list.in.to.chicago this week: 01.17.2011

You might think that this is going out late because I had the day off yesterday and kinda forgot about it until it was too late. I like to think that I looked at the icy roads and sidewalks last night and decided to delay publication because I just care that much about your safety.

Pick of the week
I like Sunday's Buddy Guy show at Legend's, and I'm seriously considering ditching a previous engagement (actually, a previous engagement party) to go see Verbow at Schubas on Saturday night. Marshall Crenshaw and The Bottle Rockets at Lincoln Hall on Thursday is another good one.

list.in.to.COZ
I've got a couple of weeks off from weekend/drumming gigs, which will hopefully give my thumb time to recover. In the meantime, there's the Wednesday open mic at The Globe.

Recap
While I readily admit that Fado gigs are largely to provide background music that people can drink to, Saturday night's crowd was just weird. They'd be into it during the song, then rather emphatically not clap at the end. Maybe they were sad that we stopped playing the song. I don't know.

1.18   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
I may downgrade this one to "Friends of Coz" this week, but if this is your night for singing a couple of tunes in front of a mostly non-threatening audience, go for it.

Charlie Hunter (SPACE, Evanston)
The last time I saw innovative jazz guitarist Hunter in Chicago, you could still smoke in bars and clubs, and I remember him asking the Cubby Bear crowd to refrain from their nicotine fixes for his sake. These days, that's obviously not as much of a problem. And I still need to make it up to this Evanston venue.

M13 (Quencher's)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I know I've said this before, but a regular big band gig in Chicago is something of a rarity, let alone one that does original compositions.

1.19   wednesday
Sing Along With Coz (The Globe Pub)   COZ SINGS!
If nothing else, some of you aspiring singer/songwriters should come out and play something so I don't negate the progress my jammed thumb has made over the last couple of days by playing guitar for two and half hours.

1.20   thursday
Lauryn Hill (House of Blues)   SOLD OUT!
I've seen a couple of headlines here and there about the former Fugee's comeback, but haven't read deeply enough to see what people are saying about it. She was a pretty big deal a dozen years ago, so I don't think fans are really going to care about critical reception, anyway.

Marshall Crenshaw with The Bottle Rockets (Lincoln Hall)
It's nice to see the jangly, country-influenced rock in the early eighties that included Nick Lowe (to an extent), Dave Edmunds and Crenshaw explicitly connected to the alt-country of bands like the Bottle Rockets. It's also nice to see Lincoln Hall hosting some older artists.

Waco Brothers with Amanda Shires (Mayne Stage)
I think having Jon Langford play your new venue is the Chicago music equivalent of breaking a bottle of champagne across the bow of a new boat.

Buddy Guy with Li'l Ed and the Blues Imperials (Buddy Guy's Legends)
We're at about the halfway point of the annual residency. Thursdays and Sundays are still your best bet.

1.21   friday
Big Science with The Life and Times, Centaur (Empty Bottle)
I'm starting to think I should actually keep a physical list of band I've been meaning to either go see, or go see again. Part of me thinks I'm getting old and less likely to go see a band I don't know much about, but I don't know that I was that ambitious about it ten years ago, either. Back then I had the advantage of sharing bills with more random bands, though.

Deal's Gone Bad with Cold Water Mystic, The Crombies (Mayne Stage)
With Langford and now a local ska show, I think Mayne Stage has crossed a threshold into the proper Chicago scene. I used to know two people in this band, but I know one is gone and have no idea about the other.

Buddy Guy with Scott Holt (Buddy Guy's Legends)   SOLD OUT!
See Thursday's listing.

1.22   saturday
Verbow with Jeremy David Miller (Schubas)
They regrouped once back in May of last year, but now the core of Jason & Alison are doing an acoustic show that I'm hoping will go back to some of their pre-Verbow material.

Liz Phair (Metro)
It would be really interesting to compare this show to the last time I saw Phair at Metro, which was something like her fourth live show ever, and it was pretty evident.

Buddy Guy with Nu Blu Band (Buddy Guy's Legends)   SOLD OUT!
See Thursday's listing.

1.23   sunday
Buddy Guy with Larry McCray (Buddy Guy's Legends)
See Thursday's listing, but McCray is kind of a blues badass in his own right, so this might be the night to go.