list.in.to.chicago this week: 05.07.2007

This weekend -- particularly Saturday night -- looks like an indie rock fan's dream.

Pick of the week
Even though it's not his real name, I feel honor-bound to strongly recommend Elvis Costello and the Imposters this Wednesday at House of Blues. And despite not knowing a thing about them, I'm curious about the Jeff Coffin Mu'tet on Friday and Saturday on HOB's Back Porch Stage. Mastodon and Cursive on Saturday at the Riviera is another particularly good-looking show.

list.in.to.COZ
Just Vaughan's this week. Diver is up again next Friday at Blue Bayou, although I think that's just a trio show.

Recap
Still fighting the cold, and increasingly fighting getting old, so not much to report this week. Friday's Diver show featured some sort of Mormon reunion, lots of cigars, a table full of Kiwis and a late-arriving bachelorette party that got the room moving in the third set.

5.07   monday
Cornelius with Holy Fuck (Park West)
Got an unequivocal "go see this band!" e-mail from a former bandmate on the west coast, and I think I've heard other good things about the Japanese avant-indie-whatever. But I'm traditionally terrible about Monday night shows, especially when I'm emotionally invested in seeing if the Bulls can bounce back from that embarassment on Saturday night.

Sugarcult with The Secret Handshake, 1997, Of the Opera (Metro)
Okay, the carbon copy punk-pop crap has just got to stop.

5.08   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
Okay, so we decided offlist to junk the "diseases of the band" motif last week because we had previously named May "eighties month." Extra points if you come out wearing parachute pants or a Members Only jacket. For some additional theme-y goodness, celebrate Queen Elizabeth's visit to the United States by playing songs about queens and other royalty or by Queen (and, I guess, Prince) from that decade.

Arctic Monkeys (Riviera Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
I'm digging the new record from England's favorite bratty sensations. I'm guessing that there's no opening band for this early show because the band members are young enough that they have a curfew enforced by their parents. Although maybe they just don't have an announced opener, but I like my idea better.

Peter, Björn and John with Au Revoir Simone, Fujiya and Miyagi (Empty Bottle)
The Swedish pop group seems to have it's name everywhere these days, or maybe I'm seeing lots of IKEA ads. One or the other. It's actually two shows, with Au Revoir Simone opening the first and Fujiya and Miyagi kicking off the second.

5.09   wednesday
Elvis Costello and the Imposters (House of Blues)
The former Declan MacManus is nominally supporting two new compilations that came out last week as part of the latest reissues of his earlier work. Which never means he's going to play any of these songs the way they were recorded some twenty years ago, which is one of the things I've come to like about my pseudo-namesake.

Michael Penn with The Last Town Chorus (Schubas)
Two shows from the singer/songwriter husband of singer/songwriter Aimee Mann and brother of actor Sean and director Chris.

5.10   thursday
Velvet Revolver with The Actual (Riviera Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
It's hard for me to gauge how successful this band is, really, because the radio station most likely to play them -- the Loop -- never seems to play anything released after roughly 1992, except for some occasional Pearl Jam. They may finally get some competition from former bandmate Axl Rose, as the title track from the ten-years-in-the-making Chinese Democracy leaked out onto the Internet over the weekend.

Soma Star with Socialite Fiasco, Casey McCauley (Wise Fools Pub)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
They're taking a break from recording to play in front of people who don't just say "that was great, could we do another take?" when they finish.

The Killers with The Red Romance (Sears Centre, Hoffman Estates)
I would be curious to see a show at the new venue out where Poplar Creek used to be. It's pretty much a nicer version of the UIC Pavilion. With beer.

Angelcorpse with Watain, Nachtmystium, Cianide, Kommandant (Empty Bottle)
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this is a metal show.

Eddie Money (House of Blues)
Okay, along with the other miscellaneous eighties ideas for Vaughan's this week, I may have to take a crack at either "Shakin'" or "I Think I'm In Love." Because "Two Tickets To Paradise" is just too obvious.

5.11   friday
Fishbone with The Expedibles, Supervillains (The Pearl Room, Mokena)
I have no idea where Mokena is, but it's the only area appearance from the ska-funk-rock stylings of whatever is left of Fishbone. I know singer Angelo Moore is still there, and maybe John Norwood Fisher on bass, but any further resemblance to the band that put out those great records in the early 90s is purely coincidental.

Jeff Coffin Mu'tet (House of Blues Back Porch Stage)
I have no idea what this is all about, other than the fact that the ensemble includes Futureman from the Flecktones and Jaco Pastorius' son Felix. That's enough to pique my interest.

Brandi Carlile with Cary Brothers (Schubas)   SOLD OUT!
Three sold out shows at the intimate Lakeview venue should come as no surprise given this is another artist who has been featured on Grey's Anatomy.

The Tragically Hip with Winter Sleep (House of Blues)   SOLD OUT!
Remember when Peter Margasak of The Reader pissed off nearly all of Canada by slagging the Hip? Good times.

Fareed Haque's Flat Earth Ensemble (Green Mill)
I've said a million times that Haque is one of my favorite jazz guitarists. Don't know who he's got in tow this time around, but it's probably going to be good.

Tributosaurus (Park West)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
The Park West shows are always reprises of earlier incarnations, this time as Pink Floyd.

5.12   saturday
Mastodon with Cursive, Against Me!, Planes Mistaken For Stars (Riviera Theatre)
It's too easy to call them heavy metal heavyweights, isn't it? You know, 'cause mastodons were very big? Anyway, this band is arguably the best thing to happen to heavy metal in some time, and Cursive put on what I thought was a good show at Lollapalooza last year, although it wasn't one I could necessarily see working alongside Mastodon.

Björk (Auditorium Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
I can think of very few artists who have been able to "get away" with the kind of individualism that the Icelandic singer has. She's one of the biggest artists I know of who has been able to avoid compromises in order to be more palatable to the mainstream, and that's quite a high compliment.

Tapes n' Tapes with Ladyhawk, Harlem Shakes (Abbey Pub)
This Minneapolis band was very heavily hyped going into last year's Pitchfork Festival, but they really didn't do a damn thing for me.

The Ponys with Times New Viking, Screaming Yellow Zonkers (Subterranean)
Another indie rock critical darling. You can't swing a hipster's cat without hitting one this week, and I even left out CocoRosie and Don Caballero, although the latter's not quite as well-regarded as they were, say, ten years ago when I saw them at Fireside Bowl.

The Tragically Hip with Winter Sleep (House of Blues)
See Friday's listing, only with tickets allegedly still available.

Brandi Carlile with Cary Brothers (Schubas)   SOLD OUT!
See Friday's listing.

Jeff Coffin Mu'tet (House of Blues Back Porch Stage)
See Friday's Listing.

Fareed Haque's Flat Earth Ensemble (Green Mill)
See Friday's listing.

5.13   sunday
Hellogoodbye with The Hush Sound, Boys Like Girls, Rocket Summer (Congress Theatre)
To their credit, this band, while being described as "punk-pop from Southern California," tries to mix things up with electronic textures. To their detriment, they seem to be trying way too hard to land a Volkswagen commercial with the opening verse of "Here In Your Arms." The textures aren't quite enough to save the lousy songwriting.

Regina Spektor with Only Son (Riviera Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
This is the exact point where I can't summon the motivation to research exactly why this "anti-folk" Russian-born singer/songwriter who opened for the Strokes is so popular...

Brandi Carlile with Cary Brothers (Schubas)   SOLD OUT!
See Friday's listing.