list.in.to.chicago this week: 03.09.2009

You can have your green beer. I'll take the Guinness.

Pick of the week
The obvious choices -- for me -- bookend the week. Tonight you've got Joe's Garage, as in the Zappa opus, performed in its entirety (I think) at Martyr's, and Sunday's California Guitar Trio show in Evanston is looking really appealing.

list.in.to.COZ
It's almost St. Patrick's Day, which means Diver at Fado on Saturday. There will probably be a line to get in from some point in the day, so plan accordingly. And I'm still accepting birthday wishes at Vaughan's on Tuesday night.

Recap
Nothing to report. Between the rain and the immense backlog of TiVo stuff once I finally got back to Chicago on Wednesday, I didn't go out much.

3.09   monday
Joe's Garage with The Renegades (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that since joining Maggie Speaks, guitarist Chris Siebold has been in a better position to take on challenging gigs that might not do as much to pay the rent. I could be wrong, but either way, he's helped put together a full-on staging of Frank Zappa's classic Joe's Garage. I believe this is the second performance after they debuted at Reggie's a few weeks ago.

3.10   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
Since last week's little pseudo-birthday soiree got scuttled, this is now the closest we're going to get to actually celebrating my not-quite-fortiness. Fortitude?

Kick The Cat with Gunnelpumpers (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I saw a bunch of enthusiastic Facebook updates from these guys about getting the local fusion quartet back together. Plus, Siebold probably gets to leave his gear set up from the Zappa thing the night before.

3.11   wednesday
Women with Volcano!, Thin Hymns (Bottom Lounge)
I got nuthin', other than to say I'd like to say hi to this band, so that I can describe my evening as "going to meet Women at the Bottom Lounge." I give it even odds that this was part of the point of the band name, in the hopes of getting on a bill with those classic bands "Free Beer" and "No Cover."

3.12   thursday
Maserati with Headlights, Pomegranates, Oceans (Empty Bottle)
If you're on board with the groundswell around Explosions in the Sky, you'll probably like these guys, as they're very much in that same atmospheric, instrumental post-rock vein. At least they were last time I checked.

Dear and the Headlights with Yourself and the Air, Reubens Accomplice, Miniature Tigers, Truman and His Trophy (Reggie's Rock Club)
I caught just enough of this band a few years ago at Lolla to be at least vaguely interested in seeing them again. I'm not sure if "vaguely interested" translates to "south of the Loop on a Thursday."

Ours with Waterstreet, Metrovox, The Atlantic Divide (Bottom Lounge)
Again, the whole "was a roadie for Jeff Buckley" thing is apparently an urban legend, but an easy one to make, as at least Ours' early stuff was very reminiscent of the late singer/songwriter.

The Rikters with Lyon and the Notary, The Silent Years, Northpilot (Subterranean)
I've been meaning to check this band out ever since stumbling across their bio on Schubas' website, as they had a couple of intriguing influences.

Nickelback with Seether, Saving Abel (Allstate Arena)
So, I'm dipping a toe in the waters of Match.com these days, and I've decided to take a strict, rules-based approach to my interest level, based on the contents of people's profile. They absolutely have to mention live music outside of just checking the "concerts" box in their interests. However, there has to be some quality control. Disqualification for any mention of Nickelback is a good start, and I've already had to use that once. Also, reality TV tends to get you bounced.

Thursday with Four Year Strong, Bring Me The Horizon, Pierce The Veil, Cancer Bats (The Vic)
Moved from the Aragon. They overestimated their audience by a lot. Ouch.

MM/DD/YYYY with They Found Me, They Named Me, Blueberry Fist (Beat Kitchen)
Would have been much cooler had they played with Thursday.

3.13   friday
The Soundtrack of Our Lives with Outrageous Cherry, Pink Devils (Double Door)
I think these Swedes are nominally psychedelic rock, and I remember some people being very into them back in the early part of this decade, when they were selling out Metro. Haven't checked out their new album yet, but it's on my list.

Larry Gray Trio (Green Mill)
It's a CD release party for the local jazz bassist, accompanied by John Moulder on guitar and Ernie Adams on drums.

The Whigs with Dead Confederate, Trances Arc (Bottom Lounge)
"Garage-rock revival" from Athens, GA, and I seem to recall a fair amount of buzz whenever they've come through town. I'm totally getting them confused with a newer British band, except now I can't remember who they are, either. Not The Cribs, because it was someone I didn't think sucked.

Shemekia Copeland (Old Town School of Folk Music)
The Lincoln Square school and theater has an impressive run of shows coming this spring, and the powerful blueswoman is just the tip of that proverbial iceberg.

STS9 with Pretty Lights (Congress Theater)
Okay, that's almost as good a pairing as Ratt and Poison back in the day.

3.14   saturday
DIVER (Fado)   SEE COZ LIVE!
Another St. Patrick's Day weekend, another Diver show at Fado. I thought this was the day of the South Side Irish Parade, which would take it up about twelve more notches, but it's just the downtown parade and ceremonial greening of the river. So there's still a lot of potential for general debauchery, as long as you keep it away from the stage.

Cut Off Your Hands with Jai Alai Savant, Coupleskate (Hideout)
Saw this Aussie band when I was in London, and they were one of many bands I've seen lately where the frontman has a floor tom next to his microphone stand in order to pound out some support for the drummer. The sound was such that I thought they were from England when I saw them there, maybe just a bit more mainstream than the bratty post-punk stuff.

Chairlift with Yacht, Via Audio (Schubas)
Atmospheric electropop from Brooklyn, as heard on some iPod commercial. They were pretty entertaining when I saw them open for Yeasayer. Via Audio is also a band I've been meaning to see, as I feel like I perk up and wonder who they are every time the one track on my iPod comes up on the shuffle.

The Tossers with Lord Mike's Dirty Calypsonians (Metro)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I still see "Lord Mike" at Fire games every once in a while, which is appropriate this week at the MLS season kicks off. As for The Tossers, sort of an obvious choice for this particular holiday.

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy with Begushkin (The Vic)
I only really know him from a handful of covers he did with Tortoise, but I hear good things among those who like weird shit.

3.15   sunday
California Guitar Trio with Andreas Kapsalis and Goran Ivanovic Guitar Duo (SPACE, Evanston)
These guys run the gamut from classical music to instrumental versions of rock tunes to Frippian interlocking compositions, and are responsible for a song called "Punta Patri" that is quite simply one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard.