Supporting music in Richmond since 2000 - "Father, father / We don't need to escalate / You see, war is not the answer / For only love can conquer hate / You know we've got to find a way / To bring some lovin' here today" - Marvin Gaye, “What's Going On”
The weekend kicks off early with some fine music to benefit the VCU Massey Cancer Center for Pediatric Cancer Research. The Waybacks and special guest Jim Lauderdale will be playing at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens on Thursday night. Gates open at 5:30, show starts at 7. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door and children 12 & under are free. The Waybacks are bluegrass based but I wouldn't exactly call them bluegrass. They like to call it "acoustic mayhem". You judge for yourself. Here they are performing "I'm Calling" and "Russell County Gorge" in SC earlier this year. If you go to the show, I hope to see you there.
Also on Thursday night, the No BS! Brass Band will be at Balliceaux. That show will start at 10 PM and it's FREE.
Saturday night the Indigo Girls will be at The National. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Roxie Watson. Here is the video for "Making Promises" from their latest album "Beauty Queen Sister" which came out on September 27.
Mates of State will be at Canal Club on Monday night. Tix are $15. Doors open at 7 and the openers are Other Lives, Yawn & Marionette. Mates of State are a married couple who play indie pop (but then again don't most married couples) at least when they aren't climbing mountains, staring quizzically at things and defeating lions with their awesome kung fu skills (watch the video). You might dig them if you like Spoon, Ben Folds, Modest Mouse, Death Cab for Cutie, or Throwing Muses. Here's the video for their latest song "Palomino":
If you like food and wine, and who doesn't, the 8th annual Carytown Food & Wine Festival will take place in Carytown (duh) on Sunday from noon until 6 PM. Tix are $15 in advance, $20 at the gate. The ticket includes a souvenir glass and wine tasting. Kids under 12 are free.
I got my tickets for the Drive-By Truckers at The National in October. The Saturday night show. Joan & Mike will be rocking with me. If you want to know why the Truckers rule, check this out. They had an unexpected night off when they were supposed to open for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers but the show got postponed because Mike Campbell, primo guitarist for the Heartbreakers, had passed out from the heat during the previous show. Most bands might go see a movie with their night off. Maybe stay in their hotel room, get drunk and bang groupies. Maybe go see a show, perhaps a local theater version of "Cats". But the Truckers? They said f**k that! We're a fu**in' rock n roll band! We want to RAWWWWWCK! So they did a surprise show. And played for three hours. Read about it HERE.
Friday night at Maymont, Old Crow Medicine Show will perform on the Carriage House Lawn. Tix are $25 in advance, $30 day of show. The show starts at 6 with opener Ben Kweller. Here they are doing a song I really like, "Wagon Wheel":
Here's a bonus of Old Crow Medicine Show doing The Band's "The Weight" with Gillian Welch & David Rawlings:
Also Friday, Solazo will play at the Lecture Hall at the Library of Virginia. Tix are $10 and the show starts at 6 PM. Here's what the LVA site says about Solazo: "Hailing from Chile, Argentina, and Ecuador, the four members of Solazo will offer up a unique blend of Latin folk, contemporary dance music, and soulful ballads that appeal to all ages and cultures. Their newest CD, Mindful Journeys, is an exciting compilation of original music inspired by traditional styles borrowed from Spain, Cuba, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Ecuador. Layered with sensual Cuban rhythms and spiked with the unusual flavors of Andean sounds (panpipe, charango, and mandolin), the authentic and artful arrangements move fluidly from flamenco to mambo within the course of a single song. The band's sound is further distinguished by enchanting and pure vocal harmonies that consistently captivate. A crowd favorite at the Richmond Folk Festival, this group of immigrants currently calls Floyd County, Virginia, home. This concert is offered in conjunction with the Library of Virginia's exhibition The Land We Live In, the Land We Left: Virginia's People." Here's a little taste of Solazo:
Also on Friday, country music legend Merle Haggard will be at The National. Reserved Seats on the Floor and Reserved Balcony Seats are $45. General Admission Standing Floor are $37.50. Doors open at 7 and the show starts at 8 with openers, The Malpass Brothers. Here's Merle doing his classic, "Mama Tried":
On Friday another webcast from iclips.net starts, this time form the HullabaLOU festival in Louisville KY. Hopefully this will run better than the All Good webcast when a storm on Friday afternoon knocked their satellite dish at the site out for two days. Hey, its not easy to get spare parts when you are in the middle of nowhere WV. But iclips usually does a great job. It was really funny to read the chat on the page where the webcast was supposed to be broadcast and see how many people were getting indignently mad because a FREE webcast was not playing. You just gotta wonder what kind of people will hurl insults at people who are trying their best to get a FREE webcast back up on the air. Do you really feel like they somehow owe this to you when you are paying NOTHING to see this? Anyway, here is the schedule for the HullabaLOU webcast. All times are Eastern Daylight Time:
Friday
2:30 - Hazel Miller
3:20 - Rick Bartlett's Rockin' Soul Revival*
4:05 - Blood, Sweat & Tears
5:05 - Exile*
5:35 - Gloriana
More to be announced
Saturday
2:30 - Jimmy Church
3:20 - Kim Taylor*
4:00 - WAR
5:00 - Duke Tumatoe & the Power Trio*
5:50 - Ben Sollee*
6:40 - TBA
7:15 - Gov't Mule
Sunday
1:45 - Andrea Davidson
2:35 - Taj Mahal
3:35 - Terry Adams Rock & Roll Quartet*
4:15 - The Black Crowes
5:30 - Stealing Angels*
6:30 - The Avett Brothers*
7:30 - TBA
8:30 - Dave Matthews Band
* Indicates a delayed performance
Sunday there is a great show at Innsbrook for a great cause. Chris Isaak with special guests Marc Broussard and The Waybacks will play and the show will benefit the VCU Massey Cancer Center. General Admission is $25 in advance, Gold Circle is $50 in advance. Gates open at 3 and the show starts at 4:30. Chris Isaak is just a way cool guy as you can tell from this interview in today's Times-Dispatch. I wasn't gonna play this one. I have a number of Chris Isaak's albums and there is a lot of great songs on them. But damn, this is a great song:
BTW, because of the excessive heat forecast, concertgoers are asked to bring three sealed, personal-sized bottles of water (24 ounces or less) to the show, a benefit for Music for Massey. Until 7 p.m., umbrellas and personal awnings will be permitted into the Snagajob.com Pavilion, but will be restricted to the back half of the general admission lawn area (behind the soundboard) and must be stowed after 7 p.m.
On Wednesday night at Innsbrook, jam band veterans Blues Traveler will play with jam band super-veterans Little Feat opening. Little Feat will start things off at 6:30 with Blues Traveler coming on at 8. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door and there is no Gold Circle (yay!). Blues Traveler was the first band to rise up in the second wave of jam bands in the late 80s. I saw them on many occassions back then in hot, sweaty clubs and college gymnasiums. Thankfully, they were a very giving band and gave bands they liked a hand up with opening slots and the H.O.R.D.E. tour. Thanks to them, I got my first exposure to Phish, Widespread Panic, and the Spin Doctors. Unfortunately for Blues Traveler perhaps, those bands all eclipsed them and continued to evolve (at least Phish & Widespread) while Blues Traveler, despite the hit "Hook", seemed to get bogged down in the same old sound. Though I still enjoyed seeing them every now and again, they moved out of the "must-see" band category for me and my friends. I suspect they still put on a good show. But I just don't know if they can ever recapture those times when they were at the forefront of a new movement of jam bands and I was sweating my ass off, dancing to them during a three hour show at The Chestnut Cabaret in Philly. Here's one from back in the day, "But Anyway":
Also on Wednesday night, a grown-up Hanson will play at the Hat Factory with Rooney. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 and tix are $25 in advance, $30 day of show. I have actually heard some good things about Hanson and that they have matured into a fine band with a classic rock/adult alternative sound. Here is a song from their 2007 album "The Walk" called "Watch Over Me". You be the judge.
What do we got this week? October, always a busy month concert-wise in Richmond, continues with The Waybacks at Capital Ale House on Thursday night. The show starts at 8 and tix are $15. Here is what the Capital Ale House site says about The Waybacks: "They draw freely from the old school and the old world, but The Waybacks are no throwback. They’ve been erroneously pigeonholed as a bluegrass band and celebrated as purveyors of “acoustic mayhem.” They are as uninhibited and unpredictable as the eclectic San Francisco Bay area that claims them, and for nearly a decade, their experiments have always proven sharp-witted and musically dazzling. They’re living proof that in music anyway, evolution and intelligent design are entirely compatible.
The Waybacks will mix a whole bunch of stuff into their own style and just to prove it here they are doing The Grateful Dead's "St. Stephen" along with a little Zeppelin:
Just announced at The National, GREGG ALLMAN with a Full 7 Piece Band Friday January 8th @ 8pm ... Reserved Seat tickets on sale this Saturday October 17th at all Ticketmaster outlets, nattickets.com, and The National Box office. Tix are $35.
On Saturday afternoon, you can check out Shoctoberfest at the 17th Street Farmers' Market. Admission is FREE and the event runs from 11am-5pm. The Farmers' Market describes this event at "A Bavarian-style festival honoring our fall harvest just as they do in each year in Bavaria, with local restaurants specializing in German-Hungarian foods along with music, varieties of rich beverages and plenty of entertainment. There will be dancing and singing of traditional Germanium Polka songs, so gather up your lederhosen and your favorite beer stein and join us in the market for Richmond's best Shocktoberfest."
Also on Saturday, Modern Groove Syndicate bring s their acid-funk-jazz to Cary St. Cafe. The show starts at 10 and tix are $7. Here they are grooving at Cary St. Cafe in January:
Sunday, you can check out the Innsbrook Beer & Wine Festival. This will run from 2 PM until 7 PM. Admission is free and tastes, full glasses or portions are pay as you go. This is a benefit for Connor's Heroes so you can party with a conscience. There will be live music all day too.
Also on Sunday, blues great Duke Robillard will be at the Capital Ale House for a special 3:00 PM show. Doors open at 2, tix are $12 in advance and $15 day of show. This show is sponsored by the River City Blues Society and if you like the blues and live in Richmond, you should check them out. Here's what they have to say about Duke: "Guitarist. Bandleader. Songwriter. Singer. Producer. Session musician. And a one-man cheering section for the blues, in all its forms and permutations. And every one of those names has shared recording studio space or stage time with a man who is a legend in the blues community.
The Blues Music Awards (formerly W.C.Handy Awards) have named Duke Robillard "Best Blues Guitarist" four years out of five (2000,2001,2003,2004) making him the second most honored guitarist for that award! He was also nominated in that category in 2005, 2007 and again this year of 2008. In 2007 Duke received a Grammy nomination for his "Guitar Groove-a-rama" CD and was also honored with the prestigious Rhode Island Pell Award for "excellence in the arts" along with actress Olympia Dukakis, actor Bob Colonna, and R.I. Choreographer/Festival Ballet director Mihailo "Misha" Djuric.The Pell award is named for Senator Claiborne Pell who help establish the the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities in 1965.
Other awards over the last decade include three Canadian Maple Blues Awards in 2001, 2002, and 2003 for "Best International Blues Artist," The Blues Foundation's "Producer of the Year" award in 2004, The French Blues Association "Album of the Year" award in 2002 (Living with the Blues) and "Guitarist of the Year" awards in 1999 and 2002. BB King himself has called Duke "One of the great players," The Houston Post called him "one of God's guitarists. And the New York Times says "Robillard is a soloist of stunning force and originality. (reprinted from http://www.dukerobillard.com/meet.cfm)"
And here's Duke with Sax Gordon from a few years ago doing a boogie-woogie number called "Blue Coat Man":
Finally, 80's/90's punk band Social Distortion will be at The National on Tuesday night. Tix are $25, doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with openers, The Strangers. Here they are doing their hit, "Bad Luck", last night in Clifton Park NY:
