Weekend Picks: Mountain Goats, Peals, Built to Spill, Willie Nelson, Amos Lee, Lumineers, Ben Folds, Alice In Chains, Popa Chubby, Unknown Hinson, Fear of Music

There is no reason not to start your weekend on Wednesday. After all, it's hump day (as that damn camel will you) so it's all down hill once you get to Wednesday evening. There's a really good blues show at The Tin Pan on Wednesday with NY blues man Popa Chubby in the house. You may remember Popa from the hit he had back in the 90's "Sweet Goddess of Love & Beer". He plays hard blues influenced by people like Richard Hell (whose band, The Voidoids Popa was once in), The Stooges, Buddy Guy, Motorhead, Muddy Waters, Hendrix, Robert Johnson, Ramones, Sex Pistols, Cream and Led Zep. Here's Popa a couple months ago doing "Sweet Goddess" and "Further on Up the Road":

Mellow, soulful singer-songwriter Amos Lee is at The National Wednesday night. General Admission the floor is $33, reserved in the balcony is $43. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Lauren Talese. You can listen to a Spotify playlist curated by Amos of songs that inspired his new album, "Spirit" HERE. It includes tracks from Wayne Shorter, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Hall & Oates, Al Green, D'Angelo and more. From that album, here's "Vaporize":



Thursday night, American icon Willie Nelson is at Innsbrook After Hours. Gates open at 5, show starts at 6 with opener Aaron Lewis. Tix range from $30 for GA to $45 and $65 for Gold Circle. Here's a track from Willie's new album, "For the Good Times: A Tribute to Ray Price":



Unknown Hinson bring his humorous horror rockabilly (humorhorrorbilly?) to The Broadberry Thursday night. Tix are $20 advance, $23 day of show. Doors open at 7, music starts at 8 PM with opener Chrome Daddy Disco. Here's Unknown with "Venus Bound":

At Gallery5 Thursday night, Future Islands’ William Cashion and Bruce Willen of Double Dagger join together to become Peals. Tix are $12. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with openers Moss of Aura and Energy 2000. Peals will be celebrating the release of their new album, "Honey". From that album, here's "Become Younger":


Peals "Become Younger" from Friends Records on Vimeo.

The Lumineers are at Classic Amphitheater at Richmond International Raceway on Friday night. Why they don't use that Amphitheater to pull more acts, I do not know. I wish they would pull some of the stuff that the Charlottesville Pavilion gets. Anyway, doors open at 6, show starts at 7. Borns and Rayland Baxter open and make sure you get in early to see them. If you want a preview of the show, their show on Thursday from Cary NC will be webcast live for free HERE. It will start at 8:55 PM. And here's their brand new (just came out today) video for "Angela":



Talking Heads tribute band Fear of Music is at The Broadberry Friday night. Tix are $12 advance, $15 at the door. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with Dalton Dash. Here's one I had never seen before tonight. This is the official video for "Crosseyed & Painless" featuring some early breakdancing.



Ben Folds is at The National on Saturday night. This is a solo tour with just Ben and a piano. Tix are $29.50 advance, $33 day of show. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 and no opener is listed. Here's Ben's "Capable of Anything":



Monday night, Alice in Chains is at the Altria Theater. Tix range from $59.50 to $75. Show starts at 8 and no opener is listed. Of course, original members Layne Staley (died in 2002) and Mike Starr (who I had a beer with once and unfortunately passed away in 2011) won't be there. But original members, guitarist Jerry Cantrell, drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Inez (replaced Mike Starr in 1993) along with "new" singer William DuVall (with the band for 10 years now) will perform the old hits along with songs from their later albums with the current lineup. Here's one of my favorite Alice tunes, "Would?":

Whimsical, lyrical folk rock band The Mountain Goats are at The National Monday night. Tix are $20 advance, $23 day of show. Doors open at 6:30, show starts at 7:30. No opener is listed, but I believe Oh Pep! may be opening. You can get a free sampler of Mountain Goats and Oh Pep! songs HERE. Last year, The Mountain Goats put out an album of songs about professional wrestling called "Beat the Champ". From that album, this is the excellent song, "The Legend of Chavo Guerrero":

It's a fine emo indie rock show at The National on Tuesday night with good bands from top to bottom. Tix are $19.50 in advance, $25 day of show to see Built to Spill, Hop Along and Alex G. Doors will open at 6:30 and Alex G kicks things off at 7:30. You might dig Built to Spill if you like Dinosaur Jr., Flaming Lips, Sebadoh, Modest Mouse, Ben Folds, Beck, or Wilco. Here's Built to Spill's full show from the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in SF in 2014:



I'll see you out at the Popa Chubby show on Wednesday night. I'll leave you with a little more Willie, performing with the late, great Ray Charles. This one made me smile.



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Flaming Lips, RiverRock, VibeFest, Social Distortion, Amos Lee, Danzig

Big busy weekend. The big event is Dominion RiverRock at Brown’s Island from 4 PM until 11 PM on Friday and 1 PM until 11 PM on Saturday. Besides the Ultimate Air Dogs (my kids’ favorite event), the Mud Run, Freestyle Bikes, Boulder Bash, and the Canal Crashers kayaks, they have a great lineup of music. Here is the music schedule:
Friday, May 13, 2011
6 p.m. - Josati
7:15 p.m. - Big Gigantic
9 p.m. - Perpetual Groove

Saturday, May 14, 2011
1 p.m. - The Bush League
2:30 p.m. - Psychobilly Cadillac
4 p.m. - William Walter & Tucker Rogers
5:30 p.m. - People's Blues of Richmond
7 p.m. - Jonathan Vassar & The Speckled Bird
9 p.m. - Yonder Mountain String Band

Unfortunately, between t-ball games and cookouts, I won’t be able to get down there Saturday. But I’ll be there on Friday for the jam band Perpetual Groove. Here they are deep in their set at the Black Water Music Festival in Suwanee GA last year:


And here is a little Yonder Mountain String Band if you are thinking about going on Saturday night. Here they are in playing “If Loving You Is Killing Me” in Santa Cruz in April of this year.


If you are more in the mood for gothic metal on Friday night, head to The National for Danzig. Tix are $25, doors open at 7 and the show starts at 8 with 2 Cents. Everybody knows “Mother” so instead I’m going with “Am I Demon”. Bang your heads, motherf**kers!


Also, Friday night, Johnny A. plays at the Capital Ale House Downtown. Johnny A plays blues & rock guitar in the styles of Les Paul, Wes Montgomery, Jeff Beck, Chet Atkins, and Jimi Hendrix. The show starts at 10 PM and tix are $15. Here’s Johnny performing “Oh Yeah” in April of this year:


If you are at home on Friday night, you can check out the webcast from Bob Weir (of the Grateful Dead) & Friends. And he has some pretty good friends: Rob Wasserman, Jay Lane, Jeff Chimenti, Steve Kimock, Robin Sylvester and a 4 piece Horn Section. The show starts at 10 PM ET from the Talampais Research Institute (http://www.tristudios.com/ ), which is a state of the art recording and video studio built by Bob Weir and, well, some other friends of his. The main performance space at TRI houses a Meyer Sound Constellation System - a revolutionary acoustic modeling technology which has the ability to dramatically change the acoustical properties of the room. With the touch of a button, an artist can instantly change the sonic environment from that of a small intimate club to sounding like a theater, an arena or even a cathedral. And the video will be in HD.

Saturday night Amos Lee will be at The National. Amos recently had the #1 album in America. Tix are $25. Doors open at 6:30 and the show starts at 7:30 with opener Sonia Leigh. You might like Amos if you like James Taylor, Norah Jones, Ben Harper, Willie Nelson, or Lucinda Williams. Here he is performing “Windows Are Rolled Down”.


Sunday out at The Meadows at The Boulders will be Vibefest featuring The Georgia Satellites, Janet Martin Band, The Taters, Susan Greenbaum and more. The event runs from noon until 6:30 PM and is $10 in advance, $15 at the gate. The event benefits The Positive Vibe Foundation, a non-profit organization preparing people with cognitive or physical disabilities for paid employment in the food service industry. Everybody knows “Keep Your Hands To Yourself” but here’s another good one from the Satellites, “Battleship Chains” as performed by them on Danish TV(?) in 1996:


Also Sunday, I’ll be hitting up the sold out Flaming Lips show (thanks to Wyatt for remembering me when an extra ticket came his way!) at The National. If any tickets do appear, they’ll be $40. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener The Ghost of A Saber Tooth Tiger. BTW, you may want to get there early as TGOASTT is a band featuring Sean Lennon and his girlfriend, Charlotte Kemp Muhl. If you can get a ticket to the Lips show, you really must go. It is a super psychedelic mind-blowing party with balloons, Wayne Coyne (lead singer) walking across the crowd in a hamster costume, confetti guns, artsy videos, people in costumes and the music is pretty wild and fine too, like a cross between punk rock and Pink Floyd. And they are about to step out on Broadway as I heard that their classic album, “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots”, is being turned into a musical but I’m sure it won’t be your typical musical. “Typical” is not in the Lips vocabulary. Here they are performing “I Was Zapped By The Super Lucky Rainbow” which is typical of their warped humor:

And here is the Lips performing a medley of songs from The Who’s “Tommy” at the VH1 Tribute to The Who:


On Wednesday, The Wailers will be at Innsbrook. Tix are $12.50 in advance, $15 at the gate. Gates open at 6 and The Wailers will come on about 8. There is an opener which will be announced.

Also on Wednesday, Social Distortion will be at The National. Tix are $27.50 in advance, $32.50 day of show. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with openers Sharks and Chuck Ragan. Here’s Social Distortion performing “Don’t Drag Me Down” when they were at The National in 2009.


Blogger is still down (I’m writing this in Word to copy over to Blogger later) (NOTE: Blogger was down until about noon on Friday.  Sheesh!) and it’s late and I’ve got a busy weekend ahead so I am calling it a night. We’ll get back to our lists next week.

Have a great weekend! I’ll see you at RiverRock on Friday night for Perpetual Groove and Sunday night at The Flaming Lips!

Tony Jordan

Church Hill Irish Fest, Ben Folds, Spoon, Amos Lee

Get outside this weekend and enjoy the Church Hill Irish Festival. The weather looks like it will be absolutely bee-yoo-ti-full. The fest takes place in Church Hill (duh) in front of St. Patrick’s Church on North 25th Street between Broad and Franklin Streets. It takes up about four blocks there in Church Hill. It runs from 10 AM - 7 PM on Saturday and 10 AM - 6 PM on Sunday. It will cost you all of a $2 donation to get in.

They have a big children's area with the usual moon bounces and other stuff for the kids to do. There is good food and beverages, adult and otherwise, available. We've been to this festival every year since 2001. We'll be there with the kids on Sunday and this festival is always a good time.

Bit of advice for those with wee ones: Try to leave the stroller at home or plan on moving very slowly through the crowd. It can get crowded but once you make it through to the kids area you can find a spot to park yourself and the stroller.

Below are the band schedules. Bands alternate between local Americana bands and Irish stuff.

Here is the band lineup for Saturday:
10:00 – 10:30 PARADE
10:30 – 11:00 Irish Dancers
11:00 – 11:30 Miles O’Brien
11:30 – 11:45 Irish Dancers (Bridget Boswell)
11:45 – 12:15 Hurricane Base
12:30 – 1:00 Haze & The Transients
1:15 – 1:45 Powder Keg
2:00 – 2:30 100th Monkey
2:45 – 3:15 Blue Line Highway
3:30 – 4:00 Ex-Patriots
4:15 – 4:45 Kelly Kennedy
5:00 – 5:30 Bart Chucker Band
5:45 – 6:15 Page Wilson With Reckless Abandon
6:15 – 7:00 Uisce Bethea

Bluegrass South Stage
11:15-11:45 am – Robin Sean Carns
12-12:45 pm – Dave Alltop
1-1:45 pm – Miles Obrien Band
2-2:45 pm – A Good Natured Riot
3-3:45 pm – Big Boss Combo
4-4:45 pm – Cary Streeet Ramblers
5-5:45 pm – Leather Britches
6-6:45 pm – Somerville

Here is the band lineup for Sunday:
10:00 10:30 Irish Dancers
10:30 – 11:00 Donnybrooks
11:15 – 11:45 Razen Caine
12:00 – 12:30 Susan GreenBaum
12:45 – 1:15 3 Bad Men
1:30 – 2:00 Atkinsons
2:00 – 2:15 Bagpipers
2:15 – 2:45 St. Baldricks Head Shave
2:45 – 3:15 Tinkers Damn
3:30 – 4:00 Gary Gerloff Tribute
4:15 – 4:45 Taters
5:00 - 5:30 Janet Martin
5:45 – 6:30 Andy & Cindy

Bluegrass – South Stage
12-12:45 pm – Swagger iii (Bryce Miller)
1-1:45 pm – Detox Mtn Boys
2-2:45 pm – Irish Dancers (Bridget Boswell)
3-3:45 pm – Cook County Bluegrass
4-4:45 pm – Easy Street
5-5:45 pm – Becky Taylor & Open Fire
6 pm – Poisened Dwarfs

Sunday, Ben Folds comes to The National. Tix are $30 in advance and $35 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Zach Williams. Ben Folds is best known for songs like "Rockin' The Suburbs" (featured in the animated film "Over The Hedge") and "Brick". Ben Folds has wonderful quirky sense of humor as you can see in this video for "You Don't Know Me". I was going to post his version of Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't Sh*t" but that would hardly be safe for work, now would it.


Amos Lee will be at The National on Tuesday. Tix are $20. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Cary Ann Hearst. Amos is a soulful, singer-songwriter and you might dig him if you like Bill Withers, John Prine, Neil Young, Norah Jones, Jack Johnson or Ben Harper. Click HERE to check out the video for "Arms of a Woman". They won't let me embed it.

On Tuesday, DJ Willims Projekt has their regular gig at Cafe Diem. The gig starts at 9:30 PM.

Wednesday night at The National, Austin TX band Spoon will be there. Tix are $20 in advance, $23 day of show. Doors open at 6 and show starts at 7 with openers Strange Boys and Deerhunter. According to Metacritic, Spoon was the most critically acclaimed band of the last decade. Here is the video for "Written In Reverse":

Written In Reverse from Spoon on Vimeo.

That's all for now. See you at the Irish Fest. Have a great first weekend of Spring!

Tony Jordan