Lone Bellow, Joy Formidable, IO Echo, Skydog, Luray, Beer & Wine fests

We begin the weekend with Friday Cheers, this week with The Lone Bellow (8 PM 6:30 PM) and Radical Face (6:30 PM 8 PM). It's $5 to get in. Nice article on the folksy, Americana sound (with 3 part harmonies) of The Lone Bellow in today's Times-Dispatch. The Lone Bellow played at Strange Matter about a month ago and when they sang "Happy Birthday" to band member Kanene, well, something went awry. Her dad made the save but at the expense of his suede jacket. Hopefully, the band paid for the dry cleaning.



On a more musical note, here is Lone Bellow's latest video (just released yesterday) for "Bleeding Out":



Saturday is just cccrrrrraaaaazzzzyyyy with stuff to do. I can't recall a day that was more jam packed with events and bands.

If your kids (or you) like trains, you can head to either the Ashland/Hanover Visitor Center or Richmond's Staples Mill station to celebrate National Train Day. It'll run from 11 AM to 4 PM. There will be giveaways and activities at either place.

Beer or wine? Take your pick. There is a festival for whatever your libation desire might be.

Down at Historic Malvern in Midlothian, the 3rd Annual Virginia Hops & Barley Festival takes place from 1 PM to 8 PM. There will be 30 VA craft beers to sample. Tix are $15 in advance, $20 at the gate. Your admission gets you unlimited beer tastings. Here's the band lineup:

1:00-2:00 Triad

2:20-3:20 Jackass Flats

3:40-4:40 Southern Tide

5:00-6:15 The Atkinsons

6:35-8:00pm The Wrest w/Pat O'Brien

Out at Innsbrook Pavilion, winos, oops, sorry, oenophiles, can participate in the Central Virginia Wine Festival. That'll run from noon until 6 PM. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the gate and that gets you free wine tastings from all 16 wineries. Music will be provided by:

12:30 PM - 2 PM - School of Rock Short Pump

2:30 PM - 4 PM - 44 Diesel

4:30 PM - 6 PM - Big Enough

River City Blues Society of Virginia is throwing a party at Pocahontas State Park on Saturday and you are all invited. Parkfest Blues goes from 2 PM - 10 PM. Tickets are $45 at the gate and a portion of the net proceeds will benefit Special Olympics.  They don't have the schedule up on the website, but I believe this is the running order from where they have them on their home page:

1. Andrew Ali and Last Night's Blues Band
2. The Mike Lucci Band
3. Albert Castiglia (2012 Blues Music Awards (BMA) nominee)
4. The Nighthawks (2011 BMA Acoustic Album of the Year, though they will probably be rocking you electric)
5. Mikey Junior

If you are into really old music, and I mean music played on 78s, head to Steady Sounds Saturday afternoon from 3 PM to 4 PM where Grammy Award winning archivist/collector/producer Chris King will playing music from his collection of rare 78 rpm records. This will be the first time he has ever played some of these rare records in public. He'll also be displaying his collection of R. Crumb artwork from the covers of his compilations.

Starting at 4 PM at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, it's the One Can Benefit Concert which will benefit Children, Incorporated, an "organization providing long-term assistance to underprivileged children in the United States and in 22 other countries. Working through established orphanages, schools and community centers, they help bring children out of poverty through sponsorship and other programs." It's free to get in and a portion of the proceeds from all food and beverage purchases goes to the charity. There is also a VIP Hour from 3 to 4 for $25 that gets you a private beer tour and heavy hors d'oeuvres. The band schedule is:

4:00pm - The Trongone Band

5:45pm - Beast Wellington

7:30pm - The New Belgians

At 8 PM at The National, alternative pop rockers The Joy Formidable will perform. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with openers IO Echo and Fort Lean. Make sure you get there early to see the atmospheric synth pop of IO Echo who have a good buzz around them. Joy Formidable is playing a bunch of festivals this summer including Austin City Limits, Bumbershoot, Forecastle, and Firefly (close by in Dover, DE). If you want to try to see them for free at The National, send an email to tixswin@gmail.com by 12 Noon Friday May 10th with the SUBJECT - JOY MUSIC.  One e-mail per person.  Please be sure to include your full name that appears on your ID for entry.  Ten WINNERS will be chosen and notified via email Friday afternoon by 5pm ! That comes from an email from The National so its the real deal. Here they are doing "Little Blimp":
 

Over at The Camel at 9 PM on Saturday, folksy Americana band Luray will appear along with Low Branches and Nick Coward & The Last Battle. Show starts at 9 and it's $5 to get in. Here they are playing "What Becomes":

Last but not least on Saturday, Allman Brothers tribute band, Skydog, will be at Capital Ale House. Doors will open at 8, show starts at 9, tix are $7 in advance, $10 day of show. Here they are doing "Statesboro Blues":



Before we leave, HERE are 9 Reasons George Harrison was the funniest Beatle. If you haven't seen the magnificent document on George Harrison, Living In the Material World, do so immediately.

I'll see you at Friday Cheers and then Skydog on Saturday. Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Purity Ring

Tonight on Last Call with Carson Daly, check out Purity Ring, an indie electronica duo out of Canada. Purity Ring will be playing at a number of the big fests this summer including Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, and Forecastle

Late Night Pick: METZ

Canadian hard rock band METZ is on Last Call with Carson Daly tonight at 1:35 AM on NBC. You might like METZ if you like The Pixies, Mudhoney, or Death From Above 1979. Also, I like this poster from a recent show of METZ's:

Late Night Pick: Pistol Annies

Pistol Annies are the female country trio made up of Miranda Lambert, Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe. They just released their second album together, "Annie Up" which is getting reviews as strong as their first album and has garnered them acclaim from other musicians including Neil Young. They'll be on Late Show with David Letterman tonight at 11:35 AM on CBS.

Late Night Pick: James Blake

Indie electronica dubstep artist, James Blake, will be on Late Show with David Letterman tonight at 11:35 PM on CBS. You might want to check out James if you like D'Angelo, Stevie Wonder, Feist, Bon Iver, Joni Mitchell, or Brian Eno.

Late Night Pick: Kacey Musgraves

Country singer-songwriter Kacey Musgraves will be on Late Show with David Letterman tonight on CBS at 11:35 PM to do a number from her well-received major label debut, "Same Trailer Different Park". She'll be playing football and baseball stadiums this year as part of Kenny Chesney's tour. Kacey and her band recently did an AOL Sessions show and played 5 songs and got interviewed. If you want to check it out, go HERE.

Off to Cheers now!

Lyle Lovett, Shovels & Rope, Hayes Carll, Steel Panther, Red Elvises, Bio Ritmo, Southern Belles

It's Friday Cheers time again and the weather looks like it will be absolutely wonderful for the kickoff and the bands are great too. Americana acts Shovels & Rope (6:30 PM) and Hayes Carll (8:00 PM) are your co-headliners. It's $5 to get in, gates open at 6 and get there early because Shovels & Rope have a big buzz building right now after their exciting set at Coachella. HERE is the article from Style Weekly featuring Shovels & Rope. And here is music from  both. We'll start with Shovels & Rope performing "Birmingham" live on David Letterman:



And here's Hayes Carll's "Another Like You" which really shows off his sense of humor and shows that people on the left and right side of the political fence can get together. And look for a guest appearance from two poiticos at the end:

If you wanna rock 80's style on Friday night, head to The National for Steel Panther. Steel Panther is on their STD tour (Spreading the Disease) and they will infect you with their parody of hair bands. Tix are $22 in advance, $25 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Hillbilly Herald. Here's the trailer for Steel Panther's new DVD "British Invasion" which tells you all you need to know. Language in this is NSFW but it f**kin' rocks!



Siberian surf rockers, the Red Elvises, will be at Capital Ale House on Friday. If you like your surfabilly served up with a side of borscht and camp, this band is for you. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9, tix are $10 in advance, $12 day of show. Here they are on the Russian version of Jimmy Kimmel:



If you want to lose yourself in the country-fried rock-n-roll jams Friday night, Southern Belles and The Northerners will be at The Camel. It's $7 to get in and the show starts around 9. Here's Southern Belles doing "Waves":
 

The second weekend of New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival goes down this weekend and you can listed to live sets HERE all weekend long. Even better, if you have AXS TV on your cable or satellite provider (I know it's channel 340 on DirecTV) you can 25 hours of live coverage this weekend going from 3 PM to midnight Friday - Sunday. Acts on AXS TV will include Billy Joel, John Mayer, Phoenix, Widespread Panic, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Gary Clark, Jr., Willie Nelson & Family, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Gipsy Kings, Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite, Laura Bell Bundy, Galactic, Marcia Ball, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Anders Osborne, Bonerama, and Marc Broussard among others. And that is SWEET, bitches!

Hardywood Brewery busts out its new Saison Rustica on Saturday at 2 with great salsa band Bio Ritmo taking the stage at 5 PM to get you moving. It's free to get in.  Here's Bio Ritmo doing "Carnaval":



Trongone Band will be hanging out, classic rockin' and unplugged at Tobacco Company on Sunday night from 7 PM - 9 PM and it's FREE. This isn't acoustic but here's the band performing Ophelia, Dear Mr. Fantasy and Hey Jude:



Tuesday night, the great Lyle Lovett will be at the Carpenter Theater. Lyle puts on a great show, touching on country, jazz, folk, and gospel and telling humorous stories with his country debonair wit. He's not with the "Large Band" this time. It'll be a five piece acoustic band this time, which should place an emphasis on his folksy, surreal lyrics. Hopefully, he'll do this one from back on '93 with Rickie Lee Jones on backing vocals. It often bring me close to tears. The show starts at 7:30 and tix run from $40 - $60.



I'll leave you with a mashup of Bohemian Rhapsody and Rhapsody in Blue, appropriately titled Bohemian Rhapsody in Blue:



BTW, I just finished another fantastic collection of music videos called Music Videos 19. Yes, I know, quite an original title. Anyway, it's heavy on old school hip hop thanks to Rolling Stone's 50 Greatest Hip Hop Songs of All Time list, so get on your Kanga hat, Adidas track suit and some cool kicks. But you'll find a lot of other surprises in there too so check it out and put it on shuffle to have the most fun. Or check out one of my other 18 video collections.

Have a great weekend! See you at Friday Cheers!

Tony Jordan

Clutch, Late Night Pick: Alice Russell

Alternative metal band Clutch will be at The National tonight. Don't let the alt-metal moniker scare you. Clutch is just a damn good, straight forward, rock band. Tix will be $25 at the door. Doors open at 6:30, show starts at 7 with openers The Sword and Lionize. Though you may not have heard of Clutch, they are bigger than you think. Their latest album "Earth Rocker" entered the Billboard Top 200 chart at #15, #1 on the Hard Music chart, and #3 on the Independent Album Chart. Here's "Crucial Velocity" from Clutch's new album:



Tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC at 11:35 PM, watch British neo-soul singer, Alice Russell. This will be Alice's US TV debut as she begins a promo tour of record stores, tv shows and alternative radio stations to promote her new album, "To Dust". Not sure if the title refers to "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" or if she just likes to keep a tidy house.

Late Night Pick: Phoenix; Phoenix webcast

Phoenix will pull double duty tonight to promote their new album "Bankrupt". They'll be on Late Show with David Letterman tonight on CBS at 11:35 PM. And they'll be doing a "Live at Letterman's" webcast at 8 PM ET HERE. The webcast will be live and is actually after the taping of the show, which is taped at 5:30 PM. Buzzfeed recently decided that Phoenix is the most adorable band ever and gives you 40 reasons why HERE.

Late Night Pick: Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite

Old school and new school blues hook up as Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite appear on Late Show with David Letterman tonight on CBS at 11:35 PM. Ben & Charlie released an album earlier this year called "Get Up!" Ben's Facebook page reports: "Ben Harper is helping to raise money for the family of Australian pro skateboarder Lewis Marnell, whose untimely death in January at the age of 30 left his family in dire financial straights. A lifelong skateboarding enthusiast and friend t...o skaters around the world, Harper has reunited with the Innocent Criminals for the first time since 2007 to re-record the song "Jah Work" from his 1997 album, "The Will to Live." The song will be available on iTunes tomorrow, with all proceeds going to the family memorial fund. Watch the video on YouTube here: http://bit.ly/12UBGBm"