list.in.to.chicago this week: 10.15.2007

Might as well jump.

Pick of the week
Lots and lots of good stuff this week, as we seem to hit that part of October where everyone's trying to come through town before it gets unbearably cold. No surprise that I'd recommend The New Pornographers at Metro on Thursday, and drop me a line if you're going to that one. There's also The Polyphonic Spree at the same venue on Wednesday that looks particularly entertaining. And I'm intrigued by this Bright Eyes/Andrew Bird show Friday night at the Chicago Theatre.

list.in.to.COZ
Unless you've got access to the Toyota Park Stadium Club before Sunday's Blanco versus Beckham showdown, just Vaughan's this week. And if you know anyone in or near Hoffman Estates, please tell them Diver is playing at Jersey's on November 3rd. Tell them now. I'll wait.

Recap
No band injuries to report from the Ted Leo show on Friday, although there was some hilarious banter when someone up in the front asked him how his hand -- which he cut up pretty badly at Lollapalooza when he crashed into his amp -- was doing. I still don't have the right points of reference for his music, but there was a moment in the final song of the encore where the similarities to the one Husker Du CD I own were really strong.

I went back and forth on The Eternals, and at the end of the day, I have to say good things about heavily atmospheric dub reggae when the drummer is playing in 5/8 and the whole thing is still grooving like there's no tomorrow. The half a song I caught from The A-Sides seemed to be somewhere between Boris and Team Sleep on the one hand and Band of Horses and My Morning Jacket on the other. Which is to say, a lot of reverb.

10.15   monday
Down The Line with Ryan Powers, Deanna Devore (Schubas)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
They took a week off from the residency to make way for a band in from out of town, I think, but now they're back, with Ryan Powers, formerly of Callisto and an occasional participant at Vaughan's a while back, joining on the bill.

Seether with Red, Beyond Words (House of Blues)
I haven't heard the South African grunge band in quite some time, so I don't know if they've successfully evolved from simply being the best Nirvana knock-off on the African continent. If they're still around, chances are that they have.

10.16   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
In honor of the band's reunion tour hitting Chicago, this week's theme is Van Halen. None of that Sammy Hagar crap, either, but if you want to force yourself to actually listen to Gary Cherone to learn something from the third incarnation, it's your funeral. Solo David Lee Roth is also fair game, because I said so and because Eat 'Em and Smile and Skyscraper both rank as guilty pleasures for me.

Van Halen (Allstate Arena)
I think one of my proudest moments at my current job was slipping a couple of Van Halen references into a report on paid search advertising trends. You see, Yahoo! named their new search advertising platform "Panama," and I couldn't just let that go, especially after the blank stares I'd get from co-workers who are too young to remember 1984, both the year and the album.

Blind Melon with Dusty Rhodes (Double Door)
I have more than a couple of music news feeds coming in to l.i.t.c. central, and I had no idea that Blind Melon had reunited with a new singer to replace the late Shannon Hoon. Apparently, this news broke about a year ago.

10.17   wednesday
The Polyphonic Spree with Rooney, The Redwalls (Metro)
Dammit, I got Rooney confused with Kaiser Chiefs, and was all set to comment on how funny it is that the band that released Yours Truly, Angry Mob was touring with the least angry mob in the music business. I think I took a quick listen to the new Rooney record a while ago and didn't care for it, but The Polyphonic Spree are good enough -- another Lollapalooza favorite back in town on the heels of the Ted Leo show last week -- to overlook that.

Eleventh Dream Day with Canasta, Lesser Birds of Paradise (Subterranean)
One of these days, I'm going to put together a list of local bands that have been around since I was in college. Despite that being a short list -- and one that includes indie faves Eleventh Dream Day, obviously -- that day will not be today. Tomorrow's not looking so good, either.

10.18   thursday
The New Pornographers with Emma Pollock, Benjy Ferree (Metro)
I sort of stopped listening to Rhapsody at work, so I haven't gotten to the new record from the indie pop supergroup, but I have a hunch that won't stop the songs from getting stuck in my head and not letting go when I hear them live. And I think Neko Case is actually doing this tour, too.

Van Halen (United Center)
I'm still a bit puzzled by the "tour of Chicago arenas," but maybe the Bulls preseason game on Tuesday precluded a pair of shows at the UC. And that may have also precluded scheduling just one show and adding a second when that one sold out, the net result being that tickets are still available for both. Not terribly good tickets -- upper deck on the side of the stage for Allstate, lower deck behind the stage for the United Center -- but tickets nonetheless.

The Black Crowes with Buffalo Killers (Riviera Theatre)
Either these guys have moved fully into the realm of touring without ever releasing new material, or that new material is way under the radar, because I haven't heard a peep.

Blackmore's Night (House of Blues)
Van Halen, Black Crowes and Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple/Rainbow fame all in one night? It's a dream night for guitarists who haven't bought a new record in 15 years! Granted, this is described as an Anglo-American Renaissance-inspired folk rock band -- can you read that description and not immediately think of Jethro Tull? -- but whatever.

Waco Brothers with Lu Edmonds (Abbey Pub)
I've been trying to figure out the tangible differences between The Mekons and The Waco Brothers for years now. I think it's that the Waco Brothers have no chicks in the band and wear cowboy hats.

10.19   friday
Bright Eyes with Andrew Bird (Chicago Theatre)
I'm a little surprised that I didn't actually know about this show until I saw it in the week's event listings. Conor Oberst and Andrew Bird are both considered to be exceptional songwriters by a lot of people, but they might be odd men out with all the other high-demand shows going on.

Henry Rollins (The Vic)
Having watched his IFC talk show pretty regularly, and been to two Rollins spoken word shows in the last three or four years, I'm sitting this one out. But if you haven't seen him, it's worth it, as the man can go on a tangent like no one you've ever seen. And the point is not to be funny, and the point may not even be to be insightful. It's just to tell stories, which is pretty cool in its own right.

Project/Object with Uz Jzeme Doma (Martyrs')
Now that Dweezil is planning to do his Zappa Plays Zappa tours on an annual basis, these frequent visits from the New York purveyors of Zappa material seem a little less essential. I may go anyway, but I feel like they play the material from the outside in, while Dweezil's band played it more from the inside out, if that makes any sense.

Al Green with Leroy Bell and his Only Friends (House of Blues)
I swear there was just an Onion headline to the effect of "In Attempt To Salvage Date, Area Man plays Al Green Song Louder," or something like that, but I can't find it now.

Nada Surf with The Little Ones (Schubas)   SOLD OUT!
I don't think the band has been in town since last year's Lollapalooza, which also featured an evening show at Metro with the Frames if I remember correctly. So given the two big stages just over a year ago, selling out the much smaller Schubas isn't much of a surprise.

The New Pornographers with Emma Pollock, Benjy Ferree (Metro)   SOLD OUT!
See Thursday's listing. And Thursday's show, 'cause this one is sold out.

10.20   saturday
Fall Out Boy with Gym Class Heroes, Plain White T's, Cute Is What We Aim For (Allstate Arena)
Have we reached Pete Wentz overload? Does anyone still care about these guys? And what other Simpsons-related band names can we come up with? Radioactive Man is obvious. I like See Montgomery. Mister Plow. Is there are trick to finding one that Matt Groening and company haven't copyrighted? Feel free to make more suggestions in the comments.

Escape From Earth with Under Dover, Carrie Lydon (Elbo Room)
I was wondering what had happened to these guys.

Project/Object with Uz Jzeme Doma (Martyrs')
Nada Surf with Sea Wolf (Schubas)   SOLD OUT!
Al Green with Leroy Bell and his Only Friends (House of Blues)
See Friday's listing.

10.21   sunday
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (United Center)
I completely forgot to try to get tickets for this one, and I really don't feel like watching from the rafters. So if you've got an extra, I may be interested, which would mean seeing David Beckham and Bruce Springsteen in the same day, not that they have anything to do with each other. Just that they're both iconic.

Acumen Nation with Cyanotic, DJ Acucrack (Double Door)
See the comment about local bands that have been around for a long, long time above. Although this hard rock outfit might not go all the way back to my college years. That's a lot to expect out of a band, let's face it.