list.in.to.chicago this week: 09.06.2004

Bob Mehr has some fascinating scoops in this week's Meter column about new music spaces coming to town soon. With the Fireside Bowl mostly done and some nasty rumors floating about Double Door, this could go a long way to shore up a local music scene that seems to be losing it's footprint. Very few -- if any -- rock clubs seem to have opened since we've lost Avalon, Thurston's, Lincoln Tap Room, Lyon's Den and, of course, Lounge Ax.

Pick of the week
After reading the critic's choice featurette on Trevor Dunn's Trio Convulsant, the double bill with The Melvins on Thursday at Double Door sounds pretty intriguing. The Changes' star continues to rise with a weekend Metro show on Friday as well, and if the weather cooperates, the Cake show on Saturday at the New City YMCA should be a good time.

list.in.to.COZ
It's the middle of a sort of mini-run at Elbo Room with Marigold Engine on Friday. We'll see if Will the soundguy is thoroughly confused when he sees me again next week with Kelly. And while you technically have two chances to see Diver this week (Friday at Blue Bayou and Sunday at Cullen's), I'll only be there for Sunday's gig.

Recap
As I was sitting toward the back of Martyr's watching Liquid Soul last night, I was thinking of how I was going to lament how much has changed in the five years since a Sunday night before a holiday with the acid jazz heavyweights would be a sweaty throng of dancing bodies packed wall to wall. Then former Bull and current Bulls broadcaster Norm Van Lier got up on stage and coaxed the band through a rollicking version of their Dizzy Gillespie variation, "Salt Peanuthead." That totally made the night.

Also got a report from l.i.t.c. operatives of good things from a band called Kong Fuzi from Saturday night at The Note with the Chicago Afrobeat Project.

9.06   monday
New Release Ping Pong Party (Schuba's)
So The Onion and Reckless Records are sponsoring this deal where, as far as I can tell, you listen to new music. And play ping pong. I don't know if prizes are awarded for table tennis acumen, but I would think something like that might be in the cards. Or the paddles.

9.07   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
I'm messing around with playing one of my favorite songs ever. We'll see if I can pull that one off this week or not.

Jayh Johnson (Neybour's)   FRIEND OF COZ
Since the demise of the Soundgarden-inflected Two Ton Levy, former Cassius Clay frontman Johnson has maintained a relatively low profile. While that may change with at least one big project in the pipeline, here he bridges the gap with two solo acoustic sets of new and old material.

9.08   wednesday
Phil Collins (United Center)
It's his final tour, and tickets are still available? I can't believe it! Okay, I can believe it, Phil sorta jumped the shark with the theme from Against All Odds, and it's all been downhill since then. In a perfect world, this would be the Seriously, I Must Be Going tour, and jackets would not be required. I don't know the named of any other Phil Collins albums, or I'd keep going...

9.09   thursday
The Melvins with Trevor Dunn's Trio Convulsant (Double Door)
I used to get calls from this radio research company years ago, and one of the questions they'd ask was if I could describe what kind of music I liked on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 was "slow and soft" and 10 was "fast and loud." I would respond by asking what answer I should give if I liked slow and loud music, like The Melvins. They eventually stopped calling me.

9.10   friday
Marigold Engine with Sunday Morning Chameleon, Sons of the Stage, Lynn Thompson (Elbo Room)   SEE COZ LIVE!
The Wilmette gig was more of the sprawling good time variety. Elbo Room should be a tightly focused set of the rock and the roll, a different kind of good time, but a good time nonetheless. At my home away from home to boot. So come on out if you like the rock and the roll. Especially the roll.

Diver (Blue Bayou)   SEE COZ CHRIS PETERSON LIVE!
Okay, I double-booked again, so Ripleys drummer Chris Peterson is doing the honors this time around. Somebody go check 'em out and see how they sound without me...

The Changes with Limbeck, Satellite 66, Denver Harbor, Halifax (Metro)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Comparisons that have recently been bandied about by some of my friends when they've heard this band have included XTC and Interpol. During a brief appearance on Q101 Friday afternoon, I heard the song that likely inspired the latter comment. So I may have to modify my Strokes-meets-Police reflex in describing them soon.

Tackhead with Adrian Sherwood's On-U Soundsystem, The Eternals (Abbey Pub)
I heard a lot of good things about this band shortly after their bassist, Doug Wimbish, joined Living Colour back in the early nineties. Wimbish is now pulling double duty with reformed versions of the two bands, and Tackhead is boasting it's original lineup for this tour.

9.11   saturday
Cake with Powder, Mike and Joe, 5th of Paradise (New City YMCA)
The quirky pop alternative band headlines the second night of the annual Guinness Oyster Festival. I swear, they should just put a permanent stage in this space, with the sheer number of large festivals they do here every summer now. I've played on one of the soccer fields there, and it wouldn't be a great loss if it wasn't usable.

Patricia Barber (Park West)
Sorta surprised to see Barber at anywhere other than the Green Mill, but if she can pull off a show in the exponentially larger Lincoln Park venue, more power to her.

Sancocho with Rebecca F, Legendary Slacks, Michael Blumberg (Elbo Room)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
We're trying to convince Marigold Engine bassist Brian Garibaldi to just bring a sleeping bag or something and stay the night at Elbo Room. At the very least, he probably doesn't need to lug his amp up and down the stairs twice.

Give Paul The Finger (Martyr's)
This is a benefit for Busker Soundcheck guitarist Paul Kamp's reconstructive surgery on his finger, which is the extent of the detail I know about the injury. Kamp has always been a fantastic guitarist, so I hope all goes well. The lineup has a lot of the usual Busker-related suspects, including a set from Dyslexic Apaches, who I don't think I've seen since about 1994.

9.12   sunday
Diver (Cullen's)   SEE COZ LIVE!
Another crazy Sunday night at the Irish hotspot on Southport. We may hold some kind of pool for how long it takes for somebody to trip on or near the stage, 'cause it almost always happens. Last time out, this one woman sorta face-planted right into Avi's bass. It was funny, at least for everyone but Avi.

Trainwreck (Martyr's)
This band has typically touted it's relationship to Tenacious D via mutual member Kyle Gass, but with that tag absent this time around, they're either trying to stand on their own, or maybe last week, Kyle quit the band. If you don't get the reference, go buy the Tenacious D record right now.

Norah Jones with Amos Lee (Chicago Theater)
While I'm not surprised that tickets are still available for Phil Collins, I am a little surprised that everyone's favorite inoffensive chanteuse hasn't sold out this show.