list.in.to.chicago this week: 02.21.2011

I know "Lump" and "Peaches" were catchy tunes, but giving The Presidents of the United States of America their own holiday because of it seems excessive.

Also, I witnessed someone reading this list on their iPhone and immediately making plans to see a show last week. Thanks, Steve! How was Motorhead?

Pick of the week
Wednesday looks fantastic. Too bad I'm out of town. You've got Wallace Roney at the Jazz Showcase, Fishbone at Martyrs' and Pete Yorn at The Vic. Sunday has a little something for the whole family -- provided you're willing to go to StubHub or Craigslist -- with sold-out shows for your rocker nephew (Cage The Elephant at The Vic), your hip uncle who thinks he's Lin Brehmer from XRT (David Gray at the Chicago Theatre) and then one for that weird second cousin who changed her name to Harmony and goes to Burning Man every year (Trey Anastasio at the Riv).

list.in.to.COZ
I don't want to alarm you, but I'm not performing anywhere this week, in any capacity. It's okay, we can make it through this if we stick together.

Recap
Made it back from the business trip in time to catch most of the set from Wes Cichosz and Chris Siebold, which was quite excellent and reminded me just how good those old E-Mics songs are. Suffice it to say, they've since been re-loaded on my iPod. Following that, Nicholas Barron fit back into his old quartet with Steve Gillis, Vijay Tellis-Nayak and Shawn Sommer like they were never apart. Looking forward to catching them on Sundays at Temple Bar. I didn't make it down there this past week, but did get to see Wes playing covers at The Globe before passing out from an exhausting week. Still can't believe that "National Buy The Guitar Player a Shot Month" bit worked so well.

The big Andrew Fraker & Sons show on Friday went exceptionally well, give or take one acoustic guitar string. Kickbush, who went on before, were a bit stylistically schizophrenic, but there were some really good bits in there. Peter Terry and the Chicago City Profits started off with a bit of Black Crowes vibe before veering into adjacent sonic territory, and easily had the best rock cello solo I've seen in at least a week.

2.21   monday
Buckwheat Zydeco (SPACE, Evanston)
Wikipedia with the understatement of the year about the accordionist otherwise known as Stanley Dural, Jr.: "He is one of the few zydeco artists to achieve mainstream success."

2.22   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
If I remember my old X-Files episode titles right, last week saw a Diver "syzygy" -- Tony, Anto and I were all in attendance. A quick Google search yields the inevitable news that there's also a prog rock band in Ohio called Syzygy. Anyway, Tony will likely be on his own this time, but please stop by and say hi.

Morcheeba (House of Blues)
The trip-hop band has been reunited with their original singer, although I didn't realize (a) that she had left, or (b) that the band had continued at all, let alone without her.

Tennis with Porcelain Raft, Holiday Shores (Lincoln Hall)
From what I can tell, this husband-and-wife duo play retro-minimalist lo-fi songs that the indie kids go crazy for. Doesn't sound like my thing, but I've downloaded an MP3, and will get back to you.

2.23   wednesday
Sing Along With Coz (The Globe Pub)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Mr. Wes Cichosz -- who you should be familiar with by now -- is holding down the fort while I explain how our business intelligence platform works to the Boston office. If you're selfish, you should go and actually root for a low musician turnout, so he'll play longer.

Wallace Roney Quartet (Jazz Showcase)
It's an incredibly rare one night stand at the Showcase for trumpeter Wallace Roney, who will be offering up a tribute to the late Miles Davis. You may recall Roney as the guy who helped support Davis in his final performances, and then played on the Tribute to Miles record with the rest of the late 60s quintet.

Fishbone with Rough Cut, David Herrero (Martyrs')
Only three original members remain from one of the progenitors of the funk-rock movement of the late eighties and early nineties. Singer Angelo Moore is a pretty compelling performer in his own right, but I still wish I was able to see these guys with both Kendall Jones and Chris Dowd -- because I really loved their contributions to the songs and the overall sound of the band back when they were in their prime. I did see Dowd once with the band at the Vic when John Norwood Fischer almost stopped the show because someone threw something on stage.

Pete Yorn with Ben Kweller, The Wellspring (The Vic)
There's a good chance all the other guys from Andrew Fraker & Sons will be at this show. We're big fans, and have been known to cover "Life On A Chain" fairly often.

2.24   thursday
Penthouse Sweets with The Handcuffs, Tomorrow the Moon, The Low Mids, We Repel Each Other, Organ Wolf (Beat Kitchen)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I'm guessing this is another benefit for the guy from Penthouse Sweets that I mentioned a few weeks back.

Dum Dum Girls with Minks, Dirty Beaches (Empty Bottle)
The L.A. girl band is listed as both "indie pop" and "noise pop" on Wikipedia, which sounds like it's just a difference in opinion. The name is a mashup of The Vaselines and Iggy Pop, and they name everyone from The Ronettes to Jesus and Mary Chain and Mazzy Star as influences.

Ke$ha with Beardo (House of Blues)   SOLD OUT!
Ever wonder what Auto-Tune sounds like live? Seriously, though, isn't she supposed to be a huge pop star? And she's only playing to 1,500 people?

2.25   friday
Drive-By Truckers with Heartless Bastards (The Vic)
I took the new album from these guys for a spin, and it's probably the best Eagles album you're going to hear this year, which may or may not be something you want to check out.

2.26   saturday
Dropkick Murphys with Naked Raygun (Congress Theater)
The Irish punk band from Boston has a new record coming out on my birthday, and they've got some kind of contest where you can win an iPad if you help promote it on Twitter. They also have a bar across the street from my company's Boston office, so maybe I'll drop by this week to mark the occasion. Plus, Chicago punk legends Naked Raygun, who seem to be playing one or two shows per year these days.

Save the Clocktower with Ode, Curtis Evans (Hideout)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
I've only heard this band's songs in solo acoustic form about a year and a half ago, but I remember that they were really good. This is, I believe, their CD release party.

Comasoft with The Moves, The Blissters, Holding Mercury (Metro)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
Now that I've made what should have been the obvious connection, I almost feel like Matt Hoffer and Holding Mercury have sounded like The Killers since before The Killers did. Maybe with a bit less new wave.

Smith Westerns with Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Fergus and Geronimo (Empty Bottle)
The local band has gotten a nice bit of press on their new album, and they claim influences that include The Beatles and the early glam rock of David Bowie and T.Rex.

Drive-By Truckers with Heartless Bastards (The Vic)
See Friday's listing.

2.27   sunday
Cage the Elephant with Sleeper Agent (The Vic)   SOLD OUT!
Maybe I was in a bad mood, or maybe I didn't check out the right tune, but I absolutely do not hear what's earning the band all their hype. Is a rock band that's not doing the indie-jangly thing or the electronica thing so novel that it stands out just because of what it's not?

David Gray with Lisa O'Neill (Chicago Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
Good middle-of-the-road "adult alternative" music sometimes confounds me, because while I prefer music that's got a bit of an edge to it, I also like really well-crafted, well-sung songs, and Gray is pretty prominent in the latter camp. I just want to sneak a Les Paul and a Marshall stack on stage or something.

Trey Anastasio and the Trey Anastasio Band (Riviera Theatre)   SOLD OUT!
It bugs me when people point to Phish, or The Grateful Dead, as evidence of how the post-Napster music business is supposed to "work." I don't think it's anywhere near as transferable as people seem to think, but a lot of those people are trying to justify illegal downloading, so I tend to discount their arguments anyway. For more discussion of this, see that book I keep threatening to write.

Dropkick Murphys with Against Me (Congress Theater)
See Saturday's listing.