Cinco de Mayo, VibeFest, South Memphis String Band

Have a couple fiestas going on this weekend. Looks like there might be a chance of showers both days but hopefully we can get some fun in with no (or very little) rain.

The Cinco de Mayo Fiesta takes place on Brown's Island on Saturday, Dos de Mayo, from 1 PM - 7 PM. As mentioned, this is a FREE event. The music lineup is the excellent DJ Williams Projekt starting at 1:30 PM. I saw the Projekt open up for Robert Randolph at the National back in December and they had the whole crowd groovin'. At 3:30, Bio Ritmo, the "underground salsa" band plays providing some Latino flavor to the event that we all know was created just to sell Corona. Finally, at 5:30, Mexican bluegrass band, The Hackensaw Boys, come on. OK, there is no such thing as Mexican bluegrass, these guys are actually from Charlottesville and they play bluegrass-based Americana music. And they do it well. This should be fun for the whole family and barring torrential downpours, I'll be down there with the wife and kids.

Sunday, VibeFest 2009 takes place at Max's Positive Vibe Cafe. VibeFest goes from 11:30 AM to 6:30 PM and all they ask is a $10 donation at the door. For those of you unfamiliar with the Positive Vibe Cafe, they prepare people with cognitive or physical disabilities for paid employment in the food service industry. They accomplish their mission by training and employing people with disabilities at Max’s Positive Vibe Café. And the food and service are pretty damn good too. VibeFest is a benefit for the cafe and they'll have not one but two stages full of local performers who are donating their time. So go have a good time while you make time for good. Here is the lineup:

11:30
CAROL COVELL & RANDALL BURTON (2nd stage)
11:50
THE GOODFELLAS ( 1st stage)
12:10
OFFERING (2nd stage)
12:40
THE TATERS (1st stage)
1:10
PAGE WILSON (1st stage)
1:40
COLOR GUARD (JROTC FROM MEADOWBROOK HIGH SCHOOL), OPENING REMARKS
2:00
BLUE LINE HIGHWAY (2nd stage)
2:30
THE CHICAGO CY TAGGART BAND (1st stage)
3:00
MARNA & MACY (2nd stage)
3:30
CHARLES ARTHUR (1st stage)
4:00
THE DREAMERS (2nd stage)
4:30
SUSAN GREENBAUM (1st stage)
5:00
ROBBIN THOMPSON (2nd stage)
5:30
BILLY RAY HATLEY & THE SHOWDOGS (1st stage)
6:00
THE JANET MARTIN BAND (2nd stage)
Food and both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages will be available. Entertainment for children will be provided.

Saturday night at the Capital Ale House Music Hall Downtown, the South Memphis String Band rolls into town. Show starts at 10 PM and tix are $15. While you may not recognize the band name, you may recognize some of the guys who make up this band. Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi All-Stars and (recently) The Black Crowes, Jimbo Mathus from Squirrel Nut Zippers and bluesman Alvin Youngblood Hart. From the looks of the video, they have got together to perform some good old-time music. Here is their version of "Smokestack Lightning" from the Continental Club in Houston on 4/25/09:



When you are at home this weekend, be sure to check out the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest webcast at http://music.att.net/. I'm hoping the webcast works better than the Coachella webcast. I had some issues with that one on att.net a couple weeks ago. On the webcast, they'll have both stuff recorded last weekend (the fest goes over two four day weekends), stuff recorded from past years and live stuff from this weekend. The webcast runs Saturday & Sunday from 1:45 PM ET to approximately 8 PM ET.

Highlights on Saturday:

Sonny Landreth at 1:45

BeauSoleil at 2

Dr. John at 3:10 (hopefully playing some numbers off his last Katrina influenced album, "The City That Care Forgot")

Ben Harper at 5:30.

Highlights on Sunday:

Allen Toussaint at 2 PM

Bonnie Raitt at 4:45

Neville Brothers performing their traditional festival closing set at 6:40

On Tuesday night, some dude named Bruce Springsteen will be at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville with his so-called E Street Band. Good seats have become available for the show. My friend, Dave, also tells me that tickets on the scalping sites have been going for less than face value for many shows outside of the NY - Philly area.

Also on Tuesday, at the National, Jack's Mannequin plays with openers Matt Nathanson & Erin McCarley. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8, tix are $28. You may dig these guys if you like Alternative Pop stuff like Ben Folds, Jason Mraz, Freedy Johnston, David Gray, and John Mayer.

I leave you this week with a video from transsexual European icon (but aren't they all) "we're fat but its OK" 80s video, "Love Your Body". There are so many things weird about this video I thought I was on an acid trip at a gay Weight Watchers meeting. All this is missing is Richard Simmons. And the crowd seems to clap at random things. This one will haunt your dreams all weekend.


Have a great weekend! I'll see you at Cinco de Mayo Fiesta!

Tony Jordan

Review - The Dead - MSG, NY, NY - 4/25/09

This review of The Dead show in Madison Square Garden on 4/25/09 comes courtesy of my friend Jason in NYC.

"MSG 4/25/09

Hear it now at: http://www.archive.org/details/thedead2009-04-25.jwmod.akg.469.v2.sd722.suraci.sbeok.flac16

Great show. Fun energy. The singing of the entire crowd often dwarfed the vocals from the stage. People we happy to be at MSG with the band after so many years absent.

What a set list!?!? Interesting, with lots of psychedelic classics. Lots of nostalgia. I realized at the end that the “newest” song they played was Shakedown, which is over 30 years old now. (BTW I called Shakedown about two thirds of the way through China Cat; there must’ve been hints since I believe that that’s a relatively random combination… but I felt it in my soul as a “WWWPD” moment. By the way that’s “what would Weird People do?”) [Tony's note: Weird People was the band Jason played in at our college.]


Bobby’s vocals seemed weak. He often wasn’t singing, it was more like he was doing some sort of “I’m a little short of breath” scatting. But then again it was him or Phil…

Anytime Warren sang or played a lead it was a highlight and it felt like a sudden surge from an I.V. drip of energy for the band and audience alike. In terms of other new blood in the band, I really would have liked to hear a lot more of the keyboardist. His solo on Sugaree was good (the song was probably the night’s highlight) and lit up the crowd, but was ultimately a bit derivative. I’d love to see someone on keys to rival Warren in terms of energy and creativity… someone who can inject some new creative energy to the band, rather than play it safe and continue the status quo, which seems like it’s a little tired and lagging, in general, based on the MSG show and other recent Dead shows I’ve listened to online.

Sugaree was the highlight of the night.



He’s Gone was the unofficial “remember Jerry” moment of the first set for the audience.


I had never seen Born Cross Eyed, The Eleven, or Gimme Shelter live before. So that was some good icing on the cake of a solid evening. Gimme Shelter cooked and was pretty hard-hitting and bad-ass by mellow Dead standards.

Ultimately a really great show and I was inspired to see them on future return visits to the city.

Set list below:

--Set 1--
Cosmic Charlie
China Cat Sunflower>
Shakedown Street
Ship Of Fools
He's Gone
Cassidy
Sugaree

--Set 2--
Drums>
Space/Cryptical Envelopment>
Other One>
Born Cross Eyed>
St Stephen>
The Eleven>
Uncle John's Band>
Unbroken Chain>
Gimme Shelter>
One More Saturday Night

--Encore—
Brokedown Palace
"

For another perspective, here is the review from Reuters news service: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090427/music_nm/us_music_dead_3.

review of The Dead - 4/22 - Wilkes-Barre, PA

This review is from a college friend, Joe C., who lives in Scranton PA.

Thanks for the review, Joe. I like to hear from someone whose opinion I trust. The reviews on the Philzone tend to fall into the categories of "Bobby sucks, Phil is a god whose every note is full of immortal grace", "You youngsters missed the boat and they suck without Jerry", and "If you can't enjoy every note of every show, sell your tickets, ... you ungrateful bastards". Though the reviews of the show over the last weekend seemed better and without the usual sniping.

I went onto the Deadlists site and checked out an image of the ticket for the Grateful Dead's last arena show in '95. The price was $27.50. If they had increased only on inflation, in 2008 dollars, that would be $38. So they went up about 250%. I'm just sayin'. But the shows are close to sold out from everything I read, so I guess they didn't charge too much to sell out.

Here's Joe's review:

"Great show!!! Worth the effort and expense! By far the most enjoyable post Jerry experience.

As we drove into the venue (I went with Dave and Charlie from my band, the Hellbenders) we were greeted by political type yard signs that read (No Tailgating!!!). The persons who placed the signs must have been referring to the restriction only applying to that particular location because the parking lot was as festive as a Spring Tour parking lot should be. All the hallmarks of a Grateful Dead concert were accounted for: dogs, check (it is called empathy boneheads, ask someone else to watch your dog); young children, check (ditto on the empathy point); freaks, check (it would not be a freak show without them); and of course people leaching off the band selling their various wares. A shakedown street was well established much to my surprise given how uptight the cops are around here concerning tail gating. It never ceases to surprise me the effect of smell to conjure memories. The scent of oils, incense, and grilled meat sticks provided an authentic atmosphere despite the strip mall wasteland setting of the venue.

No opening act. The band started approximately twenty minutes behind advertised schedule. They opened with Mr. Charlie. Spirited, up tempo and funky. Warren lead the way on vocals (Warren is carrying a lot of water for the boys and that is no bad thing!). One of the true highlights of the evening. The stick to the roof of your mouth licks which splattered from the glorious teal Gibson Thunderbird of Warren proved that he had no interest in jamming a square peg into a round hole. Also, Warren stuck to good ol Fender 60s era tube amplification. Good choice leaving that boutiquey shit he normally plays at home!


Tune number two was a strong Stagger Lee. This glorious tune about female empowerment missed Jerry/s whimsical travis picking. But, the song was well performed, none the less. Bobby did a fine job delivering the vocals, not so much on remembering them or reading them of his touch sensitive teleprompter.

Next was Liberty. Very strong. A more authoritative rendition compared to the lethargic versions of the GD.


Candyman was certainly a welcome treat, despite vocal flubs and a few miscues. Miscues occurred more often than your typical GD show which I attribute to lack of practice and the insanely large song list they are showcasing this tour.

Me and my Uncle was stupendous and had that old school feel. I cannot wait for the recording.


Built to Last received a surprisingly warm reception from the audience. This is another one of those songs from the last batch that did not receive its due. Warren pumped it full of new life. It really benefitted from the energy they put behind it.

Tennesee Jed was another highlight of the evening. In other post versions of the band, I had the distinct sense that Phil and Bobby were trying to fill the void. They now seem comfortable in assuming their traditional roles and letting Warren do his thing. This approach is helping the music. Warren is respectful, but not subservient. He always served the music and regularly initiated themes that changed the jam.

Strong Dire Wolf set ender. Very, very good. Felt like old times.


Second set opened with a brisk Golden Road. Lots of jamming and exploration.


Phil initiated what turned out to be Revolution, but got stepped on by Bobby. Phil did not veil his displeasure. Bobby relented and started the song proper. The early frustration translated into a spirited rendition that satisfied all. Phil sounded stupendous during the entire show. His tone was astral. His playing was aggressive.


Weather Report (Part 1) was a big surprise (especially since there was no Let it Grow to follow). Intro seemed shaky. The tune proper was beautiful. Bobby sounded great.


Excellent Aiko. Most of the crowd did not know their part. Super jamming. Bobby mustered every verse he could (and flubbed one miserably).

Drumz was drumz. I heard much ballywho about the new drum themes Mickey and Billy had worked out. I could not tell. Sounded like Drumz. Wear protection. It got way loud. My chest was vibrating in row seventeen.

Space was good, but I have a great love of abstract music.

Caution (Do not stop on tracks) was excellent. Warren shined. Much jamming and exploration throughout the entire second set. It was incredibly satisfying to watch the band explore and discover. They are surely a new band. Sometimes the jamming was so extended that I got the sense that many in the crowd were longing for a song. They were obviously interested in the musical dialogue, and there was a curiosity that had long been absent in post Jerry jams.

So Many Roads, which I never really cared for, was a highlight of the night. These songs from the last batch benefitted from Warren and his powerful delivery. The solos were outstanding.

Midnight Hour was excellent. Lots of cool jamming. Extended ending jam. It felt like they were going elsewhere but they came back to it for an disastrous train wreck ending followed by a bearly passible do over. Thanks for sucking Bobby. I thought it was disappointing to end such a nice set on such a sour note.

Box of Rain encore was special. No more driving versions. It was light and airy with that psychedelic quality that I find so compelling. Worthy of the legacy.


Parting thoughts:Thanks so much to my sweet and beautiful wife, K, for the awesome tailgating feast. Her from scratch french loaf rules the lot!!

I cannot wait for Philly.

Better than a bad Grateful Dead show, but not in the same league of a good one.Warren must lose weight. He is bigger than Jerry. He needs to take care of himself to continue sharing his gift that he labored so hard to cultivate.

Great show. After 14 years since my last Grateful Dead show, I consider myself back on the bus.

Kudos to Bobby in his equipment choices. He historically has had bad taste when it comes to axes and amplification. Gibson ES335??? I am impressed."

Kenny Loggins, Dinosaur Jr, Mike Watt, Manchester Orchestra

Kenny Loggins will be at Innsbrook on Wednesday night. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and $40 Gold Circle. Kenny was the king of the 80s soundtracks. "I'm Alright". "Danger Zone". "Footloose". But what I'm really excited about with Kenny coming is that I once again get to show a little "Yacht Rock". One of the funniest Internet series ever, "Yacht Rock" centers around the smooth rock of the late 70s - early 80s as epitomized by Michael McDonald and The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Hall & Oates, Christopher Cross, and, of course, Kenny Loggins. You also may have seen some of the Yacht Rock actors on the VH1 special, In the second episode of Yacht Rock, Loggins & McDonald engage in a songwriting contest with Hall & Oates, Christopher Cross makes his debut, and one of Kenny's biggest hits is written. The language in this is not safe for work so be forewarned.


Strangely, Christopher Cross' song, "Sailing", made an appearance in a dream I had last night. I don't know what that means. Maybe it was my subconscious telling me to keep it smooth.

On Thursday night, 4/30, alt-rock kings Dinosaur Jr. and Mike Watt and the Missingmen come to the National. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 and tix are $23.

On Friday night, 4/24, Manchester Orchestra plays at the National. There are 3 opening bands. Show starts at 7:30 with doors opening at 6:30. Tix are $14.

I would have linked to some videos and stuff but my Internet connection is not working well tonight for some reason. Sooooo just go watch another episode of Yacht Rock and enjoy your weekend.

Tony Jordan

Earth Day, Record Store Day, The Duhks, Black Cash

So much going on this weekend so let's jump right in.

You can start the weeekend off with Johnny Cash tribute band Black Cash & The Bad Trips. They'll be at the Tobacco Company on Friday & Saturday night and it won't cost you a thing to get in. Show starts at 10 each night.

Saturday is Record Store Day all around the country. Its a day to celebrate your local independent record store and since we have one of the best in the country here in Richmond, head on down to Plan 9 in Carytown. They'll have bands playing live all afternoon. Here is the lineup:
1:15-2:00 Hex Machine
2:45-3:30 No BS Brass Band
4:15-5:00 Cinemasophia
5:45-6:30 The Recliners (CD Release Show)

There will also be free giveaways and exclusive Record Store Day music available from artists like Bruce Springsteen, Ben Harper, Bob Dylan, Derek Trucks, Elvis Costello, Flaming Lips, Jane's Addiction and more. Check out the Plan 9 web site for all the details.

Saturday is Earth Day and the Earth Day Richmond and Fish Festival will be held from 10 AM - 4 PM at the South side of the Mayo Bridge (14th Street) at the James River Flood Wall. This is a free event and the Earth has decided to give us a beautiful day for it. There will be food, art, dance, environmental exhibits, demonstrations, tours, earth-friendly goods, plenty of kid's activities and live music. For the skinny, check out the web site: http://www.earthdayrichmond.org/.

The X Chili Cookoff is Saturday from 11 - 7 out at the Richmond Raceway Complex. There will be chili, beer, and bands of the type played on 102.1 the X:
11:45
Searching For Timothy
12:45
Pop Evil
2:00
Framing Hanley
3:15
Anberlin
4:30
Hollywood Undead
5:45
Trapt
Tix are $20 in advance and $25 at the door but if you listen to the station they are giving away a lot of tickets.

The Duhks will play at Capital Ale House Music Hall Downtown on Saturday night. Show starts at 10 and tix are $15. Here is what the Capital Ale House site says about them: "The Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Duhks have always gravitated towards traditional roots-based song structures, but they've never stopped evolving since their inception five years ago. Due in part to a collective musical worldview that knows no boundaries, that evolution led the band to their latest offering Fast-Paced World, the first Duhks record to feature wunderkinds Sarah and Christian Dugas (replacing vocalist Jessee Havey and percussionist Scott Senior respectively). It's an album that reflects the quintet's newfound confidence, with Sarah bringing five original songs to the band's encyclopedic collection of originals and covers both old and new."

You'll dig The Duhks if you like Nickel Creek, Bela Fleck, or Fairport Convention. Here is a video of them playing live from just a month ago, singing about a road we all know well, "95 South":




Close out your weekend with music from the long-lived blues bar band, The Nighthawks. They'll be at Shenanigans with an early show starting at 6:30 so you can still get home and get a good night's rest before work. Here's a little Nighthawks from downtown Williamsport PA, my cousins' hometown where I used to hang out for a couple weeks each summer.




Wednesday night, the Innsbrook Pavilion season kicks off with the Doobie Brothers & the Little River Band. Tix are $17.50 in advance, $20 at the gate and $35 if you want Gold Circle. Gates open at 6 PM and the show starts shortly after that. Here is some classic Doobies from 1973:




And here is some freakin' smooth rock from Little River Band. I think I had this on a K-tel album. From what a can tell they drank some wine, played some pool and BAM! Music video.




Also on Wednesday, O.A.R. plays at The National. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 and tix are $35. On the Internet Music Archive, their show from 1/14/06 is the most downloaded show in the site's history with almost 2.5 million downloads. The next closest has 368,000 downloads. So when I went to listed to the 1/14/06 show one day, I thought "2.5 million downloads. This is going to blow me away." But after listening all I thought was "Meh." Not that exciting.

Larry Keel & Natural Bridge play at the Capital Ale House Music Hall Downtown on Wednesday night. Show starts at 9 and tix are $12. These guys play bluegrass influenced Americana. Here is the first 10 minutes of the documentary about Larry called "Beautiful Thing". You can check out the whole thing on YouTube.


Finally, this weekend, festival season starts which means the festival webcasts start. This is the next best thing to being at the actual festivals. On the plus side, beer is cheaper, you don't get baked by the sun or driven by the rain, and you get to take a shower whenever you want.

On Sunday, though not being webcast, the Green Apple Festival takes place in cities across the US to celebrate Earth Day and the show in DC is really good. Flaming Lips, moe., and Los Lobos will play on the National Mall.

An Earth Day festival that is being webcast is the Loyal Earth Music & Arts Festval Thursday through Monday from St. Louis. You can check out the webcast at http://www.iclips.net/loyalearth. Its on Thursday night until midnight and I'm watching The Station now. Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday runs from 4:20 PM to 1 AM. The hghlights should be Medeski, Martin & Wood Sunday at 8 PM. I haven't heard of most of the other bands but that's the beauty of the webcasts. You get to check out some new bands and see if they can bring it live. Note that times listed above for Loyal Earth Music Fest are Central time.

AT&T Music will be webcasting the Coachella festival from the desert outside of LA. This has a few bands you may have heard of. Highlights will include Paul McCartney (Friday 10 PM), Morrissey (Friday 9 PM), The Cure (Sunday 10:10 PM), Public Enemy (Sunday 9 PM), Michael Franti (Saturday 5:10 PM), Drive-By Truckers (Saturday 6:55 PM), Calexico (Saturday 7:45 PM). M.I.A. (Saturday 9:35 PM), Okkervil River (Sunday 6 PM) and Conor Oberst (Friday 8:15 PM). The webcast will run roughly 2:30 PM - midnight on Friday through Sunday. Note that times listed above for Coachella are Pacific time.

Wow, that was much longer than I thought it would be. Happy Earth Day!

Tony Jordan

Grateful Dead article in NYT

Good article on The Grateful Dead and the eternal debate on favorite show, tour, era. This is from the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/arts/music/12ratl.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1.

The Cornell show was one of the first tapes I had. The other being the Great American Music Hall show from 75 when they debuted the material from the "Blues For Allah" album. You can find that show as the "One From the Vault" CD.

I don't know if I can pinpoint a greatest show, though the Veneta OR show they speak of in the article would certainly rank as one of my faves. For my money, the best year for the Grateful Dead was 74. Most of the songs from the canon had been written, they could nail the Americana stuff but could also still get way out with a 30 minute Dark Star. They also seemed to have a jazzier bent then some other years. Been listening to some excellent shows from 6/22 & 23/74 in Miami lately. Here is 6/23: http://www.archive.org/details/gd74-06-22.sbd.sacks.212.sbefail.shnf

Favorite shows I attended: 6/17/91, 9/10/91, 10/16/89 (available as the "Nightfall of Diamonds" CD), and 8/5/89.

Joe Cocker translated

Here's Joe Cocker's incendiary version of "Little Help From My Friends" at Woodstock, with the lyrics translated for those that don't speak Cocker-ese. The first few lines are normal, then it gets weird (and funny):

http://www.elwp.com/Joe%20Cocker.html

Old School Freight Train, Stephaniesid, Tracy Morgan

Old School Freight Train plays with Hoots & Hellmouth at the Capital Ale House Downtown on Friday night. Show starts at 10 and tix are $15. OSFT is starting to gain some buzz and do some festivals. They have just been added to the Wakarusa fest which takes place in Arkansas on June 4 - 7. OSFT is kind of local, hailing from C'ville. They've got an Americana/bluegrass kind of vibe going on. Here is a couple tunes from their DVD "Live At The Mystic":


Hoots & Hellmouth are getting a following of their own too so get there early.

Saturday, a band I'm starting to dig on, Stephaniesid, will be at the Capital Ale House. Show starts at 10 and tix are just $5. They are influenced by Bjork, Radiohead, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder, and Sigur Ros. (BTW check out the Sigur Ros movie, Heima, when its on Sundance or IFC. Sigur Ros, who are from Iceland, travel around Iceland playing in small towns all over the country. It is beautifully filmed and is full of moving, haunting music.) But back to Stephaniesid. Here is the official video for the Nissan Outdoor Games 2008 that used their music and has cool footage of people doing crazy things.


Comedian Tracy Morgan from the funniest show on TV, 30 Rock, comes to The National for two shows on Saturday night. First show is at 8, second show at 10:30 and tix are $25. Be prepared for anything when Tracy shows up because that dude is crazy! My favorite 30 Rock is the one where Tracy's meds get messed up and he keeps seeing a little blue dude.

On Wednesday, out at John Paul Jones Arena, The Dead come to town. Good seats are still available.

Finally, if you are preparing your Easter feast, you may want to consider some potato salad. Stick with this video until the ladies start to get all bendy a little past a minute in. Crazy!



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Flaming Lips cover Madonna

If you like the Flaming Lips and/or Madonna, check out the Lips' cover of Madonna's Borderline:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid4020141001/?bctid=ref:A10302B0000821597N

Toad's update, Tribute bands, The Bridge, Neko Case

In the further adventures of Toad's Place, Style reported that The National may buy Toad's. Toad's would then be the stepping stone for bands who are too big to play The Canal Club but not big enough for The National. Sounds like a good plan to me. I am again offering my services to help re-establish Toad's place. Please contact me through this blog to offer me a job.

Van Halen super-fan Gordon had this to say about Fair Warning, the Van Halen Tribute band who played at the National last Friday: "Fair Warning was pretty good. It looks like Dave may have aged about 10-15 years, but I think he may actually be touring with them:-) The lead singer somewhat looked and sounded like DLR. The guitar player did a good job covering EVH. He looked like EVH when the lights were low and all you could see was a silhouette. They actually referred to themselves as Ed, Dave, etc. May have taken themselves a bit too serious....really played the part."

Here's what Fair Warning said on their blog about playing The National: "We just did a show last weekend at a relatively new venue up in Richmond called The National. I have to say I haven't played a better stage or worked with a better group of people since The House Of Blues in the 90's.Thanks to the National for having us and thanks to all you Richmond hell raisers that came out in that nasty weather anyway and made the show happen. You guys are the greatest. "

If you want to see tribute bands taking themselves too seriously, check out a documentary called "Tribute". They show it on IFC or Sundance every now & then. The movie follows tribute bands which honor The Monkees, Queen, Judas Priest, & Kiss. The Kiss band has to replace their Gene Simmons because the previous Gene actually began to believe he was a demon and ends up in a mental institution. The Monkees band has artistic differences, split into two Monkees tribute bands and trash talk each other throughout the movie. The Queen and Priest band are relatively well behaved.

If you want to check out some tribute bands, Us & Them will perform Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" in its entirety and Brown Sabbath (tribute to Black Sabbath) will play at The National on Saturday night. Doors open at 7, show starts at 7:30 and tix are $13.

In other shows this week, The Bridge play at the Capital Ale House Downtown Music Hall on Friday night. Doors open at 9:30. Tix are $12. The Bridge hail from Baltimore and are a good funky, slightly jammy band. And they have a dude who does a killer human beatbox thing. Here's what the Ale House web site says: "A unique rock band that combines various elements of blues, folk, funk and bluegrass throughout their entire repertoire. From their gritty and grand live performances, as well as through their poignantly hand crafted albums, THE BRIDGE has become one of the most popular bands to hail from the Mid-Atlantic region.
Featuring guitar, mandolin, saxophone, bass, drums and vocal percussion, THE BRIDGE offers up a sophisticated yet approachable musical experience, one that is sure to move your feet, as well as your soul."

Here's The Bridge doing an acoustic thing at Baltimore radio station WTMD:


I'd go check out this band but I must rest up for my Fantasy Baseball draft which takes place Saturday at noon. Priorities, people, priorities.

Indie alt-country darling and Paste magazine cover girl Neko Case comes to The National (moved from Toad's) on Monday. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Crooked Fingers. Tix are $25. Here's the video for her latest single, "People Got A Lotta Nerve". Its got monkeys AND a killer whale in it.


That's about it this week. I'll leave you with a video that they used to show on the classic 80s show "Night Flight" a lot. I remembered this video when the song came on the Willie's Place channel on XM tonight.

From Crackle: Cow Cow Boogie

Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan