list.in.to.chicago this week: 08.30.2010

I got a nice e-mail from The Twigs last week informing me that Laura Good is, in fact, still playing on the East Coast, and that the sisters split the difference of their latitudes and longitudes to play a Twigs show at Uncommon Ground a few weeks ago.

Pick of the week
That Ahmad Jamal Trio with the Chicago Jazz Orchestra show on Thursday night in Millennium Park looks like it could be downright sublime, especially if the weather cooperates. I'm planning on being at Lincoln Hall on Friday night for Murley Shertz and Markit 8 as well, and with the holiday on Monday, there are a ton of good shows on Sunday night.

list.in.to.COZ
Regular office hours at Vaughan's (Tuesday) and The Globe (Wednesday), with the possibility of a cameo appearance with the acoustic Diver duo at Fado on Saturday.

Recap
The Chicago debut of Chris Siebold and Psycles on Monday night was all over the place, stylistically, which was to be expected. With a large band and knowing some of his proclivities, I think I was hoping for a Dancing-era Mike Keneally sort of thing, which it wasn't, really. Still really smokin', particularly on the jazz stuff. And then, of course, he closed with a Pixies cover.

I did a rare double-dip on Friday, starting with Pat DiNizio at Temple Bar, which was a loud and largely informal affair, with the Smithereens frontman riffing through his band's hits along with covers from Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, accompanied by a 14-year old relative on guitar. Speaking of relatives, Pat's an Italian from Jersey, which made for an interesting crowd.

Then it was on to Metro for a strong set from Cameron McGill and What Army. His style has come in line with a lot of the newer bands you'll hear on XRT -- maybe Band of Horses, or a more straight up Fleet Foxes. A friend I ran into there said Ryan Adams. It'll be interesting to see if the new CD catches fire when McGill releases it, because he's been around for so long that the notion that the sound is contemporary may come into conflict with the fact that his name has a sort of old furniture familiarity.

8.30   monday
Booty Movement Coalition (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
It's gotten to the point where I shouldn't have to remind you about this one. At least I hope so, because I missed my Monday deadline because of business travel again.

8.31   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
I learned the clever guitar bit from "Crying Lightning" last week, but haven't had half a minute to work on it any further. We'll see if I give it another shot, and if the two Tuesday night sports teams the bar is sponsoring approve.

9.01   wednesday
Sing Along With Coz (The Globe Pub)   COZ SINGS!
So the front room experiment went badly, mostly because we set up in a spot that gave me low-humming feedback whenever I tried turning the vocals up. So we cut our losses and pulled the plug. The lack of participants was actually a good thing this time around, and I ended up staying way too late and drinking way too much anyway.

Tributosaurus (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
The monthly musical chameleon does two shows as The Moody Blues.

Guitars Of Fire (Katerina's)
With Tributosaurus and, apparently, flaming guitars within a one block radius of The Globe, I'm hoping at least somebody shows up for my thing.

9.02   thursday
Ahmad Jamal Trio with the Chicago Jazz Orchestra (Pritzker Pavilion)
I'm not sure if this is formally part of the Chicago Jazz Festival -- it was listed separately on Metromix -- but it should be.

Scissor Sisters with Sammy Jo, Casey Spooner (Riviera Theatre)
Everything seems to be coming up dance-pop nowadays, and this band helped kick off that movement, primarily with their stylistically jarring cover of "Comfortably Numb" from Pink Floyd a couple of years ago.

9.03   friday
North Coast Music Festival (Union Park)
A new entry into the Chicago festival crowd, featuring an odd combination of electronica, hip-hop and jam bands. Chemical Brothers headline the first day.

Chicago Jazz Festival (Grant Park)
The first night of the 32nd edition of this festival features a 75th birthday celebration for local jazz hero Ramsey Lewis at Pritzker Pavilion.

Murley Shertz with Train Company, Markit 8, Peter Terry (Lincoln Hall)
We played with these guys at this venue a couple of months ago, and I seem to remember enjoying them, although I was somewhat judgmental of their Police cover. Also, a friend of mine knows one of the other bands.

9.04   saturday
Diver (Fado Irish Pub)   WITHOUT COZ!
I'll be at a wedding just a few blocks away, so I may make a cameo appearance at some point. But the gig is nominally just Tony and Anto -- who is "gagging to play" after a long hiatus from the band, which I'll assume is British for, say, "champing at the bit" or something like that.

Chicago Jazz Festival (Grant Park)
The second full day features sets from Dana Hall with Nicholas Payton in the afternoon, and Chuchito Valdez and Either/Orchestra bookending the main stage at the Petrillo Music Shell in the evening.

Lucky Boys Confusion with Allister, Facing Forward, Adora (House of Blues)
Having been at Delilah's last week for their 17th anniversary, I realize that it would be stunningly innacurate to tout these bands as "old-school" Chicago punk-pop. More like "mid-school?" Lucky Boys Confusion seem to be playing often enough that they might legitimately exist again, and I feel like Allister has been dormant for a while.

Bumpus with Rita J, DJRC (Schubas)
I still have trouble thinking of them as anything other than Rachael Yamagata's old band, despite "living" down the hall from them in my rehearsal building. This, of course, is my problem, not theirs.

This Must Be The Band (SPACE, Evanston)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
If you like Talking Heads and the near northern suburbs, then this may be the show for you.

North Coast Music Festival (Union Park)
See Friday's listing. Saturday features Umphrey's McGee, De La Soul and a DJ set from Moby.

9.05   sunday
Vampire Weekend with Beach House, Dum-Dum Girls (Aragon Ballroom)   SOLD OUT!
Yes, their afropop-inflected indie rock can be infectious, but so is the Ebola virus. The schtick with these preppy popsters is just too thick, and based on reports and the one clip I saw of them on Colbert, their drummer isn't very good. At that point, the comparisons to Paul Simon's Graceland tend to break down, because he had Steve Gadd backing him up.

Crowded House (House of Blues)
I haven't heard the new record, but an offhand comment from esteemed musicologist Dr. Anthony Calderisi after we had played a Crowded House song at Vaughan's leads me to believe that the absence of Tim Finn makes it somewhat less than the classic sound of the band.

Asobi Seksu with Shapers (SPACE, Evanston)
I'm guessing that any radius clause for the Bash on Wabash this weekend must only be for the city limits, because both this New York dream-pop/nouveau shoegazer band and the Talking Heads tribute band are playing both this venue and that festival.

The Hudson Landing with House of Normandie, Rabble Rabble, People Sometimes (Subterranean)
These are the college kids who listen to Steely Dan a lot, not to be confused with The Hudson Branch, who are playing Metro on Friday.

North Coast Music Festival (Union Park)
See Friday's listing. Headliners on day three include Lupe Fiasco and the Disco Biscuits. There's also a dedicated "local stage," which is a nice touch for one of these sorts of fests.

Brendan and Joel from Umphrey's McGee with Van Ghost, Wyilys (Bottom Lounge)
I'm assuming this is an official afterparty for the North Coast festival, since it's right next door and features artists who played on Saturday.