Empty Out Your Wallet
By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 2, 2006 10:20PM
EOYW is a day late this week, and your forgiveness is begged. Luckily, most of the shows below are not yet sold out, so our laziness will not be to your detriment.
For whatever reason, some of the most talented musicians don’t become well-known until after they contract some life-threatening disease that warrants a tribute album. Alejandro Escovedo managed to recover from his bout with Hepatitis C to release The Boxing Mirror earlier this year. From an artistic point of view, he’s no worse for wear so expect his live show to still be a mix of punk, alt-country, Tex-Mex and a little orch pop for good measure.
Old Town School of Folk Music, March 9, 7 and 10 p.m., $21-25. On-sale now at Ticketweb and Old Town box office.
Is sex rock a legitimate music genre? We always hear it used to describe Bang! Bang!, but really who else could make a claim on the style? Peaches? Prince prior to 1999? Gah, words. They always get in the way of good music. Bang! Bang!'s infectious sound is a bit of a throwback, but somehow ends up sounding fresh, with charisma to spare. We dare you to try not to dance, pogo or shimmy.
Empty Bottle, January 20, 10 p.m., $8. On-sale now at Ticketweb.
On more than one occasion, the Tribune’s Mark Caro has stated that any material from a “reunited” band never lives up to the band’s previous work. For him, we have three words: Mission of Burma. In the wake of yet another excellent post-reunion album (The Obliterati), the band shamed many bands that are several years their junior at last summer’s Pitchfork Music Fest. Now on a club tour, MoB proves that some fires never really die out.
Double Door, January 12, 9 p.m., $23. On-sale now at Ticketmaster and the Double Door box office.
The Andrew Bird show at Hideout is already sold out, but 200 level tickets are still on-sale for the 2nd date of the Justin Timberlake FutureSex/Loveshow tour (ground floor and 100 level seats are all gone).* Or you could save yourself some cash and enter to win a pair of tickets in our giveaway instead.
Finally, does the Incubus/Albert Hammond Jr. bill at the Riv strike anyone else as a bit of an odd pairing?
* Look, we realize there are probably three of you that are fans of both Andrew Bird and Justin Timberlake, but it made for a good transition, OK?