list.in.to.chicago this week: 10.17.2005

I just realized that I listed a show for last Friday at Cubby Bear that's actually this Friday. Time to fire my fact-checker. Come to think of it, maybe my fact-checker was the one who broke into my car and stole a bunch of my gear. Given his poor performance, I could understand why he'd leave on those terms.

Of course, I don't actually have a fact-checker. Nor do I have a bag of cymbals, two bags of hardware and an iPod, so if anyone tries to sell anything like that to you, let me know.

Pick of the week
If you can get tickets, get yourself out to see The New Pornographers on Thursday (Metro). If not, there's still Project/Object playing the music of Frank Zappa (Friday and Saturday, Martyr's) and Friends of Coz Soulfix on Saturday (Double Door).

list.in.to.COZ
Just Vaughan's this week. Next up on the band front is Diver at Fado on November 4th. Speaking of which, divertheband.com just got a bit of an overhaul. Still needs some work, but it doesn't look as barebones as it used to.

Recap
Did I mention my car getting broken into? I'll appreciate your outpouring of sympathy in advance, but it was mostly my own damn fault for being too careless about what I leave in the car on a regular basis. You'd think I would have learned the first two times it happened. I've got insurance, so it could have been worse. Needless to say, my mind was on things other than going to see shows last week.

10.17   monday
Patricia Barber Quartet (Green Mill)
Guitarist John McLean will be joining the piano trio this week.

10.18   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
Left to my own devices, I seem to be leaning towards newer music for a change. This doesn't mean I've forsaken my 80s roots, just that there's other stuff out there.

Assassins (Sonotheque)
I've been a little hard on these guys lately, on account of their being signed then dropped by a major in the last couple of years without actually releasing a record. New City gives a lot more detail, which shows it wasn't really their fault. Still, as much as I like the sound of the band, there's something missing for me.

The Decemberists, with Cass McCombs (Metro)
Lots of fans of this band among the indie-elite, but they sound a little too orchestral to me. The curious instrumentation seems to be an end in itself to me in a lot of ways, but I'm basing that on only a few cursory listens.

10.19   wednesday
The Steve Hackett Acoustic Trio (Abbey Pub)
The ad boasts that Hackett will be performing "Genesis and solo hits" acoustically. I'll award a nonexistant l.i.t.c. t-shirt to anyone who can come up with a Steve Hackett "solo hit." Maybe he'll sign my GTR album, though.

The Decemberists, with Cass McCombs (Metro)
See Tuesday's listing.

10.20   thursday
The New Pornographers with Destroyers, Immaculate Machine (Metro)   SOLD OUT!
This is one of those times when all the buzz from the aforementioned "indie elite" is completely justified. The Vancouver band keeps coming at you with harmonies and melodies that seem almost sickly sweet at first taste, but have some real flavor beneath the surface. Which means I apparently have a craving for some sort of candy.

10.21   friday
Project/Object (Martyrs')
Every time I see these guys perform Frank Zappa's music, I come away wanting them to be just a little bit better, to really get inside the counterculturalism and not just a sort of reflexive anti-government stance, but maybe I'm expecting too much, or dismissing the politics based on surface trappings. They really are quite good, and more or less your only stateside option for hearing a lot of this music, as Dweezil's thing is just touring Europe.

Waco Brothers with Kevin Gordon (Fitzgerald's, Berwyn)
This is a CD release party for the predicably wryly titled Freedom and Weep. I was going to say how the band's normal "insurgent country" moniker might give an inappropriate double meaning these days, but given the title of the record, I think it may be more than appropriate after all.

Rebecca Wickens with Patrick Thomas Theory, Karma Tease, Dave Sills, Eddie Prez (Cubby Bear)
This is the one I screwed up last time, which is making for an awful track record with Wickens. Not bad enough to put her on the short list with my hypothetical fact-checker, though.

10.22   saturday
Soulfix with Trim, Simmering, Matt Hoffer (Double Door)   FRIENDS OF COZ
I haven't seen these guys since last year's Emergenza Festival, and all reports have them on quite a tear, so it will be good to see. It's a CD release party for Trim, and Hoffer is also a friend. I got nuthin' on Simmering.

The Frames with Josh Ritter (Park West)
This band seems to have a bit of "next big thing out of Ireland" tag about them, but to be fair, has there really been any sort of big thing since U2? I'm not even being entirely flip here. Outside of Ghost of an American Airman in the early nineties, I can't think of any real major Irish artist in the last decade or two. I could be missing someone obvious, in which case, feel free to post comments. As for these guys, I recall them getting some small feature pieces in the past for their Chicago connection, which includes recording their next-to-last record with local iconoclast Steve Albini.

My Morning Jacket with Kathleen Edwards (The Vic)
The latest release from this Kentucky quartet strips away much of the excessive reverb of their last record, revealing some pretty darn good songs. There's an element that's almost country, and almost folk, but isn't really either.

Project/Object (Martyrs')
See Friday's listing.

10.23   sunday
Nicholas Barron's Hyperctive (Long Room)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
If I haven't mentioned it lately, Nicholas, Steve and company have been trading in John Mayer's "new sound" for nearly a decade, and doing a fine job of it.