Bad day in Good ol Richmond

God I'm having a BAD day. I know you all have been there. I'll give you a couple of scenarios and hopefully you'll relate.

1.) You work for a major corporation and you make a choice: do you spend company time on Facebook or do you justify your boring life by working hard and making yourself proud?

2.) You're a college student and you make a choice: do you aim for c's in order to pass because you know your chosen career really only wants to know you HAVE a degree or do you study your ass off and act as a sponge so you can really take advantage of your inevitable debt?

3.) You're in a band (and probably work at a restaurant) and you make a choice: do you play in town, occasionally hit up DC and NC, occasionally update your myspace, and pray one day someone will offer you an opportunity? Or do you promote the hell out of your band, support your local arts community and come hell or high water tour! tour! tour! in an effort to DO something with your music?

4.) You're a small business and talk a big talk about all you'll accomplish for your community you make a choice: realize you don't have enough time, energy or motivation to actually do it? Or do you work your ass off, find extra time in a day, give and give with blind faith, and make a difference?

Share with me if you want to - I'm loosing my faith in everyone.

ON A SIDE NOTE

If you're in the mood for a low-fi folksy kinda evening might I recommend finding yourself at the beautiful locally owned GALLERY 5 (located at 200 W.Marshall in Jackson Ward) for: Mostly Dimes, Liza Kate, Pedals On Our Pirate Ships and Sweatpants!? What an awesome night this will be. If you're new to town and don't know what the music scene is like here - there are a few bands playing tonight that you NEED to familiarize yourselves with!

Aw, I'm feeling better already!

Best thing you can do to commemorate BFD weekend!

Something I do every year, take a picture of yourself before you go out every night. Passport photo style will yield the best results. Now go out to one of these events tonight:

Best Friends Day 8 at Alley Katz
Featuring - Strike Anywhere, None More Black, Off With Their Heads, Ringers, Blotto, Gatorface and No Friends! Show kicks off at 6pm - 2am 18+.

Protomen
At Plaza Bowl 8pm till 12am.

Wicked After Party @ Couch Heaven
Featuring - SCARCITY OF TANKS, HEAD MOLT, and CAVES CAVERNS! Show kicks off when the party people show up.

Wrenn Mangum (amazing Elvis impersonator!)
At The Triple show starts at 9pm lasts till 1am.

Now that you've had an awesome night on the town - recommended by yours truly - it's now time to drink some water before you hit the hay. Then when you wake up in the morning take another photo.
Do this for the rest of the weekend and you will end up with a hilarious collection of Before and After photos. Encourage your BEST FRIENDS to do it too. Print 'em and hang 'em with pride on the fridge as a reminder of your amazing weekend. You'll be glad you did.

If you want to submit your before and after pics to RichmondRampage.com - send an email to info@richmondrampage.com and I'll put 'em up for you Monday!

You've waited all year and it's finally here....

I'll tell you a little story about how I came to be a Richmonder. It's a simple story about Fun. The type of fun you rarely find anywhere in VA. The type of Fun that makes you feel kinship with a city. I'm talking people, about the type of fun that gives James Madison University and all the date rape house parties the big F-you. The type of fun that tells your parents I don't want your support I do what I want! The type of fun that turns a 20 year old girl into a party-mongering, beer bonging, pit encouraging, drunk off the flask in your pocket, wild child. The type of fun that makes you forget your roots and claim although PBR tastes like carbonated water it is the bourbon of beers and you'll never look back! I'm talking about a catalyst - a single event that makes you forget your roots and assimilate into a community of people that take fun as seriously as you do.
If you didn't know today marks the start of an event that changed my life. BEST FRIENDS DAY The kick off event is tonight at PLAZA BOWL (it's just over the river in the plaza that intersects Broad rock (which is Monument ave) and Hull street (which is just off of COWARDIN, which is the street that BELVIDERE turns into on the opposite side of the river). The party starts at 7pm and will be OUTRAGEOUS so make sure you get there on-time or even a little early so capacity issues don't keep you out of the party.
The list of acts is as follows: (read more at http://www.richmondrampage.com)

Something you rarely see in Richmond...

However this week you will have an opportunity to see more than your fair share. Tonight at the National you can find yourself in the audience for Russ Parr (of the Russ Parr morning show) featuring Earthquake, Ashy Larry, Red Grant, and Huggy LowDown. From what I can tell it'll be a show chock full of racial comparisons and stereo-typical relationship banter. Looks like tickets are still available Show HERE Kicks off at 7:30.

If you're in the mood for something a little more playful (and a little less funny) you could always trek your ass out to the Funnybone located in the Short Pump towncenter for Steve Byrne. Steve is a self proclaimed Caucasian and Asian which makes him CaucAsian. As with anyone who comes from a mixed background, that's exactly what his comedy is about. Check out full details HERE.

Now if you're looking for gritty, raw, honest, and OH SO libertarian comedy you'll want to see Doug Stanhope on August 13th. If the name sounds familiar it is, he took over the Man Show after Adam Corolla left and has been on HBO and Comedy Central on numerous occasions. Doug's return to Richmond has been much anticipated considering every corporate comedy club in America has banned him from returning including the Funny Bone in Richmond! He's quoted as saying that "The Funny Bone are to comedy what Olive Garden is to authentic Italian food."
That's probably why you're only gonna see Doug's unapologetic show at Plaza Bowl. Tickets are still available you can find them HERE.

I know this is a primarily music oriented site and sorry if you were looking for show updates but comedy is still something that I believe this town is severely lacking in. If you guys catch any of these events let me know what you think...in the comment section...

To our fallen friend - Nara Sushi

After days and days of hearsay it's official we've lost yet another unique Richmond venue. Although I represent 2 other venues in town and should be happy another one has bitten the dust, I'm not. How could I be? This stupid city is too small to loose 4 venues in one year.

As of late the villain seems to be CAPS, but unfortunately I can't say I completely agree. So here's who we've lost:

Nara Sushi - Hosted the best Metal/Punk shows. City Dogs has bought the shell that was Nara and we've heard they will be hosting events. Unfortunately it's looking like they're anti punk and metal. I'd venture to say you'll be at a lot of house shows if you dig the Nara scene created over the past 2 years.

Toads Place - Hosted some good events. I can't really comment I had only been there once. Seems to me that whomever is currently interested in the spot needs to figure out parking. I've always wondered if Toads Place could share that parking deck with Black Finn?

The Artist Underground - Owned by an amazing matronly woman who proudly let you sample all of her homemade food before you settled on something you liked. She started hosting early shows in the tiny basement of a venue to supplement her income. CAPS raided her one miserable night and she never completely recovered. A little less than 3 months after the incident her doors shut for good. I heard that someone was turning it into a natural food restaurant but that's yet to be seen.

The Bagel Czar - God why did you have to go in and ruin the capacity? Having a bagel shop that was that big right around the corner from a restaurant that people already liked to sit and relax at didn't seem like the best idea. That and I don't think they made their bagels in house so the enormous kitchen didn't make much sense. I don't know it was exciting that someone finally stepped up to the plate and tried their hand at the infamous 929 but it was more of a let down than anything else.

Can't wait till our only options are CenterStage and The Landmark...blah. Lets stop grieving the losses and celebrating what we do still have. Get out of your house, support local music and local small business's!

Best Weekend EVER...in Richmond!?

I tend to think that Richmond rarely has an exciting weekend of events. Short of a Slaughterama weekend or a Best Friends Day weekend THIS weekend is chock full of thrilling events! Here's where I'll be:


First Fridays in the Courtyard
If you've never taken the time to visit this Broad Street art and music spectacle you're really missing out. Part of what gives this city charm is the first Friday of every month. Basically store owners and gallery owners open their doors to local artists to display their work while music and the arts community filter in and out. This year a new installation to the First Fridays art walk is a music showcase that takes place in a patch of land brilliantly located in the heart of the festivities. This week performers include: Dave Watkins, Zac Hyrciak & the Junglebeats and From Here on Blue. It'll be a nice little indie/folksy event. Hope to see you there!

Johnny Z Festival
In 2007 Richmond suffered a great loss with the death of an amazing man, artist, activist, and musician - Johnny Z. Friends have organized a block party featuring the Bizarre Market, live music, & WRIR DJ's, children's activities, raffle drawings and a mobile mural unveiling by artists from St. Andrew's School in memory of Jonathan Zanin. Be at Shields Ave (near Joes inn) Saturday the 8th between noon and 5pm to celebrate the life of Johnny Z.


Watermelon Festival
See you in Carytown Sunday for this wildly amusing fun-filled day! Why Watermelons you ask...why not!


SETH GREEN IS IN THE HOUSE, Robot Chicken, at the Roller-rink!!
Alright guys after you've been to all these amazing events I know you're tired. But we're not done yet! Monday 8pm at RollerDome on Williamsburg Road Seth Green brings the party to Richmond with Adult Swim and Robot Chicken creators and executive producers Seth Green and Matt Senreich!! We'll be celebrating the release of the Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II DVD this summer by strapping on a pair of roller skates. Green and Senreich host the celebration throughout the nine-city roller rink tour across America featuring performances by one of the hottest bands today, Gym Class Heroes, in addition to special Robot Chicken guests, including the writers, producers and celebrity guest stars, Robot Chicken-themed activities and games and exclusive Adult Swim merchandise. Sponsored by Boost Mobile, Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II...it's FREE so come on guys you can sleep when your dead.

Ever wondered what the social landscape of Richmond was like before you came teenie-boppin' in chasing big artistic dreams at VCU or 'bottoms up' dreams in Oregon Hill? From what I've gathered over the years according to my baby booming pals it was much like it is today, with some differences. Let me let you in on a few.

1.) No Fan Party Patrol - Are these people 'Fucking' serious?

2.) The City hated music, youth, art, expression, kittens, puppies, rainbows, and walks on the beach then too - only they didn't try AS hard to suppress it.

3.) The James River was NOT somewhere you would want to swim.

4.) Richmond once had a booming downtown scene...I find that extremely hard to believe.

5.) Oregon Hill was, and still kinda is, a white ghetto.

From this era amazing musicians were born. Amazing musicians moved to bigger and better social climates. And of course amazing musicians got married, had families, and 'died.'
Fortunately for us some of these amazing acts have weathered the storm and continue to rock our worlds to this day. I'll give you two examples.
If you're in the mood for some surf style rock and roll with insanely hilarious sometimes ad-libbed lyrics, Vapor Rhinos are the band for you. Joining these seasoned rockers will be Nastacoochie, WV (actually Richmond) band Dick Buttkiss & the Tightends. If the name doesn't give you some sense of their lyrical approach than I will. Here are a few of my favorite lyrics from both bands:

Dick Buttkiss & the Tightends, from their Latin flavored song 'Senor Coq' - "So he stepped inside of a smokey den where there were as many cocks as there were men. He knew right away this was the sport for him all he needed was a cock and than he could join in. He's Senor Coq! He's Senor Coq! He's seen your Coq, Coq, Coq, Coq, Coq!"

Vapor Rhinos, "If you can't cut the mustard, cut the cheese!"

If you see that these guys are playing around town for goodness sakes do yourself a favor and go see them!!