list.in.to.chicago this week: 07.02.2007

Hey America, what did you get me for your birthday? This is the Colbert Rep...wait, that's not it.

Pick of the week
Would recommending The Police (Thursday and Friday, Wrigley Field) be too obvious? Or expose how much older I am than my readers? On that second point, I'm not sure giving the thumbs-up to Asia (Thursday, House of Blues) or Cheap Trick (Saturday, Petrillo Music Shell) digs me out of that hole, but so be it. If you want younger and hipper, tickets are still available for that second Ours show (Saturday and Sunday, Schubas), as near as I can tell.

list.in.to.COZ
It's been a slower summer than last year, which should ostensibly give you more reason to come see Diver at Blue Bayou on Friday, seeing as how you can't catch us at every other street festival this year.

Recap
Since I didn't go see any shows this week, I could use this space to point out how certain people told me they were going out on Friday night, then totally bailed on me. But I won't.

7.02   monday
Patricia Barber Quartet (Green Mill)
Not much going on tonight, so we'll go with an old standby of quality jazz.

7.03   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
Obvious topics for song choices include anything from The Police, anything from Kansas' Song For America record, "Born On The Bayou" from Creedence ("And I can remember the fourth of July...") or the one I may try to tackle, "Fourth of July" from Soundgarden.

7.04   wednesday
John Mayer with Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Rodrigo y Gabriela (Petrillo Music Shell)
If nothing else, it's a good value for the money. And Robert Randolph is one of the most relentlessly upbeat artists I've heard in a long time. The weather might not cooperate, though.

The Mooney Suzuki with The Dark Romantics, M.O.T.O. (Subterranean)
I haven't quite made the leap from absolutely loving "Alive and Amplified" from this band to actually listening to a whole record, but damn, is that an infectious tune.

7.05   thursday
The Police with Fiction Plane (Wrigley Field)   SOLD OUT!
Reviews of the shows so far have been hit or miss, but I think that reflects as much about the reviewer as it does about the show. Except maybe for the one show that Stewart Copeland slammed early on. I'll be curious to see if the instrumental sections are as long as they were at Bonnaroo, as I got the feeling they were trying to stretch just a tiny bit given the jam-band origins of that festival.

Asia (House of Blues)
I have to be honest here. I'm just a little sad that going to see The Police means not getting to see Asia with all four original members.

Dizastro with Polydream, Robot love Story, Antioch Secret Society, McGrath Band (Elbo Room)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
This band is fronted by a guy who used to come over to Vaughan's on occasion. If memory serves, it's a hard rock thing, but the tunes sounded pretty good stripped down and acoustic.

7.06   friday
Diver (Blue Bayou)   SEE COZ LIVE!
Okay, reports that this was going to be a three-man acoustic show were unfounded. Actually, they were founded, then they changed. So it will be a regular, fully-plugged in show.

The Police with Fiction Plane (Wrigley Field)   SOLD OUT!
Also, Jim DeRogatis has already started talking shit about these shows and this tour in the Sun-Times, which was totally predictable. I don't think it's necessarily incumbent upon musicians in their 50s -- and in the case of Andy Summers, in their 60s -- to have to constantly be reinventing and proving themselves. At some point, they're entitled to do whatever the hell they want, and if that's a tour heavy on nostalgia that doesn't line up with some critic's expectations, then so be it.

The Effigies with Shot Baker, Muchacha, Vortis (Double Door)
Of course, if you want to go see Jim DeRogatis play drums instead of Stewart Copeland, his punk band Vortis -- which could be described as either paying homage or stealing shamelessly from the late 70s punk era, depending on your point of view -- is on a bill halfway across town.

Martin Zellar with Chloe Day (Schubas)
The big daddy of the Gear Daddies is in town. No word as to whether or not he's here to see his home-state Twins take on the Sox, and just happened to book a gig while he was at it.

The Black Crowes with Umphrey's McGee (Petrillo Music Shell)
In the event that you went to Bonnaroo and already miss the hippies, this free show might give you your fix. While neither band played the festival this year, they're of a piece with the overall vibe, to say the least.

7.07   saturday
Cheap Trick with Soul Asylum, Cracker (Petrillo Music Shell)
Of the free Taste of Chicago shows this year, I think I like this one the best. No word as to whether or not Soul Asylum will be getting some quality bocce time in while they're here, as they laid claim at one point to being the second-best bocce-playing rock band from Minneapolis, behind Trip Shakespeare.

Peven Everett (Morseland)
Some ten years ago, Everett was one of Nicholas Barron's main creative foils in Swimmer. Since then, he's carved out a name for himself as a solo artist -- I've found one biography that credits him with helping usher in the UK garage scene that jives with something I read a while back about him being a big player in house music in Europe. A myspace profile has him located back in Chicago these days, but this is the first time I've seen him listed anywhere recently.

Ours with April Bauer, Blue Hippopotamus (Schubas)   SOLD OUT!
When I first heard of Ours, it was with the context that frontman and principal songwriter Jimmy Gnecco had been Jeff Buckley's guitar tech. Wikipedia tells me that is not true, and that Gnecco sings a Big Country tune in a Kohl's commercial.

The Last Fast Action with Bottle of Justus, Autovaughn (Double Door)
I can't help but think this is some sort of remnant of Triple Fast Action, although I'm probably wrong.

Bump with Kinetix (Martyrs')
I can't help but think this is some abbreviated version of Bumpus, and I'm probably wrong here, too.

Oteil and the Peacemakers with No Mercy Band (House of Blues Back Porch Stage)
I still want Oteil and the Peacemakers to tour with Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. Would they argue about who are the real peacemakers, or would their propensity to argue be how you would tell?

7.08   sunday
Dave Matthews Band (Toyota Park)
It had originally been rumored that Dave Matthews would be the concert at Wrigley Field, but that his wife was expecting about the same time, so he couldn't commit to the gig. I don't know what to make of the fact that he ended up playing the same weekend. Personally, I'd wait for the Alpine Valley show when The Roots are also on the bill, but I'm still curious to see Toyota Park as a concert venue.

Ours with April Bauer, Blue Hippopotamus (Schubas)
See Saturday's listing.