list.in.to.chicago this week: 08.09.2004

In what may be a sign that I'm not going to see enough shows right now, a friend of mine told me he was going to "that Linkin Park/Korn thing," and I thought it was some street festival. In Lincoln Park. With corn.

Pick of the week
There is, quite literally, too much to choose from this week. The Cure's Curiosa Festival on Thursday (Tweeter Center) looks really good, as does the Q101 Block Party on Saturday (New City YMCA). Assassins (Metro) or Frisbie (Abbey) looking solid on Friday night.

list.in.to.COZ
So this week you have the choice between a band I'm playing with (Diver at Cullen's) and a band I'm nominally in but won't be performing with (Nitrous Foxide at Joe's) on Saturday night. Decisions, decisions...

Recap
Other that Vaughan's, I mostly took a break this week. I sorta needed a break, although I promise to make it up this week.

8.09   monday
Mutual Admiration Society (Metro)
This is a "supergroup" of sorts headed up by Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket, although upon further investigation, it looks like Phillips along with most of a band called Nickel Creek. Former Elvis Costello drummer Pete Thomas and Led Zeppelin legend John Paul Jones fill out the bill.

8.10   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
I hesitate to make this promise, in case I can't deliver, but I might spring some brand new tunes this week. Not "new tunes" in that they're originals hot off the presses or anything. Just covers I haven't ever played before, but still...

Ivory Wire (Navy Pier Beer Garden)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
The boys in the Wire (not to be confused with Wire) hit the Navy Pier stage at 8pm, hopefully the weather will cooperate. As an added bonus, come see the grumpiest sound man in Chicago! I kid, of course. Mr. Dan Lavorini does great work, and mixes three bands a day seven days a week when this stage is going, so he gets a bit dry sometimes.

8.11   wednesday
San Jose Earthquakes vs. Chicago Fire (Soldier Field)
The Fire host their first regular-season Wednesday night clash against the former Clash and Landon Donovan. Think positive thoughts, and maybe we'll break out of this funk.

Blazin' Saddles (Cubby Bear)
I'm still amused by the notion of a redneck treatment of everything from "AC/DC to Buffett to Snoop Dogg." Cover bands with a schtick seem to go down easier than ones without. For me, anyway.

8.12   thursday
The Cure with Interpol, The Rapture, Mogwai (Tweeter Center)
This one almost makes me want to break my as-long-as-I've-been-in-Chicago embargo on the Tinley Park shed. Not only are the mope-rock vets packing the main stage with good bands as part of their Curiosa Festival, but the second stage also features Muse and Auf der Maur.

Tony Piscotti with Pillface Jones, Goldman (Martyr's)   FRIEND OF COZ!
I caught up with Piscotti's CD release party a while back, and it was quality stuff. On the one hand, I think Martyr's is actually smaller than the loft apartment where that party was held, but this time there's an actual stage and a P.A. system.

Hanson with Ingram Hill, Michael Tolcher (House of Blues)   SOLD OUT!
Jim DeRogatis had a remarkably earnest interview with Hanson last week in the Sun-Times, which I thought was awfully interesting.

Blank Theory with Liftpoint, Chronic Future, Big Big Shoulders, Dropping Daylight (Metro)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Okay, they might not be my friends anymore after I mention these musical brothers after the musical brothers in Hanson, but come on, I couldn't resist.

Fishbone with Punsapaya, Small Change (Subterranean)
Wow. Fishbone in the intimate confines of Subterranean. What's left of Fishbone, anyway. Unless things have changed again, I think the last remaining original members are bassist Jon Norwood Fisher and singer Angelo Moore. And maybe one other guy, but when "Fish" (drummer Philip Fisher) bolts from Fishbone, you have to think the band's on the way down.

8.13   friday
Assassins with Webb Brothers, Cisco Pike, Air This Side of Caution, Ness, Criteria (Metro)
For a band as hot as Assassins, this is only the second or third time I've seen them playing Metro. They can pack Schuba's with no problem, so it'll be interesting to see how they do in the much more spacious Wrigleyville club.

Frisbie with The New Constitution, The Bon Mots (The Abbey)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
What I love about these guys is that I already know Steve and Liam, and then they go out and add Gerald Dowd and Eric Sittner, making this band possibly the highest "Friends of Coz" per capita group in Chicago.

8.14   saturday
Diver (Cullen's)   SEE COZ LIVE!
Come for the tunes, stay for the drunks burning cigarettes into people's shoulders!

Nitrous Foxide with The Paramours, Mother Was Right (Joe's)   SEE COZ DARIO LIVE!
It's the "Divas of Chicago Rock" at Joe's, with a battle of the bands of sorts between three female-fronted cover bands. Sadly, the Diver gig came up first, so I'll leave this one in the capable hands of Mr. Civinelli as the Foxes do battle with Friends of Coz, the Paramours.

Modest Mouse with Death Cab For Cutie, The Walkmen (New City YMCA)
This is day 2 of the Q101 Block Party, although it seems a bit indie for the station, whose dubious claim to fame is to play the same five or six major-label modern rock tracks a gajillion times a day once that lame-ass Howard Stern wannabe gets done in the morning. Heck of a bill, though.

Retro on Roscoe festival (Roscoe and Damen)
Lots of good stuff in the Saturday installment, including Liquid Soul, Legendary Shack Shakers, Waco Brothers and Jennifer Peterson, which almost makes up for the usual festival suspects peppering the rest of the bill.

8.15   sunday
Heart with Ann McCure (House of Blues)   SOLD OUT!
Ooooh, barracuda!