Jeff Coffin | Courtesy Sound Artist Support/Greg Kessler

Jeff Coffin leads one of the great jazz-fusion acts on the planet, the Mu’Tet. But he has made his bones recording and touring first with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and now Dave Matthews Band.

Coffin, on a break from DMB, brings the Mu’Tet to Growler’s American Grill on Friday. This amazing unit includes a dream rhythm section — Roy “Future Man” Wooten on the drum set (as opposed to his trademark Drumitar) and Felix Pastorius, a son of Jaco Pastorius and a tremendous musician in his own right. Read more and get show details in Top Tickets.

Among other topics, Coffin addresses the legion of Dave Matthews Band haters (at my instigation) with this vigorous defense:

“I’m always reminded, there’s no statues of critics,” he said. “”I think that the longevity of this band speaks for itself. The band’s in its 22nd year, and it’s not a fluke. It’s great songwriting. Dave’s an amazing leader. He’s an amazing person. I mean, his charity work alone, which is completely unsung – most people have no idea what he does behind the scenes – is worthy of him being a rock star, just by that itself.

“Everybody’s always pushing. Everybody’s always practicing and working on things and trying to get better. It’s a fantastic group of people to be around, and a fantastic group of musicians to play with.

“The crew has been there forever, also. When I joined, the guy that had been there the least amount of time in the audio department I think had been there for eight years. You don’t hear about that kind of longevity, unless it’s a very special group of people. And this is a very special group of people.”

We stream plenty of music from Coffin’s last two albums, “Into The Air” and “Live!” — “Tag,” “Backin’ Up,” “Loueke” and “Lucky 13.”

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We're not sure how they dance so sexy, but hey -- here's a Chippendale | Wikimedia Commons

You love those glistening pecs, and after the fake-arse Chippendales tried to sucker  Roanoke into coming to see their skanky junk at 202 Market, the real Chippendales swooped in, their heavily biceped arms holding tight to the integrity of 202, to give the ladies one sexy mess of prancing, dancing and whatnot.

The world-famous male exotic dance troupe will put on two shows on Dec. 12 — one at 7 p.m. and one at 10 p.m. Tickets are $45 each and can be purchased at the restaurant starting at 11:30 a.m. today. The restaurant is located at 202 Market Street SE. It’s cash only, so if you were thinking of waiting to bust out your Benjamins when a dude in leather chaps starts shaking his stuff in front of you, you’d best be sure you have a reserve.

VIP packages [snicker] are $150.  The package includes two tickets, guaranteed tabled seating towards the front, a meet and greet with the cast and their choice of a bottle of red or white wine or champagne. Sounds like an exciting package, eh ladies?

Sure, you think we’re all about the music here at cutnscratch. But we’re itching for those glistening Chippendales pecs, too. So here’s the latest on the beefcake brouhaha.

Tickets to the Chippendales performance at 202 Market in downtown Roanoke will go on sale at the end of this month.

The world-famous male exotic dance troupe will put on two shows on Dec. 12 — one at 7 p.m. and one at 10 p.m. Tickets are $45 each and can be purchased at the restaurant starting at 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 31. The restaurant is located at 202 Market Street SE.

202 Market spokesperson JoJo Soprano said VIP packages will also be available for purchase but the price for those packages has not been determined. The VIP package will include a table seating, a bottle of wine or champagne and a meet and greet/photo opportunity with the performers.

Anyone who is interested in a VIP package can email Soprano at jojo@202market.net.

202 Market first planned to host a Chippendales show in September, but before the show they learned they had inadvertently booked a fraudulent group. After cancelling the fake show and working with the authentic dance troupe, the Chippendales Las Vegas cast was booked for the December show.

– Lindsey Nair