A friend emailed to remind me of the sad news that South African singing legend Miriam Makeba passed away earlier this week.  Best known for her songs “Pata Pata” and “The Click Song”, Miriam Makeba was also a vocal anti-apartheid activist who spent the better part of three decades living in exile after her South African citizenship was revoked in 1963.  The Grammy winning artist recorded close to 30 albums over the span of her musical career that began in the late 1950’s.  On Wednesday South African President Kglamema Motlanthe declared that today would be a national day of mourning for the music legend.  “Mama Afrika” Miriam Makeba was 76 years old.

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The rumors of a comeback kicked into high gear earlier this summer when three of the members of Phish appeared on stage together at the Rothbury Music Festival back in July.  Well now those rumors have become a reality as Phish has announced it is indeed getting the band back together.  The band’s first three shows will be held at “The Mothership”, aka the Hampton Coliseum, on March 6, 7, and 8, 2009.  The announcement came via this video which was posted earlier today on Phish’s website.

According to the band’s website additional shows throughout 2009 will be announced soon.  The Hampton Coliseum shows will mark the first time that guitaritst Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, keyboardist Page McConnell, and drummer Jon Fishman have performed together since their farewell show at Coventry, Vermont back in 2004.

A limited number of tickets are now available via the band’s online ticketing system.  [for info click here].  Tickets go on sale to the public on Saturday, October 18 at 10am.  I’m guessing they will sell out in less than an hour.  Phish is back.

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This news comes in from a “little birdie”:

I’ve learned that the second story space on Charlottesville’s West Main Street that was once home to the Starr Hill Music Hall is set to re-open as a music venue.  This news comes on the heels of the announcement that the owners of the Richmond-based restaurant Si Tapas are set to open a second location here in Charlottesville in the downstairs space that was once Starr Hill’s restaurant and brewery.  The same folks who are going to be operating the restaurant are also going to be bringing in the live music to the upstairs location that was been silent since Starr Hill closed its doors in July of 2007.

My “little birdie” also informs me that the line-up for the venue’s first night of live music is already set and will be held next Thursday, October 2.  Scheduled to perform are Mariana Bell, Sweetbriar, and The Sometimes Favorites.  No word yet on showtime or ticket prices.

A few additional unknowns also remain:  The first is a name for the venue.  I’m told that there are at least three possibilities being considered and an official announcement should be forthcoming in the next couple of days.  The other thing we’re not sure of at this point is what kind of live music schedule the venue plans to maintain.  I guess we’ll find out soon enough.  In the meantime, any thoughts on this new music venue development?

[I should have updated this sooner but… /  The venue does have a name:  The name of the venue:  IS]

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Here’s an interesting little news tip that should generate a great deal of discussion in the coming days and weeks.  The following excerpt is taken from the items listed on the preliminary agenda for the September 9 meeting of the Charlottesville Planning Commission:  [You can read the entire preliminary agenda here]

Preliminary Agenda

CITY OF CHARLOTTESVILLE
PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR DOCKET
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2008 – 5:30 P.M.

…

CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERSIV. REGULAR MEETING ITEMS (Cont.) — 9:00 P.M.

H. SP-08-07-24 – (608 -612 Preston Avenue) An application for a special use permit for the property at 608 -612 Preston Avenue. This is a request to allow a dance hall within the Central City Corridor. This property is further identified on City Real Property Tax Map #32 as parcel 14 having approximately 165 feet of frontage on Preston Avenue and containing approximately 74,488 square feet of land or 1.71 acres. The zoning of this property is currently Central City Corridor and general uses called for in the Land Use Plan of the Comprehensive Plan are for Commercial Use. Report prepared by Nick Rogers, Neighborhood Planner.

Does this mean that the proposed Preston Avenue music hall may still happen?  No one can be sure as that decision will ultimately rest with the members of the City Planning Commission.  At the very least it appears that Starr Hill Presents, the group representing Coran Capshaw’s Red Light Management, is not quite ready to throw in the towel.  But before the Planning Commission can have its say, it still remains to be seen whether this issue will make it to the commission in the first place.  Steps are being taken and from what we’ve learned, this deal isn’t dead just yet. »Read More

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LeRoi Moore, the saxophonist for the Dave Matthews Band and one of the band’s founding members passed away today at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA. 

The news comes just six weeks after Moore was seriously injured in an ATV accident at his home outside of Charlottesville on June 30, 2008.  In a statement from a Dave Matthews Band rep to TMZ.com, the cause of death resulted from sudden complications stemming from his June ATV accident.  The statement goes on to say that Moore was in Los Angeles to begin an intensive physical rehabilitation program.  LeRoi Moore was 46 years old. [Read more at cVillain]

Our thoughts and prayers go out to LeRoi Moore’s family, the Dave Matthews Band, and to all of LeRoi’s friends and fans.

LeRoi Moore
1961 - 2008

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Trent Reznor is coming to Charlottesville and he’s bringing his band with him.

I happened to stop by Pitchfork.com this evening to discovered this little tidbit:   Nine Inch Nails has announced that they are extending their North American tour through December and one of the announced tour dates just so happens to be right here in Charlottesville.

After playing at The Forum in Inglewood, CA on September 6, the band will be taking the rest of the month off before kicking off a swing through South America and Mexico in October.  Nine Inch Nails returns stateside on October 23 with a tour stop in San Antonio, TX and then they will wind their way through the South before landing at the John Paul Jones Arena here in C’ville on November 5th.  The band’s website confirms the date, but no official word has been posted on the JPJ website yet.  Stay tuned for more details.

With the Charlottesville Pavilion’s concert season expected to wrap-up sometime in October, this is a pretty big concert announcement guaranteed to keep the Charlottesville music scene buzzin’ well into the fall.

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The Red Light Management proposed plan to open a music hall on Preston Avenue appears to be in doubt following last night’s meeting of the Charlottesville Planning Commission.  After a number of community members rose to speak out against the deal and presented the Commission with a petition stating opposition to the proposed venue, Starr Hill Presents, LLC (the group representing Coran Capshaw’s Red Light Management) has decided to withdraw its request for a special use permit.

As of this afternoon there was no official word on how the Red Light Management group plans to move forward but it appears any hopes of finding a suitable venue to replace the Satellite Ballroom, at least in the immediate future, are in jeopardy.  The Satellite Ballroom, as we all know, closed in May of this year after losing its lease to CVS Pharmacy. 

The application for a special use permit was submitted in late July by Starr Hill Presents to open a restaurant/dance hall in a 5,000 square foot warehouse located on the King Lumber property at 608 Preston Avenue.  By withdrawing on the special use permit before it was given an up or down vote by the City Planning Commission, the Red Light deal is not dead, but in the face of organized community opposition the approval process would face a much more uncertain outcome.

The Red Light group had hoped to use the venue to host live music shows through the final months of 2009 and then move the operation into the Jefferson Theater on the Downtown Mall, where renovations are currently underway.  Now what???

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07/14:  Song of the Day.  The Flaming Lips–Tommy Medley

The Flaming Lips!  That’s who!  This past Saturday (07/12) the Flaming Lips joined Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Incubus, and Tenacious D at the Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles to pay tribute to The Who as part of “VH1’s Rock Honors Awards Show” concert.  Each band played a short set before giving way to The Who themselves, who closed the show with a 40 minute set that included “Baba O’Riley”, “The Seeker”, and “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.  RollingStone.com has more details on the evening’s festivities here.

For Who fans wondering when they can tune in and catch the Awards concert special, it premiers Thurdsay, July 17 at 9pm on VH1.  For those of you who can’t wait until Thursday for a taste of the Who tribute, check out the video after the break as The Flaming Lips rehearse their “Tommy” medley in the days leading up to Rock Honors concert.

»Read More

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After a brief one week hiatus our Weekend Reminders post returns.  (Apologies for missing out last week, but I was damn busy!)  And speaking of busy…this weekend should be a humdinger!  We’ve got Fridays After Five, Modest Mouse, a birthday celebration for Gravity Lounge, and a big show at the Paramount Theater all coming up this weekend.  And that’s just for starters!  So let’s not waste anymore time talking about it.  Here are your weekend reminders: »Read More

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Right now someone in Manchester, Tennessee is desperately searching for their car keys.  Or their friends.  Or their favorite pair of sunglasses.  Or their minds.  It’s amazing the things one can lose over a four-day period on a 700-acre farm jam packed with close to 80,000 people and over 100 bands scheduled to perform.  That was the scene at Bonnaroo 2008 as tens of thousands of music fans descended on central Tennessee for what has become America’s biggest music festival as well as one of the biggest money-making music festivals in the world.

Now I don’t know how many C’ville folks made it down to Bonnaroo ‘08, but if you did go, braving the crowds, the weather, and the late nights, we’ll be asking you for your first hand accounts in just a few moments.  As you may have guessed I did not attend.  I won’t say that I’ve personally given up on the mega-music festival (I attended San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival last October which drew an estimated 500,000 festival goers) but in recent years I’ve been drawn to the smaller, lesser known, and more intimate music gatherings.  Ultimately I have yet to attend Bonnaroo and unless the Fates set me up with backstage passes and a paid assignment to cover the precedings, I can’t really imagine ever seeing the festival first hand.

In preparation for writing this post, I’ve scanned the inter-web for reports from the blogosphere and media outlets and I’ve gathered some of the highlights after the jump.  But before all that… »Read More

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