Gregg Allman, Whitey Morgan & the 78's, Magnificent Bastards, Robbin Thompson Band

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone has recovered from the holidays.

We start the new year off with a legend at The National.  A guy who suffered death and dissention within his band, alcohol and drug abuse and a marriage to Cher (who was kind of hot in the 70's during their 15 minute marriage and before 20 years of plastic surgery and those Bob Mackie creations she wears are fab-u-LOUS!).  Yes, I'm talking about Gregg Allman, now all cleaned up (at least at press time) and sounding good.  He'll be at The National on Tuesday night, tix are $35, doors open at 6:30, show starts at 7:30 with opener Barrelhouse.  Here's a little video where Gregg talks about the making of his latest album, "Low Country Blues", which I'm sure you'll hear some stuff from on Tuesday night:

Whitey Morgan & the 78's with special guest Wes Freed (who did the artwork above and also does the artwork for Drive-By Truckers) and his band The Magnificent Bastards will be at Shenanigans on Friday night.  The show starts at 8:30 with The Magnificent Bastards opening.
Here's one from The Magnificent Bastards:


And here's one from Whitey Morgan & The 78's doing a Dale Watson song about Billy Joe Shaver called "Where Do Ya Want It":


On Saturday night, The Robbin Thompson Band will be at The National. Tix are $20, doors open at 7, show starts at 8 and there is no opener listed so get there on time. Robbin Thompson was in Bruce Springsteen's first band, Steel Mill, and then found some fame as a solo artist in these parts most notably for the song "Sweet Virginia Breeze" and his work with Timothy B. Schmitt of the The Eagles. Here's a clip of the Robbin Thompson Band way back in 1981 doing "Broken Promises" complete with skinny tie:




If you are a fan of mashups, here are the 10 Best Mashups of 2010 as chosen by BuzzFeed.  My favorites are "Smells Like Rockin Robin" (Nirvana & Jackson 5) and "Imagine a Jump" (John Lennon & Van Halen). 

Finally, we continue our walk through the top 25 music videos of 2010 with a cool song about Tatooine (you will by strangly moved) and a great acommpanying video using paper cut-out animation to tell the story of the original Star Wars trilogy. 


Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Railroad Earth, Joanna Newsom, The Nighthawks, Jimmy Herring Band & more

If you are an Americana fan, you have a choice to make on Friday night.  Jamgrass band Railroad Earth will be at The National.  Tix are $22, doors open at 8 and the show starts at 9 with opener Cornmeal.  Here they are performing "Dandlion Wine" at the Greyfox Bluegrass Festival in 2010:


Also, on Friday, local Americana act, The Atkinsons, will be at Ashland Coffee & Tea.  The show starts at 8 and tix are $10 at the door.  They'll be releasing their second CD, "Mile Marker" in early 2011 so I'm sure you'll hear a few tunes from that.  Here they are performing "Out of Time" at The National on October 16, 2010:


Saturday night, Joanna Newsom, the other-worldly singer and harpist (that's right, harpist) will be at The National.  This is a Seated General Admission show.  Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.  Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with opener Neal Morgan.  Caught Joanna one day on "Later with Jools Holland" and I had to stop what I was doing and listen to her unique mesmerizing music.  Here is that performance, a song called "81".  (BTW, "Later with Jools Holland" is on Ovation network and I highly recommend this no-frills, eclectic show featuring four or five different artists on each show.) There may be a short ad before the video, but its a nice quality video so deal with it.


Allman Brothers tribute band Skydog will be at The Camel on Saturday with fellow tribute band Led Zepplica.  Show starts at 9 and its $7 to get in.  Here's Skydog doing "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed":


If your taste is more yacht rock tribute than jam rock tribute, check out Three Sheets To The Wind at The Republic on Saturday night.  Show starts at 9 PM and its FREE.

Here is the band performing the Stephen Bishop classic "On & On" in Palm Beach FL earlier this year, putting the yacht in yacht rock.


Blues rockers The Nighthawks will be at Shenanigans for an early show on Sunday night starting at 6:30.  There may be a cover charge which probably won't be too much but if you want to know call Shenanigans at 804-264-5010.  Here's The Nighthawks in Littleton CO in October:


Monday night, The Jimmy Herring Band will be at The Hat Factory.  Tix are $16 in advance, $20 day of show and the show starts at 7 with opener Barrelhouse.  Jimmy has played with just about every jam band starting with Aquarium Rescue Unit, then Phil Lesh & Friends and The Dead, Allman Brothers Band, and now Widespread Panic.  The rest of the band features a lot of jam rock vets with drummer Jeff Sipe (Aquarium Rescue Unit, Jazz is Dead, Shawn Lane), keyboardist Matt Slocum (Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks), and Neal Fountain on bass (Col Bruce Hampton, Alex Machacek).  They'll be playing stuff from their latest album along with covers of Led Zep, The Beatles, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Frank Zappa and others.  Here they are playing "Transients" in RI a few days ago:


That's the weekend and more.  Have a great one!

Tony Jordan

Zappa Plays Zappa, Skydog, January Allstars, Robbin Thompson

Thursday night brings Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa to town at The Hat Factory. Tix are $35, doors open at 7:30 and the show starts at 8:30. There is no opener and if I recall correctly, they started right on time when they played here a year and a half ago. As a big fan of Zappa since I was introduced to his music one evening in South College dorm by Joe & Joe, who knew all the words to the "Sheik Yerbouti" album, I will be attending this show. Listening to Frank Zappa's music this week, I realized his songs are still as relevent as ever as we continue to deal with the same issues of race, politics and religion that he satirized during his time with us. Dweezil is a great guitar player in his own right (even playing with Frank on some songs. You'll see what I mean if you go to the show.) and he brings some fantastic musicians with him to carry the torch of Frank's music to new generations. Here's the drum solo and then "Apostrophe" from last week's show in Ft. Lauderdale:


Friday night, Allman Brothers Band tribute, Skydog, will be at The Canal Club with Tom Petty tribute band, The Hard Promises, so a good night of classic Southern rock here. Tix are $10 and doors open at 8, show starts at 9. I believe The Hard Promises is opening but I'm not completely sure and you'll want to see them both anyway so just get there when it starts. Couldn't find any videos of these bands so here is some prime Allmans from 9/10/73:


Also on Friday night, Pete Ragusa, former drummer from The Nighthawks (he just left the band after 35 years!), will be playing with The January Allstars (Pete Ragusa, Catfish Hodge, Tommy Lepson, Tom Principato and Steve Wolf) at Shenanigan's Eatery & Pub. Should be a fine night of blues rock. The show starts at 8:30 and there may be a cover charge. Here's the band doing "Two Turntables & a Microphone" almost exactly a year ago at Shenanigan's:


Saturday at The National, The Robbin Thompson Band (with all original members) will play. Robbin is a Richmond native who played with Bruce Springsteen in Steel Mill (before the E St. Band) and then had some solo success of his own. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 day of show, this is a reserved seat show, doors open at 7 and show starts at 8. There is no opener listed. Here's the band doing "Candy Apple Red" at their show at the NorVA last month:


If you are in a metal mood and want to do something good on Saturday, head down to The Hat Factory for the Benefit For Missing Metallica Fan Morgan Harrington. Morgan is the woman who disappeared after the October Metallica concert in Charlottesville. Tix are $15 which is a donation to the Harrington family to help them continue their search. Doors open at 8 PM with a candlelight vigil. Bands playing include Dangerous New Machine featuring ex-Stereomud, Fozzy, Stuck MoJo members (GA), Memory Fade (VA), Saint Diablo (VA), Whiplash (NJ), and At War (VA).

I'll leave you tonight with the "Skynet Symphonic" a music piece made up of nothing but sounds from "Terminator 2: Judgement Day". This guy also did a cool one of nothing but sounds from "Up" a few months ago.


Have a great weekend and I'll see at Zappa Plays Zappa!

Tony Jordan

Earth Day, Record Store Day, The Duhks, Black Cash

So much going on this weekend so let's jump right in.

You can start the weeekend off with Johnny Cash tribute band Black Cash & The Bad Trips. They'll be at the Tobacco Company on Friday & Saturday night and it won't cost you a thing to get in. Show starts at 10 each night.

Saturday is Record Store Day all around the country. Its a day to celebrate your local independent record store and since we have one of the best in the country here in Richmond, head on down to Plan 9 in Carytown. They'll have bands playing live all afternoon. Here is the lineup:
1:15-2:00 Hex Machine
2:45-3:30 No BS Brass Band
4:15-5:00 Cinemasophia
5:45-6:30 The Recliners (CD Release Show)

There will also be free giveaways and exclusive Record Store Day music available from artists like Bruce Springsteen, Ben Harper, Bob Dylan, Derek Trucks, Elvis Costello, Flaming Lips, Jane's Addiction and more. Check out the Plan 9 web site for all the details.

Saturday is Earth Day and the Earth Day Richmond and Fish Festival will be held from 10 AM - 4 PM at the South side of the Mayo Bridge (14th Street) at the James River Flood Wall. This is a free event and the Earth has decided to give us a beautiful day for it. There will be food, art, dance, environmental exhibits, demonstrations, tours, earth-friendly goods, plenty of kid's activities and live music. For the skinny, check out the web site: http://www.earthdayrichmond.org/.

The X Chili Cookoff is Saturday from 11 - 7 out at the Richmond Raceway Complex. There will be chili, beer, and bands of the type played on 102.1 the X:
11:45
Searching For Timothy
12:45
Pop Evil
2:00
Framing Hanley
3:15
Anberlin
4:30
Hollywood Undead
5:45
Trapt
Tix are $20 in advance and $25 at the door but if you listen to the station they are giving away a lot of tickets.

The Duhks will play at Capital Ale House Music Hall Downtown on Saturday night. Show starts at 10 and tix are $15. Here is what the Capital Ale House site says about them: "The Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Duhks have always gravitated towards traditional roots-based song structures, but they've never stopped evolving since their inception five years ago. Due in part to a collective musical worldview that knows no boundaries, that evolution led the band to their latest offering Fast-Paced World, the first Duhks record to feature wunderkinds Sarah and Christian Dugas (replacing vocalist Jessee Havey and percussionist Scott Senior respectively). It's an album that reflects the quintet's newfound confidence, with Sarah bringing five original songs to the band's encyclopedic collection of originals and covers both old and new."

You'll dig The Duhks if you like Nickel Creek, Bela Fleck, or Fairport Convention. Here is a video of them playing live from just a month ago, singing about a road we all know well, "95 South":




Close out your weekend with music from the long-lived blues bar band, The Nighthawks. They'll be at Shenanigans with an early show starting at 6:30 so you can still get home and get a good night's rest before work. Here's a little Nighthawks from downtown Williamsport PA, my cousins' hometown where I used to hang out for a couple weeks each summer.




Wednesday night, the Innsbrook Pavilion season kicks off with the Doobie Brothers & the Little River Band. Tix are $17.50 in advance, $20 at the gate and $35 if you want Gold Circle. Gates open at 6 PM and the show starts shortly after that. Here is some classic Doobies from 1973:




And here is some freakin' smooth rock from Little River Band. I think I had this on a K-tel album. From what a can tell they drank some wine, played some pool and BAM! Music video.




Also on Wednesday, O.A.R. plays at The National. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 and tix are $35. On the Internet Music Archive, their show from 1/14/06 is the most downloaded show in the site's history with almost 2.5 million downloads. The next closest has 368,000 downloads. So when I went to listed to the 1/14/06 show one day, I thought "2.5 million downloads. This is going to blow me away." But after listening all I thought was "Meh." Not that exciting.

Larry Keel & Natural Bridge play at the Capital Ale House Music Hall Downtown on Wednesday night. Show starts at 9 and tix are $12. These guys play bluegrass influenced Americana. Here is the first 10 minutes of the documentary about Larry called "Beautiful Thing". You can check out the whole thing on YouTube.


Finally, this weekend, festival season starts which means the festival webcasts start. This is the next best thing to being at the actual festivals. On the plus side, beer is cheaper, you don't get baked by the sun or driven by the rain, and you get to take a shower whenever you want.

On Sunday, though not being webcast, the Green Apple Festival takes place in cities across the US to celebrate Earth Day and the show in DC is really good. Flaming Lips, moe., and Los Lobos will play on the National Mall.

An Earth Day festival that is being webcast is the Loyal Earth Music & Arts Festval Thursday through Monday from St. Louis. You can check out the webcast at http://www.iclips.net/loyalearth. Its on Thursday night until midnight and I'm watching The Station now. Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday runs from 4:20 PM to 1 AM. The hghlights should be Medeski, Martin & Wood Sunday at 8 PM. I haven't heard of most of the other bands but that's the beauty of the webcasts. You get to check out some new bands and see if they can bring it live. Note that times listed above for Loyal Earth Music Fest are Central time.

AT&T Music will be webcasting the Coachella festival from the desert outside of LA. This has a few bands you may have heard of. Highlights will include Paul McCartney (Friday 10 PM), Morrissey (Friday 9 PM), The Cure (Sunday 10:10 PM), Public Enemy (Sunday 9 PM), Michael Franti (Saturday 5:10 PM), Drive-By Truckers (Saturday 6:55 PM), Calexico (Saturday 7:45 PM). M.I.A. (Saturday 9:35 PM), Okkervil River (Sunday 6 PM) and Conor Oberst (Friday 8:15 PM). The webcast will run roughly 2:30 PM - midnight on Friday through Sunday. Note that times listed above for Coachella are Pacific time.

Wow, that was much longer than I thought it would be. Happy Earth Day!

Tony Jordan

Nighthawks parts, Cosmic Charlie, Cross Canadian Ragweed

Hey there! Hope you've all been having fun playing with David Lee Roth.

This is a good weekend if you are a Nighthawks fan. For those that don't know, the Nighthawks are a great blues and roots rock bar band (and I don't say that perjoratively because a good bar band is hard to find. Just ask Phil about the band he saw at Poe's last weekend.) that's been around for 30 years and have achieved a cult following in the mid-Atlantic. While the Nighthawks themselves aren't playing in the area, pieces of them are.

Drummer Pete Ragusa will be playing with the January Allstars at Shenanigan's Pub in the Northside. The show starts at 8:30 and the January Allstars are made up of Catfish Hodge, Tom Principato, Tommy Lepson, Pete Ragusa & Steve Wolf. Then on Sunday night, Nighthawks vocalist and harp player Mark Wenner plays with local Richmond bluesman Terry Garland and his trio at Lulu's in Shockoe Bottom. That is according to the Nighthawks web site. I can't get confirmation on the Lulu's web site so call Lulu's in advance to confirm.

If you have made a fiscal decision to pass on The Dead due to their high ticket prices but still need your Grateful Dead music fix, Cosmic Charlie will be at The Canal Club on Friday night. The show starts at 9:30 and you'll get two sets of music for the low, low price of $10.

Cross Canadian Ragweed will be playing at Toad's Place on Sunday night. Doors open at 7 PM, tix are $18 and this is an all ages show. Local Americana band The Atkinsons will be opening so be sure to get there early. You'll dig Cross Canadian Ragweed if you like Drive-By Truckers, Alejandro Escovedo, or other alt-country acts. Here is a video for their song "Carneyman":


Virginia Coalition will be at the Capital Ale House Music Hall on Saturday night. Doors open at 9 and tix are $15. I saw them a few years ago at Friday Cheers and thought they were OK. I'd heard they were better when they were a four piece band. But its been a few years so they may be worth another try. Their latest album, Home This Year, got a great review (4.5 stars out of 5) on the AllMusic web site.
Here's what they Ale House site says about them:
"Virginia Coalition's live show is a larger-than-life party that has helped the band garner a rabid fan base who affectionately call them “VACO.” It was also Virginia Coalition's extraordinary live show that got them signed to New York City based label bluhammock music. Based on a tip from a friend, the founders of the label came to a show to check them out. "Then they came back a second time, then they kept coming back until we got signed. That's pretty much how everything has happened for us. " Ottinger said. "All the success VACO has is due to people passing the word around and saying good things." Word of mouth is how they sold 60,000 records and it's how they won the 2003 Washington Post Reader's Choice Award for Best Local Band in 2003."

And if you feel like freezing in DC Sunday (starting at 2 PM) or perhaps just watching it on HBO (7 - 9 PM), the Inaugaral Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial will feature a few folks you may have heard of: Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, John Legend, John Mellencamp, Usher Raymond IV, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, will.i.am, and Stevie Wonder. Among those reading historical passages will be Jamie Foxx, Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah and Denzel Washington.

Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Nighthawks at Shenanigan's on Sunday

Joan K. reports that "white boy blues band" (their term, not mine) The Nighthawks will be playing a 6:30 show on Sunday evening at Shenanigans, 4017 MacArthur Avenue, Richmond, VA, 23227. The Nighthawks have been playing for 30+ years and their music was featured in not one, but two, episodes of one of the best shows on TV, HBO's "The Wire". The Shenanigans site and the Nighthawks site both do not show a cover charge, so if there is one, it should be nominal. Also, note that the Shenanigans site says the Nighthawks show begins after the Daytona 500 ends, so you may have to contend with drunk, pissed-off Junior fans.