list.in.to.chicago this week: 11.02.2009

If you were waiting on me to go see some music on Monday night, I apologize. I'm also very, very surprised. See, I'm not entirely sure anyone actually uses this to decide whether or not to go see shows. Sure, there's the exception every once in a great while, but seriously, I have my doubts as to whether or not this weekly endeavor has any practical value past being occasionally fun to read.

Of course, as long as it's fun to read -- and fun to write -- I'll probably keep doing it. I just wonder sometimes.

Pick of the week
Any one of the shows on Friday night look reasonably good, depending on what you're into. Yes, I'm going to make you scroll down and actually read the whole damn thing. Sucker.

list.in.to.COZ
Just Vaughan's this week. Or at least maybe Vaughan's this week. Not sure yet.

Recap
So, I think the singer from Steakhouse Mints is one of the guys who was involved with that performance of Joe's Garage from Frank Zappa that I wasn't totally crazy about earlier this year. Band was solid, even without a bassist, but the vocals seemed to lack something -- my gut tells me he's a jobbing singer, where you might want to have more of a versatile, vanilla quality, and that it may be hard to reintroduce some character into your voice after you've done that a lot. I don't know. It just struck me a bit weird. Opener Rick Pagano apparently has a studio and a Beatles cover band in New York, which gives him enough mojo to have guys from the New York Dolls and Donald Fagen's band traveling with him.

As for Saturday night's Diver Halloween show, just two things. First, I was the only one who actually dressed up in the band, despite being led to believe earlier in the week that at least most of us would participate. Second, Kermit the Frog sat in on cowbell for "Honky Tonk Woman." What more could you want?

11.02   monday
Roger Daltrey with Paper Zoo (House of Blues)
Well, that explains all the articles I've seen about the lead singer of The Who lately. A bunch of them talked about a Who edition of Rock Band, so I thought maybe they might have been independent of any other actual musical activity.

11.03   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
Am I being too much of a political junkie if I say that tonight would be a good night for songs from artists hailing from New Jersey, Virginia and New York, for the two off-year gubernatorial elections and that special congressional election that is poised to start the inevitable schism of the Republican Party?

Train with Uncle Kracker (The Vic)   SOLD OUT!
I didn't realize that (a) this band was still around, and (b) they were still this popular, but I guess light rock fans have to go see shows, too.

11.04   wednesday
Snoop Dogg with Method Man/Redman, Devin the Dude (Congress Theatre)
As you know, I skipped Lollapalooza, but a friend tweeted about how Snoop apologized to the woman who was translating his show into sign language. I wonder if he'll invite her to this one for a rematch.

Tributosaurus (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
This month, it's two shows as Nirvana.

Miles Nielsen with Musikanto, Daysleeper (Double Door)
If the last name sounds familiar, it's because Miles is the son of Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen. And the elder Nielsen is an investor in Piece, the gourmet pizza place around the corner, so I'm going to go out on a limb and guess they'll have their pre-show meal over there. Unless this is a totally different Miles Nielsen, but that would be odd, even if Metromix spelled his last name wrong.

11.05   thursday
Gavin Rossdale (House of Blues)
On the one hand, Rossdale's wife's band probably brings in enough cash for him to just make whatever kind of records he feels like making. On the other hand, given his output both with Bush and on his own, I don't think those records would be either that different from what we've heard or that good. I still think he may be one of the worst lyricists ever.

Butterfly Assassins with Blane Fonda, Old Stable Hands (Double Door)
I will keep describing this band as a cross between Muse and The Decemberists until I actually go see them again. And I saw Blane Fonda a few months ago, and thought they needed to spend time dialing in their sounds before their quasi-glam sound would work.

The Mountain Goats with Final Fantasy (Metro)
I don't really listen to lyrics. So all the hyper-literate stuff John Darnielle puts forth is almost totally lost on me, even moreso because I find his voice dangerously close to sounding like nails on a chalkboard. But people who like this band really, really like this band, to the point where I may get an angry e-mail from a friend about this one.

11.06   friday
The Black Crowes with Truth and Salvage Co. (Riviera Theatre)
I can't tell if the latest record from the blues-rock stalwarts is trying to reinvent business models or gouge fans, because the CD comes with a code that allows you to download a companion album, or you can buy it on vinyl with all the songs from both of those albums, but in a different order. So you have to figure that the die-hards will want both. And a friend of mine may still need to unload a pair of tickets, so let me know if that's of any interest to you.

Emilie Autumn (Logan Square Auditorium)
I don't think I can claim the industrial goth violinist -- who has toured with both Courtney Love and Billy Corgan, proving that she's as masochistic as her public image would have you believe -- as an actual "Friend of Coz," although we do have a mutual friend.

The Whigs with The Features, The Dead Trees (Bottom Lounge)
After opening for The Kooks and Kings Of Leon over the last thirteen months, and playing Lollapalooza, the Athens, GA band is back again for a headlining set.

The Wanton Looks with The Van Buren Boys, Modern Day Rippers (Jackhammer)
I've seen some ink spilled over this local girl group -- Greg Kot gave them a thumbs up a while back, for one -- which gives me reason to call out the fact that I've never, ever heard of this club up in Rogers Park. If that means it's a new music venue, that's a good thing.

Verona Red with Moxie Motive, Aktaraktar (Beat Kitchen)
Seriously, I don't know if it's just a good band name, or what, but this is the first time I've seen this band and thought they were familiar for some reason.

11.07   saturday
New England Revolution vs. Chicago Fire (Toyota Park, Bridgeview)
The musical options aren't great tonight, so throw your support behind your local soccer team as they try to fight back from a 2-1 defeat in their two-game aggregate-goals playoff series against a team not so much a rival as a nemesis, although I have to think more about the semantic distinction I'm making here. You can catch a bus from a couple of bars in the city.

The Sounds with Foxy Shazam, Semi Precious Weapons (The Vic)
I think they're somewhat mediocre Swedish retro new-wave, but for that style of music, mediocre might be good enough.

AFI with Gallows (Riviera Theatre)
Of all the bands to stick around from the eighteen million Warped Tours, these guys have to be middle of the pack at best. But they can move more units than any band I've been in, so I guess they're doing something right. And, just as an aside, this Google Music thing where you can play songs right off of the search results is pretty useful.

11.08   sunday
Jill Sobule with Erin McKeown (Old Town School of Folk Music)
I was very happy to see this singer/songwriter finally come out and slam Katy Perry for "I Kissed A Girl" a few months ago. You may or may not remember Sobule's much more clever song of the same name from the mid-ninteies, which had Fabio in the video.