Weekend Picks: Avers, Butch Trucks, Frankie Cosmos, Tommy Stinson, Shooter Jennings, Rock & Roll Jubilee

Indie pop artist Frankie Cosmos comes to Strange Matter Thursday night. Doors open at 7, music starts at 8. It's $15 to get in. Warehouse & Big Baby open. The video for her new single, "Sinister", just came out Monday. Here it is:

I think RVA's Avers is about to break out big with the release of their new album, "Omega / Whatever". Their garage psychedelic pop will have you dancing one minute, spacing out the next, rocking your ass off shortly after that and then sometimes altogether. The LP Release Celebration Par-tay is Friday night at The Broadberry. Tix are $10 advance, $12 day of show. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with openers Blank Range & Camp Howard. Avers will also be hanging out at Plan 9 Friday from 12:30 to 1:30 for a listening party for the new album, so now you have a lunch date. From the new album, this is "Vampire", filmed all around town. I saw them filming part of this down at Friday Cheers this year. In fact, I'm in the background at 3:48 and 3:52. I believe this is my music video debut. Look out Hollywood, here I come!

Tommy Stinson of The Replacements and Guns N' Roses (1998-2016) will be at Gallery5 Friday night. Tommy's new band is Cowboys In the Campfire featuring Frankie Lee & Chip Roberts. Tommy said of this tour, "We’re gonna be getting into all kinds of musical shenanigans in all sorts of places with as few instruments as necessary. We’ll be playing new songs, old songs, maybe even some make-em’-up-on-the-spot songs." Long Arms will open with a special acoustic set. Tix are $10 advance, $13 at the door. doors open at 7:00, show starts at 8. Here's Tommy on the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn (remember him?):

The Rock and Roll Jubilee will be playing a fun and unique event on Saturday night at Ashland Theater. How about a rock n' roll show and a movie? I'll let them describe it:

Journey back to 1959 to be a part of the studio audience for a live broadcast on WJKS radio… This best selling theatrical production has been selling out shows in theaters around Virginia and stars Craig Evans, Brad Tucker, George Garrett, Brian Sulser, Jim Wark and BJ Kocen. Featuring vintage equipment and period-style clothing, they play the music of the “Titans of Teen Town” — Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison and the Everly Brothers.

We are pleased to present a portion of their best selling show in teenagers-from-outer-space conjunction with the 50’s science fiction classic, Teenagers from Outer Space. 

Released in 1959, the film tells the story of a young alien (David Love) who falls for a pretty teenage Earth girl (Dawn Anderson). They then team up to try to stop the plans of his invading cohorts, who intend to use Earth as a food-breeding ground for giant lobsters from their planet. The invaders, who arrive in a flying saucer, carry deadly ray guns that turn Earth-people into skeletons. Oh no!!

We invite you to come in costume – appropriate dress for a 50’s sock hop or as the scariest alien invaders from 1959- win a pair of movie tickets for the best costume!!

The show starts at 7 PM and it's $15 to get in. Here's the band at Ashland Coffee & Tea last November:



Shooter Jennings and his outlaw country will be at Captial Ale House Downtown Tuesday night. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8, tix are $35 - 40, no opener is listed. Here's Shooter in 2011:



Wednesday, Butch Trucks, drummer from the Allman Brother Band, brings his Freight Train Band to Capital Ale House downtown. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9. Tix are $20 advance, $25 day of show. Expect them to play lots of Allman Brothers Band, which is not a bad thing. Here they are doing "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" last week:



And be sure to tune into WRIR 97.3 FM on your radio or on the internets (wrir.org/listen) on Monday morning from 6 - 8 AM. I'll be hosting the Breakfast Blend show and playing some stuff I hope you'll like. We'll ponder summer and swimming and August.

That'll do it. Hope to see you at Avers and maybe Butch Trucks. I'll leave you with this trippy, new video from Ty Segall:



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Josh Ritter, Shooter Jennings, Bio Ritmo, Late Night Pick: The Coup

Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band are in town tonight to play a Groovin' in the Garden show at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. With your ticket to the show, you'll also get a free digital download of Josh' new album, "The Beast in its Tracks" which is getting fine reviews. Tix are $25 in advance, $30 at the gate. Gates open at 5:30 and the show starts around 6 with opener David Wax Museum. If you want a preview of tonight's show or can't make it, here is a full show Josh recently did for NPR:



Over at The National tonight, it's outlaw country with Shooter Jennings. Hopefully, some of you were able to win free tickets to the show (see yesterday's blog). If you didn't, tix are $18, doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Daniel Romano. Here's the new lyric video for Shooter's "The Gunslinger" (language NSFW unless you drop f-bombs at work):

On the local music scene, salsa band Bio Ritmo will be over at Balliceaux tonight starting at 9:30 and it's $6 to get in. Here the are playing "La Muralla" featuring Giustino Riccio on timbale.



For the Late Night Pick, check out Oakland hip-hop band, The Coup, on Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35 AM on NBC.

Free Shooter Jennings tickets, RIP Ray Manzarek, Late Night Pick: Milo Greene

The National is giving away free tickets to see alt-country artist Shooter Jennings (son of Waylon). Here's the details:

Enter to win a FREE pair of tickets to see Southern Country Rock Artist, SHOOTER JENNING THIS Wednesday night ... Just send an email to tixswin@gmail.com by 8pm Today Tuesday May 21st with the SUBJECT - OUTLAW.  One e-mail per person.  Please be sure to include your full name that appears on your ID for entry.  Ten WINNERS will be chosen and notified via email tomorrow afternoon by 12pm !

 Ray Manazarek, keyboardist from The Doors, passed away yesterday at the age of 74. Ray was a great nut job, all his interviews showing a sense of fun and excitement with pearls of psychedelic wisdom thrown in. HERE is the obit from Rolling Stone. Here's one of Ray's finest performances, "Riders on the Storm":



Tonight's late night pick is folk-pop band Milo Greene on Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35 AM on NBC.

Late Night Pick of the Night: Shooter Jennings

Tonight, watch alt-country hero and son of Waylon, Shooter Jennings, on the Late Show with David Letterman. Shooter is promoting his critically acclaimed album, "Family Man".

The National, Elvis Costello, Widespread Panic, Shooter Jennings

In the "this is kind of confusing" category, The National play The National on Thursday & Friday night. That would be the band, The National, play the venue, The National. Doors open at 7 both nights, show starts at 8 with opener Arlt. Tix are $20 in advance, $23 day of show. The National are a critically acclaimed mellow indie-countryish rock band. Think Big Star, The Smiths, Wilco, The Cure, The Kinks, Sufjan Stevens or The Jayhawks. This one is my favorite song from their album, "The Boxer". It's called "Fake Empire":



I just discoverd a new feature on YouTube. When playing a music video, look for a little button called Disco in the upper right. If you click it, it gives you a bio on the band, similar artists, a list of the band's videos and a "mix tape" of similar artists' videos. You can then add whichever videos to a queue for viewing. Kind of a cool idea.

Outlaw country hero Shooter Jennings and Hierophant will be at the Hat Factory on Thursday night. Doors open at 7 and tix are $20. Shooter is the son of Waylon Jennings. Shooter tends more toward southern rock and bands like the Drive-By Truckers or Steve Earle than top 40 country. Though this song from his latest album "Black Ribbons" is definitely heavy on the alternative and nada on the country. Its a disturbing video but kind of cool directed by Shooter and his wife, Drea de Matteo (best known as Adriana from "The Sopranos") and seems to capture some of the craziness of our times and all the conspiracy theories on all political sides. Its called "Summer of Rage":



Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Elvis Costello & The Sugarcanes are at The National on Saturday night. Tickets are $38.50 in advance, $42.50 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8. There is no opener so get there on time. No opener hopefully means a nice long set (or sets) from Elvis and his Americana band. I don't know what the setlist will bring but seeing as Elvis is in a honky-tonk mood with his latest project, I'm sure you'll hear some of the more country influenced numbers from his vast catalog and/or some reworked versions of his classics. Here's the band playing on 4/17/10 in Biloxi MS:








At the Capital Ale House Downtown on Saturday night, some of our local bands are getting together for a benefit for Home Again, which provides shelter and services for homeless men, women & children. Music will be provided by Lost Satellites, Palominos & the Animal Beat. Show starts at 8 and tickets are $10. Good music, good cause, head down to Capital Ale House for the whole show or go over after the Elvis show. Maybe Elvis will stop by.



Sunday, the Richmond Earth Day festival takes place from noon to 5 PM

south of the 14th Street Bridge, where Hull Street Begins. Activities take place from the Flood Wall to 4th Street. Its all FREE. There will be activities for kids and adults, workshops, art displays, yoga, food, exhibitors and local bands Hot Lava, David Schultz and the Skyline, Photosynthesizers, and Gills and Wings. So get out there, have some fun and love your mother (Mother Earth, that is.)

Monday & Tuesday, elder jam band statesmen (damn, I remember when they were new) Widespread Panic come to The National. Doors open at 6, show starts at 7 and there is no opener. Tix are $40. Widespread plays in the tradition of the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers Band, Neil Young and were part of the "new wave" of jam band that popped up in the late 80's with Blues Traveler, Phish, Spin Doctors, Dave Matthews Band, etc. Here they are playing a couple tunes by The Band at their Halloween show last year:

If you can't come down after the Panic show and are looking to party after Panic on Monday night, head over to the Canal Club after the show. They'll have DJ Williams Projekt with opener Grapefruit Fred. Show starts at 11 PM and its just $5 to get in.
Citizen Cope comes to The National on Wednesday, April 28. Citizen Cope plays mellow, world music influenced rock. Think Jack Johnson, G Love & Special Sauce, Everlast, Jeff Buckley, Van Morrison, or Stevie Wonder. This is a makeup for the postponed Feb. 6 show so if you had tickets to that show they'll be honored at this one. If you want to get tickets, they are $20 in advance, $23 day of show. Here he is on the Ellen show:


Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Zappa Plays Zappa @ Ginter, Shooter Jennings @ Hat Factory

Just announced:

Zappa Plays Zappa will return to the area playing Groovin' In the Garden on June 17. No additional info yet.

Shooter Jennings and Hierophant play the Hat Factory on Thursday, April 22 at 7 PM. Tix are $16 in advance, $20 day of show.

Shooter Jennings, Future Rock

A couple shows on Thursday night:

Groovin' In the Garden kicks off its season tonight at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. Its good to have them back after a year off. Shooter Jennings (son of Waylon) will play if the rain holds off. Tix are $15 and doors open at 5:30. I heard that they have made some improvements to the stage area to improve sight lines, which weren't that bad before. Shooter plays alt-country that definitely has a heavier rock feel to it.

At the complete opposite end of the musical spectrum, electronica/jamtronica band Future Rock w/ Shout Out Out Out Out play at the Canal Club tonight. Show time is 10:00 and tix are $15. Here is what the Live Music Blog had to say about them:

"As a Chicago native, I’m always proud to give a shout-out to Chi-town bands. I lived in Chicago for about four years and was able to catch Future Rock rock out the local club circuit a number of times with their unique brand of live electronic rock. In my opinion, this trio doesn’t get nearly enough respect in the electronic rock or "jamtronica" scene (ugh, I really dislike using the latter label, but it is useful). So it’s great to see these guys grabbing a nice headlining slot at the Metro and a spot at this year’s Rothbury Festival, because they’ve been serious tour workhorses for the last five+ years, and they keep putting together great tunes and a killer live show. Although Future Rock is just as likely to get the house jumpin’ as a band like Lotus or the Disco Biscuits, their sets are a bit more geared towards the songs and crafting cool textures and themes. They also have picked some great covers to hone their sound (check out their takes on Daft Punk and Aphex Twin for some great examples).

Bottom line: These two should make for a nice, dance-friendly show, but with enough exploration and substance to keep you interested."