Late Night Pick: Schoolboy Q, Cults, Ed Sheerhan

It looks like all the late night shows are in repeats this week. I guess they all take a week off for the Memorial Day holiday. But there is a full show of music on the Last Call with Carson Daly repeat featuring rapper Schoolboy Q, alt-pop duo Cults, Americana artists Wheeler Brothers, and pop/folk/hip-hop artist Ed Sheeran. Last Call is on NBC at 1:35 AM.

Late Night Pick of the Night: Lambchop

Tonight, catch alt-country group, Lambchop, on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC at 12:35 AM. Bill Hader and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will also be on the show. Lambchop dedicated their latest album, "Mr M.", to the late great singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt (shouldn't it have been called "Mr. C"?) and the album is getting great reviews.

RVA Music Night at Cheers, Shockoe Bottom Jazz Fest, Rocketts Red Glare

Memorial Day weekend and if you aren't out eating hot dogs and hamburgers, there is some music to see.

Friday Cheers on Brown's Island does their now annual Memorial Day weekend RVA Music Night. It'll start at 6, run until 9:30 and it's only $5 to get in. The bands are Three Sheets to the Wind, The Trillion and Photosynthesizers. Here's the dirt on each band, courtesy of Venture Richmond:

"Three Sheets to the Wind, America's No. 1 Tribute to Yacht Rock, covers smooth radio hits from 1976 to 1984. Underestimate their yachting-themed stage attire at your own risk. One thing is for certain — their tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek devotion to the AM gold era is no joke. The music is given a faithful and thorough interpretation, and Richmond audiences have been packing venues all over the city to hear the band's send-ups of so-terrible-they're-incredibly-cool artists like Toto, Hall & Oates, Michael McDonald, and Steely Dan. Are they serious? Are they kidding? Who cares? We're all singing along. (They also won "Best Richmond Cover Band" in the 2012 Style Weekly Best of Richmond poll.)

The Trillions are an RVA-based power pop band who formed a couple years ago and have been making a big impression on the Richmond music scene during their time together. Featuring former members of previous RVA power-poppers Prabir And The Substitutes and The Awesome Few, these guys have plenty of experience at constructing well-crafted pop songs

Exploding on to the music scene in 2008, Photosynthesizers have continued to infiltrate the ear drums of many while opening for the likes of Snoop Dogg, Augustana, Flobots, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Trina, Digable Planets, Van Hunt, Nappy Roots and many others. As winners of the Style Weekly's "2012 and 2011 RVA Best Hip Hop Group/Artist Award," these rockin' beat-boxers hold their own amidst ever-evolving genres of Indie Rock, Alternative Hip Hop, Electro-Pop. Afro-Punk and Soul. Their high energy shows composed of hard hitting punk-pop beats and thought-provoking content highlight their unique style as artists and performers."

Of the three bands, The Trillions have the most recent video so here's their song "You Gotta Be Kidding Me":

Later on Friday night, Grateful Dead cover band King Solomon's Marbles will be at Cary St. Cafe. Show starts at 10 and it's $7 to get in.

On Sunday, down at the 17th Street Farmer's Market, the first Shockoe Bottom Jazz Fest goes down. It'll run from 11 AM to 6:30 PM and feature DJ Williams Projekt, The Big Payback, Scott Frock and the Killin, Stony Brook Moonshine and others. It'll be FREE too. Here's DJ Williams Projekt at Cafe Diem on 12/27/11:



Somewhat music related and pretty cool is the Rocketts Red Glare festival at Rockett's Landing on Sunday night. Colin Healy will play at 5:30 and then Kings of Swing at 6:30. The Nina & Pinta, replicas of Columbus' ships will be on view and open for touring. Wine, craft beer and desserts will be on sale. Fireworks at 9.

Next Wednesday night, we share the love, blogger to blogger, as the RVA Playlist blog celebrates their second anniversary with a FREE show at The Camel. Doors open at 8, the show starts at 9 PM sharp. Against Grace, Dead Fame and Marionette will be performing for the birthday bash. Here's Against Grace on Earth Day here in Richmond:



Also on Wednesday, groovealicious jam band Southern Belles will be at Cary St. Cafe. They'll start at 10 PM and it's FREE. Here's Southern Belles with a "Long Distance" jam:


Have a great Memorial Day weekend! Take a second to remember those that gave their lives so we can have free speech, listen to rock n' roll, watch fireworks and be with our families.

Yonder Mountain String Band, St. Vincent, Late Night Pick: Stone Gossard and Shawn Smith

Tonight, newgrass group Yonder Mountain String Band will wander to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden for a show. This is part of the Groovin' in the Garden series. Gate opens at 5:30, show starts at 6. Children under 10 are free. Adults have to pay some price, probably around $20 but oddly since they removed the show from the "purchase tickets" area on the Groovin' web site, I can't tell you how much. Zach Deputy is opening the show and he's pretty good so get there early and check him out. Here's YMSB with Warren Haynes at Mountain Jam 2010:


Also, tonight at The National, St. Vincent and Shearwater will play. St. Vincent is neither a saint (though she may be very nice) nor named Vincent but is the pseudonym for Annie Clark (formerly of Polyphonic Spree) and her usually elegant, but sometimes flat-our rockin', pop music. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with Shearwater. Tix are $18 at the door. Here's a little mini-documentary on St. Vincent from Pitchfork along with some live footage.


Tonight's Late Night Pick is Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard playing with Shawn Smith tonight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:35 AM on NBC.

Late Night Pick of the Night: Flying Lotus, Band of Skulls, Gregg Allman

Both electronica musician Flying Lotus and Brit rockers Band of Skulls will be on Last Call with Carson Daly tonight at 1:35 AM on NBC.

Also, tonight Gregg Allman gets the full 1/2 hour on Tavis Smiley on PBS. Check your local listing for when that runs in your area. Gregg will talk about his new book, of course, "My Cross to Bear", and maybe do a couple acoustic numbers.

Late Night Pick of the Night: The Afghan Whigs

Acclaimed 90's rock band, The Afghan Whigs, are back together and they'll be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight at 12:35 AM on NBC. The Whigs will be hitting up festivals in Europe and America (Lollapalooza & Austin City Limits) but don't have any other dates in the US lined up so this may be one of the few chances to see them.

Late Night Pick: The Melvins

Tonight legendary grunge rockers, The Melvins will be on Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35 AM on NBC. You can get a FREE download of their latest EP, "The Bulls & The Bees" by clicking HERE.

Late Night Pick: Beach House, Van Halen reunion over?

Tonight,check out indie pop band Beach House on the Late Show with David Letterman at 11:35 PM on CBS.

Hope you caught the Van Halen tour early. They just canceled all their remaining gigs. Looks like the reunion may be over already. “A source with knowledge of the tour tells Rolling Stone that Van Halen's members "hate each other." Adds the source, "The band is arguing like mad. They are fighting."


Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/van-halen-postpone-summer-tour-dates-20120517#ixzz1vFoz9ucH

RIP Donna Summer; Late Night Pick: Paul Weller

Disco diva Donna Summer passed away today from cancer at the age of 63. Even during the days when I turned my back on disco, in the era when you had to choose between "Disco Sucks" and dance music, I always liked Donna Summer. Once I was once again accepting of disco and delved into the era again, her music always stood above much of the genre and I proudly own a copy of "On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2" on CD. I'll bust that out tonight and give Donna a dance but it won't be the last one. HERE is the obit from Rolling Stone.

Paul Weller of The Jam and The Style Council will be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight at 12:35 AM on NBC.

RiverRock, Galactic, Justin Townes Earle, Infamous Stringdusters, Dark Star Orchestra, Donna the Buffalo, Jerry Joseph, Jonny Lang, Willie Nelson

NOTE: Corrected night of Dark Star Orchestra show from Friday to THURSDAY. Thanks to Michael W. for noting the mistake and letting me know about it!

Big weekend starts Thursday with some bluegrass and some old school jams.  Bluegrass band The Infamous Stringdusters kick off the Groovin' in the Garden series this year. The show will be at the beautiful Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the gate and kids 10 and under are free. Gates open at 5:30 and the music begins at 6 with Steep Canyon Rangers who have recently been playing with Steve Martin, though Steve is not expected to be at the show. The Stringdusters will be at Bonnaroo this year. Here they are performing "I Wonder" and "Y2K" in Portland OR in April:



Also, Friday THURSDAY night, Grateful Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra will perform in what should be a beautiful setting at Pocahontas State Park Amphitheater in Chesterfield. Tix are $16.50 in advance and $20 at the gate. Children 10 and under are free. There will also be a $5 fee per car charged at the park entrance but that fee is going to the park so that's cool. Gates open at 6, show starts at 6:30 with two 90 minute sets from DSO. Here's DSO doing "Scarlet Begonias > Fire On the Mountain" with former Grateful Dead member Donna Jean Godchaux on vocals at the Gathering of the Vibes in 2011:


Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Dominion Riverrock takes over Brown's Island for what is always a rockin' good time. There will be people mud runnin', dogs catchin' air and jumpin' in the water (my kids love this), freestyle BMXing, kayaking and rock climbing and, of course, great music. There are two stages this year and music will be going on the whole day, each day, Friday starting at 6:30, Saturday and Sunday starting at 1 PM. For the full schedule, click HERE. Headliner on Friday is great bluegrass with Keller Williams with the Travelin' McCourys coming on at 9 PM and going until 10:30. Headliners on Saturday will be Galactic (9 PM), bringin' the New Orleans funk and featuring Corey Glover of Living Colour on vocals, and JJ Grey and Mofro (r&b and roots rock n' roll at 7:30 PM). On Sunday, the festival closes with Allman Brothers tribute band, Skydog, starting at 4:00 PM. By the way, did I mention that the whole festival is FREE. Here's the first three songs of Galactic's set on April 18 in Nashville:



More bluesy, folksy jam bands at Kingdom on Friday night with Donna the Buffalo, Rattlemouth, and Men of Leisure. Show starts at 7 and it's $17 to get in. Here's the full set from Donna the Buffalo at the Virginia Key Grassroots Festival near Miami earlier this year:



Also, Friday, roots rocker Jerry Joseph and the Jackmorons will be at Capital Ale House downtown. Show starts at 10 PM and there does not appear to be an opener. Tix are $10 in advance, $13 day of show. The band has a new live concert DVD out. Here's a track from that:



Also on Friday, NO BS Brass Band will be at The Camel with Paul Wilson opening. It's $7 to get in and the show starts at 9 PM. Here's No BS doing "2 the day":



If you are at home at all this weekend, you can check out the live stream of the Hangout Music Fest from Gulf Shores, AL HERE on MySpace. Yes, that MySpace. They are still around and trying to make a comeback, I guess. I'm not sure if this is video or just audio. But you can't argue with the bands on the webstream including Jack White, String Cheese Incident, Umphrey's McGee (coming to Groovin' in the Garden this summer), Dispatch, Gogol Bordello, Michael Franti & Spearhead (coming to The National this summer), G. Love & Special Sauce, Dr. Dog, Dawes (coming to Friday Cheers this year), Alabama Shakes (also coming to Friday Cheers this year), Gary Clark Jr. and others. They had a schedule up earlier but it's not up now. Music starts at the festival at 12:30 PM ET on Friday, and 12:15 ET on Saturday and Sunday so check it out then.

Saturday, blues guitarist Jonnny Lang will be at The National. Tix are $35 reserved orchestra / $30 reserved balcony / $25 reserved balcony / $25 GA standing. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Michael Williams Band. Jonny has been in the studio working on a new CD so maybe you'll hear some new tunes on Saturday night. Here's Jonny and his band acoustic with "I Believe":



Willie Nelson plays his rescheduled (from May 9) show at Innsbrook on Sunday night. Gates open at 6 and music starts with a tba opener around 6:30. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the gate for GA and $45 for Gold Circle. Children under 10 are free. Here's Willie doing "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain":



Tuesday night, Groovin' in the Garden continues with a great Americana triple bill of Justin Townes Earle, Tristen, & Todd Snider. The show is at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. Gates open at 5:30, music starts around 6. Ticket prices are General Admission Lawn- $20 in advance, $25 at the gate. Children 10 and under are free.  General Reserve Seating- $35 in advance. Here's Justin on Letterman in February performing "Look the Other Way":



Have a great weekend!  I'll see you at RiverRock, hopefully both nights and maybe some other places too.

Tony Jordan