Pencil This In
By Tankboy in Miscellaneous on Mar 13, 2008 5:00PM
The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the
2009 Toyota Corolla.
Music
Cougars are a force to be reckoned with. The band takes punk rock rage and funnels it through a stage full of instruments, at one point even including a bona fide horn section. Have no fear, though, there's not even the faintest whiff of any sort of revivalist mentality about the band. (Admit it, when we typed "horn section" your first thought was "ska?") Instead, the bulky combo dishes out the most pleasing sort of aural abuse. Plus, they wrote a song about blogging back before writing songs about blogging was cool.
2000 W Fulton, 9 p.m., $8, all ages
Whilst his daughter sells out arenas and pushes parents to do whatever it takes to get their kids into the show, Billy Ray Cyrus is relegated to playing the likes of Joe's on Weed Street. How humiliating. On the bright side, if you're looking for that mid '90s frat-fresh feeling, we can't think of a better place to be tonight.
940 W Weed St, 8 p.m., $19
Clubs
We first learned of Major Taylor through his dub-influenced punk band, so we were late to the party when it comes to admiring his mad mixing skills. (Yup, we just wrote "mad mixing skills." Sorry.) Part of this is due to the fact that we avoided the Johnny Love party scene like the plague a few years back, but we were kicking ourselves for not getting into him earlier when we stumbled into one of his sets at the rehabbed Tuman's. Tonight's set at Betty's Blue Star should be fun.
1600 W Grand, 11 p.m., 21+
Download
Radiohead started the trend, and Trent made millions promoting through the gambit, so it's no surprise the whole "free digital download" thing is starting to catch on. (Heh. Starting. Right.) The latest name to adopt the sales plan of "FREE! FREE! FREE!" is The Charlatans. The poppy Brits made their name ripping off Manchester beats but grew into a formidable soul rock machine. Their albums have always been good for a killer single or two, and their latest, Cross My Path, is actually their strongest offering in years.
DOWNLOAD: The Charlatans - You Cross My Path