Weekend Picks: MST3K, Trey Anastasio, J Roddy Walston & The Business, Dopapod, Former Champions, Susan Greenbaum, The Floorboards

To see what's going on Wednesday, 11/26, Thanksgiving Eve, check out last week's blog HERE.

On Thanksgiving, every one is taking the day off including all the bands. If you want a break from football, check out the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Turkey Day Marathon starting at noon on YouTube HERE. Six classic MST3Ks will be shown back-to-back with new intros from Joel. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the trailer and playlist of clips below and then tune in.

Friday, it's time to work off that turkey and rock with J Roddy Walston and The Business, last seen in these parts with a killer show at Friday Cheers this summer. They'll be at The National. Tix are $12.50 in advance, $15 day of show. Doors open at 7 and the show starts at 8 with excellent Richmond band, Avers, so don't be late. You'll like J Roddy if you like My Morning Jacket, Drive-By Truckers, Kings of Leon, Warren Zevon, Led Zep or long, whipping hair. Here's "Heavy Bells":

Over at the Broadberry Friday, it's a Black Friday Throwdown with The Big Payback: A Tribute to James Brown.Tix are $8 in advance, $10 at the door. Doors open at 8, Kenneka Brook and Stonebrook Moonshine will open. Big Payback is promising some special guests and some new jams for the show so if you've seen 'em before, go see 'em again and if you haven't seen 'em, go see 'em. Here's James Brown on Shindig with Spanish subtitles. Sing along!



Get down jamtronica style at The Camel Friday with Former Champions. Doors open at 9, show starts at 9:30 with Homemade Bread and DJ Phil Dice will fill in all the empty spaces around the bands. It's $7 to get in. Here's a full Former Champions set from 2/1/14:



Once Thanksgiving is done, I guess it's OK to start listening to some Christmas music. I don't usually like to dig in to the Xmas tunes until a week or two before Christmas, but I could make an exception for the talented and lovely Susan Greenbaum and her Band's Holiday show at Ashland Coffee & Tea on Saturday night. They'll play some originals and some classics. Show will start at 8, no opener. Tix are $16 in advance, $20 at the door. Here's Susan's "You Are My Holiday":



Americana bands are featured at The Camel Saturday night. The Floorboards, The Atkinsons and Relacksachian will all take the stage, perhaps one at a time, perhaps together. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 and it's $7 to get in. Here's The Floorboards riding in the "Devil's Cadillac":

Sunday, Trey Anastasio, guitarist from Phish, brings the Trey Anastasio Band to The National. Tix are $39.50. Doors open at 6:30, show starts at 7:30 and there is no opener. This will be the third show of their fall tour so they should be rarin' to go. Here's Trey and the band at The Wellmont Theater in NJ doing one of my favorite songs from The Band, "It Makes No Difference" into one of my favorite songs from TAB/Phish, "Gotta Jibboo":

Tuesday at Broadberry, progressive dance rock band, Dopapod, pulls into town, with Tauk to open the show. You can check out Dopapod's new album, "Never Odd or Even" on Spotify, if you are so inclined. Or you can check them out here. This was their 2nd set opener at The Stache in Grand Rapids MI on 10/19/14. It's call "New James".



Have a great Thanksgiving weekend and thank you for reading Handful of Brains!


Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Lorde

Lorde will be on Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon tonight (11:35 PM, NBC). She curated the soundtrack for the new Hunger Games sequel, "Mockingjay: Part 1" (the soundtrack is getting good reviews) and she has four songs on it. Who else does Lorde like enough to include on her soundtrack? Bat for Lashes, Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij, Charli XCX, The Chemical Brothers, Chvrches, Ariana Grande, Haim, Grace Jones, Duran Duran's Simon LeBon, Major Lazer, Miguel, Pusha T, Q-Tip, Raury, Stromae, Tinashe, Tove Lo, and xoV. Rather than play "Royals" again, let's play Weird Al's parody, "Foil":



Here's Interpol on last night's Late Night with Seth Meyers doing "Everything Is Wrong":

Late Night Pick: Interpol

Indie rockers Interpol are on Late Night with Seth Meyers tonight (NBC, 12:35 AM) where they will perform a track from their latest album, "El Pintor". Interpol recently had to cancel three shows because they were stuck in the snow in Buffalo, a good chunk of the time on their tour bus on the closed highway. They shouldn't have such problems when they play the Southern Hemisphere Lollapalooza's this year in Chili, Argentina and Brazil. After all, it's summer down there. From their new album, here's "All The Rage Back Home":



Here's Jessye Norman on Late Show with David Letterman last week, performing the classic "Midnight Special":

Weekend Picks: Flogging Molly, Dave Mason, Young Sinclairs, Warren Hixson, The Nth Power, Black Girls, The Machine, Early 80s Power Pop

Saturday, it's no special brew release at Hardywood, but just good bands and an early start time (and finish) as usual. Music starts at 5 PM with Grass Panther, then The Invasion, and then headliner, The Young Sinclairs. The Invasion are the new RVA boogie woogie combo focusing on 60s psych and garage from the British Isles, featuring members of RPG, The Diamond Center, The Young Sinclairs, and Peace Beast. Young Sinclairs play psychedelic "harmonious analog pop tunes with unbridled rock excitement out of Roanoke". Here's Young Sinclairs' "Ceto's Return":

Some classic psychedelia at The National Saturday with The Machine: Ultimate Pink Floyd Tribute. Tix are $15 in advance, $18 at the door, $20 for seated balcony tix. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 and I do not believe there is an opener so don't be late. They were the first band in the world (so they say) to perform a track from the new Pink Floyd album, "Endless River", when they did "Louder Than Words" on 11/7. Here it is:

If you want to dance Saturday night, then get thee to Balliceaux for the disco funk of Black Girls. Show starts at 10 and it's $5. Here they are at The Broadberry in April:



More soul/funk at The Broadberry on Sunday with The Nth Power. Tix are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. Doors open at 8 and get there early for DJ Williams Projekt, and I'm sure DJ will step in the Nth Power before the night is done. The Nth Power is made up of drummer Nikki Glaspie (Dumpstaphunk, Beyonce), bassist Nate Edgar (John Brown's Body), vocalist/keyboardist Nigel Hall (Lettuce, Warren Haynes Band), guitarist Nick Cassarino (Jennifer Hartswick Band, The Shift), and percussionist Weedie Braimah (Toubab Krewe, Creative Pandemonium), As you can see from the bands these guys have played with they certainly have a great pedigree. This song has a nice 70's jazz pop groove to it. It's "Thank You":



Monday night James Taylor is at Richmond Coliseum.  Show starts at 8 and no opener is listed. Tix are $67 - $87 which is a lot to pay for a nap. Sorry, never been a fan.

Much cheaper and much more interesting on Monday night is the show at Sound of Music Studios. Warren Hixson, Lady God and Beat Awfuls will be there and it's just $8. Things get underway at 8. Here's Warren Hixson bathed in fuzzy darkness doing their fuzzy pop rock at Gallery 5 a couple years ago:



Do you like yoga? Do you like the Grateful Dead? Then check out Grateful Groovinyasa at The Camel on Tuesday evening. The yoga class will be serenaded by Johnny & Andrew Trongone from The Trongone Band playing instrumental Grateful Dead tunes. And not only can you fell good in body and spirit, you can do good because it's a food drive. A portion of the proceeds will go to FeedMore. It's $15 to get in or $10 with 3+ food items for donation. It'll run from 6 PM - 7 PM. Until then, sit back and smoke 'em if you got 'em for the full 3+ hour 12/31/81 show from The Grateful Dead. And look! Jerry was just starting to get fat! And Joan Baez, Matthew Kelly and John Cippolina all sit in for few tunes.



Wednesday night, Thanksgiving Eve, is a pretty good night for music here in the RVA. The National has Celtic punk band from LA, Flogging Molly, ready to help you work on your Thanksgiving Day hangover. Tix are $25 in advance, $28 at the door. Doors open at 7:30, show starts at 8:30. The Mighty Stef and The Pasadena Band open. If you really like them, join their Salty Dog Cruise which sails around the Bahamas 3/13 - 16 (right before St. Patty's Day) and includes Gogol Bordello, Frank Turner and Mariachi El Bronx. Here's Flogging Molly playing Tivoli Amusement Park in Sweden this summer (some language NSFW):



The Broadberry has got Talking Heads tribute Fear Of Music along with Latino Ramones tribute Los Ramones.$8 in advance, $10 at door. Doors open at 8 PM, show starts around 9:30. Here's the promo video with lots of funny shots of presidents with turkeys:



And perhaps they'll play this one to fit the theme of the night:



Over at Capital Ale House downtown, it's Dave Mason's Traffic Jam. This is billed as a "sight and sound experience" where guitarist Dave Mason will play music and talk about his time in Traffic, his solo career and playing and hanging out with Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills, Rita Coolidge, Leon Russell, Ron Wood and Mama Cass Elliot. GA tix are $60, doors open at 7 and the show starts at 8. No opener is listed. Here's Dave doing one of his hits on the Midnight Special in the 70's, "We Just Disagree":

You can bring in turkey day bluegrass style on Wednesday night at The Camel with Jackass Flats, The Green Boys and Sturgeon City. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 and it's $7 in advance, $10 at the door. Here's Sturgeon City at Ashland Coffee & Tea in September:



To close things out, I just got into an early 80's pop new wave kick so here are a few videos of my faves starting with a commercial for my favorite K-Tel album, "Rock 80":



This is one of the greatest songs ever. And used to nice effect in the New Year's Eve '79 scene in "Boogie Nights".



I believe this one was introduced to me on K-Tel's "The Rock Album":



For the longest time I thought the line in this song "they don't write 'em like than anymore" was "Feels alright like Saturday morn". Which actually isn't a bad line.



One of the big early MTV videos and a damn fine song. Awesome leopard skin jumpsuit too.



Now the guy does Geico commercials. But he found Appolonia before Prince did in this one. Great beat.



And perhaps the biggest geek on early MTV, Donnie Iris. But I've always loved the vocals on this. The chorus sounds so lush.



Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Jessye Norman

We're gonna get classy tonight with opera/classical/jazz vocalist Jessye Norman on Late Show with David Letterman (11:35 PM, CBS). From her Wikipedia bio:

Jessye Mae Norman (born September 15, 1945) is an American Grammy award-winning contemporary opera singer and recitalist.[1] Adramatic soprano, Norman is associated in particular with the Wagnerian repertoire, and with the roles of Sieglinde, Ariadne, Alceste, andLeonore.[2] Norman has been inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and is a Spingarn Medalist.[3] Apart from receiving several honorary doctorates and other awards, she has also received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Medal of Arts, and is a member of the Royal Academy of Music.

Here she is rocking a little "Ave Maria":

Late Night Pick: St. Lucia

Indie dream alternative new-wave post-punk synth pop rock band St. Lucia will be on Late Night with Seth Meyers tonight (NBC, 12:35 AM). Here's the band doing "September" in October 2012:



Here's Hiss Golden Messenger's network television debut on Late Show with David Letterman last night:

Late Night Pick: Hiss Golden Messenger

Alternative singer/songwriter indie folk country Americana rock artist Hiss Golden Messenger (aka Scott Hirsch) will be on Late Show with David Letterman tonight (11:35 PM, CBS). HGM opened up for Jason Isbell here at The National in August. You might dig HGM if you like Fleet Foxes, Son Volt, The National, William Elliot Whitmore, Bon Iver, Nick Drake, Wilco, Bright Eyes, or Sufjan Stevens. Here's HGM's "Jesus Shot Me In The Head" (I hate when that happens):



Here's Real Estate doing "Crime" on last night's Conan:

Late Night Pick: Real Estate

Groovy psychedelic indie rockers Real Estate are on Conan (11 PM, TBS) tonight. You might dig them if you like Velvet Underground or the Grateful Dead. Here's their full set from the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago this summer:



Here's Sylvan Esso doing "Coffee" on last Thursday's Conan:

And here's a web exclusive with Sylvan Esso doing "Hey Mami":

Weekend Picks: Bobby Bare Jr, Atmosphere, John Butler Trio, Real Friends, Black Girls, Bio Ritmo, Diamond Center, Trongone Band

Midwest underground rap group Atmosphere is at The National Friday night. Doors are at 7 and that's when the show starts with openers Prof, Dem Atlas and DJ Fundo. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Here's Atmosphere's "Arthur's Song" (not a Christopher Cross remake!)(language NSFW):

Great local band show at The Broadberry Friday night with Black Girls, Octopus Jones (they're actually from Raleigh), Sleepwalkers  and Big Fifty. Doors open at 8, music starts at 9 it's $8 in advance, $10 at the door. Here's Sleepwalkers "Prey and Pressure" in August:

More local music at The Camel on Friday with Bio Ritmo. Though based in Richmond, it's hard to call them local as they have played their salsa music all over the world. So we'll call them our local international band. Doors open at 9 and it's $7 to get in. These guys are getting big as evidenced by their appearance on NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts last month:

Australian jam band John Butler Trio are here Sunday at The National, Monica Heldal opens. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8, tix are $25 in advance, $28 at the door. These guys headline festivals in Australia so you know they can bring it live. If you want a preview of their show, you can catch Friday's show live on a webcast on Yahoo Live HERE. Here's their latest video "Spring to Come" with some really cool animation:



At Bandito's, The Diamond Center bring their heavy psychedelia to your Sunday night. Talked to Kyle from Diamond Center after their great show at Hardywood on Saturday night. He said some new Diamond Center is on the way for the new year so we'll be looking forward to that. It's FREE to get in. Music starts at 10 PM with Heavy Midgets. To add to the fun, there will be $1 PBRs. Here's Heavy Midgets and their "House of Cats" at Strange Matter last year:



Tuesday at The Camel, alt-country/rock artist Bobby Bare Jr. (yes, he's the son of that Bobby Bare and they recently did a show together in Nashville) performs with his band Young Criminals" Starvation League. Doors will open at 7. The Camel's new web site is still being built so the cost and openers aren't up yet, but check their web site and/or Facebook page as it gets closer to Tuesday. You'll probably did BBJR if you like Drive-By Truckers, Jim James, My Morning Jacket, Ryan Adams, Grateful Dead or Todd Snider (who he recently opened for). Here's a four song set BBJR recently did on KEXP:

Chicago pop punkers Real Friends are at The Broadberry Thursday (11/20). It's $15 to get in, doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with openers Neck Deep, Cruel Hand and Have Mercy. Here's Real Friends' "Late Night in My Car" (some language NSFW):



Trongone Band play their next to last show at Cary St. Cafe on Thursday (11/20). Show starts at 10 PM and there is no cover. Here they are at The Camel in July:



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Sylvan Esso

Sylvan Esso is a duo made up indie folk artist Amelia Meath (of Mountain Man) and electronic producer Nick Sanborn. As one might expect, they've created a folk-electronic hybrid that's been compared Chvrches, Wye Oak, Regina Spektor, Feist and St. Vincent. They'll be on Conan tonight (TBS, 11 PM). Sylvan Esso will be out in Charlottesville at the Jefferson Theater on Jan. 17 if you want to check them out live. And here they are on video with their song, "Coffee":

Late Night Pick: Ex Hex

Ex Hex, who just played Strange Matter with Speedy Ortiz last Thursday, will be on Late Night with Seth Meyers tonight (NBC, 12:35 AM). Ex Hex is the latest project for guitarist/vocalist Mary Timoney (who was in Helium and Wild Flag) with drummer Laura Harris and bassist/vocalist Betsy Wright. You might dig them if you like Cheap Trick, The Ramones, or the New York Dolls. Here they are doing "You Fell Apart" at WNYC earlier this month:

Late Night Pick: Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen will be on the Daily Show tonight at 11 PM on Comedy Central. Bruce and illustrator Frank Caruso will be on to discuss the new illustrated book based on Bruce's song, "Outlaw Pete". Hopefully, Bruce will play a song also.

Bruce will probably also discuss his appearance in tomorrow night's Concert for Valor, which will be made broadcast by HBO and made available for subscribers and non-subscribers. You can also livestream it at theconcertforvalor.com. The show starts at 7 PM. It will feature Bruce, The Black Keys, Carrie Underwood, Dave Grohl, Eminem, Jennifer Hudson, Jessie J, Metallica, Rihanna, and Zac Brown Band.

Here's a video from Bruce's Nebraska album, "Highway Patrolman". Sean Penn based the screenplay of his 1991 directorial debut The Indian Runner on the song's story. Penn also directed the music video of the song which is made up of clips from that movie.

Late Night Pick: Taylor Swift

Let's just give in. You know you want to. She's adorable. The songs are catchy. Just do it. Everyone else is. Watch Taylor Swift on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, 11:35 PM) tonight. Perhaps after you watch the show, you'll want to take two of these and call me in the morning:

Here's Jimmy Page on last night's Late Show talking about his new autobiography:

Late Night Pick: Jimmy Page

Tonight, Jimmy Page is on Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 11:35 PM), however, he is not the musical guest. I'm guessing he's on to plug the Led Zep IV and House of the Holy deluxe releases that just came out. Perhaps he'll talk about some new music too. I was just thinking yesterday about how the dude hasn't put any new music out in a looooong time. In fact, it's been 16 years since his last new music release, Page & Plant's "Walking into Clarksdale". Come on, man, you're not getting any younger and Led Zep is not getting back together. Time to step up. Just as long as he doesn't get together with David Coverdale again.

Jimmy was in a pretty awesome movie called "It Might Get Loud" in which Jimmy, Jack White and Edge discuss their different approaches to guitar playing. And of course there is lots of great guitar work. Here's the 3 of them working out "In My Time of Dying":



Here's FKA Twigs' American TV debut Tuesday night on the Tonight Show:

Weekend Picks: Speedy Ortiz, Jenny Lewis, Alvvays, Hardywood Gingerbread Stout Release Party, People's Blues of Richmond, Southern Belles

As we ease toward Thanksgiving, our local bands come home, outdoor festival season is over, and the national acts start to take time off. Does that mean you should just stay home and rake your leaves? Hell, no! This is a great time to support your favorite local bands or find a new favorite, or find an up and coming national act.

Speaking of new local artists, there will be a whole bunch of them at the Breakout Artist Competition at Canal Club on Thursday. Doors open at 6 and it's $10 to get in. Last year's overall winner, All About a Bubble (from Tulsa OK), will headline the show. Twelve other bands will perform over the night and you can click the event link up there to see the lineup.

Grunge rockers Speedy Ortiz are at Strange Matter Thursday. Doors open at 9. It's $10 in advance, $12 day of show. This is a good all around show so get there early. Ex-Hex, Sundials, & Ar-kaics open the show. Here's Speedy with "Everything's Bigger" at the Pitchfork Music Fest this summer:



The Trongone Band begin their final run of shows at Cary St. Cafe, They have three Thursday night shows this month, then they move on to bigger venues, having outgrown the friendly environs of Cary St. Show starts at 10 and there is no cover. Their last show there on 11/20 will be their 100th show there so they are leaving on a nice round number. They also plan on getting their first EP out soon. Here they are at Cary St on 10/2 doing their original tune, "Ain't It Funny":


Garage/punk/soul/slink/swivel rockers, Lady God, will celebrate the release of their new 7", "Lady God Presents: The Pebbles" on Friday with festivities starting at The Camel, but only starting there. Here is the agenda:

"A 40-passenger coach leavesThe Camel for the Virginia Moonwalker Studio at 6:00 sharp. Cardboard Poncho provides live sights and sounds en route. Then The Milkstains howl into action, followed by an enthralling display of fire stunts by Cody Beastman, Mr. Mud, Bitsy Buttons, and Natty G. The night slinks and swivels to a close with Lady God and you are returned to town to do as you will..."

 You may be able to get a spot on the bus for $20 by checking out the Facebook page for the event. Here's the cool little promo vid for the gig:



Jam band The Southern Belles will be at The Camel for their regular First Friday gig. It's $7 to get in. Doors open at 9 with The Captain Midnight Band from Nashville opening. The Belles just got a nice write-up/interview on the Jambands.com site which you can check out HERE. Here's the Belles at Hogtober this year when they were the first band on. The camera work is a little shaky for the first 2 minutes but the sound is great:

Saturday, Hardywood Brewery releases this year's batch of Gingerbread Stout. The esteemed Beer Advocate site gave the Stout a perfect score of 100. You can pick up 750mL bottles (4 per person limit) or growlers to go. Or just enjoy a 6 or 12 oz. pour, hang out, and listen to some great bands. The event starts at 2 and the music starts in the late evening (I'm guessing 5-ish?) and will go until 9 PM. Here's the band lineup in the order of appearance. This show has great bands from start to finish and considering you've got FREE admission, one of the best beers on the planet, and fine mid-fall weather so you can hang outside if you want, this is the go-to show of the weekend.

• The Trillions - shred pop
• Marco With Love - influenced by the folk rock of the 60s and 70s
• Photosynthesizers - soul-rock/hip-hop
• Diamond Center - heavy garage psychedelic

Here's Marco With Love's "In the Shade":

And after that's done, you can just head up Boulevard to The Broadberry for People's Blues of Richmond, Night Idea, and Sleepwalkers. Doors open at 8 and it's $10 to get in. They'll have some fine vids for the show courtesy of VIDEOmetry so drop 'em if you got 'em. PBR is also promising some new tunes. Here's PBR getting heavy at the Mustang Music Festival last month in Corolla NC:

Wednesday at The National it's folk/pop from Jenny Lewis and Waxahatchee. Doors open at 7, Waxahatchee comes on at 8. Tix are $22 in advance, $25 day of show. This show sold out in NYC and Philly so get your tickets soon. Here's Jenny performing "She's Not Me" for radio station KCRW a few days ago:


Over at Strange Matter Wednesday, indie poppers Alvvays will appear with openers Absolutely Free and Various Eggs. The show will not be free, nor where there be eggs (OK, there might be eggs, I can't be 100% sure about that), but you can get in for just $10 in advance, $12 day of show. Doors open at 9, music starts at 9:30. Alvvays is just getting back from a tour of the UK and Europe so ask them about their trip. They'll be heading back there in January and February. Here's the video for their latest single, "Next of Kin":



This one goes out to Phil Rudd, drummer for AC/DC, who may have taken this song a bit too seriously...



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: FKA Twigs

The first album (LP1) from experimental R&B artist FKA Twigs (aka Tahliah Barnett) is getting rave reviews. See what the hype is about on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC, 11:35 PM) tonight. Here she is performing her song, "Hide", inside some Mayan ruins. Why? Why not?



Here's Father John Misty on the Late Show last night performing "Bored in the USA":

Late Night Pick: Father John Misty

Folk rocker Father John Misty is on Late Show with David Letterman tonight (CBS, 11:35 PM). FJM is a little freaky but in a fun way. Here is his post on Facebook about tonight's performance:

Do you have any Americans to see enough TV to my laptop? Tonight on David Letterman and Viacom of The Late Show "I love Honeybear" FJM from to run the "boredom in the United States". There is no doubt that you will really gorgeous! I hope that he does not become too famous! - [ADMIN]

Here's Father John getting freaky with Nancy (NSFW) in "Nancy From Now On":



And here's The War on Drugs on Conan last Thursday: