Speedy Ortiz, Richmond Jazz Festival, Jimmy Eat World, Sound City Festival, Watermelon Festival, Bill Evans, Ana Egge

This looks like a pretty busy weekend with three festivals going on along with a number of other shows.

We start on Thursday night with The Ana Egge Band at Ashland Coffee & Tea. Tix are $10 in advance and $15 day of show. Here's the press blurb about Ana: "Saskatchewan-born, Brooklyn-based folk troubadour Ana Egge isn’t your run-of-the-mill alternative-country singer. Using unique production and rock-based chord progressions, Egge has made a name for herself as a Gillian Welch figure with a rocker attitude. Ana’s newest album, Bad Blood was released August 23, 2011 via Ammal records. The 12-song set was produced by Steve Earle and recorded at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, NY. Bad Blood was mixed and mastered by Ray Kennedy (Earle and Kennedy’s production partnership includes the Grammy winning Lucinda Williams album Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, the Ron Sexsmith favorite Blue Boy, and many more. Steve Earle stated, “Ana Egge’s songs are low and lonesome, big square-stare noir ballads which she plays on a guitar she built with her own two hands and sings like she’s telling us her deepest, darkest secrets.”" Here's Ana and The Sentimentals doing "Motorcycle":

Over at Canal Club Thursday night, it looks like a pretty good rootsy, rockin' Americana show with Drivin' N' Cryin', Psychobilly Cadillac, and Road Kill Roy. Doors open at 7. Tix are $10 in advance, $12 at the door. Here's some vintage DNC: "Turn it Up or Turn it Off":



The Outside Lands Festival is going on in San Francisco this weekend. While I haven't seen any word of a webcast with video, you can listen in live HERE. The schedule for the broadcast hasn't been announced yet but they are at least promising Dawes & Grizzly Bear. Also at the festival are Sir Paul McCartney, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nine Inch Nails (great show last weekend at Lollapalooza!), Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Chic featuring Nile Rodgers (taking the place of D'Angelo last minute), The National, Willie Nelson, Hall & Oates, Head & The Heart, Gary Clark Jr. and more. The festival gets underway at 3 PM ET on Friday and runs through Sunday.

For your happy hour pleasure on Friday, check out the Kings of Leon webcast live from London at 4 PM ET on YouTube HERE. Fred Armisen of SNL (formerly) and Portlandia will be directing. Here's Fred schooling the band in preparation for, well, in preparation for something....



Back here in Richmond, Jackass Flats will play some bluegrass/Americana for you over at The Camel on Friday night. The show will get underway around 10 with openers Jordan Tarrant, Russel Lacy, and Jared Pool. No cover charge is listed but if there is one, it will be minimal. Here's the band in 2011 at Camp Barefoot:



At Capital Ale House, get jazzy jammy with Bill Evans' Soulgrass featuring Danny Louis of Gov't Mule . Doors open at 9 PM, the show starts at 10 PM. Tix are $15. Bill Evans has won a few Grammys and played with Miles Davis (when Bill was just 22), Herbie Hancock, Mick Jagger, Bela Fleck, Bruce Hornsby and many others. Soulgrass has a core group and then various guests sit in at each show. Here's the band playing with Jake Cinniger (from Umphrey's McGee) and John Medeski in NYC in March.



The Richmond Jazz Festival is at Maymont this weekend. It'll start at noon on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $65 each day. The lineup this year features Jill Scott (she was great at the July 4 show in Philly with The Roots that was broadcast on VH1), Michael McDonald, The Wailers, Chick Corea, Dr. John, Terence Blanchard, Joe Sample, Arturo Sandoval, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Susan Greenbaum and others. Here's Dr. John doing "Ice Age" featuring Jack White's favorite guitarist, Dan Auerbach from the Black Keys. Dan also produced the Doctor's last album:


Down at Tredegar Iron Works Saturday and Sunday, it's the Sound City Festival. Gates open at 2:30, music starts at 3:30 each day. Tix are $30 each day and that includes 3 beer tickets and they are promising 50 different beers from good breweries so you won't have to drink Bud Light. Bands include The Breeders, El Vez (on Saturday) and Deerhunter, Those Darlins, Black Girls, and The Trillions (on Sunday) and others. Here's The Breeders doing "Saints" because summer is ready when you are. Love this song.

Jimmy Eat World brings their power pop to The National on Saturday night. Royal Bangs opens the show. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8. Tix are $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Here's Jimmy Eat World's latest video, ""I Will Steal You Back":



Over at Strange Matter Saturday, it's a band that was influenced by The Breeders and other 90's indie rock, Speedy Ortiz. They've got a good buzz going on around them right now for their debut album, "Major Arcana". Doors open at 9, it's $8 to get in, and Sundials, Little Master and Springtime open. Here's Speedy playing today at Radio K. This is their song "MKVI":



At that fancy, new-fangled bowling alley, Uptown Alley, on Saturday, you will find People's Blues of Richmond playing their hard-ass, psychedelic blues and trying to pick up the spare. The show gets underway at 9:30 PM and there is a $5 cover. Big time web site Reverbnation chose PBR as one of their featured artists this week. Here's the pretty cool video for their song "Black Cat" from their new album, "Good Time Suicide":



On Sunday, it's watermelon time which means it's time for the Carytown Watermelon Festival in, you guessed it, Carytown. It starts at 10 AM, it goes until 6 PM. There will be watermelon, bands playing, watermelon, a kids zone with all kinds of crazy inflatables, watermelon, food, watermelon, adult beverages available in the Carytown bars, and more watermelon.

Daft Punk canceled their appearance on Colbert Report the other night because MTV screwed him over. But Colbert turned lemons into hilarious sweet lemonade with this video and the help of several celebrity friends and a former Secretary of State:



Have a great weekend! Hope you get lucky.

Tony Jordan

Flaming Lips, WRIR, Papadosio, David Allan Coe, Jimmy Eat World,

Quite a few shows this week but let's start with a show going on sale tomorrow for The National. Flaming Lips will be coming to The National on Sunday, May 15.  Tix will be $46.75 (including all charges) and go on sale Friday Feburary 4 at 10 AM.  If you like your rock n' roll shows to include psychedelic music with a bit of punk inspired by Pink Floyd (if they were happier), Yes, The Who, The Cramps, Hawkwind, Sonic Youth, then go see this show.  If you like your rock n' roll shows with dancers dressed like Yo Gabba Gabba's DJ Lance Rock, giant hands that shoot lasers, mirror balls, artsy videos, confetti/streamer guns and a guy walking over the crowd in a giant plastic bubble, then go see this show.  If you like your rock n' roll shows with a bunch of mopey, shoe gazers, with three lights who mumble something to the crowd every third song or so, then go see the Flaming Lips show so you can see rock n' roll extravaganza at its finest.

Onto this weekend's shows.  WRIR's Party for the Rest of Us will be held at the Roosevelt Ballroom of the Renaissance Conference Center, 107 West Broad Street in Richmond on Friday night from 7 PM til midnight.  You can get in for just a $10 donation at the door which gets you not only the entertainment, but also some birthday cake to celebrate WRIR's 6th birthday.  I dig what WRIR does but I can't say I listen too much for a few reasons.  My main radio listening hours (terrestrial or internet) are from 7:30 AM - 6 PM when I'm working and driving in my car.  Unfortunately, for most of that time WRIR is playing news/talk which is nice to have because its hard to find new/talk of a liberal bent on the conservative dominated talk radio airwaves.  But I can't listen to talk radio of any sort while working.  It must be some left brain/right brain kind of thing.  And then when I'm in my car WRIR only comes in if you're near the station (say within 2 miles) and the wind is blowing just right.  But don't let that stop you from supporting them because maybe they can use some money to petition the FCC to boost their signal.  Here is the lineup for the evening's entertainment:
Ballroom:

7:15-7:45 Opening ceremony by YoughTaNund Native American drum ensemble
8:05-8:50 Marionette
9:10-9:55 Pennyshaker
10:10-10:55 The Diamond Center
11:15-12:00 Ultra Dolphins

Variety Room:
7:00-7:30 Richmond Youth Jazz Guild
7:40-8:10 Spirit Winds flute ensemble
8:15-9:00 Slam Poetry
9:15-10:00 Stand-up Comedy w/ David Garland, Joe Hafkey, John Reaves
10:00-11:00 Hip Hop showcase w/ Black Liquid, Ms. Proper, Artik Phreeze, Dothepaperboy
11:00-12:00 Turnstyle Sounsystem w/ Jesse Split & JoAnna O

On Friday night at The Canal Club, the Camp Barefoot Recovery Jam will feature Jackass Flats, DJ Williams Projekt, No BS Brass, LarJar and DJ Ricochet Red.  This is an 18 and over show.  Doors open at 8:30.  Tix are $7 in advance, $10 at the door.  A pretty good local band lineup for just $10. 

On Saturday night, Papadosio will be at The National.  Tix are $12.50 in advance, $15 at the door.  Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with opener The Silo Effect.  Papadosio is a jam band that is starting to make a name for themselves on the festival circuit playing Jamcruise recently and Wakarusa, Camp Barefoot, and Summer Camp this summer.  Here they are doing "Unparalyzer" in October of 2010:


Also on Saturday night that alt-country rascallion, David Allan Coe, will be at The Hat Factory. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8. No opener is listed. DAC has been known for his bad behavior but here he is keeping it clean with his song "The Ride":


Our favorite local 70's smooth rock band, (hell the only local 70's smooth rock band), Three Sheets to the Wind will be at The Tobacco Company on Saturday night.   The show starts at 9:30 and there is no cover.

Tuesday night, Jimmy Eat World will be at The National.  Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.  Doors open at 8, show starts at 7 with opener David Bazan & Band.  Jimmy Eat World managed to shed off the emocore label by embracing some power pop attitude. You will probably dig them if you like Foo Fighters, blink-182, Weezer, Nirvana, Offspring, Rancid or Green Day. Here they are performing their latest hit, "My Best Theory" with a video that reminds me of 70's sci-fi movies:


A little bit of music news. The Rolling Stones are apparently gearing up for a 50th Anniversary World Tour.  But with tickets probably starting at a minimum of $150 and even my friend, Mat, the biggest Stones fan I know saying, "I would pay big bucks to see them in a club but I don't think I'd do a stadium again", especially to see them play the same songs they play every time you see them, you have to wonder, what if they gave a Stones show and no one came? Can they still command top dollar in this economy? Will regular Stones fans get to go or will it just be a bunch of poseurs in the front, taking crappy video on their iPhones the whole show so they can impress their friends with how close they sat and tell them "I think they played that Puerto Rican girls sang but I didn't know too much of the rest. But I did sit near Kim Kardashian!"

OK now its time for the next video in our review of Paste Magazine's 25 Best Music Videos of 2010. This one is from Hanson. Yes, that Hanson. And you know what, I kind of like it. It's a happy, soulful tune with some nice horn riffs in it. No, really try it, its pretty good. And they do a nice parody of the Ray Charles part in "The Blues Brothers" movie. And Weird Al (who has a new album coming out soon) is playing tambourine. So this video really has a lot going for it, though the high-five at the end is pretty freakin' cheesy. Why did they have to go there? Anyway, this is Hanson, "Thinking 'Bout Somethin'":


That's it. I'm outta here.  Have a great weekend.

Tony Jordan