Friday Cheers lineup announced, Late Night Pick: Bob Mould

The Friday Cheers lineup was announced today. Being the soul man that I am, Charles Bradley and Karl Denson's Universe (featuring Richmond's own DJ Williams on guitar) are the highlights for me. It all looks good though and even the country act this year (Shovels & Rope and Hayes Carll) is worth seeing as they are more alt-country than pop country. We'll, of course, have more on each act during the week the appear. But here's the full lineup and press release:

(RICHMOND, VA) February 28, 2013 -- Venture Richmond's premier outdoor concert series, Friday Cheers, returns to Brown's Island on May 3, with a stellar line-up of bands you won't want to miss, at one of RVA’s most beautiful venues. Enjoy breakout bands, national acts and Richmond's hometown talent. Children 12 & under are free.

May 3 – Shovels & Rope and Hayes Carll, $5.
May 10 – The Lone Bellow and Radical Face, $5.
May 17-19 – Dominion Riverrock, featuring Soulive, Lettuce, Toots & the Maytals and Anders Osborne, FREE.
May 24– RVA Music Night featuring Richmond bands: No BS! Brass Band, Murphy’s Kids and Former Champions, $5.
May 31 – The Head and the Heart with Black Girls, $10.
June 7 – Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires with The Rootdowns, $10.
June 14 – Kishi Bashi and Lake Street Dive, $5.
June 21 – Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, with The Pimps of Joytime, $10.
June 28 – The Infamous Stringdusters, with James Justin & Co. $10.

Advance tickets for individual shows and season passes to Friday Cheers are available online at Ticketstobuy.com starting March 1st.

Season Passes cost $35 from March 1st – April 1st and $45 after.

Watch Shovels & Rope on YouTube: http://youtu.be/dfPnGEgtDXI

Watch Hayes Carll on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcLN1ugXGCg&feature=share&list=PLF733B79B5331BD12

Watch The Lone Bellow on YouTube: http://youtu.be/-JQcz1aJEnE

Watch Radical Face on YouTube: http://youtu.be/P8a4iiOnzsc

Watch NO BS! Brass Band on YouTube: http://youtu.be/Xh_HdHJF9ns

Watch The Head & the Heart on YouTube: http://youtu.be/j3CqR_m6NO0

Watch Charles Bradley on YouTube: http://youtu.be/yBdTVmSVq14

Watch Kishi Bashi on YouTube: http://youtu.be/dtmQpRpzOZw

Watch Lake Street Dive on YouTube: http://youtu.be/bAgnnFfDr0Y

Watch Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe on YouTube: http://youtu.be/KJvyQPS2zco

Watch The Infamous Stringdusters on YouTube: http://youtu.be/BYhuqwYigyI

For more interviews with the bands, insider and behind- the-scenes info, and back stories on the artist, visit the Friday Cheers blog.

Presented by: Coors Light

Sponsored by: 103.7 The River, ROCK96.5, K95, Hot 100.9, Hilton Garden Inn, Style Weekly, Richmond.com, Pasture and Pepsi

To be entered in a weekly drawing to win tickets to Friday Cheers, like Friday Cheers on Facebook!

Friday Cheers is produced and managed by Venture Richmond. Venture Richmond also produces Easter on Parade, RVA Fireworks on the James, the Second Street Festival and the Richmond Folk Festival, and is a co-producer, with Richmond Sportsbackers, of Dominion Riverrock.

Tonight's Late Night Pick is the great Bob Mould (Husker Du, Sugar) on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight on NBC at 12:35 AM. Also on the show is the lovely and talented (and Philly home girl) Tina Fey and the wonderful British actor, Bill Nighy. Bob's latest video for "Star Machine" is pretty funny, as he and his band participate in "Bring Your Kid to Work Day".

Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Buskin & Batteau, DJ Williams Projekt

Thursday night at Ashland Coffee & Tea, Susan Greenbaum will perform a set and so will Buskin & Batteau. Here's the press blurb about them:

Buskin & Batteau have been winning hearts and minds with their soulful acoustic balladry and fun-filled performances for more years than they care to remember. ”We’re not from the Cambridge, came-over-on-the-Mayflower first wave of folkies [ Joan Baez, Tom Rush, Eric Von Schmidt ],” says Buskin, “but we’d like to think we’ve stolen many of their licks.”  The Washington Post called their work “an irresistible amalgam of melodic, sensual pop, folkie grit and killer wit.”  And while their humor runs the gamut from topical irony (“Second Homeless”) to terminal silliness (“Jews Don’t Camp”), it’s their unique combination of instrumental virtuosity (piano and violin, primarily, though both play other instruments as well), soaring vocal harmonies and unparalleled lyric-writing that prompts the standing ovations and rhapsodic reviews: “The most musically sophisticated act in folk” –The New York Times; “Acoustic Heaven” – The Boston Globe.  And with the help of uber-percussionist Marshal Rosenberg, they manage to kick the rhythm pretty hard for a couple of seasoned troubadors.  Famous in the eighties as superstar jingle writers –Batteau’s “Heartbeat of America” heads a list of a hundred or more hits — they’ve also divided their time between writing songs for other artists — e.g., Judy Collins, Tom Rush, Astrud Gilberto, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Peter, Paul and Mary and Bette Midler; helping a diverse group of non-profits — Paul Newman’s Hole-In-The-Wall Camps, Harry Chapin’s WhyHunger, Roger Payne’s Ocean Alliance, among others; and hosting their quirky, unpredictable Radio B&B show on WPKN-FM and WPKN.org.  Their new CD is being recorded at Neale Eckstein’s Fox Run Studios in Sudbury, MA, features some delightful guest appearances and should be completed, they hope, by Dec.

The show will start at 8 and tix are $15 in advance, $20 day of show. Here's Buskin & Batteau doing "Jews Don't Camp":

Over at Balliceaux Thursday, No BS! Brass Band will perform. It starts at 10 and it's $3 to get in. They were on "RVA This Morning" on channel 6, well, this morning. Can't embed it so you gotta go to the link: http://wtvr.com/2013/02/27/virginia-this-morning-no-bs-brass-band/.

The Trongone Band (jammin' blues) will be at Cary St. Cafe on Thursday night. They'll start at 10 PM and there is no cover (FREE!). They'll also be at Tobacco Company on Friday night at 9:30 PM and, again, no cover! Here they are with guest DJ Williams on guitar doing the Bill Withers classic, "Use Me". This is audio only but soundboard and it's funky:



Speaking of DJ Williams, he'll be at Canal Club on Friday night with his band, DJ Williams Projekt. It's $5 to get in and the show starts at 9 with openers Grapefruit Fred, The Inflatables and DJ Phil Dice.

Friday night at The Camel, Southern Belles will hit the stage. Show will start at 9 with opener Moogatu. There may be a minimal cover charge. Here's the Belles doing "Fried Fish" at Cary St. Cafe about a year ago:


Saturday night, straight from New Orleans and ready to get down and get funky, it's the magnificent Dirty Dozen Brass Band at the Capital Ale House. It's $15 to get in, doors open at 8, show starts at 9. They recently announced they'll be playing the Peach Mountain Festival at Montage Mountain, PA in August with Allman Bros. Band, Bob Weir & Ratdog, Black Crowes, and others. Here's the DDBB at Bonnaroo in 2002:


At The Camel on Saturday night, People's Blues of Richmond will rock your face off. It's $7 to get in and the show starts at 9 with Toy Soldiers (from Philly) and Toxic Moxie. Here's PBR at The National last September doing "Only Insane":



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Gold Fields

Gold Fields is an up and coming band (they are one of MTV's Bands to Watch this year) from Australia who make 80's influenced dance pop ala Duran Duran. They just released an album called, "Black Sun" and they'll be gettin' that 80's groove on (wear your neon colors) tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live at 11:35 PM on ABC.

Late Night Pick: Kendrick Lamar

Rapper Kendrick Lamar, whose "Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City" album made all sorts of Best of 2012 lists, will be on the Late Show with David Letterman on CBS tonight at 11:35 PM.

Late Night Pick: Japandroids

Still riding high from their album, "Celebration Rock", which ended up on a lot of "2012 Best of" lists, Japandroids (who are neither Japanese nor androids, at least as far as I can tell. I suppose they could be very sophisticated androids who are programmed to ROCK!) will be on Conan tonight on TBS at 11 PM, then repeated at 1 AM. Japandroids do catchy, punky, garage rock and I have been quite fond of this song lately. I'm a sucker for any band that can rock and get some good "Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh"'s in.

Mary Gauthier, Teenage Bottlerocket, The Queers, The Shack Band, King Solomon's Marbles

It's jam band wars tonight! Bluesy jammers The Shack Band, Trongone Band and Pseudo Blue hit The Camel tonight. Doors open at 8, show starts at 9:30 and it's $7 to get in. This is The Shack Band's only local performance this month. Here's The Shack Band playing "Cafe Diem" on 2/15/13:


Over at Cary St. Cafe tonight, Grateful Dead tribute band, King Solomon's Marbles, will groove ya starting at 10 PM. It's $7 to get in. You can listen to their show from 1/25/13 at Cary St. Cafe HERE.

Tuesday night at Ashland Coffee & Tea, Americana singer/songwriter Mary Gauthier will take the stage at 8 PM. Tix are $15 in advance, $20 day of show. Mary has a new album, "Live at Blue Rock", out. Mary has just started a world tour that will take her all over the US, Canada, Europe and the UK. Here she is doing "Cigartette Machine" from the new album:


If you're looking for something a little louder, check out the pop-punk party at The Camel on Wednesday night with The Queers, Teenage Bottlerocket, and Masked Intruder. Doors will open at 7, show starts at 8, it's $12 in advance, $14 at the door and The Camel advises that you buy in advance as they are likely to sell out. Here's Teenage Bottlerocket with "Skate or Die" (some language NSFW):



Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick: Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite

Old and young guns combine for a blues como that's getting great reviews with Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite and their new album, "Get Up!". They'll be on Tavis Smiley tonight talking about their collaboration and hopefully playing some music too. Tavis Smiley is on PBS at various times depending upon where you are so check your local listings. Here's Ben & Charlie doing "I'm In I'm Out and I'm Gone":

Late Night Pick: ZZ Ward

That's ZZ Ward, not ZZ Top, thank you. ZZ Ward is a new R&B/neo-soul singer/songwriter out of Oregon and she'll be on Last Call with Carson Daly tonight at 1:35 AM on NBC. She'll be playing some of the big music fests this summer including Sasquatch and Firefly (in Dover, DE). You might dig ZZ if you like Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, Joss Stone, Adele or Christina Aguilera.

Late Night Pick: Lisa Loeb

Tonight, Lisa Loeb, who burst onto the scene in the early 90's with "Stay" and had been making consistently good music since, will be on Conan on TBS at 11 PM and then repeated at 1 AM. And she's still cute too! She's got a new album out called "No Fairy Tale" which includes two collaborations with Tegan & Sara.

Late Night Pick: Divine Fits

Indie rock "supergroup" (made up of member of Spoon, Wolf Parade and New Bomb Turks) Divine Fits will be on Last Call with Carson Daly tonight at 1:35 AM. They'll be hitting some of the major summer fests (Sasquatch, Coachella, Governor's Ball). Here's the video for their latest "single" (should we even call them singles anymore?), "My Love Is Real":