list.in.to.chicago this week: 12.18.2006

As you could probably have guessed, there will be no l.i.t.c. next week, so enjoy whatever holiday you might be celebrating in that span. This means you're on your own for New Year's Eve, too. If you're really stuck, I may be able to offer, um, individual consulting services or something like that.

Pick of the week
Okay, with a name like "The First Annual Christmas Pirate Pantomime," how could you go wrong? Thursday through Saturday at the Hideout. Failing that, Absent Star and Escape From Earth (Friday at Beat Kitchen) on the male vocal side of the ledger, and Imogen Heap (Tuesday, Riviera) and Company of Thieves (Wednesday, Schubas) on the female vocal side seem like they stick out a bit from the pack.

list.in.to.COZ
There's Vaughan's on Tuesday, and then it's Diver's Third Birthday Party on Friday at Fado. If you miss that one for the holidays, but you're back by next friday, we close out the year at Cullen's on the 29th.

Recap
At times, I thought Columbian Monkey Knife Fight reminded me of Secret Machines, in that they had a certain sort of psychedelic deliberateness about them, if that doesn't sound like too much of an oxymoron. That was only on some of the slower tunes, though. Others just rocked out, and CMKF is still one of the frontrunners to be my new favorite local band.

Open Mike Night at The Globe brought out the usual suspects -- there's more of an open mike "scene" than I was ever really aware of -- and was generally a good time. More importantly, a good time walking distance from my apartment.

12.18   monday
Talent Magnet Mondays (Stadium West)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
This is the last Monday night for Dana at this venue, which will be closing its doors in the very near future.

Catfish Haven with The M's (Double Door)
I've heard more buzz and hype than music from this local band so far, and a quick rundown on Rhapsody today didn't really win me over. It's bluesy rock -- not something I'm typically into anyway -- and I haven't really dug into it enough to say anything past that.

Damien Rice with The Swell Season (The Vic)
I'm not sure if I have an inflated sense of Rice's popularity because Ed plays one of his songs at least every other week at Vaughan's, but I only made it two songs into his latest record before I felt like maybe listening to the new Tool would be more uplifting. Something about relentlessly melancholy singer/songwriters just rubs me the wrong way, maybe because I feel like any mope with a passing knowledge of minor chords on an acoustic guitar can write a depressing song.

12.19   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
Okay, so I missed the live action version of The Year Without A Santa Claus last week, but I did download an MP3 of the Heat Miser/Cold Miser song last night, so we'll see if I can add that to the repertoire by Tuesday night.

Imogen Heap with Kid Beyond, Levi Weaver (Riviera Theatre)
The most common criticism to come out of the recent Grammy nominations is that Imogen Heap, who recorded her solo debut for Almo Sounds back in 1998, is up for "Best New Artist." Personally, I want to see her wispy electronica on the road with 70s rockers Uriah Heep, just on principle.

Larry Coryell Trio (Jazz Showcase)
It's the annual, or maybe semi-annual residence from the jazz guitarist with Larry Gray and Paul Wertico on drums.

Damien Rice with The Swell Season (The Vic)
See Monday's listing.

12.20   wednesday
Company of Thieves with The Rikters, Ready Break (Schubas)
My immediate impression after dialing up this Chicago band's MySpace page was that, good god, the singer sounds a lot like Björk. Something about the way her voice breaks when she raises her pitch, because the actual music has very little in common. Give them points for a good band name, though -- it looked just familiar enough for me to look them up and then check out said MySpace page.

Open Mike (The Globe Pub)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Stolie's been doing this for just two weeks and she's already got it listed in The Reader. We've been doing Vaughan's for, what, eight years? Nothing, although Vaughan's has been running a half-page ad in Red Eye, but the Reader is where you're more likely to find people actually looking for an open mike. But I digress.

Larry Coryell Trio (Jazz Showcase)
See Tuesday's listing.

12.21   thursday
First Annual Christmas Pirate Pantomime (Hideout)
You have to admit, it gets your attention. This seems like the work of the "usual suspects" over at the Hideout -- that being Jon Langford, Kelly Hogan, Janet Bean, Tim Tuten and others -- and no, I have no idea what to expect other than Christmas, pirates and pantomime. And the early show each night is more family-friendly than the late show.

Muchacha with Ramova, The Dark Horse Project (Subterranean)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I'm pretty sure Trent is still playing drums for these guys, and if so, playing the drums really hard.

Larry Coryell Trio (Jazz Showcase)
See Tuesday's listing.

12.22   friday
Diver (Fado)   SEE COZ LIVE!
So this is the closest we've got to an anniversary show, as it was the 11th of December way back in 2003 that the band now known as Diver played our first ever four-piece electric show. If that's not worth celebrating, I'm sure you can find another reason to have yourself a well-poured pint of Guinness and at least enjoy the music.

Absent Star with Escape From Earth, Intheclear, Start Kit (Beat Kitchen)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I ran into Marshall a few weeks ago, and he gave me the lowdown on what's up with the band. I had always thought that RCA was a weird home for them, and there has been some backroom shuffling to a different imprint that means we'll have to wait a little longer for the record. In the meantime, they're still tooling around town, and I suspect the pairing with Escape From Earth will do pretty well if enough people are still in town.

Kill Hannah with Pink Spiders (Metro)
The new drummer in Matt Hoffer's band used to be in Kill Hannah, which makes them the local band with the greatest number of former drummers that I think I'm aware of, although that number is only two. If you are currently in a band with me, please don't take this as some sort of challenge.

Pelican with Lichens, Suicide Note (Subterranean)
Everything I've heard about this band puts them in the sort of trance-metal/stoner rock category populated by bands like Isis. This would be the 21 and over version of their two shows this week.

First Annual Christmas Pirate Pantomime (Hideout)
See Thursday's listing.

Larry Coryell Trio (Jazz Showcase)
See Tuesday's listing.

12.23   saturday
Your Little Ponies with My Delusion, Machine Gun Kelly, The Freewheelers, Silver Atlas (Elbo Room)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
With the Ponies up first and probably on pretty early, Elbo Room might still be able to get away with having Joey work behind the bar for the rest of the night, although I think Matt's usually there on weekends.

Silver Atlas with Farkus, Welcome to Cambridge (Martyrs')
While I guess it's possible that Silver Atlas is playing in the second slot at Elbo Room and then headlining over at Martyrs' later in the night, I have to imagine that either somebody screwed up, something has changed since Metromix got their listings, or there are two bands called Silver Atlas playing on the same night.

Pelican with Young Widows, Suicide Note (Beat Kitchen)
This is the all ages version of Friday's listing.

First Annual Christmas Pirate Pantomime (Hideout)
See Thursday's listing.

Larry Coryell Trio (Jazz Showcase)
See Tuesday's listing.

12.24   sunday
Nicholas Barron's Hyperactive (Long Room)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
History suggests that Long Room just automatically lists this show every week, irrespective of whether or not it's really going to happen, so being the night before Christmas, I'd suggest calling first.

Larry Coryell Trio (Jazz Showcase)
See Tuesday's listing.