list.in.to.chicago this week: 11.30.2009

What are you doing Wednesday night?

Pick of the week
I'll be trying to squeeze in the first set of Booty Movement Coalition tonight at Martyrs' before a late indoor soccer game. Lots of good choices later in the week as well, including Tributosaurus as the Beatles (Wednesday at Martyrs'), the John Moulder Quintet (Friday and Saturday at the Green Mill) and Arctic Monkeys (Sunday at the Riv).

list.in.to.COZ
I'm happy to announce that I'm taking over the Open Mike Night on Wednesdays at The Globe Pub, on Irving Park just east of Damen. And if nobody shows up to participate, I'll just play songs for a couple of hours, which may be of interest to one or two of you. I'm also still keeping my regular office hours at Vaughan's on Tuesday.

Recap
I wanted to like Crawl on Friday night. Really, I did. But I guess "groove-based fusion" should have clued me in, because what I found lacking on the night was melody, and the net result for me was just some vaguely interesting chords for the band members to solo over, which just didn't grab me at all. I still think the guys in the band are all top-notch musicians, but I wonder if I just don't have the enthusiasm for the genre that I used to.

Saturday was Tomorrow, The Moon at Bottom Lounge. I had somehow forgotten that Jim DiNou was also in the band, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that Jon Carpender from Phantom Helmsman was on board as well. I think they're still new enough that they're trying to strike the right balance between straight-up guitar-based pop, slightly more involved rock, and the ten-minute Pink Floyd-esque tune that closed their main set, but those are good threads to draw from. Airlines-X were reasonable for a retro-sounding female-fronted MacBook band -- evoking a bit of Berlin and maybe the Motels to my ear -- but if you're going to eschew having a drummer, you need really good drum programming, and I thought they fell down a bit there. Damp Hay looked and sounded like a band fronted by the bouncer at every other bar in Chicago -- big guy with a beard and a trucker hat -- and their bruising set almost became epic when said singer's bass amp almost caught fire in their last song.

11.30   monday
Booty Movement Coalition (Martyrs')
It's the last Monday of the month, so I'm sure Typhanie Monique and crew will encourage you to shake off that extra helping of mashed potatoes to their improvised acid-jazz and funk.

Your Little Ponies with Stranger Ranger, Division and Honore, Sola (Elbo Room)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I had a short chat with Joey from the Ponies the last time I was over at Elbo Room, and it would appear the band that brought you "Nunchuk Master" is still at it. As ever, I'm really curious as to how well they do with four bands on a Monday over there.

12.01   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
Just because I'm going to be hosting an Open Mike of my own on Wednesdays doesn't mean I'm going to skip out on the one I've been part of for the last eight years. This week, I may have the most politically wonky current events-related song selection possible.

Weezer with Jack's Mannequin, Motion City Soundtrack (Aragon Ballroom)
Andrew insists that selling Weezer-branded Snuggies marks hipster irony jumping the shark, but I think that's just a failure of imagination. Plus, I cut Weezer slack because they're soccer fans. I haven't heard the new record yet, but I get a sense that it's not getting a lot of traction, so maybe there is a point where you can be too ironic.

Friendly Fires with The xx (Bottom Lounge)
This U.K. "dance punk" band was nominated for the Mercury Prize across the pond this past year, although they didn't win it. And I've been hearing a bit about The xx lately, not that I've actually listened to them yet.

12.02   wednesday
Open Mike (The Globe Pub)   COZ SINGS!
It was inevitable that I'd end up hosting this, seeing as how I've participated in the last two iterations of their weekly jam session, and I practically live at the bar. I'm hoping I can draw off of all the musicians I know in this city and make this work. We'll kick it off as the standard acoustic guitar covers and originals, but as we move along, I'm hoping for some more musicians and unique combinations thereof to make it more interesting.

Tributosaurus (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
The band has been at this shifting monthly tribute show for a while now, and they've finally figured out a way to approach The Beatles' catalog. Play it all. They're taking on the first two records this month, and will continue every December for, presumably, the next five or six years. The early show is already sold out, and they've added one on Thursday at Fitzgerald's as well.

The King Khan and BBQ Show with Those Darlins (Logan Square Auditorium)
I'm not entirely sure what the difference is between the King Khan and BBQ Show versus King Khan and the Shrines, but I'm going to guess that this is a little less expansive and maybe more straight-up "garage" rock than the Shrines, which struck me as a sort of hipster take on James Brown.

John Wesley Harding (Schubas)
He's done a lot since I saw him at the University of Chicago all the way back in 1990, but my lasting memory of him is still from that show, when he sang a song about the Live Aid concert, and mouthed the words to "Let It Be" in the middle. Because, if you're as old as I am, you may remember that Paul McCartney's microphone wasn't working at the beginning of his performance at Wembley for the festival. I think I was watching it at my grandparents' house.

12.03   thursday
The Swell Season with Rachael Yamagata (Auditorium Theatre)
Also known as Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. Also known as the couple from the movie Once, which won an Academy Award for the song "Falling Slowly." All of which they seem to try to shove into the marketing for these shows, which must be a pain in the ass, but somewhat necessary, as most people aren't inclined to connect all those dots.

Holding Mercury with E and the Country Bound Players, Pistols at Dawn (LaSalle Power Company)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I haven't checked out the new venue in the old Michael Jordan's Restaurant space, but it still strikes me as the kind of place that twentysomething transplanted suburbanites who think Red Eye is real news would love, so I've been sort of keeping it at arms' length. For whatever it's worth, I think that's a good audience for Matt Hoffer and his band, mostly because the tunes are catchy enough that the kids won't realize that they're actually good, too.

Tributosaurus (Fitzgerald's, Berwyn)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
See Wednesday's listing.

12.04   friday
Matthew Santos with Daphne Willis and Co., Rachele Eve (Lincoln Hall)
Jim DeRogatis describes the singer -- whose current claim to fame is a notable spot on a Lupe Fiasco track -- as "a less serpentine Jeff Buckley combined with a more genuine John Mayer and the hint of a Gen Y update of Bill Withers," which I take to mean that he sounds mostly like John Mayer and DeRo is trying to justify liking him anyway.

John Moulder Quintet (Green Mill)
This is a two-night record release party for the local jazz guitarist, who I will still claim is one of the best on the scene, despite not having heard any real new local jazz guitarists in a while.

12.05   saturday
Absentstar with Save The Clocktower, Fire Zuave (Schubas)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
The newer stuff Absentstar played the last time I saw them was encouraging, and a bit more adventurous. I'm sort of hoping that getting chewed up and spit out of the major label machine has made them care a bit less about taking the most marketable route. And Save The Clocktower features the guy who hosted that open mike at The Globe up until a month or so ago.

Lez Zeppelin with Hollus (Double Door)
I actually heard a bit on NPR about this all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band a while back. They've developed quite a reputation, and have even worked with some folks in the studio who also worked with the original band.

Cafe Tacuba (Congress Theater)
Probably the biggest Mexican rock band to regularly tour the United States.

John Moulder Quintet (Green Mill)
See Friday's listing.

12.06   sunday
Arctic Monkeys with Screaming Females (Riviera Theatre)
The midnight post-Lollapalooza Metro show may not have been the ideal circumstance to see the band in support of their new, Josh Homme-produced record. It was late, I was tired, and deciding to grab a seat in the balcony may not have been the best choice for either sightlines or sound. But it seems like enough people saw them there or in Grant Park that tickets haven't moved as quickly as they did over the summer, so we've got another chance.

Star Wars: In Concert (United Center)
I don't think you have to be a nerd to think a full orchestra playing selections from the soundtracks accompanied by clips of the movies and narrated by the actor who played C3PO is a pretty cool idea, but it helps.

Kick The Cat (Simon's Tavern)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I'll admit, one of the reasons I've resisted seeing these guys live is exactly the experience I had when I saw Crawl on Friday. Jazz-fusion and I seem to have grown apart, and I don't know if it's me, or that the genre has stagnated so much in the last decade and a half that I just don't find it interesting anymore. If anybody can knock some sense into me on the subject, it's probably this band, though.