Chicago: Become Familiar with its Distinctive Neighborhoods

(that's crazy that t0rt01se is opening!)

Never been to the Aragon. I think it's probably the biggest non-arena venue in Chicago. Q101 does their annual festival there. Bands like the White Stripes, the Strokes, and the Flaming Lips are typical, along with a lot of huge Spanish-language bands.

Wait, Colette, you know someone in U|\/|p|-|rey's McG33??

Don't you mean Umphr3y's McG33?

I saw Pixies at Lollapalooza that year, that was enough for me. I've only seen a few shows at the Riv (Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, Belle and Sebastian, Kraftwerk), but there have seriously been no shows that I've wanted to see at the Aragon, and from what I understand, it's a pretty terrible place to see a show, anyway (bad acoustics, etc.). I don't really like big shows.

them and tortoise is kind of a weird pairing, but i guess tortoise DO like to jam.

xp Yeah, guess I should've googleproofed that.

i mean, i've never heard of this band, have you, jordan? and three nights at the aragon? and t0rt01se opening for them? he probably thought he was going to really impress me when he told me what his band was, i just assumed it was some college band that decided to move to chicago.

xpost-- yeah, please googleproof, i really don't want him to stumble on this. i've edited my above post just in case. i went to high school with the bassist. do you know my last name? he's sta i'm ste, which in a school as small as mine meant lockers next to each other and sitting next to each other in every class for 4 years. he recognized me at that show and i looked at him and thought "i have no idea who that is" which is weird because he looked pretty much exactly the same as high school.

xxp-- we saw the pixies at alexandra palace in london-- a venue that's so big they put a carnival INSIDE. i was so bored that we left early. and got lost on the way home, so spent several hours on random busses.

but i guess tortoise DO like to jam.

They do? I don't think Tortoise would describe themselves as a jam band, but jam-band kids seem to like them quite a bit. When I saw them at the Abbey a few years ago, there was some be-dreaded hacky-sack dude bopping around in the middle of the room. And they play Bonnaroo pretty much every year, too.

actually a lot of my favorite pop songs are one-hits. "I Touch Myself," "Groove is in the Heart," "Jesse's Girl," etc. (don't be pedantic and point out some #32 follow-up "hit" these bands had).

rick springfield had 4 other top 10 hits and a slew of other top 20's. he also put out a record of bubblegum pop in '74 or so for a kids show that is one of my favorite records of all time.

yeah, i've heard of them, they are a college jam band staple. they seem to be playing all the time everywhere (never actually heard them, btw).

xpost, jaymc otm, t0rtoise is not noodly at all, but i can see why they get that crossover crowd

actually, only 3 were top 20, but a slew of top 25!

i mean, i've never heard of this band, have you, jordan? and three nights at the aragon?

That's the thing about jam bands. If you're not into the scene, there's no reason for you to ever hear about them at all, and then suddenly String Cheese Incident or O.A.R. is selling out three straight shows at the House of Blues or whatever.

my pixies experience, in hindsight was the worst night of my life. didn't know it 'til months later though. i've never felt so stupid in my life.

yup, because it's not like they're on the radio or anything. it's insidious.

looks like ilx is shutting down IMINENTLY

i've heard of umphr3y's mcg33, though have not heard of any of their music. there is probably no need to googleproof, i think they're pretty big in the jam band circuit

well yeah it's not the same kind of jamming, but I mean that they can have songs that kind of go on for a while and have different parts, that would be the connection. actually come to think of it I think I saw someone at a t0rt0ise show wearing an UmphMg shirt.

String Cheese, OAR, and Umphr3y's are all HUGE among the hippies I associated with in college. HUGE. Also, Keller Williams, Big Wu, all these bands who I've never heard and only heard people ramble on and on and on about...

(what everyone else said)

but I mean that they can have songs that kind of go on for a while and have different parts, that would be the connection

So what you're saying is, Beethoven was a jam band. :D

yeah I realize that's pretty broad

I submitted a googleproof request anyway. There is an ILM thread about them.

Hey, so since ILX is disappearing in a half hour, what are people doing this weekend?

Kr and I are going to Red Rooster, the French bistro that was recently on Check Please!, for dinner tonight. We're also having lunch with a friend of hers tomorrow afternoon and having my mom over for dinner on Sunday. But that's about it. I'm guessing we'll watch some Six Feet Under, too.

Besides going out tonight to Small Bar, I'm thinking of going to see the Brotzmann Chicago Tentet tomorrow at MCA, if anyone's going to that.

You mean we're not all going to start a gmail chat group for this occasion?

My weekend plans:
* crafting
* laundry
* band practice

Ten bucks at the Second City next week (thing I mentioned earlier): 24 straight hours of music and improv, $10 cover, Jeff Tweedy, Steve Albini, Kim and Kelley Deal, Will Oldham, Robbie Fulks, and Jon Langford.

you can have group chat in gmail?

Jam bands are more indie than indie bands, as far as working independently outside of PR and media circles.

For a lot of the (live, primarily instrumental) N.O. bands that I like, getting into the jam band kid's pockets is so key.

I just typed in a person whose last name is Brab0y.

Part of why we don't have a clear fix on what Umph and OAR and Moe do is because the description of what they do and the narrative of who they are (the PR part) isn't part of their success. I may not like their music if I heard it, but that's very refreshing, that they're these kinds of anonymous bands.

I was on the Red Line a week or two ago with a car full of giddy college kids having just seen the John Butler Trio at the Riv.

Where can I get tix for that, EZ? What date? I'm looking at their site but can't find it.

(getting Bonaroo and "Jam Cruise" gigs, and some guys have even gone so far as to start jam bands, ranging from terrible to pretty okay)

While jam band kids may have terrible taste, at least they're receptive to that kind of music.

Oh, I found news on Pfork. Why oh why do they have to do it mid-week?

Here's some info. It's goes from 7p.m. Tuesday to 7 p.m. Wednesday. I think the schedule will get filled out more closer to Tuesday -- looks like the Deals are playing at 1:30 a.m. (I didn't see this until now), so you may want to have a "doctor's appointment" Wednesday morning. You can buy tickets at the door -- I don't think you can get them in advance.

I've gone the past two years -- saw Shellac at 3 a.m. last year (with about 50 people in the audience in the middle of the night) and saw Tweedy and Jason Molina the year before (pretty full house) as well as the Blissters (Tweedy's then-10-year-old kid's rock band). And the comedy can be really good too -- some of the best Second City folks.

I think they do it on Tuesday nights because mainstage Second City shows on weekend nights are big moneymakers for the theater company.

hee hee bl1sters are wrapping it up

hey, is anyone else here yet?

You are the first real post.

Hi.

we are obsessed, huh?

How many times did you refresh today?

colette how did you find this? You were here before I'd even published the address!

i did a bit of jaymc googling... i googled "ilx sandbox" and then that took me to the lastFM page with this site, which i remember from the olden days.

i only refreshed about 5 times today, but i just got home and thought it might well be working by now. yes, i am lame.

heheh, well timed anyway!

Jaymc did you get my Facebook message to you about exciting upcoming event?

Yes, thanks for that! I think I can go, too.

Yay. He gave a good reading. And he's a nice guy. And he's a friendster friend of mine, even.

Also the map at the start of the thread is pretty great.

By "friendster" I meant "facebook" of course.

Mornin'. Hi, Casuistry!

My desktop weather widget shows snow, snow, and then some snow.