Keller Williams, New Year's Eve, Skydog

Doing this a little early, at least as related to the shows I'll be covering tonight, because of the upcoming Christmas parade of relatives. 

On Thursday, December 30, Keller Williams will be playing The National in three configurations.  Set 1 will feature Keller in Reggae Dub/Funk mode  w/ Jay Starling & Mark D.  Set 2 looks to be the best with Keller & The Keels.  Set 3 is Keller solo acoustic & "loopy dance grooves".  I find the Keller solo doing the loops interesting for about 15 minutes and then he loses me.  But that's just me.  I do like Keller with a band, especially with The Keels, so that should be good.  And kudos to Keller for rockin' out three different ways in one night and giving his fans their money's worth.  Door open at 7, show starts at 8.  Tix are $18 in advance and $21 night of show.  Here is Keller doing his one man band thing so you can decide for yourself.  This one is called "Floatin' on Freshies":


I was hoping that The National or Hat Factory would get a good band for New Year's Eve but both apparently have had to settle for dance parties with DJs so if that's your bag, have at it. 

You can hit up a show on New Year's Eve with our favorite yacht rock band, Three Sheets to the Wind, at Capital Ale House downtown.  The show will start at 9 PM and according to their latest Facebook entry there are only 69 tickets left so if you are procrastinating you better get with it.  80's cover band, The Headband, will open.  Tix are $35 and you can get them HERE.

They will be doing New Year's Eve in Carytown again this year.  However, I could find little to no info on what exactly will be going on.  So check wherever you like to check for info on those things as we get closer to NYE.  If I get additional info, I will post something.

Cary St. Cafe will have Grateful Dead cover band, King Solomon's Marbles, on New Year's Eve.  Show starts at 10 PM and your $12 cover includes party favors and a midnight champagne toast.

Allman Brothers tribute band Skydog will be playing at Cary St. Cafe on January 1 so head on over there if you aren't too hungover.  Show starts at 10 PM. 

If you are looking for some free Christmas music, Paste Magazine has 50+ free Christmas downloads from bands like moe., Deer Tick, Fleet Foxes, Indigo Girls, Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, Kanye West, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Shelby Lynne, Wynton Marsalis and others.  The only problem is that you have to download one at a time.  So kick back with a gallon of egg nog, whiskey poured right into the carton, and get downloading.

Speaking of free downloads, you can get a free download of a recent show Trey Anastasio of Phish did with a string quartet at Princeton.  Click HERE for that.

Here is the next video from the Paste Magazine 25 best music videos of 2010.  This is Ted Leo & The Pharmacists "Bottle In Cork":


Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

Tony Jordan

Carbon Leaf at Plan 9 tonight

Carbon Leaf will playing a free in-store performance tonight, Tuesday, 12/21 at 6 PM at Plan 9 in Carytown. 

Springsteen: Live Songs from "The Promise"

A super double bonus Christmas gift from Bruce: 30 minutes of live songs from "The Promise" recorded a couple days ago in Asbury Park.  Here's the link:
http://www.vevo.com/watch/bruce-springsteen-the-e-street-band/songs-from-the-promise-live/USSM21002203?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=watch&utm_campaign=BruceSpringsteen_LiveAsburyPark

Carbon Leaf, Conspirator, Skip Castro, Good Humor Band, Jingle Bud Bash

Much holiday happenings over the next few days.

The Jingle Bud Bash will be at the Hat Factory on Thursday night.  Admission is FREE, but you MUST GET A TICKET FROM radio stations HOT 100.9,  103.7 The River, or 96.5 KLR. Just go to one of their web sites to get a pair.  There will not be any tickets at the door. The show is for ages 21 and up.  The show will feature Richmond artists DJ Phenom, DJ Williams Projekt, Farm Vegas, and Proverbial.

You may know them from Prarie Home Companion, they're Robin & Linda Williams and they'll be with Their Fine Group at Ashland Coffee & Tea for a Christmas show on Friday night at 8 PM.  Tix are $25 in advance, $30 day of show.  Here are Robin & Linda singing "Wildwood Flower" by a crackling fire that will be sure to warm you:

 


Also on Thursday, Richmond's favorite yacht rock tribute band, Three Sheets to the Wind, will be at The Republic.  The show is FREE and starts at 10 PM. 

Friday night, Charlottesville VA legends Skip Castro & the Good Humor Band (w/Steve Bassett) bring their good time rock and roll to The National.  Show starts at 8 and tix are $20.  Here is the Skip Castro Band doing the rave-up "My Gal is Red Hot":


Richmond legends Carbon Leaf come back home for a performance at The National on Saturday night.  Tix are $18 in advance, $21 day of show.  Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with openers Delta Rae & Suzanna Choffel.  Carbon Leaf has a new Christmas album out of all original music called "Christmas Child" and the show will be part of their acoustically-themed "Home for the Holidays" tour.  Here they are performing the title track from the new album:


If you would rather dance the night away to jamtronica, check out Conspirator, featuring members of Disco Biscuits & Pretty Lights, at the Hat Factory on Saturday night.  Doors open at 10, tix are $20 in advance, $25 day of show.  Here is a whole Conspirator show for you to check out from the Trinumeral festival in 2008:


With all the year-end best of lists (so far Kanye West's "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" is leading the pack), here is a worst of the year list: The 12 Worst Album Covers of 2010.  I made the mistake of looking at this before bedtime and I am sure I will be having nightmares. 

And be sure to check out this article: 10 Mind-Blowing Easter Eggs Hidden in Famous Albums.  I will definitely be trying out #8.

Finally, from Paste Magazine's 25 Best Music Videos of 2010, here is Surfer Blood doing "Floating Vibes":


Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

The Rising, The Machine, Three Sheets to the Wind, Friday Cheers?, Free Holiday Sampler

Its a big weekend for tribute bands at The National.  Friday night, you can see The Rising - Bruce Springsteen Experience, and I have obtained a special password that will let you see the show for FREE.  No foolin'.  Just go to The National Box Office starting at 7pm and give them the secret Password "THE BOSS" and receive a FREE Ticket to the show.   Doors open at 7 PM, show starts at 8 with opener Cheenon.  If you don't believe me about the free ticket thing, shame on you for callin' me a liar (dem's fightin' words), you can check out the Calendar page on Cheenon's site for proof.  If you really want to pay for a ticket, its $12.50.  You can check out some videos of The Rising HERE but I was unable to embed any of them in the blog so you gotta go there.

Saturday night at The National, is the Pink Floyd tribute, The Machine.  Doors open at 7, show starts at 8, tix are $15 in advance, $18 day of show.  There is no opener.  The Machine will be doing two all request sets.  If you want to request a song, go HERE.  Please don't request the same old, same old.  "Wish You were Here", come on, no!  "Money", please, NOT!  Go on there and ask for "Astronomy Domine", "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict", "Atom Heart Mother", "Obscured by Clouds > When You're In" and "Dogs".  Here's another good one they could play from the "Obscured By Clouds" album, "Wot's...Uh The Deal":


Next Thursday, yacht rock tribute band Three Sheets to the Wind will be playing The Republic.  The show is FREE and starts at 9:30 PM. 

BTW, in case this cold weather is bummin' you out, we have our first Friday Cheers sighting of the year.  Per Pollstar, on Friday, May 20, 2011, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue will at Friday Cheers.  Looks like a good one and if feel chilly, just imagine standing on Brown's Island, beer in hand, shorts & t-shirt on and having fun grooving to them. 

If you like the chilly weather as it gets you in the mood for Christmas, you can download Paste Magazine's free 13 song Holiday sampler HERE.  Scroll all the way to the bottom to download all 13 songs at once.

Speaking of Paste Magazine, in an earlier blog, I mentioned their list of the top 25 music videos of the year.  I figured we'd highlight a few over the next few weeks.  Here is "Congratulations" by MGMT and a weird ostrich-like creature wandering around Tattooine.


Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Free Phish Download

From Phish.com:

"Live Bait Vol. 03" Available Now


To commemorate Phish's upcoming New Year's Run, including a double-header in Worcester, "Phish: Live Bait Vol. 03", a new five-track Phish sampler, is available for download now at LivePhish.com for free.

We're giving away "Phish: Live Bait Vol. 03", which features tracks (all previously unreleased) from Phish's past Legendary Worcester performances. Yep, this includes the 58-plus minute Runaway Jim from 11/29/97. Share it with your friends, pass the link around, trade the MP3s freely. The tracks were cherry-picked and are fully mixed soundboard recordings.

Click here to stream "Phish: Live Bait Vol. 03" now or download MP3s - absolutely free.

Phish: Live Bait Vol. 03 Tracklisting

1. Countdown/Auld Lang Syne > (12/31/93 Worcester Centrum)

2. Down With Disease Jam > (12/31/93 Worcester Centrum)

3. Split Open And Melt (12/31/93 Worcester Centrum)

4. Runaway Jim (11/29/97 Worcester Centrum)

5. Llama (1991-12-31 Worcester Memorial Auditorium "The New Aud" - Worcester, MA)

25 Best Music Videos of 2010

Just because MTV doesn't play videos anymore and VH1 only shows 80's videos and Taylor Swift, it doesn't mean the art of the music video is dead.  Here are the year's 25 best as chosen by Paste Magazine and I think they did a damn fine job.

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2010/12/the-25-best-music-videos-of-2010.html

Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band, Tab Benoit, Anders Osborne, Bonnie "Prince" Billy

The Christmas festivities get under way all around the town this weekend with the Grand Illumination kicking things off at the James Center on Friday evening.  You know the drill.  They'll have some holiday type family entertainment, they'll turn the Xmas lights on on all the big buildings, everyone will oooh and aaah and cheer and then we'll all go get a beer.  Music is of the marching band and classical holiday music variety but I thought I'd mention it because its fun to bring the kids to.

Music-wise Friday night, The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band returns to the Capital Ale House.  Tix are $10 in advance, $12 at the door.  The right Reverend will be playing his usual manner of gutbucket blues & country.  Here's a video from their latest album, "The Wages".  The song is called "Clap Your Hands".  Don't know if the crowd will be this eclectic at the Ale House on Friday, but you never know.  Bring your own chicken.

Saturday night you can do Christmas New Orleans style with The Six Strings of Christmas Tour featuring Tab Benoit and Anders Osborne (not one of Ozzy's Osbornes) with special guest Big Chief Monk Boudreaux.  They'll be at the Hat Factory with doors opening at 6:30 PM and the show starting at 7 PM.  Tix are $16 for GA and $24 for Reserved seats.  Tab and Anders both play New Orleans roots based rock and roll.  I used to go see Anders quite a lot in the 90's then he seemed to stop touring the Northeast for a while so I haven't seen him in a long time.  But he always put on a great show and I might have to make it out for this one.  Here is Anders rockin' out with the Stanton Moore Trio in Baltimore in September:


Christmas is a time for giving and if you want to do some good, go to the Celebration Of Life: A Red Carpet Benefit For The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at the Science Museum of VA.  That will go down on Saturday night from 7 PM to 11 PM.  Tickets on sale for $75, which includes drinks, by-the-bite foods, music, silent auction, & more details to be confirmed closer to the date. The price for tickets will go up to $85 if you purchase at the door - if there are any tickets remaining.  Richmond's favorite yacht rock band, Three Sheets to the Wind will be providing the tunes, so you can get your smooth groove on.  In honor of Three Sheets, here are smooth rockers Hall & Oates doing "Jingle Bell Rock".  I really dig Darryl Hall's "I won't move my arms" walk in the beginning.


Also Saturday night, Allman Brothers tribute band, Skydog, will be at Cary St. Cafe.  Show starts at 10.  Not sure if there is a cover but if there is it will be a minimal price to pay for some melt your face Allman Bros tunes.  Here's a video medley from their gig at Cary St. Cafe on Halloween.


Bonnie "Prince" Billy will be at The National on Sunday night.  Tix are $18 and this show has reserved seats.  Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener The Babblers.  Bonnie "Prince" Billy is now the main outlet for the work of Will Oldham, literate indie-rock influenced by Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Nick Cave & Townes Van Zandt.  Here's a clip from his 2006 album, "The Letting Go", called "Cursed Sleep":


That dude in the E.T. mask is a dick!

Happy Hanukah to all my Jewish friends!  Had to play this one for you because, really, there aren't too many Hanukah songs to choose from.


Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan