Weekend Picks: Col. Bruce Hampton & Aquarium Rescue Unit, Bruce Hornsby,Commonwealth of Notions 5, Milkstains, Beach Boys

The weekend starts Thursday night with classic 2nd wave jam band, Col. Bruce Hampton & The Aquarium Rescue Unit at The National. Tix are $35, doors open at 7, show starts at 8. Col. Bruce & the ARU were part of the original H.O.R.D.E., second generation of jam bands which included Phish, Dave Matthews Band, Blues Traveler, Spin Doctors and Widespread Panic. Col. Bruce & ARU would play together intermittently over their now 26 years together. Members of the ARU have played with every major jam band there is. Jimmy Herring has played guitar with Phil Lesh and is now in Widespread Panic. Oteil Burbridge is/was a member of the Allman Brothers Band. And drummer Jeff Sipe has played with Phil Lesh, Trey Anastasio and a host of others. Make sure you get in for openers Hard Working Americans, featuring the great singer-songwriter Todd Snider and Dave Schools, the bass player for Widespread Panic. Here's Col. Bruce and ARU doing "Fixin' to Die" a few nights ago in Atlanta:



And here's Hard Working Americans with some extra goodness as Jason Isbell sits in with them:

Strange Matter hosts a great set of rock and roll bands on Friday night. The Milkstains, Desert Sharks, Sea of Storms and Lady God will take the stage with the doors opening at 9 and only $7 to get in. Here's The Milkstains "Broken Bones":

Saturday night, it's the start of Volume 5 of the WRIR & Commonwealth of Notions shows which will continue next weekend too. But on this night, they'll be at Gallery 5 for a whole heap o' fantastic RVA bands including Goldrush, Anousheh, Positive No, Lady God, Various Eggs, Way, Shape or Form, and Manzara. It's just $5 to get in, doors open at 5 and the fun begins at 6. Positive No just had their new video "Pedal Through" debut on NPR's web site this week. The video is both a parody of 90's indie rock AND the classic documentary "Heavy Metal Parking Lot".



Fresh off the Grateful Dead Fare Thee Well gigs, Bruce Hornsby hits The National with his band, The Noisemakers on Tuesday night. Tix are $35 GA Standing and $40 for reserved in the balcony. Doors open at 6:30, show starts at 7:30 and there is no opener so don't dilly-dally in getting there. From his setlists so far, besides original Hornsby music you might hear some Grateful Dead, Dylan, Sam Cooke, Prince, James Brown, Leadbelly and maybe even a little Floyd. You never know with Bruce. He'll just throw something in off the top of his head. Here they are a few weeks ago at the Mount Baker Theatre in Bellingham, Washington:



Wednesday night at Innsbrook, what's left of The Beach Boys will don their Hawaiian shirts and perform in that God-forsaken hell hole of an industrial park. But don't let that deter you from going. Gates open at 5, show starts at 6 and tix range from $20 - $60. This is billed as "An Evening With The Beach Boys" which usually means no opener. Here's The Boys doing it again:



Have a great weekend! I'll see you at Col. Bruce and the ARU tonight!

I'll leave you with Haim doing "The Wire" on SNL a couple years ago:



Tony Jordan