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