list.in.to.chicago this week: 08.03.2009

I'm skipping Lollapalooza for the first time since it became a Chicago destination festival. This should not be taken as some sort of reflection of my advancing age, except that I'm old enough that I've seen quite a lot of these bands already.

Pick of the week
If you're not seeing them at Lollapalooza, then I'd say TV On The Radio and Chairlift at Double Door on Friday if there are, in fact, tickets remaining. If not, I keep hearing good things about Lykke Li, who will be at Bottom Lounge that same night.

list.in.to.COZ
Finally, a week with no gigs at Fado! Still, you've got Diver on Wednesday afternoon at Washington and Franklin, and then Sugarbeat on Saturday night at Cullen's. And, of course, Vaughan's on Tuesday.

Recap
I may have just been cranky from lack of human contact, or maybe my expectations were too high, but I felt somewhat let down by the performance of Joe's Garage on Monday night. Specifically, I thought the drummer and the vocalist handling the Central Scrutinizer role -- which are the two parts I might play if I were involved in a project like this -- didn't respect the source material enough. Still, live Zappa should be encouraged, so I'm willing to chalk that up to a momentary surge in ego. And I don't think I've ever seen Chris Siebold as content as he was while he was playing the rhythm guitar riff in 19/8 under the guitar solo on "Keep It Greasey."

Last night's EXO show made me selfishly hope that playing electric for only the second time since we lost Doug would spur the band into more than one show per year, but I guess I can probably live with the annual benefit. They sounded just as great as they did five years ago. Regal Standard is now a trio, with Jason Narducy having left the band, but Larry has picked up the slack despite his dopey hat. I kid Larry, but he did once drunkenly tell me I'd be a better drummer if I had cooler hair, so I feel I'm entitled. And some of the newer Absentstar material sounded a bit more engaging, instrumentally, which helped offset their singer, who is technically very good, but still, to me ears, lacks personality in his vocal delivery. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that he may have started out in more formal settings like high school choir or maybe musical theater. I just want the guy to scream once in a while.

8.03   monday
Tori Amos with One Eskimo (Chicago Theatre)
I probably should have gotten tickets for this one, as Tori Amos is one of those performers whose onstage intensity has been extolled ever since she broke on the scene some fifteen or so years ago.

Pete Yorn with Zee Avi (Park West)
The singer/songwriter has some good songs, but can be a bit laconic at times, and his Lollapalooza set a couple of years ago was bordering on sleepy. Coincidentally, a friend of mine just posted a Facebook status update praising the new single from opening act Zee Avi.

8.04   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
Rumor has it the Free Winona kids are going to be dropping by again, and there may be yet another round of goodbyes for Rory as well. As for me, I may just stick with songs I already know how to sing, or maybe some tunes I've added and then never revisited, instead of muddling through old Genesis songs that are way outside my vocal range.

Pete Yorn with Zee Avi (Park West)
See Monday's listing.

8.05   wednesday
DIVER (225 West Washington)   SEE COZ LIVE!
This is a free lunchtime gig, so if you're in and around the Northwest "quadrant" of the Loop, come on over. We're on from 11am to 1pm or so, playing all your favorite songs, provided that your favorite songs are from the likes of Oasis, Travis and The Verve.

ZO2 with The Trews, Gooey (Schubas)
If this name sounds vaguely familiar, it's because they're the rock band on the IFC original series "Z Rock", which is about a New York-based hard rock trio who helps pay the bills by playing children's music. And Gooey probably boasts the highest number of former members that I'm friends with, including Diver's most recent pinch-hitting bass player.

Tributosaurus (Martyrs')
It was probably inevitable that the band would pay tribute to Michael Jackson this month. Early show is sold out, but it looks like there are still tickets for the late show.

8.06   thursday
Kelly Steward with Bottom of the Lake, Jeff Randall and the Sunday Best, Raining and OK, Adam Gehle Group (Elbo Room)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I'm looking forward to seeing Kelly with a full band, but I'm not crazy about this sprawling slate of bands that looks like it's all over the place, stylistically. Elbo Room has been doing this for a couple of years now, and I guess it's working out for them, but it appears the goal is to maximize the number of friends of band members coming out on a given night rather than curating a coherent evening of music.

Andrew Bird with Alpha Consumer (Schubas)   SOLD OUT!
The Decemberists with Heartless Bastards (Metro)   SOLD OUT!
Thievery Corporation with Federico Aubele (House of Blues)
A trio of Lollapalooza pre-shows, which would have been a quartet had the Beastie Boys not had to cancel their Congress Theater show, along with their Lollapalooza appearance.

8.07   friday
Lollapalooza (Grant Park)
The first-day of the festival pretty much epitomizes why I'm not interested this year. The only artist I would go out of my way to see all day would probably be Andrew Bird, and then maybe Ben Folds. After that, it's only mild curiosity about Bon Iver, Gaslight Anthem and Heartless Bastards. I've seen Kings of Leon and the Decemberists before, so I can live without seeing them while sacrificing any notion of personal space.

Nicholas Barron Band (Navy Pier Beer Garden)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I'm not sure if this late afternoon show will feature Steve Gillis on drums, but if it does, it may be a good opportunity to congratulate him in person on the birth of his daughter, who is almost certainly destined to be a rock star, provided rock stars still exist when she grows up.

Arctic Monkeys with Modey Lemon (Metro)   SOLD OUT!
The bratty English band has a new record on the way that was produced by Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. This intrigues me. I was about two hours too slow in getting to the Metro box office for this one when it went on sale, so if you know anyone who has an extra, let me know.

Band of Horses with Cass McCombs (House of Blues)
Lykke Li with Miike Snow, Esser (Bottom Lounge)
TV On The Radio with Charlift (Double Door)
Some more Lolla aftershows, one with a poor man's My Morning Jacket, another with the Swedish indie rock singer that the indie kids are quite fond of, and finally the band that topped most critics' top ten lists last year. If Metromix isn't lying about the Double Door show not being sold out, that's the no-brainer of the bunch. I suspect TV On The Radio would be much better at Double Door than they were at the Riv.

Chickenfoot with Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam (Chicago Theatre)
While I'm still really curious about this rock "supergroup," which is comprised of Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony from Van Halen, Chad Smith from Red Hot Chili Peppers and guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani, I'm not so curious that I've actually checked out the record yet. To be honest, I'm a little afraid of what these guys think is vital rock and roll in 2009.

8.08   saturday
Sugarbeat (Cullen's)   SEE COZ LIVE!
I still can never seem to keep straight when the name of this band is one or two words, but it's fronted by Gareth Woods, and doesn't have quite as much overlap with Diver as I thought it would initially.

Lollapalooza (Grant Park)
Day two has much better bands than day one, but other than Arctic Monkeys, Lykke Li, and pinch-hitting headliners Yeah Yeah Yeahs, I've seen most of them, including Chairlift, Ben Harper (although not with Relentless7), TV On The Radio, Gomez and Tool.

Fleet Foxes with Dungen (Metro)   SOLD OUT!
STS9 (House of Blues)
So, it looks like Metro does much better with their Lollapalooza aftershows than House of Blues does, as the latter venue doesn't seem to have sold out any of theirs. And Fleet Foxes is one of those much-hyped indie bands that I just don't get, not unlike Animal Collective, although they don't sound anything like them. I think.

The Raveonettes with Living Things (Empty Bottle)
I'm actually surprised that Empty Bottle is in on the Lollapalooza aftershow circuit. That seems uncharacteristically mainstream of them.

Daughtry with David Hodges (The Vic)   SOLD OUT!
Apparently this guy was on American Idol and lost. If I remember correctly, his music was Nickelback-esque, and I mean that in the absolute worst way possible.

8.09   sunday
Lollapalooza (Grant Park)
If I were going to the final day of the festival, I'd make time for Kaiser Chiefs, Neko Case and Bat For Lashes, which would rule out the Airborne Toxic Event (who I've seen already) and Vampire Weekend (who may or may not suck live, depending on who you ask). There are a couple others on the bubble, like Silversun Pickups and Deerhunter.