list.in.to.chicago this week: 01.05.2009

If you had half as much fun as I did on New Year's Eve, then I feel very, very sorry for you, because mine sorta sucked. Who would have thought that being by yourself in a loud room full of strangers listening to a band that you're merely curious about wouldn't work out when the clock struck midnight? Oops.

Oh, and resolve to tell your friends about list.in.to.chicago in 2009!

Pick of the week
Obviously, you've got Buddy Guy at Legends Thursday through Sunday every week this month, and there's Helicopters on Tuesday at Empty Bottle, although not if you can only make one weeknight show per week.

list.in.to.COZ
In the event that you can, in fact, only make one weeknight show per week, might I interest you in Andrew Fraker & Sons at Schubas on Wednesday?

Recap
So, three or four things may have been fundamentally wrong with the Local H show on New Year's Eve. First, Office canceled, and they were the only band I had seen before, and knew for sure that I would enjoy. Second, having had a good time about four or five years ago when I went to a rock show by myself doesn't mean that will always be the case. Third, it would seem that Newcastle Brown Ale makes me angry and/or contemplative. And finally, if you're going to see a loud, visceral rock band like Local H, you probably shouldn't listen to Peter Gabriel-era Genesis all day. It puts you in entirely the wrong headspace.

All that said, I probably liked Big Science -- the band I knew the least about going in -- the best. Good guitar tones, and all the chorus and reverb reminded me of The Cure. Sybris initially struck me as what would happen if Ani DiFranco fronted a shoegazer band, which I then realized also sounds like The Cure. Local H did not sound like The Cure, and definitely brought the rock, much to the delight of the one large man who seemed oblivious to the fact that no one other than him was moshing. I noticed that Scott Lucas' vocal melodies seem much more varied and mature on what I'm assuming was the newer material.

In other news, one l.i.t.c. operative called Thursday's Hum show at Double Door, among other effusive descriptions, "scary good."

1.05   monday
Patricia Barber Quartet (Green Mill)
Start a new year with an old standby. I'm not saying Barber is old, just that she's been playing Mondays in Uptown for a lot of years.

Satanized with Jeff Brown Duplex (Empty Bottle)
I'm guessing, what, a country band?

1.06   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
I may have been too hasty to proclaim that I was taking January off, as I remembered that a certain singer is going to be out of town getting hitched for some of this month, which means I actually get paid if I show up while he's gone.

Helicopters with The New Monarchs, I, Colossus (Empty Bottle)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Uh-oh. Dave's playing Tuesday and I'm playing Wednesday. Which show will our co-workers actually show up for? Probably this one. I couldn't even get people from my office to see Diver when we played a company event over the summer, as the weather was nice and there was an outdoor patio at said event. Sigh.

Kevin O'Donnell's Epiphany Spectacular (Martyrs')
This marks the first time I saw someone on Facebook say they were attending a show -- this time from longtime Chicago drummer O'Donnell -- then saw it in the listings and saw fit to comment. Ain't technology grand?

1.07   wednesday
Andrew Fraker & Sons with Weber Band, Beckon Q, Leslie Hunt (Schubas)   SEE COZ LIVE!
I think this is the first show from this band where we didn't try to come up with a new song in a rehearsal and a half. And my understanding is that we'll be done around 11:30, for those of you who don't want to be up past midnight on a school night. For those of you that don't want to be up past, say, 10pm on a school night, that's what coffee is for.

1.08   thursday
The Rikters with Beckon Q, Leslie Hunt (Reggie's Rock Club)
Now that I actually went back and figured out how these guys got on my radar, I sort of want to check them out, although probably not the night after I've got a weeknight gig.

Buddy Guy with Ronnie Baker Brooks (Buddy Guy's Legends)
The annual January residency kicks off. I may actually try to make one of these this year.

Air This Side of Caution with Biltmores, Buddy Nuisance, Jeffrey David (Double Door)a
Sort of a new wave of Chicago mainstays on this bill, as at least Air This Side of Caution and Buddy Nuisance have been plugging away for years now.

1.09   friday
The Fray with Vedera (Metro)   SOLD OUT!
This show will be taking place on the west side of Clark Street, despite all of the music being middle of the road. And I totally stole that joke from the Craig Kilborn-era Daily Show.

Buddy Guy with Brother John (Buddy Guy's Legends)   SOLD OUT!
And with the annual January residency comes the annual lack of tickets for the weekend dates.

Mucca Pazza with Coltrane Motion, Arctic Circle (Empty Bottle)
Half of the appeal of this show, it must be said, is seeing how they fit a 15- or 20-piece "hipster marching band" on stage.

1.10   saturday
Vulgar Boatmen with Judson Claiborne (Schubas)
This is, what, two shows in the last year? I think this may be another case of a band that went on indefinite hiatus as members settled down, only to revive themselves once their kids reached a certain age. I remember seeing this band at Schubas almost twenty years ago, when they showed up late because they were in that part of Indiana that didn't change to (or maybe from) Daylight Savings Time. I'm pretty sure they were on a bill with The Drovers.

Buddy Guy with NuBlue Band (Buddy Guy's Legends)   SOLD OUT!
See Friday's listing.

1.11   sunday
Buddy Guy with Big James and the Chicago Playboys (Buddy Guy's Legends)
Suffice it to say, Thursdays and Sundays are your best bets if you want to see the blues legend in his own club this month.