list.in.to.chicago this week: 02.05.2007

I normally try not to bitch about the weather, seeing as how I chose to live in Chicago, but it's also normally not 9 below at O'Hare as I make my way into work. Yow.

Pick of the week
Thursday night is a good night for local music, with NYCO at Schubas and The Ladies and Gentlemen at Double Door. If you can manage Incubus tickets (Tuesday, Riviera Theatre), by all means, go. The cool kids will probably be at Lily Allen on Thursday (Metro).

list.in.to.COZ
Just Vaughan's on Tuesday. The next full band show is actually going to by my Monty Python Birthday Gig with Diver at Blue Bayou on March 2nd, the day after said birthday. Why Monty Python? "I'm not old, I'm 37!"

Recap
Anto doesn't know what he's missing when we play these trio gigs out in the 'burbs. Diver was treated to a thirty-something gentleman, dressed in black and somewhat inebriated (to say the least), performing some sort of interpretive dance to "Chasing Cars" from Snow Patrol. I can't make this stuff up, and words don't do it justice. Also, there were actual Navy divers in the audience. If only there was an Air Force Base nearby, we could have had divers and wingmen.

2.05   monday
The 1900s with Cracklin' Moth, 2% Majesty (Schubas)
Another month, another month-long "Practice Space" residency, this time with the 1900s, whose name I've seen about, but -- say it along with me -- I haven't ever heard.

2.06   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
Okay, we were going to play songs from 1985 or 2006 if the Bears won, but we all know how that turned out. So it's just songs that were released or hit the charts in '85, as we cling to that last Super Bowl Championship for at least one more year.

Incubus with Albert Hammond, Jr. (Riviera Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
I'm getting the feeling that every other Incubus album is good, and Light Grenades, while it has it's moments, seems to be the ebb and not the flow. That said, I would still recommend the band -- if tickets were actually available -- based on the strength of their previous effort, and I've heard the live show is really good. They were solid when I saw them open for Primus a long, long time ago.

Kick The Cat with Renegades, ESW (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Knowing that both Kick The Cat and Renegades -- who are nominally the headliners here -- are in the jazz fusion mold, I'm guessing that E, S and W are the first letters of the last names of the guys in the band. Just a hunch.

2.07   wednesday
Tributosaurus (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
This month it's both a tribute and a memorial of sorts, as they'll become James Brown for a night. Presumably James Brown while he was still alive. No word whether his body, which is still in cold storage while various factions argue over it, might make an appearance.

Talib Kweli with Rhythm Roots All-Stars, Tone B Nimble (Metro)
Kweli's name gets mentioned alongside Mos Def quite a bit, and that's good enough for me.

2.08   thursday
Tinwhisker with Swamphouse, Hoyne (Elbo Room)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
This is a new project from longtime friend of Coz (and of URT) Scottish McMillan, which looks like a duo pairing his hyperkinetic, percussive guitar with a drummer.

Lily Allen (Metro)
Lots and lots of hype for this UK export, and her debut was finally released in the States a week or two ago. I haven't had a chance to check it out yet.

NYCO with Mike Gallagher, Why Make Clocks? (Schubas)
I'll try to catch a full set from these guys sooner rather than later. Everything I've heard so far has been good, so they're certainly still in the running to be my new favorite local band.

The Ladies and Gentlemen with The Reptoids, Farewell Captain, The Passerines (Double Door)
Of course, they would have to unseat The Ladies and Gentlemen, who current hold the pole position in that particular race. This is the second bill "CTRL-ALT-ROCK" show curated by Chicagoist.com, which means that everyone there will awkwardly refer to themselves in the third person plural.

War (House of Blues)
One of the warhorses, pun definitely intended, of funk and R&B, War seems to keep on keepin' on without the circus sideshow vibe that follows George Clinton wherever he goes.

2.09   friday
Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band (Rosa's)
I saw Taylor once on campus way back when I was in college, and it's a terrible, terrible thing that I haven't ever made it out to "Chicago's Friendliest Blues Lounge" way west on Armitage to see him since.

Blue October (Metro)   SOLD OUT!
I thought I had seen this band at Schubas a year and a half ago or so, but I can find no mention of them in the archives. Somebody clearly likes them, though.

Grizzly Bear with Dirty Projectors, Mittens On Strings (Subterranean)
The name seems familiar. I quick poke around the Internet yields that this Brooklyn band with a Chicago connection may be cut of the same cloth as Sigur Ros and Sufjan Stevens, so it's probably pretty heavy on the orchestration.

2.10   saturday
Bicycle Tricycle with Sam Saunders, The Wiitala Brothers, Rue Royale (Red Line Tap)
Haven't seen this band listed in a while, and haven't seen a band that typically lives in the Elbo Room/Double Door circuit at Red Line Tap.

Everclear with Jonny Lives!, God or Julie, Neon Culpa (House Of Blues)
For as long as I live, I will confuse Everclear with the Offspring. Then again, I have the same problem with the names Mike and Dave.

This Is Me Smiling with The New Amsterdams, For All The Sweet Children (Subterranean)
I still have memories of Joe Jackson-esque borderling proggy-piano goodness from these guys.

The Shins (Congress Theatre)
Sorry Natalie Portman. I just don't get the appeal. I believe the rock critic term for the vocals is "plaintive," but the better description may be "whiny."

Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band (Rosa's)
See Friday's listing.

2.11   sunday
Nicholas Barron's Hyperactive (Long Room)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
My apologies if you turned out last night after that unfortunate little football game, as I think Nicholas and the band took the night off. I'm pretty sure they'll be on again this week.

Steel Pulse with Chicago Afrobeat Project (House of Blues)
I forget if this was the reggae band that rented my drums for a U of C gig. I'm pretty sure we had them on campus for a show once -- apparently I'm nostalgic for my college days this week -- but I think I'm confusing them with someone else.