Former Champions, Barstool Heroes, Emme St. James, Christmas Parade, ACL webcasts, Lianne LaHavas: Late Night Pick

If you're looking to chill and enjoy some wine and jazz reminiscient of Peggy Lee, Doris Day or Julie London, check out Emme St. James and Her Jazz Gentlemen tonight at The Wine Loft in Glen Allen. This is the celebration for the release of her new Christmas CD, "I'd Like You For Christmas" so bring your jingle bells. Ths show starts at 8. No mention of a cover charge.

Over at The Camel, jam band Former Champions will be playing tonight. Show starts at 9 and it's $7 to get in. Trongone Band will open. Here's Former Champions doing "Land":


Cary St. Cafe will host Barstool Heroes (outlaw country) and James Ryan West and the Vendors. Whitey Morgan had to cancel their appearance tonight due to unforseen circumstances. You never do foresee those circumstances. Show starts at 9:30 and cover charge will be $5. Not sure who is opening. Here's Barstool Heroes doing the Charlie Daniels tune "Trudy":


If you are at home tonight you can watch the webcast of upcoming blues guitar player Gary Clark Jr. as he films his Austin City Limits show. It's on YouTube and the link is HERE.

Saturday, it's the Dominion Christmas Parade going down Broad Street starting at 10 AM. We'll be hangin' down at 7th St. where the parade ends if you are interested. No rock bands, but lots of marching bands, balloons, Santa, and a little taste of Philly this year with the Mummers group, Ferko String Band. So bring your golden slippers.

Saturday night, it's another webcast of an Austin City Limits taping, this one with Esperanza Spalding. You can check that out HERE.

Tonight's Late Night Pick is a repeat of the Late Show with David Letterman featuring young British singer-songwriter Lianne LaHavas, Robin Williams and a top 10 list from Homer Simpson.

Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Dan Deacon, NO BS! Brass Band, Bettye LaVette: Late Night Pick

Tonight, critically acclaimed indie electronica artist Dan Deacon will be at Gallery 5. This is the show that was rescheduled from October 3. Tix are $13, doors open at 7 and the music should start shortly thereafter with openers Alan Resnick, Chester Endersby Gwaza, and Height With Friends. Dan's been influenced by artists such as Devo, Talking Heads, Animal Collective, John Cage, and The Residents. Here's Dan's "True Thrush" video. It starts with a 13 second scene which was then shown to the next team, which then had an hour to recreate the scene from memory. So it's like a visual version of that old "Telephone" game. Check out the results here:

NO BS! Brass Band is at Balliceaux tonight. Show starts at 10 and it's $3 to get in.

Tonight's Late Night Pick is Grammy nominated, classic soul singer Bettye LaVette on Tavis Smiley on PBS. Check your local listings for exact time. On Bettye's latest album, "Thankful N' Thoughtful" she covers tunes by Black Keys, Gnarls Barkley, Savoy Brown, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Sly Stone, Tom Waits and others in her 60's soul style. In Richmond, the show will be on channel 57 at 3 AM Friday morning and on channel 23 at 12:30 AM Saturday morning.

More on the rest of the weekend tonight.

Tony Jordan

Moon Taxi, Southern Belles, Bob Weir webcast, Neil Young: Late Night Pick

Jam-prog-rock band, Moon Taxi,will be at Capital Ale House downtown tonight. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with openers The Shack Band. It's $12 to get in. Moon Taxi got a big buzz going after a killer set at Bonnaroo this year. Here's their new video for "Let's Go Back" from their latest album, "Cabaret":


More jammy goodness tonight at Cary St. Cafe with locals The Southern Belles. Show starts at 9 with an opening set from The Northeners and there is no cover. It's Southern Belles one year anniversary tonight and they'll be performing some stuff from their new album, "Sharp as a Knife" along with their usual mix of covers of the Dead, Phish, The Band, The Beatles and others. And if you want updates and free swag like guest passes and free merch from the Belles, email them at info@thesouthernbellesmusic.com.  Here they are playing "All Night" at The Camel in September:


And if all that wasn't jammy enough for you, one of the godfathers of jam band, Mr. Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead, will be doing a webcast from his TRI Studios at 8:30 PM ET. Go HERE for that. Bob will play some songs and answer some questions, hopefully, more of the former than the latter. Bob often sits in with the bands that do webcasts from TRI. Here he is jamming with Slightly Stoopid on a song called "Ocean":


Tonight on The Daily Show is Neil Young. Probably talking about his new bio. Hopefully doing a tune or two. The Daily Show is on at 11 PM on Comedy Central and then repeated a few times over the next 24 hours.

Late Night Pick: Grimes

Electro-pop artist Grimes, whose album, "Visions", has already been showing up on best albums of 2012 lists, will be on Last Call with Carson Daly tonight at 1:35 AM on NBC.

Late Night Pick:Soundgarden

Back to work and then to the gym to try to work off the pounds put on over Thanksgiving weekend. And back to late night TV which features the reunited Soundgarden tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC at midnight. Soundgarden was probably the closest band I ever saw that could capture what I would imagine the power of Led Zep was live. Truly a thunderous, powerful band. The have a short winter tour lined up playing places that are approximately Landmark Theater size. So get on that Landmark Theater for the second leg. The new album, King Animal, has been getting pretty good reviews.

Southern Belles, Municipal Waste, Title Fight, Conspirator, Of Monsters & Men, Silversun Pickups, Susan Greenbaum

You can start off your Thanksgiving weekend on Wednesday night with the funky jam band blues of Southern Belles at Emilio's in the Fan. The event announcement on Facebook says this starts at 7 PM. That seems a tad early so call Emilio's if you are interested in going (804-359-1224). Here's the Belles at The Republic in July with the "Ophelia" jam:



Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead is going to be on live from his TRI Studios every Wednesday through Dec. 5 at 8:30 PM. He'll be answering questions and playing songs. The one I saw a couple weeks ago could have used more songs and less questions but he was announcing that they will be doing a Sandy benefit webcaste in January with "old lions and young lions" of the jam band scene so that's something to look forward to. So maybe there will be more songs tomorrow night.

Thursday is Thanksgiving night so no one is playing because everyone is full of turkey and booze and falls asleep at 9 PM.

Friday night, a lot of action. Things start early with a 6 PM show at Kingdom featuring alt-pop-punkers Title Fight heading a bill that also includes Tigers Jaw, Pianos Become The Teeth and Single Mothers. Tix are $12 in advance and $14 at the door. Here's Title Fight with "27":

Later that night at Kingdom, if you want to work off your turkey dinner (and turkey leftovers) you can headbang those calories away with the thrash metal lineup of Richmond's own Municipal Waste, Napalm Death, Exhumed & Speedwolf. Doors will open at 10 PM and it's $15 to get in. Here's Municipal Waste with "Sadistic Magician":



Over at The National Friday, it's electronica jam music with Conspirator, Paper Diamond, The Former Champions and Phil Dice. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9, tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Here's Conspirator doing "Velvet Red" in Boulder, CO in February:



Also on Friday night, over at The Camel, it's Richmond homeys NO BS! Brass Band. It'll start around 9:30 and it's $7 to get in.

If you are already in the holiday mood on Saturday, and you survived the Black Friday tramplings, head over to Ashland Coffee & Tea for the Susan Greenbaum Holiday Show. The show will start at 8, tix are $16 in advance, $20 day of show. Here's Susan and friend doing an acoustic set in September:


Monday night, Of Monsters and Men plays at The National. Civil Twilight opens the show at 8, doors open at 7, tix are $25 in advance, $28 at the door. Of Monsters and Men hail from Iceland. They're making it big all over the world playing in the US, UK, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia and Japan over the last and the next few months largely on the strength of this tune, "Little Talks":



Next Tuesday night (11/27), Silversun Pickups and Atlas Genius will be at The National. Doors will open at 7 and the show gets under way around 8. Tix are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. You might dig Silversun Pickups if you like Foo Fighters, U2, REM, Weezer, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Pixies, Radiohead, Sonic Youth, Flaming Lips or Velvet Underground. Here they are doing "Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)" live:



As an added bonus, The Rolling Stones release yet another greatest hits package, "Grrr!" but they've got two pretty good new songs on it and here is the new video for "Doom and Gloom". They can still rock it.



Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Tegan & Sara

Alternative folk rockers Tegan & Sara will be on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight on CBS at 11:35 PM. They've got a new album called "Heartthrob" coming out so I suppose you'll hear a track from that tonight.

Late Night Pick: Tennis

Check out a repeat of Conan tonight with alt-pop rockers, Tennis. Conan is on TBS at 11 PM and then again at 1 AM. That is all.

Matthew E White, People's Blues of Richmond, Late Night Pick: Miguel

Tonight's the big night for the weekend with two shows to decide from.

At The Camel, Richmonder Matthew E White returns to Richmond after touring nationally and getting a big buzz for his first album, "Big Inner", including rave reviews from Pitchfork, The New York Times and Rolling Stone. Doors will open at 8, show will start at 9 with The Trillions. It's $8 in advance, $10 at the door. Here he is performing "Brazos" at the 2012 Hopscotch Music Festival. Love the way this just builds and builds at the end. I don't think the band will be quite this big at The Camel tonight:


Over at Tobacco Company tonight, People's Blues of Richmond will playing their hard blues for anyone that would care to come. It's FREE and will start around 9:30. Here's the band playing "Nihilist Blues" at the Jewish Mother in VA Beach a couple months ago:


That's about it for the weekend as everyone starting to get ready for Thanksgiving.

The Late Night Pick for tonight is R&B singer Miguel on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC at 12:35 AM. The LA Times said Miguel's latest album, "Kaleidoscope Dreams", “leads a wave of artists aggressively pulling away from the conventional boundaries of R&B by championing edgier, genre-blending productions while maintaining soulful melodies,”.

Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Torche, Marco Benevento, 3 Sheets to the Wind, Late Night Pick: Donald Fagen

Tonight (Thursday) at The Camel, stoner/sludge metal band Torche will head a lineup of three bands including Gritter and Brief Lives. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9. It's $10 to get in. Here's Torche's "Across the Shields":


Over at Capital Ale House tonight, it's jam band veteran keyboardist, Marco Benevento. Tix are $14, show starts at 9 PM with opener, WOLF!  Here's part of(?) Marco's set from 9/27/12 in Louisville:


If you are in more of a yacht rock kind of mood, check out Three Sheets to the Wind at Republic tonight. Show will start around 9:30 and it's FREE. The theme is "Back to the Future" so they may play this one tonight:


Speaking of yacht rock, tonight's Late Night Pick is Steely Dan's Donald Fagen on Late Show with David Letterman on CBS at 11:35 PM. Donald will probably do a song from his new album, "Sunken Condos". To celebrate here is the episode of "Yacht Rock" featuring Steely Dan and their epic feud with The Eagles. BTW, this video is NSFW due to some nasty language. Hey, it was a nasty feud.

Heart, Marc Cohn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Late Night Pick: Divine Fits

It's kind of adult contemporary night in Richmond starting with the Wilson sisters and Heart at the Landmark Theater. I saw a fairly recent show by Heart too long ago on VH1 Classic and their voices still sound great so it should be a fun show. They seem to have moved past their late 80s - early 90s soft rock phase and are back with some stronger material. I'm not saying you won't hear "Alone" or "Never" because they were big hits. I'm just saying the newer stuff I heard was more reflective of their 70's style. In fact, they sound so good that Ann Wilson has been asked to sing the National Anthem at the Redskins - Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game. Shawn Colvin is opening so be sure to get there early to see her. Tix run $40 - $65 and the show starts at 7:30. Here's Heart doing the title track from their latest album, "Fanatic":


Over at the Virginia Room at the John Marshall Hotel tonight, you've got singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, best know for his hit "Walking In Memphis". He recently performed at the all-star "Love for Levon" concert honoring late member of The Band, Levon Helm. Tix for the show run $25 - $55. Doors open at 7 and the show opens with Rebecca Pidgeon. Here's Marc doing a song about when he was shot in 2005 during an attempted carjacking called "Live Out the String":


Finally, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt is at The National with hitRECord. This isn't exactly a concert. Here's the explanation from the press release:

"Joseph Gordon-Levitt will serve as the unique show’s host for the evening, presenting short new short works of collaboratively made video, music and writing created by the hitRECord world-wide community of artists. Gordon-Levitt will also direct, and will be performing and interact ing with the live audiences in sketches, readings and musical moments — contributed by the hitRECord community. Of course, he’ll encourage audiences to record the proceedings on their cameras, phones and other portable RECording devices.


hitRECord’s technology partner, Sony Electronics, will provide the hitRECord team and some members of the live audience with Sony Alpha NEX cameras to ensure quality footage is captured of the live proceedings for future remixing. Show goers can upload their videos from the live event to hitRECord.org where the hitRECord community of 125,000+ artists will edit and remix the footage to create videos to be screened at future events!"

Tix are $15 for the balcony and $25 - 30 for orchestra. Check out the hitRECord web site up there for some ideas of what to expect. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9.

Tonight's Late Night Pick is indie rockers Divine Fits on Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35 AM on NBC.

Dr. John, Blind Boys of Alabama, Late Night Pick: Ceremony

If you are looking for a show tonight, you can do no better than the Spirituals to Funk show with Dr. John and the gospel group, Blind Boys of Alabama. They'll be at the Carpenter Theatre and the show will start at 7:30 with tickets running from $34 to $42. The show will "explore the connections between jazz, blues and gospel". HERE is a preview of their show from a Grand Rapids MI blog. Here's Dr. John & the Blind Boys performing the Louis Armstrong classic "What a Wonderful World":


Tonight's Late Night Pick of the Night is SF punk group Ceremony tonight on Last Call with Carson Daly on NBC at 1:35 AM.

Late Night Pick: Alberta Cross

Alt-country band and band I have been digging lately, Alberta Cross, will be on Late Show with David Letterman tonight on CBS at 11:35 PM. If you interested in checking them out on the cheap, AmazonMP3 has their latest album, "Songs of Patience", on sale for just $5 this month.

Unknown Hinson, Dead Milkmen, Cult of Youth, Bio Ritmo, Taste the Local - W Broad Village Fest, Robbin Thompson

Crashed early last night and just couldn't wake myself up so we'll bang out the weekend's shows this AM. Look for another blog this weekend with the details on next week's shows.

We start tonight (Friday) with local Latin music band, Bio Ritmo, at Balliceaux. It's $10 to get in and the show starts at 10:30 PM.

Saturday out at West Broad Village, the faux community with the Whole Foods in it out in Short Pump, Taste the Local throws their West Village Festival. It'll run from noon to 7 and feature food from local restaurants, vendors, beers from ten of VA's finest breweries (including Legend, Hardywood, Starr Hill and Devil's Backbone) and music from local bands. Here's the schedule for the bands:

1. People's Blues of Richmond - 12 - 12:50
2. Big Payback: Tribute to James Brown - 1:15 - 2:15
3. 4Play - 2:45 - 3:45
4. Love Canon - 4:15 - 5:45

Saturday night at Kingdom, 80's Philly punk band, The Dead Milkmen, will perform. Loved these guys way back then, not just for the Philly connection, but for the sense of humor in their music. It's $20 to get in, doors will open at 6 PM. There are a bunch of other bands on the bill including The Bastards of Fate, The Mothball Fleet, Cheyenne, and Hold Tight. There aren't too many tickets so jump on this now if you are thinking of going. They'll be playing some new music tomorrow night but here is their classic "Punk Rock Girl" featuring Philly landmarks like the Eastern State Penitentiary and Zipperhead (the late, lamented punk rock store on South Street before all the chains moved in):


Robbin Thompson will be at Ashland Coffee & Tea on Saturday night. Tix are $15 in advance, $20 the day of show. Show starts at 8. Robbin will have a new CD out early next year so I'm sure you'll hear some tidbits from that. Here's Robbin playing his song "Where You've Never Been" on the Chinese instrument called the zhong ruan:


Over at the Capital Ale House on Saturday night, gothic, funny, rockabilly act Unknown Hinson will scare you and rock you at the same time. Tix are $18 in advance, $20 day of show. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9. He released a new CD earlier this year called "Reloaded". Even though a lot of his tunes are pretty funny, they can flat out rock too. Here they are covering Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile":


Sunday night at Strange Matter, indie folk act Cult of Youth will perform along with Lost Tribe, Pharkamon, Buck Gooter and Mutwawa. Doors open at 8, music starts at 9, tix are $8 in advance, $10 at the door. Here's Cult of Youth doing "Cats":


That'll do it for Saturday and Sunday. Back this weekend with more on the coming week.

Tony Jordan

Jimmy Herring & Victor Wooten, PBR, Late Night Pick: Lianne La Havas

Tonight, jam band veterans Jimmy Herring and Victor Wooten play with their respective bands, and hopefully together, at The National. Tix are $30 Reserved Orchestra, $27.50 Reserved Balcony 1, $22.50 Reserved Balcony 2, $20 GA Standing. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8. Not sure who is opening so just get there on time. Victor Wooten is the bassist for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, has won five Grammy awards, and "Bass Player of the Year" from Bass Player magazine three times. Jimmy Herring is currently playing guitar for Widespread Panic and has also played with what is generally regarded as the best version of Phil Lesh & Friends, as well as the Allman Brothers Band, Derek Trucks Band, The Other Ones, The Dead and Aquarium Rescue Unit.

Here's Victor Wooten performing "Amazing Grace":


And here is the Jimmy Herring Band doing The Beatles' "Within You Without You" a few days ago in Georgia:


Also tonight, People's Blues of Richmond will be at Republic. They'll get things under way there around 10 PM. The show is free if you are over 21 and $5 if you are under 21. Yesterday, PBR announced that they will have some big announcements coming soon. So I guess that's sort of a pre-announcement announcement. I suspect a new album and tour, but we shall see. Here's PBR playing at Camp Barefoot this year:


The Late Night Pick is British singer-songwriter Lianne La Havas on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight. That's on at 11:35 PM on CBS. Lianne has been named as a "Band to Watch" by Rolling Stone magazine and was also nominated for the big British Mercury award. Also, on the show Robin Williams and a top ten list presented by Homer Simpson. Sounds like a winning show.

More on the rest of the weekend tonight.

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Cat Power

No, Cat Power is not a new political organization whose aim is to get cats the vote in time for the next election, Cat Power aka Chan Marshall is an indie rock singer-songwriter and she'll be on Conan tonight on TBS at 11 PM with a repeat at 1 AM. Cat Power just canceled her European tour yesterday due to health problems (she has a condition called angioedema) so hopefully she'll be alright to do the show and then get healthy.

Late Night shows pre-empted. Enjoy Alice Cooper.

All or most of the Late Night shows are pre-empted or in repeats because there is some election or something going on. So no Late Night Pick tonight. Instead, enjoy this video from Alice Cooper and if you haven't voted yet, VOTE!

Late Night Pick: Father John Misty

Tonight on Conan, watch Americana artist Father John Misty. You might dig FJM (as his friend's call him) if you like his former band, Fleet Foxes, or Nick Drake, Ryan Adams, Pete Seeger, Gram Parsons or Harry Nilsson. Conan is on TBS at 11 PM with a repeat at 1 AM.

Best Music of October, Late Night Pick: Regina Spektor

Metacritic had their monthly wrap-up of the most critically acclaimed new releases for the last month. Artists at or near the top include rapper Kendrick Lamar, R&B singer Miguel, alt-country singer/songwriter Jamey Johnson, electronica artist Flying Lotus, alt-country singer/songwriter Iris DeMent (returning with her first album of new material in 16 years!), rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson (coming to the Capital Ale House soon!), and more. Check out the full article HERE.

For late night, watch a repeat of Last Call with Carson Daly featuring singer-songwriter Regina Spektor. Last Call is on NBC at 1:35 AM. Here's Regina's new video for the song "How":

All-Star Benefit for Sandy Victims, Late Night Pick: David Byrne & St. Vincent

There will be an all-star benefit for victims of Hurricane Sandy on multiple networks tomorrow night at 8 PM. Springsteen, Sting, Bon Jovi, Christina Aguilera, Billy Joel and others will appear. Money raised goes to the American Red Cross. Details are HERE.

Tonight on the Colbert Report, catch David Byrne & St. Vincent. Colbert is on at 11:30 PM on Comedy Central and then a few repeats over the next 24 hours. Byrne & St. Vincent's recent show in Vancouver got a rave review.