Dukes of September, The Bridge, Coheed & Cambria, Michael Franti & Spearhead

Friday night at the Canal Club, funky Americana jam band The Bridge will perform with opener Caught In The Rift.  Doors open at 8 and tix are $13 advance, $15 at the door.  Here they are at DelFest in Columbia MD earlier this summer:


There are a number of shows on Sunday starting with a benefit for the Make a Wish Foundation at the Canal Club.  The show will feature Against Grace, Love and Reverie, Roslyn, Burn the Ballroom, District Kids, Safety Word Orange, From Coast to Skyline & Battleghost.  Doors open at 4 PM and the show should be done by 10 PM.  Tix are $10 in advance and $12 at the door.
Here's Against Grace performing "I Can Feel It" at the Capital Ale House last month:


Michael Franti & Spearhead bring their upbeat rebel reggae rock to The National on Sunday night.  Tix are $23.50 in advance and $26 at the door.  Doors open at 7 and the show starts at 8 with DJ Fuklor opening.  Michael Franti & Spearhead's new album "The Sound of Sunshine" comes out on September 21 so I'm sure you'll be hearing some stuff from that.  Here he is doing his current hit from that album, the title track, "The Sound of Sunshine".  This is from this year's Bonnaroo.


On Sunday, I'll be attending the Dukes of September Rhythm Revue show at Innsbrook.  The Dukes are Donald Fagen from Steely Dan, Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs.  General Admission Advance tix are $26.50.  Gold Circle Seating tickets are no longer available.  Gates open at 6pm, music begins at 7pm and there is no opener.  This will be similar to the NY Rock & Soul Revue which featured these guys among others back in the early 90s.  I attended one of their shows in NJ and it was a great show, with each band member taking a turn doing their own songs and cover tunes.  If you scroll down a bit on the blog here, you'll see a link to an interview with Donald Fagen talking about these shows that I posted earlier in the week.  This show promises to be totally freakin' smooth, so much so, that I may actually bring a chair to this one, even though I hate to sit down at concerts, because I will be blown away by smoothness.  Also, I expect the audience to be made up of many tight-assed older people who forgot how to dance at a rock n' roll show.  But we'll see and I'm sure that won't distract from the music. 

To steal a line from the Wayward Blog, this is the Monsters of Yacht tour, as in Yacht Rock, which gives me a chance to post another episode of the Yacht Rock series.  This is Yacht Rock Episode #8 which details the origin of Yacht Rock and how a young Michael McDonald would not let anyone break the Fortress of Smoothitude.  Language in this is definitely Not Safe For Work.


Finally, progressive metal band Coheed & Cambria come to The National on Monday night.  Tix are $25 in advance, $27.50 day of show.  Doors open at 6 and show starts at 7 with openers The Dear Hunter and Circa Survive.  Here they are on "Here We Are Juggernaut" rockin' the f**k out during the Apocalypse:


That's it. I'm tired. Have a great weekend. See you at Monsters of Yacht....er....Dukes of September on Sunday night.

Tony Jordan

Columbia Records To Release Bruce Springsteen's 'The Promise: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story' Nov. 16

"Columbia Records To Release Bruce Springsteen's 'The Promise: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story' Nov. 16


Box Set Includes 3CD/3DVD Package Of Remastered Album, Never-Before-Seen Studio & Live Footage, 80-Page Notebook, 21 Previously-Unreleased Songs, And An Extraordinary Documentary Film That Will Debut At The Toronto Film Festival Sept. 14 And On HBO Oct 7

Package Features Nearly Six Hours Of Footage, Including Classic 1978 Houston Performance, And More Than Two Hours Of Audio"

I know what I want for Christmas!  Here's all the details: http://www.shorefire.com/index.php?a=pressrelease&o=4215

Donald Fagen On Dukes of September's Hot New Tour | Rolling Stone Music

Donald Fagen On Dukes of September's Hot New Tour Rolling Stone Music

Dukes of September, with Donald Fagen (Steely Dan), Boz Scaggs & Michael McDonald, is coming to Innsbrook this Sunday night.

Ticketmaster: A Step In the Right Direction

Ticketmaster took a step in the right direction today to be more fan friendly.  They will now reveal service charges up front rather than waiting until the point where you enter your credit card info.  That will help you determine the true price of the ticket before you buy and then can decide if you still want the ticket.

They also will have a three-day return policy which cuts off a week before the show.  That is you have three days after you buy the tickets to return the tickets.  Would like to see them just extend this as an open return policy until a week before the show but I understand that they can't do this because of the ticket brokers.  They can't have a ticket broker buying 100 tickets, waiting until a week before the show and then dumping them back into the system via return.  If we can't get rid of the ticket brokers at least we have to make them take the risk that they'll lose money if they have to eat tickets or sell them for a price lower than face.

This is all lined out in Ticketmaster's new blog, Ticketology.  Should be interesting to see how this blog develops over coming months.

Wiggles, Toubab Krewe, Build a Well for Sudan, Guitar Shorty, Kenny Neal

I'll be hitting up what is definitely the show of the summer tomorrow......if you are in pre-school.  That's right, I'm off to the The Wiggles Wiggly Circus at the Carpenter Theatre at Richmond CenterStage on Thursday night.  Anthony, Greg, Jeff and the new yellow shirt guy will be entertaining in their Wiggly way.  All I know is that if they bust out a Big Red Car > Frere Jacues > Twinkle Twinkle Little Star > Sugar Magnolia > Big Red Car reprise, my almost three-year-old Willie will lose his mind.  I just hope he doesn't mix too much E and Faygo like he did at the Gathering of the Juggalos last weekend when he went bananas and starting throwing rocks at Tila Tequila.  He didn't come down until three in the morning.  OK, that's a lie.  The Wiggles don't play Sugar Magnolia.  But they do play Split Enz's "Six Months in a Leaky Boat":


For more adult fare, check out Toubab Krewe on Saturday night at Capital Ale House downtown.  They played at Friday Cheers in 2009 and were the best band of the run that year.  They play great groovy West African inspired music.  They have been signed by the new Nat Geo (as in National Geographic) Music label and their new album on that label comes out on 9/7.  You would think, "West African inspired music, Nat Geo label" they must be black musicians from Mali or something.  Wrong.  They're a bunch of white guys from Asheville NC who have blended rock music with traditional African music to create a heady mix.  The show starts at 10 PM on Saturday and tix are $13 in advance and $15 at the door.  Here they are at Bonnaroo in 2009 doing their song "Sirens":


Sunday, you can actually help Africa when Capital Ale House downtown hosts a benefit for United Families for Sudan with the proceeds going to help build a well for a Sudanese village.  The show will run from 3 to 9 PM and feature music from The Big Guys, Kurt R Sternahagen, Elana Hyner Jazz Trio, Maharal, Moosa and Rattlemouth.  Tix are $10 at the door.

Next Wednesday night, August 25, bluesmen Guitar Shorty and Kenny Neal will play a show at the Capital Ale House Downtown which is sponsored by the River City Blues Society.  The show will start at 7 PM and tix are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.  Guitar Shorty hails from Texas and influenced Hendrix and Buddy Guy.  He won the Blues Music Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year for his album "We The People" just four years ago so you know he can still bring it.  Kenny Neal comes out of Louisiana and won a 2009 Blues Award for Song of the Year ("Let Life Flow") and won the 2008 Blues Critic Readers Poll awards for Album of the Year and Contemporary Blues Artist of the Year. 

Here's Guitar Shorty at the Chicago Blues Fest in June this year:


Here's Kenny Neal and the Neal Family Band with guest Jason Ricci on harmonica from the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise in January of this year:


I'll leave you with a link to "The 10 Worst Lyrics From the 10 Richest Rappers".  Call me crazy but I actually like Lil' Wayne's and Snoop Dogg's. 

Have a great Wiggly weekend!

Tony Jordan

Prarie Home Companion, Richmond Jazz Festival, Al Gore rocks out

This weekend begins with Garrison Keillor bringing the Prarie Home Companion gang, including my favorite, Guy Noir, to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens for a show.  The show will start at 7 PM, doors open at 5:30 and tix are $55.

Saturday & Sunday at Maymont is the first Richmond Jazz Festival.  Tickets are $50 for the whole weekend, or $30 for a single day pass.  The show will run noon to 10 on Saturday and noon to 9 on Sunday.  If you intend to go, note that you can't park at Maymont.  You have to take a shuttle from satellite parking.  Check the web site for details.  Here is the lineup:

SATURDAY

VERIZON STAGE

1:30 Sharon Rae North
3:00 Big Sam & The Funky Nation
4:30 Maestro J
6:00 Marcus Johnson featuring B.K. Jackson
7:30 Poncho Sanchez
9:00 Chaka Khan

DOMINION STAGE
12:30 Shanta “Bunmi” Jasper
2:00 Joye B Moore
3:30 Norman Brown
5:00 Lalah Hathaway
6:30 Stanley Clarke
8:00 Rick Braun and Richard Elliot

SUNDAY
VERIZON STAGE

1:30 Shanta “Bunmi” Jasper
3:00 Plunky and Oneness
4:30 Bob Baldwin
6:00 Alex Bugnon
7:30 Ledisi

DOMINION STAGE
1:00 Sharon Rae North
2:30 Maestro J
4:00 Marcus Johnson featuring B.K. Jackson
5:30 Chuck Mangione
7:00 Boney James

Gates open at Noon both days.

That's about it this week.  We've definitely hit the slow point in the concert calendar.  Things will pick up again after Labor Day when we will possibly be able to go outside without feeling like you're in hot soup.

I did want to bring you some big news about Al Gore.  Now that he's single he can finally listen to his heavy metal albums: http://www.theonion.com/articles/recently-single-al-gore-finally-able-to-listen-to,17824/

Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Lollapalooza Webcast starting now

The Lollapalooza webcast has just started with Raphael Saadiq.  The webcast is here: http://www.lollapalooza.com/webcast/. 

Erykah Badu, Corrine Bailey Rae, George Thorogood, Heart, Lollapalooza webcast

This is a great weekend if you like soul divas.  Erykah Badu will be at Fridays at Sunset on Friday night.  Note that instead of taking place at the usual Kanawha Plaza spot, the stage will be at the corner of 9th & Cary and a number of streets will be blocked off for the show.  Doors open at 6 and tix are $40.  No opener is listed. Erykah has worked with The Roots & Outkast, and if you like them or classic soul, you'll like Erykah.  Here is Erykah doing "Honey".  This a cool video.  See how many classic album covers you can spot Erykah on:


Saturday, Corrine Bailey Rae will be playing "Fridays" at Sunset in a show rescheduled from June 18th.  Doors open at 6 and tix are $30. This one will take place on Kanawha Plaza.  No opener is listed.  If yo like Sade, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, or classic soul you'll like CBR.  Here she is on PBS' "Live at the Artist's Den":

Live from the Artists Den: Corinne Bailey Rae from Artists Den on Vimeo.

If you are in the house this weekend, trying to beat the heat AGAIN, the webcast from Lollapalooza will be on iclips.net starting Friday at 2 PM.  At least that's what Live Music Blog is saying.  They also said you can go to lollapalooza.com to find the webcast.  Strangely, neither iclips.net or the Lollapalooza site have any word about the webcast.  But here is the schedule Live Music Blog posted.  All times are CENTRAL time.

Friday, August 6th


2:00 – Raphael Saadiq

3:00 – Drive-By Truckers

4:00 – TBD

5:00 – The Walkmen

6:00 – Hot Chip

7:00 – Chromeo

8:00 – Dirty Projectors

9:00 – DEVO

Saturday, August 7th

1:45 – Blues Traveler

3:00 – Against Me!

3:45 – Gogol Bordello

4:45 – TBD

5:45 – Social Distortion

6:45 – Slightly Stoopid

7:45 – Metric

8:45 – Spoon

Sunday, August 8th

2:00 – The Cribs

3:00 – Mumford and Sons

4:00 – Yeasayer

5:00 – MUTEMATH

6:00 – MGMT

7:15 – TBD

8:30 – Green Day (4 songs)

The Carytown Watermelon Fest goes down on Sunday from 10 AM to 6 PM in Carytown.  There will be watermelon, music, watermelon, the kids zone, watermelon, crafts, watermelon, vendors, and watermelon.  See you there.

George Thorogood & The Destroyers come to The National on Sunday night.  There are reserved and GA seats available for $20.  Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with the B Side Electric Blues Band.  I don't think I have seen George since one very drunk St. Patrick's Day at Stabler Arena at Lehigh University in 1988.  I saw him a lot in the 80s being that he was from Philly and I was from Philly so he played there a lot.  He's always a lot of fun and there will be a lot of drinkin'.  By you and him.  They have just released a classic show from Boston in 1982 on CD back when they were young and hungry and opening for the Rolling Stones.  Here he is doing the classic, "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer":



Heart will be at Innsbrook on Wednesday night.  Tix are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.  Only General Admission is left, Gold Circle is sold out.  Gates will open at 6, famous opener TBD will come on at 6:30 and Heart should start around 8.  I recently saw a Heart concert on VH1 Classic from the last couple years and they sounded great.  They've also got a new album "Red Velvet Car" coming out on 8/31 so expect to hear a few cuts from that along with all the hits.  I'm just gonna go with it and post some classic Heart.  Here's "Crazy On You":



That's it for this week.  I'll leave you with Double Rainbow guy.  If you haven't seen this, its full on intense, all the way, whoooooooooa, man.


Hope your weekend makes you sound like that guy.

Tony Jordan

Arcade Fire webcast tonight in new YouTube concert series

I'll hit up the weekend's activities later tonight, but I wanted to let you all know about the Arcade Fire webcast tonight starting at 10 PM ET.  Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/user/ArcadeFireVEVO. 

This is part of YouTube's new Upstaged series where they'll be streaming live concerts.  These sound pretty cool because the concerts will offer some unique features.  Here is what the YouTube blog says: "Each performance will not only be streamed live on YouTube, but it will also have unique on- and offline components to entertain fans -- for example, you may be able to vote on the encore performance or switch camera angles. And if you miss anything, no worries: the full show and highlights will be available on the artist’s channel soon after the show."

They've already got John Legend & The Roots lined up for future concets.