list.in.to.chicago this week: 06.07.2010

If anyone needs me starting Friday, I'll be watching soccer.

Pick of the week
I'm all about The Futureheads at Lincoln Hall on Saturday, provided I'm not wiped out by the massive USA-England World Cup match earlier in the day. Tonight's She & Him show (Pritzker Pavilion), Wednesday's Athlete show (Double Door), and an appearance by George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic on Thursday (Cubby Bear) round out the highlights.

list.in.to.COZ
Still going through that dry spell after four months of steady gigs. To be honest, I think I needed the break. Plus, regular office hours Tuesday and Wednesday at Vaughan's and The Globe.

Recap
I was in Boston for most of the week, and didn't go see any shows there, either. Also, a hearty thank you to Andy from The Good Mondays for covering the Open Mic at The Globe last week. Heard it went well.

6.07   monday
She & Him with Hollows (Pritzker Pavilion)
Now that they have two albums under their collective belts, I probably don't have to tell you that this is the combination of indie film darling Zooey Deschanel and indie singing/songwriting darling M. Ward. Except that I just did. Also, being Monday night in Millennium Park, it's free.

6.08   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
After missing a bunch of these, I think the odds are pretty good that I'll be there this week, although it'll also be my first fitness bootcamp in about two weeks earlier in the evening, so that may change. Still, it's worthwhile even if I'm not there, right?

Wonder Girls with 2PM (House of Blues)   SOLD OUT!
Despite still having a couple of Korean pop CDs that I picked up eight years ago when I went to the World Cup there, I'm not so plugged into the current scene that I knew this was a Korean girl group. That makes a third scenario for bands I've never heard of selling out shows, along with bands that have big suburban teenage followings and artists appearing on adult drama soundtracks.

Dumpster Babies with The Motley Crew, The Cheap Smokes, Steven Koozer (Empty Bottle)
Okay, this one is just good timing between a band name reference and the object of that reference, assuming that "Dumpster Babies" refers to that one episode of It's Always Sunny In Philadephia, which makes it's syndicated debut on Comedy Central on Monday night.

Matt Pond PA with Wintersleep, Hudson Branch (Lincoln Hall)
The indie band from Philadelphia may have picked a really, really bad week to play Chicago. I guess it would be worse if it were after Game 6.

6.09   wednesday
Sing Along With Coz (The Globe Pub)   COZ SINGS!
I suspect I won't be starting until the Hawks game is over, which is either going to be a total party, or a bit glum. I'll also be on after the Fire match, which means I may need to learn either "After The Fire" from Roger Daltry, or I need to polish up "Der Kommissar," which, while originally recorded by Austrian artist Falco, is probably known better in the States for the version by the band After The Fire.

Stars with Dead Child Star (Lincoln Hall)   SOLD OUT!
This band was probably one of the first Canadian indie bands on the Arts & Crafts label to make a big splash in the States. At the very least, they were pretty early on that train. I seem to recall that their last full album, In Our Bedroom After The War, almost made my top ten back in 2007, but fell just short. They've got a new one on their own label coming out later this month.

Dave Holland Quintet (Jazz Showcase)
The venerable jazz bassist may be the modern-day equivalent of Art Blakey when it comes to identifying young talent. I think he may have been the last artist I saw at the Jazz Showcase, back when it was still on Grand Avenue.

Art Garden with Fire City Limits, West on the Andes, Fire at the Circus (Subterranean)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I'd like to say my downstairs neighbor's band is moving up in the world, but they've gone from playing Underground Lounge to playing Subterranean, which sort of belies the notion of "up." Come to think of it, said neighbor is in the garden apartment in my building, too. Maybe they're mole men.

Athlete with Carney (Double Door)
Recommended if you like Snow Patrol. And, it must be said, if you hate hockey, although the Blackhawks game should be over by the time they go on.

6.10   thursday
George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic (Cubby Bear)
Some friends and I were just talking about the Godfather of Funk yesterday, and I mentioned that I had seen the band at Cubby Bear many, many years ago, but they outlasted me. To date, I still haven't made it to the end of a P-Funk show, but I haven't tried in a long while. I don't even know if they still put on the three- to four-hour extravaganzas where all 10+ members of the band take a solo on nearly every song. I certainly hope so.

Panda Riot with Apteka, Sissy Mena, James Cardis (Subterranean)
I saw a bit of this MacBook band on a bill with Blane Fonda back in September of last year for what I seem to remember was a Gapers Block anniversary show. This is relevant because they just did another anniversary show a month or so ago, which you might notice is nowhere near a year after the last one. I know the blogosphere has a relentlessly short memory for a medium where everything gets recorded, but this is ridiculous.

Dave Holland Quintet (Jazz Showcase)
See Wednesday's listing.

6.11   friday
The Psychedelic Furs with She Wants Revenge (Metro)
It was probably five years ago, but I remember thinking Richard Butler had aged pretty darn well when I saw the quintessential 80s band at the Riviera along with Echo & The Bunnymen. I've been meaning to play some Psych Furs stuff in the solo set for a long time now, but still need to chart out the chords for "Heartbreak Beat."

John Butler Trio with State Radio (Riviera Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
It's a big night for the Butler surname in Chicago, between that previous listing and this one, featuring the Aussie who is presumably doing a proper tour now after his sold-out one-off show at Lincoln Hall back in February. Looks like he's having a pretty good year playing in Chicago, to say the least.

Dave Holland Quintet (Jazz Showcase)
See Wednesday's listing.

6.12   saturday
The Futureheads with The Like, The Static Jacks (Lincoln Hall)
The four-piece band from Sutherland, England put out one of my recent favorite albums in 2008's This Is Not The World, and just dropped a new one called The Chaos last week, which I've downloaded from eMusic but haven't listened to yet. What's particularly impressive about them is that everybody sings, and the harmonies and back-and-forth vocals on top of kinetic, angular guitar parts makes for a pretty heady mix.

Concrete Blonde with Jim Bianco (The Vic)
Not to be confused with Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Concrete Blonde -- together again for the first time in about six years -- features Johnette Napolitano, and is touring to support the 20th anniversary edition of their album Bloodletting, which is the one that has that song you know on it.

Shawn Colvin with Nicholas Barron (Old Town School of Folk Music)
Two things you might not know about contemporary folk artist Colvin, according to her Wikipedia page: She sang background vocals on Suzanne Vega's breakthrough hit "Luka," and she's from Carbondale, Illinois. She's also been around a lot longer than I realized, but I'll be a gentleman and not tell you how old she is.

Tomorrow, The Moon with The Fleshtones, The Goldstars, Teenage Imposters, The Earth Program (Bottom Lounge)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Steve, Jim, Jon and the guy I don't know are actually second on this bill.

This Must Be The Band with Bird Talk, Your Kid Sister (Reggie's Rock Club)   FRIENDS OF COZ?
Okay, so the same keyboardist friend that's in Tomorrow, The Moon is in Talking Head tribute This Must Be The Band. Not entirely sure how that's going to work.

Dave Holland Quintet (Jazz Showcase)
See Wednesday's listing.

6.13   sunday
Eli 'Paperboy' Reed with The Constellations, Dirty Diamonds (Empty Bottle)
I had the misfortune of seeing R&B throwback Reed at Lollapalooza a few years ago shortly after I had seen Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, and in that context, he seemed to be trying to hard to ape a vibe that Jones and her band just inhabited almost effortlessly. Still, his commitment to old-school R&B has attracted a bit of a following.

Dave Holland Quintet (Jazz Showcase)
See Wednesday's listing, with the added matinée show, I would assume.