A few Friday News and Notes for y’all kind people:

• I saw Béla Fleck and the Flecktones last night! I didn’t realize it but it seems that this is some sort of reunion tour. They mentioned last night being their “second show,” which caused a little cognitive dissonance, given how long they’ve been around. I also didn’t realize (though I think I knew at some point) that Victor Wooten is their bass player. Dude is a magician. As is Béla. What a talented group. And I can now say I’ve seen a steel drum jazz solo, so there’s that.
• The Head and the Heart’s new album just became available for preorder!
• Xenia Rubinos’ new album is out today — definitely worth checking out. She was very, very good at Saturday’s Son Lux show. I wish I could go back in time and do that night differently. The show was happening during game 6 of the western conference finals (which turned out to be pivotal and wildly entertaining), and instead of DVRing the game and watching after, I sat at the bar and kept the game going on my phone and glanced up and down and up and down and ended up feeling like I didn’t really see either. Dumb. Lesson learned, hopefully. I’ve listened to “Lonely Lover” a bunch of times since, and I know I’m taking the lyrics out of context, but the “I just need to breathe today” line resonates so deeply. Especially this week, given that my daughter barfed all over her car seat on the way to daycare on Tuesday.
• Top album lists for the first half of the year have started popping up, and they’re making me feel like an idiot for not listening to the new Chance album yet. That’s my goal for the weekend. It was awesome to see Lucy Dacus made the Spin list, and on an unrelated note, it was also awesome to see pics on social media from people who were at her Tiny Desk performance this week. Can’t wait for NPR to post video.
• I’ll be gigging tonight, but Friday Cheers looks awesome — the Revivalists and the Seratones — and I can’t recommend strongly enough also heading to Gallery5 for tonight’s collaborative Girls Rock! RVA fundraiser. It’s a Jennifer Kennedy gallery exhibit AND a show featuring Lady God, Christi, Avers and Lobo Marino AND they’ll be selling Kennedy’s new coloring book. I’m a huge fan of Kennedy’s work — she draws musicians while they’re performing, and it’s astounding how much kinetic energy she manages to capture — and I love Girls Rock! RVA’s mission, which is to “empower girls, gender non-conforming, and trans youth through music, art and activism.” Learn more about Girls Rock! RVA here and listen to Doug Nunnally’s interview with Jennifer Kennedy here.

That’s it for now. Catch y’all next week, assuming I still exist next week. It’s also Greek Fest weekend, and I might end up eating so many gyros so fast that I break space-time and disappear completely. Hopefully not though.