Black Wednesday

We HATE the term Black Wednesday.

We hold it in the same regard as other made-up holidays like Sweetest Day and Bosses Day.

Growing up, we always knew it as "the weekend everyone is in town at the same time and gets fall-down drunk." Kind of like New Year's Eve, with longer legs and slightly less puking. Here are five spots with terrific musical happenings where we think the displaced weekend warriors will be few and far between.

Let's go.

• It's no secret we're on the fence about Catfish Haven. In the Chicagoist offices we've had long debates over whether the band is a visionary roots rock outfit, or if they're just a warmed-over bar band that got lucky. We can't make up our mind. However we do have to give them kudos for putting on a free show for all their fans tonight at Double Door with Chicagoist faves Chin Up Chin Up.
• Prairie Cartel and Matt Roan play Schubas tonight, so if you're looking for hot hipsters getting their dance on, that's where you wanna be. Actually, it's where we'd be if we weren't gonna be busy imitating a DJ elsewhere.
• The Safes are tearing up Beat Kitchen tonight. We're big fans of their turbo-fueled Mod-style garage whipped across the room by rumbling and tumbling drums. Watch out!
• M.I.A. + House Of Blues = small room, tiny MC, huge beats, and massive swarms of sweaty, sexy dancing.
• Liar's Club drops the rock for an evening to pick up the glowstick as a slew of DJs, including our personal pick in Mr. Joe Vor-Tech, swarm the booth and replace that KISS cut-out with a disco ball. Judging by the line-up, the beats will probably be slightly dumbed down in order to insure massive amounts of stoopid fun

Have fun, and don't fall asleep on you back.

Prairie Cartel DJing image from their MySpace, even though we're pretty sure they're doing a full band set tonight.