The indie music world comes to a screeching halt this weekend as Pitchfork rolls into town. Three-day tickets have been sold out for ages, so try hitting up Craigslist or something to make your way in. . . . → Read More: This Week in Great Music: 7/12 – 7/18
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 Leave a comment  Upcoming Events  a lull, abbey pub, anne heaton, benjamin ezra, cains and abels, caribou, cary brothers, david romano, drive by truckers, evanston space, gregory pepper, hallelujah the hills, harper blynn, here we go magic, hideout, house of blues, islands, jonny lang, kevin o'donnell, lincoln hall, local natives, loudon wainwright iii, martyrs', meg hutchinson, millennium park, moreland and arbuckle, navy pier, old 97's, patricia vonne, paul turner, ravinia, real estate, robbie fulks, rose polenzani, sarah harmer, schubas, sharon van etten, strand of oaks, subterranean, the budos band, the daredevil christopher wright, the loom, the swell season, titus andronicus, tom petty and the heartbreakers, united center, yawn, zola jesus I am too sleepy for commentary this morning, so have the below list of shows which I have deemed to be Awesome. I’ll be at the Empty Bottle on Thursday to catch Dosh’s show, and hopefully I won’t forget about the tickets I have to the Old Town School of Folk Music on Sunday, for Eliza . . . → Read More: This Week in Great Music: 4/12 – 4/18 Leave a comment Upcoming Events adam ezra, adam green, aetiology, andy friedman, anthi meera, blues traveler, brooke waggoner, carrie newcomer, chicago cultural center, chickenfat klezmer orchestra, children of nova, davenport's, debello, dosh, double door, earl greyhound, elbo room, eliza gilkyson, ellis paul, elton john, empty bottle, evanston space, florence and the machine, gebhard ullmann clarinet trio, graham parker, hideout, holy hail, house of blues, identity crisis, jeff ruby, jeffrey foucault, kevin andrew prchal, kevin o'donnell, laura freeman, legendary shack shakeres, leslie beukelman, lincoln hall, loudon wainwright iii, martyrs', mcaninch arts center, metro, micah dalton, miniature tigers, mori einsidler, natalie oliveri, niu steel band, occidental brothers dance band international, ok go, old town school of folk music, owen, paper thick walls, pearls mahone, phil cohran, rachael sage, reggie's rock club, relax on milwaukee, richard thompson, robbie fulks, robbie gjersoe, rocky votolato, roommates, schubas, sears centre, tangleweed, the booze, the dead trees, the hackensaw boys, the honeybees, the morning benders, the rocketz, uncommon ground, vieux farka toure, white hinterland So between now and the end of the year, I’ll be bringing you my 20 favorite albums of 2009. These 20 albums aren’t in any particular order, aside from the fact that I put them into four groupings of five albums each. There’s nothing scientific or measured about this, it’s mostly just an order . . . → Read More: 2009 Favorites: Part One A little bit of everything in Chicago this week. Rock, electronica, folk, rap, and my guilty pleasure, cheesy pop music. I kind of can’t handle all of the different choices for shows on Thursday, and I have never been so disappointed to have to go to a Halloween party rather than a show on Friday. Sigh, . . . → Read More: This Week in Great Music – 10/26 – 11/1 One comment Upcoming Events anberlin, angel taylor, anni rossi, auditorium theatre, benjamin gibbard, bob dylan, chicago licorice sticks, chicago waldorf school, chris smither, congress theater, david gray, double door, empty bottle, five for fighting, great lake swimmers, gringo star, herman dune, house of blues, ingrid michaelson, jay farrar, jenny owen youngs, joe firstman, julie doiron, kelly clarkson, lakeshore theater, leo kottke, leonard cohen, lincoln hall, lisa hannigan, los lobos, loudon wainwright iii, mae, martyrs', mason jennings, monsters of folk, noah and the whale, old town school of folk music, park west, reggie's rock club, richard thompson, rosemont theatre, saul williams, schubas, symphony center, taking back sunday, thao and the get down stay down, the aragon, the duhks, the gaslight anthem, the vic, tiesto High Wide & Handsome is a 30-song walk through traditional Americana as well as newly-composed songs by Wainwright and company, written from Poole’s perspective (including the title track). . . . → Read More: Album Review: Loudon Wainwright III – High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project First off, to give you an idea of the place: there is a fancyish pizza/Italian restaurant in the front, and then a long hallway leading to the back, which has a stage and seating area. It’s a really beautiful space – it’s very open, industrial almost, but a swanky sort of industrial. The place had wonderful acoustics, and the only complaint I had was the seating – I don’t know if people moved chairs around or what, but the “aisle” at stage left was so narrow and impossible to get through. Also, there’s no backstage, so the performers need to enter through the crowd, AKA through the tiny, wonky little aisle where I was seated. Remember this; it’ll be important later. Anyhow, the opening band, Sons of the Never Wrong, are a local-ish group who have been performing together for 17 years. They honestly reminded me in a way of an older, less queer Girlyman, though I can’t quite pinpoint why other than that they’re both folky, quirky, and comprised of two women and one man. Anyhow, their music is very earthy, a little off the wall, and I have to say there was kind of a feminist bent to some of their songs. It was refreshing to see older musicians, still living it up and having fun on stage. Definitely an appropriate opener for Loudon. I’d be interested to see them again in a longer set – they only played for about 25-30 minutes.  Loudon Wainwright III So after a bit of break (wherein the opening band moved out all of their own equipment; ah, tiny indie-esque shows), Loudon came out… only to promptly realize that the mic stand was several inches too short. He commented that he must have grown a few inches since sound check. He played a lot of new/current/topical material, which he called “Songs of the New Depression.” He showed right off the bat that he might be older and more mellow, but he can still just as cynical and biting as ever. His opening song, “Times is Hard”, has a line in it about how the only thing we’ve got going for us is the price of gas – afterwards, he remarked that he wrote the song in January and it’s outdated already, given that the price of gas has gone up. Another song, about a couple who can’t sell their house, and who know that selling the house also means they’ll finally split up. And, seriously, he did a song about economist/Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman. Seriously. He also did a few songs from a double album he’s putting out in August, with songs made known by, and about Charlie Poole, a banjo player who essentially drank himself to death in the 30s. (More after the jump…) Continue reading Concert Review: Loudon Wainwright III; Evanston SPACE; July 8, 2009 |
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