Tera Melos, Dr. Dog, Autumn Bottom Brews Fest, Southern Belles, Three Sheets to the Wind

Southern Belles continue their First Friday residency at The Camel this Friday. It's $7 to get in, doors open at 9 and Woodwork will open. Though the Belles play mostly originals these days, here they are a couple weeks ago dipping into the Floyd catalog for "Time" and "Echoes":

Saturday night, get your yacht rock on with Three Sheets to the Wind at The National. Tix are $15 in advance, $20 at the door and $35 if you want VIP. Doors will open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Party of Four (America's #1 Tribute to 90's Jangle Pop, or at least they say so). Three Sheets will don a musical costume for mini-set of Tom Petty's greatest hits. Party of Four's musical costume will be a mini-set of Gin Blossoms. There will also be a costume contest with prizes for Best Yacht Rock Attire, Best Duo/Team Costume, and Best Overall. Here's some classic Tom Petty with the official video for "Change of Heart":


Sunday at the 17th Street Farmers' Market, the 3rd Annual Autumn Bottom Brews Festival (I think there is a stripper named Autumn Bottom) goes down without strippers, but with lots of good beer, food and music from Andy Vaughan & the Driveline (noon) and Jackass Flats (2:30). The whole event runs from noon until 5 PM and it's FREE.  Here's Jackass Flats at Hoss's on October 7:



Prog Rock band Tera Melos is at Strange Matter for an early show on Sunday night. Tix are $10 in advance, $12 day of show. Doors open at 5 and Zorch and Dumb Waiter open. If you want a preview of their show, here is a 30 minute set Tera Melos did at the famous Amoeba Records in San Franscisco on April 14 this year:



Psychedelic indie rockers from Philly, Dr. Dog, will be at The National Monday night. Tix are $20 in advance, $22 day of show. Benny Yurco and the Revealers will open when the show starts at 8. Doors open at 7. You might like Dr. Dog if you like The Band, Big Star, Harry Nilsson, Beach Boys, The Kinks, or XTC. Here they are performing their new single, "Broken Heart" in Nashville yesterday.



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Holy Ghost!

The Late Show with David Letterman has, appropriately enough for Halloween, the dance band Holy Ghost! (exclamation point is in the band's name) on the show tonight on CBS at 11:35 PM. You might like Holy Ghost! if you like New Order, LCD Soundsystem, or Depeche Mode.

Halloween: Built to Spill, Black Girls, Former Champions, Trongone Band

Looking for some rock n' roll on Halloween? Well, there's a lot of it going on.

Indie pop rockers Built to Spill will be at The Canal Club Thursday night. It'll be $25 to get in. Slam Dunk, Genders and The Warm Hair will open. Doors will open at 7 PM. There will be a costume contest and free giveaways. Doug Martsch of Built to Spill will do a DJ set after the show which you can stick around for. Here's the band in Hamburg this year playing "Goin' Against Your Mind":

Black Girls will get super freaky at Balliceaux on Halloween. It'll be $5 to get in and the show starts at 10.

Former Champions will be joined by members of Silo Effect at The Camel for a Halloween jamtronica extravaganza. There will be a costume contest, vendors, live painters and the Champs are promising some surprises. Should get crazy. Music starts at 9 PM.  Here's Former Champions doing "Song 7" at The National in March:

If you like to celebrate your Halloween in classic rock style, head to Cary St. Cafe for Trongone Band. There will be a costume contest and there is no cover charge. Music starts around 10 PM with Barrelhouse. Trongone Band will don their musical costume at 11:15 PM by doing Widespread Panic's Jackassolantern album in its entirety which has no original Widespread Panic songs on it. Then Trongone Band, Barrelhouse and special guests will jam the night away.

More on the rest of the weekend's events tomorrow. For your Halloween pleasure, here's Phish doing "Ghost" a few days ago in Worcester MA:

Late Night Pick: Queens of the Stone Age; Avett Brothers webcast

My hard, psychedelic rock band of choice these days is Queens of the Stone Age and they'll be on Conan tonight at 11 PM on TBS. Coming out at some point today (it wasn't posted as of 5 PM), QOTSA will have an interactive music video for their song "Vampyre of Time & Memory". Just in time for Halloween. Here's the trailer:



Over on the David Letterman site, tonight at 8 PM, The Avett Brothers will do a one hour live performance. You can watch it HERE. They'll most likely be playing a bunch of tunes from their new album "Magpie and the Dandelion".

Late Night Pick: Wayne Shorter Quartet

Arsenio Hall is really mixing it up on his new talk show. Last night, it was underground hip-hop, tonight it's jazz legend Wayne Shorter and his Quartet. Wayne was a quadruple winner in this year’s Downbeat magazine critics poll, topping the categories for Jazz Artist, Jazz Album, Jazz Group and Soprano Saxophone. At 80, Wayne still relishes improvisation and performing "without a net". HERE is a recent interview with Wayne in the Cape Breton (Australia) Post. Arsenio is on WUPV in Richmond at 11 PM, the rest of you can check Arsenio's web site for times and channels.

Tribute to Lou Reed and Delivering Newspapers, Late Night Pick: Hiatus Kaiyote

I'll always associate Lou Reed with delivering newspapers. Way back in 1982 or so, I was delivering newspapers for the Courier-Post, a South Jersey newspaper that was an afternoon paper on weekdays and a morning paper on weekends. The Walkman had just come out and my mom got one but I quickly assumed ownership of it to accompany me during my deliveries. Between my mom and I, we had very few cassettes at the time as they were quite the newfangled thing too. One of the tapes my mom had was Lou Reed's "Rock N' Roll Animal". I had heard the name Lou Reed, knew he was important in rock history, maybe knew "Walk on the Wild Side". I checked it out and loved it. This became my Sunday morning paper delivery album. There was something about popping that cassette in and starting my bike ride to where I picked up the papers with the beautiful twin guitar jam, melodic and then rocking, that starts "Intro/Sweet Jane" on a crisp, fall morning or a quiet, summer morning when the humidity wasn't too bad but promised to get hot later in the day. All alone, barely any cars or people out, the freedom of the bike and the feeling of good work, I would get to the paper box just about when Lou hit the stage to sing "Sweet Jane". I learned the song so well that I became somewhat famous within my fraternity for being able to play perfect air guitar to "Intro/Sweet Jane" channeling guitarists Dick Wagner & Steve Hunter and then Lou himself.

Sure, things took a dark turn when "Heroin" started. Dark, mysterious with dreams of sailing a thousand years ago, the warning "it's my wife and it's my life" and the apathetic surrender, "but I guess, I just don't know". It made the drug sound almost alluring but something about Lou's resignation said, "stay away, I've been there, it'll take you over".

Click. Time to turn the cassette over. The rock n' roll on this side was like a shot of caffeine to help me finish the route. And I needed it, because I was most likely up late Saturday night watching "Night Flight" or MTV or playing Dungeons & Dragons with friends, and I wasn't drinking coffee back then. "White Light/White Heat", "Lady Day" and "Rock & Roll" would drive me onward getting me through until I could get back home.

Later, I would hear more Lou. His "New York" album came out in college and I played it all the time in my room and on my college radio show. I would hear the Velvet Underground albums that spawned those songs on "Rock N' Roll Animal" in their more primal, raw forms and all the covers by those the VU influenced. I would listen to five minutes of "Metal Machine Music" before going "WTF?" like everyone else, including Lou. But I still go back on "Rock N' Roll Animal" and when I hear the opening notes of "Intro/Sweet Jane", I take a moment, bust out my air guitar, and remember those Sunday mornings on my bike, still mostly innocent, but with Lou about to tell me about the dark and weird and wonderful and romantic and frightening things that lurked out there in the back rooms and alleys and that if things ever got rough, "Despite the amputation / you could dance to a rock 'n' roll station / It was all right / it was all right".


Here is the obit from Rolling Stone: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/lou-reed-velvet-underground-leader-and-rock-pioneer-dead-at-71-20131027

Also, check out their 20 Essential Lou Reed songs: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/20-essential-lou-reed-tracks-20131027

Live Music Blog put together a nice piece on the many tributes from other musicians: http://livemusicblog.com/2013/10/28/tributes-to-lou-reed-onstage-around-the-world/

I also thought Lou's friend, Peter Gabriel, wrote a touching personal  tribute to his friend that captured the enigma of Lou: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151809062154760&set=a.428107324759.215226.292910949759&type=1

Tonight's Late Night Pick is the Australian neo-soul, alternative hip-hop band Hiatus Kaiyote on The Arsenio Hall Show. Yes, Arsenio is back (Woof! Woof! Woof!). Arsenio is on WUPV at 11 PM here in Richmond. Check your local listings or Aresenio's site for times and channel in your area.

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Pearl Jam (again)

Pearl Jam plays again on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to cap off Pearl Jam week on the show. Late Night is on NBC at 12:35 AM. In case you missed it last night, here's Pearl Jam doing "Sirens" from their new album, "Lightning Bolt":

Weekend Festivals, Kylesa, Crystal Stilts, Cold War Kids, Minus the Bear

This Saturday looks like one of the busiest party days of the year and the last big weekend for outdoor festivals. We'll get started with the Boulevard Pumpkin Festival taking place on Boulevard between W. Marshall and W Leigh streets. It'll run from noon until 6 PM. There will be craft beer, local food, pumpkin games, a costume contest, wine, a kids zone and five bands playing. You can park for free at The Diamond. Here's the music lineup:

Noon-1 p.m.: Smiile 

1:15 p.m.-2:15 p.m.: The Big Payback: A Tribute to James Brown

2:30 p.m.- 3:30 p.m.: Beast Wellington

3:45 p.m.- 4:45 p.m.: James Justin & Co.

5 p.m.- 6 p.m.: People's Blues of Richmond

Just off the Boulevard, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery will be celebrating their 2nd anniversary from 2 - 9 PM. There will of course be beer, a number of food trucks will be there to fill your belly, there will be music from The Greenhearts and a special showing of the Godzilla film, "Destroy All Monsters" with a live original soundtrack by Goldrush.

Over in Carytown, the 9th Annual Zombie Walk starts at 2:30 on the sidewalk in front of Kroger and the living corpses will drag their bodies down to the Byrd Theater and back to Kroger. The event benefits the American Cancer Society and it's FREE to hang out and watch. If you want to be in the Zombie Walk, click the link up there for rules.

If you are north of the city, the Slash Cottage Bluegrass and American Festival will be at Center of the Universe Brewery in Ashland. It'll run from 3 PM until 9 PM and it's FREE to get in.The band lineup is:

- George Turnman

- Old Virginia Bluegrass Band

- Matt Jones and the Bobs

- Shooting Creek

- Willis River

At The National on Saturday night, soulful, bluesy indie rockers Cold War Kids will perform. Tix are $20 in advance, $23 at the door, doors open at 7 and show starts at 8 with PAPA. You might dig Cold War Kids if you like The White Stripes, Kings of Leon, Drive-By Truckers, My Morning Jacket, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Replacements, The Pixies, Radiohead, Tom Waits, Jeff Buckley, The Pogues, Velvet Underground, or The Band. Here's "Tuxedos" from their latest album, "Dear Miss Lonelyhearts":

On Sunday, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden hosts Goblins & Gourds. Cost to get in is the usual price of admission and it takes place in the Children's Garden, with all sorts of fun for kids young and old. There will also be a concert by the Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra. They play indigenous gourds and are pretty cool to see. They'll be playing throughout the day. Here's a little taste of their show at the Catawba Farm Fest in 2012:



You can celebrate Squirreloween at The Diamond with Nutzy, Parker Pig and the Flying Squirrels on Sunday from 2 PM to 6 PM. The event is FREE and open to all. They've added a Halloween Carnival this year out on the field which will benefit FeedRVA. Kids can trick or treat throughout The Diamond, play games and the band The Hit List will keep things rockin'. For the adults, there will be a beer garden in The Diamond Tailgate Zone on the 1st base side.

Sunday night at Strange Matter, it's a pretty strong alternative metal show headlined by Kylesa, and openers Acrassicauda (from Iraq!), Pinkish Black, Sierra and Unscared. Doors open at 7, music starts at 7:30 and it's $15 to get in. Caught in the Carousel recently reviewed Kylesa & Sierra's show in Milwaukee and said "The torch has been passed – Kylesa is now the greatest rock and roll band in the United States." I don't know if I'd go that far, but they do rock. Here they are at the Southwest Terror Fest a few days ago.



Tuesday night, if you're not going to see Pearl Jam at John Paul Jones Arena like me (gloating!), you can catch psychedelic, noise pop band Crystal Stilts at Strange Matter. Tix are $10 in advance, $12 day of show, doors open at 9, show starts at 10 with openers Zachary Cale, Warren Hixson, and DJ Marty Violence. Time Out Chicago reviewed Crystal Stilts Chicago show and said, "Playing in front of colorful abstractions projected onto a tattered white sheet at Empty Bottle last night, the Brooklyn psych outfit—touring on its third LP, Nature Noir—brought to mind, at different points, everyone from the Doors to the Velvet Underground to Joy Division." Here's "Star Crawl" from Crystal Stilts new album, "Nature Noir":



Tuesday night at The National, smart indie rock band Minus the Bear will perform. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the door, doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with openers INVSN and Slow Bird. If you want a preview of their show, check out their Livestream acoustic session and interview at 2 PM ET on Friday, 10/25. Here they are doing "Steel and Blood":


Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Father John Misty, Late Night Pick: Pearl Jam

Neo-folkie Father John Misty will be at The National tonight. Tix are $23, doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with the opener, comedian Kate Berlant. You don't see comedians opening up for musicians much these days. I believe it happened more often back in the 70's so it's kind of cool and plays into Father John Misty's old school vibe. It also plays into his sometimes humorous lyrics, as evidenced on this favorite of mine, "I'm Writing a Novel":



On Late Night TV tonight, Pearl Jam week continues on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. No more cover tunes, it's time for the real thing as Pearl Jam will perform. And hopefully Jimmy gets Eddie Vedder into a skit or a game show. Late Night is on at 12:35 AM on NBC.

Late Night Pick: Dierks Bentley with Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and The Roots

Yes, that unlikely combination is quite likely tonight as Late Night with Jimmy Fallon continues Pearl Jam week, with musicians covering Pearl Jam Monday through Wednesday and Pearl Jam themselves playing Thursday and Friday. Dierks Bentley with Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and The Roots are on Late Night tonight at 12:35 AM on NBC. Pearl Jam will be in Charlottesville at John Paul Jones Arena with me on Tuesday night. Upper level seats still remain for the show.

Here's highlights from earlier this week. First, Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes performs "Corduroy". Can't embed it. Here's the link: http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/blogs/2013/10/robin-pecknold-performs-pearl-jams-corduroy/

And here's Chris Cornell & The Avett Brothers doing "Footsteps":

Late Night Pick: METZ

We're back after a short hiatus due to illness and stuff. And Last Call with Carson Daly is back with new episodes also, but I think his short hiatus was due mainly to his new gig on the Today Show. His excuse is better than mine. Check out Last Call tonight at 1:35 AM on NBC when Canadian hard rock band METZ will perform. The band was recently nominated for a Europe Festival Award for best newcomer band at European festivals this year.

Late Night Pick: Robbie Robertson

Former member of The Band, creator of excellent solo work, and soundtrack coordinator for numerous films (including a number of Scorsese films), Robbie Robertson, will be on Tavis Smiley tonight on PBS. Check your local listings for times. I know I have to set my DVR because it's on at 3 AM here in Richmond. Robbie may not play on music on the show but all of you who have seen "The Last Waltz" know he is a great storyteller so the interview should be interesting. He'll probably talk about his new book, "Legends, Icons & Rebels: Music That Changed the World" and the new release from The Band, "Live at the Academy of Music 1971" which captures the complete concerts that supplied the music for their "Rock of Ages" album.

Late Night Pick: Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande, the Nickelodeon star of such shows as Victorious and Sam & Cat (I didn't know that until I read the bio. My boys aren't watching the tweener shows on Nick yet. We are still in to Cartoon Network and I'm thankful for that.) has apparently made a pretty good dance-pop album. At least according to the reviews. You can judge for yourself when Ms. Grande is on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight on ABC at 11:35 PM. At the very least, DVR it and seem like the cool parent to your tweener girls. And Ariana was just nominated for an American Music Award for Best New Artist. Yes, I know those are popularity awards, but still, it's somethin'.

Late Night Pick: My Morning Jacket featuring Brittany Howard and Merrill Garbus

Yes, you read the title right. Tonight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC, 12:35 AM), you've got the combo of My Morning Jacket, Brittany Howard (vocalist from Alabama Shakes) and Merrill Garbus (from tUnE-yArDs). They'll be performing the Fela Kuti song "Trouble Sleep Yanga Wake Am" which they recorded for the new "Red Hot + Fela" collection which comes out next week. Album sales benefit the Red Hot Organization which works on AIDS awareness. Other artists on the album include ?uestlove, Kronos Quartet, Angelique Kidjo, Rubblebucket, and a number of African musicians.

Richmond Folk Fest, Bio Ritmo, The Recently Deceased, Black Girls, Steel Magnolia, Prophet Massive

Folk Fest, Folk Fest, Folk Fest! In case you haven't heard, the Richmond Folk Festival is this weekend starting on Friday night (6:30 PM - 10 PM), then continuing on Saturday (noon - 9:30 PM) and Sunday (noon - 6 PM). I'll be down there volunteering on Saturday afternoon, working backstage at the Dominion Dance Pavilion from 3 - 6:30 so stop by and say hello. I get to see some really good music while I'm working with Mighty Sam McClain (soul/R&B) from 2:45 - 3:45, Jesse Lege & Joel Savoy (cajun) from 4 - 5 and Don Carlos (formerly of Black Uhuru) and the Dub Vision Band (reggae) from 5:30 - 6:30. For those of you that know me, text me if you are down there on Saturday and we'll hang out. While you can try to plot out a course or pick some acts to see, the real joy of the Folk Fest is just wandering around and discovering new music. The whole world comes to Richmond and you can travel the world in this festival by going stage to stage. Polka, Portuguese fado, blues, salsa, bluegrass, Tuvan throat singers, go-go, western swing, rockabilly, reggae, Peruvian Scissors Dancers, gospel, and on and on. You'll hear the diversity that makes the world a beautiful and interesting place and also the common themes and sounds that link us all together. Be there or be lame.

Friday night there are a couple shows to hit, post-Folk Fest. If you want to keep the world music thing going, head to The Camel for Bio Ritmo, one of the premier salsa bands. This is their first show back on Richmond since their European tour. Doors will open at 9, and there is no opener listed so expect Bio Ritmo to come on around 10. It's $10 to get in, but just $5 if you are a student or you are wearing a Folk Fest sticker (which you get by dropping a donation in the bucket at the Folk Fest). They are promising a special guest too, and with a lot of talent at the Folk Fest, you may see something special. Here's a recent video of the band:



If you've had enough world music after the Folk Fest Friday night and are in the mood for some loud electric guitars, head over to Wonderland for The Recently Deceased with Reverend D-Ray and the Shockers opening. The Recently Deceased play self-described Psycho Rock & Roll or psychobilly/punk. Here's their video for their song "Back Again". Lots of blood and gore in this one as the lead singer, with the greatest mutton chops ever, takes revenge upon his girlfriend's killers:


And for those moments when you are home this weekend, the Austin City Limits fest has a killer lineup on their free webcast. You can watch it HERE and here's the schedule. All times are Central Time.

Friday, October 11

Channel 1:

1:30 – 2:00 | Widowspeak (partial set)

2:00 – 3:00 | Courtyard Hounds

3:00 – 4:00 | Jimmy Eat World

4:00 – 5:00 | Savages

5:00 – 6:00 | Local Natives

6:00 – 7:00 | Vampire Weekend

7:30 – 8:30 | Queens of the Stone Age

8:30 – 10:00 | Muse

Channel 2:

1:30 – 2:30 | Thao & the Get Down Stay Down

2:30 – 3:15 | Wild Nothing

3:30 – 4:30 | Smith Westerns

5:00 – 5:30 | Okkervil River (partial set)

5:30 – 6:30 | The Black Angels

6:30 – 7:30 | Arctic Monkeys

7:30 – 8:30 | Kaskade

8:30 – 10:00 | Depeche Mode

Saturday, October 12

Channel 1:

1:30 – 2:00 | Deap Vally (partial set)

2:00 – 3:00 | Walk the Moon

3:00 – 4:00 | Delta Rae

4:00 – 5:00 | Portugal.The Man

5:00 – 6:00 | Silversun Pickups

6:00 – 7:00 | Wilco

7:15 – 8:15 | Passion Pit

8:30 – 10:00 | Kings of Leon

Channel 2:

1:30 – 2:15 | Mona

2:15 – 3:00 | Dan Croll

3:00 – 4:00 | Junip

4:00 – 5:00 | Parquet Courts

5:00 – 6:00 | The Joy Formidable

7:00 – 8:00 | Kendrick Lamar

8:00 – 10:00 | The Cure

Sunday, October 13

Channel 1

1:30 – 2:30 | The Mowgli’s

2:30 – 3:30 | Noah and the Whale

4:00 – 5:00 | Franz Ferdinard

5:00 – 6:00 | Toro Y Moi

6:00 – 7:00 | Eric Church

7:00 – 8:30 | Phoenix

8:30 – 10:30 | Lionel Richie

Channel 2

1:30 – 2:30 | MS MR

3:00 – 4:00 | Paper Diamond

4:00 – 5:00 | Grouplove

5:00 – 6:00 | Dawes

6:00 – 7:00 | Divine Fits

7:00 – 8:00 | The National

8:30 – 10:00 | Atoms for Peace

On Saturday night at The Camel, Black Girls, New Madrid and Paperhaus will light up the night. Music starts around 10 and it's $5 to get in. This should be a good glam, pop, funky, disco good time.

Pop country band Steel Magnolia will be doing a FREE show at Short Pump Town Center Sunday to celebrate SPTC's 10th anniversary. The event runs from noon until 4 with lots of stuff for the family and the band taking the stage at 2 PM. You'll probably like the band if you like Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Sugarland, or The Band Perry. Here's the video for their song "Bulletproof":

In a completely different direction, there will be a DJ set by Jason Hann, the percussionist and vocalist of String Cheese Incident and EOTO as he goes under the name of Prophet Massive at The Camel. Other artists playing will be Elliott Ness w/Rico from Silo Effect, Galaxy Dynamite! and Flavor Project with video by Videometry. Doors open at 8 and it's $10 to get in.

Here's your bonus video. The Doors doing "The Soft Parade". YOU CANNOT PETITION THE LORD WITH PRAYER!



See you at the Folk Fest on Saturday!

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Jeff Beck & Brian Wilson

Tonight the odd, but intriguing, duo of guitar master Jeff Beck and Beach Boy genius, Brian Wilson, will be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC at 12:35 AM. Beck & Wilson are currently touring together, playing separately with their bands and then together during the show. Beach Boys Al Jardine and Brian Marks are also playing in Wilson's band.

DJ Williams Projekt, Late Night Pick: Kanye West

DJ Williams Projekt will be at The Camel tonight. It's $7 to get in, doors open at 8, show starts at 9. Larry Mitchell Band opens. Here is the Projekt at Camp Barefoot in August with Jennifer Hartswick of the Trey Anastasio Band sitting in on trumpet. It's the full one hour set so check it out:



Love him or hate him for what he says, his music has been some of the most interesting music of the last decade. Kanye West is on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight and he is the ONLY guest. As some of you may be aware, Kanye and Jimmy had a Twitter war going on recently, but it appears they are ready to bury the hatchet. Should be a fun, interesting though perhaps cringe-worthy at times, show. The World Wide Web will probably be talking all about it tomorrow so don't miss it. 11:35 PM on ABC.

Late Night Pick: Paul McCartney

Sir Paul McCartney seems to be everywhere these days and with his new album, "New", coming out a week from today, you'll be sure to be seeing and hearing more of him in the next month. He'll be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight at 12:35 AM on NBC and hopefully Jimmy will get him into a comedy skit or two.

Late Night Pick: Phantogram

Indie electronica band Phantogram will be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight at 12:35 AM. Phantogram's new four song EP called "Phantogram" just came out this week and they've also got a new song on the soundtrack to the upcoming movie "Hunger Games:Catching Fire".

And in case you missed it earlier this week on Jimmy Fallon, here's "The Avett Brothers Sing Heavy Metal". Get your copy now.

Jacuzzi Boys, Blues Traveler, Donna the Buffalo, Morris Day & The Time, Jefferson Starship, Hogtober, Oystoberfest, Moby webcast

It's State Fair time and besides cows, sheep and pigs, Jefferson Starship will be there on Friday night. This version is not to be confused with Starship, the tattered remnants of the mighty Jefferson Airplane, that did that dreadful "We Built this City" song. No, this version of the Jefferson Starship is led by original Airplane member Paul Kantner and also includes SF psychedelic band vets David Freiberg and guitarist "Slick" Aguilar. These guys will play the good stuff from Jefferson Airplane and 70's Jefferson Starship. The show starts at 7:30 and you only need to buy the fair admission to see the show. Fair admission is $15 for adults and you'll also get to go eat lots of fried junk food, watch racing pigs, milk cows, see giant pumpkins, etc. Here's the current version of Jefferson Starship doing "White Rabbit":



Over at The Camel Friday night, it's the Southern Belles who will be everywhere this weekend. EVERYWHERE! (See the festivals below). It's $7 to get in, doors open at 8, show will start at 9:30 with opener Mama's Love. The Belles have a new live compilation from summer 2013 you can stream or download for FREE HERE including their version of Ophelia (The Band) > Proud Mary (CCR) > Weekapaug Groove (Phish) and part of their Sly Stone jam with The Big Payback.

Tonight on the World Wide Web, you can watch Moby live from The Fonda Theatre in LA at 11:30 ET/8:30 PT right HERE. It says w/special guests so who knows will appear. I know that Wayne Coyne of Flaming Lips sings on his new album and he had this big hit with Gwen Stefani a few years ago:


So many festivals on Saturday!

One of my favorites, Hogtober (the festival formerly known as High on the Hog) goes down at Libby Hill Park in Church Hill from noon until sunset. It's FREE to get in and kid friendly. Music will be provided by Southern Belles at 12:30 (I told you they'd be back), People's Blues of Richmond at 2 PM, Long Arms at 3:30, and The Hit List at 5:15.

Oystoberfest, featuring lots of oysters (duh!), takes place from noon until 6 PM at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church in Ginter Park. It's FREE to get in and there is a kids zone here too. Music will be provided by East of Afton at 12:30, Starlighter at 1:45, Southern Belles (there they are again) at 2:45, The Jimmy Catlett Group at 3:45, and Hoss at 4:45.

At Pocahontas State Park, you've got your Hops and Harvest Festival with jam band veterans, Blues Traveler (8 - 10 PM) and Donna the Buffalo (5:30 - 7:30). Also appearing will be Paul Plumeri Blues Band (4 - 5), Dallas Wesley (2:30 - 3:30), and COSBY (probably not Bill, 1 - 2). Tix are $16.50 at the gate, $20 at the door. Doors open at noon. Here's Donna the Buffalo playing "Funky Side" at Music City Roots festival in 2010:


The Second Street Festival is on Second Street in Jackson Ward on Saturday (11:30 AM to 7 PM) and Sunday (noon to 6 PM). It'll have four different stages of music, lots of food, and kids stuff. FREE to get in. The big headliner on Saturday at 5:30 is Morris Day and the Time. I've seen them before, though it was long ago, but they put on a great show then. No reason to think it will be any different now. No video of The Time to post because, like Prince, they have video removed almost as soon as it's put up on YouTube. Instead, enjoy the Morris Day and the Time MegaMix from DJ Dark Kent (some slightly bleeped bad language at the beginning so be careful if that offends you or those around you):



At Strange Matter on Sunday night, garage punk band from Miami, Jacuzzi Boys, check in for a show. Doors open at 9 and the music will start with openers Sports Bar and The Milkstains. It's $8 to get in. Their latest album, "Jacuzzi Boys", is currently at #12 on the CMJ College Music Charts. Here's "Domino Moon" from that album:



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Scott H. Biram, Colin Hay, Late Night Pick: John Mayer

Rowdy gutbucket bluesman Scott H. Biram will be at The Camel tonight. Tix are $10, doors open at 8 and music starts with opener, Black Pistol Fire. Scott has a new album coming out in February so you may hear some new songs tonight. Here's Scott filmed for the Independent Music Awards. There is a short interview and then the music begins at about 0:45.

Over at the John Marshall Ballroom tonight, Colin Hay of Men at Work fame (not to be confused with Men Without Hats) will perform solo. Don't think it will just be a Men at Work hits show, though I'm sure he'll play some of those hits. He's been solo and consistently putting out good music since 1987. Doors open at 7 tonight, show will start at 8. I don't see any mention of an opener listed anywhere so get in on time just to be safe. The Houston Chronicle said, "Hay is funnier than most stand-up comedians, so he’ll split your sides and then drop a heartbreaking ditty on you". Here's Colin performing "Waiting for My Real Life to Begin":



For tonight's Late Night Pick, check out John Mayer on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC at 11:35 PM.

More on this weekend's many festivals coming tonight!

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band

On Late Show with David Letterman tonight at 11:35 PM on CBS, Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band will perform. Her new album, "Take Me to the Land of Hell" is getting great reviews, though if you don't like Yoko's avant garde music, it doesn't sound like the album will change your mind. I'm gonna give it a shot. I recently received a CD copy of "Double Fantasy" (thanks, Joan & Mike!) and listened to it for perhaps the first time since 1981. I was surprised at how Yoko's tunes on that album fit so well into the new wave music of the time. It wasn't too different than B-52s, Talking Heads or Siouxsie & the Banshees and most of the songs were pretty good. I'll be interested to see what she is doing now. She has some pretty good guests on the new album including Sean Lennon, tUnE-yArDs, Questlove from The Roots, Ad-Rock & Mike D from Beastie Boys, and Lenny Kravitz.

Late Night Pick: First Aid Kit

The Americana sister act from Sweden (whaaat??) First Aid Kit will be on Late Show with David Letterman tonight at 11:35 PM on CBS. They'll be opening for Conor Oberst on a short European tour in January. Here's the video for their beautiful single from their album "The Lion's Roar", "Emmylou", which name drops Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons so you know where they're coming from. Musically, not geographically.