Groovin' in the Garden, Salt N Pepa, Irish Fest, Perpetual Groove, Mike Watt

My bracket is pretty much shot after tonight's first games so I'm rooting for the underdogs from here on out.  And VCU & U of R, of course. 

Onto the music.  Groovin' in the Garden announced their lineup for the summer.  They'll be at Lewis Ginter in May with this lineup:
5/5 - Cracker
5/12 - Donna the Buffalo & New Riders of the Purple Sage
5/19 - TBA
5/26 - Nanci Griffith

Then they switch to Maymont in June:
6/2 - Toots & The Maytals
6/9 & 16 - TBA
6/23 - Umphrey's McGee

Pretty good lineup.  I wish Richmond wouldn't jam so much good music into Thursdays & Fridays in May & June.  Its going to be really hard to pick and choose.

Back to this weekend. If you are disappointed that they moved the Snoop Dogg show to April and you need a old school rap fix, you can't do much better than Salt N Pepa's Legends of Hip Hop at the Richmond Coliseum on Friday night. Tix run from $39 - $76 and the show starts at 8. Joining Salt N Pepa will be hip hop legends Biz Markie, Doug E Fresh, MC Lyte and Naughty By Nature.  Here's the best song from all these groups, Doug E. Fresh's "The Show".  For being from the early 80s, I strangely could not find a video for this song.  So no "video" on this one, but you get the song.


A word about the Coliseum. I went to the CAA Tournament and confirmed once again that the Coliseum sucks.  They absolutely need to tear that place down.  The concourses are so tight that if you get a line at one of the stands more than say, 5 people deep, you cut off the flow of people around the arena.  A simple thing they could do to improve the place would be to put up some signs.  When you walk in the door, there are no signs telling you which way is which section or which way the bathrooms are.  Its bad enough that the bathrooms are practically hidden under stairwells.  They could at least have some signs that stick out over the concourse so you could look down and see where the closest bathrooms are.  But you end up walking half way around the arena looking for a bathroom only to find later that if you had turned left instead of right, you had a bathroom one section away from you.  Throw in the crumbling stairs, the ceiling speakers with the paint peeling off, and the worst, overcooked, hot dogs I have ever had, and this place is just an embarassment.  Really Richmond, find a way to build a new one because the Coliseum is a decaying pile of crap. 

Saturday & Sunday, the Church Hill Irish Festival, one of Richmond's best festivals, goes down in Church Hill on 25th Street between Broad & Franklin.  Its $2 to get in and proceeds are donated to the St. Baldrick’s Society and their fight against childhood cancer, the Church Hill Association, the Church Hill Crime Watch, Richmond Hill, Child Saver’s Clinic of Richmond, St. John’s Church, the St. Peter’s Meals Program, Stone’s Circle of Friends and many other neighborhood causes.  They have a nice children's area with the usual bouncy things and games and all proceeds from the children's area go to “Connor’s Heroes”, an organization that assists families and children who are fighting childhood cancer.  There are food and beverages available including the adult kind ofe beverages (its an Irish fest for Christ's sake).  It all happens rain or shine, Saturday from 10 AM to 7 PM and Sunday from 10 AM to 6:30 PM.  There is music all day and this year's fest is dedicated to Richmond musician and long-time supporter of the Irish Fest and its charities, Page Wilson, who passed away a few weeks ago.

Here is the Saturday band lineup:
Bluegrass Celtic Stage

11:00 - 11:45 Glasgow Kiss
12:00 - 12:45 Robin Carns
1:00 - 1:45 Detox Mountain Boys
2:00 - 2:45 Cary Street Ramblers
3:00 - 3:45 A Pack of Luckys
4:00 - 4:45 Big Boss Combo
5:00 - 5:45 Sommervilles
6:00 - 6:45 Highway 249

Guinness Stage
10:00 - 10:30 PARADE
10:30 - 11:00 An Cor Rud Irish Dancers
11:00 - 11:30 Donny Brook
11:40 - 12:10 Miles O’Brien
12:10 - 12:30 Muggivan School of Dance
12:30 - 1:00 King Golden Banshee
1:15 - 1:45 Powder Keg
2:00 - 2:30 Haze & The Transients
2:45 - 3:15 Tinkers Damn
3:30 - 4:00 The Atkinsons
4:15 - 4:45 Kelly Kennedy & Lilt
5:00 - 5:30 Bart Chucker Band
5:45 - 6:15 Mothers Little Helpers
6:15 - 7:00 Uisce Bethea

And here is Sunday's band lineup:
Bluegrass Celtic Stage

11:00 - 11:45 Old Town Celtic
12:00 - 12:45 Virginia House Band
1:00 - 1:45 A Good Natured Riot
2:00 - 2:45 Thistle & Shamrock
3:00 - 3:45 Cook County
4:00 - 4:45 Harper & Co.
5:00 - 5:45 Uncle Phugly
6:00 - 6:45 East of Afton

Guinness Stage
10:00 - 10:30 Bagpipers
11:00 - 11:30 Razen Caine
11:45 - 12:15 Faculty Lounge Lizards
12:30 - 1:00 The Remnants
1:10 - 1:40 Cross Roads Irish Dance
1:45 - 2:15 Rattlesnake Shake
2:15 - 2:45 St. Baldricks Head Shave
2:45 - 3:15 Three Bad Men
3:30 - 4:00 Blue Line Highway
4:15 - 4:45 Uncle Drew and the Powhite Boys
5:00 - 5:30 Janet Martin Band
5:45 - 6:30 Andy Cindy & Then Some

After the Irish fest on Saturday, head down to The National to get your groove on.  Perpetual Groove that is.  The jam band returns to Richmond with opener Zoogma.  Doors open at 8, show starts at 9.  Tix are $15 in advance, $18 day of show.  Here is Perpetual Groove playing "Speed Queen" on 3.4.11:


Tuesday night, alternative/college/punk rock hero Mike Watt comes to town with his band The Missing Men.  They'll be at the Canal Club with openers The Vacant Stairs and Horsehead.  Doors open at 8.  Tix are $10 in advance, $13 at the door.  Here is Mike & the Missing Men at Chop Suey in Seattle about a year ago:


This week's Best Music Scenes in Movies scene is from The Fabulous Baker Boys and features Michelle Pfeiffer singing "Makin' Whoopee".  She was never hotter. Ok, she was pretty hot in the Catwoman suit, too.


In our continuation of Paste Magazine's 25 Best Music Videos of 2010 list, we have Lissie and an elephant doing "Everywhere I Go".  Elephants not only have a great memory, but they are very persistant.  I know I wish I had an elephant following me around becuase then no one would f**k with me.  Screw these cats I have.  I'm getting an elephant tomorrow.


Have a great weekend! If it doesn't rain, I hope to see you at the Irish Festival.

Tony Jordan

Thursday: Mountain Goats, Three Sheets to the Wind

Gonna give you a quick rundown of what's going on tonight, then do the rest of the weekend in another blog later today.  Tried to get up to do the blog last night but t-ball practice wore me out.  I'm getting old and trying to keep 4 - 6 olds orderly while teaching baseball fundamentals and keeping it fun it very tiring. 

Tonight at The National the critically acclaimed Mountain Goats will perform.  Tix are $18, doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Megafaun.  The Mountain Goats have been around since the mid-90s but are gaining some buzz around them now as evidenced by their 3 sold out shows in NYC next week.  You'll probably dig the Goats if you like REM, They Might Be Giants, Leonard Cohen, Syd Barrett, Dylan, or Lou Reed.  Its a kind of dreamy indie-pop thang.  Here they are on a recent appearance on Letterman:

If you are in more of a yacht rock mood tonight, be sure to catch Three Sheets to the Wind at their steady gig at The Republic.  The gig is FREE and show starts at 10 PM. 

That's Thursday.  See ya later tonight!

Tony Jordan

Snoop Dogg at the National rescheduled

From The National website:
Due to the death and subsequent funeral and services of his close friend Nate Dogg, SNOOP DOGG will be forced to reschedule his date from this Friday to April 26. All Tix purchased for this show will be honored on the new date. Black Liquid & Photosythensizers will still be performing this Friday. All Snoop Dogg ticket holders can get into this show for free and will get to keep their tickets for the Apr 26th show

Van Halen’s Sammy Hagar was abducted by Aliens

Apparently, Sammy believes this. Which explains a lot. I believe the aliens told him, “Drink lots of tequila”. Maybe the aliens are giant agave worms from Alpha Centauri. All I know is between this and the drunk EVH stories, I really want to read his new book.


http://io9.com/#!5784143/van-halens-sammy-hagar-was-abducted-by-aliens

Torche, Post Teen, Worn In Red @ Strange Matter

See the story below for some shows announced for Innsbrook this summer.

This weekend, head to Strange Matter on Friday night for Torche, Post Teen, Worn In Red, and The Catalyst.  Doors open at 9, tix are $10 in advance, $12 at the door.  Torche falls under the stoner metal category and they've been getting some good reviews.  And stoner metal doesn't mean ponderous and depressing as evidenced by this video for "Across the Shields":


That's about it this week.  I guess the clubs are expecting everyone to be nursing hangovers from St. Patty's Day all weekend.  Let's hit up the next video on the 25 Best Music Videos of 2010 from Paste Magazine.  Tonight its Yeasayer with 'O.N.E.".  I did kind of dig the 80's disco vibe of the song but I didn't think the video was all that great since it too has an 80's disco kind of vibe that was best left in the 80's.  There is a cool payoff moment about 3:27 in but that's a long way to go for a 10 second effect.  You be the judge.


On to the other list we are following, the Moviefone Best Music Scenes in Movies list.  This one is a classic from a classic rock movie, "Sid & Nancy", the story of Sid Vicious (played by Gary Oldman) and his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen ("Siiiiiiiiiiid!").  This is the final scene with Sid putting his own punk twist on the crooner classic, "My Way".  Hard to believe Gary Oldman would one day play Commissioner Gordon in the latest Batman flicks when watching this.  He really channels Sid as the true wasted f**k-up he was. 


That's it.  Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Where's my green beer?

Tony Jordan

First Innsbrook shows announced

Innsbrook After Hours announced their first few shows and it is their usual line-up of classic rock and country artists.  So far, here's what we've got:

Thursday, 4/28-  Lynyrd Skynyrd or more accurately the one guy left (Gary Rossington) from the original band with a bunch of other guys who play Lynyrnd Skynyrd music including material from their last album "God & Guns" that will be sure to excite the Sarah Palin/Tea Party crowd.  Do they play "Saturday Night Special" too and aren't those two songs contradictory?
Wednesday, 5/4- Stone Temple Pilots - if Scott Weiland doesn't end up on rehab again.  Or perhaps hope he doesn't and then maybe you'll get to see one of his classic meltdowns at Innsbrook.
Wednesday, 6/1 - Travis Tritt
Wednesday, 6/8 - The Monkees (Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork) - as far as classic rock reunuions go, three out of four ain't bad.  That's a better orignial member percentage than Skynyrd.
Wednesday, 7/20 - Elvis Costello & The Imposters

For ticket info go HERE.

Tix on sale for Neil Young at the Landmark

I forgot to mention in my blog last night that tix for Neil Young at the Landmark Theater go on sale Friday at 10 AM.  Neil will be solo, playing both acoustic and electric.  Opener will be Bert Jansch.

Tickets are available at the Landmark Theater Box Office, all Ticketmaster Outlets including Stony Point Fashion Park, Regency Square Mall and participating Martin's and Macy's, charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000 or online at Ticketmaster.com.  Here is the breakdown of ticket prices:

ORCHESTRA PIT

US $200.00 Ticket + US $17.60 Fees = US $217.60

ORCHESTRA
US $55 - US $200.00
US $55.00 Ticket + US $11.60 Fees = US $66.60
US $200.00 Ticket + US $17.60 Fees = US $217.60

BOX ROW A-G (1-7 ROWS)
US $150.00 Ticket + US $16.35 Fees = US $166.35

GRAND TIER (FIRST LEVEL ABOVE THE FLOOR)
US $125.00 Ticket + US $15.70 Fees = US $140.70

BALCONY (SECOND LEVEL ABOVE THE FLOOR)
US $55.00 Ticket + US $11.60 Fees = US $66.60

I love Neil and he is one of the all-time greats but at these prices I'll have to pass this one by.  Maybe I can win some tickets.
 
Here is the press blurb on the Landmark Theater site:


"Legendary rocker Neil Young will cover songs from his current acclaimed album, Le Noise, as well as classic tracks performed in both electric and acoustic settings. Young recently won his second-ever Grammy Award for “Best Rock Song” for “Angry World” — a track off Le Noise, which was also nominated for “Best Rock Album.”

The eight-song Le Noise, among Young’s most critically-embraced albums, is a collaboration between the acclaimed rock icon and musician, songwriter, and multiple Grammy Award-winning producer Daniel Lanois, known for his work with U2, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, The Neville Brothers and many others. Le Noise was released by Reprise Records on September 28th, 2010."

Shamrock the Block, Vetiver, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion

Want to start this week with excerpts from Sammy Hagar's new autobiography printed in Rolling Stone (click HERE).  On their last tour together in Van Halen in 2004, Eddie Van Halen apparently turned into a crazy, raving, lunatic alcoholic.  When you read some of these excerpts, its amazing that EVH didn't kill himself or someone else.  Hopefully, the dude is better now.

In some sad news, Mike Starr, the original bass player for Alice in Chains, died of unknown causes at the age of 44 (click HERE for full story).  Back in my radio days in the early 90s, I hung out with Mike for about an hour backstage at the Ozzy/Alice In Chains/Motorhead show.  I can't say I knew him well but he seemed like a real down to earth, cool guy in that short time, with no rock star diva b.s.  Though they don't know how he died, at least until they do tests, he did have drug issues and was recently on Celebrity Rehab on some station or another.  Its sad to see drugs kill a band that was very originial and led the way for the Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. Here's one for Mike:


On to this week here in Richmond.  Saturday from noon to 6 PM on what looks to be a nice day weather-wise, Shamrock the Block takes place down in Shockoe Bottom.  Its FREE to get in.  They say they have expanded the kids area this year to entice more families to come down.  Band lineup is made up of local bands.  Here is the schedule:
12:00p - 12:45p Uisce Beatha (celtic rock/pub music)
1:00p - 2:00p Highway Saints (rock)
2:15p - 3:15p Trongone Band (classic rock covers)
3:45p - 4:45p Age of Excess (80's hair covers)
5:00p - 6:00p Bayside (new rock)

You'll find a good indie folky/Americana show at The Camel on Saturday night w/ Vetiver, Sarah Lee Guthrie (daughter of Arlo, granddaughter of Woody) & Johnny Irion, and the Mason Brothers.  Tix are $10 in advance, $12 at the door.  Show starts at 8, doors at 7.  You might dig these bands if you like Joanna Newsom, Grateful Dead, Townes Van Zandt, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Black Crowes, Gram Parsons or Neil Young.  They should all be mixing and matching together.  Here are Sarah Lee & Johnny backed by Vetiver on the Last Call with Carson Daly show.  BTW, the Carson Daly show has been having some really great music on the show.  I do hate the jumpy camera work on the show, especially during the interviews, but he is really good about having new bands on the show.  Anyway, here's the clip:


That's about it this week.  A little slim but as the weather gets warmer those bands start to tour and things will pick up.

Here is the next clip from Paste Magazine's 25 Best Music Videos of 2010.  This video answers a question I am sure we have all asked ourselves, "What if Hot Chip were a boy band (they're not) and a weird messiah-like alien showed up at their concert and they challenged the alien to a dance-off?"  I don't know what it means but the boy band gets what they deserve.


In our next continuing list, Moviefone has listed the 50 Best Music Scenes in Movies.  Here are their two rules for the list:
"No musicals allowed!

As much as we like 'The Sound of Music' and 'An American in Paris,' the musical numbers in those films are a completely different breed of animal than, say, the parade scene from 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off.' Both have their places, but this list is all about the latter.

No "scored" scenes!
We love a good soundtrack as much as anyone, but for this list we considered only those scenes in which the music -- whether emanating from an onscreen band, a boombox, a disco's sound system, the mouths of the characters, etc. -- is part of the action. (Film nerds refer to scenes like this as being "diegetic." Non-nerds, you just learned something.) This explains, for instance, the absence of movies with killer, primarily non-diegetic soundtracks, such as 'Rushmore' and 'The Graduate.'"

I'm not going to do all 50 because some I just may not like.  But as a movie fan I always like when good music plays an integral part in a movie.  I just (finally) watched "Inglourious Basterds" and loved the use of Bowie's "Cat People".  Musically and lyrically, it was perfect.  In the Moviefone list they also include one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies "Boogie Nights", the "drug deal gone bad" scene. 

We begin tonight with #49, one of the last good moments for our heroes in "The Deer Hunter" before war tears their lives apart.  And really, any scene with Christopher Walken dancing has got to be good:
(Had trouble embedding the video so click HERE to view it.)

And on that note, I'm outta here. Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Friday Cheers '11 schedule, Yarn, Dark Star Orchestra, Bright Eyes, Ty Segall

The Friday Cheers schedule was announced today and I'm really digging it.  Here is the full lineup.  Remember it will cost you $5 or $10 to get in this year, depending on the show, but I think that should be worth it as they got some good quality acts and it should cut down on the number of people who feel the need to talk up near the band.  We will, of course, cover each band in depth when we get to that week.

5/6 - Carbon Leaf w/Lights East - $5
5/13 & 14 - Dominion Riverrock fest with the air dog event, mud run, kayak jumps, freestyle mountain biking and a couple bands and all FREE, I believe
--5/13 - Perpetual Groove w/Big Gigantic and Josati
--5/14  - music all day with headliner Yonder Mountain String Band, People's Blues of Richmond, William Walter & Tucker Rogers, Psychobilly Cadillac, and The Bush League.
5/20 - Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue w/Glows In The Dark - $5
5/27 - RVA Music Night featuring Three Sheets to the Wind, NO BS! Brass Band and Long Arms - $5
6/3 - Corey Smith with David Shultz and the Skyline - $5
6/10 - Drive-By Truckers - $10 (editors note: HELL YEAH!)
6/17 - The David Grisman Sextet with The Hot Seats - $5
6/24 - Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings with The New Belgians - $10

I think I've got six definite see bands on that list (Carbon Leaf, Perpetual Groove, YMSB, DBT, Grisman, Sharon Jones) and two quite possibly's (Trombone Shorty & RVA Music Night).  So you should see me on the Island quite a bit.

Let's put our dreams of shorts, t-shirts, and drinking beer under the warm, late spring sun aside for now and get back to what is going on this weekend where at least it is starting to warm up a bit.  Wednesday night at Ashland Coffee & Tea, Yarn will regale you with Americana-ish tales of traveling, dirt and knitting.  Here is what the Ashland Coffee & Tea site says: "Yarn’s music — just like the band’s namesake — aims to be simple, functional and fun. Since Yarn released its debut album in 2007, the band has been puddle-jumping from one career highlight to the next, from charting on the Americana Music Association’s Top 40 to performing live on National Public Radio’s Mountain Stage to making an appearance on the Grammy ballot. Along the way, Yarn picked up its share of acolytes, including Edie Brickell, banjo virtuoso Tony Trischka and Caitlin Cary of Whiskeytown fame, all of whom made cameos on the band’s 2008 sophomore release, Empty Pockets."

The show starts at 7 with openers Andy Friedman & Caleb Stine.  Tix are $12 in advance, $17 at the door.  Here's Yarn doing their tune "Schenectady":


Friday night, Grateful Dead cover band, Dark Star Orchestra comes to The National.  Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 and there is no opener listed.  Tix are $20 in advance, $25 day of show.  Here's DSO doing "China Cat Sunflower" at All Good Festival last year:


If you go see DSO or even if you don't head over to Cary St Cafe to see Skydog's Dark Star Orchestra After Party.  Show starts at 10 and cover is $5 with your DSO stub.  I think it might by $5 without a DSO stub but Skydog's Facebook page doesn't really say nor does the Cary St. Cafe site.  Skydog is our local Allman Brothers tribute band.  It would be really cool if they could coordinate with DSO and recreate the 6/10/73 RFK Stadium show with the Allman Brothers and Grateful Dead with DSO doing the Dead's set, Skydog doing the Allman's set and then DSO joining Skydog at Cary St. Cafe to recreate the legendary third set with members of both the Allmans & Dead.  Skydog, make it happen. 

Sunday night, Bright Eyes aka Conor Oberst comes to The National.  The show is SOLD OUT but if tix do pop-up they'll be $25 in advance, $28 at the door.  Doors open at 7 PM, show starts at 8 PM with opener Cursive.  Here's Bright Eyes performing "Jejune Stars" on Letterman last week:


On Monday night, a dude that has been getting a lot of critical acclaim lately, Ty Segall, will be at Strange Matter.  The show starts at 7 PM with openers Super Vacations and Bermuda Triangles.  Neither Ty's MySpace page nor the Strange Matter site say how much the show will cost but I would figure no more than $12.  Ty's MySpace page lists him as Folk/Garage/Psychedelic which is as good a description as any.  If you like the "Nuggets" compilations, you'll like this.  Here is Ty with his video for "Cents":


Wanted to share this video with you because Honey Badger don't give a f**k.  (Language NSFW):


Finally, let's move forward with our Paste Magazine 25 best music videos of 2010.  This week, we feature Jonsi (who is the new Bjork) and his video "Go Do".  It features the androgynous Jonsi dressed like a bird, acting kind of like a bird and hanging out with birds and apparently a big fan of the movie "Birdy".  He also can't seem to get his suitcase open and is losing patience with that.  There is some fine cinematography or as I like to put it "purty pictues" and I do like the song. 

Jónsi - Go Do from Jónsi on Vimeo.

That's it for this week.  Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan