list.in.to.chicago this week: 07.10.2006

Admit it, you missed me.

Pick of the week
Let's see, how about Fiona Apple at the Charter One Pavilion on Thursday and local favorites The Ladies And Gentlemen at Double Door on Friday? Okay? Good.

list.in.to.COZ
The "triumphant return" to Vaughan's is on Tuesday night, and then Diver hits the festival circuit again this Saturday afternoon at Rock Around The Block.

Recap
Did you see friend of Coz Matt Hoffer crash and burn on Rock Star: Supernova last week? He got done in by the system, I think. The arrangement of "Yellow" -- shortened so they could squeeze fifteen performances into ninety minutes of TV -- didn't give him much chance to shine, and then I have to assume he had already picked the Duran Duran tune before he got the advice to rock harder next time.

Also checked out Stuart Davis on Friday night at Schubas, which was pretty much as entertaining as one guy with a guitar can get. He still has a lot of the Michael Hedges vibe when he attacks the neck of his guitar with two hands.

7.10   monday
The Rakes with Every Move A Picture, The Adored (Double Door)
I think it was inevitable that, with the glut of UK bands permeating the States these days, we would get more bands that actually sing with British accents. The Rakes fall squarely in that category, and their most recent record reminds me quite a bit of Bloc Party, partly from the vocals, but also from the same sort of jagged guitars.

The Reputation with The Dials (Cobra Lounge)
Okay, this is twice in three days that the Cobra Lounge has popped on my radar. I have to admit, if the venue has turned into some sort of west side rock oasis -- its location is convenient for all the local bands that rehearse in that part of town -- it's situated perfectly for the upcoming festivals in Union Park.

7.11   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
Oddly enough, I got to play a couple of songs on a Tuesday night in Frankfurt two weeks ago, so it's not really the first time I've played in over a month. It just feels like it.

Josh Caterer with Tom Daly (Schubas)
The Smoking Popes singer is doing a monthlong residency at the Lakeview venue.

Ted Nugent with Huck Johns (House of Blues)
I know what you're thinking. Is Coz going to get political with the Nuge? Maybe pay homage to his classic catalog? Make an oblique reference to the ill-fated Damn Yankees? Or maybe weasel out of it all by getting all meta and talking about what he might talk about?

7.12   wednesday
Long Count Quartet (Stadium West)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Happy belated birthday, Steve!

Brand New Heavies with Van Hunt (House of Blues)
The London band is considered to have helped pioneer acid jazz back in the nineties. In "double-bills I'd like to see," I would pair them with the New Radicals, who I have a tendency to get them confused with anyway.

7.13   thursday
Fiona Apple with Damien Rice, David Garza (Charter One Pavilion)
I was actually at the show in Chicago where she had her big meltdown, but I managed to miss that part of it. For all the hype about her last record and her label not wanting to release it, it didn't really grab me.

7.14   friday
The Ladies And Gentlemen with The Assembly, Roosevelt Jenkins, MC Madrid St. Angelo (Double Door)
I really dug these guys the first time I saw them, then was pretty wiped the second time, but I think my physical and mental state were what prevented me from digging the show. So a third show is likely in order to get a real read on the band, although I can't say for sure this will be it. And they will forever be linked to the Soft Boys in my mind until I actually become familiar with some of their own songs.

Alison Breitman with S.T. Monroe (Hideout)
Friend of Coz Dana Lawrence has been talking Breitman up for a while, so this might be a good chance to see what she's all about. And drummer Shawn Rios left Matt Hoffer's band to play with Breitman before Hoffer's untimely end on Rock Star: Supernova, so don't go starting any nasty rumors.

Bumpus with Greenstreet, BS Brass Band (Martyrs')
I've only caught these guys once in the post-Yamagata era, but that's once more than I did when she was fronting the band, unless hearing them rehearse down the hall counts.

7.15   saturday
Diver (Rock Around The Block)   SEE COZ LIVE!
Looks like we'll be hitting the street festival circuit pretty consistently this summer, including this one on North Lincoln Avenue. We're on the Cornelia stage at 4pm. I think I've heard of one of the other bands playing earlier on that stage...

Little Feat with Knights Of Crisis (House of Blues)
I think that Little Feat's show at the University of Chicago show was in the bottom three during my tenure as stage manager there. It had nothing to do with the band itself -- they were rock-solid -- but with the lighting company being complete assholes. It was still an easier day than the LL Cool J show, which was absolutely brutal from the moment the equipment truck went to UIC instead.

Puffy Ami Yumi with Tally Hall (The Vic)
I think that, on principle, Puffy Ami Yumi should find a way to tour with Gorillaz, although the Japanese girl-pop band existed before they were made into cartoons.

7.16   sunday
Paper Airplane Pilots with Lake Holiday, Everything Now! (Schubas)
Okay, say it along with me: I saw this band once, they showed promise, and now I need to see them again one of these days. If I ever make l.i.t.c. t-shirts, they'll either say that, or "I'm a Friend of Coz!"

Ozzfest (First Midwest Bank Ampitheatre)
The striking thing about the festival's roster -- Ozzy Osbourne, System of a Down, Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed, Hatebreed, Lacuna Coil, Zakk Wylde, Atreyu, Bleeding Through, Unearth, Norma Jean, Strapping Young Lad, The Red Chord, Walls of Jericho, Between the Buried and Me, Full Blown Chaos, A Life Once Lost, All That Remains and DragonForce -- is that there don't seem to be any egregious-but-intentional misspellings in the bunch, save maybe for Zakk Wylde, but 80s heavy metal guitarists are largely exempt from that criticism.