Weekend Picks: Robert Randolph, Steve Winwood, Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band, No BS! Brass Band, King Easy, Toxic Moxie, The Atkinsons

You can kick back on the roof to some cool reggae sounds Thursday evening when King Easy plays at Kabana Rooftop. The show will run from 6 to 9 PM and it's FREE to get in. Here's King Easy earlier this month at The Camel:

It's gonna be a honky-tonk hootenanny throw down of epic proportions when Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band takes over the Richmond Music Hall at Capital Ale House Downtown Thursday night. It's $15 to get in, doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Derelicts of Grace. RPBDB will be playing in Spain & Switzerland this summer along with playing the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival, Here's the new video from RPBDB's new album, "Front Porch Sessions". Things get kind of crazy on their front porch...



Down in Hopewell Thursday night, pedal steel guitar player extraordinaire Robert Randolph & the Family Band take the stage at The Beacon Theatre. Doors open at 6:30 and Luke Wade will open the show. Tix range from $20 advance/$25 day of show to $60 advance/$65 day of show with a couple price points in between. From their press blurb: "Often called the “Jimi Hendrix of the pedal steel guitar,” and named one of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” by Rolling Stone’s David Fricke, Randolph has, since the turn of the century, revolutionized the role of his chosen instrument." They're out now promoting their new album, "Got Soul". Here they are live in the van a couple weeks ago in LA:

The Atkinsons bring that Americana groove to Poe's Pub Friday night. Music starts at 9:30 with Brandon Martin. If there is a cover, it won't be much. Here's The Atkinsons at the Tin Pan last year:

It's a night of cool Virginia power dirty disco punk headlined by RVA's Toxic Moxie at The Camel Saturday night. Spooky Cool, Illiterate Light (experimental indie rock duo), and Majjin Boo (math rock featuring members of Spooky Cool) open the show. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9. $8 advance, $10 day of show. Toxic Moxie with have a couple new songs for you that night. Here's Toxic Moxie's full set from January 28 at The Camel:

No BS! Brass Band does another "matinee" show at The Broadberry on Sunday. Doors open at 6, show starts at 7 with Angelica Garcia. Tix are $12 advance, $15 at the door. It's an all ages show so you can bring your mopey teen, get them groovin' and still get them home in time for bed. Here's No BS a couple years ago playing for tacos, the best kind of currency.



The great singer/keyboardist/guitarist (he really is an excellent guitar player) Steve Winwood is at the Carpenter Theater (Dominion Arts Center) Tuesday night. Tix range from $69 to $89 though I did see some on GroupOn the other day for $30+. The show starts at 7:30 with Steve's daughter, Lilly, opening. Steve will play stuff from throughout his illustrious career with bands such as Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith and his solo career. This is one of my favorite Steve Winwood solo songs with some great guitar work in it. The video reminds of many a late night of MTV watching in the early 80's.



That'll do it. Have a great weekend! I'll leave you with two songs. First, I heard the original version of this today but I was singing the version below all day after that. It's a good thing Norah had Elmo to console her.



On a sad note, director Jonathan Demme died today. Besides making movies such as "Philadelphia", "Something Wild", "Silence of the Lambs" and "Caged Heat", he made great rock movies. He made films with Justin Timberlake, Robyn Hitchcock, Neil Young and videos with Bruce Springsteen and The Pretenders. And, of course, one of the greatest concert films of all time, Talking Heads' "Stop Making Sense". The way the concert builds piece by piece is truly brilliant and Demme's camerawork never gets in the way and stays on the onstage action. Watch it here:



Tony Jordan

Weekend Picks: Robyn Hitchcock, PJ Harvey, Perpetual Groove, Testament, RVA Earth Day Festival, SUSTO, The Make-Up, Fear of Music

The fun begins on Wednesday with the English psychedelic folk-pop of Robyn Hitchcock. He started way back in 1976 with The Soft Boys and has been making music on his own since 1981. On my college radio show (1987 - 1990), barely a show went by without my playing something from his albums, "Gotta Let This Hen Out!", "Globe of Frogs" or "Queen Elvis". And he's still making great music, with his latest album, Robyn Hitchcock, getting great reviews. I'm really looking forward to seeing the show at the Richmond Music Hall at Capital Ale House Downtown Wednesday. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Cale Tyson. Tix are $20 advance, $25 at the door. Here's Robyn wanting to tell you about what he wants:

However, you may want to rock your face off on Wednesday night. If so, head to The National for the Testament, Sepultura, Prong show. Doors open at 6, head banging starts at 6:30. Tix are $23 advance, $26 at the door. From Testament's "Brotherhood of the Snake" album, here's "The Pale King":



Jam band Perpetual Groove is at The National Thursday night for, cough, cough, 4/20. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with Trae Pierce and the T-Stones & Galaxy Dynamite opening. Tix are $19.50 advance, $23 day of show. Here's a nice "Green Tea" sandwich from P Groove in May 2015:



Celebrating 4/20 at The Broadberry is Fear of Music, Richmond's Talking Head tribute band. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with opener Camp Howard. Tix are $10 advance, $12 day of show. Here's the promo for the show:



Saturday from noon to seven PM, it's the RVA Earth Day Festival in the Manchester section of town. There will be food, beer, kids art & activities, and local vendors along with some great bands. They don't have all the set times but this looks like the running order:

1. Colin & Caroline (12)
2. Photosynthesizers (1:45)
3. Mighty Joshua & the Zion #5
4. Life on Mars (5:15)

Mighty Joshua was one of the winners of last week's Rockn' to Lockn' contest at the Broadberry. (Anthony Rosano and The Conqueroos was the other.

And Life on Mars will be debuting their new singer. Original singer William Gorman amicably stepped down as the lead singer. William was great and will be missed, but I'm sure the band will come up with someone new to fill his thin white shoes.

Here's a taste of Mighty Joshua:

The dynamic PJ Harvey is at The National on Saturday night. Tix are $45 day of show, $50 day of show. Doors open at 7:30, show starts at 8:30 and no opener is listed. This show was sold out but they released some tickets today so get them NOW if you want to go. Here's PJ's "The Orange Monkey":



The Make-Up, Puff Pieces, and Cigarette play Strange Matter Saturday night with DJs Marty V & Adam A spinning between sets. I'm gonna cheat and print a bit from The Make-Up's press blurb:

THE MAKE-UP was an American post-punk band from Washington, D.C. formed in 1995, consisting of ex-Nation of Ulysses frontman Ian Svenonius on vocals, James Canty on guitar and organ, Steve Gamboa on drums, and Michelle Mae on bass guitar. The Make-Up were joined in late 1999 by a fifth member, Alex Minoff (of the groups Golden and Extra Golden), who played guitar with the group until the band's dissolution in early 2000.

The Make-Up combined garage rock, soul, and a self-styled liberation theology to make a new genre they called "Gospel Yeh-Yeh". This style led to an emphasis on live performances and interaction between the band and their audience, incorporating the audience into the performances as a "fifth member", creating what one reviewer described as ""highly energetic and participatory live shows." Parallel to the band's gospel musical stylings, the Make-Up produced music under a communism-influenced political philosophy that they saw as counter to the capitalist form of modern rock and roll and pop music.

 Here's The Make-Up doing "I Am Pentagon":

Beatles, blues and Grateful Dead cover band Long Strange Night are up in Ashland at the Iron Horse Restaurant on Saturday night. Show starts at 9 and it's FREE to get in. You can listen to their last show HERE. Perhaps the band will play this one:

Alt-country-rock band SUSTO is at The Camel Sunday night. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 and get in on time because Parker Gispert of The Whigs is opening. Here's SUSTO's "Chillin' On The Beach With My Best Friend Jesus Christ ". I like chillin' with Jesus too, especially when he turns water into microbrews.



That's it! Have a great weekend! I'll see you at Robyn Hitchcock, RVA Earth Day and maybe PJ Harvey. In fact, I'll leave you with some PJ Harvey. Here is the haunting "Down By The Water":



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Weekend Picks: Coathangers, Surfer Blood, Rockn' For Lockn', Lydell Williams, Erin & The Wildfire, The Taters, Suggesting Rhythm

The road to Lockn' begins Friday night at The Broadberry when the Rockn' for Lockn' competition takes place to see who will represent Richmond in the finals. The finalist winner gets to play the big Lockn' stage in August. The bands in this round are Big Mama Shakes, The Atkinsons, Anthony Rosano and the Conqueroos (out of Memphis Norfolk), and Mighty Joshua. If you have a favorite, head out to support them. If you don't, head out because you're going to see great music from all the bands and you can vote with no bias. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9. $10 to get in.

Grateful Dead tribute band Suggesting Rhythm is at Steam Bell Beer Works Saturday evening from 7 - 10. Don't cost nothin' to get in. Maybe they'll play something like this:



The Taters are over at The County Seat Restaurant in Powhatan Saturday night. Show runs from 7 to 10. Looks like it's FREE but reservations are recommended. Here's The Taters at The Tin Pan last week doing a soul classic:

Neo-soulman Lydell Williams does a show at 150North Restaurant & Lounge Saturday night. Doors at 8. Showtime at 10 PM. You can reserve a seat for $5 or a booth for $40 and there will be an additional cover charge at the door. Lydell has a new album out "The Sound of My Melodies". Here's some music from the new album. This one's called "Soul Tie":

A former Rockn' for Lockn' winner will be at Cary St. Cafe on Saturday night. Erin & the Wildfire bring the soulful rock heat with Schooley Mountain Band kicking things off at 10 PM. Doors open at 9 and just $7 to get in. And this is a NO PANTS DANCE! "Booty shorts, granny panties, boxers, briefs- all perfectly acceptable forms of not pants. You are welcome to wear your pants to the show and remove them upon arrival." Because nothing welcomes the Easter Bunny like a bunch of hippies dancing with no pants on. Here's Erin & The Wildfire four months ago at The Southern in C'Ville:

Surf/garage/punk band The Coathangers are at The Camel Sunday night. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8. $15 to get in. The Smirks and VV open. The Coathangers are out promoting their Parasite EP which comes out 6/30/17. Here they are playing "Captain's Dead" for Daytrotter last week. Language NSFW.

Indie/pop/psych rock band Surfer Blood are at Strange Matter Sunday night. Tix are $13 advance, $15 day of show. Doors open at 8, Lazyeyes and The Trillions open. Here's Surfer Blood doing an acoustic version of "Frozen" from their new album "Snowdonia":



That'll do it. Have a great weekend! J. Geils, guitarist and namesake of the J. Geils Band, passed away today. "Blow Your Face Out" by the band is one of my favorite live albums and a guaranteed party starter. Here's the band in their prime, with "Must of Got Lost":



Tony Jordan

Weekend Picks: Delbert McClinton, Jonathan Richman, Clair Morgan, Gallery5 12th Anniversary, Taters, Killer B's, Suggesting Rhythm

Friday is the big night this week. Decisions will need to be made. Or maybe you can hit parts of a few different shows.

Let's start with Gallery5's First Friday 12th Anniversary Party. It starts at 6 and it's FREE to get in, but please consider donating some dolla. There will be a Burlesque and Variety Hour (hubba hubba!) four bands playing Georgie Isaacs, Lobo Marino, Prabir w/ quartet and The Trillions and art everywhere. Outside Gallery5, Party Liberation Front Presents the Pyro Circus Street Show with professional fire arts, dance, and tunes provided by DJs Mr Jennings, Reinhold, and Roukin. Here's the haunting and hypnotic music of Lobo Marino:



Delbert McClinton brings his blues/rock to The Beacon Theatre in Hopewell on Friday night. Doors open at 6:30, Robbie Meade with Brad Brewer open. Tix range from $30 to $105. Delbert is out promoting his new album, "Prick of the Litter". Delbert did one of his classics on Music City Roots in January. Here it is:



The Killer B's will be playing their danceable classic rock at Steam Bell Beer Works Friday evening from 7 to 10. Don't cost nothin' to get in.

Clair Morgan continues their First Friday residency at The Camel. Shy,Low, Manazara and Geometers open. Doors open at 8, music starts at 9. $6 advance, $8 day of show. The show is a benefit for ReEstablish Richmond, which helps refugees establish roots, build community, and become self-sufficient. Here's Clair Morgan's full set from 9/23/16 at The Camel:



Grateful Dead tribute band Suggesting Rhythm is at Cary Street Cafe Friday night. Show starts at 10 and it's $5 to get in. Hopefully, they'll play this one.



The Taters are at The Tin Pan on Saturday night. Doors open at 6, show starts at 8. Just $10 to get in. No opener. Here's the band playing Paul Simon's "The Boxer":



Indie pop icon Jonathan Richman is at The Camel on Tuesday night. Doors open at 8, show at 9, no opener is listed. $15 to get in. Jonathan helped invent indie pop with his band, The Modern Lovers, in the 70s. But he's been consistently good to this day, still writing touching and humorous songs. Here he in on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in 1993 singing about a"Vampire Girl":



That'll do it. I'll leave you with this outtake from The Rolling Stones' "Exile on Main Street":



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan