Neko Case, New Potato Caboose, Anders Osborne, Mike Doughty, Blitzen Trapper

This is a very busy music weekend so let's jump right in on Friday night at The National with alt-country goddess Neko Case. Tix are $22.50 in advance, $25 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 and get in early to see opener Kelly Hogan. Here's Neko with Elvis Costello doing "Prison Girls":

Also Friday night, at Strange Matter, punk pop Ed Schrader's Music Beat will perform. It'll cost you a few bucks to get in and there will be an opener. Doors open at 9, music starts at 10. Ed Schrader's Music Beat is made up of Ed on a floor tom and bassist Devlin Rice. That's it, real minimalist. Here's a short little ditty from them called, "When I'm In a Car":



All weekend long you can check out the FREE webcast from the Forecastle Festival in Louisville KY. The webcast will be on iClips HERE. They haven't posted the schedule for the webcast yet, but the festival itself gets under way at 5:30 on Friday, and 3:00 Saturday and Sunday. Bands at the festival include Wilco, My Morning Jacket, Head and the Heart, Beach House, Lucero, Jeff the Brotherhood, Julia Nunes, Justin Townes Earle, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Dr. Dog, Galactic, Andrew Bird, Girl Talk, Mike Doughty, Kelly Hogan, Cloud Nothings, Charles Bradley, Neko Case, and more.

Also on the interwebs this weekend, is the FREE webcast of the Pitchfork Music Fest on YouTube HERE. That will start at 4:00 Friday, and 2:00 Saturday and Sunday. Again, no schedule posted yet, but bands at that fest include Feist, Dirty Projectors, Japandroids, Danny Brown, Hot Chip, Sleigh Bells, Wild Flag, Cults, Cloud Nothings, Vampire Weekend, Beach House, The Men, Thee Oh Sees and more.

Saturday, it's a tribute band fest at Innsbrook with The Machine (Pink Floyd), Limelight (Rush) and Little Ozzy. Tix are $5 in advance, $10 at the door, children 10 and under free for GA, and $25 in advance and kids 2 and under free in the Gold Circle. Gates open at 5. Here's The Machine doing "Comfortably Numb" last year in RI:



And in case you missed it, here is when Dave Gilmour joined Roger Waters to perform "Comfortably Numb" on Roger's "Wall" tour in London last year:



Wilton House Museum continues their Jammin' on the James series with the Susan Greenbaum Band on Saturday. The show will run from 6 to 8 and it's FREE. Here's Susan solo doing "Everything But You" in Williamsburg earlier this year.

Speaking of jamming, one of the bands from the second wave of jam bands (late 80's - early 90's) will be at The National Saturday night. New Potato Caboose is back together and hittin' the road. Tix are $12.50 in advance, $15 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Octopus. Here's NPC performing "Wooden Music" last year:



If you want the hard blues (or you have the hard blues) on Saturday night, go find People's Blues of Richmond at The Camel. It's $5 to get in, doors open at 9 and Bubonik Funk will open. Here they are performing in Philly a couple weeks ago:



Sunday night, New Orleans blues man via Norway, Anders Osborne, will be at Capital Ale House. Tix are $15 in advance, $18 day of show. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8. Seth Stainbeck will open. Anders doesn't get up to these parts often enough so check him out. Here, Anders performs "Black Tar" acoustic and out in the park:



As an added bonus, here is the Anders Osborne Trio doing Neil Young's "Cortez the Killer":



Tuesday night, Mike Doughty, who used to lead Soul Coughing, will be at Capital Ale House. Tix are $15 in advance, $18 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with "a special guest". Here's Mike performing "Na Na Nothing" at WNRN in Charlottesville, which you can get here in Richmond on 103.1 FM.:

Grateful Dead cover band King Solomon's Marbles will be at Cary St. Cafe Tuesday night. Show starts at 10 and there is no cover.

Finally, Wednesday night, alt-country rock band Blitzen Trapper will be at The National. Tix are $15 in advance, $18 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with Sarah Jaffe. Here's Blitzen Trapper performing "Stranger in a Strange Land":



And if you ever wondered what North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un's girlfriend would sing like, here she is singing a little ditty called "Excellent Horse-Like Lady". I think I woke up with one of those once after really drunk night in college. Thanks to Mike K. for passing this one along. This song will haunt my dreams tonight of working hard in the North Korean factory for the glory of the great dictator.



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Jam Bands Galore, NYE in Richmond

Here it is, Christmas Eve Eve, and not a creature is stirring except my cat, who just threw up a hairball. "Merry Christmas, people. Hack!"

Anyway, Saturday begins the little mini-jam band fest here in Richmond.

Saturday night, the reunited New Potato Caboose plays The National. Tix are $15 in advance, $18 day of show and doors open at 7, with the show starting at 8 with opener Indecision. New Potato had some regional success in the 80s and 90s in the Northeast as a band that played Dead, Little Feat and other classic rock along with some originals.

If you would prefer to see a local Dead cover band, check out King Solomon's Marbles on Saturday night at Cary St. Cafe. Show starts at 10 and cover charge is $7.

Tuesday night, uber-Dead cover band, Dark Star Orchestra plays at The National with Donna Jean Godchaux (formerly of the Grateful Dead) & the Tricksters. Doors open at 6, show starts at 7, tix are $25 in advance, $28 day of show. You know the drill by now, DSO takes the setlist from a Grateful Dead show and "recreates" the show live. Donna will probably sit in for a few tunes.

On Wednesday, 12/30, Keller Williams plays The National. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8, tix are $18 in advance, $21 day of show. Keller will do 2 full sets so there is no opener. I've never been a huge fan of Keller when he does his one man band thing with the looping. Its interesting for about 15 minutes but never really grabbed my soul. I have enjoyed Keller when he is with a band. Looks like you'll get a little of both at this show. The National site says: "Keller Williams with an Added Bonus, an even blend of Keller's solo looping show and new flavors of grassy disco jazz funk featuring Claude Arthur, Jay Starling, Toby Fairchild as well as digital visuals by Scott Sunn." Here you can check out Keller doing his one man band thing with the song "Brown Chicken Brown Cow":



If you are looking for some music on New Year's Eve, the choices are unfortunately very few.

Jackass Flats, The Hot Seats, and Barnun & Co. will be doing the bluegrass thing on NYE,officially known as the 2nd Annual Richmond Roots Music Extravaganza at The Camel. Tix are $20 for the whole night of music, plus heavy hors d’oeuvres and a champagne toast at midnight.

Crucial Elements will be doing the reggae thing at Cary St. Cafe on NYE. Show starts at 10 PM and tix are $10.

If you have recovered enough from your NYE hangover to bang your head on New Year's Day, you can head to The National for a FREE concert from AC/DC cover band, Hells Bells (not to be confused with the all-female AC/DC cover band, Hell's Belles). Doors open at 7 and show starts at 8 with openers Half Brother Sid, Stoke Row and Medusa Switch.

I'll leave you with a video from what could be the weirdest Christmas party you would ever want to go to (and I would want to go to it) presided over by Bob Dylan (in a wig?) in Bob's song "Must Be Santa" from his Christmas album.

Have a Merry Christmas & and Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

Tony Jordan