list.in.to.chicago this week: 08.19.2002

Sorry to those of you who might have been depending on this for Monday night entertainment (yeah, right). The trip to Boston for the play-by-play gig wiped me out, but you'll be able to read more about that later this week in the soccer section of notabbott.com. Now, on with the shows!

pick of the week
Lots of good stuff going on here, including tonight's Double Door show, but the most intriguing to me is Victor Wooten, Friday night at Joe's. Not only is Wooten fantastic, but Speech from Arrested Development? That could be awfully cool.

recap
I'm going to try to say something about which, and how many, of these shows I actually caught. Outside of my own gigs (which went very well, thank you), I only got to Elbo Room on Thursday night. EXO were their normal badass selves, with a minor switch of backing vocals from keyboardist Jim DiNou to the new bass player, whose name I don't know. This allowed Jim to continue with his guitar player-envy, as he tried picking up and playing his synth like a six-string with mixed results, and quite possibly a hernia. 2 Ton Levy was, as the name would imply, heavy. Lots of Badmotorfinger-era Soundgarden, to my ears, which is a good thing.

8.19   monday
Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Assassins (Double Door)
I'm deferring to my friend Chris Chatman on the headliner here, as he picked these guys as one of his favorite records of last year. With his regular Friday night DJ stint at Cleo's, Chris hears more new music in a couple of weeks than most of us do in a year. I saw a couple songs from Assassins at Metro a few weeks ago, and was very impressed.

8.20   tuesday
Ours, Cameron McGill (Schuba's)
If I have my facts straight, and I really can't be bothered to check right now, Ours consists in part of the late Jeff Buckley's guitar tech, and from what I heard of them, across the office back when I had, you know, a job, the music is similarly hyper-melodic and emotionally powerful. All I know about McGill is that I sorta replaced him on a gig last year with my fledgling funk band, so he gets a sympathy vote.

Open Mike (Vaughan's)   SEE COZ SING!
Last week had a guy named Tony with a hysterically funny song about frat boys, so if he comes back, it'll be entirely worth it.

8.21   wednesday
Kurt Elling (Green Mill)
Along with Mill regular Patricia Barber, Elling has been one of the most successful jazz artists out of Chicago in some time. Pianist Lawrence Hobgood is among those backing the singer up on this date.

8.22   thursday
Cheap Trick (Skyline Stage)
The Rockford rockers just keep on going, and going, and going, but they may not keep this up forever. I definitely need to check them out while I still can, or I'll kick myself later.

8.23   friday
Victor Wooten (Joe's)
Longtime Flecktones bassist Wooten is billed here with a "brotherly band," and this is one very, VERY talented family. Speech, from Arrested Development, is also involved here, which could rein in the potential chops fest. Not that this is a bad thing in these capable hands, but it should add an interesting dimension, to be sure.

Buddy Guy, Nicholas Tremulis (Lincoln Park Zoo)
This is, duh, part of the "Jammin' at the Zoo" series. Sure, Buddy Guy will play the same show over and over a lot of the time, but first, he's the greatest blues guitarist alive, so he can get away with it, and second, he marked a bit of a change of direction with last year's Sweet Tea, so maybe he's incorporating more of that into his stock live show.

8.24   saturday
Coldplay (UIC Pavillion)
Somewhere between Oasis and Radiohead, these Brits have carved out an awfully nice piece of the sonic spectrum.

Air This Side Of Caution (Cubby Bear)
On the one hand, this local act has a very cohesive, melodic, emotionally powerful (ah, continuity!) sound. On the other hand, I want to steal their Jeff Buckley records so they have to branch out a bit. This is part of a mini-barrage of shows over the next week or so.

8.25   sunday
OK GO (Lakeview's Clark Street Fair)
A late afternoon set up by Wrigley for Chicago's newest major-label darlings. This may be easier to check out than their upcoming CD release party.

Eleventh Dream Day (Empty Bottle)
Then on to one of Chicago's first major-label darlings of the late 80s/early 90s, but that was only to everyone EXCEPT said major label.

Okay, maybe I'll try to say a little less about each of these next time. That's a lot to digest...