Tonight’s concert at the Tea Bazaar should be a lot of fun; it includes some bands whom I’ve heard a lot about, and heard a few recordings by, but have yet to check out live.

High Noon are a new-ish local group, whose members (all students, I think?) I’ve each met over the past several months; I’ve heard their demo, and it’s pretty great; understated fuzzy garage rock with crisp, flat vocals that are a great match for their catchy tunes and just-noisy-enough guitar parts.  They actually remind me a great deal of the fantastic early-90’s cville band Pro Rock S (any readers remember them?) except that they are 20 years younger and have a girl singer.

Surfing are a band from Harrisonburg, also relatively recent / young I think, although they suddenly seem to be everywhere, touring around the state and up+down the east coast, and getting mentioned by folks with good taste. They play fuzzy, yelpy, reverby garage-punk, and I like the stuff I’ve by them a lot, too.

The third band on the bill, Kilos, I have not heard of before now, but they seem like they’d be a good fit for those other two. The show is $5 and starts around 9pm! I have no idea what order the bands are playing in, but if you like one you’ll probably like the other two, so… come check it out!

Well, the Tom Tom Festival weekend is upon us; over the course of the past two months, my opinion on this festival has gone from neutrality to skepticism, to exhuastion, and finally to noticing that there are actually a few acts I’d like to catch this weekend. The main ones that piqued my interest (in rough chronological order) are:

- Diane Cluck, Spirit Family Reunion, Sanders Bohlke and others [indie-folk] at Meade Hall in Christ Episcopal Church on High St. (near the Garage), happening from now until 10pm;

- Ken’s Last Ever Radio Extravaganza [sample-based sound-collage] at The Garage at 5:30pm

- Left & Right’s CD release party (their third album!) at Random Row, with the Fire Tapes and Infinite Jets [good local indie-rockers]; 8pm to 11:30, and the cover’s only $5

- Erik the Red, Birdie Busch, Parallels, and Dope Body are at the Tea Bazaar, between 10pm and 1:30am (rather late for the Tea Bazaar!); [a little bit of everything; folk, hardcore, etc]

- Those Darlins [tough-chick country-punk] at the Haven at 10pm (this one’s only open to 2-day passholders!), followed by the No BS! Brass Band [energetic dance / soul ensemble] at Midnight (this one’s open to the public with a cover charge);

- Chamomile and Whiskey, PantherBurn [country-rock] and Nelly Kate [loop-based folky stuff] are at the Whiskey Jar, between 10:30pm and 1:30 am;

- Eliot Lipp [instrumental hip-hop / electronic stuff] at the Ice Park at 12:30am.

… if you want to check out the full schedule, with details about the bands etc., the Festival’s website is here.

There’s also a thing at The Bridge this evening which seems fun; there’s an exhibition of vintage bicycles, with beer provided by a new local brewery co-run by Bridge staff guy Ross McDermott, and food from the Farm (that little convenience store next to the Bridge); that’s from now ’til 8pm. I plan to swing by that one and then wander from show to show wherever whim directs; perhaps I’ll see you somewhere tonight?

Oh, and I’m also having a yard sale, along with some other folks, at Steven Villereal’s house on South Street tomorrow morning. I’ll write more about it tomorrow, but I figured I’d get the advance word out in case any of y’all are the kind of yard sale enthusiasts who like to come early…

There’s two concerts this evening that I’m really excited about; it’s kind of unfortunate that they’re both happening on the same night, but I’ve checked with the organizers of each event and I think the start times are staggered enough that it’s going to be possible to see both, if you’re up for it. (But honestly, if any of what I describe below piques your interest, you owe it to yourself to come check some of these bands out; all of the performers here are great and I give them my highest Nailgun Media Official Endorsement®):

Tatsuya Nakatani is one of my favorite contemporary percussionists; he’s played Charlottesville twice before, but the dude is touring pretty much constantly, so I’m glad to see he’s made it back to town again, and I’m always eager to hear another one of his performances.  I know “experimental percussion” isn’t necessarily the phrase that makes most folks’ eyes light up, but seriously, you have to check this guy out.

The last time he played in town, he was setting up in the afternoon sound-checking his equipment, and a group of about 15-20 people just completely stopped what they were doing to listen and stare slack-jawed. I’ve seen this dude do things I didn’t even know were possible with a drum kit; playing gongs with a bow, playing cymbals like a trumpet mouthpiece, scraping things over snare heads to make solid tone; not only does he have a totally masterful command of his instruments, but he’s also really playful and fun to watch. There’s a sense of exploration and experimentation that’s really engaging, and his stuff is fairly inviting as well; it’s easy to appreciate even if you know next to nothing about drumming. I recommend this for (well, for everyone, but also) for fans of Han Bennink, although Nakatani’s performances are less “goofy,” and more epic. You can check out a write-up about him that I did over on the Feedback blog, which includes two videos of his last performance here. That’s at The Bridge PAI, and it starts at 8:00pm sharp! There’s a suggested donation of $7, but I’m sure they won’t turn you away if you only have less than that.

After that, starting at 10:00pm at the Tea Bazaar, there’s another really exciting show; there’s three bands on this bill, but all of them are really great in different ways, so I think the concert should make for a really interesting and worthwhile contrast:

Mike Gangloff was one of the members of Pelt, the legendary  group of the 90’s who mixed abstract noise-rock with eastern-influenced drone and roots Americana; it sounds like a strange mix, but they were pretty excellent. Not only that, but Pelt spawned any number of side-projects and solo careers, including bluegrass group The Black Twig Pickers, raga drone-ensemble the Spiral Joy Band, and the solo career of the late, great Jack Rose. They’ve been sort of dormant lately as the band members have gone their separate ways (Mike Dimmick moved to the Pacific Northwest and took the Spiral Joy Band name with him; Nathan Bowles is now playing with Kohoutek; Black Twigs still release a record occasionally; Jack Rose sadly passed away in December of 2009), so I’m excited to hear Mike play here in town again. No idea if he’ll be doing LaMonte Young-style drone or washboard-and-fiddle ditties, but either one is OK with me.

Mss. are folks we’ve written about a fair amount recently; they’re one of the best acts in town and I’ve really been enjoying the CD they put out a few weeks ago. Tyler is a really phenomenal songwriter, incorporating an interest in early and obscure branches of Christianity, a knack for strange metaphors and magical realism, and a healthy amount of cerebral sarcasm, filtered through a low-fi 90’s art-rock aesthetic. And it’s been really fun to hear the full ensemble of the live band really flesh things out; they sound great playing together (this will only be their third performance as a group in the past year and half, I think).

Magik Markers are a group I’ve actually never seen, although I’ve met Elisa a few times, and enjoyed her performances in Six Organs of Admittance and 200 Years. Magik Markers is her more raw, aggressive noise-rock band, based out of Northampton MAss, around since the early 00’s (though they’ve recently been dormant; I think this tour is a reunion of sorts). They’ve put out releases on reliably excellent labels like Ecstatic Peace, Hospital Productions, Not Not Fun, and Drag City, and I still hear plenty of folks in town talk about their mind-blowing show at DUST back in 2006. To give you an idea, check out this vintage live clip, in which Elisa discusses “the politics of wankery” and answers the immortal question “but what if you played guitar the way a girl jerks off?” :

That show is, as I said, starting around 10pm, and the cover charge there is $7.

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Coming up tomorrow, some of you will be very interested in the giveaway prizes for tomorrow’s Art Drinks; y’all know Art Drinks, yes? the Piedmont Council for the Arts holds a monthly get-t0gether in a rotating series of restaurants (tomorrow’s is at Maya), in which they have drinks, talk about art, and do a raffle prize for a number of art items every month. They’re always fun to go to (who doesn’t like art and drinking?), but tomorrow’s prizes include not only a chance to win a Patrick Costello Print, tickets to PCA’s annual fundraiser, and tickets to this weekends’ Horse Feathers show, but also a pair of tickets to see tUnE-yArDs at the Jefferson on June 5th. I’m fairly certain that show is gonna sell out, so it’d be wise to have a pair of tickets for it in hand now (or, you might win a Patrick Costello print instead, you know?)  That’s at Maya from 6:30 to 8:30 tomorrow.

There’s (more than) a few things of note going on this evening:

Cville’s all-girl competitive roller derby team, the Charlottesville Derby Dames, are holding their first bout of the 2012 Season this evening, competing against two teams from Baltimore, at the Main Street Arena (aka “the Ice Park”). Doors are at 6pm, the rolling starts at 7, and it’s $10 (or cheaper for children).  You can read a little bit I wrote about it in the paper this week.

The other big event tonight, of course, is The Bridge Revel. I’d wrote more about that here, to try to convince you of the value of supporting the Bridge and the inevitable fun-ness of the party… except that the whole thing is absolutely, 100% sold out (both the proper event itself and the cheaper afterparty)!  So congrats to The Bridge on what’s already clearly a successful event, and let’s all remember to buy tickets in advance next year.

It’s a bit out of town, but there’s some fun local bands playing tonight at the Mudhouse in Crozet; L’ecole pour minous (still unheard by me), High Noon (who have sent me their EP, which is pretty great) and a fellow named Brent Emanuel, whom Carolyn describes as “outsider country – like if Daniel Johnston listened to a good deal of Hank Williams, or if Peter Grudzien lived in Albemarle County.” I don’t have any info about what time that starts, or if it costs anything.

There’s also a show I’ve just heard about happening IN town, at a house party (I believe it’s the ManorLady house? ask around for the address…)  it’s an informal cookout-type thing in the afternoon, with bands starting in the evening; Arrowhead at 6, Bailee Elizabeth (of Northern Diver, Doppelganger) at 7, Manorlady at 8, Shark Week at 9, and the Fire Tapes around 10. That actually sounds like a pretty fun line-up; I may end up checking that one out myself, if there’s time…

In other news, In Beunos Aires, Hunny, and the Barps are playing at the Tea Bazaar, and the Wiles are playing at Dürty Nelly’s.  So, there’s certainly no shortage of fun options this evening! Go check one of them out.

Tonight’s Tea Bazaar show should be fun; I’ve seen Hume play here twice before, and really enjoyed them both times. They’ve got a nervous, sprawling energy that’s also exuberant and gentle; they kind of sound like American Don-era Don Cab, but with an Arthur Russell-ish singer. Definitely recommended for fans of that last Dirty Projectors record. The opener is a band called The Dreebs (presumably named that because we’ve now exhausted every real word as a plural-noun band-name?) They do pummeling noisy rock and sound like they might be a lots of fun to hear live. That show’s sponsored by The Declaration, so hopefully some students will come out for it, but I think a lot of townies would enjoy it too. The cover’s $5, but you can win a free pair of tickets by emailing us! Amanda (who’s recently starting helping out around the site; welcome Amanda!) will select a winner in the next few hours, by using either a random selection process or possibly some form of arcane magic. The show will probably happen between 10pm and 12ish, more or less.

There’s also a show at the Jefferson which might be interesting; I’m not familiar with the headliner, Emancipator, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Dabrye’s name as a supporting act on the bill. Dabrye is an electronic / hip-hop producer from Ann Arbor; he was one of those figures from the glitchy instrumental hip-hop boom of the early 00’s; One/Three in particular had a sort of laid-back charm similar to the early Tribe, but with a simplistic low-fi blooping sound that was real chill and pleasant. (Jesus, has it, been 11 years since I bought that record? Yeah, I guess it has…) To be honest, his other material (a few EPs and some remixes) kind of had me thinking of him as an also-ran, especially as other producers like Prefuse 73 and Push Button Objects (whatever happened to that guy?) were putting out some surprisingly stellar material in the same sub-genre (though Dabrye did appear on P73’s excellent and highly-recommended masterpiece, 2003’s One Word Extingusher).

But Dabrye sort of changed my mind and really blew me away with 2006’s Two/Three full-length, a sort of twisted, dark, gloomy, deconstructed take on that material; it also had tons of solid guest appearances on it (Doom, Beans, Vast Aire, and even AG), had some fucking awesome WK Interact cover art, and sort of served as a great little coda to that whole IDM/rap movement that was winding down right about then (around the same time everyone got bitten by the Dubstep bug, a persistent, unshakeable, and mind-bogglingly boring fad which is still ruining most electronic music 6 years later). Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to see Dabrye’s name on the bill; I haven’t heard anything by him in years (according to the ever-thorough discogs, Two/Three was his last full-length, though he’s a few EPs since then), so it’s good to see that he’s touring. Maybe we can hope to hear Three/Three some time soon?

Doors are at 8:00 with a show at 9pm; and tickets are… $18!  Yikes! (the young folks must really like this Emancipator fellow…)  I’m tempted to check out the show just for Dabrye’s appearance … but probably not for $18. Does anybody who’s attending want to fill us in on how it goes?

{UPDATE: Apparently, tonight’s show at the Jefferson is actually switching places with the Grouplove (that’s a band) show that was happening at The Southern? So Grouplove is now at the Jefferson, Emancipator (and presumably, the openers?) are now at the Southern instead… strange, but that’s what I hear.}

I don’t often take the time to write about events in Richmond, partly because it’s enough work just to cover what’s happening here in town, but also because I spend  embarrassingly little time there myself, and am largely ignorant of the week-to-week goings-on. But this event happening today seems too good to pass up, and I’m excited about it and planning to attend it, so I thought I’d mention it here.

It’s the first-ever Shadrock Festival, put together by my friend Don Harrison, whom you hopefully might recognize as the host of WTJU’s wonderful “Radio Wowsville” program. I’m not usually a fan of festivals, whether large or medium-sized, but I have to admit that this one has a line-up that is both short and amazing. For starters, the headliners are De La Soul and Yo La Tengo, two of the greatest, most consistent, and most enduring groups of the past 20~25 years. I’d feel a little silly even explaining who either of those groups are, but let me just say that not only are “3 Feet High and Rising” and “I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One” two staples that should appear in every household, but both groups have managed the incredible feat of still being great well into their careers. YLT seemingly get better with every album, which is pretty rare for a widely-adored indie-rock group, especially an eclectic and unpredictable one. And De La have managed the near-impossible feat of being a hip-hop group that didn’t abruptly become terrible after one or two good albums (or singles), and I can name the number of other hip-hop groups that have done that on one hand. Also on the bill are the Dum Dum Girls, who put out two of my favorite records last year, and whom I’ve been dying to see live. There’s also Shabazz Palaces, whom I had been ignoring like I ignore all contemporary rappers, until I realize that that was the same guy as “Butterfly” from Digible Planets; so, awesome that that guy is still around, and reportedly doing solid work, which I now need to actually check out.

The other acts on the bill are all Invisible Hand (it’s hardly a secret that I’m a big fan of those guys), and some other VA groups whose names I recognize but whom I’m not familiar with: Kepone (Don sez: “fabled ‘80’s Richmond punk group, reforming for Shadrock”), Kid is Qual (“popular Hampton Roads band with weird low-end sound”), and Photosynthesizers (“Richmond band – awesome funk/rap group.”) That’s right, only 8 acts; four killer National acts and four well-liked locals. Seems like the right amount of music to me.

Don continues to explain: “I hope you all will consider coming out. Seriously, I kind of designed the lineup to be something of a dream show for WTJU Rock-ers, listeners and the like-minded. the price is oh-so-right (you’d pay $30 [the Festival cover charge is $35] just to see ONE of these national acts somewhere else) and Brown’s Island – situated along the James River — is a wonderful place to spend a Saturday and to take in great musical events. Just ask anyone who has ever attended a Richmond Folk Festival performance. So this could be the start of something pretty cool if this first year is a success.” Like Don says, it’s $30, it’s happening on Brown’s Island, and it’s going on from around Noon until late-ish (locals in the afternoon, Dum Dums at 5:30, YLT at 7:30, De La at 9:30). More info, and tickets, are on the Festival’s website.

I’ve spent this morning at the New City Arts Forum, witnessing and participating in a lot of good conversations about the arts, social engagement, media, etc. I’ve had a lot of thoughts about the balance of making strong work while dealing with the contemporary culture of accessibility, the crowdsourcing of funding, etc. There’s also been some really inspiring indications that those things might not be mutually exclusive; that it’s possible to make critically great work and address a broad audience at the same time. (It’s also because increasingly clear that the arts community in Charlottesville — heck, Charlottesville in general — does not know how to talk about race. When specifically asked to talk about race, we talk about class instead, because that’s a thing we have the tools and the awareness to talk about). Anyhow, I’ve found myself really enjoying the conference so far, and I hope a lot of good things come of it.

I’ve also been really eager to sneak away for the lunch break and write a blog post as soon as I could, though, because I wanted to remind everyone that today is Record Store Day. I’ve written extensively about Charlottesville’s record stores in past years, but I think it bears repeating that, despite the widely reported death of the record industry, we still have several good shops here in town. Sidetracks (on Water St. and 2nd SW) is your classic hometown record store; Melody Supreme (on Water and 4th SE) is a world-class vinyl-only shop that somehow happens to be in Charlottesville; Low (formerly Antics; on 5th just off of Main St. E) is a vintage clothing & antique store with some remarkable gems in it’s sizable record selection; and Plan 9 continues to solder onwards (it’s moved from Albemarle Square to Seminole Square, now about half a mile closer to town on 29N); the CD and DVD selection is as paltry as it’s ever been, but there’s still a good collection of vinyl stuff rotating through on a regular basis, and I’ve scored some classics there for sure. (Strangely enough, Charlottesville’s Plan 9 made it onto Pitchfork’s staff roundup for Record Store Day; exactly how many high-profile music critics have lived in Charlottesville?) Of course there are the usual Record Store Day special-box-sets and everything; I think those often have more value in helping to keep record shops in business the rest of the year, which in my eyes usually outweighs their value as musical / physical objects, although there’s probably some good ones out there, too.  (They may have been picked clean already, though; I definitely saw a line of folks waiting outside Melody Supreme at 9am, which I don’t think is a think you’ll see at any other time of the year).  Plus a lot of shops are having fun in-store performances today; I know High Noon and Gold Spur are playing sets at Sidetracks at some point this afternoon (probably right about now, actually…)

It’s a shame that Record Store Day always seems to happen at the time of the year when I have the least money to spend on records… but that’s usually because I’ve spent it all on records the remainder of the year.  I know many folks are increasingly digital-only in their music consumption, but there’s something about physical music objects that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to (or want to) let go of. It’s not just because Record Stores have been a valuable part of supporting underground music culture throughout the decades, and not just because I have an music-object fetishization that digital files will never satisfy, and not just because I’d feel foolish paying money for mp3s that are sure to get lost or deleted or corrupted in my next inevitable biannual hard-drive-death; it’s also because plenty of the best music being made out there isn’t actually commercially digitally available; there’s a whole part of exploring new musical worlds and discovering new genres and old forgotten ones that would be impossible without the continued existence of cassettes, vinyl records, CDs, and CD-Rs.

So in addition to encouraging you to check out your local vinyl retailers, I’ll also give my annual shout-out to my two favorite distributors, whom I order from regularly: Aquarius Records in San Francisco, which has been around since the 60’s (their store was right next to Harvey Milk’s office, at one point); their staff all write lengthy, rambling, gushing, enthusiastically hyperbolic reviews, and in addition to their enthusiasm for heavy psych, weird punk, underground rock, drone, indigenous musics from around the world, and a broad range of experimental stuff, they’ll also achieve the seemingly-impossible task of convincing you to consider getting into black metal, even if you’re the sort of person who might never try such a thing otherwise. There’s also Mimaroglu Music Sales up in Massachusetts, which has probably the best website I’ve ever seen for browsing and discovering unfamiliar music; (there’s no search engine! it enforces browsing! and it works!) it’s run (and built) by Keith Fullerton Whitman, who’s also a notable musician in his own right (among other things, he was Hrvåstki back in the 00’s).  Don’t feel intimated if you don’t recognize any of the names or labels mentioned on those sites; I often don’t either, but I’ve discovered so much excellent music over the years by trusting their recommendations and encouraging my own curiosity. Both sites are a great way to discover new things, and they have plenty of helpful descriptions and lengthy sound-samples to check out. (actually, the write-ups on those two sites are probably my favorite contemporary music writing; they’re totally honest, but also enthusiastic, and refreshingly free of so much of the cynicism and bitterness that characterizes so much of the rest of the internet).

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It’s a shame cramming them down here at the end of a long blog post about other things, but there’s no way I couldn’t mention the Corsair show tonight; they’ve been around over three years now, playing retro-70’s metal / hard rock, led by Paul Sebring’s killer glam vocals and Marie Landragin’s sweet guitar riffs. They’ve released two EPs of songs about warrior wolf-women and doomed starships, and tonight is the release of their newest CD (I’m not sure if it’s a full-length or another EP); they’re playing at The Southern, the cover is $8, and Sharkopath are the openers!

Sharon Van Etten is playing at the Jefferson tonight; in the past year or so, her music has seemingly been everywhere I look (but maybe that’s just because everyone I follow on Twitter is a fan?) She’s hardly undeserving of the attention, though; her songs are solid and she’s a fantastic performer.  I first heard her stuff when she played at the Tea Bazaar a year and a half ago, and it seemed clear from both the strength of her performance and the feverish attention of her audience (whom, sadly, were pretty indifferent to her equally talented opener, Marissa Nadler) that her next appearance in town would necessitate a bigger venue. She’s got a new album out (on Jagjaguwar, no less), and what I’ve heard from it sounds really good. (There’s a not-at-all-bad video, too, which you can see in my post over at the Feedback blog). I’m not sure if the backing band she’s touring with is made up of the same folks that she had last time or not (though sadly, the line-up will not include the awesome Cat Martino this time around), but if they put on a show anywhere near as good, it’ll definitely be worth hearing. The opening acts are Flock of Dimes (apparently Wye Oak side-project, unheard by me) and the Cinnamon Band. Tickets are $14 at the door, which opens at 8:00 for 9:00 show. Sharon tweets: “I think my mom’s coming! You should too.”

I’ve also just heard about an event at Random Row that sounds great; Coogan Brennan will be donning his experimental keyboard identity Billy Moon to provide a live score for the 1920 expressionist horror classic the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Coogan says: “Movie and music start around 8. Donations accepted and no one turned away.“

The Bridge is hosting their (second annual?) Flicker Poetry event tonight, in which local poets will read their work in-between 16mm experimental films; tonight, the poets are Jordan Bolden and Lisa Fink; and Peter Richards was listed on the bill at one point, but the third poet will actually be Mike Rutherglen; the films are “the Wonder Ring” by Stan Brakhage, and “Scattered Remains” by James Broughton (two giants of mid-20th-century hand-made/experimental cinema), as well as a 2003 documentary about the Loudmouth Collective and Ugly Duckling Presse. Jordan says: “These poet-provocateurs are the creators of the infamous “Anti-Reading” series, a carnival-like alternative to the traditional poetry reading. On the film’s soundtrack we hear how the Anti-Readings were started, descriptions of various Anti-Reading activities including the Poetry smokable poems known as Poetry Cigarettes, the memory tester called “I Forgot,” and the Diary in the shape of a Bunny. The film includes footage shot at Anti-Readings, with time-lapse, double exposures, distorting lenses, and frenetic non-traditional camerawork evocative of the playfully chaotic spirit of the events.” That event starts at 8:15pm (I guess the Bridge has finally given in and acknowledged that none of their audience members ever show up on time? But if they say 8:15, no one will be there ’til 8:30…)

There’s also a show at the Black Market Moto Saloon that I’m very excited about; excellent local band Mss. are releasing their first album, which comes packaged in an 85-page book; it’s also the second-ever appearance of the full “Mss. orchestra” line-up, which currently includes Cathy Monnes, Dave Gibson, and Brian Hoffa — you may remember how amazing they were when they opened for Six Organs last fall and kind of stole the show.  I did a more in-depth write-up of the band in general and Tyler specifically over at the “Feedback” column in the C-Ville, which you can read here.  Davis Salisbury, Tyler’s former bandmate in Grand Banks, is of course opening the show playing solo drone-guitar as Dais Queue; Davis says it’s his “first solo show in like 4 years or something.” I’m psyched to hear the show, and just as excited to hear the album (which I’ve not heard a note of yet). That’s probably going to start around 9:30pm — or 10 at the very latest, since the Saloon closes at midnight. The cover charge is a very reasonable $5. (I may have to duck out of Flicker Poetry early to catch this one… hopefully not too early.)

There’s also the latest in a series of shows at The Pigeon Hole that I’d like to attend but won’t be able to: tonight’s is Nurse Beach, the rowdy keyboard art-punk trio who are easily one of my favorite acts in town, High Noon, a band about whom I keep hearing really good things, and a band from Austin called the Zoltars; Carolyn from High Noon says they sound “a bit like Galaxy 500.” That’s around 9:30pm, and I’m not sure if there’s a cover charge, but at least one of those bands is on tour, so bring a few bucks.

The Magnolia House is having a yard sale today (it started at 10AM) to benefit the Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project; items for sale include vegan baked goods,over 500 LPs, a toddler-sized UVA cheerleader’s outfit, a golden nautical-themed bottle opener, and an Ann Coulter book (which I guess you could buy to amuse yourself with the knowledge that it would really piss off Ann Coulter?). If you can’t make it today (or if it’s already over?), but you still want to support reproductive freedom for Virginians, they’re also having a square dance on Monday.

There’s a show at the Tea Bazaar this evening, whose line-up seems to be different depending on where you look on the internet; according to the most recent Holy Smokes mailing list, White Laces (of whom I am definitely a fan) are playing, along with recent Cville transplant Ming Ming (whose music I have not yet heard, although he did used to play with DOM). But if you check the Holy Smokes website, or the Magnus Music listing from last week, the line-up is apparently Ming Ming, Oh So Peligroso, and From Here on Blue (two bands about which I know nothing other than that they, like Ming Ming, have silly band names). I’m not sure which it is; can anyone confirm one way or the other?

There’s also a CD release party at the Southern; I think I had this listed on the calendar for the wrong date, because the layout of the initial poster for this series of album releases was pretty confusing, but it seems to be actually happening tonight. The band in question is Chamomile and Whiskey, whose CD is the most recent release by the new local label Countywide; the supporting acts are Mister Baby and Bobby St. Ours. Doors open at 8pm, the cover is $10!

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UPDATE: I forgot to mention the Indian Classical Music concert tonight! Nick Rubin sez: “It’s worth mentioning that the UVA branch of SPICMACAY, who puts on top-notch Indian Classical music shows FOR FREE about once a year, is hosting a show at 8PM TONIGHT in Maury Hall at UVA. Here’s a link.“  Alonzo Subverbo adds: “[It's] an event that you really ought to rouse yourself for, because it may just end up being the best concert of the year; also, it may awaken you to the presence of the Divine. I am particularly excited about this one because it is Dhrupad music, and it was listening to Dhrupad that first really turned me on to Indian music, although it is quite different from most of the jams I have enjoyed since. It is an ancient vocal style, very meditative, trancey, cosmic, gigantic with the bliss of All Creation. The singing makes you feel lifted up, in this very direct and visceral way. It is some of the most powerful music I have ever heard. You can find the Gundecha brothers on Youtube, though that is such a lame-ass way to experience something like this (though it still sounds awesome) you will probably be better off just going to the concert blind.” I keep trying to convince Alonzo to write for the blog (I even told him I’d allow him to keep his anonymity, an offer I’d make to no one else), but he’s happier remaining mysterious. At the very least, I hope he doesn’t mind me quoting him at lengh.