list.in.to.chicago this week: 09.16.2002

The idea is to send this out Monday specifically because it gives me from Thursday on to actually figure out what I'm going to write. And yet, I find myself always scrambling to get this done on Monday afternoons. This time, though, I think I've got a good excuse. Check the latest entry on the main notabbott.com page for more on that.

Pick of the week
Gotta be The Bears with Adrian Belew at Martyr's, although OK Go runs a close second. Lots and lots of shows this week, particularly Thursday through Saturday, but I'll narrow it to mostly one a night for now.

Recap
Okay, so I didn't actually go see any of the shows I recommended, save the open mike, which I was part of anyway. I did go see Scott and Corey, but not on Monday, and I was very very close to seeing Spoon and John Vanderslice last night, which I meant to mention in last week's missive, but Saturday was a very long day and I need to learn about 30 songs for a gig tomorrow night, so that didn't happen. Sigh.

9.16   monday
John McLean Quintet (Green Mill)
McLean is one of the upper echelon of Chicago jazz guitarists, along with John Moulder and Fareed Haque, and this bill has him with a killer band consisting of Tom Hipskind on drums, Larry Kohut on bass, Jim Gailloreto on sax and Karl Montzka on organ. Should be burnin'.

9.17   tuesday
Open Mike (Vaughan's)   SEE COZ LIVE!
I have nothing witty to say about this, although both Tony and myself will be coming off of a four-hour electric set at Navy Pier, so we may be a bit slap-happy by the end of the night.

9.18   wednesday
The Creation (Beat Kitchen)
With a song prominently featured in the dark comedy Rushmore, these contemporaries of bands like the Kinks are back on the scene. I'm loathe to admit it, but Monica Kendrick gives a good preview in this week's Reader.

9.19   thursday
OK GO with Baldwin Brothers and Grand National (Metro)
This is the major-label CD release party for the local pop-rock quartet, and you would have had to try hard not to see some kind of press for the event. I've only really heard the single, which I like, but I've read a fair bit about these guys, and I like where they're coming from. If I were to venture a guess, I'd say they may have the best shot of the recent crop of Chicago bands trying to break nationally. Another band that's trying, Baldwin Brothers, add their Propellerhead-esque electronica to this bill.

9.20   friday
Your Little Ponies (Coyle's Tippling House)
The perennial favorites at the Vaughan's Open Mike take the stage here, although there's some question as to whether the horses are plural or not. It's going to be "Fried Fuckin' Chicken Tonight," so you don't want to miss it. Unless you're me and you have to play cover tunes out in the suburbs in order to, you know, eat. I'm not complaining, though. Really.

The Dave Matthews Cover Band (Joe's)
They really couldn't come up with some witty little song name or something for this one? Come on, guys.

9.21   saturday
The Bears featuring Adrian Belew (Martyr's)
I played a show years ago with the Psychodots, which is effectively the Bears without Belew, who has added his whacked-out guitar noises and killer pop chops to artists including David Bowie, Talking Heads, Nine Inch Nails and, most notably, King Crimson from 1981 on. Expect serious songcraft with impeccable musicianship, as well as many, many prog rock geeks in the audience, myself included.

9.22   sunday
Columbus Crew vs. Chicago Fire (Cardinal Stadium, Naperville)
Okay, getting away from the music for a moment, the Fire absolutley must win this match in order to make the post-season. A tie might do it, but only with some serious help from other teams. While the team might be too overrun with bad luck this season to make the playoffs, and early exit means no more radio play-by-play gigs for me, and that's not good.

Nicholas Barron and Galaxy 5 (Long Room)
Barron's other main gig, MVP, is on hiatus while drummer Steve Gillis is on tour with Filter, but the Sunday nights at Long Room continue with an all-star cast that includes Shawn Sommer on bass, among others whose last names I don't know well enough to tell you about.