This weekend has the potential for greatness. The crazy storms are finally off of the radar and the heat is ever so slightly less suffocating. We’ve got three days worth of sunny skies and perfect night time temps. There’s at least one show that you shouldn’t miss this weekend, and the bars downtown should be packed. It is with great regret that I know that I probably won’t make it to anything tonight or Sunday night, but that’s ok…. because it’s a pool crashing weekend. My objective is to crash a different pool every single day. Google Earth is great for finding pools and ABC/beer stores in close proximity, not to mention how helpful it is for planning entry/escape routes. I’ll admit that one of the days I may replace the pool with a pond, but I’ve seen photographic evidence of a rig involving 4-wheelers, boogie boards, and a pulley system. I think it’ll be an acceptable swap.

Anyway, enough about my potentially amazing weekend. What are you guys up to?

Friday – 8/6 – Mostly Sunny – 93/66

Saturday – 8/7 – Sunny – 89/67

Sunday – 8/8 – Partly Cloudy – 89/70

Friday

Sarah White & The Pearls – Fridays After Five – 5:30PM – Free!

Six Day Bender, Pantherburn, & The Derelicts – The Southern – 8PM – $8

Saturday

XPS & The Illville Crew – The Southern – 8PM – $10

-Here’s my favorite show of the weekend. X-Porn Stars always put on a fun show, and the Illville Crew just about tears the house down. I don’t know how they’re going to do all that jumping around with the low ceiling at the Southern… but it could make for an interesting time. This is going to be an awesome show.

Paul Curreri & Band – The Jefferson – 7PM – $10/advance – $12/at the door

Sunday

Mingo Fishtrap & The Eli Cook Band – The Jefferson – 7PM – $12/advance – $14/at the door

This weekend is going to be amazing. Friday is the only day that doesn’t have a really standout show, but there should be a huge crowd at Fridays after Five. The weather forecast is better than it has been in recent weekends, and the one day that’s supposed to really storm is the same as the concert that would only be more awesome with a thunderstorm backing track. The temps are finally dropping in the evenings, which means bonfire and camping season is upon us. I guess my point is…. outside,outside, outside. The weather is finally turning awesome, and we can resume outdoor drinking festivities. I dunno about you, but all of that drinking indoors was turning me a little cabin feverish. I can hear the distant sound of tables being set up, and solo cups begging to be flipped.

Check out the forecast and shows after the break!

Friday – 7/30 - Partly Cloudy - 88/63

Saturday – 7/31 – Isolated T-Storms – 87/66

Sunday – 8/1 – Scattered T-Storms – 84/67

Friday

Indecision – Fridays after Five – 5:30PM – Free!

-It’s Fridays after Five, and for once it’s not going to be meltingly hot. Who cares who the band is? Go drink with the crowds and make awkward eye contact with all of those people that you think you know, but can’t remember their names.

Cadillac Sky – The Southern – 7:30PM – $10

Saturday

Alligator – Jefferson Theater – 8PM – $10/advance – $12/at the door

-Really fun show every time they play the Pavilion. An intimate venue like the Jefferson should ramp things up even more. It’s a Grateful Dead cover band, so by the halfway point… the Jefferson is just going to be one big hot box. This is one of those shows where the nosebleed section comes with some awesome perks.

Sunday

Primus & Gogol Bordello – Charlottesville Pavilion – 7PM – ~$45

-You’re going to this, right? Everyone else in town is, and it’s going to be epic. This will be up there with the Flaming Lips sort of epicness. The weather forecast is calling for scattered thunderstorms, and I can’t imagine a better setting for these two acts. Have fun, don’t get hit by lightning.

I’m not sure if I believe the weather forecast this week. It looks awesome outside right now, and it’s just about 100 degrees, but they say it’s going to storm all weekend? Ridiculous. Anyway, this weekend preview is so late that it’s already calling me about child support. Time to stop chit chatting and get this thing did.

Check out the weather and shows below the break!

Friday – 7/16 – Isolated T-Storms – 99/74

Saturday – 7/17- Isolated T-Storms -88/71

Sunday – 7/18- Isolated T-Storms -93/74

Friday

The Hogwaller Ramblers – Fridays After Five – 5:30PM – Free!

-I know I’ve picked on this sort of behavior in the past, but now I just kinda think it’s awesome. The Ramblers are playing 3 days of shows this weekend, and I think that’s just great. I also like the Hogwaller Ramblers, so I may be biased. I can’t not approve of a person that can make music with a washboard.

The Love Language & Drunk Tigers – The Southern – 8PM – $8/advance – $10/day of show

Saturday

The Hogwaller Ramblers  & Rose’s Pawn Shop – The Southern – 8PM – $8

-Rose’s Pawn Shop is actually the headlining band here, but screw it. It’s a Hogwaller Rambler’s weekend.

B.B. King – The Pavilion – 7PM – $33-$82

-You should go to this. If you haven’t seen B.B. King before, you need to see him once before he kicks off. I had this same theory about James Brown the last time he came to town, and he was dead within months. I’m not saying that I’m the angel of death, but I’m not not saying that either.

The Brian Patrick Band – Rapunzel’s – 8PM – $5

-A friend of mine plays pedal steel and guitar with this group, and it’s a sight to behold. Pedal steel is awesome, and you don’t find it very often. If you’re anywhere near this show, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Sunday

The Hogwaller Ramblers – Fellini’s #9 – 10PM – Free!

Lady Antebellum – The Pavilion – 7PM – $35-$45

-So… if I’ve got this right… this band is famous for a song about a booty call? Ok, maybe that’s not so bad. But still, that song is on the radio every five minutes and is a summary what’s wrong with popular country music. Meh.

Secretly Y’all: Secret Shame – Random Row Books – 7PM – $5 (suggested donation)

-Go. To. This. It’s the last SY for a couple of months, and everybody’s favorite MC may be retiring. Monday looks like it’s going to be a sick day.

What else is going on this weekend?

Ohhhhhh Thank God, it’s the weekend! This week has been craziness. Unfortunately, there won’t be much time to slow down, because things are finally coming back to life in this town. There are no less than 3 great shows this weekend, and at least one awesome thing to do each day. The weather looks a little iffy, and I checked at least 3 different sites to try and find a forecast that didn’t potentially suck. As it turns out, all of the other sites use words that are more complicated than ‘Isolated T-Storms’ and ‘Sunny’, so weather.com saves the day yet again. On the upside, I checked out the hourly forecast and it looks like it’ll mostly be stiflingly humid all day, and the rain should only last an hour or two. I know we need the rain, but I’m willing to stick out one more blistering weekend just for the sake of being outside. I’ve spent the last two weekends baking in the sun while participating in flipcup tournaments, so I don’t see any reason to break that pattern now. I’m predicting much barbecuing and cup flipping.
So… check out the weather and shows below, and let us know what awesome things you’re getting into this weekend!

Friday – 7/9 – Isolated T-Storms – 94/73

Saturday – 7/10 – Scattered T-Storms – 80/66

Sunday – 7/11 – Sunny – 91/67

Friday

Trees on Fire – Fridays After Five – 5:30PM – Free!

-These guys are awesome, and this show is bound to be a lot of fun. Definitely worth checking out.

The Groove Train – The Jefferson – 8PM – $8/advance – $10/at the door

-Check out the link for this show. This looks amazing. I need bell-bottoms, a silk shirt, and an afro wig, STAT!

Ted Pitney Band – The Southern – 8PM – $8

Saturday

Southern Culture On The Skids – The Jefferson – 8PM – $15/advance – $17/at the door

-Yet another show that the promo picture alone is enough to sell me.

The New Best Recipe – The Southern – 9PM – $5

Sunday

Final Match of the World Cup – Netherlands vs Spain – ABC/The Paramount/Any bar with a TV – 2:30PM – Free!

-Ok, so it looks like there may be some ‘Supporters of the Paramount’ membership thing needed to get into that venue for free, but if you’re in that club, congrats. We don’t really have a horse in this race anymore, but I guess I could get behind the Netherlands. Those people in Amsterdam really seem to have their shit together.

Man.. things around town are getting kinda slow.  There aren’t too many events other than the standard weekly gigs at bars. It’s 4th of July weekend, so there will at least be plenty of drinking and exploding of things. But yeah… that’s about it. On the upside, the weather is going to be pretty awesome and there are a lot of private parties for the 4th. On the downside, we’re getting into the part of the summer where bars start closing for a week or more. Ventana is closed next week, and I’m sure there will be more to come.  But, getting back to the upside of things… it’s the weekend!!

Look below for the two things happening this weekend and some half-assed guesses at the weather!

Friday – 7/2 – Sunny – 81/55

Saturday – 7/3 – Sunny – 88/62

Sunday – 7/4 – Sunny – 95/69

Friday

Down Til Now – Charlottesville Pavilion – 5:30PM – Free!

Saturday

Last night before shutting down for a week – Ventana – 4PM-~3AM – $Allofyourmoneys

-This is going to be a drunkfest. Michael gets super generous on weekends like this, and everybody ends up super drunk. Get a seat. Stay late. Stumble home. Welcome to my usual weekend’s 3-step plan.

Sunday

McIntire Park Fireworks

-The city usually puts on a pretty awesome fireworks show. This year I’m going to be in a place that isn’t surrounded by 100-foot tall trees. Also, being minus one dog, I won’t have to spend the entire night consoling an animal in an extreme state of panic. I love having a dog, but the 4th of July is one of those weekends that can make it a chore. This year, it’s just me and the liquor bottle getting jiggy with it. Monday is going to be life-endingly terrible.

It’s a post-apocalyptic weekend! The town still looks like mayhem, and a lot of folks are still without power. Dominion is claiming that up to 60,000 people in the Charlottesville/Albemarle area were in the dark at one point, but now the numbers have been reduced to about 13,000. The UVA Hospital ran on backup generators all night, though I’m not sure if they’re back up and running by now. I have witnessed hundreds of people reduced to deer in the headlights when faced with a powerless stop light, and even resorted to directing traffic at a couple of intersections myself.

There’s not a ton going on this weekend, but the good news is that you’ll never have an awkward pause! Everybody that I’ve spoken to has had some crazy storm stories. You’ll never find yourself short of topics of conversation and anxiety drinking yourself into oblivion. Check out the weather and event info after the break, and let us know what kind of crazy stuff you saw in/after the storm!

!!Break!!

Friday – 6/25- Partly Cloudy – 89/68

Saturday – 6/26 – Mostly Sunny – 96/73

Sunday – 6/27 – Isolated T-Storms – 97/78

Friday

The Kings of Belmont – Fridays After Five – 5:30PM – Free!

-This is going to be one of the best FAF of the year. The band is actually worth hearing, but the acoustics suck over by the beer truck. This one might call for a path through the crowd that isn’t straight from the ticket counter to the boozemobile. The only thing that anyone is going to be talking about at this thing is the storm.

Invisible Hand – The Southern – 8PM – Free!

Saturday

Zombie Jello Wrestling – Check FB event for location – 9PM – $5

-I don’t know a ton about this event. I don’t even really know where it is, but I hear they have a location on the fb event. It should be entertaining at the very least. I fail to see the charm of the ‘zombie’ part, but I’m totally down to watch a bunch of  girls do some jello wrestling. If there is not a betting pool in place, I hope to create one.

Sunday

Jimmy Cliff – The Pavilion – 7PM – ~$35

-This is the rescheduled show, and a lot of people are pretty excited for it. I’d love to check it out, but I have other engagements.

Ladies FlipCup Tournament – 2PM – Location TBD – Free!

-I’m helping a friend of mine to coordinate this, and we’ve all been too drunk to finalize things. There is a location in mind, but we’ve still got to nail things down. Keep tuned here for location details. Per the team rules, it’s going to be 4 people per team, and your team captain HAS TO BE FEMALE. If the weather holds out, this thing could be bigger than the World Cup.

That storm was crazy! I was watching a 30 foot tree getting its ass kicked by the wind and it snapped right in front of me! Traffic lights are out all around town, and Dominion is estimating nearly 23,000 people are without power. Here are some pictures that I took while cruising around town. There’s a huuuuuuuge tree down across the railroad tracks behind the South Street Inn. They haven’t even started cutting on it yet. Hover over the pics for more info. If i get some time, I’ll upload and link some higher res images.

This weekend is going to be bananas. A good friend of mine is getting hitched, and I made sure that there would be shuttle service to and from the festivities. It’s a designated driver weekend. It’s going to be crazy hot, so things are bound to get real good and drunk/interesting at the wedding. I had to promise not to ice the groom during the walk down the aisle, so I can’t guarantee that the ceremony won’t be boring. The best part is that everyone in the wedding party is bound to go out later, so late night at the Box is going to look like a Billy Idol video. Anyway, there are a few fun looking shows out there this weekend, and the weather is going to be conducive to very little clothing. I predict that James River will look like a floating subsection of West Virginia.

Check out the weather and shows after the break!

Weather Forecast!

Friday – 6/18 – Sunny – 87/65

Saturday – 6/19 – Mostly Sunny – 92/73

Sunday – 6/20 – Sunny – 96/70

And the shows!

Friday

SGGL with Mariana Bell – Fridays after Five – 5:30PM – Free!

Anders Osborne – The Southern – 7PM – $15

-Looks like this will be a short show, because the Comedy Roundtable is coming up right afterward.

The Charlottesville Comedy Roundtable  - The Southern – 10PM – $6

-Just get a seat. That’s all I can tell you. I don’t know if this place will be shy of seats like some of the other comedy shows have been, but there is no confusing a comedy show with a concert. Standing up the whole time sucks, and is not hip in any way.

Saturday

Thao and Mirah with The Most of All – The Southern – 8PM – $12

-One of these girls looks kind of like an asian Bjork. That’s kinda hot.

Mary Chapin Carpenter – The Paramount – 8PM – $?

-If you were going to this, you would know exactly how much tickets cost because your fan club sent you an advance ticket order 6 months ago.

Sunday

BIG CATS: An Afternoon with Nat Geo Photog Steve Winter – The Paramount – 4PM – $12-$50

-Oh man.. I don’t think it’s this guy.. but one time I got stuck at a bar talking to one of these National Geographic photographer guys. Being out in the wild must really fuck up your social skills, because that dude was a really special combination of boring and asshole. I eventually dumped him off to Mz Fitz, and she had to deal with him for the next half hour. Hopefully, this guy will be a lot cooler, but if not… you were warned.

Father’s Day!

- Ok people, this is not a drill. This time, it’s the real thing. Call your dad. Thank him for that time that he talked the officer out of giving you a DUI.

Weekend Preview Time!!! Better late than never?

The weather is a little unsure for this weekend, but there’s still a lot of fun stuff going on. If nothing else, you can stay in and watch the USA tear shit up in the World Cup. Our first game is against England tomorrow, 8:30PM (South Africa Time). Tonight’s weather is supposed to be great, so I hope to see everybody out on the mall with a drink in hand. Paper bags are encouraged. I’m working on something pretty awesome towards the end of this month, so if you’ve just about given up on us by now, be sure to at least check back before the end of the month. For now, check out the weather and event listing below the break!

Weather Forecast!

Friday – 6/11 - Sunny – 87/67

Saturday – 6/12 - Isolated T-Storms – 91/73

Sunday – 6/13 - Scattered T-Storms – 92/73

And on to the events!

Friday

Kathryn Caine – Fridays After Five – 5:30PM – Free!

The Honey Dewdrops and The David Wax Museum – The Southern – 7PM – $12

Saturday

This Will Destroy You, A Cosmonaut’s Ruin, & Chiaroscuro – 8PM – $8/advance – $10/at the door

Sunday

Harry Connick, Jr – The Pavilion – 7PM – ~$33-$98

Secretly Y’all: Consumed – Random Row Books – 7PM – $5!

-Go to this. I didn’t have much time to boss you guys around when I did the event write up for this month’s SY, so I’ll take a moment to do so now. Go to Secretly Y’all. They’re so much fun, a great place to meet a lot of neat folks from around town, and very conducive to drinking. I’m predicting West Main for the pre-game.

Have an awesome weekend!!

It’s Secretly Y’all time again! I know this is what I say every month, but these things really do get better with each event. The details are all the same: Sunday (6/13), 7PM, Random Row Books, $5 much-needed donation, bring a chair. The theme this go-round is ‘Consumed’. I was trying to figure out how to explain that, but Lauren beat me to the punch:

me: so

Consumed is about….?

food?

Lauren: passion

things you buy

things you eat

things that eat you


So, join us for pre-gaming on Sunday and be sure to bring a folding chair for the event. It runs from about 7 to 9, so if you come out, definitely stick around until the end. By the second half, the audience usually has a buzz going and the show gets even more fun. I heard a rumor that there may be popsicles for this event, so for once they will actually be ambient temperature appropriate. I’m also told that there’s going to be a special surprise, but they won’t give me any details. My bet is on midget strippers.

See you on Sunday!