Zappa review, Haiti benefits, The Machine, Atkinsons, Wrinkle Neck Mules

Much to cover tonight so let's be on our way!

First, Zappa Plays Zappa last Thursday at the Hat Factory was an excellent show. If you have ever liked Zappa, or thought you might like Zappa, you really need to catch these guys next time they come. The band is made up of great musicians led by Dweezil Zappa, who plays a mean guitar. They play some of Frank's more accessible tunes so even those unfamiliar with Frank Zappa's music can get into the music. They opened with the instrumental Purple Lagoon into Stinkfoot in which the new singer with the band (Ben Thomas) introduced himself by doing a dead-on impersonation (vocally not visually) of Frank. Ben would add his own spin to the songs too so he wasn't just an impersonator. That's one of the beauty things about the band. They play the music faithfully but add their own spin and improvisation to the music. They played some of my favorites next, Jones Crusher and Montana. Other highlights included multi-instrumentalist Scheila Gonzalez doing You Didn't Try To Call Me, which really showed that Frank could write almost normal, soulful R&B songs. Keep It Greasy and the religious war satire, Dumb All Over were another highlight.

An unexpected somber part of the show came after "What's New In Baltimore?". Dweezil said "I want to tell you a story about that song", and someone from the audience yelled out "Freak us out, Dweezil!", expecting (as we all were) a humorous tale about the song. Dweezil said, "Well it's freaking me out, too. That song was the favorite song of Chance Keesling. He died in Iraq. (at this point we could see Dweezil was tearing up and he paused for a moment to collect himself). His family asked me to play it and some of them are here tonight." It was a very touching moment. Dweezil would say on his website (http://www.dweezilzappaworld.com) after the show, "Your family (Keeslings)has been through a lot and I am pleased that my father's music has made a positive connection for all of you. We'll keep playing What's New In Baltimore. It's got a lot of emotional layers for me. Your story adds to it as well. Best Regards, DZ"

Other highlights included an absolutely stellar jammed out version of "Apostrophe", and "San Berdino" along with my kids' favorite song "Muffin Man". Whenever we have muffins, I have my kids singing the line from that song "He thought he was a man, but he was a muffin!". We enjoy it. Here's video of the band playing "T'Mershi Duween" named after Dweezil's sister Moon's stuffed camel, then "Keep It Greasy":


Onto this weekend's events. Friday night at Plaza Bowl, you'll find an Americana show with The Atkinsons and Wrinkle Neck Mules. The show starts at 8 PM. There is a cover charge of some sort but I was unable to determine what that would be from the Plaza Bowl MySpace site. Here's the Mules playing "Mecklenberg County" at the Cinco De Mayo fest in Richmond way back in '06.


Friday night on almost every channel on TV (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, the CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 and CMT among others) will be the Hope for Haiti Now - A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief concert. This will feature performances by Beyoncé, Madonna, Haitian artist Emeline Michel, Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Sting, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift, a group performance by Keith Urban, Kid Rock, and Sheryl Crow, Coldplay, and a group performance by Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z, and Rihanna. Set your DVRs.

The Haiti relief benefits continue on Saturday with a number of shows in Richmond. At the Plaza Bowl, their Haiti Relief Fundraiser starts at 5 PM and will feature Souvenirs Young America, Snack Truck, The Lost Souls, Paul Ivey & the Ruse, White Laces, Nick Coward & the Last Battle, T-Division, Haints in the Holler and Ladies Night.

Haiti-Palooza to benefit The Patricia Sullivan Haitian Outreach goes down at The Canal Club on Saturday. The doors open at 7 and will feature Foundation, Soul Providers, and Docs Of Rock. Tix are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.

There is also a benefit concert for the Make a Wish Foundation at the Capital Ale House Downtown on Saturday night featuring Sloth Loves Chunk. Show starts at 10 and tix are $8. Per their site "SLC is a rock & roll cover band that prides themselves on putting on a high energy and exciting live show. This is a cover band that covers the spectrum…..from AC/DC to The Killers, from Aerosmith to The Foo Fighters. This is a band with a simple agenda and a simple motto. Their agenda; To make sure that anybody who comes to a show is having just as much fun in the audience as the guys in the band are having on the stage. Their motto; If you can drink to it, they can play it."

Its great to see all these Richmond bands giving their time to play these benefits. Its hard to make it as a local band and each gig is valuable time and money to those bands so its a real tribute to them that they are willing and able to do these shows.

Also on Saturday, THE MACHINE: PINK FLOYD EXPERIENCE will celebrate the 30th Anniversary of THE WALL by performing the entire THE WALL Album and a set of GREATEST PINK FLOYD HITS w/an Interstellar Light Show at The National. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8, tix are $15 in advance, $18 at the door. Here's the band performing "Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2":


Finally, Sunday at the Capital Ale House some good ol' blues with the River City Blues Society Presenting Richard Ray Farrell with Pete Ragusa, the drummer formerly with The Nighthawks on drums. The show starts at 3 PM and tix are $8 in advance, $10 day of show. Here's Richard Ray Farrell & Marco Pandolfi doing "Dollar for Dollar":


If you are interested in signing a petition against the Ticketmaster - Live Nation merger, click HERE. If you think your ticket prices are bad now, if these two corporations get together it'll be real ugly.

If you aren't already watching the show Spectacle with Elvis Costello on the Sundance Channel(and you should be) Bruce Springsteen is on the latest show in two parts. The first part debuted last night and part 2 will be next Wednesday but they repeat them a lot so be sure to catch them.

I'll leave you tonight with this video to raise awareness about the genocide and refugee situation in Sudan. Its called "A Beat For Peace" and features some drummers you may know (Nick Mason, Stewart Copeland and others). In 2011, a referendum will determine whether or not the Southern region of Sudan becomes independent from the North. Experts fear that instability in the run-up to the referendum or its aftermath could reignite a civil war and cause massive human rights abuses unless international efforts are intensified to find a peaceful path through the next 12 months. If you are a drummer, you can post a video reply to this on YouTube (in your video description add a line about who's doing the drumming and where it's happening, then tag it with 'Sudan365' and 'beat for peace'). They'll take the best responses they receive and mix them into a final video - containing clips of drummers from across the globe - to demonstrate the support for international action to prevent further conflict.


Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Zappa Plays Zappa, Skydog, January Allstars, Robbin Thompson

Thursday night brings Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa to town at The Hat Factory. Tix are $35, doors open at 7:30 and the show starts at 8:30. There is no opener and if I recall correctly, they started right on time when they played here a year and a half ago. As a big fan of Zappa since I was introduced to his music one evening in South College dorm by Joe & Joe, who knew all the words to the "Sheik Yerbouti" album, I will be attending this show. Listening to Frank Zappa's music this week, I realized his songs are still as relevent as ever as we continue to deal with the same issues of race, politics and religion that he satirized during his time with us. Dweezil is a great guitar player in his own right (even playing with Frank on some songs. You'll see what I mean if you go to the show.) and he brings some fantastic musicians with him to carry the torch of Frank's music to new generations. Here's the drum solo and then "Apostrophe" from last week's show in Ft. Lauderdale:


Friday night, Allman Brothers Band tribute, Skydog, will be at The Canal Club with Tom Petty tribute band, The Hard Promises, so a good night of classic Southern rock here. Tix are $10 and doors open at 8, show starts at 9. I believe The Hard Promises is opening but I'm not completely sure and you'll want to see them both anyway so just get there when it starts. Couldn't find any videos of these bands so here is some prime Allmans from 9/10/73:


Also on Friday night, Pete Ragusa, former drummer from The Nighthawks (he just left the band after 35 years!), will be playing with The January Allstars (Pete Ragusa, Catfish Hodge, Tommy Lepson, Tom Principato and Steve Wolf) at Shenanigan's Eatery & Pub. Should be a fine night of blues rock. The show starts at 8:30 and there may be a cover charge. Here's the band doing "Two Turntables & a Microphone" almost exactly a year ago at Shenanigan's:


Saturday at The National, The Robbin Thompson Band (with all original members) will play. Robbin is a Richmond native who played with Bruce Springsteen in Steel Mill (before the E St. Band) and then had some solo success of his own. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 day of show, this is a reserved seat show, doors open at 7 and show starts at 8. There is no opener listed. Here's the band doing "Candy Apple Red" at their show at the NorVA last month:


If you are in a metal mood and want to do something good on Saturday, head down to The Hat Factory for the Benefit For Missing Metallica Fan Morgan Harrington. Morgan is the woman who disappeared after the October Metallica concert in Charlottesville. Tix are $15 which is a donation to the Harrington family to help them continue their search. Doors open at 8 PM with a candlelight vigil. Bands playing include Dangerous New Machine featuring ex-Stereomud, Fozzy, Stuck MoJo members (GA), Memory Fade (VA), Saint Diablo (VA), Whiplash (NJ), and At War (VA).

I'll leave you tonight with the "Skynet Symphonic" a music piece made up of nothing but sounds from "Terminator 2: Judgement Day". This guy also did a cool one of nothing but sounds from "Up" a few months ago.


Have a great weekend and I'll see at Zappa Plays Zappa!

Tony Jordan

Gregg Allman, DJ Williams Projekt, Disco Biscuits, Of Montreal

Gregg Allman comes to town tonight at The National. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Scrapomatic, tickets are $35, but a check this AM on Ticketmaster showed no tickets available. Gregg Allman of course from the Allman Brothers. He's got a new album of old blues songs coming out (read the article from the Times-Dispatch HERE) so I'm sure some of those will pop up in the set. Expect a somewhat jazzier edge than the Allman Brothers with the addition of a sax in the band but everything with Gregg is still based in the blues and his voice sounds great these days. Here's a little snippet of the band doing a new song "Floating Bridge" on New Year's Eve:


A couple concert announcements from The National:

DISCO BISCUITS Friday and Saturday April 16 & 17 @ 8pm ... Tickets on sale Friday January 15th at all Ticketmaster outlets, nattickets.com, ticketstobuy.com, and The National box office.

OF MONTREAL Saturday January 30th @ 9pm ... Tickets on sale THIS Saturday January 9th at all Ticketmaster outlets, nattickets.com, ticketstobuy.com, and The National box office

Also, this weekend, on Saturday, DJ Williams Projekt has their rescheduled (postponed a few weeks back due to the snow storm) record release party at The National. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with openers Beast Wellington and DJ Paul B. (who may be a real DJ as composed to DJ Williams who just happens to have the first initials of DJ but plays a mean guitar). Tix are $10 in advance, $15 day of show and you get a free copy of the Projekt's new CD "Eleven" if you go. DJ Williams Projekt gaining a good reputation in Richmond and now in the Northeast for their funky, jazzy shows. Here's the band with their song "Satisfaction" (not the Stones song) back at Cafe Diem on 12/15/09:


Also, in case you missed it this week, Soundgarden had reformed and will be touring in 2010. At first, I was a little ambivilent about the reunion. But then I remember how "Superunknown" was my favorite album in 1994. And then I remembered that live, they were the closest thing I think I ever saw to the power of Led Zeppelin in concert, with a big, awe-inspiring sound the three times I saw them (opening for Nirvana, opening for Guns N' Roses and at Lollapalooza. How's that for an ultimate 90's triumvarate). So now I am officially excited for this reunion.

Also this week, the Smoking Gun got copies of some of the letters the FCC got in protest of Adam Lambert's performance in November at the AMAs. My favorite one is the last one they posted.

I'll leave you today with the touching, reggae ode from "Flight of the Conchords", "You Don't Have To Be a Prostitute" in honor of the late great Flight of The Conchords TV show. Yes, they won't be back for a third season and I will sorely miss them.


Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Wilco at The National

Just announced today: WILCO at The National - Monday March 29th @ 8pm ... Tickets go on sale THIS Friday January 8th @ 10am at all Ticketmaster outlets, nattickets.com, ticketstobuy.com, and The National box office.

This one may sell out fast.

Jam Bands Galore, NYE in Richmond

Here it is, Christmas Eve Eve, and not a creature is stirring except my cat, who just threw up a hairball. "Merry Christmas, people. Hack!"

Anyway, Saturday begins the little mini-jam band fest here in Richmond.

Saturday night, the reunited New Potato Caboose plays The National. Tix are $15 in advance, $18 day of show and doors open at 7, with the show starting at 8 with opener Indecision. New Potato had some regional success in the 80s and 90s in the Northeast as a band that played Dead, Little Feat and other classic rock along with some originals.

If you would prefer to see a local Dead cover band, check out King Solomon's Marbles on Saturday night at Cary St. Cafe. Show starts at 10 and cover charge is $7.

Tuesday night, uber-Dead cover band, Dark Star Orchestra plays at The National with Donna Jean Godchaux (formerly of the Grateful Dead) & the Tricksters. Doors open at 6, show starts at 7, tix are $25 in advance, $28 day of show. You know the drill by now, DSO takes the setlist from a Grateful Dead show and "recreates" the show live. Donna will probably sit in for a few tunes.

On Wednesday, 12/30, Keller Williams plays The National. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8, tix are $18 in advance, $21 day of show. Keller will do 2 full sets so there is no opener. I've never been a huge fan of Keller when he does his one man band thing with the looping. Its interesting for about 15 minutes but never really grabbed my soul. I have enjoyed Keller when he is with a band. Looks like you'll get a little of both at this show. The National site says: "Keller Williams with an Added Bonus, an even blend of Keller's solo looping show and new flavors of grassy disco jazz funk featuring Claude Arthur, Jay Starling, Toby Fairchild as well as digital visuals by Scott Sunn." Here you can check out Keller doing his one man band thing with the song "Brown Chicken Brown Cow":



If you are looking for some music on New Year's Eve, the choices are unfortunately very few.

Jackass Flats, The Hot Seats, and Barnun & Co. will be doing the bluegrass thing on NYE,officially known as the 2nd Annual Richmond Roots Music Extravaganza at The Camel. Tix are $20 for the whole night of music, plus heavy hors d’oeuvres and a champagne toast at midnight.

Crucial Elements will be doing the reggae thing at Cary St. Cafe on NYE. Show starts at 10 PM and tix are $10.

If you have recovered enough from your NYE hangover to bang your head on New Year's Day, you can head to The National for a FREE concert from AC/DC cover band, Hells Bells (not to be confused with the all-female AC/DC cover band, Hell's Belles). Doors open at 7 and show starts at 8 with openers Half Brother Sid, Stoke Row and Medusa Switch.

I'll leave you with a video from what could be the weirdest Christmas party you would ever want to go to (and I would want to go to it) presided over by Bob Dylan (in a wig?) in Bob's song "Must Be Santa" from his Christmas album.

Have a Merry Christmas & and Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

Tony Jordan

Rescheduled: Carbon Leaf @ The National

This just in from The National:

Because of impending Winter Weather the CARBON LEAF show scheduled for THIS Saturday December 19th @ 9pm at The National will be moved to THIS Monday December 21st @ 8pm ... All tickets purchased for December 19th performance will be honored at The National on this Monday. Tickets for Monday performance are on sale no...w at all Ticketmaster outlets, nattickets.com, ticketstobuy.com and The National box office ...See More

DJ Williams Projekt, Jackass Flats, Carbon Leaf, Decade Best Of Lists

As it gets close to Christmas, you always get a couple shows from local bands who return home for the holidays and want to do a show for friends, family and longtime fans. This year is no different. I will state the obvious though, with the snow in the forecast, call ahead before venturing out to see these bands as shows may get canceled or postponed.

Friday night, DJ Williams Projekt takes over The National to celebrate the release of their new 3rd album, "Eleven". Tix are $15, doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with openers Beast Wellington & DJ Paul B. I'm sure it will be a funky good time. There was an article in Style this week about where the band is at now and you can check it out HERE. Here's some video of the band performing at Cafe Diem in June of this year:


If your tastes run more toward bluegrass, check out Jackass Flats at Cary St. Cafe on Friday night. Show starts at 10 and there is a $7 cover charge.

Saturday night, Carbon Leaf pull into The National. Tix are $20, doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with opener The Jim Ivins Band. Here's a video of them live in October in Austin, TX performing "Pink":


In the midst of the many decade-end Best Of lists, one of the more interesting ones is from the web site, Metacritic, which is kind of like Rotten Tomatoes but for music (and video games and TV, etc.). Their list was made up of the most critically acclaimed bands and albums of the last decade based on the scores for a bands albums. Be sure to read the beginning of the article before skipping to the lists so you understand their methodology. What was interesting was that the most critically acclaimed artist of the decade by Metascore was Spoon. Didn't see that one coming did you. Anyway, check the list out, these type of lists are always fun to read and argue about and get some ideas for stuff you may have overlooked. The list is HERE.

A companion to that list is their roundup of all the decade best from all the publications. That is HERE.

If you want a really cool comprehensive list of the most acclaimed albums and songs of all time, check out ACCLAIMED MUSIC. Checked out this site after seeing the link on Metacritic and it looks like a cool site for those who like rock lists.

And let's have a litte Dino lead us in a round of "Let It Snow":


Have a great weekend and have fun in the snow!

Elvis Costello at The National

*** Just Announced *** Rock Legend ELVIS COSTELLO Saturday April 24th @ 8pm ... Tickets on sale THIS Friday December 18th at all Ticketmaster outlets, nattickets.com, ticketstobuy.com, and The National box office

Phish in C'ville review, Sharon Jones & Dap Kings, Hamaganza

Phish put on a great show at Charlottesville on Saturday night. The fun began in the parking lot, which was a somewhat subdued scene compared to a normal Phish lot, thanks to the 30 degree weather and light snow. Luckily by the time Phil and I arrived, Wyatt and Angie had arrived ahead of us and set up a tarp overhead and Wyatt's homemade propane fire pit. The fire pit is about two feet across and filled with glass beads that hold the warmth and are quite attractive. Besides keeping us warm, you tend to make a lot of friends when you have a source of heat on a cold, wet day so we partied with people from NC, MD and VA and had a steady stream of onlookers. The few hours in the lot flew by and around 7, it was time to go in. BTW, Wyatt plans on building and selling his propane fire pits (Lil' Cozys? Pixie Fires? They need a good name.) and if you tailgate or camp you will definitely want to get one. He probably could have sold about 15 or 20 that day.

We had great seats, one step off the floor and about even with the front of the soundboard, so we had excellent sound and a full view of the light show. We were also pleased to find that John Paul Jones Arena now allows you to bring beer back to your seats and you no longer are confined to a "beer garden" area. Though after a few hours in the lot, we decided to hold off until intermission to partake of the brew.

The band came out smoking from the start with "AC/DC Bag" and "Chalk Dust Torture". Then a new one, "Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan", which was good but failed to fully ignite. The set seemed to kick up a notch with "Divided Sky", their progressive rock-ish, mostly instrumental which has always reminded me of something a looser Yes would do. Next up was "Ya Mar", a fun reggae number that lightened things up after the heavy "Divided Sky". What also lightened things up was the naked guy who jumped on stage during "Ya Mar" and managed to avoid security for quite a few seconds as seen in this montage of the naked guy and the band's references to him the rest of the show:


Next up was a deeply funky version of Robert Palmer's (by way of writer Allen Toussaint) "Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley". They went way into the swampy funk on this one, with bassist Mike Gordon propelling the band. Then a little twisted bluegrass number, "My Old Home Place" (which mentions Virginia) to get our hoedown on. Then a solid end to the rest of the first set with Cavern, Funky Bitch, David Bowie, The Wedge and a cover of Hendrix's "Bold As Love" with guitarist Trey Anastasio playing his ass off on that one.

Second set brought the funk back with their great riff rocker, "Tweezer", the "step into the freezer" line resonating with those who had spent time in the lot. They again went into a nice, deep funky jam that had the crowd rising up a number of times. This segued into the new song, "Light", which was bit of a letdown after the jams out of "Tweezer". However, they brought it all back together with a great jam out of "Light" which featured some excellent work on the lights (as always) from their longtime lighting director, Chris Kuroda. Also some amazing work throughout the beginning of this set from drummer, Jon Fishman, to keep a high energy beat going while providing fills and moving the beat in and around the other members. The jam went into "Piper" and then a truly uplifiting version of "Free". Here's the jam into "Piper" with a nice view of the light show:


Next up, a cover of the Stones' "Sweet Virginia" with drummer Fishman on the vocals. For those unfamiliar with Phish, Fishman usually takes a turn on vocals each show and though not the best vocalist there is some goofy charm to his singing. However, despite the singalong aspect of the song and the references to "Virginia", this one never really jelled and seemed more of a breather for both the band and the audience.

The band got right back into the thick of it with a great version of the crowd-pleaser "Harry Hood" into the rocker "Suzy Greenberg" that got the whole crowd dancing and pumping fists. They kept the rockin' vibe going with "Golgi Apparatus" and its sing along lyric, "I saw youuuuuu, with a ticket stub in your hand". Mike Gordon's bass dropped out for a bit during "Golgi", prompting Mike to do the bass parts vocally, which got big smiles out of Trey. Finally, a killer version of "Run Like An Antelope" in which Trey tied the whole show together by remembering the naked guy and changing the lyrics to "Run like a naked guy out of control". Only at a Phish show would (1) the band think to do this, (2) pull it off seamlessly and (3) have the whole audience pick up on it immediately and sing along.

The encore brought more "Exile On Main Street" (the band played the entire album on Halloween) Stones, with a fantastic version of "Lovng Cup" ("Oh, what a beautiful buzz") and then the tension and release of "Tweezer Reprise". "Tweezer Reprise" started with Trey playing the familiar riff and keyboardist Page McConnell doing runs on the piano and organ. Mike Gordon then dropped some deep bass bombs that hit you in the gut and shook your loins. The drums kick in and they build and build, closing the show on a high note.


All in all, an excellent show. 4 out of 5 stars. Can't wait until spring tour.

Onto this weekend in Richmond. If you are dying for some more Phish, check out Strange Design, the Dark Star Orchestra of Phish cover bands. Strange Design take setlists from Phish shows and "recreate" the show. They'll be at the Hat Factory on Thursday night. Tix are $13, doors open at 8 and the show starts at 9 with local Grateful Dead cover band, King Solomon's Marbles, so you can get your Dead and Phish on at the same show. It's a hippie's dream.

Do you like soul music? Sweet soul music? Then get yourself to The National on Friday for Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 the day of the show. Doors open at 8 and the show starts at 9 with Greg Hester. Sharon Jones is a classic soul belter, who recently backed up Phish (it all comes back to Phish on this blog) on their Halloween version of the Stones' "Exile On Main St." album. You may recognize the Dap Kings as the band that backed up Amy Winehouse on much of her "Back to Black" album. If I hadn't just gone to Phish, I would love to go to this show. Should be a great show, especially on a Friday night. Here's the video of their song, "100 Days, 100 Nights". They even go with black & white to further the retro feel of their music:


The traditional Hamaganza charity event takes place Saturday night at the Capital Ale House Downtown. This is a now 14-year running fund & food raiser for the Central Virginia Food Bank. Admission is a cured or canned ham or $10. Anything goes at Hamaganza. Comedians, politicians, (which are sometimes the same thing), whistlers, jugglers, musicians of all types, dancing girls, Dirtwoman, you never know what you are going to see but its a lot of fun and its for a great cause. Doors open at 9. Who knows, maybe Phish will show up? Well, probably not but I had to work them in somehow.

I'll leave you this week with an absolutely mind-boggling, creepily psychedelic video of the new song from N.A.S.A. featuring Tom Waits & Kook Keith, "Spacious Thoughts". Smoke 'em if you got 'em.


Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Phish, Grand Illumination, Christmas Parade, Colbie Caillat

Lots of holiday stuff going on this weekend along with the Phish end-of-tour blowout in C'ville.

Phish will be at John Paul Jones Arena in C'ville on Saturday night. Show starts at 7:30 and I have heard they are starting on time so don't go in on rock n' roll time thinking the show will start at 8. Reports from this tour have been all good with long sets, many breakouts (tunes they haven't played in a long time) and inspired playing. I'm thinking this one should be a blast with a fired-up (hopefully. I haven't been very impressed with crowds at JPJ so far.) Saturday night crowd and the band playing well and excited for the end of the tour. They will be coming off of three nights in a row at Madison Square Garden in NYC so there is a small chance of a letdown but the band usually doesn't operate like that.

If you are going, I'll see you there. Phil and I will brave the parking lot scene despite the cold weather but if we need respite, Starr Hill Brewery is throwing a Phish pre-party at the Millmont Grille from 3 - 6 PM. The Millmont Grille is only 1/2 mile from the arena.

Here is the band playing Zappa's "Peaches En Regalia" from the first night at MSG:


Here in Richmond, there is tons of Christmas stuff going on. Tonight is the Grand Illumination downtown and there are a lot of activities surrounding that. The Grand Illumination itself runs from 6 - 7 PM at 10th & E Cary St. For a full rundown of events, click HERE.

The Richmond Christmas Parade will be running down Broad St from the Science Museum to 7th St. starting at 10 AM on Saturday. We usually bring the kids to this one but unfortuately the weather doesn't look like it will cooperate this year. Snow would be fine. Cold is OK. But rain and cold are not a happy combination and that's the weather services are calling for on Saturday AM. Keep on eye on that though, as it may change.

On Friday, Rise Against will be at The National. Tix are $35, doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with openers Landmines and After Midnight Project.

Colbie Caillat will be playing at The National on Tuesday night. Tix are $21 in advance, $24 day of show, doors open at 7 and show starts at 8. Though I can't say that I'm a huge Colbie Caillat fan, I did like the song "Bubbly" until they played it to death and she is just so damn cute. Click HERE to see lots of cute pictures of Colbie. But just so this isn't all about Colbie's looks, here's the video for her last single, "Fallin' For You", which features Bobby Moynihan, one of the new guys on Saturday Night Live, and Colbie looks really cute...oops, promised not to do that. You'll have to click HERE because they won't let me embed the video.

Have a great weekend! I'll see you at the Phish show!

Tony Jordan