Fun with David Lee Roth

Found this fun little doo-hickey, the David Lee Roth Runnin' With the Devil Soundboard. Tell me you won't sit there all day today making DLR say "AHHHYAAAAAH".

I had an idea for some of my friends who got laid off from Genworth but still have 30 days until they are let go. On your last day of work, pull up this web site, turn up your speakers as loud as they can go, and then begin clicking away. Don't stop until security comes and escorts you from the building early. Or better yet, if you can get a bunch of people with laptops, march on up to the CEOs office and all of you do it at once. Make sure you all have some big speakers to hook those laptops up to.

Tony Jordan

The Dead Cash In

Got the ticket prices for The Dead and it looks like they have decided to cash in with top tickets of $100. When they were still Grateful, they used to keep the prices at a resonable level. Guess they need to restock that retirement fund after the market losses.

Shhhh. Listen. You can hear the backlash beginning amongst the Deadheads.

The Grateful Dead are, and always will be, one of my favorite bands. But for these prices, and the fact that I would have to travel to see a show (albeit only to C'ville), I have decided to pass on this tour. I can hit at least three shows locally at The National or Toad's with great bands in a more intimate setting for those prices.

Anyway, for your perusal, here are the shows for The Dead tour, along with the ticket prices. If you want to go, the presale starts on dead.net tomorrow and below are instructions for mail order.

The Dead, featuring Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, joined by Warren Haynes and Jeff Chimenti, will play the following shows:

Sunday, April 12, 2009 at the Greensboro Coliseum
in Greensboro, NC. Reserved seats are available
at $93.00, $69.00 and $53.50 per ticket. Doors open at 6:00 PM. Showtime is 7:30 PM.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009 at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. Reserved seats are available at $102.00 and $72.00 per ticket. Doors open at 5:30 PM. Showtime is 7:00 PM.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, VA. Reserved seats are available at $79.00 and $49.00 per ticket. Doors open at 6:00 PM. Showtime is 7:30 PM.

Friday, April 17, 2009 at the Times Union Center in Albany, NY. Reserved seats are available at $100.00 and $60.00 per ticket. Doors open at 6:00 PM. Showtime is 7:30 PM.

Saturday & Sunday, April 18 & 19, 2009 at the DCU Center in Worcester, MA. Reserved seats are available at $100.25 and $69.00. Doors open at 6:00 PM. Showtime is 7:30 PM.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY. Reserved seats are available at $100.50 and $60.50 per ticket. Doors open at 6:00 PM. Showtime is 7:30 PM.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at the Wachovia Arena @ Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, PA.
Reserved seats are available at $99.00 and $73.00 per ticket. Doors open at 6:00 PM.
Showtime is 7:30 PM.

Friday, April 24, 2009 at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY. Reserved seats are available at $102.00 and $57.00 per ticket. Doors open at 6:00 PM. Showtime is 7:30 PM.

Saturday, April 25, 2009 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY. Reserved seats are available @ $103.50 and $58.50 per ticket.
Doors open at 6:30 PM. Showtime is 7:30 PM.

Sunday, April 26, 2009 at the XL Center in Hartford, CT. Reserved seats are available at $102.00 and $72.00 per ticket. Doors open at 6:00 PM. Showtime is 7:30 PM.

Tuesday & Wednesday, April 28 & 29, 2009 at The IZOD Center in East Rutherford, NJ.
Reserved seats are available at $102.00 and $57.00 per ticket. Doors open at 6:00 PM.
Showtime is 7:30 PM.

Friday and Saturday, May 1 & 2, 2009 at Wachovia Spectrum in Philadelphia, PA. Reserved seats are available at $99.00 and $69.00 Reserved.
Doors open at 6:00 PM. Showtime is 7:30 PM.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009 at All State Arena in Chicago, IL. Reserved seats are available at $99.00 and $54.00 per ticket. Doors open at 6:00 PM. Showtime is 7:30 PM.

Thursday, May 7, 2009 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO. Reserved seats are available at $98.50 and $63.50. Doors open at 6:00 PM.
Showtime is 7:30 PM.

Saturday, May 9, 2009 at The Forum in Los Angeles, CA. Reserved seats are available at $89.00 Reserved and $53.50 Reserved. Doors open at 6:00 PM. Showtime is 7:30 PM.

Sunday, May 10, 2009 at Shoreline Amphitheatre In Mountain View, CA. Reserved seats are available at $105.00 Reserved and $45.00 Lawn. Doors open at 6:00 PM. Showtime is 7:30 PM.

The only mail in dates for these performances are January 13, 2009 through January 20, 2009. Orders will be filled on a first come, first serve basis by postmark, not when we receive them.
Please do not mail in before January 13th as your order will be disqualified.

4 ticket limit per person per show.

Taper tickets will be available for all shows on the tour except for Shoreline Amphitheatre where taping will be permitted on the lawn.
Taper tickets are available at the higher ticket price for each venue.
Taper tickets are limited to 2 per person per show.

To reduce our carbon footprint our new address to mail in for this tour is:

GDTS TOO
P.O. Box 456
Stinson Beach, CA 94970

80s Burger Rap

Now I totally wish I had worked at Wendy's in the 80s:

Tour news: Bruce, Phish, Led Zep

Lots of music news this AM:

Bruce is gonna tour but no dates yet: http://www.backstreets.com/news.html

Phish is gonna tour and we have dates but closest to Richmond is Asheville: http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/01/08/phish-reunion-tour-takes-shape-report-lists-run-of-northeast-shows/

Led Zep is not gonna tour in any way, shape, or form: http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/01/08/led-zeppelin-are-over-jimmy-pages-manager-declares/

Stooges' guitarist Ron Asheton passed away on the 5th. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/25334692/the_stooges_ron_asheton_remembered

Robert Randolph Review, The Dead return

Hey there, hi there, ho there. Hope everyone is having a good new year so far.



My New Year's party started a little early with Robert Randolph & The Family Band at The National on Wednesday, 12/30. My review may be a little sketchy at points. I tried to find a setlist for the show online but had no luck. I really should start to bring a notepad to take notes but its hard to write, drink a beer and dance at the same time.



RRFB started the show with a blues-funk number that didn't really take off until the jam at the end of the song when they went into a gospel groove and really got the crowd moving. The show was off and running, the crowd was ready to party and away we went. Some highlights of the show:

• the mostly instrumental version of "Jesus Is Just Alright With Me" (Doobie Brothers, Byrds), with Robert's slide guitar "singing" the lyrics.


• "Deliver Me", my favorite song from the latest album, with guest Richmond Dude #2 on guitar (more on him later).


• The jam of "Who Knows" > "Every Little Step" > gospel tune. Only Robert Randolph could pull off a Hendrix tune into a jazzed up instrumental version of a Bobby Brown (?!?) song into gospel and totally make it work.


• "Ain't Nothin' Wrong With That", another great song off of the latest album, to close the set. A guaranteed party anthem thanks to the cool handclaps and guitar riff.


• The encore jam including numerous references to Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile", an instrumental jam on Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" (with the crowd providing the "Mamma-say Mamma-sa Mamafusa" parts) mixing in the Red Hot Chili Peppers "Can't Stop".


• The bass player, Danyel Morgan, who kicked ass all night, laying down the funk and also providing falsetto back-up vocals.

Some mediocrelights, not really lowlights but stuff I could have done without.

• The band started to play "Shake Your Hips", the Rolling Stones/Slim Harpo song and invited ladies from the audience to dance on stage. As much as I like to see ladies dance, there always seemed to be one who wanted to feel up Robert as he was playing and he had to tell them in no uncertain terms to step back. This whole gimmick seemed more annoying to Robert and the band then inspiring. I've seen the band do this before and I assume this is a regular thing with them. It may have worked in a smaller place but it seemed to go on way too long and wasn't really pushing the band. It also didn't help that, as my friend Phil put it, "that ain't Richmond's finest dancing up there".


• Another gimmick when Robert (playing regular electric guitar) invited a dude up from the audience, we'll call him Richmond Dude #1, to accompany the band on guitar. Dude #1 was OK and they noodled around a little bit. Dude #1 got a good hand and I thought that would be it. But then Dude #2 was invited on stage. He was better than Dude #1 and seemed to blend with the band a little better. But then the band went into "Deliver Me" and Robert invited the Dude #2 to stay on stage. By this time, Dude#2 seemed to be overwhelmed by the experience and/or didn't know the song and he just faded into the background but was still kind of distracting. If they must do this, keep it to one dude. At least I know to go get a beer next time. It was no surprise that after the second gimmick was over, actually once they started"Deliver Me", the band seemed to kick into a higher gear for the rest of the show.

Overall, an excellent show, 3.5 out of 4 stars if you like stars.

In other news, the remaining members of the Grateful Dead have reformed as The Dead and will be doing a spring tour. They have a few shows near us: 4/12 in Greensboro NC, 4/14 in DC, 4/15 in Charlottesville. In fact, those are the first three shows of the tour. For more info, go here: http://dead.net/dead09. Or watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCB_GVjay8A. Pre-sale of tickets through dead.net starts on Tuesday, 1/13, then tickets go on sale nationwide on Friday, 1/23.

That's about it for this week. Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Jammuary on Concert.TV

Check out Jammuary on Concert.TV: http://concert.tv/channels/#/11/video/867.

Live videos of Phish, Allmans, Black Crowes, My Morning Jacket, moe., Disco Biscuits, Phil Lesh and more.

Robert Randolph, Delaney Bramlett, New Year's Eve

Happy 6th day of Christmas! Hope you are all resting up to party on New Year's Eve or if you are like me starting Tuesday night with a great concert.

Robert Randolph & The Family Band come to the National on Tuesday night. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8, tix are $23. Robert Randolph is the best blues guitar player since Stevie Ray Vaughn and I do not use SRV's name lightly. Robert & the band opened for Eric Clapton, played at Clapton's Crossroads festivals and Clapton plays on their latest album, Colorblind. So he has been annointed by the king. Robert plays a 13 string pedal steel guitar and when I saw him last year at Innsbrook there were some literally jaw-dropping moments. He mixes rock, blues, funk and gospel and its sure to make you dance. So join me at the show on Tuesday night. You won't be disappointed. And thanks to Phil B. for the ticket, a most excellent Christmast present.


Speaking of Clapton, Delaney Bramlett passed away on Sunday at the age of 69. The name may not pop out at you, but Delaney was instrumental in getting Clapton grounded after star project Cream and Blind Faith dissolved. Clapton joined Delaney, Bonnie & Friends and was able to be part of a band again where he wasn't the center of attention. Bramlett also produced and co-wrote songs on Clapton's first album, Eric Clapton.


If you are looking for some music on New Year's Eve, you have a full range of options from gore theater metal to down-home bluegrass.

Richmond's own GWAR will be playing at the National. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 and tix are $25. Don't wear your good tuxedo to this show as GWAR has been known to spew fake(?) body fluids well into the audience. No word on whether you'll get a free champagne toast at midnight or will have to drink blood. Oderus Unrungus will make sure you have a splendid time.

On the opposite side of the musical specturm, the Canal Club will host a Richmond Roots Music New Years Eve Spectacular with Special Ed & The Shortbus, A Good Natured Riot, Jackass Flats and Fox Hunt. Show starts at 8 and tix are $20. No word on whether you'll get a free champagne toast at midnight or a jar full of moonshine. Note that this will be the final show for Special Ed & The Shortbus. Well, at least under that name. They are changing their name to the Hot Seats for these reasons (as posted on their website):
"Why The Hot Seats? A few reasons, thanks for asking! 1. This name still connotes the frenetic and jerky nature of the music we have chosen to play.2. The new name is not offensive to those who care about special needs issues.3. The band now is very different from the ragtag bunch who slapped together sets for a weekly gig at the Cary Street Cafe.4. "SEATS" is an acronym for Special Ed And The Shortbus, so, for any die-hard fans who care, the name remains intact, in spirit, anyway."

You can also head down to Carytown for the big Carytown New Year's Celebration. There will be a bunch of bands playing and the whole thing starts at 7 and ends with the ball "rising" over the Byrd Theater. It will cost you $2 to get in and bring your gloves. Its going to be chilly.

If you are still up to party on Friday, Moshe Dayan bring their hard rock to the National with three other bands. Doors open at 6:30, show time at 7 and tix are $13.

Have a Happy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year!

Tony Jordan

Worst Band Names of 2008

AV Club has posted the worst band names of 2008: http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/2008_the_year_in_band_names. Thanks to the miracles of MySpace and YouTube, you can actually view some of the videos and hear the music of these bands and even more dreadfulness will ensue. Just check out the videos they have posted in the list. I think the longest I made it was 90 seconds with any one of them.

Jazz Fest, Bonnarumors

Before you know it the weather will be warming up and festival season will be upon us. If you are looking to do some travelling to the Crescent City, the New Orleans Jazz Fest has announced their lineup of typical Jazz Fest artists and a decided trend toward mainstream/MOR. Though its usually the less heard of bands at this fest and the hardcore New Orleans stuff that make it worthwhile anyway. So while the masses are watching James Taylor warble "Fire & Rain" for the 8000th time, you can check out some more interesting stuff on the smaller stages.

40th ANNIVERSARY JAZZ FEST MUSIC LINEUP ANNOUNCED!
April 24-26 & April 30-May 3, 2009
Tickets On Sale Now, Special Hotel Rooms & Rates Available!
Wynton Marsalis
Aretha Franklin
Dave Matthews Band
James Taylor
Sugarland
Wynton Marsalis, Aretha Franklin, Dave Matthews Band, James Taylor,
Sugarland, Joe Cocker, Ben Harper, Tony Bennett, Earth, Wind & Fire,
Kings of Leon, Neville Brothers, Wilco, Bonnie Raitt, Allen Toussaint,
The O'Jays, Erykah Badu, Dr. John
Among hundreds scheduled to appear at historic edition of Festival

In other fest news, Rolling Stone reports that Phish will be headlining two nights at Bonnaroo. Not much of a surprise there as Phish's yearly festivals paved the way for Bonnaroo and all the others that have cropped up in the last decade. This give Phish all the benefits of their own fest without the responsibility.

More interestingly, Bruce Springsteen is rumored to be Sunday night's closer. Bruce has dipped his toe in the festival waters recently playing the New Orleans Jazz Fest when he debuted his Sessions Band and closing his last tour at the Harley Davidson fest in Milwaukee. The NO Jazz Fest was somewhat unique as that band was playing NO and gospel influenced music and almost all covers. The Harley fest was a situation where it was easy for Bruce fans to go on a single day and not have to camp so not much different than a regular show. It would be interesting to see Bruce do a festival with the E Street Band where he wouldn't be the main attraction. I have no doubt he could and would pull it off brilliantly because rock n' roll is rock n' roll. But it would be interesting seeing him work a crowd who wouldn't know/sing every word or know the usual crowd participation spots of a Bruce show. That probably hasn't happened since he was opening for bands when his first album came out. Well, just a rumor for now. Whoever plays, Phish and/or Bruce lets hope they are on the webcast.

Tony Jordan

Tony Jordan

Bill Kirchen, with no brown M&Ms, Xmas Disco

Merry, Merry, Merry 8 shopping days until Christmas!

The concert scene is slowing down for a couple weeks while musicians head home for the holidays. Their roadies will set up the Christmas tree, their personal chefs will make wassail, they'll kiss (and do other things) to groupies under the mistletoe and they'll hope Santa brings them a new guitar and a spot on an iPod ad.

We do have a holiday show coming to town on Thursday. King of Honky-tonk & Dieselbilly Bill Kirchen brings his Honky Tonk Holiday show to Ashland Coffee & Tea. Show starts at 8 and tix are $25. Bill is best known for his work in the band Commander Code & The Lost Planet Airmen ("Hot Rod Lincoln"). He's also played with Nick Lowe. You'll dig bill if you like those bands, Dave Alvin, Joe Ely, Rockpile, Dave Edmunds, or J0hn Hiatt.

In other news, the Smoking Gun has found the Holy Grail of all concert riders. Yes, its the Van Halen concert rider that stipulated that they get M&Ms backstage and that all the brown M&Ms had to be removed. For years a legendary tale of rock star excess, VH later claimed that they put that in the rider because they would be able to tell immediately if the other items in the rider would be taken care of. If the brown M&Ms were gone, it looked good. If they were in the bowl, they knew other things might not be up to snuff. Whichever story you care to believe, here it is: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/backstagetour/1982vanhalen/1982vanhalen1.html.

Note that the Van Halen tour rider from the last tour contains demands such as a study room for Wolfgang, no liquor, and that David Lee Roth's dressing room be as far away from the other bandmember's dressing rooms as possible.

And just in case you weren't in the Christmas mood yet, here is some free Christmas disco courtesy of radio station WFMU: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2008/12/more-christmas.html. Nothing gets me in the Christmas mood like a funky version of Hark, The Herald Angels.

Have a great weekend.

Tony Jordan