Loads of Live Music Choices on the Birthday

This Saturday January 5th, I plan on heading out to watch a live show for my birthday. The issue; too many viable options. I would like to start the day at Paradise Springs Winery with Doug Parks - but that's the easy part. It get's complicated at night. I could head west into Loudoun County for some folk or bluegrass with Andrew McKnight and Beyond Borders at the Franklin Park Performing & Visual Arts Center or Dark Hollow Bluegrass Band & The Virginia Ramblers at the Lucketts Community Center. Contrarily, I could head in the opposite direction, into DC for the Jamie McLean Band at Hill Country BBQ or to the  The Hamilton and Ryan Cabrera, Tyler Hilton, & Teddy Geiger. My wife would enjoy that one. Then there's Alexandria and The Birchmere for the Pat McGee Reunion Show. But then again, there are my local venues; Wolf Trap - The Barns (Ari Hest), Jammin' Java (Michael Clem), IOTA Club (Melodime), or Dogfish Head Alehouse (William Walter & Co. ). That's a lot of music options. Thanks to all for coming to D.C. Cheers

This Week at MyJoog

There's a strong Americana presence in the nation's capital this week starting tonight with John Mellencamp at DAR Constitution Hall. On Wednesday night, Slightly Stoopid comes to the Nightclub 9:30 and then Thursday we head west to WolfTrap in order to watch Paul Thorn. The following evening we either head back to DAR Constitution Hall to catch The Avett Brothers or head to Alexandria and The Birchmere to watch Tom Principato Band 'CD Release Show' which also includes Bill Kirchen. We finish the week back at Nightclub 9:30 for the second night of The Drive-By Truckers - who also play at the venue Friday night.  Or we stay close to home and watch four entertaining local bands at The State Theatre: The Dreamscapes Project, Melodime, Crooked Crow, and Cobra Collective. And speaking of The State Theatre; the 25th annual Wammies show is scheduled for this Sunday the 20th with the after party at Bangkok Blues.

Melodime @ Jammin' Java

On a lazy Friday evening, I was too tired to venture out to The Birchmere to watch the The Fabulous Thunderbirds and there was no way I was going to fight the Beltway on a Friday to head to Merriweather Post Pavilion and The Birchmere; so I hiked to Jammin' Java to see what's up. The venue had two shows scheduled for that evening, I missed the first but arrived in time for The Noah Woods Project followed by the Melodime. I had never heard of either act, but apparently others had - because the venue was as populated as when national acts perform. The opening act had a really unique sound attributed to really good guitar playing by front man Noah Woods and a surrounding cast of woodwinds, bass, drums, and viola. That's an arrangement you don't see very often. The songwriting was clever and Woods' voice is rather Paul Simon-ish. As the group matures their stage presence should improve to form a solid act.

Stage presence was not a problem for the main attraction, Melodime, and they were primarily responsible for the large crowd that night. Apparently the band has build a solid local community of fans because throughout the night most were singing along or even taking over the vocals. Our mistake for letting this band fly under our radar; particularly since they excel with the Americana fused genre we prefer - a good mixture of alt-country, blues, folk, and rock. Melodime is fronted by Bradley Rhodes, whose voice is sometimes a complete replica of Paul Thorn - close your eyes and you can't tell the difference. At times I was waiting for them to belt out "800 Pound Jesus". Brothers Tyler and Sam Duis comprise the rest of the band, on percussion and bass\keyboards respectively. It appears that the band recently changed their lineup with the addition of two new members: Nathan Thomas on bass and crowd favorite - at least for the guys - Katie Shanta on the Violin.

In any case, I like their sound and with self - depreciating humor they are and entertaining group. I really liked "Orange People" which you can hear on the myspace page, "63", and the "Recession" song. There was definitely a nice rock-alt country flare and they can play; but at times some of the songs tended to blend together. That being said, I look forward to their next CD which should be released late summer or early fall. Basically this evening was another example why you should get out of the house and listen to live music; even going to shows where you've never heard the artist - you might find some new favorites.