list.in.to.chicago this week: 10.27.2003

I have to wonder this week if this city has taken Double Door's initial good idea for Halloween too far. If you haven't been paying attention, the Wicker Park club has been, for seven years now, having local bands come in "dressed up" like other, more famous bands. It's a good idea, and apparently a big event, although I have, for some reason, not made it out to one, or been asked to participate in one, up to this point.

Anyway, this year, there are at least two other clubs doing the exact same thing, along with a bonus Tributosaurus show that suddenly seems more derivative in context. At the same time, it provides a novel approach to the local scene, as you can pick between the bands being impersonated OR the bands doing the impersonating. So I'm sort of on the fence on this one.

Pick of the week
With all the rock band costuming going on this week, the holiday-related show that stands out the most this week is actually the Civic Orchestra of Chicago on Thursday at the Symphony Center, playing lots of spooky classical works.

list.in.to.COZ
Just Vaughan's this week, but go get a pencil and paper, would you? Okay, write this down. I'll be doing the solo acoustic cover tune thing NEXT SATURDAY, November 8th at Wild Goose, on the corner of Lincoln and Cullom. Once again, ME SINGING. All night. Lots of eighties tunes, and I swear, I'll try to learn some Warren Zevon. In retrospect, that might be scary enough for a Halloween show, but never you mind that. Just show up. Please?

Recap
I didn't actually see any shows last week, but I participated in a lot. Patrick Hasbrook's solo "debut" on Wednesday played sort of like a "Best of Vaughan's open mike" night, with a bunch of guests (myself included) ported over from Tuesdays, and fun time was had by all. I ranted about Thursday's show on the main site somewhere. It was fun, but trying at times. And Saturday's Foxide show was made all the more entertaining by (a) several rounds of shots and (b) a table of bar patrons I can only describe as "slightly more advanced than Neanderthals." Good times.

10.27   monday
KMFDM with Bile (House of Blues)
I know I mentioned this one last week for the Sunday show, but then it dawned on me that the band figures prominently in the latest web serial on the music business that may or may not have to do with the Spice Girls, and that is The Vicar Chronicles: The Mysterious Case of Billy's G String (if your e-mail client doesn't support HTML links, go to www.notabbott.com/litc for the proper destination).

10.28   tuesday
Open Mike (Vaughan's)   SEE COZ LIVE!
Now would be the time to make requests for the big show next Saturday, for those of you that haven't already made requests that I have or haven't learned yet. And no, I'm still not playing Skid Row. See Thursday's entry for that.

Travis with Rooney (Riviera Theatre)
Ah, nice, pleasant, inoffensive Britpop. And the ubiquitous opening act, who is doing quite nicely in the positive "guilt by association" department.

10.29   wednesday
Stuart Davis (Uncommon Ground)
Friends of mine have seen Davis dozens of times, but I've only been party to one show, which struck me as maybe a more wise-assed Michael Hedges. A bit more poingancy in some of the songwriting, though, which makes it an unfair comparison to Hedges' mostly instrumental catalog.

Slayer with Hatebreed, Arch Enemy and Sworn Enemy (Aragon Ballroom)
I heard Slayer's new record a few weeks ago, and wow, it's THICK. And the double-bass drumming is absolutely insane. If anyone goes to see Travis and Slayer back to back, I applaud your diverse musical tastes.

Lyle Lovett (Chicago Theatre)
Julia Roberts' most famous ex has just released his first CD of original music in something like seven years, and according to reviews, he's still as brilliant of a songwriting voice as ever.

Kick the Cat (Lyon's Den) FRIENDS OF COZ!
I'll be the first to admit that I'm sometimes embarrassed by my jazz-rock fuzoid tendencies, but every once in a while, you have to embrace your roots and listen to killer musicians playing lots and lots of notes in strange time signatures.

10.30   thursday
Civic Orchestra of Chicago (Symphony Center)
Appropriately hosted by WCIU's Svengoolie, the offerings for the evening are on the spookier side of the classical canon, including Grieg, Berlioz and yes, even Danny Elfman.

Twisted Sister with Sebastian Bach and the Bach Tight 5 (House of Blues)
So many jokes, so little time. Also, consider this a public service to the two Skid Row fans on this list, in an effort to make you stop asking for me to play Mr. Bach's material at open mikes and solo acoustic shows. Not that it's going to work.

Halloweener Spoof-Fest (Gunther Murphy's)
The West Lakeview pub beats Double Door to the punch by having their holiday show on Thursday. Performances include Quasar Wut-Wut as Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band, The Transition as Foreigner, Black Tiger as the Cars and Front of Truck as Front of Truck.

10.31   friday
The 7th Annual Halloween Bash (Double Door)
This year's installment features Giant Step, Local H, The Last Vegas, Blackbox, Figdish, Woolworthy and High Plains Drifter as The Scorpions, Eminem, David Bowie, Lynard Skynyrd, Bruce Springsteen, The Ramones and The Cure. Only not in that order, because I have to leave a little mystery, don't I?

Rusted Root, North Mississippi All-Stars, Grandaddy (Congress Theatre)
This is sort of a "watch Sound Opinions squirm" show. If you listen to the radio show (Tuesdays at 10pm on XRT) or now the TV show (Fridays on WTTW), you know that co-hosts Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis are big fans of the All-Stars and Grandaddy, but I'm pretty sure they both hate Rusted Root. Of course, it could then be the "watch Sound Opinions leave early" show, but the first one has a better ring to it.

Karl Denson's Tiny Universe (House of Blues)
If I mention Denson every time he comes through town, maybe I'll actually go to see him.

11.01   saturday
Busker Soundcheck with Bruce Lamont, The Decibators (Beat Kitchen)
Another Halloween show, with Busker and Bruce (from Yakuza) taking on Led Zeppelin, and the Decibators as Judas Priest.

Dread Zeppelin with El Guapo, Love on the Rocks (House of Blues)
Speaking of Led Zeppelin, and with all the bands pretending to be other bands, it's only fitting that the reggae band dressed up like Elvis and pretending to be Led Zep is in town.

The Black Keys with Bobby Bare, Jr., Three Shams (Abbey Pub)
With a similar, yet opposite name and nearly identical instrumentation, The Black Keys and The White Stripes often get lumped together. I leave it to you as to whether or not that's accurate, but what I've been noticing more and more is that The Abbey is picking up the slack for the kinds of bands that used to play Lounge Ax. Sure, the Empty Bottle was perhaps the first venue to start snagging those acts, but lately, it's all about Elston Avenue.

11.02   sunday
RZA with Das EFX, Northstar (House of Blues)
I keep getting former Wu-Tang Clanner RZA confused with Rahzel from the Roots, but RZA is the one who contributed the original music to Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill," which was a darned cool movie. And not just because of Uma Thurman in a yellow jumpsuit, although that certainly helped.