list.in.to.chicago this week: 02.03.2003

Two things of random interest in my weekly scouring of various music listings. First off, Joe's Bar decided it was necessary to further specify that the Dave Matthews Cover Band, who performed there last Thursday, are, in fact, "A Tribute to The Dave Matthews Band." What I really, really want to know is how many confused calls they got before they felt they had to offer that description, and whether those callers have been summarily shot.

The other curiousity is that Metromix has only one "rock/pop" listing for tonight. One. That's it. The Empty Bottle apparently has a Monday night monopoly in the rock and/or pop genres this week. Who knew?

If you have half as much fun reading this as I did writing it, then I had twice as much fun as you. And you should forward it to your friends.

Pick of the week
If I had to pick just one show, I'd say YesMen at Martyr's on Friday, just so I don't have to pick between two quality shows on the same night. If I had to pick two quality shows on the same night, I'd say Lindsie Reitz with Two Ton Levy and Larry Schroeder at Elbo Room and Audium Trio at Bottom Lounge on Wednesday. They're not that far apart, so don't look at me like that.

Recap
Well, my educated guess about Garaj Mahal was entirely wishful thinking. If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, then it's a jam band. There's something just kind of, I don't know, mushy about that particular style of drumming. All rounded corners and no edges. Everyone in the band could play, but they weren't saying much. Except when bassist Kai Eckhart took to the mike between songs and said that everyone was there to "raise their consciousness." I should have run away right then.

I didn't run, and I actually went back to the Abbey Pub the next night for Impossible Recording Machine. They were good, sort of in a Bill Laswell-on-steroids kind of way. I might have liked to hear another melodic voice, maybe soprano sax, in the mix. Also on that bill was Bicycle Tricycle, who are poised for great things if that 80s revival ever hits full swing.

"That's all well and good," you're probably asking, "but how did those open mikes go?" Well, Thursday at Goose Island was an adventure, due to my apparent inability to hold on to things like my keys and my cell phone, and I'm lucky to still have my car at this point.

On with the shows!

2.03   monday
Long Count Quartet (Joy Blue)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I am in no way trying to build positive karma to cover for the fact that I might not be able to make it to see Steve's new band on Wednesday. You should see these guys anyway. The karma's just an added bonus.

2.04   tuesday
Open Mike (Vaughan's)   SEE COZ LIVE!
Joey from Your Little Pony followed up his bluesy reading of Dr. Seuss with a similar approach to "Puff the Magic Dragon." And I played eighties tunes and prog rock, duh.

2.05   wednesday
Lindsie Reitz with Two Ton Levy and Larry Schroeder (Elbo Room)   SEE COZ LIVE!
This largely unplugged show is free if you managed to hold on to your Avalon VIP card from, as the kids like to say, "back in the day." Except that if they're kids, they weren't old enough to brave the steep stairs of the Avalon back then, so what the heck do they know? Anyway, it's "Acoustic Wednesday," but the lineup is electric! Ouch, that was too over-the-top, wasn't it? Come out anyway. You don't have anything important to do Thursday morning.

Audium Trio (Bottom Lounge)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I'm going to try to skip out of the Elbo Room show early enough to catch the debut of this new group, which consists of Steve Gillis on drums, Eric Sittner on bass, and Wes Cichosz on sax and guitar. When he told me about it, Steve had no idea just what they'd be doing, but with this particular group of people, it doesn't really matter, does it? By virtue of the "and guest DJs" tag in the Bottom Lounge ad, it will probably veer towards acid jazz and/or electronica, at least as a starting point.

2.06   thursday
Ike Reilly with Psychobilly Cadillac and The Pages (Schuba's)
Reilly was hyped as the next big thing, and Chicago's answer to Beck, or something like that, a while ago, and was subsequently signed to Universal Records. He released his major-label debut in 2001, and nothing seems to have been heard from him since. This makes the fact that his Schuba's appearance is part of The Onion's "Justify Your Existence" series a bit more amusing. Or ironic, but I've been gun shy about using that word post-Alanis.

Indigo Girls with Neko Case (Chicago Theatre)
I'd actually be more interested to see Case than the tried-and-true dueling acoustics of the Indigo Girls, mostly because of perhaps one too many people covering "Galileo" in my presence over the last year or so.

2.07   friday
YesMen with Cedarcase (Martyr's)
I saw these guys totally by chance a few months ago, and they were hilarious. Anyone who can make me notice lyrics has to be doing something right, but they apparently stopped short of being memorable. Cut me some slack, it was a long time ago! On another note, both of these band names look like they came out of the dot-com school of spaces and capitalization, don't they?

David Gray (UIC Pavillion)
A lot of people dig this guy. I haven't really heard much.

Luna with Slumber Party (Abbey Pub)
And a lot of people dig Luna as well, but usually not the same ones that like David Gray. I don't actually know that for a fact, but there was a certain narrative rhythm to that particular one-two punch, so deal with it.

2.08   saturday
Giant Step with 12 Rods and Phistine Verona (Double Door)
One of the guys in Giant Step gave me the hard sell at The Abbey Pub on Saturday night for this, the band's CD release party, so I thought I'd pass it along. 12 Rods supposedly has a heck of a drummer, too.

KPOWW with The Clap, Pilot Scott Tracy and The Royal We (Abbey Pub)
All I know about this is that KPOWW stands for "Kalamazoo Precinct of Women Wrestlers." And that's enough for me.

2.09   sunday
Gold So Red with Idle Hours (Lyon's Den)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
If, for some odd reason, you miss the fact that I don't use my green drums for live shows anymore, Gold So Red drummer Tom Parks has almost the exact same kit.

El Salvador Dalai Llamas (Pontiac Cafe)
I get the feeling these guys watched that short-lived game show "Smush" a bit too much.