Bruce Hornsby, Dark Star Orchestra, The Love Language, Beer Fest, Lollapalooza & Newport Jazz webcasts

The weekend starts right at 5 on Friday with two events. The first is Virginia Beer Live! taking place at the Richmond Coliseum. This is the official kickoff to Virginia Craft Beer Month (and I'm drinking one right now, Main Street Virginia Ale from Center of the Universe Brewing in Ashland). This actually starts at 5:30 and costs run from $17 for designated driver tickets, to $27 for General Admission with samples, to $37 for Advanced Preferred Admission that gets you in early and a commemorative glass. There will be over 40 beers from 20 different VA breweries for sampling. Music will be provided by Brickwall Jackson, Psychobilly Cadillac, and The X Band.

Starting at 5 on Friday at Strange Matter, indie pop rockers The Love Language and Eternal Summers do an early show. The doors open at 5, show starts at 6. It's $8 in advance, $10 day of show. You'll probably dig these bands if you like Dr. Dog, Arcade Fire, Throwing Muses, and Best Coast. Here's The Love Languages latest video, "Calm Down". Sometimes it sucks to be an astronaut.



Southern Belles continue their First Friday residency at The Camel. Copper Into Steel will open the show at 9:30 with doors opening at 9. It's $7 to get in. The Belles are promising some new tunes for tomorrow. Here's they are playing "Jet Trails" at Cary St. Cafe on July 17.

Gallery 5 has a fun show for First Friday with Black Girls, The Trillions, Hypercolor and Punch Button. The show starts at 7 and it's FREE. Here's a taste of the Black Girls funkin' it up on Brown's Island at Cheers this year:

On the world wide web (I'm trying to bring that phrase back. I miss it.) this weekend, you can sit at home in your Angry Birds undies and watch the Lollapalooza webcast live from Chicago HERE. Here's the schedule. I'm not sure if the times are ET or CT. They don't say. But you're smart. I'm sure you'll figure it out.

Friday

2:30PM – SMITH WESTERNS

3:30PM – ICONA POP

4:15PM – CRYSTAL CASTLES

5:15PM – IMAGINE DRAGONS

6:15PM – QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE

7:30PM – BAND OF HORSES

8:30PM – THE KILLERS

10:00PM – NINE INCH NAILS

Saturday

2:15PM – BEN HOWARD

3:00PM – COURT YARD HOUNDS

4:00PM – LOCAL NATIVES

5:00PM – ELLIE GOULDING

6:00PM – THE NATIONAL

7:15PM – THE LUMINEERS

8:30PM – THE POSTAL SERVICE

10:00PM – MUMFORD & SONS

Sunday

2:30PM – ALEX CLARE

3:45PM – WILD NOTHING

4:30PM – TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB

5:30PM – ALT-J

6:30PM – STEVE AOKI

7:00PM – VAMPIRE WEEKEND

8:15PM – THE CURE

10:15PM – PHOENIX

If your musical choice tends to be jazzier more than alternative or just like more choices, the Interwebs provides you with the NPR Newport Jazz Fest webcast this weekend HERE on Saturday and Sunday. Here is the lineup:

Saturday, August 3

2:00 p.m.: Robert Glasper Experiment

3:00 p.m.: Bill Charlap Trio with Anat Cohen and Bob Wilber

3:40 p.m.: Terence Blanchard Quintet

4:20 p.m.: Mary Halvorson Quintet

4:40 p.m.: Rez Abbasi Trio, Amir ElSaffar & Two Rivers

5:30 p.m.: Ray Anderson Pocket Brass Band

5:55 p.m.: Marcus Miller

Sunday, August 4

11:00 a.m.: Gregory Porter

12:05 p.m.: Jon Batiste & Stay Human

12:40 p.m.: Joshua Redman Quartet

1:40 p.m.: Donny McCaslin Group

2:45 p.m.: Dirty Dozen Brass Band

3:45 p.m.: Eddie Palmieri Salsa Orchestra

5:00 p.m.: Jim Hall Trio with Julian Lage

6:00 p.m.: Wayne Shorter Quartet with Herbie Hancock

If you are still in mood for more beer after Virginia Beer Live (and really, when am I not in the mood for more beer), go to Hardywood Park Craft Brewery for the release party for their Virginia Blackberry Belgian style white ale. The tasting room opens at 2 PM and Richmond's favorite yacht rock cover band (they were voted Best Local Band by the readers of Richmond Magazine), Three Sheets to the Wind will start the music at 5:30 PM. Give yourself plenty of time for traffic though. The Redskins are holding Fan Appreciation Day at training camp on Saturday afternoon and they are expecting 25,000 people to go. Try and hit that sweet spot between when Skins fans are going to and leaving camp and you should be good to go. Here's their encore at Friday Cheers this year. Party! Caramba! Fiesta! Forever!

Get your tie-dye out and celebrate Jerry Garcia's birthday (it was yesterday, but close enough) with the nationally known Grateful Dead tribute band, Dark Star Orchestra, down at Pocahontas State Park Saturday night. Doors open at 5, the show starts at 6:30. DSO will play two sets of fat, vintage Dead. Tix are $16.50 in advance, $20 at the gate. You also get charged $5 to park which helps maintain the park, so that's cool. Here's DSO at Gathering of the Vibes last week doing St. Stephen > Not Fade Away > Drums > St. Stephen > Sugar Magnolia.

No BS! Brass Band is over at The Camel Saturday night. It's $7 to get in. Doors open at 9, the opener is Planet Hunting Methods. No BS! continues to conquer America as they were recently on Bob Edwards' show on SiriusXM. Here they are performing in New Haven CT last month:



On Tuesday night at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers and Railroad Earth will do a benefit show for Music For Massey. Tix are $35 in advance, $42.50 at the door for General Admission and $60 for General Reserve Seating. Doors open at 5:30 and Railroad Earth comes on around 6. Bruce has a new album coming out with Ricky Skaggs (August 20th) so perhaps Railroad Earth can sub for Ricky for the bluegrass flavor and provide a preview of the album. Here's Bruce doing his song (not the Grateful Dead's) "China Doll":



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan