list.in.to.chicago this week: 09.08.2003

Have you ever gotten into a relationship where you just know it was a bad idea from the get-go, and that your heart would be broken, but you did it anyway?

Well, I do. I think I became a Cubs fan this week. This has little or nothing to do with local music, but I thought it was important to tell you.

Pick of the week
Okay, I'll wait until the next bit to tell you about the Lindsie gig on Friday. Um, oops. Anyway, the California Guitar Trio (Saturday, Schuba's) is probably unlike anything you've seen before, and good, too. Speaking of trios and Schuba's, there are three good singer/songwriters playing there on Tuesday in Gayle Ritt, Matt Hoffer and Jayh Johnson.

list.in.to.COZ
Okay, you know how I was complaining about how turnout at shows has been a bit lackluster lately? Friday is your chance to prove me wrong. Lindsie Reitz at Beat Kitchen, which is a darn good room for seeing bands, if I do say so myself. Yours truly on drums, in case I needed to remind you.

Recap
Vaughan's was a bit of an adventure last week, as Rocco from the Afrodisiacs was filling in on guitar. He learned the tunes, but we don't necessarily play the arrangements the same way they are on the record, so hilarity ensued. Then I was able to take the Fire pre-game gig on Saturday, and I have to say, I felt like an actual guitar player and singer instead of a drummer trying to fake it. I may just get the hang of this thing.

9.08   monday
Grazyna Auguscik Quintet (Green Mill)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
No, I don't know how to pronouce her name, but Friend of Coz Tom Hipskind is on drums, along with several other Chicago jazz badasses in the band.

9.09   tuesday
Open Mike (Vaughan's)   SEE COZ LIVE!
Ah, a bit of a dilemma and a test of faith for l.i.t.c. readers this week. I've got a soccer playoff game at 7:45. If we win, we play again at 9:45 and I won't make it out to the open jam this week. If we lose, then I've got enough time to clean up, grab my gear and regale the Vaughan's Tuesday night crowd with 80s tunes. Whether you expect me to show up depends largely on how good of a soccer player you think I am...

Gayle Ritt, Matt Hoffer, Jayh Johnson (Schuba's)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
A full slate of acoustic singer/songwriters, including former Lindsie bandmate Johnson doing his new thing and indefatigable optimist Ritt. Yes, this is the week I use big words. It's a newsletter AND a vocabulary builder!

Tom Tom Club with Spookie Daly Pride (Abbey Pub)
The Abbey is a pretty small place to see anyone who's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, even if this show isn't with the band that got them there. That band, of course, is Talking Heads, and Tom Tom Club is the longtime project of Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth from the seminal post-punk/new wave quartet.

9.10   wednesday
Cheap Trick with Cake, The Detroit Cobras and The Hackensack Boys (The Riviera)
Apparently, Rockford's finest have a new record out, and to be fair, they seem to be "back" in some sense. Whether the crowd will let them get past being a nostaglia act remains to be seen.

Dave Matthews Cover Band with Janah (House of Blues)
Least. Imagnitive. Band name. Ever.

9.11   thursday
Light FM with The Atari Star, Far Rad (Fireside Bowl)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
If I recall the conversation I had with LFM keyboardist (and one of a long line of former URT bassists) Chris Frantisak correctly, this is a fairly rare all-ages show for the band. I like to make sure I have a beer in hand at all times at these sorts of things, just to establish that I'm, you know, old. Like the graying hair doesn't do that on it's own. Get off my lawn, you damn kids!

9.12   friday
Lindsie Reitz with Breech, Sam Dole (Beat Kitchen)   SEE COZ LIVE!
While I have my issues with the lack of discounts for band members, the actual selection of food and drink at Beat Kitchen are, in fact, first rate. Which means that you can make a whole night of it. Have dinner early, rock out later to the dulcet tones of the Lindsie Reitz experience. No, I'm not going to explain to you what "dulcet" means. Look it up.

Michael Manring (Elbo Room, early show)
When a bass player (Manring) is accompanied by a Chapman Stick player (Greg Howard), you've got to figure there's going to be so much low end that if the Elbo Room's stage wasn't undergound already, it would be after this show.

9.13   saturday
Anne Harris with Nine Miles Band (Rhythm)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I've been meaning to check out this new-ish west side "drumming" club, and this is a good reason, especially since longtime Friend of Coz Scott Anderson is back in town and playing guitar with the band. At least I'm pretty sure he's back and playing with the band, but you know how I feel about fact-checking.

California Guitar Trio with Tom Griesgraber (Schuba's)
The CGT are perhaps the most high-profile graduates of King Crimson founder Robert Fripp's "Guitar Craft" courses, and hearing everything from classical pieces to spaghetti western soundtracks to "Bohemian Rhapsody" on three acoustic guitars is fun. Also, opening act Tom Griesgraber's name is very fun to say out loud. Try it. Griesgraber. Wasn't that fun?

Rooney, The Sounds, Palo Alto (Metro)
I'm trying to figure out why Rooney sounds familiar. I think it's because they toured with Weezer earlier in the year. I'll let you draw your own conclusions from that.

9.14   sunday
Tim Easton with The Dodge City Getouts (Gunther Murphy's)
Ever since a friend and l.i.t.c. subscriber mentioned alt-country singer/songwriter Easton to me, it seems he's in town at least twice a month. In keeping with this week's theme, that makes him omnipresent.