list.in.to.chicago this week: 05.14.2007

Thanks to "Friend of Coz" Andrew Fraker for pointing out that last week's Elvis Costello show was apparently open to Visa Signature cardholders only. Actually, I think his exact words were "Coz, you ignorant sellout..."

Pick of the week
The big, obvious ones (Arcade Fire, Keane) and not-so-obvious-unless-you're-me ones (Porcupine Tree) are sold out, so if you can't finagle tickets to any of those, I'd steer you towards Jonathan Coulton (Wednesday at Schubas) and/or Reform Euphoria (Saturday at Elbo Room).

list.in.to.COZ
This week features the three-piece Diver on Friday night at Blue Bayou, along with your regularly scheduled Open Jam Tuesday night at Vaughan's, where I think the drink specials may have changed.

Recap
I probably had a good reason for not going out and seeing any music at the time, but I don't quite remember what it was. A few more of these and I might have to stop pretending I'm connected to the scene anymore.

5.14   monday
Dick Dale with The Head Cat, The Trashingtons (Double Door)
As if the surf guitar legend weren't enough, The Head Cat features Lemmy from Motorhead and Slim Jim Phantom from The Stray Cats.

Damien Rice (Civic Opera House)   SOLD OUT!
Sometimes I think we're being overrun by sensitive singer/songwriters, and then I go listen to Tool and feel better.

5.15   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
Still "80s Month" at the Open Jam, and if I had any other witty ideas to lay on top of that, I've forgotten them by now.

Kick The Cat with Waterstreet (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I'd like it if these guys would play some different night of the week, 'cause I could use a good jazz fusion infusion as much as the next guy. Probably more so.

Morrissey with Kristeen Young (Auditorium Theatre)
After his one and a half shows in the U.S. last year, including a date at the Aragon, the former Smiths frontman is back for an invariably well-dressed and well-coiffed tour. I'm just saying he looks sharp.

5.16   wednesday
Jonathan Coulton with Paul & Storm (Schubas)
Contrasting your sensitive singer/songwriter is your hyper-literate singer/songwriter, and Coulton has the goods for the latter, including what is quite possibly the best song I've ever heard about zombies. I had the good fortune of witnessing this as part of a show where Coulton provided musical accompaniment for emcee John Hodgman, who you may know as the "I'm a PC" guy from the Apple commercials.

Billy Talent with Drive By, Four Star Alarm (House of Blues)
I wonder if these quite-possibly-emo-but-I'm-not-sure kids thought of the possibility that, when confronted as to which band member is named Billy Talent, they would have to 'fess up and admit that the band, in fact, has no Talent.

5.17   thursday
Porcupine Tree (Park West)   SOLD OUT!
I have to say, after a couple of listens, I can't really hear much difference between Fear Of A Blank Planet and the UK band's previous effort, Deadwing. That said, I really liked the prog-rock-with-oomph punch of Deadwing, so while that's not necessarily a bad thing, I still would maybe have liked to hear something a little different.

Keane with Rocco DeLucca and the Burden (Riviera Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
This one kind of snuck up on me, but given how often Keane shows have been cancelled in the last year or so due to the band's singer going into rehab, you can understand why that might happen.

Air This Side Of Caution with 4th of July, Marcella (Elbo Room)
Granted, I haven't seen these guys in a while, but my sense was that they play "big," which works well at Metro or Cubby Bear, but might create a bit of a disconnect in a smaller venue. So I'd be curious if they tone it down a bit. I'm not saying that giving the occasional arena-worthy performance is a bad thing, but I've seen bands play Elbo Room like it was the United Center before, and it's just kind of weird.

5.18   friday
Diver (Blue Bayou)   SEE COZ LIVE!
We're a three-piece this time around, as Anto is off at a friend's wedding in Poland. Tony and I will each play 33% harder as a result, while Avi will overachieve at an extra 34% to make it still seem like there are four of us. Or something.

The Arcade Fire with St. Vincent (Chicago Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
I haven't given the new record the time it deserves, but after a couple of listens I get the feeling that the followup to the critically-acclaimed Funeral lives up to the hype. Obviously, a lot of fans think so, as evidenced by three sold out shows downtown.

The Greyboy Allstars with DJ Cappo (House of Blues)
For those of you who follow my main blog, you may recall that I accidentally fried my main MP3 drive. I was able to recover a chunk of songs from my iPod, but this weekend I started the painstaking process of re-ripping my CD Collection, and happened to just rip A Town Called Earth. I'm going alphabetically by album, so yeah, I've got a ways to go.

The Lincoln Squares with Digable Cat (Kinetic Playground)
I think I've said this before, but I just like the name.

Charles Mingus' Epitaph (Symphony Center)
I want to say that the late bassist and jazz composer's daughter or wife was the primary source behind this touring repertory band. I know one of the two was behind the original Epitaph record, but that was about fifteen or more years ago, so I don't really know who's driving the estate these days.

5.19   saturday
Reform Euphoria with Mole Hill, Supra Genius, Red Star Wrecking Company (Elbo Room)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I was really, really drunk the last time I saw this new project from singer Jayh Johnson, but I have a fuzzy memory of digging it. And the last time I saw Jayh was at the Chris Cornell show, just to give you some idea where he's coming from.

Sloan with Small Sins (Metro)
It's a good stretch for popular Canadian bands from the nineties, as we had Tragically Hip here last week and Sloan this week. Of course, The Arcade Fire is also Canadian, so this is starting to look like a full-scale Canuck invasion, curiously timed right around the release of a new Rush album. Coincidence?

Kings of Leon with Snowden, The Features (Riviera Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
I know there was a lot of clamor for the last record from the Nashville quartet, who toured in support of U2 for a stretch, but they never really did much for me. I think something about the name makes me think of Queens of the Stone Age, who they don't sound like, so my expectations got all messed up.

The Arcade Fire with Electrelane (Chicago Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
See Friday's listing, only with a different opener that noone really cares about.

5.20   sunday
Nicholas Barron's Hyperactive (Long Room)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I'm pretty sure that's Nicholas singing the new radio spots for Comcast Sports Net. If not, he should sue for stealing his sound.

Lounge Art Ensemble (Martyrs')
With Bob Sheppard, Dave Carpenter and Peter Erskine, I expect this to be a pretty solid modern jazz show.

The Arcade Fire with Electrelane (Chicago Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
See Friday's listing, and imagine I said something else really snarky about it.