Eyes Back

I haven't written about shows in a while, which is a shame because I've been to about fifty since the last time I've written, and the majority were under five dollars, all ages and phenomenal. There have even been some amazing festivals. Some of the ones that I can remember are Radioinactive, Minotaur, Vyle and the Walkie Talkies at Schubas; Diplo and Os Mutantes at Pitchfork Fest; Roky Erikson, the Boredoms, and Lady Sovereign at Intonation; Bastard Sons of the Apocalypse, Tropietzo, Outraged and a Los Crudos reunion at the Black Hole arcade for Southkore Fest; No Slogan and Sunday Morning Einstein at the Albion House; my favorite Klezmer band Yid Vicious at Summer Dance; Amadou and Marian at Milennium Park, Nora Keyes and Madame P at Reversible Eye; Doug Travis and Pal at the Darkroom; Lovely Little Girls at the Empty Bottle, Crucial Conflict at a blockparty; The Coup and Youngblood Brass Band at another block party; Paperrad and Waterbabies at Red-i; He Not In all over the place; same thing for Right-Eye Rita, Rotten Milk, Insect Deli and Carpet of Sexy; Bear Attack and Abrade might have been the bands I saw at a squat that didn't last very long afterwards; TK Raptor, Velcro Lewis and Mister Fuckhead at the Tastee Freeze; Soft Serve, the Machinist, and Satan 2000 at the Peter Jones Gallery; Charlie Newman with ZootSuitBeatnick and Malcolm Palmer at Subterranean; a few shows at the dearly departed Beach House, and George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic at Africa Fest in Washington Square Park.

Some notables: 2 Per Cent Majesty who played with Black Bear Combo at the Beauty Shop; the former being an amazing violin and guitar postfolk duo and the latter being one of my favorite, ever evolving Chicago brass punk ensembles. Shanghai Triad, who played at the Toc Toc Cafe in Montreal, is a (sometimes) duo that plays Chinese pop music from the 1920s. William Sides Atari Party is getting better and better. I saw him open for Mad Happy at Hotti Biscotti, which was an electro rap group from Florida comprised of a couple of Burning Man dropouts who sang positive lyrics over electro beats. Woah Nelly was the bar band when I got to the Gladstone Hotel to do a show in Toronto, and they were one of the best country acts I've ever seen. I fell hard for the singer when she took out an accordion and even harder when she sang a knockout version of "We'll Meet Again" (y'know, that that song from Dr. Strangelove. And then there were two amazing synth groups at the Mauled By Tigers show I saw at Ronny's bar. Screamin Cyn-Cyn & the Pons and Totally Michael were two of the best acts I've seen all year. Also Ratty Scurvics Singularity one man band at the Cabaret of the Nameless in an appropriately un-titled warehouse on the South Side, where his organ music provided a backdrop for Eric Bang!'s circus disgusting and amazing acts.

It's a shame that when I was going to three or four shows a week I couldn't drag myself to the keyboard to write about them, and now that my last month has been consumed by my search for employment, I can only write about shows I've been a part of.



This was part of Mister Fuckhead's monthly series at Bar Vertigo. He Not In have one too. It's a shame that Bar Vertigo is so lame otherwise. Anyway, Ruby and I did DJ sets between bands as Radio Dysentary.

The first act was Ami Gloria, who's been doing experimental music in Chicago for years. Recently her sets have gotten more traditional. Her work today consisted of her on keyboard and guitar, doing lo-fi ambient music. It sounded like a garage version of Orbital, which felt good, since I've been craving the song "Halcyon (On and On) lately, but getting disappointed every time I hear it.

Then came Zombie Mike (known to many as Mike the Midget). I've never seen Mike do anything other than play the drums in punk bands like the Dirtbikes. As Zombie Mike he covers himself with green paint and plays quirky country songs on his guitar. Mosquito Bandito took country in a different direction as a one-man rockabilly band, singing, playing guitar, playing drums, and occasionally playing the drums with his guitar. His voice was a little off-key, and too fresh for the twang he was making, but I'm sure that with a some more miles behind him, he'll grow into his caterwaul. Both acts were great live but I'm skeptical as to how they would sound recorded. Actually, you can check out Mosquito on his website but you'll have to wait a little longer for Zombie Mike.