{Today’s post comes courtesy of guest blogger Nathan Ragain:}

There’s a really cool band at the Tea Bazaar tonight: Box Elders from Omaha, Nebraska.  They’re on Goner Records and WTJU spun the hell out of their album “Alice & Friends” when it came out last summer.  The Raven Sings the Blues blog is pretty spot-on when they describe them this way:

“Stripping the fidelity off of mid-60’s teeny-bopper pop, Nebraska’s Box Elders deliver a garage gem that’s full of head bobbing pep and damn near squeezable melodies. Rattle-trap drums pop and crash behind the heartfelt garage pop of the McIntyre brothers. Slip a single cut of “stay” into a beat up sleeve and drop it into a mixed bin of 45s and you’d probably convince quite a few diggers they’ve found a long lost gem; conjuring up images of clean cut matching suits and monochrome sets. Elsewhere the boys pepper in bits of surf, an organ playing drummer and a swinging rumble of bass to drive the pulse and a pretty sweet record is born”

Doors are at 8:30, and it’s only five bucks, so everyone should come out.  They’ll also be playing live on Radio Freedonia this afternoon, probably around 3pm.  You can check out a couple of their songs here.

{Thanks Nathan! Sounds like a fun show. As a reminder to our readers, “Radio Freedonia” is the always-excellent WTJU show, hosted by Nick and Jordan, on Tuesday afternoons from 2-4pm; tune in to 91.1FM today to catch the Box Elders playing LIVE on the air. I’m about to head over to the studios to check it out, as I’m greatly interesting in the process of having live bands on-air; hopefully it’s a thing we’ll be doing at the station a lot more in the future.}

UPDATE: Box Elders will NOT be playing live on WTJU this afternoon, due to a flat tire. All signs point to them still being able to make the gig tonight, though.

Tonight The Standard Soul Revue will be happening at The Box; DJed by Greg “Sweet Jones” Sloan and Shane “Wulf Baby” O’Gallagher, these boys have a seriously happening selection of soul, mod, and British invasion tunes to keep your heels tapping. 10:30pm until last call, there’s no cover charge but it’s 21+. I’ll definitely be coming by after work — see you there?

There’s two events this evening that sound pretty cool; luckily the organizers have scheduled things so that people can easily do both.

First up is something called a “Zombie Capitalist Puppet Show” –  Cindy reports: “The RPM Puppet Conspiracy is a Radical Puppet Troupe that writes, builds and performs original shows which take on a variety of issues with the goal of turning angst into a riot. […] RPM Puppet Conspiracy began in Chicago in the year 1999, presenting small shows done by local puppeteers, including a short show about torture for the International Day for Survivors of Torture, hosted by the Kovler Center and Amnesty International. Under the auspices of Art & Revolution, RPM also helped with massive street spectacles and protests in and around Chicago. Soon thereafter, RPM’s founder, David Bailey joined with Jason Hicks and RPM became and has remained to this day a touring puppet company, making several full length touring puppet shows.” I believe they’re also affiliated with Bread&Puppet in some way.  That’s happening at McGuffey studio #11 at 5:30pm; there are 2 musical guests and it costs a donation of $5.

Later on at 7pm, there’s something called “Secretly, Y’all” at Random Row Books.  If you’re not already familiar, it’s a monthly series in which people are invited to share short, true stories on a specific theme. It’s organized in part by this woman Leslie, who’s a recent acquaintance of mine who seems totally awesome, and everyone I know keeps saying excellent things about this project. I’ve missed their first few events but I’m determined to check it out, as it sounds really interesting and fun and great. This month’s theme is “At War,” the event  is pay-what-you-can with a suggested $5 donation (the surplus will be donated to a veteran’s organization), and you are strongly advised to BYOC - “Bring Your Own Chair.”

It’s yet another night in Charlottesville with plenty of options to choose from;

I’ll start off with the Bridge show, since that one’s happening first and there’s plenty of time to catch it before you go to another thing tonight. As part of The Bridge’s ongoing Audio March program, they’re having a performance of some sound-text pieces by the renowned  electroacoustic composer and artist Annea Lockwood. You may or may not recognize the name, she’s been working for a long time in the academic / experimental music circles; in fact, I’ve got a recording of a piece of hers from 1972 which is pretty fucking far-out; screaming sounds, snippets of classical music, foreign-language announcements run through heavy reverb, creaking machine sounds, etc. As Jonathan says: “It is kind of crazy that this is happening at the Bridge. These people are pretty damn famous in the world of experimental music.” All the more reason not to miss them tonight… that starts at 8pm and I think it’s free.

And at Random Row tonight, there’s a show with the Hilarious Posters, along with two out-of-town bands called Quiet Loudly and Most Ghosts:

I keep meaning to check out Hilarious Posters (actually I owe them a CD review), since everyone has kind things to say about them and their members have some cred from worthwhile cville bands of years past. Don’t know much about the other acts, except that they’ve emailed me a bunch and they seem like nice folks. That show’s at 9:30pm, and the cover is $5.

Also tonight, at the Tea House: it’s the Red Satellites, along with a band called Young Adult Fiction (“90s style rock from VCU”), and I’ve just been told the opening act on the bill is Lester Seal, whom Kevin-Satellite describes as “one of the best pure singers I’ve heard in town.” That one also starts at 9:30, and the cover is also $5.

{sorry for not getting this up sooner, my co-bloggers appear to be AWOL and it’s hard to get everything up on time every day when you’re also working etc.}

I’m way late getting this up and also under the gun with setting up for the show and other work-related things, so I’ll keep this super brief.

Great great lineup at the Tea Bazaar tonight: Washed Out, Small Black, and Pictureplane. It’s a little hard not to have noticed all three of these acts lately, as they’ve been written and raved about on pretty much every possible source on the internet. That said, I’ll leave it to those copious media sources to give you the full story on these bands. It’ll do far more justice than I can in this abbreviated stint. For good measure, I’ll point you here for some good stuff on Washed Out, here for some mixed media from Small Black, and here for a nice profile/interview of Pictureplane. 8:30PM, $7

Washed Out - Belong - mp3

Meanwhile, the always epic Corsair will rock Random Row with a couple of bands from Harrisonburg (Malatese), and North Carolina (Pinche Gringo). Once again, in the interest of getting this out on the nets as soon as possible, I’ll let the links do the talking. 9PM, Free

OT: Thanks to everybody who came out to Random Row last night! What a great show that was! Lots of good vibes.

There’s a show at Random Row Books tonight that looks pretty special. It’s the last formal show for the soon-to-be-disbanded Raquellos, the second show ever for Borrowed Beams of Light, and if that weren’t already special enough, the Extraordinaires are back in town!

It starts a little on the early side; Borrowed Beams is going on at 8:30pm. That’s the solo project of Adam Brock, whom you may recognize as the drummer for Invisible Hand, and also as ¼ of the Nice Jenkins. In addition to being an awesome drummer, Brock is also a natural frontman, with what’s generally agreed to be one of the best singing voices in town. Borrowed Beams is definitely his “pop” project, with smart and energetic, cheerful anthems reminiscent of a cross between the Zombies and Guided By Voices. He put out an EP last year and WTJU was all over that business; he’s only ever played one proper show under that project-name, so tonight’s the second one ever. The first time around he was backed by Adam Smith on drums and a Nice Jenkin on guitar (plus maybe Thomas Dean? I can’t remember), and I’m not sure precisely what tonight’s lineup will be. (Brock also wanted me to encourage you to show up on the early side; he will be starting at 8:30, so don’t show up at 10pm assuming you can still catch his set!)

Next up is the Raquellos; and I’m sad to report, it will be their last proper show, since both Jesse and Mark are leaving Charlottesville soon. (There may be another house show, for a smaller crowd of friends, before they leave, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see them tonight.)  The Raquellos are one of the coolest things to come out of Cville in the past few years; they sing narrative folk-rock songs with heavy nautical / 18th-century themes.  Think Moby-Dick or Jack London tales as reinterpreted by the Violent Femmes or the Pogues.  Their songs are great, their album is great, their lineup features an accordian and some imaginative covers, and they’re totally fun and great. And this is your last chance to see them! Don’t miss it!

Rounding out the bill are the Extraordinaires, that much-beloved Philadelphia-based band (containing more than a few Charlottesville expatriots). They sing songs about inventors, childhood plans, vengeful vegetables, and they also have an album’s worth of songs about the sea (which Jacob Wolf, Nailgun contributor and former Extraordinaires keyboardist, once adapted into a touring piece of musical theater, which was pretty awesome). It’s a natural fit for the other two acts this evening, plus the Extraordiniares seem to have this massive and obsessive fanbase of tweenagers, so it’s always amusing and fun to see a crowd full of them at a show.

So that show starts and ends early — doors at 8pm and it’s over before midnight — so don’t show up at 11 thinking you can still see the show! It’s an All Ages show of course, the cover charge is $8 and it’s at Random Row Books — y’all know where Random Row is, right? You should… the awesome DIY bookstore in a former auto-shop on West Main st… (across the street from the Greyhound station and that horrible pregnancy crises center by the Lewis&Clark statue.)  I think it’s gonna be a really great show. See you tonight!

Wendy just wrote in with the following:

“My nakashi surf rock band Dzian! is playing at The Bridge tonight. We will join forces with a few other performers playing on the theme of summer. We will literally turn the gallery space into a warm summer night. See the message below for details. Our set is scheduled to start at 9pm. We will play for 30-45 minutes. Please come celebrate the coming of spring and the end of the long winter with us. Wear a t-shirt, bring a lawn chair and some sun tan lotion.

Peter’s full write-up of the event reads:

“If you’re in town over the break and looking for a little fun this Wednesday night, please join us for “Chirp! : playing summer in winter” at the Bridge at 6:30 pm. $5 suggested donation at the door. Chirp! is an experiment in effecting seasonal disorder. We will raise the temperature inside the Bridge’s main gallery space so that we can wear T-shirts. We will even try to add a little humidity. We will have music performances, art, and sound installation that invoke memories of (and anticipation for) deep summer. We will have lawn chairs. Chirp! is not a serious evening, but a reason to have fun, wear short sleeves, and get a little bit of summer in the air after this very snowy winter.

Our performers currently include Cathy Monnes (playing lap steel and ukulele), New Loft from Richmond playing tiny instruments inspired by birds and insects, and Dzian!, Charlottesville’s best-known 60s Taiwanese surf rock band. There will also be video projection courtesy of Aaron Henderson, and I will provide a sound installation surrounding the space, “Freesound Summer”, as well as a 660 watt “sun”. Bring lawn/beach chairs if you can, and summery food if you desire.”

This sounds really fun! I’m on my way to WTJU for the evening, but I’m definitely gonna come back to check out Dzian! and whatever else I arrive in time to see/hear.

Good lord, it’s been a while since I posted anything here! Forgive me if this is a little sloppy.

There’s a pretty compelling set of touring talent hitting the Tea Bazaar tomorrow night. In no set order:

There’s Family Portrait, a DC/Jersey based garage-rock band, who are foundational members of the Underwater Peoples label and you may also recognize from a recent split 7″ with Andrew Cedermark. Family Portrait is similarly loose and spacy but with a bit more of a disposition towards sing-along-able choruses.

Next is Dust From 1000 Years, from Bloomington, IN, whose set that I caught at The Garage last spring/summer was totally captivating. They played a very drony spaced-out set to just a handful of people packed into the Garage during a rainshower. Definitely one of the more entrancing/relaxing/gorgeous live shows I’ve seen in some time. Really good stuff. They were a 2-piece when they played last year and it looks like they’ll be a 4-piece tomorrow, so I’m excited to see what the new lineup sounds like!

Lastly, there’s one of my favorite off-the-wall touring dudes: Emperor X. Maybe ya’ll caught his show at The Bridge last June which was amazing or have seen him on previous trips through town over the years. (I first discovered Emperor X in the basement of Summit House years ago! Blast from the past, right?) This is sixth or so show I’ve set up for Chad over the years and he never fails to impress/surprise/entertain. Really excited to see what kind of wildness he brings this time. Oh, and click that link there: You can download all his recordings for free/donation on his website. Also, listen up for Chad to be guest-DJing on 91.1 WTJU tomorrow (Tuesday) from 2-4pm.

All this for $5. 8:30PM.

There’s an audio workshop at The Bridge this afternoon which sounds really fun; Jesse says: “in the spirit of the surrealist games. We give you 10 sounds and you have 30 minutes to mash those into a one-minute piece.” 

The workshop begins at 2pm, for those who have their own means of editing digital audio; (Jesse also adds: If you want to participate but don’t have a workstation, please contact Jesse or Erik and we’ll do our best to find you a loaner.)  Or if you just want to show up and hear the results, the pieces will all be played in a concert at 3:15pm. I’m fairly certain that performance is Free.

Later on tonight, there’s a show at the Tea Bazaar; I’ve just found out minutes ago that The Invisible Hand has been added to this bill, making this Adam & Thomas’ third gig in as many days! (after just getting back from tour, no less.) I missed the Hand’s appearance at SERP on Thursday due to illness, so I’m excited to hear them tonight! They’re the best band in town, so it’s always unwise to pass up an opportunity to see those guys kick some musical ass.

Also sharing the bill are two bands from Athens; Quiet Hooves and Bubbly Mommy Gun.  Although I’ve never seen Quiet Hooves play, I have heard them before; if I’m not mistaken, I somehow drunkenly woke up with a CD-R of theirs in my pocket after the first time Dark Meat played here, so I’m assuming that the band is DM-related in some way (there were a lot of people in Dark Meat back then…) However, their material, judging by the contents of the CD-R, is much more mellow and sensitive. The other band on tonight’s bill is also from Athens, so one could assume they’re traveling in similar circles; on the other hand, the band does have the rather unfortunate band name of Bubbly Mommy Gun; (I’m tempted to accuse them of using that random-word-generator that a lot of bands seem to be using to pick their names these days, but even that might be a little too generous.)

Then again, all the bands that Dark Meat has brought here before (including Mouser and One Man Machine) have both been exceptionally great, so its more likely that all three of tonight’s bands will also be socks-knockingly excellent and I’ll have to eat my words (although preferably not any of the words in that band name). Apparently some of these guys run a venue in Athens called the Secret Squirrel, which I’m told is the place to play in Athens, so they seem to know what they’re doing. It should be really interesting and worthwhile; doors at 8:30, music around 9:30ish, and the cover should be cheap ($5-ish).

Plenty of stuff happening tonight; first at The Bridge, it’s the inaugural event of their third annual Audio March program. Renowned sound artist Gregory Whitehead was supposed to perform tonight, but unfortunately he’s sick and won’t be able to make it (The Bridge says: “We are working to reschedule Gregory Whitehead’s appearance at the Bridge for early April. “); instead Scott Ritchie and Mark Fulton (aka the rhythm section of the Raquellos) will “perform live soundtracks to science fiction radio stories at 8pm instead of 10.”  There’s also a general reception starting at 6:00 and a sort of open-mic thing by the Audio March organizers afterwards.

At the Jefferson tonight, there’s some great local acts: the always-excellent Jim Waive and the Young Divorcees, as well as the much-beloved Shannon Worrell. This is a great opportunity to see both those acts in a place that’s not a crowded bar… (although, you know, some of us kind of prefer it that way.)  Also on the bill: Carleigh Nesbit, and I’m told the Acorn Sisters will be providing a little bit of backup (presumably during Jim’s set). Doors are at 7:30(ish), Shannon is supposed to start around 8:30, tickets are $12 at the door.

Later on tonight, Lunatic and the Rascal, aka Thomas Dean and Adam Smith (both iof Invisible Hand / Order / Articulate Chewbacca / etc fame) will be DJing at the Box. That starts at 10:30 and ends at last call. Their set is always a fun dance party, definitely a solid way to cap off the evening. That one’s free and it’s 21+.