Weekend Picks: Richmond Folk Festival, NO BS! Brass Band, Steel Panther, Ultra Kings, Dismal Swamp Lords

This weekend? Folk Festival, Folk Festival, Folk Festival, Folk Festival. Go to the Richmond Folk Festival. It's down at Brown's Island/Historic Tredegar all weekend long (6 P - 10 P Friday, Noon - 9:30 P Saturday, Noon - 6 P Sunday). Going to the Folk Festival is like walking around the world as you move from tent to tent. Blues, klezmer, Celtic, Cajun, sacred steel, bluegrass, gospel, Cambodian khmer, hip hop (Grandmaster Flash!), rockabilly, Persian, Ethiopian jazz and more. I'll be working backstage at the Union/U of R Virginia Folklife Stage on Saturday from 11:30 AM to 3 PM and just on that stage, I'll see a Baptist hymn to open the day by Reverend Frank Newsome, bluegrass/gospel from The Church Sisters, Russian folk music from the Washington Balalakia Society Orchestra, and contemporary bluegrass from Ash Breeze. If you like to move, just head down to the Dominion Dance Pavilion at the end of Brown's Island where the stage for Cheers is. I hope to see you there. Blues singer Shemekia Copeland will be playing on Friday and Saturday and here's a little taste of her, filmed just a week ago:



NO BS! Brass Band is at Broadberry Friday night. You can head down there after Folk Fest. It's $12 in advance, $15 at the door. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9. Don't know if there is an opener, but if there isn't, that just means more NO BS! NO BS's new album, "Brass Knuckles" is coming out any day now (just in time for Christmas!), so expect to hear a lot from that. Here's their new epic song, "Ballad of the Eagle Claw":

Steel Panther bring their tongue-in-cheek (maybe?) hair metal to The National Friday night. Tix are $22.50 in advance, $25 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with Eagles of Freedom. Here they are Rockn' at Wacken last summer, opening with the cracking "Pussy Whipped" (language NSFW, but with a title like that, you probably figured that out):

Saturday night, The Ultra Kings (out of my old stomping grounds in the Lehigh Valley, PA!) and Dismal Swamp Lords are at Poe's Pub for a rockabilly/surf/swamp/punk/blues fest and really, what more could you ask? Show starts at 9. There may be a $5 cover charge. Here's The Ultra Kings from earlier this summer:



That's gonna do it this week, Been packing to move next week so not a lot of time. Because of the move (just across town) there will be no Handful of Brains Weekend Picks next week (awwwwwww!).

Have a great weekend! Go to Folk Fest!

I'll leave you with the Jefferson Airplane tribute from Lockn' 2015. Great show! Beautiful and talented singers! Awesome jams! Deep cuts! Jack & Jorma!



Tony Jordan

Lyle Lovett, Shovels & Rope, Hayes Carll, Steel Panther, Red Elvises, Bio Ritmo, Southern Belles

It's Friday Cheers time again and the weather looks like it will be absolutely wonderful for the kickoff and the bands are great too. Americana acts Shovels & Rope (6:30 PM) and Hayes Carll (8:00 PM) are your co-headliners. It's $5 to get in, gates open at 6 and get there early because Shovels & Rope have a big buzz building right now after their exciting set at Coachella. HERE is the article from Style Weekly featuring Shovels & Rope. And here is music from  both. We'll start with Shovels & Rope performing "Birmingham" live on David Letterman:



And here's Hayes Carll's "Another Like You" which really shows off his sense of humor and shows that people on the left and right side of the political fence can get together. And look for a guest appearance from two poiticos at the end:

If you wanna rock 80's style on Friday night, head to The National for Steel Panther. Steel Panther is on their STD tour (Spreading the Disease) and they will infect you with their parody of hair bands. Tix are $22 in advance, $25 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Hillbilly Herald. Here's the trailer for Steel Panther's new DVD "British Invasion" which tells you all you need to know. Language in this is NSFW but it f**kin' rocks!



Siberian surf rockers, the Red Elvises, will be at Capital Ale House on Friday. If you like your surfabilly served up with a side of borscht and camp, this band is for you. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9, tix are $10 in advance, $12 day of show. Here they are on the Russian version of Jimmy Kimmel:



If you want to lose yourself in the country-fried rock-n-roll jams Friday night, Southern Belles and The Northerners will be at The Camel. It's $7 to get in and the show starts around 9. Here's Southern Belles doing "Waves":
 

The second weekend of New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival goes down this weekend and you can listed to live sets HERE all weekend long. Even better, if you have AXS TV on your cable or satellite provider (I know it's channel 340 on DirecTV) you can 25 hours of live coverage this weekend going from 3 PM to midnight Friday - Sunday. Acts on AXS TV will include Billy Joel, John Mayer, Phoenix, Widespread Panic, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Gary Clark, Jr., Willie Nelson & Family, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Gipsy Kings, Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite, Laura Bell Bundy, Galactic, Marcia Ball, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Anders Osborne, Bonerama, and Marc Broussard among others. And that is SWEET, bitches!

Hardywood Brewery busts out its new Saison Rustica on Saturday at 2 with great salsa band Bio Ritmo taking the stage at 5 PM to get you moving. It's free to get in.  Here's Bio Ritmo doing "Carnaval":



Trongone Band will be hanging out, classic rockin' and unplugged at Tobacco Company on Sunday night from 7 PM - 9 PM and it's FREE. This isn't acoustic but here's the band performing Ophelia, Dear Mr. Fantasy and Hey Jude:



Tuesday night, the great Lyle Lovett will be at the Carpenter Theater. Lyle puts on a great show, touching on country, jazz, folk, and gospel and telling humorous stories with his country debonair wit. He's not with the "Large Band" this time. It'll be a five piece acoustic band this time, which should place an emphasis on his folksy, surreal lyrics. Hopefully, he'll do this one from back on '93 with Rickie Lee Jones on backing vocals. It often bring me close to tears. The show starts at 7:30 and tix run from $40 - $60.



I'll leave you with a mashup of Bohemian Rhapsody and Rhapsody in Blue, appropriately titled Bohemian Rhapsody in Blue:



BTW, I just finished another fantastic collection of music videos called Music Videos 19. Yes, I know, quite an original title. Anyway, it's heavy on old school hip hop thanks to Rolling Stone's 50 Greatest Hip Hop Songs of All Time list, so get on your Kanga hat, Adidas track suit and some cool kicks. But you'll find a lot of other surprises in there too so check it out and put it on shuffle to have the most fun. Or check out one of my other 18 video collections.

Have a great weekend! See you at Friday Cheers!

Tony Jordan