SXSW Roomshare

I've been going down to Austin for SXSW every year since 2010 (I know, late to the party).  Each year, I scrounge craigslist for a cheap room rental because my internet connection and computer are too shitty to actually book a decent, affordable hotel room the second dates are announced.

This year, I landed a deal where I catsit for a lady and in exchange get her large 1-bedroom apartment for $50/night.  However, I would still like roommates if you're okay with cats.  There's a queen bed and a single futon, so honest-to-god sleeping space for 3 people, plus an air mattress.

The apartment is at 45th and Duval, a bit north of UT, with the #7 bus stopping right outside.  It should be about a 20-minute bus ride to 6th and Congress, with easy transfer or short walk from the bus to the shows on South Congress.  Google Maps says the apartment's about half a mile from a late night bus stop, as well, so we've got transportation available from 5 a.m. to 3 a.m. each day.

If you're interested, drop me a line for details and we'll split the rent evenly.

Predictive Gaming for Substandard Films

I have an embarrassing secret: I'm kind of afraid of record stores.  I love the institution of the independent record store, exposing people to good music and hooking listeners up with hard-to-find albums, but once I step foot inside, I begin to feel as if the full weight of generations of music snobbery is hovering over me, poised to crush me if a wrong move is made.  I never know what I want to look for, browsing makes me panicky, and I usually give up and flee after a few minutes.

In other words, I would be just about the last person to get excited about living a few blocks away from a record store, if the record store wasn't Saki.  In addition to having excellent in-store sessions that feel like actual shows, Saki also regularly hosts other events.  A recent addition is Predictive Gaming for Substandard Films, where outcomes are guessed and wagers are placed as you and your compatriots endure one of the most terrible movies you've seen since MST3K was cancelled.

I went to the inaugural open-to-the-public run, which was attended by the always-friendly Saki clerks, their friends, and me and the date I had brought.  No one else.  Awkward.  Between my fear of record stores and feeling out-of-place, I was ready to bolt for the door, but I'm glad we stayed.  We were heartily welcomed as representatives of the public, and given beer and popcorn as the game was set up.  By the time things got underway, most of the awkwardness had dissipated as we watched the work of cinematic genius for hints that may help us win the game.

To play Predictive Gaming for Substandard Films, participants receive betting chips, which are wagered on answers to multiple-choice questions at various points in the movie (questions are read in a dramatic and highly entertaining fashion), as we try to guess just where this whole mess is heading.  Chips pay out at the end for fabulous prizes like grab bags and store gift cards.

The film was Blood Monkey, a straight-to-video affair from 2007 that you've never heard of if you're lucky.  We were asked to predict such things as who hooked up, who died, and just what exactly was up with the opening sequence of the film.  My date proved to be some sort of B-movie savant, guessing every answer correctly and becoming Lord of the Blood Monkeys (he did not like that title, or my insistence on continuing to use it well after the game ended).  As with any good game, winning or losing doesn't ultimately matter (it's kind of hard to be proud of correctly predicting the blood monkeys will pee on everyone)--the fun lies as much in the journey as in taunting the winner at the end.

So head to Saki this Friday at 8 to see things you can't unsee, win prizes and earn unfortunate nicknames, and have a chance to get in on this gaming trend before it blows up.

(Lots of) Plans for this Week

I hope everyone had a great weekend while I was trekking across half the Midwest in the snow for Ohio indie pop.  Maybe you've been making some progress on lining up internet dates or training for Tuesday's outpouring of hatred toward everyone in love--I know I've dropped the ball on both this year.  Luckily, there are a ton of reasons to get my sad, lonely ass out of the house this week, many of which can double as ideas for your desperation Craigslist date.

Tonight at the Empty Bottle:
Unicycle Loves You
Lightfoils
The Grooks

Another really decent free Monday from The Empty Bottle.  I haven't seen the first two bands before, but Unicycle Loves You are consistently fun.  It's hard to argue with the price.  Add in the $2 PBR special and you have a very low overhead on the mistakes you're planning to make.

There's another free show at the Empty Bottle on Tuesday, which I already mentioned.  Actually, you may just want to grab a sleeping bag and move in to the Empty Bottle.

Wednesday for $8, you can go back to the Empty Bottle yet again for:
Bleached
The Black Belles
Hollows

I've only seen Hollows before (and they're really good!), but terms like "fun" and "energetic" have popped up in enough descriptions of the other two bands to get me curious.  A cursory listen definitely has me wanting to hear more of Bleached.  Worth checking out if you like girl groups and punk aesthetics.

There's more sunny pop music at the Empty Bottle on Thursday, in the form of Veronica Falls, Brilliant Colors, and The Halamays, also $8.

If you want to shake up your venue choices (or you're suspicious the bar staff has started to recognize you there 3 days in a row with 3 different dates), head to Subterranean on Thursday.  The lineup is:
Panda Riot
Nerves Junior
Tiny Fireflies
The Pear Traps

I've seen Panda Riot and Tiny Fireflies before and I've been meaning to catch Nerves Junior.  This show is pretty much your best bet for indie pop in Chicago this month, or at least the one I'm most excited about.

Friday, if you've not yet died of exhaustion, there are still more things happening.

Switching into punk mode for a moment, there's a show at the Moving Castle that looks great: Waxahatchee, the new project from Katie from P.S. Eliot.  Dowsing open, and they are a fantastic local pop band with some emo (good emo) leanings.  Between them is The Ovens, who I know nothing about, but have decided I like anyway.  Visit diychi.org for details.

Finally, Saki has brought back Predictive Gaming for Substandard Films, an event I'd like to see really take off.  I'll do a proper writeup later, but I attended the inaugural run in the fall and it was probably one of the best dates I went on last year.

Oh, also, Sharon Van Etten is playing at Lincoln Hall on Thursday and Friday.  But you probably already knew that.

And I have no idea what to do on Saturday.  I think I'll sleep for 14 hours then go from there.

Cleveland Recap

After initially canceling my trip to Cleveland due to weather, I remembered at the last minute that I'm from North Dakota and I'm driving on the interstate and what the hell is wrong with me, and I got in the car and headed out with just enough time to inhale a couple tacos at the Chipotle next to the Grog Shop before the show started.  I had a great time and learned the following things:

1. Cleveland has excellent venues.  I really enjoyed the show at the Grog Shop and Tom from the Afternoon Naps showed off the Beachland Ballroom and vouched for their sound.  The Beachland's anti-valentine's Morrissey brunch was tons of fun and I got a Morrissey valentine.  I would much rather catch a show there than at the Metro here, and if timing worked out and I got a sweet deal on a Megabus ride, I might even pick Cleveland over Madison or Milwaukee.
2. There are a lot of cute, little neighborhoods and fun shops and cool places to hang out in Cleveland (which I totally missed the first time I was there), but they are very far apart and you seem to almost need a car to get around.  
3. Everyone in Cleveland is insanely, insanely nice.  Bartenders smiled and chatted, the manager at the Chipotle who let me into the bathroom when the door was stuck joked with me, girls at venues complimented my outfits sincerely and out of nowhere, all the bands were super stoked I came out, I was introduced around, I met probably half the people involved in the scene, folks I was introduced to briefly came up and started conversations with me later--it was strange and wonderful.
4. The Afternoon Naps are in the running for "nicest band ever."  They guestlisted me at the show, introduced me to all the other bands, bought me drinks, and gave me a shoutout on stage, just because I drove 6 hours. Tom from Afternoon Naps not only offered me a place to stay, but encouraged me to hang out on Sunday and even went thrifting with me.  And he does this all the time--The Poison Control Center wrote a song about hanging out with him in Cleveland for a week.
5. There is some fucking awesome indie pop out of Ohio.  I knew this already, but Saturday's show was one of my favorites in a year where I've already been to multiple shows that have reduced me to tweeting drunken, misspelled variations of "everything is amazing. I love everyone." Bears are planning some limited touring behind their excellent new album, Greater Lakes.  If you get the chance to see them, definitely do it.  The Lighthouse and the Whaler also played an amazing set and have some releases and touring planned for later this year--we should all see them when they come through, because their Chicago shows have been sparsely attended and that's a shame.  Afternoon Naps still have no plans of ever playing anywhere other than Cleveland, New York, and Athens Popfest.  I'm seriously considering making up a fake indie pop festival in Chicago to try to lure them out this way.

It's Friday. There's a White Mystery Show.

If you somehow have not yet seen White Mystery (which I think everyone with a pulse and a 606-- zip code has, but you never know), they are playing tonight at Treasure Town.  Their shows are always an excellent time.  Lionlimb open and are also worth your while.

You live in Chicago. Go out in the snow.

Your Friday Plans

Quick reminder that there's some good local music happening tonight at The Burlington.

Check out Deserters, Inspector Owl, and Geronimo! for $5, doors at 8:00.

Date Night?

As you're well aware, next Tuesday is Valentine's Day, a day laden all sorts of inescapable connotations.  For those of us of the Forever Alone persuasion, it's a convenient day to get good and drunk, plan out the next day's massive splurge on half-priced candy, and read (or write) some desperate craigslist personals (the one about Cthulhu is mine).

It's also a day to rock out to Tyler Jon Tyler at The Empty Bottle.  For free.  If you RSVP, they're giving you a +1 so you can bring your sweetheart (or your craigslist date) and do some awkward making out on the dance floor after one too many beer-and-a-shot specials.  Boys of Chicago: if you're so inclined (or you forget to RSVP), you can be my +1.

Just come find me at Double IPAs for Single People at Jerry's Wicker Park. (There's a joke in there about boozy/bitter IPAs and my boozy/bitter heart, but after 5 minutes of trying, I still can't make one work.)  I promise to prepare some better puns in advance.

Coming soon: show suggestions for your desperate internet date.

Another Road Trip in the Works

So I just found out I will be leaving work early and driving to Iowa on a Tuesday at the end of March.

My friend Wes and I have recently been kicking around the idea of trying to book a birthday show with some of our favorite bands.  I found out on Twitter this morning that two of our favorites are already playing a show together, less than a week before my birthday.  And it's $3.  And there's free pizza.  The down side is that it's in Iowa City, which is a good 3.5 hours from my apartment.

If you like music and you like carpooling to Iowa, then check out the lineup for the Mission Creek Festival in Iowa City.  Let me know if you'd like to tag along for Like Pioneers and The Poison Control Center at The Mill on March 27.

For those who are unfamiliar, this is well on its way to being my fantasy show lineup, Midwest edition.

The Poison Control Center play amazingly fun music and put on an incredibly energetic stage show and are also probably the nicest people on the planet.  Also, they never stop touring.  They may be the perfect indie rock band.

Like Pioneers is one of those projects where a group of awesome people come together to make something that might be better than the sum of its parts. If you have ever talked to me, you've heard me breathlessly explain why I love them, so we'll leave it at this is my favorite band and I have seen every one of their shows.  Also, their upcoming album?  Amazing.

Road trip!

Cleveland, Anyone?

As a teenager and young adult, I engaged in an impressive string of long-distance relationships. While now I refuse to go out with anyone living more than 2 miles from my house, I have been left with a skewed sense of the value of traveling long distances for things I enjoy.  Add in my overly enthusiastic approach to talking to bands at shows ("Hi! You were amazing! Come to Chicago!") and tendency to social media stalk everything I enjoy, and you get some crazy, completely unjustifiable road trips.

Examples of this include seeing The Rural Alberta Advantage in St. Louis (after seeing them in Madison and Milwaukee and Chicago), seeing Generationals in St. Louis (in a severe thunderstorm after seeing them like 3 times already that year), seeing Arms in a barn in Iowa (by myself and I had to navigate by GPS and my car got backed into in a field), ferrying an Australian emo kid to Madison for Into It. Over It. (after seeing him already in Chicago), flying to LA to see The Weakerthans because they haven't played Chicago in forever and I can never get time off to go to Winnipeg (and I want to get time off to go to Winnipeg), and basing a decision to go to CMJ partly on being away stalking another band the weekend Fishboy played Chicago in 2011 (there was also seeing Ravens & Chimes and Arms again).

Yes, yes, I'm creepy.

So I'm about 50% sure I will spend this Saturday traveling to Cleveland to see Bears, The Afternoon Naps, and The Lighthouse and the Whaler.  Because holy fucking shit, can you ask for a better lineup of Ohio bands?  And I want to see Elephant Gun and The Damn Choir and Architecture at Subterranean pretty goddamn badly, but that quixotic journey across half the Midwest to catch the perfect indie pop show is so romantic that it's just hard to resist.

Leaving Logan Square on Saturday morning.  Pickups can be arranged.  I'm sorry, local music.  I hope you'll understand.

Metric Crapton of Things Happening Tonight

I was going to write up my Monday plans over the weekend, but there are just too damn many things going on tonight.  I will be at one of these 3 things, or I will be at home doing laundry and watching a movie I'm supposed to return tomorrow.  Like me, if you are staying in the house tonight, it is by choice.

Founders All Day IPA Bottle Release Kickoff
Binny's South Loop
6-8 p.m.
RSVP/info
They'll have some of the best beers available from one of the best breweries in the Midwest.

Deleted Scenes
Subterranean
8 p.m., $10 doors
Info/tickets
Gorgeous band and super nice people.  I would recommend checking them out at least once.

Radar Eyes/Bare Mutants/Outer Minds
Empty Bottle
9:30 p.m., FREE
Probably all my favorite HoZac bands, it's free, and Mondays get you a slight discount on PBR.

Even More Last-Minute Plans

So, after Tiny Fireflies at Saki, you can head down to Cole's at 10 for Summer Girlfriends, who are awesome.  This show is also free.  It's a good day to be in Logan Square.

More Last-Minute Plans

Trying to get a jump on show plans for February, I came across Tiny Fireflies, who are opening a show at Subterranean on the 16th.  (They're playing with Panda Riot, who are super cute, and Nerves Junior, who I think I missed seeing at CMJ because I decided to eat a giant slice of pizza, but I don't take very good notes on festivals, so who the hell knows?)  I got really, really excited and thought "aw, I wish they were playing now and not in two weeks."

Well, the Oh My Rockness e-mail that just hit my inbox says they are playing tonight, at an art opening at Saki at 7.  The event is 1) free, and 2) right by my house.  So I'll be there, right after I sacrifice a fatted calf to the gods of indie rock.

I'm kind of terrible at descriptions beyond "adorable" and "awesome" (which I've been informed are not actually musical genres), but the event page describes Tiny Fireflies as "dream pop," which sounds accurate enough.  Listen to them on bandcamp, then come hang out with me because I always feel so awkward seeing music at Saki alone.

Tonight at Pancho's

Tonight, I'm heading to Pancho's (which mpshows.com tells me has been renamed Township) for some local indie pop that's entirely new to me.  The show starts at 9 and is $5.  The bands are Elusive Parallelograms, Rabbit Children, and Brother George.

I'd seen a show announcement for Rabbit Children a few months ago (at least I think it was them--I tend to get animal names confused) and had meant to check them out.  They're fun without being saccharine, and Elusive Parallelograms seem similarly pleasant.  Right now, I'm most excited for Brother George after a few minutes on Myspace--fuzzy and folky, with obvious pop sensibilities.  It should be fun.

Recommended if you have $5 to blow and have been meaning to check out Pancho's Minus Pancho (is it the Garfield Minus Garfield of Logan Square?).

Introduction

When I was young, I wanted to be a badass punk rocker.  That didn't quite work out.  Now I'm drawn to the siren song of the glockenspiel, which gets a bit lonely when it seems that everyone else is fist-pumping to rock 'n' roll.

After 14 years of exploring every other possible way to use the internet to make friends, I've decided to just put my show plans in a blog.  Watch this space for adorable indie bands, Logan Square drink invites, and other fun things to do about town.  If you see me, say hi.  If we already know each other, come out.

Stick this in your RSS reader and smoke it.