Date: 2/20/07
Location: Subterranean
Show: Chances Dance Party with DJs Nina Ramone, Dick Simmons, Lil' V and Ken
Cost: FREE!
Things I missed to be there: The 1900s at Schubas; ft (the shadow government) at Empty Bottle; drinking Shlitz and drawing on my roommate's passed-out boyfriend
Reason for going: It's Monday Gras and I deserve to dance!!!
I finally made it out to Chances Dances. Actually, I went to Chances back when it was at The Big Horse once but it was pretty early and pretty tame. I don't have many opportunities to go to the once a month, Monday evening LGBTQ dance party because my radio show usually places me in Roger's Park about that time, but talking to my friends Rachel and Kyle strengthened my resolve to check it out again.
It was worth it.
I don't know why but I always thought that Subterranean was cursed. Not fun aw shucks something else fucked up The Mutiny cursed, but cursed in a way where I would see bands that I really liked and just not be into it at all. I was really excited to hear that Subterranean was becoming an all-ages venue in 07 but I figured that there'd be little point in it if they couldn't break the curse. Well somewhere along the line they must have because the show was incredible.
The night got off to a rocky start. At ten, there were no more than a dozen people, by ten thirty a few dozen but by eleven they were numbering in the hundreds and the dance floor was, well, everything in the room but the beer line. The DJs switched up a lot, more than I'm used to seeing, which gave the evening a kind of a freeform feel. In an given fifteen minutes I heard hip hop, afrobeat, The B-52s, indie, electro, Rupaul, and disco (in both mutant and solid gold variety). The DJs weren't much for beat matching, if that's your thing, but they had impeccable taste.
The theme of the show was ice, which had the hosts and djs dressed up as figure skaters and penguins (with at least one person playing a glacier). There was also a game of freeze dance and some incredible, Adult Swim style surreal video art portraying polar bears, Al gore and the musician Seal suffering through global warming in the South Pole.
In moving the show from the Big Horse, Chances shed some of the little, dirty, sleaziness that comes with throwing a dance party in the back room of a Mexican restaurant, which is a shame, but they also managed to become a bona fide event, one big enough to completely fill Subterranean on a Monday night. I'm going to probably alter the way I get to the radio show once a month, cuz I likes dancing. I would also mention that Chances now also runs an offshoot night at Danny's, but I can't recommend it because it happens the same night I spin Chicago music at Delilah's, and that shit is better than getting a blowjob from Jesus.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Two Slaps Radio [Fat Tuesday!]
Lab Rat Set:
The Dixie Cups - You Should Have Seen The Way He Looked At Me/Little Bell/Iko Iko
Dirty Dozen Brass Band - Feet Don't Fail Me Now
Chris Kenner - Land of 1000 Dances
Preservation Hall Jazz Band - Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans
The Meters - Sophisticated Sissy
Ernie K-Doe - A Certain Girl
Clarence 'Frogman' Henry - On Bended Knee
Lee Dorsey - Workin in a Coalmine
The Showman - It Will Stand
Eddie Bo - Hook & Sling
Little Richard - I Don't Know What You Got but It's Me
Fuckhead Set:
Fats Domino - When My Dream Boat comes Home
Snooks Eaglin - Sophisticated Blues, Come Back Baby, Rock Island Line
Quintron - You Don't Own Me (Lesley Gore Cover)
Irma Thomas - Some things you never get used to
Allen Touissant - Yes We Can Can
The Meters - Look ka py py
Benny Spellman - Lipstick Traces on a cigarette
Lee Dorsey - Everything I do Gonh be funky
Randy Newman - Louisiana 1927
The Chords - sh-boom
Dee Clark - Hey Little Girl
The Spiders - I didn't want to do it
Carla Thomas - (Gee Whiz) Look at his eyes
Chuck Willis - Feel so bad
Thurston Harris & The sharps - Little bitty pretty one
the crows - gee
jackie Wilson - Reet Petite (The Finest Girl You'll Ever Meet)
Jerry Butler and the Impressions - For your precious love
The moonglows - Sincerely
The Flamingos - I only have eyes for you
The spaniels - goodnight sweetheart
[this is what we're missing RIGHT NOW]
[Every Monday night, from 2:00 - 4:00 AM (cst), Eric lab Rat and Arvo Fuckhead play the the best of funk and soul, its roots and derivatives. Two Slaps Radio airs on 88.7fm in Chicago and streams worldwide from wluw.org]
The Dixie Cups - You Should Have Seen The Way He Looked At Me/Little Bell/Iko Iko
Dirty Dozen Brass Band - Feet Don't Fail Me Now
Chris Kenner - Land of 1000 Dances
Preservation Hall Jazz Band - Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans
The Meters - Sophisticated Sissy
Ernie K-Doe - A Certain Girl
Clarence 'Frogman' Henry - On Bended Knee
Lee Dorsey - Workin in a Coalmine
The Showman - It Will Stand
Eddie Bo - Hook & Sling
Little Richard - I Don't Know What You Got but It's Me
Fuckhead Set:
Fats Domino - When My Dream Boat comes Home
Snooks Eaglin - Sophisticated Blues, Come Back Baby, Rock Island Line
Quintron - You Don't Own Me (Lesley Gore Cover)
Irma Thomas - Some things you never get used to
Allen Touissant - Yes We Can Can
The Meters - Look ka py py
Benny Spellman - Lipstick Traces on a cigarette
Lee Dorsey - Everything I do Gonh be funky
Randy Newman - Louisiana 1927
The Chords - sh-boom
Dee Clark - Hey Little Girl
The Spiders - I didn't want to do it
Carla Thomas - (Gee Whiz) Look at his eyes
Chuck Willis - Feel so bad
Thurston Harris & The sharps - Little bitty pretty one
the crows - gee
jackie Wilson - Reet Petite (The Finest Girl You'll Ever Meet)
Jerry Butler and the Impressions - For your precious love
The moonglows - Sincerely
The Flamingos - I only have eyes for you
The spaniels - goodnight sweetheart
[this is what we're missing RIGHT NOW]
[Every Monday night, from 2:00 - 4:00 AM (cst), Eric lab Rat and Arvo Fuckhead play the the best of funk and soul, its roots and derivatives. Two Slaps Radio airs on 88.7fm in Chicago and streams worldwide from wluw.org]
Sunday, February 18, 2007
joygasm
Date: 2/17/07
Location: Ronny's Bar
Bands: The Catburglars, Herc, Totally Michael
Things I missed to be there: Pommel, Winters in Osaka, and Metaphysical Playroom at Morpho; Bobby Conn and Bird names at Empty Bottle; Ulele at Martyr's; Arbiter, Chicago Thrash Ensemble and Tower of Rome at People Projects; Roth Mobot at Hotti Biscotti; COMA 9 with Lilli Carre and more at The Occidental Museum; Uffie at Sonotheque
Things I probably still could've gone to but missed because I'm lame: Afterparty with Livewire, Rayalin3, Trancid, and Mr. Bobby
Things that I intended to do but forgot about because I have the memory of a squirrel: Living room fort-building ar Mister Sarah's
Reasons for going: I loved Totally Michael the last time I saw him, I'd never seen Herc, and I'd already missed The Catburglars the night before
It's good to see that Ronny's is throwing shows regularly now. It looks like they've hooked up with the MP Shows cats, who are a bitch to work with but know how to utilize a venue. As a venue, Ronny's is pretty good one. From the front, the place is pretty unassuming, just another old man bar on California Avenue. They've got PBR cans for two dollar and a jukebox full of classic rock and mariachi jams. They also have a big spare room, a lot or a beer garden or something, with an old tiki bar that's been converted into a sound booth. The last time I was there, Totally Michael was playing as a part of the Mauled by Tigers Fest, which was put on by (no shit) Mauled By Tigers, which joins Everyone is Famous and the Chicago Suicide Club for a triumpherate of hipster Chicago websites that are just slightly too New Yorky for me to feel completely comfortable with. The crowd at both sides was pretty NY, too (a lot of expensive fauxghetto-fauxdesigner ugliness, mixed in with Matt and Kim backpatches). The show that day featured Totally Michael, and was one of the happiest things I've ever seen.
Totally Michael is a scrawny white guy from Bloomington, Indiana who swears excessively and plays music on his laptop and guitar. He sings songs about the epic choice a girl has to make between becoming a cheerleader or joining the drill team, and an alternative to punching walls to relieve stress that involves popping balloons with your butt. He is undoubtedly the cutest thing I've ever seen, and the music can back it up. I wish we had him ten years ago so we wouldn't have had to pay attention to Atom & His Package, which is the closest comparison I could make. If I had seen him at 18, he would be my favorite artist in the world. I would cross state lines to see him and I don't know if that's what happened but he had a huge following for a guy who's only played the city a handful of times. At the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if they are all just new fans. I saw him once, and have been proselytizing about him for months. By that same token, I feel like I'm being excessive and maybe redundant, and also, possibly, redundant when I'm praising someone, so I think I'll move on and talk about the other bands now.
As many times as I've seen Lord of the Yum Yum, I've never seen his band Herc. Herc has made a name for themselves by playing fierce rock on unconventional instruments (like an accordion and a child's drum set) in ski masks and matching suits, and for their unparalleled silliness. The set opened with a synchronized dance full of jazz hands and air humps, set to the song "Whatever Lola Wants", then the set started and continued until Mike fell ill. While Herc left the stage to deal with their cramps and stage, Metal Porpoise emerged. Metal Porpoise is a two-person black metal band, known primarily for their matching outfits and their hatred of Herc.
"Fuck this silly shit. Our songs are about hate!"
I'm paraphrasing but that was the extent of their set, played on electric bass and a child's toy drum set. For a novelty band, I must say that I've seen worse. They trashed and left the stage just in time for Herc to return and finish up the set.
The first band was The Catburglars. They sounded like a bunch of kids my age who, like me, listened to Guttermouth ten years ago, gave up the band for better music and then realized, fuck all that serious shit. They played irreverent rock and roll. Rawk even. Rawk and rails songs about wanting to be John Goodman and being old at 24. They were decent, but as far as silliness goes, the young band was waaaay outclassed.
Location: Ronny's Bar
Bands: The Catburglars, Herc, Totally Michael
Things I missed to be there: Pommel, Winters in Osaka, and Metaphysical Playroom at Morpho; Bobby Conn and Bird names at Empty Bottle; Ulele at Martyr's; Arbiter, Chicago Thrash Ensemble and Tower of Rome at People Projects; Roth Mobot at Hotti Biscotti; COMA 9 with Lilli Carre and more at The Occidental Museum; Uffie at Sonotheque
Things I probably still could've gone to but missed because I'm lame: Afterparty with Livewire, Rayalin3, Trancid, and Mr. Bobby
Things that I intended to do but forgot about because I have the memory of a squirrel: Living room fort-building ar Mister Sarah's
Reasons for going: I loved Totally Michael the last time I saw him, I'd never seen Herc, and I'd already missed The Catburglars the night before
It's good to see that Ronny's is throwing shows regularly now. It looks like they've hooked up with the MP Shows cats, who are a bitch to work with but know how to utilize a venue. As a venue, Ronny's is pretty good one. From the front, the place is pretty unassuming, just another old man bar on California Avenue. They've got PBR cans for two dollar and a jukebox full of classic rock and mariachi jams. They also have a big spare room, a lot or a beer garden or something, with an old tiki bar that's been converted into a sound booth. The last time I was there, Totally Michael was playing as a part of the Mauled by Tigers Fest, which was put on by (no shit) Mauled By Tigers, which joins Everyone is Famous and the Chicago Suicide Club for a triumpherate of hipster Chicago websites that are just slightly too New Yorky for me to feel completely comfortable with. The crowd at both sides was pretty NY, too (a lot of expensive fauxghetto-fauxdesigner ugliness, mixed in with Matt and Kim backpatches). The show that day featured Totally Michael, and was one of the happiest things I've ever seen.
Totally Michael is a scrawny white guy from Bloomington, Indiana who swears excessively and plays music on his laptop and guitar. He sings songs about the epic choice a girl has to make between becoming a cheerleader or joining the drill team, and an alternative to punching walls to relieve stress that involves popping balloons with your butt. He is undoubtedly the cutest thing I've ever seen, and the music can back it up. I wish we had him ten years ago so we wouldn't have had to pay attention to Atom & His Package, which is the closest comparison I could make. If I had seen him at 18, he would be my favorite artist in the world. I would cross state lines to see him and I don't know if that's what happened but he had a huge following for a guy who's only played the city a handful of times. At the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if they are all just new fans. I saw him once, and have been proselytizing about him for months. By that same token, I feel like I'm being excessive and maybe redundant, and also, possibly, redundant when I'm praising someone, so I think I'll move on and talk about the other bands now.
As many times as I've seen Lord of the Yum Yum, I've never seen his band Herc. Herc has made a name for themselves by playing fierce rock on unconventional instruments (like an accordion and a child's drum set) in ski masks and matching suits, and for their unparalleled silliness. The set opened with a synchronized dance full of jazz hands and air humps, set to the song "Whatever Lola Wants", then the set started and continued until Mike fell ill. While Herc left the stage to deal with their cramps and stage, Metal Porpoise emerged. Metal Porpoise is a two-person black metal band, known primarily for their matching outfits and their hatred of Herc.
"Fuck this silly shit. Our songs are about hate!"
I'm paraphrasing but that was the extent of their set, played on electric bass and a child's toy drum set. For a novelty band, I must say that I've seen worse. They trashed and left the stage just in time for Herc to return and finish up the set.
The first band was The Catburglars. They sounded like a bunch of kids my age who, like me, listened to Guttermouth ten years ago, gave up the band for better music and then realized, fuck all that serious shit. They played irreverent rock and roll. Rawk even. Rawk and rails songs about wanting to be John Goodman and being old at 24. They were decent, but as far as silliness goes, the young band was waaaay outclassed.
Red Capes Make The Bull Man Mad
Date: 2/16/07
Location: Unnamed apartment in Humboldt Park
Bands: Minotaur, Walkie Talkies
Things I missed to be there: Catburglars and Intifada at Humility Gallery; Eavil at Jackhammer, benefit for the Skeleton News at the Boris Kar-Loft with Root Shoot Leaf; benefit for South Union Arts with Shemilaya at Ronnys, The Warriors themed birthday party in Logan; j+j+j and yip-yip at the Beat Kitchen; The Eternals at Empty Bottle; Hillary Rawk!s art show at the Ice Factory
Reason for going: It was centrally located for meeting up with my girlfriend, and I had a Sparks-induced time traveling moment where all of a sudden it's three in the morning and it felt like no time at all had past. We probably would have been there til five if we didn't see the opportunity to glom onto a free ride up north
This weekend has had a shocking amount of quality shit to do, and it was pretty well spread out across the city to boot. I almost felt guilty going to see two people I'd seen so many times before, but it was a good scene. The crowd ranged in age from early twenties to midfifties, the spread included spicy falafel and various cheeses, there was never any shortage of booze and the music was tits. It's not often that someone who hasn't hit it big will have a chance (or a reason) to stand up his critics but that's just what Minotaur did on Friday.
Before the show he announced that he wouldn't be using electronics. He'd just plug in a twelve string and play. He would also be printing out lyrics sheets. This was so that we could finally understand what it was he was playing and singing, and it was necessary. Minotaur doesn't just do music, but he does sound, and his setup is pretty unorthodox. I don't know if it's particularly complex or not, but almost every time I've seen him play it comes out all garbled. The guitar and the banjo get lost in the beats and the samples which end up clashing with each other. Sometimes this is because of soundguys who don't get it and sometimes it's because he's working with a sound system that isn't worth a shit but it makes up about 3/4 of the times I've seen him.
With the (relatively) unplugged set, I learned a lot. First off, his lyrics aren't just sing-song string-of-consciousness gibberish. There are tricks and allusions and turns of phrase. Then I found out he could actually play guitar, like really well, enough to warrant a twelve string. When Rita came out to join him on the casio and played The Walkie Talkies' song "Nicotine Girl", I could see past the cabaret vocals and hear it as a blues song. I'd never realized that before. That was the thing though. Right Eye Rita and Minotaur, individually, are two of my favorite acts in the city, but together, The Walkie Talkies is more than the sum of its parts. Each song gives one of them a chance to experiment while the other has a chance to craft it into something, and keep the other one grounded. Unlike either of their solo projects, Walkie Talkies songs will get stuck in my head and I'll listen to them over and over. Supposedly, they broke up last year but I've seen them a few times since then and they're working on a video, but until they realize that the Walkie Talkies is the way to go, i'll settle for a long future of solo sets.
Location: Unnamed apartment in Humboldt Park
Bands: Minotaur, Walkie Talkies
Things I missed to be there: Catburglars and Intifada at Humility Gallery; Eavil at Jackhammer, benefit for the Skeleton News at the Boris Kar-Loft with Root Shoot Leaf; benefit for South Union Arts with Shemilaya at Ronnys, The Warriors themed birthday party in Logan; j+j+j and yip-yip at the Beat Kitchen; The Eternals at Empty Bottle; Hillary Rawk!s art show at the Ice Factory
Reason for going: It was centrally located for meeting up with my girlfriend, and I had a Sparks-induced time traveling moment where all of a sudden it's three in the morning and it felt like no time at all had past. We probably would have been there til five if we didn't see the opportunity to glom onto a free ride up north
This weekend has had a shocking amount of quality shit to do, and it was pretty well spread out across the city to boot. I almost felt guilty going to see two people I'd seen so many times before, but it was a good scene. The crowd ranged in age from early twenties to midfifties, the spread included spicy falafel and various cheeses, there was never any shortage of booze and the music was tits. It's not often that someone who hasn't hit it big will have a chance (or a reason) to stand up his critics but that's just what Minotaur did on Friday.
Before the show he announced that he wouldn't be using electronics. He'd just plug in a twelve string and play. He would also be printing out lyrics sheets. This was so that we could finally understand what it was he was playing and singing, and it was necessary. Minotaur doesn't just do music, but he does sound, and his setup is pretty unorthodox. I don't know if it's particularly complex or not, but almost every time I've seen him play it comes out all garbled. The guitar and the banjo get lost in the beats and the samples which end up clashing with each other. Sometimes this is because of soundguys who don't get it and sometimes it's because he's working with a sound system that isn't worth a shit but it makes up about 3/4 of the times I've seen him.
With the (relatively) unplugged set, I learned a lot. First off, his lyrics aren't just sing-song string-of-consciousness gibberish. There are tricks and allusions and turns of phrase. Then I found out he could actually play guitar, like really well, enough to warrant a twelve string. When Rita came out to join him on the casio and played The Walkie Talkies' song "Nicotine Girl", I could see past the cabaret vocals and hear it as a blues song. I'd never realized that before. That was the thing though. Right Eye Rita and Minotaur, individually, are two of my favorite acts in the city, but together, The Walkie Talkies is more than the sum of its parts. Each song gives one of them a chance to experiment while the other has a chance to craft it into something, and keep the other one grounded. Unlike either of their solo projects, Walkie Talkies songs will get stuck in my head and I'll listen to them over and over. Supposedly, they broke up last year but I've seen them a few times since then and they're working on a video, but until they realize that the Walkie Talkies is the way to go, i'll settle for a long future of solo sets.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Two Slaps Radio [WLUW]
The Bad Plus - Iron Man
Omar Rodriguez Lopez & Damo Suzuki- Part 5 #
Busdriver - Casting Agents & Cowgirls #!
Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra - Sister
Lee Fields - Problems
Curtis Mayfield - Move on Up
Mucca Pazza - Alarm #
Natural Bridge Bunch - Pig Snoots, Pt. 1!
The Freedom Sounds featuring Wayne Henderson - Soul Sound System
Clarence Carter - Snatching It Back
Artie Cheistopher - Stoned Soul
Brother Jack McDuff - The Shadow of Your Soul
TV on the Radio - Dreams
Diverse feat. Vast Aire - Big Game
Sound Directions - Play Car
Oriental Funk - Come Togethor
Little Milton - Satisfied
Calypso King & The Soul Investigators - Gator Funk
Quantic feat. Spanky Wilson - Don't Joke With a Hungry Man
Beans - Win Or Lose You Lose
Lee Dorsey - Eveything I Do Gonh Be Funky
Oliver Wittchow - Kristallo
Omar Rodriguez Lopez & Damo Suzuki- Part 5 #
Busdriver - Casting Agents & Cowgirls #!
Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra - Sister
Lee Fields - Problems
Curtis Mayfield - Move on Up
Mucca Pazza - Alarm #
Natural Bridge Bunch - Pig Snoots, Pt. 1!
The Freedom Sounds featuring Wayne Henderson - Soul Sound System
Clarence Carter - Snatching It Back
Artie Cheistopher - Stoned Soul
Brother Jack McDuff - The Shadow of Your Soul
TV on the Radio - Dreams
Diverse feat. Vast Aire - Big Game
Sound Directions - Play Car
Oriental Funk - Come Togethor
Little Milton - Satisfied
Calypso King & The Soul Investigators - Gator Funk
Quantic feat. Spanky Wilson - Don't Joke With a Hungry Man
Beans - Win Or Lose You Lose
Lee Dorsey - Eveything I Do Gonh Be Funky
Oliver Wittchow - Kristallo
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Two Slaps Radio [WLUW]
Lab Rat Set:
Rose Stone, the Venice Four & the Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir - Trouble of the World
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band - Blackbird Special
Courtney Pine - Children of the Ghetto
Eric Burdon & War - Tobacco Road
Zapp & Roger - Computer Love
The Mohawks - Ride Your Pony
Mel Brown - Swamp Fever
Dirty Dozen Brass Band - St. James Infirmary
The Blind Boys of Alabama - Run On For a Long Time
Masonic Wonders - I Call Him
The Soul Stirrers - Come, Let Us Go Back to God
Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm- The New Breed
Packers - Go Head On
Fuckhead Set:
Perez Prado - Guaglione
Cab Calloway - Duck Trot
Red Ingle - Cigareetes, Whuskey, and Wild, Wild Women
Louis Armstrong - Sobbin' Heart Blues
Jim Jackson's Kansas City Blues, Part 1 - Jim Jackson
Les Paul and Mary Ford - I Just Want Your Stingaree
Fats Waller - Your feet's too big
Fats Waller - A Little Bit Independent
Fats Waller - Sugar (Instrumental)
Fats Waller - Last Night a Miracle Happened
Fats Waller & His Rhythm - Black Maria
Gene Kardos and Joel shaw - Mean Music
Track one from Rock N' Roll 1927 - 1938 Vol 1 Disc 2
Josephine Baker - Where Did you get those eyes?
Dinah Washington - I want a rich man
Blind Willie McTell - ???
Snook Eaglin - ???
Bukka White - ???
Howlin' Wolf - ???
Rose Stone, the Venice Four & the Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir - Trouble of the World
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band - Blackbird Special
Courtney Pine - Children of the Ghetto
Eric Burdon & War - Tobacco Road
Zapp & Roger - Computer Love
The Mohawks - Ride Your Pony
Mel Brown - Swamp Fever
Dirty Dozen Brass Band - St. James Infirmary
The Blind Boys of Alabama - Run On For a Long Time
Masonic Wonders - I Call Him
The Soul Stirrers - Come, Let Us Go Back to God
Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm- The New Breed
Packers - Go Head On
Fuckhead Set:
Perez Prado - Guaglione
Cab Calloway - Duck Trot
Red Ingle - Cigareetes, Whuskey, and Wild, Wild Women
Louis Armstrong - Sobbin' Heart Blues
Jim Jackson's Kansas City Blues, Part 1 - Jim Jackson
Les Paul and Mary Ford - I Just Want Your Stingaree
Fats Waller - Your feet's too big
Fats Waller - A Little Bit Independent
Fats Waller - Sugar (Instrumental)
Fats Waller - Last Night a Miracle Happened
Fats Waller & His Rhythm - Black Maria
Gene Kardos and Joel shaw - Mean Music
Track one from Rock N' Roll 1927 - 1938 Vol 1 Disc 2
Josephine Baker - Where Did you get those eyes?
Dinah Washington - I want a rich man
Blind Willie McTell - ???
Snook Eaglin - ???
Bukka White - ???
Howlin' Wolf - ???
Monday, February 05, 2007
So Cold. Hard to Dance. Easier to Complain.
Date: 2/2/07
Location: The Shape Shoppe
Bands: Aleks & the Drummer, OCDJ, Videohippos, Bird Names, Fake Lake and Santa Dads
Price: $5 sugg. donation. Cab ride home.
Things I missed to be there: Power Junkie at Delrock's, Southkore bands at Albion House
Reason for going: I was closer to The Shape Shoppe than I was to Albion House when I started drinking, plus I'd never been there
Aleks & the Drummer has been getting a lot of hype, more like a slow burn than a blitz. It maks sense, the band is doing something that nobody else is doing it right now, but unlike other bands you can say that about, Schizowave for example, they're doing it in a way that almost everyone can getdown with. Sure, Aleks Tomaszewska sometimes sings in Polish but the music has so much more of a familiar rockish base that it's not too much of a stretch.
The last article I read about them was by the Chicago Reader's new music guy Miles Raymer. I'll go on the record as liking him. His tastes vary a lot more than previous columnists. In the Sharp Darts column, he took a lot of space to describe how indescribable the duo is, and how they force you to make a number of semi-valid comparisons. I could see that. I could say that Aleks & the Drummer sounds like the now-defunct band Apartment, with less ambitious melodies and better vocals (less theatrical poetry), or that they sound like Aenima-era Tool with a K-Records-era Olympia grrl on vocals, but watching them the other night, I came up with the perfect description of their music. It's a weird reference, and if I knew what the word convoluted meant, I might call it that, but nevertheless it's perfectly apt.
Do you remember about ten years ago, when Rob Zombie had his own record label and put out nothing buy horror-themed surf records by The Bomboras and The Ghastly Ones? If you stripped those albums down to nothing but the organ lines, that's what Aleks and the Drummer sounds like.
Before them was OCDJ and his band, Videohippos. OCDJ has a show on WFMU where he plays hiphop like Blockhead, Ghislain Poirier and Bone Thugs N Harmony and other nonhiphop shit that I've never heard of. Live he's incredible, but in that dj way where I don't know how to describe it [yay for blog eloquence!]. Videohippos played indie dance that was a little bit shoegazer and a little bit Nintendo, mixed with nonsense videos. They were a great band to see live but unlike Aleks & the Drummer, I don't need to hear any of their songs again. By that same token, Aleks & the Drummer was incredible, but towards the end of their set they just seemed repetitive and I started to lose interest and wonder how I was gonna get home.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
new adventures in SCI-ence!
Date: 1/29 and 1/30 2007
locations: Elastic and the Mutiny
bands: Me + Smokeless Heat and John Herndon, Jeff Parker, and Josh Abrams; Me + DJ Demchuk, Minotaur, and Lovewhips
things i missed to be there: Pit Er Pat, 1980000, Lazer Crystal, Aleks And The Drummer at Schubas; Golden Birthday, Coyote, Death Factory, Big Gold Hoops and Kosher Dill Spears, Nate 1980 Thousand, DJ New Jack at Sonotheque
reasons I went: the me part in those shows
John Barth once theorized that the ultimate failing of literature was how much effort one had to put into appreciating it. Unlike a painting, which can be processed and understood by a room full of people simultaneously, a book or a poem or even a blog cannot be enjoyed all at once. You need to go through it one word at a time. Unlike music, you cannot appreciate literature just by being in its vicinity. It will never find you in the silence.
It also takes a lot more to be moved by literature than by music. I saw two acts this week that were fun. They weren't impressive or very original, they just followed a familiar structure well. I can't think of a literary equivalent, someone who I like more for the style than the substance. I know of a few authors who tell reallyt amazing stories poorly, but I can rarely sit it out through the ending.
I played my first show of the year at Elastic on the 29th of January. I'd never been to Elastic before. It was not as stylish as it's Humboldt Park predecessor, 3030, but it was easier to get to. I bombed. No one was there to see me and I didn't change their mindabout what I was doing, a mix of storytelling and comedy, but that's alright. I made a sawbuck, had a good time, and got to see jazz, which is something I next to never get to do. After I picked myself off the stage, a trio called Smokeless Heat went on. Drums, saxophone, and upright bass. It sounded like jazz...exactly. If I was watching a movie where someone walked into a jazz club, I would expect to hear music like I heard from Smokeless Heat. The next night I DJed (successfully) at The Mutiny. High Priest,from Antipop Consortium, was on the bill but had to cancel because of weather or laziness or something, so the only band was lovewhip.
Lovewhip was by-the-numbers electropop, with machine gun beats, plink plunk synth, and a ridiculously hot frontwoman. They had a soundguy mixing and remixing theirset live on his laptop and everything sounded better than anything I'd ever heard come out of The Mutiny PA, but after a two pitchers of gin and tonic, I was the only person dancing and it felt a little forced. This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy their set. In the right setting with the right crowd they could have shredded a club or house party, because they did what they did well and with intensity, but what they did never rose to the level of, say, the Videohippos, whom I'll come down on in my next blog.
One of my favorite parts of the night was getting to play disco and funk in Chicago's best punk rock bar, so I got to play boney M and Giorgio Moroder as I segued into The Eternals and The Buzzcocks. One of the bands I played, somewhere inbetween, was Glass Candy, which is probably why I made the connection, but the band reminded me most of an unimaginative Glass Candy (who, to complete the cycle of me being bitchy and using run-on sentences, were pretty weak when I saw them open for Les George Leningrad a few years back at the Texas Ballroom).
Something awesome happened at the end of the night at Elastic. I was starting to nod off and enter my own world when Herndon/Parker/Abrams started and did something few bands have been able to do for me...they got me to stop thinking about them. I wasn't thinking about what I would scribble here. I just listened, unaware that I was listening. I close my eyes and started to drift from where I was, but I was no longer nodding off,my brain just took off behind me and whenever I opened my eyes I was surprised to see that there were still other people sittinmg around me watching people play music in front of us, and not just tones resonating in my head. Fucking awesome. And I thought and that's what jazz is supposed to be.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Two Slaps Radio [WLUW]
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
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
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
Friday, December 29, 2006
you can't spell "horsemen" without "semen" [WZRD]
Eazy-E - Radio
Hisato Higuchi - Guitar #5
Metatron - Tikkune Zohar #
Lozenge - El Bombo
The Residents - It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World (James Brown cover)
Gotan Project - Chunga's Revenge
Derrick Harriot - Message From a Black Man !
Dwight Trible - John Coltrane
JFA- Walk Don't Run (The Ventures cover)
Klaxons - Gravity's Rainbow #
Indian Jewelry - Going South #!
Glass Candy - Nite Nurses
Fluorescent Grey - I Am a Photograph of My Old Driveway, the edges of the photogragh are made of cow's teeth, as the cow's mouth closes i explode into a firework cloud of red andgreen dog biscuits #!!!
Dark Dark Dark - Ferment in Dm #!!!
Who Cares How Long You Sink - Leaves Rainbow #
Motorhead - God Was Never On Your Side #!!
Vlor - Wires #!!!
Lady Sovereign - My England #
The Stranglers - Hanging Around
John Medeski and Matthew Shipp - Eclipse #
Lee Scratch Perry - I Am a Psychiatrist #
Keith Morris - Nervous Breakdown
Morlokk - Storm the Catacombs
SunnO))) & Boris - Etna #
To Live and Shave in LA - Percent Obstruct Street #
Junkroc/Jello Biafra - Spoken Word House Mashup
Not only does Fluorescent Grey have the best name and songtitles of today's show, he made this rough ass IDM track out of calm-y nature clips
Hisato Higuchi - Guitar #5
Metatron - Tikkune Zohar #
Lozenge - El Bombo
The Residents - It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World (James Brown cover)
Gotan Project - Chunga's Revenge
Derrick Harriot - Message From a Black Man !
Dwight Trible - John Coltrane
JFA- Walk Don't Run (The Ventures cover)
Klaxons - Gravity's Rainbow #
Indian Jewelry - Going South #!
Glass Candy - Nite Nurses
Fluorescent Grey - I Am a Photograph of My Old Driveway, the edges of the photogragh are made of cow's teeth, as the cow's mouth closes i explode into a firework cloud of red andgreen dog biscuits #!!!
Dark Dark Dark - Ferment in Dm #!!!
Who Cares How Long You Sink - Leaves Rainbow #
Motorhead - God Was Never On Your Side #!!
Vlor - Wires #!!!
Lady Sovereign - My England #
The Stranglers - Hanging Around
John Medeski and Matthew Shipp - Eclipse #
Lee Scratch Perry - I Am a Psychiatrist #
Keith Morris - Nervous Breakdown
Morlokk - Storm the Catacombs
SunnO))) & Boris - Etna #
To Live and Shave in LA - Percent Obstruct Street #
Junkroc/Jello Biafra - Spoken Word House Mashup
Not only does Fluorescent Grey have the best name and songtitles of today's show, he made this rough ass IDM track out of calm-y nature clips
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
TwoSlaps Radio [WLUW]
100% Fuckhead Set:
Irma Thomas - While the city sleeps
Elvis Costello and Allen Touissant - All These Things
Fats Domino - BlueBerry Hill
Ray Charles - What'd I Say
Joe Turner - Midnight Special Train
Carla Thomas - Gee Wiz
The Clovers - Devil or Angel
Trevor Dandy - Is there any love
Ben E King - Spanish Harlem
Betty Wright - Paralyzed
Ms Tyree Sugar Jones - If you feel it
Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood - Tequila and chocolate
James Last - Soul March
Spanky Wilson and the Quantic Soul Orchestra - Waiting for your touch
Quantic - Bomb In a Trumpet Factory
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - How long do I have
Booker T. and The MG's - Time is Tight
Gnarls Barkley - Boogie Monster
TV On The Radio - Let The Devil In
Dj Spooky That Subliminal Kid w/ Jack DAngers and Chuck D - Brothers Gonna Work it Out
DJ Shadow - Erase You
Scritti Politti - The Boom Boom Bap
GoldFrapp (DFA Remix) - Slide In
Peeping Tom - Kill The Dj (feat. Massive Attack)
KtheI??? - Go-Go-Go-Girls
[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]
Irma Thomas - While the city sleeps
Elvis Costello and Allen Touissant - All These Things
Fats Domino - BlueBerry Hill
Ray Charles - What'd I Say
Joe Turner - Midnight Special Train
Carla Thomas - Gee Wiz
The Clovers - Devil or Angel
Trevor Dandy - Is there any love
Ben E King - Spanish Harlem
Betty Wright - Paralyzed
Ms Tyree Sugar Jones - If you feel it
Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood - Tequila and chocolate
James Last - Soul March
Spanky Wilson and the Quantic Soul Orchestra - Waiting for your touch
Quantic - Bomb In a Trumpet Factory
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - How long do I have
Booker T. and The MG's - Time is Tight
Gnarls Barkley - Boogie Monster
TV On The Radio - Let The Devil In
Dj Spooky That Subliminal Kid w/ Jack DAngers and Chuck D - Brothers Gonna Work it Out
DJ Shadow - Erase You
Scritti Politti - The Boom Boom Bap
GoldFrapp (DFA Remix) - Slide In
Peeping Tom - Kill The Dj (feat. Massive Attack)
KtheI??? - Go-Go-Go-Girls
[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]
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Every Fucking Wednesday?
Date: 12/13/06
Venue: Freeform Shuffle at Spot 6
Bands: Right-Eye Rita plus djs
Cost: Free
Things I missed to be there: In-One-Ear at the Heartland Cafe
Rita is in her full XXXmas mode right now, warbling electronic Christmas carols, but she's not much different than the last time I wrote about her so enjoy this picture I took of her.
Venue: Freeform Shuffle at Spot 6
Bands: Right-Eye Rita plus djs
Cost: Free
Things I missed to be there: In-One-Ear at the Heartland Cafe
Rita is in her full XXXmas mode right now, warbling electronic Christmas carols, but she's not much different than the last time I wrote about her so enjoy this picture I took of her.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Letters to Satan
Date: 12/13/06
Venue: Second City E.T.C. Theater
Band: Shellac
Price: $10
Things I missed to be there: I got there at 3 in the morning. If there was something else going on I demand to know about it.
It's 3AM. I've just watched an spelling bee where a lone contestant is playing for his own life. At blackout, one of the actors comes out and introduces:
"A band known for their mellow, James Taylor-like musical stylings...Shellac!"
And the band takes the stage. A couple of antique amps, glittery gold drum set, and a couple of guitars that look like they've been chewed on by cougars. Steve Albini comes out in an Upright Citizens Brigade t-shirt, toasting the Chicago expats and Second City rivals with a mischievous smile on his face that quickly moves into a sneer as he punches out the first chord. It's blisteringly loud and incredibly absurd. The stage is so close. And pastel. And well lit. I take a swig from the Fat Tire that was sitting at the table when I got there. This is awesome.
I've missed Shellac more times than I can count and for no good reason. I missed them when they played with Fugazi at the Congress Theater for lke 5 bucks, I missed them last year when they played like six shows in four days, I missed them the last time I was in New Orleans and they were playing the Tape-Op convergence, and I miss them every year at The Second City's annual charity fundraiser, Letters to Santa.
The idea behind Letters to Santa is that the Second City will stay open from 7pm Tuesday to 7pm Wednesday, charge ten dollars to come and go as you please, and alternate between music, comedy and improv. The funds go to providing holiday gifts to children in need. In addition to the door, there are auctions for things like a recording session with Albini, or a guitar of Jeff Tweedy's (who was the show's first musical act).
There was a time in my life where improv meant the world to me. I loved it as much as I loved music, but more because it was something I could actually do. I stayed in Chicago for college because there wasn't a better city in the world to do improv. In high school when I was training on the E.T.C. stage I would have dreamt about something like this, where the actors played out in the crowd so the band could set up on stage, at all hours of the night. It just seems like such a perfect fit for Chicago.
"We're gonna bring the doom and the angry, then the guys'll come back out and bring the funny, then we'll fuck it up again."
During their second set, Steve announced that he would match whatever money was offered up from the audience to watch his girlfriend slap him.
"Is she butch?"
"Full time or part time?"
"Forty bucks!"
When there's a lull in the bidding, she gets up and yells, "I'm from the South Side and I'm Irish!"
"One Hundred dollars."
The bidding ends at $140 for the slap plus a request. After the band closes with "Squirrels", a scene is performed about an office overrun by squirrels. It's one of the few scenes that doesn't work, but it's still pretty cool to watch.
[Other acts include Horatio Sans, Detholz!, Robbie Fulks, and Devil in a Woodpile. If you happen to be reading this right now, you can still catch the end. Upp...it's over.]
I couldn't find any good videos of Shellac, so here's one of Steve Albini's other great bands, Big Black. They reunited this year, and I missed them
Venue: Second City E.T.C. Theater
Band: Shellac
Price: $10
Things I missed to be there: I got there at 3 in the morning. If there was something else going on I demand to know about it.
It's 3AM. I've just watched an spelling bee where a lone contestant is playing for his own life. At blackout, one of the actors comes out and introduces:
"A band known for their mellow, James Taylor-like musical stylings...Shellac!"
And the band takes the stage. A couple of antique amps, glittery gold drum set, and a couple of guitars that look like they've been chewed on by cougars. Steve Albini comes out in an Upright Citizens Brigade t-shirt, toasting the Chicago expats and Second City rivals with a mischievous smile on his face that quickly moves into a sneer as he punches out the first chord. It's blisteringly loud and incredibly absurd. The stage is so close. And pastel. And well lit. I take a swig from the Fat Tire that was sitting at the table when I got there. This is awesome.
I've missed Shellac more times than I can count and for no good reason. I missed them when they played with Fugazi at the Congress Theater for lke 5 bucks, I missed them last year when they played like six shows in four days, I missed them the last time I was in New Orleans and they were playing the Tape-Op convergence, and I miss them every year at The Second City's annual charity fundraiser, Letters to Santa.
The idea behind Letters to Santa is that the Second City will stay open from 7pm Tuesday to 7pm Wednesday, charge ten dollars to come and go as you please, and alternate between music, comedy and improv. The funds go to providing holiday gifts to children in need. In addition to the door, there are auctions for things like a recording session with Albini, or a guitar of Jeff Tweedy's (who was the show's first musical act).
There was a time in my life where improv meant the world to me. I loved it as much as I loved music, but more because it was something I could actually do. I stayed in Chicago for college because there wasn't a better city in the world to do improv. In high school when I was training on the E.T.C. stage I would have dreamt about something like this, where the actors played out in the crowd so the band could set up on stage, at all hours of the night. It just seems like such a perfect fit for Chicago.
"We're gonna bring the doom and the angry, then the guys'll come back out and bring the funny, then we'll fuck it up again."
During their second set, Steve announced that he would match whatever money was offered up from the audience to watch his girlfriend slap him.
"Is she butch?"
"Full time or part time?"
"Forty bucks!"
When there's a lull in the bidding, she gets up and yells, "I'm from the South Side and I'm Irish!"
"One Hundred dollars."
The bidding ends at $140 for the slap plus a request. After the band closes with "Squirrels", a scene is performed about an office overrun by squirrels. It's one of the few scenes that doesn't work, but it's still pretty cool to watch.
[Other acts include Horatio Sans, Detholz!, Robbie Fulks, and Devil in a Woodpile. If you happen to be reading this right now, you can still catch the end. Upp...it's over.]
I couldn't find any good videos of Shellac, so here's one of Steve Albini's other great bands, Big Black. They reunited this year, and I missed them
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
TwoSlaps [WLUW]
Peter King - Ajo
Funkadelic - Adolescent Funk
Bobby Byrd - I'm Just Nobody Pt. 1 & 2
Sharon Jones - Hook and Sling Meets the Funky Superfly
The Honey Drippers - Impeach the President !
Harlem Underground Band ft. Willis Jackson - Ain't No Sunshine !
Nina Simone - Pirate Jenny !
The Goodies - Sophisticated Boom Boom !!!
Oh shit, it's a doo-wop set!
The Murmaids - Popsicles and Icicles
The Collegians - Zoom Zoom Zoom
The Viscounts - OO-oo-wee
Howlin Wolf - Three Hundred Pounds of Handlin Joy
Billy Ball and the Upsetters ft. Roosevelt Matthews - Tighten Up Tighter
Gems - I Can't Help Myself
Herbie Hancock - King Cobra
DJ Shadow & Keb Darge - It Ain't Fun, But It's Fun
The Soul Generals - Granma's Funky Popcorn
holy fuck, it's Las Vegas grind!
Tic & Toc - Jibba Jab
Jack Ross - Mumbles
DynaSores - Jungle Walk
James Brown - Let's Make Christmas Mean Something This Year Pts 1 & 2
Diana Ross & the Supremes - My World is Empty Without You (Tranzition Remix)
Fuckhead Set:
The Ronnettes - I saw Mommy kising Santa Claus
O Jays - Christmas Aint Christmas, Neww Year's Aint New Years, Without The One You Love
Shackleford Singers - God Is All Over Me
Bootsy Collins - I'd Rather Be With YOu
Gnarls Barkley - Boogie Monster
Quantic - Bomb In A Trumpet Factory
K The I ??? - Go go girls
DJ Shadow - This Time (I'm gonna try it my way)
Lee Fields - Take It Or Leave it
Lyn Collins - DO YOur Thing
MFSB - FAmily Affiar
Mae Young - The man puts sugar in my soul
[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]
Funkadelic - Adolescent Funk
Bobby Byrd - I'm Just Nobody Pt. 1 & 2
Sharon Jones - Hook and Sling Meets the Funky Superfly
The Honey Drippers - Impeach the President !
Harlem Underground Band ft. Willis Jackson - Ain't No Sunshine !
Nina Simone - Pirate Jenny !
The Goodies - Sophisticated Boom Boom !!!
Oh shit, it's a doo-wop set!
The Murmaids - Popsicles and Icicles
The Collegians - Zoom Zoom Zoom
The Viscounts - OO-oo-wee
Howlin Wolf - Three Hundred Pounds of Handlin Joy
Billy Ball and the Upsetters ft. Roosevelt Matthews - Tighten Up Tighter
Gems - I Can't Help Myself
Herbie Hancock - King Cobra
DJ Shadow & Keb Darge - It Ain't Fun, But It's Fun
The Soul Generals - Granma's Funky Popcorn
holy fuck, it's Las Vegas grind!
Tic & Toc - Jibba Jab
Jack Ross - Mumbles
DynaSores - Jungle Walk
James Brown - Let's Make Christmas Mean Something This Year Pts 1 & 2
Diana Ross & the Supremes - My World is Empty Without You (Tranzition Remix)
Fuckhead Set:
The Ronnettes - I saw Mommy kising Santa Claus
O Jays - Christmas Aint Christmas, Neww Year's Aint New Years, Without The One You Love
Shackleford Singers - God Is All Over Me
Bootsy Collins - I'd Rather Be With YOu
Gnarls Barkley - Boogie Monster
Quantic - Bomb In A Trumpet Factory
K The I ??? - Go go girls
DJ Shadow - This Time (I'm gonna try it my way)
Lee Fields - Take It Or Leave it
Lyn Collins - DO YOur Thing
MFSB - FAmily Affiar
Mae Young - The man puts sugar in my soul
[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]
Monday, December 11, 2006
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Date: 12/9/06
Location: Sarah's House
Bands: None, mp3s of Lebanese pop and the on-and-off Berlin is Burning comp
Art: Miranda July recordings, a Jan Svenkmayer flick
Things I missed to be here: Far Rad and Big City at Spot 6, DJ Spooky at the Dark Room, Disrobe and Vietnam Werewolf at the new Lumpen Space, Environmental Encroachment in Ravenswood, Fetor at Cal's; Abrade and Tierra de Nadie at La Casa Maldita; The Wanderers and 4xxP in weird nonchicago places; Herc and TV Pow at the Strawdog Theatre; "afterparty with dykes and porn stars, come on out!" at Mark Bose's crib
Reasons I went: Sleepy. Lame. Sex. Blogging.
I fell asleep a few minutes after we started the Svankmeyer flick, which started with a raving Scandinavian psychopath whose tongue had been cut off and continued on full of claymation grossness. It gave me nightmares. The nightmares led me to believe that going out tonight would be a bad idea. They were full of symbolism and shit.
The real treat of the night was listening to Miranda July recordings. Miranda July is the performance slash every-other-kind-of-artist who made the film Me and You and Everyone We Know, which all the girls I know saw without me and love incredibly deeply (See also: Shortbus). I'm not sure [what to say next, hits "publish" years later]
Location: Sarah's House
Bands: None, mp3s of Lebanese pop and the on-and-off Berlin is Burning comp
Art: Miranda July recordings, a Jan Svenkmayer flick
Things I missed to be here: Far Rad and Big City at Spot 6, DJ Spooky at the Dark Room, Disrobe and Vietnam Werewolf at the new Lumpen Space, Environmental Encroachment in Ravenswood, Fetor at Cal's; Abrade and Tierra de Nadie at La Casa Maldita; The Wanderers and 4xxP in weird nonchicago places; Herc and TV Pow at the Strawdog Theatre; "afterparty with dykes and porn stars, come on out!" at Mark Bose's crib
Reasons I went: Sleepy. Lame. Sex. Blogging.
I fell asleep a few minutes after we started the Svankmeyer flick, which started with a raving Scandinavian psychopath whose tongue had been cut off and continued on full of claymation grossness. It gave me nightmares. The nightmares led me to believe that going out tonight would be a bad idea. They were full of symbolism and shit.
The real treat of the night was listening to Miranda July recordings. Miranda July is the performance slash every-other-kind-of-artist who made the film Me and You and Everyone We Know, which all the girls I know saw without me and love incredibly deeply (See also: Shortbus). I'm not sure [what to say next, hits "publish" years later]
Cocktastic Party Sauce
Venue: Quennect Four
Bands: Oskie Grey, Godtastic God Sauce, Me and DJ Demchuk
Price: $5
Things I missed to be there: Fuck the Cold party in Lakeview; DJ Falcon at Zentra; Mary Tyler Morphine at Cal's; DJ Rupture and The Ex at Empty Bottle; Eske, Pkdores, and Eat It Raw in NotChicago
Reason I went: Spinning, probably would have shown up anyway
At the end of the night, when Sam was driving me home with my equipment, he told me, "I really wanted to have a real art show, and not a party."
"Yeah, well, it's hard to throw parties and concerts all year round and then tell everybody 'Wait, this time it's different!'"
Oskie Grey at Quennect Four
I think Sam was a little sour because a lot of the crowd didn't get his set. As Oskie Grey, he plays ambient music and some dubby downtempo shit. It was tight but nobody in the room was there to appreciate shit, they just wanted to dance, and they weren't high enough to catch onto the mellow vibe and start working it to that.
I was asked to spin at what was essentially an art show at the undercover East Humbolt space, and when I got there there was some real good art on the walls but not much of it, and when I left I still had no idea who did what, which was fine by me cause the music was awesome.
Me and Dan traded off on dance-y rock shit: Les George Leningrad, Carpet of Sexy, Munich Machine, MIA, Tracy + the Plastics, The Soft Pink Truth, Anavan, et cetera. The track of the night was one of Dan's, a mash up of Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" with 50 Cent's "In Da Club".
We weren't the awesome part, but we were pretty good. The awesomeness came from the first band, Godtastic God Sauce (two myspace pages?). Despite the fact that they have the worst name of any band I've liked this year, they rocked my ass. Their music was all synth, beats and guitar, like live-band electro and hard-trance.
Godtastic God Sauce at Quennect Four
As a gallery show it was kinda lacking but as a party it had some real potential. There must have been a changing of the guard over the last year because I didn't know half of the hip kids runnin around (maybe I just fell off) but they were all pretty low-key. Unfortunatly the timing was off. Just as we were getting a lot of people going, and the drunks started requesting bangers they would've been too embarassed for sobere, it was Oskie's time to play and before he could finish, the cops had entered and told everyone to leave. Maybe the party had too much potential. I must say I was impressed though, at the evacuation. The Quennect Four boys have been doing this kinda shit for years so for them, clearing the place was old hat, but this was the first time in a long time that I've seen a sizeable chunk of sixteen-to-twentyone year olds evacuate a party without freaking out, yelling, running and making matters worth. Whoever this new crop of kids is, more power to em.
You can download mp3s of the entire Godtastic God Sauce album Victims of Manhood in mp3 here.
Bands: Oskie Grey, Godtastic God Sauce, Me and DJ Demchuk
Price: $5
Things I missed to be there: Fuck the Cold party in Lakeview; DJ Falcon at Zentra; Mary Tyler Morphine at Cal's; DJ Rupture and The Ex at Empty Bottle; Eske, Pkdores, and Eat It Raw in NotChicago
Reason I went: Spinning, probably would have shown up anyway
At the end of the night, when Sam was driving me home with my equipment, he told me, "I really wanted to have a real art show, and not a party."
"Yeah, well, it's hard to throw parties and concerts all year round and then tell everybody 'Wait, this time it's different!'"
Oskie Grey at Quennect Four
I think Sam was a little sour because a lot of the crowd didn't get his set. As Oskie Grey, he plays ambient music and some dubby downtempo shit. It was tight but nobody in the room was there to appreciate shit, they just wanted to dance, and they weren't high enough to catch onto the mellow vibe and start working it to that.
I was asked to spin at what was essentially an art show at the undercover East Humbolt space, and when I got there there was some real good art on the walls but not much of it, and when I left I still had no idea who did what, which was fine by me cause the music was awesome.
Me and Dan traded off on dance-y rock shit: Les George Leningrad, Carpet of Sexy, Munich Machine, MIA, Tracy + the Plastics, The Soft Pink Truth, Anavan, et cetera. The track of the night was one of Dan's, a mash up of Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" with 50 Cent's "In Da Club".
We weren't the awesome part, but we were pretty good. The awesomeness came from the first band, Godtastic God Sauce (two myspace pages?). Despite the fact that they have the worst name of any band I've liked this year, they rocked my ass. Their music was all synth, beats and guitar, like live-band electro and hard-trance.
Godtastic God Sauce at Quennect Four
As a gallery show it was kinda lacking but as a party it had some real potential. There must have been a changing of the guard over the last year because I didn't know half of the hip kids runnin around (maybe I just fell off) but they were all pretty low-key. Unfortunatly the timing was off. Just as we were getting a lot of people going, and the drunks started requesting bangers they would've been too embarassed for sobere, it was Oskie's time to play and before he could finish, the cops had entered and told everyone to leave. Maybe the party had too much potential. I must say I was impressed though, at the evacuation. The Quennect Four boys have been doing this kinda shit for years so for them, clearing the place was old hat, but this was the first time in a long time that I've seen a sizeable chunk of sixteen-to-twentyone year olds evacuate a party without freaking out, yelling, running and making matters worth. Whoever this new crop of kids is, more power to em.
You can download mp3s of the entire Godtastic God Sauce album Victims of Manhood in mp3 here.
The Flim is Okie-Dokie
Date: 12/7/06
Venue: Quencher's
Band: Karaoke Dokie
Price: Free Admission, but too much altogether
Things I missed to be there: Les George Leningrad, Grace Kulpa and KK Rampage at Empty Bottle, DJs at Bar Vertigo
Reasons I went: Too drunk to leave
I've never ever liked Quencher's and now I know why. I've gone there too late. Quencher's is a great bar when there's no one there, full of no-frills sandwhiches and sides and exotic beer, like a low-rent Hopleaf.
But if I had shown up at the end of the night, rather than just had it all happen around me, I would have turned around, left, and gone back to the Mutiny.
Thursday was a shitty day. Only kinda shitty because I had just received a paycheck I was waiting for but downhill after that. I was supposed to DJ at Liar's Club but that was postponed so I had this big, free night spread out in front of me, where I would have to pay to get drunk. My girlfriend was having ladies night in my neighborhood at the Map Room but it was girls night out so I couldn't go. Meanwhile the heat was shut off in my place so I had to go somewhere, so I picked up my rat and left.
Les George Leningrad was doing a free show at Reckless Records. I couldn't think of a better way to kill time, especially since I've actually started to listen to my Les George records recently. It was my first time riding my tricycle in the winter and it was weird running it over ice. For some reason or another 1st Gear was shot and 2nd was jumpy and by the time I was in Wicker Park my hands were frozen into claws. Then something terrible happened. My chain broke. It's alright. I would watch the band, get drunk on whatever the special was at Pint, eat fried cheese and take the bus home. Then I realized that I'd forgotten my wallet. When I got to Reckless, Les George was already broken down and meandering about. I was starting to freak. I called Sarah, who uPassed me onto the train on her way to the bar, went home and started over.
Google Search: "bar food", "Logan Square"
Best Result: Quencher's
I grabbed my friend Margaret and went to Quencher's which was the closest bar food bar to my house. Their special was a thick, unnamed Chocolate Lager that actually tasted choclatey. They also had buffalo tater tots. My friends Kelly and Bettie showed up and it was starting to be a party. I snuck the waterbottle mojito out of my bag and chugged it, then filled it with a can of Sparks. By the time the band started setting up we had no intention of leaving.
I guess being a live-band karaoke band is a good deal for musicians, the same way being a club DJ is a good deal for me. You swallow your pride and give the people what they want to hear. I don't know how many of the members of the (wack-ily named) Karaoke Dokies were in bands but I'm pretty sure that their keyboardist played for the Sonnets.
They had a pretty good crowd, almost too-full of familiar faces. There was the older lady from all the punk shows that everybody calls Mom, there was the daughter of my last boss's boyfriend, a girl whose roommate gave me a handjob five years ago, and another DJ from WLUW. Still, I was determined to enjoy Karaoke and not just be cynical, and I did. The band had a good variety of songs, ranging from cheesy and guilty classic rock pop classics to predictable (but awesome) punk rock favorites. Margaret and I kicked ass doing The Dead Milkmen's "Punk Rock Girl". Then the four of us blew David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust".
Overall it was a fun night, but like I said, if I would have seen it coming in as an outsider, and not from my fuzzy stoop at the drunk table in the back, I never would have believed it.
Venue: Quencher's
Band: Karaoke Dokie
Price: Free Admission, but too much altogether
Things I missed to be there: Les George Leningrad, Grace Kulpa and KK Rampage at Empty Bottle, DJs at Bar Vertigo
Reasons I went: Too drunk to leave
I've never ever liked Quencher's and now I know why. I've gone there too late. Quencher's is a great bar when there's no one there, full of no-frills sandwhiches and sides and exotic beer, like a low-rent Hopleaf.
But if I had shown up at the end of the night, rather than just had it all happen around me, I would have turned around, left, and gone back to the Mutiny.
Thursday was a shitty day. Only kinda shitty because I had just received a paycheck I was waiting for but downhill after that. I was supposed to DJ at Liar's Club but that was postponed so I had this big, free night spread out in front of me, where I would have to pay to get drunk. My girlfriend was having ladies night in my neighborhood at the Map Room but it was girls night out so I couldn't go. Meanwhile the heat was shut off in my place so I had to go somewhere, so I picked up my rat and left.
Les George Leningrad was doing a free show at Reckless Records. I couldn't think of a better way to kill time, especially since I've actually started to listen to my Les George records recently. It was my first time riding my tricycle in the winter and it was weird running it over ice. For some reason or another 1st Gear was shot and 2nd was jumpy and by the time I was in Wicker Park my hands were frozen into claws. Then something terrible happened. My chain broke. It's alright. I would watch the band, get drunk on whatever the special was at Pint, eat fried cheese and take the bus home. Then I realized that I'd forgotten my wallet. When I got to Reckless, Les George was already broken down and meandering about. I was starting to freak. I called Sarah, who uPassed me onto the train on her way to the bar, went home and started over.
Google Search: "bar food", "Logan Square"
Best Result: Quencher's
I grabbed my friend Margaret and went to Quencher's which was the closest bar food bar to my house. Their special was a thick, unnamed Chocolate Lager that actually tasted choclatey. They also had buffalo tater tots. My friends Kelly and Bettie showed up and it was starting to be a party. I snuck the waterbottle mojito out of my bag and chugged it, then filled it with a can of Sparks. By the time the band started setting up we had no intention of leaving.
I guess being a live-band karaoke band is a good deal for musicians, the same way being a club DJ is a good deal for me. You swallow your pride and give the people what they want to hear. I don't know how many of the members of the (wack-ily named) Karaoke Dokies were in bands but I'm pretty sure that their keyboardist played for the Sonnets.
They had a pretty good crowd, almost too-full of familiar faces. There was the older lady from all the punk shows that everybody calls Mom, there was the daughter of my last boss's boyfriend, a girl whose roommate gave me a handjob five years ago, and another DJ from WLUW. Still, I was determined to enjoy Karaoke and not just be cynical, and I did. The band had a good variety of songs, ranging from cheesy and guilty classic rock pop classics to predictable (but awesome) punk rock favorites. Margaret and I kicked ass doing The Dead Milkmen's "Punk Rock Girl". Then the four of us blew David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust".
Overall it was a fun night, but like I said, if I would have seen it coming in as an outsider, and not from my fuzzy stoop at the drunk table in the back, I never would have believed it.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Captured, Tortured, and Butchered [WZRD]
Since I have so much freedom at the Wizard, and since the record of these setlists is so meaningless, I thought that I would start and end with a video of my favorite artistsfrom the show. Here's the opening track from Pop Levi sings Blue Honey. It's name is in the title...
Now here's the setlist for the whole show:
It's a Trap - Hoy Decimos Basta
Pissed Jeans - Don't Need Smoke to make myself Disappear
Pterodctyl - I Can See a River/Goodand Evil
Jason Webly with Andrew Bemus - How Big is Tacoma
Devendra Banhart/Xiu Xiu - Split 7"
Make Believe - Small Apartment Party
Tijuana Hercules - Fighting Off the Evil Eye
M99 - Shut it Out
Disrobe - Lost Rights/Seething
Liberty Greg - Can't Stop
Tuxedo Killers - I'm Going to Sell those Kids My Bones/Amoeba Hat
The Like Young - Don't Get Dead
No Doctors - T-Bone Pt. 2
Numbers - Solid Pleasure
Lovely Little Girls - All theChildren of the World Born Up Dead/How Stunning I Looked
Panicsville - Boile, Baked, & Basted Babies
Cause Co-Motion! - ThisJust Won't Last
Metatron - Tikkun !
Pop Levi - Blue Honey !!! / (A Style Called) Crying Chic / Mournin Light
Parts & Labor - Take Us Back
Hrvatski - Une Drole De Journee
Matmos - On & On (Curtis Mayfield/Gladys Knight & the Pips Cover)
Kali Z Fasteau/Kidd Jordan/Michael T.A. Thompson -Levess, Lies & Lives
I played two songs by the Tuxedo Killers because I liked them so much
Now here's the setlist for the whole show:
It's a Trap - Hoy Decimos Basta
Pissed Jeans - Don't Need Smoke to make myself Disappear
Pterodctyl - I Can See a River/Goodand Evil
Jason Webly with Andrew Bemus - How Big is Tacoma
Devendra Banhart/Xiu Xiu - Split 7"
Make Believe - Small Apartment Party
Tijuana Hercules - Fighting Off the Evil Eye
M99 - Shut it Out
Disrobe - Lost Rights/Seething
Liberty Greg - Can't Stop
Tuxedo Killers - I'm Going to Sell those Kids My Bones/Amoeba Hat
The Like Young - Don't Get Dead
No Doctors - T-Bone Pt. 2
Numbers - Solid Pleasure
Lovely Little Girls - All theChildren of the World Born Up Dead/How Stunning I Looked
Panicsville - Boile, Baked, & Basted Babies
Cause Co-Motion! - ThisJust Won't Last
Metatron - Tikkun !
Pop Levi - Blue Honey !!! / (A Style Called) Crying Chic / Mournin Light
Parts & Labor - Take Us Back
Hrvatski - Une Drole De Journee
Matmos - On & On (Curtis Mayfield/Gladys Knight & the Pips Cover)
Kali Z Fasteau/Kidd Jordan/Michael T.A. Thompson -Levess, Lies & Lives
I played two songs by the Tuxedo Killers because I liked them so much
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Spot 6 and the Rumble in the Shuffle.
Date: 12/6/06
Show: Johnny Rumble, DJ Billy Oaks and DJ Geek at the Freeform Shuffle
Venue: Spot 6
Price: Free
Things I missed to be there: Sing Sing and Carezza at the Blog Cabin; DJ Rupture and The EX at the Hideout
Reason I went: Too cold/lazy to go to the Southside (this reason needs to die or I need to get my own car)
I have no tolerance for setlists that last longer than 30 minutes anymore. I can listen to a DJ spin bootyjams all night but I can't listen to the Boredoms pummel my ass for more than 45 minutes at a time. That was why Johnny Rumble, like so very many bands i've been seeing lately, got on my nerves. At first I was happy to see them. They were a rock band. Just rocknroll, no subcategories. Three cord melodies and feedback. Someone noted that "this is a natural progression of someone who grew up listening to a world of music where Kurt Cobain was already a dead hero."
Then their influence started to bleed through too much and they sounded like a soft Nirvana, which is kinda like Local H but without the pop chops. By the time their set got good for the hard jammy part at the end I already wanted them gone. They were annoying.
Speaking of annoying. I hate writing about the same show twice in a week like I'm doing here. It makes me feel like an underachiever. Not that there's much I can do about it, unless someone wants to pay me to write about shows, this will just be a blog and I'll just go to whatever shows I can, even if it means being at the same place every time, which brings me back to Spot 6.
I found Spot 6 a few years ago through my friend Budros (or maybe it was Boutros, fake names are annoying like that). He had just dropped out of Northeastern and was starting his burgeoning gig as a promoter with a goth night there. Though well conceived and fairly populated, it didn't work. The bar was a few blocks north of the general Punkin Donuts/Alley/Igor's Dungeon mallpunk strip, nestled right inbetween Boys Town and Wrigleyvile. It was death rock in a bright orange bar that was more used to club DJ and Mexican Karaoke.
The bars' owners must have a soft spot for death rockers though. I didn't think much about Spot 6 for a few years after Budros' show collapsed. Then I started hearing about shows there. This gothic beauty by the name of InGrog (again, a fake name, probably spelled wrong) was booking bands to play in the basement. Spot 6 was becoming a place where you could regularly see good experimental noise and hip hop, as well as industrial/EBM/fetish nights and straight up DJ nights. Now their location is paying off and I've noticed that on any night of the week, they'll pull in a fair amount of spooky kids AND Smart Bar rejects who all seem to feel at home there.
I think that's neat.
Show: Johnny Rumble, DJ Billy Oaks and DJ Geek at the Freeform Shuffle
Venue: Spot 6
Price: Free
Things I missed to be there: Sing Sing and Carezza at the Blog Cabin; DJ Rupture and The EX at the Hideout
Reason I went: Too cold/lazy to go to the Southside (this reason needs to die or I need to get my own car)
I have no tolerance for setlists that last longer than 30 minutes anymore. I can listen to a DJ spin bootyjams all night but I can't listen to the Boredoms pummel my ass for more than 45 minutes at a time. That was why Johnny Rumble, like so very many bands i've been seeing lately, got on my nerves. At first I was happy to see them. They were a rock band. Just rocknroll, no subcategories. Three cord melodies and feedback. Someone noted that "this is a natural progression of someone who grew up listening to a world of music where Kurt Cobain was already a dead hero."
Then their influence started to bleed through too much and they sounded like a soft Nirvana, which is kinda like Local H but without the pop chops. By the time their set got good for the hard jammy part at the end I already wanted them gone. They were annoying.
Speaking of annoying. I hate writing about the same show twice in a week like I'm doing here. It makes me feel like an underachiever. Not that there's much I can do about it, unless someone wants to pay me to write about shows, this will just be a blog and I'll just go to whatever shows I can, even if it means being at the same place every time, which brings me back to Spot 6.
I found Spot 6 a few years ago through my friend Budros (or maybe it was Boutros, fake names are annoying like that). He had just dropped out of Northeastern and was starting his burgeoning gig as a promoter with a goth night there. Though well conceived and fairly populated, it didn't work. The bar was a few blocks north of the general Punkin Donuts/Alley/Igor's Dungeon mallpunk strip, nestled right inbetween Boys Town and Wrigleyvile. It was death rock in a bright orange bar that was more used to club DJ and Mexican Karaoke.
The bars' owners must have a soft spot for death rockers though. I didn't think much about Spot 6 for a few years after Budros' show collapsed. Then I started hearing about shows there. This gothic beauty by the name of InGrog (again, a fake name, probably spelled wrong) was booking bands to play in the basement. Spot 6 was becoming a place where you could regularly see good experimental noise and hip hop, as well as industrial/EBM/fetish nights and straight up DJ nights. Now their location is paying off and I've noticed that on any night of the week, they'll pull in a fair amount of spooky kids AND Smart Bar rejects who all seem to feel at home there.
I think that's neat.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
TwoSlaps Radio [WLUW]
The Temptations - I Know I'm Losing You
Exodus Quartet - 18th Street
Shirley Bassey - Where Do I Begin (Away Team Remix)
Howlin Wolf - 300 Pounds of Joy
Rebirth Brass Band - No Shame In My Game
Showstoppers - Ain't Nothin But a Houseparty
Prince - A Rock in a Funky Place
Black Merda - The Prophet
Edwin Starr - Agent Double-O Soul
Donald Byrd - Beale Street
Voices of East Harlem - Choose Your Seat and Set Down
London Funk All Stars - Booyakka
Dyke & the Blazers - Don't Bug Me
Otis Redding - Day Tripper
Lou Rawls - Dead End Street
Ebony Rhythm Band - Drugs Ain't Cool
Papa Mali & the Instigators - Fire Water
Slim & the Soulful Saints - Fish Head
Axiom Funk - Free-Bass
Wilson Pickett - Funky Broadway
Solomon Burke - Got to Get You Off My Mind
Messengers - Hancock's Hideaway
Up, Bustle & Out - Hip Hop Barrio !
Marvin Gaye - Hitchhike !
Funkadelic - Lunchmeatophobia
Little Milton - Grits Ain't Groceries (all around the world)
Booker T & the MGs - Medley
Exodus Quartet - 18th Street
Shirley Bassey - Where Do I Begin (Away Team Remix)
Howlin Wolf - 300 Pounds of Joy
Rebirth Brass Band - No Shame In My Game
Showstoppers - Ain't Nothin But a Houseparty
Prince - A Rock in a Funky Place
Black Merda - The Prophet
Edwin Starr - Agent Double-O Soul
Donald Byrd - Beale Street
Voices of East Harlem - Choose Your Seat and Set Down
London Funk All Stars - Booyakka
Dyke & the Blazers - Don't Bug Me
Otis Redding - Day Tripper
Lou Rawls - Dead End Street
Ebony Rhythm Band - Drugs Ain't Cool
Papa Mali & the Instigators - Fire Water
Slim & the Soulful Saints - Fish Head
Axiom Funk - Free-Bass
Wilson Pickett - Funky Broadway
Solomon Burke - Got to Get You Off My Mind
Messengers - Hancock's Hideaway
Up, Bustle & Out - Hip Hop Barrio !
Marvin Gaye - Hitchhike !
Funkadelic - Lunchmeatophobia
Little Milton - Grits Ain't Groceries (all around the world)
Booker T & the MGs - Medley
Friday, December 01, 2006
Walking in a [WZRD] Wonderland
Jackie O Motherfucker -
Parts & Labor - Days in Thirds
Grey Ghost - Horns and Organ
Root Boy Slim - Don't make Me Stop
The Microscopic Septet - Baghdad Blues #
Emergency Broadcast Network - The Dreammaster
Rachel's - Moscow is in theTelephone
Velvet Underground - Sunday Morning *
Matmos - Reconstruction
Dead Boys - Sonic Reducer (live)
Winters in Osaka - Snout
Leonard Cohen - The Future
Defiance, Oh - Oh, Susquehanna!
Tom Waits - God's Away On Business
IfIHadAHiFi - (The HiFi Vs.) Potential Energy
Kraftwerk - We are the Robots
RJD2 - Since We Last Spoke
Sonic Youth and Lydia Lunch - Death Valley '69 !!
Vas Deferens Organization - Modular Squad !!
Kraftwerk - We Are the Robots
Parts & Labor - Days in Thirds
Grey Ghost - Horns and Organ
Root Boy Slim - Don't make Me Stop
The Microscopic Septet - Baghdad Blues #
Emergency Broadcast Network - The Dreammaster
Rachel's - Moscow is in theTelephone
Velvet Underground - Sunday Morning *
Matmos - Reconstruction
Dead Boys - Sonic Reducer (live)
Winters in Osaka - Snout
Leonard Cohen - The Future
Defiance, Oh - Oh, Susquehanna!
Tom Waits - God's Away On Business
IfIHadAHiFi - (The HiFi Vs.) Potential Energy
Kraftwerk - We are the Robots
RJD2 - Since We Last Spoke
Sonic Youth and Lydia Lunch - Death Valley '69 !!
Vas Deferens Organization - Modular Squad !!
Kraftwerk - We Are the Robots
It's a Fuckheadfull Life, pt. 2
Date:11/31/06
Location: Bar Vertigo, 853 N Western Ave.
Cost: $5 suggested
Things I missed to be there: Urban Sandbox at the Ice Factory; Zoku launch with Autobot and Vyle at Sonotheque
Reason I went: I was spinning between bands
It's the first day of Winter in Chicago which means that, as if on cue, we're having a small-time blizzard outside as I write this, even though yesterday it was pouring rain. It's also Thursday, which means that it's time for Mister Fuckhead Presents, our good friend Arvo Fuckhead's gig over at Bar Vertigo in Ukrainian Village.
Bar Vertigo is simultaneously great and terrible. It has a corner bar vibe, which means that the Polish staff could really give two shits about you if you're not from around the neighborhood. It's also decorated as a homage to Hitchcock, which for some reason means a lot of red and concentric vertigo spirals everywhere. Anyone could play there, too, but barely anyone ever shows up, especially when it snows. But the first snow means that holidays are coming, or at least some time off work so everybody's in good spirits, and more than ready to be drunk already.
So what does Christmas mean for Fuckhead Present?
It means dance music and cabaret, apparently.
Two of tonight's performers have a lot in common. Schizowave's Lena Potopova and Right-Eye Rita both sing in throaty European accents, although Lena's comes from her native Russia and Rita's is more Vaudeville. They are both given to heavy costuming on stage and unpredictable live performances, Lena writhing around as some sort of tormented sexpot and Rita jabbing knives and tossing meat around like a performance art sociopath. As mentioned before, both have been tempering their cabaret chanteuse sounds with breakbeats and both sang fractured Christmas carols tonight.
"I went to a show where there were these...black guys doing hip hop and everyone had so much energy and were jumping around and I went into another room where there were white guys doing...you know, indie rock and...mothing, so I went back with the black guys. I just wish you all could be a little more... like black guys right now."
Lena fell over and got back up again and again during her ballads before surprising us with a rapid-fire rap in Russian, Rita handed out candles that dripped white and red waxall over the floor irritating the bartender who'd already decided that she didn't like her, and Khupera Tum played a soft set inbetween, full of lalalala's and violin.
For most of the night, the musicians and DJs outnumbered the crowd, but towards Rita's closing set, the place filled in a bit with drunken regulars and a group of dominatrices prepartying it on their way to Neo, which was just one of those great moments you get from seeing live music in this town, and the type of experience that almost makes it all worthwhile when you're hanging out after the show, helping Rita scrape wax off the floor so it can all happen again next week.
Yesterday ended with an Iggy Pop cover...so should today
Location: Bar Vertigo, 853 N Western Ave.
Cost: $5 suggested
Things I missed to be there: Urban Sandbox at the Ice Factory; Zoku launch with Autobot and Vyle at Sonotheque
Reason I went: I was spinning between bands
It's the first day of Winter in Chicago which means that, as if on cue, we're having a small-time blizzard outside as I write this, even though yesterday it was pouring rain. It's also Thursday, which means that it's time for Mister Fuckhead Presents, our good friend Arvo Fuckhead's gig over at Bar Vertigo in Ukrainian Village.
Bar Vertigo is simultaneously great and terrible. It has a corner bar vibe, which means that the Polish staff could really give two shits about you if you're not from around the neighborhood. It's also decorated as a homage to Hitchcock, which for some reason means a lot of red and concentric vertigo spirals everywhere. Anyone could play there, too, but barely anyone ever shows up, especially when it snows. But the first snow means that holidays are coming, or at least some time off work so everybody's in good spirits, and more than ready to be drunk already.
So what does Christmas mean for Fuckhead Present?
It means dance music and cabaret, apparently.
Two of tonight's performers have a lot in common. Schizowave's Lena Potopova and Right-Eye Rita both sing in throaty European accents, although Lena's comes from her native Russia and Rita's is more Vaudeville. They are both given to heavy costuming on stage and unpredictable live performances, Lena writhing around as some sort of tormented sexpot and Rita jabbing knives and tossing meat around like a performance art sociopath. As mentioned before, both have been tempering their cabaret chanteuse sounds with breakbeats and both sang fractured Christmas carols tonight.
"I went to a show where there were these...black guys doing hip hop and everyone had so much energy and were jumping around and I went into another room where there were white guys doing...you know, indie rock and...mothing, so I went back with the black guys. I just wish you all could be a little more... like black guys right now."
Lena fell over and got back up again and again during her ballads before surprising us with a rapid-fire rap in Russian, Rita handed out candles that dripped white and red waxall over the floor irritating the bartender who'd already decided that she didn't like her, and Khupera Tum played a soft set inbetween, full of lalalala's and violin.
For most of the night, the musicians and DJs outnumbered the crowd, but towards Rita's closing set, the place filled in a bit with drunken regulars and a group of dominatrices prepartying it on their way to Neo, which was just one of those great moments you get from seeing live music in this town, and the type of experience that almost makes it all worthwhile when you're hanging out after the show, helping Rita scrape wax off the floor so it can all happen again next week.
Yesterday ended with an Iggy Pop cover...so should today
It's a Fuckheadfull Life, pt. 1
Date: 11/30/06
Location: Spot 6
Price: Free
Things I missed to be there: The Groodies, The Reptoids and The Machine Media DJs at the Empty Bottle
Reason I went: I forgot that I was supposed to be DJing at the botle until I was already buttfuck up North. Oops.
It's Wednesday in Chicago, which means it's time for the Freeform Shuffle at Spot 6, a free weekly program of DJs and bands hosted by DJ Demchuk and Mister Fuckhead.
The name is kinda generic and very redundant, which makes it almost perfect. Freeform comes from a radio format where the DJs are allowed (and often encouraged) to play music from any genre. The Wizard (WZRD 88.3fm) is currently the only radio station in Chicago that utilizes a Freeform format. The term shuffle was invented for the function on cd players which would allow you to hear songs at random, an option which was not possible in any previous medium. The term has only recently come into vogue as MP3 players allow music listeners to carry their whole music library with them. The point of the show is that all the music is coming from a different place. One DJ might play trance, while another might play hiphop or funk or noise, or all of the above, with a jazz band closing the night, and so on.
The first DJs of the night were Icon (of the videogame dance combo Icon/Prix) and Rotten Milk (of the whatever duo Rotten Milk vs. Bubblegum Shitface). Icon kept it danceabley low key mixing up hiphop and IDM while Rotten Milk went for the booty jams, Miami Bass, mashups and little slices of guiltypleasure-style 90s house.
Then came He Not In. He Not In is a little bit of a lot of things. Sometimes they're a band, sometimes they're a DJ collective. They run Noisy Neighbor Tuesdays at Bar Vertigo and kill it around Wicker Park. Sometimes they have dancers, and sometimes they have explosions. I haven't seen it but I've heard that sometimes they have stilts. As a band they blend Post-Punk and House, and work their asses off trying to get their friends to dance. Halfway through their set, DJ Madrid showed up with a whole posse of crosseyed honeys and losers. By the time He Not In were finishing up (with a fantastic cover of "Now I Wanna Be Your Dog") they'd one over most of the newcomers, but they were only able to get their friends to dance.
...Not that getting hipster whitefolks to dance to rock music at a Wrigleyville bar isn't a great feat, in and of itself...
...it's just that these particular hipster whitefolk were the kind who reeeally reaaally wanted to dance...
....they just gave em a reason...
the last performer of the night was DJ Madrid, probly the most legit of all the DJs who've come through the Shuffle so far, and probly the only one with deeper crates than Rotten Milk's. I don't even know how to describe his set, so Ill sum it up in two songs. 1. He played a remix of "Sexyback" that took out all of the cool Timbaland parts, just leaving Justin Timberlake chanting over some drumnbass and 2. He mixed Ram Jam's "Black Betty" with some electro. Perfectl. r he had an electro remix of "Black Betty" which may very well be the coolest thing I've ever heard.
[Disclaimer: I work with Dan and Icon at WZRD, I work with Fuckhead at WLUW, Rotten Milk and He Not In have both DJed house parties I've thrown...everyone is tainted but DJ Madrid. Here's a video by He Not In]
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
TwoSlaps Radio [WLUW]
Tricky - Bom Bom Diggy Contradictive
Medeski, Martin & Wood - Chubb Sub
Sharon Jones & the Dapp Kings - Genuine
Darlene Love - Strange Love
Quantic feat. Spanky Wilson - Don't Funk With a Hungry Man
Alien Nation of Universal Mothers & Fathers - 80s Child
Little Richard - I Don't Know What You Got (But It's Got Me) Pts 1 & 2
Amp Fiddler - Ridin
Bernie Worrell - Jah Says You Can
Amon Tobin - Hat Pursuit
Jagoff - The Boogie Man
Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains - Junior
War - City, Country, City
Cookies & Dirt - Above the Bar !
Pharcyde - Ya Mama
Bomb Squad - Rip It Up
Outkast - Love Hater
Parlet - Cookie Jar !
The Ronettes - Be My Baby
Lady Miss Kier - Blow My Horn
Aretha Franklin - Rock Steady
O.V. Wright - Eight Men, Four Women
MWC - Certain Fate
Baby Huey - Mama Get Yourself Together
Black Bear Combo - October
Joe Turner - Flip Flop and Fly
Fats Domino - Ain't that a Shame
[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]
Medeski, Martin & Wood - Chubb Sub
Sharon Jones & the Dapp Kings - Genuine
Darlene Love - Strange Love
Quantic feat. Spanky Wilson - Don't Funk With a Hungry Man
Alien Nation of Universal Mothers & Fathers - 80s Child
Little Richard - I Don't Know What You Got (But It's Got Me) Pts 1 & 2
Amp Fiddler - Ridin
Bernie Worrell - Jah Says You Can
Amon Tobin - Hat Pursuit
Jagoff - The Boogie Man
Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains - Junior
War - City, Country, City
Cookies & Dirt - Above the Bar !
Pharcyde - Ya Mama
Bomb Squad - Rip It Up
Outkast - Love Hater
Parlet - Cookie Jar !
The Ronettes - Be My Baby
Lady Miss Kier - Blow My Horn
Aretha Franklin - Rock Steady
O.V. Wright - Eight Men, Four Women
MWC - Certain Fate
Baby Huey - Mama Get Yourself Together
Black Bear Combo - October
Joe Turner - Flip Flop and Fly
Fats Domino - Ain't that a Shame
[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]
VeeDee
See that little blur under "VeeDee"? That's me and my friends. We've got a thing going where we do sets of all-Chicago music. Curtis Mayfield. Los Crudos. Will Oldham. My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult. Et cetera. It's yet another great excuse to go to shows I otherwise wouldn't have been able to pay for.
Last Friday was a Midwestern smorgasbord. There was Chicago's own VeeDee, Ohio's Beaten Awake, and Philadelphia's Pearls & Brass. I don't know if Phillie is actually in the Midwest, but for the sake of argument, lets just say it is. The bands couldn't have been more different from one another, at least as far as three bands playing rocknroll.
A not-great picture of one of the dudes from VeeDee]
I had only heard of the first band, VeeDee from a few samplers I'd heard them on. I thought they were a punk band, one of those hoity toity punk bands that only played in bars. I was wrong. They came out like a bunch of fat Ramones but their music came straight from the sixties. They had riffs that were uglier than Iggy Pop's dick, and then tall of the sudden hey would slow it down and give you this dreamy solo that Strawberry Alarm Clock could've gotten off on. Throw in some pre-mascara Alice Cooper and some light King Crimson and you've got a halfway decent analogy.
The other bands were a mess. I never thought a band called Beaten Awake could be so quiet and boring or that a band called Pearls & Brass would be so loud. I could've liked Beaten Awake, but whenever I started to, they'd outwear their welcome by playing for another three or four minutes. Too much ballad, not enough balls (and when you read this statemest, realize that it's coming from someone who was spinning Andrew Bird that night). And then came Pearls & Brass and they were a metal band. That came totally out of left field. On their myspace page, they describe themselves as Blues/Rock which is actually pretty apt, at least from the songs they've got streaming. They must've had a good produced, cuz someone really pulled the Skynyrd out of them for those songs. Onstage in Chicago, though, they sounded a little too close to Disturbed.
Here's Beaten Awake in Chicago a few months back
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Two Slaps Radio [WLUW]
Lead in: Meshuggah - Straws Pulled at Random
A.G. - If I Wanna
Sun Ra - Island in the Sun
The Cupons - Turn Her Down
Der Dong Dang - Yipmerdai (from Thai Beat a Go-Go)
The Bad Plus - And Here We Test Our Powers Of Observation
The Quik -Bert's Apple Crumble
Irma Thomas - Time Is On My Side
Prince Conley - I'm Going Home
Billy Preston - Billy's Bag
The Whitefield Brothers - Prowlin
Catalyst - Ain't It the Truth
Trouble Funk - C
Parliament - The Greatest War
The BB Sing Funky Country - Paradise City
Evel Knieval - Ceasefire/Deadly Avenger
BST Collective - 06
Dr. Didg - Pianola Strut
Miles Davis - Spanish Key
The Blossoms - That's When the Tears Start
The Apollos - You're Absolutely Right
The Royalettes - There He Goes
[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]
A.G. - If I Wanna
Sun Ra - Island in the Sun
The Cupons - Turn Her Down
Der Dong Dang - Yipmerdai (from Thai Beat a Go-Go)
The Bad Plus - And Here We Test Our Powers Of Observation
The Quik -Bert's Apple Crumble
Irma Thomas - Time Is On My Side
Prince Conley - I'm Going Home
Billy Preston - Billy's Bag
The Whitefield Brothers - Prowlin
Catalyst - Ain't It the Truth
Trouble Funk - C
Parliament - The Greatest War
The BB Sing Funky Country - Paradise City
Evel Knieval - Ceasefire/Deadly Avenger
BST Collective - 06
Dr. Didg - Pianola Strut
Miles Davis - Spanish Key
The Blossoms - That's When the Tears Start
The Apollos - You're Absolutely Right
The Royalettes - There He Goes
[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]
Saturday, November 18, 2006
eirdway: pointless whining about a job that's really too good for me
Today was a fucked up day. I probably bring that upon myself, it was definitely an unlucky day for all parties concerned, whether optimist or pessimist. I had my headphones on, and I was trying to listen to Lateralus as I rode to the radio station but there were too many bumps and the batteries were too low to play more than a minute at a time.
At Kimball, I stopped at a liquor store where I tried to unload the last of this months' food stamps on some energy drinks and the cashier was giving off this really weird vibe. At first I figured he was trying to hide something illegal but the more he followed me around, asking me questions the more I realized it was about me. English wasn't his first language, so I couldn't tell whether he wanted to (a) fuck me, (b) kill me, or (c) induct me into a cult wherein he would revert to options (a) or (b). I left when he started asking if I would meet him somewhere, and as unconfortable as I must have looked, he still gave me handfulls of free candy as (enticement?).
I got to the station late, which was a bummer for the four or five people from the previous show who all wanted to leave and get Chinese food. I had left the house late but it was my own fault for stopping to gawk at the sun setting behind the statues on the school's lawn and then again at the twenty year old listening to Sousa marches with the door open in his office at the school newspaper (which somehow seemed weirder than any of the veryweird and/or creepy things I've seen and/or done at the station).
The show went well at least and set me in a good mood to spin at the club. The club that I would have to leave my bike and take the el to get to. The club that I would have to take the el to get to, unknowing that all the trains were rerouted so that there was no direct way to get to where I needed to be.
I watched gleefully as the cab driver drove for blocks without realizing to turn on the meter. This was bad karma for me, but I felt owed. When I offered him my card, he scolded me for not mentioning it earlier. The machine was broken so all I could do was give him the money I had, roughly half the bill. He was pretty genial, though, for a guy who had just let himself get ripped off, and that geniality stayed with me as things proceeded to fuck up at the club.
I got there and everything was all set up, except for my music. There was none. This may seem weird to you, that I, the DJ, wouldn't have my own music but that's how it works in the company I work for. Until I make enough to get a laptop, it's the only way I could keep up with all the pop and Top 40 that they want me to play (and I'm not particularly interested in on my own time). So I'm at a bar where I'm supposed to play, with nothing to play, until the manager finds me some old house cds from a few years back. I do the best I can til someone shows up with what I need, and by the time midnight came around everything was right back on course.
People were cheap tonight. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that someone shoud have to tip the DJ to hear a request, but there's this mindset where motherfuckers think they own you after throwing a dollar at you. I wonder if that's the way strippers or waitresses feel (not that I work as hard as either one). There's another thing that happens alot, confirmation bias. Whenever someone doesn't like what I'm playing they tell me that everyone is pissed and wants to dance, even if I can see the packed dancefloor from my booth. When someone wants to ingratiate themselves to me, and put themselves above the frattish masses, they tell me that they were the only one dancing to this song or that song, as if that will make me happy. In reality, it is the worst possible thing I could hear.
There was a girl like that tonight. An Indian girl named Shruti, a medical student who wanted to hear punk. I'm not sure if she was flirting with me. She waited til her second visit to the booth to tell me about her fiance at home, but she did tell me. Maybe she just thought I was the only person worth bragging to, maybe the dj booth was the best place to hide from the desi boys that flocked to her, maybe she thought there could be a real, human connection between us, and I'm too cynical. I know I'm too cynical, especally when it comes to beautiful women, and she was beutiful, so much so that it hurt, how many reasons there were we couldn't be together.
Oh well. Another day, another dollar.
To drive people away today I played
Trio - Da Da Da
Jill Sobule - I kissed a Girl
and some song by the band Chicago
At Kimball, I stopped at a liquor store where I tried to unload the last of this months' food stamps on some energy drinks and the cashier was giving off this really weird vibe. At first I figured he was trying to hide something illegal but the more he followed me around, asking me questions the more I realized it was about me. English wasn't his first language, so I couldn't tell whether he wanted to (a) fuck me, (b) kill me, or (c) induct me into a cult wherein he would revert to options (a) or (b). I left when he started asking if I would meet him somewhere, and as unconfortable as I must have looked, he still gave me handfulls of free candy as (enticement?).
I got to the station late, which was a bummer for the four or five people from the previous show who all wanted to leave and get Chinese food. I had left the house late but it was my own fault for stopping to gawk at the sun setting behind the statues on the school's lawn and then again at the twenty year old listening to Sousa marches with the door open in his office at the school newspaper (which somehow seemed weirder than any of the veryweird and/or creepy things I've seen and/or done at the station).
The show went well at least and set me in a good mood to spin at the club. The club that I would have to leave my bike and take the el to get to. The club that I would have to take the el to get to, unknowing that all the trains were rerouted so that there was no direct way to get to where I needed to be.
I watched gleefully as the cab driver drove for blocks without realizing to turn on the meter. This was bad karma for me, but I felt owed. When I offered him my card, he scolded me for not mentioning it earlier. The machine was broken so all I could do was give him the money I had, roughly half the bill. He was pretty genial, though, for a guy who had just let himself get ripped off, and that geniality stayed with me as things proceeded to fuck up at the club.
I got there and everything was all set up, except for my music. There was none. This may seem weird to you, that I, the DJ, wouldn't have my own music but that's how it works in the company I work for. Until I make enough to get a laptop, it's the only way I could keep up with all the pop and Top 40 that they want me to play (and I'm not particularly interested in on my own time). So I'm at a bar where I'm supposed to play, with nothing to play, until the manager finds me some old house cds from a few years back. I do the best I can til someone shows up with what I need, and by the time midnight came around everything was right back on course.
People were cheap tonight. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that someone shoud have to tip the DJ to hear a request, but there's this mindset where motherfuckers think they own you after throwing a dollar at you. I wonder if that's the way strippers or waitresses feel (not that I work as hard as either one). There's another thing that happens alot, confirmation bias. Whenever someone doesn't like what I'm playing they tell me that everyone is pissed and wants to dance, even if I can see the packed dancefloor from my booth. When someone wants to ingratiate themselves to me, and put themselves above the frattish masses, they tell me that they were the only one dancing to this song or that song, as if that will make me happy. In reality, it is the worst possible thing I could hear.
There was a girl like that tonight. An Indian girl named Shruti, a medical student who wanted to hear punk. I'm not sure if she was flirting with me. She waited til her second visit to the booth to tell me about her fiance at home, but she did tell me. Maybe she just thought I was the only person worth bragging to, maybe the dj booth was the best place to hide from the desi boys that flocked to her, maybe she thought there could be a real, human connection between us, and I'm too cynical. I know I'm too cynical, especally when it comes to beautiful women, and she was beutiful, so much so that it hurt, how many reasons there were we couldn't be together.
Oh well. Another day, another dollar.
To drive people away today I played
Trio - Da Da Da
Jill Sobule - I kissed a Girl
and some song by the band Chicago
Friday, November 17, 2006
Gah! I'm Late [WZRD]
Lead in: Deerhoof - Spiral Golden Town
Pere Ubu - Blue Velvet
Partyline - Zombie Terrorist
The Walkmen - Subterranean Homesick Blues
Bakelite 78 - St. James Infirmary Blues
Wovenband - Winter Shaker
KK Rampage - One Armed Man
Common Market - Succor MCs
ehleuchatistas - Lacerate
Craig Taborn - Junk Magic
Frequency Below - Chula's Dream !!!
Pets - Rock Josiah !
Caural and Transmission - Seamonster
Nimble - Comple Simplex (Down Words to Go Lisp and Moot) !!!
Yip-Yip - Banger: an Eating Contest/ To Catch a Beef / Familyman Conundrum
Anavan - Notoriety !
No Things - Gutter Lover !
Rose for Bohdan - Friends Forever !
Guther - Many Frames Per Second
Violins - Deify, Defy, Defile
Spaid Math - Sasquotch Joke?
Boduf Songs - 27th Raven's Head (Darkness Showing through the head of the Raven)
Las Guitarras De Espana - Tangos de Malaga
Brain...Taco...Salad - Boo/Boo/Scare/Ya
Form of Rocket - Men
Chicago Afrobeat Project - West Ganji
[All songs this week came from cds that are new to the station. Tickets were given away to Pere Ubu and Mahjongg but many more tickets failed to solicit interest]
I would very much like to see Yip-Yip now. In the meantime,there isa large quantity of awesome at their youtube page
Pere Ubu - Blue Velvet
Partyline - Zombie Terrorist
The Walkmen - Subterranean Homesick Blues
Bakelite 78 - St. James Infirmary Blues
Wovenband - Winter Shaker
KK Rampage - One Armed Man
Common Market - Succor MCs
ehleuchatistas - Lacerate
Craig Taborn - Junk Magic
Frequency Below - Chula's Dream !!!
Pets - Rock Josiah !
Caural and Transmission - Seamonster
Nimble - Comple Simplex (Down Words to Go Lisp and Moot) !!!
Yip-Yip - Banger: an Eating Contest/ To Catch a Beef / Familyman Conundrum
Anavan - Notoriety !
No Things - Gutter Lover !
Rose for Bohdan - Friends Forever !
Guther - Many Frames Per Second
Violins - Deify, Defy, Defile
Spaid Math - Sasquotch Joke?
Boduf Songs - 27th Raven's Head (Darkness Showing through the head of the Raven)
Las Guitarras De Espana - Tangos de Malaga
Brain...Taco...Salad - Boo/Boo/Scare/Ya
Form of Rocket - Men
Chicago Afrobeat Project - West Ganji
[All songs this week came from cds that are new to the station. Tickets were given away to Pere Ubu and Mahjongg but many more tickets failed to solicit interest]
I would very much like to see Yip-Yip now. In the meantime,there isa large quantity of awesome at their youtube page
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