list.in.to.chicago this week: 02.07.2005

I'm not saying it's a slow week, but Metro has one show. All week. House of Blues has three, four if you count the Congress Theatre gig.

On the other hand, it's been a hectic week or two as far as tickets going on sale for future shows. U2 last week, obviously, along with Queens of the Stone Age and Maroon 5, and Oasis (with Jet) coming up next week. March and April should be rocking. A lot.

Pick of the week
The no-brainer show is unfortunately sold out, and that's Chevelle and Helmet, among others, at the Congress on Saturday. It might be worth looking for scalpers or a friend of a friend of one of the bands, seeing as how Chevelle is local.

Failing that, Jeff Parker (Wednesday, Empty Bottle) looks intriguing if you're down with the electric jazz.

list.in.to.COZ
Just Vaughan's this Tuesday, but it should be pretty packed and festive. Maybe I should sing everything with a bad Cajun accent. Or not.

Recap
I don't think this is a first, but it's close -- l.i.t.c. operatives, reporting back on Wednesday's Tributosaurus show! "It was a sweet sweet show. Good God, ya'll. This band can do no wrong. 11 piece horn section, like 7 vocalists, two keyboards, several percussionists, includng the dude from CSO - it was every sound guy's nightmare, and every fan's dream."

I tried to go see one of two shows on Friday, but they were both sold out, and I didn't get hold of a second operative who went to Secret Machines at Metro.

Consider that an invitation in the event that you go see a show and would like to chime in. If I ever get l.i.t.c. t-shirts made up, you will not be forgotten, but that's a rather large "if."

2.07   monday
Grinder (Joe's)
Apparently, this band features Darren McCarty of the Detroit Red Wings. Based on what little I'm hearing about the NHL labor negotiations, let's hope Darren booked a nice, long tour, 'cause I don't think he'll be back on the ice anytime soon.

2.08   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
We've been hacking our way through some new tunes in the opening and closing sets, although I haven't gotten a chance to learn any of the half-dozen or so new tunes I want to do on my own. I suspect that this week will be packed, on account of being Fat Tuesday and all. A Tuesday, named after my current physique! Cool.

Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band (Rosa's)
It's nearly a crime against humanity that I haven't seen Taylor since he graced the University of Chicago back in 1988 or so. At the time, I sorta pegged him as "Allan Holdworth playing the blues," and swore I'd see him as often as possible. After many years without a car where getting to Rosa's was too difficult, he fell off my radar. Now, I've got no excuse, other than being on Open Jam night this week, anyway.

2.09   wednesday
Jeff Parker (Empty Bottle)
Margasak calls Parker's quartet more of a rock band at heart than a jazz group, which makes me think of something more akin to Paul Wertico's group than either Tortoise or Chicago Underground, Parker's other main projects. It's enough to pique my curiosity, at least.

Long Count Quartet (Tryst)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Along a similar vein, you might expect these guys to have an air of rock about them, but when they veer off of the straight post-bop sound, it's more into acid jazz and funk terrain. Hopefully whatever flu bug Steve had last week is out of his system.

2.10   thursday
An Evening With Dan Darrah (Schubas)
Never got around to seeing Darrah when Dario was playing with him. That doesn't bode well for the current band, which I'm assuming has noone I know in it anymore.

2.11   friday
June's Arrival with Malpractice Ltd., Trim, Chris Long (Double Door)
Okay, as the headliner, they're entitled to an encore. As the second band on a three-band bill in some godforesaken suburb in front of a couple dozen people about eighteen months ago, not so much. For that reason alone, I'm surprised to see them topping a Friday night bill, but maybe that hubris has served them well. That, or lots of practice.

Low with Pedro The Lion (Metro)
This is the lone show at Metro I was talking about. I vaguely remember some buzz about Pedro The Lion, but I also feel like I'm confusing them with somebody else. Same goes for Low on the latter point. I know they're in what allmusic.com calls "slowcore" subgenre, but I can't help thinking that there's another high-profile (low-profile?) band that's similar. It could just be a certain period of Yo La Tengo that I'm thinking of, though.

2.12   saturday
Chevelle with Helmet, Crossfade, Future Leaders of the World, Strata (Congress Theater)   SOLD OUT!
From slowcore to Sno-Core. It's good to see Helmet back out there with these young whippersnappers, but Page Hamilton has got to be a little weirded out by the fact that he's probably close to twice the age of the youngest of the brothers in Chevelle.

Jeffrey Gaines with Dylan Rice (Schubas)
Maybe I have too much reverence for the original, but I'm not a big fan of Gaines' cover of "In Your Eyes" from Peter Gabriel. There's a sort of lilt to that song that breathes life into the original, and Gaines misses it.

Quasar Wut Wut with The Singles, Paper Airplane Pilots (Subterranean)
I have no joke, I just like to say "Quasar Wut Wut." And I thought the Paper Airplane Pilots were maybe on to something -- something Jeff Buckley-ish, if I recall correctly -- when I first saw them about a year ago, and hopefully they're getting closer to it.

TRS-80 with Michael Columbia, Spizm (Empty Bottle)
While we're on the subject of getting bands confused, for some reason, I get these guys mixed up with Trans Am. The burning question, of course, is who would win a battle of the bands between TRS-80 and The Ataris. And is there a band called Amiga?

2.13   sunday
Rockit Girl with Slack, Jet Motor Crash, Gyre (Subterranean)
File this one under that "I didn't know they were still around" umbrella. I had thought the leader of Rockit Girl had hooked up with the new-look Veruca Salt, but that may have changed, and that band convenes more than it exists in any continual state, anyway.