list.in.to.chicago this week: 11.25.2002

Call it a turkey sandwich. Wednesday and Friday bookend the Thanksgiving holiday with a TON of good shows, so if you're staying in town, you have all kinds of options. Also, if you're enjoying this list every week, please feel free to forward it to friend and encourage them to sign up. My self-esteem could always use that kind of boost.

Pick of the week
There's really almost too much to choose from this week, which you can take as a glut of good shows, or an indication that nothing is really setting itself apart from the pack. Drive (Friday, Double Door), is rapidly becoming one of my favorite local rock bands, and on the national scale, there are lots of choices, including Tori Amos, Ben Folds, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and India.Arie. Of course, you can also get your Coz fix this Saturday night with Lindsie Reitz up in Evanston, with a lineup worthy of mention even if we weren't on the bill.

Recap
As I suspected, Niacin kicked some major butt on Monday, playing to a room consistent mostly of drummers, and one guy in the corner who seems really psyched to see Billy Sheehan. It's always good to get a strong dose of humility about your own playing. It's not even Dennis Chambers' ability to pull off the most wicked of fill-ins and drum licks, it's more the effortless authority with which he lays down a groove. Add in some interesting cover song choices from King Crimson, Weather Report, Jeff Beck, Van Halen (!) and The Supremes (!!), and you've got a great show.

The Scorpio Party went well for Nitrous Foxide, as far as I could tell, but I really couldn't hear much. The corollary of that was me beating the hell out of my drums to keep up. And it was a mixed week for open mikes, with some audio and equipment issues knocking me off balance on Tuesday, and a momentary insistence on playing the wrong chord the only drawback of the Goose Island debut.

11.25   monday
Long Count Quintet (Joy Blue)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
While I couldn't find a listing for this, I haven't seen a listing in previous weeks when I knew Steve and Co. were playing. So call first.

11.26   tuesday
Open Mike (Vaughan's)   SEE COZ LIVE!
See if they remember to set up the stage this week, or if we have to perform at ground level again. It's high drama!

Cafe Tacuba (House of Blues)
I keep hearing lots of good things about these guys as the standard-bearers of the Rock En Espanol set, but I haven't actually heard them yet. Their lack of a drummer is something I have to reconcile in my head before I lay down some dough to catch a show, but I'll have two chances, either tonight or Wednesday.

11.27   wednesday
Ben Folds and a Piano (Vic Theatre)
No lie, that's how the tour is being billed. Folds has a razor-sharp wit and quality songwriting chops to boot, although I still don't own his ode to lame modern rock bands, Rockin' the Suburbs.

Liquid Soul (Double Door)
Evil Beaver with Manhandlers, Peckernut (Empty Bottle)
Eleventh Dream Day with Boas, Angie Mead (The Abbey)
Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire with Steve and Liam from Frisbee (Schuba's)
Tributasaurus as The Police with The Pages (Nevin's Live)
Karl Montzka Organ Quintet (Green Mill)
See what I'm saying about this week? Empy Bottle scores major points for the bill they've put together, just from a punning perspective. And I'm curious about the whole "Tributasaurus" thing. I've seen the listing a bunch of times, but have yet to check it out.

11.28   thursday
Cadence with Peven Everett (Green Dolphin Street)
For the most part, Thanksgiving is a night off at most clubs. Jazz and blues seem to be the exception. Everett used to add trumpet and vocals in Swimmer, and that remains one of my favorite incarnations of that band under any of their various names. This is the first time I've seen his name explicitly attached to another project in years.

11.29   friday
Drive with Second Seed, American Motherload and Thundering (Double Door)
Again, I'm digging these guys a lot lately. They're up first, so get there early.

Grant Hart with Joe Sepi and Co. (Prodigal Son)
I'm assuming this is the same Grant Hart that was in Husker Du, which makes the choice of venue somewhat curious. Prodigal Son is small, new, and pretty underground, so it either doesn't make sense at all or makes perfect sense. Defintely one of those.

Mighty Mighty Bosstones (Vic Theatre)
Korn (Aragon Ballroom)
India.Arie (Auditorium Theatre)
Larry McCray (Buddy Guy's Legends)
Tori Amos (Chicago Theatre)
Again, many many choices here. According to the Chicago Tribune (sorry, I'm not going to acknowledge their relentless branding efforts of their online properties; it's still the Tribune), the second Amos show isn't sold out. India.Arie has gotten a ton of good press, and Korn is one of the few rap-rock/nu-metal bands that I not only can tolerate, but actually kind of like.

11.30   saturday
Lindsie Reitz with Mighty Fine Machine, Pinch and Regal Standard (Nevin's Live)   SEE COZ LIVE!
Rather than hit you over the head with hype and propaganda, I'm just going to give you directions to this particular club, since you may not be as familiar with the streets of Evanston. Address is 1450 Sherman Avenue. If you're driving, I'd take Lake Shore Drive north until it ends, and go straight on Hollywood until you reach Clark Street. Turn right on Clark, which turns into Chicago Avenue in Evanston, and take that to Lake Street. Sherman is actually west on Lake by about a block or two, as far as I can tell, but Lake may be one-way east, so you may have to circle around if you're going to look for rock star parking. If you're taking the El, it's the Red Line to Howard, then the Purple to Dempster. Sherman is barely half a block east of the train station, and Lake about two blocks north. If you have any questions, e-mail me.

12.01   sunday
Sneaker Pimps (Double Door)
This band is my best example of why Chicago rock radio sucks. Back in the earlier days of Q101, this band could get airplay with an electronic-flavored, female-fronted, lighter sound. Nowadays, it seems like Gwen Stefani is the only woman allowed on either that station or The Zone, and WXRT tends toward the classic rock/jam band/blues rock mold for it to fit there, either. When The Zone makes a big deal about music that doesn't get heard on Q101 or The Mix, they'd be much more credible if it was something like this rather than another remix of Linkin Park.

Dio with King's X and Hammerfall (House of Blues)
Heh heh. Just reading this, you sneered a bit and made the devil's horns with your fingers, didn't you?