Elton John, Bomb the Music Industry, The Head and the Heart, Shamrock the Block, GWAR, Marionette

Helooooo! Way to go tonight, VCU! An exciting win. Hopefully, we'll see another big run. Before we get to this weekend's shows, remember to check out my review of the Jane's Addiction concert from Monday below. Also, remember that FuseTV is broadcasting live from SXSW and you can see the blog from Wednesday for that info.

Friday night at The National, hometown horror heroes GWAR will be doing a special benefit show for their late guitarist Cory Smoot. Here's the details: "Slave Pit and GWAR are proud to announce the next phase in a series of events being held to honor the life of recently passed GWAR guitarist Cory Smoot and support the Smoot Family Fund. On Friday, March 16th, GWAR, Municipal Waste, Ghoul will play a special Cory Smoot memorial show at Richmond's National Theater, the proceeds from which shall be donated to the fund established for his wife Jaime and their unborn child. Just like the CD release party, there will be tons of raffles and special items available to show your love for an incredible musician and much-loved man who may have left us much too soon, but left behind a musical legacy that can never be silenced." Door open at 7, the show starts at 8 with openers Municipal Waste & Ghoul. Its $25 to get in.  Here is some recent GWAR. Remember its GWAR, its really NSFW or any other place. And if you're easily offended, please don't watch. Really, don't blame me if you watch this. You clicked it.


Local experimental rock band Marionette will be at Strange Matter on Friday night. Doors open at 9, show starts at 10 with openers Canary Oh Canary and Ocean vs. Daughter (who are here all the way from the Czech Republic). Here's the video for Marionette's "Orchid":



Saturday night, Sir Elton John comes to Richmond Coliseum. There are still tickets available though it looks like it sold pretty well so they may not be great seats. Tickets are either $48 or $151 after all the ticket charges and fees are thrown in. The show starts at 8 and there does not appear to be an opener so get there on time. I really hope Elton comes out dressed as a leprechaun. Here's Elton on the Muppet Show doing "Crocodile Rock":



Also on Saturday, Shamrock the Block will be rocking Shockoe Bottom for St. Pat's Day. The event runs from noon until 6 PM. It looks like there will be summer-like weather and maybe even a thunderstorm but hopefully that holds off until after 6. There will be beer and bands of the local variety. Click HERE to see the band lineup. This event is FREE to attend, though you gotta pay for your beer and food of course. They do have a kids area so you can bring them along.

On Monday at The Camel, ska-punk band Bomb the Music Industry, along with Hold Tight, Close Talker (love the Seinfeld reference), and Amateur Thieves will perform. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 and its $7 to get in. Here's Bomb the Music Industry's "Everybody That You Love":



The Childish Gambino/Danny Brown show that was scheduled for The National on Tuesday night has been rescheduled for July 29 because Childish fractured his foot at Saturday's show in Tampa.

Wednesday night at The National, The Head and The Heart will play for you. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8, tix are $17.50 in advance and $20 at the door. Be sure you get there by 8 so you can support Richmond band, Black Girls, who have been on tour this month with TH&TH. Another Richmond connection is that former Prabir & The Substitutes drummer Tyler Williams is the drummer for TH&TH. Drew Grow & The Pastors Wives will play in between Black Girls and TH&TH. TH&TH are an Americana band are catching some buzz right now, playing at all of the big festivals and scoring some opening dates with Dave Matthews Band, The Shins, & Justin Townes Earle. Here's TH&TH doing an acoustic version of their song "Down in the Valley":



Local fave Susan Greenbaum will be at Ashland Coffee & Tea on Wednesday night. The show starts at 7 and its $5 to get in. Susan will also be at Positive Vibe Cafe on Friday night (3/16) from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM.

That's it! Have a great weekend! Drink lots of green beer! Don't let your cat eat a leprechaun!

Tony Jordan

Shamrock the Block, Vetiver, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion

Want to start this week with excerpts from Sammy Hagar's new autobiography printed in Rolling Stone (click HERE).  On their last tour together in Van Halen in 2004, Eddie Van Halen apparently turned into a crazy, raving, lunatic alcoholic.  When you read some of these excerpts, its amazing that EVH didn't kill himself or someone else.  Hopefully, the dude is better now.

In some sad news, Mike Starr, the original bass player for Alice in Chains, died of unknown causes at the age of 44 (click HERE for full story).  Back in my radio days in the early 90s, I hung out with Mike for about an hour backstage at the Ozzy/Alice In Chains/Motorhead show.  I can't say I knew him well but he seemed like a real down to earth, cool guy in that short time, with no rock star diva b.s.  Though they don't know how he died, at least until they do tests, he did have drug issues and was recently on Celebrity Rehab on some station or another.  Its sad to see drugs kill a band that was very originial and led the way for the Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. Here's one for Mike:


On to this week here in Richmond.  Saturday from noon to 6 PM on what looks to be a nice day weather-wise, Shamrock the Block takes place down in Shockoe Bottom.  Its FREE to get in.  They say they have expanded the kids area this year to entice more families to come down.  Band lineup is made up of local bands.  Here is the schedule:
12:00p - 12:45p Uisce Beatha (celtic rock/pub music)
1:00p - 2:00p Highway Saints (rock)
2:15p - 3:15p Trongone Band (classic rock covers)
3:45p - 4:45p Age of Excess (80's hair covers)
5:00p - 6:00p Bayside (new rock)

You'll find a good indie folky/Americana show at The Camel on Saturday night w/ Vetiver, Sarah Lee Guthrie (daughter of Arlo, granddaughter of Woody) & Johnny Irion, and the Mason Brothers.  Tix are $10 in advance, $12 at the door.  Show starts at 8, doors at 7.  You might dig these bands if you like Joanna Newsom, Grateful Dead, Townes Van Zandt, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Black Crowes, Gram Parsons or Neil Young.  They should all be mixing and matching together.  Here are Sarah Lee & Johnny backed by Vetiver on the Last Call with Carson Daly show.  BTW, the Carson Daly show has been having some really great music on the show.  I do hate the jumpy camera work on the show, especially during the interviews, but he is really good about having new bands on the show.  Anyway, here's the clip:


That's about it this week.  A little slim but as the weather gets warmer those bands start to tour and things will pick up.

Here is the next clip from Paste Magazine's 25 Best Music Videos of 2010.  This video answers a question I am sure we have all asked ourselves, "What if Hot Chip were a boy band (they're not) and a weird messiah-like alien showed up at their concert and they challenged the alien to a dance-off?"  I don't know what it means but the boy band gets what they deserve.


In our next continuing list, Moviefone has listed the 50 Best Music Scenes in Movies.  Here are their two rules for the list:
"No musicals allowed!

As much as we like 'The Sound of Music' and 'An American in Paris,' the musical numbers in those films are a completely different breed of animal than, say, the parade scene from 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off.' Both have their places, but this list is all about the latter.

No "scored" scenes!
We love a good soundtrack as much as anyone, but for this list we considered only those scenes in which the music -- whether emanating from an onscreen band, a boombox, a disco's sound system, the mouths of the characters, etc. -- is part of the action. (Film nerds refer to scenes like this as being "diegetic." Non-nerds, you just learned something.) This explains, for instance, the absence of movies with killer, primarily non-diegetic soundtracks, such as 'Rushmore' and 'The Graduate.'"

I'm not going to do all 50 because some I just may not like.  But as a movie fan I always like when good music plays an integral part in a movie.  I just (finally) watched "Inglourious Basterds" and loved the use of Bowie's "Cat People".  Musically and lyrically, it was perfect.  In the Moviefone list they also include one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies "Boogie Nights", the "drug deal gone bad" scene. 

We begin tonight with #49, one of the last good moments for our heroes in "The Deer Hunter" before war tears their lives apart.  And really, any scene with Christopher Walken dancing has got to be good:
(Had trouble embedding the video so click HERE to view it.)

And on that note, I'm outta here. Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Shamrocks, Satellites, Bluegrass, Willie, Loose Ends

Let's jump right in. Saturday, you can party like the Irish at the Shamrock on the Block party, a free bash in Shockoe Bottom. Kids are welcome though there will be beer. It is a St. Pat's day fest. The party goes from noon to 6 PM. There are a number of local bands playing and the Georgia Satellites are the headliner, coming on at 4:45. The Satellites were one of the great, underrated bands of the 80s, an island of straight forward rock in a land of synth pop. They had a few big hits on their self-titled album in '86 including "Keep Your Hands to Yourself" and "Battleship Chains". I also really enjoyed their '89 album, Land of Salvation and Sin. Note that the lead singer from that period is no longer with the band. But if you only know "Keep Your Hands to Yourself", you probably won't notice and I'm sure these guys can still rock n' roll. Hopefully, the weather will hold out for this event. I have never been because I think every year it is cold and/or rainy and the forecast isn't looking too good this year either.

Saturday, great bluegrass act, the Del McCoury Band come into the National. Show time is at 8 PM and tickets are $17.50 in advance, $20 the day of show. These guys are one of the greatest bluegrass bands ever.

You can keep getting your Americana groove on Tuesday at the National when American icon and legend and your favorite 70+ year old pot head, Willie Nelson, is here. Show time is at 8 PM and tickets are $55.

R&B queen Jill Scott comes to the Landmark Theater on Sunday night. Show starts at 7 PM and tickets are $48. Jill Scott mixes old soul with hip-hop and I like everything she's done. Even if you can't get to the show, check out some of her tunes on her web site.

Finally, at Toad's Place on Wednesday, its a Richmond music showcase with DJ Williams Projekt (not a DJ, that's his name), Oregon Hill Funk All-Stars, The Silo Effect, and Aparallax. Tickets are just $5 in advance and $10 the day of show. Doors open at 7 PM.

A few loose ends:

One of the greatest shows in the history of TV wrapped up on Sunday night. That would be HBO's The Wire. This show took us inside the drug gangs of inner city Baltimore and the police who tried to catch them. It showed us the unions, the politicians and the schools in a city eating itself alive with corruption. I will miss my look into that world even though it was gut wrenching at times. If you didn't see it, check it out on DVD. Two of my favorite characters were the drunk, womanizing McNulty and the drunk Bunk. These two guys were the good guys, believe it or not. In one of my favorite scenes, McNulty & Bunk investigate a crime scene. This scene displays some of the black humor they would use to lighten the shows cynical feel. Its amazing the different ways they can say the f-word. Its almost poetic. Watch out if you're watching this at work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQbsnSVM1zM&NR=1.

Because nothing is funnier than a monkey with a gun. (Again, watch the language): http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/61f64d8204

The Marvelous Crooning Child. Disturbing yet strangely entertaining: http://www.eugenemirman.com/crooning1.html.

And just because it is a strange and beautiful song and video, Mexican Radio.

Have a great weekend. Happy St. Pat's Day!

Tony Jordan