list.in.to.chicago this week: 12.02.2013

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Pick of the week
If you like old-school soul, you will almost certainly dig Charles Bradley at Metro on Friday at Metro. And I'm a fan of Brent DiCrescenzo over at Time Out, and he thinks that Polica (Thursday at Metro) and Rubblebucket (Saturday at Lincoln Hall) are both seriously underrated. Don't really know them that well, but the songs I've heard from Midlake (Thursday at Schubas) just while writing this have me intrigued.

list.in.to.COZ
Just Vaughan's this week. Next Diver gig is January 4th at Fado.

Recap
Last week was holiday travel, so not much going on there. In general, the late stages of the year require a bit extra for me to get motivated about going out for live music. Might still have a few shows in me for the year, though.

12.02   monday
Rick Springfield with William Beckett (City Winery)
In case you missed that first, sold-out show a few weeks back.

12.03   tuesday
Open Jam (Vaughan's)   COZ SINGS!
As of last week, it's officially Grinch season. So if you want/need to hear "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" on acoustic guitar, complete with the extra Simpsons verse, come on by.

The English Beat with Pinstripes (City Winery)
Longtime readers know that I'm fascinated with how Dave Wakeling comes through town so often with different projects that go all the way back to the eighties. This time it's The English Beat, which means we should see General Public in a couple of months.

12.04   wednesday
Tributosaurus (Martyrs')
They're billing this as a "holiday spectacular," and in practice, that looks like it's going to be a collection of rock and roll holiday songs, with The Kinks and Bruce Springsteen being two of the ones they call out specifically.

12.05   thursday
Midlake with Sarah Jaffe (Schubas)
The Texas band is labeled as indie-, psychedelic-, and folk-rock on their Wikipedia page, but given their origins in the highly-regarded University of North Texas College of Music, it strikes me as that hard-to-classify thing where good musicians bring their talents to bear on rock music.

Polica with Rizzo (Metro)
Okay, I admit it. I'm too lazy to figure out how to do the c with the thingie underneath it in Polica's name. Time Out Chicago describes the sound as "smoky late-night grooves with Auto-Tuned android-lust vocals," which is evocative enough to actually be useful, and one of the reasons I like DiCrescenzo's writing over there.

Bill Frisell's Big Sur Quintet (SPACE, Evanston)
The eclectic guitarist is one of those guys I've always admired, but never actually listened to. I think I first heard of him from his association with John Zorn way back in the late eighties and early nineties.

12.06   friday
Miles Nielsen & the Rusted Hearts with Ryan Powers & the Secret Weapons, Daniel & the Lion, Geoff Dolce (Double Door)
With former XRT DJ Ken Sumka having moved to Milwaukee, I guess if falls upon me to promote Rick Nielsen's kid's roots-rock outfit. Ryan Powers also used to come to Vaughan's way back in the day.

Elements of Style with Vindits (Beat Kitchen)   FRIENDS OF COZ!
This may be the band's first show since their CD release a few months ago, so I would expect a set heavy on the newer material.

Charles Bradley & the Extraordinaires with Caroline Smith (Metro)
Booker T. Jones (SPACE, Evanston)
A good night for old-school R&B and soul music, I'd say.

12.07   saturday
Rubblebucket with Rich Aucoin, Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt(Lincoln Hall)
Deferring again to Time Out Chicago, who calls them a "free-ranging indie-dance-Afro-pop octet." A quick listen to their live album, recorded in Chicago and released last year, has me at least a bit intrigued. There's a lot going on, in terms of energy, texture and musicianship. And the Afro-pop thing is legit.

Booker T. Jones (SPACE, Evanston)
See Friday's listing.

12.08   sunday
Steep Canyon Rangers (Old Town School of Folk Music)
The bluegrass outfit on tour without Steve Martin telling all those jokes between songs.