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

Halloween: Built to Spill, Black Girls, Former Champions, Trongone Band

Looking for some rock n' roll on Halloween? Well, there's a lot of it going on.

Indie pop rockers Built to Spill will be at The Canal Club Thursday night. It'll be $25 to get in. Slam Dunk, Genders and The Warm Hair will open. Doors will open at 7 PM. There will be a costume contest and free giveaways. Doug Martsch of Built to Spill will do a DJ set after the show which you can stick around for. Here's the band in Hamburg this year playing "Goin' Against Your Mind":

Black Girls will get super freaky at Balliceaux on Halloween. It'll be $5 to get in and the show starts at 10.

Former Champions will be joined by members of Silo Effect at The Camel for a Halloween jamtronica extravaganza. There will be a costume contest, vendors, live painters and the Champs are promising some surprises. Should get crazy. Music starts at 9 PM.  Here's Former Champions doing "Song 7" at The National in March:

If you like to celebrate your Halloween in classic rock style, head to Cary St. Cafe for Trongone Band. There will be a costume contest and there is no cover charge. Music starts around 10 PM with Barrelhouse. Trongone Band will don their musical costume at 11:15 PM by doing Widespread Panic's Jackassolantern album in its entirety which has no original Widespread Panic songs on it. Then Trongone Band, Barrelhouse and special guests will jam the night away.

More on the rest of the weekend's events tomorrow. For your Halloween pleasure, here's Phish doing "Ghost" a few days ago in Worcester MA:

Folk Fest, Built to Spill, Deerhunter, Pimps of Joytime, ACL Fest webcast

Its Folk Fest weekend in Richmond!  Yes, the annual Richmond Folk Festival is here once again, taking place on Brown's Island and in the area around Tredegar Iron Works Friday (6 PM - 10:30 PM), Saturday (noon - 10:30 PM) and Sunday (noon - 7 PM) and its FREE.  Check out the web site for all you need to know about parking and the shuttles.  The Folk Fest is like taking a trip around the world in music with the styles of bluegrass (Tony Rice & Peter Rowan), cajun, blues, salsa, Norwegian Hardanger fiddle, tejano, Haitian, Irish, Brazilian capoeira, rockabilly, New Orleans brass band, jazz, go-go, shape note singing, Siberia, Iran, fiddle music, gospel & North Indian tabla all represented.  Walking from tent to tent taking it all in lets you celebrate both the diversity and the similarities between all these forms of music.  For the kids, there is an large family area with crafts, animals and a stage set up where the kids get to hear and play music with some of these master musicians.  I'll be down there volunteering on Friday night at one of the info booths and Sunday at the Dominion Stage and then hanging out too so I hope to see you down there. 

When you can't be at the Folk Fest, you can tune into the webcast of the Austin City Limits Fest from Austin, TX (duh).  The webcast is HERE.  You can also watch it on Facebook HERE.  The webcast runs from 1:30 PM - 11:30 PM on Friday, 2 PM - midnight on Saturday, 2:15 PM - 11 PM on Sunday (all times Eastern here).  Bands on the webcast include Sonic Youth, Spoon, Vampire Weekend, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, Gaslight Anthem, The xx, Gogol Bordello, Matt & Kim (coming to the Canal Club soon), LCD Soundsystem, Band of Horses, The National, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros and more. 

Back in Richmond, on Saturday night, Built to Spill will be at The National. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.  Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with opener Revolt Revolt.  You may like Built to Spill if you like Modest Mouse, Beck, Radiohead, Neil Young, Hendrix, Beach Boys, Beatles, Doors, Sonic Youth, Flaming Lips, or Band of Horses.  Here is their latest video for "Hindsight":


The National announced a couple of upcoming shows on Facebook yesterday.  Robert Earl Keen w/Reckless Kelly on November 10.  Tix are $25 for standing floor and they are on sale this Saturday, Oct 9.  Gregg Allman will be at The National on Tuesday January 4th and they haven't posted a ticket on sale date or price yet. 

Sunday, Deerhunter will be at the Canal Club.  Casino vs. Japan and DuckTails will be opening.  Doors open at 7:00.  Tickets are $14.00 in advance, $17.00 at the door.  You might dig Deerhunter if you like Sigur Ros, Brian Eno, David Bowie, Echo & The Bunnymen, Radiohead or Sonic Youth.  Here is Deerhunter's full set at the Noise Pop festival in SF in February 2009:



Pimps of Joytime will be at the Capital Ale House on Wednedsay night.  Show starts at 9 and tix are $10.  Here is what the Ale House web site says about them: "If you have yet to encounter the Broklyn-based band, The Pimps of Joytime, prepare to take a funky ride! The PJT’s live events and recordings have captivated fans all across the country, as they have begun writing their own success story, show by show, and track by track.

Bandleader Brian J is a charismatic and soulful visionary, whose well-crafted songs invite the listener to enter a world of infectious dance grooves and indelible melodies. Spending formative years in New York City, New Orleans and Los Angeles, Mista J honed his craft, becoming an accomplished live performer, multi-instrumentalist and producer.

In 2005, Brian began to assemble a group of righteously soulful vocalists and musicians to assist in bringing to life the musical concept that would become The Pimps of Joytime. The band's diverse sound and spirited attitude is strongly influenced by the Brooklyn DJ culture and live music scene from which they emerge. Recent collaborations with legendary artists Cyril and Art Neville of the Neville Brothers and Roy Ayers have helped vitalize the band's connection to its roots."

Here they are doing their song "Blues Wit You":


I'll leave you with the greatest song about Wendy's chili & Frostys ever written. From an old Wendy's training video, here is "Chili Can Be Served with Cheese".:


And just for kicks, I just created my quarterly mix entitled "I'm a Beautiful Sandwich - Summer 2010 Mix".
Here is what's on it:
Disc 1


1. Girls Who Smoke – Drive-By Truckers (2:58)

2. Loving You Is Easy – Sarah McLachlan (3:07)

3. Nobody – Doobie Brothers (4:40)

4. F**k You – Cee Lo Green (3:44)

5. California Gurls – Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg (3:53)

6. Bulletproof (Radio Edit) – La Roux (3:25)

7. That Lady (Part 1 & 2) – The Isley Brothers (5:34)

8. Bop Gun (Endangered Species) – Parliament (8:36)

9. Love Struck Baby – Stevie Ray Vaughn (2:57)

10. 46 Days – Phish – 6/15/10, Portsmouth VA (9:38)

11. Beg Steal or Borrow – Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs (4:33)

12. Could It Be I’m Falling in Love – The Spinners (4:16)

13. It’s Hard To Be Humble (When You’re From Alabama) – Phosphorescent (4:27)

14. My Morning Song – Black Crowes (6:15)

15. Idea – Phish - 6/15/10, Portsmouth VA (8:08)

16. Coquet Coquette – of Montreal (3:46)

Disc 2


1. You Are Not Alone – Mavis Staples (3:59)

2. Shakedown Street – Grateful Dead – 12/31/84, San Francisco (17:26)

3. 16 Military Wives – The Decemberists (4:53)

4. Dark Horse – George Harrison (4:16)

5. Swimming – Breathe Owl Breathe (4:07)

6. In The Light – Led Zeppelin (8:46)

7. Bathtub Gin – Phish -6/15/10, Portsmouth VA (13:10

8. Collector – Here We Go Magic (5:09)

9. Fight the Power (Part 1 & 2) – The Isley Brothers (5:18)

10. Milk Cow Blues – The Kinks (3:39)

11. Super Bad, Pts. 1 & 2 – James Brown & The J.B.’s (5:00)

12. Open My Eyes – The Nazz (2:44)

Have a great weekend!
 
Tony Jordan