Late Night Pick: Josh Ritter

Tonight on a Late Show with David Letterman repeat (from 3/12/13) on CBS at 11:35 PM, contemporary folkie Josh Ritter will perform a track from his latest, well-received album, "The Beast In Its Tracks". Josh will be playing here in Richmond on May 22 at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. Josh's song, "New Lover", is #2 on Paste Magazine's 25 Best Songs of 2013 (So Far).

Late Night Pick: Shuggie Otis, Coachella Webcast starts at 6:30 ET

The funk guitarist, Shuggie Otis, who had a few great albums in the early 70's and once turned down an offer to join the Rolling Stones, is making a comeback and is on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight, hopefully playing with The Roots. But if you interview Shuggie don't ask about the Stones. Per his website, he will only answer questions about future plans and not "questions that have been posed to him repeatedly regarding disproportionate curiosities".

Also, don't forget the Coachella webcast starting today on YouTube with three different channels to choose from. The webcast starts at 6:30 ET Friday through Sunday and you'll need to stay up late if you want to catch the headliners, but there is lots of good stuff on earlier too.

Late Night Pick: Paramore

Emo-punk-pop band Paramore have returned after four years with their best reviewed album yet, the self-titled "Paramore". The album just got a pretty good review from Jon Pareles in the New York Times. They'll be on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight at 11:35 PM on ABC along with Tom Cruise and Ke$ha.

Late Night Pick: Jake Bugg

New 19 year old, English singer-songwriter Jake Bugg appears on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight on CBS at 11:35 PM. Jake is big enough in Britain that he'll be opening for the Stones when they play Hyde Park in London in July.

Bob Dylan, Carytown Beer Fest, White Lung, Rusted Root, Beach Fossils, Wrinkle Neck Mules, Ivan & Aloysha

Lots of music going on this weekend and on into next week.

We start Wednesday night with Rusted Root at the John Marshall Ballroom. The show will start at 8 and tix are $40 VIP and $25 GA. Rusted Root still making great music but still best known for their hit "Send My On My Way" which has also been in a lot of movies and commercials since then. They do have a sense of humor about that. A few years ago, when they played Brown's Island, they introduced the song saying, "This is the one all the kids are waiting for. We call this one the "Ice Age" song." And indeed my young son, Zach, had waited patiently all night for that one. Here's a track from Rusted Root's latest album, "The Movement", called "Monkey Pants".



Thursday night at Strange Matter, it's an underground punk fest (Stay Sweet III pre-fest) with 14, count 'em, 14 bands. The actual Stay Sweet Fest III is at The Camel Friday through Sunday, but it's sold out, so if you didn't get tix for that, this the next best thing. Doors will open at 5, show starts at 5:30. It's $8 to get in, $10 at the door. You can go HERE to see the full lineup and show times. The headliner is Vancouver riot grrrl group (and guy) White Lung. Here's White Lung's video for "Take the Mirror":



Starting Friday afternoon, the Coachella Festival will be webcast on YouTube HERE Friday through Sunday. Figure it's on the West coast so it will start somewhere between 3 PM  - 5 PM. They haven't put the webcast lineup on YouTube yet but bands playing the festival include Stone Roses, Blur, Phoenix, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Modest Mouse, Sigur Ros, New Order, Japandroids, Franz Ferdinand, Moby, Violent Femmes, Janelle Monae, Shovels & Rope, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Social Distortion, Tame Impala, Lumineers, La Roux, Gaslight Anthem, OMD, Father John Misty, Rodriguez, and many more. YouTube usually runs two or three different feeds so you can pick the band you want to see.

Here at home on Friday, dreamy indie pop band Beach Fossils will be at Strange Matter. It's $12 to get in, doors open at 9, Positive No and Warren Hixson will open. As you can see from the poster up there, this is the first show of the tour. Here's their song "Adversity":


Bluegrass/roots band Wrinkle Neck Mules will be over at Capital Ale House Downtown for a Saturday night hoedown and hootenanny. It'll be a 10 spot to get in, doors open at 8, showtime is at 9 with a "special guest" opening. That means they didn't have an opener lined up when they posted it on the web site. The Mules have been working on some new songs so you may hear something for the first time at the show.
Here's the band performing "When the Wheels Touch Down" at The Southern in C'ville last year:



Sunday, quaff some ales at the Carytown Craft Beer Festival in, guess, Carytown! It'll run from noon to 6 PM. It's $15 in advance, $20 at the gate and your admission gets you a souvenir pint glass and unlimited tastings. There is also a $10 designated driver admission which includes free soft drinks.

Monday at Strange Matter, folk-pop band Ivan & Aloysha will perform for your pleasure. It's $10 in advance, $12 at the door. The Lone Bellow (who will be at Friday Cheers this year) and In Sheep's Clothing open. Here they are doing their song, "Running for Cover" live on KCRW last month:



Finally, next Tuesday, 4/16, a show I'll be attending with the legendary Bob Dylan and his Band at the Landmark Theater. Dawes will be opening. The show will start at 7:30 and tix are $52. Bob ain't gettin' any younger so you may want to catch him now before he joins the immortals in rock and roll heaven. There are still some tickets available in the top balcony but not many left. Here's a video from Bob's latest album, "Tempest", which see him continuing to mine traditional American music. This is "Duquesne Whistle" in which we learn not to try to pick up women who drive Gremlins and that Bob in some sort of Mexican gang:



I'll see you at the Bob show. I'm calling it a night as the allergies have kicked in and I've got a weird too-much-Sudafed and beer buzz going on. In a daze but wide awake. Hope I can get to sleep soon and I know the dreams will be strange.

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Gary Clark Jr.

Excellent up-and-coming (he may have arrived) blues guitarist/singer Gary Clark Jr. will be on Late Show with David Letterman tonight on CBS at 11:35 PM. Gary will be hitting a lot of the big festivals this year, including Mountain Jam, Crossroads Guitar Fesitval, Tortuga, New Orleans Jazz Fest, Shaky Knees and Beale St., so hopefully we'll get to catch a full show on one of the webcasts. And hopefully, he'll play in Richmond soon!

Late Night Pick: Keith Richards, Ghostface Killah

Keith Richards will be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight on NBC at 12:35 AM. Keith is not the music guest, that spot belongs to Wu-Tang Clan rapper, Ghostface Killah. I suppose Keith will be talking about the  Stones' upcoming US tour. I'm hoping for a comedy bit with Jimmy as Mick together with the real Keith. If you want to check out Ghostface's new album, "Twelve Reasons to Die", you can stream it on NPR HERE.

Late Night Pick: Yeah Yeah Yeahs

The always exciting Yeah Yeah Yeahs have returned and they will be on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight at 11:35 on CBS. You can watch a full album preview of their new album "Mosquito" with commentary by the band right here:

Late Night Pick: Damien Jurado

On a new Last Call with Carson Daly tonight (1:35 AM on NBC), check out indie singer/songwriter Damien Jurado. Here's Damien doing "Museum of Flight" in Raleigh last September:

Memory Tapes, They Might Be Giants, Acoustic Anarchy, Southern Belles, Dean Fields

Hope you are all enjoying Spring Break this week. Been out of work for a couple days with the kids. Ready (kind of) to get back to work tomorrow. Will also get back to the Late Night Pick tomorrow as that is my little break at work.

Onto this weekend's bands. We'll start with classic jam rockers Trongone Band at Cary St. Cafe for their usual Thursday night show. Show starts at 10 PM and there is no cover.

Friday night, Southern Belles are at The Camel with Itchy Hearts and Farm Vegas. The show starts at 9 and it's $7 to get in. Besides their own, excellent tunes, Southern Belles always do a few choice covers and here they are doing The Band classic, "Shape I'm In" at Rapture in Charlottesville in January.



Over at Tobacco Company on Friday night, People's Blues of Richmond will rock your face off starting around 9 PM. There is no cover charge. Here's the band doing "Nihilist Blues" down in SC last month.



Folk-pop singer Dean Fields will be out at Ashland Coffee & Tea on Friday night. Show starts at 8, tix are $8 in advance, $10 day of show. Here's Dean's press blurb:

1000 shows, 9 years, and 200,000 miles have passed since Dean Fields went on the road to pursue a career in music. During that time his address changed from Miami to Nashville to Boston until most recently returning to his hometown of Richmond, VA. Now, back in Nashville, he hits the road again to promote his most recent release ‘Under A Searchlight Moon’ . His recent homecoming has found Fields selling out shows in Richmond VA, as well as nearby Washington DC. “Dean Fields writes lyrics like Leonard Cohen and sings like Jeff Buckley. It’s no surprise that there’s a serious buzz on this Virginia singer-songwriter.” (Free Times) While continuing to feed his passion for music, Dean is fueled by a single-minded love to perform, sharing the stage with KT Tunstall, Blues Traveler, Rosanne Cash, Eric Hutchinson, Colin Hay, Bob Schneider, Auqualung, Hootie and the Blowfish, John Hiatt, Cake, Bruce Hornsby, Rusted Root, Madeleine Peyroux, Carbon Leaf, among others. In addition, Fields’ maturity as a writer and performer is brought to the fore by some of the region’s finest musicians including members of Mandy Moore, Sparklehorse, Agents of Good Roots, KD Lang, Carbon Leaf and Modern Groove Syndicate.

Here's Dean's video for "Forever Never Knowing":

Saturday, it's an early show at Strange Matter with dreamy, ambient, electronic pop artist Memory Tapes, the alias for Davye Hawke. It's $10 in advance, $12 at the door. It's an early show so it will start at 5 PM and be over no later than 9 PM. Here's Memory Tapes remix of Pendentif's "Embrasse Moi":


If you want to see how some classic punk rockers have aged, head to Capital Ale House on Saturday night for the Acoustic Anarchy tour featuring Glen Matlock of Sex Pistols, Sylvain Sylvain of New York Dolls and  Dave Brockie of GWAR. There is limited seating available (that just seem wrong), and tix are $13 in advance, $15 day of show. Here's the New York Dolls on their recent reunion tour doing "Personality Crisis":



Sunday, the quirky pop of They Might Be Giants comes to The National. It's $20 in advance, $23 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Moon Hooch. If you and the kids are a fan of their children's music (which is quite awesome for child and adult alike), do not bring them to this show. No one under 14 will be admitted. If you've ever wondered how often TMBG use certain words, someone has created a word frequency chart for their songs. While they've only used the word "Marty" in five songs, that's 78.43 times more common than in printed English. Here's their latest video for the song "You Probably Get That A Lot":



Here's the 11th best video of 2012 according to Paste Magazine. It's Aimee Mann with guest star and Rolling Stone cover boy, Jon Hamm, recreating, in a way, her classic video with Til' Tuesday, "Voices Carry":



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan