Craig Zirpolo’s been a scene mainstay for a while now. One of the main forces behind local music-centric web publication Dust-Up, Zirpolo previously helmed The Horn RVA and has taken a ton of photos for publications all around this town and beyond. Sadly, they’re now departing our lovely river city for the greener pastures of Austin (it’s like RVA only it’s in Texas, so it’s bigger). But before they leave, they’re giving us not one but TWO nights of killer music to benefit two of the best venues in Richmond. This is just the first night–we’ll almost certainly talk about night two in next week’s column. But this show is worth exploring in and of itself, because it comes with a twist.
This Gallery 5 benefit is a tribute show, of sorts. And I say “of sorts” because the headlining act, Night Idea, is really just covering themselves. Or, I mean, I think that’s what’s up with the whole “Cold Brew Boys” thing, right? I don’t hang in the proper circles to fully plumb the depths of that particular in-joke. But I can tell you that the band will also be busting out some tunes from Ocho The Cat, their 2011 debut LP, which has long since been scrubbed from their bandcamp, so you’ve gotta figure they’re at least a little embarrassed about it. Opin and The Pyramidions will both engage in some more straightforward tribute-paying with their sets of Tears For Fears and The Birthday Party tunes, respectively. Meanwhile, the Oasis tribute band featuring members of Magnus Lush, Bad Magic, and Unmaker, which previously played an episode of Strange Matter’s 90s Prom tribute show, will reform once again to tell us what the story (morning glory) is. So yeah, this should be a blast, and it’s for a good cause! It’s not exactly tight that Craig is leaving, but for now, we should celebrate the fact that we ever had them here at all. So let’s ring in 2018 right, even if it is two days late!
