list.in.to.chicago this week: 01.31.2011

So, how's the weather?

Pick of the week
That John Scofield Trio show looks really good on Saturday at the Old Town School. With everybody else at The Decemberists at the Riv, Yo La Tengo might be a nice, low-key affair on Friday night at Metro. And Tributosaurus as Kool & The Gang on Wednesday? Horn-tastic.

list.in.to.COZ
Acoustic trio version of Diver on Friday night at Temple Bar. You're going to be itching to get out of the house by then anyway.

Recap
I ended up at Martyrs' on Saturday night. Terrible Spaceship were, quite literally, an imagined soundtrack to Orson Welles' War of the Worlds radio broadcast, with a 50s noir lounge-funk sound that included vibraphone and only occasional vocals. At times it reminded me of Propellerheads doing the James Bond theme. For whatever reason, I couldn't dig into Fareed Haque's Math Games. It reminded me of some of Andy Summers' post-Police jazz work, but the trio didn't seem totally committed to the cause. That, or it was just that his drummer's technique gave the visual impression of pulling punches, which then permeated how the whole band sounded to me.

1.31   monday
Booty Movement Coalition (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
If you want to get one last musical hurrah before we get snowed under, a night of improvised funk and hip-hop would be a good way to do it.

2.01   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I'm still on hiatus while my thumb gets better, but you can use yours to thumb your nose at the National Weather Service and keep Tony and Andy and whoever else braves the Snowpocalypse company.

Shelby Lynne with Derek Nelson (SPACE, Evanston)
The winner of the Best New Artist Grammy back in 1999, the country singer started her own record label last year. She also played Johnny Cash's mother in Walk the Line.

Scott Lucas and the Married Men with Kevin Tihista's Red Terror (Schubas)
This was originally Lucas opening for Ted Leo, but that got cancelled, leaving the standing half of Local H in the headlining slot with this side project.

Buckcherry with All That Remains, Hellyeah, The Damned Things (Congress Theater)
Did you know that one of the guys in Buckcherry used to be the talent buyer for Elbo Room? On some level, Stevie D played a big role in URT's development some ten years ago, by giving us our first weekend gig.

2.02   wednesday
Sing Along With Coz (The Globe Pub)   COZ SINGS!
Performing "Songs for Snowmageddon" in its entirety. Or not.

Tributosaurus (Martyrs')   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Any time these musical chameleons tackle a horn section band, it's going to be good. This time, it's Kool & The Gang, and if you know their tendencies on song selections, there's a high probability they'll make it through the night without actually playing "Celebration."

Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue with The Opposition Party, DJRC (Lincoln Hall)
Speaking of horns, this guy is one of the newer artists to come out of The Big Easy. According to Lincoln Hall's Twitter feed, there may still be a handful of tickets left.

2.03   thursday
Glittermouse with Color Radio (Lincoln Hall)
I haven't repressed the memories of that Enclave show so much that I've forgotten that I liked these guys. They had a very youthful, almost idealistic energy about them. And two bass players. Free show, according to their Twitter feed, but I couldn't tell if that required some sort of printout.

Jonny Rumble with The Kickback, The Winter Sounds (The Hideout)
The promo e-mail I got from this band quoted Jim DeRogatis comparing them to the MC5, Cheap Trick and The Ramones, which almost sounds like they're specifically designed to press his buttons. Not that anyone -- *cough*chrisholmes*cough* -- would ever try something like that. To be fair, they compare themselves to The Replacements and Big Star, so it might just be what DeRo had on the brain that day.

2.04   friday
DIVER (Temple Bar)   SEE COZ LIVE!
My thumb is supposed to be in a splint until later this month, but this is an acoustic trio outing for us, so I should be able to deal with it. Plus, it's one of those rare north side appearances some of you keep clamoring for.

The Decemberists with Wye Oak (Riviera Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
The word on the street is that the new record is a little more focused on shorter songs than epic sprawl, but I haven't it yet. And until told otherwise, I will still consider them to be NPR, if NPR were a rock band.

Yo La Tengo with William Tyler (Metro)
Pretty much as venerable an indie rock band as you're going to find. It's going to be interesting to see how critics deal with the advancing age of bands that they saw as the asteroid that wiped out the classic rock "dinosaurs," as they're so often chastising those dinosaurs for continuing to tour past their expiration dates.

Disappears with Brain Idea, Tyler Jon Tyler (Empty Bottle)
The local band got a shot in the arm recently when Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley joined on at least a temporary basis. I'm admittedly not a fan of the Sonic Youth branch of the indie rock family tree, though, so while that's a big selling point for a lot of people, I'm not one of them.

Poi Dog Pondering (The Vic)
Death, taxes and Frank Orrall. Some things you can just count on.

2.05   saturday
John Scofield Trio with John Goldman's Quadrangle (Old Town School of Folk Music)
Metromix is notoriously bad at telling whether Old Town shows are sold out, but I hope not, because Scofield is probably one of the top five jazz guitarists in the business, and seeing him in such an intimate space is almost a no-brainer.

Poi Dog Pondering (The Vic)
See Friday's listing.

2.06   sunday
Hamell on Trial with Birds Of Prey, Gidgets Gaga, Kate Diaz (Abbey Pub)
I still, to this day, want this to be a project from Van der Graaf Generator's Peter Hammill, rather than a one-man punk-folk operation from upstate New York who records on Ani DiFranco's label. And I've said this before, but I think I first shared a bill with Gidgets Gaga around 1995. Good for them.