list.in.to.chicago this week: 04.22.2013

Okay, so you may have noticed the lack of a list these past couple of weeks. Not sure if it's current work stress or just the cumulative effects of stretching myself too thin for the last however many years, but I'm a bit burned out. I still like doing this, but finding both the time and the frame of mind at the same time has been tough.

So, the short-term solution is that I'm going to kill the daily listings. That's where I tend to get bogged down the most, because I want to be thorough, and that means having something significant to say about every single thing I want to list. We'll see how things work with more of a summary.

picks of the week
I'm really digging last year's solo album from former Smiths (and Modest Mouse, and Cribs) guitarist Johnny Marr (Thursday @ Metro), so that's where you'll find me for sure this week. You've also got Trent Reznor's new band How To Destroy Angels (Tuesday @ The Vic) with Diiv opening, which totally snuck up on me. Other notables include Fitz and the Tantrums on Tuesday at Double Door, and Liverpool's Clinic on Wednesday at Lincoln Hall.

recap
Two Saturdays back, Fleetwood Mac show was all about Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. And Mick Fleetwood thinking it was about him. And John McVie either being the most humble musician on the planet, or not really wanting to be there. On balance, this show definitely validated the notion of seeing "classic" (or even nostalgic) bands on the grounds of what I refer to as "those artists playing those songs." Meaning, I may not have consciously put an acoustic version of "Landslide" from Buckingham and Nicks on my bucket list, but now that I've seen it, I'm adding it retroactively.

This past Thursday night was the first show of the annual International Pop Overthrow Festival at the Red Line Tap. I liked what little I heard from Waiflike, and it's always good to hear The Powwows and Telstar as part of what has become an annual celebration of "bands Tony is in that I am not." Two bands in between, one with a drummer who needed to stop being afraid to hit his snare drum, and one that sounded like early Bumpus if early Bumpus was listening to a lot of Gogol Bordello and DeVotchKa.

list.in.to.COZ
This Saturday, it's Diver at Fado, doing what we do. And last week we actually played "Sweet Caroline" at Vaughan's for possibly the only time ever, in a show of solidarity with the good folks of Boston. These are the things you might miss by staying home on a Tuesday night.

friends of coz!
Well, last night was Kick The Cat with original drummer Kris Myers, who you may recognize from Umphrey's McGee, along with two other presumably fusion bands at Reggie's Music Joint. Sorry about that, guys.

riff raff
As is happens, Umphrey's McGee is playing Park West on Friday. Ghostface Killah at the Abbey Pub (Friday) is a pretty odd match of artist and venue. The Abbey does some national stuff every once in a while, but I don't know that I've ever seen hip-hop there. Also on Friday is legendary jazz bassist Stanley Clarke (SPACE, Evanston), who I was talking about with someone just last week.