It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Handful of Brains!

 

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s Handful of Brains! (originally aired Tuesday, 3/22/22, 7 – 9 PM on WRIR 97.3 FM Richmond Independent Radio) We’ll start the show tonight with a musical tribute to the Man of Steel and our usual eclectic mix of music including The Clique, Donovan, Flaming Lips, Doug Sahm, Willie Nelson, Animal Collective, Tears for Fears, Toubab Krewe, Fantastic Negrito, Queens of the Stone Age, and more!

Here's a link to listen to the show: https://vault.wrir.org/shows/202203221900.HandfulOfBrains.mp3 and a link to the playlist https://www.wrir.org/2022/03/22/its-a-bird-its-a-plane-its-handful-of-brains/

(Photo: By DC Comics – comicsalliance.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61390264)

Tedeschi/Trucks Band, Toubab Krewe, Southern Belles, Kings of Leon webcast, Late Night Pick: Goldfrapp

Tedeschi/Trucks Band, who put on a great show at Lockn' with their blend of blues/R&B/soul, will be at the Carpenter Theater tonight. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8. If you are going to go, get your tix ASAP because it appears to be nearly sold out. Only the $79 and $35 seats remain if you want to sit with a friend and single seats remain at the $45 level. Don't get in late either. No opener is listed on the TTB site or the Carpenter Theater site. Doesn't mean there won't be an opener but you take your chances. Former, and long time, Allman Brother guitarist Dickey Betts played with the band the other night at The Beacon Theater in NYC. Don't think Dickey will show up tonight but you never know. This is the first time in a long time Dickey has played with any current members of the Allman Brothers Band. Don't know if this will lead to a reconciliation between Dickey and the band, but it's a start. They aren't getting any younger so maybe they'll want to bury the hatchet before they die. Here's some highlights from TTB's set at Lockn' when they were joined by Chris Robinson from Black Crowes and Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead.

Over at Capital Ale House tonight, the West African influenced sound of NC band, Toubab Krewe, will permeate the air. Tix are $15. Music will start with opener Southern Belles somewhere between 10 and 11 so if you are going to TTB and want to make full night of it, head to Capital Ale House after TTB ends. Here's Toubab Krewe playing at radio station WNCW in June:



On the World Wide Web tonight, you can watch Kings of Leon performing live from Dave Letterman's Ed Sullivan Theater in an hour long show starting at 9 PM. You can watch that HERE.

Tonight's Late Night Pick is electo-pop band, Goldfrapp, on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight at 12:35 AM on NBC.

More on the rest of the weekend tonight!

Tony Jordan

Shadrock Music Festival, All-American Rejects, Toubab Krewe

Big weekend in Richmond as the outdoor music season really begins.  But first, on Friday, cowboy country/western swing group Riders in the Sky will be at the Powhatan Village Building in Powhatan.  Tix are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Doors open at 6 PM. For those of you that know your Pixar, these guys sing "Woody's Roundup" in Toy Story 2, but they are much more than that. Their fiddle player, Woody Paul, was just inducted into the National Fiddlers Hall of Fame. They've played over 6100 shows in the lifetime of the band which dates back to 1977. Here they are doing "Woody's Roundup". For those that don't know, the song is supposed to be the theme song for the fictional "Woody's Roundup" TV show from the 50s:


Also on Friday, West African music by way of North Carolina comes to us in the form of Toubab Krewe, who will be at Capital Ale House. Tix are $15, show starts at 10 PM with opener Tony Furtado.  Toubab Krewe is an American instrumental band which fuses the music of Mali with American musical styles (particularly those of the Southern United States). The group’s instrumentation includes kora (21-string harp-lute), kamelengoni (12-string harp-lute), soku (Malian horsehair fiddle), two electric guitars, electric bass guitar, drum set, and African percussion. The group, which is based in Asheville, North Carolina, was founded in early 2005 and has traveled to West Africa several times, working with local musicians.  Here you can watch Toubab Krewe's entire set (with lots of guests sitting in) from Jam Cruise 2010 (click HERE, sorry can't embed it).


On Friday, Grateful Dead cover band, King Solomon's Marbles, will be at Cary St. Cafe. Show starts at 10 PM and there is a $7 cover.

If you are at home on Friday night, you can check out the webcast of Jack White's concert. The webcast will be directed by actor Gary Oldman. It will start at 9 PM ET HERE.

On Saturday, Style Weekly's Shadrock Music Festival hits Brown's Island. Appearing at the fest will be De La Soul, alt-rock stalwarts Yo La Tengo, new bands Dum Dum Girls & Shabazz Palaces, reunited Richmond band Kepone, along with Kid Is Qual, Invisible Hand, Photosynthesizers, DJ Mass FX, and The Scorpio Brothers. It'll get under way with Photosynthesizers at 12:30 PM and go until 11 PM. Tickets are $35 and if you want to VIP that will cost you $100. Here's some old school De La Soul to get you in the mood:



If you are lucky (or unlucky depending on your point of view) you may see some of these people at the Shadrock Music Festival: http://www.happyplace.com/15610/the-worst-people-you-see-at-every-summer-music-festival.

On Saturday night at The National, electronica jam band EOTO will perform for your pleasure. Tix are $18 in advance, $22 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Kraddy. Here's the preview video for the tour along with a glimpse of their new Lotus Sculpture stage set:



Sunday night at Bandito's, punk rockers The Strap-Ons and the Eurotics will be at Bandito's. Show starts at 10. I don't think there is a cover. Here's The Strap-Ons at band practice in December doing "Wicca Chicka":



Also on Sunday, Bandito's 15th Anniversary Party that was supposed to be last Sunday got moved to this Sunday because of the rain last week. The fun starts at noon and runs until 6:30. It will be outdoors with bands The Milkstains, Chrome Daddy Disco and Bio Ritmo. There will be adult beverages for the adults and a moon bounce for the kiddies.

Tuesday at The National, emo-pop band The All-American Rejects will play. Tix are $25 in advance, $28 at the door. Doors open at 6, show starts at 7with opener A Rocket to the Moon. Here's All-American Rejects new video for "Kids in the Street":



One of my favorite sites, sci-fi/fantasy/science site io9.com is counting down their 100 Albums Every Science Fiction and Fantasy Fan Should Listen To. Click HERE to start at 100 through 71.

Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Wiggles, Toubab Krewe, Build a Well for Sudan, Guitar Shorty, Kenny Neal

I'll be hitting up what is definitely the show of the summer tomorrow......if you are in pre-school.  That's right, I'm off to the The Wiggles Wiggly Circus at the Carpenter Theatre at Richmond CenterStage on Thursday night.  Anthony, Greg, Jeff and the new yellow shirt guy will be entertaining in their Wiggly way.  All I know is that if they bust out a Big Red Car > Frere Jacues > Twinkle Twinkle Little Star > Sugar Magnolia > Big Red Car reprise, my almost three-year-old Willie will lose his mind.  I just hope he doesn't mix too much E and Faygo like he did at the Gathering of the Juggalos last weekend when he went bananas and starting throwing rocks at Tila Tequila.  He didn't come down until three in the morning.  OK, that's a lie.  The Wiggles don't play Sugar Magnolia.  But they do play Split Enz's "Six Months in a Leaky Boat":


For more adult fare, check out Toubab Krewe on Saturday night at Capital Ale House downtown.  They played at Friday Cheers in 2009 and were the best band of the run that year.  They play great groovy West African inspired music.  They have been signed by the new Nat Geo (as in National Geographic) Music label and their new album on that label comes out on 9/7.  You would think, "West African inspired music, Nat Geo label" they must be black musicians from Mali or something.  Wrong.  They're a bunch of white guys from Asheville NC who have blended rock music with traditional African music to create a heady mix.  The show starts at 10 PM on Saturday and tix are $13 in advance and $15 at the door.  Here they are at Bonnaroo in 2009 doing their song "Sirens":


Sunday, you can actually help Africa when Capital Ale House downtown hosts a benefit for United Families for Sudan with the proceeds going to help build a well for a Sudanese village.  The show will run from 3 to 9 PM and feature music from The Big Guys, Kurt R Sternahagen, Elana Hyner Jazz Trio, Maharal, Moosa and Rattlemouth.  Tix are $10 at the door.

Next Wednesday night, August 25, bluesmen Guitar Shorty and Kenny Neal will play a show at the Capital Ale House Downtown which is sponsored by the River City Blues Society.  The show will start at 7 PM and tix are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.  Guitar Shorty hails from Texas and influenced Hendrix and Buddy Guy.  He won the Blues Music Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year for his album "We The People" just four years ago so you know he can still bring it.  Kenny Neal comes out of Louisiana and won a 2009 Blues Award for Song of the Year ("Let Life Flow") and won the 2008 Blues Critic Readers Poll awards for Album of the Year and Contemporary Blues Artist of the Year. 

Here's Guitar Shorty at the Chicago Blues Fest in June this year:


Here's Kenny Neal and the Neal Family Band with guest Jason Ricci on harmonica from the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise in January of this year:


I'll leave you with a link to "The 10 Worst Lyrics From the 10 Richest Rappers".  Call me crazy but I actually like Lil' Wayne's and Snoop Dogg's. 

Have a great Wiggly weekend!

Tony Jordan

Umphrey's McGee, Toubab Krewe, James King Bluegrass Fest

Jam band Umphrey's McGee comes to Groovin' in the Garden at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens on Thursday night. Doors open at 5:30, show starts at 6 with opener, The Transmitters. Tickets are $25. Though they touch on a lot of different musical styles, they do like some of the more technical, art-rock aspects of the jam band genre. Here they are doing their song "Wizard Burial Ground", which wouldn't sound out of place on an old Rush or Joe Satriani album. And this video has fireworks, pyrotechnic and musical.


Friday its the last Friday Cheers of the year with Toubab Krewe. The show starts at 6 with Crucial Elements, and is FREE. As always, Cheers is on Brown's Island. I've been wanting to see these guys for a while so I'll be heading down there with Zach and my mom, who is visiting from NJ. They definitely have a cool, unique and danceable sound. Toubab Krewe that is, not my mom & Zach.

From the Toubab Krewe press release: "Blending American and West African influences into a sound all its own, Toubab Krewe has set "a new standard for fusions of rock 'n' roll and West African music" (Afropop Worlwide).

Since forming in 2005, the magnetic instrumental quintet has won a diverse and devoted following at performances around the world. They developed their unique sound over the course of numerous extended trips to Mali, Guinea, and Ivory Coast, where they immersed themselves in the local culture and studied and performed with luminaries.

But the group has its roots in Asheville, NC, where many of its members were childhood friends and long-term musical collaborators. And it was there, at home in the Appalachians, where the band chose to record their sophomore album, Live at the Orange Peel. All of the songs are previously unreleased and continue to mix American rock 'n' roll with the West African musical traditions the band fell in love with on their travels. Along the way, they explore the worlds of surf and zydeco, fusing it all together into what the Village Voice describes as "a futuristic, psychedelic, neo-griot frenzy" and Honest Tune hails as "one of the most innovative voices in music today."

Here's some video from their performance at Capital Ale House in January:


This year's Virgin Fest will be absolutely FREE. You will have to drive up to Meriweather Post Pavilion outside of Baltimore. But its FREE. The show is August 30. Bands include Weezer, blink-182, Franz Ferdinand, Public Enemy, Jet, The National, Girl Talk, The Bravery, The Hold Steady, St. Vincent, Wale, and Taking Back Sunday. Dance tent favorites include Holy F*ck, Pete Tong, Danny Howells and Lee Burridge. Not a bad lineup for FREE. You can get tickets on ticketmaster.com on June 27 at 10 AM. Previous Virgin Mobile Festival ticket buyers and Virgin Mobile customers will have first dibs on the tickets with an invitation to a “free-sale” (like a pre-sale but it’s free) on Thursday and Friday.

Here's what Phish had to say about playing with Bruce last weekend at Bonnaroo. Sounds like a splendid time was had by all: http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/phish-revels-in-glory-day-of-springsteen-1003985647.story.

Bruce's battle with Ticketmaster escalates. Give 'em hell, Boss: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090622/music_nm/us_springsteen.

If you want to take a 45 minute ride out to Rockahock Campground in Lanexa, they'll be having the 5th Annual James King Bluegrass Festival this weekend. Its $65 for the whole weekend, or you can pay $25 for just Friday or $30 for just Saturday. This year’s entertainment features The James King Band with special guest Sierra Hull, Bradley Walker, Lost & Found, Randy Waller & The Country Gentlemen, Blue Highway, Country Fried Grass, Code Blue Bluegrass Band, Bill Emerson & Sweet Dixie Band, Lawson Creek Band, Goldwing Express and many more.
Finally, I'll leave you with 60 Ridiculous Christian Music Album Covers. My favorites are The Faith Tones (how do they get their hair that big?), Bryan Duncan (or is it Michael J. Fox?), Chuckie P (Rico Suave called. He wants his look back.), Country Church (ah, 70s fashion. Are those vests or are they sewn into the shirt?), Jerry Irby (who has a hotline to Heaven and an awesome plaid jacket), Mike Crain (Karate Preacher. Hi-yah!), and lots of big 80s metal hair everywhere!

Have a great weekend! See you at Friday Cheers.

Tony Jordan

Donna Jean, Blind Boys, Toubab Krewe, Van Halen, Cracker

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We are still eating leftovers from the weekend which isn't a bad thing. I loves me some turkey with all the fixins!

BTW, I think I'm going to post to the blog little items as I come across them during the week. I try to remember when it comes time to do the weekly one, but I inevitably come across something the next day that I wanted to put in that week's blog. I'll only send out one weekly reminder when I do the big blog, so if you want to be completely up to date, subscribe to the blog using your RSS or whatever. Or you could just scroll down a little more after reading the big blog to find the baby entries. Or you could check daily, even hourly, to be sure you don't miss one exciting entry!

Onto this week's exciting Richmond shows. Donna Jean & The Tricksters play the Capital Ale House Downtown Music Hall on Wednesday. Doors open at 8:30 and tickets are $10. Ms. Donna Jean Godchaux McKay was and always shall be the only female member of that boys club known as the Grateful Dead, performing with them in their peak 70s years (71 - 79). She also sang backup with Elvis (your Elvis-Dead, or Dead Elvis connection), Percy Sledge and Box Scaggs. They'll be bringin' those good Dead vibes and I'm sure will put on a good show.

Also on Wednesday, if you are in the mood for some blues & gospel but Christmasy, check out The Blind Boys of Alabama Christmas Show at Toad's Place. Doors are at 7P, show at 8:30P, tickets are $25. The Blind Boys are 4 time Grammy winners, Gospel Hall of Fame inductees and play that good blues gospel that you can find on the high end of your AM dial.

On Thursday at Capital Ale House Downtown, Toubab Krewe will be playing. Doors open at 9 and tickets are $10. I've heard some tunes from these guys and they are very intriguing. I'd love to check them out live. Look at their web site to hear some of their music. Its hard to describe, so here is their description:

Blending Malian, American, and "Dirty South" influences into a genre all its own, Toubab Krewe "has set a new standard for fusions of rock 'n' roll and West African music," says Banning Eyre at Afropop Worldwide. Members of the group developed their unique sound over the course of numerous extended trips to West Africa, where they immersed themselves in the local culture and studied and performed with masters such as Lamine Soumano, Vieux Kante, Madou Dembele, and Koungbanan Conde. The magnetic instrumental quintet formed in early 2005 and has attracted a diverse and devoted national following, captivating crowds everywhere from the Bonnaroo Music Festival and the Blue Note to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The band's energetic performances and acclaimed self-titled debut have won them praise from the New York Times, Global Rhythm, and Afro pop Worldwide.

For those of you looking to recapture your 80s youth, Van Halen tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 AM for their show at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville on February 22. (If the often rumored and probably never happening Led Zeppelin reunion takes place, they must play there for obvious reasons.) Van Halen played an integral part of my high school years, from walking around our development with the "1984" album blasting out of my friend's boom box, to listening to the song "Unchained" over and over again on the boardwalk in Sea Isle City, to driving around in my friend's big green 70s LTD with our VH, Police and Cars tapes accompanying us through the suburban NJ nights. I didn't get to see them on the 1984 tour. The tickets probably sold out too fast and/or I didn't have the cash. So I never go to see them with David Lee Roth. Until now. I'm starting to grow the mullet out now. I wonder if I'll still look good in the spandex zebra stripe pants.

VH took on Sammy Hagar in 1986 and I went to college and started to listen to too cool for you indie rock bands. One of those bands was Camper Van Beethoven led by David Lowery. CVB broke up, David Lowery started a new band called Cracker, which found some fame in the 90s and David Lowery and myself both ended up living in Richmond somehow. No foolin, David runs Sound of Music recording studios right here on Broad Street in downtown Richmond. And Cracker will be playing at Toad's Place on Saturday night. Tix are $18, Doors at 7 PM, opening band The Gaskets start at 8 PM. Start brushing up on the words to "Eurotrash Girl" now so you can sing along.

BTW, if you want a really cool free iTunes plug-in, check out iConcertCal. iConcertCal looks at the music you have loaded into your iTunes and then shows you a calendar which shows when any of those bands are coming to your area. Neato!

Speaking of iTunes, I was drifting off there for a moment listening to "Brothers On A Hotel Bed" from Death Cab For Cutie on my iTunes, a sad, spacey little tune about the death of a relationship and of innocence and youth. Sigh.

OK, melancholic haze has been lifted. "Dupree's Diamond Blues" is on now. And I am outta here. Have a great weekend, Richmond! G'night!