list.in.to.chicago this week: 11.27.2006

No, I haven't seen Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny yet. Hopefully, that situation will be remedied quickly.

Pick of the week
Between the hundreds upon hundreds of fans that will air-guitar along with "Sweet Child O'Mine" and the potential for Axl to bite a security guy on the leg, I gotta go with Guns N' Fuckin' Roses (not to be confused with Bon Fucking Jovi) tonight at the Allstate Arena. And I'm intrigued by the unfortunately-named Juke Kartel (Saturday, Abbey Pub) after figuring Toby got robbed on Rock Star: Supernova earlier this year.

list.in.to.COZ
Vaughan's this Tuesday and Wingman at Mix on Friday, where you can likely hear both G'N'F'n'R and BFJ -- if I spelled them out, I'd be in even more danger of getting tripped up by spam filters that key off of naughty words. I can't think of anywhere else you'd rather be, but that's quite possibly because I lack imagination. Plus, you should go.

UPDATE: Friday's Mix gig has been canceled. Blame the lawyers.

Recap
So the nice surprise from Tuesday's Morrissey show was that Chicago's own Matt Walker was holding down the drum chair for the former Smiths frontman, but apparently he's had that spot for a while now. I have to admit, it's tough to keep up with where Walker is playing sometimes. The show was strong, but the most notable aspect for me seemed to be the lighting, which really accentuated that the band was in the back and Morrissey was in the front.

And as much as I wanted to check out The Sounds last night, my Turkey Day travel took five hours longer than planned, despite those "best laid plans" you always hear about. Although I did end up winning about $20 in the airport in Vegas. Of course, Vegas had absolutely nothing to do with my original itinerary.

11.27   monday
Guns N' Roses with Sebastian Bach (Allstate Arena)
I forget if it was the band's manager or record label that claimed last month that Chinese Democracy might actually hit store shelves this year, despite not having a scheduled release date by this point. And there's a rumor suggesting it will come out unannounced as soon as tomorrow. On the one hand, this show has an almost irresistable combination of reliving wherever you happened to be when Appetite for Destruction came out and watching the train wreck the band has become. On the other, Sebastian Bach?

11.28   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
Okay, because I like Chris Cornell, who sings the theme to the new Bond flick, and because the Tenacious D movie came out last week, the theme this week is going to be movies. I'm not sure how it'll play out.

+44 with The Matches (Metro)   SOLD OUT
This is the latest project from former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, rescheduled after he broke his hand, or arm, or something, earlier in the fall. Not to be confused with Angels and Airwaves, which is the latest project from one of the other Blinksters.

Bound Stems with Rahim, Canasta (Empty Bottle)
This is one of those names I've seen batted about on music blogs, but I don't really know much about them. I think they're another Pitchfork fave.

Ray LaMontagne with Tristan Prettyman (The Vic)
There's no denying that LaMontagne is a gifted singer and songwriter. He writes very affecting tunes and delivers them powerfully. But eventually, it gets to be a bit too much for me in a concert setting. I think it may have to do with too much emphasis on the singing and not enough on the song, but I'm not sure.

11.29   wednesday
Kick The Cat with Frank Catalano, Bill Smith Band (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
It's one of my favorite local jazz fusion bands, and I'm not saying that because they're one of very few local jazz fusion bands.

Chin Up Chin Up with The Atlantic Divide (Cobra Lounge)
There was a fair amount of buzz about these guys back at the Pitchfork Festival, but to be honest, I didn't really heard what all the fuss was about. I am encouraged by more live shows at the Cobra Lounge, though.

Ray LaMontagne with Tristan Prettyman (The Vic)
See Tuesday's listing.

11.30   thursday
May or May Not with Slings and Arrows, Dialogue (Double Door)
This band rehearses down the hall from where my drums live, and while it's hard to tell who's playing what sometimes, I want to say I like what I've heard. I know Chicagoist.com tabbed them to play their showcase show a few months ago, for whatever that's worth.

Sepultura with Sworn Enemy, Diecast, Suicide Silence (House of Blues)
I wouldn't say this is one of my favorite metal bands, but they're a metal band that makes me sit up and take notice. Most of that still stems from their Roots record, where they went very heavily -- no pun intended -- back to their Brazilian heritage for a really cool fusion of metal and latin music.

The Wood Brothers (Schubas)
The Wood here is Chris Wood, bassist for jazz-jam crossover act Medeski Martin & Wood. The material he's come up with alongside his brother Oliver is reportedly more of an acoustic folk sound, and their latest record was produced by John Medeski. What I've listened to so far is pretty good.

Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band (Allstate Arena)   SOLD OUT!
Yeah, I didn't think the veteran rocker could still move this many tickets, either.

12.01   friday
Wingman (Mix)   SEE COZ LIVE!
I know I said this last time, but we really need some turnout here if we're going to keep the monthly engagement going into 2007. Plus, they have "sake bombs" in the front bar! What's not to like? UPDATE: Sorry, no Wingman this week.

Exene Cervenka and the Original Sinners with Knuckle Dragger, The Peelers (Double Door)
Say what you will about second acts and side projects, but I like being able to see bigger names in rock in smaller venues because they're not playing with those names that made them big. Not that X played all that big of a room when they were just here, but it was still more than twice the size of Double Door, if my math is right.

12.02   saturday
Juke Kartel with Driveblind (Abbey Pub)
This band features Toby Rand from Rock Star: Supernova, and will be touring in support of the band formerly known as Supernova in the new year. Rand had the most memorable original tune of the entire season, so the hope is that there will be more of that here. Of course, being a dreamy TV star is going to mean a bunch of people at this show who don't really go see bands at clubs often. There was a bit of that at Elbo Room a few weeks ago, and with Toby lasting so much longer than Matt and Phil, I expect it to be a much larger and more annoying contingent.

Chris Barron with Joey Degraw, Ryan Powers (Elbo Room)
I stared at this name in the Metromix listing for a while, knowing it was familiar, but it wasn't until I checked Elbo Room's website for a link that I realized that Barron was the frontman of Spin Doctors. What makes this doubly amusing is that local singer/songwriter Ryan Powers -- formerly of Callisto -- sorta looks like him.

Gunther Murphy's Last Day Blowout (Gunther Murphy's)
From what I've seen online, Gunther Murphy's has been sold to new ownership, who will be closing and renovating the space. There's no word as to whether or not the new venue will have live music or will continue to have the best pint of Guinness in the city. The prospects seem bleak on both fronts. They will, however, close out the room with music all day long and no cover, featuring Missile, The Valley Downs, Katie Todd, Rollover, Andon Davis Situation, The Cells, Reactavox, Kevin Lee and The Townes.

Roger Clyne (Martyrs')
Clyne is one of those guys who you would almost think lived in Chicago based on the number of times he plays here in any given year. For this pair of shows, it looks like he's left the Peacemakers behind. One thing I did not realize is that, prior to that band, Clyne fronted The Refreshments. If that name seems familiar, it may be because you see it on nearly a daily basis on various TV stations during the credits for King Of The Hill, as the band wrote and performed the jangly theme song for the animated series.

The Bad Examples with Matthew Santos (Cubby Bear)
Ralph Covert seems to be everywhere these days, so I guess it was just a matter of time before he got his old band up and running again. Assuming he's still in the band, of course, but figuring that out is too much like research.

12.03   sunday
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes with Dead To Me (Metro)
Allmusic.com bills them as "punk's premier cover artists," and I've got at least one friend who absolutely swears by them. A quick look over the tunes they've recorded -- including "Nobody Does It Better," "On The Road Again" and "I Believe I Can Fly," to name just a few -- ensures that this should be a really fun show.

Roger Clyne (Martyrs')
See Saturday's listing.