Cinco de Mayo, VibeFest, South Memphis String Band

Have a couple fiestas going on this weekend. Looks like there might be a chance of showers both days but hopefully we can get some fun in with no (or very little) rain.

The Cinco de Mayo Fiesta takes place on Brown's Island on Saturday, Dos de Mayo, from 1 PM - 7 PM. As mentioned, this is a FREE event. The music lineup is the excellent DJ Williams Projekt starting at 1:30 PM. I saw the Projekt open up for Robert Randolph at the National back in December and they had the whole crowd groovin'. At 3:30, Bio Ritmo, the "underground salsa" band plays providing some Latino flavor to the event that we all know was created just to sell Corona. Finally, at 5:30, Mexican bluegrass band, The Hackensaw Boys, come on. OK, there is no such thing as Mexican bluegrass, these guys are actually from Charlottesville and they play bluegrass-based Americana music. And they do it well. This should be fun for the whole family and barring torrential downpours, I'll be down there with the wife and kids.

Sunday, VibeFest 2009 takes place at Max's Positive Vibe Cafe. VibeFest goes from 11:30 AM to 6:30 PM and all they ask is a $10 donation at the door. For those of you unfamiliar with the Positive Vibe Cafe, they prepare people with cognitive or physical disabilities for paid employment in the food service industry. They accomplish their mission by training and employing people with disabilities at Max’s Positive Vibe Café. And the food and service are pretty damn good too. VibeFest is a benefit for the cafe and they'll have not one but two stages full of local performers who are donating their time. So go have a good time while you make time for good. Here is the lineup:

11:30
CAROL COVELL & RANDALL BURTON (2nd stage)
11:50
THE GOODFELLAS ( 1st stage)
12:10
OFFERING (2nd stage)
12:40
THE TATERS (1st stage)
1:10
PAGE WILSON (1st stage)
1:40
COLOR GUARD (JROTC FROM MEADOWBROOK HIGH SCHOOL), OPENING REMARKS
2:00
BLUE LINE HIGHWAY (2nd stage)
2:30
THE CHICAGO CY TAGGART BAND (1st stage)
3:00
MARNA & MACY (2nd stage)
3:30
CHARLES ARTHUR (1st stage)
4:00
THE DREAMERS (2nd stage)
4:30
SUSAN GREENBAUM (1st stage)
5:00
ROBBIN THOMPSON (2nd stage)
5:30
BILLY RAY HATLEY & THE SHOWDOGS (1st stage)
6:00
THE JANET MARTIN BAND (2nd stage)
Food and both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages will be available. Entertainment for children will be provided.

Saturday night at the Capital Ale House Music Hall Downtown, the South Memphis String Band rolls into town. Show starts at 10 PM and tix are $15. While you may not recognize the band name, you may recognize some of the guys who make up this band. Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi All-Stars and (recently) The Black Crowes, Jimbo Mathus from Squirrel Nut Zippers and bluesman Alvin Youngblood Hart. From the looks of the video, they have got together to perform some good old-time music. Here is their version of "Smokestack Lightning" from the Continental Club in Houston on 4/25/09:



When you are at home this weekend, be sure to check out the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest webcast at http://music.att.net/. I'm hoping the webcast works better than the Coachella webcast. I had some issues with that one on att.net a couple weeks ago. On the webcast, they'll have both stuff recorded last weekend (the fest goes over two four day weekends), stuff recorded from past years and live stuff from this weekend. The webcast runs Saturday & Sunday from 1:45 PM ET to approximately 8 PM ET.

Highlights on Saturday:

Sonny Landreth at 1:45

BeauSoleil at 2

Dr. John at 3:10 (hopefully playing some numbers off his last Katrina influenced album, "The City That Care Forgot")

Ben Harper at 5:30.

Highlights on Sunday:

Allen Toussaint at 2 PM

Bonnie Raitt at 4:45

Neville Brothers performing their traditional festival closing set at 6:40

On Tuesday night, some dude named Bruce Springsteen will be at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville with his so-called E Street Band. Good seats have become available for the show. My friend, Dave, also tells me that tickets on the scalping sites have been going for less than face value for many shows outside of the NY - Philly area.

Also on Tuesday, at the National, Jack's Mannequin plays with openers Matt Nathanson & Erin McCarley. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8, tix are $28. You may dig these guys if you like Alternative Pop stuff like Ben Folds, Jason Mraz, Freedy Johnston, David Gray, and John Mayer.

I leave you this week with a video from transsexual European icon (but aren't they all) "we're fat but its OK" 80s video, "Love Your Body". There are so many things weird about this video I thought I was on an acid trip at a gay Weight Watchers meeting. All this is missing is Richard Simmons. And the crowd seems to clap at random things. This one will haunt your dreams all weekend.


Have a great weekend! I'll see you at Cinco de Mayo Fiesta!

Tony Jordan

VH (maybe), Cinco de Mayo, Defender, shows at Capital Ale House

Shows this weekend:

Van Halen will be coming to the John Paul Jones Arena in C'ville on Friday. Or should I say MAY be coming to the JPJ on Friday. Well, maybe the third time is the charm. I'll be there. Hopefuly, Eddie will be there. Hope to see you there. I've talked enough about VH in previous blogs so check those out.

If you are in Richmond on Friday night, you can check out former Kiss guitarist, Ace Frehley (Space Ace, of course), at the National. Doors at 8, show at 9, with two opening acts. Tix are $22.50.

At the Capital Ale House Downtown, the Friday free Happy Hour show is with The Dirty Truth. They start at 5.

The Cashmere Jungle Lords start their CD Release Party there at 9:30. Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 day of show. Here's what the Capital Ale House site says about them:
"This is the band that College Music Journal called “one of the South’s best kept secrets”, the band that Mel Oberg of the Richmond Times-Dispatch said “ought to put Richmond on the Rock N’ Roll map”. Cashmere Jungle Lords is a dynamic trio from Richmond, Virginia who describe their sound as Southern Fried Salsa Surfabilly or Western Surf Jungle Rock. The current line-up includes Dominic Carpin (the inventor of amp-surfing) on guitar and vocals, "Jungle" Jim Kaylis on drums and backing vocals, with Bryan Martin and John Dacey sharing duties on bass and backing vocals.

The Lords’ hybridized rootsy sound gives the group far-reaching appeal. They perform electric music in a somewhat standard bass guitar & drum format, but also deliver an acoustic “swamp set” incorporating double bass fiddle, congas, bongos, tambourine and maracas. The swamp set has graced the airwaves numerous times live on college radio across the nation."

The Illbillys are at the Capital Ale House Saturday starting at 9 and tickets are $5.

Reverend Payton's Big Damn Band is at Capital Ale House on Tuesday starting at 7 and tix are $8. Here's what the Capital Ale House site has to say about them or actually Mike Breen of Cincinnati City Beat: "THE REVEREND PEYTON'S BIG DAMN BAND actually isn't that big. It's kinda like your husky pal everyone calls "Tiny." The young, modest three-piece, from rural Indiana, makes up for its size deficiency with a high-energy sound steeped in classic Blues tradition. With just acoustic guitar, the occasional dobro, a minimal drum kit and the always reliable washboard, the trio concocts a rousing, hyper and authentic brand of Blues that sounds like what might come out of that secret meth lab nestled deep in the backwaters of the Mississippi delta. But the pumping adrenaline doesn't take anything away from the trio's virtuosic grasp on the genre. The Rev. Peyton has a stirring voice dripping with the hallowed, life-worn distinctiveness of the masters, while brother Jayme Peyton (drums) and The Rev's wife, "Washboard" Breezy, stir up a tornadic rhythmic whirl (the Rev's acoustic guitar work is as equally frenetic and skilled). See, size doesn't matter, especially when it comes to from-the-soul, gutbucket Blues music." - MIKE BREEN, Cincinnati CityBeat."

On Saturday on Brown's Island from noon to 7 is the Cinco de Mayo fest with no Mexican bands as far as I can tell. But they do have Joan Jett who can still rock the house, or the island as it were. There are a few other bands who I've never heard of playing, but it won't matter if its a nice sunny day and you can get your pasty white skin sunburned while quaffing some brews. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the gate, and the show is a benefit for SCAN (Stop Child Abuse Now) so you can rock out for the kids.

My first memory of Joan Jett was at a pizza parlor about a mile or so from where I lived when I was 12. We used to ride our bikes up there to blow our paper delivery money on pizza and the classic arcade game, Defender. Though there were closer pizza parlors, only this one had Defender. We would play as a pair, with a friend manning the Hyperspace button in case you got into trouble. Anyway, we were up there one gray day, and this tough looking older chick was hanging out playing "I Love Rock & Roll" over and over on her boom box. I walked up to her and asked her what the song was and with a disdain that only a 14 year old rocker chick can show for a dorky 12 year old boy, she told me. That's it. End of story. Its not very eventful, but I just like to remember a time when the only thing on my mind was playing Defender and eating pizza.

And don't forget that the New Orleans Jazz Fest will be on at AT&T Blue Room on Saturday & Sunday this weekend starting at 2 PM ET each day. Here' s the link: http://www.attblueroom.com/music/New-Orleans-Jazz-and-Heritage-Festival/more-information.php.

Speaking of webcasts, I caught a little bit of Coachella last week and saw two new bands that I dug: Architecture in Helsinki, who have a real 80's, Talking Heads, Thompson Twins, B52s vibe going on and the Bird and the Bee, a band fronted by three 60s housewife looking type ladies who did some cool harmonizing and had a somewhat loungey pop feel.

That's it. Have a killer weekend. "You'll get some leg tonight for sure."