list.in.to.chicago this week: 09.20.2004

Holy Technicolor, Batman! The Reader has undergone it's biggest overhaul since it bumped up to three sections. I remember when that happened.

I'm old.

Pick of the week
Tortoise right after work on Monday and free? Can't beat that with a stick. I'm intrigued by the Col. Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains show on Saturday at the Riv, although I can't go.

list.in.to.COZ
I can't go because I'm playing with Diver at Cullen's that same night. It's fun and we rock. Plus, you can park in the school lot up the street for a nominal fee! What could be better?!

Recap
For a band that hadn't rehearsed as a complete unit, I thought the Kelly Steward show on Wednesday went remarkably well. It was Drowning Wallace's first show ever after we got done, which was, well, it was sorta cute in a weird way. That's the only word I can come up with to describe it. They were being so nice to everybody, you could tell they hadn't done this before. Or maybe I'm just really jaded and cynical.

As for later in the week, I can tell you that song KC223-13 for Blue Frog's karaoke is actually Van Halen's "Running With The Devil" and not Emerson Lake and Palmer's "Karn Evil 9 First Impression Part Two," which is actually KC223-15. And I so wanted to sing ELP, dammit. Of course, Michael J's Karoke Cult is moving on after next week, so the numbers aren't going to mean much.

9.20   monday
Tortoise (Pritzker Pavillion, Millenium Park)
This show from Chicago's post-rock poster boys -- and no, I'm not going to stop calling them that -- is part of the World Music Festival that started over the weekend and continues all this week with a bunch of acts that the Reader does a much better job of describing than I could. It's also a good chance to check out the new digs at the new lakefront park after work.

Phantom Planet with Sahara Hotnights (Schuba's)   SOLD OUT!
I hope Jason Schwartzman didn't quit this gig for his quickly canceled Fox sitcom Cracking Up while the band went on to record the theme song for actual Fox hit The O.C. That would kinda suck.

9.21   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
I may try some Wilco for the first time this week, if I can ever figure out the little run of chords at the end of the chorus of "I'm a Wheel."

9.22   wednesday
Bobby Conn and Glass Gypsies with Call Me Lightning, Lying In States and Head of Femur (Bottom Lounge)
I like that this show is discounted to only $3 with a valid voter registration card. A friend of mine was lamenting the lack of political music lately, but so much of the interesting music anywhere exists in niches much smaller than the mainstream anyway, it's not surprising that some of the more outspoken efforts in today's political climate (Conn, Steve Earle, Trans Am) are maybe a bit harder to find.

9.23   thursday
Luis Ewerling and A Cor Du Brazil (Underground Wonder Bar)
Somehow it escaped my notice for a long time that this bar has music until about 4am every single night of the week. I've known people who have played there, including Ewerling, but never quite put two and two together.

Bartley Fritzche with The Last Seconds, Bret Vogel, Something Ordinary (Double Door)
This is a friend of a friend of a friend who was last seen doing some sort of battle of the bands of sorts at another club in Bucktown, which apparently went well enough to get him on a Thursday night bill at Double Door.

9.24   friday
Vertical Horizon with Stroke 9 (Durtie Nellie's, Palatine)
At some point, these guys sorta found power pop religion, and personally, I think they're better for it. Friends have indicated a preference for the earlier, strummy-acoustic-with-band sound, but it's a bit too noodly and homogenous for me.

Jonny Lang with (House of Blues)   SOLD OUT!
First of two sold-out shows, and on the one hand, I still don't get it. He's been selling records and touring since he was about 15 years old. I don't think he's ever actually had the blues. On the other hand, he has actually been doing this for a while now, so maybe his act has gotten a bit more seasoning, but I think maybe I'm confusing him with another young blues guitarist. Who was the guy who was on the second G3 tour after Eric Johnson bailed?

Devo (Riviera Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
Q. Are we not wondering if we can cash in on a reunion tour?
A. We are Devo!

9.25   saturday
Diver (Cullen's)   SEE COZ LIVE!
If I still have to tell you what the deal is with this band (mostly-Britpop cover band, natch), then I suspect you may typically bail out much earlier in the newsletter. Which means you've probably bailed out by now. Which means I'm talking to myself here.

Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains with Gabby La La (Riviera Theatre)
I was a big fan of Praxis, which was basically the same band with Bill Laswell on bass instead of the Primus frontman. Of course, those two bass players are like night and day, stylistically, so I'm curious to see if this sounds more like Praxis or Primus, since both Buckethead and Brain have played with the latter band as well.

Blackmore's Night (Congress Theater)
Yes, that's former Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, but if you're expecting 70s-era hard rock, I need to point out that the ad says explicitly that "attendees in renaissance/period costume get in first." Now I know that the type of guy who still listens to Deep Purple and Rainbow perhaps hasn't updated his wardrobe in a while, but probably not quite to that degree. Seriously, this has "Spinal Tap outtake" written all over it.

9.26   sunday
Nicholas Barron and Tongue In Groove (Long Room)
So the name of the band has changed again. Don't know if this means they do nothing but cover songs from the 1993 Joey Baron album of the same name. Probably not.