list.in.to.chicago this week: 02.22.2010

This is the last list.in.to.chicago that I'll ever write while I'm still in my 30s. I may need a moment.

Pick of the week
You've got Booty Movement Coalition tonight at Martyrs', and an increasingly rare acoustic Frisbie appearance on Thursday at SPACE in Evanston. You can scratch your jazz itch with either Charlie Hunter at Beat Kitchen on Wednesday or Terence Blanchard, also at SPACE in Evanston, on Sunday.

list.in.to.COZ
So, the big deal is Sunday night at The Globe, where I'm throwing my own 40th birthday party. My family is coming to town and everything, largely on the premise of "well, at this point it doesn't look like you're getting a wedding." I'm hoping the musical plan for the evening -- a bit of a random, revolving jam session, anchored by Diver -- actually works out, but it's tough to tell from the RSVPs I've gotten so far on Facebook.

Also, regular office hours on Tuesday (Vaughan's) and Wednesday (The Globe)

Recap
Maybe I'm getting sappy in my old age, but the St. Vincent show on Thursday made me happy that I make the effort to get out and see live music. It could be that the band is so totally committed to creating unexpected, textured soundscapes that move from pretty chamber pop -- at one point, two band members were playing clarinet -- to distorted, angular guitar riffs, with clever turns of phrase sitting on top throughout. Or it could be that I'm developing a massive crush on Annie Clark. Either way, it's good.

2.22   monday
Robbie Fulks (Hideout)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Drummer Gerald Down is reclaiming his old drum chair for this installment of Fulks' current Monday night residency.

Booty Movement Coalition (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
With February being a short month, I knew this would sneak up on me again. If you're looking for some scorching improvised music that bounces between funk, hip-hop, rock and world music -- and who isn't, really? -- this is the place.

El Perro Del Mar with Taken By Trees (Lincoln Hall)
I feel like there are more examples of Scandinavian -- in this case, Swedish -- bands with Spanish names, but as I think about it, Los Campesinos! is actually Welsh. Maybe I'm thinking of I'm From Barcelona. Anyway, the couple of songs I have on my hard drive sound demonstrate what I hear as a distinctively European take on indie-folk-pop.

Lotus (Schubas)   SOLD OUT!
I listed these guys last week for the first of what are apparently two sold out shows at Schubas. Jam-band electronica from Indiana, whatever that means.

2.23   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
I'm trying to think of ways to work the Olympics into the song choices. Tweak "Face Dances" from Pete Townshend so it's "Ice Dances?" Artists from Canada? Artists from Canada that aren't quite as good as their younger counterparts from the USA at hockey? Anything from OK Go's Oh No album? I can keep going...

2.24   wednesday
Sing Along With Coz (The Globe Pub)   COZ SINGS!
So, last week actually lived up to the billing, in that we had a bit of live band karaoke going on with a select group of regulars, staff and one of the owners of the bar. Considering that last one for a moment, let me say that they all sang beautifully. Downright angelic.

Charlie Hunter (Beat Kitchen)
I haven't exactly been keeping my finger on the pulse of modern jazz guitar, but I'm pretty sure Hunter is still way up there in terms of the current crop, and I'm assuming he still plays his eight-string bass-guitar hybrid and makes it sound almost more like a Hammond organ than a traditional guitar.

2.25   thursday
Frisbie with The Twilight Hours (SPACE, Evanston)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
This is just Steve Frisbie and Liam Davis, as the full band seems to be much less of an ongoing concern these days, as per a conversation I had with Steve at that Moving Pictures gig.

The Hudson Branch with Elephant Gun, Torch Singer, Zach Pietrini and the Broken Bones (Bottom Lounge)
Not to be confused with The Hudson Landing, that band I saw a couple of weeks ago. And here I was thinking that, by actually going out and seeing bands for a change, I once again wound up with something to talk about right away! Maybe this band is good, too.

B1g T1me (Reggie's Music Joint)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Of course, I only know that Zebulun Barnow is in this band from sitting in front of my computer and killing time on Facebook. So I guess it's all about balance.

2.26   friday
This Must Be The Band with Kid A (Bottom Lounge)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
There's something about the venue choices for both of these bands that make me think there's definitely more to them than just a "standard" tribute to Talking Heads and Radiohead, respectively. Also, Jim DiNou on keyboards.

The MDR with The Atomica Project, The Rosen Association, Sarah Katheryn, Heavn Malone, Arturo vs. Johnny Kesh (Metro)
With the Billy Corgan charity gig last week and The MDR this week, I'm guessing drummer Matt Walker -- seen most often lately backing up Morrissey -- is home for at least a short stretch.

Screeching Weasel with Lemuria, The Seething Coast (Reggie's Rock Club)   SOLD OUT!
I do wonder if, at some point, Screeching Weasel "reunion" shows happen often enough that fans of the highly-regarded Chicago punk band no longer consider them all must-see events, or if there are enough fans that get shut out by sold-out shows for that not to matter.

The Bomb with The Kickback (The Rockbox)
The band is presumably the main post-Naked Raygun project from Jeff Pezzati. The venue used to be Deja Vu, and I've been meaning to see just what's going on down there for a while now.

2.27   saturday
Alkaline Trio with Cursive, The Dear and Departed (Metro)   SOLD OUT!
At some point, I lost the ability to tell the difference between Warped Tour punk-pop bands, but this one stands out a bit because they're from Illinois. To be honest, I'm a bit more interested in Cursive after seeing half a set from them at Lollapalooza three or four years ago, as they weren't of that ilk, had some more challenging arrangements, and also had a horn section.

Joe Pug with Justin Townes Earle (Lincoln Hall)
Another show where I'm more interested in the opening act, whose father is Steve Earle, than the headliner, who is maybe a bit too Jack Johnson-esque for my likeing.

Tesla with The Last Vegas (House of Blues)
I'm trying to remember any song from the 80s hair metal band other than the acoustic cover of "Signs," and I'm coming up empty.

Gear Daddies with Musikanto (Double Door)
I knew I recognized the name. Typically, I think it's been Martin Zellar coming through Chicago on his own, and not with the band that got him started. So I think this might be something of a rarity, but I no longer have the immediate access to someone from Minnesota that I used to in order to confirm.

Yacht with MNDR, Bobby Birdman (Empty Bottle)
The electronica duo was here last year with Chairlift, and the quotes from reviews on their MySpace site mention either choreographed dance moves or an intelligence about the music, so I'll let you reconcile those two while I go back and listen to music with loud guitars.

2.28   sunday
chriscostello 4.0 (The Globe Pub)   SEE COZ LIVE!
Yes, I could have celebrated my birthday on an actually weekend night. Or on my actual birthday on Monday. But this seemed like it gave me a better chance of avoiding scheduling conflicts. The plan is to bring together various social circles into one room and see what happens. Also, Diver will likely play a short set before we start getting my musician friends up on stage to also see what happens there.

Terence Blanchard (SPACE, Evanston)
It seems like there was a moment in the late 80s and early 90s where a new crop of young jazz musicians emerged, largely through the bands of some of the masters like Tony Williams or, in trumpeter Blanchard's case, Art Blakey. Now these are the guys putting their stamp on the legacy of bebop, which has got to be an uphill battle given the stature of those legends from the 50s and 60s.

The Soundtrack of our Lives with Nico Vega (Lincoln Hall)
No, it's not a promotional appearance by the slogan for Drive FM. This band had that name before they started using it, and I had friends who thought they were destined to take over the world back at the beginning of the last decade.

Fly Phoenix with JC Brooks and the Uptown Sounds (The Shrine)
According to the press release, JC Brooks and the Uptown Sounds are a "post-punk/neo-soul powerhouse," which makes me wonder how you might smash those two sounds together. This is the "afterparty" for an earlier show to pay tribute to the end of the Dr. Wax record store in Hyde Park -- as well as a DJ for WHPK. I find it odd that both events are a good two to four miles north of Hyde Park proper.

Alkaline Trio with Cursive, The Dear and Departed (Metro)   SOLD OUT!
See Saturday's listing.