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Decent Days and Nights

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 5, 2007 10:15PM

We weed through the week's live-music high points so you don't need to waste your time getting newsprint all over your fingers as you dig through the concert calendars found in your local newspaper. Plus, we give you room to pipe in with your own suggestions. Awesome, no?

2007_03_knifeofsimpson.jpgKnife of Simpson have long been local favorites of ours, and since they don't play that often we try to catch 'em any chance we get. They play Southern inflected rock and/or roll heavy on political polemics but light enough on its toes that the messages never overtake the music.
Empty Bottle, Tonight, 9:30 p.m., free, 21+

To say Dalek performs hip-hop would be sort of like saying Tom Waits performs pop. Dalek has long been a master of stretching out beats, creating rhythms akin to a garage full of mechanics working on a team of taxi cabs in bad need of an overhaul. Dalek sounds like nothing you've heard, and afterwards it takes a while to discern if what you have heard was music. But it was. And is.
Subterranean, Tuesday, 9:00 p.m., $8, 18+

We mentioned it earlier, but we don't want you to forget that Hideout is hosting a benefit titled Sending the Four Star City to the Lone Star State. We wouldn't miss this one. This is your chance to partake in a sort of Whitman's Sampler Who's Who of Chicago indie rock, as local bands heading to SXSW hit the Hideout stage for one last hurrah before putting their heads in the gaping maw of the collective industry lion. This'll be a hell of a party. The full schedule is here.
Hideout, Saturday, 11:00 a.m., $10, 21+

Did you not score tickets to see Jon Brion Sunday night before they sold out? Fret not and head over to Double Door to catch stoner rockers Fu Manchu. They're on the road supporting their latest, We Must Obey, and while it's a predictable collection of the usual riffs, we consider it guitar comfort food. We can always count on them to deliver what we want to hear. Valient Thorr opens. We caught Valient Thorr with Damone last year and were glad we stuck around long enough to get drawn into their catchy heavy metal (and by heavy metal we mean heavy, metallic-tipped riffs).
Double Door, Sunday, 7:00 p.m., $15, 21+

Photo of Knife of Simpson's Rusty Renegade by Heather Stumpf.