Mix pop music with a bit of modern Americana, rock, classical, and hip-shaking music, and you’ll get the 9th annual Ghost of Pop this Saturday at 6pm. The event is a benefit for the non-profit organization HomeAgain, which provides services and emergency shelter for the homeless in Richmond.
Mix pop music with a bit of modern Americana, rock, classical, and hip-shaking music, and you’ll get the 9th annual Ghost of Pop this Saturday at 6pm. The event is a benefit for the non-profit organization HomeAgain, which provides services and emergency shelter for the homeless in Richmond.
It’s been nine years since avid local musician Prabir Mehta and a few of his musician friends decided to get together and play a fun party show at Gallery 5. Ghost Of Pop has been happening annually at Gallery 5 ever since, and has sold out every time. Unlike a typical show, featuring only a few bands, Ghost Of Pop features seven different bands, in order to showcase the variety of great music happening in RVA. “It’s about celebrating the community and the music here in Richmond,” Mehta said. With the bands keeping their sets concise, you’re bound to hear their best work.
In Ghost Of Pop’s fifth year, Mehta decided that the show should be more than just a party with good friends, and started donating the proceeds to charity. “Tis the season,” he said. “We should be doing it anyway.” Mehta decided to have all door proceeds to go to HomeAgain, where he briefly interned and first fell in love with giving back to the Richmond community. “It’s one of those things that make our city unique,” Mehta said. “I thought we could make a noise together about HomeAgain. Because in the time that I’m given, I want to do a good job at everything that needs a good effort–and this is one of them.”
Mehta chooses the bands that perform on Ghost Of Pop’s bill each year by recalling the shows he’s attended over the past year and singling out the best local talent he’s seen over that time. He then contacts each band to see if they’d be down to help out a good cause. Each band performs for free in order to raise as much money as possible for HomeAgain. This year’s lineup is a solid collection of musicians featuring a mix of Ghost Of Pop veterans and first time performers at the event. Mehta described each band for us in order to prepare readers for the true essence of the show he has in store.
My Old Ways, based out of RVA and Birmingham, Alabama, has a poetic American country sound. Mehta describes their lyrics as “words that stab you in the heart.”
Mehta explains The Awesome Few as “the only band that can be identified by their name–there are a few people on stage and they are awesome!”
Long Arms, in Mehta’s words, are what you’d get “if you took a Tom Petty song and give it enough grit to make it seem like it’s from Richmond.”
The Northerners and Hypercolor are making their Ghost of Pop debuts in what Mehta calls the “sweet spot”–the middle slots of the show. He refers to both bands, who are relatively new to the RVA scene in general, as “energized, electrifying, loud and groovy.”
Mehta’s own band, Goldrush, is what he calls “an experiment,” which consists of classically trained musicians playing pop songs on a mix of orchestral and standard rock instruments.
Black Girls is not a group of black girls as I expected it to be, but instead consists of white guys whose music Mehta says “you can’t help but move to. Bopping heads and moving hips to ensure a dance party!”
In addition to the awesome mix of music and people, there’s a raffle! HomeAgain always need new clothes, blankets, and socks so those who bring items of this nature to donate will receive a raffle ticket. The raffle winner will receive tickets to the Richmond Symphony, the Science Museum of Virginia, and two season passes to Friday Cheers.
Come out this Saturday to join Prabir Mehta and all the awesome local bands who will be part of Ghost of Pop 9. Admission is $5. Doors open at 6pm at Gallery 5 located at 200 W. Marshall Street. For more info, click here.
