list.in.to.chicago this week: 05.10.2010

I'm a little bit afraid of the rupture in the space/time continuum on Thursday night. Read on to find out why.

Pick of the week
Two Chapman Sticks on one stage? Stick Men on Saturday night at Martyrs' would be a no-brainer on their own. The E-Mics opening for them is just gravy. Although, if you can scare up a ticket to the Verbow show at Schubas that same night, that's gonna be good.

list.in.to.COZ
If you happen to be up in the Edison Park neighborhood, Tony and I will be at the Curragh Pub on Saturday night. Normal office hours otherwise.

Recap
I was really close to snatching a ticket for Frightened Rabbit last week, but after Metro announced that they had released a few extras via their Twitter feed, the eTix website froze on me as I tried to complete the transaction. So I went to bed early.

5.10   monday
Pat Metheny (Symphony Center)
I don't want to alarm you, but robots are invading Chicago tonight. Sort of. For his Orchestrion album, the jazz guitarist has employed a bunch of mechanical devices that roughly translate into more advanced player pianos, if I'm getting the gist of it from skimming Metheny's website. There's a joke about not having to pay the drummer in here somewhere.

Robbie Fulks (Hideout)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I think that this may be a year-long residency on Monday nights, and so far I think Gerald Dowd has been on drums for most of them. Playing Bob Dylan's "Slow Train Coming" in it's entirety.

5.11   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
President Obama has nominated Elena Kagan as his Supreme Court pick today. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to learn any song having to do with lawyers, the law, court, trials, or by The Supremes. Bonus points for "Lawyers In Love" from Jackson Browne, just because I totally remember that one from when I was a teenager watching MTV.

Otter Petter with Aktar Aktar, Raise High the Roof Beam, Rikters (Double Door)
I feel like Otter Petter and The Rikters have both been around long enough to warrant inclusion based on longevity alone. And I could just cut and paste the old "I read some stuff about the Rikters that looked interesting, but haven't gotten to see them yet" bit I always use when they're on a bill. Also, free.

Alison Breitman with Julia Klee (Uncommon Ground on Clark)
I haven't seen the singer/songwriter listed anywhere in a while, but I think she might have only just returned after temporarily moving away from Chicago, if I may put two and two together from a chance run-in with a mutual friend.

5.12   wednesday
Sing Along With Coz (The Globe Pub)   COZ SINGS!
At 7pm, they'll be showing the replay of Wednesday afternoon's Europa League final between Fulham FC (England) and Atletico Madrid (Spain). Seeing as how Fulham is nominally "my team" in England, this means I will have been at the bar for a while before starting, and will either be very happy or very sad. My part of the evening's entertainment will probably vary accordingly.

Tremolux with Steve Frisbie, Pete Special (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
It wasn't clear if Steve would be playing with Tremolux -- which looks like it's an original project former Brother Brother guitarist Jon Spiegel -- or just playing a set on the same bill. Either way, looks good.

5.13   thursday
Tomorrow, The Moon with Mr. Gnome, Secret Weapons (Darkroom)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Lest you forget, this band includes two-thirds of Phantom Helmsman -- which was my first favorite local band in Chicago, back in the early 90s -- and keyboardist Jim DiNou. And one other guy, I'm pretty sure, but I don't know him.

A-Ha (Riviera Theatre)
Two things. First, I think this the farewell tour for the seminal 80s new wave band of "Take On Me" fame. Second, they've apparently been in existence for the duration. No idea if it's one of those "lead singer and a bunch of young kids he hired" deals like Flock of Seagulls.

Ratt (Cubby Bear)
So, apparently Thursday night is "back to the 80s" night. Sheesh. I would imagine this audience is going to be mostly WLUP folks who have ignored the last 20 years of music, because I can't imagine that hair metal has any sort of ironic resurgence among hipsters or anything like that. To be fair, they actually had a couple of good songs.

5.14   friday
Local Natives with Suckers (Schubas)   SOLD OUT!
I'm pretty sure I had heard/read something about this band, and selling out two shows at Schubas makes me think it was probably something good. Wikipedia cites a review that calls them "afropop-influenced guitars with hyperactive drumming and hooky three-part harmonies." Quality drumming and harmonies could make them a vast improvement on the Vampire Weekend model that comes to mind when reading that description.

Coheed and Cambria with Circa Survive, Torche (Congress Theater)
I still bristle at the notion that these guys are considered prog. I have a pretty traditional view of the genre, and sounding like Queensryche doesn't get you in the club. Psychedelic hard rock? Sure. But not prog. Then again, I haven't listened to them in a while. Maybe they've added a Mellotron.

5.15   saturday
Stick Men with The E-mics (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
As bummed as I am that I have to miss this show, it's probably for the best, because I would undoubtedly go online after seeing King Crimson alums Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto along with a second Chapman Stick player and buy one of the instruments. I've been dying to get one for probably twenty years now. Heck, I may buy one anyway. Also, Wes and Chris opening the show.

Half of DIVER (Curragh Pub)   SEE COZ LIVE!
This one is just Tony and me, all acoustic-like. I'm trying to come up with a clever name for this version of the band, but the best I could think of was "Diverini," because we're smaller than Diver, and we're both Italian. So it's like when they call that really thin spaghetti spaghettini. But it's a remarkably wussy-sounding name, so I need a better idea.

Verbow with Doug Gillard (Schubas)   SOLD OUT!
I think this may be a one-off reunion show for Jason Narducy's most commercially successful venture, which piggybacked off of an unyielding buzz about Jason & Allison, and cellist Allison Chesley is on board for this gig. The way things unfolded through the Facebook event announcements, I think that was a late development. They're celebrating the release of a live album culled from a bunch of shows from around ten years ago.

Particle with Roster McCabe (Double Door)
Along with Umphrey's McGee, this is probably one of the more notable new jam bands on the scene. Of course, I don't really pay a lick of attention to the jam band scene, so I could be totally talking out of my ass.

5.16   sunday
Eleventh Dream Day with Condo Fucks (Hideout)
I've started working off a combination of Metromix and the Reader online listing. Guess which one of them listed the full name of the opening band on this one. This also seems to be a long-term residency.

Colin Hay (SPACE, Evanston)
Before he moved back to Chicago, my friend Patrick Hasbrook -- who I played percussion with last weekend -- played at least one show with the former Men At Work singer out in California. It might even have been more than one. He's at Fitzgerald's in Berwyn this week, too. I think he was originally supposed to play the Lakeshore Theater on Broadway and Belmont, but that venue recently closed down.