list.in.to.chicago this week: 04.24.2006

Two things: First, on an administrative note, next week's newsletter might come out on Tuesday, depending on how I feel after returning from my cousin's wedding on Monday. Second, I feel a little overwhelmed by all the bands on the International Pop Overthrow festival, so I've skipped all those shows. You can get details here, unless you've got the plain text version, in which case, get thy Google on.

Make that three things. If you managed to score Tool tickets in the 30 seconds it took for that May 13th show to sell out, and you've got an extra, my birthday was only two months ago...

Pick of the week
As an old-school prog fan, I have to give a shout to Steve Howe at Cubby Bear on Thursday, but later that evening you've also got Nicholas Barron's Hyperaktive and NYCO at Elbo Room.

list.in.to.COZ
If you're planning on taking in any or all of tonight's Cubs, Sox or Bulls games, why not do it at Redmond's (corner of Sheffield and Roscoe) while I sing some songs? With all that sporting action, I may debut "play-by-play-along," where I start calling one of the games while I riff over some chords from whatever song I'm in at the time. Or maybe not. And those of you with suburban tendencies can get the double dose of cover bands on Friday at Cubby Bear North, where Wingman and Diver will once again share the stage.

Recap
Given how hyped I've been on the Taylor Hawkins CD, the show last night at Double Door was bound to be a bit of a disappointment. Some of the performances seemed much less smooth than the recordings, and by trying to extend some tunes into instrumental jams, the band exposed that there's not really a lot to some of the songs. All that said, Hawkins brought arena-sized intensity to a small club performance, which was definitely worth seeing. Openers Driveblind sounded at times like UK brethren Keane and Snow Patrol, but also delved into the southern rock of Black Crowes and Lynyrd Skynryd at times, all the while filling out their songs with a ton of texture via acoustic guitar, keys and harmony vocals.

For some continuity, Hawkins wasn't the only arena-sized hard rock drummer I saw in a smaller context last week, as I caught a set of Steve Gillis' Long Count Quartet shoehorned into the small stage at Stadium West on Wednesday. The band still burns, but I probably could have told you that even if I wasn't there.

As for Diver on Friday at Fado, the air conditioning upstairs was busted, and while it wasn't the worst AC-less conditions we've had to play under (last year's Lollapalooza weekend at Cullen's wins that award), it still kinda took some steam out of us. And released it into the air as humidity.

4.24   monday
COZ SINGS! (Redmond's)   SEE COZ LIVE!
It's been way too long since I had a whole night of acoustic cover tunes to myself. Come on out to the Wrigleyville spot TONIGHT for all sorts of eighties tunes and other favorites. My favorites, that is. No Dave Matthews or Jack Johnson tunes.

4.25   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
I have to be honest, I'm probably not going to make it out this week. Or, I may play the opening set, a quick couple on guitar, then high-tail it out. Still, you can have fun without me.

4.26   wednesday
Anna Fermin (Davenport's)
Someone posted in the comments on the website -- that's right, e-mail folks, you can actually talk balk and have everyone see it if you visit the website -- that Anna "and the boys" are at the Wicker Park spot every Wednesday in April. I'll assume said boys are Trigger Gospel, although I said last time that this is more of a jazz room, so I don't know if they put some different spin on the material.

4.27   thursday
Steve Howe (Cubby Bear)
This seems like an odd pairing of artist and venue to me, although it would have made much more sense back around 1992 or so, when Cubby Bear was booking all sorts of crazy shit. Anyway, the combined Chris Squire/Steve Howe tour from last fall fell through, so we've already seen the Yes bassist in town with The Syn a month or two back, now we get the Yes guitarist following on his heels.

Nicholas Barron's Hyperaktive with NYCO (Elbo Room)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Nicholas is usually worth it on his own, but I've been warming up to NYCO lately as well, so that makes it a nice twin bill here.

4.28   friday
Diver with Wingman (Cubby Bear North, Lincolnshire)   SEE COZ LIVE! TWICE!
Last time, they had us on the big marquee outside as "Driver," proving once again that This Is Spinal Tap is actually not a work of fiction. We'll see if practice makes perfect. If you've been putting off spending a Friday night in the northwest suburbs, this is your chance!

Air This Side Of Caution with Todd Carey, Treologic, Andreas Kapsalis Trio, Spare Parts (Metro)
I give these guys a hard time, but I think that's because they seem to be so close to something big. Headlining Metro on a Friday night is none too shabby.

Hamell On Trial with Gutbucket (Hideout)
I always want to say this guy is an old English prog rocker, but that's Peter Hammill. Gutbucket is also headlining their own show on Wednesday at Empty Bottle.

The Bish with Johnny Rumble, The Last Conservative, Meg Allison (Elbo Room)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Until I see them again, the thumbnail sketch will continue to be Oasis meets The Cult with some Deep Purple and maybe Ian Hunter thrown in. Probably one of the more British-sounding Chicago bands out there, if you couldn't figure that out from the references.

Manishevitz with Detholz!, Volcano! (Empty Bottle)   FRIENDS OF COZ?
Not sure if DiNou is still playing synth with these guys, hence the question mark. Besides, there are already enough exclamation marks in the listing. Somebody at the Bottle is being clever, putting those second two bands together.

4.29   saturday
Matt Hoffer with Homeless J, Matthew, CarbonFour (Elbo Room)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
This is twice now in recent memory that The Bish and Hoffer have played back to back, which is only weird because guitarist Larry Schroeder is in both bands last I checked.

The Bad Plus (Martyrs')
On the one hand, I'm probably going to refer to these guys as the group who did the jazz piano trio version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" forever and always. On the other hand, I'm always going to remember them.

Buddy Nuisance with Al Weber, Burn Rome Burn, Stylus (Double Door)
This is the 5th Anniversary Party for Shoeshine Boy Productions. Al, take it from there in the comments!

4.30   sunday
Peter Erskine and The Lounge Art Ensemble (Martyrs')
Of all the post-Steve Gadd modern jazzers of the late eighties and early nineties, I still don't think I've gotten around to seeing Erskine live, except maybe at Modern Drummer festivals. But then again, I'm not sure if I ever saw Dave Weckl and his gravity-defying hair outside of that context, either.

Nicholas Barron's Hyperactive (Long Room)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Yeah, two listings for Nicholas in one week, but that's because I wanted to point out that, according to Metromix, Thursday's show is rock and this one's jazz, and Thursday's group uses the 'k' and Sunday's doesn't.