list.in.to.chicago this week: 03.28.2005

Wow, there's a lot of music in town this week. And I'm not going to get to see any of it, at least aside from shows I'm actually playing. That doesn't mean you can't, though.

Pick of the week
There's almost too much to choose from. Praxis at House of Blues (Friday) is the only no-brainer, though, seeing as how they're the proud architects of one of my favorite albums. Robyn Hitchcock at Schubas' (Thursday and Friday, but Friday is sold out) is another one I'll be sad to miss in a busy week of gigs, and the cool kids will be at The Soundtrack of our Lives (tonight at Metro) and Bloc Party (Thursday at Metro) this week.

The uncool musician geeks will be at the Dixie Dregs/Steve Morse Band show at Park West on Wednesday, in case you were wondering.

list.in.to.COZ
Friday kicks off something like six shows in eight nights, if you count Vaughan's. This week, the three-piece electric version of Diver will be playing Friday at Fado and Saturday at Cullen's, and I'll be making a rare Coz Sings! solo appearance on Sunday night at Wrightwood Tap. That one starts earlier, around 8pm, so you shouldn't have any trouble getting up for work on Monday. As usual when this sort of thing happens, I'll buy at least one drink -- and probably more -- for anybody who makes it to all three.

Recap
Every once in a while, the Vaughan's crowd is of a nature that appreciates a dorky white guy singing OutKast. Last week was one of those times, and I'm just glad my little sister got to witness it. And yes, whenever I talk a lot about last week's open jam, I didn't go see any other shows. You've broken the code, congratulations.

3.28   monday
Backstreet Boys (House of Blues)   SOLD OUT!
In what is becoming a weekly gratuitous reference to my girlfriend, she recently commented that the reunited boy band should change their name to Backstreet Men, or maybe just Backstreet. I'm not sure if that implies that they've grown up, but haven't moved on, or if maybe I'm overthinking it.

The Soundtrack Of Our Lives with The Dears, American Minor (Metro)
Listening to Origin Volume 1, I'm getting a bit of Who-via-Guided-By-Voices vibe from the Swedish band, with maybe even a little bit of Cream thrown in. It works for me, even if I don't think these guys are as fantastic as everyone was saying three years ago.

3.29   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
Okay, I only laid some of the new cheesy eighties material on you last time. I held Billy Squier in reserve, but this week you might not be so lucky. And I might actually practice the Styx tune.

3.30   wednesday
The Dixie Dregs with the Steve Morse Band (Park West)
Despite the fact that guitarist Morse is the prime mover behind both of these projects, I can definitely tell the difference between the two. On the surface, the Dregs add keyboards and violin, while the Steve Morse Band is just a trio, but the flavor of all-out instrumental prog-fueled fusion is noticeably different to the student of the shredding guitarist.

Long Count Quartet (Tryst)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
No free jazz jokes this week, I promise. Just free jazz.

3.31   thursday
Bloc Party with The Ponys, Pit er Pat, Disc Jockey CB (Metro)
Come to think of it, the buzz I'm hearing on Bloc Party reminds me a lot of that for The Soundtrack Of Our Lives a few years back, in that it's coming from what looks like a smallish group of people, but with enough intensity that it might be enough to, say, sell out Metro. And I'm all for Britpop bands that don't sound like Franz Ferdinand, on principle, but I seem to say that at least once a week now.

Robyn Hitchcock with Cary Brothers (Schuba's)
Friday's show is sold out, but if Metromix isn't lying to me, this one isn't. Hitchcock is, to my knowledge, one of three artists to have worked Condoleeza Rice into a song in the past year, and the only one I know to have written a song about a specific airport. And cheese.

Garaj Mahal (Martyrs')
I'm always torn with these guys, as I am a fan of three out of four band members, individually. It's just disappointing to me that the whole is so much less than the sum of the parts.

4.01   friday
Diver (Fado)   SEE COZ LIVE!
The last time we were supposed to play Fado, we didn't, and now we're there on April Fools' Day. Nobody is going to believe we have a gig. This is going to be the three-piece electric version of the very modular band.

Praxis (House of Blues)
Every once in a while, I get upset that my gig schedule keeps me from seeing cool shows. This is one of those times. Praxis is, at its core, bassist and ambient guru Bill Laswell, former Primus and Limbomaniacs drummer Brain Mantia and mutant guitarist Buckethead. It might not be more than that, but I'm reasonably sure Bernie Worrell and Bootsy Collins, who played on the group's landmark Transmutation record, unfortunately aren't involved.

Robyn Hitchcock (Schuba's)   SOLD OUT!
See Thursday's listing, and Thursday's show, for that matter. This one's definitely sold out.

Garaj Mahal with the Paul Wertico Trio (Martyrs')
For my entertainment dollar, they've got the wrong group headlining this one. Wertico's incendiary band just blows Garaj Mahal's jam-band-inflected noodling out of the water.

Bob Weir and Ratdog (The Vic)   SOLD OUT!
I really wish I remembered more of the South Park episode from a couple weeks back, where Cartman has to drive out all the hippies who have staged a jam band festival, so I could quote it here. That show still definitely has its moments.

4.02   saturday
Diver (Cullen's)   SEE COZ LIVE!
I would like to suggest that everyone who still has a shot at winning their NCAA pool buy drinks for those who don't at this one. I've actually got three out of the Final Four thanks to my "system" picking Michigan State, but I don't have them going all the way, which is the only way I'd be able to overtake about six other people who picked the Illini to win it all.

Bob Dylan with Merle Haggard and the Strangers, Amos Lee (Auditorium Theatre)
Bob, Merle and Amos -- I'm on a first-name basis with all sorts of people, you know -- are also playing downtown on Friday, but Friday was getting absurdly full. They're also playing on Sunday, but more on that below.

Riviera with Quasar Wut Wut, Paper Airplane Pilots (Schubas)
I've been detecting a moderate amount of talk about these guys, locally, but some of that is a band member talking themselves up on a message board. There's some reinforcement from others on that board, though.

Angry Chair with Calm Like A Bomb, Funky Monks (Penny Road Pub, South Barrington)
I think it would be hilarious if these bands weren't tribute bands for Alice in Chains, Rage Against The Machine and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Particularly if a band called Calm Like A Bomb played nothing but the Village People, or something like that. What can I say, I'm easily amused.

Chicago Fire v. FC Dallas (Comcast Sports Net Chicago)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
It's that time of year again, and the Fire start off on the road at the home of the unfortunately rebranded former Dallas Burn. The official watch party is at The Globe on Irving Park.

4.03   sunday
Coz Sings! (Wrightwood Tap)   SEE COZ LIVE!
In a fairly amazing coincidence, I'm once again playing one of the Bar One bars the day of the Shamrock Shuffle. So I expect an audience of drunken people with shin splints. If I told you this was at McGee's, it's since moved to the Wrightwood Tap.

Tabla Beat Science (House of Blues)
Talvin Singh is generally the guy I credit with making me realize that electronica and Indian music can meld together really well, but Bill Laswell, doing the second leg of a pair of shows with different bands at House of Blues, has also mined that combination.

Bob Dylan with Merle Haggard and the Strangers, Amos Lee (Auditorium Theatre)
See, they're also playing on Sunday.