list.in.to.chicago this week: 11.29.2004

Welcome back! If you had half as much fun as I did this holiday weekend, well then you're really, really sad, because I didn't really do much of anything for four whole days. Much like the Bears' offense.

And my Thanksgiving looks suspiciously like this upcoming week in Chicago music. Not a whole lot going on this week -- usually you can count on places like Double Door having more than one show worth noting, for instance -- although there are some nuggets here and there. Which is why I do this, isn't it?

Pick of the week
The more I think about it, Clutch with Fu Manchu and High on Fire (Tuesday, Logan Square Auditorium) looks kinda intriguing. And Q101 seems to have struck an interesting tone with their three-night Twisted Christmas affair (Friday through Sunday, Aragon), although Friday's lineup looks a little dodgy by comparison.

On the jazz front, you've got the legendary Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette Trio on Friday at Symphony Center.

Bookending the week, you've got an actress singing (Minnie Driver at Double Door on Monday) and a singer who has been acting (Mos Def at House of Blues on Sunday) providing a bit of conceptual continuity. Maybe it's not such a dry spell, after all.

list.in.to.COZ
This Tuesday is Vaughan's 8th Anniversary, and there will be free food from 7-9 followed by your regularly scheduled Open Jam and your regularly scheduled $3 microbrews. If ever there was a time to come check out the Jam -- and no, I don't mean Paul Weller's old band, although we've been known to play some of his solo stuff -- this would be it.

Recap
Uh, it snowed a lot on Wednesday. Some people came to Fado anyway, including this ridiculously drunk guy when I stopped by in the afternoon for the Champions League match who ultimately got thrown out. I swear, he was going to propose to the bartender, and in my defense of taking advantage of someone that blotto, he might have gotten ornery (okay, ornerier, if I may totally make up a word) if one of us at the bar didn't take him up on his offer to pay for our drinks. And our food. What?

11.29   monday
Minnie Driver with Peter Himmelman (Double Door)
There's a pervasive story out there that actress Driver has always been a singer, so this isn't one of those "restless artist" sort of things. I say pervasive because I don't recall ever having read that particular story, yet the information seems lodged in my brain anyway. I dunno about this whole "actors singing" thing, though. Next thing you know, Kevin Spacey will be playing House of Blues or something ridiculous like that...

11.30   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
This Tuesday marks Vaughan's 8th anniversary, and to celebrate, they'll have FREE FOOD -- mostly appetizers, I've been told -- from 7 to 9, followed by the Open Jam at it's regularly scheduled time of 9:30, which occasionally means 10.

Fu Manchu with Clutch, High On Fire (Logan Square Auditorium)
Although Clutch is the nominal headliner, I don't know much about them. By the company they keep, I'm guessing stoner rock, but allmusic.com has them in more of a straight-up hard rock vein. By my reckoning, this makes for one of the bigger shows at the new Logan Square venue, in that I've actually heard of some of the bands.

12.01   wednesday
Tributosaurus (Martyr's)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Man, if Open Mike Mike dug the Smiths thing last month, he's going to go absolutely nuts at this month's treatment of Sir Paul McCartney.

Nicholas Payton Quintet (Jazz Showcase)
It's a good couple of weeks for young jazz trumpeters at the Showcase, with Roy Hargrove last week and New Orleans disciple Payton this week. Get Wallace Roney in next week, and we'll have the trifecta! Tuesday through Sunday, as per usual.

12.02   thursday
American Motherload with Jackyl, Aether (Joe's)
I'm not sure how opening up for a reunited hair metal band -- or, if allmusic.com is to be believed, heavy southern boogie rock band that was unfairly lumped in with hair metal -- from the 80s that wasn't even one of the good ones helps you in any way, shape or form, but I've been spectacularly unsuccessful as a member of original bands in my ten-plus years in Chicago, so maybe the Motherload boys know something I don't. Like good sentence structure, perhaps.

The Sidewinders with Dan Peters (Green Dolphin Street)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Jeez, one show under his own name with his wife at Wrightwood Tap, and suddenly he's got to be the star in the rockabilly outfit! I kid, of course.

12.03   friday
Edwin McCain Band with Graham Colton Band (House of Blues)
I hear this vague, low-level buzz about this guy, but I have no idea what he's about. I keep thinking he's Edgar Winter. And he seems to only tour at the various House of Blues venues (Houses of Blues?), which makes me suspicious. As if that weren't enough, both allmusic and Rhapsody draw comparisons to Hootie and the Blowfish, who were apparently somewhat responsible for McCain getting his record deal.

Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette (Symphony Center)
As far as jazz trios go, this has to be one of the most highly regarded in the business. At least on a national/global scale. I'd be surprised if the "jazz CDs everyone should own" display at the Jazz Record Mart on Wabash, which I highly recommend if you're looking to build out your jazz collection, doesn't include one of their efforts.

Deals Gone Bad with The Von Ehrics, Slick 57, Warsaw (The Note)
At this point, I think I know more people who used to be in this band -- mainstays on the local ska-punk scene -- than are actually in this band.

Rebels Without Applause with Divide By Zero, FW56, Rules Of Attraction (U.S. Beer Company)
Score one for clever band names. Seriously, sometimes that's all it takes to get included here.

12.04   saturday
Modest Mouse with Secret Machines, Califone (Aragon Ballroom)
I don't know if it's due to the strong niche appeal of some of the artists, or just that the bigger stadiums weren't available, despite the lack of pro hockey -- and, let's be honest, pro basketball -- at the United Center, but the annual Q101 Christmas bash is spread over a couple of nights at the Aragon this time around, with former indie darlings Modest Mouse headlining this, the second night.

12.05   sunday
Franz Ferdinand with Snow Patrol, The Hives (Aragon Ballroom)
Part 3 of the Q101 deal, and despite my contention that Franz Ferdinand just played the same song 12 times last time I saw them, I think I may be in attendance to hear it 12 more times. I'm hearing good things about Snow Patrol, and The Hives should be fun in a sorta bratty way much different from, say, Blink-182 brattiness, which can be amusing in it's own right under the right circumstances.

Mos Def (House of Blues)
Lots of positive ink being spilled over The New Danger, his new record, but it wasn't available on Rhapsody when said ink was spilling, so I haven't gotten around to checking it out yet. It's up there now, but I've already queued up about four different bands for this week's installment, so I'm not getting to it today, either.