Late Night Pick:Chvrches

Scottish synth-pop trio, Chvrches, whose album "The Bones of What You Believe" is popping up on all sorts of year-end best of lists, is on a repeat of Last Call with Carson Daly tonight on NBC at 1:35 AM. If you are in Edinburgh on New Year's Eve, you can catch them at Edinburgh's Hogmanay. If not, you'll have to wait until they are in DC at the 9:30 Club on 4/29 & 30. Here's Chvrches doing "The Mother We Share":

Weekly Picks: Charlie Wilson, Infamous Stringdusters, Papadosio, Skip Castro Band, The Nighthawks, Dark Star Orchestra, YARN, GWAR

The weekend between Christmas and New Year's is always a busy one. Everyone has time off which means those bands can play every night and this weekend is no exception.

Friday night, jamtronica band Papadosio comes to The National. Tix are $18 in advance, $23 at the door. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with openers EarthCry & Jimkata. EarthCry is a project from Papadosio's singer Anthony Throgmartin so get in there early if you want to check that out. Here's Papadosio doing "Dream Estate" in Ohio in November:



Over at the Canal Club on Friday, it's time for some old school blues-rock from Skip Castro Band and The Nighthawks. Doors will open at 8 and it's $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Here are the bands jamming together last year at The Jefferson Theater on the Chuck Berry classic "Little Queenie":

Saturday, bust out your tie-dye and head to The National for Grateful Dead tribute band, Dark Star Orchestra. Tix are $25 in advance, $30 day of show. Doors will open at 7 and the show will start at 8. Get there on time because there is no opener, just two fat sets from DSO. They may recreate the setlist from a classic Dead show, they may just make it up as they go along, but either way this is as good of a classic Dead show as you'll get. Since today (12/26) is St. Stephen Day, let's hear DSO doing the Dead classic by the same name:



Lead singer on some of The Gap Band's biggest hits ("Early in the Morning", "You Dropped a Bomb on Me", "Party Train") and a Grammy nominated solo artist, Charlie Wilson will be at The Landmark Theater on Saturday night. Tix range from $51 - $81. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8. No opener is listed, though it says the show is hosted by comedian Buckwylde. Here's Charlie telling you what his name is:



And here's Charlie with The Gap Band. Don't miss that train, people! This video is soooooooooooooo 80's!



It's bluegrass night over at The Camel with YARN. It's $10 in advance, $12 at the door. Doors will open at 9 and James Justin & Company will open. It's still the holidays so here is YARN performing Ray Charles' "The Spirit of Christmas" from "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation":



If you've had enough of Christmas cheer and are ready for some bloody, mucous, and other bodily fluids sprayed mayhem, then by all means get thyself to the GWAR show at The National on Sunday night. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Doors open at 7:30, show starts at 8:30 with openers Iron Reagan, Battlecross and Gritter. And if you haven't already signed it, please sign the petition asking the NFL to allow GWAR to play the halftime show at the 2015 Super Bowl. If middle America thought Janet Jackson's nipple was bad, wait'll they get a load of this:

The Infamous Stringdusters will settle into The National for two shows on 12/30 & 31. Doors open at 7 and the show starts at 8 each night. Tix on the 30th are $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Tix for the 31st are $35 in advance, $40 at the door because everything is more expensive on NYE. They have a really fantastic selection of openers for these shows. On Monday night, Larry Keel & Natural Bridge, Jesse Harper and No BS! Brass Band will open. On Tuesday night, Sons of Bill, Carl Anderson and Love Canon open. Expect lots of mixing, matching and jamming across bands. Here's the Stringdusters jamming out in a style of their very own on "Machines" at The Festy Experience in October:



No BS! Brass Band will throw a party of their own on NYE at The Camel. Doors will open at 8 and The Green Boys will open the show. Tix are $20. Here they are at The Camel doing their great cover of a Rush tune at The Camel in November:



Cary St. Cafe will throw a New Year's Party of their own with Grateful Dead tribute band, King Solomon's Marbles. It starts at 10 PM and for $10 you get in, get some party favors and a champagne toast at midnight. Couldn't find any new KSM video so this'll have to do. I remember watching this show on pay-per-view.

At Capital Ale House on NYE, The Big Payback - James Brown tribute, will get down and get funky. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 and it's $15 in advance, $20 at the door to get in. Make sure you get a cab ride home so you can enjoy all those tasty, high ABV beers. Here they are at Cary St. Cafe in June 2012:



I'll leave you with this one which tells you all you need to know about pop-country in 2013:


Have a Happy New Year!

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Deer Tick

A band with a horrible name but a good sound, Americana band Deer Tick appears on a repeat of Conan (all the shows are in repeats this week) tonight at 11 PM on TBS. You can check out Deer Tick's recent performance on NPR's World Cafe HERE. Here's Deer Tick doing "Main Street" (not the Bob Seger song):

Weekend Picks: Carbon Leaf, k.d. lang, Jason Mraz, Murphy's Kids, No BS! Brass Band, Jackass Flats, DJ Williams Projekt

Here it is. Almost Christmas. Everyone is hunkering down with their family and friends, exchanging gifts, drinking egg nog (wtf is nog, anyway?), eating Christmas cookies, getting in arguments with their born-again, conservative cousin about the War on Christmas (isn't the fact that the stores put up their Christmas decorations on 11/1 enough to see that Christmas is winning?), running around to get that last minute Christmas gift at 5 PM Christmas Eve (my wife/girlfriend will love this quart of motor oil from the 7-11!), drinking spiced rum, wrapping gifts (just throw it in a damn gift bag, I can't wrap this!), drinking Christmas ale, stuffing stockings (I'd like to stuff your stocking, baby! (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)), drinking bourbon, watching "Christmas Story" (Scut Farkus!), drinking margaritas and enjoying peace on earth (for a day anyway) and the goodwill of men (until the post-Christmas sales start).

Oh, what's going on in music, you ask? Well, Saturday night, prepare to rock it ska style at Kingdom with the Skalidays 2013 show with Murphy's Kids, Eastern Standard Time, Signal Fire, No BS! Brass Band, 6TA, and Among Criminals. The show starts at 6 and it's $10 to get in. The show benefits WRIR and Food Not Bombs. Here's Murphy's Kids set at Friday Cheers this summer:

Saturday night at The Camel, get your Christmas bluegrass on with Jackass Flats. Jackass Flats will be taking on the Big Lebowski soundtrack. Tara Williams will open, doors open at 9 and it's $7 to get in. There will be a costume contest so dress as your favorite dude or dudette and win $50 (first prize) or $25 (second prize).

Saturday, there is a big benefit for SPARC's (School of the Performing Arts in the Richmond Community) Live Art: Tree of Life featuring Jason Mraz, k.d. lang, Christina Perri, Rene Marie, Robbin Thompson, Daniel Clarke, Steve Bassett, Susan Greenbaum, Jesse Harper and more. There are less than 30 seats left for the show at the Landmark Theater so get them now. Tickets are $65. Here's Jason Mraz and the SPARC Students from the show two years ago doing "Winter Wonderland". I think the kids' laughter when they come out with Jason says it all.

Also, Saturday, hometown boys Carbon Leaf will be at The National. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8. Tix are $15 in advance, $18 day of show. The Alternate Routes open. Carbon Leaf was recently featured on Huffington Post in an article about the difficulties of getting good sleep and eating right on the road. They'll be wrapping up a two month tour here Saturday. Here's the Carbon Leaf fall tour announcement featuring their song "Circus" and you can see just how far they've traveled and imagine how happy they'll be to be home for the holidays:

If you have no interest in waiting for Santa to come on Christmas Eve, and instead want to get your groove on and maybe catch a glimpse of that crazy sleigh going by as you stumble out of The Camel, head there to see DJ Williams Projekt on 12/24. It's a Funky Holiday Party so wear your tacky Christmas sweater but be prepared to strip it off when you get all sweaty from dancin'.

I'll leave you with this ditty from Animal, Beaker and The Swedish Chef from The Muppets. Have a very Merry Christmas!



Almost forgot this one....



Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Chance the Rapper

Jazzy, alternative rapper Chance the Rapper will be on the Arsenio Hall Show tonight. Arsenio is on WUPV here in Richmond at 11 PM. Check your local listing for station and times in your area. Chance's second album/mixtape, "Acid Rap", came out as Metacritic's 9th best album of 2013 based on reviews from professional critics. Here's Chance doing "Juice" (some language NSFW):

Late Night Pick: Tame Impala

Australian psychedelic band, Tame Impala, will be on a repeat of Last Call with Carson Daly from November of this year on NBC at 1:35 AM. Tame Impala's album "Lonerism" has been nominate for a Grammy for Best Alternative Album. Here's "Feel Like We Only Go Backwards" from that album:

Late Night Pick: Polica

Check out the dreamy, trippy, electronic pop of Polica tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC at 11:35 PM. Love this song from Polica called "Lay Your Cards Out" featuring the sexy vocals of lead singer, Channy Leanagh.

Late Night Pick: Gregg Allman & The National

Tonight on the Colbert Report, Gregg Allman and The National will be on. Not sure if they'll be playing together or not. The National does have some jam band cred as they've played with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead. Bob sat in with them for a song at the Outside Lands Fesitval in SF last fall and he's incorporated some of their songs into his solo sets. At the very least, Gregg will be doing a Christmas song duet with Stephen Colbert.

Things are looking good for The National too. They recently received a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album for "Trouble Will Find Me". The Colbert Report is on at 11:30 PM on Comedy Central and repeated a few times during the next 24 hours.

Here's The National with "Demons" from "Trouble Will Find Me":



And here is some classic Gregg Allman with "Come and Go Blues":

Late Night Pick: The Lone Bellow

Americana band The Lone Bellow will be on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson tonight on CBS at 12:35 AM. Here they are covering the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want". Love the harmonies these guys get.

Late Night Pick: Robbie Fulks

Alt-country/folk singer/songwriter Robbie Fulks will be on Last Call with Carson Daly tonight at 1:35 AM on NBC. Robbie's critically acclaimed album, "Gone Away Backward" was recently named by Rolling Stone as one of the best country records of 2013.

Here's Robbie doing a song called "Cigarette State" about our neighbor state to the South:

Queens of the Stone Age, Hamaganza, Ghost of Pop, Matthew E White, Swearin', John Mayer, Royal Thunder, Diarrhea Planet

This is the last busy music week in Richmond for a while and there is lots of good stuff out there so try to squeeze in some music between your Christmas shopping and holiday parties.

We start with the mellow sounds of John Mayer and Phillip Phillips at the Richmond Coliseum. Show time is 7 PM. Tickets run from $39 to $80. There are still some good seats available. John has been through many phases in his career and right now he is in 70's country rock mode ala The Eagles or Jackson Browne. Here's a little preview of the show courtesy of John's Road Sessions YouTube series:

Friday night at Balliceaux, No BS! Brass Band will be there with some new music in hand or in horn, as the case may be. Show starts at 10 and it's $5 to get in. No BS! Brass Band continues to make a name for themselves as they'll be playing at the NYC Winter Jazz Fest in January. Here's No BS! Live at Forbes (Magazine?) with "Run Around":

The annual Hamaganza charity variety show stretched out to two nights a few years ago and the first stop is at Poe's Pub Friday night and then Lulu's on Saturday night. Admission is $10 or a nice juicy ham and all proceeds and hams go to the Central VA Food Bank. Hamaganza is always a crazy, surreal, funny, odd good time. You'll see local celebrities, fire juggling, musical whistling, dancing girls, ukeleles, drag queens including the large and legendary Dirtwoman, bad but fun music, arm wrestling, a Neil Diamond tribute band and so much more.

If you are looking for some fun with the kids on Saturday afternoon and the rain holds off, head down to Christmas on MacArthur in the 4000 block of MacArthur Ave. It will start at 11 AM and end at 4 PM. There will be a parade, lots of stuff for the kids and music from Susan Greenbaum, The Janet Martin Band and The Taters. And it's FREE. And bring an unwrapped toy for Toys of Tots and get a raffle ticket for a chance to win 1 of 6 free bikes.

Saturday night, Ghost of Pop 9 at Gallery 5 shows off some of the best Richmond music with My Old Ways, The Awesome Few, Long Arms, The Northeners, Hypercolor, Goldrush, and Black Girls. It's just $5 to get in and the money goes to HomeAgain, a local emergency shelter system. Things get underway at 6 PM. Here's My Old Ways playing earlier this year when it was much warmer:

Over at The National Saturday, indie rock band twenty one pilots performs along with The 1975 and MS MR. Doors open at 6, show starts at 7, tix are $22.50 in advance, $25 at the door. You might like twenty one pilots if you like Fun., Regina Spektor, Paramore, The Strokes, Of Montreal, or MGMT. Here's twenty one pilots doing "House of Gold" live:



At Strange Matter, it's punk-pop on Saturday with Swearin', Little Master, Snowy Owls, and Hoax Hunters play starting at 10 PM with doors opening at 9. Tix are $6 in advance, $8 day of show. Here's Swearin' at the late, great Maxwell's in Hoboken NJ earlier this year doing "Here to Hear":



Homeboy done good, Matthew E White returns to town for a much anticipated show on Sunday at Strange Matter. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with special guest Howard Ivans & DJ Mixie & Sister Goldenhaze. Tix are $12 in advance, $14 day of show. This was the message Matthew posted on Facebook a few hours ago, "Richmond friends. I have spent the last year and a half touring around the world on a record, Big Inner, that was made in our village. It was created with a spirit injected into me by this city and was raised up by the gifted musicians who practice their craft here. After 122 shows this year with my closest friends, musical conspirators and 100 proof Virginia gentlemen, we will be ending this whole story with a show Sunday night at Strange Matter. We would love to see you. This town means the world to us and Sunday will be very special, a way to say thank you for the immense support we all have felt and an appropriate ending place after a year that has changed all of our lives. Hope to see you there!" Here's Matthew doing "Big Love" in Paris last month:

Matthew E. White - Big love

Sunday at The Camel, dark, brooding stoner metal band Royal Thunder will get heavy on your ass, if you let them. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8, tix are $10. Here's their set from Newport, KY earlier this year:


DJ Williams Projekt checks in at City Dogs on Sunday. This is billed as the "RVA Funk Review with special guests" so you know your booty will be shaking. It's FREE to get in and it starts at 10 PM. Here's DJ Williams (on guitar) playing in his other band, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe:



Monday at Strange Matter, the band with the worst name in the universe, Diarrhea Planet, will play. Just think of an entire planet made of diarrhea. Ewwww. It's $8 to get in. Doors open at 9, show starts at 10 with openers The Midnight Ghost Train, No Regrets Coyote (cool Joni Mitchell reference for a band name), and Hot Dolphin, named after the infamous dolphin porn magazine (just kidding). Don't let Diarrhea Planet's name fool you. There loud, punk-pop sound, garage rock sound is pretty good and they'll rock your face off as noted by their nomination by NPR for one of the the best albums of 2013. Here's "Ugliest Son" from their latest album, "I"m Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams":



The show of the week is Queens of the Stone Age at The National on Monday night. Not just because I'll be there but because this band is at the top of their game right now. They sold out this show at $50 a ticket on a Monday night. Their latest and truly awesome album, "...Like Clockwork" is showing up on all sorts of year end top 10 lists. They make great, weird, creepy videos. They get Trent Reznor, Dave Grohl and Elton John to play on their latest album. Doors will open at 6:30, show starts at 7:30 with opener RIBS. If you're going, let me know and we'll hang out while we rock out. If you can't get to the show, the next best thing is to watch it on YouTube as broadcast by NPR from The Wiltern Theater in LA in May:



And here is their creepy video for "Vampyre of Time & Memory". This song is one of many on their latest albums that gives me goosebumps in a good way:



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Iron & Wine and Calexico

An indie rock marriage made in heaven, Iron & Wine will get together with Calexico tonight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC at 12:35 AM. This won't be the first time the two acts have been together as they collaborated on a 7 song EP back in 2005. Expect some Christmas music, namely a cover of the Pogues/Kristy McColl song "Fairytale in New York".

Late Night Pick: Chvrches

They just played here at The National over Thanksgiving weekend and now you can catch them on Last Call with Carson Daly tonight at 1:35 AM on NBC. They are synth pop band Chvrches and their latest album, "The Bones of What You Believe" is doing quite well critically and commercially. If you missed them at The National, you can road trip in April and catch them up in DC at the 9:30 Club on April 29. Here's Cvrches doing "Recover":

Late Night Pick: 7 Days of Funk featuring Snoopzilla & Dam-Funk

Snoop Dogg's new project is the funk tribute, 7 Days of Funk. Snoop is performing under the name Snoopzilla as a tribute to Bootsy "Bootzilla" Collins so you can dig where this funk is coming from. Producer/DJ Dam-Funk is Snoop's collaborator. Let's watch Conan tonight on TBS at 11 PM to see what they have come up with. If you can't wait, the whole album is streaming on NPR HERE.

Moon Taxi, Polar Bear Club, Southern Belles, The Heritage, Citizen, Diamond Youth, Sainthood Reps

It's a pretty slim weekend for music. Next weekend picks up nicely as there will be a lot of local bands and national bands from Richmond home for the holidays and squeezing a show in for their local fans and family before Christmas.

Up and coming alternative/progressive/jam band Moon Taxi will be at Capital Ale House Downtown on Friday night. Tix are $10 in advance, $12 at the door. Doors open at 9:30, show starts at 10 with opener The Shack Band. You might like Moon Taxi if you like Steely Dan, Rush, King Crimson, Medeski, Martin & Wood or Phish. Here's a song from their last album, "Cabaret". This song is called "Mercury":



Over at The Camel, local (but spreading throughout the East Coast) jam band Southern Belles plays with The Heritage opening. Doors will open at 8, music will start after 9 and it's $7 to get in. Here's the Belles doing "Getaway" at Capital Ale House in September:

At Strange Matter on Friday evening, alternative/indie/emo/pop bands Polar Bear Club, Citizen, Diamond Youth and Sainthood Reps will give you a full night of rock and roll. Doors open at 6 PM, show starts at 7 and it's $15 to get in. Here's Polar Bear Club doing "Blood Balloon" (NSFW language):



That's it for this weekend. As you may have heard by now, former political prisoner, then South African President Nelson Mandela died today. I'll leave with two songs to commemorate him.The first is a brand-new U2 song that came out in the biopic "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom". The second is the song I first thought of when I heard he died, an early MTV staple from The Specials. RIP Nelson Mandela.






Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Robert Randolph, Emeli Sande

Tonight on Tavis Smiley on PBS (check Tavis' site for local times) check out interviews with extraordinary steel guitar player Robert Randolph and singer-songwriter Emeli Sande. While Tavis' show does not always include a performance by the musical guests, the format does allow for the most in-depth interviews with the artists than any other late night show. Robert Randolph will be at FloydFest this summer out in Floyd, VA along with Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite, Lauryn Hill, Ray Lamontagne, Ziggy Marley, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Buddy Guy, and more.

Here's some recent music from both of the guests. Here's Robert Randolph and the Family Band in their show the other night at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester NY joined by Papa Mali on guitar, Eric Krasno (Soulive) on guitar and Bobby Keys (Rolling Stones) on sax.



And here's Emeli Sande doing "My Kind of Love" with The Roots on Jimmy Fallon:

Late Night Pick: The Wild Feathers (again)

They are making a big late night push for you to spend those Christmas dollars on their critically acclaimed self-titled debut album. They're the Americana The Wild Feathers and they'll be on Conan tonight at 11 PM on TBS. Here's the video for their first single, "Backwoods Company" rockin' out, drinkin' moonshine and beer, smoking weed and putting something on their tongue:

Late Night Pick: Dawes

Roots rock band Dawes will be on Conan tonight at 11 PM on TBS. Dawes is nominated for two SiriusXM Spectrum awards for Artist of the Year and Breakthrough Album of the Year.

Late Night Pick: The Wild Feathers

The Wild Feathers will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight on ABC at 11:35 PM. The Wild Feathers describe themselves on their Facebook page as "They're like if Led Zeppelin & The Band had a baby in Joshua Tree that grew up listening to Ryan Adams covering the Stones 70's country influenced songs." The Americana band has received a lot of critical acclaim for their self-titled debut album. If you go to their web site, you can get a free four song download from their show for 101.9 KINK in Portland. They are also up for a SiriusXM award for Best Artist Discovery and Best Song Discovery. And they have good taste in cover tunes as evidenced be their version of this Grateful Dead classic: