Our friends, Astronomers will be kicking your weekend off with a Thursday night performance @ The Southern.  I can’t top this quote, so I will reprint verbatim:

“As the name suggests, Charlottesville quartet Astronomers favor an expansive, stargazing sound. Guitars circle like satellites through eccentric, chiming orbits. Though the bright, busy tones get exotic and ethereal enough to suggest shoe gazers, they’re much more restrained, grounded in a straightforwardly melodic sensibility like a less adventurous Muse or caged Doves. Front man Nate Bolling’s moody baritone croon could definitely find a home across the pond, but the jagged churn of tracks like “Or Maybe It’s Nothing” melds post-punk slash to an elegant Britpop sweep. For a relatively new band they’re remarkably assured, with an impressively fanciful sound.”
—Chris Parker, IndyWeek.com »Read More

Traditional Music: A Lecture & Performance Series What is traditional music? What relevance does it have for us today in the 21st century? This noncredit lecture and performance series explores these questions and more through the lens of folklore, ethnomusicology, and performance. Students gain access to the contemporary world of traditional music by attending private performances, multimedia presentations, and engaging in conversations with musicians, folklorists, and ethnomusicologists throughout the state of Virginia. It all happens in one ideal location where music performance, technology, education, and food and drink converge in a congenial spirit of community and lifelong learning. The traditions under study include old-time, bluegrass, samba, jazz, blues, gospel, Sephardic, and Mande/Voltaic. By the end of the course, the students will have gained an insider’s knowledge and a greater appreciation for traditional music and some of its greatest artists and experts in the Commonwealth today. The series will be facilitated by ethnomusicologist Heather Maxwell, Ph.D. It will run for eight Tuesday evenings from 7-8:30pm beginning February 9. The tuition is $150. Dinner will be available at an additional cost beginning at 5:30pm. Advance registration is required through the UVa School of Continuing & Professional Studies. Call (434) 982-2779 or email scps-uc@virginia.edu for registration forms.

Thanks to the involved reader who submitted this to our Gossip address.  [Photo Credits]

Charlottesvillians  have responded to the earthquake in Haiti in true auditory fashion, with local bands and businesses teaming up for a benefit concert, supporting Partners In Health and GHESKIO.  Bands include ACME Swing MFG Co., 180, Buzzard Hollow Boys, Gladstones, Jeebus, & more.  The event will be held at Fry’s Springs Beach Club, along with a silent auction with donations from local businesses.  Local restaurants have gotten in on the action, and will be offering food, along with a cash bar.

The whole thing kicks off this Saturday, January 23rd @ 6:00PM.  Tickets are available for $15 beforehand, and $20 at the door.  [Info]

Trinity Irish Pub will also be hosting a Disaster Relief party this Wednesday (20th), with a $5 wristband granting you access to drink specials all night long.  Proceeds will go to the American Red Cross.  [Info]  [Photo Credits]

Charlottesville City Council is convening for it’s first meeting of 2010 tonight (01/04), and the hot topic will be a petition from some Belmont homeowners to enact a new noise ordinance.  This topic was visited by downtown mall dwellers in March of 2008, when the city set the limit of 75db for round the clock operation of bars & restaurants.

While few, if any, citations have been issued in relation to the March ordinance, Belmont denizens apparently believe it is still ‘too darn loud’, and are requesting a limit of 55db after the 11PM hour.  BNAP, (Belmont Neighborhood Association President) Jesse Fiske, cited late nigh bands as a reason locals are unable to sleep or enjoy their premises.  Fiske is hoping the new law will provide a ‘tool’ for folks to utilize when combating this continuing problem.

To provide a clear(er) definition of the volume levels being discussed here, 75db equates to normal conversation heard from 3-5′ away, a dial tone provides 80db (@ speaker output), and a neighbors AC unit from 25′ away averages 57db.  Additionally, all volume levels are to be taken at the establishments door.  [Photo Credits]

It’s certainly a busy, busy time of year, but there’s definitely time to recollect the highs and lows our local music scene has seen in ‘09. Here’s what comes to mind. We’d love to hear your thoughts!

1) iS Venue calls it quits after barely a year in operation, and while some great acts came through to play the joint, the crowd size and sound generally left people wanting.

     **Best or Worst?**

2) Holy Smokes Booking: Jacob Wolf came to town and hit the ground running last spring, booking and promoting awesome, refreshing music for Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar, The Bridge PAI, The Garage & 12 Street Taphouse. I think this town owes a thank you to him for helping fight the good fight against jam bands and bluegrass. »Read More

The Bridge in Charlottesville presents New York-based artists Tristan Perich and Lesley Flanigan, joined by local artist Chris Peck. Perich’s duet “Dual Synthesis” (for harpsichord and 1-bit electronics) and Flanigan’s “Amplifications” (for voice and speaker electronics) explore the viscerality of electronic music. Mixing primitive sounds from their own hand- constructed instruments with the harpsichord and voice, each choreographs intersections between acoustic and electric sound.

Regular staples of the New York City experimental scene, Perich and Flanigan create music that spans electroacoustic, classical and noise. In addition to their solo work, they are also known for collaborative projects with the Loud Objects (Tristan Perich, Kunal Gupta, Katie Shima) and Bioluminescence (Lesley Flanigan, R. Luke DuBois). »Read More

[Thanks Emily Bolecek & Arin Noble] 

We just completed the photo shoot for the newly revamped Jefferson Theater, and with the grand opening this Friday (November 27th), there is quite a bit of work to be completed.  The latest addition to the Capshaw empire features a 750 person capacity, two bars, and a full kitchen/restaurant area, headed up by none other than Alex George of Just Curry fame.

Sons of Bill with Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit will be kicking things off, and Trees on Fire with Astronomers (Nate, one of our own cVillain music writers) & THRUM will pushing the new sound system this Saturday.  Tickets are available online, through 800-594-TIXX or in person at Area Plan 9 Music Stores, The Downtown Visitors Center & Crossroad Music Stores.  [Info]

At first glance, The Southern Cafe and Music Hall (located on the downtown mall where Gravity Lounge used to be) seems a bare and impersonal shadow of it’s former incarnation. The cozy darkness & vintage air are replaced by solid white paint and little decoration, but I was hesitant to judge, because surely the place is still being put together and broken in, right? »Read More

The Southern is definitely the hardest working music venue Charlottesville has seen in some time, and they are continuing this trend by bringing you Blind Pilot & The Low Anthem this evening.  BP is an intriguing indie pop group responsible for the recent full length album ‘3 Rounds and a Sound’, a critically acclaimed album, reviewed as “sincere and captivating, with vocal control and style to spare”, also “deep, clever guitar-driven tunes fleshed out with soaring horn arrangements”.  Opening for the likes of Gomez, Counting Crows, and The Decemberists, THIS is a band we will all be hearing much more from in the near future.  @ 8:00PM – $12 [Info] [Samples] [Photo Credits]