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?

This summer has been pretty awesome so far. It’s been all flipcup tournaments, truck pools, and barbecue. My favorite party of the year has yet to come, and hopefully I’ll actually pull it off before we run out of summer. I’m building an enormous slip n’ slide, and to be honest… there’s absolutely nothing safe about it. A friend of mine has volunteered his farm for the project, and the slide and ramp are dead in the middle of a huuuuge hayfield. Unless you want to walk a few hundred feet every time you want a beer, it’s going to require several coolers. That’s fine.. but a pain in the ass to maintain.

<Insert Segue Here>

Sooooo….. that brings us to yesterday, where we were all sitting around the smoker and salivating over the idea of delicious baby back rib goodness. My friend with the farm, got a call from someone trying to unload a couple of miniature donkeys. He was a bit apprehensive at first, but after a bit of crowd persuasion…. he agreed to take them on.

You see…. we have lucked our way into a solution for our little cooler versus distance problem. I propose to you…. the minibeerdonkey. It’s as easy as a couple of 5-gallon buckets and some modified saddlebags. I’m not sure if two 5-gallon buckets full of beer are too much to load onto a single mini-donkey, but we’ve got a full size donkey for proof of concept and design scaling. The next step, and possibly the more difficult one… is training the donkeys to come when you call them. I’m sure that it’ll be a couple of weeks worth of training, but donkeys are pretty smart. I have faith in them. They will help me to realize my Utopian vision of a mobile beer cooler. I long for the day that I can stand in the middle of a field, and a single whistle will bring me two coolers full of beer. I’m so excited. Like, Jesse Spano excited.

I’m also excited, because I might have to walk one of these things on the downtown mall. There are way bigger dogs on the mall, so I don’t see why I shouldn’t be able to bring a donkey. If nothing else, it will be a lot of fun driving around town with a donkey leaning his head out of the Jeep windows.

I guess that was only really one, maybe two uses for a miniature donkey. What else can you guys think of?

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.

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!!

Hi guys! It’s weekend preview time again!

UVA Graduation is this weekend… so…. things around town are probably going to be a little clusterfuckish. I don’t think there’s a whole lot else going on. Ummm… I’ve heard that JADE is putting together another big bust…. so, you might want to avoid any large scale drug deals that you had planned for the near future. There are a handful of shows to help keep you out of/in trouble. And the weather for the next couple of days should be pretty awesome. Ok.. I can’t force this thing any more. I’m going to beach week in a few days, and I’ve already mentally checked out. For those of you that are still reading this… check out the weather and shows below!

Weather Forecast

Thursday – 5/20 – Mostly Sunny – 79/57

Friday – 5/21 – Mostly Cloudy – 85/62

Saturday – 5/22 – T-Showers – 74/63

Sunday – 5/23 – Showers – 76/64

And on to the shows!

Thursday

Moby and The Dicks – The Box – 10:30PM – Free!

-There’s not a ton going on this weekend. In fact.. it got to the point where I started picking events to feature just based on the band names. Moby & the Dicks… well played, sirs.

Friday

The Rogan Brothers Band – Fridays after Five – 5:30PM – Free!

-Jump at the chance to see these guys! Some bands really know how to pace themselves when planning shows, and that can really help to hold the anticipation levels. Wooo!! Free admission and cheap booze!

Chickenhead Blues Band – Durty Nelly’s – 9:30PM – Free!

The Rogan Brothers – Miller’s – 10PM – Free!

-Oh snap! If you missed them at Fridays, you should catch these guys at Miller’s. Lightning really does strike twice! Wooo!!! Free admission and cheap booze!

Saturday

City Market – Downtown Charlottesville – 7am to noon – Free!

-I heard a rumor that a bunch of gypsies bring their mules, carts, and baby strollers to the giant parking lot by Mono Loco on Saturday mornings all summer long. I’ve never seen it, and I think it’s a lot like seeing a leprechaun. So, if you happen to be downtown Saturday morning, and you see a guy selling tomatoes or something…. don’t you let that gypsy bastard go until he delivers on that pot of gold.

Virginia WineFest – Ash Lawn – Highland – 10AM – $15/advance – $20/at the door

Bella Morte & Synthetic Division – The Southern – 10PM – $8/advance – $10/at the door

-I don’t really know what to say about this show. Here’s the address of the nearest Hot Topic?

The Rogan Brothers Band – Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company – 9PM – Free?

-Really, guys? Three shows in two days?

Sunday

The Wave with Speaking of the Elephant and The Thrones – The Southern – 6:30PM – $5

Guess what! Yet another Weekend Preview thrown together at the last second!

The forecast!

Thursday – 5/13 – Cloudy – 70/63

Friday – 5/14 – PM T-Storms – 88/66

Saturday – 5/15 – Partly Cloudy – 82/54

Sunday – 5/16 – Partly Cloudy – 76/60

And now… the shows!

Thursday

Gunchux – The Southern – 8PM – $8

Raw Dawg – Rapture – 9:30PM – Free!

Friday

The Iguanas – Fridays After Five – Free!

Hammer and String – The Southern- 8PM – $10

The Mammies – Durty Nelly’s – 9PM – Free!

Jolie Fille – The Box -10:30PM – Free!

Saturday

The Kings of Belmont and Basshound – The Jefferson – 8PM – $10/advance – $12/door

Trees on Fire – Rapunzel’s – 8PM – $7

Sunday

Iron Man 2 & A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) – Goochland Drive In Theater – Gates open at 6 – $7/adult

(facebook link for the theater)

So..   I just learned that Fork Union isn’t the ONLY drive-in around here. Some folks in Goochland just started one up, and it looks pretty nice. It also looks pretty strict, as they claim no smoking or drinking alcohol. The alcohol part should be pretty easy to cover up, but I don’t have any backup plans for the smoking part. Maybe it’s no to smoking but yes to vaporizing? I dunno. You should find out and report back.

Secretly Y’all! – Family Matters – Random Row Books – 7PM -$5

I forgot to add this one to the list initially… then Lauren yelled at me. Lauren weighs about 85 lbs, but she’s absolutely terrifying. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. It’ll never happen again. (Check back tomorrow for the actual event write-up)

Ohhhh man….. yesterday was Cinco de Mayo… and I’ve yet to recover my ability to make words good. I’d apologize for this pitiful attempt at a Weekend Preview, but I’m really too hungover to care. There’s not a ton going on this weekend, but some of the shows that are coming through are pretty high quality.

Weather:

Friday – Mostly Sunny – 85/70

Saturday – Partly Cloudy – 79/49

Sunday – Sunny – 67/47

Now, on to the shows!

Friday

Skip Castro Band – Fridays after Five – Free!

Ellis Paul with Mariana Bell – The Jefferson – 7PM – $15/advance – $18/at the door

-Mariana Bell is a friend of mine, and an absolute sweetheart. This will definitely be a fun show.

Horse Feathers – The Southern – 8PM – $8

The Beat Hounds – Random Row Books -9PM -$?

Galen, Woody, and The Smokey Mountain Swag – Bel Rio -10PM – Free!

The Chickenhead Blues Band – Fellini’s #9 -10PM – $5

The Downbeat Project – Maya -10:30PM – Free?

Saturday

Levon Helm with Jason Isbell- Charlottesville Pavilion – 7PM – $35-$50

-Awesome show for obvious reasons. Get there early, because Jason Isbell is opening up and is probably my favorite (living) southern rocker. Drive By Truckers, ftw.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings – The Jefferson – 8PM – $22/advance – $25/at the door

-Sharon Jones is so awesome. This is definitely a show to see if you’ve never caught her before. She’s going to have the Jefferson rocking.

6 Day Bender – The Southern -8:30PM – $7

-Loud. Fun. Frat rock. Go get drunk and jump around in a crowd. You’ve all been there before, and you know it’s fun. Do it.

Sunday

Mother’s Day.

-So, I totally forgot that Mother’s Day was almost here, and I’m only posting this as a reminder for myself. You probably forgot about it too, so you can thank me later.

There’s really not much else going on Sunday. At least, I couldn’t find much. I intend to get drunk and drive 4-wheelers, so… there’s that. You should probably do something fun and outside, too.