What's going on this weekend?

If you asked me right now I'd say I just want to stay in tonight and lounge on my couch and eat potato chips and watch the Olympics, but give me a couple hours and some coffee and I'll be changing my mind because there is plenty to do tonight. My girl Neph invited me to Double Door tonight to see Dando, who I honestly don't know much about other than he fronts The Lemonheads.

If you're looking for some low budget fun, Hey Champ is playing a free show at LaSalle Power Company (hey, I never did write that post about how much I hate the 'tude, and well, everything about that place--I'm honestly surprised it's still open).

Also happening tonight is Four Tet (early and late show) at Empty Bottle (who I also dont know much about other than they've got this song they keep playing on woxy that I really like. Bottom line: I want to hear more).

And when you're not quite ready to go home after the show, head on over to The Continental where Tankboy will be manning the decks from 11 til 4am.

I call this one "get out of my dj booth"

TOMORROW, also known as SATURDAY NIGHT, Scott Lucas and the Married Men celebrate the long anticipated (by us at least) release of their debut album, George Lassos the Moon. Tankboy wrote a really great review of the album on Chicagoist including the irresistibly cute story behind the songs where he "gets the girl." All together now... awww.

Also on Saturday: I've already told you how much I love the influential, innovative Tortoise, they will be playing Lincoln Hall.


So even though there's a bunch of snow still on the ground and the temps seem to be hooked forever in the 30's, there's no excuse to not get out of the house this weekend! You'll have all next week to watch the Olympics when the weather turns even crappier.

Soundtrack for my day...

Tortoise is streaming their new album, Beacons of Ancestorship (which doesnt come out til June 22), on their website. All I can say is that it is fan-tastic. Listen for yourself.

The Hideout Brings Chicago to the Inauguration

If you've got plans to go to DC (and a place to stay...) for Obama's Presidential Inauguration, you can celebrate the night before with the folks from The Hideout at The Black Cat where they, with Interchange, present The Big Shoulders Ball, a Chicago concert celebrating change. Hideout co-owner and staunch Obama supporter (as is evident by the ENORMOUS picture of Obama hanging on the front of The Hideout), Tim Tuten, has chartered two buses to take the bands and company on the cross country trip. Why am I getting a feeling of America ala 60s full of VW buses, hippie braids and peace signs... Anyway, the lineup is stacked; Tortoise, Waco Brothers, Ken Vandermark and Icy Demons are among the local artists already slated to play. Tickets go on sale today at 4pm and are $50. You can get them from The Black Cat's website, or pick them up in person at The Hideout (1354 W. Wabansia). The exact date of the show is Monday, January 19 (just in case you've been living under a rock and hadn't heard when Obama would take over as Commander in Chief). The Black Cat is located at 1811 14th St. NW WDC 20009.


**UPDATE** Andrew Bird has been added to the line-up as well!

Tortoise at Pritzker

After a full weekend of music, I didn’t make it to work the next day, but I somehow managed to make it to another concert – an afternoon show from Tortoise at Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago’s Millennium Park. Pitchfork started doing this lunchtime music series there on Mondays called Audible Architecture, the tagline being “nightclubs at noon.” Another brainchild of Pitchfork Festival leader Mike Reed, Audible Architecture was made possible through collaboration with the Chicago Cultural Center and presented by local clubs and promoters. The idea came so late in the year, that they had a hard time booking available bands and they didn’t have much time to promote the series properly. Despite that, the season is rolling along and creating a successful reputation.

The concert itself was amazing. Tortoise is an experimental instrumental band mixing rock, jazz and electronica that gave rise to the indie genre that exists today. I had never seen them perform live, although I own two of their albums and I’ve seen guitarist Jeff Parker play many times. All the members are multi instrumentalists, moving around the stage after every song, switching instruments, picking new things up. At times, they even had two drummers. You can get lost in a Tortoise song, and I certainly did (especially considering my state of mind). The beauty of this being an afternoon concert and being FREE, is that we were could have front row seats. As the show ended and my friend and I looked at each other – “Can you do an encore at an afternoon show?” You certainly can and they did.

Hideout’s Tim Tuten gave an inspiring opening speech commending Chicago for its innovative and supportive music scene and expressing how important programs like this are. I always find it interesting to hear people in the industry talk to the general public about the innerworkings of Chicago’s music scene. I have so many friends in the industry I forget that most people probably don’t realize what all goes into putting on a concert, or putting an album together. There are so many people behind the scenes that make it possible for you to go to a free concert like this, or see 10 bands for $5 at a street festival. It is true that public support keeps programs like this running, and Chicago has set a great example.