Tonight’s big event is the show at The Southern with ManorLady, Night and the City, and Hotchacha.

I’m really excited to hear Night and the City again, after catching their excellent set opening for Nurse Beach at the Box a few weeks ago; they have a sort of 80’s college-radio / semi-British jangly, driving sound that gets excellently shoegazery in parts; their set was an awesome surprise, and I’m really psyched to hear them again.

I’m also intrigued by finally having the chance to hear ManorLady; I’ve been chatting with Aaron at like every show I’ve been to this summer, so it’s kind of embarrassing that I haven’t actually seen his band play yet. To be honest, I wasn’t all that crazy about their CD, but bands can often sound totally different live; he seems like he’s taking inspiration from a lot of my favorite bands/genres, and I’m told the live show often has an experimental video component as well, so it’s definitely something I’ve been eager to check out firsthand.

The third band on the bill is named Hotchacha; I don’t know much about them apart from the fact that their band name kind of sucks, but they seem like a cool garage-y rock thing that might make for a really fun show.   So, that show’s at the Southern tonight; doors are at 8pm, and the cover charge is $7.

Earlier in the evening there’s a show at The Garage with David Shultz, known as the lead singer of Richmond’s David Shultz and the Skyline; he’s doing a solo tour of what Sam calls “strikingly honest folk songs” — local songwriter Chris Campanelli is the opener; seems like a good fit for The Garage. That one’s also supposed to start at 8pm (and it’s free), and since this is The Garage it’s much more likely that it will actually start at 8:00, so I’m assuming the Southern show will just be getting underway around the time the Garage gig wraps up, if you feel like trying to catch them both…

… oh, and the other piece of crazy news that’s been flying around this week is that Curt is back in town (still sporting his trademark beard, bicycle, and porkpie hat) and there’s rumors of an event going on at Dust! You guys remember Dust, of course… Charlottesville’s finest under-the-radar warehouse venue, which has now been dormant for well over a year, due to the proprietor’s departure. Anyhow, there was initially supposed to be a secret metal show there late last night, featuring the debut of “Coitus Interruptus,” a.k.a. Max Katz’s new metal band with Rick Easton and Jared Hood … BUT then the show got moved to tonight, and now Rick & Jared aren’t sure they can make it, so who knows if Max is going to be playing a solo set, or what.  I asked Curt what the deal was, and he said he had basically just extended an open-mic invitation to the usual local metal-head performers, but there don’t seem to actually be any other acts booked on the bill (at least not from what I can tell), so who knows what’s actually happening…

Anyhow if you’re feeling adventurous or curious, it might be well worth swinging by Dust later this evening to see what’s up; if anyone has any info about this, please feel free to leave it in the comments (just don’t publicize the address, please…)  Who knows if tonight will be any good, or whether it will actually even happen, BUT either way it’s good to see Curt again and I’m anticipating another totally bonkers html-formatted mass-email with animated dancing cat gifs to appear in my mailbox any day now.