Friday, September 27, 2013

Late Night Pick: Superchunk

90's indie rock heroes, Superchunk, are still in action and just released a critically acclaimed new album, "I Hate Music". Tonight, they'll most certainly play a selection from that album on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC at 12:35 AM.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Weekend, Roosevelt Dime, Tim Barry, Jake Clemons, People's Blues of Richmond, Beer fests

Americana band Roosevelt Dime will be at Ashland Coffee & Tea on Friday night. Tix are $10 in advance, $15 day of show. Show starts at 8 with Sweet Fern opening. Here's Roosevelt Dime's press blurb: "Imagine yourself relaxing on a steamboat as it lazily floats down the Mississippi River all the way to The Big Easy. Suddenly, the band strikes up a tune, music fills the air and everyone is on their feet, clapping, dancing and singing along. Welcome to the world of Roosevelt Dime, a four-piece, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based band that blends elements of acoustic jug-band blues, classic New Orleans soul and neo-folk to create an original sound best described as Kings County Steamboat Soul. The band’s nontraditional lineup — consisting of banjo, electric and gut-bucket basses, percussion, clarinet, saxophone, and the occasional electric guitar — and seamless mixture of musical genres has been described as “a perpetual crowd-pleaser” by the New York Times. Now, the group is poised for a breakthrough with its new album Steamboat Soul. Roosevelt Dime has recently been featured in The Philadelphia Folk Fest, Musikfest, No Depression, On Your Radar with WFUV’s John Platt, and official showcases at the International Folk Alliance in Memphis 2011, and Toronto 2013. So hop aboard the S.S. Rosie and get ready for the ride of a lifetime!" And here is the band playing "Wishing Well" at Unity College in 2012:



At The Camel on Friday, local jamtronica band Former Champions will perform. The Champions will play two sets so get there on time. Doors open at 9 and cover charge is $10. They'll have some new tunes for you too from their just about finished third album. Here they are from a recent show when they jammed with Ron Holloway on sax. Ron also plays with the Warren Haynes Band:



San Francisco noise pop band The Weekend comes to Strange Matter on Friday. Doors open at 9 and it's $8 to get in. White Laces and Big No open. You might like The Weekend if you like The Cure, Joy Division, My Bloody Valentine, or Sonic Youth. Here's a bonus track from The Weekend's latest album, "Jinx", called "Siobhan":




At Balliceaux Friday night, No BS! Brass Band will get funky. Show starts at 10:30 and it's $5 to get in. Here's No BS! doing "Get it On" on Audiotree Live in August. If you want to see the full 30 minute show, go HERE.


If you like beer (and who doesn't), you've got two choices on Saturday. You can hit up the Off the Rails Craft & Beer Fest in Ashland. That'll be held at the Hanover Arts & Activities Center from 1 - 7 PM. Bush League and The Big Payback will provide the music. It's $10 to get in and proceeds benefit the Center.

If you want to head out to Goochland, Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery will be celebrating their grand opening Saturday from 1 to 8 PM. They'll be busting out 4 new beers, food trucks will be out there and 70's yacht rock cover band, Three Sheets to the Wind will be keepin' it smooth. They may play this one:



Avail's vocalist, Tim Barry, tries on his alt-country and folk persona for a show at The Camel on Saturday night. Doors open at 8 and the show starts at 8:30 with openers Jenny Owen Youngs, Des Ark, and Dave Watkins. Here's Tim's "The Shed Song":



Monday night, People's Blues of Richmond return to The Camel after spending the last month and a half touring the South. Based on this picture they posted on Facebook today, I would say they are having a good time and making new large breasted fans.
Doors open at 9, PBR comes on at 11. There may be an opener and there may be a cover charge but none is listed on Facebook or The Camel's site. Here they are down at the Outer Banks earlier this month with a trippy light show. (Watch out because language in this video is NSFW.)



On Wednesday night at The Camel, the newest member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band makes an appearance. Jake Clemons, nephew of the late great Clarence Clemons, stepped ably into the Big Man's spot in the band and his held his own and more. Tix are $10, doors open at 7, show starts at 8. Jake will probably pick up the sax at some point during the show but in this video from his show a few days he's playing acoustic guitar:



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Tedeschi/Trucks Band, Toubab Krewe, Southern Belles, Kings of Leon webcast, Late Night Pick: Goldfrapp

Tedeschi/Trucks Band, who put on a great show at Lockn' with their blend of blues/R&B/soul, will be at the Carpenter Theater tonight. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8. If you are going to go, get your tix ASAP because it appears to be nearly sold out. Only the $79 and $35 seats remain if you want to sit with a friend and single seats remain at the $45 level. Don't get in late either. No opener is listed on the TTB site or the Carpenter Theater site. Doesn't mean there won't be an opener but you take your chances. Former, and long time, Allman Brother guitarist Dickey Betts played with the band the other night at The Beacon Theater in NYC. Don't think Dickey will show up tonight but you never know. This is the first time in a long time Dickey has played with any current members of the Allman Brothers Band. Don't know if this will lead to a reconciliation between Dickey and the band, but it's a start. They aren't getting any younger so maybe they'll want to bury the hatchet before they die. Here's some highlights from TTB's set at Lockn' when they were joined by Chris Robinson from Black Crowes and Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead.




Over at Capital Ale House tonight, the West African influenced sound of NC band, Toubab Krewe, will permeate the air. Tix are $15. Music will start with opener Southern Belles somewhere between 10 and 11 so if you are going to TTB and want to make full night of it, head to Capital Ale House after TTB ends. Here's Toubab Krewe playing at radio station WNCW in June:



On the World Wide Web tonight, you can watch Kings of Leon performing live from Dave Letterman's Ed Sullivan Theater in an hour long show starting at 9 PM. You can watch that HERE.

Tonight's Late Night Pick is electo-pop band, Goldfrapp, on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight at 12:35 AM on NBC.

More on the rest of the weekend tonight!

Tony Jordan

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn, Son Volt, Beach Boys, Bob Weir webcast, Late Night Pick: Deer Tick

Banjo maestro Bela Fleck will be at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden tonight. Bela will be performing with another banjo player, Abigail Washburn, and if you think this will just be a duo pickin' bluegrass, you don't know Bela. He (and Abigail) are always looking to expand the boundaries of their instrument and wrap it in new and unique settings. General Admission tix are $28, and General Reserve tix are $50 but they may not be available at the door. The doors will open at 5:30 and the music starts at 6 with opener TBA. Here they are performing "City of Refuge":



Alt-country pioneers Son Volt will be at The National tonight. Tix are $20 in advance, $23 at the door, doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with openers Colonel Ford (featuring members of Son Volt). Son Volt's new album, "Honky Tonk" features new songs inspired by the honky tonk sound of Bakersfield CA. From that album, here's the song "Hearts and Minds":



It may be a little chilly tonight  and summer may have just ended, but you can hang onto the summertime feeling just a little longer at Innsbrook tonight with the Beach Boys, or what's left of them anyway. Right now, the only original Beach Boys in the band are Mike Love and Bruce Johnston. But the songs are classic so it should be a fun time. Tix are $25 for GA lawn, $45 for Gold Circle Reserved and $60 for Gold Circle Preferred. Gates open at 5, show starts at 6:30 with opener TBA. Hope you had fun "All Summer Long":



If you are home tonight, check out another "Weir Here" webcast with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and tonight's guest, Southern rockers Blackberry Smoke. The show gets underway on Bob's TRI Studios website (http://www.tristudios.com/) at 8:30 ET. Part 1 of the show with Blackberry Smoke was on last week and below is Bob and the band doing what I believe is a Blackberry Smoke song:

Finally, tonight's Late Night Pick is roots rockers Deer Tick on Conan on TBS at 11:00 PM, then repeated at 1 AM.

More on what's up this weekend tonight or tomorrow.

Tony Jordan

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Late Night Pick: Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake is on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC at 11:35 PM tonight. Not sure if he'll just be performing or if he'll get into some skits like he does on Jimmy Fallon's show. So many Jimmy's on late night TV. Just like McCartney's appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night, JT will be performing right on Hollywood Boulevard. JT will do songs from his album (just released today), "The 20/20 Experience, 2 of 2".

Monday, September 23, 2013

Late Night Pick: Paul McCartney

Some guy named Paul McCartney will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight at 11:35 PM on ABC. Before he went solo, I think he was in a band called Wings in the 70's. He was in some band before that too. They had a couple hits. Anyway, Sir Paul has a new album coming out on October 15 called "New". Even though he'll probably play this tonight (and hopefully a few more), here's the title track and it sounds like classic Paul pop.


I finally got to watch the "Sound City" documentary this weekend and Paul, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear create the song "Cut Me Some Slack" and it's really cool to see how they put it together. This is when they played the song live at the Sandy benefit show and it really kicks ass:

Friday, September 20, 2013

Late Night Pick: Gary Clark Jr.

It's all repeats tonight on late night TV so let's pick one from just 10 days ago with up and coming blues guitarist/singer, Gary Clark Jr. on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC at 11:35 PM. I've been listening to Gary's album, "Blak and Blu", quite a bit and it's a damn fine album. All over the place stylistically (hard rock/blues, funk, retro R&B, hip-hop) which works most of the time. At the very least, you know that he can go in any direction and with the way he plays guitar, I'll be happy to follow him for years to come. After Gary played on Jimmy's lot stage, he hung out and did a mini-show for those in attendance. Here's Gary & the band doing the Hendrix classic "Third Stone From the Sun" into Johnny Taylor's "Love Me Like You Say":

Walk the Moon, City and Colour, Cheap Time, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, Young Sinclairs

If you want to head out to the beautiful mountain country of Bristol, VA this weekend, you can check out the Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion Festival. If you can't make the six hour drive, you can check out the webcast HERE. They don't have a webcast schedule up yet, but the festival starts at 5 PM Friday, 11 AM on Saturday, and 10:30 AM Sunday. This fest is an Americana lovers dream featuring blues, gospel, and alt-country including such acts as Lucinda Williams, Blitzen Trapper, Deer Tick, Keller Williams, Colin Hay (of Men at Work), Iris Dement, Hayes Carll, Shovels & Rope, James McMurtry, The Travelin' McCourys, Jim Lauderdale, Caitlin Rose, and many more.

You can get your weekend started Friday at Capital Ale House downtown at Brews & Blues with Bush League. Show starts at 5 and it's FREE to get in. Here's Bush League at Canal Club about a year ago:



Garage rockers The Young Sinclairs will be at The Well. Call The Well for more info (358-9355) because neither the band or the venue seem to want to give any info about the time this starts or if there is a cover charge. Here's the Sinclairs at The Bazaar in April of this year:




Black Girls will be out at Balliceaux on Friday night. Show starts at 10:30 PM and it's $5 to get in.

On Sunday night at Strange Matter, garage punk band Cheap Time headlines a show. Show starts at 10, doors open at 9. It's $8 to get in. Banshee Beat, Hot Dolphin & Gunboat open the show. Here's a short profile of the band from July including some live performance:



Folk rock band City and Colour will be at The National on Monday night. Tix are $30 in advance, $35 at the door. Doors open at 6:30, show starts at 7:30 with opener Lucy Rose. You might dig City & Colour if you like Neil Young, Tegan & Sara, Bright Eyes, Iron & Wine, Bon Iver, Bob Dylan, Jeff Buckley, or Townes Van Zandt. Check out this sweet mash-up of their song "Comin' Home" with Neil Young's "Cortez the Killer". Love it!




Tuesday night at Canal Club, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe will funk your face with Richmond's own DJ Williams on guitar. Doors open at 7:30 and Mike Dillon Band opens. Tix are $17 in advance, $20 at the door. Here's the band doing the Stones' "Can't You Hear Me Knockin'" on a chilly night a couple years ago:




Walk the Moon will be at The National on Tuesday night. Tix are $20 in advance, $22 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8. Magic Man opens. Here's Walk the Moon's great song, "Anna Sun":



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Pepper, Late Night Pick: Elvis Costello & The Roots (again)

Ska/punk/reggae band, Pepper, will be at The National tonight. Tix are $15 in advance, $18 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with openers Grieves and RDGLDGRN. You might like Pepper if you like 311, Sublime, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Slightly Stoopid, Bob Marley, Fishbone, The Police, Peter Tosh, Teh Clash or The Specials. This is Pepper's latest video, "F**k Around (All Night)". The f-bomb is not bleeped out in the video so that may make it NSFW along with pot smoking and chicks making out:


Elvis Costello returns for a second night on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to celebrate his new album with Late Night's house band, The Roots. Late Night is on NBC at 12:35 AM. Here's what they did when he was on the show on Tuesday night, "Walk Us Uptown":

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Furthur takes a break, Late Night Pick: Jim James

In mildly interesting jam band news, Furthur, the band with Phil Lesh & Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead, are taking a hiatus next year as they work on their solo projects (you can read the press release HERE). Why is this only mildly interesting? Though I certainly enjoyed their shows at Lockn' (not so much their show at Hampton a few years ago), they never came up with any new songs and were somewhat hit or miss with the shows I saw or watched on webcasts. A fine way to get the Grateful Dead vibe and certainly nice to see those guys still touring, but there was no new material or even new cover songs that they hadn't played in the Dead or in their own bands (Phil & Friends, Ratdog). And for the price they charged ($70 - $80/ticket), my attitude (as it is with their own bands) is that if they come to Richmond, I'll probably be there (day and cash flow permitting), but they weren't special enough to hit the road for, even somewhere as close as Charlottesville.

Tonight's late night pick is Jim James of My Morning Jacket doing his solo thing on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC at 11:35 PM. Jim led the Bonnaroo SuperJam this year and here is the band he put together made up of himself, John Oates (Hall & Oates), Larry Graham (bass, Sly & the Family Stone, Prince), Brittany Howard (vocals, Alabama Shakes), Zigaboo Modeliste (drums, the Meters), Cyro Baptista (percussion), and others. They are covering Curtis Mayfield's "Move on Up". There is some rehearsal/interview footage at the beginning and the performance starts at 4:20:

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Late Night Pick: Elvis Costello & The Roots

Elvis Costello will be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight on NBC at 12:30 AM. Elvis' latest album, "Wise Up Ghost & Other Songs" is a collaboration with The Roots, who conveniently happen to be the regular band on Late Night. Elvis will be performing at Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View CA on October 26 & 27. Hopefully, there will be a webcast again this year. Joining Elvis & Neil at the shows will be a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young reunion, Queens of the Stone Age, My Morning Jacket, The Killers (Sat. show only), Diana Krall (Elvis' wife), Fun., Heart, & Jenny Lewis. Not a bad lineup.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Late Night Pick: Jason Isbell

Jason Isbell, formerly of Drive-By Truckers and now cranking out excellent solo work, will be on Conan on TBS tonight at 11 PM and then repeated at 1 AM. I've been listening to Jason's latest album, "Southeastern", quite a bit lately and I particularly listened to this haunting song, "Live Oak", a few times this weekend. Check it out as Jason performed it live on "CBS This Morning" on Saturday, August 31:

Friday, September 13, 2013

Late Night Pick: Drake

Gotta love the Drake! Well, a lotta people love R&B star Drake, as evidenced by his critically acclaimed albums and mega album sales. You can find out if you love the Drake when he's on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight at 12:35 AM on NBC. Drake's new album, "Nothing Was the Same" comes out September 24.

As an added bonus, the lovely and talented Scarlett Johansson will be on. She recently got engaged and broke my heart again.

Lockn' Festival recap, Pop. 1280, Telluride Blues & Brews Festival webcast

Lockn' Fest! Wow, what a weekend! Great music, great weather and great friends (thanks to Wyatt, Perl, Jill and Stuart) and the cocktail was perfect for a killer time. I also managed to avoid much of the operations issues at the first time festival. While the sound and video was excellent, port-a-johns fairly clean and a lack of long lines in the concert area, I did hear and read some major and minor issues with some things. Namely the six to eight hour wait to get in on Thursday. I avoided that, as Wyatt got in with the RV early Thursday AM and I showed up in the evening on Thursday, parked in the day parking lot and dragged my cooler on wheels (containing no ice, case of beer, my toiletry bag and a box of tissues so not too heavy) on a 30 minute walk to the RV. Not a bad walk until the last 1/4 when I had to off-road it but I felt pretty lucky compared to the people that waited forever to get in. Also heard of port-a-johns in at least one of the camping areas not getting cleaned at all and we had issues getting water for the RV and an issue with the public showers that caused me to take a cold shower on Saturday, but that's better than no shower at all. Hopefully, that will all get worked out by the time they do Lockn' 2 next year.

But the music couldn't be beat. I first hit the concert area on Thursday night with Gov't Mule and Grace Potter doing Fleetwood Mac's "Gold Dust Woman" as I entered the concert area. Got a beer and a spot on the field just in time to hear them do a stellar version of Neil Young's (we missed you, Neil!) "Southern Man". (this isn't the best sounding video but it's not bad)



Stuck around for a little of String Cheese Incident and as always enjoyed them but couldn't remember a damn thing about the set an hour afterward. That was the way it was all weekend with them and one of my friends called them "the Chinese food of jam bands", which fit perfectly.


Later that night, we took the 20 minute walk to the back of the campground where it was rumoured there was a secret stage where late night shows would take place. We found it in "The Triangle" where a small stage resembling a tin roof shack was set up, the trees behind the stage lit up delicately and lasers shooting over the audiences heads that danced on the trees to the rear of the small hill (see the pic above). A woman was leading a band playing blues and folk and we thought they were pretty damn good as we enjoyed the beers we brought with us from the RV and some tacos from the food truck nearby. Only when the woman closed the set saying "We'll see you tomorrow at 2 on the big stage" did we realize we had been watching Pegi Young (wife of Neil) and her band, The Survivors. Though many hoped Neil would show up to a few songs with them here on on the big stage Friday, it was not to be.

Our Friday started with Dirty Dozen Brass Band and The Soul Rebels (another New Orleans brass band) playing together and separately. The Soul Rebels did some brassified covers of Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" and Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" which were good and got the crowd moving. But when Dirty Dozen took over, you could hear how far ahead of the Soul Rebels they were with their original music and syncopated, overlapping, intricate New Orleans' rhythms.


Jimmy Cliff was up next and I moved over to his stage to get a close view of the legend. The setup has two stages side-by-side so as one band ended, the next began (see picture above). There was no more than a 15 minute gap between bands all weekend and usually no gap at all. While excellent for continuous music, it did mean you had too miss some tunes for bathroom/beer/water/food breaks. But you could easily hear the music from anywhere in the concert area.

Back to Jimmy Cliff, the man's voice is incredibly pure and true for a man his age or any age. He gave a history of reggae, talking about and then performing songs he wrote or produced, but he was never long winded and the show moved at a fine pace. When he did "Many Rivers to Cross" it sent a chill up my spine and tear to my eye. Beautiful.

After that String Cheese Incident, Furthur's first set of the night, the Zac Cheese Incident (or Zac and Cheese) featuring Zac Brown singing with String Cheese and then Furthur's second set which featured the psychedelic and well jammed opener of Dark Star > Eyes of the World > St. Stephen > Unbroken Chain > Dark Star. Zac Brown also came out with Furthur for Zac's song, "Free", a Van Morrison cover, "Into the Mystic" (the highlight of the Zac & Furthur set), and then "Tennessee Jed".



After the Furthur set, we headed over the "Triangle Stage" and caught the last two songs by Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, including "Embryonic Journey". Local C'ville band, Indecision, came on shortly thereafter, and though good, we decided to call it a night to save our energy for what was sure to be a big Saturday. On the walk back, we were amazed by the low clouds and giant oak tree that gave the Oak Ridge track (where the fest was held) it's name.


Saturday began with an absolutely rockin' set from Black Crowes that included "Soul Singing", "Thorn In My Pride". "Wiser Time", "Jealous Again" and covers of Traffic's "Medicated Goo" and the Rolling Stones' "Jumping Jack Flash". Here's the first 30 minutes of the set. If you look closely, you may see Perl and I rocking out and playing some mean air guitar.


Next up was Trey Anastasio Band and I retreated to "base camp" (approximately where the picture of the two stages above was taken) where we had set up for the night as it was starting to get very crowded. The highlights of Trey's set were the Phish songs (which may have been TAB songs first) "Gotta Jibboo", "Sand", "First Tube", the cover of the Gorillaz's "Clint Eastwood" and then Trey's "Architect" which was played just after a beautiful sunset, with the thin crescent moon low in the sky, Saturn shining to the moon's upper left, a very good hula hoop girl doing her thang right in front of us (she provided added entertainment with her hoopery Saturday and Sunday) and "Fez Guy" dressed in a Fez and white rimmed sunglass surfing/dancing atop a large wagon wheel to the rear right of us, silhouetted against the fading colors of the sky as it transitioned to night. Truly one of the most beautiful, surreal, memorable sights of the weekend.

Next up was Widespread Panic, who were excellent, playing many of my favorites including "Henry Parsons Died", "Pigeons", "Travelin' Light", and an exemplary version of "Blue Indian". I had forgotten how good this band can be but they renewed my faith with this set. The last 7 songs of the set were with the rock n' roll legend, John Fogerty, sitting in and he immediately clicked with the swampy groove of Panic, staring with "Born on the Bayou". John and Panic looked like they were having a great time and that flowed over to the audience as we grooved to CCR and Fogerty classics and one new Fogerty song, "Mystic River".

Furthur took the stage again next and performed the classic Grateful Dead album, "Workingman's Dead" straight through and played it well. The big collaboration started on the last song of "Workingman's", "Casey Jones" when Trey Anastasio joined the band. It took a few songs for the band and Trey to find their spaces and relax and things started to click during "Truckin'", which led to an epic "Other One". The middle jam of "Other One" found the band getting funky on a '70's space funk excursion featuring flying saucer sound effects and overlapping rhythms. As that started to break down, Trey started a classic rockish riff that the band took up and formed another fine, groovy jam around before working back to the second verse of "Other One". The other highlight of the Furthur/Trey matchup was the set closing "Scarlet Begonias > Fire on the Mountain". Couldn't find any great videos from the webcast yet, but here's a taste of the space funk jam in the "Other One":



After Furthur, it was back to the late night "Triangle" stage, where we found Phil Lesh, playing with his sons Grahame and Brian along with the awesome looking, long bearded cowboy, Ross James on guitar, and Alex Koford, as the Terrapin Family Band. The band played bluegrass/Americana music and we arrived about halfway through their set (it was a 20 minute walk from our campsite) to the sound of the band doing Springsteen's "Atlantic City" in the arrangement The Band had performed it. Phil was content to hang toward the back of the stage playing his bass for the most part, though he stepped to the mic to help out on vocals for the Dead classic "Ripple" with the help of the whole crowd of  maybe 2000 people singing along. Other highlights included "Big River", "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Band" and a mellow, moody, trippy, jam piece, orignial (?), "San Francisco Rain".

After a 1/2 hour break, Jeff Sipe Trio, started, playing jazz influenced instrumentals and though good, once it hit 4 AM, we decided to take the long walk back to the campsite and crash.

Things kicked off at 1:30 PM the next day with Col. Bruce Hampton and Friends joined by Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Sipe for a mini-Aquarium Rescue Unit reunion. They were also joined by Eric Kasno of Soulive on guitar. Col. Bruce plays somewhat insane swing/blues/jazz highlighted by his surreal lyrics and choice covers. A fun way to start the day and just lively enough without jarring us as most in the crowd were still a little crispy from the day before.

Tedeschi/Trucks band came on next with their blues/jazz and played a strong set, highlighted by Susan Tedeschi's "Angel From Montgomery/Sugaree" pairing and the finale of Sly Stone's "Sing a Simple Song" into "I Want to Take You Higher" joined by Chris Robinson and Jackie Greene of the Black Crowes, Eric Krasno and Bob Weir. Here's that Sly Stone medley filmed from the audience:



The Black Crowes then played their second set of the weekend with a mellower show than Saturday's and the only band who played multiple sets to repeat a song ("Wiser Time"). Not a bad song to repeat but wonder if they meant to do that or just forgot they played it the day before! Sunday was the day for the collaborations everyone had been hoping for and the Black Crowes had Susan Tedeschi join them for Ray Charles' "Let's Go Get Stoned" and then Bob Weir joined them for "Lovelight".

We lost a number of our party on Sunday to work on Monday and injury (damn hip!) so I largely flew solo Sunday. I did head back to "base camp" to boogie with Stu for a large part of Tedeschi/Trucks and then Widespread's second set before Stu also had to take off due to previous obligations. Widespread got it going early in the set with a nod to missing Neil Young doing Neil's Buffalo Springfield classic, "Mr. Soul". Other highlights included "Disco", "Party at Your Mama's House" and "Stop Breakin' Down" before Stu left and I decided to re-energize with a bathroom/beer/lean on post break before heading down to get a close spot for Furthur's final set and the final set of the weekend.

Furthur opened with a fine "Terrapin Station", then were joined by Susan Tedeschi for the obligatory Sunday "Samson & Delilah". Susan joined Furthur for a few songs later in the set, notable mainly for her vocals. She never quite caught the groove on guitar, as I had hoped she would, but didn't step on any toes either. Jimmy Herring of Widespread Panic joined the band for "Brown Eyed Women" and "Box of Rain" and his years playing with Phil Lesh in Phil & Friends made him the most seamless and quickest clicking collaboration of the weekend. Smiles and hugs between him and the band all around before and after his two songs. The highlight of the set for me came next when Furthur was on their own and played a fantastic "Weather Report Suite". The set closed a few songs later with an appropriate "Brokedown Palace" and with that Lockn was all over but a good night sleep and an easy ride home. Can't wait until next year!

Streams of most of the shows at the Lockn' Fest can be found HERE. Thanks, PanicStream!

I'm going to blast through this weekend's events in Richmond because I'm getting sleepy now.

The Telluride Blues & Brews festival will be webcast on YouTube live right HERE. All times are Mountain Time so add two hours for Eastern time. Friday highlights include Gary Clark Jr. (5:50 PM MT) and Black Crowes (7:30 PM MT). Saturday, be sure to catch Rebirth Brass Band (2:40 PM MT), Mickey Hart Band (5:30 PM MT) and Jim James of My Morning Jacket (7:30 PM MT). Sunday, Preservation Hall Jazz Band is on at 12:10 PM MT, Anders Osborne at 1:30 PM, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe w/Richmond's own DJ Williams on guitar at 3 PM MT and Melissa Etheridge at 6:15 PM MT. Other acts will be included in the presentation, of course, so maybe we'll find a new favorite too.

At Strange Matter on Tuesday, noise rock band Pop. 1280 will headline the show. It's $8 to get in, doors open at 8 PM and openers are Buck Gooter, Mutwawa, & Men's Room. This show is the first date of Pop. 1280's US Tour of Perversion so be forewarned. Wear your fetish gear or something. Here's Pop. 1280's "Bodies in the Dunes" video:


That's it for me. Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Late Night Pick: BB King (again)

Part two of the BB King interview airs on Tavis Smiley on PBS tonight. Check your local listings for times.

Because that's not much today, as an added bonus, here is 15 of the Funniest Misheard Lyrics from '90s Rock Songs. Enjoy!

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Late Night Pick: BB King

Back from the Lockn' Fest and almost completely recovered, though my legs and ankles still hurt a little from walking, standing, and dancing for 12 hours a day for three days straight. A small price to pay for an incredible weekend of fun and music. I'll give a full rundown in my post with the weekend events later this week.

For tonight, check out blues legend BB King on the Tavis Smiley show on PBS. Check your local listings for times and date.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Lockn Festival, Fall Line Fest, Steep Canyon Rangers, Airborne Toxic Event, Darius Rucker, Califone, The Last Bison, Houses

I just typed a 1000 blogs and boy, are my fingers tired! That's right, a full 1000 blogs and 1001 will mention what I hope will be one my biggest and best music weekends ever, the Lockn Festival, about 30 miles of Charlottesville, this weekend. I'll be there to see three shows from Furthur featuring Bob Weir and Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead, John Fogerty, Widespread Panic, Black Crowes, Jimmy Cliff, Trey Anastasio Band, Tedeschi Trucks Band and more. Why, it's a jam band fans wet dream. And there will most likely be lots of mixing and matching among the bands so we should see some unique and interesting combinations. You can still get a four day pass for $285 or single day passes at $99 (Thursday or Sunday) or $119 (Friday or Saturday). Students can get discounted tickets. If you can't make it out, you can watch it on the World Wide Web at nugs.tv. A single day webcast will cost you $14.99. You can look for me on the webcast. I'll be the guy in the Grateful Dead t-shirt.

Darius "Don't call me Hootie" Rucker will be out at Innsbrook on Thursday night, doing his mellow pop-country thing. Tix are $25 for General Admission. The Gold Circle is no longer available. Gates open at 5, show starts at 6:30 with opener Brinn Black (not to be confused with Brent Black, moe. fans). Darius will come on between 7:15 and 7:45. Darius will be a presenter at the American Country Music awards in Nashville on Tuesday, Sept. 10. It's a shame they aren't televising them because they've got some good performers representing a wide range of country music including Rodney Crowell & Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill & Paul Franklin, Robert Earl Keen, and more. Perhaps some highlights will show up on the World Wide Web. Here's Darius doing his cover of Old Crow Medicine Show's "Wagon Wheel" with some lyrics credited to Bob Dylan.


There is a pretty good festival going on in venues all over Richmond this weekend. The Fall Line Fest features music, food and art around the city on Friday and Saturday. A weekend pass will only cost you $20, a single day pass $15. Bands playing include Helado Negro, Kopecky Family Band, Neon Indian, No BS! Brass Band, Photosynthesizers, Rattlemouth, Southern Belles, Speedy Ortiz, Big Freedia and more. There will be a number of art installations and restaurants are offering special pris fixe menus and cocktails. Click the link up there to check it all out.

It's an Americana night over at Canal Club Saturday night with The Last Bison, The Vacant Stairs and The Blue and the Grey. Doors open at 8 and it's $12 to get in. You'll probably dig Last Bison if you like Fleet Foxes, Mumford & Sons, Jake Bugg, The Decemberists or Jars of Clay. Here's The Last Bison's song, "Switzerland":



More Americana/bluegrass on Sunday at University of Richmond's Modlin Center for the Arts. The Steep Canyon Rangers, who you may have seen backing up Steve Martin and Edie Brickell recently, will perform there. The show starts at 7:30 and Joy Kills Sorrow will open. Tickets range from $10 to $40 depending on how old you are and your affiliation with U of R. Steep Canyon Rangers have a new album coming out Sept. 10 called "Tell the Ones I Love". It was recorded in Levon Helm's studio and produced by Larry Campbell. Here's a one-minute teaser of a song called "Lay Myself Down" from that album:



As an added bonus here is Steep Canyon Rangers, Steve Martin, Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, the McCourys and Jason Carter playing "The Crow" at DelFest in 2012:



Experimental low-fi blues rock band Califone will be at Capital Ale House on Sunday night. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Richard Buckner. Tix are $10 in advance, $12 day of show. Califone's new album, "Stitches", just came out yesterday. Here's Califone doing "3 Legged Animals":



On Sunday at Strange Matter, indie electronic pop band Houses will perform. Doors will open at 8, show will start around 9 with openers Jamaican Queens and Mirror Kisses. Tix are $10 in advance, $12 day of show. The band is looking for some tunes to listen to in their tour van, so if you bring a mix CD or, if you are a musician, you bring a CD of your own music, you'll get $3 off of any of Houses' merchandise. Here's Houses' "Beginnings":



Indie rockers Airborne Toxic Event will be at The National on Monday night. Doors open at 6:30, show starts at 7:30 with opener American Authors. Ticket price is $10.21 since XL 102.1 is sponsoring the show. You might like ATE if you like My Morning Jacket, Vampire Weekend, Bloc Party, The National, David Bowie, Modest Mouse, The Cure, The Smiths, Arcade Fire, Leonard Cohen, Radiohead, The Clash, The Decemberists or U2. Here they are doing "True Love" live:



That'll be it. Have a great weekend. I know I will at the Lockn Fest!

Tony Jordan

Future Islands, Hanson, Late Night Pick: Spin Doctors

Electronica/pop trio Future Islands land at The Camel tonight. Doors will open at 7 and if you don't have your tickets yet, I would get there early if you want to get in. The pre-sale ticket allotment sold out so there won't be too many tickets left. Lonnie Walker, Peals and Rapdragons will open. Music should start around 7:30 PM. Here's Future Islands' "Grease" from their album "On The Water".



Former teeny-boppers and now pretty good classic rock/R&B/pop inspired musicians, Hanson, will be at The National tonight. Doors open at 6:30, music starts at 7:30 with opener Paul McDonald. Here's their latest single, "Get The Girl Back" from their new album "Anthem":



The Spin Doctors are back and this time with a well-received blues album called "If the River was Whiskey". They'll be on Conan tonight on TBS at 11 PM and then repeated at 1 AM.

More on the rest of the weekend tonight.

BTW, congratulations to me. This is my 1000th blog post!

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Late Night Pick: Neko Case

I'm back from vacation as are all the late night shows with new episodes. Americana artist Neko Case is also back with a new album with the long-winded title, "The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You" that's getting Neko's usual great reviews. Though she still has to go a ways to beat Fiona Apple when it comes to long titles. Neko will be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC at 12:35 AM tonight.