If you ask me (and no one really did, but indulge me), here's what my lineup would be for the webcast.  All times on this are Central time.
Friday:
1:30 - Karl Denson's Tiny Universe
2:30 (joined in progress) - Brandi Carlile
3:30 - Umphrey's McGee
4:30 - Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
5:45 - Warren Haynes Band
7:00 - My Morning Jacket
8:30 - Widepsread Panic
Saturday:
12:30 - Medeski Martin & Wood
1:30 - Slightly Stoopid
2:30 - Minus The Bear
3:30 - Cee Lo Green
4:30 - Primus
5:45 - Avett Brothers
7:15 - Flaming Lips
8:45 - Foo Fighters
Sunday
11:30 - Portugal The Man
12:45 - Old Crow Medicine Show
2:00 - Matisyahu
3:15 - Drive-By Truckers
4:30 - Ween
6:00 - Girl Talk
7:45 - Justin Townes Earle
9:00 - Paul Simon

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue will be at the Hangout Festival on Sunday but first he'll be here at Friday Cheers.  It'll be $5 to get in and things kick off at 6:30 with Glows In The Dark.  I caught some of Trombone Shorty's show on the French Quarter Fest webcast and he brings the party with his funk and jazz so be ready to dance.  Here is what the USA Today said about their set at Jazz Fest: "Tour de fest: Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews was introduced as the King of Treme before his mid-afternoon set, which is true enough except that it gives the rest of his vast realm short shrift. Now 25, he and his six Orleans Avenue mates rule wherever they play, and recently that has been all over the world. During their phenomenal set before a jam-packed crowd, they offered a master class in the lineage of contemporary urban music, connecting Louis Armstrong to the Isley Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, John Coltrane, Bootsy Collins and the city's latest brass bands. Those artists inform the group's recent Grammy-nominated Backatown album... Shorty... is a premiere showman... He's in full control of his instruments: a rude machine-gun trombone, a laser trumpet and a fine, clear tenor. His band plays meteor-force funk and R&B, but they aren't aimless jammers - they have a full arsenal of strong songs and arrangements and know how to vary dynamics and tone…"
Here they are performing on Letterman last month:


The Virginia Hops & Barley Festival will happen out at Historic Malvern, 608 Huguenot Trail, in Midlothian from 1 - 7 PM on Saturday.  Entry is $20 in advance, $25 at the gate and that gets you 10 tasting tickets.  There will be a number of Virginia microbrews and procees benefit the Hampton Roads USO.  There will be some music from Josh Gracin, who I never heard of but apparently plays pop country but you're going for the beer anyway.  Also, local band Horsehead will play (who I like) and Southern Tide (who I don't know but the picture on their Facebook page shows their guitarist wearing a Dallas Cowboys jersey so I don't think I'll like them).

Sunday night, Brandi Carlile and her band come see us after playing the Hangout Festival on Friday.  If you're wondering why there seem to be so many bands playing here in May & June, it's because they all hit us on their way to and from the festivals.  Anyway, Brandi will be at The National on Sunday night with tix at $21.  Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Ivan & Alyosha.  The show is showing up on Brandi's site as sold out but if you want to go, check around.  Here's Brandi and her band performing "Dreams" at Rolling Stone Magazine last month:


We took a break from our lists last week so let's head back to the Paste Magazine 25 Best Music Videos of 2010 because we are almost done.  I think I've had this video on the blog before but its so damn cool here it is again.  The story of a girl and her mummy, Josh Ritter's "The Curse":


On our Moviefone Best Music Scenes in Movies list, we now view the classic Jack Rabbit's dance scene from Pulp Fiction.  I have a theory that for John Travolta to have a good movie he must dance in it.  Not that doesn't always hold true ("Staying Alive" anyone?) but generally you've got Pulp Fiction, Saturday Night Fever, Hairspray, and Grease (dancing) and Battlefield Earth (no dancing).  This does make me wonder if "Battlefield Earth: The Musical" would have worked.  Perhaps not.  And of course the video below also features the lovely and talented and lovely Uma Thurman, one of my all-time favorites. 


Alright, we're outta here.  Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: the Joy Formidable

Tonight, watch indie rockers the Joy Formidable on Conan on TBS at 11 PM.  I enjoyed Conan's latest tweet: "If you see only one hilarious movie about wacky bridesmaids this week, make it “Thor.”"

Friday, May 13, 2011

Volunteer for the Richmond Folk Fest

It's only May but the Richmond Folk Fest organizers have a lot to do and it starts with volunteers.  I've done it the last few years and its a lot of fun.  I've met people from around the US and around the world and seen some great acts.  You also get to go to the Volunteer only party on Saturday night when a lot of the musicians will hang out and jam until all hours of the AM. 

Here is the info to sign up:

Greetings from the Richmond Folk Festival, Oct 14-16, 2011. Thank you for participating in the RFF in the past. We hope you will want to return this year. Volunteer registration on the Folk Festival website, RICHMONDFOLKFESTIVAL.COM, is open! We invite you to be among the first to volunteer. Please note that several stage names and locations have changed.


If you have questions regarding volunteer opportunities, please feel free to contact me at betsylecky@hotmail.com or 651-6608. Please encourage your friends, coworkers and family to register as well. Many assignments work well for groups.

Thank you for your continued support.

Betsy Lecky
Volunteer Coordinator, RFF
Email: betsylecky@hotmail.com
Phone: 651-6608
richmondfolkfestival.com

Late Night Pick of the Night: Raphael Saadiq

No this isn't a repeat.  The dude is that good.  If you haven't checked him out the previous few times I've recommended him, well now is your chance.  Watch Raphael Saadiq tonight on Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35 AM on NBC.

Flaming Lips, RiverRock, VibeFest, Social Distortion, Amos Lee, Danzig

Big busy weekend. The big event is Dominion RiverRock at Brown’s Island from 4 PM until 11 PM on Friday and 1 PM until 11 PM on Saturday. Besides the Ultimate Air Dogs (my kids’ favorite event), the Mud Run, Freestyle Bikes, Boulder Bash, and the Canal Crashers kayaks, they have a great lineup of music. Here is the music schedule:
Friday, May 13, 2011
6 p.m. - Josati
7:15 p.m. - Big Gigantic
9 p.m. - Perpetual Groove

Saturday, May 14, 2011
1 p.m. - The Bush League
2:30 p.m. - Psychobilly Cadillac
4 p.m. - William Walter & Tucker Rogers
5:30 p.m. - People's Blues of Richmond
7 p.m. - Jonathan Vassar & The Speckled Bird
9 p.m. - Yonder Mountain String Band

Unfortunately, between t-ball games and cookouts, I won’t be able to get down there Saturday. But I’ll be there on Friday for the jam band Perpetual Groove. Here they are deep in their set at the Black Water Music Festival in Suwanee GA last year:


And here is a little Yonder Mountain String Band if you are thinking about going on Saturday night. Here they are in playing “If Loving You Is Killing Me” in Santa Cruz in April of this year.


If you are more in the mood for gothic metal on Friday night, head to The National for Danzig. Tix are $25, doors open at 7 and the show starts at 8 with 2 Cents. Everybody knows “Mother” so instead I’m going with “Am I Demon”. Bang your heads, motherf**kers!


Also, Friday night, Johnny A. plays at the Capital Ale House Downtown. Johnny A plays blues & rock guitar in the styles of Les Paul, Wes Montgomery, Jeff Beck, Chet Atkins, and Jimi Hendrix. The show starts at 10 PM and tix are $15. Here’s Johnny performing “Oh Yeah” in April of this year:


If you are at home on Friday night, you can check out the webcast from Bob Weir (of the Grateful Dead) & Friends. And he has some pretty good friends: Rob Wasserman, Jay Lane, Jeff Chimenti, Steve Kimock, Robin Sylvester and a 4 piece Horn Section. The show starts at 10 PM ET from the Talampais Research Institute (http://www.tristudios.com/ ), which is a state of the art recording and video studio built by Bob Weir and, well, some other friends of his. The main performance space at TRI houses a Meyer Sound Constellation System - a revolutionary acoustic modeling technology which has the ability to dramatically change the acoustical properties of the room. With the touch of a button, an artist can instantly change the sonic environment from that of a small intimate club to sounding like a theater, an arena or even a cathedral. And the video will be in HD.

Saturday night Amos Lee will be at The National. Amos recently had the #1 album in America. Tix are $25. Doors open at 6:30 and the show starts at 7:30 with opener Sonia Leigh. You might like Amos if you like James Taylor, Norah Jones, Ben Harper, Willie Nelson, or Lucinda Williams. Here he is performing “Windows Are Rolled Down”.


Sunday out at The Meadows at The Boulders will be Vibefest featuring The Georgia Satellites, Janet Martin Band, The Taters, Susan Greenbaum and more. The event runs from noon until 6:30 PM and is $10 in advance, $15 at the gate. The event benefits The Positive Vibe Foundation, a non-profit organization preparing people with cognitive or physical disabilities for paid employment in the food service industry. Everybody knows “Keep Your Hands To Yourself” but here’s another good one from the Satellites, “Battleship Chains” as performed by them on Danish TV(?) in 1996:


Also Sunday, I’ll be hitting up the sold out Flaming Lips show (thanks to Wyatt for remembering me when an extra ticket came his way!) at The National. If any tickets do appear, they’ll be $40. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener The Ghost of A Saber Tooth Tiger. BTW, you may want to get there early as TGOASTT is a band featuring Sean Lennon and his girlfriend, Charlotte Kemp Muhl. If you can get a ticket to the Lips show, you really must go. It is a super psychedelic mind-blowing party with balloons, Wayne Coyne (lead singer) walking across the crowd in a hamster costume, confetti guns, artsy videos, people in costumes and the music is pretty wild and fine too, like a cross between punk rock and Pink Floyd. And they are about to step out on Broadway as I heard that their classic album, “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots”, is being turned into a musical but I’m sure it won’t be your typical musical. “Typical” is not in the Lips vocabulary. Here they are performing “I Was Zapped By The Super Lucky Rainbow” which is typical of their warped humor:

And here is the Lips performing a medley of songs from The Who’s “Tommy” at the VH1 Tribute to The Who:


On Wednesday, The Wailers will be at Innsbrook. Tix are $12.50 in advance, $15 at the gate. Gates open at 6 and The Wailers will come on about 8. There is an opener which will be announced.

Also on Wednesday, Social Distortion will be at The National. Tix are $27.50 in advance, $32.50 day of show. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with openers Sharks and Chuck Ragan. Here’s Social Distortion performing “Don’t Drag Me Down” when they were at The National in 2009.


Blogger is still down (I’m writing this in Word to copy over to Blogger later) (NOTE: Blogger was down until about noon on Friday.  Sheesh!) and it’s late and I’ve got a busy weekend ahead so I am calling it a night. We’ll get back to our lists next week.

Have a great weekend! I’ll see you at RiverRock on Friday night for Perpetual Groove and Sunday night at The Flaming Lips!

Tony Jordan

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Donna The Buffalo, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Late Night Pick

Tonight, old hippie icons and psychedelic cowboys New Riders of the Purple Sage featuring David Nelson on guitar, vocals and Buddy Cage on pedal steel guitar will be at Groovin' in the Garden at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.  Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the gate.  Gates open at 5:30 and the music begins around 6 with new hippie icons (OK maybe not icons yet, but they have been around for about 20 years now) Donna the Buffalo (they are a band, not a buffalo named Donna, which would actually be pretty cool and I would pay to see a buffalo named Donna play music.  But I digress.)

Here's NRPS in March doing "Glendale Train":


Tonight's Late Night Pick on the Night is next week's Groovin' in the Garden artist, Raphael Saadiq.  You can see him tonight on the Jimmy Kimmel show on ABC at 12:00 AM.

More to come later on this weekend's festivities including RiverRock!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Library of Congress posts collection of pre-1926 recordings online

My wife sent me an article about the Library of Congress posting their collection of over 10,000 rare historic recordings from 1901 to 1925 online on a site called National Jukebox.  Sounds like there will be some pretty interesting works on here.

If you want to check out the press release about the collection, click HERE.

If you want to go right to the National Jukebox, click HERE.

Late Night Pick of the Night: The Knux

Kind of slim pickings tonight but I'll go with alternative rap duo The Knux on Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35 AM on NBC.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: Twin Shadow

Check out Twin Shadow on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight at 12:35 AM on NBC.

Cracker, Jazz Fest webcast, Carbon Leaf, Sleigh Bells, Paige Wilson, Julia Nunes

Hometown boys Cracker kick off the Groovin' in the Garden series on Thursday night at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.  Gates open at 5:30, music starts around 6 with Prabir/Goldrush.  Tix are $15 in advance, $20 at the gate.  Here's two of my favorite things, Cracker and Patterson Hood from Drive-By Truckers doing "Friends"


The second weekend of New Orleans Jazz Fest starts on Thursday.  There will again be audio broadcast Thursday through Sunday from about noon until 8 PM our time on WWOZ, the public radio station from New Orleans.  There also be a full-on audio and video high-definition webcast on RollingStone.com on Saturday & Sunday.  That webcast will kick off at 7 PM ET both nights.  Here is the lineup:
Saturday May 7th

Jumpin' Johnny Sansone
Fredy Omar con su Banda
Renard Poche'
Soul Rebels Brass Band
We Landed on the Moon!
The Dixie Cups
Zachary Richard
George Porter Jr. & Runnin' Pardners
Wayne Toups & Zydecajun
Jon Cleary
Bonerama
Jeff Beck
Galactic
Wilco
Arcade Fire

Sunday May 8th
Gov't Majik - the Dirty South Arfo-Beat Arkestra
Johnny Sketch & The Dirty Notes
Vivaz!
Russell Batiste, Jr. and Friends
Anders Osborne
Marcia Ball
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Cowboy Mouth
Voice of the Wetlands All Stars
Lucinda Williams
Irma Thomas
Better Than Ezra
Allen Toussaint
Robert Plant & The Band of Joy
Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band
The Neville Brothers

Some pretty killer acts there.  Shoud be a dandy.

Friday Cheers kicks off on Friday night at Brown's Island with Carbon Leaf.  Remember that this year there will be an entry fee of $5, which is not necessarily a bad thing, as it will allow them to get some pretty good acts there.  Opener Lights East should start things off around 6:30 with Carbon Leaf starting between 7:30 and 8.  Carbon Leaf has a new 2 CD/1 DVD live package coming out called "Live, Acoustic....And In Cinemascope".  Here's a little preview from that, a song called "Blue Ridge Laughing":


Over at Poe's Pub, you will find Giant Squid!  No, there won't be an actual giant squid there, it's the band Giant Squid! They will be coming on around 9 PM, opening for Bucket.  Giant Squid! describe themselve as: "Giant Squid! is perhaps the most potent rock and roll band in the history of the art form.  A devastating amalgamation of raw power, ear-bleeding volume, heartfelt sincerity and questionable hygiene, Giant Squid! stands as a transcendent point in the line of human evolution.  Of course, we have been known to exaggerate, but that's beside the point.

You come here to party. They come to get down.  Who says music can't be funny? Giant Squid! is a cross between Flight of the Conchords & Spinal Tap, hilarity wrapped in a loud, rocking package.  A visual & sonic extravaganza unlike any you've witnessed before."

Also, Friday night, Sleigh Bells will be at The National.  This will be a co-headliner show along with CSS and there will also be an opener, Bosco Delrey.  Doors open at 7:30, show starts at 8:30.  Tix are $20 in advance, $25 day of show.  Sleigh Bells are a hard mix of rock, pop and techno and no sleigh bells that I can hear with the sometimes pretty and lilting, sometimes aggressive voice of vocalist Alexis Krauss flitting around the beats.  Here is their track, "Infinity Guitars":


Sunday afternoon into the evening you'll find the First Annual Paige Wilson Memorial Concert over at the Canal Club.  This will be a benefit for the Virginia Blue College Fund and The Positive Vibe Cafe.  They are asking for a $15 donation at the door.  Doors open at 1 PM, show starts at 2 PM.  The lineup is here:


On Tuesday, Julia Nunes and Ian Axel will be at Gallery 5 on Tuesday night.  Tix are $10 in advance, $12 at the door.  Ian will go on around 8:30 with Julia to headline.  I've really enjoyed some of Julia's videos on YouTube.  She has a real DIY attitude and is filled with spontaneity and fun.  I suspect she will be the same live.  She'll rock out on the ukelele and mix in her original tunes along with some fun covers like this mash up of the Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go" and Justin Bieber's "Baby":


I also find Julia irresistably cute and want to kiss her mouth, pinch her cheeks and squeeze her boobs.  Not necessarily in that order.  I know that's a come-on she won't be able to resist.

BTW, this week, I have been keeping close eye this week on the saving of the draft of the blog and have a Word document ready to copy to.  There will be no dumping of the blog this week, my freinds.

Onto our Moviefone Best Music Scenes in Movies list with a wonderful critique of Huey Lewis and News followed by a grisly axe murder. Yes, it's Christian Bale in "American Psycho".  This is definitely NSFW unless the people in your office like Huey Lewis and axe murders.  And if that's true, you really need to get a new job.  Not for the Huey Lewis part.  Huey's OK.  More for the axe murder thing.  It is indeed hip to be square.


In our continuing saga of the Paste Magazine 25 Best Music Videos of 2010, we are up to #6 with another intricately choreographed video from OK Go featuring the band and cute dogs.  This one is SFW in fact you could show it to your grandma if you could get her in front of that new-fangled computing contraption.  Grandma would be so overjoyed that you showed her this cute video that she would give you a piece of hard candy and pinch your cheeks.  Hopefully she'll leave out the kiss you on the mouth and squeeze your boobs part. 



Have a great weekend!  Hope to see you at Cheers!

Tony Jordan

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: the Belle Brigade

Tonight's late night pick of the night is the Belle Brigade on Conan tonight on TBS at 11 PM or 1 AM.  the Belle Brigade is an indie-pop duo (think Fleetwood Mac) who are also the grandkids of John Williams.  Yes, that John Wiliams (Star Wars, Jaws, Superman, etc.).  So you know there is some good music genes going on there. 

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Best New Music in April and Late Night Pick of the Night

Metacritic (like "Rotten Tomatoes" for music) has its listing of the most critcally acclaimed new albums that came out in April.  http://features.metacritic.com/features/2011/april-best-new-music-2011/

Tonight's Late Night Pick is the interplanetary bass master himself,  Bootsy Collins, enjoying a comeback with his new album, "Tha Funk Capital Of The World".  Bootsy will be on Tavis Smiley on PBS.  That'll be on channel 57 tonight at midnight or channel 23 tonight at 3:30 AM.