There’s nothing like authentic Blue Ridge Mountain music for a relaxing summer’s evening. Throwing in some reggae and indie rock makes it even better. Virginia native and current Rockbridge County resident Larry Keel and his acoustic band, Natural Bridge, return to Charlottesville, bringing along their sleek and savvy bluegrass sound.
“We play a mix of bluegrass– old traditional songs–, reggae songs, rock and roll songs, original music,” Keel says. “We throw in some indie sounds for the kids, then make them listen to bluegrass.”
Growing up in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Keel was introduced to traditional bluegrass guitar and banjo sounds through his father and brother. As he developed a sound of his own, he drew in a variety of influences, from Jerry Garcia and Jimi Hendrix to Miles Davis and Bob Marley. Growing in talent, Keel spent seven months playing in Tokyo’s Disney Land, where he “played music in a goofy cowboy hat and boots.”
“I went there and played six shows a day, a half-hour show, then a half-hour off, then another half-hour show,” Keel says. “Having to play all the time really makes you fluid.”
Returning to the States, Keel began a band of his own, the Larry Keel Experience, comprised of his wife on bass and rotating banjo and mandolin players. After ten years, the band found a solid sound in banjoist Jason Flournoy and mandolin player Mark Schimick. The band came together under the moniker Natural Bridge, inspired by their current location in Lexington. The band has gone on to tour across the country — up to 150 shows a year — drawing critical acclaim for their contemporary twist on the southern traditional bluegrass sound.
“We play good energy music, we like to get everyone moving,” Keel says of the band’s performances. “I do a lot of writing, so we play original music– I don’t know what you’d classify it as, but it’s a blend of everything. We like to mix it all up, give everyone a little something.”
Keel and Natural Bridge last stopped in Charlottesville last December to play the now defunct Satellite Ballroom with Tommy Rice, a “fabulous guitar player,” according to Keel.
“We’ve played several different venues– Starr Hill, Millers,” Keel says. “I love coming back there, and hopefully we can get a good venue so that we can come back and frequent the town.”
Despite bringing modern influences to the historically rich sound of Virginia bluegrass, Keel stays true to the traditional purity of what is oft-defined as “mountain music.” Drawing influence from his home base on House Mountain in nearby Rockbridge County and his upbringing in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Keel and Natural Bridge return to Charlottesville with a crisp, yet eclectic, twist on a southern sound.
Larry Keel and Natural Bridge performs at Fridays After Five on 8/1. Birdlips opens.
A peek inside the new burger joint, scheduled to open early fall. PHOTO BY MARISSA D’ORAZIO
Furious VA flatpicker Larry Keel and his band Natural Bridge split the difference between traditional and contemporary bluegrass. Local folk-rock duo Birdlips opens
If you couldn’t get (or afford) tickets to B.B. King, never fear — there’s another killer blues show on the way. Drown your sorrows in bourbon, scotch, and beer, and instead go check out Thorogood and his Destroyers performing with the polka-dotted blues royalty that is Buddy Guy.
Undoubtedly this era’s defining figurehead of blues guitar, B.B. King is still ticking at well past 80 and despite diabetes that you’d think would have cost him a finger or two by now — but no, his characteristic “bee sting” vibrato is still going strong and identifiable a mile away. The man is beyond a living legend, the rare sort who gets inducted into the brotherhood that defines a school of music rather than simply practicing it competently, so catch him whle you still can.
Eli Cook opens.
Stacy Earle and Mark Stuart are the sister and brother-in-law, respectively, of rebellious and remarkable country singer Steve Earle. Steve’s wife Allison Moorer made a great showing at the Paramount a few months ago, so it’s only fair to assume that he’s rubbed off in other familial directions as well. Longtime local songwriting partnership of Tom and Emily is still going strong, and award-winning Scottsville folk duo The Honey Dewdrops also help kick things off.
buy tickets onlineLocal singer-songwriters
buy tickets onlineShe Swings, She Sways plays brainy Midwestern pop and Americana tunes, most recently an album with unrequited love as the central theme. (Yeah, that probably applies to about 80% of the pop records out there, but at least these guys own up to it.)
Jazzy acoustic songwriter Paul Brunett and young siren Caroline Spence open.
buy tickets onlineEllis Paul and Paul Curreri are both renowned local singer-songwriters.
Ellis Paul - EighteenPaul Curreri - Long Gone AgainPaul Curreri - The Wasp
buy tickets onlineStill yearning for more Modest Mouse? Baltimore singer-songwriter Cass McCombs opened for them on their 2005 tour, so maybe he’ll tide you over until they come back this way. Local folk duo Birdlips open.
Birdlips - Tire Chains
Birdlips - Some Kind Of Death
Lyraflyp, Dumbfoundead, Chosen 1, and DJ D-Strukt serve as ambassadors of west-coast Far East hip hop in this collective of rhyming Asian dudes. By now, Charlottesville audiences know that Endless Mic and Q Black aren’t Asian, and also that their verses are brainy enough to keep up anyway.
Local guitarist Matthew Willner leads his blues band.
Local musical Godfather Jamie Dyer and his long-running Americana band have been at it for decades and still show no signs of slowing down.
The Chickenhead Blues Band - Talk To Me, Baby
The Chickenhead Blues Band - Glamour Girl
The Chickenhead Blues Band - Hunky Dorey
The Chickenhead Blues Band - Marvin’s Water
Local “porch rock” Americana band
Jonny Red - Where’s All The Money [live]v
Local musical Godfather Jamie Dyer and his long-running Americana band have been at it for decades and still show no signs of slowing down.
Jazz group led by the Somerset sax player
Haywood Giles - Out Of Nowhere [Take C]
Local rock outfit featuring Jason Pollock, former guitarist for 90’s grunge-lite band Seven Mary Three.
The Pollocks - Behind The Songs I Can’t Write
The Pollocks - Negative Blood
The Pollocks - Breathless
The Pollocks - Black Behind Blue
Hot gypsy jazz from the local guitar player.
Olivarez Trio - Double Whiskey
Local punk quartet. Also featuring Fag Static and Werebear.
The 1920’s swing band hosts an earthquake relief benefit.
The warm barbershop harmony of Full Spectrum will butter you up for the smooth gypsy jazz of the Olivarez Trio.
Olivarez Trio - Double Whiskey
Popular Scottsville rock band winds up 330 Valley Street’s musical offerings– let’s hope just for the time being.
On-again off-again Shenandoah Valley rock band Deep Blue Jones plays a little of everything — rock, blues, jazz, and country, among others.
Young local singer Will Thomas recorded his quartet’s debut EP under the watchful eye of Daughtry guitarist Brian Craddock and opened for the Big Guy at a recent acoustic Paramount performance. On a more typical night, though, you’ll probably find him rocking out in Scottsville.
Red Rooster is a NYC group that plays bluesy roots rock — or rather, whatever you call roots rock once it grows into something that requires an 8-piece ensemble and a DJ. (For what it’s worth, the Roosters call it an “urban country orchestra.”) Their last album, Dose, is split into two discs with the exact same track listings; one uses every tool they could get their hands on, and the other is a stripped-down, more traditional take on the same tunes.
Says Americana-UK:
Red Rooster has released possibly the ultimate modern alt-country album… ‘Dose’ is certainly an early front runner for album of the year.
We’re still a little dizzy from trying to wrap our heads around the existence of a magazine called “Americana-UK,” but once you get that part down, that’s a bloody spirited testimonial, innit?
Red Rooster - San Diego Skyline [electric version]
Red Rooster - Mexico Revisited [electric version]
Red Rooster - Sharp Dressed Man [acoustic version]
Also featuring Susannah Hornsby and Acoustic Union.
The Biscuit Rollers play classic blues descended from Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and R.L. Burnside. South 29 starts with the same and updates it with a hefty dose of rock. Both will do it for a good cause this time around — this show is a benefit for relief programs helping victims of the recent earthquake in China.
The Biscuit Rollers - France Blues
South29 - High Road
South29 - Barrel House Blues
Charlie Pastorfield and Bob Girard, both icons from the Charlottesville rock scene of the 80’s, joined forces in 2005 for this latest chapter in their partnership.
The Misery Brothers play soul covers from the likes of Sam and Dave and Otis Redding and original country written by guitarist Joe Adkins.
Jazzy funk from Baltimore, fresh from the All Good festival.
Basshound - Til I Hit The Ground
Basshound - Ranura Bastarda [live]
Young Divorcee Charlie Bell and his lap steel join Gilliam’s usual trio.
Before it was the opiate of the masses, Television was one of the most important punk-rock prototypes produced by New York City in the 1970’s. Richard Lloyd anchored that band on guitar back in the day, but more recently has been branching out into production and taking on new instruments such the harmonica while continuing as a guitar teacher and a featured columnist for Guitar World magazine. The Sufimonkey Trio is the latest incarnation of his solo project, which has been running in one form or another since the late 70’s, and also features original Television drummer Bill Ficca.
Richard Lloyd and the Sufimonkeys - Amnesia
Lance Brenner’s organic electro-goop project Thrum opens with seemingly synthesized ambient music played with strings and fingers instead of keyboards and samplers.
buy tickets onlineNew York-based bassist and conguera Dawn Drake takes a break from her busy gig calendar on the city’s Latin and Brazilian music circuit to lead zapOte, her African and Caribbean flavored group, on a quick tour of her native Virginia. Named after an exotic Cuban fruit, the band is a funk-fusion project which combines Drake’s pop composition with the rhythmic flavors she picked up while studying percussion in Ghana, Brazil, and Rio de Janiero.
Dawn Drake and zapOte - Cross Crocodiles
Rick Olivarez opens with his usual gypsy jazz trio.
Olivarez Trio - Double Whiskey
buy tickets online
Local rock outfit featuring the songs and guitar stylings of Jason Pollock, formerly a member of late-breaking 90’s grunge band Seven Mary Three.
The Pollocks - Behind The Songs I Can’t Write
The Pollocks - Negative Blood
The Pollocks - Breathless
The Pollocks - Black Behind Blue
The four funky dudes in Basshound champion Baltimore’s big fat bottom. (And by that we mean bass, but let your mind wander where it may.)
Basshound - Til I Hit The Ground
Self-proclaimed “Kings of Dirty Tonk” The Trainwreks are a six-piece Asheville outfit which plays country that occasionally swaggers its way into Psychobilly, then turns tail and runs off into swing territory when the horns kick in.
The Kings of Belmont shake the downtown mall once again. If you haven’t seen this local rock quintet yet, tonight should be the night — R2 is quickly turning into their home venue, so chances are they’ll be at the top of their game.
The Kings Of Belmont - The Jerk Store [demo]
The Kings Of Belmont - Git R Done
The Kings Of Belmont - South Bound
The Kings Of Belmont - Beg For More
The Kings Of Belmont - Sway
The C-ville Music Showcase keeps your appetite for blues roaring with a free show featuring grunge-y local blues guitarist Eli Cook as an after-party of sorts for the BB King show.
The hip-hop DJs of the Duck Brothers chop loops and splice together beats as they turn their turntables into full-fledged instruments of scratch.
It’s a band only a Charlottesville music sage could dream up– a late ’60s- to early ’70s-era Grateful Dead jam band composed of iconic local music powerhouses. The beautiful thing is, it was all just a dream.
“One night in 1996, I had this really vivid dream that I was in a club, playing in a Grateful Dead band, with people from Indecision, Skip Castro, The Casuals,” Alligator founding member Charlie Pastorfield says. “The next day, walking on the Downtown Mall, I ran into Aaron Evans from Indecision, and I described my dream to him. He said, ‘That sounds great, let’s do it!’”
The rest is history.
Pastorfield and Alligator headline two back-to-back shows this weekend: Friday’s After Five followed by Really Live from the Hook Saturday afternoon. For a band that plays three to four shows a year, the opportunity to showcase their quintessential Charlottesville sound to a new generation is the opportunity to create a “pretty impressive party,” according to Pastorfield.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see these bands [The Skip Castro Band, Johnny Sportcoat and the Casuals, The Allstars] play again– it’s exciting to see these original lineups,” Pastorfield says. “It’s like seeing dinosaurs walking through your backyard.”
Pastorfield, who has personally been involved in the Charlottesville music scene since he entered UVA at the age of 16 in 1986, started Alligator’s eight-person lineup 10 years ago. But why create a band full of local music legends just to play Grateful Dead covers?
“People think of Grateful Dead as a laid-back, stoned-out band whenever they listen to their ’80s and ’90s stuff,” Pastorfield explains. “Anyone who saw the band live in the ’60s and ’70s knows it’s a whole different animal. The Grateful Dead approach to rock and roll– they play like a Dixieland band.”
According to Pastorfield, his band takes a Grateful Dead song and uses it as a basic framework, emphasizing the improvisation that makes up most of their performances. The two drummer line-up (Corky Schoonover and Craig Dougald) transforms a mellow Grateful Dead sound into a “dance-oriented” Alligator performance.
While the band is playing a similar sound both nights, the Hook performance will feature several additional instruments, such as saxophone and keyboard. “It’s gonna be wild!” Pastorfield predicts. But will two nights in a row have any effect on admittedly aging rockers in the audience?
“The adrenaline involved will take care of that,” Pastorfield says. “No one’s going to be tired, I can guarantee you. It’s not gonna be stressful; it’s gonna be beautiful.”
Alligator performs at Fridays After Five on 7/25. Kathryn Kaine opens.
While the Paramount Theater has had no trouble attracting notable national talent to its stage since its re-opening in 2005, the Paramount board has had a hard time attracting a permanent executive director. Following a tenure that brought crooner Tony Bennett, violinist Itzahk Perlman, comedian Bill Cosby, and $16 million in funds to the theater, president and CEO Chad Hershner resigned abruptly and without explanation in October 2006.
Ten months later, a national search identified Edward Rucker, a Charlottesville resident since 1988 and president and CEO of the Richmond Forum– an ongoing speakers’ series that charged rock-concert prices for Richmonders to hear visiting dignitaries. Rucker’s tenure saw continued booking success for the venue, with shows from the likes of Dionne Warwick, Judy Collins, and Peter Frampton. And yet, in May 2008, the Paramount once again had to announce a mysterious resignation by their top man, stating in a press release that Rucker had left “to pursue other opportunities,” though at the time Rucker could not say specifically what that next opportunity was.
Now, instead of conducting yet another national search for a director, the Paramount board has enlisted the aid of a local entertainment industry heavyweight. No, Coran Capshaw has not added the renovated movie house to his empire. The Paramount is looking to Larry Wilson, general manager of the John Paul Jones Arena, and his company, SMG Facility Management, to take over.
“I’m doing pretty much everything,” says Wilson. “We’re under an exploratory, 90-day consulting agreement. Then if that goes well, we’ll work with the board of directors to reach a more permanent agreement.”
That means Wilson is presently doing double duty as JPJ’s GM and as the Paramount’s acting GM. According to Paramount spokesperson Kristin Gleason, the Paramount gig is no afterthought for Wilson.
“He’s typically (more)
Last night, Dave Matthews Band saxophonist LeRoi Moore was re-admitted to UVA Hospital “due to complications stemming from his recent accident,” according to a statement on the band’s website. This news comes two weeks after the band announced that doctors had upgraded Moore’s condition from fair to good following an all-terrain vehicle accident on his farm outside Charlottesville. No word on what Moore’s current condition is, and calls to UVA Health System, and to the band’s management were not returned at the time of this post.
On June 30, while taking a break between shows outside Washington, D.C. and in Charlotte, Moore was injured while riding an ATV and rushed to UVA Hospital in serious condition, which UVA defines as “vital signs may be unstable, and not within normal limits. Patient is acutely ill.” The next day, doctors upgraded Moore’s condition from serious to fair, and a week later, his condition had improved to good.
To date, neither the band nor the hospital has discussed the nature or the extent of Moore’s injuries.
While one of their founding members recuperates, Dave Matthews Band (more)
First there was the work-in-progress debut at the 2006 Virginia Film Festival, and then came what we thought was the real-deal unveiling at the Satellite Ballroom, but now there’s a third reason to get down with your old college drinking buddies: following the premiere (or whatever) of the Charlottesville rockumentary Live From… The Hook at the Paramount, the film’s stars will take to the stage at the Pavilion for a celebratory concert. The Skip Castro Band, Johnny Sportcoat and the Casuals, The Charlottesville Allstars, Captain Tunes, and Alligator are all slated to perform. The movie is hilarious, of course, and still soldiering on since first hitting the Paramount way back in October 2006; at this rate, by the time the Special Edition DVD’s come out, we’ll all be ready to start production on a film about good ol’ 2008. Somebody get some makeup on Peter Markush right away. Oh, wait…
The Taters play Americana and country steered toward pop and rock. The Gladstones, are, of course, the latest intersection of Bob Girard and Charlie Pastorfield, two locals who have been leading remarkable local bands for several equally remarkable decades; if you missed them at the Live From The Hook premiere, be sure to catch them here.
buy tickets onlineThis in-the-round performance will feature performances by acclaimed New York singer-songwriters Jonathan Spottiswoode and Amy Correia, but the the biggest curiosity is a rare set from local producer Chris Keup, who was behind some of the early Jason Mraz recordings and has more recently been masterminding records by Sparky’s Flaw and The Blackout Project.
buy tickets onlineMatt White is a guitar-wielding New York singer-songwriter who has graduated over the past few years from busking on the street to world of MTV VMA’s and Geffen record contracts.
Will Anderson is best known as the frontman of Sparky’s Flaw, and fans of the band would do well to turn out to this show as well: Anderson is the group’s primary songwriter, and the Sparky’s mini-EP that came out between major full-band releases a couple years back was essentially just him with an acoustic guitar.
Talented local songstress Helen Horal kicks things off.
buy tickets onlineEight-piece family band 180 searches for the most infectiously danceable tunes on their cover list for Gravity’s summer dance party. Local pop-rock songwriter Alex Mejias opens.
buy tickets online
Long-standing local players and veterans of the earliest days of the potent Charlottesville music scene like Corky Schoonover and Bob Girard play Dead covers with a band they’ve kept together for thirty-some years now.
The 75% of the classic 1960’s folk-rock quartet that’ll show up for this gig are, collectively, the most important part: David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash were the anchors of the group even after the addition of Neil Young in 1969, penning smashes like Teach Your Children and Southern Cross while on their way to defining the meaning of 1960’s folk and acting as a West-coast counterpart to the Greenwich Village scene inhabited by Dylan and Joan Baez.
Willie Nelson is one of the elder statesmen of American roots music and the father of the “outlaw movement” which developed as a way to keep a pure branch of country music alive when it first started turning pop in the 60’s and 70’s. Despite his age — he’s now 75 — Nelson has remained remarkably active both musically and politically; he’s best known for Farm Aid and “On The Road Again,” but more recent projects have included biodiesel activism and a cover of the Dave Matthews tune “Gravedigger.”
Bonnie “Prince” Billy is the musical alter ego of modern sage songwriter Will Oldham, who sings sparse Appalachian folk with sharp lyrics and a punk rock heart.
There will also be a second show at 10pm, and both are standing room only. Hook restaurant reviewer Ned Oldham’s rusted southern quartet Anomoanon opens.
buy tickets onlineLocal trio Catfish Jones plays rootsy rock and funk.
Catfish Jones - Red Flag
Catfish Jones - Swimming With Catfish
Noise ordinance be damned, Mono Loco’s patio heats up once again with bluegrass from the Bourbon Specials, 1920’s swing tunes from Acme Swing Manufacturing Co., as well as Charlie King, Nevada Newman, and Famous Jake Breitbach, all from the Asylum Street Spankers.
The Asylum Street Spankers - Leaf Blower
The Asylum Street Spankers - My Baby In The CIA
The Asylum Street Spankers - Be My Husband
The Asylum Street Spankers - Sidekick
The Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle will be the beneficiaries of this fundraiser, which lasts all day and features performances from local songwriter Andy Waldeck in hard rockin’ mode, “Mountain rock and roll” driving bluegrass quartet 6 Day Bender, psychedelic Americana troupe Junior Moment, local country singer Jim Waive, and African fusion from Darrell Rose and the International Councilors.
Andy Waldeck - Healing
Andy Waldeck - Ordinary Men
Andy Waldeck - Diggin MeAndy Waldeck - Those Days Are Gone
Junior Moment - Mirror
Junior Moment - Point Of View
Junior Moment - Number 11
Jim Waive and the Young Divorcees - Strike A Match
Richmond’s Palominos play rock and country.
Palominos - Legend of El Toro
Palominos - Things We Could Do
Palominos - Willie Four Guns
Local “country-funk-alt-pop-folk-rock” quintet Shad Dart delivers poppy eclecticism with all the fixin’s you wouldn’t expect. Mid Life Crisis opens.
Shad Dart - Flyin’
Shad Dart - You Make Me Crawl
Shad Dart - Why Don’t We
Shad Dart - How Do You Know
Rapunzel’s calls this Richmond quartet a rock band, but they call themselves alt-country. Split the difference, perhaps? But that still doesn’t really explain the congas…
Lynchburg resident Paul Brunett switched to acoustic guitar for medical reasons after years on the drums, but he still hammers away rhythmically over open tunings as he blends folk and jazz together.
Jazz bassists Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller, known respectively for their work with Chick Corea and Miles Davis, join forces with Flecktones bassist Victor Wooten for a low-end tour-de-force that might prove to be too much for even the Paramount’s finely-tuned acoustics. Wooten is an incomparable virtuoso madman, but his last trip to Charlottesville was compromised by the fact that his touring band included several other bassists so that he didn’t have to, you know, play any of the really low notes. Since they’re so well respected on their own, however, Clarke and Miller will probably be able to keep him in line this time around.
buy tickets online
One of the more intriguing artistic revivals of the last few years will soon be headed to Charlottesville: The Smashing Pumpkins have announced an August 16th show at the Charlottesville Pavilion.
In the formative days of alternative music, when flannel and corderouy were just starting their short-lived reign over rock, the Pumpkins emerged as one of the darlings of the new sound of youth. Heads turned with the release of 1991’s Gish, but it was the anthemic happy-to-be-alive single “Today” from 1993’s Siamese Dream that catapulted frontman and creative director Billy Corgan and his young quartet to superstardom.
Having established themselves as one of the decade’s bands to watch, their artistic ambitions grew very quickly — they prepared the epic double-disc Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness in time for a 1995 release and released as a featured single “Tonight, Tonight,” a song recorded with immense orchestral accompaniment that Corgan later said was one of the highlights of his career.
Tragedy struck during the supporting tour, however — touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin died of a heroin overdose. Drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, who had allegedly been complicit in the backstage drug activity that led to Melvoin’s death, was subsequently kicked out of the band.
During his absence, reliance on drum machines led to albums like 1998’s Adore and the MACHINA albums in 2000, on which, like so many other struggling alt-rock bands of the day, the Pumpkins attempted to incorporate sounds drawn from electronic music despite raging disapproval by critics and fans alike. Chamberlin eventually rejoined, but bassist D’arcy Wretzky was soon replaced by former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur. In early 2000, Corgan announced the band’s intention to disband entirely, and he said farewell with a final untitled track released the following December.
Personality conflicts have left Corgan on strained terms with both Wretzky and guitarist James Iha, neither of whom had any interest in a reunion. Nevertheless, after the meltdown of Corgan’s next band, a short-lived supposed supergroup called Zwan, and a lukewarm solo disc, Corgan took out a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune in 2005 to announce his intention to rebuild the band without them.
The new lineup, which consists only of leader Corgan and the once-ousted Chamberlin, released six editions of the album Zeitgeist in 2007, essentially giving a different version to each of the major music retail outlets, and an EP called American Gothic followed earlier this year. Amusingly enough, Iha and Wretzky have been replaced, seemingly deliberately, by doppelgangers: taking their place are Asian-American guitarist Jeff Schroeder and female bassist Ginger Reyes. The new band’s string of shows in Asheville and San Francisco last summer were generally well received, and either way it’ll certainly look like you’re back in 1995…
The Charlottesville Pavilion announced yesterday that one of Canada’s biggest musical exports this side of Celine Dion is coming to the Downtown venue for a concert to benefit the Charlottesville Free Clinic. Alanis Morissette will take the stage Thursday, September 18 at 7pm.
Though she first burst into American pop culture in 1995 with her breakthrough album, Jagged Little Pill, Morissette was already a showbiz veteran by the time she released that landmark disc. In 1986, at age 12, she landed her first acting gig as a cast member of the Nickelodeon sketch comedy show You Can’t Do That On Television. Two years later, having been a songwriter since the age of eight, she reached a publishing deal with MCA, and by 1991, was a bona fide dance pop superstar north of the border, selling over a million copies of her debut album, Alanis, and earning an opening gig with rapper Vanilla Ice.
Still, with success came (more)
SGGL take the stage at around 6:30.It may be over 20 years from its humble beginnings as a jam session among UVA graduates, but Speidel, Goodrich, Goggin and Lille are aren’t slowing down anytime soon. The veteran folk quartet, well-known to many Friday After Five-goers, return to their roots with a familiar yet far from jaded sound.
“There’ll be about 70 percent original music, but we’ll put some covers in, something people can dance to,” band member Rusty Speidel says. “There’ll be standard stuff from the ’70s and ’80s, a lot of three-part singing. If you haven’t heard us in a while, it’ll be a great dose of what we’ve played for years and years.”
Formerly an all-acoustic folk group, the band has recently added drums and keyboards in the form of new members Chris Holden and Robert Josp�, spicing up their original sound in a change “for the better,” according to Speidel.
“It increases (more)
Pop music gets an experimental and occasionally sarcastic edge in the hands of Asheville rockers The If You Wannas. DC’s Square Trio and Chicago’s Juffage open.
The If You Wannas - Dead Muppets
Fans of My Morning Jacket will now have to wait just a couple days more before seeing the Kentucky rock quintet’s gig at Charlottesville Pavilion. Originally slated for Tuesday, September 2, promoters have moved the date down the calendar to Thursday, September 4 due to a scheduling conflict. “That Monday is Labor Day,” explains Pavilion GM Kirby Hutto. “So, the City Council meeting had been moved to that Tuesday and we didn’t want to have a concert during a City Council meeting.” #
The Paramount Theater has just unveiled the rest of their 2008 schedule, which includes everything from rock music and highbrow theater to kiddie programs. That ugly bastard up above is a Gruffalo. What’s that, you ask? Read on…
September 8: Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby play bluegrass and piano pop, respectively.
September 14: Levon Helm leaves behind his legendary barn gigs in upstate New York and tours with his own band.
September 25: The Smothers Brothers sling songs and jokes just like they have since the ’60s.
September 27: “Last Comic Standing” goes on tour– but hey, didn’t most of these guys get eliminated during the competition?
October 8: The Song and Dance Ensemble of West Africa is pretty self descriptive, but should probably start with an indefinite article.
October 12: Natalie Cole sings jazzy pop.
October 16: The jazz from the Brubeck Brothers Quartet has a pedigree– drummer Dan and bass/trombone player Chris are the sons of legendary jazz pianist Dave.
October 24: The Capitol Steps. Congressional staffers turning into musicians? Sure, why not? That means fewer politicians, right?
October 29: Angry punk and socially minded folk intersect in Billy Bragg
November 5: Compa����a Flamenco and Jos� Porcel deliver flamenco music and dance.
November 7: The Tall Stories Theater Company performs The Gruffalo, a fable of sorts about how mice are smarter than imaginary monsters, or something.
November 14: Travis Tritt and Marty Stuart sing country songs about whiskey and acronyms.
November 15: Pianist Allen Toussaint carries on the R&B of New Orleans
November 16: The Soweto Gospel Choir sold out last time around, so get your tickets early for this one.
November 28: A Tuna Christmas is a play about Christmas in a small Texas town– no fish here. Sorry, Squidward.
December 11: Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra return with a Christmas program.
December 16: The Nebraska Theater Caravan performs A Christmas Carol, but whether they’ll meet the gold standard set by the Muppets in 1992 is anybody’s guess.
December 20: The Oratorio Society of Virginia gives you your yearly dose of opera. (Just kidding, we think.)
December 21: The Glenn Miller Orchestra has another Christmas jazz program.
January 17: Momix has a dance routine built around visual illusions. If you only eat ’shrooms before one Paramount show this year, this should be the one! (Runner-up: Gruffalo.)
January 27: Dudes in tutus who don’t take ballet terribly seriously? Why, that’d be Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo.
Intrigued by any of this? The Paramount can tell you more.
A Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame drummer, a Grammy-winning R&B songstress, and a pair of country music icons are among the luminaries who will grace the Paramount Theater stage in the coming months. The venerable venue announced its fall schedule today, and headliners include the Levon Helm Band (September 14), Natalie Cole (October 12), and Travis Tritt & Marty Stuart (November 14). Tickets for the fall season go on sale July 22 for Paramount members ($75 paid at the time of purchase makes you a member), and July 29 to the general public.
As the drummer for the Band, Levon Helm used his Arkansas upbringing to help make his four Canadian bandmates into founding members of the neo-Americana movement of the late ’60s. After touring with Bob Dylan when he went “electric,” the Band struck out on its own and released Music From Big Pink in 1968, an album that, while modest in its initial sales, turned the psychedelia-dominated rock world on its ear with its country, blues, and folk-tinged sound.
So influential was the Band’s out-of-leftfield brand of American roots music– a sound defined in part by Helm’s backbeat, mandolin picking, and twangy tenor– that Eric Clapton says (more)
Just when you thought pop songs couldn’t get any more clever, the wholly remarkable Extraordinaires return for their first Charlottesville show in more than a year, this time with copies of their new album/board game in tow, apparently an attempt to top the previous album-meets-storybook outing, as well as DVDs of the Ribbons of War musical they performed at Live Arts last fall.
Busy little Brooklyn bee Tavo Carbone opens sans the usual band for an all-acoustic, mostly solo set. Also look for performances from Sophie Brunner and Nelly Kate.
The Extraordinaires - The Chicken, The Egg, or the Song?
The Extraordinaires - Neighborhood Watch
Tavo Carbone - Boxcar Serenade
Tavo Carbone - Off To Hawaii
Wait, how many degrees of separation are we allowed? Paul Curreri’s little brother travels all the way from the west coast for a show at his big bro’s home stage, and former Gravity Lounge employee Joe Pollock opens with his homebrew acoustic guitar concoctions. Also featuring Americana-flavored local youngsters Pine Radio.
Joe Pollock - Woodlawn Street
Matt Curreri - Happy When I’m Gone
Follow the giant blue-and-white Jenkinsmobile if you see it today, because it’ll be headed downtown for subterranean rock show at the Gravity Lounge. Also featuring the Pomegranates (who are, in contrast, selling their vehicle) and Pornado.
The Nice Jenkins - Outside Of York
The Nice Jenkins - Sweet and Filthy
The Pomegranates - Thunder Meadow
Robinella is the band fronted by Robin Ella Tipton and propelled by her husband, mandolin player Cruz Contreras, through a jazzy take on modern bluegrass and pop. Five-piece modern folk act The Farewell Drifters opens.
buy tickets onlinePixy-Led guitarist Carleigh Nesbit and Pine Radio frontman Carl Anderson open for the local songwriter.
buy tickets onlineLook, people, by now you all know perfectly well that there aren’t many people around that can do it quite like Paul Curreri. In a town full of folk musicians and dudes with acoustic guitars, he’s one of the few that can really command a stage all by himself. Wes Swing opens.
Paul Curreri - Long Gone Again
buy tickets onlineLocal rockers 4D Rock! jam out with guitars and other gizmos.
buy tickets onlineGentle indie songstress Samantha Farrell has taken up residence in Charlottesville for the summer — a much-needed break from the constant hustle of trying to make it in LA, no doubt — and makes her first splash with another of the desperately needed rock nights at Rapture.
