list.in.to.chicago this week: 08.04.2003

Not quite so many outdoor festivals, as far as I can tell, but still several big events this week that I'll just mention in the abstract. First, there's the National Poetry Slam, that appears to be going on at The Note and Subterranean during the week before the finals at Metro. Also, EstroJam, which, contrary to some reports, is not a new topical cream for treating symptoms of menopause.

Pick of the week
It's not often that a Monday show piques my interest, but the combination of Plura, Regal Standard (acoustic) and an hour's worth of free beer looks like a "can't miss" tonight at Elbo Room. The other two big, obvious killer shows are both on Sunday and both sold out -- A Perfect Circle at Metro and Tori Amos and Ben Folds at the Auditorium Theatre. Tributasaurus on Wednesday should also be a good time.

list.in.to.COZ
There's Vaughan's on Tuesday, as usual, and Nitrous Foxide playing an afternoon benefit show at Augie's on Saturday that involves roasting a pig and a dance contest. I'm going to resist telling you it's for a good COZ.

See what I did there? By saying I wasn't going to use the pun, I used the pun, but with plausible deniability! Yeah, I need a life.

Recap
I'm a little grumpy at the Beat Kitchen gig from last week. Musically, it was top-notch. Jayh and Tony were both great. We pretty much rocked. Kevin took of his shirt. What's not to like? On the down side, the sound guy seemed intent on blowing my head off during soundcheck with an absurdly loud drum monitor, and the club has what is probably the worst deal in the city for band discounts on food (none) and beverage ($1 Pabst). I'm not trying to sound like a diva here, although even suggesting it has probably created some unfortunate mental images, but it is what it is. Vaughan's on Tuesday was a good time.

8.04   monday
Plura, Regal Standard (Elbo Room)
This one is actually going to get my sorry ass out on a Monday, instead of just sacking out on the couch after telling you all to venture out of the house. Plura is the latest band from Newt Cole (Cassius Clay, Great Apes and, I think, Trailer Hitch), and Regal Standard will be acoustic. And, as if that weren't enough, free beer from 8 to 9.

8.05   tuesday
Open Mike (Vaughan's)   SEE COZ LIVE!
Okay, there's been overwhelming support (okay, one comment, but hey, I don't get lots of feedback) for adding a Pearl Jam song. Your next mission, should you choose to accept it, is to suggest one. "Suggesting" includes any and all of the following steps: song titles, MP3 files, chord changes, lyrics, continuing to bring co-workers to the gig, etc.

Peter Frampton with The Elms (Ravinia)
No word as to whether or not he ever recovered the flying pig he got from Pink Floyd's garage sale. And if I can make a third reference to that same Simpsons episode next week, you know I will.

8.06   wednesday
Tributasaurus, Motion to Fix (Martyr's)
This was a great idea even when I hadn't actually seen the band. Now I have, and I think it's even better, especially since it's helped motivate me to put together a new project that I hope to be telling you about soon. The way it works is that every month, they pay tribute to a new band. This time around, it's Led Zeppelin, which explains the long list of guest drummers.

Anna Fermin's Trigger Gospel with Lush Budgett (Schuba's)
Chalk this one up as another one of those bands where I've heard them once or twice, but can't seem to find the right time and place to really get out and see them. It could be that I feel like I'd stick out like a sore thumb in the alt-country scene, but I sorta stick out in the normal rock scene, so maybe not.

8.07   thursday
Belà Fleck and the Flecktones (Symphony Center)
Electric banjo jazz fusion with a drummer who claims to be from another planet. If the novelty doesn't get you, the consistently strong instrumental tunes and killer chops will.

The Zombies with Saint Chapelle (The Abbey)
According to Allmusic.com, "no mid-'60s rock group wrote melodies as gorgeous as those of the Zombies, aside from the Beatles and perhaps the Beach Boys." That's a pretty healthy endorsement, and the key band members are both on this U.S. tour. I guess it's the "time of the season" for a reunion. What is it with me and the puns this week?

8.08   friday
Vinx and his all-drum band (The District)
Some of you may vaguely remember Vinx as one of the first artists signed to Sting's Pangea label back in the late eighties/early nineties, which then led to an opening slot on Sting's Soul Cages tour. The former US track and field star is a great singer and one of the first guys I had seen outside of traditional African music to play a djembe. Plus, how could you not like an all-drum band. Or, rather, how could I not like an all-drum band?

Steely Dan (United Center)
The undisputed kings of slickly produced, heavily jazz-inflected, sophisticated pop are riding the crest of a recent Grammy win which many considered a "make-up call" for the band being ignored during their heyday. Of course, they never actually toured during their heyday, so it's a tradeoff.

Aimee Mann with Julian Coryell (Skyline Stage)
Not unlike the Dan, the former 'Til Tuesday frontwoman has made a name for herself as a very intelligent songwriter, with a healthy disdain for the unequivocal reliance on the artistic cliches and bad business practices that have shaped the "industry standard" of mainstream music. That kept her largely off people's radar until her soundtrack for Magnolia garnered considerable attention and praise a few years ago.

Whitesnake, Kip Winger, Warrant, Slaughter (Tweeter Center)
So it's Whitesnake with David Coverdale, but Kip Winger without Reb Beach and Rod Morgenstein? I mean, come ON! I've probably mentioned this to some of you, but I actually bought Winger's first CD, and have this vivid memory of staring at my stereo about 30 seconds into it in abject disbelief, realizing I had made a horrible, horrible mistake. And fifteen years later, Kip's still around. Go figure.

8.09   saturday
Nitrous Foxide (Augie's)
This is a benefit for Misericordia, an organization that provides support for the developmentally disabled. There will be music from Foxide, along with some solo acoustic numbers from yours truly, a pig roast, and a dance contest of some sort, but we haven't actually figured out how that last bit's going ot work. Augie's is at 1721 West Wrightwood, and it's an afternoon thing. That's the extent of the details that are available at this time.

Throwing Muses with Waxwings, Lab Partners (The Abbey)
I don't know if this is the full lineup with both Kristen Hersh and Tanya Donelly (who I insist on confusing with Juliana Hatfield), but it is the only show the band seems to have scheduled for the whole summer. Donelly added some vocals to the latest Muses record, and Hersh and Donelly are also coming off a couple of shows together in Vermont, so this looks like it could be a big-deal-one-off-reunion-kinda-thing. Look for aging indie-rockers to come out of the woodwork.

John Mayer, Counting Crows (Tweeter Center)
He gets knocked as "frat jazz" from some critics, but Mayer's songs are really, really good. And the kid has released ONE album and he's already headlining at the sheds. I'm typically not one to base credibility on popularity, but he's clearly doing something right.

8.10   sunday
A Perfect Circle with Pygmy Love Circus (Metro)   SOLD OUT!
If anyone here can get me tickets for this, I think I'll owe you my first-born. Rumor has it that former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha has joined the band, so now you've got the Pumpkins, Tool, Zwan, and the eight million bands drummer Josh Freese has played with represented in the lineup.

Tori Amos, Ben Folds (Auditorium Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
I just like that they're calling this the "Lottapianos" tour. So you've got Aimee Mann, Throwing Muses, Tori Amos and this EstroJam festival this weekend. And Whitesnake in the suburbs. One of these things is not like the others.

Great White (115 Bourbon Street, Merrionette Park)
I have a hunch there won't be any pyrotechnics.