Weekend Picks: Richmond Folk Festival, NO BS! Brass Band, Steel Panther, Ultra Kings, Dismal Swamp Lords

This weekend? Folk Festival, Folk Festival, Folk Festival, Folk Festival. Go to the Richmond Folk Festival. It's down at Brown's Island/Historic Tredegar all weekend long (6 P - 10 P Friday, Noon - 9:30 P Saturday, Noon - 6 P Sunday). Going to the Folk Festival is like walking around the world as you move from tent to tent. Blues, klezmer, Celtic, Cajun, sacred steel, bluegrass, gospel, Cambodian khmer, hip hop (Grandmaster Flash!), rockabilly, Persian, Ethiopian jazz and more. I'll be working backstage at the Union/U of R Virginia Folklife Stage on Saturday from 11:30 AM to 3 PM and just on that stage, I'll see a Baptist hymn to open the day by Reverend Frank Newsome, bluegrass/gospel from The Church Sisters, Russian folk music from the Washington Balalakia Society Orchestra, and contemporary bluegrass from Ash Breeze. If you like to move, just head down to the Dominion Dance Pavilion at the end of Brown's Island where the stage for Cheers is. I hope to see you there. Blues singer Shemekia Copeland will be playing on Friday and Saturday and here's a little taste of her, filmed just a week ago:



NO BS! Brass Band is at Broadberry Friday night. You can head down there after Folk Fest. It's $12 in advance, $15 at the door. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9. Don't know if there is an opener, but if there isn't, that just means more NO BS! NO BS's new album, "Brass Knuckles" is coming out any day now (just in time for Christmas!), so expect to hear a lot from that. Here's their new epic song, "Ballad of the Eagle Claw":

Steel Panther bring their tongue-in-cheek (maybe?) hair metal to The National Friday night. Tix are $22.50 in advance, $25 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with Eagles of Freedom. Here they are Rockn' at Wacken last summer, opening with the cracking "Pussy Whipped" (language NSFW, but with a title like that, you probably figured that out):

Saturday night, The Ultra Kings (out of my old stomping grounds in the Lehigh Valley, PA!) and Dismal Swamp Lords are at Poe's Pub for a rockabilly/surf/swamp/punk/blues fest and really, what more could you ask? Show starts at 9. There may be a $5 cover charge. Here's The Ultra Kings from earlier this summer:



That's gonna do it this week, Been packing to move next week so not a lot of time. Because of the move (just across town) there will be no Handful of Brains Weekend Picks next week (awwwwwww!).

Have a great weekend! Go to Folk Fest!

I'll leave you with the Jefferson Airplane tribute from Lockn' 2015. Great show! Beautiful and talented singers! Awesome jams! Deep cuts! Jack & Jorma!



Tony Jordan