list.in.to.chicago this week: 08.16.2010

Happy Monday! Hey, that would be a good name for a band! Maybe even one from England! Manchester, perhaps?

Also, I won a pair of tickets to see Jon Anderson from Yes at Park West on Thursday night. Let me know if you want to go.

Pick of the week
I'm a prog rock geek at heart -- and the free tickets didn't hurt -- so I'll be at Jon Anderson on Thursday at Park West. If I wasn't, I would probably go with Tomorrow The Moon at Darkroom that night. And the show from Nathan and Mateo from Madina Lake on Saturday at Double Door has the potential to be something special, given the circumstances.

list.in.to.COZ
It's a return to the stage for Andrew Fraker & Sons this Friday night at Goose Island Wrigleyville as we prep for the CD release party later this year. Plus your regular office hours on Tuesday at Vaughan's and Wednesday at The Globe.

Recap
I ended up missing about half of the set from the reunited Ivory Wire on Saturday, but what I did catch still packed a wallop. Despite it being almost the same band, I never had the same reaction to Dovetail Joint -- even if they had the lion's share of the crowd on the night. I liked that EXO featured all of their various bass players, in part because "Mission Critical" just sounds right to me on fretless. As with past editions of this memorial and benefit, I felt like a bit of an outsider, because while I know a bunch of the people involved with the show, it's not like I'm close friends with anybody. I don't know how I'm supposed to interact with people at something like this. The music brought it all together, though.

8.16   monday
Interpol with Twin Tigers (The Vic)   SOLD OUT!
The new record from the New York indie band -- although I guess that definition depends on how you view major-label ownership of former indie labels like Matador -- comes out on September 7. According to reports from last night's show, they're apparently already playing tunes from it, but I think we've gotten to the point where most artists are resigned to new material getting on to the Internet prior to the release date.

Patricia Barber Quartet (Green Mill)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
According to Facebook, Tom Hipskind will be reprising his longtime role on drums in Barber's band this evening.

8.17   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
So, I may have acoustic versions of Arctic Monkeys and Metric for this week, depending on whether or not I can separate myself from my couch tonight. I've got the basics down, I think.

From Punk To Funk (Reggie's Rock Club)
This is a benefit for Madina Lake bassist Matthew Leone, whose story I told you about a couple of weeks ago, and features all sorts of local bands, including Dexterous Roy, Liquid Soul, Kai Alexander and the Heat, Fifth World, Dirty MF and the Smokin Sextion, Just Infinite, Good Evening and Horror Is Dead.

My Morning Jacket with Califone (Charter One Pavilion)
Heard a radio spot for this show this morning, which makes me think the band's reverb-drenched slightly southern psychedlia may have fallen out of the public consciousness just a bit. I still haven't forgiven them for that one stunningly awful track on 2008's otherwise stellar Evil Urges.

M13 (Quencher's Saloon)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Hipskind is on drums here, too, and I think I've seen other scary good musicians mention this standing gig in the past, which makes me think it's probably kinda badass.

8.18   wednesday
Sing Along With Coz (The Globe Pub)   COZ SINGS!
It dawned on me that all the flyers we hung in the bar back when I started this thing are now down, and while I didn't fix that quite in time for the opening of the English Premier League on Saturday, they'll be up soon to try to attract some of the soccer fans who might not have known this sort of thing goes on at night after their matches are over.

8.19   thursday
Jon Anderson (Park West)
This will be the second time in recent memory that I've seen the lead singer of a progressive rock band on his own at Park West, with the last one being Fish, formerly of Marillion, a couple of years ago. For those of you keeping track, Anderson was sidelined from Yes' big 40th anniversary tour for medical reasons, and was then replaced by a guy from a tribute band. He's been sort of in exile from the Yes camp ever since, having not taken this turn of events particularly well.

Tomorrow, The Moon with Milk at Midnight, Berserker Theory (Darkroom)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
In case you've forgotten, this is two-thirds of my first favorite local band in Chicago -- Phantom Helmsmen -- along with Jim DiNou on keyboards and a guy I don't know on bass.

The Watson Twins with Ferraby Lionheart (SPACE, Evanston)
I'm sure they hate this, but my reference point for this band is still their record with Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley.

Marbin with Paul Wertico (Chopin Theatre)
This jazz duo sent me a CD a while back, and because I'm me, I still haven't listened to it. Here they're partnered with local jazz heavyweight Paul Wertico on drums.

8.20   friday
Andrew Fraker & Sons with B-Side Social, Special Guests (Goose Island Wrigleyville)   SEE COZ LIVE!
No big video cameras this time, we promise. Also, we've got two brand new songs for you, provided you weren't at the last show and you haven't heard Tony or Andrew play solo acoustic versions of them in the last two or three months. Other than that, totally new. There's also a third band whose name I can't find pretty much anywhere. I need these guys to focus on their music marketing just about 2% as much as they do on their beer, and we'd be in good shape.

Stone Temple Pilots with Cage The Elephant (Charter One Pavilion)
I think the grunge-era stalwarts may have a new record out, although I have a tendency to get their resurgence confused with that of Alice In Chains. Not that I confuse the bands themselves, just what they're currently up to. And I finally heard Cage The Elephant a month or so ago, and I have no earthly idea why everyone was getting all hot and bothered about them last year.

The Sadies with Prichard (Schubas)
It looks like the sometimes backing band for Neko Case have cut their two-night stand down to just one. And with the band consisting of two brothers with the last name of Good, now I want them to collaborate with Linda Good, formerly of Chicago and formerly of Chicago's The Twigs with her sister Laura Good, who I assume isn't making music anymore, but let's throw her into this new band anyway. Obviously, they should call themselves "Pretty Good." Oh, it gets worse.

Tokyo Police Club with Freelance Whales, Arkells (Metro)
See them now, or see them open for the New Pornographers at The Riviera in October. Or both. This weekend saw tickets go on sale for a ton of bands that played Lollapalooza, which is an odd artifact of the radius clause for the festival. I, for one, snatched up tickets to see a couple of the acts I opted to skip purely because of the schedule.

Par Avion with Kirkland, Ava Waits (Beat Kitchen)
Until I restock my cupboard with newer local bands based on firsthand knowledge, I will have to resort to bands I heard on Local 101 a year and a half ago when I happened to have the radio on in my car and thought weren't half bad. Although I think Par Avion is the only band that fits that bill.

Slayer with Megadeth, Testament (UIC Pavilion)
Imagine I made devil horns with my hands -- a gesture pioneered by the late Ronnie James Dio. That is all.

8.21   saturday
Nathan and Mateo of Madina Lake with AM Taxi, The Fold, The Lifeline, David Costa (Double Door)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
As far as I know, this is the first musical appearance from anyone in the band since Matthew was attacked last month. I suspect it's another benefit. I'm fairly certain it's going to be pretty emotional.

Herbie Hancock (Symphony Center)
The legendary jazz pianist brings his Imagine Project -- an ambitious album of collaborations that makes Santana's Supernatural look insular by comparison -- to his hometown. I'm guessing the roster isn't quite as ambitious as the album, which includes everyone from Jeff Beck to Pink to obscure world music ensembles. And I find it interesting that two of the three surviving members of Miles Davis' late 60s quintet seem to play this venue nearly every year.

Counting Crows with Augustana (Ravinia)   SOLD OUT!
The Black Crowes (Chicago Theatre)
Okay, prepare yourself, because I'm going to say exactly what you're afraid I'm going to say. Saturday night in Chicagoland is really something to crow about! I kind of hate myself for that, but it was totally worth it, because I can hear you groaning from here. Seriously, though, in all the years both of these bands have been around, how often do we think this has happened?

STS9 with Mos Def (Aragon Ballroom)
I don't really give a rat's ass about the hippy electronica headliners, but would love to see rapper and occasional movie star Mos Def live. Moved from Charter One Pavilion.

8.22   sunday
The Lovehammers with Kill Hannah, Scott Lucas of Local H, Makeshift Prodigy, The Frantic (Hard Rock Cafe)
Just from the lineup -- which is pretty stacked as far as high-profile local acts goes -- I had a hunch this was another benefit for Matthew Leone, which makes this week look like a concerted effort to raise money for him across a number of different venues.