Dr. Dog, Dar Williams, Wino, Xiu Xiu, Fang Island, Mickey Hart, Drive-By Truckers tix on sale, Steve Vai

Gonna try to do the next two weeks in this one since I will be in the Outer Banks next week, which means no blog next week. I just heard the collective "Awwwwwwww" go up around the Richmond area. Thanks, guys. You like me! You really like me!

We start on Thursday night with alternative pop rockers Dr. Dog at The National. Tix are $20 in advance, $22 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Cotton Jones. Here's Toby & Zach of Dr. Dog doing "Lonesome" at Pickathon 2012 whatever the hell that is:

Black Girls will be at Balliceaux Thursday night. Show starts at 10 and Madam Macadam will open. It's $5 to get in.

Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 AM for two Drive-By Truckers shows at The National on Friday, October 26 and Saturday, October 27. Get 'em early because they usually sell out. Just saw that you can buy tix on a pre-sale site HERE if you don't want to wait until they go on sale on Ticketmaster on Friday. I just bought my pair for the 10/27 show! Can't wait! DBT! DBT! DBT!

Folk songstress Dar Williams will be at Capital Ale House downtown on Saturday night. Advance tix are $25, day of show they'll be $30. Show starts at 9 with an opener tba. Dar has a new album out called "In the Time of Gods" so I'm sure you'll hear some stuff off of that. Here's her video for "As Cool As I Am":



Sunday night, guitar wiz Steve Vai will be at The National. Tix are $35 reserved seat orchestra / $30 reserved balcony / $30 reserved balcony / $25 GA standing floor. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 and Beverly McClellan will open. Here's Steve playing "Tender Surrender" at the TEC Awards 2012 which are no doubt awards for guitar wonks:



If you are more in the mood for underground heavy metal on Sunday night, Strange Matter has a bill that will kick your ass, headlined by Wino & Conny Ochs. Tix are $8 in advance, $10 at the door. Doors open at 9, music starts at 10 with openers Josh Small and Dorthia Cottrell. Here's Wino and Conny rocking out but acoustic-like. The video kicks in around 0:17.



Tuesday night at Gallery 5, experimental rock group Xiu Xiu will perform. Tix are $8 in advance, $10 at the door. Doors open at 7. Dead Fame and Ghost Lotion will open. You might dig Xiu Xiu if you like The Cure, Devendra Banhart, Animal Collective or Joy Division. Here's their video for "Born to Suffer":



Hard rockin' Fang Island will play Strange Matter on Wednesday, August 29. It's $10 in advance, $12 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with openers Adebisi Shank (nice shout out to "Oz" there) and Sports Bar. Here's Fang Island on a cable access show in Chicago the other night being interviewed by a puppet named Ratso and then playing a song and rocking out with some kids:



Friday, August 31, No BS! Brass Band will be at The Camel. It'll be $7 to get in. The show starts at 9 with The Compass Rose Orchestra. Here they are doing "Thriller" a couple weeks ago. The video is dark but the sound is good:



Also Friday, August 31, chill reggae singer/songwriter Trevor Hall will be at Capital Ale House downtown. Tix are $13 in advance, $15 day of show. Show starts at 9 with Session Rockers. When not on the road, Trevor passionately spends his time in Allahabad, India working with the orphaned children of Yoga Vedanta Kutir. Over the past four years, Trevor has helped raise over $15,000 for these children by collecting donations from fans and friends at every tour stop. Here's Trevor's video for "Other Ways":



Finally, on Sunday, September 2, a show I'll be hitting at The National, Mickey Hart, drummer for the Grateful Dead, brings his band to town for some groovealicious world music and tasty Dead treats. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. No opener because the Mickey Hart Band will play two full sets, bitches! Doors open at 7, show starts at 8. Dave Schools, usually the bass player for Widespread Panic and a Richmond VA native, is playing bass in Mickey's band this tour. HERE is a short review of the show in Buffalo. Here's the band playing "Cut the Deck" in Denver in May:



Have a great weekend and week! I'll see you when I get back at the Mickey Hart Band show!

Tony Jordan

Flaming Lips, Disco Biscuits, Leon Russell, Goo Goo Dolls

The Flaming Lips will be in Charlottesville at the Charlottesville Pavilion and while I usually don't mention a lot of C'ville shows on the blog this one is worth mentioning because (1) I'm going and (2) this is a band you must see live before you die. Men in giant hamster balls walking over the crowd, aliens, angels, trippy movies, confetti guns, balloons, fake blood, boxing nun puppets, and first-rate psychedelic music; a Flaming Lips show has everything you want out of a rock and roll show and more. Tickets are still available for $40 each, doors open at 6, show starts at 7 with opener Stardeath and White Dwarfs. Here they are playing a song from their latest album, "Embryonic", called "Convinced of the Hex":


If you can't make it to the Lips show tomorrow night, you may want to check out indie pop/rock band, Xiu Xiu, who will be at the Canal Club. Doors open at 7:30, tix are $13, and Tune Yards, Nude Photos of Celebrities and Marionettw will open. You may like Xiu Xiu if you like Animal Collective or The Cure. Here's the video for their song "This Too Shall Pass Away (For Freddy)". It reminds me of playing "Adventure" on the Atari 2600.:


Friday & Saturday, electronica dance jam band Disco Biscuits come to The National. Both nights doors open at 7, show starts at 8, tix are $22.50 in advance, $25 day of show. John Lee & the J.L.e open Friday and DJ T-bone open on Saturday. Disco Biscuits come on around 9 both nights. Here they are last year in Ogden CO:


Disco Biscuits off-shoot bands will play after the shows at The National. Conspirator (down-tempo, trance, drum n' bass) featuring Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner of the Disco Biscuits will play at The Canal Club on Friday night. That show will start at 11 PM with The Former Champions and DJ Chenchilla. The show will run until 4 AM so drink your Red Bull. Tix are $20.

Saturday night, M80 Dubstation (dub, electro & bass) featuring Jon Gutwillig of Disco Biscuits will play at Alley Katz with openers Joe Nice & Numbernin6. That one will run from 10 AM until 4 AM. Apparently the boys from Disco Biscuits don't need sleep. This one is $10 in advance, $15 day of show.

The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival (commonly known as Coachella) takes place out in Indio CA this weekend, Friday through Sunday. Headliners include Jay-Z, LCD Soundsyste, Those Crooked Vultures (featuring John Paul Jones of Led Zep and Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters/Nirvana), Muse, Faith No More (reunited and it feels so good), Gorillaz, Pavement (also reunited) and Thom Yorke of Radiohead along with a bunch of other bands. You can check out the live FREE webcast on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/5Gum. The webcast will run Friday, 4/16: 8pm-3am EST, Saturday, 4/17: 7pm-3am EST, Sunday, 4/18: 7pm-3am EST. (It says EST but we are in EDT as far as I know. Does that mean we spring forward an hour? Oh, well, just tune in at 8 PM or 7 PM and see if they've started yet.) No schedule of artists is on the site so I don't know who you will see.

Saturday is Record Store Day when your local independent record stores will be celebrated all around this great nation of ours. Our local independent record store is Plan 9 in Carytown, of course. There will be a bunch of free goodies available at the store along with special Record Store Day only items available for purchase from some of your favorite bands including Bruce Springsteen, Ani DiFranco, Beastie Boys, Bon Iver/Peter Gabriel, Buddy Guy, Dave Matthews, Devo, Drive-By Truckers, Elvis Costello, Elvis Presley, Flaming Lips, Gogol Bordello, Goldfrapp and much much more. There will also be some live in-store performances. Here is the lineup:

10:00am DJ Chew La Rock (Funk/Soul/Rockabilly)

1:00pm Against Me! (http://www.againstme.net/)

3:00pm Super Vacations (www.myspace.com/meetthevacations)

4:30pm Samson Trinh & the Upper Eastside Big Band (performing selections from Abbey Road) (www.samsontrinh.com/uesbigband)

Classic rock piano man Leon Russell will be at The Hat Factory on Saturday night. Show starts at 8 with House Of Fools opening. Tix are $20 for General Admission, $30 for Reserved Seats.
You can read Leon's biography HERE but here is a short list of the people he has collaborated with over the years: Glen Campbell, Joe Cocker, Willie Nelson, Edgar Winter, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, J.J. Cale, David Gates, Bruce Hornsby, Hal Blaine, Tommy Tedesco, Bobby "Boris" Pickett, B.B. King, Freddie King, Bill Wyman, Steve Cropper, Carl Radle, Chuck Blackwell, Don Preston, Jesse Ed Davis, Rita Coolidge, Gram Parsons, Barbra Streisand, Ike & Tina Turner, Ricky Nelson, Herb Alpert, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Ann-Margret, Dean Martin, Marvin Gaye, Dave Mason, Steve Winwood, and groups such as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, The Monkees, The Astronauts, The Accents, The Fencemen, The Ventures, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, Jan & Dean, Gary Lewis & The Playboys, Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Rolling Stones, The Ronettes, The Crystals, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Everly Brothers, The Righteous Brothers, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Tractors and on and on and on… Not too shabby.
Here's Leon playing his famous "Jumpin' Jack Flash/Youngblood Medley" at the Concert for Bangladesh with George Harrison & Eric Clapton on guitar, Ringo on drums and a host of other huge names.


On Tuesday, Goo Goo Dolls play at The National. Tix are $36.50 in advance, $40 at the door, doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener The Rocket Summer. They've had a number of hits including "Name", "Iris", "Slide" and their cover of Supertramp's "Give A Little Bit". Here is perhaps their greatest performance, singing "Pride" (like "Slide") with Elmo.


OK, I'm off to bed. Have to rest up for the Lips show.

Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan