LarJar to perform weekly at City Dogs in the Fan!
Following two and a half great years of weekly Wednesday performances at Cary Street Cafe, LarJar has packed up and moved down the street to City Dogs, 1309 W. Main Street near VCU Campus. Starting June 2, LarJar will play every Wednesday night at the Dog, with two-set performances generally running from 9:30pm to 2am. City Dogs is Richmond’s best new home for live music, offering a clean, bright and pleasant venue with great food and drink specials, a spacious patio/deck and a charming staff. The shows are free for ages 21+ and $5 for ages 18+. We’ll be regularly featuring guest musicians, DJs spinning records for set break, opening acts, a new light show, the LarJarDog (ask your server!) and some very generous drink specials.
The band will continue on with occasional weekend performances at Cary Street Cafe, a set at Camp Barefoot this August, a handful of additional local dates this summer and the hotly anticipated LarJarFest slated for this fall.
Stay tuned to LarJar.net and the band’s Facebook page for updates on future dates, additional music releases, new gear and more.
The Heavy Pets and LarJar at Capital Ale House this Tuesday, 4-6-2010
The great south-Florida-based band the Heavy Pets will be performing at the Capital Ale House this Tuesday night. LarJar will be opening the show, kicking at 8pm with a set of your favorite experimental organ-funk, and the Pets will take the stage shortly after with their explosive blend of jam rock, funk and reggae grooves. Don’t miss the show, it starts around 8, it’s lookin’ to be a crowded one so come early, grab some food and a tasty beverage and get ready to get up and get down with it!
Wednesday and Saturday, Wednesday and Saturday
LarJar is excited to be performing four shows in the Richmond area over the next two weeks. We continue our weekly Wednesday night performances at Cary Street Cafe, free of charge and always a blast. Over the past two months, we’ve featured guest percussionist Mark Henderson, two appearances by DJ Possum (Nathan Firster) and guitarist Matt Sthreshley. During the last two weeks of December, keyboardist Joel Cummins of Umphrey’s McGee, guitarist Bon Lozaga of Gongzilla and Tiny Boxes and guitarist Scott Lane of the Congress joined the band for numerous tunes. Openers and special guests as well as two full sets of music from the band can be expected at every show.
LarJar is excited to announce two free Saturday performances over the upcoming two weeks, March 6 at Emilio’s at the corner of Broad and Meadow, and March 13 at City Dogs on Main Street in the fan. The Emilio’s performance offers an opportunity for expanded sound and lighting rig and a change of pace for the band with a fresh atmosphere and a lot of dancing space. Come out ready to shake and move it with a host of new covers and reworked tunes planned especially for this performace. March 13 at City Dogs is sure to be a blast, the first appearance by LarJar at “the Dog” since their CD release party on February 5 that included opening set and setbreak jams by DJ Possum and some great turntable-vs-synth improv battles in the second set. City Dogs offers great food and drink specials all night, an ever-improving sound system, a fun, clean environment and best of all the show will be free of charge.
The band has been hard at work developing new material since their February 20 performance at the National with Perpetual Groove. The 1-hour set by LarJar included new mashups of their own original material, an epic 12-minute, 4-part suite that included numerous melodies and grooves developed from MMW tunes “Night Marchers”, “Bubble House”, “Lasst Chance to Dance Trance” and the traditional blues number “Old Wyne”. The last song of the set, “Biplanes”, developed based on the work of Richmond pianist Brian Mahne, featured Brock Butler of Perpetual Groove for the entirety of the song, playing both electric guitar and pedal steel guitar, chugging through an extended solo and improv section that saw some great lights and hard-hitting jams. Be sure to stay tuned to RichmondImage.com for some great photography work by James Young documenting the show. Check back regularly to LarJar.net for more news, videos, mp3s and opportunities to check out the band in action.
The Many Adventures of LarJar CD available now!
Our debut full-length studio album is now available! For the moment, they’re available at shows or through the webstore over at daveklemencic.com. We’re currently offering a deal for anyone who purchases tickets to our show at the National with Perpetual Groove, we’ll throw in a copy of the CD for just 5 bucks! We’ll be celebrating the album release on February 5 at City Dogs in the Fan, it’s going to be a blast.
Come out tonight and catch LarJar with DJ Possum at Cary Street Cafe! We’ve got some deep grooves worked out for the show and Possum’s spinning some of the funkiest beats and grooves Richmond’s heard in a hot minute!
Magazine 33 Haiti Relief Benefit
LarJar will be performing this Thursday at Emilio’s in the fan as a part of the Magazine 33 Haiti Relief Benefit Showcase. We’ll be sharing the stage with some great acts- Blue Line Highway, Beast Wellington and Crossroad Voodoo. The event is in support of the Doctors Without Borders efforts in Haiti, this is a great cause and the folks down there need every bit of assistance we can extend to them. Come out and get your boogie on and lets extend some support to those who need it most. 
The Many Adventures of…
LarJar will be releasing their first full-length studio album this February. The album features a host of special guests, original tunes and some great artwork, so have a look and a listen. We’ve got several sample cuts from the album over on the music page. Copies of the disc will be available at shows, including our upcoming February 5 performance at City Dogs. Dig it!
New Jam! Organ Donor from 12-30-09 Live @ Cary Street Cafe
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version
Joel Cummins and Dave face-off on the keys!
Quick follow-up regarding the December 23 show with Tiny Boxes-
Kicking off around 9:45 to a packed house, the evening began with an opening set by LarJar, running through a number of their 70s-esque soul grooves, pulling a few pages from Robert Walter’s songbook (Panacea, To the Bitter End, Ain’t it Funky, Biplanes) and getting the crowd warmed up for what was to come. With each successive song, LarJar veered more into open territory, leaning on disco-funk beats and bringing out new original tunes (Tap into your mind) and tying it off with a raging take on Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish”.
Tiny Boxes took the stage after a brief interlude, with Bon Lozaga and Joel Cummins smiling ear-to-ear and ready to play for an anxious crowd. Tiny Boxes ripped through several Jimi Hendrix greats including “Castles Made of Sand” and finishing with “Voodoo Chile”. The drummer and bassist, recent additions to Bon’s musical endeavours, both draw deeply from gospel and funk roots, and it shows in their tight, crisp and funky playing. Bon and Joel lent vocals to a number of tunes, and the Tiny Boxes originals were mainly light-hearted, jazzy numbers with thick back-beats, personal lyrics and shredding solos. Joel very comfortably worked his way around the organ, clavinet and stage piano, even adding synth solos to occasional tunes.
The set drew to a close after 90 or so short minutes, and after a few moments of quick interaction between band members, shifting of cymbals and snare, LarJar was back up and ready to pummel the crowd with more jams. Plowing through Karl Denson’s “Elephants” (minor technical problems with the Clavinet aside) and the Benevento-Russo Duo improv vehicle “Big Whopper”, the band jumped into their own “Dart of Harkness”. This jungle-vibe tune, with heavy floor-tom rolls forming the core beat construction, rumbled along through the head/melody sections before jumping off into a deep space. As the band coasted momentarily, Bon Lozaga jumped on stage and lent some percussive riffing to the tune before busting out into a deep and angry guitar solo. Carrying through a dozen or so bars, the band began dropping out and only playing on rhythmic hits together to emphasize the powerful guitar shredding. With little warning to the crowd, Joel Cummins jumped back up in front of the keyboard rig, and he and Bon began trading off lead lines, improving over the band’s vamping with some deep synth-lead/guitar exchanges, while Dave continued to work the Clavinet and stage piano and Alan and Jason continued to hold down the rhythm, stepping back and forth between hits and a thundering bass-and-drums groove. The tune traveled into outer space before slamming back to earth as the piano signaled a return to the head of the tune and the whole band came screeching to a high-pitched halt.
Bon continued on with the band for the remainder of the show, lending some unique thoughts and emphasis to “Organ Donor” and the LarJar prog/blues finale “Ridin’ the Rails”. The crowd was ushered quickly out onto the sidewalks and into the night with little beyond memories to remind them of what they’d just witnessed.
Tiny Boxes is performing at the Outer Banks Brewing Station on January 9, 2010 and in Raleigh on February 5. You can check them out on Myspace. Umphrey’s McGee is playing an extended New Year’s run in Chicago and returning to the area in February to play Valentine’s Day at Ram’s Head Live in Baltimore. Check them out at Umphreys.com.
Thanks to jambands.com for mentioning the show in advance, it was the most crowded Wednesday we’ve seen in quite some time!
Tiny Boxes feat. Joel Cummins of Umphrey’s and Bon Lozaga of Gongzilla to perform with LarJar 12/23/09
Tiny Boxes, a new funk-jam project formed by guitarist Bon Lozaga of Gongzilla and featuring Umphrey’s McGee keyboardist Joel Cummins will be performing at a special free holiday show with us at Cary Street Cafe in Richmond, Va. The performance has been arranged for December 23, 2009 at 10:00pm at Cary Street Cafe and will include two sets each from Tiny Boxes and LarJar taking turns melting faces.
Lozaga has been hard at work on his new project, Tiny Boxes, whose first recording efforts include members of Umphrey’s McGee and Derek Trucks Band. This marks their first foray into the community, with the band traveling from North Carolina and Cummins as a special guest in from Chicago. Their new sound is a funky mash-up that harkens to previous projects including Gongzilla, Lozaga’s solo work and the progressive sound of early Umphrey’s McGee.
LarJar is a keys-bass-drums trio that’s been performing a weekly Wednesday workout at Cary Street Cafe for over two years. They’ve hosted two LarJarFests, an independent jam-funk music festival outside Richmond, VA with a third in the works for this spring. LarJar features twin brothers Jason and Larry Alen Jarrell on bass and drums respectively and Dave Klemencic on organ, clavinet, synths and electric piano.
Cary Street Cafe has long been the home to Richmond’s jam/funk/rock community, hosting an eclectic variety of live music for the past 14 years. Their weekly routine includes free shows by the Former Champions every Tuesday, LarJar every Wednesday and a rotation of regional touring acts on Fridays and Saturdays.
www.umphreys.com/
www.lolorecords.com/bon_lozaga.html
www.larjar.net/
www.carystreetcafe.com
The Ripple Effect! LarJar featured in Magazine33
Check out the article about LarJar in the premier issue of Magazine33, Richmond’s new art/culture/music online mag. Our good friend Meredith Ripple took the time to sit down with the band a few weeks ago and put together a great think-piece on all things LarJar. Tho it’s impossible to capture our combined glory in mere ink-and-paper descriptions, we like to think she came pretty close. The article includes the track “Ridin’ the Rails” from our forthcoming album. Cheers!
LarJar-No-CharJar!
LarJar will continue their Wednesday night residency at Cary Street Cafe, and we’re excited to inform you that the show is now free of charge. Every week the band will play two sets of music starting at 10pm, regularly featuring special guests, opening acts and all sorts of surprises, now without the hassle of a cover charge. Dig it! Come out and support local live music!
Reinvigorated!
After a week off, the band has returned to the residency on top of their game. As a special treat, we’re releasing a new track from the hotly anticipated “Many Adventures of…” album for your enjoyment. Take it all in from our free player below. See you Wednesday night, 10p.m. at Cary Street Cafe!
An additional special thanks to those of you who came out last week and caught Shiva Star’s guest performance. These Southside Funk veterans were happy to shed some four-piece electro-groove jazz for ya’ll and look forward to doing it again.
Tonight 5/20/09 at Cary Street Cafe - LarJar feat. On Point!
Try to make it out this evening, our friends On Point! will be sharing the stage with us, kicking out some warm-up jams in preparation for the mighty madness of LarJar. Just to get your attention, we’re throwing another track from the forthcoming album your way. Dig it!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version
New track from the Many Adventures of LarJar
“The Respirator”
Track 2 from the forthcoming album
*Featuring Roberto Curts on electronic wind instrument
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version
Live from the National 4-17-09
This Saturday we’ll be releasing the set “Live from the National” for free across the internet. We were fortunate enough to get a great soundboard recording of the show and are excited to be able to share it with you. Limited edition discs will be available at shows and the entire set will be available for download. Check back this weekend for links and fresh new jams!
LarJar at the National Tonight! 4/17/2009
In case you haven’t heard, LarJar will be performing this evening at the National on Broad Street in downtown Richmond. The National is a recently restored classic American theater, with a vintage style, great sound and 1600 person capacity. We’ll be playing there this evening opening for Grinding Stone, the MamaJamuhs are also on the bill. Should be a great time, show starts around 7. Tickets are available at the door or through band members. Should be a great time, hope to see everyone there.
LarJar and StarFK Radium @ Cary St. Cafe TONIGHT - Feb. 25th ‘09
Lar Jar is going to be rockin’ down Cary St. Cafe tonight! Be there! D Klem on the Keys - Lar Jar on the skins - and Bassin’ Jason on the Bass Geetar. Get there before midnight and drinks are on the house! JUST KIDDING! But for real, you should make it out. If you’re heading to Cous Cous, come check us out after. We’ll keep the party rockin’ till late-late. Dig it!
“Funky grooves to sooth the soul and liven up the spirit…”
Cary Street Cafe Every Wednesday!
The LarJar Band continues their reign at Cary Street Cafe this and every Wednesday. The fellas have been going strong every week for over a year (with a few notable exceptions) and will be keeping it up for the foreseeable future. The band has tightened their sound, expanded their repertoire and used the stage as a proving ground to deep it up while giving Richmonders a place to hear some thick jams and shake it on the dance floor. We’ve been hosting a variety of opening acts, once or twice a month ceding the stage to upcoming bands for the first hour, regularly incorporating them into the show later in the set. Openers have included the Ins and Outs, Southside Funk Quartet, Caught in the Rift, members of 11th House and Grinding Stone, Danny O’ Hanley, Russell Lacey and more.
T-Shirts!
We now have custom LarJar T-Shirts available! They’ll be added to the store inventory soon, but for now you can pick them up at any LarJar show. We’ve got multiple styles and colors so you can floss for your friends and let them know about the new hot band in town!
Welcome to LarJar.net!
The site is just getting off the ground, but check back soon for updates, tour dates, some great new merch and lots more.