Supporting music in Richmond since 2000 - "Hello, my love, I heard a kiss from you / Red magic satin playing near, too / All through the morning rain I gaze, the sun doesn't shine / Rainbows and waterfalls run through my mind / In the garden, I see, west purple shower bells and tea / Orange birds and river cousins dressed in green / Pretty music, I hear, so happy and loud / Blue flowers echo from a cherry cloud" - The Brothers Johnson, “Strawberry Letter 23”
This weekend brings those 80's futurists (maybe we are finally catching up to them now), Devo to the National. Devo plays Friday night. Tix are $35 in advance, $40 day of show. The doors will open at 8 with the show starting at 9 with "a special guest". Here they are performing their new single, "Fresh", on Jimmy Kimmel Live:
Saturday, there a couple non-music related events that I thought I would give a quick mention of.
The Dragon Boat Festival takes place at Rocketts Landing (5000 Old Osborne Turnpike) and is Free from
8:00am-4:30pm
The first annual WhatIfCreditUnions.com Dragon Boat Festival will be held on the James River at Rocketts Landing. There will be a large athlete's vendor/exhibitor village and beverage garden along with all the races.
The Dragon Boat Festival people say, "The ancient Chinese sport of dragon boating has been gaining popularity in North America over the past twenty years and has become the world's fastest growing water sport. Dragon boats are 40-foot human-powered canoes decorated with ornate Chinese dragon heads. The Richmond International Dragon Boat Festival will be the sixth event of the Major League Dragon Boat Series. Not only is the event expected to draw in experienced participants from across the continent and overseas, but it should also attract first-time racers from right here in Richmond."
Then there is the 21st Annual Big Brothers Big Sisters Duck Race on Brown's Island Saturday which is also Free and will run from 11am-4pm with the big duck drop at 3pm.
"A premier family event with as many as 20,000 ducks racing down the canal competing for $30,000 in prizes! Pay for one duck or ten. As the waterway narrows, the ducks feed one by one across the finish line. The first ducks to pass through win prizes for you! It's a full day of all kinds of free children's activities, entertainment, an array of food vendors and of course, ducks! Enter your ducks into the race by calling Big Brothers Big Sisters at 804-261-4940, or visit their office at 5511 Staples Mill Road, Suite 200.
Visit bigbrobigsis.com for duck sale events and festival specifics."
King Solomon's Marbles will bring their Grateful Deadieness to Cary St. Cafe on Saturday night starging at 10 PM. Cover is $7.
Tuesday, alt/country singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier will be at Ashland Coffee & Tea. The show starts at 8. Tix are $15 in advance, $20 day of show. You'll probably dig Mary if you like John Prine, Rosanne Cash, Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, Dar Williams, and Steve Earle. Here she is performing earlier this year on RocKwiz, an Australian television quiz show series, focused on rock music (thank you, Wikipedia, how did I ever survive without you):
Wednesday night, the man who will sit in and jam with anyone (and does), Warren Haynes, brings his band, Gov't Mule, to Innsbrook. General Admission is $16.50 in advance, $20 at the door, and Gold Circle (advance only) is $35. Gates will open at 5:30 and the show starts at 6:30 with opener Jackie Greene. If you are going, get there early to see Jackie. He had a lengthy stint playing with Phil Lesh and Friends and is an outstanding blues singer in his own right. I would expect Warren to jam with Jackie and/or Jackie to jam with Gov't Mule at some point during the show. They can't help it. Its what they do. In fact, here they are playing the Grateful Dead's "Loser" a few days ago in Birmingham:
Have a great weekend! I hope you have as good a time as this Swedish policeman:
Just Announced *** Classic Rock Legends ZZ TOP Tuesday September 14th @ 8pm ... Reserved Seat Balcony Tickets and GA Floor tickets available THIS Saturday at 10am at all Ticketmaster outlets, nattickets.com, and The National box office. Ticket prices are $60 - $75.
Hmmm, interesting decision to do the film based on his life prior to starting the Grateful Dead. Don't know much about the director but his few films have pretty good ratings on Internet Movie Database. However, this threw up a big red flag, "Screenwriter Topper Lilien, whose last big-screen writing credit was 2000's live-action Dungeons & Dragons, will pen the script". I can only hope he has learned a lot in the last 10 years because the Dungeons & Dragons movie sucked.
Forgot to mention that you can get tickets tomorrow for Virgin Mobile's Free Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion on September 25. They are available starting at 10 AM on Saturday, July 24 HERE.
The lineup for the festival is a pretty good mix of alternative and hip-hop featuring M.I.A., LCD Soundsystem, Pavement, T.I., Ludacris, Joan Jett, Thievery Corporation, Matt & Kim, Jimmy Eat World, The Temper Trap, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros and Yeasayer.
Be sure to get online at 10 AM on Saturday if you want them because they went fast last year.
I got my tickets for the Drive-By Truckers at The National in October. The Saturday night show. Joan & Mike will be rocking with me. If you want to know why the Truckers rule, check this out. They had an unexpected night off when they were supposed to open for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers but the show got postponed because Mike Campbell, primo guitarist for the Heartbreakers, had passed out from the heat during the previous show. Most bands might go see a movie with their night off. Maybe stay in their hotel room, get drunk and bang groupies. Maybe go see a show, perhaps a local theater version of "Cats". But the Truckers? They said f**k that! We're a fu**in' rock n roll band! We want to RAWWWWWCK! So they did a surprise show. And played for three hours. Read about it HERE.
Friday night at Maymont, Old Crow Medicine Show will perform on the Carriage House Lawn. Tix are $25 in advance, $30 day of show. The show starts at 6 with opener Ben Kweller. Here they are doing a song I really like, "Wagon Wheel":
Here's a bonus of Old Crow Medicine Show doing The Band's "The Weight" with Gillian Welch & David Rawlings:
Also Friday, Solazo will play at the Lecture Hall at the Library of Virginia. Tix are $10 and the show starts at 6 PM. Here's what the LVA site says about Solazo: "Hailing from Chile, Argentina, and Ecuador, the four members of Solazo will offer up a unique blend of Latin folk, contemporary dance music, and soulful ballads that appeal to all ages and cultures. Their newest CD, Mindful Journeys, is an exciting compilation of original music inspired by traditional styles borrowed from Spain, Cuba, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Ecuador. Layered with sensual Cuban rhythms and spiked with the unusual flavors of Andean sounds (panpipe, charango, and mandolin), the authentic and artful arrangements move fluidly from flamenco to mambo within the course of a single song. The band's sound is further distinguished by enchanting and pure vocal harmonies that consistently captivate. A crowd favorite at the Richmond Folk Festival, this group of immigrants currently calls Floyd County, Virginia, home. This concert is offered in conjunction with the Library of Virginia's exhibition The Land We Live In, the Land We Left: Virginia's People." Here's a little taste of Solazo:
Also on Friday, country music legend Merle Haggard will be at The National. Reserved Seats on the Floor and Reserved Balcony Seats are $45. General Admission Standing Floor are $37.50. Doors open at 7 and the show starts at 8 with openers, The Malpass Brothers. Here's Merle doing his classic, "Mama Tried":
On Friday another webcast from iclips.net starts, this time form the HullabaLOU festival in Louisville KY. Hopefully this will run better than the All Good webcast when a storm on Friday afternoon knocked their satellite dish at the site out for two days. Hey, its not easy to get spare parts when you are in the middle of nowhere WV. But iclips usually does a great job. It was really funny to read the chat on the page where the webcast was supposed to be broadcast and see how many people were getting indignently mad because a FREE webcast was not playing. You just gotta wonder what kind of people will hurl insults at people who are trying their best to get a FREE webcast back up on the air. Do you really feel like they somehow owe this to you when you are paying NOTHING to see this? Anyway, here is the schedule for the HullabaLOU webcast. All times are Eastern Daylight Time:
Friday
2:30 - Hazel Miller
3:20 - Rick Bartlett's Rockin' Soul Revival*
4:05 - Blood, Sweat & Tears
5:05 - Exile*
5:35 - Gloriana
More to be announced
Saturday
2:30 - Jimmy Church
3:20 - Kim Taylor*
4:00 - WAR
5:00 - Duke Tumatoe & the Power Trio*
5:50 - Ben Sollee*
6:40 - TBA
7:15 - Gov't Mule
Sunday
1:45 - Andrea Davidson
2:35 - Taj Mahal
3:35 - Terry Adams Rock & Roll Quartet*
4:15 - The Black Crowes
5:30 - Stealing Angels*
6:30 - The Avett Brothers*
7:30 - TBA
8:30 - Dave Matthews Band
* Indicates a delayed performance
Sunday there is a great show at Innsbrook for a great cause. Chris Isaak with special guests Marc Broussard and The Waybacks will play and the show will benefit the VCU Massey Cancer Center. General Admission is $25 in advance, Gold Circle is $50 in advance. Gates open at 3 and the show starts at 4:30. Chris Isaak is just a way cool guy as you can tell from this interview in today's Times-Dispatch. I wasn't gonna play this one. I have a number of Chris Isaak's albums and there is a lot of great songs on them. But damn, this is a great song:
BTW, because of the excessive heat forecast, concertgoers are asked to bring three sealed, personal-sized bottles of water (24 ounces or less) to the show, a benefit for Music for Massey. Until 7 p.m., umbrellas and personal awnings will be permitted into the Snagajob.com Pavilion, but will be restricted to the back half of the general admission lawn area (behind the soundboard) and must be stowed after 7 p.m.
On Wednesday night at Innsbrook, jam band veterans Blues Traveler will play with jam band super-veterans Little Feat opening. Little Feat will start things off at 6:30 with Blues Traveler coming on at 8. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door and there is no Gold Circle (yay!). Blues Traveler was the first band to rise up in the second wave of jam bands in the late 80s. I saw them on many occassions back then in hot, sweaty clubs and college gymnasiums. Thankfully, they were a very giving band and gave bands they liked a hand up with opening slots and the H.O.R.D.E. tour. Thanks to them, I got my first exposure to Phish, Widespread Panic, and the Spin Doctors. Unfortunately for Blues Traveler perhaps, those bands all eclipsed them and continued to evolve (at least Phish & Widespread) while Blues Traveler, despite the hit "Hook", seemed to get bogged down in the same old sound. Though I still enjoyed seeing them every now and again, they moved out of the "must-see" band category for me and my friends. I suspect they still put on a good show. But I just don't know if they can ever recapture those times when they were at the forefront of a new movement of jam bands and I was sweating my ass off, dancing to them during a three hour show at The Chestnut Cabaret in Philly. Here's one from back in the day, "But Anyway":
Also on Wednesday night, a grown-up Hanson will play at the Hat Factory with Rooney. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 and tix are $25 in advance, $30 day of show. I have actually heard some good things about Hanson and that they have matured into a fine band with a classic rock/adult alternative sound. Here is a song from their 2007 album "The Walk" called "Watch Over Me". You be the judge.
Just Announced *** DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS Friday and Saturday October 29th and 30th @ 8pm ... Tickets for both shows on sale TOMORROW July 21st at all Ticketmaster outlets, nattickets.com, and The National box office
May be a quick blog today. Had intended to this on Wednesday night but was pretty tired from staying up to watch a boring All-Star Game the night before. Thought I would do it on Thursday night after returning from the Squirrels game but 14 runs in the game and fireworks pushed the return home to 11, kids not in bed until 11:30 and I didn't want to start that late. So I blame baseball for this coming out Friday AM.
Today at 4:30 PM, you can catch the Pitchfork Music Festival webcast at http://www.pitchforkmusicfestival.com/media.php. The festival is taking place in Chicago IL and is run by the Pitchfork web site which tends to be one of those "hipper than thou" web sites that hates anything that sells more than 10,000 copies but they are good at sniffing out new and interesting bands. Here is the schedule:
Friday July 16 (all times in CST):
3:30 Sharon Van Etten
4:00 The Tallest Man on Earth
4:35 El-P
5:30 Liars
6:25 Robyn
8:30 Modest Mouse
Saturday July 17
1:00 Free Energy
1:45 Real Estate
2:30 Delorean
3:20 Titus Andronicus
4:15 Raekwon
5:15 The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
6:15 Wolf Parade
7:25 Panda Bear
8:30 LCD Soundsystem
Sunday July 18
1:00 Allá
1:45 Cass McCombs
2:30 Girls
3:20 Beach House
4:15 Lightning Bolt
5:15 St. Vincent
6:15 Major Lazer
7:25 Big Boi
8:30 Pavement
Here in town on Friday night, a band with the name of the year, Dead Kenny G's, will play at the Capital Ale House Downtown. The show starts at 10 PM and is FREE. Here's what the CAH site says about the band:
"The Dead Kenny Gs is a duo started by Skerik and Mike Dillon in 2004. In 2005 they started adding Brian Haas, keyboard genius, for special shows, and a tour in 2006. Brad Houser, bass god from Critters Buggin, is currently the third member. Rotating members join the duo for necessary outings. The priority is for the name, The Dead Kenny Gs, to continue fighting injustice, cheese, and dishonesty in music, and society."
I do know that Skerik, who plays sax and keys, has played with Tuatara (two great instrumental albums with Peter Buck of REM on guitar), Les Claypool's Frog Brigade, Roger Waters, Fred Wesley, Pearl Jam, Bonnie Raitt, The Meters, and Dumpstaphunk. So while I can't tell you exactly what to expect, you can expect something weird, crazy, fun and played by extremely talented musicians. Here they are in Charleston last month.
Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros will be at The National on Saturday night. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9, tix are $15 in advance, $19 day of show. We Are Each Other featuring Aaron Embry is opening. You may have heard their song "Home" if you listen to WNRN or another "adult alternative" station.
Joan Armatrading comes to The National on Tuesday night. Tickets are $35 (reserved seats are available), doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with Jamie McLean Band (acoustic) opening. 3 times Grammy nominated British singer songwriter Joan Armatrading is the first female UK artist to have debuted at number 1 in the Billboards Blues charts. Here is one of her latest songs, "This Charming Life":
The Indigo Girls come to The National on Wednesday night. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 day of show, doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Coyote Grace. BTW if you purchase both an Indigo Girls and a Joan Armatrading ticket at The National box office ONLY you will receive a $10 discount. The Indigo Girls are about to release a two-CD live album called Staring Down the Brilliant Dream on June 29th. Here they are playing "Galileo" live down in Florida last Sunday.
Finally, Sublime with Rome (the new singer) will be at Innsbrook on Wednesday night. General Admission tix are $20 in advance, $25 day of show, Gold Circle are $35 (advance only). Gates open at 6, the show will start at 6:15 with openers Matisyahu and The Dirty Heads. Here is Sublime with Rome performing their new song "Panic" on Jimmy Kimmel Live:
The * designates a delayed broadcast. I was disappointed to see that Furthur would not be on live tonight. I was interested to see a second show by them to see if they'd fall good like the webcast on 7/4 or break bad like the Hampton show. Perhaps they'll be on later this weekend on "tape delay".
No schedule for Saturday or Sunday but will try to update you when that's posted or you can just check the webcast site.
OK, time to write the blog. Starting a little late because the Phils game is in extra innings after yet another blown save by Brad Lidge. We loved you in '08, Brad, but its time we moved on. Really.
Friday night at The National, Pink Floyd tribute band, The Machine, will be performing the entire "Wish You Were Here" album (click the link for the Wikipedia article. The story of Syd Barrett showing up while they recorded "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" still freaks me out.) and then the usual greatest hits of Floyd in 2 full sets. Here's The Machine performing "Shine On" last year in Amsterdam:
This weekend on iclips.net there is another festival webcast, this time from the All Good Festival in WV. They didn't have the schedule up yet for the weekend but festivities get under way at the festival at (alright! Phils just won!) 1 PM on Friday, noon on Saturday and 11 AM on Sunday so check in on the website on Friday to see who they'll have on. The festival has the usual jam band suspects including The Bridge, Tea Leaf Green, Old Crow Medicine Show, Umphrey's McGee, Furthur, Railroad Earth, George Clinton & P-Funk, Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi, Widespread Panic, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Travelin' McCourys, and Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. I watched Furthur on the webcast from Nateva last week and I was impressed. I only wished they had played like that at the debacle that was Hampton. Well, if they come to Richmond, I'll probably check them out.
Some local bands are out there on Saturday night. The Atkinsons will be at Cafe Diem. Showtime is at 9:30 PM and its free to get in. Johnny Cash tribute band, Black Cash & The Bad Trips, or DJ Williams Projekt will be at the Cary St. Cafe depending on whose web site you believe. Either way the show will start at 10 PM and there will be a $5 cover. Call ahead if it matters to you or just show up and be surprised.
Sunday, Counting Crows bring their Traveling Circus & Medicine Show featuring Augustana to Innsbrook. GA Tix are $26.50, Gold Circle is $50. Gates open at 5:30 and the show will start at 6. Don't be late because all the bands will be on stage at the start of the show and will together and seperately throughout the show. HERE is the link to the article in today's Times-Dispatch where Adam Duritz, lead singer of the Crows, explains it all. Here's the little promo video for the tour, which seems to promise quite a few cover tunes along with the Crows hits:
Speaking of the Times-Dispatch, Melissa Ruggieri had a nice article about the issues many summer tours are having selling tickets (click HERE). I took her advice and used the nifty little Interactive Seat Finder on the LiveNation site to see how many tickets were remaining for some of the show at the Jiffy Lube Amphitheater up in Northern VA. I checked out Creed and was amazed to see that 1200 tickets remain. Not for the show. Not for the reserved seats. There are 1200 tix remaining just in the 100 level of the reserved seats. If that show doesn't get canceled, I think there will be about 20 people there. I guess Creed's audience has moved onto Nickelback to get their generic, non-offensive arena rock fix.
And to back up Melissa's article, Pollstar (the concert industry's trade magazine) reported that ticket sales are at their lowest point since 2005 (click HERE). Too many bands playing venues that are too large for them at too high ticket prices.
Also on Sunday, Heartless Bastards will be at The Canal Club. No, I don't mean the Republican Party (ho!), I mean the band Heartless Bastards. Doors open at 7, tix are $12 in advance, $15 day of show and the show opens with The Builders and the Butchers & Peter Wolf Crier. AllMusic says their music is "
rooted in and heavily influenced by garage punk (MC5), indie rock (At the Drive-In), soul (Otis Redding), roots rock (Neil Young), and blues (Leadbelly)." Here they are performing "Early In The Morning" on Jimmy Kimmel Live:
On Tuesday night, a show that I was actually surprised didn't sell out yet, the Smashing Pumpkins will play at The National. Tix are $45, doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with openers Killing Hannah & Bad City. This is still my favorite Smashing Pumpkins song, Bullet With Butterfly Wings. Click HERE because they won't let me embed it.
Just for kicks, HERE is a link to a good article called "Reflections on My First Phish Show in a Decade" on the Paste Magazine web site. Not to ruin it for you, but the author also concludes that the band is playing better than ever.
And my just for the hell of it video this week is one that you may find appropriate in this heat. You may also find it cools you off a little as you watch the Kinks performing in the snow:
Its July 4th weekend and what better way to start it then with that most American of Funk Masters, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. "Free yo ass and your mind will follow". They will be at Fridays at Sunset at Kanawha Plaza on Friday night. Tix are available at the gate for $25 (cash only). Doors open at 6 PM. Don't know if there is an opener as none is listed on the Fridays at Sunset site. George has a new album out "George Clinton and his Gangsters of Love" featuring Santana, Sly Stone, Red Hot Chili Peppers, El DeBarge (remember him?), The RZA, Dhani Harrison (George Harrison's son), & members of the P-Funk All-Stars. I'm not saying any of those people will show up but even they don't you will have a funky good time. Here's the George Clinton classic, "Atomic Dog". Bow-wow-wow-yippe-o-yippie-a-bow-woo-yippe-o-yippe-a!
If you are at home this weekend, be sure to check out the webcast of the Nateva Festival from Oxford Maine on iclips.net. They haven't posted the schedule yet, but they'll be broadcasting Friday, Saturday & Sunday. Bands at the festival include Umphrey's McGee, Jakob Dylan, moe., Jackie Greene, Drive-By Truckers, Flaming Lips, Toubab Krewe, Max Creek, George Clinton & P-Funk, Furthur, Zappa Plays Zappa, Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi.
UPDATED: 10:21 AM - 7/2 - The webcast schedule for Friday is:
2:15 - Umphrey's McGee
3:40 - Keller Williams
4:45 - Jakob Dylan & Three Legs
5:50 - Jackie Greene
7:00 - Passion Pit
8:30 - Ghostland Observatory
10:00 - moe.
On Saturday here in Richmond, Capital Ale House will hold their 3rd Annual Virginia Beer Festival. It will be at their Midlothian restaurant at 13831 Village Place Drive in the Midlothian Village parking lot in front of the restaurant under a 4000 sq ft tent. There will be VA beer, food and music from Slack Family Blues-12:30 to 3:30, Aces in Irons-4:00 to 7:00, Souler Coaster –7:30 to 10:30. Entrance to the event is free. For guests over 21, beer tasting tickets are $10 and include a commemorative pint glass and 5 tasting tickets.
Canadian crooner Michael Buble will be at the Richmond Coliseum on Tuesday night. Tix run $50 - $90 and the show starts at 8 PM. Good seats are still available. Here he is doing a song you may recognize and I gotta say, this version swings, daddy-o!
That's about it for this week. Have a great 4th of July weekend!
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
