Eric lab Rat set:
Pharcyde - Passin Me By
Quincy Jones - Summer in the City !
20th Century Steel Band - Heaven and Hell is on Earth !!!!
Rare Earth - I Just Want to Celebrate (Mocean Worker Remix)
Boney M - Belfast
Fehlfarben - Ein Jahr (Es Geht Voran)
Etta James - Lets Burn Down the Cornfield !!!
Zapp - More Bounce to the Ounce
Art Jerry Miller - Moon Shot
Equals - Police on My Back
Glaxo Babies - Maximum Sexual Joy
Electrostats - 21st Century Kenya
Chuck Jackson - Any Day Now (My Wild Beautiful Bird)
Arvo Fuckhead set:
Little Richard & His Band - The Girl Can't Help It
The Coasters - Shopping for Clothes
The Clovers - Devil or Angel
The Flamingos - I only have eyes for you
Lavern Baker - I Cried a Tear
Carla Thomas - Gee Whiz (Look at his eyes)
Chuck Willis - I feel so bad
The Coasters - Young blood
The Bobettes - Mr Lee
The Mar-Keys - Last Night
Little Walter - You're So Fine
Don Tiki - Hot Like Lava
Honey LTD. - The Warrior
Clair Lane - Frankie & Johnny
Susan Rafey - Bring back the love you gave me
The Liver Birds - It's Got to be you
Talking HEads - Electric Guitar
Talking Heads - Pulled Up
ENO - Baby's on Fire
*Free Form Set*
ENO - The Fat Lady of Limbourg *red sticker*
David Bowie - DJ *red*
CASH - While I've still got my mind *core*
Lord Of The Yum YUM - FLight of the bumblebee *local*
Mucca Pazza - Dirge *heavy rotation*
Bird Names - Porcupine is a Spiny Pig *local*
Harry Nilsson - Me and My Arrow *choice*
PIGFACE - Hips, TITS, Lips, POWER! *local*
Nullsleep - The Model (Kraftwerk cover) *heavy rotation*
Lightning Bolt - Rotator *choice song*
ZZZZ! - 2nd Hand SMoke *local*
Deerhoof - Choco Fight *heavy rotation*
James Chance - Designed to Kill *80's song*
SWANS - Money is Flesh *choice song*
Wire - I am the fly *core song*
Ministry - Impossible *local*
Man MAn - Spider Cider *choice*
Clinic - Gideon *heavy rotation*
AFX - PWSteal.Ldpnch.D *choice*
Hank Williams - There's a hole in my bucket *Yellow sticker*
Josephine Foster - An Die Musik *local*
DEVO - Mongoloid *80's*
The Lonesome Organist - Rat Advance on the windsor deluxe *local*
Gob Iron - Little Girl and Dreadful snake *heavy rotation*
Bakelite 78 - Arlene Goodnight
Tom WAits - Goodnight Irene
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
Top Somethings of 2006
[Screamin Cyn-Cyn & the Pons were probably the best band I saw all year. If I could stand Wisconsin, I could see the band play street fairs like this]
Song of the year:
"Daydream" by Lupe Fiasco with Jill Scott
Top Films:
Pan's Labyrinth
Idiocracy
Top Bands I Should have Heard Prior, but Didn't:
Kleenex/Liliput
Meret Becker
Tuxedomoon
Current 93
Rosa Yemen/Lizzy Mercier Descloux
Nora Keyes
Munich Machine
Rest In Peace:
Bar Vertigo, Beach House, Beauty Shop, Big Horse, Machine HQ, Rawk! Loft (?), Big Horse, Trevia, Waiting Room, Western Front
(Rest in Peace Malachi)
[Los Crudos playing "En Mi Opinion", "Crudo Soy", "Asesinos" and "That's Right, We're That Spic Band" at their reunion show at The Black Hole]
Some of the magazines that let me write for them asked me to submit end of the year best-of lists. I love lists!
Here's my Top 5 records of 2006, courtesy of Chicago Innerview...
Looking back over 2006, I couldn't remember anything but Gnarls Barkley and Justin Timberlake. To figure out what my favorite albums were, I have just browsed through over 2000 albums on the web and I can tell you this...2006 wasn't a good year for records. It wasn't that there wasn't good or challenging music being made, either. Outkast put out a great album, but it didn't have that usual Outkast feel of being the freshest, weirdest, best thing in the world. Bands like CSS and Art Brut proved onceagain that there is always room in this world for stupid punk you can dance to. Noise weirdos Wolf Eyes, Acid Mothers Temple, and Warhammer 48k all put out records that were as listenable as they were dense, and while mainstream hip hop started dabbling in electro, the underground embraced it full bore with new records by K-the-I???, Radioinactive, Lady Sovereign, and Spank Rock. But none of those albums made a very lasting impression, so in a double-blind test I checked my Last.fm page against this year'snew releases to see what I've been listening to.
Without a doubt, my favorite album was Pick a Bigger Weapon by The Coup, wherein Boots Riley andPam the Funkstress make Marxism sound as sexy, dangerous and necessary as hip hop was before it became big business. On A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, Josephine Foster departs from freak-folk for an album of 19th century German compositions that's both haunting and beautiful. Carla Bozulich continues to grow with her Evangelista, which is full of morose country hymns and weird art thrash that is as hard and delicate as her voice. Kronos Quartet ended the year with a moody collaboration with Mogwai and Pop Will Eat Itself's Clint Mansell for the soundtrack to Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain. The most mileage I've gotten from vinyl this year came from the split 7" between Chicago's Carpet of Sexy and It's a Trap, where both bands serve up noise you can get crunk to.
It was a year where artists thought smaller. In the shadow of big festivals, the summer was full of pot lucks and backyard traveler jams, and in the wake of 2005, where dozens of spaces were shut down or priced out of existence, people found out how accomodating this city could be by setting up their own festivals in old man bars and ice cream shops. It was a good year to see a band, but a shitty year to buy an album.
--and these two came from Newcity's end of the year issue...
Top Five Festival Shows at Places Where You Don't Usually See Shows
1. Southkore Fest with Los Crudos, Juventud Crasa, Bastard Sons of the Apocalypse, No Slogan, Tropietzo and Condenada at The Black Hole (video arcade)
2. The Noise District 6/6/6 with the Bang Bang Circus, Black Bear Combo, Genderfuck Burlesque, blood wrestling and Satanic Marriage at the Beach House (house)
3. Mauled by Tigers Fest with Screamin Cyn-Cyn & the Pons and Totally Michael at Ronny's (bar)
4. Trans-Sexual Express with Waterbabies, He Not In, TK Raptor and Velcro Lewis at the Tastee Freez (ice cream shop)
5. Pitchfork Fest with Diplo, Aesop Rock, Spank Rock, Os Mutantes, Flosstradamus and Tarantula at Union Park (park)
Top 5 Reasons I've Heard for Coming Back to Chicago
1. "That fresh air was starting to make me soft."
2. "New York City really doesn't care as much about the live music scene as they say they do."
3. "I'm just here for the trial, then I'm gone again."
4. "So I was out there milking a goat when I started thinking, 'What the fuck happened to me?'"
5. "After a few months in Iraq, you can really appreciate a Chicago-style hotdog."
Song of the year:
"Daydream" by Lupe Fiasco with Jill Scott
Top Films:
Pan's Labyrinth
Idiocracy
Top Bands I Should have Heard Prior, but Didn't:
Kleenex/Liliput
Meret Becker
Tuxedomoon
Current 93
Rosa Yemen/Lizzy Mercier Descloux
Nora Keyes
Munich Machine
Rest In Peace:
Bar Vertigo, Beach House, Beauty Shop, Big Horse, Machine HQ, Rawk! Loft (?), Big Horse, Trevia, Waiting Room, Western Front
(Rest in Peace Malachi)
[Los Crudos playing "En Mi Opinion", "Crudo Soy", "Asesinos" and "That's Right, We're That Spic Band" at their reunion show at The Black Hole]
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Catharsis
Date: 1/24/07
Bands: Fuck 911, Bomb Banks, Gypsy Feelings, Harshe Nu Tru, Dramatic Paws, Jennifer Lorraine, Common Visions, random peoples
Location: Nihilist
Cost: Donation for touring bands
Things I missed to be there: Bookslut Reading with Neal Pollack at Hopleaf; Freeform Shuffle with Oskie Grey, Shamanavi, Emulsion, and Fuzzirobot at Spot 6; In-One-Ear at the Heartland Cafe
Reasons I Went: Jon Ziemba's last show, free ride there and back
I haven't gone to any shows in the last couple weeks because I've been on a group trip in Israel. On the trip, there were a number of Israelis who took the same sort of joy in teaching us Israeli cuss words that I take in getting a toddler to repeat one after me. The language of the hebrew man (Hebrew only slightly less than Yiddish) is full of words that sound so much like what they describe, they're practically onomatopoeia. For example, the word shpich, which is Hebrew for cum, and most closely resembles the slang term skeet.
English is a much trickier language, and full of words that often sound like they'd be perfect for the situation, but upon closer reflection have absolutely no relevance. I wanted to title this blog "catharsis", but I wasn't completely sure that I knew what the word meant, so here's a definition from dictionary.com:
1. the purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, esp. through certain kinds of art, as tragedy or music.
After twenty-some years of living in Chicago, Jon Ziemba is leaving fo Portland. Last night's show, where he performed as Bomb Banks was his last before leaving. The show began with Nihilist's Ehsan playing accordion and Right Eye Rita playing empty wine bottles as percussion. Jon emerged from a bedroom, with his face painted black and white like an inverse racoon, screaming and smashing an old black electric guitar with a hammer. When the guitar was thoroughly demolished, he walked up to the stage, plugged in another guitar, a sleek white one and joined in with Rita and Ehsan, yowling about everyone wasting their lives. When the song was over, he walked into the middle of the room, sang a Pulp cover, and left.
I was talking to Rich Syska about an old friend who'd moved to Portland, actually one of a number of old friends and noise/party weirdos who have left Illinois for Oregon. Her take was that the town is so much more stoned than Chicago that, while people are really open to new, weird, and heady things, there are a lot fewer individuals ready to get up off their couches to throw together a band or an event just for the hell of it. I never really think of Chicago that way but it makes sense. It's a big city but there's never anything to do, or never enough, or maybe just never the right thing. This was in full effect last night, where I was treated to not just the seven bands on the bill but an Iranian dance party and impromptu performances by David Diarrhea and Right-Eye Rita.
After Bomb Banks was Gypsy Feelings, a hiphop act that consisted of a guy who looked like an effete pirate and a girl with two hoodies sewn together. The guy, Ossian, jumped into the crowd and rapped over lofi keyboard beats while the girl, Rebecca, sat back and rapped over casio and guitar. Harsh Nue Tru had Hunter Husar playing house music in a corner while Jenifer Lorraine danced. Fuck 911 was Rotten Milk and Rand Sevilla making noise and breaking bottles in Nihilist's kitchen, which inspired a number of people to climb up onto the tiled sink and perform in between bands. The best of these was a tall man in a bright one-piece a friend of his had scammed him that had something to do with parachuting or Olympic training. He lifted his head up and yelled, and held a single note which lead to more people yelling and harmonizing until the entire room was standing there with their mouth open or looking around incredulous, unable to stop laughing.
Another highlight was Dramatic Paws, whose set reminded me of Fugazi, the Descendents, the Dead Milkmen and a lot of semirelated things that he didn't actually sound like. Dramatic Paws was a guy who sat on the floor and pounded through some loudfast ballads on an acoustic guitar. It reminded me of high school in the late 90s when emo was only a bad word to punks and didn't mean anything to anyone else. His songs were really good, even as they were derided, loudly by members of the audience who got mad at being shusshed. He ended with a cover of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" in a full Tiny Tim falsetto.
The headliner was Common Visions from Asheville. If you could create a world of music that fit on a line segment where on one end of the line segment, you would have Southern Culture on the Skids and on the other end, Current 93,, and inbetween nothing but variations inbetween. Common Visions would fit perfectly on such a timeline, about three-fourths of the way towards Current 93. Their songs alternated with every other song sounding like old 1980s no-wave or twangy cowpunk, but with each one containing elements of the other.
[Fuck 911 reminded me of America's Meth Problem, which has included both members of Fuck 911. Unfortunately, neither band is as fun as Rand's (now defunct?) two-piece, Carpet of Sexy. Here's one of their videos.]
Bands: Fuck 911, Bomb Banks, Gypsy Feelings, Harshe Nu Tru, Dramatic Paws, Jennifer Lorraine, Common Visions, random peoples
Location: Nihilist
Cost: Donation for touring bands
Things I missed to be there: Bookslut Reading with Neal Pollack at Hopleaf; Freeform Shuffle with Oskie Grey, Shamanavi, Emulsion, and Fuzzirobot at Spot 6; In-One-Ear at the Heartland Cafe
Reasons I Went: Jon Ziemba's last show, free ride there and back
I haven't gone to any shows in the last couple weeks because I've been on a group trip in Israel. On the trip, there were a number of Israelis who took the same sort of joy in teaching us Israeli cuss words that I take in getting a toddler to repeat one after me. The language of the hebrew man (Hebrew only slightly less than Yiddish) is full of words that sound so much like what they describe, they're practically onomatopoeia. For example, the word shpich, which is Hebrew for cum, and most closely resembles the slang term skeet.
English is a much trickier language, and full of words that often sound like they'd be perfect for the situation, but upon closer reflection have absolutely no relevance. I wanted to title this blog "catharsis", but I wasn't completely sure that I knew what the word meant, so here's a definition from dictionary.com:
1. the purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, esp. through certain kinds of art, as tragedy or music.
After twenty-some years of living in Chicago, Jon Ziemba is leaving fo Portland. Last night's show, where he performed as Bomb Banks was his last before leaving. The show began with Nihilist's Ehsan playing accordion and Right Eye Rita playing empty wine bottles as percussion. Jon emerged from a bedroom, with his face painted black and white like an inverse racoon, screaming and smashing an old black electric guitar with a hammer. When the guitar was thoroughly demolished, he walked up to the stage, plugged in another guitar, a sleek white one and joined in with Rita and Ehsan, yowling about everyone wasting their lives. When the song was over, he walked into the middle of the room, sang a Pulp cover, and left.
I was talking to Rich Syska about an old friend who'd moved to Portland, actually one of a number of old friends and noise/party weirdos who have left Illinois for Oregon. Her take was that the town is so much more stoned than Chicago that, while people are really open to new, weird, and heady things, there are a lot fewer individuals ready to get up off their couches to throw together a band or an event just for the hell of it. I never really think of Chicago that way but it makes sense. It's a big city but there's never anything to do, or never enough, or maybe just never the right thing. This was in full effect last night, where I was treated to not just the seven bands on the bill but an Iranian dance party and impromptu performances by David Diarrhea and Right-Eye Rita.
After Bomb Banks was Gypsy Feelings, a hiphop act that consisted of a guy who looked like an effete pirate and a girl with two hoodies sewn together. The guy, Ossian, jumped into the crowd and rapped over lofi keyboard beats while the girl, Rebecca, sat back and rapped over casio and guitar. Harsh Nue Tru had Hunter Husar playing house music in a corner while Jenifer Lorraine danced. Fuck 911 was Rotten Milk and Rand Sevilla making noise and breaking bottles in Nihilist's kitchen, which inspired a number of people to climb up onto the tiled sink and perform in between bands. The best of these was a tall man in a bright one-piece a friend of his had scammed him that had something to do with parachuting or Olympic training. He lifted his head up and yelled, and held a single note which lead to more people yelling and harmonizing until the entire room was standing there with their mouth open or looking around incredulous, unable to stop laughing.
Another highlight was Dramatic Paws, whose set reminded me of Fugazi, the Descendents, the Dead Milkmen and a lot of semirelated things that he didn't actually sound like. Dramatic Paws was a guy who sat on the floor and pounded through some loudfast ballads on an acoustic guitar. It reminded me of high school in the late 90s when emo was only a bad word to punks and didn't mean anything to anyone else. His songs were really good, even as they were derided, loudly by members of the audience who got mad at being shusshed. He ended with a cover of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" in a full Tiny Tim falsetto.
The headliner was Common Visions from Asheville. If you could create a world of music that fit on a line segment where on one end of the line segment, you would have Southern Culture on the Skids and on the other end, Current 93,, and inbetween nothing but variations inbetween. Common Visions would fit perfectly on such a timeline, about three-fourths of the way towards Current 93. Their songs alternated with every other song sounding like old 1980s no-wave or twangy cowpunk, but with each one containing elements of the other.
[Fuck 911 reminded me of America's Meth Problem, which has included both members of Fuck 911. Unfortunately, neither band is as fun as Rand's (now defunct?) two-piece, Carpet of Sexy. Here's one of their videos.]
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Two Slaps Radio [WLUW]
Mucca Pazza - Alarm
Boney M - Ma Baker
Clipse - Nightmares
Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco - Touch the Sky (live)
Little Richard - Ooh! My Soul
Parliament- Red Hot Mama
Jonna Gault - I'm Never Gonna Cry Again
Little Milton - We're Gonna Make It
Ernie K- Doe - Mother-In-Law
Bobby Bland - I Pity the Fool
The Coasters - Along Came Jones
Darlene Love - Strange Love/Stumble and Fall
The Ronettes - When I Saw You
Chris Kennner - I Like It Like That, Pt 1
Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra - Pleasure
Howlin Wolf - Evil
Arvo fhead:
Snakefinger - Living in Vain
The Contortions - I can't stand myself
Mark & The MAmbas - Empty Eyes
The Paris Sisters - Dream Lover
Diane Ray - Please Don't Talk To the LifeGuard
The Crystals - Then He Kissed Me
Priscilla Paris - Help Me
Robbie Winston - Help Me
Crazy Girls - Hey Hey Ha Ha
Carla Thomas - Comfort me
Irma Thomas - The Same Love that made me laugh
The Staple Singers - Uncloudy Day
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - You're Gonna Get It
Billie Holiday - I'll Be Seeing You
Nina Simone - I Loves You Porgy
Snakefinger - I love you too much to respect you
[Every Monday night, Two Slaps Radio plays the best and most unconventional funk and soul in Chicago, with all of its roots and derivatives including acid jazz, doo-wop, brass band, girl groups and electro. Two Slaps radio can be heard live from 2-4am on WLUW 88.7fm and wluw.org ]
Boney M - Ma Baker
Clipse - Nightmares
Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco - Touch the Sky (live)
Little Richard - Ooh! My Soul
Parliament- Red Hot Mama
Jonna Gault - I'm Never Gonna Cry Again
Little Milton - We're Gonna Make It
Ernie K- Doe - Mother-In-Law
Bobby Bland - I Pity the Fool
The Coasters - Along Came Jones
Darlene Love - Strange Love/Stumble and Fall
The Ronettes - When I Saw You
Chris Kennner - I Like It Like That, Pt 1
Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra - Pleasure
Howlin Wolf - Evil
Arvo fhead:
Snakefinger - Living in Vain
The Contortions - I can't stand myself
Mark & The MAmbas - Empty Eyes
The Paris Sisters - Dream Lover
Diane Ray - Please Don't Talk To the LifeGuard
The Crystals - Then He Kissed Me
Priscilla Paris - Help Me
Robbie Winston - Help Me
Crazy Girls - Hey Hey Ha Ha
Carla Thomas - Comfort me
Irma Thomas - The Same Love that made me laugh
The Staple Singers - Uncloudy Day
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - You're Gonna Get It
Billie Holiday - I'll Be Seeing You
Nina Simone - I Loves You Porgy
Snakefinger - I love you too much to respect you
[Every Monday night, Two Slaps Radio plays the best and most unconventional funk and soul in Chicago, with all of its roots and derivatives including acid jazz, doo-wop, brass band, girl groups and electro. Two Slaps radio can be heard live from 2-4am on WLUW 88.7fm and wluw.org ]
Two Slaps Radio [WLUW]
[all Arvo, all Fela set]
Fela Kuti - Unknown Soldier part 1 of 2
Fela Kuti - Dog Eat Dog
Fela Kuti - Witchcraft
fela Kuti - Teacher Don't Teach Me Non Sense
Fela Kuti - Coffin For the Head of State
Fela Kuti - Unknown Soldier part 1 of 2
Fela Kuti - Dog Eat Dog
Fela Kuti - Witchcraft
fela Kuti - Teacher Don't Teach Me Non Sense
Fela Kuti - Coffin For the Head of State
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Two Slaps Radio [WLUW]
Gnarls Barkley - Go Go Gadget Gospel
Walter Jackson - What Would You Do
Artistic - Patty Cake
Herbie Hancock - Riot
Con Funk Shun - Rock It All Night
James Brown - White Lightning (I Mean Moonshine)
Radiants - Shy Guy
Friends of E Rodney James - Soul Heaven
Denizen Kane - Amerika Dub (feat. avery r young) !
Greyboy Allstars - Toys R Us
Five Du-Tones - My World !
Betty Everett - You're No Good
Funkadelic - You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks
Liquid Soul - What a Story
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Real Men Don't Kill Coyotes
Fugess - The Score
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - The Tears of a Clown
Dyke & the Blazers - The Wobble
Billy Holiday - Fine and Mellow
Funka Fize - Because You're Funky
Art Jerry Miller - Mod Strut
Linda Ballantine - Glad About That
Over Night Low - The Witch Doctor
Eldridge Holmes - Where Is Love
Huey Piano Smith - Little Liza Jane
Rotary Connection - Memory Band
Spot & the Blotters - Soul Circle
Richard 'Dimples' Fields - Finger Licken Good
Dottie Wright - Eclipse of a Lover
Carleen and the Groovers - The Thing
Kim Weston - Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me a Little)
Kashmere Stage Band - Scorpio
Wilson Pickett - Land of 1000 Dances
Bobby Byrd - I'm Comin'
Prince - Irresistable Bitch
Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
[Every Monday night, Two Slaps Radio plays the best and most unconventional funk and soul in Chicago, with all of its roots and derivatives including acid jazz, doo-wop, brass band, girl groups and electro. Two Slaps radio can be heard live from 2-4am on WLUW 88.7fm and wluw.org ]
Walter Jackson - What Would You Do
Artistic - Patty Cake
Herbie Hancock - Riot
Con Funk Shun - Rock It All Night
James Brown - White Lightning (I Mean Moonshine)
Radiants - Shy Guy
Friends of E Rodney James - Soul Heaven
Denizen Kane - Amerika Dub (feat. avery r young) !
Greyboy Allstars - Toys R Us
Five Du-Tones - My World !
Betty Everett - You're No Good
Funkadelic - You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks
Liquid Soul - What a Story
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Real Men Don't Kill Coyotes
Fugess - The Score
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - The Tears of a Clown
Dyke & the Blazers - The Wobble
Billy Holiday - Fine and Mellow
Funka Fize - Because You're Funky
Art Jerry Miller - Mod Strut
Linda Ballantine - Glad About That
Over Night Low - The Witch Doctor
Eldridge Holmes - Where Is Love
Huey Piano Smith - Little Liza Jane
Rotary Connection - Memory Band
Spot & the Blotters - Soul Circle
Richard 'Dimples' Fields - Finger Licken Good
Dottie Wright - Eclipse of a Lover
Carleen and the Groovers - The Thing
Kim Weston - Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me a Little)
Kashmere Stage Band - Scorpio
Wilson Pickett - Land of 1000 Dances
Bobby Byrd - I'm Comin'
Prince - Irresistable Bitch
Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
[Every Monday night, Two Slaps Radio plays the best and most unconventional funk and soul in Chicago, with all of its roots and derivatives including acid jazz, doo-wop, brass band, girl groups and electro. Two Slaps radio can be heard live from 2-4am on WLUW 88.7fm and wluw.org ]
Strip Maul
Date: 1/6/06
Show: Fleshtones Burlesque
Location: Lakeshore Theatre
Cost: $20
Things I missed to be there: Davy J. Sparrow, Dog Dixie, Choke Cherry and Blah Blah Black Sheep at the Lowercase Collective basement; Matthew Arkell and la radio at Zoku; Livewire at Stadium West.
Reason I went: I scored comp tix, and free titties trump half pipes and folk punk nearly any day of the week.
Burlesque is a Latin word meaning, "someone who, upon realizing that they've put on far too many pairs of underwear, undresses to music".
Location can make or break a burlesque show. When the Genderfuck Burlesque Troupe played the basement of the Beach House it was intimate and very underground, a setting where they could pull off more risque and dangerous bits than any legit venue would allow. At the same time though, some of their acts lost their inherent cabaret sophistication as the cd player skipped and performers tripped over light cords. When the Abbey Pub was doing Gurlesque Burlesque everything was professional (if a bit tame) but the crowd and the performers had to deal with Abbey Pub's obnoxious staff who really don't know what to do when their place sells out. At both places there were visibility problems for anyone who got there late.
As as a legitimate theater that is used to doing off-kilter shows, including the monthly Belmont Burlesque revue, Puppetry of the Penis, and any number of gay kitsch musicals, The Lakeshore provided a perfect balance. They're a little timid, but they know how to light a show, treat a show, and make sure everybody can see it.
Flesh Tones Burlesque is a new monthly event that gathers up many of the city's diverse acts to burlesque, busk, and strip for charity.
One of the treats of the show was when the house band, 8 Inch Betsy, performed as the soundtrack to a vintage burlesque film. For most of the night, the band played with a very Chicago, melodic punk sound, like an all-girl version of the Bollweevils, but as the film played they got really slow and really loud (think Iggy Pop with Mazzy Star on vocals).
Aside from the band, there was a lot of 90s music in the show.
From the world of trip hop, you could hear women strip to Morcheeba and White Town, then there was Cherish the Burlesque Godess dancing to the Squirrel Nut Zippers' song "Hell" and in what was possibly the sexiest act of the night, Betty Cracker danced to Southern Culture on the Skids' song "Camel Walk".
[8 Inch Betsy with vintage erotica]
Show: Fleshtones Burlesque
Location: Lakeshore Theatre
Cost: $20
Things I missed to be there: Davy J. Sparrow, Dog Dixie, Choke Cherry and Blah Blah Black Sheep at the Lowercase Collective basement; Matthew Arkell and la radio at Zoku; Livewire at Stadium West.
Reason I went: I scored comp tix, and free titties trump half pipes and folk punk nearly any day of the week.
Burlesque is a Latin word meaning, "someone who, upon realizing that they've put on far too many pairs of underwear, undresses to music".
Location can make or break a burlesque show. When the Genderfuck Burlesque Troupe played the basement of the Beach House it was intimate and very underground, a setting where they could pull off more risque and dangerous bits than any legit venue would allow. At the same time though, some of their acts lost their inherent cabaret sophistication as the cd player skipped and performers tripped over light cords. When the Abbey Pub was doing Gurlesque Burlesque everything was professional (if a bit tame) but the crowd and the performers had to deal with Abbey Pub's obnoxious staff who really don't know what to do when their place sells out. At both places there were visibility problems for anyone who got there late.
As as a legitimate theater that is used to doing off-kilter shows, including the monthly Belmont Burlesque revue, Puppetry of the Penis, and any number of gay kitsch musicals, The Lakeshore provided a perfect balance. They're a little timid, but they know how to light a show, treat a show, and make sure everybody can see it.
Flesh Tones Burlesque is a new monthly event that gathers up many of the city's diverse acts to burlesque, busk, and strip for charity.
One of the treats of the show was when the house band, 8 Inch Betsy, performed as the soundtrack to a vintage burlesque film. For most of the night, the band played with a very Chicago, melodic punk sound, like an all-girl version of the Bollweevils, but as the film played they got really slow and really loud (think Iggy Pop with Mazzy Star on vocals).
Aside from the band, there was a lot of 90s music in the show.
From the world of trip hop, you could hear women strip to Morcheeba and White Town, then there was Cherish the Burlesque Godess dancing to the Squirrel Nut Zippers' song "Hell" and in what was possibly the sexiest act of the night, Betty Cracker danced to Southern Culture on the Skids' song "Camel Walk".
[8 Inch Betsy with vintage erotica]
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Top 5 of 2006
Top Five Festival Shows at Places Where You Don't Usually See Shows
1. Southkore Fest with Los Crudos, Tropietzo and Condenada at The Black Hole (arcade)
2. The Noise District 6/6/6 with the Bang Bang Circus, Black Bear Combo, Genderfuck Burlesque, blood wrestling and Satanic Marriage at the Beach House (house)
3. Mauled by Tigers Fest with Screamin Cyn-Cyn & the Pons and Totally Michael at Ronny's (bar)
4. Trans-Sexual Express with Waterbabies, He Not In, TK Raptor, America's Meth Problem, and Velcro Lewis at the Tastee Freez (ice cream shop)
5. Pitchfork Fest with Diplo, Aesop Rock, Spank Rock, Os Mutantes, Flosstradamus and Tarantula at Union Park (park)
[couretsy of Newcity]
1. Southkore Fest with Los Crudos, Tropietzo and Condenada at The Black Hole (arcade)
2. The Noise District 6/6/6 with the Bang Bang Circus, Black Bear Combo, Genderfuck Burlesque, blood wrestling and Satanic Marriage at the Beach House (house)
3. Mauled by Tigers Fest with Screamin Cyn-Cyn & the Pons and Totally Michael at Ronny's (bar)
4. Trans-Sexual Express with Waterbabies, He Not In, TK Raptor, America's Meth Problem, and Velcro Lewis at the Tastee Freez (ice cream shop)
5. Pitchfork Fest with Diplo, Aesop Rock, Spank Rock, Os Mutantes, Flosstradamus and Tarantula at Union Park (park)
[couretsy of Newcity]
Friday, January 05, 2007
Strong Start, Phat Middle, Weak Finish [WZRD]
Girl Talk - Touch 2 Feel
Dan Deacon - Song for Dina
Faust - Carousel II (Trillian Remix)
Jimmy Cliff - You Can Get it if you Really Want
The Ex - Human Car
Pelican - Sirius
Mad Happy - Serial Wigga
IQU with Miranda July - Girls on Dates
13 & God - Ghostwork
Lady Sovereign - Blah Blah
Dove Rock - Designer Gas Masks
Negativland - Helter Stupid
Radioinactive - With Light Within
Stuntman 5 - Ourazi
The Gothic Archies - Freakshow #
NoMeansNo - I See a Mansion In the Sky #
The Slits - Slits Tradition #
Essential Logic - Shabby Abbot
The Melvins - Rat Faced Grandma
Jackie O Motherfucker - Hey! Mr. Sky
Miss Kittin - Meet Sue Be She
Amon Tobin - The Whole Nine
Eyedea & Abilities - Glass
Anavan - Notoriety
Arto Lindsay - Anything
Dangermouse - 99 Problems
Dan Deacon - Song for Dina
Faust - Carousel II (Trillian Remix)
Jimmy Cliff - You Can Get it if you Really Want
The Ex - Human Car
Pelican - Sirius
Mad Happy - Serial Wigga
IQU with Miranda July - Girls on Dates
13 & God - Ghostwork
Lady Sovereign - Blah Blah
Dove Rock - Designer Gas Masks
Negativland - Helter Stupid
Radioinactive - With Light Within
Stuntman 5 - Ourazi
The Gothic Archies - Freakshow #
NoMeansNo - I See a Mansion In the Sky #
The Slits - Slits Tradition #
Essential Logic - Shabby Abbot
The Melvins - Rat Faced Grandma
Jackie O Motherfucker - Hey! Mr. Sky
Miss Kittin - Meet Sue Be She
Amon Tobin - The Whole Nine
Eyedea & Abilities - Glass
Anavan - Notoriety
Arto Lindsay - Anything
Dangermouse - 99 Problems
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Two Slaps Radio salutes James Brown [WLUW]
L.A. Style - James Brown is Dead
James Brown - Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine
James Brown - Bewildered
James Brown - Ain't It Funky
James Brown - I Want to Be Around
James Brown - Down and Out in New York CityMiss Dominique - It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World (James Brown cover)
The Residents - It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World (James Brown cover)
The J.B.s - Gimme Some More
James Brown - Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)
James Brown - Cold Blooded
James Brown - Give It Up or Turnit Loose
James Brown - I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothin (Open the Door I'll Get it Myself)
James Brown - Out of Sight
James Brown - Try Me
James Brown - I'm A Greedy Man
The Contortions - I Can't Stand Myself (James Brown Cover)
James Brown - Hot Pants
James Brown - Get Up Off a That Thang
James Brown - Please. PLease, PLease
James Brown - Get on the good foot
james brown - Papa Don't take no mess
James Brown - Super Bad
James Brown - Payback
[Every Monday night, Two Slaps Radio plays the best and most unconventional funk and soul in Chicago, with all of its roots and derivatives including acid jazz, doo-wop, brass band, girl groups and electro. Two Slaps radio can be heard live from 2-4am on WLUW 88.7fm and wluw.org]
OO-Wee-OO
bar vertigo
I don't know what idiot thing I was doing this Summer that forced me to miss Zolar X when they played The Note but I regret it, and I've been regretting it until I saw Cybernaut and Goltron (of the band Velva) play at Bar Vertigo on Saturday. In antennas, wigs, jumpsuits and glitter paint, they were the closest I was gonna get to the California glam spacemen, but they weren't the next best thing, they were a whole different brand of alien music that was a cross between techno, psychedelia, and some kind of Martian triphop, played on circuit bent phazers, samplers, theremin,and "guitars" that looked like they were built out of old toy car remote controls. They were incredible. I felt like I'd been sucked into "All Your Base Belong to Us"...the future as seen from the past and all that.
Point of reference: Cybernaut and Goltron: All Your Base Are Belong To Us:
Also playing was Sir Vixx, who was hilarious. He was this big metalhead lookin dude, who danced in front of his laptop as he played Fruity Loops drumnbass tracks, whipping his dreads around, mouthing the words to all his samples, and occasionally playing air guitar, drums, or piano as was needed.
Point of reference:Sir Vixx: Strong Bad's techno song:
Currently listening: MC Lean's Randomatic Radio on WLUW 88.7 fm
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