list.in.to.chicago this week: 01.06.2003

Happy New Year from l.i.t.c., and I hope you survived the last two weeks of live music without me. The logistics were just a bit too much to overcome with holiday travel and all. In surveying the Reader for the picks this week, I saw a quarter-page ad hyping a new 4-song EP from Journey. I'm not quite sure what to make of that.

Anyway, thanks for your support in 2002, and here's hoping 2003 will continue to be a good year for live music in Chicago, for both the performers and the fans and friends. To that end, list.in.to.chicago makes a great, albeit late, holiday gift as a forwarded e-mail to that special show-going someone. Happy Kwanzaa!

Pick of the week
The last Tortoise show I saw transcended minor personal space issues among the crowd for a fine, fine performance, and I'd expect this week's to be equally enthralling. And, of course, you can see me play with Lindsie Reitz at Double Door on Thursday for FREE with this ticket. Didn't you resolve to see more live music in 2003?

Recap
Well, perhaps a little about the shows I would have picked had I been active over the holidays? I'm sad I missed seeing Scotch Plains, NJ (my hometown) native Pat DiNizio while he was here, first in a solo engagement at Elbo Room on the 28th, then a New Year's Eve shindig at the Congress Theater with The Smithereens. Had I not beeing playing a party with Nitrous Foxide that night, the Congress is definitely where I would have been, with Missing Persons also on that bill. And Enuff Z'nuff, but I wouldn't call that much of an incentive. For me, anyway.

1.06   monday
Buddy Guy (Buddy Guy's Legends)
It's January, and that means it's time for Chicago's reigning king of the blues to start his annual monthlong residence at his south Loop nightclub. As usual, the Friday and Saturday dates are sold out, and the Mondays have the added bonus of being designated "smoke-free," for those of you who made that particular New Year's resolution.

Jeff Tweedy (Vic Theatre)
You're on nearly every rock critics top ten list for the year with your band, Wilco, so naturally, your first move of the new year is to eschew the band concept for a series of solo dates. What, does Sue Miller own the Vic now?

1.07   tuesday
Open Mike (Vaughan's)   SEE COZ LIVE!
I resolve to continue butchering, er, I mean, lovingly adapting for acoustic guitar and limited vocal range, 80s songs and more! Now you resolve to come watch! Please?

1.08   wednesday
Kurt Elling Quartet (Green Mill)
To be honest, I don't particularly care for Kurt Elling's brand of vocal jazz, but he is on the most prestigious jazz label in the world, so it's entirely possible I'm wrong. Besides, you resolved to go see more jazz in 2003. Well, you should have.

1.09   thursday
Lindsie Reitz with Rubies, Mighty Fine Machine and Electricon (Double Door)   SEE COZ LIVE!
As usual, this band knows how to pick killer lineups. You may recall Mighty Fine Machine as the band that disappeared from the Nevin's dance card in November. Also, you might remember Electricon from November's Scorpio Party. And if you don't remember by this point that I'm IN Lindsie's band, well I can't help you. Here's the ticket that gets you in FREE.

1.10   friday
EXO with Escape From Earth, Liftpoint and Simple Something (Metro; early show)
Sooner or later, I'm going to archive capsule descriptions of the bands I mention often in this space, so I don't have to come up with something new and insightful every time they play. The last EXO show I saw was really, really good, and Escape From Earth shared a bill with URT on this very stage in 2001. Liftpoint is also good, if somewhat unremarkable.

Baldwin Brothers (Metro; late show)
What I'm thinking is that you can get your 21 and over wristband for the EXO show, go downstairs to Smart Bar after that show, then go back up when Chicago's answer to the Propellerheads start. If the Metro folk frown on such behavior, I will disavow all knowledge of the plan, though.

1.11   saturday
Tortoise with Sparklehorse and The Seconds (Metro)
I'm not going to go so far to say you should hide out in the coat check overnight. However, this band is fantastic, with the added bonus of trying to keep track of who has played which instrument throughout the show. There's also a very film noir soundtrack aspect to their live offering, with video projection accompanying the often-hypnotizing grooves and development thereof.

1.12   sunday
Interpol with Calla and The Race (Metro)
Obviously, if the year ended on Sunday, I'd be very, very surprised. I think we all would be. But I'd also instantly nominate Metro for club of the year, as this is four picks in three nights on the first "real" weekend of the year (sorry, 1/4-5). Interpol showed up on more than a few year-end "Best of" lists, and is surprisingly (for an indie band) getting some airplay on the Zone, both of which would go a long way towards explaining why you actually can't go to this one, as it's sold out.

Larry Coryell (Jazz Showcase)
One of the bigger names in jazz guitar, flanked with a damn fine rhythm section consisting of bassist Larry Gray and drummer Paul Wertico, will make you forget all about waiting too long to pick up those Interpol tickets. Remember that resolution I told you about on Wednesday? Alrighty then.