list.in.to.chicago this week: 07.18.2005

It's a bit of a sad time here at list.in.to.chicago. If I'm not as pithy as usual, you'll understand why in a minute, and I've been blogging more about it on notabbott.com.

Pick of the week
Lollapalooza, duh. But if that doesn't float your boat, California Guitar Trio with Tony Levin (Wednesday, Martyrs') is probably something you're not quite used to, and the Charlie Hunter Trio (Friday and Saturday, Green Mill) should be a nice change of pace from all the alternativity.

list.in.to.COZ
It's the only August date for Diver this Sunday night at Cullen's, and we're actually learning new songs to celebrate. Seriously. I'm leaving for rehearsal as soon as I finish typing.

Recap
I opted for Real Madrid over either the Intonation Festival or the World's Largest Block Party, and I'll post the picture of Beckham from about ten feet away to show that I don't regret it. That said, I got a "great show" vote of confidence from friends for both Esthero at Metro and Adrian Belew at Park West on Saturday. Not terribly verbose friends, obviously.

7.18   monday
Memorial Service for Doug Meis (Unity Church, Evanston)   FRIEND OF COZ!
Somehow, this seems to be the most fitting way to pay respects to Doug Meis, drummer for longtime l.i.t.c. favorites and friends EXO. Doug and two other local musicians were killed in a car crash Thursday afternoon when a young woman attempted suicide by plowing her car into theirs at 70 MPH while they were stopped at a north suburban traffic light. Details on how you can show your support can be found on the band's website at www.exonoise.com. Lots of people are going to miss Doug, even those of us who didn't know him all that well past watching him onstage. A moment of silence would be somehow inappropriate.

7.19   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
With all the bands in town for Lollapalooza, who knows who's going to stop by? Well, yeah, it'll probably be me, Ed, Noy, Dorff and maybe a couple of other people, but you never know...

Frisbie with Boys on Trial, The World Record (Schubas)
In a recent interview on Chicagoist.com, WLUW Program Director Shawn Campbell stated for about the eight gazillionth time how she doesn't understand why Frisbie isn't the biggest band in the world. Here's a chance to find out why.

7.20   wednesday
California Guitar Trio with Tony Levin (Martyrs')
The three graduates of Robert Fripp's Guitar Craft program offer up a heady mix -- hey, I have to use rockcrit cliches every once in a while -- of classical, original and cover songs. For this tour, they'll be accompanied by uberbassist and overall nice guy Tony Levin, who has been blogging before blogging was even called blogging.

Whitesnake (House of Blues)
Oddly enough, the last time I heard a Whitesnake tune performed by a live band, it was at House of Blues, except it was OK Go covering it with mock seriousness. No word as to how well Tawny Kitaen has aged.

7.21   thursday
Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals with Tom Freund (The Vic)   SOLD OUT!
The "Zooma" tour, or whatever the hell it was, crashed and burned, so Harper had to put together a solo tour in its place. I don't know if bigger venues weren't avaiable, or if Harper's people thought maybe he wouldn't be as big a draw without an album to support, unless you'd count last year's collaboration with the Blind Boys of Alabama, but that didn't really make much of a dent into the public consciousness.

7.22   friday
Cake with Blanche (House of Blues)
With Lollapalooza comes a spate, a plethora, a veritable cornucopia of shows by Lolla artists around that festival. This is one of those shows.

Les Claypool (The Vic)
Okay, so maybe not a plethora. This makes two.

Charlie Hunter Trio (Green Mill)
Jazz guitarist Hunter has a history of requiring no smoking at his shows, so it will be interesting to see if that flies at the venerable Uptown club.

7.23   saturday
Lollapalooza (Hutchinson Field)
Quickly, the bands I care about on day one: The Walkmen, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Pixies, Kaiser Chiefs, Liz Phair, Cake, Primus and Weezer. The last four acts named are all on the same stage, too, which could make navigation strategy that much easier.

The Walkmen with Ambulance LTD (Schubas)
Three. How many's a plethora, again? I'm missing a couple others, but once I started with the joke, I realized it would take more work than I was willing to put in.

Charlie Hunter Trio (Green Mill)
Second of two nights, and definitely an intriguing alternative to the hullabaloo of Lollapalooza.

Callisto with Deconstructing Jim, Drowning Wallace, MKF (Elbo Room)
Hopefully local music fans won't be so worn out from Lollapalooza that they won't be able to make it up to the north side for this band's final show.

Dave Matthews Band with O.A.R. (Tweeter Center)
You know what this means. Do NOT, under any circumstances, take a boat tour of the Chicago River this weekend.

VANS Warped Tour (Tweeter Center)
It's odd that there's such an obvious generational and aesthetic split between Lollapalooza and the Warped Tour, but there is, and it's obvious, all right.

7.24   sunday
Diver (Cullen's)
I don't want to alarm you, but we're actually going to rehearse this week. I think it's the first time since before our first gig a year and half or so ago.

Lollapalooza (Hutchinson Field)
And the bands I care about on day one: The Changes (Friends of Coz!), OK Go, Kasabian, The Arcade Fire, Spoon and Death Cab For Cutie. If you're going to park it at a single stage, the East Stage looks like the way to go.

Dave Matthews Band with O.A.R. (Tweeter Center)
No more shit jokes, I promise. For now, anyway.

The Renegades with Larry Zieben (Elbo Room)
If this is, in fact, Paul's fusion thing and not some other Renegades, I'm intrigued by Elbo Room going to something jazzier on Sundays again.