poof [WZRD]

the streetwalkers - downtown flyers
israel vibrations - we da rasta
the hangman's beautiful daughters - something about today
band of outsiders - what goes on
c-rayz walz - the essence

daedalus - greatly exaggerated, our demise
the orb - komplikation #
pedestrians- in the end #
vertonen - deplete to ruination, the wide shift

the defoliants - rectal inferno !
shockout - rootsman/he-man: killer
amon duul - nada moonshine
stan getz and joao gilberto - corcovado

tarantula a.d. - prelude to the fall #
genders - clothesline mimes #
ween - doctor rock
coldcut - everything is under control (return of the underdog)

the bad plus - let our garden grow
bunny brains (another) glass of milk
neurosis - belief !
streetlight manifesto - everything went numb!

noah creshevsky - vol-au-vent
beats r us vs jay-q - sextramental (from Mother Tongues) !
glitter pals - lovepump's birthday song #
magas - lovecompressor

vaz - sink the swan #
hr - youthman suffer (dub)
men's recovery project - stubble #
jackie o motherfucker - bone saw

chiks all around; at least it started out alright. i don't blame the songs [WLUW]

nouvelle vague - guns of brixton (clash cover) !
Tabakin - spank (from The Chicago Drop) #!
martin denny -swamp fire !
emperor x - right to the rails

thunder! thunder! thunder! - the sounds of leisure (from Homemade Hits Vol. 2) !
supervillains - eternia's greatest
gza & ras kass - liquid swords (from Wu Tang Meets Indie Culture)

tortoise & bonnie 'prince' billy - daniel (elton john cover) #3
elkland - i never
daft punk - human after all

autechre - ipacial section
aids wolf - panty mind #
radiant darling - familiar

bakelite 78 - it's a sin to tell a lie #!
andre afram asmar - scientism
ariel pink's haunted graffiti - life in l.a. !

boduf songs - grains #
22-20's - devil in me
i need sleep - my girl #
zZz - ecstasy !

screeching weasel - the science of myth
stnnng - ready the replicas #
drekka - exactioning
big jus - everything must coincide/supa nigga #

billie holiday - speak low (bent remix) (from Verve Remixed Vol. 3) !
benzos - all the king's men
bobby conn & the glass gypsies -we come in peace

Why is there a naked guy drinking tea at the table?

1/19/06
Show: Loto Ball, Grace Kulpa, Lord of the Yum Yum, and Black Bear Combo
Cost: $5
Things I missed to be there: Iunno.

Reversible Eye is quickly becoming my favorite place to see shows in Chicago. Then again, I haven't been going to shows as much as I should be. Last week I missed out on shows at Betty's Blue Star, Underground Lounge, Beauty Shop, and South Union Arts. Our omnipresent friend Party Steve moved to Portland months ago. He came back to visit a week or two ago and he was telling me about party spots I'd never even heard of before. Magical Forest? What the fuck is that? South Union Arts has been putting on all kinds of shows lately and I still haven't made it out to one. The Orphanage is holding occasional shows as well as a weekly open mic/jam for the burning man rave hippie set. For nearly a year, The Studio (formerly the Heartland Studio Theatre) has taken over the Fireside Bowl's gig of holding nightly all-ages punk shows and I still haven't made it out. For even longer than that, any poet worth their shit in this city has made it out to the Lyricist Loft. Not me. Sigh.

Why do I love ReversibleEye though?

1. It's a gallery that actually functions as a gallery instead of just a place to see shows.
2. It's a gallery that currently has puppets and dolls.
3. They're regularly holding interesting shows there, mixing music and performance art.
4. It's less than ten blocks from my house.
5. BYOB

So, um, yay. I don't have a point there. I totally lost my train of thought. Good for me. Blog.

When I first got there, Loto Ball Show was playing. Their mp3s they have online are all industrial-tinged waltzes and circus songs, but live they sounded like the soundtrack to a children's adventure film, as if Gogol Bordello had taken over Giorgio Moroder's soundtrack for "The Neverending Story." I could picture an adventure for each song. Flying through the air, running blindly through the woods as the light of day escapes. I don't know if that's what they were going for, but it was pretty phat.

Next up was, I beleve, was Grace Kulp. They were kind of a droney folk band so we all sat on the floor. I couldn't tell if I liked them or not. The final verdict was that I liked them but wasn't in the mood for them. They were very-goth friendly, right down to the singer's forced Peter Steele/Peter Murphy vocals.

Third was Lord of the Yum Yum (and his roadie, Maximum Happy). Lord of the Yum Yum was awesome. He's always awesome. Move along.

Ifihadahifi was supposed to play, but they got scared of the snowy roads so they hid in Milwaulkee and Black Bear Combo closed out the show. One by one, everybody in the room started dancing. "It's your bar mitzvah, Eric. Let's dance!" my roommate yelled. It wasn't Klezmer, exactly, but very old world Eastern European and very funky. I'm glad to live in a city where we have such a glut of bad ass marching bands. Next time someone starts badmouthing the Windy City you tell them that. And look at the fun, blank stares they give you. Good times.

against all odds [WLUW]

frank zappa - cucamonga
the shadows of knight - bad little woman
sebadoh - brand new love
tortoise & bonnie prince billy - thunder road#

king god - morning sky#
billy nayer show - mama hen
grip weeds - waiting for a sign
j.o.y. - sunplus (d.f.a. remix)

sound directions - the funky side of life #
mike boo - curdled #
dosh - rock it til the next episode

ham 1 - wrong way marshall #
single minded pros - feels so good (w/ earatik statik & pace won)
del psychos - sick and tired of people

brian wilson - good vibrations
dj signify - peekadoo part 3
dirty dozen brass band - feet can't fail me now

stoat - boys and girls !
belly - dusted
einsturzende neubauten - kalte sterna
karmelia's game - crazy girl

puffy amiyumi - december
fitness & runway - smash your mirror
las malas amistades - el country

handsome boy modeling school - if it wasn't for you (w. de la soul & starchild excalibur)
moonpedro and the new farm street orchestra - birthday #2
albert ayler - our prayer

the smiths - william it was really nothing

mats gustaffson/sonic youth - hidros 3 (track 3)

I Don't Wanna Get Buried in No Jew Ass Cemetary

So I just got my third tattoo. It's a boy with a jetpack. The art was done by this guy Tom at No Hope No Fear. The design is his, influenced by Dick and Jane books, based on a drawing by my girlfriend, also influenced by Dick and Jane books. It was my first tattoo done at an actual shop, as opposed to somebody's house. Lets take a look down memory lane.

2002 - Mikhail. A version of my hebrew name that I used to tag all over the city. I was named after my great-grandfather, who brought the family to America. Some guy's house in Arlington Heights.
Music playing: A NoFX greatest hits cd

2004 - The 32 tiers of the sephiroth (tree of life) down my spine. The 32 stages of meditation between manhood and godhood. I'm still on stage one. Some guy's house in West Rogers Park.
There was no music. I watched Insomniac,Chapelle's Show, and Adult Swim

2006 - A shop in Wicker Park. Because of a broken iPod we were at the mercy of the very-limited cd selection in the shop. We listened to a cd by 16 Horsepower, which was good (especially so for a Christian band) and an album by Coldplay (which was not as bad as I'd suspected it would be, although some songs were)

fake ass punk gangs

So apparently, there are exponentialy more official punk crews than there were when I left high school five years ago. At the turn of the century there were only two big crews (although I'm sure that a number of northwest side fringe groups will argue that distinction): the 77s and the CMS kids. CMS stands for Chicago Mafia Skins. Ben Stupid told me years ago that he was there when the idea for CMS was born. It was in a church basement in Evanston, where the Mushuganas or someone was playing, and in between bands some skinhead kid was asking, "Wouldn't it be cool if we had a gang? We could call it, like, the Chicago Mafia Skinheads or something."

Soon after, sharpied CMS tags started appearing on lamposts, windows and bathroom walls on Belmont. I don't know if this is really how it happened or not, but it seems about right. The CMS kids weren't Nazi skinheads (anyone remember being able to use the term Bonehead?), but a fair amount of them were racist. They weren't Trads either, though they uniformly dressed the part. Pretty much, they were thugs. They got drunk and fucked people up in groups.

The 77s were pretty much the same thing, only back in the day they dressed like English punk rockers did back in 77. Crass and Pistols. Stretch pants, spikes, blah blah blah.

In 2000, I only remember seeing pockets of 77 kids now and again, spunging on the street. The CMS kids (and Chicago skinhead numbers in general were dwindling)

Well, apparently, they're back, and they aren't primarily 16-year olds anymore, and they're calling themselves gangs. Somehow, whenever my friend Karlye has a party, the 77s take it over. Last week she had a couch thrown off her balcony, the time before she got punched in the face, and the time before that a whole bunch of little things got fucked up or stolen. Somehow, she has yet to figure out who keeps inviting them. Somehow, in 7 years of regularly throwing parties with over a hundred people in attendance in various parts of the city, I've never had a problem with them.

I think I figured it out: I have a lot of black and hispanic friends. This could be a specious argument (i.e. I've never seen a tiger by a BP station, therefore tigers must be afraid of Venezuelan crude oil) but I just don't see these fuckers when there are a fair amount of blacks or hispanics around. This brings up the first point, on why these guys can't be real gangs.

1) Gangs can't be afraid of people based on their skin color. Sure, a gang can be racist, but they can't be pussies.

Howsabout another?

2) Real gangbangers have either much better or much worse weapons than switchblades, especially polished, ivory-handled, engraved switchblades. Use more lead pipes and mack-10s.

The third point, came out of a session with one of my tuttees. We were arguing about the punk scene in the better Chicagoland area, and the 77 kids.

"They're like a real, punk rock gang," he tells me.
"No they aren't," I (masterfully) countered.
"Yes they are, they really fucked this one guy up I know badly."
"Okay, lets talk about real gangs. Shit that's organized. I don't know if there are still Vice Lords around but lets say that I'm a Vice Lord and you're a Vice Lord."
"Okay."
"I'm not gonna go and fuck you up...because I'm drunk or BORED, because that would cause ripples throughout the organization."
"Oh, yeah. I guess you're right."

So he agreed with me, or wanted me to shut up. Either way I won. So if these punk crews aren't gangs, then what are they?

FRAT BOYS

That's right, run of the mill oafs. Trade white hats and Aeropostale for back patches and liberty spikes and whaddya got? A frat boy who couldn't make it through high school.

I'm gonna make my point in a way that's fun for me, but a bit of a reach for you. Are you ready?

There's this sketch comedy show that hasn't been on in years. Upright Citizens Brigade. It's awesome. It should be on all day. That and the State. Well, in its first season, there's an episode based around the Greek Fraternity System. Throughout the night, dudes trae high fives and yell, "Chumbawumba, man!" "You know it, Chumbawumba."

Okay, so the show was made in 1998; usually they avoid dated references but this one was apropos. If you don't remember, Tumbawumba were a group of anarchists who reached unexpected heights of one hit wonderdom, when they're song about drinking with the boys and "pissing the night away" became an omnipresent hit. The song was on every station. It was kinda rocky, kinda dancey, hell when one of the guys was talking it could've even passed for hip hop. It was the song that would have people yelling at parties, and it completely ruined Chumbawumba's carreer (which is fine since they kinda lost their integrity by signing to a major after bashing it for so long, and kind of a shame because no one's going to care to listen to the cool albums they did with The Ex or Negativland)

Anyway, I'm at Karlye's house, and I'm pretty sure that everybody there that I don't know (and some of the people I do) are all douchebags or teenagers. I step in off the back porch where a bunch of kids were having an outdoor singalong, into the kitchen where there's a flank of 77 kids by the window.

One of them slaps the other ones hand and goes, "GG Allin."
The other one responds in kind, "Fuckin GG-fuckin-Allin, man!"
And they do this for, I swear, five fucking minutes, and each time, GG Allin's name is funnier than the last. Weird. I saw this once before, again with 77s, different kids but again in Logan Square, and the word was "bukakke."

So there you have it. Problem solved. These wannabe punk rock gangbangers are all just frat boys. Now, how is it we take care of frat boys again? Outside of not going to their keggers, of course.

chicago music at bars

starting in January, Brandon Wetherbee, Kelsey Snell and I have been playing bars in support of Machine Media, a magazine that does not yet exist in the dead-tree format God intended for it. Currently, we have residencies at the Liar's Club, Delilah's, and the Underground Lounge with more in the works. At Machine events, we play nothing but music performed by Chicagoans and former Chicagoans.

The first event took place on Thursday, January 5th (it will always take place on the first Thursday of the month). We were moving and switching off too fast for me to make a setlist but I will list the songs that got responses from the audience.

-Playing a track off of a Mary Tyler Morphine demo ("Damaged", I believe), two people came up.
The first, defiantly announced, "Ha! This is Tilt and they're not from Chicago."
The second beligerently thanked us.
-A song from Articles of Faith's album Core led a pretty girl to ask who I was playing. She was disappointed that AoF is not a current band.
-I got a loud "Yyyyeah!" for ending the night with Revolting Cock's "Linger Fickin Good"
-A dude in a Black Sabbath shirt chastised us and left for playing a Howlin Wolf song (he was a friend of ours, too)

feel free to post requests here for any music you'd like to see and come out to the next one.
(Not that anybody reads this, but, you know, if you end up here and all)

rife with inaccuracy and confusion [WLUW]

johnny cash - 25 minutes to go
black future - eu sou o rio
mancino - babel by the mouthful#

i need sleep - natural disasters#
mong hang - mesopotamia
cyran shames - greenburg, glickstein, charles, david smith & jones

ghislain poirier - synthetic rhythms#
mf doom - one beer
eyedea & abilities - glass

books on tape - surly ambassador
morcheeba - coming down gently
gabby la la - butter and eggs

hightower - the force and the fury #
vindictives - 1900-ilu-vyou
minutemen - i felt like a gringo/jesus and tequila

manu chao - clandestino
atmosphere - musical chairs
tweaker - it's still happening (feat. hamilton leithauser)

seu jorge - chatteron#
captain beefheart - ela guru
las malas amistades - necesidad (electro mix)/la parca#
gotan project - el capilalismo foraneo

storm inc. - rape me
bigg jus - energy harvester (swallow the sun)#
the icarus line - caviar

the highwaymen - the highwaymen
healthy white baby - it's over#
moldy peaches - greyhound bus

william shatner - hey mr. tambourine
butter 08 - shut up

maniac on the dancefloor

Fantastic. Only one week into the new year and I've already seen two great hardcore shows. Perhaps I should see some more non-hardcore shows but perhaps said shows should be cheaper and held in the same shitholes the punks are willing to play.

Unfortunately, I'm growing irritable in my old age. It seems as though I can't see four or five bands in a row anymore without getting tired of the sound of guitars. Soon I'll be complaining about that trash the kids are listening to these days...it sounds just like noise.

At the Big Horse on Tuesday, Sweden's Imperial Leather was set to rock the house after seven bands. I missed them and the other touring band, the Cooters. I did see however, two of my favorites: Condenada and Tras de Nada, as well as Disrobe, Riotous, and some young, sweatpantsed metal band from Wisconsin. It was all just a warmup for tonight.

We arrived in the Beauty Shop with forties in hand, just as Global Genocide was starting. Global Genocide consists of four fifteen year old girls playing loud, fast slightly melodic punk rock. It was adorable and there was absolutely no standing room (The Beauty Shop is, in actuality, a two-bedroom apartment. The bands play in what would otherwise be considered a dining room). We gave up and drank in the kitchen. I perused merch.

The first thing I noticed was a zine called Griot. I read it a month ago after finding it on a free rack at Quimby's. I was instantly compelled because the word griot represents an incredibly funky brand of traditional African music that is performed as a way of telling a story, but here it was written in a shaky, heavy metal font (what could it be?). Inside was a punk rock love story full of well written cliches and some interesting turns. The writer seems to need to identify punk rock as an entity a lot in the story. Without knocking it, I'd describe it as something I would have written ten years ago if I had the life experiences and writing skill I have today, if that makes any sense. I bought a copy from the author who was shocked I'd seen it. He was from Ohio, and had come along for the ride with Piedmontster from North Carolina. He said I could take one for free, but I insisted on paying because I was drunk, and had already read one for free.

The place was full of familiar faces. There were four other current and former djs from WZRD there, Beth, Dave Cavasos (now performing as David Diarrhea), James with the tits and Rotten Milk. Cassie, a girl I went to grade school with, stood heads above the crowd. She'd just gotten back from New Orleans, she said, and didn't expect to see anyone she knew at the show. It's always fun to see kids I haven't seen in over a decade, but it's even more fun to see them all grown up at a punk show.

Condenada played, but I've said enough on this blog about how much I like them so let's move on.

The next band, Piedmontster, was loud and fast and silly. They played synth-driven dance music, punk and a tiiiiiny bit of ska and overpowered the entire apartment with a smoke machine. My girlfriend, my roommate and I danced, jumped and pushed around, exhaling plumes of gas every time we yelled. Two of the kids from Intifada, who at 17 look years younger, found room to crowd surf. Every now and then I'd retreat to a bedroom and watch the show framed by the doorway. A face, or a body would appear on the left, from the kitchen, standing still and bobbing their head. Then all of a sudden they'd be pushed all the way past the other end of the door frame. It was great.

The last band I had the tolerance to see was Maniac Mansion. I think it had some of the people from KK Rampage in it. Maybe all of them, I can never tell. Like KK Rampage, they played energetic noisepunk and violently thrashed around in the audience but they did it better. The singer yelled as someone crawled up to his shoulders and brought him to his knees. Fists threw up into the air. The light ficture swung, and was batted. People wiped sweat on each other. When it was all over, someone from the kitchen yelled,

"Congratulations, you all smell like punk rock. You should...market that. Somehow."
Guy next to him: They already do. It's called CK One.
Guy with dreads: (a second later) I have a deal inked with Calvin Klein!
Guy next to him (again): I already made that joke.

things you should know before attending your first mexican hardcore show

When the singer says, "Fuck the Minutemen," he's not badmouthing Darby Crash so calm down

look mom, i'm djing with the sun out

roxy music - out of the blue
sham 69 - money
gris gris - mademoiselle of the morning #

aesop rock w/ doseone - odessa
talib kweli - get by
ghislain poirier - close the news #

las malas amistades - el country #
vivian goldman - lauderette (from anti ny)
as mercanarias - loucos sentimentos

edith frost - emergency
coctails - penguin/powerhouse
tom waits - hang on st. christopher

one self - sd2
pharcyde - ya mama
mc jack e chocolate - pavroty

bonnie prince billy - i see a darkness #
the vipers - tears (only dry)
vashti bunyan - here before #

sir alice - l'amour made in taiwan#
klaus nomi - lightning strikes
princess - miss adventures

death from above 1979 - blood on our hands (justice remix)#
chicago afrobeat project - talking bush#
gogogo airheart - so good#

romanteek - dumb (from DMBQ Benefit)
luxury - one in a million (from Yellow Pills)
schizowave - my baby

really strange and weird things - sein sah thin
they might be giants - the statue got me high
matisyahu - king without a crown

top things of 2005

2005 was just another one of those sad years in between Outkast singles the whole world could get off on. Here's some things that didn't suck.

ten bands that put out awesome albums in 2005

-Gabby Lala - Be Careful What You Wish For (finally, an English language answer to Puffy AmiYumi, why are we always five years behind the Japanese)
-Konono No. 1 - Congotronics
-The Fiery Furnaces - Rehearsing my Choir
-Amadou & Mariam - Dimanche a Bamako
-Diplo/M.I.A. - Piracy Funds Terrorism, Vol. 1 (despite the hype)
-Lady Sovereign - Vertically Chgallenged EP (soon to be the next M.I.A., i.e. hyped to death)
-Seu Jorge - Cru (this is a really good album but it's kinda only serving as space filler because I have a shitty memory)
-Dengue Fever - Escape From Dragon House (not as good as their last album, but better than most the shit I heard this year)
-Heiruspecs - A Tiger Dancing
-Brzowski - MaryShelleyOverdrive

honorable mention:
Nouvelle Vague - Nouvelle Vague (actually 2004 but I just found out)

here are ten bands that I should have found out about before 2005 but didn't

Black Merda
The Screamers
The Deviants
Klaus Nomi
As Mercanarias
Big Boys
Articles of Faith
The Coctails
Os Mutantes
Hawkwind

2005's biggest disappointments:
1. Blockhead's "Downtown Science" - mesdiocre followup to my favorite album of 2004
2. Aesop Rock's "Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives" - mediocre followup to a mediocre album...Aesop come back to us!
3. Busdriver's "Fear of a Black Tangent" - Busdriver's work has always been hit or miss but nothing on this album really did it for me
4. Sage Francis' "A Healthy Distrust" - first album for Epiitaph. Guest spot by Will Oldham...meh
5. Intonation Fest - yawn

Biggest pleasant surprise:
GZA vs. Muggs - Grandmasters (Omigod, ten years ago I would've came over this)

Best local release:
Dove Rock - Sylvia Plath Easybake Oven

Best Album by a Chicago Expatriate
Common's new one

Worst album by a Chicago Expatriate
Billy Corgan's new one

Most overrated artist
Bloc Party

Best label
Sublime Frequencies

Most entertaining movies (not best, just the most entertaining):
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Kung Fu Hustle, and Sin City

and for the record, the best song of the year was
"Act Five" by Why?

top twenty local shows of 2005

[note: this list leans very heavily on the last few months because I have a terrible memory. It was also written in no particular order. Local bands are listed in bold and linked where possible]

1. the Walkie Talkies and There Must Be Others in some basement in Wicker Park-two awesome bands, although neither exist in the same way they did that night. Brigham left the Walkie Talkies to do derranged hiphop as the Minotaur and in three shows. There Must Be Others have had three lineup changes over the course of three shows. the only thing that remains consistent is that they really like to destroy baby dolls.

2. Sin Orden, Condenada, 30/30 and Cinder at Juevos Ranchos - Sin Orden reunited and are here to stay!!! Hit me Back played that night and blew. Stay on the West Coast, Hit me Back.

3. Chicago Fest at Pulaski Park Fieldhouse with No Slogan, Condenada, the Repos , Riistetyt, and over 20 other hardcore bands - this was the only hardcore show this year that came close to 2004's "Ratas de Ciudad" warehouse release party

4. Lozenge, Remember the Maine, and the Coughs at Mr. City - the best show of autumn. I hadn't seen Lozenge since the Nervous Center closed and I'd been falsely informed that they'd broken up. They were amazing. My tricycle was stolen earlier that night so by the time I left I was raging drunk. On my way to a party I wandered into a gallery space off Western/Milwaulkee/Armitage featuring a number of largesize (7' by 5') paintings of nude, older women (40s-60s), in war scenes brandishing weapons. The band that was playing had no name. Unfortunately, they had come together to jam for that night and that night only. The music was this psychedelic soup of reggae and hiphop. I wish I could see them again.

5. G.O.A.T., Satan 3000, Mister Fuckhead and the Machinist at 3030 (followed by the last show at Camp Gay, I don't know who was playing but it was I believe three bands at the same time and it was the shit)

6. Typewriter and the Mathematicians at Texas (the people living/working at Texas were real assholes that day; whoever says that the City of the Future festival was devoid of people who thought they were bringing culture to Bridgeport did not have to deal with these Wicker Park expat divas. I'm glad the cops shut their shit down...also Typewriter is the shit)

When my friends couldn't get into this show we wandered down the street to a house calling itself "the house of the future." This house used to be in Bridgeport but because of redistricting, I think it's in Pilsen. Anyway, these guys have lived here for years throwing awesome parties and pig roasts and shit. They're a bunch of class acts and they know how to throw down. The bonfires were lovely. The crowd was sophisticated and some band, I believe they were called Model Rocket Scientists, rocked my ass.

7. V8, Vyle, the Minotaur, K to the I, Bryzowsky, Radioninactive at Gunther Murphys- it was awesome to see a tri-coastal hip hop show. the minotaur sucked that night but has been getting progessively better all year. When he played the Mutiny with Indian Jewelry and the Electric Set on Halloween, he was much better, awesome in fact.

8. Lord of the Yum Yum with Dan Deacon and a million and a half noise bands at the Fireside Bowl - I always love Lord of the Yum Yum but this was the first time I saw him where most of the crowd "got" him.

9 Ellissa P and Brenmar Someday at 3030 - Two people bump into each other: Hey! You got jarring noise in my well crafted piano pop! No, you got pop in my ethereal soundscapes! brilliant!

10 Gays in the Military and Panicsville at the Empty Bottle (Bloodyminded is terrible!)

11.Ejercito Sin Son, 30/30, Crimenes de Guerra, and a rockabilly surf band at the Crevice (I miss that spot) - ska en espanol? si!

12. Intifada with Religious Sex and Caustic Christ at the Albion House (actually, any show at the albion house)

13. Small Change (live band hiphop) with a bunch of SxE bands at a gallery in West Town. So after a couple bands have these long tyrades against alcoholism, meat-eating and religion ("fuck Buddhism"), Small Change comes out and one of the emcees, completely oblivious, asks, "You know what's good? Beer. Beer makes you strong. You drink beer and you can fight anybody," before tearing in.

14. Quasar Wut Wut at Redmoon's "Sink, Sank, Sunk" at the Jackson Park Lagoon - funk band on a boat! funk band on a boat!

15. Debase, Soft Serve, Condenada and others at the Beauty Shop - I got trashed and had to leave early; Debase kicks ass for a high school punk band

16. the Coctails at Rotofugi - free show! singing saw! toy store! ...SENSORY FUCKING OVERLOAD!!!

17. Apartment Burlesque Orchetra's last show with Marvin Tate, Miss VonLivid and others at the DANK Haus. Apartment was the band that got me into the whole cabaret freakout scene five years ago when I saw them at the Fireside Bowl with Novasonic Down Hyperspace (who are now a shittier band with a better name) and My So Called Lice (who stand out as the worst band I have ever seen live). At the time the bass player was doing The bass lines with a tuba which was enough for me, plus I was in love with their cellist and their singer Caila was doing this geek/stripper/spazz theatrical routine, and less singing than reading poetry (sometimes very bad poetry). When she left town for a bit, Marvin Tate became the singer, he had a really commanding James Earl Jones-as-a-filthy-minded-preacher thing going for him and did a lot of poetry himself. He was the singer for one of my favorite local funk groups, Marvin Tate's D-Settlement (which featured Articles of Faith drummer Spyder!) . When Apartment didn't have a singer they were usually scoring a burlesque show or experimental film. They will be missed.

18. The John Cage Musicircus w/ Environmental Encroachment, Princess, and hundreds of others at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

19. Radiant Darling at Burkhart Studios. I could look at Ami Saraiya all day, and I could listen to the song "Familiar" for weeks on end.

20. Stag Party at the Elks Lounge. The Elks Lounge is my basement in Ukranian Village. Every now and then I throw a massive party and weird stuff happens. Over the summer, I was in a Manifest Theatre spectacle in the Wicker Park park with Stag Party's singer, Gabe. To raise money to build a giant mastodon puppet, Stag Party played a fundraiser at my house. It was more than a little great.

Honorable mentions:
- Bobby Conn at a puppet show Reversible Eye in Humbolt Park
-Chicago Summerdance DJ nights - all of them
-Hannibelectro and Gabriel G. at the Elks Lounge
-hip hop with live drum and bass at the Darkroom (I don't know the performers name, it was a Mondo Exhibition. Why don't I know this awesome fat rapper's name?)
-C.H.A.O.S. Fest at Nihilist - shit went crazy. was supposed to be at Texas but the cops kicked us out, then the cops showed up again, but just stood around shaking their heads
-AIDS Wolf and Panicsville at Enemy - This show was only the shit because of AIDS WOLF. I missed Carlos Gioffinni, I already listed Panicsville, and Bloodyminded still suck
-I-ATTACK, World Inferno/Friendship Society, the Subhumans and crappy East Coast hardcore band at the Logan Square Auditorium - an amazing show and I-Attack played the best set I've ever seen them play but it was not really a local show

R.I.P. 3030*, Buddy Gallery**, Burkhart Studios, Camp Gay***, the Crevice, Schizoclub, the Needlehouse, the Command Center, 556/Mestizo, El Colibri, Bottom Lounge and the Lakeview Lounge

*Which is soon to be putting on shows again as Elastic Arts (which, I believe, was the name they went by when it opened)
**now putting on shows as Happy Dog
***I believe there are some Camp Gayites holdin it down at a spot called Magical Forest but I ain't been there so I don't really know

the striking return of radio dysentary (this time on real radio!)

dengue fever - tap water
dirty projectors - we are swaddled
radio pyongyang - commie funk? #

coctails - dark green
lady sovereign - fiddle with the volume #
14 year old girls - this is a devo cover/grand theft auto 3

90's hip hop!
pharcyde - passin me by
onyx - slam
wu-tang clan - c.r.e.a.m.

serge gainsbourg - bonnie & clyde
sufjan stevens - say yes! to m!ch!gan!
the chills - pink frost

they might be giants - why does the sun shine? (the sun is a mass of incandescent gas)
the minders - chatty patty
os mutantes - ando meio desligado

balkan beat box - bulgarian chicks
stag party - sun explodes
helium -pat's trick

meat puppets - plateau (live)
tom waits - filipino box spring hog
four tet - iron man (black sabbath cover)

books on tape - bubblegum #
the warlocks - angels in heaven, angels in hell *
lashio thein aung - you got what you got(from guitars of the golden triangle: folk and pop music of myanmar)
saing saing maw - lake thay mah shoke (from guitars of the golden triangle: folk and pop music of myanmar)

non-prophets - cure
escape mechanism - today (with the meters)
the weather - glorified hype man

sarah's 18-year-old nostalgia set
kristin hersh - your dirty answer
braid - a dozen roses <--Boo! bad form, Sarah
neutral milk hotel - in the aeroplane over the sea

lovage - anger management *
the messengers of god - army of me (bjork cover)
storm inc. - rape me

biz markie - just a friend
salt-n-pepa - push it out
a tribe called quest - i left my wallet in el segundo

best set of the night
subarachnoid space - trainable (from the DMBQ Benefit Album)
5ive style - the lost oar
twink - pussy cat *

sigur ros - #8, a.k.a. Popplagio
old time relijun - the king of lost light (reprise)
new duncan imperials - gizzards, scrapple & tripe

sonic youth - screaming skull
negativland w/ chumbawumba - the ABCs of Anarchism

hella - madonna approaches r&b blonde wreckages #
secret mommy -daycare #
mark mothersbaugh - blue joy

the flaming lips - the spark that bled
the bug ft. daddy freddy - politicians & paedophiles
the blacks - new new waltzing blues

sleeping in the market - laluyeah (yearning song)
the ex & tom cora - the big black
why? - act five
gabby la la - butter & eggs

thanks, sarah

untitled wluw set

hawkwind - you shouldn't do that
tom waits - step right up
themselves - good people check

blockhead - roll out the red carpet
quintron & miss pussycat - squirrel gardens/witch in the club
lady sovereign - the battle

iggy pop - the passenger
weird war - track 2 (untitled)
jackie & the cedrics - cedric's theme/hard rock jackie

atmosphere - if i was santa claus *
abstract giants - thick skin
m.i.a. - pull up the people *

azalia snail - hidden track
boredoms - mogo?
folk implosion - fuse

muggs - morta <--best album of 2003, why do i still not own this?
the walkie talkies - nicotine girl
happy ashtray - 4 times daily

jeff hanson - just like me
danava - eyes in disguise <-!!!!!!
daniel johnston - living it for the moment

mecca normal - what about the boy? <--sounds like a twangy v. of Apartment
johnny cash - don't take your guns to town
the crew - red chevrolet

sin orden - nuestra historia
vishten - mariez moi
seu jorge - tive razao (voltair mix)

the woven hand - the good hand
bosco & jorge - you holdem ill punchem
the lonely world of the dudley corporation - stutter
ulele! - sleep and you

matthew shipp - select mode 2
as mercanarias - lembrancas
radio java - radio jakarta #2

edith frost - emergency
OYogSothoth
inspiral carpets - weakness
television - the fire

thurl ravenscroft - you're a mean one, mister grinch
princess - buildings
snow - runway

roky erikson & the aliens - white faces
pigface - du liebst mich nicht, ich lieb' dich nicht
dj spooky - absentia absentia (dialectical triagulation iii)

mi and l'au - i've been watching you
sun ra & his solar arkestra - sketch

shortstack-my brain does not works!!!!

non-prophets - cure
bonzo dog band - i'm bored

princess - miss adventures
the adicts - joker in the pack
the godfathers - this damn nation

erase eratta - tongue tied (from Weasel Walter's "Phat Mixe")
dead kennedys - the prey
firewater - is that all there is? (Peggy Lee cover)

seu jorge - tive razao (i was right)
aparat organ quartet - romantica (from Screaming Masterpiece OST)
sushirobo - rat or mole?

cabaret voltaire - nag nag nag
einsturzene neubauten - krieg in die stadten
pere ubu - 30 seconds over tokyo

abstract giants - internal auditory
c-rayz walz - jello
saul williams - black stacy

the thin man - molly o <--this song's more'n a little badass but the album lacks
love and rockets - it could be sunshine <--would be awesome if it weren't for vocals
sacha sacket - the prodigal

ravi shankar - village dance
busdriver, daedalus, & radioinactive - pens oil
the dukes of stratosphere - vanishing girl

sicbay - suspicious icons
neu! - negativland

magas - toys (redux)
the three o'clock - with a cantaloupe girlfriend

in a wagner mood

rachel's - water from the same source
jaylib - nowadayz
pearly sweets - a weekend at home

the pirahnas - bitches wheel
evil beaver - the nutcracker
bride of no no - the gypsy's song

lady sovereign - fiddle with the volume
plaid - marry
kraftwerk - radioactivity

kids of widney high - life without the cow
sun kil moon - carry me ohio

montgolfier brothers - koffee pot blues
emma bush with johnny noble and his hawaiian music - lei e (from Hot Women: Women Singers from the Torrid Regions of the World)
the gay - opulent canine

girls are short - the natural
matt smith - lay down in the leaves (from Amos House Collection Vol. 3)
count basie - something (beatles cover)

reifenstahl - (track 8 from die wunderwaffe)
king tubby - rude boy dub
quintron & miss pussycat - fly like a rat

naked raygun - rat patrol
apocalypse hoboken - joyful is the day
the manhandlers - medicate me
articles of faith - buried alive

astrud gilberto - tu meu delirio
gogogo airheart - dub ii
mathematicians - binary girl

yoko ono with yo la tengo - hedwig's lament/exquisite corpse (from Wig in a Box)
the animals - boom boom
the undertones - let's talk about girls

bjork - ruby baby
neko case - lonely old lies

nina hagen - tv-glotzer (white punks on dope) (tubes cover)
u.s. maple - my lil shocker
the flying luttenbachers - thrumm'd hte (for m)

blondie - bang a gong/funtime (marc bolan / iggy pop covers)
m.o.t.o. - deliver deliver deliver

dengue fever - tap water
90 day men - too late or too dead
neung phak - cheer <--OH SHIT!!!!

edith frost - good to know
pelican -nightendday

le tigre - mediocrity
murder by death - the crown don't make you a prince
crack we are rock - the skull

wagner - lohgerin, disc 3

T R L

quintron w miss pussycat - shoplifter
sole - every single one of us
the rapture - alabama sunshine

pixeltan - get up/say what
fur cups for teeth - christmas presence
blondie - accidents never happen

blockhead - quiet storm
brian wilson - wind chimes
schizowave - my baby

cex - [from Know Doubt] *
lee scratch perry & the upsetters - croaking lizard
prefuse 73 reads the books - pagina cinco *

new order - senses
octopus project - all of thechamps
kokeshi doll - song for hasuike

dresden dolls - bank of boston beauty queen (live wmbr)
mf doom w/ pns - kon queso
negatones - the godfather

the youngs - breakdown
the byrds - thoughts and words
black dice - smiling off (luomo remix)

call and response - rollerskate *
the cramps - call of the wighat
washington social club - backed to the future *

heiruspecs - 5ves
smith jubilee singers - just a little talk with jesus
electric eel shock - killer killer

chicago afrobeat project - bmw
lady sovereign w/ frost p. zuz rock & shystie - a little bit of shhh

beck - girl
the ex and tom cora - the big black
franklin delano - matter of time

the aerovons - world of you (demo) <--the album's weak but this track's great

[technical dificulties]

hawkwind - master of the universe

john cage and boris berman - the perilous night no. 3
mathematicians - subtract my life
edith frost - emergency

ween - the rift
this song is a mess but so am i - bedridden and dancing
morcheeba - wonders never cease

boom boom sattelites - dive for you
messer chups - not made in japan <---fucking smooth
8 bit weapon - arcade
the go! team - huddle formation

yodship - suite two

there ain't nothin wrong with a little bump and grindcore (unfortunately we have neither)

sex and love
devo - girl u want
felix da housecat - rocketride
fatlip - cook

christ-y set
king missile - jesus was way cool
crush kill destroy - why people believe weird things
loretta lynn - god makes no mistakes

morcheeba - ten men
the stranglers - toiler on the sea
asobi saksu - walk on the moon
blockhead - crashing down

reggae
transglobal underground - cikan - le message
the eternals - track 6
matsiyahu - fire and heights

motherfuckers what can play their instruments
roxy music - beauty queen
minutemen - hell (second take)
mong hang - mesopotamia

ampersands!
dangermouse & jemini - bush boys
tracy & the plastics - OOO!
j+j+j - high school? you mean inverted caste system

lo fi motherfuckers
moldy peaches - nothing came out
why? - act five (i needed my fix)
the kinks - drivin

i don't need to justify shit
puffy amiyumi - can-nana fever
david bowie - be my wife
bikini kill - resist psychic death

opposite ends of 1980s New York
klaus nomi - you don't own me
grandmaster flash - it's nasty

dj shadow - blood on the motorway
clint mansell & the kronos quartet - summer: crimin'
atmosphere - musical chairs

mustard plug - insomnia
sham 69 - i'm a man, i'm a boy
les sequelles - monstre-a-go-go

volcano - fire fire
m83 - i'm happy, she said

cast king - wino <--bad fuckin ass
victor daniel - carnaval <---also bad ass
mary lou lord - speeding motorcycle

quinine - police station blues
bohren & der club of gore - skeletal remains
joanna newsome - bridges & balloons

maraca - descarga total
murs - bad man!
pale3 & goldfrapp - bodo

pixel panda - comienda tierra
caetano veloso - paisagem util
mick harvey - louise

micah blue smaldone - new orleans bump
the spades - we sell soul
no neck blues band - boreal gluts

turned on, tuned in dropout

millions of dead cops - corporate deathburger
tin hat trio - the last cowboy
turbonegro - high crime
ibrahim ferrer - naufragio

two gallants - you losin' out
ukrainians - polityka
gogol bordello - underdog world strike

irma thomas - loving arms
mr. oizo - late
desoto reds - tupper in the fridge

icy demons - track 5
daedalus - taking wing
toots and the maytals - funky kingston
descendents - bikeage

ministry - never believe
roky erikson - stand for the fire demon
sham 69 - you're a better man than i

kabul workshop - trigana
gang of four - to hell with poverty
omar a rodriguez-lopez - of blood blue blisters

bela fleck - spanish point
mattithius - vietnam
carla bozulich - lonesome roads

femi kuti w/ mos def - do your best
atmosphere -guns and cigarettes
ry cooder & manuel galban - caballo viejo

adam fitz - last summer
stiff little fingers - state of emergency
howlin wolf - moanin' at midnight

dillinger escape plan - phone home
boom bip - in the tree top
druha trava - spain
the thermals - a stare like yours

the aeffect - always artificial
j+j+j - jobs that require headphones
taj mahal toumani diabate - tunkaranke

dove rock - designer gasmasks
the velvet underground - heroin
seu jorge - chatterton

metal urbain - anarchy en france
fishbone- party at ground zero
operation ivy - junkies runnin dry

count five - psychotic reaction
arab on radar - mind is a muffler

dr. timothy leary - turn on, tune in, drop out
instruments de musique du monde - cithare sur caisse

fiery furnaces - seven silver curses
juana molina - no es tan cierto

lady sovereign - random
pit er pat - man
messer chups - anton lavey 66.6
ween - transitions

flatt & scruggs - get in line brother
jethro tull - from Rock & Roll circus