list.in.to.chicago this week: 05.19.2003

Greetings and salutations from l.i.t.c. central. Among other things this week, I wonder if the Foo Fighters and Beck shows aren't selling well, as the Zone just had another "Foo Fighters Weekend," and there was a quarter-page ad extolling the new Beck CD in this week's reader.

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Pick of the week
Lot's of good stuff this week. Kimotion (Tuesday at Martyr's) will be great, but if you're not into the more technical displays of musical virtuosity, you might not dig it. Then Schuba's rules the roost heading into the weekend, with Ivory Wire, EXO and Regal Standard in three different shows over two nights.

list.in.to.COZ
Just Vaughan's this week, but there were a couple of songs I "debuted" on Friday, so those may creep their way in.

Recap
Considering how many shows I wanted to see last week, boy did I suck. Watched the Nets on Monday instead of going to Empty Bottle, then Tuesday's Tomahawk show sorta snuck up on me, so I ended up missing that, too. I decided that Chris Whitley would have broken the cash budget for the week, and I was too lazy to put the ticket on my credit card beforehand. Damn this lack of income. Then I tried to catch some of Soulfix's set on Saturday, which I think I forgot to mention in last week's newsletter, but was so exhausted from the big solo gig Friday that I lasted two and a half songs.

Speaking of Friday, and Soulfix, I'll let esteemed bassman Mike Mitchel have the floor. "Coz so loved 80s music, that his acoustic strings did resonate with light, and his words were heard by all at Goldie's who revered them, setting them on high, praising the 80s above all other decades. And lo, Mitch came upon the place at the 11th hour, bearing witness to the spectacle, and declared that it was good."

So, yeah, it went well, and there will be more such gigs in the future, perhaps with more eloquent prose from Mike, as long as he's still taking his allergy medicine.

5.19   monday
Long Count Quartet (Joy Blue)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Monday night jazz in a nice, comfy little room just north of Wrigley. As of press time, drummer Steve Gillis wasn't sure if he'd be anchoring the group tonight, but they're still worth hearing.

5.20   tuesday
Open Mike (Vaughan's)   SEE COZ LIVE!
See if I become jaded by my headlining gig last week. If you missed said big show last week, well this will help tide you over until the next one.

Kimotion (Martyr's)
Composer Kimo Williams calls this a "symphonic big band," but that doesn't necessarily cover the breadth of the ensemble. I've heard them called a cross between Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa, and while the compositions may carry a bit of the more indulgent elements of jazz fusion, they're executed brilliantly by a band that features quite a few of the younger standouts in Chicago jazz, including guitarist Chris Siebold and keyboardist Ben Lewis.

5.21   wednesday
The E-Mics with Thing 3 (Lyon's Den)
I still haven't seen these guys since they changed the lineup to include the aforementioned Siebold on guitar and Jo Ann Daugherty on keys. I really need to fix that.

Trapt with Seether, Smile Empty Soul (House of Blues)
This is one of those ultra-forgettable modern rock lineups. I have an inbred suspicion of bands that deliberately misspell their names, and while you can maybe give Seether a pass on sounding so much like Nirvana by virtue of their being from South African, and as such, responsible for being that country's version of everything rather than original in the U.S. market, they really, really sound derivative. Congratulations if you were able to follow that run-on sentence to it's completion.

5.22   thursday
Ivory Wire with Box-o-Car, Carbon Four (Schuba's)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
With Schuba's being a relatively small stage, the added bonus to this show is seeing if hyperkinetic guitarist Rob Byrne actually does bounce off the walls.

5.23   friday
Lyla Stone with Pinch, The Dopes, Stroller (Elbo Room)
It's a CD release party for Kevin Holland's favorite local band, and I know how much he loves seeing his name in here, so there you go.

EXO, Julie Korman (Schuba's)
This is a very rare acoustic performance from EXO, so it should be pretty interesting, given the huge drive and dynamic shifts of the full, plugged-in band. This is the early show, which brings us to...

Regal Standard with Phil Rockrohr and the Lifters, Monkey Paw (Schuba's)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Rockrohr is the headliner here, but Larry and Regal Standard are worth it on their own. From what I know of Monkey Paw, this looks like a fairly schizophrenic bill.

5.24   saturday
Vortis with Dead Electric, Super 8 Cum Shot (Nevin's Live)
If you've ever read reviews from Jim DeRogatis of the Sun-Times and thought "what does this guy know about music," well, here's your chance to find out, as DeRo is the drummer for this old-school political punk band. The group's defiant attitude can be a bit hard to take seriously, which may or may not be the point, but they're entertaining nonetheless.

Chicago Afro-Beat Project (Martyr's)
I know absolutly nothing about this, but it just sounds cool.

5.25   sunday
Foo Fighters with Chevelle, The Jealous Sound (UIC Pavillion)
It could be the holiday weekend, it could be the Pavillion not being a "regular" venue, but I get the feeling that tickets aren't moving for this, although the recent addition of Chevelle to the bill might give it a boost.

Poison with Vince Neil, Skid Row (Tweeter Center)
The mind boggles. I'd be amazed, and awfully scared if they do more than a couple thousand tickets for this show.

The Legendary Shack Shakers with Bobby Bare Jr. and Band, Flesh Vehicle (Abbey Pub)
A friend of mine caught these guys at South By Southwest this spring, and says they're awfully entertaining, to the point where the bands playing after them at the Bloodshot Records BBQ in Austin were upset that the bar had been raised for a typically laid-back afternoon hang.

Local H with The Wrens, Sullen (Double Door)
A lot of people in and around Chicago love Local H, who will be celebrating a CD release with this show. Personally, I don't get it, but along with bands that spell their names wrong, I have problems with bands that don't have bass players.