Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: Josh Ritter

Tonight, singer-songwriter Josh Ritter is on a Jimmy Kimmel repeat which also features the fabulous Betty White.  Jimmy Kimmel Live is on ABC at midnight.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

Tonight, former Pavement front man, Stephen Malkmus and his band The Jicks will be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.  Their lastest album, "Mirror Traffic" was produced by Beck. 

Here is the video for their new song, “No One Is (As I Are Be)" HERE.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: St. Vincent

St. Vincent, aka Annie Clark, will bring her indie pop to the Late Show with David Letterman tonight.  You can also catch her in Charlottesville on October 30 at the Jefferson Theater.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: The Lonely Forest

Tonight's pick is spacey indie rockers The Lonely Forest on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel.  Jimmy Kimmel Live is on at midnight on ABC.

Stay dry & safe this weekend!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Mary Chapin Carpenter, Muppets, Late Night Pick of the Night: Dennis Chambers

This is going to be a short one for two reasons:
1. There isn't much going on musically this week.
2. My wife is out of town at a conference (Chicago, lucky her) and I am watching the two kids alone which leaves precious little free time, at least before the weekend starts.

Check out country-folk superstar (at least in my book) Mary Chapin Carpenter tonight at the last Groovin' In the Garden of the summer.  This Groovin' is at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, General Admission Lawn tix are $30 in advance, $37.50 at the gate and the gates open at 5:30, music starts shortly thereafter with a guest TBA.  Here's MCC and New Orleans zydeco band Beausoleil doing "Down at the Twist & Shout":


There is a new Muppet Movie coming out at Thanksgiving which looks awesome, I really can't wait, and to celebrate they have released "The Green Album" with current bands covering songs made famous by the Muppets.  OK Go continues their string of great videos with their cover of "The Muppet Show theme" which references both the old Muppet Show and OK Go's previous videos.  Enjoy!


Finally here is my mostly daily Late Night Pick of the Night.  Drum Solo Week 2 continues on the Dave Letterman show with funk/jazz drummer Dennis Chambers.  Check it out tonight on CBS at 11:35 PM.

That's it!  See you next week or check back in daily.

Tony Jordan

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: Stewart Copeland

Tonight, Drum Solo Week 2 on Letterman continues with one of my favorite drummers, Stewart Copeland, of The Police and Oysterhead.  The first CD I ever bought was The Police's "Zenyatta Mondatta" just so I could hear Stewart's cymbals work in all their digital glory.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Leiber & Ashford Dead, Late Night Pick of the Night: Gavin Harrison

Two great sonwriters passed away yesterday.  Jerry Leiber who wrote "Stand By Me," "Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock," "Young Blood," "On Broadway,"  "Yakety-Yak", "Poison Ivy", "Spanish Harlem" and many other classics with his partner Mike Stoller, died at age 78.  Full obit HERE.

Motown songwriter Nick Ashford who wrote many hits with his wife Valerie Simpson including "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "I'm Every Woman", "Let's Go Get Stoned", "Solid" and "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing" died at age 70.  Full obit HERE.

Tonight's Late Night Pick of the Night is Gavin Harrison, drummer for progressive rockers Porcupine Tree & King Crimson, as Drum Week #2 continues on David Letterman.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: tUnE-yArDs

On a Late Night with Jimmy Fallon repeat tonight is the strange yet intriguing tUnE-yArDs.  Yes, that's how you write it.  Jimmy Fallon is on NBC at 12:35 AM.  This song, "Bizness", reminds me of the Talking Heads.


Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: Raphael Saadiq

As always, when he is on TV, I watch.  Raphael Saadiq on Last Call with Carson Daly tonight on NBC at 1:35 AM.  Here's Raphael's new video for his song, "Day Dreams":

Screaming Females, Barenaked Ladies, Marilyn Monroe, Gillian Welch

I was hoping that title would get your attention.

Screaming Females will be at The Bike Lot on the Southside (512 E 8th St, Richmond, VA 23224, 804-232-8086) on Thursday.  No not a bunch of screaming females, though that may happen, but the punk pop band Screaming Females.  The band is generating lots of critical buzz lately.  They'll be on a bill with Zero Boys, Off With Their Heads, Ceremony, Screaming Females and Worn in Red.  Note that they are low on the bill so get there early if you want to catch them.  Doors open at 6 and the cover is $15.  This is the Screaming Females, "Wild", from their album "Castle Talk":



That show is part of the Best Friends Day 10 festival going on around town this weekend with all sorts of aggressive rock.  Here is the link to their web page: http://www.bestfriendsdayrva.com/.

On the complete other end of the rock spectrum is the goofball pop rock of Barenaked Ladies.  In Innsbrook's continuing quest to only book bands who don't have all their original members, the Ladies no longer have founding member and lead singer Steven Page in the band.  He left in 2009 after a number of personal issues.  Doors open at 6, show starts shortly thereafter with openers Jukebox the Ghost.  General admission tickets are $20 at the gate, Gold Circle Seating $40, Skybox $75.  Due to the heat on Thursday, they are letting you bring sealed bottles of plain water into the venue but no coolers.  Here is the Barenaked Ladies' performing "Every Subway Car" live on Canada Day last year.  In honor of Canada Day, everyone be real polite, drink a Moosehead and enjoy a country with no guns and medical care for everyone:


Friday night bring the dust bowl folk of Gillian Welch & David Rawlings to Groovin' in the Garden at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.  Not sure if there will be an opener.  Gates open at 5:30.  General Admission Lawn tix are $25 in advance, $30 at the gate.  Here's Gillian and David doing one of my favorite songs of her's, "Time (The Revelator)" at the Cambridge Folk Fest in 2004.  If you want to skip the short interview go to the 1:00 mark.  Gotta follow the link HERE because they won't let me embed this one.  Click through.  It's worth it.  The song always gives me goosebumps.

The Beach Boys, or what's left of them, will be at Innsbrook on Saturday night.  Gates will open at 6 PM with an opener TBA.  General Admission- $21.50 in advance, $25 at the gate. Children 10 and under are free in GA.  Gold Circle Seating- $45 in advance only available.  VIP Skybox- $100 in advance online only.  Currently only Mike Love and Bruce Johnston from the classic lineup are in the touring band.  There is talk that they may get together with Brian Wilson and Al Jardine to do something for the band's 50th Anniversary.

I also never miss a chance when talking about the Beach Boys to bring up the strangest configuration of musicians and others I have ever seen on stage.  On July 4th 1985, the Beach Boys performed on JFK Parkway in Philly for a free show for the 4th in front of a few hundred thousand people.  This was also 9 days before Live Aid and many of the musicians who would play Live Aid were already in town.  The Oak Ridge Boys had already joined the BB for a rendition of the old doo-wop song "Come Go With Me".  Christopher Cross joined the band for "Good Vibrations" (tell me they couldn't have worked out a cool version of "Sailing" with BB on backing vocals).  Then out walks freakin' Jimmy Page to play guitar on a version of Little Richard's "Lucille" along with John Stamos (huh?) on drums.  I thought it might be a hallucination caused by too many wine coolers (hey, it was the 80's) but no, it was true.  Later on, we would get Joan Jett on guitar and vocals for "Barbara Ann" along with Mr. T on drums.  I pity the fool who don't like Mr. T on the skins!  HERE's the setlist and you can download it too, if you so desire.

Here's a track from the classic album "Pet Sounds", which once helped get me through a really crappy summer.  This is "God Only Knows", an absolutly beautiful song:


We've got time to check in with Best Music Scenes in Movies courtesy of Moviefone.  Here's the ravishing Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like it Hot" singing "I Wanna Be Loved By You" in a dress that's practically see through.  Hubba hubba!  What a gal!  As an added bonus, you get some classic Jack Lemmon & Tony Curtis.


Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: Black Milk, Nicole Atkins & the Black Sea, The Black Angels

As you can see from the title, it's an all Black music show on Last Call with Carson Daly featuring funk hip-hop rockers Black Milk, gritty country rocker Nicole Atkins & the Black Sea, and dark & brooding psychedelic band The Black Angels.  Director Evan Glodell is also on the show just to ruin the theme.  Why not Lewis Black?  Or Jack Black?  Last Call with Carson Daly is on NBC at 1:35 AM.

Black Milk recently jammed with Jack White (will they call themselves Black & White?) and you can hear the results on Black Milk's web site (link above).

Monday, August 15, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: Josh Ritter

Tonight's Late Night Pick is singer-songwriter Josh Ritter on Jimmy Kimmel on ABC at midnight.  As an added bonus, the always funny Betty White will be on too.  Josh also just became a novelist with his book "Bright's Passage".  Here you can check out some of his friends and family reading the first chapter, including Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Mary-Louise Parker, Tift Merritt & Stephen Kellogg.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: Tame Impala

Tonight, check out neo-psychedelic from Australia, Tame Impala, on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.  I suggest using your DVR so you can skip over the interview segment with J-Woww. 

Jani Lane Dead: Ex-Warrant Singer Was 47

Give a tip of the cap of your can of hair spray to Jani Lane. In a case of bad ad juxtaposition, the ad that played before the video was for "Final Destination".

Here's the link to the obit in Billboard: http://www.billboard.com/news/jani-lane-dead-ex-warrant-singer-was-47-1005314552.story#/news/jani-lane-dead-ex-warrant-singer-was-47-1005314552.story


Iceage, Richmond Jazz Fest, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Susan Greenbaum

Friday night at Strange Matter is a punk band (with hints of psychedelia) from Denmark that's getting some critical buzz, Iceage.  It's only $8 to get in.  Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with openers LOST TRIBE, LA MERE VIPERE & DEAD FAME.  Here's Iceage performing "You're Nothing":


Also, Friday night The Successful Failures and Mic Harrison & the High Score will be at Cary St. Cafe.  Mic Harrison & the High Score play traditional country/rock with songs about drinking and smoking pot, which are always good on a Friday night.  The Successful Failures also run along roots rock lines but throw in some power pop too.  Cover charge is $5.  Show starts at 9:30 PM.  Mic Harrison & the High Score are playing the first two hours followed by The Successful Failures. Here's Mic Harrison & the High Score doing "Do You Wrong":


Here are The Successful Failures at Cary St. Cafe on 7/25/08 doing "Up To Her Ears":


As part of the Richmond Jazz Fest, neo-swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy will be at Richmond Center Stage.  Tickets are $32 and local salsa band Bio Ritmo will open.  Here's BBVD doing "King of Swing" at the Montreal Jazz Fest in '98:


Saturday & Sunday at Maymont will be the 2nd Richmond Jazz Festival.  Be forewarned if you go to the website that this is one of those annoying websites that plays music and offers you no way to turn the music off.  I hate that.  Anyway, from the music they play on the site, this will mostly be soft jazz which will be pleasant enough on the beautiful grounds of Maymont.  The headliners are Aaron Neville on Saturday night who will probably be in ballad mode so don't go expecting the dance party that a Neville Brothers show often is.  On Sunday night the headliner is Los Lobos who are an awesome band but they don't really fit into the jazz category.  Doors open at 11 AM each day, the music gets under way at 12:15 PM and runs until 10:15 PM.  Tickets are $50 each day.  Here's Los Lobos doing "Kiko & The Lavender Moon" which is kind of jazzy:


Saturday at Ashland Coffee & Tea, local folky Susan Greenbaum will play starting at 8 PM.  Tix are $10 at the door.  Here Susan performs "Toscanini's" at Ashland Coffee & Tea on 5/28/11:


It's late so I'm hitting the sack.  Maybe I'll see you at the Iceage show on Friday.  I'm in the mood for an aggressive rock show.

Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: Chris Young

Let's get countryfied tonight with neo-traditionalist country dude, Chris Young, on Jimmy Kimmel tonight on ABC at midnight.  Chris' latest album "Neon" was recently up to #2 on the Country album charts.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: Dawes

Tonight folk-rockers Dawes will be on a repeat of the Dave Letterman show from 6/27.  They'll be touring with Blitzen Trapper this fall, and though they won't be coming to Richmond, you can download a special 6-song EP with three songs from each band for FREE.  Just click that Dawes link up there to get to their web site.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: The Kills

Bluesy punkers, or would it be punky bluesers, or punky brewster, The Kills will be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight at 12:35 AM on NBC. The Kills song "DNA" was the song of the day on NPR last Tuesday.    Here they are performing that song live at Coachella this year:

Monday, August 8, 2011

Late Night Pick of the Night: Drive-By Truckers

In case you missed it, you can catch the repeat of the Late Show with David Letterman show from June with the Drive-By Truckers tonight at 11:35 PM on CBS.  In case you are new to the Truckers, you can pick up their new greatest hits album, "Ugly Buildings, Whores & Politicians", that recently came up.  Click through to their web site HERE to read the rave reviews.

Friday, August 5, 2011

The Nighthawks, John Oates, Watermelon Fest, Lollapalooza, Kanrocksas

Friday night at Canal Club, The Nighthawks, who just won the Blues Music Award for Acoustic Album of the Year, will perform with the Billy Price Band.  The Nighthawks and the Billy Price Band will play separately and together.  Doors open at 7:30, show starts at 9 with Blues Flash opening.  Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.  Here are The Nighthawks putting their spin on the opening theme from "The Sopranos", "Woke Up This Morning":


Got two, count 'em two, festival webcasts going on this weekend.  The first is the Lollapalooza webcast on YouTube.  You can find it HERE.  It kicks off at 2:30 PM Friday, Saturday & Sunday.  Here is the schedule with times in Central time.

FRIDAY AUGUST 5TH
1:30 PM The Vaccines
1:45 PM TAB the Band
2:15 PM Delta Spirit
2:30 PM Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
3:00 PM Foster The People
3:30 PM Smith Westerns
4:00 PM White Lies
5:00 PM Two Door Cinema Club
5:30 PM Mountain Goats
6:30 PM Bright Eyes
7:15 PM The Kills
8:30 PM Coldplay

SATURDAY AUGUST 6TH
1:30 PM Grouplove
1:45 PM J. Roddy Walston & the Business
2:15 PM Walk the Moon
2:30 PM Fitz & The Tantrums
3:00 PM Black Lips
3:30 PM Mayer Hawthorne & The County
4:00 PM Death From Above 1979
4:30 PM Big Audio Dynamite
5:30 PM Local Natives
6:00 PM Ween
7:30 PM Beats Antique
8:00 PM My Morning Jacket

SUNDAY AUGUST 7TH
1:30 PM Imelda May
1:45 PM The Joy Formidable
2:15 PM Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses
2:30 PM Noah and The Whale
3:00 PM The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
4:00 PM The Cars
4:15 PM Flogging Molly
5:00 PM Portugal The Man
5:15 PM Cage The Elephant
6:00 PM Arctic Monkeys
6:15 PM Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley &…
7:00 PM Explosions In The Sky
8:00 PM Foo Fighters

You can also check out the festival that has my vote for worst festival name of the year, Kanrocksas, on a webcast on iClips.  That'll be HERE.  They have not posted the schedule yet but the festival starts on Friday at 2:30 PM Eastern and on Saturday at 1:30 PM Eastern.  This one will feature headliners Eminem and Muse, plus over 20 additional acts including The Black Keys, A Perfect Circle, The Flaming Lips, Bassnectar, Kid Cudi, Ween and more.  I'll be flipping between the two festivals all weekend.

Saturday night at the Capital Ale House, John Oates with no Hall will be at the Capital Ale House Downtown featuring songs from his new album of roots music (Mississippi Mile) that influenced him along with some Hall & Oates tunes I'm sure.  Doors open at 7, show starts at 8, tix are $25 in advance & $30 day of show.  Chris Bopst had a nice interview with John in the Times-Dispatch which you can check out HERE.  He also did an interview with Style Weekly which you can find HERE.  Here's John performing the title track from the album:


Sunday, you've got the big ol' Watermelon Fest in Carytown.  That'll run from 10 AM until 6 PM.  It's FREE.  There's music all over the place at that thing from local bands.  Hit up the web site if you are interested in seeing exactly who. 

Check out the blog entry below for a link to a very cool reggae documentary.

That's it for tonight.  Hope to see you this weekend at The Nighthawks show (if you're up for going to that, contact me) and maybe the Watermelon Fest.

Tony Jordan

Thursday, August 4, 2011

From Dangerous Minds: Superb documentary series: ‘Reggae - The History of Jamaican Music’

If you love Reggae, if you love music, then you’ll love this excellent 3-part documentary - Reggae: The Story of Jamaican Music. Originally shown on the BBC in 2002, parts of this documentary have been on YouTube over the years, but now some kind soul has uploaded the whole series for our delight. How wonderful. Enjoy.

 
http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/reggae_the_history_of_jamaican_music/

Melissa Etheridge tonight, Late Night Pick of the Night: Typhoon

Melissa Etheridge will be out at Innsbrook tonight.  Note that this is billed as "An Evening With..." which usually means no opener.  Gates open at 6 and she'll come on around 6:30 - 7:00 though Melissa's site is showing that she will come on 7:30.  General admission tickets are $17.00 in advance, $20 at the gate; Gold Circle Seating $50, Skybox $100.  Melissa apparently has a syndicated radio show now which you can check out HERE.  Here's Melissa performing "Fearless Love" on the Ellen show a few months ago:


Tonight's Late Night Pick of the Night is folk rockers Typhoon on Letterman tonight at 11:35 PM on CBS.

More to come on the rest of the weekend later tonight!